History of Rome, Vol III by Titus Livius

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34. Philip, provoked by this discourse of Alexander, pushed his ship
nearer to the land, that he might be the better heard, and began to
speak with much violence, particularly against the Aetolians. But
Phaeneas, interrupting him, said that "the business depended not upon
words; he must either conquer in war, or submit to his superiors."
"That, indeed, is evident," said Philip, "even to the blind,"
reflecting on Phaeneas, who had a disorder in his eyes: for he was
naturally fonder of such pleasantries than became a king; and even in
the midst of serious business, did not sufficiently restrain himself
from ridicule. He then began to express great indignation at the
"Aetolians assuming as much importance as the Romans, and insisting
on his evacuating Greece; people who could not even tell what were its
boundaries. For, of Aetolia itself, a large proportion, consisting of
the Agraeans, Apodeotians, and Amphilochians, was no part of Greece.
Have they just ground of complaint against me for not refraining from
war with their allies, when themselves, from the earliest period,
follow, as an established rule, the practice of suffering their young
men to carry arms against those allies, withholding only the public
authority of the state; while very frequently contending armies have
Aetolian auxiliaries on both sides? I did not seize on Cius by force,
but assisted my friend and ally, Prusias, who was besieging it, and
Lysimachia I rescued from the Thracians. But since necessity diverted
my attention from the guarding of it to this present war, the
Thracians have possession of it. So much for the Aetolians. To Attalus
and the Rhodians I in justice owe nothing; for not to me, but to
themselves, is the commencement of hostilities to be attributed.
However, out of respect to the Romans, I will restore Peraea to the
Rhodians, and to Attalus his ships, and such prisoners as can be
found. As to what concerns Nicephorium, and the temple of Venus, what
other answer can I make to those who require their restoration, than
that I will take on myself the trouble and expense of replanting
them--the only way in which woods and groves which have been cut down
can be restored,--since it is thought fit that, between kings, such
kinds of demands should be made and answered." The last part of his
speech was directed to the Achaeans, wherein he enumerated, first, the
kindnesses of Antigonus; then, his own towards their nation, desiring
them to consider the decrees themselves had passed concerning him,
which comprehended every kind of honour, divine and human; and to
these he added their late decree, by which they had confirmed the
resolution of deserting him. He inveighed bitterly against their
perfidy, but told them, that nevertheless he would give them back
Argos. "With regard to Corinth, he would consult with the Roman
general; and would, at the same time, inquire from him, whether he
thought it right, that he (Philip) should evacuate only those cities
which, being captured by himself, were held by the right of war; or
those, also, which he had received from his ancestors."

35. The Achaeans and Aetolians were preparing to answer, but, as the
sun was near setting, the conference was adjourned to the next day;
and Philip returned to his station whence he came, the Romans and
allies to their camp. On the following day, Quinctius repaired to
Nicaea, which was the place agreed on, at the appointed time; but
neither Philip, nor any messenger from him, came for several hours. At
length, when they began to despair of his coming, his ships suddenly
appeared. He said, that "the terms enjoined were so severe and
humiliating, that, not knowing what to determine, he had spent the day
in deliberation." But the general opinion was, that he had purposely
delayed the business until late, that the Achaeans and Aetolians might
not have time to answer him: and this opinion he himself confirmed, by
desiring that time might not be consumed in altercation, and, to bring
the affair to some conclusion, that the others should retire, and
leave him to converse with the Roman general. For some time this was
not admitted, lest the allies should appear to be excluded from the
conference. Afterwards, on his persisting in his desire, the Roman
general, with the consent of all, taking with him Appius Claudius,
a military tribune, advanced to the brink of the coast, and the rest
retired. The king, with the two persons whom he had brought the day
before, came on shore, where they conversed a considerable time in
private. What account of their proceedings Philip gave to his people
is not well known: what Quinctius told the allies was, that "Philip
was willing to cede to the Romans the whole coast of Illyricum, and
to give up the deserters and prisoners, if there were any. That he
consented to restore to Attalus his ships, and the seamen taken with
them; and to the Rhodians the tract which they call Peraea. That he
refused to evacuate Iassus and Bargylii. To the Aetolians he was ready
to restore Pharsalus and Larissa; Thebes he would not restore: and
that he would give back to the Achaeans the possession, not only of
Argos, but of Corinth also." This arrangement pleased none of the
parties; neither those to whom the concessions were to be made, nor
those to whom they were refused; "for on that plan," they said, "more
would be lost than gained; nor could the grounds of contention ever be
removed, but by his withdrawing his forces from every part of Greece."

