Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History

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§ 1.Praef TO THE Emperor Valens, Maximus, Perpetuus, Augustus. According to the pleasure of your Clemency, I have arranged in a brief narrative, in the order of time, such particulars in the history of Rome as seemed most worthy of notice, in transactions either of war or peace, from the foundation of the city to our own days; adding concisely, also, such matters as were remarkable in the lives of the emperors; that your Serenity's divine mind may rejoice to learn that it has followed the actions of illustrious men in governing the empire, before it became acquainted with them by reading.
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§ 1.1 BOOK I THE Roman empire, than which the memory of man can recall scarcely any one smaller in its commencement, or greater in its progress throughout the world, had its origin from Romulus; who, being the son of a vestal virgin, and, as was supposed, of Mars, was brought forth at one birth with his brother Remus. While leading a predatory life among the shepherds, he founded, when he was eighteen years of age, a small city on the Palatine Hill, on the 21st day of April, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad, and the three hundred and ninety-fourth after the destruction of Troy.
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§ 1.2 After founding the city, which he called Rome, from his own name, he proceeded principally as follows. He took a great number of the neighbouring inhabitants into the city; he chose a hundred of the older men, by whose advice he might manage all his affairs, and whom, from their age, he named senators. Next, as both himself and his people were in want of wives, he invited the tribes contiguous to the city to an exhibition of games, and seized upon their young women. Wars having arisen in consequence of this outrage in capturing the females, he conquered the Caeninenses, the Antemnates, the Crustumini, the Sabines, the Fidenates, and the Veientes; all whose towns lay around the city. And since, after a tempest that suddenly arose, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, he was no longer to be seen, he was believed to have been translated to the gods, and was accordingly deified. The senators then ruled at Rome by periods of five days; and under their government a year was passed.
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§ 1.3 Afterwards Numa Pompilius was elected king, who engaged indeed in no wars, but was of no less service to the state than Romulus; for he established both laws and customs among the Romans, who, by the frequency of their wars, were now regarded as robbers and semi-barbarians. He divided the year, before unregulated by any computation, into ten months, and founded numerous sacred rites and temples at Rome. He died a natural death in the forty-third year of his reign.
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§ 1.4 To him succeeded Tullus Hostilius, who re-commenced war. He conquered the Albans, who lay twelve miles distant from Rome. He overcame also in battle the Veientes and Fidenates, the one six, the other eighteen miles from Rome: and increased the dimensions of the city by the addition of the Coelian hill. After reigning thirty-two years, he was struck by lightning, and consumed together with his house.
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§ 1.5 After him, Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa by a daughter, succeeded to the government. He fought against the Latins, added the Aventine and Janiculan hills to the city, and founded Ostia, a city on the sea-coast, sixteen miles from Rome. He died a natural death in the twenty-fourth year of his reign.
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§ 1.6 Priscus Tarquinius was next invested with the government. He doubled the number of the senators, built a Circus at Rome, and instituted the Ludi Romani which continue even to our time. He also conquered the Sabines, and added a considerable extent of territory, which he took from that people, to the lands of Rome; he was also the first that entered the city in triumph. He built the walls and sewers, and commenced the Capitol. He was killed in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, by the sons of Ancus, the king whom he had succeeded.
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§ 1.7 After him Servius Tullius was placed on the throne, the son of a woman of noble origin, but who was, nevertheless, a captive and a slave. He also defeated the Sabines; annexed three hills, the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline, to the city; and formed trenches round the city walls. He was the first to institute the census, which till that time was unknown throughout the world. The people being all subjected to a census during his reign, Rome was found to contain eighty-four thousand citizens, including those in the country. He was cut off in the forty-fifth year of his reign, by the criminal machinations of his son-in-law Tarquin the Proud, the son of the king to whom he had succeeded, and of his own daughter, whom Tarquin had married.
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§ 1.8 Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last of the kings, overcame the Volsci, a nation not far from Rome, on the road to Campania; reduced the towns of Gabii and Suessa Pometia; made peace with the Tuscans; and built a temple to Jupiter in the Capitol. Afterwards, while he was besieging Ardea, a town that lay about eighteen miles from the city, he was deprived of his throne; for, as his younger son, who was also named Tarquin, offered violence to Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, a most noble and chaste woman; and as she, after complaining to her husband, her father, and her friends, of the injury that she had suffered, slew herself in the sight of them all; Brutus, in consequence, who was a kinsman of Tarquinius, excited an insurrection among the people, and deprived Tarquin of his regal authority. The army, also, which was engaged with the king in besieging Ardea, soon after deserted him; and the king himself, on going to the city, found the gates closed against him; and, after having reigned five-and-twenty years, was forced to take flight with his wife and children. Thus a regal form of government continued at Rome, under seven kings, for the space of two hundred and forty-three years, while as yet the dominion of the city, where its extent was greatest, hardly reached fifteen miles.
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§ 1.9 Henceforth, instead of one king, two consuls were chosen, with this view, that, if one should be disposed to act unjustly, the other, having equal authority, might exercise a control over him. It was determined also that they should not hold their office longer than a year; in order that they might not, by continued possession of power, grow too overbearing; but, knowing that in a year they would return to the level of private persons, might constantly conduct themselves with moderation. In the first year, then, after the expulsion of the king and his family, the consuls were Lucius Junius Brutus, who had been the chief agent in the banishment of Tarquin, and Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia. But that dignity was soon taken from Tarquinius Collatinus; for it was enacted that no one who bore the name of Tarquin should remain in the city. Having collected, therefore, all his private property, he removed from the city, and Valerius Publicola was made consul in his stead. King Tarquin, however, after his expulsion, stirred up war against Rome, and, having collected a large force from all quarters, in order that he might be reinstated on the throne, took the field.
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§ 1.10 In the first encounter, Brutus and Aruns, Tarquin's son, killed each other; but the Romans left the field conquerors. The Roman matrons mourned for Brutus, the guardian of their honour, as if he had been their common father, for the space of a year. Valerius Publicola fixed upon Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, the father of Lucretia, for his colleague; and he dying of some disease, he next chose Horatius Pulvillus for his fellow consul. Thus the first year had five consuls; Tarquinius Collatinus having left the city on account of his name, Brutus having fallen in battle, and Spurius Lucretius having died a natural death.
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§ 1.11 In the second year also, Tarquin, with a view to being re-established on the throne, again made war on the Romans, and, as Porsena, king of Tuscany, afforded him aid, almost took Rome. But he was also defeated on that occasion. In the third year after the expulsion of the royal family, Tarquin, as he could not get himself re-admitted into the kingdom, and as Porsena, who had made peace with the Romans, gave him no support, retired to Tusculum, a town which is not far from Rome; where he and his wife lived for fourteen years in a private station, and reached an advanced age. In the fourth year after the abolition of the kingly power, the Sabines, having made war on the Romans, were conquered; and a triumph was celebrated over them. In the fifth year, Lucius Valerius, the colleague of Brutus, and consul for the fourth time, died a natural death, and in such extreme poverty, that the expenses of his funeral were defrayed by a public subscription. The matrons mourned for him, as for Brutus, during a year.
