Chapter X: Book XXXIX (2)

21. A little before this intelligence from the war in Liguria was made public, a letter from Spain was read to them, which brought joy mingled with grief. Caius Atinius, who, two years before, had gone to that province in quality of prætor, fought in the territory of Asta a pitched battle with the Lusitanians. About six thousand of the enemy were killed, the rest routed, driven from the field, and their camp taken. He then led his legions to attack the town of Asta, which he took with little more trouble than he met at the camp; but, having been wounded whilst he was approaching the walls too incautiously, he died in a few days from the effects of the wound. When the letter was read, acquainting them with the proprætor’s death, the senate voted, that a courier should be sent to overtake the prætor, Caius Calpurnius, at the port of Luna, and inform him, that the senate thought proper that he should hasten his journey lest the province should be without a governor. The person who was sent reached Luna on the fourth day, but Calpurnius had set out some days before. In Hither Spain, Lucius Manlius Acidinus, who had come into that province at the same time when Caius Atinius came into his, fought a battle with the Celtiberians. They quitted the field, the victory being undecided with the exception of this, that the Celtiberians removed their camp from that quarter on the following night: permission was thus afforded to the Romans to bury their dead, and collect the spoils. In a few days after, the Celtiberians, having gathered a large army, attacked the Romans, near the town of Calaguris. Nothing is recorded respecting the cause that rendered them weaker after their numbers were increased, but they were defeated in the battle; twelve thousand of their men were killed, more than two thousand taken, and the Roman army got possession of their camp, and had not a successor, by his arrival, checked the career of the conqueror, the Celtiberians would have been completely subdued. Both the new prætors drew off their armies into winter quarters.

22. During the time in which this intelligence was announced from Spain, the games called Taurilia[52] were celebrated, during two days, on a religious account. Then Marcus Fulvius exhibited games, which he had vowed in the Ætolian war, and which lasted ten days. Many artists, out of respect to him, came from Greece on the occasion; and now, for the first time, the Romans had an opportunity of seeing contests of wrestlers; they were also presented with a hunt of lions and panthers; the games were celebrated with almost the variety and abundance of the present age. The nine days’ solemnity succeeded, because showers of stones had fallen, for three days, in Picenum; and fires from heaven were said to have arisen in various places, and singed the clothes of many persons by slight flashes. By order of the pontiffs, a supplication, of one day’s continuance, was added because the temple of Ops, in the Capitol, was struck by lightning. The consuls sacrificed victims of the larger kinds, and purified the city. At the same time, an account was brought from Umbria, of a hermaphrodite, twelve years old, being found there. The consuls wishing to get rid of the prodigy, as it was a fearful omen, ordered that it should be removed instantly out of the Roman territory, and put to death. During this year, a body of Transalpine Gauls came into Venetia, without committing depredation or hostility, and pitched on a spot for building a town, not far from that where Aquileia now stands. Ambassadors were sent from Rome, over the Alps, on this business, and to them an answer was given that “they had not emigrated by the authority of their state, nor did their countrymen know what they were doing in Italy.” About this time Lucius Scipio celebrated games, which he said he had vowed during the war with Antiochus; they lasted ten days, and the money was contributed for the purpose by the kings and states of Asia. Valerius Antias asserts, that, after his condemnation, and the sale of his effects, he was sent as ambassador into Asia, to adjust disputes between the kings Antiochus and Eumenes; that there the money was contributed for him, and actors collected through Asia: and that after his embassy, the subject of those games (of which he had made no mention after the war, in which he asserted that they had been vowed) was at length introduced in the senate-house.

23. As the year was now drawing to a conclusion, Quintus Marcius, then abroad, was soon to go out of office. Spurius Postumius, after having conducted the inquisitions with the utmost care and propriety, held the elections. Appius Claudius Pulcher and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus were chosen consuls. Next day, Publius Cornelius Cethegus, Aulus Postumius Albinus, Caius Afranius Stellio, Caius Atilius Serranus Lucius Postumius Tempsanus, and Marcus Claudius Marcellus were elected prætors. Towards the close of the year, because the consul Spurius Postumius reported that in travelling along the coasts of Italy, for the purpose of holding the inquisitions, he had found two colonies deserted, Sipontum on the upper sea, and Buxentum on the lower; in pursuance of a decree of the senate, Lucius Scribonus Libo, Marcus Tuccius, and Cneius Bebius Tamphilus, were appointed commissioners for conducting colonies thither, by Titus Mænius, city prætor. The war with king Perseus and the Macedonians, which was impending, has not derived its origin from what most persons imagine, nor from Perseus himself. The preliminary steps were taken by Philip, and, if he had lived some time longer, he would himself have carried on that war. When the conditions of peace were imposed on him, when he was vanquished, one particular chagrined him more than all the rest; this was because the liberty of wreaking his vengeance on such of the Macedonians as had revolted from him in the course of the war, was taken from him by the senate; although, because Quintius had left that point undetermined, when lie was adjusting the articles of pacification, he had not despaired of the possibility of obtaining it. Afterwards, on the defeat of Antiochus at Thermopylæ, the armies being separated at the time when the consul Acilius carried on the siege of Heraclea, and Philip besieged Lamia, because he was ordered to retire from the walls of Lamia, as soon as Heraclea was taken, and the town was surrendered to the Romans, he was grievously offended with this circumstance. The consul, indeed, in some measure, soothed his resentment; for, when he was hastening to Naupactum, where the Ætolians had re-assembled after their flight, he gave Philip permission to make war on Amynander and Athamania; and to annex to his dominions the cities which the Ætolians had taken from the Thessalians. Without much difficulty, he expelled Amynander from Athamania, and got possession of several cities. He also reduced under his dominion the city of Demetrias, a place of great strength, and convenient in every respect; with the whole of the Magnesian state. Afterwards, finding that several cities in Thrace, through an abuse of the liberty which they had lately acquired, and to which they had not been accustomed, were distracted by dissensions among their leading men, he, by uniting himself to the parties that were worsted in their disputes with their countrymen, made himself master of them all.

