The sacred fire was extinguished in the temple of Vesta. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus conquered the Celtiberians and received their submission, and built the town Gracchuris in Spain, as a memorial of his exploits. The VaccÆans and Lusitanians also were subdued by the proconsul Postumius Albinus. Both generals triumphed. Antiochus, the son of Antiochus, having been delivered to the Romans by his father, as a hostage, on the death of his brother Seleucus, who had succeeded his father on his demise, being sent from Rome to the sovereignty of Syria, acted the part of a very worthless king, with the exception of his attention to religion, owing to which he erected many magnificent temples in various places; at Athens to Olympian, and at Antioch to Capitoline Jupiter. The lustrum was closed by the censors. Two hundred and sixty-three thousand two hundred and ninety-four citizens are said to have been rated. Quintus Voconius Saxa, tribune of the people, proposed a law, that no one should make a woman his heir. Marcus Cato advocated the law: his speech is extant. This book contains besides the successes against the Ligurians, Istrians, Sardinians, and Celtiberians, and the commencement of the Macedonian war, which Perseus, the son of Philip, was planning; for he had sent an embassy to the Carthaginians, which had been heard by them at night; and besides he was tampering with different states of Greece.68

1The Roman people had now carried their victorious arms over all parts of the world, and far and wide had penetrated countries at a vast distance, and separated by several seas. Nevertheless, in such a tide of success flowing according to their wishes, having obtained a high character for moderation, they were more powerful by their influence than by their military sway; and they boasted frequently that they carried more measures with foreign nations by policy, than by violence and terror. Never insulting conquered nations and kings, generous to their allies, seeking for themselves the honour of victory only, to kings they had preserved their rank, to nations their laws, rights, and liberty, whether in a treaty formed with an equal or with an inferior; and although they had so encompassed, by their arms, both coasts of the Mediterranean, from Cadiz even as far as Syria, and had gained respect for the Roman name through immense tracts of territory, yet the only subjects they had, were the nations of Sicily and the islands on the coast of Italy, and the tribes of the greater part of Spain, which had not yet learned to bear their yoke with resignation. It was the ill-timed treachery of their enemies and rivals, rather than their own ambition, that afforded them cause and material for the increase of their sway. As a special instance: the cruelty of Perseus, who obtained the kingdom of Macedon by treachery and crime, displayed towards his subjects, detested by all, his frantic avarice in the midst of boundless wealth, his inconsiderate levity in the adoption and prosecution of his plans, both destroyed him, and whatever could remain independent, as long as he existed, the principal restraint on the Roman power; for his fall recoiled upon others, and brought with it not only the downfall of his neighbours, but also that of those who were far removed from him. The fall of Carthage and of the AchÆans followed the ruin of the Macedonians: and when the state of all was convulsed by their disasters, the rest of the empires, already tottering for some time, were overthrown shortly after, and all fell beneath the Roman sway. It was my intention to lay here before the reader at a glance these events, so intimately connected in interest, though occurring at different times and places, whilst he contemplated the war impending over the Romans from Perseus, from which especially the Roman power drew the sources of its growth. Perseus was then concocting that war in secret; the Ligurians and Gauls provoked rather than employed the Roman arms.

2Gaul and the Ligurians were the provinces assigned to the consuls, Marcus Junius Brutus, Aulus Manlius Vulso: Gaul was assigned to Manlius, Liguria to Junius. As to the prÆtors, the city jurisdiction fell to Marcus Titinius Curvus; the foreign, to Tiberius Claudius Nero; Sicily, to Publius Ælius Ligus; Sardinia, to Titus Æbutius; Hither Spain, to the other Marcus Titinius, for there were two of that name prÆtors in that year; and the Farther Spain, to Titus Fonteius Capito. A fire broke out in the forum, by which very many buildings were burnt to the ground, and the temple of Venus was entirely consumed. The sacred fire of Vesta was extinguished: the virgin who had the care of it was punished with stripes, by order of Marcus Æmilius, the chief pontiff, and supplication was performed, as usual in such cases. In this year the lustrum was closed by Marcus Æmilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, censors, in which were rated two hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred and forty-four citizens. The ambassadors of Perseus arrived, requiring that he should be saluted by the senate as king, ally, and friend, and that the treaty should be renewed with him which had existed with his father Philip. Perseus was an object of hatred and suspicion to the Romans, and most of them had no doubt, that as soon as an opportunity was presented, and his strength appeared to him adequate to the struggle, he would wage against the Romans the war, prepared in secret by Philip, for so many years. However, that they might not appear to have provoked him when quiet and desirous of peace, and to have themselves furnished him with a cause for war, they conceded to him his demands. Perseus, when this answer was received, supposing that the kingdom was secured to him, began to acquire influence among the Greeks. Being desirous therefore of procuring their friendship, he recalled into Macedon all, without exception, who had gone into exile, when condemned for debt or by any judicial proceeding, and those who had left Macedon for high treason, by edicts, openly announced in the island of Delos, and at Delphi, and at the temple of Minerva at Itone, in which he granted to those returning not only pardon, but also restoration of all their property, with the income, from that period in which each became an exile. He also remitted to those who were living in Macedon whatever was due to the royal exchequer; and released all those imprisoned for high treason. When by these acts he had encouraged the minds of many, he turned the attention of all Greece towards himself, and filled it with great hope. And besides, in the entire deportment of the rest of his life, he preserved the dignity of a king; for his mien was noble, and his person well fitted to discharge all the duties of war and peace; and his age, now matured, possessed a graceful majesty, beaming from brow and forehead. He had none of his father’s wantonness, and licentious passions for women and wine. By these praise-worthy acts Perseus rendered the beginning of his reign agreeable, although it was destined to have a termination very different from its commencement.

3Before those prÆtors who had obtained by lot the Spains could come to their provinces, great exploits were there performed by Postumius and Gracchus. But the praise of Gracchus was extraordinary, for he being in the prime of life, since he far surpassed all his coevals in courage and prudence, even then was lauded greatly by fame, and raised greater hope of himself with regard to the future. Twenty thousand Celtiberians were besieging Carabi, a city in alliance with the Romans. Gracchus hastened to bear aid to his allies. That anxiety tortured him, how he could signify his intention to the besieged, while the enemy pressed the city with so close a blockade, that it scarcely appeared possible that an enemy could reach it. The daring of Cominius executed the difficult task. He being prÆfect of a troop of horse, having previously weighed over the matter with himself, and having informed Gracchus of what he was preparing, dressed himself in a Spanish military cloak, and mixed with the enemy’s foragers. Having entered the camp with them he galloped from it to the city, and announced the approach of Tiberius. The townsmen, being aroused by this intelligence from the depth of despair to cheerfulness and daring, and having determined to fight bravely to the last, were relieved from blockade on the third day, in consequence of the enemy having departed on the arrival of Gracchus. He himself having been afterwards attacked by a stratagem of the barbarians, by the union of skill and strength, so repelled the danger, that the artifice recoiled on its originators. There was a town, Complega by name, that had been built several years before, but strengthened by fortifications and increased by speedy additions, into which many of the Spaniards had flocked, who previously straggled here and there in need of territory. About twenty thousand men coming forth from that city in the garb of suppliants, and holding forth branches of olive, stood in view of the camp as if entreating peace. Immediately, having cast away the emblems of suppliants, and having suddenly attacked the Romans, they fill every place with alarm and consternation. Gracchus, by a prudent counsel, deserted the camp under the pretence of flight: and whilst they were plundering it with the usual greediness of barbarians, and were encumbering themselves with the spoil, he suddenly returned, and attacking them when in no apprehensions of such an evil, slew the most of them, and even made himself master of their town. There are some who tell the story differently: that Gracchus, when he had discovered that the enemy were distressed from want of food, abandoned his camp, which was very well furnished with all articles of food; that the enemy, having taken possession of it, and having intemperately filled themselves with what they had found, and gorged themselves to repletion, were suddenly cut off by the return of the Roman army.

4. But whether this is a different way of telling the same exploit, or quite a different affair and different victory, it is certain that Gracchus completely conquered several tribes, and moreover the entire nation of the Celtiberians. I would not however have the hardihood to assert that he took and destroyed three hundred of their cities, although Polybius, a writer of the highest authority, makes mention of it; unless that under the name of cities we include towers and castles: by which description of falsehood both the generals in wars and the writers of histories take delight in setting off exploits. For Spain, with its dry and uncultivated soil, could not support a large number of cities. The wild and uncivilized manners of the Spaniards, with the exception of those that dwell on our sea, are also at variance with the assertion, since the dispositions of men are accustomed to become more mild by the meeting with fellow-citizens which occurs in towns. But whatever we may determine concerning the number or description of the cities taken by Sempronius, (for writers vary also in the number, and some have related that one hundred and fifty towns were taken by him, others that one hundred and three was the number,) he certainly performed noble achievements; nor was he distinguished by the praises he received in war only; but he also proved himself unparalleled in arranging and arbitrating peace and laws for the conquered nations. For he distributed lands among the poor and assigned them habitations, and by giving and receiving an oath, secured to all the tribes inhabiting that country, laws clearly defined, according to which they were to live in friendship and alliance with the Roman people. And posterity often appealed to the authority of this treaty in the wars which afterwards broke out. Gracchus appointed that the town which was hitherto called Illurcis, should be distinguished by his own name, and called Gracchuris, as a monument of his merit and actions. The report of the acts of Postumius is more involved in obscurity. However the VaccÆans and Lusitanians were conquered by him, and forty thousand of these nations were slain. These affairs being transacted, they both, when they had delivered up the armies and provinces to their successors on their arrival, went home to triumph. In Gaul, Manlius the consul, to whom that province had fallen, when material for a triumph was wanting, eagerly seized an opportunity presented by fortune, of waging war against the Istrians. They had aided the Ætolians on a former occasion when making war against the Romans, and lately too had given trouble. At that time Æpulo, a king of a violent disposition, ruled them, who was said to have armed the nation trained to peace by his father, and therefore was much endeared to the youth desirous of plundering.

