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^ 


L 


K 


THE 


HISTORY   OF   ROME, 


TO  THE 


END  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


BY 


THOMAS  KEIGHTLEY, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  GREECE,  MYTHOLOGY  OF  GREECE  AND  ITALY, 
OUTLINES  OF  HISTORY,  THE  CRUSADERS,  ETC.  ETC. 


SIXTH  EDITION. 


LONDON: 

WHITTAKER  AND  CO.,  AVE  MARIA  LANE. 

1848. 


c 


qn9 


If//i/9(^ 


I  I 


~Ao 


Printed  by  R.  and  J.  E.  Taylor,  Bed  Lion  Court,  Fleet  Street,  London. 


PREFACE 


TO 


THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 


Among  the  valuable  discoveries  which  have  illustrated  the 
present  century,  that  of  the  true  nature  of  the  early  Roman 
history  by  Niebuhr  may  justly  claim  an  honourable  place. 
Had  therefore  Goldsmith's  and  other  histories  of  Rome  even 
contained,  as  they  do  not,  all  that  was  known  on  the  subject 
at  the  time  they  were  composed,  still  a  new  history  would  be 
required  for  general  use  adapted  to  the  present  state  of  know- 
ledge. The  sale  of  three  very  large  impressions  of  the  present 
History  of  Rome  in  less  than  seven  years  perhaps  proves  this 
view  to  be  correct. 

Constant  occupation  prevented  me  from  revising  the  pre- 
ceding editions  of  this  history  and  that  of  Greece,  as  I  could 
have  wished.  Having  at  length  terminated  my  historic  la- 
bours, I  have  devoted  the  leisure  of  which  I  found  myself  pos- 
sessed to  a  careful  comparison  of  them  both  with  the  original 
authorities  and  some  modern  works  of  high  repute.  The  re- 
sult has  been,  that  I  have  detected  some  errors,  and  become 
aware  of  some  deficiencies.  The  former  have  been  corrected, 
the  latter  I  have  endeavoured  to  supply,  and  they  will  both  now 
I  trust  be  found  as  free  from  error  and  defect  as  any  histories 
of  the  kind  well  can  be.  As  to  those  of  England  and  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  they  were  written  with  so  much  care,  that  I 
have  as  yet  found  little  in  them  to  amend.  Among  the  im- 
provements in  the  histories  of  Greece  and  Rome,  may  be  men- 
tioned the  constant  reference  in  the  notes  of  the  one  to  the 
contemporary  events  of  the  other,  and  the  complete  list  of  the 


IV  PREFACE. 


lost  or  extant  authorities  given  in  the  Appendix.  A  residence 
of  nearly  a  year  in  Italy,  three  months  of  which  were  spent 
(and  not  idly  spent)  in  Rome,  has  enabled  me  to  give  greater 
accuracy  in  geography  and  topography  to  this  history  than  it 
previously  possessed.  On  the  whole,  I  now  see  no  further 
improvement  that  I  can  make. 

Down  to  the  end  of  the  first  Punic  war,  I  claim  to  be  little 
more  than  the  copyist  of  Niebuhr,  though  the  reflections  are 
often  my  own,  and  the  narrative  is  generally  dei-ived  from  Livy 
and  Dionysius.  I  have  taken  care  to  insert  in  the  narrative 
only  such  of  Niebuhr's  views  as  make  the  nearest  approach  to 
certainty,  while  those  which  are  more  problematic  are  placed 
in  separate  chapters  ;  so  that  even  should  these  views  prove  to 
be  erroneous  (and  all  can  be  only  hypothesis),  the  value  of 
this  history  will  be  thereby  little  impaired.  I  know  there  are 
some  to  whom  they  are  distasteful,  who  cannot,  for  example, 
endure  to  see  Rome's  first  two  kings  treated  as  mere  creatures 
of  imagination  ;  but  this  proceeds  entirely  from  want  of  fami- 
liarity with  the  principles  of  mythology.  I  had  hoped  by  my 
work  on  that  subject  to  diffuse  a  general  taste  for  its  cultiva- 
tion ;  but  my  expectations  stand,  I  fear,  little  chance  of  being 
realised :  I  console  myself,  however,  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  work  being  highly  appreciated  by  the  most  eminent  phi- 
lologists of  Germany. 

From  the  first  Punic  war  to  the  end  of  the  volume,  both 
narrative  and  reflections  are  entirely  my  own,  and  I  claim  the 
praise,  and  submit  to  the  censure,  to  which  they  may  be  en- 
titled. In  the  latter  chapters  of  the  last  Part,  some  alterations 
will  be  perceived  in  the  present  edition. 

"No  history  of  Rome,"  says  Clinton,  "should  be  written 
witliout  the  Varronian  years  of  Rome;  nor  any  history  of 
Greece  without  the  Olympiads."  To  the  latter  part  of  this 
injunction  I  have  yielded  implicit  obedience;  to  the  former 
I  have  been  less  submissive,  having,  with  Livy  and  Niebuhr, 
given  the  preference  to  the  Catonian  computation.  In  reality, 
I  do  not  discern  the  superior  advantage  of  the  Varronian  eera ; 
all  systems  are  alike  conjectural,  and  all  that  seems  to  me  to 


PREFACE.  V 

be  requisite  is,  that  the  writer  should  inform  the  reader  which 
of  them  he  employs.  As  the  years  before  Christ  form  a  com- 
mon measure  for  Grecian  and  Roman  history,  I  have  placed 
them  at  the  top  of  each  page. 

In  proper  names,  when,  as  in  Ahala,  the  penultimate  is  long 
otherwise  than  by  position  or  a  diphthong,  I  have  marked  it 
by  an  apex,  as  Ah^la,  the  first  time  it  occurs,  and  in  the  In- 
dex ;  but  in  names  ending  in  atus,  osus,  anus,  enus,  and  inns,  it 
is  omitted,  as  their  quantity  is  generally  known.  This  practice 
I  know  derogates  from  the  dignity  of  my  histories,  but  I  cheer- 
fully make  the  sacrifice  to  utility. 

Though  my  histories  have  this  elementary  appearance,  I 
should  feel  rather  mortified  to  see  them  looked  on  as  mere 
school-books.  In  the  Preface  to  the  History  of  Greece  it  will 
be  seen  that  I  consider  them  adapted  to  readers  of  a  higher 
class  than  school-boys ;  and  I  now  add,  that  in  my  opinion 
even  scholars  may  find  them  useful  manuals.  It  is  with  a 
view  to  them  that  I  have  given  so  many  references  to  the 
original  authorities.  I  also  hope  that  travellers  in  Italy  will 
find  this  History  and  that  of  the  Empire  useful  companions  of 
their  route.  For  t/ieir  use  I  have  added  a  Geographical  Index 
of  the  places  in  Italy  mentioned  in  the  narrative,  with  their 
modern  names ;  by  means  of  which  the  campaigns  of  Hannibal 
and  others  may  be  followed  with  satisfaction  by  those  who  have 
only  a  modern  map  of  that  country. 

Still  it  is  chiefly  for  youth  that  my  histories  are  designed; 
and  I  feel  a  pride  in  being  able  to  say,  that  so  rapid  and  so 
general  has  been  their  adoption  in  the  schools,  that  there  are 
few  of  any  reputation  in  England  or  Ireland  in  which  they 
are  not  now  read,  and  they  have  all  been  reprinted  in  the 
United  States.  I  am  not  a  believer  in  the  omnipotence  of 
education  ;  yet  still  I  think  that  they  will  tend  to  cherish  in 
the  breasts  of  youth  the  love  of  country  and  of  liberty,  respect 
for  religion  and  justice,  and  hatred  of  tyranny  in  all  its  forms, 
and  that  thus  I  shall  not  have  laboured  in  vain. 

My  historic  career  is  now  terminated.  In  the  space  of 
about  seven  years  I  have  written  the  Histories  of  Greece, 


vi  PREFACE. 

Rome,  and  England,  from  the  original  authorities,  and,  as  I 
believe,  without  party  bias.  It  is  on  the  last-named  work  that 
I  set  the  greatest  value,  as  a  history  of  England  written  with 
impartiality  is  a  novelty  in  our  literature.  But  it  is  not  on 
my  histories  that  any  reputation  I  may  have  will  depend ;  for 
few  can  estimate  the  difficulty  of  epitomising,  or  discern  the 
amount  of  reading  requisite  for  arriving  at  correct  results  ; 
and  any  of  them  will  appear  to  most  persons  easy  of  execution 
as  compared  with  my  Mythology  of  Greece  and  Italy.  Pro- 
bably my  Outlines  of  History  will  be  rated  higher  than  the 
more  detailed  histories.  I  myself,  at  least,  esteem  it  more ; 
it  was  my  first ;  it  was  literally  (I  know  not  whether  I  should 
mention  it  with  pride  or  shame)  throton  off  at  a  heat  without 
previous  preparation,  and  in  the  space  of  less  than  a  dozen 
weeks,  and  its  sale  has  been  most  extensive.  It  has  the  merits 
and  defects  of  rapid  execution.  If  I  deceive  not  myself,  there 
is  in  it  a  freshness,  a  vigour,  and  animation  beyond  what  my 
other  works  display ;  while  I  cannot  answer  for  its  uniform 
accuracy  as  for  theirs ;  for  I  was  not  equally  familiar  with  all 
parts  of  the  history  of  the  world,  the  requisite  books  were  not 
always  within  ray  reach,  and  I  was  obliged  to  complete  the 
work  within  a  limited  period  of  time.  I  have  since  revised  and 
corrected  some  parts  of  it ;  but  my  studies  now  having  taken 
a  different  direction,  it  will,  I  fear,  never  be  in  my  power  to 
undertake  the  extensive  course  of  reading  requisite  for  veri- 
fying all  its  statements. 

In  conclusion,  I  must  request  of  teachers  to  recollect  that 
my  histories  are  intended  for  various  classes  of  readers :  they 
should  not  therefore,  I  think,  exact  from  their  pupils  an  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  all  that  they  contain.  Dates  and  num- 
bers, for  example,  need  only  be  committed  to  memory  in  im- 
portant cases ;  and  a  knowledge  of  the  last  two  chapters  of 
the  First  and  the  conclusion  of  the  Second  Part,  and  the  Ap- 
pendix, should  by  no  means  be  required  from  the  very  young. 
They  might  however  be  made  to  study  the  article  B,  on  the 
city  of  Rome. 

London,  Nov.  1,  1842.  T.  K. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

THE  REGAL  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Page 
Description  of  Italy. — Ancient  inhabitants  of  Italy. — The  Pelasgians. 
The   Oscans.— The   Latins. — The    Umbrians.— The    Sabellians. — 
The  Etruscans — The  Ligurians. — The  Italian  Greeks. — Italian  re- 
ligion.— Political  constitution   1 

CHAPTER  II. 

.tineas  and  the  Trojans. — Alba. — Numitor  and  Anmlius. — Romulus 
and  Remus. — Building  of  Rome. — Reign  of  Romulus. — Roman  con- 
stitution.— Numa  Pompilius. — Tullus  Hostilius. — Ancus  Marcius...       8 

CHAPTER  III. 

L.  Tarquinius  Priscus. — Servius  Tullius. — L.  Tarquinius  Superbus. — 
Tale  of  Lucretia. — Abolition  of  royalty. — Conspiracy  at  Rome. — 
Death  of  Brutus. — War  with  Porsenna.— Battle  of  the  Regillus....     20 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  regal  period  of  Rome  according  to  the  views  of  Neibuhr    36 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  origin  and  progress  of  the  Roman  constitution,  according  to  Nie- 
buhr    44 


PART  11. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Beginning  of  the  republic. — The  dictatorship. — Roman  law  of  debt, 
— Distress  caused  by  the  law  of  debt. — Secession  to  the  Sacred 
Mount. — The  tribunate. — Latin  constitution. — Treaty  with  the  La- 
tins.— War  with  the  Volscians. — Treaty  with  the  Hernicans     57 


Vlli  CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  public  land. — Agrarian  law  of  Spurius  Cassius. — The  consulate. 
— Volscian  wars. — Veientine  war. — The  Fabii  at  the  Cremera. — 
Siege  of  Rome. — Murder  of  the  tribune  Genucius. — Rogation  of 
Volero  Publilius. — Defeat  of  the  Roman  anny.— Death  of  Appius 
Claudius ■ 68 

CHAPTER  III. 

Volscian  war. — Legend  of  Coriolanus. — The  Terentilian  law. — Seizure 
of  the  Capitol  by  the  Exiles. — Dictatorship  of  Cincinnatus. — The 
first  decemvirate. — The  second  decemvirate. — Sicinius  Dentatus. — 
Fate  of  Virginia. — Abolition  of  the  decemvirate 81 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Victories  of  Valerius  and  Horatius. — Canuleian  law. — Censorship  and 
military  tribunate.— Feud  at  Ardea.— Sp.  Maslius.— vEquian  and 
Volscian  war. — Capture  of  Fidense. — Volscian  war.— Murder  of 
Postumius  by  his  own  soldiers. — Veientine  war. — Capture  of  Veil. 
— Siege  of  Falerii. — Exile  of  Camillus 99 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Gauls.— Their  invasion  of  Italy.— Siege  of  Clusium. — Battle  of 
the  Alia.— Taking  of  Rome.— Rebuilding  of  the  city. — Distress  of 
the  people. — M.  Manlius. — The  Licinian  rogations. — Pestilence  at 
Rome. — M.  Curtius. — Hernican  war. — Combat  of  Manlius  and  a 
Gaul. — Gallic  and  Tuscan  wars. — Combat  of  Valerius  and  a  Gaul. 
— Reduction  of  the  rate  of  interest H'^ 

CHAPTER  VI. 

First  Samnite  war. — Mutiny  in  the  Roman  army. — Peace  with  the 
Samnites. — Latin  war. — Manlius  put  to  death  by  his  father.— Bat- 
tle of  Vesuvius,  and  self-iievotion  of  Decius. — Reduction  of  La- 
tium. — Publilian  laws. — Second  Samnite  war. — Severity  of  the  dic- 
tator Papirius. — Surrender  at  the  Caudine  Forks. — Capture  of  Sora. 
— Tuscan  war. — Passage  of  the  Ciminian  Wood. — Samnite  and 
Tuscan  wars. — Peace  with  the  Samnites 132 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Third  Samnite  and  Etruscan  wars. —  Battle  of  Sentinum  and  self- 
devotion  of  Decius. — Battle  of  Aquilonia. — Reduction  of  the  Sam- 
nites.— Hortensian  law. — Worship  of  ^sculapius  introduced.— 
Lucanian  war. — Roman  embassy  insulted  at  Tarentum. — Gallic 
and  Etruscan  war 152 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Arrival  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy.— Battle  on  the  Siris. — Cineas  at  Rome. 
— Approach  of  PyTrhus  to  Rome. — Battle  of  Asculum. — Pyrrhus  in 
Sicily. — Battle  of  Beneventum.— Departure  of  Pyrrhus.— Italian 
allies.— Censorship  of  Ap.  Claudius. — Change  in  the  constitution. 
— The  Roman  legion. — Roman  literature    162 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PART  TIL 

CONQUEST  OF  CARTHAGE  AND  MACEDONIA. 

I 

CHAPTER  I.  j 

Page  , 
Carthage. — First  Punic  war. — Siege  of  Agrigentum. — Roman  fleet. — 
Naval  victory  of  Duilius. — Invasion  of  Africa. — Defeat  and  capture 
of  Regulus. — Losses  of  the  Romans  at  sea. — Battle  at  Panormus. — 
Death  of  Regulus. — Defeat  of  Claudius. — Victory  at  the  Ji^gatian 
Isles. — Peace  with  Carthage. — EflFects  of  the  war 175        • 

CHAPTER  H. 
Civil  war  at  Carthage. — lUyrian  war. — Gallic  wars    191 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Conquest  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Spain. — Taking  of  Saguntum. — 
March  of  Hannibal  for  Italy. — Hannibal's  passage  of  the  Alps. — 
Battle  of  the  Ticinus.— Battle  of  the  Trebia.— Battle  of  the  Trasi- 
mene  Lake. — Hannibal  and  Fabius  Cunctator. — Battle  of  Cannae. — 
Progress  of  Hannibal 195 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Hannibal  in  Campania. — Defeat  of  Postumius. — Affairs  of  Spain. — 
Treaty  between  Hannibal  and  king  Phihp. — Hannibal  repulsed  at 
Nola. — Success  of  Hanno  in  Bruttium. — Affairs  of  Sardinia, — of 
Spain, — of  Sicily. — Elections  at  Rome. — Defeat  of  Hanno. — Siege 
of  Syracuse. — Affairs  of  Spain  and  Africa. — Taking  of  Tarentum. — 
Successes  of  Hannibal    213 

CHAPTER  V. 

Taking  of  Syracuse. — Defeat  and  death  of  the  Scipios.— Hannibal's 
march  to  Rome. — Surrender  of  Capua. — Scipio  in  Spain. — Taking 
of  New  Carthage. — Affairs  in  Italy. — Retaking  of  Tarentum. — De- 
feat of  Hasdrubal  in  Spain. — Death  of  MarceUus. — March  of  Has- 
drubal. — His  defeat  on  the  Metaurus  226 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Successes  of  Scipio  in  Spain. — Mutiny  in  his  army. — Carthaginians 
expelled  from  Spain. — Scipio's  return  to  Rome. — His  preparations 
for  invading  Africa. — Invasion  of  Africa. — Horrible  destruction  of 
a  Punic  army. — Defeat  of  the  Carthaginians. — Attack  on  the  Ro- 
man fleet. — Death  of  Sophonisba. — Return  of  Hannibal. — Interview 
of  Hannibal  and  Scipio.— Battle  of  Zama.— End  of  the  war 239      • 


X  CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Macedonian  war. — Flight  of  Hannibal  from  Carthage. — Antiochus  in 
Greece. — Invasion  of  Asia  and  defeat  of  Antiochus. — Death  of  Han- 
nibal.— Last  days  of  Scipio. — Characters  of  Hannibal  and  Scipio.— 
War  with  Perseus  of  Macedonia. — Conquest  of  Macedonia. — Tri- 
umph of  ^mihus  Paulus  254 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Affairs  of  Carthage. — Third  Punic  war. — Description  of  Carthage.— Ill 
success  of  the  Romans. — Scipio  made  consul. — He  saves  Mancinus. 
— Restores  discipUne  in  the  army. — Attack  on  Carthage. — Attempt 
to  close  the  harbour. — Capture  and  destruction  of  Carthage. — Re- 
duction of  Macedonia  and  Greece  to  provinces  266 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Affairs  of  Spain.— War  with  the  Lusitanians.— Treachery  of  Lucullus. 
— Viriathian  war. — Murder  of  Viriathus.— Numantine  war. — Cap- 
ture of  Numantia. — Servile  war  in  Sicily. — Foreign  relations  of 
Rome. — Government  of  the  provinces. — The  pubhcans. — Roman 
superstition. — Roman  Uterature  277 


PART  IV. 


CONQUEST  OF  THE  EAST   AND  DOWNFALL  OF    I 
THE  CONSTITUTION.  ! 


CHAPTER  I. 

State  of  things  at  Rome. — Tiberius  Gracchus : — his  tribunate  and 
laws : — his  death. — Death  of  Scipio  Africanus. — Caius  Gracchus  — 
his  tribunates  and  laws  : — his  death. — The  Gracchi  and  their  mea- 
sures.— Insolence  and  cruelty  of  the  oligarchs. — Conquests  in  Asia 
and  Gaul 201 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Jugurthine  war. — Defeat  and  death  of  Adherbal. — Bestia  in 
Africa — Jugurtha  at  Rome. — Defeat  of  Aulus. — Metellus  in  Africa. 
— Attack  on  Zama. — Negotiations  with  Jugurtha. — Taking  of  Thala. 
— Caius  Marius. — Taking  of  Capsa. — Taking  of  the  castle  on  the 
Mulucha. — Sulla  and  Bocchus. — Delivery  up  of  Jugurtha. — His  end. 
— Cimbric  war. — Victory  at  Aquae  Sextiae. — Victory  at  Vercellae. — 
Insurrection  of  the  slaves  in  Sicily  31 1 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Page 

CHAPTER  III. 

State  of  Rome. — Tribunate  of  Saturninus. — His  sedition  and  death. — 
Return  of  Metellus. — Tribunate  and  death  of  Drusus. — Social  or 
Marsic  war. — Murder  of  the  praetor  by  the  usurers. — Sedition  of 
Marius  and  Sulpicius. — Sulla  at  Rome. — Fhght  of  Mai-ius    326 

CHAPTER  IV. 

State  of  Asia. — First  Mithridatic  war. — Sulla  in  Greece. — Victories 
of  Chaeronea  and  Orchomenus. — Peace  with  Mithridates. — Flaccus 
and  Fimbria. — Sedition  of  Cinna. — Return  of  Marius. — Cruelties  of 
Marius  and  Cinna. — Death  and  character  of  Marius. — Return  of 
Sulla. — His  victories. — Proscriptions  of  Sulla. — His  dictatorship  and 
laws. — lie  lays  down  his  oftice  and  retires. — His  death  and  funeral. 
— His  character 339 

CHAPTER  V. 

Sedition  of  Lepidus. — Sertorian  war  in  Spain. — Death  of  Sertorius  and 
end  of  the  war. — Spartacian  or  Gladiatorial  war. — Defeat  a)id  death 
of  Spartacus. — Consulate  of  Pompeius  and  Crassus.— Piratic  war. — 
Reduction  of  Crete 355 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Second  Mithridatic  war. — Third  Mithi-idatic  war. — Victories  of  Lu- 
cullus. — His  justice  to  the  provincials. — War  with  Tigranes. — 
Defeat  of  Tigranes. — Taking  ot  Tigranocerta. — Invasion  of  Armenia. 
— Defeat  of  a  Roman  army. — Intrigues  of  Lucullus'  enemies  at 
Rome. — Manilian  law. — Pompeius  in  Asia. — Defeat  of  Mithridates. 
— Pompeius  in  Armenia : — in  Albania  and  Iberia : — in  Syria  and 
the  Holy  Land. — Death  of  Mithridates. — Return  and  triumph  of 
Pompeius    365 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Catilina's  conspiracy. — Arrest  and  execution  of  the  conspirators. — 
Defeat  and  death  of  Catilina. — Honours  given  to  Cicero. — Factious 
attempts  at  Rome. — Clodius  violates  the  mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea. 
—His  trial '. 378 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Pompeius  and  Lucullus. — C.  Julius  Caesar. — M.  Licinius  Crassus. — 
M.  Porcius  Cato. — M.  Tullius  Cicero. — Pompeius  at  Rome. — Con- 
sulate of  Ctesar. — Exile  of  Cicero. — Robbery  of  the  king  of  Cyprus. 
— Recall  of  Cicero. — His  conduct  after  his  return 387 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Second  consulate  of  Pompeius  and  Crassus. — Parthian  war  of  Crassus. 
• — His  defeat  and  death. — Anarchy  at  Rome. — Death  of  Clodius. — 
Pompeius  sole  consul. — Trial  and  exile  of  Milo. — Gallic  wars  of 
Cajsar 409 


XU  CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER  X. 

Commencement  of  the  Civil  war. — Caesar  at  Rome. — Caesar's  war  in 
Spain. — Surrender  of  iMassilia. — Caesar's  civil  regulations. — Military 
events  ill  Epirus 418 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Battle  of  Pharsalia. — Flight  and  death  of  Pompeius. — His  character. — 
Ctesar's  Alexandrian  war. — The  Pontic  war. — Affairs  of  Rome. — 
Mutiny  of  Caesar's  Legions. — African  war. — Death  of  Cato  : — his 
character. — Cesar's  triumphs. — Reformation  of  the  Calendar. — Se- 
cond Spanish  war. — Battle  of  Munda. — Honours  bestowed  on  Caesar. 
— Conspiracy  against  him. — His  death. — His  character 431 

CHAPTER  XH. 

Affairs  at  Rome  after  Caesar's  death. — His  funeral. — Conduct  of  Anto- 
nius. — Octavius  at  Rome. — Quarrel  between  him  and  Antonius. — 
Mutinensianwar. — Caesar  made  consul. — The  Triumvirate  and  Pro- 
scription.— Deatli  of  Cicero. — His  character. — Acts  of  the  Trium- 
virs.— War  with  Brutus  and  Cassius. — Battle  of  Philippi. — Death  of 
Brutus  and  Cassius. — Antonius  and  Cleopatra. — Caesar's  distribution 
of  lands. — Perusian  war. — Return  of  Antonius  to  Italy. — War  with 
Sex.  Pompeius. — Parthian  war. — Rupture  between  Caesar  and  An- 
tonius.— Battle  of  Actium. — Last  eftbrts  of  Antonius. — Death  of  An- 
tonius and  Cleopatra. — Conclusion   449 


1 
i 


PRELIMINARY  NOTICES. 


Roman  CJironoloyy . 

The  taking  of  the  city  by  the  Gauls  is  the  event  which  was  used  to 
connect  the  Grecian  and  Roman  chronolog}',  from  v/hich  360  years 
were  reckoned  back  to  the  foundation  of  Rome.  By  some  that  event 
was  placed  in  01.  93,  1.  B.C.  388  ;  by  others  in  01.  98,  2.  B.C.  387. 
Fabius,  taking  the  former  without  a  necessary  correction  of  four 
years,  placed  the  building  of  Rome  in  01.  8,  1.  B.C.  747;  Cato, 
from  the  same  date  with  the  correction,  in  01.  7,  1.  B.C.  751  ;  Poly- 
bius  and  Nepos,  taking  the  latter  date  with  the  correction,  in  01.  7, 
2.  B.C.  750  ;  while  Varro  placed  it  in  01.  6,  3.  B.C.  753.  The 
asras  in  use  are  the  Catonian,  Varronian,  and  that  of  the  Capitoline 
Marbles  (as  they  are  called),  which  is  a  mean  between  those  two  ; 
the  date  of  the  commencement  of  our  sera  being  752  Cat.,  753  Cap. 
Mar.,  754  Varr.  By  adding  together  the  final  figures  of  the  years 
B.C.  and  A.U.  we  can  always  tell  which  is  the  sera  used  ;  for  if 
the  sum  is  2  or  12  it  is  the  Catonian ;  if  3  or  13,-the  Cap.  Mar. ;  if 
4  or  14,  the  Varronian.  The  Catonian  is  that  used  in  the  following 
pages,  and  the  year  B.C.  may  always  be  obtained  by  subducting 
any  given  date  from  752. 

Roman  Money. 

The  lowest  Roman  coin,  the  As,  was  originally  a  pound  weight 
of  brass  (ces),  but  it  was  gradually  reduced  to  half  an  ounce.  The 
Sesterce  {Sestertius,  i.  e.  semis-tertius),  also  named  Jiummus,  con- 
tained 2i  asses,  and  was  usually  expressed  by  H.S.  (an  abbreviation 
of  L.L.S.  Libra,  libra,  semis,  or  of  1.1.^).  The  Denar  {denarius) 
contained  10  {cJeni)  asses  ;  the  Sestertium,  1000  sestertii. 

The  Roman  denar  was  to  the  Attic  drachma  as  8  to  9.  As  the 
latter  Avas  equal  to  9f  cZ.  of  our  money  (see  Hist,  of  Greece,  p.  xvi.), 
the  former  must  have  been  worth  SjcZ.,  the  sesterce  consequently 
2ld.,  and  the  as  Oif  c/.,  or  somewhat  more  than  three  farthings.  The 
usual  value  however  assigned  to  the  sesterce  is  Id.  2,%q.,  and  to  the 
as,  3tV?- 

Roman  Measures  of  Length  and  Breadth. 

The  Roman  foot  was  equal  to  ir604  English  inches,  or  to  10  inches 
11  lines  Paris  measure.     Five  feet  made  the  pace  (jmssus)  =  4  feet 


XIV  PRELIMINARY  NOTICES. 

10-02  inches  :  1000  paces  (mille  passus)  are  called  the  Roman  mile, 
a  word  derived  from  7nille. 

The  Roman  actus  was  a  square  of  120  feet,  containing  therefore 
14,400  square  feet ;  two  Actus  made  the  Juger  (from  jugum),  which 
consequently  measured  240  feet  by  120.  Seven  Jugers  are  equiva- 
lent to  five  English  acres. 

Roman  Names. 

The  Romans  had  two,  three,  four  or  more  names;  1.  The  prte- 
nomen,  or  Christian  name,  as  we  may  term  it,  as  Aulus,  Caius,  end- 
ing (the  antiquated  Kebso,  Lar,  Opiter,  Agrippa,  and  Volero  ex- 
cepted) in  tis.  2.  The  nomen,  or  gentile  name  (that  of  their  gens),  as 
Julius,  Furius  ;  no  Roman  was  without  this  name  ;  it  always  ended 
in  ius.  3.  The  cognomen,  or  family  name,  as  Scipio,  Sulla,  Mar- 
cellus.  4.  The  agnomen,  or  name  of  honour,  as  Africanus  :  ex.  gr. 
Publius  Cornelius  Scipio  Africanus. 

The  abbreviations  of  the  prsenomina  are  as  follow  : — 

A.  Aulus;  Ap.  or  App.  Appius ;  C.  Caius;  Cn.  Cnseus ;  D. 
Decimus ;  K.  Kecso  or  Caeso ;  L.  Lucius ;  Mam.  Mamercus ;  M. 
Marcus  ;  M'.  Manius ;  N.  Numerius ;  P.  Publius  ;  Q.  Quintus ; 
S.  or  Sex.  Sextus  ;  Ser.  Servius ;  Sp.  Spurius ;  T.  Titus ;  Ti.  or 
Tib.  Tiberius. 

These  prsenomina  (Appius  and  Cseso  excepted)  were  common  to 
most  families  ;  the  more  unusual  ones  were  peculiar  to  some  fami- 
lies :  thus  none  but  the  Menenii  and  Furii  bore  that  of  Agrippa, 
none  but  the  Fabii,  Quinctii,  Atinii  and  Duilii  that  of  Cseso ;  the 
Cominii  and  ^Ebutii  alone  bore  that  of  Postumius ;  Volero  was  pe- 
culiar to  the  Publilii,  Opiter  to  the  Virginii,  Lar  to  the  Herminii, 
Vopiscus  to  the  Julii,  and  Appius  to  the  patrician  Ciaudii. 

Women  had  not  a  preenomen  ;  the  daughters  of  a  Fabius,  for  ex- 
ample, if  only  two,  were  called  Fabia  major  and  Fabia  minor ;  if 
more  than  two,  Fabia  prima,  secunda,  tertia,  etc. 

The  Romans  when  adopted  placed  their  own  gentile  or  family 
name  last :  thus  ^milius,  when  adopted  by  Scipio,  was  named  P. 
Cornelius  Scipio  yEmilianus  ;  and  M.  Junius  Brutus,  when  adopted 
by  Caepio,  became  Q.  Servilius  Csepio  Brutus. 


THE 

HISTOEY   OF   ROME. 


PART  I. 
THE  REGAL  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Description  of  Italy. — Ancient  Inhabitants  of  Italy. — The  Pelasglans. — 
The  Oscans. — The  Latins. — The  Umbrians. — The  Sabellians. — The 
Etruscans. — The  Ligurians. — The  Italian  Greeks. — Italian  Religion, — 
Political  Constitution. 

The  peninsula  named  Italy,  the  seat  of  the  mighty  republic 
whose  origin  and  history  we  have  undertaken  to  relate,  is  se- 
parated from  tlie  great  European  continent  by  the  mountain- 
range  of  the  Alps,  and  extends  about  five  hundred  miles  in  a 
south-eastern  direction  into  the  Mediterranean  sea.  The  part 
of  this  sea  between  Italy  and  the  Hellenic  peninsula  was 
named  the  Adriatic  or  Upper  Sea  (3Iare  Superum),  that  on 
the  west  toward  the  Iberian  peninsula  the  Tyrrhenian  or 
Lower  Sea  (JSIare  Inferiini).  A  mountain-i'ange,  the  Apen- 
nines, commences  at  the  Alps  on  the  north-western  extremity 
of  Italy,  and  runs  along  it  nearly  to  its  termination,  sending 
out  branches  on  either  side  to  the  sea,  between  which  lie  val- 
leys and  plains  generally  of  extreme  fertility.  Tlie  great  plain 
in  the  north,  extending  in  an  unbroken  level  from  the  Alps  to 
the  Apennines  and  the  sea*,  and  watered  by  the  Po  (Padus) 
and  other  streams,  is  the  richest  in  Europe  ;  and  that  of  Cam- 
pania on  the  west  coast  yields  to  it  in  extent  rather  than  in 
fertility.     The  rivers  which  descend  to  water  these  plains  and 


* 


Now  called  the  Plain  of  the  Po  (La  Pianura  del  Po). 

B 


2  DESCRIPTIOJSf  OF  ITALY. 

valleys  are  numerous ;  and  many  of  them,  such  as  the  Po,  the 
Adige,  the  Arno,  and  the  Tiber,  are  navigable. 

The  mountains  of  Italy  are  composed  internally  of  granite, 
■which  is  covered  with  formations  of  primary  and  secondary 
limestone,  abounding  in  minerals,  and  in  ancient  times  remark- 
ably prolific  of  copper.  The  white  marble  of  Carrai'a  on  the 
west  coast  is  not  to  be  rivalled.  Forests  of  timber-trees  clothe 
the  sides  of  the  Apennines  and  their  kindred  ranges,  among 
■whose  lower  parts  lie  scattered  lakes  of  various  sizes,  many 
of  them  evidently  the  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes.  The  west- 
ern side  of  Italy  has  been  at  all  times  a  volcanic  region,  and 
Mount  Vesuvius,  on  the  bay  of  Naples,  is  in  action  at  the  pre- 
sent day. 

The  fruitful  isle  of  Sicily,  with  its  volcanic  mountain  ^tna, 
lies  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Italy,  separated  from  it  by 
a  channel  five  miles  in  its  greatest,  two  in  its  least  breadth. 
It  is  by  no  means  unlikely,  that,  as  tradition  told,  Italy  and 
Sicily  were  once  continuous,  but  that,  at  a  point  of  time  long 
anterior  to  history,  a  convulsion  of  nature  sank  the  solid  land 
and  let  the  sea  run  in  its  place.  Beside  Sicily  there  are  va- 
rious smaller  islands  attached  to  Italy,  chiefly  along  its  west 
coast,  of  which  the  most  remarkable  are  the  volcanic  group  of 
the  Liparrean  isles  and  the  isle  of  Elba  (lira),  which  has  from 
the  remotest  times  been  productive  of  iron. 

The  magnificent  region  which  we  have  just  described,  so 
rich  in  all  the  gifts  of  nature,  has  never,  so  far  as  tradition  and 
analogies  enable  us  to  trace,  been  abandoned  by  Providence 
to  the  dominion  of  rude  barbarians  living  by  the  chase  and  the 
casual  spontaneous  pi-oductions  of  the  soil,  without  manners, 
laws,  or  social  institutions.  To  ascertain,  however,  its  exact 
condition  in  the  times  anterior  to  history  is  beyond  our  power ; 
but  by  means  of  the  traditions  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  existing 
monuments  of  the  languages  and  works  of  its  ancient  inhabit- 
ants, we  are  enabled  to  obtain  a  view  of  its  ante-Roman  state, 
superior  perhaps  in  definiteness  to  what  we  can  form  of  the 
ante-Hellenic  condition  of  Greece. 

Under  the  guidance  of  the  sharp-sighted  and  sagacious  in- 
vestigator whose  researches  have  given  such  an  aspect  of  clear- 
ness and  certainty  to  the  early  annals  of  Rome*,  we  will  now 
venture  to  pass  in  review  the  ancient  peoples  of  Italy. 

In  the  most  remote  ages  to  which  we  can  reach  by  conjec- 

*  G.  B.  Niebuhr,  with  whom  K.  O.  Miiller  in  his  Etruscans  {Die  Eirusker) 
in  general  agrees. 


ANCIENT  INHABITANTS  OF  ITALY.  3 

ture,  Italy  was  the  abode  of  two  distinct  portions  of  the  human 
family,  different  in  language  and  in  manners ;  the  one  dwell- 
ing on  the  coast  and  j)lains,  the  other  possessing  the  mountains 
of  the  interior.  The  former  were  probably  a  portion  of  that 
extensive  race  which  we  denominate  the  Pelasgian,  and  which, 
dwelt  also  in  Greece  and  Asia*  ;  the  latter  were  of  unknown 
origin,  and  no  inquiry  has  enabled  us  to  ascertain  anything 
more  respecting  them,  than  that  they  belonged  to  the  Cauca- 
sian race  of  mankind.  We  cannot  by  means  of  language  or 
any  other  tokens  trace  their  affinity  to  any  known  branch  of 
the  human  kind,  or  even  make  a  conjecture  as  to  the  time  and 
mode  of  their  entrance  into  Italy.  They  may  therefore,  under 
proper  restrictions,  be  termed  its  indigenous  inhabitants. 

The  Pelasgians,  it  is  probable,  entered  Italy  on  the  north- 
east. Under  the  names  of  Liburnians  and  Venetians,  they 
seem  to  have  possessed  the  whole  plain  of  the  Po  and  the  east 
coast  down  to  Mount  Garganus ;  thence,  as  Daunians,  Peu- 
cetians,  and  Messapians,  they  dwelt  to  the  bay  of  Tai'entum 
and  inlands ;  as  Chonians,  Morgetans,  and  CEnotrians,  they 
then  held  the  country  from  sea  to  sea  to  the  exti-eme  end  of 
the  peninsula ;  and  finally  as  Tyrrhenians  and  Siculans  dwelt 
along  the  west  coast  to  the  Tiber  and  up  its  valley,  perhaps 
even  as  far  as  the  Umbro  in  Tuscany.  Italians  was  the 
name  of  the  people,  Italia  that  of  the  country,  south  of  the 
Tiber  and  of  Mount  Garganusf. 

The  Pelasgians  of  Italy  would  seem  to  have  been  similar  in 
character  to  those  of  Greece.  We  find  various  traces  of  their 
devotion  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture ;  their  religion  appears 
to  have  been  of  a  rural  character ;  and  Cyclopian  walls  are  to 
be  seen  in  some  of  the  districts  where  they  dwelt.  If  they 
entered  the  country  as  conquerors,  it  was  probably  their  su-  ' 
perior  civilisation  which  gave  them  the  advantage  over  the 
I'uder  tribes  which  occupied  it. 

At  length,  in  consequence  of  pressure  from  without  or  from 
internal  causes,  such  as  excess  of  jiopulation,  the  tribes  of  the 

*  See  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  chap.  ii. 

f  Itahts  and  Siculus  are  merely  different  forms  of  the  same  word,  as 
will  be  apparent  to  those  who  are  skilled  in  etymology.  For  the  sake  of 
those  who  are  not,  we  will  observe,  that  s  being  a  semivowel  might  be  prefix- 
ed to  a  word,  and  that  tand  c  are  commntable  letters.  Thus  the  Latin  septem 
answered  to  the  Greek  e-n-ra,  and  the  town  in  Sicily  called  by  the  Greeks 
Egesta,  was  named  by  the  Romans  Segesta  ;  the  Doric  form  of  the  common 
Greek  Trore  was  Troica,  KapxrjSdiv  was  in  Latin  Carthago,  Twickenham  is 
vulgarly  pronounced  Twit'nam. 

b2 


4  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS  OF  ITALY. 

interior  came  down  on  and  conquered  the  people  of  the  coasts 
and  plains.  A  people  named  Opicans  or  Oscans  overcame 
the  Daunians  and  other  peoples  of  the  east  coast,  and  the  re- 
gion thus  won  was  named  from  them  Apulia;  they  also  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  country  thence  across  to  the  west 
coast,  and  along  it  up  toward  the  Tiber.  Here  they  were  di- 
vided into  the  Saticulans,  Sidicinians,  Volscians,  and  -^quians, 
while  Auruncans  or  Ausonians  was  the  more  general  appella- 
tion of  the  whole  people  *. 

Another  tribe,  named  Aborigines,  or  as  Niebuhr  thinks, 
Cascans  and  Priscansf,  who  are  supposed  to  have  dwelt  in  the 
mountains  from  the  Fucine  lake  to  Reate  and  Carseoli,  being 
pressed  from  behind  by  the  Sabines,  came  down  along  the 
Anio  and  subdued  the  Siculans,  named  Latins,  who  occupied 
the  country  thereabouts.  A  part  of  the  conquered  people  re- 
tired southwards ;  and  this  movement  gave,  it  is  said,  occasion 
to  the  occupation  of  the  island  of  Sicily  by  the  Siculans :  the 
remainder  coalesced  with  the  conquerors,  and  the  united  peoples 
was  named  Priscans  and  Latins  (Prisci  Latini^),  or  simply 
Latins,  and  their  country  Latium. 

Further  north  a  people  named  the  Umbrians  descended  from 
the  mountains  and  conquered  the  country  to  the  Po  ;  they  also 
extended  themselves  to  the  sea  on  the  west  of  the  Apennines 
and  down  along  the  vallej'  of  the  Tiber. 

The  Latin  language,  which  we  liave  still  remaining,  is  evi- 
dently^ composed  of  two  distinct  elements,  one  akin  to  the 
Greek,  and  which  we  may  therefore  assume  to  be  Pelasgian, 
the  other  of  a  totally  different  character §.     The  existing  rao- 

*  According  to  etymology,  the  root  being  op  or  ap  (probably  earth  or 
la7id,  'ops'),  Opici,  Osci,  Apuli,  Volsci,  JEqui  are  all  kindred  terms.  We 
might  perhaps  venture  to  add  Umhri  &nA.  Sabini.  Ausones  is  the  Greek 
form  o(  Aiiruni,  whence  Aurunici,  Auritnci.  The  Latin  language  luxuriates 
in  adjectival  terminations.  See  Niebuhr,  i,  C9,  note ;  and  Buttmann's  Lex- 
ilogus,  in  V.  cnriri  yala,  note, 

•\  See  Niebuhr,  i.  78  and  371.  The  notion  of  Cascus  and  Priscus  being 
names  of  peoples  is  controverted  by  Gcittling  and  Becker. 

%  It  was  the  old  Roman  custom  to  omit  the  copulative  between  words 
which  usually  appeared  in  union,  as  empti  venditi,  locati  conducti,  socii  La- 
tini,  accejisi  velati.  Like  Gothic  among  ourselves,  Cascus  and  Priscus  came 
to  signify  old  or  old-fashioned. 

§  In  the  Latin  the  terms  relating  to  agriculture  and  the  gentler  modes 
of  life  are  akin  to  the  Greek  ;  those  belonging  to  war  and  the  chase  are  of 
a  different  character.  Of  the  former  we  may  instance  bos,  taunts,  sus,  avis, 
agnus,  canis,  ager,  silva,  vinum,  lac,  mel,  sal,  oleum,  malum;  of  the  lattei', 
arma,  tela,  hasta,  ensis,  gladius,  arcus,  sagitta,  clupeus,  cassis,  balteus.  Nie- 
buhr, i.  82.  MuUer,  i.  17. 


THE  SABELLTANS.  5 

numents  in  the  Oscan  and  Unibrian  languages  present  exactly 
the  same  appearance,  and  the  foreign  element  seems  to  be  the 
same  in  all.  Hence  it  may  without  presumption  be  inferred, 
that  kindred  tribes  speaking  the  same,  or  dialects  of  the  same 
language,  conquered  and  coalesced  with  the  Pelasgians, 
and  new  languages  were  formed  by  intermixture,  just  as  the 
English  arose  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Norman- 
French. 

The  people  who  are  supposed  to  have  given  to  the  Cascans 
and  Oscans  the  impulse  which  drove  them  down  on  the  Pelas- 
gians, are  the  Sabines,  who  dwelt  about  Amiternuni  in  the 
higher  Apennines.  The  Sabellian  race  (under  which  name 
we  include  the  Sabines  and  all  the  colonies  said  to  have  issued 
from  them)  was  evidently  akin  to  those  above-mentioned,  for 
there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their  language  being  the  non-Pe- 
lasgic  part  of  the  Latin  and  Oscan.  This  race  spread  rapidly 
on  all  sides.  The  Sabines  properly  so  called,  having  occupied 
the  country  of  the  Cascans,  gradually  pushed  on  along  the 
valley  of  the  Tiber  into  Latium ;  the  Picenians  settled  on  the 
coast  of  the  Adriatic  :  the  four  allied  cantons  of  the  Marsians, 
Marrucinians,  Vestinians,  and  Pelignians  dwelt  to  the  south  of 
them  and  the  Sabines ;  and  below  this  federation  were  the 
Samnites,  divided  into  the  four  cantons  of  the  Frentanians, 
Hirpinians,  Pentrians,  and  Caudines,  Avho  conquered  the 
mountain-country  of  the  Oscans,  thenceforth  named  Samnium. 
At  a  later  period  (about  the  year  of  Rome  314),  the  Samnites 
made  themselves  masters  of  Campania  and  the  country  to  the 
banks  of  the  Silarus.  Under  the  name  of  Lucanians,  they  also 
conquered,  much  about  the  same  time,  the  country  south  of 
Samnium,  the  more  southern  part  of  which  was  afterwards 
wrested  from  them  by  the  Bruttians,  a  people  which  arose  out 
of  the  mercenary  troops  employed  by  the  Lucanians  and  Ita- 
lian Greeks  in  their  wars,  and  the  QEnotrian  serfs  of  the  lat- 
ter*. Another  Sabellian  people  were  the  Hernicans,  who  pos- 
sessed a  hilly  region  south  of  Latium  in  the  midst  of  the 
^quian  and  Volscian  states,  and  like  their  Sabellian  kindred, 
their  political  division  was  fourfold f. 

Different  in  origin,  language  and  manners  from  all  the  tribes 
already   enumerated   were   the  people  named  by  themselves 

*  In  Oscan,  and  perhaps  in  old  Latin,  hrutus  signified  a  runaway  slave, 
a  maroon.  Names  of  reproarh  have  often  heen  acquiesced  in  by  peoples  and 
parties ;  witness  our  Whig  and  Tory. 

-|-  Niebuhr,  ii.  84.  • 


6  THE  TUSCANS. 

Rasena,  by  the  Romans  Etruscans  and  Tuscans,  who  occupied 
the  country  between  the  Tiber  and  the  Arno,  and  also  dwelt 
in  the  plain  of  the  Po.  The  common  opinion  was  that  they 
were  a  colony  from  Meeonia  or  Lydia  in  Asia,  who  landed  on 
the  coast  of  Etruria,  where  they  reduced  the  inhabitants  to 
serfship,  and  afterwards  crossing  the  Apennines  conquered  the 
country  thence  to  the  Alps.  Against  this  it  was  urged*  that 
there  was  not  the  slightest  similarity  in  manners,  language,  or 
religion  between  them  and  the  Lydians,  and  that  the  latter  re- 
tained no  tradition  whatever  of  the  migration.  It  has  been  fur- 
ther remarked  t  that  the  Raetians  and  other  Alpine  tribes  were 
of  the  Tuscan  race ;  and  it  is  so  highly  improbable  that  the 
owners  of  fruitful  plains  should  covet  the  possession  of  barren 
mountains,  that  it  is  more  reasonable  to  suppose  them  to  have 
dwelt  originally  among,  or  northwards  of,  the  Alps,  and  that 
being  pressed  on  by  the  Germans,  Celts,  or  some  other  people, 
they  descended  and  made  conquests  in  Italy:}:.  Their  lan- 
gviage,  as  far  as  it  is  understood,  has  not  the  slightest  resem- 
blance to  any  of  the  primitive  languages  of  Europe  or  Asia ; 
their  religious  system  and  their  science  were  peculiar  to  them- 
selves ;  the  love  of  pomp  and  state  also  distinguished  them 
from  the  Greeks  and  other  European  peoples.  Taken  all  to- 
gether, they  arc  perhaps  the  most  enigmatic  people  in  history. 
The  Tuscan  political  number  was  twelve.  North  of  the  Apen- 
nines twelve  cities  or  states  formed  a  federation  :  the  same  was 
the  case  in  Etruria  Proper  §.  Each  was  independent,  ruling 
over  its  district  and  its  subject  towns.  The  Tuscan  Lucumons 
or  nobles  were,  like  the  Chaldfeans,  a  sacerdotal  military  caste, 
holding  the  religion  and  government  of  the  state  in  their  ex- 
clusive possession,  and  keeping  the  people  in  the  condition  of 
serfs.     In  some  of  their  cities,  such  as  Veii,  there  were  elective 

*  Dionysius,  i.  28. 

t  Niebulir,  i.  ill,  112.  This  author  is  inclined  to  extend  tlie  original 
seats  of  the  Tuscans  far  north  even  to  Alsatia. 

J  Muller  would  fain  reconcile  the  two  opinions.  He  regards  the  Rasena 
as  an  original  Italian  people  of  the  Apennines  and  plain  of  the  Po,  who,  when 
they  proceeded  to  conquer  Etruria  from  the  Umbrians  and  Liguvians, 
leagued  themselves  with  tlie  Tyrrhenian  Pelasgians  from  the  coast  of  Asia, 
who  had  settled  on  the  coast.  Hence  he  explains  the  use  of  flutes,  trumpets, 
and  other  usages,  common  to  the  Tuscans  with  the  people  of  Asia. 

§  These  last,  Niebuhr  says,  are  Caere,  Taiqiiinii,  RiiscUae,  Vetulonium, 
Volaterrae,  Arretium,  Cortona,  Clusium,  Volsinii,  Veii,  and  Capena,  or  Cossa  ; 
of  the  former  he  can  only  name  Felsina  or  Bononia,  Melpum,  Mantua,  Ve- 
rona, and  Hatria.  He  denies  that  the  Tuscans  ever  settled  in  Campania, 
as  was  asserlpd  by  the  ancients.     Miiller  maintains  the  converse. 


THE  ITALIAN  GREEKS.  7 

kings.  Tlie  Lucumons  learned  the  will  of  heaven  from  the 
lightning  and  other  celestial  phsenomena ;  their  religion  was 
gloomy  and  abounding  in  rites  and  ceremonies.  Both  the 
useful  and  the  ornamental  arts  were  carried  to  great  perfec- 
tion in  Etruria.  Lakes  were  let  off  by  tunnels,  swamps  ren- 
dered fertile,  rivers  confined,  huge  Cyclopian  walls  raised 
round  towns.  Statues,  vessels,  and  other  articles  were  exe- 
cuted in  clay  and  bronze  with  both  skill  and  taste.  These 
arts,  however,  may  have  been  known  and  exercised  by  the 
subject  people  rather  than  by  the  Tuscan  lords. 

The  Ligurians,  a  people  who  dwelt  Avithout  Italy  from  the 
Pyrenees  to  the  maritime  Alps,  also  extended  into  the  penin- 
sula, reaching  originally  south  of  the  Arno  and  east  of  the 
Ticinus.  They  were  neither  Celts  nor  Iberians,  but  of  their 
language  we  have  no  specimens  remaining. 

Such  were  the  peoples  of  Italy  in  the  ages  antecedent  to  his- 
tory. About  the  time  of  the  Dorian  migration,  the  Greeks 
began  to  colonise  its  southern  part.  The  Chalcidians  and  Ere- 
trians  of  Euboea  founded  Cumse,  Parthenope  and  Neapolis  on 
the  west  coast,  and  Rhegium  at  the  strait;  Elea,  called  by  the 
Latins  Velia,  was  built  on  the  same  coast  by  the  Phocseans.  On 
the  east  coast  Locri  was  a  colony  from  Ozolian  Locris;  and  it 
founded  in  its  turn  Medma  and  Hipponium  on  the  west  coast: 
the  Achgeans  were  the  founders  of  Sybaris,  Croton,  and  Meta- 
pontum ;  and  Sybaris  having  extended  her  dominion  across  to 
the  Lower.  Sea,  founded  on  it  Laos  and  Posidonia  or  Psestum  : 
the  Crotonians  built  Caulon  on  the  Upper,  Terina  on  the  Lower 
Sea;  and  Tarentum,  in  the  peninsula  of  Japygia,  w^as  a  settle- 
ment of  the  Lacedaemonians.  The  ancient  CEnotria  became  so 
completely  Hellenised  (its  original  population  being  reduced 
to  serfship)  that  it  was  named  Great  Greece — Magna  GrtEcia. 
The  flourishing  period,  however,  of  these  Grecian  states  was 
anterior  to  that  which  our  history  embraces,  and  we  shall  have 
occasion  only  to  speak  of  them  in  their  decline. 

The  religion  of  the  two  original  portions  of  the  Italian  popu- 
lation was,  as  far  as  we  can  conjecture,  of  a  simple  rural  cha- 
racter. It  does  not  seem  to  have  known  the  horrors  of  human 
sacrifice ;  and  though  polytheistic,  it  related  no  tales  of  the 
amours  of  its  gods,  and  no  Italian  princes  boasted  an  affinity 
with  the  deities  whom  the  people  worshiped.  Partly  from  this, 
partly  from  other  causes,  the  tone  of  morals  was  at  all  times 
higher  in  Italy,  especially  among  the  Sabellian  tribes,  than  in 
Greece.     A  remarkable  feature  of  the  old  Italian  religion  was 


8  SITE  OF  ROME. 

the  immense  number  of  its  deities*  ;  every  act  of  life  had  its 
presiding  power ;  a  man  was  ever  under  the  eye,  as  it  were, 
of  a  superior  being :  the  true  doctrine  of  the  omnipresence  of 
the  one  God  was  thus,  we  may  say,  resolved  into  the  separate 
presence  of  a  multitude,  and  the  moral  effect,  though  far  infe- 
rior, was,  we  may  hope,  similar.  Finally,  the  ancient  Italians 
are  perhaps  not  to  be  esteemed  idolaters,  as  images  of  the  gods 
were  unknown  among  them  till  they  became  acquainted  with 
Grecian  art. 

The  prevailing  political  form  of  ancient  Italy  was  that  of 
aristocratic  republics  united  in  federations.  The  hereditary 
monarchy  of  the  heroic  age  of  Greece  was  unknown,  and  the 
pure  democracy  of  its  historic  period  never  developed  itself  in 
Ital}'.  Political  numbers  are  to  be  found  here  as  in  Greece 
and  elsewhere;  four,  for  example,  was  the  Sabellian  number; 
thirty,  or  rather  perhaps  three  subdivided  by  ten,  that  of  La- 
tiumf.  This  principle  extended  even  to  the  Tuscans,  whose 
number,  as  we  have  seen,  was  twelve. 


CHAPTER  IIJ. 

jEneas  and  the  Trojans. — Alba. — Numitor  and  Amulius. — Romulus  and 
Remus. — Building  of  Rome. — Reign  of  Romulus. — Roman  Constitution. 
— -Numa  Pompilius. — Tullus  Hostilius. — Ancus  Marcius. 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Tiber,  at  a  moderate  distance 
from  the  sea,  lies  a  cluster  of  hills §,  which  were  the  destined 
seat  of  the  city,  whose  dominion  gradually  extended  until  it 
embraced  the  greater  portion  of  the  then  known  world ;  and 
whose  language,  laws,  and  institutions  have  given  origin  to 
those  of  a  large  portion  of  modern  Europe. 

*  When,  therefore,  Varro  spoke  of  30,000  gods  he  must  liave  meant  the 
Italian,  not  the  Grecian  system ;  for  the  Olympian  deities,  even  including 
the  Nymphs,  never  extended  to  any  such  number. 

t  The  thirty  Latin  and  thirty  Alban  towns,  the  thirty  patrician  curies  in 
three  tribes,  and  the  thirty  plebeian  tribes  at  Rome. 

X  Livy,  i.  1-33.  Dionysius,  i.-iii.  45.  Plutarch,  Romulus  and  Numa 
the  Epitomators.     See  Appendix  (A). 

§  See  Appendix  (B). 


^NEAS  AND  THE  TROJANS.  l* 

The  origin  and  early  history  of  this  mighty  city  have  been 
transmitted  to  us  by  its  most  ancient  annalists  in  the  following 
form  *. 

When  the  wide-famed  Troy,  after  having  held  out  for  ten 
years  against  the  Achaean  arms,  was  verging  towards  its  fall, 
iEneas,  a  hero  whom  the  goddess  Venus  (Aphrodite)  had 
borne  to  a  Trojan  prince  named  Anchises,  resolved  to  abandon 
the  devoted  town.  Led  by  the  god  Mercurius  (Hermes),  and 
accompanied  by  his  father,  family,  and  friends,  he  left  Troy 
the  very  night  it  Mas  taken,  and  retired  to  Mount  Ida,  where 
he  remained  till  the  town  was  sacked  and  burnt  and  the 
Achseans  had  departed.  The  god,  continuing  his  care  to  the 
fugitives,  built  for  them  a  ship,  in  which  they  embarked :  an 
oracle  (some  said  that  of  Dodona,  others  that  of  Delphi,)  di- 
rected them  to  sail  on  westwards  till  they  came  to  where  hun- 
ger wotdd  oblige  them  to  eat  their  tables,  and  told  them  that 
a  four-footed  animal  would  there  guide  them  to  the  site  of  their 
future  abode.  The  morning  star  shone  before  them  day  and 
night  to  guide  their  course,  and  it  never  ceased  to  be  visible 
till  they  reached  the  coast  of  Latium  in  Italy f.  They  landed 
there  on  a  barren  sandy  shore ;  and  as  they  were  taking  their 
first  meal,  they  chanced  to  use  their  flat  cakes  for  platters; 
and  when  at  the  conclusion  of  their  repast  they  began  to  con- 
sume their  cakes  also,  Eneas'  young  son  cried  out  that  they 
were  eating  their  tables.  Struck  wit!»  the  fulfilment  of  a  part 
of  the  oracle,  the  Trojans,  by  order  of  their  chief,  brought  the 
images  of  their  gods  on  shore ;  an  altar  was  erected,  and  a 
pregnant  white  sow  led  to  it  as  a  victim.  Suddenly  the  sow 
broke  loose  and  ran  into  the  country,  ^neas  with  a  few 
companions  followed  her  till  she  reached  an  eminence  about 
three  miles  from  the  sea,  where,  exhausted  by  fatigue,  she  laid 
her  down.  This  then  iEneas  saw  was  the  site  designated  by 
the  oracle;  but  his  heart  sank  when  he  viewed  the  ungenial 
nature  of  the  surrounding  soil,  and  the  adjacent  coast  without 
a  haven.  He  lay  that  night  on  the  spot  in  the  open  air;  and 
as  he  pondered,  a  voice  from  a  neighbouring  wood  came  to  his 

*  "I  insist,"  says  Niebuiir,  "  in  behalf  of  my  Romans,  on  tlie  right  of 
taking  the  poetical  features  wherever  they  are  to  be  found,  when  they  have 
dropt  out  of  the  common  narrative."  The  circumstances  in  the  following 
narrative  differing  from  those  in  Livy  and  Virgil  will  be  found  in  Dionysius, 
Cato  (in  Servius  on  the  jCneis),  and  Ovid,  and  other  poets.  We  would 
qualify  the  position  of  Niebuhr  by  observing,  tliat  some  of  the  poetic  features 
may  have  been  imparted  by  the  poets  in  whose  works  they  occur. 

•(■  Varro  ap.  Serv.  JEn.  ii.  801. 

b5 


10  DEIFICATION  OF  ^NEAS. 

ear,  dii^ecting  him  to  build  there  without  delay :  broad  lands, 
it  was  added,  awaited  himself,  and  wide  dominion  his  descend- 
ants, who  within  as  many  years  as  the  sow  should  farrow 
young  ones,  would  build  a  larger  and  a  fairer  town.  In  the 
morning  he  found  that  the  sow  had  farrowed  thirty  white 
young  ones,  which  with  herself  he  offered  in  sacrifice  to  the 
gods.  He  then  led  his  people  thither,  and  commenced  the 
building  of  a  town*. 

The  country  in  which  the  Trojans  were  now  settling  was 
governed  by  a  prince  named  Latinus,  who  on  hearing  that 
strangers  were  raising  a  town,  came  to  oppose  them.  He  was 
however  induced,  to  allow  them  to  proceed,  and  he  granted 
them  seven  hundred/«//er5  of  land  around  itf.  The  hai-mony 
which  prevailed  between  them  and  the  natives  was  however 
soon  disturbed  by  the  Trojans  wounding  a  stag  that  was  the 
favourite  of  king  Latinus.  This  monarch  took  up  arms :  he 
was  joined  by  Turnus,  the  Rutulian  prince  of  Ardea ;  but 
victory  was  with  the  strangers;  Latinus'  capital,  Laurentum, 
was  taken,  and  himself  slain  in  the  storming  of  the  citadel  J. 
His  only  daughter  Lavinia  became  the  prize  of  the  victor,  who 
made  her  his  wife,  and  named  his  to\vn  from  her  Lavinium§. 

Turnus  now  applied  for  aid  to  Mezentius,  king  of  Cfere  in 
Etruria.  The  Tuscan  demanded  as  the  price  of  his  assistance 
half  the  produce  of  the  vintage  of  Latium  in  the  next  year, 
and  the  Rutulians  readily  agreed  to  his  terms  Ij,  Their  united 
arms  encountered  those  of  the  Latins,  led  by  ^neas,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Numicius:  Turnus  fell,  but  the  Latins  were  de- 
feated. JEueas  plunged  into  the  stream  and  never  more  was 
seen,  and  after-ages  worshiped  him  on  its  banks  as  Jupiter 
Indiges,  The  Tuscans  then  beleaguered  Lavinium  ;  but  lulus, 
the  son  of  ^neas,  having  vowed  the  half-produce  of  the  vine- 

*  According  to  Cato  (Serv.  .■En.  i.  6.  vii.  158.),  the  town  first  built  by 
^neas  and  Anchises  (who  also  reached  Italy)  was  not  on  the  future  site  of 
Lavinium,  and  it  was  named  Troja.  In  Latin  trnja  is  a  sow,  hence  proba- 
bly the  legend ;  alba  (white)  refers  to  Alba,  the  thirty  young  to  the  Latin 
political  number. 

f  Supposing  that,  according  to  the  Roman  custom  hereafter  to  be  noticed, 
this  was  7  jugers  a  man,  the  Trojans,  according  to  this  tradition,  were  but 
100  in  number.  Other  accounts  made  the  quantity  of  land  only  500  jugers. 
Aur.  Victor,  Origo  Gentis  Romanse,  12. 

+  Cato  ap.  Serv.  Mn.  iv.  620.  ix.  745. 

§  The  reader  will  observe  how  this  differs  from  the  narrative  in  Virgil. 
We  may  take  it  as  a  rule,  that  the  rudest  and  most  revolting  form  of  a  le- 
gend is  its  most  ancient  one. 

II   Cato  ap.  Macrob.  Sat.  iii.  5.  Plin.  xv.  12.  Ovid,  Fasti,  v.  879  seq. 


NUMITOR  AND  AMULIUS.  11 

yards  claimed  by  Mezentius  to  Jupiter,  led  forth  his  troops  to 
battle.  The  favour  of  the  god  was  with  the  pious  youth,  and 
Mezentius  fell  by  his  hand. 

After  thirty  years  lulus  left  the  low  sandy  coast,  and  led  his 
people  to  a  mountain  twelve  miles  inlands,  on  the  side  of 
which  he  built  a  town  named  Alba  Longa*,from  its  appearance, 
as  it  stretched  in  one  long  street  along  the  lofty  margin  of  a 
lake.  During  three  hundred  years  his  successors  (named  the 
Silvii)  reigned  at  Alba,  the  lords  of  the  surrounding  country, 
but  tradition  spake  not  of  their  deeds.  Procas,  one  of  these 
kings,  when  dying  left  two  sons,  named  Numitor  and  Amulius; 
the  former.  Mho  was  the  elder,  being  of  a  meek,  peaceful  tem- 
per, his  ambitious  brother  wrested  from  him  the  sceptre  of  the 
Silvii,  leaving  him  only  his  paternal  demesnes,  on  which  he 
allowed  him  to  live  in  quiet ;  but  fearing  the  spirit  of  Numi- 
tor's  son,  he  caused  him  to  be  murdered  as  he  was  out  a-hunt- 
ing ;  and  he  placed  his  daughter  Silvia,  his  only  remaining 
child,  among  the  Vestal  virgins,  who  were  bound  to  celibacy. 
The  race  of  Aphrodite  and  Anchises  seemed  destined  to  be- 
come extinct,  for  Amulius  was  childless,  when  a  god  inter- 
posed to  preserve  it  and  give  it  additional  lustre.  One  day 
when  Silvia  was  gone  into  the  sacred  grove  of  Mars  to  draw 
water  for  the  use  of  the  temple,  a  wolf  suddenly  appeared  be- 
fore her ;  the  terrified  maiden  fled  for  refuge  into  a  cavern  ;  the 
god  descended  and  embraced  her.  When  retiring  he  assured 
her  that  she  would  be  the  mother  of  an  illustrious  progeny. 
Silvia  told  not  her  secret,  and  at  the  due  time  the  pains  of  la- 
bour seized  her  in  the  very  temple  of  Vesta.  The  image  of 
the  virgin  goddess  placed  its  hands  before  its  eyes  to  avoid  the 
unhallowed  sight,  and  the  perpetual  flame  on  the  altar  drew 
back  amidst  the  embers  f.  She  brought  forth  two  male  chil- 
dren, whom  the  ruthless  tyrant  ordered  to  be  cast,  with  theif 
mother,  into  the  river  Tiber.  Silvia  there  became  the  spouse 
of  the  god  of  the  stream,  and  immortal ;  the  care  of  Mars  was 
extended  to  his  progeny.  The  bole  or  ark  in  which  the  babes 
were  placed  floated  along  the  river,  which  had  overflowed  its 
banks,  till  it  reached  the  woody  hills  on  its  side+,  at  the  foot 
of  one  of  which,  the  Palatine,  and  close  to  the  Ruminal  fig- 
tree,  it  overturned  on  the  soft  mud.  A  she-wolf,  the  sacred 
beast  of  Mars,  which  came  to  slake  her  thirst,  heard  the  whim- 

*  i.  e.  Long-iL'hite.     In  England  we  should  probably  have  termed  such 
a  town  Long  Whitton. 

f  Ovid,  Fasti,  iii.  45  seq.  %  Varro,  L.  L.  v.  54.  Conon,  Narr.  4S. 


12  ROAIULUS  AND  REMUS. 

pering  of  the  babes ;  she  took  and  conveyed  them  to  her  den 
on  the  hill,  licked  their  bodies  with  her  tongue,  and  suckled 
them  at  her  dugs.  Under  her  care  they  throve ;  and  when 
they  required  more  solid  food  it  was  brought  them  by  a  wood- 
pecker Ipicus),  an  animal  sacred,  like  the  wolf,  to  their  sire  ; 
and  other  birds  of  augury  hovered  round  the  cave  to  keep  off 
noxious  insects*.  At  length  this  wonderful  sight  was  beheld 
by  Faustulus,  the  keeper  of  the  royal  flocks ;  he  approached 
the  cave ;  the  she-wolf  retired,  her  task  being  done ;  and  he 
took  home  the  babes  and  committed  them  to  the  care  of  his 
wife,  Acca  Larentia,  by  whom  they  were  carefully  reared 
along  with  her  own  twelve  sons  in  their  cottage  on  the  Pala- 
tine hill. 

When  the  two  brothers,  who  were  named  Romulus  and  Re- 
mus, grew  up,  they  were  distinguished  among  the  shepherd- 
lads  for  their  strength  and  courage,  which  they  displayed 
against  the  wild  beasts  and  the  robbers,  and  the  neighbouring 
Bwains.  Their  chief  disputes  were  with  the  herdsmen  of  Nu- 
mitor,  who  fed  their  cattle  on  the  adjacent  A  ventine,  and  whom 
they  frequently  defeated;  but  at  length  Remus  was  made  a 
prisoner  by  stratagem,  and  dragged  away  as  a  robber  to  Alba. 
The  king  gave  him  up  for  punishment  to  Numitor,  who, 
struck  with  the  noble  appearance  of  the  youth,  inquired  of  him 
who  and  what  he  was.  On  hearing  the  story  of  his  infancy, 
he  began  to  suspect  that  he  might  be  his  grandson,  but  he 
confined  his  thoughts  to  his  own  bosom.  Meantime  Faustu- 
lus had  revealed  to  Romulus  his  suspicions  of  his  royal  birth, 
and  the  youth  resolved  to  release  his  brother  and  restore  his 
grandsire  to  his  rights.  By  his  directions  his  comrades  en- 
tered Alba  at  different  parts,  and  there  uniting  under  him, 
fell  on  and  slew  the  tyrant,  and  then  placed  Numitor  on  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors. 

The  two  brothers,  i-egardless  of  the  succession  to  the  throne 
of  Alba,  resolved  to  found  a  town  for  themselves  on  the  hills 
where  they  had  passed  the  happy  days  of  childhood.  Their 
old  rustic  comrades  joined  them  in  their  project,  and  they 
were  preparing  to  build,  when  a  dispute  arose  between  them, 
whether  it  should  be  on  the  Palatine  and  named  Roma,  or  on 
the  Aventine  and  called  Remoriaf.    It  was  agreed  to  learn  the 

*  This  last  circumstance  is  mentioned  by  Niebuhr,  but  we  bave  been  un- 
able to  discover  bis  authority. 

f  Dionys.  i.  85.  "  Certabant  urbem  Romamne  Remamne  vocarent."  En- 
nius  ap.  Cic.  Div.  i.  48. 


BUILDING  OF  ROME.  13 

will  of  Heaven  by  augury.  Each  at  midnight  took  his  station 
on  his  favourite  hill*,  marked  out  the  celestial  temple,  and  sat 
expecting  the  birds  of  omen.  Day  came  and  passed  ;  night 
followed  :  toward  dawn  the  second  day  Remus  beheld  six  vul- 
tures flying  from  north  to  south  ;  the  tidings  came  to  Romulus 
at  sunrise,  and  just  then  twelve  vultures  flew  past.  A  contest 
arose;  though  right  was  on  the  side  of  Remus,  Romulus  as- 
serted that  the  double  number  announced  the  will  of  the  gods, 
and  his  party  proved  the  stronger. 

The  Palatine  v/as  therefore  to  be  the  site  of  the  future  city. 
Romulus  yoked  a  bullock  and  a  heifer  to  a  plough,  whose 
share  was  copper,  and  drove  it  round  the  hill  to  form  thejoo- 
mcerium,  or  boundary-line.  On  this  line  they  began  to  make 
a  ditch  and  rampart.  Remus  in  scorn  leaped  over  the  rising 
wall,  and  Romulus  enraged  slew  him  with  a  blow,  exclaiming 
"  Thus  perish  whoever  will  leap  over  my  walls  ! " f  Grief  how- 
ever soon  succeeded,  and  he  was  not  comforted  till  the  shade 
of  Remus  appeared  to  their  foster-parents,  and  announced  his 
forgiveness  on  condition  of  a  festival,  to  be  named  from  him, 
being  instituted  for  the  souls  of  the  departed  +.  A  throne  was 
also  placed  for  him  by  Romulus  beside  his  own,  with  the 
sceptre  and  other  tokens  of  royalty  §. 

As  a  means  of  augmenting  the  population  of  his  new  town, 
Romulus  readily  admitted  any  one  who  chose  to  repair  to  it ; 
he  also  marked  out  a  spot  on  the  Tarpeian  hill  as  an  asylum 
to  receive  insolvent  debtors,  criminals  and  runaway  slaves.  The 
population  thvis  rapidly  increased,  but  from  its  nature  it  con- 
tained few  women,  and  therefore  the  state  was  menaced  with 
a  brief  duration.  To  obviate  this  evil,  Romulus  sent  to  the 
neighbouring  towns,  proposing  to  them  treaties  of  amity  and 
intermarriage  ;  but  his  overtures  were  everywhere  received 
with  aversion  and  contempt.  He  then  had  recourse  to  artifice  ; 
he  proclaimed  games  to  be  celebrated  at  Rome  on  the  festival 
of  the  Consualia,  to  which  he  invited  all  his  neighbours.  The 
Latins  and  Sabines  came  without  suspicion,  bringing  their 
wives  and  daughtei's  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  festivities,  the 
Roman  youth  rushed  on  them  with  drawn  swords,  and  carried 

*  Another  account  makes  Remus  select  a  place  five  miles  further  down  the 
river.    Eniiius  {ut  supra)  makes  Romulus  take  his  augury  on  the  Aventine  : 

At  Romulu'  pulcer  in  alto 
Qua:rlt  Aventino,  servans  genus  aitivolantum. 
t  Those  who  would  soften  the  legend  said  he  was  slain  by  a  man  named 
Celer. 

;  TheLemuria,  Ovid,  Fasti,  v.  461  seq.  §  Serv.  Mn.  i.  276. 


14  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ROMULUS. 

off  a  number  of  their  maidens.  The  parents  fled,  calling  on 
the  gods  to  avenge  the  perfidious  breach  of  faith,  and  the  neigh- 
bouring Latin  towns  of  Csenina,  Crustumerium,  and  Anteranae, 
joined  by  Titus  Tatius,  king  of  the  Sabines,  prepared  to  take 
up  arms.  But  the  Latins,  impatient  of  the  delay  of  the  Sa- 
bines, and  acting  without  concert  among  themselves,  singly 
attacked  and  were  overcome  by  the  Romans.  At  length  Tatius 
led  his  troops  against  Rome.  The  Saturnian  or  Tarpeian  hill, 
opposite  the  town,  was  fortified  and  had  a  garrison  ;  but  Tar- 
peia,  the  daughter  of  the  governor,  having  gone  down  to  draw 
water,  met  the  Sabines,  and  dazzled  by  the  gold  bracelets  which 
they  wore,  agreed  to  open  a  gate  for  them  if  they  would  give 
her  what  they  wore  on  their  left  arms.  She  kept  her  promise, 
but  the  Sabines  cast  their  shields  from  their  left  arms  on  her 
as  they  entered,  and  the  traitress  expired  beneath  their  weight. 
The  hill  thus  became  the  possession  of  the  Sabines. 

Next  day  the  armies  encountered  in  the  valley  between  the 
two  hills.  The  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  Sabines,  and 
the  Romans  were  flying,  when  Romulus  cried  aloud  to  Jupiter, 
vowing  him  a  temple  under  the  name  of  Stator  (^Stayer)  if  he 
■would  stay  their  flight.  The  Romans  turned  ;  victory  was  in- 
clining to  them,  when  suddenly  the  Sabine  women  came  forth 
with  garments  rent  and  dishevelled  locks,  and  rushing  between 
the  two  armies,  implored  their  fathers  and  their  husbands  to 
cease  from  the  impious  conflict.  Both  sides  dropped  their  arms 
and  stood  in  silence  ;  the  leaders  then  advanced  to  conference, 
a  treaty  of  amity  and  union  was  made,  and  Romulus  and  Ta- 
tius became  joint  sovereigns  of  the  united  nation,  the  Romans 
taking  the  name  of  Quirites  from  the  Sabine  town  of  Cures. 
As  a  mark  of  honour  to  the  Sabine  women,  Romulus  named 
from  them  the  thirty  curies  into  which  he  divided  his  people. 

Some  years  after,  when  Laurentine  ambassadors  came  to 
Rome,  they  were  ill-treated  by  some  of  Tatius'  kinsmen  ;  and 
as  he  refused  satisfaction,  he  was  fallen  on  and  slain  at  a  na- 
tional sacrifice  in  Lavinium.  Romulus  henceforth  reigned 
alone ;  he  governed  his  people  with  justice  and  moderation, 
and  carried  on  successful  wars  in  Latium  and  Etruria.  At 
length,  when  he  had  reigned  thirty-seven  years,  the  term  as- 
signed by  the  gods  to  his  abode  on  earth  being  arrived,  as  he 
was  one  day  reviewing  his  people  at  the  place  named  the  Goat's 
Marsh  (^Palus  Caprce^,  a  sudden  storm  came  on  ;  the  people 
fled  for  shelter;  and  amid  the  tempest  of  thunder,  lightning, 
wind,  and  rain,  Mai's  descended  in  his  flaming  car,  and  bore 


ROMAN  CONSTirUTION.  15 

off  his  son  to  the  abode  of  the  gods*.  When  the  light  returned, 
the  people  vainly  sought  for  their  monarch  ;  they  bewailed  him 
as  their  father,  as  him  who  had  brought  them  into  the  realms 
of  day  t ;  and  they  were  not  consoled  till  a  senator  named  Pro- 
culus  Julius  came  forwards,  and  averred  that  as  he  was  return- 
ing by  moonlight  from  Alba  to  Rome,  Romulus  had  appeared 
to  him  an-ayed  in  glory,  and  charged  him  to  tell  his  people  to 
cease  to  lament  him,  to  cultivate  warlike  exercises,  and  to 
worship  him  as  a  god  under  the  name  of  Quirinus. 

As  the  founder  of  the  state,  Romulus  had  necessarily  been 
its  laM'giver.  The  chief  features  of  his  legislation  were  as 
follows  : — 

He  divided  the  whole  people  into  three  tribes  (Tribus), 
named  Ramnes,  Titienses,  and  Luceres,  each  of  which  con- 
tained ten  Curies  (Curi(e),  and  each  cury  consisted  of  a  decad 
of  Houses  (  Gentes).  The  tribe  was  governed  and  represented 
by  its  Tribune  {Tribumis),  the  cury  by  its  Curion  {Curio), 
the  house  by  its  Decurion  (Decurio).  The  territory  of  the 
state,  with  the  exception  of  what  was  set  apart  for  religion 
and  the  public  domain,  was  divided  into  thirty  equal  portions, 
one  for  each  cury.  Romulus  again  divided  the  whole  people 
into  two  orders.  The  first  was  composed  of  the  persons  most 
distinguished  for  merit,  birth,  and  property  ;  these  were  called 
Patres  {Fathers),  and  their  descendants  Patricians,  as  a  mark 
of  reverence,  or  as  they  resembled  fathers  in  their  care.  The 
other  order  was  named  the  Plebes  or  Plebs  {Peoj)le)X  ;  they 
were  placed  under  the  care  of  the  patricians,  whence  they  were 
also  called  Clients  ( Clientes,  i.  e.  Hearers  or  Oheyers)  §.  All 
the  offices  of  the  state  were  in  the  hands  of  the  patricians ;  the 
plebeians  served  in  war  and  paid  taxes  in  return  for  the  pro- 
tection they  received.  A  hundred  of  the  elders  of  the  Patres 
formed  a  Senate  {Senatus),  to  deliberate  with  the  king  in  af- 
fairs of  state.  Three  hundred  young  men,  selected  from  the 
curies  and  named  Celeres,  guarded  his  person;  and  twelve 

*  Horace,  Carm.  iii,  3.  15.    Ovid,  Fasti,  ii.  496,    Met.  xv.  805.    Dionys. 
ii.  5G. 

f  Pectora  dia  tenet  desiderium  ;  simul  inter 
Sese  sic  memorant :  O  Romule,  Romule  die, 
Qiialem  te  patria;  custodern  dii  genuerunt! 
Tu  produxisti  nos  intra  luminis  oras. 
O  pater  !  o  genitor  !  o  sanguen  dis  oriundum  ! 

Ennius  ap.  Cic.  de  Rep.  L  41» 
+  Plebes  is  probably  akin  to  the  Greek  ttX/'jOos. 
§   Tliese  relations  and  their  true  nature  will  be  explained  in  Chapter  V. 


16  NUMA  POMPILIUS. 

Lictors  (^Lictores)*  or  sergeants,  bearing  axes  in  bundles  of 
rods  (fasces),  attended  to  execute  his  commands.  Romulus 
also  gave  dignity  to  his  roj^al  authority  by  splendour  of  attire 
and  imperial  ensigns. 

After  the  assumption  of  Romulus,  Rome  remained  an  entire 
year  without  a  king ;  the  senators  under  the  title  of  Interrexes 
(Settveen-kings),  governing  in  rotation.  At  length  the  people 
becoming  impatient,  they  proceeded  to  elect  a  king.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  Romans  should  choose  from  among  the  Sa- 
bines;  and  the  choice  fell  on  Numa  Pompilius  of  Cures,  who 
had  married  the  daughter  of  Tatius,  and  had  been  the  pupil 
of  the  Grecian  sage  Pythagoras.  He  was  brought  to  Rome, 
and  as  Romulus  had  learned  the  will  of  the  gods  by  augury 
when  founding  the  city,  this  pious  prince  would  not  ascend  the 
throne  without  obtaining  their  consent  in  the  same  manner. 
Led  by  the  augur  he  mounted  the  Saturnian  hill,  and  sat  on 
a  stone  facing  the  south.  The  augur  sat  on  his  left,  his  head 
veiled,  and  holding  the  lituus\  in  his  right  hand;  then  mark- 
ing out  the  celestial  temple,  he  transferred  the  litims  to  his  left 
hand,  and  laying  his  right  on  the  head  of  Numa,  prayed  to 
Jupiter  to  send  the  signs  he  wished  v/ithin  the  designated 
limits.  The  signs  appeared,  and  Numa  came  down,  being  de- 
clared king. 

The  new  monarch  set  forthwith  about  regulating  the  state. 
He  divided  among  the  citizens  the  lands  which  Romulus  had 
conquered,  and  founded  the  worship  of  Terminus,  the  god  of 
boundaries.  He  then  proceeded  to  legislate  for  religion,  in 
which  he  acted  under  the  direction  of  the  Camena+  Egeria, 
who  espoused  him,  and  led  him  into  the  grove  which  her  di- 
vine sisters  frequented.  Numa  appointed  the  Pontiffs  to  preside 
over  the  public  religion ;  the  Augurs,  to  learn  the  will  of 
heaven  ;  the  Flamens,  to  minister  in  the  temples  of  the  great 
gods  of  Rome  ;  the  Vestal  Virgins,  to  guard  the  sacred  fire  ; 
and  the  Salians,  to  adore  the  gods  with  hymns,  to  which  they 
danced  in  arms.  He  also  built  the  temple  of  Janus,  which 
was  to  be  open  in  time  of  war,  closed  when  Rome  was  at  peace. 
At  a  time  when  the  anger  of  heaven  was  manifested  by  terrific 
lightning,  Numa,  instructed  by  the  rural  gods  Picus  and  Faunas 

*  That  is,  Ligatores  (Binders),  from  their  office  of  binding  criminals. 
Cell.  xii.  3. 

+  "  Virga  brevis,  in  parte,  qua  robustior  est,  incurva,  qua  augures  utun- 
tur."  Cell.  V,  8. 

+  The  Cantiense  answer  to  the  Grecian  Muses. 


TULLUS  HOSTILIUS.  17 

whom  he  had  caught  by  pouring  wine  into  the  fount  whence 
they  drank,  caused  by  conjurations  Jupiter  to  descend  on  the 
Aventine  to  tell  him  how  his  lightnings  might  be  averted.  The 
god,  thence  named  Elicius,  also  sent  from  heaven  the  A?icile*, 
as  a  pledge  of  empire.  Thirty-nine  years  did  Numa  reign  in 
tranquillity,  and  then  the  favourite  of  the  gods  fell  asleep  in 
death,  full  of  years  and  of  honours. 

After  an  interreign  of  a  short  time,  the  royal  dignity  was 
conferred  on  Tullus  Hostilius,  a  Roman,  and  more  allied  in 
character  to  Romulus  than  to  Numa.  He  sought  and  soon 
found  an  occasion  for  war.  The  Roman  and  the  Alban  country- 
folk had  mutually  plundered  each  other ;  envoys  were  sent 
from  both  towns  to  demand  satisfaction  ;  but  the  Albans,  be- 
guiled by  the  hospitality  of  the  Roman  king,  remained  idle  at 
Rome,  while  the  Romans  had  made  their  demand  and  been  re- 
fused. As  by  the  maxims  of  Italian  law  the  Romans  were  now 
the  injured  party,  war  was  formally  declared.  Preparations 
were  made  on  both  sides,  and  at  length  the  Alban  army  came 
and  encamped  within  five  miles  of  Rome,  where  the  deep  ditch 
named  the  Cluilian  (from  the  name  of  their  king  Cluilius)  long 
informed  posterity  of  the  site  of  their  camp.  Here  Cluilius  died, 
and  the  supreme  command  was  given  to  Mettius  Fuffetius. 
Meantime  king  Tullus  had  entered  the  Alban  territory,  and 
Mettius  found  it  necessary  to  quit  his  entrenched  camp,  and 
advance  to  engage  him.  The  two  armies  met  and  were  drawn 
out  in  array  of  battle,  when  the  Alban  chief  demanded  a  con- 
ference. The  leaders  on  both  sides  advanced  to  the  middle, 
and  Mettius  then  showing  how  the  Tuscans,  their  common 
enemies,  would  take  advantage  of  their  mutual  losses,  and  de- 
stroy them  both,  proposed  to  decide  the  national  quarrel  by  a 
combat  of  champions  to  be  chosen  on  each  side.  The  Roman 
monarch  assented,  though  he  M'ould  have  preferred  the  shock 
of  two  numerous  hosts. 

There  were  in  each  army  three  twin  brothers,  whose  mothers 
were  sisters  ;  the  Romans  were  named  the  Horatii,  the  Albans 
the  Curiatiif.  To  these  the  fates  of  their  respective  countries 
were  committed.  The  treaty  was  made  in  due  form,  and  that 
state  whose  champions  should  be  vanquished  was  to  submit  to 
the  rule  of  the  other.     The  brothers  advanced  on  each  side  ; 

*  The  sacred  shield  born  by  the  Salii ;  lest  it  should  be  stolen  Numa  had 
several  others  made  like  it.      See  Ovid,  Fasti,  iii.  259  seq. 

f  According  to  some,  the  Horatii  were  the  Albans.  The  Horatian  gens 
at  Rome  belonged  to  the  Luceres.     Dionys.  v.  23.  Nieb.  i.  533. 


18  WAR  WITH  ALBA. 

both  ai'raies  sat  down  in  their  ranks  to  view  the  important 
combat;  the  signal  was  given,  the  champions  drew  their  swords, 
and  engaged  hand  to  hand  ;  dread  and  expectation  bound  the 
spectators  in  silence.  At  length  two  of  the  Romans  were  seen 
to  fall  dead,  the  third  was  unhurt;  the  Albans  were  all  wound- 
ed. A  shout  of  triumph  rose  in  the  Alban  army  ;  hope  fled 
from  the  Romans.  The  surviving  Horatius,  unable  to  cope 
with  his  three  adversaries,  though  enfeebled,  feigned  a  flight. 
They  pursued,  but,  ov,'ing  to  their  weakness,  at  different  in- 
tervals. Soon  he  turned  and  slew  the  first.  The  Albans 
vainly  called  to  his  brothers  to  aid  ;  they  fell  each  in  turn  by 
the  sword  of  the  Roman,  and  Alba  submitted  to  Rome. 

When  the.dead  on  both  sides  had  been  buried,  the  two  ar- 
mies separated.  Horatius,  bearing  the  spoils  of  the  slain  Cu- 
riatii,  walked  at  the  head  of  the  Romans.  At  the  Capene  gate, 
when  about  to  enter  the  city,  he  was  met  by  his  sister,  who 
had  been  betrothed  to  one  of  the  Curiatii ;  and  recognising  her 
lover's  surcoat,  which  she  had  woven  with  her  own  hands,  she 
let  fall  her  hair,  and  bewailed  his  fate.  The  victor,  enraged, 
drew  his  sword  and  struck  it  into  her  bosom,  crying,  "  Such 
be  the  fate  of  her  w  ho  bewails  an  enemy  of  Rome ! "  Horror 
seized  on  all  at  the  atrocious  deed :  the  murderer  was  taken 
for  trial  before  the  king ;  but  TuUus  shrank  from  the  oflfice, 
and  the  affair  was  committed  to  the  ordinary  judges  in  such 
cases*,  by  whom  he  was  sentenced  to  be  scourged,  and  to  be 
hung  with  a  rope  from  the  fatal  tree  with  his  head  covered. 
The  lictor  approached,  and  was  placing  the  halter  on  him, 
when,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  king,  he  appealed  to  the  people. 
His  father  pleaded  for  him  with  tears ;  the  people  were  moved, 
and  let  him  go  free.  Purgative  sacrifices  were  performed,  and 
he  was  made  to  walk  with  covered  head  under  a  beam  jjlaced 
across  the  way. 

The  treaty  thus  sealed  with  kindred  blood  did  not  remain 
long  unbroken.  The  Albans,  weary  of  subjection,  sent  secretly 
to  excite  the  people  of  Fidenas  to  w  ar  against  Rome,  promising 
to  go  over  to  them  in  the  battle.  The  Fidenates,  joined  by 
their  allies  the  Veientines  of  Etriiria,  declared  Avar,  and  TuUus 
having  summoned  an  Alban  army  to  his  standard,  crossed  the 
Anio,  and  took  his  post  at  its  confluence  with  the  Tiber.  The 
Romans  were  opposed  to  the  Veientines,  the  Albans  to  the 
Fidenates.  Mettius,  cowardly  as  treacbeiHous,  would  neither 
stay  nor  go  over  to  the  enemy.  He  gi'adualiy  drew  off  to  the 
*  The  Duumviri  or  Qutsstores  paricidtt. 


DEATH  OF  TULLUS  HOSTILIUS.  19 

hills,  and  there  disposed  his  troops.  The  Romans,  finding  their 
flank  thus  left  exposed,  sent  to  inform  the  king  ;  but  Tullus, 
telling  them  that  the  Albans  were  acting  by  his  order,  desired 
them  to  fall  on.  The  Fidenates,  hearing  these  orders,  and 
deeming  that  Mettius  was  a  traitor  to  them,  turned  and  fled. 
Tullus  then  brought  all  his  forces  against  the  Etrurians,  and 
drove  them  with  great  slaughter  into  the  river.  The  Albans 
came  down,  and  their  general  congratulated  the  king  on  his 
victory.  Tullus  received  him  kindly,  and  directed  that  the  two 
armies  should  encamp  together,  and  a  lustral  sacrifice  be  pre- 
pared for  the  morrow.  Next  morning  he  called  a  general  as- 
sembly ;  the  Albans  with  aff"ected  zeal  came  first,  and  stood 
unarmed  around  the  king,  by  whose  directions  they  were  en- 
compassed by  the  Romans  in  arms.  Tullus  then  spoke,  re- 
proaching Mettius  with  his  treachery,  and  declaring  his  inten- 
tion of  destroying  Alba,  and  removing  the  inhabitants  to 
Rome.  Resistance  was  hopeless;  Mettius  was  seized  ;  and  to 
suit  his  punishment  to  his  crime,  two  chariots  were  brought,  to 
■which  his  limbs  were  tied,  and  one  Avas  driven  toward  Rome, 
the  other  toward  Fidense,  and  the  traitor's  body  was  thus  torn 
asunder.  Meantime  the  horsemen  had  been  sent  to  Alba  to 
remove  the  people  to  Rome  ;  the  infantry  followed,  in  order  to 
demolish  the  town.  The  people,  yielding  to  necessity,  quitted 
•with  tears  the  homes  of  their  infancy  and  the  tombs  of  their 
fathers;  all  the  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  were  de- 
stroyed ;  the  temples  of  the  gods  alone  were  left  standing.  At 
Rome  the  Albans  were  favourably  received,  and  their  nobles 
admitted  among  the  patricians.  The  Ceelian  hill  was  added  to 
the  city  for  their  abode,  and  the  king  himself  dwelt  on  it 
among  them. 

The  warlike  king  next  engaged  in  hostilities  with  the  Sabines, 
on  the  pretext  of  their  having  seized  some  -Roman  traders  at 
the  fair  held  at  the  temple  of  Feronia.  The  Sabines  hired 
mercenary  troops  in  Etruria,  but  victory  was  on  the  side  of 
Rome  in  a  battle  fought  at  the  Evil  Wood  {Silva  3Ialitiosa). 
Tullus  was  now  at  peace  with  mankind,  but  a  shower  of  stones 
on  Ihe  Aiban  Mount  announced  the  displeasure  of  heaven.  At 
the  mandate  of  a  celestial  voice  heard  on  the  mount,  a  nine-day 
festival  v,as  instituted,  and  the  prodigy  ceased.  Soon  after  a 
pestilence  came  on,  and  Tullus,  broken  in  mind  and  body,  gave 
himself  up  to  superstition.  Having  read  in  the  books  of  Numa 
of  the  sacrifices  to  Jupiter  Elicius,he  resolved  to  perform  them; 
but  erring  in  the  rites,  he  offended  the  god,  and  the  lightnings 


20  ANGUS  MARCIUS. 

descended  and  destroyed  himself  and  his  house.     TuUus  had 
reigned  thirty-two  years. 

The  next  king',  Ancus  Marcius,  was  of  the  Sabine  line,  being 


*»' 


the  son  of  Nunia's  daughter.  His  character  was  a  mean  be- 
tween those  of  his  grandsire  and  Romulus.  Like  the  former, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  revival  of  religion  ;  and  he  caused  the 
ceremonial  law  to  be  transcribed  and  hung  up  in  public.  But 
the  Latins,  despising  his  pacific  occupations,  soon  provoked  him 
to  war,  where  he  showed  a  spirit  not  unworthy  of  the  founder 
of  Rome.  He  took  the  towns  of  Politorium,  Tellena,  and  Fi- 
cana,  and  having  given  the  Latin  army  a  total  defeat  under  the 
walls  of  Medullia,  he  removed  the  people  of  this  and  the  other 
towns  to  Rome,  w  here  he  assigned  them  the  Aventine  for  their 
abode. 

Ancus  also  won  from  the  Yeientines  some  of  the  land  be- 
yond the  Tiber,  where  he  fortified  the  Janiculan  hill  and 
united  it  to  the  city  by  a  wooden  bridge  (Pow*  Sublicius).  To 
secure  Rome  on  the  land  side  he  dug  a  deep  AMch  {Fossa 
Quiritium)  before  the  open  space  between  the  Caelian  and 
Aventine  hills.  He  extended  his  dominion  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  to  the  sea,  where  he  built  the  port  of  Ostia  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Tiber.  After  a  useful  and  a  prosperous  reign  of  twenty- 
four  years  king  Ancus  died  in  peace. 


CHAPTER  HP 


L.  Tarquinius  Piiscus. — Servius  Tullius. — L.  Tarquinius  Superbus. — Tale 
of  Lucretia. — Abolition  of  Royalty. — Conspiracy  at  Rome. — Death  of 
Brutus. — War  with  Porsenna. — Battle  of  the  Regillus. 

Hitherto   the  kings  had  been  Romans  and  Sabines  alter- 
nately ;  the  sceptre  now  passes  into  the  hands  of  a  stranger. 

"When  Cypselus  overthrew  the  oligarchy  of  the  Bacchiadsat 
Corinth  t)  a  member  of  that  family  named  Demaratus  re- 
solved to  emigrate.  He  fixed  on  Tarquinii  in  Etruria  for  his 
abode,  as,  being  an  extensive  merchant,  he  had  formed  many 

*  Liv.  i.  3'l.-ii.  20.  Dionys.  iii.  4C.-vi.  13.  Plut.  Poplicola,  the  Epitomators. 
f  See  History  of  Greece,  p.  67,  2nd  edit.  p.  65,  4th  edit 


L.    TARQUIXIUS  PRISCUS.  21 

connexions  in  that  city  ;  and  he  came  thither  accompanied  by 
the  sculptors  Euchir  (^Good-hand)  and  Eugrammus  (^Good- 
drawer'),  and  thepainter  Cleophantus  {Deed-displayer)* ,  whose 
arts  and  that  of  writing  he  communicated  to  the  Etruscans. 
He  married  a  woman  of  the  country,  who  bore  him  two  sons, 
named  Aruns  and  Lucumo.  The  former  died  a  little  before 
his  father,  leaving  his  wife  pregnant ;  but  Demaratus,  unaware 
of  this  fact,  bequeathed  the  whole  of  his  wealth  to  Lucumo, 
and  the  new-born  babe,  who  was  therefore  named  Egeriusf, 
was  left  entirely  dependent  on  his  uncle. 

Lucumo  espoused  an  Etruscan  lady  named  Tanaquil,  and 
finding  on  account  of  his  foreign  origin  all  the  avenues  to  ho- 
nour and  power  closed  against  him,  he  listened  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  his  wife,  and  resolved  to  emigrate  to  Rome,  where 
there  was  no  jealous  aristocratic  caste  to  contend  with.  He 
therefore  quited  Tarquinii  and  set  out  for  that  city.  As  he 
and  Tanaquil  were  sitting  in  their  chariot  taking  their  first 
view  of  Rome  from  the  top  of  the  Janiculan  hill,  an  eagle  came 
flying  and  gently  descending  took,  off  his  bonnet,  and  with  a 
loud  noise  bore  it  into  the  air ;  then  returning  placed  it  again 
on  his  head.  Tanaquil,  as  a  Tuscan  skilled  in  augury,  joy- 
fully received  the  omen,  and  congratulated  her  husband  on  the 
fortune  it  portended.  Elate  with  hope  they  crossed  the  Sub- 
lician  bridge  and  entered  Rome,  were  Lucumo  assumed  the 
name  of  Lucius  Tarquinius  Priscus,  and  by  his  polished  man- 
ners and  his  liberality  soon  won  the  affections  of  the  people. 
He  became  ere  long  known  to  the  king,  Ancus,  who  employed 
him  in  both  public  and  private  affairs  of  importance,  and  when 
dying  appointed  \\m\  guardian  to  his  sons. 

But  Tarquinius  now  deemed  himself  sufficiently  strong  in 
the  favour  of  the  people  to  aspire  to  the  vacant  throne.  Ha- 
ving sent  the  young  Marcii  out  a-hunting,  so  that  they  should 
be  away  at  the  time  of  the  election,  he  offered  himself  as  a 
candidate  ;  the  people  unanimously  chose  him  king,  and  the 
senate  confirmed  their  choice.  To  gratify  his  friends  he  forth- 
with added  one  hundred  members  to  the  senate,  and  then  to 
augment  his  fame  engaged  in  war  with  the  I^atins,  from  whom 
he  took  the  town  of  Apiolse  ;  and  with  tlie  plunder,  whose 
amount  exceeded  what  might  have  been  expected,  he  gave  the 
people  a  spectacle  of  horse-racing  and  boxing  superior  to  any 
they  had  yet  seen.     A  war  with  the  Sabines  soon  followed, 

*  Pliiiv,  XXXV.  5.  t  Lacldand,  like  our  English  king  John. 


22  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  CITY. 

and  before  the  Romans  were  aware  of  it  the  Sabine  army  had 
crossed  the  Auio.  The  battle  that  ensued  was  bloody  but  un- 
decisive ;  and  Tarquinius,  finding  that  his  deficiency  in  ca- 
valry had  alone  prevented  the  victory,  prepared  to  add  three 
new  tribes,  to  be  named  from  himself  and  his  friends,  to  the 
tribes  or  equestrian  centuries  of  Romulus.  But  the  augur 
Attus  Navius  forbade  to  change  without  auspices  what  had 
been  instituted  with  them.  The  king,  annoyed,  to  put  him  to 
shame,  desired  him  to  augur,  if  what  he  was  then  thinking  on 
could  be  done.  Attus  having  observed  the  heavens  replied  in 
the  affirmative;  "  Then,"  cried  the  king  triumphantly,  "  I  was 
thinking  that  you  should  cut  a  whetstone  through  with  a  ra- 
zor." Attus  took  the  razor  and  stone  and  cut  it  through  ;  the 
king  gave  up  his  project,  but  he  doubled  the  amount  of  the 
old  centuries  without  interfering  with  the  original  names. 

The  Sabines  meantime  remaining  on  the  hither  side  of  the 
Anio,  Tarquinius  caused  a  large  heap  of  timber  which  lay  on 
the  banks  of  the  stream  to  be  set  on  fire  and  cast  into  it,  and 
it  floated  along  and  burned  the  wooden  bridge  behind  them; 
he  then  attacked  and  routed  them  with  great  slaughter,  and 
their  arms  being  carried  along  the  stream  into  the  Tiber  gave 
the  first  tidings  of  the  victory  at  Rome.  Tarquinius  passed 
the  Anio  and  received  the  submission  of  the  town  of  Colla- 
tia,  over  which  he  set  his  nephew  Egerius.  He  afterwards 
made  war  on  the  Latins  and  reduced  several  of  their  towns. 
We  are  also  told  that  all  Etruria  was  forced  to  submit  to  his 
supremacy. 

Tarquinius,  at  peace  and  abounding  in  wealth,  now  devoted 
his  thoughts  to  the  improvement  of  the  city.  As  the  valleys 
between  the  hills  wei'e  mostly  under  water  from  the  overflow- 
ing of  the  Tiber,  he  embanked  that  river,  and  built  huge  sew- 
ers to  drain  the  swamps  and  pools  it  had  formed.  The  ground 
thus  gained  between  the  Tarpeian  and  the  Palatine  hills  he  laid 
out  as  a  place  for  markets  and  the  meetings  of  the  people  :  the 
space  between  the  Palatine  and  the  Aventine  was  made  a  race- 
course, and  named  the  Circus  Maximus.  Tarquinius  also 
commenced  building  a  wall  of  hewn  stone  around  the  city,  and 
he  levelled  and  enlarged  by  extensive  substructions  the  area 
of  one  of  the  summits  of  the  Saturniau  hill  for  a  temple  which 
he  had  vowed  to  Jupiter. 

The  king  had  reigned  thirty-eight  years  in  glory,  when  his 
life  was  terminated  by  assassins  hired  by  the  sons  of  his  pre- 
decessor.   The  occasion  was  as  follows.    When  the  Latin  town 


SERVIUS  TULLIUS.  23 

of  Corniculum  was  taken,  one  of  the  captives,  named  Ocrisia, 
was  placed  in  the  sei^vice  of  the  queen.  As  she  was  one  day, 
according  to  usage,  placing  cakes  on  the  hearth  to  the  house- 
hold gods,  an  apparition  of  the  fire-god  appeared  over  the  fire. 
She  told  the  king  and  queen,  and  Tanaquil  instantly  arrayed 
her  as  a  bride  and  shut  her  up  alone  in  the  apartment.  She 
became  pregnant  by  the  god,  and  in  due  season  brought  forth 
a  son,  who  was  named  Sei-vius  TuUius.  One  time  the  child 
fell  asleep  during  the  heat  of  the  day  in  the  porch  of  the  pa- 
lace, and  suddenly,  to  the  surprise  of  the  beholders,  his  head 
was  seen  enveloped  in  flames,  which  played  innocuously,  and 
departed  when  he  av/oke.  Tanaquil,  who  saw  in  this  the  fa- 
vour of  his  divine  sire,  had  him  brought  up  with  the  greatest 
care.  When  he  attained  to  manhood,  he  displayed  the  utmost 
valour  in  the  field  ;  the  king  bestowed  on  him  the  hand  of  his 
daughter,  and  entrusted  him  with  the  exercise  of  the  royal  au- 
thority, and  it  was  expected  that  he  would  appoint  him  his 
successor.  The  sons  of  Ancus  had  hitherto  borne  patiently 
their  exclusion  from  the  throne,  expecting  to  obtain  it  on  the 
death  of  Tarquinius,  who  was  now  eighty  years  old ;  seeing 
however  the  favour  shown  to  Servius,  they  resolved  to  wait 
no  longer,  but  to  kill  the  king  and  seize  the  regal  dignitj'. 
They  therefore  engaged  two  ferocious  peasants  to  accomplish 
the  deed,  and  these  ruffians  proceeding  to  the  palace  pretended 
to  quarrel;  the  noise  they  made  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
royal  servants,  and  as  they  mutually  appealed  to  the  king  for 
justice,  they  were  led  before  him.  Here,  as  Tarquinius  was 
listening  to  the  one,  the  other  gave  him  a  deadly  wound  with 
an  axe  on  the  head.  The  murderers  fled,  but  were  pursued 
and  taken.  The  dying  monarch  was  brought  into  the  palace, 
which  Tanaquil  ordered  to  be  shut ;  and  then  telling  Servius 
that  now  was  his  time  to  secure  the  succession,  went  up  to  a 
window,  whence  she  addressed  the  people,  telling  them  that 
the  king's  wound  was  not  fatal,  that  he  would  soon  recover, 
and  that  meantime  Servius  was  to  exercise  the  functions  of 
royalty.  The  gate  was  then  opened,  and  Servius  issued  forth 
with  the  royal  insignia.  He  took  his  seat,  and  administered 
justice,  in  some  cases  at  once,  in  others  he  feigned  that  he 
would  consult  the  king.  After  some  days  the  death  of  Tar- 
quinius was  made  known,  and  without  an  intei'reign  the  royal 
dignity  was  conferred  on  Servius.  The  Marcii,  having  gained 
nothing  but  infamy  by  their  crime,  retired  in  despair  to  the 
town  of  Suessa  Pometia. 


24}  INTERNAL  LEGISLATION  OF  SERVIUS. 

The  reign  of  Servius  was,  like  that  of  Numa,  one  of  peace, 
and  only  distinguished  by  internal  legislation.  Like  Nuraa, 
too,  he  was  favoured  with  the  love  of  a  deity.  The  goddess 
Fortuna  loved  liini  and  used  to  visit  him  in  secret ;  and  when 
one  time,  at  a  later  period,  the  temple  which  he  had  raised  to 
her  was  burnt,  the  flames,  mindful  of  his  origin,  spared  the 
wooden  statue  of  the  king  which  stood  in  it*. 

Servius,  the  poor  man's  friend,  paid  out  of  his  royal  treasure 
the  debts  of  such  as  were  reduced  to  poverty,  he  redeemed 
those  whose  labour  was  pledged  for  debt,  and  he  assigned  the 
people  portions  out  of  the  conquered  lands.  He  also  divided 
all  the  people  into  classes,  regulated  by  property,  so  that  each 
person  should  contribute  to  the  support  and  defence  of  the 
state  in  proportion  to  the  stake  he  had  in  itf.  This  able  prince, 
moreover,  brought  about  a  federal  union  witli  the  thirty  Latin 
towns  in  which  the  supremacy  was  accorded  to  Rome ;  and, 
as  was  usual  in  such  cases,  a  common  temple  was  built  to  the 
moon-goddess  Diana  on  the  Aventine.  The  Sabines  also  joined 
in  the  worship  at  this  temple.  Among  the  cattle  of  a  Sabine 
husbandman  was  an  ox  of  prodigious  size,  and  the  soothsayers 
declared  that  the  supreme  power  would  be  with  that  people, 
by  one  of  whom  this  ox  was  sacrificed  to  Diana  of  the  Aven- 
tine. The  Sabine  drove  his  beast  to  the  temple  on  a  proper 
day,  and  was  preparing  to  sacrifice,  when  the  Roman  priest 
who  had  heard  the  response,  cried  out,  "  What,  with  unwashed 
hands !  The  Tiber  runs  down  below  there."  The  Sabine, 
anxious  to  pei'form  the  sacrifice  duly,  went  down  to  the  river, 
and  the  crafty  Roman  offered  up  his  beast  while  he  was  away. 
The  huge  horns  were  nailed  up  in  the  vestibule,  where  they 
remained  the  wonder  of  succeeding  ages. 

Warned  by  the  fate  of  his  predecessor,  Servius  endeavour- 
ed to  disarm  the  resentment  of  those  who  might  fancy  they 
had  a  claim  to  the  throne.  The  late  monarch  had  left  two 
sons  J,  Lucius  and  Aruns,  and  Servius  gave  these  youths  his 
two  daughters  in  marriage.  But  the  youths  were  different  in 
temper,  one  being  mild  and  gentle,  the  other  proud  and  vio- 
lent ;  the  king's  daughters  likewise  were  of  opposite  disposi- 
tions, and  chance  or  the  king's  will  had  joined  those  whose 
tempers  differed.  The  haughty  Tullia  soon  despised  her 
gentle  mate  Aruns,  and  placed  her  love  on  the  haughty  Lu- 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  vi.  625. 

f   This  constitution  will  be  developed  in  Chapter  V. 

^  Those  who  saw  the  difficulty  in  the  poetic  narrative  said  grandsons. 


SERVIUS  TULLIUS.  25 

cius.  An  adulterous  intercourse  succeeded,  which  was  speedily 
followed  by  the  sudden  deaths  of  those  who  stood  in  the  way 
of  their  legal  union,  to  which  a  reluctant  consent  was  extorted 
from  the  king,  now  far  advanced  in  years. 

Urged  on  by  his  unprincipled  wife,  Tarquinius  now  openly 
aspired  to  the  kingdom.  A  large  portion  of  the  Patricians, 
offended  at  the  wise  and  beneficent  laws  of  the  king,  readily 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  him,  and  Tarquinius,  in  re- 
liance on  their  support,  at  length  ventured  one  day  to  enter 
the  market  surrounded  by  armed  men,  and  placing  himself  on 
the  royal  seat  in  the  senate-house,  ordered  the  herald  to  call 
the  senate  to  king  Tarquinius.  The  senators  came,  some 
through  iear,  others  already  prepared  for  the  event ;  and  he 
addressed  them,  setting  forth  his  claims  to  the  throne.  Just 
then  Servius  arrived,  and  demanded  why  he  had  dared  to  take 
his  seat ;  the  rebel  made  an  insolent  reply ;  a  shout  was  set 
up  by  their  respective  partizans.  Tarquinius,  seeing  that  he 
must  now  dare  the  utmost  or  fail,  seized  the  aged  king  by  the 
waist  and  flung  him  down  the  stone-steps.  He  then  returned 
into  the  senate-house :  the  king,  whose  adherents  had  fled, 
rose  sorely  bruised,  and  slowly  moved  toward  home ;  but  at 
the  foot  of  the  Esquiline  (on  which  he  resided)  he  Mas  over- 
taken and  slain  by  those  sent  after  him  by  the  usurper. 

Tullia,  regardless  of  female  decorum,  drove  in  her  chariot 
to  the  senate-house,  called  her  husband  out,  and  was  the  first 
to  salute  him  king.  He  prayed  her  to  return  home ;  as  she 
drove  she  came  to  where  the  corpse  of  her  father  was  lying ; 
the  mules  started,  the  driver  paused  in  hori'or  and  looked  his 
mistress  in  the  face.  "  Why  do  you  stop  ?  "  cried  she.  "  See 
you  not  the  body  of  your  father?"  replied  the  man;  she  flung 
the  footstool  at  his  head,  he  laslied  on  the  mules,  and  the 
wheels  passed  over  the  monarch's  body,  whose  blood  spirted 
over  the  garments  of  the  parricide.  Ever  after  the  street  was 
named  the  Wicked  (  J^icus  Sceleratus).  When  some  time 
afterwards  Tullia  ventured  to  enter  the  temple  of  Fortune, 
the  statue  of  her  father  was  seen  to  place  its  hands  before  its 
eyes  and  cry,  "  Hide  my  face !  that  I  may  not  behold  my 
impious  daughter*." 

Thus  after  a  reign  of  forty-four  years  perished  this  best  of 
kings,  and  M'ith  him  all  just  and  moderate  government  at 
Rome. 

L.  Tarquinius,  named  the  Proud  (Superbus),  resolved  to 
*  Ovid,  Fasti,  vi.  G13. 

C 


26  L.  TARQUINIUS  SUPERBUS. 

rule  by  terror  the  empire  he  had  acquired  by  crime.  He  de- 
prived the  people  of  all  the  privileges  conferred  on  them  by 
Servius  ;  he  put  to  death  or  banished  such  of  the  senators  as 
he  feared  or  disliked,  and,  like  the  Greek  tyrants,  surrounded 
himself  with  a  body-guard  of  mercenaries.  He  rarely  called 
together  the  diminished  senate.  To  strengthen  himself  by 
external  alliances,  he  gave  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage 
to  Octavius  Mamilins  of  Tusculum,  the  leading  man  among 
the  Latins. 

As  the  head  of  the  Latin  nation,  Tarquinius  summoned  a 
congress  to  the  grove  of  Ferentina  (the  usual  place  of  meet- 
ing) to  deliberate  on  matters  of  common  weal.     The  depu- 
ties met  at  dawn,  and  waited  all  the  day  in  vain  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Roman  monarch.      Turnus  Herdonius  of 
Aricia,  one  of  them,  then  loudly  inveighed  against  the  inso- 
lence and  pride  which  this  conduct  denoted,  and  advised  them 
to  separate  and  return  to  their  homes.     In  the  evening,  how- 
ever, Tarquinius  arrived,  and  excused  his  delay  under  tlie  pre- 
text of  his  having  had  to  make  up  a  quarrel  between  a  father 
and  a  son.     Turnus  treated  this  as  a  flimsy  excuse,  and  the 
council  was  put  off  till  the  next  day.     During  the  night,  Tar- 
quinius, who  was  resolved  to  destroy  Turnus,  had  his  slave 
bribed  to  convey  a  great  number  of  swords  secretly  into  his 
lodging,  and  a  little  before  day  he  summoned  a  meeting  of 
the  deputies.     His  delay  the  preceding  day  he  declared  had 
been  most  providential,  for  he  had  since  discovered  that  Tur- 
nus had  planned  to  kill  both  him  and  them,  and  thus  become 
the  ruler  of  Latium.     He  had,  he  understood,  collected  arms 
for  that  purpose,  and  he  now  prayed  them  to  come  and  try  if 
the  intelligence  was  true.     Their  knowledge  of  Turnus'  cha- 
racter induced  them  to  give  credit  to  the  charge  ;  they  awoke 
him  from  his  sleep,  the  house  was  searched,  the  arms  were 
found,  Turnus  was  laid  in  chains  and  brought  before  the  coun- 
cil ;  the  swords  were  produced,  he  was  condemned  untried, 
taken  to  the  fount  of  Ferentina,  cast  in,  a  hurdle  placed  over 
him  laden  with  stones,  and  thus  drowned.     The  league  with 
Latium  was  then  solemnly  renewed,  and  Tarquinius  declared 
head  of  the  confederacy,  which  was  also  joined  by  the  Her- 
nicans  ;  and  a  common  festival,  to  be  annually  held  at  the  tem- 
ple of  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  the  Alban  Mount,  was  instituted. 

The  arms  of  the  confederates  were  soon  turned  against 
their  neighbours,  and  Suessa  Pometia,  a  flourishing  town  of 
the  Volscians,  was  the  first  object  of  attack.     The  town  was 


L.  TARQUINIUS  SUPERBUS.  27 

taken  by  storm,  the  inhabitants  sold,  the  tithe  of  the  booty- 
reserved  for  building  the  temple  of  Juj^iter,  and  the  remainder 
distributed  among  the  soldiers. 

The  city  of  Gabii,  which  lay  about  twelve  miles  from  Rome, 
relying  on  the  strength  of  its  walls,  would  not  be  included  in 
the  treaty  of  federation.  It  gave  an  asylum  to  the  Roman 
exiles,  and  for  some  years  the  Romans  and  Gabines  carried 
on  a  harassing  warfare,  wasting  and  plundering  each  other's 
lands.  At  length  treachery  effected  v.  hat  force  could  not 
achieve.  Sextus,  the  youngest  son  of  the  tyrant,  in  conceit 
with  his  father,  fled  to  Gabii  to  seek  a  refuge  as  he  alleged 
from  his  father's  cruelty,  which  menaced  his  life.  The  sim- 
ple Gabines  believed  the  lying  tale  ;  they  pitied  and  received 
him.  Soon  they  admitted  him  to  their  councils,  at  his  im- 
pulsion they  renewed  the  war  which  had  languished  ;  Sextus 
got  a  command,  fortune  everywhere  favoured  him ;  he  was 
at  length  made  general,  the  soldiers  adored  the  chief  who 
always  led  them  to  victory,  and  his  authority  in  Gabii  finally 
equalled  that  of  Tarquinius  at  Rome.  He  now  sent  a  trusty 
messenger  to  his  father  to  ask  him  how  he  should  act.  Tar- 
quinius received  the  messenger  in  his  garden,  and  as  he 
walked  up  and  down  he  struck  off  the  heads  of  the  poppies 
with  his  staff,  but  made  no  reply.  The  messenger  returned 
and  told  of  the  strange  behaviour  of  the  king,  but  Sextus 
knew  what  it  meant;  he  accused  some  of  the  leading  men  to 
the  people,  others  he  caused  to  be  assassinated,  others  he 
drove  into  exile  ;  in  fine,  he  deprived  the  Gabines  of  all  their 
men  of  talent  and  wealth,  and  then  delivered  up  the  city, 
void  of  defence,  to  his  father. 

Tarquinius  now  turned  all  his  thoughts  to  the  completion 
of  the  temple  on  the  Saturnian  hill.  As  since  the  time  of 
Tatius  it  had  been  covered  with  the  altars  and  chapels  of 
various  deities,  it  was  requisite  to  obtain  by  augury  the  con- 
sent of  each  for  their  removal.  All  save  Terminus  and  Youth 
readily  gave  it,  whence  it  was  inferred  that  Rome  would 
flourish  in  perpetual  youth,  and  her  boundaries  never  recede. 
The  fresh  bleeding  head  {caput)  of  a  man  was  also  found  as 
they  were  digging  the  foundation ;  whence  the  temple,  and 
from  it  the  hill,  was  named  the  Capitolium,  and  it  was  an- 
nounced that  Rome  would  be  the  head  of  Italy.  Artists 
came  from  Etruria,  task-work  was  imposed  on  the  people, 
and  at  length  the  united  fanes  of  Jupiter,  Juno  and  Minerva 
crowned  the  summit  of  the  Capitolium. 

c2 


lU 


28  SIBYLLINE  ORACLES. 

One  day  a  strange  woman  appeared  before  the  king  with 
nine  books,  which  she  offered  to  sell  for  three  hundred  pieces 
of  gold.  Tarquinius  declined  the  purchase ;  she  went  away, 
burned  three  of  them,  came  back  and  demanded  the  same 
price  for  the  remainder.  She  was  laughed  at,  she  burned 
three  more,  and  still  her  price  was  the  same.  The  king,  sus- 
pecting some  mystery,  consulted  the  augurs,  who  blamed  him 
for  not  having  purchased  the  whole,  and  advised  him  to  hesi- 
tate no  longer.  He  paid  the  money,  the  woman  delivered  the 
books  and  vanished.  These  books,  which  contained  Sibyl- 
line oracles*,  were  placed  in  a  stone  chest  in  an  underground 
cell  in  tlie  temple  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter,  under  the  cus- 
tody of  two  men  of  noble  birth,  and  it  was  directed  that  they 
should  be  consulted  in  emergences  of  the  state. 

But  prodigies  sent  by  Heaven  soon  came  to  disturb  the 
tyrant's  repose.  While  a  sacrifice  was  being  offered  one  day 
in  the  palace,  a  serpent  came  out  of  the  altar,  put  out  the  fire 
and  seized  the  flesh  that  was  on  itf.  Tarquinius,  appalled  at 
such  an  event,  sent  his  two  eldest  sons,  Titus  and  Aruns,  to 
Greece  to  consult  the  Delphic  oracle  then  so  renowned.  The 
royal  youths  were  accompanied  by  their  cousin  L.  Junius, 
surnamed  Brutus  (Fool) ;  for  when  the  tyrant  put  the  elder 
brother  of  the  Junii  to  death  for  his  wealth,  Lucius,  to  save 
his  life,  had  counterfeited  folly ;  eating  in  proof  of  it  wild 
figs  and  honey +. 

The  Pythia,  on  hearing  the  prodigy,  replied  that  the  king 
would  fall  when  a  dog  spake  with  a  human  voice §.  The 
Tarquinii  then  asked  which  of  them  should  reign  at  Rome. 
"He  who  first  kisses  his  mother,"  was  the  response.  They 
agreed  to  keep  this  a  secret  from  Sextus,  and  to  decide  by 
lot  between  themselves.  But  Brutus  who  had  offered  to  the 
god  his  staff  of  cornel-wood,  which  he  had  secretly  filled  with 
gold  emblematic  of  himself,  divined  the  meaning  of  the  oracle ; 
as  they  came  down  the  hill  he  pretended  to  stumble  and  fall, 
and  as  he  lay  he  kissed  the  earth,  the  common  niother  of  all. 

In  the  palace  garden  stood  a  statelj'^  plane-tree  in  which 
two  eagles  had  built  their  nest.  One  day,  in  the  absence  of 
the  parent-birds,  vultures  came  and  threw  the  eaglets  out  of 

*  lliat  is,  of  the  prophetic  women  named  Sibyls  by  the  Greeks.     The 
Sibylline  books  of  the  Romans  were  in  Greek. 
t  Ov.  Fasti,  ii.  711. 

+   The  annalist  Postumius  Albinus  ap,  Macrob.  Sat.  ii.  16. 
§  Zonaras,  ii.  1 1. 


TALE  OF  LUCRETIA.  29 

the  nest,  and  drove  ofF  the  old  birds  on  their  return.  The 
king  also  dreamed  that  two  rams  were  brought  to  him  at  the 
altar ;  he  chose  the  finer  for  sacrifice,  the  other  then  cast  him 
down  with  its  horns,  and  the  sun  turned  back  from  east  to 
west*.  In  vain  was  the  tyrant  warned  to  beware  of  the  man 
who  seemed  stupid  as  a  sheep  ;  fate  would  tread  its  path. 

Tarquinius  had  laid  siege  to  Ardea,  a  city  of  the  Rutulians 
built  on  a  steep  insulated  hill.  As  from  its  situation  it  could 
only  be  reduced  by  blockade,  the  Roman  army  lay  in  patient 
inactivity  at  its  foot.  The  king's  sons  diverted  their  leisure 
by  mutual  banquets,  at  one  of  which  given  by  Sextus,  they 
and  their  cousin  CoUatinus,  son  of  Egerius  of  Collatia,  fell 
into  a  dispute  respecting  the  virtues  of  their  wives.  CoUati- 
nus, who  warmly  maintained  the  superiority  of  his  Lucretia, 
proposed  that  they  should  mount  their  horses  and  go  and  take 
their  wives  by  surprise.  Warm  with  wine  the  youths  assent- 
ed ;  they  rode  to  Rome,  which  they  reached  at  nightfall,  and 
found  the  royal  ladies  revelling  at  a  banquet ;  they  thence 
sped  to  Collatia,  and,  though  it  was  late  in  the  night,  Lu- 
cretia sat  spinning  among  her  maidens.  The  prize  was 
yielded  at  once  to  her,  and  with  cheerfulness  and  modesty 
she  received  and  entertained  her  husband  and  his  cousins. 

Unhappy  Lucretia !  thy  simple  modesty  caused  thy  ruin. 
Sextus,  inflamed  by  the  sight  of  such  virtue  and  beauty  united, 
conceived  an  adulterous  passion,  and  a  few  days  afterwards 
he  came,  attended  by  a  single  slave,  to  Collatia.  Lucretia 
entertained  him  as  her  husband's  kinsman,  and  a  chamber  was 
assio-ned  him  for  the  night.  He  retired ;  and  when  all  was 
still  he  rose,  took  his  draw^n  sword,  and  sought  the  chamber  of 
his  hostess.  He  awoke  her,  told  his  love,  prayed,  besought, 
then  menaced  to  slay  her,  and  with  her  his  slave,  and  to  de- 
clare that  he  had  caught  and  slain  her  in  the  base  act  of  servile 
adultery.  The  dread  of  posthumous  disgrace  prevailed  where 
that  of  death  could  not,  and  she  yielded  to  his  wishes.  In  the 
morning,  Sextus,  elate  with  conquest,  returned  to  the  camp. 
Lucretia  rose  from  the  scene  of  her  disgrace,  and  sent  trusty 
messengers  to  Ardea  and  to  Rome  to  summon  her  husband 
and  her  father  Sp.  Lucretius.  The  latter  came,  and  with  him 
P.  Valerius;  CoUatinus  was  accompanied  by  L.  Junius  Brutus, 
whom  he  met  by  chance  on  the  way.  They  found  her  sitting 
mournful  in  her  chamber ;  she  told  the  direful  tale,  she  im- 

*  Attius  ap.  Cic.  de  Div.  i.  22.     We  feel  inclined  to  regard  this  as  a  fic- 
tion of  the  dramatic  poet. 


30  ABOLITION  OF  MONARCHY. 

plored  them  to  avenge  her,  she  declared  her  resolve  to  die. 
They  sought  to  console  her,  urging  that  she  was  stainless  in 
thouglit,  and  therefore  free  from  guilt ;  but  she  drew  a  con- 
cealed knife,  and,  ere  they  were  aware,  she  had  buried  it  in 
her  heart.  The  husband  and  father  gave  a  loud  cry  of  grief; 
but  Brutus,  bursting  forth  from  the  cloud  of  folly  which  had 
hitherto  enveloped  him,  drew  the  reeking  weapon  from  her 
heart  and  swore  on  it  eternal  enmity  to  Tarquinius  and  his 
race.  He  handed  the  knife  to  the  others,  and  all,  amazed  at 
the  change,  took  the  same  oath.  Grief  gave  place  to  rage ; 
the  body  of  Lucretia  was  brought  out  into  the  market ;  Bru- 
tus, pointing  to  her  wound,  excited  the  spectators  to  ven- 
geance ;  the  youth  ranged  themselves  at  his  side,  and  leaving 
a  sufficient  number  to  guard  the  town  he  hastened  at  their 
head  to  Rome.  By  virtue  of  his  office  as  Tribune  of  the 
Celeres,  he  called  an  assembly  of  the  people,  he  told  his  own 
story,  he  told  the  more  afflicting  tale  of  Lucretia's  fate,  he 
dwelt  on  the  crimes,  the  cruelty,  and  the  oppression  of  the 
tyrant.  The  multitude  took  fire,  they  declared  royalty  abo- 
lished, and  Tarquinius  and  his  family  exiles.  Leaving  Lu- 
cretius to  take  charge  of  the  city,  Brutus  then  hastened  with 
a  select  body  of  men  to  the  camp  at  Ardea.  Tarquinius 
meantime,  hearing  of  what  had  occurred,  was  on  his  way  to 
Rome ;  Brutus  avoided  meeting  him,  and  was  received  with 
acclamations  by  the  troops  ;  the  tyrant,  finding  the  gates  of 
Rome  closed  against  him,  retired  with  his  family  to  Caere  in 
Etruria.  Sextus  went  to  Gabii,  which  he  esteemed  his  own, 
but  he  was  there  slain  by  the  relations  of  those  whom  he  had 
caused  to  be  put  to  death. 

Thus,  after  a  duration  of  twenty-five  years,  ended  the  reign 
of  L.  Tarquinius,  the  last  king  of  Rome,  in  the  two  hundred 
and  forty-fourth  year  from  the  building  of  the  city.  The 
anniversary  of  it,  under  the  name  of  King's-flight  (^Regifu- 
giuni),  was  till  remote  times  celebrated  on  the  24th  of  Fe- 
bruary in  each  year. 

A  truce  was  made  with  Ardea,  and  the  army  led  back  to 
Rome.  An  assembly  was  then  held,  the  city  was  purified  by 
sacrifices,  and  the  people  all  swore  upon  the  victims  never  to 
re-admit  the  Tarquinii  or  to  endure  a  king  in  Rome.  Two 
annual  magistrates  under  the  name  of  Consuls  were  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  state,  and  the  just  laws  of  Servius  were  re- 
stored. Brutus  and  CoUatinus  were  appointed  to  be  the  first 
consuls. 


CONDEMNATION  OF  THE  SONS  OF  BRUTUS.  3! 

Tarquinius  meantime  had  not  resigned  all  hopes  of  reco- 
vering his  power.  The  exiles  of  his  party  were  numerous, 
many  in  the  city  were  in  his  favour,  and  if  he  could  obtain 
the  aid  of  some  powerful  state  he  yet  might  enter  Rome  a 
conqueror.  He  therefore  applied  to  the  Tarquinians,  as  his 
family  iiad  originally  come  from  their  city.  They  received 
him  favourably,  and  ambassadors  were  sent  to  Rome  to  de- 
mand his  restoration,  or  at  least  the  property  there  belong- 
ing to  himself  and  his  friends.  The  senate  would  not  listen 
to  the  former  proposal,  but  they  agreed  to  give  up  the  move- 
able property.  The  ambassadors  tarried  at  Rome  under  the 
pretext  of  collecting  the  property  and  getting  vehicles  for  its 
conveyance,  but  in  reality  to  organise  a  plot  in  favour  of  the 
tyrant.  They  had  brought  letters  to  that  effect  from  the 
exiles  to  their  friends  and  relatives ;  and  a  great  number  of 
the  young  nobility,  who  could  ill  bear  the  authority  of  law 
and  the  power  given  to  the  people,  and  who  regretted  the 
licence  of  the  days  of  the  tyrant,  readily  entered  into  a  con- 
spiracy to  restore  him.  Among  these  were  the  two  Aquilii, 
the  nephews  of  Collatinus,  and  the  Vitellii,  the  nephews  of 
Brutus,  whose  own  two  sons,  Titus  and  Tiberius,  were  in- 
duced to  engage  in  the  foul  conspiracy  to  undo  the  glorious 
work,  of  their  father. 

The  ambassadors  required  from  them  letters  to  the  tyrant 
sealed  with  their  signets.  They  met  for  this  purpose  at  the 
house  of  the  Aquilii  under  pretext  of  a  sacrifice.  After  the 
solemn  banquet  they  ordered  the  slaves  to  retire,  and  then 
with  closed  doors  composed  and  wrote  the  letters.  But  one 
of  the  slaves,  named  Vindicius,  suspecting  what  they  were 
about,  remained  outside  and  through  a  slit  in  the  door  beheld 
all  their  proceedings.  He  sped  away  and  gave  information, 
and  all  the  conspirators  were  seized  in  the  fact. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  consuls  took  their  seats  of  justice 
in  public;  the  conspirators  were  led  before  them;  Brutus,  in 
right  of  his  paternal  authority,  condemned  his  sons  to  death; 
the  lictors  stripped  and  scourged  them  according  to  usage, 
the  consul's  features  remained  unmoved,  and  he  calmly  saw 
the  axe  descend  and  deprive  his  offspring  of  life.  No  mercy 
could  be  expected  for  the  others;  all  I)led  in  turn.  Liberty, 
a  gift  from  the  treasury,  and  citizenship  were  the  reward  of 
the  loyal  slave.  The  rights  of  nations  were  respected  in  the 
ambassadors,  but  the  property  of  the  tyrant  was  given  up  to 
pillage  to  the  people.     A  large  field  which  he  possessed  out- 


32  DEATH  OF  BRUTUS. 

side  of  the  city,  by  the  Tiber,  was  consecrated  to  the  god 
Mars.  There  was  on  it  at  this  time  a  ripe  crop  of  spelt ;  and 
religion  forbidding  it  to  be  used  for  food,  it  was  cut  and  cast 
into  the  Tiber.  As  the  river  was  then  low  the  corn  stopped 
on  the  shallows,  and  from  the  addition  of  other  floating  mat- 
ter it  gradually  formed  an  island  before  the  city. 

The  jealousy  of  the  people  now  extended  to  the  whole  Tar- 
quinian  house,  and  even  Collatinus  had  to  yield  to  the  re- 
monstrances of  his  colleague  and  quit  Rome.  He  retired 
with  all  his  property  to  Lavinium,  where  he  ended  his  days. 
Valerius  was  chosen  consul  in  his  stead,  and  a  decree  was 
passed  declaring  the  whole  Tarquinian  house  exiles. 

Tarquinius,  convinced  that  his  return  could  only  be  effected 
by  force,  addressed  himself  to  the  Veientines,  whom  by  large 
promises  he  induced  to  arm  in  his  cause.  Their  troops, 
united  with  those  of  the  Tarquinians  and  the  Roman  exiles, 
entered  the  Roman  territory  on  the  Tuscan  side  of  the  Tiber; 
the  Romans  advanced  to  meet  them,  Valerius  commanding 
the  foot,  Brutus  the  horse.  The  enemy's  horse  was  led  by 
Tarquinius's  son  Aruns,  who  recognising  the  consul  spurred 
his  horse  against  him.  Brutus  did  not  decline  the  combat, 
rage  stimulated  both,  they  thought  not  of  defence,  the  spear 
of  each  pierced  his  rival's  shield  and  body,  and  both  fell  dead 
to  the  earth.  A  general  engagement,  first  of  the  horse  then 
of  the  foot,  ensued ;  the  Veientines,  used  to  defeat,  turned 
and  fled ;  the  Tarquinians  routed  those  opposed  to  them. 
Night  ended  the  conflict;  neither  side  owned  itself  van- 
quished ;  but  at  the  dead  hour  of  night  the  voice  of  the  wood- 
god  Silvanus  was  heard  to  cry  from  the  adjacent  forest  of 
Arsia  that  the  Tuscans  were  beaten,  as  one  more  had  fallen 
on  their  side.  At  dawn  no  enemy  was  to  be  seen,  the  Ro- 
mans counted  the  slain  and  found  11,300  Tuscans,  11,299 
Romans  on  the  field.  Valerius  collected  the  spoil,  and  re- 
turned in  triumph  to  Rome.  Next  day  the  obsequies  of 
Brutus  were  performed ;  the  matrons  of  Rome  mourned  a 
year,  as  for  a  parent,  for  the  avenger  of  violated  chastity. 
In  after-times  his  statue  of  bronze,  bearing  a  drawn  sword, 
stood  on  the  Capitol  in  the  midst  of  those  of  the  seven  kings*. 
Valerius  delayed  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Brutus;  he 
was  moreover  building  for  himself  a  house  of  stone  on  the 

*  Plutarch,  Brutus  1.     See  also  Dion  Cassius,  xliii.  45.     Ovid,  Fasti,  vi, 
624. 


WAR  WITH  PORSENNA.  33 

summit  of  the  Velia*  above  the  P'orum,  and  a  suspicion  arose 
that  he  was  aiming  at  the  kingly  power.  When  he  heard  of 
this  he  stopped  the  building  ;  the  people  then  gave  him  a 
piece  of  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  build  on,  and  the 
privilege  of  having  his  doors  to  open  back  into  the  street. 
The  honour  of  precedence  at  the  public  games  was  accorded 
to  him  and  his  posterity,  as  also  was  that  of  burying  their 
dead  within  the  walls.  These  honours  were  the  reward  of 
the  public  spirit  of  Valerius.  His  object  in  delaying  the 
election  had  been  that  he  should  not  be  impeded  by  a  col- 
league in  the  good  measures  he  proposed.  He  convoked 
the  curiesf*  before  whom  he  lowered  his  fasces  in  acknow- 
ledgment that  the  consular  power  proceeded  from  them  J, 
and  proposed  a  law  outlawing  any  person  who  should  usurp 
the  regal  power.  He  assembled  the  centuries  §,  and  caused 
the  right  of  appeal  from  the  consuls  |1,  which  the  patricians 
had  to  their  peers  in  the  curies,  to  be  extended  to  the  ple- 
beians in  their  tribes,  and  as  an  evidence  of  this  right  directed 
that  no  axes  should  be  borne  in  the  fasces  within  the  city. 
He  then  held  the  consular  election  ;  Sp.  Lucretius  Avas  chosen, 
but  he  dying  shortly  after,  M.  Horatius  Pulvillus  was  elected. 
As  the  temple  of  Jupiter  was  now  finished,  the  lot  was  to  de- 
cide which  consul  should  dedicate  it ;  and  fortune  favoured 
Horatius.  Valerius  then  went  to  war  against  the  Veientines, 
but  his  kinsmen,  vexed  that  such  an  honour  should  fall  to 
Horatius,  sought  to  impede  the  ceremony.  He  had  laid 
hold  of  the  door-post,  according  to  usage,  and  was  pro- 
nouncing the  prayer,  when  one  came  crying,  "  Thy  son  is 
dead,  thou  canst  not  dedicate  it;"  one  word  of  lamentation 
had  broken  the  ceremony ;  "  Let  the  corpse  be  brought 
forth,"  replied  he  calmly,  and  concluded  the  prayer  and  the 
dedication. 

The  banished  tyrant  now  api)lied  to  Lars  Porsenna,  lord  of 

*  The  Velia  was  the  ridge  running  from  the  Palatine  to  the  Esquiline, 
ahove  the  Forum.      The  arch  of  Titus  marks  its  summit. 

f  "  Vocato  ad  concilium  fopulo"  Liv.  ii.  7.  For  the  meaning  oi  popii- 
lus  see  below,  Ch.  V. 

J  Hence  he  was  named  Poplicola,  i.  e.  Publicus.  "  The  right  under- 
standing of  the  word  populus  dissipates  the  fancy  that  Poplicola  was  the 
designation  of  a  demagogue  like  Pericles,  who  courted  the  favour  of  the 
multitude."      Niebuhr,  i.  p.  521. 

§  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  31. 

II  The  right  of  appeal  for  both  only  extended  to  a  mile  from  the  city ; 
the  unlimited  imperium  began  there. 

c5 


S4f  TREATY  WITH  PORSENNA. 

Clusluni,  the  most  powerful  prince  of  Etruria.  The  Tuscan, 
fired  at  the  idea  of  extending  his  sway  beyond  the  Tiber, 
set  his  troops  in  motion.  He  suddenly  appeared  at  the  Jani- 
culan ;  those  who  guarded  it  fled  over  the  Sublician  bridge 
into  the  city ;  the  Tuscans  pursued,  and  reached  the  bridge ; 
but  Horatius  Codes,  who  had  the  charge  of  guarding  it,  and 
two  other  heroes,  Sp.  Lartius  and  T.  Herminius,  there  met 
and  withstood  them.  At  the  command  of  Horatius  those  be- 
hind broke  down  the  bridge,  he  forced  his  two  brave  mates 
to  retire,  the  Tuscans  raised  a  shout  and  sent  a  shower  of 
darts,  which  he  received  on  his  shield ;  they  rushed  on  to 
force  the  passage,  a  loud  crash  and  a  shout  behind  told  that 
the  bridge  was  broken  ;  Horatius,  calling  on  Father  Tiber  to 
receive  his  soldier,  plunged  into  the  stream,  armed  as  he  was  ; 
in  vain  the  Tuscans  showered  their  darts,  he  reached  the 
further  side  in  safety.  Tlie  citizens,  though  suffering  at  the 
time  from  famine,  gave  him  each  a  portion  of  his  corn,  and 
the  republic  afterwards  bestowed  on  him  as  much  land  as  he 
could  plough  round  in  a  day,  and  erected  his  statue  in  the 
Comitiura. 

Porsenna  encamped  along  the  Tiber;  the  famine  pressed 
heavily  at  Rome:  then  a  noble  youth  named  C.  Mucins  con- 
ceived the  thought  of  delivering  his  country.  He  went  to 
the  senate,  and  craved  permission  to  pass  over  to  the  Tuscan 
camp.  Leave  was  granted ;  he  concealed  a  dagger  beneath 
his  garments  and  crossed  the  Tiber.  He  entered  a  crowd 
collected  around  the  king,  who  was  issuing  pay  to  his  troops; 
at  the  side  of  Porsenna,  habited  nearly  as  the  king,  sat  his 
secretary  busily  engaged.  Mucins,  fearing  to  inquire  which 
was  Porsenna,  struck  his  weapon  into  the  secretary,  whom  he 
took  for  the  king.  He  turned,  and  tried  to  force  his  way 
through  the  throng,  but  he  was  seized  and  dragged  before 
Porsenna's  judgement-seat.  He  told  his  name  and  country 
boldly,  adding,  that  many  noble  youths  were  prepared  to  act 
as  he  had  done.  Porsenna,  terrified,  threatened  to  burn  him 
alive  if  he  did  not  make  an  ample  confession.  There  was  a 
fire  on  an  altar  close  by;  Mucius  thrust  his  right  hand  into 
it,  and  held  it  there  with  an  unmoved  countenance.  The 
king  in  amaze  leaped  from  his  seat,  had  him  removed  from 
the  altar,  and  gave  him  his  life  and  liberty.  Mucius  then 
told  him  that  he  was  one  of  three  hundred  youths  who  had 
sworn  his  death ;  the  lot  had  first  fallen  on  him,  but  each 
would  take  his  turn.     He  returned  to  Rome,  and  he  was 


BATTLE  OF  REGILLUS.  35 

afterwards  rewarded  by  a  grant  of  land,  similar  to  that  of 
Horatius  Codes.  He  and  his  posterity  bore  the  name  of 
Scaevola  {Lejt-hcmded),  to  commemorate  his  daring  deed. 

Ambassadors  from  Porsenna  came  soon  after  to  propose  a 
peace.  The  interests  of  Tarquinius  were  neglected  by  his 
ally,  who  only  required  that  the  Romans  should  give  the  Vei- 
entines  back,  their  lauds.  These  terras  were  accepted,  and  ten 
patrician  youths,  and  as  many  maidens,  were  sent  as  hostages 
into  the  Tuscan  camp.  But  Cloelia,  one  of  the  maidens,  urged 
her  companions  to  attempt  escape  ;  and  she  and  they  eluding 
their  guards,  plunged  into  the  Tiber  and  swam  across.  Por- 
senna sent  to  demand  their  restoration  ;  the  senate  sent  them 
back,  and  the  admiring  monarch  gave  CIcelia  leave  to  select 
such  of  the  hostages  of  the  other  sex  as  she  wished,  and  pre- 
sented her  with  a  horse  and  trappings  ;  and  the  Romans  after- 
wards raised  an  equestrian  statue  in  her  honour.  When  Por- 
senna was  departing,  he  presented  the  Romans  with  his  well- 
stored  camp  on  the  Janiculan.  The  senate  in  return  sent 
him  an  ivory  throne,  a  sceptre  and  crown  of  gold,  and  a  tri- 
umphal robe,  such  as  their  kings  were  wont  to  wear. 

Some  time  after  Porsenna  sent  his  son  Aruns  with  an  army 
against  Aricia,  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  Latium.  The  Ari- 
cines  were  aided  by  the  other  Latins  and  by  the  Greeks  of 
Cumee  in  Campania  ;  and  the  Tuscans  were  defeated  and  their 
general  slain.  The  fugitives  met  with  such  kind  treatment  at 
Rome,  that  many  of  them  remained  there,  and  built  the  Tus- 
can Street  (  Vicus  Tuscus)  :  and  Porsenna,  not  to  be  outdone 
in  generosity,  gave  back  the  hostages  and  the  lands  beyond 
the  Tiber.  , 

Tarquinius  had  finally  taken  refuge  with  his  son-in-law  at 
Tusculum,  and  he  at  length  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Latin 
federation  to  arm  in  his  cause.  As  the  two  nations  had  long 
been  closely  connected,  a  year's  truce  was  agreed  on  to  ar- 
range all  private  affairs ;  and  permission  was  given  to  the 
women  of  each  people,  who  had  married  into  the  other,  to 
return  to  their  friends.  All  the  Roman  women  came  to  Rome, 
and  but  two  of  the  Latins  departed  from  it. 

The  shores  of  the  lake  Regdlus  in  the  lands  of  Tusculum 
witnessed  the  last  effort  in  the  cause  of  the  Tarquinii.  The 
Romans  were  commanded  by  the  dictator,  A.  Postumius,  and 
tlie  master  of  the  horse*,  T,  iEbutius  Helva;  the  Latins  were 
led  by  Octavius  Mamilius.  King  Tarquinius,  regardless  of 
*  These  offices  will  be  explained  in  the  sequel. 


36  THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME. 

his  advanced  age,  headed  the  Roman  exiles ;  and  as  soon  as 
he  beheld  the  dictator,  he  spurred  his  horse  against  him,  but 
a  wound  in  the  side  from  the  spear  of  Postumius  forced  him  to 
retire.  On  the  other  wing  ^butius  ran  against  Mamilius ; 
the  former  had  an  ai'm  broken ;  the  Latin  was  sti'uck  in  the 
breast,  but  uninjured  by  the  blow,  he  brought  up  the  corps  of 
exiles,  and  the  Romans  began  to  give  way.  M.  Valerius,  the 
brother  of  Poplicola,  ran  at  the  younger  Tarquinius;  the  prince 
drew  back,  Valerius  rushed  among  the  exiles,  and  fell  pierced 
by  a  spear ;  the  two  sons  of  Poplicola  perished  in  the  attempt 
to  recover  his  body.  The  dictator  now  falls  on  the  exiles, 
and  routs  them  ;  Mamilius  brings  troops  to  their  aid  ;  he  is 
met  and  slain  by  T.  Herminius,  who  himself  receives  a  mor- 
tal wound  as  he  is  stripping  the  body  of  the  slain.  The  dic- 
tator flies  to  the  horse  and  implores  them  to  dismount  and  re- 
store the  battle ;  they  obey ;  fired  by  their  example,  the  foot 
charge  once  more  ;  the  Latins  turn  and  fly;  the  Roman  horse 
remount  and  pursue,  and  the  Latin  camp  is  taken.  During 
the  battle  the  dictator  vowed  a  temple  to  Castor  and  Pollux. 
Two  youths  of  great  size  were  seen  mounted  on  white  horses 
in  the  van  of  the  fight,  and  ere  the  pursuit  was  over,  they  ap- 
peared at  Rome,  covered  with  blood  and  dirt,  washed  them- 
selves and  their  arms  at  the  fount  of  Juturna,  by  the  temple 
of  Vesta,  and  having  announced  the  victory,  disappeared. 
After-ages  beheld  on  a  basaltic  rock,  by  the  lake  Regillus, 
the  print  of  a  horse's  hoof*. 

Tarquinius  fled  to  Curaae,  whose  tyrant  Aristodemus  gave 
him  a  friendly  reception.  He  died  in  that  town,  and  with 
him  expired  all  hopes  of  re-establishing  royalty  at  Rome. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Regal  Period  of  Rome,  according  to  the  views  of  Niebuhr. 

Such  are  the  earlier  events  of  the  history  of  Rome,  as  they 
were  sung  in  the  poetic  Annals  of  Ennius,  and  related  by  Fa- 
bius  Pictor,  the  father  of  Roman  history.  That  they  are 
mythic  and  semimythic  must  be  at  once  discerned  by  every 
one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  character  of  early  home- 
sprung  history  ;  but  we  are  not  thereby  entitled  to  view  them 
*  Cicero  de  Nat.  Deor.  iii,  5.     Val.  Max.  i.  8,  1. 


THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME.  37 

with  contempt,  and  fling  them  away  as  useless.  They  have 
been  closely  interwoven  into  the  institutions  and  literature  of 
the  state,  and  therefore  must  be  icnown,  and  it  is  only  by 
means  of  them  that  the  real  history  can  be  divined;  nor 
should  the  delight  which  they  afford  the  imagination,  and 
the  exercise  which  they  furnish  for  the  powers  of  the  mind  in 
general,  be  overlooked.  We  therefore  make  no  apology  for 
having  lingered  among  them. 

Nearly  a  century  ago  this  character  of  the  early  Roman 
history  was  discerned  by  Beaufort,  who  however  carried  his 
scepticism  somewhat  too  far.  The  fullest  and  most  satisfac- 
tory examination  of  it  was  reserved  for  our  own  days;  and  the 
learning,  the  labours,  and  the  sagacity  of  Niebuhr  have  altered 
the  whole  face  of  the  early  Roman  story.  We  will  now  briefly 
give  his  views  of  the  portion  of  the  history  above  narrated*. 

The  war  of  Troy  is  so  completely  mythic,  that  we  cannot 
with  safety  regard  any  portion  of  it  as  strictly  historical.  The 
voyage  of  i^ineas  to  Latium  is  therefore  entitled  to  little  more 
credit  than  the  tale  of  his  divine  birth  ;  yet,  in  the  opinion  of 
Niebuhr,  it  is  no  Grecian  invention,  but  a  domestic  Roman 
tradition.  It  is,  he  thinks,  indebted  for  its  origin  to  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  original  population  of  both  Troy  and  La- 
tium being  Pelasgian.  As  the  religion  of  the  whole  of  this 
race  was  the  same,  and  the  sacred  isle  of  Samothrace  a  place 
of  common  pilgrimage,  those  who  met  there,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  Lavinians  of  Latium  and  the  Gergethians  of 
Mount  Ida,  may  have  easily  accounted  for  their  similarity  of 
faith  and  institutions,  by  supposing  the  more  distant  peoples 
to  be  colonies  from  Asia ;  and  the  destruction  of  Troy  and 
dispersion  of  its  inhabitants  offered  a  ready  derivation  of  the 
colonies.  It  was,  then,  no  difficult  matter  to  make  an  igno- 
rant people  like  the  early  Romans  believe  in  an  origin  thus 
calculated  to  do  them  honour. 

The  succession  of  Alban  kingsf  from  lulus  to  Numitor  is  a 
pure  fiction,  intended  to  fill  up  the  space  which  the  Greek 
chronology  gave  between  the  fall  of  Troy  and  the  building  of 
Rome.     Alba  stood  at  the  head  of  thirty  towns  {Pojmli  Al- 

*  In  the  text  of  this  and  the  next  chapter  we  confine  ourselves  to  Nie~ 
buhr's  views.  Our  own  remarks  and  those  of  others  will  be  placed  in  the 
notes. 

t  The  names  of  these  kings  in  Livy  arc,  Silvius,  jILneas,  Latinus,  Alba, 
Atys,  Capys,  Capetus,  Tiberinus,  Agrippa,  Romulus,  Aventinus,  Procas, 
Numitor,  and  Amiilius.  The  lists  in  Dionysius  and  Ovid  (Met.  xiv,  609. 
Fasti,  iv.  41.)  differ  slightly  from  I  his. 


38  THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME. 

benses),  and  was  in  union  with  the  confederation  of  the  thirty- 
Latin  towns.  She  had  the  supremacy,  and  all  shared  in  the 
flesh  of  a  victim,  annually  slain  on  the  Alban  mount.  Lavi- 
nium  was  founded  by  settlers  sent  from  the  thirty  Alban  and 
thirty  Latin  towns  (ten  from  each),  and,  like  the  Panionion, 
it  was  so  named  as  being  the  seat  of  congress  of  the  Latins, 
who  were  also  called  Lavines*. 

The  Siculans,  Tyrrhenians,  Aborigines,  or  however  the 
early  Pelasgian  inhabitants  of  Latium  may  have  been  named, 
dwelt  in  villages  on  eminences  which  might  be  easily  de- 
fended. Thus  beyond  the  Tiber  there  was  Vaticum,  or  Va- 
ticafj  and  another,  whose  name  is  unknown,  stood  on  the 
summit  of  the  Janiculan.  On  the  Palatine  was  a  town  named 
Roma,  and  on  the  Ctelian  another,  which  we  have  reason  to 
think  was  named  Lucer  or  Lucerum;  and  further  down  the 
river  j:  probably  another  called  Remuria,  while  on  the  Quiri- 
nal  and  Tarpeian  above  Roma,  being  separated  by  a  swamp 
and  marsh  from  the  Palatine,  was  another  town  named  Qui- 
rium.  This  last  belonged  to  the  Sabines,  who  had  extended 
themselves  thus  far  along  the  Tiber.  Roma  was  probably  one 
of  the  towns  that  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  Alba,  and 
warfare  of  course  was  frequent  between  it  and  Quirium,  and 
the  former  would  appear  to  have  at  length  become  subject 
to  the  latter.  The  tale  of  the  rape  of  the  Sabine  maidens  §, 
and  the  consequent  war,  may  represent  how  at  one  time  there 
had  been  no  right  of  intermarriage  {conmibmm')  between  the 
two  towns,  and  how  the  subject  one,  by  force  of  arms,  raised 
itself  to  an  equality  in  civil  rights,  and  even  acquired  the  pre- 
ponderance. When  the  two  were  united,  they  built  the  dou- 
ble Janus  on  the  road  leading  from  the  Quirinal  to  the  Pala- 
tine, with  a  door  facing  each.  It  was  open  in  time  of  war  for 
mutual  succour,  shut  in  time  of  peace  to  prevent  quarrels,  or 
in  proof  of  the  towns  being  distinct  though  united. 

For  some  time  each  tovi^n  had  its  own  king,  senate,  and  po- 
pular assembly,  and  they  used  to  meet  on  occasions  of  com- 
mon interest  on  the  Comitium^,  in  the  valley  between  the 

*  Turnus,  Latinus  and  Lavinia  are  nothing  but  personifications  of  Tyr« 
rhenians,  Latins  and  Lavines. 

f  For  there  was  an  ager  Faticanus,  and  as  numerous  examples  show, 
this  infers  a  town. 

J  Not  on  the  Aventine,  for  then  Roma  could  have  had  no  territory. 

§  In  the  more  ancient  form  of  the  legend  there  are  but  thirty  maidens, 
who  are,  therefore,  nothing  but  personifications  of  the  names  of  the  Curies. 

II  From  comire,  to  come  together. 


THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME.  39 

Tarpeian  and  Palatine  hills.  At  length,  as  the  two  peoples 
coalesced  more  and  more,  and  the  danger  from  Etruria  or 
Alba  became  more  pi-essing,  they  agreed  to  have  but  one 
senate,  one  assembly,  and  one  king,  to  be  chosen  alternately 
by  one  people  out  of  the  other.  On  all  solemn  occasions  the 
two  combined  peoples  were  now  styled  Popidus  Romanus  et 
Quiriies  *. 

In  early  antiquity  almost  every  state  was  divided  into  tribes, 
resulting  from  conquest  or  from  difference  of  origin.     We 
might  therefore  expect  to  find  this  the  case  in  the  present  in- 
stance ;  and  accordingly  we  learn  that  the  Romans  formed  a 
tribe  named  Ramnes,  and  the  Sabines  one  named  Titienses. 
But  we  meet  a  third,  the  Luceres,  whose  origin  it  is  much 
more  difficult  to  ascertain.     Another  form  of  the  name  how- 
ever, Lucertes,  leads  to  the  supposition  of  their  being  the  in- 
habitants of  a  town  named  Lucer  or  Lucerum  which  is  to  be 
sought  on  the  Cselian,  (which  belonged  to  Roma  in  the  time  of 
Romulus,  that  is,  before  its  union  with  Quiriumf,)  for  it  was 
there  that  TuUus  Hostilius  placed  the  Albans,  and  a  branch 
of  the  Roman  people  is  assigned  to  Tullus,  as  the  Ramnes  and 
Titienses  are  to  Romulus  and  Niima,  and  the  Plebs  to  Ancus, 
and  none  remains  for  him  but  the  Luceres.     These  were  of 
Latin  origin,  and  were  subject  to  the  Romans,  for  Tullus' 
father  was  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  the  Latin  town  of  Me- 
dullia,  which  infers  a  conquest  of  that  town  and  a  removal  of 
its  inhabitants.    They  long  continued  inferior  to  the  other  two, 
and  were  not  admitted  to  the  deliberations  on  the  Comitium. 
The  whole  legend  of  Romulus  and  Remus  is  purely  mythic. 
When  Rome  became  a  state  of  some  importance,  its  people 
naturally  looked  back  and  sought  to  trace  its  origin.     It  is 
probable  that  at  this  time  they  had  some  knowledge  of  Gre- 
cian literature ;  and  as  the  Greeks  had  adopted  the  practice 
of  deriving  the  names  in  their  topography  from  those  of  sup- 
posed kings  and  princes,  the  Romans  inferred  that  their  city 
must  have  been  founded  by  a  Romus  or  Romulus  J.     If,  as  is 

*  Or,  after  the  old  Roman  manner,  Populus  Romanus  Quirites,  which 
was  afterwards  corrupted  to  Popidus  Romanus  Quiritium  :  see  above,  p.  4. 
The  fixedness  of  the  Roman  character  showed  itself  even  in  the  retention 
of  old  names  and  forms  ;  a  name  was  never  let  go  out  of  use  so  long  as  an 
object  to  apply  it  to  could  be  found.  Thus,  when  the  distinction  between 
the  two  original  component  parts  of  the  Roman  people  had  ceased,  the 
term  Quirites  was  retained,  and  applied  to  the  Plebs  ! 

•{•  Dionys.  ii.  50. 

X  One  acquainted  with  Grecian  mythology  will  not  be  easily  led  to 


40  THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME. 

above  hinted,  there  was  a  town  named  Remuria  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, whose  people  were  of  the  same  race  as  themselves, 
and  had  been  sometimes  at  peace,  sometimes  at  war  with  them, 
and  had  finally  been  overcome,  they  might  have  inferred  that 
Remus,  its  founder,  had  been  the  twin  brother  of  Romulus, 
and  was  slain  by  him  in  a  fit  of  anger.  The  notion  of  their 
city  having  been  founded  by  twins  would  gather  strength  from 
the  circumstance  of  their  state  having  all  along  developed 
itself  in  a  double  form.  That  the  legend  grew  up  on  the  spot 
is  proved  by  the  wolf's  den,  the  Ruminal  fig-tree,  and  the 
other  local  circumstances.  Gradually,  as  is  always  the  case, 
the  story  received  various  additions,  and  the  legends  of  other 
countries  were  perhaps  transferred  to  it,  and  it  thus  assumed 
the  form  in  which  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us*. 

Numa,  like  Romulus,  is  an  ideal  personage,  the  symbol  of 
the  early  religious  institutions  of  the  state.  As  these  were 
chiefly  Sabine,  he  was  made  to  be  of  that  nation,  but  in  the 
original  legend  he  must  have  been  a  native  of  Quirium,  and 
not  of  the  distant  Cures. 

The  purely  mythic  portion  of  Roman  story  terminates  with 
Numa.  The  dawn  of  reality  begins  to  glimmer  with  the  reign 
of  Tullus  Hostilius.  That  Alba  was  destroyed,  and  that  a 
portion  of  its  population  migrated  to  Rome,  are  historic  facts; 
but  the  probability  is,  that  the  Romans  and  Latins  in  conjunc- 
tion took  Alba  and  divided  its  territory  and  people;  for  it  was 
the  Italian  law  of  nations  that  the  lands  of  the  vanquished  be- 
came the  property  of  the  conqueror,  and  we  find  the  territory 
about  Alba  belonging  to  the  Latins,  not  to  the  Romans.    Or 

believe  that,  in  remote  antiquity,  countries  and  towns  were  named  from 
persons.  Tlie  logograpliers  gave  vogue  to  this  notion,  of  whicli  no  trace 
appears  in  Homer  or  Hesiod  :  the  first  town  of  which  we  read  in  Grecian 
history  really  named  after  a  man  was  Philippi,  after  Philip  of  I\Iacedonia. 
See  Mythology  of  Greece  and  Italy,  p.  411,2nd  edit.  The  practice  would 
seem  to  have  been  different  in  the  East.  See  Gen.  iv.  17.  I  Kings,  xvi.  24. 
*  The  tale  of  the  exposure  of  the  twins,  and  their  preservation,  reminds 
ns  at  once  of  the  legend  of  Cyrus,  and  of  thcise  of  Asclepios,  Paris  and 
others  in  Grecian  mythology.  It  more  closely  resembles  tlie  Iberian 
legend  of  Habis  (Justin,  xliv.  4.),  which  last  is  extremely  similar  to  that 
of  Orson  in  the  Romance.  It  is  remarkable  that  many  names  in  the  early 
Roman  legends  seem  to  be  of  Greek  origin.  Thus  we  have  Evander 
(Good-man),  Cacus  (Bad),  Amulius  {Ctinning,  a'l^vXos),  Numitor  and 
Numa  (Lawful,  vo/ios).  It  does  not,  however,  hence  follow  that  the  legen- 
dary history  of  Rome  was  the  invention  of  the  Greeks ;  the  Romans  them- 
selves may  have  had  a  fondness,  even  in  the  early  ages,  for  using  Greek 
names. 


THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME.  41 

Alba  may  have  been  destroyed  by  the  Latins  alone,  and  its 
people  have  sought  refuge  at  Rome. 

The  reign  of  Ancus  offers  none  of  the  features  of  poetry; 
the  events  which  it  contains  are  all  historical,  though  they 
may  not  all  belong  to  that  time. 

With  Tarquinius  Priscus  the  poetic  history  re-appears. 
The  Corinthian,  and  even  the  Etruscan  origin  of  this  prince, 
is  apparently  mere  fiction;  while  his  surname  of  Priscus,  Caia 
Caecilia  the  name  of  his  wife  in  an  old  legend,  and  the  fact  of 
there  being  a  Tarquinian  liouse  at  Rome,  testify  strongly  for 
his  Alban,  that  is,  Latin  origin.  For,  as  has  been  shown 
above*,  the  Priscans  were  a  people  united  with  the  Latins, 
like  the  Quirites  with  the  Romans  ;  and  as  the  names  Aurun- 
cus,  Siculus,  and  others,  affixed  to  those  of  persons  in  the 
early  ages  of  Rome,  denote  from  what  people  they  sprang, 
that  of  Priscus  could  only  have  been  attached  to  a  person  of 
Priscan  origin  \.  Moreover,  as  the  Servilii,  with  whom  Pris- 
cus was  a  surname,  were  one  of  the  Alban  houses  on  the  Cee- 
lian,  and  therefore  belonged  to  the  Luceres,  it  seems  to  follow 
that  the  Tarquinii  also  belonged  to  this  tribe,  and  of  this 
sufficient  proofs  appear.  Caia  Csecilia's  name  for  instance 
refers  us  to  Praeneste,  said  to  have  been  built  by  Caeculus 
the  Eponymus,  or  heroic  founder  of  her  house.  If,  more- 
over, Tarquinius  was  of  Alban  extraction,  the  worship  of  the 
Grecian  gods  at  the  Roman  games,  said  to  have  been  intro- 
duced by  him,  and  so  inexplicable  on  the  theory  of  his  being 
an  Etruscan,  becomes  easy  of  solution ;  for  the  Albans, 
though  mixed  with  Priscans,  were  mainly  Tyrrhenians,  and 
the  religion  of  Rome  had  been  hitherto  chiefly  Sabine. 

The  poetic  legend  of  Servius  Tullius  is  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  following  passage  in  a  speech  of  the  emperor  Clau- 
dius, who  was  well  acquainted  with  Etruscan  literature +. 
"  According  to  our  annals,"  says  he,  "  Servius  Tullius  was  the 
son  of  the  captive  Ocrisia  ;  if  we  follow  the  Tuscans,  he  was 
the  faithful  follower  of  Caeles  Vivenna,  and  shared  in  all  his 
fortunes.  At  last,  being  overpowered  through  a  variety  of 
disasters,  he  quitted  Etruria  with  the  remains  of  the  army  that 

*  See  p.  4. 

-j-  To  us  it  appears  more  probable  that  Priscus  and  Superhus  were  first 
used  in  after-times,  and  after  the  former  had  gotten  tlie  signification  of 
old  (if  indeed  it  ever  had  any  other),  to  distinguish  the  Tarquinii.  If 
Priscus  was  a  cognomen,  it  would  probably  have  adhered  to  the  family. 

+  It  was  on  two  brazen  tables,  found  at  Lyons  in  the  16th  century. 


4*2  THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME. 

had  served  under  Cseles,  went  to  Rome,  and  occupied  the 
Caelian  hill,  calling  it  so  after  his  former  commander.  He 
exchanged  his  Tuscan  name  Mastaraa  for  a  Roman  one,  ob- 
tained the  kingi)^  power,  and  wielded  it  to  the  great  good  of 
the  state."  Still  the  truth  of  this  statement  is  not  to  be  at 
once  acquiesced  in.  Claudius  was  a  man  of  no  judgement; 
Etruscan  annals  continued  to  be  written  down  at  least  to  the 
time  of  Sulla,  Avhen  Etruria  lost  her  independence ;  each 
annalist,  without  having  any  new  sources  of  knowledge,  ex- 
panded and  enlarged  the  accounts  of  his  predecessors ;  there 
may  have  been  an  old  tale  of  a  chief  named  Mastarna  re- 
tiring to  and  settling  at  Rome,  and  some  annalist  may  have 
chosen  to  assert  that  he  was  Servius  TuUius.  It  moreover 
does  not  follow  that  this  account  gained  general  credence 
even  in  Etruria.  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  among  the  Lu- 
ceres  there  was  a  house  of  the  Tullii,  which  would  seem  to 
make  Servius,  like  Tarquinius,  one  of  them. 

"  The  legends  of  Tarquinius  and  Servius,  however,"  says 
Niebuhr,  "  clearly  imply  that  there  was  a  time  when  Rome 
received  Tuscan  institutions  from  a  prince  of  Etruria,  and 
was  the  great  and  splendid  capital  of  a  powerful  Etruscan 
state."  Perhaps  Veii,  or  one  of  the  adjoining  Tuscan  states, 
conquered  Rome ;  perhaps  Cseles  or  Mastarna,  or  some  other 
Tuscan  leader,  got  the  government  into  his  hands ;  possibly 
it  may  have  been  the  transient  dominion  of  Porsenna,  pre- 
sently to  be  noticed*. 

The  tragic  fate  of  Servius  and  the  crimes  of  Tullia  are, 
perhaps,  purely  imaginary  events ;  this  much,  however,  is 
certain,  that  the  noble  system  of  legislation  which  bears  his 
name  was  rendered  abortive  by  a  counter-revolution  ;  whe- 
ther it  was  attended  with  bloodshed  and  atrocities  or  not  is 
a  matter  of  little  importance. 

The  whole  poetic  tale  of  the  last  Tarquinius  is  full  of  in- 
consistencies and  contradictions.  Thus  Brutus,  we  are  told, 
was  of  the  same  age  with  the  king's  sons,  and  was  regarded  as 
an  idiot.  We  may  therefore  suppose  him  not  to  have  been 
more  than  five-and-twenty  at  the  time  of  the  revolution,  yet 
he  had  grown-up  sons  at  that  time,  and  though  a  natural,  was 
invested  with  one  of  the  highest  offices  in  the  state,  the  tri- 
bunate of  the  Celeres,  and  could  therefore  convene  assem- 
blies and  exercise  sacerdotal  functions  !  His  name  probably 
gave  occasion  to  the  tale  of  his  idiotcy,  which  tale  knew 

*  See  Appendix  (C). 


THE  REGAL  PERIOD  OF  ROME.  43 

nothing  of  his  office,  and  the  annalists,  as  usual,  heedlessly- 
combined  the  two  accounts. 

The  narrative  of  the  taking  of  Gabii  is  evidently  made  up 
from  two  stories  in  Herodotus*,  and  is  quite  irreconeileable 
with  the  fact  of  the  treaty  with  that  town  which  existed  even 
in  the  time  of  Augustus,  written  on  a  bull's  hide  stretched 
on  a  shield.  In  lilce  manner  the  war  witli  Ardea  must  be  a 
baseless  fiction  ;  for,  as  will  appear,  it  was  at  the  time  of  the 
expulsion  a  Latin  town  subject  to  Rome.  The  tale  of  Lu- 
cretia  may  or  may  not  be  a  fiction ;  but  the  oath  of  the  four 
Romans  is  plainly  symbolical  of  the  union  between  the  three 
Patrician  tribes  and  the  Plebs  against  the  tyrant;  Lucretius 
being  a  Ramnes,  Valerius  a  Titiensis,  CoUatinus  a  Lucer,  and 
Brutus  a  plebeian  f.  The  consulate  of  CoUatinus,  a  Tarqui- 
nius,  looks  like  a  compromise  with  the  powerful  house  to 
which  he  belonged,  allowing  that  one  of  them,  to  be  chosen 
by  the  people,  should  share  in  the  supreme  power ;  but  the 
whole  house  was  banished  shortly  afterwards:];. 

Of  the  war  with  Porsenna,  not  a  single  incident  can  be  re- 
garded as  a  portion  of  real  history  ;  Porsenna  himself  was  a 
mythic  hero  of  Etruria,  probably  belonging  to  the  ante-his- 
toric times,  possibly  connected  in  the  Roman  tradition  with 
the  war  in  which  Rome  fell  before  the  Tuscan  arms.  For 
Rome  actually  had  to  surrender  to  a  Tuscan  power,  and  to 
give  back  all  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber,  and  her  citizens 
were  prohibited  the  use  of  iron  except  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses §.  But  when  the  Tuscans  were  defeated  before  Aricia, 
the  Romans  rose  and  recovered  their  independence,  but  not 
the  ceded  lands.  Then  it  may  have  been  that  property  be- 
longing to  the  Tuscan  lord  in  the  city  was  sold  by  auction, 
which  may  have  given  rise  to  the  symbolic  custom  which  long 
prevailed  at  Rome,  of  selling  the  goods  of  king  Porsenna. 

The  battle  of  the  Regillus  is  thoroughly  Homeric,  with  its 

*  That  of  Zopyrus  (iii.  154.),  and  the  counsel  given  to  Periander  by 
Thrasybulus  (v.  92.).  A  Spanish  abbot  gave  the  same  counsel  to  Ramirez 
kino- of  Aragon  (Mariana,  x.  IC),  and  pope  John  VIII.  gave  it  to  Charles 
the°Bald  of  France,  and  Theodoric,  count  of  Holland.  (Scriverius,  Bata- 
via  Veins.)     The  pope  and  abbot  had  no  doubt  read  Livy. 

f  The  Junii  were  always  a  plebeian  house.  Niebuhr  (iii.  35.)  would 
seem  to  have  regarded  Brutus  as  the  tribune  of  the  plebeian  knights. 

X  Varro  ap.  Nonium,  v.  reditio.  The  story  of  the  slave  Vindicius,  we 
may  add,  is  a  fiction,  to  give  a  historic  origin  to  the  custom  of  emanci- 
pating slaves  by  tlie  Findicta. 

§  Tacitus,  Hist.  iii.  72.     Pliny,  H.  N.  xxxiv.  39,  Comp.  1  Sam.  xiii.  19. 


44  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

single  combats  of  heroes,  and  gods  sharing  openly  in  it.  It 
closes  the  Lay  of  the  Tarquins*  ;  the  whole  generatiorl  who 
had  been  warring  with  each  other  since  the  crime  of  Sextusf 
perish  in  it;  "the  manes  of  Lucretia  are  appeased,  and  the 
men  of  the  heroic  age  depart  out  of  the  world,  before  injus- 
tice begins  to  domineer,  and  gives  birth  to  insurrection  in  the 
state  which  they  had  delivered  J." 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Roman  Constitution,  according  to  Niebuhr. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  given  a  sketch  of  Niebuhr's 
views  of  the  history  of  Rome  in  the  regal  period.  We  now 
proceed  to  give  some  of  his  ideas  on  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  the  constitution  during  the  same  time. 

No  institution  in  ancient  times  was  more  general  than  that 
of  the  division  of  a  people  into  tribes§.  These  were  either 
genealogical  or  local ;  the  former  were  the  more  ancient  kind, 
and  mostly  arose  from  a  difference  of  origin  antecedent  to  their 
political  union.  These  tribes  were  divided  into  a  certain 
number  of  houses  (Genfes),  each  of  which  again  was  com- 
posed of  a  greater  or  lesser  number  of  families  (^JFamilicB). 
The  territory  of  the  state  was  divided  among  the  tribes,  and 
thus  the  genealogic  tribes  must  have  been  local  ones  also  at 
the  time  of  their  formation  :  but  this  local  position  was  not 
their  bond  of  union. 

To  apply  this  principle  to  Rome.  When  Roma  and  Qui- 
riura  united,  their  inhabitants,  under  the  name  of  Ramnes  and 
Titienses,  formed  two  tribes,  equal  in  all  respects,  save  that 
the  former  had  the  precedence  in  rank ;  the  third  tribe  (for 
there  must  have  been  three)  ||  was  the  Luceres,  who,  as  pre- 

*  So  Niebuhr  names  it  after  the  Nibehtngen  Lied,  i.  e.  Lay  of  the  Nibe- 
lungs,  a  celebrated  German  poem. 

"Y  According  to  one  account  Sextus  was  killed  in  this  battle. 

X  Niebuhr,  i.  548. 

§   For  both  Sparta  and  Athens  see  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  c.  v.  &  vii. 

II  The  word  tribus,  equivalent  to  the  Greeli.  phyle,  evidently  comes  from 
ires,  and,like  the  Attic  rpiTTvs,  indicated  the  original  number  of  the  tribes 
of  Rome.  In  like  manner  century  originally  indicated  100  {centum)  houses 
or  individuals.  They  both  became  in  the  course  of  time  mere  terms  of  di- 
vision, and  we  read  of  20,  21,  35  tribes,  and  centuries  of  even  30  persons. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  45 

viously  subordinate  to  the  Romans,  were  not  yet  placed  on 
an  equality  with  the  former  two.  This  inferiority  of  the  Lu- 
ceres  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  of  the  original  number 
of  the  Vestals,  the  Pontiffs,  the  Flamens,  and  the  Augurs 
being  four,  two  for  each  of  the  superior  tribes,  and  by  other 
similar  divisions  in  the  state.  Hence  the  members  of  the  first 
two  tribes  were  called  those  of  the  Greater  Houses  (^Majorum 
Gentium), — those  of  the  latter,  of  the  Lesser  Houses  (^Mi- 
norum  Gentiuni)^. 

Each  tribe  was  divided  into  ten  Curies  (Ctirice),  and  each 
Cury  contained  ten  Houses  (^Gentes).  Each  tribe  was  pre- 
sided over  by  its  Tribune  (Tribtmzis),  who  was  its  leader  in 
the  field,  its  priest  and  magistrate  at  home.  Each  Cury  had 
in  like  manner  its  Curion  (Curio),  whose  title  in  the  field 
was  Centurion,  as  he  commanded  a  hundred  {centum)  men  in 
the  original  Roman  army. 

The  members  of  a  house,  though  bearing  the  same  name, 
are  not  to  be  regarded  as  kinsmen  f.  Their  union  was  solely 
a  political  one ;  it  was  kept  up  by  common  sacred  rites,  at 
stated  times  and  places,  to  the  expense  of  which  they  all  con- 
tributed. The  Gentiles  (^.  e.  the  members  of  the  house  or 
gens)  were  bound  to  aid  one  another  in  paying  tines,  ransoms, 
etc.;  and  if  a  man  died  without  kin  and  intestate,  his  pro- 
perty went  to  his  Gentiles.  These  members  of  the  houses  of 
the  three  tribes  formed  the  burghers  or  original  citizens  of 
Rome  J.  Their  common  name  seems  to  have  been  Celeres§: 
they  were  also  called  Patres,  Patroni  and  Patricians,  from 
the  following  cause. 

The  states  of  antiquity  were  extremely  jealous  of  their  civic 
rights,  and  slow  to  communicate  them  to  strangers ;  there 
moreover  was  not  in  them  that  equal  law  for  the  citizen  and 
the  stranger,  to  which  we  are  accustomed.  When  therefore  for 
the  sake  of  trade,  or  from  some  other  cause,  a  man  wished  to 
settle  in  a  town  which  was  at  amity  or  in  a  federal  relation  with 
his  native  place,  he  was  obliged  to  choose  some  citizen  of  his 

*  The  equestrian  centuries  of  Tarquinius  are  more  generally  regarded 
as  the  Lesser  Houses. 

\  Thus  the  Lentuli  and  the  Scipiones  were  both  of  the  house  of  (he 
Cornelii,  but  they  were  never  regarded  as  kinsmen. 

;|:  "  Patricios  Cincius  ait  eos  appellari  qui  nunc  ingenui  vocantur."  Fes- 
tus,  V.  Patricios. 

§  Celer  seems  to  be  akin  to  the  Greek  K6\j;s,  a  single  horse  or  rider. 
See  Suidas,  Ilesychius  and  Phavorinus,  s.  v.  The  Roman  Celeres  or  Palri- 
cians  answered  to  the  tTTTreis  or  iTrno^oTui  of  the  Greeks. 


46  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

new  abode  as  his  legal  protector  and  guardian.  In  Greece  a 
sojourner  of  this  kind  was  named  a  Metoec,  at  Rome  he  was 
called  a  Client;  the  metcee  relation  however  might  be  dis- 
solved at  will,  that  of  clientship  descended  to  the  posterity  of 
the  first  client.  The  relative  term  to  client  was  patro7i,  with 
which  Pater  (^Fathei^)  and  Patricius  (homo)  may  be  regarded 
as  synonymous  ;  it  denoted  the  paternal  care  which  a  Roman 
burgher  exercised  over  his  children,  servants  and  clients. 

If  the  client  did  not  exercise  a  trade,  keep  a  shop,  or  so 
forth,  the  patron  usually  granted  him  on  his  estate,  two  jugers 
of  arable  land,  with  space  to  build  a  cottage  on,  which  he 
held  as  tenant  at  will.  The  patron  was  bound  to  relieve  his 
client  when  in  distress,  to  expound  to  him  the  law,  both  civil 
and  religious,  and  to  appear  for  him  in  courts  of  justice*.  The 
client  on  his  side  was  to  be  obedient  to  his  patron,  to  aid  him 
in  paying  fines  to  the  state,  and  in  bearing  public  burdens,  to 
contribute  to  ransom  him  if  made  a  prisoner,  and  to  help  to 
make  up  the  marriage-portion  of  his  daughters.  Altogether 
this  relation  has  a  striking  similarity  to  that  o?  lord  and  vassal 
in  the  feudal  times,  which  in  all  probability  was  derived  from  it. 

The  Patricians  or  burghers  formed  the  general  assembly  or 
Popiilus\.  They  met  on  the  place  called  the  Comitium,  and 
they  voted  by  curies,  whence  the  assembly  was  named  Comi- 
tia  Cicriata.  The  votes  taken  in  the  curies  were  those  of  the 
houses,  not  of  individuals.  The  matters  laid  before  them  were 
the  election  of  magistrates,  the  enactment  or  repeal  of  laws, 
and  the  making  of  war  or  peace.  All  these  questions  were 
previously  considered  in  the  senate. 

No  state  in  antiquity  was  without  its  senate;  that  of  Rome 
was  composed  of  representatives,  one  for  each  of  the  houses, 
and  consequently  contained  at  first  one,  then  two,  and  finally 
three  hundred  members.  It  was  divided  into  decuries,  cor- 
responding to  the  number  of  the  curies,  and  therefore  gra- 
dually increasing  in  number  from  ten  to  thirty.  The  Ramnes 
had  the  superiority  in  the  senate  also ;  ten  persons,  one  from 
each  of  their  decuries,  were  named  the  Ten  First  {Decern 
primi)  of  the  senate.  On  the  death  of  a  king,  these  tea 
formed  a  board,  each  member  of  Avhich  enjoyed  for  five  days, 
as  Interrex  {Between-Mng),  the  royal  power  and  dignity.  If 
at  the  end  of  fifty  days  no  king  was  elected,  the  rotation  of 
Interrexes  commenced  anew. 

*  Hence  lawyers  still  call  those  who  employ  them  their  clients. 
t  See  Appendix  (D). 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  47 

When  the  king  (Rex)  was  to  be  elected,  the  senate  agreed 
among  themselves  on  the  person  whom  the  Interrex  should 
propose  to  the  curies.  If  they  accepted  him,  the  sanction  of 
the  gods  was  sought  by  augury,  and  the  signs  being  favour- 
able, the  new  king  had  himself  to  propose  a  law  for  invest- 
ing him  with  the  full  regal  power  {imperhan)  to  the  curies, 
who  might  then  if  they  pleased  annul  their  former  decision*. 
It  was  probably  thought,  that  in  a  matter  of  such  import- 
ance it  was  prudent  to  deliberate  twice,  or,  like  the  Athenian 
magistrates,  the  Roman  king  may  have  had  to  undergo  a 
dokimasy\,  or  scrutiny. 

The  regal  office  at  Rome  very  nnich  resembled  that  of  the 
heroic  ages  in  Greece,  but  it  differed  from  it  in  being  elective, 
not  hereditary.  The  king  had  the  absolute  command  of  the 
army ;  he  offered  the  sacrifices  for  the  nation ;  he  convoked 
the  senate  and  people,  and  laid  laws  before  them ;  he  could 
punish  by  fines  and  corporal  penalties,  but  an  appeal  from 
his  sentence  lay  for  the  citizens  {i.  e.  the  patricians)  to  the 
assembly  of  the  curies ;  his  power  over  sojourners  and  others 
not  belonging  to  the  houses  was  milimited.  The  king  more- 
over sat  every  ninth  day,  and  administered  justice  himself  or 
assigned  a  judge.  He' could  dispose  of  the  booty  and  the 
land  acquired  in  war,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  conquered 
territory  belonged  to  the  crown,  which  was  cultivated  by  the 
king's  clients,  and  yielded  him  a  large  revenue. 

Such  was  the  constitution  of  Rome  in  the  period  designated 
by  the  first  three  kings.  With  Ancus  the  state  received  a  new 
element,  the  Plebes,  or  Plebs. 

In  every  state  regulated  on  the  principle  of  houses,  there 
naturally  grows  up  a.  De?nos,  Plebs,  or  commonalty,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  free,  under  the  protection  of  the  law,  may 
acquire  real  property,  and  make  by-laws  for  themselves,  but, 
though  bound  to  serve  in  war,  are  excluded  from  the  govern- 
ment J.  This  commonalty  is  composed  of  various  elements, 
and  in  some  cases,  as  at  Athens,  it  has  acquired  such  a  pre- 
ponderance of  strength  as  to  draw  all  political  power  to  itself, 
and  thus  convert  the  state  into  a  democracy.  But  destiny 
favoured  Rome  in  this  respect ;  for  though  her  Plebs  was  the 

*  Cicero  de  Rep.,  ii.  13.  17.  18.  20.  21.  For  the  general  principle  of  a 
double  election  of  magistrates  see  Cicero,  Kullus,  ii.  11. 

t  History  of  Greece,  p.  65,  2nd  edit,  p.  63,  4th  edit. 

X  Compare  the  Perioecians  of  Laconia  and  the  Demos  of  Attica  before 
the  time  of  Solon. 


48  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

most  respectable  commonalty  that  ever  existed,  the  Populus 
always  had  sufficient  strength  to  balance  it,  and  thus  the  de- 
velopment of  the  constitution  was  gradual  and  beneficent*. 

The  Roman  Plebs  was  thus  formed.  In  the  early  part  of 
the  period  which  we  have  just  described,  there  was  probablj"^ 
at  Rome  some  kind  of  a  commonalty,  consisting  of  emanci- 
pated clients,  and  of  persons  who  had  not  entered  into  the 
client-relation,  but  it  was  of  no  account.  When,  however,  on 
the  destruction  of  Alba,  a  division  of  conquests  and  a  new 
arrangement  of  territory  took  place  between  the  Romans  and 
the  Latins,  the  Plebs,  which  had  been  already  augmented  by 
the  inhabitants  of  those  Latin  towns  which  had  been  con- 
quered before  that  time,  received  a  great  accession  to  its 
body.  King  Ancus,  after  his  victories  over  the  Latins,  as- 
signed the  Aventine  for  the  abode  of  such  of  them  as  chose 
to  remove  to  Rome,  and  it  became  the  site  of  the  plebeian 
cityf .  The  greater  part  of  the  Plebs,  however,  who  were 
mostly  landowners,  stayed  on  their  lands  away  from  Rome. 
It  was,  moreover,  the  Italian  law  of  nations,  that  when  a 
town  was  taken  or  surrendered,  its  territory  fell  to  the  con- 
queror :  the  Roman  kings  had  always  re-assigned  a  part  of 
it  to  the  old  possessors,  and  the  Plebs  therefore  contained  all 
the  people,  gentle  and  simple,  of  such  Latin  towns  as  fell  to 
Rome  :  many  of  its  members  might  consequentlj--  vie  with 
the  patricians  in  nobleness  of  descent,  and  equalled  them  in 
wealth  ;  though  the  jealousy  of  these  last  would  not  allow 
them  to  intermarry  with  them,  and  most  legal  relations  were 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  plebeians. 

The  Romulian  constitution,  which  we  have  been  describing, 
received  its  complete  development  by  the  calling  up  of  the 
Luceres  into  the  senate,  but  the  time  when  this  occurred  is 
uncertain.  The  great  change  of  this  constitution  commenced 
with  Tarquinius  Priscus  in  the  following  manner. 

It  is  the  nature  of  an  exclusive  aristocracy  to  diminish  with 
great  rapidity,  and  eventually  to  die  away,  if  it  refuses  to  re- 
place the  houses  which  become  extinct.  Such  appears  to  have 
been  the  case  with  that  of  Rome  at  this  time  ;  the  curies  did 
not  on  an  average  contain  more  than  five  houses  apiece.   Tar- 

*  The  real  cause  of  this  difference  was  probably  that  the  Romans  were 
an  agricultural,  the  Athenians  a  trading  people. 

f  The  Aventine,  though  included  within  the  wall  of  Servius  Tullius, 
was  outside  of  the  p6moeriunr,  and  remained  so  till  the  time  of  the  em- 
peror Claudius,  Gell.  xiii.  14. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  49 

quinius  therefore  proposed  to  form  three  new  tribes  of  houses 
out  of  his  own  retainers  and  the  plebeians,  and  to  name  them 
from  himself  and  his  friends.  As  this  would  be  making  six 
instead  of  three  tribes,  and  thus  be  altering  the  form  of  the 
constitution,  the  augur  Navius  was  put  forward  to  oppose  it, 
and  even  Heaven,  as  we  have  seen,  called  to  aid.  It  would 
appear  that  a  compromise  was  effected  between  the  king  and 
the  patricians,  as  he  in  reality  did  what  he  proposed,  for  he 
doubled  the  number  of  the  houses,  but  left  that  of  the  tribes 
untouched  ;  each  tribe  therefore  now  consisted  of  two  parts 
or  centuries. 

The  Plebs,  meantime,  advanced  daily  in  numbers,  wealth, 
and  power  by  the  various  accessions  which  it  received.  The 
legislator  whom  we  name  Servius  TuUius  saw  the  advantage 
of  giving  it  more  organisation  than  it  had  yet  obtained,  and 
he  accordingly  divided  it  into  local  tribes.  The  number  of 
these  tribes  was  thirtj',  answering  to  that  of  the  patrician  cu- 
ries and  of  the  Latin  towns  ;  four  of  them  were  civic  or  in  the 
city,  the  remaining  twenty-six  were  rural ;  of  these,  ten  lay 
beyond  tlie  Tiber  in  Etruria.  These  tribes  being  local,  each 
had  its  separate  region,  which  bore  the  same  name  with  itself. 
Each  tribe  had  its  tribune,  who  was  its  captain  in  war,  its  chief 
magistrate  in  peace;  he  apportioned  the  tax  {trihutum*')  which 
the  tribe  had  to  pay  among  the  tribesmen  (tribides),  regulated 
their  contingent  in  the  army,  and  inspected  the  condition  of 
every  family.  The  plebeian  tribes  when  they  met  in  assembly 
elected  their  tribunes  and  other  magistrates,  made  laws  for 
their  own  regulation,  imposed  rates  for  common  objects,  etc. 

Rome  now  consisted  of  two  united  but  distinct  peoples,  go- 
verned by  one  prince,  with  a  common  public  interest,  but  yet 
without  even  the  right  of  intermarriage.  These  were  the  Po- 
pulus  or  burghers,  and  the  Plebs  or  commonalty  ;  equally  free, 
but  with  the  advantage  in  point  of  honour  on  the  side  of  the 
former  f.  But  the  legislator  saw  danger  in  this  separation,  and 
be  sought  to  obviate  it  by  an  institution  in  which  both  should 
be  comprised,  and  by  which  birth  and  wealth  should  have 
their  due  and  full  influence  in  the  state.  This  he  proposed  to 
effect  by  arranging  the  whole  population  in  Classes,  subdivided 

*  Tributum  comes  fioin  tribns,  not  the  reverse. 

t  The  assemblies  {comitia)  of  the  Populus  were  held  on  the  Comiiiiim, 
those  of  the  Plebs  in  the  Forum  ;  the  Suggestum  (afterwards  named  Piostra), 
or  pulpit  from  which  the  magistrates  spoke  in  public,  separated  these  two 
places,  which  lay  on  the  same  level,  and  which  were,  in  common  use,  in- 
cluded under  the  name  Forum. 


50  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

into  Centuries.  The  form  in  which  we  must  conceive  the  people 
in  this  arrangement  was  that  of  an  army  (Exercittis),  as  it  was 
called,  composed  of  cavalrj-,  infantry,  artillery,  and  its  baggage- 
train,  and  it  met  on  the  Campus  Martins  without  the  city*. 

The  three  original  tribes  or  centuries  of  Romulus,  -with  the 
three  of  Tarquinius,  contained  all  the  patricians  without  di- 
stinction of  property  :  they  were  named  the  Six  Votes  or  Suf- 
frages (Sex  Suffragia).  To  these  Servius  added  twelve  cen- 
turies of  plebeian  notables,  or  men  of  superior  wealth,  a  kind 
of  plebeian  nobility  whose  honoursdescended  to  their  posterity ; 
these  centuries  were  open,  and  any  plebeian  might  be  raised 
to  them.  The  eighteen  centuries,  under  the  name  of  Knights 
or  Horsemen  (Equites),  formed  the  cavalry  of  the  Roman 
army.  If  any  member  of  them  was  so  reduced  in  circum- 
stances as  not  to  be  able  to  purchase  a  war-horse  for  himself, 
and  a  slave  and  horse  to  attend  and  follow  him  to  the  field, 
the  state  assigned  him  a  sum  of  10,000  asses  for  that  purpose, 
and  for  their  maintenance  aK  annual  rent-charge  of  2000  asses 
on  the  estates  of  single  v.omen  and  orphans,  who  were  thus 
made  to  contribute  to  the  defence  of  the  state  which  gave  them 
protection  f.  If  a  knight  was  degraded,  as  sometimes  occurred, 
his  horse  was  sold  to  reimburse  the  state,  and  his  pension  was 
assigned  to  another. 

After  the  eighteen  equestrian  Centuries  came  the  infantiy, 
composed  entirely  of  plebeians,  arranged  in  five  Classes  in  the 
order  of  their  property,  and  armed  in  the  same  proportion,  as 
the  following  table  w  ill  show  : — 

Class.  Property,  Centuries.  Arms. 

Helmet. 
Shield. 


I.     100,000  asses  and  upwards.     40  of  old,  40  of  young  men=80^  Corselet. 


y 


Sword, 
.Spear, 
r  Helmet. 

Shield. 
II.    75,000  asses  and  upwards.     10  of  old,  10  of  young  men=20 ::  Greaves. 

Sword, 
L  Spear. 

III.  50,000  asses  and  upwards,     10  of  old,  10  of  young  men=2o|  g^^"J|^*^^''^^''^' 

IV,  25,000  asses  and  upwards.     10  of  old,  10  of  young  men=20     Spear  and  dart. 
V.     12,500  asses  and  upwards.     15  of  old,  15  of  young  men  =  30     Slings. 

\70 

*  "  Centuriata  comitia  intra  pomoeriutn  fieri  nefas  esse  quia  exercitum 
extra  urbem  imperari  oporteat."  Laelius  Felix  ap.  Gell.  xv.  27. 

f  According  to  Cicero  (De  Rep.  ii.  20),  who  no  doubt  followed  Polybius, 
the  same  practice  prevailed  at  Corinth.  At  Athens  the  Horsemen  received 
pay  for  the  keep  of  their  horses,  Boeckh,  Pub.  Econ.  of  Athens,  i,  334  seg. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  51 

Those  whose  property  was  under  12,500  asses  were  ar- 
ranged in  centuries  out  of  the  classes.  Of  these  centuries  there 
were  four,  as  will  thus  appear.  All  in  the  centuries  taken  to- 
gether were  divided  into  Assiduans  or  Locuplefans  and  Pro- 
letarians, the  former  containing  all  down  to  those  who  had 
1500  asses,  the  latter  those  who  had  less  than  that  sum.  Now 
the  Assiduans  below  the  classes  were  divided  into  Accensi,  or 
those  who  had  from  7000  to  12,500  asses,  and  Velati,  who  had 
from  1500  to  7000;  and  the  Proletaria.is  were  again  divided 
into  Proletarians,  or  those  who  had  from  375  to  1500  asses, 
and  Capite  Censi,  or  those  wdio  had  less  than  375  asses,  thus 
making  four  in  all.  The  corporations  of  carpenters  (fabri), 
trumpeters  (Jiticincs),  and  horn-blowers  (comicines)  formed 
three  centuries,  of  which  the  first  stood  and  voted  with  the 
first  class,  the  last  two  with  the  fifth.  The  entire  number  of 
centuries  therefore  was  195*,  viz. 


Equestrian 

18 

Classes 

170 

Assiduans 

2 

Proletarians 

2 

Mechanists 

3 

195 

When  the  centuries  were  assembled  on  the  Field  of  Mars, 
their  place  of  meeting,  they  voted  on  elections,  laws,  or  any 
other  matters  previously  prepared  in  the  senate.  Their  power 
to  reject  was  absolute,  but  their  assent  required  to  be  con- 
firmed by  the  patricians  in  their  curies.  They  voted  in  the 
following  order.  The  six  Suffrages  ;  the  Plebeian  equestrian 
centuries ;  the  first  class  and  the  carpenters ;  the  remaining 
classes ;  the  two  centuries  of  musicians ;  the  Accensi ;  the 
Velati ;  the  Proletarians ;  the  Capite  Censi.  If  the  first  three 
divisions  were  unanimous,  it  was  needless  to  call  up  the  re- 
mainder ;  for,  as  we  may  see,  they  formed  a  majority  of  99  to 
96  of  the  whole.  Hence  the  design  of  the  legislator  is  ap- 
parent ;  he  aimed  at  forming  a  mingled  aristocracy  and  timo- 
cracyt;  by  placing  the  political  power  in  the  hands  of  the 

*  Livy  says  194,  Dionysius  193.  The  view  in  the  text  depends  on 
Niebuhr's  (vol.  i.  p.  444)  emendation  of  a  passage  in  Cicero  de  Republica, 
and  it  has  since  been  controverted,  and  not  without  reason,  as  also  has  much 
of  what  precedes  it. 

f  The  timocracy  of  Solon  (Hist,  of  Greece,  P.  I.  c.  vii.)  was  quite  differ- 
ent from  this.  It  related  solely  to  eligibility  to  office,  this  of  Servius  to 
elections. 

d2 


52  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

noble  and  the  wealthy*,  and  to  stave  off  the  evils  of  demo- 
cracy, Avhile  at  the  same  time  all  should  be  content,  no  one 
being  without  a  place  in  the  constitution. 

This  principle  of  giving  influence  to  the  minority  was  also 
attended  to  in  the  division  of  the  classes  into  centuries  of  old 
men  and  young  men.  The  former  contained  those  who  were 
past  forty-five  years,  and  calculations  show  that  their  number 
could  not  have  been  more  than  one  half  of  that  of  the  latter  ; 
yet,  as  we  see,  the  number  of  their  centuries,  and  therefore  of 
their  votes,  was  equal. 

We  must  not  let  ourselves  be  misled  by  the  word  centui^, 
and  suppose  that  because  the  first  class  had  four  times  as  many 
centuries  as  the  second,  it  therefore  contained  four  times  the 
number  of  individuals.  The  real  fact  is,  it  had  four  times  as 
many  votes ;  it  being  the  legislator's  design  that  the  votes  of 
each  class  should  be  to  those  of  the  whole  five,  as  the  taxable 
property  of  that  class  was  to  that  of  the  five,  and  consequently 
the  number  of  citizens  in  each  be  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
sums  designating  their  property  ;  therefore  as 

100,000  :  75,000  :  :    4  :  3 

—  :  50,000  :  :    6  :  3 

—  :  25,000  :  :  12  :  3 

—  :  12,500  :  :  24  :  3 

three  of  the  first  must  have  had  as  much  property  as  four 
of  the  second,  six  of  the  third,  and  so  on  ;  while  the  centuries 
of  the  third,  for  instance,  must  have  contained  twice,  those  of 
the  fifth  eight  times,  as  many  citizens  as  those  of  the  first.  In 
like  manner,  the  property  of  each  of  the  three  classes  follow- 
ing the  first  must  have  been  a  fourth,  that  of  the  fifth  three- 
eighths,  of  the  property  of  the  first  class  f.  Multiplying,  then, 
the  centuries  by  the  relative  numbers  of  the  properties  of  the 
classes,  we  find 

80x     3  =  240"^ 

20  X     6  =  120  >°^  dividing  by  40,  their^ 
20  X    12  =  240  1        common  measure, 
30  X   24  =  720  J 

35 

So  that  of  thirty-five  citizens  six  were  in  the  first  class,  and 
had  more  influence  in  the  state  than  the  remaining  twenty- 

*  "Curavit,  jie  plurimum  valeant  plurimi."  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  22. 

•f   For  80,  20,  20,  20,  30  (the  numbers  of  the  centuries)  are  to  each  other 

OS    1        1113 
»S     1,    -f,    f,    -^,     g. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  53 

nine ;  the  number  of  citizens  in  the  second  class  was  a  third 
of  those  in  the  first ;  tiiat  of  the  third,  a  half,  and  so  on.  If 
then,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose,  the  first  class  contained 
6000  citizens,  the  whole  five  contained  35,000 — the  number 
of  plebeians  (exclusive  of  the  knights)  possessing  property 
above  12,500  asses. 

As  we  have  above  observed,  the  Centuries,  when  assembled 
on  the  Field  of  Mars,  formed  an  army*  :  the  eighteen  eques- 
trian centuries  were  the  cavalry  :  the  Classes  the  infantry  ;  the 
Proletarians  the  baggage-train  ;  there  were  also  the  artillerists 
(fabri)  and  the  musicians.  The  first  class  usually  sent  forty 
centuries  of  thirty  men  each,  (one  from  each  tribe,)  or  1200 
men,  to  the  field  ;  the  second  and  third  together  gave  the  same 
number,  as  did  also  the  fourth  and  fifth  ;  making  a  total  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  centuries,  or  3600  men,  consisting  of 
three  divisions  of  1200  men  each,  one  of  hoplites  or  men  in 
full  armour,  one  of  men  in  half  armour,  and  one  of  light  troops. 
This  body,  named  a  Legion  f,  was  drawn  up  iti  phalanx  after 
the  manner  of  the  Greeks,  each  century  composed  of  the  first 
two  divisions  being  di^awn  up  three  in  front  and  ten  deep, 
the  men  of  the  first  class  forming  the  first  five  ranks  ;  whence 
we  see  why  the  quantity  of  armour  Avas  diminished  as  the 
classes  descended,  those  who  stood  behind  being  covered  by 
the  bodies  and  armour  of  those  in  front.  The  light  troops, 
forming  what  was  called  a  caterva,  stood  apart  from  the  phalanx. 
The  Accensi  stood  apart  from  both  ;  it  was  their  duty  to  take 
the  arms  and  places  of  the  killed  or  wounded,  and  as  in  such 
cases  the  man  immediately  behind  stepped  into  the  gap,  and 
he  was  succeeded  by  the  man  behind  him,  the  places  of  the 
Accensi  were  always  in  the  rear,  where  they  acted  merely  me- 
chanically in  giving  weight  and  consistency  to  the  mass. 

In  this  system,  therefore,  men  had  to  encounter  danger  in 
exact  proportion  to  the  stake  they  had  in  the  state,  and  to  the 
political  advantages  which  they  enjoyed;  for  the  knights  also 
purchased  their  precedence  by  being  exposed  to  greater  dan- 
ger, as  they  were  badly  equipped,  and  riding  without  stirrups 
were  easily  unhorsed  and  disarmed,  and  were  exposed  to  the 
missiles  of  the  enemy's  light  troops  J. 

*  When  the  centuries  were  assembled,  a  red  flag,  the  usual  signal  for  battle, 
was  raised  on  the  Janiculan,  and  if  it  was  taken  down  the  assembly  was 
ipso  facto  dissolved.     See  Liv,  xxxix.  15,  Dion,  xlvii.  42. 

f  From  h'go,  to  select.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  one  legion  formed  the 
whole  army.     This  was  only  the  rule  by  which  the  legions  were  raised. 

+  See  Polvbius,  vi.  25,3-10. 


54  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

Another  part  of  this  legislation  Avas  the  establishment  of  a 
regular  system  of  taxation  by  the  Census.    Every  citizen  Avas 
bound  to"  give  an  honest  return  of  the  number  of  his  family, 
and  of  his  taxable  property.    A  registry  of  births  was  kept  in 
the  temple  of  Lucina,  one  of  deaths  in  that  of  Libitina ;  the 
country-people  were  registered  at  the  festival  of  the  Paga- 
nalia.    All  changes  of  abode  and  transfers  of  property  were  to 
be  notified  to  the  proper  magistrate.    The  tribute  was  paid  by 
the  Plebs;  it  was  so  much  in  the  thousand  on  the  property 
given  in  at  the  census,  varying  according  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  state,  but  unfair,  inasmuch  as  debts  were  not  deducted  from 
the  capital,  so  that  a  man  paid  in  proportion  to  his  nominal, 
not  his  actual  property.     This  property  consisted  of  lands, 
houses,  slaves,  cattle,  money,  and  every  other  object  of  what 
was  called  Quiritary  property,  or  res  mancipii.    None  but  As- 
siduans  were  thus  taxed ;  the  Proletarians  Avere  exempt  from 
taxes.    Sojourners  and  others,  Avho  Avere  not  in  the  Classes  or 
Centuries,  paid,  under  the  name  of  ^rarians,  such  arbitrary 
sums  as  the  state  imposed  for  licenses  to  carry  on  trades,  etc. 
The  patricians  paid,  like  the  plebeians,  for  their  property  of 
the  same  kind  Avith  theirs,  and  they  yielded  the  state  a  tithe  of 
the  pi-oduce  of  the  public  lands,  Avhich  they  held  exclusively 
as  tenants. 

Though  Servius  thus  gave  form  and  consistency  to  the  re- 
venue, Ave  are  not  to  suppose  that  most  if  not  all  of  these  taxes 
did  not  exist  before  his  time  ;  there  were  these  and  port-duties 
and  other  charges,  from  Avhich  and  the  manuhicB,  or  spoils  of 
war,  the  kings  derived  a  large  rcA^enue,  as  is  proved  by  the 
great  Avorks  which  they  executed.  These  Avorks  were  the  Ca- 
pitoline  temple,  Avith  its  huge  substructions,  the  seAvers  and  the 
city-Avall.  Of  the  first  Ave  have  already  spoken  :  the  Cloaca 
Maxima,  or  great  seAver,  which  still  exists,  is  composed  of 
three  vaults  Avithin  one  another,  all  formed  of  hewn  blocks  of 
stone,  each  7|  Roman  palms  long,  and  ^]^  thick,  put  together 
without  cement*  ;  the  innermost  vault  is  a  semicircle  eighteen 
palms  iuAvidth  and  as  many  in  height.  Other  scAA-ers  carried  the 
waters  of  other  parts  of  the  city  into  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  Avhich 
opens  into  the  river  by  agate-like  arch  in  a  quay  ;  Avhich  quay, 
being  of  the  same  style  of  architecture,  is  evidently  coeval 
with  it  The  Avail  of  Servius,  from  the  CoUine  to  the  Esqui- 
line  gate,  a  distance  of  nearly  a  mile,  Avas  the  third  great  Avork 
of  the  kings.    This  consisted  of  a  mound  of  clay  (for  there  is 

See  Appendix  (E). 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION.  53 

no  stone  here),  50  feet  wide  and  60  high,  faced  with  a  skirt- 
ing of  flag-stones,  and  flanked  with  towers.  It  was  formed  of 
the  clay  raised  from  a  moat  or  ditch  in  front  of  it,  100  feet 
wide  and  30  deep.  A  similar  wall  extended  from  the  CoUine 
gate  to  the  western  steeps  of  the  Quirinal  hill. 

These  works  plainlj^  prove,  that  Rome  under  her  later  kings 
was  the  capital  of  a  powerful  state.  The  greatness  of  Rome  ■ 
in  her  regal  period  is  further  shown  by  a  commercial  treaty 
with  Carthage,  made  in  the  first  year  of  the  Republic*.  In 
this  treaty  Rome  stipulates  for  herself  and  her  subject  towns 
Ardea,  Laui'entum,  Antium,  Circeil,  and  Tarracina;  and  she 
also  extends  her  protecting  power  to  the  independent  Latins ■]-. 
This  dominion,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  she  lost  in  conse- 
quence of  her  revolution  ;  and  nearly  two  centuries  elapsed 
before  she  was  able  to  regain  it. 

*  Polybius,  iii.  22,     The  consuls  named  in  it  are  Brutus  and  Horatius  ; 
the  first,  he  says,  that  were  created  after  the  dissolution  of  monarchy, 
f  See  Arnold's  History  of  Rome,  i.  53  seq. 


THE 

HISTORY    OF    ROME. 


PART  II. 
THE  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY. 

A.U.  244-488.         B.C.  508-264. 


CHAPTER  I.* 


Beginning  of  the  Republic. — The  Dictatorship. — Roman  Law  of  Debt. — 
Distress  caused  by  the  Law  of  Debt. — Secession  to  the  Sacred  Mount. — 
The  Tribunate. — Latin  Constitution. — Treaty  with  the  Latins. — War 
with  the  Volscians. — Treaty  with  the  Ilernioans. 

In  the  preceding  Part  we  have  carried  the  history  down  be- 
yond the  point  at  which  the  Regal  Period  properly  speaking 
terminates ;  but  we  wished  to  give  the  poetic  narrative  com- 
plete and  separate  from  that  which  may  claim  to  be  regarded 
as  an  approximation  to  the  truth.  We  must  now  therefore 
go  back  to  the  origin  of  the  republic. 

Be  the  acts  recorded  of  the  last  Roman  king  true  or  false, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  a  tyrant  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  and  as  bad  as  the  worst  of  those  in  Greece 
and  her  colonies  at  that  period.  The  patricians  who  aided  him 
to  usurp  the  throne,  in  order  that  they  might  deprive  the  ple- 
beians of  the  rights  and  liberties  secured  to  them  by  the  con- 
stitution of  Servius,  soon  felt  that  they  had  only  procured  for 
themselves  a  harsh  and  cruel  master,  and  they  gladly  joined 
with  the  plebeians  to  expel  him  (a.u.  24'4').     A  return  was 

*  Livv,  ii.  21-41,  Dionys.  vi.  14  to  the  end,  the  Epitomators. 

D  5 


58  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  [b.C.  502 

made  to  the  constitution  of  Servius.  In  agreement  with  the 
commentaries  of  that  prince,  two  annual  magistrates,  at  first 
named  Praetors,  afterwards  consuls*,  possessed  of  all  the  regal 
authoritjr,  saving  only  the  sacerdotal  functions,  were  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  state  ;  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  at  first 
they  were  chosen  one  from  each  of  the  ordersf.  The  right  of 
appealing  to  their  peers  in  the  curies  which  the  patricians  had 
always  enjoyed,  was  extended  by  the  Valerian  law  to  the  ple- 
beians, who  were  now  empowered  to  appeal  to  their  tribes. 
The  royal  demesne  lands  were  also  distributed  in  small  free- 
holds among  a  portion  of  the  more  needy  plebeians.  The 
senate,  which  had  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  cruelty  of  the 
tyrant,  was  completed  to  the  original  number  of  three  hundred 
out  of  the  plebeian  equestrian  centuries.  These  new  members 
were  named  Conscripts  (  Conscrijjti),  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  patres  or  patrician  senators:}:. 

The  loss  of  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber,  in  consequence  of 
the  Tuscan  conquest  of  Rome,  greatly  crippled  the  state. 
Advantage  was  taken  of  this  by  the  Volscians  and  Sabines; 
but  if  we  credit  the  annals,  the  arms  of  Rome  met  with  uni- 
form success  against  them.  On  occasion  of  a  war  with  the 
latter  people  (250),  a  man  of  rank  among  them,  named  Attus 
Clausus,  being  menaced  with  impeachment  for  having  opposed 
the  wixr,  resolved  to  go  over  to  the  Romans.  Quitting  Regil- 
lus,  where  he  abode,  he  came  with  his  gentiles  and  clients,  to 
the  number  of  five  thousand,  to  Rome,  where  he  took  the  name 
of  Appius  Claudius,  and  was  admitted  into  the  body  of  the 
patricians  ;  land  beyond  the  Anio  was  assigned  to  his  followers, 
and  they  formed  a  tribe  named  the  Claudian§.  The  house  of 
the  Claudiiis  eminent  in  Roman  story;  it  produced  many  an 
able,  hardly  a  great,  and  not  a  single  noble-minded  man.    In- 

*  Liv.  iii.  55.  Dion,  liii.  13.  Zonavas,  vii.  19.  PrcEtor,  i.  e.  Prailtor, 
which  the  Greeks  always  rendered  (xrpa-Tiybs,  evidently  referred  primarily 
to  military  command.  Consul  would  seem  to  mean  merely  colleague,  for, 
as  in  exul,  prcEsul,  the  syllable  std  denotes  one  tvho  is.  The  ordinary  deri- 
vation from  coiisulo  is  very  dubious. 

