Book XLV…

Book XLV

Perseus was captured by Æmilius Paulus in Samothrace. When Antiochus, king of Syria, was besieging Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king and queen of Egypt, and ambassadors were sent to him by the senate, to order him to desist from besieging a king in alliance with Rome, on his being informed of the mandates of the senate, he answered, that he would consider what line of conduct he should adopt. Then Popilius, one of the ambassadors, described, with his wand, a circle around the king, and ordered him to give a decided answer before he passed it. By which decided conduct he compelled the king to desist from the war. The embassies of the nations and king, that came to congratulate the Romans, were admitted into the senate-house, with the exception of the embassy from the Rhodians, which was excluded because their feelings in that war were opposed to the Roman people. The next day, when the question was put “that war should be proclaimed against them,” the Rhodian ambassadors pleaded the cause of their country before the senate, and were dismissed in a manner that rendered it uncertain whether they were looked on as enemies or allies. Macedon was reduced to the form of a Roman province. Æmilius Paulus triumphed; although his own soldiers opposed him, because they were dissatisfied with their share of the plunder, and Servius Sulpicius Galba spoke against him; Perseus and his three sons preceded his triumphal chariot. Still the joy of this triumph was not unmingled, for it was rendered remarkable by the death of his two sons: one of whom died before his father’s triumph; the death of the other speedily followed. The ceremony of the conclusion of the census was performed by the censors. Three hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred and five citizens were enrolled. Prusias, king of Bithynia, came to Rome, to congratulate the senate on the victory gained over Macedon; and committed his son Nicomedes to the charge of the senate: being full of servility, he called himself the freed-man of the Roman people.

1. Although Quintus Fabius, Lucius Lentulus, and Quintus Metellus, who were sent with the news of the victory, made all possible haste to Rome, yet they found rejoicings for that event anticipated there. The fourth day after the battle with Perseus, while games were exhibiting in the circus, a faint rumour spread itself suddenly among the people through all the seats, “that a battle had been fought in Macedon, and that the king was entirely defeated.” The rumour gathered strength, until at last arose shouting and clapping of hands, as if certain tidings of victory were brought to them. The magistrates were surprised, and caused inquiry to be made for the originator of this sudden rejoicing; but as none was found, the joy of course vanished, since the matter was uncertain; yet the prestige of conquest still remained impressed on their minds; and when, on the arrival of Fabius, Lentulus, and Metellus, the fact was established by authentic information, they rejoiced on a twofold account,—on that of the victory, and their happy presage of it. This exultation in the circus is related in another manner, with equal appearance of probability: that on the fifteenth day before the calends of October, being the second day of the Roman games, as the consul Licinius was going down to give the signal for the race, a courier, who said he came from Macedon, delivered to him a letter decorated with laurel. As soon as he had started the chariots, he mounted his own, and as he rode back through the circus to the seats of the magistrates, showed to the people the embellished tablets, at the sight of which the multitude, regardless of the games, ran down at once into the middle of the area. The consul held a meeting of the senate on the spot; and after reading the letter to them, by their direction told the people, before the seats of the magistrates, that “his colleague, Lucius Æmilius, had fought a general engagement with Perseus; that the Macedonian army was beaten and put to flight; that the king had fled with few attendants; and that all the states of Macedon had submitted to the Romans.” On hearing this, a universal shouting and clapping of hands arose among the commons; and most of them, leaving the games, hastened home to communicate the joyful tidings to their wives and children. This was the thirteenth day after the battle was fought in Macedon.

2. On the following day a meeting of the senate was held in the council-chamber, and a general supplication was voted, and likewise a decree of the senate was passed, that the consul should disband all his troops, excepting the legionary soldiers and seamen; and that their disbandment should be taken into consideration as soon as the deputies from the consul Æmilius, who had sent forward the courier, should arrive in town. On the sixth day before the calends of October, about the second hour, the deputies came into the city, and proceeded directly to the tribunal in the forum, drawing after them, wherever they went, an immense crowd, composed of those who went forth to meet and escort them. The senate happened to be then in the council-chamber, and the consul introduced the deputies to them. They were detained there no longer than to give an account, “how very numerous the king’s forces of horse and foot had been; how many thousands of them were killed, how many taken; with what small loss of men the Romans had made such havoc of the enemy, and with how small a retinue Perseus had fled; that it was supposed he would go to Samothrace, and that the fleet was ready to pursue him; so that he could not escape, either by sea or land.” They were then brought out into the assembly of the people, where they repeated the same particulars, and the general joy was renewed in such a degree, that no sooner had the consul published an order, “that all the places of worship should be opened,” than every one proceeded, with as much speed as he could use, to return thanks to the gods, and the temples of the immortal gods, throughout the entire city, were filled with vast crowds, not only of men, but of women. The senate, being re-assembled, ordered thanksgivings in all the temples, during five days, for the glorious successes obtained by the consul Lucius Æmilius, with sacrifices of the larger kinds of victims. They also voted that the ships, which lay in the Tiber fit for sea, and ready to sail for Macedon, in case the king had been able to maintain the contest, should be hauled up, and placed in the docks, and that the seamen belonging to them should be discharged, after receiving a year’s pay; and, together with these, all who had taken the military oath to the consul; that all the soldiers in Corcyra and Brundusium, on the coast of the Hadriatic and in the territory of Larinum, (for in all these places had troops been cantoned, in order that the consul Licinius might, if occasion required, take them over to reinforce his colleague,) should be disbanded. The thanksgiving was fixed, by proclamation in the assembly, for the fifth day before the ides of October, and the five days following.

3. Two deputies, Caius Licinius Nerva and Publius Decius, arriving from Illyria, brought intelligence that the army of the Illyrians was defeated, their king, Gentius, taken prisoner and all Illyria reduced under the dominion of the Roman people. On account of these services, under the conduct and auspices of the prætor, Lucius Anicius, the senate voted a supplication of three days’ continuance, and it was accordingly appointed, by proclamation, to be performed on the fourth third, and second days before the ides of November. Some writers tell us that the Rhodian ambassadors, who had not yet been dismissed, were, when the news of the victory was received, called before the senate in order to expose their absurd arrogance. On this occasion, Agesipolis, their principal, spoke to this effect: that “they had been sent by the Rhodians to effect an accommodation between the Romans and Perseus; because the war subsisting between them was injurious and burdensome to all Greece, and expensive and detrimental to the Romans themselves; but that fortune had acted very kindly, since, by terminating the war after another manner, it afforded them an opportunity of congratulating the Romans on a glorious victory.” This was the discourse of the Rhodians. The senate returned the following answer: that “the Rhodians had sent that embassy, not through anxiety for the interests of Greece, or for the expenses of the Roman people, but merely from their wish to serve Perseus. For, if their concern had been such as they pretended, they should have sent ambassadors at the time when Perseus, leading an army into Thessaly, had continued, for two years, to besiege some of the cities of Greece, and to terrify others with denunciations of vengeance. All this time not the least mention of peace was made by the Rhodians; but when they heard that the Romans had passed the defiles, and penetrated into Macedon, and that Perseus was held enclosed by them, then they sent an embassy, from no other motive whatever, but a wish to rescue Perseus from the impending danger.” With this answer the ambassadors were dismissed.

4. About the same time Marcus Marcellus, coming home from Spain, where he had taken Marcolica, a city of note, brought into the treasury ten pounds’ weight of gold, and a quantity of silver, amounting to a million of sesterces.[99] While the consul, Paullus Æmilius, lay encamped at Siræ, in Odomantice, as mentioned above, a letter from king Perseus was brought to him by three ambassadors of mean appearance, and it is reported that he, on looking at them, shed tears at the uncertainty of the lot of man; because he who, a short time before, not content with the kingdom of Macedon, had invaded Dardania and Illyria, and had called out to his aid the whole Bastarnian nation, now banished from his kingdom after the loss of his army, was forced to take refuge in a little island, where, as a suppliant, he was protected by the sanctity of the place, not by any strength of his own. But when he read the address, “King Perseus to the consul Paullus, greeting,” the folly of a man, who seemed insensible to his condition, banished every feeling of compassion; therefore, although there were, in the remaining part of the letter, entreaties ill suited to royalty, yet the embassy was dismissed without an answer and without a letter. Perseus felt that he must, now that he was conquered, forego the name of king, and consequently sent another letter, inscribed simply with his name, in which he made a request, and obtained it too, that some persons should be sent to him, with whom he might confer on the state and condition of his affairs. Three ambassadors were accordingly despatched, Publius Lentulus, Aulus Postumius Albinus, and Aulus Antonius; but nothing was effected by this embassy, for Perseus clung with all the energy of despair to the regal title, while Paullus insisted on an absolute submission of himself, and every thing belonging to him, to the honour and clemency of the Roman people.

5. Whilst these things are going on, the fleet of Cneius Octavius put in at Samothrace. When he also, by presenting immediate danger to Perseus’s view, was endeavouring at one time by menaces, at another by hopes, to prevail on him to surrender; in this design he was greatly assisted by a circumstance which may have occurred either by accident or design. Lucius Atilius, a distinguished young man, observing that the people of Samothrace were met in a general assembly, requested permission of the magistrate to address a few words to them; which being granted, he said,—“People of Samothrace, our good hosts; is the account which we have heard true or false, that this island is sacred, and the entire soil holy and inviolable?” They all agreed in asserting the supposed sanctity of the place; whereupon he proceeded thus: “Why, then, has a murderer, stained with the blood of king Eumenes, presumed to profane it? And though, previous to every sacrifice, a proclamation forbids all who have not pure hands to assist at the sacred rites, will you, nevertheless, suffer your holy places to be polluted by an assassin who bears the mark of blood on his person?” The story of king Eumenes having been nearly murdered by Evander at Delphi, was now well known by report through all the cities of Greece. The Samothracians, therefore, besides the consideration of their being themselves, as well as the temple and the whole island, in the power of the Romans, were convinced that the censure thrown on them was not unjust, and therefore sent Theondas, their chief magistrate, whom they style king, to Perseus, to acquaint him, that “Evander the Cretan was accused of murder; that they had a mode of trial established among them, by the practice of their ancestors, concerning such as were charged with bringing impure hands into the consecrated precincts of the temple. If Evander was confident that he was innocent of the capital charge made against him, let him come forth, and stand a trial; but, if he would not venture to undergo an inquiry, let him free the temple from profanation, and provide for his own safety.” Perseus, calling Evander aside, advised him not on any account to stand a trial, because he was no match for his accusers, either in the merits of the cause, or in influence. He had secret apprehensions that Evander, on being condemned, would expose him, as the instigator of that abominable act. “What then remained,” he said, “but to die bravely?” Evander made, openly, no objection; but telling the king that he chose to die by poison rather than by the sword, took measures in secret for effecting his escape. When this was told the king, fearing lest he should direct the anger of the Samothracians against himself as accessory to the escape of a guilty person, he ordered Evander to be put to death. No sooner was this rash murder perpetrated, than the idea immediately struck his mind that he had now drawn on himself the whole of the guilt, which before had affected Evander only; that the latter had wounded Eumenes at Delphi, and he had slain Evander in Samothrace; and thus the two most venerable sanctuaries in the world had, through his means alone, been defiled with human blood. However, he avoided the imputation of this deed, by bribing Theondas to tell the people that Evander had laid violent hands on himself.

6. But by such an atrocious act, committed on his only remaining friend, on one whose fidelity he had experienced on so many trying occasions, and who, in return for not proving a traitor, was himself betrayed, he alienated the feelings of every one. All went over to the Romans as soon as they could, and consequently obliged him, now left almost alone, to adopt the design of flying. He applied to a Cretan, called Oroandes, to whom the coast of Thrace was well known, since he carried on traffic in that country, to take him on board his vessel, and convey him to Cotys. At one of the promontories of Samothrace, is the harbour of Demetrium; there the vessel lay. About sun-set every thing necessary for the voyage was carried thither, together with as much money as could be transported with secrecy; and at midnight, the king himself, with three persons, who were privy to his flight, going out through a back door into a garden near his chamber, and having, with much difficulty, climbed over the wall, went down to the shore. Oroandes had set sail, at the dusk of the evening, the very moment the money arrived, and was now steering for Crete. Perseus, after he could not find the ship in the harbour, wandered about for a long time on the coast, but at last, fearing the approach of day, and not daring to return to his lodging, he hid himself in a dark corner at one side of the temple. The royal pages was the name given among the Macedonians to a band of the children of the leading noblemen, who were selected to wait on the king: this band had accompanied Perseus in his flight, and did not even now desert him, until a proclamation was made by the herald of Cneius Octavius, that, “if the royal pages, and other Macedonians, then in Samothrace, would come over to the Romans, they should have impunity, liberty, and all their property, both what they had in the island, and what they had left in Macedon.” On this notice they all passed over to the Romans, and gave in their names to Caius Postumius, a military tribune. Ion of Thessalonica delivered up to Octavius the king’s younger children also; nor was any one now left with Perseus, except Philip, his eldest son. Then, after uttering many execrations against fortune, and the gods to whom the temple belonged, for not affording aid to a suppliant, he surrendered himself and his son to Octavius, who gave orders to put him on board the prætor’s ship; the remainder of his money was put on board the same ship; and the fleet immediately returned to Amphipolis. Thence Octavius sent the king into the camp to the consul, having previously sent forward a letter to inform him that he was a prisoner, and on the road thither.

7. Paullus, considering this a second victory, as it really was, offered sacrifices on receiving the intelligence; then, calling a council, and reading to them the prætor’s letter, he sent Quintus Ælius Tubero to meet the king; the rest he desired to remain assembled in the prætorium. Never, on any other occasion, did so great a multitude gather about a spectacle. In the time of their fathers, king Syphax had been made prisoner, and brought into the Roman camp; but, besides that he could not be compared with Perseus, either in respect of his own reputation or that of his country, he was at the time merely a subordinate party in the Carthaginian war, as Gentius was in the Macedonian. Whereas Perseus was the principal in this war; and was not only highly conspicuous through his own personal renown, and that of his father, grandfather, and other relations in blood and extraction, but of these, two shone with unparalleled lustre,—Philip, and Alexander the Great, who made the empire of the Macedonians the first in the world. Perseus came into the camp, dressed in mourning, unattended by any of his countrymen, except his own son, who being a sharer in the calamity, made him more wretched. He could not advance on account of the number of persons that had collected to see him, until the lictors were sent by the consul, and they, after clearing the way, opened a passage to the prætorium. The consul arose to do him honour, but ordered the rest to keep their seats, and, advancing a little, held out his right hand to the king, on his entrance; and raised him up when he endeavoured to throw himself at his feet: nor would he suffer him to embrace his knees, but led him into the tent, and desired him to sit on the side opposite to the officers assembled in council.

8. The first question asked Perseus was, “by what injuries had he been compelled to enter into a war against the Roman people with such violent animosity, and to bring himself and his kingdom to the extremity of danger?” While all expected his answer, fixing his eyes on the ground, he wept a long time in silence. The consul, again addressing him, said, “If you had succeeded to the government in early youth, I should have wondered less at your not being sensible of the great importance of the friendship, or enmity, of the Roman people: but that was not the case, as you bore a part in the war which your father waged with us, and, afterwards, must have remembered the peace which we observed towards him with the strictest sincerity. What then was your design in preferring war to peace, with those, whose power in war, and whose good faith in peace, you had so fully experienced?” Neither questions nor reproaches could draw an answer from him: on which the consul added, “Howsoever these things may have occurred, whether through the frailty of mankind, or accident, or necessity, be of good spirits. The clemency of the Roman people, displayed in the distress of numerous kings and nations, affords you not only hope, but almost perfect confidence of safety.” This he said in the Greek language to Perseus; and then, turning to his own people, he said, in the Latin tongue, “You observe this striking instance of the instability of human affairs. To you, young men, principally, I address the observation. In the hour of prosperity, therefore, we ought to adopt against no man measures dictated by either pride or violence, nor confide implicitly in present advantages; since we know not what the evening may produce. He is really a man, whose spirit neither prosperity can elate by success, nor adversity break by misfortune.” On the dismissal of the council, the charge of guarding the king is given to Quintus Ælius. Perseus was invited to dine that day with the consul, and every other honour, which could be shown him under existing circumstances, was paid to him.

9. The troops were immediately sent off to their winter cantonments. Amphipolis furnished the greater part with quarters, and the towns in that neighbourhood received the rest. Thus ended the war between the Romans and Perseus, which had lasted, without intermission, four years; and thus ended a kingdom, long renowned through a great part of Europe, and throughout all Asia. From Caranus, who was their first king, they reckoned Perseus the fortieth. Perseus came to the crown in the consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius, received the title of king from the senate in that of Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius, and reigned eleven years. The Macedonians were little known by fame until the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas; although the empire began to increase in his time, and through his agency, still it was confined within the limits of Europe, extending over all Greece with a part of Thrace, and Illyria. Afterwards the power of Macedon poured down like a deluge on Asia, and in the course of the thirteen years of the reign of Alexander, reduced under its dominion that almost immense tract which had constituted the empire of the Persians. Hence it overspread the Arabias and India, as far as where the Red Sea forms the utmost boundary of the earth. At that time their empire and name were the first in the world; but on the death of Alexander, it was torn asunder into a number of kingdoms, whilst his successors, in the general scramble for power, dismembered it by their struggles. From the time of its highest elevation to this its final downfall, it stood one hundred and fifty years.

10. When the news of the victory, obtained by the Romans, was carried into Asia, Antenor, who lay with a fleet of small vessels at Phanæ, sailed over to Cassandrea. Caius Popilius, who staid at Delos to protect the ships bound to Macedon, learning that the war there was at an end, and that the enemy’s fleet had left its station, sent home the Athenian squadron, and proceeded on his voyage for Egypt, to finish the business of the embassy with which he was charged, in order that he might meet Antiochus before he should approach the walls of Alexandria. When the ambassadors, after sailing along the coast of Asia, arrived at Loryma, a port somewhat more than twenty miles from Rhodes, and just opposite to that city, some of the principal Rhodians (for the news of the victory had by this time reached them too) met them, and requested them “to sail over to their city; that it was of the utmost consequence to the character and safety of the Rhodian state that they should, in person, inform themselves of what had been done, and what was then passing at Rhodes; so as to carry to Rome intelligence, founded on their own knowledge, and not on vague reports.” After refusing for a long time, they were at length prevailed on to submit to a short delay of their voyage, for the sake of the safety of an allied city. When they came to Rhodes, the same persons, by urgent entreaties, persuaded them to come into a general assembly. The arrival of the ambassadors rather heightened, than allayed, the fears of the public. For Popilius enumerated all the hostile expressions and actions, both of the community and of individuals, during the war: and, being naturally of an austere temper, he magnified the atrociousness of the matters which he mentioned, by the sternness of his countenance, and the harshness of his tone of voice; so that, as he had no cause of personal quarrel with their state, people judged from the severity of one Roman senator, what was the feeling of the whole senate towards them. The speech of Caius Decimius was more moderate; for he said, “that in most of the particulars mentioned by Popilius, the blame lay, not on the nation, but on a few incendiary ringleaders of the populace, who, employing their tongues for hire, procured the passing of several decrees, full of flattery towards the king; and had sent those embassies, at which the Rhodians should always feel not less shame than grief; all which proceedings, however, if the people were disposed to act properly, would fall on the heads of the guilty.” He was heard with great satisfaction; not only because he extenuated the offences of the community, but because he threw the whole blame on the authors of their misconduct. When, therefore, their own magistrates spoke in answer to the Romans, the speech of those who endeavoured to exculpate them, in some measure, from the charges advanced by Popilius, was not so pleasing to them as the advice of those who concurred with the opinion of Decimius, in the necessity of giving up the principal instigators to atone for their crime. A decree was therefore immediately passed, that all who should be convicted of having, in any instance, spoken or acted in favour of Perseus, against the Romans, should be condemned to die. Several of those concerned had left the city on the arrival of the Romans: others put an end to their own lives. The ambassadors staid only five days at Rhodes, and then proceeded to Alexandria. Nor were the trials instituted, pursuant to the decree passed in their presence, carried on at Rhodes with less activity; and this perseverance of the Rhodians, in the execution of that business, was entirely owing to the mild behaviour of Decimius.

11. Whilst these events were going on, Antiochus, after a fruitless attempt on the walls of Alexandria, had retired: and being now master of all the rest of Egypt, he left, at Memphis, the elder Ptolemy, whose restoration to the throne was the pretended object of his armament, though, in reality, he meant to attack him, as soon as he should have vanquished his competitors; and then he led back his army into Syria. Ptolemy, who was not ignorant of his intention, conceived hopes, that, while he held his younger brother under terror, and in dread of a siege, he might be received into Alexandria, provided his sister favoured the design, and his brother’s friends did not oppose it. Accordingly, he never ceased sending proposals to his sister first, and his brother and his friends afterwards, until he effected an accommodation with them. His suspicions of Antiochus were awakened by this circumstance, that, when he gave him possession of the rest of Egypt, he left a strong garrison in Pelusium: a plain proof that he kept that key of Egypt in his hands, in order that he might be able, whenever he pleased, to introduce an army again into the country; and he foresaw, that the final issue of a civil war with his brother must be, that the conqueror, thoroughly weakened by the contest, would be utterly unable to contend with Antiochus. In these prudent observations of the elder brother, the younger, and those about him, concurred; while their sister greatly promoted the negotiation, both by her advice and entreaties. Accordingly, peace being made with the approbation of all, the elder Ptolemy was received into Alexandria, without any opposition even from the populace; who, during the war, had been severely distressed by a general scarcity, not only in consequence of the siege, but from receiving no provisions from the rest of Egypt after the enemy had retired from the walls. Although it was reasonable to suppose that Antiochus would be rejoiced at these events, if he had really marched his army into Egypt for the purpose of reinstating Ptolemy on the throne,—(the plausible pretext which he had professed to all the states of Asia and Greece, in his answers to their embassies, and in the letters that he wrote,)—yet he was so highly offended, that he prepared to make war on the two brothers, with much greater acrimony and fury of resentment than he had shown against the one. He instantly sent his fleet to Cyprus; and, as soon as the spring appeared, he directed his route towards Egypt at the head of his army, and advanced into Cœle-Syria. Near Rhinocolura he was met by ambassadors from Ptolemy, who gave him thanks, because through his assistance he had recovered the throne of his fathers; and requested him to secure to him the enjoyment of the benefit, which he had himself conferred; and rather to signify what he wished to be done, than from an ally to become an enemy, and proceed by force of arms. To this he answered, that “he would neither recall his fleet, nor stop the march of his army, on any other conditions than the cession of all Cyprus and the city of Pelusium, together with the lands adjoining the Pelusian mouth of the Nile;” and he even named a particular day, on or before which he expected to receive an answer that these demands were complied with.

12. When the time fixed for the suspension of hostilities had elapsed, Antiochus ordered the commanders of his fleet to sail up the mouth of the Nile to Pelusium, while he himself entered Egypt, through the deserts of Arabia. He was amicably received by the people about Memphis, as he was, afterwards, by the rest of the Egyptians; some being led by inclination, others by fear; and he proceeded thus, by short marches, down to Alexandria. The Roman ambassadors met him after crossing the river at Eleusine, four miles from that city. On their approach he saluted them, and held out his right hand to Popilius; but Popilius put into his hand a written tablet, containing the decree of the senate, and desired him first to peruse that. On perusing it, he said, that he, after calling his friends together, would consult on what was to be done; on which Popilius, with the usual asperity of his disposition, drew a line round the king, with a wand which he held in his hand, and said, “Before you go out of that circle, give me an answer to report to the senate.” Astonished at such a peremptory injunction, the king hesitated for some time; but at last replied, “I will do as the senate directs.” Popilius then thought proper to stretch out his right hand to him; as to a friend and ally. Antiochus having retired out of Egypt, on the day appointed, the ambassadors, after confirming by their influence the reconciliations between the brothers, as concord was far from being established among them, sailed to Cyprus: from which they sent home the ships of Antiochus, which had fought and defeated an Egyptian fleet. This embassy attracted a great share of respect from all nations; because it had manifestly rescued Egypt out of the hands of the Syrian, when he had it within his grasp, and restored to the race of Ptolemy the kingdom of their forefathers While one of the consuls of this year distinguished his administration by a glorious victory, the reputation of the other was thrown into the shade, because he had no opportunity of displaying his talents. When, in the beginning of his administration, he had appointed his troops to assemble, he entered the consecrated place without due auspices; and the augurs, on the matter being laid before them, pronounced the appointment improper. Going into Gaul, he lay encamped near the long plains, at the foot of the mountains Sicimina and Papirus, and passed the winter in the same country with the troops of the Latin allies. The Roman legions staid all the while in the city, because the day had been irregularly appointed for the meeting of the soldiers. The prætors went to their several provinces, except Caius Papirius Carbo, to whose lot Sardinia had fallen; the senate having commanded him to administer justice, at Rome, between natives and foreigners; a duty to which he had been already named.