1 When the consul held a council on the subject of a war with Istria, some were of opinion that it ought to be begun immediately, before the enemy could collect forces; others, that the senate ought first to be consulted; the opinion was adopted which opposed delay. Accordingly the consul, marching from Aquileia, pitched his camp at the lake Timavus, which lies very near the sea. Thither came Caius Furius, one of the naval commanders, with ten ships; for two naval commanders had been appointed against the fleet of the Illyrians, and these commanders, with twenty ships for the protection of the coast of the Hadriatic, were to make Ancona, as it were, the pivot of their position; so that Lucius Cornelius had to guard the coasts on the right, extending from the latter place to Tarentum; and Caius Furius those on the left, as far as Aquileia. This squadron was sent to the nearest port in the Istrian territory, with a number of transports and a large store of provisions; while the consul, following with the legions, encamped at the distance of about five miles from the coast. A plentiful market was soon established at the port, and every thing conveyed thence to the camp. That this might be done with greater safety, out-posts were fixed around the camp; a newly-levied cohort of Placentines was posted between the camp and the sea, as a picket in the direction of Istria; and that the watering-parties might likewise have protection at the river, orders were given to Marcus Æbutius, military tribune, to take thither two companies of the second legion. Titus and Caius Ælius, military tribunes, led out the third legion on the road towards Aquileia, in support of those that went for food and forage. In the same quarter, nearly a mile distant, was the camp of the Gauls: Catmelus acted as their chieftain, and they were not more than three thousand armed men.

2 When the Roman army first reached the lake Timavus, the Istrians took post behind a hill, where they could not be seen; and on its march thence followed it through by-ways, watching attentively for some opportunity that might give them an advantage; nor did any thing that was done, either on land or sea, escape their observation. When they saw that the advanced guards of the Romans were weak, and that the market-place was filled with an unarmed crowd of persons trafficking between the camp and the sea, and that they had not fortified themselves either by works on land, or by the help of ships, they made an assault on two of their posts at once, that of the Placentine cohort, and that of the two companies of the second legion. A morning fog concealed their design; and when this began to disperse as the sun grew warm, the light piercing through it in some degree, yet still being far from clear, and, as usual in such cases, magnifying the appearance of every thing, deceived the Romans, and made the army of the enemy appear much greater to them than it really was. And when the troops in both the posts, terrified, had fled in the utmost confusion to the camp, there they caused much greater alarm than that which they were under themselves: for they could neither tell what made them fly nor answer any question that was asked. Then a shouting was heard at all the gates, since there were no guards at them which could withstand an attack: and the crowding together of the soldiers, who fell one against the other in the dark, raised a doubt as to whether the enemy was within the rampart. One only cry was heard, that of those urging to the sea. This cry uttered by one, and without an objected by chance, resounded every where throughout the entire camp. At first, therefore, a few with their arms and a greater part without them, as if they had received orders so to do, ran off to the sea shore; then followed more, and at length almost the whole of the army, and the consul himself, when, having attempted in vain to call back the fugitives, he had effected nothing by commands, advice, and, at last, by entreaties. Marcus Licinius Strabo, a military tribune of the third legion, with three companies alone, remained, being left behind by his legion. The Istrians having made an attack on the empty camp, after that no other had met them in arms came upon him while he was drawing up and encouraging his men at the general’s quarters; the fight was maintained with more resolution than might be anticipated, from the small number of the defenders; nor did it cease until the tribune, and those who stood round him, were all slain. The enemy then, tearing down the general’s tent, and seizing on all they could find, went on to the quÆstor’s quarters, and the adjoining forum, called Quintana. Thereupon, when they found all kinds of food dressed and laid out in the quÆstor’s tent, and the couches placed in order, their chieftain lay down and began to feast. Presently all the rest, thinking no more of fighting or of the enemy, did the same; and being unaccustomed to any sort of rich food, they greedily gorged themselves with meat and wine.

3 The appearance of affairs among the Romans was by no means the same. There was confusion both on land and sea; the mariners struck their tents, and hastily conveyed on board the provisions which had been sent on shore; the soldiers in a panic rushed into the boats, and even into the water. Some of the seamen, in fear lest their vessels should be overcrowded, opposed the entrance of the multitude, while others pushed off from the shore into the deep. Hence arose a dispute, and in a short time a fight, accompanied by wounds and loss of lives, both of soldiers and seamen; until by order of the consul, the fleet was removed to a distance from the shore. He next set about separating the armed from the unarmed; out of so large a number, there were scarcely found twelve hundred who had preserved their arms; very few horsemen who had brought their horses with them; while the rest were an ill-looking throng, like servants and sutlers, and would certainly have fallen a prey, if the enemy had not neglected the war. At length an express was despatched to call in the third legion and the out-post of the Gauls; and at the same time the troops began to march back from all parts in order to retake the camp, and wipe off their disgrace. The military tribunes of the third legion ordered their men to throw away the forage and wood, and commanded the centurions to mount two elderly soldiers on horses from which the loads were thrown down, and each of the cavalry to take a young foot soldier with him on his horse. He told them, “it would be a great honour to their legion, if they should recover, by bravery, the camp which had been lost by the cowardice of the second; and that this might be easily effected, if the barbarians were surprised while busied in plundering. In like manner as they had taken it, so might it be retaken.” His exhortation was received by the army with the utmost alacrity; they eagerly bear on the standards, nor do the soldiers delay the standard-bearers. However the consul, and the troops which were led back from the shore, reached the rampart first. Lucius Atius, first tribune of the second legion, not only urged on his men, but informed them also, that “if the Istrians meant to retain the camp, which they had taken, by the same arms by which they took it, they would, in the first place, have pursued their enemy driven from his camp to the sea; and, in the next place, they would certainly have stationed guards outside the rampart; and that it was very likely that they were lying in sleep, or drowned in wine.”

4 Immediately after this, he ordered his own standard-bearer, Aulus BÆculonius, a man of known bravery, to bear in the standard; who replied, that if the men were willing to follow him, he would cause it to be done more quickly. Then, exerting all his strength, after throwing the standard across the intrenchment, he was the first that entered the gate. And on the other side, Titus Ælius and Caius Ælius, military tribunes of the third legion, with their cavalry arrived; and, quickly after them, the soldiers whom they had mounted in pairs on the beasts of burden; also the consul with the main body. Only a few of the Istrians, who had drunk in moderation, betook themselves to flight: death succeeded as the continuation of the sleep of the others; and the Romans recovered all their effects unimpaired, except the victuals and wine which had been consumed. The soldiers, too, who had been left sick in the camp, when they saw their countrymen within the trenches, snatched up arms, and committed great slaughter. The bravery of Caius Popilius, a horseman, was pre-eminent above that of all. His surname was Labellus. He had been left behind in the camp, on account of a wound in his foot, notwithstanding which he slew by far the greatest number of the enemy. About eight thousand Istrians were killed, but not one prisoner taken; for rage and indignation had made the Romans regardless of booty. The king of the Istrians, though drunk after his banquet, was hastily mounted on a horse by his people, and effected his escape. Of the conquerors there were lost two hundred and thirty-seven men; more of whom fell in the fight in the morning, than in the retaking of the camp.

5 It happened that Cneius and Lucius Cavillius, new citizens of Aquileia, coming with a convoy of provisions, and not knowing what had passed, were very near going into the camp after it was taken by the Istrians. These men, when, leaving their baggage, they had fled back to Aquileia, filled all things with consternation and alarm, not only there, but, in a few days after, at Rome also; to which intelligence was brought, not only that the camp was taken, and that the troops ran away, as was really the case, but that every thing was lost and that the whole army was entirely cut off. Wherefore, as is usual in a dangerous emergency, extraordinary levies were ordered by proclamation, both in the city and throughout all Italy. Two legions of Roman citizens were raised, and ten thousand foot and five hundred horse were demanded from the allies of the Latin nation. The consul Marcus Junius was ordered to pass on into Gaul, and demand from the several states of that province, whatever number of troops each was able to supply. At the same time it was decreed that Tiberius Claudius, the prÆtor, should issue orders for the fourth legion, and five thousand foot and two hundred and fifty horse, of the Latins, to assemble at PisÆ; and that he should guard that province during the consul’s absence; and that Marcus Titinius, the prÆtor, should order the first legion, and an equal number of allied foot and horse, to meet at Ariminum. Nero, habited in general’s robes, set out for PisÆ, which was in his province. Titinius, after sending Caius Cassius, military tribune, to Ariminum, to take the command of the legion there, held a levy at Rome. The consul, Marcus Junius, passed over from Liguria into the province of Gaul, and having immediately ordered a levy of auxiliaries through the states of Gaul, and having ordered the colonies to send soldiers, came to Aquileia. There he learned that the army was safe; wherefore, after despatching a letter to Rome, that they might be no longer alarmed, he sent home the auxiliaries, which he had ordered the Gauls to furnish, and proceeded himself to join his colleague. There was great joy at Rome after the unexpected news; the levies were stopped, the soldiers who had taken the military oath were discharged, and the troops at Ariminum, who were afflicted with a pestilential sickness, were remanded home. The Istrians, when they with a numerous force were encamped at no great distance from the consul, after they heard that the other consul was arrived with a new army, dispersed, and returned to their several states. The consuls led back their legions into winter quarters at Aquileia.

