History of Rome, Vol III by Titus Livius

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40. The Roman, together with the Carthaginian ambassadors, having
arrived at Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple
of Bellona; when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of
the senate, that a battle had been fought with Hannibal, which was
decisive of the fate of the Carthaginians, and that a period was
at length put to that calamitous war. He added what formed a small
accession to their successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax,
had been vanquished. He was then ordered to go forth to the public
assembly, and impart the joyful tidings to the people. Then, a
thanksgiving having been appointed, all the temples in the city
were thrown open, and supplications for three days were decreed. The
ambassadors of the Carthaginians, and those of king Philip, for they
also had arrived, requesting an audience of the senate, answer was
made by the dictator, by order of the fathers, that the new consuls
would give them an audience. The elections were then held. The consuls
elected were Cneius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus.
The praetors elected were Marcus Junius Pennus, to whose lot the
city jurisdiction fell, Marcus Valerius Falto, who received Bruttium,
Marcus Fabius Buteo, who received Sardinia, and Publius Aelius Tubero,
who received Sicily. It was the pleasure of the senate that nothing
should be done respecting the provinces of the consuls, till the
ambassadors of king Philip and the Carthaginians had been heard;
for they foresaw the termination of one war and the commencement
of another. Cneius Lentulus, the consul, was inflamed with a strong
desire to have the province of Africa, looking forward to an easy
victory if there was still war, or, if it was on the point of being
concluded, to the glory of having it terminated in his consulate. He
therefore refused to allow any business to be transacted before the
province of Africa was assigned him; his colleague, who was a moderate
and prudent man, giving up his claim to it, for he clearly saw that
a contest with Scipio for that honour would be not only unjust
but unequal. Quintus Minucius Thermus, and Manius Acilius Glabrio,
tribunes of the people, said that Cneius Cornelius was endeavouring to
effect the same object which had been attempted in vain by the consul
Tiberius Claudius the former year. That, by the direction of the
senate, it had been proposed to the people to decide whom they wished
to have the command in Africa, and all the thirty-five tribes had
concurred in assigning that command to Publius Scipio. After many
discussions, both in the senate and popular assembly, it was at length
determined to leave it to the senate. The fathers, therefore, on
oath, for so it had been agreed, voted, that as to the provinces, the
consuls should settle between themselves, or determine by lots, which
of them should have Italy, and which a fleet of fifty ships. That he
to whose lot the fleet fell should sail to Sicily, and if peace could
not be concluded with the Carthaginians, that he should cross over
into Africa. That the consul should act by sea, and Scipio by land,
with the same right of command as heretofore. If an agreement should
be come to, as to the terms of the peace, that then the plebeian
tribunes should consult the commons as to whether they ordered the
consul or Publius Scipio to grant the peace; and if the victorious
army was to be brought home out of Africa, whom they ordered to bring
it. That if they ordered that the peace should be granted by Publius
Scipio, and that the army should be brought home likewise by him, then
the consul should not pass out of Sicily into Africa. That the other
consul, to whose lot Italy fell, should receive two legions from
Marcus Sextius the praetor.

41. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the province of Africa,
with the armies which he then had. To the praetor Marcus Valerius
Falto the two legions in Bruttium, which Caius Livius had commanded
the preceding year, were assigned. Publius Aelius, the praetor, was to
receive two legions in Sicily from Cneius Tremellius. To Marcus Fabius
was assigned one legion, which Publius Lentulus, propraetor, had
commanded, to be employed in Sardinia; Marcus Servilius, the consul of
the former year, was continued in command in Etruria, with his own
two legions likewise. As to Spain, it appeared that Lucius Cornelius
Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus had been there for now several
years. It was resolved, therefore, that the consuls should make
application to the plebeian tribunes to take the opinion of the
people, if they thought proper, as to whom they ordered to have
command in Spain; that the person so ordered should form one legion of
Roman soldiers out of the two armies, and also fifteen cohorts of
the allies of the Latin confederacy, with which he should occupy the
province. That Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus
should convey the old soldiers into Italy. To Cornelius, the consul,
was assigned a fleet of fifty ships formed out of the two fleets, one
of which was under Cneius Octavius in Africa, the other employed
in protecting the coast of Sicily, under Publius Villius. He was to
select such ships as he pleased. That Publius Scipio should still
have the forty ships of war which he before had, or if he wished that
Cneius Octavius should command it, as he had commanded a fleet there
before, that Octavius should be continued in command for a year as
propraetor; but if he appointed Laelius to the command of it, Octavius
should retire to Rome, and bring with him the ships which the consul
did not want. To Marcus Fabius also ten men of war were assigned for
Sardinia. The consuls were directed to enlist two city legions, so
that the operations of the state might be carried on this year with
fourteen legions, and one hundred men of war.