■f-  For  Brutus,  Niebuhr  thinks,  was  a  plebeian.     See  p.  43. 

X  Patres  Conscripti  is  therefore  Palres  et  Conscripti.  Liv.  ii.  1.  See 
above,  p.  4,  note^. 

§  Niebuhr  thinks,  that  as  by  the  peace  which  the  consul  Sp.  Cassius  con- 
cluded (252)  with  the  Sabines  (Dionys.  v.  49),  a  portion  of  territory  was 
ceded  to  Rome,  it  was  thus  that  the  Claudian  geiis  and  tribe  were  formed 
in  lieu  of  the  Tarquinian,  which  had  been  broken  up.  The  tribes  were  but 
twenty  till  the  year  259,  when  the  Crustumine  was  formed. 


B.C.  499.)  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  59 

domitable  pride  and  opposition  to  tlie  rights  of  tlie  people 
were  its  characteristic  qualities*. 

In  the  year  253  a  new  magistracy,  named  the  Dictatorship, 
was  instituted.  The  name,  and  perhaps  the  office,  is  said  to 
have  been  borrowed  from  the  Latins  f.  The  dictator  was  in- 
vested with  the  full  regal  authority  for  the  space  of  six  months  ; 
he  was  nominated  by  the  consul  or  interrex  on  the  direction 
of  the  senate,  and  he  received  the  imperium  from  the  curies. 
He  was  preceded  by  twenty-four  lictors  with  axes  in  the  fasces, 
as  no  appeal  lay  from  his  sentence.  The  dictator  always  nomi- 
nated an  officer,  named  the  Master  of  the  Knights  or  Horse- 
men (JIaffister  Equituni),  who  was  to  him  what  the  tribune 
of  the  Celeres  had  been  to  the  kings  J.  T.  Lartius  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  dictator  §. 

•  The  dictatorship  was  ostensively  instituted  against  the  pub- 
lic enemy,  but  the  oppression  of  the  plebeians  was  its  real  ob- 
ject. It  was  a  part  of  the  plan  which  the  patricians  had  now 
formed  for  stripping  them  of  all  their  rights  and  advantages, 
and  reducing  them  to  the  condition  of  the  Etruscan  serfs,  and 
thus,  though  its  authors  thought  not  so,  depriving  Rome  of 
all  chance  of  ever  becoming  great.  The  plebeians  had  been 
already  justled  out  of  the  consulate:  it  was  proposed  to  elude 
by  the  dictatorship  the  right  of  appeal  given  them  by  the  Va- 
lerian law,  and  to  re-establish  the  unlimited  authority  of  the 
chief  magistrate  even  within  the  city  and  the  mile  round  it ; 
and  finally,  by  a  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  law  of  debt,  to 
reduce  them  to  actual  slavery. 

At  Rome,  as  in  the  ancient  world  in  general,  the  law  of 
debt  was  extremely  severe.  It  was  to  this  effect ;  a  person 
wishing  to  borrow  money  entered  into  a  nexum,  or  became 
nexus,  when  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  under  the  form  of  a 
sale,  he  pledged  himself  and  all  belonging  to  him  for  payment 
of  a  sum  of  money  which  he  then  received.     If  this  money 

*  That  is,  the  patricians :  the  plebeian  family  of  the  Marcelli  were  of  a 
far  better  character. 

f  That  the  Latins  liad  dictators  is  quite  certain.  It  is  not  equally  so 
that  they  gave  them  such  power  as  is  here  spoken  of.  The  Romans  pro- 
bably borrowed  only  the  name  to  avoid  that  oi  rex.  The  dictator  was  also 
called  Magister  populi.  Varro,  L.L.  v.  82.  Cic.  de  Rep.  i.  40,  de  Leg.  iii. 
3,  C,  de  Fin.  iii.  22.     Senec.  Ep.  108,  30. 

X  "  Dictatoribus  Magistri  Equitum  injungehantur,  sic  quomodo  Regibus 
Trihuni  Celerum.^' — Pomponius  Dig.  lib.  i.  tit.  ii.  1.  quoted  by  the  learned 
translators  of  Niebuhr's  Hist,  of  Rome,  i.  515. 

§  See  Arnold,  i.  143. 


60  ROMAN  LAW  OF  DEBT.  [b.C.  493. 

was  not  repaid  at  the  appointed  time,  the  debtor  was  brought 
before  the  preetor,  who  assigned  {acldicebat)  him  as  a  slave  to 
his  creditor,  whence  he  was  termed  addictus.  Such  of  the 
debtor's  children  and  grandchildren  as  were  still  under  his  au- 
thority shared  his  fate,  and  were  led  off'  in  bonds  with  him  to 
the  creditor's  workhouse. 

The  rate  of  interest  was  unlimited  by  law  ;  loans  were 
usually  made  for  the  year  of  ten  months*,  at  the  end  of  which 
period  if  the  principal  was  not  repaid,  the  interest  was  fre- 
quently added  to  it  (versurd),  and  the  principal  was  often  thus 
gradually  raised  to  several  times  its  original  amount,  and  a 
debt  accumulated  which  could  never  be  discharged.  The 
creditors  were  generally  the  patricians  either  in  their  own 
names  or  as  the  patrons  of  their  clients,  in  whose  hands  were 
all  branches  of  trade,  banking  included  :  the  debtors  were  the 
plebeians,  who  were  solely  devoted  to  agriculture.  For  after 
the  abolition  of  royalty,  the  patricians,  having  gotten  the  go- 
vernment into  their  own  hands,  ceased  to  pay  the  tithes  off  the 
public  lands  which  they  held  ;  and  all  the  booty  acquired  in 
war  was  reduced  in  publicum,  that  is,  brought  into  the  chest 
of  i\\e  populus ;  they  had  also  the  money  paid  for  protections, 
licenses,  etc.  by  the  clients,  and  consequently  were  rich.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  tribute  was  rigorously  exacted  from  the 
plebeians,  whose  little  farms  lying  frequently  at  a  distance 
from  Rome,  were  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  the  enemy,  their 
houses  were  burnt,  their  cattle  carried  off,  their  farming  im- 
plements destroyed.  Add  to  this,  that  the  loss  of  the  lands 
beyond  the  Tiber  had  reduced  many  families  to  absolute  beg- 
gary, and  further,  that  the  patricians  actually  excluded  their 
plebeian  countrymen  from  all  share  in  the  public  pastures. 
We  may  thus  see  how  the  bulk  of  the  plebeians  may  have 
been  deeply  in  debt  and  driven  to  a  state  of  despair  by  the 
rigour  of  their  creditors. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  a  spark  will  kindle  a  conflagration. 
When  (259)  Appius  Claudius  and  P.  Servilius  were  consuls, 
an  old  man  covered  with  filth  and  rags,  with  squalid  hair  and 
beard,  pale  and  emaciated,  rushed  one  day  into  the  forum  and 
implored  the  aid  of  the  people,  showing  the  scars  of  wounds 
received  in  eight  and  twenty  battles.     Several  recognising  in 

*  Beside  the  ordinary  lunar  year  of  twelve  months,  the  Romans  appear 
to  have  used,  for  particular  purposes,  the  cyclic  year  of  ten  months,  borrowed 
from  the  Tuscans.  See  Niebuhr  on  the  Secular  Cycle,  Hist,  of  Rome,  i.  270, 
and  our  introduction  to  Ovid's  Fasti,  §  2. 


B.C.  492.]  ROMAN  LAW  OF  DEBT.  61 

him  one  who  had  been  a  gallant  captain,  eagerly  inquired  the 
cause  of  his  present  wretched  appearance.  He  said  that  while 
he  was  serving  in  the  Sabine  war,  his  house  and  farm-yard 
had  been  plundered  and  burnt  by  the  enemy  ;  the  tributes  had 
nevertheless  been  exacted  of  him ;  he  had  been  obliged  to 
borrow  money  ;  principal  and  accumulated  interest  had  eaten 
up  all  his  property  ;  the  sentence  of  the  law  had  given  himself 
and  his  two  sons  as  slaves  to  his  creditor.  He  then  stripped 
his  back  and  showed  the  marks  of  recent  stripes.  A  general 
uproar  arose ;  all,  both  in  and  out  of  debt  (nexi  and  soluti), 
assembled  and  clamoured  for  some  legal  relief.  With  dif- 
ficulty a  sufficient  number  of  senators  (such  was  their  terror) 
could  be  brought  together.  Appius  proposed  to  employ  force, 
Servilius  was  for  milder  courses.  Just  then  news  arrived  that 
the  Volscians  were  in  arms  ;  the  people  exulted,  telling  the 
patricians  to  go  fight  their  own  battles,  and  refused  to  give 
their  names  for  the  legions.  The  senate  then  empowered  Ser- 
vilius to  treat  with  them.  He  issued  an  edict  proclaiming 
that  no  one  who  was  in  slavery  for  debt  should  be  prevented 
from  serving  if  he  chose,  and  that  as  long  as  a  man  was  under 
arms  no  one  ^^hould  touch  his  property  or  keep  his  children  in 
bondage.  All  the  pledged  (nexi)  who  were  present  then  gave 
their  names,  the  bound  (aa'dicii)  hastened  on  all  sides  from 
their  dungeons,  and  a  large  army  took  the  field  under  the  con- 
sul. The  Volscians  w^ere  defeated,  their  town  of  Suessa  Po- 
metia  was  taken,  and  the  plunder  given  up  to  the  army.  An 
Auruncan  army  which  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Volscians  v/as 
routed  a  few  days  after  near  Aricia.  Servilius  led  home  his 
victorious  army  full  of  hopes ;  but  these  hopes  w^ere  bitterly 
deceived,  when  the  iron-hearted  Appius  ordered  the  debtor 
slaves  back  to  their  prisons  and  assigned  the  pledged  to  their 
creditors.  But  the  people  stood  on  their  defence,  and  repelled 
the  officers  and  those  who  went  to  aid  them,  at  the  same  time 
calling  on  Servilius  to  perform  his  promises.  The  consul,  by 
attempting  to  steer  a  middle  course,  lost  favour  with  both  par- 
ties, and  the  year  pas:^ed  away  without  anything  being  done. 
The  next  year  (260),  when  the  consuls,  A.  Virginius  and 
T.  Vetusius,  attempted  to  levy  an  army,  the  people  refused  to 
give  their  names.  They  now  also  held  nocturnal  meetings  in 
their  own  quarters  on  the  Aventine  and  Esquiline,  to  concert 
measures  of  resistance,  and  even  went  so  i'ar  as  to  demand  a 
total  abolition  of  debts.  A  portion  of  the  patricians  were 
willing  to  purchase  peace  even  on  these  terms  ;  others  thought 


62  SECESSION  TO  THE  SACRED  MOUNT.         (^ B.C.  492. 

it  might  suffice  to  restore  their  liberty  and  property  to  those 
who  had  served  the  year  before :  Appius  averred,  that  wan- 
tonness, not  poverty,  was  the  disease  of  the  people,  and  that  a 
dictator,  from  whomtherewasno  appeal, would  soon  curethem. 
It  was  resolved  therefore  to  try  the  effect  of  the  dictatorship, 
and  the  more  violent  party  would  have  risked  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  state  by  placing  Appius  himself  in  the  office  ;  but 
the  milder  and  more  prudent  succeeded  in  appointing  M.  Va- 
lerius, in  whom  they  knew  the  people  would  confide. 

The  dictator  issued  an  edict  similar  to  that  of  Servilius; 
the  people  in  reliance  on  his  name  and  power  readily  gave 
their  names  ;  and  ten  legions*  were  raised,  four  for  the  dicta- 
tor, three  for  each  consul.  Valerius  marched  against  the  Sa- 
bines,  one  consul  against  the  Volscians,  the  other  against  the 
iEquians,  who  had  joined  their  kindred  people.  Victory  was 
everywhere  with  tlie  Romans,  ^^alerius,  on  his  return,  lost  no 
time  in  bringing  the  affair  of  the  pledged  before  the  senate, 
and  finding  he  could  get  no  measure  of  relief  passed,  he  laid 
down  his  office.  The  people,  satisfied  that  he  had  kept  his 
faith,  received  him  with  acclamations,  and  attended  him  in 
token  of  honour  from  the  forum  to  his  house. 

The  dictator's  army  had  been  disbanded,  but  either  one  or 
both  of  the  consular  armies  was  still  under  arms.  The  ple- 
beians who  formed  it,  seeing  no  chance  of  legal  relief,  made 
L.  Sicinius  Bellutus  their  leader,  crossed  the  Auio,  and  en- 
camped on  an  adjacent  eminence  in  the  Crustumine  district, 
three  miles  distant  from  the  city  ;  the  consuls  and  the  patricians 
who  were  among  them  were  dismissed  without  injurj%  The  ple- 
beians of  the  city  meantime  occupied  the  Aventine,  and  there 
was  every  prospect  of  affairs  coming  to  civil  war  and  blood- 
shed :  for  we  must  bear  in  mind,  that  the  patricians,  the  ori- 
ginal pqp2</?<s  of  Rome,  must  have  been  still  a  numerous  body  ; 
they  w^ere  of  a  martial  character,  like  eveiy  body  of  the  kind, 
and  their  numerous  clients  stood  faithfully  by  them  on  all  oc- 
casions; thej^  were  also  the  government,  and  had  the  means 
of  negotiating  for  foreign  aid.  Moreover  the  hills  of  Rome 
were  all  fortresses,  like  the  Capitol,  their  sides  being  made 
steep  and  abrupt,  and  any  attempt  to  carry  the  Palatine,  for 
instance,  might  have  cost  much  blood. 

Both  sides  were  aware  that  the  issue  of  the  conflict  might 
be  doubtful,  and  that  the  ^quians  and  Volscians  or  the  Etrus- 
cans might  take  advantage  of  it  to  ruin  Rome.    A  mutual  wish 

*  This  is  incredible ;  for  at  the  Alia  the  Romans  had  onl)-  four  legions. 


B.C.  4-92.]  TREATY  WITH  THE  PLEBEIANS.  63 

for  accommodation,  therefore,  prevailed  ;  and  the  patricians, 
having  strengthened  themselves  by  an  alliance  with  the  Latins, 
deputed  the  Ten  First  of  the  senate  to  the  plebeian  camp  to 
treat  of  peace.  One  of  these,  named  Agrippa  Menenius,  is 
said  to  have  addressed  on  this  occasion  the  following  apologue 
to  the  people  : — 

"  In  those  times  when  all  Avas  not  at  unity,  as  now,  in  man, 
but  every  member  had  its  own  plans  and  its  own  language,  the 
other  members  became  quite  indignant  that  they  should  all 
toil  and  labour  for  the  belly,  while  it  remained  at  its  ease  in 
the  midst  of  them  doing  nothing  but  enjoying  itself.  They 
therefore  agreed  among  themselves  that  the  hands  should  not 
convey  any  food  to  the  mouth,  nor  the  mouth  receive  it,  nor 
the  teeth  chew  it.  But  while  they  thus  thought  to  starve  the 
belly  out,  they  found  themselves  and  the  whole  body  reduced 
to  the  most  deplorable  state  of  feebleness,  and  they  then  saw 
that  the  belly  is  by  no  means  useless,  that  it  gives  as  well  as 
receives  nourishment,  distributing  to  all  parts  of  the  body  the 
means  of  life  and  health." 

Having  propounded  this  fable,  the  meaning  of  which  was 
obvious*,  ^lenenius  and  his  colleagues  proceeded  to  treat,  and 
a  peace  was  made  and  sworn  to  by  the  two  orders.  By  this 
treaty  all  outstanding  debts  were  cancelled,  and  all  who  were 
in  slavery  for  debt  were  set  at  liberty  ;  but  the  plebs  neither 
regained  the  consulate  nor  any  other  honours  ;  for  the  senate, 
with  the  usual  wisdom  of  an  aristocracj',  contrived  to  separate 
the  interests  of  the  lower  order  of  plebeians  from  those  of  their 
gentry,  by  making  individual  sacrifices  in  the  remission  of 
debts,  while  they  retained  the  solid  advantages  of  place  and 
power  for  their  order.  They  also  managed  to  have  no  altera- 
tion made  in  the  law  of  debt.  The  plebeians,  having  offered 
sacrifice  to  Jupiter  on  the  mount  where  they  had  encamped, 
which  thence  was  named  the  Saci'ed  Mount  (^Mons  Sacer^-\, 
returned  to  their  former  dwellings. 

*  By  the  belly  must  be  understood  the  monied  men,  not  the  government; 
that  would  have  been  the  head.  T.  Quinctius  Flamininus  seeing  Philopoemen, 
the  Achaean  general,  with  plenty  of  hoplites  and  horsemen,  but  without 
money,  said  (alluding  to  his  make),  "  Philopoenien  has  legs  and  arms,  but 
no  belly."  (Plut.  Apoph.  Reg.  et  Imp.,  Opera,  vol.  viii.  p.  144.  ed.  Hutten.) 
Shakspeare,  by  the  way,  has  narrated  this  fable  most  admirably  in  the  first 
scene  of  his  Coriolanus. 

■f  It  is  in  truth  the  niost  hallowed  spot  in  Roman  topography.  The  Anio 
meanders  at  its  foot  as  at  the  time  of  the  secession,  and  no  convent,  church, 
or  other  edifice  is  on  it  to  disturb  the  association  of  ideas. 


64?  THE  TRIBUNATE.  [b.C.  492. 

But  the  real  gain  of  the  plebeians,  and,  as  it  proved,  of  the 
patricians  also,  was  the  making  the  tribunate  an  inviolable 
magistracy.  Hitherto  it  was  with  danger  to  themselves  that 
the  tribunes  of  the  plebshad  attempted  to  give  the  protection 
secured  to  the  people  by  the  Valerian  law  :  now,  in  the  solemn 
compact  between  the  orders,  it  was  declared  that  any  one  who 
killed  or  injured  a  tribune  should  be  accursed  (sacer,  i.  e.  out- 
lawed), and  any  one  might  slay  him  with  impunity,  and  his 
pi-operty  was  forfeit  to  the  temple  of  Ceres.  The  house  of 
the  tribune  stood  open  night  and  day,  that  the  injured  might 
repair  to  it  for  succour.  The  number  of  tribunes  in  the  new- 
modeled  tribunate,  and  Avhowere  elected  on  the  Sacred  Mount, 
was  two,  C.  Licinius  and  L.  Albinius;  to  these,  three  more, 
among  whom  was  Sicinius,  were  afterwards  added,  and  there 
thus  was  one  for  each  of  the  Classes  by  which  they  were  elect- 
ed*. It  is  remarkable,  as  an  instance  of  the  efforts  made  by 
the  patricians  to  keep  up  their  power,  that  the  election  of  the 
tribunes  required  the  confirmation  of  the  curies. 

The  tribunes  were  purely  a  plebeian  magistracy,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  their  order,  and  its  protectors  against  the  su- 
preme power.  They  could  not  act  as  judges  or  impose  pe- 
nalties on  offending  patricians ;  they  could  only  bring  them 
before  the  court  of  the  commonalty.  And  here  it  must  be 
remarked,  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  national  law  of  ancient  Italy, 
that  a  people  who  had  been  injured,  either  collectively  or  in 
the  person  of  one  of  its  members,  had  the  right  of  trying  the 
offender,  whom  his  countrymen,  if  there  was  a  treaty  with 
them,  were  bound  to  give  up  for  the  purpose.  For  it  was 
expected  that  sworn  judges  would  be  more  likely  to  acquit 
him  if  innocent,  than  his  gentiles  or  tribesmen  to  condemn 
him  if  guilty  f. 

Another  plebeian  office,  said  to  have  been  instituted  (more 
probably  modified)  at  this  time,  was  the  ^dileship.  The 
aediles  acted  as  judges  under  the  tribunes,  they  kept  the  ar- 
chives of  the  plebs  in  the  temple  of  Ceres,  which  was  under 
their  care,  and  their  persons  were  sacred  like  those  of  the 
tribunes  J. 

*  The  right  of  electing  the  tribunes  was  afterwards  transferred  to  the 
tribes. 

f  How  much  more  consonant  to  justice  is  our  own  practice  of  trying  by 
a  mixed  jury  of  natives  and  foreigners!  Yet  perhaps  it  would  not  have 
answered  in  those  times. 

J  C'ato  ap,  Festus,  v.  Sacrosanctus. 


B.C.  492.]  PEACE  WITH  THE  LATINS.  65 

The  time  of  the  consular  election  having  come  on  during 
the  secession,  the  populus  had  appointed  Sp.  Cassius  Viscel- 
linus  and  Postumius  Cominius,  who  had  already  been  consuls, 
and  a  treaty  was  forthwith  concluded  with  the  Latins,  the  ex- 
istence of  which  enabled  the  patricians  to  make  such  advan- 
tageous terms  with  the  plebeians.  A  sketch  of  the  Latin 
constitution  may  here  be  useful. 

We  have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  notice  the  predi- 
lection of  the  ancients  for  political  numbers.  That  of  the 
Latins,  the  Albans,  and  the  Romans  was  thirty,  or  rather 
three  tens  ;  and,  therefore,  as  Rome  had  her  thirty  curies  and 
tribes,  so  Latium  consisted  of  a  union  of  thirty  towns.  Each 
of  these  towns  had  its  senate  of  one  hundred  members,  di- 
vided into  ten  decuries,  the  decurion  or  foreman  of  each  of 
which  was  deputed  to  the  general  senate  of  the  nation,  which 
assembled  at  the  grove  and  fount  of  Ferentina,  and  thus,  like 
that  of  Rome,  contained  three  hundred  members.  The  union 
among  the  Latin  towns,  though  less  close  than  that  among 
the  Roman  tribes,  was  much  more  intimate  than  the  Greek 
federations  in  general,  and  they  always  acted  as  one  state,  with 
a  common  interest.  Each  city  had  its  dictator,  one  of  whom 
was  dictator  over  the  whole  nation,  and  its  head  in  war  and 
in  the  performance  of  the  great  national  religious  rites. 

The  treaty  now  made  on  terms  of  perfect  equality  between 
the  two  nations,  shows  how  Rome  had  fallen  from  her  power 
under  her  kings.  It  was  to  this  effect : — "  There  shall  be  peace 
between  the  Romans  and  Latins  as  long  as  heaven  and 
earth  shall  keep  their  place;  andtheyshallneitherwarthemselves 
against  each  other,  nor  instigate  others  to  do  so,  nor  grant  a 
safe  passage  to  the  enemies ;  and  they  shall  aid  one  another, 
when  attacked,  with  all  their  might ;  they  shall  share  equally 
between  them  the  spoils  and  booty  gained  in  common  wars ; 
private  suits  shall  be  decided  within  ten  days,  in  the  place 
where  the  engagement  was  made :  nothing  may  be  added  to 
or  taken  from  this  treaty  without  the  consent  of  the  Romans 
and  all  the  Latins*." 

Among  the  spoils  of  war  mentioned  in  this  treaty  was  the 
territory  won  from  conquered  states,  which  was  usually  added 
to  the  public  land,  and  the  Latins  had  a  demesne  of  this  kind 
as  well  as  the  Romans.  The  Latins  also  had  their  equal  share 
in  the  colonies  which  were  planted.  These  Roman,  or  rather 
Italian  colonies,  were  of  a  totally  different  nature  from  those 

*  Dionys.  vi.  05. 


1 

66  WAR  WITH  THE  VOLSCIANS.  [b.C.  489. 

of  the  Greeks  *  ;  they  were  garrisons  placed  in  a  conquered 
town  to  keep  it  in  subjection.  To  these  colonists,  who  were 
usually  three  hundred  in  number,  a  third  of  the  lands  of  the 
conquered  people  was  assigned,  and  the  government  was  placed 
in  their  hands,  they  being  to  the  original  inhabitants,  who  re- 
tained the  rest  of  their  lands,  what  the  populus  at  Rome  was 
to  the  commonalty. 

The  Volscians,  after  the  defeat  they  had  sustained  in  the 
year  260,  remained  quiet  for  some  time.  Their  elective  king 
Attus  Tullius,  however,  deeming  that  advantage  might  be 
taken  of  the  divisions  at  Rome,  which  would  prevent  effectual 
aid  being  given  to  the  Latins,  resolved,  if  possible,  to  rekindle 
the  war,  and  he  used  the  following  occasion  for  that  purpose f. 

In  the  year  263  I  the  Great  Games  at  Rome  were  celebrated 
anew.  For,  some  time  before,  when  they  were  commencing 
and  the  procession  of  the  images  of  the  gods  was  about  to 
go  round  the  Circus  to  hallow  it,  a  slave,  whom  his  master  had 
condemned  to  death,  was  driven  through  it  and  scourged.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  this  circumstance,  and  the  games  went 
on ;  but  soon  after  the  city  was  visited  by  a  pestilence,  and 
many  monstrous  births  occurred.  The  soothsayers  could  point 
out  no  remedj%  At  length  Jupiter  appeared  in  a  dream  to  a 
countiyman,  named  T.  Latinius,  and  directed  him  to  go  tell 
the  consuls  that  the  praeluder  (prcesulfor)  had  been  displeasing 
to  him.  Fearing  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  magistrates,  Lati- 
nius did  not  venture  to  go  near  them.  A  few  days  after  his 
son  died  suddenly,  and  the  vision  again  appeared,  menacing 
him  with  a  greater  evil  if  he  did  not  go  to  the  consuls.  The 
simple  man  still  hesitated,  and  he  lost  the  use  of  his  limbs. 
He  then  revealed  the  matter  to  his  kinsmen  and  friends,  and 
they  all  agreed  that  he  should  be  carried  as  he  was,  in  his  bed, 
to  the  consuls  in  the  Forum.  By  their  direction  he  was 
brought  into  the  senate-house,  and  there  he  told  the  wonderful 
tale  ;  and  scarcely  had  he  completed  it,  when,  lo  !  another 
miracle  took  place ;  vigour  returned  all  at  once  to  his  limbs, 
and  he  left  the  senate-house  on  his  feet. 

The  games  Avere  now  renewed  with  greater  splendour  than 
ever.  The  neighbouring  peoples,  as  usual,  resorted  to  them  ; 
for  in  Italy,  as  in  Greece  and  Asia,  all  solemn  festivals  were 

*  See  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  chap.  iv. 

-}■  The  legend  of  Coriolanus,  which  will  be  related  below,  is  assigned  to 
this  war  by  Livy  and  others. 

X  The  year  afterthat  of  the  battle  of  Marathon. 


B.C.  486— i84.]       WAR  WITH  THE  VOLSCIANS.  67 

seasons  of  sacred  peace*.  Among  those  who  came  were 
numbers  of  Volscians.  Attus  Tullius  went  secretly  to  the  con- 
suls^ and  reminding  them  of  the  unsteady  nature  of  his  coun- 
trymen, expressed  his  fears  lest,  emboldened  by  their  num- 
bers, they  should  disturb  the  sanctity  of  the  feast  by  some 
deed  of  violence.  The  senate  in  alarm  had  proclamation 
made  for  all  the  Volscians  to  quit  Rome  by  sunset.  They 
departed  in  deep  indignation  ;  at  the  spring  of  Ferentina  they 
were  met  by  Tullius,  who  had  gone  on  before  ;  he  exagge- 
rated the  insult  which  had  been  offered  them  in  the  face  of  so 
many  Italian  peoples,  and  they  retired  to  their  several  towns 
breathing  vengeance. 

The  Volscians  were  joined  by  the  ^quians,  who  were  at 
that  time  more  powerful  than  they.  The  Roman  and  Latin 
colonists  were  driven  out  of  Circeii,  and  their  place  was  taken 
by  Volscians.  The  country  thence  to  Autium  (of  which  place 
the  Volscians  also  made  themselves  masters)  was  conquered. 
The  combined  armies  entered  the  Roman  territory  (266),  but 
there  a  quarrel  relative  to  the  supreme  command  broke  out 
between  them,  and  they  turned  their  arms  against  each  other. 

In  the  year  268  the  consul  Sp.  Cassius  concluded  a  league 
with  the  Hernicans  similar  to  that  with  the  Latins.  As  the 
political  number  of  the  Sabellians,  to  whom  the  Hernicans 
belonged,  was  four,  and  they  were  to  receive  a  third  of  con- 
quests and  booty,  it  follows  that  fourf  Hernicans  could  only 
receive  as  much  as  three  Romans  or  Latins.  This  close  union 
among  the  three  states  was  caused  by  their  common  appre- 
hensions from  the  Ausonian  peoples,  M'ho  were  now  at  the 
height  of  their  power. 

*  Hence  the  Israelites  are  assured  (Exodus,  xxxiv.  24.)  that  no  man 
should  '  desire  their  land  '  when  they  went  up  to  their  three  great  festivals. 

t  The  cohorts  of  the  Hernicans  contained  400  men  (Liv.  vii.  7.),  those 
of  the  Samnites  the  same  number  {Id.  x.  40.)  ;  the  Samnite  legion  had 
4000  men  {Id.  viii.  'SS  ;  x.  38  ;  xxii.  24.).  The  Marsian  confederacy  (see 
above,  p.  5)  consisted  of  four  states,  so  also  did  the  Samnite  ;  and  that  the 
Hernicans  were  so  divided,  is  inferred  by  Niebuhr  (ii.  84.)  from  the  1000 
colonists  sent  to  Antium  by  the  three  allied  nations  (Liv.  iii.  5.)  ;  that  is,  he 
says,  400  Hernicans,  one  hundred  for  each  canton;  300  Romans  for  the 
three  tribes  of  houses;  300  Latins  for  the  three  decuries  of  their  towns. 
He  further  concludes  that  the  number  of  the  Hernican  towns  was  forty.  {lb. 
85.) 


68  THE  PUBLIC  LAND.  -  [b.C.  ^S^. 


CHAPTER  II  * 

The  Public  Land. — Agrarian  law  of  Spurius  Cassius. — The  Consulate. — 
Volscian  wars. — Veientine  war. — The  Fabii  at  the  Cremera. — Siege  of 
Rome. — Murder  of  the  tribune  Genucius. — Rogation  of  Volero  Publillus. 
— Defeat  of  the  Roman  army. — Death  of  Appius  Claudius. 

The  year  268  is  also  memorable  in  the  annals  of  Rome  as  that 
of  the  agrarian  law  of  Sp.  Cassius  Viscellinus,  the  demand  for 
the  execution  of  which  proved  for  so  many  years  a  source  of 
bitterness  and  anger  between  the  two  orders.  To  understand 
this  matter  aright,  we  must  view  the  origin  and  nature  of  the 
Roman  public  land. 

The  small  territory  about  the  Palatine  belonging  to  the  city 
of  Romulus  was,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose,  equally  divided 
among  the  ten  curies  of  the  Ramnes.  The  householders,  of 
whom  there  were  one  hundred  in  each  cury,  had  each  a  garden 
of  two  jugers  (one  of  arable,  one  of  plantation  land),  which 
was  termed  a  heredium,  and  one  hundred  of  these  heredia,  or 
two  hundred  jugers,  formed  the  century  or  district  of  the  cury. 
But  these  ten  centuries  did  not  compose  the  whole  of  the  land  ; 
a  part  was  assigned  for  the  service  of  the  gods  and  for  the 
royal  demesnes,  and  another  portion  remained  as  common  or 
public  landf.  This  last  was  all  grass-land,  and  every  citizen 
had  a  right  to  feed  his  cattle  on  it,  paying  so  much  a  head 
grazing-money  to  the  state.  We  may  suppose  the  two  com- 
munities which  formed  the  remaining  tribes  of  regal  Rome  to 
have  had  their  lands  similarly  divided,  if  not  originally,  at 
least  subsequently  ;  for  it  was  the  maxim  in  ancient  Italy,  as 
all  over  the  East,  and  even  among  ourselves  J,  that  all  landed 
property  proceeded  from  the  sovereign ;  and  therefore  when- 
ever any  community  received  the  Roman  franchise,  it  made  a 
formal  surrender  of  its  lands  to  the  state,  and  then  received 
them  back  from  it.  Hence  Ave  hear  of  assignments  of  land  by 
the  early  kings  to  the  three  tribes  and  to  the  plebs ;  for  the 
Latin  communities,  which  in  the  time  of  king  Ancus  began  to 
form  this  last  body,  of  course  surrendered  and  received  again 
their  lands  in  the  usual  manner. 

*  Livy,  ii.  41-Gl.     Dionys.  viii.  71-ix.  .'54,  the  Epitomators. 
"f  See  above,  p.  15.  %  Blackstone,  book  ii.  ch.  7. 


B.C.  484.]  THE  PUBLIC  LAND.  69 

The  original  property*  of  the  three  patrician  tribes  there- 
fore consisted  of  the  six  thousand  jugers  which  formed  their 
heredia,  of  their  original  common  land,  and  of  all  that  had 
been  acquired  previous  to  the  formation  of  the  plebs  ;  this  was 
their  property,  and  could  not  be  affected  by  any  law.  But 
when  the  plebs  was  increased,  and,  as  the  infantry  of  the  le- 
gion, was  a  chief  agent  in  the  acquisition  of  territory,  it  was 
manifest  that  it  had  a  right  to  a  share  in  what  was  won.  Ser- 
vius  therefore  enacted,  that  after  every  conquest  a  portion  of 
the  arable  land  which  had  been  gained  should  be  assigned  in 
property  to  such  plebeians  as  required  it,  in  lots  or  farms  of 
seven  jugers  apiece,  and  they  were  also  to  have  the  use  of  the 
public  pastures  in  common  with  the  patricians  on  the  same 
conditions.  Tiie  remainder  of  the  arable  land  was  the  pro- 
perty of  the  state  ;  the  use  or  enjoyment  of  it  under  the  name 
oVpossession  (subject  to  resumption  at  any  time)  was  given  to 
the  patricians  exclusively ;  for  this  they  were  bound  to  pay 
the  state  annually  a  tithe  or  tenth  of  the  produce  of  the 
corn-lands  and  two-tenths  of  that  of  vine-yards  and  olive- 
yardsf.  These  possessions  were  transmitted  by  inheritance, 
and  transferred  by  sale,  as  it  was  only  in  extreme  cases  that 
the  state  exercised  its  power  of  resumption ;  and  though 
the  plebeians  could  not  originally  occupy  the  public  land, 
they  might  buy  the  use  of  portions  of  it  from  the  patrician 
occupants. 

To  gain  the  commonalty,  at  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of 
Tarquinius,  the  patricians  decreed  an  assignment  of  seven  ju- 
gers apiece  to  the  plebeians  out  of  the  royal  demesnes.  But 
as  soon  as  the  cause  of  tlie  tyrant  had  become  hopeless,  and 
they  had  monopolised  the  supreme  power,  they  turned  out  of 
the  public  land  those  of  the  plebeians  who  had  acquired  the 
use  of  it  in  the  way  above  described  ;  and,  what  was  still  more 
iniquitous,  they  ceased  to  pay  the  tithes  off  the  lands  which 
they  possessed  ;  so  that  the  tribute  of  the  plebeians  had  to  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  wars,  etc.,  while  the  booty  acquired  was 
usually  sold,  and  the  produce  diverted  to  the  public  chest  of 
the  patricians  (in  publicum).  Hence,  as  we  have  seen,  came 
the  distress  of  the  plebeians  and  the  secession. 

It  was  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  this  state  of  things  that 
that  excellent  citizen  and  truly  great  man  Sp.  Cassius,  who  in 

*  The  propertij  of  tlie  patricians  all  lay  within  the  circuit  of  five  miles 
round  the  city. 
■}•  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  i.  7. 


70  AGRARIAN  LAW  OF  SP.  CASSIUS.  [b.C.  483. 

his  first  consulship  had  overcome  the  Sabines,  in  his  second 
formed  the  treaty  with  the  Latins,  and  in  his  third  that  with 
the  Hernicans ;  in  his  third  also  brought  forward  an  agrarian 
law,  directing,  that  of  the  land  acquired  since  the  time  of  king 
Servius,  a  part  should  be  assigned  to  the  plebeians,  the  por- 
tion of  the  populus  be  set  out,  and  tithe  be  paid  as  formerly 
off  all  the  occupied  land.  This  law  was  passed  by  the  senate 
and  the  curies,  but  the  execution  of  it  was  committed  to  the 
consuls  of  the  following  year,  and  the  ten  oldest  co7isulars'^ 
of  the  greater  houses, — men  the  most  apt  to  make  it  a  dead 
letter,  as  they  actually  did.  At  the  expiration  of  his  office 
(269)  Cassius  was  accused  of  treason  before  the  curies,  by  the 
quaestorsf  Caeso  Fabius  and  L.  Valerius,  and  was  condemned 
to  death  and  executed  more  majorum.,  that  is,  scourged  and 
beheaded  ;  his  house  was  razed,  and  its  site  left  desolate^,  but 
his  law  remained,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  avenged  him  on  his 
murderers. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  (but  one  which  seems  to 
be  clearly  ascertained,)  that  the  Ramnes  and  Titienses  among 
the  patricians  seem  to  have  aimed  at  excluding  the  Luceres 
as  well  as  the  plebeians  from  the  government ;  for  from  the 
institution  of  the  consulate  to  the  year  253,  M.  Horatius  is  the 
only  consul  of  the  third  tribe.  In  this  year  however  they  re- 
covered their  right,  and  when  we  call  to  mind  that  Sp.  Cassius 
was  consul  the  preceding  year,  we  may  feel  inclined  to  regard 
that  eminent  man  as  the  author  of  the  change.  The  consul  of 
the  greater  houses  was  named  the  Consul  Major,  and  he  took 
precedence  of  his  colleague.  This  inferiority  of  the  Luceres 
was  marked  on  all  occasions.  In  the  senate  none  of  them  but 
the  consulars  were  authorised  to  speak.  The  consulars  of  the 
greater  houses  were  called  on  first  to  give  their  opinions,  then 
those  of  the  lesser  houses,  next  the  senators  of  the  greater 
houses,  and  finally  those  of  the  lesser  silently  voted  §. 

*  That  is,  those  who  had  been  consuls.  The  proper  term  here  would  be 
prcEtorians.     See  above,  p.  58. 

f  The  qucsstores paricidii.     See  above,  p.  18. 

J  The  common  account  of  his  being  condemned  by  the  people  (the  Plebs) 
is  quite  erroneous.  He  had  committed  no  offence  against  them  ;  the  people 
who  tried  and  condemned  him  was,  as  Livy  says,  the  Populus,  though  he 
meant  the  Plebs. 

§  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  20.  Dionys.  vi.  69,  vii.  47.  Niebuhr  (ii.  112-1 14) 
has,  we  think,  made  this  quite  clear.  It  is  this  writer's  opinion,  that  the 
minores  and  juyiiores  Patrum  of  Livy,  the  vewrepoi  of  Dionysius,  are  in 
reality  the  lesser  houses,  and  not  the  younger  patricians.  See  his  History 
of  Rome,  vol.  ii.  note  668,  and  the  places  there  referred  to. 


B.C.  483.]  THE  CONSULATE.  71 

The  year  269,  that  of  the  execution  of  Sp.  Cassius,  was,  as 
it  would  seem,  also  that  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  major 
houses  again  to  monopolise  the  consulate ;  for  during  seven 
successive  years  we  find  one  of  the  consuls  always  a  Fabius;  a 
thing  which  could  hardly  have  been  the  result  of  mere  chance. 
It  is  therefore  probable,  that  in  reliance  on  their.allies,  the  La- 
tins and  Hernicans,  the  elder  houses  thought  they  might  ven- 
ture on  extending  their  power ;  and  as  the  house  of  the  Fabii 
was  by  far  the  strongest  among  them,  they  agreed  to  let  them 
have  for  their  co-operation  one  seat  in  the  consulate  in  perpe- 
tuity *.  As  by  one  of  the  Valerian  laws  the  centuries  had  the 
right  of  choice  among  the  patrician  candidates,  which  choice 
was  then  to  be  confirmed  by  the  senate  and  curies,  and  as  this 
course  would  never  suit  their  present  design,  and  they  more- 
over feared  the  election  of  some  one  who  might  be  disposed  to 
avenge  the  murder  of  Sp.  Cassius,  the  senate  and  curies  in  269 
boldly  nominated  Cseso  Fabius  and  L.  iEmilius  to  the  consu- 
late, and  then  convened  the  centuries  to  confirm  the  election  ; 
but  these  refused  to  consent  to  the  abolition  of  their  i-ights, 
and  quitted  the  field  without  voting.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
commonalty  that  the  grasping  ambition  of  the  patricians  sought 
to  exclude  the  lesser  houses,  the  larger  portion  of  their  own 
body,  from  the  consulate,  and  thus  forced  them  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  the  plebs,  which  gave  these  last  time  to  dis- 
cover their  own  strength  and  to  put  it  foi'thf. 

Though  the  patricians  had  passed  the  agrarian  law,  nothing 
was  further  from  their  thoughts  than  to  let  it  be  executed,  and 
they  sought  to  keep  up  a  continued  state  of  war ;  for  while  the 
legions  were  in  the  fieUl  the  Forum  was  empty, and  the  tribunes 

*  A  similar  agreement  would  seem  to  have  been  made  with  the  Valerii  at 
the  beginning  of  the  republic,  as  (omitting,  as  Livy  does,  the  consuls  of  248,) 
there  was  one  of  them  in  the  consulate  in  each  of  the  first  five  years.  The 
Valerii  and  Fabii  were  both  Titienses.     See  also  p.  43. 

"f  It  was  probably  during  the  period  contained  in  this  Part  of  our  history 
that  the  legendary  portion  of  the  Roman  annals  was  invented.  To  assign, 
however,  the  exact  age  of  any  of  these  fictions  is  hardly  possible  ;  all  must 
be  mere  conjecture.  Still  we  would  venture  to  place  the  origin  of  the  tale 
of  Hercules  and  Cacus  in  the  present  time,  and  view  it  as  a  patrician  inven- 
tion. Thus  we  may  observe,  that  Cacus,  the  bad  one,  dwelt  on  the  Aventine, 
the  plebeian  quarters,  while  the  abode  of  Evander,  the  good  man,  was  on 
the  Palatine,  where  the  patricians  chiefly  resided.  Cacus  stole  the  oxen  of 
Hercules,  the  patron  of  the  Fabian  gens,  and  the  plebeians,  according  to  the 
view  of  the  patricians,  were  endeavouring  to  rob  them,  whose  leaders  were 
•  the  Fabii,  of  the  lands  on  which  their  oxen  pastured.  For  the  legend  see 
Virgil,  ^n.  viii.  184  seq.     Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  543  seq.     Liv.  i.  7. 


72  VOLSCIAN  AND  VEIENTINE  WARS.    [b.C.  483-480. 

had  no  auditors.  The  consul,  Q.  Fabius,  therefore  (269)  led 
an  army  against  the  Volscians  and  ^Equians  ;  but  he  withheld 
the  plunder  from  his  victorious  troops,  and  directed  it  to  be 
sold,  and  the  produce  to  be  brought  into  the  patrician  chest. 
The  next  year  the  consul,  L.  x^milius,  fought  with  indifferent 
success  against  the  Volscians.  In  the  following  year  (271), 
when  the  consul,  M.  Fabius,  was  proceeding  to  enroll  troops  for 
the  war,  the  tribune,  C.  Msenius,  forbade  the  levies  unless  the 
agrarian  law  was  executed.  But  the  consuls  went  to  tlie  mile 
from  the  city,  at  the  temple  of  Mars*,  where  the  tribunician 
power  ended,  and  erected  their  tribunal;  they  then  summoned  all 
who  were  bound  to  serve,  and  they  seized  the  property  and 
burned  and  plundered  the  farms  ofsuch  as  did  not  appear.  These 
forced  levies  were  led  by  the  consul,  L.  Valerius,  against  the 
Volscians  ;  but  the  soldiers,  though  they  fought  with  courage, 
would  not  gain  a  victory  and  booty  for  the  consul  and  the  pa- 
tricians, Avhom  they  hated,  and  Valerius  returned  without  fame. 

It  would  appear  that  the  greater  houses  had  now  become 
aware  of  the  danger  of  division  in  their  order,  and  that  they 
effected  a  permanent  union  with  the  lesser  houses  ;  for  we  find 
the  senate  in  271  appointing  Appius  Claudiusf,  with  one  of 
the  Fabii,  to  the  consulate.  But  the  tribunes  and  the  plebs 
were  to  a  man  against  Claudius  ;  the  tribunes  would  not  suffer 
the  curies,  the  consuls  would  not  allow  the  tribes,  to  assemble 
for  the  elections,  and  the  year  expired  without  any  consuls 
being  created.  In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  (272)  A.  Sem- 
pronius  Atratinus,  the  warden  of  the  city +,  as  interrex,  assem- 
bled the  centuries,  who  elected  C.  Julius,  a  member  of  the 
lesser  houses,  as  the  colleague  of  Q.  Fabius,  who  was  perhaps 
also  their  choice.  A  war  with  the  Veientines  commenced  this 
year,  but  no  event  of  importance  occurred. 

The  year  272§  was  marked  by  a  formal  compromise  between 
the  patricians  and  the  commonalty,  securing  to  tlie  centuries 
the  choice  of  one  of  the  consuls,  and  leaving  the  appointment 
of  the  other  with  the  senate  and  the  curies,  whose  nominee  was 
now  the  Consul  Major\\.     The  patricians  made  Casso  Fabius 

*  This  temple  was  beyond  the  Capene  gate.  It  stood  on  an  eminence 
near  the  future  Appian  Road. 

•|"  The  Claudii,  though  of  Sabine  origin,  were  among  the  Luceres. 

J   Custos  or  Prirfectus  Urhis. 

§   The  year  of  the  invasion  of  Greece  by  Xerxes. 

y  He  was  first  the  consul  of  the  Ranines,  then  of  the  greater  houses. 
See  p.  70. 


B.C.  •i'TQ-lTS.]  VEIENTINE  WAR.  75 

consul  for  the  ensuing  year  (273),  and  the  centuries  gave  him 
Sp.  Furius  for  his  colleague.  The  tribune,  Sp.  Licinius,  at- 
tempted to  stop  the  levies  on  account  of  the  agrarian  law,  but 
the  patricians  had  adopted  the  prudent  expedient  of  procuring, 
by  means  of  their  clients  in  the  classes,  and  by  their  own  per- 
sonal influence,  the  election  of  tribunes  favourable  to  their 
order,  and  Licinius  was  accordingly  opposed  by  his  own  col- 
leagues. Two  armies  were  levied  ;  one  was  sent  under  Furius 
against  the  iEquians,  the  other  under  Fabius  against  the  Vei- 
entines.  The  former  army,  under  the  consul  of  their  choice, 
fought  cheerfully  ;  and  their  general,  in  return,  divided  the 
booty  among  them.  The  case  was  widely  different  with  the 
troops  of  Fabius.  They  engaged  the  Veientines  and  put  them 
to  flight,  but  they  would  not  pursue  them  or  attack  their  camp ; 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  night  they  broke  up,  and  abandoning 
their  own  camp  to  the  enemy,  set  out  for  Rome. 

The  consuls  of  the  next  year  (274)  were  M.  Fabius  and 
Cn.  Manlius  ;  the  former,  of  course,  the  nominee  of  the  houses. 
ButtheFabiihad  now  seen  the  folly  of  attempting  to  govern  the 
state  on  oligarchic  principles,  and  they  were  therefore  become 
sincerely  anxious  to  conciliate  the  commonalty.  The  tribune, 
Ti.  Pontificius,  attempted  in  vain  to  oppose  the  levies,  on  ac- 
count of  the  agrarian  laAv;  his  four  colleagues  were  unanimous 
against  him;  the  armies  were  raised, and  led  by  the  two  consuls 
into  the  Veientine  territor\' ;  but,  warned  by  the  example  of  the 
preceding  year,  the  consuls,  fearing  to  engage  the  enemy,  kept 
their  men  close  in  their  camp.  The  Veientines,  who  had  been 
largely  reinforced  by  volunteers  from  all  parts  of  Etruria,  see- 
ing the  inactivity  of  the  Romans,  and  aware  of  the  cause,  in- 
creased in  confidence  ;  they  rode  up  to  the  ramparts  of  their 
camp,  daring  them  to  come  forth,  and  upbraiding  them  with 
their  cowardice.  The  Romans  were  filled  with  indignation  ; 
they  sent  their  centurions  to  the  consuls,  entreating  to  l)e  led 
to  battle  :  the  consuls,  secretly  well-pleased,  affected  to  hesi- 
tate, and  declaring  that  the  proper  time  was  not  yet  arrived, 
forbade  any  one  on  pain  of  death  to  leave  the  camp.  This 
served,  as  they  had  expected,  but  to  augment  the  ardour  of  the 
soldiers ;  the  Etruscans  grew  more  and  more  audacious  :  the 
patience  of  the  Romans  could  hold  out  no  longer;  they  pressed 
to  the  consuls  from  all  parts  of  the  camp,  demanding  the  battle. 
"  Swear,  then,"  cried  M.  Fabius,  "  that  ye  will  not  return  but 
as  conquerors."  Their  spokesman,  the  centurion,  M.  Flavo- 
leius,  took  the  oath  first,  the  rest  followed  him ;  they  seized 

E 


74  iEQUIAN  WAR.  [b.C. 'iTS-l'YT. 

their  arms,  issued  from  the  camp,  and  soon  stood  displayed  in 
array  of  battle.  The  Etruscans  had  hardly  time  to  form  when 
the  Romans  fell  on  them  sword  in  hand.  The  Fabii  were  fore- 
most in  the  attack.  Quintus,  the  consul  of  the  year  272,  re- 
ceived a  mortal  wound;  his  brother,  the  consul,  rushed  forward, 
calling  on  his  men  to  remember  their  oath  ;  a  third  brother, 
Cseso,  followed ;  the  soldiers  manfully  obeyed  the  call,  and 
drove  back  the  troops  opposed  to  them.  Manlius  was  also 
victorious  on  the  other  wing ;  but  as  he  was  pressing  on  the 
yielding  foe  he  received  a  wound,  which  obliged  him  to  retire. 
His  men  thinking  him  slain,  fell  back  ;  but  the  other  consul, 
coming  with  some  horse  and  crying  out  that  his  colleague  was 
alive,  restored  the  battle.  Meantime  a  part  of  the  Tuscan 
troops  had  fallen  on  the  Roman  camp  ;  those  left  to  guard  it, 
unable  to  i-esist  them,  fell  back  to  the  pr(etoriiim*,  and  made 
a  stand  there,  sending  to  inform  the  consuls  of  their  danger. 
Manlius  hastened  to  the  camp,  and  placing  guards  at  all  the 
gates,  fell  on  the  invaders,  who,  driven  to  desperation,  formed 
into  a  close  body  and  rushed  on  the  consul.  Manlius  received 
a  mortal  wound  ;  those  around  him  were  dispersed  ;  a  gate  was 
then  prudently  opened,  at  which  the  Tuscans  gladly  hurried 
out,  but  they  fell  in  with  the  troops  of  the  victorious  consul, 
and  were  most  of  them  cut  to  pieces.  The  victory  was  com- 
plete ;  the  honour  of  a  triumph  was  decreed  to  Fabius,  but  he 
declined  it  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  brother  and  his  col- 
league ;  he  distributed  the  wounded  soldiers  among  the  patri- 
cians (his  own  gens  taking  the  larger  number),  by  whom  they 
were  tended  with  the  greatest  care. 

So  perfect  was  the  reconciliation  now  between  the  Fabii  and 
the  people,  that  at  the  next  election  (275)  Caeso,  the  accuser 
of  Sp.  Cassius,  was  the  choice  of  the  centuries,  the  patricians 
nominating  T.  Virginius  Tricostus.  Without  waiting  for  it  to 
be  urged  by  the  tribunes,  Caeso  Fabius  called  on  the  senate  to 
put  the  agrarian  law  into  execution ;  but  he  and  his  house  were 
reviled  as  traitors  and  apostates  from  their  former  principles, 
and  his  proposals  treated  with  scorn.  The  plebeians,  gratified 
by  his  conduct,  cheerfully  took  the  field  under  him  against  the 
^quians,  and  having  invaded  and  ravaged  their  territory,  hast- 
ened to  the  relief  of  the  other  consul,  who  had  been  defeated 
and  was  surrounded  by  the  Veientines. 

The  Fabian  house,  finding  that  there  was  no  chance  of  in- 

*  That  is  the  quarters  of  the  consul,  or  more  properly  prater.     See 
above,  p.  58. 


B.C.  4^7 7 -^75.']       THE  FABII  AT  THE  CREMERA.  75 

ducing  their  order  to  act  with  justice  towards  the  plebs,  and 
that  they  were  themselves  become  objects  of  aversion  to  their 
former  friends,  resolved  to  abandon  Rome,  and  to  form  a  se- 
parate settlement,  where  they  might  still  be  of  service  to  their 
country.  The  place  they  fixed  on  was  the  banks  of  the  Cre- 
mera,  a  stream  in  the  Veientine  territory.  Led  by  the  consul 
Caeso,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  six,  accompanied 
by  their  wives  and  children,  and  followed  by  a  train  of  clients 
and  friends,  said  to  have  amounted  to  fo.-.v  thousand,  they  is- 
sued on  the  ides  of  February  through  the  right-hand  Janus  of 
the  Carmentalgate*,  attended  by  the  prayers  of  the  people; 
and  coming  to  the  Cremera  raised  their  fortress,  whence  they 
scoured  withoutceasing  the  v.diole  Veientine  territory,  destroy- 
ing the  lands  and  carrying  off  the  cattle.  After  some  months 
the  Veientines  assembled  a  large  army  to  assail  the  fortress  of 
the  Cremera;  but  L.  iEmilius,  one  of  the  new  consuls  (276), 
led  his  troops  against  them,  and  gave  them  a  defeat,  which  was 
followed  by  a  truce  for  a  year.  On  the  expiration  of  the  truce 
(277)  the  Fabii  resumed  hostilities.  The  Veientines,  unable 
to  cope  with  them  in  the  field,  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  They 
laid  an  ambush  in  the  hills  round  a  small  plain,  toward  which 
they  caused  herds  of  cattle  to  be  driven  in  view  of  the  fortress. 
The  Fabii  instantly  sallied  forth,  and  while  they  were  dispersed 
in  pursuit  of  the  oxen  the  Tuscans  came  dov.n  on  them  from 
the  woody  hills,  where  they  had  lain  concealed,  and  surrounded 
them.  The  Fabii  fought  with  desperation,  and  finally  breaking 
through  the  enemies  retired  to  the  summit  of  a  hill ;  but  there 
they  were  again  environed,  and  every  one  of  them  was  slain. 
Their  fortress,  deprived  of  its  defenders,  was  taken  and  dis- 
mantled f. 

Another  account  said  that  the  Fabii  had  set  out  unarmed 
for  Rome  to  perform  the  annual  sacrifices  of  their  gens  on  the 
Quirinal.  The  Veientines  collected  a  large  army,  and  lay  in  am- 
bush on  the  way ;  the  Fabii,  who  were  proceeding  carelessly  as 
in  time  of  peace,  were  assailed  on  all  sides  by  showers  of  mis- 
siles from  their  cowardly  foes,  and  all  fell  with  many  wounds  J. 

*  In  after-times  it  was  considered  unlncky  to  go  out  at  this  gate. 

t  See  Ovid,  Fasti,  ii.  195  seq. 

J  The  whole  gens  it  is  said  perisiied,  except  a  child  that  was  left  at  Rome. 
But  as  this  Fabius  was  consul  ten  years  after,  he  must  have  been  a  man  at 
the  time.  From  his  subsequent  history  it  would  appear  that  he  had  adhered 
to  the  old  politics  of  the  family,  and  on  that  account  did  not  share  in  the 
migration. 

E  2 


76  TREATY  OF  PEACE  CONCLUDED.   [b.C.  475-473. 

The  18th  of  July*  of  the  year  2T7  was  the  day  rendered 
memorable  in  the  annals  by  the  fall  of  the  Fabii,  about  two 
years  and  five  months  from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Rome. 
That  they  were  sacrificed  by  the  oligarchy  at  home  is  highly 
probable,  for  the  consul,  T.  Menenius,  was  encamped  but  four 
miles  off,  and  he  made  no  effort  whatever  to  aid  them.  His 
treachery  or  inaction,  however,  did  not  avail  him ;  the  Tuscans 
came  and  attacked  and  defeated  him  ;  and  if  they  had  not 
delayed  to  plunder  the  camp,  they  might  have  destroyed  the 
whole  Roman  army.  The  fugitives  filled  the  city  with  con- 
sternation, the  fort  on  the  Janiculan  was  abandoned,  the  Sub- 
lician  bridge  broken  down,  and  Avord  sent  to  the  consul  C. 
Horatius,  who  was  out  against  the  Volscians,  to  hasten  to  the 
defence  of  the  city. 

The  Etruscans,  meantime,  had  encamped  on  the  Janiculan, 
whence  they  frequently  passed  over  the  river  and  ravaged  the 
country.  The  peasantry  fled  Avith  their  cattle  into  the  city  for 
safety,  and  famine  now  began  to  be  felt.  As  was  the  usual 
practice  in  such  cases,  the  cattle  were  driven  out  under  a  guard, 
into  the  fields  on  the  side  of  the  city  away  from  the  river ;  ere 
long  the  Etruscans  crossed  the  Tiber  in  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  carry  them  off:  but  they  fell  into  an  ambush  near  the  temple 
of  Hope-]-,  about  a  mile  from  the  city,  and  received  a  severe 
check.  Soon  after  the  whole  army  passed  over  in  the  night 
on  rafts,  and  attacked  the  camp  of  the  consul  Servilius  before 
the  Colline  gate,  but  they  there  met  with  another  repulse.  The 
famine,  however,  was  so  urgent  (for  no  supplies  could  be 
brought  in),  that  it  was  of  absolute  necessity  tliat  something 
decisive  should  be  done.  Accordingly  the  two  consular  armies 
passed  the  river  at  different  points  ;  that  of  Servilius  assailed 
the  Janiculan,  but  was  repulsed,  and  would  have  been  driven 
into  the  river,  but  that  his  colleague,  Virginius,  came  up  and 
fell  on  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Tuscans  ;  the  other  army  then 
turned,  and  tlie  enemy  was  finally  defeated,  and  forced  to  aban- 
don the  Janiculan.  A  truce  for  ten  months  was  then  concluded. 
At  its  expiration  (279),  the  consul,  P.  Valerius,  defeated  the 
Veientines  and  a  Sabine  army  under  the  walls  of  Veii.  The 
following  year  a  peace  or  rather  truce  for  forty  years  was 
concluded  ;  and  it  was  probably  at  this  time  that  the  lands 

*  More  properly  the  16th  (Postr.  Id.  Quinct.).     See  Niebuhr,  ii.  531. 
f  This  temple  was  without  the  walls  ;   by  the  Emporium,  it  is  supposed, 
beyond  the  Avenline. 


B.C.  473-471  ■]     MURDER  OF  THE  TRIBUNE  GENUCIUS.  77 

beyond  the  Tiber  were  restored  to  the  Romans,  and  not  by 
the  romantic  generosity  of  Porsenna. 

We  must  now  take  a  view  of  the  internal  state  of  Rome 
during  this  time. 

As  soon  as  the  Veientines  had  retired  in  278,  the  tribunes 
impeached  T.  Menenius  for  suffering  the  Fabii  to  be  destroyed. 
As  they  merely  wanted  to  have  him  declared  guilty,  they  laid 
the  penalty  at  only  2000  asses  ;  the  curies  condemned  him,  and 
grief  and  indignation  at  this  desertion  of  him  by  his  own  order 
broke  his  heart,  and  he  died  *.  Servilius  was  next  impeached 
for  having  caused  the  loss  of  so  many  lives  by  his  attack  on 
the  Janiculan  ;  but  he  defended  himself  with  spirit,  and,  as 
was  just,  was  acquitted.  In  the  year  after  the  peace  (281) 
the  tribune  Cn.  Genucius  summoned  the  consuls  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  L.  Furius  and  C.  Manlius,  to  answer  before  the 
plebsfor  not  having  carried  the  agrarian  law  into  effect.  The 
tribune  offered  sacrifice  before  the  people  in  the  Forum,  call- 
ing down  curses  on  his  head  if  he  did  not  proceed  ;  the  accused 
saw  that  the  danger  of  their  being  outlawed,  at  the  least,  was 
imminent ;  and  it  was  decided  at  a  secret  meeting  of  the  pa- 
tricians to  do  a  deed  which  should  strike  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  the  plebeians. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  trial,  the  people 
were  all  assembled  in  the  Forum,  waiting  for  the  appearance 
of  Genucius.  As  he  delayed,  they  began  to  suspect  that  he 
had  been  terrified  into  an  abandonment  of  the  prosecution  ; 
but  presently  his  friends,  who  had  gone  according  to  custom 
to  attend  him  to  the  Forum,  arrived  and  told  that  he  had  been 
found  dead  in  his  bed,  though  without  any  marks  of  violence. 
His  body  was  brought  forth  ;  the  tribunes  and  the  people  were 
filled  with  terror,  and  fled  from  the  spot;  the  patricians  exult- 
ing in  their  success  boasted  openly  of  their  deed  ;  and  with 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  carry  their  plans  into  effect,  the  con- 
suls ordered  a  levy,  that  they  might  get  the  most  offensive  of 
their  adversaries  into  their  hands  and  put  them  to  death.  The 
tribunes  feared  to  interfere,  and  had  the  consuls  refrained 
from  insult  they  might  have  succeeded. 

Volero  Publilius  Philo,  whohad  served  as  a  first  centurion, 
was  called  out  as  a  common  soldier.  As  no  charge  could  be 
made  against  him,  he  refused  to  serve  in  an  inferior  station. 
The  lictors  were  sent  to  seize  him;  he  appealed  to  the  tribunes; 

*  He  was  the  son  of  Agrippa  Menenius,  Dionys.  ix.  27.     Liv.  ii.  52. 


78  ROGATION  OF  VOLERO  PUBLILIUS.    [3.0.470-469. 

the  consuls  ordered  the  lictors  to  strip  and  scourge  him.  Vo- 
lero,  a  powerful  man,  flung  them  from  him,  and  rushed  among 
the  people,  calling  on  them  to  aid  him.  The  lictors  were 
beaten  and  their  fasces  broken,  the  consuls  fled  into  the  senate- 
house  ;  the  people,  however,  used  their  victory  with  modera- 
tion, and  quiet  v.'as  restored  in  part  through  the  prudence  of 
the  elder  senators. 

The  next  year  (282)  Volero  was  chosen  one  of  the  tribunes; 
and  instead  of  avenging  his  private  quarrel  by  imjieaching  the 
consuls,  he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  procuring  of  permanent 
advantages  for  his  order.  He  brought  in  a  bill  to  give  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  tribunes  to  the  tribes  instead  of  the  centuries, 
where  the  patricians  exercised  so  much  influence  by  means  of 
their  clients.  As  two  of  his  colleagues  supported  him,  and  a 
majority  was  decisive  at  that  time  in  the  college  of  the  tribunes, 
the  patricians  found  themselves  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
other  means  of  stopping  the  measure. 

A  tribunician  rogation  resembled  a  bill  in  the  British  parlia- 
ment in  this  circumstance,  that  if  not  carried  through  all  its 
stages  in  the  limited  period,  (in  the  latter  case  the  session,  in 
the  former  a  single  day,)  it  had  to  be  commenced  anew.  The 
magistrates  and  senators  had  moreover  the  power  of  opposing 
any  motion  of  the  tribunes  which  concerned  the  whole  repub- 
lic ;  and  thus,  without  any  factious  design,  a  debate  might  be 
prolonged  to  sunset.  But  the  patricians  had  another  mode  of 
impeding  the  proceedings  of  the  tribunes.  Thej'^  and  their 
clients  used  to  spread  themselves  over  the  Forum;  and  when 
it  was  necessary  that  the  ground  should  be  cleared,  and  the 
plebeians  left  alone  to  vote  in  their  tribes,  and  they  were 
therefore  requested  to  withdraw,  (that  is,  to  walk  over  to  their 
Comitium,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rostra,)  they  would  refuse; 
this  would  cause  a  tumult,  and  so  all  proceedings  would  be 
stopped  for  the  day.  The  military  expeditions  formed  another 
impediment ;  for  the  clients,  who  were  not  required  to  serve, 
outnumbered  the  plebeians  who  remained  at  home. 

By  means  of  this  kind  the  bill  of  Publilius  was  defeated  time 
after  time  to  the  end  of  his  year.  But  the  people  re-elected 
him  (283),  and  gave  him  for  a  colleague  C.  Loetorius,  a  man 
of  great  energy  and  intrepidity.  The  patricians  on  their  side 
raised  the  ferocious  Ap.  Claudius  to  the  consulate  :  the  choice 
of  the  centuries  was  T.  Quinctius  Capitolinus,  a  member  of  the 
greater  houses,  and  a  man  of  just  and  moderate  sentiments. 

The  tribunes  required  that  both  the  tribunes  and  the  aediles 


B.C.  469.]         ROGATION  OF  VOLERO  PUBLILIUS.  79 

should  be  chosen  by  the  tribes ;  they  further  proposed  a  re- 
solution declaring  that  the  plebs,  in  their  tribes,  were  entitled 
to  deliberate  on  matters  affecting  the  whole  state.  This  the 
patricians  resolved  to  oppose  to  the  utmost ;  the  tribunes  on 
their  side  were  as  determined  ;  and  on  the  eve  of  the  import- 
ant day  Laetorius  thus  concluded  his  address  to  the  j^eople : 
— "  Since  I  am  not  so  ready  at  speaking  as  at  acting,  be  here 
tomorrow,  Romans,  and  I  will  either  die  in  your  sight  or  carry 
the  law."  In  the  morning  the  tribunes  entered  the  Forum  ; 
the  consuls  were  also  present ;  the  patricians  mingled  with  the 
plebeians,  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  law.  Lcetorius  di- 
rected all  to  withdraw  but  those  who  were  to  vote  :  the  pa- 
tricians took  no  notice :  he  ordered  the  officers  (viafores)  to 
seize  some  of  them  ;  Appius,  in  an  insulting  manner,  denied  his 
right  to  do  so  ;  the  intrepid  tribune  in  a  rage  sent  his  officer 
to  arrest  the  consul ;  Appius  ordered  a  lictor  to  seize  Laeto- 
rius ;  the  plebs  hastened  to  the  defence  of  the  tribune,  the 
patricians  to  that  of  the  consul.  Blood  would  have  been  shed 
but  for  the  efforts  of  the  consulars,  Mho  forced  Appius  away 
to  the  senate-house,  and  of  Quinctius,  who  appeased  the  peo- 
ple :  they  however  went  up  and  occupied  the  Capitol  in  arms. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  plebs  passed  the  resolution 
before  sunset.  The  senate,  despite  of  the  fury  of  Appius  and 
his  party,  yielded  to  the  suggestions  of  the  more  moderate  and 
prudent,  and  silently  adopted  it  as  a  law ;  though  the  more 
far-sighted  saw  that  more  was  yielded  by  it  than  had  been 
done  at  the  Sacred  Mount.  Measures  might  now  originate  in 
the  assembly  of  the  tribes,  where  (not  as  in  that  of  the  centu- 
ries) there  was  freedom  of  debate  ;  these  were  to  be  followed 
by  a  decree  of  the  senate,  and  then  to  be  ratified  by  the  cu- 
ries. 

It  may  appear  strange  that  the  patricians  (a  part  of  whom 
had  so  lately  been  able  to  lord  it  over  the  rest  of  their  own, 
body,  as  well  as  the  plebs)  should  be  now  so  feeble.  But 
their  allies,  the  Latins  and  Hernicans,  were  at  this  time  too 
hard  jjressed  themselves  to  be  able  to  give  them  any  aid  ;  and 
the  preponderance  which  the  lesser  houses  had  acquired,  had 
naturally  excited  jealousy  in  the  older  ones,  and  thus  inclined 
them  to  the  plebs.  And  doubtless  there  must  have  been  among 
the  patricians  many  men  of  liberal  and  elevated  minds,  who 
wished  to  see  justice  done  ;  there  were  others  also  connected 
by  marriage  with  plebeian  families. 

It  being  necessary  to  send  armies  against  the  Volscians  and 


80  DEATH  OF  APPIUS  CLAUDIUS.  [b.C.  468. 

i^ilquians  in  defence  of  their  allies,  the  tribunes  did  not  oppose 
the  levies,  though  an  opportunity  would  be  thereby  afforded 
to  Appius  of  exercising  his  fury  and  revenge.  He  led  there- 
fore an  army  against  the  Volscians,  while  Quinctius  advanced 
against  the  ^Equians.  It  was  a  contest  between  Appius  and 
his  troops;  he  sought  to  drive  them  to  despair  by  invectives 
and  by  intolerable  commands  ;  tliey  resolved  to  show  him  that 
he  could  not  bend  tliem  to  his  will.  His  orders  were  neglect- 
ed, curses  awaited  him  every  time  he  appeared  ;  and  when  at 
length  he  led  his  troops  out  to  battle,  they  made  no  resistance 
to  the  foe,  but  turned  and  fled.  The  Volscians  pursued  them, 
slaughtering  the  rearmost,  to  their  camp,  which  however  they 
did  not  venture  to  attack.  The  consul  called  his  troops  to  an 
assembly ;  the  soldiers,  fearing  to  go  unarmed,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom, refused  to  attend.  His  officers  besought  Apjoius,  and  he 
gave  way,  and  issued  orders  for  a  retreat  next  day.  At  dawn 
the  trumpet  sounded ;  the  Volscians,  aroused  by  the  sound, 
came  forth  and  fell  on  the  retiring  army ;  a  general  panic 
seized  the  Romans,  they  flung  away  their  arms  and  standards, 
and  fled  in  confusion.  On  the  Roman  territory  the  consul  held 
his  court;  want  of  arms,  and  the  consciousness  of  having  acted 
wrong,  enfeebled  the  soldiers,  and  the  patricians  and  the  allies 
were  at  hand  to  assail  them  if  they  mutinied.  At  the  com- 
mand of  Appius,  every  centurion  who  had  left  his  place,  and 
every  tenth  common  soldier,  was  seized,  scourged  and  be- 
headed. 

The  following  year  (284)  the  tribunes  impeached  Appius 
Claudius  for  his  opposition  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  his 
having  laid  violent  hands  on  a  tribune,  and  having  caused  loss 
and  disgrace  to  his  army.  Appius  disdained  to  use  any  of  the 
usual  modes  of  obtaining  favour  ;  he  would  not  put  on  a  mean 
dress,  or  personally  supplicate  those  who  were  to  try  him  ;  his 
language  breathed,  as  ever,  haughtiness  and  defiance ;  the  people 
quailed  before  him  ;  the  tribunes  put  off  the  day  of  trial.  But 
ere  the  day  arrived,  the  haughty  Appius  was  no  more  ;  his  own 
hand  had  terminated  his  existence.  The  deed,  which  the  Ro- 
man religion  condemned,  was  concealed  ;  his  body  was,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  brought  forth  for  interment :  his  son  claim- 
ed to  have  the  usual  funeral  oration  pronounced  over  it ;  the 
tribunes  attempted  opposition,  but  the  people  would  not  carry 
their  enmity  beyond  the  tomb,  and  listened  calmly  to  his 
praises,  now  that  he  had  ceased  from  troubling. 


B.C.  4'68-4'66.]  VOLSCIAN  WAR.  81 


CHAPTER  III* 

Volscian  War. — Legend  of  Coriolanus. — The  Terentilian  Law. — Seizure  of 
the  Capitol  by  the  exiles. — Dictatorship  of  Cincinnatus. — The  First  De- 
cemvirate. — The  Second  Decern  virate. — Sicinius  Dentatus. — Fate  of  Vir- 
ginia.— Abolition  of  the  Decemvirate. 

The  Volscians,  the  -^quians  and  the  Sabines  were  now  the 
constant  opponents  of  the  Romans,  the  Latins  and  the  Herni- 
cans.  In  284  nothing  of  importance  occurred  ;  but  the  next 
year,  while  the  disptttes  were  warm  at  Rome  on  account  of  the 
agrarian  laws,  the  flight  of  the  peasantry  and  tlie  smoke  of 
the  burning  farm-houses  announced  the  approach  of  a  Volscian 
army.  Troops  were  hastily  levied,  the  enemy  retired,  but  was 
overtaken  and  routed  near  Antiura,  and  the  neighbouring  sea- 
port of  Ceno  came  over  to  the  Romans.  The  Sabines,  who 
had  meantime  entered  the  Roman  territory,  were  attacked  and 
driven  off  with  loss  by  the  consular  armies  on  their  return. 

The  next  year  (286)  the  Sabines  extended  their  ravages 
over  the  Anio,  and  to  the  very  Colline  gate  ;  but  the  consul 
Q.  Servilius  Priscus  obliged  them  to  retire,  and  v/asted  their 
territory  in  return.  The  other  consul,  T.Quinctius.had  march- 
ed against  the  Volscians  of  Antiura.  After  an  indecisive  bat- 
tle, the  Volscians,  being  joined  by  an  ^^iquian  army,  surround- 
ed the  Roman  camp  in  the  night  to  prevent  a  retreat.  The 
consul,  having  calmed  the  apprehensions  of  his  men,  set  the 
trumpeters  and  horn-blowers  on  horseback  out  before  the 
rampart,  ordering  them  to  sound  all  through  the  night.  The 
enemy,  expecting  a  sally,  remained  under  arms  while  the  Ro- 
mans took  their  rest.  At  dawn  the  consul  led  out  his  army  ; 
the  Volscians,  exhausted  with  watching,  retired  after  a  feeble 
resistance  to  the  summit  of  a  rugged  hill ;  the  Romans,  heed- 
less of  the  missiles  which  were  showered  down  on  them,  won 
their  way  up  to  the  top,  and  the  Volscians  fled  down  the  other 
side.  The  Volscian  colonists  at  Antium  then  agreed  to  eva- 
cuate the  town,  and  their  place  was  taken  by  one  thousand 
colonists  from  the  three  allied  peoples  f. 

*  Livy,  ii.  61. — iii.  59.     Dionys.  is.  55. — xi.  46.  the  Epitomators. 
f  See  above,  p.  67,  note  f. 

E  5 


82  voLSCiAN  WAR.  [b.c.  462-475. 

For  some  years  there  was  a  cessation  of  hostilities  between 
the  Romans  and  the  Volscians  ;  but  the  ^quians  were  still  in 
arras,  the  expelled  colonists  of  Antium  and  their  exiled  parti- 
sans fighting  with  the  utmost  zeal  under  their  banners.  In 
289  the  jEquians  advanced  as  far  as  Mount  Algidus,  where 
they  pitched  their  camp.  The  consul  T.  Quinctius  came  and 
encamped  opposite  them :  but  they  made  a  sudden  irruption 
into  the  Roman  territory  ;  the  country-folk,  who  expected  no 
such  event,  had  not  time  to  convey  their  property  to  the  city, 
or  to  the  strong  paffi'^,  and  the  invaders  carried  off  a  large 
booty. 

The  next  year  (290)  the  Volscians  of  Ecetrae  joined  the 
JEquians.  At  the  urgent  desire  of  the  Hernicans,  the  consul 
Sp.  Furius  was  sent  with  an  army  to  their  defence  ;  but  he  was 
unable  to  oppose  the  superior  forces  of  the  enemj"-,  and  was 
even  so  closely  cooped  up  by  them  in  his  camp,  that  it  was  only 
through  the  Hernicans  that  his  situation  could  be  made  known 
at  Rome.  T.  Quinctius  was  sent  with  an  army  to  his  relief;  but 
Furius  had  meantime  been  himself  wounded,  and  his  brother 
with  one  thousand  of  the  best  men  slain  in  a  sally.  Quinctius 
relieved  the  army  of  Furius,  but  the  other  consul  A.  Postumius 
Albus  had  been  unable  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  ravaging 
the  lands  of  Rome ;  the  peasantry  fled  with  their  cattle  into 
the  city  ;  the  heat  of  the  summer,  joined  with  the  want  of 
pasture,  caused  a  murrain  among  the  cattle,  which  was  follow- 
ed by  a  dreadful  pestilence  among  the  people.  The  Volscians 
and  ^quians  came  and  encamped  within  three  miles  of  Rome 
on  the  road  to  Gabii ;  but  the  country  round,  filled  with  ruins 
and  the  unburied  dead,  offered  nothing  to  plunder  ;  and  fear  of 
the  pestilence,  or  of  the  resistance  the  people  still  might  make, 
■withheld  them  from  attacking  the  city.  They  broke  up  at 
length,  and  proceeded  to  ravage  all  parts  of  Latiura.  The 
spreading  of  the  pestilence  probably  caused  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  after  this,  which  was  followed  by  a  truce;  and  in  295, 
the  Romans,  to  dissolve  the  league  which  they  found  too  strong 
for  them,  concluded  a  separate  peace  with  the  Volscians,  gi- 
ving up  Antium  and  other  towns,  and  entering  into  a  municipal 
relation  t  with  them.  An  advantage  derived  by  Rome  from 
this  war,  disastrous  as  it  was,  was  the  utter  ruin  and  breaking- 

*  A  pagus  was  a  place  on  an  eminence  surrounded  by  a  wall  or  ditch  and 
rampart  for  the  people  to  retreat  to  on  such  occasions  as  the  present. 

•}•  The  municipium  answered  to  the  isopolity  of  the  Greeks  ;  it  conferred 
all  civic  rights  but  those  of  voting  in  the  assemblies,  or  holding  oflace. 


B.C.  457.]  LEOEND  OF  CORIOLANUS.  83 

up  of  the  Latin  union;  several  of  whose  towns  were  obliged 
to  place  themselves  in  a  state  of  dependence  under  her. 

It  is  in  this  war  that  the  celebrated  legend  of  Coriolanus, 
which  has  been  thrown  back  to  the  year  263,  probably  finds 
its  true  place  *. 

Cn.  Marcius,  a  gallant  patrician  youth,  said  the  legend,  was 
serving  in  the  army  which  P.  Cominius  led  in  261  against  the 
Volscians  of  Antium.  The  Volscians  were  defeated,  the  towns 
of  Longula  and  Polusca  were  taken,  and  siege  M^as  laid  to  Co- 
rioli.  During  a  vigorous  assault  of  the  town,  the  Volscian 
army  came  from  Antium,  and  fell  on  the  Romans ;  the  be- 
sieged at  the  same  time  made  a  sally,  but  they  were  driven 
back  h\  a  party  headed  by  Marcius,  who,  entering  the  town 
pell-mell  with  them,  set  fire  to  the  buildings  next  the  wall; 
the  Volscians,  seeing  the  smoke  and  flames,  thought  that  the 
town  was  taken,  and  i-etired.  Corioli  was  thvis  Mon,  and  Mar- 
cius derived  from  it  the  name  of  Coriolanus.  This  and  other 
exploits  made  him  the  darling  of  his  order ;  but  the  plebs 
dreaded  him,  and  refused  him  the  consulate. 

The  next  year  Rome  was  visited  by  a  grievous  famine.  / 
Corn  was  sought  in  all  quarters,  even  as  far  as  Sicily,  whence  ' 
there  came  a  large  supplj^,  part  purchased,  part  the  gift  of  a 
Greek  prince  of  the  island.    It  was  proposed  in  the  senate  to 
distribute  the  gift-corn  gratis  among  the  people,  and  to  sell  the 
remainder  at  a  low  price  ;  but  Marcius  said  that  now  was  the 
time  to  make  them  abolish  the  odious  tribunate,  and  advised  | 
not  to  give  them  the  corn  on  any  other  terms.  When  the  pec-  | 
pie  heard  what  he  had  proposed,  they  became  furious,  and  ' 
would  have  torn  him  to  pieces,  but  that  the  tribunes  summoned 
him  to  appear  before  the  assembly  of  the  tribes.    He  treated 
their  menaces  with  contempt,  and  abated  nought  of  his  haugh- 
tiness ;  but  the  other  patricians  supplicated  for  him.    His  con- 
demnation however  was  certain ;  so  he  quitted  Rome,  and 
went  into  exile  t  to  Antium,  where  he  became  the  guest  of 
Attius  Tullius.     He  offered  the  Volscians  his  services  against 
his  country  ;  they  in  return  gave  him  the  highest  civil  rights  ; 

*  Livy,  ii.  33-35,  39,  40.     Dionys.  vii.  viii.  1-62.   Plut.  Coriolanus. 

•f  Banishment  was  uniinown  to  tlie  Ronian  law  during  the  Republic. 
Cic.  Csecina,  34.  Vat.  9.  An  exul,  that  is,  one  icho  is  out  (see  above,  p.  58), 
afuoruscito,  was  a  person  wlio  left  his  native  city  to  reside  in  one  with  which 
it  had  a  municipal  relation.  The  jus  exulandi  might  be  used  by  any  ac- 
cused person  up  to  the  moment  of  the  very  last  tribes  voting  his  condemna- 
tion. He  was  then  no  longer  a  Roman  citizen,  and  the  interdiction  of  fire 
and  water  prevented  his  return. 


84  LEGEND  OF  CORIOLANUS.  [b.C.  457. 

and  when  TuUius  had  rekindled  the  war  as  above  related  *, 
Marcius  was  appointed  to  be  his  colleague. 

Success  everywhere  attended  the  arms  of  the  exile.  He 
took  the  colony  of  Circeii ;  Satricum,  Longula,  Polusca  and 
Corioli  submitted  ;  Lavinium,  Corbio,  Vitellia,  Trebia,  Lavici 
and  Pedum  opened  their  gates ;  he  pitched  his  camp  at  the 
Cluilian  Ditch,  five  miles  from  Rome  f?  whence  he  ravaged 
the  lands  of  the  plebeians,  sparing  those  of  his  own  order. 

Fear  and  consternation  reigned  in  the  city,  and  resistance 
was  not  thought  of:  the  senate,  the  curies  and  the  plebs  united 
in  a  decree  restoring  Marcius  to  his  civic  rights.     Five  con- 
sulars  bore  it  to  him  ;  but  he  insisted  that  all  the  territory 
taken  from  the  Volscians  should  be  restored,  the  colonies  be 
recalled,  and  the  Volscian  people  received  into  a  municipal  re- 
lation.   He  gave  them  thirty  days  to  consider,  and  led  off  his 
troops  for  that  time.     When  they  were  ended,  the  Ten  First 
of  the  senate  waited  on  him  ;  he  gave  them  three  days  more, 
driving  them  from  his  camp  with  threats.     Next  day  the  fla- 
men,  the  augurs  and  the  other  ministers  of  religion  came  in 
their  sacred  robes  to  try  to  move  him,  but  they  too  sued  in 
vain.    And  now  the  third  day  was  come,  and  were  the  sun  to 
go  down  on  his  wrath,  he  was  to  lead  his  troops  against  the 
defenceless  city.     But  again  Rome  owed  her  safety  to  her 
women.    A  procession  of  her  noblest  matrons,  headed  by  the 
exile's  venerable  mother  Veturia  and  his  wife  Volumnia  lead- 
ing her  two  young  children,  was  seen  to  approach  the  Vol- 
scian camp.     They  entered  and  came  to  his  tent ;  the  tears 
of  his  wife  and  the  other  matrons,  the  threatened  curse  of  his 
aged  parent,  bent  his  haughty  soul.     He  burst  into  tears: 
"  Mother,"  cried  he,  "  thou  hast  chosen  between  Rome  and 
thy  son  ;  me  thou  wilt  never  see  more  ;  may  they  requite 
thee!"     He  embraced  his  wife  and  children,  and  dismissed 
them,  and  next  morning  he  led  off  his  army.  He  lived  among 
the  Volscians  to  a  great  age,  and  often  was  heard  to  say  that 
exile  was  most  grievous  to  an  old  man  ;|; :  when  he  died,  the 
Roman  matrons  mourned  a  year  as  they  had  done  for  Brutus 
and  Poplicola;  and  his  praises,  as  those  of  a  pious  and  upright 
man,  were  handed  down  to  posterity. 

*  See  p.  67. 

f   The  patrician  lands  lay  withinside  of  it.     See  above,  p.  69,  note*. 

X  Fabius,  in  Liv.  ii.  40,  Zonar.  vii.  16.  Some  said  lie  was  assassinated 
by  the  Volscians;  others  (Cic,  Brutus,  11)  that  he  put  an  end  to  himself 
like  Themistocles. 


B.C.  457.3  LEGEND  OF  CORIOLANUS.  85 

We  have  called  this  tale  a  legend,  and  said  that  it  is  in  its 
wrong  place.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  reasons  for  our 
so  doing.  There  was  no  famine  at  Rome  in  262;  there  was 
no  prince,  that  is  tyrant,  in  Sicily  at  that  time ;  the  tribunes 
had  not  the  power  here  ascribed  to  them  till  after  the  year 
280  ;  the  practice  of  naming  persons  from  conquests  they  had 
made  began  with  Scipio  Afncanus*.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
was  a  famine  in  278,  at  which  time  Hiero  was  reigning  at 
Syracuse ;  and  soon  after  there  was  a  violent  dissension  be- 
tween the  orders,  when  the  proposal  ascribed  to  Cn.  Marcius 
may  have  been  made,  and  the  plebs  were  then  strong  enough 
to  punish  any  one  who  attempted  to  do  away  with  any  of 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  state.  Finally,  the  conquests 
ascribed  to  Coriolanus  are  mostly  the  cessions  made  to  the 
Volscians  at  the  peace  of  295. 

Yet  the  story  of  Coriolanus  is  no  mere  fable.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Roman  exiles  \, 
serving  in  the  Volscian  army  in  the  hopes  of  re-entering  Rome 
as  victors,  and  that  he  demanded  their  recall  as  well  as  his  own. 
But  as  these  would  have  reclaimed  their  property  and  have 
sought  vengeance  of  their  enemies,  nothing  could  have  been 
more  dreaded  by  all  parties  than  their  return.  If  then  Cori- 
olanus, to  save  his  country  from  this  affliction,  consented  never 
to  see  it  more,  and  returned  to  exile  when  he  might  have 
entered  Rome  as  a  conqueror,  he  was  every  way  w^orthy  of 
the  fame  he  acquired,  and  his  name  should  ever  be  held  in 
honourable  remembrance  as  that  of  a  true  patriot. 

We  now  return  to  the  internal  history.  The  pestilence  had 
committed  dreadful  ravages;  it  had  carried  off  the  two  con- 
suls, three  of  the  tribunes,  and  a  fourth  of  the  senate,  and,  as 
is  always  the  case,  had  produced  great  dissoluteness  of  man- 
ners. The  patricians,  as  being  a  close  body,  suffered  more  loss 
of  political  strength  than  the  plebeians  ;  many  of  their  houses 
seem  to  have  died  oif,  whose  clientry  mostly  joined  the  plebs. 
Internal  and  external  calamities  combined  to  make  men  aware 
of  the  defects  of  the  existing  institutions,  and  to  induce  them 
to  favour  a  constitutional  reform. 

In  the  year  292  the  tribune  C.  Terentilius  Arsa  look  the 

*  Liv.  XXX.  45. 

+  The  ^I'yaf  es  of  the  Greeks  (see  History  of  Greece,  Part  II.  passim), 
the  fuorusciti  of  the  republics  of  middle  age  Italy.  The  above  is  only 
Niebuhr's  hypothesis,  but  it  is  so  extremely  probable  that  it  is  difficult  not 
to  embrace  it. 


86  THE  TERENTILIAN  LAW.  [b.C.  459. 

opi^orhinity  of  the  absence  of  the  consuls  and  the  legions  to 
propose  a  bill  of  reform,  of  which  the  object  was  threefold  ;  to 
unite  the  two  orders,  and  place  them  on  a  footing  of  equality ; 
to  substitute  a  limited  magistracy  for  the  consulate ;  to  frame 
a  code  of  laws  for  all  classes  of  Romans  without  distinction. 
This  bill  was  passed  by  the  plebs  on  the  return  of  the  consul 
Lucretius,  but  it  was  rejected  by  the  senate  and  the  curies. 

The  next  year  (293)  the  Terentilian  law  was  brought  for- 
ward by  the  whole  college  of  the  tribunes.  The  consuls  to 
impede  them  commenced  a  levy  ;  the  tribunes  resisted  it ;  the 
patricians  and  their  clients  on  their  side  prevented  by  their 
usual  manoeuvres*  the  voting  of  the  tribes.  They  were  headed 
in  these  attempts  by  Cseso  Quinctius,  a  young  man  of  great 
bodily  size  and  strength,  equally  distinguished  by  valour  and 
eloquence,  and  they  frequently  beat  the  plebeians  and  drove 
them  off  the  Forum.  At  length  A.  Virginius,  one  of  the  tri- 
bunes, impeached  Ceeso  under  the  Icilian  law  f.  The  patri- 
cians now  awoke  from  their  dream  and  saw  their  danger, -the 
leading  men  among  them  descended  to  the  humblest  entreaties 
to  save  their  champion,  but  all  was  vain.  To  augment  the 
odium  against  him,  M.  Volscius  Fictor,  a  former  tribune,  came 
forward  and  declared  that  in  the  time  of  the  plague,  as  he  and 
his  elder  brother,  who  was  only  just  recovering  from  it,  were 
passing  through  the  street  named  the  Subura,  they  met  a  party 
of  riotous  youths  headed  by  Cseso,  Avho  picked  a  quarrel  with 
them  ;  his  brother  was  knocked  down  by  Cseso,  and  he  died 
shortly  after  of  the  blow  ;  he  had  himself  applied  to  no  purpose 
for  justice  to  the  consuls  of  the  year.  This  tale  roused  the 
people  to  fury,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  tribunes 
could  save  the  accused  from  them.  Caeso,  who  had  given  ten 
sureties  (each  bound  in  3000  asses),  seeing  his  condemnation 
certain,  retired  secretly  that  very  night  into  Etruria,  and  his 
sureties  had  to  paj^  the  money  to  the  temple  of  Ceres  %. 

The  elder  patricians  began  now  to  think  that  resistance  was 
useless,  and  they  were  anxious  for  an  accommodation  :  not  so 
the  juniors ;  they  M^ere  more  embittered  than  ever,  but  they 

*  See  above,  p.  78. 

•f  Passed  in  the  year  262  ;  its  object  was  the  imposition  of  a  fine  on  any 
one  who  should  impede  a  tribune  when  addressing  the  people.  Dionys. 
vii.  17. 

f  "The  money,"  says  Livy  (iii.  13),  "was  cruelly  exacted  from  his  father." 
If  so,  it  must  have  been  by  the  sureties  ;  but  this  is  a  mere  fiction  to  account 
for  the  narrow  circumstances  in  which  we  shall  find  Cincinnatus. 


i 


B.C.  458.]       SEIZURE  OF  THE  CAPITOL  BY  THE  EXILES.         87 

adopted  a  new  system  of  tactics.  On  court  days  they  and  their 
clients  occupied  the  Forum  and  impeded  the  measures  of  the 
tribunes  in  the  usual  way,  taking  care  that  no  one  should  make 
himself  conspicuous  ;  on  other  days  they  vied  with  each  other 
in  kindness  and  courtesy  toward  the  individual  plebeians.  The 
tribunes,  however,  saw  or  affected  to  see  a  conspiracy  against 
themselves  and  their  order,  and  in  the  next  year  (294)  a  re- 
port was  spread  that  Caeso  had  been  in  the  city,  and  that  a 
plan  was  laid  for  murdering  them  and  the  leading  plebeians, 
and  bringing  back  the  republic  to  what  it  had  been  before  the 
secession.  While  the  minds  of  the  people  were  thus  kept  in 
a  state  of  uncertainty,  cries  of  To  arms  !  and  Tlie  enemies  are 
in  the  city !  were  heard  one  night,  raised  by  persons  who  were 
flying  ibr  their  lives  down  from  the  Capitol  to  the  Forum,  and 
averring  that  the  citadel  was  seized  by  a  body  of  men  who  were 
putting  to  death  all  who  would  not  join  them.  Terror  pre- 
vailed all  through  the  night,  and  guards  were  placed  on  the 
Aventine  and  Esquiline,  and  the  streets  leading  to  them. 

The  morning  revealed  the  truth.  A  body  of  exiles  and  run- 
away slaves  with  the  clients  of  Appius  Herdonius,  a  powerful 
Sabine  who  had  placed  himself  at  their  head,  had  come  down 
the  river  by  night  in  boats,  and  entering  the  city  by  the  Car- 
mental  gate,  (which,  from  a  religious  motive,  m  as  never  closed,) 
had  mounted  to  the  Capitol,  that  was  at  hand,  and  made  them- 
selves masters  of  it.  At  dawn  Herdonius  called  aloud  on  the 
slaves,  but  in  vain,  to  rise  for  their  liberty ;  the  consuls,  on 
their  side,  having  secured  the  gates  and  walls  against  an  attack 
from  without,  which  they  apprehended,  wished  to  assail  the 
Capitol  at  once,  and  began  to  administer  the  military  oath. 
But  the  tribunes,  who  maintained  that  the  whole  was  only 
a  device  of  the  patricians,  and  that  those  on  the  Capitol  were 
nothing  but  their  friends  and  clients,  opposed  the  levy,  saying 
that  now  was  the  time  to  pass  the  bill,  while  the  plebs  were 
under  arms,  and  that  then  those  above  would  go  oft"  as  quietly 
as  they  came.  In  this  confusion  the  consul  P.  Valerius  saved 
his  country  ;  he  implored  the  people  to  consider  the  danger  if 
their  enemies  were  to  learn  that  the  Capitol  was  occupied,  and 
he  pledged  himself  that  when  the  danger  was  over  no  hindrance 
should  be  given  to  the  voting  of  the  assembly,  and  that  if  the 
bill  was  passed  it  should  be  made  law. 

The  word  of  a  Valerius  sufficed  ;  the  plebeians  took  the  oath, 
but  the  day  was  far  spent,  and  the  assault  had  to  be  deferred 
to  the  morrow.     In  the  morning,  being  joined  by  the  Tuscu- 


88  WAR  WITH  THE  jEQUIANS.  [b.C.  456. 

lans,  whom  their  dictator  L.  Mamilius  had  brought  to  their 
aid,  they  began  to  ascend.  The  outlaws  fought  with  despe- 
ration, but  they  were  driven  back ;  a  part  of  them  defended 
the  temple,  and  the  consul  Valerius,  who  led  the  attack,  was 
slain  in  forcing  the  vestibule.  At  length  all  were  killed  or 
taken.  Herdonius,  and  most  probably  Cseso  Quinctius*,  was 
among  the  slain  ;  all  the  prisoners  v/ere  executed.  The  plebs 
assessed  themselves  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  solemn  funeral 
for  the  patriotic  consul. 

The  tribunes  now  called  on  C.  Claudius,  the  remaining  con- 
sul, to  perform  the  promise  of  his  deceased  colleague  ;  but  he 
refused  to  act  by  himself,  and  the  senate  and  curies  made  L. 
Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  the  father  of  Cseso,  consul,  who  breath- 
ing vengeance  against  the  plebeians,  resolved  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  military  oath  they  had  taken  to  Valerius,  and  lead- 
ing them  away  from  Rome  force  them  to  pass  what  laws  the 
senate  pleased.  He  therefore  ordered  them  to  repair  in  arms 
to  the  lake  Regillus,  whither  the  augurs  were  sent  to  consecrate 
a  field  for  the  comitia.  But  the  courage  of  the  patricians  again 
failed  them ;  the  measure  was  abandoned,  on  condition  of 
the  law  not  being  agitated  that  j^ear;  they  tried  also,  but  to 
no  purpose,  to  prevent  the  re-election  of  the  tribunes,  and  they 
were  obliged  to  give  up  an  attempt  at  making  Cincinnatus 
consul  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  following  year  (295)  v.as  that  of  the  peace  with  the 
Volscians.  The  iEquians  were  still  in  arms,  and  in  296  the 
consul  Minucius  was  defeated  by  them  and  besieged  in  his 
camp  on  Mount  Algidus.  An  army  sent  from  Rome  relieved 
him ;  but  as  he  had  lost  the  battle  through  his  own  fault,  he 
was  obliged  to  resign  the  command  to  Q.  Fabius. 

This  event  was  transmitted  in  the  poetic  legendary  form, 
and  being  associated  with  a  celebrated  name,  it  has  come  down 
to  us  in  the  following  manner. 

Tlie  i?iquians,  who  had  been  parlies  to  the  peace  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  now  broke  out,  and  led  by  Gracchus  Cloelius  ra- 
vaged the  lands  of  Latium.  They  encamped  with  their  booty 
on  Mount  Algidus,  whither  Roman  ambassadors  came  to  com- 
plain of  this  breach  of  faith.  The  ^quian  general  insolently 
desired  them  to  make  their  complaint  to  the  oak  beneath  whose 
capacious  shade  he  was  seated.     The  Romans  took  the  oak 

*  Two  years  after  (Livy,  iii.  25.)  he  is  spoken  of  in  a  manner  which 
shows  that  he  was  not  then  living. 


B.C.  4^56.2  DICTATORSHIP  OF  CINCINNATUS.  89 

and  the  gods  to  witness  of  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  de- 
parted. The  consul  Minucius  led  his  army  to  the  Algidus ; 
but  fortune  favoured  the  misdoers,  and  he  was  shut  up  by 
them,  with  a  rampart  raised  round  his  camp.  Five  horsemen 
who  escaped  ere  the  enemy's  lines  were  completed,  brought 
the  tidings  to  Rome ;  it  was  resolved  to  create  a  dictator  ;  and 
the  choice  fell  on  L.  Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  who  was  living 
on  a  small  farm  of  four  jugers  in  the  Vatican  land  beyond  the 
Tiber*.  The  officer  (viator)  sent  to  inform  him  of  his  ap- 
pointment f  found  him  guiding  his  plough  with  nothing  on 
him  but  his  under-garment:];,  it  being  summer-time  ;  he  bade 
him  clothe  himself  to  hear  the  message  of  the  senate  and  the 
Fathers.  Cincinnatus  called  to  his  wife  Racilia  to  fetch  him  his 
toga  §  out  of  the  cottage.  When  he  was  dressed,  the  officer 
saluted  him  as  dictator ;  a  boat  lay  ready  to  convey  him  across 
the  river  ;  at  the  other  side  he  was  received  by  his  three  sons 
and  several  of  his  friends  and  kinsmen  and  a  number  of  the 
patricians,  and  was  conducted  by  them  to  his  abode. 

Before  dawn  next  morning  he  entered  the  Forum,  and  ha- 
ving appointed  L.  Tarquitius,  a  man  brave  but  poor,  to  be 
master  of  the  horse,  he  ordered  all  the  shops  to  be  closed,  all 
business  to  be  suspended  ||,  and  every  one  able  to  serve  to 
appear  by  sunset  without  the  city  with  food  dressed  for  five 
days,  and  with  twelve  palisades.  While  those  who  were  to  march 
were  cutting  their  pales  and  preparing  their  arms,  those  who 
were  to  remain  dressed  the  victuals  for  them.  At  night-fall, 
all  being  ready,  the  -dictator  set  forth  at  their  head,  and  at 
midnight  they  had  reached  the  Algidus,  where  they  halted  near 
the  camp  of  the  enemy.  The  dictator,  having  ridden  forward 
to  take  a  view  of  it,  directed  his  officers  to  make  the  men  lay 
down  their  baggage,  and  with  their  arms  and  palisades  alone 
to  resume  their  order  of  march,  and  having  surrounded  the 
enemy  to  raise  a  loud  shout  and  begin  to  cast  up  a  ditch  and 

*  The  Prata  Quinctia  opposite  tlie  Navalia.     See  p.  484. 

■j-  Pliny,  N.  H.  xviii.  4.  Dionysius  (x.  17.  24.)  and  Livy  (iii.  2C.)  send 
a  solemn  deputation  from  the  senate. 

\  Nudo,  Plin.  ut  sup.  see  our  note  on  Virg.  Georg.  i.  299.  and  conip. 
Isaiah  xx.  2.  Arnold  says  lie  had  on  him  only  the  campestrc ;  but  this 
apron  or  petticoat  was,  we  believe,  only  worn  in  the  exercises  of  the  Campus 
Martins.  He  more  probably  wore  the  ductus  (e^oijuts),  a  short  tunic 
coming  only  to  the  breast,  probably  with  shoulder-straps:  see  Porph.  on 
Hor.  A.  P.  50.  Cell.  vii.  12. 

§  The  toga  was  a  large  white  woollen  shawl  of  a  semicircular  form. 
Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  rendering  it  gown. 

II   This  was  called  a  Jusiitium. 


90  DICTATORSHIP  OF  CINCINNATUS.  [b.C.  456. 

rampart.  His  orders  were  obeyed;  the  shout  pealed  over  the 
camp  of  the  ^quians  to  that  of  the  Romans,  filling  those  with 
terror,  these  with  joy  and  hope.  The  besieged  burst  forth 
from  their  camp,  and  fought  with  the  i?5^qnians  till  the  dawn. 
Meantime  the  dictator's  army  had  completed  their  works,  and 
the  T^quians,  thus  shut  in  and  now  assailed  from  within  and 
without,  sued  for  mercy.  The  terms  granted  were  the  sur- 
render of  Cloelius  and  the  principal  officers,  and  of  their  to^vn 
of  Corbio  with  all  the  property  in  it ;  the  rest,  having  passed 
under  the  yoke,  might  then  depart  unarmed.  Cloelius  and  his 
officers  were  then  laid  in  chains  ;  an  opening  was  made  in  the 
Roman  line ;  two  spears  upright  and  one  across  (the  jugnni, 
or  yoke,)  were  set  up  in  it,  under  which  the  ^quian  soldiers, 
each  with  only  a  single  garment,  marched  out,  their  camp  and 
all  in  it  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  victors.  The  spoil  was 
divided  among  the  liberating  army ;  the  liberated  called  the 
dictator  their  patron,  and  gave  him  a  golden  crown  of  a  pound 
in  weight.  He  entered  the  city  in  triumph  ;  tables  were  spread 
with  provisions  before  all  the  doors  as  the  soldiers  passed,  and 
joy  and  festivity  everywhere  prevailed.  The  dictator  at  the 
end  of  sixteen  days  laid  down  his  office,  and  declining  all  the 
gifts  that  were  offered  him  returned  to  his  farm. 

Pity  that  so  pleasing  a  legend  will  not  pass  the  ordeal  of 
criticism  !  Five  palisades  being  counted  a  heavy  load  for  a 
soldier  used  to  duty,  how  could  men  called  out  on  a  sudden 
levy  carry  twelve  ?  and  how  could  they  march  thus  laden 
twenty  miles  from  sunset  to  midnight?  Each  soldier,  to  use 
so  many,  must  have  had  a  fathom  of  ground  to  intrench,  and 
would  the  iEquians  make  no  effort  to  break  through  so  thin  a 
line?  The  manner  in  which  Cincinnatus  learned  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  dictatorship  is  also  told  of  his  consulate,  and  fifteen 
years  after  Cloelius  is  taken  just  in  the  same  way  near  Ardea; 
the  giving  up  of  Corbio  is  a  pure  invention  of  the  annalists ; 
and  finally,  the  ^quians  were  not  included  in  the  peace  of 
295,  and  so  could  not  have  been  guilty  of  perjury. 

But  the  dictatorship  of  Cincinnatus  appears  in  reality  to 
have  had  a  much  less  noble  origin.  In  295  the  quaestors, 
A.  Cornelius  and  Q.  Servilius,  accused  M.  Volscius  before  the 
curies*,  for  having  by  perjury  caused  the  ruin  of  one  of  their 
order ;  the  tribunes,  however,  prevented  the  patricians  from 
going  on  with  the  trial,  and  nothing  could  be  done  in  it  that 
year.   Next  year  (296)  the  tribunician  power  had  to  give  way 

*  See  above,  p.  C4. 


B.C.  455-l'50.]       THE  FIRST  DECEMVIRATE.  91 

before  that  of  the  dictator,  and  Cincinnatus  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  the  accuser  of  his  son  driven  into  exile.  He  then 
laid  down  his  office,  and  retired  to  his  farm. 

Under  the  mild  and  equitable  form  of  government  which 
we  enjoy,  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  the  bitter  ruthless 
spirit  which  animated  the  oligarchies  and  democracies  of  an- 
tiquity. On  the  present  occasion,  the  patricians  scrupled  at 
no  means  of  offence  ;  they  not  only  impeded  the  assemblies  of 
the  plebeians,  but  they  caused  the  most  active  and  daring  of 
them  to  be  assassinated  *.  But  all  would  not  avail ;  the  same 
tribunes  were  re-elected  every  year,  and  in  297  their  number 
was  increased  to  ten,  two  from  each  of  the  classes ;  and  the 
next  year  the  senate  and  curies  were  obliged  to  confirm  a  law, 
proposed  bj'  the  tribune  Icilius,  for  assigning  the  whole  of  the 
Aventine  to  the  plebeians.  At  length  (300)  the  patricians 
gave  waj  on  the  subject  of  the  Terentilian  law,  and  agreed  to 
a  revision  of  the  laws ;  and  three  senators  were  sent  to  Athens, 
then  flourishing  under  Pericles,  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  its  laws 
and  constitution. 

In  the  year  301  Rome  was  again  visited  by  the  pestilence, 
and  one  of  the  consuls,  his  successor,  four  tribunes,  an  augur, 
one  of  the  three  great  flamens,  many  senators,  half  the  free- 
men, and  all  the  slaves  are  said  to  have  died  of  it.  It  fell  with 
equal  fury  on  the  Volscians,  ^Equians,  Sabines,  and  other 
peoples  of  Italy. 

At  length  (302)  the  plague  ceased,  and  the  envoys  having 
returned  from  Greece,  a  board  often  patricians,  one  half  to  be 
elected  by  the  centuries,  (the  plebeians  having  given  up  their 
original  demand  of  a  share  in  it  f?)  \vas  appointed  to  draw  up 
and  enact  a  general  code  of  laws.  As  in  cases  of  this  kind 
in  antiquity  the  lawgivers  were  entrusted  vith  all  the  powers 
of  the  state  |,  the  consulate  and  the  other  magistracies  were 
all  merged  in  the  decemvirate,  and  the  decemvirs  were  thus 
invested  with  nearly  absolute  power.  Being  in  effect  a  decury 
of  interrexes,  tiiey  exercised  the  supreme  power  by  turns :  he 
who  held  it  was  named  Ciisios  Urhis ;  he  was  attended  by  the 
twelve  lictors,  and  presided  over  the  senate  and  the  whole  re- 
public ;  his  colleagues  acted  as  judges,  each  being  attended  by 
a  beadle  (Acce?isus). 

*  Dion.  Exc.  de  Sent.  22,  and  Zonaras,  vii.  17. 

•f  Terentilius  had  required  that  of  the  ten  commissioners  to  be  ap- 
pointed five  should  be  plebeians. 

J  As  in  the  case  of  Solon  and  the  Thirty  at  Athens.  See  History  of  Greece. 


92  THE  FIRST  DECEMVIRATE.  [b.C.  450. 

It  was  not  the  desire  of  the  Romans  to  have  an  entirely  new 
constitution  :  a  selection  was  to  be  made  out  of  their  existing 
laws  and  usages,  with  such  improvements  as  might  be  derived 
from  those  of  other  nations.  The  decemvirs  applied  them- 
selves sedulously  to  their  task,  and  having  drawn  up  a  code  in 
ten  laws  or  tables,  they  made  them  public,  in  order  to  receive 
such  suggestions  as  might  be  oifered  for  their  improvement. 
After  some  time  they  laid  the  amended  code  before  the  senate, 
and,  on  their  approval,  before  the  centuries,  whose  assent  was 
solemnly  ratified  by  the  curies.  The  laws  were  then  cut  on 
tables  of  brass,  and  hung  up  in  the  Coraitiura. 

By  this  celebrated  code  the  two  orders  were  placed  on  an 
equality,  as  far  as  was  possible  at  the  time.  The  patricians, 
with  their  clients  and  the  aerarians,  were  admitted  into  the 
plebeian  tribe?,  and  all  thus  united  in  one  civic  body,  in  v.'hich 
the  patricians  were  to  form  a  numerous  nobility.  The  supreme 
power  was  to  be  annually  confided,  not  to  consuls,  but  to  a 
board  of  ten  civil  and  military  officers,  one  half  of  whom  were 
to  be  plebeians.  Among  the  patricians  the  old  distinction  of 
greater  and  lesser  houses  seems  to  have  been  done  away  with, 
for  we  find  soon  after  the  votes  taken  in  the  senate  without 
any  certain  order*. 

The  law  of  debt  enacted  or  retained  was  rigorous  in  the  ex- 
treme. In  case  of  a  nexum,  the  creditor  could  arrest  his 
debtor  after  thirty  days,  and  if  he  did  not  discharge  his  debt 
or  give  security,  he  might  take  him  home  and  put  him  in  irons, 
which  at  the  most  were  to  weigh  fifteen  pounds ;  if  he  could 
not  supply  himself  with  food,  his  creditor  was  to  allow  him  a 
pound  of  corn  a  day.  If  after  sixty  days  no  arrangement  had 
been  made  the  debtor  was  brought  before  the  praetor  on  three 
successivemarket-days,and  the  amount  of  his  debtproclaimed ; 
and  if  no  one  came  forward  to  pay  or  secure  it,  the  creditor 
was  authorised  to  kill  him  or  sell  him  beyond  the  Tiber.  If 
there  were  several  creditors,  they  might  divide  his  body  among 
them,  and  no  one  could  be  punished  for  cutting  off  more  or 
less  than  his  exact  share  f . 

*  Dionys.  xi.  1(5.     See  above,  p.  70. 

f  Gellius,  XX.  1 .  Si  plus  minusve  secuerunt  se  [sine]  fraude  esto.  This 
proves  that  it  could  not  have  been  a  sectio  honorum  as  some  humane  critics 
suppose.  Shylock,  as  Niebuhr  observes,  would  have  found  no  difficulty 
here.  The  real  object  of  the  law  was  to  conquer  the  avarice  and  the 
stubborn  obstinacy  of  the  Roman  character.  For  the  Romao  love  of 
money  see  Polyb.  xxxii.  12,  9;   13,  10,  11. 


B.C.  448-447.]         THE  SECOND  DECEiMVIRATE.  93 

When  the  time  for  creating  the  new  magistrates  came,  tlie 
patricians,  doubtless  with  a  design  of  enfeebling,  if  not  over- 
throwing, the  new  constitution,  sought  to  have  L.  Cincinna- 
tus,  T.  Quinctius,  and  C.  Claudius  Sabinus  elected.  But  Ap- 
pius  Claudius  Crassus,  the  decemvir,  who,  from  the  moment 
the  reform  was  resolved  on,  had  courted  the  people,  and  had 
now  completely  won  their  confidence,  was  determined  to  re- 
tain the  power  he  had  acquired.  His  colleagues,  to  impede 
him,  chose  him  to  preside  at  the  election,  thinking  he  would 
not  have  the  hardihood  to  put  himself  in  nomination.  But 
they  were~  deceived ;  he  did  so,  and  was  elected  with  four 
patrician  and  five  plebeian  colleagues. 

On  the  ides  of  May  (304),  the  day  they  were  to  enter  on 
their  office,  the  decemvirs,  to  the  amazement  of  the  people, 
came  forth  each  preceded  by  twelve  lictors  with  the  axes  in 
their  fasces.  Appius,  by  his  force  of  character,  gained  a  com- 
manding influence  in  the  college  ;  the  government  was  de- 
spotic ;  no  assemblies  were  held,  the  senate  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do,  and  most  of  the  senators  retired  to  their  farms ;  ex- 
ternally, there  was  peace.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year  the 
decemvirs  promulgated  two  new  tables  of  laws,  making  the 
whole  number  tvv'elve,  and  these,  under  the  name  of  the  Twelve 
Tables,  became  the  source  and  foundation  of  the  future  Ro- 
man law.  The  decemvirs,  like  most  men  when  possessed  of 
uncontrolled  power,  soon  began  to  abuse  it.  They  at  first  op- 
pressed both  orders  alike,  but  they  speedily  tyrannised  almost 
exclusively  over  the  plebs,  now  divested  of  the  protection  of 
the  tribunate.  In  this  we  are  told  they  were  supported  by 
the  patrician  youth,  who  were  eager  to  gratify  their  feelings 
of  hatred  against  the  people. 

The  ides  of  May  (30,5)  came  ;  but  the  decemvirs  gave  no  in- 
dication of  an  intention  to  lay  down  their  power,  and  liberty 
seemed  to  have  fled  from  Rome.  At  length  the  iEquians  and 
Sabines  renewed  hostilities  ;  and  the  former  encamped  as  usual 
on  the  Algidus,  the  latter  at  Eretum.  The  decemvirs  were 
then  obliged  to  convene  the  senate  to  give  orders  for  the  le- 
vies; and  when  it  met,  L.  Valerius  and  M.  Horatius,  the 
grandsons  of  the  liberators,  boldly  but  to  no  purpose  inveighed 
against  their  tyranny.  The  senate  did  as  they  required  ;  the 
plebeians,  having  nowhere  to  appeal  to,  gave  their  names 
though  with  reluctance,  and  two  armies  were  formed  and  led 
by  the  military  decemvirs  against  the  enemies,  while  Appius 
and  Sp.  Oppius,  one  of  his  plebeian  colleagues,  remained  in 


94  FATE  OF  VIRGINIA.  [b.C.  ^-i?. 

charge  of  the  city.  But  each  army  let  itself  be  beaten  ;  the  one 
on  tlie  Algidus  even  abandoned  its  camp  and  sought  refuge 
at  Tusculum ;  the  other  fled  by  night  from  near  Eretum  and  en- 
camped on  an  eminence  between  Fidense  and  Crustumeria. 

In  this  army  there  was  a  distinguished  veteran  named  L.  Si- 
cinius  Dentatus,  formerly  a  tribune  of  the  people.  It  is  said* 
that  he  had  fought  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  battles,  had 
forty-five  scars  in  front,  had  gained  spears,  horse  trappings  and 
other  revvards  of  valour  without  number,  and  had  attended 
the  triumphsof  nine  generals  under  whom  he  had  served.  This 
man  awaked  in  the  army  the  remembrance  of  the  adjacent  Sa- 
cred Mount,  where  forty-five  years  before  the  people  had 
gained  their  charter,  and  chid  them  for  not  imitating  their 
gallant  fathers.  The  generals  being  resolved  to  put  him  out  of 
the  way  sent  him  with  a  party  to  choose  a  spot  for  encamp- 
ment, giving  orders  to  those  under  him,  who  were  their  own 
creatures,  to  fall  on  and  slaj^  him.  These  men  executed  their 
mandate  ;  in  a  lonely  spot  they  assailed  the  veteran  hero,  who 
placing  his  back  against  a  rock  perished  not  unavenged,  for 
fifteen  were  slain  and  double  the  number  wounded  by  his  hand. 
The  rest  fled  back  to  the  camp,  crying  out  how  they  had  fallen 
into  an  ambush  of  the  enemy,  who  had  slain  their  leader  and 
several  of  their  comrades.  A  party  was  sent  to  bury  the  slain  ; 
but  they  could  perceive  no  traces  of  an  enemy  :  the  body  of 
Sicinius  lay  unspoiled  in  his  armour;  all  the  slain  were  Romans, 
and  were  turned  toward  him,  and  consequently  must  have 
fallen  by  his  hand  ;  that  he  perished  by  the  treachery  of  the 
decemvirs  therefore  was  evident.  The  soldiers  were  incensed, 
but  a  splendid  military  funeral  given  to  Sicinius  by  the  generals 
pacified  them  in  some  measure. 

But  a  more  atrocious  deed  was  done  in  the  city.  Appius 
Claudius,  as  he  sat  in  the  Forum  toadminister  justice,  was  in  the 
habit  of  seeing  a  lovely  and  modest  plebeian  maiden  go  daily, 
attended  by  her  nurse,  to  one  of  the  schools  which  were  held 
about  it,  to  learn  the  art  of  writing.  She  was  named  Virginia, 
and  was  the  daughter  of  L.  Virginius,  one  of  the  noblest  ple- 
beians, and  betrothed  to  L.  Icilius,  who  had  been  tribune. 
The  decemvir  cast  an  eye  of  lust  on  the  innocent  maiden  ;  he 
vainly  tried  the  eff'ect  of  promises  and  bribes;  difficulty  only 
augmented  his  passion,  and  he  scrupled  at  no  means  to  gratify 
it.  He  therefore  directed  M.  Claudius,  one  of  his  clients,  to 
claim  her  as  his  slave  :  his  orders  were  obeyed  ;  and  as  Virginia 

*  Varro,  Fr.  p.  352.  (Bip.)     Pliny,  N.  H.  vii.  28.     Gell.  ii.  12. 


B.C.  'ii?-]  FATE  OF  VIRGINIA.  95 

was  crossing  the  Forum  on  her  way  to  the  school,  Claudius  laid 
hold  on  her  as  his  property.  At  the  loud  cries  of  her  nurse  a 
crowd  collected  to  oppose  him  ;  Claudius  coolly  said  he  needed 
not  force,  as  his  claim  was  a  legal  one.  All  went  before  the 
tribunal  of  Appius,  who  was  sitting  in  the  Comitium.  The 
plaintiff,  as  had  been  agreed  on,  averred  that  she  was  the  off- 
spring of  one  of  his  female  slaves,  who  had  given  her  to  the 
childless  wife  of  Virginius,  and  he  now  claimed  her  as  his  slave. 
The  friends  of  Virginia  prayed,  that  as  her  father  was  absent  on 
the  affairs  of  the  state,  being  a  centurion  in  the  army  on  the 
Algidus,  a  delay  of  two  days  might  be  given,  and  that  mean- 
time, by  the  decemvir's  own  law,  security  should  be  taken  for 
her  appearance.  Appius,  pretending  that  his  law  did  not  apply 
to  the  present  case,  decided  that  she  should  be  delivered  up 
to  the  claimant  on  his  giving  security  to  produce  her  when  re- 
quired. A  cry  of  horror  was  raised  at  this  iniquitous  sen- 
tence, and  P.  Nuraitorius  and  L.  Icilius,  the  uncle  and  the  lover 
of  the  maiden,  came  forward  and  spoke  with  such  firmness, 
and  the  people  seemed  so  determined,  that  Appius  gave  way 
and  deferred  the  decision  of  the  matter  till  the  following  day, 
leaving  Virginia  meantime  in  the  hands  of  her  friends. 

It  was  the  design  of  the  tyrant  to  send  off  to  his  colleagues 
in  the  camp,  directing  them  to  confine  Virginius,  and  to  sur- 
round himself  next  day  with  a  strong  body  of  his  partisans 
and  their  clients,  and  carry  his  point  by  violence  if  needful. 
To  conceal  his  share  in  the  present  transaction,  he  sat  some 
time  longer  in  court ;  and  Icilius  and  his  friends,  who  having 
seen  through  his  design  had  secretly  directed  two  active  young 
men  to  mount  and  ride  off  with  all  speed  to  the  camp,  pur- 
posely wore  away  time  in  arranging  the  securities.  Their 
messenger's  therefore  arrived  long  before  the  one  sent  by  Ap- 
pius ;  and  Virginius,  pretending  the  death  of  a  relative,  ob- 
tained leave  of  absence  and  came  to  Rome. 

At  day-break  the  Forum  was  full  of  people  ;  Virginius  and 
liis  daughter  in  the  garb  of  woe  came  among  them  imploring 
their  aid ;  Icilius  also  addressed  them  ;  the  women  who  were 
with  them  wept  in  silence.  Appius  came  forth  attended  by 
an  armed  train  and  took  his  seat :  the  plaintiff,  as  instructed, 
gently  reproached  him  with  not  having  done  him  justice  the 
day  before.  Appius,  without  listening  to  him  or  Virginius, 
gave  sentence  that  Virginia  should  be  consigned  to  the  claim- 
ant till  a  judge  should  decide  the  matter.  This  horrible  de- 
cree filled  all  with  silent  amazement.     M.  Claudius  advanced 


96  MUTINY  OF  THE  ARMY.  [b.C.447. 

to  lay  hold  on  the  maiden ;  the  women  and  their  friends  re- 
pelled him.  Virginius  menaced  the  decemvir:  Appius  de- 
clared that  he  knew  there  was  a  conspiracy  to  resist  the  go- 
vernment, but  that  he  would  put  it  down  by  force  ;  then,  "  Go, 
lictor!"  he  thundered  forth,  "disperse  the  crowd,  and  make 
way  for  the  master  to  take  his  slave."  The  people  fell  back ; 
Virginius,  seeing  no  hope,  apologised  for  his  vehemence,  and 
craved  permission  to  take  his  daughter  and  her  nurse  aside 
and  examine  them  about  the  matter.  Leave  was  granted  ;  he 
drew  them  near  a  butcher's  stall,  and  snatching  up  a  knife 
plunged  it  into  his  daughter's  bosom.  Then  looking  toward 
the  tribunal,  "  With  this  blood,"  he  cried,  "  Appius,  I  devote 
thee  and  thy  head."  The  tyrant  called  out  to  seize  him  ;  but 
brandishing  the  reeking  blade  he  reached  the  gate,  no  one 
daring  to  stop  him,  and  proceeded  to  the  camp,  followed  by 
a  number  of  the  people. 

Icilius  and  Numitorius  harangued  the  people  over  the  corpse 
of  the  hapless  maiden ;  Valerius  and  Horatius  joined  in  the 
call  to  freedom ;  the  lictors  were  repelled,  and  their  fasces 
broken.  Appius  vainly  called  on  the  patricians  to  stand  by 
him;  then  in  terror  for  his  life  he  covered  his  head,  and  fled 
into  an  adjacent  house.  His  obsequious  colleague  Sp.  Oppius, 
seeing  that  force  would  not  avail,  convened  the  senate,  but  it 
came  to  no  decision.  Some  zealous  patricians  were  however 
sent  to  the  camp  to  try  to  keep  the  army  in  its  duty. 

But  vain  were  the  hopes  of  the  oligarchs  ;  the  soldiers  at 
the  call  of  Virginius  plucked  up  their  standards,  marcheil  for 
Rome,  and  posted  themselves  on  the  Aventine.  The  senate 
sent  three  deputies  charging  them  with  rebellion,  and  offering 
pardon  to  all  but  the  ringleaders  on  their  return  to  their  duty. 
They  were  told  to  send  Valerius  and  Horatius  if  they  desired 
an  answer.  These,  on  being  required  to  go,  insisted  that  the 
decemvirs  should  previously  abdicate  ;  this  the  patricians,  still 
relying  on  their  sti'ength,  refused  to  allow.  JNIeantime  M. 
Duilius,  a  former  tribune,  convinced  the  people,  that  as  long 
as  they  stayed  in  Rome,  the  patricians  would  never  believe 
they  were  in  earnest;  but  that  if,  like  their  fathers,  they  re- 
tired to  the  Sacred  Mount,  they  would  soon  bring  them  to 
reason.  Instantly  the  army  was  in  motion ;  leaving  a  suflicient 
number  to  guard  the  Aventine,  they  marched  unmolested 
across  the  city,  out  by  the  CoUine  gate,  and  followed  by  num- 
bers of  men,  women  and  children  from  the  Esquiline  and  other 
parts,  they  encamped  on  the  Sacred  Mount.     Here  they  were 


B.C.  446.]  ABOLITION  OF  TriE  DECEMVIRATE.  97 

joined  by  the  other  army,  who  had  revolted  at  the  call  of  Ici- 
lius  and  Numitorius.  They  acknowledged  twenty  tribunes, 
one  for  each  tribe,  as  their  magistrates,  at  the  head  of  whom 
were  M.  Oppius  and  Sextus  Manlius. 

The  patricians,  seeing  themselves  left  nearly  alone  in  the 
city,  found  that  they  must  yield.  Valerius  and  Horatius  came 
from  them  to  the  camp,  to  learn  the  demands  of  the  plebeians. 
Icilius  as  spokesman  required  that  the  tribunate  and  the  right 
of  appeal  should  be  restored  ;  that  no  one  should  be  accounted, 
criminal  for  having  urged  the  people  to  the  secession  ;  that 
the  decemvirs  should  be  given  up  to  be  burnt  alive.  The  de- 
puties replied,  that  the  first  two  conditions  were  so  reasonable 
that  they  should  have  proposed  them  themselves :  they  prayed 
them  to  recede  from  the  last  demand.  All  was  then  left  to 
their  own  discretion  ;  and  on  their  return,  the  senate  passed  a 
decree,  that  the  decemvirs  should  abdicate  and  consuls  be 
chosen,  the  chief  pontiff  preside  at  the  election  of  the  tribunes, 
and  none  be  molested  for  their  share  in  the  secession.  The 
plebs  then  returned  to  the  Aventine,  whence  they  proceeded, 
and  ascended  the  Capitol  in  arms*. 

The  pontifFpresiding,  the  people  chose  their  tribunes,  among 
whom  were,  as  they  w^ell  merited,  Virginius,  Icilius,  Numito- 
rius, and  Duilius.  On  the  motion  of  Duilius,  the  plebs  then 
ordered  that  the  interrex  should  hold  the  election  of  patrician 
consuls  f,  with  the  right  of  appeal ;  and  the  centuries  when 
assembled  bestowed  the  consulate  on  L.  Valerius  and  M.  Ho- 
ratius. These  popular  consuls  forthwith  passed  laws  for  the 
security  of  the  plebs,  the  senate  and  curies  giving  a  reluctant 
consent  (306).  The  first  was,  that  a  measure  passed  by  the 
tribes  should  be  of  equal  force  with  one  passed  by  the  centu- 
ries, and  if  confirmed  by  the  patricians,  should  be  the  law  of 
the  land  ;  the  second  menaced  with  outlawry  whoever  pro- 
I  cured  the  election  of  a  magistrate  without  appeal ;  the  third 
enacted  the  penalty  of  outlawry  and  confiscation  of  property 
against  anyone  who  injured  the  tribunes,  the  fediles,  the  judges, 
or  the  decemvirs  |;.     It  was  further  enacted  that  the  decrees 

*  Inde  armati  in  CapitoUum  venerunt.  Cic.  pro  Cornel.  1.  24.  Hence 
Niebuhr  infers  that  the  Capitol  was  given  up  to  them  :  but  it  was  for  the 
election  of  tribunes. 

•(•  It  was  on  tliis  occasion  that  the  word  coJisul  was  first  employed,  Zona- 
ras,  vii.  19.     The  office  now  was  only  provisional. 

J  By  the  judges  Niebuhr  understands  the  centumvirs  ;  Arnold  the  con- 
suls ;  they  agree  in  recognising  in  the  decemvirs  the  military  tribunes,  of 
which  we  shall  presently  have  occasion  to  speak. 

F 


98  ABOLITION  OF  THE  DECEMVIRATE.         [b.C.  44'6. 

of  the  senate  should  be  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Cei'es  under 
the  care  of  the  asdiles,  to  preserve  them  from  falsification  or 
suppression.  The  legislation  was  terminated  by  a  bill  of  the 
tribune  Duilius  denouncing  death  by  fire  against  any  one  who 
should  leave  the  people  without  tribunes,  or  create  a  magistrate 
without  appeal. 

Vengeance  for  Virginia  was  now  to  be  exacted.  Virginius 
summoned  Appius  and  his  client  Claudius  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  tribes.  Instead  of  seeking  safety  in  exile,  the  haughty 
decemvir  appeared  in  the  Forum  surrounded  by  a  band  of 
patrician  youths.  Virginius  ordered  him  to  be  seized  and 
laid  in  chains  ;  the  officer  approached  ;  Appius  claimed  the 
protection  of  the  tribunes  ;  no  one  stirred  ;  he  appealed  to  the 
people:  the  officer  dragged  him  away  to  prison.  His  uncle 
C.  Claudius,  who  having  vainly  sought  to  induce  him  and  his 
colleagues  to  lay  down  their  office  in  the  hands  of  the  senate, 
had  retired  to  his  paternal  abode  at  Regillus,  came  to  Rome, 
and  with  his  gentiles  and  chents  all  in  mourning  went  about 
the  Forum  supplicating  for  his  release.  Virginius,  on  the 
other  hand,  called  on  the  people  to  remember  his  and  their 
wrongs.  The  prayers  of  the  Claudii  were  of  no  avail.  Appius 
died  in  prison,  probably  by  his  own  hand,  before  the  day  of 
trial  came. 

Numitorius  then  impeached  the  plebeian  decemvir  Sp.  Op- 
pius  for  not  having  given  protection  to  Virginia.  A  veteran 
who  had  served  in  seven-and- twenty  campaigns  came  forward 
and  exhibited  the  marks  of  a  scourging  inflicted  on  him  by 
Oppius  without  a  cause.  He  too  was  sent  to  prison,  where 
he  died  also  by  his  own  hand.  The  other  decemvirs  were 
sufifered  to  go  into  exile,  but  their  property  was  confiscated. 
M.  Claudius  was  tried  and  found  guilty  ;  but  Virginius  re- 
mitting the  capital  punishment,  he  was  allowed  to  go  into  exile 
to  Tibui'.  "  The  manes  of  Virginia,  more  happy  in  her  death 
than  in  her  life,  having  roamed  through  so  many  houses  ex- 
acting vengeance,  rested  at  length  when  no  guilty  person 
remained*." 

To  cah:i  the  alarms  of  the  patricians,  Duilius  now  declared 
prosecution  to  be  at  an  end,  and  that  no  one  should  be  mo- 
lested for  his  acts  during  the  decemvirate. 

*  Liv.  iii.  58. 


B.C.  446-44'2.]  VICTORIES  of  Valerius  and  horatius.  99 


CHAPTER  IV.* 

Victories  of  Valerius  and  Horatius. — Canuleian  Law. — Censorship  and 
Military  Tribunate.  — Feud  at  Ardea. — Sp.  Maelius. — jEquian  and  Vol- 
scian  war.- — Capture  of  Fidenae. — Volscian  war. — Murder  of  Postumius 
by  his  own  soldiers. — Veientine  war, — Capture  of  Veii. — Siege  of  Fale- 
rii. — Exile  of  Camillus. 

When  all  was  settled  in  the  city  the  consuls  commenced  their 
levies  for  the  .<^quian  and  Sabine  campaigns.  The  young 
men  gave  their  names  readily,  the  veterans  came  forward  as 
volunteers.  Valerius  marched  to  JNIount  Algidus  ;  and  after 
a  series  of  manoeuvres  to  raise  the  confidence  of  his  men,  he 
fell  on  and  defeated  the  iEquians,  and  took  their  camp.  Si- 
milar good  fortune  attended  Horatius,  who  had  gone  against 
the  Sabines ;  and  the  two  armies  returned  to  Rome  at  the 
same  time.  The  consuls,  as  was  the  usage,  summoned  the  se- 
nate to  the  temple  of  Mars  without  the  Capene  gate,  to  give 
an  account  of  their  campaign  and  demand  a  triumph.  The 
senate,  alleging  that  they  were  there  under  the  control  of  the 
soldiery,  adjourned  to  the  Flaminian  Mead,  and  there  refused 
them  the  honour,  as  being  traitors  to  their  order.  The  plebs, 
hearing  of  this  indignity,  on  the  motion  of  Icilius  overstepped 
their  legal  powers,  and  voted  them  a  triumph  ;  and  thus  the 
patricians  by  their  malignant  folly  lost  one  of  their  privileges. 

The  victory  of  Horatius  over  the  Sabines  is  memorable  for 
having  put  an  end  to  the  wars  of  this  people  with  Rome.  For 
a  century  and  a  half  amity  prevailed  between  the  two  states, 
grounded  probably  on  treaties,  of  which  no  memorial  remains. 
The  cause  which  inclined  the  Sabines  to  peace  appears  to  have 
been  the  emigration  of  their  warlike  youth,  who  went  to  join 
their  kindred  tribes  of  Samnium,  who  were  now  beginning  to 
appear  as  conquerors  in  Campania. 

Four  years  now  passed  away  without  any  event  of  much 
importance.  In  310,  nine  of  the  tribunes  concurred  in  bring- 
ing in  a  bill  for  electing  one  of  the  consuls  from  each  order  ; 
and  C.  Canuleius,  the  other  tribune,  introduced  one  for  grant- 
ing the  conmihium,  that  is,  legalising  marriage,  between  the 
two  orders.     Both  these  propositions  gave  great  offence  to  the 

*  Liv.  iii.  60.-V.  32.  Dionys.  xi.  47.  to  the  end.  Plut.  Camillus  1-12, 
the  Epiloinators. 

F  2 


100  CENSORSHIP.  [B.C.  442. 

patricians  ;  the  usual  expedient  of  foreign  war  and  levies  was 
recurred  to,  but  in  vain  ;  the  tribunes  were  resolute.  At 
length  the  patricians  agreed  to  pass  the  Canuleian  law  ;  for 
their  good  sense  must  have  shown  the  more  prudent,  that  the 
pati'icians  as  the  smaller  body  were  the  real  sufferers  by  the 
prohibition  ;  and  in  fact  these  mixed  marriages  had  all  along 
prevailed  *,  and  the  families  arising  from  them,  and  therefore 
belonging  to  the  plebeians,  were  the  most  violent  enemies  of 
the  patricians.  From  the  debate  on  this  subject  we  learn  that 
the  tribunes  were  now  present  at  the  deliberations  of  the  se- 
nate, but  without  the  right  of  voting.  Their  seats  were  placed 
before  the  open  door,  so  that  they  might  hear  the  decrees  that 
Avere  made,  and  give  or  refuse  their  assent  to  themf.  Their 
veto  was  absolute. 

The  other  bill  was  altered,  so  as  to  allow  of  the  consuls  being 
taken  from  the  two  orders  without  distinction.  Though  this 
was  a  concession  to  the  patricians,  it  did  not  content  them. 
Scenes  of  violent  altercation  took  place  ;  the  heads  of  the  se- 
nate held  secret  deliberations,  in  which  C.  Claudius  is  said  to 
have  actually  proposed  the  murder  of  the  tribunes  ;  but  even 
to  the  two  Quinctii  this  seemed  too  violent  a  course,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  come  to  an  accommodation  with  them. 

By  this  compact  the  constitution  assumed  a  new  form  ;  the 
decemvirate  was  resolved  into  its  three  component  parts,  which 
were  separated  from  each  other, — the  censorship,  the  quaestor- 
ship  of  blood,  and  the  military  tribunate  with  consular  author- 
ity,— of  which  the  former  two  were  reserved  for  the  patricians, 
the  first  to  be  conferred  by  the  centuries,  the  other  by  the 
curies ;  the  tribunate  was  open  to  both  orders,  and  came  in 
place  of  the  consulate.  The  business  of  the  censors,  who  were 
two  in  number  and  were  elected  every  five  years,  was  to  ma- 
nage the  revenues  of  the  state,  and  to  keep  a  registry  of  the 
citizens  according  to  their  ranks  and  orders.  They  let  the 
tolls  and  customs  and  other  taxes,  and  they  enrolled  members 
in  the  senate,  the  equestrian  order,  and  the  tribes,  or  excluded 
such  as  were  unworthy.  The  power  of  the  censors  was  there- 
fore very  considerable  J. 

By  the  power  apparently  which  the  censorship  gave  them 
over  the  popular  assemblies,  the  patricians  were  in  general 

*  Hence  so  many  patrician  and  plebeian  families  of  the  same  name. 
■f  Valerius  Maximus,  ii.  2,  7.     Zonar.  vii.  15. 

X  A  few  years  after  (321)  the  exercise  of  the  censorian  power  was  con- 
fined to  the  first  eighteen  months  of  the  period. 


B.C.  MS-'i^l.]  FEUD  AT  ARDEA.  101 

able  to  keep  the  military  tribunate  in  their  own  order ;  never- 
theless at  the  first  election,  L.  Atilius  Longiis,  one  of  three 
chosen,  would  seem  to  have  been  a  plebeian*.  On  account  of 
this,  perhaps,  it  was  pretended  that  the  election  had  been  irre- 
gular, and  they  were  obliged  to  resign  before  the  end  of  three 
months.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  they  may  have  refused  to  resign, 
for  T.  Quinctius  was  created  dictator,  who,  having  held  a  con- 
sular election,  laid  down  his  office  on  the  thirteenth  day. 

In  the  year  309,  the  people  of  Ardea  and  Aricia,  who  had 
been  long  disputing  about  the  lands  of  Corioli,  which  were 
lying  waste  since  the  time  of  its  ruin  by  the  Volscians,  had 
agreed  to  submit  their  differences  to  the  decision  of  the  Ro- 
mans. The  curies  f  adjudged  that  the  disputed  lands  belonged 
to  neither  of  them,  but  had  devolved  to  the  Roman  people. 
We  know  not  how  this  decision  was  received,  but  in  311  an 
alliance  was  made  between  the  Roman  patricians  and  the  cor- 
responding party,  or  the  old  Rutulian  houses,  at  Ardea,  who 
were  on  ill  terms  with  their  plebs,  with  whom  they  came  to 
open  war  the  following  year.  The  occasion  was  this  :  a  beau- 
tiful plebeian  maiden  was  wooed  by  one  of  her  own  order  and 
also  by  a  member  of  the  houses  ;  her  guardians,  for  she  had 
no  father,  were  in  favour  of  the  former ;  her  mother,  urged  by 
female  vanity,  of  the  latter.  The  affair  at  length  came  before 
the  magistrates,  who,  though  the  right  to  dispose  of  their  ward 
plainly  lay  with  the  guardians,  decided  in  favour  of  the  patri- 
cian. The  guardians  carried  the  maiden  by  force  from  her 
mother's ;  the  patricians  took  up  arms ;  a  violent  fray  arose, 
and  the  plebs  were  driven  out  of  the  town  :  they  encamped  on 
an  adjoining  hill,  whence  they  ravaged  the  lands  of  their  ene- 
mies ;  the  artisans  came  out  of  the  town  and  joined  them,  and 
CloeliuS;  an  iEquian  general,  led  a  body  of  troops  to  their  aid. 
The  houses  called  on  their  Roman  allies  ;  the  consul,  M.  Ge- 
ganius,  came  and  circumvallated  the  ^quian  army  that  was 
investing  the  town ;  and  the  iEquians  were  obliged  to  sur- 
render their  general,  and  to  pass  under  the  yoke  J.  To 
strengthen  the  Rutulian  houses,  colonists  were  sent  from 
Rome  to  Ardea. 

*  See  Arnold,  i.  336,  note. 

t  Concilium  popiiU,  Livy,  ii.  71.  It  could  not  have  been,  as  he  repre- 
sents it,  the  Plebs,  who  had  notliing  to  do  with  the  public  lands.  As  these 
lands  afterwards  belonged  to  the  Scaptian  tribe,  the  Scaptius  of  his  narra- 
tive is  probably  a  fictitious  personage. 

X  See  above,  p.  90.  Livy  says  it  was  a  Volscian  army.  See  Niebuhr, 
ii.  446. 


102  spuRius  MELIUS.  [b.c.  437-436. 

All  was  now  quiet  at  Rome,  till  the  year  315,  when  a  dread- 
ful famine  came  on,  in  consequence  of  the  failure  of  the  crops. 
L.  Minucius,  who  was  created  prefect  of  the  corn-market, 
made  every  exertion  to  purchase  corn,  but  could  only  obtain 
some  small  supplies  from  Etruria  :  all  persons  were  obliged  to 
deliver  up  what  corn  they  had  beyond  a  month's  consumption; 
the  allowance  of  the  slaves  was  diminished;  the  corn-dealers 
were  prosecuted  as  regraters  and  engrossers.  Still  the  famine 
was  so  sore  that  numbers  of  the  plebeians  threw  themselves 
into  the  Tiber. 

In  this  universal  distress,  823.  Mselius,  a  wealthy  plebeian 
knight,  made  extensive  purchases  of  corn  in  Etruria,  which  he 
sold  at  low  prices,  or  distributed  gratis  to  the  poor  of  his  order. 
Thisgained  him  great  favour;  the  patricians  became  suspicious 
of  him  ;  and  Minucius,  it  is  said,  accused  him  to  the  consuls 
of  the  next  year  (316)  of  designs  against  the  government: 
the  senate  sat  a  whole  day  in  secret  deliberation  ;  the  Capitol 
and  other  strong  posts  were  garrisoned  ;  and  L.  Quinctius 
Cincinnatus,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  was  created  dictator. 

Next  morning  the  dictator  entered  the  Forum  with  an 
armed  train,  and  set  up  his  tribunal.  At  his  command,  C.  Ser- 
vilius  Ahala,  the  master  of  the  horse,  went  to  summon  before 
him  Mselius,  who  was  present.  Mselius  hesitated  :  the  officers 
advanced  to  seize  him  ;  he  snatched  up  a  butcher's  knife  to 
defend  himself,  and  ran  back  into  the  crowd.  Ahala,  sword 
in  hand,  and  followed  by  a  band  of  armed  patrician  youths, 
rushed  after  him :  the  people  gave  way,  and  he  ran  Mselius 
through  the  body.  The  murder,  for  such  it  undoubtedly  was, 
was  applauded  by  the  venerable  dictator*.  The  house  of  Mae- 
lius  was  pulled  down,  and  its  site  left  desolatef;  and  posterity, 
following  the  traditions  of  the  Quinctian  and  Servilian  houses, 
had  no  doubt  of  his  guilt,  or  of  the  public  virtue  of  Ahala. 
Their  contemporaries,  however,  thought  differently.  When  the 
terror  of  the  dictatorship  was  removed,  three  tribunes  de- 
manded vengeance  for  the  death  of  Mselius ;  an  insurrection 
broke  out,  Ahala  was  obliged  to  go  into  exile  t,  and  the  pa- 
tricians, to  appease  the  people,  to  allow  the  election  of  military 
tribunes. 

*  Plutaicli  (Brutus,  1.)  gives  a  no^-el  view  of  the  act  of  Ahala, — who  is 
with  him  another  Brutus. 

■f  The  jEquimselium.  It  was  under  the  Capitol,  on  the  right-hand  of 
one  going  from  the  Forum  to  the  Carmental  gate. 

±  Val.  Max.  v.  3,  2. 


B.C.  435-428.]  CAPTURE  OF  FIDENJE.  103 

The  year  317  was  distinguished  by  the  revolt  of  Fidenae. 
This  town,  which  lay  five  miles  up  the  Tiber,  beyond  the  Anio, 
liad  received  a  colony  about  sixty  years  before  :  a  part  of  the 
colonists  were  now  expelled,  a  part  probably  shared  in  the  re- 
volt. An  alliance  was  formed  with  the  Veientines  and  Falis- 
cans,  and  their  united  forces  appeared  more  than  once  before 
the  CoUine  gate.  Dictators  were  appointed  against  them,  and 
in  320  the  dictator  A.  Servilius  Prisons  conquered  the  town. 
The  ringleaders  were  beheaded,  but  no  further  penalty  was  in- 
flicted on  the  people*. 

In  322  the  pestilence  again  spread  its  ravages  at  Rome ; 
and  in  324  the  truce  with  the  iSquians  being  expired,  they 
and  a  part  of  the  Volscians  raised  two  armies  of  select  troops, 
bound  by  oath  to  conquer  or  die,  and  encamped  on  the  Al- 
gidus.  In  this  emergency  the  senate  resolved  to  create  a  dic- 
tator ;  the  consuls,  however,  refused  to  proclaim  him,  and  the 
senate  having  appealed  to  the  tribunes,  they  forced  the  consuls 
by  a  menace  of  imprisonment  to  submit.  The  person  ap- 
pointed was  A.  Postumius  Tubertus. 

The  dictator,  aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  danger,  called 
out  all  the  forces  of  the  state.  Four  armies  were  formed  ;  one, 
the  city  legions,  was  left  at  Rome  under  the  consul  C.  Julius  ; 
the  reserve,  under  the  master  of  the  horse,  L,  Julius,  lay  with- 
out the  walls.  The  dictator  and  the  consul  T.  Quinctius  march- 
ed with  the  remainder  to  the  Algidus,  where  they  were  joined 
by  the  Latins  and  Hernicans.  They  encamped  each  within 
a  mile  of  the  enemy,  the  consul  on  the  road  to  Lanuvium,  the 
dictator  on  that  to  Tusculum.  Skirmishes  took  place  daily,  in 
one  of  which  the  dictator's  son  having  left  the  post  assigned 
him  to  engage  the  enemy,  was,  on  his  return  victorious,  put 
to  death  by  his  inexorable  sire  for  his  breach  of  orders.  At 
length  the  enemy  made  a  combined  attack  by  night  on  the 
consul's  camp ;  but  meantime  that  of  the  iEquians  was  stormed 
by  some  cohorts  sent  against  it  by  the  dictator,  who  himself 
came  by  a  circuitous  route  into  the  rear  of  those  who  were  as- 
sailing the  camp  of  the  consul.  The  troops  of  the  dictator  and 
the  consul  attacked  them  simultaneously  ;  at  break  of  day  the 
exhausted  foe  gave  away  ;  a  brave  man  named  Vettius  Messius 
placing  himself  at  their  head,  they  broke  through  and  made 
their  way  to  the  Volscian  camp,  which  still  was  safe  ;  but  they 
were  soon  followed  and  surrounded  there  also  :  the  camp  was 

*  The  Peloponnesian  war  commenced  at  this  time  in  321. 


104<  CAPTURE  OF  FIDENiE.  [ B.C.  425-4-21 . 

stormed,  quarter  was  given  to  those  who  threw  down  their 
arms,  but  all  were  sold  except  the  senators.  The  dictator 
having  triumphed,  laid  down  his  office.  The  following  year  a 
truce  for  eight  years  was  made  with  the  .^quians.  Among  the 
Volscians  there  was  a  peace-  and  a  war-party,  and  the  former 
seems  to  have  been  the  stronger,  as  during  these  eight  years 
all  was  quiet  on  this  side. 

In  327,  a  conspiracy  being  discovered  at  Fidenae,  the  heads 
of  it  were  relegated  to  Ostia ;  additional  colonists  were  sent  to 
Fidenae,  and  the  lands  of  those  who  had  been  executed,  or  had 
fallen  in  war,  were  given  to  them.  This  year  also  was  one  of 
pestilence.  The  next  year  (328)  war  was  formally  declared 
against  Veii,  on  which  occasion  a  further  progress  was  made 
in  the  constitution,  as  the  tribunes  succeeded  in  having  the 
question  brought  before  the  centurieS;  instead  of  being  decided 
by  the  senate  alone.  One  good  result  of  this  was,  that  the  levies 
were  never  again  obstructed. 

Consular  tribunes  being  elected  for  329,  they  led  their  forces 
against  Veii^  but  from  their  want  of  concord  they  gave  the 
enemy  an  opportunity  of  falling  on  and  routing  them.  Mamer- 
cus  jEmilius  was  immediately  made  dictator,  and  he  named  A. 
Cornelius  Cossus,  one  of  the  tribunes,  his  master  of  the  horse. 
The  Veientines,  elate  with  theirsuccess,  sent  to  invite  volunteers 
from  all  parts  of  Etruria,  and  they  tried  to  induce  the  Fide- 
nates  to  revolt  once  more.  Envoys  were  despatched  from 
Rome  to  warn  them  of  their  duty  ;  but  the  envoys  were  de- 
tained in  custody,  and  the  revolt  resolved  on.  Lars  Tolumnius, 
the  Veientine  king,  led  his  army  over  the  Tiber,  and  encamped 
before  Fidenae.  He  was  playing  at  dice  when  the  Fidenates 
sent  to  inquire  what  should  be  done  with  the  Roman  envoys. 
Without  interrupting  his  game,  he  cried,  "  Put  them  to  death  1" 
His  mandate  was  executed  ;  the  colonists  were  butchered  at 
the  same  time,  and  all  hopes  of  pardon  thus  cut  off.  The  Ro- 
man army  soon  appeared  to  exact  vengeance  ;  the  skilful  dis- 
positions of  the  dictator  and  the  valour  of  his  troops  gained  a 
complete  victory.  Lars  Tolumnius  fell  by  the  hand  of  the 
master  of  the  horse,  who  dedicated  his  spolia  opima,  the  first 
since  the  days  of  Romulus,  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius. 
Fidenae  was  taken,  its  inhabitants  were  massacred  or  sold  for 
slaves,  and  it  dwindled  into  utter  insignificance. 

A  truce  with  Veii  for  twenty,  and  with  the  .^quians  for 
three  years  was  the  only  event  of  the  year  330.  In  331,  as 
territory  had  been  gained  in  the  late  wars,  the  tribunes  de- 


B.C.  420-418.]  VOLSCIAN  WAR.  105 

manded  that  assignments  out  of  it  should  be  made  to  the  ple- 
beians, and  the  tithe  be  levied  off  what  was  possessed  by  the 
patricians  for  the  payment  of  the  troops. 

In  332  the  Volscians  took  up  arms,  being  convinced  from 
the  growing  power  of  Rome  that  they  must  either  make  a  bold 
and  decisive  effort,  or  part  with  their  independence.  Their 
ti'oops  were  numerous  and  well-disciplined.  The  consul,  C. 
Sempronius  Atratinus,  who  commanded  the  Roman  army, 
evinced  neither  skill  nor  energy ;  the  soldiers  had  no  confi- 
dence either  in  him  or  themselves.  In  the  battle  they  were 
giving  w^aj',  when  Sex.  Tempanius,  a  plebeian  knight,  calling 
on  the  horsemen  to  dismount  and  follow  him,  and  raising  his 
spear  as  a  standard,  advanced  against  the  foe,  who  at  the  com- 
mand of  their  leader,  gave  way  and  let  them  through,  and  then 
closed  to  cut  them  off  from  the  Roman  army.  The  consul 
seeing  his  cavalry  thus  isolated  redoubled  his  efforts.  Tem- 
panius, having  vainly  essayed  to  break  through  again,  retired 
to  an  eminence,  where  a  part  of  the  Volscians  surrounded  him. 
Night  ended  the  conflict ;  each  army  thinking  itself  conquered 
abandoned  its  camp  and  wounded  and  retired  to  the  mountains. 
In  the  morning  Tempanius  and  his  comrades  finding  the  two 
camps  deserted  returned  to  Rome,  where  their  appearance 
caused  great  joy,  as  the  whole  army  was  supposed  to  be  lost. 
The  tribunes  were  loud  in  their  accusation  of  the  consul,  but 
Tempanius  spoke  in  his  favour  ;  and  when  next  year  (333)  he 
and  three  of  his  brother-officers  were  elected  tribunes,  and 
one  of  their  colleagues  impeached  Sempronius  before  the  peo- 
ple, they  protected  him,  and  induced  the  prosecutor  to  forego 
the  charge. 

During  the  next  seventeen  years  the  internal  disputes  re- 
specting the  public  land  continued,  and  the  patricians,  by  their 
old  tactics  of  gaining  a  majority  of  the  tribunes  to  their  side, 
prevented  anything  being  done.  But  the  plebeians  were  slowly 
and  surely  gaining  strength.  In  334  the  consuls  proposed  that 
the  number  of  the  quaestors  of  the  treasury,  w^hich  had  been 
two,  should  be  doubled  ;  the  tribunes  insisted  that  the  new 
places  should  belong  to  the  plebeians,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
they  should  be  chosen  promiscuously  out  of  both  orders.  This, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  consular  tribunate,  was  no  immediate  gain 
to  the  plebeians,  but  their  leaders  trusted  to  the  sure  operation 
of  time.  Henceforth  a  quaestor  attended  every  army  to  su- 
perintend the  sale  of  the  booty,  the  produce  of  which  was 
either  divided  among  the  soldiers  or  brought  into  the  JEra- 

F  5 


106  MURDER  OF  POSTUMIUS.  [b.c.  415-403. 

rium,  the  common  treasury  of  the  state,  not,  as  heretofore,  into 
the  Publicum  of  the  patricians. 

The  wars  with  the  ^Equians  and  Volscians  were  continued 
also  throughout  this  period  ;  but  the  power  of  these  peoples 
%vas  greatly  crippled  by  the  conquests  which  the  Samniteswere 
now  making  on  their  southern  frontier.  In  337*  the  iEquians 
and  the  Lavicans  entered  and  ravaged  the  lands  of  Tusculura, 
and  then  encamped  on  the  Algidus.  An  army  was  sent  against 
them,  which  sustained  a  defeat.  Q.  Servilius  Priscus  was  then 
created  dictator  ;  and  he  routed  the  enemies,  took  their  camp, 
stormed  the  town  of  Lavici,  and  then  laid  down  his  office  on 
the  eighth  day.  In  340,  the  formerly  Latin,  now  i^i^quian,  town 
of  Bolee  was  taken,  on  which  occasion  the  Roman  soldiers  com- 
mitted a  crime  unknown  to  their  history  for  centuries  after. 

The  consular  tribune  M.  Postumius,  who  commanded,  had 
promised  them  the  plunder  of  the  town,  but  when  it  was  taken 
he  broke  his  word.  He  had  also  been  summoned  by  his  col- 
leagues to  Rome,  where  the  tribunes  were  clamouring  for  a 
division  of  the  conquered  land  ;  and  when  the  tribune  Sextius 
spoke  of  the  rights  of  the  soldiers,  "  Woe  betide  mine,"  said 
he,  "  if  thej"  do  not  keep  quiet."  These  words  soon  made 
their  way  to  the  camp,  and  still  further  exasperated  the  men. 
A  tumult  broke  out  when  the  quaestor  was  selling  the  booty, 
in  which  he  was  struck  by  a  stone.  Postumius  sat  injudge- 
ment  on  this  offence,  and  ordered  the  most  severe  punishments. 
The  men  became  enraged,  and  losing  all  respect  stoned  their 
general  to  death.  This  event  was  advantageous  to  the  oli- 
garchs, as  the  plebeians  had  to  allow  of  the  election  of  consuls 
for  the  next  year  (342),  and  to  permit  them  to  institute  an 
inquiry  into  the  death  of  Postumius.  It  was  conducted  with 
great  moderation  :  the  condemned  terminated  their  lives  by 
their  own  hands. 

In  347 1  the  Antiates,  seeing  the  danger  which  menaced 
their  kindred,  engaged  in  the  war  A  combined  army  en- 
camped before  the  walls  of  'Antium,  where  it  was  attacked 
and  totally  defeated  by  a  Roman  army,  led  by  the  dictator 
P.  Cornelius.  The  campaign  of  349  was  more  important ; 
three  Roman  armies  took  the  field :  one,  led  by  the  consular 
tribune,  L.  Valerius,  approached  Antium ;  his  colleague,  P. 
Cornelius,  advanced  with  another  against  Ecetra ;  while  N. 

*  The  year  of  the  Athenian  expedition  to  Syracuse. 
f  The  year  of  the  surrender  of  Athens  to  Lysander  and  the  Lacedae- 
monians. 


B.C.  403.]  VEIENTINE  WAR.  107 

Fabius  with  the  third  laid  siege  to  Tarracina,  which  was  situ- 
ated on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill  over  the  Pomptine  marshes.  A 
part  of  the  army  having  gotten  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  over 
the  town,  it  was  forced  to  surrender  :  the  plunder  was  divided 
among  the  three  armies,  and  a  colony  was  sent  to  the  town. 

A  war,  the  last,  with  Veii  succeeded.  At  the  expiration  of 
the  truce  the  Romans  demanded  satisfaction  for  the  crime  of 
Tolumnius  ;  the  Veientines,  who  feared  war,  applied  for  aid  to 
the  other  peoples  of  Etruria,  and  various  congresses  were  held 
at  the  temple  of  Voltumnato  consider  the  matter.  Aid,  how- 
ever, was  refused,  perhaps  through  jealousy,  more  probably 
in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  a  foe  soon  to  appear  on  the 
north  of  the  Apennines ;  it  may  also  have  been  thought  that 
the  strength  of  its  walls  would  enable  Veii  to  resist  any  attack 
made  on  it  by  the  Romans. 

The  city  of  Veii,  which  lay  twelve  miles  from  Rome  *,  was 
encompassed  by  strong  walls  four  miles  in  circuit.  The  Tus- 
cans, who  possessed  it,  ruled  over  a  population  of  subjects  and 
.serfs  much  like  the  Spartans  in  Greece ;  their  own  numbers 
were  small,  they  could  not  rely  on  their  subjects,  and  it  was 
only  the  aid  of  volunteers  from  other  parts  of  Etruria  that 
enabled  them  at  any  time  to  wage  war  with  advantage  against 
the  Romans. 

The  Romans,  on  their  side,  saw  that  though  they  might 
ravage  the  lands  of  Veii,  yet  so  long  as  the  town  remained 
unconquered  retaliation  would  be  easy ;  whereas  could  it  be 
reduced  the  advance  of  the  power  of  Rome  might  be  rapid 
and  permanent.  This,  however,  could  only  be  effected  by 
keeping  a  force  constantly  in  the  field  ;  but  to  do  this  it 
would  be  necessary  to  recur  to  the  old  practice  of  giving  the 
troops  pay,  for  which  purpose  the  tithe  must  be  paid  honestly 
ofi"  the  domain  land.  The  senate,  then  rising  above  the  paltry 
narrow  considerations  which  used  to  influence  it,  resolved 
that  it  should  be  done,  and  pay  be  given  to  the  infantry  as 
well  as  the  cavalry ;  and  as  mutual  concessions  were  usually 
made  between  the  orders,  the  people  seem  to  have  agreed 
that  the  veto  of  one  tribune — not  that  of  the  majority  as 
heretofore,  in  the  college — should  suffice  to  stop  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  tribunes,  the  patricians  reckoning  that  they  would 
be  able,  in  most  cases,  to  gain  over  one  of  them.  War,  there- 
fore, against  Veii  was  declared  in  the  year  349. 

*  Dionys.  ii.  54.  Its  ruins  were  discovered  in  the  year  1811  :  they  are 
about  ten  miles  from  Rome,  on  an  eminence  to  the  east  of  the  hamlet  of 
Isola  Farnese,  not  far  from  the  posta  named  La  Storta. 


108  VEIENTINE  WAR.  [b.c.  403-398. 

The  campaigns  of  the  two  following  years  seem  to  have 
been  little  more  than  plundering  excursions  into  the  Veien- 
tine  territory ;  forts  (castella)  like  that  on  the  Cremera  were 
raised  and  garrisoned  to  prevent  the  cultivation  of  the  lands 
and  the  passage  of  supplies  to  Veil.  In  the  third  year  (352) 
siege  was  laid  to  the  town  itself,  a  mound  was  advanced  against 
its  walls,  and  the  gallery  under  which  the  battering  rams 
were  to  play  had  nearly  reached  the  wall,  when  the  besieged 
made  a  sally,  drove  off  the  besiegers,  and  burned  the  gallery 
and  the  sides  of  the  mound,  which  they  then  levelled.  The 
news  of  this  reverse  only  stimulated  the  Romans  to  greater 
exertions ;  the  knights  to  whom  no  horses  could  be  assigned 
offered  to  serve  with  their  own ;  a  like  zeal  was  manifested 
by  the  classes,  and  the  campaign  of  353  was  opened  by  the 
appearance  of  a  gallant  army  under  the  consular  tribunes 
L.  Virginius  and  M.  Sergius,  before  the  walls  of  Veii.  The 
Veientines  on  their  side  were  aided  by  their  neighbours  the 
Capenates  and  Faliscans,  who  now  saw  that  the  danger  was 
a  common  one. 

The  Roman  generals,  who  were  at  enmity  with  each  other, 
had  separate  camps,  and  that  of  Sergius,  which  was  the  smaller, 
was  suddenly  attacked  by  the  allies,  while  the  Veientines  made 
a  sally  from  the  town.  The  pride  of  Sergius  would  not  let  him 
send  for  assistance  to  the  other  camp ;  Virginius,  pretending 
to  believe  that  if  his  colleague  wanted  aid  he  would  apply  for 
it,  kept  his  troops  under  arms,  but  would  not  stir.  At  length 
the  camp  of  Sergius  was  forced  :  a  few  fled  to  the  other  camp, 
himself  and  the  greater  number  to  Rome.  It  then  became 
necessary  to  abandon  the  other  camp ;  and  the  whole  of  the 
tribunes  were  obliged  to  lay  down  their  office  on  account  of 
the  misconduct  of  Virginius  and  Sergius.  Among  those  chosen 
to  succeed  them  was  M.  Furius  Camillus,  afterwards  so  fa- 
mous, whose  name  now  appears  for  the  first  time.  A  large 
force  was  brought  into  the  field,  with  which  Camillus  and 
one  of  his  colleagues  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Capenates  and 
Faliscans  up  to  the  walls  of  their  cities. 

The  internal  history  of  this  year  (354)  was  remarkable  for 
a  bold  attempt  of  the  oligarchs  to  get  two  of  themselves  chosen 
into  the  college  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people  *.  They  were, 
however,  utterly  foiled  ;  the  college  was  firm  and  unanimous  : 
a  heavy  fine  was  imposed  on  Sergius  and  Virginius  for  their 
ill  conduct,  and  an  agrarian  law  was  passed,  which  put  an 

*  For  the  patricians  were  now  in  the  tribes.  It,  however,  continued  to 
be  the  rule  that  none  but  a  plebeian  could  be  a  tribune. 


B.C.  396-393.]  VEIENTINE  WAR.  109 

end  to  the  frauds  by  which  the  payment  of  the  tithe  had  been 
eluded.  The  next  year  the  patricians  were  forced  to  allow  one 
plebeian  among  the  military  tribunes,  and  the  following  year 
(356)  all  but  the  prefect  of  the  city  were  plebeians. 

A  severe  winter  was  succeeded  by  a  pestilential  summer ; 
still  the  armies  took  the  field,  and  formed,  as  in  353,  a  double 
camp  before  Veii.  The  Faliscans  and  Capenates  repeated  the 
manoeuvre  which  had  succeeded  in  that  year ;  but  the  Roman 
generals  were  at  perfect  amity,  and  they  met  with  a  complete 
defeat.  The  territories  of  Capena  and  Falerii  were  ravaged 
again  the  next  year,  and  in  358,  the  Tarquinians,  who  had 
taken  arms  and  made  an  incursion  into  the  Roman  territory, 
were  waylaid  on  their  retvirn  and  routed  with  great  loss.  In 
359,  the  last  year  of  the  war,  the  tribunes  being  all  plebeians, 
two  of  them,  L.  Titinius  and  Cn.  Genucius,  invaded  the  lands 
of  Capena  and  Falerii ;  but  conducting  themselves  incau- 
tiously, they  met  with  a  defeat.  Genucius  fell  in  the  action, 
Titinius  broke  through  the  enemy  and  got  off,  the  troops  be- 
fore Veii  were  hardly  restrained  from  flight,  and  Rome  was 
filled  with  alarm.  Camillus  was  now  raised  to  the  dictator- 
ship ;  he  exerted  himself  to  restore  confidence  and  discipline 
to  the  troops :  the  contingents  of  the  Latins  and  Hernicans 
arrived,  the  dictator  took  the  field,  and  having  given  the  Fa- 
liscans and  Capenates  a  complete  defeat  at  Nepete,  sat  down 
before  Veii  with  a  numerous  army. 

The  account  of  the  Veientine  war  is  so  far  historical ;  in 
what  is  to  come,  a  poetic  tale,  of  the  same  kind  with  those 
we  have  already  noticed,  has  usurped  the  place  of  the  simple 
narrative  of  the  annals. 

Various  portents  we  are  told  announced  the  fall  of  Veii. 
Among  others,  the  waters  of  the  Alban  lake  rose  in  the  midst 
of  the  dog-days,  without  a  fall  of  rain  or  any  other  natural 
cause,  to  such  a  height  as  to  menace  to  overflow  and  deluge 
the  surrounding  country*.  Fearing  deceit  from  the  Etruscan 
augurs,  the  senate  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  consult  the  Py- 
thian oracle.  The  news  reached  the  camp  before  Veii,  and  as 
there  was  then  a  truce,  and  those  on  both  sides  who  were  pre- 
viously acquainted  were  in  the  habit  of  conversing  together, 
it  also  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Veientines.  Impelled 
by  destiny,  a  soothsayer  mocked  the  efforts  of  the  Romans, 

*  Liv.  V.  15.  Plutarch  (Cam.  3)  and  Dionysius  (Fr.  xii.  11)  say  the 
lake  did  overflow.  For  this  it  should  rise  at  least  300  feet  above  its  present 
level. 


110  VEIENTINE  WAR.  [b.C.  393. 

telling  them  that  the  sacred  books  declared  they  should  never 
take  Veii.  A  Roman  centurion  some  days  after,  pretending 
that  a  prodigy  had  fallen  out  in  his  house  which  he  was  anxious 
to  expiate,  invited  the  aruspex  to  meet  him  in  the  plain  be- 
tween the  town  and  the  Roman  camp.  Seduced  by  the  pro- 
spect of  the  proffered  reward  he  came  out ;  the  centurion  drew 
him  near  the  Roman  lines,  and  then  suddenly,  being  young 
and  vigorous,  dragged  the  feeble  old  man  into  the  camp.  He 
was  instantly  transferred  to  Rome ;  by  menaces  the  senate 
forced  him  to  tell  the  truth,  and  he  declared  that  the  books 
of  fate  announced  that  if  the  lake  should  overflow  Veii  could 
not  be  taken,  and  that  if  its  waters  reached  the  sea  Rome 
would  perish.  The  envoys  arrived  soon  after  from  Delphi 
with  a  similar  reply,  the  god  promising  the  conquest  of  Veii 
if  they  spread  the  waters  over  the  fields,  and  demanding  a 
tithe  of  the  spoil.  Forthwith  a  tunnel  was  commenced  in  the 
side  of  the  mountain  to  draw  off  the  waters  of  the  lake  and 
distribute  them  over  the  adjacent  fields  *.  It  advanced  ra- 
pidly :  the  Veientines,  seeing  their  impending  fate,  sent  an 
embassy  to  sue  for  favour ;  mercy  was  unrelentingly  refused  : 
the  chief  of  the  embassy  then  warned  the  Romans  to  beware, 
for  the  same  oracle  foretold  that  the  fall  of  Veii  would  be 
followed  by  the  capture  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls.  He  warned 
in  vain,  no  mercy  was  to  be  obtained. 

Meantime  the  work  by  which  Veii  was  to  be  taken  w-ent 
on ;  the  Romans  appeared  to  be  waiting  the  slow  effects  of  a 
blockade  ;  but  their  army  was  divided  into  six  bands,  each  of 
which  wrought  for  six  hours,  by  turns,  at  a  mine,  which  was 
to  lead  into  the  temple  of  Juno  on  the  citadel.  When  it  was 
completed  Camillus  sent  to  inquire  of  the  senate  what  should 
be  done  with  the  spoil.  Ap.  Claudius  advised  to  sell  it,  and 
reserve  the  proceeds  for  the  pay  of  the  army  on  future  occa- 
sions ;  P.  Licinius,  a  plebeian  military  tribune,  insisted  that  it 
should  be  divided  not  merely  among  the  troops  before  Veii, 
but  among  all  the  citizens,  as  all  had  made  sacrifices.  It  was 
so  decreed ;  and  on  proclamation  being  made,  old  and  young 
flocked  to  the  camp. 

When  the  waters  of  the  Alban  lake  were  dispersed  over  the 
fields  and  the  mine  was  completed,  Camillus,  Avho  previous  to 
his  departure  from  Rome  had  made  a  vow  to  celebrate  great 

*  The  tunnel  was  actually  made  at  this  time,  though  we  are  not  to  sup- 
pose it  had  anything  to  do  with  the  fate  of  Veii.  It  is  6000  feet  long,  3^ 
wide,  and  high  enough  for  a  man  to  walk  in  it. 


B.C.  393.]  CAPTURE  OF  VEir.  Ill 

games  to  the  gods,  and  dedicate  a  temple  to  the  goddess  named 
Matuta,  having  promised  high  honours  to  Queen  Juno,  the 
patron-goddess  of  Veii,  and  a  tenth  of  the  spoil  to  the  Pythian 
ApoHo,  entered  the  mine  at  the  head  of  his  cohorts.  At  the 
same  moment  the  horns  sounded  for  the  assault  and  scaling- 
ladders  were  advanced.  The  citizens  hastened  to  man  their 
walls ;  their  king  was  sacrificing  in  the  temple  of  Juno ;  the 
aruspex,  when  he  saw  the  victim,  cried  out  that  those  who 
offered  it  to  the  goddess  would  be  the  victors.  The  Romans, 
who  were  beneath,  hearing  this,  burst  forth  ;  Camillus  seized 
and  offered  the  flesh ;  his  men  rushed  down  from  the  citadel 
and  opened  the  gates  to  those  without ;  and  thus  Veii,  like 
Troy,  was  taken  by  stratagem,  after  a  ten  years'  siege*. 

The  spoil  was  immense,  and  no  part  of  it,  except  the  price 
of  those  who  had  been  made  prisoners  before  orders  were 
given  to  spare  the  unarmed,  and  who  therefore  were  sold,  was 
brought  into  the  treasurJ^  It  is  related  that  as  Camillus  look- 
ed from  the  citadel  down  on  the  magnificent  city  he  had  won, 
he  called  to  mind  the  envy  with  which  the  gods  were  believed 
to  regard  human  prosperity,  and  prayed  that  it  might  fall  as 
lightly  as  possible  on  himself  and  the  Roman  peoplef ;  as  he 
turned  round  to  worship,  he  stumbled  and  fell,  and  he  fondly 
deemed  this  to  have  appeased  the  envy  of  the  Immortals.  He 
dared  then  to  enter  Rome  in  triumph,  in  a  car  drawn  by  white 
horses,  like  those  of  Jupiter  and  Sol  (Sun),  a  thing  never  wit- 
nessed before  or  after ;  and  the  wrath  of  Heaven  fell  ere  long 
on  himself  and  the  city. 

The  statue  of  Queen  Juno  was  now  to  be  removed  to  Rome, 
according  to  the  dictator's  vow  ;  but  as  only  a  priest  of  a  cer- 
tain house  could  touch  it,  the  Romans  were  filled  with  awe. 
At  length  a  body  of  chosen  knights,  having  purified  them- 
selves and  put  on  white  robes,  entered  the  temple.  The  god- 
dess being  asked  if  she  was  willing  to  go  to  Rome,  her  assent- 
ing voice  was  distinctly  heard,  and  the  statue  of  its  own  ac- 
cord moved  with  those  who  conveyed  it  out. 

The  tithe  was  to  be  sent  to  the  god  at  Delphi ;  but  the 
spoil  was  mostly  consumed  and  spent ;  the  pontiffs  declared 
that  the  state  was  only  accountable  for  what  had  been  re- 
ceived by  the  qusestors,  and  for  the  land  and  buildings  at 
Veii,  and  that  therefore  the  sin  of  those  who  kept  back  their 

*  The  mine  is  as  evident  a  fiction  as  the  Trojan  horse.     In  all  ancient 
history  there  is  no  authentic  account  of  a  town  taken  in  this  way. 
t  The  same  is  told  of  jEmilius  Paulus,  Veil,  Pat.  i.  10. 


112  CAPTURE  OF  VEIL  [b.c.  392-391. 

share  of  it  would  lie  at  their  own  door.  Conscience,  there- 
fore, made  all  refund ;  but  much  ill-will  accrued  to  Camillus 
for  not  having  reminded  them  in  time  of  his  vow.  It  was 
resolved  to  make  a  golden  bowl  (crater)  to  the  value  of  the 
tenth  ;  there  not  being  sulBcient  gold  in  the  treasury  for  that 
purpose,  the  matrons  came  forward,  and  proffered  to  lend  the 
state  their  ornaments  and  jewels  of  gold  :  their  offer  was  gra- 
ciously accepted,  and  in  return  the  privilege  of  going  through 
the  city  in  chariots  was  granted  them, — an  honour  hitherto 
confined  to  the  principal  magistrates.  The  bowl  was  then 
made,  and  a  trireme  and  three  convoys  were  despatched  with 
it  to  Delphi.  But  the  ship  had  the  mischance  to  be  captured 
and  carried  into  Lipara  by  some  cruisers,  who  took  it  for  a 
pirate.  Timosithevis  however,  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
place,  released  it,  and  sent  it  with  a  convoy  to  Greece,  for 
which  the  Romans  granted  him  the  right  o{  proxeny  to  the 
state.  The  bowl  was  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  the  Massa- 
lians,  whence,  not  many  years  after,  it  was  taken  and  melted 
down  by  Onomarchus  the  Phocian*. 

The  year  after  the  capture  of  Veil  (360),  the  Capenates 
were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace  ;  and  a  colony  of  three  thou- 
sand plebeian  veterans  was  sent  to  the  ^quian  country,  the 
patricians  hoping  to  be  able  to  keep  the  rich  Veientine  lands 
to  themselves.  But  the  tribunes  insisted  that  the  lands  and 
houses  there  should  be  assigned  to  the  two  orders  alike.  As 
this,  by  dividing  the  Roman  people  into  two  parts,  would  be 
the  destruction  of  the  unity  of  the  state,  the  patricians  op- 
posed it  most  warmly  :  by  gaining  over  two  of  the  tribunes 
they  staved  off  the  measure  for  two  years;  and  in  362,  when 
the  tribunes  were  unanimous,  and  the  two  who  had  opposed 
before  had  been  heavily  fined,  the  senators,  by  addressing 
themselves  to  their  plebeian  tribesmen,  and  showing  the  evil 
of  the  measure,  got  it  rejected  by  a  majority  of  eleven  out  of 
the  twenty-one  tribes.  Next  day  a  vote  of  the  senate  assigned 
a  lot  of  seven  jugers  of  Veientine  land  to  every  free  person 
who  needed  it. 

In  36J,  Camillus,  being  one  of  the  military  tribunes,  en- 
tered the  Faliscan  territory.  TheFaliscans  had  encamped  in 
a  strong  position  about  a  mile  from  the  town ;  but  he  drove 
them  from  it,  and  then  advancing,  sat  down  before  Falerii. 

*  Diodor.  xiv.  93.  Appian,  Ital.  Fragm.  8.  See  History  of  Greece,  Part 
III.  chap.  i.    Forj&rojeK?/,  seesame,  p.  48,?io^e.    2nd  edit.  p.  46,  4th  edit. 


B.C.  388.]  SIEGE  OF  FALERII.  113 

While  he  was  beleaguering  this  town,  the  following  event  is 
said  to  have  occurred. 

It  was  the  custom  at  Falerii,  as  in  Greece,  to  place  the  boys 
of  different  families  under  the  care  of  one  master,  who  always 
accompanied  them  at  their  sports  and  exercises*.  The  master 
of  the  boys  of  several  of  the  noblest  families,  continuing  to 
take  them  outside  of  the  town  to  exercise  as  before  the  siege, 
led  them  one  day  into  the  Roman  camp,  and  presenting  them 
to  Camiilus  declared  that  he  thereby  put  Falerii  into  his 
hands.  The  generous  Roman,  disgusted  by  such  treachery, 
ordered  his  hands  to  be  tied  behind  his  back,  and  giving  rods 
to  the  boys,  made  them  whip  him  into  the  town.  Overcome 
by  such  magnanimity,  the  Faliscans  surrendered,  and  the  Ro- 
man senate  was  satisfied  with  their  giving  a  year's  pay  to  the 
soldiers. 

The  year  364-  saw  Rome  at  war  with  two  of  the  more  di- 
stant states  of  Etruria,  Vulsiniif  and  Salpinum  ;  but  their  re- 
sistance was  brief,  eight  thousand  Vulsinians  laying  down 
their  arms  almost  without  fighting,  and  the  Salpinates  not  da- 
ring to  leave  their  walls  to  defend  their  lands.  A  truce  for 
twenty  years  was  made  with  the  Vulsinians,  on  their  giving  a 
year's  pay  for  the  Roman  troops.  But  this  year  was  rendered 
still  more  notable  by  the  impeachment  of  Camiilus  by  the  tri- 
bune L.  Apuleius,  for  having  secreted  a  part  of  the  plunder  of 
Veii.  The  evidence  appears  to  have  been  clear  against  him 
(two  brazen  doors  from  Veii,  it  is  said,  were  found  in  his 
house),  and  the  people  were  exasperated.  When  he  applied 
to  his  clients  in  the  tribes  to  get  him  ofi",  they  made  answer 
that  they  could  not  acquit  him,  but  that,  as  in  duty  bound, 
they  would  contribute  to  pay  whatever  fine  might  be  imposed 
on  him.  Finding  his  case  hopeless,  he  resolved  to  go  into 
exile.  When  outside  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  he  turned  round, 
and  regarding  the  Capitol,  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  prayed  to 
the  gods  that  Rome  might  soon  have  cause  to  regret  him.  A 
fine  of  15,000  asses  was  laid  on  him  by  the  people. 

*  Horace  (Carm.  i.  36,  7.)  seems  to  speak  of  a  similar  custom  at  Rome, 
f  Vulsinii  {Bolsena)  lay  on  the  lake  of  the  same  name  {Lago  di  Bolsena). 


114f  THE  GAULS.  [b.C.  388. 


CHAPTER  v.* 

The  Gauls. — Their  Invasion  of  Italy. — Siege  of  Clusium. — Battle  of  the 
Alia. — Taking  of  Rome. — Rebuilding  of  the  City. — Distress  of  the  Peo- 
ple.— M.  Manlius. — The  Licinian  Rogations. — Pestilence  at  Rome. — 
M.  Curtius. — Hernican  War. — Combat  of  Manlius  and  a  Gaul. — Gallic 
and  Tuscan  Wars. — Combat  of  Valerius  and  a  Gaul. — Reduction  of  the 
Rate  of  Interest. 

The  ruthless  prayer  of  Camillus  was  accomplished  ;  ambas- 
sadors arrived  soon  after  from  Clusium  in  Etruria,  praying 
for  aid  against  a  savage  people  come  from  the  confines  of 
the  earth  and  named  the  Gauls. 

The  people  named  Celts  or  Gauls  were  the  original  inha- 
bitants of  Europe  west  of  the  Rhine,  where  they  were  spread 
over  France,  the  British  Isles,  and  a  great  part,  if  not  all,  of 
Spain.  They  were  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  far  exceeding  any 
that  could  ever  have  prevailed  in  Greece  or  Italy,  having 
hardly  any  tillage  or  trade,  and  living  on  the  milk  and  flesh 
of  their  cattle.  In  manners  they  were  turbulent  and  brutal, 
easily  excited,  but  deficient'in  energy  and  perseverance.  To- 
ward the  time  of  the  last  Veientine  war,  want,  or  the  pressure 
of  asuperior  power,  (perhaps  that  of  the  Iberians  in  the  south,) 
seems  to  have  obliged  several  of  their  tribes  to  migrate.  One 
portion  pushed  along  the  valley  of  the  Danube  ;  another  cross- 
ed the  Alps,  and  came  down  on  northern  Etruria,  whose  chief 
town,  Melpum,  they  are  said  to  have  taken  on  the  same  day 
that  Veii  fell,  and  they  rapidly  made  themselves  masters  of  the 
whole  plain  of  the  Po.  They  then  crossed  tlie  Apennines,  and 
laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Clusium  in  Etruria  (364). 

We  are  told  that  it  was  a  Clusine  who  had  invited  them  into 
Italy.  A  citizen  of  Clusium,  named  Aruns,  had  been  the 
guardian  of  a  Lucumo,  who,  when  he  grew  up,  seduced,  or 
was  seduced  by,  his  guardian's  wife.  Aruns,  having  sought 
justice  in  vain  from  the  magistrates,  resolved  to  be  revenged 
on  them  as  well  as  on  his  injurer.  He  loaded  mules  with  skins 
of  wine  and  oil,  and  with  rush-mats  filled  with  dried  figs,  and 
crossing  the  Alps  came  to  the  Gauls,  to  whom  such  delicacies 
were  unknown.     He  told  them  that  they  might  easily  win  the 

*  Livy,  V.  33.-vii.  28.  Plut.  Camillus,  13.  to  the  end;  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  388.]  SIEGE  OF  CLUSIUM.  1  15 

land  that  produced  them ;  and  forthwith  the  whole  people 
arose,  with  wives  and  children,  and  marched  for  Clusium*. 

When  the  Clusines  called  on  the  Romans  for  aid,  the  senate 
sent  three  of  the  Fabiif?  sons  of  M.  Ambustus,  the  chief  pon- 
tiff, to  desire  the  Gauls  not  to  molest  the  allies  of  Rome.  The 
reply  was,  that  they  wanted  land,  and  the  Clusines  must  divide 
theirs  with  them.  The  Fabii  enraged  went  into  the  town,  and 
then  forgetting  their  character  of  envoys,  and  that  no  Roman 
could  bear  arms  against  any  people  till  war  had  been  declared 
and  he  had  taken  the  military  oath  |,  they  joined  the  Clusines 
in  a  sally  ;  and  Q.  Fabius,  having  slain  a  Gallic  chief,  was  re- 
cognised as  he  was  stripping  him.  Forthwith  Brennus,  the 
Gallic  king,  ordered  a  retreat  to  be  sounded  ;  and  selecting  the 
hugest  of  his  warriors,  sent  them  to  Rome,  to  demand  the  sur- 
render of  the  Fabii.  The  fetials  urged  the  senate  to  free  the 
republic  from  guilt :  most  of  the  senators  acknowledged  their 
duty,  but  they  could  not  endure  the  idea  of  giving  up  men  of 
such  noble  birth  to  the  vengeance  of  a  savage  foe.  They  re- 
ferred the  matter  to  the  people,  who  instantly  created  the  of- 
fenders consular  tribunes,  and  then  told  the  envoys  that  no- 
thing could  be  done  to  them  until  the  expiration  of  their  office, 
at  which  time,  if  their  anger  continued,  they  might  come 
and  seek  for  justice.  Brennus,  when  he  received  his  reply, 
gave  the  word,  "  For  Rome !  "  The  Gallic  horse  and  foot 
overspread  the  plains  ;  they  touched  not  the  property  of  the 
husbandmen  ;  they  passed  by  the  towns  and  villages  as  if 
they  were  friends ;  they  crossed  the  Tiber,  and  reached  the 
Alia§,  a  little  stream  that  enters  it  about  eleven  miles  from 
Rome. 

They  would  have  found  Rome  unprepared, says  the  legendj], 
but  that  one  night  a  plebeian  named  M.  Ctedicius,  as  he  was 
going  down  the  Via  Nova  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine,  heard  a 
voice  more  than  human  from  the  adjacent  grove  of  Vesta  call- 
ing him  by  name ;  he  turned,  but  could  see  no  one ;  he  was 
then  desired  by  the  voice  to  go  in  the  morning  to  the  magi- 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  that  this  is  a  mere  legend.  Pliny 
(N.  H.  xii.  1.)  relates  it  somewhat  differently. 

f  Three  was  the  usual  number  of  ambassadors  sent  by  the  Romans  to 
foreign  powers. 

I  Cicero,  Offic.  i.  1 1. 

§  Virgil,  for  the  sake  of  his  verse,  spelled  it  Allia  ;  the  true  word  is  Alia. 
Servius  on  JEn.  vii.  717. 

II  Zonaras,  vii.  23.  from  Dion  Cassias.  Cic.  Div.  i.  4,  5.  Livy  and  the 
other  writers  place  this  legend  much  earlier. 


116  BATTLE  OF  THE  ALIA.  [b.C.  388. 

strates,  and  tell  them  that  the  Gauls  were  coining.  On  these 
tidings  the  men  of  military  age  were  called  out  and  led  against 
the  foes,  whom  they  met  at  the  Alia. 

According  to  the  real  narrative*,  when  the  Romans  heard 
of  the  march  of  the  Gauls,  they  summoned  the  trooi^s  of  their 
allies,  and  arming  all  that  could  carry  arms,  took  a  position 
near  Veil ;  but  on  learning  that  the  enemies  were  making 
for  the  city  by  forced  marches,  they  returned  to  Rome,  re- 
passed the  river,  and  advancing,  met  them  at  the  Alia  on  the 
18th  of  July,  a  day  rendered  ominous  by  the  fall  of  the  Fabii 
at  the  Cremeraf.  The  Gauls  were  70,000  men  strong  ;  the 
Roman  army  of  40,000  was  divided  into  two  wings  or  horns 
{cornua).  the  left  of  24,000  men  rested  on  the  Tiber,  the  right 
of  16,000  occupied  some  broken  ground :  the  Alia  was  between 
them  and  the  enemy.  Brennus  fell  on  the  right  wing,  which 
was  chiefly  formed  of  proletarians  and  agrarians,  and  speedily 
routed  it ;  the  left  then,  seeing  itself  greatly  outflanked,  was 
seized  with  a  panic,  broke,  and  made  for  the  river ;  the  Gauls 
assailed  them  on  every  side  ;  many  were  slain,  many  drowned  ; 
the  survivors,  mostly  without  arms,  fled  to  Veil.  The  right 
wing,  when  broken,  had  fled  through  the  hills  to  Rome,  car- 
rying the  news  of  the  defeat ;  ere  nightfall  the  Gallic  horse 
appeared  before  the  Colline  gate,  and  on  the  Field  of  Mars, 
but  no  attempt  was  made  on  the  city  ;  and  that  night  and  the 
succeeding  day  and  night  were  devoted  to  plundering,  rioting, 
drunkenness,  and  sleep. 

Meantime  the  Romans,  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  defend- 
ing the  city,  resolved  to  collect  all  the  provisions  in  it  on  the 
Capitol  and  citadel,  which  would  contain  about  one  thou- 
sand men,  and  there  to  make  a  stand.  The  rest  of  the  people 
quitted  Rome  as  best  they  could,  to  seek  shelter  in  the  neigh- 
bouring towns,  taking  with  them  such  articles  as  they  could 
carry.  A  part  of  the  sacred  things  were  buried;  the  Flamen 
Quirinalis  and  the  Vestal  Virgins  crossed  the  Sublician  bridge 
on  foot,  with  the  remainder,  on  their  way  to  Caere.  As  they 
ascended  the  Janiculan,  they  were  observed  by  L.  Albinius,  a 
plebeian,  who  was  driving  his  wife  and  children  in  a  cart ;  and 
he  made  them  instantly  get  down,  and  give  way  to  the  holy 
virgins,  whom  he  conveyed  in  safety  to  their  place  of  refuge. 

*  In  the  opinion  of  Niebuhr  the  true  account  of  the  battle  and  the  taking 
of  Rome  is  given  by  Diodorus  (xiv.  113-117)  from  Fabius.  Livy  and  Plu- 
tarch follow  the  legend  of  Camillus. 

f  Liv.  vi.  1.  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  91.     See  above,  pp.  75,  76. 


\ 


B.C.  388.]  TAKING  OF  ROME.  117 

About  eighty  aged  patricians,  who  were  priests,  or  had  borne 
curule  offices,  would  not  survive  that  Rome  which  had  been 
the  scene  of  all  their  glory  ;  and  having  solemnly  devoted 
themselves  under  the  chief  pontiff,  for  the  republic  and  the 
destruction  of  her  foes,  they  sat  calmly  awaiting  death  in  their 
robes  of  state,  on  their  ivory  seats  in  the  Forum*. 

On  the  second  day  tlie  Gauls  entered  the  city  at  the  Colline 
gate.  A  death-like  stillness  prevailed  ;  they  reached  the  Fo- 
rum ;  on  the  Capitol  above  they  beheld  armed  men  ;  beneath 
in  the  Comitium  the  aged  senators,  like  beings  of  another 
world  :  they  were  awe-struck,  and  paused.  At  length  one  put 
forth  his  hand,  and  stroked  the  venerable  beard  of  M.  Papirius ; 
the  indignant  old  man  raised  his  ivory  sceptre,  and  smote  him 
on  the  head  ;  the  Barbarian  drew  his  sword,  and  slew  him,  and 
all  the  others  shared  his  fate.  The  Gauls  spread  over  the  city 
in  quest  of  plunder,  fires  broke  out  in  various  quarters,  and 
ere  long  the  city  was  a  heap  of  ashes,  no  houses  remaining  but 
a  few  on  the  Palatine  reserved  for  the  chiefs. 

The  Gauls,  having  made  divers  fruitless  attempts  to  force 
their  way  up  the  clivus  of  the  Capitol,  resolved  to  trust  to  fa- 
mine for  its  reduction.  But  provisions  soon  began  to  run 
short ;  the  dog-days,  and  the  sickly  month  of  September  came 
on,  and  they  died  in  heaps  f.  A  part  of  them  had  marched 
away  for  Apulia  ;  the  rest  ravaged  Latium  far  and  wide;j;. 

Meantime  some  people  of  Etruria  (probably  theTarquinians) 
ungenerously  took  advantage  of  the  distress  of  the  Romans  to 
ravage  the  Veientine  territory,  Avhere  the  Roman  husbandmen 
had  taken  refuge  with  what  property  they  had  been  able  to 
save.  But  the  Romans  at  Veii,  putting  M.  Csedicius  at  their 
head,  fell  on  them  in  the  night  and  routed  them  ;  and  having 
thus  gotten  a  supply  of  arms,  of  which  they  were  so  much  in 
want,  they  began  to  prepare  to  act  against  the  Gauls.  A  da- 
ring youth  named  Pontius  Cominiusswam  one  night  on  corks 
down  the  river,  and  eluding  the  Gauls  clambered  up  the  side 

*  Phit.  Camill.  21.      Zonaras,  vii.  23. 

•(■  There  was  a  place  in  Rome  called  the  Busta  Gallica,  which  was  said 
to  have  derived  its  name  from  this  event.     Varro,  L.  L.  v.  157. 

X  Among  the  wonders  of  this  period  is  the  following.  While  the  Gauls 
surrounded  the  Capitol,  the  time  of  the  annual  sacrifice  of  the  Fahian  geiia 
on  the  Quirinal  arrived.  C.  Fabius  Dorso,  who  was  on  the  Capitol,  then 
girded  himself  with  the  Gabine  cincture,  took  the  requisite  things  in  his 
hands,  went  down  the  clivus,  ascended  the  Quirinal,  performed  the  sacred 
rites,  and  returned  ;  the  Gauls,  moved  either  by  awe  or  by  religion,  offer- 
ing him  no  opposition.    Liv.  v.  46. 


118  TAKING  OF  ROME.  [b.C.  387« 

of  the  Capitol  near  the  Carraental  gate*,  and  having  given  the 
requisite  information  to  the  garrison,  returned  by  the  way  he 
carae. 

But  the  Gauls  soon  took  notice  of  a  bush  which  had  given 
way  as  Cominius  grasped  it ;  they  also  observed  that  the  grass 
was  trodden  down  in  various  places  f  ;  the  rock  was  therefore 
not  inaccessible,  and  it  was  resolved  to  scale  it.  At  midnight 
a  party  came  in  dead  silence  to  the  spot,  and  began  to  ascend. 
Slowly  and  cautiously  they  climbed  up ;  no  noise  was  made, 
the  Romans  were  buried  in  sleep,  their  sentinels  were  negli- 
gent, even  the  dogs  were  not  aroused.  The  foremost  Gaul 
had  reached  the  summit,  when  some  geese,  which  as  sacred  to 
Juno  had  been  spared  in  the  famine,  being  startled,  began  to 
flutter  and  scream.  The  noise  awoke  M.  Manlius,  a  consular, 
whose  house  stood  on  the  hill ;  he  ran  out,  pushed  down  the 
Gaul,  whose  fall  caused  that  of  those  behind,  and  the  whole 
project  was  baffled.  The  negligent  captain  of  the  guard  was 
flung  down  the  rock  with  his  hands  tied  behind  his  back  ;  and 
every  man  on  the  citadel  gave  Manlius  half  a  pound  of  corn, 
and  a  quarter  of  a  flask  of  wine  as  a  reward. 

Still  famine  pressed  ;  the  blockade  had  now  lasted  six 
months,  and  the  garrison  had  begun  to  eat  even  the  soles  of 
their  shoes  and  the  leather  of  their  shields :  the  Gauls,  on  their 
side,  found  their  army  melting  away,  and  tidings  came  that 
the  Venetians  had  invaded  their  territory  ;  they  therefore 
agreed  to  receive  one  thousand  pounds  of  gold,  and  depart. 
At  the  weighing  of  the  gold  Brennus  had  false  weights 
brought ;  and  when  the  consular  tribune,  Q.  Sulpicius,  com- 
plained of  the  injustice,  he  flung  his  sword  into  the  scale, 
ci'ying,  "  Woe  to  the  vanquished  !  "  (  Vce  victis  !)  The  Gauls 
then  departed,  and  re- crossed  the  Apennines  with  their  wealth 
(365):. 

It  is  thus  that  history  relates  the  transaction  § ;  the  legend 
of  Camiflus  tells  a  different  tale.  Camillus,  an  exile  at  Ardea, 
had,  it  says,  at  the  head  of  the  Ardeates,  given  the  Gauls  a 
check  ;  the  Romans  at  Veil  passed  an  ordinance  of  the  plebs, 
restoring  him  to  his  civil  rights,  and  making  him  dictator ;  to 
obtain  the  confirmation  of  the  senate  and  curies,  Cominius 
ascended  the  Capitol.  Camillus,  at  the  head  of  his  legions, 
entered  the  Forum  just  as  the  gold  was  being  weighed  ;  he 

*  Plut.  Camill.  25.     Liv.  v.  17.  f  Plutarch,  ut  supra,  26. 

X  The  year  of  the  peace  of  Antalcidas  in  Greece. 
§  Polybius,  ii.  IS,  3;  22,  5.  Suetonius,  Tiberius,  3. 


B.C.  387.]-  DISTRESS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  119 

ordered  it  to  be  taken  away  :  the  Gauls  pleaded  the  treaty ; 
he  replied  that  it  was  not  valid,  being  made  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  dictator.  Each  side  grasped  their  arms  ;  a  battle 
was  fought  on  the  ruins  of  Rome  :  the  Gauls  were  defeated, 
and  a  second  victory  on  the  Gabine  road  annihilated  their 
army,  Camillus  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  leading  Brennus 
captive,  whom  he  ordered  to  be  put  to  death,  replying  Vce 
victis  !  to  his  remonstrances.     But  to  return  to  history. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Ro- 
mans after  the  departure  of  the  Gauls  ;  their  city  was  one  heap 
of  ruins,  their  property  was  nearly  all  lost  or  destroyed,  their 
former  allies  and  subjects  were  ill-disposed  toward  them*. 
We  are  told  in  a  legend,  that  the  people  of  Ficulea,  Fidenae, 
and  some  of  the  adjacent  towns,  came  in  arms  against  Rome  ; 
and  so  great  was  the  panic  they  caused,  that  a  popular  solem- 
nity! kept  up  the  memory  of  it  to  a  late  age.  They  demanded 
a  number  of  matrons  and  maidens  of  good  families  as  the  price 
of  peace.  The  Romans  were  in  the  utmost  perplexity,  when 
a  female  slave,  named  Philotis  or  Tutula,  proposed  a  plan  to 
avert  disgrace  from  the  ladies  of  Rome.  She  and  several  of 
her  companions  were  clad  in  the  prcetexta,  and  amid  the  tears 
of  their  pretended  relatives  delivered  to  the  Latins.  The 
slaves  encouraged  their  new  lords  to  drink  copiously  ;  over- 
powered by  wine  they  fell  into  a  deep  sleep,  and  Tutula,  then 
mounting  a  wild  fig-tree  (caprificus),  raised  a  lighted  torch, 
the  appointed  signal,  toward  Rome.  The  Romans  sallied 
forth,  fell  on  and  massacred  their  slumbering  foes,  and  Tutula 
and  their  companions  were  rewarded  with  their  freedom.  An- 
other tradition  %  told,  that  at  this  period  the  scarcity  of  food 
was  such  that  the  men  past  sixty  were  thrown  into  the  river 
as  being  useless.  One  old  man  was  concealed  by  his  son, 
through  whom  he  gave  such  useful  counsel  to  the  state  that 
the  practice  was  ended. 

The  people  shrank  from  the  prospect  of  rebuilding  their 
ruined  city,  and  it  was  vehemently  urged  that  they  should  re- 
move to  Veii.  Against  this  project,  which  would  have  pro- 
bably quenched  the  glory  of  Rome  for  ever,  the  patricians 
exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost,  appealing  to  every  feeling 

*  Compare  the  account  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  their  city,  given  in 
the  Book  of  Ezra. 

t  Populifugia  or  NoncE  Caprotince.  Varro,  L.  L.  vi.  18.  Plut.  Rom.  29. 
Camill.  33.  Macrob.  Sat.  i.  11. 

J  Festus,  s.  V.  Sexagenaries. 


120  DISTRESS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  B.C.  388-317. 

of  patriotism  and  religion.  A  word  of  omen,  casual  or  de- 
signed, was  decisive.  While  the  senate  was  debating,  a  cen- 
turion was  heard  to  cry  in  the  Comitiura,  as  he  was  leading 
his  men  over  it,  "  Halt !  we  had  best  stop  here."  The  senate 
allowed  every  one  to  take  bricks  wherever  he  found  them,  and 
to  hew  stone  and  wood  where  he  liked.  Veil  was  demolished 
for  building  materials ;  and  within  the  year  Rome  rose  from 
her  ruins  in  an  unsightly  irregular  form. 

As  a  means  of  increasing  the  population,  the  civic  franchise 
was  given  (366)  to  the  people  of  such  Veientine,  Faliscan, 
and  Capenate  towns  as  had  come  over  to  the  Romans  during 
the  Veientine  war ;  and  two  years  after  (368)  four  new  tribes 
(which  raised  the  whole  number  to  twenty-five)  were  formed 
out  of  them. 

The  wars  for  some  years  offer  little  to  interest.  The  Etrus- 
cans are  said  to  have  failed  in  attempts  to  take  Sutrium  and 
Nepete  :  the  Volscians  of  Antium  and  Ecetrae  went  once  more 
to  war  with  Rome,  now  enfeebled  ;  Hernican  and  Latin  mer- 
cenaries fought  on  their  side,  but  the  valour  of  the  Roman 
legions  was  still  triumphant  *.  The  Proenestines  also  measured 
their  strength  with  Rome,  but  the  banks  of  the  Alia  witnessed 
their  defeat  (375). 

The  internal  history  of  this  period  is  of  far  more  import- 
ance. It  was  indeed  a  time  of  distress,  augmented  by  the 
cruelty  and  harshness  of  the  ruling  order.  In  order  to  build 
their  houses,  procure  farming  implements,  and  other  neces- 
sary things,  the  plebeians  had  to  borrow  money  to  a  consider- 
able extent.  The  rate  of  interest  being  now  raised  at  Rome, 
the  money-lenders  (argentarii)  Hocked  thither,  and  under  the 
patronage  of  the  patricians,  for  which  they  had  to  pay  high, 
they  lent  to  the  people  at  a  most  usurious  rate:  interest 
speedily  multiplied  the  principal ;  there  were  also  outstanding 
debts  to  the  patricians  themselves :  the  severe  law  of  debt, 
which  the  Twelve  Tables  had  left  in  force,  but  which,  owing 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  following  years,  had  rarely  been  acted 
on,  was  again  in  operation,  and  freeborn  Romans  were  reduced 
to  bondage  at  home,  or  sold  out  of  their  country.  To  aug- 
ment the  distress  of  the  people,  the  government  (urged  most 
probably  by  superstition)  laid  on  a  tribute  to  raise  double  the 

*  Livy  (vi.  12.)  wonders,  as  well  lie  might,  where  the  Volscians  and 
jEqiiians,  who  were  routed  so  often  and  with  such  slaughter,  according  to 
the  annalists,  were  ahle  to  get  men.  It  never  came  into  his  mind  to  question 
the  truth  of  all  those  great  victories. 


B.C.  382.]  M.  MANLIUS.  121 

amount  of  the  thousand  pounds  of  gold  given  to  the  Gauls,  in 
order  to  replace  it  in  the  temples  whence  it  had  been  taken. 

In  this  state  of  things  M.  Manlius,  the  saviour  of  the  Capi- 
tol, came  forward  as  the  patron  of  the  distressed.  In  birth 
and  in  valour,  and  every  other  ennobling  quality,  he  yielded 
to  no  man  of  his  time,  and  he  ill-brooked  to  see  himself  kept 
in  the  background,  while  his  rival  Camillus  was  year  after 
year  invested  with  the  highest  offices  in  the  state.  This  feeling 
of  jealousy  may  have  influenced  his  subsequent  conduct ;  but 
Manlius  was  a  man  of  generous  mind,  and  when  one  day  (370) 
he  saw  a  brave  centurion,  his  fellow-soldier,  led  over  the  Fo- 
rum in  chains  by  the  usurer  to  whom  he  had  been  adjudged, 
his  pity  was  excited,  and  he  paid  his  debt  on  the  spot.  Once 
in  the  career  of  generosity  Manlius  could  not  stop  ;  he  sold 
an  estate  beyond  the  Tiber,  the  most  valuable  part  of  his  pro- 
perty, and  saved  nearly  four  hundred  citizens  from  bondage 
by  lending  them  money  without  interest. 

His  house  on  the  citadel  now  became  the  resort  of  all  classes 
of  plebeians ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  hinted  iu  his  discourses 
with  them,  that  the  patricians  had  embezzled  the  money  x*aised 
to  replace  the  votive  offerings,  and  that  they  should  be  made 
to  refund  and  liquidate  with  it  the  debts  of  the  poor.  The 
proceedings  of  Manlius  seemed  so  dangerous  to  the  senate, 
that  by  their  direction,  the  dictator  A.  Cornelius  Cossus  had 
him  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  Numbers  of  the  ple- 
beians now  changed  their  raiment,  and  let  their  hair  and  beard 
grow  neglected,  as  mourners ;  day  and  night  they  lingered 
about  the  prison-door ;  and  the  senate,  either  alarmed  or  having 
no  real  charge  against  him,  set  him  at  liberty. 

It  is  likely  that  the  injustice  of  the  senate  may  have  exacer- 
bated Manlius  ;  at  all  events  he  w^as  now  become  a  dangerous 
citizen,  and  two  of  tlie  tribunes  impeached  him  before  the 
centuries  for  aiming  at  the  kingdom.  His  own  order,  his 
friends  and  kinsmen,  and  even  his  two  brothers,  deserted  him 
in  his  need  ;  a  thing  unheard  of,  as  even  for  the  decemvir  all 
the  Claudian  house  had  changed  their  raiment.  On  the  Field 
of  Mars  he  produced  all  whom  he  had  preserved  from  bond- 
age for  debt,  and  those  whose  lives  he  had  saved  in  battle ; 
he  displayed  the  arms  of  thirty  foes  whom  he  had  slain,  and 
forty  rewards  of  valour  conferred  on  him  by  different  generals  ; 
he  bared  his  breast,  covered  with  scars,  and  looking  up  to  the 
Capitol,  implored  the  gods,  whose  fanes  he  had  saved,  to  stand 
by  him  in  his  need.    This  appeal  to  gods  and  men  was  irresist- 

G 


122  M.  MANLIUS.  [B.C.  382. 

ible,  and  he  was  acquitted  by  the  centuries.  But  his  enemy 
CamiUus  was  dictator,  and  he  was  arraigned  before  the  curies 
(concilmmjjopuli,)  assembled  in  the  Peteline  grove,  before  the 
Flumentan  gate*,  who  readily  condemned  him  to  death. 

Manlius  was  either  already  in  insurrection,  or  he  I'esolved 
not  to  fall  a  passive  victim,  and  he  and  his  partizans  occupied 
the  Capitol.     Treachery  was  then  employed  against  him ;  a 
slave  came,  feigning  to  be  a  deputy  from  his  brethren  ;  and 
as  Manlius  was  walking  on  the  edge  of  the  precipice  in  con- 
ference with  him,  he  gave  him  a  sudden  push,  and  tumbled 
him  down  the  rockf. 
/       The  house  of  Manlius  was  razed ;  a  decree  was  passed  that 
\  no  patrician  should  ever  dwell  on  the  citadel  or  Capitol ;  and 
\  the  Manlian  gens  made  a  by-law  that  none  of  them  should 
'  ever  bear  the  name  of  Marcus.    But  the  people  mourned  him  ; 
and  the  pestilence  with  which  Rome  was  shortly  afterwards 
afflicted  was  regarded  as  a  punishment  sent  by  the  gods  to 
avenge  the  death  of  the  preserver  of  their  temples. 

Meantime  the  misery  of  the  plebeians  went  on  increasing ; 
day  after  day  debtors  were  dragged  away  from  the  praetor's 
tribunal  to  the  private  dungeons  of  the  patricians ;  the  whole 
plebeian  order  lost  spirit ;  and  the  greedy  short-sighted  pa- 
tricians were  on  the  point  of  reducing  the  Roman  state  to  a 
feeble  contemptible  oligarchy,  when  two  men  appeared,  who 
by  their  wisdom  and  firmness  changed  the  fate  of  Rome,  and 
with  it  that  of  the  world.  These  were  the  tribunes  C.  Lici- 
nius  Stolo  and  L.  Sextius  Lateranus. 

*  As  the  Flumentan  gate  was  only  a  short  distance  from  the  Capitol,  and 
Livy  speaks  of  that  temple  being  out  of  view  from  the  place  where  Manlius 
was  condemned,  Nardini  substituted  Nomentan  for  Fliunentan,  without  re- 
flecting that  there  was  no  Nomentan  gate  in  Rome  at  the  time,  or  till  the 
wall  of  Aurelian  was  built.  His  correction  has  been  generally  adopted, 
even  by  Niebuhr!  If  Livy  is  correct  in  saying  that  the  temple  was  out  of 
sight,  the  view  must  have  been  intercepted  by  the  trees  of  the  grove. 

f  Zonaras,  vii,  24.  His  fate  we  may  suppose  was  similar  to  that  of  Odys- 
seus, one  of  the  Greek  chiefs  in  the  late  war  of  independence,  who  was 
pushed  down  from  the  Acropolis  at  Athens  and  killed  by  the  fall.  Zonaras 
however  says  that  he  was  seized  when  he  fell  by  those  who  were  lying  in 
wait  for  him  and  then  flung  from  the  Tarpeian  rock,  the  mode  of  his  death 
according  to  Varro  (ap.  Cell.  xvii.  21.)  and  Livy  (vii.  20.). 

It  may  be  here  observed  that  the  Tarpeian  rock  from  which  the  Romans 
used  fo  fling  criminals  was  on  the  side  of  the  Capitoline  hill  looking  to- 
ward the  Forum,  so  that  the  punishment  was  visible  to  all  the  people.  Its 
height  was  between  70  and  80  feet ;  at  present,  owing  to  the  elevation  of 
the  soil,  it  is  not  more  than  35  feet. 


B.C.  374.]  THE  LICINIAN  ROGATIONS.  123 

In  the  year  378  they  proposed  the  three  following  rogations. 

1.  Instead  of  consular  tribunes,  there^hall  in  future  be  con- 
suls, one  of  whom  shall  of  necessity  be  a  plebeian, 

2.  No  one  shall  possess  more  than  five  hundred  jugers  of 
arable  or  plantation  land  in  the  domain  (ager  jtuhlicus),  nor 
feed  more  than  one  hundred  head  of  large  and  five  hundred 
of  small  cattle  on  the  public  pasture.  Every  possessor  must 
pay  the  state  annually  the  tenth  bushel  off  his  corn-land,  the 
fifth  of  the  produce  of  his  plantation-land,  and  so  much  a  head 
grazing-money  for  his  cattle.  He  shall  ako  employ  freemen 
as  labourers  in  proportion  to  his  land*. 

3.  The  interest  already  paid  on  debts  shall  be  deducted 
from  the  principal,  and  the  residue  be  paid  in  three  equal  an- 
nual instalments. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  authors  of  these 
measures,  which  were  to  infuse  new  life  and  energy  into  the 
state,  were  influenced  by  any  but  the  best  motives ;  but  pa- 
trician malignity,  and  that  ignoble  spirit  which  loves  to  assign 
a  paltry  motive  for  even  the  most  glorious  actions,  invented 
the  following  tale. 

M.  Fabius  Ambustus  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  was 
married  to  Ser.  Sulpicius,  a  patrician  and  consular  tribune  for 
the  year  378  ;  the  other  to  C.  Licinius  Stolo,  a  wealthy  ple- 
beian. One  day,  while  the  younger  Fabia  was  visiting  her 
sister,  Sulpicius  returned  from  the  Forum,  and  the  lictor,  as 
was  usual,  smote  the  door  with  his  rod  that  it  might  be  opened. 
The  visitor,  unused  to  such  ceremony  in  her  modest  plebeian 
abode,  started,  and  her  sister  smiled  in  pity  of  her  ignorance. 
She  said  nothing,  but  the  matter  sank  deep  in  her  mind :  her 
father,  observing  her  dejection,  inquired  the  cause ;  and  ha- 
ving drawn  it  from  her,  assured  her  that  she  should  be  on  an 
equality  with  her  sister;  and  he,  Licinius  and  Sextius,  forth- 
with began  to  concert  measures  for  effecting  what  he  pro- 
posedf. 