6 The alarm caused by the affairs of Istria being at length composed, a decree of the senate was passed, that the consuls should settle between themselves which of them should come to Rome, to preside at the elections. When two plebeian tribunes, Aulus Licinius Narva and Caius Papirius Turdus, in their harangues to the people, uttered severe reflections on Manlius, then abroad; and proposed the passing of an order, that although the government of their provinces had already been continued to the consuls for a year, yet Manlius should not hold command beyond the ides of March; in order that he might immediately, after going out of office, be brought to trial. Against this proposition, Quintus Ælius, another tribune, protested; and, after violent struggles, prevailed so far, as to prevent its being passed. About this time, when Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Lucius Postumius Albinus came home from Spain, an audience of the senate is granted to them, by Marcus Titinius the prÆtor, to speak of the services which they had rendered, and demand the honours they had merited, and also that thanksgiving should be offered to the immortal gods. At the same time also it was known by the letters of Titus Æbutius the prÆtor, which his son brought to the senate, that there was great commotion in Sardinia. The Iliensians, having added to their forces Balearian auxiliaries, had invaded the province though at peace with them; nor could resistance be offered to them by a weak, army, which had besides lost great numbers by a pestilence. Ambassadors from the Sardinians made the same representations, entreating the senate to send relief to their cities; for as to the country, it was already entirely ruined. This embassy, and every thing which referred to Sardinia, was referred to the new magistrates. There was an embassy from the Lycians, no less entitled to commiseration, who complained of the cruel treatment which they suffered from the Rhodians, to whose government they had been annexed by Lucius Cornelius Scipio. “They had formerly,” they said, “been under the dominion of Antiochus, and their bondage under that king, compared to their present condition, appeared an honourable state of liberty; that they were not only oppressed by acts of government, but individually underwent real slavery. That they themselves, their wives, and children, were abused alike by them; that cruelties were practised on their persons, and their character blotted and dishonoured, a circumstance which would excite the indignation of every one. They were openly treated with contemptuous insults, merely for the purpose of exercising an usurped prerogative, that they might not doubt that there was no difference between them and purchased slaves.” The senate was highly displeased at such proceedings, and gave the Lycians a letter to the Rhodians, acquainting them, that “it was the will of the senate, that neither the Lycians should be subjected to the Rhodians as slaves, nor should any other men who were born free become the slaves of any one; but that the Lycians should be under the government, and, at the same time, the protection of the Rhodians, in like manner as the allied states were subjected to the Roman people.”

7 Two triumphs for conquests in Spain were then successively celebrated. First, Sempronius Gracchus triumphed over the Celtiberians and their allies; next day, Lucius Postumius triumphed over the Lusitanians, and the other Spaniards in that quarter. Tiberius Gracchus carried in the procession forty thousand pounds’ weight of silver, Albinus twenty thousand. They distributed to each of their soldiers twenty-five denariuses,69 double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman; the same sums to the allied troops as to the Roman. The consul, Marcus Junius, happened to arrive at Rome at this time from Istria, in order to hold the elections. The plebeian tribunes, Papirius and Licinius, after harassing him in the senate, with questions relative to what had passed in Istria, brought him into the assembly of the people. To which inquiries the consul answered, that “he had been not more than eleven days in that province; and that as to what had happened when he was not present, he, like themselves, gained his information from report.” But they still proceeded to ask, “why, then, did not Manlius rather come to Rome, that he might account to the Roman people for his having quitted Gaul, the province allotted to him, and gone into Istria? When had the senate decreed a war with that nation? When had the people ordered it? But he will say, ‘Though the war was indeed undertaken by private authority, yet it was conducted with prudence and courage.’ On the contrary, it is impossible to say, whether it was undertaken with greater injustice than the rashness with which it was conducted. Two advanced guards were surprised by the Istrians; a Roman camp was taken, with whatever infantry and cavalry were in it; the rest in disorder, without arms, and among the foremost the consul himself, fled to the shore and the ships. But he should answer for all these matters when he became a private citizen, since he had been unwilling to do so while consul.”

8 The elections were then held, in which Caius Claudius Pulcher and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus were chosen consuls. Next day the following persons were elected prÆters, Publius Ælius Tubero, a second time, Caius Quintus Flamininus, Caius Numisius, Lucius Mummius, Cneius Cornelius Scipio, and Publius Valerius LÆvinus. The city jurisdiction fell, by lot, to Tubero; the foreign, to Quintus; Sicily, to Numisius; and Sardinia, to Mummius; but this last, on account of the importance of the war there, was made a consular province. Gracchus obtains it by lot; Claudius, Istria; Scipio and LÆvinus received Gaul, which was divided into two provinces. On the ides of March, the day when Sempronius and Claudius assumed the administration, a cursory mention only was of the provinces of Sardinia and of Istria, and of those who had commenced hostilities there; but on the day following, the ambassadors of the Sardinians, who had been referred to the new magistrates, were introduced, and Lucius Minucius Thermus, lieutenant-general under the consul Manlius in Istria, attended; and by them the senate was accurately informed how far these provinces were involved in war. Ambassadors from the confederate states of Latium, who, after having ineffectually applied to the former consuls and censors, were at last introduced to an audience, made a powerful impression on the senate. The amount of their complaints was that “their citizens, having been rated in the general survey at Rome, had most of them removed thither; and that if this practice were allowed, it would come to pass, in the course of a very few lustrums, that their deserted towns and country would be unable to furnish any soldiers.” The Samnites and the Pelignians also represented, that four thousand families had emigrated to FregellÆ; and that neither of these places furnished less soldiers on that account. That there had been practised two species of fraud in individuals changing their citizenship: there was a law, which granted liberty to any of the allies or Latins, who should not leave his offspring at home, to be enrolled a citizen of Rome; yet, by an abuse of this law, some did injury to the allies, others to the Roman people. For, at first, to evade the leaving offspring at home, they made over their children as slaves to some Roman, under an agreement that they should be again set free, and thus become citizens by emancipation; and then those men, who had now no children to leave, became Roman citizens. Afterwards, they neglected even these appearances of law; and, without any regard either to the ordinances or to progeny, passed indiscriminately into the Roman state by migration, and getting themselves included in the survey. To prevent such proceedings in future, the ambassadors requested the senate to order the allies to return to their respective states, and to provide by a law that no one should make any man his property, or alienate such property for the purpose of a change of citizenship; and that if any person should by such means be made a citizen of Rome, he should not enjoy the rights of a citizen.”

9 The senate granted their petitions; and then Sardinia and Istria, the provinces which were in arms, were disposed of. Two legions were ordered to be enrolled for Sardinia, each containing five thousand two hundred foot and three hundred horse; and of allies and Latins, twelve thousand foot and six hundred horse; and it was decided that the consul should have ten ships, of five banks of oars, if he should think it requisite to take them from the docks. The same numbers of infantry and cavalry were decreed for Istria as for Sardinia. The consuls were ordered to send into Spain to Marcus Titinius, one legion, with three hundred horse and five thousand foot, and two hundred and fifty horse of the allies. Before the consuls cast lots for their provinces, several prodigies were reported: that in the Crustumine territory, a stone fell from the sky into the grove of Mars; that in the Roman territory, a boy was born defective in his limbs; that a serpent with four feet had been seen; that at Capua, many buildings in the forum were struck by lightning; and, that at Puteoli, two ships were burned by lightning. Amidst these prodigies which were reported from abroad, a wolf also, after entering Rome by the Colline gate, was chased during the day, and, to the great consternation of its pursuers, escaped through the Esquiline gate. On account of these prodigies, the consuls sacrificed victims of the larger kinds, and there was a supplication, for one day, at all the shrines. When the sacrifices were duly performed, they cast lots for their provinces; Istria fell to Claudius, Sardinia to Sempronius. Then Caius Claudius, by direction of the senate, proposed a law and issued a proclamation, that “any of the allies and Latin confederates, who themselves, or whose ancestors, had been surveyed among the associated states of Latium in the censorship of Marcus Claudius and Titus Quintius, or at any time since, should all return, each to his respective state, before the calends of November.” Inquiry concerning such as did not obey, was intrusted to Lucius Mummius the prÆtor. To the law and the proclamation of the consul, was added a decree of the senate, that “the dictator, consul, interrex, censor, or prÆtor, who then should be in office, before whom any slave should be brought, to receive manumission, should cause the said slave who was about to be made free, to make oath, that the person giving him liberty did not do it for the purpose of his changing his citizenship;” they ordered that he, whoever would not swear this oath, should not be manumitted. The cognizance and jurisdiction in this business was, for the future, assigned to Caius Claudius the consul.

10 While these matters passed at Rome, Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius, the consuls of the preceding year, after remaining during the winter at Aquileia, led their army early in the spring into the Istrian territories; where when they spread their depredations through a great part of the country, grief and indignation, rather than any well-grounded hope of being able to make head against these joint forces, roused the Istrians, on perceiving the plunder of their property. A hasty levy of their young men being made from all their cantons this raw and tumultuary army made its first onset with more vigour than perseverance. About four thousand of them were slain in the field; and the rest, giving over the war, fled in different directions to their respective states. Soon after, they sent ambassadors to the Roman camp to sue for peace, and then delivered up the hostages required of them. When these transactions were made known at Rome, by letters from the proconsul, Caius Claudius, the consul, fearing that this proceeding might, perhaps, take the province and the army out of his hands, without offering vows, without assuming the military habit, and unaccompanied by his lictors, having acquainted his colleague alone with his intention, set out in the night, and with the utmost speed hastened to the province, where he conducted himself even with less prudence than he had shown in coming. For, in an assembly which he called, after making severe remarks on Manlius’s running away from the camp, which were very offensive to the ears of the soldiers, as they themselves had begun the flight, and after railing at Marcus Junius, as having made himself a sharer in the disgrace of his colleague, he at last ordered both of them to quit the province. And when they replied, that when the consul should come, in the regular manner, agreeably to ancient practice; when he should set out from the city, after offering vows in the Capitol, attended by his lictors and dressed in the military habit, then they would obey his orders. Maddened by anger, he summoned the person who acted as quÆstor to Manlius, and ordered him to bring fetters, threatening to send Junius and Manlius to Rome in chains. The consul’s command was slighted by this man too; and the surrounding crowd of soldiers, who favoured the cause of their commanders, and were incensed against the consul, supplied him with resolution to refuse obedience. At last the consul, overpowered by the reproaches of individuals and the scoffs of the multitude, for they even turned him into ridicule, went back to Aquileia in the same ship in which he had come. Thence he wrote to his colleague, desiring him to give notice to that part of the new-raised troops who were enlisted for Istria, to assemble at Aquileia, in order that he should have no delay at Rome, but set out, in the military habit, as soon as the ceremony of offering vows was finished. These directions his colleague punctually executed, and an early day was appointed for the assembling of the troops. Claudius almost overtook his own letter. On his arrival he called an assembly, that he might represent the conduct of Manlius and Junius; and, staying only three days in Rome, he offered his vows in the Capitol, put on the military habit, and, attended by his lictors, set out to his province with the same rapid speed which he had used in the former journey.