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§ 1.12 In the ninth year after the overthrow of the kingly power, the son-in-law of Tarquin, having assembled a vast army, in order to avenge the wrongs of his father-in-law, a new office was introduced at Rome, which was called the dictatorship, and which was more absolute than the consulate. In the same year also a master of the horse was appointed to be an officer under the dictator. Nor can anything be named more like to the imperial authority, which your Serenity now enjoys, than the ancient dictatorship, especially since Caesar Octavianus, also, of whom we shall speak hereafter, and Caius Caesar before him, ruled with the title and rank of dictator. The first dictator at Rome was Lartius; the first master of the horse, Spurius Cassius.
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§ 1.13 In the sixteenth year after the termination of the regal power, the people at Rome, thinking themselves oppressed by the senate and consuls, broke out into a sedition. On this occasion they created for themselves tribunes of the people, as their own peculiar judges and defenders, by whom they might be protected against the senateand the consuls.
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§ 1.14 In the following year the Volsci recommenced hostilities against the Romans; and being overcome in the field, lost also Corioli, the best city that they had.
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§ 1.15 In the eighteenth year after the banishment of the royal family, Quintius Marcius, the Roman general who had taken Corioli, the city of the Volsci, being compelled to flee from Rome, directed his course, in resentment, to the Volsci themselves, and received from them support against the Romans. He obtained several victories over the Romans; he made his way even to the fifth mile-stone from the city; and, refusing to hear a deputation that came to sue for peace, would have laid siege even to the place of his birth, had not his mother Veturia and his wife Volumnia gone out from the city to meet him, by whose tears and supplications he was prevailed on to withdraw his army. He was the next after Tarquin that acted as general against his country.
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§ 1.16 In the consulate of Caeso Fabius and Titus Virginius, three hundred noblemen, members of the Fabian family, undertook alone a war against the Veientes, assuring the senate and the people that the whole contest should be brought to an end by themselves. These illustrious men, therefore, each of whom was capable of commanding a large army, setting out on their expedition, all fell in battle One only remained out of so numerous a family, who, from his extreme youth, could not be taken with them to the field. After these events a census was held in the city, in which the number of the citizens was found to be a hundred and nineteen thousand three hundred and nineteen.
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§ 1.17 In the following year, in consequence of the blockade of a Roman army on Mount Algidus, about twelve miles from the city, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus was appointed dictator; a man who, possessing only four acres of land, cultivated it with his own hands. He, being found at his work, and engaged in ploughing, assumed, after wiping the sweat from his brow, the toga praetexta; and set free the army with great slaughter among the enemy.
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§ 1.18 In the three hundred and second year from the founding of the city, the consular government ceased; and, instead of two consuls, ten magistrates were appointed to hold the supreme authority, under the title of decemviri. These during the first year conducted themselves with honour; but in the second, one of them, Appius Claudius, proceeded to offer violence to the maiden daughter of a certain Virginius, who was at that time filling an honourable post on military service against the Latins on Mount Algidus; but the father slew her with his own hand, that she might not suffer violation from the decemvir, and, returning to the army, raised an insurrection among the soldiers. Their power was in consequence taken from the decemviri, and they themselves received sentences of condemnation.
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§ 1.19 In the three hundred and fifteenth year from the founding of the city, the Fidenates rebelled against the Romans. The Veientes and their king Tolumnius gave them assistance. These two states are so near to Rome, that Fidenae is only seven, Veii only eighteen miles distant. The Volsci also joined them; but they were defeated by Marcus Aemilius the dictator, and Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus the master of the horse, and lost also their king. Fidenae was taken, and utterly destroyed.
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§ 1.20 Twenty years afterwards, the people of Veii resumed hostilities. Furius Camillus was sent as dictator against them, who first defeated them in battle, and then, after a long siege, took their city, the oldest and richest in Italy. He next took Falisci, a city of no less note. But popular odium was excited against him, on the ground that he had made an unfair division of the booty, and he was condemned on that charge and banished. Soon after the Galli Senones marched towards Rome; and, pursuing the Romans, whom they defeated at the river Allia, eleven miles from the city, possessed themselves of the city itself, no part of which could be defended against them, except the Capitol. After they had besieged it a long time, and the Romans were suffering from famine, Camillus, who was in exile in a neighbouring city, attacked the Gauls unexpectedly, and gave them a severe defeat. Afterwards, on receiving a sum in gold, to desist from the siege of the Capitol, they retreated; Camillus, however, pursued them, and routed them with such a slaughter, that he recovered both the gold which had been given to them, and all the military standards which they had taken. Thus he entered the city for the third time in triumph, and received the appellation of a second Romulus, as if he also had been a founder of the city.
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§ 2.1 BOOK II IN the three hundred and sixty-fifth year after the foundation of the city, and the first after its capture by the Gauls, the form of government was changed; and, instead of two consuls, military tribunes, invested with consular power, were created. From this time the power of Rome began to increase; for that very year Camillus reduced the state of the Volsci, which had persisted to make war for seventy years; also the cities of the Aequi and Sutrini; and, overthrowing their armies, took possession of them all; and thus enjoyed three triumphs at the same time.
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§ 2.2 Titus Quintius Cincinnatus, also, having pursued the Praenestini, who had advanced in a hostile manner to the very gates of Rome, defeated them on the river Allia, annexing eight cities that were under their dominion to the Roman empire; and, attacking Praeneste itself, forced it to surrender; all which acts were accomplished by him in the space of twenty days; and a triumph was decreed him.
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§ 2.3 But the office of military tribunes did not last long; for, after a short time, it was enacted that no more should be created; and four years passed in the state in such a manner that none of the superior magistrates were appointed. The military tribunes, however, were re-instated in their office with consular authority, and continued for three years, when consuls were again elected.
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§ 2.4 In the consulship of Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius, Camillus died, and honour next to that of Romulus was paid him.
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§ 2.5 Titus Quintius was sent out as dictator against the Gauls, who had marched into Italy; and had encamped about four miles from the city, on the other side of the river Anio, Titus Manlius, one of the noblest of the senators, encountering a Gaul who had challenged him to single combat, slew him; and, having taken from his neck a chain of gold, and put it on his own, secured the appellation of Torquatus to himself and his posterity for ever. The Gauls were repulsed, and soon afterwards entirely defeated by Caius Sulpicius the dictator. Shortly after, the Tuscans were defeated by Caius Marcius, and eight thousand of them were taken prisoners and led in triumph.
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§ 2.6 A census was again taken; and as the Latins, who had been subdued by the Romans, refused to furnish troops, recruits were levied from among the Romans only, and ten legions were raised, making sixty thousand fighting men, or upwards; so great was the power of the Romans in war, while their territory was as yet but small. These troops having marched out against the Gauls, under the conduct of Lucius Furius Camillus, one of the Gauls challenged the most valiant among the Romans to single combat; when Marcus Valerius, a tribune of the soldiers, came forward to accept the challenge; and, as he advanced in full armour, a crow settled upon his right shoulder. Afterwards, too, when he commenced the encounter with the Gaul, the same crow, with his wings and talons, furiously assailed the Gaul's eyes, so that he was not able to see before him, and thus, being slain by the tribune Valerius, he gave him not only a victory, but a name; for he was afterwards called Corvus. For the same service also, at the age of three and twenty, he was made consul.
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§ 2.7 The Latins, who had refused to furnish troops, proceeded also to demand of the Romans, that one of the consuls should be elected from their own people, the other from the Romans; this demand having been rejected, war was commenced against them, and they were overcome in a great battle; and a triumph was celebrated on account of their defeat. Statues were erected to the consuls in the Rostra, for their service in gaining this victory.