36. These expressions, delivered with eagerness and vehemence by every
one in the assembly, reached the ears of Philip, though he stood at a
distance. He therefore requested of Quinctius, that the whole business
might be deferred until the next day; and then he would, positively,
either prevail on the allies, or suffer himself to be prevailed on by
them. The shore at Thronium was appointed for their meeting, and there
they assembled early. Philip began with entreating Quinctius, and all
who were present, not to harbour such sentiments as must embarrass
a negotiation of peace; and then desired time, while he could send
ambassadors to Rome, to the senate, declaring, that "he would either
obtain a peace on the terms mentioned, or would accept whatever terms
the senate should prescribe." None by any means approved of this; they
said, he only sought a delay, and leisure to collect his strength.
But Quinctius observed, "that such an objection would have been
well founded, if it were then summer and a season fit for action; as
matters stood, and the winter being just at hand, nothing would
be lost by allowing him time to send ambassadors. For, without the
authority of the senate, no agreement which they might conclude with
the king would be valid; and besides, they would by this means have
an opportunity, while the winter itself would necessarily cause
a suspension of arms, to learn the authoritative decision of the
senate." The other chiefs of the allies came over to this opinion: and
a cessation of hostilities for two months being granted, they resolved
that each of their states should send an ambassador with the necessary
information to the senate, and in order that it should not be deceived
by the misrepresentations of Philip. To the above agreement for a
truce, was added an article, that all the king's troops should be
immediately withdrawn from Phocis and Locris. With the ambassadors of
the allies, Quinctius sent Amynander, king of Athamania; and, to add
a degree of splendour to the embassy, a deputation from himself,
composed of Quintus Fabius, the son of his wife's sister, Quintus
Fulvius, and Appius Claudius.

37. On their arrival at Rome, the ambassadors of the allies were
admitted to audience before those of the king. Their discourse, in
general, was filled up with invectives against Philip. What produced
the greatest effect on the minds of the senate was, that, by pointing
out the relative situations of the lands and seas in that part of
the world, they made it manifest to every one, that if the king held
Demetrias in Thessaly, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth in Achaia,
Greece could not be free; and they added, that Philip himself, with
not more insolence than truth, used to call these the fetters of
Greece. The king's ambassadors were then introduced, and when they
were beginning a long harangue, a short question cut short
their discourse:--Whether he was willing to yield up the three
above-mentioned cities? They answered, that they had received no
specific instructions on that head: on which they were dismissed,
the negotiation being left unsettled. Full authority was given to
Quinctius to determine every thing relative to war and peace. As this
demonstrated clearly that the senate were not weary of the war, so
he, who was more earnestly desirous of conquest than of peace, never
afterwards consented to a conference with Philip; and even gave him
notice that he would not admit any embassy from him, unless it came
with information that he was retiring from the whole of Greece.

38. Philip now perceived that he must decide the matter in the
field, and collect his strength about him from all quarters. Being
particularly uneasy in respect to the cities of Achaia, a country
so distant from him, and also of Argos, even more, indeed, than of
Corinth, he resolved, as the most advisable method, to put the former
into the hands of Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon, in trust, as it were,
on the terms, that if he should prove successful in the war, Nabis
should re-deliver it to him; if any misfortune should happen, he
should keep it himself. Accordingly, he wrote to Philocles, who had
the command in Corinth and Argos, to have a meeting with the tyrant.
Philocles, besides coming with a valuable present, added to that
pledge of future friendship between the king and the tyrant, that it
was Philip's wish to unite his daughters in marriage to the sons of
Nabis. The tyrant, at first, refused to receive the city on any other
conditions than that of being invited to its protection by a decree
of the Argives themselves: but afterwards, hearing that in a full
assembly they had treated the name of the tyrant not only with scorn,
but even with abhorrence, he thought he had now a sufficient excuse
for plundering them, and he accordingly desired Philocles to give him
possession of the place as soon as he pleased. Nabis was admitted into
the city in the night, without the privity of any of the inhabitants,
and, at the first light, seized on the higher parts of it, and shut
the gates. A few of the principal people having made their escape,
during the first confusion, the properties of all who were absent were
seized as booty: those who were present were stripped of their gold
and silver, and loaded with exorbitant contributions. Such as paid
these readily were discharged, without personal insult and laceration
of their bodies; but such as were suspected of hiding or reserving
any of their effects, were mangled and tortured like slaves. He then
summoned an assembly, in which he promulgated two measures; one for
an abolition of debts, the other for a distribution of the land, in
shares, to each man--two fire-brands in the hands of those who were
desirous of revolution, for inflaming the populace against the higher
ranks.