11 A few days before his arrival, Junius and Manlius had laid vigorous siege to the town of Nesatium, in which the principal Istrians, and Epulo their king, had shut themselves up. Claudius, bringing thither the two new legions, dismissed the old army, with its commanders; invested the town himself; and prosecuted the siege with regular works. He by the labour of many days changed the course of, and carried away in a new channel, a river which flowed on the outside of the wall, and greatly impeded the proceedings of the besiegers, while it supplied the Istrians with water. This event, of the water being cut off, terrified the barbarians, as if effected by some supernatural power; yet still they entertained no thoughts of peace, but set about killing their wives and children; exhibiting a spectacle shocking even to their enemies; and, after putting them to death in open view on the walls, tumbled them down. Amid the simultaneous shrieking of women and children, and this horrid carnage, the soldiers, scaling the walls, effected an entrance into the town. As soon as the king heard the uproar of the captured city, from the cries of terror uttered by the flying inhabitants, he plunged his sword into his breast, that he might not be taken alive; the rest were either killed or taken prisoners. After this, two other towns, Mutila and Faveria, were stormed and destroyed. The booty, which exceeded expectation, considering the poverty of the nation, was all given up to the soldiers. Five thousand six hundred and thirty-two persons were sold by auction, and the fomenters of the war were beaten with rods and beheaded. By the destruction of these three towns, and the death of the king, the whole country of Istria was brought to terms of peace; every one of its states, giving hostages, submitted to the dominion of the Romans.

12 For some time before, the conclusion of the war with Istria, consultations were held among the Ligurians about the renewal of hostilities. Tiberius Claudius, proconsul, who had been consul the year before, with a garrison of one legion, held the command of PisÆ. And when the senate was informed by his letter of their proceedings, they vote that “the same letter should be carried to Caius Claudius,” for the other consul had already crossed over into Sardinia; and they added a decree, that, since the province of Istria was subdued, he might, if he thought proper, lead his army into Liguria. At the same time, a supplication for two days was decreed, in consequence of the letter which he wrote concerning his actions in Istria. The other consul, Sempronius, likewise was successful in his operations in Sardinia. He carried his army into the territory of the Ilian tribe of Sardinians. Powerful reinforcements from the Balarians had come to the Ilians. He fought a pitched battle against the combined forces of the two states. The enemy were routed and put to flight, and driven from their camp; twelve thousand armed men were slain. Next day, the consul ordered their arms to be gathered into a heap and burned, as an offering to Vulcan. He then led back his victorious troops into winter quarters in the allied cities. Caius Claudius, on receipt of the letter of Tiberius Claudius and the decree of the senate, marched his legions out of Istria into Liguria. The enemy, having advanced into the plains, were encamped on the river Scultenna: here a pitched battle was fought, in which fifteen thousand of the enemy were killed, and about seven hundred captured in the fight, and in the camp, for that too was stormed; and also fifty-one military standards were taken. The Ligurians who survived the slaughter, fled back in every direction into the mountains. No appearance of arms any where met the consul while ravaging the low country. Claudius, having thus in one year subdued two nations, and, what has rarely been achieved in a single consulate, completed the reduction of two provinces, came home to Rome.

13 Several prodigies were reported this year: that at Crustuminum a bird, which they call the ospray, cut a sacred stone with its beak; that a cow spoke in Campania; that at Syracuse a brazen statue of a cow was mounted by a farmer’s bull which had strayed from the herd. A supplication of one day was performed in Crustuminum, on the spot; the cow at Campania was ordered to be maintained at the public expense, and the prodigy at Syracuse was expiated, the deities to whom supplications should be offered, being declared by the aruspices. This year died, in the office of pontiff, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had been consul and censor; and his son, Marcus Marcellus, was chosen into the vacant place. The same year a colony of two thousand Roman citizens was settled at Luca. The triumvirs, Publius Ælius, Lucius Egilius, and Cneius Sicinius, planted it. Fifty-one acres and a half of land were given to each. This land had been taken from the Ligurians, and had been the property of the Etrurians, before it fell into their possession. Caius Claudius, the consul, arrived at the city, and after laying before the senate a detail of his successful services in Istria and Liguria, a triumph was decreed to him on demanding it. He triumphed, in office, over the two nations at once. In this procession he carried three hundred and seven thousand denariuses,70 and eighty-five thousand seven hundred and two quinariuses.71 To each soldier fifteen denariuses72 were given, double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman. The allied soldiers received less, by half, than the native troops, for which reason they followed his chariot in silence to show their disgust.

14 While this triumph over the Ligurians was celebrated, that people, perceiving that not only the consular army returned to Rome, but also that the legion at PisÆ had been disbanded by Tiberius Claudius, shaking off their fears, and collecting an army secretly, crossed the mountains by winding paths, and came down into the plains, and after ravaging the lands of Mutina, by a sudden assault they gained possession of the colony itself. When this account was brought to Rome, the senate ordered Caius Claudius, the consul, to hold the elections as soon as possible, and (after appointing magistrates for the ensuing year) to go back to his province, and rescue the colony out of the hands of the enemy. The elections were held as the senate had directed; and Cneius Cornelius Scipio Hispalus, with Quintus Petillius Spurinus, were chosen consuls. Then Marcus Popillius LÆnas, Publius Licinius Crassus, Marcus Cornelius Scipio, Lucius Papirius Maso, Marcus Aburius, and Lucius Aquilius Gallus, were elected prÆtors. To Caius Claudius, the consul, his command was prolonged for a year, and likewise the administration of the province of Gaul; and he was ordered, lest the Istrians should follow the example of the Ligurians, to send into Istria the allied Latin troops, which he had brought home to attend his triumph. When the consuls, Cneius Cornelius and Quintus Petillius, on the day of entering into office, according to custom, sacrificed each an ox to Jupiter, the head of the liver was not found in the victim sacrificed by Petillius; which being reported to the senate, he was ordered to sacrifice oxen until the omens should be favourable. The senate being then consulted concerning the provinces, decreed PisÆ and Liguria to be the provinces of the consuls. They ordered that he to whose lot PisÆ fell, should, at the time of the elections, come home to preside at them; and that they should severally enlist two new legions and three hundred horse; and should order the allies, and Latin confederates, to furnish ten thousand foot and six hundred horse to each. The command was prolonged to Tiberius Claudius, until such time as the consul should arrive in the province.

15 While the senate was employed in these affairs, Caius Cornelius, being called by a beadle, went out of the senate-house; and, after a short time, returned with a troubled countenance, and told the conscript fathers that the liver of a fat ox, which he had sacrificed, had melted away; that, when this was told him by the person who dressed the victims, he did not believe it, and he himself ordered the water to be poured out of the vessel in which the entrails were boiled; and he saw all entire but the liver, which had been unaccountably consumed. While the fathers were under much terror on account of this prodigy, their alarm was augmented by the other consul, who informed them that, on account of the first victim having wanted the head of the liver, he had sacrificed three oxen, and had not yet found favourable omens. The senate ordered him to continue sacrificing the larger victims until he should find favourable omens. They say that the victims offered to the other deities at length presented good omens; but that in those offered to Health, Petillius could find none such. Then the consuls and prÆtors cast lots for their provinces, when PisÆ fell to Cneius Cornelius; Liguria, to Petillius. Of the prÆtors, Lucius Papirius Maso obtained the city jurisdiction; Marcus Abutius, the foreign; Marcus Cornelius Scipio Maluginensis, the Farther Spain; Lucius Aquilius Gallus, Sicily. Two of them petitioned to be excused from going into their provinces. First, Marcus Popillius requested that he might not be obliged to go to Sardinia, alleging that “Gracchus was bringing that province into a state of tranquillity; that Titus Æbutius the prÆter had been given to him by the senate as his assistant; and that it was by no means expedient to interrupt the train of business, for the completion of which there was no method so efficacious as the continuing the management in the same hands; that, amid the transfer of command and initiation of the successors, who must be impressed with a knowledge of circumstances before they can proceed to action, opportunities of successfully transacting matters were frequently lost.” The excuse of Popillius was admitted. Then Publius Licinius Crassus alleged that he was prevented from going into his province by solemn sacrifices. That which had fallen to his lot was Hither Spain. But he was ordered either to proceed thither, or to swear in the public assembly that he was hindered by the performance of solemn anniversary sacrifices. When this determination was made in the case of Publius Licinius, Marcus Cornelius demanded that his oath, of the like import, might be admitted as an excuse for his not going into the Farther Spain. Both the prÆtors accordingly took an oath in the same words. Marcus Titinius and Titus Fonteius, proconsuls, were ordered to remain in Spain, with authority as before; and it was decreed that a reinforcement should be sent to them of three thousand Roman foot, with two hundred horse; and five hundred Latin foot, with three hundred horse.