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§ 2.8 The Romans had now begun to be powerful; for a war was carried on by them against the Samnites, who hold a middle situation between Picenum, Campania, and Apulia, at the distance of nearly a hundred and thirty miles from the city. Lucius Papirius Cursor went to conduct that war with the rank of dictator, and, on returning to Rome, gave orders to Quintus Fabius Maximus, his master of the horse, whom he left in charge of the army, not to fight during his absence. He, however, seeing a favourable opportunity, commenced an engagement with great success, and utterly defeated the Samnites; he was accordingly condemned to death by the dictator, for fighting contrary to his orders, but was saved by the powerful interposition of the soldiers and people, so great a tumult having been excited against Papirius, that he was almost slain.
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§ 2.9 The Samnites subsequently, in the consulate of Titus Veturius and Spurius Posthumius [321 BCE], defeated the Romans with signal ignominy, and compelled them to pass under the yoke. The peace, however, which had been concluded with them through mere necessity, was broken by the senate and people. After this the Samnites were defeated by Lucius Papirius the consul, and seven thousand of them made to pass under the yoke. Papirius was granted a triumph over the Samnites. About the same time Appius Claudius the censor brought the Claudian aqueduct into the city, and made the Via Appia. The Samnites, renewing the war, defeated Quintus Fabius Maximus, with the slaughter of three thousand of his troops; but afterwards, his father, Fabius Maximus, being appointed his lieutenant, he both defeated the Samnites, and took several of their towns. Subsequently, Publius Cornelius Rufinus and Manius Curius Dentatus, the two consuls [290 BCE], being sent against the Samnites, reduced their strength in some considerable battles. Thus they brought the war with the Samnites to an end; a war which had lasted for forty-nine years. Nor was there any enemy in Italy that put the valour of the Romans more to the test.
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§ 2.10 After an interval of a few years, the forces of the Gauls united with the Tuscans and Samnites against the Romans; but, as they were marching to Rome, were cut off by the consul Cnaeus Cornelius Dolabella.
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§ 2.11 War was at the same time proclaimed against the Tarentines (who are still a people at the extremity of Italy ), because they had offered violence to some Roman ambassadors. These people asked aid against the Romans of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who derived his origin from the family of Achilles. He soon after passed over into Italy, and it was then that the Romans fought for the first time with an enemy from beyond sea. The consul Publius Valerius Laevinus was sent against him; who, having seized some spies of Pyrrhus, ordered them to be led through the camp, and the whole army to be exhibited to them, and then to be dismissed, that they might tell Pyrrhus whatever was going on among the Romans. An engagement taking place soon after, Pyrrhus, when on the point of fleeing, got the victory by means of his elephants, at the sight of which the Romans, to whom they were strange, were greatly terrified; but night put an end to the battle. Laevinus however fled during the night. Pyrrhus took a thousand eight hundred Romans prisoners, and treated them with the greatest honour; the slain he buried. On observing those lying dead, with their wounds in front, and with stern countenances, he is said to have lifted up his hands to heaven, exclaiming that “he might himself have been master of the whole world, if such soldiers had fallen to his lot.”
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§ 2.12 Pyrrhus afterwards, having united to him the Samnites, the Lucanians, and the Bruttii, proceeded towards Rome. He laid all waste with fire and sword, depopulated Campania, and advanced to Praeneste, eighteen miles from Rome. Soon after, through fear of an army which was pursuing him with a consul at its head, he fell back upon Campania. Ambassadors, who were sent to treat with Pyrrhus respecting the ransom of the captives, were honourably entertained by him; and he sent the captives back to Rome without payment. Fabricius, one of the Roman ambassadors, he admired so much, that, finding he was poor, he endeavoured to draw him over to his side with the promise of a fourth part of his kingdom, but he was repulsed with disdain by Fabricius. Pyrrhus, therefore, being struck with admiration at the character of the Romans, sent an eminent man. Cineas by name, as ambassador, to ask for peace on reasonable terms, provided that he might retain possession of that part of Italy, of which he had already become master in the war.
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§ 2.13 Such terms of peace were not satisfactory, and an answer was returned by the senate to Pyrrhus, that “he could have no peace with the Romans, unless he retired from Italy.” The Romans then ordered that all the prisoners whom Pyrrhus had sent back should be considered infamous because they had suffered themselves to be taken with arms in their hands; and not to be restored to their former rank, until they had each produced the spoils of two slain enemies. Thus the ambassador of Pyrrhus returned; and, when Pyrrhus asked him “what kind of a place he had found Rome to be,” Cineas replied, that “he had seen a country of kings, for that all there were such, as Pyrrhus alone was thought to be in Epirus and the rest of Greece.” The consuls Publius Sulpicius and Decius Mus were sent out as generals against Pyrrhus. A battle being commenced, Pyrrhus was wounded, his elephants killed, twenty thousand of the enemy slain, and of the Romans only five thousand. Pyrrhus was forced to retire to Tarentum.
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§ 2.14 After the lapse of a year, Fabricius was sent out against Pyrrhus, the same who, when he was before among the ambassadors, could not be won with a promise of the fourth part of his kingdom. As Fabricius and the king had their camps near to each other, the physician of Pyrrhus came to Fabricius by night, offering to despatch Pyrrhus by poison, if he would promise him some remuneration; upon which Fabricius ordered that he should be taken back in chains to his master, and that information should be given to Pyrrhus of the proposals which the physician had made against his life. The king, struck with admiration of his conduct, is reported to have exclaimed on the occasion, “That excellent Fabricius is a man who can less easily be diverted from the path of honour, than the sun from its course.” Pyrrhus then departed for Sicily. Fabricius, after defeating the Samnites and Lucanians, obtained a triumph. The consuls Manius Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus were next sent against Pyrrhus [275 BCE]; and Curius came to an engagement with him, cut off his army, drove him back to Tarentum. and took his camp. On that day were slain twenty-three thousand of the enemy. Curius Dentatus triumphed in his consulate. He was the first that brought elephants to Rome, in number, four. Pyrrhus also soon after quitted Tarentum, and was killed at Argos, a city of Greece.
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§ 2.15 In the consulship of Caius Fabricius Licinus and Caius Claudius Canina [273 BCE], in the four hundred and sixty-first year from the foundation of the city, ambassadors, from Alexandria, despatched by Ptolemy, arrived at Rome, and obtained from the Romans the friendship which they solicited.
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§ 2.16 In the consulate of Quintus Ogulnius and Caius Fabius Pictor, the Piceni commenced a war, and were conquered by the succeeding consuls Publius Sempronius and Appius Claudius [268 BCE], and a triumph was celebrated over them. Two cities were founded by the Romans, Ariminum in Gaul, and Beneventum in Samnium.
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§ 2.17 When Marcus Attilius Regulus and Lucius Junius Libo were consuls [267 BCE], war was declared against the Sallentines in Apulia; and the Brundusians and their city were taken, and a triumph granted on their subjugation.
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§ 2.18 In the four hundred and seventy-seventh year of the city, although the Roman name had now become famous, yet their arms had not been carried out of Italy. That it might be ascertained, therefore, what the forces of the Romans were, a census was taken. On this occasion the number of citizens was found to be two hundred and ninety-two thousand, three hundred and thirty-four, although from the founding of the city wars had never ceased. It was then that the first war was undertaken against the Africans, in the consulate of Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius. A battle was fought with them in Sicily; and Appius Claudius obtained a triumph for a victory over the Africans and Hiero king of Sicily.