39. The tyrant, when he had the city of Argos in his power, never
considering from whom or on what conditions he had received it, sent
ambassadors to Elatia, to Quinctius, and to Attalus, in his winter
quarters at Aegina, to tell them, that "he was in possession of Argos;
and that if Quinctius would come hither, and consult with him, he
had no doubt but that every thing might be adjusted between them."
Quinctius, in order that he might deprive Philip of that stronghold,
along with the rest, consented to come; accordingly, sending a message
to Attalus, to leave Aegina, and meet him at Sicyon, he set sail from
Anticyra with ten quinqueremes, which his brother, Lucius Quinctius,
happened to have brought a little before from his winter station at
Corcyra, and passed over to Sicyon. Attalus was there before him, who,
representing that the tyrant ought to come to the Roman general, not
the general to the tyrant, brought Quinctius over to his opinion,
which was, that he should not enter the city of Argos. Not far from
it, however, was a place called Mycenica; and there the parties agreed
to meet. Quinctius came, with his brother and a few military tribunes;
Attalus, with his royal retinue; and Nicostratus the praetor of the
Achaeans, with a few of the auxiliary officers: and they there found
Nabis waiting with his whole army. He advanced, armed, and attended
by his armed guards, almost to the middle of the interjacent plain;
Quinctius unarmed, with his brother and two military tribunes; the
king was accompanied by one of his nobles, and the praetor of the
Achaeans, unarmed likewise. The tyrant, when he saw the king and the
Roman general unarmed, opened the conference, with apologizing for
having come to the meeting armed himself, and surrounded with armed
men. "He had no apprehensions," he said, "from them; but only from
the Argive exiles." When they then began to treat of the conditions of
their friendship, the Roman made two demands: one, that the war with
the Achaeans should be put an end to; the other, that he should send
him aid against Philip. He promised the aid required; but, instead of
a peace with the Achaeans, a cessation of hostilities was obtained, to
last until the war with Philip should be concluded.

40. A debate concerning the Argives, also, was set on foot by king
Attalus, who charged Nabis with holding their city by force, which
was put into his hands by the treachery of Philocles; while Nabis
insisted, that he had been invited by the Argives themselves to afford
them protection. The king required a general assembly of the Argives
to be convened, that the truth of that matter might be known. To
this the tyrant did not object; but the king alleged, that the
Lacedaemonian troops ought to be withdrawn from the city, in order
to render the assembly free; and that the people should be left
at liberty to declare their real sentiments. The tyrant refused
to withdraw them, and the debate produced no effect. To the Roman
general, six hundred Cretans were given by Nabis, who agreed with the
praetor of the Achaeans to a cessation of arms for four months,
and thus they departed from the conference. Quinctius proceeded to
Corinth, advancing to the gates with the cohort of Cretans, in order
that it might be evident to Philocles, the governor of the city, that
the tyrant had deserted the cause of Philip. Philocles himself came
out to confer with the Roman general; and, on the latter exhorting
him to change sides immediately, and surrender the city he answered in
such a manner as showed an inclination rather to defer than to refuse
the matter. From Corinth, Quinctius sailed over to Anticyra, and
sent his brother thence, to sound the disposition of the people of
Acarnania. Attalus went from Argos to Sicyon. Here, on one side, the
state added new honours to those formerly paid to the king; and, on
the other, the king, besides having on a former occasion, redeemed for
them, at a vast expense, a piece of land sacred to Apollo, unwilling
to pass by the city of his friends and allies without a token of
munificence, made them a present of ten talents of silver,[1] and ten
thousand bushels of corn, and then returned to Cenchreae to his fleet.
Nabis, leaving a strong garrison at Argos, returned to Lacedaemon;
and, as he himself had pillaged the men, he sent his wife to Argos
to pillage the women. She invited the females to her house, sometimes
singly, and sometimes several together, who were united by family
connexion; and partly by fair speeches, partly by threats, stripped
them, not only of their gold, but, at last, even of their garments,
and every article of female attire.

