Chapter XIV: Book XL (3)

39. In the same year Fulvius Flaccus, the proconsul in Spain, as his successor did not come to the province at the usual time, having drawn out the troops from their winter quarters, proceeded to lay waste the farther part of Celtiberia, whose inhabitants had not come in to make submission. But by this proceeding he rather provoked than terrified the spirits of the barbarians; so that, having collected secretly a body of forces, they beset the Manlian pass, through which they knew, with certainty, that the Roman army would march. Gracchus had commissioned his colleague, Lucius Postumius Albinus, who was going to the Farther Spain, to desire Quintus Fulvius to bring his forces to Tarraco, where he intended to discharge the veterans, to distribute the reinforcements among the respective corps, and reorganize the entire army. The day also was mentioned to Flaccus, and that not very distant, on which his successor would arrive. When tidings of this new arrangement had compelled Flaccus to drop the business which he had undertaken, and to lead away the troops in haste out of Celtiberia, the barbarians, unacquainted with the reason, and supposing that he had discovered their revolt and secret assembling of an army, and that he was retreating through fear, beset the pass with the greater determination. When the Roman army entered this defile, at the dawn of day, immediately the enemy starting up attacked it at two sides at once. And when Flaccus saw this, he put down the confusion arising among the soldiers by giving orders through the centurions that every man should keep his post, in the order of march, and make ready his arms; then collecting the baggage and beasts of burden, into one spot, partly by himself, partly by the help of the lieutenants-general, and military tribunes, he formed his troops as the time and place required, without any confusion. He put them in mind, that they were to engage with men “who had been twice reduced to submission; that guilt and perfidy, not valour or courage, were their only accessions. That these people had put it in their power to make their return to their country which otherwise would have been ignoble, glorious and splendid; for they would now carry home their swords red from the slaughter, and spoils dropping blood.” The time did not allow more to be said, as the enemy were rapidly advancing upon them; the extremities of the wings were already engaged, and quickly after the entire lines.

40. The battle was furious in every part, but the success various. The two legions fought with extraordinary bravery, nor were the two cohorts of the allies remiss; but the foreign auxiliaries were hard pressed, by men armed like themselves, and rather a better description of soldiers; nor were they able to maintain their ground. The Celtiberians, as soon as they perceived that, in a regular line, and in fair fighting, they were no match for the legions, made a charge against them, in the form of a wedge, in which sort of attack they excel so much, that on whatever part they direct their assault they cannot be withstood. On this occasion, too, the legions were ordered, and the line was almost broken. When Flaccus observed this disorder, he rode up to the legionary cavalry, asking them, “Have we any support in you? Is the whole army to be lost?” Whereupon they called to him from all sides, to “tell them what he wished to be done; and that it should be instantly attempted.” “Cavalry of the two legions, double your troops,” he replied, “and charge the wedge, which is attacking our soldiers; you will make a more violent charge, if you spur your horses without bridles against the foe. This expedient is recorded to have been often employed by the Roman cavalry with great advantage.” They obeyed his orders, and taking off the bits of the bridle, they spurred in full career through that body twice, forward and backward, breaking their spears to pieces, and making great havoc of the enemy. The Celtiberians, on this dispersion of their wedge, on which had been their whole reliance, were quite dismayed, and almost giving over the fight, looked about for ways to escape. And now, when the allied horse saw this brilliant exploit of the Roman cavalry, they were so inflamed by the example of their bravery, that without waiting for orders, they made a charge on the enemy, while they were in confusion. Then truly all the Celtiberians scatter and fly, and the Roman general, when he saw their backs, vowed a temple to Equestrian Fortune, and games in honour of Jupiter supremely good and great. The fugitives, dispersing, were pursued with much slaughter, through the whole length of the pass. Seventeen thousand of the enemy are recorded to have been killed on this occasion, and more than four thousand taken, with two hundred and seventy-seven military standards, and near one thousand one hundred horses. The victorious army pitched no camp on that day. This victory, however, was not gained without loss; four hundred and seventy-two Roman soldiers, one thousand and nineteen of the allies and Latins, and besides these three thousand of the auxiliaries perished. The victorious army, having thus reasserted their former renown, finished their march to Tarraco. The prætor, Tiberius Sempronius, who had arrived two days before, came out to meet Fulvius on the road, and congratulated him on the important services which he had rendered to the commonwealth. They then, with perfect unanimity, settled what soldiers they should discharge, and what they should retain; and Fulvius, embarking the disbanded soldiers in the fleet, set sail for Rome, while Sempronius led the legions into Celtiberia.