42. Then the business relating to the ambassadors of Philip and the
Carthaginians was considered. It was resolved that the Macedonians
should be brought before the senate first. Their address comprehended
a variety of subjects, being employed partly in clearing themselves
from the charges relative to the depredations committed against the
allies, which the deputies sent to the king from Rome had brought
against them; and partly in preferring accusations themselves against
the allies of the Roman people, but particularly against Marcus
Aurelius, whom they inveighed against with much greater acrimony; for
they said that, being one of the three ambassadors sent to them,
he had staid behind, and levying soldiers, had assailed them with
hostilities contrary to the league, and frequently fought pitched
battles with their prefects; and partly in preferring a request that
the Macedonians and their general, Sopater, who had served in the
army of Hannibal for hire, and having been made prisoners were kept
in bondage, should be restored to them. In opposition to these things
Marcus Furius, who had been sent from Macedonia for the express
purpose by Aurelius, thus argued: he said, "that Aurelius, having
been left behind, lest the allies of the Roman people, wearied by
devastations and injuries, should revolt to the king, had not gone
beyond the boundaries of the allies; but had taken measures to prevent
plundering parties from crossing over into their lands with impunity.
That Sopater was one of those who wore purple, and was related to
the king; that he had been lately sent into Africa with four
thousand Macedonians and a sum of money to assist Hannibal and the
Carthaginians." The Macedonians, on being interrogated on these
points, proceeded to answer in a subtle and evasive manner; but
without waiting for the conclusion of their reply they were told,
"that the king was seeking occasion for war, and that if he persisted
he would soon obtain his object. That the treaty had been doubly
violated by him, both by offering insults to the allies of the Roman
people, by assaulting them with hostilities and arms, and also by
aiding their enemies with auxiliaries and money. That Publius Scipio
was deemed to have acted properly and regularly in keeping in chains,
as enemies, those who had been made prisoners while bearing arms
against the Romans; and that Marcus Aurelius had consulted the
interest of the state, and the senate were thankful to him for it, in
protecting the allies of the Roman people by arms, since he could not
do it by the obligation of the treaty." The Macedonian ambassadors
having been dismissed with this unpleasant answer, the Carthaginian
ambassadors were called. On observing their ages and dignified
appearance, for they were by far the first men of the state, all
promptly declared their conviction, that now they were sincere in
their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace, and was
opposed to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest
than the rest. On these accounts the greater weight was attached to
him when transferring the blame of the war from the state at large to
the cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
admitted some, lest by impudently denying what was manifestly
true their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
and moderation in their prosperity, he said, that if the Carthaginians
had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated
terms of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely
happened that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon
men at the same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible,
because when successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and
prudence; and indeed it would have been matter of astonishment did
they act otherwise. That those persons to whom success was a new and
uncommon thing, proceeded to a pitch of madness in their ungoverned
transports in consequence of their not being accustomed to it. That to
the Roman people the joy arising from victory was a matter of common
occurrence, and was now almost become old-fashioned. That they
had extended their empire more by sparing the vanquished than by
conquering. The language employed by the others was of a nature more
calculated to excite compassion; they represented from what a height
of power the Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing, besides
the walls of Carthage, remained to those who a little time ago held
almost the whole world in subjection by their arms; that, shut up
within these, they could see nothing any where on sea or land which
owned their authority. That they would retain possession of their city
itself and their household gods only, in case the Roman people should
refrain from venting their indignation upon these, which is all that
remains for them to do. When it was manifest that the fathers were
moved by compassion, it is said that one of the senators, violently
incensed at the perfidy of the Carthaginians, immediately asked with
a loud voice, by what gods they would swear in striking the league,
since they had broken their faith with those by whom they swore in
striking the former one? By those same, replied Hasdrubal, who have
shown such determined hostility to the violators of treaties.