The  struggle  lasted  five  yearsj.  The  patricians  had  not 
now,  as  heretofore,  the  Latins,  Hernicans,  and  Volscians  to 

*  See  Appian  Bell.  Civ.  1.  8.     Suetonius  Jul.  Caes.  42.  Casaubon  in  loco. 

■f  Fabius  had  been  a  consular  tribune  within  the  last  four  years.  How 
then  could  his  daughter  be  ignorant  of  the  pomp  of  the  office  ?  Moreover, 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  Licinius  from  being  one  himself,  as  the  office 
was  open  to  plebeians. 

J  Livy  makes  it  last  ten  years,  and  the  city  in  consequence  be  in  a  state 
of  complete  anarchy,  without  any  supreme  magistrates,  for  five  years, — a 
condition  of  things  which  is  utterly  impossible.  See  Niebuhr,  ii.  553-567, 
for  an  explanation  of  the  causes  of  the  error  ;  also  Arnold,  ii.  40. 

g2 


124-  THE  LICINIAN  ROGATIONS.         [b.C.  371-364;. 

call  to  their  aid ;  neither  had  they  large  bodies  of  clients  at 
their  devotion.  They  therefore  sought  to  gain  the  other  tri- 
bunes, by  representing  the  mischievous  nature  of  the  bills ; 
and  they  succeeded  so  well,  that  eight  of  the  college  forbade 
them  to  be  read.  Licinius  and  Sextius  retaliated  by  impeding 
the  election  of  consular  tribunes.  They  were  themselves  re- 
elected year  after  year,  and  they  never  permitted  the  election 
of  consular  tribunes,  unless  when  the  state  was  in  danger  from 
its  foreign  enemies.  In  381*,  the  opposition  in  the  college 
was  reduced  to  five,  and  these  wavering  :  the  next  year  (382) 
the  tribunes  were  unanimous,  and  the  only  resource  of  the 
oligarchs  lay  in  the  dictatorship.  Camillus  was  appointed  to 
the  office  ;  and  when  the  tribes  were  beginning  to  vote,  he 
entered  the  Forum,  and  commanded  them  to  disperse.  The 
tribunes  calmly  proposed  a  fine  of  half  a  million  asses  on  him, 
if  he  should  act  as  dictator;  the  jieople  gave  a  ready  assent; 
Camillus  saw  that  the  magic  power  of  the  dictatorial  name 
was  gone,  and  he  laid  down  his  office.  The  senate  appointed 
P.  Manliusto  succeed  ;  and  he  named  C.  Licinius,  a  plebeian, 
master  of  the  horse.  It  was  agreed  to  augment  the  number 
of  the  keepers  of  the  Sibjdliiie  books  to  ten,  one  half  to  be 
plebeians :  and,  the  dictator  not  impeding,  the  people,  with 
their  wonted  short-sightedness  and  ingratitude,  were  begin- 
ning to  vote  the  two  last  rogations,  which  concerned  themselves 
most  nearly;  but  Licinius,  telling  them  they  must  eat  if  they 
would  drinkf ,  incorporated  the  three  bills  in  one,  and  would 
have  all  or  none.  In  383  (388)  the  bills  passed  the  tribes ; 
but  Camillus  was  again  made  dictator  against  the  people. 
The  tribunes  sent  their  officers  to  arrest  him ;  he  saw  the  in- 
utility of  further  resistance,  and  the  senate  and  curies  gave 
their  assent  to  the  law.  L.  Sextius,  being  appointed  plebeian 
consul,  a  last  effort  was  made  by  the  curies,  who  refused  to 
confirm  him.  The  people  lost  all  patience,  seized  their  arms, 
and  retired  to  the  AventineJ ;  but  the  venerable  Camillus, 
a-weary  of  civil  discord,  became  the  mediator  of  peace,  and 
vowed  a  temple  to  Concord.  The  people  consented  that  the 
city-prffitorship,  an  ofllice  then  instituted,  should  be  confined 
to  the  houses,  as  a  curule  dignity  co-ordinate  with  the  consu- 
late §.     The  office  of  curule  aediles,  to  be  filled  in  alternate 

*  Tlie  year  of  the  battle  of  Leuctra. 

f   Dion,  fragm.  xxxiii.  +   Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  643. 

§  The  curule  magistrates  were  so  named  from  their  sella  curulis,  a  chair 
with  curved  legs  and  with  steps  and  ornamented  with  ivory.  It  was  usually 
carried  after  them  that  they  might  use  it  when  necessary :  see  Liv.  ix.  46. 
Gell.  iii.  18. 


J 


B.C.  362.]  THE  LICINIAN  ROGATIONS.  125 

years  by  two  patricians  and  two  plebeians,  was  instituted ; 
and  one  day  for  the  plebeians,  as  being  now  an  integrant  part 
of  the  nation,  was  added  to  the  three  of  the  Great  Games. 
The  centuries,  to  reward  the  illustrious  Caraillus,  elected  his 
son  Sp.  Furius  the  first  city-prsetor. 

The  passing  of  the  Licinian  laws  may  be  regarded  as  the 
termination  of  the  struggle  which  had  been  going  on  for 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half  between  the  orders.  In  the  whole 
course  of  history  there  is  perhaps  nothing  to  be  found  more 
deserving  of  admiration  than  the  conduct  of  the  plebeians 
throughout  the  entire  contest;  no  violence,  no  murders,  no 
illegal  acts  on  their  part  are  to  be  discerned,  though  the  An- 
nals whence  we  derive  our  knowledge  of  it  were  drawn  up  and 
kept  by  the  opposite  party.  One  is  naturally  led  to  inquire  into 
the  causes  of  this  moderation  ;  and  they  will  perhaps  be  found 
to  be  as  follows.  In  the  first  place,  that  steadiness  and  spirit 
of  obedience  to  law  and  authority,  which  seems  to  have  be- 
longed to  the  Roman  character  while  the  nation  continued 
pure  and  unmixed;  next,  the  fact  that  the  plebeians  were,  at 
that  time,  composed  of  small  landed  proprietors,  living  frugally 
and  industriously  on  their  little  farms,  and  visiting  the  city 
only  on  market-days.  But  the  chief  cause  was,  that  they 
acted  under  the  guidance  of  their  natural  leaders,  their  nobi- 
lity and  gentry,  and  not  of  brawling  demagogues  ;  for  the  Li- 
cinii,  the  Icilii,  the  Junii,  and  others,  were  in  birth  and  wealth, 
the  fellows  of  the  Quinctii  and  the  Manlii,  who  excluded  them 
from  the  high  offices  in  the  state.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the 
fortune  of  Rome,  that  she  never  was  afflicted  with  the  scovirge 
of  the  selfish,  low-born,  lying,  arrogant  demagogue,  the  curse 
of  the  Grecian  republics.  When  she  was  doomed  to  have 
her  demagogues  also,  they  were  beasts  of  prey  of  a  higher 
order,  of  her  noblest  and  most  ancient  patrician  houses,  the 
Cornelii,  the  Julii,  the  Claudii,  who,  disdaining  to  fawn  on  and 
flatter  the  electors  whom  they  despised,  purchased  their  venal 
votes,  or  terrified  them,  and  carried  their  measures  by  the 
swords  of  armed  bandits.  But  these  unhappy  times  are  yet 
far  off";  two  centuries  of  glory  are  to  come  before  we  arrive 
at  them.     We  now  return  to  our  narrative. 

In  the  year  390*  and  the  following  year,  Rome  was  severe- 
ly afflicted  by  a  pestilence,  which  carried  off  numbers  of  all 
orders ;  among  them^  the  venerable  M.  Furius  Camillus,  the 
second  founder,  as  he  was  styled,  of  the  city,  a  man  who,  though 
*  Tlie  year  of  the  battle  of  Mantineia  and  death  of  Epaminondas. 


126  M.  cuRTius.  [B.C.  360-359. 

his  deeds  have  been  magnified  by  fiction,  must  have  been  really- 
one  of  the  greatest  that  even  Rome  ever  saw.  As  a  means  of 
appeasing  the  divine  wrath,  a  lectisternium*  was  made  for  the 
third  time  and  stage-plays  were  celebrated,  the  actors  being 
fetched  from  Etruria.  The  Tiber  also  rose  at  this  time  and 
inundated  the  city. 

It  had  been  an  old  custom  at  Rome,  that  on  the  Ides  of 
September  the  chief  magistratef  should  drive  a  nail  into  the 
right  side  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  Capitol.  The  rea- 
son of  this  practice  was,  that  a  regular  account  might  be  ke]?! 
of  the  years.  It  had,  however,  been  for  some  time  intermit- 
ted ;  but  it  being  given  out  (392)  that  a  plague  had  once  ceased 
when  a  dictator  drove  the  nail,  the  senate  seized  the  opportu- 
nity of  making  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  the  late  laws,  and  L.  » 
Manlius  Imperiosus  was  named  dictator.  Having  driven  the 
nail,  he  commenced  a  levy  against  the  Hernicans ;  but  the 
tribunes  forced  him  to  desist  and  abdicate;  and  the  next  year 
(393)  the  tribune,  M.  Pomponius,  impeached  him  for  his 
harshness  and  cruelty  in  the  levy.  One  charge  on  which  the 
tribune  dwelt,  was  his  keeping  his  son,  merely  for  a  defect  in 
his  speech,  at  work  in  the  country,  amoiig  his  slaves.  The 
young  man,  when  he  heard  of  this  charge  against  the  parent, 
armed  himself  with  a  knife,  and  coming  early  one  morning  into 
the  cit)',  went  straight  to  the  tribune's  house.  On  telling  his 
name  he  was  admitted ;  at  his  desire  all  were  ordered  to  with- 
draw, the  tribune  naturally  thinking  he  was  come  to  give  him 
some  important  information.  Manlius  then,  drawing  his  knife, 
menaced  him  with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  swear  to  drop 
the  prosecution.  The  terrified  tribune  swore  ;  the  charge 
against  Manlius  was  not  proceeded  in  ;  and  the  people,  to  show 
their  admiration  of  his  filial  piety,  elected  the  young  man  one 
of  the  legionary  tribunes  for  the  year  J. 

The  following  i-omantic  act  is  also  placed  in  this  year.  A 
great  chasm  opened  in  the  middle  of  the  Forum ;  to  fill  it  up 
was  found  to  be  impossible  ;  the  soothsayers  announced  that  it 

*  That  is,  exposing  the  images  of  the  gods  in  public  on  couches,  as  at  a 
banquet.     The  first  Iccfisterni.um  was  inA.U.  355.     Liv.  v.  13. 

f  The  Piffitor  Maximus  (Liv.  vii.  3.),  by  which  is  usually  understood 
the  dictator.  May  it  not,  originally  at  least,  have  been  the  consul-major 
(above,  p.  70)?  there  was  not  a  dictator  at  Rome  every  year. 

J  Of  the  twenty-four  military  tribunes  (six  for  each  of  the  four  legions) 
of  the  Roman  army,  the  people  had  at  this  time  the  right  of  appointing  six 
(Liv.  vii.  8).  In  443  their  power  of  appointment  extended  to  sixteen  places 
{Id.  ix.  3(1),  leaving  only  eight  to  the  consuls  or  dictators. 


B.C.  359.]  HERNICAN  WAR.  127 

would  only  close  when  it  contained  what  Rome  possessed  of 
most  value,  and  that  then  the  duration  of  the  state  would  be 
perpetual.  While  all  were  in  doubt  and  perplexity,  a  gallant 
youth,  named  M.  Curtius,  demanded  if  Rome  had  anything 
more  precious  than  arms  and  valour.  He  then  mounted  his 
horsCj  fully  caparisoned,  and  while  all  gazed  in  silence,  regard- 
ing now  the  Capitol  and  the  temples  of  the  gods,  now  the 
chasm,  he  solemnly  devoted  himself  for  the  weal  of  Rome ; 
then  giving  his  horse  the  spurs,  he  plunged  into  the  gulf  and 
disappeared  ;  the  people  poured  in  fruits  and  other  offerings, 
and  the  yawning  chasm  at  length  closed*. 

A  war,  the  cause  of  which  is  not  assigned,  being  now  de- 
clared against  the  Hernicans,  the  plebeian  consul  L.  Genucius 
invaded  their  territory.  But  he  let  himself  be  surprised,  his 
soldiers  fled,  and  he  himself  was  slain.  The  victorious  Her- 
nicans advanced  to  assail  the  camp ;  but  the  soldiers,  encou- 
raged and  headed  by  the  legate  C.  Sulpicius,  made  a  sally  and 
drove  them  off.  At  Rome  the  news  of  the  defeat  and  death 
of  the  consul  gave  the  utmost  joy  to  the  patricians.  "  This 
comes,"  they  cried,  "of  polluting  the  auspices :  men  might  be 
insulted  and  trifled  with,  not  so  the  immortal  gods."  Ap. 
Claudius  was  forthwith  created  dictator,  and  having  levied  an 
army  he  went  and  joined  that  under  Sulpicius.  The  Herni- 
cans on  their  side  strained  every  nerve  :  all  of  the  military  age 
were  summoned  to  the  field  ;  eight  cohorts,  of  four  hundred 
men  eachf,  of  chosen  youths,  with  double  pay  and  a  promise 
of  future  immunity  from  service  if  victorious,  stood  in  the  front 
of  their  line.  The  courage,  skill,  and  discipline  of  the  two  now 
adverse  peoples  were  equal.  The  battle  was  long  and  obsti- 
nate: the  Roman  knights  had  to  dismount  and  fight  in  the 
front.  The  conflict  ended  only  with  the  night:  a  dubious 
victory  remained  with  the  Romans,  who  had  lost  one  fourth 
of  their  men  and  several  of  their  knights.  Next  day  the  Her- 
nicans abandoned  their  camp  ;  the  Romans  were  too  much 
exhausted  to  pursue,  but  the  colonists  of  Signia  fell  on  and 
routed  them.  The  following  year  (394)  the  Romans  ravaged 
their  lands  with  impunity,  and  took  their  town  of  Ferentinum. 

*  The  legend  was  evidently  invented  to  give  an  origin  to  the  Lacus  Cur- 
tius, as  a  part  of  the  Forum  was  named.  The  historian  Piso,  who  sought  to 
rationalise  all  the  legends  of  the  old  history,  said  that  it  was  so  named  from 
Mettus  Curtius,  a  Sabine,  who  in  the  war  between  Romulus  and  Tatius 
plunged  with  his  horse  into  the  lake  which  then  occupied  that  place.  See 
Varro,  L.  L.  v.  148. 

f  See  above,  p.  67,  note. 


128  COMBAT  OF  MANLIUS  AND  A  GAUL.       [b.C.  357-355. 

As  the  legions  were  returning,  the  Tibiirtines  closed  their 
gates  against  them,  which  gave  occasion  to  a  war  with  that 
people. 

The  Gauls,  owing  most  probably  to  the  influx  of  new  hordes 
from  home,  had  for  many  years  spread  their  ravages  to  the 
very  utmost  point  of  Italy.  Latium  suffered  with  the  rest; 
and  a  Gallic  army  is  said  to  have  appeared  at  this  time  on  the 
Anio.  T.  Quinctius  Pennus,  the  dictator,  led  an  army  against 
them.  While  they  stood  opposite  each  other,  a  Gaul  of  gi- 
gantic stature  advanced  on  tlie  bridge,  and  challenged  any 
Roman  to  engage  him.  T.  Manlius  (he  who  had  saved  his  fa- 
ther) then  went  to  the  dictator  and  craved  permission  to  meet 
the  boastful  foe.  Leave  was  freely  granted ;  his  comrades 
armed  him  and  led  him  against  the  huge  Gaul,  who  put  out  his 
tongue  in  derision  of  the  pigmy  champion.  In  the  combat 
the  Gaul  made  huge  cuts  with  his  heavy  broadsword ;  the 
Roman  running  in  threw  up  the  bottom  of  the  foeman's  great 
shield  with  his  own,  and  getting  inside  of  it  stabbed  him  again 
and  again  in  the  bell}',  till  he  fell  like  a  mountain.  He  took 
nothing  from  him  save  his  golden  collar  (torquis),  whence  he 
derived  the  name  of  Torquatus*.  The  Gauls,  dismayed  at  the 
fall  of  their  champion,  broke  up  in  the  night  and  retired  to 
Tibur. 

The  following  year  (395)  the  Gauls  again  appeared,  and, 
united  m  ith  the  Tiburtines,  committed  great  ravages  in  La- 
tium ;  they  even  advanced  to  the  walls  of  Rome,  where  Q. 
Servilius  Ahala  was  made  dictator,  and  a  battle  was  fought  be- 
fore the  Colline  gate.  The  loss  on  both  sides  was  considerable, 
but  the  Gauls  were  driven  off,  and  as  they  approached  Tibur 
they  were  fallen  on  by  the  consul  C.  Pcetelius,  and  the  victory 
Avas  completed. 

Two  years  after  (397)  the  Gauls  came  again  into  Latium 
and  encamped  at  Pedum.  The  common  danger  caused  a  re- 
newal of  the  ancient  alliance  between  Rome  and  Latium,  and 
a  combined  army  under  the  dictator  C.  Sulpicius  took  the 
field.  The  dictator,  loth  to  risk  a  battle  when  the  enemy 
might  be  overcome  more  surely  by  delay,  encamped  in  a  strong 
position,  which  the  Gauls  did  not  ventui-e  to  attack  ;  but  his 

*  Liv.  vii.  9,  10.  Gellius  (ix.  13)  has  preserved  the  picturesque  narra- 
tive of  the  annalist  Quadrigarius  whom  Livy  has  followed  closely  ;  the  legend 
was  apparently  invented  to  account  for  the  name.  The  tale  how  cur  own 
Cceitr  de  Lion  '  robbed  the  lion  of  liis  heart,'  is  a  more  modern  instance  of 
this  practice. 


B.C.  354.]  GALLIC  AND  TUSCAN  WARS.  129 

own  soldiers  grew  impatient,  and  demanded  to  be  led  to  battle. 
Sulpicius,  fearing  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  restrain  them, 
complied ;  but  the  event  justified  his  caution ;  the  legions 
were  driven  back,  and  were  it  not  for  the  efforts  of  despair 
Avhich  they  made  at  the  call  of  the  dictator,  and  a  stratagem 
which  he  had  devised,  they  would  have  sustained  a  defeat. 
He  had  the  night  before  sent  off  all  the  horse-boys,  armed  and 
mounted  on  mules,  into  the  woods  on  the  hills  over  his  camp, 
and  directed  them  when  he  made  a  signal  to  show  themselves 
and  advance  towards  that  of  the  enemy.  He  now  made  the 
signal ;  the  Gauls,  fearing  to  be  cut  off  from  their  camp,  fell 
back;  the  Romans  pressed  on  them,  and  they  broke  and 
made  for  the  woods,  where  great  numbers  of  them  were  slain. 
The  gold  found  in  their  camp  was  walled  up  in  the  Capitol, 
and  the  dictator  was  lionoured  with  a  well-merited  triumph. 

But  while  the  arms  of  Rome  was  thus  fortunate  under  the 
dictator,  they  sustained  a  disgrace  under  the  consul  C.  Fa- 
bius  in  Etruria  ;  for  the  Tarquinians,  with  whom  there  now 
was  war,  gave  him  a  defeat ;  and  having  taken  three  hundred 
and  seven  Roman  soldiers,  they  offered  them  as  victims  to  their 
gods.  The  Roman  territory  to  the  south  was  also  ravaged 
by  the  Volscians  of  Velitrse  and  Privernum :  but  the  next  year 
(398)  the  Privernafes  wei'e  defeated  under  their  own  walls 
by  the  consul  C.  Marcius. 

This  year  was  rendered  memorable  by  the  condemnation  of 
C.  Licinius  for  the  transgression  of  his  own  law*.  He  was 
fined  10,000  asses  for  having  one  thousand  jugers  of  the  pub- 
lic land,  one  half  being  held  in  the  name  of  his  son,  whom  he 
had  emancipated  for  the  purpose  of  eluding  the  law.  By  a 
rogation  of  the  tribunes  M.  Duilius  and  L.  Msenius,  the  rate 
of  interest  was  reduced  to  ten  per  cent,  {fcenus  unciarium) ; 
on  the  other  hand  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  patricians  to 
have  laws  passed  away  from  the  city,  by  the  soldiers  when 
under  the  military  oath.  The  consul  Cn.  Manlius  held  in  the 
camp  at  Sutrium  an  assembly  of  the  tribes,  and  passed  a  law, 
imposing  an  ad  valorem  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  the  emanci- 
pation of  slaves.  The  law  was  a  good  one  ;  the  senate  readily 
gave  it  their  sanction ;  but  the  tribunes  saw  their  ulterior  ob- 
ject, and  made  it  capital  to  hold  such  assemblies  in  future. 

*  On  this  occasion  he  is  said  to  have  declared  that  "  there  is  no  wild- 
beast  more  savage  than  the  people,  for  it  does  not  spare  even  those  that  feed 
it."  Dionys.  fragm.  xiv.  22.  It  is  however  an  old  and  a  just  saying,  that 
law-makers  should  not  be  law-breakers. 

g5 


130  TUSCAN  WAH.  [b.c.  353—349. 

In  399  the  consul  M.  Fabius  engaged  a  combined  army  of 
tlie  Tarquinians  and  Faliscans.  The  Tuscan  Lucuraons,  we 
are  told,  rushed  out  in  front  of  their  line,  shaking  serpents* 
and  waving  lighted  torches.  This  novel  apparition  at  first 
daunted  the  Romans ;  but  they  soon  shook  off  the  teiTors  of 
superstition,  routed  their  foes,  and  took  their  camp.  It 
would  however  appear  that  the  victory  was  in  reality  on  the 
side  of  the  Tuscans,  for  they  soon  after  entered  the  Salinee, 
and  it  was  found  necessary  to  appoint  a  dictator.  The  plebeian 
consul  M.  Popillius  Leenas  named  the  plebeian  C.  Marcius 
Hutilus,  who  made  another  plebeian,  C.  Plautius,  master  of  the 
horse.  The  patricians  refvi&ed  the  dictator  all  the  means  of 
forming  an  army,  but  the  people  gave  him  everything  he  re- 
quired ;  he  defeated  the  enemy,  took  eight  thousand  prisoners, 
and  triumphed  without  the  consent  of  the  patricians. 

As  the  alliance  had  been  renewed  with  the  Latins  and  Her- 
nicans,  the  oligarchs  resolved  to  make  a  bold  effort  to  get  rid 
of  the  Licinian  law  ;  and  for  five  successive  years,  by  means 
of  interrexes  and  dictators,  the  consuls  were,  in  spite  of  the 
tribunes,  both  patricians.  During  this  period  nothing  of  note 
occurred  except  a  defeat  of  the  Tarquinians  in  401  ;  on  which 
occasion  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  the  principal  men 
among  the  captives  were  brought  to  Rome  and  put  to  death 
in  the  Forum,  in  retaliation  ol'  their  barbarity  in  the  year  397- 
The  Ceerites  also,  being  accused  of  sharing  in  the  war,  only 
escaped  the  vengeance  of  Rome  by  the  surrender  of  one  half 
of  their  doraainf.  They  were  then  granted  a  truce  for  one 
hundred  years. 

At  length  the  patricians  were  obliged  to  give  way,  and  (403) 
C.  Marcius  Rutilus  the  plebeian  became  the  colleague  of  a 
Valerius  in  the  consulate. 

It  might  be  expected  from  the  names  of  the  consuls  that 
something  would  be  done  to  relieve  the  distress  of  the  people. 
Accordingly,  five  commissioners  (^quijiqueviri  rne7isarii),  two 
patricians  and  three  plebeians!,  were  appointed  for  the  liqui- 
dation of  debts.  Money  was  advanced  out  of  the  treasury 
to  those  who  could  give  good  security ;  if  any  one  preferred 
making  his  property  over  to  his  creditors,  it  was  valued  and 
transferred  to  them.  As  many  objects  thus  changed  hands,, 
a  new  census  was  required,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the 

*  i.  e.  artificial  serpents,  discoloribus  in  modum serpenfumviltis.  Flor.  i.  12. 

t  Dion.  frag.  142. 

X  M.  Papirius,  Ti.  jEmilius,  C.  Duilius,  P.  Deciiis  Mus,  Q.  Publilius. 


B.C.  348-34?4'.]       COMBAT  OF  VALERIUS  AND  A  GAUL.        131 

patricians,  who  had  recovered  the  whole  consulate  this  j'ear 
(404<),  C.  Marcius  Rutilus,  who  had  been  the  first  plebeian 
dictator,  v.as  chosen  to  be  the  first  plebeian  censor. 

In  the  year  405  the  Gauls  poured  once  more  into  Latium. 
The  consul  M.  Popillius  Ltenas,  a  plebeian,  marched  against 
them,  and  took  a  position  on  a  strong  eminence.  The  Tri- 
arians  commenced  fortifying  a  camp  ;  the  rest  of  the  cohorts 
were  drawn  out ;  the  Gauls  charged  up-hill ;  the  consul  re- 
ceived a  slight  wound  and  had  to  retire;  this  damped  the 
spirit  of  his  men,  but  he  soon  returned  and  restored  the  bat- 
tle ;  the  Gauls  were  driven  down  into  the  plain,  and  they  aban- 
doned their  camp  and  fled  to  the  Alban  mountains,  whence 
they  spread  their  ravages  over  the  country  during  the  follow- 
ing winter. 

The  plebeian  consul  triumphed ;  but  L.  Furius  Camillus, 
being  made  dictator  for  the  elections,  had  the  audacity  to  no- 
minate himself  and  another  patrician  as  consuls  for  the  ensuing 
year  (4.06),  and  the  people  were  obliged  to  acquie,'>ce.  A  large 
army,  composed  of  Latins  and  Romans,  was  formed,  which 
the  consul  Camillus  led  into  the  Pomptine  district,  where  the 
Gauls  then  were.  While  the  two  armies  lay  opposite  each 
other,  a  huge  Gallic  chief  advanced  and  challenged  any  Ro- 
man to  engage  him  in  single  combat.  M.Valerius,  a  military 
tribune,  accepted  the  challenge,  with  the  permission  of  the 
consul.  Just  as  the  combat  began,  a  crow  (corvus)  came  and 
perched  on  the  Roman's  head,  and  during  the  fight  he  con- 
tinually assailed  with  his  beak  and  claws  the  face  and  eyes  of 
the  foeman,  whom  therefore  Valerius  easily  slew  ;  the  crow 
then  rose,  and  flying  to  the  east  was  sooa  out  of  sight.  When 
the  victor  went  to  strip  the  slain,  the  nearest  Gauls  advanced 
to  prevent  him  ;  this  brought  on  a  general  action  ;  the  Gauls 
were  worsted  and  retired,  and  they  never  again  appeared  in 
Latium.  Valerius,  who  was  henceforth  named  Corvus*,  was 
rewarded  by  the  consul  with  ten  oxen  and  a  golden  crown, 
and  when  T.  Manlius  Torquatus  was  made  dictator  for  the 
elections,  he  named  him  consul  with  the  plebeian  M.  Popil- 
lius L£enas,  although  he  was  not  more  than  three-and-twenty 
years  of  age. 

In  the  consulate  of  T.  Manlius  Torquatus  and  C.  Plautius 
(408),  a  further  eff'ort  was  made  to  relieve  the  debtors.     In- 

*  The  legend,  like  that  of  Torquatus,  was  invented  to  account  for  the 
name.  The  cognomen  was  not  new ;  we  find  in  the  Fasti  for  365  an  Aqui- 
lius  Corvus. 


132  FIRST  SAMNITE  WAR.  [b.C.  348-340. 

« 

terest  was  reduced  to  five  per  cent,  {fce^ius  semiunciarium), 
and  debts  were  to  be  paid  in  four  equal  instalments,  one  down, 
and  the  remainder  in  one,  two,  and  three  years.  It  is  not  un- 
likely that  one  of  the  various  reductions  of  the  weight  of  the 
as  took  place  at  this  time. 

In  the  year  404  a  truce  for  forty  years  had  been  made  with 
the  Faliscans  and  the  Tarquinians ;  the  ancient  league,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  renewed  with  the  Latins  and  Hernicans  ; 
all  was  quiet  on  the  side  of  the  Volscians ;  when  Rome  had 
to  enter  the  lists  with  a  foe  more  formidable  than  any  she  had 
yet  encountered. 


CHAPTER  VI.* 

Pirst  Samnite  War. — Mutiny  in  the  Roman  army. — Peace  with  the  Sam- 
nites. — Latin  War. — Manlius  put  to  death  by  his  Father. — Battle  of  Ve- 
suvius, and  self-devotion  of  Decius. — Reduction  of  Latium. — Publilian 
Laws. — Second  Samnite  War. — Severity  of  the  Dictator  Papirius. — Sur- 
render at  the  Caudine  Forks. —  Capture  of  Sora. — Tuscan  War. — Passage 
of  the  Ciminian  Wood. — Samnite  and  Tuscan  Wars. — Peace  with  the 
Sanmites. 

In  the  year  332  a  body  of  the  Samnites  had  descended  from 
their  mountains  into  the  rich  plains  of  Campania.  By  a  com- 
position they  became  the  populus  or  ruling  order  in  the  city 
of  Vulturnum  (henceforth  named  Capua),  a  city  equal  in  size 
to  Rome  or  Veil,  and  at  all  times  noted  for  its  luxury  and  its 
relaxing  effects  on  the  minds  of  those  who  abode  in  itf.  The 
Samnites  of  the  city  and  plain  gradually  changed  their  manners, 
and  became  estranged  from  their  rugged  mountain-brethren. 
In  412,  these  last,  urged  by  their  adventurous  spirit  or  the 
pressure  of  population,  came  down  on  the  country  between  the 
Vulturnus  and  the  Liris,  inhabited  by  the  Sidicinians  and 
other  Ausonian  peoples.  The  Sidicinians  applied  to  the  Cam- 
panians  for  aid,  and  the  militia  of  Capua  took  the  field  against 
the  Samnites  ;  but  the  hardy  mountaineers  easily  routed  them 
before  the  walls  of  Teanum,  and  then  transferring  the  war  to 
Campania,  came  and  encamped  on  Mount  Tifata,  which  over- 
hangs Capua.     The  plundering  of  their  lands,  the  burning 

*  Livy,  vii.  29-ix.,  the  Epitomators.  f  Livy,  iv.  37. 


B.C.  340.]  FIRST  SAMNITE  WAR.  133 

of  their  houses  and  homesteads  drew  the  Campanians  again  to 
the  field  ;  but  again  they  were  defeated,  and  were  now  shut 
up  in  their  town.  Finding  their  own  strength  insufficient, 
they  looked  abroad  for  aid,  and  none  appearing  so  well  able 
to  afford  it  as  the  triple  federation  south  of  the  Tiber,  their 
envoys  appeared  at  Rome.  A  treaty  of  alliance  was  readily 
formed  with  them  ;  and  as  there  had  been  since  401  an  alliance 
between  the  Romans  and  Samnites*,  envoys  were  sent  to  in- 
form them  of  this  new  treaty,  and  to  require  them  to  abstain 
from  hostilities  against  the  allies  of  the  federation.  The  Sam- 
nites  looked  on  this  as  a  breach  of  treaty,  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  Roman  envoys  orders  were  given  to  lead  the  troops  into 
Campania.  War  against  the  Samnites  was  therefore  declared 
at  Rome,  and  the  consuls  v^ere  ordered  to  take  the  field. 

The  consul  M.  Valerius  Corvus  led  his  legions  into  Campa- 
nia, where,  probably  in  consequence  of  some  reverses  of  which 
we  are  not  informed,  he  encamped  over  Cumee  on  the  side  of 
Mount  Gaurus.  The  Samnite  army  came  full  of  confidence  ; 
the  consul  led  out  his  troops,  and  a  battle  commenced  highly 
important  in  the  history  of  the  world,  as  the  prelude  of  those 
which  were  to  decide  whether  the  empire  of  Italy  and  of  the 
world  was  reserved  for  Rome  or  for  Samnium. 

The  two  armies  were  equal  in  courage,  and  similarly  armed 
and  arrayed ;  that  of  the  Samnites  consisted  entirely  of  in- 
fantry, and  the  cavalry,  which  the  consul  sent  first  into  action, 
could  make  no  impression  on  its  firm  ranks.  He  then  ordered 
the  cavalry  to  fall  aside  to  the  wings,  and  led  on  the  legions 
in  person.  The  fight  was  most  obstinate :  each  seemed  re- 
solved to  die  rather  than  yield :  at  length,  a  desperate  eff'ort 
of  despair  on  the  part  of  the  Romans  drove  the  Samnites  back  ; 
they  wavered,  broke,  and  fled  to  their  intrenched  camp,  which 
they  abandoned  in  the  night,  and  fell  back  to  Suessula.  They 
declared  to  those  who  asked  why  they  had  fled,  that  the  eyes 
of  the  Romans  seemed  to  be  on  fire  and  their  gestures  those  of 
madmen,  so  that  they  could  not  stand  before  them. 

The  other  consul,  A.  Cornelius  Cossus,  having  been  directed 
to  invade  Samnium,  led  his  army  to  Saticula,  the  nearest  Sam- 
nite town  to  Capua.  The  Apennines  in  this  part  run  from  north 
to  south,  in  parallel  ranges,  enclosing  fertile  valleys,  and  the 
road  to  Beneventum  passes  over  them.  The  consul,  advancing 
carelessly,  had  crossed  the  first  range,  and  his  line  of  march 
had  reached  the  valley,  when  on  looking  back  the  Romans 

*  Liv.  vii.  19. 


134  FIRST  SAMNITE  WAR.  [b.C.  34'0. 

saw  the  wooded  heights  behind  them  occupied  bj'  a  Samnite 
army  ;  to  advance  was  dangerous,  retreat  seemed  impossible. 
In  this  perplexity  a  tribune  named  P.  Decius  proposed  to  oc- 
cupy with  the  Hastats  and  Principes  of  one  legion  (that  is, 
sixteen  hundred  men,)  an  eminence  over  the  way  along  which 
the   Samnites   were  coming.     The  consul  gave  permission  ; 
Decius  seized  the  height,  which  he  maintained  against  all  the 
efforts  of  the  enemy  till  the  favourable  moment  was  lost,  and 
the  consul  had  led  back  his  army  and  gained  tlie  ridge.    Wheu 
night  came,  the  Samnites  remained  about  the  hill  and  went 
to  sleep:  in  the  second  watch  Decius  led  dov\'n  his  men  in  si- 
lence, and  they  took  their  way  though  the  midst  of  the  slum- 
bering foes.    They  had  gotten  half- through,  when  one  of  the 
Romans  in  stepping  over  the  Samnites  struck  against  a  shield  ; 
the  noise  awoke  those  at  hand  ;  the  alarm  spread  ;  the  Romans 
then  liaised  a  shout,  fell  on  all  tliey  met,  and  got  off  without 
loss.     They  reached  their  own  camp  while  it  was  yet  night, 
but  they  halted  outside  of  it  till  the  day  was  come.  At  dawn, 
when  their  presence  was  announced,  all  poured  forth  to  greet 
them,  and  Decius  was  led  in  triumph  through  the  camp  to 
the  consul,  who  began  to  extol  his  deeds ;  but  Decius  inter- 
rupted him,  saying  that  now  was  the  time  to  take  the  enemy  by 
surprise.     The  army  was  then  led  out,  and  the  scattered  Sam- 
nites were  fallen  on  and  routed  with  great  slaughter.     After 
the  victoiy  the  consul  gave  Decius  a  golden  crown  and  a  hun- 
dred oxen,  one  of  which  was  white  with  gilded  horns;  this 
Decius  offered  in  sacrifice  to  Father  IMars,  the  rest  he  gave  to 
his  comrades  in  peril,  and  each  soldier  presented  them  with  a 
pound  of  corn  and  a  pint  (sextarius)  of  wine,  while  the  consul,, 
giving  them  each  an  ox  and  two  garments,  assured  them  of  a 
double  allowance  of  corn  in  future.     The  army  further  wove 
the  obsidional  crown  of  grass  and  placed  it  on  the  brows  of 
Decius,  and  a  similar  crown  was  bestowed  on  him  by  his  own 
men.     Such  were  the  generous  arts  by  which  Rome  fostered 
the  heroic  spirit  in  her  sons  ! 

Meantime  the  Samnites  at  Suessula  had  been  largely  rein- 
forced, and  they  spread  their  ravages  over  Campania.  The 
two  consular  armies  being  united  under  Valerius,  came  and 
encamped  hard  by  them,  and  as  Valerius  had  left  all  the  bag- 
gage and  camp-followers  behind,  the  Roman  army  occupied  a 
much  smaller  camp  than  was  usual  to  their  numbers.  Deceived 
by  the  size  of  their  camp  the  Samnites  clamoured  to  storm  it, 
but  the  caution  of  their  leaders  withheld  them.     Necessity 


BX.  339.]  MUTINY  IN^HE  ROMAN  ARMY.  135 

soon  compelled  them  to  scour  the  counti-y  in  quest  of  provi- 
sions, and  emboldened  by  the  consul's  inactivity  they  went  to 
greater  and  greater  distances.  This  was  what  Valerius  waited 
for  ;  he  suddenly  assailed  and  took  their  camp,  which  was  but 
slightly  guarded  ;  then  leaving  two  legions  to  keep  it,  he  di- 
vided the  rest  of  the  army,  and  falling  on  the  scattered  Sam- 
nites  cut  them  everj^where  to  pieces.  The  shields  of  the 
slain  and  fugitives  amounted,  we  are  told,  to  forty  thousand, 
the  captured  standards  to  one  hundred  and  seventy.  Both 
consuls  triumphed. 

While  the  Roman  arras  were  thus  engaged  in  Campania,  the 
Latins  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Pelignians,  the  kinsmen  and 
allies  of  the  Samnites. 

No  military  events  are  recorded  of  the  year  i  13,  but  a  strange 
tale  of  an  insurrection  of  the  Roman  army  has  been  handed 
down.     The  tale  runs  thus :  the  Roman  soldiers,  who  at  the 
end  of  the  last  campaign  had  been  left  to  winter  in  Capua,  cor- 
rupted by  the  luxury  which  they  there  witnessed  and  enjoyed, 
formed  the  nefarious  plan  of  massacring  the  inhabitants  and 
seizing  the  town.     Their  projects  had  not  ripened,  when  C. 
Marcius  Rutilus,  the  consul  for  413,  came  to  take  the  com- 
mand.   He  first,  to  keep  them  quiet,  gave  out  that  the  troops 
were  to  be  quartered  in  Capua  the  following  winter  also ;  then 
noting  the  ringleadei-s,  he  sent  them  home  under  various  pre- 
texts and  gave  furloughs  to  any  that  asked  for  them  ;  his  col- 
league, Q.  Servilius  Ahala,  meantime  taking  care  to  detain  all 
who  came  to  Rome.  The  stratagem  succeeded  for  some  time ; 
but  at  length  the  soldiers  perceived  that  none  of  their  com- 
rades came  back  ;  and  a  cohort  that  was  going  home  on  fur- 
lough halted  at  Lautulae,  the  narrow  pass  between  the  sea  and 
the  mountains  east  of  Tarracina*  ;  it  was  there  joined  by  all 
who  were  going  home  singly  on  leave,  and  the  whole  number 
soon  equalled  that  of  an  army.      They  soon  after  broke  up, 
and  marching  for  Rome  encamped  under  Alba  Longa.    Feel- 
ing their  want  of  a  leader,  and  learning  that  T.  (iuinctius,  a 
distinguished  patrician,  who  being  lame  of  one  leg  from  a 
wound  had  retired  from  the  city,  was  living  on  his  farm  in 
the  Tusculan  district,  they  sent  a  party  by  night,  who  seized 
him  in  his  bed,  and  gave  him  the  option  of  death  or  becoming 
their  commander.    He  therefore  came  to  the  camp,  where  he 
was  saluted  as  general,  and  desired  to  lead  them  to  Rome- 
Eight  miles  from  the  city  they  were. met  by  an  army  led  by 
*  Livy's  descriprion  of  this  pass  (vii.  39.)  is  very  accurate. 


136  PEACE  WITH  THE  SAMNITES.  [b.C.  338. 

the  dictator  M.Valerius  Corvus.  Each  side  shuddered  at  the 
thought  of  civil  v,ar,  and  readily  agreed  to  a  conference.  The 
mutineers  consented  to  entrust  their  cause  to  the  dictator, 
whose  name  was  a  sufficient  security.  He  rode  back  to  the 
city,  and  at  his  desire  the  senate  and  curies  decreed  that  none 
should  be  punished  for,  or  even  reproached  with,  their  share 
in  the  mutiny,  that  no  soldier's  name  should  be  struck  out  of 
the  roll  without  his  own  consent,  that  no  one  who  had  been  a 
tribune  should  be  made  a  centurion,  and  that  the  pay  of  the 
knights  (as  they  had  refused  to  join  in  the  mutiny)  should  be 
reduced.  And  thus  this  formidable  mutiny  commenced  in 
crime  and  ended  in — nothing  ! 

Another  and  a  far  more  probable  account  says  that  the  in- 
surrection broke  out  in  the  city,  where  the  plebeians  took 
arms,  and  having  seized  C.  Manilas  in  the  night,  and  forced 
him  to  be  their  leader,  went  out  and  encamped  four  miles 
from  the  city,  where,  as  it  would  seem,  they  were  joined  by 
the  army  from  Campania.  The  consuls  raised  an  army  and 
advanced  against  them  ;  but  when  the  two  armies  met,  tliat  of 
the  consuls  saluted  the  insurgents,  and  the  soldiers  embraced 
one  another.  The  consuls  then  advised  the  senate  to  comply 
with  the  desires  of  the  people,  and  peace  was  effected. 

The  still  existing  weight  of  debt  seems  to  have  been  the 
cause  of  this  secession  also,  and  a  cancel  of  debts  to  have  been 
a  condition  of  the  peace*.  Lending  on  interest  at  all  is  said 
to  have  been  prohibited  at  this  time  hy  a  plebiscitum  or  decree 
of  the  tribes ;  and  others  were  passed  forbidding  any  one  to 
hold  the  same  office  till  after  an  interval  of  ten  years,  or  to 
hold  two  offices  at  the  same  time.  It  was  also  decreed  that 
both  the  consuls  might  be  plebeians.  The  name  of  the  tribune 
L.  Genucius  being  mentioned,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  the 
author  of  the  new  laws. 

The  following  year  (414)t  peace  was  made  with  the  Sara- 
nites,  on  the  light  condition  of  their  giving  a  year's  pay  and 
three  months'  provisions  to  the  Roman  army ;  and  they  were 
allowed  to  make  war  on  the  Sidicinians.  This  moderation  on 
the  side  of  the  Romans  might  cause  surprise,  were  it  not  that 
we  know  they  now  apprehended  a  conflict  with  their  ancient 
allies  the  Latins ;  for  the  original  terms  of  their  federation 
could  not  remain  in  force,  and  one  or  other  must  become  the 
dominant  state. 

*  Auct.  de  Vir.  Illustr.  29. 

t  That  of  the  battle  of  Chaeroneia. 


B.C.  338-337.]  LATIN  WAR.  137 

The  Sidicinians  and  Campanians,  on  being  thus  abandoned, 
put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Latins,  with  whom 
the  Volscians  also  formed  an  alliance.  The  Hernicans  ad- 
hered to  the  Romans,  and  the  Saranites  also  became  their 
allies.  As  war  between  Rome  and  Latiuni  seemed  inevitable, 
T.  Manlius  Torquatus,  and  P.  Decius  Mus*  were  made  con- 
suls for  the  ensuing  year  with  a  view  to  it.  But  the  Latins 
would  first  try  the  path  of  peace  and  accommodation  ;  and  at 
the  call,  it  is  said,  of  the  Roman  senate,  their  two  preetors  and 
ten  principal  senators  repaired  to  Rome.  Audience  was  given 
to  them  on  the  Capitol,  and  nothing  could  be  more  reasonable 
than  their  demands.  Though  the  Latins  were  now  the  more 
numerous  people  of  the  two,  they  only  required  a  union  of 
perfect  equality, — one  of  the  consuls  and  one  half  of  the  se- 
nate to  be  Latins,  while  Rome  should  be  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, and  Romans  the  name  of  the  united  nation.  But  the 
senate  exclaimed  against  the  unheard-of  extravagance  of  these 
demands,  the  gods  were  invoked  as  witnesses  of  this  scanda- 
lous breach  of  faith,  and  the  consul  Manlius  vowed  that  if 
they  consented  to  be  thus  dictated  to,  he  would  come  girt 
with  his  sword  into  the  senate-house  and  slay  the  first  Latin 
he  saw  there.  Tradition  said,  that  when  the  gods  were  ap- 
pealed to,  and  the  Latin  praetor  L.  Annius  spoke  with  con- 
tempt of  the  Roman  Jupiter,  loud  claps  of  thunder  and  a  sud- 
den storm  of  wind  and  rain  told  the  anger  of  the  deity,  and 
that  as  Annius  went  off  full  of  rage,  he  tumbled  down  the 
flight  of  steps  and  lay  lifeless  at  the  bottom.  It  was  with  dif- 
ficulty that  the  magistrates  saved  the  other  envoys  from  the 
fury  of  the  people.  War  was  forthwith  declared,  and  the  con- 
sular armies  were  levied. 

As  the  Latin  legions  were  now  in  Campania  (415),  the  Ro- 
mans, instead  of  taking  the  direct  route  through  Latium,  made 
a  circuit  through  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  Marsians,  and  Pe- 
lignianst,  and  being  joined  by  the  Samnites,  and  probably 
the  Hernicans,  came  and  encamped  before  the  Latins  near 
Capua.  Here  a  dream  presented  itself  to  the  consuls :  the 
form  of  a  man,  of  size  more  than  human,  appeared  to  each, 
and  announced  that  the  general  on  one  side,  the  army  on  the 
other,  was  due  to  the  Manes  and  Mother  Earth  ;  of  whichever 
people  the  general  should  devote  himself  and  the  adverse  le- 

*  This  was  the  Decius  who  had  saved  the  army  in  the  campaign  of  412. 
f   It  was  evidently  the  object  of  the   Romans  to  form  a  junction  with 
their  allies.     Perhaps,  too,  the  Latins  had  occupied  the  pass  of  Lautulae. 


138  LATIN  WAR.  [B.C.  337. 

gions,  theii's  would  be  the  victory.  The  victims  when  slain 
portending  the  same,  the  consuls  announced,  in  presence  of 
their  officers,  that  he  of  them  whose  forces  first  began  to  yield 
would  devote  himself  for  Rome. 

To  restore  strict  discipline  and  to  prevent  any  treachery, 
the  consuls  forbade,  under  pain  of  death,  any  single  combats 
with  the  enemy.  One  day  the  son  of  the  consul  Manlius 
chanced  with  his  troop  of  horse  to  come  near  to  where  the 
Tusculan  horse  was  stationed,  whose  commander,  Geminus 
Metius,  knowing  young  Manlius,  challenged  him  to  a  single 
combat.  Shame  and  indignation  overpowered  the  sense  of 
duty  in  the  mind  of  the  Roman ;  they  ran  against  each  other, 
and  the  Tusculan  fell ;  the  victor,  bearing  the  bloody  spoils, 
returned  to  the  camp  and  came  with  them  to  his  father.  The 
consul  said  nothing,  but  forthwith  called  an  assembly  of  the 
army  ;  then  reproaching  his  son  with  his  breach  of  discipline, 
he  ordered  the  lictor  to  lay  hold  of  him  and  bind  him  to  the 
stake.  The  assembly  stood  mute  with  horror ;  but  when  the 
axe  fell,  and  the  blood  of  the  gallant  youth  gushed  forth,  bit- 
terlamentation,  mingled  with  curses  on  the  ruthless  sire,  arose. 
They  took  up  the  body  of  the  slain,  and  buried  it,  without  the 
camp,  covered  with  the  spoils  he  had  won  ;  and  when  after 
the  war  Manlius  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  the  young  men 
would  not  go  forth  to  receive  him,  and  throughout  life  he  was 
to  them  an  object  of  hatred  and  aversion. 

The  war  between  Rome  aiid  Latium  was  little  less  than 
civil ;  the  soldiers  and  officers  had  for  years  served  together 
in  the  same  companies  and  they  were  all  acquainted.  They 
now  stood  in  battle-array  opposite  each  other  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Vesuvius,  the  Samnites  and  Hernicans  being  opposed 
to  the  Oscan  allies  of  the  Latins.  Both  the  consuls  sacrificed 
before  the  battle  ;  the  entrails  of  the  victim  oftered  by  Decius 
portended  misfortune,  but  hearing  that  the  signs  boded  well 
to  Manlius,  "  'T  is  well,"  said  he,  "  if  my  colleague  has  good 
signs."  In  the  battle,  the  left  wing,  led  by  Decius,  Avas  giving 
way  ;  the  consul  saw  that  his  hour  was  come  ;  he  called  aloud 
for  M.  Valerius,  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  standing  on  a 
naked  weapon,  clad  in  his  consular  robe,  his  head  veiled,  and 
his  hand  on  his  chin,  he  repeated  after  the  pontiff"  the  form 
of  devotion*.     He  then  sent  the  lictors  to  announce  to  Man- 

*  The  form  of  devotion  was  as  follows  :  "  Janus,  Jupiter,  Father  Mars, 
Q,uirinus,  Bellona,  Lare»,  ye  nine  gods  (Novetisile.i),  ye  Indigetes,  ye  gods 
who  have  power  over  us  and  our  enemies,  ye  gods  of  the  dead,  you  I  pray,. 


B.C.  335.]  SELF-DEVOTION  OF  DECIUS.  139 

lius  what  lie  had  done,  and  girding  his  robe  tightly  round 
him*,  and  mounting  his  horse,  he  rushed  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemies.  He  seemed  a  destructive  spirit  sent  from  heaven  ; 
-wherever  he  came  he  carried  dismay  and  death  ;  at  length  he 
fell  covered  with  wounds.  The  ardour  of  the  Roman  soldiers 
revived,  and  the  skill  of  Manlius  secured  the  victory.  When 
the  front  ranks  (Antes iff?m)ii)  of  both  armies  were  wearied,  he 
ordered  the  Accensi  to  advance ;  the  Latins  then  sent  forward 
their  Triarians  ;  and  when  these  were  wearied,  the  consul  or- 
dered the  Roman  Triarians  to  rise  and  advance.  The  Latins 
having  no  fresh  troops  to  oppose  to  them  were  speedily  de- 
feated, and  so  great  was  the  slaughter  that  but  one  fourth  of 
their  army  escaped.  Next  day  the  body  of  the  consul  De- 
cius  was  found  amidst  heaps  of  slain  and  magnificently  in- 
terred. 

The  Latins  fled  to  the  town  of  Vescia,  and  by  the  advice 
of  their  prcator  Numisius  a  general  levy  was  made  in  Latium, 
with  which,  in  reliance  on  the  reduced  state  of  the  Roman 
army,  he  ventured  to  give  the  consul  battle  at  a  place  named 
Trifanum,  between  Sinuessa  and  ^linturnse,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Liris.  The  rout  of  the  Latins,  however,  was  so  com- 
plete, that  few  of  the  towns  even  thought  of  resistance  when 
the  consul  entered  Latium.  The  Latin  public  land,  two  thirds 
of  that  of  Privernum,  and  the  Falernian  district  of  Campania, 
were  seized  for  the  Roman  people,  and  assignmentsof  2|  jugers 
on  this  side,  3;^  on  tlie  other  side  of  the  Liris,  were  made  to 
the  poor  plebeians,  who  murmured  greatly  at  the  large  quan- 
tity that  was  reserved  as  domain.  As  the  Campanian  knights 
(sixteen  hundred  in  number)  had  remamed  faithful  to  Rome, 
to  compensate  them  for  the  loss  of  the  Falernian  land,  they 
were  given  the  Roman  municipium,  and  each  assigned  a  rent 
charge  of  350  deuars  a  year  on  the  state  of  Capua. 

The  Latin  and  Volscian  towns  continued  singly  to  resist, 
and  the  conquest  was  not  completed  till  the  year  •il?.  Pru- 
dence and  some  moderation  were  requisite  on  the  partof  Rome, 
in  order  not  to  have  rebellious  subjects  in  the  Latins.  Citizen- 
ship therefore,  in  different  degrees,  was  conferred  on  them  ; 

worship,  implore,  that  ye  will  give  strength  and  victory  to  the  Roman  peo- 
pls  and  the  Qiiirites,  and  that  ye  will  send  terror,  fear,  and  death  to  the 
enemies  of  the  Roman  people  and  the  Quirites.  As  I  have  spoken  so  do  I 
devote  myself  for  the  republic,  the  army,  legions  and  auxiliaries  of  the  Ro- 
man people  and  Quirites,  and  with  rae  the  legions  and  auxiliaries  of  the 
enemy  to  the  gods  of  the  dead  and  tt)  ^Mother  Earth." 
*  The  Gabine  cincture. 


140  PUBLILIAN  LAWS.  [b.C.  336. 

but  they  Avere  forbidden  to  hold  national  diets,  and  commerce 
and  intermarriage  between  the  people  of  their  different  toM'ns 
Mere  prohibited.  The  principal  families  of  Velitrae  were  forced 
to  go  and  live  beyond  the  Tiber,  and  their  lands  were  given 
to  Roman  colonists.  Their  ships  of  war  were  taken  from  the 
Antiates,  who  were  forbidden  to  possess  any  in  future.  Some 
of  them  were  brought  to  Rome  ;  the  beaks  (rostra)  of  others 
were  cut  off,  and  the  pulpit  {suggestum')  in  the  Forum  was 
adorned  with  them,  whence  it  was  named  the  Rostra*.  The 
mtmicipwm,  such  as  the  Latins  had  formerly  had  it,  was  given 
to  the  people  of  Capua,  Cum^,  Suessula,  Fundi,  and  Formise. 
The  Latin  contingents  in  war  were  henceforth  to  serve  under 
their  own  officers  apart  from  the  legions. 

While  the  Roman  dominion  was  thus  extended  without, 
wise  and  patriotic  men  of  both  orders  saw  the  necessity  of  in- 
ternal concord,  and  of  abolishing  antiquated  and  now  mis- 
chievous claims  and  pretensions.  In  -tlG,  therefore,  the  patri- 
cian consul  Tib.  ^milius  named  his  plebeian  colleague  Q.  Pub- 
lilius  Philo  dictator  t,  who  then  brought  forward  the  following 
laws  to  complete  the  constitution.  1.  The  patricians  should  give 
a  previous  consent  to  any  law  that  was  to  be  brought  before 
the  centuries ;  for  as  such  a  law  must  previously  have  passed 
the  senate,  and  the  centuries  could  make  no  alteration  in  it,  and 
more  wisdom  was  not  likely  to  be  found  in  the  curies  than  in  the 
senate  and  centuries  united,  their  opposition  could  hardly  have 
any  ground  but  prejudice  and  spite.  2.  The  Plehiscita  should 
be  binding  on  all  Quirites.  The  object  of  this  law  was  the 
same  ;  for  as  the  people  now  occupied  the  place  of  the  former 
Fopulus,  and  every  measure  was  approved  of  and  prepared 
in  the  senate,  the  leaving  the  power  of  rejecting  it  with  the 
patricians  was  needless  and  might  be  mischievous.  3.  One  of 
the  censors  should  of  necessity  be  a  plebeian. — The  curies  were 
induced,  we  know  not  how,  to  give  their  assent  to  these  law^s. 
Internal  discord  was  now  at  an  end,  and  the  golden  age  of  Ro- 
man heroism  and  virtue  began. 

The  affairs  for  the  ten  succeeding  years  J  are  of  compara- 

*  The  Rostra,  says  Bunsen,  as  represented  on  a  medal  of  M.  Lollius 
Palicauus,  was  a  semicircular  p\ilpit  with  five  or  more  semicircular  projections, 
between  which  were  the  beaks.  We  however  see,  with  Becker,  on  that 
medal  a  bridge  with  ships. 

f  Publilius  was  the  first  plebeian  prretor  A.u.  417.      Liv.  viii.  15. 

+  It  was  during  this  period  (41S-429)  that  Alexander  the  Great  achieved 
the  conquest  of  the  East.  The  Romans  are  mentioned  among  the  peoples 
v/ho  sent  him  embassies  the  year  before  that  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
A.U.  429. 


B.C.  S2i-323.]  SECOND  SAMNITE  WAR.  141 

tive  unimportauce.  The  Romans  and  Samnites  both  knew 
that  another  war  was  inevitable,  and  they  made  the  necessary 
preparations  for  it.  In  the  year  428  the  people  of  the  Greek 
town  o{ Fa\sspo\is  (Old tozvn),  being  in  alliance  with  the  Sam- 
nites, began  to  exercise  hostilities  against  the  Roman  colonists 
in  Campania.  As  they  refused  to  give  satisfaction,  the  consul 
Q.  Publilius  Philo  was  sent  against  them,  while  his  colleague, 
L.  Cornelius  Lentulus,  watched  the  motions  of  the  Samnites. 
Publilius  encamped  between  Palsepolis  and  its  kindred  town 
of  Neapolis  (Neio  town),  and  on  his  sending  word  home  that 
there  was  a  large  body  of  Samnite  and  Nolan  troops  in  them, 
envoys  were  sent  to  Samnium  to  complain  of  this  breach  of 
treaty.  The  Samnites  replied  that  those  were  volunteers,  over 
whom  the  state  had  no  control :  that  moreover  they  had  not, 
as  the  Romans  had  alleged,  excited  the  people  of  Fundi  and 
Formise  to  revolt,  while  the  Romans  had  sent  a  colony  to  Fre- 
gellse,  in  a  district  which  of  right  was  theirs ;  that,  in  fine, 
there  was  no  use  in  arguing  or  complaining  when  the  plain 
between  Capua  and  Suessula  offered  a  space  on  which  they 
might  decide  whose  should  be  the  empire  of  Italy.  The  Ro- 
man fetial  then  veiled  his  head,  and  with  hands  raised  to 
heaven  prayed  the  gods  to  prosper  the  arms  and  counsels  of 
Rome  if  right  was  on  her  side  ;  if  not,  to  blast  and  confound 
them.  Right  certainly  was  not  on  the  side  of  Rome,  for  she 
had  first  violated  the  treaty ;  but  war  was  not  to  be  averted, 
and  it  was  now  to  begin. 

A  Roman  army  entered  Samnium  on  the  Volscian  side, 
ravaged  the  country,  and  took  some  towns.  Publilius'  year 
having  expired,  his  command  was  continued  to  him  (429) 
under  the  new  title  of  Proconsul ;  and  soon  a  party  in  Nea- 
polis, weary  of  the  insolence  of  the  foreign  soldiers,  began  to 
plot  a  surrender.  While  Nymphius,  one  of  the  leading  men, 
induced  the  Samnites  to  go  out  of  the  town,  to  embark  in  the 
ships  in  the  port,  and  make  a  descent  on  the  coast  of  Latium, 
Charilaus,  another  of  the  party,  closed  the  gate  after  them, 
and  admitted  the  Romans  at  another.  The  Samnites  instantly 
dispersed  and  fled  home ;  the  Nolans  retired  from  the  town 
unmolested. 

A  chief  ally  of  the  Samnites  were  the  people  of  the  Greek 
city  of  Tarentum ;  on  the  other  hand,  their  kinsmen,  the  Apu- 
lians  and  Lucanians,  were  in  alliance  with  Rome.  But  in  this 
year,  a  revolution,  of  the  precise  nature  of  which  we  are  un- 
informed, took  place  in  Lucania,  the  consequence  of  M'hich 


I'iS  SEVERITY  OF  THE  DICTATOR  PAPIRIUS.     [b.C.  322. 

was  the  subjection  of  the  country  to  Samnium*.  A  similar 
fate  menaced  the  Apulians,  if  not  aided  ;  but  to  reach  Apulia 
it  Avas  necessary  to  pass  through  the  Vestinian  country,  the 
people  of  which  (one  of  the  Marsian  confederacy)  refused  a 
passage.  It  was  apprehended  at  Rome,  that  if  the  Vestinians 
were  attacked,  the  other  three  states,  who  were  now  neutral, 
would  take  arras,  and  throw  their  v/eight  into  the  Samnite 
scale,  and  their  valour  was  well  known ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  importance  of  Apulia,  in  a  military  point  of  view, 
was  too  great  to  allow  it  to  be  lost.  The  consul  D.  Junius 
Brutus  accordingly  led  his  army  (430)  into  the  Vestinian 
country :  a  hard-fought  victory,  and  the  capture  of  two  of 
their  towns,  reduced  the  Vestinians  to  submission,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  league  remained  at  peace. 

The  other  consul,  L.  Camillus,  having  fallen  sick  as  he  was 
about  to  invade  Samnium,  L.  Papirius  Cursor  was  made  dic- 
tator ;  but  as  there  was  said  to  have  been  some  error  in  the 
auspices,  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Rome  to  renew  them. 
As  he  was  departing,  he  strictly  charged  Q.  Fabius  RuUianus, 
the  master  of  the  horse,  whom  he  left  in  command,  not  to  risk 
an  action  on  any  account  during  his  absence.  But,  heedless 
of  his  orders,  Fabius  seized  the  first  occasion  of  engaging  the 
enemy,  over  whom  he  gained  a  complete  victory.  As  soon 
as  the  dictator  learned  what  had  occurred,  he  hastened  to  the 
camp,  breathing  fury.  Fabius,  warned  of  his  approach,  be- 
sought the  soldiers  to  protect  him.  Papirius  came,  ascended 
his  tribunal,  summoned  the  master  of  the  horse  before  him, 
and  demanded  why  he  had  disobeyed  orders,  and  thus  weak- 
ened the  military  discipline.  His  defence  but  irritated  his 
judge  the  more ;  the  lictors  approached  and  began  to  strip 
him  for  death  ;  he  broke  from  them,  and  sought  refuge  among 
the  Triarians  :  confusion  arose ;  those  nearest  the  tribunal 
prayed,  the  more  remote  menaced,  the  dictator :  the  legates 
came  round  him,  entreating  him  to  defer  his  judgment  till 
the  next  day  ;  but  he  would  not  hear  them.  Night  at  length 
ended  the  contest. 

During  the  night  Fabius  fled  to  Rome,  and  by  his  father's 
advice  made  his  complaint  of  the  dictator  to  the  assembled 
senate  ;  but  while  he  was  speaking,  Papirius,  who  had  followed 

*  In  many  parts  of  Italy  there  was  the  same  struggle  between  the  ari- 
stocratic and  democratic  parties  as  in  Greece,  and  hence  the  change  of 
foreign  politics  as  each  acquired  the  ascendency.  The  aristocratic  party 
was  alwavs  in  favour  of  Rome. 


B.C.  321-320.]    SEVERITY  OF  THE  DICTATOR  PAPIRIUS.    143 

him  from  the  camp  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  entered,  and  or- 
dered his  lictors  to  seize  him.  The  senate  implored  ;  but  he 
was  inexorable  :  the  elder  Fabius  then  appealed  to  the  people, 
before  whom  he  enlarged  on  the  cruelty  of  the  dictator.  Every 
heart  beat  in  unison  with  that  of  the  time-honoured  father; 
but  when  Papirius  showed  the  rigorous  necessity  of  upholding 
military  discipline,  by  which  the  state  was  maintained,  all  were 
silent,  from  conviction.  At  length  the  people  and  their  tri- 
bunes united  with  Fabius  and  the  senate  in  supplication,  and 
the  dictator,  deeming  his  authority  sufficiently  vindicated, 
gi'anted  life  to  his  master  of  the  horse. 

Papirius,  when  he  returned  to  his  army,  gave  the  Samnites 
a  decisive  defeat ;  and  having  divided  the  spoil  among  his 
soldiers  to  regain  their  favour,  and  granted  a  truce  for  a  year 
to  the  enemy,  on  condition  of  their  giving  each  soldier  a  gar- 
ment and  a  year's  pay,  he  returned  to  Rome  and  triumphed. 

The  events  of  the  next  year  (^Sl)  are  dubious ;  but  in  432 
the  camp  of  the  dictator,  A.  Cornelius  Arvina,  who  had  en- 
tered Samnium  without  sufficient  caution,  was  surprised  by  a 
superior  force  of  the  enemy.  The  day  closed  before  an  at- 
tack could  be  made,  and  in  the  night  the  dictator,  leaving  a 
number  of  fires  burning  in  the  camp,  led  away  his  legions  in 
silence.  But  the  enemy  were  on  the  alert,  and  their  cavalry 
hung  on  the  retiring  army,  to  slacken  its  pace.  With  day- 
break the  Samnite  infantry  came  up,  and  the  dictator,  finding 
further  retreat  impossible,  drew  his  forces  up  in  order  of 
battle.  A  desperate  conflict  commenced  ;  during  five  hours 
neither  side  gave  way  an  inch  ;  the  Samnite  horse,  seeing  the 
baggage  of  the  Romans  but  slightly  guarded,  made  for  it,  and 
began  to  plunder ;  while  thus  engaged,  they  were  fallen  on 
and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Roman  horse,  who  then  turned  and 
assailed  the  now  unprotected  rear  of  the  Samnite  infantry. 
The  dictator  urged  his  legions  to  new  exertions ;  the  Sam- 
nites wavered,  broke,  and  fled  ;  their  general  and  thousands 
fell,  and  thousands  were  made  captives. 

Meantime,  on  the  side  of  Apulia  an  equally  glorious  victory 
was  gained  by  the  consul  Q.  Fabius ;  and  the  spirit  of  the 
Samnites  being  now  quite  broken,  they  were  anxious  for  peace 
on  almost  any  terms.  As  it  is  usual  with  a  people,  when 
measures  to  which  they  have  given  their  full  and  eager  con- 
sent have  failed,  to  throw  the  entire  blame  on  their  leaders, 
so  now  the  Samnites  cast  all  their  misfortunes  on  Papius  Bru- 
tulus,  one  of  their  principal  men,  and  resolved  to  deliver  him 


144  SURRENDER  AT  THE  CAUDINE  FORKS.    [b.C.  319. 

up  to  tlie  Romans  as  the  cause  of  the  war.  The  noble  Sam- 
nite  saved  himself  from  disgrace  by  a  voluntary  death  ;  his 
lifeless  corpse  was  carried  to  Rome  ;  the  Roman  prisoners,  of 
whom  there  was  a  large  number,  were  released,  and  gold  was 
sent  to  ransom  the  Samnites.  The  utmost  readiness  to  yield 
to  all  reasonable  terms  was  evinced  ;  but  nothing  could  con- 
tent the  haughty  senate  but  the  supremacy*,  and  sooner  than 
thus  resign  their  national  independence  the  Samnites  resolved 
to  dare  and  endure  the  utmost. 

In  the  spring  (433)  the  Roman  legions,  led  by  the  consuls 
T.  Veturius  and  Sp.  Postumius,  encamped  at  Callatia  in  Cam- 
pania, with  the  intention  of  directing  their  entire  force  against 
central  Samnium.  But  the  Samnite  general,  C.  Pontius,  ha- 
ving spread  a  false  report  that  Luceria,  in  Apulia,  was  hard 
pressed  by  a  Samnite  army,  and  on  the  point  of  surrender,  the 
consuls  resolved  to  attempt  its  relief  without  delay.  They 
entered  the  Samnite  country,  and  advanced  heedlessly  and 
incautiously.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of  Caudium  they 
reached  the  Caudine  Forks,  as  a  pass  was  named  consisting 
of  a  deep  valley  between  two  wooded  mountains  ;  a  hollow 
way  led  into  it  at  one  end,  and  a  narrow  path  over  a  moun- 
tain, which  closed  it  up,  led  out  of  it  at  the  other  end.  Into 
these  toils  the  consuls  conducted  their  army ;  they  saw  no- 
thing to  alarm  them  till  the  head  of  the  column  came  to  the 
further  end,  and  found  the  passage  stopped  with  rocks  and 
trunks  of  trees,  and  on  looking  round  they  beheld  the  hills  oc- 
cupied by  soldiery.  To  advance  or  to  retreat  was  now  equally 
impossible ;  they  therefore  threw  up  entrenchments  in  the 
valley,  and  remained  there,  the  Samnites  not  attacking  them, 
in  reliance  on  the  aid  of  faminef-  At  length,  when  their  food 
was  spent  and  hunger  began  to  be  felt,  they  sent  deputies  to 
learn  the  will  of  the  Samnite  leaders.  It  is  said  that  Pontius, 
on  this  occasion,  sent  for  his  father  to  advise  him  :  this  vene- 
rable old  man,  who,  in  high  repute  for  wisdom,  dwelt  at  Cau- 
dium, was  conveyed  to  the  camp  in  a  wain,  and  his  advice 
was  either  to  let  the  Romans  go  free  and  uninjured,  or  totallj- 
to  destroy  the  army.    Pontius  preferred  a  middle  course,  and 

*  Answering  to  the  hegemony  of  the  Greeks.  See  Hist,  of  Greece  ^ai^jw. 

•f  There  is  good  reason  however  to  suppose  that  the  Romans  made  a  de- 
sperate effort  to  extricate  themselves,  and  were  driven  back  with  great 
slaughter.  Appian,  Samn.  iv.  6.  Cicero  de  Off.  iii.  30.  Cato  12.  Compare 
the  description  of  a  Roman  army  enclosed  in  a  similar  situation  by  the 
^quian  general  Cloelius  Gracchus,  in  Dionysius,  x.  23. 


B.C.  319.J     SURRENDER  AT  THE  CAUDINE  FORKS.  14s5 

the  old  man  retired,  shedding  tears  at  the  misery  he  saw  thence 
to  come  on  his  country.  The  terms  accorded  by  Pontius 
were  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  alliance  between  Rome 
and  Samnium  ;  the  withdrawal  of  Roman  colonies  from  places 
belonging  to  the  Samnites ;  and  the  giving  back  of  all  places 
to  which  they  had  a  right.  The  arms  and  baggage  of  the 
vanquished  army,  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  be  given  up 
to  the  conquerors.  How  rarely  has  Rome  ever  granted  a 
vanquished  enemy  terms  so  mild  as  these !  Yet  the  Roman 
historians  had  the  audacity  to  talk  of  the  insolence  of  the 
victorious  Samnites,  and  the  Roman  senate  and  people  the 
baseness  and  barbarity  to  put  to  an  ignominious  death  the 
noble  Pontius  twenty-seven  years  after ! 

These  terms  were  sworn  to  by  the  consuls,  their  principal 
officers,  and  two  tribunes  of  the  people ;  and  six  hundred 
knights  were  given  as  hostages  till  they  should  have  been 
ratified  by  the  senate  and  people.  A  passage  wide  enough 
for  one  person  to  pass  was  made  in  the  paling  with  which  the 
Samnites  had  enclosed  them*,  and  one  of  the  pales  laid  across 
it,  and  through  this  door  the  consuls,  followed  by  their  offi- 
cers and  men,  each  in  a  single  garment,  came  forth.  Pontius 
gave  beasts  of  burden  to  convey  the  sick  and  wounded,  and 
provisions  enough  to  take  the  army  to  Rome.  They  then 
departed  and  reached  Capua  before  nightfall ;  but  shame,  or 
doubt  of  the  reception  they  might  meet  with,  kept  them  from 
entering.  Next  morning  however  all  the  people  came  out  to 
meet  and  console  them.  Refreshments  and  aid  of  every  kind 
were  given  them,  and  they  thence  pursued  their  way  to  Rome. 

When  the  news  of  their  calamity  had  first  reached  Rome, 
a  total  cessation  of  business  (justitium)  had  taken  place,  and 
a  general  levy,  either  to  attempt  their  relief  or  to  defend  the 
city,  had  been  made,  and  all  orders  of  people  went  into  mourn- 
ing f.  In  this  state  of  things  the  disgraced  army  reached  the 
gates.  It  there  dispersed :  those  who  lived  in  the  country 
went  away;  those  who  dwelt  in  the  city  slank  with  night  to 
their  houses.  The  consuls,  having  named  a  dictator  for  the 
consular  elections,  laid  down  their  office;  and  Q.  Publilius  Philo 
and  L.  Papirius  Cursor  were  appointed  to  be  their  successors. 

The  senate  having  met  to  consider  of  the  peace,  the  consul 
Publilius  called  on  Sp.  Postumius  to  give  his  opinion.  Ke 
rose  with  downcast  looks,  and  advised  that  himself  and  all 
who  had  sworn  to  the  treaty  should  be  delivered  up  to  the 

*  Appian,  Samn.  iv.  G.     Gellius,  xvii.  21.  f  Appian,  Samn.  iv.  7. 

H 


146  SAMNITE  WAR.  [b.C.  317. 

Samnites  as  having  deceived  them,  by  making  a  treaty  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Roman  people,  and  a  fresh  army  be 
levied,  and  the  war  renewed ;  and  though  there  was  hardly  a 
senator  who  Iiad  not  a  son  or  some  other  relative  among  the 
hostages,  it  was  resolved  to  do  as  he  advised.  Postumius  and 
his  companions  were  taken  bound  to  Caudium ;  the  fetial  led 
them  before  the  tribunal  of  Pontius,  and  made  the  surrender 
of  them  in  the  solemn  form.  Postumius,  as  he  concluded, 
struck  his  knee  against  the  fetial's  thigh,  and  drove  him  off, 
crying,  "I  am  now  a  Saranite,  thou  an  ambassador:  I  thus 
violate  the  law  of  nations ;  ye  may  justly  now  resume  the  war." 

Pontius  replied  with  dignity  :  he  treated  this  act  of  religious 
hypocrisy  as  a  childish  manoeuvre ;  he  told  the  Romans  that 
if  they  wished  to  renounce  the  treaty  with  any  show  of  justice, 
they  should  place  their  legions  as  they  were  when  it  was  made  j 
but  their  present  conduct  he  said  was  base  and  unworthy,  and 
he  would  not  accept  such  a  surrender  as  this,  or  let  them  thus 
hope  to  avert  the  anger  of  the  gods.  He  then  ordered  Postu- 
mius and  the  other  Romans  to  be  unbound  and  dismissed. 

The  war  therefore  was  renewed,  and  the  Romans  returning 
to  their  original  plan  of  carrying  it  on  simultaneously  in  Apu- 
lia and  on  the  western  frontier  of  Samnium,  sent  (435)  the 
consul  Papirius  to  lay  siege  to  Luceria,  which  was  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  Samnites,  while  his  colleague  Publilius  led  his 
army  into  Samnium.  Papirius  sat  down  before  Luceria;  but 
a  Samnite  army  came  and  encamped  at  hand,  and  rendered 
his  communication  with  Arpi,  whence  he  drew  his  supplies, 
so  difficult,  that  it  was  only  by  the  knights  going  and  fetching 
corn  in  little  bags  on  their  horses  that  any  food  could  be  had 
in  the  camp.  They  were  at  length  relieved  by  the  arrival  of 
Publilius,  who  having  defeated  a  Samnite  army  marched  to 
their  aid;  and  after  a  fruitless  attemjjt  of  the  Tarentines  to 
mediate  a  peace,  the  Romans  attacked  and  stormed  the  Sara- 
nite camp  with  great  slaughter,  which,  though  they  were  un- 
able to  retain  it,  had  the  effect  of  making  the  Saranite  army 
retire,  and  leave  Luceria  to  its  fate.  Its  garrison  of  seven 
thousand  men  then  capitulated,  on  condition  of  a  free  passage, 
without  arms  or  baggage*. 

The  two  following  years  were  years  of  truce,  in  consequence 
of  exhaustion  on  both  sides ;  and  during  the  truce  the  Romans 

*  As  it  appears  from  Diodorus  (xix.  72.)  that  Luceria  was  not  taken  till 
439,  Niebuhr  regards  this  as  a  fiction  of  the  Romans,  anxious  to  efface  as 
soon  as  possible  the  disgrace  at  Caudium. 


B.C.  314-312.]  SAWNITE  WAR.  147 

so  extended  and  consolidated  their  dominion  in  Apulia  that 
no  attempt  was  ever  after  made  to  shake  it  off.  The  war  was 
resumed  in  438,  and  the  Romans  laid  siege  to  Saticula,  which 
appears  to  have  been  in  alliance  with  rather  than  subject  to  the 
Samnites.  Meantime  the  Samnites  reduced  the  colonial  town 
of  Plistia ;  and  the  Volscians  of  Sora,  having  slain  their  Ro- 
man garrison,  revolted  to  them.  They  then  made  an  attack  on 
the  Roman  army  before  Saticula,  but  were  defeated  with  great 
loss,  and  the  town  immediately  surrendered.  The  Roman 
armies  forthwitli  entered  and  ravaged  Samnium,  and  the  seat 
of  war  was  transferred  to  Apulia.  While  the  consular  armies 
were  thus  distant,  the  Samnites  made  a  general  levy^  and  came 
and  took  a  position  at  Lautulse,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  com- 
munication between  Rome  and  Campania.  The  dictator,  Q. 
Fabius,  instantly  levied  an  army,  and  hastened  to  give  them 
battle.  The  Romans  were  utterly  defeated,  and  fled  from  the 
field ;  the  master  of  the  horse,  Q.  Aulius,  unable  to  outlive 
the  disgrace  of  flight,  maintained  his  ground,  and  fell  fighting 
bravely.  Revolt  spread  far  and  wide  among  the  Roman  sub- 
jects in  the  vicinity  ;  the  danger  was  great  and  imminent,  but 
the  fortune  of  Rome  prevailed,  and  the  menacing  storm  di- 
spersed. 

In  440  the  Samnites  sustained  a  great  defeat  near  a  town 
named  Cinna,  whose  site  is  unknown.  The  Campanians,  who 
were  in  the  act  of  revolting  at  this  time,  submitted  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  dictator,  C.  Maenius,  and  the  most  guilty  with- 
drew themselves  from  punishment  by  a  voluntary  death.  The 
Ausonian  towns,  Ausona,  Minturnae,  and  Vescia,  were  taken 
by  treachery  and  stratagem,  and  their  population  massacred 
or  enslaved,  as  a  fearful  lesson  to  the  subjects  of  Rome  against 
wavering  in  their  allegiance. 

The  united  armies  of  the  consuls,  M.  Poetelius  and  C.  Sul- 
picius,  then  entered  Samnium  on  the  side  of  Caudium ;  but 
while  they  were  advancing  timidly  and  cautiously  through  that 
formidable  region,  they  learned  that  the  Samnite  army  was 
wasting  the  plain  of  Campania.  They  immediately  led  back 
their  forces,  and  ere  long  the  two  armies  encountered.  The 
tactics  of  the  Romans  were  new  on  this  occasion;  the  left  wing, 
under  Poetelius,  was  made  dense  and  deep,  while  the  right 
was  expanded  more  than  usual*.  Poetelius,  adding  the  reserve 
to  his  wing,  made  a  steady  charge  with  the  whole  mass :  the 

*  These  were  the  tactics  of  Epaminondasat  Mantineia.  Hist,  of  Greece, 
p.  349,  4th  edit. 

H  2 


148  CAPTURE  OF  SORA.  [b.c.  31 1-309. 

Samnites  gave  way ;  their  horse  hastened  to  their  aid ;  but 
Sulpicius  coming  up  with  his  body  of  horse,  and  charging  them 
with  the  whole  Roman  cavalry,  put  them  to  the  rout.  He 
then  hastened  to  his  own  wing  which  now  was  yielding ;  the 
timely  reinforcement  turned  the  beam,  and  the  Samnites  were 
routed  on  all  sides  with  great  slaughter. 

The  following  year  (Ml)  was  marked  by  the  capture  of 
Nola  and  some  other  towns,  and  by  the  founding  of  colonies, 
to  secure  the  dominion  which  had  been  acquired.  In  4'4'2 
Sora  Avas  taken  in  the  following  manner.  A  deserter  came  to 
the  consuls,  and  offered  to  lead  some  Roman  soldiers  by  a 
secret  path  up  to  the  Arx,  or  citadel,  which  was  a  precipitous 
eminence  over  the  town.  His  offer  was  accepted  ;  the  legions 
were  withdrawn  to  a  distance  of  six  miles  from  the  town ;  some 
cohorts  were  concealed  in  a  wood  at  hand,  and  ten  men  ac- 
companied the  Soran  traitor.  They  clambered  in  the  night 
up  through  the  stones  and  bushes,  and  at  length  reached  the 
area  of  the  citadel.  Their  guide,  showing  them  the  narrow 
steep  path  that  led  thence  to  the  town,  desired  them  to  guard 
it  while  he  went  down  and  gave  the  alarm.  He  then  ran 
through  the  town  crying  that  the  enemy  was  on  the  citadel ; 
and  when  the  truth  of  his  report  was  ascertained,  the  people 
prepared  to  fly  from  the  town  ;  but  in  the  confusion,  the 
Roman  cohorts  broke  in  and  commenced  a  massacre.  At 
daybreak  the  consuls  came  ;  they  granted  their  lives  to  the 
surviving  inhabitants,  with  the  exception  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  five,  who,  as  the  authors  of  the  revolt,  were 
brought  bound  to  Rome,  and  scourged  and  beheaded  in  the 
Forum. 

The  tide  of  war  had  turned  so  decidedly  against  the  Sam- 
nites, that  one  or  two  campaigns  more  of  the  whole  force  of 
Rome  would  have  sufficed  for  their  subjugation.  But  just 
now  a  new  enemy  was  about  to  appear,  M'ho  was  likely  to  give 
ample  employment  to  the  Roman  arms  for  some  time.  The 
Etruscans,  who,  probably  owing  to  their  contests  with  and 
fears  of  the  Gauls,  had  for  many  years  abstained  from  war 
with  the  Romans,  either  moved  by  the  instances  of  the  Sam- 
nites or  aware  of  the  danger  of  suffering  Rome  to  grow  too 
powerful,  began  to  make  such  hostile  manifestations  that  great 
alarm  ]Drevailed  at  Rome.  Various  circumstances,  however, 
kept  off  the  war  for  nearly  two  years  longer ;  at  length  in  44'3 
all  the  peoples  of  Etruria,  except  the  Arretines,  having  sent 
their  troops,  a  Tuscan  army  prepared  to  lay  siege  to  the  fron- 


B.C.  308.]  TUSCAN  WAR.  149 

tier  town  of  Sutrium,  The  consul  Q.  i^^milius  came  to  covex* 
it,  and  the  two  armies  met  before  it.  At  daybreak  of  the 
second  day,  the  Tuscans  drew  out  in  order  of  battle  ;  the  con- 
sul, having  made  his  men  take  their  breakfast,  led  them  out 
also.  The  armies  stood  opposite  each  other,  each  hesitating 
to  begin,  till  after  noon  ;  the  Tuscans  then  fell  on  :  night  ter- 
minated a  bloody  and  indecisive  action,  each  retired  to  their 
camp,  and  neither  felt  themselves  strong  enough  to  renew  the 
conflict  next  day. 

The  next  year  (444)  a  Tuscan  army  having  laid  siege  to 
Sutrium,  the  consul  Q.  Fabius  hastened  from  Rome  to  its  re- 
lief. As  his  ti'oops  wei'e  far  inferior  to  the  Etruscans  in  num- 
ber, he  led  them  cautiously  along  the  hills.  The  enemy  drew 
out  his  forces  in  the  plain  to  give  him  battle ;  but  the  consul, 
fearing  to  descend,  formed  his  array  on  the  hill-side  in  a  part 
covered  with  loose  stones.  Relying  on  their  numbers  the 
Tuscans  charged  up-hill ;  the  Romans  hurled  stones  and  mis- 
sile weapons  on  them,  and  then  charging,  with  the  advantage 
of  the  ground,  drove  them  back,  and  the  horse  getting  between 
them  and  their  camp  forced  them  to  take  refuge  in  the  ad- 
jacent Ciminian  wood.  Their  camp  became  the  prize  of  the 
victors. 

Like  so  many  others  in  the  early  Roman  history,  this  battle 
has  probably  been  given  a  magnitude  and  an  importance  which 
does  not  belong  to  it,  and  the  truth  would  seem  to  be,  that  the 
consul  only  repulsed  the  advanced  guard  of  the  enemy,  and 
not  feeling  himself  strong  enough  to  engage  their  main  army, 
resolved  to  create  a  diversion  by  invading  their  country. 

To  the  north  of  Sutrium,  between  it  and  the  modern  city 
of  Viterbo,  extends  a  range  of  high  ground,  which  at  that  time 
formed  the  boundary  between  Roman  and  independent  Etru- 
ria.  It  was  covered  with  natural  wood,  and  was  thence  named 
the  Ciminian  Wood.  Over  this  barrier  Fabius  resolved  to  lead 
his  troops.  He  sent  to  inform  the  senate  of  his  plan,  in  order 
that  measures  might  be  taken  for  the  defence  of  the  country 
during  his  absence.  Meantime  he  directed  one  of  his  brothers, 
who  spoke  the  Tuscan  language,  to  penetrate  in  disguise  to 
the  Umbrians,  and  to  form  alliances  with  any  of  them  that 
were  hostile  to  the  Etruscans.  The  only  people  however 
whom  the  envoy  found  so  disposed  were  the  Camertines,  who 
agreed  to  join  the  Romans  if  they  penetrated  to  their  country. 

The  senate,  daunted  at  the  boldness  of  Fabius'  plan,  sent 
five  deputies  accompanied  by  two  tribunes  of  the  people  to 


150  TUSCAN  WAR.  [b.c.  308. 

forbid  him  to  enter  the  wood,  perhaps  to  arrest  him  if  he  should 
hesitate  to  obey*.  But  they  came  too  late  :  in  the  first  watch 
of  the  night  Fabius  sent  forward  his  baggage,  the  infantry 
followed  ;  he  himself  a  little  before  sunrise  led  the  horse  up  to 
the  enemy's  camp,  as  it  were  to  reconnoitre.  In  the  evening 
he  returned  to  his  own  camp,  and  then  set  out  and  came  up 
with  his  infantry  before  night.  At  daybreak  they  reached  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  and  beheld  the  cultured  vales  and 
plains  of  Etruria  stretched  out  before  them.  They  hastened 
to  seize  the  offered  prey  ;  the  Etruscan  nobles  assembled  their 
vassals  to  oppose  them,  but  they  could  offer  no  effectual  resist- 
ance to  the  disciplined  troops  of  Rome.  The  Roman  army 
spread  their  ravages  as  far  as  Perusia,  where  they  encouu- 
tei'ed  and  totally  defeated  a  combined  army  of  Etruscans  and 
Umbrians ;  and  Perusia,  Cortona  and  Arretium,  three  of  the 
leading  cities  of  Etruria,  sent  forthwith  to  sue  for  peace, 
which  was  granted  for  a  term  of  thirty  years.  As  the  Romans^ 
were  returning  to  the  relief  of  Sutrium  they  encountered  at 
the  lake  of  Vadimo  another  Etruscan  army,  of  select  troops 
bound  by  asolemn  oath  (Ze<7e5ac7'a/«)tofightto  their  uttermostf. 
The  two  armies  engaged  hand  to  hand  at  once  ;  the  first  ranks 
fought  till  they  were  exhausted ;  the  reserve  then  advanced, 
and  the  victory  was  only  decided  by  the  Roman  knights  dis- 
mounting and  taking  their  place  in  the  front  of  the  line. 

While  Fabius  was  conducting  the  war  in  Etruria,  his  col- 
league C.  Marcius  had  entered  Samnium  and  taken  AUifac  and 
some  other  strongholds.  The  Samnites  collected  their  forces 
and  gave  him  battle,  and  the  Romans  were  defeated ;  several 
of  their  officers  slain,  the  consul  himself  wounded,  and  their 
communication  with  Rome  cut  off.    When  the  news  reached 

*  The  whole  account  given  by  Livy  of  the  Ciminian  Wood  and  its 
honors,  and  the  passage  of  it  by  the  Romans,  is  ridiculously  romantic; 
"  Silva  erat  Ciminia,"  are  his  words,  "  magis  turn  invia  atque  horrenda  quam 
nuper  fiiere  Germanici  saltus  ;  nuUi  ad  earn  diem  ne  mercatoruni  quidem 
adita."  This  he  says,  speaking  of  a  range  of  no  great  elevation  and  actually 
within  forty  miles  of  Rome.  Nay,  it  would  seem  from  his  account  that  the 
mere  ascent  occupied  the  Romans  two  nights  and  a  day.  We  may  here 
observe,  that  the  distance  from  Ronciglione  at  the  southern,  to  Viterbo  at  the 
northern  foot,  is  only  sixteen  miles,  which  may  be  traversed  with  ease  in 
three  or  four  hours.  But  what  might  seem  extraordinary,  were  it  not  for 
the  writer's  notorious  carelessness,  is,  that  he  had  actually  related  (v.  .32) 
how  the  Romans,  eighty  years  before,  had  plundered  the  lands  of  the  Vul- 
sinians  which  lay  about  the  lake  of  Bolsena,  some  miles  to  the  north  of  the 
Ciminian  hills.     See  above,  p.  113. 

•j-  These  were  probably  the  troops  of  the  western  towns. 


B.C.  307.]  SAMNITE  AND  TUSCAN  WARS.  151 

Rome,  the  senate  at  once  resolved  to  create  a  dictator,  and  to 
send  him  off  to  the  relief  of  Marcius  with  the  reserve  which 
had  been  levied  on  account  of  the  Etruscan  war.  Their  hopes 
lay  in  L.  Papirius  Cursor;  but  the  dictator  could  only  be 
named  by  the  consul ;  there  was  no  way  of  reaching  Marcius, 
and  Fabius  had  not  yet  forgiven  the  man  who  had  thirsted 
after  his  blood.  The  resolve  of  the  senate  was  borne  to  Fa- 
bius by  consulars ;  they  urged  him  to  sacrifice  his  private 
feelings  to  the  good  of  his  country  ;  he  heard  them  in  silence, 
his  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground,  and  they  retired  in  uncertainty. 
In  the  stillness  of  the  night  he  arose,  and,  as  was  the  usage, 
named  L.  Papirius  dictator,  and  in  the  morning  he  again 
listened  in  silence  to  the  thanks  and  praises  of  the  deputies. 
The  dictator  immediately  set  forth  and  relieved  the  array  of 
Marcius,  but,  impetuous  as  he  was,  he  contented  himself  for 
some  time  with  merely  observing  the  enemy. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  for  a  decisive  action.  The 
Samnite  army  was  divided  into  two  corps,  the  one  clad  in 
purple,  the  other  in  white  linen  tunics,  the  former  having  their 
brazen  shields  adorned  with  gold,  the  latter  with  silver:  the 
shields  were  broad  above,  narrow  below.  Each  soldier  wore 
a  crested  helmet,  a  large  sponge  to  protect  his  breast,  and  a 
greave  on  his  left  leg.  In  the  battle  the  Roman  dictator  led 
the  right  wing  against  the  gold-shielded,  the  master  of  the 
horse,  C.  Junius,  the  left  against  the  silver-shielded  Samnites. 
Junius  made  the  first  impression  on  the  enemy ;  the  dictator 
urged  his  men  to  emulation,  and  the  Roman  horse  by  a  charge 
on  both  flanks  completed  the  victory.  The  Samnites  fled  to 
their  camp,  but  were  unable  to  retain  it,  and  ere  night  it  was 
sacked  and  burnt.  The  golden  sliields  adorned  the  dictator's 
triumph,  and  they  were  then  given  to  the  money-dealers  to 
ornament  their  shops  in  the  Forum. 

Q.  Fabius  was  continued  in  the  consulate  for  44'5,  and 
P.  Decius  given  to  him  as  his  colleague ;  the  former  had  the 
Samnite,  the  latter  tlie  Etruscan  war.  Fabius  routed  the  Mar- 
sians  and  Pelignians,  who  had  now  joined  against  Rome,  and 
he  tlien  led  his  legions  into  Umbria,  whose  people  had  taken 
arms,  and  with  a  little  difficulty  reduced  them  to  submission. 
Decius  meantime  had  forced  the  Etruscans  to  sue  for  peace, 
and  a  year's  truce  Avas  granted  them  on  their  giving  each  sol- 
dier two  tunics,  and  a  year's  pay  for  the  army. 

In  the  remaining  years  of  the  war,  the  exhausted  powers  of 
the  Samnites  could  offer  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  the  legions 


152         THIRD  SAMNITE  AXD  TUSCAN  WARS.    [b.C.  305-298» 

of  Rome.  On  the  occasion  of  a  defeat  which  they  sustained 
in  446,  the  proconsul  Q.  Fabius  adopted  the  novel  course  of 
dismissing  the  Samnite  prisoners,  and  selling  for  slaves  those 
of  their  allies.  Among  these  there  were  several  Hernicans, 
whom  he  sent  to  Rome ;  the  senate  having  instituted  an  in- 
quiry into  the  conduct  of  the  Hernican  people  in  this  affair, 
those  who  had  urged  them  to  give  aid  to  the  Samnites  now 
engaged  them  to  take  arms  openly.  All  the  Hernican  peoples 
but  three  shared  in  the  war ;  but  they  made  a  stand  little 
worthy  of  their  old  renown ;  one  short  campaign  sufficed  for 
their  reduction,  and  they  were  placed  (447)  on  nearly  the 
same  footing  as  the  Latins  had  been  thirty  years  before. 

The  Samnites  at  length  (449)  sued  for  peace,  and  obtained 
it  on  the  condition  they  so  often  spurned,  that  of  acknow- 
ledging Rome's  supremacy,  in  other  words,  of  yielding  up  their 
independence ;  but  peace  on  any  terms  was  now  necessary, 
that  they  might  recruit  their  strength  for  future  efforts.  The 
Romans  then  turned  their  arms  against  the  ^quians  who  had 
joined  the  Hernicans  in  aiding  the  Samnites,  and  in  fifty  days 
the  consuls  reduced  and  destroyed  forty-one  of  their  Cyclo- 
pian-walled  towns.  The  Marsian  League  sought  and  obtained 
peace  from  Rome. 


CHAPTER  VIL* 


Third  Samnite  and  Tuscan  Wars. — Battle  of  Sentinum  and  self-devotion 
of  Decius. — Battle  of  Aquilonia. — Reduction  of  the  Sajnnites. — Horten- 
sian  Law. — Worship  of  jEsculapius  introduced. — Lucanian  War. — Ro- 
man Embassy  insulted  at  Tarentum. — Gallic  and  Etruscan  War. 

Four  years  passed  away  in  tolerable  tranquillity  ;  in  454  Lu- 
canian envoys  appeared  at  Rome,  praying  for  aid  against  the 
Samnites  who  had  entered  their  country  in  arms,  given  them 
various  defeats,  and  taken  several  of  their  towns.  The  Ro- 
mans, in  right  of  their  supremacy,  sent  orders  to  the  Samnites 
to  withdraw  their  troops  from  Lucania  :  the  pride  of  the  Sam- 
nites was  roused  at  being  thus  reminded  of  their  subjection ; 
they  ordered  the  fetials  off  their  territory,  and  war  was  once 

*  Livy,  X.,  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  297-296.]    THIRD  SAMNITE  AND  TUSCAN  WARS.  153 

more  declared  against  them  by  the  Romans.  As  the  Etruscans 
were  now  also  in  arms,  the  consul  L.  Cornelius  Scipio  went 
against  them,  while  his  colleague  Cn.  Fulvius  invaded  Sam- 
nium. 

Scipio  engaged  a  numerous  Etruscan  army  near  Volaterras 
and  night  ended  a  hard-fought  battle,  leaving  it  undecided. 
The  morn  however  revealed  that  the  advantage  was  on  the  side 
of  the  Romans,  as  the  enemy  had  abandoned  their  camp  during 
the  night.  Having  placed  his  baggage  and  stores  at  Falerii, 
Scipio  spread  his  ravages  over  the  country,  burning  the  vil- 
lages and  hamlets ;  and  no  army  appeared  to  oppose  him. 
Fulvius  meantime  carried  on  the  war  with  credit  in  Samnium. 
Near  Bovianum  he  defeated  a  Samnite  army,  and  took  that 
town  and  another  named  Aufidena. 

The  rumour  of  the  great  preparations  which  the  Samnites 
and  the  Etruscans  were  said  to  be  making  caused  the  people 
to  elect  Q.  Fabius  to  the  consulate,  against  his  will ;  and  at  his 
own  request  they  joined  with  him  P.  Decius.  As  the  Etrus- 
cans remained  quiet,  both  the  consuls  invaded  Samnium  (455), 
Fabius  enteringfrom  theSoran, Decius  from  theSidiciniancoun- 
try.  The  Samnites  gave  Fabius  battle  in  one  of  the  valleys  of 
Mount  Tifernus:  theirinfantrystood  firm  against  that  of  the  Ro- 
mans :  the  charge  of  the  Roman  cavalry  had  as  little  effect.  At 
length,  when  the  reserve  had  come  to  the  front,  and  the  contest 
was  most  obstinate,  the  legate  Scipio,  whom  the  consul  had  sent 
away  during  the  action  with  the  Hastats  of  the  first  legion,  ap- 
peared on  the  neighbouring  hills.  Both  armies  took  them  for 
the  legions  of  Decius;  the  Samnites'  courage  fell,  that  of  the 
Romans  rose,  and  evening  closed  on  their  victorj'^.  Decius  had 
meantime  defeated  the  Apulians  at  Maleventum*.  During  five 
months  both  armies  ravaged  Samnium  with  impunity  ;  the 
tracesoffive-and-forty  camps  of  Decius,  of  eighty-six  of  Fabius, 
bore  witness  to  the  sufferings  of  the  ill-fated  country. 

The  next  year  (i-BS)  the  Samnites  put  into  execution  a 
daring  plan  which  they  had  formed  in  the  preceding  war, 
namely,  sending  an  army,  to  be  paid  and  supported  out  of 
their  ov/n  funds,  into  Etrnria,  leaving  Samnium  meantime  at 
the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  The  Samnite  army  under  Gellius 
Egnatius,  on  arriving  there,  was  joined  by  the  troops  of  most 
of  the  Tuscan  states  ;  the  Umbriaiis  also  shared  in  the  war, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  take  Gallic  mercenaries  into  pay.    The 

*  Afterwards  named  Eeneventum. 

H  5 


io4  SAMNITE  AND  TUSCAN  WARS.  [b.C.  296. 

consul  Ap.  Claudius  entered  Etruria  Avith  his  two  legions 
and  twelve  thousand  of  the  allies,  but  he  did  not  feel  himself 
strong  enough  to  give  the  confederates  battle.  His  colleague 
L.  Volumnius,  probablj'  by  command  of  thesenate,led  his  army 
to  join  him  ;  but  Appius  gave  him  so  ungracious  a  reception 
that  he  was  preparing  to  retire,  when  the  officers  of  the  other 
army  implored  him  not  to  abandon  them  for  their  general's 
fault.  Volumnius  then  agreed  to  remain  and  fight :  a  victory 
was  speedily  gained  over  the  Etruscans  and  Samnites,  whose 
general  Egnatius  was  unfortunately  absent ;  7300  were  slain, 
2120  taken,  and  their  camp  -was  stormed  and  plundered. 

As  Volumnius  was  returning  by  rapid  marches  to  Samnium, 
he  learned  that  the  Samnites  had  taken  advantage  of  his  abs- 
ence to  make  a  descent  on  Campania,  where  they  had  col- 
lected an  immense  booty.  He  forthwith  directed  his  course 
thither  :  at  Cales  he  heard  that  they  were  encamped  on  the 
Volturrius,  with  the  intention  of  carrying  their  prey  into  Sam- 
nium to  secure  it.  He  came  and  encamped  near  tJiem,  but 
out  of  view  ;  and  when  tlie  Samnites  had  before  day  sent  for- 
ward their  captives  and  booty  under  an  escort,  and  were  get- 
ting out  of  their  camp  to  follow  them,  they  were  suddenly 
fallen  on  by  the  Romans  :  the  camp  was  stormed  with  great 
slaughter  ;  the  captives,  hearing  the  tumult,  unbound  them- 
selves, and  fell  on  their  escort ;  the  Samnites  were  routed  on 
all  sides ;  6000  were  slain,  2500  were  taken,  7400  captives, 
with  all  their  property,  were  recovered. 

The  union  of  the  Samnites^  Etruscans,  Umbrians,  and  Gauls, 
which  had  now  been  formed,  caused  the  greatest  apprehension 
at  Rome,  and  the  people  insisted  on  again  electing  Q.  Fabius 
consul,  to  which  he  would  only  consent  on  condition  of  his 
approved  mate  in  arms  P.  Decius  being  given  him  for  col- 
league. His  wish  was  complied  with.  The  four  legions  of 
the  former  year  vrere  kept  on  foot  and  completed,  two  new 
ones  were  raised,  and  two  armies  of  reserve  formed.  The 
number  of  troops  furnished  by  the  allies  was  considerable  : 
among  them  were  one  thousand  Campanian  horse  ;  for  as  the 
Gauls  were  strong  in  this  arm,  it  was  necessary  to  augment 
its  force. 

During  the  winter,  Fabius  set  out,  with  four  thousand  foot 
and  six  hundred  horse,  to  take  the  command  in  Etruria.  As 
he  drew  nigh  to  the  camp  of  Ap.  Claudius  he  met  a  party  sent 
out  for  firewood ;  he  ordered  them  to  go  back  and  use  the 
palisades  of  their  camp  for  the  purpose.    This  gave  confidence 


B.C.  295.]  BATTLE  OF  SENTINUM.  155 

to  the  soldiers ;  aud  to  keep  up  their  spirits,  he  never  let  them 
remain  stationary,  but  moved  about  from  place  to  place.  In 
the  spring  (457)  he  returned  to  Rome  to  arrange  the  campaign, 
leaving  the  command  in  Etruria  with  L.  Scipio. 

The  consuls  led  their  main  force  to  join  the  troops  left  with 
Scipio  ;  one  army  of  reserve,  under  the  propraetor  Cn.  Fulvius, 
was  stationed  in  the  Falisean  ;  another,  under  the  proprsetor 
L.  Postumius,  in  the  Vatican  district.  But  the  Gauls,  pouring 
in  by  the  pass  of  Caraerinum,  had  annihilated  a  Roman  legion 
left  to  defend  it ;  their  numerous  cavalry  spread  over  Umbria 
and  got  between  Scipio  and  Rome  ;  and  as  they  rode  up  to 
the  consular  army,  the  heads  of  the  slain  Romans  which  they 
carried  on  spears  and  hung  at  their  horses'  breasts,  made  the 
Romans  believe  that  Scipio's  whole  army  had  been  destroyed. 
A  junction  however  was  formed  with  him,  and  the  pro- 
consul L.  Volumnius,  who  commanded  in  Samnium,  was  di- 
i-ected  to  lead  his  legions  to  reinforce  those  of  the  consuls. 
The  tliree  united  armies  then  crossed  the  Apennines,  and  took 
a  position  in  the  Sentine  country  to  menace  the  possessions  of 
the  Senouian  Gauls;  and  the  two  armies  of  reserve  advanced 
in  proportion,  the  one  to  Clusium,  the  other  to  the  Falisean 
country.  The  confederates  came  and  encamped  before  the 
Romans ;  but  they  avoided  an  action,  probably  waiting  for 
reinforcements.  The  consuls,  learning  by  deserters  that  the 
plan  of  the  enemy  was  for  the  Gauls  and  Samnites  to  give 
them  battle,  and  the  Etruscans  and  Umbrians  to  fall  on  their 
camp  during  the  action,  sent  orders  to  Fulvius  to  ravage 
Etruria :  this  called  a  large  part  of  the  Etruscans  home,  and 
the  consuls  endeavoured  to  bring  on  an  engagement  during 
their  absence.  For  two  entire  days  they  sought  in  vain  to 
draw  the  confederates  to  the  field  ;  on  tiie  third  their  chal- 
lenge was  accepted. 

Fabius  commanded  on  the  right,  opposed  to  the  Samnites 
and  the  remaining  Etruscans  and  Umbrians  ;  Decius  led  the 
left  wing  against  the  Gauls.  Ere  the  fight  began,  a  wolf 
chased  a  hind  from  the  mountains  down  between  the  two 
armies ;  the  hind  sought  refuge  among  the  Gauls,  by  whom 
she  was  killed ;  the  wolf  ran  among  the  Romans,  who  made 
way  for  him  to  pass  ;  and  this  appearance  of  the  favourite  of 
Mars  was  regarded  as  an  omen  of  victory. 

In  the  hope  of  tiring  the  Samnites,  Fabius  made  his  men  act 
rather  on  the  defensive,  and  he  refrained  from  bringing  his 
reserve  into  action.    Decius,  on  the  other  haud,  knowing  how 


156  SELF-DEVOTION  OF  DECIUS.       [b.c.  294-293. 

impetuous  the  first  attack  of  the  Gauls  always  was,  resolved 
not  to  await  it ;  he  therefore  charged  with  both  foot  and  horse, 
and  twice  drove  back  the  numerous  Gallic  cavalry  ;  but  nhen 
his  horse  charged  a  third  time,  the  Gauls  sent  forward  their 
war-chariots,  which  spread  confusion  and  dismay  among  them; 
they  fled  back  among  their  infantry  ;  the  victox'ious  Gauls  fol- 
lowed hard  upon  them.  The  battle,  and  with  it  possibly  the 
hopes  of  Rome,  was  on  the  point  of  being  lost,  when  Decius, 
■who  had  resolved,  if  defeat  impended,  to  devote  himself  like 
his  father  at  Vesuvius,  desired  the  pontiff  M.  Livius,  whom  he 
had  kept  near  him  for  the  purpose,  to  repeat  the  form  of  de- 
votion ;  and  adding  to  it  these  words,  "  I  drive  before  me 
dismay  and  flight,  slaughter  and  blood,  the  anger  of  the  powers 
above  and  below  ;  with  funereal  terrors  I  touch  the  arms,  wea- 
pons and  ensigns  of  the  foe  ;  the  same  place  shall  be  that  of 
my  end  and  of  the  Gauls  and  Samnites,"  he  spurred  his  horse, 
rushed  into  the  thick  of  the  enemies,  and  fell  covered  with 
wounds.  The  pontiff  to  whom  Decius  had  given  his  lictors, 
encouraged  the  Romans  ;  a  part  of  Fabius'  reserve  came  to 
their  support :  the  Gauls  stood  in  a  dense  mass  covered  with 
their  shields ;  the  Romans  collecting  the  jjila  that  lay  on  the 
ground,  hurled  them  on  them  ;  but  the  Gauls  stood  unmoved, 
till  Fabius,  who  by  bringing  forward  his  reserve,  and  causing 
his  cavalry  to  fall  on  their  flank,  had  driven  the  Samnites  to 
their  camp,  sent  five  hundred  of  the  Campanian  horse,  fol- 
lowed by  the  Principes  of  the  third  legion,  to  attack  them  in 
the  rear;  they  then  at  length  broke  and  fled.  Fabius  again 
assailed  the  Samnites  under  their  rampart ;  their  general,  Gel- 
lius  Egnatius,  fell,  and  the  camp  was  taken.  The  confederates 
lost  25,000  men  slain  and  8000  taken  ;  7000  was  the  loss  in 
the  wing  led  by  Decius,  1200  in  that  of  Fabius.  Such  was 
the  victory  at  Sentinum,  one  of  the  most  important  ever 
achieved  by  the  arms  of  Rome. 

The  following  year  (458)  the  war  was  continued  in  Etruria 
and  Samnium,  and  a  bloody  but  indecisive  battle  was  fought 
at  Luceria.  The  next  year  (459)  the  consuls,  L.  Papirius 
Cursor  and  Sp.  Carvilius,  took  the  field  against  a  Samnite 
army,  which  all  the  aids  of  superstition  had  been  employed 
to  render  formidable. 

All  the  fighting  men  of  Samnium  were  ordered  to  appear  at 
the  town  of  Aquilonia.  A  tabernacle,  two  hundred  feet  square, 
and  covered  with  linen,  was  erected  in  the  midst  of  the  camp. 
Within  it  a  venerable  man  named  Ovius  Pactius  offered  sacri- 


B.C.  293.]  BATTLE  OF  AQUILONIA.  157 

fice  after  an  ancient  ritual  contained  in  an  old  linen-book. 
The  Imperator  or  general  then  ordered  the  nobles  to  be  called 
in  separately  :  each  as  he  entered  beheld  through  the  gloom 
of  the  tabernacle  the  altar  in  the  centre,  about  which  lay  the 
bodies  of  the  victims,  and  around  which  stood  centurions  with 
drawn  swords.  He  was  required  to  swear,  imprecating  curses 
on  himself,  his  family,  and  his  race,  if  he  did  not  in  the  battle 
go  whithersoever  the  Imperator  ordered  him  ;  if  he  fled  him- 
self, or  did  not  slay  any  one  whom  he  saw  flying.  Some  of 
the  first  summoned,  refusing  to  swear,  were  slain,  and  their 
bodies  lying  among  those  of  the  victims  served  as  a  warning 
to  others.  The  general  selected  ten  of  those  who  had  thus 
sworn,  each  of  whom  was  directed  to  choose  a  man  till  the 
number  of  sixteen  thousand  was  completed,  which  was  named 
from  the  tabernacle  the  Linen  Legion.  Crested  helmets  and 
superior  arms  were  given  them  for  distinction.  The  rest  of 
the  army,  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  men,  was  little  inferior 
in  any  respect  to  the  Linen  Legion. 

The  Roman  armies  entered  Samnium  ;  and  while  Papirius 
advanced  to  Aquilonia,  Carvilius  sat  down  before  a  fortress 
named  Cominium,  about  twenty  miles  from  that  place.  The 
ardour  for  battle  is  said  to  have  been  shared  to  such  an  extent 
by  all  the  Roman  army,  that  the  Pullarius,  or  keeper  of  the 
sacred  fowl,  made  a  false  report  of  favourable  signs.  The  truth 
was  told  to  the  consul  as  he  was  going  into  battle  ;  but  he  said 
the  signs  reported  to  him  were  good,  and  only  ordered  the 
PuUarii  to  be  placed  in  the  front  rank  ;  and  when  the  guilty 
one  fell  by  the  chance  blow  of  apilum,  he  cried,  that  the  gods 
were  present,  the  guilty  was  punished.  A  crow  was  heard  to 
give  a  loud  cry  as  he  spoke ;  the  gods,  he  then  declared,  had 
never  shown  themselves  more  propitious,  and  he  ordered  the 
trumpets  to  sound  and  the  war-cry  to  be  raised. 

The  Samnites  had  sent  off  twenty  cohorts  to  the  relief  of 
Cominium  ;  their  spirits  were  depressed,  but  they  kept  their 
ground,  till  a  great  cloud  of  dust,  as  if  raised  by  an  army, 
was  seen  on  one  side.  For  the  consul  had  sent  off  before  the 
action  Sp.  Nautius,  with  the  mules  and  their  drivers,  and  some 
cohorts  of  the  allies,  with  directions  to  advance  during  the  en- 
gagement, raising  all  the  dust  they  could.  Nautius  now  came 
in  view,  the  horseboys  having  boughs  in  their  hands,  which 
they  dragged  along  the  ground  ;  and  the  arms  and  banners 
appearing  through  the  dust,  made  both  Romans  and  Samnites 
think  that  an  army  was  approaching.     The  consul  then  gave 


158  REDUCTION  OF  THE  SAMNITES.  [b.C.  292. 

the  sign  for  the  horse  to  charge ;  the  Samnites  broke  and  fled, 
some  to  Aquilonia,  some  to  Bovianum.  The  number  of  their 
slain  is  said  to  have  been  30,34-0,  and  3870  men  and  97  banners 
were  captured.   Aquilonia  and  Cominium  were  both  taken  on  / 

the  same  day.  Carvilius  then  led  his  ?amyinto  Etruria ;  his 
colleague  remained  in  Samniuni,  ravaging  the  country,  till  the 
falling  of  the  snow  oblioed  him  to  leave  it  for  the  winter*. 

In  the  next  campaign  (460),  the  Samnite  general  C.  Pontius 
gave  the  Roman  consul  Q.  Fabius  G  urges,  son  of  the  great 
Fabius,  a  complete  defeat.  A  strong  party  in  the  senate,  the 
enemies  of  tlie  Fabian  house,  were  for  depriving  the  consul  of 
his  command  ;  but  the  people  yielded  to  the  prayers  of  his 
father,  who  implored  them  to  spare  him  this  disgrace  in  his  old 
age  ;  and  he  himself  went  into  Samnium  as  legate  to  his  son. 
At  a  place  whose  name  is  unknown  the  battle  was  fought, 
which  decided  the  fate  of  Samnium.  Fabius  gained  the  vic- 
tory by  his  usual  tactics,  of  keeping  his  reserve  for  the  proper 
time.  The  Samnites  had  twenty  thousand  slain  and  four  thou- 
sand taken,  among  whom  was  their  great  general  C.  Pontius. 
In  the  triumph  of  Fabius  Gurges,  his  renowned  father  humbly 
followed  his  car  on  horseback ;  and  C.  Pontius  Avas  led  in 
bonds,  and  then,  to  Rome's  disgrace,  beheaded.  Q.  Fabius 
Maximus,  one  of  the  greatest  men  that  Rome  ever  produced, 
died  it  is  probable  shortly  afterwards  f. 

The  Samnite  war  which  had  lasted  with  little  intermission 
for  nine-and-foi'ty  years,  was  now  terminated  by  a  peace,  of  the 
exact  terms  of  which  we  are  not  informed  I.  The  Sabines,  who, 
after  a  cessation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  foolishly  took 
up  arms  against  Rome,  were  easily  reduced  by  the  consul  INI' 
Curius  Dentatus,  and  a  large  quantity  of  their  land  was  taken 
from  them.  INIuch  larger  assignments  than  tlie  usual  seven 
jugers  might  now  be  made,  but  Curius  deemed  it  unwise  to 
pass  that  limit ;  and  when  the  people  murmured,  he  replied, 
that  he  was  a  pernicious  citizen  whom  the  land  which  sufficed 
to  support  him  did  not  satisfy.  He  refused  for  himself  five 
hundred  jugers  and  a  house  at  Tifata  which  the  senate  offered 

*  Livy's  first  Decad  ends  here.  We  have  only  an  epitome  of  the  next, 
■which  contained  the  history  to  the  year  534.  We  are  now  for  some  years 
left  to  the  guidance  of  tlie  epitomators,  and  the  fragments  of  Appian  and 
Dion. 

f  The  reason  of  his  surname  Maximus  will  be  given  in  the  next  chapter. 

X  A  large  colony  was  at  this  time  settled  at  Venusia  on  the  confines  of 
Apulia  and  Lucania.  This  was  the  birth-place  of  Horace,  Serm.  ii.  1,  34 
seq. 


\ 


B.C.  293.]       WORSHIP  OF  ^SCULAPIUS  INTRODUCED.  159 

him,  and  contented  himself  with  a  farm  of  seven  jugers  in  the 
Sabine  country*. 

The  length  of  the  Samnite  war,  its  consequent  great  expense, 
the  destruction  of  property  in  the  invaded  districts,  the  neglect 
of  agriculture  on  account  of  the  incessant  military  service,  and 
other  causes  which  will  easily  suggest  themselves,  caused  con- 
siderable distress  at  Rome,  and  it  even  came  to  a  secession. 
The  people  posted  themselves  on  the  Janiculan  ;  but  the  dicta- 
tor, Q.  Hortensius,  induced  them  to  submit,  either  by  an  abo- 
lition or  a  considerable  reduction  of  the  amount  of  their  debts. 
This  is  the  last  secession  we  read  of  in  Roman  history. 

On  this  occasion  the  Hortensian  law,  which  made  the  ple- 
biscits  binding  on  the  whole  nation,  was  passed  ;  a  measure 
probably  caused  by  the  obstinacy  and  caprice  of  the  patricians, 
but  pregnant  with  evil,  from  which  however  the  good  fortune 
of  Rome  long  preserved  her.  It  was  as  if  with  us  a  measure 
which  had  passed  the  Commons  were  to  become  at  once  the 
law  of  the  landf. 

Among  the  events  of  this  period,  the  introduction  of  the 
worship  of  the  Grecian  god  ^Esculapius  deserves  to  be  no- 
ticed. In  the  year  459  an  epidemic  prevailed  at  Rome,  and 
the  Sibylline  books  being  consulted,  it  was  directed  to  bring 
iEsculapius  to  Rome.  A  trireme  with  ten  deputies  was  accord- 
ingly sent  to  Epidaurus  for  that  purpose.  The  legend  relates, 
that  the  senate  of  that  place  agreed  that  the  Romans  should 
take  whatever  the  god  would  give  them  ;  and  that  as  they  were 
praying  at  the  temple,  a  huge  snake  came  out  of  the  sanctuarj', 
went  on  to  the  town  five  miles  off,  through  the  streets,  to  the 
harbour, thence  onboard  the  Roman  trireme, and  into  thecabin 
of  Q.  Ogulnius.  The  envoys  having  been  instructed  in  the 
worship  of  the  god,  departed,  and  a  prosperous  wind  brought 
them  to  Antium.  Here  they  took  shelter  from  a  storm ;  the 
snake  swam  ashore,  and  remained  twined  round  a  palm-tree  at 
the  temple  of  Apollo  while  they  stayed.  When  they  reached 
Rome  he  left  the  ship  again,  and  swimming  to  the  island,  dis- 
appeared in  the  spot  where  the  temple  of  the  god  was  after- 
wards built]:. 

*  Val.  Max.  iv.  3,  5.     Columella,  i.  3. 

t  Pliny,  H.  N.  xvi.  1 0.  Niebuhr  says  that  the  language  of  the  law  must 
have  been,  ut  quod  tribuiim  plehes  jussisset  jwpulum  teneret.  He  thinks 
(Hist,  of  Rome, ii.  365.)  that  the  Hortensian  law  did  away  with  the  vetooi 
the  senate,  as  the  Publilian  did  with  that  of  the  curies.    See  above,  p.  140. 

X  Liv.  Epit.  xi,  Val.  Max.  i,  8,  2.  The  simple  truth  probably  is,  that  the 


.160  LUCANIAN  WAR.  [ B.C.  284-282. 

Rome  now  rested  from  war  for  some  years.  At  length 
(468)  the  TarentineSjWho  had  been  the  chief  agents  in  exciting 
the  last  Samnite  war,  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Etruscans, 
Umbrians,  and  Gauls  in  the  north,  and  the  Lucanians,  Brut- 
tians,  and  Samnites  in  the  south,  to  take  arms  simultaneously 
against  her.  The  commencement  was  the  hostility  exercised  by 
the  Lucanians  against  the  people  of  the  Greek  town  of  Thurii, 
who,  despairing  of  aid  from  any  other  c(uarter,  applied  to  the 
Romans  ;  and  a  Roman  army  came  and  relieved  the  town. 

In  470,  a  Roman  army  under  C.  Fabricius  Luscious  came 
to  the  relief  of  Thurii,  which  was  again  invested  by  a  united 
army  of  Lucanians  and  Bruttians.  The  spirits  of  the  Romans 
sank  as  they  viewed  their  own  inferiority  of  force  ;  when,  lo  !  a 
youth  of  gigantic  stature,  wearing  a  double-crested  helm,  like 
those  on  the  statues  of  Mars,  was  seen  to  seize  a  scaling-lad- 
der, and  mount  the  rampart  of  the  enemies'  camp.  The  cou- 
rage of  the  Romans  rose,  that  of  the  foes  declined,  and  a  signal 
victory  crowned  the  arms  of  Rome.  When  next  day  the  con- 
sul sought  that  valiant  youth,  to  bestow  on  him  the  suitable 
meed,  he  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  Fabricius  then  directed 
a  thanksgiving  to  Father  Mars  (as  it  must  have  been  he)  to  be 
held  throughout  the  army*.  Many  other  victories  succeeded  ; 
and  no  Roman  general  had  as  yet  acquired  so  much  booty  as 
Fabricius  did  in  this  campaign. 

When  the  Roman  army  retired,  a  garrison  was  left  for  the 
defence  of  Thurii.  As  it  was  only  by  sea  that  a  communica- 
tion could  be  conveniently  kept  up  with  it,  a  squadron  of  fen 
triremes,  under  the  duumvirf  L.  Valerius,  was  now  in  these 
waters.  Some  years  before,  it  had  been  an  article  in  a  treaty 
with  the  Tarentines,  that  no  Roman  ship  of  war  should  sail  to 
the  north  of  the  Lacinian  cape ;  but  as  they  had  taken  no  notice 
of  it  now%  and  there  was  as  yet  tio  open  hostility  between  them 
and  the  Romans,  Valerius  appeared  off  the  port  of  Tarentum. 
The  people  unluckily  happened  at  that  moment  to  be  assem- 
bled in  the  theatre,  v.hich  commanded  a  view  of  the  sea;  a 

Romans  obtained  one  of  the  tame  sacred  snakes  that  were  kept  at  the  tem- 
ple of  jEsculapius  :   the  details  are  of  course  legendary. 

*  Val.  Max.  i.  8,  C.  Tlii?,  says  Niebuhr,  is  the  last  poetic  legend  in  the 
Roman  history.  The  Tyndarids,  however,  appeared  in  584  mounted  on 
their  white  horses,  to  one  P.  Vatienus,  to  announce  the  defeat  of  Perseus. 
(Cic.  de  N.  D.  ii.  2.  Val.  Max.  i.  8,  1.)  This  is  probably  merely  a  repro- 
duction of  the  legend  of  the  Regillus,  above,  p.  36. 

f  The  Duumviri  Navales  were  first  appointed  in  442  ;  their  office  was  to 
fit  out,  and,  as  it  would  appear,  command  the  Roman  fleets. 


B.C.  281.]     ROMAN  EMBASSY  INSULTED  AT  TARENTUM.     161 

demagogue  named  Phllocharis,  a  man  of  the  vilest  character, 
pointing  to  the  Roman  ships,  reminded  them  of  the  treaty ; 
the  infuriated  populace  rushed  on  shipboard,  attacked  and 
sunk  four,  and  took  one  of  the  Roman  vessels.  The  duumvir 
was  among  those  who  perished.  The  Tarentines  then  sent  a 
force  against  Thurii,  where  they  plundered  the  town  and  ba- 
nished the  principal  citizens :  the  Roman  garrison  was  dis- 
missed unmolested. 

The  Romans,  as  they  had  an  Etruscan  war  on  their  hands, 
were  anxious  to  accommodate  matters  amicably  in  the  south. 
Their  demands  were  therefore  very  moderate :  they  only  re- 
quired the  release  of  those  taken  in  the  trireme  ;  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Thurians,  and  restitution  of  their  property  ;  and 
the  surrender  of  the  authors  of  the  outrage.  Audience  was 
given  to  the  envoys  in  the  theatre.  When  they  entered,  the 
people  laughed  at  the  sight  of  their  purple-bordered  pratextce^ 
and  the  faults  of  language  committed  by  L.  Postumius,  the 
chief  of  the  embassy,  redoubled  their  merriment.  As  the  en- 
voys were  leaving  the  theatre,  a  drunken  buffoon  came  and 
befouled  the  robe  of  Postumius  in  the  most  abominable  man- 
ner ;  the  peals  of  laughter  were  redoubled ;  but  Postumius, 
holding  up  his  robe,  cried  out,  "  Ay,  laugh,  laugh  while  ye 
may  ;  ye  will  weep  long  enough  when  ye  have  to  wash  this 
out  in  blood."  He  displayed  at  Rome  his  unwashed  garment ; 
and  the  senate,  after  anxious  deliberation,  declared  war  against 
Tarentum  (471)*.  The  consul  L.  ^^milius  Barbula  was  or- 
dered to  lead  his  army  thither,  to  offer  anew  the  former  terms, 
and  if  they  were  refused,  to  carry  on  the  war  with  vigour. 
The  Tarentines,  however,  would  listen  to  no  terms  ;  they 
resorted  to  their  usual  system  of  seeking  aid  from  the  mother- 
country,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  invite  over  Pyrrhus,  the 
renowned  king  of  Epirus.  Meantime  iEmilius  laid  waste 
their  country,  took  several  strong  places,  and  defeated  them 
in  the  field. 

We  will  now  turn  our  view  northwards.  In  469  a  com- 
bined army  of  Etruscans  and  Senonian  Gauls  having  laid  siege 
to  Arretium,  the  prfetor  L.  Metellus  hastened  to  its  relief;  but 
his  army  was  totally  defeated,  thirteen  thousand  men  being 
slain,  and  nearly  all  the  remainder  made  prisoners.  When 
an  embassy  was  sent  to  the  Gauls  to  complain  of  breach  of 
treaty,  and  to  redeem  the  prisoners,  the  Gallic  prince  Brito- 
maris,  to  avenge  his  father,  who  had  fallen  at  Arretium,  caused 
*  Dionys.  Excerpt.  4.     Dion,  fragm.  145. 


162  ARRIVAL  OF  PYRRHUS  IN  ITALY.       [ B.C.  282-280. 

the  fetials  to  be  murdered.  The  consul  P.  Cornelius  Dola- 
bella  instantly  marched  through  the  Sabine  and  Picentian 
country  into  that  of  the  Senonians,  whom  he  defeated  when 
they  met  him  in  the  field  :  he  then  Avasted  the  lands,  burned 
the  open  villages,  pat  all  the  men  to  death,  and  reduced  the 
women  and  children  to  slavery.  Britomaris,  who  Mas  taken 
alive,  was  I'eserved  to  grace  the  consul's  triumph. 

The  Boians,  who  dwelt  between  the  Senonians  and  the  Po, 
were  filled  with  rage  and  apprehension  at  the  fate  of  their 
brethren,  and  assembling  all  their  forces  they  entered  Etruria, 
where  being  joined  by  the  Etruscans  and  the  remnant  of  the 
Senonians,  they  pressed  on  for  Rome ;  but  at  the  lake  Vadi- 
mo  the  consular  armies  met  and  nearly  annihilated  their  whole 
army  ;  the  Senonians,  it  is  said,  in  frenzy  of  despair  put  an  end 
to  themselves  when  they  saw  the  battle  lost.  The  Gauls  ap- 
peared again  the  next  year  (4-70)  in  Etruria  ;  but  a  signal  de- 
feat near  Populonia  forced  them  to  sue  for  peace,  which,  on 
account  of  the  war  in  the  south,  the  Romans  readily  granted. 

The  war  with  the  Etruscans  continued  till  the  year  472, 
when,  in  consequence  of  that  with  Pyrrhus,  the  Romans  con- 
cluded a  peace  with  them  on  most  favourable  terms.  This 
peace  terminated  the  conflict,  which  had  now  lasted  for  thirty 
years,  and  converted  Etruria  into  Rome's  steadiest  and  most 
faithful  ally. 


CHAPTER  \'III.*. 


Arrival  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy. — Battle  on  the  Siris. — Cineas  at  Rome. — Ap- 
proach of  Pyrrbus  to  Rome. — Battle  of  Asculiiui. — Pyrrhus  in  Sicily. — 
Battle  of  Beneventum. — Departure  of  Pyrrhus. — Italian  Allies. — Cen- 
sorship of  Ap.  Claudius. — Change  in  the  Constitution. — The  Roman 
Legion. — Roman  Literature. 

Pyrrhus,  the  ablest  arid  most  ambitious  prince  of  his  time, 
lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  invitation  of  the  Italian  Greeks,  which 
held  out  to  him  such  a  prospect  of  extensive  dominion.     He 

*  Flut.  Pyrrhus,  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  280.]  AURIVAL  OF  PYRRHUS  IN  ITALY.  163 

sent  his  minister,  the  orator  Cineas*,  back  with  some  of  the 
envoys,  to  assure  the  Tarentines  of  aid  :  and  shortly  afterwards 
Milo,  one  of  his  generals,  landed  with  three  thousand  men  to 
garrison  the  town.  Having  assembled  an  army  of  20,000  foot, 
3000  horse,  2000  archers,  500  slingers,  and  twenty  elephants, 
the  king  himself  set  sail  (472)  for  Italy  ;  but  a  storm  came  on 
and  disjiersed  his  fleet ;  several  ships  were  sunk  or  cast  away  ; 
and  Pyrrhus,  who  had  escaped  with  difficulty,  reached  Taren- 
tum  with  but  a  small  force.  He  did  not  seek  to  exercise  any 
authority  till  the  rest  of  his  troops  were  arrived  ;  but  as  soon 
as  he  found  himself  sufficiently  strong,  he  began  to  employ  the 
dictatorial  power  with  which  he  had  been  invested.  The  Ta- 
rentines had  thought  that  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  but 
pay  money,  while  the  king's  troops  were  fighting  ;  but  Pyr- 
rhus let  them  know  that  they  also  must  share  in  the  toils  and 
dangers  of  war.  He  set  guards  at  the  gates  to  prevent  them 
from  running  out  of  the  town,  as  they  were  doing ;  he  shut 
up  the  theatre,  forbade  all  public  meals  and  banquets,  ordered 
the  young  men  to  practise  military  exercises  in  their  gymna- 
sia, and  sent,  under  various  pretexts,  the  principal  men  over  to 
Epirus,  that  they  might  serve  as  hostages  in  case  of  any  con- 
spiracy against  his  authority. 

The  consul  P.  Valerius  Lcevinus  having  led  his  army  into 
Lucania,  Pyrrhus,  who  had  not  yet  been  joined  by  his  allies, 
wrote  to  him  offering  to  arbitrate  between  the  Romans  and  the 
Tarentines,  which  last  he  said  he  could  compel  to  give  satis- 
faction. Laevinus  replied  that  the  king  must  first  atone  for 
having  entered  Italy  ;  that  words  were  needless,  as  Father 
INIars  must  decide  between  them.  He  ordered  a  spy  who  was 
taken  to  be  led  through  his  army  and  then  dismissed  him  with 
directions  to  tell  Pyrrhus  to  come  himself  and  see. 

Laevinus  was  encamped  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  Siris, 
in  the  plain  between  Heraclea  and  Pandosia.  Pyrrhus  came 
and  occupied  the  opposite  bank.  As  he  viewed  the  Roman 
camp,  he  observed  to  one  of  his  friends  that  the  barbarians 
(the  Greeks  so  named  all  people  but  themselves)  showed 
nothing  of  the  barbarian  in  their  tactics.  His  object  was  to 
prevent  their  passing  the  river ;  but  the  Roman  cavalry  crossed 

*  Cineas  was  a  Thessalian  by  birth,  an  able,  eloquent,  and  noble-minded 
man,  well-worthy  of  thefriendship  of  the  greatest  prince  of  the  age,  to  whom 
he  was  as  a  good  genius.  It  is  said  that  he  had  been  a  hearer  of  Demo- 
sthenes ;  but  tliat  can  hardly  have  been  the  case,  as  the  great  Athenian  had 
now  been  dead  forty-one  years.  Cineas'  style  of  oratory  was  also  totally 
different  from  his. 


164  BATTLE  ON  THE  SIRIS.  [b.C.  280. 

it  higher  up,  and  falling  on  the  reai'  of  the  Epirots  who  guard- 
ed the  passage,  enabled  the  infantry  to  get  over.  Pyrrhus  sent 
his  Thessalian  horse  against  that  of  the  Romans, M'hich,  though 
of  an  inferior  quality,  stood  its  ground.     He  then  led  on  his 
infantry  :  Megacles,  who  wore  the  royal  helm  and  mantle,  was 
slain  ;  both  sides  thought  Pyrrhus  had  fallen,  and  the  Epirots 
had  fled  but  that  the  king  made  himself  known.    Seven  times 
did  the  troops  on  each  side  advance  and  recede  ;  the  consul 
then  thought  to  decide  the  battle  by  a  charge  of  horse  on  the 
rear;  but  the  elephants  were  now  brought  into  action,  and  at 
the  sight  of  these  unknown  animals,  horses  and  men  were  filled 
with  terror ;  the  Thessalian  cavalry  then  charged  and  scattered 
them ;  they  drew  the  infantry  witli  them  in  their  flight  over 
the  river,  and  none  perhaps  would  have  escaped,  were  it  not 
that  a  wounded  elephant  turned  his  rage  against  his  own  side. 
The  remnant  of  the  Roman  army  fled  to  Venusia ;  their  loss 
had  been  seven  thousand  slain  and  about  two  thousand  taken. 
On  the  side  of  the  victors  four  thousand  had  fallen.     When 
Pyrrhus,  on  the  following  day,  viewed  the  field  of  battle,  he 
cried,  "  With  such  soldiers  the  world  were  mine,  and  were  I 
their  general  the  Romans  would  have  it !"    He  ordered  the 
bodies  of  the  Romans  to  be  burned  and  buried  like  those  of 
his  own  men.     He  proposed  to  the  prisoners  to  enter  his  ser- 
vice*, and  on  their  refusal  freed  them  from  fetters. 

The  whole  south  of  Italy  now  joined  Pyrrhus;  but  this 
prince,  who  disliked  long  wars,  and  had  had  experience  of  Ro- 
man valour,  preferred  an  honourable  peace,  which  he  thought 
might  now  be  obtained,  to  a  prolonged  contest.  He  therefore 
despatched  his  friend  Cineas  to  Rome,  to  propose  a  peace,  on 
condition  of  the  independence  of  the  Italian  Greeks  being  ac- 
knowledged, and  all  that  had  been  taken  from  the  Samnites, 
Lucanians,  Bruttians,  and  Apulians  being  restored.  Peace 
being  made  on  these  terms,  the  Roman  prisoners,  among  whom 
were  six  hundred  knights,  would  be  released  Avithout  ransom. 
The  eloquence  and  the  winning  manners  of  Cineas,  though  his 
gifts  were  refused,  had  a  great  effect  on  the  minds  of  many ; 
the  relatives  of  the  prisoners  were  anxious  on  their  account ; 
the  Etruscan  war  was  not  yet  ended.  The  proflFered  terms 
seemed  likely  to  be  accepted,  when  Ap.  Claudius,  who  on  ac- 
count of  the  blindness  Avith  which  he  was  afflicted  had  long 

*  The  Grecian  mercenaries  at  this  time  constantly  changed  sides  after  a 
defeat.  The  same  was  the  case  in  Italy  in  the  middle  ages,  and  in  Germany 
in  the  Thirty  years'  war. 


B.C.  280.]  CINEAS  AT  ROME.  16b 

abstained  from  public  affairs,  had  himself  carried  in  a  litter  to 
the  senate-house.  His  sons  and  sons-in-law  came  out  to  re- 
ceive him,  and  led  him  in,  and  his  indignant  eloquence  ba- 
nished all  thoughts  of  peace  from  the  minds  of  his  auditors, 
and  Cineas  was  ordered  to  quit  Rome.  On  his  return  to  his 
master  he  told  him  that  Rome  was  a  temple,  the  senate  an  as- 
sembly of  kings.  While  he  was  yet  there,  two  legions  had 
been  raised  to  reinforce  Laevinus,  and  volunteers  had  crowded 
with  the  utmost  eagerness  to  be  eni'oUed. 

Laevinus,  who  was  now  in  Campania,  was  there  joined  by 
these  legions,  and  he  baffled  the  attempts  of  Pyrrhus  on  Capua 
and  Neapolis.  The  king,  as  he  could  not  bring  him  to  action, 
resolved  to  push  on  for  Rome,  and  form  a  junction  with  the 
Etruscans.  Instead  of  taking  the  Appian  or  lower  road,  on 
which  there  were  several  strong  towns,  he  moved  by  the  Latin 
road  over  the  hills.  He  took  Fregellte,  entered  the  Hernican 
country,  where  the  people  declared  for  him,  pushed  on  to 
Preeneste*,  and  advanced  five  miles  beyond  it,  to  within 
eighteen  miles  of  Rome  ;  but  there  his  course  ended.  Peace 
had  just  been  made  with  the  Etruscans,  and  the  army  em- 
ployed against  them  was  now  in  Rome.  Lajvinus  disturbed 
the  communications  in  his  rear :  to  take  Rome  by  storm  or 
blockade  was  hopeless.  Heedless  of  the  prayers  of  the  Prae- 
nestines  and  Hernicans,  he  resolved  to  retrace  his  steps.  On 
reaching  Campania  he  found  Laevinus  at  the  head  of  six  le- 
gions :  "  What !"  cried  he,  "  am  I  fighting  with  the  hydra  ?  " 
He  drew  up  his  troops,  who  raised  the  wai'-cry  and  clashed 
their  arms.  The  Romans  replied  in  such  cheerful  tones  that 
he  did  not  deem  it  prudent  to  attack  them,  and  he  dismissed 
his  allies  and  went  to  Tarentum  for  the  winter. 

At  Tarentum  Pyrrhus  was  waited  on  by  three  Roman  am- 
bassadors, C.  Fabricius,  Q.  iEmilius  Papus,  and  P.  Cornelius 
Dolabella,  all  cousulars,  to  treat  of  the  ransom  or  exchange  of 
the  numerous  prisoners  who  were  now  in  his  hands  f.  He  re- 
jected their  offers  ;  but  he  gave  the  prisoners  permission  to  go 

*  He  had  a  view  of  Rome  from  the  citadel  of  this  town.      Floius,  i.  IS. 

t  On  this  occasion,  we  are  told  (Plut.,  Pyrrhus,  20.)  tliatthe  king,  h.iviiig 
learned  the  poverty  of  Fabricius  from  Ciiieas,  tried  to  induce  him  to  accept 
a  present  of  gold.  The  Roman  declined  ;  and  next  day,  as  he  and  Pyrrhus 
were  conversing,  a  curtain  behind  them  suddenly  drew  up,  and  an  elephant, 
which  had  been  placed  there  by  the  king's  orders,  stretched  his  trunk  out 
over  them  and  gave  a  loud  roar.  Fabricius,  who  had  never  seen  one  of 
these  huge  animals,  only  stepped  aside,  and  said  with  a  smile  to  the  king, 
"Your  gold  did  not  move  me  yesterday,  nor  your  beast  today." 


166  BATTLE  OF  ASCULUM.  [b.c.  279-278. 

with  them  to  Rome  to  keep  the  Saturnalia,  on  their  promise 
to  return  if  the  senate  did  not  make  peace  ;  and,  as  all  their 
efforts  to  that  effect  proved  vain,  they  returned  every  one  into 
captivity. 

In  the  spring  (473)  Pyrrhus  opened  the  campaign  in  Apu- 
lia. He  was  besieging  Venusia  when  he  heard  that  the  con- 
suls P.  Sulpicius  and  P.  Decius  were  advancing  to  its  relief; 
he  therefore  raised  the  siege,  and  prepared  to  give  them  bat- 
tle at  a  place  named  Asculum,  on  the  edge  of  the  mountains. 
As  the  ground  here  was  against  Pyrrhus,  the  advantage  was 
on  the  side  of  the  Romans  in  the  first  engagement ;  but  he 
manoeuvred  so  as  to  draw  them  down  into  the  plain,  where  by 
a  sudden  attack  of  the  elephants  and  light  troops  on  their 
flank,  while  they  were  exhausting  themselves  by  fruitless  ef- 
forts against  the  solid  phalanx,  he  put  them  to  flight.  As  their 
camp  was  at  hand,  their  loss  was  but  6000  men  :  that  of  the 
king  was  3505.  "  One  such  victory  more,  and  I  am  undone," 
cried  Pyrrhus,  who  returned  to  Tarentum  without  making  any 
attempt  on  the  Roman  camja. 

The  situation  of  Pyrrhus  was  now  rather  precarious ;  he  had 
lost  the  flower  of  his  troops  ;  he  could  not  reckon  on  his  Italian 
allies,  who  had  even  plundered  his  camp  during  the  last  ac- 
tion ;  the  Gauls  had  invaded  Macedonia  and  menaced  all 
Greece,  and  he  could  not  draw  any  troops  from  Epirus  ;  while 
the  Romans  had  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Carthaginians, 
and  a  Punic  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  triremes  was  now 
off  the  coast  of  Italy.  On  the  other  hand,  strong  inducements 
were  held  out  to  him  to  pass  over  into  Sicily,  and  deliver  it 
from  the  yoke  of  the  Carthaginians.  The  Romans,  on  their 
side,  owing  to  the  heavy  burden  of  taxation  consequent  on  the 
war,  were  extremely  desirous  of  peace.  Just  at  this  time  (4'74'), 
we  are  told*,  Pyrrhus'  physicians  sent  secretly  to  the  consuls 
C.  Fabricius  and  Q.  -^milius,  offering  for  a  reward  to  poison 
his  master.  The  consuls,  abhorring  the  treason,  gave  infor- 
mation of  it  to  the  king.  Pyrrhus  immediately  despatched 
Cineas  to  Rome  with  his  thanks  to  the  senate ;  he  gave  gifts 
and  clothes  to  all  his  prisoners  and  sent  them  home  with  him. 
Cineas  was  also  the  bearer  of  rich  presents  to  the  principal 
persons  of  both  sexes  at  Rome.  These  presents  were,  how- 
ever, all  rejected ;  the  friendship  of  the  Romans  was  to  be  had 

*  There  is  great  contradiction  in  the  various  accounts  of  this  transaction. 
Niebuhr  says  that  it  was  a  mere  fiction  to  open  communications,  and  was  so 
understood  by  ail  parties. 


B.C.  276-274.]  PYRRHUS  IN  SICILY.  167 

without  gifts,  it  was  replied,  if  Pyrrhus  would  quit  Italy.  The 
prisoners  of  his  allies  were  released  in  exchange,  and  a  truce 
was  concluded. 

Pyrrhus  was  now  at  liberty  to  accept  the  invitation  of  the 
Siciliots.  He  left  Italy,  where  he  had  spent  two  years  and 
four  months,  and  passing  over  to  Sicily,  remained  there  some- 
what more  than  two  years,  and  made  himself  master  of  nearly 
the  whole  island.  During  his  absence,  the  Roman  arms,  under 
Fabricius  and  other  leaders,  were  directed  with  success  against 
his  Italian  allies.  At  length  finding  fortune  becoming  adverse 
to  him  in  Sicily,  and  being  urged  by  the  prayers  of  the  Taren- 
tines  and  his  other  allies,  he  returned  to  Italy  (4'76)  with  an 
army  of  20,000  foot  and  3000  horse,  a  portion  of  which  he 
sent  into  Lucania  against  the  consul  Lentulus,  while  with  the 
remainder  he  advanced  to  engage  the  other  consul,  M'  Curius 
Dentatus,  who  was  encamped  near  Beneventum  in  Samnium. 

Curius  occupied  a  strong  position  on  a  height,  intending  to 
await  the  arrival  of  his  colleague.  It  was  the  intention  of 
Pyrrhus  to  attack  him  at  daybreak  with  some  elephants  and 
picked  troops.  A  dream,  it  is  said,  which  he  had  as  he  slum- 
bered in  the  beginning  of  the  night,  terrified  him,  and  he  wished 
to  give  up  the  project ;  but  his  officers  urging  on  him  the  im- 
policy of  allowing  the  two  Roman  armies  to  join,  he  sent  for- 
ward the  troops.  To  reach  the  heights  behind  the  Roman 
camp,  they  had  to  go  a  round  through  dense  woods,  guided 
by  torchlight.  They  lost  their  way,  their  torches  burned  out, 
and  it  was  broad  day  when  they  reached  their  destination. 
Being  wearied  with  their  march,  they  were  easily  put  to  flight. 
The  consul  then  came  down  into  the  plain  to  engage  the  main 
army  ;  the  Romans  were  victorious  on  one  wing,  but  the  other 
was  driven  back  to  the  camp  by  the  phalanx  and  the  elephants. 
Here  a  shower  of  arrows,  bearing  burning  wax  and  tar,  was 
hurled  on  the  beasts,  which  growing  furious  carried  confusion 
into  the  ranks  of  the  phalanx.  The  rout  was  now  complete, 
and  Pyrrhus'  camp  was  taken.  The  king  soon  after  (478) 
quitted  Italy  with  but  6000  foot  and  500  horse,  and  two  years 
later  he  lost  his  life  in  an  attempt  on  the  city  of  Argos*. 

In  the  course  of  the  succeeding  nine  years  the  Roman  do- 
minion was  established  over  the  south  and  east  of  Italy,  but 
few  of  the  particulars  have  been  transmitted  to  us. 

The  Italian  states  stood  in  different  relations  to  Rome,  In 
general  they  held  all  their  lands  in  full  property,  paying  no 
*  History  of  Greece,  p.  435,  2nd  edit.  p.  425,  4th  edit. 


168  CENSORSHIP  OF  AP.  CLAUDIUS. 

land  tax ;  but  in  a  number  of  cases  a  portion  of  their  territory 
had  been  converted  into  Roman  public  land,  and  assigned  to 
colonists  or  occupied  in  the  usual  manner.  They  were  go- 
verned by  their  own  laws  and  magistrates ;  but  they  had  to 
supply  troops  in  rated  proportions,  when  Rome  was  at  \var, 
and  arm  and  pay  and  perhaps  feed  them.  They  were  named 
allies*  (Socii),  as  distinct  fi'om  the  Latins  (^NomenLatinum)\^ 
%vho  stood  on  a  somewhat  different  footing.  The  infantry  of 
the  Latins  and  Allies  in  a  Roman  army  usually  equalled  that 
of  the  legions  in  number  ;  the  cavalry  was  thrice  as  nume- 
rous. Their  contingents  were  always  commanded  by  their 
own  officers. 


During  the  period  at  the  end  of  which  we  are  now  arrived, 
considerable  alterations  were  made  in  the  political  and  military 
systems  of  the  Romans.  These  we  will  now  proceed  to  explain. 

In  the  year  442,  Ap.  Claudius,  afterwards  named  the  Blind 
(CcBciis),  from  the  misfortune  which  befell  him,  was  made  cen- 
sor with  C.  Plautius.  He  distinguished  his  censorship  by  com- 
mencing the  celebrated  Appian  Road,  which  was  gradually  ex- 
tended from  Rome  to  Capua,  and  thence  across  the  peninsula 
to  Brundisium,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
paved  the  whole  way  with  square  blocks  of  stone,  and  justly 
named  the  Queen  of  Roads.  He  likewise  made  the  first  aque- 
duct, the  Aqua  Appia,  at  Rome  ;  the  water  being  conveyed 
undergi'ound  from  some  springs  near  the  Praenestine  road, 
about  eight  miles  from  the  cityj. 

But  the  changes  which  Appius  attempted  to  make  in  the 
constitution  are  of  more  importance  in  a  political  point  of 
view.  When  selecting  the  senate,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  he 
omitted  his  enemies,  and  put  in  their  place  the  sons  of  f'reed- 
men ;  but  all  united  against  this  innovation,  and  the  consuls 

*  It  seems  probable  that  the  term  Allies  applied  only  to  the  Sabellian 
peoples  and  those  of  Southern  Italy,  and  that  it  did  not  include  the  Tuscans, 
Umbrians,  or  Italian  Greeks;  perhaps  not  even  the  Bruttians,  as  beinghalf- 
Greeks.  None,  therefore,  but  genuine  Italians  could  serve  in  the  Roman 
armies. 

•{•  The  proper  expression  was  socii  et  (or  «c)  nomen  Lailnum,  as  in  Sal- 
lust  and  other  accurate  writers  ;  the  socii  iiominis  Latini  of  Livy  is  quite 
incorrect. 

J.  This  was  the  form  of  the  aqueducts  made  during  the  republic  ;  those 
on  arches,  of  which  the  ruins  are  to  be  seen,  belong  to  the  time  of  the 
empire. 


CHANGE  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION.  169 

of  the  next  year  called  the  original  members  of  the  senate. 
Appius,  being  thus  foiled,  took  another  and  a  more  pernicious 
course  :  he  distributed  the  freedmen  throughout  all  the  tribes, 
and  thus  in  effect  put  the  elections  entirely  into  their  hands. 
To  understand  this,  we  must  observe  that  the  serarian.-^,  among 
whom  the  Libertini  or  freedmen  were  included,  were  a  very 
numerous  and  even  wealthy  body  ;  for  all  the  arts  and  trades 
at  Rome  were  exercised  by  tliem,  the  plebeians  being  restrictea 
to  agriculture.  They  were  divided  into  a  number  of  guilds, 
of  which  that  of  the  Scribas,  or  notaries,  v.as  the  most  import" 
ant,  as  nearly  all  the  public  and  private  legal  writing  at  Rome, 
of  which  there  was  a  great  quantity,  was  exercised  by  them. 
The  notaries  were  now  directed  by  Cn.  Flavins,  one  of  the 
ablest  men  of  his  time,  who  acted  in  concert  with  Ap.  Claudius. 
When  we  reflect  then  that  the  plebeians  were  continually  re- 
duced by  service  in  war,  from  which  the  agrarians  were  exempt, 
and  that  they  also  unwillingly  left  their  farms  to  come  to  at- 
tend elections  at  Rome,  we  may  easily  see  how  the  aerarians 
of  a  rural  tribe,  who  were  numerous  and  always  on  the  spot, 
could  determine  its  vote.  As  a  proof,  Cn.  Flavius  himself  was 
in  449  made  curule  Eedile,  and,  to  annoy  the  genuine  Romans 
still  more,  his  colleague  was  Q.  Anicius  of  Prgeneste,  therefore 
a  mere  mumcevs,Siud  one  who  had  actually  been  in  arms  against 
Rome  a  few  years  before*.  On  this  occasion  the  senators  laid 
aside  their  gold  rings,  the  knights  their  silver  horse-trappings, 
in  token  of  mourning,  and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to 
change  the  law  of  election. 

It  is  by  no  means  unlikely,  that  Appius,  who  was  at  all 
times  a  strenuous  opposer  of  the  claims  of  the  plebeian  nobi- 
lity, acted  on  this  occasion  as  the  agent  of  the  small  knot  of 
patrician  oligarchs  who  wished  to  exclude  the  rival  nobles 
from  places  of  honour  and  dignity.  Oligarchs  thus  situated 
usually  seek  to  make  allies  of  the  inferior  people  ;  and  Appius 
and  his  friends  may  have  regarded  the  debasement  of  the  ple- 
beian tribes,  by  mixing  freedmen  through  them,  as  the  surest 
means  to  attain  their  ends ;  for  neither  they  nor  their  descend- 
ants could  presume,  it  was  supposed,  to  aspire  to  the  consu- 
late, and  their  enmity  to  the  plebeian  order  might  be  reckoned 
on  with  some  confidence,  for  keeping  them  from  conferring 
it  on  the  plebeian  nobility. 

Cn.  Flavius  had  gained  his  popularity  by  two  acts  of  real 
benefit  to  the  people.    The  dies  fasti,  or  days  on  which  courts 

*  Pliny,  N.  H.  xxxiii.  1. 

I 


170  CHANGE  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

sat  and  justice  was  administered,  were  at  this  time  divided  in 
a  very  perplexing  way  through  the  year,  and  people  could 
only  learn  them  from  the  mouth  of  the  pontiffs.  Flavins 
made  a  calendar,  in  which  the  nature  of  each  day  was  marked, 
and  hung  it  up  publicly  in  the  forum,  thus  conferring  an  im- 
portant boon  on  the  whole  people.  He  further  made  and  pub- 
lished a  collection  of  all  the  legal  foi-ms  in  civil  actions*.  It 
is  said  that  it  was  at  the  impulse  of  Appius  that  he  made  the 
Fasti  public +• 

In  449  Q.  Fabius  and  P.  Decius  were  created  censors,  in 
order  to  obviate  the  evil  caused  by  Appius.  They  separated 
the  whole  of  the  market-faction  {turba  forensis),  as  the  sera- 
rians  were  called,  from  the  rural  tribes,  and  placed  them  in 
the  four  city  tribes  ;  and  the  measure  was  considered  of  such 
importance  that  Fabius  derived  the  name  of  Maximus  {Most- 
great^  from  it.  We  Mill  endeavour  to  show  in  what  its  im- 
portance consisted,  and  that  it  was  only  part  of  a  great  change 
in  the  constitution  j:. 

In  consequence  of  the  change  in  the  value  of  money,  of  the 
extension  of  the  franchise  to  such  a  number  of  people  by  the 
formation  of  new  tribes,  of  the  necessity  of  increasing  the 
number  of  those  liable  to  serve  in  the  legions,  and  from  other 
causes,  the  Servian  constitution  of  the  classes  was  no  longer 
adapted  to  the  Roman  people.  It  was  therefore  abandoned 
and  in  its  place  a  new  one,  founded  on  the  tribes,  was  substi- 
tuted §.  The  tribes  were  divided  each  into  two  centuries,  one 
of  old  and  one  of  young  men  :  the  Six  Suffrages  remained  ; 
all  who  had  a  million  of  asses  and  upwards  of  property  were 
placed  in  the  twelve  plebeian  equestrian  centuries ;  all  who 
had  property  between  that  sum  and  4000  asses  had  x'otes  in 
the  tribes.  The  centuries,  with  the  exception  of  the  Suffrages, 
were  divided  into  two  Classes,  the  first  containing  the  rural 
tribes  and  plebeian  knights,  the  second  the  city  tribes;  the 
centuries  of  the  former  were  termed  Prinio  Vocatcc,  those  of 
the  latter  Postremo  Vocatce.  Those  of  the  rural  tribes  decided 
by  lot  which  should  vote  first ;  and  the  successful  one  was 
named  the  Prasrogative,  as  heiug^rst  asked  by  the  presiding 

*  Pliny,  N.  H.xxxiii.  1.  Liv.  ix.  46,  Cic.  De  Orat.  i.  41  ;  Pro  Murcna,  12. 

+  Pliny,  ut  supra. 

I  In  whatfollows  vvegive  a  hypothesis  of  Niebuhi's  ;  for  the  proofs  and 
development  we  must  refer  to  his  own  work,  vol.  iii.  320  seq. 

§  That  the  Servian  constitution  was  abandoned  long  before  the  end  of 
the  republic,  is  proved  by  the  following  passages  :  Liv.  i.  43  ;  xxiv.  7  and  9  ; 
xxvi.  22  ;  xxvii.  G.     Cic.  Rullus,  ii.  2.     Plancius,  20. 


CHANGE  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION.  171 

magistrate  :  its  vote  generally  decided  the  others.  The  order 
of  voting  was,  the  first  class,  the  Suffrages,  the  second  class*. 
The  whole  number  of  centuries  at  this  time,  when  there  w  ere 
thirty-one  tribes,  was  eighty,  i.  e.  six  patrician  and  twelve  ple- 
beian equestrian,  fifty-four  rural,  and  eight  city  centuriesf. 

The  new-modelled  comilia  of  the  tribes  diffei'ed  from  the 
original  one  in  four  points  ;  viz.  the  separation  of  the  plebeian 
knights,  and  the  participation  of  the  patricians ;  the  division 
into  centuries  of  old  and  young  men ;  the  exclusion  of  the 
Proletarians  ;  the  employment  of  the  auspices.  We  may  see 
that  it  retained  as  much  of  the  Servian  constitution  as  was 
possible :  that  it  was  a  nearer  approach  to  democracy  is  not 
to  be  denied,  but  this  was  unavoidable ;  yet  there  was  not 
actually  universal  suffrage  as  in  the  Greek  democracies ;  and 
as,  except  on  some  very  particular  occasions,  it  could  be  only 
the  people  of  property  in  the  rural  tribes  that  were  at  Rome 
when  the  comitia  were  held,  the  elections  and  the  passing  of 
laws  must  have  lain  almost  entirely  with  them.  The  wisdom 
of  Fabius  is  proved  by  the  length  of  time  that  the  system  con- 
tinued to  work  well.  Its  corruption  proceeded  from  causes 
which  he  could  not  have  foreseen  or  obviated. 

The  changes  in  the  military  system  during  this  period  were 
also  considerable.     They  were  to  the  following  effect. 

The  unwieldy,  helpless  nature  of  the  phalanx  had  at  some 
time,  perhaps  in  the  Gallic  war,  become  apparent,  and  it  was 
converted  into  a  more  active  form.  At  the  time  of  the  Latin 
war  we  find  the  legion  thus  constituted  J.  It  consisted  of  five 
cohorts  or  battalions,  the  Hastats,  Principes,  Triarians,  Rora- 
rians,  and  Accensi  ;  the  first  two  were  named  Antesignani 
and  Antepilani,  because  they  were  stationed  before  the  stand- 
ards {signa)  and  the  Triarians,  who  were  also  named  Pilani 
from  their  weapon,  thepilum^.     The  Antesignani  consisted 

*  Cic.  Phi!,  ii.  33. 

f  The  four  city  tribes  were  the  Suburane,  Esquiline,  Colline,  and  Pala- 
tine ;  the  fifteen  original  rural  ones  were  the  yEmilian,  Camilian,  Cluentian, 
Cornelian,  Fabian,  Galerian,  Iloratian,  Lemonian,  Menenian,  Papirian,  Pu- 
pinian,  Romilian,  Sergian,  Vetnrian,  Voltinian.  The  Claudian  was  added 
in  250  ;  the  Crustumine  in  259  ;  the  Stellatine,  Tromentine,  Sabatine,  and 
Arniensian  in  3f)8  ;  the  Pomptine  and  Publilian  in  397  ;  the  Maecian  and 
Scaptian  in  421  ;  the  Ufentine  and  Falerine  in  435  ;  the  Terentine  and 
Aniensian  in  453,  and  the  Veline  and  Quirine  about  514  ;  thus  making  35 
in  all.  X  Livy,  viii.  8. 

§  The  piltim  was  a  weapon  composed  of  a  handle  of  wood  three  cubits 
long,  and  an  iron  head  of  the  same  length,  one  half  of  which  projected  be- 
yond the  wood. 

I  2 


172  TKE  ROMAN  LEGION. 

each  of  fifteen  maniples  or  thirty  centuries  ;  and  in  the  plan, 
which  supposed  thirty  tribes,  each  century  contained  thirty 
men  with  the  centurion  ;  and  the  cohort  therefore  900  men 
and  30  officers.  As  everything  in  the  Roman  institutions  was 
regular  and  uniform,  we  must  suppose  the  I'emaining  cohorts 
to  be  of  equal  strength  ;  and  this  gives  a  total  of  4500  com- 
mon men  for  the  legion  ;  of  which  2400  (viz.  600  Hastats, 
900  Principes,  and  900  Triarians,)  were  troops  of  the  line; 
1200  (viz.  300  Hastats  and  900  Rorarians,)  light  troops*;  the 
900  Accensi  were  merely  a  depot-battalion  that  followed  the 
legion.    Two  legions  thus  composed  formed  a  consular  armj'. 

The  Hastats  derived  their  name  from  the  spears  {hastes) 
which  they  bore;  the  Principes  were  so  called  as  being  of  the 
first  classf  ;  the  Triarians  as  being  formed  out  of  the  first 
three  classes^,  for  the  Romans  in  the  period  of  this  legion  still 
served  according  to  the  classes  ;  the  Rorarians,  or  Sprinklers, 
from  their  task  oi  shoivering  {rorare)  their  missiles  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  action  §.  The  40  centuries  of  the  first  class 
gave  30  for  the  Principes,  10  for  the  Triarians;  the  second 
and  third  class  gave  each  10  for  the  Triarians,  their  remaining 
20  being  the  Hastats  of  the  line.  Of  the  forty  centuries  of  the 
last  two  classes,  10  were  light  Hastats,  and  30  Rorarians. 

The  maniples  of  the  three  cohorts  of  troops  of  the  line  were 
drawn  up  in  qtdncnnx,  thus : 

nonnnnDn 

nnnnnnnn 
nnnnnnnn 

with  lanes  or  intervals  between  them.  Each  maniple,  as  con- 
sisting of  two  centuries,  had  two  centurions  to  command  it, 
and  a  standard-bearer.  The  maniples  of  the  Hastats  contained 
40  shielded  men,  that  is,  men  of  the  second  and  third  class  ||, 
20  armed  only  with  spear  and  dart,  that  is,  of  the  fourth  class ; 
the  Principes  bore  spears  and  long  cut-and-thrust-swords  ;  the 
Triarians  j9?7a  ;  the  Rorarians  slings,  as  being  of  the  fifth  class. 
When  in  battle  array,  the  light  troops  were  in  front,  and  began 
the  action  ;  they  then  retired  through  the  lanes  :  the  Hastats 
succeeded,  and  when  they  were  wearied,  they  fell  back  through 

*  Niebuhr  gives  these  numbers  2200  and  1100  ;  but  in  this  case  300 
Hastats  i-emain  unaccounted  for. 

f  "  Scutati  omnes  insignibusmaximearnnis."  (Livy.)  This  shows  that 
they  were  men  of  property. 

X  Not  from  theirposition,forthentheirname  would  have  been  Tertiarians. 

§  "  Ideo  quod  ante  rorat  quani  pluit."     Varro,  L.  L.  vii.  58. 

II  See  the  system,  p.  50. 


THE  ROMAN  LEGION.  173 

the  Principes,  who  then  came  into  action  ;  and  if  the  enemy 
still  resisted, the  Triarians,  who  had  hitherto  been  sitting  under 
their  standards,  rose,  the  Principes  and  Hastats  retired  through 
the  intervals  of  their  maniples,  which  then  closed  ;  and  the  Tri- 
arians, having  hurled  their  pila  on  the  wearied  foes,  fell  on 
them  sword  in  hand. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  the  legion  underwent 
a  further  modification,  and  became  such  as  it  was  when  op- 
posed to  Hannibal,  and  as  it  is  described  by  Poly  bins*.  Fa- 
bius  Maximus  and  Dccius  were  probably  the  authors  of  this 
change  also. 

As  the  class  system  was  no  longer  suited  to  the  levies,  they 
were  now  made  from  the  tribes,  from  each  of  whicli  four  cen- 
turies, or  120  men,  were  selected  for  each  legion  ;  so  that 
when  the  tribes  were  thirty-five,  the  legion  contained  4-200 
common  men.  These  were  all  ai-med  by  the  state,  and  clas- 
sified according  to  their  age  ;  the  youngest  being  the  light 
troops,  or  Velites,  who  began  the  battle  ;  the  next  in  age  the 
Hastats,  and  so  on  ;  the  Triarians  being  the  oldest  men.  The 
Hastats  and  Principes  carried  pila  and  swords,  the  Triarians 
were  armed  with  spears.  Of  the  4200  men  of  the  legion, 
1200,  or  twenty  nianiples,  were  Hastats;  the  same  number 
Principes  ;  one  half  of  it,  or  600,  Triarians  ;  the  remaining 
1200  Velites.  The  cavalry  of  each  legion  consisted  of  300 
men  divided  into  ten  troops  {turmce),  each  of  30  men,  and 
commanded  by  three  Decurions.  Its  station  in  action  was  on 
the  wintrs.  Each  legion  had  six  tribunes,  each  maniple  two 
centurions  and  two  ensigns  :  legates  {legati)  or  lieutenants 
commanded  tlie  legions  under  the  general.  The  array  of  bat- 
tle still  continued  to  be  in  quincunx. 

As  the  century  continued  to  be  drawn  up  three  in  front 
and  ten  deep,  a  question  arises  how  it  was  to  act ;  and  it  can 
only  have  been  in  the  following  manner.  The  century  also 
was  drawn  up  in  quincunx, 

*  *  *  * 


* 


*  * 

*  *  * 


thus  forming  ten  lines,  each  man  being  allotted  a  space  of 
three  feet  every  way.  When  those  in  the  first  line  had  thrown 

•  Polybius,  vi.  19-26,  xviii.  13-15. 


174  ROMAN  LITERATURE.  I 

their pila,  they  fell  back,  and  the  second  line  stepped  forward       i 
and  took  their  place,  and  so  on  till  the  whole  ten  lines  had 
engaged ;  and  if  there  was  a  supply  of  pila,  the  same  course       j 
may  have  been  gone  through  over  again  ;  the  same  was  the       i 
case  when  they  came  to  employ  their  swords.  i 

! 
What  the  literature  of  Rome  was  at  this  period  we  have 
not  the  means  of  ascertaining.    Brief  dry  chronicles  of  public       j 
events  were  kept ;  the  funeral  orations  made  over  men  of  rank 
were  preserved  by  their  families  ;    a  moral  poem  of  App.      j 
Claudius  the  Blind,  and  his  speech  against  peace  with  Pyrrhus,       | 
were  extant  in  Cicero's  days.     Cato  and  Varro  *  say  that  it      j 
was  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  sing  at  their  banquets  old       : 
songs  containing  the  praises  of  the  illustrious  men  of  former      ; 
times.     It  is  the  opinion  of  Niebuhrf,  that  the  poems  from      j 
which  he  supposes  the  history  of  the  kings  and  of  the  early       j 
days  of  the  republic  to  have  been  framed,  were  the  production 
of  plebeian  poets,  and  composed  after  the  time  of  the  capture      1 
of  the  city  by  the  Gauls;  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century, 
which  was  the  golden  age  of  Roman  art,  may,  he  thinks,  also 
have  been  that  of  Roman  poetry.     The  measure  in  Avhich  the      , 
Romans  composed  their  poems,  and  which  is  named  Saturnian      ! 
Verse,  continued  to  be  used  to  the  middle  of  the  seventh  cen-      j 
tury  of  the  city ;  but  we  have  very  few  specimens  of  it  re-      j 
maining,  and  its  nature  is  but  imperfectly  understood. 

*  The  former  in  Cicero,  Tusc.  Quest,  i.  2.  iv.  2,  Brutus,  19  ;  the  latter 
in  Nonius,  s.  v.  yissa  voce.  From  the  passage  of  the  Brutus,  "  qttcs  muUis 
scECuUs  ante  suam  (Catonis)  eetatem"  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  the  cus- 
tom had  gone  out  of  use  long  before  Cato's  time  ;  yet  in  the  opinion  of  Nie- 
buhr,  Dionysius  (i.  7  9.)  plainly  speaks  of  ballads  of  Romulus  and  Remus  as 
being  still  sung  in  his  time.  Horace  also  (Carm.  iv.  15.  25-32.)  seems  to 
speak,  of  the  practice  of  singing  the  praises  of  the  renowned  of  ancient  days 
as  still  continuing. 

•j-   History  of  Rome,  i.  p.  257. 


THE 

HISTORY   OF   ROME. 


PART  III. 


CONaUEST  OF  CARTHAGE  AND 
MACEDONIA. 

A.U.  488-619.         B.C. 264-133. 


CHAPTER  I.* 

Carthage. — First  Punic  War. — Siege  of  Agrigentum. — Roman  Fleet. — 
Naval  Victory  of  Duilius. — Invasion  of  Africa. — Defeat  and  Capture  of 
Regulus. — Losses  of  the  Romans  at  Sea. — Battle  at  Panormus. — Death 
of  Regulus. — Defeat  of  Claudius. — Victory  at  the  ^gatian  Isles. — Peace 
with  Carthage. — Effects  of  the  War. 

The  present  portion  of  our  history  will  be  chiefly  occupied  by 
the  wars  between  Rome  and  Carthage;  we  will  therefore  com- 
mence it  by  a  brief  sketch  of  the  political  constitution  and 
history  of  the  latter  state. 

Carthage  was  a  colony  of  the  Phoeniciansf  founded  on  the 
north  coast  of  Africa  about  a  century  before  the  building  of 
Rome.  The  colony  was  led,  it  is  said,  by  Elissa  or  Dido,  the 
sister  of  the  king  of  Tyre  :  a  spot  of  land  under  payment  of 
tribute  was  obtained  from  the  original  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  and  a  town  built:}:  which  rapidly  increased  in  size  and 

*  Polybius,  i.  1-64,  the  Epitomators. 

f-  The  Greeks  called  the  Tyrians  and  Sidonians  ^oiviKes,  on  account  of 
their  red  or  purple  garments  ;  hence  the  Latin  Pocni  and  punicus. 

X  The  fort  or  citadel  of  the  town  was  naturally  named  Betzura  {fort),  of 
which  the  Greeks  made  Byrsa  {(ivpaa),  and  as  this  signified  an  ox-hide, 
they  invented  the  tale  of  Dido's  deceiving  the  Africans  by  asking  for  as  much 
land  as  an  ox-hide  would  cover,  and  when  they  gave  it,  cutting  the  hide  into 


176  CARTHAGE. 

wealth.  The  people  first  freed  themselves  from  the  tribute, 
then  reduced  the  adjoining  tribes,  and  gradual!}' extended  their 
dominion  over  the  coast  of  Africa  from  the  confines  of  Cyrene 
to  the  Atlantic.  The  Balearic  isles  and  Sardinia  also  owned 
the  dominion  of  Carthage,  and  she  early  had  settlements  on 
the  north  coast  of  Sicily. 

The  constitution  of  Carthage  obtained  the  praise  of  Ari- 
stotle. It  was,  like  those  of  the  most  flourishing  commercial 
states  of  antiquity,  a  mixture  of  aristocracy  and  democracy, 
with  a  preponderance  of  the  former,  which  was  composed  of 
the  families  of  greatest  wealth  and  influence,  from  whom  the 
persons  were  chosen  v.ho  were  to  fill  the  chief  oflSces  in  the 
state,  and  who  all  served  without  salarJ^  The  senate  was  formed 
out  of  the  principal  families,  and  its  members  had  their  seats 
for  life.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  two  Siiffetes*,  magi- 
strates who  are  compared  to  the  Roman  consuls  and  the  Spar- 
tan kings.  If  the  suff'etes  and  senate  disagreed,  the  matter 
was  brought  before  the  people,  whose  decision  was  conclusive, 
on  which  occasion  any  one  who  pleased  might  speak  and  give 
his  opinion.  The  sufi^etes  frequently  went  out  in  the  command 
of  the  armies,  but  the  office  of  general  was  distinct  from  theirs. 
There  was  a  magistracy  of  one  hundred  judges,  to  whom  the 
generals  had  to  give  an  account  of  their  conduct  in  war;  and 
nowhere  does  the  Punic  character  appear  in  a  more  odious 
light  than  in  the  cruel  punishments  inflicted  on  those  whose 
only  fault  had  been  their  ill  fortune;  nothing  being  more  com- 
mon than  for  them  to  crucify  a  defeated  general.  These  Hun- 
dred, who  resembled  the  Spartan  Ephors,  became  like  them 
in  course  of  time  the  tyrants  of  the  state,  and  helped  to  cause 
its  ruin. 

1'he  troops  of  Carthage  were  chiefly  mercenaries  hired  in 
Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Italy.  The  Carthaginians  were  re- 
markably precious  of  the  blood  of  their  own  citizens,  while 
they  lavished  that  of  their  mercenaries  with  reckless  prodi- 
gality. 

The  first  attempt  made  by  the  Carthaginians  to  extend  their 
dominion  in  Sicily  was  at  the  time  of  Xerxes'  invasion  of 
Greece,  when  they  sustained  a  most  decisive  defeat  at  Himera 

thongs.  This  story  has  gone  the  round  of  the  world.  Hassan  Sahah,  the 
chief  of  the  Assassins,  thus  got  the  fort  of  Alamut  in  Persia,  the  English 
(the  Persians  say)  Calcutta,  Hengist  and  Horsa  their  settlement  in  the  Isle 
of  Thanet,  and  one  of  the  colonies  in  New  England  its  land  from  the  Indians. 
*  The  Hebrew  Shofctim,  or  Judges. 


B.C.  264.3  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR.  177 

from  Gelo  of  Syracuse.  They  refrained  from  any  further 
efforts  till  the  people  of  Segesta  (Egesta),  who  had  called  the 
Athenians  into  Sicily,  applied  on  their  defeat,  to  Carthage  for 
aid  against  Seliuus.  The  aid  was  granted  ;  and  this  was 
the  occasion  of  a  succession  of  wars  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury between  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Sicilian  Greeks,  in 
which  the  former  acquired  the  dominion  over  the  greater  part 
of  the  island.  We  are  now  to  see  them  in  conflict  with  the 
mistress  of  Italy. 

The  war  between  these  two  powerful  rivals  commenced  in 
a  manner  little  creditable  to  Rome  :  the  following  was  the 
occasion.  After  the  death  of  Agathocles  of  Syracuse,  the  Cam- 
panian  mercenaries  who  had  been  in  his  pay  were  dismissed. 
They  left  Syracuse  as  if  they  were  returning  home,  but  instead 
of  doing  so  they  treacherously  seized  the  town  of  Messana ; 
they  partly  killed,  partly  expelled  the  men,  and  divided  the 
women,  children,  and  property  among  themselves.  The  name 
which  they  assumed  was  INIamertines*;  they  conquered  several 
places  in  the  island,  their  numbers  rapidly  increased,  and  when 
their  countrymen  had  imitated  their  treachery  in  the  opposite 
town  of  Rhegiumt,  a  strict  alliance  was  formed  between  the 
two  freebooting  communities.  But  when  the  Romans  had 
destroyed  their  Italian  allies,  and  they  had  themselves  sustained 
a  complete  defeat  from  Hiero  of  Syracuse,  they  saw  the  ne- 
cessity of  foreign  aid  if  they  would  escape  destruction.  A 
part  of  them  applied  to  Hanno,  a  Punic  admiral,  and  put  the 
citadel  into  his  hands  ;  another  party  sent  off  to  Rome,  offer- 
ing possession  of  the  town,  and  imploring  aid  ou  the  score  of 
consanguinity  (488)  J. 

The  Roman  senate  was  greatly  perplexed  how  to  act.  It 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  prevent  the  Carthaginians 
from  becoming  masters  of  Messana  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
Rome's  policy  had  hitherto  been  in  the  main  upright  and  ho- 

*  From  Mamers,  or  Mars,  the  god  of  war. 

•f  In  the  first  year  of  the  war  with  Pyrrlius,  the  eighth  legion,  consisting 
of  Campanians,  had  been  placed  in  garrison  at  llhegium.  Under  the  pretext 
of  a  conspiracy  among  the  inhabitants,  they  massacred  the  men,  and  reduced 
the  women  and  children  to  slavery,  and  casting  off  their  allegiance  acted  as 
an  independent  state.  In  4S2,  however,  the  consul  C.  Genucius  stormed 
the  town,  and  he  led  the  300  who  retnained  alive  of  the  legion  to  Rome, 
where  they  were  scourged  and  beheaded  at  the  rate  of  fifty  a  day. 

%  It  is  not  unworthy  of  notice,  that  in  this  year  the  first  show  of  gladiators 
was  given  to  the  Roman  people  by  M.  and  D.  Brutus  at  the  funeral  of  their 
father.     Liv.  Epit.  xvi.     Val.  Max.  ii.  4,  7. 

i5 


178  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR.  [b.c.  263. 

novxrable,  and  with  what  face  could  theyjwho  had  just  punished 
so  severely  their  own  legion  for  an  act  of  treachery,  come  for- 
ward as  the  protectors  of  those  who  had  set  them  the  example? 
They  long  pondered,  and  could  come  to  no  conclusion ;  the 
consuls  then  brought  the  matter  before  the  people,  who,  be- 
guiled by  the  prospect  of  booty  held  out,  and  the  apparent  ease 
of  the  enterprise,  and  heedless  of  national  honour,  voted  the 
required  aid*. 

The  charge  of  relieving  Messana  was  committed  to  the  con- 
sul App.  Claudius  Caudexf  ;  one  of  whose  legates  proceeded 
with  some  troops  and  ships  to  Rhegium,  and  after  one  ineffec- 
tual attempt  succeeded  in  crossing  the  strait  and  getting  into 
the  town.  Hanno  was  invited  to  a  conference,  at  which  he 
was  treacherously  seized,  and  only  released  on  condition  of  his 
giving  up  the  citadel,  an  act  of  weakness  for  which  he  was 
crucified  on  his  return  to  Carthage.  But  another  Hanno  now 
came  with  a  large  fleet,  and  landed  an  army,  which,  in  con- 
junction with  the  troops  of  Hiero,  king  of  Syracuse,  (with  whom 
an  alliance  was  made,)  besieged  the  city  on  the  land  side, 
while  the  fleet  lay  at  Cape  Pelorus  J. 

The  consul  arrived  shortly  after,  and  taking  advantage  of 
the  night  landed  his  legions  close  to  the  camp  of  the  Syra- 
cusans.  He  drew  them  up  unobserved,  and  in  the  morning 
totally  defeated  the  troops  of  the  king,  who  fled  to  his  capital ; 
whither,  after  having  defeated  the  Punic  army  also,  Appius  fol- 
lowed him,  and  sitting  down  before  it  laid  waste  the  lands. 

The  two  consuls  of  the  following  year  (489)  landed  in  Si- 
cily, where  sixty-seven  towns,  subject  to  Hiero  or  the  Car- 
thaginians, placed  themselves  under  the  dominion  of  Rome. 
They  approached  Syracuse,  and  Hiero,  in  compliance  with 
the  wishes  of  his  people,  made  proposals  of  peace,  which  was 
granted  on  his  paying  two  hundred  talents,  releasing  all  the 
Roman  prisoners,  and  becoming  the  ally  of  Rome.  The  Car- 
thaginians made  no  efforts  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  Ro- 
man arms  in  Sicily ;  but  they  were  actively  engaged  in  pre- 
parations for  a  vigorous  campaign.     They  hired  troops  in  Li- 

*  "  This  vote  is  an  eternal  disgrace  to  Rome,  and  a  sign  that  even  then 
the  constitution  was  beginning  to  incline  too  much  to  the  democratic  side  ; 
although  in  the  interior  of  the  state  no  disadvantage  to  the  republic  thence 
arose  for  a  long  time  to  come." — Niebuhr,  iii.  563. 

t  See  Sen.  "de  Brev.  Vit.  13,  4. 

X  Pelorus,  Pachynus  and  Lilybseum  were  the  three  extremities  of  the 
triangular  isle  of  Sicily. 


B.C.  262.]  SIEGE  OF  AGRIGENTUM.  179 

guria,  Gaul,  and  Spain,  which,  joined  with  their  African  troops 
and  the  light  Numidian  cavalry,  thej'  sent  over  to  Sicily  (490) 
under  Hannibal  the  son  of  Gisco,  while  another  army  was 
collected  in  Sardinia  for  the  invasion  of  Italy. 

Hannibal  made  Agrigentum  his  head-quarters.  Leaving  the 
defence  of  Italy  to  the  prsetor,  the  two  consuls,  L.  Postumius 
and  Q.  Mamilius,  passed  over  to  Sicily,  and  came  and  en- 
camped within  a  mile  of  that  city.  Having  repelled  an  attack 
of  the  enemy,  they  formed  two  separate  camps,  united  by  a 
double  ditch  and  a  line  of  posts ;  their  magazines  were  in  the 
town  of  Erbessus,  which  lay  at  no  great  distance  in  their  rear. 
They  remained  thus  for  five  months,  when  at  the  urgent  desire 
of  Han  nibal,  whose  troops  were  beginning  to  suffer  from  hunger, 
Hanno  was  sent  to  Sicily  Avith  a  force  of  fifty  thousand  foot, 
six  thousand  horse,  and  sixty  elephants.  He  advanced  to  He- 
raclea,  and  took  the  town  of  Erbessus  :  the  Romans  were  now 
reduced  to  great  straits  for  provisions  :  an  epidemic  also  broke 
out  among  them,  and  the  consuls  were  thinking  of  giving  over 
the  siege  ;  but  Hiero,  whose  all  was  at  stake,  made  every  effort 
to  supply  them,  and  they  resolved  to  persevere.  Hanno  now  en- 
camped within  little  more  than  a  mile  of  them,  and  the  two  armies 
remained  for  two  months  opposite  each  other.  At  length,  urged 
by  repeated  signals  and  messages  from  Hannibal,  describing  the 
distress  in  the  town,  Hanno  resolved  to  hazard  an  engagement ; 
the  Romans,  who  were  suffering  nearly  as  much,  eagerly  ac- 
cepted it,  and  after  a  hard-fought  battle  victory  i^emained  with 
them.  Hanno  fled  to  Heraclea,  leaving  his  camp  in  the 
hands  of  the  victors  ;  thirty  of  his  elephants  were  killed,  three 
wounded,  and  eleven  taken.  During  the  battle  Hannibal 
made  a  fruitless  attack  on  the  Roman  lines ;  but  he  soon  after 
took  advantage  of  the  darkness  of  the  winter  nights  to  break 
through  them,  and  get  off  with  what  remained  of  his  army. 
The  Romans  then  stormed  the  town,  and  sold  such  of  the  in- 
habitants as  survived  into  slavery. 

Several  of  the  towns  of  the  interior  now  came  over  to  the 
Romans,  but  those  on  the  coast  stood  too  much  in  awe  of  the 
Punic  fleet  to  follow  their  example  :  the  coast  of  Italy  also 
suffered  from  its  descents,  and  the  senate  saw  that  they  must 
meet  the  Carthaginians  on  their  own  element  if  they  would 
end  the  contest  with  advantage.  But  the  Punic  ships  of  war 
were  quinqueremes,  and  as  the  Romans  and  their  Greek  sub- 
jects had  never  had  larger  ships  than  triremes,  their  carpenters 
could  not  build  the  former  kind  without  a  model.     At  length 


180  ROMAN  FLEET.  [bX.  260. 

(492)  a  Carthaginian  ship  of  war,  havinfj  gone  ashore  on  the 
coast  of  Brutti  urn,  fell  into  theirhands,andwith  this  for  amodel, 
in  the  space  of  sixty  days  from  the  time  the  thnber  was  cut, 
they  built  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  ships*.  Meantime 
stages  had  been  erected,  on  which  the  destined  rowers  were 
taught  their  art.  When  the  fleet  was  ready,  the  consul  Cn. 
Cornelius  Scipio  sailed  over  to  Messana  with  seventeen  ships, 
and  the  rest  followed  along  the  coast  as  fast  as  they  could  get 
to  sea.  While  Scipio  remained  at  Messana,  envoys  came,  in- 
viting him  to  take  possession  of  the  Liparasan  isles,  and  he  in- 
considerately sailed  over  to  them  :  the  Punic  admiral  Hanni- 
bal, who  was  at  Panormus,  hearing  he  was  there,  sent  twenty 
ships  after  him,  which  closed  him  up  in  the  port  during  the 
night.  The  Romans  in  terror  left  their  ships  and  fled  to  the 
land,  and  the  consul  was  obliged  to  surrender.  Hannibal  new 
conceived  such  a  contempt  for  the  Romans  as  sailors  that  he 
thought  he  might  easily  destroy  their  whole  navy.'  He  there- 
fore sailed  along  the  coast  of  Italy,  with  fifty  ships  to  recon- 
noitre ;  but  happening,  as  he  doubled  a  cape,  to  fall  in  with 
their  fleet  in  order  of  battle,  he  lost  the  greater  part  of  his 
ships,  and  had  much  ado  to  escape  with  the  remainder. 

The  Romans  were  well-aware  of  their  own  inferiority  as 
seamen,  and  they  knew  that  their  only  chance  of  success  was 
b}'  bringing  a  sea-  to  resemble,  a  land-tight.  For  this  purpose 
they  devised  the  following  plan.  In  the  fore  part  of  each  ship 
they  set  up  a  mast,  twenty-four  feet  high  and  nine  inches  in 
diameter,  with  a  pulley-wheel  at  the  top  of  it ;  to  this  mast 
was  fastened  a  ladder  thirty-six  feet  long  and  four  broad,  co- 
vered with  boards  nailed  across  it,  and  having  on  each  side  a 
bulwark  as  high  as  a  man's  knee  ;  at  the  end  of  it  was  a  strong 
piece  of  iron  with  a  sharp  spike  and  a  ring  on  it,  through 
which  a  rope  ran  to  the  mast,  and  over  the  wheel,  by  which  it 
could  be  raised  or  lowered.  This  Corvus  or  crow,  as  the 
machine  was  called,  was  to  be  let  fall  on  the  enemy's  ship, 
M'hich  the  spike  would  then  hold  fast,  and  the  soldiers  holding 
their  shields  over  the  bulwarks,  to  protect  them,  could  board 
along  it. 

The  other  consul,  C.  Duilius,  took  the  command  of  the  fleet, 
and  hearing  that  the  Carthaginians  were  plundering  the  lands 
of  Mylee  he  sailed  to  engage  them.  As  soon  as  they  saw  him, 
they  came  out  with  one  hundred  and  thirty  ships,  as  to  a  cer- 

*  Floius,  ii.  2.     Plin.  N.  H.  xvi.  192. 


B.C.  259-256.]     NAVAL  VICTORY  OF  DUILIUS.  181 

tain  victoiy,  not  even  condescending  to  form  in  line  of  battle. 
At  the  sight  of  the  crows  they  paused  a  little,  but  they  soon 
came  on  and  attacked  the  foremost  ships.  The  crows  were 
then  let  fall ;  the  Roman  soldiers  boarded  along  them :  the 
Africans  could  ill  witlistand  them,  and  they  took  thirty  ships, 
among  which  was  that  of  Hannibal,  the  admiral,  a  septireme 
which  had  bt  longed  to  king  Pyrrhus.  The  rest  of  the  Punic 
fleet  manoeuvred,  hoping  to  be  able  to  attack  to  advantage ; 
but  they  either  could  not  get  near  the  Roman  ships,  or  if  they 
did  were  caught  by  the  crows.  They  at  last  fled,  with  the 
loss  of  fourteen  ships  sunk,  three  thousand  men  slain,  and 
seven  thousand  captured.  The  joy  of  the  Romans  at  this  their 
first  naval  victory  was  evinced  by  the  honours  granted  to 
Duilius  ;  for  beside  his  triumph  (the  first  naval  one  ever  cele- 
brated at  Rome),  a  column  adorned  with  the  rostra,  or  beaks 
of  ships,  was  erected  in  the  Forum,  and  he  was  permitted  for 
the  rest  of  his  life  to  have  a  torch  carried  before  him,  and  be 
preceded  hj  a  flute-player  when  returning  home  from  supper*. 

After  this  victory  the  Romans  divided  their  forces,  and  the 
consul  L.  Scipio  sailed  (493)  with  a  fleet  to  make  an  attack 
on  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  and  he  destroyed  a  Punic  fleet  and 
made  a  great  number  of  captives.  Meantime  the  Carthagi- 
nians were  recovering  their  power  in  Sicily;  but  the  consul 
of  the  next  year  (494'),  A.  Atilius  Calatinus,  restored  the 
Roman  preponderance  there.  The  towns  of  Mytistratum, 
Enna,  Camarina,  and  others,  which  had  gone  over  to  the  Car- 
thaginians, were  taken,  and  their  inhabitants  massacred. 

The  ibllowing  year  (495)  little  was  done  on  land;  the  Car- 
thaginians had,  however,  re-established  their  sway  over  one 
half  of  the  island.  A  naval  victory  gained  by  the  consul  C. 
Atilius  Regulus  Serranusf  off"  the  port  of  Tyndaris,  inspirited 
the  Romans  to  make  a  bold  attempt  to  terminate  the  war  by 
an  invasion  of  Africa.  They  therefore  (496)  collected  at  Mes- 
sana  330  ships,  each  carrying  300  seamen,  which,  sailing  round 
Cape  Pachynus,  took  4O,000  soldiers  on  board  on  the  south 
coast  of  Sicily.  The  Carthaginians  had  assembled  at  Lily- 
baeum  a  fleet  of  350  ships,  carrying  150,000  men  to  oppose 

*  Cic.  Cato,  14.  Floras,  ii.  2.  Sil.  Ital.  vi.  G63.  It  would  seem  from 
Cicero  that  Duilius  assumed  of  liimself  this  last  honour,  and  that  the  senate 
and  people  acquiesced  in  it. 

f  He  was  so  named,  we  are  told,  because  those  sent  to  inform  him  of  his 
elevation  to  the  consulate  found  him  sowing  his  fields  with  his  own  hand. 
Cic.  Rose.  Amer.  18.     Val.  Max.  iv.  4,  5.     Plin.  N.  H.  xviii,  3. 


182  INVASION  OF  AFRICA.  [b.C.  256. 

them.  It  was  the  greatest  military  effort  that  the  ancient  world 
ever  witnessed*. 

The  Roman  fleet  was  divided  into  four  squadrons  :  the  two 
first  were  commanded  by  the  consuls  M.  Atilius  Regulus  and 
L.  Manlius  in  person.  The  consuls'  ships  sailed  side  by  side  ; 
each  was  followed  by  his  squadron,  in  a  single  line,  each  ship 
keeping  further  out  to  sea  than  the  one  before  it,  so  that  the 
two  lines  formed  an  acute  angle  ;  and  the  triangle  was  com- 
pleted by  the  third  squadron  sailing  abreast,  and  having  the 
horse-transports  in  tow ;  the  fourth  squadron  closed  the  figure, 
being  in  a  single  line,  and  extending  on  each  side  beyond  the 
base.  The  Punic  admirals,  Hanno  and  Hamilcar,  likewise 
divided  their  fleet  into  four  squadrons,  which  sailed  parallel, 
Hanno  commanding  the  right,  Hamilcar  the  left  wing.  The 
two  central  squadron?,  by  a  feigned  flight,  drew  the  first  two 
Roman  ones  after  them,  and  thus  broke  the  triangle;  the 
Punic  left  wing  then  attacked  the  third  squadron,  while  the 
right  wing  sailed  round  and  fell  on  the  fourth.  As  the  Punic 
ships  which  had  fled  now  turned  round  and  fought,  there  was 
a  threefold  engagement.  At  length  the  first  two  Roman  squa- 
drons, having  beaten  those  to  which  they  were  opposed,  came 
to  the  aid  of  the  third  and  fourth,  and  the  Carthaginians  were 
forced  to  retire,  with  the  loss  of  thirty  ships  sunk  and  sixty- 
four  taken  ;  that  of  the  Romans  was  twenty-four  ships. 

The  consuls  returned  to  Sicily  to  repair  the  ships  they  had 
taken,  and  to  complete  the  crews  of  the  whole  fleet.  They 
then  made  sail  for  Africa;  and  as  the  Punic  fleet  was  too 
weak  to  oppose  them,  they  landed  safely  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Hermaic  cape  (  Cape  Bon),  whence  advancing  southwards 
they  took  the  town  of  Clupea,  which  was  deserted  at  their  ap- 
proach, and  made  it  their  place  of  arms.  The  country  thence 
to  the  capital  was  like  a  garden,  full  of  cattle,  corn,  vines,  and 
every  natural  production,  and  studded  all  over  with  the  elegant 
country-seats  of  the  citizens  of  Carthage.  The  whole  of  this 
lovely  region  was  sjDeedily  pillaged  and  destroyed,  and  thou- 
sands of  captives  were  dragged  to  Clupea,  the  Carthaginians 
not  venturing  out  to  the  defence  of  their  pi'operty. 

It  was  the  usage  of  the  Romans  for  at  least  one  consular 
army  to  return  to  Rome  for  the  winter  and  be  discharged,  and 

*  The  plan  of  invading  Africa  during  a  war  with  the  Carthaginians,  had 
been  successfully  put  in  practice  by  Agatliocles,  about  fifty  years  before  this 
time  (01.  117,  3.).  See  Diodor.  xx.  3.  et  seq.  It  was  this  that  doubtless 
suggested  the  idea  to  the  Romans. 


B.C.  255.]  INVASION  or  AFRICA.  183 

they  would  not  depart  from  it  on  the  present  occasion.  To 
the  messenger  therefore  whom  the  consuls  sent  home  for  in- 
structions, it  was  replied,  that  Manlius  should  return  with  his 
army  and  the  greater  part  of  the  fleet,  while  Regulus  should 
remain  in  Africa.  It  is  said  that  Regulus  earnestly  applied 
for  leave  to  return,  as  his  little  plebeian  farm  was  going  to  ruin 
for  want  of  his  presence  ;  but  that  the  government  undertook 
to  bear  the  expense  of  its  cultivation,  and  to  support  his  family 
while  he  was  away  in  the  service  of  the  state  *.  He  therefore 
remained,  with  15,000  foot,  500  horse,  and  40  ships. 

The  Carthaginians  having  recalled  Hamilcar  from  Sicily, 
he  brought  with  him  5000  foot  and  500  horse  ;  and  being 
joined  in  command  with  two  generals  named  Hasdrubal  and 
Bostar,  he  advanced  to  oppose  Regulus,  who  was  now  (ig?) 
besieging  a  town  named  Adis,  close  by  the  lake  of  Tunisf. 
Instead  of  keeping  to  the  plain,  where  their  elephants  and 
cavalry  could  act  to  advantage,  the  Punic  generals  took  their 
post  on  the  hills,  and  were  in  consequence  defeated,  with  the 
loss  of  17,000  men  killed,  and  5000  men  and  eighteen  ele- 
phants taken.  Regulus  now  conquered  Tunis  ;  seventy-four 
other  towns  submitted  to  him  ;  he  ravaged  the  country  at  his 
will  ;  the  Numidians  revolted,  and  the  country-people  all  fled 
into  Carthage,  where  famine  began  to  be  felt. 

Regulus,  fearing  that  his  successor  would  come  out  and 
have  the  glory  of  taking  Carthage,  sent  to  propose  a  peace. 
Some  of  the  principal  men  came  to  his  camp  to  treat,  but  he 
offered  only  the  most  humiliating  terms.  He  required  that 
Carthage  should  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  pay  a 
yearly  tribute,  retain  but  one  ship  of  war,  give  up  all  claim  on 
Sicily  and  Sardinia,  release  the  Roman  prisoners,  and  redeem 
her  own.    The  Punic  envoys  retired  without  deigning  a  reply. 

But  the  haughtiness  of  the  Roman  proconsul  was  to  meet 
its  due  chastisement.  The  Carthaginians  had  sent  to  Greece 
to  hire  troops,  which  now  arrived ;  and  among  them  was  a 

*  Liv.  Epit.  xviii.     Val.  Max.  iv.  4,  6. 

t  On  the  banks  of  the  Bagrada  {Majerdah),  said  thelegend,  abode  a  ser- 
pent of  the  enormous  length  of  1 20  feet ;  and  when  ths  soldiers  came  thither 
for  water,  he  killed  or  drove  them  off.  It  was  found  necessary  to  employ 
the  ballists  and  other  artillery  against  him,  as  against  a  town,  and  at  length 
he  was  slain.  His  skin  and  jawbones  were  brought  to  Roaie,  where  they 
remained  in  one  of  the  temples  till  the  time  of  the  Numantine  war.  See 
Tubero  ap.  Gell.  vi.  3.  Liv.  Epit.  xviii.  Val.  Max.  i.  8,  19.  Piin.  N.  H.  viii. 
14.  Silius,  Pun.  vi.  140.  We  must  recollect  that  the  fiiit  Punic  war  wa« 
the  subject  of  Naevius'  poem. 


184        DEFEAT  AND  CAPTURE  OF  REGULUS.   [b^.  255. 

Spartan  named  Xanthippus,  an  officer  of  some  distinction. 
Wiien  Xanthippus  viewed  the  condition  of  the  Funic  array 
and  saw  its  force,  he  told  his  friends,  that  it  was  not  the  Ro- 
mans but  their  own  generals  that  had  been  the  cause  of  the 
preceding  defeats.     The  government,  on  learning  his  senti- 
ments, conceived  so  high  an  opinioji  of  his  talents,  that  it  was 
resolved  to  give  him  the  command  of  the  army ;  and  he  speedily 
infused  confidence  into  the  minds  of  the  soldiery,  vvhareadily 
observed  his  superiority  over  their  former  commanders.     la 
reliance  on  one  hundred  elephants,  and  a  body  of  6000  horse, 
he  ventured  to  offer  battle  to  the  Romans,  although  he  had 
only  1 4,000  foot,  and  their  forces  now  amounted  to  upwards 
of  32,000  men.     He  placed  the  mercenaries  on  the  right,  the 
Punic  troops  on  the  left ;  the  elephants  were  ranged  one  deep 
in  front  of  the  line,  the  cavalry  and  light  troops  were  on  the 
flanks.     The  Romans  put  their  light  troops  in  advance  against 
the  elephants,  and  drew  up  the  legionaries  much  deeper  than 
usual ;  the  horse  were  on  the  flanks.     The  left  wing  of  the 
Romans  easily  defeated  the  mercenaries  opposed  to  them,  and 
drove  thera  to  their  camp  ;  but  the  Punic  horse  routed  that 
of  the  Romans,  and  then  fell  on  the  rear  of  the  right  wing, 
against  the  front  of  which  the  elephants  were  urged  on;  and 
when  the  Roman  soldiers  had,  with  great  loss,  forced  their  way 
through  them,  they  had  to  encounter  the  dense  Carthaginian 
phalanx.      Assailed  thus  on  all  sides,  they  at  length  gave 
way  and  fled  ;  the  battle  being  in  the  plain,  they  were  ex- 
posed to  the  elephants  and  horse,  and  all  were  slain  but  five 
hundred  men,  who,  with  the  proconsul,  were  made  prisoners. 
The  left  wing,  containing  about  two  thousand  men,  which 
had   pursued  the   mercenaries,  made   its  escape  to  Clupea. 
Xanthippus,  having   thus   saved   Carthage,  prudently  vvent 
home  soon  after  to  avoid  the  envy  and  jealousy  which,  as  a 
stranger,  he  was  sure  to  excite.     We  are  told*  (but  surely 
we  should  not  believe  the  tale)  that  the  Carthaginians  re- 
warded him  richly,  and  sent  some  triremes  to  convey  him  and 
the  other  Lacedaamonians  home,  but  gave  secret  orders  to 
the  captains  to  drown  them  all  on  the  way,  which  orders  were 
obeyed  !  f 

The  Carthaginians  laid  siege  to  Clupea,  but  the  Romans 

*  Zonai-as,  viii.  13.      Appian,  Punica,  3.      Silius,  Pun.  vi.  C80. 

f  It  is  a  pleasing  conjecture  of  Dr.  Arnold's  (  Hist,  of  Home,  ii.  589),  that 
Xanthippus  may  have  been  the  person  whom  St.  Jerome  on  Daniel  xi.  9, 
calls  "  Xantippus,  one  of  the  two  generals-in-chief  "  of  the  king  of  Egypt. 


B.C.  254-253.]     LOSSES  of  the  Romans  at  sea.  185 

defended  it  gallantly.  When  intelligence  of  the  defeat  reached 
Rome,  it  was  resolved  to  send  a  fleet  without,  delay  to  bring 
off"  the  survivors,  and  the  consids  M.  iErailius  Paulus  and  Ser, 
Fulvius  Nobilior  put  to  sea  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  ships. 
The  Punic  fleet  engaged  them  off  the  Hermaic  cape,  and  was 
defeated  with  the  loss  of  one  hundred  and  four  ships  sunk, 
thirty  taken,  and  thirty  thousand  men  slain  or  drowned.  The 
Romans  then  landed,  and  having  defeated  the  Punic  army, 
obliged  them  to  raise  the  siege ;  but  seeing  that  the  country- 
was  so  exhausted  that  no  supplies  could  be  had,  they  prepared 
to  re-embark  and  depart. 

It  was  now  after  the  summer  solstice,  a  stormy  and  perilous 
season  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  pilots  earnestly  advised  to 
avoid  the  south  coast  of  Sicily,  and  rather  to  sail  along  the 
north  coast.  But  as  this  was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, the  consuls  preferred  facing  the  dangers  of  the  sea. 
They  accordingly  set  sail,  and  got  safely  across  ;  but  on  the 
coast  of  Camarina,  the  fleet  was  assailed  by  so  furious  a  tem- 
pest that  but  eighty  ships  escaped.  The  whole  coast  thence  to 
Pachynus  was  covered  vvith  wrecks,  and  with  the  bodies  of 
drowned  men.  Hiero  acted  on  this  occasion  as  a  faithful  ally, 
supplying  the  survivors  with  food  and  raiment,  and  all  other 
necessaries.     The  remaining  ships  then  sailed  forMessana. 

The  courage  of  the  Carthaginians  rose  when  they  heard  of 
this  misfortune;  they  got  ready  two  hundred  ships,  and  sent 
Hasdrubal  with  his  army  and  one  hundred  and  forty  elephants 
over  to  Sicily.  The  Roman  senate,  nothing  dismayed  by  the 
loss  of  their  fleet,  gave  orders  to  build  a  new  one  ;  and  in  three 
months  they  had  one  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  ships  afloat ; 
with  which  the  consuls  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio  and  A.  Atilius 
Calatinus  (498)  sailed  to  Messana,  whence,  being  joined  by 
the  ships  there,  they  vrent  and  laid  siege  to  Panormus.  The 
new  town  (for,  like  so  many  others,  it  consisted  of  two  parts) 
being  taken  by  storm,  the  old  town  capitulated ;  those  who 
could  pay  a  ransom  of  two  pounds  of  silver  were  allov/ed  to 
depart,  leaving  their  property  behind  ;  those  who  could  not 
pay  that  sum  were  sold  for  slaves ;  of  the  former  there  were 
ten  thousand,  of  the  latter  thirteen  thousand.  Tyndaris,  Solceis, 
and  some  other  towns  on  that  coast  then  submitted. 

The  consuls  of  the  next  year  (499),  Cn,  Servilius  and  C. 
Sempronius,  sailed  over,  and  made  various  descents  on  the 
coast  of  Africa  ;  but  their  ignorance  of  the  ebb  and  flood  in 
the  little  Syrtis  was  near  causing  the  loss  of  the  whole  fleet ; 


186  BATTLE  AT  PANORMUS.  [ B.C.  250. 

the  ships  went  aground  on  the  shoals,  and  it  was  only  bj^  throw- 
ing all  the  burdens  overboard  that  they  were  got  off.  They 
then  sailed  round  Lilybseum  to  Pauormus,  and  thence  boldly 
stretched  across  for  the  coast  of  Italy  ;  but  off'  Cape  Palinurus 
they  encountered  a  fearful  storm,  in  which  they  lost  upwards 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships.  The  senate  and  people,  quite 
east  down  by  this  last  calamity,  resolved  to  send  no  more  fleets 
to  sea,  and  only  to  keep  sixty  ships  to  convoy  transports  and 
guard  the  coast  of  Italy. 

Nothing  of  importance  marks  the  next  two  years ;  but  in 
502,  Hasdrubal,  encouraged  by  the  want  of  spirit  shown  of 
late  by  the  Romans,  led  his  army  from  Lilybteum  toward  Pa- 
normus.  The  Roman  proconsul  L.  Csecilius  Metellus,  who 
was  lying  there  with  an  army  to  protect  the  harvest,  fell  back 
to  the  town.  He  set  his  light  troops,  well-supplied  with  mis- 
siles, outside  of  the  ditch,  with  orders,  if  hard  pressed,  to  retire 
behind  it  and  continue  the  contest ;  and  directed  the  workmen 
of  the  town  to  carry  out  missiles  for  them,  and  lay  them  under 
the  wall.  He  kept  the  main  body  of  his  troops  within  the 
town,  and  sent  constant  reinforcements  to  those  without.  When 
the  Punic  host  came  near,  the  drivers  urged  on  the  elephants 
against  the  light  troops,  whom  they  forced  to  retire  behind 
the  ditch  ;  but  as  they  still  pressed  on,  showers  of  missiles  from 
the  walls  and  from  those  at  the  ditch,  killed,  wounded,  and 
drove  furious  the  elephants ;  and  Metellus,  taking  advantage 
of  the  confusion  thus  caused,  led  out  his  troops  and  fell  on  the 
flank  of  the  enemy.  The  defeat  was  decisive ;  some  were  slain, 
others  drowned  in  attempting  to  swim  to  a  Punic  fleet  that 
was  at  hand  ;  the  whole  loss  was  twenty  thousand  men  :  one 
hundred  and  four  elephants  were  taken,  and  all  the  rest  killed. 
After  this  defeat  the  Carthaginians  abandoned  Selinus,  whose 
inhabitants  they  removed  to  Lilybneum,  which  place  and  Dre- 
pana  alone  remained  in  their  hands. 

An  embassy  to  propose  a  peace,  or  at  least  an  exchange  of 
prisoners,  was  now  despatched  to  Rome,  and  Regulus,  who 
had  been  five  years  a  captive,  accompanied  it,  on  his  promise 
to  return  if  it  proved  unsuccessful.  The  tale  of  his  heroism, 
as  transmitted  to  us  by  the  Roman  writers,  is  one  of  the  most 
famed  in  Roman  story.  Unhappily,  like  so  many  others,  it 
passes  the  limits  of  truth. 

Regulus,  we  are  told,  refused,  as  being  the  slave  of  the 
Carthaginians,  to  enter  Rome;  with  their  consent  he  attended 
the  debates  of  the  senate,  which  Avas  held,  as  was  usual  on 


B.C.  250.]  DEATH  OF  REGULUS.  187 

such  occasions,  outside  of  the  city,  and  urged  them  on  no  ac- 
count to  think  of  peace,  or  even  of  an  exchange  of  prisoners  ; 
and  lest  regard  for  him  should  sway  them,  he  affirmed  tliat  a 
slow  poison  had  been  given  him,  and  he  must  shortly  die.  The 
senate  voted  as  he  wished  ;  and  rejecting  the  embraces  of  his 
friends  and  relatives  as  being  now  dishonoured,  he  returned  to 
his  prison.  The  Carthaginians,  in  their  rage  at  his  conduct, 
resolved  to  give  him  the  most  cruel  death.  They  therefore, 
it  is  said,  cut  off  his  eyelids,  and  exposed  him  to  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  inclosed  in  a  cask  or  chest  set  fidl  of  sharp  spikes, 
where  pain  and  want  of  food  and  sleep  terminated  his  ex- 
istence*. 

Regulus,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  died  at  Carthage,  but  pro- 
bably of  a  natural  death.  The  senate  had  put  the  Punic  ge- 
nerals Bostar  and  Hamilcar  into  the  hands  of  his  family  as 
hostages  for  his  safety  ;  and  when  his  wife  heard  of  his  death, 
she  attributed  it  to  neglect  and  want  of  care,  and  in  revenge 
treated  her  prisoners  with  such  cruelty  that  Bostar  died,  and 
Hamilcar  would  have  shared  his  fate  but  that  the  matter  came 
to  the  ears  of  the  government.  The  young  Atilii  only  escaped 
capital  punishment  by  throwing  all  the  blame  on  their  mother; 
the  body  of  Bostar  was  burnt,  and  the  ashes  sent  home  to 
Carthage,  and  Hamilcar  was  released  from  his  dungeonf. 

After  their  victory  at  Panormus,  the  Romans  proceeded 
with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  and  a  fleet  of  two  hun- 
dred ships,  to  lay  siege  to  the  strong  town  of  Lilybseum.  But 
it  was  gallantly  defended  by  its  governor  Himilco,  and  resisted 
all  the  efforts  of  the  Romans,  aided  by  the  artillery  with  which 
the  Syracusans  supplied  them,  during  the  remainder  of  the 
war. 

In  fact  the  remaining  nine  years  of  the  war  were  years  of 
almost  constant  misfortune  and  disgrace  to  the  Romans  ;  and 
had  the  Carthaginian  system  been  the  same  as  theirs,  and  the 
same  obstinate  perseverance  been  manifested,  the  final  ad- 
vantage would  probably  have  been  on  the  side  of  Carthage. 

*  Cicero,  Phil.  xi.  4.  Piso,  19.  Off.  iii.  27.  Fin.  v.  27.  Tiibero  ap.  Gellius, 
vii  24.  Horace,  Carm.  iii.  5.  41.  Appian,  Pun.  4.  According  to  Siiius  (ii. 
343),  Regulus  was  crucified.  Zonaras  (viii.  15),  following  perhaps  Dion, 
gives  the  common  account,  but  speaks  dubiously  (ws  »'/  fijfxt]  Xeyet).  Per- 
haps all  this  testimony  is  more  than  outweighed  by  the  significant  silence 
of  Polybius,  who  narrates  the  war  in  detail. 

•j-  Diodorus,frag.  xxiv.  1.  Zonaras,  ut  stip.  Compare  Gellius,  ?<<  supra. 
If  this  story  be  true,  the  preceding  one  can  hardly  be  so. 


188  DEFEAT  OF  CLAUDIUS.  [b.C.249. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Roman  generals,  for  instance, 
had  had  a  decided  superiority  ;  now  the  case  was  reversed,  and 
Himilco,  Hannibal,  and,  above  all,  Hamilcar  Barcas  (^Light- 
ning*^, far  excelled  those  opposed  to  them. 