24. By these means the king’s wrath against the Romans was appeased for the present; but he never abandoned the project of collecting such a force during peace, as would enable him to maintain a war, whenever the fortunate occasion should be offered. He augmented the revenues of his kingdom, not only out of the produce of the lands and the port duties, but also he worked the mines, both the old ones which had been neglected, and new ones which he opened in many places. Then, (in order to restore the former degree of population, which had been diminished by the calamities of war,) he not only caused an increase in the offspring of that generation, by compelling every one to marry and rear children; but he transplanted a great multitude of Thracians into Macedonia, and, during a long suspension of arms, he employed the utmost assiduity in augmenting, by every possible means, the strength of his kingdom. Causes afterward occurred, which served to revive his animosity against the Romans. Complaints made by the Thessalians and Perrhæbians, of his holding possession of their towns, and, by ambassadors from king Eumenes, of his having forcibly seized the cities of Thrace, and transplanted great numbers of their people into Macedonia, had been received in such a manner as plainly evinced that they were not thought unworthy of attention. What made the greatest impression on the senate, was, their having been informed, that Philip aimed at the possession of Ænus and Maronea; as to the Thessalians, they regarded them less. Ambassadors came, likewise, from the Athamanians, complaining not of the loss of a part of their territory, nor of encroachment on their frontier,—but that all Athamania had been brought under the dominion and jurisdiction of the king. Exiles from Maronea also appeared, who had been expelled by the king’s troops, for having supported the cause of liberty; who reported, that not only Maronea, but Ænus too, was held in subjection by him. Ambassadors came from Philip to defend his conduct, who asserted, that, nothing bad been done without permission from the Roman commanders. That “the states of the Thessalians, Perrhæbians, and Magnesians, and the nation of the Athamanians, with Amynander, had all been engaged in the same cause with the Ætolians. That after the expulsion of king Antiochus, the consul, being himself busy in reducing the towns of Ætolia, had named Philip to subdue those states, and they remained subject to him in consequence of their being conquered by his arms.” The senate, too, that they might not make any decision concerning the king in his absence, sent Quintus Cascilius Metellus, Marcus Bæebius Tamphilus, and Tiberius Sempronius, ambassadors to adjust those disputes. Previous to their arrival, a convention of all those states who had disputes with the king, was summoned to meet at Tempe in Thessaly.

25. When all were seated there, (the Roman ambassadors in the character of arbitrators, the Thessalians, Perrhæbians, and Athamanians professedly as accusers, and Philip as defendant, to hear the accusations brought against him,) those who were the heads of the embassies, according to their several tempers, their favour, or their hatred towards the king, spoke, some with acrimony, others with mildness. Philippopolis, Trica, Phaloria, Eurymenæ, and the other towns in their neighbourhood, became the subject of dispute. The point in controversy was, whether these towns were the property of the Thessalians, when they were forcibly taken from them, and held by the Ætolians, (for from these it was acknowledged that Philip had received them,) or whether they were originally belonging to the Ætolians: Acilius having granted them to the king, on the condition that “they had been the property of the Ætolians; and if they had sided with the Ætolians of their own free will, and not compelled by violence and arms.” The question in regard to the towns of the Perrhæbians and Magnesians turned on the same points; for the Ætolians, by holding possession of them occasionally, had confused the rights of all. To these particulars, which were matter of discussion, the complaints of the Thessalians were added, that “if these towns were now restored to them, they would come into their hands in a state of desolation, and depopulated; for besides the loss of inhabitants through the casualties of war, Philip had carried away five hundred of their young men of the first rank into Macedonia, and abused their labour by employing them in servile offices; and had taken pains to render useless whatever he should be compelled to restore to the Thessalians. That Thebes in Phthiotis was the only sea-port they had, which formerly produced much profit and advantage to the inhabitants of Thessaly; but that Philip, having collected there a number of ships of burthen, made them steer their course past Thebes to Demetrias, and turned thither the whole commerce by sea. That he did not now scruple to offer violence, even to ambassadors, who, by the law of nations, are every where held inviolable, but had laid an ambush for theirs who were going to Titus Quintius, that the Thessalians were in consequence seized with such dread, that not one of them, even in their own states, or in the general assemblies of the nation, ventured to open his lips. For the Romans, the defenders of their liberty, were far distant; and a severe master close at their side, debarring them from using the kindness of the Romans. If speech were not free, what else could be said to be so: at present, through confidence in the protection of the ambassadors, they uttered their groans rather than words; but, unless the Romans would take some precautions that both the fears of the Greeks bordering on Macedonia and the arrogance of Philip should be abated, his having been conquered, and their being set at liberty, would prove utterly fruitless. Like a restive, unmanageable horse, he required to be cheeked with a strong bridle.” These bitter expressions were used by the last speakers among them; those who spoke before having endeavoured by mildness to mitigate his resentment; requesting of him “that he should pardon persons pleading in defence of their liberty; that he should, laying aside the harshness of a master, generally display himself an ally and friend; that he should imitate the Roman people, who wished to unite their allies to them by the ties of affection, rather than of fear.” When the Thessalians had finished, the Perrhæbians pleaded that Gonnocondylos, to which Philip had given the name of Olympias, belonged to Perrhæbia, and ought to be restored to them; and the same demand was made with respect to Malœa, and Ericinium. The Athamanians claimed a restoration of liberty, and the forts Athenæus and Pœtneus.