41. Both the consuls led their armies into Liguria, but on different sides. Postumius, with the first and third legions, invested the mountains of Balista and Suismontium; and, by securing the narrow passes leading thereto with guards, cut off all supplies of provisions; and by want of every thing he reduced them to an entire obedience. Fulvius, with the second and fourth legions, marched from Pisæ against the Apuan Ligurians; and having received the submission of that part of them which inhabited the banks of the river Macra, he put them, to the number of seven thousand men, on board ships, and sent them along the Etrurian coast to Neapolis, from whence they were conducted into Samnium, and lands were assigned to them among their countrymen. The vine-yards of the Ligurians of the mountains were cut down and their corn burnt by Aulus Postumius, until, compelled by all the calamities of war, they surrendered and delivered up their arms. From thence Postumius proceeded, by sea, to visit the coast of the Ingaunian and Intemelian tribes. Before these consuls joined the army which had been ordered to meet at Pisæ, Aulus Postumius, and a brother of Quintus Fulvius, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, had the command of it. Fulvius was military tribune of the second legion. He in his months[59] of command disbanded the legion, after obliging the centurions to swear, that they would carry the money in their hands to the treasury, and deliver it to the quæstors. When this was announced to Aulus at Placentia, to which place he happened to have made an excursion, he set out with some light horsemen, in quest of the disbanded men; and such as he could overtake, he sharply rebuked and brought back to Pisæ, and then apprised the consul of the whole matter. When he laid the business before the senate, a decree was passed that Marcus Fulvius should be banished into that part of Spain beyond New Carthage; and a letter was given him by the consul, to be carried into Farther Spain, to Publius Manlius. The soldiers were ordered to return to their standards; and it was decreed, that, as a mark of disgrace, that legion should, for that year, receive but half a year’s pay. The consul was likewise ordered to sell the person and property of every soldier who should not return to the army.

42. In the same year Lucius Duronius, who had been prætor the year before, returned with ten ships from Illyricum to Brundusium, and leaving the fleet in that harbour, came to Rome, and in giving a recital of the services which he had performed in his province, he threw the blame of all the piracies committed by sea, on Gentius, king of Illyricum, as their undoubted cause. “From his kingdom,” he said, “came all the ships that had ravaged the coast of the Hadriatic; that he had sent ambassadors on the subject, but they were not even allowed an audience of the king.” Some time before this, ambassadors had come to Rome from Gentius, who said, that “when the Romans came for the purpose of holding a conference with the king, he happened to be sick in a remote part of his dominions; and that Gentius requested of the senate, not to give credit to the forged charges which his enemies had made against him.” Duronius added, that injuries were offered to many Roman citizens and Latin allies, in Gentius’s dominions; some of whom he held in confinement in Corcyra. It was their pleasure that all these should be brought to Rome; that the prætor, Caius Claudius, should inquire into that business; and that until this were done, no answer should be given to king Gentius, or his ambassadors. Among many others whom the pestilence of this year cut off, several priests also died. Lucius Valerius Flaccus, a pontiff, died of it; and in his room was substituted Quintus Fabius Labeo. Publius Manlius, who had lately come home from the Farther Spain, and was triumvir of religious feasts, died also; Quintus Fulvius, son of Marcus, then a mere youth, succeeded him. The appointing of a king of the sacrifices in the room of Cneius Cornelius Dolabella, gave rise to a dispute between Caius Servilius, chief pontiff, and Lucius Cornelius Dolabella, naval duumvir; whom the pontiff ordered to resign his office, to the end that he might inaugurate him; and on the duumvir’s refusing to do this, a fine was therefore imposed on him by the pontiff; and when the latter appealed, they contended about the affair before the people. After a majority of the tribes, being called in, had ordered that the duumvir should comply with the requisition of the pontiff, and that if he would resign his commission the fine should be remitted, an unfavourable omen from the heavens intervened, which broke off the proceedings of the assembly. After this the pontiffs were prevented by religious scruples from inaugurating Dolabella. They consecrated Publius Clælius Siculus, who had been installed in the second place. Towards the end of the year, Caius Servilius Geminus, the chief pontiff, also died; the same was decemvir of religious affairs. In his room, as pontiff, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was nominated by the college; but Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, was elected chief pontiff, though many illustrious men sought that office; and Quintus Marcius Philippus was appointed to the office of the same, as decemvir of religious affairs. Spurius Postumius Albinus, an augur, died; and the augurs elected into his place Publius Scipio, son of Africanus. On the request of the people of Cumæ that year, leave was granted them to use the Latin language in their public business, and that their auctioneers should have a right to use the Latin language in selling.