We  will  pass  over  the  details  of  the  events  of  these  years, 
only  noticing  the  following,  as  it  relates  to  the  internal  history 
of  Rome.     In  the  year  503  tlie  consul  P.  Claudius  Pulcherf 
sailed  with  a  fleet  and  army  to  Sicily,  and,  leaving  Lilyba?um, 
•went  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  ships  to  make  an  at- 
tempt on  Drepanum.     He  hoped  to  surprise  it  by  sailing  ia 
the  night,  but  it  was  daybreak  when  he  arrived,  and  the  Punic 
admiral  Adherbal,  who  was  there,  had  time  to  get  his  fleet  out 
to  give  him  battle.  The pullarii  told  the  consul  that  the  sacred 
chickens  would  not  eat ;  "  If  they  will  not  eat,"  said  he,  "  they 
must  drink,"  and  he  ordered  them  to  be  flung  into  the  sea  J. 
A  battle  thus  entered  into  in  contempt  of  the  religious  feelings 
of  the  people,  could  not  well  be  prosperous;  the  Roman  fleet 
was  totally  defeated ;  ninety-three  ships  with  all  their  crews 
were  taken  by  the  enemy  ;  the  consul  fled  with  only  thirty. 
Claudius,  on  coming  to  Rome,  was  ordei'pd  to  name  a  dictator; 
and  with  the  usual  insolence  of  his  family,  he  nominated  his 
client  M.  Claudius  Glicia,  the  son  of  a  freedman.     The  senate 
in  indignation  forced  the  unworthy  dictator  to  lay  down  his 
oflfiice,  and  appointed  in  his  place  A.  Atilius  Calatinus,  who  is 
remarkable  as  being  the  first  dictator  who  commanded  an 
army  out  of  Italy.     Claudius  was  prosecuted  for  violation  of 
the  majesty  of  the  people,  and  he  did  not  long  survive  the 
disgrace,  dying  probably  by  bis  own  hand,  like  so  many  of 
his  family. 

The  Romans  were  so  disheartened  by  this  last  defeat,  that 
for  five  years  they  remained  without  a  navy.  At  length,  see- 
ing that  unless  they  could  prevent  supplies  being  sent  to  Ha- 
milcar from  home,  there  would  be  no  end  to  the  war,  they  re- 
solved once  more  to  build  a  fleet.  But  the  treasury  was  ex- 
hausted ;  public  spirit  however,  as  at  times  in  Greece,  impelled 
the  wealthy  citizens  to  come  forward,  and  each  giving  accord- 
ing to  his  means,  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  ships,  built  after  an 

*  From  the  Punic  or  Hebrew  word  Barak.  Hence  perhaps  Barak,  the 
lieutenant  of  Deborah  (Judges,  ch.  iv.),  had  his  name;  the  Scipios  were 
ca]\edfub7iina  belli.  Yilderim  {Lightning)  was  a  surname  of  the  celebrated 
Turkish  sultan  Bayazid. 

\  The  son  of  Ap.  Claudius  Caecus,  Gell.  x.  6. 

%  Cicero  de  Nat.  Deor.  ii.  3  ;   de  Div.  i.  16.  ii.  8.     Liv.  Epit.  xix. 


B.C.  241.]  VICTORY  AT  THE  iEGATIAN  ISLES.  189 

excellent  model,  was  got  ready,  with  which  the  consul  C. 
Lutatius  Catulus  and  the  prastor  P.  Valerius  proceeded  to 
Sicil}'  early  in  the  spring  of  the  year  511. 

Lutatius,  finding  that  the  Punic  fleet  was  gone  home,  block- 
aded both  Lilybfeum  and  Drepanum  by  sea;  and  he  pressed 
on  the  siege  of  this  last  place  with  great  vigour,  hoping  to 
take  it  before  the  fleet  could  return.  Meantime,  aware  that 
he  would  have  to  fight  at  sea,  he  had  his  crews  daily  put 
through  their  exercise.  When  it  was  known  at  Carthage  that 
a  Roman  fleet  was  again  on  the  coast  of  Sicily,  the  ships  of 
war  were  all  got  ready  for  sea,  and  laden  with  corn  and  all 
things  requisite  for  the  army  of  Hamilcar,  who  was  besieging 
the  town  of  Eryx ;  and  the  admiral,  Hanno,  was  directed  to 
sail  thither  without  delay,  and  having  landed  the  stores,  to 
take  on  board  some  of  the  best  troops,  and  Hamilcar  with 
them,  and  then  to  force  the  enemy  to  an  engagement.  Hanno 
accordingly  sailed  to  the  isles  named  i?i!gates*,  off"  Cape  Lily- 
baeum,  and  there  landed.  Lutatius,  on  learning  that  the  Punic 
fleet  was  at  sea,  judging  of  its  object,  took  some  of  the  best 
troops  on  board,  with  the  intention  of  giving  battle  in  the 
morning.  During  the  night  the  wind  changpd  ;  it  blew  strong, 
and  favourable  to  the  enemj',  and  the  sea  grew  somewhat 
rough.  The  consul  was  in  doubt  how  to  act ;  but  reflecting 
that  if  he  gave  battle  now  he  should  only  have  to  fight  Hanno, 
and  that  too  with  his  ships  heavily  laden,  whereas  if  he  waited 
for  fine  weather  he  should  have  to  engage  a  fleet  in  fighting 
order  with  picked  troops,  and  above  all  with  the  formidable 
Hamilcar  on  board,  he  resolved  to  hesitate  no  longer.  He 
advanced  in  line  of  battle  ;  the  heavy  ships  and  raw  levies  of 
the  Carthaginians  could  ill  resist  the  expedite  quinqueremes 
and  seasoned  troops  of  the  Romans,  and  the  issue  of  the 
contest  was  not  long  dubious  :  fifty  Punic  ships  were  sunk, 
seventy  taken  ;  the  number  of  the  prisoners  amounted  to  ten 
thousand. 

This  defeat  quite  broke  the  spirit  of  the  Carthaginians. 
Having  vented  their  rage  as  usual  on  their  unfortunate  ad- 
miral by  crucifying  him,  they  gave  full  powers  to  Hamilcar 
to  treat  of  peace  with  the  Roman  consul,  who,  aware  of  the 
exhausted  condition  of  Rome,  gladly  hearkened  to  the  over- 
tures of  the  Punic  general,  and  peace  was  concluded  on  the 
following  terms,  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the  Roman 

*  Liv.  Epit.  xix.  Polybius  speaks  of  but  one  isle,  and  names  it  j^ilgusa. 


190  EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR.  [b.C.  241. 

people.  Tlie  Carthaginians  were  to  evacuate  all  Sicily,  and 
not  to  make  war  on  Hiero  or  his  allies ;  they  were  to  release 
all  the  Roman  prisoners  without  ransom ;  and  to  pay  the  Ro- 
mans the  sum  of  2200  Euboic  talents*  in  the  course  of  twenty 
years.  The  people,  thinking  these  terms  too  favourable  to 
Carthage,  sent  out  ten  commissioners  to  Sicily,  and  by  these 
the  sum  to  be  paid  was  increased  by  a  thousand  talents,  and 
the  term  reduced  to  ten  years,  and  the  Carthaginians  were 
obliged  to  evacuate  the  islands  between  Italy  and  Sicily. 

Thus,  after  a  duration  of  twenty-four  years,  terminated  the 
first  war  between  Rome  and  Carthage.  The  efforts  and  the 
sacrifices  made  by  the  former  state  were  greater  than  at  any 
period  of  her  history.  The  Roman  population  was  consider- 
ably reduced  in  the  contest;  the  Italian  allies  must  have  been 
diminished  in  proportion  ;  seven  hundred  ships  of  war  were 
lost ;  the  enormous  property  taxes  which  they  had  to  pay 
oppressed  the  people  beyond  measuref;  large  portions  of 
the  domain  w  ere  sold,  and  this,  with  the  sale  of  small  proper- 
ties in  land,  caused  by  distress,  gave  origin  to  the  great  in- 
equality of  property  which  afterwards  proved  so  pernicious  to 
the  state.  On  the  side  of  Carthage,  the  war  was  little  less 
injurious;  she  lost  five  hundred  ships  of  war  ;  and  though  she 
did  not,  like  Rome,  lavisii  the  blood  of  her  own  citizens,  she 
had  to  pay  her  mercenaries  high,  and  for  this  purpose  to  in- 
crease the  taxes  of  her  subjects,  and  thereby  augment  their 
discontent ;  all  the  imposts  were  doubled,  and  the  land-tax 
was  raised  to  one  half  of  the  produce 

The  peace  left  Rome  mistress  of  Sicily  ;  and  so  exhausted 
was  the  island  by  the  war,  that  the  purchase  seemed  hardly 
worth  the  cost.  The  occasion  of  the  war  was  evidently  unjust 
on  the  side  of  Rome;  and  it  would  appear  that  her  wiser 
policy  had  been  to  confine  herself  to  Italy  ;  but  in  reality  the 
choice  was  not  in  her  power,  for  Carthage  was  now  extending 
her  dominion  over  the  West,  and  the  contest  for  empire  or 
existence  must  have  come  sooner  or  later.  We  must  also 
bear  in  mind,  that  the  empire  of  the  world  had  been  destined 
by  Providence  for  Rome. 

Sicily  being  the  first  country  acquired  out  of  Italy,  it  was  the 

*  The  Euboic  talent  was  the  one  in  use  in  Southern  Italy,  in  conse- 
quence, probably,  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Chalcidians  of  Eubcea. 
It  was  somewhat  greater  than  the  Attic  talent,  the  proportion  being  about 
70  to  72.     See  Boeckh.  Pub.  Econ.  of  Athens,  i.  30. 

f  The  As  had  been  reduced  to  two  ounces  at  the  end  of  this  war.  Plin. 
yi.  H.  xxxiii.  44. 


B.C.S^l.]  CIVIL  WAR  AT  CARTHAGE.  191 

first  example  of  a  Roman  province*.  A  governor  was  sent  to 
it  annually  ;  all  war  was  prohibited  among  its  people  ;  excise, 
land-tax,  and  other  taxes  were  paid  to  Rome  ;  but  no  public 
lands  were  retained  there,  and  no  assignments  made  to  Roman 
citizens. 

Hiero  continued  to  the  end  of  a  long  life  to  rule  his  little 
realm  of  Syracuse  as  the  favoured  ally  of  Rome ;  and  his  wis- 
dom, justice,  and  beneficence  caused  the  Syracusansto  enjoy 
more  real  happiness  than  they  had  done  at  any  period  of  their 
history  f . 


CHAPTER  114 

Civil  War  at  Carthage. — lUyrian  War. — Gallic  AVars. 

Scarcely  had  the  Carthaginians  concluded  the  war  with 
Rome  when  they  were  engaged  in  another  which  menaced  their 
very  existence.  The  mercenaries  who  had  served  in  Sicily, 
enraged  at  their  pay  and  the  rewards  which  Hamilcar  had 
promised  them  being  withheld,  turned  their  arms  against  the 
state.  They  laid  siege  to  Carthage,  Hippo,  and  Utica,  Most 
of  the  subjects,  exacerbated  by  the  enormous  imposts  which 
had  been  laid  on  them,  joined  them,  and  they  defeated  the 
only  army  that  Carthage  could  assemble.  At  length  the  con- 
duct of  the  M'ar  was  committed  to  Hamilcar,  and  by  his  able 
measures  he  succeeded  in  annihilating  the  revolters.  The 
war,  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  and  ferocious  ever  known, 
la.sted  thi-ee  years  and  four  months.  It  gave  the  world  an 
example  of  the  danger  of  having  the  army  of  a  state  entirely 
composed  of  mercenai'ies. 

During  the  early  part  of  this  war  the  Romans  acted  with 
honour ;  they  set  the  Punic  prisoners  who  were  in  Italy  at 
liberty ;  they  allowed  provisions  to  be  sent  to  Cai'thage,  but 
not  to  the  quarters  of  the  rebels  ;  and  when  the  troops  in  Sar- 
dinia, who  had  also  revolted,  applied  to  them  for  aid,  they  re- 
fused it.     They  could  not,  however,  persist  in  this  honourable 

*  Provincia  Niebuhr  regards  as  equivalent  with  proventiis-  ixnd  parallel 
to  vectigal. 

f  We  here  lose  the  invaluable  guidance  of  Niebuhr,  whose  work  termi- 
nates at  this  point. 

i  Polybius,  i.  65-ii.  35,  the  Epitomators. 


192  ILLYRIAN  WAR.  [b.c.  230-229. 

course  :  on  a  second  application  from  these  troops,  who  were 
hard  pressed  by  the  native  Sards,  they  sent  a  force  thither; 
and  when  the  Carthaginians  were  preparing  to  assert  their 
dominion  over  the  island,  they  were  menaced  by  a  war  with 
Rome.  They  were  therefore  obliged  to  give  up  all  claim  to 
Sardinia,  and  even  to  pay  an  additional  sum  of  twelve  hun- 
dred talents,  as  compensation  for  injuries  they  were  alleged 
to  have  done  the  Roman  merchant-shipping.  This  flagrant 
injustice  on  the  part  of  the  Romans  rankled  in  the  mind  of 
the  Carthaginians,  and  it  is  ast-igned  as  the  chief  cause  of  the 
second  Punic  war,  which  inflicted  so  much  misery  on  Italy. 

For  several  years  now  the  Romans  were  engaged  in  re- 
ducing the  barbarous  natives  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  and  in 
extending  their  dominion  northwards  in  Italy.  It  was  also  at 
this  time  that  they  first  began  to  turn  their  views  over  the 
Adriatic,  and  regard  the  state  of  Greece.  The  following  was 
the  first  occasion. 

The  Illyrians  had  for  a  long  time  been  united  under  one 
head,  and  had  exercised  robbery  and  piracy  on  a  large  scale 
by  sea  and  by  land.  Their  last  king,  Agron*,  dying  from 
intemperance  caused  by  his  joy  at  his  subjects  having  taken 
and  plundered  the  wealthy  town  of  Phoenice  in  Epirus,  his 
widow  Teuta  assumed  the  government  as  guardian  to  her  in- 
fant son.  Piracy  was  now  carried  to  a  greater  extent  than 
ever,  and  continual  complaints  came  to  the  Roman  senate 
from  their  subjects  on  the  east  coast  of  Italy.  C.  and  L.  Co- 
runcanius  were  therefore  sent  (522)  as  ambassadors  to  Teuta : 
she  treated  them  with  great  haughtiness,  and  the  younger  of 
the  envoys  told  her  that,  with  the  help  of  God,  the  Romans 
would  make  her  amend  the  royal  authority  in  Illyria.  They 
then  departed ;  andthe  queen,  offended  at  his  freedom  of  speech, 
sent  some  persons  after  them  who  murdered  him.  This  breach 
of  the  law  of  nations  was  followed  by  a  declaration  of  war  by 
the  Romans.  .       ^* 

The  following  spring  (523)  the  consul  Cn.  Fulvius  sailed 
from  Rome  with  two  hundred  ships,  while  his  colleague  L. 
Postumius  led  a  land  army  of  twenty  thousand  foot  and  two 
thousand  horse  to  Brundisium.  Fulvius  directed  his  course  to 
the  isle  of  Corcyra,  now  a  possession  of  the  Illyrians  ;  as  De- 
metrius of  Pharus-|-,  who  commanded  there,  having  incurred 

*  Agron  was  great-grandson  of  Bardylis,  who  fell  in  battle  against  Philip 
of  Macedonia.      History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  c.  1. 
•f-  An  island  on  the  coast  of  Illyria. 


B.C.  238-225.]  ILLYRIAN  WAR.  193 

the  wrath  of  Teuta,  had  sent  offering  to  put  it  into  the  hands 
of  the  Romans.  He  kept  his  word,  and  the  Coreyraeans 
gladly  submitted  to  the  Roman  dominion.  Fulvius  then  passed 
over  to  ApoUonia,  where  he  was  joined  by  Postumius.  This 
city  also  put  itself  under  the  protection  of  Rome,  and  Epidam- 
nu3  or  Dyrrachium,  whither  they  next  proceeded,  did  the 
same.  The  consuls  then  entered  Illyria,  when  several  tribes 
revolted  from  Teuta ;  and,  leaving  Demetrius  to  rule  over 
them,  Fulvius  returned  to  Rome,  while  Postumius  wintered 
at  Epidamnus.  In  the  spring  (524)  Teuta  obtained  peace, 
on  condition  of  paying  tribute,  giving  up  all  claim  to  the 
greater  part  of  Illyria,  and  engaging  not  to  sail  from  her  port 
of  Lissus  with  more  than  two  barks,  and  these  unarmed  *. 
Postumius  sent  to  inform  the  ^tolian  and  Achaean  leagues  of 
this  peace.  Embassies  were  soon  after  despatched  to  Athens 
and  Corinth,  and  at  this  last  place  the  Romans  were  allowed 
to  join  in  the  Isthmian  games. 

In  the  year  514-  a  war  had  commenced  with  the  Boian 
Gauls,  supported  by  some  of  their  kindred  tribes  and  by  the 
Ligurians.  It  was  continued  through  the  following  year,  with 
advantage  on  the  side  of  the  Romans.  In  516  a  large  body 
of  Transalpine  Gauls  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Boians ;  but  at 
Ariminum  they  fell  out  among  themselves,  killed  their  kings, 
and  slaughtered  one  another.  The  survivors  returned  home, 
and  the  Boians  and  Ligurians  were  glad  to  obtain  peace.  The 
following  year,  when  the  conquest  of  Sardinia  had  been  effect- 
ed by  the  consul  T.  Maulius  Torquatus,  the  Temple  of  Janus 
at  Rome,  which  was  to  be  closed  in  time  of  peace,  was  shut, 
for  the  first  time  it  is  said  since  the  reign  of  Numaf. 

Four  years  after  this  peace  (520)  the  tribune  C.  Flaminius 
brought  in  a  bill  to  assign  to  the  plebeians  the  Picentine  di- 
strict, which  had  been  occupied  by  the  Senonian  Gauls,  and 
which  they  still  held  as  tenants  to  the  state.  The  Boians 
and  other  neighbouring  tribes  saw  in  this  a  plan  of  the  Ro- 
mans to  deprive  them  all  gradually  of  their  lands,  and  they 
determined  on  resistance.  The  Boians  and  Isumbrians  sent 
to  invite  the  Gaesatans,  who  dwelt  on  the  Rhone,  to  come  and 
share  in  a  war  in  which  great  plunder  was  expected.  The  invi- 
tation was  readily  accepted;  and  in  the  eighth  year  after  the 
division  of  the  Picentine  land  (527),  the  Gaesatans  crossed  the 
Alps  and  descended  into  the  plain  of  the  Po,  where  they  were 

*  The  Romaas  afterwards  (533)  made  war  on  Demetrius  for  breach  of 
this  treaty,  and  he  had  to  seek  refuge  with  Philip  II.  of  IMacedonia,  in  whose 
service  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  t  Varro  L.  L.  v.  165. 

K 


194<  GALLIC  WARS.  [ B.C.  224. 

joined  by  all  the  Gallic  tribes  except  the  Venetians  and  the 
Cenomanians,  whom  the  Romans  had  gained  over  to  their 
side.  With  a  host  of  50,000  foot  and  20,000  horse  and  cha- 
riots they  then  crossed  the  Apennines  and  entered  Etruria. 

The  terror  caused  at  Rome  by  this  irruption  of  the  Gauls 
was  great.  All  Italy  shared  in  it,  and  prepared  to  resist  the 
invaders.  The  number  of  men  actually  under  arras  on  this 
occasion  was  150,000  foot  and  6000  horse,  and  the  total 
amount  of  the  fighting  men  of  Rome  and  her  allies  (the 
Greeks  and  Etruscans  not  included)  was  found  to  be  700,000 
foot  and  70,000  horse*. 

One  of  the  consuls,  C.  Atilius,  was  at  this  time  in  Sardinia; 
his  colleague,  L.  iEmilius,  had  encamped  at  Ariminum  ;  and 
one  of  the  praetors  commanded  an  army  in  Etruria.  The 
Gauls  had  reached  Clusiuni,  in  their  way  to  Rome,  Avhen  they 
learned  that  the  praetor's  army  was  in  their  rear.  They  re- 
turned, and  by  a  stratagem  gave  this  army  a  defeat ;  six  thou- 
sand Romans  were  slain  ;  the  I'est  retired  to  a  hill,  where  they 
defended  themselves.  The  consul  iEmilius,  who  had  entered 
Etruria,  now  came  up ;  and  the  Gauls,  in  order  to  secure  the 
immense  booty  which  they  had  acquired,  by  the  advice  of  one 
of  their  kings  declined  an  action,  resolving  to  return  home 
along  the  coast,  and  then  to  re-enter  Etruria,  light  and  unen- 
cumbered. yEmilius,  being  joined  by  the  remainder  of  the 
praetor's  army,  followed  their  march,  in  order  to  harass  them 
as  much  as  possible.  Meantime  Atilius  had  landed  his  army 
at  Pisa  and  was  marching  for  Rome.  His  advanced  guard 
met  that  of  the  Gauls  and  defeated  it.  A  general  action  soon 
commenced,  the  Gauls  being  attacked  in  front  and  rear :  they 
foughtwith  skill  and  desperation;  but  their  swords  and  shields 
were  inferior  to  those  of  the  Romans,  and  they  were  utterly 
defeated,  with  the  loss  of  40,000  slain,  and  10,000  taken ; 
that  of  the  Romans  is  not  known.  Atilius  fell  in  the  action  ; 
^milius  having  made  a  brief  inroad  into  the  Boian  country, 
returned  to  Rome  and  triumphed. 

The  consuls  of  the  succeeding  year  (528)  reduced  the 
Boians  to  submission.  Heavy  rains  and  an  epidemic  in  their 
ax'my  checked  all  further  operations.  Their  successors,  P. 
Furius  and  C.  Flaminius  (the  author  of  the  war),  carried  their 
arms  beyond  the  Po,  and  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Isumbrians, 
who  having  assembled  a  force  of  fifty  thousand  men  prepared 
to  give  them  battle.     The  Roman  consujs,  who  were  devoid 

*  Polyb.  ii.  24.  His  authority  seems  to  have  been  Fabius  Pictor.  See 
Eutrop.  iii.  5. 


B.C.  223-222.]  ©ALLicwARS.  195 

of  all  military  skill,  fearing  to  trust  their  Gallic  allies,  placed 
them  on  the  south  side  of  the  Po,  the  bridges  over  which  they 
broke  down,  and  they  drew  up  their  troops  so  close  to  its 
edge  as  to  leave  no  space  for  the  requisite  movements,  so  that 
their  only  hopes  of  safety  lay  in  victory.  Fortunately  for  the 
Roman  army  the  tribunes  possessed  the  skill  the  consuls 
wanted.  Knowing  that  the  long  Gallic  broadsv/ords  bent 
after  the  first  blow,  and  must  be  laid  under  the  foot  and 
straightened  to  be  again  of  use,  they  gave  pila  to  their  front 
ranks,  and  directed  them,  when  the  Gauls  had  bent  their  swords 
on  these,  to  fall  on  sword  in  hand.  These  tactics  succeeded 
completely ;  the  straight  short  thrust-swords  of  the  Romans 
did  certain  execution,  and  their  victory  was  decisive. 

After  this  defeat  the  Gauls  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  suing 
for  peace  ;  but  the  new  consuls,  M.  Claudius  Marcellus  and 
Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio  (530),  fearing  to  lose  an  occasion  of 
distinguishing  themselves,  prevented  its  being  granted.  The 
Isumbrians  hired  thirty-three  thousand  Gsesatans;  but  all  their 
efforts  were  unavailing  ;  they  wei'e  everywhere  defeated,  their 
chief  towns  Acerrae  and  Mediolanum  were  taken,  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  colonies  of  Mutina,  Cremona,  and  Placentia 
were  founded  to  keep  them  in  obedience.  Marcellus  at  his 
triumph  bore  on  a  trophy  the  arms  of  the  Gallic  king  Viri- 
domarus,  whom  he  had  slain  with  his  own  hand,  and  sus- 
pended them,  as  the  third  Spolia  Opima*  to  Jupiter  Feretrius, 
on  the  Capitol. 

The  Roman  dominion  now  extended  over  the  whole  of 
Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Corsica,  Illyria,  and  Corcyra,  and  the 
towns  of  the  coast  of  Epirus. 


CHAPTER  Ill.f 

Conquests  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Spain. —  Taking  of  Saguntum. — March 
of  Hannibal  for  Italy. — Hannibal's  passage  of  the  Alps. — Battle  of  the 
Ticinus. — Battle  of  the  Trebia. — Battle  of  the  Trasimene  Lake. — Han- 
nibal and  Fabius  Cunctator. — Battle  of  Cannae. — Progress  of  Han- 
nibal. 

While  the  Romans  were  thus  extending  their  dominion  in 
Cisalpine   Gaul,   the   Carthaginians  were   equally   active  in 

*  Plut.  Marcellus,  7.  The  other  two  are  the  fictitious  ones  of  Romulus, 
the  real  of  Cossus.     See  above,  p.  104. 

•{•  Livy,  xxi.  xxii.  Polybius,  iii.  Plut.  Fabius  Max.  1-18.  Appian  De 
Reb.  Hispan.  1-14.  Bell.  Hannibal.  1-28.  Silius  Italicus,  i.-x.  the  Epi- 
tomators. 

k2 


196       CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS.     [b.C.  238-221. 

forming  an  empire  in  Spain.  The  loss  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia, 
and  the  heavy  sum  of  money  exacted  from  them  by  the  Ro- 
mans, had  increased  their  enmity  to  that  people  ;  and  Hamil- 
car,  conscious  of  his  great  talents,  and  that  by  the  fault  of 
others  he  had  been  obliged  to  give  up  his  hopes  of  recovering 
Sicily,  and  filled  with  hatred  to  the  Roman  name,  burned  to 
possess  the  means  of  waging  war  with  them  once  moi-e.  The 
possession  of  Spain  he  saw  would  give  abundance  of  men  and 
money,  and  the  divided  state  of  the  nations  and  tribes  which 
held  it  would  make  the  acquisition  of  dominion  easy.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  the  civil  war  was  ended,  and  the  Numidians  who 
had  shared  in  it  were  reduced,  he  embarked  his  army  (514), 
and  landed  at  Gades  (Cadiz).  He  was  attended  by  his  son- 
in-law  Hasdrubal  and  his  son  Hannibal,  then  a  child  of  nine 
years  of  age.  As  he  was  offering  sacrifice  previous  to  em- 
barkation, he  directed  those  who  were  present  to  withdraw  a 
little ;  then  leading  his  son  up  to  the  altar,  he  asked  him  if 
he  would  go  with  him ;  and  on  his  giving  a  cheerful  assent,  he 
made  him  lay  his  hand  on  the  flesh  of  the  victim,  and  swear 
eternal  enmity  to  Rome. 

During  nine  years  Hamilcar  carried  on  a  successful  war  in 
Spain.  He  reduced  the  modern  Andalusia  and  Estremadura, 
and  penetrated  into  Portugal  and  Leon  ;  but  at  length  he  fell 
(^523)  in  an  engagement  with  the  people  of  the  country.  The 
army  chose  Hasdrubal  to  succeed  him,  and  the  Carthaginian 
senate  confirmed  their  choice,  and  sent  him  additional  troops. 
Hasdrubal,  by  his  talents,  his  mildness,  justice,  and  good 
policy,  won  the  aftections  of  the  Spaniards,  and  extended  the 
dominion  of  Carthage  to  the  river  Iberus  (Ebro) ;  and  he 
founded  on  the  east  coast  the  city  of  New  Carthage  (  Cartha- 
gena)  for  the  capital,  which  soon  nearly  rivalled  Carthage  it- 
self in  extent  and  wealth.  This  able  general  perished  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  command  (531), 
and  the  army,  as  before,  assuming  the  right  of  appointment, 
set  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Hamilcar,  who  had  been  second  in 
command  to  Hasdrubal,  in  his  place,  and  their  choice  was 
again  confirmed  by  the  government. 

Hannibal,  who  was  now  twenty-five  years  of  age,  felt  that 
the  time  for  executing  his  father's  projects  against  Rome  was 
at  hand.  He  proposed  to  march  a  veteran  army  into  Italy, 
and  he  hoped  that  one  or  more  decisive  victories  there  would 
induce  the  Gauls  and  the  Samnites  and  other  Italian  peoples 
to  rise  and  assert  their  independence.  In  order  to  extend  the 
Punic  dominion  still  further  in  Spain,  to  enrich  his  troops,  and 


B.C.  220-219.]      CONQUESTS  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS.       197 

to  give  them  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  general,  he 
led  them  into  the  country  of  the  Olcades,  on  the  Anas  (  Guadi- 
ana),  and  took  their  chief  town,  named  Althcea  or  Carteia. 
The  following  spring  (532)  he  entered  the  country  of  the 
Vaccfeans,  and  took  their  towns  of  Elmantica  or  Hermandica, 
and  Arbucala ;  and  as  he  was  on  the  way  back  to  New  Car- 
thage, he  defeated  on  the  banks  of  the  Tagus  an  army  of  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  Spaniards  who  came  to  oppose 
him.  The  whole  of  Spain  south  of  the  Ebro,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  city  of  Saguntum,  now  obeyed  the  power  of  Car- 
thage. The  people  of  this  town,  who  claimed  a  Greek  origin, 
and  the  Greek  towns  on  the  coast  of  Spain,  had  put  themselves 
vinder  the  protection  of  Rome,  and  a  Roman  embassy  had  been 
sent  to  Carthage,  in  the  time  of  Hasdrubal,  to  stipulate  for  their 
independence,  and  to  require  that  the  Punic  power  should  not 
be  extended  beyond  the  Ebro.  The  Saguntines,  aware  of  the 
ultimate  designs  of  Hannibal, sent  pressing  embassies  to  Rome, 
praying  for  aid,  as  that  general,  having  caused  a  quarrel  be- 
tween them  and  the  Torboletans,  now  menaced  their  existence. 
An  embassy  was  therefore  sent  to  Hannibal,  who  gave  a 
haughty  evasive  reply,  and  sending  to  Carthage  for  instruc- 
tions, he  received  power  to  act  as  he  deemed  best.  Under  the 
pretext  of  aiding  the  Torboletans,  he  therefore  came  and  laid 
siege  to  Saguntum  with  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men.  The  conquest  of  this  town  was  an  object  of 
the  utmost  importance  in  his  eyes ;  as  he  would  thus  deprive 
the  Romans  of  the  place  of  arms  which  they  had  in  view  for 
carrying  on  the  war  in  Spain  ;  he  would  strike  the  Spaniards 
with  a  salutary  dread  of  the  Punic  power,  and  leave  no 
enemy  of  importance  in  his  rear  on  his  proposed  way  for 
Italy ;  and  he  would  acquire  vast  wealth  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war. 

During  eight  months  the  Saguntines  made  a  most  heroic 
resistance.  Their  applications  to  Rcme  for  aid  were  vain,  as 
they  produced  nothing  but  fruitless  embassies  to  Hannibal 
and  to  Carthage.  At  length  (533)  the  town  was  stormed,  all 
within  it  slaughtered  or  enslaved,  and  the  immense  booty  sent 
to  Carthage  or  reserved  for  the  war.  The  Romans,  when  they 
heard  of  the  capture  of  Saguntum,  issued  a  declaration  of  war 
unless  Hannibal  was  given  up  to  them,  and  sent  an  embassy 
for  this  purpose  to  Carthage.  The  chief  of  the  embassy,  Q. 
Fabius  Maximus,  simply  stated  the  demands  of  Rome ;  the 
Carthaginian  senate  hesitated,  not  willing  to  surrender  Han- 


198  MARCH  OF  HANNIBAL  FOR  ITALY.  [b.C.  218. 

nibal,  and  as  little  inclined  to  say  that  he  had  acted  by  public 
authority.  Fabius  then,  holding  up  his  toga,  said,  "In  this  I 
bear  peace  or  war,  take  which  ye  will."  "  Give  which  you 
please,"  replied  the  Suffes.  "  V\'ar,  then,"  cried  he,  shaking 
it  out.  "  We  accept  it,"  was  shouted  forth  on  all  sides*.  The 
embassy  returned  to  Rome,  whence  the  consul  Tib.  Sempronius 
was  already  gone  to  Sicily,  with  160  ships  and  26,000  men,  in 
order  to  pass  over  to  Africa,  while  his  colleague  P.  Cornelius 
Scipio  had  sailed  for  Spain  with  sixty  quinqueremes  and 
24',000  men,  and  the  praetor  L.  Manlius  commanded  a  third 
army  of  about  20,000  men  in  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

During  the  winter  Hannibal  made  all  the  requisite  arrange- 
ments for  the  defence  of  Africa  and  Spain,  and  he  formed 
treaties  with  the  Gauls  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  spring  (534)  he  assembled  his  army  of  90,000 
foot,  12,000  horse,  and  37  elephants,  at  New  Carthage,  and  com- 
mitting the  government  of  Spain  to  his  brother  Hasdrubal,  and 
leaving  him  a  force  of  about  15,000  men  and  fifty-seven  ships 
of  war,  he  crossed  the  Ebro  on  his  way  for  Italy.  In  his  pro- 
gress thence  to  the  Pyrenees  he  overcame  the  various  peoples 
of  the  country,  in  which  he  left  an  officer  named  Hanno  with 
10,000  foot  and  1000  horse.  Desertion  and  other  causes  re- 
duced his  army,  but  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees  it  numbered 
50,000  foot  and  9000  horse,  all  steady  and  well-disciplined 
soldiers.  Having  passed  these  mountains,  he  marched  without 
delay  for  the  Rhodanus  (JRhone),  on  the  further  bank  of  which 
he  found  a  large  army  of  Gauls  assembled  to  dispute  his  pass- 
agef.  He  collected,  and  caused  to  be  constructed,  a  great 
number  of  boats  and  rafts,  but  it  seemed  too  hazardous  to  at- 
tempt to  pass  a  broad  rapid  river,  in  the  presence  of  so  large 
an  army.  He  therefore  sent  at  nightfall  a  division  of  his  troops 
under  Hanno,  one  of  his  principal  officers,  up  the  river,  with 
directions  to  cross  it  a  day's  march  off,  and  then  to  come  down 
the  left  bank  and  take  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  Hanno  did  as 
directed,  and  having  halted  for  a  day  on  the  other  side  to  re- 
fresh his- men,  marched  down  the  stream.  When  he  made  the 
fire-signal  agreed  on,  Hannibal,  who  had  everything  ready, 
commenced  the  passage.  The  Gauls  rushed  down  to  oppose 
him  ;  but  they  soon  saw  the  camp  behind  them  in  flames,  and 


*  This  was  related  somewhat  differently  by  some  of  the  annalists.    See 
Gellius,  X.  27. 

f  Opposite  Deaucaire. 


B.C.  218.]  MARCH  OF  HANNIBAL  FOR  ITALY.  199 

after  a  short  resistance  turned  and  fled.    The  remainder  of  the 
Punic  army  then  passed  over*. 

Meantime  Scipio,  having  coasted  Etruria  and  Liguria,on  his 
way  to  Spain,  was  encamped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone,  four 
days'  march  from  the  place  where  Hannibal  was  lying.  He 
sent  forward  a  party  of  horse  to  reconnoitre,  who  fell  in  with 
and  drove  back  a  body  of  Numidian  cavalry  sent  out  by  Han- 
nibal for  the  same  purpose  f-  When  they  returned,  and  told  the 
consul  where  the  Punic  army  was,  he  embarked  his  troops,  and 
sailed  up  the  river  to  attack  them  ;  but  on  coming  to  the  place 
he  found  them  gone.  He  then  returned  with  all  speed,  and 
sending  his  brother  Cn.  Scipio  to  Spain  with  the  greater  part 
of  his  forces,  embarked  for  Pisa  with  the  remainder  to  meet  the 
foe  on  his  descent  from  the  Alps. 

Hannibal,  urged  by  an  embassy  from  the  Boian  Gauls,  had 
resolved  to  lose  no  time  in  advancing  into  Italy.  He  marched 
for  four  days  up  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  to  its  junction 
with  the  Isara  (Isere')  X-  The  country  between  these  rivers 
was  named  the  Island,  and  two  brothers  were  at  this  time 
contending  for  the  regal  authority  over  it.  Hannibal  sided 
with  the  eidei*,  who  in  return  supplied  him  with  clothing  and 
provisions  for  his  array,  now  reduced  to  38,000  foot  and  8000 
horse,  and  gave  him  an  escort  through  the  country  of  the  Al- 
lobroges  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 

Hannibal  went  for  ten  days  about  one  hundred  miles  up  the 
Isara ;  he  then  turned  to  the  mountains.  Here  difficulties 
began  to  assail  him.  The  Gallic  people  named  AUobroges 
occupied  the  passes,  but  as  they  did  not  keep  their  plans 
secret,  he  learned  that  they  wei-e  there ;  and  also  finding  out 
that  tbey  only  kept  guard  by  day,  retiring  to  their  town  by 
night,  he  set  out  in  the  night  with  some  select  troops  and 
seized  the  heights  they  used  to  occupy.     In  the  morning  the 

•  He  adopted  the  following  plan  to  get  the  elephants  over  the  river. 
Broad  rafts  were  attached  to  the  bank,  and  other  rafts  to  tliese  on  the  out- 
side, and  the  whole  covered  with  earth  ;  the  elephants  readily  went  on  this, 
two  females  being  placed  at  their  head.  The  outer  rafts  were  then  loosed, 
and  towed  over  by  boats,  the  elephants  in  general  remaining  quiet  on  them  ; 
some  however  jumped  into  the  river,  but  they  were  saved.    Polyb.  iii.  4G. 

f  The  Romans  were  three  hundred,  the  Numidians  five  hundred ;  the 
former  being  the  number  of  the  cavalry  of  a  legion  (above,  p.  173),  the  latter 
that  of  a  Numidian  regiment. 

+  Polybius  calls  the  other  river  the  Scoras  or  Scocras,  Livy  the  Arar 
(Saone)  ;  but  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  Saone  is  too  fi»r  off,  and  the 
land  between  them  does  not  agree  with  Polybius'  description  of  the  Island. 


200  Hannibal's  passage  of  the  alps.      [b.c.  218. 

army  set  forward  ;  but  the  Gauls  assailed  them  in  the  pass, 
where  they  had  to  proceed  along  a  narrow  path  over  a  deep 
ravine,  and  did  much  mischief,  especially  to  the  horses  and 
beasts  of  burden.  Hannibal,  however,  at  the  head  of  his  select 
troops,  drove  them  off.  He  then  took  and  plundered  several 
villages  and  their  chief  town.  The  march  now  lay  for  three 
days  in  a  fruitful  valley,  where  there  were  numerous  herds  of 
cattle.  On  the  fourth  day  the  people  who  dwelt  at  the  other 
end  of  the  valley  sent  to  propose  a  peace  with  him,  offering 
hostages  and  guides.  Hannibal,  though  he  distrusted  them, 
agreed  to  the  treaty,  but  he  prudently  remitted  none  of  his  pre- 
cautions. After  two  days'  march  the  troops  entered  a  rugged 
precipitous  pass  leading  out  of  the  valley,  and  here  the  Gauls 
had  made  preparations  to  overwhelm  them.  But  Hannibal 
had  wisely  put  the  baggage,  and  horse,  and  elephants  in  ad- 
vance, and  kept  his  troops  of  the  line  in  the  rear,  which  fore- 
sight saved  the  army.  The  loss,,  however,  in  men  and  beasts 
was  considerable,  as  the  Gauls  showered  stones  and  rolled 
down  rocks  from  the  heights  above  them.  Hannibal  was 
obliged  to  pass  the  night  separate  from  his  cavalry.  In  the 
morning,  finding  the  Gauls  gone,  the  army  joined  and  moved 
on,  though  still  harassed  by  their  desultory  attacks.  It  was 
remarked  that  they  never  assailed  the  part  of  the  line  of 
march  where  the  elephants  were,  as  the  unusual  appearance 
of  these  animals  inspired  them  with  terror. 

On  the  ninth  day  the  army  reached  the  summit  of  the  Alps, 
where  they  made  a  halt  of  two  days  to  rest,  and  to  enable 
those  who  had  been  left  behind  to  rejoin.  The  snow  which 
now  fell,  it  being  late  in  the  autumn,  and  the  prospect  of  the 
further  difficulties  they  would  have  to  encounter,  dispirited 
the  troops;  but  their  leader,  by  pointing  out  to  them  the  rich 
plain  of  the  Po,  and  assuring  them  of  the  facility  of  conquest, 
soon  raised  their  spirits,  and  they  commenced  the  descent. 
Here,  however,  though  there  were  no  enemies  to  attack  them, 
the  loss  was  nearly  as  great  as  in  the  ascent.  The  new-fallen 
snow  made  the  path  indiscernible,  and  those  who  missed  it 
rolled  down  the  precipices.  They  still  however  advanced, 
till  they  found  themselves  on  the  edge  of  a  steep,  which  it 
was  plain  the  elephants  and  beasts  of  burden  could  never  get 
down.  Hannibal  tried  to  take  a  round  to  escape  this  steep  ; 
but  the  thin  crust  of  ice  which  had  formed  on  the  snow  gave 
way  under  the  feet  of  the  beasts,  and  held  them  impounded, 
and  even  the  men  could  not  get  along  it.     He  therefore  clear- 


B.C.  218.3       Hannibal's  PASSAGE  OF  THE  ALPS.  201 

ed  away  the  snow  on  the  edge  of  the  steep,  and  encamped 
there  for  the  night.  Next  day  he  set  his  men  at  work  to  level 
a  way  down*;  and  they  made  it  that  day  passable  for  the 
horses  and  mules,  which  they  brought  down  to  the  parts  where 
there  was  pasturage ;  but  it  took  three  days  to  make  a  way 
for  the  elephants.  The  descent  now  offered  no  further  diffi- 
culties, and  the  army  was  soon  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  f. 

Five  months  had  now  elapsed  from  the  day  they  had  set  out 
from  New  Carthage,  fifteen  days  of  which  had  been  occupied 
in  the  passage  of  the  Alps.  The  army  had  in  that  time  been 
considerably  reduced  by  its  various  losses,  and  it  now  num- 
bered only  26,000  men,  i.  e.  12,000  African  and  8000  Spanish 
foot,  and  6000  horse :{;. 

Hannibal,  having  given  his  troops  sufficient  rest,  led  them 
into  the  country  of  the  Ligurian  tribe  of  the  Taurinians  (^Pied- 
mont), whose  capital  he  took  by  storm.  This  struck  terror 
into  the  surrounding  tribes,  and  they  all  joined  the  invaders. 
Finding  that  those  in  the  plains  were  only  withheld  from  do- 
ing the  same  by  the  fear  of  the  Roman  armies  in  their  country, 
he  then  resolved  to  advance  without  further  delay  and  deliver 
them  from  their  apprehensions. 

Scipio  had  meantime  advanced  from  Pisa,and  collecting  what 
troops  there  were  in  Etruria  and  Cisalpine  Gaul,  crossed  the 
Po  with  the  intention  of  giving  Hannibal  battle  at  once.  The 
Punic  general  was  equally  anxious  to  fight ;  both  armies  ap- 
proached the  river  Ticinus,  which  the  Romans  passed,  and 
came  to  within  five  miles  of  Victumvise  where  Hannibal  lay. 

*  According  to  I. ivy,  Pliny,  Appian,  and  others,  Hannibal,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  cut  down  the  rocks,  had  large  trees  hewn  into  pieces,  and  piled  * 
around  them,  and  set  fire  to,  and  when  the  rocks  were  glowing-hot,  vinegar 
poured  on  them,  which  rendered  them  soft  and  easy  to  cut.  The  truth  of 
this  circumstance  has  been  disputed  in  modern  times.  Polybius,  who  does 
not  notice,  in  effect  contradicts  it,  by  saying  (iii.  59.)  that  the  summits  and 
upper  declivities  of  the  Alps  are  bare  and  devoid  of  trees. 

f  According  to  some  critics  the  route  of  Hannibal  was  over  Mt.  Viso  or 
Mt.  Genevre.  Ukert  decides  in  favour  of  Mt.  Cenis  and  the  road  tra- 
versed at  the  present  day  by  the  diligences  between  Lyons  and  Turin.  De 
Luc,  Wickham  and  Cramer,  and  Brockedon,  are  of  opinion  that  it  was 
over  the  Little  St.  Bernard  the  route  of  the  Punic  general  laj',  and  this  is 
the  hypothesis  most  generally  adopted.  Some  have  supposed  that  became 
over  the  Great  St.  Bernard  or  the  Simplon. 

\  These  and  all  the  preceding  numbers  were  engraved  by  Hannibal  on 
a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  Juno  at  Lacinium,  whence  they  were  copied  by 
Polybius. 

k5 


202  BATTLE  OF  THE  TICINUS.  [b.C.  218. 

Next  morning  Scipio  went  out  to  reconnoitre  with  his  horse 
and  light  troops  ;  Hannibal  did  the  same,  and  the  two  parties 
met.     An  action  ensued  :  the  consul  put  his  light  troops  and 
the  Gallic  horse  in  front,  supported  by  the  heavy  horse  ;  Han- 
nibal set  his  bridled  horse*  in  the  centre,  the  Numidians  on 
the  flanks.     At  the  first  shock  the  Roman  light  troops  gave 
way  and  fled  ;  but  the  heavy  horse  maintained  the  conflict  till 
the  Numidians  fell  on  their  rear.     Scipio  himself  received  a 
severe  wound,  and  is  said  to  have  been  indebted  for  his  life 
to  his  son,  afterwards  so  famous,  then  a  youth  of  seventeen. 
The  Romans  dispersed  and  fled  to  their  camp ;  and  Scipio, 
now  aware  of  the  enemy's  great  superiority  in  cavalry,  re- 
solved to  retire  without  delay  beyond  the  Po,  where  the  coun- 
try was  less  level.    He  reached  this  river,  and  got  over  before 
the  Carthaginians  came  up,  and  he  also  had  time  to  loosen 
the  bridge  of  rafts.     About  six  hundred  men  who  remained 
on  the  other  side  fell  into  their  hands ;  the  rest  of  the  army 
reached  Placentia  in  safety.    Hannibal  went  two  days'  march 
up  the  river,  and  passed  it  in  a  narrower  place  by  a  bridge  of 
boats  ;  he  then  came  to  within  six  miles  of  Placentia,  and  of- 
fered Wtle,  but  to  no  purpose.     The  Gauls  now  readily  join- 
ed him  ;  and  a  body  of  two  thousand  Gallic  foot  and  two  hun- 
dred horse,  who  Avere  in  the  Roman  service,  cut  to  pieces  the 
guard  at  one  of  the  gates,  and  came  over  to  him.     Scipio, 
thinking  his  position  no  longer  safe,  led  his  troops  out  in  the 
night,  in  order  to  occupy  a  stronger  one  on  the  hills  about  the 
river  Trebia,  where  he  might  wait  for  the  arrival  of  his  col- 
league, who  had  been  recalled  from  Sicily.    When  Hannibal 
found  Scipio  gone,  he  sent  the  Numidians  after  him ;  but  they 
fell  to  rummaging  the  deserted  camp  for  plunder,  and  the 
Romans  thus  had  time  to  get  safely  over  the  river  and  encamp. 
Hannibal  then  came  and  sat  down  about  five  miles  off",  where 
the  Gauls  supplied  him  with  abundance  of  pi'ovisions. 

Sempronius,  on  receiving  his  recall,  embarked  his  troops, 
and  sailed  up  the  Adriatic  to  Ariminum,  where  he  landed,  and 
lost  no  time  in  joining  Scipio  on  the  Trebia.  The  consuls 
differed  in  opinion  :  Scipio,  who  was  still  disabled  by  his 
wound,  was  for  delay,  which  must  be  injurious  to  the  enemy, 
and  would  probably  cause  the  fickle  Gauls  to  change  their 
minds  ;  besides  which,  he  himself  when  recovered  might  be  of 
some  service  to  his  country  :  Sempronius  was  for  immediate 
action,  as  the  time  of  elections  was  at  hand,  and  moreover  the 
*  The  Numidians  did  not  use  bridles. 


B.C.  218.]  BATTLE  OF  THE  TREBIA.  203 

illness  of  his  colleague  would  aflford  him  the  opportunity  of 
gaining  the  sole  glory  of  victory.  An  occasion  of  action  soon 
presented  itself. 

The  Gauls  who  dwelt  from  the  Trebia  to  the  Po,  wishing 
to  keep  well  with  both  parties,  declared  openly  for  neither. 
Hannibal,  to  punish  them,  sent  a  body  of  two  thousand  foot 
and  one  thousand  Numidian  horse  to  plunder  their  lands. 
They  came  to  the  Roman  camp  imploring  protection,  and 
Sempronius  sent  out  some  horse  and  light  troops,  who  drove 
off  those  of  the  enemj\  Elate  with  this  success,  he  became 
still  more  anxious  for  battle,  and  Hannibal,  who  wished  for  an 
engagement  for  the  very  same  reasons  that  Scipio  was  opposed 
to  it,  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  Sempronius'  ardour.  Ha- 
ving observed  in  the  plain  between  the  two  armies  a  stream 
whose  banks  were  overgrown  by  bushes  and  briars,  he  placed 
in  ambush  in  it  during  the  night  his  brother  Mago  with  one 
thousand  foot  and  as  many  horse,  and  in  the  morning  he  sent 
the  Numidian  horse  over  the  Trebia  to  ride  up  to  the  enemy's, 
camp  and  try  to  draw  them  out ;  he  meantime  ordered  the 
rest  of  the  army  to  take  their  breakfast,  and  get  themselves 
and  their  hoi'ses  ready. 

Sempronius,  when  he  saw  the  Numidians,  sent  his  horse  to 
drive  them  off ;  his  light  troops  followed,  and  he  then  led  out 
the  rest  of  the  army.  It  was  now  mid-winter,  the  day  was 
bitterly  cold  and  snowy,  and  the  troops  had  not  had  their 
breakfast ;  the  Ti-ebia  was  swollen  by  the  rain  that  had  fallen, 
and  it  was  breast-high  on  the  infantry  as  they  waded  tlirough 
it.  Cold  and  hungry  they  advanced  to  engage  an  army  that 
was  fresh  and  vigorous,  for  Hannibal  had  directed  his  men  to 
anoint  and  arm  themselves  by  the  fires  which  were  kindled 
out  before  the  tents.  When  he  saw  the  Romans  over  the 
river,  he  led  out  his  troops,  and  drew  them  up  about  a  mile 
from  his  camp.  His  advanced-guard  consisted  of  8000  dart- 
men  and  Balearic  slingers :  he  drew  up  his  heavy  infantry, 
Africans,  Spaniards,  and  Gauls,  about  20,000  in  one  line, 
with  10,000  horse,  one  half  on  each  wing,  and  the  elephants 
in  front  of  the  wing.  Sempronius  drew  up  his  army  of  16,000 
Romans  and  20,000  allies  in  the  usual  manner:  he  placed  his 
horse  (about  4000)  on  the  wings.  The  Roman  light  troops 
being  already  fatigued,  and  having  spent  their  weapons  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  Numidians,  were  easily  beaten ;  and  while  the 
troops  of  the  line  were  engaged,  the  Punic  horse  charged  and 


204<  BATTLE  OF  THE  TREBIA.  [b.C.  217. 

scattered  that  of  the  Romans  ;  the  light  troops  and  Numidians 
then  advanced  and  fell  on  the  flanks  of  the  Roman  line  ;  the 
troops  in  ambush  rose  at  the  same  time,  and  attacked  them  in 
the  rear.  The  Roman  wings,  assailed  in  front  by  the  elephants 
and  in  flank  by  the  light  troops,  gave  way  and  fled  ;  the  cen- 
tre, about  ten  thousand  men,  drove  back  the  Punic  troops  in 
front  of  it,  but  it  suffered  from  those  in  its  rear.  At  length, 
seeing  their  wings  driven  off  the  field,  and  fearing  the  num- 
ber of  the  enemy's  horse  if  they  attempted  to  aid  them,  or  to 
recross  the  river  to  their  camp,  they  made  a  desperate  effort, 
and  breaking  through  the  adverse  line  forced  their  way  to 
Placentia.  Most  of  the  remainder  were  destroyed  at  the  river 
by  the  horse  and  the  elephants;  those  who  escaped  made 
their  way  to  Placentia  also.  The  victors  did  not  venture  to 
cross  the  river;  and  all  their  elephants  but  one  died  in  conse- 
quence of  the  extreme  cold  and  Vr-et.  Scipio  the  next  night 
led  the  troops  in  the  camp  over  the  Trebia  to  Placentia,  and 
thence  over  the  Po  to  Cremona. 

Sempronius  sent  word  to  Rome  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
state  of  the  weather  he  should  have  obtained  a  complete  vic- 
tory. The  truth,  however,  was  not  to  be  concealed  ;  but  the 
Roman  spirit  only  rose  the  more  in  adversity.  Cn.  Servilius 
and  C.  Flaminius*  were  created  consuls,  Sempronius  having 
gone  to  Rome  to  hold  the  elections. 

Hannibal,  having  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  on  a  maga- 
zine near  Placentia,  and  taken  Victumviae,  gave  his  troops 
some  repose.  Early  in  the  spring  (535)  he  attempted  to  cross 
the  Apennines  ;  but  a  violent  storm  of  thunder,  hail,  wind  and 
rain  forced  him  to  give  over  his  projectf.  He  then  gave  Sem- 
pronius a  second  defeat  near  Placentia,  after  which  he  led  his 
troops  into  Liguria.  Flaminius  went  to  his  province  in  the 
spring,  and  having  received  four  legions,  two  from  Sempro- 
nius and  tv.o  from  the  praetor  Atilius,  crossed  the  Apennines 
and  encamped  at  Arretium  in  Etruria.  Hannibal,  finding  the 
Gauls  so  discontented  at  his  remaining  in  their  country  that 
he  was  obliged  to  change  his  dress  frequently,  and  to  wear 
various  kinds  of  periwigs  in  order  to  escape  their  attempts  on 
his  life;};,  resolved  to  enter  Etruria  without  delay.     Of  the  dif- 

*  This  was  the  Flaminius  who  had  caused  the  Gallic  war.     See  above, 
p.  194. 

-f-  Liv.  xxi.  58.     Polybius  does  not  mention  this  attempt. 
+  Polyb.  iii.  78. 


B.C.  217.]  BATTLE  OF  THE  TRASIMENE  LAKE.  '203 

ferent  routes  into  that  country,  he  fixed  on  that  through  the 
marshes  formed  by  the  river  Arno*,  as  he  could  thus  elude 
the  Roman  consul.  He  placed  his  African  and  Spanish  in- 
fantry with  the  baggage  in  advance ;  these  were  followed  by 
the  Gauls,  and  last  came  the  horse.  He  himself  rode  on  his 
only  remaining  elephant.  For  four  days  and  three  nights  they 
had  to  march  through  the  water,  enduring  every  kind  of  hard- 
ship. Most  of  the  beasts  of  burden  perished,  several  of  the 
horses  lost  their  hoofs,  and  Hannibal  himself  lost  the  sight  of 
one  of  his  eyes. 

Having  learned  the  character  of  the  Roman  consul,  a  vain 
rash  man,  utterly  unskilled  in  military  affairs,  Hannibal  re- 
solved to  provoke  him  to  a  battle  before  the  arrival  of  his  col- 
league. He  therefore  proceeded  to  lay  waste  the  country  be- 
tween Faesulae  and  Arretium.  The  sight  of  the  devastations  he 
committed  enraged  Flaminius,and  he  would  not  be  withheld  by 
his  officers  from  giving  battle.  Hannibal  had  now  reached  the 
fertile  plain  of  the  Clanis,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cortona,  and  when 
he  found  that  Flaminius  was  following  him,  he  prepared  to 
select  the  most  advantageous  position  for  engaging.  He  there- 
fore advanced,  with  the  hills  of  Cortona  on  his  left,  till  he  came 
to  a  spot  where  the  hills  approached  theTrasimene  lake,  leaving 
a  narrow  way,  and  then  recede,  forming  a  valley  closed  at  the 
one  end  by  an  eminence,  while  its  other  extremity  is  washed 
by  the  waters  of  the  lakef.  He  stationed  his  line-troops  at  the 
further  end  of  this  valley,  placing  his  light  troops  on  the  hills 
on  the  right  side  of  it,  and  his  horse  and  the  Gauls  on  those 
on  the  left.  He  thus  awaited  Flaminius,  who  arriving  in  the 
evening  encamped  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  without  the  pass, 
along  which  he  led  his  troops  early  the  next  morning  (June  23). 
A  dense  fog  happening  to  rise  and  spread  over  the  valley  con- 
cealed the  enemy  from  the  view  of  the  Romans  ;  the  head  of 
their  column  had  just  reached  the  place  where  the  Punic  troops 
awaited  them,  when  Hannibal  gave  the  signal  for  attack,  and 
they  were  assailed  at  once  in  front  and  flank.  Not  having 
time  to  form,  they  were  cut  down  in  their  line  of  march.    Fla- 

*  Livy,  xxii.  2.  They  were  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Lower  Arno  (Nieb. 
i.  128).  Micali  and  some  other  moderns  maintain  that  they  were  the 
marshes  formed  by  the  Upper  Po. 

f  The  exact  scene  of  the  battle  is  uncertain.  "  It  is  one  of  the  events  in 
ancient  history,"  says  Arnold,  "  in  which  the  accounts  of  historians  differing 
with  each  other  or  with  the  actual  appearance  of  the  ground,  arc  to  us  in- 
explicable." He  places  it  hetjond  the  pass  of  Passignano,  though  he  owns 
there  is  no  valley  there. 


206  BATTLE  OF  THE  TRASIMENE  LAKE.       [b.C.217. 

minius  himself  was  killed  by  the  Gauls  early  in  the  action. 
Numbers  ran  up  to  their  necks  in  the  water;  but  the  enemy's 
horse  charged  after  them  and  cut  them  to  pieces*.  The  num- 
ber of  the  slain  was  fifteen  thousand ;  six  thousand  men  broke 
through  the  head  of  the  column,  and  made  their  way  over  the 
hills  to  a  neighbouring  village,  whither  they  were  pursued  by 
the  Punic  general  Maharbal  and  forced  to  surrender,  on  pro- 
mise of  being  allowed  to  depart  without  their  arms  ;  but  Han- 
nibal, denying  the  right  of  Maharbal  to  grant  these  terms, 
assembled  all  his  prisoners  to  the  number  of  upwards  of  fifteen 
thousand,  and  separating  the  Romans,  whom  he  retained,  he 
dismissed  the  allies,  declaring,  as  was  his  wont,  that  he  was 
come  as  the  deliverer  of  Italy  from  Roman  tyranny.  His  own 
loss  was  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  chiefly  Gauls,  on  whom 
he  generally  contrived  to  make  the  loss  fall  most  heavilj\ 

This  defeat  was  of  too  great  a  magnitude  for  the  government 
at  Rome  to  be  able  to  conceal  or  extenuate  it.  In  the  evening 
of  the  day  that  the  news  arrived,  the  prastor  mounted  the 
Rostra  and  said  aloud,  "  We  have  been  overcome  in  a  great 
battle."  The  people,  unused  to  tidings  of  defeat,  were  quite 
overwhelmed  ;  but  the  senate  remained  calm  and  resolute  as 
ever  in  adversity.  Soon  after,  another  piece  of  ill  news  ar- 
rived ;  a  body  of  four  thousand  horse,  which  the  consul  Ser- 
vilius  had  sent  on  from  Ariminum,  were  cut  to  pieces  or  forced 
to  surrender  by  the  Punic  horse  and  light  troops.  It  was  now 
resolved  to  revive  the  dictatorship,  an  office  for  some  time  out 
of  use,  and  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  was  appointed  f,  with  M.  Mi- 
nucius  for  his  master  of  the  horse. 

Hannibal  marched  tlirough  Umbria  and  Picenum,  wasting 
and  destroying  the  country  on  his  way.  OnVeaching  the  sea 
he  sent  home  word  of  his  successes;  and  having  halted  some 
time,  to  give  his  men  and  horses  rest,  he  advanced  through 
the  country  of  the  Marsian  League  into  Apvilia.  The  dictator, 
having  received  the  two  legions  of  the  consul  Servilius,  and 
added  two  newly-raised  ones  to  them,  advanced  with  all  speed 
to  Apulia,  and  encamped  in  presence  of  Hannibal  near  Arpi. 
The  Punic  general  offered  battle  to  no  purpose  ;  it  was  the 

*  According  to  Livy  (xxii.  5.)  and  Zonaras  (viii.  125.),  the  ardour  of  the 
combatants  was  such,  that  they  did  not  perceive  the  shock  of  an  earthquake 
which  occurred  at  that  time,  and  threw  down  large  portions  of  several  towns, 
sank  mountains,  and  turned  rivers  from  their  course.  Of  this  Polybius 
says  nothing  ;  but  it  was  related  by  the  annalist  Ccelius,  Cic.  Div.  i.  35. 

f  As  there  was  no  consul  at  Rome  to  nominate  him,  he  was  created  Pro- 
dictator. 


B.C.  217.]    HANNIBAL  AND  FABIUS  CUNCTATOR.  207 

plan  of  Fabius,  thence  named  the  Delayer  (^Cunctator),  to 
give  him  no  opportunity  of  fighting,  but  to  wear  him  out  by- 
delay.  He  accordingly  kept  on  the  hills  above  him,  followed 
him  whithersoever  he  went,  made  partial  attacks  under  advan- 
tageous circumstances,  and  thus  raised  the  spirit  and  confidence 
of  his  troops.  Hannibal,  having  exhausted  Apulia,  entered 
Saranium,  where  he  plundered  the  district  of  Beneventum  and 
took  the  town  of  Telesia ;  P'abius  still  following  him  at  a  di- 
stance of  one  or  two  days'  march,  but  giving  no  opportunity 
for  fighting.  It  is  remarkable,  that  though  the  Romans  had 
suffered  such  defeats,  notone  of  their  allies  had  as  yet  fallen  off. 
Hannibal  hoped  that  by  an  irruption  into  Campania  he  should 
be  able  to  force  Fabius  to  give  battle,  or  if  he  did  not,  that 
this  confession  uf  the  inferiority  of  the  Romans  in  the  field 
would  have  its  due  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  allies.  He  there- 
fore marched  by  Allifse  and  through  one  of  the  valleys  of 
Mount  Callicula  to  Casilinum,  wasted  the  Falernian  district 
as  far  as  Sinuessa,  and  encamped  on  the  Vulturnus.  Fabius 
moved  along  the  Massic  hills*;  but  neither  the  sight  of  the 
burning  villages  in  the  plain  beneath,  nor  the  reproaches  and 
entreaties  of  Minucius  and  the  other  officers,  could  induce 
him  to  change  his  system  and  descend  into  the  plain. 

Hannibal,  seeing  there  was  no  chance  of  a  battle,  prepared 
to  retire  by  the  way  he  came,  into  quarters  for  the  winter. 
Fabius  hoped  now  to  take  him  at  an  advantage:  and  having 
placed  a  sufficient  force  to  guard  the  pass  of  Lautulae,  and  oc- 
cupied the  town  of  Casilinum,  he  posted  4000  men  at  the  pass  of 
Mount  Callicula,  and  took  a  position  with  the  remainder  of  his 
forces  on  an  eminence  on  the  road  by  which  the  enemy  must 
move.  Hannibal,  seeing  the  way  thus  impeded, and  despairing 
of  being  able  to  force  it,  had  recoui'se  to  stratagem.  He  made 
two  thousand  of  the  strongest  oxen  in  the  booty  be  collected, 
and  bundles  of  brushwood  be  tied  on  their  horns.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  night,  he  directed  the  baggage-drivers  to  set  fire 
to  these  bundles,  and  drive  the  oxen  up  the  hill  close  to  the 
pass ;  and  the  light  troops  to  hasten  and  occupy  its  summit. 
The  oxen,  infuriated  by  the  heat  and  flame,  ran  wildly  up  the 
hill ;  the  Romans,  who  guarded  the  pass,  thinking  from  the 
number  of  lights  that  the  enemy  was  escaping  that  way,  made 
all  the  speed  they  could  to  occupy  the  summit ;  but  they  found 
the  Punic  light  troops  there  already.    Both  remained  inactive 

*  These  hills  {Monte  Massa)  separate  the  plain  of  the  Liris  from  that  of 
the  Vulturnus. 


208  HANNIBAL  AND  FABIUS  CUNCTATOR.     [b.C.  217. 

waiting  for  the  daylight.  Hannibal  meantime  had  led  the  rest 
of  his  army  through  the  pass,  and  he  sent  some  Spanish  troops, 
who  speedilj'  routed  the  Romans  on  the  hill.  He  then  marched 
leisurely  through  Samnium  into  Apulia,  where  he  took  the 
town  of  Geronium,  before  which  he  pitched  his  camp;  Fabius, 
who  followed  him,  encamped  at  Larinum. 

The  dictator,  being  obliged  to  return  to  Rome  on  some  re- 
ligious affairs,  committed  the  command  of  the  army  to  the 
master  of  the  horse,  imploring  him  on  no  account  to  give  bat- 
tle. But  Minucius  little  heeded  these  admonitions:  he  quitted 
the  hills  where  he  was  posted  and  came  nearer  to  the  Punic 
camp  ;  and  he  had  the  advantage  in  some  slight  actions  which 
ensued.  These  successes  were  greatly  magnified  at  Rome ; 
and  the  people,  who  were  weary  of  the  salutary  caution  of 
Fabius,  were  induced  to  pass  a  decree  for  making  the  author- 
ity of  the  master  of  the  horse  equal  with  that  of  the  dictator. 
Fabius,  v.ho  had  returned  to  the  army,  made  no  complaint : 
he  divided  the  troops  with  Minucius,  and  they  formed  two  se- 
parate camps,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  asunder. 

Hannibal,  who  Mas  informed  of  all  that  occurred,  hoped 
now  to  be  able  to  take  advantage  of  Minucius'  impetuosity. 
There  M'as  a  valley  between  their  camps,  in  which,  though  it 
contained  no  bushes  suited  for  an  ambuscade,  there  were  sun- 
dry hollows  where  troops  might  lie  concealed,  and  in  these  he 
placed  during  the  night  five  hundred  horse  and  five  thousand 
foot ;  and  that  they  might  not  be  discovered  by  the  Roman 
foragers,  he  sent  at  dawn  some  light  troops  to  occupy  an  emi- 
nence in  the  middle  of  the  plain.  Minucius,  as  soon  as  he  saw 
these  troops,  directed  his  light  troops  to  advance  and  drive 
them  off;  he  then  sent  his  horse,  and  finally  led  out  his  heavy 
infantry.  Hannibal  kept  sending  aid  to  his  men,  and  mean- 
time led  on  his  horse  and  heavy  foot.  His  horse  drove  the 
Roman  light  troops  back  on  those  of  the  line,  and  he  then  gave 
the  signal  to  those  in  ambush  to  rise;  the  Romans  were  now 
on  the  very  verge  of  a  total  defeat,  when  Fabius  led  his  troops 
to  their  relief.  Hannibal,  when  he  saw  the  good  order  of  the 
dictator's  army,  drew  off  his  men,  fearing  to  hazard  an  action 
with  fresh  troops.  As  he  retired,  he  observed  that  the  cloud 
which  had  lain  so  long  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains  had  at 
last  come  down  in  rain  and  tempest.  Minucius  candidly  ac- 
knowledged his  fault,  and  the  superior  wisdom  of  the  dictator, 
and  the  whole  army  encamped  together  again. 

The  winter  passed  away,  only  marked  by  some  slight  skir- 


B.C.  216.]     HANNIBAL  AND  FABIUS  CUNCTATOR.  209 

mishes.  At  Rome,  when  the  time  of  the  elections  came,  the 
consuls  chosen  were  C.  Terentius  Varro,  a  plebeian*,  and  L. 
^milius  Paulus,  a  patrician.  Instead  of  the  usual  number  of 
four  legions,  eight  were  now  raised,  each  of  five  thousand  foot 
and  three  hundred  horse,  and  the  allies  gave  as  usual  an  equal 
number  of  foot  and  thrice  as  many  horse.  King  Hiero  sent 
a  large  supplj'  of  corn,  and  one  thousand  slingers  and  Cretan 
archers. 

As  soon  as  the  season  for  the  ripening  of  the  corn  approach- 
ed (536),  Hannibal  moved  and  occupied  the  citadel  of  a  town 
named  Cannse,  in  which  the  Romans  had  their  magazines. 
The  consuls  of  the  former  year,  who  commanded  the  army  in 
these  parts,  finding  their  situation  hazardous,  and  the  allies  in- 
clined to  revolt,  sent  to  Rome  for  instructions,  and  it  was  re- 
solved that  battle  should  be  given  without  delay,  ^milius 
and  Terentius  set  out  from  Rome  with  the  new-raised  troops, 
and  their  whole  united  force  amounted  to  eighty-seven  thou- 
sand horse  and  foot.  Fabius  and  other  prudent  men,  placing 
their  only  reliance  on  iEmilius,  who  had  distinguished  himself 
in  the  Illyrian  wars,  anxiously  impressed  on  him  the  necessity 
of  caution,  and  of  restraining  his  vain  and  ignorant  colleague^ 
as  this  army  might  be  in  a  great  measure  regarded  as  Rome's 
last  stake. 

As  Hannibal  was  greatly  superior  in  cavalry,  it  was  the  ad- 
vice of  ^milius  not  to  risk  an  action  in  the  plain  ;  but  Varro, 
ignorant  and  confident,  on  his  day  of  command  (for  the  Roman 
consuls  when  together  took  it  day  and  day  about),  led  the  army 
nearer  to  where  the  enemy  lay.  Hannibal  attacked  the  line 
of  march,  but  was  driven  off"  with  some  loss ;  and  next  day 
iEmilius,  not  wishing  to  fight,  and  unable  to  fall  back  with 
safety,  encamped  on  the  Aufidus,  placing  a  part  of  the  army 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  a  little  more  than  a  mile  in  ad- 
vance of  his  camp,  and  equally  distant  from  that  of  Hannibal, 
to  protect  his  own  and  annoy  the  enemy's  foragei's.  Hannibal, 
having  explained  to  his  troops  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  an  immediate  action,  led  them  over  the  river  and  encamp- 
ed on  the  same  side  with  the  main  army  of  the  Romans,  and 
on  the  second  day  he  offered  battle,  which  iEmilius  prudently 
declined.  He  then  sent  the  Numidians  across  the  river  to  attack 

*  From  Livy's  account  of  Varro,  we  are  to  suppose  that  he  was  a  vulgar, 
low-born  demagogue.  He  says  (xxii.  25.)  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  butcher ; 
yet  we  find  him  continued  in  ofiSce  or  command  for  many  years  after  his 
defeat,  which  can  hardly  be  ascribed  to  mere  popular  favour. 


210  BATTLE  OF  CANNJE.  [b.C.  216. 

those  who  were  watering  from  the  lesser  camp.  The  patience 
of  Varro  was  now  exhausted,  and  the  next  day  (Aug.  2.)  at 
sunrise  he  led  his  troops  over  the  river,  and  joining  with 
them  those  in  the  lesser  camp  drew  them  up  in  order  of  battle. 
The  line  faced  the  south*  ;  the  Roman  horse  were  on  the  right 
wing  by  the  river  side  ;  the  troops  of  the  line,  drawn  up  deep- 
er than  usual,  extended  thence ;  the  horse  of  the  allies  were 
on  the  left  wing,  the  light  troops  in  advance  of  the  line.  Han- 
nibal, having  first  sent  over  his  light  troops,  led  his  army  also 
to  the  other  side  of  the  river.  He  set  his  Spanish  and  Gallic 
horse  on  his  left  wing,  opposite  that  of  the  Romans  ;  then  one 
half  of  his  heavy  African  infantryf  ;  next,  the  Spaniards  and 
Gauls;  after  them  the  rest  of  the  African  foot,  and  on  the 
right  wing  the  Numidian  horse.  When  his  line  had  been  thus 
formed,  he  put  forward  the  centre  so  as  to  give  the  whole  the 
form  of  a  half  moon.  His  whole  force,  inclusive  of  the  Gauls, 
did  not  much  exceed  40,000  foot  and  10,000  horse,  while  that 
of  the  Romans  was  80,000  foot  and  about  6000  horse.  On 
the  one  side,  ^milius  commanded  the  right,  Varro  the  left 
wing,  the  late  consul  Servilius  the  centre  ;  on  the  other,  Hanno 
led  the  right,  Hasdrubal  the  left  wing,  Hannibal  himself  the 
centre. 

The  battle  was  begun,  as  usual,  by  the  light  ti'oops ;  the 
Spanish  and  Gallic  horse  then  charged ;  the  Roman  horse, 
after  a  valiant  resistance,  overborne  by  numbers,  broke  and 
fled  along  the  river ;  the  heavy-armed  on  both  sides  (the  light 
troops  having  fallen  back  on  them)  then  engaged ;  the  Gauls  and 
Spaniards,  w^ho  formed  the  top  of  the  half-moon,  being  borne 
down  by  the  weight  of  the  Roman  maniples,  gave  way  after  a 
brief  but  gallant  i-esistance.  The  victors  heedlessly  pressing 
on,  the  African  foot  on  either  side  wheeled  to  the  right  and 
left  and  surrounded  them.  iEmilius,  who  had  commanded, 
on  the  right,  now  came  with  a  party  of  horse  to  the  centre 
and  took  the  command.  Here  he  was  opposed  to  Hannibal 
himself.  The  Numidians  meantime  kept  the  horse  of  the  allies 
engaged ;  till  Hasdrubal,  having  cut  to  pieces  the  Roman 
horse  which  he  had  pursued,  came  to  their  aid  ;  the  allies  then 

*  Livy  says  that  the  arid  wind  named  the  Vultiiriius  blew  clouds  of  dust 
ill  the  faces  of  the  Romans.  This  circumstance  is  not  noticed  by  Polybius  ; 
and  if  it  was  the  case,  it  was  probably  the  fault  of  Varro,  not  the  skill  of 
Hannibal,  as  some  suppose,  that  placed  them  in  this  position. 

I  Hannibal  had  armed  his  African  and  Spanish  infantry  after  the  Ro- 
man manner,  with  the  Roman  arms  which  had  fallen  into  his  hands. 


B.C.  216.]  BATTLE  OF  CANNiE.  211 

turned  and  fled  :  Hasdrubal,  leaving  the  Numidians  to  pursue 
them,  fell  with  his  heavy  horse  on  the  rear  of  the  Roman  in- 
fantry. i?imilius  fell  bravely  fighting;  that  part  of  the  Roman 
infantry  which  was  surrounded  was  slaughtered  to  the  last 
man  ;  the  rest  of  the  infantry  was  massacred  on  all  sides ;  the 
Numidians  cut  to  pieces  the  horse  of  the  allies.  The  consul 
Varro  escaped  to  Venusia  with  only  seventy  horse.  A  body 
of  ten  thousand  foot,  whom  ^milius  had  left  to  guai'd  the 
camp,  fell  during  the  battle  on  that  of  Hannibal,  which  they 
were  near  taking ;  but  Hannibal  coming  up  after  the  battle, 
drove  them  back  to  their  own  camp  with  a  loss  of  two  thou- 
sand men,  and  there  forced  them  to  surrender. 

This  was  the  greatest  defeat  the  Roman  arms  ever  sustained. 
Out  of  80,000  foot,  according  to  Polybius,  only  3000  escaped, 
and  10,000  were  made  prisoners;  of  6000  horse  there  remained 
but  370  at  liberty,  2000  were  taken.  Among  the  slain  were 
two  quaestors ;  twenty-one  tribunes ;  several  former  consuls, 
praetors,  and  sediles,  among  whom  were  the  consul  iEmilius, 
the  late  consul  Servilius,  and  the  late  master  of  the  horse 
Minucius ;  and  eighty  senators,  or  those  who  were  entitled  to 
a  seat  in  the  senate.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  4000  Gauls 
and  1500  Spaniards  and  Africans  of  his  infantry,  and  about 
200  horse- 

A  party  of  the  Roman  troops,  who  escaped  to  Canusium, 
put  themselves  there  under  the  command  of  Ap.  Claudius  and 
the  young  P.  Cornelius  Scipio,  who  were  military  tribunes ; 
and  as  these  were  consulting  with  some  of  the  other  officers, 
word  came  that  L.  Csecilius  Metellus  and  other  young  noble- 
men were  planning  to  fly  to  the  court  of  some  foreign  prince, 
utterly  despairing  of  their  country.  Scipio  instantly  rose,  and 
followed  by  the  rest,  went  to  the  lodgings  of  Metellus,  where 
the  traitors  were  assembled ;  and  there,  drawing  his  sword, 
made  them,  under  terror  of  death,  swear  never  to  desert  their 
country*. 

When  tidings  of  this  unexampled  defeat  reached  Rome,  the 
consternation  which  ensued  is  not  to  be  described.  Grief  and 
female  lamentation  were  everywhere  to  be  heard,  but  the  mag- 
nanimity of  the  senate  remained  unshaken.  By  the  advice  of 
Fabius  Maximus  measures  were  taken  for  preserving  tranquil- 
lity in  the  city,  and  ascertaining  the  position  and  designs  of 

*  Liv.  xxii.  53.  The  censors  of  the  year  538  deprived  Metellus  and  his 
companions  of  their  horses,  and  made  them  aerarians,  on  account  of  their 
conduct  on  this  occasion. 


212  PROGRESS  OF  HANNIBAL.  [b.C.  216. 

the  victorious  and  the  condition  of  the  vanquished  army.  On 
account  of  the  number  of  the  slain,  a  general  mourning  for 
thirty  days  was  appointed,  and  all  public  and  private  religious 
rites  were  suspended ;  Q.  Fabius  Pictor*  was  sent  to  inquire  of 
the  god  at  Delphi ;  the  Fatal  Books  were  consulted,  and  by 
their  injunction  a  Greek  man  and  woman,  and  a  Gallic  man  and 
woman  were  buried  alive  in  the  Ox-market.  Measures  being 
thus  taken  to  appease  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  they  proceeded 
to  employ  the  means  of  defence.  C.  Claudius  Marcellus,  the 
propraetor,  was  directed  to  take  the  command  at  Canusium, 
where  about  ten  thousand  men  were  now  assembled.  JNI. 
Junius  was  made  dictator,  and  by  enrolling  all  above  and  some 
under  seventeen  years  of  age,  four  legions  and  one  thousand 
horse  were  raised  ;  eight  thousand  able-bodied  slaves  were, 
with  their  own  consent f,  purchased  from  their  masters  and 
enrolled  in  the  legions;  the  arms,  the  spoils  of  former  wars, 
which  hung  in  the  temples  and  porticoes,  were  now  taken 
down  and  used. 

It  was  apprehended  at  Rome  that  Hannibal  might  march 
at  once  for  the  city,  and  it  is  said  that  Maharbal  had  urged 
him  to  do  soj,  and  on  his  hesitating,  told  him  that  he  knew 
how  to  conquer  but  not  to  use  his  victory.  But  the  able  ge- 
neral knew-  too  well  the  small  chance  of  success  in  such  an 
attempt,  and  was  well-aware  of  how  much  more  importance 
it  was  to  try  to  detach  the  allies  of  Rome  ;  and  in  this  he  soon 
had  abundant  success.  The  Samnites,  Lucanians,  Bruttians, 
most  of  the  Greek  towns,  great  part  of  Apulia  and  Campania, 
and  all  Cisalpine  Gaul  turned  against  Rome,  whose  power  was 
now  thought  to  be  at  an  end. 

Yet  never  was  Rome's  steadfastness  greater  than  at  the  pre- 
sent moment.  Hannibal  being  in  want  of  money,  offered  his 
Roman  prisoners  their  liberty  at  a  moderate  ransom.  Ten  of 
them  were  sent  to  Rome,  with  Carthalo,  a  Punic  officer,  to 
consult  the  senate,  on  their  oath  to  return.  When  they  drew 
nigh  to  Rome,  a  lictor  met  Carthalo,  ordering  him  off  the  Ro- 
man territory  before  night:  the  senate,  though  assailed  by  the 
tears  and  prayers  of  the  families  of  the  captives,  were  swayed 
by  the  stern  rigid  sentiments  of  T.  Manlius  Torquatus,  and 

*  This  is  the  earliest  Roman  historian. 

•[•  Hence  they  were  named  Volones. 

J  "  Igiiur  dictatorem  Karthaginensium  magister  equitum  monuit :  Mitte 
mecum  Romam  equitatum  ;  die  quinta  in  Capitolio  tibi  cena  cocta  erit." — 
Cato,  ap.  Gell.  x.  24. 


B.C.  216.]  PROGRESS  OF  HANNIBAL.  213 

replied  that  they  should  not  be  redeemed.  One  of  the  envoys 
had,  when  leaving  the  Punic  camp,  returned  to  it  on  some  pre- 
text, and  thinking,  or  affecting  to  think,  himself  thereby  re- 
leased from  his  oath,  remained  at  Rome ;  but  the  senate  had 
him  taken  and  sent  back  to  Hannibal.  When  Terentius  Varro 
returned  to  Rome,  all  orders  went  out  to  meet  him,  and 
thanked  him  for  not  having  despaired  of  the  republic.  How- 
different,  as  Livy  remarks,  \vould  have  been  the  reception  of 
a  defeated  Punic  general ! 

Hannibal  having  entered  Samnium,  and  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  town  of  Compsa,  advanced  to  Campania,  where  the 
popular  party  in  Capua,  under  the  guidance  of  a  demagogue 
of  noble  birth  named  Paeuvius  Calavius,  had  made  an  alliance 
with  him,  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  that  luxurious  city. 
About  this  time  he  despatched  his  brother  Mago  to  Carthage, 
with  an  account  of  his  successes,  and  a  demand  of  men,  money, 
and  supplies.  Mago  it  is  said  emptied  out  before  the  senate 
a  bushel  full  of  gold-rings,  the  ornament  of  the  equestrian 
order  at  Rome,  to  prove  the  magnitude  of  the  losses  of  the 
Romans;  but  the  anti-Barcine*  party  still  opposed  the  war, 
and  advised  to  seek  for  peace.  The  opposite  party  however 
prevailed  :  it  was  voted  to  send  him  4000  Numidians,  40  ele- 
phants, and  a  large  sum  of  money;  and  Mago  and  another 
officer  were  sent  to  Spain  to  hire  a  body  of  20,000  foot  and 
4000  horse. 


CHAPTER  IV.f 

Hannibal  in  Campania. — Defeat  of  Postumius. — Affairs  of  Spain. — Treaty 
between  Hannibal  and  king  Philip. — Hannibal  repulsed  at  Nola. — Suc- 
cess of  Hanno  in  Biuttium. — Affairs  of  Sardinia, — of  Spain, — of  Sicily. 
— Elections  at  Rome. — Defeat  of  Hanno. — Siege  of  Syracuse. — Affairs 
of  Spain  and  Africa. — Taking  of  Tarentum.- — Successes  of  Hannibal. 

In  the  city  of  Nola,  as  at  Capua,  the  popular  party  was  ad- 
verse, the  aristocratic  favourable,  to  the  cause  of  Rome.  Han- 
nibal, therefore,  hoping  to  gain  possession  of  this  town  as  he 
had  gotten  Capua,  led  his  troops  into  its  territory.    The  Nolan 

*  The  party  who  supported  Hannibal  at  Carthage  was  named  Barcine, 
from  his  father's  e|)ithet  Barcas. 

f  Livy,  xxiii.-xxv.  21.  Polyb.  Fragm.  vii.  viii.  Appian.  Bell.  Hann. 
29-37.     Plut.  Marcell.  9-17.     Silius  ItaL  xi.-xii.  450;  the  Epitomators. 


214  HANNIBAL  IN  CAMPANIA.  [b.C.  216. 

senate  instantly  sent  off  to  the  pi^setor  Marcellus*,  who  was 
at  Casilinum  with  an  army,  and  he  immediately  set  out,  and 
keeping  mostly  to  the  hills,  reached  the  town,  from  which 
Hannibal  had  just  departed,  in  order  to  make  an  effort  to  gain 
Neapolis,  for  he  was  extremelj^  anxious  to  get  possession  of  a 
good  seaport  on  that  coast.  Failing,  however,  in  his  attempt, 
he  went  on  to  Nuceria,  which  he  forced  to  surrender ;  and 
he  then  returned  and  encamped  before  the  gates  of  Nola. 
Marcellus,  fearing  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  people,  retired 
into  the  town.  Each  day  the  two  armies  were  drawn  out,  and 
slight  skirmishes,  but  no  general  action,  took  place.  At  length 
the  senators  gave  Marcellus  information  of  a  plot  to  shut  the 
gates  behind  him  when  he  had  led  his  army  out,  and  to  admit 
the  enemy.  He  therefore  next  day  instead  of  leading  out  his 
forces  as  usual,  stationed  them  within  the  town  ;  the  legion- 
aries and  Roman  horse  at  the  middle  gate,  the  recruits,  the 
light  troops,  and  the  allies'  horse  at  the  two  side  ones  ;  and  he 
gave  strict  orders  for  no  one  to  appear  on  the  walls.  Hannibal, 
when  he  drew  out  his  army  as  usual  and  saw  no  one  to  oppose 
him,  judged  at  once  that  the  plot  was  discovered,  and  he  re- 
solved to  attempt  a  storm,  in  reliance  on  a  rising  of  the  people 
in  his  favour.  Having  sent  a  part  of  his  troops  back  to  the 
camp  for  ladders  and  the  other  requisite  implements,  he  led 
his  army  up  to  the  walls.  Suddenly  the  gates  all  opened,  the 
trumpets  sounded,  the  Roman  army  rushed  out  on  all  sides, 
and  he  was  forced  to  retire  with  some  loss.  Marcellus  then 
closed  the  gates  again,  and  having  instituted  an  inquiry, 
put  to  death  upwards  of  seventy  persons  whose  guilt  was 
proved. 

Hannibal  having  retired  from  Nola,  \yent  and  laid  siege  to 
Acerrse,  the  people  of  which  tov\^n  despairing  of  being  able  to 
defend  it,  fled  from  it  in  the  night.  He  then  advanced  and 
invested  Casilinum,  which  was  gallantly  defended  by  a  small 
but  resolute  garrison  ;  and  finding  that  he  had  no  chance  of 
taking  it,  he  put  his  army  into  winter-quarters  at  Capua.  Here, 
as  was  to  be  expected,  his  troops  indulged  in  all  kinds  of  lux- 
ury and  debauchery ;  and  ignorant  rhetorical  writers  who 
could  not  discern  the  real  causes  of  the  subsequent  decline  of 
Hannibal's  power,  ascribe  it  to  this  wintering  in  Capua. 

When  the  weather  grew  milder,  Hannibal  again  invested 
Casilinum.  The  dictator  Junius  was  at  hand  with  an  army  of 
twenty-five  thousand  men,  but  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Rome 
*  The  conqueror  of  the  Gauls.     See  above,  p.  195. 


B.C.  216.3  DEFEAT  OF  FOSTUMIUS.  215 

on  account  of  the  auspices,  and  he  charged  his  master  of  the 
horse,  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  not  to  attempt  anything 
during  his  absence.  Gracchus,  therefore,  though  the  garrison 
were  suffering  the  extremes  of  famine,  could  not  venture  to 
convey  them  supplies.  All  he  could  do  was  to  send  barrels  filled 
with  corn  down  the  stream  by  night,  which  the  people  watched 
for  and  stopped  ;  quantities  of  nuts  were  in  like  manner  floated 
down  to  them.  Unfortunately,  the  Vulturnus,  happening  to 
be  swollen  one  night,  overflowed,  and  some  of  the  barrels  were 
carried  out  on  the  bank  where  the  enemy  lay.  The  river  now 
was  strictly  watched ;  and  the  garrison,  having  eaten  the  lea- 
ther of  their  shields,  and  every  species  of  vile  food,  at  length 
capitulated.  Most  of  the  towns  of  Bruttium  which  remained 
faithful  to  Rome,  were  soon  after  forced  to  surrender. 

But  a  still  greater  misfortune  befell  the  Romans  in  the  north 
of  Italy.  As  L.  Postumius,  the  consul-elect,  was  marching  with 
an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  through  a  wood  in 
which  the  Gauls  had  sawn  the  trees  on  the  way-side,  so  as  to 
be  easily  thrown  down,  he  was  attacked  by  them  ;  numbers  of 
his  men  were  crushed  to  death  by  the  falling  of  the  trees;  and 
few  of  the  whole  army  escaped.  The  consul's  skull  was  fa- 
shioned into  a  drinking-cup  by  the  victors,  to  be  used  at  their 
principal  temple.  The  news  of  this  misfortune  caused  great 
terror  at  Rome ;  but  the  senate  carried  on  the  business  of  the 
state  with  their  usual  equanimity.  Their  body,  which  had 
been  greatly  reduced,  received  at  this  time  an  accession  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  members*.  Marcellus  was  elected 
as  colleague  to  Gracchus  in  the  room  of  Postumius ;  but  the 
election  being  pronounced  faulty  by  the  augurs,  Fabius  Max- 
imus  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 

Having  brought  the  war  in  Italy  to  the  end  of  the  third 
year,  we  will  now  take  a  view  of  the  progress  of  affairs  in 
Spain. 

Cn.  Scipio  on  arriving  in  that  country  (oS^)  speedily  re- 

*  Sp.  Carvilius  on  this  occasion  proposed  that  two  out  of  the  senate  of 
each  of  the  peoples  of  the  Latin  name  should  be  given  the  full  Roman  fran- 
chise, and  admitted  into  the  Roman  senate.  This  liberal  and  prudeni  pro- 
ject was  of  course  treated  with  scorn.  M.  Fabius  Biiteo  was  made  dictator 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  senate,  which  he  did  in  the  following 
manner :  he  selected  first  those  who  had  borne  curule  offices  since  the  cen- 
sorship of  L.  iEmilius  and  C.  Flaminius,  and  had  not  yet  been  admitted  into 
the  senate ;  then  those  who  had  been  sediles,  tribunes  of  the  people,  or 
quaestors  ;  finally,  those  who  had  held  no  office,  but  had  in  their  houses  the 
spoils  of  enemies  or  a  civic  crown.  It  is  remarkable  that  there  were  now 
two  dictators  at  a  time,  and  that  Fabius  had  no  master  of  the  horse. 


216  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [b.C.  218-216. 

duced  the  whole  coast  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Ebro.  He 
advanced  into  the  interior,  and  defeated  Hanno  at  a  place 
named  Scissis.  The  Punic  general  was  made  prisoner,  with 
two  thousand  of  his  men,  and  six  thousand  were  slain.  Has- 
drubal  meantime  crossed  the  Ebro,  and  fell  on  and  drove  to 
their  ships,  with  loss,  the  crews  of  the  Roman  fleet  at  Tarraco 
(  Tarragona).  He  however  always  retired  before  Scipio,  who 
reduced  the  Ilergetans  and  some  other  peoples  of  that  country. 
The  following  spring  (535)  Scipio  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Ebro,  where  the  Punic  fleet  and  army  lay,  and  by  a  sudden 
attack  drove  the  fleet  of  forty  ships  ashore,  and  carried  away 
twenty-five  of  them;  and  he  afterwards  defeated  the  Ilergetans, 
who  had  resumed  their  arms.  As  Hasdrubal  was  coming  to 
their  aid,  he  was  recalled  by  tidings  that  the  Celtiberians,  in- 
stigated by  the  Romans,  had  invaded  the  Punic  province  and 
taken  three  towns ;  he  hastened  back  to  its  defence,  but  was 
defeated  in  two  battles,  with  the  loss  of  fifteen  thousand  men 
slain  and  four  thousand  taken. 

In  this  state  of  aflTairs,  P.  Scipio,  whose  command  had  been 
prolonged,  arrived  with  thirty  ships  of  war,  eight  thousand 
troops,  and  a  large  supply  of  stores.  The  Romans  now  crosse  d 
the  Ebro,  and  advanced  to  Saguntum,  as  it  was  there  that  the 
hostages  which  Hannibal  had  required  from  the  Spanish  princes 
were  kept,  and  the  garrison  was  not  strong,  and  if  the  hostages 
were  released,  those  princes  might  be  more  easily  induced  to 
ioin  the  Romans.  Fortune  here  favoured  them ;  a  Spaniard 
named  Abelux  persuaded  Bostar,  the  commandant,  that  his 
wisest  course  would  be  to  send  the  hostages  back  to  their 
friends,  whose  gratitude  might  then  be  relied  on  ;  and  he 
off'ered  to  be  himself  the  agent  in  the  business.  Bostar  gave 
his  consent;  Abelux  went  that  night  secretly  to  the  Roman 
camp,  and  engaged  with  Scipio  to -put  the  hostages  itito  his 
hands;  and  the  following  night,  when  he  left  the  town  with 
them,  a  party  of  Romans,  as  had  been  arranged,  captured  him 
and  them,  and  brought  them  into  the  camp.  The  hostages 
were  forthwith  sent  off'  to  their  friends,  and  this  apparent 
generosity  produced  a  great  effect  in  favour  of  the  Romans. 
The  approach  of  winter  put  a  stop  to  all  further  opera- 
tions. 

The  following  year  (536)  Hasdrubal  found  it  necessary  to 
turn  all  his  forces  against  a  people  named  the  Carpesians*, 
who  had  risen  in  arms.     When  he  had  subdued  them,  he  re- 

*  This  people  dwelt  on  the  Tagus;  their  capital  was  Toletum  (^Toledo). 


B.C.  215.]         Hannibal's  TREATY  WITH  PHILIP.  217 

ceived  oi'ders  from  home  to  lead  his  army  into  Italy  to  join  his 
brother.  At  his  earnest  desire,  Himiico  was  sent  with  a  fleet 
and  army  to  succeed  him,  as  otherwise  lie  assured  the  senate 
all  Spain  would  be  lost.  He  then  marched  for  the  Ebro  ;  the 
Romans,  learning  his  intentions,  crossed  that  river,  and  an  en- 
gagement ensued,  in  which  Hasdrubal  sustained  a  total  defeat. 
This  victory  decided  those  who  were  wavering,  and  nearly  all 
Spain  now  joined  the  Romans. 

In  Italy,  at  the  commencement  of  the  next  campaign  (537), 
the  two  main  armies  remained  long  inactive.  The  Romans 
were  encamped  at  Suessula  ;  Hannibal  at  Tifata,  over  Capua. 
During  this  time  the  Romans  found  that  a  contest  with  a  new 
and  powerful  enemy  awaited  them.  Philip,  king  of  Mace- 
donia, having  ended  the  Confederate  War*,  resolved  to  join 
his  arms  with  those  of  Hannibal,  to  whom  he  sent  an  embassy  ; 
and  a  treaty  of  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  was  concluded -f. 
Fortunately  for  the  Romans,  the  ship  in  which  the  envoys 
were  returning  fell  into  their  hands,  and  the  summer  was  gone 
before  a  second  embassy  could  reach  the  Punic  camp  and  re- 
turn, so  that  the  season  of  action  was  lost.  P.  Valerius  Flaccus 
was  stationed  with  fifty  ships  at  Tarentum  to  watch  the  pro- 
gress of  events  beyond  the  sea,  and  the  prsetor  IM.  Valerius 
Lcevinus  had  orders,  in  case  of  any  hostile  movements  there, 
to  proceed  to  Tarentum,  and  to  land  his  troops  on  the  oppo- 
site coast,  and  transfer  the  war  thither. 

The  consul  Fabius  at  length  put  his  army  in  motion,  and 
having  passed  the  Vulturnus,  and  taking  some  of  the  revolted 
towns,  marched  between  Hannibal's  camp  and  CapuaJ  to  Ve- 
suvius, where  Marcellus  lay,  whom  he  sent  with  his  troops  to 
the  defence  of  Nola.  Marcellus  while  there  made  frequent 
incursions  into  the  adjoining  parts  of  Samnium  and  laid  them 
waste  ;  and  at  the  urgent  desire  of  the  Samnites  Hannibal  led 
his  troops  against  Nola,  where  he  was  joined  by  Hanno  with 
his  forces  from  Bruttium.  Marcellus  having  drawn  up  his 
troops,  as  before,  within  the  town,  made  a  sally  ;  but  a  sudden 
storm  of  wind  and  rain  came  on  and  parted  the  combatants. 

*   History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  chap.  vii. 

t  Polybius  (vii.  9.)  gives  a  copy  of  the  treaty,  which  is  a  very  curious 
document.  It  only  speaks  as  in  the  text  of  an  alliance  offensive  and  defen- 
sive, and  of  obliging  the  Romans  to  give  up  all  their  possessions  on  the 
further  coast  of  the  Adriatic.  Livy  (xxiii.  33.)  mentions  several  particulars 
which  are  not  in  it. 

I  In  this  case  it  would  seem  Hannibal  must  have  moved  from  Tifata, 
which  is  quite  close  to  Capua. 

L 


218  AFFAIRS  OF  SARDINIA.  [b.C.  215. 

The  rain  lasted  all  that  night  and  part  of  the  next  day.  On 
the  third  day  a  general  engagement  was  fought,  and  Hannibal, 
it  is  said,  was  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  five  thousand  men  and 
six  elephants  ;  and  the  next  day  a  body  of  upwards  of  twelve 
hundred  Spanish  and  Numidian  horse  went  over  to  the  Ro- 
mans, whom  they  served  faithfully  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

Hannibal  having  dismissed  Hanno  went  into  Apulia  for  the 
winter,  and  fixed  his  camp  near  the  town  of  Arpi.  Hanno 
meantime  endeavoured  to  reduce  the  Greek  towns  in  Bruttium, 
which  chiefly,  out  of  fear  and  hatred  of  the  Bruttians,  remain- 
ed faithful  to  Rome.  His  attempt  on  Rhegium  failed  ;  but  the 
Locrians  \\'ere  forced  to  form  an  alliance  with  Carthage.  Tlie 
Bruttians,  enraged  at  being  balked  of  the  plunder  of  these  two 
towns,  collected  a  body  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  resolved 
to  win  the  wealthy  city  of  Croton  for  themselves.  In  this,  as 
in  almost  every  other  town,  the  men  of  property  were  for,  the 
lower  orders  against,  the  Romans.  The  latter  put  the  town 
into  the  possession  of  the  Bruttians ;  the  former  retired  to  the 
citadel,  and  the  Bruttians  and  the  people  being  unable  to  take 
it  applied  to  Hanno.  As  the  circuit  of  the  town  greatly  ex- 
ceeded the  wants  of  the  inhabitants,  Hanno  proposed  to  those 
in  the  citadel  to  receive  a  colony  of  Bruttians  into  the  town  ; 
but  they  declared  that  they  would  sooner  die  :  at  last  they 
consented  to  emigrate,  and  retire  to  Locri.  In  these  parts 
Rhegium  alone  now  rei;i:!ained  to  the  Romans. 

In  Sardinia  a  man  named  Hampsicora  had,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  Carthaginians,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against 
the  Romans.  Ill-health  prevented  active  operations  on  the 
part  of  the  pro-prsetor  Q.  Mucius,  but  his  successor,  the  jDraetor 
P.  Manlius,  finding  himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  twenty- 
two  thousand  foot  and  twehe  hundred  horse,  advanced,  and 
encamped  near  the  Sardinian  army.  Hampsicora  had  left  the 
command  with  his  son,  and  the  inexperienced  youth  venturing 
to  engage  the  Romans  was  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  three  thou- 
sand men  killed  and  eighteen  hundred  taken.  This  victory 
would  have  ended  the  war,  had  not  Hasdrubal  landed  with  a 
Punic  army.  This  general,  having  joined  Hampsicora,  gave 
Manlius  battle.  After  a  conflict  of  four  hours  victory  declared 
for  Rome  :  the  enemy  had  twelve  thousand  slain,  and  three 
thousand  seven  hundred  taken,  among  whom  were  Hasdrubal 
and  two  other  Carthaginians  of  rank.  Hampsicora  put  an 
end  to  himself  a  few  days  after,  and  the  whole  island  then 
Submitted. 


B.C.214<.]  FACTIONS  IN  SYRACUSE.  219 

In  Spain  the  Scipios  gave  a  decisive  defeat  to  the  three  Pu- 
nic generals  Hasdrubal,  IMago,  and  Hamilcar,  who  were  be- 
sieging the  town  of  lUiturgis*.  It  is  said  that  with  but  six- 
teen thousand  men  thej'  routed  sixty  thousand,  killing  more 
men  than  were  in  their  own  array.  Shortly  after  they  gave 
them  another  great  defeat  at  a  town  named  Intibili.  Several 
more  of  the  native  peoples  now  declared  for  the  Romans. 

The  steady  ally  of  Rome,  the  good  king  Hiero,  died  this 
year,  after  a  life  of  ninety,  a  reign  of  fifty  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  grandson  Hieronynms,  a  boy  of  but  fifteen  yeai-s 
of  age.  A  party  in  Syracuse  adverse  to  Rome  persuaded  this 
giddy  profligate  youth  to  seek  the  friendship  of  Carthage,  and 
he  sent  an  embassy  with  that  view  to  Hannibal.  His  overtures 
were  eagerly  accepted ;  a  treaty  was  formed,  by  which  the 
island  was  to  be  divided  between  them,  and  Hieronymus  com- 
menced hostilities.  He  was  however  assassinated  shortly  af- 
terwards at  Leontini ;  but  the  anti-Roman  party  still  main- 
tained the  superiority  at  Syracuse. 

The  time  of  the  elections  at  Rome  being  arrived  (538),  the 
consul  Fabiiis  returned  to  hold  them.  The  prerogative  tribe 
(i.  e.  the  one  allotted  to  vote  first)  having  named  T.  Otacilius 
and  M.  Emilias,  the  consul  addressed  them,  and  reminding 
them  of  their  bounden  duty  in  the  present  condition  of  their 
country  to  elect  none  but  the  ablest  men,  desired  them  to  vote 
over  again.  They  then  chose  himself  and  M.  Marcellus  ;  all 
the  other  tribes  followed  their  example,  in  selecting  the  only 
men  fit  to  oppose  to  Hannibal ;  and  old  men  called  to  mind 
the  similar  consulates  of  Fabius  Maximus  and  P.  Decius  in 
the  Gallic,  and  of  Papirius  and  Carvilius  in  the  Samnite  war. 
It  v,as  resolved  to  have  eighteen  legions  this  year,  (for  which 
purpose  six  new  ones  were  to  be  raised,)  and  a  fleet  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  ships  of  war.  One  hundred  new  ships  were 
built,  and  every  citizen  whose  fortune  had  been  rated  at  fifty 
thousand  asses  and  upwards  in  tlie  last  census  was  obliged  to 
ifurnish  one  or  more  sailors,  according  to  his  property,  and  to 
give  them  a  year's  pay. 

The  consul  Fabius  having  returned  to  his  army,  the  Cam- 
panians,  fearing  that  he  would  open  the  campaign  with  the 
siege  of  Capua,  sent  to  Arpi  to  implore  Hannibal  to  return  to 
their  defence.  He  therefore  came  and  resumed  his  position 
at  Mount  Tifata,  whence  he  moved  down  to  the  coast ;  and 
after  making  an  ineff'ectual  attempt  on  Puteoli,  which  the  Ro- 
*  Near  the  modern  town  of  Andujar, 

l2   • 


220  DEFEAT  OF  HANNO.  [b.C.  214'. 

mans  had  fortified,  he,  at  the  invitation  of  the  popular  party, 
approached  Nola.  But  Marcellus  had  thrown  himself  into  that 
town  with  a  force  of  six  thousand  foot  and  three  hundred 
horse.  An  action,  as  before,  was  fought  under  the  walls,  rather 
to  the  disadvantage  of  Hannibal,  who,  giving  up  all  hopes  of 
taking  the  town,  broke  up  in  the  night  and  marched  for  Ta- 
rentum,  where  he  had  a  secret  undei'standing  with  some  of 
the  citizens,  who  had  formerly  been  his  prisoners. 

As  the  Roman  power  was  annihilated  in  Bruttium  and  Lu- 
cania,  Hauno  led  his  army  of  seventeen  thousand  foot  and 
twelve  hundred  horse,  composed  of  Punic,  Lucanian,  and 
Bruttian  troops,  into  Samnium,  to  occupy  the  important  town 
of  Beneventum.  But  Fabius  had  sent  orders  to  Tib.  Gracchus 
who  was  atLuceria  in  Apulia  with  two  legions,  principally  com- 
posed of  the  Volones*,  to  hasten  to  pre-occupy  it.  Gracchus 
had  executed  his  orders,  and  when  Hanno  came,  and,  en- 
camping on  the  river  Calor  about  three  miles  off,  began  to  lay 
the  country  waste,  he  led  his  troops  out  against  him.  As  the 
Volones,  when  leaving  their  winter-quarters,  had  begun  to 
murmur  at  not  having  yet  received  their  freedom,  he  had 
written  to  the  senate  on  the  subject,  and  had  received  author- 
ity to  act  as  he  deemed  best.  He  now  assembled  his  troops, 
and  told  them  that  whoever  next  day  brought  him  the  head  of 
an  enemy  should  have  his  freedom.  At  sunrise  he  led  them 
out ;  the  enemy  did  not  decline  the  proffered  battle.  They 
fought  for  four  hours  with  equal  advantage,  when  Gracchus, 
being  told  by  the  tribunes  that  the  condition  on  which  he  had 
promised  freedom  greatly  retarded  the  men,  gave  orders  for 
them  to  fling  away  the  heads  and  grasp  their  swords.  The 
enemies  were  soon  driven  to  their  camp  with  great  slaughter ; 
the  victors  entered  pell-mell  with  them,  and  of  the  whole  array 
but  two  thousand,  (the  number  of  the  slain  on  the  side  of  the 
Romans,)  and  these  chiefly  horse,  escaped.  Gracchus  con- 
ferred the  promised  boon  of  freedom  on  the  spot,  and  led  back 
his  triumphant  army  to  Beneventum,  where  the  people  all 
poured  out  to  meet  them,  and  craved  the  proconsul's  permis- 
sion to  entertain  them.  Leave  was  granted  ;  tables  were  then 
spread  in  the  streets ;  and  the  Volones  feasted,  with  caps  or 
bands  of  white  wool  on  their  heads.  Gracchus  had  this  scene 
afterwards  painted  in  the  temple  of  Liberty,  which  his  father 
had  built  on  the  Aventine. 

The  two  consuls  meantime  had  laid  siege  to  and  reduced 
*  That  is,  the  volunteer  slaves  who  had  been  armed.     See  above,  p.  212. 


B.C.  214'.]  SIEGE  OF  SYRACUSE.  221 

Casilinum  ;  Fabius  then  entered  Samniura  and  laid  it  waste ; 
Hannibal's  plans  on  Taventum  were  foiled  by  M.  Valerius,  who 
put  a  garrison  into  the  town.  On  the  other  hand,  Gracchus 
having  sent  some  cohorts  of  Lucanians  to  plunder  the  hostile 
territorj',  they  were  fallen  on  and  totally  cut  to  pieces  by 
Hanno. 

In  Syracuse,  after  some  of  the  atrocities  familiar  to  the  Greek 
democracies,  the  supreme  power  Avas  transferred  from  the 
hands  of  the  party  who  vvcre  for  moderation  and  remaining 
faithful  to  Rome,  to  the  rabble  and  the  mercenary  soldiers. 
War  was  resolved  on,  and  the  chief  command  given  to  Hip- 
pocrates and  Epicydes,  two  Carthaginians  of  Syracusan  de- 
scent, whom  Hannibal  had  sent  to  Hieronyraus.  Marcellus, 
to  whom  the  conduct  of  the  war  against  Syracuse  was  com- 
mitted, took  Leontini  by  assault,  and  then  came  and  encamped 
at  the  Olympium  before  Syracuse*,  while  his  fleet  assailed  the 
wall  of  Acradina  on  the  sea-side.  Quinqueremes  were  lashed 
together,  on  which  wooden  towers  were  erected,  and  engines 
plied,  while  light  troops  kept  up  a  constant  discharge  from 
vessels  ranged  behind  them.  But  Archimedes,  the  greatest 
mechanist  of  the  age,  was  in  Syracuse ;  and  in  the  time  of 
Hiero  he  had  placed  engines  along  the  walls  which  now  baffled 
all  the  skill  and  efforts  of  the  Romans  fj  and  Marcellus  found 
himself  obliged  to  convert  the  siege  into  a  blockade.  Himilco, 
with  a  Punic  army,  having  gained  over  Agrigentum  and  some 
other  towns,  came  and  encamped  on  the  Anapus,  about  eight 
miles  from  Syracuse  ;  but  finding  it  in  no  want  of  aid,  he  led 
off  his  forces  to  the  town  of  Murgantia,  which  the  people  put 
into  his  hands,  with  the  Roman  garrison  and  magazines  which 
were  in  it.  The  people  of  Enna,  in  the  centre  of  the  island, 
being  suspected  by  the  Roman  commandant  of  a  similar  design, 
he  fell  on  and  massacred  them  as  they  were  sitting  in  assembly ; 
and  Marcellus,  so  far  from  blaming  the  act,  gave  the  plunder 
of  the  town  to  the  soldiers.  As  Enna  was  sacred  to  the  god- 
desses Ceres  and  Proserpina,  the  horror  of  this  impious  deed 
made  most  of  the  remaining  towns  declare  for  the  Punic  cause, 
Marcellus  now  fixed  his  winter-camp  at  Leon,  about  five 
miles  north  of  Syracuse. 

*  See  the  description  and  plan  of  Syracuse,  History  of  Greece,  p.  231, 
2nd,  p.  224,  4tli  edit. 

f  We  are  told  that  some  of  his  machines  were  iron  hands,  which  seizing 
the  ships  by  the  prow  turned  them  up  on  the  poop,  and  then  let  them  fall ; 
and  that  by  means  of  burning-glasses  he  set  fire  to  several  of  the  Roman 
vessels.     Polyb.  viii.  8,     Livy,  xxiii.  34.  Zonaras,  ix.  4. 


222  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN  AND  AFRICA.       [b.C.  213-212. 

The  Romans  commenced  this  year  active  operations  against 
the  king  of  Macedonia,  whom  Laevinus  defeated  near  the  town 
of  Apollonia  in  Epirus*.  In  Spain  the  advantage  was  on  the 
side  of  the  Romans,  who  gained  some  victories  over  their  an- 
tagonists. 

The  consuls  for  the  next  year  (5S9)  ^Vere  Q.  Fabius  Max- 
Imus  (son  of  the  late  consul)  and  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus. 
The  year  is  remarkably  barren  of  events.  Hannibal  remained 
inactive  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tarentum  ;  Marcellus  lay 
before  Syracuse  ;  the  consul  Fabius  only  recovered  the  town 
of  Arpi.  In  Spain  the  Scipios  were  still  successful ;  they  began 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  Carthaginians  by  taking  the  na- 
tives into  pay,  and  a  body  of  Celtiberians  served  under  their 
standard.  They  also  extended  their  views  to  Africa,  where  a 
Numidian  prince  named  Syphax  was  at  war  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians. They  sent  three  centurions  to  him  to  propose  an  al" 
liance  ;  their  offer  was  gladly  accepted  by  the  Numidian,  and 
at  his  request  one  of  the  centurions  remained  with  him  to  form 
and  discipline  a  body  of  infantry,  an  arm  in  which  the  Numi- 
dians  had  been  hitherto  veiy  deficient.  But  the  Carthaginians 
formed  an  alliance  with  Gala,  the  king  of  that  portion  of  the 
Numidians  named  Massylians;  and  his  troops,  led  by  his  son 
Massinissa,  a  youth  of  seventeen  years  of  age,  being  joined 
with  theirs,  they  gave  Syphax  a  total  defeat.  He  fled  to  the 
Maurusians,  who  dwelt  on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and 
collected  another  army  ;  but  Massinissa  pursued  and  prevent- 
ed him  from  passing  over  to  Spain  as  he  intended. 

The  following  year  (540)  was  one  of  the  most  eventful  of 
the  war.  Q.  Fulvius  Flaccus  and  Ap.  Claudius  were  chosen 
consuls,  and  the  army  Mas  raised  to  three-and-twenty  legions. 

Early  in  the  year  Tarentum  fell  into  the  possession  of  Han- 
nibal in  the  following  manner  f.  A  Tarentine  envoy  at  Rome, 
named  Phileas,  persuaded  his  countrymen  who  were  retained 
there  as  hostages  to  make  their  escape.  They  were  pursued 
and  taken  at  Tarracina,  and  being  brought  back  w^ere  scourged 
and  cast  from  the  Tarpeian  rock.  This  peace  of  cruelty  irritated 
tlie  minds  of  their  friends  and  relatives  at  Tarentum,  and  tjiir- 
teen  young  men  entered  into  a  plot  to  make  Hannibal  master 
of  the  town.  Going  out  under  the  pretext  of  hunting,  they 
sought  the  Punic  camp,  which  lay  at  a  distance  of  three  days' 

*  The  whole  of  the  wars  between  Philip  and  the  Romans  will  be  found 
in  the  History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  chap.  vii.  and  viii. 
f  Polybius,  viii.  26.      Livy,  xxv,  7-11. 


B.C.  212.]  TAKING  OF  TARENTUM.  223 

march  ;  and  two  of  them,  named  Nico  and  Philemenus,  giving 
themselves  up  to  the  guards,  demanded  to  be  led  into  the  pre- 
sence of  Hannibal.  The  plan  was  soon  arranged,  and  Han- 
nibal desired  them,  as  thej^  were  going  away,  to  drive  oif  the 
cattle  which  would  be  sent  out  of  the  camp  next  morning  to 
graze,  as  this  would  give  them  credit  in  the  eyes  of  their 
countrymen,  and  help  to  conceal  their  dealings  with  them.  They 
did  as  directed,  and  by  sharing  their  booty  gained  great  favour 
and  many  imitators.  They  thus  went  backwards  and  forwards 
several  times,  and  it  was  arranged  that  the  rest  should  re- 
main quiet,  while  Philemenus,  whose  passion  for  the  chase 
was  well  known,  should  keep  going  in  and  out  of  the  town 
under  the  pretext  of  hunting.  He  always  went  and  came  at 
night,  alleging  his  fear  of  the  enemy,  and  always  returned 
loaded  with  game,  partly  killed  by  himself,  partly  given  him 
by  Hannibal.  A  portion  of  this  he  took  care  to  give  to  ^I.  Li- 
vius,  the  Roman  commandant,  and  another  part  to  the  guards 
at  the  gate  by  which  he  used  to  come  in.  At  length  he  won 
their  confidence  so  completely,  that  as  soon  as  his  whistle  was 
heard  outside  in  the  night,  the  gate  was  opened,  without  any 
inquirj'. 

Hannibal  judged  that  the  time  for  action  was  now  arrived. 
He  had  hitherto  feigned  illness,  lest  the  Romans  should  won- 
der at  his  staying  so  long  in  the  one  place ;  and  he  now  did 
so  more  than  ever.  Then  selecting  ten  thousand  of  his  boldest 
and  most  active  troops,  both  horse  and  foot,  and  directing  them 
to  take  four  days'  provisions,  he  set  out  with  them  before  daAvn; 
a  party  of  eighty  Nuraidian  horse  preceded  them  in  order  to 
scour  the  country,  and  prevent  information  of  their  approach 
from  being  conveyed  to  Tarentum.  Philemenus  was  with  him 
as  his  guide,  and  the  march  was  arranged  so  that  they  should 
reach  the  city  by  midnight. 

The  day  fixed  on  by  the  conspirators  was  one  on  which 
Livius  was  to  be  at  a  banquet  at  a  place  named  the  Museum, 
close  by  the  market.  It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  tidings 
came  of  the  Numidians  being  seen  ;  he  merely  directed  a  party 
of  horse  to  go  out  early  in  the  morning  and  drive  them  off; 
and  at  night  he  returned  home  Avithout  any  suspicion,  went  to 
bed,  and  fell  asleep.  The  conspirators  remained  on  the  watch 
for  the  signal  arranged  with  Hannibal,  who,  when  he  drew 
near  to  the  gate  which  had  been  agreed  on,  in  the  east  part  of 
the  city,  was  to  kindle  a  fire  on  a  certain  spot,  and  when  those 
within  had  replied  by  a  similar  signal,  both  fires  were  to  be 


224-  TAKING  OF  TARENTUM.  [3.0.212. 

extinguished.  The  signal  «as  made  and  returned  in  due  time ; 
the  conspirators  then  rushed  to  the  gate,  killed  the  guards,  and 
admitted  Hannibal,  who,  leaving  his  horse  without,  moved  on 
with  his  infantry,  and  took  possession  of  the  market.  Mean- 
time Philemenus  was  gone  round  with  a  thousand  Africans  to 
the  gate  he  was  used  to  enter  at.  He  had  the  carcass  of  a 
huge  wild-boar  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  giving  a  whistle 
as  usual  the  wicket  was  opened.  He  himself  and  three  others 
bore  the  carcass  on  a  barrow,  and  while  the  guard  was  hand- 
ling and  admiring  it,  thej-  killed  him  :  they  then  let  in  thirty 
Africans  who  were  behind  them,  and  cutting  the  bars  opened 
the  gates  and  admitted  all  the  rest,  and  they  joined  Hannibal 
at  the  market.  Hannibal  then  divided  a  body  of  two  thousand 
Gauls  into  three  parts,  and  sent  them  through  the  town,  with 
orders  to  kill  all  the  Romans  they  met ;  and  the  conspirators, 
who  had  gotten  some  Roman  trumpets  and  learned  how  to 
sound  them,  stood  at  the  theatre  and  blew,  and  as  the  soldiers 
hastened  on  all  sides  to  the  signal,  they  were  met  and  slain. 
Livius  at  the  first  alarm  had  run  down  to  the  port,  and  getting 
into  a  boat  passed  over  to  the  citadel. 

As  soon  as  it  was  daylight  Hannibal  invited  all  the  Taren- 
tines  to  come  without  arms  to  the  market.  When  they  ap- 
peared he  spoke  to  them  kindly  as  their  friend,  and  dismissed 
them  with  directions  to  set  a  mark  on  their  houses.  He  then 
gave  orders  to  pillage  all  the  houses  not  marked,  as  belonging 
to  the  Romans  or  their  friends. 

As  the  citadel  lay  on  a  small  peninsula,  and  was  secured  on 
the  town-side  by  a  deep  ditch  and  wall,  there  were  no  hopes 
of  being  able  to  take  it.  To  secure  the  city,  therefore,  Han- 
nibal began  to  run  a  rampart  parallel  to  that  of  the  citadel ; 
the  Romans  attempted  to  impede  the  works,  but  were  driven 
back  with  great  loss.  The  rampart  was  then  completed,  and 
a  ditch  also  run  between  it  and  the  town;  and  Hannibal  re- 
tired and  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  Galaesus,  about  five 
miles  off.  When  all  was  finished,  some  works  were  carried  on 
against  the  citadel ;  but  the  Romans,  having  been  reinforced 
from  Metapontum,  made  a  sally  by  night  and  destroyed  them. 
Hannibal  saw  that  unless  the  Tarentines  were  masters  of  the 
sea  there  vras  no  chance  of  reducing  the  citadel.  But  their 
ships  which  were  in  the  harbour  could  not  get  out,  as  that 
fortress  commanded  the  entrance ;  he  therefore  had  them 
hauled  along  a  street  which  ran  across  the  peninsula  into  the 
open  sea  on  the  south-side.     The  fleet  then  anchored  before 


B.C.  212.]  SUCCESSES  OF  HANNIBAL.  225 

the  citadel ;  and  Hannibal,  leaving  a  garrison  in  the  town, 
returned  to  winter  in  his  former  camp*. 

In  the  beginning  of  May  the  Roman  consuls  and  praetors 
set  out  for  their  respective  provinces.  The  two  consuls,  Q. 
Fulvius  and  Ap.  Claudius,  encamped  at  Bovianum,  in  Sam- 
nium,  intending  to  lay  siege  to  Capiia.  The  Campanians,  being 
prevented  by  their  presence  from  cultivating  their  lands,  sent 
to  Hannibal,  imploring  him  to  supply  them  v.'ith  corn  before 
the  Romans  entered  their  country.  He  ordered  Hanno  to 
attend  to  this  matter,  and  this  general  came  and  encamped 
near  Beneventum  ;  and  having  collected  there  a  large  supply 
of  corn,  sent  wortl.  to  the  Campanians  to  come  and  fetch  it. 
With  their  usual  indolence  and  negligence,  they  brought  little 
more  than  forty  waggons,  and  Hanno,  having  rated  them  well 
for  it,  appointed  another  day.  But  the  Beneventines,  hearing 
of  it,  sent  to  inform  the  consuls;  and  Fulvius  set  out  with  his 
army,  and  entered  Beneventum  by  night.  The  Campanians 
came  this  time  with  two  thousand  waggons  and  a  great  crowd 
of  people  ;  and  Fulvius,  on  learning  that  Hanno  was  away  to 
get  corn,  came  before  daylight  and  assailed  the  camp.  As 
this  lay  on  a  hill,  it  cost  the  Romans  much  labour  and  loss  to 
reach  it ;  and  the  consul  having  advised  with  his  officers,  or- 
dered the  call  for  retreat  to  be  sounded ;  but  the  soldiers 
heeded  it  not ;  they  rushed  on  with  emulative  ardour,  carried 
the  rampart,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  tlie  camp  and  all 
it  contained.  The  consuls  shortly  after,  having  summoned 
Gracchus  from  Lucania  to  the  defence  of  Beneventum,  pro- 
ceeded to  lay  siege  to  Capua.  But  Gracchus  was  drawn  by 
the  treachery  of  a  Lucanian  into  an  ambush  laid  for  him  by 
Mago,  and  he  and  all  that  were  with  him  were  slain. 

When  the  consuls  entered  Campania  and  began  to  lay  it 
waste,  the  Campanians,  aided  by  a  body  of  two  thousand  horse 
which  Hannibal  had  sent  them,  sallied  forth  and  killed  about 
fifteen  hundred  of  the  Romans.  Hannibal  himself  soon  ap- 
peared, and  gave  the  consuls  battle  ;  but  the  engagement  was 
broken  off  by  the  sudden  appearance  in  the  distance  of  the 
army  lately  commanded  by  Gracchus,  which  each  supposed  to 

*  Livy  says  that  his  authorities  difiereil  as  to  the  year  of  the  revolt  of 
Tarentum,  some  placing  it  in  539,  but  the  greater  number,  and  nearest  to 
theevents,  in  540.  If  this  las^t  be  the  true  date,  it  musthave  been  early  in  the 
spring;  yet  Livy  himself  says  that  Hannibal  went  into  winter-quarters  im- 
mediately after  it ;  and  PolybiMS  (viii.  36.  13.)  says  that  he  remained  there 
the  rest  of  the  winter.  It  seems  therefore  most  probable  that  the  true  time 
was  the  autumn  or  beginning  of  the  winter  of  539. 

L  5 


226  TAKING  OF  S-SRACUSE.  [b.C.212. 

be  coming  to  the  aid  of  the  other  side.  The  consuls  in  the 
night  divided  their  forces,  Fulvius  going  towards  Cumae,  Clau- 
dius into  Lvicania.  Hannibal  pursued  this  last,  who  gave  him 
the  slip  and  returned  to  Capua  ;  chance  hov/ever  threw  a  vic- 
tory into  tlie  hands  of  the  Punic  general ;  for  a  centurion 
named  M.  Centenius  having  boasted  to  the  senate  of  all  the 
mischief  he  could  do  the  enemy,  from  his  knowledge  of  the 
country,  if  they  would  let  him  have  five  thousand  men,  they 
had  the  folly  to  give  him  eight  thousand,  half  citizens,  half  al- 
lies, and  so  many  volunteers  joined  him  on  the  way  as  doubled 
his  army.  With  this  force  he  entered  Lucania,  where  Han- 
nibal now  was.  But  it  vias  a  far  different  thing  to  lead  a  com- 
pany, and  to  command  an  army  opposed  to  such  a  general  as 
Hannibal,  who  speedily  brought  him  to  an  action  ;  and  of  his 
whole  force  not  more  than  one  thousand  men  escaped.  Hanni- 
bal moved  thence  into  Apulia,  where  the  prsetor  Cn.  Fulvius 
lay  with  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  men  at  the  town  of 
Herdonia.  The  Roman  general  was  rash  and  unskilful,  and 
his  army  completely  demoralised  by  laxity  of  discipline ;  they 
therefore  yielded  the  able  Carthaginian  an  easy  victory,  and 
only  two  thousand  men  escaped  from  the  field. 


CHAPTER  v.* 


Taking  of  Syracuse. — Defeat  and  death  of  the  Scipios. — Hannibal's  march 
to  Rome. — Surrender  of  Capua. — Scipio  in  Spain. — Taking  of  New  Car- 
thage.— Affairs  in  Italy. — Retaking  of  Tarentura. — Defeat  of  Hasdiubal 
in  Spain. — Death  of  Marcellus. — March  of  Hasdrubal. — His  defeat  op  the 
Metaurus. 

While  the  war  thus  proceeded  in  Italy,  Marcellus  urged  on 
the  siege  of  Syracuse.  Taking  advantage  of  a  festival  of  Diana 
(Artemis),  which  the  Syracusans  were  wont  to  celebrate 
with  abundance  of  wine  and  revelry,  he  one  night  scaled  the 
walls  and  made  himself  master  of  the  Epipolas.  He  encamped 
between  Tycha  and  Neapolis-j-,  to  the  ii\habitants  of  which  he 

*  Liv.  XXV.  22.-xxvii.  Polyb.  Frag,  ix.,  x.,  xi.  App.  Bell.  Han.  26-54. 
De  Reb.  Hispan.  15-2J.  Plut.  Fab.  Max.  19-23.  Marcel.  18  to  the  end. 
Sil.  Ital.  xii.  450-xv. ;  the  Epitomators. 

f  Part  of  the  Teuienites.     See  History  of  Greece. 


B.C.  212.]  TAKING  OF  SYRACUSE.  227 

granted  their  lives  and  dwellings,  but  both  quarters  were  given 
vip  to  plunder.  The  commandant  at  Euryalus  surrendered 
that  important  post  on  condition  of  the  garrison  being  allowed 
to  re-enter  the  town.  Marcellus  then  formed  three  camps  in 
order  to  blockade  Acradina,  while  a  Roman  fleet  lay  without 
to  prevent  succours  or  provisions  from  being  brought  in  by  sea. 

After  a  few  days,  Himilco  and  Hippocrates  came  to  the  re- 
lief of  the  town  ;  they  encamped  at  the  Great  Harbour,  and 
it  was  arranged,  that  while  they  attacked  the  division  under 
the  legate  T.  Quinctius  Crispinus  at  the  Olympium,  Epicydes 
should  make  a  sally  from  Acradina  against  Marcellus,  and  the 
Punic  fleet  in  the  Harbour  get  close  into  shore,  to  prevent 
any  aid  being  sent  to  Crispinus.  The  whole  plan  however 
miscarried,  for  they  were  repulsed  on  all  sides.  It  being  now 
the  autumn,  fevers,  produced  by  the  moisture  of  the  soil,  broke 
out  in  both  armies  :  the  Sicilians  in  the  army  of  Hippocrates 
returned  home  to  escape  it ;  but  the  Punic  troops  having  no 
retreat  all  perished,  and  among  them  their  two  generals.  The 
Romans  suffered  less,  as  they  were  in  the  city,  and  had  the 
shelter  of  the  houses. 

Bomilcar,  who  had  run  out  of  the  Great  Harbour  after  the 
capture  of  Epipolge,  was  now  at  cape  Pachyuus  with  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  ships  of  war  and  seventy  transports,  but  the 
easterly  winds  kept  him  from  doubling  it.  Epicydes  fearing  he 
might  go  back,  gave  the  command  at  Acradina  to  the  leadei's 
of  the  mercenaries,  and  w-ent  to  him  in  order  to  induce  him  to 
give  battle  to  the  Roman  fleet,  which  was  inferior  to  his  in 
number.  The  two  fleets  were  now  lying  one  on  each  side  of 
the  cape ;  and  as  soon  as  the  wind  ceased  to  blow  from  the 
east,  Bomilcar  stood  out  to  sea  in  order  to  double  it,  but  see- 
ing the  Roman  ships  in  motion  he  lost  courage,  and  sending 
word  to  the  transports  to  go  back  to  Africa,  made  all  sail  for 
Tarentum.  Epicydes  then  giving  uji  Syracuse  for  lost  retired 
to  Agrigentum. 

A  surrender  of  Syracuse,  on  favourable  terms,  was  now  near 
being  eff'ected.  Some  of  the  inhabitants,  learning  that  Mar- 
cellus would  consent  to  leave  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
liberty  and  laws,  under  the  dominion  of  Rome,  fell  on  and  slew 
the  governors  whom  Epicydes  had  left,  and  having  called  an 
assembly  of  the  people,  elected  praetors  (^strategi),  some  of 
whom  were  sent  to  treat  with  the  Roman  general.  Matters 
were  thus  on  the  point  of  being  accommodated,  when  the  de- 
serters in  the  town  persuading  the  mercenaries  that  their  cause 


228  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  THE  SCIPIOS.       [b.C.  212. 

was  the  same  with  theirs,  fell  on  and  killed  the  praetors  and 
several  of  the  inhabitants,  and  then  appointed  six  governors 
of  their  own,  three  for  Acradina,  and  three  for  the  Island. 
The  mercenaries,  however,  soon  saw  that  their  case  was  very 
different  from  that  of  the  deserters  ;  and  one  of  the  three  com- 
mandants of  Acradina,  a  Spaniard  named  Mericus,  made  a 
secret  agreement  to  put  the  town  into  the  hands  of  Marcellus. 
For  this  purpose  he  proposed  that  each  commandant  should 
take  charge  of  a  separate  part  of  the  town.  This  was  agreed 
to,  and  the  part  assigned  to  himself  being  the  Island,  from  the 
fount  of  Arethusa  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Harbour,  he  one 
night  admitted  a  party  of  Roman  soldiers  at  the  gate  next  to 
the  fount.  In  the  morning,  at  daybreak,  Marcellus  made  a 
general  attack  on  Acradina,  and  while  all  the  efforts  of  the 
besieged  were  directed  against  him,  troops  were  landed  on  the 
Island,  and,  with  little  loss,  they  made  themselves  masters  of 
it  and  of  a  part  of  Acradina.  Marcellus  then  sounded  a  recall, 
lest  the  royal  treasures  should  be  pillaged  in  the  confusion. 

The  deserters  who  were  in  Acradina  having  made  their 
escape,  the  tov/n  surrendered  unconditionally,  and  Marcellus, 
M'hen  he  had  secured  the  royal  treasure  for  the  state,  gave  the 
city  up  to  pillage.  During  the  pillaging  a  soldier  entered  the 
room  where  Archimedes  was  deeply  engaged  over  his  geome- 
trical figures,  and  not  knowing  who  he  was  killed  him.  Mar- 
cellus, who  was  greatly  grieved  at  this  mishap,  gave  him  an 
honourable  sepulture.  The  numerous  pictures,  statues,  and 
other  works  of  art,  in  which  Syracuse  abounded,  were  sent  to 
Rome  to  adorn  that  capital*.  Marcellus  shortly  after  gave 
the  Punic  forces  a,nd  their  allies  a  great  defeat  on  the  river 
Himera. 

But  equal  success  did  not  attend  the  Roman  arms  in  Spain, 
for  the  Scipios  having  divided  their  forces,  Publius,  hearing 
that  a  Spanish  prince  named  Indibilis  was  coming  with  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  men  to  join  the  Punic  army,  set  out  to 
sive  him  battle  on  the  road.  In  the  midst  of  the  action  which 
ensued  theNumidian  horse  came  up,  and  then  the  rest  of  the 
Punic  army  ;  and  the  Romans  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  Scipio 
himself  was  among  the  slain.  About  a  month  after  a  similar 
fate  befel  Cn.  Scipio  and  his  army.  From  the  wrecks  of  the 
two  armies  and  the  garrisons  a  new  one  was  formed  ;  the  sol- 
diers themselves  chose  a  knight,  named  L.  Marcius,  to  be  their 
general,  and  under  his  command  they  repelled  an  attack  on 

*  See  the  just  remarks  made  by  Polybius  (ix.  10.)  on  this  occasion. 


B.C.  211.]  Hannibal's  march  to  rome.  229 

their  own  camp,  and  afterwards  stormed  two  Punic  camps  with 
great  slaughter  of  the  enemies. 

The  siege  of  Capua  was  now  (54-1)  the  chief  object  of  in- 
terest in  Italy.  Fulvius  and  Claudius  had  shut  in  that  town 
completely  by  a  double  ditch  and  rampart ;  famine  pressed, 
and  the  difficulty  of  communicating  with  Hannibal  was  ex- 
treme. At  length,  on  being  informed  of  the  condition  of  his 
allies,  the  Punic  general  came  to  their  aid,  and  a  combined 
attack  from  within  and  without  was  made  on  the  Roman  lines. 
It  was  however  repulsed  with  great  loss  on  the  part  of  the 
assailants,  and  Hannibal  saw  that  the  only  chance  of  saving 
Capua  was  to  menace  Rome,  as  the  army  would  probably  be 
recalled  to  its  defence.  Having  thei'efore  sent  Mord  to  the 
people  of  Capua  to  hold  out  manfully,  he  collected  boats,  and 
put  his  army  over  the  Vulturnus  ;  then  marched  i-apidly  along 
the  Latin  road  by  Ferentinum,  Anagnia,  Lavici,  Tusculum, 
and  Gabii,  and  encamped  within  eight  miles  of  the  city. 

The  news  of  Hannibal's  march  caused  great  alarm  at  Rome. 
It  was  at  first  proposed  to  recall  all  the  troops  to  the  defence 
of  the  city  ;  but  at  last  it  was  thought  sufficient  for  one  of  the 
proconsuls  to  leave  Capua,  and  come  with  a  part  of  their  forces. 
As  Claudius  was  confined  by  a  wound,  Fulvius  proceeded  with 
sixteen  thousand  men  along  the  Appian  Road.  He  entered 
Rome  at  the  Capene  gate,  and  being  joined  in  command  with 
the  consuls,  marched  through  the  city,  and  encamped  outside 
between  the  Esquiline  and  CoUine  gates.  Hannibal,  who  now 
lay  beyond  the  Anio,  only  three  miles  off,  advanced  with  two 
thousand  horse  to  the  CoUine  gate  and  rode  along  thence  to 
the  temple  of  Hercules,  in  order  to  view  the  fortifications. 
Fulvius  ordered  the  Roman  horse  to  charge,  and  the  consuls 
at  the  same  time  directed  a  body  of  twelve  hundred  of  the 
Nuraidian  deserters  who  were  on  the  Aventine  to  come  down 
to  the  Esquilise.  The  people  who  were  on  the  Capitol  seeing 
them,  thought  that  the  Aventine  was  taken,  and  the  conster- 
nation that  prevailed  is  not  to  be  described. 

Next  day  Hannibal  offered  battle,  but  just  as  the  two  armies 
were  drawn  out  there  came  on  a  violent  storm  of  rain  and  hail 
which  separated  them  ;  and  the  very  same  thing  occurred  the 
following  day.  As  soon  as  they  returned  to  their  camps  the 
sky  cleared,  andHannibal,  itis  said,  seeing  the  hand  of  Heaven 
in  it,  resolved  to  retire*.     It  is  also  said  that  he  was  moved 

*  For  a  similar  event,  see  Livy,  ii.  C2. 


230  SURRENDER  OF  CAPUA.  ,[bX.  211. 

thereto  by  intelligence  of  troops  having  actuallj'^  left  the  city 
at  this  time  for  the  army  in  Spain,  and  of  the  very  ground  on 
which  he  was  encamped  being  sold,  and  having  brought  its  full 
value, — all  which  proved  to  him  that  Rome  was  not  to  be  con- 
quered*. He  then,  it  is  added,  in  derision  called  for  an  auc- 
tioneer, and  desired  him  to  put  up  and  sell  the  bankers'  shops 
round  the  Forum.  He  moved  thence  to  the  river  Tutia,  six 
miles  from  the  city,  then  pillaged  the  temple  of  Feronia  near 
Capenum,  passed  rapidly  through  the  Sabine  and  Marsian 
countriesf,  and  thence  to  the  extremity  of  Bruttium,  in  the 
hopes  of  surprising  Rhegium. 

On  the  return  of  Fulvius  to  the  camp  before  Capua,  the 
Campanians,  hopeless  of  relief,  agreed  to  an  unconditional  sur- 
render. Twenty-eight  of  the  principal  senators  having  par- 
taken of  a  splendid  supper  at  the  house  of  Vibius  Virrius,  one 
of  the  chief  authors  of  the  revolt,  took  poison  to  escape  the 
vengeance  of  the  Romans.  Seventy  of  the  remaining  senators 
were  put  to  death,  others  were  imprisoned  in  various  places, 
the  rest  of  the  people  sold  for  slaves,  the  town  and  its  territory 
confiscated  to  the  Roman  state. 

A  part  of  the  besieging  army  was  immediately  embarked 
for  Spain  under  C.  Claudius  Nero.  Being  joined  by  the  troops 
there  he  advanced  against  Hasdrubal,  whom  he  inclosed  in  a 
valley ;  but  the  Carthaginian,  by  pretending  to  ti'eat,  con- 
trived to  get  his  troops  out  of  it  by  degrees,  and  then  bade  de- 
fiance to  the  baffled  Roman. 

Spain,  where  the  chief  resources  of  the  enemy  lay,  was  now 
of  equal  importance  with  Italy  in  the  eyes  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, and  comitia  were  held  for  appointing  a  proconsul  to  take 
the  command  of  the  army  there.  No  candidates  presented 
themselves ;  the  people  were  dejected  ;  when  suddenly  P. 
Scipio,  the  son  of  Publius,  who  had  lately  fallen  in  Spain,  a 
young  man  of  only  four-and-twenty  years  of  age,  came  for- 
ward and  sought  the  command.  It  was  voted  to  him  unani- 
mously ;  but  soon,  when  the  people  thought  of  his  age,  and  of 
the  ill-fortune  of  his  family  in  that  countrj',  they  began  to  re- 
pent of  their  precipitation.     Scipio  then  called  an  assembly, 

*  If  these  are  not  the  fictions  of  Roman  vanity,  they  were  mere  artifices 
to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  people. 

f  According  to  the  historian  Ccelius  (Liv.  xxvi.  1 1.),  this  was  Hannibal's 
route  to,  not  from,  Rome.  Polybius  (ix.  5,  8.)  seems  to  agree  with  Ccelius  ; 
his  account  of  Hannibal's  expedition  to  Rome  at  this  time  differs  in  many 
respects  from  tliat  of  Livy  given  above. 


B.C.  210.]  SCIPIO  IN  SPAIN.  231 

and  spoke  in  such  a  manner  on  these  points  as  completely  re- 
assured them,  and  changed  their  fears  into  confidence. 

We  have  already  seen  Scipio  distinguish  himself  at  the  Ti- 
ciuus  and  after  the  battle  of  Cannae  *.  His  was  destined  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest  names  in  Roman  story.  To  the  advantages 
of  nature  he  joined  such  arts  as  were  calculated  to  raise  him 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  From  the  day  on  which  he  assumed 
the  virile  toga.,  lie  never  did  anything  either  public  or  pi'i- 
vate  without  first  ascending  the  Capitol,  entering  the  temple, 
and  sitting  there  for  some  time  alone.  Hence  an  opinion 
spread  among  the  vulgar,  that,  like  Alexander  the  Great,  he 
was  of  divine  origin,  and  some  even  talked  of  a  huge  serpent 
that  used  to  be  seen  in  his  mother's  chamber,  and  which  always 
vanished  when  any  one  enteredf.  These  things  Scipio  never 
either  affirmed  or  denied,  and  thus  enjoyed  the  advantage  of 
the  popular  belief.  As  a  man,  a  statesman,  and  a  general,  his 
deeds  will  best  display  Iiis  character. 

Having  received  an  additional  force  of  ten  thousand  foot 
and  one  thousand  horse,  with  M.  Junius  Silanus  as  proprtetor 
under  him,  Scipio  sailed  for  Spain.  He  landed  at  Emporise, 
and  went  thence  to  Tarraco,  where  he  held  a  meeting  of  the 
deputies  of  the  allies  ;  he  then  visited  the  troops  in  their 
quarters,  and  bestowed  great  praises  on  them  for  their  gallant 
conduct.  To  the  brave  Marcius  he  showed  the  most  marked 
favour.  As  it  was  now  late  in  the  year,  he  retui*ned  to  Tar- 
raco for  the  winter. 

In  Greece  this  year,  M.  Valerius  Lsevinus  formed  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  the  ^tolians  against  king  Philip, 

While  La2vinus  was  absent  in  Greece,  he  was  chosen  consul 
with  Marcellus  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  army  was  reduced 
to  twenty-one  legions,  by  discharging  those  who  had  served 
a  long  time.  On  the  proposal  of  Laevinus,  when  pay  was  not 
to  be  had  for  the  seamen,  and  private  persons  murmured  at 
being  called  on  to  supply  rowers  as  before,  the  senators  set  the 
example,  in  which  they  were  followed  by  all  orders,  of  giving 
their  plate  and  jewels  for  the  service  of  the  state ;  and  an 
abundant  supply  was  thus  obtained. 

Early  in  the  spring  (542)  Scipio  set  out  from  Tarraco,  and 
crossed  the  Ebro  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand foot,  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  horse.  The  fleet, 
under  C.  Laelius,  having  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  that  river, 
sailed  thence  along  the  coast,  Laelius  alone  knowing  its  desti- 
*  See  above,  pp.  202,  211.  f  Liv.  xxvi.  19.     Cell.  vii.  1. 


232  TAKING  OF  NEW  CARTHAGE.  [b.C.  210. 

nation  ;  and  it  entered  the  port  of  New  Carthage  just  as  the 
army  appeared  before  the  walls.  Scipiohad  resolved  to  open 
the  campaign  by  the  siege  of  this  important  town,  where  all 
the  money,  arms,  and  stores  of  the  enemy  lay  ;  and,  what  was 
of  still  more  consequence,  where  the  hostages  of  the  native 
princes  were  kept*. 

The  town  of  New  Carthage  was  thus  situated.  On  the  east 
coast  of  Spain,  a  bay,  somewhat  more  than  five  hundred  paces 
wide,  runs  for  about  the  same  length  into  the  land ;  a  small 
island  at  its  mouth  shelters  it  from  every  wind  but  the  south- 
east. At  the  bottom  of  the  bay  an  elevated  peninsula  ad- 
vances, on  uhich  the  town  was  built.  The  sea  is  deep  on  the 
east  and  south  side  of  it ;  on  the  west  and  partly  on  the  north, 
it  is  so  shallow  as  to  resemble  a  marsh,  varying  in  depth  with 
the  tide.  An  isthmus,  two  hundred  and  fifty  paces  long,  led 
from  the  town  to  the  mainland. 

Scipio  having  secured  his  camp  in  the  rear,  attempted  to 
take  the  town  by  escalade  on  the  land-side,  but  the  ladders 
proved  too  short,  and  the  walls  being  vigorously  defended  he 
sounded  a  retreat.  After  a  Httle  time  he  ordered  those  who 
had  not  been  engaged  to  take  the  ladders  and  renew  the  attack. 
It  was  now  midday,  and  the  retiring  sea,  combined  with  a 
strong  wind  from  the  north,  had  rendered  the  marsh  quite 
shallow.  Scipio,  learning  this  circumstance,  represented  it  as 
a  visible  interference  of  the  gods,  and  ordered  a  party  of  five 
hundred  men  to  take  Neptune  as  their  leader,  and  wade 
through  the  marsh  to  the  town.  They  easily  accomplished 
this  task  ;  and  as  the  wall  on  that  side  was  low  and  without 
guards,  they  penetrated  into  the  town,  and  rushing  to  the  gate, 
on  the  side  where  the  rest  of  the  army  was  making  its  attack, 
forced  it  open.  The  wall  was  now  scaled  at  all  points  ;  the 
soldiers  poured  in  and  slaughtered  all  they  met,  till  the  citadel 
surrendered,  when  orders  were  given  to  cease  from  the  car- 
nage. 

Thus  was  New  Carthage  attacked  and  taken  in  the  one  day. 
The  quantity  of  naval  and  military  stores  and  of  the  j)recious 
metals  found  in  it  was  immense.  The  hostages  were  numerous; 
some  accounts  said  three  hundred,  others  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-five ;  and  Scipio,  having  learned  from  them  to  what 
states  they  belonged,  sent  to  the  people  of  these  states  desiring 
them  to  come  and  fetch  home  their  hostages.     The  wife  of 

*  This  siege  is  related  by  Polybius,  lib.  x. 


B.C.  210.]  AFFAIRS  IN  ITALY.  233 

Mandonius,  the  brother  of  Indibilis,  who  was  one  of  them, 
then  came  and  besought  him  to  have  a  due  regard  for  the  ho- 
nour of  the  daughters  of  Indibilis  and  otlier  noble  maidens 
who  were  among  the  hostages,  and  the  young  hero  gave  them 
in  charge  to  an  officer  of  well-known  honour  and  integrity. 

Among  the  captives  was  a  maiden  of  distinguished  beauty. 
When  led  by  the  soldiers  before  the  conqueror,  he  inquired 
who  and  whence  she  was;  and  finding,  among  other  things, 
that  she  was  betrothed  to  aCeltiberian  prince,  named  AUucius, 
he  sent  to  summon  her  parents  and  her  lover.  On  their  ar- 
rival he  first  spoke  with  AUucius,  and  assured  him  that  the 
maiden,  while  in  his  hands,  had  been  treated  with  the  same 
respect  as  if  she  had  been  in  her  father's  house.  In  return,  he 
asked  him  to  become  the  friend  of  the  Roman  people.  The 
prince  grasped  his  hand,  and  with  tears  assured  him  of  his 
gratitude.  The  parents  and  relatives  of  the  maiden  were 
then  called  in,  and  finding  that  she  was  to  be  released  without 
ransom,  they  pressed  Scipio  to  receive  as  a  gift  the  gold  they 
had  brought.  He  yielded  to  their  instances  ;  the  gold  was 
laid  at  his  feet ;  he  then  called  AUucius  and  desired  him  to 
take  it  as  an  addition  to  his  bride's  dower*.  The  grateful 
Spaniard  on  his  return  home  extolled  the  magnanimity  of 
Scipio  to  the  skies,  and  having  raised  a  body  of  fourteen  hun- 
dred horse  came  and  joined  him  shortly  after.  Scipio  sent 
Laelius  home  with  the  prisoners  and  tidings  of  his  success,  and 
then  led  his  troops  back  to  Tarraco. 

The  consul  Marcellus  had  meantime  recovered  the  town  of 
Salapia  in  Apulia,  and  taken  by  storm  two  Samnite  towns. 
But  the  proconsul  Cn.  Fulvius,  venturing  to  give  battle  to 
Hannibal  near  Herdonia,  sustained  a  total  defeat.  Himself 
and  eleven  tribunes,  and  seven  thousand — or  according  to 
some  thirteen  thousand — men,  fell  in  the  action.  Marcellus 
hastened  and  engaged  Hannibal  at  Numistro  in  Lucania  ;  the 
battle,  which  lasted  all  through  the  day,  was  indecisive  ;  Han- 

*  This  is  told  in  a  much  less  romantic  manner  by  Polybius  (x.  19.).  He 
says  that  some  young  Romans  brought  the  maiden  to  Scipio,  who  was  known 
to  be  of  an  amorous  complexion.  He  thanked  them,  and  said  that  nothing 
could  be  more  agreeable  to  him  if  he  were  a  private  person  than  such  a  gift, 
but  that  his  office  of  general  did  not  allow  him  to  accept  it.  He  then  sent  for 
her  father,  and  giving  her  to  him  desired  him  to  match  her  with  whichever  of 
the  citizens  he  preferred.  Polybius,  who  omits  no  occasion  of  extolling  the 
Scipios,  could  hardly  have  known  anything  of  the  prince  AUucius.  Va- 
lerius Antias,  in  opposition  to  all  the  other  authorities,  said  that  Scipio  took 
the  maiden  and  retained  her  as  his  mistress.     Gell.  vi.  8. 


234;  RETAKING  OF  TARENTUM.  [b.C.  209. 

nibal  then  retired  by  night  into  Apulia,  whither  Marcellus  fol- 
lowed him,  but  nothing  of  moment  occurred. 

An  embassy  came  at  this  time  from  Syphax  to  form  a  friend- 
ship with  the  Roman  people.  It  was  received  with  great  fa- 
vour, and  envoys  bearing  gifts  were  sent  back  with  it.  Two 
ambassadors  were  also  sent  to  Egypt  to  renew  the  friendship 
with  the  king  of  that  country. 

The  consuls  of  the  following  year  (543)  were  Q.  Fabius 
Maximus  and  Q.  Fulvius  Flaccus.  Fabius  being  resolved,  if 
possible,  to  recover  Tarentum,  where  M.  Livius  still  held  out 
in  the  citadel,  besought  his  colleague  and  Marcellus  to  keep 
Hannibal  in  occupation  ;  and  Marcellus,  Avho  deemed  himself 
alone  able  to  cope  with  that  great  general,  gladly  took  the 
field.  They  came  to  an  engagement  near  Canusium,  Avhich 
was  terminated  by  night.  Next  day  it  was  i-enewed,  and  the 
Romans  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  seven 
hundred  men.  Marcellus,  having  severely  rebuked  and  pu- 
nished his  men,  led  them  out  again  the  following  day,  and 
after  a  bloody  conflict  they  remauied  as  we  are  told  victorious. 
The  loss  of  the  enemy  is  said  to  have  been  eight  thousand 
slain  and  five  elephants,  that  of  the  Romans  three  thousand 
slain  and  a  great  number  wounded.  Hannibal  retii'ed  thence 
to  Bruttium. 

Fabius,  on  coming  to  Tarentum,  fixed  his  camp  at  the 
mouth  of  the  harbour,  and  prepared  to  assail  the  town  by  ma- 
chines worked  on  shipboard,  as  Marcellus  had  done  at  Syra- 
cuse ;  but  treachery  enabled  him  to  take  it  with  less  hazard. 
The  garrison  was  composed  of  Bruttians,  left  there  by  Hanni- 
bal, and  its  commander  was  in  love  with  the  sister  of  a  man 
in  the  army  of  Fabius.  This  man,  with  the  consul's  con- 
sent, went  into  the  town  as  a  deserter,  and  by  means  of  his 
sister  induced  the  Bruttian  to  betray  it.  On  the  appointed 
night  the  trumpet  sounded  from  the  ships,  the  citadel,  and 
camp,  as  for  a  general  assault;  and  Fabius,  who  had  secretly 
gone  round  with  a  select  body  of  troops  to  the  east  side,  was 
admitted  over  the  wall  by  the  Bruttians.  The  town  was 
speedily  won  :  the  booty  was  immense  ;  but  Fabius  abstained 
from  taking  the  pictures  and  statues,  which  nearly  equalled 
those  of  Syracuse  in  number  and  value.  Hannibal,  who  was 
hastening  to  its  relief,  on  hearing  that  it  was  taken,  said, 
"  The  Romans  have  their  Hannibal.  We  have  lost  Tarentum 
in  the  same  way  that  we  gained  it." 

Scipio,  having  spent  the  winter  in  forming  alliances  with  the 


B.C.  208.]  DEATH  OF  MARCELLUS.  235 

native  princes,  crossed  the  Ebro  early  in  the  sprhig  of  this  year. 
Near  the  town  of  BEecula  he  found  Hannibal's  brother,  Has- 
drubal,  strongly  encamped  on  an  eminence,  with  the  river 
Tasus  in  his  rear.  But  the  valour  of  the  Roman  soldiers  led 
by  Scipio  overcame  all  obstacles,  and  Hasdrubal  was  routed 
with  the  loss  of  eight  thousand  men  slain,  and  twelve  thousand 
taken  in  his  camp.  Among  these  last  was  a  youth,  the  nephew 
of  Massinissa  the  Nuraidian,  whom  Scipio  treated  with  great 
kindness,  and  sent  safe  to  his  uncle.  In  imitation  of  Hanni- 
bal's policy,  he  gave  their  liberty  to  all  the  Spaniards,  but  sold 
the  Africans  for  slaves.     He  then  returned  to  Tarraco. 

The  consuls  of  the  ensuing  year  (544),  Marcellus  and  T. 
Quinctius  Crispinus,  were  joined  in  command  against  Hanni- 
bal. Crispinus,  having  made  an  ineffectual  efibrt  to  take  Locri, 
proceeded  to  Apulia  to  join  his  colleague,  and  the  two  consuls 
encamped  about  three  miles  asunder,  between  Venusia  and 
Bantia.  Hannibal  canae  from  Bruttium  and  took  up  a  position 
near  them.  There  was  an  eminence  covered  with  wood  be- 
tween his  camp  and  those  of  the  Romans,  and  expecting  that 
the  latter  would  seek  to  occupy  it,  he  sent  in  the  night  some 
of  his  Numidians  to  lie  in  ambush  on  it.  The  general  ciy  in 
the  Roman  camp  was  to  secure  this  hill,  lest  Hannibal  should 
get  possession  of  it ;  and  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  their 
men,  the  consuls  themselves  set  out  with  a  party  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  horse  to  explore  it.  When  they  had  gone  a  little 
way  up  the  hill  they  were  suddenly  assailed  on  all  sides  by  the 
Numidia,us,  and  Marcellus  was  killed,  and  Crispinus  escaped 
badly  wounded.  Hannibal  instantly  occupied  the  height,  and 
Crispinus  retired  the  following  night  and  encamped  in  the 
mountains.  The  Punic  general  gave  honourable  sepulture  to 
the  body  of  his  rival ;  but  having  gotten  his  ring  he  resolved 
to  derive  what  advantage  he  could  from  it,  and  he  wrote  in 
his  name  to  the  people  of  Salapia,  by  a  deserter,  to  say  that 
he  would  come  thither  the  following  night.  Crispinus,  how- 
ever, had  prudently  sent  to  all  the  towns  to  inform  them  of 
his  colleague's  death,  and  to  warn  them  against  letters  sealed 
with  his  ring.  The  attempt  on  Salapia,  therefore,  miscarried, 
and  Hannibal  returned  to  Bruttium,  where  he  forced  the  Ro- 
mans to  raise  the  siege  of  Locri. 

While  Hannibal  was  thus  engaged,  his  brother  Hasdrubal 
was  on  his  march  from  Spain  to  join  him.  After  the  victories 
gained  by  Scipio,  and  the  influence  he  had  obtained  over  the 
minds  of  tlie  natives,  the  Carthaginians  began  to  consider 


236  MARCH  OF  HASDRUBAL.  [b.C.  207. 

their  cause  in  that  country  as  nearly  hopeless  ;  and  as  Hanni- 
bal had  long  been  urgent  for  succours,  it  was  resolved  that 
Hasdrubal  should  lead  an  army  into  Italy.  He  was  preparing 
to  do  so  at  the  time  when  he  sustained  the  defeat  from  Scipio 
above  related  ;  but  as  he  had  before  the  battle  placed  his  ele- 
phants and  treasure  in  safety,  he  letired  to  the  north  coast  of 
Spain,  and  there  enlisted  a  large  body  of  Celtiberians;  and 
finding  that  Scipio  had  sent  troops  to  guard  the  eastern  pas- 
sage of  the  Pyrenees,  he  entered  Gaul  at  the  west  side,  and 
directed  his  march  though  Aquitania  for  the  Alps.  He  had 
sent  to  raise  troops  in  Liguria,  and  eight  thousand  Ligurians 
were  ready  tojoin  him  when  he  appeared  in  Italy.  The  Gauls 
of  the  Alps,  grown  familiar  with  the  passage  of  strangers,  of- 
fered no  opposition  ;  the  asperities  of  the  road  had  been  re- 
moved by  his  brother,  and  he  descended  into  the  plain  of  the 
Po  without  having  suffered  any  losses  ;  but  instead  of  passing 
on  tojoin  Hannibal,  he  consumed  the  time  which  was  of  so 
much  value  in  besieging  the  strong  colony  of  Placentia. 

The  consuls  elected  for  this  year  (545)  were  C.  Claudius 
Nero  and  M.  Livius  Salinator*  ;  the  former  was  opposed  to 
Hannibal,  the  latter  advanced  to  meet  Hasdrubal.  Claudius, 
having  selected  forty  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred horse  out  of  the  troops  in  the  south,  took  his  post  at  Ve- 
il usia  ;  Hannibal  collected  his  forces  from  their  quarters,  and 
advanced  to  Grumentum  in  Lucania,  whither  Claudius  also 
came  ;  and  the  two  armies  were  encamped  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  asunder.  An  engagement,  in  which  the  former  it  is  said 
was  defeated,  was  fought  in  the  plain  which  separated  the 
camps,  after  which  Haimibal,  as  was  his  wont,  decamped  in 
the  night.  Claudius  followed,  and  coming  up  with  him  at 
Venusia  gave  him  a  slight  defeat.  Hannibal  went  thence  to 
Metapontuni,  then  back  again  to  Venusia,  and  on  to  Canusium, 
still  followed  by  Claudius. 

Meantime  Hasdrubal,  having  given  over  the  siege  of  Pla- 
centia, was  advancing  southwards.  He  wrote  to  his  brother 
to  desire  him  to  meet  him  in  Umbria ;  but  his  letters  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Claudius,  who,  deeming  the  time  to  be  come 
for  venturing  on  something  extraordinary,  sent  the  letters 
to  the  senate,  informing  them  of  what  he  intended  to  do, 
and  directing  them  how  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  city 
in  case  of  any  mishap.  He  then  despatched  orders  to  the  peo- 

*  This  title  was  given  him  at  a  subsequent  period  on  account  of  a  duty 
which  he  laid  on  salt,  when  censor. 


B.C.  207.]  MARCH  OF  HASDRUBAL.  237 

pie  of  the  country  through  which  he  intended  to  pass  to  have 
provisions,  horses,  and  beasts  of  burden  prepared  ;  and  select- 
ing six  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  horse,  desired  them  to 
be  ready  at  night  for  an  attempt  on  the  nearest  Punic  garrison. 
At  night  he  led  them  in  the  direction  of  Picenum,  and  when 
at  a  sufficient  distance,  informed  them  that  it  was  his  intention 
to  go  and  join  his  colleague.  Everywhere  as  they  passed  the 
people  came  forth  to  congratulate  them  and  pi'ay  for  their  suc- 
cess; supplies  poured  in  in  abundance;  the  soldiers  marched 
day  and  night,  taking  barely  the  necessary  repose. 

Claudius  had  sent  on  to  inquire  of  his  colleague  whether  he 
would  wish  them  to  join  him  by  day  or  by  night,  and  whether 
they  should  enter  his  camp  or  encamp  separately.  Livius  de- 
sired them  to  enter  his  camp  in  secret,  and  by  night ;  and  he 
arranged  that  the  officers  should  receive  the  officers,  the  men 
the  men,  of  Nero's  army,  into  their  tents,  so  that  the  camp 
need  not  be  enlarged,  and  the  enemy  might  be  thus  kept  in 
ignorance  of  their  arrival.  As  Livius  was  encamped  near  the 
colony  of  Sena  Gallica,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  Punic  camp, 
Nero  halted  in  the  neighbouring  mountains  till  night  came, 
and  he  then  entered  the  consul's  camp.  A  council  of  war  was 
held  next  day,  at  which  the  prajtor  L.  Porcius,  who  had  fol- 
lowed Hasdrubal  along  the  hills,  and  who  was  now  encamped 
near  the  consul,  assisted.  Most  were  for  a  delay  of  a  few  days 
to  rest  Nero's  men,  but  he  himself  was  decidedly  against  this 
course,  lest  Hannibal,  having  learned  how  he  had  been  de- 
ceived, should  be  enabled  to  join  his  brother.  It  was  there- 
fore resolved  to  give  battle  at  once. 

The  suspicions  of  Hasdrubal  were  aroused  when  he  saw  the 
old  shields  of  a  part  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  and  marked  that 
their  horses  were  leaner  than  usual,  and  the  number  of  the 
men  was  increased.  He  therefore  sent  some  down  to  where 
the  Romans  used  to  water,  to  observe  if  any  of  them  were 
sunburnt  as  off  a  journey  ;  and  others  to  go  round  their  camp, 
and  discover  if  it  had  been  enlarged,  and  if  the  trumpet  was 
blown  twice  or  only  once.  They  reported  that  it  was  blown 
twice  in  one  camp,  once  in  the  other;  and  though  they  had 
remarked  no  change  in  the  size,  the  wary  general  became  con- 
vinced that  the  other  consul  must  be  there,  and  he  began  to 
fear  that  his  brother  had  sustained  a  decisive  defeat ;  still, 
thinking  that  his  letters  might  have  been  intercepted,  he  re- 
solved to  decamp  in  the  night  and  fall  back  into  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  and  there  wait  till  he  had  some  sure  tidings  of  Hannibal. 


238  DEFEAT  OF  HASDRUBAL.  [b.C.  207. 

He  therefore  set  out  early  in  the  night ;  but  his  guides  made 
their  escape,  and  he  sought  to  no  purpose  for  a  ford  in  the 
river  Metaurus,  whose  banks  increased  in  height  as  it  receded 
from  the  sea.  In  the  morning  the  Roman  army  came  up,  and 
Hasdrubal  could  no  longer  decline  an  engagement. 

The  Roman  army  consisted  of  4-5,000  men.  Livius  led  the 
left,  Nero  the  right  wing,  Porcius  the  centre.  Hasdrubal's 
forces  exceeded  60,000  men ;  he  placed  his  Spanish  troops, 
himself  at  theirhead,  on  the  right ;  the  Gauls,  protected  by  a  hill, 
on  the  left ;  the  Ligurians  in  the  centre,  with  the  elephants  in 
their  front.  The  conflict  between  Livius  and  Hasdrubal  was 
severe.  Claudius,  finding  that  the  hill  prevented  him  from 
attacking  the  Gauls,  took  some  cohorts  round  in  the  rear,  and 
fell  on  the  left  flank  of  tlie  Spaniards  and  Ligurians,  who  being 
thus  assailed  on  all  sides,  gave  way ;  the  Gauls  were  also  at- 
tacked, and  easily  routed  ;  the  elephants  were  mostly  killed  by 
their  own  drivers.  Hasdrubal,  who  had  performed  all  the 
parts  of  an  able  general,  seeing  the  battle  lost,  spurred  his 
horse,  and  rushing  into  the  midst  of  a  Roman  cohort,  died  as 
became  the  son  of  Hamilcar  and  the  brother  of  Hannibal. 
This  victory  nearly  compensated  for  Cannee  ;  56,000  men,  we 
are  told,  lay  dead  ;  5400  were  taken  ;  the  loss  of  the  victors 
W'as  8000  men*. 

That  very  night  Nero  set  out,  and  reached  his  camp  on  the 
sixth  day,  bearing  with  him  the  head  of  Hasdrubal,  which, 
with  a  refinement  of  barbarity,  he  caused  to  be  flung  to  the 
guards  of  Hannibal's  camp,  and  he  sent  some  of  his  prisoners 
in  with  the  intelligence.  Hannibal,  struck  with  both  the  pub- 
lic and  private  calamity,  cried,  "  I  see  the  doom  of  Carthage  ;" 
and  instantly  removed  to  the  extremity  of  Bruttium,  being  re- 
solved to  act  merely  on  the  defensive. 

*  Livy,  jLxvii.  49.  Polybius  however  (xi.  3.)  is  much  more  moderate  ; 
he  makes  the  slain  on  one  side  10,000,  on  the  other  2000  men. 


B.C.  206.1  SUCCESSES  OF  SCIPIO  IN  SPAIN.  239 


CHAPTER  yi  * 

Successes  of  Seipio  in  Spain.— Mutiny  in  his  army. — Carthaginians  ex- 
pelled from  Spain. — Scipio's  return  to  Rome. — His  preparations  for  in- 
vading Africa. — Invasion  of  Africa. — Horrible  desU-uction  of  a  Punic 
army. — Defeat  ef  the  Carthaginians. — Attack  on  the  Roman  fleet. — 
Death  of  Sophonisba. — Return  of  Hannibal.— Interview  of  Hannibal 
and  Seipio. — Battle  of  Zama. — End  of  the  War. 

The  \%av  in  Italj-  may  now  be  regarded  as  terminated  ;  in 
Greece  also  little  of  importance  occurs  ;  Spain  alone,  in  which 
Hasdrubal  the  son  of  Gisco,  and  Hanno  and  Mago  still  sus- 
tained the  Punic  cause,  attracts  attention.  Against  these  two 
last,  who  had  combined  their  forces,  Seipio  sent  his  legate  Si- 
lanus,  who  defeated  them  and  took  Hanno  prisoner  ;  he  also 
sent  his  brother  L.  Seipio  to  lay  siege  to  a  strong  town  named 
Oringis,  and  after  a  stout  defence  it  was  reduced. 

The  following  year  (54:6),  Hasdrubal  and  Mago,  having 
raised  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  five 
hundred  horse,  took  their  position  at  a  place  named  Silpia  in 
Bagtica,  and  prepared  to  give  the  Romans  battle.  Seipio 
moved  from  Tarraco  to  Castulo,  and  thence  to  Bsecula,  near 
which  heencamped.  Hisarmy  now  amounted  to  forty-five  thou- 
sand men.  The  Punic  army  came  and  encamped  near  him, 
and  for  several  successive  days  the  two  armies  stood  in  array 
without  venturing  to  engage.  At  length,  Seipio,  having 
changed  the  disposition  of  his  forces  Avithout  the  knowledge 
of  the  enemy,  brought  them  to  an  engagement,  and  completely 
routed  them.  Most  of  their  Spanish  troops  went  over  to  the 
Romans,  and  Mago,  decamping  in  the  night,  hastened  away  to 
Gades.  The  Romans  pursued,  and  the  sword  and  desertion 
reduced  his  army  to  nought.  Seipio  then  returned  to  Tar- 
raco, leaving  Silanus  in  the  vicinity  of  Gades, 

Massinissa  took  occasion  at  this  time  to  have  a  secret  inter- 
view with  Silanus,  in  which  he  expressed  his  desire  to  be  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  Romans.  Seipio,  as  the  Punic  power 
was  now  at  an  end  in  Spain,  began  to  think  of  transferring  the 
war  to  Africa.  He  therefore  sent  Lselius  with  presents  to 
Syphax  ;  and,  at  the  desire  of  this  prince  t©  hold  a  personal 
conference  with  him,  he  himself  crossed  over  to  Africa.    Has- 

*  Livy,  xxviii.-xxx.  Polyb.  Fragm.  xiv.,  xv.  Appian,  Btll.  Han,  55. 
to  the  end.  De  Reb.  Hispan.  25-37.  De  Reb.  Pun.  6-67.  Sil.  Ital.  xvi., 
xvii.,  the  Epitomators. 


24'0  SUCCESSES  OF  SCIPIO  IN  SPAIN.  [b.c.  206. 

drubal  happened  to  enter  the  same  port  a  little  time  before 
him,  and  the  two  hostile  generals  were  placed  on  the  same 
couch  at  the  entertainment  given  them  by  the  king.  Having 
formed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Syphax,  Scipio  returned  to 
New  Carthage. 

After  the  death  of  the  tvro  Scipios  the  cities  of  Illiturgis 
and  Castido  had  gone  over  to  the  enemy,  and  the  people  of 
the  former  had  added  to  their  defection  the  guilt  of  murdering 
the  Romans  who  had  sought  refuge  with  them.  The  time 
was  now  come  for  taking  the  long-meditated  vengeance  :  Sci- 
pio sent  L.  Marcius  with  one  third  of  the  army  against  Cas- 
tulo,  while  he  himself  sat  down  before  Illiturgis  with  the  re- 
mainder. The  lUiturgians,  knowing  that  they  had  no  mercy 
to  look  for,  made  a  most  obstinate  defence ;  but  the  African 
deserters  in  the  Roman  service  having  secretly  scaled  a  part 
which,  from  its  height,  was  left  unguarded,  the  toM'n  was 
taken.  JNIen,  women  and  children  were  slauglitered  without 
mercy  or  distinction  ;  the  town  was  burnt  and  all  traces  of  it 
effaced.  The  fate  of  Castulo  w^as  less  severe,  as  a  party  there 
betrayed  the  town  and  the  Punic  garrison  into  the  hands  of 
the  Romans.  Marcius  then  crossed  the  Bgetis,  and  laid  siege 
to  a  town  named  Astapa,  whose  inhabitants  lived  mostly  by 
plunder.  Their  town  was  not  strong,  and  they  knew  that 
they  had  no  favour  to  expect.  They  therefore  resolved  to 
perish  nobly;  and  collecting  in  their  market  all  their  valuable 
property,  they  piled  it  up,  and  making  their  women  and  chil- 
dren sit  on  the  pile,  heaped  wood  and  fagots  around  them. 
They  set  fifty  armed  youths  toguai'd  it,  charging  them,  when 
they  saw  the  town  on  the  point  of  being  taken,  to  destroy  all 
there  with  the  sword  and  fire.  They  then  opened  the  gates 
and  rushed  forth ;  they  drove  off  the  horse  and  light  troops : 
the  legions  had  to  come  out  against  them,  and  at  length,  over- 
whelmed by  numbers,  they  all  perished.  The  fifty  young 
men  then  drew  their  swords,  slaughtered  the  women  and 
children,  threw  their  bodies  on  the  pile,  set  fire  to  it,  and  flung 
themselves  into  the  flames. 

Some  time  after  Scipio  happened  to  fall  sick,  and  the  Spa- 
nish princes  Indibilis  and  Mandonius  immediately  seized  arms 
and  wasted  the  lands  of  the  Roman  allies,  A  mutiny  also 
broke  out  in  the  Roman  camp  at  Sucro  (^Xucar).  The  men 
complained  of  being  detained  in  Spain,  and  of  their  pay  being 
withheld  ;  and  on  hearing  a  false  rumour  of  the  death  of  Sci- 
pio, they  drove  away  their  officers  and  gave  the  command  to 


B.C.  206.]  MUTINY  IN  SCIPIo's  ARMY.  241 

two  common  soldiers.  But  when  they  learned  that  he  was 
still  alive,  their  courage  fell,  and  they  consented,  seeing  they 
had  no  chance  of  being  able  to  resist,  to  go  to  New  Carthage, 
and  submit  themselves  to  their  general,  with  whose  leniency 
they  were  well  acquainted.  They  entered  the  town  at  sunset, 
and  saw  all  the  other  troops  preparing  to  march  that  night 
against  the  Spaniards.  This  sight  filled  them  with  joy,  as 
they  thought  they  should  now  have  their  general  in  their 
power.  The  other  troops  marched  out  at  the  fourth  watch 
of  the  night ;  but  they  had  orders  to  halt  outside  the  town, 
and  all  the  gates  were  secured. 

In  the  morning  Scipio  mounted  his  tribunal  in  the  market 
and  summoned  the  mutineers  before  him.  They  came  pre- 
pared with  fierce  mien  and  insolent  words,  hoping  to  bully 
him  ;  but  when  they  saw  his  healthy  looks,  and  found  that 
the  other  troops  had  re-entered  the  town  and  were  now  sur- 
rounding them,  while  they  were  themselves  unarmed,  their 
spirits  sank.  Scipio  sat  in  silence  till  he  heard  that  the  ring- 
leaders, who  had  iDeen  secured  in  the  night,  were  at  hand  and 
that  all  was  ready.  He  then  rose  and  addressed  the  troops, 
reproaching  them  with  their  mutiny,  and  concluded  by  offering 
pardon  to  all  but  their  leaders.  The  soldiers  behind  clashed 
their  swords  on  their  shields,  and  the  crier's  voice  was  heard 
proclaiming  the  names  of  the  condemned  ;  who  M'ere  dragged 
forth  naked,  thirty-five  in  number,  bound  to  the  stake, 
scourged  and  beheaded,  their  comrades  in  guilt  not  daring 
even  to  utter  a  groan.  The  mutineers  were  made  to  renew 
their  military  oath,  and  they  then  received  their  arrears  of  pay. 

When  Scipio  had  reduced  his  troops  to  obedience  he  took 
the  field  against  Indibilis  and  Mandonius,  and  having  given 
them  a  decisive  defeat,  granted  them  peace  on  the  condition 
of  their  supplying  him  with  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  pay 
of  the  Roman  army.  He  then  proceeded  toward  Gades  to 
meet  Massinissa,  who  was  anxious  to  have  a  personal  confer- 
ence with  him. 

The  Numidian  prince  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  for  some 
time  wavering  in  his  faith  to  Carthage.  It  is  said*  that  in- 
jured love  was  the  motive  that  now  decided  him  to  revolt. 
He  had  been  educated  at  Carthage,  where  Hasdrubal,  the  son 
of  Gisco,  pleased  with  his  noble  qualities,  had  promised  him 
the  hand  of  his  daughter  Sophonisba,  the  most  lovely,  accom- 

*  Appian,  Pun.  viii.  37.     Zonaras,  ix.  1 1. 

M 


242  SCIPIO'S  RETURN  TO  ROME.  [b.C.205.        j 


plishecl,  and  liigWy  endowed  maiden  of  her  time*.  He  had  1 
attended  his  future  father-in-law  to  Spain,  and  shown  himself 
worthy  of  the  honour  designed  him.  But  Syphax  was  also 
an  admirer  of  the  fair  Sophonisba,  and  the  desire  of  with- 
drawing this  powerful  prince  from  his  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans overcame  all  sense  of  justice  and  honour  in  the  minds 
of  the  Carthaginian  senate,  and,  as  it  would  seem,  of  Hasdru- 
bal  himself,  and  Sophonisba  was  given  to  him  as  the  condition 
of  his  becoming  the  ally  of  Carthage.  Massinissa,  stung  by 
jealousy,  resolved  to  join  the  Romans  ;  and  pretending  to 
Mago  that  the  horses  were  injured  by  the  confinement  in  the 
island  (Isla  de  Leon)  in  which  Gades  lay,  he  obtained  his 
permission  to  pass  over  on  a  plundering  excursion  to  the  main- 
land. He  there  had  an  interview  with  Scipio,  and  pledged 
himself  to  the  cause  of  Rome. 

Orders  now  came  from  Carthage  for  Mago  to  collect  all 
his  troops  and  ships  and  sail  to  the  north  of  Italy,  and  raising 
there  an  army  of  Ligurians  and  Gauls,  to  endeavour  to  join 
his  brother  Hannibal.  Money  was  sent  him  for  this  purpose, 
and  to  this  he  added  what  was  in  the  treasury  and  temples  at 
Gades,  and  the  forced  contributions  of  the  citizens.  In  con- 
sequence of  this,  when,  after  the  failure  of  a  nocturnal  attempt 
on  New  Carthage,  he  returned  to  Gades,  he  found  the  gates 
closed  against  him,  and  on  his  retiring  the  city  was  surren- 
dered to  the  Romans.  As  it  was  now  the  end  of  autumn,  he 
took  up  his  winter-quarters  in  the  lesser  of  the  Balearic  isles 
(^Minorca). 

Scipio  having  thus  in  five  years  achieved  the  conquest  of 
Spain  now  returned  to  Rome.  The  senate  gave  him  audience, 
according  to  custom,  at  the  temple  of  Bellona  without  the 
city  f ,  and  he  delivered  a  full  account  of  his  exploits.  He  had 
some  hopes  of  being  allowed  to  triumph ;  but  as  this  honour 
had  hitherto  been  restricted  to  those  who  were  magistrates, 
he  did  not  urge  his  claim.  At  the  ensuing  comitia  he  v.as 
unanimously  chosen  consul  for  the  next  year  (547)  with  P. 
Licinius  Crassus,  who  was  at  that  time  great  pontiff. 

Aware  of  the  feeble  hold  which  the  Carthaginians  had  on 
the  affections  of  their  African  subjects  and  allies,  and  recol- 
lecting the  ease  with  which  Agathocles  and  Regulus  had 
brought  them  to  the  brink  of  ruin,  Scipio  was  resolved  if  pos- 

*  According  to  Diodorus(Frag.  xxvii.),  Sophonisba  was  actually  married 
to  Massinissa. 

f  It  was  in  the  Flaminian  Mead  under  the  Capitol. 


B.C.  205.]  INVASION  OF  AFRICA.  243 

sible  to  transfer  the  war  to  their  own  shores.  He  was  there- 
fore desirous  of  having  Africa  assigned  for  his  province,  and 
he  made  no  secret  of  his  intention  of  appealing  to  the  people 
if  refused  by  the  senate.  The  latter  body  were  higldy  offend- 
ed ;  some  were  envious  of  Scipio,  others  really  dubious  of  the 
policy  of  invading  Africa  while  Hannibal  was  in  Italy.  Among 
these  last  v,-as  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  who  spoke  at  great  length 
against  Scipio's  plan.  Scipio  replied  ;  Q.  Fulvius  then  de- 
manded of  him  if  he  would  leave  the  decision  of  the  provinces 
to  t!ie  Fathers  ;  Scipio's  answer  was  ambiguo  is;  Fulvius  ap- 
pealed to  the  tribunes,  who  declared  that  they  would  inter- 
cede. Scipio  then  demanded  a  day  to  consult  with  his  col- 
league, and  it  ended  by  the  decision  being  left  to  the  senate, 
and  their  assigning  Bruttium  to  one  consul  and  Sicily  to  the 
other,  with  permission  to  pass  over  to  Africa  if  he  deemed  it 
for  the  advantage  of  the  state. 

The  senate,  being  thus  obliged  to  give  way,  vented  their 
spleen  by  refusing  Scipio  leave  to  levy  troops,  and  by  refusing 
also  to  be  at  the  expense  of  fitting  out  the  fleet  he  might  re- 
quire. Fie  did  not  press  them  ;  he  only  asked  to  be  allowed 
to  take  volunteers  and  free-will  offerings.  This  could  not 
well  be  refused  ;  the  various  peoples  of  Etruria  then  contri- 
buted the  materials  for  building  and  equipping  ships,  they  also 
gave  corn  and  arms  ;  the  Umbrians,  Sabines,  and  the  Marsian 
League  sent  numerous  volunteers  ;  the  Camertians  a  complete 
cohort  fully  armed.  Forty-five  days  after  the  trees  for  the 
purpose  had  l>een  felled,  a  fleet  of  thirty  ships  fully  equipped 
was  afloat.  Scipio  then  passed  over  to  Sicily,  where  he  regi- 
mented his  volunteers,  keeping  three  hundred  youths,  the 
flower  of  them,  about  him,  unarmed  and  ignorant  of  their  des- 
tination. He  soon  after  selected  three  hundred  young  Sici- 
lians of  good  family,  and  directed  them  to  be  with  him  on  a 
certain  day,  fully  equipped  to  serve  as  cavalry.  They  came  ; 
but  the  idea  of  service  was  death  to  these  effeminate  youths 
and  to  their  parents  and  relatives.  Scipio  then  offered  to  pro- 
vide them  with  substitutes  if  they  did  not  wish  to  serve.  They 
gladly  embraced  his  offer  ;  he  appointed  the  three  hundred 
youths  to  take  their  place ;  the  Sicilians  had  to  supply  them 
with  horses  and  arms,  and  have  them  taught  to  ride  ;  and  thus 
Scipio  acquired  without  any  expense  a  valuable  body  of  horse. 
He  then  draughted  the  best  soldiei-s  from  the  legions  there, 
especially  those  who  had  served  under  Marcellus,  after  which 
he  went  to  Syracuse  for  the  winter.     Lsplius  passed  with  a 

M  2 


244;  INVASION  OF  AFRICA.  [ B.C.  204. 

part  of  the  fleet  over  to  Africa,  and  landing  at  Hippo  Regius 
plundered  the  adjacent  country.  He  was  there  joined  by  Mas- 
sinissa,  who  having  been  driven  out  of  his  paternal  kingdom 
by  Syphax  was  lurking  with  a  few  horsemen  about  the  lesser 
Syrtis.     Lffilius  then  returned  with  his  booty  to  Sicily. 

In  the  course  of  this  summer  Mago  had  sailed  from  the 
Baleares,  and  landed  with  12,000  foot  and  2000  horse  at  Ge- 
nua, on  the  coast  of  Liguria  ;  and  when  Lgelius  had  appeared 
in  Africa  the  Punic  senate  sent  him  a  reinforcement  of  6000 
foot,  800  horse,  seven  elephants,  and  a  large  sum  of  money, 
with  directions  to  lose  no  time  in  hiring  Gauls  and  Ligurians, 
and  to  endeavour  to  effect  a  junction  with  Hannibal  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  thus  give  the  Romans  employment  at  home. 
In  Spain  Indibilis  and  Mandonius  excited  some  of  the  native 
peoples  to  arms  against  the  Romans  ;  but  they  were  defeated 
and  obliged  to  sue  for  peace.  In  Greece  a  peace  was  con- 
cluded with  the  king  of  Macedonia. 

The  consulate  of  Scipio  having  expired,  his  command,  as 
was  usual,  was  prolonged  for  the  ensuing  year  (548),  and  the 
eyes  of  all  men  were  turned  to  the  fine  army  which  he  had 
assembled  for  the  conquest  of  Africa.  Authorities  differ  re- 
specting the  number  of  his  forces,  but  they  could  hardly  have 
been  less  than  thirty-five  thousand  men,  horse  and  foot.  They 
embarked,  taking  with  them  provisions  for  forty-live  days ; 
the  transports  sailed  in  the  centre  ;  on  the  right  were  twenty 
ships  of  war  under  Scipio  himself  and  his  brother  Lucius,  and 
an  equal  number  on  the  left  under  Loelius  and  M.  Porcius 
Cato  the  queestor ;  each  transport  carried  two  lights,  each 
«hip  of  war  one,  the  general's  ship  three  ;  the  pilots  were  di- 
rected to  steer  for  the  Emporia  on  the  Syrtes.  The  fleet  left 
Lilybaeum  at  daybreak,  and  next  morning  it  was  off  the  Her- 
maic  cape.  Scipio's  pilot  proposed  to  land  there,  but  he  di- 
rected him  to  keep  to  the  left.  A  fog  however  came  on,  and 
the  wind  fell ;  during  the  night  a  contrary  wind  sprang  up, 
and  at  dawn  they  found  themselves  off  the  cape  of  Apollo,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  bay  of  Carthage,  not  far  from  Utica,  and 
there  they  landed  and  encamped. 

The  consternation  was  great  in  Carthage  when  it  v,as  known 
that  the  formidable  Scipio  was  actually  landed  in  Africa. 
Orders  were  sent  to  Hasdrubal,  who  was  away  collecting 
troops  and  elephants,  to  hasten  to  the  defence  of  his  country, 
and  envoys  were  despatched  to  Syphax  for  a  similar  purpose. 
Hasdrubal's  son  Hanno  was  directed  to  take  a  station  with 


£.0.204".]  INVASION  OF  AFRICA.  245 

four  thousand  horse  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  Roman  camp 
to  protect  the  open  country ;  but  Massinissa,  who  was  now 
with  Scipio,  drew  him  to  where  the  Roman  horse  stood  co- 
vered by  some  hills,  and  nearly  all  his  men  were  slain  or  taken. 
He  was  himself  made  a  prisoner,  and  afterwards  exchanged 
for  Massinissa's  mother.  Scipio  and  Massinissa  now  laid  the 
covmtry  waste  without  opposition,  and  they  set  at  liberty  a 
great  number  of  Roman  captives  who  were  working  as  slaves  in 
the  fields.  They  laid  siege  to  a  large  town  named  Lacha  ;  the 
scaling-ladders  were  placed,  when  the  people  sent  offering  to 
surrender  ;  Scipio  ordered  the  trumpet  to  sound  the  recall ; 
but  the  soldiers  heeded  it  not,  and  the  town  was  stormed,  and 
a  general  slaughter  commenced.  To  punish  his  men,  Scipio 
deprived  them  of  all  their  booty,  and  he  put  to  death  three  of 
the  most  guilty  tribunes.  Hasdrubal,  who  was  at  hand  with 
an  army  of  20,000  foot,  7000  horse,  and  140  elephants,  made 
an  attack  on  the  Romans,  but  was  driven  off  with  the  loss  of 
5000  slain  and  1800  prisoners. 

Scipio,  wishing  to  have  a  strong  town  as  a  place  of  arms 
and  for  winter-quarters,  now  laid  siege  to  Utica  :  he  had 
brought  all  the  necessary  machines  from  Sicily  ;  but  the  Uti- 
cans  defended  themselves  gallantly,  and  after  assailing  the 
town  for  forty  days  he  was  forced  to  give  over  the  siege.  He 
then  withdrew,  and  fixed  his  winter-camp  on  a  rocky  penin- 
sula, which  ran  out  into  the  sea,  to  the  east  of  that  town.  Has- 
drubal encamped  in  the  vicinity,  as  also  did  Syphax,  the 
former  with  80,000  foot  and  3000  horse,  the  latter  with  50,000 
foot  and  10,000  horse,  but  they  made  no  attempt  on  the  Ro- 
man camp. 

During  the  winter  Scipio  entered  into  negotiations  with 
Syphax,  in  hopes  of  detaching  him  from  the  Carthaginians*, 
but  the  Numidian  would  not  hear  of  revolt ;  he  proposed  that 
the  one  party  should  evacuate  Italy,  the  other  Africa,  and  both 
remain  as  they  were.  Scipio  at  first  would  not  listen  to  these 
terms  ;  but  when  some  of  those  whom  he  had  sent  to  Syphax 
told  him  how  the  huts  in  the  Punic  camp  were  formed  of  wood 
and  leaves,  while  those  of  the  Numidians  were  of  mere  reeds, 
or  they  lay  on  simple  leaves,  and  many  of  them  without  the 
camp,  he  conceived  the  horrible  project  of  setting  fire  to  both 
the  camps  in  the  night,  and  massacring  the  troops  amidst  the 
flames.  He  feigned  therefore  to  hearken  to  the  proposal  of 
Syphax  ;  envoys  went  constantly  to  and  fro,  and  even  re- 
*  Polybius,  xiv.  1-5.     Livy,  xxx.  3-G. 


246  DESTRUCTION  OF  A  PUNIC  ARMY.  [b.C.  203« 

mained  for  days  on  each  side ;  and  Scipio  took  care  to  send 
with  them  some  of  his  most  intelligent  soldiers,  disguised  as 
slaves,  who  were  to  observe  the  position  and  form  of  the 
camps. 

When  the  spring  came  (549),  Scipio,  having  gained  all  the 
knowledge  he  required,  launched  his  ships  and  put  his  ma- 
chines abroad  as  if  to  renew  his  attacks  on  Utica,  and  he  for- 
tified an  eminence  near  the  town  which  he  had  occupied  be- 
fore, and  placed  on  it  a  body  of  two  thousand  men,  ostensively 
to  act  against  the  town,  but  in  reality  to  prevent  an  attempt 
on  his  camp  by  the  garrison  during  his  absence.  He  then 
sent  envoys  to  Syphax  to  know  if  the  Carthaginians  had  made 
up  their  minds  to  agree  to  the  terms  arranged  between  them, 
and  the  envoys  had  ordei's  not  to  return  without  a  categorical 
answer.  Syphax,  now  quite  certain  of  the  Roman's  sincerity, 
sent  to  Hasdrubal,  and  receiving  a  perfectly  satisfactory  reply, 
joyfully  dismissed  Scipio's  envoys.  But  to  his  great  mortifi- 
cation others  came  almost  immediately,  to  say  that  Scipio 
himself  was  well  content  to  make  peace  on  these  terms,  but 
that  his  council  would  not  on  any  account  accede  to  them. 
This  was  all  done  by  Scipio  in  order  to  clear  himself  from  the 
guilt  of  breach  of  truce,  in  making  an  attack  while  negotia- 
tions for  peace  were  pending. 

Syphax  and  Hasdrubal,  little  suspecting  the  atrocious  design 
of  the  Roman  general,  having  consulted  together,  agreed  to 
offer  him  battle  at  once.  But  Scipio  about  midday  assem- 
bled his  ablest  and  most  trusty  tribunes,  and  having  commu- 
nicated to  them  his  plan  (which  had  hitherto  been  a  most 
profound  secret),  directed  them,  when  the  trumpets  sounded 
as  usual  after  supper  for  setting  the  guards,  to  lead  their  men 
out  of  the  camp.  He  then  sent  for  those  who  had  acted  as 
spies,  and  examined  them  as  to  the  state  of  the  enemies'  camps 
in  the  presence  of  Massinissa.  At  night  when  all  was  ready 
he  set  out,  at  the  end  of  the  first  watch,  and  reaching  the 
hostile  camps  by  the  end  of  the  third  watch,  he  divided  his 
forces,  giving  one  half  of  the  soldiers  and  all  the  Numidians 
to  Leelius  and  Massinissa,  with  orders  to  attack  the  camp  of 
Syphax,  Vv'hile  he  himself  led  the  rest  of  the  army  against  that 
of  Hasdrubal. 

Lselius  and  Massinissa  having  divided  their  troops,  the  latter 
went  and  stationed  his  men  at  all  the  avenues  of  the  camp, 
while  the  form.er  set  fire  to  it.  The  flames,  which  spread 
rapidly,  roused  Syphax  and  his  people  from  their  sleep,  and 


B.C.  203.3  DESTRUCTION  OF  A  PUNIC  ARMY.  247 

having  no  doubt  that  the  fire  was  accidental,  they  endeavoured, 
naked  as  they  were,  to  get  out  of  the  camp  ;  but  several  were 
burnt  to  death,  others  trampled  down  in  the  rush-out,  and 
those  who  got  out  were  cut  to  pieces  by  Massinissa's  soldiers. 
Those  in  the  other  camp  when  they  saw  the  flames  also  took 
them  to  be  accidental,  and  some  hastened  to  give  assistance, 
while  the  rest  came  and  stood  outside  of  the  camp  gazing  on 
the  conflagration.  All  were  alike  fallen  on  and  slaughtered 
by  the  Romans,  who  at  the  same  time  set  fire  to  their  camp. 
Here  also  the  flames  spread  in  all  directions  ;  in  both  camps 
men,  horses,  and  beasts  of  burden  were  to  be  seen,  some  pe- 
rishing in  the  flames,  others  rushing  through  them,  and  all 
over  the  plain  naked  unarmed  fugitives  pursued  and  slaugh- 
tered by  their  ruthless  foes  ;  of  so  many  myriads*  onlj^  about 
two  thousand  foot  and  five  hundred  horse  escaped,  with  Has- 
drubal  and  Syphax. 

"  Scipio,"  says  Polybius,  "  performed  aiany  great  and  glo- 
rious actions,  but,  in  my  opinion,  this  was  the  boldest  and 
most  glorious  he  ever  achieved."  Yet  what  was  it  in  reality 
but  a  tissue  of  treachery,  duplicitj^,  and  cruelty  ?  Bj'  a  pre- 
tended negotiation  the  suspicions  of  the  enemy  were  lulled  to 
rest,  and  an  opportunity  gained  for  spying  out  their  camps, 
and  then  they  were  secretly  assailed  and  set  fire  to  at  the  hour 
when  all  in  them  were  asleep.  Such  a  treacherous  and  cow- 
ardly procedure  may  ^'^  worthy  of  a  leader  of  pirates  or  ban- 
dits, but  it  was  surely  disgraceful,  at  the  least,  to  the  general 
of  a  great  republic-f. 

Hasdrubal  fled  first  to  a  town  in  the  vicinity,  and  hence  to 
Carthage,  whereopinions  were  divided;  some  were  for  suing  for 
peace,  othei's  for  recalling  Hannibal,  others  for  raising  more 
troops,  calling  again  on  Syphas,  and  continuing  the  war.  This 
last  opinion  prevailed.  Syphax,  yielding  to  the  tears  and  en- 
treaties of  his  lovely  wife,  and  encouraged  by  the  appearance  of 
a  fine  body  of  four  thousand  Celtiberians  who  were  j  ust  arrived, 
consented  to  make  new  levies,  and  in  the  space  of  thirty  days  a 
combined  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  encamped  on  the  Great 
Plain  five  days'  march  I'rom  Utica.  Scipio,  leaving  the  siege  of 
this  town,  advanced  to  engage  them.  After  three  days'  skir- 
mishing a  general  action  commenced  :  the  Roman  army  was 
drawn  up  with  the  Italian  horse  on  the  right,  the  Numidians 

*  According  to  Livy,  40,000  men  perished  by  the  fiames  or  by  the  sword. 

f  If  the  narrative  in  Arrian  (iii.  10.)  and  Curtius  (iv.  13.)  maybe  relied 
on,  Alexander  the  Great  thought  very  differently  on  this  subject  from  Scipio 
and  Polybius.     See  the  Elementary  History  of  Greece,  p.  225. 


248  ATTACK  ON  THE  ROMAN  FLEET.  [  B.C.  203. 

on  the  left  wing.  The  Celtiberians  were  in  the  centre  of  the 
opposite  army,  the  Carthaginians  on  the  right,  the  Numidians 
on  the  left.  The  last  two  gave  way  at  the  first  shock;  the  Cel- 
tiberians fought  nobly,  and  perished  to  the  last  man.  After 
the  battle  Scipio  held  a  council,  and  it  was  decided  that  Leelius 
and  Massinissa  should  pursue  Syphax,  while  Scipio  employed 
himself  in  reducing  the  Punic  towns,  many  of  which  readily 
surrendered,  for  the  heavy  impositions  which  had  been  laid 
on  them  during  the  war  had  made  them  lukewarm  in  their 
allegiance. 

In  Carthage  it  was  now  resolved  to  send  to  recall  Hannibal, 
to  strengthen  the  defences  of  the  city,  and  to  send  out  a  fleet 
to  attack  that  of  the  Romans  at  Utica.  Scipio  meantime  ad- 
vanced and  occupied  Tunis,  a  town  within  view  of  Carthage, 
at  a  distance  of  about  fifteen  miles.  While  there  he  saw  the 
Punic  fleet  putting  to  sea,  and  fearing  for  his  own,  he  led  his 
troops  back  to  Utica.  As  his  ships  of  war  were  not  in  a  con- 
dition for  fighting,  being  prepared  for  battering  the  town,  he 
drew  them  up  close  to  the  shore,  placing  the  transports  three 
and  four  deep  outside  of  them,  with  their  masts  and  yards  laid 
across  them  and  tied  together  and  covered  with  planks ;  and 
he  set  about  one  thousand  men  to  defend  them.  Had  the 
Carthaginians  come  up  while  all  was  in  confusion,  they  might 
have  done  much  injury  ;  but  they  loitered  so  long  that  they  did 
not  appear  till  the  second  day,  and  with  all  their  efi'orts  they 
only  succeeded  in  dragging  away  six  of  the  transports. 

Lffilius  and  Massinissa  reached  Numidiaon  the  fifteenth  day, 
and  the  Massylians  gladly  received  their  native  prince.  But 
Syphax  having  collected  another  army  came  and  gave  them 
battle  and  was  again  defeated,  and  having  fallen  from  his  horse, 
that  was  wounded,  he  was  made  prisoner.  Massinissa  then 
pressed  on  for  Syphax's  capital,  named  Cirta  (  Constantine), 
which  surrendered  when  assured  of  that  prince's  captivity. 
Here  as  he  entered  the  palace  he  met  Sophonisba,  who  falling 
at  his  feet  implored  him  to  put  her  to  death  rather  than  give 
her  up  to  the  Romans.  The  prince's  love  i-evived,  and  as  the 
only  means  of  saving  her  from  the  Romans  he  resolved  to 
espouse  her  that  very  day.  The  wedding  was  celebrated  before 
the  arrival  of  Lselius,  who  was  highly  indignant  at  it,  and  was 
even  going  to  drag  her  from  him  ;  but  he  conceded  to  the  tears 
of  the  prince  that  the  decision  should  rest  with  Scipio. 

When  Syphax  was  brought  before  Scipio  he  threw  the  Mhole 
blame  of  his  change  of  policy  on  Sophonisba,  and  (probably 
out  of  jealousy)  assured  him  that  her  influence  over  Massinissa 


B.C.  203.]  DEATH  OF  SOPHONISBA.  249 

would  produce  similar  effects.  This  sank  deep  in  the  mind  of 
the  politic  Roman  ;  and  Avhen  Massinissa  arrived  he  lectured 
him  gravely  on  his  conduct,  and  insisted  on  his  giving  up  So- 
phonisba.  The  lover  burst  into  tears,  and  prayed  to  be  per- 
mitted, as  far  as  was  possible,  to  keep  his  promise  to  his  bride  ; 
he  then  retired  to  his  tent,  and  having  given  way  to  an  agony 
of  grief,  called  a  trusty  servant  who  kept  the  poison  with  which 
monarchs  in  those  times  were  always  provided,  and  desired 
him  to  bear  it  to  Sophonisba,  and  tell  her  that  unable  to  keep 
the  first  part  of  his  promise  he  thus  performed  the  second,  and 
it  was  for  her  to  act  as  became  the  daughter  of  Hasdrubal  and 
the  spouse  of  tM^o  kings.  The  servant  hastened  to  Cirta.  "  I 
accept  the  nuptial  gift,"  said  Sophonisba,  "no  ungrateful  one 
if  a  husband  could  give  his  wife  nothing  better.  Tell  him  only 
this,  that  I  should  have  died  with  more  glory  if  I  had  not 
married  on  the  eve  of  death."  So  saying  she  took  the  bowl 
which  he  presented  to  her  and  drained  it*.  Scipio,  now  re- 
lieved from  his  apprehensions,  sought  to  console  Massinissa ; 
he  publicly  gave  him  the  title  o?  king,  and,  after  the  Roman 
custom,  presented  him  with  the  regal  insignia.  Syphax  was 
sent  to  Rome,  and  he  died  soon  after  at  Tibur.  The  senate  and 
people  confirmedthehonoursbestowedby  Scipio  on  Massinissa. 

Scipio  now  returned  to  Tunis,  whither  came  an  embassy 
from  Carthage  suing  for  peace,  and  throwing  all  the  blame  of 
the  war  on  Hannibal.  The  terms  he  proposed  were  the  with- 
drawal of  all  their  troops  from  Italy,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  the 
islands,  their  giving  up  all  their  ships  of  war  but  twenty,  deli- 
vering 500,000  measures  of  wheat  and  200,000  of  barley,  and 
paying  a  large  sum  of  money.  He  gave  them  three  days  to 
consider  of  them  ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  truce  was  made 
to  enable  them  to  send  to  Rome. 

Meantime  Hannibal  and  Mago  had  both  been  recalled.  The 
latter  having  been  worsted  in  a  severe-fought  battle  in  Insu- 

*  Livy,  and  probably  Polybius,  says  nothing  of  the  previous  love  of  Mas- 
sinissa. According  to  Appian,  as  he  approached  Cirta,  Sophonisba  sent  to 
tell  him  that  she  had  been  obliged  to  marry  Syphax.  Massinissa  left  her  at 
Cirta.  Scipio  very  roughly  ordered  him  to  give  her  up,  and  not  to  attempt 
to  deprive  the  Romans  of  a  part  of  their  booty.  The  prince  then  set  out 
with  some  Romans  as  if  to  fetch  her,  and  contriving  to  see  her  alone  handed 
her  a  bowl  of  poison,  and  telling  her  that  she  must  drink  it  or  become  a  slave 
to  the  Romans,  gave  spurs  to  his  horse  and  left  her.  She  drank  it:  and 
Massinissa  having  shown  the  Romans  her  dead  body,  buried  her  as  a  queen. 
See  also  Zonaras,ix.  13.  Diodor.  Frag,  xxvii.  At  all  events  Scipio's  conduct 
was  that  of  the  politician,  not  of  the  man  of  generous  feelings. 

M  5 


250  RETURN  OF  HANNIBAL.  [b.C.202. 

brian  GauL  and  wounded  in  the  thigh,  was  glad  to  leave  Italy ; 
he  therefore  embarked  his  troops,  and  put  to  sea  without  de- 
lay;  but  he  died  of  his  wound  when  off  Sardinia,  and  several 
of  his  ships  were  taken  by  the  Romans.  Hannibal,  it  is  said, 
groaned  when  he  received  the  order  to  return  ;  and  as  he  de- 
parted, looking  back  on  the  shores  of  Italy,  where  he  had  spent 
so  many  years  of  glory*,  cursed  his  own  folly  in  not  having 
marched  for  Rome  after  the  victory  at  Cannee.  This  last  cir- 
cumstance however  proves  that  we  have  not  here  a  true  ac- 
count, for  Hannibal  could  not  have  blamed  himself  for  acting 
right;  and  as  he  must  have  been  by  this  time  perfectly  sure 
that  under  the  present  circumstances  the  conquest  of  Italy  was 
become  hopeless,  his  groans,  if  any,  were  not  for  his  recall, 
but  for  the  occasion  of  it.     He  landed  his  troops  at  Leptis. 

The  Punic  envoys  received  a  dubious  answer  at  Rome,  and 
before  they  returned  the  truce  had  been  broken  ;  for  a  number 
of  ships  laden  with  supplies  from  Sicil)',  for  the  Roman  army, 
being  driven  into  the  bay  of  Carthage,  the  Carthaginians  seized 
them ;  and  when  Scipio  sent  envoys  to  complain,  they  narrowly 
escaped  personal  ill  treatment,  and  as  they  returned  their  vessel 
was  attacked  within  view  of  the  Roman  camp  by  a  Punic  ship 
of  war,  and  most  of  the  crew  slain.  Notwithstanding  this 
breach  of  faith,  Scipio  dismissed  in  safety  the  Punic  envoys 
when  they  reached  his  camp  on  their  return  from  Rome. 

The  war  was  resumedf  (550),  and  the  Carthaginians,  con- 
scious of  wrong,  resolved  to  strain  every  nerve.  Hannibal  had 
now  advanced  to  Adrum.etum  (Snsa^,  vv'hither  numerous  volun- 
teers repaired  to  him,  and  he  engaged  a  large  body  of  Numi- 
dian  cavalry.  Urged  then  by  the  pressing  instances  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Carthage,  he  advanced  to  Zama,  a  town  about  five  days' 
march  to  the  west  of  that  city,  whence  he  sent  three  spies  to 
learn  where  and  how  the  Romans  were  encamped.  These  spies 
were  taken  and  led  before  Scipio  ;  but,  like  Xerxes  J,  lie  had 
them  conducted  all  through  his  camp  and  then  dismissed  in 
safety.  Struck  by  this  conduct,  which  evinced  such  confidence 
in  his  own  strength,  Hannibal  proposed  a  personal  interview, 

*  "Quamdiu  in  Italia  fuit,  nemo  ei  in  acie  restitit,  nemo  adversiis  eum 
postCannensem  pugnam  in  campo  castra  posuit,"  Nepos,  Han.  5.  That  this 
however  is  not  perfectly  correct,  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  history  will 
prove. 

f  We  have  the  narrative  of  Polybius  (xv.  3-19.)  hence  to  the  end  of  the 
war. 

I  History  of  Greece,  p.  107,  2nd,  p.  103,  4th  edit.  See  also  above,  p.  163. 


B.C.  202.]     INTERVIEW  OF  HANNIBAL  AND  SCIPrO.  251 

in  hopes  that  while  his  forces  were  still  unimpaired,  he  should 
be  able  to  obtain  better  terms  for  his  country.  The  Roman 
did  not  decline  the  meeting,  but  said  he  would  appoint  the  time 
for  it  to  take  place.  He  was  joined  next  day  by  Massinissa  with 
six  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  horse  ;  and  he  advanced 
and  encamped  near  a  town  named  Naragara,  whence  he  sent 
to  inform  Hannibal  that  he  was  ready  to  confer  with  him.  The 
Punic  general  came  and  encamped  on  a  hill  about  four  miles 
off,  and  next  day  each  set  out  for  his  camp  with  a  few  horse- 
men, and  then  leaving  their  attendants  at  a  little  distance  they 
met,  an  interpreter  alone  being  present.  Hannibal  commenced 
by  expressing  iiis  wish  that  the  one  people  had  never  gone  out 
of  Afi'ica  or  the  other  out  of  Italy — their  natural  dominions. 
He  reminded  Scipioof  the  instability  of  fortune,  of  which  he 
was  himself  so  notable  an  instance,  and  concluded  by  offering 
on  the  part  of  Carthage  to  cede  Spain  and  Sicily,  Sardinia, 
and  all  the  other  islands  to  the  Romans.  Scipio  commenced 
by  attempting  to  justify  the  conduct  of  the  Romans  in  entering 
Sicilj"  and  Spain  as  the  defenders  of  their  allies.  He  dwelt  on 
the  late  breach  of  faith  at  the  moment  when  the  Roman  senate 
and  people  had  consented  to  a  peace  ;  and  said  that  if  the  less 
advantageous  terms  now  proposed  were  agreed  to,  it  would  be 
a  premium  on  bad  faith.  Victory  or  unconditional  submission, 
alone  rem.ained  for  Carthage.  The  conference  thus  terminated, 
and  each  general  retired  to  prepare  for  battle. 

At  dawn  the  next  day  the  two  armies  were  drawn  out  for 
the  conflict  which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  Carthage.  Never 
were  two  more  eminent  generals  opposed  to  each  other ;  the 
one  the  greatest  not  merely  of  his  own  but  perhaps  of  any  age, 
the  other  inferior  only  to  him.  In  number  of  troops  the  ad- 
vantage was  on  the  side  of  the  former*,  but  they  were  mostly 
raw  levies,  and  only  those  which  had  served  in  Italj'  could  vie 
in  steadiness  and  discipline  with  the  troops  led  by  the  Roman. 

Scipio  drew  up  his  troops  in  the  usual  manner,  but  instead 
of  placing  the  maniples  of  the  Principes  opposite  the  intervals 
of  those  of  the  Hastatsf,  he  set  them  directly  behind  them, 
thus  leaving  open  passages  in  his  lines  for  the  elephants  to  run 
through.  In  these  intervals  he  placed  the  Velites,  or  light 
troops,  directing  them  to  begin  the  action,  and  if  oppressed  by 
the  elephants  to  retire  through  the  intervals  to  the  rear,  or  if 

*  Appian  (viii.  40,  41.)  gives  the  total  of  the  Punic  force  50,000  men,  that 
of  the  Romans  23,000  foot  and  1500  horse,  exclusive  of  the  Numidians. 
t  See  above,  p.  173. 


252  BATTLE  OF  ZAMA.  [b.C.  202. 

they  could  not  do  so  to  fall  into  the  cross- intervals.  The  Italian 
cavalry  under  Laelius  was  stationed  on  the  left,  Massinissa  and 
his  Numidians  on  the  right  wing.  Hannibal  placed  his  ele- 
phants (of  which  he  had  eighty)  in  front ;  behind  them  his 
Ligurian,  Gallic,  Balearic,  and  Moorish  mercenaries,  twelve 
thousand  in  number ;  after  these  the  Africans  and  Cartha- 
ginians ;  and  then,  at  the  distance  of  somewhat  more  than  a 
furlong,  the  troops  he  had  brought  from  Italy*.  It  was  on 
these  last  that  he  placed  his  chief  reliance  ;  the  mercenaries 
v/ere  put  in  front  to  weary  the  Romans,  if  with  nothing  else, 
with  slaughtering  them  ;  the  Carthaginians  in  the  middle,  that 
they  might  be  obliged,  willing  or  not,  to  fight :  the  Punic  horse 
were  on  the  right,  the  Nuniidian  on  the  left  wing. 

Each  general  having  encouraged  his  men,  the  battle  com- 
menced with  the  skirmishing  of  the  Numidian  horse.  Han- 
nibal then  ordered  the  elephants  to  advance ;  but  the  Romans 
blew  their  horns  and  trumpets;  and  some  of  the  animals,  ter- 
rified at  the  clangor,  ran  to  the  left,  where  they  threw  their 
own  horse  into  such  confusion  that  they  could  not  stand  before 
that  of  Massinissa ;  the  rest  rushed  on  the  Roman  Velites, 
where  they  did  and  received  much  injury  :  at  length,  mad- 
dened by  the  noise  and  their  wounds,  they  ran  part  through 
the  intervals  of  the  Roman  lines,  part  to  the  right,  where,  by 
the  confusion  they  caused,  they  rendered  easy  the  victory  of 
Laelius  over  the  Punic  horse. 