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§ 2.19 In the year following, Valerius Marcus and Otacilius being consuls, great deeds were achieved by the Romans in Sicily. The Tauromenitani, Catanians, and fifty cities more, were received into alliance. In the third year the war against Hiero in Sicily was brought to an end. He, with all the Syracusan nobility, prevailed upon the Romans to grant them peace, paying down two hundred talents of silver. The Africans were defeated in Sicily, and a triumph over them granted at Rome a second time.
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§ 2.20 In the fifth year of the Punic war, which was carried on against the Africans, the Romans first fought by sea, in the consulate of Caius Duilius and Cnaeus Cornelius Asina, having provided themselves with vessels armed with beaks, which they term Liburnian galleys. The consul Cornelius fell a victim to treachery. Duilius, joining battle, defeated the commander of the Carthaginians, took thirty-one of their ships, sunk fourteen, took seven thousand of the enemy prisoners, and slew three thousand; nor was there ever a victory more gratifying to the Romans, for they were now not only invincible by land, but eminently powerful at sea. In the consulship of Caius Aquilius Florus and Lucius Scipio [259 BCE], Scipio laid waste Corsica and Sardinia, carried away several thousand captives from thence, and obtained a triumph.
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§ 2.21 When Lucius Manlius Vulso [wrong consul] and Marcus Attilius Regulus were consuls, war was carried over into Africa against Hamilcar the general of the Carthaginians. A naval engagement was fought, and the Carthaginian utterly defeated, for he retired with the loss of sixty four of his ships. The Romans lost only twenty-two; and, having then crossed over into Africa, they compelled Clypea, the first city at which they arrived in Africa, to surrender. The consuls then advanced as far as Carthage; and, having laid waste many places, Manlius returned victorious to Rome, and brought with him twenty-seven thousand prisoners. Attilius Regulus remained in Africa. He drew up his army against the Africans; and, fighting at the same time against three Carthaginian generals, came off victorious, killed eighteen thousand of the enemy, took five thousand prisoners, with eighteen elephants, and received seventy-four cities into alliance. The vanquished Carthaginians then sued to the Romans for peace, which Regulus refusing to grant, except upon the hardest conditions, the Africans sought aid from the Lacedaemonians, and, under a leader named Xantippus, who had been sent them by the Lacedaemonians, Regulus, the Roman general, was overthrown with a desperate slaughter; for two thousand men only escaped of all the Roman army; five hundred, with their commander Regulus, were taken prisoners, thirty thousand slain, and Regulus himself thrown into prison.
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§ 2.22 In the consulship of Marcus Aemilius Paulus and Servius Fulvius Nobilior, both the Roman consuls set sail for Africa, with a fleet of three hundred ships. They first overcame the Africans in a sea-fight; Aemilius the consul sunk a hundred and four of the enemy's ships, took thirty, with the soldiers in them, killed or took prisoners fifteen thousand of the enemy, and enriched his own army with much plunder; and Africa would then have been subdued, but that so great a famine took place that the army could not continue there any longer. The consuls, as they were returning with their victorious fleet, suffered shipwreck on the coast of Sicily, and so violent was the storm, that out of four hundred and sixty-four ships, eighty could scarcely be saved; nor was so great a tempest at sea ever heard of at any period. The Romans, notwithstanding, soon refitted two hundred ships, nor was their spirit at all broken by their loss.
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§ 2.23 Cnaeus Servilius Caepio and Caius Sempronius Blaesus, when consuls, set out for Africa with two hundred and sixty ships, and took several cities. As they were returning with a great booty, they suffered shipwreck; and, as these successive calamities annoyed the Romans, the senate in consequence decreed that wars by sea should be given up, and that only sixty ships should be kept for the defence of Italy.
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§ 2.24 In the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Caius Furius Pacilus, Metellus defeated a general of the Africans in Sicily, who came against him with a hundred and thirty elephants and a numerous army, slew twenty thousand of the enemy, took six and twenty elephants, collected the rest, which were dispersed, with the aid of the Numidians whom he had to assist him, and brought them to Rome in a vast procession, filling all the roads with elephants, to the number of a hundred and thirty. After these misfortunes, the Carthaginians entreated Regulus, the Roman general whom they had taken, to go to Rome, procure them peace from the Romans, and effect an exchange of prisoners.
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§ 2.25 Regulus, on arriving at Rome, and being conducted into the senate, would do nothing in the character of a Roman, declaring that, “from the day when he fell into the hands of the Africans, he had ceased to be a Roman.” For this reason he both repelled his wife from embracing him, and gave his advice to the Romans, that “peace should not be made with the Carthaginians; for that they, dispirited by so many losses, had no hope left; and that, with respect to himself, he was not of such importance, that so many thousand captives should be restored on his account alone, old as he was, and for the sake of the few Romans who had been taken prisoners.” He accordingly carried his point, for no one would listen to the Carthaginians, when they applied for peace. He himself returned to Carthage, telling the Romans, when they offered to detain him at Rome, that he would not stay in a city, in which, after living in captivity among the Africans, it was impossible for him to retain the dignity of an honourable citizen. Returning therefore to Africa, he was put to death with torture of every description,
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§ 2.26 When Publius Claudius Pulcher and Caius Junius were consuls, Claudius fought in opposition to the auspices. and was defeated by the Carthaginians; for, out of two hundred and twenty ships, he escaped with only thirty; ninety, together with their men, were taken, the rest sunk, and twenty thousand men made prisoners. The other consul also lost his fleet by shipwreck, but was able to save his troops, as the shore was close at hand.
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§ 2.27 In the consulate of Caius Lutatius Catulus and Aulus Posthumius Albinus, in the twenty-third year of the Punic war, the conduct of the war against the Africans was committed to Catulus. He set sail for Sicily with three hundred ships. The Africans fitted out four hundred against him. Lutatius Catulus embarked in an infirm state of health, having been wounded in a previous battle. An encounter took place opposite Lilybaeum, a city of Sicily, with the greatest valour on the part of the Romans, for seventy-three of the Carthaginian ships were taken, and a hundred and twenty-five sunk; thirty-two thousand of the enemy were made prisoners, and thirteen thousand slain; and a vast sum in gold and silver fell into the hands of the Romans. Of the Roman fleet twelve ships were sunk The battle was fought on the 10th of of March. The Carthaginians immediately sued for peace, and peace was granted them. The Roman prisoners who were in the hands of the Carthaginians were restored; the Carthaginians also requested permission to redeem such of the Africans as the Romans kept in captivity. The senate decided that those who were state prisoners should be restored without ransom; but that those who were in the hands of private persons should return to Carthage on the payment of a sum to their owners; and that such payment should be made from the public treasury, rather than by the Carthaginians.
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§ 2.28 Quintus Lutatius and Aulius Manlius, being created consuls, made war upon the Falisci, formerly a powerful people of Italy, which war the consuls in conjunction brought to a termination within six days after they took the field; fifteen thousand of the enemy were slain, and peace was granted to the rest, but half their land was taken from them.