43. The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate.
Upon this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the
people, put the question to the people, whether they willed and
ordered that the senate should decree that peace should be made with
the Carthaginians? whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to
conduct the army out of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting
the peace according as the question had been put. That Publius Scipio
should grant the peace, and that he also should conduct the army
home. Agreeably to this order, the senate decreed that Publius Scipio,
acting according to the opinion of the ten deputies, should make
peace with the Carthaginian people on what terms he pleased. The
Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate, and requested
that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse with their
countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of the
state; observing, that some of them were their relations and friends,
and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
messages from their relations. Having obtained these requests, they
again asked permission to ransom such of them as they pleased; when
they were desired to give in their names. Having given in a list of
about two hundred, a decree of the senate was passed to the effect,
that the Carthaginian ambassadors should be allowed to take away into
Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two hundred of the Carthaginian
prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and that they should convey
to him a message, that if the peace were concluded, he should restore
them to the Carthaginians without ransom. The heralds being; ordered
to go into Africa to strike the league, at their own desire the senate
passed a decree that they should take with them flint stones of their
own, and vervain of their own; that the Roman praetor should command
them to strike the league, and that they should demand of him herbs.
The description of herb usually given to the heralds is taken from the
Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians, being allowed to depart from Rome,
when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded the peace on the
terms before mentioned. They delivered up their men-of-war, their
elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand prisoners, among
whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships he ordered to
be taken out into the main and burnt. Some say there were five hundred
of every description of those which are worked with oars, and that the
sudden sight of these, when burning, occasioned as deep a sensation
of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in flames. The
measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe than those
respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin confederacy were
decapitated; the Romans were crucified.

44. The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before
this, in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
commenced twenty-three years afterwards, in the consulate of Publius
Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus.
It is related that Scipio frequently said afterwards, that first the
ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterwards of Cneius Cornelius,
were the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the
destruction of Carthage. The Carthaginians, finding difficulty in
raising the first sum of money to be paid, as their finances were
exhausted by a protracted war, and in consequence great lamentation
and grief arising in the senate-house, it is said that Hannibal was
observed laughing; and when Hasdrubal Haedus rebuked him for laughing
amid the public grief, when he himself was the occasion of the tears
which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression of the countenance
is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of the mind could be
distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that that laughter which
you censure came from a heart not elated with joy, but frantic with
misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those absurd and
inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept, when our
arms were taken from us, our ships burnt, and we were forbidden to
engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor
is it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans
have adopted towards you have been dictated by animosity. No great
state can remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad
it finds one at home, in the same manner as over-robust bodies
seem secure from external causes, but are encumbered with their own
strength. So far, forsooth, we are affected with the public calamities
as they reach our private affairs; nor is there any circumstance
attending them which is felt more acutely than the loss of money.
Accordingly, when the spoils were torn down from vanquished Carthage,
when you beheld her left unarmed and defenceless amid so many armed
nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh. Now, because a tribute is to be
levied from private property, you lament with one accord, as though at
the funeral of the state. How much do I dread lest you should soon be
made sensible that you have shed tears this day for the lightest of
your misfortunes!" Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered
to the Carthaginians. Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented
Masinissa, in addition to his paternal dominions, with the town of
Cirta, and the other cities and territories which had passed from the
kingdom of Syphax into the possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius
Octavius to conduct the fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius
Cornelius the consul, and directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go
to Rome, that the arrangements he had made, with the advice of the
ten deputies, might be ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the
order of the people.

45. Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his
troops and crossed over to Lilybaeum in Sicily; whence, having sent
a great part of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through
Italy, which was rejoicing, not less on account of the peace than the
victory; while not only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to
show him honour, but crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived
at Rome and entered the city in a triumph of unparalleled splendour.
He brought into the treasury one hundred and twenty-three thousand
pounds of silver. He distributed to each of his soldiers four hundred
asses out of the spoils. By the death of Syphax, which took place but
a short time before at Tibur, whither he had been removed from Alba,
a diminution was occasioned in the interest of the pageant rather than
in the glory of him who triumphed. His death, however, was attended
with circumstances which produced a strong sensation, for he was
buried at the public expense. Polybius, an author by no means to
be despised, asserts that this king was led in the triumph. Quintus
Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his triumph with a cap of liberty
on his head, and during the remainder of his life treated him with the
respect due to him as the author of his freedom. I have not been able
to ascertain whether the partiality of the soldiers or the favour of
the people fixed upon him the surname of Africanus, or whether in the
same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla, and Magnus to Pompey,
in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the flattery of his
friends. He was, doubtless, the first general who was distinguished by
a name derived from the nation which he had conquered. Afterwards,
in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in his
victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
honourable surnames to their families.

BOOK XXXI.

_Renewal of the war with Philip, king of Macedon. Successes
of Publius Sulpicius, consul, who had the conduct of that war.
The Abydenians, besieged by Philip, put themselves to death,
together with their wives and children. Lucius Furius,
praetor, defeats the Insubrian Gauls who had revolted; and
Hamilcar, who stirred up the insurrection, is slain, with
thirty-five thousand men. Further operations of Sulpicius,
Attalus, and the Rhodians against Philip_.