16 The Latin festival was celebrated on the third day before the nones of May;73 and because, on the offering of one of the victims, the magistrate of Lanuvium had not prayed for the Roman people, the Quirites, religious scruples were felt. When the matter was laid before the senate, and they referred it to the college of pontiffs, the latter determined that the Latin festival had not been duly performed, and must be repeated; and that the Lanuvians, on whose account they were repeated, should furnish the victims. Besides the concern excited by matters of a religious nature, another incident caused no small degree of uneasiness. The consul Cneius Cornelius, as he was returning from the Alban mount, fell down. And being paralysed in part of his limbs, set out for the waters of CumÆ, where, his disorder still increasing, he died. His body was conveyed to Rome to be buried, and the funeral obsequies were performed with great magnificence: he was likewise a pontiff. The other consul, Quintus Petillius, was ordered to hold an assembly, as soon as the auspices could be taken, for the election of a consul in the room of his late colleague, and to proclaim the Latin festival. Accordingly, by proclamation, he fixed the election for the third day before the nones of August,74 and the Latin festival for the third before the ides of the same month.75 While the minds of the people were full of religious fears, to add thereto, several prodigies were reported to have happened; that a blazing torch was seen in the sky at Tusculum; that the temple of Apollo, and many private buildings at Gabii, and a wall and gate at GraviscÆ, were struck by lightning. The senate ordered these to be expiated as the pontiffs should direct. While the consuls were detained, at first by religious ceremonies, and afterwards, one of them, by the death of the other, and then by the election and the repetition of the Latin festival, in the mean time Caius Claudius marched the army to Mutina, which the Ligurians had taken the year before. Before three days had elapsed from the commencement of the siege he retook it, and delivered it back to the colonists; on this occasion eight thousand Ligurians were killed within the walls. He immediately despatched a letter to Rome, in which he not only represented this success, but likewise boasted that through his good conduct and good fortune there was not one enemy of the Roman people left on this side the Alps; and that a large tract of land had been taken, which might be distributed among many thousand men, giving each a share.

17 During the same period, Tiberius Sempronius, after gaining many victories, totally subdued the people of Sardinia. Fifteen thousand of the enemy were slain. All the tribes of the Sardinians, who had revolted, were brought under the dominion of Rome. On those which had formerly been tributary, double taxes were, imposed and levied; the rest paid a contribution in corn. When he had thus restored peace in the province, and received hostages from all parts of the island, to the number of two hundred and thirty, deputies are sent by him to Rome, to give information of these transactions, and to request of the senate, that in consideration of those services, performed under the conduct and auspices of Tiberius Sempronius, a thanksgiving might be offered to the immortal gods, and permission granted him to quit the province and bring home the army with him. The senate, having given audience to the deputies in the temple of Apollo, ordered a thanksgiving for two days, and that the consuls should sacrifice forty victims of the larger kinds; but commanded the proconsul, Tiberius Sempronius, and his army, to continue in the province for the year. Then the election for filling the vacant place of a consul, which had been fixed by proclamation for the third day before the nones of August, was finished in one day, and the consul Quintus Petillius declared Caius Valerius LÆvinus duly elected his colleague, who was to assume immediately the administration of his office. This man, having been long ambitious of the government of a province, when, very seasonably for the gratification of his wishes, a letter now arrived with intelligence that the Ligurians were again in arms, on the nones of August76 assumed the military habit; and ordered that, on account of this alarm, the third legion should march into Gaul, and join Caius Claudius, proconsul, and that the commanders of the fleet should sail with their ships to PisÆ, and coast along the Ligurian shore, to terrify that people by the sight of a naval power also. The other consul, Quintus Petillius, had appointed a day for his troops to assemble in the same place. Besides, Caius Claudius, proconsul, on hearing of the rebellion in Liguria, having hastily collected some soldiers, in addition to those whom he had with him at Parma, brought this army to the frontiers of Liguria.

18 On the approach of Caius Claudius, the enemy, reflecting that this was the same commander who had defeated them at the river Scultenna, resolving to rely on situation, rather than arms, for their defence against a force with which they had so unsuccessfully struggled, took post in two mountains, called Letum and Balista; and, for greater security, surrounded their encampment with a wall. Some, who were too slow in removing from the low grounds, were surprised and put to the sword,—one thousand five hundred in number. The others kept themselves close on the mountains; and retaining, in the midst of their fears, their native savage disposition, vented their fury on the prey taken at Mutina. They put their prisoners to death after shocking mutilation: the cattle they butchered in the temples, rather than decently sacrificed: and then (satiated with the destruction of living creatures) they turned their fury against things inanimate, dashing against the walls even vessels made for use rather than for show. Quintus Petillius, the consul, fearing that the war might be brought to a conclusion before he arrived in the province, wrote to Caius Claudius to bring the army into Gaul, saying, that he would wait for him at the Long Plains. Claudius, immediately on receipt of the letter, marched out of Liguria, and gave up the command of the army to the consul at the Long Plains. To the same place came, in a few days after, the other consul, Caius Valerius. There having divided their forces before they separated, they both together performed a purification of the troops. They then cast lots for their respective routes, it having been resolved that they should not assail the enemy on the same side. It was certain that Valerius cast his lot auspiciously, because he was in the consecrated ground; the augurs afterwards announced that there was this defect in the case of Petillius, that he himself when outside the consecrated ground cast his lot into the urn, which was subsequently brought into the sacred place. They then began their march in different directions; Petillius pitched his camp against the ridge of Balista and Letum, which joined the two together with one continued range. They report, that while he was here encouraging his soldiers, whom he had assembled for the purpose, without reflecting on the ambiguity of the word, he uttered this ominous expression: “This day I will have Letum.”77 He made his troops march up the mountain in two places at the same time. The division in which he was advanced briskly: the other was repulsed by the enemy; and the consul riding up thither, to remedy the disorder, rallied his troops; but whilst he moves about too carelessly in the front, he was pierced through with a javelin, and fell. The commanders of the enemy did not know that he was killed; and the few of his own party who saw the disaster, carefully covered the body from view, knowing that the victory rested on this. The rest of the troops, horse and foot, though deprived of their leader, dislodged the enemy, and took possession of the mountains. Five thousand of the Ligurians were slain and of the Roman army only fifty-two were lost. Besides this evident completion of the unhappy omen, the keeper of the chickens was heard to say, that there had been a defect in the auspices, and that the consul was not ignorant of it. Caius Valerius, when he was informed of the death of Quintus Petillius, made the army, thus bereft of its commander, join his own; then, attacking the enemy again, in their blood he offered a noble sacrifice to the shade of his departed colleague. He had the honour of a triumph over the Ligurians. The legion, at whose head the consul was killed, was severely punished by the senate. They determined that the campaign of this year should not be counted to the entire legion, and that their pay should be stopped, for not exposing themselves to the enemy’s weapons in defence of their commander. About this time ambassadors came to Rome from the Dardanians, who mere greatly distressed by the numerous army of Bastarnians, under Clondicus, mentioned above. These ambassadors, after describing the vast multitude of the Bastarnians, their tall and huge bodies, and their daring intrepidity in facing danger, added, that there was an alliance between them and Perseus, and that the Dardanians were really more afraid of him than even of the Bastarnians; and therefore begged of the senate that assistance should be sent them. The senate thereupon agreed, that ambassadors should be sent to examine into the affairs of Macedonia; and immediately a commission was given to Aulus Postumius to go thither. They gave to him as colleagues some young men, that he might have the principal direction and management of the embassy. The senate then took into consideration the election of magistrates for the ensuing year, on which subject there was a long debate: for people skilled in the rules of religion and politics affirmed, that, as the regular consuls of the year had died, one by the sword, the other by sickness, the substituted consuls could not with propriety hold the elections. An interregnum, therefore, took place, and the interrex elected consuls Publius Mucius ScÆvola, and Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, a second time Then Caius Popillius LÆnas, Titus Annius Luscus, Caius Memmius Gallus, Caius Cluvius Saxula, Servius Cornelius Sulla, and Appius Claudius Centho, were chosen prÆtors. The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. Of the prÆtors, Cornelius Sulla obtained Sardinia, Claudius Centho gained Hither Spain. There is no record of those to whom the other prÆtorian provinces fell. This year was notorious for an epidemic, which however attacked cattle only. The Ligurians, a nation ever vanquished, yet ever rebelling, ravaged the lands of Luna and PisÆ; and at the same time there were alarming rumours of disturbances in Gaul. Lepidus having easily quelled the commotions among the Gauls, then marched into Liguria. Several states of this country submitted themselves to his disposal; and he, supposing that they were rendered savage by the rugged mountain tops which they inhabited, as the dispositions of the inhabitants of a country generally resemble its natural features, by the precedent of some former consuls, brought them down to the plains. Of these the Garulians, Lapicinians, and Hercatians had lived on the other side of the Apennine, and the Briniatians on the farther side.