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§ 3.1 BOOK III THE Punic war being now ended, after having been protracted though three and twenty years, the Romans, who were now distinguished by transcendent glory, sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, with offers of assistance; for Antiochus, king of Syria, had made war upon him. He returned thanks to the Romans, but declined their aid, the struggle being now over. About the same time. Hiero, the most powerful king of Sicily, visited Rome to witness the games, and distributed two hundred thousand modii of wheat among the people.
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§ 3.2 In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Fulvius Flaccus, in whose time Hiero came to Rome, war was carried on, within the limits of Italy, against the Ligurians, and a triumph obtained over them. The Carthaginians, too, at the same time, attempted to renew the war, soliciting the Sardinians, who, by an article of the peace, were bound to submit to the Romans, to rebel. A deputation, however, of the Carthaginians came to Rome, and obtained peace.
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§ 3.3 Under the consulate of Titus Manlius Torquatus and Caius Attilius Bulbus, a triumph was obtained over the Sardinians; and, peace being concluded on all sides, the Romans had now no war on their hands, a circumstance which had happened to them but once before since the building of the city, in the reign of Numa Pompilius.
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§ 3.4 Lucius Posthumius Albinus and Cnaeus Fulvius Centumalus, when consuls, conducted a war against the Illyrians; and, having taken many of their towns, reduced their kings to a surrender, and it was then for the first time that a triumph was celebrated over the Illyrians.
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§ 3.5 When Lucius Aemilius was consul, a vast force of the Gauls crossed the Alps; but all Italy united in favour of the Romans; and it is recorded by Fabius the historian, who was present in that war, that there were eight hundred thousand men ready for the contest. Affairs, however, were brought to a successful termination by the consul alone; forty thousand of the enemy were killed, and a triumph decreed to Aemilius.
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§ 3.6 A few years after, a battle was fought with the Gauls within the borders of Italy, and an end put to the war, in the consulship of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Cnaeus Cornelius Scipio. Marcellus took the field with a small body of horse, and slew the king of the Gauls, Viridomarus, with his own hand. Afterwards, in conjunction with his colleague, he cut to pieces a numerous army of the Gauls, stormed Milan, and carried off a vast booty to Rome. Marcellus, at his triumph, bore the spoils of the Gaul, fixed upon a pole on his shoulders.
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§ 3.7 In the consulate of Marcus Minucius Rufus and Publius Cornelius, war was made upon the Istrians, because they had plundered some ships of the Romans, which were bringing a supply of corn, and they were entirely subdued. In the same year the second Punic war was commenced against the Romans by Hannibal, general of the Carthaginians, who, in the twentieth year of his age, proceeded to besiege Saguntum, a city of Spain, in alliance with the Romans, having assembled for that purpose an army of fifty thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. The Romans warned him, by deputies sent for the purpose, to desist from hostilities, but he refused them audience. The Romans sent also to Carthage, requiring that orders should be sent to Hannibal, not to make war on the allies of the Roman people; but the reply made by the Carthaginians promised no compliance. The Saguntines in the meantime, worn out with famine, were taken by Hannibal, and put to death with the utmost cruelty.
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§ 3.8 Publius Cornelius Scipio then went with an army into Spain, and Tiberius Sempronius into Sicily. War was declared against the Carthaginians. Hannibal, leaving his brother Hasdrubal in Spain, passed the Pyrenees, and made a way over the Alps, which, in that part, were previously impassable. He is said to have brought into Italy eighty thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, and thirty-seven elephants. Numbers of the Ligurians and Gauls joined him on his march. Sempronius Gracchus, hearing of Hannibal's arrival in Italy, conveyed over his army from Sicily to Ariminum.
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§ 3.9 The first to meet Hannibal was Publius Cornelius Scipio; a battle being commenced, and his troops put to flight, he retired wounded into his camp. Sempronius Gracchus also came to an engagement with him near the river Trebia, and he too was defeated. Numbers in Italy submitted to Hannibal; who, marching from thence into Tuscany, encountered the consul Flaminius. Flaminius himself he cut off; and twenty-five thousand of the Romans were slain; the rest saved themselves by flight. Quintus Fabius Maximus was afterwards sent by the Romans to oppose Hannibal. This general, by avoiding an engagement, checked his impetuosity; and soon after, finding a favourable opportunity, defeated him.
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§ 3.10 In the five hundred and fortieth year from the foundation of the city, Lucius Aemilius and Publius Terentius Varro were sent against Hannibal, and took the place of Fabius, who forewarned both the consuls, that they could conquer Hannibal, who was a bold and energetic leader, only by declining a pitched battle with him. But an engagement being brought on, through the impetuosity of the consul Varro, in opposition to his colleague, near a village called Cannae, in Apulia, both the consuls were defeated by Hannibal. In this battle three thousand of the Africans fell, and a great part of Hannibal's army were wounded. The Romans, however, never received so severe a blow at any period of the Punic wars; for the consul Aemilius Paulus was killed; twenty officers of consular and praetorian rank, thirty senators, and three hundred others of noble descent, were taken or slain, as well as forty thousand foot-soldiers, and three thousand five hundred horse. During all these calamities, however, not one of the Romans deigned to speak of peace. A number of slaves were set free and made soldiers, a measure never before adopted.
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§ 3.11 After this battle, several cities of Italy, which had been subject to the Romans, went over to Hannibal. Hannibal made proposals to the Romans concerning the redemption of the prisoners, but the senate replied, that “such citizens as would suffer themselves to be taken with arms in their hands were of no value to them.” Hannibal then put them all to death with various tortures, and sent three modii of gold rings to Carthage, which he had taken from the fingers of Roman knights, senators, and soldiers. In the meantime, Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, who had remained in Spain with a numerous army, in order to reduce all that country under the dominion of the Africans, was defeated there by the two Scipios, the Roman generals, and lost thirty-five thousand men in the battle; of these ten thousand were made prisoners, and twenty-five thousand slain. Upon this, twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and twenty elephants were sent to him by the Carthaginians to reinforce his army.
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§ 3.12 In the fourth year after Hannibal's arrival in Italy, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of the consuls, engaged him with success at Nola, a city of Campania. But Hannibal possessed himself of several of the Roman cities in Apulia, Calabria, and the country of the Bruttii. About this time also Philip, king of Macedonia, sent ambassadors to him, offering him assistance against the Romans, on condition that, when he had subdued them, he, in turn, should receive assistance from Hannibal against the Greeks. But Philip's ambassadors being taken, and the affair thus discovered, the Romans ordered Marcus Valerius Laevinus to proceed to Macedonia, and Titus Manlius, as proconsul, into Sardinia; for that island also, at the solicitation of Hannibal, had revolted from the Romans
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§ 3.13 Thus war was carried on at the same time in four different places; in Italy, against Hannibal; in Spain, against Hasdrubal his brother; in Macedonia, against Philip; in Sardinia, against the Sardinians and another Hasdrubal, also a Carthaginian. Hasdrubal was taken alive by Titus Manlius the proconsul, who had been sent into Sardinia; twelve thousand of his men were slain, fifteen hundred made prisoners, and Sardinia brought under subjection to the Romans. Manlius, being thus successful, brought Hasdrubal and his other prisoners to Rome. In the meantime, Philip also was defeated by Laevinus in Macedonia, and Hasdrubal and Mago, a third brother of Hannibal, by the Scipios in Spain.