13. Popilius, with his colleagues in the embassy to Antiochus, returned to Rome, and gave information, that all disputes between the kings had terminated, and that the army had marched out of Egypt into Syria. Soon after, ambassadors arrived from the kings themselves. Those of Antiochus represented, that “their king had considered a peace, which was agreeable to the senate, as preferable to a victory, how complete soever, and had, accordingly, obeyed the order of the Roman ambassadors, as implicitly as if it had been a mandate of the gods.” They then offered his congratulations on their victory, “to which,” they said, “the king would have contributed with his utmost power, if any commands to that effect had been given him.” The ambassadors of Ptolemy, in the joint names of that prince and Cleopatra, presented their thanks, acknowledging that “they were more indebted to the senate and people of Rome than to their own parents, more than to the immortal gods; since through their intervention they had been relieved from a most distressing siege, and had recovered the kingdom of their fathers, when it was almost entirely lost.” The answer given by the senate was that “Antiochus had acted rightly and properly, in complying with the demand of their ambassadors; and that his conduct was pleasing to the senate and people of Rome.” To Ptolemy and Cleopatra, king and queen of Egypt, they answered, that “the senate rejoiced very much, that any benefit or advantage had accrued to the Egyptian monarchs, through their instrumentality; and would take care, that they should always have reason to consider, that the strongest bulwark of their kingdom lay in the protection of the Roman people.” Caius Papirius, the prætor, was commissioned to send the usual presents to the ambassadors. A letter now arrived from Macedon, which doubled the public joy, as it brought information that “king Perseus was in the hands of the consul.” After the ambassadors were dismissed, a controversy between deputies from Pisa and others from Luna came on; the former, complaining that they were dispossessed of their lands by the Roman colonists; while the latter insisted that the lands in question had been marked out to them by the triumvirs. The senate sent five commissioners to examine and fix the boundaries, Quintus Fabius Buteo, Publius Cornelius Blasio, Tiberius Sempronius Musca, Lucius Nævius Balbus, and Caius Apuleius Saturninus. A joint embassy from the three brothers, Eumenes, Attalus, and Athenæus, came with congratulations on the victory; and Masgaba, son of king Masinissa, having landed at Puteoli, Lucius Manlius, the quæstor, was immediately despatched with money to meet him, and conduct him to Rome at the public expense. An audience of the senate was immediately given him on his arrival. This young prince spoke in such a manner that he made services, which were meritorious in themselves, still more gratifying. He recounted what numbers of foot and horse, how many elephants, and what quantities of corn his father had sent into Macedon in aid of the Romans during the last four years. “But there were two things,” he said, “that made him blush; one, the senate having sent by their ambassadors a request, instead of an order, to furnish necessaries for their army; the other, their having sent money in payment for the corn. Masinissa well remembered that the kingdom which he held had been acquired, and increased, and multiplied by the Roman people; and contenting himself with the management of it, acknowledged the right and sovereignty to be vested in those who granted it to him. It was just, therefore, to take, and not to ask from him nor purchase, any of the produce of lands made over by themselves. Whatever remained, after supplying the Roman people, would be fully sufficient for Masinissa.” That with these instructions he parted with his father; but he was afterwards overtaken by some horsemen, who announced to him the conquest of Macedon, with directions to congratulate the senate, and acquaint them that his father felt so much joy at that circumstance, that he wished to come to Rome, and in the Capitol to offer thanks to Jupiter supremely good and great. He requested, therefore, that if it were not disagreeable, the senate would give him permission to do so.

14. Masgaba was answered, that “his father, Masinissa, acted as became a prince of a benevolent and grateful disposition; to such a degree that, by acknowledging the kindness of his friends, he added value and dignity to it. The Roman people had been assisted by him in the Carthaginian war with exertions at once faithful and brave; by the favour of the Roman people he had obtained his kingdom, and had afterwards, in the successive wars with the three kings, discharged with his usual readiness every duty. That it was not surprising, that a king who had so intimately blended his own interests, and those of his kingdom, with the interests of the Romans, should be delighted at the victory of the Roman people. That he should return thanks to the immortal gods for the victory of the Roman people, before the tutelary deities of his family; that his son could return thanks in his stead at Rome; as he had already said enough in the way of congratulation, both in his own name and in his father’s. But that the senate were of opinion, that his leaving his own kingdom, and going out of Africa, besides being inconvenient to himself, was detrimental to the Roman people.” On Masgaba making a request that Hanno, son of Hamilcar, might be brought to Rome as a hostage in the place of some other, the senate replied, that they could not reasonably require hostages from the Carthaginians, at the choice of any other person. The quæstor was ordered, by a vote of the senate, to purchase presents for the young prince to the value of one hundred pounds’ weight of silver, to accompany him to Puteoli, to defray all his expenses while he staid in Italy, and to hire two ships to carry him and the retinue of the king to Africa; clothes were given to every one of his attendants, both freemen and slaves. Soon after this a letter was brought concerning Masinissa’s other son, Misagenes, stating that, after the conquest of Perseus, he was sent by Lucius Paullus, with his horsemen, to Africa; and that while he was on his voyage in the Adriatic Sea, his fleet was dispersed, and himself, in a bad state of health, driven into Brundusium with only three ships. Lucius Stertinius, the quæstor, was sent to him to Brundusium, with presents of the same kind as those given to his brother at Rome, and he was ordered to provide lodgings for the prince and his retinue, and every thing necessary for his health and convenience; and that the expenses of himself and his entire retinue should be paid liberally; that he should look out for ships by which the prince might pass over into Africa with ease and safety. The quæstor was ordered to give to each of the horsemen a pound of silver, and five hundred sesterces. The assemblies, for the election of consuls for the ensuing year, were held by Caius Licinius the consul. Quintus Ælius Pætus, Marcus Junius Pennus, were appointed consuls. Then Quintus Cassius Longinus, Manius Juventius Thalna, Tiberius Claudius Nero, Aulus Manlius Torquatus, Cneius Fulvius Gillo, C. Licinius Nerva, were made prætors. In the same year the censors, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Claudius Pulcher, at length united in passing a decree on a matter, which had been for a long time discussed among themselves in different disputes. Gracchus, when the freed-men, after being repeatedly confined within the four city tribes, had once more spread themselves through them all, wished to pluck up by the root the evil which was always sending fresh shoots, and to exclude from enrolment all who had ever been slaves. Claudius struggled energetically against him, and made frequent references to the institutions of their ancestors, who had often tried to restrain the freed-men, but never to totally exclude them from the rights of citizens. He said that some relaxation of the former strictness had been conceded even by the censors, Caius Flaminius and Lucius Æmilius. And indeed, although even at that time those dregs of the people had spread themselves through all the tribes, and it appeared requisite to reduce them again within what might be considered their original settlement, still at the time some important concessions were made to several of that rank.

15. For by those censors the freed-men were enrolled in the four city tribes, excepting such as had a son more than five years old, who was their own offspring; all these the censors ordered to be surveyed in the tribe wherein they had been surveyed within the last five years; and such as had a farm, or farms, in the country, exceeding in value thirty thousand sesterces,[100] were allowed the privilege of being included in the country tribes. Though this reservation was made in their favour, yet Claudius still insisted, that “a censor could not, without an order of the people, take away from any man, and much less from a whole class of men, the right of suffrage. For though he can remove a man from his tribe, which is nothing more than ordering him to change it, yet he cannot, therefore, remove him out of all the thirty-five tribes; which would be to strip him of the rights of a citizen, and of liberty; not to fix where he should be surveyed, but to exclude him from the survey.” These points were discussed by the censors, who at last came to this compromise: that out of the four city tribes, they should openly, in the court of the temple of Liberty, select one by lot, in which they should include all those who had ever been in servitude. The lot fell on the Æsquiline tribe; on which Tiberius Gracchus published an order, that all sons of freed-men should be surveyed in that tribe. This proceeding gained the censors great honour with the senate, who gave thanks to Sempronius for his perseverance in so good a design, and also to Claudius for not obstructing it. Greater numbers were expelled from the senate, and ordered to sell their horses, by them than by their predecessors. They both concurred in removing from their tribes and disfranchising the same persons, in every instance; nor did one of them remove any mark of disgrace inflicted by the other. They petitioned that, according to custom, the year and half’s time allowed for enforcing the repairs of buildings, and for approving the execution of works contracted for, should be prolonged; but Cneius Tremellius, a tribune, protested against it, because he had not been chosen into the senate. This year Caius Cicereius dedicated a temple to Juno Monita on the Alban mount, five years after he had vowed it; and Lucius Postumius Albinus was inaugurated flamen of Mars.

16. The consuls, Quintius Ælius and Marcus Junius, having proposed the business of distributing, the provinces, the senate decreed that Spain, which during the Macedonian war had been but one province, should be again formed into two; and that the present governors, Lucius Paullus and Lucius Anicius, should continue in the government of Macedonia and Illyria, until, with the concurrence of commissioners, they should adjust the affairs of those countries disordered by the war, and reduce them to a form of government different from the regal. The provinces assigned to the consuls were Pisæ and Gaul, with two legions to each, containing separately five thousand two hundred foot and four hundred horse. The lots of the prætors were as follows: the city jurisdiction fell to Quintus Cassius; the foreign, to Manius Juventius Thalna; Sicily, to Tiberius Claudius Nero; Hither Spain, to Cneius Fulvius; and to Caius Licinius Nerva, Farther Spain. Sardinia had fallen to Aulus Manlius Torquatus, but he could not proceed thither, being detained by a decree of the senate, to preside at trials of capital offences. The senate was then consulted concerning prodigies which were reported: the temple of the tutelar deities, on the Velian hill, had been struck by lightning; and two gates, and a large part of the wall, in the town of Minervium. At Anagnia, a shower of earth had fallen; and, at Lanuvium, a blazing torch was seen in the sky. Marcus Valerius, a Roman citizen, reported, that at Calatia, on the public lands, blood had flowed from his hearth, during three days and two nights. On account of this last occurrence in particular, the decemvirs were directed to consult the books; on which they ordered a general supplication for one day, and sacrificed in the forum fifty goats. On account of the other prodigies, there was a supplication for another day, with sacrifices of the larger victims, and the city was purified. Then, with reference to the gratitude due to the immortal gods, the senate decreed, that, “forasmuch as their enemies were subdued, and the kings Perseus and Gentius, with Macedon and Illyria, were in the power of the Roman people, whatever offerings were made in all the temples by Appius Claudius and Marcus Sempronius, the consuls, on occasion of the conquest of king Antiochus, offerings of the same value should then be made, and that Quintus Cassius and Manius Juventius, the prætors, should superintend them.”

17. They then constituted commissioners, by whose advice the generals, Lucius Paullus and Lucius Anicius, were to regulate the affairs of their provinces; ten for Macedon, and five for Illyria. Those nominated for Macedon were, Aulus Postumius Luscus, Caius Claudius, both of whom had been censors, Caius Licinius Crassus, the colleague of Paullus in the consulship; he then held the province of Gaul, as he had the command continued to him. To these, who were of consular rank, the senate added Cneius Domitius Ænobarbus, Servius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Junius, Caius Antistius Labeo, Titus Numisius Tarquiniensis, and Aulus Terentius Varro. The following were nominated for Illyria: Publius Ælius Ligus, a man of consular rank, Caius Cicereius, Cneius Bæbius Tamphilus, (he had been prætor the last year, as had Cicereius many years before,) Publius Terentius Tuscivicanus, and Publius Manilius. The consuls were then advised by the senate, that, as one of them must go into Gaul, in the room of Caius Licinius, who was appointed a commissioner, they should, as soon as possible, either settle their provinces between themselves, or cast lots, as might be agreeable to them. They chose to cast lots; when Pisæ fell to Marcus Junius, (who was ordered to introduce to the senate the embassies that came to Rome from all quarters, with congratulations before he went to his province,) and Gaul to Quintus Ælius.

18. But although men of such characters were sent on the commission, that confident hopes might be entertained that the generals, influenced by their counsel, would determine on nothing derogatory either to the clemency or dignity of the Roman people, yet the heads of a plan of settlement were considered in the senate, that the said commissioners might carry, from Rome to the generals, an outline of the entire plan. First, it was determined, that “the Macedonians and Illyrians should be free; in order to demonstrate to all the world that the arms of the Roman people did not bring slavery to the free, but freedom to slaves, and that the nations which already enjoyed freedom, should be convinced that it would be safe and permanent under the protection of the Roman people; and that such nations as lived under regal government should be convinced that their princes, under awe of the Roman people, would be, at present, more just and mild; and that, should war break out at any time between their kings and the Roman people, the issue would bring victory to the latter, and liberty to themselves. It was also provided, that the farming both of the Macedonian mines, which produced a very large profit, and that of crown lands, should be abolished; as business of this kind could not be managed without the intervention of revenue farmers; and wherever a tax-contractor was employed, either the rights of the people were a nonentity, or the freedom of the allies destroyed. Nor could the Macedonians themselves conduct such affairs; for while they afforded the managers opportunities of acquiring plunder for themselves, there never would be wanting causes of disputes and seditions. It was further determined, that there should be a general council of the nation; lest the perverseness of the populace might, some time or other, convert into pestilent licentiousness the liberty granted by the senate with a wholesome degree of moderation: but that Macedonia should be divided into four districts, each of which should have a council of its own; and that they should pay to the Roman people half the tribute which they used formerly to pay to their kings.” Similar instructions were given respecting Illyria. Other particulars were left to the generals and commissioners; whose investigation of matters on the spot would enable them to form more accurate plans.

19. Among the many embassies from kings, nations, and states, Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, attracted the general attention in a very particular manner; for he was received by those who had served along with him in the late war, with even greater demonstration of kindness than if Eumenes had come in person. Two reasons, both, apparently, highly honourable, had induced him to come; one to offer congratulations, which were quite proper, in the case of a victory to which he himself had contributed; the other to complain of disturbances raised by the Gauls, and of a defeat received, by which his brother’s kingdom was endangered. But he had, also, secret hopes of honours and rewards from the senate, which he could scarcely receive without infringing on his duty to his brother. There were among the Romans some evil advisers, who were working on his ambition by promises. They told him, that “the general opinion concerning Attalus and Eumenes was, that one was a steady friend to the Romans, and that the other was not a faithful ally either to them or to Perseus. That it was not easy to determine whether the requests that he might make for himself, or those against his brother, were more likely to be obtained from the senate; so entirely were all disposed to gratify the one, and to grant nothing to the other.” As the event proved, Attalus was one of those who would have coveted all that hope can promise to itself, had not the prudent admonitions of one friend put a curb on those passions, which were growing wanton through prosperity. He had, in his retinue, a physician, called Stratius sent to Rome by Eumenes, who distrusted Attalus, for the purpose of watching over his conduct, and giving him faithful advice, if he should perceive him swerve from his allegiance. This man, although he had to address ears already prepossessed, and a mind already biassed, yet, by addressing him at judiciously selected times, restored the thing to its proper state, even after it had become almost desperate. He said that “different kingdoms grew into power by different means: that their kingdom being lately formed, and unsupported by any long-established strength, was upheld solely by the concord of the brothers; for, while one bore the title and the ornament which distinguishes the head of a sovereign, each of the brothers was considered as a king. As to Attalus, in particular, being the next in years, was there any man who did not consider him as king? and that, not only because they perceived his present power to be great, but because there was not a doubt but he must ascend the throne, in a very short time, in consequence of the age and infirmity of Eumenes, who had no legitimate issue” (for he had not at this time acknowledged the son who afterwards reigned). “To what purpose, then, employ violence, to attain what must come to him presently without any exertions on his part? Besides, a new storm had fallen on the kingdom, from the insurrection of the Gauls, which could scarcely be resisted by the most perfect harmony and union of the brothers. But if to a foreign war domestic dissensions were added, the evil could not be checked; nor would he effect any thing else than preventing his brother from dying on the throne, and depriving himself of the hope of ascending it. If both modes of acting were honourable,—either to preserve the kingdom for his brother, or to take it from him,—yet the honour that would result to him from the preservation of the kingdom, since it was united to brotherly love, would be the greater. The latter indeed, would be detestable, and bordering nearly on parricide; what room, then, could there be for deliberation? For, whether did he mean to demand a share of the kingdom, or to seize the whole? If he would demand a share, then both, by the separation of their strength, would be rendered feeble, and exposed to injuries of every kind; if the whole, would he then require his elder brother, reduced to a private station, at his time of life and labouring under such bodily infirmities, to live in exile, and die in such a wretched state. For, not to mention the catastrophes of undutiful brothers recorded in stories, the fate of Perseus seemed a striking instance, who, prostrated at the feet of a victorious enemy, laid down, in the temple of the Samothracians, before the gods, who, as it were, demanded satisfaction for his crimes, the crown which he had seized after the death of his brother.” “Those very men,” he continued, “who not through friendship for him, but enmity to Eumenes, had instigated him to the adoption of such measures, would praise his affection and firmness, if he preserved to the last his allegiance to his brother.”

20. These arguments prevailed in the mind of Attalus. Therefore, on being introduced to the senate, he congratulated them on their success, and made mention of his own services during the war, and those of his brother, whatever he had performed; of the defection of the Gauls, which had lately happened, and which had caused violent commotions; and he entreated that they should send ambassadors to those people, by whose authority they should be summoned to desist. After delivering these messages respecting the general interest of the state, he requested a grant of Ænus and Maronea to himself. Having thus disappointed the hopes of those who expected that he, after arraigning his brother’s conduct, would solicit a partition of the kingdom, he retired from the senate-house. Seldom on other occasions was either a king or private person heard with such a degree of favour and approbation by all; during his stay he received presents and honours of every description, and they treated him similarly at his departure. Of the many embassies which came from Greece and Asia, that of the Rhodians engaged the greatest share of the public attention. At first they appeared in white, the colour which was most becoming to persons congratulating others, for had they worn mourning, they might seem to be lamenting the misfortunes of Perseus. Afterwards the senate being consulted by the consul, Marcus Junius, (the ambassadors standing in the Comitium,) whether they should grant them lodgings, entertainments, and an audience of the senate they voted that no duty of hospitality was due to them. When the consul came out of the senate-house, after the Rhodians had told him that they were come to congratulate the Romans on their late success, and to clear their state of the charges made against it, and requested an audience of the senate, he returned this answer, that “it was the custom of the Romans both to grant audience in their senate, and to perform other acts of kindness and hospitality to their friends and allies; but that the Rhodians had not deserved in that war to be ranked in the number of friends or allies.” On hearing this, they all prostrated themselves on the ground, beseeching the consul and all present not to think it right that new and false imputations should operate more powerfully to their prejudice, than their long course of services, which they had themselves witnessed. They immediately assumed a mourning dress, and going round to the houses of the principal men, supplicated with prayers and tears that their cause might be heard before they were condemned.

21. Marcus Juventius Thalna, the prætor who had the jurisdiction between natives and foreigners, stimulated the public resentment against the Rhodians, and promulgated a bill, that “war should be declared against the Rhodians, and that the people should choose one of the magistrates of the present year, who should be sent with a fleet to carry on that war;” with the hope that he himself should be the person chosen. Two of the plebeian tribunes, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Pomponius, opposed this proceeding. But the prætor, on his part, commenced the business in an unprecedented and pernicious manner; for without first consulting the senate, and without acquainting the consuls, of his own sole judgment he proposed to the people the question, “was it their will and order that war should be declared against the Rhodians?” whereas, ever until then, the senate was first consulted concerning the war, and then the business was laid before the people. On the other side, the plebeian tribunes opposed this proceeding; although it was a received rule that no tribune should protest against a proposal, until opportunity was given to private citizens to argue for and against it; in consequence of which it had often happened that some, who had avowed no intention of protesting, having discovered defects in the law from the discourses of those who opposed it, on that account did protest; and some who came avowedly to protest, abstained from it, being convinced by the arguments of those who spoke in favour of the law. On this occasion the prætor and tribunes vied with each other in doing every thing out of time. While the tribunes blamed the hasty proceeding of the prætor, they imitated the example by protesting before their time. The only pretence they alleged for it was, the necessity for adjourning the entire deliberation concerning the Rhodians until the return of the general and the ten commissioners from Macedon, who, after most carefully weighing the matter according to the communications received in their letters and tablets, were likely to give certain information relative to the feelings which each state had borne towards Perseus or the Romans. But when the prætor, nevertheless, persisted in his determination, the matter came to this, that Antonius, the tribune of the commons, after bringing the ambassadors before the people, dragged down from the rostrum Thalna, who was attempting to ascend it contrary to his wishes, and was beginning to address the people, and gave the Rhodians an opportunity of speaking before the general assembly. But although the violent and, impetuous attempt of the prætor had been defeated by corresponding firmness on the part of the tribune, still anxiety did not as yet leave the minds of the Rhodians; for the senators bore them a most unfriendly feeling; so that the Rhodians were relieved from the impending evil for the present, rather than completely rescued from it. Therefore, when a meeting of the senate was granted to them, after requesting it for a long time and frequently, on their introduction by the consul they lay at first for a long time with their persons prostrated on the ground; afterwards, when the consul raised them up and ordered them to speak, Astymedes, whose appearance was most calculated to excite pity, spoke to the following effect: “Conscript fathers, this grief and degradation of allies, who enjoyed your friendship a short time ago, cannot fail to be pitied even by those who are irritated against us; and how much more justly will compassion enter your minds, if you will but consider the hard conditions under which we this day, in your presence, plead the cause of our state, already almost condemned. Others are accused prior to their condemnation; nor do they suffer punishment until their guilt is ascertained.

22. “Whether we Rhodians have transgressed, or not is yet doubtful; meanwhile we suffer punishments and disgraces of all sorts. In former times, when we visited Rome, after the conquest of Carthage, after the defeat of Philip, and after that of Antiochus, we were escorted from a mansion furnished us by the public, into the senate-house, to present our congratulations to you, conscript fathers, and, from the senate-house to the Capitol, carrying offerings to your gods. But now, from a vile and filthy inn, scarcely gaining a reception for our money, treated as enemies, and forbid to lodge within the city, we come in this squalid dress to the Roman senate-house: we, Rhodians, on whom a short time ago you bestowed the provinces of Lycia and Caria; on whom you conferred the most ample rewards and honours. You order even the Macedonians and Illyrians, as we hear, to be free; though they were in servitude before they waged war with you: (nor do we envy the good fortune of any; on the contrary, we acknowledge therein the usual clemency of the Roman people.) But will you convert, from allies into enemies, the Rhodians, who were guilty of nothing more than remaining neutral during the war? You are in truth the same Romans, who boast that your wars are successful because they are just; who glory not so much in the issue of them, in that you conquer, as in the commencement of them, because you do not undertake them without a just cause. The attack on Messana, in Sicily, made the Carthaginians your enemies. The siege of Athens, and attempt to reduce Greece to slavery, together with the assistance of men and money given to Hannibal, led to hostilities with Philip. Antiochus, on the invitation of the Ætolians, your enemies, came over in person with a fleet from Asia to Greece; and by seizing Demetrias, Chalcis, and the pass of Thermopylæ, endeavoured to dispossess you of empire. The motives to your war with Perseus were his attacks on your allies, and his putting to death the princes and leading members of certain states. But, if we are doomed to ruin, to what motive will our misfortune be ascribed? I do not yet separate the cause of the state from that of our countrymen, Polyaratus and Dino, with others, whom we have brought hither in order to deliver them into your hands. But supposing every one of us were equally guilty, I ask what was our crime with respect to the late war? We favoured the interest of Perseus; and we have supported that prince against you in like manner as, in the wars of Antiochus and Philip, we supported you against those kings. Now, in what manner we are accustomed to assist our allies, and with what vigour to conduct wars, ask Caius Livius and Lucius Æmilius Regillus, who commanded your fleets on the coasts of Asia. Your ships never fought a battle without us. We, with our own fleet, fought one engagement at Samos and a second on the coast of Pamphylia, against that distinguished commander, Hannibal. The victory, which we gained in the latter, was the more glorious to us because, although we lost a great part of our navy and the flower of our youth in the unsuccessful action at Samos, we were not deterred from venturing again to give battle to the king’s fleet on its return from Syria. These matters I have mentioned not out of ostentation, (that would ill become our present situation,) but to remind you in what way the Rhodians assist their allies.