The  infantry  on  both  sides  now  advanced ;  the  three  lines 
of  the  Romans  supporting  each  other,  while  the  timid  Cartha- 
ginians let  their  front  line  go  forward  alone.  These  merce- 
naries fought  bravely,  and  killed  and  wounded  many  of  the 
Romans ;  but  at  length  they  were  forced  to  give  way  before 
the  close  steady  ranks  of  the  Romans,  and  fall  back  on  tlieir 
second  line  ;  and  enraged  at  the  cowardice  of  the  Africans, 
they  ti'eated  them  as  enemies.  The  Carthaginians,  thus  as- 
sailed at  the  one  time  by  the  Romans  and  by  their  own  mer- 
cenaries, gathered  courage  from  despair,  and  fought  with  de- 
speration. They  threw  the  Hastats  into  confusion  ;  the  Prin- 
cipes  then  advanced  against  them  ;  the  slaughter  of  them  and 
the  mercenaries  Mas  immense  ;  for  Hannibal  would  not  allow 

*  Livy  makes  a  curious  mistake  here.  Finding  in  his  Polybius  rovs  tS, 
'IrnXios  i'jKovras  fied'  eavrov,  he  renders  it  by  "  aciem  Itaiicortim  militinn 
{^Briittii  pleriqite  erant,  vi  ac  necessitate  plu7es,  quam  sua  voluntate,  dece- 
dentem  ex  Italia  sequuti)  instruxit."  It  is  manifest  from  Polybius  (xv.  1 1, 
C-13/  that  they  were  his  veteran  troops. 


B.C.  202.]  BATTLE  OF  ZAMA.  253 

the  fugitives  to  mingle  with  his  reserve,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  scatter  over  the  plain. 

The  bodies  and  arms  of  the  slain  lay  in  such  heaps  that  it 
was  difficult  for  the  Roman  troops  to  move  forward  in  regular 
order  over  them.  Scipio,  therefore,  having  sounded  the  recall 
for  the  Hastats,  who  were  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  foes,  made 
them  form  beyond  the  heaps  of  slain ;  then  increasing  the 
depth  of  the  Principes  and  Triarians  on  the  wings,  he  advanced 
•with  them  over  the  dead  bodies,  and  on  coming  up  with  the 
Hastats  led  the  whole  force  against  Hannibal's  reserve.  It  was 
now  that  the  battle  might  be  said  to  commence  in  reality.  The 
numbers  were  nearly  equal*,  their  arms  the  same,  their  cou- 
rage and  discipline  alike.  Long  was  the  contest  doubtful ;  at 
length  fortune,  or  rather  the  destiny  of  Rome,  favoured  the 
Romans.  Lselius  and  Massinissa  returning  from  the  pursuit 
fell  on  the  rear  of  Hannibal's  troops,  and  thus  assailed  in  front 
and  rear  they  were  forced  to  give  way.  The  loss  of  the  Car- 
thaginians in  this  battle  was  twenty  thousand  slain,  and  nearly 
an  equal  number  taken ;  that  of  the  victors  was  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  two  thousand  men.  Hannibal  having,  both  before 
and  after  the  battle,  by  the  confession  of  Scipio  himself  and 
the  military  men  of  all  ages,  done  all  that  was  in  man  to  se- 
cure the  victory,  fled  with  a  few^  horsemen  to  Adrumetum, 
whence  at  the  call  of  thegovernment  he  proceeded  to  Carthage, 
which  he  had  not  seen  since  he  left  it  six-and-thirty  years  be- 
fore. He  advised  to  sue  for  peace,  as  he  declared  himself  to 
be  beaten  not  merely  in  a  battle  but  in  the  war, — meaning 
that  the  resources  of  Carthage  were  all  exhausted. 

Scipio  having  taken  the  enemy's  camp,  led  his  army  back 
to  Utica,  where  finding  a  Roman  fleet  arrived,  he  sent  Laelius 
home  with  the  news  of  his  victory  ;  and  desiring  his  legate 
Octavius  to  lead  the  troops  by  land  to  Carthage,  he  sailed  him- 
self with  the  fleet  for  the  port  of  that  city.  When  he  came 
near  it  he  met  a  ship  adorned  with  olive-branches,  on  board  of 
which  were  ten  noble  Carthaginians  come  to  sue  for  peace. 
He  desired  them  to  meet  him  at  Tunis,  whither  he  repaired 
when  he  had  taken  a  personal  survey  of  the  bay  of  Carthage. 
When  the  Punic  envoys  came,  he  held  a  council  of  war :  all 
voices  were  at  first  for  destroying  Carthage  ;  but  Scipio,  aware 
of  the  length  and  difficulty  of  the  siege,  and  also  apprehensive 
of  a  successor's  coming  out  to  rob  him  of  his  glory,  declared 
for  peace,  and  his  officers  readily  acquiesced  in  his  views. 
After  reprehending  the  Carthaginians  for  their  breach  of  faith, 

*  Polybius.     Yet  it  can  hardly  be  true. 


254  END  OF  THE  WAR.  I]b,c201. 

he  offered  peace  on  the  following  conditions.  The  Carthagi- 
nians to  i-etain  all  they  had  possessed  in  Africa  before  the 
war  ;  to  make  good  the  losses  caused  by  their  seizure  of  the 
ships  during  the  late  truce  ;  to  give  up  all  deserters  and  pri- 
soners, and  all  their  ships  of  war  and  elephants  but  ten  ;  not 
to  make  war  either  in  or  out  of  Africa  without  the  consent  of 
the  Romans  ;  to  restore  all  his  possessions  to  Massinissa ;  to 
give  three  months'  corn  to  the  Roman  army,  and  pay  till  an 
answer  should  come  from  Rome  ;  to  pay  10,000  talents  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  a-year  ;  and  to  give  one  hundred  hostages, 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  thirty  years,  to  be  selected 
by  the  Roman  general. 

When  the  deputies  returned  to  Carthage  with  these  terms, 
one  of  the  senators,  it  is  said,  rose  to  object  to  them,  but  Han- 
nibal went  and  dragged  him  down  from  the  pulpit.  An  out- 
cry being  raised  at  this  breach  of  decorum,  Hannibal  again 
stood  up  and  excused  himself  on  the  score  of  his  ignorance,  on 
account  of  his  long  absence  from  home.  He  then  strongly 
urged  to  accept  of  peace  on  the  terms  proposed.  His  advice 
was  followed  ;  the  peace  was  confirmed  by  the  Roman  senate 
and  people  ;  and  thus,  after  a  duration  of  seventeen  years,  was 
terminated  the  second  Punic  war  (551)*. 

Scipio  having  led  home  his  victorious  arnij'-  entered  Rome 
in  triumph.  He  derived  from  his  conquest  the  title  of  Afri- 
canus,  it  is  not  known  how  conferred,  and  this  was  the  first 
example  of  the  kind  known  at  Romef- 


CHAPTER  Vn.J 


Macedonian  War. — Fligh  t  of  Hannibal  fromCarthage. — Antiochus  in  Greece. 
— Invasion  of  Asia  and  defeat  of  Antiochus. — Death  of  Hannibal. — Last 
days  of  Scipio. — Characters  of  Hannibal  and  Scipio. — War  with  Perseus 
of  Macedonia. — Conquest  of  Macedonia. — Triumph  of  jEmilius  Paulas. 

The  victory  of  Zama  gave  the  Romans  the  dominion  of  the 
West ;  the  ambitious  senate  then  aspired  to  that  of  the  East, 

*  C,  Servilius  Geminus  was  made  dictator  to  hold  the  elections  for  this 
year.  The  dictatorship  then  went  out  of  use  till  it  was  revived  by  SuUa 
in  670. 

t  Livy,  XXX.  45.     See  above,  p.  85,  and  Sen.  De  Br.  Vit.  13,  5. 

t  Livy,  xxxi.-xlv.  Polyb.  Fragm.  xx.-xxix.  Justin,  xxx.-xxxiii.  Plut. 
Paul.  iEniil.  7-34,  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  200-197.]  MACEBONIAK  WAR.  255 

and  the  king  of  Macedonia  was  selected  as  the  first  object  of 
attack.  The  people,  wearied  outwith  service  and  contributions, 
were  with  some  difficulty  induced  to  give  their  consent ;  and 
war  was  declared  against  Philip  under  the  pretext  of  his  ha- 
ving injured  the  allies  of  Rome,  namely,  the  Athenians,  and 
the  kings  of  Egypt  and  Pergamus*. 

Philip  after  the  late  peace  had  been  assiduous  in  augment- 
ing his  fleet  and  army  ;  but  instead  of  joining  Hannibal  when 
he  was  in  Italy,  he  employed  himself,  in  conjunction  with  An- 
tiochus  king  of  Syria,  in  seizing  the  islands  and  the  towns  on 
the  coast  of  the  ^^gsean,  which  were  under  the  protection  of 
Egypt,  whose  king  was  now  a  minor.  This  engaged  him  in 
hostilities  with  the  king  of  Pergamus  and  the  Rhodians.  A 
Roman  army,  under  the  consul  P.  Sulpicius,  passed  over  to 
Greece  (552)  ;  the  iEtolians  declared  against  Philip,  and  gra- 
dually the  Boeotians  and  Achasans  wei'e  induced  to  follow  their 
example.  Philip  made  a  gallant  resistance  against  this  formi- 
dable confederacy ;  but  the  consul  T.  Quinctius  Flamininus 
gave  him  at  length  (555)  a  complete  defeat  at  Cynos-cephalse 
in  Thessaly,  and  he  was  forced  to  sue  for  peace,  which,  how- 
ever, he  obtained  on  much  easier  terras  than  might  have 
been  expected,  as  the  Romans  were  on  the  eve  of  a  war  with 
the  king  of  Syria.  The  peace  with  Philip  was  followed  by  the 
celebrated  proclamation  at  the  Isthmian  games  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  those  states  of  Greece  which  had  been  under  the 
Macedonian  dominion  ;  for  the  Romans  well  knew  that  this 
was  the  infallible  way  to  establish  their  own  supremacy,  as  the 
Greeks  would  be  sure  never  to  unite  for  the  common  good  of 
their  country. 

After  an  interval  of  a  few  years,  the  long-expected  war  with 
Antiochus  the  Great  of  Syria  broke  out.  The  immediate  oc- 
casion of  it  was  the  discontent  of  the  iEtolians,  who  being 
mortally  offended  with  the  Romans  sent  to  invite  him  into 
Greece.  He  had  been  for  three  years  making  preparations  for 
the  war,  and  he  had  now  at  his  service  the  greatest  general  of 
the  age,  if  he  had  known  how  to  make  use  of  him.  For  Han- 
nibal having  been  appointed  one  of  the  suffetes  at  Carthage, 
and  finding  the  power  of  the  judges  enormous  in  consequence 
of  their  holding  their  office  for  life,  had  a  law  passed  reducing 
it  to  one  year.  This  naturallj-  raised  him  a  host  of  enemies, 
whose  number  was  augmented  by  his  financial  reforms ;  for 
discovering  that  the  public  revenues  had  been  diverted  into 
*  For  this  war  and  the  following  events,  see  the  History  of  Greece. 


256  FLIGHT  OF  HANNIBAL.  [b.C=  195-190. 

the  coffers  of  the  magistrates  and  persons  of  influence,  while 
the  people  were  directly  taxed  to  pay  the  tribute  to  the  Ro- 
mans, he  instituted  an  inquiry,  and  proved  that  the  ordinary 
revenues  of  the  state  were  abundantly  sufficient  for  all  pur- 
poses. Those  who  felt  their  incomes  thus  reduced  sought  to 
rouse  the  enmity  of  (he  Romans  against  Hannibal,  whom  they 
charged  with  a  secret  correspondence  with  Aritiochus;  and 
though  Scipio  strongly  urged  the  indignity  of  the  Roman  se- 
nate becoming  the  instrument  of  a  faction  in  Carthage,  hatred 
of  Hannibal  prevailed,  and  three  senators  were  sent  to  Car- 
thage, ostensively  to  settle  some  disputes  between  the  Cartha- 
ginians and  Massinissa.  Hannibal,  who  knew  their  real  object, 
left  the  city  secretly  in  the  night,  and  getting  on  board  a  ship 
sailed  to  Tyre.  He  thence  went  to  Antioch,  and  finding  that 
Antiochus  was  at  Ephesus  he  proceeded  to  that  city,  where  he 
met  with  a  most  flattering  reception  from  the  monarch  (557). 

Hannibal,  true  to  his  maxim  that  the  Romans  were  only  to 
be  conquered  in  Italy,  proposed  to  the  king  to  let  him  have  a 
good  fleet  and  ten  thousand  men,  with  which  he  would  sail 
over  to  Africa,  when  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  induce  the  Car- 
thaginians to  take  arms  again  ;  and  if  he  did  not  succeed  he 
would  land  somewhere  in  Italy.  He  would  have  the  king 
meanvv'hile  to  pass  with  a  large  army  into  Greece,  and  to  re- 
main there  ready  to  invade  Italy  if  necessary.  Antiochus  at 
first  assented  to  this  plan  of  the  war ;  but  he  afterwards  lent 
an  ear  to  the  suggestions  of  Thoas  the  iEtolian,  who  was 
jealous  of  the  great  Carthaginian,  and  gave  it  up.  He  himself 
at  length  (560)  passed  over  to  Greece  with  a  small  army  of 
ten  thousand  men  ;  but  instead  of  acting  at  once  with  vigour, 
he  loitered  in  Euboea,  where  he  espoused  a  beautiful  maiden, 
wasted  his  time  in  petty  negotiations  in  Thessaly  and  the  ad- 
joining country,  by  which  he  highly  offended  king  Philip, 
whom  it  was  his  first  duty  to  conciliate,  and  thus  gave  the 
consul  M'  Acilius  Glabrio  time  to  land  his  army  and  enter 
Thessaly.  Antiochus  hastened  from  Euboea  to  defend  the 
pass  of  Thermopylae  against  him  ;  but  he  was  totally  defeated, 
and  forced  to  fly  to  Asia  (561). 

Antiochus  flattered  himself  at  first  that  the  Romans  would 
not  follow  him  into  Asia ;  but  Hannibal  soon  proved  to  him 
that  such  an  expectation  was  a  vain  one,  and  that  he  must  pre- 
pare for  war.  At  Rome  the  invasion  of  Asia  was  at  once  re- 
solved on.  The  two  new  consuls,  C.  Lsp.lius  and  L.  Scipio 
(562),  were  both  equally  anxious  to  have  the  conducting  of 


B.C.  190.1  ANTIOCHUS  IN  GREECE.    '  257 

this  war :  the  senate  were  mostly  in  favour  of  Lselius,  an  officer 
of  skill  and  experience,  while  L.  Scipio  was  a  man  of  very 
moderate  abilities.  But  Scipio  Africanus  offering,  if  his  bro- 
ther was  appointed,  to  go  as  his  legate*,  Greece  was  assigned 
to  him  as  his  province  without  any  further  hesitation.  The 
Scipios  then,  having  raised  what  troops  were  requisite,  among 
which  five  thousand  of  those  who  had  served  under  Africanus 
came  as  volunteers,  passed  over  to  Epirus  with  a  force  of  about 
thirteen  thousand  men.  In  Thessaly  Acilius  delivered  up  to 
them  two  legions  which  he  had  under  his  command,  and  being 
supplied  with  provisions  and  everything  else  they  required  they 
marched  through  Macedonia  and  Thrace  for  the  Hellespont. 
A  Roman  fleet  was  in  the  ^gajan,  which,  united  with  those 
of  Eumenes  of  Pergamus  and  the  Rhodians,  proved  an  over- 
match for  that  of  Antiochus,  even  though  commanded  by 
Hannibal.  When  the  Scipios  reached  the  Hellespont  they 
found  everything  prepared  for  the  passage  by  Eumenes.  They 
crossed  without  any  opposition  ;  and  as  this  was  the  time  for 
moving  the  Ancilia  at  Rome,  P.  Scipio,  who  was  one  of  the 
Salii,  caused  the  army  to  make  a  halt  of  a  few  days  on  that 
account. 

While  they  remained  there  an  envoy  came  from  Antiochus 
proposing  peace,  on  condition  of  his  giving  up  all  claim  to  the 
Grecian  cities  in  Asiaandpayingonehalf  of  the  expenses  of  the 
war.  The  Scipios  insisted  on  his  paying  all  the  expenses  of 
the  war,  as  he  had  been  the  cause  of  it,  and  evacuating  Asia 
on  this  side  of  Mount  Taurus.  The  envoy  then  applied  pri- 
vately to  P.  Scipio,  telling  him  that  the  king  would  release 
without  ransom  his  son,  who  had  lately  fallen  into  his  hands, 
and  give  him  a  large  quantity  of  gold  and  every  honour  he 
could  bestow,  if  through  his  means  he  could  obtain  more  equi- 
table terms.  Scipio  expressed  his  gratitude,  as  a  private  per- 
son, to  the  king  for  the  offer  to  release  his  son ;  and,  as  a  friend, 
advised  him  to  accept  any  terms  he  could  get,  as  his  case  was 
hopeless.  The  envoy  retired  ;  the  Romans  advanced  to  Ilium, 
where  the  consul  ascended  and  offered  sacrifice  to  Minerva, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  Ilienses,  who  asserted  themselves  to  be 
the  progenitors  of  the  Romans.  They  thence  advanced  to  the 
head  of  the  river  Caicus.  Antiochus,  who  was  at  Thyatira, 
hearing  that  P.  Scipio  was  lying  sick  at  Elaea,  sent  his  son  to 
him,  and  received  in  return  his  thanks,  and  his  advice  not  to 
engage  till  he  had  rejoined  the  army.  As  in  case  of  defeat 
*  Like  Fabius  Maximus,  above,  p.  158. 


258  DEFEAT  OF  ANTIOCHUS.  [b.C.  190. 

his  only  hope  lay  ia  P.  Scipio,  he  took  his  covuisel,  and  re- 
tiring to  the  foot  of  Mount  Sipyhjs  formed  a  strong  camp  near 
Magnesia. 

The  consul  advanced,  and  encamped  about  four  miles  off; 
and  as  the  king  seemed  not  inclined  to  fight,  and  the  Roman 
soldiers  were  full  of  contempt  for  the  enemy,  and  clamorous 
for  action,  it  was  resolved,  if  he  did  not  accept  the  proffered 
battle,  to  storm  his  camp.  But  Antiochus,  fearing  that  the 
spirit  of  his  men  would  sink  if  he  declined  fighting,  led  them 
out  when  he  saw  the  Romans  in  array. 

The  Roman  army,  consisting  of  four  legions,  each  of  5400 
men,  was  drawn  up  in  the  usual  manner,  its  left  resting  on  a 
river;  3000  Achtean  and  Pergamene  foot  were  placed  on  the 
right,  and  beyond  them  the  horse,  about  3000  in  number; 
sixteen  African  elephants  were  stationed  in  the  rear.  The 
army  of  Antiochus  consisted  of  62,000  foot,  12,000  horse,  and 
fifty-four  elephants.  His  phalanx  of  16,000  men  was  drawn 
up  in  ten  divisions,  each  of  fifty  men  in  rank  and  thirty-two 
in  file,  with  two  elephants  in  each  of  the  intervals.  On  the 
left  and  right  of  the  phalanx  were  placed  the  cavalry,  the  light 
troops  and  the  remainder  of  the  elephants,  the  sithed  chariots, 
and  Arab  archers,  mounted  on  dromedaries. 

When  the  armies  were  arrayed,  there  came  on  a  fog,  with 
a  slight  kind  of  rain,  which  relaxed  the  bow-strings,  slings, 
and  dart-thongs  of  the  numerous  light  troops  of  the  king,  and 
the  darkness  caused  confusion  in  his  long  and  various  line. 
Eumenes  also,  by  a  proper  use  of  the  light  troops,  frightened, 
the  horses  of  the  sithed  chariots,  and  drove  them  off"  the  field. 
The  Roman  horse  then  charged  that  of  the  enemy  and  put  it 
to  flight ;  the  confusion  of  the  left  wing  extended  to  the  pha- 
langites, who,  by  their  own  men  rushing  from  the  left  among 
them,  were  prevented  from  using  their  long  sarissa;  (or  spears), 
and  were  easily  broken  and  slaughtered  by  the  Romans,  who 
now  also  knew  from  experience  how  to  deal  with  the  elephants. 
Antiochus,  who  commanded  in  person  on  the  right,  drove  the 
four  tunns  or  troops  of  horse  opposed  to  him,  and  a  part  of 
the  foot,  back  to  their  camp  ;  but  M.  ^milius,  who  command- 
ed there,  rallied  them.  Eumenes'  brother,  Attains,  came  from 
the  right  with  some  horse  ;  the  king  turned  and  fled  ;  the  rout 
became  general;  the  slaughter,  as  usual,  enormous  :  the  camp 
was  taken  and  pillaged.  The  loss  of  the  Syrians  is  stated  at 
53,000  slain  and  1400  taken;  that  of  the  Romans  and  their 
ally  Eumenes  at  only  350  men ! 


B.C.  189-188.]        PEACE  WITH  ANTIOCHUS.  259 

All  the  cities  of  the  coast  sent  in  their  submission  to  the 
consul,  who  advanced  to  Sardes.  Antiochus  was  at  this  time 
at  Apamea ;  and  when  he  learned  that  P.  Scipio,  who  had  not 
been  in  the  battle,  was  arrived,  he  sent  envoys  to  treat  of  peace 
on  any  terms.  The  Romans  had  already  arranged  the  condi- 
tions of  peace,  and  P.  Scipio  announced  them  as  follows  :  An- 
tiochus should  abstain  from  Europe,  and  give  up  all  Asia 
this  side  of  Taurus;  pay  15,000  Euboic  talents  for  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war,  500  doAvn,  15C0  when  the  senate  and  peo- 
ple ratified  the  peace,  the  remainder  in  twelve  years,  at  1000 
talents  a-year ;  give  Eumenes  400  talents  and  a  quantity  of 
corn  ;  give  twenty  hostages ;  and,  above  all,  deliver  up  Han- 
nibal, Thoas  the  ^^Itolian,  and  three  other  Greeks.  The  king's 
envoys  went  direct  to  Rome,  whither  also  went  Eumenes  in 
person,  and  embassies  from  Rhodes  and  other  places  ;  the  con- 
sul put  his  troops  into  winter-quarters  at  Magnesia,  Tralles, 
and  Ephesus. 

At  Rome  the  peace  was  confirmed  with  Antiochus.  The 
greater  part  of  the  ceded  territory  was  granted  to  Eumenes, 
Lycia  and  part  of  Caria  to  the  Rhodians  (whose  usually  pru- 
dent aristocracy  committed  a  great  error  in  seeking  this  ag- 
grandisement of  their  dominion),  and  such  towns  as  had  taken 
part  with  the  Romans  were  freed  from  tribute.  L.  Scipio  ti'i- 
umphed  on  his  return  to  Rome,  and  assumed  the  surname  of 
Asiaticus,  to  be  in  this  respect  on  an  equality  with  his  illus- 
trious brother. 

Cn.  Manlius  Vulso  succeeded  Scipio  in  Asia  (563),  and  as 
the  Roman  consuls  now  began  to  regard  it  as  discreditable 
and  unprofitable  to  pass  their  year  without  a  war,  he  looked 
round  him  for  an  enemy  from  whom  he  might  derive  fame 
and  wealth.  He  fixed  on  the  Gallo-Grecians,  as  the  descend- 
ants of  those  Gauls  were  called  who  had  passed  over  into  Asia 
in  the  time  of  Pyrrhus,  and  won  a  territory  for  themselves, 
named  from  them  in  after-times  Galatia.  He  stormed  their 
fortified  camp  on  Mount  Olympus  in  Mysia,  gave  them  a  great 
defeat  on  the  plains  of  Ancjra,  and  forced  them  to  sue  for 
peace.  The  booty  gained,  the  produce  of  their  plunder  for 
many  years,  was  immense.  Manlius  then  led  his  army  back 
to  the  coast  for  the  winter.  The  next  year  (564-)  ten  com- 
missioners came  out  to  ratify  the  peace  with  Antiochus  ;  they 
added  some  more  conditions,  such  as  the  surrender  of  his  ele- 
phants ;  the  peace  v-'as  then  sworn  to,  and  the  Romans  eva- 
cuated Asia. 


260  DEATH  OF  HANNIBAL.  [b.C,   183. 

Hannibal,  when  he  found  that  the  Romans  demanded  him, 
retired  to  Crete;  not  thinking  himself,  however,  safe  in  that 
island,  he  left  it  soon  after  and  repaired  to  the  court  of  Pru- 
sias,  king  of  Bithynia,  who  felt  flattered  by  the  presence  of  so 
great  a  man.  But  the  vengeance  of  Rome  did  not  sleep,  and 
no  less  a  person  than  T.  Flamininus  was  sent  (569)  to  demand 
his  death  or  his  surrender.  The  mean-spirited  Prusias,  imme- 
diately after  a  conference  with  the  Roman  envoy,  sent  sol- 
diers to  seize  his  illustrious  guest.  Hannibal,  who  it  is  said 
had,  in  expectation  of  treachery,  made  seven  passages,  open 
and  secret,  from  his  house,  attempted  to  escape  bj^  the  most 
private  one ;  but  finding  it  guarded,  he  had  recourse  to  the 
poison  Avhich  he  always  carried  about  him.  Having  vented 
imprecations  on  Prusias  for  his  breach  of  hospitalitj'^,  he 
drank  the  poison,  and  expired,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his 

age. 

It  is  said  that  Scipio  Africanus  died  in  the  same  year  with 
his  illustrious  rival, aninstancealso  of  the  mutability  of  fortune, 
for  the  conqueror  of  Carthage  breathed  his  last  in  exile  !  In 
the  year  559  he  had  had  a  specimen  of  the  instability  of  popu- 
lar favour;  for  while  at  the  consular  elections  he  and  all  the 
Cornelian  gens  exerted  their  influence  in  favour  of  his  cousin 
P.  Cornelius  Scipio,  the  son  of  Cnseus,  who  had  been  killed  in 
Spain, — and  who  was  of  himself  of  so  exemplary  a  character, 
that  when  the  statue  of  the  Idsean  Mother  Cybele  was,  by  the 
direction  of  the  Sibylline  books,  brought  to  Rome  from  Per- 
gamus,  it  was  committed  to  his  charge,  as  being  the  best  man 
in  the  city*, — they  were  forced  to  yield  to  that  of  the  vain- 
glorious T.  Quinctius  Flamininus,  who  sued  for  his  brother,  the 
profligate  L.  Quinctius.  But,  as  the  historian  observes,  the 
glory  of  Flamininus  was  fresher  ;  he  had  triumphed  that  very 
year ;  w  hereas  Africanus  had  been  now  ten  years  in  the  public 
view,  and  since  his  victory  over  Hannibal  he  liad  been  consul 
a  second  time,  and  censor, — very  sufficient  reasons  for  the  de- 
cline of  his  favour  with  the  unstable  people. 

In  the  commencement  of  the  year  568  three  tribunes  of  the 
people,  M.  Nsevius  and  the  two  Q.  Petillii,  at  the  instigation 
it  is  said  of  INI.  Porcius  Cato,  cited  Scipio  Africanus  before  the 
tribes,  to  answer  various  charges  on  old  and  new  grounds,  of 
which  the  chief  was  that  of  having  taken  bribes  from  Antio- 
ehus,  and  not  having  accounted  for  the  spoil.  Scipio  was  at- 
tended to  the  Forum  by  an  immense  concourse  of  people  ;  he 
*  See  Livy,  xxix.  14.     Ovid,  Fasti,  iv.  2,'i5  seq. 


B.C.  1S3.]  LAST  DAYS  OF  SCIPIO.  261 

disdained  to  notice  the  charges  against  him  ;  in  a  long  speech 
he  enumerated  the  various  actions  he  had  performed,  and  ta- 
king a  book  from  his  bosom,  "  In  this,"  said  he,  "  is  an  ac- 
count of  all  you  want  to  know."  "  Read  it,"  said  the  tribunes, 
"and  let  it  then  be  deposited  in  the  treasury."  "No,"  said 
Scipio,  "  I  will  not  offer  myself  such  an  insult ;"  and  he  tore 
up  the  book  before  their  faces*. 

The  night  came  on ;  the  cause  was  deferred  till  the  next 
day  :  at  dawn  the  tribunes  took  their  seat  on  the  Rostra ;  the 
accused,  on  being  cited,  came  before  it,  attended  by  a  crowd 
of  his  friends  and  clients.  "  This  day,  ye  tribunes  and  Qui- 
rites,"  said  he,"  I  defeated  Hannibal  in  Africaf.  As,  therefore, 
it  should  be  free  from  strife  and  litigation,  I  will  go  to  the 
Capitol  and  give  thanks  to  Jupiter  and  the  other  gods  who 
inspired  me  on  this  and  other  days  to  do  good  service  to  the 
state.  Let  v/hoso  will,  come  with  me  and  pray  to  the  gods 
that  ye  may  always  have  leaders  like  unto  me."  He  ascended 
the  Capitol ;  all  followed  him,  and  the  tribunes  were  left  sitting 
alone.  He  then  went  round  to  all  the  other  temples,  still  fol- 
lowed by  the  people ;  and  this  last  day  of  his  glory  nearly 
equalled  that  of  his  triumph  for  conquered  Africa.  His  cause 
was  put  off  for  some  time  longer  ;  but  in  the  interval,  disgusted 
with  the  prospect  of  contests  with  the  tribunes,  which  his  proud 
spirit  could  ill  brook,  he  retired  to  Liternum  in  Campania.  On 
his  not  appearing,  the  tribunes  spoke  of  sending  and  dragging 
him  before  the  tribunal ;  but  their  colleagues  interposed, 
especially  Ti.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  from  whom  it  was  least 
expected,  as  he  was  at  enmity  with  the  Scipios.  The  senate 
thanked  Gracchus  for  his  noble  conduct  j,  the  matter  dropped, 
and  Scipio  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  at  Liternum.  He 
was  buried  there,  it  is  said,  at  his  own  desire,  that  his  ungrateful 
country  might  not  even  possess  his  ashes. 

The  actions  of  the  two  great  men  who  were  now  removed 
from  the  scene  sufficiently  declare  their  characters.  As  a  ge- 
neral Hannibal  is  almost  without  an  equal ;  not  a  single  mili- 
tary error  can  be  charged  on  him,  and  the  address  with  which 
he  managed  to  keep  an  army  composed  of  such  discordant  ele- 
ments as  his  in  obedience,  even  when  obliged  to  act  on  the  de- 
fensive, is  astonishing,     'i'he  charges  of  perfidy,  cruelty,  and 

*  Gellius,  iv.  18.     Val.  Max.  iii.  7,  1. 

f  It  appears  fiom  this  that  the  battle  of  Zama  was  fought  some  time  in 
the  vfinter. 

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


262  CHARACTER  OF  SCIPIO.         [b.c.  201-195. 

such  like,  made  against  him  by  the  Roman  writers,  are  quite 
unfounded,  and  are  belied  by  facts*.  Nowhere  does  Hanni- 
bal's character  appear  so  great  as  when,  after  the  defeat  of 
Zama,  he,  with  unbroken  spirit,  applied  the  powei's  of  his 
mighty  mind  to  the  reform  of  political  abuses  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  finances,  in  the  hopes  of  once  more  raising  his 
country  to  independence.     Here  he  shone  the  true  patriot. 

The  character  of  his  rival  has  come  down  to  us  under  the 
garb  of  panegyric  ;  but  even  after  making  all  due  deductions 
much  remains  to  be  admired.  His  military  talents  were  doubt- 
less considerable ;  of  his  civil  virtues  Ave  hear  but  little,  and 
we  cannot  therefore  judge  of  him  accurately  as  a  statesman. 
Though  a  high  aristocrat,  we  have, however,  seen  that  he  would 
not  hesitate  to  lower  the  authority  of  the  senate  by  appealing 
to  the  people  in  the  gratification  of  his  ambition  ;  and  we  cer- 
tainly cannot  give  unqualified  approbation  to  the  conduct  of 
the  public  man  who  disdained  to  produce  his  accounts  when 
demanded.  Of  his  vaunted  magnanimity  and  generosity  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  speak,  and  not  in  very  exalted 
terms.  Still  Rome  has  but  one  name  in  her  annals  to  place 
in  comparison  with  that  of  Africanus ;  that  name,  Julius 
Cassar,  is  a  greater  than  his,  perhaps  than  any  other. 

To  return  to  our  narrative.  In  the  period  which  had  elapsed 
since  the  peace  with  Carthage,  there  had  been  annual  occupa- 
tion for  the  Roman  arms  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  Liguria  and  Spain. 
The  Gauls,  whose  inaction  all  the  time  Hannibal  was  in  Italy 
seems  hard  to  account  for,  resumed  arms  in  the  year  551,  at  the 
instigation  of  one  Hasdrubal,  who  had  remained  behind  from  the 
army  of  Mago  ;  they  took  the  colony  of  Placentia,  and  met  se- 
veral consular  and  praetorian  armies  in  the  field,  and,  after  sus- 
taining many  great  defeats,  were  completely  reduced :  the  Ligu- 
rians,  owing  to  their  mountains,  made  a  longer  resistance,  but 
they  also  were  brought  under  the  yoke  of  Rome.  In  Spain  the 
various  portions  of  its  v.arlike  population,  ill  brookingthe  domi- 
nion of  strangers,  rose  continually  in  arms,  but  failed  before 
the  discipline  of  the  Roman  legions  and  the  skill  of  their  com- 
manders. The  celebrated  M.  Porcius  Cato  when  consul  (557) 
acquired  great  fame  by  his  conduct  in  that  country. 

*  Such  as  the  following  lines  of  Silius  Italicus,  Pun.  i.  56  seq. 
Ingenio  motus  avidus,  fideique  sinister 
Is  fuit,  exsuperans  astu,  sed  devius  sequi ; 
Armato  nullus  divum  pudor,  improba  virtus, 
Et  pacis  despectus  honos  ;  penitusque  meduUis 
Sanguinis  humani  flagrat  sitis. 

Dion  Cassius  (Fragm.  47)  draws  his  character  more  accordant  with  justice 

and  truth. 


B.C.  179-168.]       WAR  WITH  PERSEUS  OF  MACEDONIA.        263 

Philip  of  Macedonia,  who  Avith  all  his  vices  was  an  able 
prince,  had  long  been  making  preparations  for  a  renewed  war 
with  Rome,  which  he  saw  to  be  inevitable.  He  died  how- 
ever (573)  before  matters  came  to  an  extremity.  His  son 
and  successor  Perseus*  was  a  man  of  a  very  different  charac- 
ter ;  for  while  lie  was  free  from  his  father's  love  of  wine  and 
women,  he  did  not  possess  his  redeeming  qualities,  and  was 
deeply  infected  by  a  mean  spirit  of  avarice.  It  was  reserved 
for  him  to  make  the  final  trial  of  strength  with  the  Romans. 
Eumenes  of  Pergamus  went  himself  to  Rome,  to  represent  how 
formidable  he  was  become,  and  the  necessity  of  crushing  him; 
the  envoys  of  Perseus  tried  in  vain  to  justify  him  in  the  eyes 
of  the  jealous  senate  ;  war  was  declared  (580)  against  him  on 
the  usual  pretext  of  his  injuring  the  allies  of  Rome,  and  the 
conduct  of  it  was  committed  to  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  one  of  the 
consuls  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  INIacedonian  army  amounted  to  thirty-nine  thousand 
foot,  one  half  of  whom  were  phalangites,  and  four  thousand 
horse,  the  largest  that  Macedonia  had  sent  to  the  field  since 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Perseus  advanced  into 
Thessaly  at  the  head  of  this  army  (581 ),  and  at  the  same  time 
the  Roman  legions  entered  it  from  Epirus.  An  engagement 
of  cavalry  took  place  not  far  from  the  river  Peneiis,  in  which 
the  advantage  was  decidedly  on  the  side  of  the  king.  In  an- 
other encounter  success  was  on  that  of  the  Romans ;  after 
which  Perseus  led  his  troops  home  for  the  winter,  and  Li- 
cinius quartered  his  in  Thessaly  and  Boeotia. 

Nothing  deserving  of  note  occurred  in  the  following  year. 
In  the  spring  of  583  the  consul  Q.  Marcius  Philippus  led  his 
army  over  the  Cambunian  mountains  into  Macedonia,  and 
Perseus,  instead  of  occupying  the  passes  in  the  rear  and  cut- 
ting off  his  supplies  from  Thessaly,  cowardly  retired  before 
him,  and  allowed  him  to  ravage  all  the  south  of  Macedonia. 
Marcius  returned  to  Thessaly  for  the  winter,  and  in  the  en- 
suing spring  (584-)  the  new  consul,  L.  iEmilius  Paulus  (son  of 
the  consul  that  fell  at  Cannae),  a  man  of  high  consideration,  of 
great  talent,  and  who  had  in  a  former  consulate  gained  much 
fame  in  Spain,  came  out  to  take  the  command. 

Meantime  the  wretched  avarice  of  Perseus  was  putting  an 
end  toeverychancehe  had  of  success.  Eumenes  had  offered,  for 
the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  talents,  to  abstain  from  taking  partin 

*  By  the  Latin  writers  he  is  usually  named  Perses.  See  Mythology  of 
Greece  and  Italy,  p.  553. 


264;  CONQUEST  OF  MACEDONIA.  [b.C.  168. 

the  war,  and  to  endeavour  to  negotiate  a  peace  for  liim :  Per- 
seus gladly  embraced  the  otfer,  and  was  ready  enough  to  ar- 
range about  the  hostages  which  Eumenes  agreed  to  give;  but 
he  hesitated  to  part  with  the  money  before  he  had  had  the  value 
for  it,  and  he  proposed  that  it  should  be  deposited  in  the  tem- 
ple at  Samothrace  till  the  war  was  ended.  As  Samothrace  be- 
longed to  Perseus,  Eumenes  saw  that  he  was  not  to  be  trusted, 
and  he  broke  off  the  negotiation.  Again,  a  body  of  Gauls  of 
ten  thousand  horse  and  an  equal  number  of  foot,  from  beyond 
the  Ister,  to  whom  he  had  promised  large  pay,  were  now  at 
hand;  Perseus  sought  to  circumvent  them  and  save  his  money, 
and  the  offended  barbarians  ravaged  Thrace  and  returned  home. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  the  historian,  that  if  he  had  kept  his  word 
with  these  Gauls,  and  sent  them  into  Thessaly,  the  situation 
of  the  Romans,  placed  thus  between  two  armies,  might  have 
been  very  perilous.  Lastly,  he  agreed  to  give  Gentius,  king 
of  lUyria,  three  hundred  talents  if  he  went  to  war  with  the 
Romans  :  he  sent  ten  of  them  at  once,  and  directed  those  who 
bore  the  remainder  to  go  very  slowly ;  meantime  his  ambas- 
sador kejjt  urging  Gentius,  who,  to  please  him,  seized  two  Ro- 
man envoys  who  just  then  happened  to  arrive  and  imprisoned 
them.  Perseus,  thinking  him  fully  committed  with  the  Ro- 
mans bj'  this  act,  sent  to  recall  the  rest  of  his  money. 

Paulus  led  his  army  without  delay  into  Macedonia,  and  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Pydna  he  forced  the  crafty  Perseus  to 
come  to  an  engagement.  The  victory  was  speedy  and  deci- 
sive on  the  side  of  the  Romans;  the  Macedonian  horse  fled, 
the  king  setting  the  example,  and  the  phalanx  thus  left  ex- 
posed was  cut  to  pieces.  Perseus  fled  with  his  treasures  to  Am- 
phipolis,  and  thence  to  the  sacred  isle  of  Samothrace.  All 
Macedonia  submitted  to  the  consul,  who  then  advanced  to  Am- 
phipolis  after  Perseus,  who  in  vain  sent  letters  suing  for  favour. 

Meantime  the  praetor  Cn.  Octavius  was  come  with  his  fleet 
to  Samothrace.  He  sought  ineffectually  to  induce  Perseus  to 
surrender,  and  then  so  wrought  on  the  people  of  the  island, 
that  the  unhappy  prince,  considering  himself  no  longer  safe, 
resolved  to  try  to  escape  to  Cotys,  king  of  Thrace,  his  only 
remaining  ally.  A  Cretan  ship-master  undertook  to  convey 
him  away  secretly  ;  provisions,  and  as  much  money  as  could 
be  carried  thither  unobserved,  were  put  on  board  his  bark  in 
the  evening,  and  at  midnight  the  king  left  the  temple  secretly 
and  proceeded  to  the  appointed  spot.  But  no  bark  Mas  there; 
the  Cretan,  false  as  any  of  his  countrymen,  had  set  sail  for 


B.C.  168.]  TRIUMPH  OF  ^MILIUS   PAULUS.  265 

Crete  as  soon  as  it  was  dark.  Perseus  having  wandered  about 
the  shore  till  near  daylight,  slunk  back  and  concealed  himself 
in  a  corner  of  the  temple.  He  was  soon  obliged  to  surrender 
to  Octavius,  by  whom  he  was  conveyed  to  the  consul.  Ma- 
cedonia was,  by  the  direction  of  the  senate,  divided  into  four 
republics,  between  which  there  was  to  be  neither  intermarriage 
nor  jmrchase  of  immoveable  property  {conimhium  ov  commer- 
eiiim);  each  was  to  defray  the  expenses  of  its  own  government 
and  pay  to  Rome  one  half  of  the  tribute  it  had  paid  to  the 
kings ;  the  silver  and  gold  mines  were  not  to  ])e  wrought, 
no  ship-timber  was  to  be  felled,  no  troops  to  be  kept  except 
on  the  frontiers  ;  all  who  had  held  any  office,  civil  or  military, 
under  Perseus,  were  ordered  to  quit  Macedonia  and  go  and  live 
in  Italy,  lest  if  they  remained  at  home  they  should  raise  disturb- 
ances. In  Greece  the  lovers  of  their  country  were  put  to 
death  or  removed  to  Italy,  under  pretext  of  their  having  fa- 
voured the  cause  of  Perseus,  and  the  administration  of  affairs 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  tools  of  Rome. 

Paulus  on  his  return  to  Rome  celebrated  his  triumph  with 
great  magnificence.  His  soldiers,  because  he  had  maintained 
rigid  discipline  and  had  given  them  less  of  the  booty  than  they 
had  expected,  and  instigated  by  Ser.  Sulpicius  Galba,  one  of 
their  tribunes,  a  personal  enemy  to  the  consul,  iiad  tried  to  pre- 
vent it;  but  the  eloquence  of  M,  Servilius  and  others  prevailed. 
Perseus  and  his  children,  examples  of  the  mutability  of  fortune, 
preceded  tlie  car  of  the  victor.  After  the  triumph,  Perseus 
was  confined  at  Alba  in  the  Marsian  land*,  where  he  died  a 
few  years  after. 

Octavius  was  allowed  to  celebrate  a  naval  triumph  ;  and  the 
praetor  L.  Anicius  Gallus,  who  had  in  thirty  days  reduced 
lUyria  and  made  Gentius  and  all  his  family  captives,  also  tri- 
umphed for  that  country. 

*  This  town,  which  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  ancient  Alba  Longa, 
lay  on  the  Fucine  lake. 


N 


266  AFFAIRS  OF  CARTHAGE. 


CHAPTER  VIII* 

Affairs  of  Carthage. — Third  Piitiic  War. — Description  of  Carthage. — lU 
success  of  the  Romans. — Scipio  made  consul. — He  saves  Mancinus. — 
Restores  discipline  in  the  anny. — Attack  on  Carthage. — Attempt  to  close 
the  harbour. — Capture  and  destruction  of  Carthage. — Redaction  of  Ma- 
cedonia and  Greece  to  provinces. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  Hannibalian  war,  the  Carthagi- 
nians seemed  disposed  to  remain  at  peace;  but  the  ambition  of 
their  neighbour  Massinissa,  whose  life,  to  their  misfortune,  was 
extended  to  beyond  ninety  years,  would  not  allow  them  to  rest. 
He  was  continually  encroaching  on  their  territory  and  seizing 
their  subject  towns.  'J  he  Eoman  senate,  when  appealed  to  as 
the  common  superior,  sent  out  commissioners,  who  almost  in- 
variably decided  in  favour  of  Massinissa,  and  he  gradually  ex- 
tended his  dominion  from  the  Ocean  inlands  to  the  Syrtes. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  M.  Porcius  Cato  was  one  of  those 
sent  out ;  and  when  he  saw  the  fertility  of  the  Carthaginian 
territory  and  its  high  state  of  culture,  and  the  strength,  wealth, 
and  population  of  the  city,  he  became  apprehensive  of  its  yet 
endangering  the  power  of  Rome  ;  his  vanity  also,  of  which 
he  had  a  large  share,  was  wounded,  because  the  Carthaginians, 
who  were  manifestly  in  the  right,  would  not  acquiesce  at 
once  in  the  decision  of  himself  and  his  colleagues ;  and  he 
returned  to  Rome  full  of  bitterness  against  them.  Hence- 
forth he  concluded  all  his  speeches  in  the  senate  with  these 
words,  "I  also  think  that  Carthage  should  be  destroyed-)-." 
On  the  other  side,  P.  Scipio  Nasica,  either  from  a  regard  to 
justice,  or,  as  it  is  said,  persuaded  that  the  only  mode  of  saving 
Rome  from  the  corruption  to  which  she  was  tending  was  to 
keep  up  a  formidable  rival  to  her,  strenuously  opposed  this 
course.  The  majority,  however,  inclined  to  the  opinion  of 
Cato  ;  it  was  resolved  to  lay  hold  on  the  first  plausible  pretext 
for  declaring  war,  and  to  those  who  were  so  disposed  a  pretext 
was  not  long  wanting. 

At  Carthage  there  were  three  parties  ;  the  Roman,  the  Nu- 

*  Appian,  De  Reb.  Pun.  67  to  the  end,  the  Epitomators. 

f  Plut.  Cato  Major,  26,  27  ;  Pliny,  N.  H.  xv.  18,  Cato  one  day  in  the 
senate-house  let  fall  from  his  /oga  some  fine  African  figs,  and  when  the 
senators  admired  them,  he  said,  "  The  country  that  produces  these  is  but 
three  days'  sail  from  Rome." 


B.C.  liQ.]  THIRD  PUNIC  WAR.  267 

midian,  and  the  popular  party.  This  last,  which,  with  all  its 
faults,  alone  was  patriotic,  drove  out  of  the  city  about  forty 
of  the  principal  of  the  Numidian  party,  and  made  the  people 
swear  never  to  re-admit  them  or  listen  to  any  proposals  for 
their  return.  The  exiles  repaired  to  Massinissa,  who  sent  his 
sons  Micipsa  and  Gulussa  to  Carthage  on  their  behalf.  But 
Carthalo,  a  leader  of  the  popular  party,  shut  the  gates  against 
them,  and  Hamilcar,  the  other  popular  leader,  fell  on  Gulussa 
as  he  was  coming  again,  and  killed  some  of  those  who  attended 
him.  This  gave  occasion  to  a  war;  a  battlo  was  fought  be- 
tween Massinissa  and  the  Punic  troops  led  by  ilasdrubal,  which 
lasted  from  morning  to  night  without  being  completely  decided. 
But  Massinissa  having  inclosed  the  Punic  army  on  a  hill,  starved 
them  into  a  surrender ;  and  Gulussa,  as  they  were  departing 
unarmed,  fell  on  and  slaughtered  them  all.  The  Carthaginians 
lost  no  time  in  sending  to  Rome  to  justify  themselves,  having 
previously  passed  sentence  of  death  on  Hasdrubal,  Carthalo, 
and  the  other  authors  of  the  war.  The  senate,  however,  would 
accept  of  no  excuse  ;  and  after  various  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
Carthaginians  to  avert  it,  war  was  proclaimed  against  them 
(603)  *,  and  the  conduct  of  it  committed  to  the  consuls  L. 
Marcius  Censorinus  and  M.  Manilius  Nepos,  with  secret  orders 
not  to  desist  till  Carthage  was  destroyed.  Their  army  is  said  to 
haveconsisted  of  eighty  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  horse, 
which  had  been  previously  prepared  for  this  war. 

The  Carthaginians  were  informed  almost  at  the  same  mo- 
ment of  the  declaration  of  war  and  of  the  sailing  of  the  Roman 
army.  They  saw  themselves  without  ships  (for  they  had  been 
prohibited  to  build  any),  without  an  ally  (even  Utica,  not  eight 
miles  from  their  city,  having  joined  the  Romans),  without  mer- 
cenaries, or  even  supplies  of  corn,  and  the  flower  of  their  youth 
had  been  lately  cut  off  by  I^Jassinissa.  They  again  sent  an 
embassy  to  Rome,  to  make  a  formal  surrender  of  their  city. 
The  senate  replied,  that  if  within  thirty  days  they  sent  three 
hundred  children  of  the  noblest  families  as  hostages  to  the 
consuls  in  Sicily,  and  did  whatever  the  consuls  commanded 
them,  they  should  be  allowed  to  be  free  and  governed  by  their 
own  laws,  and  to  retain  all  the  territory  they  possessed  in 
Africa.  At  the  same  time  secret  orders  were  sent  to  the  con- 
suls to  abide  by  their  original  instructions. 

*  "  Magis  quia  volebant  Romani  quidquid  de  Carthaginiensibus  diceretur 
credere  quam  quia  ci-edenda  adferebantur,  statuit  seriatus  Carthaginem  ex- 
cidere."     Veil.  Pat,  i.  12. 

n2 


268  THIRD  PUNIC  WAR.  [b.c.  149. 

The  Carthaginians  became  somewhat  suspicious  at  no  men- 
tion of  their  city  having  been  made  by  the  senate.  They  how- 
ever resolved  to  obey,  and  leave  no  pretext  for  attacking  them : 
and  the  hostages  accordingly  were  sent  to  Lilybaeum,  amidst 
the  tears  and  lamentations  of  their  parents  and  relatives.  The 
consuls  straightway  transmitted  them  to  Rome,  and  then  told 
the  Carthaginians  that  they  would  settle  the  remaining  mat- 
ters at  Utica,  to  which  place  they  lost  no  time  in  passing  over ; 
and  when  the  Punic  envoys  came  to  learn  their  will,  they  said 
that  as  the  Carthaginians  had  declared  their  wish  and  resolu- 
tion to  live  at  peace  they  could  have  no  need  for  ai-ms  and 
weapons ;  they  therefore  required  them  to  deliver  up  all  that 
they  had.  This  mandate  also  was  obeyed  :  two  hundred 
thousand  sets  of  armour,  with  weapons  of  all  kinds  in  propor- 
tion, were  brought  on  waggons  into  the  Roman  camp,  accom- 
panied by  the  priests,  the  senators,  and  the  chief  persons  of 
the  city.  Censorinus  then,  having  praised  their  diligence  and 
ready  obedience,  announced  to  them  the  further  will  of  the 
senate,  v.hich  was  that  they  should  quit  Carthage,  which  the 
Romans  intended  to  level,  and  build  another  town  in  any  part 
of  their  territory  they  pleased,  but  not  within  less  than  ten 
miles  of  the  sea*.  The  moment  they  heard  this  ruthless 
command  they  abandoned  themselves  to  every  extravagance 
of  grief  and  despair  ;  they  rolled  themselves  on  the  ground, 
they  tore  their  garments  and  their  hair,  they  beat  tlieir  breasts 
and  faces,  they  called  on  the  gods,  they  abused  the  -Romans 
for  their  treachery  and  deceit.  When  they  recovered  from 
their  paroxysm  they  spoke  again,  requesting  to  be  allowed  to 
send  an  embassy  to  Rome.  The  consul  said  this  would  be  to 
no  purpose,  for  the  will  of  the  senate  must  be  carried  into 
effect.  They  then  departed,  with  melancholy  forebodings  of 
the  reception  they  might  meet  with  at  home,  and  some  of  them 
ran  away  on  the  road,  fearing  to  face  the  enraged  populace. 
Censorinus  forthwith  sent  twenty  ships  to  cast  anchor  before 
Carthage. 

The  people,  who  were  anxiously  waiting  their  return,  when 
they  saw  their  downcast  melancholy  looks,  abandoned  them- 
selves to  despair  and  lamented  aloud.  The  envoys  passed  on 
in  silence  to  the  senate-house,  and  there  made  known  the  in- 
exorable resolve  of  Rome.  When  the  senators  heard  it  they 
groaned  and  wept ;  the  people  without  joined  in  their  lamenta- 
tions, then  giving  way  to  rage  they  rushed  in  and  tore  to  pieces 
*  It  well  became  the  Romans  after  this  to  talk  oi  Punka  fides  ! 


B.C.  149.]  DESCRIPTION  OF  CARTHAGE.  269 

the  principal  advisers  of  the  delivery  of  the  hostages  and  arms ; 
they  stoned  the  ambassadors  and  dragged  them  about  the  city ; 
and  then  fell  on  and  abused  in  various  ways  such  Italians  as 
happened  to  be  still  there.  The  senate  that  very  day  resolved 
on  war ;  they  proclaimed  liberty  to  the  slaves,  they  chose  Has- 
drubal,  whom  they  had  condemned  to  death,  and  who  was  at 
a  place  called  Nepheris  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  twenty  thou  - 
sand  men,  general  for  the  exterior,  and  another  Hasdrubal,  the 
grandson  of  Massinissa,  for  the  city  ;  and  having  again  applied 
in  vain  to  the  consuls  for  a  truce  that  they  might  send  envoys 
to  Rome,  they  prepared  vigorously  for  defence,  resolved  to 
endure  the  last  rather  than  abandon  their  city.  The  temples 
and  other  sacred  places  were  turned  into  workshops,  men  and 
women  laboured  day  and  night  in  the  manufacture  of  arms,  and 
the  women  cut  off  their  long  hair  that  it  might  be  twisted  into 
bowstrings.  The  consuls  meantime,  though  urged  by  Massi- 
nissa, did  not  advance  against  the  city,  either  through  dislike 
of  the  unpleasant  task,  or  because  they  thought  that  they  could 
take  it  whenever  they  pleased.  At  length  they  led  their  troops 
to  the  attack  of  the  town. 

The  city  of  Carthage  lay  on  a  peninsula  at  the  bottom  of 
a  large  bay :  at  its  neck,  which  was  nearly  three  miles  in 
width,  stood  the  citadel,  Byrsa,  on  a  rock  whose  summit  was 
occupied  by  the  temple  of  Esmun  or  j^sculapius ;  from  the 
neck  on  the  east  ran  a  narrow  belt  or  tongue  of  land  between 
the  lake  of  Tunis  and  the  sea  ;  at  a  little  distance  inlands  ex- 
tended a  rocky  ridge,  through  which  narrow  passes  had  been 
hewn.  The  harbour  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  peninsula  ;  it 
was  double,  consisting  of  an  outer  and  an  inner  one,  and 
its  mouth,  which  was  seventy  feet  wide,  was  secured  with  iron 
chains :  the  outer  harbour  was  surrounded  by  a  quay  for  the 
landing  of  goods.  The  inner  one,  named  the  Cothon  *,  was  for 
the  ships  of  war ;  its  only  entrance  was  through  the  outer  one, 
and  it  was  defended  by  a  double  wall ;  in  its  centre  was  an 
elevated  island,  on  which  stood  the  admiral's  house,  whence 
there  was  a  view  out  over  the  open  sea.  The  Cothon  was  able 
to  contain  two  hundred  and  twenty  ships,  and  was  provided 
with  all  the  requisite  magazines.  A  single  wall  environed  the 
whole  city ;  that  of  Byrsa  was  triple,  each  wall  being  SO  ells 
high  exclusive  of  the  battlements,  and  at  intervals  of  two  hun- 
dred feet  were  towers  four  stories  high.     A  double  row  of 

*  This  was  a  general  name  for  an  artificial  harbour,  probably  from  its  re- 
semblance to  the  KwOojv,  a  kind  of  drinking  vessel. 


270  ILL  SUCCESS  OF  THE  ROMANS.  [b.C.  149. 

vaults  ran  round  each  wall,  the  lower  one  containing  stalls  for 
SOO  elejahants  and -iOOO  horses,  with gjanaries  for  their  fodder ; 
the  upper  barracks  for  20,000  foot  and  4000  horse.  Three 
streets  led  from  Byrsa  to  the  market,  which  was  near  the  Co- 
thon,  which  harbour  gave  name  to  this  quarter  of  the  town. 
That  part  of  the  town  which  lay  to  the  west  and  north  was 
named  Megara*  ;  it  was  more  thinly  inhabited,  and  fidl  of  gar- 
dens divided  by  walls  and  hedges.  The  city  was  in  compass 
twenty-three  miles,  and  is  said  to  have  contained  at  this  time 
700,000  inhabitants. 

The  consuls  divided  their  forces;  Censorin us  attacked  from 
his  ships  the  wall  where  it  vi'as  weakest,  at  the  angle  of  the 
isthmus,  while  Manilius  attempted  to  fill  the  ditch  and  carry 
the  outer  w  orks  of  the  great  wall.  They  reckoned  on  no  re- 
sistance ;  but  their  expectations  were  deceived,  and  they  were 
forced  to  retire.  Censorinus  then  constructed  two  large  bat- 
tering-rams, W'ith  which  he  threw  down  a  part  of  the  wall  near 
the  belt ;  the  Carthaginians  partly  rebuilt  it  during  the  night, 
and  next  day  they  drove  out  with  loss  such  of  the  Romans  as  had 
entered  by  the  breach.  They  had  also  in  the  night  made  a  sally 
and  burnt  the  engines  of  the  besiegers.  It  being  now  the 
dog  days,  Censorinus,  finding  the  situation  of  his  camp,  close  to 
a  lake  of  standing  water,  unwholesome,  removed  to  the  sea- 
shore. The  Carthaginians  then,  watching  when  the  wind  blew 
strong  from  the  sea  on  the  Roman  station,  used  to  fill  small 
vessels  v/ith  combustibles,  to  which  they  set  fire,  and  spreading 
their  sails  let  the  wind  drive  them  on  the  Roman  ships,  many 
of  which  were  thus  destroyed. 

Censorinus  having  gone  to  Rome  for  the  elections,  the  Car- 
thaginians became  more  daring,  and  they  ventured  a  nocturnal 
attack  on  the  camp  of  Manilius,  in  which  they  would  have 
succeeded  but  for  the  presence  of  mind  of  Scipio,  one  of  the 
tribunes,  who  led  out  the  horse  at  the  rear  of  the  camp  and 
fell  on  them  unexpectedly.  A  second  nocturnal  attack  Avas 
frustrated  by  the  same  Scipio,  who  was  now  the  life  and  soul 
of  the  army.  jManilius  then,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  Scipio, 
led  his  troops  to  Nepheris  against  Hasdrubal ;  but  he  was 
forced  to  retire  wnth  loss,  and  four  entire  cohorts  would  have 
been  cut  off  had  it  not  been  for  the  valour  and  the  skill  of 
Scipio.  Shortly  after,  when  commissioners  came  out  from 
Rome  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  want  of  success,  Ma- 

*  This  is  probably  a  Greek  corruption  of  Magaria  or  Magalia,  tents  or 
dwellings,  connected  with  the  Hebrew  magur,  '  dwelling.' 


B.C.  14'8-]  ILL  SUCCESS  OF  THE  ROMANS.  271 

nilius  and  his  officers,  laying  aside  all  jealonsj^  bore  testimony 
to  the  merits  of  Scipio  ;  the  affection  of  the  army  for  him  was 
also  manifest ;  of  all  which  the  commissioners  informed  the 
senate  and  people  on  their  return.  Massinissa,  dying  at  this 
time,  left  the  regulation  of  his  kingdom  to  Scipio,  who  divided 
the  regal  office  among  the  three  legitimate  sons  of  the  deceased 
monarch  ;  giving  the  capital  and  the  chief  dignity  to  Micipsa, 
the  eldest,  the  management  of  the  foreign  relations  to  Gulussa, 
and  the  administration  of  justice  to  Mastanabal.  Scipio  also 
induced  Himilco  Famaeas,  a  Punic  commander,  who  had 
hitherto  done  the  Romans  much  mischief,  to  desert  to  them 
with  two  thousand  two  hundred  horse. 

In  the  spring  (604)  the  new  consul  L.  Calpurnius  Piso  came 
out  to  take  the  command  of  the  army,  and  the  pr^tor  L.  Hos- 
tilius  Mancinus  to  take  that  of  the  fleet.  They  attacked  the 
town  of  Clupea  by  sea  and  land,  but  were  repulsed  ;  and 
Calpurnius  then  spent  the  whole  summer  to  no  purpose  in  the 
siege  of  a  strong  town  named  Hippagreta,  The  Carthaginians, 
elevated  by  their  unexpected  good  fortune,  were  now  masters 
of  the  country ;  they  insulted  the  Romans,  and  endeavoured 
to  detach  the  Numidians.  Hasdrubal,  proud  of  his  successes 
over  Manilius,  aspired  to  the  command  in  the  city  ;  he  ac- 
cused the  other  Hasdrubal  of  having  intelligence  with  his 
uncle  Gulussa,  who  was  in  the  Roman  camp  ;  and  when  this 
last,  on  being  charged  with  it  in  the  senate,  hesitated  from  sur- 
prise, the  senators  fell  on  and  killed  him  with  the  seats ;  and 
his  rival  thus  g-ained  his  object. 

The  elections  now  came  on  at  Rome ;  Scipio  w^as  there  as 
a  candidate  for  the  aedileship;  all  eyes  were  turned  on  him, 
his  friends  doubtless  were  not  idle,  and  the  letters  from  the 
soldiers  in  Africa  represented  him  as  the  only  man  able  to 
take  Carthage.  The  tribes  therefore  resolved  to  make  him 
consul,  though  he  was  not  of  the  proper  age*.  The  presiding 
consul  opposed  in  vain  ;  he  was  elected,  and  the  people  fur- 
ther assumed  the  power  of  assigning  him  Africa  for  liis  pro- 
vince. 

This  celebrated  man  was  son  to  ^milius  Paulus,  the  con- 
queror of  Macedonia.  He  had  been  adopted  by  Scipio  the 
son  of  Africanus  ;  the  Greek  historian  Polybius  and  the  phi- 
losopher Pansetius  were  his  instructors  and  friends  ;  and  he 

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


272  SCIPIO  SAVES  MANCINUS.  [b.C.  14.?. 

had  already  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier  both  in  Spain 
and  Africa*. 

The  very  evening  that  Scipio  arrived  at  Utica  (605)  he  had 
again  an  opportunity  of  saving  a  part  of  the  Roman  army; 
for  Mancinus,  a  vain  rash  man,  having  brought  the  fleet  close 
to  Carthage,  and  observing  a  part  of  the  wall  over  the  cliffs 
left  unguarded,  landed  some  of  his  men,  who  mounted  to  the 
wall.  The  Carthaginians  opened  a  gate  and  came  to  attack 
them,  the  Romans  drove  them  back  and  entered  the  town  ; 
Mancinus  landed  more  men,  and  as  it  was  now  evening  he 
sent  off  to  Utica,  requiring  provisions  and  a  reinforcement  to 
be  forwarded  without  delay,  or  else  they  would  never  be  able 
to  keep  their  position.  Scipio,  who  arrived  that  evening,  re- 
ceived about  midnight  the  letters  of  Mancinus  ;  he  ordered 
the  soldiers  he  liad  brought  with  him  and  the  serviceable 
Uticans  to  get  on  board  at  once,  and  he  set  forth  in  the  last 
watch,  directing  his  men  to  stand  erect  on  the  decks  and  let 
themselves  be  seen  ;  he  also  released  a  prisoner,  and  sent  him 
to  tell  at  Carthage  that  Scipio  was  coming.  Mancinus  mean- 
time was  hard  pressed  by  the  enemies,  who  attacked  him  at 
dawn  ;  he  placed  five  hundred  men  who  had  armour  around 
the  remainder  (three  thousand  men),  who  had  none;  but  this 
availed  them  not ;  they  were  on  the  point  of  being  forced  down 
the  cliffs  when  Scipio  appeared.  The  Carthaginians,  who  ex- 
pected him,  fell  back  a  little,  and  he  lost  no  time  in  taking  off 
Mancinus  and  his  companions  in  peril. 

Scipio,  on  taking  the  command,  finding  extreme  laxity  of 
discipline  and  disorder  in  the  army,  in  consequence  of  the 
negligence  of  Piso,  called  an  assemlDly,  and  having  upbraided 
the  soldiers  with  their  conduct,  declared  his  resolution  of  main- 
taining strict  discipline ;  he  then  ordered  all  sutlers,  camp- 
followers,  and  other  useless  and  pernicious  people  to  quit  the 
camp,  which  he  now  moved  to  within  a  little  distance  of  Car- 
thage. The  Carthaginians  also  formed  a  camp  about  half  a 
mile  from  their  walls,  which  Hasdrubal  entered  at  the  head  of 
six  thousand  foot,  and  one  thousand  horse,  all  seasoned  troops. 

When  Scipio  thought  the  discipline  of  his  men  sufficiently 
revived,  he  resolved  to  attempt  a  night-attack  on  the  Megara  ; 
but  being  perceived  by  the  defenders,  the  Romans  could  not 
scale  the  walls.  Scipio  then  observing  a  turret  (probably  a 
garden  one)  which  belonged  to  some  private  person,  and  was 

*  "  Nihil  in  vita  nisi  laudandum  aut  fecit  aut  dixit  aut  sensit."     Veil. 
Pat.  i.  12. 


B.C.  147.]         ATTEMPT  TO  CLOSE  THE  HARBOUR.  273 

close  to  the  wall,  and  of  the  same  height  with  it,  made  some 
of  his  men  ascend  it.  These  drove  down  with  their  missiles 
those  on  the  walls  opposite  them,  and  then  laying  planks  and 
boards  across  got  on  the  wall,  and  jumping  down  opened  a 
gate  to  admit  Scipio,  who  entered  with  four  thousand  men. 
The  Punic  soldiers  fled  to  the  Byrsa,  thinking  that  the  rest  of 
the  town  was  taken,  and  those  in  the  camp  hearing  the  tumult 
ran  thither  also ;  but  Scipio,  finding  the  Megara  full  of  gardens 
with  trees  and  hedges  and  ditches  filled  with  water,  and  there- 
fore unsafe  for  an  invader,  withdrew  his  men  and  went  back 
to  his  camp.  In  the  morning,  Hasdrubal,  to  satiate  his  rage, 
took  what  Roman  prisoners  he  had,  and  placing  them  on  the 
walls  in  sight  of  the  Roman  camp,  mutilated  them  in  a  most 
horrible  manner,  and  then  flung  them  down  from  the  lofty 
battlements.  When  the  senators  blamed  him  for  it,  he  put 
some  of  them  to  death,  and  he  made  himself  in  effect  the  ty- 
rant of  the  city. 

Scipio  having  taken  and  burnt  the  deserted  camp  of  the 
enemy,  formed  a  camp  within  a  dart's  cast  of  their  wall,  run- 
ning from  sea  to  sea  across  the  isthmus,  and  strongly  fortified  on 
all  sides.  By  this  means  he  cut  them  off  from  the  land  ;  and 
as  the  only  way  in  which  provisions  could  now  be  brought  into 
the  city  was  by  sea,  when  vessels,  taking  advantage  of  winds 
that  drove  off  the  Roman  ships,  ran  into  the  harbour,  he  re- 
solved to  stop  up  its  mouth  by  a  mole.  He  commenced  from 
the  belt,  forming  the  mole  of  great  breadth  and  with  huge 
stones.  The  besieged  at  first  mocked  at  the  efforts  of  the  Ro- 
mans ;  but  when  they  saw  how  rapidly  the  work  advanced 
they  became  alarmed,  and  instantly  set  about  digging  another 
passage  out  of  the  port  into  the  open  sea;  they  at  the  same 
time  built  ships  out  of  the  old  materials  ;  and  they  wrought 
so  constantly  and  so  secretly,  that  the  Romans  at  length  saw 
all  their  plans  frustrated,  a  new  entrance  opened  to  the  har- 
bour, and  a  fleet  of  fifty  ships  of  war  and  a  great  number  of 
smaller  vessels  issue  from  it.  Had  their  evil  destiny  now  al- 
lowed the  Carthaginians  to  take  advantage  of  the  consterna- 
tion of  the  Romans,  and  fall  at  once  on  their  fleet,  which  was 
utterly  unprepared,  they  might  have  destroyed  it;  but  they 
contented  themselves  with  a  bravado  and  then  returned  to 
port.  On  the  third  day  the  two  fleets  engaged  from  morn  till 
eve  with  various  success.  The  small  vessels  of  the  enemy 
annoyed  the  Romans  very  much  in  the  action  ;  but  in  the  re- 
treat they  got  ahead  of  their  own  ships,  and  blocking  up  the 

N  5 


274-  CAPTURE  OF  CARTHAGE.  [b.C.  146. 

mouth  of  the  harbour,  obliged  them  to  range  themselves  along 
a  quay  which  had  been  made  without  the  walls  for  the  landing 
of  goods,  whither  the  Roman  ships  followed  them  and  did 
them  much  mischief.  During  the  night  they  got  into  port, 
but  in  the  morning  Scipio  resolved  to  try  to  effect  a  lodge- 
ment on  the  quay  whicli  was  close  to  the  harbour.  He  as- 
sailed the  works  that  were  on  it  with  rams,  and  threw  down  a 
part  of  them  ;  but  in  the  night  the  Carthaginians  came,  some 
swimming,  some  Avading  through  the  water,  having  combus- 
tibles M'ith  them,  to  which  they  set  fire  when  near  the  machines, 
and  thus  burnt  them.  They  then  repaired  the  w^orks;  but 
Scipio  finally  succeeded  in  fixing  a  corps  of  four  thousand 
men  on  the  quaj\ 

During  the  winter  Scipio  took  by  storm  the  Punic  camp 
before  Nepheris,  and  that  town  surrendered  after  a  siege  of 
twenty-two  days.  As  it  was  from  Nepheris  that  Carthage  re- 
ceived almost  the  wliole  of  its  supplies,  they  now  failed,  and 
famine  was  severely  felt. 

When  the  spring  came  (606)  Scipio  made  a  vigorous  attack 
on  the  Cothon.  Hasdrubal  during  the  night  set  fire  to  the 
square  side  of  it,  expecting  the  attack  to  be  made  in  the  same 
place  in  the  moi'ning  ;  but  Leelius  secretly  entered  the  round 
part*  on  the  other  side  of  the  port,  and  the  attention  of  the 
enemy  being  wholly  directed  to  the  square  part,  he  easily  made 
himself  master  of  it.  Scipio  then  advanced  to  the  market, 
where  he  kept  his  men  under  arms  during  the  night  t.  In  the 
morning  he  proceeded  to  attack  the  Byrsa,  whither  most  of 
the  people  had  fled  for  refuge.  Three  streets  of  houses  six 
stories  high  led  to  this  citadel  from  the  market ;  the  Romans, 
as  they  attempted  to  penetrate  them,  finding  themselves  assail- 
ed by  missiles  from  the  root's,  burst  into  the  first  houses,  and 
mounting  to  the  roofs,  proceeded  along  them,  slaying  and 
flinging  down  the  defenders;  others  meantime  forced  their  way 
along  the  streets  :  weapons  flew  in  all  directions  ;  the  groans 
of  the  wounded  and  dying,  the  shrieks  of  women  and  children, 
the  shouts  of  the  victors,  filled  the  air.  At  length  the  troops 
emerged  before  the  Byrsa,  and  then  Scipio  gave  oi-ders  to  fire 
the  town  behind  them.  Old  men,  women  and  children,  driven 
by  the  flames  from  their  hiding-places,  became  their  victims; 
every  form  of  horror  and  miserj^  displayed  itself.    During  six 

*  It  would  appear  from  this  that  the  wall  on  one  side  of  the  Cothon  was 
rectangular,  circular  on  the  other, 
f  See  Ammian.  Marcellinus,  xxiv.  2. 


B.C.  146.]  DESTRUCTION  OF  CARTHAGE.  275 

days  devastation  spread  around  ;  on  the  seventh  a  deputation 
from  those  in  the  Byrsa,  bearing  supplicatory  wreaths  from  the 
temple  of  iEsculapius,  came  to  Scipio  offering  a  surrender,  on 
condition  of  their  lives  being  spared.  These  terms  being 
granted  to  all  except  the  deserters,  they  came  out  fifty  thou- 
sand in  number,  men  and  -women  ;  the  deserters,  of  whom 
there  were  nine  hundred,  retired  with  Hasdrubal  to  the  ^scu- 
lapium,  which  being  on  a  lofty  precipitous  site,  they  easily  de- 
fended till  they  were  overcome  by  fatigue,  want  of  rest,  and 
hunger.  They  then  retired  into  the  temple,  Avhere  Hasdrubal 
stole  away  from  them  and  became  a  suppliant  to  Scipio.  The 
Roman  general  made  him  sit  at  his  feet  in  their  sight ;  they 
reviled  and  abused  him  as  a  coward  and  traitor,  and  then  set- 
ting fire  to  the  temple  all  perished  in  the  flames.  It  is  said 
that  the  wife  of  Hasdrubal,  whom  with  her  two  children  he 
had  left  in  the  temple,  advanced  arrayed  in  her  best  garments 
in  front  of  Scipio  while  the  temple  was  burnuig,  and  cried 
out,  "  No  punishment  from  the  gods  awaits  thee,  O  Roman, 
who  hast  warred  against  an  enemy ;  but  may  the  deities  of 
Carthage  and  thou  with  them  punish  that  Hasdrubal,  a  traitor 
to  me,  his  children,  his  country  and  her  temples  ! "  Then  turn- 
ing to  Hasdrubal,  she  exclaimed,  "  O  wretched,  faithless,  and 
most  cowardly  of  men,  these  flames  will  consume  me  and  my 
children;  but  what  a  triumph  wilt  thou  adorn, thou, the  general 
of  mighty  Carthage,  and  what  punishment  wilt  thou  not  undergo 
from  him  before  whom  thou  art  sitting !  "  So  saying,  she  slew 
her  children,  and  cast  them  and  herself  into  the  flames*. 

It  is  also  said,  that  when  Scipio  surveyed  the  ruin  of  this 
mighty  city,  which  had  stood  for  seven  hundred  yeai's,  had 
abounded  in  wealth,  had  spread  her  commerce  far  and  wide, 
had  reduced  so  many  countries  and  peoples,  and  made  Rome 
tremble  for  her  existence,  he  could  not  refrain  from  tears,  and 
he  repeated  these  lines  of  Homer  : — 

"  The  day  will  come  when  sacred  Troy  will  fall, 
And  Priam,  and  strong-speared  Priam's  people  -f ." 

When  Polybius,  who  was  present,  asked  him  what  he  meant, 

*  Appian  speaks  of  this  merely  as  a  report  (Xeyovffn',  and  w^e  fxcv  (paai). 
It  is  not  very  likely  that  Hasdrubal  would  thus  have  abandoned  his  wife  and 
children. 

f  "Effcrerai  fj/iiap,  or'  tiv  tto-'  6XwX};"l\ios  ipi), 

Kai  Ilpia/ios,  kuI  Xabs  eii/xjueXiw  Upidf-ioio.     II.  vi.  448. 
In  like  manner  Mohammed  TI.,  when  he  entered  the  palace  of  the  Caesars 
in  Constantinople  after  the  capture  of  that  town  ,repeated  a  passage  of  Fer- 
dousi,  the  Homer  of  Persia,  to  a  similar  effect. 


276    REDUCTION  OF  MACEDONIA  AND  GREECE.  [b.C.  149-145. 

he  owned  that  he  had  his  country  in  view,  for  which  he  feared 
the  vicissitude  of  all  things  human*. 

Scipio  allowed  his  soldiers  to  plunder  the  town  for  a  certain 
number  of  days,  with  the  reservation  of  the  gold,  the  silver, 
and  the  ornaments  of  the  temples ;  and  he  sent  to  Sicily,  de- 
siring the  people  of  those  towns  from  which  the  Carthaginians 
had  taken  any  of  these  last,  to  send  to  receive  them.  He  des- 
patched his  swiftest  ship  to  Rome  with  the  account  of  the 
capture  of  Carthage,  where  the  tidings  produced  the  most 
vmbounded  joy.  Ten  commissioners  were  sent  out  forthwith 
to  join  with  Scipio  in  regulating  the  affairs  of  Africa.  What 
remained  of  Carthage  was  leveled,  and  heavy  curses  were  pro- 
nounced on  any  one  who  should  attempt  to  rebuild  it ;  all  the 
towns  which  had  adhered  faithfully  to  it  were  treated  in  a  simi- 
lar manner ;  those  which  had  joined  Rome,  particularly  Utica, 
were  rewarded  with  increase  of  territory.  Africa  was  reduced 
to  a  province,  a  land  and  poll-tax  was  imposed,  and  a  propras- 
tor  sent  out  every  year  from  Rome  to  govern  it.  Scipio  tri- 
umphed on  his  return,  and  he  was  henceforth  named  Africanus. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  war  against  Carthage  (603)  a  man 
named  Andriscus,  who  pretended  to  be  a  son  of  king  Perseus, 
assumed  the  name  of  Philip,  and  induced  the  Macedonians  to 
acknowledge  him  as  their  king.  He  invaded  Thessaly,  but 
was  defeated  by  Scipio  Nasica  and  the  Achaeans,  Scipio's 
successor,  the  praetor  P.  JuventiusThalna,brought  more  troops 
with  him  from  Italy  (604),  but  he  lost  the  greater  part  of  them 
and  his  own  life  in  attempting  to  penetrate  into  Macedonia, 
and  Andriscus  re-entered  Thessaly ;  Q.  Caecilius  Metellus 
however  drove  him  out  of  it,  defeated  him  in  Macedonia,  and 
afterwards  in  Thrace,  by  one  of  whose  princes  he  was  given  up 
to  the  Romans.  Another  impostor  then  appeared,  who  called 
himself  Alexander  ;  but  Metellus  forced  him  to  seek  refuge  in 
Dardania.  Metellus  triumphed  (606),  and  received  the  title 
of  Macedonicus,  and  Macedonia  was  made  a  province. 

Urged  by  their  evil  genius,  the  Achaean  League  now  (606) 
ventured  to  measure  their  strength  with  Rome  ;  but  one  army 
was  defeated  by  Metellus,  and  another  by  the  consul  L.  Mum- 
mius.  Corinth  was  taken  and  burnt ;  Thebes  and  Chalcis 
were  razed ;  and  Greece,  under  the  name  of  Achaia,  was  re- 
duced to  a  pi'ovince.  Mummius  took  the  title  of  Achaicus,  and 
triumphed  (607),  displaying  on  this  occasion  a  vast  number  of 
the  finest  pictures  and  statues,  the  plunder  of  Corinth^ 

*  Polyb.  xxxix.  3. 


^ 


B.C.  205-180.]  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  277 


CHAPTER  IX.* 

Affairs  of  Spain. — War  with  the  Lusitanians. — Treachery  of  Lucullus.— 
Viriathian  War. — Murder  of  Viriathus. — Numantine  War. — Capture  of 
Numantia. — Servile  War  inSicily. — Foreign  relations  of  Rome. — Govern- 
ment of  the  Provinces. — The  Publicans. — Roman  superstition. — Roman 
literature. 

The  havdy  tribes  of  Spain  alone  now  offered  resistance  to  the 
Roman  arms.  We  will  therefore  cast  a  glance  at  the  affairs 
of  that  country  since  the  time  of  the  Hannibalian  war. 

After  the  departure  of  Africanus  (5^1),  Indibilis  and  Man- 
donius  excited  their  people  to  war,  but  they  were  defeated  by 
the  Romans  ;  the  former  was  slain,  and  the  latter  given  up  by 
his  own  people.  In  555  a  new  war  broke  out,  in  which  the 
proconsul  C.  Sempronius  Tuditanus  was  defeated  and  slain. 
The  prtetor  Q.  Minucius  gained  some  advantages  in  557,  but 
it  still  was  found  expedient  to  assign  Spain  as  the  province  of 
M.PorciusCato,one  of  the  consuls  of  the  year.  Cato,soon  after 
his  arrival,  defeated  a  large  army  of  the  natives,  and  he  then 
had  recourse  to  the  following  stratagem.  When  deputations 
came  to  him  from  the  several  towns,  he  as  usual  demanded 
hostages,  and  sent  sealed  letters  to  each,  directing  them,  under 
pain  of  slavery  in  case  of  delay,  to  throw  down  their  walls. 
These  letters  he  took  care  should  all  arrive  on  the  same  day  ; 
there  was  consequently  no  time  for  deliberation ;  each  thought 
itself  alone  interested,  his  commands  were  eveiywhere  obeyed, 
and  the  whole  country  was  thus  reduced  to  tranquillitj-.  Cato 
then  put  the  silver  and  iron  mines  on  an  advantageous  footing 
for  the  state,  and  he  triumphed  on  his  return  the  following 
year.  Spain  was  now  divided  into  two  provinces,  named  Cite- 
rior  and  Ulterior  with  respect  to  the  river  Ebro. 

The  restless  temper  of  the  natives,  and  the  ambition  and 
cupidity  of  the  Roman  generals,  would  not  however  allow  of 
permanent  tranquillity,  and  hardly  a  year  passed  without  fight- 
ing. Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  when  preetor  in  Spain  (572), 
arranged  the  relations  between  the  Romans  and  the  native 
population  in  a  manner  which  gained  him  general  applause. 
By  one  of  his  regulations,  the  Spaniards  were  bound  not  to 
build  any  more  towns  ;  when  therefore  the  Celtiberians  of 
Segeda  increased  the  compass  of  their  walls,  and  removed  the 
*  Appian,  De  Reb.  Hispan.,  38-98,  the  Epitomators. 


278  TREACHERY  OF  LUCULLUS.       [b.C.  152-151. 

people  of  the  smaller  towns  to  it,  the  senate  sent  to  forbid 
them,  and  as  they  did  not  comply  with  the  demands  made  on 
them,  the  consul  Q.  Fulviiis  Noloilior  led  an  army  against  them 
(599)  ;  but  the  advantage  in  the  campaign  was  on  the  side  of 
the  Celtiberians.  The  consul  of  the  next  year  (600),  M.  Clau- 
dius Marcellus,  when  the  senate  had  refused  the  Celtiberians 
peace,  attacked  and  reduced  them  to  submission.  His  suc- 
cessor, L.  Licinius  Lucullus  (601),  though  the  country  was 
tranquil,  would  not  be  balked  of  his  hopes  of  fame  and  booty- 
He  crossed  the  Tagus,  and  without  any  pretext  entering  the 
Vaccseau  territory,  laid  siege  to  the  town  of  Cauca  (Coca); 
and  the  people  thus  wantonly  attacked  were  obliged  to  agree 
to  give  hostages  and  one  hundred  talents  of  money,  and  to 
send  their  horse  to  serve  with  the  Roman  army.  He  then 
required  them  to  receive  a  garrison  ;  and  on  their  consenting, 
he  put  two  thousand  of  his  best  troops  into  the  town,  with 
directions  to  occupy  the  walls.  When  they  had  done  so,  he 
led  in  the  rest  of  his  array,  and  gave  the  signal  for  a  general 
massacre  of  the  male  population,  and  of  twenty  thousand  souls 
only  a  few  escaped  :  he  then  plundered  the  town.  After  this 
vile  piece  of  treachery  he  advanced  through  a  country  which 
the  inhabitants  had  purposely  laid  waste,  and  sat  down  before 
a  town  named  Intercatia ;  whence,  after  the  army  had  suflered 
severely  from  hardship,  want  of  necessaries,  and  the  incessant 
attacks  of  the  enemy,  he  was  glad,  through  the  mediation  of 
his  legate  Scipio,  (the  future  conqueror  of  Carthage,) — for 
the  people  would  not  trust  himself, — to  retire,  on  receiving 
hostages,  a  certain  number  of  cattle,  and  ten  thousand  clokes 
(saga)  for  his  soldiers.  Gold  and  silver,  which  he  chiefly  co- 
veted, they  had  not  to  give.  He  then  went  to  winter  in  Tur- 
ditania.  The  historian  remarks  that  he  never  was  brought  to 
trial  at  home  for  thus  warring  on  his  own  account. 

Meantime  the  northern  Lusitanians,  one  of  the  independ- 
ent nations  of  the  peninsula,  had  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  sub- 
jects of  Rome,  and  defeated  the  praetors,  M.  Manilius  and  L. 
Calpurnius  Piso  and  the  queestor  C.  Terentius  Varro.  They 
afterwards  defeated  L.  Mummius,  the  future  conqueror  of 
Greece,  who  had  taken  the  command.  The  Lusitanians  south 
of  the  Tagus  now  shared  in  the  war  ;  and  a  part  of  their  forces 
crossed  over  to  ravage  Africa,  while  another  part  besieged  a 
town  named  Ocila;  but  Mummius  fell  on  them  and  routed 
them  with  great  slaughter,  by  which  he  gained  the  glory  of  a 
triumph.     His  successor,  M.  Atilius  Serranus,  reduced  a  part 


B.C.  i50-14'9-j  TREACHERY  OF  GALBA.  279 

of  them  to  submission  ;  but  when  he  went  into  winter  quar- 
ters, they  rose  again  and  laid  siege  to  some  of  the  subject 
towns.  Ser,  Sulpicias  Galba,  the  successor  of  Atilius,  coming 
to  the  relief  of  one  of  these  towns,  was  defeated,  with  the  loss 
of  seven  thousand  men,  and  was  forced  to  fly. 

This  w^as  at  the  time  LucuUus  was  in  Spain ;  ajid  in  the 
spring  (602)  he  and  Galba  simultaneously  attacked  the  Lusi- 
tanians,  the  former  in  the  south,  the  latter  in  the  north,  Lu- 
cuUus, having  fallen  on  and  cut  to  pieces  those  who  were  re- 
turning from  Africa,  entered  Lusitania  and  laid  a  part  of  it 
waste.  Galba  invaded  the  country  on  the  north ;  and  when 
some  of  the  tribes  sent  embassies  to  him,  proposing  to  renew 
the  peace  made  with  Atilius  which  they  had  broken,  he  re- 
ceived them  kindly,  affecting  to  pity  them,  laying  the  whole 
blame  of  their  predatory  habits  on  the  poverty  of  their  soil,and 
offering  to  give  them,  as  his  friends,  abundance  of  fertile  land. 
The  simple  people  gladly  embraced  the  offer,  and  leaving  their 
mountains  came  down  to  the  plains  which  he  pointed  out  to 
them.  These  were  in  three  several  places  ;  and  he  directed 
each  portion  of  them  to  remain  there  till  he  came  to  regulate 
them.  Then  coming  to  the  first,  he  desired  them  as  friends 
to  put  away  their  arms :  w'hen  they  had  done  so,  he  raised  a 
rampart  and  ditch  about  them  (their  future  town  as  it  were), 
and  sending  in  a  party  of  soldiers  armed  with  swords  mas- 
sacred all  who  were  in  it.  He  did  the  same  at  the  other  two 
places,  and  but  a  few  escaped  being  the  victims  of  this  detest- 
able piece  of  treachery  *. 

About  ten  thousand  of  those  who  had  escaped  from  Lu- 
cuUus and  Galba  assembled  the  next  year  (603)  and  invaded 
Turditania.  The  praetor  C.  Vetilius  marched  against  them, 
and  succeeded  in  driving  them  into  a  position,  where,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, they  must  either  perish  by  hunger  or  face  the  Ro- 
man sword.  They  sent  to  sue  for  lands,  offering  to  become 
Roman  subjects.  Vetilius  consented  to  their  request ;  but 
Viriathus,  one  of  those  who  had  escaped  from  Galba,  remind- 
ing them  of  Roman  treachery,  bade  them  beware,  and  pledged 
himself  to  extricate  them  if  they  would  be  guided  by  him. 
They  chose  him  general  on  the  spot ;  and  he  drew  them  up  in 
line  of  battle,  directing  them  to  scatter  when  they  saw  him 

*  Galba  was  prosecuted  for  this  conduct  by  the  tribune  L.  Scribonius, 
aided  by  M.  Porcius  Cato,  now  in  his  85th  year.  He  escaped  by  appealing 
to  the  compassion  of  the  people,  producing  his  young  children  to  move  their 
pity.     Cruelty  and  meanness  often  go  together.    Cic.  Orat.  i.  53.  Brut.  23. 


280  VIRIATHIAN  WAR.  [b.c.  145-142. 

mount  his  horse,  and  make  as  best  they  could  for  the  town  of 
Tribula.  All  was  done  accordingly  ;  the  general  remained 
at  the  head  of  one  thousand  horse,  and  Vetilius  feared  to  di- 
vide his  troops  to  pursue  the  fugitives.  Viriathus  thus  kept 
the  Romans  occupied  the  whole  of  that  day  and  the  next,  and 
then  by  ways  witii  which  he  was  well  acquainted  rejoined  his 
men  at  Tribula.  This  stratagem  gained  him  great  fame  among 
his  countrymen,  and  his  army  Avas  speedily  augmented.  When 
Vetilius  soon  after  came  against  Tribula,  the  Lusitanian  laid  an 
ambush,  and  slew  the  prsetor  himself  and  nearly  half  his  army. 

By  his  accurate  knowledge  of  the  country,  by  his  military 
skill  and  fertility  in  resources,  and  by  possessing  the  confi- 
dence and  affections  of  the  native  tribes,  Viriathus  succeeded 
during  five  years  in  baffling  or  defeating  all  the  Roman  gene- 
rals sent  against  him. 

At  length  (607)  ihe  senate,  Carthage  and  Greece  being 
now  reduced,  resolved  to  prosecute  with  vigour  the  Lusitanian 
war,  which  had  assumed  a  formidable  appearance.  It  was 
therefore  committed  to  the  consul  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  i?imi~ 
lianus,  the  son  of  ^Emiiius  Paulus  and  brother  of  the  con- 
queror of  Carthage.  As  the  troops  which  he  brought  out 
were  mostly  composed  of  raw  recruits,  he  avoided  giving  bat- 
tle for  a  long  time ;  at  length  he  engaged  and  defeated  Viri- 
athus and  took  two  Lusitanian  towns.  Viriathus  however 
succeeded  in  gaining  over  to  his  side  the  greater  part  of  the 
Celtiberian  tribes,  and  he  still  harassed  incessantly  the  Roman 
subjects.  Li  610  the  consul  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  Servilianus, 
the  adoptive  brother  of  i^milianus,  came  out,  bringing  with 
him  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  sixteen  hundred  horse.  He 
sent  to  Micipsa  of  Numidia  for  elephants,  and  when  they  ar- 
rived he  advanced  against  Viriathus  and  defeated  him  ;  but 
the  Lusitanian  seeing  the  Romans  scattered  in  the  pursuit, 
turned  back,  and  having  killed  three  thousand  drove  the  rest 
into  their  camp,  which  he  would  have  stormed  but  that  night 
came  on.  By  making  attacks  in  the  night  or  during  the  heat 
of  the  day,  he  so  worried  and  harassed  the  Roman  army  that 
he  at  length  forced  them  to  retreat  to  the  town  of  Itucca,  whi- 
ther he  pursued  them  ;  but  want  of  supplies  and  loss  of  men 
obliged  him  to  return  to  Lusitania.  Servilianus  then  again 
invaded  that  country  ;  but  as  he  was  besieging  a  place  named 
Erisane,  Viriathus,  who  had  entered  the  town  by  night,  head- 
ed a  sally  in  the  morning,  drove  off  those  who  were  digging 
the  trench,  attacked  the  rest  of  the  army,  and  chased  it  into  a 


B.C.  l-il.]  MURDER  OF  VIRIATHUS.  281 

position  whence  there  was  no  escape.  The  Lusitanian  used 
his  advantage  nobly  and  moderately  ;  he  proposed  a  peace,  on 
the  terms  of  his  being  recognised  as  a  friend  of  Rome,  and 
all  those  whom  he  commanded  being  secured  in  the  posses- 
sion of  their  territory.  The  consul  gladly  accepted  these 
terms,  peace  was  concluded,  and  the  senate  and  people  of 
Rome  confirmed  it. 

But  Cn.  Servilius  Cspio,  the  brother  and  successor  of  Ser- 
vilianus  (611),  was  by  no  means  pleased  at  losing  his  chance 
of  fame  and  plunder.  He  wrote  home  describing  the  peace 
as  highly  disgraceful  to  Rome.  The  senate  gave  him  leave  to 
harass  and  provoke  Viriathus  in  secret;  but  this  did  not  con 
tent  him,  and  on  his  repeated  instances  he  received  permis- 
sion to  make  war  openly.  He  came  up  with  the  army  of  Vi- 
riathus, far  inferior  in  number,  in  Carpetania.  The  Lusita- 
nian, not  venturing  to  engage  him,  drew  up  his  horse  on  an 
eminence,  and  sent  off  the  rest  of  his  troops  by  a  deep  glen  ; 
and  when  he  thought  them  in  safety,  he  rode  after  them,  in 
the  presence  of  Csepio,  with  such  speed  as  to  baffle  pursuit. 
Some  time  after,  however,  he  sent  three  of  his  friends  to  pro- 
pose a  peace.  The  unworthy  Roman,  by  gifts  and  promises, 
prevailed  on  them  to  engage  to  assassinate  their  chief.  It  was 
Viriathus'  custom  to  sleep  in  his  armour,  but  his  officers  had 
free  access  to  his  tent  at  all  hours,  and  the  traitors  taking  ad- 
vantage of  this,  and  going  in  just  as  he  had  fallen  asleep,  kill- 
ed him  with  one  blow ;  they  then  fled  to  Caepio  to  claim  their 
reward,  and  he  sent  them  to  Rome  to  claim  it  there. 

The  Lusitanians  deeply  mourned  their  valiant,  able,  and 
noble-minded  leader,  and  celebrated  his  obsequies  with  all  the 
pomp  and  magnificence  in  use  among  them.  They  appointed 
a  chief  named  Tantalus  to  take  his  place  ;  but  Viriathus  was 
not  to  be  replaced,  and  they  were  obliged  to  submit  to  Caepio, 
give  up  their  arms,  and  take  the  land  he  assigned  them. 

The  war  which  Viriathus  had  kindled  in  Citerior  Spain  now 
drew  the  attention  of  the  Romans.  The  chief  seat  of  this  war 
was  the  city  of  Numantia,  which  lay  in  the  present  Old  Castile. 
It  was  built  on  a  steep  hill  of  moderate  height,  being  accessible 
only  on  one  side;  the  river  Durius  {Douro)and  another  stream 
ran  by  it,  and  it  was  surrounded  by  woods.  It  contained  it  is 
said  only  eight  thousand  fighting  men,  but  these  were  all  first- 
rate  soldiers,  both  horse  and  foot.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  in  the 
year  599,  had  first  wantonly  attacked  Numantia;  Mai'cellus 
and  LucuUus  also  turned  their  arms  and  arts  against  the  Nu- 


282  NUMANTINE  WAR.  [b.C.  140-137. 

mantines,  who  therefore  readilj^  entered  into  an  alliance  -mth 
the  Lusitanian  hero.  In  the  year  612  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus 
(the  first  consul  of  his  name),  having  received  from  his  pre- 
decessor L.  Metellus  Macedonicus *  a  well-disciplined  army 
of  thirty  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  laid  siege  to 
Numautia;  but  he  met  with  nothing  but  disgrace  and  defeat ; 
his  array  was  attacked  by  disease,  and  he  was  forced  to  di- 
sperse it  through  the  towns  for  the  winter.  Wishing  to  end 
the  war  before  his  successor  should  come  out  in  the  spring, 
he  entered  into  secret  negotiations  with  the  Numantines,  who 
were  extremely  desirous  of  peace,  and  at  his  suggestion  they 
sent  an  embassy  to  him.  In  public  he  demanded  unconditional 
submission,  as  alone  worthy  of  Rome ;  in  private  he  declared 
that  he  would  be  satisfied  if  they  gave  hostages  and  thirty 
talents  in  money,  and  delivered  up  the  prisoners  and  deserters. 
They  agreed,  and  all  was  concluded  except  the  payment  of  a 
part  of  the  monej',  when  M.  Popillius  Leenas  came  out  to  take 
the  command.  Pompeius  then  turned  round  and  denied  ha- 
ving made  any  convention  with  them ;  they  api>ealed  to  his 
own  officers  who  were  present.  Popillius  sent  them  to  Rome, 
and  the  senate  having  heard  them  and  Pompeius  sent  orders 
to  Popillius  to  prosecute  the  war.  He  accordingly  commenced 
operations  against  Numantia,  but  he  was  utterly  defeated  by 
its  gallant  defenders. 

In  615  the  consul  C.  Hostilius  Mancinus  appeared  before 
Numantia,  but  in  every  encounter  he  was  worsted ;  and  on  a 
false  report  of  the  approach  of  the  Cantabrians  and  Vaccseans 
to  relieve  the  town,  he  fled  in  the  night  and  took  refuge  in 
the  old  camp  left  by  Nobilior ;  here  he  was  surrounded  by 
the  Numantines,  and  no  chance  appearing  of  escape  he  sent 
to  propose  a  peace.  The  Numantines  would  only  treat  with 
his  quaestor  Ti.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  the  son  of  him  who  had 
regulated  the  state  of  Spain,  and  Gracchus  succeeded  in  con- 
cluding an  honourable  peace,  and  thus  saving  a  Roman  army  of 
twenty  thousand  men.  But  at  Rome  this  treaty  caused  high 
displeasure;  and  some  were  for  giving  up  to  the  enemy  all  con- 
cerned in  it,  as  had  been  done  at  the  Caudine  Forks  ;  but  the 

*  This  was  one  of  the  best  men  Rome  ever  produced.  As  he  was  be- 
sieging in  this  war  the  town  of  Nertobriga,  the  people,  to  punish  one  of  their 
citizens  who  had  gone  over  to  the  Romans,  exposed  his  children  to  the  bat- 
tering rams.  The  father  cried  out  not  to  heed  them,  but  the  generous  Me- 
tellus gave  up  the  siege  sooner  than  injure  them.  The  fame  of  this  liumane 
act  caused  many  towns  to  surrender.   Flor.  ii.  17.     Val.  Max.  v.  .' j  5. 


B.C.  1 35-134.]  KUMANTINE  WAR.  283 

influence  of  Gracchus' friends  prevailed,  and  itwas  thought  suf- 
ficient to  deliver  up  the  general.  Mancinus,  who  offered  him- 
self a  voluntary  victim,  was  taken  by  his  successor  P.  Furius 
Philu-5  and  handed  overnakedand  in  bonds  to  the  Nuniantines; 
but,  like  Pontius,  the  Samnite,  they  refused  to  receive  him. 

During  this  time  ]Mancinus'  colleague  M.  T^milius  Lepidus, 
not  to  be  idle,  made  war  of  himself  on  the  Vaccaeans,  under 
the  pretext  of  their  having  supplied  provisions  to  the  Numan- 
tines,  and  he  laid  siege  to  their  chief  town  Pallantia.  The 
senate,  loth  to  engage  in  a  new  war  at  this  time,  sent  out  to 
stop  him ;  but  he  wrote  to  say  that  he  knew  the  real  state  of 
things  better  than  they,  and  that  all  Spain  would  rise  if  the 
Romans  showed  any  symptoms  of  fear.  He  then  went  ou 
with  the  war ;  but  his  liopes  of  glory  and  booty  Avere  foully 
disappointed  :  for  after  a  great  loss  of  men  and  beasts  he  was 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege  and  fly  in  the  night,  leaving  his  sick 
and  wounded  behind  him.  The  people  of  Rome  deprived  him 
of  his  office,  and  fined  him  heavily.  It  is  not  quite  certain 
that  such  would  have  been  the  case  if  lie  had  been  victorious. 
The  consul  Q,  Calpurnius  Piso  (617)  did  not  venture  to  en- 
gage the  Nuniantines,  contenting  himself  with  plundering  the 
lands  of  Pallantia. 

It  was  now  become  evident  that  the  Numantine  war  de- 
manded Rome's  ablest  general ;  the  people  therefore  resolved 
to  raise  Scipio  Africanus  once  more  to  the  consulate  for  this 
purpose  (618);  the  law  forbidding  any  one  to  be  consul  a 
second  time  being  suspended  in  his  favour.  As  there  were  so 
many  troops  already  in  Spain  no  legions  were  raised,  but  the 
name  of  Scipio  brought  together  about  four  thousand  volun- 
teers; and  giving  the  charge  of  them  to  his  brother  Fabius 
Maximus,  he  passed  over  himself  at  once  to  Spain.  Here  he 
found  the  army  in  such  a  state  of  demoralization  that  nothing 
could  be  undertaken  till  its  discipline  was  restored.  He  forth- 
with gave  orders  for  all  sutlers,  harlots,  diviners  and  priests 
(for  ill-success  had  as  usual  produced  superstition)  to  quit  the 
camp.  He  directed  all  the  needless  waggons  and  beasts  of 
burden  to  be  sold ;  forbade  the  soldiers  to  have  any  cooking- 
utensils  but  a  spit  and  a  brass  pot,  or  to  use  any  food  but 
plain  roast  and  boiled  meat,  or  to  have  more  than  one  drink- 
ing-cup;  he  also  obliged  them  to  sleep  on  the  ground,  himself 
setting  them  the  example.  By  various  regulations  of  this  kind 
he  got  the  troops  into  good  order,  and  having  seasoned  them 
by  marches  and  counter-marches,  making  them  dig  trenches 
and  fill  them  up  again,  raise  walls  and  throw  them  down,  he 


284  NUMANTINE  WAR.  [b.C.  133. 

led  them  into  the  Vaccaean  territorj^,  whence  the  Numantines 
drew  their  chief  supplies,  and  laid  it  waste,  and  then  took  up 
his  winter  quarters  in  that  of  Numantia.  While  there  he  was 
joined  by  Jugurtha,  the  nephew  of  Micipsa  king  of  Numidia, 
with  twelve  elephants  and  a  body  of  horse  and  light  troops. 

In  the  spring  (619)  Scipio  formed  two  camps  in  the  vicinity 
of  Numantia  under  himself  and  his  brother.  His  plan  beino- 
to  starve  the  town,  he  refused  all  offers  of  battle ;  he  divided 
his  army  into  different  portions,  and  raised  ramparts  and  towers 
round  the  town,  except  where  it  was  washed  by  the  Durius ; 
and  to  prevent  provisions  or  intelligence  being  conveyed  in 
by  boats  or  by  divers,  he  placed  guards  on  the  river  "above 
and  below,  and  from  these  stations  he  let  long  beams  of  tim- 
ber, armed  with  swords  and  darts  and  fastened  by  ropes  to  the 
shore,  float  along  the  stream,  Avhich  being  very  rapid  kept 
whirling  them  round  and  round,  so  that  nothing  could  pass. 
The  works  round  the  town  were  six  miles  in  circuit,  those  of 
the  town  being  three  miles ;  and  the  besieging  army  counted 
sixty  thousand  men. 

The  Numantines  made  several  gallant  but  fruitless  attacks 
on  the  Roman  works.  Hunger  began  to  be  felt,  and  all  com- 
munications with  their  friends  was  cut  off.  A  man  named  Re- 
togenes,  we  are  told,  having  engaged  five  of  his  friends  to  join 
in  the  attempt,  they  M'ent  one  dark  night,  each  with  his  horse 
and  a  servant,  up  to  the  Roman  works,  with  a  ladder  made 
for  the  purpose.  Having  ascended,  they  fell  on  and  slew  the 
guards  on  each  side,  and  then  getting  up  their  horses*,  they 
sent  back  their  servants,  and  mounted  and  rode  to  solicit  the 
Aruacans  to  aid  their  kinsmen  of  Numantia.  Their  terror  of 
the  Romans  however  was  too  great  to  allow  them,  and  the 
Numantines  then  went  to  a  town  named  Lutia,  where  the 
young  men  were  for  giving  aid,  but  the  elders  sent  secretly  to 
inform  Scipio.  It  was  the  eighth  hour  when  the  word  came  ; 
he  collected  what  troops  he  wanted,  and  though  the  distance 
was  forty  miles  he  reached  Lutia  by  dawn.  He  demanded 
the  principal  of  the  youth  ;  he  was  told  they  were  gone  away  ; 
he  threatened  to  plunder  the  town  if  they  were  not  produced  : 
they  were  then  brought,  to  the  number  of  four  hundred  ;  he 
cut  off  their  hands,  left  the  town,  and  at  dawn  next  day  he  re- 
entered his  camp. 

The  Numantines,  hopeless  of  relief,  now  sent  five  deputies, 
offering  to  surrender  if  they  could  obtain  moderate  terms.  The 

*  If  this  story  be  true  the  ladiler  must  have  been  bread  and  boarded,  so 
that  the  horses  could  walk  up  it. 


B.C.  133,]  CAPTURE  OF  NUMANTIA.  285 

unfeeling  Roman  would  grant  no  conditions  ;  the  Numantines 
would  not  yet  surrender  at  discretion.  But  the  famine  grew 
sorer  every  day;  they  ate  leather  and  other  nauseous  sub- 
stances, and  even,  it  is  said,  began  to  feed  on  human  flesh. 
They  sent  once  more  to  Scipio ;  he  desired  them  to  give  up 
their  arms  on  that  day,  and  repair  on  the  next  to  a  certain 
place.  They  asked  a  respite  of  one  day,  and  in  that  time  their 
leading  men  put  an  end  to  themselves.  On  the  third  day  a 
miserable  remnant  came  forth ;  Scipio  selected  fifty  to  adorn 
his  triumph,  the  rest  he  sold  for  slaves*;  he  then  leveled  the 
town,  and  divided  its  territory  among  its  neighbours.  He 
triumphed  on  his  return,  and  was  named  Numanticus.  Little, 
however,  on  this  occasion  was  the  real  glory  of  Scipio  or  of 
Rome.  An  army  of  sixty  thousand  men  starvedoutone  of  eight 
thousand  to  whom  they  would  give  no  opportunity  of  fighting; 
a  people  who  had  generously  granted  life  and  liberty  to  twenty 
thousand  Romans  were  attacked,  in  breach  of  a  solemn  treaty, 
and  destroyed,  because  they  maintained  their  liberty. 

In  the  year  614  the  consul  D.  Junius  Brutus  had  entered 
Lusitania,  and  having  subdued  the  country  south  of  the  Du- 
rius,he  crossed  that  river  and  advanced  tothe  Mhuus (Jlinho), 
which  he  also  passed  (616);  he  then  made  war  successfully 
on  the  CallcEci,  who  dwelt  to  the  north  of  it,  and  obtained  the 
title  of  Callaicus. 

The  year  after  the  capture  of  Numantia  the  consul  P.  Ru- 
pilius  terminated  a  war  which  had  been  going  on  for  some 
years  in  Sicily.     It  had  thus  originated  f. 

In  this  fertile  island,  the  wealthy  natives,  and  the  Roman 
speculators,  who  had  made  purchases  there,  were  in  possession 
of  large  tracts  of  land.  As  the  cheapest  mode  of  cultivating 
them,  they  bought  whole  droves  of  slaves  at  the  various  slave- 
marts,  whom  they  branded  and  placed  on  their  estates.  These 
men,  who  seem  to  have  been  mostly  Asiatics,  were  treated 
with  great  cruelty,  and  so  stinted  in  food  that  they  used  to  go 
out  in  gangs  (it  is  added,  with  their  masters'  permission,)  and 
rob  on  the  highways,  and  even  attack  and  plunder  the  vil- 
lages:!:, and  the  influence  of  their  masters  was  so  great  at 
Rome  that  the  praetors  did  not  venture  to  suppress  this  dis- 
order. The  slaves  thus  got  union  and  a  kind  of  discipline, 
learned  their  own  strength,  and  began  to  form  plots. 

Among  the  slaves  was  a  Syrian  named  Eunds,  who  affected 

*  According  to  Livy  (Epit.  Ivii.),  Floius,  (ii.  18.)  and  Orosius  (v.  7.),  all 
the  Numantines  put  an  end  to  themselves,  after  burning  their  arms,  goods, 
and  houses. 

f  Diodorus,  Frag,  xxxiv,     Florus,  iii.  19.  X  ^^^  L'^-  xxxix.  29. 


286  SERVILE  WAR  IN  SICILY.         [b.c.  136-132. 

to  be  inspired  by  the  Syrian  goddess ;  by  various  juggling 
tricks  he  attained  great  repute  among  his  fellows,  and  he  pub- 
licly declared  himself  destined  to  be  a  king.  A  Avealthy  Sici- 
lian named  Damophilus,  who  resided  at  Enna,  treated  his 
slaves  with  remarkable  rigour,  and  his  wife  equalled  him  in 
cruelty  ;  their  wretched  slaves  therefore  formed  a  plot  to  mur- 
der them ;  but  they  previously  resolved  to  consult  the  pro- 
phet. Eunus  promised  them  success  ;  they  placed  him  at  their 
head,  and  to  the  number  of  four  hundred  entered  Enna,  where 
they  were  joined  by  their  fellov>r-slaves,  and  committed  ex- 
cesses of  all  kinds.  Damophilus  and  his  wife  were  seized  and 
brought  before  their  tribunal;  as  he  was  pleading  for  his  life 
two  of  the  slaves  fell  on  and  slew  him ;  his  wife  was  given  up 
to  her  female  slaves,  who,  when  they  had  tortured  her,  cast  her 
down  a  precipice ;  but  their  daughter,  M'ho  had  always  been 
kind  and  humane  to  the  slaves,  was  treated  with  the  utmost 
consideration,  and  sent,  under  the  escort  of  some  whose  honour 
and  fidelity  could  be  relied  on,  to  her  relations  at  Catana*. 

Eunus  nov/  assumed  royalty.  In  three  days  he  had  an  army 
of  six  thousand  men  armed  with  axes,  sithes,  spits,  etc. ;  it 
gradually  increased  to  beyond  ten  thousand  ;  he  defeated  the 
troops  of  the  prsetor  P.  Manilius  (616);  and  the  same  fate 
befell  P.  Lentulus  in  the  following  year.  A  Cilician  slave 
named  Cleon,  in  imitation  of  Eunus,  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  another  body  of  slaves,  and  plundered  Agrigentum  and  its 
territory.  It  was  expected  that  these  leaders  would  turn  their 
arms  against  each  other ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  Cleon  placed 
himself  under  the  command  of  Eunus,  and  their  forces  at 
length,  it  is  said,  increased  to  two  hundred  thousand  men. 

The  pragtor  L.  Plautius  Hypseeus  was  defeated  by  the  rebels 
(618),  and  the  consul  C.  Fulvius  Flaccus  met  with  little  suc- 
cess; the  next  consul,  L.  Calpurnius  Piso,  defeated  them  be- 
fore Messana,  and  his  successor,  P.  Rupilius  (620),  ended  the 
■war,  their  strongholds,  Tauromenium  and  Enna,  being  be- 
trayed to  him :  numbers  of  the  rebels  were  slain  in  battle  or 
crucified  ;  Cleon  fell  fighting  like  a  hero ;  Eunus  was  made  a 
prisoner,  and  he  expired  in  a  dungeon  at  Murgentia. 


We  will  conclude  this  Part  by  a  few  observations  on  the  foreign 
policy  and  government  of  the  Romans  at  this  time,  and  the 
state  of  their  literature. 

*  What  was  Scipio's  boasted  virtue  to  this  ? 


ROMAN  GOVERNMENT.  287 

It  was  always  Rome's  policy  to  form  alliances,  if  possible, 
with  the  neighbours,  or  natural  enemies,  as  they  are  called,  of 
any  state  with  which  she  was  at  war.  We  thus  find  that,  in  479, 
a  Roman  embassy  appeared  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  and  con- 
cluded an  alliance  with  Ptolemaus  Philadelphus,  the  object 
of  which  was  a  joint  war  against  Pyrrhus,  who  was  now  become 
formidable :  but  the  death  of  that  prince  in  the  following  year 
made  the  treaty  of  no  effect.  The  feeble  successors  of  the 
Egyptian  king  continued  to  regard  the  Romans  as  their  pro- 
tectors, and  the  year  584  offers  a  remarkable  instance  of  the 
Roman  influence.  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  king  of  Syria,  had 
invaded  Egypt;  Rome  was  applied  to ;  and  an  embassy,  headed 
by  M.  Popillius  Ltenas,  came  out.  Antiochus  offered  his  hand 
to  Popillius,  who  declined  it,  till  the  king  should  have  read 
the  letter  of  the  senate,  ordering  him  out  of  Egypt.  Having 
perused  it,  he  said  he  would  advise  with  his  friends.  Pojaillius, 
drawing  a  circle  round  him  with  a  wand,  desired  him  not  to 
leave  it  till  he  had  given  him  a  reply.  The  king  then  said  that 
he  would  obey  the  senate,  and  the  haughty  envoy  at  length 
condescended  to  give  him  his  hand*. 

The  kings  of  Pergamus  and  Bithynia  were  the  obedient 
slaves  of  the  Roman  senate,  who  employed  them  against  the 
kings  of  Macedonia  and  Syria  ;  and  as,  lion-like,  Rome  always 
gave  her  jackals  a  share  of  the  prey,  their  dominions  were 
augmented  by  her  victories.  The  meanness  of  Prusias  of  Bi- 
thynia was  unparalleled ;  he  styled  himself  the  freedman  of  the 
Romans,  and  would  go  out  to  meet  the  ambassadors  with  a 
shaven  head  and  the  freedman 's  cap  (pileus),  as  being  just 
emancipatedf.  Attalus  III.  of  Pergamus,  dying  (619)  with- 
out issue,  bequeathed  his  kingdom  to  the  Roman  people  J. 

Such  portions  of  their  conquests  as  they  did  not  leave  with 
their  I'ightful  owners,  or  give  away,  the  Romans  reduced  to 
provinces,  which  were  governed  by  those  who  had  borne  the 
office  of  consul  or  praetor  at  Rome.  The  power  of  these  Ro- 
man governors  was  nearly  as  despotic  as  that  of  the  Turkish 
pashas,  and  they  but  too  often  plundered  the  unhappy  pro- 
vincials in  a  dreadful  manner ;  the  conduct  of  the  infamous 
Verres,  as  detailed  by  Cicero  in  his  pleadings  against  him, 
though  an  extreme  case,  will  show  to  what  lengths  robbery 

*  Liv.  xlv.  12.  Cic.  Phil.  viii.  8.  Veil.  Pat.  i.  16.  Val.  Max.  vi.  4,  3. 
f  Liv.  xlv.  44.      Dion.  Fragm.  162. 

J  Mitluidales,  in  his  letter  to  Arsaces  (Sallust,  Fragm.),  says  that  the  veill 
was  a  forgery. 


288  ROMAN  GOVERNMENT. 

and  extortion  might  be,  and  sometimes  were,  carried  by  Ro- 
man proconsuls  and  propraetors.  What  augmented  the  evil 
Mas,  that  the  office  of  governor  was  annual,  and  each  governor 
was  attended  by  a  cohort  of  officers,  friends,  and  dependents, 
who  had  to  make  their  fortunes  also,  so  that  (though  the  com- 
mand was  sometimes  prolonged)  the  provinces  had  every 
year  to  expect  a  new  swarm  of  bloodsuckers  to  feed  on  them. 
These  governments  were,  in  fact,  the  chief  objects  of  ambition 
among  the  Roman  nobility,  who  looked  forward  to  them  as 
the  sources  of  wealth  and  fame ;  for,  beside  robbing  those 
whom  they  were  sent  to  protect,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  pick 
a  quarrel  with  some  neighbouring  tribe  or  nation,  slaughter  a 
few  thousands  of  them,  and  thence  acquire  plunder,  and,  on 
their  return  home,  the  honour  of  a  triumph.  The  only  remedy 
the  provincials  had  when  oppressed,  was  a  prosecution  for  ex- 
tortion (renan  repetimdaru7n)*, whichthey  always  found  some 
one  at  Rome  ready  to  undertake  ;  but  this  was  in  general  but 
poor  satisfaction,  and  the  dread  of  it  often  caused  the  robbery 
to  be  the  greater,  as  the  plunderers  had  to  get  the  means  of 
bribing  their  judges  and  advocates;  thus  Verres,  who  had  pil- 
laged Sicily  for  three  years,  declared  that  he  would  be  content 
if  he  could  keep  the  plunder  of  but  one  year. 

The  Free  Legations  (Libercs  Legationes)  were  also  very  op- 
pressive to  the  provinces.  When  a  Roman  senator  wanted  to 
collect  his  debts,  to  receive  a  legacy  or  inheritance,  to  perform 
a  real  or  pretended  vow,  or  had  any  other  private  business  to 
transact  in  one  of  the  provinces,  he  exerted  himself  to  obtain 
a  free  legation  from  the  senate,  i.  e.  to  be  appointed  a  super- 
numerary or  unattached  legate  (as  we  may  term  it)  to  the  go- 
vernor of  tiie  provincef.  He  was  thus  invested  with  a  public 
character,  and  was  entitled  to  make  sundry  demands  on  the 
provincials,  which  privilege  was  easily  converted  into  a  means 
of  plunder  and  extortion.  The  period  of  the  legation  was  also 
unlimited+. 

Another  fruitful  source  of  misery  to  the  subjects  was  the 
Roman  custom  of  farming  out  all  tlie  revenues  of  the  state. 
There  was  a  large  body  of  capitalists  at  Rome,  chiefly  con- 
sisting of  the  equestrian  order,  divided  into  companies,  who 

*  The  first  law,  De  pecuniis  repetundis,  was  the  Calpurnian,  a.u.  603. 

t  The  ambiguity  of  the  word  legatus  makes  it  doubtful  whether  this  or 
an  embassy  constituted  the  legation.  We  think  the  former,  for  it  was  only 
to  the  provinces  that  these  legates  went.  Cic.  Laws,  iii.  8.  Hull,  ii,  17. 
Comp.  ad  Faai.  xii.  21  and  30  ad  fin. 

X  Cicero  when  consul  caused  the  term  to  be  reduced  to  one  year  (Laws, 
iii.  8.).     Julius  Caesar  extended  it  to  five  years  (ad  Att.  xv.  11.). 


ROMAN  GOVERNMENT.  289 

took  all  the  government  contracts,  farmed  all  the  revenues, 
and  lent  their  money  on  high  interest  at  E,orae,  on  exorbitant 
interest  in  the  provinces.  They  were  named  Publicans  {Puh- 
licam),  as  farming  the  public  revenues :  their  wealth  gave 
tbfem  such  influence  at  Rome,  that  they  could  dispose  of  poli- 
tical power  as  they  pleased ;  and  between  enormous  interest 
for  tlteir  money  (we  find  some  most  respectable  men  charging 
48  per  cent.)  and  excessive  tolls  and  customs,  they  ground 
down,  and  alienated  and  exasperated  the  minds  of,  the  pro- 
vincials. Even  in  the  year  585,  the  senate,  v,  hen  regulating 
Macedonia,  declared  that  the  gold  and  silver  mines  should 
not  be  wrought,  or  the  domain-lands  let,  because  it  could  not 
be  done  without  the  publicans,  "  and  where  there  is  a  pub- 
lican," said  they,  "  the  public  right  is  vain,  or  the  liberty  of 
the  allies  is  nought*." 

In  the  internal  condition  of  the  Roman  state  at  this  period 
we  have  to  observe  the  absence  of  civil  commotions,  the  foreign 
wars  which  prevailed  all  through  it  giving  ample  employment 
for  all  orders  of  the  people ;  but  the  lower  orders,  by  con- 
stant service  abroad,  gradually  lost  the  character  of  the  sim- 
ple rustic  plebeian  in  that  of  the  soldier ;  and  the  generals, 
to  gain  the  votes  of  the  troops  at  elections,  acquired  the  per- 
nicious habit  of  seeking  to  win  their  favour  by  gifts,  and  by 
the  relaxation  of  discipline  ;  whence,  in  the  later  wars  of  this 
time,  we  find  the  Roman  arms  unfortunate,  till  a  Scipio  or  an 
^milius  Paulus  comes  to  restore  discipline. 

The  superstition  of  the  Romans  at  this  time  is  also  deser- 
ving of  notice.  Every  year,  as  regular  as  the  election  of  ma- 
gistrates, is  the  expiation  of  prodigies,  such  as  temples,  walls 
and  gates  being  struck  with  lightning,  showers  of  stones, 
milk,  or  blood,  oxen  or  babes  in  the  womb  speaking,  lambs 
yeaned  with  two  heads,  cocks  turned  into  hens,  and  vice  versa, 
mice  gnawing  gold,  etc.  etc.;  to  obviate  the  ill  effects  of 
which  victims  were  slain  and  supplications  offered  to  the  gods 
by  orders  of  the  senate ;  partly,  it  is  probable,  merely  in  com- 
pliance with  the  popular  superstition,  in  part  also  from  their 
sharing  in  itf. 

Rome  during  this  period  began  to  form  the  literature  which 

*  Liv.  xlv.  18. 

f  This  superstition  was  not  however  peculiar  to  the  times  of  the  repub- 
lic. We  find  it  in  Dion  and  the  otlier  historians  of  the  empire,  and  even 
Tacitus  did  not  disdain  to  relate  some  of  the  prodigies  that  were  said  to 
have  occurred  in  tlie  period  whicli  his  works  embrace. 

O 


290  ROMAN  LITERATURE. 

has  come  down  to  us ;  but  unfortunately,  instead  of  being 
national  and  original,  it  was  imitative  and  borrowed,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  ti'anslations  from  the  Greek.  In  the  year  after 
the  end  of  the  first  Punic  war  (512),  L.  Livius  Andronicus, 
an  Italian  Greek  by  birth,  represented  his  first  play  at  Rome. 
His  pieces  were  taken  from  the  Greek ;  and  he  also  trans- 
lated the  Odyssey  out  of  that  language  into  Latin.  Cn.  Nse- 
vius,  a  native  of  Campania,  also  made  plays  from  the  Greek*, 
and  he  wrote  an  original  poem  on  the  first  Punic  war,  in 
which  he  had  himself  borne  arms.  These  poets  used  the 
Latin  measures  in  their  verse :  but  Q.  Ennius,  from  Rudiae 
in  Calabria,  who  is  usually  called  the  Father  of  Roman 
poetry,  was  the  first  who  introduced  the  Greek  metres  into 
the  Latin  language.  His  works  were  numerous  tragedies 
and  comedies  from  the  Gi-eek,  satires,  and  his  celebrated  An- 
nals, or  poetic  history  of  Rome,  in  hexameters,  the  loss  of 
which  (at  least  of  the  early  books)  is  much  to  be  lamented. 
M.  Accius  Plautus,  an  Urabrian,  and  Cascilius  Statins,  an 
Insubrian  Gaul,  composed  numerous  comedies,  freely  imitated 
from  the  Greek.  M.  Pacuvius  of  Brundisium,  the  nephew 
of  Ennius,  made  tragedies  from  the  Greek  ;  L.  Afranius  was 
regarded  as  the  Menander  of  Rome;  and  P.  Terentius 
(Terence),  a  Carthaginian  by  birth,  gave  some  beautiful 
translations  (as  we  may  perhaps  best  term  his  pieces)  of  the 
comedies  of  Menander  and  ApoUodorus.  None  of  these 
poets  but  Plautus  and  Terence  have  reached  us,  except  in 
fragments  ;  the  former  amuses  us  with  his  humour,  and  gives 
us  occasional  views  of  Roman  manners,  while  we  are  charmed 
with  the  graceful  elegance  of  the  latter.  It  is  remarkable 
that  not  one  of  these  poets  was  a  Roman.  In  fact  Rome 
has  never  produced  a  poet. 

Q.  Fabius  Pictor,  L.  Cincius  Alimentus,  A.  Postumius  AI- 
binus,  ivl.  Porcius  Cato,  and  L.  Cassius  Hemina  wrote  histo- 
ries (the  first  three  in  Greek)  in  a  brief,  dry,  unattractive 
style.  Cincius  also  wrote  on  constitutional  antiquities,  and 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  research  ;  and  a  work  of  Cato's 
on  husbandry  has  come  down  to  us  which  we  could  well 
spare  for  his  Origines,  or  early  history  of  Italy. 

*  A  translation  of  the  Greek  poem,  the  Cypria,  is  also  ascribed  to  him  ; 
but  it  would  seem  without  reason,  as  the  fragments  of  it  are  hexameters. 
The  name  of  the  real  author  is  said  to  have  been  Lsevius. 


THE 

HISTORY   OF   ROME. 


PART  IV. 


CONQUEST  OF  THE  EAST  AND  DOWNFALL 
OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 


A.U.  619-722.         B.C.  133-30, 


CHAPTER  I.* 


State  of  tilings  at  Rome. — Tiberius  Gracchus  : — His  Tribunate  and  Laws; 
— His  death. — Death  of  Scipio  Africanus. — Caius  Gracchus  : — His  Tri- 
bunates and  Laws  ; — His  death. — The  Gracchi  and  their  measures. — In- 
solence and  cruelty  of  the  Oligarchs. — Conquests  in  Asia  and  Gaul. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  the  Romans,  in  consequence  of  their 
admirable  civil  and  military  institutions,  advancing  from  con- 
quest to  conquest,  till  no  power  remained  able  to  contend 
with  them  for  the  mastery;  and  though  their  conduct  was 
far  from  according  with  justice  and  the  rigid  rule  of  right, 
the  wisdom  and  energy  of  their  measures  must  command  our 
applause.  Internal  tranquillity  had  also  prevailed  during  this 
period  of  glory,  and  all  orders  in  the  state  had  acted  toge- 
ther in  harmony.  The  scene  now  changes.  Henceforth  the 
foreign  wars  become  of  comparatively  little  account,  while 

*  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  i.  1-27.    Velleius,  ii.  1-7.     Plut.  Tib.  and  C.  Grac- 
chus, the  Epitomators. 

o  2 


292  STATE  OF  THINGS  AT  ROME. 

internal  commotions  succeed  one  another  almost  without  in- 
termission; liberty  is  lost  in  the  unhallowed  contests,  and  anar- 
chy brings  forth  its  legitimate  offspring,  despotism.  The  pro- 
gress to  this  consummation  we  will  now  endeavour  to  trace. 

The  political  state  of  Rome  at  this  time  was  such  as  is  most 
unfavourable  to  the  maintenance  of  liberty.  The  people,  who 
had  the  power  of  bestowing  all  the  great  and  lucrative  offices, 
Avere  poor,  while  a  portion  of  the  nobility  were  immensely 
rich.  There  were  thus  an  oligarchy  and  a  democracy  toge- 
ther in  the  state,  and  unless  this  condition  of  things  could 
be  changed  there  must  be  an  end  of  the  constitution. 

We  have  above  shown  one  of  the  modes  in  which  the  Ro- 
man nobles  acquired  wealth,  namely,  by  the  oppression  of 
the  provinces.  They  had  also  been  large  purchasers  of  land 
in  the  sales  of  its  domain  made  by  the  state ;  and  as,  on  ac- 
count of  the  constant  wars  in  which  Rome  had  been  engaged 
since  she  had  made  the  conquest  of  Italy,  the  vast  tracks  of 
public  land  which  had  been  acquired  remained  mostly  unas- 
signed,  they  were  occupied  by  the  men  of  wealth.  Had  they, 
in  conformity  with  the  Licinian  law,  employed  free  labourers 
on  these  lands  the  evil  had  been  less ;  but  the  victories  of 
the  Roman  people  had  filled  the  market  with  slaves,  and  the 
great  landholders,  finding  that  the  work  of  slaves  would  come 
cheaper  than  that  of  freemen,  who  were  moreover  always 
liable  to  be  draughted  for  the  army,  purchased  large  num- 
bers of  them,  whom  they  kept  in  workhouses  (ergastuld) 
badly  fed  and  hardly  treated,  and  forced  to  labour  in  fetters 
on  their  lands.  These  men  were  not,  like  the  negroes,  an 
inferior  race;  they  were  Gauls,  Spaniards,  Ligurians,  Asia- 
tics, and  other  intelligent  or  energetic  portions  of  the  human 
family.  They  had  known  the  blessings  of  freedom,  and,  as 
the  late  events  in  Sicily  had  shown,  they  might  endanger  the 
state  by  a  revolt. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  frugal  independent  yeomanry,  which 
in  the  good  times  had  formed  the  pride  and  the  strength  of 
Rome,  was  greatly  diminished,  and  at  the  same  time  was  de- 
based and  corrupted.  Engaged  in  distant  service  they  were 
kept  for  years  away  from  their  farms,  and  frequently  on  his 
return  the  soldier  found  that  his  family  had  been  driven  from 
their  cottage  by  some  wealthy  neighbour  who  coveted  their 
spot  of  land,  and  justice  could  not  always  be  obtained  against 
him*.  Or  having  lost  all  relish  for  a  life  of  frugal  and  labo- 
*  Sallust,  Jug.  41.     Appian,  i.  8.     Hor.  Carm.  ii.  IS,  23  seq. 


B.C.  133.]  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.  293 

rious  industry,  they  ^yere  easily  induced  to  sell  their  little 
patrimony  for  what  they  could  get,  and  then  settled  at  Rome, 
living  as  they  could  and  selling  their  votes  to  the  highest 
bidder,  or  else  they  adopted  a  military  life  altogether*. 

This  state  of  things  caused  great  apprehension  to  the  pru- 
dent and  patriotic,  who  could  discern  no  remedy  but  a  return 
to  the  provisions  of  the  Licinian  law;  and  Leelius,  the  friend 
of  the  conqueror  of  Carthage,  had  in  his  tribunate  contem- 
plated some  measure  of  this  kind,  but  he  desisted  when  he 
saw  the  opposition  which  the  nobility  were  prepared  to  give, 
and  hence  it  is  said  he  acquired  his  title  of  Sapiens,  i.  e.  ivise 
OY  prudent.  Some  time  after  (619),  Tib.  Sempronius  Grac- 
chus, who  had  been  quaestor  to  Mancinus  at  Numantia,  being 
made  tribune  of  the  people,  resolved  to  attempt  to  remedy 
the  evils  of  his  country  by  enforcing  the  agrarian  law  of  Li- 
ciniiis  Stolo. 

Tib.  Gracchus  was  the  son  of  that  Tib.  Gracchus  of  whom 
we  have  already  spoken f :  his  mother  Cornelia  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  srrea't  Africanus.  This  admirable  woman  had  de- 
voted  herself  to  the  education  of  Tiberius  and  his  younger 
brother  Cains,  anxiously  desiring  that  they  should  be  the 
first  men  of  their  time  in  virtue  and  in  ability.  Nor  were 
her  labours  fruitless :  of  Tiberius  it  is  said,  by  one  who  con- 
demned his  measures,  that  "he  was  ('the  present  enterprise 
set  oiF  his  head')  most  pure  in  life,  most  abundant  in  genius, 
most  upright  in  purpose ;  in  fine,  adorned  with  as  many  vir- 
tues as  human  nature,  perfected  by  careful  culture,  is  capable 
of  ji."  He  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  App.  Claudius, 
and  his  sister  was  the  wife  of  Scipio  Africanus. 

As  is  usual,  various  causes  were  assigned  for  the  conduct  of 
Tib.  Gracchus.  Some  said  that  he  was  excited  by  two  Greek 
philosophers  §;  others,  by  Cornelia,  who  reproached  him  that 
people  called  her  the  mother-in-law  of  Scipio  instead  of  the 
mother  of  the  Gracchi ;  others,  by  jealousy  of  a  young  man  of 
his  own  age,  his  rival  in  eloquence  ;  others,  by  anger  and  fear 
at  the  conduct  of  the  senate  on  the  occasion  of  the  Numan- 
tine  treaty  II .  But  by  far  the  most  probable  cause  is  that 
given  by  his  brother  Caius,  who  said  that  as  he  was  passing 
through  Etruria,  on  his  way  to  Numantia,  he  was  struck  with 

*  The  practice  of  volunteering  into  the  army  had  been  long  prevalent. 
See  the  speech  of  Ligustinus,  Liv.  xlii.  34. 

t  See  above,  p.  261.  t  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  2. 

§   Diophanes  of  ilytilene,  and  Blosius  of  Cumae  in  Campania. 
II  Cicero,  Brut.  27;  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  2. 


294  TRIBUNATE  OF  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.       [b.C.  133. 

the  deserted  look  of  the  country  in  consequence  of  the  large 
estates,  and  observing  that  all  those  who  Avere  cultivating  them 
were  slaves,  he  began  to  reflect  on  a  remedj\  After  liis  re- 
turn to  Rome  he  communicated  his  views  to  his  father-in-law 
App.  Claudius,  to  P.  Mucius  Scssvola,  the  great  jurisconsult, 
and  to  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  the  chief  pontiff — men  not  to  be 
suspected  of  demagogy — and  other  eminent  persons,  all  of 
whom  agreed  with  him  in  sentiment.  Encouraged  by  their 
opinions,  and  further  invited  by  anonymous  writings  on  the 
walls  and  public  monuments  calling  on  him  to  resume  the 
public  land  for  the  poor,  he  brought  forward,  when  tribune,  a 
bill  prohibiting  any  one  from  holding  more  than  five  hundred* 
jugers  of  public  land  himself,  and  half  that  quantity  for  each 
of  his  sons  ;  and  directing  triumvirs  to  be  appointed  annually 
for  dividing  the  surplus  lands  among  the  poor  citizens,  who 
were  moreover  not  to  be  permitted  to  sell  their  allotments. 

The  wealthy  exclaimed  against  this  law  as  a  crying  injus- 
tice :  they  had,  they  said,  inherited  this  property  from  their 
fathers,  or  fairly  purchased  it;  they  had  received  it  in  doAvry 
with  their  wives,  and  given  it  in  dowry  with  their  daughters  ; 
they  had  laid  out  their  money  on  it  in  buildings  and  planta- 
tions; they  had  borrowed  or  lent  money  on  it;  the  tombs  of 
the  fathers  of  many  were  on  these  estates,  so  long  had  they 
been  in  their  families.  On  the  other  hand,  the  poor  complain- 
ed of  the  state  of  misery  to  which  they  had  been  reduced  • 
they  enumerated  the  campaigns  in  which  these  lands  had 
been  acquired  by  the  blood  of  their  fathers;  they  upbraided 
the  rich  with  their  want  of  feeling  and  patriotism  in  preferring 
faithless  barbarian  slaves  to  free  citizens  and  brave  soldiers. 
The  people  of  the  colonies,  municipal  towns f,  and  others  M'ho 
had  any  concern  in  this  land,  flocked  to  Rome  as  the  time  for 
putting  the  law  to  the  vote  drew  nigh,  and,  as  they  saw  rea- 
son to  hope  or  fear  from  it,  sided  with  one  party  or  the  other. 

Gracchus  himself,  excited  by  the  magnitude  and  antici- 
pated good  of  his  object,  and  warmed  by  opposition,  exerted 
all  the  powers  of  his  eloquence  in  his  harangues  from  the 
Rostra.  The  beasts  of  the  field  in  Italy,  he  said,  had  their 
holes  and  dens  to  lie  in,  while  those  who  fought  and  died  for 
it  partook  of  its  light  and  air,  but  of  nought  else,  wandering 
about  houseless  and  homeless  with  their  wives  and  children. 
It  was  a  mockery  of  the  generals  to  call  on  their  men  in  bat- 

*  The  Epitome  of  Livy  (in  some  MSS.),  and  the  Auctor  de  Viris  Illustr. 
(ch.  64.),  say  a  thousand. 

"t"  These  were  the  Latin  and  Italian  towns.     Niebuhr,  ii.  b2,7wie. 


B.C.  133.]  TRIBUNATE  OF  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.  295 

tie  to  fight  for  their  altars  and  the  tombs  of  their  fathers,  for 
of  so  many  Romans  not  one  had  a  family  altar  or  tomb  ;  they 
fought  and  died  for  the  wealth  and  hixury  of  others :  they 
were  called  the  lords  of  the  world,  while  they  had  not  a  sod 
of  their  own.  He  asked  the  wealthy  if  slaves  were  better, 
braver,  or  more  faithful  than  freemen :  he  showed  them  that 
by  thus  diminishing  the  free  population  they  were  running  the 
risk  not  only  of  not  making  the  further  conquests  to  which 
they  aspired,  but  of  losing  to  the  public  enemies  the  lands 
they  already  possessed.  He  bade  them  cast  their  eyes  ou  Sicily, 
and  there  mark  the  evils  and  the  danger  of  an  immense  slave- 
population*.  He  finally  told  them  that  if  they  cheerfully 
yielded  up  what  they  held  beyond  the  limits  specified  in  his 
law,  they  should  have  the  remainder  in  absolute  property, 
and  be  given  an  adequate  remuneration  for  the  money  they 
had  laid  out  on  what  they  surrendered.  He  then  desired 
the  clerk  to  read  out  the  bill. 

But  the  rich,  fearing  to  make  any  opposition  in  their  own 
persons,  had  engaged  M.  Octavius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  on 
their  side,  and  he  interposed  his  veto.  The  clerk  therefore 
stopped  reading.  Gracchus  then  put  the  matter  off"  till  the 
next  market-day;  but  with  no  better  success,  for  Octavius  again 
interposed.  Gracchus  appointed  another  day,  and  judging  that 
Octavius's  opposition  proceeded  from  his  being  a  holder  of  pub- 
lic land,  he  oifered  to  make  good  out  of  his  own  fortune  any 
loss  he  might  sustain.  Finding  him  obstinate  he  suspended  by 
his  intercession  the  functions  of  all  the  magistrates  till  his  bill 
should  have  passed,  and  he  placed  his  seal  on  the  temple  of 
Saturn,  that  the  qusestors  might  take  nothing  into  or  out  of 
itf.  The  wealthy  now  assumed  the  garb  of  mourners  ;  they 
at  the  same  time  laid  plots  for  the  life  of  Gracchus,  who  aware 
of  them  went  constantly  armed  with  a  dagger,  taking  care  to 
let  it  be  seen. 

Another  assembly-day  came :  the  people  were  preparing  to 
vote,  when  Octavius  again  interposed  ;  they  lost  patience,  and 
were  about  to  have  recourse  to  violence ;  but  Manlius  and 
Fulvius,  two  consulars,  with  tears  implored  Gracchus  to  leave 
the  matter  to  the  senate.  He  snatched  up  his  bill  and  ran  with 
it  into  the  senate-house ;  but  there  the  party  of  the  rich  was 
too  strong  for  him  :  he  came  out  again,  and  in  sight  of  the 

*  Appian,  i.  9. 

i"  As  this  was  the  treasury,  this  was  what  we  now  call  stopping  the  sup- 
plies. 


296  TRIBUNATE  OE  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.       [b.C.  133. 

people  besought  Octavius  to  give  up  his  opposition  ;  and  when 
he  could  not  prevail  he  declared  that  the  public  weal  must  not 
be  endangered  by  their  disputes,  and  that  one  or  other  of  them 
must  be  deprived  of  his  office.  He  then  desired  Octavius  to 
put  the  question  of  his  deposition  to  the  vote,  and  on  his  re- 
fusal iie  said  that  he  would  propose  that  of  Octavius.  The  as- 
sembly was  then  dismissed. 

^  Next  day  he  proposed  the  question  ;  the  first  or  praerogative 
tribe  having  voted  for  it,  he  conjured  Octavius  to  change,  but 
in  vain.  When  seventeen  tribes  had  voted,  he  again  implored 
him :  Octavius,  who  w  as  naturally  of  a  mild  and  moderate 
temper,  hesitated  and  was  silent ;  but  on  looking  at  the  rich, 
false  shame  overcame  him,  and  he  persisted ;  the  eighteenth 
tribe  then  voted,  and  he  ceased  to  be  a  tribune.  Gracchus 
ordered  one  of  his  officers,  a  freedman,  to  pull  him  down  ;  the 
people  rushed  to  seize  him,  the  rich  to  defend  him,  and  he 
escaped  with  some  difficulty.  Q.  Mummius  was  forthwith 
chosen  in  hi^  place. 

Gracchus  now  carried  his  law  without  opposition;  he  him- 
self, his  young  brother  Caius,  and  App.  Claudius  his  father- 
in-law,  were  appointed  triumvirs  for  dividing  the  lands.  The 
senate,  at  the  instigation  of  P.  Scipio  Nasica,  an  extensive 
holder  of  public  land,  had  the  meanness  and  folly  to  insult 
Gracchus  by  refusing  him  a  tent  (a  thing  always  given  to  tri- 
umvirs), and  by  assigning  him  only  4f  asses  a  day  for  his 
expenses. 

Just  at  this  time  Eudemus,  of  Pergamus,  happening  to  ar- 
rive M-ith  the  will  of  king  Attains,  Gracchus  proposed  that  the 
royal  treasures  should  be  broughtto  Rome,  and  divided  among 
those  to  whom  land  should  be  assigned,  to  enable  them  to 
purchase  cattle  and  farming  implements.     He  further  main- 
tained that  it  was  for  the  people,  not  the  senate,  to  regulate 
the  dominions  of  the  deceased  monarch.    This  assertion  galled 
the  senate,  and  Q.  Pompeius  a  tribune-elect  rose  and  asserted 
that  being  Gracchus'  neighbour  he  knew  that  Eudemus  had 
given  him,  as  the  future  king  of  Rome,  the  diadem  and  purple 
robe  of  Attalus.    Q.  Metellus  reproached  him  with  his  allow- 
ing the  poorer  citizens  to  light  him  home  at  night,  whereas 
when  his  father  was  censor  people  used  to  put  out  their  lights 
as  he  was  going  home,  lest  he  should  know  that  they  kept  late 
hours.    Others  said  other  things;  but  what  most  injui'ed  Grac- 
chus, even  with  his  own  party,  was  the  deposition  of  Octavius. 
Being  aware  of  this  he  entered  into  a  public  justification  of 


B.C.  133.]       TRIBUNATE  OF  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.  297 

his  conduct  on  that  occasion  ;  but  his  arguments  though  in- 
genious are  not  convincing*. 

The  nobility  made  no  secret  of  their  intention  to  take  ven- 
geance on  Gracchus  when  he  became  again  a  private  man.  and 
his  friends  saw  no  safety  for  him  but  in  being  re-elected.  To 
secure  his  election  he  declared  his  intention  of  shortening  the 
period  of  military  service,  and  to  give  an  appeal,  in  civil  suits, 
from  the  judges  to  the  people.  He  also  (perhaps  to  gain  the 
knights)  proposed  to  add  an  equal  number  from  the  equestrian 
order  to  the  panel  of  judges,  who  had  been  hitherto  exclu- 
sively senators. 

When  the  day  of  election  came  the  party  of  Gracchus  was 
much  more  feeble  than  usual,  for  his  chief  supporters  being 
countryfolks  were  away  getting  in  the  harvest,  and  they  did  not 
attend  to  his  summons.  He  therefore  threw  himself  on  the 
23eople  of  the  town,  and  though  the  strength  of  his  enemies  lay 
in  that  quarter  the  first  two  tribes  voted  in  his  favour.  The 
rich  then  interrupted  the  proceedings,  exclaiming  that  the 
same  man  could  not  be  twice  tribune;  a  dispute  ai'ose  among 
the  tribunes,  and  Gracchus  put  off  the  election  till  the  next 
dayf.  Though  inviolate  by  his  office  he  put  on  mourning, 
and  during  the  rest  of  the  day  he  v/ent  leading  his  young  son 
about  with  him,  and  commending  him  to  the  care  of  the  peo- 
ple, as  he  despaired  of  life  for  himself.  The  people  attended 
him  home,  assuring  him  that  he  might  rely  on  them,  and  many 
of  them  kept  watch  at  his  house  during  the  night. 

In  the  morning  the  friends  of  Gracchus  having  early  occu- 
pied the  Capitol,  where  the  election  was  to  be  held,  sent  to 
summon  him.  Various  unfavourable  omens,  it  is  said,  oc- 
curred as  he  was  leaving  home,  but  his  friend  Blosius  the 
philosopher  bade  him  despise  them.  He  went  up :  the  elec- 
tion commenced  ;  the  rich  men  and  their  party  began  to  dis- 
turb it ;  Gracchus  made  the  sign  which  he  had  arranged  with 
his  friends  during  the  nigiit,  for  recurring  to  force:  his  party 
snatched  the  staves  from  the  officers  and  broke  them  up,  and 
girding  their  garments  about  them  fell  on  the  rich  men  and 
drove  them  off  the  ground  with  wounds  and  bruises.  The  tri- 
bunes fled :  the  priests  closed  the  doors  of  the  temple ;  some 
ran  here,  some  there,  crying  that  Gracchus  was  deposing  the 

*  Plutarch  gives  the  heads  of  liis  speech.  Cicero  (Laws,  iii.  10.)  imputes 
the  ruin  of  Gracchus  to  his  deposition  of  his  coIleag\ie. 

f  Appian,  i.  14.  Plutarch  says  that  it  was  the  friends  of  Gracchus  who 
began  to  quarrel  when  thev  found  the  election  going  against  him, 

0.5 


298  DEATH  OF  TIBERIUS  GRACCHUS.  [b.C.  133. 

Other  tribunes  ;  others  said  that  he  was  making  himself  perpe- 
tual tribune  without  any  election  at  all. 

The  senate  meantime  was  sitting  in  the  temple  of  Faith*. 
When  Gracchus  moved  his  hand  to  his  head  to  give  the  signal, 
some  ran  down  crying  that  he  was  demanding  a  diadem  of  the 
people.  Scipio  Nasica  then  called  on  the  consul  Mucins  Sc£e- 
vola  to  do  his  duty  and  save  the  republic ;  but  he  mildly  re- 
plied that  he  would  not  use  force  or  put  any  one  to  death 
without  a  trial ;  and  that  if  Gracchus  made  the  people  pass  any 
illegal  measure  they  were  not  bound  by  it.  Nasica  sprang  up, 
and  cried,  "  Since  the  consul  is  false  to  the  state,  let  all  who 
will  aid  the  laws  follow  me."  Then,  regardless  of  his  dignity 
as  chief  pontiff,  and  setting  the  retention  of  the  public  land  of 
which  he  held  so  large  a  portion  before  all  things,  he  threw 
the  skirt  of  his  mantle  over  his  head  as  a  signal  to  his  party, 
and  began  to  ascend  the  Capitol.  A  number  of  senators, 
knights,  and  others,  wrapping  their  mantles  round  their  arms, 
followed  him;  the  crowd  gave  way  through  respect;  they 
snatched  the  staves  from  the  Gracchians,  broke  up  the  forms 
and  benches,  and  laid  about  with  them  on  all  sides.  Some  of 
the  Gracchians  were  precipitated  down  the  steep  sides  of  the 
hill ;  about  three  hundred  were  slain,  and  among  them  Grac- 
chus himself,  at  the  door  of  the  temple,  by  the  statues  of  the 
kings;  or  according  to  another  account,  by  a  blow  with  a 
piece  of  a  seat  from  one  of  his  colleagues,  as  he  was  running 
down  the  cUvks  of  the  hill.  In  the  night  the  bodies  of  all  the 
slain  were  flung  into  the  Tiber,  that  of  Gracchus  included, 
which  his  murderers  refused  to  the  entreaties  of  his  brother. 
Some  of  his  friends  were  driven  into  exile ;  others,  among 
whom  was  Diophanes,  were  put  to  death.  Blosius  when  taken 
before  the  consuls  declared  that  he  had  done  everything  in 
obedience  to  Gracchus.  "What,"  said  Laelius,  "if  he  had  or- 
dered you  to  burn  the  Capitol  ?"  Blosius  said  that  Gracchus 
would  have  given  no  suQh  order ;  but  when  pressed  he  an- 
swered that  he  would  have  obeyed  it,  as  it  must  in  such  case 
have  been  for  the  public  good.  Strange  to  say,  he  was  suffer- 
ed to  escape  1 

Thus  for  the  first  time  for  centuries  was  blood  shed  in  civil 
contest  in  Rome, — a  prelude  to  the  atrocities  which  were  soon 
to  be  of  every-day  occurrence.    To  the  eternal  disgrace  of  the 

*  Appian,  i.  16.  Val.  Max.  iii.  2.  17.  As  tliis  temple  was  on  the  Capitol, 
and  as  Nasica  and  his  followers  ascend,  it  is  perhaps  the  temple  of  Concord 
that  is  meant. 


h 


B.C.  131.]  CONDUCT  OF  SCIPIO.  299 

Roman  aristocracy,  and  to  their  own  ultimate  ruin,  their  ava- 
rice first  caused  civil  discord ;  and  their  contempt  of  law,  di- 
vine and  human,  sprinkled  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Optimus  Max- 
imus  with  the  sacred  blood  of  a  tribune,  and  taught  the  people 
to  despise  the  majesty  of  office  and  the  sanctity  of  religion. 

The  senate  pronounced  the  death  of  Gracchus  and  his  friends 
to  be  an  act  of  justice*;  but  the  people  were  so  imbittered 
against  Nasica  that  he  deemed  it  advisable  to  go  out  of  their 
sight ;  and  though  his  office  of  chief  pontiff  bound  him  not  to 
leave  Italy,  he  obtained  from  the  senate  a.  free  legation  to  Asia, 
where  after  wandering  about  for  some  time  hediedatPergamus. 

Scipio  Africanus  was  in  Spain  at  this  time,  and  it  is  said 
that  when  he  heard  of  the  death  of  Tib.  Gracchus,  he  cried 
out  in  the  words  of  Homer, 

Thus  perish  all  who  venture  on  such  deeds  I-f 

And  when,  after  his  return  (621),  the  tribune  Carbo  demand- 
ed of  him  before  the  people  what  he  thought  of  the  death  oi 
Tib,  Gracchus,  he  replied  that  he  was  justly  slain  if  he  had  a 
design  of  seizing  on  the  government^.  At  this  the  assembly 
groaned  and  hooted  at  him,  but  he  said,  "  How  should  I,  who 
so  oft  have  heard  undismayed  the  shouts  of  armed  enemies, 
be  moved  by  those  of  you  to  whom  Italy  is  but  a  stepdame§?" 
The  agrarian  law  also  caused  Scipio  to  sink  in  the  popular 
favour;  for  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus  and  C.  Papirius  Carbo,  who 
were  made  triumvirs  in  the  place  of  Tib.  Gracchus  and  of 
App.  Claudius  (who  was  dead),  finding  that  those  who  held 
the  public  land  did  not  give  in  an  account  of  it,  invited  in- 
formers to  come  forward.  Immediately  there  sprang  up  a  rank 
crop  of  legal  suits  ;  for  those  Italians  to  whom  the  senate  had 
re-granted  their  lands,  and  those  who  had  purchased,  were  re- 
quired to  produce  their  title-deeds ;  but  some  had  been  lost, 
others  were  ambiguous,  and  time  and  one  cause  or  another 
had  produced  such  confusion  and  uncertainty  in  the  various 
possessions,  that  the  encroachments  of  the  rich  could  not  be 
ascertained  with  any  exactness,  so  that  no  man  was  sure  of 
his  property  ||. 

*  Cicero  (Plane.  36.)  says  that  Mucins  applauded  and  defended  the  deed 
of  Nasica.     This  hardly  accords  with  his  approval  of  Gracchus'  project. 

■f-  'Qs  avoXoiro  Kai  aKXos,  o  ris  roiavTa  ye  pe^ot.     Od.  i.  47. 

I  Cic.  De  Orat.  ii.  25. 

§  Meaning  that  they  were  mostly  freedmen,  not  genuine  Roman  citizens. 

[J  The  effect  of  the  writ  quo  zcarranto  in  the  reign  of  our  king  Edward  I. 
was  similar. 


300  DEATH  OF  SCIPIO.  [b.C.  129. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  Italians  applied  to  Scipio  Afri- 
canus,  under  whom  so  many  of  them  had  served,  to  advocate 
their  cause.  Not  venturing  openly,  on  account  of  the  people, 
to  impugn  the  agrarian  law,  he  contented  himself  with  repre- 
senting that  it  was  not  right  that  those  who  were  to  divide  the 
lands  should  be  the  judges  of  what  was  public  or  not.  As  this 
seemed  reasonable,  the  consul C.  Sempronius  Tuditanus  (623) 
was  appointed  to  act  as  judge;  but  not  liking  the  office  he 
marched  with  an  army  into  lUyria,  under  the  pretext  of  some 
disturbance  there.  The  whole  matter  came  to  a  stop  :  the 
people  were  enraged  with  Scipio,  and  his  enemies  gave  out 
that  it  was  his  design  to  abrogate  the  law  by  force.  One 
evening  Scipio  Avent  home  from  the  senate  in  perfect  health,  at- 
tended by  the  senators  and  a  large  concourse  of  the  Latins  and 
the  allies.  He  got  ready  a  writing-table  in  order  to  set  down 
in  the  night  w^bat  he  intended  to  say  to  the  people  next  day. 
In  the  morning  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed,  but  without  any 
wound.  Of  the  nature  and  cause  of  his  death  there  were  va- 
rious opinions  :  some  said  it  was  natural*,  others  that  he  put 
an  end  to  himself;  others  that  his  wife  Sempronia,  the  sister 
of  the  Gracchi,  (for  whom  he  had  little  affection  on  account 
of  her  ugliness  and  her  sterility,)  and  it  was  even  added  with 
the  aid  of  her  mother  Cornelia,  strangled  him,  that  he  might 
not  abrogate  the  law  of  Gracchusf.  His  slaves,  it  is  also  said, 
declared  that  some  strangers  who  were  introduced  at  the  rear 
of  the  house  had  strangled  him  :  and  the  triumvirs  Carbo  and 
Fulvius  are  expressly  named  as  the  assassins:};.  Tliose  who 
know  how  virulent  and  how  little  scrupulous  of  means  parties 
w^ere  in  ancient  times,  will  probably  feel  disposed  to  suspect 
that  he  was  murdered,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  by  what  party  §. 
At  all  events  no  judicial  inquiry  was  made,  and  the  conqueror 
of  Carthage  had  only  a  private  funeral  ||. 

Scipio  African  us  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  characters 
in  Roman  storj-.  As  a  general  he  was  brave  and  skilful ;  and 
though  he  had  not  the  opportunities  of  displaying  military  ta- 
lents of  the  highest  order,  success  attended  all  his  operations, 

*  Which  Velleius  says  was  the  more  general  account. 

t  Appian,  i.  20.  Cicero,  Somn.  Scip.  2.  Liv.  Epit.  lix.  Cicero's  allu- 
sion may  be  to  C.  Gracchus,  who  was  suspected.     Plut.  C.  Grac.  10. 

X  Cicero,  Ad  Fam.  ix.  21  ;  Ad  Quint,  ii.  3 ;  De  Nat.  Deor.  ii,  5.  iii.  32. 
Plut.  as  above. 

§  See  the  similar  fete  of  the  tribune  Genucius,  above,  p.  77. 

II  Pliny,  H.  N.  x.  43,  60. 


B.C.  126-125.]  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.  301 

and  he  cannot  be  charged  with  any  errors.  He  was  of  a  noble 
generous  spirit  in  all  his  dealings,  and  in  money-matters  he 
acted  with  a  liberality  that  was  thought  surprising  in  a  Roman. 
Scipio  was  moreover  an  aceomplished  scholar ;  he  was  the  pu- 
pil of  Polybius  and  Panaetius,  and  the  patron  of  the  elegant 
poet  Terence,  who  is  said  to  have  been  indebted  to  him  and 
his  friend  Lffilius  for  many  of  the  graces  of  his  dramas. 

For  seven  years  after  the  death  of  Tib.  Gracchus  his  bro- 
tlier  Caius  seems  to  have  abstained  from  public  affairs.  In 
626  he  was  appointed  qucestor  to  the  consul  L.  Aurelius 
Orestes,  who  was  going  out  to  take  the  command  in  Sardinia. 
This  appointment  gave  much  joy  to  the  nobility,  who  had  been 
greatly  troubled  by  the  eloquence  which  he  had  lately  dis- 
played in  the  defence  of  one  of  his  friends,  and  at  the  favour 
shown  him  by  the  people.  We  are  assured*  that  on  this  occa- 
sion Gracchus  had  a  dream,  in  which  his  brother  appeared  to 
him  and  said,  that  linger  as  he  might  he  must  die  the  same 
death  that  he  had  died-  The  conduct  of  Gracchus  during  his 
quEestorship  was  deserving  of  every  praise. 

The  next  year  (627)j  to  the  mortification  of  the  senate,  M. 
Fulvius  Flaccus  was  chosen  one  of  the  consuls.  Aware  of  the 
impolicy  of  alienating  the  Italians  by  putting  them  in  appre- 
hension for  their  lands,  Fulvius  proposed  to  conciliate  and 
compensate  them  by  granting  them  the  Roman  civic  franchise, 
and  he  prepared  a  law  to  that  effect.  The  senators  admo- 
nished and  entreated  him  to  no  purpose ;  he  persisted  in  his 
measure  :  but  just  then  the  MassiHans  having  sent  to  implore 
aid  against  the  Salluvian  Gauls,  Fulvius  was  induced  to  take 
the  command  of  the  army  sent  to  their  relief;  and  his  victories 
in  this  and  the  following  year  gained  him  the  honour  of  a  tri- 
umph (629). 

The  Latins  and  the  Italians,  who  had  gladly  consented  to 
accept  the  boon  of  citizenship  in  lieu  of  the  disputed  lands, 
were  highly  provoked  at  their  disappointment,  and  many  of 
their  states  began  to  think  of  appealing  to  arms.  The  people 
of  Fregellse  did  actually  revolt,  but  they  were  betrayed  by  Nu- 
mitorius  PuUus,  one  of  their  chiefs,  to  the  praetor  L.  Opimius, 
who  was  sent  with  an  army  against  them.  Opimius  razed  the 
town,  and  this  severity  deterred  the  people  of  the  other  towns 
from  rebellion. 

Aurelius  had  now  been  two  years  in  Sardinia,  and  the  se- 

*  The  annalist  Coelius  Antipater  {ap.  Cic.  De  Div.L  26.)  said  that  he  had 
it  from  C.  Gracchus'  own  lips. 


302  TRIBUNATES  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.       [b.C.  124-123. 

nate,  though  they  changed  thp  troops,  continued  him  in  his 
command,  thinking  that  Gracchus  would  not  quit  his  general ; 
but  Gracchus,  seeing  their  object,  became  indignant,  and  sailed 
at  once  for  Rome  (628).  His  enemies  exclaimed,  his  friends 
were  offended,  at  such  unusual  conduct ;  but  he  defended 
himself  before  the  censors,  and  proved  that  he  was  justified  in 
acting  as  he  had  done.  The  nobles  then  charged  him  with 
having  excited  the  Fregellians  to  their  revolt,  but  he  easily- 
cleared  himself.  He  then  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  tribune,  and  on  the  day  of  election  such  multi- 
tudes of  citizens  flocked  to  Rome  from  all  parts  of  Italy  that 
the  Forum  could  not  contain  them,  and  numbers  gave  their 
votes  from  the  house-tops. 

ISoon  after  he  had  entered  on  his  office  (629)  he  brought 
forward  two  laws,  one  declaring  any  person  who  had  been  de- 
prived of  one  office  by  tlie  people  incapable  of  holding  any 
other;  a  second  making  it  penal  for  a  magistrate  to  proceed 
against  any  person  capitally  without  the  consent  of  the  people*. 
The  first  was  directed  against  the  deposed  tribune  Octavius; 
but  he  gave  up  this  bill  on  the  entreaty  of  Cornelia,  to  whom 
Octavius  was  related ;  the  other  was  leveled  at  P.  Popillius 
Laenas,  who  as  consul  had  conducted  the  inquiry  against  the 
friends  of  Tib.  Gracchus,  and  who  now  fearing  to  stand  a  trial, 
left  Italy.  Gracchus  then  had  the  following  laws  passed  : — 1. 
A  renewal  of  his  brother's  agrarian  law.  2.  One  forbidding 
the  enhstment  of  any  one  under  seventeen  years  of  age.  3.  One 
for  clothing  the  soldiers  without  making  any  deduction  from 
their  pay  on  that  account.  4.  One  for  making  roads  through 
Italy.  5.  One  for  selling  corn  to  the  citizens  every  month  out 
of  the  public  granaries  at  |-  as  (semisse  et  triente)  the  moclms, 
or  peckf,  for  which  purpose  he  directed  the  revenues  of  At- 
tains' kingdom  to  be  let  by  the  censors;}:. 

Such  were  the  measures  of  Gracchus  in  his  first  tribunate. 
The  law  for  making  roads  was  eminently  useful,  and  he  de- 
voted much  of  his  attention  to  them.  They  were  straight  and 
level,  with  bridges  where  requisite,  and  milestones  placed  all 
along  them.  His  frumentary  law  was  a  poor-law  of  the  worst 
kind ;  it  drained  the  treasury,  and  drew  to  Rome  an  idle  tur- 
bulent population.  It  is  very  difficult  to  believe  that  his  mo- 
tives in  passing  it  could  have  been  pure  ;  it  was  afterwards  re- 
pealed with  the  full  consent  of  the  people  §.     Gracchus  also 

*  Cicero,  Rabirius,  4.     Cat.  iv.  5.  f  Liv.  Epit.  Ix. 

X  Cic.  Venes,  iii.  6.  §  Id.  Brut,  62. 


B.C.  122.]  TRIBUNATES  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.  303 

gained  favour  with  the  people  ofthe  provinces  this  year  by  the 
following  act.  The  proconsul  Q.  Fabius  having  sent  from 
Spain  a  large  quantity  of  corn  extorted  from  the  provincials, 
a  senatus- consult  was  made  on  the  motion  of  Gracchus,  or- 
dering the  corn  to  be  sold  and  the  price  returned  to  the  Spa- 
niards, and  reprimanding  Fabius  for  his  conduct. 

By  a  clause  in  the  laws  lately  passed,  the  people  had  been 
empowered  to  re-elect  any  tribune  who  had  not  had  time  to 
complete  a  measure  which  he  had  brought  forward ;  accord- 
ingly Gracchus  was  chosen  one  of  the  tribunes  for  the  next 
year  also  (630).  On  this  occasion  he  gave  a  strong  proof  of 
his  influence  over  the  people.  He  said  to  them  one  day  that  he 
had  a  favour  to  ask,  but  he  would  not  complain  if  they  refused 
him;  and  while  all  were  wondering  what  it  might  be,  and  if 
he  wanted  them  to  make  him  consul  as  well  as  tribune,  he 
brought  forward  C  Fannius  Strabo,  and  recommended  him 
for  the  consulate.  His  object  was  to  keep  out  L.Opimius,  a  de- 
termined oligarch ;  and  he  succeeded,  for  Fannius  was  chosen 
with  Cn.  Domitius. 

The  first  measure  of  Gracchus  in  his  renewed  tribunate  was 
the  introduction  of  a  bill  for  taking  the  judicial  power  from 
the  senate,  who  had  enjoyed  it  from  the  time  ofthe  kings,  and 
giving  it  to  the  knights.  As  the  senatorial  judges  had  of  late 
shown  scandalous  partiality  in  the  cases  of  some  governors  of 
provinces,  the  senate  was  ashamed  to  make  any  opposition, 
and  the  law  passed.  It  is  said  that  when  proposing  this  law 
fromthe  Rostra,  insteadof  facingthe  Comitium  as  had  hitherto 
been  the  custom,  he  turned  to  the  Forum*,  thereby  intimating 
that  the  power  ofthe  state  was  in  the  people;  and  he  continued 
this  practice.  It  is  also  said  that  when  the  law  had  passed  he 
cried  out  that  he  had  destroyed  the  senate.  Yet  he  at  the  same 
time  proposed  and  carried  a  law  directing  that  the  senate  should 
every  year  before  the  election  decide  what  provinces  should 
be  prorogued  and  what  be  allotted  to  the  persons  about  to  be 
elected  to  office,  andthat  with  respect  to  the  consular  provinces 
no  tribune  should  have  the  power  of  interceding.  Gracchus 
next  proposed  a  law  for  communicating  the  civic  franchise  to 
the  Latins  and  the  Italians,  and  extending  Italy  to  the  Alps. 
It  does  not  appear  that  this  law  passed,  and  it  is  likely  that  it 

*  He  was  not  the  first  to  do  so  ;  for  in  607  C.  Licinius  Crassus,  when  pro- 
posing a  law  for  giving  the  choice  of  members  of  the  sacred  colleges  to  the 
people,  had  faced  the  Forum.     Cicero,  Lslius,  25. 


304  TRIBUNATES  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.  [b.C.  122. 

injured  him  with  the  people,  to  gratify  whom  he  proposed  send- 
ing colonists  to  Capua  and  Tarentum. 

The  senate  had  succeeded  in  gaining  the  consul  Fannius 
over  to  their  side  ;  but  not  deeming  this  enough,  they  adopted 
a  new  system  of  tactics  ;  they  directed  M.  Livius  Drusus,  one 
of  the  tribunes,  a  man  of  birth,  wealth,  and  eloquence,  and 
entirely  devoted  to  them,  to  endeavour  to  outbid  Gracchus  for 
popularity.  Drusus  therefore  proposed  that  twelve  colonies 
of  three  thousand  persons  each  should  be  founded,  that  the 
rent  imposed  by  the  Sempronian  law*  on  the  lands  which  were 
or  were  to  be  divided  should  be  remitted,  and  decemvirs  be 
appointed  for  dividing  them.  He  also  brought  in  a  bill  ex- 
tending immunity  from  corporal  punishment  in  the  army  to 
the  Latins  and  the  allies.  These  bills  were  readily  passed  by 
the  people,  and  Drusus  now  rivaled  Gracchus  in  popularity  ; 
and  as  he  declared  that  he  was  acting  entirely  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  senate,  -who  gave  a  cheerful  assent  to  all  his  mea- 
sures, that  body  also  rose  in  the  popular  favour.  Drusus  had 
a  further  advantage  over  Gracchus  in  that  he  abstained  from 
handling  the  public  monejs  and  he  appointed  others,  not  him- 
self, to  lead  Iiis  colonies. 

Gracchus  was  absent  at  this  time.  The  tribune  Rubrius  had 
selected  as  the  site  of  a  colony  the  spot  where  Carthage  had 
stood,  and  which  Scipio  had  devoted  to  be  a  waste  for  ever, 
and  Gracchus  and  his  friend  Fulvius  Flaccus  had  been  sent  to 
lay  out  the  colony,  which  was  to  be  named  Junoniaf.  Various 
unpropitious  signs  we  are  told  appeared  ;  a  violent  wind  shook 
and  broke  the  first  standard,  swept  the  sacrifices  off  the  altar 
and  carried  them  beyond  the  bounds,  and  wolves  (the  sacred 
animals  of  the  sire  of  the  founder  of  Rome)  plucked  up  the 
boundary-marks  and  bore  them  away|.  Gracchus  however 
persisted,  and  after  remaining  there  seventy  days  he  returned 
to  Italy  to  collect  his  colonists.  Finding  his  influence  on  the 
wane  he  moved  down  from  the  Palatine,  on  which  he  resided, 

*  That  is,  of  Tib.  Gracchus.  Laws  were  always  called  after  the  gentile 
name  of  their  proposer ;  thus  Sulla's  were  the  Cornelian,  Caesar's  the  Julian, 
laws. 

f  After  Juno,  or  Astarte,  the  patron-deity  of  Carthage.  Virg.  Mn.  i. 
15.     This  was  the  first  colony  formed  out  of  Italy.     Veil.  i.  15. 

X  Appian  says  it  was  after  the  return  of  Gracchus  that  the  prodigy  of  the 
wolves  (the  only  one  he  mentions)  occurred,  and  that  he  and  Fulvius  said  it 
was  an  invention  of  the  senate,  who  wanted  a  pretext  for  doincr  awav  with 
the  colony.  ■' 


B.C.  122.]         TRIBUNATES  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.  305 

to  the  neighboiuhood  of  the  Forum,  where  the  lower  sort  of 
people  mostly  dwelt,  to  prove  his  devotion  to  them.     But  his 
measure  of  setting  the  Italians  on  a  level  with  them  was  too 
unpalatable  to  be  digested  by  the  populace  of  Rome,  who,  as 
is  always  the  case,  were  as  fond  of  monopoly,  as  jealous  of  their 
privileges  and  as  heedless  of  justice  in  maintaining  them,  as 
any  oligarchs  whatever.     When  he  proposed  anew  the  gi-ant- 
ing  the  franchise  to  the  allies,  the  consul  Fannius,  at  the  desire 
of  the  senate,  issued  an  order  forbidding  any  who  were  not 
qualified  to  vote  to  be  in  the  city  or  within  five  miles  of  it  on 
the  day  of  voting.    Gracchus,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  public 
notice  to  the  Italians  that  he  would  protect  them  if  they  stayed. 
He  however  did  not,  for  he  looked  calmly  on  while  one  of  his 
own  Italian  friends  was  seized  and  dragged  away  by  the  lictors, 
probably  feeling  that  he  could  not  now  rely  on  the  people,  in 
his  anxiety  to  gain  whom  he  had  also  offended  his  own  col- 
leagues :  for  when,  on  the  occasion  of  a  combat  of  gladiators 
to  be  given  in  the  Forum,  they  had  erected  scaffolds  around 
it  in  order  to  let  the  seats,  Gracchus  desired  them  to  pull  them 
down,  that  the  poor  might  see  the  sport  without  payment.  As 
they  took  no  heed  of  him,  he  waited  till  the  night  before  the 
show,  when  collecting  a  body  cf  workmen  he  demolished  the 
scaffolds  and  left  the  place  clear  for  the  populace,  by  whom 
this  paltry  piece  of  demagogy  was  of  course  highly  applauded. 
The  time  of  elections  now  came  on,  and  Gracchus  stood  a 
third  time  for  the  tribunate ;  but  he  failed,  some  said  through 
the  injustice  of  his  colleagues,  who  made  a  false  return  of  the 
votes,  but  more  probably  through  the  ill-will  of  the  people  at 
his  wanting  to  extend  the  franchise;  and  moreover  the  senate 
succeeded  in  having  L.  Opimius,  a  man  on  whom  they  could 
rely,  raised  to  the  consulate.     They  deemed  that  they  might 
now  endeavour  to  abrogate  the  laws  of  Gracchus,  and  the  first 
attempt  was  to  be  made  on  that  of  the  African  colony.  Grac- 
chus at  first   bore  their  proceedings  patiently ;  at  length, 
urged  by  Fulvius  and  his  other  friends,  he  resolved  to  collect 
his  adherents  and  oppose  force  to  force.  On  the  day  of  voting 
on  the  law  both  parties  early  occupied  the  Capitol ;  the  con- 
sul, as  usual,  offered  sacrifice ;  and  as  one  of  his  lietors,  named 
Antilliiis,  was  carrying  away  the  entrails,  he  cried  to  those 
about  Fulvius,  "  Make  way,  ye  bad  citizens,  for  the  good !" 
Thej''  instantljr  fell  on  him  and  despatched  him  with  their  wri- 
ting-styles* :  Gracchus  was  sorely  grieved  at  this  violent  deed; 
*  Plutarch.     Appian  relates  this  event  somewhat  differently. 


306  TRIBUNATES  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.        [b.C.  122. 

but  to  Opimius  it  was  a  matter  of  exultation,  and  he  called  on 
the  people  to  avenge  it.  A  shower  of  rain,  however,  came  on 
and  dispersed  the  assembly.  Opimius  then*  called  the  senate 
together,  and,  while  they  were  deliberating,  the  body  of  An- 
tillius  was  brought,  with  loud  lamentations,  through  the  Fo- 
rum to  the  senate-house  by  those  to  whom  Opimius  had  given 
it  in  charge  :  he,  however,  pretended  ignorance.  The  senators 
went  out  to  look  at  it :  some  exclaimed  at  the  heinousness  of 
the  deed,  others  could  not  help  reflecting  how  different  had 
been  the  treatment  of  the  body  of  Tib.  Gracchus  and  of  that 
of  this  common  lictor  by  the  oligarchs.  A  decree  however 
was  passed  that  the  consuls  should  see  that  the  state  suffered 
no  injuryf .  Opimius  then  directed  the  senators  to  arm  them- 
selves, and  ordered  the  knights  to  appear  next  morning  early, 
each  with  two  armed  slaves;}:.  Fulvius  on  his  side  also  prepared 
for  battle.  It  is  said  that  Gracchus,  as  he  Avas  leaving  the 
Forum,  stopped  before  his  father's  statue,  and  having  gazed  on 
it  a  long  time  in  silence  groaned  and  shed  tears.  The  people 
kept  watch  during  the  night  at  his  house  and  at  that  of  Ful- 
vius ;  at  the  former  in  silence  and  anxiety,  at  the  latter  with 
drinking  and  revelry,  Fulvius  himself  setting  the  example. 

In  the  morning  Opimius,  having  occupied  the  Capitol  with 
armed  men,  assembled  the  senate  in  the  temple  of  Castor. 
Summonses  to  appear  before  the  senate  and  defend  themselves 
were  sent  to  Gracchus  and  Fulvius  ;  but,  instead  of  obeying, 
they  resolved  to  occupy  the  Aventine.  Fulvius,  having  armed 
his  adherents  with  the  Gallic  spoils  with  which  he  had  adorned 
his  house  after  his  triumph,  moved  towards  the  Aventine,  call- 
ing the  slaves  in  vain  to  liberty.  Gracchus  went  in  his  toga, 
with  no  weapon  but  a  small  dagger.  They  posted  themselves 
at  the  temple  of  Diana  ;  and,  at  the  desire  of  Gracchus,  Ful- 
vius sent  his  younger  son  to  the  senate  to  propose  an  accom- 
modation. They  were  desired  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  to 
come  and  say  what  they  would,  or  to  send  no  more  proposals. 
Gracchus,  it  is  said,  was  for  compliance,  but  Fulvius  and  the 
others  would  not  yield.    The  youth,  however,  was  sent  down 

*  Plutarch  says,  next  inorning  ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  there  could  have 
been  such  delay.  Appian  snakes  the  death  of  Giacchus  take  place  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

\  "  Dent  operam  consules  ne  quid  respublica  detriment!  capiat,"  was  the 
form  of  the  decree.  It  invested  them  with  dictatorial  power.  The  earliest 
instance  of  it'was  in  the  year  290.     Liv.  iii.  4. 

X  Cicero  (Cat.  i.  2.)  says  that  no  night  intervened,  and  that  Gracchus  and 
Fulvius  were  slain  the  very  day  tiiat  the  decree  was  made. 


B.C.  122.]  DEATH  OF  CAIUS  GRACCHUS.  30? 

again  ;  and  then  Opimiiis,  who  thirsted  for  civil  blood,  seized 
him  as  being  no  longer  protected  by  his  office,  and  putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  armed  men  advanced  to  the  attack. 
The  Gracchians  fled  without  making'any  resistance.  Fulvius 
took  refuge  in  a  deserted  bath,  whence  he  was  dragged  out 
and  put  to  death  with  his  eldest  son.    Gracchus,  retiring  into 
the  temple,  attempted  to  put  an  end  to  himself;  but  two  of  his 
friends  took  the  weapon  from  him  and  forced  him  to  fly.  As 
he  was  going,  it  is  said,  he  knelt  down,  and  stretching  forth 
his  hands  prayed  to  the  goddess  that  the  Roman  people  might 
be  slaves  for  ever,  as  a  reward  for  their  ingratitude  and  trea- 
chery to  him, — a  prayer  destined  to  be  accomplished  !     His 
pursuers  pressing  on  him  at  the  Sublician  bridge,  his  two 
friends,  to  facilitate  his  escape,  stood  and  maintained  it  against 
them  till  they  were  both  slain.    Gracchus  in  vain  prayed  for 
some  one  to  supply  him  with  a  horse  :  then,  finding  escape 
hopeless,  he  turned,  with  a  faithful  slave  who  accompanied 
him,  into  the  grove  of  the  goddess  Furina,  where  he  ordered 
his  slave  to  despatch  him :  the  slave  obeyed,  and  then  slew 
himself  o^  er  his  body.      The  heads  of  Gracchus  and  Fulvius 
were  cut  off  and  brought  to  Opimius,  who  had  promised  their 
weightin  gold  for  them;  and  thepersonwho  brought  the  former 
is  said  to  have  previously  taken  out  the  brain  and  filled  it  with 
lead  *.    Their  bodies  and  those  of  their  adherents,  to  the  num- 
ber of  three  thousandf,  were  flung  into  the  Tiber,  their  pro- 
perties were  confiscated,  their  wives  were  forbidden  to  put  on 
mourning,  andLicinia, the  wife  of  Gracchus,  M^as  even  deprived 
of  her  dower,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Mucins  Scaevola.  Opi- 
mius, by  v/ay  of  clemency,  gave  the  young  Fulvius,  whom  he 
had  cast  into  prison,  the  choice  of  the  mode  of  his  death, 
though  what  his  crime  was  it  is  not  easy  to  see+.     To  crown 
all,  having  purified  the  city  by  order  of  the  senate,  Opimius 
built  a  temple  to  Concord  §! 

Plutarch  compares  the  Gracchi  with  the  two  last  kings  of 
Sparta  ;  and  the  parallel  between  Agis  and  Tiberius  is  cer- 
tainly just.    Both  were  actuated  by  the  purest  motives ;  both 

*  His  name  was  Septimuleius,  and  he  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Gracchus. 
Cic.  De  Qnxt.  ii.  67.   Plin.  X.  H.  xxxiii.  3. 

f  Orosius  (v.  12.),  who  wrote  from  Livy,  says  that  only  250  were  slain 
on  the  Aveiitine,  that  Opimius  afterwards  put  lo  death  more  than  3000 
persons,  without  tiial,  who  were  mostly  innocent. 

+  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  7. 

§  One  night  the  following  iambic  line  was  put  under  the  inscription  of 
the  temple  : — "  Vecordise  opus  sedem  facit  Concordiae.'' 


308  INSOLENCE  OF  THE  OLIGARCHS.     [^B.C.  122. 

attempted  to  remedy  an  incurable  evil ;  both  were  murdered 
b)^  the  covetous  oligarchs.  But  Agis  committed  no  illegal  act, 
while  the  deposition  of  Octavius  plainly  violated  the  constitu- 
tion. The  comparison  of  C.  Gracchus  with  Cleomenes  is  less 
just :  the  Roman  was  the  better  man,  though,  but  for  his  law 
increasing  the  power  of  the  senate,  we  might  say  that  he  was  a 
demagogue,  like  Pericles,  who  cared  not  what  evil  he  intro- 
duced provided  he  extended  his  own  influence.  In  talent  Caius 
was  beyond  his  brother ;  his  eloquence  was  of  the  highest  or- 
der* ;  and  if,  as  we  incline  to  believe,  his  views  were  pure,  he 
also  may  claim  to  be  ranked  among  Rome's  most  illustrious 
patriots. 

With  respect  to  the  great  measure  of  the  Gracchi,  the  re- 
sumption of  the  public  land,  its  legality  is  not  to  be  questioned; 
and  the  objects  proposed,  the  relief  of  the  people  and  increase 
of  the  free  population,  were  most  laudable.  But  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  conquest  of  Italy,  during 
which  there  had  been  few  or  no  assignments  of  land  ;  and  such 
dangers  are  apt  to  arise  from  disturbing  long  possession,  even 
though  not  strictly  legal  in  its  origin,  that  it  is  doubtful  if  in  any 
case  good  could  have  resulted  from  the  measure.  As  it  was, 
the  evil  vras  beyond  cure  ;  the  Republic  was  verging  to  its  fall, 
and  no  human  skill  could  avail  to  save  it.  Still  our  applause 
is  due  to  those  who  did  not  despair  of  it,  and  who  manfully 
attempted  to  stem  the  torrent  of  vice  and  corruptionf. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  of  the  Gracchi  and  their 
friends,  the  nobility  have  little  claim  on  our  sympathy ;  for 
they  used  their  victory  with  the  greatest  insolence  and  cruelty  J. 
W^hen  they  had  glutted  their  vengeance,  they  began  to  think 
of  their  interest ;  a  law  therefore  was  passed  allowing  those 
who  had  received  landsunder  the  Sempronian  law  to  sell  them, 
and  the  rich  soon  had  them  again  by  purchase,  or  under  that 
pretext.  Sp.  Thorius,  a  tribune,  then  (645)  directed  that  no 
more  land  should  be  divided  ;  that  those  who  held  it  should 
keep  it,  on  payment  of  a  quit- rent,  to  be  annually  distributed 
among  the  peoy3le§, — a  measure  which,  though  it  might  re- 
lieve the  poor,  had  no  effect  on  the  increase  of  the  free  popu- 
lation, the  great  object  of  Tib.  Gracchus.  This,  however,  was 
not  pleasing  to  the  oligarchs  :  so  another  tribune,  to  gratify 

*  Cic.  Brut.  33. 

f   We  may  here  observe  that  the  famous  Opimiau  wine  was  that  of  the 
vintage  of  this  year.     Plin.  N.  II.  xiv.  4,  13. 
X  Sail.  Bell.  Jug.  42. 
§  "  Vitiosa  et  inutili  lege."  Cic.  Brutus,  35. 


B.C.  122-121.]   INSOLENCE  OF  THE  OLIGARCHS.        309 

them,  did  away  with  the  quit-rents  altogether ;  and  thus  ended 
all  the  hopes  of  the  people. 

It  is  remarkable  that  at  the  time  the  Roman  people  were 
thus  voting  away  their  rights  they  actually  had  the  ballot,  and 
we  may  say  universal  suffrage.  In  614  Q.  Gabinius,  a  tribune 
of  low  birth,  according  to  Cicero,had  a  tabellarian*  law  passed, 
by  which  the  people  were  to  vote  with  tablets  on  the  election 
of  magistrates  ;  in  618  L.  Cassius,  the  well-known  rigid  judge, 
when  tribune,  extended  this  principle  to  criminal  trials  ;  and 
in  622  C.  Papirius  Carbo  further  extended  it  to  the  voting  on 
lawsf:  yet  we  see  of  how  little  avail  it  was.  The  ballot,  in 
fact,  though  it  might  seem  otherwise,  only  facilitates  corrup- 
tion, by  removing  shame  and  the  dread  of  reproach.  Cicero  % 
remarks  that  after  it  was  introduced  more  state-criminals 
escaped  than  when  the  people  voted  openly ;  and  we  know 
how  such  acquittals  were  obtained  by  the  plunderers  of  the 
provinces. 

L.  Opimius  was  accused  in  632  by  the  tribune  Q.  Decius 
for  having  put  citizens  to  death  without  trial ;  and  it  is  rather 
startling  to  find  the  consul  of  that  year,  C.  Papirius  Carbo, 
the  friend  of  the  Gracchi,  exerting  his  eloquence  (in  which  he 
excelled)  in  his  defence,  and  maintaining  that  C.  Gracchus  had 
been  justly  slain  §,  Opimius  of  course  was  acquitted.  This 
change  of  party  did  not,  however,  avail  Carbo ;  he  was  pro- 
secuted the  next  year  (633)  by  the  young  orator  L.  Crassus, 
for  his  share,  as  it  would  seem,  in  the  measures  of  the  Gracchi, 
and  seeing  no  prospect  of  escape  he.  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 
Having  concluded  the  narrative  of  this  first  civil  discord, 
we  will  cast  a  glance  over  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  state  at 
this  period. 

When  Attains  of  Pergamus  left  his  kingdom  to  the  Roman 

people  (619),  his  natural  brother  Aristonicus  took  up  arms  to 

*  So  named  from  the  wooden  tablets  with  which  they  gave  their  votes. 

f  Cicero,  Laws,  iii.  16.     In  644  the  tribune  C.  Cselius  had  a  law  passed 

by  which  the  centuries  were  to  vote  by  ballot  in  trials  forfreason  {perduelUo), 

the  only  one  which  Cassius  had  excepted.     Cic.  ih. 

X  Laws,  iii.  17.  The  rule  he  here  gives  is  the  true  one :  "  Optimatibus 
nota,  jjlebi  libera  sunto  (suflfragia)."  It  is  certainly  unjust  in  a  landlord,  for 
instance,  to  require  his  tenant  to  vote  against  his  conscience  ;  but  the  latter 
should  reflect  how  seldom  it  is  that  the  affair  is  really  a  matter  of  conscience, 
and  how  likely  it  is  that  he  does  not  think  for  himself  in  these  matters,  and 
therefore  how  "much  more  likely  it  is  that  the  landlord,  who  has  a  stake  in 
the  country,  may  have  its  real  interest  at  heart,  than  the  orator  or  journalist 
to  whom  he  pins  his  faith,  who  probably  has  not  a  stake  in  it. 
§  Cic.  De  Orat.  ii.  25. 


310  CONQUESTS  IN  GAUL. 

assert  his  claim  to  it.  There  was  perhaps  some  doubt  in  the 
senate  as  to  the  justice  of  their  cause  ;  for  it  was  not  till  two 
years  after  (621)  that  Asia  Avas  decreed  as  a  province  to  the 
consul  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  who  though  he  was  chief  pontiff, 
and  therefore  bound  not  to  leave  Italy,  led  an  army  thither. 
But  thinking  more  on  booty  than  war,  he  was  defeated  and 
made  a  prisoner  in  a  battle  fought  near  Smyrna,  and  he  was 
put  to  death  by  the  victor.  Aristonicus,  however,  was  forced 
to  surrender  (623)  to  the  consul  M.  Perperna*,  and  the  king- 
dom of  Attalus  became  a  Roman  province  under  the  title  of 
Asia. 

The  Romans  had  long  entertained  the  design  of  acquiring 
dominion  in  southern  Gaul,  which  lay  between  them  and  Spain; 
but  other  and  more  pressing  matters  had  hitherto  occupied 
their  attention,  and  no  fairpretext  for  making  war  on  the  Gauls 
had  as  yet  presented  itself.  At  length  the  Massilians  who 
were  their  allies  having  applied  to  them  for  aid  against  the 
Salluvians,  one  of  the  native  tribes,  the  consul  Fulvius  (627) 
led  an  array  into  Gaul,  where  he  gained  such  advantages  as 
entitled  him  to  a  triumph.  His  successor  C.  Sextius  (628) 
gave  the  Salluvians  a  defeat  at  a  place  afterwards  named,  from 
him  and  its  warm  springs,  Aquse  Sextiai  (Aix).  The  Allo- 
broges  and  Arvernians  were  next  attacked,  under  the  pretence 
of  their  having  given  shelter  to  the  king  of  the  Salluvians,  and 
having  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  i^duans,  who  were  the  allies 
of  Rome,  They  were  reduced  (630)  by  the  consul  Cn.  Do- 
mitius.  The  next  year,  Q.  Fabius  Maximus,  the  colleague  of 
Opimius,  gained  a  great  victoiy  over  the  AUobroges,  whose 
king,  Betultus,  having  gone  to  Rome  to  excuse  himself  to  the 
senate,  was  detained,  and  placed  in  custody  at  Alba,  and  di- 
rections were  sent  to  bring  his  son  to  Rome  also,  as  their  pre- 
sence in  Gaul  was  considered  dangerous.  In  eS^  the  colony 
of  Narbo  Marcius  (JVarbonne)  was  founded  by  Q.  Marcius 
Rex,  and  the  Roman  dominion  in  Gaul  now  extended  to  the 
Pyrenees. 

*  It  is  remarkable  respecting  Perperna  that  he  was  a  Roman  consul  with- 
out being  a  Roman  citizen  ;  he  was  a  Greek  by  birth.    See  Val.  Max.  iii.  4,  5. 


B.C.  118-117.]  THE  JUGURTHIXE  WAR.  311 


CHAPTER  II.* 

The  Jugurtbine  War. — Defeat  and  death  of  Adherbal, — Bestia  in  Africa. 
— Jugurthaat  Rome. — Defeat  of  Aulus. — Metellusin  Africa. — Attack  on 
Zama. — Negotiations  witli  Jugurtha. —  Taking  of  Thala. — Caius  Marius. 
— Taking  of  Capsa. — Taking  of  the  Castle  on  the  Muhicha. — Sulla  and 
Bocchus. — Delivery  up  of  Jugurtha. — His  end. — Cimbric  War. — Victory 
at  Aquae  Sextiae. — Victory  at  Vercellae. — Insurrection  of  the  slaves  in 
Sicily. 

A  WAR  now  broke  out,  which,  as  narrated  by  an  excellent 
historian t,  displays  in  an  appalling  manner  the  abandoned 
profligacy  and  corruption  of  the  Roman  nobility  at  this  time. 

Micipsa  son  of  Massinissa,  king  of  Numidiat,  died  (634-), 
leav'ing  two  sons,  Adherbal  and  Hiempsal,  with  whom  he 
joined  his  nephew  Jugurtha,  the  son  of  his  half-brother  Mas- 
tanabal,  as  a  partner  in  the  kingdom.  Jugurtha  was  a  young 
man  of  talent,  highly  popular  with  the  army,  ambitious,  and 
hungeringafter  dominion  with  the  avidity  which  has  at  all  times 
characterised  Ea.stern  and  African  princes,  and  like  them  un- 
scrupulous as  to  means.  He  had  been  incited  by  many  Ro- 
mans of  rank  with  whom  he  was  intimate  at  Numantia,  to  seize 
the  kingdom  on  the  death  of  Micipsa,  and  assured  by  them 
that  money  was  omnipotent  at  Rome.  Accordingly  he  soon 
caused  Hiempsal,  the  more  spirited  of  the  two  princes,  to  be 
murdered  ;  and  when  Adherbal  took  up  arms  to  defend  him- 
self, he  defeated  him  and  drove  him  out  of  his  kingdom. 

Adherbal  repaired  to  Rome,  whither  he  was  followed  by 
envoys  from  Jugurthajbearing  plenty  of  gold  and  silver,  which 
they  distributed  to  such  effect,  that  when  the  senate  had  heard 
both  parties  they  decreed  that  ten  commissioners  should  go 
out  to  divide  the  realm  of  IVIicipsa  between  Adherbal  and  Ju- 
gurtha !  L.  Opimius  was  at  the  head  of  the  commission  (635), 
and  Jugurtha  plied  him  and  most  of  his  colleagues  so  well  with 
gifts  and  promises,  that  the  far  more  valuable  half  was  given 
to  him  ;  and  so  convinced  was  he  nov>^  of  the  venality  of  every 
one  at  Rome,  that  thej-  were  hardly  gone  when  he  invaded  and 
plundered  Adherbal's  dominions,  hoping  thus  to  provoke  hini 
to  a  war.    But  Adherbal,  a  quiet  timid  prince,  contented  him- 

*  Sallust,  Bell.  Jug.  Velleius,  ii.  11,  12.  Plut.  Marius,  1-27.  Sulla,  1-4, 
the  Epitomators. 

•j-  C.  Sallustius  Crispus. 
J  See  above,  p.  271. 


312  DEATH  OF  ADHERBAL.  [b.C.  112. 

self  with  sending  an  embassy  to  complain  of  the  injury.  Ju- 
gurtha  replied  by  re-entering  his  realm  at  the  head  of  a  large 
army.  Adherbal  assembled  an  army  ;  but  Jugurtha  fell  on  his 
camp  near  the  town  of  Cirta,  in  the  night,  and  cut  his  troops 
to  pieces.  Adherbal  fled  to  Cirta,  which  would  have  been 
taken,  were  it  not  that  there  happened  to  be  in  it  a  great  num- 
ber of  Italian  traders,  who  manned  the  walls  and  defended  it. 
Jugurtha,  aware  that  Adherbal  had  sent  to  Rome,  pressed  on 
the  siege  with  all  his  might,  hoping  to  take  the  town  before 
any  one  could  come  to  prevent  it.  Three  commissioners, 
however,  arrived,  with  orders  for  the  kings  to  abstain  from 
war,  and  decide  their  quarrel  by  equity.  Jugurtha,  alleging 
that  he  had  taken  up  arms  in  self-defence,  as  Adherbal  had 
plotted  against  his  life,  said  he  would  send  envoys  to  Rome  to 
explain  all  matters.  The  commissionei's  then  Avent  av.ay,  not 
having  been  allowed  to  see  Adherbal,  and  Jugurtha  urged  on 
the  siege  more  vigorously  than  ever. 

Two  of  Adherbal's  followers,  however,  made  their  way 
through  the  camp  of  the  besiegers  and  bi'ought  a  letter  from 
him  to  the  senate.  Some  were  for  sending  an  army  to  Africa ; 
but  the  influence  of  Jugurtha's  party  succeeded  in  having  only 
a  commission  appointed,  composed  however  of  men  of  the 
highest  rank,  among  whom  was  M.  iEmilius  Scaurus,  at  that 
time  the  chief  of  the  senate,  a  man  of  talents  of  a  high  order, 
but  of  insatiable  avarice  and  ambition.  On  arriving  at  Utica 
they  sent  orders  to  Jugurtha  to  come  to  them  in  the  province ; 
and  having  made  one  more  desperate  but  fruitless  effort  to 
storm  the  town,  he  obeyed,  fearing  to  irritate  Scaurus.  But 
the  interview  was  of  no  eff"ect,  for  after  wasting  words  in  vain 
the  commissioners  w^ent  home.  It  would  perhaps  have  been 
better  for  Adherbal  if  they  had  not  come  at  all ;  for  the  Italians 
in  Cirta,  convinced  that  the  power  of  Rome  would  be  a  secu- 
rity to  them,  insisted  on  his  surrendering  the  town,  only  sti- 
pulating for  his  life ;  and  though  he  knew  how  little  reliance 
was  to  be  placed  on  Jugurtha's  faith,  he  yielded,  as  it  was  in 
their  power  to  compel  him.  Jugurtha  first  put  Adherbal  to 
death,  with  torture,  and  then  made  a  promiscuous  slaughter  of 
the  male  inhabitants,  the  Italian  ti-aders  included  {Q¥S). 

Jugurtha's  pensioners  at  Rome  attempted  to  gloss  over  even 
this  atrocious  deed ;  but  C.  Memmius,  a  tribune-elect,  in  his 
harangues  to  the  people  so  exposed  the  motives  of  those  who 
advocated  his  cause,  that  the  senate  became  alarmed,  and  by 
the  Sempronian  law  Numidia  was  assigned  as  one  of  the  pro- 


B.C.  111-110.]  JUGURTHA  AT  ROME.  313 

vinces  of  the  future  consuls.  It  fell  to  L.  Calpurnius  Bestia 
(641);  an  army  was  levied,  and  all  preparations  were  made 
for  war.  Jugurtha  was  not  a  little  surprised  when  he  heard  of 
this.  He  sent  his  son  and  two  of  his  friends  as  envoys  to  Rome, 
to  bribe  as  before  ;  but  they  were  ordered  to  quit  Italy,  unless 
they  were  come  to  make  a  surrender  of  Jugurtha  and  his 
kingdom.  Theytherefore  returned  without  having  effected  any 
thing.  The  consul,  who,  like  so  many  others,  was  a  sla^-e  to 
avarice,  having  selected  as  his  legates  Scaurus  and  some  other 
men  of  influence,  whose  authoi'ity  he  hoped  would  defend  him 
if  he  acted  wrong,  passed  over  to  Africa  with  his  troops,  and 
made  a  brisk  inroad  into  Numidia.  Jugurtha,  instead  of  trying 
the  chance  of  arms,  assailed  him  by  large  offers  of  money, 
displaying  at  the  same  time  the  difficulties  of  the  war  ;  and 
Scaurus,  whose  prudence  had  hitherto  been  proof  against  all 
his  offers,  yielded  at  last,  and  went  hand  in  hand  with  the 
consul.  They  agreed  to  a  peace  with  him  ;  he  came  to  the 
camp  and  made  a  surrender  of  himself,  and  delivered  to  the 
quaestor  thirty  elephants,  a  good  number  of  horses  and  cattle 
for  the  army,  and  a  small  quantity  of  money.  Bestia  then  went 
to  Home  to  hold  the  elections,  as  his  colleague  was  dead. 

The  senate  were  dubious  how  to  act ;  the  disgraceful  trans- 
action was  vehemently  reprobated  by  the  people,  but  the  au- 
thority of  Scaurus  was  great  with  them.  Memmius  seized  the 
occasion  of  again  assailing  the  nobility  ;  he  detailed  their  acts 
of  cruelty  and  oppi*ession,he  exposed  theiravarice,  venality  and 
corruption,  and  he  finally  succeeded  in  having  the  prsetor  L. 
Cassius  Longinus  sent  to  Africa  to  bring  Jugurtha  to  Rome, 
in  order  to  convict  Scaurus  and  the  others  b}^  his  evidence. 
Cassius  having  pledged  the  public  faith  and  his  own  (which 
was  of  equal  weight)  for  his  safety,  Jugurtha  came  with  him 
to  Rome  (6V2).  Here,  beside  his  former  friends,  he  gained 
C.  Bsebius,  one  of  Memmius'  colleagues ;  and  when  Memmius 
produced  him  before  the  people,  and,  having  enumerated  all 
his  crimes,  called  on  him  to  name  those  who  had  aided  and 
abetted  him  in  them,  Beebius  ordered  him  not  to  answer.  The 
people  were  furious,  but  Baebius  heeded  them  not ;  and  Ju- 
gurtha soon  ventured  on  another  murder. 

There  was  at  Rome  a  cousin  of  his,  named  Massiva,  the 
son  of  Gulussa,  whom  the  consul-elect,  Sp.  Postumius  Albi- 
nus,  anxious  for  the  glory  of  a  war,  persuaded  to  apply  to 
the  senate  for  the  kingdom  of  Numidia.  Jugurtha,  seeing 
him  likely  to  succeed,  desired  his  confidant  Bomilcar  to  have 

p 


314-  DEFEAT  OF  AULUS.  [b.C.  1 10. 

him  put  out  of  the  way.  Assassins  were  then,  as  in  more 
modern  times,  easily  to  be  procured  at  Rome.  Massiva  was 
slain,  but  his  murderer,  on  being  seized,  informed  against 
Bomilcar,  who,  more  in  accordance  with  equity  than  with  the 
law  of  nations,  was  arrested.  Fifty  of  Jugurtha's  friends  gave 
bail  for  him  ;  but  Jugurtha  finding  this  to  be  a  case  beyond 
his  money,  sent  him  away,  heedless  of  his  bail,  for  he  feared 
that  his  other  subjects  would  be  less  zealous  to  serve  him  if 
he  should  let  Bomilcar  suffer.  In  a  few  days  he  himself  was 
ordered  to  quit  Italy.  It  is  said  that  as  he  was  going  out  of 
Rome  he  turned,  and  gazing  on  it,  said,  "  Venal  city,  and  soon 
to  perish  if  a  purchaser  were  to  be  found  !  " 

Albinus  passed  over  to  Africa  without  delay;  but,  with  all 
his  diligence,  he  was  baffled  by  Jugurtha,  who  never  would 
give  an  opportunity  of  fighting,  and  kept  illuding  him  with 
offers  of  surrender.  Many  people  suspected  that  the  consul 
and  he  understood  one  another.  The  elections  being  at  hand, 
Albinus  returned  to  Rome,  leaving  his  brother  Aulus  in  com- 
mand of  the  arniy.  A  delay  having  occurred,  in  consequence 
of  two  of  the  tribunes  wanting  to  remain  in  office  in  opposi- 
tion to  their  colleagues,  Aulus,  hoping  to  end  the  war  or  extort 
money  from  Jugurtha,  led  out  his  troops  in  the  month  of 
January  (643),  and  by  long  marches  came  to  a  town  named 
Suthul,  where  the  royal  treasures  lay.  The  town  was  strong 
by  nature  and  art :  Jugurtha  mocked  at  the  folly  of  the  legate, 
and  by  holding  out  hopes  of  surrender  drew  him  away  from 
it.  By  bribes  he  gained  some  of  the  centurions  and  captains 
of  horse  to  promise  to  desert,  others  to  quit  their  posts :  he  then 
suddenly  assailed  the  camp  in  the  night ;  a  centurion  admitted 
him ;  the  Romans  fled  to  an  adjacent  hill,  where  they  were 
obliged  to  surrender,  pass  under  the  yoke,  and  engage  to  eva- 
cuate Numidia  within  ten  days. 

Grief,  terror,  and  indignation  prevailed  at  Rome  when  this 
disgraceful  treaty  was  known.  The  senate,  as  was  always  the 
case,  pronounced  it  not  to  be  binding.  Albinus  hastened  to 
Africa,  burning  to  efface  the  shame ;  but  he  found  the  troops 
in  such  a  state  of  indiscipline  that  he  could  not  venture  on  any 
operations.  At  Rome,  the  tribune  C.  Mamilius  Limetanus  took 
advantage  of  the  state  of  public  feeling,  to  bring  in  a  bill  for 
inquiring  into  the  conduct  of  those  who  had  advised  Jugurtha 
to  neglect  the  decrees  of  the  senate,  and  of  those  who  had 
taken  bribes  from  him,  and  given  him  back  the  elephants  and 
deserters,  or  made  treaties  with  him.    The  nobility,  conscious 


B.C.  109.]  METELLUS  IN  AFRICA.  315 

of  theii"  guilt,  strained  every  nerve  against  the  bill ;  the  peo- 
ple, more  out  of  hatred  to  them  than  regard  for  the  republic, 
urged  it  on  and  passed  it.  Strange  to  say,  Scaurus,  one  of  the 
most  guilty,  had  influence  enough  to  have  himself  chosen 
among  the  three  inquisitors  whom  the  bill  appointed.  The 
inquiry  was  prosecuted  with  great  asperity,  the  people  being 
dehghted  to  have  an  opportunity  of  humbling  the  nobility  ; 
common  fame  was  deemed  sufficient  evidence,  and  Opimius, 
Bestia,  Albinus  and  others,  were  condemned. 

Albinus'  successor  (G^S)  was  Q.  Csecilius  Metelius,  a  man 
who  was  an  honour  to  his  order,  of  high  talents,  of  stainless 
integrity,  of  pure  morals  ;  his  only  defect  was  pride,  "  the 
common  evil  of  the  nobility,"  as  the  historian  observes*.  He 
found  the  army  as  Scipio  Africanus  had  found  his  at  Carthage 
and  Numantia,  and  he  employed  the  same  means  to  restore  its 
discipline.  Jugurtha,  aware  of  the  kind  of  man  he  had  to  deal 
with,  and  that  there  was  now  no  room  for  bribes,  began  to 
think  of  submission  in  earnest,  and  he  sent  envoys  offering  a 
surrender,  and  stipulating  only  for  the  lives  of  himself  and 
his  children.  But  Metelius,  knowing  there  would  be  no  peace 
in  Africa  while  Jugurtha  lived,  treated  with  the  envoys  sepa- 
rately, and  by  large  promises  induced  some  of  them  to  engage 
to  deliver  him  up  alive  or  dead :  in  public  he  gave  them  an 
ambiguous  reply. 

In  a  few  days  he  entered  Numidia,  but  saw  no  signs  of  war  ; 
the  peasanti'y  and  their  cattle  were  in  the  fields,  the  governors 
of  towns  came  forth  to  meet  him,  and  furnished  everything 
he  demanded.  He  put  a  garrison  into  a  large  town  named 
Vaga,  which  was  a  place  of  great  trade,  and  would  therefore 
be  of  advantage  if  the  war  was  to  continue.  Meantime  Ju- 
gurtha sent  a  still  more  pressing  embassy  ;  but  Metelius,  as 
before,  engaged  the  envoys  to  betray  him,  and  without  pro- 
mising or  refusing  him  the  peace  he  sought  waited  for  them 
to  perform  their  engagements. 

Jugurtha,  finding  himself  assailed  by  his  own  arts,  an_l  that 
all  hopes  were  illusive,  resolved  once  more  to  try  the  fate  of 
arms.     Learning  that  Metelius  was  on  his  march  for  a  I'iver 


•o 


*  It  may  perhaps  be  asserted  that  pride  is  of  the  very  essence  of  an  ari- 
stocracy, for  we  have  never  heard  or  read  of  an  aristocracy  without  pride. 
When  united  with  sense  and  virLvie  it  may  well  be  endured  for  the  sake  of 
the  good  which  accompanies  it,  and  often  arises  from  it ;  but  unfortunately 
it  is  usually  in  those  members  of  the  aristocracy  who  belong  not  to  Nature's 
nobility  that  it  shows  itself  in  its  most  offensive  form. 

p2 


316  ATTACK  ON  ZAMA.  [b.C.  109' 

named  Muthul,  he  placed  his  troops  in  ambush  on  a  hill  near 
it,  by  which  the  Roman  army  had  to  pass.  The  wild-olives 
and  myrtles  among  which  they  lay  did  not  however  sufficiently 
conceal  them,  and  Metellus  had  time  to  prepare  for  action. 
Jugurtha  displayed  in  the  engagement  which  ensued  all  tlie 
talent  of  an  able  general,  but  his  troops  were  far  inferior  in 
quality  to  those  to  which  they  were  opposed,  and  after  a  hard- 
fought  contest  a  complete  victory  remained  with  the  Romans. 
Having  given  his  men  four  days'  rest  Metellus  led  them  into 
the  best  parts  of  Numidia,  where  he  laid  waste  the  fields,  took 
and  burned  towns  and  castles,  putting  all  the  males  to  the 
sword  and  giving  the  plunder  to  his  soldiers.  Numbers  of 
places  therefore  submitted  and  received  garrisons,  and  Jugur- 
tha became  greatly  terrified  at  this  mode  of  conducting  the 
war.  Aware  that  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  from  a  general 
action,  he  left  the  army  he  had  assembled  where  it  was,  and 
placing  himself  at  the  head  of  a  select  body  of  horse  hovered 
about  the  Romans,  attacking  them  when  scattered,  and  de- 
stroying the  forage  and  the  springs  of  water.  These  desultory 
attacks  greatly  harassed  the  Roman  troops ;  and,  as  the  only 
means  of  forcing  Jugurtha  to  an  action,  Metellus  resolved  to 
lay  siege  to  the  large  and  strong  town  of  Zama.  Jugurtha, 
learning  his  design  from  deserters,  hastened  thither  before  him, 
and  conjured  the  townsmen  to  holdout  bravely,  promising  to 
come  with  an  army  to  their  relief,  and  leaving  them  the  de- 
serters to  assist  in  the  defence. 

Metellus  on  coming  before  Zama  attempted  a  storm:  in  the 
heat  of  the  engagement  Jugurtha  made  a  sudden  attack  on  the 
Roman  camp  and  broke  into  it ;  the  soldiers  fled  in  dismay 
towards  those  who  were  attacking  the  town.  Metellus  sent  his 
legate  Marius  with  the  horse  and  some  cohorts  of  the  allies  to 
the  defence  of  the  camp,  and  the  Numidians  were  driven  out 
with  loss.  Next  day,  when  they  would  renew  the  attack,  they 
found  the  horse  prepared  to  receive  them.  A  smart  cavalry- 
action  commenced  and  lasted  all  through  the  day,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  town  was  gallantly  attacked  and  defended : 
night  ended  the  conflict. 

Metellus,  seeing  that  there  was  no  chance  of  taking  the 
town,  or  of  making  Jugurtha  fight  except  when  and  where  he 
pleased,  and  that  the  summer  was  at  an  end,  raised  the  siege, 
and  led  his  troops  into  the  province  for  the  winter.  He  then 
renewed  his  secret  dealings  with  Jugurtha's  friends  ;  and  ha- 
ving induced  even  Bomilcar  to  come  to  him  privately,  he  en- 


B.C.  ]08.]  NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  JUGURTHA.  317 

gaged  him,  by  a  promise  of  pardon  from  the  senate,  to  under- 
take to  deliver  up  his  master.  Bomilcar  took  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  urge  Jugurtha  to  a  surrender,  by  picturing  to  him 
the  wretched  condition  to  which  he  was  reduced,  and  the  dan- 
ger of  the  Numidians  making  terms  for  themselves  without 
him.  Envoys  were  therefore  sent  to  Metellus,  offering  an  un- 
conditional surrender.  Metellus,  having  assembled  all  the  se- 
nators who  were  in  Africa,  and  other  fit  persons,  held  a  coun- 
cil after  the  Roman  usage,  and  with  their  concurrence  sent 
orders  to  Jugurtha  to  deliver  up  200,000  pounds  of  silver,  all 
his  elephants,  and  a  part  of  his  horses  and  arms.  This  being 
done,  he  ordered  him  to  send  him  the  deserters :  and  all  were 
brought,  except  a  few  who  had  time  to  make  their  escape  to  the 
Moorish  king  Bocchus.  Jugurtha  was  then  directed  to  repair 
to  the  town  of  Tisidium,  there  to  learn  his  fate  ;  but  his  guilty 
conscience  made  him  hesitate,  and  ai'ter  fluctuating  a  few  days 
he  resolved  once  more  to  try  the  fortune  of  war.  The  senate 
continued  Metellus  in  his  command  as  proconsul  (64<4). 