43. To the Pisans, offering ground for the establishment of a Latin colony, thanks were returned by the senate, and triumvirs were appointed to conduct that business; these were Quintus Fabius Buteo, Marcus Pompilius Lænas, and Publius Pompilius Lænas. A letter was brought from Caius Mænius, the prætor, (to whom, after that the province of Sardinia had fallen to his lot, orders were given to make inquisition concerning sorceries, in places more than ten miles distant from the city,) the purport of which was, “that he had already passed sentence on three thousand people; and that still, in consequence of fresh discoveries, the business of the inquisition increased so much on his hands, that he must either drop the prosecution of the inquiries, or give up the province.” Quintus Fulvius Flaccus returned to Rome from Spain, with a high reputation for his military exploits; and while he waited without the city in expectation of a triumph, was elected consul with Lucius Manlius Acidinus. And after a few days, he rode through the city in triumph, accompanied by the soldiers whom he had brought with him. He carried in the procession a hundred and twenty-four golden crowns, together with thirty-one pounds’ weight of gold, and of coined Oscan silver a hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred pieces.[60] He gave out of the booty to each of the soldiers fifty denariuses; double that sum to a centurion; triple it to a horseman; and the same sums to the Latin allies, with double pay to all. This year, for the first time, a law was proposed by Lucius Villius, plebeian tribune, ascertaining at what ages men might sue for, and hold each office in the state. Hence the surname Annalis was given to his family.

44. Four prætors were elected, after a lapse of many years, by the Bæbian law, which enacted that four should be elected every alternate year; and the persons appointed were Cneius Cornelius Scipio, Caius Valerius Lævinus, Quintus Mucius Scævola, and Publius Mucius Scævola, sons of Quintus. To the consuls, Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius, was decreed the same province as to the preceding ones, and the same number of forces, infantry, cavalry, citizens, and allies. In the two Spains, Tiberius Sempronius and Lucius Postumius were continued in command, with the same armies which they then had; and to recruit their numbers, the consuls were ordered to enlist, of Romans three thousand foot and three hundred horse, and of the Latin allies, five thousand foot and four hundred horse. Publius Mucius Scævola obtained by lot the city jurisdiction, and likewise the business of the inquisitions concerning sorcery, in the city, and within ten miles of it; Cneius Scipio, the foreign jurisdiction; Quintus Mucius Scævola, Sicily; and Caius Valerius Lævinus, Sardinia. The consul, Quintus Fulvius, before he meddled with any of the public business, declared that “he intended to acquit both himself and the state of the obligation of fulfilling the vows which he had made; that on the day of his last battle with the Celtiberians, he had vowed to perform games in honour of Jupiter supremely good and great, and to build a temple to Equestrian Fortune; and that by the Spaniards a contribution of money had been made for these purposes.” A vote was passed that the games should be performed, and that duumvirs should be appointed to contract for the building of the temple. With regard to the expenses, a limitation was fixed, that “no greater sum should be expended on the games than that which had been voted to Fulvius Nobilior, when he exhibited games on the conclusion of the Ætolian war; and that the consul should not, on account of these games, send for, collect, or receive, or do any thing contrary to the decree of the senate passed concerning games in the consulate of Lucius Æmilius and Cneius Bæbius.” The senate qualified their vote in this manner, on account of the lavish expense occasioned by the games of Tiberius Sempronius, the ædile, which had been burthensome not only to Italy and the Latin allies, but even to the provinces abroad.

45. The winter of that year was rendered severe by falls of snow and storms of every kind; those kinds of trees which are susceptible of injury from cold, were all blighted; and it continued at that time somewhat longer than on other occasions. Wherefore a tempest coming on suddenly, and with intolerable violence, shortly after, interrupted the Latin festivals on the mount; and they were celebrated afterwards, pursuant to an order of the pontiffs. The same storm also threw down many statues in the Capitol, disfigured very many buildings by lightning, as the temple of Jupiter at Tarracina, the white temple at Capua, and a Roman gate; and in some places the battlements of the wall were overthrown. Among the rest of these prodigies, an account was received from Reate, that a three-footed mule had been foaled there. On account of those portents, the decemvirs, having been ordered to consult the books, declared to what gods, and with how many victims, sacrifices should be performed; and that on account of very many places being disfigured by lightning, a supplication of one day should be performed at the temple of Jupiter. Then the votive games of the consul Quintus Fulvius were exhibited with great magnificence, during ten days. Soon after was held the election of censors. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, chief pontiff, and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who had triumphed over the Ætolians, were chosen. Apparent hostilities existed between these men, which were frequently displayed in many violent disputes, both in the senate and in the assemblies of the people. When the election was ended, the censors, according to ancient custom, seated themselves in curule chairs in the Campus Martius, near the altar of Mars; whither in a few minutes came the principal senators, accompanied by the body of the citizens, of whom Quintus Cæcilius Metellus spoke as follows:—