23. “When Philip and Antiochus were subdued, we received from you very ample rewards. If the fortune of Perseus were such as yours now is by the favour of the gods and your own courage, and we were to go into Macedon, to the victorious king, to demand rewards from him, what merit should we have to plead? Is it that he was aided by us with money or corn; with land or sea forces? Had we defended his garrison? where had we, either under his generals or by ourselves? If he should inquire where were our soldiers or ships acting in concert with his; what answer could we give? Perhaps we might be pleading our cause before him, if successful, as we are now, before you. All that we have gained by sending ambassadors to both, to mediate a peace, is, that we received no thanks from either party, and incurred from one of them accusations and danger. Perseus, indeed, might justly object to us what you cannot, conscript fathers, that at the commencement of the war we sent ambassadors to Rome, promising supplies of all sorts requisite for the war, and engaging to be ready, as in former wars, with our docks, our arms, and our men. It was your fault that we did not perform this, since you, whatever was the reason, rejected our assistance on that occasion. We have, therefore, neither acted in any instance as enemies, nor been deficient in the duty of well-affected allies; but we were prevented by you from performing it. What then shall we say? Rhodians, has there been nothing said or done in your country which you disapprove of, and at which the Roman people would be justly offended? Henceforth I do not mean to defend what has been done, (I am not so weak,) but to distinguish the cause of the public from the guilt of private men. For there is no nation whatever that has not, generally, some ill-disposed members, and always an ignorant populace. I have heard, that even among the Romans there have been men who worked themselves into power by courting the multitude; that the plebeians sometimes seceded from you, and that the government was not always in your hands. If it were possible for this to happen in a state so well constituted, who can wonder at there being some among us, who, out of a wish to gain the king’s friendship, led our commons astray by bad advice? Yet they effected nothing more than our remaining inactive, without infringing on our duty. I shall not pass by that, which has been made the heaviest charge against our state during the war. We sent ambassadors at the same time to you and Perseus, to mediate a peace; and that unfortunate design was, by a furious orator, as we afterwards heard, rendered foolish to the last degree; for it is ascertained that he spoke in such a manner as Caius Popilius, the Roman ambassador, should have spoken, when you sent him to the two kings, Antiochus and Ptolemy, to induce them to cease from hostilities. But still, whether this conduct is to be called arrogance or folly, it was the same towards Perseus as towards you. States, as well as individuals, have their different characters; some are violent, others daring, others timid; some addicted to wine, others more particularly to women. Fame says that the Athenian nation was quick and bold, beyond its strength, in beginning an enterprise; and that the Lacedæmonian was dilatory and backward in entering upon business, even when confident of success. I cannot deny that Asia, throughout its whole extent, produces men too much inclined to vanity, and that the speech of even the Rhodians is too much tinctured with vain-glory, because we seem to have the pre-eminence above the neighbouring states; and that, too, owing not so much to our strength as to the marks of honour and esteem conferred on us by you. That embassy received on the spot sufficient reproof for its immediate misconduct, when it was dismissed with so severe an answer. But, if the disgrace which we then suffered was too trifling, surely the present mournful and suppliant embassy would be a sufficient expiation for an embassy even more insolent than that was. Irritable men hate arrogance; men of sense despise it, particularly if shown in words; more especially, if it be shown by an inferior towards a superior; but no one has ever yet thought it deserving of capital punishment. There was, in truth, danger lest the Rhodians should contemn the Romans! Some men have spoken, even of the gods, in terms too presumptuous; yet we have never heard of any one being struck with thunder on that account.

24. “What charge then remains, of which we are to acquit ourselves, since there has been no hostile act on our part, and the insolent language of an ambassador, though grating to the ear, has not deserved the ruin of a state. Conscript fathers, I hear that the estimate of the penalty for our secret wishes has become the subject of your conversation. Some assert that we favoured the king, and therefore that we should be punished with war; others, that we did indeed wish him success, but ought not, on that account, to suffer the penalty of war, since it has not been so instituted either by the practice or laws of any state, that if any one should wish an enemy to perish, he should be condemned, provided that he did nothing towards effecting his wishes. We feel, indeed, grateful to those who absolve us from the punishment, though not from the crime; but we lay down this law for ourselves: if we all entertained the wishes of which we are accused, we will then make no distinction between the will and the deed: let us all be punished. If some of our people in power favoured you, and others the king, I do not demand, that for the sake of us who were on your side, the favourers of the king may be saved; but I deprecate our perishing through them. You are not more inveterate against them than is our state itself; and most of them, when they ascertained this, fled, or put themselves to death, the others have been condemned by us, and they will soon be in your power, conscript fathers. The rest of us Rhodians, as we have merited no thanks during the war, so neither have we deserved punishment. Let the accumulation of our former services atone for our present dereliction of duty. You have recently waged war with three kings: let not the circumstance of our having been inactive in one of these wars, be more injurious to us than our having fought on your side in the other two has served us. Consider Philip, Antiochus, and Perseus, as you would three votes; two of them acquit us; one, although it would be unfavourable, is nevertheless doubtful. If they were to sit in judgment over us, we would be condemned. Conscript fathers, you are to decide, whether Rhodes is to continue on the earth or to be utterly destroyed. You are not deliberating concerning war, conscript fathers, for though it is in your power to declare war, it is not in your power to wage it, as not a single Rhodian will take up arms against you. If you persist in your anger, we will beg time from you, until we carry home an account of this unhappy embassy. We will then, every free person of all the Rhodians, both men and women, with all our wealth, embark in ships, and leaving the seats of our tutelar deities, both public and private, repair to Rome, where, heaping together in the Comitium, at the door of your senate-house, all our gold and silver, all the public and private property that we possess, we will submit our persons, and those of our wives and children, to your disposal; that, whatever we are to suffer, we may suffer here. Let our city be sacked and burned far away from our view. The Romans may pass a judgment, that the Rhodians are enemies; but we have also a right, in some degree, to judge ourselves; and we never will judge ourselves your enemies, nor do one hostile act, should we even suffer extreme calamities.”

25. After so mournful a speech, they all prostrated themselves again, and as supplicants, held out olive branches; but at length they were raised, and withdrew from the senate-house. They then began to ask the opinions of the senators. The most inveterate against the Rhodians were those, who as consuls, prætors, or lieutenant-generals, had been engaged in the war with Macedon. Marcus Porcius Cato was the principal supporter of their cause, who, though naturally austere, acted his part as a senator, on this occasion, with much mildness and lenity. I will not introduce here a specimen of his copious eloquence, by relating what he said: his speech is extant, and is comprised in the fifth book of his Antiquities. The answer given to the Rhodians was, that “they should neither be declared enemies, nor any longer remain in alliance with Rome.” At the head of this embassy were Philocrates and Astymedes. They determined that half their number, with Philocrates, should carry home to Rhodes an account of their proceedings; and that the other half, with Astymedes, should remain at Rome, that they might be acquainted with what passed, and inform their countrymen. For the present, they were commanded to remove their governors out of Lycia and Caria, before a certain day. This intelligence was announced at Rhodes; and although it was galling in itself, yet as the Rhodians were relieved from the dread of a greater evil, for they had feared a war, the announcement created joy. They therefore immediately voted a present, amounting in value to twenty thousand pieces of gold, and deputed Theætetus, the commander of their fleet, on that embassy. They wished to procure an alliance with the Romans; but, in such a manner, as that no order of the people should pass concerning it, nor any thing be committed to writing; for in either of these cases, if they failed in succeeding, there would be greater disgrace in the refusal. The admiral of the fleet was empowered, singly, to negotiate that business, if he could effect it without any law being brought forward at Rome on the subject; for, during a considerable length of time, they had maintained a friendship with the Romans, in such a manner as not to bind themselves by a treaty of alliance, for no other reason than that they might neither preclude the kings from all hope of their assistance, if any of them should need it, nor themselves from a participation of the advantages which might accrue from the good fortune and liberality of the said kings. At this time, however, an alliance seemed particularly desirable, not to render them more secure from others, (for excepting the Romans, they feared none,) but to make them less suspected by the Romans themselves. About this time, the Caunians revolted from them, and the Mylasensians seized on the towns of the Euromensians. The spirit of their community was not so totally broken as to hinder their perceiving, that, if Lycia and Caria were taken from them by the Romans, their other provinces would either assert their own freedom by a revolt, or be seized on by their neighbours; and that they themselves would then be shut up in a small island; within the shores of a barren country, which could by no means maintain the numerous people in so large a city. They therefore sent out with all speed, a body of troops, and reduced the Caunians to obedience, though they had received succours from Cybara: and afterwards defeated in a battle at Orthosia the Mylassians and Alabandians, who, having seized the province of Euroma, had marched against them with their allied forces.

26. Whilst these events are occurring in Rhodes, different matters are going on in Macedon and Rome; in the mean time, in Illyria, Lucius Anicius, having reduced king Gentius under his power, as before mentioned, placed Gabinius over a garrison that he posted in Scodra, which had been the capital of the kingdom; and appointed Caius Licinius commander in Rhizon and Olcinium, which were towns very conveniently situated. Leaving these two in charge of Illyria, he marched with the rest of his forces into Epirus. Here, Phanota was the first place which submitted to him; the whole multitude, with fillets on their heads, coming out to meet him. Placing a garrison there, he went over into Molossis, all the towns of which province, except Passora, Tecmo, Phylace, and Horreum, having surrendered, he marched first against Passora. The two men of the greatest authority in that city, were Antinous and Theodotus, who were remarkable for their warm attachment to Perseus, and hatred to the Romans; the same individuals had instigated the whole nation to revolt from the Romans. These men, since they had no hope of pardon, owing to their consciousness of guilt, shut the gates, that they might be buried under the general ruin of their country, and exhorted the multitude to prefer death to slavery. No man dared to open his lips against men of such transcendent power. At last one Theodotus, a young man of distinction, (when his greater dread of the Romans had overpowered the lesser fear of his own leaders,) exclaimed, “What madness has seized you, to make the public accessory to the crimes of two individuals? I have often heard mention made of men who offered themselves to death for the sake of their country; but those are the first that were ever found, who required that their country should perish for them. Why not open our gates, and submit to that power to which the whole world has submitted?” As he spoke thus, the multitude followed him; on which Antinous and Theodotus rushed out on the advanced guards of the enemy, and freely exposing themselves to their weapons, were slain, and the city was surrendered to the Romans. Through a similar obstinacy in Cephalus, a man in power, the gates of Tecmo were shut: when he was put to death, Anicius received the surrender of the town. Neither Phylace nor Horreum stood a siege. Having thus reduced Epirus, Anicius distributed his troops in winter quarters, through the most convenient towns; and returning into Illyria, held a general convention at Scodra, where the five commissioners had arrived from Rome, and to which place he had summoned the principal men from all parts of the province. There, with advice of the council, he proclaimed from his tribunal, that “the senate and people of Rome granted freedom to the Illyrians; and that he would withdraw his garrisons from all their towns, citadels, and castles. That the Issensians and Taulantians, with the Pirustans, that were included among the Dassaretians, the Rhizonites, and the Olcinians, should not only enjoy liberty, but likewise an immunity from taxes; because when Gentius was in his full strength, they had revolted to the Romans. That the same exemption was granted to the Daorseans; because they forsook Caravantius, and came over with their arms to the Romans; and that the Scodrans, Dassaretians, Selepitans, and the rest of the Illyrians, should pay half the taxes which they had formerly paid to their king.” He then divided Illyria into three districts; he made the first division out of the people above mentioned, the second comprehended all the Labeatians, and the third the Agranonites, Rhizonites, and Olcinians, with the contiguous states. Having established this constitution in Illyria, he returned into Epirus, to his winter quarters at Passaro.

27. While these matters are passing in Illyria, Paullus, before the arrival of the ten commissioners, sent his son Quintus Maximus, who was by this time returned from Rome, to sack Agassæ and Æginium: Agassæ, because the inhabitants, after surrendering their city to the consul, and voluntarily soliciting an alliance with Rome, had revolted again to Perseus: the crime of the people of Æginium was of a late date; not giving credit to the report of the Romans being victorious, they had treated with hostile cruelty some soldiers who came into the city. He also detached Lucius Postumius to pillage the city of Ænia; because the inhabitants had continued in arms with more obstinacy than the neighbouring states. Autumn now drew nigh; at the commencement of this season, when he resolved to make a tour through Greece, in order to take a view of those curiosities, which, being celebrated by fame, are represented as greater than they really are when examined by the eye, he gave the command of his quarters to Caius Sulpicius Gallus, and, with a moderate retinue, began his journey, accompanied by his son Scipio, and Athenæus, king Eumenes’ brother, and directed his route through Thessaly to the famous oracle at Delphi; where he offered sacrifices to Apollo, and, in honour of his victory, destined for his own statues some unfinished columns in the vestibule, on which they had intended to place statues of king Perseus. He also visited the temple of Jupiter Trophonius at Lebadia; where, after viewing the mouth of the cave, through which people applying to the oracle descend, in order to obtain information from the gods, he sacrificed to Jupiter and Hercyna, who have a temple there; and then went down to Chalcis, to see the curiosities of the Euripus, and of the island of Eubœa, which is there united to the continent by a bridge. From Chalcis he passed by sea to Aulis, a port three miles distant, famous for having been formerly the station of Agamemnon’s fleet of one thousand ships, and distinguished also for the temple of Diana, in which that king of kings sought a passage for his fleet to Troy, by offering his daughter Iphigenia as a victim at the altar. Thence he came to Oropus, in Attica; where an ancient prophet is worshipped as a god, and has an old temple, rendered delightful by the surrounding springs and streams. He then went to Athens, which, though filled with only the decayed relics of ancient grandeur, still contained many things worthy of observation; the citadel, the port, the walls connecting Piræeus with the city; the dockyards, the monuments of illustrious generals, the statues of gods and men, alike remarkable for the variety of the materials and the ingenuity of the artists.

28. After sacrificing to Minerva, the guardian of the citadel, he continued his journey, and on the second day arrived at Corinth. The city was then flourishing, as this visit was prior to its fall; the citadel too, and the isthmus, afforded admirable views; the former, within the walls, and towering up to an immense height, yet abounding with springs; and the latter, separating by a narrow neck two seas, which wash it on the east and west. He next visited the celebrated cities of Sicyon and Argos; then Epidaurus, which, though unequal to them in opulence, was yet remarkable for a famous temple of Esculapius, which, standing at five miles’ distance from the city, was at that time rich in offerings, which the sick had dedicated to that deity, as an acknowledgment for the remedies which restored them to health; but now, full of the traces of them only, whence they have been torn away. Thence he proceeded to Lacedæmon, renowned, not for magnificent works of art, but for its laws and discipline; and then, passing through Magalopolis, he went up to Olympia. Here, having taken a view of all things worthy of notice, and beholding Jupiter in a manner present before him, he was struck with the deepest reverence; therefore he ordered preparations to be made for a sacrifice, with more than usual magnificence, and as if he were going to make offerings in the Capitol; having made his circuit through Greece in such a manner as not to inquire into the sentiments which any one, either in his public or private capacity, entertained in the war against Perseus, lest he might disturb the minds of the allies with any kind of apprehensions. On his way back to Demetrias, a crowd of Ætolians, in mourning apparel, met him: on his expressing surprise, and asking the reason of this proceeding, he was told that five hundred and fifty of the chief of their countrymen had been put to death by Lyciscus and Tisippus, who surrounded their senate with Roman soldiers, sent by their commander Bæbius; that others had been driven into exile; and that the accusers were in possession of the goods of the killed and exiled. They were ordered to wait on him at Amphipolis; and then, having met Cneius Octavius at Demetrias, who informed him that the ten commissioners were landed, he laid aside all other business, and went to Apollonia to meet them. And when Perseus, owing to the negligence of his guard, had come hither to meet him from Amphipolis, (the distance is a day’s journey,) Æmilius spoke to him with great courtesy; but is said to have severely reprimanded Caius Sulpicius, when he reached the camp at Amphipolis; first, for allowing Perseus thus to ramble through the province, and next, for indulging the soldiers so far as to suffer them to strip the buildings on the city walls of the tiles, in order to cover their own winter huts. These tiles he ordered to be carried back the buildings to be repaired, and put in their former condition. He gave in charge to Aulus Postumius, Perseus, with his elder son Philip, and sent them into a place of confinement; his daughter and younger son he ordered to be brought from Samothrace to Amphipolis, and treated them with all possible kindness.

29. When the day arrived, on which he had ordered ten chiefs from each of the states to attend at Amphipolis, and all the writings wherever deposited, and the money belonging to the king, to be brought thither, he seated himself, with the ten commissioners, on his tribunal, while the whole multitude of the Macedonians surrounded him. Though they were inured to the government of a king, yet the strange tribunal presented a terrible appearance; the path that was cleared towards the prætor by the removal of the people, the herald, the sergeant, were all objects strange to their eyes and ears, and capable of inspiring awe in allies, much more in conquered enemies. Silence being proclaimed by the herald, Paullus declared in the Latin language the regulations adopted by the senate, and by himself with the advice of the council; and the prætor, Cneius Octavius, (for he too was present,) translated them into the Greek language, and read them aloud. First of all he ordered, that “the Macedonians should live free; possessing the same cities and lands as before; governed by their own laws, and creating annual magistrates; and that they should pay to the Roman people one-half of the taxes which they had paid to their kings. Next, that Macedon should be divided into four districts. That the division which should be deemed the first, should comprehend the lands between the rivers Strymon and Nessus: to this territory should be added the territory beyond the Nessus, towards the east, wherein Perseus had possessed villages, castles, or towns, excepting Ænus, Maronea, and Abdera; and the country beyond the Strymon, verging towards the west, including all Bisaltica, with Heraclea, which they call Sintice. That the second district should be the country enclosed by the river Strymon, on the east, where were excepted Sintice-Heraclea and Bisaltica, and by the river Axius on the west; to which should be added the Pœnians, who dwelt near the river Axius, and on its right bank. The third district comprised the territory bounded by the river Axius on the east, the Peneus on the west, and Mount Bora on the north. That to this division should be joined that tract of Pæonia, which stretches along the western side of the Axius; Edessa also, and Berœa, should be united to it. The fourth district was to consist of the country on the north of Mount Bora, touching Illyria on one side, and Epirus on the other. He then appointed the capitals of the districts in which the councils should be held: of the first district, Amphipolis; of the second, Thessalonica; of the third, Pella; and of the fourth, Pelagonia. In these he ordered that the councils of the several districts should be assembled, the public money deposited, and the magistrates elected.” He then gave notice, “that it was determined, that there should not be intermarriage, nor liberty to purchase lands or houses, out of the limits of their respective districts, that the mines of gold and silver must not be worked; but those of iron and copper might.” The tax imposed upon such persons as worked them, was one half of that which they had paid to the king. He likewise forbade the use of imported salt. To the Dardanians, who laid claim to Pæonia, because it had formerly been theirs, and was contiguous to their territory, he declared that, “he gave liberty to all who had been under subjection to Perseus.” After the refusal of Pæonia, he granted them liberty to purchase salt, and ordered that the third district should bring it down to Stobi, in Pæonia; and he fixed the price to be paid for it. He prohibited them from cutting ship timber themselves, or suffering others to cut it. To those districts which bordered on the barbarians, (and excepting the third, this was the case with them all,) he gave permission to keep armed forces on their frontiers.

30. These terms, announced on the first day of the convention, affected the minds of those who were present with very different emotions. Liberty being granted them beyond their expectation, and the annual tribute being lightened, gave them high satisfaction; but then, by the prohibition of a commercial intercourse between the districts, Macedon appeared dismembered, like an animal torn asunder into separate limbs, which stood in need of mutual aid from each other; so little did the Macedonians themselves know how great was the extent of their country, how aptly it was formed for a division and how content each part could be with its own resources. The first division contains the Bisaltians, men of the greatest courage (residing beyond the river Nessus, and on both sides of the Strymon); it has many peculiar productions of the vegetable kingdom, and mines also, and the advantages derived from the city of Amphipolis, which, standing just in the way, shuts up every passage into Macedonia from the east. The second division has two very remarkable cities, Thessalonica and Cassandria, and the country of Pallene, producing grain and fruits in abundance; its harbours at Torone and Mount Athos, (they call the latter the port of Ænea,) besides others, some of which are conveniently situated opposite Eubœa, and some upon the Hellespont, give it opportunities for maritime business. The third district has the celebrated cities of Edessa, Berœa, and Pella; and is partly inhabited by the Vettians, a warlike people; also by great numbers of Gauls and Illyrians, who are industrious husbandmen. The fourth district is occupied by the Eordæans, Lyncestans, and Pelagonians, to whom are joined Atintania, Stymphalis, and Elemiotis. All this tract is cold and rough, and unfavourable to tillage; it has men whose dispositions are like the land that they till. Their vicinity to the barbarians renders them more ferocious; for they at one time inure them to arms, and at another are in peace, and introduce their customs among them. Having separated the interests of the several districts of Macedon by this division, he declared that he would give them a constitution which should bind the Macedonians in general, when he was prepared to give them a body of laws also.

31. The Ætolians were then summoned to appear; in which trial the inquiry was directed to discover, rather, which party had favoured the Romans, and which the king, than which had done, and which suffered injury; for the murderers were absolved from guilt, and likewise the banishment of the exiles confirmed, and the death of the citizens overlooked. Aulus Bæbius alone was condemned for having lent Roman soldiers as agents in the butchery. This result in the case of the Ætolians puffed up the party which favoured the Romans to an intolerable degree of arrogance, throughout all the states and nations of Greece; and subjected all those, on whom the slightest suspicion of being in the king’s interest fell, to be trodden under their feet. Of the leading men in the states, there were three parties; two of which paying servile court either to the Romans, or the kings, sought to aggrandize themselves by enslaving their countries; while one, adopting a middle course, and struggling against both, stood up in support of their laws and liberty. Although the last had the greatest share of the affection of their countrymen, still they had the least interest among foreigners. The partisans of the Romans being elated by the success of their party, alone held the offices of magistracy, and alone were employed on embassies. Great numbers of these, coming from the diets of Peloponnesus, Bœotia, and other parts of Greece, filled the ears of the ten commissioners with insinuations, that “those who, through folly, had openly boasted of being friends and intimates of Perseus, were not the only persons who had favoured his cause; much greater numbers had done so in secret. That there was another party, who under pretence of supporting liberty, had, in the diets, advanced every measure contrary to the Romans; and that these nations would not continue faithful, unless the spirit of these parties was broken, and the influence of those, who had no other object than the advancement of the Roman power, was augmented and strengthened.” These persons, whose names were given in by this clique, were summoned by the general’s letter out of Ætolia, Acarnania, Epirus, and Bœotia, to follow him to Rome, and plead their cause. Two of the ten commissioners, Caius Claudius and Cneius Domitius, went to Achaia, that they might, on the spot, summon by proclamation the persons implicated. This was done for two reasons; one was because they believed that the Achæans would have greater spirit and confidence than the rest, and might disobey, and perhaps even endanger Callicrates, and other authors of the charges, and informers. The other reason for summoning them on the spot, was, that the commissioners had in their possession letters from the chief men of the other nations, which had been found among the king’s papers; but with regard to the Achæans the charges were not clear, because no letters of theirs had been discovered. When the Ætolians were dismissed, the Acarnanian nation was called in. No alteration was made in their situation, only Leucas was disunited from their council. Then making more extensive inquiries respecting those who had, publicly or privately, favoured the king, they extended their jurisdiction even into Asia, and sent Labeo to demolish Antissa, in the island of Lesbos, and to remove the inhabitants to Methymna; because they had received within their port, and supplied with provisions, Antenor, the commander of the king’s fleet, while cruising with his squadron on the coast of Lesbos. Two distinguished men were beheaded, Andronicus, son of Andronicus, an Ætolian, because, imitating his father, he had borne arms against the Roman people; and Neo, a Theban, by whose advice his countrymen had formed an alliance with Perseus.