19 On the hither side of the river Audena, Quintus Mucius made war on those who had wasted the lands of Luna and PisÆ: and having reduced them all to subjection, he took away their arms from them. On account of these services, performed under the conduct and auspices of the two consuls, the senate voted a thanksgiving for three days, and sacrifices of forty victims. The commotions which broke out in Gaul and Liguria, at the beginning of this year, were thus speedily suppressed, without any great difficulty; but the apprehensions of the public, respecting a war with Macedon, still continued. For Perseus laboured to embroil the Bastarnians with the Dardanians; and the ambassadors, sent to examine into the state of affairs in Macedon, returned to Rome, and brought certain information that hostilities had commenced in Dardania. At the same time came envoys from king Perseus, to plead in excuse that neither had the Bastarnians been invited by him, nor had they done any thing at his instigation. The senate neither acquitted the king of the imputation, nor urged it against him; they only ordered him to be warned to be very careful to show, that he considered the treaty between him and the Romans as inviolable. The Dardanians, perceiving that the Bastarnians, so far from quitting their country, as they had hoped, became daily more troublesome, as they were supported by the neighbouring Thracians and Scordiscians, thinking it necessary to make some effort against them, though without any reasonable prospect of success, assembled together in arms from all quarters, at the town that was nearest to the camp of the Bastarnians. It was now winter, and they chose that season of the year, as supposing that the Thracians and Scordiscians would return to their own countries. As soon as they heard that these were gone, and the Bastarnians left by themselves, they divided their forces into two parts, that one might march openly along the straight road to attack the enemy; and that the other, going round through a wood, which lay out of sight, might assault them on the rear. But, before these could arrive at the enemy’s post, the fight commenced, and the Dardanians were beaten, and pursued to the town, which was about twelve miles from the Bastarnian camp. The victors immediately invested the city, not doubting that, on the day following, either the enemy would surrender it from fear, or they might take it by storm. Meanwhile the other body of Dardanians, which had gone round, not having heard of the defeat of their countrymen, easily possessed themselves of the camp of the Bastarnians, which had been left without a guard. The Bastarnians, thus deprived of all their provisions and warlike stores, which were in their camp, and having no means of replacing them in a hostile country, and at that unfavourable season, resolved to return to their native home. Having therefore retreated to the Danube, they found it, to their great joy, covered with ice, so thick as to seem capable of sustaining any weight. But when the entire body of men and cattle, hastening on, and crowding together, pressed on it at the same time, the ice, splitting under the immense weight, suddenly parted, and being overcome and broken up, left in the middle of the water the entire army which it had supported so long. Most of them were immediately swallowed in the eddies of the river. The fragments of the broken ice passed over many of them in their attempt to swim and drowned them. A few out of the entire nation with difficulty escaped to either bank, with their persons severely crushed. About this time, Antiochus, son to Antiochus the Great, who had been for a long time a hostage at Rome, came into possession of the kingdom of Syria, on the death of his brother Seleucus. For Seleucus, whom the Greeks call Philopator, after having received the kingdom of Syria, which had been greatly debilitated by the misfortunes of his father, during an idle reign of twelve years never distinguished by any memorable enterprise at all, called home from Rome this his younger brother, sending, in his stead, his own son Demenlius, according to the terms of the treaty, which allowed the changing of the hostages from time to time. Antiochus had but just reached Athens on his way, when Seleucus was murdered, in consequence of a conspiracy formed by Heliodorus, one of the nobles. Eumenes and Attalus expelled him aiming at the crown, and put Antiochus in possession of it, and valued it highly that they had bound him to them by this so important a favour. They now began to harbour some jealousy of the Romans, on account of several trifling causes of disgust. Antiochus, having gained the kingdom by their aid, was received by the people with such transports of joy, that they gave him the surname of Epiphanes, or Rising Star, because when aliens to the royal blood were about to seize the throne, he appeared like a propitious star, to assert his hereditary right. He was not deficient in capacity or vigour of mind to make a figure in war; but he was so perverse and indiscreet in the whole tenor of his conduct and behaviour, that they soon changed the surname which they had given him, and instead of Epiphanes, called him Epimanes or Madman. For often having gone forth from the palace without the knowledge of his servants, with one or two attendants, crowned with roses, and dressed in robes embroidered with gold, he used to go through the city, sometimes striking those that he met with stones that he carried under his arms; sometimes, on the other hand, throwing money among the mob, and shouting out, “Let him take to whom fortune shall give.” But at another time he used to go through the workshops of the goldsmiths, and engravers and other artisans, arguing vainly concerning the art of each; at another time he engaged in conversation in public with any of the plebeian he met; again, wandering around the common taverns, he indulged in potations with foreigners and strangers of the lowest grade. If by chance he had learned that any young men were celebrating an untimely banquet, he himself at once came upon them suddenly, with a glass and a concert, revelling and wantoning, so that most of them, struck with terror at the strangeness of the matter, fled away, and the remainder were silent in fear. It is ascertained also that, in the public baths, he used to bathe with the mob. As however there he was in the habit of using the most precious unguents, they report that a plebeian one day said to him. “You are happy, O king: you savour of perfumes of the highest value.” To whom Antiochus, delighted at his words, said, “I will immediately make you so happy, that you will confess that you are sated:” and immediately ordered a large pot of most valuable unguent to be poured on his head, so that, the floor being drenched with it, both the others began to fall on the slippery surface, and the king himself, laughing heartily, came to the ground.

20 Lastly, having assumed the Roman gown instead of his royal robes, he used to go about the market-place, as lie had seen done by the candidates for office at Rome, saluting and embracing each of the plebeians; soliciting at one time for the Ædileship, at another for the plebeian tribuneship, until at last he obtained the office by the suffrages of the people, and then, according to the Roman custom, he took his seat in an ivory chair, where he heard causes, and listened to debates on the most trivial matters. So far was his mind from adhering to any routine, for it wandered through every sort of life, that it was not ascertained either by himself or any one else what was his real character. He was accustomed not to speak to his friends, nor scarcely afford a smile, to his acquaintance. By an inconsistent kind of liberality, he made himself and others subjects of ridicule; for to some in the most elevated stations, and who thought highly of themselves, he would give childish presents of sweetmeats, cakes, or toys; others expecting nothing he enriched. Wherefore to many he appeared not to know what he was doing; some said that he acted from a silly, sportive temper; others, that he was evidently mad. In two great and honourable instances, however, he showed a spirit truly royal,—in the presents which he made to several cities, and the honour he paid to the gods. To the inhabitants of Megalopolis, in Arcadia, he made a promise to build a wall round their city, and he gave them the greater part of the money requisite for the purpose. At Tegea he began to erect a magnificent theatre of marble. At Cyzicum, he presented a set of golden utensils for the service of one table in the Prytaneum, the state-room of the city; where such as are entitled to that honour dine together. To the Rhodians he gave presents of every kind that their convenience required, but none very remarkable. Of the magnificence of his notions, in every thing respecting the gods, the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens can be a sufficient testimony: being the only one in the world, the plan of which was suitable to the greatness of the deity. He likewise ornamented Delos with altars of extraordinary beauty, and abundance of statues. A magnificent temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which he promised to build at Antioch, of which not only the ceilings, but all the walls, were to be covered with plates of gold, and many other edifices which he intended in various places, he did not finish, as his reign was very short. He surpassed his predecessors, too, in the magnificence of the public games of every description; of which all the games but one were after their own custom, and celebrated by an immense number of Grecian actors. He gave a show of gladiators in the Roman manner, which at first, among & people unaccustomed to such sights, caused more terror than pleasure; but by frequently repeating them, and sometimes permitting the combatants to go no further than wounds, at other times to fight until one was killed, he rendered such kind of shows not only familiar to people’s eyes, but even agreeable, and kindled in most of the young men a passion for arms; so much so that, although, at the beginning, he was obliged to entice gladiators from Rome, by high rewards, he soon found a sufficient number in his own dominions willing to perform for a moderate hire. But he displayed the same worthlessness and levity in exhibiting the games, as in the rest of his life, so that nothing could be seen more magnificent than the preparation for the games, nothing more vile or contemptible than the king himself. And when this appeared often on other occasions, it was then most conspicuous in those games, which, in emulation of the magnificence of those which were given by Paulus in Macedon, after the conquest of Perseus, he exhibited at immense expense, and with corresponding dishonour. To return, however, to the Roman affairs, from which the mention of this king has caused us to digress too far. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, after holding the government of Sardinia two years, resigned it to Servius Cornelius Sulla, the prÆtor, and, coming home to Rome, triumphed over the Sardinians. We are told that he brought such a multitude of captives from, that island, that from the long continuance of the sale, “Sardinians for sale” became a vulgar proverb, to denote things of little price. Both the consuls (ScÆvola and Lepidus) triumphed over the Ligurians; Lepidus over the Gauls also. Then were held the elections of magistrates for the ensuing year. Spurius Postumius Albinus and Quintus Mucius ScÆvola were chosen consuls. In the election of prÆtors, fortune involved Lucius or Cneius Cornelius Scipio, son of Publius Africanus, one of the candidates, in a very invidious struggle with Caius Cicereius, who had been his father’s secretary. For, after five prÆtors had been declared, namely, Caius Cassius Longinus, Publius Furius Philus, Lucius Claudius Asellus, Marcus Atilius Serranus, and Cneius Servilius CÆpio; although Scipio struggled hard to be admitted even in the last place, yet he was thought to have degenerated so far from the virtues of his father, that Cicereius would have been preferred by the votes of all the centuries, had not the latter, with singular modesty, corrected what might be considered either the fault of fortune or error of the elections. He could not reconcile it to himself, that, in a struggle in the elections, he should gain the victory over the son of his patron; but immediately throwing off the white gown, he became, from a competitor sure of success, the grateful friend and supporter of the interest of his rival. Thus, by the help of Cicereius Scipio obtained an honour which he did not seem likely to gain from the people, and which reflected greater glory on Cicereius than on himself.

21 The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. On the prÆtors casting lots, the city jurisdiction fell to Caius Cassius Longinus, and the foreign, to Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The province of Sardinia fell to Marcus Atilius, who was ordered to sail over to Corsica with a new legion, raised by the consuls, and consisting of five thousand foot and three hundred horse; and while he was engaged in carrying on the war there, Cornelius was continued in command, that he might hold the government of Sardinia. To Cneius Servilius CÆpio, for the service of Farther Spain, and to Publius Furius Philus for that of Hither Spain, the following troops were assigned—to each, three thousand Roman foot with one hundred and fifty horse, and five thousand Latin foot with three hundred horse. Sicily was decreed to Lucius Claudius, without any reinforcement. The consuls were ordered to levy two more legions, of the regular numbers of foot and horse, and to demand from the allies ten thousand foot and six hundred horse: but they met great difficulty in making the levies; for the pestilence, which the year before had fallen on the cattle, in the present year attacked the human species. Such as were seized by it, seldom survived the seventh day; those who did survive, lingered under a tedious disorder, which generally turned to a quartan ague. The slaves especially perished, of whom heaps lay unburied on all the roads. The necessary requisites could not be procured for the funerals of those of free condition. The bodies were consumed by putrefaction, without being touched by the dogs or vultures; and it was universally observed, that during that and the preceding year, while the mortality of cattle and men was so great, no vultures were any where seen. Of the public priests, there died by this contagion, Cneius Servilius CÆpio, father of the prÆtor, a pontiff; Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, decemvir of religious rites; Publius Ælius PÆtus, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augurs; Caius Mamilius Vitulus, chief curio; and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, a pontiff. In the vacant places of pontiffs78 were chosen * * * * and Caius Sulpicius Galba, in the room of Tuditanus. The augurs substituted were, Titus Veturius Gracchus Sempronianus, in place of Gracchus; and Quintus Ælius PÆtas, in place of Publius Ælius. Caius Sempronius Longus was made decemvir of religious rites, and Caius Scribonius Curio, chief curio. When the termination of the plague was not visible, the senate voted that the decemvirs should consult the Sibylline books; and, by their directions, a supplication of one day was performed; and the people assembled in the forum made a vow, whilst Quintus Marcius Philippus dictated the words, that “if the sickness and pestilence should be removed out of the Roman territory, they would solemnize a festival and thanksgiving of two days’ continuance.” In the district of Veii, a boy was born with two heads; at Sinuessa, one with a single hand; and at Oximum, a girl with teeth; in the middle of the day, the sky being perfectly clear, a rainbow was seen, stretching over the temple of Saturn, in the Roman forum, and three suns shone at once; and the following night many lights were seen gliding through the air, about Lanuvium. The people of CÆre affirmed that there had appeared in their town a snake with a mane, having its body marked with spots like gold; and it was fully proved that an ox had spoken in Campania.