26. Philip began his discourse also with complaints, that he might maintain the appearance of an accuser rather than of a defendant. He complained that “the Thessalians had taken by force of arms, Menelais in Dolopia, a town belonging to his dominions; likewise, Petra in Pieria was taken by the same Thessalians and the Perrhæbians; that they had reduced under their government Xyniæ, which unquestionably belonged to Ætolia; and that Parachelois, which was under Athamania, was, without any just claim, subjected to the jurisdiction of the Thessalians. As to the charges brought against him, concerning an ambush laid for ambassadors, and of sea-ports being frequented or deserted, the one was quite ridiculous, (as if he were to account for what harbours merchants or sailors should frequent,) and the other the constant tenor of his conduct rejected with scorn. During a number of years, ambassadors had never ceased carrying complaints against him, sometimes to the Roman generals, at others to Rome to the senate. Which of them had ever been injured, even in words? They said, indeed, that an ambush was once laid for some who were going to Quintius, but they are silent in regard to consequences. Such were the accusations of men searching for false imputations, because they had no truth on their side.” He said, that “the Thessalians, insolently and wantonly, abused the indulgence of the Roman people, too greedily drinking, as it were, strong draughts of liberty after a long thirst; and thus, in the manner of slaves lately set free, made trial of their voices and tongues, and prided themselves in invectives and railings against their masters.” Then, hurried on by passion, he added, that “his sun had not set yet;” which expression, not only the Thessalians, but the Romans also, took as a menace to themselves; and when a murmur of displeasure followed his words, and was at length hushed, he replied to the ambassadors of the Perrhæbians and Athamanians, “that the cases of the cities of which they had spoken were the same. The consul Acilius and the Romans gave them to him, when they were the property of enemies. If the donors chose to resume what they had given, he knew he must submit, but in that case they would, for the gratification of inconstant and unprofitable allies, do injury to a more useful and more faithful friend. For no favour produced less permanent gratitude than the gift of liberty, especially among people who were ready to corrupt it by using it badly.” After examining the merits of the cause, the ambassadors pronounced their judgment, that “the Macedonian garrisons should be withdrawn from the cities in question, and that the kingdom of Macedonia should be limited by its ancient boundaries. That with regard to the injuries which both parties complained of being done to them, it would be requisite to institute some compact for the attainment of justice, in order to decide the controversies between those states and the Macedonians.”

27. The king being grievously offended, the ambassadors proceeded thence to Thessalonica, to give a hearing to the business concerning the cities of Thrace. Here the ambassadors of Eumenes said, that “if the Romans wished that Ænus and Maronea should be independent, the king felt ashamed to say more, than to recommend it to them to leave those people free in fact, and not in words; nor to suffer their kindness to be intercepted by another. But if they had not so much concern for the states situated in Thrace, it was much more reasonable that Eumenes should possess, as the rewards of war, the places which had been under the dominion of Antiochus, than Philip; and that, either on account of his father Attalus’s deserts in the war, waged by the Roman people against Philip himself, or on account of his own, because he had shared all the toils and dangers on land and sea, during the war with Antiochus. Besides, he had the previous judgment of the ten ambassadors to that purpose; who, when they granted the Chersonesus and Lysimachia, surely yielded at the same time Ænus and Maronea; which, even from the proximity of situation, were but a sort of appendage to the larger gift. For, as to Philip, by what merits towards the Roman people, or what right of dominion, had he put garrisons into those places, which were at so great a distance from the borders of Macedonia? They then desired that the Romans would order the Maronites to be called, from whom they would receive more positive information of the condition of those cities.” The Maronite ambassadors being called in, declared, that “not in one spot of the city, as in other garrisoned towns, but in every quarter of it, there was a party of the king’s troops, and that Maronea was full of Macedonians; in consequence of which, the favourites of the king domineered over the rest; they alone had liberty of speaking, either in the senate or assemblies of the people. All posts of eminence they assumed to themselves, or conferred on whom they thought proper. That the most deserving persons, who had a regard for liberty and for the laws, were either expelled their country, and in exile, or remained in silence, dishonoured and subjected to men of the worst description.” They added also a few words respecting their right to the frontier places, affirming, that “Quintus Fabius Labeo, when he was in that country, had fixed as a boundary line to Philip, the old royal road leading to Paroreia, in Thrace, which in no place leads towards the sea; and that Philip afterwards drew a new one in another direction, in order to include the cities and lands of the Maronites.”