32. This examination into foreign matters having intervened, the general assembly of the Macedonians was again summoned, and information was given them that “with regard to the government of Macedon, they must elect senators called by themselves Synedroi, by whose advice the republic should be directed.” Then was read a list of Macedonians of distinction, who, with their children above fifteen years of age, were ordered to go before him into Italy. This injunction, at first view cruel, appeared afterwards to the Macedonian populace to have been intended in favour of their freedom. For the persons named were Perseus’s friends and courtiers, the generals of his armies, and the commanders of his ships or garrisons; men accustomed to pay servile obedience to the king, and to domineer haughtily over others; some immoderately rich, others vying in expense with those to whom they were unequal in fortune, all living in regal pomp and luxury; in a word, none possessed of a disposition suited to a member of a commonwealth, and all incapable of paying due obedience to the laws, and of enjoying an equal participation of liberty. All, therefore, who had held any employment under the king, even those who had been upon the most trivial embassies, were ordered to leave Macedon and go into Italy; and the penalty of death was denounced against any who disobeyed the mandate. He framed laws for Macedon with such care, that he seemed to be giving them not to vanquished foes, but to allies who had merited well; laws so wise, that even experience (which is the only corrector of laws) could not find any fault in them after a long trial. Turning from serious business, he celebrated with great pomp at Amphipolis games, for which he had been making preparations for a long time, having sent people to the states and kings in Asia to give notice of the intended diversions, and in his late tour through Greece he had himself mentioned his design to the principal people. There came thither from every region in the world, multitudes of artists of every sort, skilled in such exhibitions, and vast numbers of wrestlers and noble horses; deputations also came with victims and every other mark of respect usually shown out of regard to gods or men, in great games of Greece. Hence it came to pass, that the people admired not only the magnificence, but likewise the skill displayed in the entertainments; in which kind of business the Romans were, at that time, quite inexperienced. Feasts were also provided for the ambassadors with the same degree of care and opulence. They made frequent mention of an expression of his, that to furnish out a feast, and to conduct games, seldom fell to the lot of him who knew how to conquer.

33. When the games of every kind were finished, he put the brazen shields on board the ships; the rest of the arms, being all collected together in a huge pile, the general himself, after praying to Mars, Minerva, mother Lua, and the other deities, to whom it is right and proper to dedicate the spoils of enemies, set fire to them with a torch, and then the military tribunes who stood round all threw fire on the same. It was remarkable, that, at such a general congress of Europe and Asia, where such multitudes were assembled, some to congratulate the victors, some to see the shows; and where such numerous bodies of land and naval forces were quartered, so great was the plenty of every thing, and so moderate the price of provisions, that presents of divers articles were made by the general to private persons, and states, and nations; not only for their present use, but even to carry home with them. The stage entertainments, the gymnastics, and the horse races, did not afford a more pleasing spectacle to the crowd which had assembled, than the Macedonian booty, which was all exposed to view, consisting of the ornaments of the palace at Pella, namely, statues, pictures, tapestry, and vases, formed of gold, silver, brass, and ivory, in so elaborate a manner, that they seemed intended not merely for present show, like the furniture of the palace of Alexandria but even for continual use. These were embarked in the fleet and given in charge to Cneius Octavius, to be carried to Rome. Paullus, after dismissing the ambassadors with great courtesy, crossed the Strymon, and encamped at the distance of a mile from Amphipolis; then resuming his march, he arrived on the fifth day at Pella. Having passed by that city, he halted for two days at a place called Spelæum, and detached his son Quintus Maximus and Publius Nasica, with half of the troops, to lay waste the country of the Illyrians, who had assisted Perseus in the war, ordering them to meet him at Oricum; then, taking the road to Epirus, on his fifteenth encampment, he reached the city of Passaro.

34. Not far from this was the camp of Anicius, to whom he sent a letter, desiring him not to be alarmed at any thing that should happen, for “the senate had granted to his soldiers the plunder of those cities in Epirus which had revolted to Perseus.” Having despatched centurions, who were to give out that they came to bring away the garrisons, in order that the Epirotes might be free, as well as the Macedonians; he summoned before him ten of the principal men of each city, and after giving them strict injunctions that all their gold and silver should be brought into the public street, he then sent cohorts to the several states. Those that were destined for the more remote states set out earlier than those who were sent to the nearer, that they might all arrive on the same day. The tribunes and centurions were instructed how to act. Early in the morning all the treasure was collected; at the fourth hour the signal was given to the soldiers to plunder, and so ample was the booty acquired, that the shares distributed were four hundred denariuses[101] to a horseman, and two hundred to a footman. One hundred and fifty thousand persons were led away captive. Then the walls of the plundered cities, they were about seventy in number, were razed; the effects sold, and the soldiers’ shares paid out of the price. Paullus then marched down to the sea to Oricum, having by no means satisfied the wishes of his men as he had imagined, for they were enraged at being excluded from sharing in the spoil of the king, as if they had not waged any war in Macedon. When he found, at Oricum, the troops sent with his son Maximus and Scipio Nasica, he embarked the army, and sailed over to Italy. Anicius, a few days after, having held a convention of the rest of the Epirotes and Acarnanians, and having ordered those of their chiefs, whose cases he had reserved for consideration, to follow him into Italy, waited only for the return of the ships that the Macedonian army had used, and then passed over to Italy. At the time that these events took place in Macedon and Epirus, the ambassadors that had been sent with Attalus, to put a stop to hostilities between the Gauls and king Eumenes, arrived in Asia. Having agreed to a suspension of arms for the winter, the Gauls were gone home, and the king had retired to Pergamus into winter quarters, where he fell sick of a grievous disease. The first appearance of spring drew out both parties from their respective homes; the Gauls had advanced as far as Synnada, while Eumenes had collected from every quarter his forces, at Sardis. Then the Romans held a conference with Solovettius, general of the Gauls, at Synnada, and Attalus accompanied them; but it was not thought proper that he should enter the camp of the Gauls, lest the passions of either party might be heated by debate. Publius Licinius held a conference with the Gallic chieftain, and brought back word that he was rendered more haughty by the attempt to persuade him; so that it might, therefore, seem matter of wonder that the mediation of Roman ambassadors should have had so great influence on Antiochus and Ptolemy, two powerful kings, as to make them instantly conclude a peace; and yet, that it had no influence with the Gauls.

35. The captive kings, Perseus and Gentius, with their children, were the first brought to Rome, and put in custody, and next the other prisoners; then such of the Macedonians and principal men of Greece as had been ordered to come to Rome; for of these, not only such as were at home were summoned by letter, but even those who were said to be at the courts of the kings. In a few days after, Paullus was carried up the Tiber to the city, in a royal galley of vast size, which was moved by sixteen tiers of oars, and decorated with Macedonian spoils, consisting not only of beautiful armour, but of tapestry, which had been the property of the king; while the banks of the river were covered with the multitudes that poured out to do him honour. After a few days, arrived Anicius, and Cneius Octavius with his fleet. A triumph was voted by the senate to all three: and instructions were given to Quintus Cassius, the prætor, to apply to the plebeian tribunes, who, by the authority of the senate, should propose to the commons the passing of an order to invest them with military command during the day on which they should ride through the city in triumph. Those in the middle rank are never assailed by popular displeasure, which usually aims at the highest. With regard to the triumphs of Anicius and Octavius, no hesitation was made; yet they detracted from the merits of Paullus, with whom these men could not, without blushing, set themselves in comparison. He had kept his soldiers under the ancient rules of discipline, and had made smaller donations out of the spoil, than they hoped to receive, since the treasures of the king were so large; for if he had indulged their avarice, there would have left nothing to be carried to the treasury. The whole Macedonian army was disposed to attend negligently in support of their commander, at the assembly held for the passing of the order. But Servius Sulpicius Galba, (who had been military tribune of the second legion in Macedon, and who was a personal enemy of the general,) by his own importunities, and by soliciting them through the soldiers of his own legion, had instigated them to attend in full numbers, to give their votes, and to “take revenge on a haughty and morose commander, by rejecting the order proposed for his triumph. The commons of the city would follow the judgment of the soldiery. Was it probable that he could not give the money? The soldiers could confer honours! Let him not hope to reap the fruits of gratitude among those from whom he had not merited them.”

36. The soldiers were urged on by these expressions, and when, in the Capitol, Tiberius Sempronius, tribune of the commons, proposed the order, and private citizens had an opportunity of speaking on the law, no one came forward to speak in favour of it, as there was not a doubt entertained of its passing. Whereupon Servius Galba suddenly came forward and demanded of the tribune, that, “as it was then the eighth hour, and as there would not be time enough to produce all the reasons for not ordering a triumph to Lucius Æmilius, they should adjourn to the next day, and proceed with the business early in the morning: for he would require an entire day to plead that cause.” When the tribune desired, that he would say then whatever he chose to object; by his speech he protracted the affair until night, representing to the people and reminding the soldiers, that “the duties of the service had been enforced with unusual severity; that greater toil and greater danger had been imposed on them than the occasion required; while, on the other hand, in respect of rewards and honours, every thing was conducted on the narrowest scale; and if such commanders succeeded, military employment would become more irksome and more laborious to the soldiers, while it would produce to the conquerors neither riches nor honours. That the Macedonians were in a better condition than the Roman soldiers. If they would attend next day, in full numbers, to reject the order, men in power would learn, that every thing was not in the disposal of the commander, but that there was something in that of the soldiery.” The soldiers, instigated by such arguments, filled the Capitol next day with such a crowd, that no one else could find room to vote. When the tribes which were first called in gave a negative to the question, the principal men in the state ran together to the Capitol, crying out, that “it was a shameful thing that Lucius Paullus, after his success in such an important war, should be robbed of a triumph; that commanders should be given up, in a state of subjection, to the licentiousness and avarice of their men. As it was, too many errors were made through a desire to gain popularity; but what must be the consequence if the soldiers were raised into the place of masters over their generals?” All heaped violent reproaches on Galba. At last, when the uproar was calmed, Marcus Servilius, who had been consul and master of the horse, requested from the tribunes that they would begin the proceedings anew, and give him an opportunity of speaking to the people. These, after withdrawing to deliberate, being overcome by the influence of the leading men of the state, began the proceedings over again, and declared that they would call back the tribes as soon as Servilius and other private persons should have delivered their sentiments.

37. Servilius then said: “Romans, if we had no other means of judging what a consummate commander Lucius Æmilius was, this one would be sufficient: that, notwithstanding he had in his camp soldiers so fickle and mutinously inclined, with an enemy so noble, so zealous, and so eloquent, to stir up the passions of the multitude, yet he never had any sedition in his army. That strictness of discipline, which they now hate, kept them then in order. Subjected to the ancient rules, they did not mutiny. If truly, Servius Galba wished to make his debut as an orator in the case of Lucius Paullus, and to give a specimen of his eloquence, still he ought not to obstruct his triumph, since, if there was no other reason in its favour, the senate had judged it to be well merited. But on the day after the triumph, when he should see Æmilius in a private station, he should prefer a charge, and prosecute him according to the laws; or else, at a later period, when he himself should be invested with magistracy, let him cite Paullus to a trial, and accuse his enemy before the people. By such conduct Lucius Paullus would both receive the reward of his proper conduct, a triumph for extraordinary success in war, and also meet punishment, if he had committed any thing unworthy of his former or present reputation. Instead of which, he has undertaken to detract from the merits of a man to whom he cannot impute either crime or dishonour. Yesterday he demanded a whole day, for making his charges against Lucius Paullus, and he spent four hours, which remained of that day, in delivering a speech to that purpose. What accused man was ever so transcendently wicked, that the offence of his life could not be set forth in that number of hours? And yet, in all that time, what did he object to him, that Lucius Paullus, if actually on his trial, would have wished to be denied? Let any one with me fancy for a moment, two assemblies: one composed of the soldiers who served in Macedon; the other, of sounder judgment, unbiassed either by favour or dislike; where the whole body of the Roman people is the judge. Let the cause of the accused be pleaded, first, before the citizens, peaceably assembled in their gowns. Servius Galba, what have you to say before the Roman citizens? for such a discourse, as you made before, is totally precluded. You were obliged to stand at your posts with too much strictness and attention; the watches were visited with too much exactness and severity; you had more fatigue than formerly, because the general himself went the rounds, and enforced the duties. On the same day you performed a march, and, without repose, were led forth to battle. Even when you had gained a victory, he did not allow you rest: he led you immediately in pursuit of the enemy. When he has it in his power to make you rich, by dividing the spoil, he intends to carry the king’s treasure in his triumph, and deposit it in the treasury. Though these arguments may have some incentive to stimulate the passions of soldiers, who imagine that too little deference has been shown to their licentious temper, and too little indulgence to their avarice; yet they would have no kind of influence on the judgment of the Roman people; who, though they should not recollect old accounts, and what they heard from their parents, of the numerous defeats suffered in consequence of the desire of commanders to gain popularity, or of victories gained in consequence of strict enforcement of discipline; yet must they surely remember, what a difference there was in the last Punic war between Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse, and Quintus Fabius Maximus, the dictator. The accuser, therefore, would soon know, that any defence, on the part of Paullus, would be superfluous.

38. “Let us now pass to the other assembly; and here I am not to address you as citizens, but as soldiers, if, indeed, this name can cause a blush, and inspire you with shame, for your injurious treatment of your general. And I for my part feel my own mind affected in a very different manner, when I suppose myself speaking to an army, from what it was, just now, when my speech was addressed to the commons of the city. For what say you, soldiers, is there any man in Rome, except Perseus, that wishes there should be no triumph over Macedon; and are you not tearing him in pieces with the same hands with which you subdued the Macedonians? That man, who would hinder you from entering the city in triumph, would, if it had been in his power, have hindered you from conquering. Soldiers, you are mistaken, if you imagine that a triumph is an honour to the general only, and not to the soldiers also, as well as to the whole Roman people. This honour does not belong to Paullus alone. Many who failed of obtaining a triumph from the senate, have triumphed on the Alban Mount, No man can wrest from Lucius Paullus the honour of having brought the Macedonian war to a conclusion, any more than he can from Caius Lutatius, that of putting an end to the first Punic war, or from Publius Cornelius, that of finishing the second; or from those who, since those generals, have triumphed. Neither will a triumph add to, or diminish, the honour of Lucius Paullus as a commander: the character of the soldiers, and of the whole Roman people, is more immediately concerned therein, lest they should incur the imputation of envy and ingratitude towards one of their most illustrious citizens, and appear to imitate, in this respect, the Athenians, who have persecuted their distinguished men by exciting the hatred of the populace. Sufficient error was committed by your ancestors in the case of Camillus, whom they treated injuriously, before the city was recovered from the Gauls through his means; error sufficient, and more than sufficient, was committed by you in the case of Publius Africanus. How must we blush, when we reflect that the habitation and house of the conqueror of Africa was at Liternum; that his tomb is shown at Liternum! And shall Lucius Paullus, equal to any of those men in renown, receive from you an equal share of ill-treatment? Let then this infamy be first blotted out, which is shameful in the eyes of other nations, and injurious to ourselves; for who will wish to resemble either Africanus, or Paullus, in a state ungrateful and inimical to the virtuous? If there were no disgrace in the case, and the question merely concerned glory, what triumph does not imply the general glory of the Roman race? Are all the numerous triumphs over the Gauls, the Spaniards, and the Carthaginians, called the triumphs of the generals only, or of the Roman people? As the triumphs were celebrated not merely over Pyrrhus, or Hannibal, or Philip, but over the Epirotes and Carthaginians; so it was not the individual, Manius Curius, or Publius Cornelius, nor Titus Quinctius, but the Romans, that triumphed. This, indeed, is the peculiar case of the soldiers, who, themselves both crowned with laurel, and conspicuous for the presents each one has received, proclaim the triumph by name, and march in procession through the city, singing their own and their commander’s praises. If, at any time, soldiers are not brought home from a province to such honours, they murmur; and yet, even in that case, they consider themselves distinguished, even in their absence, because by their hands the victory was obtained. Soldiers, if it should be asked, for what purpose you were brought home to Italy, and not disbanded immediately, when the business of the province was finished; why you came to Rome, in a body, round your standards; why you loiter here, and do not repair to your several homes: what other answer can you give, than that you wished to be seen triumphing? And, certainly, you have a right to show yourselves as conquerors.

39. “Triumphs have been lately celebrated over Philip, father of the present king, and over Antiochus. Both these triumphs over them took place when they were in possession of their thrones, and shall there be no triumph over Perseus, who has been taken prisoner, and, with his children, brought away to the city? But if Lucius Paullus, as a private citizen, should, amid the crowd of gowned citizens, interrogate, from the lower ground, those mounting to the Capitol in a chariot, and clad in gold and purple,—‘Lucius Anicius, Cneius Octavius, whether do you esteem yourselves, or me, more deserving of a triumph?’ I am confident they would yield him the chariot, and, through shame, themselves present to him their ensigns of honour. And do ye choose, citizens, that Gentius should be led in procession, rather than Perseus; do you wish to triumph over an accessary, rather than over the principal in the war? Shall the legions from Illyria, and the crews of the fleet, enter the city with laurel crowns; and shall the Macedonian legions, after being refused a triumph, be only spectators of other men’s glories? What then will become of such a rich booty, the spoils of a victory so lucrative? Where shall be buried so many thousand suits of armour, stripped from the bodies of the enemy? shall they be sent back to Macedon? Where shall be lodged the statues of gold, of marble, and of ivory: the pictures, the tapestries, such a quantity of wrought silver and gold, and such a mass of royal money? Shall they be conveyed to the treasury by night, as if they were stolen? What? when will that greatest of shows, the celebrated and powerful captive king, Perseus, be exhibited to the eyes of a victorious people? Most of us remember what a concourse the captured king Syphax, an auxiliary only in the Punic war, caused; and shall the captured king, Perseus, with his sons, Philip and Alexander, names so illustrious, be withdrawn from the eager gaze of the state? All men are eagerly anxious to behold Lucius Paullus himself, twice consul, the conqueror of Greece, entering the city in his triumphal chariot. We made him consul for this very purpose, that he should finish a war which had been protracted for four years, to our great shame. When he obtained that province by lot, and when he was setting out for it, with presaging minds, we destined to him victory and triumph; and shall we now, when he is victorious, refuse him a triumph; shall we defraud, not only men, but the gods also of the honours due to them? For a triumph is due to the gods also, and not to men only: your ancestors commenced every business of importance with worshipping them, and ended all in the same manner. The consul, or prætor, (when going to his province and to a war, dressed in his military robe, and attended by his lictors,) offers vows in the Capitol; and when he returns victorious, after bringing the war to a conclusion, carries in triumph to the Capitol, to the deities to whom he made the vows, the due offering of the Roman people. The victims that precede him are not the most immaterial part of the procession,—to demonstrate that the commander comes home with thanksgivings to the gods for the success granted to the state. You may slay at sacrifices performed by different persons, all those victims, which he has claimed to be led in his triumph. Do you intend to interrupt those banquets of the senate which (whether they are meant for the gratification of men, or both of gods and men) are not partaken of either in any private or even public unconsecrated place, but only in the Capitol,—because such is the will of Servius Galba? Shall the gates be shut against the triumph of Lucius Paullus? Shall Perseus, king of Macedon, with his children, the multitude of other captives, and the spoils of the Macedonians, be left behind on this side of the river? Shall Lucius Paullus, in a private character, go straight from the gate to his house, as if returning home from his country-seat? And do you, centurion, and you, soldiers, listen to the votes of the senate respecting your general, Paullus, rather than to what Servius Galba may invent? Listen to me, who say this, rather than to him. He has learned nothing, but to speak; and even that with rancour and malice. I have three-and-twenty times fought against the enemy, on challenges; from every one with whom I engaged, I brought off spoils. I have my body plentifully marked with honourable scars, all received in front.” It is said that he then stripped himself, and mentioned in what war each of his wounds was received; while he was showing these, he happened to uncover what ought to be concealed, and a swelling in his groins raised a laugh among those near him. He then said, “This too, which excites your laughter, I got by continuing days and nights on horseback; nor do I feel either shame or sorrow for it, any more than for these scars, since it never prevented me from rendering effectual service to the republic, either in peace or war. An aged soldier, I have shown to youthful soldiers this body of mine, often wounded by the weapons of the enemy. Let Galba expose his, which is sleek and unhurt. Tribunes, be pleased to call back the tribes to vote. Soldiers, I[102] will go down among you, and will follow you as you proceed to give your votes, and I will mark the turbulent and ungrateful, and such as require that they should not be governed by the general, but that he should become their willing slave, through a desire to gain popularity.” The great body of the soldiers felt so deeply the justice of this reproof, that they changed their minds, so that all the tribes, when recalled to give their votes, passed unanimously the bill concerning the triumph. Therefore Paullus, having at length overcome the malice and detraction of his enemies, celebrated a triumph over king Perseus and the Macedonians, which lasted three days, namely, the fourth, third, and second days, before the calends of December. This triumph, whether we consider the greatness of the conquered king, or the appearances of the images, or the quantity of money, was by far the most magnificent that was ever celebrated, so that by its greatness it precluded all comparison with occurrences of a similar nature. The people having raised stands, like those in the theatre, along the market-place and the other streets of the city, by which the procession was to move, were spectators, and were dressed in white gowns. All the temples were open, and were wreathed with garlands and smoking with incense. The lictors and beadles kept the whole extent of the streets clear, and the way open, by removing from the middle of them the mob, which was crowding together and wandering about. Although the gorgeous spectacle was destined to occupy three days, as we have already mentioned, yet the first day scarcely sufficed for the procession of the statues and paintings, which were placed on two hundred and fifty chariots. The next day all the most beautiful and most magnificent arms of the Macedonians were carried along on many waggons; and these arms were glittering with all the brightness of steel, or lately polished brass, and were piled up in such a manner with regard to one another, that although they seemed to be heaped up in masses rather than artificially arranged, yet they presented to the eye a striking appearance, owing to this very fortuitous and confused arrangement: helmets were mixed with shields, and coats of mail with greaves, and Cretan targets, and Thracian bucklers, and quivers, in one heap with the bridles of horses, and naked swords exposing their threatening points, and Macedonian spears projecting from the sides. And as all these arms were loosely bound together, whenever they clashed with one another in the carriage, they sent forth a certain terrible and martial sound, so that not even the arms of the conquered could be viewed without a feeling of fear. Then more than seven hundred and fifty vases, filled with coined silver, were borne along by three thousand men. Each vase contained three talents, and was borne by four men. There were some who bore silver bowls, and goblets, and cups, and vessels made of horn, remarkable as well for the beauty of their arrangement, as for their size and weight, and the surpassing workmanship of the raised carving. On the third day, at the very dawn, the trumpeters began the march, playing not only the festal strains which were usual in solemn processions, but also sounding the war-notes, as if they were advancing to battle. A hundred and twenty fat oxen with gilded horns, and adorned with fillets and wreaths of flowers, were led along. Young men, begirt with bands of exquisite workmanship, led the bulls along; and to them were added as companions, boys who bore golden and silver goblets. Then followed the persons who bore the coined gold in seventy-seven vases, each of which contained three talents, like those in which the silver was carried. Then was seen the sacred goblet, ten talents in weight, adorned with precious gems, which Paullus had ordered to be made, and also the goblets of Antigonus and Seleucus, and the cups made by Thericles, and other distinguished artists, all made of gold, with to which the saloons of Perseus had been furnished. After them came the chariot of Perseus, laden with his arms, and a diadem in addition. A band of captives followed, namely, Bethys, the son of king Cotys, who had been sent by his father into Macedon as a hostage, and subsequently taken by the Romans along with the children of Perseus; then the children of Perseus themselves, accompanied by a band of tutors and guardians, who in tears stretched forth their hands mournfully to the spectators, and instructed the boys to implore suppliantly the mercy of the victorious people. There were two sons and one daughter who excited the greater commiseration in the spectators, because they themselves, on account of their age, could scarcely comprehend their misfortunes. Therefore the majority of the spectators could not refrain from tears, and a sort of silent grief saddened the minds of all, and prevented them from enjoying real pleasure, as long as the children met their gaze. Behind his children walked Perseus with his wife, in a mourning robe, dressed in sandals, after the Greek custom, like a person stupified and astonished, whom the greatness of his calamities seemed to have deprived of reason. Then followed a crowd of friends and acquaintances, in whose countenances deep grief was depicted, for whenever they gazed on the king they wept bitterly, demonstrating clearly that they were grieved on account of his calamities, but forgot their own. Perseus had endeavoured to avert this ignominy by entreaties, and had sent persons to Æmilius, to beg that he should not be led in the triumphal procession. Æmilius smiled at the dastardly spirit of the wretch, and said, “that this request was formerly, and is even now, under his own actions and power;” thereby giving him a silent hint, that he should avoid by a noble death that of which he was afraid. But his irresolute mind was not capable of adopting so determined a design, and under the soothing influence of some hope, he preferred being considered part of his own spoil. Then four hundred golden crowns were carried along, which had been sent by almost all the states of Greece and Asia, through their ambassadors, as gifts to Paullus, and an expression of their joy for his victory: their value, if they were considered intrinsically, was immense, yet they constituted a slight addition to the enormous treasures which were borne in that triumph.

