Chapter XIII: The Macedonian and Syriac Wars and the Third Punic War (3)

Thus was crushed for a time this perilous insurrection, the result of the slave system established by Roman conquest. The well-being of Sicily had even now been so seriously impaired that extraordinary measures were deemed necessary for restoring order. The Sibylline books were consulted. The oracular page ordered the propitiation of “Ceres the most ancient”; and a solemn deputation of priests proceeded to the august temple of the goddess in the city of Enna. This circumstance, seemingly unimportant, becomes significant, when it is considered that the war really originated in the neglect of agricultural labours, and was at its height during the notable year in which Ti. Gracchus was bringing to all men’s knowledge the reduced condition of the farmers of Italy.

Ten commissioners were sent to assist Rupilius in drawing up laws for the better regulation of the agricultural districts. The code formerly established by Hiero at Syracuse was taken as the basis of their legislation, a measure which gave great satisfaction to all the Greek communities. The whole land was required to pay a tithe of its produce to the Romans except the five free cities and some others which were allowed to pay a fixed annual sum. The collection of these tithes was to be let to Roman contractors. But to prevent extortion, courts of appeal were provided. All disputes between citizens of the same town were left to be decided in the town courts; those between citizens of different towns, by judges drawn by lot under the eye of the prætor; those between a town community and an individual, by the senate of some other city; those between a Roman citizen and a Sicilian, by a judge belonging to the same nation as the defendant. There can be no doubt that the general condition of the Sicilian landholders was considerably improved by this system; and agriculture again flourished in Sicily as it had done in former times.[b]

FOOTNOTES

[57] For this, and for his similar conduct to L. Scipio, the family gave him in marriage Cornelia, the daughter of Africanus. The two celebrated Gracchi were their sons.

[58] This town, which must not be confounded with the ancient Alba Longa, lay on the Fucine Lake.

[59] [The great original authority for the Third Punic War was Polybius,[d] whose accounts of striking incidents in the Hannibalic Wars we have previously quoted. Polybius was the personal friend of Scipio the Younger and was present, as we shall see, at the destruction of Carthage. Unfortunately his first-hand description of that memorable event has not been preserved. But the accounts of Livy[i] and of Appian[g] were based largely, if not solely, upon Polybius. Appian’s account of the war as a whole is too long for insertion here; but Keightley’s[c] description is virtually an abridgment of Appian, paragraph by paragraph, at times the translation being almost literal. For the concluding scenes we shall turn to Appian himself.]

[60] The lawful age for the consulate at this time was forty-three years, and Scipio was only thirty-eight.

[61] [Ihne[f] says of this: “We have serious doubts about the truth of this dramatic effect, which would do honour to any stage manager. A woman standing on the roof of a burning temple, and, in the midst of uproar and carnage, haranguing her husband, who is at a safe distance, is a scene passing all bounds of historical probability. What makes it particularly suspicious is the pretty little piece of adulation which the frantic woman has the politeness to address to Scipio: σοὶ μὲν οὐ νέμεσις ἐκθεῶν ὦ Ῥωμαῖε, ἐπὶ γὰρ πολεμίαν ἐστρατεύσας. Appian,[g] VIII, 31. Καὶ τῷ στρατηγῷ μεγάλας ἐπανῆγε τὰς χάριτας. Polybius,[d] XXXIX, 3, 6. All this is as much a fiction as any scene in a sensational novel. We have no doubt that Hasdrubal and his wife were retained by the Roman deserters against their will. At last Hasdrubal succeeded in escaping from them (λαθὼν ἔφυγε, Appian, VIII, 131). It is possible that thereupon his wife and children were murdered before his eyes.”]

[62] [According to Marquardt,[j] Achaia was not organised into a separate province till the reign of Augustus.]

[63] These _Leges Tabellariæ_ (as the Romans called them, _tabella_ being their word for a ballot) were four in number: (1) The _Gabinian_ (139 B.C.), introducing the use of the ballot at elections. (2) The _Cassian_ (137), introducing it in all state-trials, except in the case of high-treason (_perduellio_). (3) The _Papirian_ (131), introducing it into the Legislative Assembly. (4) The _Cælian_ (107), which cancelled the single exception made by the Cassian Law.