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§ 3.14 In the tenth year after Hannibal's arrival in Italy, in the consulship of Publius Sulpicius and Cnaeus Fulvius, Hannibal advanced within four miles of Rome, and his cavalry rode up to the very gates; but soon after, through fear of the consuls, who were coming upon him with an army, he withdrew into Campania. In Spain, the two Scipios, who had been victorious for many years, were killed by his brother Hasdrubal; the army however remained in full strength, for the generals had been ensnared rather by accident than the valour of the enemy. About this time, also, a great part of Sicily, which the Africans had begun to appropriate, was recovered by the consul Marcellus, and vast spoil brought to Rome from the celebrated city of Syracuse. In Macedonia, Laevinus made an alliance with Philip, and several of the Grecian states, as well as with Attalus, king of Asia; and, proceeding afterwards to Sicily, took Hanno, a general of the Carthaginians, at the city of Agrigentum, together with the town itself, and sent him with other noble prisoners to Rome. Forty cities he obliged to surrender; twenty-six he carried by storm. Thus all Sicily being recovered, and Macedonia humbled, he returned with great glory to Rome. In Italy, Hannibal, attacking Cnaeus Fulvius, one of the consuls, by surprise, cut him off, together with eight thousand of his men.
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§ 3.15 In the meantime, Publius Cornelius Scipio, a man almost the very first of all the Romans, both in his own and succeeding ages, son of that Publius Scipio who had carried on the war there before, was despatched, at the age of twenty-four, into Spain, where, after the death of the two Scipios, no Roman general was now left. He took Carthage in Spain, in which the Africans kept all their gold, and silver, and warlike stores; he took also a number of hostages, whom the Carthaginians had received from the Spaniards, as well as Mago, the brother of Hannibal, whom he sent with others to Rome. The rejoicing at Rome on this intelligence was very great. Scipio restored the Spanish hostages to their parents; and in consequence almost all the Spaniards unanimously joined him. Soon after, he put to flight Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, and took a great quantity of spoil.
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§ 3.16 In Italy, meanwhile, Quintus Fabius Maximus, one of the consuls, recovered Tarentum, where a great body of Hannibal's troops were quartered, and cut off there also Carthalo, one of Hannibal's generals; twenty-five thousand of the prisoners he sold for slaves; the spoil he divided among the soldiers; and the money arising from the sale of the prisoners, he paid into the public treasury. At this time, several of the Roman cities, which had gone over to Hannibal, submitted themselves again to Fabius Maximus. In the following year Scipio performed extraordinary exploits in Spain, and, by his own exertions and those of his brother Lucius Scipio, recovered seventy cities. In Italy, however, the war went on unsuccessfully, for Claudius Marcellus the consul was cut off by Hannibal.
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§ 3.17 In the third year after Scipio's departure for Spain, he again greatly distinguished himself. A king of Spain, whom he had conquered in a great battle, he received into alliance; and was the first that refrained from demanding hostages of a vanquished enemy.
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§ 3.18 Hannibal, having no hope that Spain could be held longer against Scipio, summoned from it Hasdrubal his brother, with all his troops, to join him in Italy. Hasdrubal, pursuing the same route by which Hannibal had gone, fell into an ambush laid for him by the consuls Appius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator, near Sena, a city of Picenum, but fell fighting valiantly; his numerous forces were either taken or put to the sword; and a great quantity of gold and silver carried off to Rome. Hannibal now began to despair of the issue of the war, and an accession of courage was felt by the Romans. They, therefore, also recalled Publius Cornelius Scipio out of Spain; who arrived at Rome with great glory.
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§ 3.19 In the consulate of Quintus Caecilius and Lucius Valerius, all the cities in the territory of the Bruttii, which were in the possession of Hannibal, surrendered to the Romans.
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§ 3.20 In the fourteenth year after Hannibal s invasion of Italy, Scipio, who had achieved such successes in Spain, was created consul, and sent into Africa; a man in whom there was thought to be something divine, so that he was even imagined to hold converse with the gods. He encountered Hanno, the general of the Carthaginians in Africa, and destroyed his army. In a second battle he took his camp, with four thousand five hundred of his soldiers, eleven thousand being killed. Syphax, king of Numidia, who had joined the Africans, he took prisoner, and became master of his camp. Syphax himself, with the noblest of the Numidians, and a vast quantity of spoil, was sent by Scipio to Rome; on the news of which event, almost all Italy forsook Hannibal, who was desired by the Carthaginians to return to Africa, which Scipio was now laying waste.
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§ 3.21 Thus, in the seventeenth year after his arrival, Italy was delivered from Hannibal, and he is said to have quitted it with tears. Ambassadors from the Carthaginians applied to Scipio for peace, by whom they were sent to the senate, a truce of forty-five days being allowed for their journey to and from Rome; thirty thousand pounds of silver were accepted from them. The senate directed that a peace should be concluded with the Carthaginians at the discretion of Scipio. Scipio granted it on these conditions: “that they should retain, no more than thirty ships, that they should pay to the Romans five hundred thousand pounds of silver, and restore all the prisoners and deserters.”
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§ 3.22 Hannibal in the meantime landing in Africa, the treaty was interrupted. Many hostilities were committed by the Carthaginians; yet when their ambassadors, as they were returning from Rome, were made prisoners by some Roman troops, they were by Scipio's orders set at liberty. Hannibal too, being defeated by Scipio in several battles, expressed also himself a desire for peace. A conference being held, peace was offered on the same terms as before, only a hundred thousand pounds of silver were added to the former five hundred thousand, on account of their late perfidy. The terms were, unsatisfactory to the Carthaginians, and they ordered Hannibal to continue the war. The war was carried by Scipio, and Masinissa, another king of the Numidians, who had made an alliance with Scipio, to the very walls of Carthage. Hannibal sent three spies into Scipio's camp, who were captured, and Scipio ordered them to be led round the camp, the whole army to be shown them, and themselves to be entertained and dismissed, that they might report to Hannibal all that they had seen among the Romans.
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§ 3.23 In the meantime preparations were made by both generals for a battle, such as scarce ever occurred in any age, since they were the ablest commanders that ever led forces into the field. Scipio came off victorious, having almost captured Hannibal himself, who escaped at first with several horse, then with twenty, and at last with only four. There were found in Hannibal's camp twenty thousand pounds of silver, and eight hundred of gold, with plenty of stores. After this battle, peace was concluded with the Carthaginians. Scipio returned to Rome, and triumphed with the greatest glory, receiving from that period the appellation of Africanus. Thus the second Punic war was brought to an end in the nineteenth year after it began.
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§ 4.1 BOOK IV After the Punic was terminated, the Macedonian war, against King Philip, succeeded.
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§ 4.2 In the five hundred and fifty-first year from the building of the city, Titus Quintius Flamininus was sent against King Philip. He was successful in his undertaking; and peace was granted to Philip on these conditions, that “he should not make war on those states of Greece which the Romans had defended against him; that he should restore the prisoners and deserters; that he should retain only fifty vessels, and deliver up the rest to the Romans; that he should pay, for ten years, a tribute of four thousand pounds weight of silver; and give his own son Demetrius as a hostage.” Titus Quintius made war also on the Lacedaemonians; defeated their general Nabis, and admitted them into alliance on such terms as he thought proper. He led with great pride before his chariot hostages of most noble rank, Demetrius the son of Philip, and Armenes the son of Nabis.