40. Valerius Antias tells us, that the total of the captured gold and silver, carried in the procession, was one hundred and twenty millions of sesterces;[103] but from the number of chariots, and the weights of the gold and silver, specifically set down by himself, the amount is unquestionably made much greater. An equal sum, it is said, had been either expended on the late war, or dissipated during the flight, when he sought Samothrace; and it was more wonderful on this account, because so large a quantity of money had been amassed within the space of the thirty years that intervened since Philip’s war with the Romans, partly out of the produce of the mines, and partly from the other branches of revenue. Philip began war against the Romans almost destitute of money; Perseus, on the contrary, was immensely rich. Last came Paullus himself, in his chariot, making a very majestic appearance, both from the dignity of his person, and from his age. After his chariot, among other illustrious personages, were his two sons, Quintus Maximus and Publius Scipio; then the cavalry, troop by troop, and the cohorts of infantry, each in its order. The donative distributed among them was one hundred denariuses[104] to each footman, double to a centurion, and triple to a horseman; and it is believed that he would have given as much more to the infantry, and in the same proportion to the others, had they not objected to his attaining the present honour, or had they answered with thankful acclamations, when that sum was announced as their reward. But Perseus, led through the city of his enemies in chains, before the chariot of the general, his conqueror, was not the only instance at the time of the misfortunes incident to mankind; another appeared even in the victorious Paullus, though glittering in gold and purple. For, of two sons, (whom, after having given away two others on adoption, he had retained at home, the sole heirs of his name, household gods, and estate,) the younger, about twelve years old, died five days before the triumph, and the elder fourteen years of age, three days after it; who ought to have been carried in the chariot with their father, dressed in the prætexta, and anticipating, in their hopes, the like kind of honours for themselves. A few days after, at a general assembly granted by Marcus Antonius, tribune of the people, after Paullus has descanted on his own proper services, as usually done by other commanders, his speech was memorable, and worthy of a Roman chief.

41. “Although, Romans, I think you are not ignorant that I have successfully administered the state, nor that two dreadful strokes have lately crushed my house; since now my triumph and now the funerals of my two sons have been exhibited to your view; yet permit me, I pray you, to take in few words, and with that temper which becomes me, a comparative view of my own private situation, and the happy state of the public. Departing from Italy, I sailed from Brundusium at sun-rise; at the ninth hour, with my whole squadron, I reached Corcyra. On the fifth day after that I offered sacrifice to Apollo, at Delphi, in expiation of myself, of your armies and fleets. From Delphi I arrived on the fifth day in the camp; where, having received the command of the army, and altered several matters which greatly impeded success, I advanced into the country; as the enemy’s camp was impregnable, and Perseus could not be brought to an action, I forced the pass of Petra in the very face of his guards, and at length, compelled the king to come to an engagement, and gained a complete victory. I reduced Macedonia under the power of the Romans; and in fifteen days finished a war, which four consuls before me had for four years conducted in such a manner, that each left it to his successor more formidable than he had found it. Other prosperous events followed in consequence of this; all the cities of Macedon submitted; the royal treasure came into my hands; the king himself, with his children, was taken in the temple of Samothrace, just as if the gods themselves delivered him into my hands. I now thought my good fortune excessive, and on that account to be suspected; I began to dread the dangers of the sea in carrying away the king’s vast treasure, and transporting the victorious army. When all arrived in Italy, after a prosperous voyage, and I had nothing further to wish, I prayed that (as fortune generally from the highest elevation rolls backwards) my own house, rather than the commonwealth, might feel the change. I hope, therefore, that the republic is free from danger, by my having undergone such an extraordinary calamity, as to have my triumph, in mockery as it were of human fortunes, intervene between the funerals of my two sons. And though Perseus and myself are at present exhibited as the most striking examples of the vicissitudes of mortals, yet he,—who, himself in captivity saw his children led captive,—has them still in safety; while I who triumphed over him, went up in my chariot to the Capitol from the funeral of one son, and came down from the Capitol to the bed of the other, just expiring; nor out of so large a family of children is there one remaining to bear the name of Lucius Æmilius Paullus. For, as out of a numerous progeny, the Cornelian and Fabian families have two of them who were given in adoption. In the house of Paullus, except the old man, none remains. However, your happiness, and the prosperous state of the commonwealth, console me for this ruin of my house.” 42. These words, expressed with such magnanimity, moved the minds of the audience with deeper commiseration than if he had with tears bewailed the loss of his children in the most plaintive terms.

Cneius Octavius celebrated a naval triumph over king Perseus, on the calends of December. That triumph was without prisoners or spoils. He distributed to each seaman seventy-five denariuses;[105] to the pilots who were on board, twice that sum; and to the masters of ships, four times. A meeting of the senate was then held. The fathers ordered that Quintus Cassius should conduct king Perseus and his son Alexander to Alba, to be there kept in custody; but that he should retain his attendants, money, plate, and furniture. Bitis, son to the king of Thrace, was sent to Carseoli; with the hostages he had given to Macedon, the rest, who had been led in triumph, were ordered to be shut up in prison. A few days after this passed, ambassadors came from Cotys, king of Thrace, bringing money to ransom his son and the said hostages. When they were introduced to an audience of the senate, and alleged, as an argument, in excuse of Cotys, that he had not voluntarily assisted Perseus in the war, but had been compelled to do it; and likewise requested the senate to allow the hostages to be ransomed, at any price that should be judged proper; the following answer was returned to them: that “the Roman people remembered the friendship which had subsisted between them and Cotys, and likewise his predecessors, and the Thracian nation; that the giving of hostages was the very fault laid to his charge, and not an apology for it; for Perseus, even when at rest from others, could not be formidable to the Thracian nation, much less when he was embroiled in a war with Rome. But that notwithstanding that Cotys had preferred the favour of Perseus to the friendship of the Roman people, yet the senate would consider rather what suited their own dignity, than what treatment he had merited; and would send home his son and the hostages; that the kind acts of the Roman people were always gratuitous, and that they chose to leave the value of them in the memory of the receivers, rather than to demand it at the time.” Titus Quintius Flamininus, Caius Licinius Nerva, and Marcus Caninius Rebilus were nominated ambassadors to conduct the hostages to Thrace; and a present of two thousand asses[106] was made to each of the Thracian ambassadors. Bithys was fetched from Carseoli, and, accompanied by the hostages, was sent to his father along with the ambassadors. Some of the king’s ships which were taken from the Macedonians, which were of a size never seen before, were hauled ashore in the field of Mars.

43. While the memory of the Macedonian triumph was remaining not only in the minds but almost before the eyes of the people, Lucius Anicius triumphed over king Gentius and the Illyrians, on the day of the festival of Quirinus. These exhibitions were considered rather as similar than equal. The commander himself was inferior; Anicius was not to be compared in renown with Æmilius; a prætor, in dignity of office, with a consul; neither could Gentius be set on a level with Perseus, nor the Illyrians with the Macedonians; nor the spoils, nor the money, nor the presents obtained in one country, with those obtained in the other. But though the late triumph outshone the present, yet the latter, when considered by itself, appeared very far from contemptible. For Anicius had, in the space of a few days, entirely subdued the Illyrian nation, though they were remarkable for their courage both on land and sea, and confident in the strength of their position; he had also taken their king and the whole royal family. He carried in his triumph many military standards, and much spoil of other sorts, with all the royal furniture; and also twenty-seven pounds’ weight of gold, and nineteen of silver, besides three thousand denariuses,[107] and, in Illyrian money, the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand.[108] Before his chariot were led Gentius, with his queen and children; Caravantius, the king’s brother, and several Illyrian nobles. Out of the booty he gave forty-five denariuses[109] to each footman, double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman; to the Latin allies the like sums as to natives, and to the seamen the same as to the soldiers. The soldiers attended this triumph with greater demonstrations of joy than that of Æmilius, and the general was celebrated in abundance of songs. Valerius Antias says, that twenty thousand sesterces[110] were produced by the sale of the booty, besides the gold and silver carried to the treasury; but, as no sources appeared from which such a sum could be raised, I have set down my authority instead of asserting the fact. King Gentius, with his queen, children, and brother, was, pursuant to an order of the senate taken to Spoletium, to be kept there in custody; the rest of the prisoners were thrown into prison at Rome; but the people of Spoletium refusing the charge, the royal family was removed to Iguvium. There remained of the Illyrian spoil, two hundred and twenty barks, which Quintus Cassius, by order of the senate, distributed among the Corcyreans, Apollonians, and Dyrrachians.

44. The consuls of this year, after merely ravaging the lands of the Ligurians, as the enemy never brought an army into the field, returned to Rome to elect new magistrates, without having performed any matter of importance; and on the first day on which the assembly could meet, they appointed Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and Caius Sulpicius Gallus, consuls. Lucius Livius, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, Aulus Licinius Nerva, Publius Rutilius Calvus, Publius Quintilius Varus, and Marcus Fonteius, were elected prætors on the next day. The two city provinces, the two Spains, Sicily, and Sardinia were decreed to these prætors. There was an intercalation made in the calendar this year, which took place on the day after the feast of Terminus. One of the augurs, Caius Claudius, died this year, and Titus Quintus Flamininus was chosen in his place by the college. The flamen quirinalis, Quintus Fabius Pictor, died also. This year king Prusias arrived at Rome with his son Nicomedes. Coming into the city with a large retinue, he went directly from the gate to the forum, to the tribunal of the prætor, Quintus Cassius; and a crowd immediately collecting, he said, that “he came to pay his respects to the deities inhabiting the city of Rome, and to the Roman senate and people, to congratulate them on their conquest of the two kings, Perseus and Gentius, and the augmentation of their empire by the reduction of Macedon and Illyria under their dominion.” When the prætor told him that, if he chose it, he would procure him audience of the senate on the same day, he desired two days’ time, in which he might go round and visit the temples of the gods, see the city, and his acquaintances and friends. Lucius Cornelius Scipio, then quæstor, who had been sent to Capua to meet him, was appointed to conduct him around Rome. A house was likewise provided, capable of lodging him and his retinue with convenience. On the third day after, he attended at a meeting of the senate. He congratulated them on their success, recounted his own deserts towards them during the war, and then requested that “he might be allowed to fulfil a vow of sacrificing ten large victims in the Capitol, and one to Fortune at Præneste; a vow which had been made for the success of the Roman people. He further desired that the alliance with him might be renewed; and that the territory taken from king Antiochus, and not granted to any other, but now in possession of the Gauls, might be given to him.” Lastly, he recommended to the senate his son Nicomedes. He was assisted by the interest of all those who had commanded armies in Macedon; his requests therefore were granted, except that with regard to the territory, concerning which he received this answer: that “they would send ambassadors to examine the matter on the spot. If the territory in question had become the property of the Roman people, and if no grant had been made of it, they would deem no other so deserving of a present of the kind as Prusias. But if it had not belonged to Antiochus, it evidently, in consequence, did not become the property of the Roman people; or if it had been already granted to the Gauls, Prusias must excuse the Roman people if they did not choose to confer a present on him in violation of the rights of others. A present cannot be acceptable to the receiver, which he knows the donor may take away whenever he thinks proper. That they cheerfully accepted his recommendation of Nicomedes; and Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was an instance of the great care with which the Roman people supported the children of their friends.” With this answer Prusias was dismissed. Presents were ordered to be given him to the value of * * * * sesterces besides vases of silver, weighing fifty pounds. And they voted that gifts should be given to his son Nicomedes of the same value with those given to Masgaba, the son of king Masinissa; and that the same victims, and other matters pertaining to sacrifices, should be furnished to the king at the public expense, as to the Roman magistrates, whenever he chose to make the offering, either at Rome or at Præneste; and that twenty ships of war should be assigned to him, and which were then lying at Brundusium, of which he should have the use until he arrived at the fleet which was presented to him. That Lucius Cornelius Scipio should not quit him, but defray all his expenses, and those of his retinue, until they went on board the ships. We are told that Prusias was wonderfully rejoiced at the kind treatment which he received from the Roman people; that he refused all that had been offered to himself, but ordered his son to receive the present of the Roman people. Such are the accounts given of Prusias by our own writers. Polybius, however, represents that king as having degraded the majesty of his name,—and says that he used to meet the ambassadors, wearing a cap, and having his head shaved, calling himself a freed slave of the Roman people, and, accordingly, bearing the badges of that class; that likewise at Rome, when coming into the senate-house, he stooped down and kissed the threshold; called the senate his tutelar deities, and used other expressions not so honourable to the hearers as disgraceful to himself. He staid in the city and its vicinity not more than thirty days, and then returned to his kingdom, and the war that had been carried on in Asia. * * * * * * * * * *

Here ends all that has reached us of this history. Of ninety-five books more, which it originally consisted of, the contents only have been preserved; they are as follow:—

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Book XLVI

King Eumenes came to Rome. [Y. R. 586. B. C. 166.] A general law was introduced, that no king should be permitted to come to Rome, in order that he might not appear to be declared an enemy, if he were excluded; nor yet justified, if he were admitted—because he had remained neutral in the Macedonian war. The consul, Claudius Marcellus, subdued the Alpine Gauls; and Caius Sulpicius Gallus the Ligurians. [Y. R. 587. B. C. 165.] The ambassadors of king Prusias complain of Eumenes, for ravaging their borders; they accuse him of entering into a conspiracy, with Antiochus, against the Romans. A treaty of friendship was made with the Rhodians, upon their solicitation, [Y. R. 588. B. C. 164.] A census was held by the censors; the number of the citizens was found to be three hundred and twenty-seven thousand and twenty-two. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus was chosen chief of the senate. Ptolemy, king of Egypt, being dethroned by his younger brother, was restored by ambassadors sent from Rome. [Y. R. 589. B. C. 163.] Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, died, and was succeeded by his son Ariarathes, who entered anew into a treaty of friendship with the Romans. [Y. R. 590. B. C. 162.] Expeditions against the Ligurians, Corsicans, and Lusitanians, were attended with various success. Commotions took place in Syria, on occasion of the death of Antiochus, who had left a son, an infant; Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, who had been a hostage at Rome, secretly murders this young Antiochus, with his tutor Lysias, because he was not dismissed by the Romans, and usurps the kingdom, [Y. R. 591. B. C. 161.] Lucius Æmilius Paullus, the conqueror of Perseus, died. Such was the moderation and integrity of this great commander, that, notwithstanding the immense treasures he had brought from Spain and Macedon, upon the sale of his effects, there could scarcely be raised a sum sufficient to repay his wife’s fortune, [Y. R. 592. B. C. 160.] The Pomptine marshes were drained, and converted into dry land, by the consul, Cornelius Cethegus.

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Book XLVII

Cneius Tremellius, a plebeian tribune, was [Y. R. 593. B. C. 159] fined for contending in an unjust cause with Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, the chief priest; which greatly enhanced the authority of the priesthood. A law was made respecting the canvassing for offices, [Y. R. 594. B. C. 158.] A census was held: the number of Roman citizens was found to be three hundred and twenty-eight thousand three hundred and fourteen. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus was again chosen chief of the senate. A treaty was concluded between the Ptolemies, brothers, that one should be the king of Egypt, the other of Cyrene. [Y. R. 595. B. C. 157.] Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, being deprived of his kingdom by the intrigues and power of Demetrius, king of Syria, was restored by the senate. Ambassadors were sent by the senate to determine a territorial dispute between Masinissa and the Carthaginians, [Y. R. 596. B. C. 156.] Caius Marcius, the consul, fought against the Dalmatians, at first unfortunately; but afterwards successfully. The cause of this war was, that they had made inroads upon the Illyrians, who were in alliance with the people of Rome. [Y. R. 597. B. C. 155.] The Dalmatians were subdued by the consul, Cornelius Nasica. The consul, Quintus Opimius, defeats the Transalpine Ligurians, who had plundered Antipolis and Nicæa, two towns belonging to the Massilians. [Y. R. 598. B. C. 154.] Various ill successes occurred under different commanders, in Spain. In the five hundred and ninety-eighth year from the foundation of the city, the consuls enter upon office immediately after the conclusion of their election; which alteration was made on account of a rebellion in Spain. [Y. R. 599. B. C. 153.] The ambassadors sent by the senate to determine a dispute between Masinissa and the Carthaginians return, and report that the Carthaginians had collected a vast quantity of materials for ship-building. Several prætors, accused of extortion by different provinces, were condemned and punished.

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Book XLVIII

A census was held by the censors [Y. R. 600. B. C. 152]; the number of citizens amounted to three hundred and twenty-four thousand. The causes of the third Punic war are enumerated: when a large army of Numidians was said to be in the territory of the Carthaginians, with Ariobarzanes, the descendant of Syphax, as general, Marcus Porcius Cato advised that war should be declared against the Carthaginians, because they had invited Ariobarzanes into their country, apparently to oppose king Masinissa, but in reality against the Romans. Publius Scipio Nasica being of a contrary opinion, it is resolved to send ambassadors to Carthage, to inquire into the truth of the affair. The Carthaginian senate being reproved for levying forces, and preparing materials for ship-building, contrary to treaty, declare themselves ready to make peace with Masinissa, upon condition of his giving up the lands in dispute. But Gisgo, son of Hamilcar, a man of a seditious disposition, at that time chief magistrate, notwithstanding the determination of the senate to abide by the decision of the ambassadors, urges the Carthaginians to war against the Romans, in such strong terms, that the ambassadors are obliged to save themselves by flight from personal violence. On this being announced at Rome, the senate becomes more highly incensed against them. Cato, being poor, celebrated the funeral obsequies of his son, who died in the office of prætor, at a very small expense. Andriscus, an impostor, pretending to be the son of Perseus, king of Macedonia, was sent to Rome. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, who had been six times declared chief of the senate, on his death-bed, gives strict orders to his sons that he shall be carried out to burial on a couch, without the usual ornaments of purple and fine linen, and that there shall not be expended on his funeral more than ten pieces of brass: alleging that the funerals of the most distinguished men used, formerly, to be decorated by trains of images, and not by vast expense. An inquiry was instituted concerning poisoning. Publicia and Licinia, women of high rank, accused of the murder of their husbands, were tried before the prætor, and executed, [Y. R. 601. B. C. 151.] Gulussa, son of Masinissa, gives information that troops were levying and a fleet fitting out at Carthage, and that there could be no doubt of their intending war. Cato urging a declaration of war, and Nasica speaking against it, entreated the senate to do nothing rashly; it is resolved to send ten ambassadors to inquire into the affair. The consuls, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and Aulus Postumius Albinus, carrying on the levying of soldiers with inflexible severity, were committed to prison by the tribunes of the people, for not, at their entreaty, sparing some of their friends. The ill success of the war in Spain having so discouraged the citizens of Rome, that none could be found to undertake any military command or office, Publius Cornelius Æmilianus comes forward, and offers to undertake any office whatever, which it should be thought proper to call him to: roused by his example, the whole body of the people make the like offer. It was thought that the consul, Claudius Marcellus, had reduced all the states of Celtiberia to a state of tranquillity; nevertheless, his successor, Lucius Lucullus, is engaged in war with the Vaccosans, Cantabrians, and other nations of Spaniards, hitherto unknown; all of which he subdues. In this war, Publius Cornelius Africanus Scipio Æmilianus, the son of Lucius Paullus, and nephew, by adoption, of Africanus, a military tribune, slays a barbarian who had challenged him, and distinguishes himself highly at the siege of Intercatia; being the first who scaled the wall. The prætor, Servius Sulpicius Galba, fights against the Lusitanians unsuccessfully. When the ambassadors, returning from Africa, together with some Carthaginian deputies, and Gulussa, reported that they found an army and a fleet ready for service at Carthage, the matter was taken into consideration by the senate. Cato, and other principal Senators, urge that an army should be immediately sent over into Africa; but Cornelius Nasica declaring that he yet saw no just cause for war, it is resolved that it should not be declared, provided the Carthaginians would burn their fleet, and disband their troops; but if not, that then the next succeeding consuls should propose the question of war. A theatre which the censors had contracted for, being built, Cornelius Nasica moves, and carries the question, that it be pulled down, as being not only useless, but injurious to the morals of the people: the people, therefore, continue to behold the public shows standing. Masinissa, now ninety-two years old, vanquishes the Carthaginians, who had made war against him unjustly, and contrary to treaty. By this infraction of the treaty, they also involve themselves in a war with Rome.