22 On the nones of June,79 the ambassadors returned from Africa, who having first had an interview with king Masinissa, proceeded to Carthage; but they received much more certain information respecting what had taken place in Carthage from the king than from the Carthaginians themselves. They said they had sufficient proof that ambassadors had come from king Perseus, and that an audience of the senate was given to them by night, in the temple of Æsculapius; and the king asserted, that the Carthaginians had sent ambassadors to Macedon, which they themselves did not positively deny. The senate, hereupon, resolved to send an embassy to Macedonia. They made choice of Caius LÆlius, Marcus Valerius Messala, and Sextus Digitius, who accordingly proceeded thither. About this time, Perseus, because some of the Dolopians were refractory, and in the matters in dispute were for referring the decision from the king to the Romans, marched an army into their country, and reduced the whole nation under his jurisdiction and dominion. Thence he passed through the mountains of Œta, and on account of some religious scruples affecting his mind, went up to Delphi, to apply to the oracle. His sudden appearance in the middle of Greece caused a great alarm, not only in the neighbouring states, but also caused alarming intelligence to be brought into Asia to king Eumenes. He staid only three days at Delphi, and then returned to his own dominions, through Phthiotis, Achaia, and Thessaly, without doing the least injury or damage to those countries. He did not think it sufficient to conciliate the esteem of the several states through which his road lay; but despatched either ambassadors or letters to every one of the Grecian powers, requesting that they would “think no more of the animosities which had subsisted between them and his father; that the disputes had not been so violent that they might not, and ought not, to cease with regard to himself. On his part, there was no kind of obstacle to the forming of a cordial friendship.” Above all, he wished particularly to find some way of ingratiating himself with the AchÆan nation.

23 This nation, and the state of Athens, solitary exceptions to the whole of Greece, had carried their resentment to such a length, as to prohibit the Macedonians entering their territories. In consequence of this, Macedonia became a place of refuge for slaves running away out of Achaia; for, as the AchÆans had forbidden the inhabitants of Macedon to set foot in their territories, they could not presume to pass the boundaries of that kingdom. When Perseus observed this, he seized all the fugitives, and wrote a letter * * * * * * * “but that they ought to consider of the proper means of preventing such elopements for the future.” When this letter was read by the proÆtor Xenarchus, who was seeking a path to private influence with the king, the greater part who were present, but especially those who, contrary to their expectations, were about to receive the slaves they had lost, commended the moderation and kindness with which it was written; but Callierates, one who thought that the safety of the nation depended on the treaty with Rome being preserved inviolate, delivered his sentiments to this effect;—“To some of you, AchÆans, the matter under consideration appears trifling and unimportant. I think that a very great and important subject is not only under consideration, but to a certain extent decided. For we, who prohibited the kings of Macedonia, and all their subjects, from entering our territories, and made a perpetual decree, not to receive from those sovereigns either ambassadors or messengers, by whom the minds of any of us might be tampered with; we, I say, listen to the king speaking in a manner, though absent, and what is more, approve of his discourse. Although wild beasts generally reject and shun the food laid in their way for their destruction; yet we, blinded by the specious offer of an insignificant favour, swallow the bait, and would, for the sake of recovering a parcel of wretched slaves, of no value worth mentioning, suffer our independence to be undermined and subverted. For who does not see that a way is being paved to an alliance with the king, by which the treaty with Rome in which all our interests are involved would be violated? That there must be a war between Perseus and the Romans, is not, I believe, a matter of doubt to any one, and the struggle which was expected during the life of Philip, and interrupted by his death, will, now that he is dead, most certainly ensue. Philip, you all know, had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was much superior in birth, on the mother’s side, in merit, capacity, and in the esteem of the Macedonian nation. But Philip, having set up the crown as the prize of hatred towards the Romans, put Demetrius to death, for no other crime than having contracted a friendship with that people; and made Perseus king, because he knew him to be an enemy to the Roman people almost before he determined on making him king. Accordingly, what else has the present king done since his father’s death, than prepare for the war? In the first place, to the terror of all the surrounding nations, he brought the Bastarnians into Dardania; where if they had made a lasting settlement, Greece would have found them more troublesome neighbours than Asia found the Gauls. Disappointed in that hope, he did not drop his design of a war; nay, if we choose to speak the truth, he has already commenced hostilities. He subdued Dolopia by force of arms; and would not listen when they wished to appeal concerning their disputes to the arbitration of the Romans. Then, crossing Œta, that he might show himself in the very centre of Greece, he went up to Delphi. To what, think you did his taking a journey so uncommon tend? He next traversed Thessaly; and as to his refraining on his route from doing injury to the people whom he hated, I dread his machinations the more on that very account. He then sent a letter to us, with the hollow show of an act of kindness, and bade us to consider measures by which we may not require this gift for the future; that is, to repeal the decree by which the Macedonians are excluded from Peloponnesus; to receive again ambassadors from him their king; to renew intimacies contracted with his principal subjects; and, in a short time, we should see Macedonian armies, with himself at their head, crossing over the narrow strait from Delphi into Peloponnesus, and thus we should be blended with the Macedonians, while they are arming themselves against the Romans. My opinion is, that we ought not to resolve on any new proceeding, but to keep every thing in its present state, until the question shall be reduced to a certainty, whether these our fears be well or ill grounded. If the peace between the Romans and Macedonians shall continue inviolate, then may we also have a friendship and intercourse with Perseus; but to think of such a measure now, appears to me both premature and dangerous.”

24 After him, Arco, brother to the prÆtor Xenarchus, said:—“Callicrates hath made the delivery of our sentiments difficult both to me and to every one who differs in opinion from him; for after his pleading in favour of the Roman alliance, alleging that it was undermined and attacked, (although no one either undermines or attacks it,) he has caused that whoever dissents from him must seem to argue against the cause of the Romans. In the first place, as if he had not been here with us, but had just left the senate-house of the Roman people, or had been admitted into the privy councils of kings, he knows and tells us every transaction that passes in secret. Nay more, he divines what would have happened if Philip had lived, why Perseus became heir of the kingdom: in such a manner, what are the intentions of the Macedonians, and what the thoughts of the Romans. But we, who neither know for what cause, nor in what manner, Demetrius perished, nor what Philip would have done, if he had lived, ought to accommodate our resolutions to the transactions that have passed in open view. We know that Perseus, on his coming to the throne, sent ambassadors to Rome, and received the title of king from the Roman people, and we hear that ambassadors came from Rome to the king, and were graciously received by him. I consider that all these circumstances are signs of peace, not of war; and that the Romans cannot be offended, if as we imitated their conduct in war, so we follow now their example in peace. For my part, I cannot see why we alone, of all mankind, wage implacable war against the kingdom of the Macedonians. Are we exposed to insult by a close neighbourhood to Macedon? or are we like the Dolopians, whom Perseus subdued lately, the weakest of all states? No; on the contrary, by the bounty of the gods, we are sufficiently secured, as well by our own strength, as by the remoteness of our situation. But we have as much reason to apprehend ill treatment, as the Thessalians and Ætolians; have we no more credit or influence with the Romans, though we were always their friends and allies, than the Ætolians, who but lately were their enemies? Whatever reciprocal rights the Ætolians, the Thessalians, the Epirots, in short, every state in Greece, allow to subsist between them and the Macedonians, let us allow the same. Why have we alone what may be termed a cursed neglect of the ties of humanity? Philip may have done some act on account of which we should pass this decree against him when in arms and waging war against us: What has Perseus deserved, a king just seated on the throne, guiltless of all injury against us, and effacing by his own kindness his father’s feuds? Why should we be his only enemies? Although I might make this assertion, that so great have been our obligations to the former kings of Macedon, that the ill usage, suffered from a single prince of their line, if any has really been suffered from Philip, * * * especially after his death. When a Roman fleet was lying at CenchreÆ, and the consul, with his army, was at Elatia, we were three days in council, deliberating whether we should follow the Romans or Philip. Now, granting that the fear of immediate danger from the Romans had no influence on our judgments, yet there was, certainly, something that made our deliberation last so long; and that was, the connexion which had long subsisted between us and the Macedonians; the distinguished favours in ancient times received from their kings. Let the same considerations prevail at present,—not to make us his singular friends, but to hinder us from becoming his singular enemies. Let us not, Callicrates, pretend what is not even thought of. No one advises us to form a new alliance, or sign a new treaty, by which we might inconsiderately compromise ourselves, but merely that we may have the intercourse of affording and demanding justice, and that we may not by excluding his subjects from our territories, exclude ourselves from his dominions, and that our slaves may not have any refuge to fly to. How does this operate against the Roman treaty? Why do we give an air of importance and suspicion to a matter which is trifling and open to the world? Why do we raise groundless alarms? Why, for the sake of ingratiating ourselves still more particularly with the Romans, render others odious and suspected? If war shall take place even Perseus himself does not doubt our taking part with the Romans. While peace continues, let animosities if they are not terminated, be at least suspended.” When those who approved of the king’s letter expressed their approbation of this speech, the decree was postponed, owing to the indignation of the chief men that Perseus should obtain by a letter of a few lines a matter which he did not even deign worthy of an embassy. Ambassadors were afterwards sent by the king, when a council was held at Megalopolis; but exertions were made by those, who dreaded a rupture with Rome, that they should not be admitted to an audience.