46. “Censors, we are not unmindful that you have been just now, by the whole body of the Roman people, set over our morals; and that we ought to be admonished and ruled by you, not you by us. Nevertheless, that should be pointed out which in you may either give offence to all good men, or at least what they would wish to be altered. When we look at you separately, Marcus Æmilius, Marcus Fulvius, we know not, in the whole state, any one person whom, if we were called back again to vote, we could wish to be preferred to you; but when we behold you both together, we cannot avoid fearing that you are but ill associated; and that the public may not reap as much advantage from your being exceedingly pleasing to every one of us, as injury, from your being displeasing one to another. You have for many years past harboured an enmity, violent in its degree, and detrimental to yourselves; and it is to be feared, that from this day forward it may prove more detrimental to us and to the state, than it has been to you. As to the reasons why we fear this, many observations which might be made occur to yourselves; had you not happened to be implacable they would have engrossed your senses. These feuds we all beseech you to terminate this day, in that sacred place, and to suffer those whom the Roman people have united by their suffrages, to be united by us, through this re-establishment of friendship also. May you, with unanimity and harmony, choose the senate, review the knights, hold the census, and close the lustrum, as truly and sincerely as you would wish that to happen which you express in the words, used in almost all your prayers, ‘that this affair may prove good and prosperous to me and my colleague:’ and cause us men also to believe that you really desire that which you entreat of the gods. Titus Tatius and Romulus, after they had engaged in battle as public enemies, in the midst of the forum of this city, reigned there with unanimity. Not only quarrels, but wars, are ended; and from deadly foes men frequently become faithful allies, nay, sometimes, even fellow-citizens. The Albans, after the demolition of Alba, were brought over to Rome: the Latins, the Sabines, were admitted into the number of citizens. It is a common saying, and, because founded in truth, has become a proverb, that ‘friendships ought to be immortal, but enmities mortal.’” A roar of approbation burst forth: and presently after, the voices of every one present, joining in the same request, interrupted his speech. Then Æmilius, besides other complaints, represented, that through Marcus Fulvius he had been twice deprived of the consulship, which seemed sure. On the other hand, Fulvius complained that he had always been assailed by Æmilius, and that security had been given for him, which was attended with great disgrace. Nevertheless, each of them intimated that if the other would wish, he was ready to submit to the direction of such a number of the most respectable members of the state; and all present urgently repeating their request, they mutually pledged their right hands, and their honour, to dismiss in reality and forget all animosity. Then the whole assembly expressing the highest applause of their behaviour, they were escorted to the Capitol. Both the attention paid to such a matter by the persons of the first consequence, and the compliance of the censors, were most warmly approved and commended by the senate. The censors then demanded that a sum of money should be assigned to them, which they might expend in public works; and the customs of one year were accordingly decreed to them.

47. In the same year the proprætors in Spain, Lucius Postumius and Tiberius Sempronius, settled between them, that Albinus should march through Lusitania, against the Vaccæans, and thence return into Celtiberia, and Gracchus penetrate into the remotest parts of that province, if the commotions there were more dangerous. First, having made an unexpected assault on the city of Munda, by night, he took it by storm; then, after having received hostages and placed a garrison, he proceeded to attack their forts and ravage the country with fire, until he arrived at another very strong city, (the Celtiberians call it Certima,) there, when he was already advancing his works, deputies came out from the town, whose speech partook of all the simplicity of the earliest times, not dissembling their wishes to continue the war, if they had strength to support it.—For they requested permission to go into the camp of the Celtiberians, and procure assistance from them; and said, that “if they did not obtain it they would then deliberate apart from them.” By the permission of Gracchus they went; and in a few days after brought with them ten other ambassadors. It was mid-day. The first thing that they asked of the prætor was, that he would order some drink to be given them. After drinking off the first caps, they asked a second time, causing thereby loud laughter from those present, at minds so unpolished, and ignorant of all civilization. The eldest of them then says, “We have been sent by our nation to ask, on what do you rely that you attack us?” To this question Gracchus answered, that “he came relying on an excellent army; which if they chose to see, in order to carry back more certain information to their friends, he would give them an opportunity;” and he orders the military tribunes to draw up, in array, all the forces both horse and foot, and make them go through their exercise in arms. After this sight, the ambassadors, being dismissed, deterred their people from attempting to succour the besieged city. When the townsmen had from the towers raised fires, (which was the signal agreed upon,) to no purpose, and had been disappointed in their only hope of relief, they capitulated. A contribution of two million four hundred thousand sesterces[61] was imposed on them; and they were ordered to furnish forty horsemen of the highest rank among them, not under the denomination of hostages, for they were ordered to serve as soldiers, but in reality to be pledges for their fidelity.