Jugurtha  now  strained  every  nerve.     At  his  instigation  the 
people  of  Vaga  treacherously  massacred  the  Roman  garrison  ; 
but  they  paid  the  penalty  of  their  crime  within  two  days  ;  for 
when  Metellus  heard  of  it,  he  took  what  troops  he  had  with 
him,  set  out  in  the  night,  came  on  the  Vagenses  by  surprise, 
slaughtered  them,  and  gave  the  town  up  to  plunder.    About 
this  time  Bomilcar's  plans  failed.    He  had  associated  with  him- 
self a  man  of  high  rank  named  Nabdalsa,  to  whom  he  wrote 
a  letter  urging  immediate  action.     Nabdalsa,  lying  down  to 
rest,  put  the  letter  on  his  pillow,  and  his  secretary  coming  into 
the  tent  while  he  was  asleep  took  and  read  it.     He  immedi- 
ately hastened  to  give  Jugurtha  information.     Nabdalsa  v.'as 
saved  by  his  rank  and  his  protestations  of  his  intention  to  re- 
veal the  plot,  but  Bomilcar  and  several  others  were  put  to 
death  :  some  fled  to  the  Romans,  some  to  Bocchus,  king  of  the 
Gaetulians,  and  Jugurtha  remained  without  any  one  in  whom 
he  could  place  confidence,  haunted  by  fear  and  suspicion.    In 
this  condition  he  was  forced  to  an  action,  and  defeated  by  Me- 
tellus.    He  fled  to  a  large  town  named  Thala,  whither  Me- 
tellus, though  there  was  no  water  to  be  had  for  a  space  of  fifty 
miles,  resolved  to  pursue  him.     For  this  purpose  he  collected 
vessels  of  every  kind,  which  he  filled  at  the  nearest  river,  and 
he  ordered  the  Numidians  to  convey  supplies  of  water  to 
a  place  which  he  designated.     When  he  reached  that  place  a 
copious  rain  fell,  and  he  thus  came  before  Thala,  from  which 


318  CAIUS  MARIUS.  [B.C.  107. 

Jugurtha  fled  in  the  night  with  a  part  of  his  treasure.  After 
a  siege  of  forty  days  tlie  town  was  taken  ;  but  the  deserters 
had  collected  the  things  of  most  value  into  the  palace,  and 
then,  after  feasting  and  drinking,  set  fire  to  it  and  perished  in 
the  flames.  Jugurtha  now  sought  to  arm  the  Geetulians  in  his 
cause,  and  he  prevailed  on  Bocchus,  whose  daughter  was  among 
his  wives,  to  form  an  alliance  with  him.  Such  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  war  when  (645)  the  consul  Marius  came  out  to 
supersede  Metellus. 

C.  Marius*  was  the  son  of  a  small  proprietor  at  Arpinum 
in  the  Volscian  country  ;  he  entered  the  army  when  young, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  courage,  his  military  skill,  his 
temperance,  and  other  qualities  becoming  a  good  soldier.  He 
rose  through  the  inferior  grades  of  the  service,  and  was  at 
length  appointed  by  the  people,  who  hardly  knew  him  but  by 
fame,  to  be  a  military  tribune  ;  he  served  under  Scipioat  Nu- 
mantia,  (thus  he  and  Jugurtha  were  fellow-soldiers,)  and  that 
able  man,  it  is  said,  foretold  his  future  eminence.  In  the  year 
633  he  Avas  made  a  tribune  of  the  people,  and  he  had  a  law 
passed  to  lessen  the  influence  of  the  nobility  at  elections,  and 
another  abrosatins  that  bv  which  corn  was  ordered  to  be  sold 
to  the  people  at  a  reduced  price, — certainly  no  demagogic 
measure  :  but  the  hardy  peasant  probably  saw  that  an  idle 
town-population  could  not  but  be  injurious  to  the  state.  He 
then  stood  for  both  Eedileships  in  the  one  day,  and  failed,  but 
undismayed  he  shortly  after  sought  the  prsetorship,  and  gained 
it,  though  he  was  accused  of  having  used  unfair  means.  He 
next  had,  as  propreetor,  the  government  of  Ulterior  Spain, 
which  he  cleared  of  the  bands  of  robbers  that  infested  it. 
Marius  married  into  the  noble  family  of  the  Julii ;  and  his 
character  stood  so  high,  that  Metellus,  when  appointed  to  Nu- 
midia,  made  him  one  of  his  legates. 

The  grrat  object  of  Marius'  ambition  was  the  consulate; 
but  this  was  an  office  which  had  hitherto  been  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  nobility,  to  which  no  tiew  manf,  be  his  merit 
what  it  might,  had  ever  dreamed  of  aspiring.  Marius,  how- 
ever, knew  that  the  times  were  changed,  and  that  the  people 
would  gladly  seize  an  occasion  to  spite  the  nobility.  Vulgar 
minds  are  commonly  superstitious ;  that  of  Marius  was  emi- 
nently so,  and  it  happened  that  as  he  was  sacrificing,  w-hen  in 

*  See  Pliitarc'n,  J-larius. 

■f  A  novits  liomo,  or  'new  man,'  was  one  in  whose  family  there  liad  been 
no  curule  dignity,  and  who  therefore  had  no  images. 


B.C.  107.]  CAIUS  MARIUS.  319 

Avinter-quarters  at  Utica,  the  haruspex  declared  that  mighty 
things  were  portended  to  him,  and  bade  him  rely  on  the  gods 
and  do  what  he  was  thinking  of.  He  instantly  applied  to  Me- 
tellus  for  leave  to  go  to  Rome  to  sue  for  the  consulate.  The 
proud  noble  could  not  conceal  his  amazement ;  by  way  of 
friendship  he  advised  him  to  moderate  his  ambition,  and  seek 
only  whatAvas  within  his  reach  ;  telling  him  however,  that  he 
would  give  him  leave  when  the  public  service  permitted  it. 
Maiius  applied  again  and  again  to  no  effect ;  he  then  became 
exasperated,  and  had  recourse  to  all  the  vulgar  modes  of  gain- 
ing favour  with  the  various  classes  of  men  ;  he  relaxed  the  dis- 
cipline of  his  soldiers ;  to  the  Italian  traders,  of  whom  there  was 
a  great  number  at  Utica,  and  to  whom  the  war  was  very  inju- 
rious, he  threw  the  whole  blame  of  its  continuance  on  the  se- 
neral's  love  of  power,  adding  that  if  he  had  but  one  half  of  the 
army  he  would  soon  have  Jugurtha  in  chains.  There  was 
moreover  in  the  Roman  quarters  abrother  of  Jugurtha's  named 
Gauda,  a  man  of  weak  mind,  but  to  whom  Micipsa  had  left 
the  kin2:dom  in  remainder,  who  Avas  at  this  time  his-rhlv  offended 
because  Metellus  had  refused  him  a  guard  of  Roman  horse 
and  a  seat  of  honour  beside  himself.  While  he  was  in  this 
mood  Marius  accosted  him,  and  exaggerated  the  affront  he  had 
received,  calling  him  a  great  man,  who  would  without  doubt  be 
king  of  Numidia  if  Jugurtha  were  taken  or  slain,  as  he  Avould 
be  if  he  were  consul.  The  consequence  was  that  all  these  peo- 
ple wrote  to  their  friends  at  Rome,  inveighing  against  Metellus, 
and  desiring  the  command  to  be  transferred  to  Marius. 

Metellus,  having  delayed  Marius  as  long  as  he  could,  at 
length  let  him  go  home.  He  was  received  with  high  favour 
by  the  people  ;  he  was  extolled,  Bletellus  abused  ;  the  one  was 
a  noble,  the  other  one  of  themselves,  the  man  of  the  people  : 
party-spirit  is  always  blind  to  the  defects  of  its  favourites  and 
the  merits  of  its  adversaries.  The  tribunes  harangued  ;  the 
peasants  and  the  workmen  of  the  city  neglected  their  business 
to  support  Marius;  the  nobility  Avere  defeated,  and  he  Avas 
made  consul.  The  senate  had  already  decreed  Numidia  to 
Metellus  ;  but  they  AA^ere  to  be  further  humbled  ;  a  tribune 
asked  the  people  Avhom  they  Avould  haA'e  to  conduct  the  war 
AA'ith  Jugurtha,  and  they  replied  Marius*. 

The  new  consul  set  no  bounds  to  his  insolent  exultation  ; 
he  made  incessant  attacks  on  the  nobility,  vaunting  that  he 

*  This  was  a  manifest  A'iolation  of  the  Seir.pronian  law.  See  above,  p.  304. 


320  TAKING  OF  CAPSA.  [b.C.  107. 

had  won  the  consulate  from  them  as  spoils  from  a  vanquished 
enemy.  The  senate  dared  refuse  none  of  his  demands  for  the 
war ;  they  even  cheerfully  decreed  a  levy,  thinking  that  the 
people  would  be  unwilling  to  serve,  and  that  Marius  would 
thus  sink  in  their  favour.  But  it  was  quite  the  contrary  ;  all 
were  eager  to  go  and  gain  fame  and  plunder  under  Marius, 
who,  having  held  an  assembly,  in  which  as  usual  he  inveighed 
against  the  nobility  and  extolled  himself,  commenced  his  levy. 
In  this  he  set  the  pernicious  example  of  taking  any  that  offered, 
mostly  Capite-censi,  instead  of  raising  them  in  the  old  way 
from  the  classes*  :  for  he  knew  that  those  who  had  nothing  to 
lose  and  all  to  gain,  were  best  suited  to  a  man  greedy  of  power 
and  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  his  country.  Having  thus 
raised  a  larger  force  than  had  been  decreed,  he  passed  over 
to  Africa,  where  the  army  was  given  up  to  him  by  the  legate 
Rutilius,  as  the  proud  spirit  of  Metellus  could  not  brook  the 
sight  of  his  insolent  rival.  Yet  so  variable  is  the  multitude, 
so  really  just  when  left  to  itself,  that  Metellus  was  received 
with  as  much  favour  by  the  people  as  by  the  senate  on  his 
return,  and  he  obtained  a  triumph,  and  the  title  of  Nuraidicus 
as  the  true  conqueror  of  Numidiaf . 

Marius  displayed  great  energy  and  activity;  he  laid  the 
Avhole  country  waste,  and  forced  the  two  kings  to  keep  at  a 
distance.  Aware,  like  Metellus,  that  it  was  only  by  taking 
his  towns  he  could  reduce  Jugurtha,  and  desirous  of  perform- 
ing some  feat  to  rival  that  of  the  capture  of  Thala,  he  fixed 
on  a  town  named  Capsa,  similarly  situated,  but  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  while  there  were  springs  outside  of  the  former, 
there  was  but  one  at  the  latter,  and  that  within  the  walls. 
Having  made  his  men  load  themselves  and  the  beasts  of  bur- 
den with  skins  of  water  at  the  river  Tama,  he  set  forth  at 
night-fall,  not  saying  whither  he  was  going;  and  resting  by 
day  and  marching  by  night,  he  reached  before  day,  on  the 
third  morning,  a  range  of  hills  within  two  miles  of  Capsa. 
He  there  halted,  and  when  it  was  day,  and  the  people  were 
come  out  of  the  town,  he  ordered  his  horse  and  light  troops 
to  rush  for  the  gates.  In  this  way  the  town  was  forced  to 
capitulate  ;  but,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nations,  the  grown 
males  were  put  to  the  sword,  the  rest  sold,  the  plunder  given 
to  the  soldiers,  and  the  town  burnt. 

This  fortunate  piece  of  temerity,  for  it  was  nothing  better, 
greatly  magnified  the  fame  of  Marius,  and  scarcely  any  place 
*  Not  those  of  Servius  ;  see  above,  p,  170.  f  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  11. 


B.C.  107.]  SULLA  AND  BOCCHUS,  321 

ventured  to  resist  him.  He  now  proceeded  to  another  act  of 
similar  fool-Iiardiness.  There  was,  near  the  river  Mulucha,  a 
strong  castle,  on  a  single  rock  in  the  plain,  in  which  the  royal 
treasures  were  deposited.  It  was  well-supplied  with  men,  arms, 
and  provisions,  and  had  a  good  spring  of  water ;  one  single 
narrow  path  led  up  to  it  from  the  plain,  nature  having  secured 
it  on  all  other  sides.  Marius  spent  several  days  before  it; 
and  having  lost  some  of  his  best  men  to  no  purpose,  he  was 
thinking  of  retiring,  when  fortune  again  stood  his  friend.  A 
Ligurian  seeing  some  snails  on  the  back  part  of  the  rock, 
climbed  up  to  get  them,  and  going  higher  and  higher  as  he 
saw  them.,  he  at  length  reached  the  summit.  He  descended 
again,  carefully  noting  the  v.'ay,  and  then  went  and  informed 
the  consul  of  his  discovery.  Marius  resolved  at  once  to  take 
advantage  of  it ;  and  he  sent  with  the  Ligurian  five  trumpeters 
and  four  centurions  with  their  men,  who  climbed  up  while 
he  kept  the  garrison  occupied  by  an  attack.  Suddenly  the 
Roman  trumpets  were  heard  to  sound  above  them,  and  the 
women  and  children  were  seen  flying  down  ;  iMarius  then 
urged  on  his  men,  the  wall  Vv'as  scaled,  and  the  fort  carried. 

About  this  time  the  quffistor  L.Cornelius  Sulla*, afterwards 
so  renowned,  arrived  in  the  camp  with  a  large  body  of  horse, 
to  raise  which  he  had  been  left  in  Italy.  Jugurtha  having  in- 
duced Bocehus,  with  a  promise  of  a  third  of  his  kingdom,  to 
aid  him  effectually,  their  combined  forces  fell  one  evening  on 
the  Romans  as  they  were  marching  to  their  winter-quarters. 
The  Romans  were  forced  to  retire  to  two  neighbouring  hills, 
around  which  the  barbarians  bivouacked  ;  but  toward  morn- 
ing, when  they  were  mostly  asleep,  the  Romans  sounded  their 
trumpets  and  rushed  down  and  slaughtered  them.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cirta,  four  days  after,  the  two  kings  ven- 
tured on  another  attack ;  but  they  were  again  routed  with 
great  loss.  The  consul  then  went  into  quarters  for  the  winter 
at  Cirta,  whither  envo3's  came  from  Bocehus,  requesting  that 
two  trusty  persons  might  be  sent  to  confer  with  him.  IMarius 
committed  the  affair  to  Sulla  and  the  legate  A.  Manlius  ;  and 
the  arguments  of  the  former  had  no  little  effect  on  the  king, 
who  soon  after  sent  five  other  envoys  to  Marius.  They  were 
so  unlucky  as  to  fall  in  with  robbers  on  their  way,  by  whom 
they  were  stript  and  plundered  ;  but  Sulla,  who  commanded 

*  Sulla,  not  Sylla,  is  the  orthography  of  all  good  writers.  The  Latin 
langmge  had  no  tj  in  it  at  this  tinie.  Sulla,  i.  e.  surula,  is  said  to  be  a  di- 
minutive of  sura. 

p  5 


322  CIMBRIC  WAR.  [B.C.  106-104. 

in  the  absence  of  Marius,  treated  them  with  great  kindness; 
and  on  the  return  of  the  consul  a  council  was  assembled,  and 
three  of  the  envoys  were,  as  Bocchus  had  desired,  sent  to 
Rome,  where  the  senate  granted  him  the  friendship  and  alliance 
which  he  sought,  provided  he  should  deserve  it. 

Bocchus  then  desired  that  Sulla  might  be  sent  to  him.  Sulla 
went  (^64:6)  with  a  slight  escort,  and  having  run  no  small  risk 
of  being  captured  or  slain  by  Jugurtha,  through  whose  camp 
he  had  to  pass,  reached  the  Moorish  territories.  By  employ- 
ing all  the  arts  of  a  skilful  negotiator,  and  working  on  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  the  king,  he  at  length  engaged  him  to 
betray  Jugurtha.  The  crafty  Numidian  was  lured  to  a  con- 
ference, and  there  seized  and  delivered  up  to  Svdla.  Marius 
remained  in  Africa  as  proconsul  for  two  years.  He  was  chosen 
consul  a  second  time  in  his  absence,  and  he  triumphed  on  the 
kalends  of  January  (618),  the  day  of  his  entering  on  office. 
Jugurtha  adorned  his  triumph,  and  at  its  conclusion  was  thrust 
nearly  naked  into  the  dungeon*.  "  Hercules  !  "  said  he,  with 
a  forced  smile  as  he  entered  it,  "  what  a  cold  bath  you  have  !" 
He  was  there  left  to  perish  by  hunger,  and  his  guilty  life 
ended  on  the  sixth  day. 

The  cause  of  Marius'  being  raised  a  second  time  to  the  con- 
sulate, in  violation  of  rule  and  precedent,  was  an  imminent 
danger  which  menaced  the  republic  from  the  north,  and  which 
he  alone  was  judged  able  to  avert. 

In  the  year  639  intelligence  reached  Rome  of  the  approach 
of  a  barbarous  people  named  Cimbrians,  to  the  north-eastern 
frontier  of  Italy.  This  people  is  supposed  to  have  inhabited 
the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  and  those  parts  which  afterwards 
sent  forth  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquerors  of  England.  At  this 
time,  urged  by  some  of  the  causes  which  usually  set  barbarous 
tribes  in  motion,  they  resolved  to  migrate  southwards.  The 
consul  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo  gave  them  battle  in  the  modern 
Carinthia,  but  he  sustained  a  defeat.  The  barbarians,  how- 
ever, instead  of  advancing  into  Italy,  turned  back,  and  being 
joined  by  a  German  people  named  the  Teutons,  poured  into 
Southern  Gaul,  where  (643)  they  defeated  the  consul  M. 
Junius  Silanus.  The  next  j'ear  the  consul  M.  Aurelius 
Scaurus  had  a  similar  fate ;  and  in  the  following  year  (645) 
the  consul  L.  Cassius  Longinus  was  defeated  and  slain  by  the 
Tigurinians,  a  Helvetic  people  v/ho  had  joined  the  Cimbrians, 

*  The  Tullianum  (see  Sallust,  Bell.  Cat.  55.).  It  may  still  be  seen  in  the 
Mamertine  prison,  under  the  Capitol. 


B.C.  103-102.]  CIMBRIC  WAR.  S23 

and  the  remnant  of  his  army  had  to  pass  under  the  yoke  to 
escape  destruction.  Q.  Servilius  Csepio,  the  consul  of  the 
year  64'6,  turned  his  arms,  as  the  Cimbrians  a])pear  to  have 
been  in  Spain,  against  a  Gallic  people  named  the  Tectosages, 
and  plundered  their  capital,  Tolosa  (  Toulouse),  of  its  sacred 
treasure,  which  he  diverted  to  his  own  use.  Caepio  was  con- 
tinued the  next  year  in  his  command  ;  and  as  the  Cimbrians 
were  returned  from  Spain,  the  consul  Cn.Manlius  led  his  army 
into  Gaul ;  but  he  and  Csepio,  instead  of  uniting  their  forces, 
wrangled  and  quarreled  with  each  other,  and  kept  separate 
cam])s  on  different  sides  of  the  Rhone ;  in  consequence  of 
which  both  their  armies  were  literally  annihilated  by  the  bar- 
barians, who  now  seem  to  have  seriously  thought  of  invading 
Italy.  It  was  at  this  conjuncture  that  Marius  was  made  consul 
a  second  time. 

The  Cimbrians  however  returned  to  Spain,  where  they  re- 
mained during  this  and  the  following  year.  Marius,  who  was 
made  consul  a  third  time  (64-9),  employed  himself  chiefly  in 
restoring  the  discipline  of  the  army;  and  Sulla,  who  was  his 
legate  the  first  and  a  tribune  the  second  year,  displayed  his 
diplomatic  talent  now  in  Gaul  as  before  in  Numidia,  and  thus 
augmented  the  envy  and  hatred  with  which  the  rude  ferocious 
consul  regai'ded  him.  His  colleague  happening  to  die  just 
before  the  elections,  Marius  went  to  Rome  to  hold  them,  and 
there  his  friend  the  tribune  L.  Apuleius  Saturninus,  as  had 
been  arranged  between  them,  proposed  him  for  consul  a  fourth 
time.  Marius  affected  to  decline  the  honour ;  Saturninus 
called  him  a  traitor  to  his  country  if  he  refused  to  serve  her 
in  the  time  of  her  peril :  the  scene  was  well  acted  betv/een 
them,  and  Marius  was  made  consul  with  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus 
(650). 

The  province  of  Gaul  was  decreed  to  both  the  consuls  ;  and 
as  the  barbarians  were  now  returned  from  Spain,  and  had 
divided  their  forces,  the  Cimbrians  moving  to  enter  Italy  on 
the  north-east,  the  Teutons  and  Ambrons  from  Gaul,  Marius 
crossed  the  Alps,  and  fortified  a  strong  camp  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rhone,  that  he  might  raise  the  spirit  of  his  men,  and  ac- 
custom them  to  the  sight  of  the  huge  bodies  and  ferocious 
mien  of  the  barbarians.  He  refused  all  their  challenges  to 
fight,  and  contented  himself  with  repelling  their  assaults  on 
his  camp ;  and  at  last  the  barliarians,  giving  up  all  hopes  of 
forcing  him  to  action,  resolved  to  cross  the  Alps,  leaving  him 
behind  them.     We  are  told  that  they  spent  six  days  in  march- 


324  VICTORY  AT  AQUiE  SEXTI.^.  [b.C.  101. 

ing  by  the  Roman  camp,  and  that  as  they  went  they  jeeringly 
asked  the  soldiers  if  they  had  any  messages  to  send  to  their 
wives.  Marius  then  broke  up  his  camp  and  followed  them, 
keeping  on  the  high  grounds  till  he  came  to  Aquse  Sextise. 
He  there  chose  for  his  camp  an  eminence  where  there  was  no 
water,  and  when  his  soldiers  complained,  he  pointed  to  a  stream 
running  by  the  enemies'  camp,  and  told  them  they  must  buy 
it  there  with  their  blood.  "  Lead  us  on  then  at  once  while 
our  blood  is  warm  !"  cried  they.  "  We  must  (irst  secure  our 
camp,"  coolly  replied  the  general. 

The  camp-servants,  taking  with  them  axes,  liatchets,  and 
some  spears  and  swords  for  their  defence,  went  down  to  the 
stream  to  v/ater  the  beasts,  and  they  drove  off  such  of  the 
enemies  as  they  met.  The  noise  roused  the  Ambrons,  who, 
though  they  were  full  after  a  meal,  put  on  their  armour  and 
crossed  the  stream  ;  the  Ligurians  advanced  to  engage  them, 
some  more  Roman  troops  succeeded,  and  the  Ambrons  were 
driven  back  to  their  waggons  with  loss.  This  check  irritated 
the  barbarians  exceedingly,  and  the  Romans  passed  the  night 
in  anxiety,  expecting  an  attack.  In  the  morning,  Marius, 
having  sent  the  legate  Claudius  Marcellus  with  three  thousand 
men  to  occupy  a  woody  hill  in  the  enemy's  rear,  prepared  to 
give  battle.  The  impatient  barbarians  charged  up-hill ;  the 
Romans,  with  the  advantage  of  the  ground,  drove  them  back, 
Marcellus  fell  on  their  rear,  and  the  rout  was  soon  complete  : 
the  slain  and  the  captives  were,  it  is  said,  not  less  than  one 
hundred  thousand.  As  Marius  after  the  battle  stood  with  a 
torch,  in  the  act  of  setting  fire  to  a  pile  of  their  arms,  messen- 
gers arrived  with  tidings  of  his  being  chosen  consul  for  the 
fifth  time. 

Catulus  meantime  had  not  been  equally  fortunate.  Not 
thinking  it  safe  to  divide  his  forces  for  defending  the  passes 
of  the  Alps,  he  retired  behind  the  Atesis,  securing  the  fords, 
and  having  a  bridge  in  front  of  his  position  to  communicate 
with  the  country  on  the  other  side.  But  when  the  Cimbrians 
poured  down  from  the  Alps,  and  were  beginning  to  fill  up  the 
bed  of  the  river,  his  soldiers  grew  alarmed,  and  unable  to  re- 
tain them,  he  led  them  back,  abandoning  the  plain  of  the  Po 
to  the  barbarians.  Catulus  was  continued  in  his  command  as 
proconsul  the  next  year  (651);  his  deficiency  of  military 
talent  being  made  up  for  by  the  ability  of  L.  Sulla,  who  had 
left  Marius  to  join  him.  Marius,  who  was  at  Rome,  instead 
of  triumphing  as  was  expected,  summoned  his  troops  from  Gaul 


E.G.  101.]  VICTORY  OF  VERCELLJE.  325 

and  proceeded  to  unite  them  with  those  of  Catulus,  hoping  to 
have  the  glory  of  a  second  victory  :  and  -when  the  battle  took 
place  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Vercellae,  he  placed  his  own 
troops  on  the  wings  and  those  of  Catulus  in  the  centre,  which 
he  threw  back  in  order  that  they  might  have  as  little  share  as 
possible  in  the  action.  But  his  manoeuvre  was  a  failure,  for 
an  immense  cloud  of  dust  rising,  which  prevented  the  troops 
from  seeing  each  other,  Marius  in  his  charge  left  the  enemy 
at  one  side,  and  the  brunt  of  the  battle  fell  on  the  troops 
of  Catulus.  The  dust  was  of  advantage  to  the  Romans,  as  it 
prevented  their  seeing  the  number  of  their  foes;  the  heat  of 
the  weather  (it  being  now  July)  exhausted  the  barbarians,  and 
they  were  obliged  to  give  way,  and  as  their  front  ranks  had 
bound  themselves  together  by  chains  from  their  waists  they 
could  not  escape.  A  dreadful  spectacle  presented  itself  when 
the  Romans  drove  tliem  to  their  line  of  waggons  ;  the  women 
rushed  out,  fell  on  the  fugitives,  and  tiien  slew  themselves  and 
their  children  ;  the  men  too  put  an  end  to  themselves  in  va- 
rious ways  :  the  ca[)tives  amounted  to  sixty  thousand,  the  slain 
to  double  the  number.  Marius  and  Catulus  triumphed  to- 
gether, and  though  the  former  had  had  little  share  in  the  vic- 
tory, his  rank  and  the  fame  of  his  former  one  caused  this  also 
to  be  ascribed  to  him;  the  multitude  called  him  the  third 
founder  of  Rome,  and  poured  out  libations  to  him  with  the 
gods  at  their  meals.  He  would  have  triumphed  alone  but  for 
fear  of  Catulus'  soldiers ;  and,  as  we  shall  see,  he  never  for- 
gave him  his  victory*. 

One  evil  of  great  magnitude  which  resulted  from  this  war 
was,  the  great  number  of  slaves  that  it  dispersed  over  the 
Roman  dominions  ;  and  at  this  very  time  those  of  Sicily  were 
again  in  insurrection.  Under  the  guidance  of  a  slave  named 
Salvius,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Trypho  and  the  royal  dig- 
nity, they  defeated  the  Roman  officers.  In  another  part  of 
the  island  the  slaves  made  one  Athenio,  a  Cilician,  their  king, 
but  he  submitted  to  Trypho,  after  whose  death  he  had  the 
supreme  command.  At  length  (651)  the  consul  M.  Aquilius 
slew  Athenio  with  his  own  hand  in  an  engagement,  and  sup- 
pressed the  rebellion. 

*  The  details  of  the  battle  are  only  to  be  found  in  Plutarch  (Mnrius), 
whose  authority  were  Sulla's  own  Memoirs  ;  they  must  therefore  be  re- 
ceived with  some  suspicion. 


326  STATE  OF  ROME.  [b.C.  100. 


CHAPTER  III.* 

State  of  Rome. — Tribunate  of  Saturniiius. — His  sedition  and  death. —  Re- 
turn of  Metellus. — Tribunate  and  death  of  Drusus. — Social  or  Marsic 
War. — Murder  of  the  Prastor  by  the  Usurers. — Sedition  of  Marius  and 
Sulpicius. — Sulla  at  Rome. — Flight  of  Marius. — Departure  of  Sulla. 

The  cruelty  with  which  the  nobility  had  used  their  victory  over 
the  Gracchi,  and  the  scandalous  corruption  and  profligacy 
which  they  had  exhibited  in  the  case  of  Jugurtha,  had  greatly 
exasperated  the  people  against  them,  and  had  alienated  from 
them  the  affections  of  the  lovers  of  justice  and  honour.  Am- 
bitious and  revengeful  men  took  advantage  of  this  state  of 
feeling  to  have  themselves  made  tribunes,  and  to  have  mea- 
sures passed  injurious  to  the  nobles  as  a  body  or  as  individuals. 
Thus  Csepio,  who  had  attempted  to  modify  Gracchus'  law, 
which  took  from  the  senators  the  riglit  of  being  judges,  was, 
after  his  defeat  by  the  Cimbrians,  deprived  of  his  command 
by  the  people,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  (G^S)  the  tribune  C.  Cassius  Longinus  had  a  bill 
passed  (leveled  at  him)  prohibiting  any  one  who  had  been 
deposed  by  the  people  from  sitting  in  the  senate.  He  was 
some  years  after  prosecuted  for  the  plunder  of  the  gold  of 
Tolosa,  and  he  ended  his  days  in  exile.  Cassius'  colleague 
Cn.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  deprived  the  sacerdotal  bodies  of 
the  right  of  choosing  their  own  colleagues,  and  gave  it  to  the 
people;  and  another  of  the  tribunes,  C.  Servilius  Glaucia, 
offered  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  any  of  the  Latins  or  the 
allies  who  should  prosecute  a  magistrate  to  conviction. 

These,  however,  were  but  preludes  to  what  was  to  follow. 
Marius  was  raised  a  sixth  time  to  the  consulate  (652),  and  it 
is  said  that  he  employed  both  money  and  arts  to  prevent 
Metellus  from  being  his  colleague,  and  to  have  L.  Valerius 
Flaccus,  on  whom  he  could  rely,  appointed.  His  allies  were 
Glaucia  and  Saturninus,  both  mortal  enemies  to  Metellus, 
who,  but  for  his  colleague,  would,  in  his  censorship,  have  de- 
graded them  for  their  scandalous  lives.  Glaucia  as  praetor 
presided  when  Saturninus  stood  a  second  time  for  the  tribu- 
nate. He  was  notwithstanding  rejected,  and  A.  Nonius,  a  bitter 
enemy  to  them  both,  elected ;  but  when  the  new  tribune  left 
the  assembly,  they  sent  a  body  of  their  satellites  after  him  who 

*  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  i.  28-63.  Velleius,  ii.  13-17.  Plut.,  Marius,  28-40. 
Sulla,  7-10,  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  100.]  TRIBUNATE  OF  BATURXINUS.  327 

niurdeved  him ;  and  next  morning  Glaucia,  without  waiting 
for  the  people,  made  his  own  crew  appoint  Satm'ninus  to  take 
his  place,  no  one  venturing  even  to  murmur. 

A  series  of  measures  of  a  demagogic  nature  were  now  in- 
troduced. By  one  law  the  land  which  had  been  recovered 
from  the  Cimbrians  beyond  the  Po  was  to  be  treated  as  con- 
quered land,  without  any  regard  to  the  rights  of  its  Gallic 
owners,  and  divided  among  Roman  citizens  and  soldiers  ;  one 
hundred  jugers  apiece  were  to  be  given  to  the  veterans  in 
Africa,  colonies  were  to  be  led  to  Sicily,  Achaia,  and  Mace- 
donia, and  the  Tolosan  gold  was  to  be  employed  in  the  pur- 
chase of  lands  to  be  divided*.  By  another  law  corn  was  to 
be  distributed  to  the  people  every  month  gratis  f.  It  was 
added  to  the  law  for  dividing  the  Gallic  land,  that  in  case  of 
its  passing,  the  senate  must  within  five  days  swear  to  it,  and 
that  any  one  who  refused  should  be  expelled  the  senate  and 
fined  500,000  sesterces. 

The  laws  relating  to  the  division  of  the  lands  were  not  at 
all  pleasing  to  the  town-population,  who  saw  that  the  advan- 
tages would  fall  mostly  to  the  Italians.  The  movei's  therefore 
took  care  to  bring  in  from  the  country  large  numbers  of  those 
who  had  served  under  Marius,  to  overawe  and  outvote  the 
people  of  the  city.  These  last  cried  out  that  it  thundered  ; 
Saturninus  took  no  heed,  but  urged  on  his  law  :  they  then  girt 
their  clothes  about  them,  seized  Avhatever  came  to  hand,  and 
fell  on  the  country  folk,  who,  incited  by  Saturninus,  attacked 
them  in  turn,  drove  them  oiF,  and  then  passed  the  law.  Ma- 
riiis  as  consul  laid  the  matter  before  the  senate,  declaring  that 
he  for  one  would  never  take  the  oath.  Metellus,  for  whom 
the  snare  was  laid,  made  a  similar  declaration  ;  the  rest  ex- 
pressed their  approbation,  and  Marius  closed  the  senate.  On 
the  fifth  day  he  assembled  them  again  in  haste,  telling  them 
that  the  people  were  very  hot  on  the  matter,  and  that  he  saw 
no  remedy  but  for  them  to  swear  to  it  as  far  as  it  was  law, 
and  that  when  the  country-people  were  gone  home  they  might 
easily  show  that  it  was  not  law,  as  it  had  been  carried  by  force 
and  when  there  was  thunder.     He  himself  and  his  friends 

*  Auct.  de  Vir.  Illustr.,  73.  1.5. 

t  By  the  Sempronian  law  (see  p.  302.)  it  had  hitherto  been  sold  at  the 
semis  et  triens.  Auctor  ad  Hereni>.  i.  12.  Caepio,  who  was  now  qusestor,  we 
are  here  told,  when  he  could  not  prevent  the  law  from  being  put  to  the  vote 
in  any  other  way,  broke  down  the  bridges  {pontes)  by  which  the  tribes  en- 
tered the  Septa  to  vote,  and  took  away  the  voting-urns. 


328  SEDITION  AND  DEATH  OF  SATURNINUS.       [b.C.  100. 

then  swore  ;  the  rest,  though  they  now  saw  through  the  trick, 
Avere  afraid  not  to  do  the  same-  Metellus  alone  refused.  Next 
day  Saturninus  sent  and  liad  him  dragged  out  of  the  senate- 
house  ;  when  the  other  tribunes  defended  him,  Glaucia  and 
Saturninus  ran  to  the  country-people  telling  them  they  had 
no  chance  of  land  if  Metellus  was  let  to  remain  in  Rome.  Sa- 
turninus then  proposed  that  the  consuls  should  be  directed  to 
interdict  him  from  fii'e,  water,  and  lodging.  The  town-people 
armed  themselves,  and  were  resolved  to  defend  him  ;  but 
Metellus,  thanking  them  for  their  zeal,  said  he  would  not  have 
his  country  endan^iered  on  his  account,  and  he  went  into  vo- 
luntary  exile  at  Rhodes.  Saturninus  then  had  his  bill  against 
him  passed,  and  Marius  made  the  proclamation  with  no  little 
pleasure.  When  the  elections  came  on  Saturninus  caused 
himself  to  be  re-chosen,  and  with  him  a  freedman  named  L. 
Equitius  Firmo,  whom  he  gave  out  to  be  a  son  of  Tib.  Grac- 
chus, in  order  to  gain  him  the  popular  favour.  But  the  great 
object  of  him  and  his  faction  was  to  get  Glaucia  into  the  con- 
sulate, M'hich  v.as  a  matter  of  some  difficulty,  for  M.  Antonius, 
the  celebrated  orator,  had  been  already  chosen  for  one  of  the 
places,  and  C.  IMemmius,  a  man  of  high  character  and  ex- 
tremely popular*,  stood  for  the  other.  They  did  not,  how- 
ever, let  this  difficulty  long  stand  in  their  way.  They  sent 
some  of  their  satellites  armed  Mith  sticks,  who  in  the  open 
day  in  the  midst  of  the  election  and  before  all  the  people,  fell 
on  Memmius  and  beat  him  to  death  !  The  assembly  was  dis- 
solved, and  Saturninus  next  morning,  having  summoned  his 
adherents  from  the  country,  occupied  the  Capitol,  with  Glaucia, 
the  quEestor  C.  Saufeius  and  some  others.  The  senate  having 
met  declared  them  public  enemies,  and  directed  the  consuls 
to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  state.  Marius  had  then  re- 
luctantly to  take  arms  against  his  friends.  While  he  loitered 
some  of  the  more  determined  cut  the  pipes  which  supplied  the 
Capitol  witli  water.  When  the  thirst  became  intolerable 
Saufeius  proposed  to  burn  the  temple  ;  but  the  others,  relying 
on  Marius,  agreed  to  surrender  on  the  pulilic  faith.  There 
was  a  general  cry  to  put  them  to  death  ;  but  Marius,  in  order 
to  save  them,  shut  them  up  in  the  Curia  Hostilia+,  under 
pretext  of  acting  more  legally.  The  people,  however,  would 
not  be  balked  of  their  vengeance  ;  they  stripped  off  the  roof, 

*  See  above,  pp.  312,  313. 

t  That  is,  the  senate-house  close  by  the  Forum. 


B.C.  99-91.]  RETURN  OF  METELLUS.  329 

and  flung  the  tiles  down  on  them  and  killed  them.  A  number 
of  their  adherents  also  were  slain,  and  among  them  the  pseudo- 
Gracchus. 

A  decree  for  the  recall  of  Metellus  was  joyfully  passed  by 
the  senate  and  people  (653)  :  Marius  having  fruitlessly  tried 
to  prevent  it,  left  the  city,  to  avoid  witnessing  the  return  of 
his  enemy.  He  went  to  Asia  Minor,  under  pretence  of  offer- 
ing some  sacrifices  he  had  vowed  to  the  Mother  of  the  Gods 
(Cybele),  but  in  reality  to  try  if  he  could  excite  the  king  of 
Pontus  to  a  war,  for  peace  he  felt  not  to  be  his  element,  and 
his  conduct  since  his  last  triumph  had  lost  him  the  favour  of 
all  parties.  The  tribune  P.  Furiiis,  whom  Metellus  had  de- 
graded when  censor  (G^O),  also  opposed  his  recall,  and  stood 
firm  against  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  his  son.  The  filial 
piety  which  he  displayed  gained  for  the  youth  the  surname  of 
Pius  (dutiful),  and  Furius  being  prosecuted  the  next  year  by 
his  late  colleague  C.  Canuleius,  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the 
people,  who  would  not  even  listen  to  his  defence.  When 
Metellus  arrived  at  Rome  the  concourse  of  those  who  came 
to  congratulate  him  was  so  great  that  an  entire  day  did  not 
suffice  for  him  to  receive  them. 

Matters  now  remained  rather  trancpiil  for  a  few  years.  In 
661  the  tribune  M.  Livius  Drusus,  the  son  of  the  opponent 
of  C.  Gracchus,  a  young  man  of  many  estimable  qualities  but 
of  great  pride  and  arrogance,  brought  forward  a  series  of 
measures  by  which  he  proposed  to  remedy  the  evils  of  the 
state,  and  restore  the  authority  of  the  senate*.  In  the  first 
place  the  knights  had  not  exei'cised  the  exclusive  right  of 
acting  as  judges,  given  to  them  by  the  Sempronian  law,  one 
whit  more  impartially  than  the  senators  had  done.  Of  this 
the  late  condemnation  of  P.  Rutilius  had  been  a  glarins:  in- 
stance.  Rutilius,  one  of  the  most  upright  and  honourable 
men  of  his  time,  had  been  both  quaestor  and  legate  in  Asia, 
and  he  had  exerted  himself  in  defending  the  provincials 
against  the  abominable  oppressions  and  extortions  of  the  pub- 
licans. This  drew  on  him  the  hatred  of  the  whole  equestrian 
order,  a  charge  of  extortion  was  got  up  against  him,  the 
judges  joyfully  found  him  guilty,  and  he  was  obliged  to  go 
into  exile.  Drusus  now  brought  in  a  bill,  by  which,  as  the 
senators  amounted  to  three  hundred,  an  equal  number  should 
be  selected  from  the  equestrian  order,  and  the  decuries  of 

*  "Senatus  propugnator,  atque,  illis  quidem  teinporibus,  paene  patronus," 
Cic.  Mil.  7.  See  also  Diodor.  Fr.  xxxvi. 


330  DEATH  OF  DRUSUS.  [b.C  91. 

judges  be  taken  out  of  these  six  hundred,  and  he  added  that 
they  should  take  cognizance  of  cases  of  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion. This  just  and  well-meant  measure  gave  satisfaction  to 
no  party.  The  senate  saw  in  it  a  loss  of  dignity,  and  they 
dreaded  the  influence  their  new  associates  might  acquire.  The 
knights  in  general  viewed  it  only  as  a  plan  for  gradually  with- 
drawing from  them  the  judicial  power  which  they  had  found 
so  profitable,  and  they  were  prepared  to  be  envious  and  jea- 
lous of  the  three  hundred  of  their  own  body  who  might  be 
selected.  Above  all,  they  were  offended  at  the  bribery  clause, 
as  they  affected  to  esteem  themselves  immaculate  on  that 
head  * 

To  gain  the  common  people  at  Rome  Drusus  proposed  that 
the  colonies  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  which  had  been  long  since 
voted,  should  be  formed,  and  that  the  Sempvonian  law  for  the 
distribution  of  corn  should  be  retained.  He  farther,  whether 
it  was  what  he  had  originally  in  view,  or  annoyed  at  finding 
his  good  intentions  so  ill  received  f,  resolved  to  give  the  free- 
dom of  the  state  to  all  the  Italians.  He  carried  on  his  mea- 
sures not  without  violence,  and  one  evening  when  he  returned 
home  froiu  the  Forum,  followed  as  usual  by  a  great  crowd, 
and  was  in  his  hall  dismissing  them,  he  cried  out  that  he 
was  wounded.  A  shoemaker's  knife  was  found  stuck  in  his 
thigh,  but  the  assassin  was  not  discovered  J.  "  Ah  !  my  friends 
and  relations,"  said  he  as  he  lay  dying,  "  will  the  republic 
ever  have  a  citizen  such  as  I§  ?"  No  judicial  inquiry  was 
instituted  into  this  murder,  and  all  the  laws  of  Drusus  were 
abrogated  by  a  single  senatus-consult,  on  the  motion  of  the 
consul  L.  Marcius  Philippus,  as  having  been  contrary  to  the 
auspices. 

The  knights  resolved  to  push  their  success  to  the  uttermost, 
and  to  break  down  the  authority  of  the  senate.  They  there- 
fore made  Drusus'  colleague,  the  tribune  Q,  Varius  Hybrida, 
a  Spaniard  by  birth,  bring  in  a  bill  to  punish  all  those  Avho 
had  openly  or  secretly  aided  the  Italians  in  their  designs 
against  the  state ;  for,  as  many  of  the  principal  senators  had 
favoured  their  claims,  they  intended  in  this  way  to  drive  them 
from  the  city.  The  other  tribunes  interposed  ;  but  the  knights 
stood  round  them  brandishing  their  naked  daggers,  and  the 
bill  was  passed  ;  and  prosecutions  were  instantly  commenced 

*  Cic.  Post.  7.  t  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  14. 

J  Cic.  N.  D.  iii.  33.     Sen.  De  Brev.  Yit.  6. 
§  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  14. 


B.C.  90.]  SOCIAL  OR  MARSIC  WAR.  331 

against  the  leading  senators.  Many  were  condemned  ;  others 
went  into  voluntary  exile.  M.  ^milius  Scaurus,  the  chief  of 
the  senate,  being  accused  b)^  Varius  before  the  people,  made 
the  following  defence  :  "  Varius  of  Sucro  says  that  M.  Scaurus, 
the  chief  of  the  senate,  has  excited  the  allies  to  take  up  arms. 
M.  Scaurus,  the  chief  of  the  senate,  denies  it.  There  is  no 
witness.  Which,  Quirites,  should  you  believe  ?  "  The  tribune 
did  not  attempt  to  go  on  with  the  prosecution*. 

The  allies  meantime,  seeing  that  they  had  nothing  now  to 
expect  from  the  justice  of  Rome,  had  resolved  on  an  appeal 
to  arms,  and  began  secretly  to  make  the  requisite  combinations 
among  themselves.  The  Romans,  aware  of  what  they  were 
meditating,  sent  spies  to  the  different  towns  ;  and  one  of  these 
seeing  a  youth  led  as  a  hostage  from  the  town  of  Asculum  in 
Picenum  to  another  town,  gave  information  to  the  proconsul 
Q.  Servilius,  who  hastened  thither,  and  sharply  rebuked  the 
Asculans  for  what  they  were  doing  ;  but  they  fell  on  and  slew 
himself  and  his  legate  Fonteius,  and  then  massacred  all  the 
Romans  in  the  place,  and  pillaged  their  houses.  Before,  how- 
ever, the  confederates  commenced  the  war.  they  sent  to  Rome 
requiring  to  be  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  honours  and 
advantages  of  that  state,  to  whose  greatness  they  had  so  mainly 
contributed.  The  senate  replied,  that  if  they  repented  of  what 
they  had  doue,  they  might  send  a  deputation,  otherwise  not. 
The  confederates  then  resolved  to  try  the  chance  of  war  :  their 
army,  formed  from  the  contingents  of  their  several  states, 
amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  the  do- 
mestic forces  of  each  state. 

All  the  peoples  of  the  Sabellian  race,  except  the  Sabines  and 
Hernicans,  who  had  long  since  become  Roman  citizens,  shared 
in  the  war  which  now  (66'2)  broke  out ;  in  which  Rome  had 
tostruggle  for  her  existence  with  enemieswhose  troops  equaled 
her  own  in  number,  discipline,  and  valour,  and  who  had  gene- 
rals as  skilful  as  those  she  could  oppose  to  them.  The  allies 
chose  Corfinium,  the  chief  town  of  the  Pelignians,  for  their 
capital,  under  the  name  of  Italicat ;  they  appointed  a  senate 
of  five  hundred  members,  two  consuls,  and  twelve  praetors. 
The  first  consuls  were  Q.  Pompaedius,  or  Popedius  Silo,a  Mar- 

*  Asconius  on  Ciceio  pro  Scauro.  Quintil.  v.  12.  Val.  Max.  iii.  7,  8. 
This  last  writer  says  tliat  the  charge  against  Scaurus  was  for  taking  bribes 
from  king  Mithridates.  Curious  enough,  Varius  himself  was  condemned  on 
his  own  law.     Cic.  Brut,  80. 

t  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  16.     Strabo,  v.  p.  2-11. 


332  SOCIAL  OR  MARSIC  WAR.  [ B.C.  90. 

sian,  and  C.  Papius  Mutilus  a  Samnite ;  the  former  with  six 
praetors  had  the  command  in  the  north  and  west ;  the  latter 
with  an  equal  number  commanded  in  the  south  and  east. 
Among  the  praetors  wei-e  the  following:  T.  Afranius,  C.  Pon- 
tidius,  Marius  Egnatius,  M.  Laraponius,  C.  Judacilius,  P.  Vet- 
tius  Scato*,  Pontius  Telesinus,  A.  Cluentius,  P.  Presenteeus, 
Herius  Asinius,  T.  Herennius,  and  P.  Ventidius.  The  war  is 
named  the  Social,  Marsic  or  Italian  war,  from  the  names  of 
those  engaged  in  it. 

The  Roman  senate  made  diligent  preparations  to  meet  the 
coming  danger;  the  Latins,  Tuscans,  Umbrians,  and  the  peojDle 
of  some  other  parts  of  Italy,  remained  faithful  ;  and  troops 
came  from  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  from  the  foreign  allies.  The 
chief  command  of  the  forces,  which  equaled  those  of  the  Ita- 
lians in  number,  was  given  to  the  consuls  L.  Julius  Csesar 
and  P.  Rutilius  Lupus  ;  the  former  had  as  legates  his  brother 
P.  Lentulus,  L.  Sulla,  T.  Didius,  M.  Marcellus,  and  M.  Lici- 
nius  Crassus  ;  the  legates  of  the  other  consul  were  C.  Marius, 
Cn.  Pompeius  Strabo,  Q.  Servilius  Csepio,  C.  Perperna,  and 
Valerius  iNIessala. 

The  advantasres  were  at  first  all  on  the  side  of  the  Italians. 
Vettius  Scato  defeated  the  consul  Julius,  and  took  the  town 
of  ^sernia  in  Samnium.  Marius  Egnatius  took  Venafrum 
by  treachery,  and  destroyed  two  Roman  cohorts  that  were  in 
it.  P.  Presentaeus  defeated  a  force  often  thousand  men  under 
the  legate  Perperna,  and  killed  four  thousand  of  them  ;  for 
which  Rutilius  deprived  Perperna  of  his  command,  and  gave 
what  remained  of  his  troops  to  C.  Marius.  Laraponius  de- 
feated Crassus  with  a  loss  of  eight  hundred  men,  and  forced 
him  to  shut  himself  up  in  Grumentum.  Papius  entered  Cam- 
pania, and  took  Minturnae,  Nola,  Stabise,  and  Salernum  ;  the 
troops  in  all  these  places  entered  his  service,  and  when  he  laid 
waste  the  country  round  Nuceria,  the  neighbouring  towns  all 
declared  for  him,  and  augmented  his  forces  with  10,000  foot 
and  1000  horse.  He  then  laid  siege  to  Acerrse,  to  whose 
relief  the  consul  Julius  came  with  10,000  Gallic  foot  and  a 
body  of  Moorish  and  Numidian  troops  ;  but  Papius,  sending 
to  Venusia  for  a  son  of  Jugurtha's,  Avho  was  a  prisoner  there, 
clad  him  in  purple,  and  showed  him  to  the  Numidians,  a  great 
number  of  whom  deserted  ;  and  Csesar  became  so  dubious  of 
the  rest,  that  he  sent  them  away  home.  When,  however, 
Papius  made  an  attempt  on  the  camp  of  the  consul,  he  was 
*  Cic.  Fi-iil.  xii.  11.     Appian  and  Velleius  call  him  Vettius  Cato. 


B.C.  90.]  .    SOCIAL  OR  MARSIC  WAR.  '  333 

repelled  with  a  loss  of  six  thousand  men.  Meantime  Juda- 
cilius  brought  over  all  Apulia  to  the  cause  of  the  allies. 

Kutilius  and  Marius  advanced  to  the  Liris,  over  which  thej' 
threw  two  bridges  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other.  Vet- 
tius  Scato,  who  was  encamped  opposite  that  of  Marius,  went 
and  lay  in  ambush  during  the  night  at  that  of  Ilutilius ;  and 
when  the  Romans  crossed  in  the  morning,  he  drove  them  back 
with  a  loss  of  eight  thousand  men,  Rutilius  receiving  a  wound 
in  the  head,  of  which  he  afterwards  died.  But  meantime 
Marius  had  crossed  over  and  taken  Vettius'  camp,  which 
obliged  liim  to  retreat.  When  the  bodies  of  the  consul  and 
other  men  of  rank  were  brought  to  Rome  for  interment,  the 
sight  was  so  dispiriting,  that  the  senate  made  a  decree  that  in 
future  all  who  fell  should  be  buried  on  the  spot;  the  Italians, 
when  they  heard  of  it,  made  a  similar  decree. 

Marius  and  Ceepio  were  directed  to  take  the  command  of 
Rutilius'  army,  as  no  consul  could  now  be  elected  in  his  place. 
Pomptedius  then  pretended  to  desert  to  Ca;pio,  and  urging 
him  to  advance  and  fall  on  his  troops,  now  without  a  leader, 
led  him  into  an  ambush,  where  he  and  most  of  his  men  were 
slain.  At  the  same  time,  as  Csesar  was  leading  his  armj^,  said 
to  be  30,000  foot  and  5000  horse,  through  a  defile,  he  was 
fallen  on  and  routed  by  Egnatius.  He  escaped  with  difficulty 
to  Teanum,  where,  having  re-assembled  his  troops,  he  went  and 
encamped  over  against  Fapius,  who  was  still  before  Acerrse. 

The  Marsians,  having  attacked  Marius,  were  driven  back 
into  some  vineyards,  vt'hither  he  did  not  venture  to  pursue 
them  ;  but  Sulla,  who  was  encamped  behind  the  vineyards, 
when  he  heard  the  noise,  fell  on  the  fugitives  ;  and  the  entire 
loss  of  the  Marsians  was  six  thousand  men.  This  however 
only  exasperated  that  gallant  people,  and  they  soon  took  the 
field  again.  Judacilius,  Afranius  and  Ventidius,  having  united 
their  forces,  drove  Pompeius  into  Firmum,  where,  leaving 
Afranius  to  watch  him,  the  others  went  away.  But  his  legate 
P.  Sulpicius  Rufus  came  to  his  relief,  and  while  the  besieged 
made  a  sally,  he  fell  on  the  camp  of  the  besiegers  and  set  it  on 
fire.     The  Italians  were  defeated  and  their  general  was  slain. 

In  this  war  the  conduct  of  Marius  was  little  worthy  of  his 
former  fame ;  whether  in  consequence  of  his  age  (he  was  now 
sixty-five),  or  of  a  nervous  disoi'der,  as  he  himself  said,  he 
acted  Avith  timidity  and  irresolution,  shutting  himself  up  in  an 
entrenched  camp,  and  allowing  the  enemy  to  insult  him,  and 
finally  resigning  his  command. 


334<  SOCIAL  OR  MARSIC  WAR.     .  [b.C.  89. 

The  first  year  of  the  war  was  now  drawing  to  a  close ;  the 
senate  had  been  obliged  to  allow  the  freedmen  to  be  enlisted 
for  the  legions,  and  the  Tuscans  and  Umbrians  showed  strong 
symptoms  of  an  inclination  to  shai'e  in  the  revolt.  The  oppo- 
nents to  the  claims  of  the  allies  were  therefore  forced  to  yield, 
and  the  consul  Julius  had  a  law  passed  granting  the  civic  fran- 
chise to  the  Latins,  and  those  who  had  not  revolted  ;  and 
finally  to  those  who  should  lay  down  their  arms.  This  prudent 
measure  at  once  quieted  the  Tuscans. 

The  consuls  of  the  next  year  (663)  were  Cn.  Pompeius 
Strabo  and  M.  Poreius  Cato.  The  former  defeated  a  body 
of  fifteen  thousand  Italians  who  were  on  their  march  for 
Etruria ;  the  slain  were  five  thousand  in  number  ;  and  it  being 
winter,  more  than  half  of  those  who  escaped  perished  by  hun- 
ger and  the  severity  of  the  vreather.  His  colleague  was  less 
fortunate,  for  about  the  same  time,  having  gained  some  ad- 
vantages over  the  Marsians,  he  made  an  attack  on  their  camp 
at  the  Fucine  lake,  but  was  defeated  and  slain.  The  praetor 
Cosconius  was  defeated  by  the  Samnites,  but  being  joined  by 
the  praetor  Lucceius  he  again  engaged,  and  routed  them  with 
a  loss  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  their  general  Marius  Eg- 
natius. 

Sulla,  Avho  was  one  of  Cato's  legates,  defeated  the  Italian 
general  Cluentius  at  Pompeii  in  Campania,  and  recovered 
Nola.  He  then  entered  Samnium,  and  took  the  town  of 
^culanum.  He  defeated  Papius  near  ^sernia,  and  took 
Bovianum  b}'^  storm. 

Pompeius  having  laid  siege  to  Asculura,  Judacilius,  who 
was  a  native  of  that  toM  n,  advanced  with  eight  cohorts  to  its 
relief,  sending  word  to  the  people  to  make  a  sally  when  they 
saw  him.  This  however  they  neglected  to  do  ;  but  he  forced 
his  w^ay  nevertheless,  and  seeing  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  his  being  able  to  maintain  the  town,  he  resolved  not  to  let 
those  escape  who  had  turned  the  people  against  him.  He 
seized  and  put  them  to  death,  and  then  raised  a  pyre  in  a  tem- 
ple, on  which  he  placed  a  couch  ;  and  having  feasted  with  his 
friends,  and  swallowed  poison,  he  lay  down,  directing  them  to 
set  fire  to  it,  and  he  thus  perished. 

Fortune  was  now  everywhere  adverse  to  the  allies  ;  one  by 
one  they  had  lost  their  best  generals  ;  the  spirit  of  resistance 
gradually  died  away  ;  and  they  all,  but  the  Samnites  and  Lu- 
canians,  submitted  and  received  the  Roman  franchise  ;  and 
thus  after  two  years,  ended,  in  the  concessions  that  might  have 


B.C.  88.]      MURDER  OF  THE  PR^TOR  BY  THE  USURERS.     335 

obviated  it,  the  Social  war,  which  had  cost  Italy  the  loss  of 
three  hundred  thousand  of  the  flower  of  her  population.  To 
prevent  the  allies  from  acquiring  a  preponderance  by  their 
numbers  in  the  Comitia,  the  senate,  instead  of  distributing 
them  in  the  actual  tribes,  formed,  as  was  the  ancient  practice, 
eight  new  tribes  to  contain  them  ;  a  measure  which,  though 
not  noticed  at  the  time,  gave  rise  to  future  dissensions. 

During  the  Social  war  an  event  occurred  at  Rome  which 
strongly  shows  the  disregard  for  law,  both  human  and  divine, 
which  then  prevailed.  The  money-lenders  were  pressing  hard 
on  their  debtors,  and,  contrary  to  law,  insisting  upon  interest 
on  interest.  The  praetor  A.  Sempronius  Asellio,  in  the  trials 
which  took  place,  reminded  the  jurors  of  the  law  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  and  this  so  incensed  the  usurers,  that  they  resolved  to 
fall  on  him  as  he  was  sacrificing  at  the  temple  of  Castor  and 
Pollux  in  the  Forum.  A  stone  was  thrown  which  struck  the 
cup  out  of  his  hand  ;  he  fled  for  refuge  to  the  temple  of  Vesta, 
which  was  hard  by,  but  the  usurers  got  between  him  and  it ; 
he  then  ran  into  a  tavern,  v/hither  they  pursued  and  killed 
him.  Some  even  went  into  the  temple,  which  it  was  not  law- 
ful to  enter,  thinking  he  had  fled  to  the  Vestals,  and  resolved 
that  even  so  he  should  not  escape.  The  senate  offered  a  re- 
ward in  money  to  any  freeman,  liberty  to  any  slave,  and  a 
pardon  to  any  accomplice  who  would  give  information  against 
the  murderers  ;  but  the  usureis  had  disguised  themselves  so 
well  that  they  could  not  be  identified  ;  or  perhaps  people  were 
too  much  in  terror  of  them  to  give  information. 

The  merits  of  Sulla  in  the  Social  war  had  been  so  great, 
that  he  was  raised  immediately  to  the  consulate  (664)  with 
Q.  Pompeius  Rufus,  and  the  conduct  of  the  war  against 
Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  was  committed  to  him.  But  the 
envy  and  the  cupidity  of  Marius  were  excited,  and  he  resolved 
if  possible  to  deprive  him  of  his  command.  He  leagued  him- 
self for  this  purpose  with  C.  Sulpicius  Rufus,  a  tribune  of  the 
jjeople,  a  man  of  talent  and  a  daring  character,  and  immersed 
in  debt ;  and  they  projected  a  law  for  transferring  the  com- 
mand to  Marius.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  get  a 
majority  in  the  tribes ;  and  as  this  could  not  be  effected  as 
they  were  then  constituted,  Sulpicius  brought  in  a  bill  for  dis- 
tributing the  new  citizens  among  all  the  tribes  ;  for  as  they 
were  highly  discontented  with  their  present  position,  he 
reckoned  that  they  would  give  their  votes  to  those  who  would 
relieve  them  from  it.   But  the  old  citizens  were  not  so  willing 


S36  SULLA  AT  ROME.  [b.C.  88. 

to  part  with  their  monopoly ;  and  they  employed  sticks  and 
stones  against  the  intruders.  The  consuls,  as  the  day  of 
voting  drew  near,  being  apprehensive  of  further  disturbance, 
proclaimed  a  Justitiiim.  Sulpicius  enjoined  his  adherents  to 
come  to  the  Forum  on  that  day  with  concealed  daggers,  and 
to  act  as  he  should  direct  them.  When  therefore  all  was 
readvs  he  called  on  the  consuls  to  dissolve  the  justitiwn  as 
being  illegal.  A  tumult  ensued,  the  daggers  were  drawn  and 
brandished,  and  the  consuls  menaced.  Pompeius  fied  ;  Sulla 
retired  to  consult  the  senate  ;  and  while  he  was  away  the  Sul- 
pician  party  fell  on  and  murdered  Pompeius'  son,  for  freely 
speaking  his  mind.  Sulla,  unable  to  resist,  dissolved  the^ws- 
titium,  and  set  out  for  his  army,  which  was  at  Nola  :  Sulpicius 
then  had  his  bill  passed  forthwith,  and  the  Mithridatic  war 
decreed  to  Marius. 

Sulla  having  assembled  his  troops  informed  them  of  all  that 
had  occurred  ;  and  as  their  hopes  of  plunder  in  the  East  wei'e 
high,  and  they  feared  that  Marius  might  have  other  troops 
and  other  officers,  Ihey  called  on  him  to  lead  them  at  once  to 
Rome.  He  gladly  obeyed,  and  set  forth  at  the  head  of  six 
legions.  The  soldiers  stoned  the  tribunas  whom  Marius  sent 
to  take  the  command  ;  the  senate,  compelled  by  Marius,  sent 
two  prtetors  to  prohibit  the  advance  of  Sulla,  but  they  nar- 
rowly escaped  with  their  lives  from  the  soldiei'y.  Other  em- 
bassies followed,  praying  Sulla  not  to  come  nearer  than  v  here 
he  was,  at  the  fifth  milestone,  Marius  wishing  to  get  time  to 
prepare  for  defence.  Sulla,  seeing  through  tlie  design,  gave 
the  promise  ;  but  he  followed  close  on  the  heels  of  the  envoys, 
and  he  himself  with  one  legion  seized  the  Ceelian  gate,  while 
Pompeius  with  another  secured  the  Colline ;  a  third  went 
round  to  the  bridge,  a  fourth  stayed  without,  and  Sulla  led 
the  remaining  two  into  the  city.  The  people  began  to  fling 
missiles  and  tiles  on  them  from  the  roofs  ;  but  \\\\en  Sulla 
threatened  to  set  fire  to  the  houses  they  desisted.  Marius  and 
his  party  gave  them  battle  at  the  Esquiline,  but  were  defeated  ; 
and  Marius  and  Sulpicius,  having  vainly  essayed  to  excite  the 
slaves,  fled  out  of  the  city. 

Sulla  next  day  assembled  the  people,  and  having  deplored 
the  condition  into  which  the  constitution  had  been  brought 
by  the  arts  and  the  violence  of  wicked  men,  proposed  as  the 
only  remedy  a  return  to  the  former  wholesome  state  of  things  ; 
that  no  measure  should  be  brought  before  the  people  that  had 
not  been  examined  and  approved  of  by  the  senate ;  and  that 


B.C.  88.]  FLIGHT  OF  MARIUS.  337 

the  voting  should  be  by  the  classes,  as  arranged  by  king  Ser- 
vius,  and  not  by  the  tribes.  He  then,  as  the  senate  was  so 
much  reduced,  selected  three  hundred  of  the  most  respectable 
men  to  augment  it.  All  the  late  measures  of  Sulpicius  were 
declared  illegal,  and  himself  and  the  elder  and  younger  Marius, 
and  about  twelve  other  senators,  were  outlawed,  and  their  pro- 
perty confiscated. 

Sulpicius  was  betrayed  by  a  slave,  and  was  put  to  death. 
Marius  escaped  in  the  night  to  Ostia,  where  one  of  his  friends 
had  provided  a  vessel  for  him  in  which  he  embarked,  but  a 
storm  coming  on  he  was  obliged  to  land  nearCirceii,  where, 
as  he  and  his  companions  were  rambling  about,  some  herds- 
men who  knew  him  telling  him  that  a  party  of  horse  had  just 
been  seen  in  quest  of  him,  they  got  into  a  wood,  where  they 
passed  the  night  without  food.  Next  morning  they  set  out 
for  Minturnai,  but  on  turning  round  they  saw  a  troop  of  horse- 
men in  pursuit  of  them.  There  happened  to  be  two  vessels 
just  then  lying  close  in  to  the  shore,  and  they  ran  and  got 
aboard  of  them.  The  horsemen  came  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  called  out  to  the  crews  to  put  Marius  out,  but  they  were 
moved  by  his  entreaties,  and,  refusing  to  deliver  him  up,  sailed 
away  ;  but  afterwards,  reflecting  on  the  danger  they  were  run- 
ning, they  persuaded  him  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Liris  to 
get  some  food  and  repose,  and  while  he  was  lying  asleep  in 
tiie  grass,  they  went  on  board,  and  making  sail  left  him  to  his 
fate.  He  rambled  about  the  marshes  till  he  reached  the  soli- 
tary hut  of  an  old  man,  whose  compassion  he  implored.  The 
old  man  led  him  away  into  the  marsh,  and  making  him  lie 
down  in  a  hollow  spot  near  the  river,  covered  him  with  sedge 
and  rushes.  Presently  Marius  heard  at  the  Imt  the  voices  of 
those  who  were  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  fearing  lest  his  host 
might  betray  him,  he  got  up,  and  went  and  stood  up  to  his 
neck  in  the  mud  and  water  of  the  marsh.  Here,  however, 
he  was  soon  discovered,  and  was  dragged  out,  naked  as  he  was, 
and  led  to  Minturnffi  and  placed  in  confinement.  The  autho- 
rities there  having  consulted  together  resolved  to  put  him  to 
death,  and  a  Gallic  horseman*  was  sent  to  despatch  him.  The 
Gaul,  when  he  approached  the  spot  where  he  was  lying  in  a 
dark  room,  was  daunted  by  the  fiei-y  glare  of  the  old  warrior's 
eyes,  and  when  he  rose  and  cried  with  a  tremendous  voice, 
"Dost  thou  dare  to  slay  Caius  Marius?"  he  rushed  out,  cry- 
ing, "  I  cannot  kill  Caius  Marius."  The  magistrates  then  d"e- 
*  Some  call  him  a  Gaul,  others  a  Cimbrian. 

Q 


338  DEPARTURE  OF  9UXEA.  [b.C.88-. 

terminecl  not  to  have  the  Wood  of  sa  great  a  man  on  their 
heads,  and  they  gave  him  his  libert)',  and  leading  him  to  the 
coast,  pat  him  on  board  of  a  vessel  to  pass  over  to  Africa. 
He  landed  at  Carthage;  but  presently  came  a  messenger  from 
C.  Sextilius  the  governor  of  the  province,  ordering  him  to 
depart.  He  long  sat  in  silence,  looking  sternly  at  the  envoy, 
on  -whose  inquiry  of  what  reply  he  should  make  to  the  praetor, 
he  groaned,  and  said,  "  Tell  him  you  saw  Caius  Marius  sitting 
an  exile  amidst  the  ruins  of  Carthage."  He  then  retired  to  j( 
the  little  isle  of  Cercina,  where  he  was  joined  by  his  son  and 
several  of  his  other  friends,  and  they  remained  there  watching 
the  course  of  events, 

Sulla  sent  back  his  army  to  Capua,  in  order  to  pass  over  to 
Greece ;  his  colleague  Q.  Pompeius  was  to  remain  to  protect 
Italy  with  the  troops  of  Cn.  Pompeius ;  but  this  army,  pro- 
bably with  the  approbation  of  its  general,  fell  on  and  mur- 
dered the  consul  when  he  came  to  the  camp,  and  Sulla  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  command  with  Cn.  Pompeius.  He  more- 
over found  that  the  people  were  adverse  to  him,  for  they  re- 
jected his  nephew  Nonius  and  his  friend  Servius  with  contempt 
when  he  recommended  them  for  office.  He  affected  to  be 
pleased  at  seeing  them  thus  exercise  the  liberty,  for  which  he 
said  they  were  indebted  to  him  ;  and  he  acquiesced  in  the  ap- 
pointm.ent  of  L.  Cornelius  Ciniia,  of  the  opposite  faction,  to 
the  consulate  with  Cn.  Octavius,  who  was  of  his  own  party. 
He  tried  to  bind  Cinna  by  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  to  attempt 
no  innovation  in  his  absence.  They  ascended  the  Capitol, 
and  Cinna,  in  the  ancient  mode,  grasping  a  stone,  prayed  that 
if  he  did  not  keep  his  engagement  he  might  be  cast  out  of  the 
city  as  he  flung  away  that  stone*.  Sulla  then  departed  for 
his  array. 

*  This  was  called  swearing  by  Jupiter  Lapis.  See  Polybius,  iii.  25,  6-9. 
Cic.  ad  Fam.  vii.  12.  Gell.  i.  21.  The  form  of  the  oath  is  tlius  given  by 
Festus  {v.  Lapidem  siiicem)  : — "  Si  sciens  fallo,  turn  me  Diespiter,  salva  uibe 
arceque,  bonis  ejiciat  uti  ego  himc  lapidem." 


aX-ATEQE  ASIA»  33^' 

CHAPTER  rV.* 

State  of  Asia. —  First  Mithridatic  War. — Sulla  in  Greece. — Victories  of 
Chffironea  and  Orchomenus. — Peace  with  Mithridates. — Flaccus  and 
Fimbria. — Sedition  of  Cinna. — Return  of  Marius. — Cruelties  of  Marius 
and  Cinna. — Death  and  character  of  Marius. — Return  of  Sulla. — His 
victories. — Proscription  of  Sulla. — His  dictatorship  ;'.nd  laws. — He 
lays  down  his  oiRce  and  retires. — His  death  and  funeral. — His  cha- 
racter. 

The  acquisition  of  tlie  kingdom  of  Attains  caused  the  Ro- 
mans to  become  deeply  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  East. 
We  will  therefore  now  take  a  slight  view  of  the  political  con- 
dition of  Anterior  Asia  at  this  time. 

After  the  reign  of  Antiochus  the  Great  the  kingdom  of 
Sj'ria  had  gone  rapidly  to  decaJ^  The  dominions  east  of  the 
Euphrates  were  gradually  occupied  by  the  Parthians,  a  people 
probably  of  Turkish  race,  and  their  empire  finally  extended 
over  the  whole  of  Persia  ;  their  princes  were  named  Arsacid.«, 
from  Arsaces,  the  first  of  their  line.  Another  portion  of  the 
Syrian  dominions  was  about  this  time  seized  on  by  Tigranes 
king  of  Armenia,  who  became  one  of  the  most  powerful  nio- 
narchs  of  Asia.  The  kings  of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia  were 
dependent  on  the  Romans  ;  but  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  on 
the  Euxine,  under  its  present  monarch,  Mithridates  VI.,  a 
prince  of  great  activity  and  talent,  had  risen  to  considerable 
importance.  It  was  against  this  monarch  that  Sulla  was  now 
to  direct  the  arm*  of  Rome,  the  Avar  with  whom  had  origi- 
nated in  the  following  manner. 

Mithridates,  having,  as  it  is  said,  caused  the  king  of  Cappa- 
docia, who  was  married  to  his  sis-ter,  to  be  murdered,  claimed 
the  guardianship  of  his  infant  nephew.  His  sister  appealed 
for  protection  to  Nieomedes  of  Bithynia;  but  Mithridates  en- 
tered Cappadocia,  murdered  his  nephew,  and  seized  the  king- 
dom. The  Cappadocians  rebelled  against  him.  and  called  on 
the  Romans.  The  senate  declared  them  free^  and  directed 
them  to  form  a  republic ;  but  knowing  none  but  the  regal 
form  of  government,  they  sent  to  entreat  that  they  miglit  have 
a  king.  Their  wish  was  acceded  to,  and  their  choice  fell  on 
one  Ariobarzanes.  Mithridates  made  no  opposition ;  but  he 
s€cretlyexeitedhi3son-in-law,Tigranesof  Armenia,  who  drove 

*  Appian,  Mithridatica,  1-63.  Bell.  Civ.  i.  55^107.  Velleius,  ii.  20-28. 
Plut.,  Marius,  41-48.     Sulla,  11-38.     Pompeius,  6-14;  the  Epitomators. 

q2 


340  FIRST  MITHRIDATIC  WAR.  [ B.C.  92-90. 

the  new  monarch  fi'Oin  his  throne;  and  Sulla,  who  had  just 
been  pifetor,  was  sent  from  Rome  (660)  to  restore  him.  On 
this  occasion  Sulla  advanced  as  far  as  the  Euphrates,  where 
Parthian  ambassadors  came  to  him  proposing  an  alliance  with 
Rome. 

On  (he  death  of  Nicomedes  (661)  the  throne  of  Bithynia 
was  disputed  by  his  sons  Nicomedes  and  Socrates  named 
Chrestos ;  the  Pontic  king,  in  alliance  with  his  powerful  son- 
in-law  Tigranes,  supported  the  latter,  and  at  the  same  time 
again  drove  Ariobarzanes  out  of  Cappadocia.  The  Romans 
sent  (662)  an  embassy,  headed  by  M.  Aquilius,  to  restore  the 
two  kings,  which  was  done  without  any  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Mithridates  to  prevent  it.  Aquilius  and  his  friends  and  fol- 
lowers, who  had,  according  to  the  usual  custom,  made  the 
kings  and  all  the  towns  pay  large  sums  of  money  or  enormous 
interest  for  what  they  lent  them,  looking  forward  to  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  from  a  war,  required  the  kings  to  make 
an  irruption  into  the  dominions  of  Mithridates.  Nicomedes 
unwillingly  complied,  on  their  assurance  that  they  would  aid 
him.  Mithridates,  desirous  to  put  the  Romans  in  the  wrong, 
offered  no  resistance,  but  sent  an  embassy  to  complain ;  and  on 
receiving  an  ambiguous,  unsatisfactory  reply,  he  entered  and 
seized  Cappadocia.  He  then  sent  again  to  the  Romans,  dis- 
playing his  power  and  advising  them  to  justice  and  peace ; 
but  they  in  indignation  ordered  his  envoy  to  quit  their  camp, 
and  never  to  return. 

The  Roman  commissioners,  with  L.  Cassius,  the  governor 
of  the  province  of  Asia,  now  took  upon  then),  without  consult- 
ing the  senate  and  people,  and  in  the  very  midst  of  the  Social 
war,  to  make  war  on  a  most  powerful  monarch.  They  col- 
lected a  force  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  and 
divided  them  into  tliree  corps,  with  which  Cassius,  Aquilius, 
and  Q.  Oppius  took  different  positions,  while  Nicomedes  was 
at  the  head  of  an  army  of  his  subjects.  But  the  Pontic  ge- 
nerals ArchelaiJs  and  Neoptolemus,  two  Cappadocians  by  birth, 
defeated  Nicomedes ;  the  Roman  commanders  successively 
had  the  same  fate,  and  Mithridates  was  speedily  master  of  the 
whole  of  Asia  north  of  Mount  Taurus  ;  the  isle  of  the  iEgaean 
also  cheerfully  submitted  to  his  dominion,  Rhodes  alone  I'e- 
maining  I'aithful  to  the  Romans. 

Mithridates  now  gave  a  dreadful  proof  of  his  hatred  to  the 
Romans.  He  sent  secret  orders  to  the  people  of  the  Greek 
towns  on  the  coast  to  rise  on  a  certain  day  and  massacre  all 


B.C.  87-]  SULLA  IN  GREECE.  S4'l 

the  Romans  and  Italians,  men,  women  and  children,  slaves 
and  free,  without  mercy ;  and  such  was  the  hatred  the  Ro- 
mans had  brought  on  themselves  by  their  insolence,  oppres- 
sion and  extortion,  that  the  mandate  was  strictly  obeyed, — 
less,  says  the  historian,  from  fear  of  the  king  than  from  ani- 
mosity toward  them.  No  mercy  was  shown,  no  temple  was  a 
sanctuary  ;  those  who  grasped  the  images  of  the  gods  were 
torn  from  them ;  the  children  were  slain  before  the  face  of 
their  mothers,  whose  own  fate  was  only  so  long  deferred.  The 
lowest  calculation  *  gives  eighty  thousand  as  the  number  of 
those  who  perished.  Such  as  escaped  sought  refuge  in 
Rhodes,  which  Mithridates  besieged  by  sea  and  land;  but  to 
no  effect,  as  he  was  obliged  to  retire  with  disgrace.  Mean- 
time in  Greece  the  Athenians,  Boeotians,  Achseans,  and  La- 
conians  had  declared  for  him,  and  Archelaiis  passed  over  and 
made  the  Pirteeus  his  head-quarters,  while  an  Epicurean  phi- 
losopher named  Aristion  became  the  tyrant  of  the  city  by 
means  of  a  garrison  of  two  thousand  men  that  Archelaiis  had 
given  him  to  guard  the  treasure  which  was  transferred  thither 
from  Delos.  Near  ChaBronea  Brutius  Sura,  the  legate  of 
C.  Sentius,  governor  of  Macedonia,  engaged  the  Pontic  troops 
for  three  days,  and  forced  them  to  fall  back  to  Athens. 

Sulla  was  now  (665)  landed  with  five  legions  and  some 
troops  of  the  allies.  The  Boeotians  returned  to  their  allegiance 
to  Rome ;  he  advanced  into  Attica,  and  laid  siege  to  Athens 
and  the  Piraeeus,  being  desirous  to  end  the  war  as  speedily  as 
possible  and  return  to  Italy.  He  first  tried  to  storm  the  Pi- 
raeeus,  but  failing  in  the  attempt  he  made  all  kinds  of  ma- 
chines, cutting  down  for  that  purpose  the  trees  of  the  Academy 
and  the  Lyceum,  and  taking  the  sacred  treasures  from  Epi- 
daurus,  Delphi,  and  Olympia.  All  the  assaults  on  the  Pirseeus 
were,  however,  gallantly  repelled  by  Archelaiis,  and  as  the 
Pontic  fleet  commanded  the  sea  no  want  was  felt;  but  in  the 
city  faminesoon  began  to  rage,  Avhilethe  misery  of  the  wretched 
citizens  Avas  augmented  by  the  insolence  and  cruelty  of  Aris- 
tion. At  length  the  chatter  of  some  old  men,  blaming  him 
for  not  having  secured  a  certain  part  of  the  wall,  was  over- 
heard by  the  Romans,  and  Sulla  attacked  the  town  on  that 
side  and  forced  his  way  in.  He  gave  orders  for  an  indiscri- 
minate slaughter :  no  age  or  sex  was  spared  ;  the  very  streets 
ran  blood,  till  night  ended  the  carnage :  he  then  granted  to 
the  prayers  of  his  friends  and  the  former  renown  of  the  city 
*  Memnon  ap.  Photius,  ch.  33.     Val.  Max.  ix.  2. 


342  VICTORIES  OF  JSUI-LA,  [ B.C.  86-85. 

the  lives  of  those  who  remained.  Amtion  fled  to  the  Acro- 
polis, but  thirst  soon  compelled  him  to  surrender,  and  he  was 
put  to  death.  Sullathen  pressed  the  siege  of  the  Pirseeus  more 
vigorously  ^han  ever,  and  Archelaiis  having  at  length  em- 
barked his  troops,  and  left  it  to  its  fate,  he  toolc  and  burned  it, 
without  sparing  its  noble  docks  and  arsenal  (666). 

Archelaiis  meantime,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  generals, 
had  assembled  an  army  stated  at  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  men,  with  which  he  encamped  nearChasronea.  Sulla 
led  his  troops  into  Bceotia.  The  Pontic  general,  knowing  the 
inferiority  of  his  soldiers,  wished  to  avoid  an  action,  but  the 
impetuosity  of  some  of  the  other  officers  was  not  to  be  re- 
strained ;  they  gave  battle  to  disadvantage,  and  sustained  so 
entire  a  defeat  that  only  ten  thousand  men,  it  is  said,  of  the 
whole  army  escaped,  while  we  are  assured  that  the  Romans  lost 
but  thirteen  men  !  Archelaiis  fled  to  Euboea,  and  soon  after 
Mithridates  having  sent  another  army  of  eighty  thousand  men 
under  a  general  named  Dorylaiis  into  Greece,  he  joined  it,  and 
taking  the  command  encamped  at  Orchomenus.  Sulla,  seeing 
the  fine  plain  which  extends  thence  to  Lake  Copais  so  well 
adapted  for  the  action  of  the  enemies'  numerous  cavalry,  dug 
trenches  through  it  ten  feet  wide  to  impede  them.  Archelaiis, 
observing  what  he  v/as  about,  made  a  charge ;  the  Romans 
were  giving  way,  when  Sulla,  jumping  from  his  horse,  seized 
a  standard,  and  advancing  alone  with  it  cried  out,  "If  any  ask 
you,  Romans,  where  you  left  your  general,  say  fighting  at 
Orchomenus."  Shame  took  place  of  fear,  the  troops  turned, 
.Sulla  sprang  again  to  horse,  the  enemies  were  driven  to  their 
camp  with  a  loss  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  next  day  the 
camp  was  stormed,  and  those  who  were  in  it  were  slaughtered 
or  driven  into  the  marshes,  where  they  were  drowned.  Ar- 
chelaiis -fled  to  Chalcis  in  Euboea,  and  Sulla  retired  to  Thes- 
Bsiljf  (for  the  Avinter. 

Meantime  matters  at  Rome  had  taken  a  turn  higlily  unfa- 
vourable to  Sulla,  and  his  friends  came  flying  for  safety  to  his 
camp  (667).  He  was  therefore  anxious  to  terminate  the  war, 
and  gladly  hearkened  to  the  proposal  of  an  interview  with  Ar- 
chelaiis for  that  purpose.  The  Pontic  general,  who  knew  his 
situation,  proposed  that  he  should  give  up  all  designs  on  Asia 
and  return  to  the  civil  war  in  Italy,  for  which  ^lithridates 
would  supply  him  with  money,  sliips,  and  troops,  This  being 
indignantly  rejected,  it  wa«  agreed  that  the  king  should  restore 
all  his  conquests  in  Asia,  pay  two  thousand  talents,  and  fur- 


B.C.  Si.]  FLACCUS  AiTD  aFIMCRIA.  34.3 

nish  seventj^  ships  fully  equipped,  and  then  be  secured  in  his 
other  dominions  and  declared  an  ally  of  Rome.  Sulla  then, 
accompanied  by  Archelaiis,  set  out  for  the  Hellespont ;  but 
envoys  came  from  ^vlithridates  refusing  to  give  up  Paphlago- 
nia.  This  roused  the  indignation  of  Sulla.  Ai'chelaiis  craved 
permission  to  go  to  his  master  ;  and  an  interview  l:>etween  Sulla 
and  Mithridates  having  taken  place  at  Dardanum  (668),  all 
was  arranged  as  Sulla  desired.  He  excused  himself  to  his 
soldiers  for  not  exacting  more  satisfaction  for  the  blood  of  so 
many  myriads  of  Roman  citizens,  bj^  telling  them  that  if  the 
king  and  Fimbria  were  to  unite  their  troops  be  should  be  un- 
able to  withstand  them. 

C.  Flavius  Fimbria  was  at  tliis  time  in  Asia,  at  the  head  of 
a  Roman  army  of  the  Marian  faction.  Cinna,  as  we  shall 
presently  relate,  having  madeL.  ValenusFlaccus  his  colleague 
in  the  consulate,  sent  him  with  two  legions  to  take  the  conduct 
of  the  Mithridatic  war  from  Sulla,  and,  as  he  was  not  a  military 
man,  Fimbria,  who  was  a  good  officer,  was  sent  out  as  his 
legate.  Fearing,  as  it  would  seem,  to  meet  Sulla,  Flaccus  led 
his  troops  through  Macedonia  to  the  Hellespont,  and  there  a 
quarrel  taking  place  between  him  and  Fimbria,  the  latter,  ha- 
ving excited  a  sedition  against  liim  a.mcng  the  soldiers,  whom 
his  avarice  had  alienated,  murdered  him  and  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  with  which  he  gained  some  advantages 
over  Mithridates  and  his  son.  He  was  encamped  at  Thyatira 
at  the  time  of  the  peace,  and  Sulla  instantly  marched  against 
him.  Fimbria's  troops  began  at  once  to  desert,  and  finding 
that  he  could  not  rely  on  them,  and  being  mortified  by  Sulla's 
refusal  of  a  personal  interview,  be  put  an  end  to  himself.  His 
army  then  joined  that  of  Sulla,  who  having  regulated  the  af- 
fairs of  Asia,  rewarding  those  who  had  been  faithful  to  Rome, 
and  imposing  such  heavy  fines  on  the  rest  of  the  towns  as  im- 
mersed them  in  debt  to  the  usurers  and  became  a  source  of 
incalculable  misery*,  set  out  for  Greece  <3nhis  I'eturn  to  Italy, 
\vhere  a  new  war  awaited  liiin. 

For  scarcely  had  he  left  Rome,  when  Cinna,  heedless  <i£  his 
oath,  and  having,  it  is  said,  received  a  large  bribe  from  tliem 
for  the  pui-pose,  renewed  Sulpicius'  project  of  dividing  the 
new  citizens  among  all  the  tribes.  Octavius,  with  the  senate 
and  the  old  citizens,  opposed  him.  A  large  number  of  the 
new  citizens  armed  with  daggers  occupied  the  Forum,  to  carry 

*  The  whole  amounted  to  20,000  talents,  to  be  paid  by  annual  instal- 
ments in  five  yeais.     Pint.  Sull.  25.     Lucall.  4. 


344)  RETURN  OF  MARIUS.  [b.C.  87. 

the  law  by  terror;  but  Octavius,  at  the  head  of  the  opposite 
party,  also  armed,  came  down  and  dispersed  them.  Several 
were  slain,  and  Cinna  having  vainly  essayed  to  excite  the 
slaves  fled  from  the  city.  The  senate  declared  his  dignity  to 
be  forfeited,  and  L.  Cornelius  Merula,  the  Flamen  Dialis,  was 
made  consul  in  his  place.  Cinna  repaired  to  the  army  at 
Nola,  which  he  induced  to  declare  for  him ;  he  also  gained 
over  several  of  the  allied  towns,  which  furnished  him  with 
men  and  money  ;  and  C.  iNIilonius,  Q.  Sertorius,  and  others 
of  his  senatorial  friends,  having  come  from  Rome  and  joined 
liim,  he  resumed  the  consular  ensigns  and  advanced  against 
the  city,  Avhich  Octavius  and  Merula  had  put  into  a  state  of 
defence.  They  had  also  summoned  Pompeius  Strabo  to  their 
aid,  and  he  Avas  now  encamped  before  the  Colline  gate  (665). 

Cinna  having  recalled  Marius,  the  old  general  embarked 
with  his  friends  and  made  sail  for  Italy.  He  landed  in  Etruria, 
■where  his  name  and  his  promises  respecting  the  places  in  the 
tribes  drew  about  six  thousand  men  to  his  standard  ;  he  then 
sent  to  Cinna  offering  to  serve  under  him.  Cinna  overjoyed 
sent  him  proconsular  ensigns  ;  but  Mariuci,  who  still  wore 
the  dress  in  which  he  had  fled  from  Rome,  and  had  never 
cut  or  trimmed  his  hair  since  that  time,  replied  that  they 
did  not  become  one  in  his  condition.  They  divided  their 
forces  into  three  parts,  Cinna  and  Cn.  Carbo  lying  before 
the  city,  Sertorius  above,  Marius  below  it ;  and  Marius 
having  taken  Ostia,  and  put  its  inhabitants  to  the  sword, 
threw  a  bridge  over  the  river  so  that  no  provisions  could 
reach  the  city. 

Octavius  was  advised  to  ofl^er  liberty  to  the  slaves ;  but  he 
replied  that  he  would  not  give  slaves  a  share  in  that  country 
from  which,  in  defence  of  the  laws,  he  was  excluding  C.  Ma- 
rius. Orders  were  sent  to  Q.  Metellus  Pius,  who  was  acting 
against  the  Samnites,  to  make  terms  with  them  and  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  city.  But  while  he  hesitated  to  grant  the  terms 
they  required,  Marius  sent,  and  promising  them  all  they  de- 
manded, gained  them  over  to  his  side,  and  Metellus  then 
passed  over  to  Africa.  Ap.  Claudius,  a  military  tribune  who 
had  charge  of  the  Janiculan,  admitted  INIarius  into  the  town, 
who  then  let  in  Cinna ;  but  the  troops  of  Octavius  and  Pom- 
peius drove  them  out  again.  Pompeius  was  shortly  after 
killed  by  lightning. 

Famine  now  began  to  be  dreaded  in  the  city,  and  both  slaves 
and  free  deserted  in  great  numbers.     The  senate  therefore 


B.C.  87.]  CRUELTIES  OF  MARIUS  AND  CINNA.  345 

sent  envoys  to  treat  with  Cinna ;  he  asked  if  they  came  to 
him  as  consul  or  as  a  private  person ;  they  hesitated,  and 
retired.  He  then  encamped  nearer  the  city,  and  the  senate 
finding  the  desertion  increase  were  obliged  to  deprive  Merula 
of  his  office,  and  send  to  Cinna  as  consul.  They  only  asked 
him  to  swear  that  there  should  be  no  slaughter ;  he  declined 
to  swear,  but  promised  that  lie  would  not  of  his  own  accord 
be  the  cause  of  any  one's  death,  and  he  desired  that  Octavius 
should  leave  the  city  lest  any  evil  should  befall  him.  Cinna 
spoke  thus  from  his  tribunal,  beside  which  stood  C.  Marius  in 
silence ;  but  his  stern  look  showed  what  he  was  meditating. 
When  the  senate  sent  to  invite  them  into  the  city,  Marius 
said,  smiling  ironically,  that  such  was  not  permitted  to  exiles. 
The  tribunes  instantly  assembled  the  tribes  to  vote  his  recall, 
but  not  more  than  three  or  four  had  voted,  when  he  flung  off 
the  mask,  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  a  body-guard  of 
slaves  named  Bardieeans,  who  slew  all  he  pointed  out  to  them ; 
it  at  length  sufficing  for  Marius  not  to  return  any  one's  salute 
for  these  ruffians  to  murder  him;  and  their  atrocities  finally 
rose  to  such  a  height  that  Cinna  and  Sertorius  found  it  neces- 
sary to  fall  on  and  massacre  them  in  their  sleep. 

We  will  enter  into  some  details  of  the  murders  now  perpe- 
trated. Octavius,  declaring  that  while  consul  he  would  never 
quit  the  city,  retired  to  the  Janiculan.  Here,  while  he  sat  on 
his  tribunal  surrounded  by  his  lictore,  some  horsemen  sent  for 
the  purpose  killed  him,  and  cutting  off  his  head  brought  it  to 
Cinna,  by  whom  it  was  fixed  on  the  Rostra.  C.  and  L.Julius, 
Atilius  Serranus,  P.  Lentulus,  and  M.  Baabius  were  overtaken 
and  slain  as  they  fled.  Crassus  and  his  son  being  pursued,  the 
father  killed  the  son  and  then  was  slain  himself.  M.  Antonius, 
the  great  orator,  sought  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  peasant,  who 
having  sent  his  slave  to  a  tavern  to  get  somewhat  better  v.ine 
than  usual,  the  host  inquired  the  reason  ;  the  slave  whispered 
it  to  him,  and  he  went  off,  and  finding  Marius  at  supper,  gave 
him  the  information.  Marius  clapped  his  hands  with  joy,  and 
was  hardly  withheld  from  going  himself  to  seize  his  victim. 
He  sent  a  tribune  named  P.  Annius,  who  staying  without  sent 
some  soldiers  in  to  kill  him;  but  the  eloquence  with  which 
Antonius  pleaded  for  liis  life  was  such  that  the  soldiers  stood 
as  if  enchanted.  Annius,  wondering  at  their  delay,  went  in 
and  himself  cut  off  Antonius'  head,  and  brought  it  to  Marius. 
Q.  Ancharius,  seeing  Marius  about  to  sacrifice  on  the  Capitol, 
and  thinking  he  might  be  in  a  merciful  mood,  approached 

Q  5 


346  CHARACTEK  OF  MARIUS.  [b.C.  86-85. 

and  addressed  him,  but  the  signal  was  given  and  he  was  slain. 
L.  Merula  and  Q,.  Catulus,  Marius'  colleague  in  the  Cinibric 
war,  and  whom  he  had  never  forgiven,  put  themselves  to  a 
voluntaiy  death.  Merula  opened  his  veins,  and  a  tablet  was 
found  by  him  saying  that  he  had  previously  taken  off  his 
sacred  hat  (ajxx),  in  which  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  flamen  to 
die*.  Catulus  shut  himself  up  in  a  i-oom  newly  plastered  with 
lime,  and  burning  charcoal  in  it  suffocated  himself.  Nor  must 
the  fidelity  of  the  slaves  of  Cornutus  go  without  its  praise, 
who  concealed  theirmaster,  and  taking  and  dressing  the  corpse 
of  some  common  person  burned  it  as  his,  and  then  conveyed 
him  away  secretly  to  Cisalpine  Gaul.  All  the  friends  of  Sulla 
were  murdered,  his  house  was  razed,  his  property  confiscated, 
and  himself  declared  an  enemy.  Murder,  banishment,  con- 
fiscation raged  every  day,  and  even  sepulture  was  refused  to 
the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Marius,  whose  appetite  for  blood  in- 
creased with  indulgence,  was  at  the  end  of  the  year  made 
consul  the  seventh  time  with  Cinna,  but  he  died  in  the  first 
month  (^666),  while  meditating  new  schemes  of  vengeance f. 
Cinna  then  had  L.  Valerius  Flaccus,  and  when  he  heard 
of  his  murder  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo,  chosen  as  his  colleague 
(667). 

Caius  Marius  was  one  of  those  men  who  in  particular  states 
of  society  rise  to  eminence  without  being  really  great.  His 
talents  were  purely  military,  his  good  qualities  those  of  the 
mere  soldier  ;  he  Avas  temperate  and  free  from  avarice,  but  he 
was  envious,  jealous,  ignorant,  supei-stitious,  and  cruel  even  to 
ferocity.  As  a  statesman  he  was  contemptible,  the  mere  tool 
of  others,  and  deficient  in  moral  courage.  Even  in  his  military 
capacity  he  was  rather  a  good  ofiicer  than  a  great  general. 
In  Numidia  heonly  imitatedMetellus,  who  had  really  brought 
the  war  to  a  conclusion  ;  there  is  nothing  remarkable  in  his 
conduct  of  the  Cimbric  war ;  and,  if  Sulla  is  to  be  believed,  the 
battle  of  Vercellge  did  him  no  great  credit.  It  was  party-spirit, 
not  a  sense  of  his  superior  merits,  that  renewed  his  consulates 
at  this  time  ;  for  surely  Metellus,  if  no  other,  could  have  con- 

*  The  office  now  remained  vacant  till  7M,  Dion,  liv.  36 ;  Tac.  Ann.  iii. 
58;  Suet.  Octav.  31, 

f  Fimbria,  who  was  at  this  timequasstor,  at  the  funeral  of  Marius  or- 
dered Q.  ScsEVoIa  the  chief  pontiff  to  be  slain.  Finding  that  the  wound 
Avas  not  mortal  he  prosecuted  him,  and  being  asked  what  charges  he  could 
bring  against  so  e-scellent  a  man,. he  replied  that  of  not  receiving  the  whdle 
■weapon  in  his  body.     Cicero,  Roscius  Amer.  12. 


B.C.  84-83.]  RETURN  OF  SULLA.  S47 

ducted  the  Cirabric  war  as  well  as  Marius.  Finally,  in  the 
Social  war,  when  opposed  to  able  generals  and  good  troops, 
his  deficiencies  became  apparent*. 

Those  M'ho  had  escaped  from  the  tyranny  of  Marius  and 
Cinna  sought  refuge  with  Sulla,  and  they  were  so  numerous 
that  his  camp  seemed  to  contain  a  senate f.  Cinna  and  Carbo, 
knowing  their  danger,  exerted  themselves  to  tlie  utmost  to 
raise  troops  and  money  through  Italy  to  oppose  him.  It  was 
however  earned  in  the  senate  to  send  an  embassy  to  treat  of 
peace-  Orders  were  forAvarded  to  Cinna  to  give  over  levying 
troops  till  Sulla's  answer  should  arrive ;  to  these  he  promised 
obedience,  but  yielded  none.  He  assembled  his  troops,  intend- 
ing to  pa*s  over  to  Liburnia  and  oppose  Sulla  there ;  but  lie 
was  shortly  after  killed  by  them  in  a  mutiny,  and  Carbo  re- 
mained sole  consul  (668)+. 

Sulla's  answer  now  arrived,  declaring  his  willingness  to 
obey  the  senate,  provided  all  those  who  had  sought  refuge 
with  him  were  restored  to  their  country,  and  himself  to  all  his 
dignities  and  honours ;  but  he  never,  he  said,  could  be  the 
friend  of  those  who  had  perpetrated  such  atrocities,  though 
the  people  might  pardon  them  if  they  pleased ;  adding  that 
he  should  be  better  able  to  protect  himself  and  friends  by  re- 
taining a  well-aifected  army.  His  envoys  however,  hearing  at 
Brundisiumofthe  death  ofCinna,did  not  proceedin  the  business. 
Carbo,  to  strengthen  himself,  distributed  the  freedmen  through 
all  th€  tribes,  and  he  wished  to  exact  hostages  from  all  the 
towns  and  colonies  in  Italy,  but  was  prevented  by  the  senate. 
He  also  caused  a  decree  to  be  passed  ordering  all  the  armies 
to  be  disbanded. 

In  Africa  the  cause  of  Cinna's  faction  was  at  this  time  tri- 
umphant, for  C.  Fabius,  whom  they  had  sent  thither  as  pro- 
preetoi',  defeated  and  drove  out  of  it  Q.  Metellus  Pius,  who 
supported  the  cause  of  the  aristocracy. 

At  length  (669)  Sulla,  having  regulated  the  affairs  of  Greece 
and  Asia,  embarked  in  sixteen  hundred  vessels,  with  an  army 
of  forty  thousand  men,  at  Patrae,  and  landed  at  Brundisiura§. 

*  It  may  surprise  some  to  find  the  aristocratic  Cicero  constantly  lauding 
Marius  ;  but  tlvey  were  natives  of  the  same  place,  their  families  had  beea 
connected,  and  Cicero  was  a  vain-glorious  man. 

t  Dion,  Frag.  126. 

X  Cinna  and  Carbo  had  made  themselves  consuls  a  second  time. 

§  Appian,  i.  79.  Velleius  says  30,000  men,  and  Plutarch  that  he  sailed 
from  Dyrrhachium  in  1200  ships. 


348  VICTORIES  OF  SULI.A.  [b.c.  82. 

He  was  joined  by  Metellus  with  what  troops  he  liad,  and  the 
nobility  Hocked  to  him  in  such  numbers  that  scarcely  any  seem- 
ed left  in  the  city.  Cn.  Pompeius  (the  son  of  him  who  had 
been  struck  by  lightning),  a  young  man  of  but  three-and- 
twenty  years,who  had  impeded  the  levies  of  Carbo  in  Picenum, 
and  raised  there  an  army  of  three  legions  on  his  own  account, 
with  which  he  had  successfully  opposed  the  troops  of  Carbo's 
generals,  also  came  to  join  him.  Sulla  received  this  young 
man  with  distinguished  favour,  styled  him  Imperator,  and  al- 
ways rose  at  his  approach  and  uncovered  his  head, — honours 
which  he  showed  to  no  one  else. 

Those  of  the  other  party  at  Rome,  well-av.are  of  Sulla's 
merciless,  unrelenting  character,  saw  that  there  was  no  medium 
for  them  between  victory  and  ruin  ;  and  the  people  in  general, 
knowing  that  his  victory  would  be  followed  by  murders  and 
confiscations,  made  every  effort  to  resist  him.  The  consuls 
therefore,  L.  Scipio  and  C.  Norbanus,  Avere  enabled  to  enroll 
a  force  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  for  the  war.  The  first 
battle  was  fought  between  Sulla  and  Norbanus  at  Canusium, 
where  the  latter  was  defeated  with  the  loss  of  six  thousand 
men,  and  he  fled  to  Capua.  Sulla  then  advanced  into  Campa- 
nia :  at  Teanum  he  proposed  a  conference  with  Scipio  about 
regulating  the  state,  and  he  took  advantage  of  the  negotiations 
to  gain  the  consul's  troops,  who  when  Sulla  prepared  to  attack 
their  camp  all  went  over  to  him,  leaving  Scipio  and  his  son 
alone  in  their  tent;  they  were,  however,  dismissed  in  safety 
by  Sulla,  who  then  tried  the  same  course  with  Norbanus  and 
his  troops  at  Capua,  but  without  success.  Carbo  hastened  to 
the  defence  of  liome,  where  he  caused  Metellus  Pius,  and  all 
the  other  senators  who  were  with  Sulla,  to  be  declared  public 
enemies.  The  rest  of  the  year  was  spent  by  both  parties  in 
augmenting  their  forces,  in  which  the  consuls  had  the  advan- 
tage, being  largely  reinforced  from  the  greater  part  of  Italy 
and  from  Cisalpine  Gaul.  Among  the  events  of  this  year 
(July  6)  was  tiie  conflagration  of  the  temple  erected  on  the 
Capitol  by  the  last  kings  of  Rome. 

Carbo  caused  himself  and  C.  Marius,  the  son  of  the  groat 
Marius,  to  be  chosen  consuls  for  the  next  year  (670).  The 
campaign  was  opened  with  the  defeat  at  the  iEsis,  a  stream 
which  divides  Urabria  from  Picenum,  of  Carbo's  legate  C.  Al- 
bius  Carrinas  by  Metellus ;  and  scon  after  Marius,  giving 
battle  tO"  Sulla  at  Sacriportus  near  Signia,  was  overcome,  in 
consequence  of  a  part  of  his  troops  going  over  to  the  enemy. 


B.C.  82.]  VICTORIES  OF  SULLA.  349 

Marius  and  the  rest  of  his  troops  fled  to  PrEeneste,  but  when 
a  part  had  gotten  in,  tlie  Prsenestines  closed  their  gates  lest  the 
pursuers  should  enter  also.  Marius  himself  was  drawn  up  by 
a  rope ;  but  those  without,  who  were  mostlj'  Samnites,  were 
slaughtered  without  mercy  by  Sulla  ;  who  having  left  Q.  Lu- 
cretius Ofella  to  blockade  the  town,  led  his  troops  toward 
Rome.  Marius,  being  resolved  that  his  enemies  there  should 
not  escape,  had  sent  orders  to  the  prastor  L.  Junius  Brutus 
Damasippus  to  assemble  the  senate  as  if  for  some  other  pur- 
pose, and  then  to  seize  and  put  to  death  P.  Antistius,  P.  Carbo, 
L.  Domitius,  and  Q.  Mucins  Sceevola  the  chief  pontiff.  His 
orders  were  executed ;  Sceevola,  it  is  said,  was  butchered  in 
the  vestibule  of  the  temple  of  Vesta. 

Sulla  having  led  his  army  to  the  field  of  Mars  entered  the 
city,  from  which  all  his  enemies  had  fled.  He  sold  all  their 
goods  by  auction,  and  then  assembling  the  people  lamented  the 
necessity  he  was  uiider  of  acting  thus,  and  assured  them  that 
all  would  soon  be  well  again.  Leaving  Rome  he  marched 
against  Carbo,  who  was  at  Clusium  in  Etruria :  but  we  need 
not  enter  into  an  enumeration  of  the  various  actions  which  now 
occurred  in  different  parts ;  the  superiority  in  military  skill 
Avas  so  decided  on  the  part  of  Sulla  and  his  generals  that  they 
had  the  advantage  in  every  encounter;  many  places  submitted; 
the  defeated  armies  mostly  dispersed  and  went  to  their  several 
homes ;  Norbanus  fled  to  Rhodes,  and  Carbo  to  Africa. 

The  Samnites  and  Lucanians  had  taken  a  large  share  in  the 
war,  and  now  their  troops  under  Pontius  Telesinus  and  M, 
Lamponius,  united  with  the  remnants  of  Carbo's  army  under 
Carrinas,  Marcius,  and  Damasippus,  having  made  a  vain  at- 
tempt to  relieve  Prseneste,  advanced  against  Rome  ;  Telesinus 
crying  that  "  there  never  would  be  wanting  wolves  to  ravage 
Italy  if  the  wood  that  harboured  them  was  not  cut  down." 
Their  forces  amounted  to  forty  thousand  men.  Sulla  returned 
with  all  speed  to  Rome,  and  late  in  the  day  (Nov.  1)  a  furious 
engagement  commenced  before  the  Colline  gate.  Sulla's  right 
wing  under  M.  Licinius  Crassus  was  victorious,  but  the  left 
led  by  himself  wasdriven  back  to  thecity;  where  the  gates  were 
shutagainst  them  and  they  were  forced  back  on  the  enemy.  The 
engagement  lasted  till  late  in  the  night.  The  whole  number 
of  the  slain  on  both  sides  is  said  to  have  been  fifty  thousand, 
among  whom  was  Telesinus,  whose  head  and  those  of  Marcius 
and  Carrinas,  were  cut  off" and  exposed  before  Praeneste.  Ma- 
rius. in  attempting  to  escape  by  a  mine  from  that  town,  was 


S50  PRO&CUIPTION  OF  SXTLLA.  [B.a8-2. 

killed  by  those  who  saw  him  coming  out* ;  others  say  he 
put  an  end  to  himself.  His  head  was  cutoff  and  fixed  on  the 
Rostra  by  Sulla,  who  now  assumed  the  title  of  Felix,  or  For- 
tunate. After  his  victory  Sulla  collected  about  six  or  eight 
thousand  of  his  prisoners  in  the  Villa  Publica,  near  the  tem- 
ple of  Bellona,  whither  he  called  the  senate.  As  he  was  ad- 
dressing them,  the  cries  of  the  captives,  whom  the  soldiers 
were  slaughtering  by  his  orders, reached  their  ears ;  the  fathers 
stai'ted,  but  he  coolly  desired  them  to  attend  to  him,  as  it  was 
only  some  rebels  who  v/ere  being  chastised  by  his  orders. 
They  saw  then  that  the  tyrant  was  changed,  not  the  tyranny. 
Sulla  and  his  partisans  now  gave  a  loose  to  their  vengeance; 
murders  were  committed  all  over  the  city ;  and  the  Marians 
were  not  alone  the  victims,  as  several  took  the  opportunity  of 
killing  their  private  enemies  or  their  creditors f.  Universal 
terror  prevailed  :  at  length  a  young  man  named  C.  Metellus 
ventured  in  the  senate  to  ask  Sulla  when  there  was  to  be  an 
end  of  the  slaughter.  "  We  do  not  ask,"  said  he,  "  to  save 
those  whom  you  intend  to  destroy,  but  to  free  from  apprehen- 
sion those  whom  you  mean  to  save."  Sulla  replied  that  he 
did  not  yet  know  whom  he  would  spare.  "  Then  tell  us,"  said 
Metellus,  •''  whom  you  will  punish."  Sulla  said  he  would, 
and  he  at  once  posted  (proscripsit)  the  names  of  eighty  per- 
sons ;  next  day  he  added  two  hundred  and  twenty  names,  and 
the  following  day  an  equal  number.  He  addressed  the  peo- 
ple, telling  them  that  these  were  all  be* could  recollect  at  pre- 
sent, but  that  he  would  add  any  others  that  occurred  to  him, 
as  he  was  resolved  to  spare  none  who  had  borne  any  command, 
or  aided  his  enemies  since  the  day  that  Scipio,  as  he  alleged, 
had  broken  his  engagement  with  him,  but  that  if  the  people 
obeyed  him  he  would  make  a  salutary  change  in  their  condi- 
tion X. 

In  th.h proscription,  as  it  was  named,  lists  of  those  included 
in  it  were  hung  up  in  the  Forum,  and  a  reward  of  .50,000 
sesterces  was  offered  for  each  head  ;  it  was  made  a  capital  of- 
fence to  harbour  or  save  any  of  the  proscribed.  The  proper- 
ties of  all  in  the  proscription-lists  were  declared  forfeit,  and 
their  children  and  grandchildren  incapable  of  holding  office 
in  the  state. 

In  the  prevalent  state  of  morals  at  Rome  the  effect  of  this 

*  Liv.  Epit.  Ixxxviii.     Veil.  Pat.  ii.  27.     Strabo,  v.  239. 

t  Orosius  (v.  21.)  gives  the  number  already  slain  at  9000. 

t  Appiaii  bays  he  then  proscribed  40  senators  and  1600  knights. 


B.C.  82.]  THOSCRIPTICTN  OF  SULLA.  351 

proscription  may  be  easily  conceived.  Men  were  fallen  on 
and  butchered  in  the  face  of  day  in  the  streets  and  in  the  tem- 
ples, and  their  heads  were  cut  off  and  brought  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  Sulla.  Sons  might  be  seen  bearing  the  gory  visages 
of  their  fathers,  brothers  those  of  their  brothers,  slaves  those 
of  their  masters  :  wives  were  even  known  to  close  their  doors 
against  their  own  husbands. 

Fresh  lists  soon  appeared  ;  some  made  interest  with  Sulla  to 
have  their  private  enemies  proscribed,  others  those  whose 
houses  or  lands  they  coveted.  Q.  Aurelius,  a  quiet  man  who 
had  abstained  from  politics,  reading  the  proscription-list  one 
day  in  the  Forum,  saw  his  own  name  in  it.  "  Alas  !  "  cried 
he,  "  my  Alban  estate  has  ruined  me,"  and  he  had  gone  but  a 
few  steps  when  he  was  followed  and  slain.  L.  Catilina,  after- 
wards so  notorious,  killed  his  own  brother,  and  then  applied 
to  Sulla  to  have  his  name  put  in  the  list.  To  evince  his  gra- 
titude he  soon  after  slew  the  prtetor  M.  Marius  Gratidianus 
with  great  cruelty  at  the  tomb  of  Catulus,  and  carrying  his 
head  in  his  hand, presented  it  to  Sulla  at  the  temple  of  Apollo, 
and  then  went  coolly  before  all  the  people,  and  washed  his 
hands  in  the  holy-water  vessel  of  the  temple*.  Sulla  himself 
always  presided  at  the  sale  of  the  goods  and  properties  of  the 
proscribed,  saying  that  he  was  selling  his  spoils  f;  and  many  of 
his  friends,  such  as  his  step-son  M.  iEmilius  Scaurus,  and  M. 
Licinius  Crassus,  were  enabled  to  acquire  immense  fortunes 
by  their  purchases  at  these  sales  J. 

Sulla's  atrocities  were  not  confined  to  Rome.  Murder  and 
confiscations  spread  all  through  Italy ;  the  states  and  towns 
which  had  aided  Cinna,  Carbo,  or  his  other  foes,  Avith  men, 
money,  or  in  any  other  way,  were  called  to  a  severe  reckoning, 
their  citadels  and  walls  were  pulled  down,  and  heavy  fines  or 
taxes  imposed  on  them.  Some,  especially  in  Samnium  and 
Tuscany,  were  depopulated,  and  the  houses  and  lands  given 
to  his  soldiers,  for  whom  he  also  founded  other  colonies,  and 
thus  provided  his  three-and-twenty  legions  with  lands. 

The  great  object  of  Sulla  was  to  break  down  the  democracy, 
and  to  re-establish  the  ancient  aristocratic  form  of  the  con- 
stitution.    For  this  purpose  he  resolved  to  revive  in  his  own 

*  Cic.  inTog.  Cand.  Plut.  Sulla,  32.  See  Lucan.  Phars.  ii.  174,  with 
Bentley's  note. 

•{•  Cicero,  RuUus,  ii.  21.  Verr.  ii.  3. 

X  Lepidus,  in  his  speech  against  Sulla  (Sail.  Hist.  frag.  i.  16.),  says  that 
himself  and  others  were  obliged  to  purchase  the  properties  of  the  proscribed 
in  order  to  escape  suspicion. 


352  DICTATORSHIP  AND  LAWS  OF  SULLA.  [b.C.  81. 

person  the  dictatorship,  which  had  now  been  out  of  use  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years.  As  there  were  no  consuls  he  di- 
rected the  senate  to  appoint  an  interrex  :  M.  Valerius  Flaccus 
was  chosen,  and  acting  under  the  directions  of  Sulla  he  pro- 
posed to  the  people  to  create  him  dictator  for  as  long  a  time 
as  might  suffice  to  regulate  the  city  and  all  Italy,  that  is,  to 
give  him  the  office  for  as  long  as  he  might  choose  to  hold  it. 
The  people  of  course  voted  as  required,  and  Sulla  now  ap- 
peai'ed  with  four-and-twenty  lictors  and  a  strong  guard.  He 
allowed,  however,  iM.  Tullius  and  Cn.  Cornelius  Dolabella  to 
be  chosen  consuls  for  the  next  year. 

While  Sulla  was  thus  engaged  in  Italy,  Pompeius  had  passed 
over  to  Sicily.  Perperna,  who  was  in  the  island,  quitted  it 
when  he  landed ;  and  shortly  after  Carbo,  who  was  coming 
thither  from  Africa,  was  made  a  prisoner  and  led  in  chains 
before  the  young  general's  tribunal.  Pompeius,  after  reproach- 
ing him  bitterly,  ordered  him  to  be  executed,  though  Carbo, 
it  is  said*,  when  in  power  had  befriended  him  and  prevented 
his  propert)^  from  being  confiscated.  Pompeius  then  passed 
over  to  Africa,  and  having  defeated  Cinna's  son-in-law,  Cn. 
Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  and  the  Moorish  king  Hiarbas,  re- 
duced it  within  forty  days.  Though  he  was  only  a  knight,  and 
had  never  been  consul  or  praetor,  Sulla  allowed  him  to  tri- 
umph (671).  On  this  occasion  the  dictator  gave  him  the  title 
of  Magnus — Great. 

We  will  enumerate  the  principal  of  the  Cornelian  laws,  as 
those  now  passed  by  Sulla  were  named.  First,  respecting  the 
colleges  of  priests,  the  Domitian  law  was  repealed,  and  the 
right  of  co-opting  their  members  restored  to  the  sacred  col- 
leges ;  the  number  of  the  pontiffs  and  augurs  and  keepers  of 
the  Sibylline  books  was  raised  from  ten  to  fifteen.  Respect- 
ing the  magistracies,  no  one  was  to  be  praetor  before  quesstor, 
or  consul  before  prastor ;  twenty  qufestors  were  to  be  chosen 
annually  by  the  people f  ;  in  like  manner  the  number  of 
praetors  was  to  be  raised  from  six  to  eight;  those  who  had 
been  tribunes  of  the  people  were  to  be  incapable  of  the  higher 
offices,  and  the  tribunes  not  to  Uave  the  })ower  of  proposing 
laws.  He  restored  the  judicial  power  to  the  senators,  and  pro- 
hibited any  one  from  challenging  more  than  three  jurors,  and 
they  were  to  give  their  verdict  openly  or  secretly  at  the  op- 
tion of  theacc  used.  It  was  also  forbidden  to  any  governor  to 
go  out  of  his  province  or  to  make  war  without  the  consent  of 
*  Val.  Max.  v.  3.  5.  vi.  2,  S.  f  Tac.  Ann.  xi.  22. 


B.C.  81-79.]       DICTATORSHIP  AND  LAWS  OF  SULLA.  353 

the  senate  and  people.  The  laws  against  extortion  in  the  pro- 
vinces were  made  more  strict,  it  being  Sulla's  wish  to  attach 
the  provincials  to  the  government.  Sumptuar}'  and  other  laws 
relating  to  morals  Mere  passed  :  in  that  against  assassins  espe- 
cial care  was  taken  to  exempt  those  who  had  murdered  the 
proscribed.  As  the  senate  was  now  greatly  reduced,  Sulla 
augmented  it  by  three  hundred  members  from  the  equestrian 
order,  each  of  them  being  chosen  by  the  couiitiaof  the  tribes*. 
He  also  selected  ten  thousand  of  the  slaves  of  the  proscribed, 
to  whom  he  gave  their  liberty,  and  enrolled  them  in  the  tribes 
under  the  name  of  Cornelians  f-  These  men  were  therefore 
always  at  his  devotion,  and  his  old  soldiers  were  ready  to  ap- 
pear when  summoned  ;  no  that  he  was  under  no  apprehension 
for  his  power. 

Sulla  showed  in  the  case  of  L.  Lucretius  Ofella  that  he 
would  have  his  laws  obeyed,  for  when  he  saw  him  suing  for 
the  consulate  without  having  been  quaestor  or  prtetor  he  sent 
to  tell  him  to  desist.  Ofella  taking  no  notice  of  the  warning, 
a  centurion  was  despatched  to  kill  him  ;  and  when  the  people 
seized  the  centurion  for  the  murder,  and  brought  him  before 
Sulla,  he  said  it  was  done  by  his  order,  adding,  "A  ploughman 
was  onetime  annoyed  by  the  vermin  ;  he  stopped  the  plough 
twice  and  shook  his  coat,  and  when  they  still  bit  him  he  burn- 
ed the  coat  not  to  lose  his  time ;  so  I  advise  those  who  have 
been  twice  overcome  not  to  expose  themselves  the  third  time 
to  the  fire." 

During  the  first  year  of  his  dictatorship  (671)  Sulla  caused 
himself  and  Metellus  Pius  to  be  chosen  consuls  for  the  follow- 
ing year.  In  673,  having  had  P.  Servilius  and  Ap.  Claudius 
elected,  he,  to  the  surprise  of  all  men,  laid  down  his  office  and 
retired  into  private  life.  The  man  who  had  put  to  death 
ninety  senators,  fifteen  consulars,  two  thousand  six  hundred 
knights,  besides  having  driven  numbers  into  exile,  and  in 
whose  struggle  for  the  supremacy  one  hundred  thousand  men 
had  perished,  who  had  confiscated  the  property  of  towns  and 
individuals  to  such  an  extent  as  had  reduced  thousands  and 
thousands  to  beggary  and  desperation  | — that  man  dismissed 

*  According  to  Sallust  (Cat.  37.),  he  placed  some  of  his  common  soldiers 
in  the  senate.     See  Dionys.  v.  77.     Nieb.  iii.  354. 

•j-  i.  e.  they  assumed  Cornelius  as  their  nomen,  for  freedmen  always  took 
the  name  of  their  patron.  This  act  of  Sulla's  was  the  same  in  effect  as  the 
giving  of  liveries  among  our  ancestors.     See  Hist,  of  Engl.,  i.  414,  8vo  edit. 

+  Appian,  i.  103,  104. 


354;  d:eath  and  funt:rai,  of  sulla.  [b-c  78^ 

his  lictors,  walked  alone  about  the  Forum  and  the  streets  of 
Rome,  calmly  offering  to  account  for  any  of  his  public  actions ! 
It  is  said  that  one  day  a  young  man  followed  him  home  cursing 
and  reviling  him,  and  that  he  bore  it  patiently,  only  saying, 
"That  youth's  conduct  will  teach  another  not  to  lay  down  such 
an  office  so  readily." 

Sulla  retired  to  Cumee,  where  he  employed  his  time  in  wri- 
ting his  memoirs,  in  hunting  and  fishing,  and  in  drinking  and 
revelling  with  players  and  musicians.  He  was  there  attacked 
the  very  next  year  (674)  with  the  most  odious  of  all  diseases 
(morbus 2>edicularis),  a  judgment,  one  might  almost  say,  from 
Heaven  on  him  ;  and  one  day  hearing  that  a  magistrate  of  the 
adjacent  town  of  Puteoli  was  putting  ofl'the  payment  of  a  debt 
to  the  corpora.tioa  expecting  his  death,  he  sent  for  him  to  his 
chamber  and  had  him  strangled  before  his  eyes.  The  exer- 
tions he  made  caused  him  to  throw  up  a  quantity  of  blood, 
and  he  died  that  night,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age*. 

Though  the  Cornelian  gens  had  hitherto  always  inhumed 
their  dead,  it  was  Sulla's  desire  that  his  body  should  be  burnt, 
lest  the  impotent  vengeance  which  he  had  exercised  on  the 
remains  of  Marius  might  in  a  turn  of  affairs  be  directed  against 
his  own-}-.  After  some  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  consul 
Lepidus,  it  was  decided  by  the  senate  that  his  corpse  should 
be  conveyed  in  state  to  Rome,  and  be  burnt  in  the  Field  of 
Mars.  It  was  carried  on  a  golden  bier,  horsemen  and  trum- 
peters followed  it,  his  old  soldiers  flocked  from  all  pai'tsto  at- 
tend the  procession;  they  moved  in  military  arraj",  standards 
and  axes  preceding  the  bier.  The  priests  and  vestals,  the 
senate,  magistrates,  and  knights,  came  forth  to  meet  it ;  more 
than  two  thousand  golden  crowns,  the  gifts  of  the  towns,  his 
legions,  and  his  friends,  were  borne  along  ;  the  Roman  ladies 
contributed  spices  in  such  abundance  that  large  figures  of 
Sulla  and  a  licto,r  were  formed  out  of  them,  in  addition  to  two 
hundred  and  twenty  basketsful  which  were  to  be  flung  on  the 
pyre.  The  morning  being  lowering,  the  corpse  was  not 
brought  out  till  toward  evening;  biitwhen  the  pyre  was  kindled, 
a  strong  breeze  sprang  up  and  the  cori^se  was  rapidly  con- 
sumed  ;  an  abundant  rain  then  fell  and  quenched  the  embers, 
so  that  Sulla's  good  fortune  seemed  to  attend  him  to  the  last. 

Sulla  composed  his  own  epitaph,  the  purport  of  which  was, 
that  no  one   had  ever  exceeded  him  in  serving  his  friends  or 

*  It  was  also  reported  that  he  died  by  his  own  hand.     Dion,  lii.  17. 
t  Cicero,  Laws,  ii.  22.     Val.  Max.  ix.  2,  1. 


B.Cj  78.J  SEDITION  OF  LEPJDUS.  355 

in  injuring  his  enemies.  He  was  a  man  doubtless  of  great  ta- 
lents both  as  a  general  and  a  statesman,  but  never  did  a  more 
ruthless  soul  animate  a  human  body  than  his  ;  he  was  cruel, 
less  from  natural  ferocity  than  from  a  calm  contempt  of  liu- 
man  nature-  He  thoroughly  despised  mankind  ;  therefore  he 
was  an  aristocrat*,  and  therefore  he  ventured  to  lay  down  his 
power,  confident  that  none  would  dare  to  attack  him,  and  not 
in  reliance  on  his  soldiers  or  liis  Cornelians,  for  how  could 
they  protect  liim  against  the  dagger  of  the  assassin  ?  In  this 
contempt  of  mankind  he  resembled  Napoleon,  as  he  also  did 
in  his  superstitious  belief  in  fortune,  and  in  the  circumstance 
of  having  left  the  world  an  account  of  his  actions  written  by 
himself;  but  Napoleon  was  incapable  of  Sulla's  cold-blooded 
cruelty. 


CHAPTER  V.f 

Sedition  of  Lepidus. — Sertorian  war  in  Spain. — Death  of  Seitorius  andend 
of  the  war. — Spartacian  or  Gladiatorial  war. — Defeat  and  death  of  Spar- 
tacus. — Consulate  of  Poinpeius  and  Crassiis. — Piratic  war. — Reduction  of 

Crete. 

The  consuls  of  the  year  in  which  Sulla  died  were  Q.  Lutatius 
Catulus  of  the  SuUian,  and  M.  ^5i)milius  Lepidus  of  the  Marian 
party ;  the  latter  had  been  chosen  through  the  influence  of 
Pompeius,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Sulla,  who  warned  him 
of  the  consequences  of  what  he  had  done.  Events  proved  the 
dictator's  foresight,  for  no  sooner  was  the  funeral  over  than 
Lepidus  proposed  alawto  recall  the  proscribed  and  to  rescind 
all  the  acts  of  Sulla.     The  first  measure  seems  but  barely  just, 

*  Let  us  not  be  mlsundeistood ;  we  mean  that  a  proud  man,  like  Sulla, 
who  thinks  thus  of  human  nature,  will  be  in  general  an  aristocrat.  The 
demagogue  is  usually  of  the  same  way  of  thinking,  but  he  is  mean  enough 
to  flatter  those  whom  he  despises.  The  honest  democrat,  on  the  contrary, 
is  often  a  man  of  the  most  amiable  and  generous  chai'acter,  and  his  error  is 
that  ofjudging  of  others  by  himself.  Bias'  maxim,  o'l  TrXetoi's  kokoi  ('  most 
men  are  bad,'  L  e.  selfish),  should  always  be  present  to  the  mind  of  a  poli- 
tician, and  lie  should  think  how  they,  not  how  the  good,  would  act  under 
any  given  circumstances. 

t  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  i.  107-121.  Velleius,  ii.  29-32.  Dion,  xxxvi.  1-27. 
Pint.,  Sertorius,  6-27,  Pompeius,  15-29,  Crass  us,  8-12  ;  the  Epitomators. 


356  SERTORIAN  WAR  IN  SPAIN.  [b.C.  81. 

yet  it  would  in  fact  have  been  a  renewal  of  the  civil  war.  The 
nobility  therefore,  headed  by  the  consul  Catulus,  the  best 
man  of  his  time,  opposed  it.  The  senate,  dreading  the  recur- 
rence of  scenes  of  civil  war  and  bloodshed,  made  the  consuls 
swear  to  refrain  from  arms  ;  and  as  Narbonese  Gaul  had  fallen 
to  Lepidus  as  his  province,  they  supplied  him  liberally  with 
money  in  order  to  hasten  his  departure.  He  set  out  accord- 
ingly as  if  for  his  province,  but  he  halted  in  Etruria,  and  drew 
together  an  army  of  the  proscribed  and  others ;  and  being 
joined  by  M.  Junius  Brutus,  who  commanded  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  he  advanced  toward  Rome,  demanding  the  consulate  a 
second  time.  Catulus  and  Pompeius  took  the  field  against 
hira  ;  he  was  defeated  at  the  Mulvian  bridge  and  driven  back 
into  Etruria,  where  he  was  routed  a  second  time.  He  then 
fled  to  Sardinia,  and  he  died  shortly  after  in  that  island.  Pom- 
peius reduced  Cisalpine  Gaul,  but  his  conduct  to  Brutus  on 
this  occasion  was  a  great  stain  on  his  character :  for  Brutus 
having  surrendered,  had  retired  by  his  direction  to  a  small 
town  on  the  banks  of  the  Po  ;  and  the  next  day  a  man  named 
Geminius,  sent  by  Pompeius,  came  thither  and  put  hira  to 
death. 

The  INIarian  cause  was  however  not  yet  despaired  of,  for  Q. 
Sertorius,  a  man  of  first-rate  talent,  still  upheld  it  in  Spain. 
After  the  ruin  of  the  cause  in  Italy  through  the  folly  of  the 
consul  Scipio,  Sertorius,  whose  advice  he  Mould  not  follow, 
set  out  with  all  haste  for  Spain,  of  which  he  had  been  appoint- 
ed praetor.  He  exerted  himself  to  gain  the  aff"ections  of  the 
people  by  justice  and  affability  and  by  the  reduction  of  the 
tributes  ;  and  knowing  that  Sulla  would  soon  pursue  him,  he 
despatched  a  force  of  six  thousand  men  to  guard  the  Pyre- 
nees ;  but  treachery  aided  C.  Annius,  whom  Sulla  sent  as  pro- 
consul (671)  to  Spain,  and  Sertorius,  unable  to  maintain  him- 
self there,  passed  over  to  Africa,  where,  aiding  one  of  the  na- 
tive princes,  he  defeated  and  killed  Paccianus,  one  of  Sulla's 
officers.  While  considering  what  further  course  he  should 
take,  he  was  invited  by  the  Lusitanians  to  come  and  be  their 
leader  against  the  troops  of  Sulla.  He  gladly  accepted  the 
command  ;  and  uniting  in  himself  the  talents  of  a  Viriathus 
and  of  a  Roman  general,  equally  adapted  for  i\\e  gtierilla  and 
the  regular  warfare,  he  speedily  routed  all  the  Roman  com- 
manders and  made  himself  master  of  the  country  south  of  the 
Ebro.  He  did  not  disdain  having  recourse  to  art  to  establish 
his  influence  over  the  natives.     Having  been  presented  by  a 


B.C.  79-76.]  SERTORFAN  WAR  IN  SPAIN.  357 

hunter  with  a  milk-white  fawn,  he  tamed  it  so  that  it  would 
come  when  called,  and  heeded  not  the  noise  and  tumult  of  the 
camp,  and  he  pretended  that  it  had  been  the  gift  of  a  deity  to 
him  and  was  inspired,  and  revealed  distant  or  future  events. 
He  trained  his  Spanish  troops  after  the  Roman  manner,  and 
having  collected  the  children  of  the  principal  persons  into  the 
town  of  Osca  {Huescd),  he  had  them  instructed  in  Greek  and 
Latin  literature  that  they  might  be  fit  for  offices  of 'state, 
though  he  had  in  this  a  further  object  in  view,  namely,  that 
they  should  be  hostages  for  the  fidelity  of  their  parents.  So 
many  Romans  of  the  Marian  party  had  repaired  to  him,  that 
he  formed  a  senate  of  three  hundred  members,  which  he  called 
the  real  senate,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Sulla.  Though  his 
troops  were  mostly  all  Spaniards,  he  gave  the  chief  commands 
to  the  Romans,  yet  he  did  not  thereby  lose  the  aff"ections  of 
the  natives. 

The  fame  of  Sertorius  reached  the  ears  of  Mithridates,  who 
was  now  again  at  war  with  the  Romans,  and  he  sent  to  him 
to  propose  an  allicince,  on  condition  of  all  the  country  which 
he  had  been  obliged  to  surrender  being  restored  to  him,  Ser- 
torius, having  assembled  his  senate,  replied  that  Mithridates 
might  if  he  pleased  occupy  Cappadociaand  Bithynia,  but  that 
he  could  not  allow  him  to  hold  the  Roman  province.  "  What 
would  he  not  impose,"  said  the  king,  "if  sitting  in  Rome,  when 
thus  driven  to  the  edge  of  the  Atlantic  he  sets  limits  to  my 
kingdom  and  menaces  me  with  war  ?  "  The  alliance  however 
was  concluded,  but  it  came  to  nought. 

Sulla  had  committed  the  war  in  Spain  to  Metellus  Pius 
(673)  ;  but  Metellus  being  only  used  to  regular  warfare,  was 
quite  perplexed  by  the  irregular  system  adopted  by  Sertorius, 
and  he  was  so  hard-pressed  at  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Lepidus, 
that  Pompeius,  with  the  consent  of  the  senate,  led  his  army  to 
his  aid  (676).  Sertorius  at  the  same  time  received  an  acces- 
sion of  force,  for  after  the  death  of  Lepidus  in  Sardinia,  his 
legate  C.  Perperna,  having  passed  over  to  Spain  witli  fifty- 
three  cohorts,  the  remains  of  his  army,  thinking  to  carry  on 
the  war  independently,  were  forced  by  his  men  to  join  Serto- 
rius. 

The  fame  of  Pompeius  was  so  great,  that  when  it  was  known 
that  he  was  entering  Spain  several  towns  declared  for  him. 
Sertorius  having  laid  siege  to  one  of  these  towns  named  Lauro, 
Pompeius  came  to  its  relief,  and  he  was  preparing  to  occupy 
an  adjacent  hill,  when  Sertorius  anticipated  him.     Thinking 


358  DEATH  OF  SERTORIUS.  [b.C.  75-72. 

then  that  he  had  Sertorius  in  a  trap  between  his  army  and  the 
town,  Pompeius  sent  in  to  tell  the  people  to  mount  their  walls 
and  see  Sertorius  besieged.  Sertorius,  when  he  heard  this 
laughed,  ami  said  he  would  teach  Sulla's  pupil  that  a  general 
should  look  behind  as  well  as  before,  and  pointed  to  six  thou- 
sand men  he  had  left  in  his  camp.  Pompeius  feared  to  stir ; 
the  town  surrendered  before  his  face,  and  Sertorius  burned  it, 
to  prove  how  little  able  Pompeius  was  to  aid  revolters*. 

At  a  place  named  S\xero(Xucar)  Sertorius  gave  Pompeius 
battle  (677)>  selecting  the  evening,  as  the  night  would  be 
against  the  enemy,  who  knew  not  the  country,  whether  victors 
or  vanquished.  He  drove  back  the  wing  opposed  to  him 
under  L.  Afranius  ;  then  sped  away  to  the  other,  where  Pom- 
peius was  gaining  the  advantage,  and  defeated  him.  Finding- 
that  Afranius  had  penetrated  to  his  camp  and  was  plundering 
it,  he  came  and  drove  off  his  troops  with  great  loss.  Next 
day  he  offered  battle  again  ;  but  just  then  Metelluscame  up. 
"  If  that  old  woman  t  had  not  come,"  said  he,  "  I  should  have 
whipped  this  boy  well,  and  sent  him  back  to  Rome."  He  then 
retired. 

Sertorius  eventually  reduced  his  opponents  to  such  straits 
that  it  was  apprehended  he  would  even  invade  Italy.  Pom- 
peius wrote  word,  that  unless  supplied  with  money  from  home 
he  could  not  stand  J ;  Metellus  offered  a  large  reward  for  Ser- 
torius' head  ;  and  envy  and  treachery  at  length  relieved  them 
from  all  their  fears.  Perperna,  who  had  all  along  been  jealous 
of  Sertorius'  superiority,  did  his  utmost  to  alienate  the  affec- 
tions of  the  Spaniards  from  him  by  exercising  severities  in  his 
name,  and  he  organised  a  conspiracy  against  him  among  the 
Romans.  He  finally  invited  him  to  a  feast  at  Osca,  and  there 
he  was  fallen  on  and  murdei'ed  (680).  Perperna  hoped  to  be 
able  to  take  his  place,  but  the  Spaniards  having  no  confidence 
in  him  submitted  to  Pompeius  and  Metellus  ;  and  venturing 
to  give  battle  with  the  troops  he  had  remaining,  he  was  de- 
feated and  taken.     He  had  found  among  the  papers  of  Serto- 

*  Plut.  Seit.  18.  Frontinus  (Strateg.  ii.  5,  31.)  relates  tliis  matter  dif- 
ferently, on  the  authority  of  Livy. 

•f  Metellus  was  not  more  than  fifty-six  years  of  age,  but  he  had  given 
himself  up  to  luxurious  habits,  and  had  grown  very  corpulent.  He  was  an 
amiable  man.  When  Calidius,  who  had  been  the  means  of  recalling  his 
father,  stood  for  the  prsEtorship,  Metellus  canvassed  for  him,  and  though 
consul,  styled  him  his  patron  and  the  protector  of  his  family.  Cicero,  Plau- 
cius,  29.     Val.  Max.  v.  2,  7. 

5"  See  his  letter  to  the  senate  in  the  fragments  of  Sallust's  History,  iii.  11. 


B;.e.  73.]  spartacian  war.  359 

rius  letters  from  several  of  the  leading  men  at  Rome  inviting 
him  to  invade  Italj,  and  these  he  offered  to  Pompeius  to  save 
his  life  ;  but  Pompeius  nobly  and  wisely  burned  these  and  all 
Sertorius'  other  papers  without  being  read  by  himself  or  any 
one  else,  and  he  put  Perperna  to  death  without  delay,  lest  he 
should  mention  names  and  thus  give  occasion  to  new  com- 
motions. 

Thus,  after  a  continuance  of  eight  yeai^,  terminated  the 
war  in  Spain.  Meantime  Italy  was  the  scene  of  a  contest  of  a 
most  sanguinary  and  atrocious  character. 

We  have  already  related  what  an  enormous  slave-population 
there  wa^  in  Italy,  and  how  hardly  the  slaves  were  treated  by 
their  masters.  The  passion  of  the  Roman  people  forthe  com- 
bats of  gladiators  had  also  increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  it 
was  become  a  kind  of  trade  to  train  gladiators  in  schools,  and 
hire  them  out  to  sediles  and  all  who  wished  to  gratify  the  peo- 
ple with  their  combats ;  and  stout  strong  slaves  were  purchased 
for  this  purpose.  The  cheapness  of  provisions  in  Campania 
made  it  a  great  seat  of  these  schools,  and  there  those  in  the 
school  of  one  Cn.  Lentulus  Batuatus,  at  Capua,  resolved  (679) 
to  break  out,  and  if  they  could  not  escape  to  their  homes,  to 
die  fighting  for  their  liberty,  rather  than  slaughter  one  another 
for  the  gratification  of  a  ferocious  populace.  Their  plot  was 
betrayed,  but  upwards  of  seventy  got  out,  and  arming  them- 
selves with  spits  and  cleavers  from  the  adjoining  cook-shops, 
they  broke  open  other  schools  and  freed  those  who  were  in 
them.  Near  the  town  they  met  a  waggon  laden  with  arms  for 
the  use  of  the  schools  in  other  towns  ;  and  having  thus  armed 
themselves,  they  took  a  strong  position  on  Mount  Vesuvius. 
Here  they  were  joined  by  great  numbers  of  slaves,  and  they 
routed  the  troops  sent  from  Capua  to  attack  them,  and  got 
possession  of  their  arms.  The  chief  command  was  given  to 
Spartacus,  a  Thracian  by  birth  who  had  served  in  the  Ro- 
man army,  though  he  had  been  afterwards  reduced  to  slavery; 
and  under  him  were  two  other  gladiators,  Crixus  and  CEno- 
maiis. 

The  task  of  reducing  the  slaves  was  committed  to  the  praetor 
P.  Yarinius  Glaber,  who  sent  against  them  his  legate  C.  Clau- 
dius Pulcher  with  three  thousand  men.  Claudius  forced  them 
to  retire  to  the  steep  summit  of  Vesuvius,  which  had  but  one 
narrow  approach.  This  he  guarded  straitly  ;  b.ut  they  made 
themselves  ladders  of  the  branches  of  the  wild-vine,  with  which 
the  hill  was  overgrown;  and  let  themselves  down  on  the  other 


360  SPARTACIAN  WAR.  [ B.C.  72-71. 

side,  and  then  suddenly  fell  on  and  I'outed  the  troops  of  the 
legate.  Spartacus  was  now  joined  by  vast  numbers  of  the 
slaves  who  were  employed  as  herdsmen.  He  armed  them  with 
such  weapons  as  fortune  oflered,  and  he  spread  his  ravages 
over  all  Campania  and  Lucania,  plundering  towns,  villages, 
and  country-houses.  He  defeated  Varinius'  legate  Furius  and 
his  colleague  Coscinius,  and  gained  two  victories  over  Va- 
rinius himself;  but  aware  that  his  men,  though  brave,  would 
not  eventually  be  able  to  resist  the  disciplined  troops  of  Rome, 
he  pi'oposed  that  they  should  march  for  the  Alps,  and  if  they 
reached  them,  then  disperse  and  seek  their  native  countries. 
This  prudent  plan  was  rejected  by  the  slaves,  who,  as  they 
were  now  forty  thousand  strong,  looked  forward  to  the  plunder 
of  Italy.  The  senate  meantime,  aware  of  the  importance  which 
the  war  was  assuming,  directed  (680)  the  consuls  Ij.  Gellius 
Poplicola  and  Cn.  Lentulus  to  take  the  field  against  them. 
The  praetor  Arrius  engaging  Crixus  (who  with  the  Germans 
had  separated  from  Spartacus)  in  Apulia,  killed  him  and 
twenty  thousand  of  his  men  ;  but  he  was  soon  after  himself 
defeated  by  Spartacus,  as  also  were  both  the  consuls.  Spar- 
tacus was  now  preparing  to  march  against  Rome  at  the  head  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  ;  but  as  the  consuls  had 
posted  themselves  in  Picenum  to  oppose  him,  he  gave  up  his 
design  and  fell  back  to  Thurii,  which  he  made  his  her.d- 
quarters. 

The  war  against  Spartacus  had  lasted  more  than  two  years ; 
the  hopes  of  the  Romans  were  in  the  prcetor  M.  Licinius 
Crassus,  to  whom  it  was  now  committed  (681).  Six  legions 
were  raised,  to  which  he  joined  those  of  the  consuls  which  had 
fought  so  ill,  having  previously  decimated  a  part  of  them. 
Spartacus  retired,  on  the  approach  of  Crassus,  to  the  point  of 
Rhegium,  where  he  agreed  with  some  Cilician  pirates  to  trans- 
port him  and  his  men  over  to  Sicily,  hoping  to  be  able  to 
rouse  the  slaves  there  again  to  arms.  The  pirates  took  the 
money,  and  then  sailed  away,  leaving  them  to  their  fate.  Cras- 
sus, to  prevent  all  escape,  ran  a  ditch  and  wail  across  from  sea 
to  sea  at  the  neck  of  the  peninsula  of  Bruttium ;  but  Spartacus, 
taking  advantage  of  a  dark  stormy  night,  made  his  way  over 
the  rampart.  A  body  of  Gauls  or  Germans  which  separated 
from  him  was  defeated  by  Crassus,  who  soon  after  gave  Spar- 
tacus himself  a  signal  defeat;  but  the  gladiator  in  his  turn 
routed  the  quaestor  and  legate  of  the  victor.  The  confidence 
which  this  advantage  gave  the  slaves  caused  their  ruin ;  for 


B.C.  70-3  RIVALRY  OF  POMPEIUS  AND  CRASSUS.  S61 

they  would  not  obey  their  leader  and  continue  a  desultory  war, 
but  insisted  on  being  led  against  the  Romans.  Crassus  on  his 
part  was  equally  anxious  for  a  battle,  as  Pompeius,  who  at  his 
desire  had  been  recalled  by  the  senate,  was  now  on  his  way, 
probably  to  rob  him  of  the  glory  of  ending  the  war.  The  slaves 
were  so  eager  for  the  combat  that  they  attacked  as  lie  was 
pitching  his  camp.  A  general  engagement  ensued  :  Sparta- 
cus  fell  fighting  like  a  hero,  and  his  whole  army  was  cut  to 
pieces :  about  six  thousand  who  were  taken  were  hung  by 
Crassus  from  the  trees  along  the  road  from  Capua  to  Rome. 
Pompeius,  however,  came  in  for  some  share  of  the  glory,  for 
he  met  and  destroyed  a  body  of  five  thousand  who  were  en- 
deavouring to  make  their  way  to  the  Alps.  The  Servile  War, 
in  which  it  is  said  sixty  thousand  slaves  perished,  thus  termi- 
nated. Pompeius  and  Metellus  triumphed  for  their  successes 
in  Spain  :  Crassus,  on  account  of  the  mean  condition  of  his 
foes,  only  souglit  the  honour  of  an  ovation. 

The  enormous  wealth  of  Crassus,  and  his  eloquence,  gave 
him  great  infiuence  in  the  state,  and  he  was  one  of  the*chief 
props  of  the  aristocracy;  Pompeius  on  the  other  hand  sought 
the  favour  of  the  people,  whose  idol  he  soon  became.  Both  now 
stood  for  the  consulate.  Pompeius,  though  he  had  borne  no 
previous  office,  as  the  Cornelian  law  required,  and  was  several 
years  under  the  legitimate  age  of  forty-two  years,  was  certain 
of  his  election  ;  while  Crassus  could  only  succeed  by  Pompeius' 
asking  it  for  him  as  a  favour  to  himself.  They  were  both 
chosen,  but  their  year  (682)  passed  away  in  strife  and  con- 
tention. Before  they  went  out  of  office  tlie  people  insisted  on 
their  becoming  friends  ;  and  Crassus  declaring  tliat  he  did  not 
think  it  unbecoming  in  him  to  make  the  first  advances  to  one 
on  whom  senate  and  people  had  bestowed  euch  honours  at  so 
early  an  age,  they  shook  hands  in  presence  of  the  people,  and 
never  again  were  at  open  enmity.  In  this  consulate  the  tri- 
bunes were  restored  to  all  the  rights  and  powers  of  which 
Sulla  had  deprived  them  ;  the  measure  proceeded  from  Pom- 
peius with  a  view  to  popular  favour.  With  his  consent  also  the 
praetor  L.  Aurelius  Cotta  put  ihejudicial  power  into  the  hands 
of  the  senators,  knights,  and  the  asrarian  tribunes  * ;  for  the 
senators  alone  had  shown  themselves  as  corrupt  as  ever,  and 
the  knights,  while  the  right  had  been  exclusively  theirs,  though 

*  These  were  wealthy  plebeians,  to  whom  the  quoestors  issued  the  pay 
of  the  soldiers.  Varro,  L.  L.  v.  p.  ISl.  Festus  «.  Jirarii.  Cato  «/).  Gellius, 
vii.  10. 

R 


S62  PIRATIC  WAR.  [B.C.  78-67. 

incorrupt*,  had  not  proved  themselves  to  be  impartial.  It  was 
hoped,  but  hoped  in  vain,  that  three  separate  verdicts  might 
be  more  favourable  to  justice. 

Crassus  now  returned  to  his  money-chests,  and  was  wholly 
occupied  in  augmenting  his  already  enormous  wealth.  Pom- 
peius,  whose  passion  was  glory,  kept  rather  out  of  the  public 
view,  rarely  entering  the  Forum,  and  \vhen  he  did  visit  it  being 
environed  by  a  host  of  friends  and  clients.  At  length  the 
alarming  extent  to  which  the  pirates  of  Cilicia  were  carrying 
their  depredations  gave  him  another  opportunity  of  exercising 
extensive  military  command. 

From  the  most  remote  ages  piracy  had  been  practised  in 
various  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  The  Athenians,  in  the 
days  of  their  might,  had  kept  it  down  in  the  i^gsean ;  the 
Rhodians  had  followed  their  example  ;  but  when  their  naval 
power  had  been  reduced  by  the  Romans,  the  Cilicians,  who 
had  been  encouraged  in  piracy  by  the  kings  of  Egypt  and 
Syria  in  their  contests  with  each  other,  carried  on  the  system 
to  aft  extent  hitherto  unparalleled.  Not  only  did  private  per- 
sons join  in  this  profitable  trade,  but  whole  towns  and  islands 
shared  in  it.  The  slave- market  at  Delos  was  abundantly  sup- 
plied by  the  pirates ;  the  temples  of  Samothrace,  Claros,  and 
other  renowned  sanctuaries  were  plundered ;  towns  on  the 
coasts  were  taken  and  sacked  ;  the  piratic  fleets  penetrated  to 
the  straits  of  Gades.  The  freebooters  landed  in  Italy,  and 
carried  off  the  Roman  magistrates  and  the  senators  and  their 
families,  whom  they  set  at  heavy  ransoms.  They  even  had  the 
audacity  to  make  an  attack  on  the  port  of  Ostia  :  the  corn- 
fleets  destined  for  Rome  were  intercepted,  and  famine  me- 
naced the  city. 

Fleets  and  troops  had  at  various  times  been  sent  against  the 
pirates  to  no  effect.  In  674  P.  Servilius  put  to  sea  with  a 
strong  fleet,  and  having  routed  their  squadrons  of  light  vessels, 
took  several  of  their  towns  on  the  coast  ofLycla,  and  reduced 
the  country  of  Isauria  (677)}  whence  he  gained  the  title  of 
Isauricus.  But  he  had  hardly  triumphed  when  the  sea  was 
again  covered  with  swarms  of  pirates.  M.  Antonius,  the  son 
of  the  great  orator,  was  then  (678)  sent  against  them,  as  pro- 
praetor, with  most  extensive  powers ;  but  he  effected  nothing  ; 
their  depredations  became  as  numerous  as  ever,  and  they  even 
laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Syracuse.  In  this  state  of  things  the 
tribune  A.  Gabinius  (685),  either  moved  by  Pompeius  or 

*  Cic.  Verr.  i.  13. 


B.C.  67-]  PIRATIC  WAR.  363 

hoping  thereby  to  gain  his  favour,  proposed  that  to  one  of  the 
consulars  should  be  given  the  command  against  the  pirates, 
with  absolute  power  for  three  j-ears  over  the  whole  sea  and  the 
coasts  to  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  inlands,  and  authority  to 
make  levies  and  take  money  for  the  war  out  of  the  treasury  and 
from  the  publicans  in  the  provinces,  and  to  raise  what  number 
of  men  he  pleased.  Though  no  one  was  named,  all  knew  who 
was  meant.  The  aristocratic  party  exerted  then^selves  to  the 
utmost  against  the  law.  Gabinius  was  near  being  killed  in  the 
senate-house  :  the  people  would  then  have  massacred  the  se- 
nate, bat  they  fled  ;  and  the  consul  C.  Calpurnius  Piso  was 
indebted  to  Gabinius  for  his  life.  When  the  day  for  voting 
came,  Pompeius  spoke  affecting  to  decline  the  invidious  ho- 
nour ;  but  Gabinius,  as  of  course  had  been  arranged,  called 
on  the  people  to  elect  him,  and  on  him  to  obey  the  voice  of 
his  country.  Catulus,  the  chief  of  the  senate,  being  present, 
Gabinius  required  him  to  speak,  expecting  that  he  would  not 
oppose  the  law.  The  people  listened  in  respectful  silence  while 
he  argued  against  it ;  and  when  in  conclusion,  having  extolled 
Pompeius,  he  asked  them  whom,  if  anything  should  happen  to 
him,  they  would  put  in  his  place,  the  whole  assembly  cried  out, 
"  Thyself,  Q.  Catulus  !  "  Finding  further  opposition  useless, 
he  retired.  Nothing  further  was  done  at  that  time,  but  on  the 
following  day  the  law  was  passed.  The  tribunes  L.  Trebellius 
and  L.  Roscius  Otho*  attempted  to  interpose,  but,  like  Tib. 
Gracchus,  Gabinius  put  it  to  the  vote  to  deprive  Trebellius  of 
his  office.  When  seventeen  tribes  had  voted,  Trebellius  gave 
over ;  Roscius,  as  he  could  not  be  heard,  held  up  two  fingers, 
to  intimate  that  he  proposed  that  two  persons  should  be  ap- 
pointed ;  but  such  a  shout  of  disapprobation  was  raised  that  it 
is  said  a  crow  flying  over  the  Forum  fell  down  stunned.  Pom- 
peius, who  had  left  the  town,  returned  in  the  night,  and  next 
day  he  called  an  assembly,  and  had  various  additions  made  to 
the  law,  which  nearly  doubled  the  force  he  was  to  have,  giving 
him  500  ships,  120,000  foot  and  5000  horse,  with  24  senators 
to  command  as  legates  under  him,  and  power  to  take  as  much 
money  as  he  pleased  out  of  the  treasury,  or  from  the  quaestors 
and  publicans  in  the  provinces.     Such  was  the  general  confi- 

*  This  was  the  author  of  the  famous  Roscian  law  passed  this  year,  which 
assigned  the  fourteen  rows  of  seats  in  the  theatre  behind  the  orchestra  where 
the  senators  sat  to  the  linights,  who  possessed  the  equestrian  property  of 
400,000  sesterces. 

r2 


364  REDUCTION  OF  CRETE.  [b.C.  67. 

dence  in  his  talents  and  fortune,  that  the  prices  of  corn  and 
bread  fell  at  once  to  their  usual  level. 

Pompeius  lost  no  time  in  making  all  the  needful  arrange- 
ments. He  placed  his  legates  with  divisions  of  ships  and  troops 
along  all  the  coasts  from  the  straits  of  Gades  to  the  JEgdRan  ; 
and  in  the  space  of  a  few  months  the  pirates  were  destroyed, 
or  forced  to  take  refuge  in  their  strongholds  in  Cilicia.  He 
sailed  thither  with  a  fleet  in  person,  and  the  reputation  of  his 
clemency  making  them  deem  it  their  safest  course  to  submit, 
they  surrendered  themselves,  their  strongholds,  their  ships,  and 
stores ;  and  thus,  in  forty-nine  days  after  his  departure  from 
Brundisium,  Pompeius  terminated  the  Piratic  War.  The  pi- 
rates were  not  deceived  in  their  expectations  :  he  placed  them 
as  colonists  in  Soli,  Adana,  and  other  towns  of  Cilicia  which 
had  been  depopulated  by  Tigranes;  Dyme,  in  Achaia,  received 
a  portion  of  them  to  cultivate  its  territory,  which  was  lying 
waste,  and  others  were  settled  on  the  coast  of  Calabria  in 
Italy  *. 

In  this  year  also  the  island  of  Crete  was  reduced.  The 
Cretans,  who  appear  so  contemptible  in  Grecian  history  that 
one  hardly  knows  how  to  give  credit  to  the  greatness  of  their 
Minos  in  the  mythic  ages,  had  of  late  become  of  rather  more 
importance.  M.  Antonius,  when  he  was  sent  against  the  pi- 
rates, hoping  to  acquire  plunder  and  fame  in  Crete,  accused 
the  Cretans,  probably  with  justice,  of  being  connected  with 
them,  and  proceeded  to  invade  the  island  ;  but  he  was  repulsed 
with  disgrace,  and  he  died  of  chagrin.  The  Cretans,  knowing 
that  a  storm  would  burst  on  them  from  Rome,  tried  to  avert 
it  by  an  embassy,  laying  all  the  blame  on  Antonius ;  but  the 
terms  offered  by  the  senate  were  such  as  were  beyond  their 
power  to  fulfil,  and  they  had  to  prepare  for  war.  The  pro- 
consul Q.  Metellus  invaded  their  island  (683)  ;  but  under  two 
chiefs  named  Lasthenes  and  Panares  they  held  out  bravely  for 
two  years.  The  war  was  one  of  extermination  on  the  part  of 
Metellus,  who  wasted  the  whole  island  with  fire  and  sword  ; 
and  having  at  length  reduced  it,  gained  the  honour  of  a  tri- 
umph, and  the  title  of  Creticus  (685). 

*  Servius  on  Virg.  Geor.  iv.  127. 


SECOND  MITHRIDATIC  WAR.  365 


CHAPTER  VI.* 

Second  Mithridatic  War. — Third  Mithridatic  War. — Victories  of  Lucullus. 
— His  justice  to  the  Provincials. — War  with  Tigranes. — Defeat  of  Tigra- 
nes. — Taking  of  Tigranocerta. — Invasion  of  Armenia. — Defeat  of  a  Ro- 
man  army. — Intrigues  of  Lucullus'  enemies  at  Rome. — Manilianlaw. — 
Pompeiusin  Asia. — Defeat  of  Mithridates. — Porapeiusin  Armenia  : — In 
Albania  and  Iberia  : — In  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land. — Death  of  Mithri- 
dates.— Return  and  triumph  of  Pompeius. 

While  the  Roman  arms  were  occupied  in  Europe  by  the 
Sertorian  and  the  other  wars  above  related,  the  contest  vfiih 
Mithridates  for  the  dominion  of  Asia  still  continued. 

Sulla  had  left  as  proprtetor  in  Asia  L.  Licinius  Murena,  with 
Fimbria's  two  legions  under  him.  As  was  the  usual  practice, 
Murena,  in  hopes  of  a  triumph,  tried  to  stir  up  a  war.  Arche- 
laiis,  who  had  fled  to  him  when  he  found  himself  suspected  by 
his  master,  furnishing  him  with  pretexts,  he  invaded  the  terri- 
tories of  Mithridates,  who,  instead  of  having  recourse  to  arms, 
sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  to  complain,  and  Q.  Calidius  came 
out  with  orders  to  Murena  to  desist  from  attacking  a  king  with 
whom  there  was  a  treaty.  After  a  private  conference  with 
Calidius,  however,  Murena  took  no  notice  of  the  public  order  ; 
and  then  Mithridates,  finding  that  negotiation  was  of  no  use, 
took  the  field  against  him,  and  forced  him  to  retire  into  Phry- 
gia.  Sulla,  displeased  at  seeing  the  treaty  he  had  made  thus 
despised,  sent  out  A.  Gabinius  with  orders  in  earnest  to  Mu- 
rena, and  thus  the  war  was  ended  for  the  present.  Murena 
had  the  honour  of  a  triumph,  but  how  it  was  merited  is  not 
easy  to  discern. 

Mithridates  was  well  aware  that  he  would  soon  be  at  war 
again ;  and  he  found  the  period  after  the  death  of  Sulla  so 
favourable,  while  the  Roman  arms  were  engaged  in  so  many 
quarters,  that  he  resolved  to  be  the  aggressor.  At  his  impul- 
sion, his  son-in-law  Tigranes,  of  Armenia,  invaded  Cappadocia, 
and  swept  away  three  hundred  thousand  of  its  inhabitants, 
whom  he  sent  to  people  the  city  of  Tigranocerta,  which  he 
had  lately  built.  Mithridates  himself  invaded  Bithynia,  which 
its  last  king,  Nicomedes  II.,  dying  without  heirs  (678),  had 
left  to  the  Roman  people. 

*  Appian,  !\Iithiidatica,  64  to  theend.  Dion,  xxxvi.  28-xxxvii.  23.  Plut. 
Lucullus,  7-36,  Pompeius,  30-4,5;   the  Epitomators. 


366  THIRD  MITHIirDATIC  WAR.  [b.C.  74. 

The  Pontic  monarch,  knowing  the  contest  in  which  he  was 
now  to  engage  to  be  for  his  verj'  existence,  made  all  the  pre- 
parations calculated  to  ensure  its  success.  He  sent  to  Spain 
and  formed  an  alliance  with  Sertorius  ;  he  also  made  alliances 
with  all  the  peoples  round  the  Euxine:  during  eighteen  months 
he  caused  timber  to  be  felled  in  the  forests  of  Pontus,  and  ships 
of  war  to  be  built ;  he  hired  able  seamen  in  Phoenicia,  and  laid 
lip  magazines  of  corn  in  the  towns  of  the  coast ;  he  armed  and 
disciplined  his  troops  in  the  Roman  manner ;  and  his  army,  we 
are  told,  amounted  to  120,000  foot,  16,000  horse,  with  100 
sithed  chariots.  Still  these  troops  were  Asiatics,  and  little  able 
to  cope  with  the  legions  of  Rome. 

The  war  against  Mithridates  was  committed  to  the  consuls 
of  the  year  678,  M.  Aurelius  Cotta  and  L.  Licinius  LucuUus, 
the  latter  of  whom  had  been  Sulla's  quffistor  in  the  first  war. 
Cotta  was  soon  driven  by  Mithridates  out  of  his  province, 
Bithynia,  and  he  was  besieged  in  Chalcedon.  When  Lucullus 
came  out  he  brought  with  him  one  legion  from  Rome,  which 
joined  with  the  two  Fimbrian  and  two  others  already  there 
gave  him  a  force  of  thirty  thousand  foot  and  sixteen  hundred 
horse.  Mithridates,  being  forced  by  him  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Chalcedon,  led  his  troops  against  Cyzicus,  a  town  lying  in  aa 
island  joined  by  two  bridges  to  the  mainland.  Lucullus  fol- 
lowed him  thither,  and  the  king  (by  the  treacherous  advice 
of  one  of  the  Romans  sent  him  by  Sertorius,  who  assured  him 
that  the  Fimbrian  legions  which  had  served  under  that  general 
would  desert,)  let  him  without  opposition  occupy  a  hill,  which 
enabled  him  to  cut  off  his  communication  with  the  interior,  so 
that  he  must  get  all  his  supplies  by  sea,  and  the  winter  was 
now  at  hand. 

The  defence  of  the  Cyzicenes  was  most  heroic  ;  mounds, 
mines,  rams,  towers,  and  all  the  modes  of  attack  then -known 
were  employed  against  them  in  vain.  Mithridates  finding  his 
cavalry  useless,  and  that  it  was  sufiering  from  want  of  forage, 
sent  it  away  along  with  the  beasts  of  burden,  but  Lucullus  fell 
on  it  at  the  passage  of  the  Ryndacus,  killed  a  part,  and  took 
fifteen  thousand  men  and  six  thousand  horses  with  all  the 
beasts  of  burden.  A  storm  now  came  on  and  shattered 
Mithridates'  fleet ;  all  the  horrors  of  famine  were  felt  in  his 
camp  ;  still  he  persevered,  hoping  to  take  the  town.  At  length 
he  got  on  shipboard  by  night,  leaving  his  army  to  make  the 
best  of  its  way  to  Lampsacus.  It  reached  the  river  .i^sepus  ; 
but  while  it  was  crossing  that  stream,  which  was  now  greatly 


B.C.  73-72.]  VICTORIES  OF  LUCULLUS.  367 

swollen,  the  Romans  came  up  and  routed  it  with  the  loss  of 
twenty  thousand  men  (679). 

A  tremendous  storm  assailed  and  shattered  the  fleet  of 
Mithridates,  and  he  himself  escaped  with  difficult}'  to  Nicome- 
dia,  whence  he  sent  envoys  and  money  on  all  sides  to  raise  new 
troops,  and  to  induce  Tigranes  and  other  princes  to  give  him 
aid.  Meantime  Lucullus,  having  overcome  the  Pontic  fleet 
in  the  iEgsean,  advanced  and  entered  Mithridates'  paternal 
dominions,  where  the  plunder  was  so  abundant  that  a  slave  we 
are  assured  was  sold  for  four  drachmas  and  an  ox  for  one.  This 
however  did  not  content  the  troops;  they  longed  for  the  pillage 
of  some  wealthy  city,  and  loudly  blamed  their  general  for  re- 
ceiving the  submission  of  the  towns.  To  gratify  them  Lu- 
cullus formed  the  siegeof  Amisus  and  Themiscyra;  but  these 
towns  made  a  stout  defence,  and  Mithridates,  who  was  at  Ca- 
bira,  sent  them  abundant  supplies  of  men,  arms,  and  provisions. 

These  sieges  lasted  through  the  winter.  In  the  spring  (680) 
Lucullus,  leaving  Murena  before  Amisus,  advanced  against 
Mithridates.  The  king  being  greatly  superior  in  cavalry,  he 
kept  along  the  hills,  and  finding  a  hunter  in  a  cave,  made  him 
guide  him  till  he  came  close  to  Cabira  ;  he  there  encamped  in 
a  strong  position,  where  he  could  not  be  forced  to  fight.  As 
Lucullus  drew  his  supplies  from  Cappadocia,  the  king,  hoping 
by  cutting  them  off  to  reduce  him  to  extremity,  sent  his  ca- 
valry to  intercept  the  convoys;  but  his  officers  were  so  un- 
skilful as  to  make  their  attacks  in  the  narrow  passes  instead  of 
in  the  plains,  where  the  superiority  of  their  cavalry  w^ould  be 
decisive ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  they  were  completely 
defeated,  and  but  a  small  portion  of  their  troops  reached  the 
camp.  Mithridatesjhavinglosthis  cavalry,  in  which  his  strength 
lay,  resolved  to  fly  that  very  night.  He  summoned  his  friends 
to  his  tent,  and  informed  them  of  his  design  :  they  immediately 
thought  only  of  saving  their  property,  and  were  sending  it  off 
on  beasts  of  burden.  But  the  numl>er  of  these  was  so  great 
that  they  impeded  one  another  in  the  gates;  the  noise  called  the 
attention  of  the  soldiers,  who  finding  themselves  thus  about  to 
be  abandoned,  in  their  anger  and  terror  began  at  once  to  pull 
down  the  rampart  and  to  fly  in  all  directions.  Mithridates  vainly 
endeavoured  to  restrain  them  ;  he  was  obliged  to  join  in  the 
flight.  Lucullus  sent  his  horse  in  pursuit,  and  leading  his  in- 
fantry against  the  camp,  gave  orders  to  abstain  from  plunder 
and  to  slay  without  mercy  ;  but  the  former  command  was  little 
heeded  by  the  greedy  soldiery,  and  the  king  himself  escaped 


S68  JUSTICE  OF  LUCULLUS.  [b.c.  71-69. 

captivity  through  the  cupidity  of  his  pursuers,  who  stopped  to 
divide  the  gold  with  which  a  mule  was  laden.  He  reached 
Coraana,  whence  he  repaired  to  Tigranes,  having  sent  the 
eunuch  Bacchus  to  Pharnacia  to  put  all  the  women  of  his 
harem  to  death,  lest  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans. 

LucuUus,  having  sent  his  brother-in-law  P.  Clodius  to  Ti- 
granes to  demand  the  surrender  of  Mithridates,  proceeded 

(681)  to  reduce  the  Pontic  towns  and  fortresses.  Many  sur- 
rendered ;  Amisus,  Heraclea,  and  others  were  taken  ;  and 
Mithridates'  son,  Machares  king  of  Bosporus,  was  received 
into  friendship  and  alliance.  The  wretched  condition  of  the 
people  of  the  province  of  Asia  next  claimed  the  attention  of 
LucuUus,  for  they  were  ground  to  the  dust  by  the  avarice  and 
oppression  of  the  Roman  usurers  and  publicans.  The  fine  of 
20,000  talents  imposed  by  Sulla  had  by  addition  of  interest 
upon  interest  been  raised  to  the  enormous  sum  of  120,000  ta- 
lents ;  they  were  obliged  to  sell  the  ornaments  of  their  temples 
and  public  places,  nay,  it  is  added,  their  very  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, to  satisfy  their  remorseless  creditors.  The  remedies  de- 
vised by  LucuUus  were  simple,  just,  and  efficacious;  he  for- 
bade more  than  twelve  per  cent,  interest  to  be  paid,  cut  oflfthe 
portion  of  interest  due  above  the  amount  of  the  capital,  and 
assigned  the  creditor  a  fourth  part  of  the  debtor's  income.  In 
less  than  four  years  it  is  said  all  encumbrances  were  cleared 
off  and  the  provincials  out  of  debt !  But  great  was  the  indig- 
nation of  the  worshipful  company  of  knights,  who  farmed  the 
revenues  and  lent  out  money ;  they  considered  themselves 
treated  with  the  utmost  injustice,  and  they  hired  the  dema- 
gogues at  Rometo  attack  and  abuse  LucuUus,  and  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  depriving  him  of  his  command ;  but  he  had  the  bless- 
ings of  the  pi-ovincials  and  the  good-will  of  all  honest  men. 

P.  Clodius  had  to  go  as  far  as  Antioch  on  the  Orontes  and 
there  to  wait  the  arrival  of  Tigranes,  who  was  in  Phoenicia. 
While  there  he  held  secret  communication  with  many  of  the 
towns  subject  to  that  monarch,  and  received  their  assurances 
of  revolt  when   LucuUus  should  appear.      When  admitted 

(682)  to  an  audience  with  the  king,  he  rudely  desired  him  to 
surrender  Mithridates,  or  else  to  prepare  for  war.  The  offended 
despot  set  the  Romans  at  defiance,  and  Clodius  departed. 
LucuUus  then  returned  to  Pontus,  and  laid  siege  to  and  took 
the  city  of  Sinope  (683)  ;  and  leaving  one  legion  under  Sor- 
natius  to  keep  possession  of  the  country,  he  set  out  himself 


B.C.  68.]  WAR  WITH  TIGRANES.  369 

with  12,000  foot  and  about  3000  horse  to  make  war  on  the 
potent  king  of  Armenia*.  He  reached  the  Euphrates,  and 
having  passed  it  advanced  to  the  Tigris  unopposed  ;  then  turn- 
ing northwards  he  entered  the  mountains,  directing  his  course 
for  Tigranocerta.  Meantime  Tigranes  was  ignorant  of  the 
approach  of  the  Romans,  for  as  he  had  cut  off  the  head  of  the 
first  person  who  brought  him  tidings  of  it,  as  a  spreader 
of  false  alarms,  all  others  were  deterred.  At  length  Mithro- 
barzanes,  one  of  his  friends,  venturing  to  assure  him  of  the 
fact,  he  was  ordered  to  take  a  body  of  horse  and  ride  down 
the  Romans,  and  to  bring  their  leader  captive ;  Mithrobarzanes 
however  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  LucuUus  laid  siege  to 
Tigranocerta. 

Tigranes,  finding  the  danger  so  near,  summoned  troops 
from  all  parts  of  his  empire,  and  assembled  an  immense  army, 
containing,  it  is  said,  150,000  heavy  and  20,000  light  infantry, 
55,000  horse,  of  which  17,000  were  in  full  armour,  and  35,000 
pioneers,  and  advanced  to  the  relief  of  its  capital.  Mithridates 
and  his  general  Taxiles,  who  knew  by  experience  how  ill-suited 
Asiatic  troops  were  to  cope  with  Europeans,  strongly  urged 
Tigranes  not  to  risk  a  general  engagement,  but  to  cutoff  the  sup- 
plies, and  thus  reduce  the  Romans  by  famine.  But  the  despot 
laughed  these  prudent  counsels  to  scorn,  and  descended  into  the 
plain;  and  when  he  saw  tliesmall  appearance  of  the  Roman  army, 
he  cried, "  If  they  arc  come  as  ambassadors  they  are  too  many,  if 
as  enemies,  toofew."  Never,  however,  was  defeatmore  decisive 
than  that  of  the  Armenian  king ;  he  himself  was  one  of  the  first 
to  fly  :  the  earth  for  miles  was  covered  with  the  slain  and  with 
spoils,  and  the  Romans  declared  themselves  ashamed  of  ha- 
ving employed  their  arms  against  such  cowardly  slaves.  Lu- 
cuUus gave  all  the  booty  to  his  soldiers,  and  then  resumed  the 
siege  of  Tigranocerta,  which  its  mingled  population,  who  had 
been  dragged  from  their  homes  to  people  it,  gladly  put  into 
his  hands.  Having  taken  possession  of  the  royal  treasui'es  for 
himself,  he  gave  his  soldiers  permission  to  pillage  the  town, 
and  he  afterwards  gave  them  a  donation  of  SOO  drachmas  a 
man.  The  inhabitants  of  Tigranocerta  were  allowed  to  re- 
turn to  their  respective  countries. 

The  fame  of  the  justice  and  moderation  of  Lucullus  caused 
several  of  the  native  princes  to  declare  for  him  (684),  and 
even  the  Parthian  king  sent  an  embassy  to  propose  an  alliance; 

*  Plut.  Luc.  24.  Appiaii  (Mith.  81)  says  two  legions  and  500  horse, 
meaning  perhaps  only  the  Romans. 

r5 


370  INVASION  OF  ARMENIA.  [b.C.68. 

but  Luculhis  having  discovered  that  he  was  dealing  double, 
being  at  the  same  time  in  treaty  with  Tigvanes,  resolved  to 
make  war  on  him,  and  thus  perhaps  acquire  the  glory  of  ha- 
ving overcome  the  three  greatest  monarchs  in  the  world.  He 
sent  to  Sornatius,  desiring  him  to  join  him  with  the  troops 
from  Pontus  ;  but  these  positively  refused  to  march  :  and  Lu- 
cuUus'  own  army,  hearing  of  their  refusal,  applauded  their 
conduct  and  followed  their  example.  Lucullus,  thus  forced 
to  give  up  all  hopes  of  glory  from  a  Parthian  war,  as  it  was 
now  midsummer,  invaded  Armenia  anew  ;  but  when  he  had 
crossed  the  ridges  of  Taurus,  and  entered  on  the  plains,  he 
was  greatly  dismayed  to  find  the  corn  still  green  in  that  ele- 
vated land.  He  however  obtained  a  sufficient  supply  in  the 
villages,  and  having  in  vain  offered  battle  to  the  troops  of  Ti- 
granes,  he  advanced  to  lay  siege  to  Artaxata,  the  former 
capital  of  Armenia.  As  Tigranes'  harem  was  in  that  city,  he 
could  not  calmly  see  it  invested,  and  he  gave  Lucullus  battle 
on  the  road  to  it ;  but  skill  and  discipline  triumphed  as  usual 
over  numbers,  and  he  sustained  a  total  defeat.  Lucullus  was 
desirous  of  following  up  his  success  and  conquering  the  whole 
country,  but  it  was  now  the  autumnal  equinox,  and  the  snow 
began  already  to  fall ;  the  rivers  were  frozen  and  diflicult  to 
cross,  and  the  soldiers  having  advanced  for  a  few  days  mu- 
tinied and  refused  to  go  any  further.  He  implored  them  to  re- 
main till  they  had  taken  Artaxata  ;  but  finding  his  entreaties 
to  no  purpose,  he  evacuated  the  country,  and  entering  Mygdonia 
besieged  and  stormed  the  wealthy  city  of  Nisibis*. 

Here  ended  the  glory  of  Lucullus  :  he  was  disliked  by  his 
Avhole  army  ;  his  extreme  pride  disgusted  his  officers  ;  the 
soldiers  hated  him  for  the  rigorous  discipline  which  he  main- 
tained, and  for  his  want  of  affability  ;  his  having  appropriated 
to  himself  so  much  of  the  spoils  of  Tigranocerta  and  other 
places  was  another  cause  of  discontent;  and  his  own  brother- 
in-law,  Clodius,  mortified  at  not  being  made  more  of  than  he 
was,  added  continual  fuel  to  the  flame,  especially  addressing 
himself  to  those  who  had  served  under  Fimbria. 

Meantime  Mithridates  had  returned  to  Pontus,  where  he 
attacked  and  defeated  M.  Fabius  Adrianus  who  commanded 
there,  and  shut  him  up  in  Cabira  ;  but  C.  Valerius  Triarius, 
who  was  on  his  way  from  the  province  to  join  Lucullus,  came 
to  the  relief  of  Fabius  and  drove  off"  Mithridates,  whom  he 

*  This  city  continued  to  be  at  intervals  a  Roman  possession  till  a.d.  363. 
See  Hist.  Rom.  Emp.  35i  seq. 


B.C.  67-66.]  RECALL  OF  LUCULLUS.  371 

foUo^ved  to  Comagena,  where  he  gave  him  a  defeat.  Both 
sides  now  retired  to  winter-quarters.  In  the  spring  (685), 
Mithridates,  knowing  that  Triarius  had  sent  to  summon  Lu- 
cullus  from  Nisibis  to  his  aid,  did  his  utmost  to  bring  on  an 
action  before  he  should  arrive  ;  for  this  purpose  he  despatched 
a  part  of  his  army  to  attack  a  fortress  named  Dadasa,  where 
the  baggage  of  the  Romans  lay.  The  soldiers,  fearing  the 
loss  of  their  property,  forced  Triarius  to  lead  them  out.  Be- 
fore they  had  time  to  form,  the  barbarians  assailed  them  on 
all  sides,  and  they  would  have  been  utterly  destroyed,  were 
it  not  that  a  centurion,  feigning  to  be  one  of  Mithridates' 
soldiers,  went  up  to  him  and  gave  him  a  wound  in  the  thigh. 
The  centurion  was  instantly  slain,  but  the  confusion  caused  by 
the  danger  of  the  king  enabled  many  of  the  Romans  to  escape. 
Their  loss  however  is  stated  at  seven  thousand  men,  among 
whom  were  twenty-four  tribunes  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
centurions.  It  was  rare  indeed  for  the  Romans  to  lose  so  many 
officers  since  the  days  of  JIannibal. 

Lucullus'  enemies  at  Rome  were  meantime  not  idle  ;  they 
loudly  accused  him  of  protracting  the  war  from  ambition  and 
avarice,  and  a  decree  of  the  people  was  procured  (686),  under 
the  pretext  of  returning  to  the  old  practice  of  shortening 
the  duration  of  military  command,  assigning  to  the  consul 
M'  Acilius  Glabrio  the  province  of  Bithynia  and  Poutus,  and 
directing  that  the  Fimbriansand  the  oldest  of  the  troops  in  Asia 
should  have  their  discharge.  Lucullus  was  encamped  opposite 
the  army  of  Mithridates  when  the  proclamation  of  Glabrio 
arrived,  announcing  that  he  was  deprived  of  his  command, 
giving  their  discharge  to  those  who  were  serving  under  him, 
and  menacing  with  the  loss  of  their  property  those  who  did 
not  obey  the  proclamation.  The  Firabrian  soldiers  immedi- 
ately left  Lucullus;  he  could  do  nothing  with  those  who  re- 
mained; and  Q.  Marcius  Rex,  the  consul  of  the  preceding  year, 
who  was  in  Cilicia,  declined  giving  him  any  aid,  alleging 
that  his  troops  would  not  obey  him,  but  pi-obably  influenced  by 
Clodius,  who  was  also  his  brother-in-law,  and  to  whom  he  had 
given  the  command  of  the  fleet.  Meantime  Glabrio  remained 
inactive  in  Bithynia,  and  the  two  kings  recovered  the  whole 
of  their  dominions. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  East  when  the  tribune 
C.  Mauilius,  with  the  private  view,  it  is  said*,  of  gaining  the 

*  "  Semper  venalis  etalienae  minister  potentise"  is  Velleius'  character  of 
Manilius. 


372  MANILIAN  LAW.  [  B.C.  66. 

favour  and  protection  of  Porapeius,  brought  in  a  bill  giving 
him,  in  addition  to  the  command  and  the  forces  he  had  against 
the  pirates,  the  conduct  of  the  war  against  Tigranes  and 
Mithridates,  with  the  troops  and  provinces  which  Lucullus 
had,  and  alsothose  of  the  proconsuls  Glabrio  and  Marcius, — in 
shoi't,  placing  the  whole  power  of  the  republic  at  his  disposal. 
This  measure  was  viewed  with  just  dread  and  apprehension  by 
the  aristocracy,  who  plainly  saw  that  the  giddy  thoughtless  po- 
pulace were  thus  creating  a  monarch,  and  they  opposed  it  to 
the  utmost.  Hortensius  and  Catulus  employed  all  their  elo- 
quence against  it.  "  Look  out,"  cried  the  latter  to  the  senate 
from  the  Rostra,  "  look  out  for  some  hill  and  precipice 
like  our  ancestors,  whither  you  may  fly  to  preserve  our  li- 
berty *."  The  bill  was  supported  by  C.  Julius  Caesar  and  by 
M.  Tullius  Cicero, — not,  says  the  historian  f,  out  of  regard  to 
Pompeius  or  that  they  thought  it  good  for  the  state,  but  be- 
cause they  knew  it  must  pass  ;  the  former,  who  had  probably 
already  formed  the  plan  which  he  afterwards  executed,  wished 
to  court  the  populace  and  establish  a  precedent,  and  by  heap- 
ing honours  on  Pompeius  to  make  him  the  sooner  odious  to 
the  people  ;  the  latter,  a  vain  man,  wanted  to  display  his  own 
importance,  by  showing  that  whatever  side  he  took  would 
have  the  superiority.  The  bill  was  passed  by  all  the  tribes, 
the  senate  did  not  venture  to  give  any  opposition,  there  was 
thus  no  longer  any  balance  or  counterpoise  in  the  state,  and 
the  Republic  was  virtually  at  an  end. 

Pompeius  received  the  intelligence  of  his  appointment  with 
complaints  of  not  being  allowed  to  retire  into  private  life,  for 
which  he  longed  so  much  ;  but  his  very  friends  were  disgusted 
with  his  hypocrisy,  as  his  actions  soon  proved  it  to  be.  His 
first  care  was  to  reverse  all  the  acts  of  Lucullus  in  order  to  prove 
to  all  the  people  there  that  his  power  was  at  an  end  ;  he  also 
called  all  his  troops  from  him,  and  took  especial  care  to  re- 
enroll  the  Fmibrians,  who  had  shown  themselves  so  refractory. 


*  Plut.,  Pomp.  30.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  allusion  is  to  the  Sacred 
Mount  or  the  Capitol. 

•|-  Dion,  xxxvi.  2f!.  This  writer  is  frequently  unjust  toward  Cicero.  The 
orator  on  this  occasion  seems  to  have  sought  the  favour  of  Pompeius  ;  per- 
haps he  really  thought  the  measure  necessary.  He  was  also  at  all  times 
anxious  to  gain  favour  with  the  knights,  who  were  now  hostile  to  Lucullus  ; 
and  he  perhaps  was  not  unwilling  to  take  some  revenge  on  the  nobility,  who, 
as  he  was  not  one  of  themselves,  endeavoured  to  impede  him  in  his  political 
career. 


B.C.  66.^  POMPEIUS  IN  ASIA.  373 

The  two  commanders  then  had  a  conference  in  a  plain  of  Ga- 
latia.  They  at  first  behaved  to  one  another  with  great  cour- 
tesy ;  but  they  soon  gave  vent  to  their  ill  feeling,  the  one  re- 
proaching the  other  with  his  avarice,  who  replied  by  likening 
his  rival  to  the  bird  that  comes  to  feed  on  the  carcases  of  those 
slain  by  others,  as  he  was  doing  now  what  he  had  before  done 
in  the  cases  of  Lepidus,  Sertorius,  and  Spartacus,  who  had 
been  vanquished  by  Catulus,  Metellus,  and  Crassus,  when  he 
came  to  share  their  fame, — a  reproach  in  which  there  was  no 
little  truth.  Pompeius  took  all  Lucullus'  troops  from  him  but 
sixteen  hundred  men,  whom  he  knew  to  be  inimical  to  him 
and  who  would  be  useless  to  himself. 

Mithridates,  aware  of  the  immense  force  that  could  now  be 
brought  against  him,  sent  to  ask  on  what  terms  peace  might 
be  had.     The  answer  was  the  surrender  of  the  deserters  and 
his  own  unconditional  submission.     As  worse  could  not  be 
expected  in  any  case,  he  resolved  to  try  once  more  the  fate  of 
war;  and  assembling  the  deserters,  and  assuring  them  that  it 
was  on  their  account  he  refused  peace,  he  swore  eternal  hos- 
tility to  Rome  :  he  then  retired  before  the  Romans,  laying  the 
country  waste.     Pompeius  entered  Armenia,  and  Mithridates 
fearing  for  it  came  and  encamped  on  a  hill  opposite  him,  cut- 
ting off  his  supplies,  but  giving  no  opportunity  of  fighting. 
His  position  was  so  strong  that  Pompeius  did  not  venture  to  at- 
tack him;  by  decamping  however  he  drew  him  down,  and  then 
laying  an  ambuscade  cut  off  several  of  his  men.     Soon  after 
Pompeius  being  joined  by  the  troops  of  Marcius,  Mithridates 
broke  up  by  night  and  marched  for  Tigranes'  part  of  Armenia. 
Pompeius  pursued,  anxious  to  bring  him  to  a  battle  ;  but  as 
Mithridates  encamped  by  day  and  marched  by  night,  he  could 
not  succeed  till  they  came  to  the  frontiers  :  then  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  midday  repose  of  the  barbarians,  Pompeius 
marched  on  before  them,  and  coming  to  a  hollow  between  hills 
through  which  they  were  to  pass,  he  halted,  and  placed  hi& 
troops  on  the  hills".     At  nightfall   the  barbarians  set  forth 
unsuspicious   of  danger;    it  was  dark  night  when  they  en- 
tered the  hollow  ;  suddenly  their  ears  were  assailed  by  the 
sound  of  the  trumpets  of  the  Romans,  and  the  clashing  of 
their  arms  and  their  shouts  over  their  heads,  and  arrows,  darts, 
and  stones  were  showered  down  upon  them,  and  then  the  Ro- 
mans fell  on  with  their  swords  and  pila.     The  slaughter  was 
great  and  promiscuous,  as  none  could  make  any  resistance  in 
the  dark ;  and  when  the  moon  at  length  rose,  it  favoured  the 


374  POMPEIUS  IN  ARMENIA.  £  B.C.  66. 

Romans  by  being  behind  their  backs, 'and  thus  lengthening 
their  shadows. 

Mithridates  having  escaped  was  proceeding  to  Tigranes ; 
but  this  king,  irritated  by  his  misfortunes,  and  attributing  the 
conduct  of  his  son,  who  was  in  rebellion  against  him,  to  the 
councils  of  Mithridates,  refused  him  an  asylum,  and  even,  it  is 
said,  set  a  reward  on  his  head.  He  therefore  turned  and  di- 
rected his  course  for  Colchis,  whence  he  went  on  to  the  Maeotis 
and  Bosporus,  where  he  caused  his  son  Machares,  who  had 
joined  the  Romans,  to  be  put  to  death,  and  then  exerted  himself 
in  making  preparations  for  continuing  the  war.  Pompeius, 
when  he  found  he  had  passed  the  Phasis,  gave  up  all  thoughts 
of  pursuit,  and  employed  himself  in  founding  a  city  named 
Nicopolis  in  the  country  where  he  had  gained  his  victory, 
settling  in  it  his  wounded  and  invalid  soldiers,  and  such  of  the 
neighbouring  people  as  chose  to  make  it  their  abode. 

The  young  Tigranes  had  fled  to  Phraates  king  of  the  Par- 
thians,  who  was  his  father-in-law;  and  as  this  monarch  had  formed 
an  alliance  with  Pompeius,  and  promised  to  make  a  diversion 
in  his  favour,  he  nov/ joined  the  young  prince  in  an  invasion 
of  Armenia.  They  advanced  and  laid  siege  to  Artaxata  :  the 
old  king  fled  to  the  mountains;  and  Phraates,  leaving  a  part 
of  his  forces  with  Tigranes  to  continue  the  siege,  which  seemed 
likely  to  be  tedious,  returned  to  his  own  dominions.  The  elder 
Tigranes  then  came  down  and  defeated  his  son,  who  at  fii'st 
was  flying  to  Mithridates  ;  but  learning  that  that  monarch  was 
himself  a  fugitive,  he  repaired  to  Pompeius,  and  became  his 
guide  into  Armenia.  Pompeius  had  passed  the  Araxes  and 
was  approaching  Artaxata,  when  Tigranes,  whose  proposals 
for  peace  had  been  hitherto  frustrated  by  his  son,  embraced 
the  resolution  of  surrendering  his  capital,  and  coming  in  per- 
son as  a  suppliant  to  the  Roman  general.  He  laid  aside  most 
of  the  ensigns  of  his  dignity,  and  approaching  the  camp  on 
horseback,  was  preparing  after  the  oriental  fashion  to  ride  into 
it,  when  a  lictor  met  and  told  him  that  it  was  not  permitted  to 
any  one  to  enter  a  Roman  camp  on  horseback.  He  then  ad- 
vanced on  foot,  and  coining  to  the  tribunal  of  Pompeius,  cast 
himself  on  the  ground  before  him.  The  Roman  general  raised 
and  consoled  the  humbled  monarch  ;  while  his  son,  who  was 
sitting  beside  the  tribunal,  did  not  rise  or  take  any  notice  of 
him  ;  and  when  Pompeius  invited  the  king  to  supper,  the 
young  prince  did  not  appear  at  it;  conduct  which  drew  on 
him  the  aversion  of  Pompeius,  who  next  day,  having  heard 


B.C.  65-63.]      PROGRESS  OF  POHPEIUS,  375 

both  parties,  decided  that  the  king  should  retain  his  paternal 
dominions,  giving  up  all  his  conquests  and  paying  6000  talents, 
and  the  prince  have  the  provinces  of  Gordyeneand  Sophene. 
As  the  treasures  were  in  this  last  countrj',  the  prince  claimed 
them,  and  he  irritated  Pompeius  so  much,  that  at  length  he 
laid  him  in  bonds  and  reserved  him  for  his  triumph. 

Pompeius  wintered  in  Armenia,  forming  three  separate 
camps  on  the  banks  of  the  Cyrnus  (Ktir).  Oroeses,  king  of 
the  neighbouring  Albanians,  having  been  in  aUiance  with  the 
young  Tigranes,  and  fearing  that  his  country  would  be  in- 
vaded in  the  spring,  resolved  to  fall  on  the  Romans  while  they 
were  separate.  In  the  very  depth  of  the  winter,  therefore,  he 
made  three  simultaneous  attacks  on  their  camps ;  but  his  troops 
were  everywhere  driven  off  with  loss,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
sue  for  a  truce. 

When  spring  came  (687),  Pompeius  advanced  into  the 
country  of  the  Iberians,  whose  king  was  obliged  to  give  hos- 
tages and  to  sue  for  peace.  Pompeius  then  entered  Colchis,  in- 
tending to  pursue  Mithridates ;  but  when  he  heard  what  diffi- 
culties he  would  have  to  encounter,  he  gave  up  the  project, 
and  returning  to  Albania  again  defeated  Oroeses.  He  then 
made  peace  with  the  Albanians  and  several  of  the  tribes  that 
dwelt  toward  the  Caspian.  Returning  to  Pontus,  he  received 
the  submission  of  several  of  Mithridates'  governors  and  offi- 
cers ;  large  treasures  were  put  into  his  hands,  all  of  which,  un- 
like Lucullus,  he  delivered  up  to  the  quaestors ;  and  he  sent  Mi- 
thridates' concubines  uninjured  to  their  parents  and  friends. 

Having  regulated  the  affairs  of  this  part  of  Asia,  Pompeius 
proceeded  to  take  possession  of  the  part  of  Syria  which  had 
been  conquered  by  Tigranes.  All  the  cities  submitted  at  his 
approach;  the  Arabian  emirs  did  him  homage,  and  he  reduced 
Syria  to  a  province.  In  the  summer  of  the  following  year 
(688)  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Armenia  to  the  aid  of  Ti- 
granes, M'ho  had  been  attacked  by  Phraates.  He  thence  pro- 
ceeded to  Pontus,  where  he  wintered. 

At  Damascus  the  next  year  (689)  Pompeius  was  waited  on 
by  the  two  brothers  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus,  who  were 
contending  for  the  high  priesthood  at  Jerusalem,  and  now  ap- 
peared as  suitors  for  the  favour  of  the  powerful  Roman.  As 
Pompeius  inclined  to  the  former,  Aristobulus  secretly  retired 
to  the  Holy  City,  and  the  Roman  legions  entered  Judea  for 
the  first  time.  Knowing  his  inability  to  resist,  Aristobulus 
gave  himself  up  to  remain  as  a  prisoner,  till  the  gates  of  Je- 


376  DEATH  OF  MITHRIDATES.  [b.C.  63. 

rusalem  should  be  opened  and  his  treasures  delivered  up  to 
the  Romans.  But  when  A.  Gabinius,  who  was  sent  to  take 
possession  of  the  citj^  appeared,  the  gates  were  closed  against 
him;  Pompeius,  accusing  Aristobvdus  of  treachery,  put  him 
into  close  confinement  and  advanced  to  lay  siege  to  the  city. 
Timber  for  the  construction  of  machines  was  brought  from 
Tyre;  but  though  the  friends  of  Hyrcanus  admitted  the  Ro- 
mans into  the  lower  town,  the  temple  was  so  bravely  defended 
that  the  siege  lasted  three  months  ;  and  it  was  only  by  taking 
advantage  of  the  Sabbath,  on  which  the  superstition  of  the 
Jews  would  not  let  them  defend  themselves,  and  storming  on 
that  day,  that  it  was  taken.  Pompeius,  it  is  said,  entered  into 
the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  temple,  but  he  took  away  none  of 
the  sacred  treasures  ;  the  priesthood  was  given  to  Hyrcanus, 
all  the  conquests  made  by  his  predecessors  were  taken  from 
him,  and  an  annual  tribute  was  imposed  on  the  land. 

When  Pompeius  was  about  to  form  the  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
tidings  came  to  him  of  the  death  of  Mithridates.  This  perse- 
vering monarch,  undismayed  by  his  reverses,  had,  it  is  said, 
formed  the  bold  plan  of  effecting  a  union  of  the  various  tribes 
and  nations  dwelling  from  the  Maeotis  to  the  Alps,  and  at  their 
head  descending  on  Italy  while  Pompeius  v.as  away  in  Syria. 
His  friends  and  otficers,  however,  shrank  from  this  daring  pro- 
ject, and  thought  rather  of  making  their  peace  with  the  Ro- 
mans ;  some  of  them  had  even  carried  off  his  children,  and  put 
them  into  Pompeius'  hands.  This  made  the  old  king  suspi- 
cious and  cruel,  and  he  put  some  of  his  sons  to  death.  His 
son  Pharnaces,  fearing  for  himself,  and  expecting  to  get  the 
kingdom  from  the  Romans,  conspired  against  him  in  the  city 
of  Panticapseum,  where  they  were  residing.  Mithridates  on 
learning  the  conspiracy  sent  his  guards  to  seize  the  rebel,  but 
they  went  over  to  his  side,  and  the  citizens  also  declared  for 
him.  Having  vainly  sent  to  ask  permission  to  depart,  and 
seeing  that  all  was  now  over,  the  aged  monarch  retired  into 
the  palace  and  taking  the  poison  which  he  had  always  ready, 
he  gave  part  of  it  to  his  two  virgin  daughters  and  drank  the 
remainder  himself.  The  princesses  died  immediately  ;  but  his 
own  body  had,  it  is  said,  been  so  fortified  with  antidotes,  that 
the  poison  took  little  effect  on  him.  He  then  implored  a  Gallic 
chief  not  to  let  him  endure  the  disgrace  of  being  led  in  triumph, 
and  the  Gaul  despatched  him  with  his  sword. 

Thus  perished  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age,  and  after 
a  contest  of  twenty-seven  years  with  Rome,  the  king  of  Pou- 


B.C.  62-61.]  TRIUMPH   OF  POMPEIUS.  377 

tus,  a  man  certainly  to  be  classed  among  those  whom  we  deno- 
minate great.  Enterprising,  ambitious,  of  great  strength  and 
dexterity  of  mind  and  body,  quiclc  to  discern  advantages,  un- 
scrupulous as  to  means,  utterly  careless  of  human  life,  and 
therefore  at  times  barbarously  cruel,  his  greatness  was  that  of 
an  Asiatic,  and  his  character  will  find  many  a  parallel,  though 
not  many  an  equal,  in  Oriental  history.  As  a  proof  of  his 
mental  powers,  we  are  told  that,  ruling  over  twenty-two  differ- 
ent peoples,  he  could  converse  with  each  of  them  in  their  own 
language. 

Pompeius,  giving  up  all  thoughts  of  Arabia,  of  which  he 
had  proposed  the  conquest,  returned  to  Pontus.  At  Amisus 
he  was  met  by  envoys  bearing  the  submission  of  Pharnaces, 
with  presents  and  the  embalmed  body  of  Mithridates  and  his 
royal  ornaments.  The  Roman  general,  who  warred  not  with 
the  dead,  sent  the  corpse  for  interment  to  Sinope.  He  con- 
firmed Pharnaces  in  the  kingdom  of  Bosporus,  and  reduced 
Pontus  to  a  province  ;  and  having  wintered  at  Ephesus,  he  set 
out  (690)  on  his  return  for  Italy.  Great  apprehension  was 
felt  at  Rome,  as  it  was  surely  expected  that,  elate  with  conquest 
and  possessed  of  such  power,  he  would  lead  his  army  to  the 
city  and  make  himself  absolute.  But,  true  to  his  character, 
on  landing  at  Brundisium  he  dismissed  his  soldiers  to  their 
homes,  only  requiring  them  to  appear  at  his  triumph,  and  then, 
attended  by  his  friends  alone,  he  set  out  for  Rome. 

His  triumph,  which  took  place  the  following  year  (691 )  and 
lasted  for  two  days,  was  the  most  magnificent  Rome  had  as 
vet  seen.  The  procession  opened  in  the  usual  manner  with 
men  carrying  boards  on  which  were  inscribed  the  names  of 
the  kings  and  nations  against  which  he  had  carried  on  war, 
and  the  number  of  the  ships  he  had  taken  or  destroyed,  and 
of  the  towns  he  had  reduced  or  founded.  The  immense  trea- 
sures and  spoils  he  had  won  were  next  displayed.  The  images 
of  Mithridates,  the  elder  Tigranes,  and  other  absent  princes 
were  carried  along ;  the  younger  Tigranes,  Aristobulus  and 
other  captive  princes  and  their  families  walked  in  the  proces- 
sion before  the  conqueror,  who  appeared  in  a  stately  chariot, 
followed  by  his  officers  and  his  whole  army,  horse  and  foot. 
Contrary  to  the  usual  practice,  none  of  the  captive  princes 
were  put  to  death.  I'he  money  brought  into  the  treasury 
amounted  to  20,000  talents,  besides  16,000  which  the  general 
had  distributed  among  his  soldiers,  the  lowest  sum  given  to 
any  of  them  being  1500  drachmas. 


378  catilina's  conspiracy.  [b.c.  66. 

Even  before  Pompeius  came  to  Rome,  a  decree  had  been 
passed  allowing  him  to  wear  a  triumphal  robe  at  the  Circen- 
sian  games,  the  prcetexta  at  all  others,  and  a  laurel-wreath  at 
all.  He  had  however  the  modesty  to  take  advantage  but  once 
of  this  decree. 


CHAPTER  Vn.* 


Catilina's  conspiracy. — Anest  and  execution  of  the  conspirators. — Defeat 
and  death  of  Catilina. — Honours  given  to  Cicero. — Factious  attempts  at 
Rome. — Clodius  violates  the  Mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea. — His  trial. 

While  Pompeius  was  absent  in  the  East,  a  conspiracy  was 
discovered  and  suppressed  at  Rome,  which  from  the  rank  of 
those  engaged  in  it,  and  the  atrocious  means  resorted  to  to 
accomplish  the  most  nefarious  objects,  sets  in  a  strong  light 
the  state  of  moral  corruption  among  the  Roman  nobility  of 
this  time,  and  shows  that  no  form  of  government  but  the  single 
power  of  monarchy  was  capable  of  maintaining  the  state. 

L.  Sergius  Catilina,  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  patrician 
families,  was  a  man  of  very  great  power  of  mind  and  body,  but 
from  his  youth  familiar  with  every  species  of  crime.  In  the 
time  of  Sulla  he  was  the  murderer  of  his  own  brother;  he  af- 
terwards, it  was  firmly  believed,  put  his  own  son  out  of  the 
way,  to  make  room  for  his  marriage  with  a  beautiful  but  aban- 
doned woman  ;  and  he  was  accused  of  various  other  enormities. 
He  had  been  prgetor  (686)  in  Africa,  and  he  aspired  to  the 
consulate;  but  he  only  regarded  this  high  office  as  the  means 
of  relieving  his  desperate  circumstances,  by  renewing  scenes 
of  proscription,  bloodshed,  and  robbery,  similar  to  those  in 
which  he  had  acted  in  the  days  of  Sulla. 

Catilina  had  collected  around  him  a  vast  number  of  despe- 
radoes of  every  description,  all  bankrupts  in  fame  and  fortune, 
all  who  had  been  punished  or  feared  punishment  from  their 
crimes,  all  in  fine  who  had  anything  to  hope  from  a  revolution. 
He  sought  by  every  means  to  inveigle  young  men  of  family, 
and  for  this  purpose  spared  no  expense  to  gratify  their  pro- 
pensities and  vices.     But  it  was  not  such  alone  that  were  en- 

*  Sallust,  Catilina.  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  ii.  1-7.  Dion,  xxxvii.  24-46. 
Veil.  Pat.  ii.  34,  35.  Plut.,  Cicero,  10-23.  Caesar,  7-18  ;  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  64-3  CATILINA's  CONSPIRACY.  3^ 

gaged  in  his  designs  ;  they  were  shared  in  by  some  of  the  first 
men  in  Rome,  magistrates,  senators,  and  knights*.  In  an  as- 
sembly which  met  on  one  occasion  at  his  house,  when  he  un- 
folded his  views,  there  were  present,  of"  the  senatorian  oi'der, 
P.  Lentulus  Sura,  C.  Cethegus,  P.  and  Ser.  Sulla  (all  of  the 
Cornelian  gens),  L.  Cassius  Longinus,  P.  Autronius,  L.  Var- 
gunteius,  Q.  Annius,  M.  Porcius  Lseca,  L.  Calpurnius  Bestia, 
and  Q.  Curius ;  of  the  equestrian,  M.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  L. 
Statilius,  P.Gabinius  Capito,  and  C.  Cornelius.  It  was  thought 
too  that  M.  Licinius  Ci'assus  and  C.  Julius  Caesar  knew  at  least 
of  the  conspiracy.  Several  women  of  rank  were  also  engaged 
in  it,  as  Catilina  expected  them  to  be  useful  in  raising  the 
slaves,  in  firing  the  city,  in  gaining  over,  or,  if  not,  in  murder- 
ing, their  husbands.  The  young  noblemen  in  general  were  fa- 
vourably disposed  to  it ;  several  leading  men  in  the  colonies 
and  municipal  towns  joined  in  it;  and  it  was  reckoned  that 
Sulla's  soldiers,  who  had  dissipated  their  gains,  would  be  easily 
brought  to  take  arms  again,  along  with  those  whom  he  had 
robbed  of  their  lands. 

The  meeting  alluded  to  was  held  about  the  kalends  of  June, 
688 ;  and  Catilina,  having  addressed  the  conspirators  in  the 
strain  usual  on  such  occasions,  representing  them  as  the  most 
injured  and  unhappy  of  mortals,  and  the  possessors  of  wealth 
as  the  most  oppressive  of  tyrants,  called  on  them  to  aid  in 
every  way  to  gain  him  the  consulate ;  promising  in  return  the 
abolition  of  debts,  proscription  of  the  wealthy,  the  possession 
of  the  lucrative  priesthoods  and  magistracies,  and  rapine  and 
plunder  of  every  kind.  It  was  even  reported,  that  before  they 
separated  they  iDound  themselves  by  an  oath,  drinking  human 
blood  mingled  with  wine. 

A  woman  was  the  cause  of  the  affair's  coming  to  light. 
Curius,  who  carried  on  an  intrigue  with  a  lady  named  Fulvia, 
had  been  of  late  rather  slighted  by  her,  as  he  was  not  able 
from  poverty  to  make  her  presents  as  heretofore  ;  but  he  now 
completely  altered  his  tone,  boasting  of  the  wealth  he  should 
have,  and  treating  her  with  the  greatest  insolence.  Fulvia, 
guessingthattliere  must  be  somesecret  cause  for  such  a  change, 
never  ceased  till  she  had  drawn  the  truth  from  him  ;  and  she 
made  known  what  she  had  heard  without  naming  her  author. 
The  nobility,  whose  pride  had  hitherto  made  them  adverse  to 
Cicero's  getting  the  consulate,  as  he  was  what  v/as  called  a 

*  "  Patricium  nefas"  was  the  name  given  to  this  conspiracy  by  Cornelius 
Sevenis.     Senec.  Suasor.  6. 


380  catilina's  conspiracy.  [b.c.  63. 

new  man,  now  finding  themselves  menaced  with  ruin,  and 
knowing  him  to  be  the  only  man  able  eifectually  to  oppose 
Catilina,  gave  him  their  support,  and  he  and  C.  Antonius  were 
elected. 

Catilina,  though  disappointed,  did  not  despair;  he  resolved 
to  stand  for  the  consulate  again  (689)  ;  he  exerted  himself  to 
gain  more  associates  at  Rome  and  throughout  Italy ;  and 
having  borrowed  money  on  his  own  and  his  friends'  credit,  he 
sent  it  to  Faesulee  to  one  C  Manlius,  one  of  Sulla's  old  officers, 
to  enable  him  to  raise  troops.  He  also  made  every  effort  to  have 
Cicero  taken  off;  but  this  able  consul  went  always  well-guarded, 
and  having  through  Fulvia  gained  over  Curius,  he  received 
regular  information  of  Catilina's  designs ;  he  also,  by  giving 
his  colleague,  who  was  a  distressed  and  profligate  man,  the 
choice  of  provinces,  secured  his  fidelity  to  the  state. 

The  day  of  election  came,  and  Catilina  was  again  foiled. 
He  now  became  desperate  and  resolved  on  war,  for  which 
purpose  he  sent  Manlius  back  to  Foesulse,  C.  Julius  to  Apidia, 
and  one  Septimius  to  Picenum,  and  others  to  other  places  ; 
then  assembling  the  principal  conspirators  and  upbraiding 
them  with  their  inertness,  he  declared  his  intention  of  setting 
out  for  Manlius'  army,  but  said  that  he  must  first  have  an  end 
put  to  Cicero,  who  impeded  all  his  plans.  A  senator  and  a 
knight,  L.  Vargunteius  and  C.  Cornelius,  forthwith  offered  to 
go  that  very  night  with  armed  men  to  the  consul's  house, 
and  under  pretence  of  saluting  to  murder  him.  Curius,  as 
no  time  was  to  be  lost,  hastened  to  Fulvia ;  the  consul  was 
warned  in  time,  and  his  doors  were  closed  against  the  assas- 
sins. Cicero  having  also  ascertained  that  Manlius  was  actu- 
ally in  arms,  saw  that  there  was  no  further  room  for  delay ; 
he  laid  the  whole  matter  before  the  senate,  and  it  was  decreed 
in  the  usual  form  that  the  consuls  should  take  measures  for 
the  safety  of  the  state.  The  praetors  and  other  officers  were 
sent  to  Apulia  and  elsewhere  to  provide  against  emergencies; 
guards  were  placed  at  Rome ;  the  gladiators  were  removed  to 
Capua  and  other  towns  ;  rewards  were  offered  for  information, 
to  a  slave  his  freedom  and  100,000  sesterces,  to  a  freeman 
double  that  sum  and  a  pardon. 

At  length  Catilina,  as  if  he  were  the  victim  of  persecution, 
boldly  entered  the  senate  and  faced  his  foes.  Cicero's  anger 
was  roused  at  the  sight  of  him  ;  he  poured  forth  a  flood  of 
indignant  oratory  :  the  overwhelmed  traitor  muttered  some 
sentences   of  exculpation ;   the  whole  senate  called  him  an 


B.C.  63.]  catilina's  conspiracy.  38] 

enemy  and  a  parricide  ;  he  then  flung  off  the  mask,  and  in  a 
fury  crying  out  that  he  would  quench  the  flames  raised  around 
him  in  the  ruins  of  his  country,  he  left  the  house  and  hurried 
to  his  home.  Then  having  directed  Lentulus  and  the  others 
how  to  act,  he  set  out  that  very  night  with  a  few  companions 
for  the  camp  of  Manlius.  On  his  way  he  wrote  to  several 
consulars,  saying  that  he  was  going  into  exile  at  Massilia ;  it 
was  however  soon  ascertained  that  he  had  entered  the  rebel 
camp  with  fasces  and  other  consular  ornaments.  The  senate 
then  proclaimed  him  and  Manlius  public  enemies,  and  offered 
a  pardon  to  all  those,  not  guilty  of  capital  crimes,  who  should 
quit  them  before  a  certain  day ;  but  neither  this  nor  the 
former  decree  had  the  slightest  effect,  such  was  the  general 
appetite  for  change,  for  blood,  and  for  rapine. 

Lentulus  meantime  was  exerting  himself  to  gain  associates, 
and  as  there  happened  to  be  ambassadors  from  the  AUobroges 
then  at  Rome,  come,  as  usual,  to  try  if  they  could  get  redress 
from  the  senate  for  the  oppression  of  the  Roman  governors, 
he  made  one  Umbrenus  sound  them,  and  when  they  eagerly 
caught  at  hopes  of  relief,  Umbrenus  introduced  them  to  Ga- 
binius  and  informed  theni  of  tiie  conspiracy,  telling  them  the 
names  of  those  engaged  in  it,  and  mentioning  among  others 
many  innocent  persons.  They  agreed  on  the  part  of  their 
nation  to  join  it;  but  afterwards,  when  they  reflected  coolly 
on  the  matter,  they  thought  the  course  too  hazardous,  and 
went  and  revealed  all  they  knew  to  Q.  Fabius  Sanga,  the 
patron  of  their  state.  Sanga  instantly  informed  Cicero,  who 
directed  that  they  should  pretend  the  greatest  zeal  for  the 
plot,  and  learn  as  much  of  it  as  they  could. 

The  conspirators  had  now  arranged  their  plan.  On  a  cer- 
tain day,  Bestia,  who  was  a  tribune,  was  to  harangue  the  peo- 
ple, throwing  all  the  blame  of  the  civil  war  now  on  the  eve  of 
breaking  out  on  Cicero ;  the  following  night  Statilius  and 
Gabinius  with  their  bands  were  to  fire  the  city  in  twelve 
places,  while  Cethegus  should  watch  at  Cicero's  doors,  others 
at  those  of  other  men  of  rank,  to  kill  them  as  they  came  out; 
the  young  noblemen  were  to  murder  their  lathers;  and  thus 
having  filled  the  city  with  blood  and  tumult,  the  whole  party 
were  to  break  out  and  join  Catilina. 