28. Philip, in his reply to these charges, took quite another course than when lately answering the Thessalians and Perrhæbians, and said:—“My dispute is not now with the Maronites, or with Eumenes, but with you yourselves, Romans, from whom I have long ago seen that I can obtain no justice. The cities of Macedonia, which had revolted from me during a suspension of arms, I thought should in justice be restored to me; not that they would have made any great accession to my dominions, because the towns are small in themselves, and besides, are situated on the extremities of the frontiers; but because the example was of great consequence towards retaining the rest of the Macedonians in their allegiance. This was refused me. In the Ætolian war, I was ordered by the consul, Manius Acilius, to lay siege to Lamia, and when I had there undergone a long course of fatigue in fighting and constructing works, and was on the point of mounting the walls, the consul recalled me from the city when almost in my possession, and compelled me to draw off my troops from it. As some consolation for this hard treatment, I received permission to seize on some forts, rather than cities, of Thessaly, Perrhæbia, and Athamania. These also you yourselves, Quintus Cæcilius, have taken from me a few days ago. The ambassadors of Eumenes, just now, took for granted, it seems, that Eumenes would with more justice than I possess whatever belonged to Antiochus. I judge the matter to be widely different. For Eumenes could not have remained on his throne, unless the Romans had engaged in the war, and not unless they had conquered. Therefore he has received a favour from you, not you from him; whereas, so far were any part of my dominions from being in danger, that, when Antiochus voluntarily offered to purchase my alliance, with three thousand talents and fifty decked ships, guaranteeing to me all the cities of Greece of which I had heretofore been in possession, I rejected that offer. I avowed myself his enemy, even before Manius Acilius brought over an army into Greece. In conjunction with that consul, I supported whatever share of the war he gave me in charge. To the succeeding consul, Lucius Scipio, when he proposed leading his army by land to the Hellespont, I not only gave a passage through my dominions, but also made roads for him, built bridges, supplied him with provisions, and escorted him, not only through Macedon, but likewise through Thrace; where, besides other business, I had to procure peace from the barbarians. In requital of this zeal, not to call it merit, towards you, whether would it be proper in you, Romans, to enlarge and increase my dominions by acts of generosity, or to ravish from me what I possessed, either in my own right or through your kindness. The cities of Macedon, which you acknowledge to have belonged to my kingdom, are not restored. Eumenes comes to plunder me as he would Antiochus, and, if you choose to believe him, covers his most shameless chicanery under the decree of the ten ambassadors, by which principally he can be refuted and convicted. For is it not expressly and plainly set down in that writing, that the Chersonese and Lysimachia are granted to Eumenes; and where are Ænus, Maronea, and the cities of Thrace annexed to it in writing? That which he did not dare even to ask from them, shall he obtain from you, as if under their grant? It is a matter of importance in what light you choose to consider me. If you are resolved to persecute me as an enemy and foe, proceed to act as you have begun: but, if you have any consideration for me as a king in friendship and alliance with you, I must entreat you not to judge me deserving of such injurious treatment.”

29. The king’s discourse made a considerable impression on the ambassadors; they therefore left the matter in suspense, by this indecisive resolution, that “if the cities in question were granted to Eumenes by the decree of the ten ambassadors, they would make no alteration. If Philip subdued them in war, he should, by the laws of war, hold them as the prize of victory. If neither were the case, then their judgment was, that the decision should be referred to the senate; and in order that all things might remain in their original state, the garrisons in those cities should be withdrawn.” These causes, principally, alienated the regard of Philip from the Romans, so that the war naturally seems not set on foot by his son Perseus for any fresh causes, but rather for these causes, bequeathed by the father to the son. At Rome there was hitherto no suspicion of a war with Macedonia. Lucius Manlius, the proconsul, had by this time come home from Spain. On his demanding a triumph from the senate assembled in the temple of Bellona, the greatness of his exploits justified the demand, but precedent opposed it; for it was a rule, established by ancient practice, that no commander, who had not brought home his troops, should triumph, unless he had delivered up the province to his successor, in a state of thorough subjection and tranquillity. An honour of a middling grade was conferred on Manlius, namely, that he should enter the city in ovation. He carried in the procession fifty-two golden crowns, one hundred and twenty-two pounds’ weight of gold, with sixteen thousand three hundred pounds of silver; and announced in the senate, that his quæstor, Quintus Fabius, was bringing ten thousand pounds’ weight of silver, and eighty of gold, and that he would carry it likewise to the treasury. During that year there was a formidable insurrection of the slaves in Apulia. Lucius Postumius, prætor, governed the province of Tarentum, and conducted with much severity inquiries into a conspiracy of peasants, who had infested the roads and public pastures with robberies. Of these, he passed sentence on no less than seven thousand; many of whom made their escape, and on many punishment was inflicted. The consuls, after being long detained in the city by the levies, set out at length for their provinces.