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Book XLIX

The commencement of the third Punic war, dated [Y. R. 602. B. C. 150], which was ended within five years after it began. Marcus Porcius Cato, deemed the wisest man in the state, and Scipio Nasica, adjudged by the senate to be the best, differ in opinion, and have a sharp altercation: Cato urging the demolition of Carthage; Nasica arguing against it. It was, however, resolved, that war should be declared against the Carthaginians, for having fitted out a fleet contrary to treaty, and led forth an army beyond the boundaries of their state; for having committed hostilities against Masinissa the friend and ally of the Romans; and refusing to admit Gulussa, who accompanied the ambassadors into their city. [Y. R. 603. B. C. 149.] Before any forces were embarked, ambassadors came from Utica, and surrendered their state and property to the Romans: an ominous circumstance highly pleasing to the Roman senate, and at the same time a grievous mortification to the Carthaginians. Games were exhibited at Tarentum, in honour of Pluto, according to directions found in the Sibylline books, the same as had been celebrated a hundred years before, during the first Punic war. [Y. R. 502.] The Carthaginians send thirty ambassadors to Rome to make a tender of submission; but the opinion of Cato, that the consuls should be ordered to proceed immediately to the war prevails. These, passing over into Africa, receive three hundred hostages, and take possession of all the arms and warlike stores to be found in Carthage; they then, by authority of the senate, command them to build themselves a new city, at least ten miles from the sea. Roused by this indignant treatment, the Carthaginians resolve to have recourse to arms. Lucius Marcius and Marcus Manlius, consuls, lay siege to Carthage. During this siege, two military tribunes force their way in, with their troops, in a place which they observed to be negligently guarded; they are set upon and beaten by the townsmen, but rescued afterwards by Scipio Africanus, who also, with a few horsemen, relieves a Roman fort, attacked by the enemy in the night. He also repulsed the Carthaginians, who sallied forth in great force to attack the camp. When, afterwards, one of the consuls (the other having gone to Rome to hold the elections) observed that the siege of Carthage was not going on prosperously, and proposed to attack Hasdrubal, who had drawn up his forces in a narrow pass, he (Scipio) first advised him not to venture upon an engagement on ground so very disadvantageous: and then, when his advice was overruled by those who were envious both of his prudence and valour, he himself rushed into the pass; and when the Romans were routed and put to flight, as he foresaw would take place, he returns with a very small body of horse, rescues his friends, and brings them off in safety. Which valiant action, Cato, although much more inclined to censure than to praise, extols in the senate in very magnificent terms: saying that all the others, who were fighting in Africa, were but mere shadows; Scipio was life itself: and such was the favour he gained among his fellow-citizens, that at the ensuing election the greater number of the tribes voted for electing him consul, although he was under the legal age. Lucius Scribonius, tribune of the people, proposes a law, that the Lusitanians, who, notwithstanding they had surrendered upon the faith of the Roman people, had been sold in Gaul, by Servius Galba, should be restored to liberty; which Marcus Cato supports with great zeal, as may be seen by his oration, which is still extant, being published in his annals. Quintus Fulvius Nobilior, although Cato had before handled him with great severity, yet takes up the cause of Galba. Galba himself too, apprehensive of being condemned, taking up in his arms his own two infant children, and the son of Sulpicius Gallus, speaks in his own behalf, in such a piteous strain of supplication, that the question was carried in his favour. One Andriscus, a man of the meanest extraction, having given himself out to be the son of Perseus, and changed his name to Philip, flies from Rome, whither Demetrius had sent him, on account of this audacious forgery; many people believing his fabulous account of himself to be true, gather round him, and enable him to raise an army; at the head of which, partly by force, and partly by the willing submission of the people, he acquires the possession of all Macedon. The story which he propagated was this: that he was the son of Perseus by a harlot; that he had been delivered to a certain Cretan woman to be taken care of, and brought up; in order that whatever might be the event of the war, in which the king was at that time engaged with the Romans, some one, at least, of the royal progeny might remain. That, upon the death of Perseus, he was educated at Adramytteum, until he was twelve years old; ignorant all along of his real parentage, and always supposing himself to be the son of the person who brought him up. That, at length, this person being ill, and about to die, discovered to him the secret of his birth; informing him at the same time of a certain writing, sealed with the royal signet of Perseus, which had been intrusted to his supposed mother, to keep and give to him, when he should attain to manhood: but with the strictest injunctions that the affair should be kept a profound secret until the arrival of that period. That, when the time came, the writing was delivered to him; in which was indicated a very considerable treasure, left him by his father. That the woman, after informing him fully of the circumstance of his birth, earnestly besought him to quit that part of the country before the affair should come to the knowledge of Eumenes, the enemy of his father Perseus, lest he should be murdered. That, fearful of being assassinated, and in hopes also of receiving some assistance from Demetrius, he had gone into Syria; and had there first ventured openly to declare who he was.

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Book L

The aforesaid impostor [Y. R. 604. B. C. 148] assuming the name of Philip, being about to invade and forcibly possess himself of Thessaly, was prevented by the Roman ambassadors, with the aid of the Achæans. Prusias, king of Bithynia, a man abandoned to the practice of every vice, was murdered by his son Nicomedes, assisted by Attalus, king of Pergamus. He had another son, who in the place of teeth in his upper jaw, is said to have had one entire bone. The Romans send an embassy to negotiate peace between Nicomedes and Prusias; it happening that one of the ambassadors had his head deformed by scars, from many wounds; another was lame from gout, and the third was of weak understanding: Cato said, it was an embassy without head, feet, or heart. The king of Syria was of the royal race of Perseus; but being, like Prusias, addicted to every vicious pursuit, and passing his whole time in tipplinghouses, brothels, and such like places of infamous resort, Ammonus rules in his stead; and puts to death all the king’s friends, together with his queen Laodice, and Antigonus, the son of Demetrius. Masinissa, king of Numidia, a man of a character truly illustrious, dies, aged upwards of ninety years; he retained the vigour of youth even to his last years; and begot a son at the age of eighty-six. Publius Scipio Æmilianus, being authorized by his will so to do divides his kingdom into three parts, and allots their respective portions of it to his three sons, Micipsa, Gulussa, and Manastabal. Scipio persuades Phamæas, general of the Carthaginian cavalry, under Himilco, a man highly looked up to and relied upon by the Carthaginians, to revolt to the Romans, with the troops under his command. Claudius Marcellus, one of the three ambassadors sent to Masinissa, was lost in a storm. Hasdrubal, nephew of Masinissa, was put to death by the Carthaginians, who suspected him of treasonable views, on account of his affinity to Gulussa, now the friend of the Romans. Scipio Æmilianus, when a candidate for the ædileship was elected consul by the people, though under age: a violent contest arises from this, the people supporting, the nobles opposing, his election; which, at length, terminates in his favour. Manius Manlius takes several citizens in the neighbourhood of Carthage. The impostor Philip, having slain the prætor, Publius Juventius, and vanquished his army, was himself afterwards subdued and taken prisoner by Quintua Cæcilius, who recovered Macedonia.

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Book LI

Carthage, [Y. R. 605. B. C. 147,] comprehended in a circuit of twenty-three miles, was besieged with immense exertion, and was gradually taken; first, by Mancinus, acting as lieutenant-general; and afterwards by Scipio, the consul, to whom Africa was voted as his province, without casting lots. The Carthaginians having constructed a new mole, (the old one being destroyed by Scipio,) and equipped, secretly, in an unusually short space of time, a considerable fleet, engage, unsuccessfully, in a sea-fight. Hasdrubal, with his army, notwithstanding he had taken post in a place of extremely difficult approach, was cut off by Scipio; who at length took the city by storm, in the seven hundredth year after its foundation. [Y. R. 606. B. C. 146.] The greater part of the spoil was returned to the Sicilians, from whom it had been taken. During the destruction of the city, when Hasdrubal had given himself up into Scipio’s hands, his wife, who, a few days before, had not been able to prevail upon him to surrender to the conqueror, casts herself, with her two children, from a tower into the flames of the burning city. Scipio, following the example of his father, Æmilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedon, celebrates solemn games; during which he exposes the deserters and fugitives to wild beasts. The origin of the Achæan war is referred to the circumstance of the ambassadors of the Romans being expelled from Corinth by the Achæans, when they were sent to separate from the Achæan council those cities which had been under the dominion of Philip.

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Book LII

Quintus Cæcilius Metellus engages and conquers the Achæans, together with the Bœotians and Chalcidians. Critolaus, their unsuccessful general, poisons himself; in whose room, the Achæans choose as general, Diæus, the chief promoter of the insurrection; he also is conquered, in an engagement near Isthmos, and all Achaia reduced; Corinth was demolished, by order of the senate, because violence had been done there to the ambassadors. Thebes also, and Chalcis, for having furnished aid to the Achæans, were destroyed. Lucius Mummius afforded in himself an example of extreme forbearance, for, having all the vast wealth and splendid ornaments of the opulent city of Corinth in his power, he took none of them. Quintus Cæcilius Metellus triumphs, on account of his victory, over Andriscus; likewise Publius Cornelius Scipio, for the conquest of Carthage and Hasdrubal. [Y. R. 607. B. C. 145.] Viriathus, in Spain, from a shepherd becomes a hunter, then leader of a band of robbers; afterwards general of a powerful army, with which he possesses himself of all Lusitania, having vanquished the prætor, Petilius, and put his army to flight. Caius Plautius, the prætor, sent against him, is equally unfortunate. So successful was his career, that, at length, it was deemed necessary to send a consul, at the head of a consular army, against him. Commotions in Syria, and wars between the kings in those parts are recorded. Alexander, a man utterly unknown, and of an unknown race, murders Demetrius, and usurps the crown in Syria: he is afterwards slain by Demetrius, (son of the before-mentioned Demetrius,) aided by Ptolemy, king of Egypt, whose daughter he had married. Ptolemy grievously wounded in the head; dies of the operations intended for the cure of his wounds; and is succeeded by his younger brother, Ptolemy, king of Cyrene. Demetrius, by his cruelty towards his subjects, provokes an insurrection; is vanquished by Diodotus, and flies to Seleucia, while Diodotus claims the crown for Alexander, a child scarcely two years old. Lucius Mummius triumphed over the Achæans, and so carried in his triumph brazen standards, marble statues, and pictures.

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Book LIII

Appius Claudius, the consul, [Y. R. 608. B. C. 144,] subdued the Salacians, a nation of the Alps. Another impostor, assuming the name of Philip, appears in Macedonia, but is vanquished by the quæstor, Lucius Tremellius. [Y. R. 609. B. C. 143.] Quintus Cæcilius Metellus, the proconsul, defeats the Celtiberians. [Y. R. 610. B. C. 142.] Quintus Fabius, the proconsul, takes many cities of Lusitania, and recovers the greatest part of that country. Caius Julius, a senator, writes the history of Rome in the Greek language.

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Book LIV

Quintus Pompeius, the consul, [Y. R. 611. B. C. 141,] subdues the Termestines in Spain, and makes peace with them, and also with the Numantines. A census was held,—the number of citizen amounts to three hundred and twenty-eight thousand three hundred and forty-two. Ambassadors from Macedon complain that Decius Junius Silanus, the prætor, had extorted money from that province; Titus Manlius Torquatus, the father of Silanus, sought and obtained permission to inquire into the matter. And the case having been considered at home, he condemned and disowned his son, and did not even attend his funeral after he had hung himself, but continued to sit at home, and give audience to those who consulted him, as if nothing, which concerned him, had happened, [Y. R. 612. B. C. 140.] Quintus Fabius, the proconsul, having successfully terminated the war, stains the honour of his victories by making peace with Viriathus, upon terms of equality, [Y. R. 613. B. C. 139.] Servilius Cæpio procures the death of Viriathus, by traitors; he is much bewailed, and interred with distinguished funeral honours by his army. He was, in truth, a great man, and a valiant general; and in the fourteen years during which he carried on war with the Romans, had very frequently vanquished their armies.

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Book LV

While Publius Cornelius Nasica, [Y. R. 614. B. C. 138,] (who was nicknamed Scrapio by the plebeian tribune Curiatius, a man of humour,) and Decius Junius Brutus, the consuls, were holding the levies, an act of public justice was done, in the sight of the whole body of the young men then assembled, which afforded a very useful example: Caius Matienus was accused, before the tribunes, of deserting from the army in Spain; being found guilty, he was scourged under the gallows, and sold as a slave, for a sestertius.[111] The tribunes of the people claimed the privilege of exempting from service any ten soldiers whom they thought proper; on this being refused by the consuls, they commit the latter to prison. Junius Brutus, the consul in Spain, allots lands, and a town called Valentia, to the soldiers who had served under Viriathus. Marcus Popilius, having made peace with the Numantines, which the senate refused to ratify, was routed, and his whole army put to flight. [Y. R. 615. B. C. 137.] While Caius Hostilius Mancinus, the consul, was sacrificing, the holy chickens escape from their coop, and fly away; afterwards, as he was getting on board his ship, to sail for Spain, a voice is heard crying out, “Go not, Mancinus, go not.” The event afterwards proves these omens to have been inauspicious: for, being vanquished by the Numantines, and driven out of his camp, when he had no prospect of preserving his army, he made a disgraceful peace, which the senate likewise refused to ratify. Upon this occasion thirty thousand Romans were beaten by only four thousand Numantines. Decius Junius Brutus subdues all Lusitania, as far as the western sea; and when his soldiers refused to pass the river Oblivio, he seizes the standard and carries it over; whereupon they follow him. The son of Alexander, king of Syria, was traitorously murdered by his guardian Diodotus, surnamed Tryphon: his physicians were bribed to give out that he had a stone in his bladder; and in pretending to cut him for it, they killed him.

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Book LVI

[Y. R. 616. B. C. 136.] Decius Junius Brutus fought with success against the Gallæcians, in Farther Spain: Marcus Æmilius Lepidus engages the Vaccæans, unsuccessfully, and is as unfortunate as Mancinus was against the Numantines. The Romans, to absolve themselves from the guilt of breach of treaty, order Mancinus, who made the peace with the Numantines, to be delivered up to that people; but they refuse to receive him. [Y. R. 617. B. C. 135.] The lustrum was closed by the censors: the number of citizens was three hundred and twenty-three thousand. Fulvius Flaccus, the consul, subdued the Vardeans in Illyria. Marcus Cosconius, the prætor, fights against the Scordiscians, in Thrace, and conquers them. The war in Numantia still continuing, owing to the ill-conduct of the generals, the senate and people voluntarily confer the consulship upon Scipio Africanus: on which occasion the law, which prohibits any man from being elected consul a second time, is dispensed with. [Y. R. 618. B. C. 134.] An insurrection of the slaves arose in Sicily; which is committed to the care of the consul, Caius Fulvius, when the prætor is unable to quell it. Eunus, a slave, a Syrian by birth, was the author of this war; by gathering a large body of the rustic slaves, and breaking open the prisons, he raised a considerable army: Cleon also, another slave, having assembled seventy thousand slaves, joins him; and they, several times, engage the Roman forces in those parts.

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Book LVII

Scipio Africanus laid siege to Numantia, [Y. R. 619. B. C. 133,] and restored to the strictest military discipline the army, which had been corrupted by licentiousness and luxury: this he effected by cutting off every kind of pleasurable gratification; driving away the prostitutes who followed the camp, to the number of two thousand; keeping the soldiers to hard labour, and compelling every man to bear on his shoulders provisions for thirty days, besides seven stakes for their fortifications; to any one who lagged behind on account of the burden, he used to cry out, When you are able to defend yourself with your sword, then cease to carry your fortification; he ordered another who carried with ease a small shield, to bear one unusually large; and not unfrequently ridiculed them for being more expert in managing their shields for the defence of their own bodies, than their swords for the annoyance of those of the enemy. When he found any man absent from his post, he ordered him to be flogged with vine twigs, if a Roman; if a foreigner, with rods. He sold all the beasts of burden, that the soldiers might be forced to carry their own baggage. He engaged in frequent skirmishes with the enemy, with good success. The Vaccæans, being reduced to extremity, first put their wives and children to death, and then slew themselves. Antiochus, king of Syria, having sent him some very magnificent presents, Scipio, contrary to the practice of other commanders who used to conceal these royal gifts, received them openly, and ordered the quæstor to place the whole to the public account, and promised out of them, to reward those who should most distinguish themselves by their valour. When Numantia was closely invested on all sides, he gave orders that those who came out in search of victuals should not be killed; saying, that the more numerous the inhabitants were, the sooner would their provisions be consumed.

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Book LVIII

Titus Sempronius Gracchus, the plebeian tribune, having proposed an Agrarian law, (contrary to the sense of the senate, and the equestrian order,) to the effect that no person should hold more than five hundred acres of the public lands, wrought himself up to such a degree of passion that he deprived his colleague, Marcus Octavius, of his authority by a law which he made, and appointed himself, together with his brother Caius, and his father-in-law Appius Claudius, commissioners for dividing the lands. He also proposed another Agrarian law, by which the land was still more at his disposal, that the same commissioners should be authorized to determine which was public and which private land. When afterwards it appeared that there was not land sufficient to be divided so as to satisfy the people, whose hopes he had raised to cupidity by the expectations held out to them, he declared that he would propose a law, that all those, who by the law of Sempronius were entitled to such grant, should be paid in money out of the bequest of king Attalus. But Attalus, king of Pergamus, son of Eumenes, had made the Romans his heirs. The senate was roused to indignation at such repeated ill-treatment; and chiefly Publius Mucius, the consul, who, having delivered a severe invective against Gracchus in the senate, was seized by him, dragged before the people, and accused; nevertheless he continued to inveigh against him from the rostrum. Gracchus, endeavouring to procure his re-election as tribune, was slain in the Capitol, by the chief nobles, by the advice of Publius Cornelius Nasica, after having been beaten first with the fragments of the seats, and was thrown, without the rites of sepulture, into the river, together with some others who fell in the tumult. Various engagements, with various success, against the slaves in Sicily are recorded.

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Book LIX

The Numantines, reduced to the extremity of distress by famine, put themselves to death. Scipio having taken the city, destroys it and triumphs in the fourteenth year after the destruction of Carthage, [Y. R. 620. B. C. 132.] The consul, Publius Rupilius, puts an end to the war with the slaves in Sicily. Aristonicus, the son of king Eumenes, invades and seizes Asia; which having been bequeathed to the Roman people by Attalus, ought to be free. The consul, Publius Licinius Crassus, who was also chief priest, marches against him out of Italy, (which never was done before,) engages with him in battle, is beaten and slain. Marcus Peperna, the consul, subdued Aristonicus. Quintus Metellus and Quintus Pomponius, the first plebeians who were ever both at one time elected censors, closed the lustrum; the number of citizens amounted to three hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, besides orphans and widows, [Y. R. 621. B. C. 131.] Quintus Metellus gives his opinion, that every man should be compelled to marry, in order to increase the population of the state. His speech upon the occasion, is still extant, and so exactly does it apply to the present times, that Augustus Cæsar read it in the senate upon occasion of his proposing to release marriage from all restraints on account of the difference of rank. Caius Atinius Labeo, tribune of the people, orders the censor, Quintus Metellus, to be thrown from the Tarpeian rock for striking him out of the list of the senate; but the other tribunes interfere and protect him. [Y. R. 622. B. C. 130.] Quintus Carbo, the plebeian tribune, proposes a law that the people might have the power of re-electing the same tribune as often as they please: Publius Africanus argues against the proposition in a speech of great energy, in which he asserts that Tiberius Gracchus was justly put to death. Gracchus supports the proposed law; but Scipio prevails. War was waged between Antiochus, king of Syria, and Phraates, king of Parthia, nor does the record show that greater tranquillity existed in Egypt. Ptolemy, surnamed Evergetes, being detested on account of his cruelty by his subjects, who set his palace on fire, escaped to Cyprus, and when the people conferred the kingdom upon his sister Cleopatra, whom he had divorced, after having first ravished and then married her daughter; he being enraged, murders the son he had by her at Cyprus, and sent his head and limbs to the mother, [Y. R. 623. B. C. 129.] Seditions were excited by Fulvius Flaccus, Caius Gracchus, and Caius Carbo, appointed to carry into execution the Agrarian law: these were opposed by Publius Scipio Africanus, who going home at night in perfect health, was found dead in his chamber the next morning. His wife, Sempronia, sister of the Gracchuses, with whom Scipio was at enmity, was strongly suspected of having given him poison: no inquiry however was made into the matter. Upon his death the popular seditions blaze out with great fury. Caius Sempronius, the consul, fought the Iapidæ, at first unsuccessfully, but soon repairs all his losses by a signal victory, gained by the valour of Junius Brutus, the conqueror of Lusitania.

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Book LX

Lucius Aurelius subdued the rebellious Sardinians, [Y. R. 624. B. C. 128.] Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, who first subdued the Transalpine Ligurians, was sent to assist the Massilians, against the Salvian Gauls, who were ravaging their country. Lucius Opimius, the prætor, caused the revolted Fregellans to lay down their arms, and destroyed Fregellæ. [Y. R. 625. B. C. 127.] An extraordinary multitude of locusts in Africa, killed and lying dead on the ground, is said to have produced a pestilence, [Y. R. 626. B. C. 126.] The censors closed the lustrum: the number of the citizens was three hundred and ninety thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. [Y. R. 627. B. C. 125.] Caius Gracchus, the plebeian tribune, the brother of Tiberius, even more eloquent than his brother, carried some very dangerous laws; among others, one respecting corn, that the people shall be supplied with the article in the market at the rate of half and a third of an as; also an Agrarian law, the same as his brother’s: and a third intended to corrupt the equestrian order, who at that time were subservient in all their opinions to the senate: namely, that six hundred of them should be admitted into the senate: these six hundred equestrians were to be joined to three hundred senators for at that time there were only three hundred senators; that is, in other words, that the equestrian order should have double influence in the senate. His office being continued to him another year, by Agrarian laws which he passed, he caused that many colonies should be led out into Italy, and he himself, having been made triumvir, headed one to the territory of demolished Carthage, [Y. R. 628. B. C. 124.] The successful expeditions of the consul Quintus Metellus against the Balearians, called by the Greeks Gymnesians, because they go naked all the summer, are recorded. They are called Balearians, from their skill in throwing weapons; or, as some will have it, from Baleus, the companion of Hercules, who left him there behind him, when he sailed to Geryon. [Y. R. 629. B. C. 123.] Commotions in Syria, in which Cleopatra murders her husband Demetrius, and also his son Seleucus, for assuming the crown without her consent, upon his father’s death, are also mentioned.

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Book LXI

Caius Sextius, the proconsul, [Y. R. 630. B. C. 122,] having subdued the nation of the Salyans, founds a colony, which he named Aquæ Sextiæ, after his own name, and on account of the abundance of water which he found there, flowing both from hot and cold springs, [Y. R. 631. B. C. 121.] Cneius Domitius, the proconsul, fought the Allobrogians with success at the town of Vindalium. The cause of this war was their receiving, and furnishing with all the aid in their power, Teutomalius, the king of the Salyans, who had fled to them, and their ravaging the lands of the Æduans, who were in alliance with the people of Rome. [Y. R. 632. B. C. 120.] Caius Gracchus, upon the expiration of his seditious tribunate, seized upon the Aventine mount with a considerable number of armed followers; Lucius Opimius, by a decree of the senate, armed the people, drove him from it, and put him to death, together with Fulvius Flaccus, a man of consular rank, a participator of the same wild project. Quintus Fabius Maximus, the consul, nephew of Paullus, gained a battle against the Allobrogians and Bituitus, king of the Arvernians, in which one thousand one hundred and twenty of the army of Bituitus were slain, [Y. R. 633. B. C. 119.] The king having come to Rome to make satisfaction to the senate, was sent prisoner to Alba, there to be kept in custody, as it was not considered safe to send him back to Gaul. A decree was also passed, that his son, Congentiatus, should be taken and sent to Rome. The Allobrogians were admitted to a capitulation. Lucius Opimius, being brought to trial before the people for committing to prison some citizens who had not been condemned, was acquitted.

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Book LXII

The consul, Quintus Marcius, [Y. R. 634. B. C. 118,] subdued the Stonians, an Alpine nation. Micipsa, king of Numidia, dying, bequeathed his kingdom to his two sons, Adherbal, Hiempsal, and Jugurtha, his nephew, whom he had adopted. [Y. R. 635. B. C. 117.] Lucius Cæcilius Metellus subdued the Dalmatians. Jugurtha went to war with his brother Hiempsal; vanquished him and put him to death; drove Adherbal from his kingdom, who was restored by the senate. [Y. R. 636. B. C. 116.] Lucius Cæcilius Metellus, and Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the censors, expelled thirty-two senators. [Y. R. 637. B. C. 115.] Disturbances in Syria are recorded.

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Book LXIII

Caius Porcius, the consul, [Y. R. 638. B. C. 114,] fought against the Scordiscians in Thrace, unsuccessfully. The lustrum was closed by the censors: the number of the citizens amounts to three hundred and ninety-four thousand three hundred and thirty-six. Æmilia, Licinia, and Marcia, vestal virgins, were found guilty of incest. [Y. R. 639. B. C. 113.] The Cimbrians, a wandering people, came into Illyria, where they fight with and defeat the army of the consul, Papirius Carbo. [Y. R. 640. B. C. 112.] The consul, Livius Drusus, made war successfully upon the Scordiscians, a people descended from the Gauls.