By  Cicero's  direction  the  AUobroges  required  an  oath, 
sealed  by  tlie  principal  conspiratf^rs,  to  take  home  to  their 
people.  This  was  readily  given  them,  and  one  T.  Volturcius 
was  directed  to  go  with  them  and  introduce  them  on  the  wav 


382  ARREST  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS.  [b.C.  63. 

to  Catilina,  to  whom  he  was  also  the  bearer  of  a  letter  from 
Lentulus.  They  left  Rome  by  night,  and  when  they  came  to 
the  Mulvian  bridge  they  were  assailed  by  the  troops  which 
they  knew  the  consul  had  placed  there  :  they  gave  themselves 
up  at  once,  as  also  did  Volturcius,  seeing  that  resistance  was 
in  vain,  and  all  were  brought  back  to  Rome.  Cicero,  having 
now  sufficient  evidence  in  his  hands,  sent  for  the  principal 
conspirators  and  arrested  them,  and  he  then  called  the  senate 
together  in  the  temple  of  Concord.  The  letters  were  read ; 
the  Allobroges  gave  their  evidence  ;  Volturcius,  being  pro- 
mised life  and  liberty,  made  a  full  confession  ;  and  Lentulus 
and  the  rest  acknowledged  their  seals.  It  was  decreed  that 
Lentulus,  who  was  praetor,  should  lay  down  his  office,  and  that 
he  and  all  the  rest  should  be  held  in  free  custody.  The  tide 
of  popular  feeling  turned  completely  against  the  conspira- 
tors when  it  was  known  that  they  had  designed  to  fire  the 
city,  and  every  voice  now  extolled  the  consul. 

In  a  day  or  two  after,  one  L.  Tarquinius  was  taken  on  his 
way  to  Catilina,  and  being  promised  his  life,  told  the  same 
story  with  Volturcius,  but  added,  that  he  was  sent  by  M. 
Crassus  to  tell  Catilina  not  to  be  cast  down  at  the  arrest  of 
Lentulus  and  the  others,  but  on  the  contrary  to  advance  with 
all  speed  towards  the  city.  The  information  was  possibly  true, 
but  such  was  the  power  and  influence  his  wealth  gave  Crassus, 
and  so  many  of  the  senators  were  in  his  debt,  that  it  was  at 
once  voted  false,  and  Tarquinius  was  ordered  to  be  laid  in 
chains  till  he  should  tell  at  whose  instigation  he  acted.  Some 
thought  it  was  a  plan  of  Autronius,  that,  by  implicating  Cras- 
sus, he  might  save  himself  and  the  others;  others,  that  it  was 
done  by  Cicero  to  keep  Crassus  from  taking  up  the  cause  of 
criminals,  as  was  his  wont.  Crassus  himself  afl'ected  to  take 
this  last  view  of  the  case.  Catulus  and  Piso,  it  is  said,  tried, 
but  in  vain,  to  induce  the  consul  to  implicate  Ceesar*;  yet 
the  opinion  of  his  being  concerned  was  so  strong,  that  some 
of  the  knights  menaced  him  with  their  swords  as  he  came  out 
of  the  senate. 

Some  days  after  (the  nones  of  December),  Cicero,  having 
ascertained  that  Lentulus  and  Cethegus  were  making  every 
exertion  to  induce  the  slaves  and  the  rabble  to  rise  in  their 
favour,  again  assembled  the  senate,  and  put  the  question  what 
should  be  done  with  thoso  in  custody,  as  they  had  already 

*  Sallust,  Catil.  49.     Perhaps  they  only  wanted  him  to  produce  the  evi- 
dence he  possessed.     See  Cic.  de  Off.  ii.  24. 


B.C.  63.]  EXECUTION  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS.  383 

declared  them  guilty  of  treason.  D.  Junius  Silanus,  consul- 
elect,  being,  as  was  usual,  asked  the  first,  voted  for  capital 
punishment.  When  the  consul  put  the  question  to  C.  Caesar, 
preetor-elect,  he  rose,  and  in  an  artful  speech,  dissuaded  from 
severity,  and  proposed  that  their  properties  should  be  confis- 
cated, themselves  confined  in  the  municipal  towns,  and  that 
any  one  who  should  speak  in  their  favour  to  the  senate  or 
people  should  be  held  to  have  acted  against  the  interests  of 
the  republic.  This  speech  caused  many  to  waver  ;  but  when 
M.  Porcius  Cato,  one  of  the  tribunes,  rose,  and  displayed  the 
guilt  of  the  conspirators  in  its  true  colours,  and  the  danger 
and  impolicy  of  ill-timed  clemency,  their  execution  was  de- 
cided on  almost  unanimously.  Cicei'o  that  very  day,  having 
directed  the  Capital  Triumvirs  to  have  everything  ready, 
himself  conducted  Lentulus  to  the  prison,  where  he  was  im- 
mediately strangled  by  the  officers*,  as  also  were  Cethegus, 
Statilius,  Gabinius,  and  Coeparius.  When  Cicero  came  forth, 
he  said,  using  a  common  euphemism,  "  They  have  lived  !"  in 
order  to  extinguish  the  hopes  of  such  of  their  confederates  as 
were  in  the  Forum.  The  populace  then  gave  a  loose  to  their 
joy,  and  followed  him  home,  calling  him  the  saviour  and 
founder  of  the  city  ;  and  it  being  now  evening,  lights  were  set 
at  the  doors  throughout  all  the  streets,  and  the  women  stood 
on  the  roofs  of  the  houses  to  gaze  on  him  as  he  passed. 

Catilina  had  meantime  augmented  his  forces  from  two  thou- 
sand men  to  two  legions,  of  w  hich  however  only  a  fourth  were 
properly  armed.  On  the  approach  of  Antonius,  who  was  sent 
against  him,  he  fell  back  into  the  mountains,  avoiding  an 
action  till  he  should  hear  from  Rome.  He  also  rejected  the 
slaves,  who  at  first  were  flocking  to  him  in  great  numbers. 
But  when  the  news  of  the  execution  of  Lentulus  and  the 
others  came,  and  he  found  his  forces  melting  away, — as  those 
whose  only  object  had  been  plunder,  thinking  the  case  now 
desperate,  were  going  off"  every  day, — he  tried  to  escape  into 
Cisalpine  Gaul  with  those  who  remained.  But  Q.  Metellus 
Celer,  who  commanded  in  Picenum,  being  informed  by  de- 
serters of  his  design,  came  and  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains.  Catilina,  seeing  escape  thus  cut  off,  resolved  to 
give  battle  to  Antonius.  He  chose  a  position  near  Pistoria  be- 
tween hills  on  one  side  and  rocks  on  the  other ;  and  having 
placed  his  best  men  in  front,  and  sent  away  all  the  horses,  that 
the  danger  might  be  equal,  he  prepared  for  action.  Antonius, 
*  In  the  TuUianum.     Sail.  Cat.  55,  see  above,  p.  322,  note. 


384  HONOURS  GIVEN  TO  CfCERO.  [b.C.62. 

being  either  really  ill  of  the  gout,  or  making  it  a  pretext,  gave 
the  command  to  his  legate  M.  Petreius.  Catilina  and  his  men 
fought  with  desperation,  and  were  slain  to  a  man;  and  the 
loss  on  the  part  of  the  victors  was  also  considerable  (690). 

The  suppression  of  this  conspiracy  was  doubtless  the  most 
glorious  act  of  Cicero's  life ;  and  could  he  have  controlled  his 
vanit}',  which  was  inordinate,  and  left  more  to  others  the  task 
of  praising  it,  his  fame  would  perhaps  be  purer*.  Pompeius 
declared  more  than  once  in  the  senate  that  the  safety  of  the 
state  was  due  to  Cicero,  and  that  he  himself  had  vainly  been 
entitled  to  claim  a  third  triumph  if  Cicero  had  not  preserved 
a  republic  for  him  to  triumph  inf.  Crassus  said  on  one  occa- 
sion that  he  was  indebted  to  Cicero  for  his  being  now  a  sena- 
tor, a  citizen,  free,  and  alive  ;  and  that  whenever  he  looked 
at  his  wife,  his  house,  his  country,  he  beheld  his  good  deeds  J. 
L.  Gellius  declared  in  the  senate  that  he  deserved  a  civic 
crown  ;  and  on  the  motion  of  the  censor  L.  Aurelius  Cotta 
a  supplication  §  was  decreed  him, — an  honour  never  before 
granted  to  a  togaed  citizen.  Finally,  he  was  styled  by  Q. 
Catulus  the  first  of  the  senate.  Father  of  his  Country  ||  ;  and 
several  of  the  senators,  even  Cato  included,  joined  in  the  ap- 
pellation ;  and  when,  on  going  out  of  office,  he  was  prevented 
by  the  tribune  Q.  Meteilus  Nepos  from  haranguing  the  people, 
as  was  usual,  before  he  made  oath  that  he  had  kept  the  laws, 
he  swore  aloud  that  through  him  alone  the  republic  and  the 
city  had  been  saved  ;  and  the  whole  people  averred  that  he 
had  sworn  the  truth  ^. 

But  the  party  who  wished  the  subversion  of  the  state  per- 
sisted in  their  efforts  against  him.  The  same  Meteilus,  urged 
on  by  Caesar  it  is  said,  proposed  a  bill  to  recall  Pompeius  with 
his  army,  in  order  to  end  the  seditions  caused  by  the  attempt 
of  Catilina  and  the  tyranny  of  Cicero.  As  this  was  evidently 
directed  against  the  senate,  Cato  tried  at  first,  in  that  assem- 
bly, to  soothe  Meteilus,  reminding  him  of  the  aristocratic 
feelings  always  shown  by  his  family  ;  but  when  he  found  that 

*  "  Consulutus  Ciceronis  non  sine  causa  sed  sine  fine  ab  ipso  laudatus," 
observes  Seneca,  De  Brev.  Vit.  5. 

t  Cic.  De  Off.  i.  22. 

+  Id.  ad  Att.  i.  14, 

§  Id.  Phil.  ii.  5,  6.  The  jt«/?j3//crt</on  or  thanksgiving  (the  probable  origin 
of  the  Te  Deum  of  modern  times)  was  usually  given  only  on  occasion  of 
victories  over  foreign  enemies  in  the  field. 

\\  This  was  the  first  occasion  of  giving  this  title.  Plin.  N.  H.  vii.  30. 
"  Roma  Patrem  Patria;  Ciceronem  libera  dixit."     Juv.  Sat.  viii.  244. 

^    Cic.  Pis.  3,  ad  Fam.  v.  2. 


B.C.  62.  j  FACTIOUS  ATTEMPTS  AT   ROME.  385 

this  only  increased  his  insolence,  he  changed  his  tone,  and 
loudly  declared  that  while  he  lived  Pompeius  should  not  bring 
an  army  into  the  city  ;  and  he  pointed  out  to  the  senate  the 
evident  danger  of  the  pioposed  measure. 

When  the  day  of  voting  came,  Metellus  filled  the  Forum 
with  strangers,  gladiators,  and  slaves,  being  resolved  to  carry 
his  bill  by  force.  Cato's  family  and  friends  were  under  great 
apprehension  for  him ;  but,  fixed  on  doing  his  duty,  when  one 
of  his  colleagues,  Q.  Minucius,  came  and  called  him  up  in  the 
morning,  he  rose  and  set  out  for  the  Forum.  Seeing  the 
temple  of  Castor  occupied  by  gladiators,  while  Cagsar  and 
Metellus  sat  on  the  Rostra,  he  cried,  "  What  a  bold  and  timid 
man,  who  has  raised  such  a  force  against  one  unarmed  man  !" 
He  then  advanced  to  the  Rostra,  and  took  his  seat  between 
the  two  :  numbers  of  well-disposed  persons  in  the  crowd 
cried  out  to  him  to  be  stout,  and  to  those  about  them  to  stand 
by  him  in  defence  of  their  freedom.  Metellus  then  ordered 
the  clerk  to  read  out  the  bill ;  Cato  forbade  him.  Metellus 
took  it  himself,  and  began  to  read  it ;  Cato  snatched  it  from 
him.  Metellus  then  began  to  repeat  it  from  memory ;  but 
Minucius  put  his  hand  on  his  mouth  and  stopped  it.  Metel- 
lus then  ordered  his  gladiators  to  act.  The  people  were  di- 
spersed ;  Cato  remained  alone  ;  he  was  assailed  with  sticks  and 
stones  ;  but  Murena,  whom  he  had  one  time  prosecuted,  threw 
his  toga  over  hirn,  and  brought  him  into  the  temple  of  Cas- 
tor. Metellus  then  dismissed  his  bandits,  and  was  proceeding 
at  his  ease  to  pass  his  law,  when  the  opposite  party  rallied  and 
drove  him  and  his  partizans  away.  Cato  came  forth  and  en- 
couraged them,  and  the  senate  met  and  passed  a  decree  for 
the  consuls  to  take  care  of  the  republic.  Metellus  having 
assembled  the  people,  and  uttered  a  tirade  against  the  tyranny 
of  Cato  and  the  conspiracy  against  Pompeius,  went  off  to 
Asia  to  boast  to  him  of  what  he  had  done.  The  senate  de- 
prived both  him  and  Cassar  of  their  offices;  the  latter  at  first 
disregarded  the  decree,  and  sat  in  court  as  usual;  but  finding 
that  Ibrce  was  about  to  be  employed  against  him,  he  dismissed 
his  lictors  and  retired  to  his  house  ;  and  when,  two  days  after, 
a  multitude  repaired  to  him  offering  to  re-instate  him  by  force, 
he  declined  their  services.  This  conduct,  so  unexpected,  was 
so  grateful  to  the  senate,  that  they  sent  forthwith  to  thank 
him,  and  rescinded  their  decree  *. 

At  the  close  of  Caesar's  pra^torship,  the  rites  of  the  Bona 
*  Suetonius,  Jul.  Cces.  IC. 

S 


386  TRIAL  OF  CLODIUS.  [b.C.61. 

Dea  were,  according  to  usage,  celebrated  by  the  v/omen  in  his 
house.  At  this  festival  no  man  was  allowed  to  be  present ; 
but  P.  Clodius,  the  brother-in-law  of  Lucullus,  a  man  of  such 
profligacy  of  morals  that'the  suspicion  of  incest  with  his  own 
sisters  was  so  strong  against  him  that  Lucullus  had  divorced 
his  wife  on  account  of  it,  shrank  not  from  polluting  the  my- 
steries. He  was  violently  enamoured  of  Caesar's  wife,  Pom- 
peia  ;  and  it  was  arranged  between  them,  that,  to  elude  the 
vigilance  of  her  mother-in-law  Aurelia,  he  should  come  dis- 
guised as  a  woman.  He  got  into  the  house,  but  while  Abra 
the  slave  who  was  the  confidant  was  gone  to  inform  her  mis- 
tress, he  went  roaming  about,  and  meeting  one  of  Aurelia's 
slaves  was  discovered  by  her.  She  gave  the  alarm  ;  a  search 
■was  made  for  the  impious  intruder,  but  by  the  aid  of  Abra  he 
effected  his  escape.  The  affair  was  soon  however  known  to 
every  one.  The  senate  consulted  the  pontiffs,  and  on  their 
pronouncing  it  to  have  been  impiety,  the  new  consuls,  M. 
Pupius  Piso  and  M.  Valerius  Messala  (691 ),  were  directed  to 
bring  the  matter  before  the  people.  Piso,  himself  a  man  of 
indifferent  character,  and  the  creature  of  Pompeius,  worked 
underhand  against  it.  Clodius  and  his  partizans  exerted  them- 
selves to  have  a  good  body  of  the  rabble  in  readiness  to  dis- 
turb the  voting.  The  nobles,  seeing  how  it  would  be,  had  the 
assembly  dismissed ;  and  on  the  motion  of  Q.  Hortensius,  it 
-was  resolved  that  the  preetor  and  the  usual  judges,  who  were 
to  be  chosen  by  lot,  should  try  the  matter.  Money  and  every 
other  inducement  were  now  to  be  employed  on  the  judges, 
■who  were  mostly  embarrassed  and  profligate  men.  Crassus,  as 
usual,  was  most"^liberal*  ;  and  out  of  fifty-six,  thirty-one  ac- 
quitted Clodius.  The  judges  pretending  fear  had  asked  a 
guard  from  the  senate.  "  Were  you  afraid,"  said  Catulus  a 
few  days  after  to  one  of  them,  "  that  the  money  would  be 
taken  from  you  ?  "  "When  Clodius  in  the  senate  afterwards 
said  to  Cicero,  who  had  given  evidence  against  him-f,  that  the 
judges  had  not  given  him  credit,  "Yes,"  replied  he,  "twenty- 
five  did  ;  but  thirty-one  would  not  give  you  credit,  for  they 
received  the  money  beforehand," — so  notorious  was  the  man- 

*  Cicero  ad  Att.  1.  18. 

f  Clodius  had  attempted  to  prove  an  alibi,  by  bringing  people  to  swear 
that  he  had  been  at  Interamna,  sixty  miles  off,  at  the  time  he  was  said  to 
have  been  in  Caesar's  house  ;  but  Cicero  when  examined  declared  that  he 
had  been  with  him  at  Rome  that  very  morning.  Clodius  never  forgave  him 
for  not  having  perjured  himself. 


POMPEIUS  AND  LUCULLUS.  387 

ner  in  which  the  verdict  had  been  obtained.  Ceesar,  when 
examined  on  the  trial,  though  his  mother  and  sister  had  given 
the  fullest  and  most  satisfactory  evidence,  denied  that  he  had 
found  anything  wrong.  He  had  however  divorced  his  wife; 
and  on  being  asked  why  he  did  so,  as  he  declared  her  to  be 
innocent,  he  replied,  "  Because  I  will  have  those  belonging  to 
me  as  free  from  suspicion  as  from  crime*."  A  very  specious 
sentiment  certainly  I  Caesar  however  could  have  had  no  doubt 
of  his  wife's  guilt,  but  he  wanted  to  secure  the  aid  of  Clodius, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  a  bold  villain,  for  his  future  projects, 
and  he  thought  the  purchase  worth  the  price. 


CHAPTER  Vin.f 

Pompeius  and  Lucullus. — C.  Julius  Csesar. — M.  Licinius  Crassus. — M.  Por- 
cius  Cato. — M.  Tullius  Cicero- — Pompeius  at  Rome. — Consulate  of 
Caesar. — Exile  of  Cicero. — Robbery  of  the  king  of  Cyprus. — Recall  of 
Cicero. — His  conduct  after  his  return. 

As  Catulus  died  about  this  time,  and  Hortensius  did  not  take 
a  very  prominent  part  in  public  affairs,  the  leading  men  in 
the  Roman  state  were  Lucullus,  Pompeius,  Caesar,  Crassus, 
Cato  and  Cicero.  We  will  now,  therefore,  sketch  the  previous 
history  of  these  persons.  The  actions  of  the  first  two  have 
been  already  related.  Pompeius  now  only  aimed  at  maintain- 
ing a  virtual  supremacy  in  the  state :  he  was  no  tyrant  by 
nature ;  but  he  was  vain  and  covetous  of  fame,  and  finding 
himself  thwarted  and  opposed  in  the  senate,  he  courted  the 
favour  of  the  people.  Lucullus,  after  his  return  from  Asia, 
took  little  share  in  public  affairs ;  he  abandoned  himself  to  lux- 
urious enjoyments  to  such  an  excess  as  to  have  made  his  name 
proverbial.  His  luxury,  however,  was  of  a  far  more  refined 
and  elegant  nature  than  was  usual,  and  he  was  a  zealous  patron 
and  cultivator  of  literature.  He  rarely  visited  the  senate  or 
Forum,  and  only  Avhen  it  was  necessary  to  oppose  the  projects 
of  Pompeius,  with  whom  he  was  justly  incensed  for  his  treat- 
ment of  him  in  Asia.  His  politics  were  at  all  times  aristocratic. 

*  Suetonius,  Jul.  Caes.  74. 

f  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  ii.  8-16.  Dion,  xxxviii.  1-30,  xxxix.  6-11,  17-23. 
Velleius,  ii.  41-45,  Plut.,  Cicero,  1-34;  Cato,  1-40;  Caesar,  11-14; 
Pompeius,  46-50  ;  the  Epitomators. 

s  2 


S88  C.  JULIUS  C^SAR. 

C.  Julius  Caesar,  of  an  ancient  patrician  family,  was  nephew 
by  marriage  to  Marius,an(l  had  married  the  daughter  of  Cinna, 
whom,  when  ordered  by  Sulla,  he  refused  to  divorce.  The 
dictator  then  would  not  allow  him  to  assume  the  dignity  of 
Flamen  Dialis  (to  which  he  had  been  nominated  by  Marius 
and  Cinna)  ;  deprived  him  of  his  wife's  portion,  and  his  gen- 
tile rights  of  inheritance  ;  and  only  granted  his  life  to  the 
prayers  of  the  Vestals,  and  of  his  relations  Mam.  ^milius  and 
C  Aurelius  Cotta,  telling  them  at  the  same  time,  it  is  said,  that 
he  would  one  time  be  the  destruction  of  the  aristocratic  party, 
for  that  there  were  many  Marii  in  him*.  Cffisar  retired  to 
Asia,  and  his  enemies  always  asserted  that  at  this  time  he 
disgraced  himself  by  becoming  the  object  of  the  pleasure  of 
Nicomedes  king  of  Bithynia.  On  the  death  of  Sulla  he  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  prosecuted  Cn.  Cornelius  Dolabella  for 
extortion  in  Greece ;  but  failing  to  convict  him,  he  retired  to 
Rhodes  to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  rhetorician  Molo.  On 
his  way  he  was  taken  by  pirates,  and  while  detained  by  them, 
waiting  for  his  ransom,  he  used,  apparently  in  jest,  to  threaten 
that  he  would  yet  crucify  them  ;  but  when  at  liberty,  he  col- 
lected a  fleet,  attacked  them,  and  did  as  he  had  threatened. 
When  he  came  back  to  Rome  he  was  chosen  by  the  people 
one  of  the  military  tribunes  (682),  and  he  was  active  in  aiding 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  in  restoring  their  powers  to  the  tribunes 
of  the  people.  He  then  (686)  went  as  quaestor  with  Antistius 
Vetus  to  Ulterior  Spain  ;  but  finding  no  occupation  there  for 
his  ambitious  spirit,  he  obtained  leave  to  return  to  Rome,  and 
his  wife  Cornelia  being  now  dead,  he  espoused  Pompeia,  a 
grand-daughter  of  Sulla's.  He  soon  after  (687)  fell  under  a 
strong  suspicion  of  being  concerned  with  Crassus,  Catilina, 
Piso  and  others  to  murder  a  part  of  the  senate;  Crassus,  it  is 
said,  was  then  to  be  dictator,  and  Caesar  his  master  of  the 
horse.  Piso  being  sent  to  Spain,  Caesar,  it  is  added,  planned 
a  simultaneous  rising  with  him ;  but  the  death  of  Piso  pre- 
vented its  execution.  Caesar  was  aedile  this  year,  and  he  en- 
tertained the  people  with  all  kinds  of  shows  at  an  enormous 
expense  ;  and  as  a  means  of  repairing  his  fortune,  he  sought 
the  charge  of  reducing  Egypt  to  the  form  of  a  province  ;  but 
the  nobility  opposed,  and  to  spite  them  he  replaced  on  the 
Capitol  the  statues  and  the  Cimbric  trophies  of  Marius,  which 

*  "  Male  pi-aecinctum  puerum  caveie,"  was  another  of  Sulla's  cautions  to 
his  party  with  respect  to  Caesar,  who  wore  his  toga  and  tunic  in  a  loose 
flowing  manner.     Suet.  Jul.  Ctes.  45.      Dion,  xliii.  43. 


M.  LICINIUS  CKASSUS  AND  M.  PORCIUS  CATO.  389 

Sulla  had  removed.  Q.  Catulus,  observing  these  proceedings, 
exclaimed,  "  Ccesar  assails  the  constitution  now  with  engines, 
not  by  mines."  Csesar  also  caused  to  be  prosecuted  as  mur- 
derers those  who  had  received  money  out  of  the  treasury  for 
bringing  the  heads  of  the  proscribed  ;  and  he  excited  T.  La- 
bienus  to  prosecute  C.  Iiabirius  for  the  murder  of  L.  Satur- 
ninus,  who  was  put  to  death  by  order  of  the  senate  thirty- 
seven  years  before.  On  the  death  of  the  chief  pontiff  Metel- 
lus  Pius  he  stood  for  the  office  against  Q.  Catulus  and  P.  Ser- 
vilius  Isauricus,  two  of  the  first  men  in  the  state,  relying  on 
the  power  of  his  money  ;  for  he  had  bribed  to  such  an  extent, 
and  was  thereby  so  immersed  in  debt,  that  when  taking  leave 
of  his  mother  on  the  day  of  election,  he  said  to  her,  "  Mother, 
you  will  see  your  son  today  chief  pontiff  or  an  exile."  He 
was  elected  :  having  had  more  votes  in  his  competitors'  own 
tribes  than  they  had  altogether.  He  was  praetor-elect  at  the 
time  of  Catilina's  conspiracy,  and  we  have  seen  his  conduct 
on  that  occasion  and  his  union  with  Metellus  Nepos.  On  the 
expiration  of  his  office  he  was  appointed  propraetor  in  Spain  ; 
but  his  creditors  would  not  let  him  leave  the  city  till  Crassus, 
Avho  knew  how  useful  he  might  be  to  him,  satisfied  the  more 
urgent,  and  gave  security  to  the  amount  of  eight  hundred  and 
thirty  talents  to  the  others. 

M.  Licinius  Crassus  was  a  man  of  considerable  talent  and 
eloquence,  but  of  insatiable  avarice.  In  the  time  of  Sulla  he 
obtained  by  gift  or  purchase  at  low  rates  an  immense  quantity 
of  the  property  of  the  proscribed,  and  he  used  every  means  to 
augment  his  wealth.  He  courted  the  people  with  entertain- 
ments ;  he  lent  money  to  his  friends  without  interest,  and  to 
others  on  interest ;  and  by  these  means  had  such  a  number  of 
persons  under  his  influence,  that  he  possessed  considerable 
power  in  the  state.  His  eloquence  gave  him  great  advantage 
as  an  advocate,  and  he  usually  undertook  the  defence  of  those 
accused  of  crimes.  Crassus  had  not  the  great  talents  of  Caesar, 
but  his  private  character  was  much  purer. 

M.  Porcius  Cato,  a  descendant  of  the  celebrated  censor,  was 
like  him  a  rigid  maintainer  of  the  old  Roman  manners.  His 
life  was  stainless,  his  morals  austere ;  but  he  was  not  totally 
exempt  from  the  vanity  which  seemed  inherent  in  his  family. 
Having  served  as  a  military  tribune  in  Macedonia,  and  made 
a  tour  through  Asia,  he  returned  to  Rome,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  public  affairs.  He  was  first  appointed  to  the  quaestor- 
ship,  and  (what  was,  it  seems,  very  unusual  at  the  time,)  be- 


390  M.  TULLIUS  CICERO. 

fore  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  liis  office  be  made  himself 
master  of  the  laws  and  rules  belonging  to  it.  The  clerks,  who 
heretofore  had  done  all  the  business  as  they  pleased  under  the 
name  of  the  ignorant  young  noblemen  who  were  appointed  to 
the  office,  now  found  matters  quite  altered  ;  they  attempted  to 
thwart  him,  but  he  turned  some  of  them  out,  and  soon  reduced 
them  to  order.  He  brought  the  treasury  into  a  more  flourish- 
ing state  than  it  had  been  for  some  time.  He  made  those  who 
had  received  from  Sulla  the  5O,0C0  sesterces  for  the  murder 
of  the  proscribed  refund,  as  possessing  the  public  money  un- 
lawfully :  and  they  were  then  prosecuted  for  the  murders  they 
had  committed.  Cato  never  was  absent  from  a  sitting  of  the 
senate  or  an  assembly  of  the  people  ;  he  was  the  first  to  enter, 
the  last  to  leave,  the  senate-house  ;  in  the  intervals  of  busi- 
ness he  drew  his  cloak  before  his  face  and  read,  having  a  book 
always  with  hira.  When  his  friends,  in  the  year  689,  urged 
him  to  stand  for  the  tribunate,  he  declined  and  retired  to  his 
estate  in  Lucania ;  but  on  his  road  meeting  the  train  of  Me- 
tellus  Nepos,  who  was  going  with  Pompeius'  approbation  to 
sue  for  the  office,  he  paused,  and  having  reflected  on  the  evil 
Metellus  might  do  if  not  vigorously  opposed,  he  returned,  of- 
fered himself  as  a  candidate,  and  being  elected  acted  as  we 
have  seen  above.  Cicero  objected  to  Cato  that  he  did  not, 
like  himself,  bend  to  circumstances,  speaking,  as  he  terms  it, 
as  if  he  were  in  Plato's  Republic  and  not  in  the  dregs  of  Ro- 
mulus* ;  and  his  observation  is  just ;  but  it  is  perhaps  this  very 
thing  that  gives  dignity  to  Cato's  character  :  as  for  the  repub- 
lic, it  was  already  past  redemption. 

M.  Tullius  Cicero  was  a  native  of  Arpinum  in  the  Volscian 
country,  where  his  family  had  been  connected  with  that  of 
Marius.  His  superior  talents  early  displayed  themselves  and 
were  sedulously  cultured  ;  and  though  of  rather  a  timid  cha- 
racter, he  ventured  to  plead  the  cause  of  Sex.  Roscius,  who 
was  unjustly  prosecuted  for  parricide  by  Sulla's  freedraan 
Chrysogonus  and  his  agents,  after  they  had  robbed  him  of  his 
property.  Though  he  succeeded,  Sulla  testified  no  enmity 
toward  him  ;  he  however  some  time  after  went  to  Greece  for 
the  sake  of  study,  and  of  hearing  the  lectures  of  the  most  di- 
stinguished teachers  of  rhetoric.  After  his  return  he  was  ap- 
pointed (677)  frumentary  qusestor  for  Sicily,  and  in  his  of- 
fice he  exhibited  that  spirit  of  humanity  and  justice  which  al- 

*  "  Nccet  interdum  reipublicae,  dicit  enim  sicut  in  Platonis  TroXireiif, 
non  tanquam  in  Romuli  f£Bce,sententiam."  Ad  Att.  ii.  1. 


B.C.  61.]  POMPEIUS  AT  ROME.  391 

ways  distinguished  him.  In  682,  when  Pompeius  and  Cras- 
SU3  were  consuls,  Cicero,  then  aedile-elect,  appeared  as  the  pro- 
secutor of  the  notorious  C.  Verres  for  robbery  and  extortion 
in  Sicily.  He  was  chosen  prastor  for  the  year  686.  It  would 
appear,  that  as  the  haughty  nobility  looked  down  on  hiiii  as 
being  a  netv  man,  he  now  chiefly  sought  the  favour  of  the  peo- 
ple and  of  Pompeius  ;  for  while  in  office  he  strenuously  sup- 
ported the  Manilian  law,  which  was  certainly  not  a  constitu- 
tional measure.  The  danger  caused  by  Catilina  however  drew 
Cicero  and  the  aristocracy  closely  together ;  they  raised  him 
to  his  glorious  consulate,  and  he  ever  after  continued  to  be 
their  ablest  supporter*. 

Pompeius  on  his  return  from  Asia  found  his  party  in  the 
senate  not  so  strong  as  hitherto  ;  Luculkis  and  Metellus  Cre- 
ticus  were  both  hostile  to  him,  Crassus  bore  him  the  old 
grudge,  Cicero  had  somewhat  cooled  in  his  ardour.  The  first 
request  which  he  had  made,  namely  to  have  the  consular  elec- 
tions for  691  deferred  till  he  should  arrive  to  canvass  for  his 
friend  M.  Pupius  Piso,  was  refused,  Cato  opposing  it  as  uncon- 
stitutional. Piso  however  was  elected  ;  but  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  quite  answered  Pompeius'  purpose,  being  perhaps  im- 
peded by  his  colleague  M.  Valerius  Messala.  At  the  next 
election  (691)  Pompeius  (Piso  being  his  agent)  actually 
bought  the  consulate  for  his  creature  L.  Afranius,  paying  the 
tribes  so  much  apiece  for  their  votesf.  Even  this  did  not  an- 
swer, as  Afranius  was  a  man  of  little  account,  and  his  colleague 
Q.  Metellus  Celer  was  personally  hostile  to  Pompeius  for  ha- 
ving divorced  his  sister  Mucia.  What  Pompeius  chiefly  wanted 
to  accomplish  was,  to  get  lands  for  his  soldiers,  and  to  have 
all  his  acts  in  Asia  confirmed  in  the  mass  by  the  senate  ;  but 
Lucullus  and  his  party  insisted,  with  reason,  that  they  should 
be  gone  through  separately,  and  confirmed  or  not  according 
to  their  merits.  At  Pompeius' desire  the  tribune  L.  Flavins 
moved  an  agrarian  law, and  to  gain  the  people  they  wei'e  joined 
in  it  with  the  soldiers.  Cicero,  proposing  amendments  for  the 
security  of  private  pi'operty,  and  for  the  purchase  of  the  lands 
to  be  divided  out  of  the  new  revenues  of  the  state,  gave  the 
bill  his  support ;  for  he  wished  to  oblige  Pompeius,  and  he  ex- 
pected that  it  would  help  to  remove  the  rabble  from  the  city  +. 
But  the  senate  was  strongly  opposed  to  it :  the  tribune  on  his 

*  From  the  year  684  till  that  of  his  death,  the  speeches  and  letters  of 
Cicero  furnish  valuable  materials  for  the  history  of  the  time, 
t  Cicero  ad  Att.  i.  19.     Plut.  Pomp.  44. 
X  Cic.  ad  Att.i.  16. 


392  CONSULATE  OF  CiESAK.  [b.C.  60-59. 

side  was  violent ;  he  cast  the  consul  Metellus  into  prison,  and 
when  Metellus  summoned  the  senate  thither,  Flavius  placed 
his  official  seat  in  the  door  and  told  them  they  must  make  their 
way  through  the  wall.  Pompeius  however  thi'ough  shame, 
and  fear  of  disgusting  the  people,  ordered  him  to  rise  and 
leave  the  passage  free.  The  bill  appears  to  have  been  then 
given  up. 

Cassar,  who  by  expeditions  against  the  Lusitanians  had,  as 
he  considered,  gotten  sufficient  materials  for  a  triumph,  and 
was  anxious  to  obtain  the  consulate,  hastened  home  when  the 
time  of  the  elections  was  at  hand  (692).  As  there  was  no 
room  for  delay,  he  applied  to  the  senate  for  permission  to  enter 
the  city  before  his  triumph  in  order  to  canvass  the  people; 
but  Cato  and  his  friends  opposing,  it  was  refused.  Caesar, 
who  was  not  a  man  to  sacrifice  the  substance  for  the  show, 
gave  up  the  triumph ;  and  entering  the  city  formed  a  coali- 
tion with  L.  Lucceius,  a  man  of  wealth  who  was  also  a  candi- 
date, of  w^hicli  the  terms  were  that  Lucceius  should  distribute 
money  in  his  own  and  Caesar's  name  conjointly,  and  Cgesar  in 
like  manner  give  him  a  share  in  his  influence.  The  nobles, 
Avhen  they  saw  this  coalition,  resolved  to  exert  all  their  inter- 
est in  favour  of  M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus,  the  other  candidate, 
and,  with  even  Cato's  consent,  authorised  him  to  offer  as  high 
as  Lucceius,  engaging  to  raise  the  money  among  them.  Bi- 
bulus therefore  was  elected  with  Caesar,  whose  daring  projects 
the  senate  thus  hoped  to  restrain*. 

Caesar,  who  well  knew  the  character  of  Pompeius,  resolved 
to  make  him  and  Crassus  the  ladder  of  his  ambition.  He  re- 
presented to  them  how  absurd  their  jealousy  and  enmity  Avas, 
Avhich  only  gave  importance  to  such  people  as  Cato  and 
Cicero ;  whereas  if  they  three  were  united  they  might  com- 
mand the  state.  They  saw  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  and  each, 
blinded  by  his  vanity  and  ambition,  expecting  to  derive  the 
greatest  advantage  from  it,  agreed  to  the  coalition  ;  and  thus 
was  formed  a  Triumvirate,  as  it  is  termed,  or  confederacy, 
bound  by  a  secret  pledge  that  no  measure  displeasing  to  any 
one  of  the  parties  should  be  allowed  to  pass. 

Caesar,  as  soon  as  he  entered  on  his  office  (693),  introduced 
an  agrarian  law  for  dividing  the  public  land  among  Pompeius' 
soldiers  and  the  poorer  citizens  ;  purchasing  it  however  from 
the  present  possessors,  and  appointing  twenty  commissioners 
to  carry  the  law  into  effect,  among  whom  were  to  be  Pompeius 
and  Crassus.  This  law,  to  which  they  could  make  no  objec- 
*  Bibulus  and  Caesar  had  been  already  colleagues  as  aediles  and  jirators. 


B.C.  59.]  CONSULATE  OF  CJESAR.  393 

tion,  was  highly  displeasing  to  the  adverse  party  in  the  senate, 
y/ho  suspected  Caesar's  ulterior  designs,  and  Cato  declared 
strongly  against  any  change.  Ceesar  ordered  a  lictor  to  drag 
him  off  to  prison;  he  professed  himself  ready  to  go  that  instant, 
and  several  rose  to  follow  him.  Caesar  then  grew  ashamed  and 
desisted,  but  he  dismissed  the  senate,  telling  them  he  would 
bring  the  matter  at  once  before  the  people  ;  and  he  very  rarely 
called  the  senate  together  during  his  consulate. 

He  then  laid  before  the  people  his  bill  for  dividing  the  lands 
of  Campania,  in  lots  of  ten  jugers,  among  twenty  thousand 
poor  citizens  with  three  or  more  children*;  and  being  desirous 
to  have  some  of  the  principal  persons  to  express  their  appro- 
bation of  it,  he  first  addressed  his  colleague,  but  Bibulus  de- 
clared himself  adverse  to  innovation  ;  he  then  affected  to  en- 
treat him,  asking  the  people  to  join  with  him,  as  if  Bibulus 
wished  they  might  have  it ;  "Then,"  cried  Bibulus,  "you  shall 
not  have  it  this  year  even  if  you  all  will  it,"  and  went  away ; 
Caesar,  expecting  a  similar  refusal  from  the  other  magistrates, 
made  no  application  to  them,  but  bringing  forward  Pompeius 
and  Crassus  desired  them  to  say  what  they  thought  of  the  law. 
Pompeius  then  spoke  highly  in  favour  of  it,  and  on  Caesar 
and  the  people  asking  him  if  he  would  support  them  against 
those  who  opposed  it,  he  cried,  elate  with  this  proof  of  his  im- 
portance, "  If  any  man  dares  to  draw  a  sword  I  will  raise  a 
buckler  ! "  Crassus  also  expressed  his  approbation,  and  as  the 
coalition  was  a  secret,  the  example  of  these  two  leading  men  in- 
duced many  others  to  give  their  consent  and  support  to  the  law. 
Bibulus  however  was  still  firm,  and  he  was  supported  by  three 
of  the  tribunes;  and,  as  a  means  of  impeding  the  law,  he  de- 
clared that  he  would  watch  the  heavens  every  day  an  assembly 
was  heldf.  When  Caesar,  regardless  of  his  proclamations,  fixed 
a  day  for  passing  the  law,  Bibulus  and  his  friends  came  to  the 
temple  of  Castor,  whence  he  was  haranguing  the  people,  and 
attempted  to  oppose  him  ;  but  he  was  pushed  down,  a  basket 
of  dung  was  flung  upon  him,  his  lictor's  fasces  were  broken, 
his  friends  (among  whom  were  Cato  and  the  tribunes)  were 
beaten  and  wounded,  and  so  the  law  was  passed.  Bibulus 
henceforth  did  not  quit  his  house,  whence  he  continually  issued 
edicts  declaring  all  that  was  done  to  be  unlawful.  The  tribune 

*  Ciccio  (ad  Att.  ii.  16.)  highly  disapproved  of  this  measure.  He  how- 
ever expected  that  as  the  land  would  yield  b>it  5000  lots  the  people  would 
be  discontented. 

•f  If  any  celestial  phaenomena  were,  or  were  said  to  be,  observed,  they 
caused  the  assembly  to  be  put  off.  Good  measures  as  well  as  bad  were 
often  thus  impeded, 

s  5 


394  CONSULATE  OF  C^SAR.  [b.C.  59. 

P.  Vatinius,  one  of  Caesar's  creatures,  had  even  attempted  to 
drag  him  to  prison,  but  he  vA-as  opposed  by  his  colleagues. 

The  senate  were  required  to  swear  to  this  law,  as  formerly 
to  that  of  Saturninus.  Metellus  Celer,  Cato,  and  Cato's  imi- 
tator Favonius  at  first  declared  loudly  that  they  would  not  do 
so ;  but  having  the  fate  of  Numidicus  before  their  eyes,  and 
knowing  the  inutility  of  opposition,  they  yielded  to  the  re- 
monstrances of  their  friends. 

Having  thus  gained  the  people,  Csesar  proceeded  to  secure 
the  knights,  and  here  Cato's  Utopian  policy  aided  him.  This 
most  influential  body  thinking,  or  pretending,  that  they  had 
taken  the  tolls  at  too  high  a  rate,  had  applied  to  the  senate 
for  a  reduction,  but  Cato  insisted  on  keeping  them  to  their 
bargain.  Csesar  without  heeding  him  or  the  senate  reduced 
them  at  once  a  third,  and  thus  this  self-interested  body  was 
detached  from  the  party  of  the  aristocracy,  and  all  Cicero's 
work  undone.  Caesar  now  found  himself  strong  enough  to 
keep  his  promise  to  Pompeius,  all  whose  acts  in  Asia  were 
confirmed  by  the  people*. 

The  triumvirate,  or  father  Caesar,  was  extremely  anxious  to 
gain  Cicero  over  to  their  side,  on  account  of  the  influence 
which  he  possessed.  But  though  he  had  a  great  personal  re- 
gard for  Pompeius  he  rejected  all  their  overtures.  Caesar  then 
resolved  to  make  him  feel  his  resentment,  and  the  best  mode 
seemed  to  be  to  let  Clodius  loose  at  him.  This  profligate  had 
long  been  trying  to  become  a  tribune  of  the  people,  but  for 
that  purpose  it  was  necessary  he  should  be  a  plebeian,  which 
could  only  be  effected  by  adoption.  His  first  efforts  were  un- 
availing ;  but  when  Cicero,  in  defending  his  former  colleague 
Antonius,  took  occasion  to  make  some  reflections  on  the  pre- 
sent condition  of  the  commonwealth,  Caesar  to  punish  him  had 
the  law  for  Clodius'  adoption  passed  at  once,  Pompeius  de- 
grading himself  by  acting  as  augur  on  this  occasion,  in  which 
all  the  laws  and  rules  on  the  subject  were  violated  f.  This 
affair  is  said  to  have  been  done  with  such  rapidity,  that  Cicero's 

*  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Caesar  so  terrified  Lucullus  by  false  accu- 
sations that  he  threw  himself  at  his  feet.  Suetonius,  Julius  Caesar,  20. 
Dion,  xxxviii.  7. 

f  To  make  an  adoption  legal,  it  was  necessary  that  the  adopter  should  be 
older  than  the  adopted,  have  no  children,  and  be  incapable  of  having  any, 
and  that  there  should  be  no  collusion  in  the  affair ;  all  of  which  should  be 
proved  before  the  pontiffs  in  the  comitia  curiata.  (Gell.  v.  19.)  Now  Fon- 
teius,  who  adopted  Clodius,  was  not  twenty,  while  his  adopted  son  was 
thirty-five ;  he  had  moreover  a  wife  and  children,  and  the  priests  were  never 
consulted. 


B.C.  58.]  CONSULATE  OF  CiESAR.  395 

words  which  gave  the  offence  were  only  uttered  at  noon  and 
three  hours  after  Clodius  was  a  plebeian  !* 

Some  time  after,  a  knight  named  L.  Vettius,  who  had  been 
one  of  Cicero's  informers  in  the  affair  of  Catilina,  being  sub- 
orned it  is  said  by  Csesar,  declared  that  several  young  noble- 
men had  entered  into  a  plot,  in  which  he  himself  partook,  to 
murder  Pompeius ;  the  senate  ordered  him  to  prison ;  next 
day  Ctesar  produced  him  on  the  Rostra,  when  he  omitted  some 
whom  he  had  named  to  the  senate,  and  added  others,  among 
whom  were  Lucullus  and  Cicero's  son-in-law  Piso,  and  hinted 
at  Cicero  himself.  Vettius  was  taken  back  to  prison,  M^here 
he  was  privately  murdered  by  his  accomplices,  as  Cfesar  said-j-, 
— by  Caesar  himself,  according  to  others :j;. 

The  senate,  to  render  Ceesar  as  innocuous  as  possible,  had, 
in  right  of  the  Sempronian  law,  assigned  the  woods  and  roads 
as  the  provinces  of  the  consuls  on  the  expiration  of  their  of- 
fice. But  Caasar  had  no  idea  of  being  foiled  thus  ;  and  his 
creature,  the  tribune  Vatinius,  had  a  law  passed  by  the  people, 
giving  him  the  province  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  Illyricum,  with 
three  legions,  for  five  years ;  and  when  on  the  death  of  Me- 
tellus  Celer  he  expressed  a  wish  to  have  Transalpine  Gaul 
added,  the  senate,  as  he  would  otherwise  have  applied  to  the 
people,  granted  it  to  him  with  another  legion.  In  order  to 
draw  the  ties  more  closely  between  himself  and  Pompeius,  he 
had  given  him  in  marriage  his  lovely  and  amiable  daughter 
Julia,  and  he  himself  married  the  daughter  of  L.  Calpurnius 
Piso,  whom,  with  A.  Gabinius,  a  creature  of  Pompeius,  the 
triumvirs  had  destined  for  the  consulate  of  the  following  year. 
They  also  secured  the  tribunate  for  Clodius ;  and  thus  termi- 
nated the  memorable  consulate  of  Caesar  and  Bibulus. 

Clodius  lost  no  time  (694^)  in  preparing  for  his  attack  on 
Cicero.  To  win  the  people,  he  proposed  a  law  for  distribu- 
ting corn  to  them  gratis  ;  by  another  law  he  re-established  the 
clubs  and  unions§,  which  the  senate  had  suppressed,  and 

*  Suet.  Jul.  Caes.  20.  Oral,  pro  Dom.  16.  Yet  it  seems  clear,  from  Ci- 
cero's letters  to  Atticus  (ii.  4-12.),  that  he  was  not  in  Rome  at  the  time. 
The  adoption  took  place  in  March  or  April. 

t   Appian,  ii.  12.  +  Suet.  Jul    Caes.  20. 

§  The  sodaVttates  were,  properly  speaking,  guilds  or  companies  of  trades, 
and  as  such  they  had  religious  festivals,  a  common  purse,  officers,  &c.  As 
their  members  were  of  a  very  low  rank  in  society,  trade  being  in  no  repute 
at  Rome,  and  as  we  find  them  mere  tools  of  demagogues  in  their  political 
capacity,  we  think  the  terms  in  the  text  will  give  the  reader  of  the  present 
day  a  more  correct  idea  of  them  than  the  more  dignified  ones  o( guilds  and 
companies. 


396  EXILE  OF  CICERO.  [^B.C.  58. 

formed  new  ones  out  of  the  dregs  of  the  populace  and  even  of 
the  slaves ;  by  a  third  law  he  prohibited  any  one  from  watch- 
ing the  heavens  on  assembly  days;  by  a  fourtli,  to  gain  the  pro- 
fligate nobility,  he  forbade  the  censors  to  note  any  senator  un- 
less he  was  openly  accused  before  them,  and  that  they  both 
agreed.  He  then  made  sure  of  the  consuls,  who  were  distressed 
and  pi-ofligate  men,  by  engaging  to  get  Macedonia  and  Achaia 
for  Piso  as  his  province,  and  Syria  for  Gabinius*.  Having 
thus,  as  he  thought,  secured  the  favour  of  the  consuls,  the  no- 
bility, and  the  people,  and  having  a  sufficient  number  of  ruf- 
fians from  the  clubs  and  unions  at  his  devotion,  he  proposed  a 
bill  interdicting  from  fire  and  water  any  person  who,  without 
sentence  of  the  people,  had  or  should  put  any  citizen  to  death. 
Cicero,  who,  though  he  was  not  named,  knew  that  he  was 
aimed  at,  w^as  so  foolish  and  cowardly  as  to  change  his  raiment, 
(a  thing  he  afterwards  justly  regretted,)  and  go  about  suppli- 
cating the  people  according  to  custom,  as  if  he  were  actually 
accused ;  but  Clodius  and  his  followers  met  him  in  all  the 
streets,  threw  dirt  and  stones  at  him,  and  impeded  his  suppli- 
cations. The  knights,  the  young  men,  and  numbers  of  others, 
with  young  Crassus  at  their  head,  changed  their  habits  with 
him  and  protected  him.  They  also  assembled  on  the  Capitol, 
and  sent  some  of  the  most  respectable  of  their  body  on  his 
behalf  to  the  consul  Gabinius  and  the  senate,  who  were  in  the 
temple  of  Concord  ;  but  Gabinius  would  not  let  them  come 
near  the  senate,  and  Clodius  had  them  beaten  by  his  ruffians. 
On  the  proposal  of  the  tribune  L.  Ninius,  the  senate  decreed 
that  they  should  change  their  raiment  as  in  a  public  calamity  ; 
but  Gabinius  forbade  it,  and  Clodius  was  at  hand  with  his  cut- 
throats, so  that  many  of  them  tore  their  clothes,  and  rushed 
out  of  the  temple  with  loud  cries.  Pompcius  had  told  Cicero 
not  to  fear,  and  repeatedly  promised  him  his  aid  ;  and  Ca?sar, 
whose  design  was  only  to  humble  him,  had  offered  to  appoint 
him  his  legate,  to  give  him  an  excuse  for  absenting  himself 
from  the  city ;  but  Cicero,  suspecting  his  object  in  so  doing, 
and  thinking  it  derogatory  to  him,  had  refused  it.  He  now 
found  that  Pompeius  had  been  deceiving  him,  for  he  kept  out 
of  the  way  lest  he  should  be  called  on  to  perform  his  pro- 
misesf.  Sooner,  as  he  says,  than  be  the  cause  of  civil  tunmlt 
and  bloodshed,  he  retired  by  night  from  the  city,  which  but 
five  years  before  he  had  saved  from  the  associates  of  those 

*  Cic.  Pis.  4,  5.  Ascon.  in  loco.  f  Id.  ih.  31.  Flut.  Cic.  ol. 


B.C.  58.]  EXILE  OF  CICERO.  397 

who  now  expelled  him.  Caesar,  who  had  remained  in  the 
suburbs  waiting  for  the  effect  of  Clodius'  measures,  then  set 
out  for  his  province.  When  Clodius  found  that  Cicero  was 
gone,  he  had  a  bill  passed  interdicting  him  from  fire  and  water, 
and  outlawing  any  person  living  M-ithin  four  hundred  miles  of 
Rome  who  should  entertain  him.  He  burned  and  destroyed 
his  different  villas  and  his  house  on  the  Palatine,  the  site  of 
which  he  consecrated  to  Liberty  !  His  goods  were  put  up  to 
auction,  but  no  one  would  bid  for  them  ;  the  consuls,  however, 
had  taken  possession  of  the  more  valuable  portions  of  them  for 
themselves. 

Cicero,  it  is  much  to  be  lamented,  bore  his  exile  with  far  less 
equanimity  than  could  have  been  wished  for  by  the  admirers 
of  his  really  estimable  character;  his  extant  letters  are  filled 
with  the  most  unmanly  complaints,  and  he  justly  drew  on  him- 
self the  derision  of  his  enemies.  But  his  was  not  one  of  those 
characters  which,  based  on  the  high  consciousness  of  worth, 
derive  all  their  support  and  consolation  from  within  ;  it  could 
only  unfold  its  bloom  and  display  its  strength  beneath  the 
fostering  sun  of  public  favour  and  applause,  and  Cicero  was 
great  nowhere  but  at  Rome.  It  was  his  first  intention  to  go 
to  Sicily,  but  the  praetor  of  that  island,  C.  Virgilius,  who  had 
been  his  intimate  friend,  wrote  desiring  him  not  to  enter  it. 
He  then  passed  over  to  Greece,  where  he  was  received  with 
the  most  distinguished  honours,  and  finally  fixed  his  residence 
in  Macedonia,  where  the  quaestor  Cn.  Plancius  showed  him 
every  attention. 

Having  driven  Cicero  away,  Clodius  next  proceeded  to  re- 
move Cato,  that  he  might  not  be  on  the  spot  to  impede  his 
measures.  He  proposed  at  the  same  time  to  gratify  an  old 
grudge  against  the  king  of  Cyprus,  the  brother  of  the  king  of 
Egypt ;  for  when  Clodius  was  in  Asia  he  chanced  to  be  taken 
by  the  pirates,  and  having  no  money  he  applied  to  the  king  of 
Cyprus,  who  being  a  miser,  sent  him  only  two  talents,  and  the 
pira*tes  sent  the  paltry  sum  back,  and  set  Clodius  at  liberty 
without  ransom*.  Clodius  kept  this  conduct  in  his  mind  ;  and 
just  as  he  entered  on  his  tribunate,  the  Cypriots  happening  to 
send  to  Rome  to  complain  of  their  king,  he  caused  a  bill  to  be 
passed  for  reducing  Cyprus  to  the  form  of  a  province,  and  for 
selling  the  king's  private  property;  he  added  in  the  bill,  that 
this  province  should  be  committed  to  Cato  asqua2stor,withprae- 

*  Strabo,  xiv.  6S4. 


398  ROBBERY  OF  THE  KING  OF  CYPRUS,  [^B.C.  58. 

torian  power,  who  (to  keep  him  the  longer  away  from  Home) 
was  also  directed  to  go  to  Bj'zantium,  and  restore  the  exiles 
who  had  been  driven  thence  for  their  crimes.  Cato,  we  are 
assured,  undertook  this  most  iniquitous  commission  against  his 
will*  ;  he  executed  it,  however,  most  punctually.  He  went  to 
Rhodes,  whence  he  sent  one  of  his  friends  named  M.  Canidius 
to  Cyprus,  to  desire  the  king  to  resign  quietly,  offering  him 
the  priesthood  of  the  Paphian  goddess.  Ptolemseus  however 
preferred  death  to  degradation,  and  he  took  poison.  Cato 
then,  not  trusting  Canidius,  sent  his  nephew,  M.  Junius  Brutus, 
to  look  after  the  property,  and  went  himself  to  Byzantium, 
where  he  effected  his  object  without  any  difficulty.  He  then 
proceeded  to  Cyprus  to  sell  the  late  king's  property  ;  and  being 
resolved  to  make  this  a  model-sale,  he  attended  the  auction 
constantly  himself,  saw  that  every  article  was  sold  to  the  best 
advantage,  and  even  offended  his  friends  by  not  allowing  them 
to  get  bargains.  He  thus  brought  together  a  sum  of  7000 
talents,  which  he  made  up  in  vessels  containing  2  talents  500 
drachmas  each,  to  which  he  attached  a  cord  and  cork,  that 
they  might  float  in  case  of  shipwreck  He  also  had  two  se- 
parate accounts  of  the  sale  drawn  out,  one  of  which  he  kept, 
and  the  other  he  committed  to  one  of  his  freedmen ;  but  both 
happened  to  be  lost,  and  he  had  not  the  gratification  of  pro- 
ving his  ability  of  making  the  most  of  a  property. 

When  the  news  that  Cato  had  entered  the  Tiber  with  the 
money  reached  Rome,  priests  and  magistrates,  senate  and 
people,  poured  out  to  receive  him ;  but  though  the  consuls 
and  praetors  were  among  them,  Cato  would  not  quit  his  charge 
till  he  had  brought  his  vessel  into  the  docks.  The  people 
■were  amazed  at  the  quantity  of  the  wealth,  and  the  senate 
voted  a  prsetorship  to  Cato,  though  he  was  under  the  legal 
age,  and  permission  to  appear  at  the  games  in  a.  prcetexta,  of 
which  however  he  took  no  advantage.  No  one  thought  of 
the  iniquity  of  the  whole  proceeding;  and  when  Cicero,  after 
his  return,  wished  to  annul  all  the  acts  of  Clodius'  tribunate, 
Cato  opposed  him,  and  this  caused  a  coolness  between  them 
for  some  time. 

Cicero  had  been  only  two  months  gone  when  his  friend 
Ninius  the  tribune,  supported  by  seven  of  his  colleagues,  made 
a  motion  in  the  senate  for  his  recall.  The  whole  house  agreed 
to  it,  but  one  of  the  other  tribunes  interposed.     Pompeius 

*  A  Roman,  it  would  seem,  was  not  at  liberty  to  refuse  a  charge  rommit- 
ted  to  him  by  the  state. 


B.C.  57.]  RECALL  OF  CICERO.  399 

himself  was,  however,  now  disposed  to  join  in  restoring  him, 
for  Clodius'  insolence  was  gone  past  his  endurance.    This  ruf- 
fian had  by  stratagem  got  into  his  hands  the  young  Tigranes, 
■whom  Pompeius  had  given  in  charge  to  the  praetor  L.  Flavius. 
He  had  promised  him  his  liberty  for  a  large  sum  of  money  ; 
and  when  Pompeius  demanded  him,  he  put  him  on  board  a 
ship  bound  for  Asia.     A  storm  having  driven  the  vessel  into 
Antium,  Flavius  went  with  an  armed  force  to  seize  the  prince, 
but  Sex.  Clodius,  one  of  the  tribune's  bravoes,  met  him  on  the 
Appian  Road,  and,  after  an  engagement  in  which  several  were 
slain  on  both  sides,  drove  him  off*.     While  Pompeius  was 
brooding  over  this  insult,  one  of  Clodius'  slaves  was  seized  at 
the  door  of  the  senate-house  with  a  dagger,  which  he  said  his 
master  had  given  him  that  he  might  kill  Pompeius t;  Clodius' 
mob  also  made  frequent  attacks  on  him,  so  that  out  of  real  or 
pretended  fear  he  resolved  to  keep  his  house  till  the  end  of 
the  year ;  indeed  he  had  been  actually  pursued  to  and  be- 
sieged in  it  one  day  by  a  mob,  headed  by  Clodius'  freedman 
Damio,  and  the  consul  Gabinius  had  to  fight  in  his  defence  J. 
Pompeius  therefore  now  resolved  to  befriend  Cicero  ;  and 
P.  Sextius,  one  of  the  tribunes-elect,  took  a  journey  into  Gaul 
to  obtain  Caesar's  consent.     About  the  end  of  October  the 
eight  tribunes  again  proposed  a  law  for  his  recall,  and  P.  Len- 
tulus  Spinther,  the  consul-elect,  spoke  strongly  in  favour  of 
it.     Lentulus'  colleague,  Q.  Metellus  Nepos,  though  he  had 
been  Cicero's  enemy,  seeing  how  Csesar  and  Pompeius  were 
inclined,  promised  his  aid,  as  also  did  all  the  tribunes-elect : 
Clodius,  however,  soon  managed  to  purchase  two  of  them, 
namely,  Num.  Quinctius  and  Sex.  Serranus. 

On 'the  1st  of  January  (695)  Lentulus  moved  the  senate 
for  Cicero's  recall.  L.  Cotta  said,  that  as  he  had  been  ex- 
pelled without  law,  he  did  not  require  a  law  for  his  restora- 
tion. Pompeius  agreed,  but  said  that  for  Cicero's  sake  it 
would  be  better  if  the  people  had  a  share  in  restoring  him. 
The  senate  were  unanimously  of  this  opinion,  but  the  tribune 
Sex.  Serranus  interposed.  The  senate  then  appointed  the  22nd 
for  laying  the  matter  b^ore  the  people.  When  that  day  came, 
the  tribune  Q.  Fabricius  get  out  before  it  was  light  with  a 
pai'ty  to  occupy  the  Rostra ;  but  Clodius  had  already  taken 
possession  of  the  Forum  with  his  own  gladiators,  and  a  band 
he  had  borrowed  from  his  brother  Appius,  and  his  ordinary 

*  Asconius  on  Cic.  for  Milo.     f  Cic.  Mil.  7.  Pis.  12.     |  Ascon.  ut  supra. 


400  RECALL  OF  CICERO.  [b.C.  57. 

troop  of  ruffians*.  Fabricius'  party  was  driven  off  with  the 
loss  of  several  lives,  another  tribune,  M.  Cispius,  was  treated 
in  a  similar  manner,  and  Q.  Cicero  onlj'  saved  himself  bj-  the 
aid  of  his  slaves  and  freedmen.  In  the  picture  which  Cicero 
draws  in  his  orations  of  this  scene  f,  the  Tiber  and  the  sewers 
are  filled  with  dead  bodies,  and  the  Forum  covered  with  blood 
as  in  the  time  of  the  contest  of  Cinna  and  Octavius. 

The  contest  was  renewed  with  daylight,  and  the  tribune 
Sextius  was  pierced  with  twenty  wounds  and  left  for  dead. 
Clodius  then,  elate  with  his  victory,  burned  the  temple  of  the 
Nymphs,  where  the  books  of  the  censors  were  kept;  and  he 
attacked  the  houses  of  the  praetor  L.  Csecilius  and  the  tribune 
T.  Annius  Milo.  The  latter  impeached  Clodius,  de  vi,  but  his 
brother  Appius  the  praetor,  and  the  consul  Metellus,  screened 
him,  and  meantime  aided  his  suit  for  the  eedileship,  which 
would  protect  him  for  another  year.  Milo  then,  to  repel 
force  by  force,  also  purchased  a  band  of  gladiators,  and  daily 
conflicts  occurred  in  the  streets. 

The  senate,  resolved  not  to  be  thus  bullied,  directed  the 
magistrates  to  summon  well- affected  voters  from  all  parts  of 
Italy.  Thej'  came  in  great  numbers  from  every  town  and 
district.  Pompeius,  who  was  then  at  Capua,  exerted  himself 
greatly  in  the  affair.  Encouraged  by  their  presence  the  senate 
passed  a  decree  in  proper  form  for  Cicero's  restoration ;  but 
Clodius  still  was  able  to  prevent  its  ratification  by  the  people. 
The  senate  then  met  on  the  Capitol ;  Pompeius  spoke  highly 
in  praise  of  Cicero ;  others  followed  him ;  Metellus,  who  had 
been  playing  a  double  part  all  through,  ceased  to  oppose,  and 
a  decree  was  passed,  Clodius  alone  dissenting.  The  senate 
met  again  the  next  day  ;  and  Pompeius  and  the  other  leading 
men  having  previously  addressed  the  people,  and  told  them 
all  that  had  been  said,  the  law  was  made  ready  to  be  laid  be- 
fore the  centuries  ;  on  the  4th  of  August  the  centuries  met 
on  tlie  Field  of  Mars,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote  Cicero  was 
recalled. 

That  very  day  Cicero  sailed  from  Dyrrhachium  and  the 
following  day  he  landed  at  Brundisium.  He  advanced  leisurely 
toward  Rome,  the  people  poured  out  from  every  town  and 
village  as  he  passed  to  congratulate  him,  and  all  ranks  and 

*  These  are  always  called  the  opera  (operatives).  They  were  the  com- 
mon workmen  of  the  city,  members  of  the  unions  {sodalitates,  see  p.  395), 
freedmen,  slaves,  &c. 

t  Cic.  Sext.  35,  36. 


B.C.  56.]       CONDUCT  OF  CICERO  AFTER   HIS    RETURN.  401 

orders  at  Rome  received  him  at  the  Capene  gate  (Sept.  4). 
Next  day  he  returned  thanks  to  the  senate  ;  and  to  prove  his 
gratitude  to  Pompeius,  he  was  the  proposer  of  a  law  giving 
him  the  superintendence  of  the  corn  trade  for  a  term  of  five 
years*,  and  Pompeius  in  return  made  him  his  first  legate. 
The  senate  decreed  that  Cicero's  house  and  villas  should  be 
rebuilt  at  the  public  expense.  Cicero  then  asserted  that  as 
Clodius  had  become  a  plebeian  in  an  illegal  manner,  all  the 
acts  of  his  tribunate  were  equally  so,  and  should  be  annulled. 
But  here  he  was  opposed  by  Cato,  whose  vanity  took  alarm, 
and  who  feared  lest  he  should  lose  the  fame  of  the  ability 
with  which  he  had  conducted  the  robbery  of  the  king  of  Cy- 
prus ;  and  this  produced  a  coolness  between  him  and  Cicero, 
who  also  was  disgusted,  and  with  reason,  with  the  conduct  of 
several  of  the  other  leaders  of  the  aristocratic  party,  at  which 
we  need  not  be  surprised  when  we  find  them,  purely  to  annoy 
Pompeius,  aiding  Clodius  so  effectually  that  he  was  chosen 
sedile  without  opposition  (696).  This  pest  of  Rome  imme- 
diately accused  Milo  of  the  very  crime  {de  vi)  of  which  he 
had  been  accused  himself.  Pompeius  appeared  and  spoke  for 
Milo,  and  it  came  to  a  regular  engagement  between  their  re- 
spective partisans,  in  which  the  Clodians  were  worsted  and 
driven  off  the  Forum.  Pompeius  now  saw  that  Crassus  was 
at  the  bottom  of  all  the  insults  offered  him,  and  that  Bibulus 
and  others  of  the  nobles  were  anxious  to  destroy  his  influence, 
and  he  resolved  to  unite  himself  more  closely  than  ever  with 
Caesar  in  order  to  counteract  their  intrigues. 

Cicero  at  this  time  abstained  as  much  as  he  could  from  pub- 
lic affairs,  attending  entirely  to  the  bar.  To  understand  his 
conduct  we  must  keep  his  known  character  in  view,  in  which 
vanity  and  timidity  Avere  prominent ;  but  he  was  also  grateful, 
placable,  and  humane.  He  had  all  his  life  had  a  strong  per- 
sonal affection  for  Pompeius,  and  he  was  now  full  of  admira- 
tion for  the  exploits  of  Caesar  in  Gaul,  by  whom  he  was  more- 
over treated  with  the  utmost  consideration,  while  he  was  dis- 
gusted with  the  paltry  conduct  of  the  leading  aristocrats. 
Hence  we  find  him,  at  the  request  of  Caesar  or  Pompeius, 
employing  his  eloquence  in  the  defence  of  even  his  personal 
enemies,  and  doing  things  for  which  we  sometimes  must  pity, 
sometimes  despise  him.     It  is  pleasing,  however,  to  behold 

*  On  the  motion  of  the  tribune  C.  Messius  it  was  added  that  Pompeius 
should  have  as  extensive  powers  as  were  committed  to  him  in  the  Piratic 
war. 


402  CONSULATE  OF  POMPEIUS  AND  CRASSUS.        [b.C.  56. 

the  triumph  of  his  eloquence  in  the  defence  of  his  friend  Sex- 
tius,  whom  the  Clodians  had  the  audacity  to  prosecute  de  vi, 
for  not  having  died,  we  may  suppose,  of  his  wounds*.  Cicero 
also  carried  a  motion  in  the  senate,  that  as  there  was  not  money 
in  the  treasury  to  purchase  the  Campanian  lands,  which  by 
Caesar's  law  were  to  be  divided,  the  act  itself  should  be  re- 
considered. Finding,  however,  that  this  was  highly  displea- 
sing to  Caesar  and  Pompeius,  and  that  those  who  applauded 
him  for  it  did  it  because  they  expected  it  would  produce  a 
breach  between  the  latter  and  him,  he  thought  it  best  to  con- 
sidt  his  interest,  and  therefore  dropped  it  f. 


CHAPTER  IX.X 

Second  consulate  of  Pompeius  and  Crassus. — Parthian  war  of  Crassus. — 
His  defeat  and  death. — Anarchy  at  Rome. — Death  of  Clodius. — Pompeius 
sole  consul. — Trial  and  exile  of  Mile. — Gallic  wars  of  Ccesar. 

It  was  Cagsar's  custom  to  return,  after  his  summer  campaigns 
in  Gaul,  to  pass  tlie  winter  in  his  Cisalpine  province,  in  order 
to  keep  up  his  intercourse  with  Rome.  He  came  in  the  pre- 
sent winter  to  Luca,  on  the  verge  of  his  province,  whither,  in 
the  following  month  of  April,  Pompeius,  Crassus,  and  such  a 
number  of  the  Ron)au  magistrates  repaired  to  him,  that  one 
hundred  and  twenty  lictors  have  been  seen  at  a  time  at  his 
gates.  It  was  there  privately  agreed  by  the  triumvirate  that 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  should  stand  for  the  consulate,  and  that 
if  successful,  they  should  obtain  a  renewal  of  Caesar's  govern- 
ment for  five  years  longer.  As  the  actual  consuls,  Cn.  Cor- 
nelius Lentulus  Marcellinus  and  L.  Marcius  Philippus,  were 
adverse  to  the  triumvirate,  the  tribune  C.  Cato  was  directed  to 
impede  all  elections  for  the  rest  of  the  year  ;  and  in  conse- 
quence of  his  opposition,  the  consular  elections  were  held  by 

*  Like  Sca;vola,  see  above,  p.  346,  note. 

f  Cicero,  in  a  letter  to  P.  Lentulus,  the  consul  of  the  year  695  (ad  Fara. 
i.  9.),  gives  a  full  explanation  of  the  whole  of  his  conduct  at  this  time. 

X  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  ii.  17-25.  Dion,  xxxviii.  3I-xl.  57.  Vel.  Pat.  ii.  46, 
47.  Caesar,  Gallic  Wars.  Plut.  Pompeius,  51-55;  Crassus,  15-33 ;  Caesar, 
15-27;  Cato,  41-48  ;  the  Epitomators. 


B.C.  55.]        CONSULATE  OF  POMPEIUS  AND  CRASSUS.  4-03 

an  interrex  in  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  (697).  Pom- 
peius  and  Crassns  were  chosen  without  opposition,  for  M. 
Cato's  brother-in-law,  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  who  alone 
ventured  to  stand,  was,  we  are  told*,  attacked  by  their  party 
as  he  was  going  before  day  to  the  Field  of  Mars,  where  the 
election  was  to  be  held  ;  the  slave  who  carried  the  torch  before 
him  was  killed ;  others  were  wounded,  as  was  Cato  himself; 
Domitius  fled  home,  and  gave  up  the  contest.  Cato  then  stood 
for  the  prgetorship,  but  the  consuls,  aware  of  the  trouble  he 
would  give  them  if  elected,  made  every  effort  to  prevent  him 
from  succeeding.  They  bribed  extensively  for  his  opponent 
P.  Vatinius,  and  procured  a  decree  of  the  senate  that  the 
praetors  should  enter  on  their  office  at  once,  instead  of  re- 
maining private  men  for  sixty  days,  as  was  the  usual  course, 
to  give  an  opportunity  of  accusing  them  if  they  were  suspected 
of  bribery.  The  first  century  however,  when  the  election 
came,  voted  for  Cato.  Pompeius,  who  presided,  pretended 
that  he  heard  thunder,  and  put  off  the  election  ;  and  the  con- 
suls took  care  to  have  Vatinius  chosen  on  the  following  one. 
The  tribune  C.  Trebonius  then  by  their  directions  proposed  a 
bill,  giving  them  when  out  of  office  the  provinces  of  Syria 
and  the  Spains  for  five  years,  with  authority  to  raise  what 
troops  they  pleased ;  this  law,  though  strongly  opposed  in  the 
senate,  was  carried,  and  then  Pompeius  proposed  and  carried 
the  one  he  had  promised  Caesar +. 

The  consuls  having  drawn  lots  for  their  provinces,  or  more 
probably  arranged  them  by  a  private  agreement,  Syria,  as  he 
coveted,  fell  to  Crassus;  and  Pompeius  was  equally  well  pleased 
to  have  the  Spains,  which,  as  being  at  hand,  he  could  govern 
by  his  lieutenants,  while  he  himself,  under  pretext  of  his  office 
of  inspector  of  the  corn-market,  might  remain  at  Rome  and 
enjoy  the  domestic  happiness  in  which  he  so  much  delighted +. 
The  triumvirs  not  thinking  it  necessary  to  interfere,  L.  Do- 
mitius and  Ap.  Claudius  were  elected  consuls,  and  Cato  one 
of  the  prastors,  for  the  following  year. 

Crassus,  though  nothing  was  said  in  the  law  about  the  Par- 
thians,  made  little  secret  of  his  design  to  make  war  on  them ; 
and  Caesar,  it  is  said,  wrote  encouraging  him  to  it.  Many, 
however,  were  or  affected  to  be  shocked  at  the  injustice  of 

*  Pint.  Cato,  41. 

•}•  Of  this  consulate  Velleius  observes  that,  "  neque  petitus  honeste  ab  his, 
neque  probabiliter  gestns  est." 

+  Plut.  Pomp.  53;  Crass.  16.  Yet  Julia  must  have  been  dead  at  this  time. 


404  PARTHIAN  WAR  OF  CRASSUS.  [b.C.  54-53. 

waging  war  against  a  people  who  had  given  no  just  cause  of 
offence,  and  the  tribune  C.  Ateius  Capito  was  resolved  to  pre- 
vent his  departure.  Crassus  begged  of  Pompeius  to  see  him 
out  of  the  city,  as  he  knew  he  should  be  opposed.  Pompeius 
complied  with  his  request,  and  the  people  made  way  in  silence; 
but  Ateius  meeting  them,  called  to  Crassus  to  stop,  and  when 
he  did  not  heed  him,  sent  a  beadle  to  seize  him  ;  the  other 
tribunes  hoMever  interposed.  Ateius  then  ran  on  to  the  gate, 
and  kindling  a  fire  on  a  portable  altar,  poured  wine  and  in- 
cense on  it,  and  pronounced  direful  curses  on  Crassus,  in- 
voking strange  and  terrible  deities  (698). 

Heedless  of  the  tribune's  imprecations,  Crassus  proceeded 
to  Brundisium  and  embarked,  though  the  sea  Avas  rough  and 
stormy.  He  reached  Epirus  v.ith  the  loss  of  several  of  his 
ships,  and  thence  took  the  usual  route  overland  to  Syria. 
He  immediately  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  began  to  ravage 
Mesopotamia.  Several  of  the  Greek  tOAvns  there  cheerfully 
submitted  ;  but  instead  of  pushing  on,  he  returned  to  Syria  to 
winter,  thus  giving  the  Parthians  time  to  collect  their  forces. 
He  spent  the  winter  busily  engaged  in  amassing  treasures:  to 
a  Parthian  embassy  which  came  to  complain  of  his  acts  of 
aggression  he  made  a  boastful  reply,  saying  that  he  would 
give  an  answer  in  Seleucia*  ;  the  eldest  of  the  envoys  laughed, 
and  showing  the  palm  of  his  hand,  said,  "  Crassus,  hairs  will 
grow  there  before  you  see  Seleucia." 

The  Roman  soldiers,  when  they  heard  of  the  numbers  of 
the  Parthians  and  their  mode  of  fighting,  were  dispirited  ;  the 
soothsayers  announced  evil  signs  in  the  victims ;  C.  Cassius 
Longinus,  the  quaestor,  and  his  other  officers,  advised  Crassus 
to  pause,  but  in  vain.  To  as  little  eff'ect  did  the  Armenian 
prince  Artabazes,  who  came  with  six  thousand  horse,  and  pro- 
mised many  more,  counsel  him  to  march  through  Armenia, 
which  was  a  hilly  country,  and  adverse  to  cavalry,  in  which 
the  Parthian  strength  lay  :  he  replied  that  he  Avould  go  through 
Mesopotamia,  where  he  had  left  many  brave  Romans  in  gar- 
rison. The  Armenian  then  retired,  and  Crassus  passed  the 
river  at  Zeugma  (699) ;  thunder  roared,  lightning  flashed,  and 
other  ominous  signs,  it  is  said,  appeared  ;  but  they  did  not 
stop  him.     He  marched  along  its  left  bank,  his  army  consist- 

*  The  Parthian  capital  was  Ctesiphon,  of  which  Seleucia,  built  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  Tigris,  was  a  suburb.  See  Hist,  of  Rom.  Emp.  p.  171  note, 
and  p.  347. 


B.C.  53.]  PARTHIAN  WAR  OF  CRASSUS.  405 

ing  of  seven  legions,  with  nearly  one  thousand  horse,  and  an 
equal  number  of  light  troops. 

As  no  enemy  appeai'ed,  Casslus  advised  to  keep  along  the 
river  till  they  should  reach  the  nearest  point  of  Seleucia;  but 
an  Arab  emir  named  Agbar  (Akbar,  i.  e.  Great),  who  had 
been  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Romans  when  Pompeius  was 
there,  now  came  and  joined  Crassus,  and  assuring  him  that  the 
Parthians  were  collecting  their  most  valuable  property  with 
the  intention  of  flying  to  Hyreania  and  Scythia,  urged  him  to 
push  on  without  delay.     But  all  he  said  was  false ;  he  was 
come  to  lead  the  Romans  to  their  ruin  :  for  the  Parthian  king 
Orodes  had  himself  invaded  Armenia,  and  his  general  the 
Surena*  was  at  hand  with  a  large  army.     Crassus,  however, 
giving  credit  to  the  Arab,  left  the  river  and  entered  on  the 
extensive  plain  of  Mesopotamia.     Cassius  gave  over  his  re- 
monstrances :  the  Arab  led  them  on,  and  when  he  had  brought 
them  to  the  place  arranged  with  the  Parthians,  he  rode  off, 
assuring  Crassus  that  it  was  for  his  advantage.     That  very  day 
a  party  of  horse,  sent  to  reconnoitre,  fell  in  with  the  enemy, 
and  were  nearly  all  killed.  This  intelligence  perplexed  Crassus, 
but  he  resolved  to  proceed ;  and  drawing  up  his  infantry  in  a 
square,  with  the  horse  on  the  flanks,  he  moved  on.     They 
reached  a  stream,  where  his  officers  wished  him  to  halt  for  the 
night,  and  try  to  gain  further  intelligence ;  but  he  would  go 
on,  and  at  length  they  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy.     The 
Surena  however  kept  the  greater  part  of  his  troops  out  of  view; 
and  those  who  appeared  had  their  armour  covered  to  deceive 
the  Romans.     At  a  signal  the  Parthians  began  to  beat  their 
numerous  kettledrums :  and  when  they  thought  this  unusual 
sound  had  thrilled  the  hearts  of  the  enemy,  they  flung  off 
their  coverings  and  appeared  glittering  in  helms  and  corselets 
of  steel,  and  pouring  round  the  solid  mass  of  the  Romans, 
showered  their  arrows  on  them,  numerous  camels  being  at 
iiand  laden  with  arrows  to  give  them  fresh  supplies  of  their 
missiles.    The  light  troops  essayed  in  vain  to  drive  them  off; 
Crassus  then  desired  his  son  to  charge  with  his  horse  and  light 
troops.     The  Parthians  feigning  flight  drew  them  on,  and 
when  they  were  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  main  army 
turned  and  assailed  them,  riding  round  and  round  so  as  to 
raise  such  a  dust  that  the  Romans  could  not  see  to  defend 

*  The  Surena  was  the  peison  next  in  rank  to  the  king  among  the  Par- 
thians and  the  Persians:  "potcstatls  secundre  post  regem."  Am.  Marcel. 
x>;x.  2.     See  also  Tac.  An.  vi.  42.   Zosimus,  iii,  15. 


406  PARTHIAN  WAR  OF  CRASSUS.  [b.C.  53. 

themselves.  When  numbers  had  been  slain,  P.  Crassus  broke 
through  with  a  part  of  the  horse,  and  reached  an  eminence, 
but  the  persevering  foe  gave  them  no  rest.  Two  Greeks  of 
that  country  proposed  to  P.  Crassus  to  escape  with  them  in 
the  night,  but  he  generously  refused  to  quit  his  comrades. 
Being  wounded,  he  made  his  shield-bearer  kill  him  ;  the  Par- 
thians  slew  all  that  were  with  him  but  five  hundred,  and  cut- 
ting off  his  head  set  it  on  a  spear. 

Crassus  was  advancing  to  the  relief  of  his  son  when  the 
rolling  of  the  Parthians'  drums  was  heard,  and  they  came  ex- 
hibiting the  head  of  that  unfortunate  youth.  The  spirits  of 
the  Romans  were  now  quite  depressed ;  Crassus  vainly  tried 
to  rouse  them,  crying  that  the  loss  was  his,  not  theirs,  and 
urging  them  to  renewed  exertions.  The  Parthians  after  ha- 
rassing them  through  the  day  retired  for  the  night.  Cassius 
and  the  legate  Octavius,  having  tried  but  in  vain  to  rouse  their 
general,  who  was  now  sunk  in  despair,  called  a  council  of  the 
officers,  and  it  was  resolved  to  attempt  a  retreat  that  night. 
The  wailing  of  the  sick  and  wounded  who  were  left  behind 
informed  the  Parthians,  but  it  not  being  their  custom  to  fight 
at  night  they  remained  quiet  till  morning.  They  then  took 
the  deserted  camp,  and  slaughtered  four  thousand  men  whom 
they  found  in  it,  and  pursuing  after  the  army  cut  off  the  strag- 
glers. The  Romans  reached  the  town  of  Carrhse,  in  which 
they  had  a  garrison.  The  Surena,  to  keep  them  from  retreat, 
made  feigned  proposals  of  peace ;  but  finding  that  he  was  only 
deceiving  them,  they  set  out  in  the  night  under  the  guidance 
of  a  Greek  :  their  guide  however  proved  treacherous,  and  led 
them  into  a  place  full  of  marshes  and  ditches.  Cassius,  who 
suspected  him,  turned  back  and  made  his  escape  with  five 
hundred  horse  ;  Octavius,  with  five  thousand  men,  having  had 
faithful  guides,  reached  a  secure  position  among  the  hills,  and 
he  brought  off  Crassus,  who  was  assailed  in  the  marshes  by 
the  Parthians.  The  Surena,  fearing  lest  they  should  get  aw-ay 
in  the  night,  let  go  some  of  his  prisoners,  in  whose  hearing  he 
had  caused  to  be  said  that  the  king  did  not  wish  to  carry 
things  to  extremities ;  and  he  himself  and  his  officers  rode  to 
the  hill  with  unbent  bows,  and  holding  out  his  hand  he  called 
on  Crassus  to  come  down  and  meet  him.  The  soldiers  were 
overjoyed,  but  Crassus  put  no  faith  in  him  ;  at  length,  when 
his  men,  having  urged  and  pressed,  began  to  abuse  and 
threaten  him,  he  took  his  officers  to  witness  of  the  force  that 
was  put  on  him,  and  went  down  accompanied  by  Octavius  and 


B.C.  53.]  ANARCHY  AT  ROME.  4-07 

some  of  his  other  officers.  The  Parthians  at  first  affected  to 
receive  him  with  respect,  and  a  horse  was  brought  for  him  to 
mount ;  but  they  soon  contrived  to  pick  a  quarrel,  and  killed 
him  and  all  who  were  w^ith  him.  The  head  and  right  hand 
of  Crassus  were  cut  off;  quarter  was  then  offered  to  the  troops, 
and  most  of  them  surrendered.  The  loss  of  the  Romans  in 
this  unjust  and  ill-fated  expedition  was  twenty  thousand  men 
slain  and  ten  thousand  captui'ed.  Tlie  Pai'thians,  it  is  said, 
poured  molten  gold  down  the  throat  of  Crassus,  in  reproach 
of  his  insatiable  avarice.  They  afterwards  made  irruptions 
into  Syria,  which  Cassius  gallantly  defended  against  them*. 

When  the  news  of  Crassus'  defeat  and  death  reached  Rome, 
the  concern  felt  for  the  loss  of  the  army  was  considerable,  that 
of  himself  was  thought  nothing  of;  yet  this  was  in  reality  the 
greater  loss  of  the  two,  for  he  alone  had  the  power  to  keep 
Caesar  and  Pompeius  at  unity,  as  Julia,  whom  they  both  agreed 
in  loving  as  she  deserved,  and  who  was  a  bond  of  union  be- 
tween tiiem,  had  lately  died  in  childbirth,  to  the  grief  not 
merely  of  her  father  and  husband,  but  of  the  whole  Roman 
people  f. 

Affairs  at  Rome  were  now  indeed  in  a  state  of  perfect  anar- 
chy ;  violence  and  bribery  were  the  only  modes  of  obtaining 
office.  In  698  ail  the  candidates  for  the  consulate  were  pro- 
secuted for  bribery ;  and  C.  Memmius,  one  of  them,  actually 
read  in  the  senate  a  written  agreement  betw^een  himself  and 
a  fellow-candidate  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus  on  one  part,  and 
the  actual  consuls  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  and  Ap.  Claudius 
on  the  other,  by  which  the  two  former  bound  themselves,  if 
elected  through  the  consuls'  influence,  to  pay  them  each  forty 
thousand  sesterces  unless  they  produced  three  augurs  to  de- 
clare that  they  were  present  when  the  curiate  law  was  passed, 
and  two  consulars  to  aver  that  they  were  present  when  the 
consular  provinces  were  arranged,  which  would  give  the  ex- 
consuls  the  provinces  they  desired, — all  utterly  false  J.  By 
these  and  other  delays  the  elections  were  kept  off  for  seven 
months,  Pompeius  looking  quietly  on  in  hopes  that  they  would 
be  obliged  to  create  him  dictator.  Many  spoke  of  it  as  the 
only  remedy ;  and  though  they  did  not  name,  they  described 
him  very  exactly  as  the  fittest  person ;  but  Sulla  had  made 

*  Cassius  took,  we  are  told,  to  trading:  "  Dein  quod  coenitis  Syriacis 
mercibus  foedissime  negotiaretur  Caryota  cognominatus  est."  Auct.  de  Vir. 
Illust.  83. 

f  See  Lucan,  i.  98  seq.  %  Cicero  ad  Att.  iv.  18. 


408  DEATH  OF  CLODIUS.  [  B.C.  52. 

the  name  of  dictator  too  odious  :  others  talked  of  consular 
military  tribunes.  Cn.  Doiuitius  Calvinus  and  M.  Valerius 
IMessala  were,  however,  chosen  consuls  at  the  end  of  the  seven 
months. 

The  next  year  (700)  T.  Annius  Milo,  P.  Plautius  Hypsaaus, 
and  Q.  Metellus  Scipio  were   the   candidates,  and  they  all 
bribed  to  a  most  enormous  extent.     Clodius  stood  for  the 
prsetorship,  and  between  his  retainers  and  those  of  Milo  and 
the  other  candidates,  scenes  of  tumult  and  bloodshed  occur- 
red in  the  streets  almost  daily.     Pompeius  and  the  tribune 
T.  Munatius  Plancus  purposely  kept  the  patricians  from  meet- 
ing to  appoint  an  interrex  to  hold  the  elections.    On  the  20th 
of  January,  Milo,  who  was  dictator  of  his  native  place  Lanu- 
vium,  had  occasion  to  go  thither  to  appoint  a  chief-priest  of 
Juno  Sospita,  the  patron  deity  of  the  place  ;  Clodius,  who  had 
been  to  harangue  the  magistrates  at  Aricia,  where  he  had  a 
great  deal  of  influence,  happened  to  be  returning  just  at  this 
time,  and  he  met  Milo  near  Bovillae.    Milo  was  in  his  carriage 
with  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Sulla,  and  a  friend,  and  he  was 
attended  by  a  numerous  train,  among  which  were  some  of  his 
gladiators :    Clodius  was  on   horseback,   with  thirty  armed 
bravoes,  who  always  accompanied  him.    Two  of  Milo's  people 
followed  those  of  Clodius  and  began  to  quarrel  with  them,  and 
when  he  turned  round  to  menace  them,  one  of  them  ran  a  long 
sword  through  his  shoulder.   The  tumult  then  became  general ; 
Clodius  had  been  conveyed  into  an  adjoining  tavern,  but  ?Jilo 
forced  it,  dragged  him  out,  and  killed  him  outright;  his  dead 
body  was  thrown  on  the  highway,  where  it  lay  till  a  senator, 
who  was  returning  to  the  city  from  his  country-seat,  took  it 
up  and  brought  it  with  him  in  his  litter.     It  was  laid  in  the 
hall  of  Clodius'  own  house,  and  his  wife  Fulvia  with  floods  of 
tears  showed  his  bleeding  wounds  to  the  rabble  who  repaired 
thither,  and  excited  them  to  vengeance.  Next  morning  Clodius' 
friends,  the  tribunes  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus  and  T.  Munatius 
Plancus,  exposed  it  on  the  Rostra,  and  harangued  the  populace 
over  it.     The  mob  snatched  it  up,  carried  it  into  the  senate- 
house,  and  making  a  pyre  of  the  seats  burned  it  and  the  house 
together.    Thej'  then  ran  to  Milo's  house,  intending  to  burn  it 
also,  but  they  were  beaten  ofi^  by  his  slaves. 

The  excesses  committed  by  the  mob  having  injured  the 
Clodian  cause,  Milo  ventured  to  return  to  the  city,  and  to  go 
on  bribing  and  canvassing  for  the  consulate.  The  tribune  M. 
Coilius,  whom  he  had  gained,  having  filled  the  Forum  with  a 


B.C.  52.]  POMPEIUS  SOLE  CONSUL.  409 

purchased  mob,  led  Mile  thither  to  defend  himself,  in  hopes 
of  having  him  acquitted  by  them  as  by  the  people  ;  but  the 
adverse  tribunes  armed  their  partisans  and  fell  on  and  scat- 
tered them*.  Milo  and  Coelius  were  forced  to  fly  in  the  dress 
of  slaves  ;  the  rabble  killed,  v/ounded  and  robbed  without  di- 
stinction ;  houses  were  broken  open,  plundered,  and  burnt, 
under  the  pretext  of  seeking  for  the  friends  of  Milo.  These 
excesses  lasted  for  several  days,  and  the  senate  at  length  de- 
creed that  the  interrex,  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  and  Pom- 
peius,  should  see  that  the  republic  sustained  no  injury ;  and 
finally,  as  there  seemed  an  absolute  necessity  for  some  extra- 
ordinary power,  to  avoid  a  dictatorship,  and  to  exclude  Caesar 
(who  was  spoken  of)  from  the  consulate,  it  was  resolved,  on 
the  motion  of  Bibulus,  with  the  assent  of  Cato,  to  make  Pom- 
peius  sole  consul. 

Pompeius  (who  was  resolved  to  crush  Milo),  as  soon  as  he 
entered  on  his  office  (Feb.  25),  had  two  laws  passed,  one 
against  violence,  the  other  against  bribery.  He  ordained  that 
trials  should  last  only  four  days,  the  fii'st  three  to  bedevoied 
to  the  hearing  of  evidence,  the  last  to  the  pleadings  of  the 
parties  ;  he  assigned  the  number  of  pleaders  in  a  cause  ;  giving 
two  hours  to  the  prosecutor  to  speak,  three  to  the  accused  to 
reply,  and  forbidding  any  one  to  come  forward  to  praise  the 
accused.  To  ensure  prosecutions  for  bribery,  he  promised  a 
pardon  to  any  one  found  guilty  of  it  if  he  convicted  two  others 
of  an  equal  or  lesser  degree  or  one  of  a  greater.  He  directed 
that  a  consular  chosen  by  the  people,  and  not  the  prsetor  as  in 
ordinary  cases,  should  preside  in  the  trials  for  violence. 

These  preparations  being  made,  the  prosecution  of  Milo 
commenced.  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,the  consul  of  the  year 
698,  was  chosen  president  by  the  people,  and  a  jury,  one  of 
the  most  respectable  we  are  assured  that  Rome  ever  beheld, 
was  appointed.  Milo  and  Coelius  had  recourse  to  every  means 
to  prevent  a  conviction.  The  former  is  charged  with  having 
seized  five  persons  who  had  witnessed  the  murder  of  Clodius, 
and  kept  them  in  close  custody  for  two  months  at  his  country- 
seat  ;  the  latter  with  taking  by  force  a  slave  of  Milo's  out  of 
the  house  of  one  of  the  Capital  Triumvirsf.     Cicero  was  to 

*  One  of  the  tribunes  of  this  year  was  Sallust  the  liistorian.  As  Milo  had. 
some  time  before  caught  him  in  adultery  with  his  wife  Fausta,  and  had 
cudgelled  him  and  made  him  pay  a  sura  of  money,  he  now  took  his  revenge. 
Varro,  ap.  Gell.  xvii.  18. 

f  The  best  account  of  the  death  of  Clodius,  and  trial  of  Milo,  is  given  bv 

T 


410  PROSECUTIONS.  [ B.C.  52. 

plead  Milo's  cause.  On  the  first  day  the  tumult  was  so  great 
that  the  lives  of  Pompeius  and  his  lictors  were  endangered  ; 
soldiers  were  therefore  placed  in  various  parts  of  the  city  and 
Forum,  with  orders  to  strike  with  the  flat  of  their  swords  any 
that  v/ere  making  a  noise  ;  but  this  not  suflScing,  they  were 
obliged  to  wound  and  even  kill  several  persons.  When  Cicero 
rose  to  speak  on  the  fourth  day,  he  was  received  with  a  loud 
shout  of  defiance  by  the  Clodian  faction  ;  and  the  sight  of  Pom- 
peius sitting  surrounded  by  his  officers,  and  the  view  of  the 
temples  and  places  around  the  Forum  filled  with  armed  men, 
daunted  him  so  much  that  he  pleaded  with  far  less  than  his 
usual  ability.  Milo  was  found  guilty,  and  he  went  into  exile 
at  Massilia. 

Other  ofi^enders  were  then  prosecuted.  P.  Plautius  Hyp- 
saeus  was  found  guiltj^  of  bribery,  as  also  were  P.  Sextius,  M. 
Scaurus,  and  C.  Memmius.  This  last  then  accused,  under  the 
late  law,  Pompeius'  own  father-in-law,  Q.  Metellus  Scipio*. 
Pompeius  was  weak  enough  to  become  a  suppliant  for  him,  and 
he  sent  for  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  persons  who  were  on 
the  jury-panel,  and  besought  them  to  aid  him.  When  Mem- 
mius  saw  Scipio  come  into  the  Forum  surrounded  by  those 
who  would  have  to  try  him,  he  gave  over  the  prosecution,  la- 
menting the  ruin  of  the  constitution.  Rufus  and  Plancus  when 
out  of  office  were  prosecuted  for  the  burning  of  the  senate- 
house,  and  Pompeius  again  was  weak  enough  to  break  his  own 
law  by  sending  a  written  eulogy  of  Plancus  into  the  court. 
Cato,  who  was  one  of  the  jury,  said  that  Pompeius  must  not 
be  allowed  to  violate  his  own  law.  Plancus  then  challenged 
Cato  ;  but  it  did  not  avail  him,  as  the  others  found  him  guilty. 

Pompeius,  having  acted  for  some  time  as  sole  consul,  made 
his  father-in-law  his  colleague  for  the  five  months  that  remain- 
ed of  his  consulate.  He  caused  his  own  command  in  Spain  to 
be  extended  for  another  terra  ot  five  years,  but  he  governed  his 
province,  as  before,  by  legates  ;  and  to  soothe  Csesar,  he  had 
a  law  passed  to  enable  him  to  sue  for  the  consulate  without 
coming  to  Rome  in  person.  To  strengthen  the  laws  against 
bribery,  it  was  enacted  that  no  consul  or  praetor  should  obtain 
a  province  till  he  had  been  five  years  out  of  office ;  and  to 

Asconius,  in  his  argument  to  the  notes  on  Cicero's  oration.  We  have  fol- 
lowed this  writer  chiefly  in  the  preceding  narrative. 

*  Pompeius  was  now  married  to  Scipio's  daughter  Cornelia,  the  widow  of 
the  younger  Crassus,  a  young  lady  of  the  highest  mental  endowments  and 
of  great  beauty  and  virtue. 


B.C.  58.]  GALLIC  WARS  OF  C^SAR.  411 

provide  for  the  next  five  years,  it  was  decreed  that  the  consu- 
lars  and  prtetorians  who  had  not  had  provinces  should  now 
take  them.  Cicero,  therefore,  much  against  his  will,  was  obliged 
to  go  as  proconsul  to  Cilicia ;  his  government  of  it  was  a  model 
of  justice  and  disinterestedness,  and  proves  how  he  would  have 
acted  if  free  at  all  times  to  follow  his  own  inclinations,  and,  we 
may  add,  if  less  under  the  influence  of  vain  glory  and  ambition. 
We  must  now  turn  our  regards  to  Caesar  and  his  exploits  in  Gaul. 

While  such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Rome,  this  great 
man  was  acquiring  the  wealth  and  forming  the  army  by  means 
of  which  he  hoped  to  become  master  of  his  country.  He  has 
himself  left  a  narrative  of  his  Gallic  campaigns,  which,  though 
of  course  partial*,  is  almost  our  only  authority  for  this  part  of 
the  Roman  history. 

Fortune  favoured  Caesar  by  furnishing  him  with  an  early 
occasion  of  war,  though  his  province  was  tranquil  when  he  re- 
ceived it  (69i).  The  Helvetians,  a  people  of  Gallic  race,  who 
dwelt  from  Mount  Jura  far  into  the  Alps,  resolved  to  leave 
their  mountains  and  seek  new  seats  in  Gaul ;  and  having  burnt 
all  their  towns  and  villages,  they  set  forth  with  wives  and 
children  to  the  number  of  368,000  souls.  As  their  easier  way 
lay  through  the  Roman  province,  they  sent,  on  hearing  that 
Caesar  had  broken  down  the  bridge  over  the  Rhone  at  Geneva, 
and  was  making  preparations  to  oppose  them,  to  ask  a  free 
passage,  promising  to  do  no  injury.  Caesar,  who  had  not  all 
his  troops  with  him,  gave  an  evasive  answer,  and  meantime 
ran  a  ditch  and  rampart  from  the  Leman  lake  to  Mount  Jura. 
The  Helvetians  then  turned,  and  going  by  Mount  Jura  enter- 
ed the  country  of  the  Sequanians  and  /4lduans ;  but  Caesar 
fell  on  them  as  they  were  passing  the  Arar  (Saone),  and  de- 
feated them;  he  afterwards  routed  them  again,  and  finally  com- 
pelled them  to  return  to  their  own  country,  lest  the  Germans 
should  occupy  it.  .  .. 

The  jEduans,  who  were  ancient  allies  of  Rome,  then  com- 
plained to  Caesar  that  their  neighbours,  the  Arvernians  and 
Sequanians,  having  in  their  disputes  with  them  invited  a  Ger- 
man chief  named  Ariovistus  (Heer-filrst,  '  Army-prince'  ?)  to 
their  aid,  he  had  been  joined  by  large  bodies  of  his  country- 
men, and  had  occupied  a  great  part  of  the  land  of  the  Sequa- 
niansf,  and  now  menaced  the  freedom  of  all  the  surrounding 

*  Here,  as  in  the  Saninite  and  Punic  wars,  we  have  reason  to  regret  that 
the  lions  were  not  painters  ! 

•j-  Just  as  tlie  Anglo-Saxons  did  afterwards  in  England. 

t2 


412  GALLIC  WARS  OF  C^SAR.  [b.C.  58-57. 

peoples ;  their  only  hopes,  they  added,  lay  m  the  Romans. 
This  invitation  was,  as  they  knew,  precisely  what  Csesar  de- 
sired ;  he  promised  aid,  and  as  in  his  consulate  he  had  been  the 
means  of  having  Ariovistus  acknowledged  as  a  king  and  friend  of 
the  Roman  people,  and  he  now  wished  to  put  him  in  tiie  wrong, 
he  sent  to  require  him  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  place.  The 
German  haughtily  replied,  that  if  Caesar  wanted  to  speak  with 
him  he  should  come  to  kirn.  Caesar,  further  to  irritate  him,  de- 
sired him  to  give  back  the  hostages  of  the  allies  of  Rome,  and 
not  to  enter  their  lands  or  to  bring  over  any  more  auxiliaries 
from  Germany.  Ariovistus  replied  by  seizing  on  the  Sequanian 
town  of  Vesontion  (^BesaiK^oti).  On  learning  that  the  power- 
ful nation  of  the  Suevians  were  sending  troops  to  Ariovistus, 
Caesar  resolved  to  march  against  him  at  once.  But  his  soldiers 
were  daunted  by  what  they  heard  of  the  sti  ength  and  ferocity 
of  the  Germans,  till  he  made  a  speech  to  re-assure  them,  in 
which  he  declared  that  with  the  tenth  legion  alone  he  would 
prosecute  the  war.  At  the  desire  of  Ariovistus  a  conference 
was  held,  at  which  however  nothing  could  be  arranged ;  and 
while  it  was  going  on,  news  (true  or  false)  was  brought  to 
Caesar  that  the  Germans  had  attacked  the  Romans  :  this  broke 
off  the  conference  ;  Csesar  refused  to  renew  it ;  and  a  battle 
taking  place,  Ariovistus  was  defeated,  and  forced  to  re-cross 
the  Rhine. 

Caesar  then  retired  for  the  winter  to  Cisalpine  Gaul  under 
the  pretext  of  regulating  the  province,  but  in  reality  to  keep 
up  his  communication  with  Rome,  and  acquire  new  friends 
there.  As  he  had  left  his  troops  in  the  country  of  the  Sequa- 
nlans,  the  Belgians,  a  powerful  people,  who  were  a  mixture  of 
Germans  and  Gauls,  and  dwelt  in  the  north-east  of  Gaul,  fear- 
ing for  their  independence,  resolved  to  take  up  arms.  The 
Germans  on  this  side  of  the  Rhine  joined  them,  and  they  in- 
vaded (695)  the  states  in  alliance  with  the  Romans.  Caesar 
lost  no  time  in  repairing  to  the  defence  of  his  allies ;  and  the 
Belgians  finding  that  the  iEduaus  had  invaded  their  countrj"", 
and  moreover,  being  in  want  of  supplies,  returned  home  ;  but 
they  were  fallen  on  and  defeated  with  great  loss  by  a  division 
of  Catsar's  troops,  and  he  himself  entering  their  country  took 
the  town  of  Noviodunum  (JYoi/on),  and  obliged  the  Sues- 
siones  (Soisso7is)*,  Bellavacans  (^JBeauvais),  and  Ambianians 
(Amiens)  tosue  for  peace.  He  then  entered  the  territory  of  the 

*  As  in  France  the  name  of  the  people  is  usually  retained  only  in  that 
of  the  town,  we  give  this  last. 


B.C.  56.]  GALLIC  WARS  OF  CJESAR.  413 

Nervians  {Hainault).  This  people,  thebravest  of  the  Belgians, 
attacked  him  by  surprise,  routed  his  cavahy,  and  killed  all  the 
centurions  of  two  legions;  the  camps  on  both  sides  were  taken, 
and  Caesar  liimself  was  for  some  time  surrounded  with  his 
guards  on  a  hill  :  victory,  however,  was  finally  on  the  side  of 
the  Romans,  and  the  Nervians  sued  for  peace.  The  Atuati- 
cans,  when  they  saw  the  military  machines  advanced  against 
their  walls,  submitted  ;  but  they  soon  resumed  their  arms,  and 
Ceesar  took  and  plundered  the  town,  and  sold  fifty-three  thou- 
sand of  the  inhabitants.  Cfesar's  legate,  P.  Crassus,  who  (we 
are  not  told  why)  had  led  a  legion  against  the  Venetans 
(  Vannes)  and  other  neighbouring  peoples  on  the  Ocean,  now 
sent  to  say  that  they  had  submitted.  The  legions  were  then 
placedforthewinter  in  the  country  of  theCarnutes  (^Chartres), 
Andes  (A/iJou),  and  Turones  (  Touraine),  and  Csesar  return- 
ed to  Italy.  On  the  motion  of  Cicero  the  senate  decreed  a 
supplication  of  fifteen  days  for  these  victories, — the  longest 
ever  as  yet  decreed*. 

During  the  winter,  P.  Crassus,  who  was  quartered  with  the 
seventh  legion  in  the  country  of  the  Andes,  being  in  want  of 
corn,  sent  some  of  his  officers  in  quest  of  supplies  to  the  Ve- 
netans and  the  adjoining  peoples.  The  Venetans  however  de- 
tained'the  envoys  in  oixler  to  get  back  their  hostages  in  ex- 
change, and  the  rest  followed  their  example.  Csesai",  when  he 
heard  of  this,  sent  directions  to  have  ships  of  war  built  on  the 
Ligeris  (^Loire),  and  ordered  sailors  and  pilots  to  repair  thither 
from  the  province,  and  in  the  spring  (696)  he  sent  out  to  take 
the  command  in  person.  The  Venetans  were  a  seafaring  peo- 
ple, their  towns  mostly  lay  on  capes  where  they  could  not 
easily  be  attacked,  and  their  navy  was  numerous.  The  contest 
Csesar  saw  must  be  on  the  sea,  and  his  fleet  therefore  entered 
the  ocean.  The  Roman  ships  of  war  were,  as  usual,  impelled 
by  oars,  while  those  of  the  enemy,  which  were  also  much 
higher,  were  worked  by  sails.  At  first  the  advantage  was  on 
the  side  of  the  Gauls;  but  Caesar  had  provided  a  number  of 
sithes  set  on  poles,  with  which  the  Romans  laid  hold  on  the 
rigging  of  the  Gallic  ships,  and  then  urging  on  their  own,  thus 
cut  the  cordage  and  caused  the  sails  to  fall.  This  device,  like 
that  of  the  crows  in  the  old  times,  gave  the  Romans  the  vic- 

*  The  supplication  was  at  first  only  one  day.  In  359  one  of  four  clays 
was  decreed  to  Caniillus  for  the  taking  of  Veii.  (Liv.  v.  23.)  Five  then  be- 
came the  usual  tiumber.  Cicero  caused  one  of  ten  days  to  be  decreed  to 
Pompeius  at  the  termination  of  the  Mithridatic  war. 


414^  GALLIC  WARS  OF  CJESAR.  [b.C.  55. 

tory  ;  a  sudden  calm  that  came  ou  Avas  also  greatly  in  their 
favour.  The  Veiietans  were  forced  to  sue  for  peace,  and  as 
they  had  only  detained  his  agents,  Csesar  was  mercifully  con- 
tent with  putting  their  whole  senate  to  death,  and  selling  the 
people  for  slaves. 

As  the  Morinians  and  Menapians  of  the  north  coast  (^Pi- 
cardy)  had  been  in  league  with  the  Venetans,  Caesar  invaded 
their  country,  which  abounded  in  woods  and  marshes,  but  the 
approach  of  the  wet  season  obliged  him  to  retire.  Having  put 
his  troops  into  winter-quarters,  he  set  out  to  look  after  his  af- 
fairs in  Italy.  During  the  summer  P.  Crassus,  who  had  been 
sent  into  Aquitaine  to  keep  it  quiet,  or  rather,  as  it  would  ap- 
pear, to  raise  a  war,  routed  the  people  named  the  Sotiates 
(jS'o*),  forced  their  chief  town  tosurrender,  and  defeated  a  large 
army  of  the  adjoining  peoples,  and  the  Spaniards  who  had 
joined  them.  Shortly  after  he  left  Gaul  to  join  his  father  in 
Syria,  taking  with  him  one  thousand  Gallic  horse. 

Tribes  of  Germans  named  Usipetans  and  Tencterians  ha- 
ving crossed  the  Rhine  and  entered  the  Menapian  country, 
Caesar,  fearing  lest  their  presence  might  induce  the  Gauls  to 
rise,  hastened  (697)  to  oppose  them.  Some  negotiations  took 
place  between  them,  during  which  a  body  of  eight  hundred 
German  horse  fell  on,  and  even  put  to  flight  with  a  loss  of 
seventy-fourmen,fivethousand  of  Caesar's  Gallic  cavalry  ;  and 
they  then  had  the  audacity,  as  Caesar  represents  it,  to  send  an 
embassy,  in  which  were  all  their  principal  men,  to  the  Roman 
camp  to  justify  themselves  and  to  seek  a  truce.  But  Caesar 
was  even  with  them  ;  he  detained  the  envoys,  and,  having  thus 
deprived  them  of  their  leaders,  fell  on  and  slaughtered  them ; 
and  most  of  those  who  escaped  were  drowned  in  the  Rhine 
and  Meuse  as  they  fled.  Being  resolved  that  Gaul  should  be 
all  his  own,  Caesar  thought  it  would  be  well  to  show  the  Ger- 
mans that  tJieir  country  too  might  be  invaded.  Accordingly, 
under  the  pretext  of  aiding  the  Ubians  who  had  placed  them- 
selves under  the  protection  of  Rome  against  the  Suevians, 
he  threw  a  bridge  over  the  Rhine,  and  having  ravaged  the 
lands  of  the  Sicambrians,  who  had  retired  to  their  woods,  he 
entered  the  cou!itry  of  the  Ubians;  then  hearing  that  the 
Suevians  had  collected  all  their  forces  in  the  centre  of  their 
territory,  and  waited  there  to  give  him  battle,  he  returned  to 
the  Rhine,  having,  as  he  says,  accomplished  all  he  had  pro- 
posed. This  run  (as  we  may  term  it)  into  Germany  had  oc- 
cupied only  eighteen  days ;  and  as  there  was  a  part  of  the 


B.C.  54.]  Cesar's  INVASION  OF  BRITAIN.  415 

summer  remaining,  he  resolved  to  employ  it  in  a  similar  inroad 
into  the  isle  of  Britain,  whose  people  he  asserts,  but  untruly, 
had  been  so  audacious  as  to  send  aid  to  the  Gauls  when  fight- 
ingfortheir  independenceagainst  him  :  moreover,  the  invasion 
of  unknown  countries  like  Germany  and  Britain  would  tell  to 
his  advantage  at  Rome.  He  accordingly  had  ships  brought 
round  from  the  Loire  to  the  Morinian  coast  {Boulogne),  and 
putting  two  legions  on  board  he  set  sail  at  midnight.  At  nine 
next  morning  he  reached  the  coast  of  Britain  ;  but  as  the  cliffs 
{Dover)  were  covered  with  armed  men,  he  cast  anchor,  and  in 
the  evening  sailed  eight  miles  further  down  {Deal),  and  there 
effected  a  landing,  though  vigorously  opposed  by  the  natives. 
The  Britons  soon  sent  to  sue  for  peace ;  and  they  had  given 
some  of  the  hostages  demanded  of  them,  when  a  spring-tide 
having  greatly  damaged  the  Roman  fleet,  they  resolved  to  try 
again  the  fate  of  war.  They  fell  on  the  seventh  legion  as  it  was 
out  foraging,  and  Caesar  had  some  difficulty  in  bringing  it  off; 
they  afterwards  assailed  the  Roman  camp,  but  were  repulsed  ; 
and  Caesar,  who  had  neither  cavalry  nor  corn,  and  who  want- 
ed to  get  back  to  Gaul,  readily  made  peace  on  their  promise  of 
sending  a  double  number  of  hostages  thither  after  him.  He 
then  departed  ;  and  having  written  the  wonderful  news  to 
Rome,  a  supplication  of  hoenty  days  was  decreed. 

As  only  two  of  the  British  states  sent  the  hostages,  Caesar 
resolved  to  make  this  a  pretext  for  a  second  invasion  of  their 
island.  When,  therefore,  he  was  setting  out  as  usual  for  Italy, 
he  directed  his  legates  to  repair  the  old  and  build  new  ships  ; 
and  on  his  return  in  the  summer  (698)  he  found  a  fleet  of 
twenty-eight  long  ships  and  six  hundred  transports  ready.  He 
embarked  with  five  legions  and  tvt^o  thousand  Gallic  horse,  and 
landed  at  the  same  place  as  before.  The  Britons  retired  to  the 
hills ;  and  Caesar,  having  left  some  troops  to  guard  his  camp, 
advanced  in  quest  of  them.  He  found  them  posted  on  the 
banks  of  a  river  {the  Stour)  about  twelve  miles  inlands.  He 
attacked  and  drove  them  off;  but  next  day,  as  he  was  preparing 
to  advance  into  the  country,  he  was  recalled  to  the  coast  by 
tidings  of  the  damage  his  fleet  had  sustained  from  a  storm 
during  the  night.  Having  given  the  needful  directions,  he 
resumed  his  pursuit  of  the  Britons,  who  laying  aside  their  jea- 
lousies had  given  the  supreme  command  to  Casi^ivelaunus, 
king  of  the  Trinobantians  {Essex  and  Middlesex)  ;  but  the 
Roman  cavalry  cut  them  up  so  dreadfully  when  they  attacked 
the  foragers,  that  they  dispersed,  and  most  of  them  went  to 


416  GALLIC  WARS  OF  C^SAK.  [b.C.  53-52. 

their  homes.  Ceesar  then  advanced,  and  forcing  the  passage 
of  the  Thames  invaded  Cassivelaunus'  kingdom,  and  took  his 
chief  town"^.  Having  received  the  submissions  and  hostages 
of  various  states,  and  regulated  the  tributes  they  should  (but 
never  did)  pay,  he  then  returned  to  Gaul,  where  it  being  now 
late  in  autumn,  he  put  his  troops  into  winter-quarters.  The 
Gauls  however,  who  did  not  comprehend  the  right  of  Rome 
and  Caesar  to  a  dominion  over  them,  resolved  to  fall  on  the 
several  Roman  camps,  and  thus  to  free  their  country.  The 
eighth  legion  and  five  cohorts  who  were  quartered  in  the 
country  of  the  Eburones  {Liege)  were  cut  to  pieces  by  that 
people,  led  by  their  prince  Ambiorix  ;  the  camp  of  the  legate 
Q.  Cicero  was  assailed  by  them  and  the  Nervians,  and  only 
saved  by  the  arrival  of  C'sesar  in  person,  who  gave  the  Gauls 
a  total  defeat.  The  country  became  now  tolerably  tranquil ; 
but  Ceesar,  knowing  that  he  should  have  a  war  in  the  spring, 
had  three  new  legions  raised  in  Italy,  and  he  prevailed  on  Pom- 
peius  to  lend  him  one  which  he  had  just  formed. 

The  most  remarkable  event  of  the  following  year  (699)  was 
Caesar's  second  passage  of  the  Rhine  to  punish  the  Germans 
for  giving  aid  to  their  oppressed  neighbours.  He  threw  a 
bridge  over  the  Rhine  a  little  higher  up  the  river  than  the  for- 
mer one,  and  advanced  to  attack  the  Suevians ;  but  learning 
that  they  had  assembled  all  their  forces  at  the  edge  of  a  forest 
and  there  awaited  him,  he  thought  it  advisable  to  retire,  fear- 
ing, as  he  tells  us,  the  want  of  corn  in  a  country  where  there 
was  so  little  tillage  as  in  Germanyf .  Having  broken  down  the 
bridge  on  the  German  side,  and  left  some  cohorts  to  guard 
what  remained  standing,  he  then  proceeded  with  all  humanity 
to  extirpate  the  Eburones,  on  account,  he  says,  of  their  perfidy. 
He  hunted  them  down  everywhere;  he  burned  their  towns  and 
villages,  consumed  or  destroyed  all  their  corn,  and  then  left 
their  country  with  the  agreeable  assurance  that  those  who  had 
escaped  the  sword  would  perish  of  famine.  Then  having  exe- 
cuted more  majorum  a  prince  of  the  Senonians,  and  thus  tran- 
quillised  Gaul,  as  he  terms  it,  he  set  out  for  Italy  to  look  after 
his  interests  there. 

The  next  year  (700)  there  was  a  general  rising  of  nearly  all 
Gaul  against  the  Roman  dominion.   The  chief  command  was 

*  The  British  towns  were  nothing  more  than  fastnesses  in  tlie  woods, 
without  any  walls  ;  their  dwellings  were  mere  cabins.  The  Britons  were 
much  behind  tlie  Gauls  in  civilisation, 

•f  We  may  suspect  that  he  feared  something  else  also. 


B.C.  .biJ-Sl.]  GALLIC  WARS  OF  C^SAR.  417 

given  to  Vercingetorix,  prince'of  the  Arvernians  {Auvergiie), 
a  young  man  of  great  talent  and  valour.  Ceesar  immediately 
left  Italy,  and  crossing  Mount  Cebenna  {Cevennes),  though 
the  snow  lay  six  feet  deep  on  it,  at  the  head  of  his  raw  levies 
entered  and  ravaged  the  country  of  the  Arvernians,  who  sent 
to  recall  Vercingetorix  to  their  aid.  Then  leaving  M.  Brutus 
in  command,  Caesar  departed,  and  putting  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  cavalry,  w  ent  with  all  speed  to  the  country  of  the  Lin- 
gonians  (^Lcmgres),  and  there  assembled  his  legions.  Vercin- 
getorix then  laid  siege  to  Gergovia,  the  capital  of  the  Boians : 
Caesar  hastened  to  its  relief;  on  his  way  he  took  the  towns  of 
Vellanodunum  (^ea2«ie)andGenabum  (^OrUans),  and  having 
crossed  the  Loire,  laid  siege  to  Noviodunum  (Nouan),  in  the 
territory  of  the  Biturigans  (Serri),  and  on  its  surrender  ad- 
vanced against  Avaricum  (Bourges), the  capital  of  the  country 
and  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  Gaul.  Vercingetorix,  who  had 
raised  the  siege  of  Gergovia,  held  a  council,  in  which  he  pro- 
posed, as  the  surest  mode  of  distressing  the  Romans,  to  destroy 
all  the  towns  and  villages  in  the  country.  This  advice  being 
approved  of,  upwards  of  twenty  towns  were  leveled  ;  but,  at 
the  earnest  entreaty  of  the  Biturigans,  Avaricum  wasexempted. 
A  garrison  was  put  into  that  town,  and  the  Gallic  army  en- 
camped at  a  moderate  distance  from  it  in  order  to  impede  the 
besiegers.  It  nevertheless  was  taken  after  a  gallant  defence; 
the  Romans  spared  neither  man,  Avoman,  nor  child,  and  of 
forty  thousand  inhabitants  eight  hundred  only  escaped.  Caesar 
then  prepared  to  lay  siege  to  a  town  of  the  Arvernians  also 
named  Gergovia ;  but  thoush  he  defeated  the  Gallic  armies, 
he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  design  on  account  of  the  revolt 
of  the  ^duans.  Some  time  after,  Vercingetorix,  having  at- 
tacked Ctesar  on  his  march,  and  being  repulsed,  threw  himself 
into  Alesia  {Alise),  a  strong  town  in  the  modern  Burgundy, 
built  on  a  hill  at  the  confluence  of  two  rivers.  The  Gauls 
collected  a  large  army  and  came  to  its  relief :  but  their  forces 
were  defeated,  and  the  town  was  compelled  to  surrender. 
Vercingetorix  was  reserved  to  grace  the  conqueror's  triumph*, 
to  whom  a  supplication  of  twenty  days  was  decreed  at  Rome. 
In  the  next  campaign  (701)  Caesar  and  his  legates  subdued 
such  states  as  still  maintained  their  independence.  As  the . 
people  of  Uxellodunum  (in  Querci)  made  an  obstinate  defence, 
Caesar  (his  lenitj'  being,  as  he  assures  us,  so  well  known  that 

*  Six  years  after  he  was  led  through  the  streets  of  Rome  in  Caesar's  tri- 
umph, and  then  after  the  ancient  barbarous  practice  put  to  death. 

T  5 


418  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  [b,C.  50. 

none  could  charge  him  with  cruelty),  in  order  to  deter  the 
rest  of  the  Gauls  from  insurrection  and  resistance,  cut  off  the 
hands  of  all  the  men  and  then  let  them  go  that  all  might  see 
them.  Tiie  following  year  (702),  as  all  Gaul  was  reduced  to 
peace*,  he  regulated  its  affairs,  laying  on  an  annual  tribute ; 
and  having  thus  established  his  dominion  over  it,  he  prepared 
to  impose  his  yoke  on  his  ov/n  country. 

The  military  talent  displayed  by  Caesar  in  the  conquest  of 
Gaul  is  not  to  be  disputed,  and  it  alone  would  suffice  to  place 
him  in  the  first  rank  of  generals.  But  is  it  to  be  endured  that 
a  man  should  obtain  praise  and  renown  for  slaughtering  inno- 
cent nations  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  overthrow  the  constitu- 
tion of  his  own  country  ?  We  are  told  that  he  took  or  re- 
ceived the  submission  of  eight  hundred  towns,  subdued  three 
hundred  nations;  defeated  in  battle  three  millions  of  men, 
of  whom  one  million  was  slain,  and  another  taken  and  sold 
for  slaves f  ;  and  all  this  misery  was  inflicted  that  Caesar  might 
be  great  I 


CHAPTER  X.J 

Commencement  of  the  civil  war. — Caesai-  at  Rome. — Caesar's  war  in  Spain. 
— Surrender  of  Massilia, — Caesar's  civil  regulations. — Preparations  of 
Pompeius. — Military  events  in  Epirus. 

There  M'ere  now  in  the  Roman  world  two  men,  Caesar  and 
Pompeius,  of  weight  and  influence  far  superior  to  all  others; 
there  were  also  two  parties  in  the  state,  one  for  maintaining 
the  constitution  as  it  was,  the  other  for  revolution  ;  it  was 
therefore  hardly  possible  that  each  party  should  not  range 
itself  under  its  appropriate  chief,  and  a  civil  contest  ensue. 
At  the  elections  in  701  §  the  consuls  chosen  for  the  foUow- 

*  "Ubi  solitudinem  faciunt,  pacem  adpellant,"  said  the  Caledonian  war- 
rior, Tacit.  Agric.  30. 

t  Appian,  Celt.  2.     Pliny,  H.  N.  vii.  25. 

+  Caesar,  Civil  Wars.  Dion,  xl.  58. — xli.  52.  Appian,  Bell.  Civ,  ii. 
26-65.  Velleius.ii.  48-51.  Suetonius,  Jul.  Caesar.  Plut.,  Csesar,  2S-41. 
Pompeius,  56-67.     Cato,  49-54.      Lucan,  i.-vi.  332.     The  Epitomators. 

§  At  the  elections  of  the  preceding  year  Cato  stood  for  the  consulate,  but 
-as  he  would  neither  bribe  nor  court  the  electors  he  was  of  course  unsuc- 
cessfuL 


B.C.  50-49.]    COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  ■ily 

ing  year  were  L.  ^^2milius  Paulus  and  C.  Claudius  Marcellus  ; 
M.  Coelius  was  one  of  the  aediles,  and  C.  Scribonius  Curio  one 
of  the  tribunes, — all  hitherto  of  the  aristocratic  party ;  but 
Cassar  had  secretlv  purchased  Paulus  and  Curio,  and  he  had 
also  gained  over  Coelius.  On  the  1st  of  March  (702)  a  motion 
which  had  long  been  meditated  was  made  by  the  consul  Mar- 
cellus for  regulating  the  consular  provinces,  and  therefore  re- 
quiring Caesar  to  resign  his  command  ;  Curio  declared  his  ap- 
probation of  it  provided  Pompeius  did  the  same.  To  this  the 
senate  would  not  consent,  and  Curio  then  put  his  negative  on 
everj^  other  resolution.  Pompeius  was  resolved  that  Caesar 
should  not  be  consul  unless  he  resigned  his  army  and  pro- 
vinces, and  Caesar  was  persuaded  that  there  was  no  safety  for 
him  if  he  left  his  array ;  for  Cato  and  his  friends  had  already 
menaced  him  with  a  prosecution  for  his  illegal  acts  in  his  con- 
sulate. He  however  gave  up  two  legions,  to  be  sent  to  Syria ; 
but  they  were  retained  by  Marcellus,  and  quartered  at  Capua. 

Pompeius  was  at  this  time  as  eager  for  war  as  Caesar  possi- 
bly could  be.  The  joy  manifested  by  the  people  of  Italy  oa 
occasion  of  his  recovery  from  an  illness  which  he  had  this 
year  in  Campania  gave  him  the  most  exaggerated  ideas  of  his 
influence  over  them,  and  he  was  completely  misled  by  the  ac- 
counts which  he  received  of  the  ill-humour  of  Caesar's  legions 
and  the  disaffection  of  his  provinces.  He  therefore  derided 
those  who  expressed  apprehension,  and  when  some  one  said 
that  if  Csesar  entered  Italy  there  were  no  troops  to  oppose  him, 
he  replied,  "  Wherever  I  but  stamp  with  my  foot  legions  will 
rise  up." 

On  the  1st  of  January,  703,  Curio,  who  on  the  expiration  of 
his  tribunate  had  repaired  to  Caesar,  came  with  a  letter  frona 
him,  saying  that  he  would  lay  down  his  command  if  Pompeius 
did  the  same  ;  otherwise  he  would  march  into  Italy,  and  avenge 
himself  and  the  republic.  The  consuls  C.  Marcellus  and  L. 
Lentulus  Crus  would  not  allow  the  senate  to  take  the  letter 
into  their  consideration  ;  and  after  some  debate  it  was  agreed 
to  declare  Caesar  a  public  enemy  if  he  did  not  disband  his  army 
against  a  certain  day.  The  tribunes  M.  Antonius  and  Q,  Cas- 
sius  Longinus,  sworn  allies  of  Caesar,  put  their  negative  on  this 
decree,  and  nothing  was  then  decided  on.  Pompeius  expressed 
his  approbation  of  the  conduct  of  the  consuls  and  more  reso- 
lute members  of  the  senate,  and  his  veteran  officers  now  began 
to  flock  from  all  sides  to  Rome  in  hopes  of  a  war.  The  con- 
test meantime  in  the  senate  was  continued  till  the  sixth  day, 


420  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.         [b.C.  49r 

when  the  consuls  menaced  the  two  tribunes,  and  it  is  even  said 
ordered  them  to  leave  the  house  ;  and  a  decree  was  made  that 
the  consuls  and  other  magistrates  should  take  care  that  the  re- 
public sustained  no  injury.  That  very  night  Antonius  and 
Cassius,  disguised  as  slaves,  left  Rome  in  a  hired  carriage,  ac- 
companied by  Curio  and  Coeiius,  and  hastened  to  join  Csesar. 

The  senate  was  then,  on  account  of  Pompeius,  held  without 
the  city,  and  he  expressed  his  entire  approbation  of  what  had 
been  done,  and  said  that  he  had  ten  legions  in  arms,  and  that 
he  knew  Caesar's  troops  to  be  discontented.  It  was  resolved 
that  troops  should  be  raised  all  through  Italy,  Pompeius  be  sup- 
ported with  money  out  of  the  treasury,  and  governors  be  sent 
out  to  all  the  provinces.  War  in  effect  was  declared  against 
Caesar. 

Caesar  was  at  Ravenna  with  but  one  legion  when  he  heard 
of  the  proceedings  against  him.  He  forthwith  assembled  his 
soldiers  and  complained  to  them  of  the  treatment  he  had  re- 
ceivedfromthe  senate,and  dwelt  particularly  on  the  indignities 
offered  the  tribunes.  The  soldiers  having  declared  their  reso- 
lution to  stand  by  him, he  sent  off  orders  to  hislegates  in  Trans- 
alpine Gaul  to  make  all  haste  to  join  him  with  their  troops, 
and  he  then  set  forward  for  Ariminum.  It  is  said  that  he  sent 
his  cohorts  on  secretly  before  him  with  directions  to  occupy 
that  town,  the  first  in  Italy,  and  that  he  himself,  to  obviate 
suspicion,  having  spent  the  day  in  viewing  the  exercises  of  gla- 
diators, sat  down  as  usual  to  supper  in  the  evening.  When  it 
grew  dark  he  rose  and  went  out,  telling  the  company  that  he 
would  return  presently.  But  he  had  desired  some  of  his  friends 
to  set  forth,  and  he  himself  mounting  a  hired  horse  took  at 
first  the  contrary  way,  then  turned  and  directed  his  course  for 
Ariminum.  When  he  came  up  with  his  troops  at  the  Rubi- 
con, a  stream  which  divided  Italy  from  Gaul,  he  halted  and 
paused  for  some  time,  reflecting  on  the  consequences  of  the 
step  he  was  about  to  take.  He  debated  the  question  with  C. 
Asinius  Pollio  and  his  other  friends  :  at  length  bidding  adieu 
to  reflection  he  cried  out,  "  Let  the  die  be  cast !  "  passed  the 
bridge  followed  by  his  troops,  and  at  dawn  entered  and  took 
possession  of  Ariminum,  where  he  found  Antonius  and  Cas- 
sius, whomheproduced  in  their  servile  disguise  to  the  soldiers, 
and  expatiated  on  the  wrongs  they  had  sustained.  He  sent  An- 
tonius with  five  cohorts  to  seize  Arretium  in  Etruria  ;  others 
to  Pisaurum,  Fanura  Fortunse,  and  Ancona,  and  Curio  to  Igu- 
vium,  while  he  himself  remained  to  levy  more  troops.     His 


B.C.  49.]         COMMENCEMEMT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  421 

principal  legate  T.  Atiiis  Labienus  left  him  at  this  time  and 
went  to  join  Pompeius  and  the  senate,  who  were  much  ani- 
mated by  his  arrival  and  the  report  which  he  made  of  the 
temper  and  condition  of  Caesar's  forces. 

When  the  intelligence  of  Cfesar"s  advance  reached  Rome, 
Pompeius,  the  consuls,  and  the  senate  retired  with  the  utmost 
celerity  to  Capua,  not  even  talking  the  money  out  of  the  trea- 
sury. P.  Lentulus  Spinther  threw  himself  into  Asculum  with 
ten  cohorts  ;  L.  Doraitius  repaired  to  Corfinium  in  order  to 
impede  Caesar's  progress.  Pompeius  and  the  consuls  meantime 
went  on  with  the  levies  in  the  colonies ;  but  the  names  were 
given  slowly  and  reluctantly?  and  Pompeius  now  began  to  dis- 
trust his  strength.  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  try  the  M'ay 
of  accommodation,  and  the  praetor  L.  Roscius  and  the  young 
L.  Caesar  were  sent  to  Caesar  to  learn  his  demands.  These 
were  that  Pompeius  should  retire  to  his  province,  the  new  le- 
vies be  disbanded,  and  the  garrisons  withdrawn  ;  Caesar  would 
then  disband  his  troops,  give  up  his  provinces,  and  come  to 
Rome  to  stand  for  the  consulate  in  the  usual  manner.  These 
terms  were  accepted,  even  Cato  consenting,  provided  Ctesar 
would  immediately  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  towns  he  had 
seized.  With  this  last  condition  he  declined  to  comply,  al- 
leging that  he  should  not  be  safe  if  he  did  so.  Various  efforts 
were  made  to  no  purpose  :  letters  were  written  and  published 
in  justification  of  either  side,  but  war  now  seemed  inevitable. 
Pompeius,  who  relied  on  his  army  in  Spain  and  on  the  troops 
of  the  East,  sought  only  to  gain  time  :  Caesar,  who  had  but 
one  army,  saw  that  his  only  hopes  lay  in  despatch.  Leaving 
Auximum,  therefore,  where  he  now  was,  he  advanced  with  his 
single  legion  through  Picenum  to  the  townof  Cingulura,  which 
opened  its  gates  when  he  appeared.  He  was  there  joined  by 
his  twelfth  legion,  and  he  went  on  to  Asculum,  which  Lentu- 
lus quitted  at  his  approach.  Lentulus,  being  deserted  on  his 
retreat  by  most  of  his  men,  joined  L.  Vibullius  llufus  with  the 
remainder,  and  their  united  force  amounting  to  thirteen  co- 
horts, they  led  it  by  forced  marches  to  Corfinium  and  joined 
Domitius.  While  Caesar  was  advancing  toward  this  town, 
Pompeius,  who  had  reason  to  fear  that  he  could  not  fully  rely 
on  the  two  legions  he  had  with  him,  which  were  those  that  had 
been  taken  from  Caesar,  and  seeing  that  the  consular  levies 
were  not  ready,  wrote  pressing  Domitius  to  evacuate  Corfi- 
nium and  to  join  him  with  the  troops  under  him,  as  these  were 
considered  well-affected ;  but  Domitius  chose  to  judge  for  him- 


422  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  [b.C.49. 

self,  and  when  Caesar  appeared  under  the  walls  he  wrote  urging 
Pompeius  to  advance,  and  by  getting  into  Caesar's  rear  to  cut 
off  his  supplies.  Pompeius  replied,  declaring  it  to  be  out  of 
his  power,  and  again  desiring  him  to  join  him  if  possible.  Do- 
mitius  dissembled  the  contents  of  this  letter  and  assured  his 
men  that  Pompeius  was  coming  to  their  aid.  But  they  ob- 
served that  his  looks  did  not  correspond  with  his  words,  and 
they  found  that  he  was  planning  to  make  his  escape.  They 
therefore  mutinied,  made  him  aprisoner,  and  sent  deputiesto 
surrender  themselves  and  the  town  to  Caesar.  Next  morning 
Caesar  had  Domitius,  Lentulus,  and  the  other  leading  Pom- 
peians  brought  before  him,  and  after  gently  reproaching  them 
with  their  opposition  to  him  gave  them  their  liberty  and  their 
property.  He  made  the  soldiers  take  the  military  oath  to  him, 
and  without  loss  of  time  he  set  out  for  Apulia  in  pursuit  of 
Pompeius,  who  having  lost  the  better  part  of  his  army  through 
Domitius'  obstinacy,  retired  from  Luceria,  where  he  then  was, 
to  Brundisium  ;  for  he  had  all  along  intended  to  pass  over  and 
transfer  the  war  to  Greece.  Caesar  made  all  haste  to  impede 
him,  and  on  the  9th  of  March  he  sat  down  before  Brundisium 
with  six  legions.  Pompeius  had  but  twenty  cohorts  in  the 
town,  as  he  had  sent  thirty  with  the  consuls  over  to  Dyrrha- 
chium.  Caesar  attempted  to  shut  him  up  by  running  moles 
across  the  mouth  of  the  harbour ;  but  the  consuls  having  sent 
back  the  shipping,  Pompeius  embarked  and  brought  oif  his 
troops  in  a  very  masterly  manner  and  departed  (Mar.  17), 
thus  abandoning  Italy  to  his  rival. 

Cicero  greatly  blames  Pompeius  for  quitting  Italy ;  yet 
what  could  he  have  done?  He  was  deceived  in  all  his  ex- 
pectations of  the  public  spirit  of  the  people,  his  troops  were  all 
deserting,  Caesar  had  eleven  veteran  legions  and  abundance  of 
cavalry,  the  lower  orders  were  in  his  favour  or  longed  for  a 
change,  and  the  higher  classes  are  thus  described  by  Cicero 
himself:  "I  do  not  understand,"  says  he  to  Atticus,  "what  you 
mean  by  patriots  (bonos)  ;  I  know  of  none  ;  I  mean  I  know  of 
no  order  of  men  deserving  that  appellation.  Take  them  man 
by  man  they  are  very  worthy  persons,  but  in  civil  dissensions 
we  are  to  look  for  patriotism  in  the  constituent  members  of  the 
body  politic.  Do  you  look  for  it  in  the  senate?  Let  me  ask 
you  by  whom  were  the  provinces  left  without  governors?  Do 
you  look  for  patriotism  among  the  farmers  of  the  revenue? 
Alasl  they  never  were  steady,  and  now  they  are  entirely  de- 
voted to  Csesar.     Do  you  look  for  it  in  our  trading  or  our 


B.C.  49.]  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  423 

landed  interest?  They  are  fondest  of  peace.  Can  you  ima- 
gine that  they  have  any  terrible  apprehension  of  living  under 
a  monarchy,  they  to  whom  all  forms  of  government  are  indif- 
ferent provided  they  enjoy  their  ease*?"  Italy  therefore  could 
not  be  maintained  ;  but  Pompeius'  error  lay,  some  thought,  in 
not  going  to  Spain,  where  he  had  a  veteran  army  and  a  brave 
population  well-affected  to  him.  He  certainly  seems  to  have 
relied  too  much  on  the  ability  of  his  lieutenants  there,  and  it 
may  have  been  his  plan  (had  not  Caesar's  celerity  disconcerted 
it)  to  coop  him  up  in  Italy,  and  overwhelm  him  by  a  combined 
attack  from  the  east  and  the  west.  At  all  events  he  had  not 
shipping  to  convey  his  troops  to  Spain,  and  if  he  had  gone 
thither,  Greece  and  the  East  would  probably  have  been  lost. 
But  the  great  error  of  Pompeius  and  his  party  lay  in  their 
having  given  Caesar's  cause  the  semblance  of  justice  and  self- 
defence  ;  the  term  of  his  command  was  not  expired  when  they 
required  him  to  resign  his  provinces,  and  they  refused  to  let 
him  stand  for  the  consulate  when  absent,  in  contravention  of 
Pompeius'  own  law  to  that  effect.  Caesar  in  fact  had  no  al- 
ternative between  victory  and  ruin  ;  he  had  no  doubt  volun- 
tarily placed  himself  in  that  situation,  but  he  was  in  it,  and 
could  not  now  recede.  When  we  see  such  men  as  Asinius 
Pollio  on  his  side,  we  may  be  sure  that  his  cause  was  not  so 
bad  in  the  eyes  of  his  contemporaries  as  it  may  seem  in  ours. 
In  fact  it  is  a  mockery  to  dignify  with  the  name  of  constitu- 
tion the  anarchy  that  had  reigned  for  some  years  at  Rome; 
people  plainly  saw  that  Caesar  or  Pompeius  must  be  master  of 
the  republic,  and  hence  the  indifference  of  which  Cicero  com- 
plains, and  in  which  he  partly  shared. 

As  the  want  of  shipping  prevented  Caesar  from  following 
Pompeius,  he  resolved  to  turn  his  strength  without  delay 
against  the  army  in  Spain.  Lest  in  his  absence  Pompeius 
should,  as  it  was  expected,  try  to  starve  Italy  by  stopping  the 
supplies  of  corn,  he  took  measures  for  securing  Sicily,  Sar- 
dinia, and  Africa.  Curio  was  sent  to  the  former  island,  with 
directions  when  he  had  gained  it  to  pass  over  to  Africa ;  the 
legate  M.  Valerius  Orca  to  the  latter,  the  people  of  which  de- 
clared for  him  as  soon  as  he  appeared.  Cato,  to  whom  the 
senate  had  given  charge  of  Sicily,  at  first  made  preparations 

•  Cic.  ad  Att.,vii.  7.  He  says  elsewhere  (viii.  13.),  "I  have  had  a  great 
deal  of  talk  with  our  townsmen,  and  a  great  deal  witli  our  country-gentle- 
men in  these  quarters,  and  take  my  word  for  it  they  have  no  concern  but 
about  their  lands,  their  farms,  and  their  money." 


424-  CiESAR  AT  ROME.  [b.C.  49. 

for  defence  ;  but  finding  that  Pompeius  had  abandoned  Italy, 
he  said  he  would  not  engage  the  island  in  a  war,  and  retired 
at  the  approach  of  Curio.  Having  settled  Sicily,  Curio  passed 
with  two  legions  over  to  Africa,  where  he  had  some  success 
against  P.  Atius  Varus,  who  commanded  there  for  the  senate: 
but  his  army  was  soon  after  cut  to  pieces  and  himself  slain  by 
the  troops  of  Juba  king  of  Numidia. 

Caesar  proceeded  from  Brundisium  to  Rome  ;  the  people  of 
the  towns  on  the  way,  some  through  love,  some  through  fear, 
poured  forth  to  congratulate  him.  He  came  to  Rome,  and 
having  assembled  such  of  the  senate  as  were  attached  to  him, 
or  who  had  not  courage  to  refuse,  he  detailed  his  wrongs,  as 
he  affected  to  consider  them ;  dwelt  on  the  cruelty  and  inso- 
lence, as  he  termed  it,  of  those  who  had  circumscribed  the 
tribunician  power;  and  begged  of  them  to  aid  him  in  governing 
the  republic,  adding,  that  if  they  would  not  he  would  do  it  by 
himself.  He  proposed  that  some  persons  should  be  sent  to  treat 
with  Pompeius  :  the  senate  approved,  but  no  one  was  willing  to 
go,  as  Pompeius  had  declared  that  he  should  regard  those  who 
stayed  at  Rome  as  much  his  enemies  as  those  in  Cfesar's  camp. 
CiEsar  then  having  committed  the  charge  of  Rome  to  the 
praetor  L.  iEmilius  Lepidus,  and  the  command  of  the  troops 
in  Italy  to  M.  Antonius,  prepared  to  set  out  for  Spain.  He 
would  not  however  imitate  the  folly  or  good  faith  of  his  op- 
ponents by  leaving  the  treasury  untouched  ;  and  when  the 
tribune  L.  Metellus,  relying  perhaps  on  the  horror  he  had  ex- 
pressed at  the  violation  of  the  sacred  authority  of  the  tribunes, 
ventured  to  oppose  him  and  referred  to  the  laws,  he  told  him 
that  this  was  no  time  to  talk  of  lav/s,  that  he  and  all  who  had 
opposed  must  now  obey  him.  When  he  came  to  the  door  of 
the  treasury  the  keys  were  not  to  be  found ;  he  then  sent  for 
smiths  to  break  open  the  doors  :  Metellus  again  opposed  ;  but 
Cassar  threatened  to  slay  him,  and,  "  Know,  young  man,"  added 
he,  "  that  this  is  easier  to  do  than  to  say."  Metellus  then  with- 
drew, and  the  asserter  of  the  laws  took  out  all  the  money,  even 
the  most  sacred  deposits.  This  conduct  disgusted  the  people  so 
much  that  Caesar  did  not  venture  to  address  them  as  he  had  in- 
tended,and  he  left  Romeatter  a  stay  of  only  six  or  seven  days*. 

When  he  came  into  Gaul  he  found  that  the  citizens  of  Mas- 
silia  had  resolved  not  to  admit  him  into  their  town,  wishing,  as 

*  "  Censumque  et  patrimonium  populi  Romani  ante  rapuit  quam  impe- 
rium."  Florus,  iv.  2.  See  Cic.  ad  Att.,  x.  4.  Dion,  xli.  37.  Lucan,  iii.  1J7. 
Caesar  himself  makes  no  allusion  whatever  to  this  transaction. 


B.C.  49.]  Cesar's  AVAR  IN  SPAIN.  425 

they  said,  to  remain  neuter  ;  but  when  L.  Domitius,  to  whom 
the  senate  had  given  the  province  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  appeared 
before  their  port  they  received  him.  Caesar  then  laid  siege  to 
the  town,  having  had  some  ships  built  for  the  purpose  at  Aries; 
and  leaving  the  conduct  of  the  siege  to  C.  Trebonius,  and  the 
command  of  the  fleet  to  D.  Brutus,  he  hastened  on  to  Spain, 
having  previously  sent  C.  Fabius  with  three  legions  to  secure 
the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees.  On  his  way,  to  make  sure  of  the 
fidelity  of  his  troops,  he  borrowed  all  the  money  he  could  from 
his  officers  and  distributed  it  among  the  soldiers,  thus  binding 
both  to  him  by  the  ties  of  interest. 

Pompeius  had  three  legates  in  Spain,  L.  Afranius,  M.  Pe- 
treius,  and  M.  Terentius  Varro,  and  their  troops  amounted  to 
seven  legions.  When  they  heard  of  Cassar's  approach,  they 
agi-eed  that  Varro  should  remain  with  two  legions  in  Ulterior 
Spain,  while  Afranius  and  Petreius  with  the  remaining  five 
should  oppose  the  invader.  These  generals  therefore  encamp- 
ed on  an  eminence  between  the  river  Cinga  {Cinca)  and  Si- 
coris  {Segre),  near  the  town  of  Ilerda  {Lerida),  in  which  they 
had  placed  their  magazines  ;  and  a  bridge  over  the  Sicoris 
kept  up  their  communication  with  the  country  beyond  it, 
whence  they  drew  their  supplies.  When  Fabius  arrived  some 
skirmishing  took  place  between  him  and  the  Pompeian  gene- 
rals, without  any  advantage  on  either  side.  Caesar,  when  he 
came,  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  the  enemy 
lay,  and  forthwith  made  a  bold  attempt  to  seize  an  eminence 
in  the  plain  between  it  and  the  town,  as  the  possession  of  it 
would  enable  him  to  cut  oiF  their  communication  with  the 
town  and  bridge.  Afranius,  aware  of  his  design,  had  sent  some 
troops  to  occupy  it;  and  the  Caesarians  were  driven  off;  they 
were  reinforced,  and  chased  the  Afraniansto  the  walls  of  Ilerda ; 
the  engagement  lasted  five  hours,  and  Afranius  finally  remained 
in  possession  of  the  eminence,  which  he  took  care  to  fortify. 
Soon  after  a  flood  in  the  Sicoris  carried  away  two  bridges 
which  Caesar  had  thrown  over  it ;  and  his  communications 
being  thus  cut  off,  famine  began  to  prevail  in  his  camp,  while 
the  enemy  had  abundance  of  everything.  Having  vainly  en- 
deavoured to  repair  the  bridges,  he  gave  orders  to  build  a 
number  of  coracles,  or  boats  of  osier  covered  with  raw  hide, 
such  as  he  had  seen  in  Britain,  which  he  conveyed  in  waggons 
twenty -two  miles  up  the  river,  and  passed  a  legion  over  in 
them ;  and  having  secured  a  hill  on  the  other  side  he  then 
threw  a  bridge  across.     As  he  was  greatly  superior  in  cavalry 


426  CJESAR's  WAR  IN  SPAIN.  [b.c.  49. 

the  advantage  was  now  on  his  side,  and  several  of  the  native 
peoples  declared  for  him.  This  bridge  however  being  too  far 
off,  he  set  about  rendering  the  river  fordable  by  cutting  canals 
from  it ;  and  he  had  nearly  completed  his  project,  when  Afra- 
nius  and  Petreius,  having  resolved  to  transfer  the  war  to  Cel- 
tiberia,  set  out  for  the  Ebro,  where  they  had  directed  abridge 
of  boats  to  be  constructed.  As  the  Sicoris  was  still  too  deep 
for  his  infantry  to  pass  without  hazard,  Caesar  sent  over  his 
cavalry  to  pursue  and  harass  them ;  but  his  infantry  soon 
growing  impatient,  he  was  obliged  to  let  them  attempt  the 
passage,  though  the  stream  was  very  rapid  and  the  water  above 
their  shoulders.  He  placed  two  lines  of  the  beasts  of  burden 
in  the  stream,  one  above  to  break  the  force  of  the  current,  the 
other  below  to  stop  those  who  might  be  carried  away,  and  they 
thus  got  over  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man.  They  came  up 
with  the  enemy  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  and  thus  obliged 
them  to  encamp  earlier  than  they  had  intended.  Next  day 
both  parties  sent  out  to  examine  the  country,  and  they  found 
that  all  depended  on  which  should  first  secure  the  passes  in  the 
hills  between  them  and  the  Ebro.  Csesar's  superior  celerity 
however  overcame  all  difficulties,  and  when  the  Afranians  came 
in  view  of  the  passes  they  found  his  legions  in  array  before 
them.  They  halted  on  a  rising  ground  ;  Caesar's  officers  and 
soldiers  were  urgent  with  him  to  attack  them,  but  hoping  to 
make  them  surrender  by  cutting  off  their  provisions  he  allowed 
them  to  regain  their  camp.  He  then  encamped  close  by  them, 
having  secured  the  passes  to  the  Ebro. 

Conferences  now  took  place  between  the  soldiers  of  the  two 
armies  ;  the  Afranians  proposed  to  join  Caesar  if  the  lives  of 
their  generals  were  spared,  and  some  of  their  principal  officers 
went  to  treat  with  him.  The  men  of  both  armies  visited  one 
another  in  their  tents,  and  everything  seemed  on  the  point  of 
being  arranged,  when  Petreius,  arming  his  slaves,  with  some 
Spanish  cavalry,  forced  his  men  to  break  off  all  conference, 
and  put  to  the  sword  all  the  Caesarians  whom  he  could  find. 
He  then  went  through  the  camp  imploring  the  soldiers  to  have 
pity  on  him  and  Pompeius,  and  not  thus  to  give  them  up  to 
the  vengeance  of  their  enemy.  He  made  the  whole  army  re- 
new their  military  oath,  and  ordered  them  to  produce  all  the 
Caesarians  in  their  tents  that  they  might  be  put  to  death;  some 
obeyed,  but  the  greater  part  concealed  their  friends  and  let 
them  go  in  the  night.  Csesar,  as  he  was  wont,  followed  a  dif- 
ferent and  a  nobler  course :  he  sought  out  the  Afranians  and 


B.C.  49.]  SURRENDER  OF  MASSILIA.  427 

sent  them  back  uninjured.  The  Pompeian  generals  now  en- 
deavoured to  return  to  Ilerda,  but  they  were  so  closely  followed 
and  harassed  by  the  troops  of  Caesar,  that  they  were  obliged 
to  halt  and  encamp  on  a  hill,  round  which  Caesar  commenced 
drawing  lines  ;  and  he  at  length  cut  them  off  so  completely 
from  water  and  forage  that  they  were  obliged  to  propose  a 
surrender.  He  only  required  them  to  disband  their  forces  and 
to  quit  Spain  ;  these  terms  were  gladly  accepted  ;  one  third 
of  the  army,  as  having  possessions  in  Spain,  was  discharged  on 
the  spot,  the  rest  on  the  banks  of  the  Var  in  Gaul.  In  South- 
ern Spain,  Varro,  finding  the  people  of  all  the  towns  in  fa- 
vour of  Cffisar,  resigned  his  command  and  left  the  province, 
the  whole  of  which  joyfully  submitted  to  Caesar. 

Meantime  Massilia  was  assailed  and  defended  with  equal 
energy  and  perseverance.  At  length  however  the  works  raised 
against  the  city  were  so  numerous  and  powerful,  that  the  peo- 
ple sent  deputies  offering  a  surrender,  but  requiring  a  truce 
till  the  arrival  of  Caesar.  The  truce  was  granted,  but  we  are 
told  they  broke  it :  it  was  however  again  renewed,  and  when 
Caesar  came  he  obliged  them  to  deliver  up  all  their  arms,  ships 
and  money,  and  receive  a  garrison  of  two  legions  into  their 
town.  He  spared  the  town,  out  of  regard,  he  said,  to  its  anti- 
quity and  renown, not  for  an  j' merits  its  people  had  toward  him. 

While  Caesar  was  at  Massilia  he  learned  that  pursuant  to  his 
directions  Lepidus  had  caused  a  decree  to  be  passed  by  the 
people  for  nominating  him  dictator  to  hold  the  elections.  He 
did  not  however  set  out  yet  for  Rome,  bul  remained  some 
time  to  regulate  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  while  he  was  there  a  mu- 
tiny broke  out  in  the  ninth  legion  at  Placentia.  The  soldiers, 
probably  because  they  had  not  yet  gotten  the  plunder  pro- 
mised them,  demanded  their  dismissal.  Caesar  coolly  addressed 
them,  reproaching  them  with  their  ingratitude  and  folly  ;  and 
telling  them  that  he  never  should  want  for  soldiers  to  share  his 
triumphs,  said  he  would  dismiss  them,  but  that  he  would  first 
punish  them  by  decimation.  They  threw  themselves  at  his 
feet  imploring  pardon  :  their  officers  interceded  ;  Caesar  was 
for  some  time  inexorable;  at  length  he  agreed  to  pardon  all 
but  one  hundred  and  tMenty  of  the  most  guilty,  and  these  be- 
ing given  up  he  selected  twelve  of  the  most  turbulent  for  exe- 
cution*. He  then  went  to  Rome  to  hold  the  consular  elections, 
and  had  himself  and  P.  Servilius  Isaui'icus  chosen  consuls;  Tre- 
bonius  and  Ccelius  were  two  of  the  new  praetors,  and  Lepidus 
*  Caesar  says  nothing  of  this  mutiny. 


428  PREPARATIONS  OF  POMPEIUS.  [b.C.48. 

was  appointed  to  govern  Citerior  Spain  Avith  proconsular  au- 
thority. Antonius  and  others  of  his  partisans,  who  Avere  over- 
whehned  with  debt,  urged  him  to  a  total  abolition  of  debts  ; 
but  Caesar,  who  wished  to  found  an  empire  for  himself,  would 
establish  no  such  precedent.  He  passed  a  law,  directing  that 
the  property'  of  debtors  should  be  estimated  at  the  value  it 
bore  before  the  war  and  transferred  to  their  creditors,  adding 
that  the  interest  which  had  been  paid  should  be  deducted  from 
the  principal ;  by  which  the  creditors  lost  about  a  fourth  of 
their  moiiey.  Ceesar  then  had  all  those  who  had  been  con- 
demned for  bribery  under  Pompeius'  law,  and  who  had  re- 
sorted to  him,  restored  to  their  civic  rights, — Milo,  the  slayer 
of  his  friend  Clodius,  was  however  excepted  ;  he  also  restored 
the  sons  of  those  who  had  been  proscribed  by  Sulla.  Having 
then  held  the  Latin  holydays  he  laid  down  his  dictatorship 
and  set  out  for  Brundisium,  where  on  the  1st  of  January  (704) 
he  entered  on  his  office  of  consul. 

Pompeius  meantime  had  been  making  every  effort  to  collect 
a  large  fleet  and  army.  Ships  came  from  all  the  ports  of  Greece 
and  Asia,  and  a  numerous  navy  was  assembled,  the  chief  com- 
mand of  which  was  given  to  Caesar's  former  colleague  Bibulus. 
His  army  consisted  of  nine  Roman  legions,  besides  the  auxili- 
aries of  Greece,  Macedonia,  and  Asia.  He  had  received  large 
sums  of  money  from  the  kings,  princes,  and  states  of  the  East; 
and  he  had  collected  great  quantities  of  corn  for  the  support 
of  his  army,  v.hich  he  intended  should  winter  in  the  towns  of 
the  coast  of  Epirus,  while  his  fleet  cruised  in  the  Adriatic  to 
prevent  Caesar's  passage.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year,  the  con- 
suls having  assembled  the  senators,  two  hundred  in  number, 
who  were  with  them  at  Thessalonica,  and  declared  them  to  be 
the  true  senate,  Pompeius  was  made  commander  in  chief  of 
the  armies  of  the  republic,  and  tlie  consuls  and  other  magi- 
strates were  directed  to  retain  their  offices  under  the  titles  of 
proconsuls,  etc. 

Caesar  found  twelve  legions  and  all  his  cavalry  at  Brundi- 
sium, but  the  legions  had  been  so  reduced  by  fatigue  and  sick- 
ness that  they  were  very  incomplete.  The  ships  which  had 
been  collected  barely  sufficed  to  transport  seven  legions  (only 
15,000  men)  and  five  liundred  horse  ;  but  with  these  he  em- 
barked, and  eluding  Bibulus  landed  at  a  place  named  Palseste, 
in  Epirus  ;  he  immediately  sent  back  the  ships  for  the  rest  of 
his  troops,  but  Bibulus  met  them  and  took  thirty,  and  then 
strictly  guarded  the  whole  coast.    Cresar  received  the  submis- 


B.C.  ^S.]  MILITARY  EVENTS  IN  EPIllUS.  429 

sions  of  the  towns  of  Oricum  and  ApoUonia  ;  and  most  of  the 
states  of  Epirus  declared  for  him.     He  was  advancing  against 
Dyrrhachium,  when  hearing  that  Pompeius  was  rapidly  march- 
ing to  its  defence,  he  halted  and  encamped  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Apsus,  whither  Pompeius  came,  and  encamped  also  on 
the  other  side  of  that  river.     Caesar,  according  to  his  own  ac- 
count, was  so  anxious  for  peace,  that  immediately  on  land- 
ing he  had  sent  off  L.  Vibuliius  Rufus,  Vt'hom  he  had  twice 
made  a  prisoner,  proposing  to  Pompeius  that  they  should  both 
disband  their  armies  and  submit  to  the  decision  of  the  senate 
and  people.     Vibuliius  had  gone  off  with  all  speed,  more  with 
the  intention  of  informing  Pompeius  of  CaBsar's  landing  than 
of  promoting  peace,  and  it  was  in  his  camp  on  the  Apsus  that 
Pompeius  first  heard  of  these  proposals,  to  which  however  he 
refused  to  listen.     Csesar  also  tells  us  that  as  the  soldiers  of 
the  two  armies  used  to  converse  together  across  the  river,  he 
directed  his  legate  P.  Vatinius  to  go  and  call  out,  asking  if  ci- 
tizens might  not  send  to  citizens  to  treat  of  peace,  a  thing 
which  Pompeius  had  not  refused  to  robbers  and  pirates.     Va- 
tinius was  heard  in  silence,  and  told  that  A.  Varro  would  come 
the  following  day  to  treat.  Next  day  a  great  number  appeared 
on  both  sides,  and  Labienus  advanced  and  began  in  a  low  voice 
to  confer  vv'ith  Vatinius ;  when  a  shower  of  missiles,  which 
wounded  several  of  the  Cassarians,  broke  off  the  conference, 
and  Labienus  then  cried,  "  Give  over  talking  of  accommoda- 
tion ;  there  can  be  no  peace  unless  you  bring  us  Caesar's  head*." 
While  Caesar  was  lying  on  the  Apsus,  his  friend  Coelius, 
whom  he  had  left  one  of  the  praetors  at  Rome,  displeased  that 
he  had  not  been  able  to  get  rid  of  all  his  debts,  began  to  raise 
disturbances.  He  commenced  by  opposing  Trebonius  in  every 
way  he  could  ;  and  this  not  succeeding,  he  proposed  two  laws, 
the  one  for  exempting  from  rent  all  the  tenants  of  the  state, 
the  other  for  a  general  abolition  of  debt.     At  the  head  of  the 
multitude  he  attacked  Trebonius,  and  wounded  some  of  those 
about  him  :  the  senate  in  return  forbade  him  to  execute  the 
functions  of  his  office.  He  then  left  Rome  under  the  pretence 
of  going  to  Caesar,  but  he  had  secretly  v^^itten  to  his  old  friend 
Milo  urging  him  to  come  and  raise  some  disturbance  in  Italy ; 
and  Milo,  having  collected  his  gladiators  and  what  other  forces 
he  could,  had  laid  siege  to  the  town  of  Cosa,  in  the  district  of 
Thurii.     Ccelius  proceeded  to  join  him,  but  Milo  had  been 
killed  by  a  stone  flung  from  the  walls  ;  and  Coelius,  atteuipt- 

*  Caesar,  B.  C.  iii.  19, 


430  MILITARY  EVENTS  IN  EPIRUS.  [b.C.  48. 

ing  to  seduce  some  Gallic  and  Spanish  horse  that  were  in 
Thurii,  was  slain  by  them. 

Caesar's  great  object  now  was  to  get  over  the  rest  of  his 
troops,  and  Pompeius  was  equally  anxious  to  prevent  their 
passage.  Bibulus  had  lately  died  of  an  illness  caused  by  cold 
and  fatigue  ;  but  L.  Scribonius  Libo  and  others  kept  the  sea, 
and  impeded  the  transport.  Some  months  had  now  passed,  and 
as  the  Avind  had  frequently  been  favourable  for  them,  Caesar 
thought  there  must  be  some  fault  on  the  part  of  M.  Antonius 
and  Q.  Fufius  Calenus,  who  commanded  at  Brundisium,  and 
he  wrote  to  them  in  the  most  peremptory  terms.  He  even,  it 
is  said,  resolved  to  pass  over  in  person,  and  disguising  himself 
as  a  slave  he  embarked  in  a  fishing-boat  in  the  river  AoUs  ; 
but  the  sea  proved  so  rough  that  the  fishermen  feared  to  go 
out ;  Caesar  then  discovered  himself,  saying  to  the  master, 
"Why  dost  thou  fear?  thou  carriest  Caesar!"  and  they  made 
an  attempt  to  get  out  to  sea  ;  but  the  storm  was  so  furious  that 
he  was  obliged  to  let  them  put  back  again*. 

At  length  Antonius  put  to  sea,  and  succeeded  in  landing 
near  Lissus.  Caesar  and  Pompeius,  when  they  heard  of  his 
arrival,  both  put  their  troops  in  motion,  the  one  to  join,  the 
other  to  attack  him.  Antonius  kept  within  his  entrenchments 
till  Caesar  came  up.  Pompeius  then  retired  ;  Caesar  followed 
him,  and  having  offered  him  battle  in  vain,  set  out  for  Dyr- 
rhachium.  Pompeius  delayed  for  one  day,  and  then  took  a 
shorter  route  for  the  same  place,  and  encamped  on  a  hill  named 
Petra  close  to  the  sea,  near  that  town.  As  there  were  hills  at 
a  little  distance  near  Petra,  Caesar  raised  forts  on  them,  pro- 
posing to  circumvallate  Pompeius'  camp.  Pompeius,  to  oblige 
him  to  take  in  a  greater  space,  also  formed  a  line  of  forts,  in- 
closing an  extent  of  fifteen  miles,  so  as  to  yield  him  forage  for 
his  cavalry  ;  and  he  received  abundant  supplies  by  sea,  while 
Caesar's  men  were  obliged  to  live  chiefly  on  a  root  named  chara 
for  want  of  bread.  But  the  forage  soon  began  to  run  short 
with  Pompeius'  army  ;  and  as  Caesar  had  turned  the  streams, 
the  want  of  water  also  was  severely  felt.  At  length  Pompeius 
made  a  bold  and  judicious  attack  on  the  enemy's  lines,  and 
forced  them ;  and  in  the  action  which  ensued  he  gained  the 
victorj\  Caesar  then  resolved  to  transfer  the  war  to  Mace- 
donia, and  he  set  out  for  that  country,  closely  followed  by 
Pompeius.     After  a  pursuit  of  three  days  Pompeius  changed 

*  Caesar,  who  was  no  boaster,  is  silent  as  to  this  fact,  which  is  so  credi- 
table to  him.     It  is  related  by  Lucan,  Plutarch,  Appian  and  others. 


B.C.  48.]  ARROGANCE  OF  THE  POKlPEIANS.  431 

his  course,  and  taking  a  nearer  route  arrived  the  first  in  Mace- 
donia, where  he  was  near  surprising  Caesar's  general  Cn.  Do- 
mitius  Calvinus.  Caesar  entered  Thessaly  and  took  the  town 
of  Gomphi  by  assault,  and  then  advanced  and  encamped  near 
the  town  of  Metropolis.  Pompeius  entered  Thessaly  a  few 
days  after,  and  joined  his  father-in-law  Scipio,  who  lay  at  La- 
rissa;  and  the  two  armies  finally  encamped  opposite  each  other 
on  the  ever-memorable  plain  of  Pharsalus. 


CHAPTER  XL* 


Battle  of  Pliaisalia. — Flight  and  death  of  Pompeius. — His  character. — 
Csesar's  Alexandrian  war. — The  Pontic  war. — Aifairs  of  Rome. — IMutiny 
of  Caesar's  legions. — African  war. — Death  of  Cato. — His  character. — 
Cffisar's  triumphs. — Reformation  of  the  calendar. — Second  Spanish  war. 
—  Battle  of  Munda. — Honours  bestowed  on  Caesar. — Conspiracy  against 
him. — His  death. — His  character. 

The  two  armies  now  lay  in  sight  of  each  other  ;  that  of  Pom- 
peius, v/hich  consisted  of  forty-five  thousand  infantry  and 
seven  thousand  cavalry  beside  light  troops,  was  superior  in 
number  but  inferior  in  quality.  Caesar's  army,  of  twenty- 
two  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  cavalry,  was  composed  of 
hardy  veterans,  used  to  victory  and  confident  in  themselves 
and  their  leader. 

The  superior  number  of  their  troops  and  their  late  suc- 
cesses had  raised  the  confidence  of  the  Pompeian  leaders,  and 
nothing,  we  are  toldf,  could  exceed  their  insolence  ;  they 
contended  with  one  another  for  the  dignities  and  priesthoods 
in  the  state,  and  disposed  of  the  consulate  for  several  years 
to  come.  Scipio,  Lentulus  Spinther,  and  L.  Domitius  had  an 
angry  contest  for  the  chief-priesthood  with  which  Ceesarwas 
invested,  for  of  his  defeat  not  a  doubt  was  entertained  ;  and 
when  Pompeius  acted  M'ith  cauticm,  he  was  accused  of  pro- 
tracting the  war  out  of  the  vanity  of  seeing  such  a  number  of 
consulars  and  praetorians  under  his  command.     Proscriptions 

*  Cffisar,  Civil  Wars.  Hirtius'  and  others'  Books  of  the  Alexandrian, 
African,  and  Spanish  Wars.  Dion,  xli.  53.-xliv.  Appian,  ii.  56,  to  the  end. 
Veil.  Pat.  ii.  52-57.  Suetonius,  Jul.  Csesar.  Plut.  Pompeius,  68-80. 
Csesar,  40-69.  Cato,  55-74.  Brutus,  6-18.  Lucan,  vi.  333.-X.  the  Epi- 
tomators. 

t  Caesar,  B.C.  iii.  83. 


432  BATTLE  OF  PHARS ALIA.  [  B.C.  48. 

and  confiscations  were  resolved  on  ;  "  in  short,"  says  Cicero, 
"  excepting  Pompeius  himself  and  a  few  others  (I  speak  of 
the  principal  leaders),  they  carried  on  the  war  with  such  a 
spirit  of  rapaciousness,  and  breathed  such  principles  of  cruelty 
in  their  conversation,  that  I  could  not  think  even  of  our  success 
without  horror.  To  this  I  must  add,  that  some  of  our  most 
dignified  men  were  deeply  involved  in  debt ;  and,  in  short, 
there  was  nothing  good  among  them  but  their  cause*." 

Pompeius,  who  was  superstitious  by  nature,  had  been  greatly 
encouraged  by  accounts  of  favourable  signs  in  the  entrails  of 
the  victims  and  such  like  sent  him  by  the  haruspices  from 
Rome,  and  he  resolved  to  risk  a  general  engagement.  He 
drew  up  his  army  at  tlie  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  he  was  en- 
camped; but  Caesar,  unwilling  to  engage  him  at  a  disadvan- 
tage, prepared  to  decamp.  Just,  however,  as  the  order  was 
given,  seeing  that  Pompeius  had  advanced  into  the  plain,  he 
changed  his  mind,  and  made  ready  to  engage.  The  right 
wing  of  the  Pompeians,  commanded  by  Lentulus,  rested  on  the 
river  Enipeus.  Pompeius  himself,  with  Domitius,  commanded 
the  left;  his  father-in-law,  Scipio,  the  centre ;  the  horse  and  light 
troops  were  all  on  the  left.  Caesar's  right  was  commanded  by 
himself  and  P.  Sulla ;  his  left  by  M.  Antonius ;  the  centre  by 
Domitius  Calvinus  ;  to  strengthen  his  cavalry,  he  had  mingled 
through  it  some  of  his  most  active  foot-soldiers  ;  and  he  placed 
six  cohorts  separate  from  his  line,  to  act  on  occasion  against 
the  enemy's  horse.  Pompeivis  had  directed  his  men  to  stand 
and  receive  the  enemy's  charge,  hoping  thus  to  engage  them 
when  out  of  breath  with  running  ;  but  the  Caesarians,  when 
they  found  that  the  enemy  did  not  advance,  halted  of  them- 
selves, and  having  recovered  their  breath,advancedin  orderand 
hurled  tlieir  pila.  They  then  fell  on  sword  in  hand  ;  the 
Pompeians  did  the  same  ;  and  while  they  were  engaged,  their 
horse  and  light  troops  having  attacked  and  defeated  Caesar's 
cavalry  were  preparing  to  take  his  infantry  in  flank,  when  he 
made  the  signal  to  the  six  cohorts,  who  fell  on  and  drove  iheni 
off  the  field.  It  is  said  tiiat  Caesar  had  directed  his  men  to 
aim  their  blows  at  the  faces  of  the  horsemen,  and  that  the  young 
Roman  knights  fled  sooner  than  run  the  risk  of  having  their 
beauty  spoiled  \.     The  six  cohorts  then  took  the  Pompeian 

*  Cic.  ad  Fam.  vii.  3.  Cicero  always  speaks  with  horror  and  apprehen- 
sion of  the  success  of  the  Pompeians.  See  ad  Att.  viii.  11 ;  ix.  6.  7.  9.  10. 
ll;x.  7. 

•f-  Pint.  Caesar,  45.  Appian,  ii.  76.  Flor.  iv.  2.  Frontinus,  iv.  32. 
Lucan,  vii.  575.     Caesar  himself  says  nothing  of  it ;  but  that  is  of  little  mo- 


B.C.  48.]  BATTLE  OF  PHARSALIA.  433 

left  wing  in  the  i-fear^  while  Caesar  brought  into  action  his  third 
line,  which  had  not  yet  been  engaged.  The  Pompeians  broke, 
and  fled.  Pompeius,  whose  whole  reliance  was  on  his  left 
wing,  now  despairing  of  victory,  retired  to  his  tent  to  await  the 
event  of  the  battle.  But  Caesar  soon  led  his  men  to  the  attack  of 
the  camp,  which  was  carried  after  an  obstinate  resistance  from 
the  cohorts  which  had  been  left  to  guard  it.  Pompeius,  lay- 
ing aside  his  general's  habit,  mounted  a  horse,  and  left  it  by 
the  Decuman  gate.  Caesar  found  the  tents  of  Lentulus  and 
others  hung  with  ivy,  fresh  turves  cut  for  seats,  tables  covered 
with  plate,  and  all  the  preparations  for  celebrating  a  victory. 
Leaving  some  troops  to  guard  the  two  camps,  he  followed  a 
body  of  the  Pompeians  who  had  fled  to  a  hill,  but  they  aban- 
doned it  and  made  for  Larissa ;  he  however  got  between  them 
and  that  town,  and  finally  forced  them  to  surrender.  His  own 
loss  in  this  battle,  he  tells  us,  was  only  200  men  and  30  cen- 
turions;  that  of  the  Pompeians  was  15,000,  of  whom  but 
6000  were  soldiers,  the  rest  being  servants  and  the  like :  up- 
wards of  S^jOOO  were  made  prisoners.  He  granted  life  and 
liberty  to  all ;  and  finding,  it  is  said,  in  Pompeius'  tent  the 
letters  of  several  men  of  rank,  he  imitated  that  general's  own 
conduct  in  Spain,  and  burned  without  reading  them.  L.  Do- 
mitius  had  been  slain  in  the  pursuit:  Labienus  fled  with  the 
Gallic  horse  to  Dyrrhachium,  where  he  found  Cicero  and 
Varro  with  Cato,  who  commanded  there  ;  they  passed  over  to 
Corcyra,  and  being  joined  by  the  young  Cn.  Pompeius  and 
other  commanders  of  the  fleet,  held  a  council  ;  but  as  they 
could  decide  on  nothing,  they  separated,  and  went  difFerent 
ways.  Labienus,  Scipio  and  some  others  sailed  to  Africa  to 
join  Varus  and  king  Juba;  Cato  and  young  Pompeius  went  in 
quest  of  Pompeius;  Cicero  returned  to  Italy,  intending  to  seek 
the  victor's  clemency. 

We  must  now  follow  the  unhappy  Pompeius  Magnus.  He 
rode  with  about  thirty  followers  to  the  gates  of  Larissa,  but 
would  not  enter  the  town  lest  the  people  should  incur  the 
anger  of  Caesar.  He  then  went  on  to  the  Vale  of  Tempe,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Penevis  got  on  board  a  merchantman  v/hich 

ment,  as  it  was  his  rule  (see  above,  p.  424)  to  suppress  any  circumstance  t'lat 
might  not  redound  to  his  credit.  Probably,  however,  Miles  faciem  feri  was 
merely  a  general  order  given  to  the  troops.  Freinsheim,  (on  Gurtius,  iv.  4, 
14.)  quoting  Lucan,  vii.  318, 

"  Ne  caedere  quisquam 
Hosti  teiga  velit," 
is  of  opinion  that  it  was  dictated  by  Caesar's  humanity,  and  signified— Strike 
none  but  those  who  resist. 

U 


434  FLIGHT  OF  POMPEIUS.  [b.C.  48. 

he  found  lying  there  ;  thence  he  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Strymon,  and  having  obtained  some  money  from  his  friends  at 
Amphipolis,  proceeded  to  Mytilene  in  Lesbos,  where  he  had 
left  his  wife  Cornelia.  Having  taken  her  and  his  son  Sextus 
on  board,  and  collected  a  few  vessels,  he  proceeded  to  Cilicia, 
and  thence  to  Cyprus.  He  had  intended  going  to  Syria,  but 
finding  that  the  people  of  Antioch  had  declared  for  Caesar,  he 
gave  up  that  design  ;  and  having  gotten  money  from  the  pub- 
licans and  some  private  persons,  and  collected  about  two  thou- 
sand men,  he  made  sail  for  Egypt. 

It  is  said  that  he  had  consulted  with  his  friends  whether  he 
should  seek  a  refuge  with  the  king  of  the  Parthians,  or  retire  to 
king  Juba  in  Africa,  or  repair  to  the  young  king  of  Egypt, 
whose  father  had  been  restored  to  his  throne  through  his  in- 
fluence some  years  before*.  The  latter  course  was  decided 
on,  and  he  sailed  for  Pelusium,  where  the  young  king  (who 
was  at  war  with  his  sister  Cleopatra,  whom  their  father  had 
made  joint-heir  of  the  throne)  m  as  lying  with  his  army.  Pom- 
peius  sent  to  request  his  protection,  on  account  of  his  friend- 
ship for  his  father.  The  king's  ministers,  either  fearing  that 
Pompeius,  by  means  of  the  troops  which  had  been  left  there 
by  Gabinius,  might  attempt  to  make  himself  master  of  the 
kingdom,  or  despising  his  fallen  fortunes,  resolved  on  his  death. 
They  sent  Achillas,  a  captain  of  the  guard,  v,ith  Septimius,  a 
former  Roman  centurion,  and  some  others  in  a  small  boat  to 
invite  him  to  land.  Pie  was  requested  to  come  into  the  boat, 
as  the  shore  was  too  oozy  and  shallow  for  a  ship  to  approach  it. 
He  consented,  and  directing  two  centurions  and  his  freedman 
Philip  and  a  slave  to  follow  him,  and  having  embraced  Cor- 
nelia, he  entered  the  boat,  and  then  turning  round  repeated 
the  following  lines  of  Sophocles  : 

He  who  unto  a  prince's  house  repairs, 
Becomes  his  slave,  thougli  he  go  thither  free  f. 

*  Ptoleraseus  Auletes  promised  Coesar  6000  talents  for  himself  and 
Pompeius,  for  having  him  acknowledged  as  king  of  Egypt  by  the  senate. 
He  was  forced  by  his  subjects  to  fly  when  he  oppressed  them  by  raising  that 
sum.  He  came  to  Rome  ;  Pompeius  wished  to  have  the  profitable  task  of 
restoring  him;  but  the  laws  and  Sibylline  oracles  were  alleged  by  his  op- 
ponents, and  Ptolemaeus  being  obliged  to  leave  Rome  for  having  poisoned 
the  ambassadors  sent  thither  by  his  subjects,  Pompeius  gave  him  letters  to 
Gabinius,  the  governor  of  Syria,  who,  on  being  promised  10,000  talents,  set 
the  laws  and  oracles  at  nought,  marched  the  troops  out  of  his  province,  and 
replaced  him  on  the  throne  of  Egypt. 

■f  "OcTTis  Se  Trpbs  rvpavvov  efnropeverai 
Keivov  'cTi  SoiiXoS)  Kq.v  eXevQepos  fioXy. 


B.C.  48.]       DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  POMPEIUS.  435 

The)^  went  on  some  time  in  silence ;  at  length  Pompeius, 
turning  to  Septimius,  said,  "  If  I  mistake  not,  you  and  I  have 
been  fellow-soldiers."  Septimius  merely  nodded  assent ;  the 
silence  was  resumed ;  Pompeius  began  to  read  over  what  he 
had  prepared  to  say  to  the  king  in  Greek.  Meantime  the  boat 
approached  the  shore;  Cornelia  and  his  friends  saw  several  of 
the  royal  officers  coming  down  to  receive  Pompeius,  who, 
taking  hold  of  Philip's  arm,  rose  from  his  seat.  As  he  rose 
Septimius  stabbed  him  in  the  back;  Achillas  and  a  Roman 
named  Salvius  then  struck  him :  Pompeius  drew  his  mantle 
before  his  face,  groaned,  and  died  in  silence.  Tliose  on  ship- 
board gave  a  loud  piercing  cry  of  grief,  and  set  sail  without 
delay,  pursued  by  some  Egyptian  vessels.  The  head  of  Pom- 
peius was  cut  off;  his  trunk  was  thrown  on  the  beach,  where 
his  faithful  freedman  stayed  by  it,  and  having  washed  it  in  the 
sea,  collected  the  wreck  of  a  fishing-boat  and  prepared  a  pyre 
to  burn  it.  While  he  was  thus  engaged,  an  old  Roman  who 
had  served  under  Pompeius  came  up,  and  saying  that  the 
honour  of  aiding  at  the  obsequies  of  the  greatest  of  Roman  ge- 
nerals compensated  him  in  some  sort  for  the  evils  of  an  abode 
in  a  foreign  land,  assisted  him  in  his  pious  office. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Cn.  Pompeius  Magnus,  in  the  fifty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  In  his  person  he  was  graceful  and  dig- 
nified ;  he  spoke  and  wrote  with  ease  and  perspicuity,  and  was 
always  heard  with  attention  and  respect.  In  private  life  his 
morals  were  remarkably  pure,  unstained  by  the  excesses  which 
disgraced  Caesar  and  so  many  others  at  that  time  ;  of  the  ami- 
ability of  his  character  there  can  be  no  stronger  proof  than  the 
fact  of  his  having  gained  the  entire  and  devoted  affection  of 
two  such  women  as  Julia  and  Cornelia,  both  so  many  years 
younger  than  himself.  The  public  character  of  Pompeius  is 
far  less  laudable :  his  vanity  was  unbounded  ;  his  love  of  sway 
was  inordinate  :  he  could  not  brook  a  rival;  he  would,  how- 
ever, be  the  freely  chosen  head  of  the  republic,  and  in  such 
case  would  have  respected  and  maintained  the  laws.  Not  suc- 
ceeding in  this  course,  he  was  led  to  the  commission  of  several 
illegal  acts,  and  he  formed  that  fatal  coalition  witli  Caesar,  for 
whom  neither  as  a  statesman  nor  as  a  general  was  he  a  match, 
and  who,  during  their  union,  always  exerted  over  him  the 
power  of  a  superior  mind,  and  that  mostly  for  evil.  Pompeius 
was  by  no  means  inclined  to  cruelty  ;  yet  Cicero  feared,  and 
with  reason,  that  his  victory  would  have  been  more  sangui- 
nary than  that  of  Caesar ;  for  though  his  natural  humanity 

u2 


436  CiESAR's  ALEXANDRIAN  WAR.  [b.C.  48. 

might  have  kept  him  from  imitating  Sulla  as  he  threatened, 
he  had  not  Caesar's  energy  to  restrain  the  violence  of  his  fol- 
lowers. Caesar  we  must  allow  was  better  fitted  for  empire  ; 
Pompeius  was  by  far  the  better  man. 

Caesar,  on  learning  that  Pompeius  was  gone  to  Egypt,  made 
all  the  speed  he  could  to  overtake  him,  and  thus  end  the  war. 
He  arrived  at  Alexandria  with  only  two  legions  (3200  men) 
and  800  horse;  the  head  and  ring  of  Pompeius  were  pre- 
sented to  him  ;  he  shed  some  tears  (counterfeit,  we  may  well 
suspect)  over  them,  and  caused  the  head  to  be  burnt  with 
costly  spices.  He  then  set  about  regulating  the  affairs  of 
Egypt,  and  he  summoned  Ptolemseus  and  his  sister  before  him*. 
The  superior  influence  of  Cleopatra  was  soon  apparent,  and 
Pothinus,  the  young  king's  minister,  seeing  the  small  number 
of  the  Roman  troops,  sent  to  desire  Achillas  to  advance  with 
the  army  from  Pelusium.  This  army  consisted  of  eighteen 
thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  all  good  troops,  several 
of  them  being  Romans  left  by  Gabinius,  and  Caesar  found  it 
necessary  to  act  on  the  defensive.  Achillas  made  himself 
master  of  all  the  town  except  the  port  which  Caesar  had  for- 
tified, and  for  the  possession  of  which  a  great  struggle  was 
made,  as  with  the  shipping  there  the  blockade  of  the  part  held 
by  Caesar  might  be  made  complete.  Caesar  however  succeeded 
in  burning  all  the  ships  in  it  ;  unfortunately  the  flames  ex- 
tended, and  the  magnificent  library  of  the  kings  was  nearly 
all  consumed.  He  then  secured  the  island  of  Pharos  at  the 
mouth  of  the  port,  and  the  mole  leading  to  it.  The  eunuch 
Ganymedes,  the  successor  of  Achillas,  who  had  been  mur- 
dered, then  mixed  sea-water  with  that  of  the  Nile  in  the  aque- 
ducts which  supplied  Caesar's  quarters  ;  but  this  evil  he  ob- 
viated by  sinking  wells.  In  a  naval  action  in  the  port,  Caesar, 
with  only  a  few  ships,  gained  the  advantage;  but  in  an  attempt 
to  retake  the  mole  and  island,  which  the  Alexandrians  had 
recovered,  he  lost  about  eight  hundred  men  and  some  ships, 
and  he  had  to  throw  himself  into  the  water  and  swim  to  a 
merchantman  for  safetyf. 

The  Alexandrians  now  sent  to  demand  their  king,  who  was 
in  his  hands,  and  Caesar,  seeing  no  use  in  detaining  him,  let 

*  It  is  said,  that  to  escape  her  brother's  troops  Cleopatra  had  herself 
wrapped  up  in  a  bale  of  bedclothes  and  thus  conve)ed  into  Alexandria. 

•j-  He  held,  it  is  said,  on  this  occasion  his  papers  with  one  hand  over  tlie 
water  to  save  them  from  being  wetted.  It  is  rather  strange  that  he  should 
have  had  papers  in  l»is  hand,  or  even  about  him,  in  such  a  hot  engagement. 


B.C.  -iT.]  Cesar's  Alexandrian  war.  437 

him  go,  and  the  war  was  then  renewed  more  fiercely  than 
ever.  INIeantime  Mithridates,  an  officer  whom  Caesar  had 
directed  to  levy  troops  in  Syria,  was  advancing  with  a  large 
army  to  relieve  him,  but  as  he  had  to  go  round  the  Delta,  the 
young  king  despatched  a  part  of  his  army  to  oppose  him. 
These  troops  however  were  defeated  ;  the  king  hastened  with 
the  rest  of  his  army  to  their  aid,  and  Cffisar  at  the  same  time 
joined  Mithridates.  He  now  resolved  to  try  to  terminate  the 
war  by  an  attack  on  the  Egyptian  camp,  which  was  on  an 
eminence  over  the  Nile,  one  of  its  sides  being  defended  by  the 
steepness  of  the  ground,  the  other  by  a  morass.  While  the 
attack  was  carried  on  in  the  front  of  the  camp,  some  cohorts 
climbed  up  the  steep  of  the  hill  and  fell  on  the  enemy's  rear. 
The  Egyptians  fled  on  all  sides,  mostly  to  the  Nile,  and  the 
king  in  endeavouring  to  escape  was  drowned  in  the  river. 
Caesar  returned  to  Alexandria,  whose  inhabitants  came  forth 
preceded  by  their  priest  to  implore  his  mercy.  He  gave  the 
crown  to  Cleopatra  and  her  younger  brother,  leaving  them 
the  greater  part  of  his  troops  to  protect  them,  and  then  set 
out  for  Syria.  After  his  departure  Cleopatra  was  delivered 
of  a  son,  who  was  said  to  be  his,  and  was  named  Caesarion. 
When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  Pharnaces,the  son  of  Mithri- 
dates the  Great,  resolved  to  seize  the  occasion  of  recovering 
his  paternal  dominions.  He  speedily  regained  Pontus,  and 
then  overran  Lesser  Armenia  and  Cappadocia.  Deiotarus, 
the  king  of  the  former,  applied  for  aid  to  Cn.  Domitius,  who 
commanded  for  Caesar  in  Asia;  and  after  some  fruitless  at- 
tempts at  negotiation,  Domitius  collected  what  troops  he  could, 
and  advancing  to  Nicopolis  gave  Pharnaces  battle,  but  was 
defeated  and  forced  to  retire.  Caesar  was  meantime  (705) 
hastening  from  Egypt;  for  though  he  had  learned  that  things 
were  in  the  utmost  confusion  at  Rome,  he  resolved  not  to  quit 
Asia  till  he  should  have  reduced  it  to  peace.  Though  his 
force  was  small  he  decided  on  giving  battle  without  delay, 
and  he  advanced  to  within  five  miles  of  Pharnaces'camp,  which 
■was  on  a  hill,  and  commenced  fortifying  another  hill  in  its 
vicinity.  Pharnaces,  relying  on  the  number  of  his  troops, 
and  recollecting  that  it  was  in  that  very  place  his  father  had 
defeated  Triarius,  crossed  the  vallej',  and  leading  his  army  up 
the  hill  attacked  the  Roman  troops.  The  battle  was  long  and 
dubious  ;  at  length  the  right  wing  of  the  Romans  was  victo- 
rious, the  centre  and  left  were  soon  equally  successful ;  the 
enemy  was  driven  down  the  hill  and  pursued  to  his  camp, 


438  AFFAIRS  OF  ROME.  [b.C.  47. 

which  was  speedily  taken  ;  Pharnaces  himself  escaped,  but 
nearly  his  whole  army  was  slain  or  taken.      "  I  came,  I  saw, 
I  conquered"  (  Veni,vidi,  vici),  were  the  terms  in  which  Csesar 
wrote  to  announce  this  victory,  m  hich  ended  the  Pontic  war. 
Having  regulated  the  affairs  of  Asia,  Caesar  set  out  for 
Italy  :  at  Brundisium  he  was  met  by  Cicero,  whom  he  received 
very  kindly  ;  he  then  went  on  to  Rome,  which  he  found  in  a 
state  of  distraction.    For  Caesar,  having  been  created  a  second 
time  dictator  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  had  sent  M.  Anto- 
nius,  his  master  of  the  horse,  to  govern  Italy  in  his  absence ; 
and  P.  Cornelius  Dolabella,  another  of  his  friends,  being  made 
one  of  the  tribunes,  had  revived  the  laws  of  Coelius  for  the 
abolition  of  debts  and  rents.     Antonius,  who,  like  Dolabella, 
was  immersed  in  debt,  was  at  first  willing  to  support  him,  but 
he  finally  sided  with  the  senate  and  two  of  the  other  tribunes 
in  opposing  him.     The  people  were  of  course  for  Dolabella, 
and  such  conflicts  took  place,  during  an  absence  of  Antonius, 
between  debtors  and  creditors,  that  the  Vestals  found  it  neces- 
sary to  remove  the  sacred  things  to  a  place  of  safety.    When 
Antonius  returned  the  senate  gave  him  the  usual  charge  to 
see  that  the  state  suffered  no  injurj'.     Dolabella,  on  the  day 
of  proposing  his  laws,  had  the  Forum  barricadoed,  and  even 
wooden  towers  erected  to  keep  off  all  opponents ;  but  Antonius 
came  down  with  soldiers  from  the  Capitol,  broke  the  tables  of 
the  laws,  and  seizing  some  of  the  more  turbulent,  flung  them 
down  from  the  Tarpeian  rock.    When  Caesar  arrived  he  took 
no  notice  of  what  had  occurred ;  but  he  steadily  refused  the 
abolition  of  debts.     To  gratify  his  friends  he  let  them  have 
good  bargains  at  the  sales  of  the  properties  of  Pompeius  and 
others  which  he  confiscated ;    he  increased  the  number  of 
priesthoods  and  praetorships,  and  placed  several  of  his  officers 
in  the  senate*.     Having  had  himself  and  his  master  of  the 
horse,  M.  Lepidus  (for  he  continued  to  be  dictator),  chosen 
consuls  for  the  following  year,  he  was  preparing  to  pass  over 
to  Africa,  when  a  mutiny  broke  out  among  his  veteran  legions, 
who  were  disappointed  at  not  having  yet  gotten  the  rewards 
that  had  been  promised  them.     It  began  with  his  favourite 
tenth  legion,     C.  Sallustius  (the  historian),  whom  he  sent  to 
assure  them  that  when  the  war  was  ended  they  should  have 
1000  denars  a  man,  beside  the  lands  and  money  already  due 
to  them,  was  obliged  to  fly  for  his  life.     They  marched  from 

*  Tlie  far  larger  part  of  the  senate  consisted  of  those  whom  he  had  placed 
in  it.    Cic.  Div.  ii.  9. 


B.C.  46.]  AFRICAN  WAR.  439 

Campania  to  Rome,  plundering  and  murdering  on  their  Avay, 
and  came  and  posted  themselves  on  the  Field  of  Mars.  Cassar, 
in  spite  of  his  friends,  went  out,  and  mounting  his  tribunal, 
demanded  what  had  brought  them  thither  and  what  they 
Avanted  ?  They  were  disconcerted,  and  merely  said  that  they 
had  hoped  he  would  give  them  their  discharge  in  consequence 
of  their  wounds  and  length  of  service.  "  I  give  it  you,"  said 
lie,  and  then  added,  "and  when  I  have  triumphed  with  other 
soldiers  I  will  still  keep  my  word  with  you."  He  was  retiring  ; 
his  officers  stopped  him,  and  begged  him  to  be  less  severe,  and 
to  speak  to  them  again.  He  addressed  them,  commencing 
with  Quirites  !  and  not  as  usual  Commilitones  !  this  totally 
overcame  them ;  they  cried  out  that  they  were  his  soldiers, 
and  would  follow  him  to  Africa  or  anywhere  else  if  he  would 
not  cast  them  off;  he  then  pardoned  them,  and  passed  over  at 
their  head  to  Sicily,  though  it  was  now  far  in  the  winter. 

The  Pompeians,  aided  by  king  Juba,  were  at  this  time  in 
great  force  in  Africa.  Cato,  having  met  Pompeius'  ships,  M'ith 
Cornelia  and  Sex.  Pompeius  at  Cyrene,  landed  all  his  troops 
there,  and  marching  them  overland  to  the  African  province 
joined  Scipio  and  the  other  leaders.  The  chief  command  was 
given  to  Scipio  as  being  a  consular,  and  Cato  took  the  govern- 
ment of  the  town  of  Utica. 

Caesar,  having  assembled  six  legions  in  Sicily,  set  sail  from 
Lilybseum  with  a  part  of  them  (about  three  thousand  men) 
and  landed  near  Adrumetum.  Being  frustrated  in  his  attempt 
to  take  that  town,  he  proceeded  to  another  named  Ruspina, 
which  he  reached  on  the  ist  of  January  (706)  ;  he  thence  ad- 
vanced to  Leptis,  but  he  soon  returned  in  order  to  go  and  look 
after  his  fleet,  which  had  steered  by  mistake  for  Utica.  Ha- 
ving been  joined  by  the  troops  on  board  the  fleet  he  encamped 
at  Ruspina,  and  some  days  after  engaged  a  numerous  armj', 
chiefly  Numidians,  commanded  by  Labienus.  The  battle 
lasted  from  before  mid-day  to  sunset,  and  the  advantage  was 
on  the  side  of  the  Pompeian  general.  As  Scipio  and  Juba 
were  s£lid  to  be  approaching  with  eight  legions  and  three 
thousand  horse,  Ctesar  fortitied  his  camp  with  the  greatest 
care,  and  sent  to  Sicily  and  elsewhere  for  supplies.  When 
Scipio  came  he  offered  battle  repeatedly  ;  but  Caesar,  taught 
by  the  experience  of  the  late  action,  steadily  refused  to  fight ; 
endeavoui'ing  at  the  same  time  to  gain  over  Scipio's  troops 
and  the  people  of  the  country,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  had 
some  success.  After  some  time  he  found  himself  strong  enough 


440  AFRICAN  WAR.  [b.C.  46. 

to  offer  battle ;  but  Scipio  had  now  prudently  resolved  to  pro- 
tract the  war.  Caesar  then  decamped  at  midnight,  and  went 
and  laid  siege  to  the  town  of  Thapsus.  Scipio  and  Jiiba  fol- 
lowed him  thither,  and  forming  two  camps  about  eight  miles 
from  his,  attempted  to  throw  succours  into  the  town  ;  failing 
in  this  they  resolved  to  give  him  battle,  though  Cato,  it  is 
said,  strongly  advised  against  it.  Scipio  moved  down  to  the 
seaside,  and  having  thrown  up  some  intrenchments,  drew  his 
army  out  before  them  with  his  elephants  on  the  wings.  Csesar 
also  drew  out  his  nine  legions.  While  he  was  hesitating 
whether  to  attack  or  not,  a  trumpeter  sounded  on  the  right 
wing  ;  the  troops  then  charged  in  spite  of  their  officers  :  the 
elephants,  not  being  well-trained,  turned  on  their  own  men 
when  assailed  by  the  missiles,  and  rushed  into  the  camp. 
Scipio's  troops  broke  and  fled  to  their  former  camp,  and  then  to 
that  of  Juba ;  but  this  also  being  forced  they  retired  to  a  hill, 
whither  they  were  pursued  and  slaughtered  by  Ceesar's  veterans. 
Ten  thousand  was  the  number  of  the  slain ;  the  loss  of  the 
victors  did  not  exceed  fifty  men.  Caesar  then,  leaving  three 
legions  to  blockade  Thapsus,  and  sending  two  against  a  town 
named  Tisdra,  advanced  with  the  remainder  toward  Utica. 

Cato,  Avho  commanded  in  this  town,  had  formed  a  council 
of  three  hundred  of  the  Roman  traders  who  resided  in  it. 
When  the  news  of  the  defeat  at  Thapsus  arrived,  he  assembled 
his  council  and  tried  to  animate  them ;  but  finding  them  in- 
clined to  have  recourse  to  Caesar's  clemency,  he  gave  up  all 
hopes  of  defending  the  town,  and  sent  word  to  that  effect  to 
Scipio  and  Juba,  who  were  now  in  the  neighbourhood.  Soon 
after  the  cavalry  which  had  fled  from  Thapsus  arrived  ;  Cato 
went  out  to  try  and  engage  them  to  stay,  but  while  he  was 
away  the  three  hundred  met  and  determined  on  a  surrender; 
when  he  heard  of  this  he  prevailed  on  the  cavalry  to  stop  for 
one  day,  and  he  put  the  gates  and  citadel  into  their  hands; 
his  object  being  to  gain  time  to  !^end  away  the  Roman  se- 
nators and  others  by  sea.  Having  closed  all  the  gates  but  one 
leading  to  the  port,  he  got  ships  and  everything  ready  for  those 
who  were  to  depart.  Meantime  the  cavalry  had  begun  to  plun- 
der; but  he  went  to  them,  and  by  giving  them  money  prevailed 
on  them  to  leave  the  town  ;  he  then  went  down  to  the  port  to  see 
his  friends  off.  He  afterwards  arranged  his  accounts,  and  com- 
mended his  children  to  his  quaestor  L.  Caesar.  In  the  evening 
he  bathed  and  supped  as  usual  with  his  friends,  discussing  phi- 
losophical  questions ;  and  having  walked  after  supper  he  re- 


B.C.  46.]]  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  CATO.  441 

tired  to  liis  room,  where  it  is  said  he  read  over  Plato's  dialogue 
named  Phoedo,  which  treats  of  a  future  state  and  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  it  is  added  slept  soundly.  Toward  morn- 
ing he  stabbed  himself  with  his  sword  :  the  sound  of  his  fall 
being  heard,  his  friends  ran  to  the  room,  and  his  surgeon  went 
to  bind  up  the  wound  ;  but  he  thrust  him  from  him,  tore  it 
open,  and  instantly  expired. 

Thus  died  M.  Porcius  Cato,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  a  man  possessed  of  many  noble  and  estimable  qualities, 
but  joined  with  some  defects,  among  which  his  vanity  and  his 
obstinacy  were  conspicuous.  He  was  certainly  patriotic,  and 
was  for  maintaining  the  constitution  ;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
if  personal  hatred  to  Caesar  was  not  the  secret  source  of  many 
of  his  apparently  most  patriotic  actions.  His  politics  were  of 
too  Utopian  a  cast  ever  to  be  really  useful ;  for  such  is  our 
nature,  that  the  politician  »^^/rf  know"  how  to  yield  to  circum- 
stances if  he  would  do  good.  We  may  therefore  admire,  but 
should  never  thinlc  of  imitating,  the  character  of  Cato*. 

Caesar  soon  arrived  at  Utica,  where  he  granted  their  lives 
to  L.  Caesar  and  the  other  Romans  :  as  for  the  three  hundred, 
He  said  he  would  content  himself  with  confiscating  their  pro- 
perties for  their  crime  in  supplying  Varus  and  Scipio  with 
money ;  he  however  let  them  off  for  a  sum  of  two  hundred 
millions  of  sesterces,  to  be  paid  in  the  course  of  six  yeax's  to 
the  republic — that  is,  to  himself. 

King  Juba  had  set  out  with  Petreius  for  his  town  of  Zama; 
but  he  found  the  gates  closed  against  him,  and  he  and  his  com- 
panion, seeing  no  hopes,  agreed  to  kill  one  another;  Petreius 
died  at  once,  Juba  was  obliged  to  employ  the  hand  of  a  slave. 
Afranius  and  Faustus  Sulla  were  met  and  made  prisoners  in 
Mauritania,  as  they  were  making  for  Spain  with  the  cavalry 
from  Utica,  by  P.  Sitiust,  an  Italian  condoitiere  who  had  de- 
clared for  Caesar,  to  whom  he  sent  them,  and  by  whose  soldiers, 
probably  with  his  knowledge  and  consent,  they  and  L.  Caesar 
were  put  to  death.  Scipio  on  his  way  to  Spain  being  obliged 
to  put  into  the  port  of  Hippo,  where  Sitius'  freebooti ng  squa- 
dron lay,  was  attacked  by  it.  Having  seen  most  of  his  vessels 
sink,  he  stabbed  himself,  and  when  one  of  Sitius'  soldiers  on 

*  See  Seneca,  Epist.  11. 

•(-  Sitius  was  a  native  of  Nuceria.  Sail.  Cat.  21.  Fearing  the  effects  of  a 
prosecution  at  Rome,  he  fled  to  Spain  and  thence  to  Africa,  where  he  hired 
out  his  own  services  and  those  of  a  body  of  men  whom  lie  had  collected,  to 
the  princes  of  the  country  in  their  wars.     Appian,  iv.  54. 

u5 


442  Cesar's  triumphs.  [b.c.46. 

boarding  asked  where  was  the  general,  he  calmly  replied,  "The 
general  is  safe."  Caesar  went  from  Utica  to  Zama,  where  he 
sold  the  property  cf  king  Juba  and  seized  that  of  the  Romans 
who  resided  there.  He  converted  the  kingdom  into  a  province, 
giving  Cirta  to  Sitius.  On  his  return  to  Utica  he  seized  and 
sold  the  property  of  all  who  had  been  centurions  under  Juba 
and  Petreius,  and  he  fined  all  the  towns  in  proportion  to  their 
means  :  he,  however,  did  not  allow  his  soldiers  to  pillage  any 
of  them.  He  then  set  sail  homewards,  leaving  C.  Sallustius  as 
proconsul  to  govern  tlie  new  province  of  Numidia,  by  whom 
it  was  plundered  in  a  merciless  manner  *. 

On  Caesar's  arrival  in  Home  honours  of  every  kind  were  de- 
creed to  him  by  his  obsequious  senate.  They  had  already  de- 
creed a  supplication  of  forty  days  for  his  African  victory  ;  that 
he  should  be  dictator  for  ten  years,  inspector  of  morals  for 
three  ;  that  his  chariot  should  be  placed  on  the  Capitol  oppo- 
site the  statue  of  Jupiter,  and  his  statue  standing  on  a  brazen 
figure  of  the  world  with  the  inscription,  "  Csesar  the  semigod." 
Having  addressed  the  senate  and  the  people,  and  assured  them 
of  his  clemency  and  regard  for  the  republic,  he  prepared  to 
celebrate  his  triumphs  for  his  various  conquests ;  and  in  one 
month  he  triumphed  four  times,  the  first  triumph  being  for 
Gaul,  the  second  for  Ptolemgeus  of  Egypt,  the  third  for  Phar- 
naces  of  Pontus,  and  the  fourth  for  Juba  of  Numidia.  The 
first  was  the  most  splendid  ;  but  as  the  procession  went  along 
the  Velabrum  the  axle  of  the  trium.phal  car  broke,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  mount  another,  which  caused  nmch  delay.  When  he 
at  length  reached  the  Capitol,  he  went  up  the  steps  of  the 
temple  on  his  knees.  In  the  second  triumph  were  seen  pictures 
of  the  deaths  of  Pothinus  and  Achillas,  and  the  Pharos  on  fire; 
the  third  displayed  a  tablet  with  Veni,  vidi,  vici  I  on  it.  The 
money  borne  in  triumph  is  said  to  have  amounted  to  65,000 
talents,  and  the  gold  crowns  to  have  been  2822  in  number,  and 
to  have  weighed  24-14  pounds.  He  feasted  the  people  at 
22,000  tables  placed  in  the  streets  ;  and  to  150,000  citizens  he 
gave  ten  pecks  of  corn,  ten  pounds  of  oil,  and  400  sesterces 
apiece.  As  he  returned  home  from  the  banquet,  lights  were 
borne  on  each  side  of  him  by  forty  elephants.  He  then  dedi- 
cated a  forum  and  a  temple  of  Venus  Genetrix  which  he  had 
built,  on  w  hich  occasion  he  entertained  the  people  with  public 

*  Dion,  xliii.  9.  He  was  prosecuted  for  extortion  the  next  year,  but 
Caesar  saved  him ;  hence  his  apologists  say  that  it  was  for  Csesar,  not  for 
himself,  that  he  had  pillaged  the  province. 


B.C.  46.]  REFORMATION  OF  THE  CALENDAR.  443 

games  of  all  kinds,  sham-battles,  hunting  of  wild  beasts,  horse- 
and  chariot-races,  the  Trojan  game,  etc.  To  reward  his  vete- 
rans he  gave  them  each  24,000  sesterces,  double  the  sura  to 
the  centurions,  the  quadruple  to  the  tribunes  ;  and  he  assigned 
them  lands,  but  not  in  continuous  tracts,  in  order  that  present 
possessors  might  not  be  disturbed  ;  or  perhaps  rather  that  the 
new  colonists  might  not,  from  a  consciousness  of  their  numbers 
and  strength,  be  disposed  to  insurrection. 

Csesar  now  turned  his  thoughts  to  legislation.  He  confined 
the  judicial  power  to  the  senators  and  knights  ;  he  reduced  by 
a  census  the  number  of  citizens  who  received  corn  by  about 
one  half;  he  sent  eighty  thousand  citizens  away  as  colonists  ; 
he  enacted  that  no  freeman  under  twenty  or  over  forty  years 
of  age  should  be  more  than  three  years  out  of  Italy,  and  no 
senator's  son  at  all  unless  in  the  retinue  of  a  magistrate  ;  that 
all  graziers  on  the  public  lands  should  not  have  less  than  a 
third  of  their  shepherds  freemen.  He  granted  the  freedom  of 
the  city  to  all  physicians  and  professors  of  the  liberal  arts  ;  he 
made  or  renewed  various  sumptuary  laws ;  and  he  encouraged 
marriage,  and  gave  rewards  to  those  who  had  many  children. 

As  a  means  of  securing  his  power,  he  abolished  all  the  clubs 
and  other  societies  except  the  ancient  guilds ;  for  how^ever 
useful  they  might  have  formerly  proved  in  forwarding  his  own 
views,  he  knew  them  to  be  totally  incompatible  with  all  regu- 
lar government.  Judging  also  by  his  own  experience,  he  en- 
acted that  no  praetor  should  hold  a  province  for  more  tban  one 
year,  no  consul  for  more  than  two.  He  further  reserved  to 
himself  the  appointment  of  one  half  of  those  who  were  to  be 
elected  to  offices  in  the  state,  and  at  the  approach  of  the  elec- 
tions he  always  notified  to  the  people  whom  he  would  have 
chosen  for  the  remaining  places*. 

It  was  at  this  time  also  that  Caesar  made  his  celebrated  re- 
formation of  the  calendar.  The  Roman  year  had  been  the 
lunar  one  of  354  days,  and  it  was  kept  in  accordance  with  the 
solar  year  by  intercalating  months  in  every  second  and  fourth 
year.  The  pontiffs  were  charged  with  this  office;  but  they 
exercised  it,  it  is  said,  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  from  motives 
of  partiality,  and  the  year  was  now  more  than  two  months 
in  arrear.  Ceesar  therefore  added  67  days  between  November 
and  December  of  this  year,  which  with  the  intercalary  month 

*  The  following  was  the  form  of  his  conge  d'elire  :  "  Caesar,  dictator,  illi 
tribui :  Conimendo  tilii  ilium  et  ilium,  ut  vestro  suffragio  suam  dignitatem 
teneant."     Suet.  Jul.  Cres.  41.    Dion,  xliii.  51. 


44-4-  BATTLE  OF  MUNDA.  [;b.C.  45. 

of  23  daj's  made  an  entire  addition  of  90  days ;  and  he  di- 
vided the  year  into  months  of  30  and  31  days,  directing  a  day 
to  be  intercalated  every  fourth  year,  to  keep  it  even  with  the 
course  of  the  sun.  His  agent  in  this  change  was  an  Alex- 
andrian named  Sosigenes. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  Caesar  was  obliged  to  return  to 
Spain,  where  the  sons  of  Porapeius  with  Labienus  and  Varus 
had  collected  a  force  of  eleven  legions,  and  had  driven  Tre- 
bonius,  who  commanded  there,  out  of  Baetica.  In  twenty- 
seven  days  he  travelled  from  Rome  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Corduba,  and  after  various  movements  the  two  armies  met 
(Mar.  1 7th,  707)  on  the  plain  of  Munda.  Cn.  Pompeius,  who 
commanded  in  chief,  had  the  advantage  in  position  and  num- 
bers, and  he  was  so  near  gaining  the  victory,  that  Cassar,  it  is 
said,  was  about  to  put  an  end  to  himself.  Pie  alighted  from 
his  horse,  took  a  shield,  and  advancing  before  his  men  declared 
that  he  would  never  retire.  This  action  excited  them  to  re- 
newed exertions ;  and  just  then  a  Moorish  prince  in  Ccesar's 
armj^  having  fallen  on  Pompeius'  camp,  Labienus  sent  five 
cohorts  to  protect  it ;  Csesar  cried  aloud  that  the  enemy  was 
flying;  this  roused  the  courage  of  one  side  and  excited  the 
fears  of  the  other,  and  after  a  severe  contest  victory  remained 
with  Cgesar.  Labienus,  Varus,  and  33,000  men  lay  slain  on 
the  side  of  Pompeius  ;  the  victors,  according  to  their  own  ac- 
counts,had  one  thousand  killed  and  half  thatnumberwounded. 
Caesar  declared  that  in  his  other  battles  he  had  fought  for  vic- 
tory, in  this  for  his  very  existence:  it  was  the  last  conflict  of  the 
Civil  War.  Cn.  Pompeius  fled  to  Carteia,  where  his  fleet  lay  ; 
but  finding  the  people  inclined  to  Caesar,  he  put  to  sea  with 
thirty  ships.  C.  Didius,  who  commanded  Caesai''s  fleet  at 
Gades,  pursued  him,  and  when  he  was  obliged  to  land  for 
water  attacked  and  burned  several  of  his  ships.  Pompeius, 
who  was  wounded,  fled  from  one  place  to  another ;  and  being 
found  in  a  cavern  in  which  he  had  taken  shelter,  he  was  put 
to  death,  and  his  head,  like  his  father's,  brought  to  Caesar. 
Sex.  Pompeius,  who  commanded  in  Corduba,  fled  to  the  moun- 
tains of  Celtiberia.  Munda  was  taken  after  a  siege  of  three 
weeks ;  Corduba,  Hispalis  (^Seville),  Gades  and  the  other 
towns  opened  their  gates.  Caesar  in  order  to  raise  money 
heavily  fined  some  places,  sold  privileges  to  others,  and  even 
plundered  the  temple  of  Hercules  at  Gades;  and  having  thus 
collected  all  the  money  he  could,  he  set  out  on  his  return  to 
Rome,  leaving  C.  AsiniusPollio  as  propraetor  in  Ulterior  Spain. 