48. From thence Gracchus now marched to the city of Alce, where lay the camp of the Celtiberians, from which the ambassadors had lately come. When he had harassed them for some days with skirmishes, by sending his light troops to charge their advanced guards, he made attacks more important every day, in order to entice them all out of their intrenchments. As soon as he perceived that his object had been effected, he gives orders to the præfects of the auxiliaries, that after a short contest they should suddenly turn their backs, as if they were overpowered by numbers, and fly with all haste to the camp: in the mean time he himself drew up all his forces in order, within the rampart, at all the gates. No long time had intervened, when he saw a body of his own troops flying back, according to the preconcerted plan, and the barbarians following in a disorderly pursuit. He had his army drawn up within the trench in readiness for this very opportunity. He therefore delayed only so long as to allow his own men to retreat into the camp by a free passage; then, raising the shout, he rushed forth from all the gates at the same time. The enemy did not sustain the unexpected shock. They who came to assault his camp could not defend even their own. For they were instantly routed put to flight, driven in a panic within their trenches; and at last beaten out of them. On that day nine thousand of the enemy were killed, and three hundred and twenty taken, with a hundred and twelve horses and thirty-seven military ensigns. Of the Roman army there fell a hundred and nine.

49. After this battle, Gracchus led the legions to ravage Celtiberia. And when he was carrying and driving off all things from every quarter, some states voluntarily, others through fear, submitted to his yoke; within a few days he received the submission of a hundred and three towns; he got immense booty. He then marched back to Alce, whence he came, and set about besieging that city. The townsmen withstood the first assault of the enemy; as soon as they found themselves attacked, not only by arms but by works also, having despaired of any protection in the city, they all retired to the citadel. And then at last they sent envoys, and surrendered themselves, and every thing belonging to them, to the Romans. Great plunder was obtained from this. Many prisoners of distinction fell into his power, among whom were two sons and a daughter of Thurrus. This chieftain, who governed those tribes, was by far the most powerful of all the Spaniards. On hearing the disasters of his countrymen he sent persons to request protection for himself when coming to the camp to Gracchus, and he came. And he first asked him, “Whether the lives of himself and his subjects would be spared?” When the prætor answered that they would; he asked again, “Whether it would be allowed him to bear arms on the side of the Romans?” To this too Gracchus assenting, he said, “I will follow you then against my old allies, since they have not thought proper to pay any regard to me.” From that time he united himself to the Romans, and by his brave and faithful exertions he in many places advanced the Roman interest.

50. After this, Ergavia, a celebrated and powerful city, terrified by the disasters of the surrounding states, opened its gates to the Romans. There are some writers who say, that this submission of the towns was not made with sincerity; that, from whatever district he might have led the legions, hostilities were there renewed forthwith; and that he afterwards fought, near Mount Caunus, a pitched battle with the Celtiberians, from break of day to the sixth hour; that many fell on both sides, and that the Romans did not perform any feat from which you might believe that they were not vanquished, excepting that, next day, they offered battle to the enemy remaining in their intrenchments: that they employed that whole day in collecting the spoils, on the third day they fought again a more desperate battle, then there was no doubt that the Celtiberians were at last completely defeated, and their camp taken and plundered. Twenty-two thousand of the enemy were killed on that day, more than three hundred taken, and almost an equal number of horses, and seventy-two military standards. This put an end to the war: the Celtiberians concluded a sincere peace, and did not waver in their allegiance as before. They say also, that during the same summer Lucius Postumius fought twice with success in the Farther Spain against the Vaccæans, killed thirty-five thousand of the enemy, and took their camp. It is however more probable, that he came into the province too late to succeed well in that summer.