[Footnote 1: 1937l. 10s.]

BOOK XXXIII.

_Titus Quinctius Flamininus, proconsul, gains a decisive
victory over Philip at Cynoscephalae. Caius Sempronius
Tuditanus, praetor, cut off by the Celtiberians. Death of
Attalus, at Pergamus. Peace granted to Philip, and liberty to
Greece. Lucius Furius Purpureo and Marcus Claudius Marcellus,
consuls, subdue the Boian and Insubrian Gauls. Triumph
of Marcellus. Hannibal, alarmed at an embassy from Rome
concerning him, flies to Antiochus, king of Syria, who was
preparing to make war on the Romans_.

1. Such were the occurrences of the winter. In the beginning of
spring, Quinctius, having summoned Attalus to Elatia, and being
anxious to bring under his authority the nation of the Boeotians, who
had until then been wavering in their dispositions, marched through
Phocis, and pitched his camp at the distance of five miles from
Thebes, the capital of Boeotia. Next day, attended by one company of
soldiers, and by Attalus, together with the ambassadors, who had come
to him in great numbers from all quarters, he proceeded towards the
city, having ordered the spearmen of two legions, being two
thousand men, to follow him at the distance of a mile. About midway,
Antiphilus, praetor of the Boeotians, met him: the rest of the people
stood on the walls, watching the arrival of the king and the Roman
general. Few arms and few soldiers appeared around them--the hollow
roads, and the valleys concealing from view the spearmen, who followed
at a distance. When Quinctius drew near the city, he slackened his
pace, as if with intention to salute the multitude, who came out to
meet him; but the real motive of his delaying was, that the spearmen
might come up. The townsmen pushed forward, in a crowd, before the
lictors, not perceiving the band of soldiers who were following them
close, until they arrived at the general's quarters. Then, supposing
the city betrayed and taken, through the treachery of Antiphilus,
their praetor, they were all struck with astonishment and dismay.
It was now evident that no room was left to the Boeotians for a free
discussion of measures in the assembly, which was summoned for the
following day. However, they concealed their grief, which it would
have been both vain and unsafe to have discovered.

2. When the assembly met, Attalus first rose to speak, and he began
his discourse with a recital of the kindnesses conferred by his
ancestors and himself on the Greeks in general, and on the Boeotians
in particular. But, being now too old and infirm to bear the exertion
of speaking in public, he lost his voice and fell; and for some time,
while they were carrying him to his apartments, (for he was deprived
of the use of one half of his limbs,) the proceedings of the assembly
were for a short time suspended. Then Aristaenus spoke on the part of
the Achaeans, and was listened to with the greater attention, because
he recommended to the Boeotians no other measures than those which he
had recommended to the Achaeans. A few words were added by Quinctius,
extolling the good faith rather than the arms and power of the Romans.
A resolution was then proposed, by Dicaearchus of Plataea, for forming
a treaty of friendship with the Roman people, which was read; and no
one daring to offer any opposition, it was received and passed by the
suffrages of all the states of Boeotia. When the assembly broke up,
Quinctius made no longer stay at Thebes than the sudden accident
to Attalus made necessary. When it appeared that the force of the
disorder had not brought the king's life into any immediate danger,
but had only occasioned a weakness in his limbs, he left him there,
to use the necessary means for recovery, and returned to Elatia, from
whence he had come. Having now brought the Boeotians, as formerly
the Achaeans, to join in the confederacy, while all places were left
behind him in a state of tranquillity and safety, he bent his whole
attention towards Philip, and the remaining business of the war.