B.C.  45.]  HONOURS  BESTOWED  ON  C^SAR.  445 

Csesar  celebrated  his  triumph  on  the  1st  of  October,  but 
though  a  magnificent  it  was  a  melancholy  sight  to  the  people, 
who  regarded  it  as  a  triumph  over  themselves.  The  senate 
however  was  never  weary  of"  heaping  honours  on  him.  He  was 
made  perpetual  dictator  and  inspector  of  morals,  given  the 
prceno7nen  of  Imperator,  and  the  cognomen  of  Father  of  his 
Country ;  his  statue  was  placed  among  those  of  the  kings  on 
the  Capitol  and  in  all  the  temples  and  towns ;  it  was  carried 
with  those  of  the  gods  at  the  Circensian  games,  and  there  was 
a.  ptilvif/ar,  or  state-couch,  for  it  as  for  theirs ;  he  had  a  fla- 
men  and  Luperci,  like  Quirinus,  and  the  month  Quinctilis  was 
named  Julius  alter  him.  He  was  allowed  to  wear  a  laurel 
crown  constantly,  to  have  a  golden  seat  in  the  senate-house 
and  Forum,  etc.  Friends  and  enemies  concurred  in  lavishing 
these  honours  on  him,  the  former  out  of  zeal,  the  latter  it  is 
said  in  the  hope  of  making  him  incur  the  hatred  of  the  people. 

Insatiate  of  fame  and  impatient  of  repose,  Caesar  had  already 
resolved  on  a  war  with  the  Parthians,  and  he  now  sent  his  le- 
gions before  him  into  Macedonia.    Meantime  he  was  forming 
various  magnificent  projects  for  his  own  glory  and  the  benefit 
of  the  people.    He  proposed  to  rebuild  Carthage  and  Corinth 
and  several  Italian  towns,  to  cut  across  the  isthmus  of  Corinth, 
to  drain  the  Pomptine  marshes,  to  let  off  the  Fucine  lake,  to 
dig  a  new  bed  for  the  Tiber*,  to  form  a  large  port  at  Ostia,  and 
to  construct  a  causeway  over  the  Apennines  to  the  Adriatic. 
He  employed  the  learned  Varro  to  collect  books  for  a  public 
library,  and  he  purposed  reducing  the  mass  of  the  Roman  laws 
to  a  moderate  compass. 

It  was  thus  that  Csesar  meditated  improving  the  empire  which 
he  had  acquired  by  his  sword ;  he  moreover  proclaimed  an 
amnesty,  replaced  the  statues  of  Sulla  and  Pompeius  which  had 
been  thrown  down,  and  dismissing  his  guards  went  attended 
only  by  lictors.  But,  in  the  intoxication  of  power  he  did  not 
sufficiently  spare  the  feelings  and  prejudices  of  those  over 
whom  he  ruled.  He  introduced  Gauls  into  the  senate,  he  set 
his  slaves  over  the  mint  and  the  revenue,  he  did  as  he  pleased 
■with  all  the  high  offices ;  he  would  use  such  language  as  this  : — 
"  There  is  no  republic ;  Sulla  was  an  idiot  to  lay  down  the 

*  It  was  his  plan  to  make  the  river  run  close  to  the  Janiculan  in  a  straight 
Jine,  instead  of  its  actual  meandering  course  from  the  Mulvian  bridge  down- 
wards, and  thus  prot€ct  the  city  from  inundations.  The  Campus  Martius 
was  then  to  be  employed  as  building-ground,  and  the  land  between  it  and 
the  new  course  of  the  Tiber  to  be  the  place  of  exercise  for  the  Roman  youth. 
Cic.  ad  Att.  xiii.  33. 


MS  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  CJESAR.  [ B.C.  44. 

dictatorship ;  men  should  speak  more  respectfully  to  me,  and 
consider  my  word  to  be  law."  When  the  whole  senate  waited 
on  him  one  day  with  a  decree  in  his  honour,  he  did  not  even 
deign  to  rise  from  his  seat  to  receive  them.  Finally,  like  Crom- 
well, not  content  with  the  solid  power  of  a  king,  he  longed,  it 
is  said,  for  the  empty  title,  and  various  modes  of  feeling  the 
pulse  of  the  people  on  this  subject  were  employed.  As  he  was 
returning  (708)  from  keeping  the  Latin  holydays  on  the  Alban 
Mount  some  voices  in  the  crowd  called  him  King,  and  some 
one  placed  a  diadem  and  a  crown  of  laurel  on  one  of  his  statues. 
Seeing  that  the  people  was  not  pleased,  he  replied,  "  I  am 
Cfesar,  not  king  ;"  but  he  deprived  of  their  office  two  of  tlie 
tribunes  when  they  imprisoned  the  man  who  had  crowned  his 
statues.  A  few  days  after,  on  the  festival  of  the  Lupercalia 
(Feb.  15),  Antonius,  then  his  colleague  in  the  consulate  and 
one  of  the  new  Luperci,  ran  up  to  him  as  he  was  seated  in 
state  on  the  Rostra  and  placed  a  diadem  on  his  head  ;  a  few 
hired  voices  applauded :  Caesar  rejected  it,  and  a  general  shout 
of  approbation  ensued  ;  the  offer  was  repeated  with  the  same 
effect.  Cgesar  then  rose  desiring  the  diadem  to  be  placed  on 
the  statue  of  Jupiter  as  the  only  king  of  the  Romans.  It  was 
also  rumoured  that  it  was  found  in  the  Sibylline  books  that 
the  Parthians  could  only  be  conquered  by  a  king,  and  that 
therefore  L.  Cotta,  one  of  the  keepers  of  them,  was  to  propose 
that  Caesar  should  bear  the  regal  title  out  of  Italy. 

But  at  this  very  time  there  was  a  conspiracy  formed  to  de- 
prive Caesar  of  life  and  empire.  The  members  of  it  were 
in  general  his  own  adherents,  others  those  who  had  fought 
against  him,  to  whom  he  had  given  their  lives,  and  even  pro- 
moted them  to  honours.  Among  the  latter  were  C.  Cassius 
Longinus  and  M.Junius  Brutus.  Of  these,  Cassius  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  been  Crassus' quEestor  in  the  Parthian  war;  he  had 
commanded  a  division  of  Pompeius'  fleet,  and  meeting  Caesar 
on  his  way  to  Egypt  had  been  pardoned  by  him,  and  he  was 
now  one  of  the  city-praetors.  He  was  a  man  of  very  consider- 
able talent,  but  of  a  harsh  and  stern  temper.  Brutus  was  the 
nephew  of  Cato,  to  whose  daughter  he  was  now  married,  ha- 
ving divoi'ced  his  former  wife  Claudia  for  that  purpose.  After 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia  he  fled  to  Larissa,  whence  he  sent  his 
submission  to  Caesar,  who  joyfully  received  him,  and  when  he 
was  going  to  Africa  set  him  over  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  had  now 
made  him  one  of  the  city-praetors.  His  sister  Junia  was  the 
wife  of  Cassius.  A  mistaken  sense  of  patriotism  may  have 
been,  and  probably  was,  the  motive  which  actuated  these  and 


B.C.  4'4-.]  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  CiESAR.  447 

some  others ;  for  even  Caesar's  own  partisans  who  shared  in 
the  conspiracy,  such  as  D.  Brutus  and  C.  Trebonius,  may  have 
acted  from  the  same  motives,  as  though  they  fought  for  Caesar 
against  Pompeius,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  approved  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  constitution*.  The  conspirators  were  about 
sixty  in  number ;  Q.  Ligarius  is  the  only  Pompeian  mentioned 
beside  Brutus  and  Cassius  ;  the  rest,  such  as  C.  and  P.  Servilius 
Casca,  L.  Tillius  Cimber,  L.  Minucius  Basilus,  and  Ser.  Sul- 
picius  Galba,  were  of  the  Caesarian  party. 

Cassius  is  said  to  have  been  the  original  contriver  of  the 
plot ;  those  to  whom  he  communicated  it  advised  him  strongly 
to  ert-o-a^i^e  Brutus  in  it  if  possible,  on  account  of  his  name  and 
influence,  and  Brutus  when  sounded  readily  entered  into  it. 
Brutus  was  further  urged,  it  is  said,  by  hints  such  as  these  : 
on  his  tribunal  he  found  written,  "Brutus,  dost  thou  sleep?" 
and,  "  Thou  art  not  a  true  Brutus !"  and  on  the  statue  of  the 
elder  Brutus  was  written,  "  Would  there  were  a  Brutus  now  1" 
Knowing  the  timidity  of  Cicero's  character,  and  certain  of  his 
support  when  the  deed  was  done,  the  conspirators  did  not 
make  him  privy  to  their  design ;  but  it  is  said  they  had  had 
some  thoughts  of  admitting  Antonius,  who  was  supposed  to 
be  offended  with  Caesar  for  having  required  him  to  pay  for 
Pompeius'  property  which  he  had  bought,  but  Trebonius  had 
diverted  them  from  it.      It  was  then  warmly  debated  among 
them  whether  they  should  not  kill  Antonius  and  Lepidus  along 
with  Ctesar,  but  M.  Brutus  declaring  strongly  against  such  an 
act  as  unjust  and  impolitic,  it  was  imprudently  given  up.    The 
place  and  time  of  performing  the  deed  were  also  matter  of  de- 
bate, as  they  were  resolved  that  this  act  of  public  justice,  as 
they  deemed  it,  should  be  done  in  the  face  of  day  :  some  pro- 
posed the  Field  of  Mars,  others  the  Via  Sacra  or  the  entrance 
of  the  theatre ;  but  as  the  senate  were  to  meet  on  the  ides  of 
March,  in  the  Curia  belonging  to  the  theatre  of  Pompeius  in 
the  Field  of  Mars,  that  day  and  place  were  finally  fixed  on. 
It  is  said  moreover  that  Ceesar  knew  that  there  was  a  conspi- 
racy against  him,  but  that  he  disdained  to  take  any  precau- 
tions, saying  that  he  would  rather  die  at  once  by  treachery 
than  live  in  fear  of  it ;  that  he  had  lived  long  enough,  and 
that  the  state  would  be  a  greater  loser  than  ho  by  his  death. 
On  the  morning  of  the  ides  (15th)  of  March  Brutus  and 
Cassius  sat  calmly  to  administer  justice  as  usual,  but  with 
daggers  concealed  under  their  garments.     Caesar,  who  felt 

*  Seneca,  however  (De  Ira,  iii.  30.),  ascribes  less  worthy  motives  for 
their  conduct. 


4-4:8  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  CjESAR.         [b.C.  44' 

himself  indisposed,  and  whose  wife  is  said  to  have  had  ominous 
dreams,  was  thinking  of  not  going  to  the  senate,  but  D.  Brutus 
urging  him  he  ascended  his  litter  and  set  out :  on  the  way,  we 
are  told,  Artemidorus,  a  Greek  philosopher,  handed  him  a 
paper  Avith  an  account  of  the  plot,  desiring  him  to  read  it  im- 
mediately ;  but  he  went  in  with  the  paper  in  his  hand*.  Po- 
pillius  Lfenas,  who  a  little  before  had  spoken  to  Brutus  and 
Cassius  in  terms  which  seemed  to  intimate  a  knowledge  of  the 
plot,  went  up  and  spoke  earnestly  to  him ;  the  conspirators, 
who  did  not  hear  what  he  said,  were  in  alarm,  and  laid  their 
hands  on  their  daggers  to  kill  themselves  if  necessary.  At 
length  Popillius  retired,  and  Csesar  advanced  and  took  his 
seat ;  the  conspirators  gathered  round  him  ;  Cimber  began  to 
plead  for  his  brother  who  M'as  in  exile,  the  others  joined  ear- 
nestly in  the  suit :  Caesar  was  annoyed  at  their  importunity  ; 
Cimber  then  gave  the  appointed  signal  by  seizing  his  toga 
and  pulling  it  off'  his  shoulder.  "  This  is  violence,"  cried  Caesar. 
Casca  instantly  stabbed  him  under  the  throat.  Csesar  rose, 
ran  his  writing-style  into  Casca's  arm,  and  rushed  forward ; 
but  another  and  another  struck  him  ;  then  despairing  of  life 
he  thought  only  of  dying  with  dignity,  and  wrapping  his  toga 
around  hiui  he  fell,  pierced  by  three-and-twenty  wounds  at 
the  foot  of  Pompeius'  statue  f.  Brutus  then  waving  his  bloody 
dagger  called  aloud  on  Cicero,  and  congratulated  him  on  the 
recovery  of  the  public  liberty  +.  He  was  going  to  address  the 
assembly,  but  the  senators  fled  out  of  the  house  in  dismay. 

Thus  perished,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  C.  Julius  Caesar,  the 
greatestman  Rome,wewould  almost  saythe  world, ever  beheld. 
Equally  the  general,  the  statesman,  the  orator,  and  the  man  of 
letters  and  taste,  he  must  have  shone  in  any  station  and  under 
any  form  of  society.  His  courage  was  not  merely  physical,  it 
was  moral;  his  eloquence  was  simple  and  masculine  ;  his  taste 
pure  and  elegant.  He  was  free  from  the  vanity  which  dis- 
figured Pompeius,  Cicero,  Cato,  and  others  §.  He  was  clement, 

*  It  is  also  said  that  Spiirinna,  an  anispex,  had  warned  him  to  beware  of 
the  ides  of  March  ;  and  now  seeing  him  he  said,  "  Well,  the  ides  of  March 
are  come."     "Yes,  but  they  are  not  past!"  replied  Spurinna. 

•)•  Some  writers  say  that  when  Brutus  struck,  Casar  cried  out  in  Greek, 
"And  thou,  my  son  !"  Caesar,  it  is  well  known,  had  an  intrigue  witli  Ser- 
vilia,  Brutus'  mother,  but  he  was  only  fifteen  years  older  than  Brutus,  and 
so  could  not  well  have  been  his  father. 

X  Cic.  Phil.  ii.  12. 

§  His  solicitude  about  his  dress  and  his  personal  appearance  was  how- 
ever a  curious  trait  in  Csssar's  character.  No  honour  that  was  decreed  him 
gave  him  more  pleasure  than  that  of  wearing  a  laurel  wreath,  as  it  helped 
to  conceal  his  baldness.     Suet.  Jul.  Cses.  45. 


B.C.  ^^.J  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  C^SAR.  449 

generous,  and  magnanimous  :  but  he  was  also  insatiably  ambi- 
tious,and  though  not  cruel  (as  no  really  great  man  is),  he  could 
shed  torrents  of  blood  without  remorse  when  he  had  any  ob- 
ject to  gain  ;  and  though  he  enforced  the  laws  when  he  had 
the  supreme  power,  he  had  trampled  on  them  with  contempt 
when  they  stood  in  his  way.  To  say  that  Caesar  overthrew  the 
libertiesofhi3COuntry,un]ess  we  dignify  anarchy  withthe  name 
of  liberty,  we  hold  to  be  incoi'rect;  and  had  his  motive  been 
the  loveof  Rome,  and  not  the  gratification  of  his  own  ambi- 
tion, we  might  even  feel  disposed  to  praise  him.  But  he  cared 
not  for  his  country  :  the  love  of  fame  alone  actuated  him ;  in- 
stead of  staying  in  Italy,  and  seeking  to  promote  the  happi- 
ness of  those  who  were  become  his  subjects,  he  was  now  on 
the  point  of  running,  in  imitation  of  Alexander,  to  attempt  the 
conquest  of  the  East,  leaving  the  supreme  power  at  Rome  in 
the  hands  of  such  men  as  Antonius  and  Dolabella.  Accord- 
ing to  the  old  Valerian  law*,  Caesar  was  legally  slain  :  we  are 
not  perhaps  justified  in  ascribing  any  but  patriotic  motives  to 
most  of  the  conspirators  ;  but  if  his  assassination  was  an  act 
of  justice,  according  to  the  ideas  of  those  times,  never  was 
there  a  more  useless,  a  more  pernicious  act  of  justice  per- 
formed f . 


CHAPTER  XIU. 

Affairs  of  Rome  after  Caesar's  death. — His  funeral. — Conduct  of  Antonius. 
— Octavius  at  Rome. — Quarrel  between  him  and  Antonius. — Mutinen- 
sian  war. — Caesar  made  consul. — The  Triumvirate  and  Proscription. — 
Death  of  Cicero. — His  character. — Acts  of  the  Triumvirs. — War  with 
Brutus  and  Cassias. — Battle  orPhilippi. — Death  of  Brutus  and  Cassius. 
— Antonius  and  Cleopatra. — Caesar's  distribution  of  lands. — Perusian 
war. — Return  of  Antonius  to  Italy. — War  with  Sex.  Porapeius. — Par- 
thian war. — Rupture  between  Ca;sar  and  Antonius. — Battle  of  Actium. — 
Last  efforts  of  Antonius. — Death  of  Antonius  and  Cleopatra. — Conclusion. 

The  terror  of  the  senate  at  the  assassination  of  Caesar  was 
shared  by  the  people,  and  the  conspirators  not  knowing  how 

*  See  above,  p.  33.  "  The  purport  of  this  law,"  says  Niebuhr  (i.  522.), 
"  was  to  ensure  tyrannicide  ;  its  effect  to  give  impunity  to  murder."  We 
know  not  if  he  had  the  present  case  also  in  view. 

■f  See  Seneca  de  Belief,  ii.  20. 

+  Dion,  xlv.-li.  Appian,  iii.-v.  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  58-89.  Suet.  Octavius, 
Plut.  Cicero,  43-49;  Brutus,  19-53  ;  Antonius,  14-87  ;   the  Epitomators. 


450  AFFAIRS  AT  ROME.  [b.C.  44'. 

they  might  finally  act,  and  aware  of  the  great  number  of  sol- 
diers that  were  in  and  about  the  city,  deemed  it  their  safest 
coarse  to  retire  to  the  Capitol,  whither  several  of  the  senate 
and  the  nobility  repaired  to  them.  The  dead  body  of  Caesar, 
which  lay  in  the  senate-house,  was  placed  in  his  litter  by  three 
of  his  slaves  and  taken  home.  Antonius  fled  and  concealed 
himself;  Lepidus  retired  to  the  troops  which  he  had  in  the 
island  of  the  Tiber*,  and  transported  them  without  delay  over 
to  the  Field  of  Mars. 

The  next  day  passed  in  conferences  and  negotiations. 
Brutus  and  Cassius  came  down  and  harangued  the  people  in 
the  Forum,  and  were  heard  with  respect ;  but  when  the  prae- 
tor L.  Cornelius  Cinna  began  to  accuse  Cassar,  the  people 
showed  such  anger  that  the  conspirators  deemed  it  prudent  to 
return  to  the  Capitol;  and  Brutus,  expecting  to  be  besieged, 
made  those  who  had  joined  them  there  retire,  that  they  might 
not  share  in  the  danger.  On  the  third  day  (the  17th)  An- 
toniusf,  as  consul,  assembled  the  senate  in  the  temple  of  Earth 
(Tellus),  which  was  on  the  Carinse,  where  he  then  dwelt  in 
the  house  of  Pompeius.  Cicero's  son-in-law  Dolabella,  at  the 
same  time,  assumed  of  himself  the  place  in  the  consulate  now 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Caesar,  and  to  which  he  had  been  de- 
signated. Antonius  proposed  an  accommodation  with  the 
conspirators,  which  was  approved  of  by  Cicero,  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  amnesty,  comparing  it  with  that  of  Athens  in  the  time 
of  the  Thirty.  Antonius  also  moved  that  all  Caesar's  acts 
should  be  confirmed  ;  to  this,  likewise,  the  senate  assented. 

*  He  was  preparing  to  set  out  with  them  for  Spain,  of  which  Caesar  had 
given  him  the  government. 

■f  As  Antonius  becomes  now  an  actor  of  so  much  impoitance,  we  will 
sl<etch  his  previous  history.  He  was  grandson  of  the  great  orator  (see  p. 
345),  and  son  of  the  Antonius  who  commanded  against  the  pirates  (pp.  362. 
364.).  In  his  youth  he  was  riotous  and  debauched,  and  squandered  his 
patrimony  before  he  assumed  the  toga.  His  step-father  was  Catilina's  as- 
sociate Lentulus  ;  after  whose  death  he  joined  Clodius,  and  shared  in  the 
violence  of  his  tribunate.  He  then  went  abroad,  and  became  commander 
of  the  horse  under  Gabinius  in  Syria,  and  had  his  part  in  the  restoration  of 
Ptolemffius  (p.  434.).  On  his  return,  his  debts  driving  him  from  Rome,  he 
went  to  Gaul  to  Caesar,  who  aided  him  with  his  money  and  credit  in  his 
suit  for  the  qusestorship ;  and  Cicero,  to  oblige  Caesar,  exerted  himself  so 
strenuously  in  his  favour,  that  Antonius  attributed  his  success  to  him,  and 
to  prove  hisgratitude  attempted  to  kill  Clodius  in  the  Forum.  As  soon  as 
he  was  made  quaestor,  he  went  back  to  Caesar,  without  waiting  for  an  ap- 
pointment from  the  senate  ;  he  afterwards  returned,  and  was  chosen  one  of 
the  tribunes  ;  and  we  have  seen  how  useful  he  proved  to  Caesar.  See  Cic. 
Phil.  ii.  18-20. 


B.C.  44'.]  FUNERAL  OF  C^SAR.  451 

Meantime  the  conspirators  had  assembled  the  people  on  the 
Capitol,  where  Brutus  addressed  them,  taking  care  to  assure  the 
veterans  that  they  should  not  be  disturbed  in  the  possession  of 
their  lands.  The  decree  of  the  senate  was  read  out  to  the 
people,  and  Cicero  harangued  them  w  ith  his  usual  fire.  They 
then,  as  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  what  they  had  heard,  required 
to  see  those  on  the  Capitol,  and  Antonius  and  Lepidus  having 
sent  their  sons  up  for  hostages  they  came  down.  Brutus 
supped  that  evening  with  Lepidus,  who  was  married  to  his 
sister ;  Cassius  was  entertained  by  Antonius,  the  others  by 
their  respective  friends.  Next  day  (18th)  they  appeared  in 
the  senate,  where  a  decree  was  made  confirming  them  in  the 
provinces  to  which  they  had  been  appointed  by  Caesar,  namely, 
M.  Brutus  in  Macedonia,  D.  Brutus  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  Cassius 
in  Syria,  Trebonius  in  Asia,  etc. 

The  danger  likely  to  arise  to  the  republican  party  should 
Caesar  have  a  public  funeral  and  his  will  be  made  known  was 
so  apparent,  that  when  the  house  rose  on  the  17th  many  ap- 
plied to  his  father-in-law  Piso  on  the  subject,  and  Cicero's 
friend  Atticus,  departing  from  his  usual  caution,  declared  aloud 
that  all  was  lost  if  there  was  a  public  funeral*.  But  Piso 
would  not  hearken  to  their  remonstrances,  and  accordingly  the 
will  of  the  dictator  was  opened  and  read  at  the  house  of  An- 
tonius. It  was  found  that  he  had  adopted  and  made  his  prin- 
cipal heir  C.  Octavius,  the  grandson  of  his  sister ;  that  he  had 
bequeathed  the  citizens  300  sesterces  a-piece,  and  left  them 
his  gardens  near  the  Tiber.  The  funeral  then  took  place.  A 
small  temple,  framed  on  the  model  of  that  of  Venus  Geuetrix, 
and  adorned  with  gold,  was  raised  in  front  of  the  Rostra,  and 
his  body  was  borne  thither  and  placed  in  it  on  an  ivory  couch 
by  those  who  had  held  public  offices  in  the  present  or  the  pre- 
ceding year ;  the  robe  in  which  he  had  died  was  hung  over  it ; 
the  pyre  meantime  was  formed  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  whither  all 
who  chose  were  directed  to  carry  their  spices  and  perfumes  to 
be  burnt  on  it.  Antonius  then  ascended  the  Rostra ;  he  de- 
sired the  decrees  of  the  senate  in  Caesar's  honour  to  be  read, 
and  the  oath  taken  by  the  senators  not  only  not  to  make  any 
attempt  on  his  life,  but  to  defend  it  at  the  hazard  of  their  own. 
He  spoke  briefly  on  each  pointf ;  he  then  descended  and 
approached  the  bier,  where  he  wept  over  the  dead  and  praised 
his  deeds.    He  then  displayed  the  bloody  robe  ;  verses  suitable 

*  Cic.  ad  Att.  xiv.  10,  14. 

f  "  Quibus  perpauca  a  se  verba  addidit."   Suet.  Jul.  Caes.  84. 


452  CONDUCT  OF  ANTONIUS.  [b.C.  -l^. 

to  the  occasion,  selected  from  the  tragedies  of  Pacuvius  and 
Atilius,  were  chanted  to  mournful  music,  and  a  waxen  image 
of  the  dictator,  displaying  the  three-and-twenty  wounds,  was 
raised  and  moved  over  the  bier.  The  multitude  was  roused 
to  fury  and  would  not  suffer  the  body  to  be  removed,  some 
insisting  that  it  should  be  burned  in  the  temple  of  the  Capito- 
line  Jupiter,  others  in  the  curia  of  Pompeius,  in  which  he  was 
slain.  Suddenly  two  armed  soldiers  advanced  with  lighted 
tapers  and  set  fire  to  the  bier  ;  the  crowd  broke  up  all  the  seats 
and  got  brushwood  and  everything  else  that  came  to  hand  to 
feed  the  flames  ;  tlie  musicians  and  players  threw  on  them  their 
dresses,  the  veterans  their  arms,  the  women  their  own  and 
their  children's  ornaments  to  honour  Ccesar.  The  mob  then 
attempted  to  set  fire  to  the  houses  of  the  conspirators,  and  they 
murdered  C.  Helvius  Cinna,  a  tribune,  and  one  of  Cipsar's 
friends,  mistaking  him  for  his  namesake  the  praetor,  and  car- 
ried his  head  about  on  a  spear.  Shortly  after  the  mob  erected 
an  altar  with  a  pillar  on  the  spot  where  they  had  burnt  Csesar's 
j  body  and  offered  sacrifices  on  it;  but  Antonius  seized  and 
I  put  their  ringleader  to  death ;  and  Dolabella  afterwards  de- 
/  molished  the  pillar  and  altar,  and  executed  se#ral  of  the  most 
/       riotous  of  the  populace. 

Pretending  fear  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  populace, 
Antonius  asked  the  senate  for  a  guard  to  protect  him,  and 
when  it  was  granted  he  surrounded  himself  with  six  thousand 
veterans.  He  then  caused  the  execution  of  Caesar's  acts  to 
be  committed  to  the  consuls,  and  as  he  had  Caesar's  papers 
and  his  secretary  Faberius  in  his  hands  he  now  could  forge 
and  do  as  he  pleased.  He  therefore  recalled  exiles,  granted 
immunities  to  whom  he  chose  and  who  could  pay  for  them*, 
and  thus  amassed  a  large  quantity  of  money.  Calpurnia, 
Caesar's  wife,  had,  in  her  first  terror,  given  up  to  him  all  the 
ready  money  that  Caesar  had  left  behind  him,  amounting  to  one 
hundred  million  sesterces,  and  he  seized  the  public  treasure  of 
seven  hundred  millions  which  Caesar  had  placed  in  the  temple 
of  Ops.  He  thus  had  been  enabled  to,  pay  off"  his  own  debts 
of  forty  million  sesterces,  purchase  over  his  colleague  Dolabella, 
and  gain  the  soldiery  to  his  side.  As  Sex.  Pompeius  was 
again  in  arms,  Antonius  and  Lepidus,  aware  of  the  annoyance 

*  Though  Csesar  had  bpen  implacable  towanl  Deiotarus,  A  ntonius  restored 
him  his  dominions,  in  compliance,  as  he  snid,  with  the  will  of  Caesar.  The 
price  to  be  paid  by  the  king  was  10,000,000  sesterces:  the  bargain  was  made 
by  his  agents  with  Fulviathe  wife  of  Antonius.  Cic.  ad  Att.  xiv.  12.  Phil.  ii.  37. 


B.C.  44.]       QUARREL  OF  OCTAVIUS  AND  ANTONIUS.  453 

he  might  give  them,  had  a  decree  passed  restoring  him  to  his 
estates*  and  honours,  and  giving  liim  the  command  at  sea  with 
as  full  powers  as  his  father  had  enjoyed.  Lepidus  himself  ob- 
tained at  this  time  the  high- priesthood  in  the  place  of  Caesar. 

The  young  C.  Octavius,  a  youth  of  nineteen  years  of  age, 
was  at  ApoUonia  pursuing  his  studies  at  the  time  of  Caesar's 
death :  the  officers  of  the  troops  about  there  waited  on  him 
with  a  tender  of  their  services,  and  some  of  his  friends  advised 
him  to  accept  them  ;  but  this  course  did  not  suit  his  naturally 
cautious  temper,  and  he  only  said  that  he  would  go  to  Rome 
and  claim  his  uncle's  estates.  In  the  present  posture  of  affairs 
even  this  course  seemed  too  hazardous  to  many  of  his  friends, 
and  his  mother  Atia  and  her  husband  L.  Marcius  Philippus 
wrote  to  dissuade  him  from  it.  He  however  persisted,  and  on 
his  landing  near  Brundisium,  the  veterans  flocked  to  him 
complaining  of  Antonius'  tardiness  to  avenge  the  deatii  of 
Ceesar.  He  thence  proceeded  to  join  his  mother  at  Cumae, 
and  there  he  v/as  introduced  to  Cicero,  whom  he  assured  that 
he  would  be  always  governed  by  his  advice.  Octavius  then 
set  out  for  Rome ;  when  he  came  near  the  city  crowds  of 
Caesar's  friends  met  him  and  attended  him  on  his  entrance. 
Next  day  he  went  before  the  praetor  C.  Antonius  and  had 
his  claim  duly  registered.  M.  Antonius  was  at  this  time 
absent  from  Rome,  as  he  was  making  a  progress  through 
Campania  in  order  to  conciliate  the  veterans  who  were  settled 
as  colonists  in  that  district.  On  his  return  (about  the  middle 
of  May)  Octavius  waited  on  him  and  claimed  his  uncle's  pro- 
perty." Antonius  made  a  cold  reply,  telling  him  that  he  was 
indebted  to  him  for  his  adoption  not  being  annulled;  that 
there  was  no  more  money  remaining,  and  that  he  should  call 
to  mind  what  he  had  learned  from  his  masters  on  the  subject 
of  the  popular  instability.  When  soon  after  Octavius  sought  to 
have  his  adoption  conhrmed  by  the  curies,  Antonius  caused 
the  tribunes  to  prevent  it  by  their  intercession. 

Octavius  (whom  we  shall  henceforth  call  Caesar  f),  seeing 
he  had  no  hopes  of  Antonius,  turned  to  the  senate  and  peo- 
y)le  ;  the  former  seemed  disposed  to  favour  him  against  Anto- 
nius, and  he  easily  won  the  latter  by  a  promise  of  giving  them 

*  It  may  give  some  idea  of  tlie  wealth  of  the  Roman  nobles  to  know  that 
Pompeius'  property  (independent  of  his  plate  and  jewels)  was  valued  at 
(00,000,000  sesterces,  or  upwards  of  five  millions  and  a  half  sterling. 

f  By  the  rule  of  adoption,  his  name  now  became  C.  Julius  Casiar  Octa- 
vianus. 


454  QUARREL  OF  OCTAVIUS  AND  ANTONIUS.       [b.C.  44. 

even  more  money  than  Caesar  had  left  them  in  his  will,  and  of 
treating  them  with  splendid  shows.  To  perform  these  promises 
he  had  to  sell  his  own  estate  and  his  succession  to  his  uncle's, 
and  even  those  of  his  mother  and  his  father-in-law,  who  now 
supported  him  heartily. 

Brutus  and  Cassius  were  now  no  longer  at  Rome.  They 
quitted  the  city  toward  the  middle  of  April  and  remained  at 
Lanuvium,  Antium,  and  other  places  in  the  vicinity  for  some 
months,  during  which  time  Antonius  caused  Macedonia  and 
Sj^ria  to  be  transferred  to  himself  and  Dolabella,  and  the 
task  of  collecting  corn  in  Crete  and  Cyrene  to  be  assigned  to 
them  as  their  provinces.  In  the  beginning  of  September, 
seeing  that  their  cause  was  hopeless  at  Rome,  they  set  sail 
with  the  ships  which  they  had  collected,  and  proceeded  to  take 
possession  of  their  original  provinces,  being  now  resolved  on 
an  appeal  to  arms. 

The  chief  hope  of  the  republicans  at  Rome  now  lay  in  the 
increasing  coolness  between  Caesar  and  Antonius.  The  latter 
did  all  in  his  power  to  gain  the  veterans  ;  he  estranged  him- 
self more  and  more  from  the  republican  party,  which  there- 
fore looked  to  his  rival,  who  it  is  said*  formed  a  design  against 
his  life,  and  sent  some  slaves  to  his  house  to  assassinate-  him. 
They  both  began  to  make  preparations  for  war,  and  Antonius 
in  the  beginning  of  October  set  out  for  Brundisium  to  meet 
four  legions  which  he  had  recalled  from  Macedonia.  Ceesar 
sent  his  agents  to  try  to  purchase  the  fidelity  of  these  legions  ; 
he  himself  went  to  solicit  the  veterans  settled  about  Capua, 
and  as  he  gave  500  denars  a  man,  a  number  of  them  joined 
him.  Antonius  was  but  coollj'  received  by  the  soldiers,  and 
when  he  offered  them  100  denars  each  they  left  his  tribunal 
with  contempt.  In  a  rage  he  summoned  the  centurions  whom 
he  suspected  to  his  quarters,  and  had  them  massacred  in  the 
presence  of  himself  and  his  wife  Fulvia.  Caesar's  agents  took 
advantage  of  this  to  gain  over  the  soldiers,  and  only  one  of 
the  legions  could  be  induced  to  follow  Antonius  to  Rome ; 
the  other  three  marched  along  the  coast  without  declaring  for 
either  side.  At  Rome  Antonius  published  several  edicts  in 
abuse  of  Caesar,  Cicero,  and  others,  and  he  had  sunimoned  the 
senate  with  the  intention  of  having  Caesar  proclaimed  a  public 
enemy  ;  but  hearing  that  tv,  o  of  the  three  legions  had  declared 
for  him,  he  left  Rome  in  haste,  and  putting  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  troops  set  out  for  Cisalpine  Gaul,  which,  though  the 
*  Cic.  ad  Fam.  xii.  23.  Suet.  Octav.  10. 


B.C.  43.]  MUTINENSIAN  WAR.  4:55 

province  of  D.  Brutus,  he  had  made  the  people  decree  to  him- 
self without  asking  the  consent  of  the  senate. 

Rome  being  now  free  from  the  presence  of  Antonius' 
troops,  Cicero,  who  had  hitherto  kept  awaj',  ventured  to  re- 
turn to  it;  and  having  received  an  assurance  that  Caesar  would 
be  a  friend  to  Brutus,  and  seen  that  he  allowed  Casca, 
who  had  given  the  dictator  the  first  blow,  to  enter  on  the  tri- 
bunate to  which  he  had  been  elected,  he  resolved  to  keep  no 
measures  with  Antonius;  and  both  in  the  senate  and  to  the  people 
he  inveighed  against  him,  extolling  Caesar  and  D.  Brutus,  and 
calling  on  the  senate  to  act  with  vigour  in  the  defence  of  the 
republic*.  The  remainder  of  the  year  was  spent  in  making 
preparations  for  war  against  Antonius,  who  was  now  actually 
besieging  D.  Brutus  in  Mutina.  Caesar,  with  the  approbation 
of  Cicero,  who  had  procured  him  the  title  of  propraetor, 
marched  after  Antonius  to  watch  his  movements. 

On  the  first  of  January  (709)  the  new  consuls,  A.  Hir- 
tius  and  C.  Vibius  Pansa,  entered  on  their  ofiice;  and  in  the 
senate,  in  spite  of  the  eloquence  of  Cicero,  the  motion  of  Q. 
Fufius  Calenus  to  send  an  embassy  to  Antonius  was  carried, 
after  a  debate  of  three  daj's.  Three  consulars,  Sex.  Sulpicius, 
L.  Piso,  and  L.  Philippus,  were  sent.  Meantime  the  levies 
went  on  with  great  spirit,  and  an  army  under  Hirtius  took  the 
field  against  Antonius.  The  embassy,  having  been  detained 
by  the  illness  and  death  of  Sulpicius,  did  not  return  till  the 
beginning  of  February,  when  the  senate  was  informed  that 
Antonius  refused  obedience  unless  they  would  confirm  all  the 
acts  of  his  consulate,  give  lands  and  rewards  to  all  his  troops, 
and  to  himself  the  government  of  Transalpine  Gaul  for  five 
years,  with  six  legions.  On  the  motion  of  Cicero,  Antonius 
was  then  in  eff'ect,  though  not  in  words,  declared  a  public 
enemy,  and  the  people  were  ordered  to  assume  the  saginn,  or 
military  habit.  As  Brutus  was  closely  pressed  in  Mutina,  at- 
tempts were  made  in  the  senate  to  have  the  negotiations  with 
Antonius  renewed,  but  they  were  defeated  by  the  forcible  elo- 
quence of  Cicero;  and  Pansa  at  length  set  out  toward  the  end 
of  March  to  attempt  the  relief  cf  Brutus. 

When  Antonius  heard  of  Pansa's  approach  he  secretly  drew 
out  his  best  troops  to  attack  him  before  he  should  join  Hirtius. 
On  the  15th  of  April,  the  day  that  Pansa  was  to  enter  Hir- 
tius' camp,  he  found  the  horse  and  light  troops  of  Antonius, 

*  The  speeches,  fourteen  in  number,  delivered  by  Cicero  against  Anto- 
nius, are  called  Philippics,  after  those  of  Demosthenes. 


4!56  MUTINENSIAN   WAR.  [ B.C.  4-3. 

who  kept  his  legions  out  of  view  in  an  adjacent  village,  pre- 
pared to  oppose  him.  A  part  of  his  troops  charged  them 
without  waiting  for  orders  ;  Antonius  brought  out  his  legions; 
the  action  became  brisk  and  general ;  and  Pansa's  troops  were 
finally  driven  to  their  camp,  which  Antonius  attempted  but  in 
vain  to  storm;  and  as  he  was  returning  he  was  met  by  Hir- 
tius  and  defeated  with  great  loss,  while  another  body  of  his 
troops,  which  attacked  Hirtius'  camp,  was  driven  off  by  Cae- 
sar, who  commanded  there.  Three  or  four  days  after  (27th), 
Hirtius  and  Csesar  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  the  camp  of  An- 
tonius, who  drew  out  his  legions  and  gave  them  battle.  Hir- 
tius forced  his  way  into  the  camp,  but  was  slain  near  the 
Prcetorium ;  Caesar  however  completed  the  victory,  and  An- 
tonius fled  with  his  cavalry  toward  the  Alps. 

The  consul  Pansa,  who  had  been  severely  wounded  in  the 
first  engagement,  died  the  next  day  at  Bononia,  whither  he 
had  been  conveyed.  The  deaths  of  the  two  consuls  happened 
so  very  opportunely  for  Csesar,  that  he  was  accused,  though 
certainly  without  reason,  of  liaving  caused  them*.  He  was 
now  at  the  head  of  nearly  the  entire  army,  for  the  veterans 
would  not  serve  under  Brutus,  who  was  thus  unable  to  pursue 
Antonius  ;  and  as  Caesar,  having  other  views,  would  not  follow 
him,  he  was  able  to  form  a  junction  with  his  legate  P.  Venti- 
dius,  who  was  bringing  him  three  legions,  and  to  effect  his  re- 
treat over  the  Alps.  At  Rome,  on  the  motion  of  Cicero,  all 
kinds  of  honours  were  lavished  on  the  slain  and  living  generals. 

There  were  at  this  time  two  Roman  armies  in  Gaul,  the  one 
commanded  by  Lepidus,  who  had  stopped  there  on  his  way  to 
Spain,  the  other  by  L.  Munatius  Plancus,  the  consul-elect. 
The  former,  though  he  had  sent  reiterated  assurances  of  fide- 
lity to  the  senate,  joined  Antonius  when  he  came  to  the  vici- 
nity of  his  camp  :  the  latter  united  his  forces  with  those  of  D. 
Brutus ;  but  when  he  found  that  Asinius  Poliio  iiad  led  two 
legions  out  of  Spain  to  the  aid  of  the  rebels  (for  Lepidus  had 
been  also  declared  a  public  enemy),  he  took  the  same  side,  and 
even  attempted  to  betray  Brutus  to  them.  Brutus  endeavoured 
to  make  his  escape  to  M.  Brutus,  who  was  in  Macedonia,  but 
he  was  betrayed,  and  he  was  taken  and  put  to  death  by  the 
soldiers  whom  Antonius  had  sent  in  pursuit  of  him. 

*  Suet.  Octav.  11.  Tac.  Ann.  i.  10.  We  may  here  observe  that  the  va- 
rious charges  made  against  Csesa;-  in  Suetonius  are  to  be  received  with 
some  caution,  as  the  writers  of  republican  feelings  were  extremely  hostile 
to  him. 


B.C.4'3.]  C^SAR  MADE  CONSUL.  457 

Caesar,  not  content  with  the  honours  decreed  him,  demanded, 
it  is  said,  a  triumph,  and  on  its  being  refused  began  to  think 
of  a  reconciliation  with  Antonius.  Though  but  a  youth  he 
then  resolved  to  claim  the  consulate,  and  it  is  also  said  that  he 
induced  Cicero  to  approve  of  his  project  by  flattering  his  self- 
love,  holding  out  to  him  the  prospect  of  becoming  his  colleague 
and  his  director.  As  however  no  one  could  be  found  to  pro- 
pose him,  he  sent  a  deputation  of  his  officers  to  demand  it. 
The  senate  hesitated  ;  the  centurion  Cornelius,  throwing  back 
his  cloak,  showed  the  hilt  of  his  sword  and  said,  "  This  will 
make  him  if  you  will  not."  Csesar  himself  soon  appeared 
at  the  head  of  his  troops  ;  two  legions  which  were  just  arrived 
from  Africa,  and  had  Ijeen  sent  to  defend  the  Janiculan,  went 
over  to  him;  no  opposition  could  be  made;  an  assembly  of 
the  people  chose  him  and  his  cousin  Q.  Pedius  consuls,  and 
they  entered  on  their  office  on  the  19th  of  the  month  of  Au- 
gust. Csesar  was  now  resolved  to  keep  measures  no  longer 
with  the  republican  party.  Pedius  proposed  a  law  for  bringing 
to  trial  all  concerned,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  causing  the 
dictator's  death;  the  conspirators  were  all  impeached,  and  none 
of  course  appearing  they  were  outlawed.  Sex.  Pompeius, 
though  he  had  not  had  the  slightest  concern  in  the  deed,  was 
included  in  the  sentence,  as  the  object  proposed  was  not  so 
much  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  elder,  as  to  establish  the  power 
of  the  younger  Ctesar,  who  for  this  purpose  now  distributed 
to  the  citizens  the  legacies  left  them  by  his  uncle. 

Having  settled  the  affairs  of  the  city  to  his  mind,  Caesar  set 
out  with  his  troops  to  hold  the  personal  interview,  which  had 
been  long  since  arranged,  with  Lepidus  and  Antonius,  who  had 
passed  the  Alps  for  the  purpose.  The  place  of  meeting  was 
a  small  island  in  a  stream  named  the  Rlienus  about  two  miles 
from  Bononia*.  Each  encamped  with  five  legions  in  view  of 
the  island,  which  Lepidus  entered  the  tirst  to  see  that  all  was 
safe;  and  on  his  giving  the  signal,  Csesar  and  Antonius  ap- 
proached and  passed  over  to  it  from  the  opposite  banks  by 
bridges,  which  they  left  guarded  each  by  three  hundred  men. 
They  first,  it  is  said,  searched  each  other  to  see  that  tliey  had 
no  concealed  weapons,  and  then  sat  in  conference  during  three 
days,  the  middle  seat  being  given  to  Caesar  as  consul.  It  was 
agreed  among  them,  that,  under  the  title  of  Triumvirs  for  set- 
tling the  Republic,  they  should  jointly  hold  the  supreme  power 
for  five  years,  appoint  to  all  offices,  and  decide  on  all  public 

*  Dion,  xlvi.  55.  Plut.  Cic.  46.  Suet.  Oct.  9C.  Appian  (iv.  2.)  says,  in 
an  island  of  the  river  Lavinius  near  Mutina. 

X 


4)58  TRIUMVIRATE  AND  PROSCRIPTION.  [b.C.43. 

affairs  ;  that  Caesar  should  have  for  his  province  Africa,  Sicily, 
and  the  other  islands ;  Lepidus,  Spain  and  Narbonese  Gaul, 
and  Antonius  the  two  other  Gauls  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps  ; 
that  Caasar  and  Antonius,  each  with  twenty  legions,  should 
prosecute  the  war  against  Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  Lepidus 
with  three  have  charge  of  the  city ;  that  finally,  at  the  end 
of  the  war,  eighteen  of  the  best  and  richest  municipal  tow^ns 
and  colonies*  of  Italy,  with  their  lands,  should  be  taken  from 
their  owners  and  given  to  their  faithful  soldiers-  They  then 
proceeded  to  the  horrible  act  of  drawing  up  a  proscription-list 
after  the  example  of  Sulla,  which  was  to  contain  the  names  of 
their  public  and  private  enemies,  and  of  those  whose  wealth 
excited  their  cupidity.  Antonius  insisted  on  Cicero's  being 
included ;  Caesar  is  said  to  have  shrunk  from  this  deed,  but 
after  holding  out  for  two  days  he  at  length  gave  him  up,  as 
did  Lepidus  his  own  brother  Paulus,  and  Antonius  his  uncle 
L.  Caesar.  The  list  is  said  to  have  contained  the  names  of 
300  senators  and  2000  knightsf .  Caesar  as  consul  i-ead  to  the 
soldiers  all  the  articles  of  the  agreement  except  the  proscrip- 
tion-list ;  their  joy  was  unbounded  and  they  insisted  on  a  mar- 
riage between  him  and  Claudia,  the  daughter  of  Antonius'  vrife 
Fulvia,  by  her  first  husband  the  notorious  P.  ClodiusJ. 

The  triumvirs,  having  selected  seventeen  names  of  the  most 
obnoxious  persons,  sent  off" some  soldiers  to  murder  them  with- 
out delay.  Four  were  met  and  slain  at  once,  but  the  tumult 
made  by  the  soldiers  in  searching  after  the  others  filled  the  city 
with  such  alarm  thatthe  consul  Pedius  was  obliged  to  run  about 
the  streets  all  night  to  quiet  the  people.  In  the  morning  he  pub- 
lished the  names  of  the  seventeen,  and  he  died  the  next  day  in 
consequence  of  his  great  exertions  and  uneasiness  of  mind.  A 
few  days  after,  the  triumvirs  arrived,  and  having  had  a  law 
proposed  by  one  of  the  tribunes  for  investing  them  with  their 
new  office,  entered  on  it  on  the  27th  of  November.  They  im- 
mediately published  their  proscription-list,  and  the  scenes  of 
Sulla's  days  were  renewed  in  all  their  horrors,  and  the  vices 
and  virtues  of  human  nature  had  again  full  room  for  display. 
"  The  fidelity  of  the  wives  of  the  proscribed,"  says  a  historian  §, 

*  Appian  (iv.  3.)  enumerates  Capua,  Rhegium,  Venusia,  Beneventum, 
Nuceria,  Ariminum,  and  Hipponium. 

+   Appian,  iv.  5.     Livy  says  130,  Floras  140  senators. 

J  Suet.  Oct.  62. 

§  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  67.  "  So  hard,"  he  adds  with  respect  to  the  sons,  "  is  the 
delay  of  a  hope  anyhow  conceived."  The  assertion  in  the  text  must  how- 
ever be  taken  with  limitations,  as  appears  from  Appian's  narrative  of  the 
proscription,  iv.  17  seq.  See  the  Elementary  History  of  Home,  p.  236  et  seq. 


B.C.  43.]  DEATH  OF  CICERO.  459 

"  was  exemplar}',  that  of  the  freed  men  middling,  slaves  showed 
some,  sons  none  at  all." 

M.  Cicero,  his  brother,  and  his  nephew  were  among  the  first 
sought  out.     Cicero,  who  in  reliance  on  Caesar  had  feared  no 
danger,  was  at  his  Tusculan  villa  when  he  heard  that  his  name 
was  in  the  fatal  list.     He  set  out  with  his  brother  and  nephew 
for  his  villa  at  Astura,  which  was  on  the  coast  near  Antium, 
intending  to  make  their  escape  by  sea ;  but  Q.  Cicero  having 
no  money  returned  to  Rome  with  his  son,  thinking  he  could 
remain  concealed  there  till  he  had  procured  wl::.t  he  wanted; 
they  were  however  betrayed  by  their  slaves,  and  both  put  to 
death.     M.  Cicero  got  on  board  a  vessel  at  Astura,  and  sailed 
as  far  as  Circeii,  where  he  landed.     He  was  perplexed  how 
to  act,  and  whether  he  should  go  to  Brutus,  Cassius,  or  Pom- 
peius ;  at  times  he  did  not  wholly  despair  of  Csesar,  at  other 
times  he  thought  of  returning  secretly  to  Rome,  and  entering 
Csesar's  house  to  kill  himself  on  his  hearth,  and  thus  draw  on 
him  the  vengeance  of  Heaven ;  death  in  fine  he  now  regarded  as 
his  only  refuge*  :  he  however  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  his 
slaves,  and  let  them  convey  him  by  sea  to  his  villa  at  Caieta  ; 
but  he  would  go  no  further,  declaring  that  he  would  die  in  the 
country  he  so  often  had  savedf.     He  went  to  bed  and  slept 
soundly,  though  a  flock  of  crows,  we  are  told,  as  if  to  warn 
him  of  his  impending  fate,  made  a  continual  noise  fluttering 
and  crying  about  the  house.     His  slaves,  apprehending  dan- 
ger, made  him  get  up,  and  placing  him  in  a  litter  carried  him 
through  the  woods  toward  the  sea.  The  soldiers  soon  arrived 
at  the  villa,  and  finding  him  gone,  set  out  in  pursuit  of  him. 
When  they  came  up  his  slaves  prepared  to  fight  in  his  defence, 
but  he  forbade  them,  and  stretching  his  neck  out  of  the  litter, 
and  regarding  the  soldiers  with  an  air  of  resolution  which  al- 
most daunted  them,  bade  them  do  their  ofiice  and  take  what 
they  wanted.    They  struck  off  his  head  and  hands,  and  C.  Po- 
pillius  Lsenas  the  tribune,  Avho  commanded  the  party,  a  man 
whom  Cicero  had  formerly  defended  on  a  capital  charge,  took 
them  and  carried  them  to  Antonius,  The  triumvir  was  sitting 
in  the  Forum  when  he  arrived  ;  Lsenas  held  up  the  bloody 
spoils  when  he  came  in  sight,  and  he  forthwith  received  the 
honour  of  a  crown  and  a  larare  sum  of  monev.  The  head  and 
hands  were  placed  on  the  Rostra,  where  the  sight  of  them 
drew  tears  from  many  an  eye,  and  awoke  many  a  sigh  in  the 

*  Seneca,  Suasor.  6.  f  Liv.  in  Senec.  Suasor.  7. 

x2 


460  CHARACTER  OF  CICERO.  [b.C.  43. 

bosoms  of  those  who  called  to  mind  the  eloquence  v/ith  which 
he  had  so  often  from  that  place  defended  the  laws  and  liber- 
ties of  his  countrj\ 

Such  was  the  end,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  of  the 
greatest  orator,  the  most  accomplished  writer  that  Rome  ever 
possessed.  In  his  private  character  Cicero  was  every  way 
amiable,  and  a  just  and  benevolent  spirit  pervades  all  his 
writings;  as  a  magistrate,  whether  at  Rome  or  in  the  provinces, 
few  were  so  upright  or  incorruptible  ;  it  is  only  his  political 
character  that  is  stained  with  blemishes.  His  vanity  was  in- 
satiable, and  any  one  who  would  minister  to  it  could  wield  him 
at  his  pleasure ;  he  had  a  cowardly  dread  of  the  ills  of  life,  and 
lost  all  sense  of  dignity  in  his  anxiety  to  escape  them.  He 
wanted  that  firmness,  that  fixedness  of  purpose,  without  which 
no  statesman  can  be  great;  he  was  ever  vacillating,  and  to  gra- 
tify his  ambition,  which  was  inordinate,  he  could  evenbe  base*. 
Though  Ceesar  had  caused  his  banishment,  besought  and  ob- 
tained favours  from  him  ;  he  flattered  him  when  in  power,  and 
yet  he  exulted  at  and  applauded  his  assassination.  Cicero's 
patriotism  had  not  the  moral  purity  of  that  of  Demosthenes  : 
we  could  believe  that  the  latter,  provided  he  saw  Athens  great 
and  flourishing,  would  have  been  content  to  have  been  one 
of  her  humblest  citizens  ;  to  Cicero  the  republic  was  nothing  if 
he  was  not  the  leading  man  in  it,  its  animating  spirit.  To  speak 
thus  hardly  of  so  great,  so  generally  excellent  a  man,  is  pain- 
ful to  us,  but  our  regard  for  truth  will  not  allow  us  to  join  in 
the  unqualified  eulogies  which  have  been  lavished  on  his  me- 
moryt. 

Numbers  of  the  proscribed  made  their  escape  to  Pompeius 
or  to  Brutus.  Even  Antonius  showed  some  mercy  ;  when  Ci- 
cero's head  was  brought  to  him,  he  declared  the  proscription 
on  his  part  at  an  end  ;  he  let  his  uncle  escape,  and  he  erased 
from  tlie  list  the  names  of  the  learned  Varro,  and  of  Cicero's 
friend  T.  Pomponius  Atticus,  and  some  others  ;  we  are  how- 
ever assured  that  he  and  his  spouse  Fulvia  set  in  general  but 
little  bounds  to  their  appetite  for  blood  and  plunder.  Lepi- 
dus  saved  his  brother.  Cffisar,  whom,  as  having  few  personal 

*  One  could  hardly  believe,  had  we  not  his  own  words  for  it  (Ad  Att. 
i.  2.),  that  he  had  thoughts  of  defending  Catiiina,  though  he  knew  his  cha- 
racter, and  that  his  guilt  was  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  noonday,  in  the  hopes  of 
that  villain's  joining  forces  with  him  in  their  joint  suit  for  the  consulate. 

f  At  the  same  time  we  are  very  far  from  partaking  in  the  malignity  and 
injustice  toward  him  evinced  by  Hooke  and  Professor  Druraann. 


B.C.  4-3. ]  ACTS  OF  THE  TRIUMVIRS.  461 

enemies  we  should  have  expected  to  have  been  the  most  mo- 
derate, is  said  to  have  acted  with  more  cruelty  than  his  col- 
leagues ;  but  if  such  was  really  the  case,  he  was  not  actuated  by 
revenge  or  the  love  of  rapine,  but  must  have  gone  on  the  cool 
deliberate  principle  of  exterminating  the  aristocracy,  and  thus 
making  room  for  his  own  power.  When  at  the  end  of  the  pro- 
scription Lepidus  made  in  the  senate  a  sort  of  apology  for  it, 
and  held  forth  hopes  of  clemency  in  future,  Cgesar  we  are  told 
declared  that  he  would  not  bind  himself,  but  would  still  re- 
serve the  power  of  proscribing*. 

The  triumvirs  having  satiated  their  vengeance  next  thought 
of  raising  money  for  the  war.  They  had  recourse  to  all  modes 
of  extortion  ;  they  seized  the  treasures  in  the  charge  of  the 
Vestals  ;  they  laid  a  heavy  tax  on  four  hundred  women  of  for- 
tune, and  then  on  all  the  citizens  who  had  above  a  certain 
property.  They  appointed  the  magistrates  for  several  years  to 
come ;  and  having  made  Lepidus  and  Plancus  consuls,  Csesar 
and  Antonius  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  their  army  and 
crossed  over  to  Epirus. 

We  must  now  follow  Brutus  and  Cassius.  After  their  de- 
parture from  Italy  they  went  first  to  Athens,  where  they  were 
received  with  great  honours,  and  the  vain-glorious  people  de- 
creed them  statues  to  stand  beside  those  of  Harmodius  and 
Aristosfiton,  the  fancied  founders  of  Athenian  freedom.  Bru- 
tus  collected  all  the  troops  he  couldf  ;  P.  Vatinius  opened  the 
gates  of  Dyrrhachium,  and  gave  him  up  three  legions  which 
he  commanded  ;  Q.  Hortensius,  the  proprietor  of  Macedonia, 
delivered  it  up  to  him,  and  when  C.  Antonius,  whom  his  bro- 
ther had  appointed  to  it,  came  out,  he  was  defeated  and  made 
a  prisoner  ;  and  Brutus  thus  remained  master  of  Greece,  Ma- 
cedonia, and  Illyricum. 

Cassius  had  proceeded  to  Syria.  As  Dolabella,  for  whom 
his  colleague  Antonius  had  obtained  that  government,  had  on 
his  way  through  Asia  treacherously  seized  and  put  to  death 
with  torture  the  governor  of  that  province,  Trebonius,  one 
of  the  conspirators,  the  senate  had  declared  him  a  public 
enemy;  but  while  they  were  deliberatingwhom  to  send  against 
him,  Cassius  arrived  in  Syria,  where  all  the  troops  declared 
for  him  ;  and  Dolabella  being  besieged  in  Laodicea  put  an  end 
to  himself.    Being  now  at  the  head  of  ten  legions  Cassius  was 

*  Siieton.  Oct.  27. 

f  Cicero's  son  and  the  poet  Horace,  who  were  studying  at  Athens,  took 
arms  on  this  occasion  and  received  commands  from  Brutus. 


462  BATTLE  OF  PHILIPPI.  [b.C.  42. 

preparing  to  invade  Egypt,  when  he  was  summoned  by  Brutus 
to  come  to  his  aid  against  Antonius  and  Csesar  (710).  They 
met  at  Smyrna,  and  Cassius  being  of  opinion  that  they  should 
first  reduce  the  Rhodians  and  Lycians,  who  had  refused  to  j^ay 
contributions,  he  himself  attacked  and  plundered  the  former, 
while  Brutus  turned  his  arms  against  the  latter.  Having  le- 
vied contributions  in  all  quarters,  they  met  at  Sardes,  and  then 
crossed  over  to  the  Chersonese*.  As  P.  Decidius  Saxa  and 
C.  Junius  Norbanus,  whom  the  triumvirs  had  sent  forward 
with  eight  legions,  occupied  the  pass  leading  into  Macedonia, 
Brutus  and  Cassius  sent  a  detachment,  under  the  guidance  of  a 
Thracian  prince,  by  a  circuitous  route  through  the  mountains; 
at  the  sight  of  which  the  triumvirs'  legates  fell  back  to  Am- 
phipolis,  and  the  republican  generals  then  came  and  encamped 
on  an  eminence  near  the  town  of  Philippi. 

Antonius,  who  Avas  an  active  general  when  he  chose  to  rouse 
himself,  made  all  haste  to  save  his  legates,  and  on  his  arrival 
lie  encamped  within  a  mile  of  the  enemy.  He  was  joined  in  a 
few  days  by  Caesar,  and  their  united  force  was  nineteen  legions 
and  thirteen  thousand  horse ;  the  other  army  had  the  same 
number  of  legions  and  twenty  thousand  horse  ;  Antonius,  as 
his  army  being  excluded  from  the  sea  was  in  want  of  provi- 
sions, sought  to  bring  on  an  action,  which  Cassius,  aware  of 
his  motive,  steadily  refused.  At  length,  however,  the  impa- 
tience of  his  troops,  or,  as  some  say,  of  his  officers  and  his  col- 
league, or,  according  to  the  m.ore  probable  account,  the  able 
manoeuvres  of  Antonius,  obliged  him  to  give  battle.  As  Cae- 
sar was  unwell,  Antonius  had  the  sole  command  of  the  other 
army,  and  he  defeated  the  troops  of  Cassius  which  were  op- 
posed to  him  and  took  their  camp  ;  but  on  the  other  side  Caa- 
sar's  troops  were  routed  by  those  of  Brutus,  and  their  camp 
was  taken.  Cassius  having  made  some  fruitless  efforts  to  rally 
his  men  retired  to  an  eminence,  and  seeing  a  body  of  horse 
coming  toward  him  he  sent  one  of  his  friends,  named  Titi- 
nius,  to  learn  who  thej^  were.  As  they  were  part  of  Brutus' 
troops  they  received  Titinius  joyfully,  and  taking  him  among 

*  It  is  said  that  at  this  time,  as  Brutus  was  sitting  up  late  one  iiiglit 
reading  in  his  tent,  lie  beheld  a  strange  and  terrific  figure  standing  by  him. 
He  asked  who  he  was,  and  why  he  was  come  ;  the  phantom  replied,  "  I  am 
thy  evil  genius  ;  thou  wilt  see  me  at  Philippi !  "  "I  shall  see  thee  then," 
said  Brutus,  and  the  figure  vanished.  This  may  be  a  fiction,  but  it  is  such 
a  trick  as  fancy  might  have  played.  Valerius  Maximus  (i.  7,  7.)  tells  a  si- 
milar story  of  Cassius  Parmensis,  another  of  the  conspirators  against  the  late 
dictator. 


B.C.  42.]  DEATH  OF  CASSIUS  AND  BRUTUS.  463 

them  still  advanced.  Cassius,  whose  sight  was  imperfect,  be- 
came convinced  that  they  were  enemies,  and  crying  out  that 
he  had  caused  the  capture  of  his  friend,  withdrew  into  a  lonely- 
hut  and  made  a  faithful  freedraan  strike  off  his  head.  Titi- 
nius  slew  himself  when  he  heard  of  his  death,  and  Brutus  on 
coming  to  the  place  wept  over  him,  calling  him  the  last  of  the 
Romans :  lest  his  funeral  should  dispirit  the  soldiers,  he  sent 
his  body  over  to  the  adjacent  isle  of  Thasos.  He  then  assem- 
bled and  encouraged  his  troops,  promising  them  a  donation 
of  2000  drachmas  a  man. 

The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  republicans  had  been  eight  thou- 
sand men,  while  that  of  the  triumvirs  was  double  the  number ; 
yet  Antonius,  as  his  troops  lay  in  a  wet  marshy  situation  and 
were  suffering  from  want  of  supplies,  still  offered  battle,  w'hich. 
Brutus,  whose  camp  was  well-supplied,  prudently  declined:  his 
fleet  had  also  defeated  that  of  the  triumvirs,  but  of  this  he  was 
ignorant.  At  length,  urged  by  the  impatience  of  his  soldiers 
and  fearing  the  effect  of  dissensions  between  his  own  men  and 
those  of  Cassius,  he  led  them  out  after  a  delay  of  twenty  days, 
promising  them  the  plunder  of  two  cities  if  they  were  victo- 
rious*. Both  sides  fought  with  desperation,  but  victory  finally 
declared  for  the  triumvirs.  Brutus,  having  crossed  a  stream 
that  run  through  a  glen,  retired  for  the  night  to  the  shelter  of 
a  rock  with  a  few  of  his  friends,  and  looking  up  at  the  sky, 
now  full  of  stai's,  he  repeated  two  Greek  verses,  one  of  which, 
from  the  Medea  of  Euripides,  ran  thusf  ; 

Zeus !  may  the  cause  of  all  these  ills  escape  thee  not ! 

He  passed  the  night  in  enumerating  and  mourning  over  those 
who  had  fallen.  Toward  morning  he  whispered  his  servant 
Clitus,  who  wept  and  was  silent;  he  then  drew  his  shield- 
bearer  aside  ;  he  finally  besought  his  friend  Volumnius  to  hold 
his  sword  for  him  to  fall  on  it.    Being  refused  by  all,  he  con- 

*  Lacedamon  and  Thessalonica.  Plut.  Brut.  46.  Appian  (iv.  IIS.)  men- 
tions this  fact  doubtingly,  doKeT  Se  Tiai. 

•f  Zev,  fiT}  \aQoL  ae  riovS'  os  aiTios  kukojv. 
Dion  (xlvii.  49.)  and  Floras  (iv.  7.)  say  that  he  repeated  these  verses  from 
the  Hercules  of  the  same  poet : 

'^Q  t\7}ixop  cipeT}),  \6yos  dp'  fjcrO'"   eyw  Se  ere 

'Qs  epyov  yaKovv'  av  c   dp'  edovXeves  ti'X'J- 
"  O  wretched  virtue,  a  mere  word  thou  art,  but  I 

Practised  thee  as  a  real  thing,  while  thou  wert  nought 

But  Fortune's  slave." 


464<  END  OF  THE  WAR.  [b.C.  42. 

tinued  to  discourse  with  them  some  time  longer,  and  then  re- 
tired with  his  friend  Strato  and  one  or  two  others  to  a  little 
distance  ;  he  there  threw  himself  on  his  sword,  which  Strato 
held  for  him,  and  expired.  Antonius,  when  he  came  to  where 
the  body  of  Brutus  lay,  cast  a  purple  robe  over  it,  and  he  sent 
his  remains  to  his  mother  Servilia*. 

All  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  death  of  Caesar  followed 
the  example  of  Brutus  ;  M.  Valerius  Messala  and  L.  Bibulus 
and  some  other  men  of  rank  passed  over  to  the  isle  of  Thasos, 
where  the  military  chest  and  magazines  of  Brutus  and  Cassius 
were ;  these  they  delivered  up,  and  made  terms  for  themselves 
Avith  the  conquerors,  whose  service  the  troops  all  entei'ed. 
The  victorious  generals  spent  some  days  in  glutting  their  ven- 
geance and  extirpating  the  friends  of  independence ;  and  we 
are  assured  that  the  cool  calculating  Caesar  far  surpassed  the 
brutal  Antonius  in  cruelty  and  insolencef.  They  then  made 
a  new  division  of  the  empire,  and  having  completed  their  ar- 
rangements, Antonius  proceeded  to  levy  money  in  the  East 
for  the  soldiers'  rewards,  while  Caesar  undertook  to  put  them 
in  possession  of  the  lands  promised  them  in  Italy. 

Antonius  went  first  to  Greece,  and  spent  some  time  at 
Athens, where  he  amused  himself  withattending  the  games  and 
the  disputes  of  the  philosophers,  and  having  himself  initiated  in 

*  It  was  said  (Val.  Max.  iv.  6,  5.)  that  Brutus'  wife  Poicia,  when  she 
heard  of  his  death,  put  an  end  to  herself  by  swallowing  burning  coals, — a 
thing  phj'sically  impossible.  She  might  however  have  smothered  herself 
by  inhaling  the  fumes  of  charcoal  ;  but  see  Plut.  Brut.  53. 

As  the  charge  of  avarice  is  the  greatest  stain  that  has  been  fixed  on  the 
character  of  Brutus,  we  will  here  relate  the  case  which  has  given  occasion 
to  it.  When  Cicero  was  going  out  as  governor  of  Cilicia,  Brutus  strongly 
recommended  to  him  two  persons  named  Scaptius  and  Matinius,  to  whom 
the  people  of  Salamis  in  Cyprus  owed  a  large  sum  of  money.  Cicero's  pre- 
decessor, Ap.  Claudius,  who  was  Brutus'  father-in-law,  had  given  Scaptius 
a  prefecture  in  Cyprus  which  Brutus  wished  Cicero  to  continue  him  in  ;  but 
Cicero,  who  had  laid  it  down  as  a  rule  not  to  grant  these  commands  to  tra- 
ders and  usurers,  refused  ;  particularly  as  he  knew  that  Scaptius  had  shut 
up  the  senate  of  Salamis  in  their  house  till  five  of  them  died  of  hunger. 
Moreover  Scaptius  demanded  48  per  cent.,  and  Cicero  in  his  edict  had  de- 
clared that  he  would  allow  of  no  more  than  12  per  cent,  on  any  bonds. 
Brutus  and  Atticus  both  wrote  repeatedly  to  Cicero  about  it,  and  the  former 
at  length  confessed  thal/(e  was  the  real  creditor  and  the  others  were  but  his 
agents.  To  Cicero's  honour,  he  stood  firm,  and  would  not  permit  such  rob- 
bery and  oppression  when  he  could  prevent  it.  This  affair  is  but  one  proof 
among  many  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Roman  nobles  oppressed  the  pro- 
vincials. 

t  Suet.  Oclav.  13. 


B.C.  41.]  ANTONIUS  AND  CLEOPATRA.  4:65 

the  Mysteries.  He  behaved  with  great  mildness  and  was  very- 
liberal  to  the  city.  Leaving  L.  Censorinus  to  command  in 
Greece,  he  passed  with  his  army  of  eight  legions  and  ten  tlioii- 
sand  horse  over  to  Asia,  where  he  disposed  of  public  and  pri- 
vate property  at  his  will;  kings  waited  humbly  at  his  doors, 
queens  and  princesses  vied  in  offering  him  their  wealth  and 
their  charms.  He  exacted  from  the  unfortunate  people  the 
enormous  sum  of  200,000  talents,  most  part  of  which  he  squan- 
dered away  in  luxury.  Meeting  at  Ephesus  several  of  the 
friends  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  he  granted  their  lives  to  all  but 
two  ;  he  acted  also  with  great  generosity  to  the  towns  which 
had  suffered  for  their  attachment  to  the  Caesarian  cause. 
From  Tarsus  in  Cilicia  he  sent  to  summon  Cleopatra  (who  ha- 
ving murdered  her  young  brother  was  now  sole  sovereign  of 
Egypt)  to  justify  herself  for  not  having  been  more  active  in 
the  cause  of  the  triumvirs.  She  came,  relying  on  her  charm?. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Cydnus  she  entered  a  barge,  whose  poop 
was  adorned  with  gold  and  whose  sails  were  of  purple  ;  the 
oars,  set  with  silver,  moved  in  accordance  with  the  sound  of 
flutes  and  lyres.  The  queen  herself,  attired  as  Venus,  lay 
reclined  beneath  the  shade  of  a  gold-embroidered  umbrella, 
fanned  by  boys  resembling  Loves ;  while  her  female  attend- 
ants, habited  as  Nereides  and  Graces,  leaned  against  the 
shrouds  and  sides  of  the  vessel  ;  and  costly  sjjices  and  per- 
fumes, as  they  burned  before  her,  filled  the  surrounding  air 
with  their  fragrance.  All  the  people  of  the  city  crowded  to 
behold  this  novel  sight,  and  Antonius  was  left  sitting  alone  on 
his  tribunal  in  the  market.  He  sent  to  invite  the  fair  queen 
to  supper,  but  she  required  that  he  should  come  and  sup  with 
her.  Antonius  could  not  refuse  ;  the  elegance  and  variety  of 
the  banquet  amazed  him  :  next  day  he  tried,  but  in  vain,  to 
surpass  it.  The  guileful  enchantress  cast  her  spell  over  him 
and  twined  herself  round  his  heart.  Cruel  as  fair,  she  ob- 
tained from  him  an  order  to  drag  her  sister  Arsinoe  from  the 
sanctuary  at  Ephesus,  and  put  her  to  death.  Her  general 
Serapion,  and  an  impostor  who  personated  her  elder  brother, 
were  likewise  torn  from  sanctuaries  and  given  up  to  her  ven- 
geance, and  she  then  set  out  on  her  return  to  Egypt.  Anto- 
nius, unable  to  live  without  her,  gave  up  all  his  previous 
thoughts  of  war  on  the  Parthians,  and  putting  his  troops  into 
winter-quarters,  hastened  to  follow  her,  and  abandoned  him- 
self wholly  to  luxury  and  enjoyment  in  her  society. 

Meantime  Csesar  came  to  Rome  (71 1),  and  set  about  giving 

x5 


466  Cesar's  DISTRIBUTION  OF  LANDS.  I^B.C.'il. 

his  soldiers  their  promised  rewards ;  a  task  of  no  small  diffi- 
culty and  danger,  for  they  demanded  the  towns  which  had 
been  fixed  on  before  the  war,  while  the  people  of  these  towns 
required  that  the  loss  should  be  shared  by  all  Italy,  and  that 
those  who  were  deprived  of  their  lands  should  be  paid  for  them. 
Young  and  old,  men,  women  and  children,  they  repaired  to 
Rome ;  they  filled  the  Forum  and  temples  with  their  lamen- 
tations, and  the  people  there  sympathised  with  their  grief  and 
mourned  their  wrongs*.  Caesar,  however,  urging  the  tyrant's 
plea  of  necessity,  went  on  distributing  lands  to  his  soldiery ; 
and  he  even  borrowed  money  from  the  temples  to  divide  among 
them  for  the  purchase  of  stock  and  farming  implements.  This 
gained  him  additional  favour  with  them,  which  was  increased 
by  the  cries  and  reproaches  of  those  whom  he  was  robbing  of 
their  properties  for  their  advantage.  Like  every  army  of  the 
kind,  they  knew  their  power  over  their  chief,  and  exercised  it 
with  insolence,  as  the  following  instances  will  show.  One  day, 
when  Csesar  was  present  at  the  theatre,  a  common  soldier  went 
and  took  his  seat  among  the  knights;  the  people  murmured, 
and  Csesar  ordered  him  to  be  removed.  The  soldiers  took  of- 
fence at  this,  and  surrounding  him  as  he  was  going  out  of  the 
theatre  demanded  their  comrade's  release  :  they  were  obeyed  ; 
he  came ;  but  when  he  assured  them  that  he  had  not  been  in 
prison  as  they  supposed,  they  reviled  him  as  a  liar  and  a  traitor 
to  the  common  cause.  Again,  Csesar  summoned  them  to  the 
Field  of  Mars  for  a  division  of  lands.  In  their  eagerness  they 
came  before  it  was  day,  and  finding  that  he  delayed,  they  be- 
gan to  o-row  angr5^  A  centurion  named  Nonius  reminded 
them  of  their  duty  to  their  general ;  they  laughed  and  jeered  at 
him,  but  gradually  they  grew  warm  and  abused  and  pelted  him  ; 
he  jumped  into  the  river  to  escape,  but  they  dragged  him  out 
and  killed  him :  they  then  laid  the  body  where  Csesar  was  to 
pass.  When  he  came  he  took  but  little  notice  of  it,  aflfecting 
to  regard  the  crime  as  the  deed  of  a  few,  and  merely  advised 
them  to  be  more  sparing  of  one  another  in  future ;  he  then 
proceeded  to  distribute  the  lands ;  to  which  he  added  gifts  to 
both  the  deserving  and  the  undeserving.  The  soldiers  were 
touched ;  they  bade  him  to  search  out  and  punish  the  mur- 
derers. He  said,  "  I  know  them,  but  I  will  leave  their  pu- 
iiishment  to  their  own  consciences  and.  to  your  disapprobation." 
A  shout  of  joy  was  raised  at  these  words.    How  different  from 

*  See  the  first  and  ninth  of  Virgil's  eclogues  for  afiFecting  pictures  of  the 
evils  of  these  confiscations  ;  see  also  Horace,  Sat.  ii.  2,  suhfin. 


B.C.  40.]  PERUSIAN  WAR.  467 

the  conduct  of  the  old  dictators  and  consuls,  and  their  armies, 
when  Rome  had  a  constitution  and  freedom,  and  her  troops 
served  from  duty  and  not  for  plunder,  like  these  hordes  of 
bandits  who  raised  their  leaders  to  empire  over  their  fellow- 
citizens  I 

Caesai''s  situation  was  at  this  time  rather  precarious.  Sex. 
Pompeius  was  powerful  at  sea,  Cn.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus* 
was  also  at  the  head  of  a  large  fleet  in  the  Adriatic,  and  they 
cut  off  the  supplies  of  corn  from  Italj^,  where  tillage  was  now 
neglected  and  discontent  was  general ;  for  the  soldiers,  not  sa- 
tisfied with  what  had  been  given  them,  seized  on  such  pieces 
of  land  as  took  their  fancy,  and  Ctesar  did  not  dare  to  check 
them.  Antonius'  wife  Fulvia,  and  his  brother  Lucius,  who 
was  now  consul,  resolved  to  take  advantage  of  this  state  of 
things.  They  promised  to  protect  those  who  had  been  deprived 
of  their  lands,  and  declared  that  the  properties  of  theproscribed 
and  the  money  raised  by  Antonius  in  Asia  were  quite  sufficient 
for  paying  tlie  soldiers  w!:at  had  been  promised  them  ;  and 
they  gave  out  that  Antonius  was  willing  to  lay  down  his  power 
and  restore  the  constitution.  They  required  Csesar  at  any  rate 
to  be  content  with  providing  for  his  own  legions,  and  to  leave 
those  of  Antonius  to  them  ;  but  Caesar,  whose  object  was  to 
attach  the  soldiery  to  himself,  declined  this,  alleging  his  agree- 
ment with  Antonius ;  aware  however  of  the  affection  of  the 
army  for  Antonius,  and  of  the  present  enmity  of  the  people  of 
Italy  to  himself,  he  agreed  to  the  terms  which  a  congress  of 
the  officers  of  Antonius'  party  proposed  for  ending  the  differ- 
ences. He  did  not  however  execute  them,  and  L.  Antonius 
and  Fulvia,  affecting  to  fear  for  their  lives,  retired  to  Prse- 
neste,  and  sent  to  inform  M.  Antonius  of  the  state  of  affairs. 
After  another  vain  attempt  at  reconciliation  both  sides  began 
to  prepare  for  war. 

The  good  wishes,  and  in  some  cases  the  means  and  arms  of 
the  people  of  Italy,  were  with  L.  Antonius  ;  the  remains  of  the 
Pompeian  and  republican  parties  joined  him  in  the  hope  of 
restoring  the  republic,  and  his  brother's  legions  and  colonies 
supported  him  ;  but  most  of  the  veterans  regarding  Caesar's 
cause  as  their  own  were  zealous  in  his  favour.  Antonius' 
generals,  PoUio,  Ventidius,  and  Plancus,  do  not  seem  to  have 
exerted  themselves  as  much  as  they  might,  and  L.  Antonius 
being  obliged  to  throw  himself  into  the  town  of  Perusia  was 
there  besieged  by  Caesar.  After  a  gallant  defence  famine 
*  Son  of  Domitius  who  was  slain  at  Pharsalia. 


468  RETURN  OF  ANTONIUS.  [b.C.  40. 

compelled  him  to  surrender  (712).  Caesar  granted  him  and 
his  soldiers  favourable  terms,  but  for  the  Roman  senators  and 
knights,  the  remnant  of  the  Pompeian  or  republican  party  who 
were  in  it,  he  had  no  mercy.  "  Thou  must  die,"  was  his  la- 
conic ruthless  reply  to  every  one  who  sued  for  mercy  or  sought 
to  excuse  himself.  Nay,  it  is  even  said*,  but  with  manifest 
untruth,  that  he  reserved  three  hundred  captives  of  rank  to 
sacrifice  to  the  manes  of  the  dictator  on  the  following  ides  of 
March.  The  town  of  Perusia  was  destined  to  be  plundered, 
but  one  of  its  citizens  having  set  fire  to  his  house  the  whole 
city  was  consumed. 

This  last  effort  of  the  republican  party  crushed  their  hopes 
for  ever,  and  it  threw  several  more  properties  for  confiscation 
into  Caesar's  hands ;  some  indeed  were  of  opinion  that  it  was 
with  a  view  to  this  that  he  had  kindled  the  warf .  Several 
persons,  among  whom  was  Julia  the  mother  of  the  Antonii, 
sought  refuge  Mith  Sex.  Pompeius.  Fulviawith  her  children 
and  Plancus  fled  to  Greece. 

M.  Antonius  was  preparing  to  march  against  the  Parthians, 
who  had  invaded  Syria  and  taken  and  plundered  Jerusalem, 
when  he  heard  of  the  late  events  in  Italy.  He  forthwith 
assembled  two  hundred  ships  and  a  large  army  and  sailed  to 
Athens,  where  he  met  Fulvia,  whom  he  blamed  much  for  her 
recent  conduct ;  and  leaving  her  sick  at  Sicyon,  where  she 
died  soon  after,  he  proceeded  toward  Italy.  Domitius  joined 
him  with  his  fleet,  and  Sex.  Pompeius  (though  Caesar,  in  the 
hopes  of  gaining  him  to  his  side,  had  lately  married  Scribonia, 
the  sister  of  his  father-in-law  Libo,  a  woman  many  years  older 
than  himself+),  preferring  an  alliance  with  Antonius  sent,  his 
mother  Julia  to  him,  and  a  kind  of  treaty  was  concluded  be- 
tween them.  When  Antonius  appeared  before  Brundisium 
he  was  refused  admittance  ;  he  then  blockaded  the  port,  and 
sent  calling  on  Pompeius  to  invade  Italj\  Caesar  came  to  the 
relief  of  lirundisium  ;  but  his  soldiers  were  unwilling  to  fight 
against  Antonius,  and  the  two  armies  sought  to  reconcile  their 
leaders.  Accordingly  C.  Asinius  PoUio  on  the  part  of  An- 
tonius and  C.  Cilnius  Maecenas  on  that  of  Caesar,  with  M. 

*  Siieton.  Octav.  15.     Dion,  xlviii.  14. 

t  Suet,  ut  sup. 

X  Caesar,  on  the  rupture  with  Fulvia,  sent  her  back  her  daughter  Clau- 
dia, liaving  never  consummated  his  marriage.  He  divorced  Scribonia  the 
very  next  year  after  she  had  borne  him  a  daughter,  and  in  714  he  married 
Livia,  whom  he  obtained  from  her  husband  T.  Claudius  Nero. 


B.C.  39.]  TREATY  WITH  SEX.  POMPEIUS.  469 

Cocceius  Nerva  a  common  friend,  met*,  and  having  conferred 
togetlier  settled  the  terms  of  agreement.  All  past  offences 
were  to  be  forgotten  ;  and  Antonius,  who  was  now  a  widower, 
was  to  espouse  Cfesar's  sister  Octavia,  a  lady  of  great  beauty, 
sense,  and  virtue.  A  new  division  of  the  empire  was  also  ar- 
ranged, by  which  Antonius  was  to  have  all  to  the  east  of  the 
Ionian  sea,  Caesar  all  thence  to  the  ocean,  while  Africa  was 
to  be  the  portion  of  Lepidusf- 

Antonius  sent  Ventidius  to  conduct  the  Parthian  war,  while 
he  himself  remained  in  Italy  (713).  The  chief  object  now 
was  to  come  to  some  arrangement  with  Sex.  Pompeius,  who 
was  actually  starving  Rome  by  cutting  off  the  supplies  of  corn. 
Caesar,  who  was  personally  hostile  to  him,  would  not  hear  of 
accommodation  till  one  day  he  was  near  being  stoned  by  the 
famishing  multitude.  This  caused  him  to  give  ear  to  the  sug- 
gestions of  Antonius  and  others,  and  a  communication  was 
opened  with  Pompeius  through  his  father-in-lav/  Libo.  A 
meeting  took  place  between  Pompeius  and  the  triumvirs  at 
Cape  Misenum,  but  as  he  claimed  to  be  admitted  into  Lepidus' 
place  in  the  triumvirate,  nothing  could  be  effected  at  that  time. 
The  increasing  distress  obliged  them  soon  to  have  another 
meeting,  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that  Pompeius  should  pos- 
sess the  islands  and  the  Peloponnese,  be  chosen  augur,  be 
allowed  to  stand  for  the  consulate  in  his  absence,  and  to  dis- 
charge its  duties  by  deputy,  and  be  paid  seventy  million 
sesterces  ;  that  all  who  had  sought  refuge  with  him  out  of  fear 
should  be  restored  to  their  estates  and  rights,  and  all  the  pro- 
scribed (except  the  actual  assassins)  have  liberty  to  return  and 
get  back  a  fourth  of  their  estates.  On  his  part  he  was  to  al- 
low the  sea  to  be  free,  and  to  pay  up  the  arrears  of  corn  due 
from  Sicily.   When  the  peace  was  concluded  the  chiefs  euter- 

*  The  journey  to  Bnindisium,  in  which  Horace  accompanied  Maecenas, 
and  of  which  he  has  left  us  so  agreeable  an  account  (Sat.  i.  5.),  is  said  by 
his  scholiasts  to  have  t:iken  place  on  the  pre.-ent  occasion.  Modern  critics, 
however,  reject  this  as  inconsistent  with  the  date  of  the  poet's  first  introduc- 
tion to  Maecenas.  Some,  therefore,  place  it  in  714,  others  with  more  pro- 
bability in  715,  in  both  of  wliich  years  Antonius  came  to  Brundisium.  The 
hypotliesis  of  the  scholiasts  is  in  fact  quite  inconsistent  with  Appian's  narra- 
tive, and  with  the  words  of  the  poet, 

Aversos  soliti  componere  amicos, 
for  this  was  the  first  quarrel  between  Antonius  and  Csesar. 

f  The  blessings  which  were  to  result  from  this  peace  are,  as  Voss  has 
proved,  the  theme  of  Virgil's  fourth  eclogue.  In  the  following  year  Poilio 
conquered  and  triumphed  for  the  Parthinians,  a  people  of  Dalmatia,  on 
which  occasion  Virgil  dedicated  to  him  his  eighth  eclogue. 


470  PARTHIAN  WAR.  [b.C.  38-37. 

tained  each  other ;  Pompeius  gave  his  dinner  on  board  his 
ship*.  At  the  feast,  it  is  said,  Menas,  one  of  his  officers, 
whispered  him,  saying,  "  Let  me  now  cut  the  cables,  and  you 
are  master  of  Rome."  Pompeius  pondered  a  moment :  "  You 
sliould  have  done  it,"  said  he,  "  without  telling  me ;  I  cannot 
perjure  myself."  Having  been  entertained  in  return  he  set 
sail  for  Sicily,  and  Caesar  and  Antonius  went  back  to  Rome ; 
the  latter  soon  after  set  out  for  Athens,  where  he  spent  the 
rest  of  the  year. 

The  following  year  (Tl'i),  Ventidius,  who  had  been  success- 
ful against  the  Parthians,  defeated  and  killed  theirbrave  young 
prince  Pacorus,  for  Vv'hich  the  Roman  people  accorded  him 
the  honour  of  a  triumphf.  In  this  year  also  the  war  was  re- 
newed between  Caesar  and  Pompeius  ;  and  Menas,  the  admiral 
of  the  latter,  having  deserted  to  Ceesar,  put  him  in  possession 
of  Sardinia  and  Corsica.  Previously  to  commencing  opera- 
tions, Csesar  sent  to  invite  Antonius,  who  was  at  Athens,  to  a 
conference  on  the  subject  of  the  war.  The  triumvir  came 
accordingly  to  Brundisium,  but  not  finding  him  there  he  went 
away  again,  having  written  to  advise  him  to  remain  at  peace 
with  Pompeius.  Of  this  advice  Caesar  took  no  heed  ;  he  as- 
sailed Sicily  with  two  separate  fleets,  but  both  were  destroyed 
by  Pompeius ;  and  Caesar  himself,  m  ho  was  on  board  of  one 
of  them,  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  or  drowned.  The 
remainder  of  this  and  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  year  was 
devoted  by  Csesar  to  the  preparations  against  Pompeius,  and 
a  large  fleet  was  built  under  the  superintendence  of  the  con- 
sul M.  Vipsanius  Agrippa,  a  man  of  humble  birth,  but  of  great 
civil  and  military  talents,  and  wholly  devoted  to  the  service 
of  CaesarJ. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  715,  Antonius  came  with  three 
hundred  ships  to  Brundisium,  under  the  pretext  of  assisting 
Cassar,  but  in  reality  with  other  views.     Being  refused  admit- 

*  Pompeius,  as  he  received  his  guests,  said,  "  In  Carinis  snis  se  ccenam 
dare,"  alluding  to  his  father's  house  on  the  Carina;  at  Rome,  of  which  An- 
tonius was  in  possession.     Veil.  Pat.  ii.  77. 

•f-  Ventidius,  who  was  the  son  of  the  general  of  the  same  name  in  the 
Marsic  war,  had  himself  adorned  as  a  captive  in  the  triumph  of  Pompeius 
Strabo  at  the  end  of  that  war.  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  66.  Val.  Max.  vi.  9,  9.  Cell. 
XV.  4.     Plin.  N.  H.  vii.  44.      Dion,  xliii.  51,  xlix.  21. 

X  At  this  time  the  celebrated  Julian  port  near  Baiffi  was  made,  by  repairing 
the  breaches  in  the  belt  of  land  which  separated  the  Lucrine  lake  from 
the  sea,  and  by  making  a  ship-canal  from  that  lake  to  lake  Avernus.  See 
Virg.Geor.  ii.  161.  Horace,De  Art.  Poet.  63.  Dion,xlviii.  50.  Stiabov.  p.244. 


B.C.  35.]  WAR  WITH  SEX.  POMPEIUS.  471 

tance  he  sailed  to  Tarentum,  whence  Octavia  went  to  her  bro- 
ther, and  by  her  influence  with  his  friends  Agrippa  and  Mge- 
cenas,  prevailed  on  hira  to  agree  to  a  meeting  with  Antonius. 
The  cautious  Ccesar  appointed  a  place  where  the  river  Galae- 
sus  would  be  between  them  ;  but  when  they  came  to  it,  Anto- 
nius, more  brave  or  more  generous,  jumped  into  a  boat  to  cross 
over;  Cajsar  then  did  the  same  ;  they  met  in  the  middle,  and 
then  disputing  which  should  pass  over  Caesar  prevailed,  as  he 
said  he  would  go  to  Tarentum  to  visit  his  sister.  They  soon 
arranged  all  matters  :  they  renewed  their  triumvirate  for  an- 
other period  of  five  years,  without  consulting  Lepidus  or  the 
senate  and  people.  Antonius  lent  Caesar  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ships,  and  received  in  return  twenty  thousand  soldiers 
for  his  Parthian  war,  and  he  then  set  out  for  the  East,  leaving 
Octavia  in  Italy. 

Cassar  having  everything  now  prepared  (716)  resolved  to 
make  three  simultaneous  attacks  on  Sicily ;  Lepidus  was  to 
invade  it  from  Africa,  T.  Statilius  Taurus  with  the  ships  of 
Antonius  from  Tarentum,  Csesar  himself  and  Agrippa  from 
the  Julian  port.  Lepidus  alone  effected  a  landing ;  the  other 
two  fleets  were  shattered  by  a  tempest.  Pompeius,  affecting 
to  view  the  peculiar  favour  of  the  sea-god  in  this  destruction 
of  the  hostile  fleet  by  a  summer-tempest,  sacrificed  to  Neptune 
and  the  Sea  (  Amphitrite),  styled  himself  their  son,  and  changed 
the  colour  of  his  robe  from  purple  to  dark-blue  (caruleus). 
Caesar  on  his  part  declared  that  he  would  conquer  in  spite  of 
Neptune,  and  forbade  the  image  of  that  god  to  be  carried  at 
the  next  Circensian  games*. 

Lepidus  had  with  him  twelve  legions  and  five  thousand  Nu- 
midian  horse  ;  he  sent  orders  to  his  remaining  four  legions  to 
come  and  join  him,  but  they  were  met  on  the  passage  by  Papias, 
one  of  Pompeius'  commanders,  and  two  of  them  destroyed  ; 
the  other  two  found  means  to  join  him  some  time  after.  Caesar's 
fleet  having  passed  over  to  the  Liparaean  isles  sailed  thence 
under  the  command  of  Agrippa  and  engaged  that  of  Pom- 
peius led  by  his  admirals  Papias,  Menecrates,  and  Apollo- 
phanes  off  Mylae.  Caesar's  ships  were  larger,  those  of  Pom- 
peius lighter  and  more  active  ;  the  former  had  the  better  sol- 
diers, the  latter  the  better  sailors,  but  Agrippa  had  invented 
grappling-implements,  somewhat  like  the  old  crows-\.     The 

*  Suet.  Octav.  16. 

\  Appian,  v.  118.  He  names  the  implement  the  lipTraK.  It  is  plainly 
the  same  with  the  harpagon  employed  by  the  Carthaginians  in  the  second 
Punic  war.     See  Liv.  xxx.  10. 


472  WAR  WITH  SEX.  POMPEIUS.  [b.C.  36. 

fight  was  long  and  obstinate ;  at  length  the  Pompeians  fled 
with  the  loss  of  thirty  vessels.  Agrippa  sailed  then  and  made 
an  ineffectual  attempt  on  the  town  of  Tyndaris. 

Caesar  had  gone  to  Taurus'  camp  at  Scylaceum,  intending 
to  pass  over  in  the  night  from  Rhegium  to  Sicily  ;  but  he  took 
courage  when  he  heard  of  Agrippa's  success,  and  having  first 
prudently  ascended  a  lofty  hill  to  assure  himself  that  no 
enemy  was  in  sight,  he  went  on  board  with  what  troops  his 
ships  could  carry,  leaving  the  rest  with  Messala  till  he  could 
send  the  ships  back  for  them.  Being  refused  admittance  into 
Taurorainium  he  sailed  further  on,  and  landing  began  to  en- 
camp, but  suddenly  Pompeius  was  seen  coming  with  a  large 
fleet,  and  bodies  of  horse  and  foot  appeared  on  all  sides.  Had 
Pompeius  now  made  a  general  attack  he  might  have  gained  a 
complete  victory,  but  as  it  was  evening  he  did  not  wish  to 
engage,  and  his  cavalry  alone  assailed  the  enemy.  During  the 
night  the  Ctesarians  fortified  their  camp,  and  Cfssar,  leaving 
the  command  with  L.  Cornificius,  and  desiring  him  to  hold 
out  to  the  last,  embarked  to  return  to  Italy  for  succours;  liis 
vesf-el  being  hotly  pursued  he  was  obliged  to  get  into  a  small 
boat  to  save  himself,  and  he  escaped  with  difficulty.  Pom- 
peius next  day  fell  on  and  destroyed  the  whole  Ceesarian  fleet, 
and  Cornificius  soon  began  to  be  in  want  of  provisions  ;  ha- 
ving vainly  offered  the  enemy  battle  he  resolved  to  abandon  his 
camp  and  march  for  Mylee,  and  though  harassed  by  the  enemy's 
horse  and  light  troops,  and  suffering  from  heat,  thirst,  and 
fatigue  during  five  days,  his  troops  effected  their  retreat. 
Agrippa  had  now  taken  Tyndaris,  whither  Cffisarsoon  trans- 
ported twenty-one  legions,  twenty  thousand  horse  and  five 
thousand  light  troops.  Lepidus  moved  from  Lilyb^um,  and 
their  united  forces  met  before  the  walls  of  Messana.  Pom- 
peius seeing  no  hopes  but  in  a  general  battle  sent  to  propose 
a  combat  of  three  hundred  ships  a-side,  and  Cassar,  jealous  of 
Lepidus,  departed  from  his  usual  caution  and  accepted  the 
challenge.  The  victory  was  complete  on  the  side  of  Ccesar. 
Pompeius'  land-army,  with  the  exception  of  eight  legions  in 
Messana,  surrendered,  and  he  himself  witli  his  seventeen  sole 
remaining  ships  abandoning  Sicily  passed  over  to  Asia,  where 
raising  a  new  war  he  was  taken  and  put  to  death  by  M.  Titius, 
one  of  Antonius'  officers. 

Messana  soon  surrendered,  and  the  whole  island  submitted  ; 
Caesar  then  proceeded  to  deprive  his  colleague  Lepidus  of  his 
office  and  power ;  and  having  ascertained  the  temper  of  his 
officers  and  men,  he  ventured  to  enter  his  camp  with  a  few 


B.C.  36.]  MUTINY  AT  MESS  ANA.  473 

attendants.  Lepidus  being  deserted  by  his  troops  was  forced 
to  assume  the  garb  of  a  suppliant,  and  threw  himself  at  the 
feet  of  Caesar,  who,  never  wantonly  cruel,  and  knowing  how 
powerless  he  would  remain,  raised  him,  granted  him  his  life, 
and  allowed  him  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  days  at  Circeii,  retain- 
ing his  dignity  of  high-priest. 

As  Cffisar  was  preparing  to  return  to  Italy  a  mutiny  broke 
out,  his  troops  demanding  their  discharge  and  rewards  equal 
to  those  of  the  victors  at  Philippi.  He  threatened  and  remon- 
strated in  vain  ;  when  he  promised  crowns  and  purple  robes, 
one  of  the  tribunes  cried  out  that  these  were  only  fit  for 
children,  but  that  soldiers  required  money  and  lands.  The 
soldiers  loudly  applauded  ;  Caesar  left  the  tribunal  in  a  rage  ; 
the  tribune  was  extolled,  but  that  very  night  he  disappeared, 
and  was  heard  of  no  more.  As  the  soldiers  still  continued  to 
clamour  for  their  discharge,  Csesar  dismissed  and  sent  out  of 
the  island  those  who  had  served  at  Mutina  and  Philippi.  He 
then  praised  the  rest,  and  gave  them  500  denars  a  man,  raised 
by  a  tax  on  the  Sicilians.  On  his  return  to  Rome  he  was  re- 
ceived with  every  demonstration  of  joy  by  the  senate  and  peo* 
pie  ;  and  aware  now  of  the  tyranny  which  the  army  would  ex- 
ercise over  him  if  he  continued  to  depend  on  it,  he  sought  to 
gain  the  affections  of  the  people  of  Rome  and  Italy.  It  was 
probably  with  this  view  that  he  purchased  fairly  the  lands 
which  he  required  for  his  veterans.  During  the  two  years 
that  succeeded,  in  order  to  keep  his  troops  in  occupation  he 
carried  on  a  war,  in  which  he  commanded  in  person,  against 
the  tribes  of  Illyria  and  Pannonia. 

While  Csesar  was  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  his  future 
empire,  Antonius  was  wasting  his  troops  and  his  fame  in  an 
inglorious  war  with  the  Parthians,  Under  pretence  of  aiding 
the  king  of  Armenia,  he  entered  that  country  with  an  army  of 
60,000  legionaries,  10,000  horse,  and  S0,000  auxiliary  light 
troops,  and  though  it  was  late  in  tlie  summer,  he  passed  the 
Araxes,  and  leaving  his  artillery  on  the  frontiers  under  the 
guard  of  two  legions,  marched  against  Praaspa,  the  capital  of 
Media  Atropatene.  But  the  kings  of  Parthia  and  Media  cut 
the  two  legions  to  pieces  and  destroyed  the  machines,  and  then 
came  to  the  relief  of  Praaspa,  where  they  so  harassed  the  Ro- 
mans, by  cutting  off  their  supplies,  that  Antonius  was  obliged 
to  commence  a  retreat.  Led  by  a  faithful  guide  he  kept  to  the 
mountains,  followed  closely  by  the  Parthians;  his  troops  suf- 
fered severely  from  famine  and  thirst ;  but  at  length  they 


474    RUPTURE  BETWEEN  C^SAR  AND  ANTONIUS.    [b.C.34-32. 

reached  and  got  over  the  Araxes,  having  in  the  retreat  sus- 
tained a  loss  of  20,000  foot  and  4000  horse.  Impatient  to  re- 
join Cleopatra,  instead  of  wintering  in  Armenia  he  set  out  for 
Syria,  and  in  the  march  thither  he  lost  eight  thousand  more  of 
his  men.  The  queen  came  to  Berytus  to  meet  him,  and  he 
returned  v>  ith  her  to  Alexandria,  where  they  passed  the  winter 
in  feasting  and  revelry. 

In  the  j'^ear  718,  Antonius,  in  alliance  with  a  king  of  the 
Medes,  entered  Armenia,  and  by  treachery  made  its  king  a 
prisoner.  He  defeated  the  Armenians  when  they  took  up 
arms,  and  on  his  return  to  Alexandria  he  triumphed  after  the 
Roman  fashion,- — a  thing  which  gave  the  greatest  possible  of- 
fence to  the  people  of  Rome  when  they  heard  of  it.  On  this 
occasion  he  gave  a  magnificent  entertainment  to  the  people, 
at  which  he  and  Cleopatra  sat  in  public  on  golden  thrones ; 
the  one  attired  as  Osiris*,  the  other  as  Isis ;  he  declared  her 
queen  of  kings,  and  sovei'eign  of  Egypt,  Libya,  Cyprus,  and 
Coele-Syi'ia,  associating  with  her  Caesarion,  her  son  by  Caesar, 
whom  he  styled  king  of  kings,  and  giving  kingdoms  to  the  two 
sons  whom  she  had  borne  to  himself.  The  most  unbounded 
luxury  followed  this  degradation  of  the  majesty  of  Roraef. 

In  the  following  year  (719)  Antonius  returned  to  the  banks 
of  the  Araxes,  where  he  concluded  an  alUance  with  the  king 
of  Pvledia,  to  whose  daughter  he  betrothed  one  of  his  sons  by 
Cleopatra.  When  he  was  setting  out  on  this  second  expedition 
against  the  Parthians,  Octavia  obtained  leave  from  her  brother 
to  go  and  join  him  ;  but  Antonius,  urged  by  Cleopatra,  sent 
word  to  her  to  return  to  Italy.  Cassar,  glad  perhaps  of  the 
pretext  for  war,  laid  before  the  senate  the  whole  of  Antonius* 
conduct  (720),  who  in  revenge  sent  Octavia  a  divorce  ;  and 
after  various  insulting  messages  and  letters  on  both  sides,  An- 
toniusdirected  his  general  P.  Canidius  to  march  sixteen  legions 
to  Ephesus,  whither  he  himself  soon  after  repaired  with  Cleo- 
patra; and  he  was  there  joined  by  the  consuls  Cn.  Doraitius 
and  C.  Sosius,  and  his  other  friends  who  had  come  from  Italy. 
Domitius  urged  him  in  vain  to  send  away  Cleopatra ;  she 
gained  over  Canidius,  and  Antonius  was  unable  to  resist  their 
joint  arguments.  He  and  she  passed  over  to  Saraos,  and  spent 
their  days  in  revelry,  while  the  kings  of  the  East  were  for- 

*  Plutarch  says  Bacchus,  but  the  two  deities  had  been  long  before  iden- 
tified.     See  Mythology  of  Greece  and  Italy,  p.  211,  2nd  edition. 

f  At  one  of  these  banquets  Cleopatra  dissolved  and  drank  a  pearl  of  great 
price.     Pliny,  H.  N.,  ix.  35,  50. 


B.C.  31.]  BATTLE  OF  ACTIUM.  475 

warding  their  troops  and  stores  to  Ephesus.  From  Samos  they 
went  to  Athens,  where  they  passed  some  time. 

Caesar  meantime  was  making  his  preparations  in  Italy,  for 
which  purpose  he  was  obliged  to  lay  on  heavy  taxes.  As  the 
people  were  in  ill  humour  at  this,  he  sought  by  all  means  to 
render  Antonius  odious  and  contemptible  in  their  eyes  ;  and 
Plancus,  v/ho  deserted  to  him  at  this  time,  having  informed 
him  of  the  contents  of  Antonius'  will,  he  forced  the  Vestals,  in 
whose  custody  it  was,  to  give  it  up,  and  then  most  basely  and 
dishonourably  made  it  public.  He  then  caused  a  decree  to 
be  passed  depriving  Antonius  of  the  triumvirate  and  declaring 
war  against  Cleopatra,  affecting  to  believe  that  she,  not  An- 
tonius, was  the  real  leader  of  the  hostile  forces. 

In  the  autumn  Antonius  sailed  to  Corcyra,  but  not  ventu- 
ring to  pass  over  to  Italy,  he  retired  to  the  Peloponnese  for 
the  winter. 

Thenextyear  (7^1)  Antonius  occupied  the  bayof  Ambracia 
with  his  fleet;  that  of  Csesar  lay  at  Brundisium  and  the  ad- 
jacent ports,  whence  Agrippa  sailed  with  a  division  and  took 
the  town  of  Methone  (J/of/on),  and  seized  a  large  convoy. 
Ceesar  then  embarked  his  army,  and  landing  at  the  Ceraunian 
mountains,  marched  and  encamped  on  the  north  side  of  the 
bay  of  Ambracia ;  the  armj^  of  Antonius  was  on  the  south  side ; 
and  they  thus  lay  opposite  each  other  for  some  months.  Mean- 
time Agrippa  took  Patree,  Corinth  and  some  other  towns  ;  and 
Domitius  and  other  leaders  went  over  to  Caesar. 

Antonius'  land  forces  amounted  to  100,000  foot  and  12,000 
horse,  beside  the  auxiliaries  ;  his  fleet  counted  500  ships.  Cas- 
sar  had  80,000  foot,  12,000  horse,  and  250  ships ;  his  troops 
and  sailors  were  both  superior  to  those  of  his  opponent ;  his 
ships,  though  smaller  in  size,  vvcre  better  built  and  better 
manned.  The  great  question  v/ith  Antonius  was,  whether  he 
should  risk  a  land-  or  a  sea-battle.  Canidius  was  for  the  former, 
Cleopatra  for  the  latter,  and  the  queen  of  course  prevailed. 
Antonius  selected  one  hundred  and  seventy  of  his  best  ships, 
which  were  all  that  he  could  fully  man,  and  burned  the  rest ; 
with  these  he  joined  Cleopatra's  sixty  vessels,  and  he  put 
20,000  soldiers  on  board.  On  the  2nd  of  September  he  drew 
up  his  fleet  in  line  of  battle  before  the  mouth  of  the  bay.  Cae- 
sar's fleet,  led  by  Agrippa,  kept  about  a  mile  out  to  sea  ;  the 
two  land-armies,  the  one  from  the  cape  of  Actium,  the  other 
from  the  opposite  point,  stood  as  spectators  of  the  combat. 
Antonius  had  directed  his  officers  to  keep  close  to  shore,  and 


^'^e  FLIGHT  OF  ANTONIUS.  [b.C.  30. 

thus  render  the  agility  of  the  enemy's  vessels  of  no  avail ;  but 
when  about  noon  a  breeze  sprang  up,  his  left  wing,  eager  to 
engage,  began  to  advance.  Caesar  made  his  right  wing  fall 
back,  to  draw  it  on  ;  the  engagement  soon  became  general  and 
both  sides  fought  with  great  courage  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the 
action,  whether  from  fear,  treachery,  or  a  conviction  that  the 
battle  v/ould  be  lost,  Cleopatra,  followed  by  all  her  ships,  turned 
and  fled  for  Egypt;  and  Antonius,  when  he  saw  her  going, 
left  the  battle  and  made  all  speed  to  overtake  her.  The'battle 
still  lasted  till  five  in  the  evening,  when  finding  themselves 
abandoned  by  their  leader,  the  naval  forces  accepted  the  offers 
of  Caesar  and  submitted  to  him.  The  land-army  refused  for 
seven  days  to  listen  to  his  solicitations ;  but  at  length,  being 
deserted  by  Canidius  and  their  other  leaders,  they  yielded  to 
necessity  and  submitted.  Csesar,  having  made  offerings  to 
Apollo  of  Actium,  sent  home  his  veterans  with  Agrippa;  he 
then  proceeded  to  Athens,  and  thence  to  Asia ;  but  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Italy  in  the  middle  of  the  winter,  on  ac- 
count of  the  turbulence  of  the  veterans,  whom  Agrippa  could 
not  keep  in  order. 

When  Antonius  overtook  Cleopatra  hewenton  board  of  her 
ship,  but  during  three  days  he  sat  in  silence,  refusing  to  see 
her.  At  Tjenaron  in  Laconia  her  women  brought  about  a  re- 
conciliation, and  Antonius  having  written  to  Canidius  to  lead 
the  army  to  Asia,  they  sailed  for  Egypt;  they  parted  on  the 
confines  of  Cyrene,  but  when  Antonius  found  that  the  go- 
vernor of  this  province  also  had  declared  for  Caesar,  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  his  friends  were  able  to  keep  him  from  destroy- 
ing himself.  They  brought  him  to  Alexandria,  where  Cleopatra 
was  busily  engaged  in  a  new  project :  she  had  caused  some  of 
her  ships  to  be  hauled  over  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  intending  to 
fly  with  her  tieasures  to  some  unknown  region  ;  but  the  Arabs, 
at  the  instance  of  Q.  Didius,  who  commanded  for  Csesar  in 
Syria,  burned  her  vessels  and  thus  frustrated  her  design.  She 
then  began  to  put  her  kingdom  into  a  state  of  defence.  Never- 
theless she,  Antonius,  and  their  friends,  were  resolved  to  die: 
meantime  they  spent  their  days  in  feasting  and  revelry. 

Cassar,  having  stayed  but  twenty-seven  days  in  Italy,  return- 
ed (722)  to  Asia,  all  whose  kings  submitted  to  him.  An  envoy 
from  Antonius  and  Cleopatra  came  to  him ;  the  latter  resigning 
her  crown,  and  only  asking  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  for  her  chil- 
dren ;  the  former  requesting  to  be  allowed  to  live  as  a  private 
man  at  Athens.    To  Antonius  he  deigned  no  reply  ;  the  queen 


B.C.  30. J  DEATH  OF  ANTONIUS.  477 

was  assured  of  every  favour  if  sliebanished  or  put  him  to  death. 
Meantime  he  himself  advanced  on  the  east  and  seized  Pelusium, 
while  Cn.  Cornelius  Gallus  made  himself  master  of  Peritonium 
on  the  west  of  Egypt.  Antonius  flew  to  oppose  this  last,  but 
was  driven  off  with  loss.  When  Caesar  arrived  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Alexandria,  Antonius  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  troops  and  gave  him  a  check  ;  and  emboldened  by  this  suc- 
cess he  drew  out  his  army  and  his  fleet  on  the  1st  of  August 
for  a  general  engagement.  His  fleet  was  seen  to  advance  in 
good  order  till  it  met  that  of  Csesar  ;  it  then  turned  round,  and 
both  together  took  a  station  before  the  port.  Antonius'  cavalry 
seeing  this  also  went  over  to  Caesar  :  his  infantry  was  then 
forced  to  yield,  and  he  himself  returned  in  a  rage  to  the  town, 
crying  that  Cleopatra  had  ruined  and  betrayed  him. 

The  queen  had  a  little  time  before  had  a  kind  of  sepulchre 
built  near  the  temple  of  Isis,  in  which  she  placed  her  jewels 
and  other  valuables,  and  covered  them  with  combustibles,  with 
the  intention,  as  she  declaimed,  of  burning  them  and  herself  if 
driven  to  desperation.  The  knowledge  of  this  had  caused  Cae- 
sar to  send  her  various  assurances  of  his  respect  and  his  kind 
intentions.  She  now  shut  herself  up  in  the  sepulchre,  and 
caused  a  report  to  be  spread  of  her  death.  This  event  revived 
the  tenderness  of  Antonius ;  he  resolved  not  to  survive  her ;  and 
he  bade  his  faithful  freedman  Eros,  who  had  engaged  by  oatli 
to  kill  him,  to  perform  his  promise.  Imos  drew  his  sword,  but 
plunged  it  into  his  own  body  and  fell  dead  at  his  feet.  Anto- 
nius then  drew  his  own  sword,  and  stabbing  himself  in  the  belly 
threw  himself  on  his  bed,  where  he  lay  writhing,  vainly  calling 
on  his  friends  to  despatch  him.  Meantime  Cleopatra,  having 
heard  what  had  been  done,  sent  to  tell  him  that  she  was  alive, 
and  to  request  that  he  would  let  himsell'  be  carried  to  her  ;  he 
assented,  and  as  she  would  not  have  the  door  of  her  retreat 
opened,  she  and  her  maids  drew  him  up  by  cords  at  a  window. 
She  laid  him  on  her  bed,  and  gave  way  to  the  most  violent 
transports  of  grief;  Antonius  sought  to  console  her,  begged 
of  her  to  save  her  life  if  she  could  with  honour,  and  among 
Caesar's  friends,  recommended  to  her  Proculeius.  He  then  ex- 
pired, in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age. 

The  sword  with  which  Antonius  slew  himself  was  brought 
to  Cassar,  who,  it  is  said,  shed  tears  at  the  sight.  Anxious  to 
secure  Cleopatra  and  her  treasure,  he  sent  Proculeius  to  her, 
but  she  refused  to  admit  him  ;  he  then  returned  to  Caesar,  who 
sent  back  Gallus  with  him  with  new  proposals  ;  and  while 
Gallus  was  talking  to  her  at  the  door,  Proculeius  and  two 


478  DEATH  OF  CLEOPATRA.  [b.C.  30. 

others  got  in  at  the  window  and  made  her  prisoner.     Ceesar, 
when  he  entered  Alexandria,  treated  her  with  the  utmost  re- 
spect ;  and  he  allowed  her  to  solemnise  the  obsequies  of  An- 
tonius,  which  she  performed  with  the  greatest  magnificence. 
Caesar  soon  after  paid  her  a  visit ;  she  received  him  slightly 
arrayed,  with  her  hair  in  disorder ;  her  eyes  were  red  with 
'  weeping,  and  her  voice  faint  and  tremulous.    She  threw  her- 
self at  his  feet ;  he  raised  her,  and  sat  beside  her ;  she  attempt- 
ed to  excuse  her  previous  conduct,  and  seemed  as  if  she  wished 
to  live.     Caesar  made  many  promises  ;  it  was  a  trial  of  skill 
between  two  consummate  actors ;  the  artful  queen  sought  to 
catch  him  in  the  net  of  love  ;  the  cold-blooded  Ceesar  wished 
to  make  her  live  to  grace  his  triumph.     He  left  her,  certain 
that  he  had  succeeded,  but  he  was  deceived.     In  a  few  days 
Cleopatra  learned  that  she  and  her  children  were  to  be  sent  on 
to  Syria  before  him :  she  then  resolved  on  death,  and  having 
obtained  permission  to  visit  the  tomb  of  Antonius,  she  em- 
braced it  and  crowned  it  with  flowers  ;  and  then,  as  if  her 
mourning  was  over,  bathed  and  sat  down  richly  arrayed  to  a 
splendid  banquet.   While  she  was  at  table  a  peasant  came  with 
a  basket  of  fine  figs  ;  the  guards  suspecting  nothing  let  him  in. 
The  queen  took  the  basket,  aware  of  its  contents ;  she  wrote 
a  letter  to  Caesar  requesting  to  be  buried  with  Antonius  ;  and 
then,  retaining  in  the  room  only  her  maids  Charmion  and  Iras, 
applied  to  her  arm  an  asp  which  had  been  concealed  among 
the  pretended  peasant's  figs.     When  those  whom  C^sar  sent 
to  prevent  her  death  arrived,  they  found  her  lying  dead  on  her 
bed,  Iras  also  dead  at  her  feet,  and  Charmion  just  expiring  in 
the  act  of  arranging  the  diadem  on  the  head  of  her  mistress. 
Caesar  gave  Cleopatra  and  her  faithful  maids  a  magnificent 
funeral,  and  buried  her  as  she  wished  by  the  side  of  Antonius. 
To  prevent  any  future  commotions  he  put  to  death  her  son 
Cassarion  ;  her  two  other  sons  adorned  the  triumph,  which  he 
celebrated  on  his  return  to  Rome. 


Though  this  last  period  of  the  republic  was  of  so  unquiet  a 
character,  literature  was  cultivated  with  much  ardour  by  per- 
sons of  rank  and  fortune.  The  language,  the  philosophy,  and 
the  poetry  of  the  Greeks  were  familiar  to  every  Roman  of 
education  ;  a  library  formed  an  essential  part  of  every  respect- 
able house,  and  its  contents  were  chiefly  Greek.  Roman  poetry 
was  still  imitative,  and  the  drama  a  principal  object  of  imita- 


CONCLUSION.  4-79 

tion.  L.  Attius,  the  younger  contemporary  of  Pacuvius,  may 
be  regai'ded  as  the  last  of  that  rough  but  vigorous  race  of  poets 
who  ventured  to  tread  in  the  foot-prints  of  ^Eschylus  and  So- 
phocles. But  the  higher  drama  seems  to  have  been  as  unat- 
tainable to  ancient  as  to  modern  Italy.  Attius'  contemporary 
C.  Lucilius  followed  Ennius  in  writing  satires,  but  he  improved 
and  altered  that  species  of  composition  so  much  that  he  was 
regarded  as  its  inventor  ;  of  these  satires  he  left  several  books, 
all  of  which  have  perished.  In  the  time  of  Cicero,  T.  Lucre- 
tius Carus  put  the  physics  of  Epicurus  into  verse ;  and  in  no 
portion  of  Roman  poetry  is  the  true,  the  born  poet,  more  dis- 
cernible than  in  those  places  where  his  ill-chosen  subject  al- 
lowed him  to  give  free  course  to  his  genius.  C.  Valerius  Ca- 
tullus was  also  a  poet  of  true  genius  ;  grace,  elegance,  ease  and 
feeling  strongly  characterise  many  of  his  extant  poems.  The 
Bucolics  and  Georgics  of  Virgil,  and  the  Satires  and  Epodes 
of  Horace,  also  belong  to  the  literature  of  this  period*. 

It  was  in  this  century  that  most  of  the  Roman  annals  and 
histories  were  writtenf.  C.  Junius,  named  Gracchanus  from 
his  friendship  with  C.  Gracchus,  wrote  a  valuable  history  of  the 
constitution,  which,  though  lost,  is  mediately  the  chief  source 
whence  our  knowledge  of  it  is  derived.  The  only  historian  of 
this  period  of  whose  works  any  perfect  portions  have  reached 
us  is  C.  Sallustius  Crispus.  This  writer  seems  to  have  taken 
Thucydides  as  his  model,  but  he  can  by  no  means  stand  a 
rivalry  with  the  gi-eat  Athenian.  Csesar's  narrative  of  his  own 
wars  is  a  perfect  specimen  of  that  species  of  composition  to 
which  it  belongs.  The  various  writings,  oratorical,  philoso- 
phical, and  didactic,  of  Cicero  are  well  known  and  most  justly 
admired.  Of  the  numerous  works  of  M.  Terentius  Varro,  the 
most  learned  of  the  Romans,  only  a  small  portion  has  been 
preserved. 


In  the  preceding  narrative  we  have  traced  the  history  of 
Rome  from  the  time  when  she  w  as  only  a  village  on  the  Pala- 
tine to  that  when  she  became  the  mistress  of  the  world ;  another 
volume  contains  the  history  of  the  enormous  empire  of  which 
she  now  only  formed  a  part.  In  the  progress  of  Rome  to  do- 
minion it  is  ditficult  not  to  discern  the  hand  of  a  predisposing 

*  Notices  of  these  poets  and  their  works  are  given  in  the  History  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  pp.  17,  18. 

f  See  the  account  of  them  in  the  Appendix. 


480  CONCLUSION. 

cause  :  the  steadiness  and  perseverance  of  the  Roman  charac- 
ter ;  the  preponderance  of  the  aristocratic  element  in  her  con- 
stitution at  the  time  of  her  conflicts  with  her  most  powerful 
rivals;  the  advantage  which  the  unity  produced  by  a  capital, 
as  a  fixed  point,  gave  her  over  the  brave  but  loose  federation 
of  Samniura,  and  her  armies  of  citizens  and  allies  over  the 
mercenaries  in  the  pay  of  Carthage ;  and  the  circumstance  of 
all  other  states  being  in  their  decline  when  she  engaged  them, 
— all  tend  to  show  that  the  empire  of  the  world  was  reserved 
for  Rome.  But  in  the  attainment  of  this  empire  she  was  also 
destined  to  lose  her  own  freedom.  Neglecting  to  enforce  her 
agrarian  laws,  and  not  being  a  commercial  state,  she  possessed 
no  middle  class  of  citizens*,  without  which  there  can  be  no 
permanent  liberty;  the  Hortensian  law  placed  all  political 
power  at  the  disposal  of  the  lower  order  of  the  people ;  the  in- 
cessant foreign  wars  corrupted  the  genuine  Roman  character, 
and  the  constant  influx  and  manumission  of  slaves  further  de- 
based it.  Meantime  the  government  of  provinces,  the  con- 
duct of  wars,  and  the  farming  of  the  public  revenues,  enabled 
some  of  the  nobility  and  the  knights  to  acquire  immense 
wealth,  with  which  tliey  purchased  impunity  for  their  crimes 
and  the  lucrative  and  influential  offices  of  the  state  ;  for  the 
votes  of  electors  without  property  are  almost  always  venal. 
The  consequence  of  this  condition  of  society  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  century  of  turbulence  and  anarchy  ending  in  a  de- 
spotism. Rome  thus,  like  Athens,  stands  as  a  warning  to  free 
states  to  beware  of  democracy  ;  for  from  their  history  we  may 
infer,  that  if  in  a  democracy  there  are  persons  of  great  wealth, 
they  will  eventually,  by  their  contests  for  power,  convert  it 
into  a  despotism,  as  at  Rome  ;  while  if,  as  at  Athens,  the  peo- 
ple have  reduced  the  families  of  ancient  nobility  and  heredi- 
tary wealth  to  their  own  level  in  point  of  fortune,  the  end  will 
be  utter  political  insignificance. 

*  L.  Marcius  Philippus,  \Ylien  proposing  an  agrarian  law  in  his  tribunate 
(6'tS),  asserted  that  there  were  not  two  thousand  citizens  who  were  possessed 
of  property  (•'  non  esse  in  civitate  duo  millia  hominum  qui  rem  haberent." 
Cicero,  Off.  ii.  21.).  Many  of  the  leading  families  of  both  orders  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  republic  must  have  died  off,  or  have  dwindled  into  insignificance, 
in  consequence  probably  of  there  being  neither  law  nor  custom  of  primo- 
geniture. In  the  Fasti  and  history  of  the  last  century  we  rarely  meet  the 
names  of  the  Quinctii,  I\Ianlii,  Fabii,  Furii,  Detii,  Curii,  and  never  those 
of  the  Horatii,  Menenii,  Veturii,  Genucii,  Icilii,  Numitorii. 


481 


APPENDIX. 


A.  Page  8 — Authorities. 

We  have  noticed  above  (p.  174)  the  nature  of  the  earliest  Roman  his- 
tory. A  very  brief  chronicle  was  kept  by  tlie  Pontifex  Maximus  (Cic.  de 
Orat.  ii.  13),  which  only  noted  tlie  prominent  events  of  each  year,  such  as 
wars  and  victories,  plagues,  famines, and  prodigies.  The  details  were  probably 
derived  by  those  annalists,  used  by  Livy  and  other  late  writers,  from  tlie  narra- 
tive poems  and  from  tlie  funeral  orations.  The  liistory  therefore  anterior  to 
the  Punic  wars  is  of  the  same  nature  with  that  of  Greece  before  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war. 

The  oldest  Roman  historian  was  Q.  (or  N.)  Fabius  Pictor,  who  flourished 
in  tlie  time  of  the  second  Punic  war.  His  work  embraced  the  events  from 
the  foundation  of  the  city  to  his  own  times.  He  wrote  in  Greek,  and  ac- 
cording to  Folybius  he  was  weak  and  partial. 

L.  Cincius  Alimentus,  the  contemporary  of  Fabius,  wrote  also  in  Greek. 
His  annals  seem  to  have  embraced  the  same  period  as  those  of  Fabius. 
He  was  probably  a  far  more  accurate  writer  than  his  rival,  as  he  is  said  to 
have  been  diligent  in  the  study  of  antiquities. 

We  have  no  account  of  any  annalists  for  some  years  after  Fabius  and  Cin- 
cius, except  the  poet  Ennius,  wlio  composed  in  seventeen  books  the  annals 
from  the  earliest  times  to  his  own  days.  It  is  probably  to  him  that  the  nar- 
ratives in  the  early  books  of  Livy  are  indebted  for  their  poetic  hue. 

W.  Porcius  Cato,  who  died  in  the  first  year  of  the  third  Punic  war,  in  his 
S6th  year,  wrote  his  Origines  in  his  old  age.  The  work,  which  was  in  La- 
tin, was  in  seven  books;  the  first  contained  the  history  of  Rome  under  the 
kings  ;  the  second  and  third  the  or/gins  of  the  different  states  and  towns  of 
Italy,  whence  it  derived  its  title;  the  fourth  the  first,  and  the  fifth  the  se- 
cond Punic  war ;  the  sixth  and  seventh  the  events  thence  to  the  last  year  of 
the  author's  life. 

A.  Postumius  Albinus,  the  contemporary  of  Cato,  wrote  annals  in  Greek. 
They  seem  to  have  extended  from  the  foundation  of  the  city  to  t!ie  histo- 
rian's own  times. 

C.  Acilius  also  wrote  annals  at  this  time  in  Greek,  wliich  were  translated 
into  Latin  by  a  writer  named  Claudius  (Liv.  xxv.  39.).  We  know  not 
where  they  commenced  or  how  far  they  extended ;  they  however  contained 
the  history  of  the  first  Punic  war. 

From  the  times  of  the  Gracchi  and  the  younger  Africanus,  that  is,  in  the 
seventh  century  of  the  city,  historians  became  more  numerous,  and  events 
were  in  general  related  by  contemporaries. 

Pohjhius  of  ^Megalopolis,  one  of  the  thousand  hostages  taken  from  Greece 
by  the  Romans  (Hist,  of  Greece,  p.  480),  wrote  a  general  history,  v.'hicli 
contained  that  of  Rome  from  the  commencement  of  the  first  Punic  war 
down  to  the  destruction  of  Carthage  and  Corinth.  This  writer,  who  was 
both  a  statesman  and  a  soldier,  formed  the  history  of  the  earlier  events  of 

Y 


482  APPENDIX. 

his  work  by  a  careful  comparison  of  Fabius  witli  tlie  contemporary  Greek 
writers,  and  by  a  diligent  inspection  of  all  the  documents  and  monuments 
that  were  to  be  found  in  a  spirit  of  sound  historic  criticism.  Though  not 
to  be  classed  with  Thucydides,  Polybius  occupies  a  highly  respectable  sta- 
tion in  the  second  rank  of  historians,  and  the  loss  of  the  greater  part  of  his 
work  is  much  to  be  lamented.  His  narrative  from  the  commencement  of 
the  first  Punic  war  to  the  battle  of  Cannae  is  complete,  as  is  also  that  of  the 
Confederate  war  in  Greece  ;  and  Livy  derived  almost  exclusively  from  him 
the  materials  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  decads  of  his  history,  which  contain  the 
wars  with  Philip,  Antiochus,  and  Perseus. 

L.  Calpurnius  Piso  Frugi,  who  was  consul  in  the  year  of  the  taking  of  Nu- 
mantia,  and  afterwards  censor,  wrote  annals  from  the  foundation  of  the  city 
down  to  his  own  time.  Piso  was  the  great  j-ationaliser  of  the  legends  of  the 
early  history.  See  above,  p.  127,  C.  Fannius,  who  was  at  the  taking  of 
Carthage,  also  v.rote  annals :  their  extent  is  not  known. 

Cn.  Gellius  wrote  annals,  probably  at  this  time;  as  also  did  L.  Cassius 
Hemina. 

The  Romans,  we  may  here  observe,  seem  to  have  made  a  distinction  be- 
tween annals  and  histories.  By  the  former  they  appear  to  have  understood 
a  narrative  of  past  events;  by  the  latter,  an  account  of  those  of  the  writer's 
own  time.  Such  is  apparently  the  distinction  made  by  Tacitus.  We  may 
however  remark  that  the  latter  part  of  annals  is  usually  history. 

L.  (or  M.)  Ccelius  Antipater  wrote  annals  or  histories.  His  work  appears 
to  have  commenced  with  the  second  Punic  war. 

L.  jElius  Tubero  wrote  a  history,  but  its  extent  is  unknown.  His  work 
would  rather  seem  to  have  been  annals,  as  it  contained  the  events  of  the 
first  Punic  war. 

P.  Sempronius  Asellio,  the  contemporary  of  the  preceding  writers,  wrote  ] 
the  history  of  his  own  times.  I 

After  the  times  of  the  Gracchi,  P.  Rutilius  Rufus  (above,  p.  329)  wrote  i 
a  history  of  his  own  times.  L.  Cornelius  Sisenna  did  the  same;  his  work  | 
contained  the  Marsic  war  and  subsequent  events.  Sulla,  Lucullus,  and  Ca-  | 
lulus  also  wrote  histories,  or  rather  memoirs  of  their  own  lives  and  times.  I 
In  the  times  succeeding  Sulla  we  find  the  following  annalists  and  I 
historians : — 

Q.  Claudius  Quadrigarius  appears  to  have  commenced  his  annals  with  the  ' 
capture  of  Rome  by  the   Gauls ;   and  they  seem   to  have  contained  the 
proscription  of  Sulla.     Quadrigarius  is  praised  for  his  style  by  Gellius,  and ' 
apparently  with  reason.  I 

Q.  Valerius  Antias,  who  is  notorious  for  his  mendacity,  composed  annals  j 
from  the  earliest  times  to  his  own  days.  His  work  must  have  been  very  co-  j 
pious,  for  we  find  the  seventy-fifth  book  quoted.  ' 

C.  Licinius  Macer  wrote  annals  from  the  foundation  of  the  city,  but  the] 
fragments  do  not  enable  us  to  ascertain  how  far  they  extended.  Macer  was  I 
one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  annalists,  as  he  followed  the  example  of  Cin-  ! 
cius  and  Polybius  in  consulting  documents  and  monuments.  1 

These  were  the  principal  authorities  for  the  history  previous  to  the  time  of; 
the  Civil  wars.  We  meet  the  names  of  Vennonius,  Lutatius,  Clodius,  Drusus  ! 
and  others,  but  we  can  learn  little  or  nothing  of  their  writings.  Cicero's  friendj 
Atticus,  the  orator  Hortensius  and  others  wrote  annals.  Among  the  annalists! 
is  also  to  be  mentioned  L.  Fenestella,  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  thei 
Emperor  Tiberius.     Beside  his  narratives  of  Catilina's  conspiracy  and  the! 


APPENDIX.  4-83 

Jugurthine  war  which  are  extant,  Sallust  wrote  a  history  which  appears  to 
have  extended  from  the  death  of  Sulla  to  the  Piratic  war,  and  of  which  un- 
fortunately only  fragments  exist. 

These  were  the  writers  before  the  time  of  Augustus,  in  whose  reign  the 
Roman  history  from  the  foundation  of  the  city  to  the  commencement  of  the 
first  Punic  war  was  written  v.'ith  great  copiousness  and  diligence,  but  on  a 
false  theory,  by  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus.  Of  this  elaborate  work,  which 
was  in  the  Greek  language,  and  in  twenty  books,  the  first  eleven  have  come 
down  to  us  entire,  and  fragments  of  the  remaining  nine. 

T.  Livius  wrote  in  the  same  reign  his  splendid  rhetorical  history,  extend- 
ing, in  fourteen  decads  or  one  hundred  and  forty  books,  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  death  of  Drusus  the  step-son  of  Augustus  in  A.U.  745,  Varr, 
Of  his  fourteen  decads  time  has  spared  no  more  than  the  fir^t,  third,  fourth 
and  half  of  the  fifth:  the  remainder  only  exists  in  epitome. 

Appian  of  Alexandria  compiled  in  Greek,  in  the  time  of  the  Antonines, 
various  portions  of  the  Roman  history  under  the  titles  by  which  they  are 
referred  to  in  the  preceding  pages.  Plutarch  in  the  same  period  wrote  in 
Greek  the  lives  so  frequently  quoted  above. 

For  Velleius  Paterculus,  Dion  Cassius  and  the  Epitomators  we  refer  the 
reader  to  the  Appendix  of  our  History  of  the  Roman  Empire,  where  how- 
ever the  piece  "  De  Viris  lUustribus,"  ascribed  to  Aurelius  Victor,  is  not 
included. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  who  wrote  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  compiled  with  great 
labour,  but  little  judgement,  a  work  called  a  '  Historic  Library'  in  forty  books, 
containing  the  history  of  the  vyorkl  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Gallic  wars  of  Caesar.  Of  this  work,  books  vi.— x.,  and  xxi.-xl. 
exist  only  in  fragments.  The  notices  of  Roman  affairs  in  it  are  in  general 
very  brief. 


B.  Page  8. — The  City  of  Rome. 

The  course  of  the  Tiber  at  Rome  is  very  winding ;  it  may  however  be 
regarded  as  running  from  north  to  south.  A  chain  of  hills  on  its  right  bank 
commences  beyond  the  Mulvian  bridge  {Ponte  MoUe),  and  terminates  below 
the  part  opposite  the  Aventine  hill  of  Rome,  lying  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  stream.  This  range  was  named  the  Janiculan,  and  a  portion  of  it 
(behind  the  present  church  of  St.  Peter's)  was  called  the  Vatican.  At  its 
southern  extremity  was  the  elevation  on  which  Ancus  Marcius  built  the 
fort  commonly  called  the  Janiculan,  the  object  of  which  seems  to  have  been 
to  command  the  road  leading  from  Etruria  to  Rome  over  its  only  bridge,  the 
Sublician,  which,  as  it  would  appear,  was  opposite  the  Palatine  hill. 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  opposite  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Jani- 
culan, a  hill  named  the  Aventine  rises  abruptly  within  a  few  yards  of  the 
stream.  To  the  north  of  the  Aventine,  and  further  from  the  river,  is  the 
Palatine  hill,  and  north-west  of  the  Palatine,  but  nearer  to  the  river,  is  the  hill 
anciently  named  the  Saturnian,  Tarpeian,  or  Capitoline.  The  Caelian  hill 
lies  eastward  of  the  Aventine.  The  three  hills  named  the  Quirinal,  the 
Viminal,  and  the  Esquiline,  run  parallel  to  the  river  beyond  the  Capitoline. 
As  they  are  united  in  their  northern  declivity  and  then  divided,  stretching 
toward  the  Caelian,  they  have  been  aptly  compared  to  the  open  fingers  as 

y  2 


48i  APPENDIX. 

they  extend  from  the  back  of  the  human  hand.  The  Esquiline  however 
makes,  as  it  were,  a  bend,  and  runs  towards  the  Palatine  below  the  Viminal 
and  Qiiirinal.  The  hill  now  named  the  Pinciaii,  between  the  nortliern  part 
of  the  Quirinal  and  the  river,  formed  no  part  of  ancient  Rome.  In  the  lat- 
ler  period  of  the  republic  it  was  covered  with  the  gardens  of  LucuUus  and 
others,  and  was  named  the  Collis  Hortulorum. 

The  Forum  extended  from  the  bottom  of  the  ridge  named  the  Velia  (above, 
p.  33)  towards  the  clivus  of  the  Capitoline  ;  the  districts  named  the  Vicus 
Tuscus  and  Felabrum  lay  between  it  and  the  river  j  the  Suhilra  was  in  the 
liollow  between  the  extremitips  of  the  Quirinal  and  Viminal  and  the  south- 
ern bend  of  the  Esquiline,  the  overhanging  part  of  which  last,  it  is  thought, 
was  named  the  Carince. 

The  wall  of  Servius  Tullius,  commencing  at  the  Capitoline,  ran  along  the 
river-front  of  the  Quirinal,  and  tlience  round  the  other  hills  till  it  reached 
the  river  at  the  Aventine.  It  is  uncertain  whether  it  was  continued  along 
the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  or  terminated  at  it  on  eitl-.er  extremity  j  but  the  lat- 
ter seems  to  be  the  more  probable  hypothesis*. 

The  principal  gates  were  the  Culline  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Qui- 
rinal, near  the  present  Porta  Pia  ;  the  Esquiline,  ne;ir  llie  church  of  Sta  Maria 
Maggiore  ;  the  Calia/i,  near  the  Lateran  church  ;  the  Capene,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Ca->!ian  hill  near  the  Baths  of  Caracalla ;  and  the  Cciimental,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Capitoline  toward  the  river -j-. 

The  Campus  Martius  lay  outside  of  the  city  between  the  Tibci,  the  Ca- 
pitoline and  the  Quirinal ;  the  Flaminian  Mead  (p.  99)  lay  under  the 
northern  side  of  the  Capitoline  (between  the  Capitol  and  the  end  of  the 
Corso)  ;  the  Navalia  or  docks  were  between  tlie  iElian  bridge  and  the  Ri~ 
pettaX- 

Tb.e  Capitoline  hill  has  two  summits,  and  between  them  a  space  named 
by  later  topographers  the  Intermohtium,  in  which  was  the  Asylum,  and  to 
which  the  Clivus  ascended.  It  is  doubtful  on  which  summit  the  temple  stood. 
Nardini  and  most  of  the  later  Italian  topographers  place  it  on  the  eastern 
(^Arnceli),  while  the  older  ones,  wlio  are  followed  by  Ilirt,  Niebuhr,  Bunsen, 
IJurgess,  and  Becker,  place  it  on  the  western  summit  {Monte  Caprino). 

The  temple  of  Concord  (p.  121)  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  Capitoline 
hill  close  to  the  clivus  (behind  the  arch  of  Severus)  ;  that  of  Saturn 
(p.  295),  the  remains  of  which  are  commonly  called. the  temple  of  Jupiter 
Tonans,  stood  to  the  right  of  it ;  that  of  Concord  built  by  Opimius  (p.  307) 


*  In  the  middle  ages  however,  cities  such  as  Lotidon,  Florence,  Orleans, 
etc.  built  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  had  a  v.all  on  the  water-side. 

f  Niebuhr  (ii.  196.)  is  positive  that  this  gate  was  at  the  further  end  of 
the  hill  ;  but  this  opinion  is  not  adopted  by  Bunsen,  or  any  other  topogra- 
pher, and  is  evidently  erroneous. 

X  Livy  (see  p.  89.)  says  that  the  Prata  Quinctia  were  beyond  the  Tiber, 
"contra  eum  ipsum  locum  ubi  ?;?^?ic  Navalia  sunt,"  and  Pliny  that  they  were 
in  the  Ager  Vaticanus.  Hence  Nardini  and  Cluverius  rightly  identified 
them  with  the  present  Prati  near  the  Castel  St.  Angelo,  whence  it  plainly 
follows  that  the  Navalia  were  on  the  opposite  side  in  the  Campus  Martius. 
The  prevalent  opinion  has  been  however  that  they  were  below  the  Aventine. 
But  this  has  been,  in  our  opinion,  completely  confuted  by  Becker  in  his 
most  valuable  '  Manual  of  Roman  Antiquities.' 


APPENDIX.  485 

was  above  the  senate-house  close  to  tlie  Comitium.  The  temple  of  Ops 
(p.  452)  was  by  the  ^quimjElium  under  the  Capitol ;  that  of  Castor  (p.  306) 
was  on  the  south  side  of  the  Forum,  and  that  of  I'esta  between  the  Palatine 
and  the  Comitium  (near  Sta  i\Iaria  Liberatrice).  The  temple  of  Ceres 
(p.  64)  stood  under  the  Aventine  close  to  the  Circus,  and  that  of  Diana 
(p.  24)  was  on  that  hill,  but  its  site  is  uncertain.  The  temple  of  Telliis 
(p.  450)  was  on  the  Carinae  ;  that  oi  Bellona  (p.  350)  in  or  by  the  Flami- 
nian  Mead  ;  that  of  Mars  (p.  99)  outside  of  the  Capene  gate  (near  San 
Sisto  ?)  ;  the  temple  of /c/;n/A' (p.  193),  or  more  properly  Porta  Janunlis 
(Varro  L.  L.  v.  165.),  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  Forum  under  the  Ca- 
pitol, and  that  oi  ApoUo  (p.  351)  was  outside  of  the  Carmental  gate  by  the 
Flaminian  Mead. 

The  temple  of  F«(7A  (p.  298)  seems  to  be  a  mistake  (see  the  note).  The 
Auctor  ad  Herennium  (iv.  55.)  represents  the  senate  as  sitting  in  the  temple 
of  Jupiter  ;  and  Velleius  (ii.  3.)  says  that  Scipio,  "  ex  superior!  parte  Capitolii 
summis  gradibusinsistens,"  called  on  ihoie  who  valued  the  republic  to  follow 
him,  and  adds  that  they  rushed  on  Gracchus,  "  stantem  in  area,"  i.  e.  in 
front  of  the  temple.  We  incline  to  think  that  it  was  in  the  temple  of  Con- 
cord that  the  senate  met.  Of  the  temple  of  the  Nijmphs  (p.  400)  the  site 
is  unknown. 


s 


C.  Page  4:2. — The  Kings  of  Rome. 

We  will  here  resume  and  extend  the  observations  made  in  the  text  on  the 
series  of  the  Roman  kings. 

Of  the  first  four  kings  Romulus  and  Numa  are  purely  mythic  or  ideal 
personages,  like  the  Theseus,  Amphictyon  and  others  of  Greece.  Romulus, 
or  Romus  as  he  was  called  by  the  Greeks,  was  merely  the  personified  sym- 
bol of  the  town  of  Roma  ;  Numa,  i.  e.  the  Legislator,  that  of  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  state.  The  two  remaining  monarchs,  Tullus  and  Ancus, 
were,  it  may  be,  real  persons,  and  as,  like  their  mythic  predecessors,  the  first 
was  a  Roman  and  the  second  a  Sabine,  they  offer  a  confirmation  of  the  hy- 
pothesis of  its  being  the  rule  in  the  Romano-Sabine  state  to  elect  the  king 
alternately  from  each  of  the  combined  nations. 

The  arguments  of  Niebuhr  (adduced  in  the  text)  against  the  supposed 
Grecian  and  Etruscan  origin  of  Tarquinius,  are  in  our  opinion  quite  con- 
clusive. The  Luceres.  if  tlieij  were  the  patres  minores,  whom  we  find  so 
strong  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic,  may  even  then  have  been  powerful 
enough  to  place  a  member  of  tlieir  Tarnuinian  gens  on  the  vacant  throne, 
or  the  influence  of  the  aged  king  Ancus  may  have  availed  to  secure  it 
for  the  husband  of  his  daughter,  on  whom  he  may  for  some  years  pre- 
viously have  devolved  some  of  the  functions  of  royalty.  As  hereditary  suc- 
cession to  the  throne  was  unknown  at  Rome*,  all  that  is  said  about  the  sons 
of  Ancus  may  be  regarded  as  fabulous.  The  probably  fortuitous  coincidence 
between  the  name  of  the  gens  at  Rome  and  the  city  of  Etruria,  and  possibly 

*  An  Italian  writer  of  the  present  day.  Professor  Oriuolo,  has  advanced 
a  most  extraordinary  theory  on  the  regal  succession  of  Rome  ;  namely,  that 
the  crown  always  devolved  to  the  husband  of  the  preceding  monarch's  eldest 
daughter. 


486  APPENDIX. 

the  introduction  bj'  tills  monarcli  of  Etruscan  ornaments  and  ceremonies, 
may  liave  given  occasion  to  tiie  tale  of  his  Etruscan  origin.  We  believe 
there  is  not  a  single  instance  in  the  history  of  ancient  Italy  of  a  gentile  nomen 
being  derived  from  the  name  of  a  jplace,  and  we  very  much  doubt  if  there 
be  one  of  a  total  change  of  name,  except  in  the  case  of  a  Roman  adoption. 

The  three  patrician  tribes  would  thus  have  given  kings  to  Rome,  and 
though  unsupported  by  direct  authority,  we  will  venture  to  express  our  sus- 
picion that  the  celebrated  legislator  known  by  the  name  of  Servius  Tullius 
may  have  belonged  to  the  remaining  portion  of  the  Roman  people,  the  Plebs. 
The  Tullii  are  by  Livy  (i.  30.)  placed  among  the  Alban  houses,  i,  e.  the 
Luceres.  The  name,  which  is  apparently  Volscian,  occurs  only  twice  in  the 
early  centuries  of  the  republic.  The  consul  M'.  Tullius  Longus  (Livy,  ii. 
19.)  was  no  doubt  a  patrician,  but  the  centurion  Sex.  Tullius  {Id.  vii.  13,) 
was  probably  a  plebeian*.  Almost  everything  in  fact  related  of  Servius  Tul- 
lius would  seem  to  connect  him  with  the  plebeiansf.  Thus,  for  example,  he 
dwelt  among  them  on  the  Esquiline  ;  all  his  legislation  was  in  their  favour, 
and  it  was  by  a  conspiracy  of  the  patricians  that  he  lost  his  life. 

But  then  it  may  be  said,  was  not  Servius  the  Etruscan  Mastarna  ?  We 
think  not,  for  that  story  is  laden  with  difficulties.  It  in  the  first  place  gives 
what  we  regard  as  an  erroneous  view  of  ancient  Etruria  ;  for  if  there  was  in  it 
a  co7idottiere  like  Cseles  Vivenna,  its  condition  must  have  resembled  that  of  the 
Tuscany  of  the  middle  ages,  when  Florence,  Siena,  Pisa  and  the  other  towns 
were  engaged  in  nuitual  and  bitter  hostilities;  for  which  there  is  not  the 
slightest  warrant  of  history,  no  instance  occurring  of  war  among  the  states 
of  ancient  Etruria.  It  further  is  connected  with  a  false  etymology  of  the 
Cselian  hill  at  Rome.  Finally,  to  any  one  acquainted  with  the  manners  and 
habits  of  mercenary  soldiers,  there  will  be  an  extreme  difficulty  in  the  cir- 
cumstance of  Mastarna's  being  the  author  of  the  beneficent  system  of  legis- 
lation ascribed  to  Servius  Tullius  J. 

The  fact  however  of  the  rule  of  Tuscan  princes  at  Rome  is  maintained 
by  Niebuhr,  and  held  even  more  strongly  by  Miiller.  The  theory  of  the  last- 
named  writer  (Etrusk.  i.  118-123.)  is  as  follows.  The  city  of  Tarquinii 
at  one  time  held  the  supremacy  over  the  whole  of  Etruria,  and  ruled  over 
Rome  and  a  part  of  Latium  :  hence  the  walls,  sewers,  and  Capitoline  temple 
at  Rome,  built  on  the  Tuscan  scale  of  magnitude,  and  the  Grecian  games 
of  the  Circus,  Tarquinii  being  intimately  connected  with  Corinth.  This  de- 
notes the  period  of  the  reign  of  the  elder  Tarquinius.  Mastarna  then,  at  the 
head  of  an  army  from  Vulsinii,  the  enemy  of  Tarquinii,  made  the  conquest 
of  Rome,  where  he  reigned  as  Servius  Tullius,  giving  it  a  new  constitution  ; 
but  his  government  was  overthrown  by  the  Tarquinians,  whose  renewed 
dominion  is  denoted  by  the  reign  of  the  younger  Tarquinius.  Finally  Lars 
Porsenna  of  Clusium  overthrew  the  dominion  of  Tarquinii,  the  city  of  Rome 
being  one  of  his  conquests.  Miiller  therefore  supposes  the  Tuscan  dominion 
at  Rome  to  have  lasted  about  a  century. 

*  "  Tullia  plebeia  antiquissima  gente  eum  fuisse  opinor."  Pighius,  An- 
riales,  i.  p.  2S6. 

f  Plebs  colit  hanc  {Fortunam)  quia  qui  posuit  de  plebe  fuisse 

Fertur  et  ex  humili  sceptra  tulisse  loco.     (Ovid,  Fasti,  vi.  781.) 

%  The  condottiere  Sforza,  by  marrying  a  natural  daughter  of  the  last  of 
the  Yisconti,  became  duke  of  Milan,  a  curious  coincidence  with  the  story  of 
Servius.     But  Sforza  was  no  legislator. 


APPENDIX. 


487 


We  avow  that  we  do  not  see  any  necessity  for  this  ingenious  theory.  The 
Romans  were  a  people  who  never  were  too  proud  to  imitate  and  borrow  the 
arts  and  institulions  of  other  peoples  ;  they  therefore,  it  is  probable,  bor- 
rowed largely  from  their  neighbours  of  Etruria,  particularly  in  religious  and 
political  usages  and  ceremonies.  We  know  that  their  principal  works  of 
art  came  from  that  country  ;  tliere  was  a  quarter  at  Rome,  the  Fiais  Tuscus, 
named  from  the  Tuscans  who  resided  in  it,  and  all  these  circumstances  com- 
bined may  have  given  origin  to  the  tradition  of  a  Tuscan  colony  and  Tuscan 
kings  at  Rome. 

In  conclusion,  we  are  not  to  be  classed  with  those  who  regard  the  history 
anterior  to  the  taking  of  the  city  by  the  Gauls  as  little  entitled  to  credit. 
Such  no  doubt  are  many  of  the  details  of  battles  and  other  events  ;  but  the 
main  facts  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  such  as  the  contests  between  the 
two  orders,  and  the  gradual  extension  or  recovery  of  the  Roman  dominion, 
are  undoubtedly  true  ;  and,  with  due  allowances,  the  history  from  the  year 
244  may  be  regarded  as  a  trustworthy  narrative. 


D.  Page  46. — Populus  and  Plebs. 

"  Ateias  Capito,"  says  Gellius  (x.  20.),  "  plebem  seorsum  a  populo  divisit, 
quoniam  in  populo  omnis  pars  civitatis  omnesque  ejus  ordines  contineantur; 
plebes  vero  ea  dicitur  in  qua  gentes  civium  patricias  non  insunt."  This  con- 
tinued to  be  the  common  opinion  till  the  sagacity  of  Niebuhr  led  him  to 
discern  that  the  original  Populus  was  the  patricians  as  opposed  to  the  Plebs. 
See  Hist,  of  Rome,  i.  417,  ii.  103. 

The  follov.ing  instances  in  which  we  find  the  two  words  used,  not  merely 
disjunctively  but  conjunctively,  will  probably  convince  most  persons  of  the 
soundness  of  his  views  : — 

"Consul  Appius  negare  jus  esse  tribuno  in  quemquam  nisi  plebeium; 
non  enim  populi  sed  plebis  eum  magistratum  esse."  Liv.  ii.  56  :  compare 
ii.  35,  iii.  11.  "A  plebe  consensu  popiili  consulibus  negotium  mandatur." 
Id.  iv.  5  1.  "  Prsstor — is  qui  populo  plebique  jus  dabit  sunimum."  Id.  xxv.  12. 
This  last  passage,  we  may  observe,  occurs  in  a  prophetic  poem,  and  may 
therefore  be  regarded  as  an  ancient  mode  of  speaking.  In  his  prayer, 
when  en)barking  for  the  conquest  of  Africa  (xxix.  27.),  Scipio  says,  "  ea 

mihi,  populo  plebique  Romans?,  sociis  nominique  Latino bene  ver- 

runcent,"  where  the  correctness  of  the  latter  expressions  (above,  p.  1C8, 
note)  shows  that  Livy  was  following  good  authority. 

In  Cicero  also  we  meet  with  several  instances  of  this  distinction  ;  ex.  gr. 
"Ut  ea  res  mihi  magistratuique  meo  populo  plebique  Romanae  bene  atque 
feliciler  eveniret."  Pro  Murena,  1.  "  Mihi  Floram  matrem  populo  plebique 
Romanse  ludorum  celebritate  placandam."  In  Verrem,  v.  14.  "  Sacrosanc- 
tum  esse  nihil  potest  nisi  quod  populus  plebesve  sanxerit."  Pro  Balbo,  14. 
"  Leges  statnimus  per  vim  et  contra  auspicia  latas,  iisque  nee  populuin  nee 
plebem  teneri."  Phil.xii.  5.  "Cum  populo  cum  plebe  digendl  jus."  Legg.ii.l2. 
"Quum  pontifices  decressent  ita,  si  neque  populi  jl'ssu  neque  plebis 
sciTU,  &c."  Ad  Att.  iv.  11.  This  last  is  evidently  an  ancient  formula,  and 
as  such  we  may  regard  the  superscriptions  of  public  letters  or  despatches, 
such  as  the  following :  Plancus  Imp.  Cos.  Des.  s.  d.  coss.  pr.  tuib.  pled, 
sen.  pop.  PL.  Q.  R.  (Ad  Fam.  x.  8.);  and  Lepidus  imp.  iter.  font. 
MAX.  s.  D.  SENAT.  POP.  PL.  Q.  K.  (lb.  X.  35.).     In  his  work  De  Republica 


•1-88  APPENDIX. 

Cicero  always  uses  the  word  populus  of  the  assembly  which  in  the  comitia 
cuiiata  conferred  the  vnperiinn  on  the  Roman  kings. 

Even  in  so  late  a  writer  as  the  younger  Pliny  we  find  the  following 
passage,  "  Ut  partem  aliquam  populi  plehisque  Konianse  aleret  ac  tueretur." 
Panegyr.  32. 

Dion  Cassius,  who  was  an  accurate  writer,  employed  the  Greek  criftos 
to  express  the  Latin  populus,  and  TrXtiOov  for  pirbs,  and  he  frequently  uses 
the  two  terms  in  conjunction,  as  in  lib.  lii.  20,  liii.  21,  47,  Iv.  34,  Iviii.  20, 
lis.  9.  Zunaras,  who  wrote  from  Dion  Cassius,  almost  invariably  employs 
ttXTjOos  or  o^tXos,  instead  of  o^/tos,  to  express  the  plebs  of  the  Latin  writers. 

Tacitus  {A.  i.  8,  H.  i.  35,  3G,  40.)  seems  to  employ  the  two  terms  in  the 
same  sense  as  Capito.  The  distinction  between  ^jjjuos  and  ttXtjOos  in  Poly- 
bius  (iii.  103,  5.)  is  not;  very  clear. 

The  origin  of  this  late  sense  of  the  terms  may  be  easily  understood  if  we 
call  to  mind  the  Roman  habit  of  retaining  old  terms  and  applying  them  to 
new  objects  (above,  p.  39,  vote).  When  therefore  the  original  distinction 
between  Populus  and  Plebs  had  been  eflfliccd,  the  former  was  made  to  stand 
for  the  whole,  the  latter  for  a  part  of  the  Roman  people. 


E.  Page  54. — Kinds  of  Stone  used  at  Rome. 

Nicbiihr,  when  describing  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  asserts  positively  that  it 
was  built  of  the  stone  named  peperino ;  but  Brocchi,  the  eminent  Roman 
mineralogist  and  geologist,  assures  us  that  the  stone  used  in  the  construction 
is  the  tufa  IHo'ide  of  the  place.  His  opinion  has  been  adopted  without  hesi- 
tation by  Biinsen  and  Arnold,  and  is  beyond  doubt  the  truth. 

Some  account  of  the  different  kinds  of  stone  employed  by  the  Romans  in 
their  buildings  may  not  be  devoid  of  utility. 

The  tufa  lito'ide,  i.  e.  stonelike  tufa,  which  forms  the  Capitoline  hill  and 
some  other  parts  of  Rome,  is  a  volcanic  product  of  a  red-brown  colour  with 
orange  specks  in  it. 

The  peperino  or  j^spper-stone,  as  it  is  called  by  the  modern  Italians  on 
account  of  its  colour,  which  resembles  that  of  ground  pepper,  is  also  a  vol- 
canic product.  It  contains  lumps  of  lava  and  other  harder  substances,  and  is 
found  at  Gabii  and  Albano.  It  was  greatly  used  by  the  ancient  Romans  for 
building  and  other  purposes.  The  celebrated  coffin,  for  example,  found  in 
the  tomb  of  the  Scipios,  and  now  deposited  in  the  Vatican,  is  of  this  stone. 
It  may  also  be  seen  in  the  wall  of  the  Tabularium  which  faces  the  Forum. 
The  footways  in  the  street  named  the  Corso,  which  are  so  unpleasant  to 
walk  on,  on  account  of  the  protruding  lava,  are  of  this  stone. 

The  travel  tino,  which  name  is  a  corruption  of  Tiburtino,  and  which  was 
chiefly  obtained  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Tibur,  is  a  calcareous  deposition 
from  the  fresh  water;  by  exposure  to  the  air  it  becomes  of  a  reddish-white 
colour.  The  fronts  of  St.  Peter's  and  other  churches  at  Rome  are  of  this  stone. 
It  also  forms  the  curb-stone  in  the  Corso. 

The  silex  of  the  Romans,  with  which  they  paved  their  roads  and  streets, 
\vas  lava,  of  which  a  stream  ejected  by  the  volcano  which  formerly  existed 
in  tlie  Alban  range  extends  thence  as  far  as  the  tomb  of  Caccilia  Rleteila, 
near  Rome,  at  which  place  were  the  quarries  whence  it  was  extracted. 

The  preceding  kinds  of  stone  were,  with  bricks,  the  only  substances  used 
by  the  Romans  in  their  buildings,  public  and  private,  during  the  first  six 
centuries  of  the  republic. 


489 

GEOGRAPHICAL    INDEX*. 


%*  n.  s.  e.  w.  north,  south,  etc. ;  m.  miles  ;  col.  colony ;  mtin.  munici- 
pium.  After  Volscian,  Oscan,  etc.,  town  is  to  be  understood.  By  Oscan 
is  meant  the  country  from  the  range  between  Fundi  and  Formis  to  beyond 
the  Massic  hills. 

A-CERR.^  [Accrra),  Campania,  n.-w.  of  Nola,  mun. ;  (2)  Gcri,  Cis-Gallic, 

on  the  Addua  {Adda). 
jEculanum  {Le  Grotte  near  Mirabella),  Samnite,  on  the  Calor,  s.-e.  of  Be- 

never.tum. 
-■Esernia  {hernia),  Samnit-%  n.  of  Mt.  Tifernus. 
JEsls  {Esiito),  riv.,  on  n.  frontier  of  Picenum. 
Alba  Longa,  on  Alban  Jilount,  site  unknown  ;  (2)  Fucinia  {Alba),  Marsian, 

near  Fucine  lake,  col, 
Algidus  Mt.,  eastern  part  of  volcanic  range  of  Alban  Mt.,  etc.,  in  Latium. 
Alia  {Fossa  di  Conca,  7  m.  from  Rome  ?),  Sabine  stream. 
Allifa;  {AUfe),  Samnite,  on  the  Vulturnus. 
Anagnia  {Anagni),  Hernican,  3.5  m.  from  Rome. 
Anio  {Tevcrone),  riv.  of  Latium,  near  Rome. 

Antemnae,  on  the  side  of  Rome,  at  the  junction  of  the  Anio  and  Tiber. 
Ant'ium  {Capo  d'Anzo),  Volscian  coast,  38  m.  from  Rome. 
Aquilonia  {Agnorie),  in  northern  Samnium. 

Apiolae,  9  or  10  m.  from  Rome,  tu.  of  Bovills,  near  the  Appian  Road. 
Ardea  {Ardca),  Latin,  23  vi.  from  Rome,  4  from  the  sea. 
Aricia  {Larlccia),  Latin,  16  miles  from  Rome  on  Appian  Road,  7nun. 
Ariminuni  {Rimini),  coast  of  Umbria. 

Arpi,  Apulian,  e.  of  Lureria.  ■  , 

Arpinum  {Arpino),  Volscian,  n.  of  Fregellas,  miau 
Arretium  {Arezzo),  Tuscan,  col.  mun. 
Arsia,  wood  behind  the  Janiculan. 

Asculum  {Ascoli),  Apulian  ;  (2)  Ascoli,  Picenian,  col.  mnn. 
Astura  {Astiira),  riv.  and  island,  Vol.-cian,  7  miles  e.  of  Autium, 
Aufidena  {Alfidcna),  n.  frontier  of  Samnium. 
Aufidus  {Ofanto),  riv.  of  Apulia. 
Ausona,  0.-.can,  s.  of  the  Liris. 

Aii-ximum  {Osimo),  Picenian,  s.  of  Ancona,  col.  mun. 
Bantia,  Lucanian,  s.-e.  of  Venusia. 
Beneventum  {Dcnivento),  Samnite,  on  the  Calcr,  col. 
Bola  {Poli  or  Lugnuno),  Latin,  n.  of  Prjeneste. 
Bononia  {Bologna),  Cis-Gal!.,  col.  mun. 
Bovianum  {Bojdno),  Samnite,  col. 
Bovillae  (near  the  Osteria  delle  Fratocclde),  Latin,  under  Alban  Jtlt.,  12  m. 

from  Rome. 


*  This  Index  is  formed  from  Cluverius  and  Sir  William  Cell's  Topogra- 
phy of  Rome,  corrected  by  Abeken's  Mittelitalien,  Stuttgart,  1843. 


490  GEOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 

Brundlsium  {Brindisi),  coast  of  Calabria,  col. 

CffiiiiiicE  (on  Monte  Maguglidnol),  Latin,  near  the  Tiber  10  m.  above  Rome. 

Caere  (Cervetere),  Tuscan,  30  ?n.  from  Rome,  rmm. 

Caieta  (Gaeta),  Oscan  coast. 

Calatia  {Caiazzo),  Samnite,  n.  of  RIt.  Tifata  ;    (2)  S.  Pietro  delle  Galazze, 
Campanian,  between  Capua  and  Nola. 

Gales  (Calvi),  Oscan,  s.  of  Teanuin,  col. 

Callicula,  hills  between  Teanum  and  the  Vulturnus. 

Calor  (Galore),  riv.  of  Samnium,  passes  Beneventum,  falls  into  the  Vulturnus. 

Cannse,  Apulian,  e.  of  the  Aufidus,  10  ?«.  from  the  sea. 

Canusium  {Ccmosa),  Apulian,  s.  of  the  Aufidus. 

Capena  (Civitncola),  Tuscan, i.  of  Mt.  Soracte(;S'^  Oreste),  20  m.  from  Rome. 

Capua,  Campanian,  under  Mt.  Tifata,  col.  num. 

Casilinum  {Capua),  on  the  Vulturnus,  2  m.  from  Capua,  col. 

Caudium  [Costa  Cauda  near  Cervindra),  Samnite,  between  Capua  and  Bene- 
ventum. 

Ceno  {Nettunot),  Volscian,  port  of  Antium. 

Cingulum  {Cingolo),  Picenian. 

Circeii,  Volscian,  on  cape  Circa:um  [Monte  Circello),  col. 

Clusium  (CJuiisi),  Tuscan,  100  m.  from  Rome. 

Collatia  [Castel  dell'  Osa  near  Lunghezza  ?),  10  m.  from  Rome  near  Gabii. 

Cominium  (Cerelo),  Samnite,  s.-e.  of  Allifaa. 

Compsa  [Cotiza),  s.  frontier  of  Samnium. 

Corbio  [Rocca  Priore),  Latin,  beyond  Tusculum. 

Corfinium  [Popolil),  Pelignian,  n.  of  Sulmo. 

Corioli  [Monte  Giovel),  Volscian,  w.  of  Lanuvium. 

Corniculum  [Monticelli  at  foot  of  Mt.  Gennaro?),  Sabine,  beyond  Nomentum. 

Cosa,  Lucanian,  n.  of  Thurii. 

Cremera,  stream  of  Etruria,  falls  into  the  Tiber  above  Rome. 

Cremona  [Cremona)  Cis-Gall.,  col.  mun. 

Crustumerium,  Sabine,  between  Nomentum  and  the  Tiber,  13  ?«.  from  Rome. 

Cumse  [Cuma),  on  coast  of  Campania. 

Cures  [Correse  ?),  Sabine,  30  m.  from  Rome. 

Ecetrae,  Hernican,  in  valley  e.  of  Alban  hills  between  Signia  and  Anagnia. 

Eretum  [Grotta  Marozza),  Sabine,  18  m.  from  Rome. 

FsesuIee  [Fiesnle),  Tuscan,  over  Florence. 

Falerii  [Civitd  Castelldna  ?),  Tuscan,  35  m.  from  Rome. 

Falernus  ager,  between  Mt.  Massicus  and  the  Vulturnus. 

Fanum  Fortunse  [Fano),  coast  of  Umbria,  .5.  of  Pisauruni,  col. 

Fanum  VoltunincE  [Fiterbol),  Tuscan,  see  p.  150. 

Ferentina  [Marino),  Latin,  fount  and  grove  in  the  valley  between  the  Alban 
Mt   and  Tusculum. 

Ferentinum  [Ferentino),  Hernican,  s.-e.  of  Anagnia. 

Ficana  [Dragoncellol)  Latin,  \\  m.  below  Rom.e  on  the  Tiber. 

Ficulea  (on  Monte  delta  Crctat),  on  the  %vay  to  Nomentum. 

Fidena,  near  Villa  Spada,  5  or  6  m.  above  Rome  on  the  Tiber. 

Firmum  [Fermo),  coast  of  Picenum,  col. 

Formias  [Mola  di  Gaeta),  Oscan  coast,  7mtn. 

Fregellse  [Caprdno),  Volscian,  on  the  Liris. 

Fundi  [Fondi),  Oscan,  n,-e.  of  Tarracina,  mun,  col. 

Gabii,  Latin,  12  m.  from  Rome,  half-way  to  Prseneste. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  INDEX.  491 

Galsesus  (GaJeso),  stream  at  Tarentum. 

Geroniiim,  Apulian,  s.  of  Larinum. 

Grumentum  {Grummo),  in  Apulia. 

Heraclea  (Policoro),  on  coast  of  Lucania,  and  on  riv.  Aciris  {Agri). 

Herdonia  (^Ordoiui),  in  Apulia. 

Iguvium  {Gubhio),  in  Umbria. 

Interamna  {Tcrni),  in  Umbria,  mun. 

Labici  or  Lavici  {Colonna  ?  or  Zagoniolol),  Latin,  beyond  Tusculum,  15  m. 

from  Kome. 
Lanuvium  {Civita  Lavinia),  under  Genzano,  20  7ii.  from  Rome,  col.  man. 
Larinum  (Larhio),  on  the  northern  frontier  of  Apulia. 
Laviniuni  {Pratica),  s.-c.  of  Laurentum,  16  m.  from  Rome,  3  from  the  sea. 
Laviniiis,  stream  of  Cis-Gaul,  iv.  of  the  Rhenus. 
Laurentum  {Torre  Paterno),  coast  of  Latiura,  16  m.  from  Rome. 
Lautulse,  the  long  and  narrow  pass  e.  of  Terracina. 

Liris  (Gariglidno),  riv.  flows  through  the  Volscian  and  Oscan  countries,  and 
enters  the  sea  near  Minturnoe. 

Liternum  (Patria),  3  or  4  ?;?.  n.  of  CumE,  on  coast  of  Campania,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Clanis. 

Longula  {Buon  Riposo  ?)  and  PoUusca  (Casal  della  Mandria  ?),  in  Latium, 
near  Corioli. 

Luca  (Lucca),  Tuscan,  col. 

Luceria  (Lucera),  Apulian,  near  Samnium,  col. 

Mediolanum  {]\Iildno),  Cis-Gall.,  mun. 

Medullia  {St.  Angelo  near  Mt.  Genndro  ?),  on  the  way  to  Nomentum. 

Minturnoe,  Oscan,  on  the  Liris,  2  m.  from  the  sea,  col. 

Misenum  (Miseno),  western  cape  of  bay  of  Baise  in  Campania. 

Mutina  {Modeiia),  Cis-Gall.,  col. 

Neapolis  (Napoli),  on  coast  of  Campania. 

Nepe,  or  Nepete  {Nepi),  Tuscan,  30  m.  from  Rome,  col. 

Nola  (Nola),  Campanian,  e.  of  Naples,  s.  of  Capua,  viun.  col. 

Nomentum  [Ln  Mentdna),  Sabine,  J 2  m.  from  Rome. 

Nuceria  (Nocera),  Campanian,  on  the  Sarnus  c.  of  Pompeii. 

Numicius  (Rio  Torto  ?),  stream  of  Latium,  between  Lavinium  and  Ardea. 

Numistro  (Muro),  in  Lucania. 

Ostia,  (Ostia),  16  m.  from  Rome  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber. 

Palsepolis,  near  Neapolis,  site  unknown,  but  probably  west  of  Mt.  Posilipo 
toward  Puteoli ;  perhaps  the  original  Parthenope. 

Pandosia,  Lucanian,  lu.  of  Heraclea  on  the  Aciris. 

Pedum  (GaUicdnol),  beyond  Gabii. 

Perusia  (Perugia),  Tuscan,  col.  mun. 

Pisaurum  (Pesaro),  coast  of  Umbria,  col. 

Pistoria  (Pistoja),  Tuscan,  not  far  from  FsesuIk. 

Placentia  (Piacenza),  Cis-Gall.,  on  the  Po,  col.  mun. 

Politorium  (on  La  Torretla  between  Ficana  and  Tellena?),  Latin. 

Pompeii,  Campanian,  at  foot  of  Vesuvius  on  the  Sarnus. 

Populonia,  on  coast  of  Etruria,  3  m.  from  Piombino. 

Praeneste  (Paleestrina),  Latin,  20  m.  from  Rome,  col.  mun. 

Privernum  (Piperno),  Volscian,  on  the  Amasenus. 

Puteoli  (Pozzuoli),  on  bay  of  Baiae  in  Campania,  col. 

Regillus  lacus  (at  Cornufelle  near  Frascati  ?  or  at  Colonnal,). 


492  GEOGRAPHICAL  INDEX. 

Rhcgiiim  (Reggio),  at  the  point  of  Bruttium. 

Rhenus  (Reno),  liv.  of  Cis-Gaul,  runs  near  Bologna  and  enters  the  Po. 

Rubicon  (Fiiimkiiw),  stream  on  confines  of  Gaul  and  Umbria. 

Sacriporfus  {Pernpindtal),  in  the  valley  between  Signia  and  Prseneste. 

Salapia  (Salpi),  coast  of  Apulia. 

Salerniun  (Saierno),  on  bay  of  Psestum  in  Campania,  col. 

Salpin'.nn  {Orvieto'i),  Tuscan,  n.  ofVulsinii. 

Saticula  (i'"  Jgala  de'  Goti  ?),  Samnite,  between  Capua  and  Beneventum. 

Satricum  {Casal  di  Concal),  on  the  Astura,  between  Corioli  and  Antium. 

Sena  Gallica  (Siiiigciglia),  on  coast  of  Umbria. 

Sentinum  (Serilina),  Umbrian,  n.  of  the  yEsis. 

Signia  {Seg7ii),  Volscian,  s.-w.  of  Anagnia. 

Sinuessa  {Moiulragoiie),  coast  of  Campania. 

Sora  (Soi-ii),  Hernican,  on  the  Liris. 

Stabiae  {Castelamdre),  on  tlie  bay  of  Naples. 

Suessa  Aunmca  {Sessa),  Osc2.n,  w.  of  Teanum,  coZ. ;  (2)  Pometia  (Tvrre 
Petrara  or  I\fesa  ?),  Volscian,  in  Pomptine  district. 

Suessula,  Campanian,  between  Capua  and  Nola. 

Sutriuin  (Siilri),  Tuscan,  33  7n.  from  Ron.e,  col. 

Tarentuni  (^Tdranio),  on  bay  of  same  name  in  Japygia,  col. 

Tarquinii  {Corneto),  coast  of  Etruria,  50  m.  from  Rome. 

Tarracina  {^Terracina),  Volscian,  col.,  see  p.  107. 

Teanum  (^Tedno),  Oscan,  capital  of  the  Sidicinians,  col. 

Telesia  (Telesa),  Samnite,  on  the  Calor,  n.-w.  of  Beneventum,  col. 

Tellena  (on  Monte  Giostral),  near  Ficana. 

Thurii  on  the  Crathis  (Crc.ti),  on  Lucanian  and  Bruttian  frontier  near  the 
sea. 

Tibur  (Tivoli),  Latin,  18  m.  from  Rome. 

Ticiniis  (Tesshio),  riv.  of  Cis-Gaul,  enters  the  Po  rear  Ticinum  (Pavia). 

Tifata,  hills  over  Capua. 

Tifernus  mons,  in  Samnium,  between  jEsernia  and  Bovianum. 

Trasimenus  lacus  (Lcigo  di  Perugia),  in  the  plain  of  the  Clanis  {Ckidni)  be- 
tween Cortona  and  Perugia. 

Treba  or  Trebia  (Trevi),  on  Hernican  and  jEquian  frontier,  n.  of  Anagnia. 

Trebia  (^Trebhiu),  riv.  of  Cis-Gaul,  rises  in  the  Apennines,  enters  the  Po  at 
Placentia. 

Tusculum  (near  Frascdti),  Latin,  12  m.  from  Rome. 

Vadimo,  lake  in  Etruria,  close  to  the  Tiber,  5.  of  Horta  {Orta),  w.  of  Otri- 
culum,  40  m.  from  Rome. 

Veii,  see  p.  107. 

Vellitra;  {Velletri),  Volscian,  24  m.  from  Rome. 

Venafrum  (f'endfro),  Samnite,  iv.  of  the  Vulturnus. 

Venusia  {J'ci.osa),  col.,  see  p.  15S. 

Vercellss  (Fercelli),  Cis-Gall.,  n.  of  the  Po. 

Vescia,  on  coast  of  Campania,  s.  of  the  Liris. 

Victumviffi  (^Vigevdnol),  in  Cis-Gaul, 

Vitellia  (['almotifdiic  1),  yEquian. 

Umbro  (^Omhroiie),  riv.  of  Tuscany. 

Volaterra:  (Folterra),  Tuscan,  between  Siena  and  Leghorn. 

Vulsinii  (Bolsnia),  Tuscan,  on  lake  of  same  name. 

Vulturnus  {Folturno),  riv.  of  Samnium  and  Campania. 


INDEX. 


V  Figures  (2),  (3),  ^-e. 


denote  2nd,  Srd,  Sfc.  of  the  name. 


Abelux,  21G. 

Acca  Larentia,  12. 

Accensi,  51. 

Accius  (M.)  Plautus,  290. 

Achillas,  434-436. 

Acilius(M')Glabrio,25G;(2)M.,371. 

Addictus,  GO. 

Adherbal,  311,  312. 

iEbutius  (T.),  35. 

JEdiles,  G4. 

/Emilius  (Mam.),  104  ;  (2)  L.  Bar- 

bula,  IGl. 
(M.)  Paulus,  185;  (2)  L., 

209-210;   (3)   L.,  263;  (4)  L., 

245,  265. 

(M.)Sc»nnis,312-315,331; 


(2)  M.,  351, 
■ (M.)  Lepidus,  283  ;  (2)  M.. 

354,  355  ;  (3)  L.,  424,  447,  450, 

456-461,  471-473. 
jEneas,  9-10. 
jEquians,  4. 
^rarians,  54. 

Afranius  (L.),  391,  425-428,  441. 
Africanus,  see  Cornelius. 
Agrippa,  see  Vipsaniits. 
Ahala,  see  Servilius. 
Alba,  11. 

Albius  (C.)  Carrinas,  348,  349. 
Allobroges,  199,  310,  381,  382. 
AUiicius,  233. 
Amulius,  11-13. 
Ancus  Marcius,  20. 
Andriscus,  276. 

Anicius  (Q.),  169;  (2)  L.,  265. 
Annius  (L.)',  137;  (2)  Q.,  379. 
(T.)  Milo,  400,  401,  408- 

410,  429. 
AntiUius,  305. 
Antiochus,  255-259. 
Antoiiius(M.),345;  (2)M.,362-3G4; 

(3)M., 419, 420,424, 430,438,446, 

451,  477;  (4)  L.,  467,  468. 
Apuleius  (L.)  Saturninus,  323,  326- 

328. 
Apulia,  4. 
Aqua  Appia,  168. 
Aquilii,  32. 


Aquilius  (M.),  325,  340. 

Archelaus,  341,  342. 

Archimedes,  221,  228. 

Ariobarzanes,  339. 

Ariovistus,  411. 

Aristion,  341. 

Aristobidus,  375,  377. 

Aristodcmus,  36. 

Ai'istouicus,  309. 

Artabilzus,  404. 

Artemidorus,  448. 

Aruns,  21;  (2)  28,  32  ;  (3)  114. 

Asinius(C.)Pollio,420, 444,456,467. 

Assiduans,  51. 

Asylum,  13. 

Ateius  (C.)  Capito,  404. 

Athenio,  325. 

Athens,  341. 

Atilius  (C.)  Regulus,  Serranus,  181  ; 

(2)  M.,  182,  183,  186,  187. 
(A.)Calatinus,Sevranus,181, 

188;  (2)M.,  278;  (3)  Sex.,  399. 
Atius  (T.)  Labienus,  421,  429,  433, 

439,  444. 

(P.)Varus,424,444;(2)L.,479. 

Attains,  258,  287. 

Attius  (L.),  479. 

Augurs,  16. 

Augustus,  379. 

Aurelia,  386. 

Aurelius  CM.)  Cotta,  36G  ;  (2)  L., 

361,  384,  446. 

(M.)  Scaurus,  322. 

(L.)  Orestes,  301. 

Auruncans,  4. 
Ausouians,  4. 
Autroniiis  (P.),  379,  383. 
Barcas,  188. 
Bardiffians,  345. 
Battle  of  Arsia,  32. 


Regillus,  36. 


—  Alia,  116. 

—  Mount  Gaums, 

—  Vesuvius,  138, 

—  Perusia,  150. 
••-  Vadimo,  150. 

—  Sentinum,  156. 

—  Aquilonia,  158. 


133. 


494. 


INDEX. 


Battle  of  Siris,  163. 

Asculum,  166. 

■  Beneventum,  167. 

the  Agates,  189. 

Trebia,  203. 

— — Trasimene  Lake,  205. 

■ Cannse,  209. 


-Nola,  217. 

-  Metaurus,  238. 

-  Zaraa,  250. 

-  Cynocephalse,  255. 

-  Magnesia,  258. 

-  Pydna,  264. 

-  Cliaeronea,  342. 

-  Orcliomeniis,  342. 

-  Tigranocerta,  369. 

-  Phaisalia,  431. 

-  Munda,  444. 

-  Mutina,  455. 

-  Philippi,  462. 
Actium,  475. 


Belgians,  413. 

Bestia,  see  Calpurnius. 

Bibulus,  see  Calpurnius. 

Blosius,  293,  298. 

Bocchus,  317,  318,  321. 

Bomilcar,  314,  316. 

Bostar,  183,  187  ;  (2)  216. 

Brennus,  115,  118. 

Bruttians,  5. 

Brutus,  5,  28. 

Brutus,  see  Junius. 

Bvrsa,  175,  269. 

Cgecilius(L.)Metellus,186;  (2)211 ; 
(3)Q.  Met.  Macedonicus,2  76,282; 
(4)  Q.  Met.  Numidicus,  315-320, 
326-329 ;  (5)Q.  Met.Pius,329,344, 
348,357,358,389;  (6)Q.Met.Cre- 
ticus,  364, 391 ;  (7)  Q.  Met.  Celer, 
391,  394, 395  ;  (8)  Q.  Met.  Nepos, 
384,  385,  399,  400  ;  (9)  Q.  Met. 
Pius,  Scipio,  410,  431,  433,  439, 
441  ;  (10)  L.,  424. 

Caedicius  (M.),  115,  117. 

Caeles  Vivenna,  41. 

Caepio,  see  Servilius. 

Caesar,  see  Julius. 

Caesarion,  437,  478. 

Calendar,  443. 

Callaicus,  see  Junius. 

Calpurnius (L.)Piso, 2 71  ;(2)Q.,283  ; 
(3)  C,  363,  382 ;  (4)  Cn.,  388 ;  (5) 
L.,  395,  462, 


Calpurnius  (L. )  Bestia,  31 3,  3 1 5 ;  (2) 

L.,  379. 
(M.)  Bibulus,  392,  393, 

409,  428,  430. 
Calvinus,  see  Domitius. 
Camillus,  see  Furius. 
Canidius  (M.),  398  ;  (2) P.,  474, 475. 
Canuleius  (C),  99. 
Cajnte  Censi,  51. 
Capitolium,  27. 
Capua,  132. 
Carbo,  see  Papirius. 
Carrinas,  see  Albius. 
Carthage,  176,  268. 
Carthage  (New),  196,  232. 
Carthalo,  212  ;  (2)  267. 
Casca,  see  Servilius. 
Cascans,  4. 
Cassivelaunus,  415. 
Cassius  (Sp.)  Yiscellinus,  65, 67,  70. 
(L.)  Longinus,  309;  (2)  L., 

313,  322;  (3)L.,  340;  (4)  L.,  379 ; 

(5)  Q.,  419 ;  (6)  C,  404,  406,  446, 

451,  461-463. 

(L.)  Hemina,  290. 


Catilina,  see  Sergius. 

Cato,  see  Porciiis. 

Catulus,  see  Lutatius. 

Caudine  Forks,  144. 

Celer es,  45. 

Censorinus,  see  Marcius. 

Censors,  100.     Census,  54. 

Centuries,  51.     Centurions,  45. 

Cethegus,  see  Cornelius. 

Cicero,  see  Tullius. 

Cilnius  (C.)  Maecenas,  468,  471. 

Cimbriaus,  322,  326. 

Ciminian  Wood,  149. 

Cinciunatus,  see  Quinctius. 

Cineas,  163. 

Cinna,  see  Cornelius. 

Classes,  49,  170. 

Claudius(Ap.), 58,60,62  ;(2)Ap.,72, 
78-80;  (3)  C.  Sabinus,  93-98;  (4) 
Ap.,  93-98;  (5)  Ap.,  110, 127;  (6) 
Ap.  Cfficus,  154, 164,168,169;  (7) 
Ap.  Caudex,  178  ;  (8)  P.  Pulcher, 
188;  (9)  Ap.,  211,225,229;  (10) 
C.  Nero,  230,  236-338  ;  (11)  Ap., 
294,296,299;  (12)  Ap.,  344;  (13) 
C,  359  ;  (14)  Ap.,  399, 403,  407  ; 
(15)  P.,  see  Clodius. 

Claudius  (M.)  Marcellus,  195,  214, 


INDEX. 


495 


217,  219,  221,226-233,  235;  (2) 
M.,  278  ;  (3)  C,  419  ;  (4)  C,  419. 

Claudius  (U.),  94-98;  (2)  M.  Glicia, 
188. 

Cleon,  286. 

Cleopatra,  434-437,  465,  474-478. 

Clients,  15,  46. 

Cloaca  Maxima,  54. 

Clodius  or  Claudius(P.)Pulcher,368, 
370,371,386,394-401,  408. 

Cloelia,  35. 

Clcelius,  88-90,  101. 

Cluilius,  17. 

Cocceius  (M.)  Nerva,  469. 

Coeliu&(M.),408,  419,  420. 

Collatinus,  see  Tarquinius. 

Colonies,  65. 

Comitium,  a,  38,  46. 

Connubium,  38. 

Conscripts,  58. 

Consulars  70. 

Consuls,  58. 

Coriolauus,  see  Marciiis. 

CorneUa,  293,300 ;  (2)410,434-435. 

Cornelius  (A.)  Cossus,  104, 121 ;  (2) 
A.  Arvina,  143. 

(Cn.)  Scipio,  180  ;  (2)  L., 

181 ;  (3)P.  and  Cn.,  198, 199,201, 
216,219,222,228 ;  (4)P.Africanus, 
201,211, 230, 233,  239-253,  257- 
261;(5)L.Asiaticus,239,244,257- 
259  ;  (6)  P.  /Emilianus  Africanns, 
270-276,  283-285,  299-300 ;  (7) 
P.  Nasica,  266,  296-299  ;  (8)  L., 
448  ;  (9)L.  Merula,344,346 ;  (10) 
Q.Metellus,410,431-433,439-441. 

(L.)  Sulla,  321-324, 332- 

343,  346-354  ;  (2)  Faustus,  441. 
■(L.)Cinna,  338, 343-347; 


(2)  L.,  450. 

(P.)  Lentulus,  286;  (2) 


P.  Lent.  Sura,  379-382  ;  (3)  P. 

Lent.  Spinther, 399, 421, 422,431  ; 

(4)  L.  Crus,  419  ;  (5)  Cn.  Mar- 

cellinus,  402. 

(C.)Cethegus,379,381,383. 

(P.)  Dolabella,  162, 165  ; 

(2)  P.,  438,  459,  452,  461. 
(Cn.)  Gallus,  477. 


Cornificius  (L.),  472. 
Conus,  see  Valerius. 
Cossus,  see  Cornelius. 
Cotta,  see  Aurelms. 


Crassus,  see  Licinius. 

Cremera,  75. 

Crispinus,  see  Quincfius. 

Curiatii,  17. 

Curies,  15,  45. 

Curio,  see  Scribonius. 

Curius(M'.)  Dentatus,  158, 167;  (2) 

Q.,  379,  380. 
Curtius  (M.),  127. 
Damasippus,  see  Junius. 
Decemvirs,  92. 
Decidius  (P.)  Saxa,  462. 
Decius(P.)  Mus,  134,  137-138  ;  (2) 

P.,  153-155,  170;  (3)  P.,  166; 

(4)  Q.,  309. 
Deiotarus,  437. 
Demetrius  of  Pharus,  192. 
Dictator,  59. 

Didius  (C),  444  ;  (2)  Q.,  476. 
Dolabella,  see  Cornelius. 
Domitius  (Cn.)  Ahenobarbus,  310  ; 

(2)  326;  (3)  L.,  349;  (4)  L.,  403, 

407,  409,  421, 422,  425  ;  (5)  Cn., 

467,  468,  474,  475. 
Domitius  (Cn.)  Calvinus,  407,  431, 

432. 
Drusus,  see  Livius. 
Duilius  (^I.),  96-98  ;  (2)  C,  180. 
Egeria,  16. 
Egerius,  21,  22. 
Egnatius  (GeUius),  153;  (2)  Marius, 

332,  334. 
Ennius  (Q.),  290. 
Epicy'des,  221,  227. 
Equites,  50. 
Etruscans,  6. 
Eumenes,  257,  258. 
Eunus,  286. 
Fabii,  71-76,  115. 
Fabius  (K.)  Vibulanus,  71,  72-76  ; 

(2)  Q.,  72,  74  ;  (3)  M.,  72,  73  ; 

(4)  Ambustus,  115  ;  (5)  M.,  123; 

(6)  M.,    130;  (7)   Q.  Rullianus 

Maximus,  142,143, 147-156,158, 

170;  (8)  Q.  Max.  Gurges,  158; 

(9)  Q.  Max.  Cunctator,  206-211, 

217, 219,  234,  243  ;  (10)  Q.  Max., 

222;  (11)  Q.  Pictor,  212,  290; 

(12.)  Q.  Max.  yEmilianus,  280; 

(13)  C,  425  ;  (14)  M.  Adrianus, 

370;  (15)  Q.  Sanga,  381. 
Fabricius  (C.)  Luscinus,  160,  165, 

166  ;  (2)  Q.,  399. 


496 


INDEX. 


Falerii,  113. 

Fannius  (C.),303,  304. 

Fasces,  16. 

Fasti,  169. 

Fathers,  15,  46. 

Faustiilus,  12. 

Favonius  (M.),  394. 

FidCiife,  104. 

Fimbria,  see  Flavins, 

riaccus,  see  Fulvius  and  l^alcrius. 

Flamens,  16. 

Flamininus,  see  Quinctius. 

Flaminius  (C),  193,  194,  204-205. 

Flavius  (Cn.),  369  ;  (2)  C.  Fimbria, 

343, 346 ;  (3)  L.  Nepos,  391,  399. 
Forum,  51. 

Fufius  (Q.)  Calenus,  430,  455. 
Fulvia,  379,  380  ;  (2)  408,  452,  460, 

407,  468. 
Fulvius  (Ser.)  Nobilior,  185  ;  (2)  Q., 

278,  281  ;  (3)  M.,  379. 
(Q.)  Flaccus,  222,  225,  229, 

234,  243;  (2)  M.,  299-301,304- 

306. 

(Q.)  Centumalus,  233. 


Furius  (Sp.),  82  ;  (2)  M.  Camillus, 

108,  113, 118,  122-125  ;  (3)  Sp., 

124;  (4)  L.,  131. 

(P.)  Philus,  283. 

Gabii,  27. 

Gabinius  (Q.),  309;  (2)  A.,  365;  (3) 

P.,  379,  381,  383;  (4)  A.,  362, 

376,  395,  390,  399. 
Galba,  see  Sidpicius. 
Ganls,  114. 

Gellius  (L.)  Poplicola,  360,  38  4. 
Gentius,  2C4. 

Genucius  (Cn.),  77  ;  (2)  Cn.,  109. 
Glaucia,  see  Servilius. 
Gracchus,  see  Semproruus. 
Gulussa,  267,  271. 
Hamilcar,  182,  183,  187  ;  (2)  Bar- 

cas,  188,  189,  191,  190. 
Hampsicora,  218. 
Hannibal  (son  of  Cisco),  179-181  ; 

(2)  son  of  Hamilcar,  196-256, 

260,  261. 
Hanno,  177, 178;  (2)  179, 182, 189, 

216;  (3)213;  (4)198,217,220,225. 
Hasdrubal  (sou  of  Hamilcar),  183, 

180;  (2)  196;  (3)  190,216,219, 

230,  235,  238  ;  (4)  219  ;  (5)  (son 

of  Gisco),  239,  240,  244,  247; 


(6)  267,  269,271,273,274;  (7) 
209,  271. 

Hastats,  172. 

Herdonius(Turnus),26  ;  (2)Ap.,87. 

Hernicans,  5. 

Hiempsal,  311. 

Hiero,  177-178,  191,219. 

Hieronvmus,  219. 

Hirtius  (A.),  455. 

Horatii,  17. 

Horatiiis  (M.)  Pulvillus,  33 ;  (2)  M. 
Codes,  34;  (3)  M.,  93,  97-99. 

Ilortensins  (Q.),  159  ;  (2)  Q.,  386, 
387  ;  (3)  Q.,  461. 

Hostilius  (Tullus),  17-20,  40;  (2)  L. 
Mancinus,271,  272  ;  (3)  C,  282. 

Hyrcanus,  376. 

Janus,  38,  193. 

Icilius  (L.),  94-99. 

Imperium,  47. 

Indibilis,  228,  233,  240,  241,  277. 

Interrex,  16,  46. 

Italy,  3. 

Juba,  424,  440-441. 

Judacilius,  332,  334. 

Jugum,  90. 

Jugurtha,  284,  311-322. 

Julia,  395. 

Julius  Proculus,15 ;  (2)C.,72  ;  (3)C., 
103;  (4)  L.,  103  ;  (5)  L.  Cassar, 
332-334,  345  ;  (6)  C.  Ca;sar,  372, 
379,  383-385,  392-402, 403,  411, 
449;  (7)  L.,  421,440,  441;  (8) 
C.  Octavianus,  453-479. 

lulus,  11. 

Junius  (L.)  Brutus,  28-32  ;  (2)  D., 
285 ;  (3)  L.  Damasippus,  349  ; 
(4)  M.,  356;  (5)  D.,  425,  447, 
455-456;  (6)  M.,  398,  446-455, 
461-403. 

(M.)  Silanus,231,  239  ;  (2) 

M.,  322  ;  (3)  D.,  383. 

(C.)  Norbanus,  402. 

Justitium,  92. 

Juventius  (P.)  Thalna,  276. 

Labienus,  see  Alius. 

Lcelius  (C),  231,233,239,  244-253, 
256  ;  (2)  C,  274,  293,  298,  301. 
Lffitorius  (C),  78. 
L?evinus,  see  Valerius. 
Lamponius,  332,  349. 
Larcius  (Sp.),  34  ;  (2)  T.,  59. 
Latins,  4,  65. 


INDEX. 


497 


Latinus,  10. 

Lavinia,  11. 

LaviniuiD,  11. 

Law,  Valerian,  33. 

,  Agrarian,  G8,  G9,   123-124, 

294-296,  392-393. 

,  Terentilian,  86. 

,  Icilian,  86. 

,  Twelve  Tables,  92. 

,  Licinian,  123. 

,  Publilian,  79,  140. 

,  Hortensian,  159. 

,  Sempronian,  294,  302,  304. 

,  Julian,  334,  443. 

,  Cornelian,  352,  353. 

,  Gabinian,  363. 

,  Manilian,  3/2. 

Legate,  173. 
Legatio  Libera,  288. 
Legion,  52,  172. 

(Linen),  157. 

Lentulus,  see  Cornelius. 

Lepidus,  see  Mmilius. 

Libo,  see  Scribonius. 

Licinius  (C),  64  ;  (2)  C.  Stolo,  123, 

124,  129  ;  (3)  C,  124. 
(L.)    Lucullus,  278,  279; 

(2)  L.,  366,  373,  387,  394,  395. 

(L.)  Muvena,  365. 

(P.)  Crassus,  263  ;  (2)  310  ; 


(3)  309;  (4)  M.,  332,  349,  351, 

360-362,  392,  393,  403-407 ; (5) 

P.,  396,  406,  413,  414. 
Lictors,  16. 
Ligmnans,  7. 
Livius  (M.),  223. 

(M.)  Salinator,  236-238. 

(M.)  Drusus,  304;    (2)   M., 

329,  330. 

(L.)  Andi-onicus,  290. 


Lucanians,  5. 

Luceres,  15,  44. 

Lucilius  (C),  479. 

Lucretia,  29,  30. 

Lucretius  (Sp.),  29,  33;  (2)  Q.Ofella, 

349  ;  (3)  L.,  353. 
Lucullus,  see  Licinius. 
Lucumo,  21,  114. 
Lutatius  (C.)  Catulus,  189  ;  (2)  Q., 

323,  325,  346  ;  (3)  Q.,  355,  363, 

379-382,  386,  389. 
Mfficenas,  see  Cihiius. 
Mselius  (Sp.),  102. 


Mffinius  (C),  72  ;  (2)  L.,  129. 
Mago,  203,213,239,212,244,249. 
IJaharbal,  206,  212. 
Mamertines,  177. 
Mamilius  (Octavius),  26,  35  ;  (2)  L., 

88;  (3)  C,  314. 
Mancinus,  see  Hostilius. 
Mandonius,  233,  240,  241,  277. 
Manilius  (C),  371. 
Manlius  (Cn.),  73,  74  ;  (2)  M.  Capi- 

tolinus,118, 121;(3)P.,  124;(4) 

L.  Imperiosus,  126  ;  (5)  T.  Tor- 

quatus,  126,  128,  131,  137-138, 

139  ;  (6)  Cn.  Vulso,  259  ;  (7)  C, 

386,  387. 
Marcellus,  see  Claudius. 
Marcins  (Ancus),  20  ;  (2)  Cn.  Co- 

riolanus,  83-85  ;  (3)  C.  Rutilus, 

130, 131, 135  ;(4)L., 228, 231, 240. 
L.  Censoriiius,  267, 270;  (2) 

L.,  465. 

Q.  Rex,  310. 

(Q.)Philippus,233;  (2)  L., 

330  ;  (3)  L.,  402,  453,  455. 
Marius    (C),    318-328,    332-338, 

344-345  ;  (2)  C,  348,  349  ;  (3) 

M.  Gratidianus,  351. 
JIarrucinians,  5. 
Marsians,  5. 
Masinissa,  222,  239,  241,  244-249, 

266,  267,  271. 
Massilia,  424,  427. 
Massiva,  313. 
Mastarna,  42. 
Master  of  the  horse,  59. 
Megara,  270. 
Memmius  (C),  312,  328  ;  (2)  C, 

407,  410. 
Menenius  (Agrippa)  Lanatus,  63 ; 

(2)  T.,  76,  77. 
Merula,  see  Cornelius. 
Messala,  see  Valerius. 
Metellus,  see  Ccecilius. 
Mettius  Fuffetius,  17-19. 
Iklezentius,  10. 
Micipsa,  271,  311. 
?Jilo,  see  Junius. 

Minucius  ^Q.),  88 ;  (2)  M.,  206-208, 
211;  (3)  Q.  Thermus,  385  ;  (4) 
Basilus,  44  7. 
Mitbridates,  339,  343,  364-377;  (2) 

437. 
More  Majonim,  70. 


498 


INDEX. 


Mucius  (C.)  Scfevola,  34  ;  (2)  294, 

298,  299  ;  (3)  Q.,  346,  349. 
Mummius  (L.),  276,  278. 
Munatius  (T.)  Plancus,  408-410; 

(2)  L.,  475,  479. 
Municipium,  82. 
Murena,  see  Licinius. 
Najvius  (Cn.),  290. 
Nasica,  see  Cornelius. 
Navius  (Attus),  22. 
Nepheris,  269,  274. 
Nero,  see  Claudius. 
Nervians,  413. 
Nexus,  59. 

Nicomedes,  340,  365. 
Ninius  (L.),  396. 
Norbanus  (C),  348,  349. 
Numantia,  281. 
Numa  Pompilius,  16,  40. 
Numisius,  139. 
Numitor,  11-12. 
Numitorius  (P.),  95-98  ;  (2)  Pullus, 

301. 
OctaAda,  469,  471,  474. 
Octa\ianus,  see  Julius. 
Octavius  (Cn.),264;  (2)  M.  Csecina, 

295, 296  ;  (3)  Cn.,  338,  344,  345  ; 

(4)  406. 
Ogulnius  (Q.),  159. 
Opimius  (L.),  301,  303,  306-307, 

311,  315. 
Oppius  (Sp.),  96,  98  ;  (2)  M.,  97. 
Orodes,  405. 
Orceses,  375- 
Oscans,  4. 
Ostia,  20. 
Pacorus,  470. 

Pacuvius  Calayius,  213  ;  (2)  290. 
Paganalia,  54. 
Pansa,  see  Vibius. 
Papirius  (M.),  117;  (2)  L.  Cursor, 

142,  145,  146,  151  ;  (3)  L.,  156. 
— (C.)  Cai-bo,  299,  309  ;  (2) 

Cn.,  322  ;  (3)  Cn.,  344-348,  351. 
Papius  Brutulus,  143  ;  (2)  C.  Muti- 

lus,  332-334. 
Parthians,  339,  404. 
Patres,  15,  45. 
Patricians,  15,  45. 
Pelasgians,  3. 
Pelignians,  5. 
Perperna  (M.),  310;  (2)  C,  332, 

352,  357,  359. 


Perseus,  263-265. 

Petillius,  Q.,  260. 

Petreius  (M.),  384  ;  (2)  M.,  425- 
426,  441. 

Pharnaces,  377,  437. 

Philip,  217,  256,  263  ;  (2)  435. 

Philippus,  see  Marcius. 

Phraates,  374. 

Picenians,  5. 

Pilum,  171. 

Piso,  see  Calpurnitis  and  Pupius. 

Plancus,  see  Munatius. 

Plautius  (C),  130  ;  (2)  L.  Hypsaeus, 
286;  (3)  P.,  410. 

Plautus,  see  Accius. 

Plebiscits,  136. 

Plebs,  15,  48. 

Pompaedius,  or  Popedius  (Q.)  Silo, 
331,  333. 

Pompeius  (Q.)  Rufus,  282;  (2)  Q, 
296  ;  (3)  Q.  Rufus,  335-338. 

(Cn.)    Strabo,  332,  334, 

338,  344  ;  (2)  Cn.  Magnus,  348, 
352, 355-364, 372-378, 391-403, 
409-410,  418-422,  428-435; (3) 
Cn.,  433,  444  ;  (4)  Sex.,  434,  439, 
444, 469-472. 

Pomponius  (M.),  127;  (2)  T.  At- 
ticus,  451,  460. 

Pontidius  (C),  332. 

Pontiffs,  16. 

Pontius  (C),  144-146,  158;  (2) 
Telesinus,  332,  349. 

Popedius,  see  Pompcedius. 

Popillius  (M.)  Laenas,  130, 131  ;  (2) 
M.,  282;  (3)  M.,  287;  (4)  P., 
302  ;  (5)  C,  459. 

Poplicola,  see  Valerius. 

Populifugia,  119. 

Populus,  46. 

Porcia,  464. 

Porcius  (M.)  Cato,  244,  260,  262, 
266,277,290;  (2)  M.,  334;  (3) 
M.,  383,  385,  389,  390,  392,  394, 
397, 398, 403, 423, 433, 439-441; 
(4)  C,  402  :  (5)  M.  Lseca,  379. 

Porsenna,  34,  35,  43. 

Postumius  (A.)  Albus,  82 ;  (2)  Tu- 
bertus,  103 ;  (3)  M.,  106 ;  (4)  Sp., 
144,  145;  (5)  L.,  161  ;  (6)  L., 
192;  (7)  L.,  215;  (8)  Sp.  Albi- 
nus,  313,  315. 

Prcetor,  58. 


INDEX. 


499 


Principes,  172. 

Priscans,  4, 

Proconsul,  141. 

Proculiis,  see  Julius. 

Proletarians,  51. 

Proscription,  350. 

Provinces,  191,  288. 

Prusias,  260,  287. 

Ptolem£Eus  of  Cvpras,  397, 398  ;  (2) 

of  Egypt,  434  ;  (3)  434-437. 
Publicans,  289. 
Public  land,  68. 
Ptiblicum,  60. 
Publilius  (Volero),  77  ;  (2)  Q.  PhUo, 

140-141,  145. 
Pupius  (M.)  Piso,  386,  391. 
Pyrrhus,  162-167. 
Qucestors,  100. 

Quinctius  (T.)  Capitolinus,  78,  81, 
82  ;  ;2)  K.,  86-88  ;  (3)  L.  Cin- 
ciunatus,  88-90,  93, 102  ;  (4)  T., 
135  ;  (5)  T.  Crispinus,  227,  235  ; 
(6)  T.  Flamininus,  255,  260. 

N.,  369. 

Quiiinus,  15. 

Quirites,  14,  39. 

Ramnes,  15,  44. 

Rasena,  6. 

Regifugium,  30. 

Regulus,  see  Atilius. 

Remus,  12,  13. 

Romulus,  12-15. 

Rostra,  140. 

Ruminal  fig-tree,  11. 

Rupilius  (P.),  286. 

Rutilius  (P.),  329  ;  (2)  P.,  332, 333. 

Sabellians,  5. 

Sabines,  5. 

Saguntum,  197. 

Salii,  17. 

SaUustius(C.)Crispus,  438,442,480. 

Samuites,  5. 

Saturninus,  see  Apuleius. 

Saufeius  (C),  328. 

Scffivola,  see  Mucins. 

Scaptius,  464. 

Scaurus,  see  /Emilius. 

Scipio,  see  Cornelius  and  Ccecilius. 

Scribonius  (C.)  Curio,  419,  420, 424. 

(L.)  Libo,  430,  468. 

Secession,  64,  97,  159. 
Sempronius  (A.)  Atratinus,  72  ;  (2) 
C,  105  ;  (3)  A.  Asellio,  335. 


Sempronius  (Tib.)   Gracchus,  198, 

202-204,  215, 220,  222,  225  ;  (2) 

Tib..  261,  277;    (3)    Tib.,   282, 

293-299,  307  ;  (4)  C,  200-308. 

Senate,  15,  46. 

Septimius,  435. 

Sergius  (M.),  108  ;  (2)  L.  Catilina, 

351,  378,  383. 
Serranus,  see  Atilius, 
Sertorius  (Q.),  344,  356-358. 
ServiUus  (Q.)  Priscus,  81 ;  (2)  Q., 
90;  (3)   C.  Ahala,  102;   (4)  Q. 
Priscus,  103,  106;  (5)  Q.  Abala, 
135;  (6)  Cn.  Capio,  281,  326, 
327;  (7)  Q.  Caepio,  323 ;  (8)  C. 
Glaucia,  326,  328  ;  (9)  P.  Isauri- 
cus,  362 ;  (10)  C.  and  P.  Casca, 
447,  448. 
Sextius  (L.)  Lateranus,   122-124  ; 

(2)  C,  310  ;  (3)  P.,  399,  402. 
Sibylline  Books,  28. 
Siciuius  (L.)  Bellutus,  62,  64 ;  (2) 

L.  Dentatus,  94. 
Silanus,  see  Junius. 
Silvia,  11. 
Silvii,  11. 

Sisenna,  see  Cornelius. 
Sitius,  441. 

Sophonisba,  241,  248,  249. 
Spartacus,  360,  361. 
Spolia  opima,  104,  195. 
Spurinna,  448. 
Statilius  (L.),  379,  381,  383  ;  (2) 

T.  Taurus,  471. 
Sublician  Bridge,  20. 
Suevians,  414,  416. 
Sulla,  see  Cornelius. 
Sulpicius  (Ser.),  123  ;  (2)  C,  127, 
128;  (3)  C,  148;  (4)  P.,  255; 
(5)  Ser.  Galba,  255 ;  (6)  P.  Ru- 
fus,  333-336. 
Surma,  405,  406. 
Syphax,  222,  240,  242,  244-249. 
Syracuse,  221,  226. 
Tables  (Ttvelve),  92. 
Tanaquil,  21-23. 
Tai'entum,  222. 
Tarpeia,  14. 

Tarquinius  (L.)  Priscus,  21-23,42  ; 
(2)  L.  Superbus,  24-36;  (3)  Sex., 
27-30  ;  (4)  Collatinus,  29-32. 

L.,  382. 

Tarquitius  (L.),  89. 


500 


INDEX. 


Tatius,  14. 
Tectosages,  323. 
Telesinus,  see  Pontius. 
Tempauius  (Sex.),  105. 
Terence,  290. 
Terentilius  (C.)  Arsa,  85. 
Terentius  (C.)  Varro,  209-213  ;  (2) 
C,  278  ;  (3)  M.,  425,  427,  445, 
460,  480 ;  (4)  P.  Afer,  290. 
Teuta,  192. 
Teutones,  322,  323. 
Ticinus,  201. 

Tigranes,  339,  365,  368,  374. 
Tigranocerta,  365,  369. 
Tillius  Cimber  (L.),  447,  448. 
Titienses,  15,  44. 
Titiriius  (L.),  109  ;  (2)  462. 
Titiiis,  (M.),  472. 
Toga,  89. 

Tolumnius  (Lars),  104. 
Trebonius  (C),  425,  427,  429,  447, 

461. 
Triariayis,  172. 
Triarius,  see  Volscius. 
Tribes,  15,  44,  49. 
Tribunes,  15,  49,  64. 
Tribute,  49. 

Triumvirate,  392  ;  (2)  457. 
Trvpbo,  325. 
Tullia,  25,  26. 

Tullius  (Ser.),  23-25,  41  ;  (2)  Attus, 
66,  67,  83;  (3)  M.  Cicero,  372, 
379-386,390, 395-401,  410-413, 
422,  433,  438,  450-460  ;  (4)  M., 
461  ;  (5)  Q.,  400,  416,  459. 
Turnus,  11. 
Umbrenus,  381. 
Umbrians,  4. 
Vaccaeans,  278. 

Valerius  (P.)  Poplicola,  29,  32,  33 ; 
(2)M.,36;(3)62;(4)L.,70;(.5) 
L., 93,96-99;  (6)  M.  Corvus,  131, 
133,135  ;(7)P.LaEviuus,  163,165; 
(8)  M.  Lsevimis,  217,  221,  231. 


Valerius  (P.)  Flaccus,  217  ;  (2)  L., 
326,  343,  346. 

(M.)  Messaia.  391, 408, 464, 


472.- 


(C.)  Triarius,  371. 
(C.)  Catullus,  479. 


Varguntelus  (L.),  379. 

Varinius  (P.)  Glaber,  359. 

Varius  (Q.),  330. 

Varro,  see  Terentius. 

Varus,  see  Alius. 

Vatinius  (P.),  393,  395,  403,  429. 

Veii,  107. 

Veldti,  51. 

Velites,  173. 

Ventidius    (P.),  332-333  ;    (2)  P., 
456,  470. 

Vercingetorix,  417. 

Verres  (C),  288,  391. 

Vestals,  16. 

Vestinians,  5. 

Vettius  Messius,  103  ;  (2)  L.,  395  ; 
(3)  Scato,  332. 

Veturia,  84. 

Viljius  Virrius,  230 ;  (2)  C.  Pansa, 
455. 

Vindicius,  31,  43. 

Vipsanius  (M.)  Agrippa,  470-472, 

475. 
Virgilius  (C),  397. 
Virginia,  94,  95. 
Virginius  (T.)  Tricostus,74,  98  ;  (2) 

L.,  108. 
Viriathus,  279-281. 
Viridomarus,  195. 
Vitellii,  31. 
Volero,  see  Publilius. 

Volones,  220. 

Volscians,  4. 

Volscius  (M.)  Fictor,  86,  90. 

Volturcius  (T.),  381. 

Volumnia,  84. 

Xantbippus,  184. 


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