51. The censors inspected the senate with sincere unanimity. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, the censor, who was likewise chief pontiff, was chosen head of the senate; three were expelled from that body. Lepidus restored some who were rejected by his colleague. They completed these works with the money which had been assigned, and divided between them:—Lepidus built a mole at Tarracina, an unpopular work, because he had estates there, and brought into the account of the public expenditure what ought to have been done at his own expense. He contracted for the building of a theatre and stage near the temple of Apollo, the whitening of the temple of Jupiter in the Capitol, and the columns around it; he also removed from those columns the statues that stood unseemingly before them, and took down from them the shields and military ensigns of all sorts hung thereon. Marcus Fulvius made contracts for works more numerous and of more use; a haven on the Tiber, and piers for a bridge across it; on which piers Publius Scipio Africanus and Lucius Mummius, who were the censors, many years after, bargained for the erection of arches; a court of justice behind the new bankers’ houses, and a fish-market surrounded with shops, which he sold to private persons; also a forum and portico, on the outside of the gate Trigemina; another portico behind the dock-yard, and one at the temple of Hercules; also a temple of Apollo Medicus, behind that of Hope, on the bank of the Tiber. They had besides, some of the money undivided, and out of this they jointly agreed to pay for water being brought, and arches being made; but Marcus Licinius Crassus hindered this work, for he would not suffer it to be brought through his grounds. They also established many port duties and customs, and took care that very many public chapels, which had been occupied by private individuals, should be public and consecrated, and open to the people. They likewise made an alteration in the mode of voting; for, through all the regions, they divided the tribes[62] according to the different ranks, conditions, and callings of men.

52. One of the censors, Marcus Æmilius, petitioned the senate, that a sum of money should be voted for the celebration of games, in honour of the dedication of the temples of Imperial Juno and Diana, which he had vowed eight years before, when employed in the Ligurian war. They accordingly voted twenty thousand _asses_.[63] He dedicated those temples each in the Flaminian circus; and celebrated theatrical games for three days after the dedication of the temple of Juno, and for two after that of Diana, and each day in the circus. He also dedicated a temple to the deities of the sea[64] in the field of Mars, which Lucius Æmilius Regillus had vowed eleven years before this, in a naval engagement against the commanders of king Antiochus. Over the gate of the temple was hung up a tablet with this inscription: “This temple was vowed by Lucius Æmilius, the son of Marcus Æmilius, on coming forth from a battle which he fought for the purpose of establishing peace, in which he concluded a mighty war and subdued kings,—because under his auspices, command, and successful generalship, the fleet of king Antiochus, under the very eyes of Antiochus himself and his entire army, cavalry and elephants, was conquered, thrown into confusion, shattered, and put to flight, on the eleventh day before the calends of January; and there on that day thirteen ships of war with all their crews taken. When that battle was fought, king Antiochus and his dominions * * * * * * *.[65] On this account he vowed a temple to the titular gods of the sea.” In the same manner a tablet was placed over the gate of the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitol.

53. Two days after the censors had inspected the senate, the consul Quintus Fulvius marched against the Ligurians; and having with his army crossed over pathless mountains and woody valleys, he fought a pitched battle with the enemy, and not only defeated them in the field, but took their camp the same day. Three thousand two hundred of the enemy, and all that tract of Liguria, surrendered. The consul brought down all those who surrendered into the low-lands, and posted guards on the mountains. His letters from that province quickly reached Rome, and thanksgivings for three days were voted on account of his successes. The prætors, during these thanksgivings, celebrated divine worship by sacrificing forty victims of the larger kind. By the other consul, Lucius Manlius, nothing worth recording was done in Liguria. Transalpine Gauls, to the number of three thousand, coming over into Italy, without offering to commit hostilities on any one, petitioned the consul and senate for some land, that they might live as peaceable subjects, under the government of the Roman people. But the senate ordered them to quit Italy, and enjoined the consul Quintus Fulvius to search after and punish those who had been the first to advise them to cross the Alps.

54. This year died Philip, king of the Macedonians, being worn out with old age, and grief occasioned by his son’s death. He spent the winter at Demetrias, in great anguish of mind, occasioned both by regret for his son and contrition for his own cruelty. His other son also disquieted his mind, who, both in his own opinion and that of others, was undoubtedly king. The eyes of all were turned to him, and his own old age was desolate. Some only waiting for his death, while others did not even wait for that event. By which circumstance he was still more distressed, and with him Antigonus, son of Echecrates, named after his uncle Antigonus, who had been guardian to Philip, a man of royal dignity, and famed also for a remarkable battle which he fought against Cleomenes the Lacedæmonian. The Greeks called him the Guardian, to distinguish him from the other princes of that surname.[66] His nephew Antigonus, of all the friends whom Philip had honoured with his favours, alone remained uncorrupted; and this faithful attachment to him had made Perseus, who had been in no wise his friend, become now his most inveterate enemy. He, foreseeing in his mind with what danger to himself the inheritance of the kingdom would fall to Demetrius, as soon as he perceived the king’s mind to waver, and that he sometimes sighed with regret for the loss of his son; at one time by listening, and at another by making mention of the deed, as being rashly done, he himself was at hand, adding his complaint to the frequent lamentations of the king;—and, as the truth usually affords many traces of itself, he assisted with the most zealous diligence, in order that the whole might be brought to light as speedily as possible. Of the agents employed in that business, those who were most generally supposed guilty, were Apelles and Philocles, who had gone ambassadors to Rome, and had brought the letter under the name of Flamininus, which had proved so ruinous to Demetrius. They generally murmured in the palace, that it was a forgery, falsified by the secretary, and that the seal was counterfeited.