3. Philip, on his part, as his ambassadors had brought no hopes of
peace from Rome, resolved, as soon as spring began, to levy soldiers
through every town in his dominions: but he found a great scarcity of
young men; for successive wars, through several generations, had very
much exhausted the Macedonians, and, even in the course of his own
reign great numbers had fallen, in the naval engagements with the
Rhodians and Attalus, and in those on land with the Romans. Mere
youths, therefore, from the age of sixteen, were enlisted; and even
those who had served out their time, provided they had any remains of
strength, were recalled to their standards. Having, by these means,
filled up the numbers of his army about the vernal equinox, he drew
together all his forces to Dius: he encamped them there in a fixed
post; and, exercising the soldiers every day, waited for the enemy.
About the same time Quinctius left Elatia, and came by Thronium and
Scarphea to Thermopylae. There he held an assembly of the Aetolians,
which had been summoned to meet at Heraclea, to determine with what
number of auxiliaries they should follow the Roman general to the war.
On the third day, having learned the determination of the allies,
he proceeded from Heraclea to Xyniae; and, pitching his camp on the
confines between the Aenians and Thessalians, waited for the Aetolian
auxiliaries. The Aetolians occasioned no delay. Six hundred foot and
four hundred horse, under the command of Phaeneas, speedily joined
him; and then Quinctius, to show plainly what he had waited for,
immediately decamped. On passing into the country of Phthiotis, he
was joined by five hundred Cretans of Gortynium, whose commander was
Cydantes, with three hundred Apollonians, armed nearly in the same
manner; and not long after, by Amynander, with one thousand two
hundred Athamanian foot.

4. Philip, being informed of the departure of the Romans from Elatia,
and considering that, on the approaching contest, his kingdom was
at hazard, thought it advisable to make an encouraging speech to
his soldiers; in which, after he had expatiated on many topics often
alluded to before, respecting the virtues of their ancestors, and the
military fame of the Macedonians, he touched particularly on those
considerations which at the time threw the greatest damp on their
spirits, and on those by which they might be animated to some degree
of confidence. To the defeat thrice suffered at the narrow passes
near the river Aous, by the phalanx of the Macedonians, he opposed
the repulse given by main force to the Romans at Atrax: and even with
respect to the former case, when they had not maintained possession
of the pass leading into Epirus, he said, "the first fault was to be
imputed to those who had been negligent in keeping the guards; and
the second, to the light infantry and mercenaries in the time of the
engagement; but that, as to the phalanx of the Macedonians, it had
stood firm on that occasion; and would for ever remain invincible, on
equal ground, and in regular fight." This body consisted of sixteen
thousand men, the prime strength of the army, and of the kingdom.
Besides these, he had two thousand targeteers, called Peltastae;
of Thracians, and Illyrians of the tribe called Trallians, the like
number of two thousand; and of hired auxiliaries, collected out of
various nations, about one thousand; and two thousand horse. With this
force the king waited for the enemy. The Romans had nearly an equal
number; in cavalry alone they had a superiority, by the addition of
the Aetolians.

5. Quinctius, having decamped to Thebes in Phthiotis, and having
received encouragement to hope that the city would be betrayed to him
by Timon, a leading man in the state, came up close to the walls with
only a small number of cavalry and some light infantry. So entirely
were his expectations disappointed, that he was not only obliged to
maintain a fight with the enemy who sallied out against him, but would
have incurred a fearful conflict had not both infantry and cavalry
been called out hastily from the camp, and come up in time. Not
meeting with that success which he had too inconsiderately expected,
he desisted from any further attempt to take the city at present. He
had received certain information of the king being in Thessaly; but
as he had not yet discovered into what part of it he had come, he sent
his soldiers round the country, with orders to cut timber and prepare
palisades. Both Macedonians and Greeks had palisades; but the latter
had not adopted the most convenient mode of using them, either
with respect to carriage, or for the purpose of strengthening their
fortifications. They cut trees both too large and too full of branches
for a soldier to carry easily along with his arms: and after they
had fenced their camp with a line of these, the demolition of their
palisade was no difficult matter; for the trunks of large trees
appearing to view, with great intervals between them, and the numerous
and strong shoots affording the hand a good hold, two, or at most
three young men, uniting their efforts, used to pull out one tree,
which, being removed, a breach was opened as wide as a gate, and there
was nothing at hand with which it could be stopped up. But the Romans
cut light stakes, mostly of one fork, with three, or at the most four
branches; so that a soldier, with his arms slung at his back, can
conveniently carry several of them together; and then they stick them
down so closely, and interweave the branches in such a manner, that
it cannot be seen to what main stem any branch belongs; besides which,
the boughs are so sharp, and wrought so intimately with each other,
as to leave no room for a hand to be thrust between; consequently an
enemy cannot lay hold of any thing capable of being dragged out,
or, if that could be done, could he draw out the branches thus
intertwined, and which mutually bind each other. And even if, by
accident, one should be pulled out, it leaves but a small opening,
which is very easily filled up.