30. This year, Caius Calpurnius and Lucius Quintius, the two prætors in Spain, drew their troops out of winter quarters, at the commencement of spring, and making a junction of them in Bæturia, for they were resolved to proceed in the operations of the campaign with united zeal and harmony, advanced into Carpetania, where the enemy’s camp lay. At a small distance from the towns of Hippo and Toletum, a fight began between the foraging parties, to whom when reinforcements came from both armies from the camps, the entire armies were by degrees drawn out into the field. In this irregular kind of battle, the advantage of the ground and the manner of fighting were in favour of the enemy. The two Roman armies were routed, and driven into their camp; but the enemy did not pursue the dismayed Romans. The Roman prætors, lest their camp should be attacked next day, giving the signal in silence, led away their army in the dead of the following night. At the first dawn, the Spaniards came up to the rampart in battle array, and entered the camp which, beyond their expectation, was deserted, and made prey of whatever had in the hurry and confusion been first left behind; and then, returning to their own station, remained, for a few days, at rest within their camp. Of the Romans and allies, there were killed in the battle and the pursuit, five thousand men, out of whose spoils the enemy furnished themselves with arms. They then advanced to the river Tagus. All the intermediate time the Roman prætors employed in collecting aid from the allied Spanish states, and reviving the spirits of their men after the dismay occasioned by their defeat. When their strength appeared adequate, and the soldiers too called for their enemy, to blot out in vengeance their former disgrace, they pitched their camp at the distance of twelve miles from the river Tagus; but decamping thence at the third watch, and marching with their army in a square, reached the bank of the river at break of day. The enemy’s camp was on a hill at the other side of the river. They immediately led their army across the river where it was fordable in two places, Calpurnius having the command of the right, Quintius of the left. The enemy continued motionless, since they were surprised at the sudden arrival of the Romans, and busy in consultations, when they might have excited confusion among the troops during their hurry in passing the river. In the mean time the Romans brought over all their baggage, and threw it together in a heap, and seeing the enemy, at length, begin to move, and having no time for fortifying a camp, they formed their line of battle. In the centre were placed the fifth legion, serving under Calpurnius, and the eighth, under Quintius, which composed the principal strength of their army. All the way to the enemy’s camp they had an open plain, free from all danger of ambush.

31. When the Spaniards saw the two bodies of Romans, on their side of the river, they rushed suddenly out of the camp, and advanced to battle at full speed, that they might fall upon them before they should unite and put themselves in order. The fight, in the beginning, was urged with great fury; the Spaniards being elated by their late success, and the Roman soldiery inflamed to rage, by a discomfiture to which they were unaccustomed. The centre, consisting of two legions of the greatest bravery, fought with the utmost vigour. The enemy, seeing that they could not be forced from their ground by any other means, resolved to make their attack in form of a wedge; and this body, becoming continually more numerous and more compact, pressed hard on them. When the prætor, Calpurnius, perceived that his line was distressed in this part, he hastily despatched two lieutenants-general, Titus Quintilius Varus and Lucius Juventius Thalna, to animate the courage of the two legions, who were ordered to say, that “all hopes of victory, and of retaining possession of Spain, depended entirely on them. If they should give ground, not a man in that whole army would ever see Italy, no, nor even the farther bank of the Tagus.” He himself, at the head of the cavalry of the two legions, making a small circuit, charged the flank of the wedge, which was pressing upon his centre. Quintius, likewise, with his cavalry, charged the enemy on the other flank; but the horsemen of Calpurnius fought with far greater spirit, while the prætor himself exceeded all others. He was the first that struck down one of the enemy, and he pushed in among the troops in the centre, in such a manner that it was hard to distinguish to which side he belonged. Thus the horse were animated by the extraordinary valour of the prætor, and the infantry by that of the horse. Shame, because they saw the prætor in the midst of the enemy’s weapons, inspired the foremost centurions. They all, therefore, earnestly pressed the standard-bearers, urging them to carry forward the ensigns, and the soldiers to follow with speed. All set up the shout anew, and made an attack as violent as if it were made from the higher ground. Like a flood, therefore, they broke and bore down the enemy in dismay, nor could they be resisted, pouring in one after another, The cavalry pursued the fugitives to their camp, and mixing with the crowd of the runaways, penetrated within the rampart. Here the fight was renewed by the troops left to guard the camp, and the Roman horsemen were obliged to dismount. While they were engaged, the fifth legion came up, and afterwards the rest of the troops joined them with all the speed they could. The Spaniards were cut to pieces in all parts of the camp; not more than four thousand men made their escape. Of these about three thousand, who kept their arms, took possession of a mountain in the neighbourhood, and one thousand, who were in general but half armed, dispersed through the country. This army of the enemy had contained thirty-five thousand men, of whom that very small number survived the battle. One hundred and thirty-three standards were taken. Of the Romans and allies, a few more than six hundred fell; and of the provincial auxiliaries, about one hundred and fifty. The loss of five military tribunes, and a few Roman horsemen, served principally to give the victory the appearance of being a bloody one. The army lodged in the enemy’s camp, as they had not had time to fortify one of their own. Next day the cavalry was praised by Calpurnius in an assembly, and presented with trappings; and he declared publicly, that through their bravery, principally, the enemy had been defeated, and their camp stormed and taken. Quinctius, the other prætor, presented his cavalry also with chains and clasps. A great many centurions also, of both the armies, received gratuities, especially those who were in the centre.