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Book LXIV

Jugurtha attacked Adherbal, besieged him in Cirta, and put him to death, contrary to the express commands of the senate. [Y. R. 641. B. C. 111.] War was declared against him on this account, which being committed to the conduct of the consul, Calpurnius Bestia, he made peace with Jugurtha, without authority from the senate and people. [Y. R. 642. B. C. 110.] Jugurtha, called upon to declare who were his advisers, came to Rome upon the faith of a safe-conduct; he is supposed to have bribed many of the principal senators. And being called on to stand his trial for the murder of a certain prince, by name Massiva, slain at Rome, who had aimed at his kingdom, which he hoped to obtain through the hatred of the Romans to Jugurtha, he escaped when he found himself in danger; and is reported to have said, on going away, “O venal city! doomed to quick perdition, could but a purchaser be found!” Aulus Posthumius, having fought against Jugurtha unsuccessfully, added to his disgrace, by making an ignominious peace with him; which the senate refused to ratify.

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Book LXV

Quintus Cæcilius Metellus, the consul, [Y. R. 643. B. C. 109,] defeated Jugurtha, in two battles, and ravaged all Numidia. Marcus Junius Silanus, the consul, fought unsuccessfully against the Cimbrians. The Cimbrian ambassadors petitioning the senate for a settlement and lands, were refused. [Y. R. 644. B. C. 108.] Marcus Minucius, the proconsul, vanquished the Thracians. Cassius, the consul, with his army, was cut off by the Tigurine Gauls, in the country of the Helvetians. The soldiers who survived that unfortunate action stipulated for their lives, by giving hostages, and delivering up half their property.

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Book LXVI

Jugurtha, [Y. R. 645. B. C. 107,] being driven out of Numidia by Caius Marius, received aid from Bocchus, king of the Moors. [Y. R. 646. B. C. 106.] Bocchus, having lost a battle, and being unwilling to carry on the war any longer, delivered up Jugurtha in chains to Marius. In this action, Lucius Cornelius Sylla, the quæstor under Marius, distinguished himself most highly.

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Book LXVII

Marcus Aurelius Scaurus, [Y. R. 647. B. C. 105,] lieutenant-general under the consul, was taken prisoner by the Cimbrians, his army being routed; and was slain by Boiorix, for saying, in their council, when they talked of invading Italy, that the Romans were not to be conquered. Cneius Mallius, the consul, and Quintus Servilius Cæpio, the proconsul, were taken prisoners by the same enemies who defeated their armies and drove them from both their camps, with the loss of eighty thousand men, and forty thousand sutlers, and other camp-followers. The goods of Cæpio, whose rashness was the cause of this misfortune, were sold by auction, by order of the people; being the first person whose effects were confiscated, since the dethronement of king Tarquin, and he was deprived of office. [Y. R. 648. B. C. 104.] Jugurtha, with his two sons, was led in triumph before the chariot of Caius Marius, and was put to death in prison. Marius entered the senate, in his triumphal habit; the first person that ever did so: on account of the apprehensions of a Cimbrian war, he is continued in the consulship for several years, being elected a second and a third time, in his absence; dissembling his views, he attains the consulship a fourth time. The Cimbrians, having ravaged all the country between the Rhine and the Pyrenees, passed into Spain, where, having committed many depredations, they were at length put to flight by the Celtiberians: returning into Gaul, they joined the Teutons, a warlike people.

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Book LXVIII

Marcus Antonius, the prætor, [Y. R. 649. B. C. 103,] attacked the pirates, and chased them into Cilicia. The consul, Caius Marius, when attacked by the Teutons and Ambrogians, with their utmost force, defended himself; and afterwards, in two battles, in the neighbourhood of Aquæ Sextiæ, utterly defeated them, with the loss, it is said, of two hundred thousand killed, and ninety thousand taken prisoners. Marius was elected consul, in his absence, a fifth time. A triumph was offered to him, which he deferred until he should have subdued the Cimbrians also. [Y. R. 650. B. C. 102.] The Cimbrians, having driven Quintus Catulus, the proconsul, from the Alps, where he had possessed himself of the narrow passes, and erected a castle to command the river Athesis, which he abandoned, passed into Italy. Catulus and Marius, having effected a junction of their forces, fought and vanquished them: in this battle we are told that there fell one hundred and forty thousand of the enemy, and that sixty thousand were taken. Marius, on his return to Rome, was received with the highest honours, by the whole body of the citizens; two triumphs were offered him, but he contented himself with one. The principal men in the state, who were for some time extremely envious that such distinctions should be conferred upon a man of no family, now acknowledge him to have saved the commonwealth. [Y. R. 651. B. C. 101.] Publicius Malleolus was executed for the murder of his mother; being the first that ever was sewn up in a sack and cast into the sea. The sacred shields are said to have shaken, with considerable noise, previous to the conclusion of the Cimbrian war. Wars between the kings of Syria.

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Book LXIX

Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, aided by Marius,—the soldiers having killed his competitor, Aulus Nonius,—having been forcibly elected prætor, exercised his office with a violence equal to that by which he obtained it. Having procured an Agrarian law, he summons Metellus Numidicus to stand his trial before the people, for refusing to swear to the observance of it. Metellus, notwithstanding he enjoyed the protection of all the best men in the state, yet, being unwilling to furnish matter of dispute, retires into voluntary exile, to Rhodes: there he passed his time entirely in study, and in receiving the visits of men of eminent character, [Y. R. 652. B. C. 100.] Caius Marius, the chief promoter of the sedition, who had now purchased a fourth consulship, by openly distributing money among the tribes, pronounced sentence of banishment upon him after his departure. The same Appuleius Saturninus murders Caius Memmius, who was a candidate for the consulship, fearing lest he might have, in him, a strenuous opposer of his evil actions. By which conduct the senate was aroused, and Caius Marius, when he could no longer defend Saturninus, being a man of fickle and versatile disposition, who always suited his plans to circumstances, joined it. Saturninus, with Glaucias, and other participators of the same mad conduct, having been overpowered by force of arms, was killed in what may be considered a war. [Y. R. 653. B. C. 99.] Quintus Cæcilius Metellus was recalled from banishment by the decided favour of the whole state. Marcus Aquilius, the proconsul put an end to the servile war in Sicily.

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Book LXX

Manius Aquilius, [Y. R. 654. B. C. 98,] being accused of extortion, refused to implore the favour of the judges appointed to try him. Marcus Antonius, his advocate, cut open his vest, and showed the scars of his honourable wounds; upon sight of which he was clearly acquitted, [Y. R. 655. B. C. 97.] This fact is related upon the authority of Cicero only. Titus Didius, the proconsul, fought successfully against the Celtiberians. [Y. R. 656. B. C. 96.] Ptolemy, king of Cyrene, surnamed Apio, dying, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people: and the senate decreed that the cities in that kingdom should be free. [Y. R. 657. B. C. 95.] Ariobarzanes was restored to his kingdom of Cappadocia by Lucius Sylla. Ambassadors from Arsaces, king of Parthia, come to Sylla, to solicit the friendship of the Roman people, [Y. R. 658. B. C. 94.] Publius Rutilius, a man of the strictest integrity, because he exerted himself, when lieutenant-general under Quintus Mucius, the proconsul, to protect the people of Asia from the oppression of the revenue farmers, became odious to the equestrian order, who had the cognizance of affairs of that nature, and being brought to trial, was condemned to exile, [Y. R. 659. B. C. 93.] Caius Sentius, the prætor, fought unsuccessfully against the Thracians. [Y. R. 660. B. C. 92.] The senate not being disposed to tolerate the inefficiency of the equestrian order in the exercise of their judicial functions, tried, by all its influence, to have those functions transferred to itself, and Marcus Livius Drusus, the plebeian tribune, promoting this design, stimulated the people, by the pernicious hope of bribes, to add their sanction. Moreover a commotion occurred among the kings of Syria.

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Book LXXI

Marcus Livius Drusus, the plebeian tribune, [Y. R. 661. B. C. 91,] in order the more effectually to support the senate in their pretensions, gained the concurrence of the allies, and the Italian states, by promising them the freedom of the city. Aided by them, besides the Agrarian and corn laws, he carried that also relative to criminal jurisdiction;—that in capital prosecutions the senate should have equal authority with the equestrian order. It was afterwards found that the freedom which he had promised could not be conferred upon them; which incensed and incited them to revolt. An account is given of their assembling,—their combinations and speeches made at their meetings, by the chief men among them. Drusus becoming obnoxious even to the senate, on account of his conduct in this affair, and being considered as the cause of the social war, was slain in his own house, by an unknown hand.

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Book LXXII

The Italian states, the Picentians, Vestinians, Marcians, Pelignians, Marrucinians, Samnites, and Lucanians, revolted, the war commencing with the Picentians. Quintus Servilius, the proconsul, was murdered, in the town of Asculum, with all the Roman citizens in the place. The whole body of the Roman people assumed the military dress. Servius Galba, having been taken by the Lucanians, escaped by the assistance of a woman with whom he lodged. [Y. R. 662. B. C. 90.] Æsernia and Alba were besieged by the Italians. Aid was sent to the Romans by the Latins, and other foreign nations, and the expeditions, and sieges, on both sides, are recorded.

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Book LXXIII

The consul, Lucius Julius Cæsar, fought against the Samnites unsuccessfully. The colony of Nola fell into the hands of the Samnites, together with Lucius Posthumius, the prætor, whom they killed. Many different states went over to the enemy. After Publius Rutilius had fought unsuccessfully against the Marcians, and had been slain in battle, Caius Marius, his lieutenant-general, encountered them with better success. Servius Sulpicius defeated the Pelignians, in a pitched battle. Quintus Cæpio, Rutilius’s lieutenant-general, made a successful sally against the enemy besieging him; on account of which success he was made equal in command to Marius, and becoming adventurous and rash, was surprised in an ambuscade, and his army being defeated, was slain. Lucius Julius Cæsar, the consul, fought successfully against the Samnites. On account of this victory the inhabitants of Rome laid aside the military habit; the war being carried on with various success, Æsernia, with Marcellus, fell into the hands of the Samnites. Caius Marius vanquished the Marcians, Herius Asinius, the prætor of the Marrucinians, being killed. Caius Cæcilius subdued the rebellious Salvians in Trausalpine Gaul.

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Book LXXIV

Cneius Pompeius defeated the Picentians, and laid siege to their town; on account of this victory the inhabitants of Rome resume their purple robes, and other distinguishing marks of magistracy. Caius Marius fought an undecided battle with the Marcians. Freedmen’s sons were now first received into the army. [Y. R. 663. B. C. 89.] Aulus Plotius, the lieutenant, subdued the Umbrians, and Lucius Porcius, the prætor, the Marcians, both of whom had revolted. Nicomedes was restored to the kingdom of Bithynia, and Ariobarzanes to that of Cappadocia. Cneius Pompeius, the consul, overthrew the Marcians in a pitched battle. The citizens, being deeply involved in debt, Aulus Sempronius Asellio, the prætor, was murdered in the forum, by the usurers, in consequence of some judgments given by him in favour of debtors. Incursions were made by the Thracians, and devastations committed against the Macedonians.

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Book LXXV

Aulus Posthumius Albinus, commander of a fleet, upon a suspicion of treachery, was murdered by the forces under his command. Lucius Cornelius Sylla, lieutenant-general, defeated the Samnites, and took two of their camps. The Vestinians surrendered to Cneius Pompeius. Lucius Porcius, the consul, having been successful in frequent engagements with the Marcians, was slain in an attack upon their camp, which circumstance decided the victory in favour of the enemy. Cosconius and Lucceius overthrew the Samnites in a battle, slew Marius Egnatius, the most distinguished of their generals, and received the surrender of many of their towns. Lucius Sylla subdued the Hirpinians, defeated the Samnites in many battles, and received the submission of several states; in consequence of having performed so many distinguished services, as scarcely any one had ever done under the circumstances, he repaired to Rome to solicit the consulship.

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Book LXXVI

Aulus Gabinius, the lieutenant, having defeated the Lucanians, and taken several of their towns, was slain in an attack on their camp. Sulpicius, a lieutenant-general, committed military execution on the Marrucinians, and reduced their whole country. Cneius Pompeius, the proconsul, forced the Vestinians and Pelignians to submission. Also the Marcians, defeated in several battles, by Lucius Murena and Cæcilius Pius, sued for peace, [Y. R. 664. B. C. 88.] Asculum was taken by Cneius Pompeius, and the Italians there were put to death by Mamercus Æmilius. Silo Pompædius, the author of the revolt, was killed in an action. Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, and Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, were driven out of their kingdoms by Mithridates, king of Pontus. Predatory incursions were made by the Thracians into Macedon.

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Book LXXVII

Publius Sulpicius, the tribune of the people, having, with the aid of Caius Marius, carried certain laws: “that those who had been banished should be recalled; that the newly-created citizens, and the sons of freed-men, should be distributed among the tribes, and that Caius Marius should be appointed general against Mithidrates, king of Pontus,” and having used violence towards Quintus Pompeius and Lucius Sylla, the consuls, who had opposed these proceedings; Quintus, the son of Pompeius, who was married to Sylla’s daughter, being murdered, Lucius Sylla came into the town with an army, and fought against the faction of Sulpicius and Marius, in the city, and drove it out. Twelve of the number, among whom are Caius Marius, the father, and his son, were condemned by the senate. Publius Sulpicius having concealed himself in a farm-house in the neighbourhood, being betrayed by one of his slaves, was apprehended and put to death. The slave, being entitled to the reward promised to the discoverer, was made free; and was then thrown from the Tarpeian rock, for having traitorously betrayed his master. Caius Marius, the son, passed over into Africa. Caius Marius, the father, having concealed himself in the marshes of Minturna, was seized by the towns-people: after a Gallic slave who was sent to despatch him, being terrified at his majestic appearance, had retired, unable to accomplish the deed, he was publicly placed in a vessel, and sent off to Africa. Lucius Sylla reformed the state, and afterwards sent forth colonies. Cneius Pompeius, the proconsul, procured the murder of Quintus Pompeius, the consul, who was to have succeeded him in the command of the army. Mithridates, king of Pontus, seized Bithynia and Cappadocia, after having driven the Roman general, Aquilius, out of them: and at the head of a great army entered Phrygia, a province belonging to the Roman people.

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Book LXXVIII

Mithridates possessed himself of Asia; threw into chains Quintus Oppius, the proconsul, and Aquilius, the general; and ordered all the Romans in Asia to be massacred on the same day; he attacked the city of Rhodes, the only one which had retained its fidelity to the Roman state; and being overcome in several actions at sea, he retreated, [Y. R. 665. B. C. 87.] Archelaus, one of the king’s governors, invaded Greece and took Athens. Commotions resulted in several states and islands, some endeavouring to draw over their people to the side of the Romans, others to that of Mithridates.

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Book LXXIX

Lucius Cornelius Cinna having, by force of arms, procured the enactment of several injurious laws, was driven out of the city by his colleague, Cneius Octavius, together with six plebeian tribunes. Thus deposed from the authority, he procured the command of his army under Appius Claudius, by bribery, and made war upon the city, having called to his assistance Caius Marius, and other exiles, from Africa. In this war, two brothers, (one of Pompeius’s army, the other of Cinna’s,) encountered each other without knowing it; and when the conqueror despoiling the enemy recognised his brother, he vented his grief in uncontrolled lamentation, and having prepared a funeral pile for him, he stabbed himself on it, and was consumed with him. Although this war might have been suppressed at first, yet owing to the treachery of Pompeius, who, by encouraging either party, gave power to Cinna, whilst he only succoured the patriotic party when their energies were exhausted; and also to the neglect of the consul; Cinna and Marius, with four armies, two of which were commanded by Sertorius and Carbo, gained strength and laid siege to the city. Marius took Ostia, which he plundered in the most cruel manner.

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Book LXXX

The freedom of the city of Rome was granted to the Italian states. The Samnites, the only people who continued in arms, joined Cinna and Marius, and overthrew Plautius’s army, killing the general. Cinna and Marius, with Carbo and Sertorius, seized the Janiculum; and were repelled by the consul Octavius. Marius plunders Antium, Aricia, and Lanuvium. The principal men in the state having now no hope of resisting, on account of the cowardice and treachery both of the generals and soldiers, who, being bribed, either refused to fight, or deserted to one party or another, received Cinna and Marius into the city, who, as if it had been captured, devastated it by murder and robbery, putting to death the consul, Cneius Octavius, and all the chiefs of the opposite party; among others, Marcus Antonius, a man highly distinguished for his eloquence, with Lucius and Caius Cæsar, whose heads they stuck up on the rostrum. The younger Crassus having been slain by a party of horsemen at Fimbria; his father, to escape suffering insult, killed himself. Cinna and Marius, without even the formality of an election, declared themselves consuls; and on the first day of their entering upon office, Marius ordered Sextus Licinius, a senator, to be cast from the Tarpeian rock, and after having committed very many atrocious acts, died on the ides of January. If we compare his vices with his virtues, it will be difficult to pronounce whether he was greater in war, or more wicked in peace. Having preserved his country by his valour, he ruined it afterwards by every species of artifice and fraud; and finally destroyed it by open force.

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Book LXXXI

Lucius Sylla besieged Athens, [Y. R. 666. B. C. 86,] held by Archelaus, under Mithridates, and took it, after an obstinate resistance. The city and such of the inhabitants as remained alive, were restored to liberty. Magnesia, the only city in Asia which continued faithful, was defended against Mithridates with great valour. The Thracians invaded Macedon.

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Book LXXXII

Sylla defeated Mithridates in Thessaly, killing one hundred thousand men, and taking their camp. The war being renewed, he entirely routed and destroyed the king’s army. Archelaus, with the royal fleet, surrendered to Sylla. Lucius Valerius Flaccus, Cinna’s colleague in the consulship, who was appointed to succeed Sylla in the command of his army, became so odious to his men, on account of his avarice, that he was slain by Caius Fimbria, his lieutenant-general, a man of consummate audacity, who assumed the command. Several cities in Asia were taken by Mithridates, who treated them with extreme cruelty. Macedon was invaded by the Thracians.

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Book LXXXIII

[Y. R. 667. B. C. 85.] Caius Fimbria having defeated several of Mithridates’ generals in Asia, took the city of Pergamus, and was very near making the king captive. He took and destroyed the city of Ilion, which adhered to Sylla, and recovered a great part of Asia. Sylla overcame the Thracians in several battles. Lucius Cinna and Cneius Papirius Carbo, having declared themselves consuls, made preparations for war against Sylla; Lucius Valerius Flaccus, the chief of the senate, having made a speech among that body, by their assistance, with that of all who desired tranquillity, effected that ambassadors should be sent to Sylla, concerning a treaty of peace. Cinna, attempting to force his men to embark and go against Sylla, was slain by them. [Y. R. 668. B. C. 84.] Carbo alone held the consulship. Sylla made peace in Asia with Mithridates, upon conditions that the king should evacuate Asia, Bithynia, and Cappadocia. Fimbria, deserted by his army, which went over to Sylla, put himself to death, by calling on his slave to cut off his head.

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Book LXXXIV

Sylla replied to deputies sent by the senate, that he would yield to the authority of the senate, upon condition that those who, being banished by Cinna, had fled to him, should be restored; which proposition appeared reasonable to the senate, but was opposed and rejected by Carbo and his faction, who conceived that they would derive more advantage from a continuance of the war. Carbo, requiring hostages from all the towns and colonies of Italy, to bind them more firmly in union against Sylla, was overruled by the senate. The right of voting was given to the new citizens by a decree of the senate. Quintus Metellus Pius, who had taken part with the chief men of the state, being prepared for war in Africa, was crushed by Caius Fabius, the prætor, [Y. R. 660. B. C. 83.] Carbo’s faction and the Marian party procured a decree of the senate, that the armies should every where be disbanded. The sons of freed-men were distributed among the thirty-five tribes. Preparations were made for war against Sylla.

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Book LXXXV

Sylla entered Italy at the head of an army, and defeated in a battle Norbanus, the consul, by whom his ambassadors, sent to negotiate a peace, had been maltreated. Having ineffectually tried every means with Lucius Scipio, the other consul, to bring about a peace, he prepared to attack his camp, when the consul’s whole army deserted to Sylla, having been seduced by some soldiers sent out by him. Scipio was set free, when he could have been killed. Cneius Pompeius, the son of Pompeius, who took Asculum, raised an army of volunteers, and went over to Sylla with three legions; also the whole body of the nobility quit the city and joined his camp. Sundry actions in different parts of Italy are recorded in the book.

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Book LXXXVI

While Caius Marius, son of Caius Marius, was made consul [Y. R. 670. B. C. 82] by force, before he was twenty years old, Caius Fabius was burned alive in his tent, in Africa, for his avarice and extortion. Lucius Philippus, Sylla’s lieutenant-general, having overthrown and killed the prætor, Quintus Antonius, took Sardinia. Sylla made a league with the states of Italy, lest he should be suspected of intending to deprive them of their constitution and the right of suffrage, which had been lately conceded to them. So confident was he of the victory, that he published an order that all persons engaged in lawsuits, bound by sureties, should make their appearance at Rome, although the city was yet in the possession of the opposite party. Lucius Damasippus, the prætor, having called together the senate, at the desire of Marius, murdered such of the nobility as remained in the city; among them Quintus Mucius Scævola, the high priest, who, endeavouring to make his escape, was killed in the vestibule of the temple of Vesta. Besides, it includes an account of the war in Asia against Mithridates, renewed by Lucius Muræna.

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Book LXXXVII

Sylla, having conquered and destroyed Caius Marius’s army, at Sacriportus, laid siege to Præneste, where Marius had taken refuge. He recovered Rome out of the hands of his enemies. Marius attempting to break forth from Præneste, was repelled. This book moreover contains an account of the successes of the different commanders under him, every where.

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Book LXXXVIII

Sylla, having routed and cut off the army of Carbo at Clusium, Faventia, and Fidentia, drove him out of Italy; he completely subdued the Samnites near the city of Rome, before the Colline gate: they were the only one of all the Italian states that had not before laid down their arms. Having restored the affairs of the commonwealth, he stained his glorious victory with the most atrocious cruelties ever committed; he murdered eight thousand men in the Villa Publica, who had submitted and laid down their arms, and published a list of persons proscribed: he filled with blood the city of Rome, and all Italy. He ordered all the Prænestines, without exception, although they had laid down their arms, to be murdered; he killed Marius, a senator, by breaking his legs and arms, cutting off his ears, and scooping out his eyes. Caius Marius, being besieged at Præneste by Lucretius Asella, one of the partisans of Sylla, having endeavoured to escape through a mine, was intercepted by an army, and committed suicide; this took place in the centre of the mine, when he found it impossible to escape with Pontius Telesinus, the companion of his flight, for each having drawn his sword, rushed madly on: when he had slain Telesinus, he himself, being wounded, begged of a slave that he would despatch him.

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Book LXXXIX

Marcus Brutus being sent in a fishing-boat to Lilybæum, by Cneius Papirius Carbo, who had sailed to Cossura, to discover if Pompeius were there, and being surrounded by the ships, which Pompey had sent, turned the point of his sword against himself, and threw himself on it with all the weight of his body, at one of the ship’s benches. Cneius Pompeius, being sent by the senate to Sicily, with full powers, having taken Carbo prisoner, put him to death; he dies weeping with womanly weakness. Sylla, having been created dictator, marched through the city with twenty-four lictors, which no one had ever done before. He established new regulations in the state; abridged the authority of the plebeian tribunes; took from them the power of proposing laws; increased the college of priests and augurs to fifteen; filled up the senate from the equestrian order; took from the descendants of the proscribed persons all power of reclaiming the property of their ancestors, and sold such of their effects as had not been already confiscated, to the amount of one hundred and fifty millions of sesterces. He ordered Lucretius Ofella to be put to death in the forum, for having declared himself a candidate for the consulship, without having previously obtained his permission; and when the people of Rome were offended, he called a meeting, and told them that Ofella was slain by his orders, [Y. R. 671. B. C. 81.] Cneius Pompeius vanquished and killed, in Africa, Cneius Domitius, one of the proscribed persons, and Hiarbas, king of Numidia, who were making preparations for war. He triumphed over Africa, although not more than twenty-four years of age, and only of equestrian rank, which never happened to any man before. Caius Norbanus, of consular rank, being proscribed, when he was taken at Rhodes, committed suicide. Mutilus, one of the proscribed, coming privately and in disguise to the back door of his wife Bastia’s house, was refused admission, and she told him that he was a proscribed man, whereupon he stabbed himself, and sprinkled the door of his wife’s house with his blood. Sylla took Nolla, a city of the Samnites, [Y. R. 672. B. C. 80,] and led forth forty-seven legions into the conquered lands, and divided them among them. [Y. R. 673. B. C. 79.] He besieged and took the town of Volaterra, which was as yet at war with him. Mitylene, the only town in Asia which continued to adhere to Mithridates, was likewise stormed and demolished.