1. It is delightful even to me to have come to the end of the Punic war,
as if I myself had borne a share of the toil and danger. For though
it by no means becomes a person, who has ventured to promise an entire
history of all the Roman affairs, to be fatigued by any particular
parts of so extensive a work; yet when I reflect that sixty-three
years (for so many there are from the first Punic war to the end of
the second) have occupied as many of my volumes, as the four hundred
and eighty-seven years, from the building of the city to the consulate
of Appius Claudius, who first made war on the Carthaginians, I plainly
perceive that, like those who, tempted by the shallows near the shore,
walk into the sea, the farther I advance, I am carried, as it were,
into a greater depth and abyss; and that my work almost increases on
my hands which seemed to be diminished by the completion of each of
its earlier portions. The peace with Carthage was quickly followed by
a war with Macedonia: a war, not to be compared to the former, indeed,
either in danger, or in the abilities of the commander, or the valour
of the soldiers; but almost more remarkable with regard to the renown
of their former kings, the ancient fame of that nation, and the vast
extent of their empire, in which they had formerly comprehended a
large part of Europe, and the greater part of Asia. The contest with
Philip, which had begun about ten years before, had been intermitted
for the three last years; the Aetolians having been the occasion both
of the war and the peace. The entreaties of the Athenians whom, having
ravaged their lands, Philip had driven into their city, excited the
Romans to a renewal of the war, left, as they were, disengaged by
the Carthaginian peace, and incensed against him as well for his
treacherous negotiation of peace with the Aetolians and the other
allies in that region, as on account of the auxiliaries sent by him
with money into Africa to Hannibal and the Carthaginians.

2. About the same time, ambassadors arrived both from king Attalus,
and from the Rhodians, with information that the Macedonian was
tampering with the states of Asia. To these embassies an answer was
given, that the senate would give attention to the affairs of Asia.
The determination with regard to the making war on him, was left open
to the consuls, who were then in their provinces. In the mean time,
three ambassadors were sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, namely,
Caius Claudius Nero, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Publius
Sempronius Tuditanus, to announce their conquest of Hannibal and the
Carthaginians; to give thanks to the king for his faithful adherence
to his engagements in the time of their distress, when even the
nearest allies of the Romans abandoned them; and to request that if,
compelled by ill treatment, they should undertake a war with Philip,
he would preserve his former disposition towards the Roman people. In
Gaul, about this time, the consul, Publius Aelius, having heard that,
before his arrival, the Boians had made inroads on the territories
of the allies, levied two occasional legions on account of this
disturbance; and adding to them four cohorts from his own army,
ordered Caius Oppius, the praefect, to march with this tumultuary
band through Umbria, (which is called the Sappinian district,) and to
invade the territories of the Boians. He himself led his own troops
thither openly, over the intervening mountains. Oppius, on entering
the same, for some time committed depredations with tolerable success
and safety. But afterwards, having pitched on a place near a fort
called Mutilum, convenient enough for cutting down the corn, (for
the crops were now ripe,) and setting out without having reconnoitred
around, and without establishing armed posts of sufficient strength
to protect those who were unarmed and intent on their work, he was
suddenly surrounded, together with his foragers, by an unexpected
invasion of the Gauls. On this, panic and flight seized even on those
who were furnished with weapons. Seven thousand men, dispersed through
the corn fields, were put to the sword, among whom was the commander
himself, Caius Oppius. The rest were driven by terror into the camp;
from whence, in consequence of a resolution of the soldiers, they set
out on the following night, without any particular commander; and,
leaving behind a great part of their baggage, made their way, through
woods almost impassable, to the consul, who returned to Rome without
having performed any thing in his province worth notice, except
that he ravaged the lands of the Boians, and made a treaty with the
Ingaunian Ligurians.

3. The first time he assembled the senate, it was unanimously ordered
that he should propose no other business before that which related to
Philip and the complaints of the allies. It was immediately taken into
consideration, and a numerous senate decreed, that Publius Aelius,
consul, should send such person as he might think proper, vested with
command, to receive the fleet which Cneius Octavius was bringing home
from Sicily, and pass over to Macedonia. Accordingly Marcus Valerius
Laevinus, propraetor, was sent; and, receiving thirty-eight ships from
Cneius Octavius, near Vibo, he sailed to Macedonia, where, when
Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, had come to him and informed him what
numerous forces and what large fleets the king had prepared, and
how he was arousing the inhabitants to arms, partly by visiting them
himself and partly by ambassadors, not only through all the cities of
the continent, but even in the islands, (Laevinus was convinced) that
the war ought to be undertaken by the Romans with greater vigour;
lest, if they were dilatory, Philip might attempt that which had
been formerly undertaken by Pyrrhus, who possessed not such large
dominions. He therefore desired Aurelius to convey this intelligence
by letter to the consuls and to the senate.