32. The consuls, as soon as they had finished the levies, and other business which required to be done at Rome, led the army into their province, Liguria. Sempronius marched from Pisæ against the Apuan Ligurians, and by ravaging their lands, and by burning their villages and forts, he opened that difficult country, as far as the river Macra and the harbour of Luna. The enemy took possession of a mountain which had been the ancient retreat of their forefathers; but the difficulty of access being overcome, they were dislodged by force. Appius Claudius, against the Ingaunian tribe, rivalled in several successful battles the good fortune and bravery of his colleague. He also stormed six of their towns, in which he made many thousand prisoners, beheading forty-three of the chief promoters of the war. The time of the elections now drew near; but Claudius came home to Rome sooner than Sempronius, to whom the business of presiding at the elections had been allotted, because his brother, Publius Claudius, stood candidate for the consulship. His competitors, of patrician rank, were Lucius Æmilius, Quintus Fabius Labeo, and Servius Sulpicius Galba, who had been candidates before, and now renewed their suit, for an honour which was the more justly due to them, owing to their repulses, as it had been refused before. Besides, as it was not lawful that more than one patrician should be appointed, there was a closer contest between the four candidates. The plebeian candidates likewise were men in high esteem. Lucius Porcius, Quintus Terentius Culleo, and Cneius Bæbius Tamphilus; these two had been disappointed, but had cherished hopes of attaining the honour at some future time. Claudius was the only new candidate. Quintus Fabius Labeo and Lucius Porcius Licinus were marked out by public opinion as the successful persons; but Claudius, the consul, unattended by his lictors, canvassed with his brother through all parts of the forum, notwithstanding the loud remonstrances of his opponents and the greater part of the senate, who insisted that “he ought to remember that he was consul of the Roman people, rather than the brother of Publius Claudius. Why should he not rather sit on his tribunal, content himself with presiding, and remain a silent spectator of the business.” Yet he could not be restrained from a display of his immoderate zeal. The election was, also, several times interrupted by contentions between the plebeian tribunes; some of whom struggled hard in opposition to the consul, and others in support of the cause which he favoured. At last, Appius conquered all opposition, so as to set aside Fabius, and bring in his brother. Thus was Publius Claudius Pulcher elected consul, beyond his own, and indeed the general expectation. Lucius Porcius Licinus carried his election also, because the contest among the plebeian candidates was conducted with a decent degree of warmth, and not with the violence of Claudius. Then was held the election of prætors. Caius Decimius Flavus, Publius Sempronius Longus, Publius Cornelius Cethegus, Quintus Nævius Matho, Caius Sempronius Blæsus, and Aulus Terentius Varro, were made prætors. Such were the occurrences at home and abroad of this year, during the consulate of Appius Claudius and Marcus Sempronius.

33. In the beginning of the following year, Publius Claudius and Lucius Porcius, the consuls, when Quintus Cæcilius, Marcus Bæebius, and Tiberius Sempronius, who had been sent to adjust the matters in dispute between the kings, Philip and Eumenes, and the states of the Thessalians, had given an account of their embassy, introduced to the senate ambassadors from those kings and states. On this occasion, the same arguments were repeated by all parties, which had been urged before the ambassadors in Greece. The senate then decreed that a new embassy, the principal man of which was Appius Claudius, should be sent into Macedonia and Greece, to know whether the several states had been restored to the Rhodians, Thessalians, and Perrhæbians. Instructions were given to the same, that the garrisons should be withdrawn, from Ænus and Maronea, and that all the sea-coast of Thrace should be made free and independent of Philip and the Macedonians. They were ordered also to go to Peloponnesus, from which the former ambassadors had departed, leaving affairs in a more unsettled state than they would have been if they had not come thither. For besides other matters, they were even sent away without an answer by the Achæan council, nor was an audience of that body granted to them at their request. When Quintus Cæcilius made a heavy complaint on this subject, and at the same time the Lacedæmonians deplored the demolition of their walls, the carrying off their poor people into Achaia, the selling of them there, and the depriving them of the laws of Lycurgus, by which the nation had been supported unto that time, the Achaians laboured principally to excuse their having refused a meeting of the council by quoting a law which enacted, that a council should not be summoned, except on business of peace or war, or when ambassadors should come from the senate with letters or written instructions. That this kind of excuse should not be made in future, the senate observed to them, that they ought to take care that Roman ambassadors should at all times have an opportunity of applying to their council, in like manner as an audience of the senate was always given to them, at any time when they wished it.