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Book XC

Sylla died, and the honour was paid him by the senate of being buried in the Campus Martius. [Y. R. 674. B. C. 78.] Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, attempting to rescind the acts of Sylla, raised a war, and was driven out of Italy by his colleague, Quintus Catulus, and having vainly planned a war in Sardinia, lost his life. [Y. R. 675. B. C. 77.] Marcus Brutus, who held possession of Cisalpine Gaul, was slain by Cneius Pompeius. Quintus Sertorius, one of the proscribed, raised a formidable war in Farther Spain. Lucius Manilius, the proconsul, and Marcus Domitius were overthrown in a battle by the quæstor Herculeius. This book contains, moreover, an account of the expedition of the proconsul, Publius Servilius, against the Cilicians.

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Book XCI

Cneius Pompeius, while yet only of equestrian rank, was sent with consular authority against Sertorius. Sertorius took several cities, and reduced very many others to submission. The proconsul Appius Claudius, conquered the Thracians in several battles, [Y. R. 676. B. C. 76.] Quintus Metellus, the proconsul, cut off Herculeius, the quæstor of Sertorius, with his whole army.

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Book XCII

Cneius Pompeius fought an undecided battle with Sertorius, the wings on each side being beaten. Quintus Metellus conquered Sertorius and Peperna, with both their armies; Pompeius, desirous of having a share in this victory, engaged in the action, but without success. Sertorius, besieged in Clunia, made frequent sallies, to the great loss of the besiegers, [Y. R. 677. B. C. 75.] This book contains, moreover, an account of the successful expedition of Curio, the proconsul, against the Dardanians, and of the cruelties of Sertorius against his own partisans, many of whom he put to death, upon pretended suspicion of treachery.

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Book XCIII

Publius Servilius, the proconsul in Cilicia, subdued the Isaurians, and took several cities belonging to the pirates. Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, dying, bequeathed his dominions to the Roman people, who reduced them into the form of a province, [Y. R. 678. B. C. 74.] Mithridates, having established a league with Sertorius, declared war against Rome; he made vast preparations, both by land and sea, and seized Bithynia: Marcus Aurelius Cotta was overcome in an action by the king, at Chalcedon. This book contains the history of the actions of Pompey and Metellus against Sertorius, who was equal to them in all the tactics of war and military service, and having driven them from the blockade of the town of Calagurris, he compelled them to retire to different countries—Metellus to Farther Spain, and Pompey to Gaul.

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Book XCIV

Lucius Licinius Lucullus, consul, defeated Mithridates in an action between their cavalry, and made several successful expeditions, and repressed a mutiny among his soldiers which originated from an eager desire of fighting. Deiotarus, tetrarch of Gallogræcia, killed certain officers of Mithridates who were stirring up war in Phrygia. This book contains, moreover, an account of the successes of Pompeius against Sertorius in Spain.

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Book XCV

Caius Curio, the proconsul, [Y. R. 679. B. C. 73,] subdued the Dardanians, in Thrace. Seventy-four gladiators, belonging to Lentulus, make their escape from Capua, and having collected a great number of slaves and hired servants, and having put themselves under the command of Crixus and Spartacus, they defeated, in a battle, Claudius Pulcher, a lieutenant-general, and Publius Varenus, the prætor. Lucius Lucullus, the proconsul, destroyed the army of Mithridates, by the sword and famine, at Cyzicus; and obliged that king, when driven from Bithynia, and broken down by various misfortunes arising from war and shipwrecks, to take refuge in Pontus.

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Book XCVI

Quintus Arrius, the prætor, [Y. R. 680. B. C. 72.] slew Crixus, the commander of the fugitive gladiators, with twenty thousand men. Cneius Lentulus, the consul, engaged Spartacus unsuccessfully, who also defeated Lucius Gellius, the consul, and Quintus Arrius, the prætor. Sertorius was slain at a feast, in the eighth year of his command, by Manius Antonius, Marcus Peperna, and other conspirators: he was a great general, and although opposed to two eminent commanders, Pompeius and Metellus, was often equal, and sometimes even superior, to both of them; at last, being deserted and betrayed, the command of his force devolved upon Peperna, whom Pompeius took prisoner and slew, and recovered Spain, towards the close of the tenth year of that war. Caius Crassus, the proconsul, and Cneius Manlius, the prætor, fought Spartacus unsuccessfully; the charge of that war was committed to the prætor, Marcus Crassus.

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Book XCVII

Marcus Crassus, the prætor, [Y. R. 681. B. C. 71,] fought successfully first with that part of the fugitives which was composed of Gauls and Germans, and slew thirty-five thousand of them, with their general, Granicus; afterwards he fought with Spartacus, killing him and forty thousand men. Marcus Antonius, the prætor, ended, by his death, the war against the Cretans, which had been unsuccessfully undertaken. Marcus Lucullus, the proconsul, subdued the Thracians. Lucius Lucullus fought successfully against Mithridates in Pontus, more than sixty thousand of the enemy being slain, [Y. R. 682. B. C. 70.] Marcus Crassus and Cneius Pompey, being made consuls, restored the tribunitian power; the latter, being of the equestrian order, had not filled the office of quæstor. The right of trial was transferred to the Roman knights, by the prætor, Lucius Aurelius Cotta. The affairs of Mithridates being reduced to a state of desperation, he flew for refuge to Tigranes, king of Armenia.

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Book XCVIII

A treaty of friendship was made by Machares, son of Mithridates, king of Bosphorus, with Lucius Lucullus. Cneius Lentulus and Caius Gellius, the censors, exercised their office with extreme rigour; expelling sixty-four senators. The lustrum was closed, and the number of citizens amounted to four hundred and fifty thousand. [Y. R. 683. B. C. 69.] Lucius Metellus, the prætor, was successful against the pirates in Sicily. The temple of Jupiter in the Capitol, having been consumed by fire, was rebuilt, and dedicated by Quintus Catulus. [Y. R. 684. B. C. 68.] Lucius Lucullus defeated Mithridates and Tigranes, with their vast armies, in Armenia, in several battles. The war against the Cretans being committed to the charge of the proconsul, Quintus Metellus, he laid siege to the city of Cydonia. [Y. R. 685. B. C. 67.] Lucius Triarius, a lieutenant-general of Lucullus, was defeated in a battle against Mithridates. Lucullus was prevented, by a sedition in his army, from pursuing Mithridates and Tigranes, and completing his victory; the Valerian legions refused to follow Lucullus, alleging that they had served out their time.

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Book XCIX

The proconsul, Quintus Metellus, took Gnossus, Lyctus, Cydonia, and many other cities. Lucius Roscius, the plebeian tribune, carried a law, that the fourteen lower seats in the theatre shall be allotted to the Roman knights. Cneius Pompeius, being ordered by a law, which had the sanction of the people, to proceed against the pirates, who had interrupted the commerce of corn, in forty days drove them wholly from the sea; and having finished the war against them in Cilicia, and reduced them to submission, assigned them lands and towns. This book contains, moreover, the history of the successes of Metellus against the Cretans, the letters between Metellus and Pompeius. Metellus complained that Pompeius had robbed him of the glory of his actions, in sending a deputy of his own to receive the submission of the Cretans. Pompeius alleged that he had a right to do so.

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Book C

Caius Manilius, the tribune of the people, [Y. R. 686. B. C. 66,] to the great dissatisfaction of the nobility, proposed that the Mithridatic war should be committed to the conduct of Pompeius. He made an admirable speech on the occasion. Quintus Metellus, having subdued Crete, imposed laws upon that hitherto free island. Cneius Pompeius, on setting out for the war against Mithridates, renewed the treaty of friendship with Phraates, king of Parthia; he overcame Mithridates in an engagement between their cavalry. This book contains also the history of the war between Phraates, king of Parthia, and Tigranes, king of Armenia; afterwards, between the father and son Tigranes.

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Book CI

Cneius Pompeius vanquished Mithridates, in a battle fought in the night, and compelled him to fly to Bosphorus; reduced Tigranes to submission, taking from him Syria, Phœnicia, and Cilicia; and restored to him his own kingdom of Armenia. The conspiracy planned by those, who had been found guilty of bribery in seeking the consulship, to murder the consuls, was suppressed. [Y. R. 687. B. C. 65.] Pompeius pursued Mithridates into remote, and even unknown regions; he conquered in battle the Iberians and Albanians, who had refused him a passage through their territories. This book contains also the history of the flight of Mithridates through Colchis and the country of the Heinochi, and of his actions at Bosphorus.

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Book CII

Pompeius reduce Pontus to the form of a Roman province. Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, made war upon his father. Mithridates, besieged in his palace, took poison, and, when this did not produce the desired effect, he caused himself to be slain by a Gaul, named Bituitus. Pompeius conquered the Jews, and took their hitherto unviolated temple at Jerusalem. [Y. R. 688. B. C. 64.] Catiline, having twice failed in his suit for the consulship, forms a conspiracy, with Lentulus, Cethegus, and others, to destroy the consuls and the senate, to burn the city, and seize the commonwealth: he raised an army in Etruria; [Y. R. 689. B. C. 63;] the conspiracy was discovered, and frustrated by the exertions of Marcus Tullius Cicero, the consul. Catiline was driven out of Rome; the other conspirators were punished with death.

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Book CIII

Catiline, together with his army, [Y. R. 690. B. C. 62,] was slain by the proconsul, Caius Antonius. Publius Clodius being accused of having, disguised in woman’s apparel, entered a chapel, which it was not lawful for a man to enter, and of having defiled the wife of the high priest, was acquitted. Caius Pontinius, the prætor, subdued at Solon the Allobrogians, who had rebelled. Publius Clodius joined the party of the people. Caius Cæsar subdued the Lusitanians: [Y. R. 691. B. C. 51:] being a candidate for the consulship, and determined to seize the power of the commonwealth in his own hands, he formed a party with two of the principal men of the state, Cneius Pompeius and Marcus Crassus. [Y. R. 692. B. C. 60.] Cæsar, the consul, procured the passing of some Agrarian laws, contrary to the will of the senate, and notwithstanding the opposition of his colleague, Marcus Bibulus. [Y. R. 693. B. C. 59.] Caius Antonius, the proconsul, was defeated in Thrace. [Y. R. 694. B. C. 58.] Marcus Cicero was banished, in consequence of a law procured by Publius Clodius, for having put to death Roman citizens uncondemned. Cæsar, having gone into the province of Gaul, subdued the Helvetians, a wandering tribe, who, seeking a place of settlement, attempted to pass through Narbo, a part of his province. This book contains a description of the situation of Gaul. Pompeius triumphed over the children of Mithridates, Tigranes, and also the son of the latter; and the surname of the Great was conferred upon him by a full assembly of the people.

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Book CIV

This book commences with a description of the situation of Germany, and the manners and customs of the natives. Caius Cæsar, at the request of the Æduans and Sequanians, whose country had been seized upon, leads his army against the Germans, who had invaded Gaul, under the command of Ariovistus, roused by an address the courage of his soldiers, who were alarmed at the unusual appearance of these new enemies, and expelled from Gaul the Germans, defeated in a battle, [Y. R. 695. B. C. 57.] Marcus Tullius Cicero, to the great joy of the senate, and of all Italy, was recalled from banishment chiefly by the persuasion of Pompeius, aided by Titus Annius Milo, the plebeian tribune, who also argued in his favour. The charge of providing corn for the city was committed to Cneius Pompeius for five years. Cæsar brought to subjection the Ambians, Suessians, Veromanduans, and Atrebatians, a people of the Belgians, whose numbers were immense, after having subdued them in battle. He afterwards, at great risk, engaged the Nervians, a people belonging to one of the above states, and destroyed that race; this war they continued with such obstinacy, that their army was reduced from sixty thousand men to three hundred, and, of four hundred senators, only three remained alive. A law being made to reduce Cyprus to the form of a province, and to confiscate the royal treasure; the management of that business was committed to Marcus Cato. [Y. R. 696. B. C. 56.] Ptolemy, being ill-treated by his subjects, and dethroned, came to Rome. Caius Cæsar defeated the Venetians, a people living on the borders of the sea, in a sea-fight. This book contains also the history of his lieutenants’ equally good fortune.

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Book CV

When, by the intercessions of Caius Cato, the elections were suspended, the senate went into mourning, [Y. R. 607. B. C. 55.] Marcus Cato, a candidate for the prætorship, lost the election, Vatinius carrying it against him. The same Cato was committed to prison by the tribune Trebonius, for resisting the law allotting the provinces, for five years, in the following manner: to Cæsar, Gaul and Germany; to Pompeius, Spain; and to Crassus, Syria, and the Parthian war. Aulus Gabinius, the proconsul, restored Ptolemy to his kingdom of Egypt, and dethroned Archelaus, whom the people had elected king. [Y. R. 698. B. C. 54.] Cæsar, having vanquished the Germans who had invaded Gaul, passed the Rhine, and subdued the nearest part of it: and then crossed over the sea into Britain, with adverse fortune, at first owing to opposing tempests, and afterwards with little better success; and, having killed a very great number of the inhabitants, he reduced a part of the island to subjection.

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Book CVI

Julia, the daughter of Cæsar, and wife of Pompeius, died, and by a vote of the people she was honoured with burial in the Campus Martius. Certain tribes of the Gauls revolted under the command of Ambiorix; they insnare and cut off Cotta and Titurius, lieutenants-general under Cæsar, with the armies under their command: having attacked the camps of the other legions, who with difficulty defended them, and among the rest the camp of Quintus Cicero, who commanded in the country of the Nervii, they were defeated by Cæsar in battle. [Y. R. 699. B. C. 53.] Marcus Crassus crossed the Euphrates, to make war against the Parthians, and was overthrown in a battle, in which his son was killed, after he had collected the remains of his army upon a rising ground: having been invited to a conference by the enemy, whose leader was Surenas, under the pretence of a treaty of peace, he was insnared, and fell fighting bravely, to prevent his suffering indignity from the enemy while alive.

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Book CVII

Caius Cæsar, having subdued the Trevirian Gauls, passed over a second time into Germany; finding no enemy there, he returned to Gaul, and reduced to obedience the Eburones, and other cities, which had revolted. Titus Annius Milo, a candidate for the consulship, killed Publius Clodius on the Appian road, near Bovilla: the people burned the body of the latter in the curia, [Y. R. 700. B. C. 52.] The candidates for the consulship, Hypsæus, Scipio, and Milo, carried on their contention with so much rancour, as to come to open violence, which excited a seditious tumult. To repress these enormities, Cneius Pompeius was a third time elected consul, in his absence, and without a colleague,—a circumstance which never occurred before. Milo was tried for the murder of Clodius, and condemned to banishment. A law was made, notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of Marcus Cato, to empower Cæsar to stand for the consulship, though absent. This book contains also the history of Cæsar’s operations against the Gauls, who had almost all revolted, and put themselves under the command of Vercingetorix: he took many towns; amongst others, Avaricum, Biturium, and Gergovia.

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Book CVIII

Caius Cæsar overthrew the Gauls at Alesia, and reduced all the revolted cities to subjection. Caius Cassius, Marcus Crassus’s quæstor, defeated the Parthians who had passed over into Syria. [Y. R. 701. B. C. 51.] Marcus Cato failed in his suit for the consulship; the successful candidates being Servius Sulpicius and Marcus Marcellus. Caius Cæsar subdued the Bellovacians, and other Gallic tribes. This book contains, moreover, the record of the disputes between the consuls, concerning the sending out of a person to succeed Cæsar; Marcellus contending that Cæsar should come home to sue for the consulship, being, by a law made expressly for that purpose, enabled to hold his province until that period; and also the exploits of Marcus Bibulus in Syria.

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Book CIX

In this book are recorded the causes and commencement of the civil war, and [Y. R. 702. B. C. 50] disputes about sending a successor to Cæsar, who refused to disband his army, unless Pompeius should also do the same. And it contains an account of the actions of Caius Curio, the plebeian tribune, first against Cæsar, afterwards in his favour. [Y. R. 703. B. C. 49.] A decree of the senate being passed, that a successor to Cæsar should be appointed, Marcus Antonius and Quintus Cassius being driven out of the city, for protesting against that measure, orders were sent by the senate to the consuls, and to Cneius Pompeius, to take care that the commonwealth should sustain no injury. Cæsar, determined to make war upon his enemies, arrived in Italy with his army, took Corfinium, and in it Lucius Domitius and Lucius Lentulus, whom he discharged; and drove Cneius Pompeius and his adherents out of Italy.

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Book CX

Cæsar besieged Masilia, the gates of which had been shut against him; leaving his lieutenants-general, Caius Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, to carry on the siege, he set out for Spain, where Lucius Afranius and Caius Petreius, Pompeius’s lieutenants-general, with seven legions, surrendered to him at Ilerda: he dismissed them all in safety. He also reduced to submission Varro, another lieutenant-general of Pompeius, with the army under his command. He granted the privileges of Roman citizens to the Gaditanians. The Massilians were defeated in two engagements at sea; after having sustained a long siege, they yielded to Cæsar. Caius Antonius, a lieutenant-general of Cæsar, having made an unsuccessful attack upon Pompeius’s forces in Illyria, was taken prisoner. In the course of this war, the inhabitants of Opitergium, a district beyond the Po, in alliance with Cæsar, seeing their bridge blocked up by the enemy’s ships, rather than fall into their hands, killed one another. Caius Curio, one of Cæsar’s lieutenants-general in Africa, after a successful engagement with Varus, a general of the Pompeian party, was cut off, together with his army, by Juba, king of Mauritania. Caius Cæsar passed over into Greece.

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Book CXI

Marcus Cælius Rufus, the prætor, [Y. R. 662. B. C. 48,] having excited a sedition in the city, by holding out hopes to the people that their debts should be annulled, his office being taken from him, was driven from the city: he joined Milo, who, being in exile, was raising an army of fugitives: they were both slain while preparing for war. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, was dethroned by her brother Ptolemy. The Cordubians in Spain, harassed by the extortion and oppression of the prætor, Quintus Cassius, desert Cæsar’s party, together with two legions. Cneius Pompeius being besieged by Cæsar at Dyrracchium, beats him out of his lines; the siege being raised, the seat of war was removed to Thessaly; Cæsar conquered Pompeius in a battle at Pharsalia. Cicero remained in the camp, as he was a man better calculated for any thing than war. Cæsar granted a free pardon to all who submitted themselves to his power.

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Book CXII

The consternation and flight of the vanquished parties in various quarters of the world are recorded. Cneius Pompeius, when he had gone to Egypt, before he could land, was slain in his boat by Achilles, who had been sent for that purpose, according to the command of Ptolemy, the young king, who was instigated by Pothinus and Theodotus, his tutor, who had great influence over the king. Cornelia, his wife, and Sextus, his son, fled to Cyprus. Cæsar followed him three days after; and when Theodotus presented to him the head and ring of Pompeius, he was grievously offended, and wept over them. [Y. R. 705. B. C. 47.] Cæsar entered Alexandria in safety, though it was in a state of tumult. Cæsar being created dictator, restored Cleopatra to her throne; and defeated with great slaughter Ptolemy, who had made war upon him by the advice of those who had caused him to put Pompeius to death. Ptolemy, in his flight, sunk with his vessel in the Nile. This book contains also an account of the fatiguing march of Marcus Cato, with his legions, through the deserts of Africa; and of the unsuccessful war of Cneius Domitius against Pharnaces.

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Book CXIII

The Pompeian party having collected their forces in Africa, the supreme command was given to Publius Scipio,—Marcus Cato, who had been joined with him in the command, giving it up. When it was deliberated, in council, whether the city of Utica should not be demolished, on account of its attachment to Cæsar, Cato opposed that measure, which was strongly recommended by Juba: Cato’s opinion prevailing, he was appointed governor of the city. Cneius Pompeius, the son of Pompeius the Great, having collected some forces in Spain, which neither Afranius nor Petreius would take the command of, renews the war against Cæsar. Pharnaces, king of Pontus, son of Mithridates, after supporting the war but a very short time, was subdued. When seditions were excited in Rome by Publius Dolabella, a plebeian tribune, who moved for a law to abolish the debts of the people, and on that account a tumult arose among the people, Marcus Antonius, master of the horse, brought troops into the town, and killed eight hundred of the people. Cæsar discharged the veteran soldiers, who were grown mutinous, crossed over into Africa, and engaged the forces of king Juba in a very hazardous combat.

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Book CXIV

Cæcilius Bassus, [Y. R. 706. B. C. 46,] a Roman knight of the Pompeian party, stirred up war in Syria; the legion left there under the command of Sextus Cæsar, having slain their commander, and revolted to Bassus. Cæsar defeated Scipio the prætor, Afranius, and Juba, at Thapsus, their camps having been stormed. Having heard of this circumstance, Cato stabbed himself at Utica, and by the intervention of his son he might have been saved, but in the middle of the restoratives, having torn open the wound, he expired, in his forty-ninth year. Petreius put Juba and himself to death. Publius Scipio, being surrounded in his ship, to an honourable death added also a remarkable speech, for to the enemies who inquired about the general, he said, “The general is well.” Faustus and Afranius were slain. Cato’s son was pardoned. Brutus, Cæsar’s lieutenant-general, defeated the rebellious Bellovacians in battle.

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Book CXV

Cæsar triumphed four times; over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa. He gave a feast, and exhibited shows of every description. To Marcus Marcellus, a man of consular rank, he granted leave to return at the request of the senate; which favour Marcellus did not live to enjoy, having been murdered at Athens by Cneius Magius Cilo, his own dependant. Cæsar held a census, when the number of citizens amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand, [Y. R. 707. B. C. 45,] and went to Spain against Cneius Pompey; where, after many attacks on both sides, many cities having been stormed, he at length gained a signal victory, after a most desperate engagement, at Munda. Sextus Pompeius effected his escape.

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Book CXVI

Cæsar triumphed a fifth time over Spain. Very many and high honours were decreed him by the senate; among others, that he should be styled Father of his country, and Sacred, and also that he should be perpetual dictator, [Y. R. 708. B. C. 44.] It afforded cause of odium against him, that he rose not to the senate when conferring these honours on him, as he was sitting before the shrine of Venus Genetrix; and that he laid aside on a chair the diadem, placed on his head, by his colleague in the consulship, Marcus Antonius, who was running among the Lupercalians, and that the magistracies were taken away from Epidius Marullus and Cassetius Flavus, the tribunes of the people, who excited envy against him for aiming at the imperial dignity. For these reasons, a conspiracy was formed against him; the chiefs of which were, Marcus Brutus and Caius Cassius, with two of his own partisans, Decimus Brutus and Caius Trebonius. He was slain in Pompey’s senate-house with three-and-twenty wounds; and the Capitol was seized on by his murderers. An act of amnesty having been passed by the senate in relation to his murder, and the children of Antony and Lepidus having been taken as hostages, the conspirators came down from the Capitol. Octavius, Cæsar’s nephew, was by his will made heir of half his possessions. Cæsar’s body was burnt by the people, in the Campus Martius, opposite the rostrum. The office of dictator was abolished for ever. Caius Amatius, one of the lowest of the people, giving himself out for the son of Caius Marius, having excited some seditious movements among the credulous vulgar, was slain.

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