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§ 4.3 The Macedonian war being thus terminated, the Syrian war, against King Antiochus, succeeded, in the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Manius Acilius Glabrio, To this Antiochus Hannibal had joined himself, abandoning his native country, Carthage, to escape being delivered up to the Romans. Manius Acilius Glabrio fought successfully in Achaia. The camp of King Antiochus was taken by an attack in the night, and he himself obliged to flee. To Philip his son Demetrius was restored, for having assisted the Romans in their contest with Antiochus.
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§ 4.4 In the consulate of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Caius Laelius, Scipio Africanus went out as lieutenant to his brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the consul, against Antiochus. Hannibal, who was with Antiochus, was defeated in a battle by sea. Antiochus himself was afterwards routed by Cornelius Scipio, the consul, in a great battle at Magnesia, a city of Asia, near mount Sipylus. Eumenes, who founded the city of Eumenia in Phrygia, the brother of king Attalus, assisted the Romans in that engagement. Fifty thousand foot, and three thousand horse were killed in that battle on the side of the king. In consequence, King Antiochus sued for peace, which was granted to him, though vanquished, by the senate, on the same conditions as it had been offered before: “that he should withdraw from Europe and Asia, and confine himself within mount Taurus; that he should pay ten thousand talents, and give twenty hostages, and surrender Hannibal, the author of the war.” All the cities of Asia, which Antiochus had lost in this war, were given to Eumenes; many cities also were granted to the Rhodians, who had assisted the Romans against Antiochus. Scipio returned to Rome, and celebrated his triumph with great pomp; and he also, after the example of his brother, received the name of Asiaticus, from his conquest of Asia; as his brother, from the subjugation of Africa, had been surnamed Africanus.
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§ 4.5 Under the consuls Spurius Posthumius Albinus and Quintus Marcius Philippus, Marcus Fulvius triumphed for conquering the Aetolians. Hannibal, who, on the defeat of Antiochus, had fled to Prusias, king of Bithynia, that he might not be surrendered to the Romans, was demanded also at his hands by Titus Quintius Flamininus; and, as he seemed likely to be surrendered, he drank poison, and was buried at Libyssa, in the territory of the Nicomedians.
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§ 4.6 On the death of Philip, king of Macedonia, who had both waged war with the Romans, and afterwards given aid to the Romans against Antiochus, his son Perseus took up arms again in Macedonia, having levied great forces for the war, and having as allies Cotys, king of Thrace, and the king of Illyricum, whose name was Gentius. On the side of the Romans were Eumenes, king of Asia, Ariarathes of Cappadocia, Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemy of Egypt, Masinissa of Numidia. Prusias, the king of Bithynia, although he had married the sister of Perseus, remained neutral. The general of the Romans, the consul Publius Licinius, was defeated by Perseus in a severe engagement; yet the Romans, although vanquished, refused peace to the king when he solicited it, except on condition that he should surrender himself and his people to the senate and the people of Rome. The consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus was afterwards sent against him, and the praetor Caius Anicius into Illyricum against Gentius: but Gentius, being defeated with ease in a single battle, soon surrendered; and his mother, his wife, his two sons, and his brother, fell at the same time into the power of the Romans. Thus the war was terminated within thirty days, and the news of Gentius's defeat arrived before it was announced that the war had been begun.
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§ 4.7 The consul Aemilius Paulus came to a battle with Perseus on the 3rd of September, and defeated him, killing twenty thousand of his infantry; the cavalry which remained with the king was unbroken; on the side of the Romans only a hundred men were missing. All the cities of Macedonia, that Perseus had under his sway, submitted to the Romans. The king himself, deserted by his friends, fell into the hands of Paulus; but Paulus treated him with respect, and not as a vanquished enemy, for, when he desired to prostrate himself at his feet, he would not permit him, but placed him in a seat by his side. The terms granted to the Macedonians and Illyrians were these, “that they might remain free, on paying half the tribute which they had been accustomed to pay to their kings;” that it might be seen that the Roman people contended with a view to equity and not to covetousness: and these terms Paulus proclaimed in an assembly of a vast concourse of people, entertaining the ambassadors of several states, who had come to pay their respects to him, with a most sumptuous feast; saying that “it ought to be possible for the same individual to be victorious in war and elegant in his entertainments.”
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§ 4.8 Shortly after he took seventy cities of Epirus, which had resumed hostilities; the booty he distributed among his soldiers. He then returned to Rome with great display, in a vessel belonging to Perseus, which is recorded to have been of such extraordinary magnitude, that it contained sixteen banks of oars. He celebrated his triumph most magnificently in a golden car, with his two sons standing on each side of him; the two sons of Perseus, and Perseus himself, then forty-five years of age, were led in procession before the car. After Aemilius, Caius Anicius also celebrated a triumph on account of the Illyrians; in which Gentius, with his brother and sons, were led before his car. To witness this spectacle the kings of several nations came to Rome; among others, even Attalus and Eumenes, kings of Asia, and Prusias, king of Bithynia; who were entertained with great consideration, and, by permission of the senate, deposited the presents which they had brought in the Capitol. Prusias also entrusted his son Nicomedes to the senate.
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§ 4.9 In the year following Lucius Memmius was successful in the war in Spain. Marcellus the consul afterwards met with success in the same country.
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§ 4.10 A third war was then undertaken against Carthage, in the six hundred and second year from the building of the city, in the consulship of Lucius Manlius Censorinus and Marcus Manilius, and in the fifty-first year after the termination of the second Punic war. The consuls in consequence proceeded to attack Carthage. Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general, engaged them; Phamea, another general, had the command of the Carthaginian cavalry. At that time, Scipio, the grandson of Scipio Africanus, served in the army in the capacity of tribune, for whom great fear and respect was felt by all; for he was regarded as eminently brave and skilful in the field. Many enterprises were accordingly conducted with success by his agency; nor did Hasdrubal or Phamea shrink from anything more than engaging with that part of the army in which Scipio commanded.
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§ 4.11 About the same time, Masinissa, king of Numidia, who had been an ally of the Roman people for nearly sixty years, died in the ninety-seventh year of his age, leaving behind him forty-four sons. He appointed Scipio to divide his kingdom amongst his sons
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§ 4.12 As the name of Scipio had already become famous, he was created consul, although but a young man, and sent against Carthage. He took it and demolished it: the spoils found there, which had been amassed by Carthage from the ruins of various cities, and the ornaments of towns, he restored to such cities of Sicily, Italy, and Africa, as recognized their own. Thus Carthage, in the seven hundredth year after its foundation, was destroyed. Scipio earned the same title which his grandfather had gained, being, on account of his valour, called Africanus Junior.
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§ 4.13 In the meantime a certain Pseudo-Philip took up arms in Macedonia, and defeated Publius Juvencius, a Roman praetor, who had been sent out against him, with a terrible slaughter. After him Quintus Caecilius Metellus was sent by the Romans as general against this pretended Philip, and, having slain twenty-five thousand of his soldiers, recovered Macedonia, and took the impostor himself prisoner,
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§ 4.14 War was also declared against Corinth, the noblest city of Greece, on account of an affront offered to a Roman embassy. That city Mummius the consul took and demolished. Three most remarkable triumphs therefore were celebrated at Rome at the same time, that of Scipio for Africa, before whose chariot Hasdrubal was led; that of Metellus for Macedonia, before whose chariot walked Andriscus, also called Pseudo-Philip; and that of Mummius for Corinth, before whom brazen statues, pictures, and other ornaments of that celebrated city, were carried.