34. After those embassies were dismissed, Philip, being informed that he must yield up the states, and evacuate the towns in question, was highly enraged against all, yet vented his fury on the Maronites in particular. He gave a charge to Onomastus, who had the command of the sea-coast, to put to death the leaders of the opposite party. This man, through the agency of a person called Cassander, a partisan of the king’s, who had resided a long time in Maronea, having introduced Thracians by night, put the inhabitants to the sword, as if the city had been taken by storm. When the Roman ambassadors complained of his acting with such cruelty towards the innocent Maronites, and with such presumption towards the Roman people, in killing, as enemies, those very persons to whom the senate had adjudged the restoration of liberty, he denied that “any of those matters concerned him, or any one belonging to him; that they had quarrelled among themselves, and fought, because some wished to bring over their state to his side, others to that of Eumenes. That they might easily ascertain this; and they had only to ask the Maronites themselves.” For he was confident, that while they were all under the impression of terror, since the late massacre, not one of them would dare to utter a word against him. Appius said, that “a case so clear ought not to be examined into as if it were doubtful. But if he wished to remove the guilt from himself, let him send Onomastus and Cassander, the actors in that business, to Rome, that the senate might examine them.” At first, these words so entirely disconcerted the king, that neither his colour nor his looks remained unchanged; then, after some time, having collected his thoughts, he replied, that “he would send Cassander, who had been in Maronea, if it was their desire: but as to Onomastus, how could that matter affect him, who, so far from being in Maronea, was not even near it?” He was more careful of Onomastus, as a more valued friend, yet he dreaded him much more lest he might make discoveries; because he had, in person, conversed with him on the subject, and he had made him an agent and accomplice in many similar acts. Cassander is supposed to have been taken off, that the truth might not be divulged, by poison administered by persons sent to escort him through Epirus to the sea-coast.

35. The ambassadors departed from the conference with Philip in such a manner that they made it manifest that none of these acts pleased them; and Philip, with a full resolution to have recourse again to arms. Because his strength was as yet insufficient for that purpose, he resolved, in order to procure delay, to send his younger son Demetrius to Rome, to clear him from the above-named charges; and at the same time to deprecate the wrath of the senate. Philip had strong expectations that the young man himself, because he had, while a hostage at Rome, exhibited proofs of a princely disposition, would have a good deal of influence now. Meanwhile, under the pretence of carrying succour to the Byzantians, but in reality with design to strike terror into the chieftains of the Thracians, he marched into their country, utterly defeated them in an engagement, in which he took their commander, Amadocus, prisoner, and then returned to Macedonia, having first despatched emissaries to induce the barbarians, living near the Danube, to make an irruption into Italy. The arrival of the Roman ambassadors, who had been ordered to go from Macedonia into Achaia, was expected in Peloponnesus; and in order that the Achæans might settle their plans of conduct towards them beforehand, their prætor, Lycortas, summoned a general council. Here the affair of the Lacedæmonians was taken into consideration. It was observed that “from enemies, they were turned accusers; and there was reason to fear lest they should prove more formidable, after having been conquered, than when at war: for in it the Achæans had the Romans as allies in their cause; now the same Romans were more favourable to the Lacedæmonians than to the Achæans. Even Areus and Alcibiades, both restored from exile through the kindness of the Achæans, had undertaken an embassy to Rome, in prejudice to a nation to which they were so much obliged; and had used language so severe, that they seemed to have been banished from their country, instead of being restored to it.” A general clamour arose, requiring him to put the question on each of them by name; and as every thing was directed by passion, not by reason, they were condemned to die. In a few days after this the Roman ambassadors arrived, and a council was summoned to meet them at Clitor, in Arcadia.