55. But while this thing was rather a matter of suspicion than of certainty, Antigonus accidentally met Xychus, whom he seized and brought to the palace; then leaving him in custody of guards, Antigonus went on to the apartment of Philip, to whom he said, “I think I understood from many conversations, that you would value it highly, if you could ascertain the whole truth respecting your sons, which of the two was assailed by the other’s deceit and secret machinations. Xychus, the only man in the world who can unravel this mystery, is now in your power. I met him by accident, and I have brought him to the palace; order him to be called into your presence.” On being brought in, he at first denied; but with such irresolution, as showed that by a slight application to his fears he would become a ready informer. He did not withstand the sight of the executioner and the instruments of torture, but disclosed the whole process of the villany of the ambassadors, and his own services therein. Persons were instantly despatched to seize the ambassadors, and they apprehended by surprise Philocles, who was present, but Apelles, who had been sent in pursuit of a person called Chærea, having heard of the information given by Xychus, went over into Italy. With respect to Philocles, no certain account has been published: some say, that for a time he boldly denied all knowledge of the matter; but that when Xychus was confronted with him, he persisted no longer; others, that he even suffered the rack without confessing. Philip’s grief was renewed and doubled; and he felt his unhappiness, with regard to his children, press the heavier on him, because one of them was not.

56. When Perseus was told that all was discovered, he was too powerful to think that flight was necessary. He only took care to keep out of the way, intending to guard himself, in the mean time, during the remainder of Philip’s life, from the flame, as it were, of his burning resentment; who, having lost hopes of subjecting the person of Perseus to punishment, meditated on this, as the last resource, that he would not, besides impunity, enjoy the reward of his wickedness also. Therefore he addresses himself to Antigonus, to whom he was obliged for the discovery of the fratricide; and whom he supposed the Macedonians, considering the fresh renown of his uncle Antigonus, would neither be ashamed nor displeased at having for their king. “Antigonus,” says he, “since I have been brought into such a situation that the being childless, a state which other parents reckon a curse, ought to be wished for by me, I am resolved to transfer to you the kingdom which I received from your uncle, and which his faithful and resolute guardianship not only preserved for me, but even enlarged. You are the only friend I have, whom I can judge worthy of the throne; and, if I had not one such, I should wish it to perish and become extinct, rather than be a prize to the treacherous villany of Perseus. I shall think Demetrius recalled from the dead, and restored to me, if I can leave you substituted in his room, who alone have wept for his innocent death, and for my unhappy error.” After this discourse he did not fail to advance him by conferring on him honours of every kind; and, as Perseus was absent in Thrace, he went round the cities of Macedon, and recommended Antigonus to the chief men; and, had his life been prolonged, there is no doubt but that he would have left him in possession of the throne. After leaving Demetrias, he staid a very long time at Thessalonica; and when he had gone thence to Amphipolis, he was there seized with a severe sickness. Yet it was evident that it was a disorder of the mind rather than of the body, and that, owing to his anxieties and want of sleep, for apparitions and phantoms of his innocent murdered son ever and anon disquieted him, he breathed his last uttering awful imprecations on the other. Nevertheless Antigonus might have been first acquainted with the death of the king, had it not been immediately divulged. Calligenes, the physician, who had the charge of his treatment, not expecting the king’s death, sent to Perseus, on the first appearance of desperate symptoms, messengers who had been previously stationed at different places; and till his arrival he concealed the death of the king from all but those who were in the palace.