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§ 4.15 In Macedonia, meanwhile, a Pseudo- Perseus, who called himself the son of Perseus, collecting the slaves, took up arms, and, when he was at the head of a force of seventeen thousand fighting men, was defeated by Tremellius the quaestor. [At this time a hermaphrodite was discovered at Rome, and drowned in the sea by order of the soothsayers.] 18
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§ 4.16 About the same time Metellus had singular success against the Spaniards in Celtiberia. Quintus Pompeius succeeded him. Not long after Quintus Caepio was also sent to the same war, which a leader named Viriathus was still keeping up against the Romans in Lusitania; through fear of whom Viriathus was killed by his own men, after he had kept Spain in a state of excitement against the Romans for fourteen years. He was at first a shepherd, then captain of a band of robbers, and at last he stirred up so many powerful nations to war, that he was considered as the protector of Spain against the Romans. When his assassins asked a reward of the consul Caepio, they received for answer, that “it was never pleasing to the Romans, that a general should be killed by his own soldiers.”
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§ 4.17 The consul Quintus Pompeius being afterwards defeated by the Numantines, the most powerful nation of Spain, made an ignominious peace with them. After him, the consul Caius Hostilius Mancinus [137 BCE] again concluded a dishonourable peace with the Numantines, which the people and senate ordered to be annulled, and Mancinus himself to be given up to the enemy, that they might avenge themselves for the dissolution of the treaty on him with whom they had made it. After such signal disgrace, therefore, with which the Roman armies had been twice defeated by the Numantines, Publius Scipio Africanus was made consul a second time, and sent to Numantia. He reformed, in the first place, the dissolute and idle soldiery, rather by inuring them to labour than by punishment, and without any great severity. He then took several cities of Spain, some by force, and allowing others to surrender. At last he reduced Numantia itself by famine, after it had been long besieged, and razed it to the ground, and received the rest of the province into alliance.
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§ 4.18 About this time Attalus, king of Asia, the brother of Eumenes, died, and left the Roman people his heir. Thus Asia was added to the Roman empire by will.
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§ 4.19 Shortly after, also, Decimus Junius Brutus triumphed with great glory over the Gallaecians and Lusitanians; and Publius Scipio Africanus had a second triumph over the Numantines. in the fourteenth year after his first triumph for his exploits in Africa.
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§ 4.20 A war in the meantime was kindled in Asia by Aristonicus, the son of Eumenes by a concubine: this Eumenes was the brother of Attalus. Against him was sent out Publius Licinius Crassus, who had ample assistance from several kings, for not only Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, supported the Romans, but also Mithridates king of Pontus, with whom they had afterwards a very great war, as well as Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, and Pylaemenes of Paphlagonia. Crassus notwithstanding was defeated, and killed in battle; his head was carried to Aristonicus, and his body buried at Smyrna. Soon after Perperna, the Roman consul, who was appointed successor to Crassus, hearing of the event of the war, hastened to Asia; and defeating Aristonicus in battle, near the city Stratonice to which he had fled, reduced him by famine to surrender. Aristonicus, by command of the senate, was strangled in prison at Rome; for a triumph could not be celebrated on his account, because Perperna had died at Pergamus on his return.
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§ 4.21 In the consulate of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Titus Quintius Flamininus, Carthage in Africa, which still exists, was rebuilt by order of the senate, two and twenty years after it had been destroyed by Scipio. A colony of Roman citizens was sent out thither.
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§ 4.22 In the six hundred and twenty-seventh year from the founding of the city, Caius Cassius Longinus and Sextus Domitius Calvinus, the consuls, made war upon the Transalpine Gauls, and the city of the Arverni, at that time very distinguished, and their king, Bituitus; and slew a vast number of men near the river Rhone. A great booty, consisting of the golden collars of the Gauls, was brought to Rome. Bituitus surrendered himself to Domitius, and was conveyed by him to Rome; and both consuls triumphed with great glory.
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§ 4.23 In the consulship of Marcus Porcius Cato and Quintus Marcius Rex, in the six hundred and thirty-third year from the building of the city, a colony was led out to Narbonne in Gaul. Afterwards a triumph was obtained over Dalmatia by the consuls Lucius Metellus and Quintus Mucius Scaevola [117 BE].
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§ 4.24 In the six hundred and thirty-fifth year from the building of the city, the consul Caius Cato made war upon the Scordisci, and fought with them to his dishonour.
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§ 4.25 When Caius Caecilius Metellus and Cnaeus Carbo were consuls, the Metelli, two brothers, had triumphs on the same day, one for Sardinia, the other for Thrace; and news was brought to Rome, that the Cimbri had crossed from Gaul into Italy.
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§ 4.26 In the consulship of Publius Scipio Nasica and Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, war was made upon Jugurtha, king of Numidia, because he had murdered Adherbal and Hiempsal, the sons of Micipsa, his cousins, princes, and allies of the Roman people. The consul Calpurnius Bestia being sent against him, was corrupted by the king's money, and concluded a most ignominious treaty of peace with him, which was afterwards repudiated by the senate. Spurius Albinus Postumius proceeded against him in the following year: he also, through the agency of his brother, fought against the Numidians to his disgrace.
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§ 4.27 In the third place, the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus being sent out against him, brought back the army, which he reformed with great severity and judgment, without exercising cruelty on any one, to the ancient Roman discipline. He defeated Jugurtha in various battles, killed or captured his elephants, and obliged many of his towns to surrender; and, when on the point of putting an end to the war, was succeeded by Caius Marius. Marius overthrew both Jugurtha and Bocchus, the king of Mauritania, who had undertaken to afford assistance to Jugurtha; he also took several towns in Numidia, and put an end to the war, having, through the instrumentality of his quaestor Cornelius Sulla, a distinguished man, taken Jugurtha prisoner, whom Bocchus, who had before fought for him, betrayed. In Gaul, the Cimbri were defeated by Marcus Junius Silanus, the colleague of Quintus Metellus, the Scordisci and Triballi in Macedonia by Minutius Rufus, and the Lusitani in Spain by Servilius Caepio; and two triumphs were celebrated on account of Jugurtha; the first by Metellus, the second by Marius. It was before the chariot of Marius, however, that Jugurtha, with his two sons, was led in chains; and he was soon after, by order of the consul, strangled in prison.
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§ 5.1 BOOK V While the war was going on in Numidia against Jugurtha, the Roman consuls, Marcus Manlius and Quintus Caepio, were defeated by the Cimbri, Teutones, Tigurini, and Ambrones, nations of Germania and Gaul, near the river Rhone; and, being reduced by a terrible slaughter, lost their very camp, as well as the greater part of their army. Great was the consternation at Rome, such as was scarcely experienced during the Punic wars in the time of Hannibal, from dread that the Gauls might again march to the city. Marius, in consequence, after his victory over Jugurtha, was created consul the second time, and the war against the Cimbri and Teutones was committed to his management. The consulship was also conferred on him a third and fourth time, in consequence of the war with the Cimbri being protracted; but in his fourth consulship he had for his colleague Quintus Lutatius Catulus. He came to battle, accordingly, with the Cimbri, and in two engagements killed two hundred thousand of the enemy, and took eighty thousand prisoners, with their general Teutobodus; for which service he was elected consul a fifth time during his absence.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by John Selby Watson (1804-84). Composed ca. 369 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.