36. Before they transacted any business, alarm was excited in the Achæans, accompanied by the reflection, how unlikely the dispute was to receive impartial judgment, when they saw in company with the ambassadors Areus and Alcibiades, whom in their last council they had condemned to death; yet none of them dared to utter a word. Appius acquainted them that the senate was much displeased at those matters, of which the Lacedæmonians made complaint before them; “first, the massacre that took place at Compasium of those who, in obedience to the summons of Philopœmen, came to stand a trial; then after such barbarity had been exercised towards men, that their cruelty might be felt in every part, the having demolished the wall of that famous city, having abrogated its laws of the greatest antiquity, and abolished the discipline of Lycurgus, so famed throughout the world.” After Appius had spoken to this effect, Lycortas, both because he was prætor and because he was of the faction of Philopœmen, the adviser of all that was done at Lacedæemon, answered him thus: “Appius Claudius, our speech before you is attended with more difficulties than we had lately before the senate at Rome; for then we had to answer the accusations of the Lacedæmonians, but now we stand accused by yourselves, before whom our cause is to be heard. But to this disadvantage of situation we submit with this hope, that you will hear us with the temper of a judge, laying aside the character of an advocate, in which you just now appeared. I at least, though the matters of which the Lacedæmonians complained formerly in this place, before Quintus Cæcilius, and afterwards at Rome, have been just recapitulated by you, yet shall consider myself as answering for them, not to you, but before you. You charge us with the murder of those men, who being called out by the prætor, Philopœmen, to trial, were put to death. This I think a charge of such a nature, that it ought not to be advanced against us, either by you, Romans, or by any in your presence. Why so? Because it was written in the treaty with you, that the Lacedæmonians should not intermeddle with the cities on the coast. At the time when they, taking up arms, seized by assault in the night those towns with which they had been forbidden to interfere; if Titus Quintius, if a Roman army had been in Peloponnesus, as formerly, the captured and oppressed inhabitants would surely have fled to them for relief. As you were at a great distance, to whom else would they fly but to us, your allies, whom they had seen at a former time bringing aid to Gythium; whom they had seen in conjunction with you, besieging Lacedæmon on their account? In your stead, therefore, we undertook a just and rightful war. And when other men approve of this step, and even the Lacedæmonians cannot censure it; the gods themselves, also, by giving us the victory, have shown their approbation of it; how then can acts done under the laws of war come under civil disquisition? Of these acts, however, the greatest part nowise affect us. The summoning to trial men, who had excited the populace to arms, who had stormed and plundered the towns on the coast, who had murdered the principal inhabitants, was our act; but the putting them to death when they were coming into the camp was yours, Areus and Alcibiades, who now, since it is the will of the gods, arraign us, and not ours. The Lacedæmonian exiles (in the number of whom, these two men then were) were then in our camp, and believing that they were the objects of attack because they had chosen the maritime towns for their residence, made an assault on those by whose means they had been banished, and who they perceived with indignation would not suffer them even to grow old in exile with safety. Lacedænonians therefore, not Achæans, slew Lacedæmonians; nor is it of any consequence to dispute, whether they were slain justly or unjustly.

37. “But then, Achæans, the abolition of the laws and ancient discipline of Lycurgus, with the demolition of the walls, are unquestionably your acts: now how can both these charges be brought forward by the same persons, since the walls of Lacedæmon were built, not by Lycurgus, but a few years ago, for the purpose of subverting the discipline of Lycurgus? The tyrants erected them lately as a fortress and defence for themselves, not for the state; and if Lycurgus should rise this day from the dead, he would rejoice at their ruins, and would say that he now acknowledged his country, and ancient Sparta. You ought not to have waited for Philopœmen, or the Achæans; you should have removed and razed, with your own hands, every vestige of tyranny; for these were the foul scars of slavery. And as during almost eight hundred years, while ye were without walls, ye were free, and for some time even chiefs of Greece; so, after being bound with walls, as with fetters, you were slaves for one hundred years. As to what concerns the abrogating their laws, I conceive that the tyrants took away the ancient laws of Lacedæmon, and that we did not deprive them of their own laws which they did not possess, but gave them ours; nor did we neglect the interests of their state, when we made it a member of our council, and incorporated it with ourselves, so that the whole Peloponnesus should form one body and one council. If we were living under laws different from what we imposed on them, in that case I think they might complain of being treated unfairly, and consequently be displeased. I know, Appius Claudius, that the kind of discourse which I have hitherto used is not proper either for allies, addressing their allies, or for an independent nation; but, in truth, for slaves pleading before their masters. For if the herald’s proclamation, in which you ordered the Achæans, first of all the states of Greece, to be free, was any thing more than empty sound; if the treaty be valid, if the alliance and friendship be maintained on equal terms, why do not I inquire what you Romans did, on the taking of Capua, as well as you demand what we, the Achæans, did towards the Lacedæmonians, when we conquered them in war? Some persons were killed, suppose, by us. What! did not you behead the Campanian senators? We demolished their walls: you not only destroyed the walls, but you took the city and the lands. But you say, the treaty is on equal terms only in appearance, but, in reality, the Achæans possess a precarious state of freedom, while the Romans enjoy supreme power. I am sensible of it, Appius; and if I ought not, I do not remonstrate; but, I beseech you, let the difference between the Romans and Achæans be as great as it may, not to place people, who are foes to both, on an equal footing with us, your allies, or even on a better. For, as to setting them on an equality, that we ourselves have done, when we gave them our own laws, when we made them members of the Achæan council. Vanquished,—they are not content with what satisfies their conquerors; foes,—they demand more than allies enjoy. What we have ratified by our oaths, what we have consecrated as inviolable to eternal remembrance, by records engraved in stone, they want to abolish, and to load us with perjury. Romans, for you we have high respect; and, if such is your wish, dread also; but we more respect and dread the immortal gods.” He was heard with general approbation, and all declared that he had spoken as became the dignity of his office; so that it was easily seen, that the Romans could not support their ascendency by acting gently. Appius then said, that “he earnestly recommended it to the Achæans to conciliate friendship, while it was in their power to act voluntarily; lest they might presently do so unwillingly and by compulsion.” These words were heard by all with grief, but inspired them with fear of refusing compliance. They only requested the Romans “to make such alterations respecting the Lacedæmonians as they should judge proper, and not involve the Achæans in the guilt of annulling what they had sanctioned with their oaths.” Nothing more was done, only the sentence lately passed on Areus and Alcibiades was reversed.