57. Perseus therefore surprised them all, when not expecting, and totally ignorant of, his arrival, and seized on the throne, which was obtained by wickedness. The demise of Philip happened very seasonably for the purpose of gaining time and collecting strength for the support of a war: for, in a few days after, the nation of the Bastarnians, in consequence of long solicitation, set out from their own abodes, with a large force of infantry and cavalry, and crossed the Danube. Antigonus and Cotto (the latter was a Bastarnian of distinction, and Antigonus had been sent, much against his will, with this same Cotto, as ambassador, to persuade his countrymen to take arms) went forward, to carry intelligence of this to the king; but at a small distance from Amphipolis a rumour, and then authentic information, acquainted them with the king’s death; which event disconcerted the whole arrangement of their plan. It had been arranged in this manner;—Philip was to procure for the Bastarnians a safe passage through Thrace, and supplies of provisions. In order to be able to effect this, he had courted the chieftains in that country by presents, having pledged his faith that the Bastarnians should march through it in a peaceable body. It was proposed to exterminate the nation of the Dardanians, and to establish settlements for the Bastarnians in their country: from which measure a double advantage would accrue, if both the Dardanians, a nation ever hostile to Macedonia, and anxiously looking to the unfortunate periods of its kings, would be removed out of the way; and the Bastarnians, having left their wives and children in Dardania, might be sent to ravage Italy. That the road to the Adriatic Sea and Italy was through the country of the Scordiscians, and that the army could not be led by any other way; that the Scordiscians would readily grant a passage to the Bastarnians, for they would have no dislike to people resembling themselves in language and manners and would probably join them in an expedition, when they saw that they were on their way to the plunder of a most opulent nation. The remaining plans were accommodated to every kind of event that might take place; for if the Bastarnians would be cut off by the Romans, still the removal of the Dardanians, and the booty to be gained from the remains of the former, and the full possession of Dardania, would prove a consolation; or if they should be successful, then, while the Romans would be employed in the Bastarnian war, he might recover what he had lost in Greece. Such had been the designs of Philip.

58. The Bastarnians commenced their march in a peaceable array, relying on the word of Cotto and Antigonus. But, not long after the report of Philip’s death, neither the Thracians were easily dealt with, nor would the Bastarnians be content with what they could purchase; nor could they be kept in a body, so as not to go out of the road. In consequence, injuries were committed on both sides; and, from the daily multiplication of these, war at last burst forth. When at last the Thracians were unable to withstand the great strength and numbers of the enemy, having deserted their towns in the plains, they betook themselves to a high mountain (they call it Donuca). When the Bastarnians wished to come up, such a tempest there discomfited them, when in vain approaching the summit of the mountain, as, we are told, destroyed the Gauls, when plundering Delphi. They were not only overwhelmed with a deluge of rain, followed by prodigious thick showers of hail, accompanied by tremendous noises in the sky, thunder, and lightning which dazzled their sight; but the thunderbolts, also, fell so frequently on all sides, that their bodies seemed to be aimed at: and not only the soldiers, but their officers also, being struck by them, fell. When therefore, in hasty flight, they, rushing on blindly, were scattered, and tumbling over very high rocks, and the Thracians also attacked them when already in dismay, they themselves then said, that the gods were the cause of the flight, and that the sky was falling on them. When, being dispersed by the storm, as by a shipwreck, they had returned (most of them half armed) to the camp whence they had set out, they then began to consider what they should do; on which a disagreement ensued, some advising to return home, and others to advance to Dardania. About thirty thousand men, under the command of Clondicus, arrived at that place; the rest marched back, by the same road through which they came, to the country beyond the Danube. Perseus, having got possession of the kingdom, ordered Antigonus to be put to death; and, until he could settle his affairs on a firm foundation, sent ambassadors to Rome, to renew the treaty concluded by his father, and to request the senate to give him the title of king. These were the transactions of that year in Macedon.

59. One of the consuls, Quintus Fulvius, triumphed over the Ligurians; which triumph, it was agreed, was granted rather to the greatness of his influence, than to that of his exploits. He carried in the procession a vast quantity of arms, taken from the enemy, but no money; yet he distributed to each soldier three hundred _asses_, double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman. There was nothing in this triumph more remarkable, than that it happened to be celebrated on the same day of the year on which he had triumphed, after his prætorship, the year before. After the triumph he proclaimed the assembly of election, in which were chosen consuls, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Aulus Manlius Vulso. Afterwards, a storm interrupted the election of prætors, though three had been already elected; but on the following day, the fourth before the ides of March,[67] the other three were elected, Marcus Titinius Curvus, Tiberius Claudius Nero, and Titus Fonteius Capito. The Roman games were renewed by the curule ædiles, Cneius Servilius Cæpio, and Appius Claudius Centho, on account of the prodigies which had occurred. In the public forum, where a lectisternium was being celebrated, there was an earthquake, and the heads of the gods who were on the couches turned away their faces, and the cloak and robes placed on Jupiter fell off. It was also construed as a prodigy, that the mice gnawed the olives on the table. For the expiation of these, nothing more was done than repeating the celebration of the games.