25 During this period the fury of the Ætolians, being turned against themselves, seemed likely to cause the total extinction of that nation by the massacres of the contending parties. Then both parties, being wearied, sent ambassadors to Rome, and also opened a negotiation between themselves for the restoration of concord: but this was broken off by an act of barbarity, which revived their old quarrels. When a return to their country had been promised to the exiles from Hypata, who were of the faction of Proxenus, and the public faith had been pledged to them by Eupolemus, the chief man of the state; eighty persons of distinction, whom even Eupolemus, among the rest of the multitude, had gone forth to meet on their return, though they were received with kind salutation, and right hands were pledged to them, were butchered on entering the gate, though they implored in vain the honour that had been pledged, and the gods the witnesses of the transaction. On this the war blazed out anew, with greater fury than ever. Caius Valerius LÆvinus, Appius Claudius Pulcher, Caius Memmius, Marcus Popilius, and Lucius Canuleius, being sent as ambassadors by the senate, arrived in that country. When the deputies from both parties pleaded their respective causes with great energy, Proxenus appeared to have greatly the advantage as well in the justice of his cause as in eloquence; a few days after, he was poisoned by his wife Orthobula, who being convicted of the crime, went into banishment. The same madness was wasting the Cretans also; but, on the arrival of Quintus Minucius, lieutenant-general, who was sent with ten ships to quiet their contentions, the inhabitants had some prospect of peace; however, they only concluded a suspension of arms for six months, after which the war was again renewed with much greater violence. About this time, the Lycians, too, were harassed in war by the Rhodians. But the wars of foreign nations among themselves, or the several methods in which they were conducted, it is not my business to detail; since I have a task of more than sufficient weight in writing the deeds performed by the Roman people.

26 In Spain, the Celtiberians, (who, since their reduction by Tiberius Gracchus, and their consequent surrender to him, had remained quiet; when Marcus Titinius, the prÆtor, held the government of that province,) on the arrival of Appius Claudius, resumed their arms, and commenced hostilities by a sudden attack on the Roman camp. It was nearly the first dawn when the sentinels on the rampart, and the men on guard before the gates, descrying the enemy approaching at a distance, shouted “to arms.” Appius Claudius instantly displayed the signal of battle; and, after exhorting the troops, in few words, ordered them to rush out by three gates at once. But they were opposed by the Celtiberians in the very passage; and in consequence, the fight was for some time equal on both sides, as, on account of the narrowness, the Romans could not all come into action in the entrance; then pressing forward on one another, whenever it was possible, they made their way beyond the trenches, so that they were able to extend their line, and form a front equal to the wings of the enemy, by which they were surrounded; and now they made their onset with such sudden impetuosity, that the Celtiberians could not support the assault. Before the second hour, they were driven from the field; about fifteen thousand were either killed or made prisoners, and thirty-two standards were taken. Their camp, also, was stormed the same day, and a conclusion put to the war; for those who survived the battle fled by different ways, to their several towns, and thenceforth submitted quietly to the Roman government.

27 Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Aulus Postumius, being created censors, reviewed the senate this year. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, chief pontiff, was chosen chief of the senate. Nine senators were expelled. The remarkable censures pronounced were on Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis, who had been prÆtor in Spain two years before; on Lucius Cornelius Scipio, who was then prÆtor and exercised the jurisdiction between natives and foreigners; and on Cneius Fulvius, brother to the censor, and, as Valerius Antias says, partner in property. The consuls, after offering vows in the Capitol, set out for their provinces. Marcus Æmilius was commissioned by the senate to suppress an insurrection of the Patavians in Venetia; for their own ambassadors had given information that by the violent contests of opposing factions they had broken out into civil war. The ambassadors who had gone into Ætolia, to suppress commotions of a similar kind, reported on their return, that the outrageous temper of that nation could not be restrained. The consul’s arrival among the Patavians saved them from ruin; and having no other business in the province, he returned to Rome. The present censors were the first who contracted for paving the streets of Rome with flint stones, for laying with gravel the foundation of roads outside the city, and for forming raised foot-ways on the sides; for building bridges in several places; and affording seats in the theatre to the prÆtors and Ædiles; they fixed up goals in the circus, with balls on the goals for marking the number of courses of the chariots; and erected iron grates, through which wild beasts might be let in. They caused the Capitoline hill to be paved with flint, and erected a piazza from the temple of Saturn, in the Capitol, to the council-chamber, and over that a public hall. On the outside of the gate Trigemina, they also paved a market-place with stones, and enclosed it with a paling; they repaired the Æmilian portico, and formed an ascent, by stairs, from the Tiber to the market-place. They paved, with flint, the portico, from the same gate to the Aventine, and built a court-house: contracted for walls to be built at Galatia and Oximum, and, after selling lots of ground there, which belonged to the public, employed the money arising from the sale in building shops round the forums of both places. Fulvius Flaccus (for Postumius declared, that, without a decree of the senate, or order of the people, he would not expend any money belonging to them) agreed for building a temple of Jupiter at Pisaurum; and another at Fundi; for bringing water to Pollentia; for paving the street of Pisaurum, and for many various works at Sinuessa; among which were, the structure of a sewer to fall into the river, the enclosure of the forum with porticoes and shops, and erection of three statues of Janus. These works were all contracted for by one of the censors, and gained him a high degree of favour with those colonists. Their censorship was also very active and strict in the superintendence of the morals of the people. Many knights were deprived of their horses.

28 At the close of the year, there was a thanksgiving, for one day, on account of the advantages obtained in Spain under the conduct and auspices of Appius Claudius, the proconsul; and they sacrificed twenty victims, of the larger kinds. There was also a supplication, for another day, at the temples of Ceres, Liber, and Liberia, because a violent earthquake with the destruction of many houses was announced from the Sabines. When Appius Claudius came home from Spain, the senate voted that he should enter the city in ovation. The election of consuls now came on: when they were held, after a violent struggle in consequence of the great number of candidates, Lucius Postumius Albinus and Marcus Popilius LÆnas were elected consuls. Then Numerius Fabius Buteo, Marcus Matienus, Caius Cicereius, Marcus Furius Crassipes, a second time, Marcus Atilius Serranus, a second time, and Caius Cluvius Saxula, a second time, were chosen prÆtors. After the elections were finished, Appius Claudius Centho, entering the city in ovation over the Celtiberians, conveyed to the treasury ten thousand pounds’ weight of silver, and five thousand of gold. Cneius Cornelius was inaugurated flamen of Jupiter. In the same year a tablet was hung up in the temple of mother Matuta, with this inscription:—under the command and auspices of tiberius sempronius gracchus, consul, a legion and army of the roman people subdued sardinia; in which province above eighty thousand of the enemy were killed or taken. having executed the business of the public with the happiest success; having recovered the revenues, and restored them to the commonwealth,—he brought home the army safe, uninjured, and enriched with spoil, and, a second time, entered the city of rome in triumph. in commemoration of which event he presented this tablet as an offering to jupiter. A map of the island of Sardinia was engraved on the tablet, and pictures of the battles fought there were delineated on it. Several small exhibitions of gladiators were given to the public this year; the only one particularly remarkable, was that of Titus Flamininus, which he gave on occasion of his father’s death, and it was accompanied with a donation of meat, a feast, and stage-plays, and lasted four days. Yet, in the whole of this great exhibition, only seventy-four men fought in three days. The close of this year was rendered memorable by the proposal of a new and important rule, which occupied the state, since it was debated with great emotion. Hitherto, as the law stood, women were as equally capable of receiving inheritances as men. From which it happened that the wealth of the most illustrious houses was frequently transferred into other families, to the great detriment, as it was generally supposed, of the state; to which it was no small advantage that there should be a sufficiency of wealth to the descendants of distinguished ancestors, by which they might support and do honour to their nobility of birth, which otherwise would form a burden rather than honour to them. Besides, since with the now growing power of the empire, the riches of private persons also were increasing, fear was felt, lest the minds of women, being rather inclined by nature to luxury, and the pursuit of a more elegant routine of life, and deriving from unbounded wealth incentives to desire, should fall into immoderate expenses and luxury, and should subsequently chance to depart from the ancient sanctity of manners, so that there would be a change of morals no less than of the manner of living. To obviate these evils, Quintus Voconius Saxa, plebeian tribune, proposed to the people, that “no person who should be rated after the censorship of Aulus Postumius and Quintius Fulvius should make any woman, whether married or unmarried his heir; also, that no woman, whether married or unmarried, should be capable of receiving, by inheritance, goods exceeding the value of one hundred thousand sesterces.”80 Voconius, also, thought it proper to provide that estates should not be exhausted by the number of legacies, which sometimes happened. Accordingly he added a clause to his law, that no person should bequeath to any person or persons property exceeding in value what was to go to the immediate heirs.” This latter clause readily met the general approbation; it appeared reasonable, and calculated to press severely on nobody. Concerning the former clause, by which women were utterly disqualified from receiving inheritances, there were many doubts. Marcus Cato put an end to all hesitation, having been already, on a former occasion, a most determined adversary and reprover of women, in the defence of the Oppian law, who, although sixty-five years of age, with loud voice and good lungs advocated this law of still greater importance, against them, inveighing, with his usual asperity, against the tyranny of women, and their unsufferable insolence token opulent: on the present occasion, too, he declaimed against the pride and arrogance of the rich matrons, “because they oftentimes, after bringing a great dowry to their husband, kept back and retained for themselves a great sum of money, and lent that money on such terms afterwards to their husbands, on their asking it, that as often as they were angry they immediately pressed importunately on their husbands, as if they were strange debtors, by a reserved slave who followed them and daily importuned payment.” Moved by indignation at this, they voted for passing the law as Voconius proposed it.