58 In the same year, many distinguished men strove for the censorship; and this business, as if it furnished in itself insufficient grounds for dispute, gave rise to another contest of a much more violent nature. The candidates were, Titus Quintius Flamininus, Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of Cneius, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and Manius Acilius Glabrio, who had defeated Antiochus and the Ætolians at Thermopylæ. The favour of the people inclined to the last in particular, because he had given many largesses, by which he had bound a great number of men to him. When so many nobles could ill brook that a man of no family should be so much preferred to them, Publius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Sempronius Rutilus, tribunes of the people, commenced a prosecution against him, on a charge, that he had neither exhibited in his triumph, nor lodged in the treasury, a large part of the royal treasure, and of the booty taken in the camp of Antiochus. The depositions of the lieutenants-general and military tribunes were at variance. Beyond all the other witnesses, Marcus Cato was remarkable, whose authority, acquired by the uniform tenor of his life, the fact of his being a candidate diminished. He, when a witness, affirmed, that he had not observed, in the triumph, the gold and silver vessels which, on the taking of the camp, he had seen among the other spoils of the king. At last Glabrio declared, that he declined the election, chiefly to throw odium on Cato; since he, a candidate of an origin as humble as his own, by an abominable perjury, attacked that which men of noble birth bore with silent indignation. A fine of one hundred thousand asses10 was proposed to the people against him. Twice there was a contest on the subject. On the third hearing, as the accused had declined the election, and the people were unwilling to vote about the fine, the tribunes also dropped the business. The censors elected were, Titus Quintius Flamininus and Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
59 At the same time, when an audience of the senate, in the temple of Apollo outside the city, was granted to Lucius Æmilius Regillus, who, with the fleet, had defeated the admiral of king Antiochus; after hearing the recital of his services, with what great fleets of the enemy he had engaged, how many of their ships he had sunk or taken, a naval triumph was voted him by the unanimous consent of the fathers. He triumphed on the calends of February. In this procession were carried forty-nine golden crowns; the quantity of money was by no means so great considering the appearance of the triumph over the king, being only thirty-four thousand seven hundred Attic tetradrachms,11 and one hundred and thirty-two thousand three hundred cistophoruses.12 Supplications were then performed, by order of the senate, in consideration of the successful services to the state, achieved in Spain by Lucius Æmilius Paulus. Not long after, Lucius Scipio arrived in the city; and, that he might not be inferior to his brother in point of a surname, he chose to be called Asiaticus. He spoke largely of his services both before the senate and a general assembly. There were some who judged that the war was greater by fame than by real difficulty; for it was terminated entirely by one memorable engagement; and that the glory of that victory had been stripped of its bloom at Thermopylæ. But, to any person judging impartially, it must appear, that the light at Thermopylæ was with the Ætolians, rather than with the king. For with how small a portion of his own strength did Antiochus engage in that battle! whereas, in the other, in Asia, the strength of the whole Asiatic continent stood combined; for he had collected auxiliaries of all nations from the most remote quarters of the east. Justly, therefore, were the greatest possible honours paid to the immortal gods, for having rendered a most important victory easy in the acquisition; and a triumph was decreed to the commander. He triumphed in the intercalary month, the day before the calends of March; which triumph was greater in the display to the eye than that of Africanus his brother, yet if we recall to our memory the circumstances, and estimate the dangers and difficulty, it was no more to be compared to it, than if you would contrast one general with the other, Antiochus with Hannibal. He carried, in his triumph, military standards, two hundred and thirty-four; models of towns, one hundred and thirty-four; elephants’ teeth, one thousand two hundred and thirty; crowns of gold, two hundred and twenty-four: pounds-weight of silver, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and twenty; Attic tetradrachms, two hundred and twenty-four thousand;13 cistophoruses, three hundred and thirty-one thousand and seventy;14 gold pieces, called Philippians, one hundred and forty thousand;15 silver vases, all engraved, to the amount of one thousand four hundred and twenty-four pounds’ weight; of golden vases, one thousand and twenty-four pounds’ weight; and of the king’s generals, governors, and officers at court, thirty-two were led before his chariot. Twenty-five denariuses16 were given to each of his soldiers, double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman; and after the triumph, their pay and allowance of corn were doubled. He had already doubled them after the battle in Asia. He triumphed about a year after the expiration of his consulship.
60 Cneius Manlius, the consul, arrived in Asia, and Quintus Fabius Labeo, the prætor, reached the fleet, nearly at the same time. The consul did not want reasons for war against the Gauls; the sea was subjected to the Romans since the conquest of Antiochus. It appeared best to Quintus Fabius, considering to what thing in particular he should apply himself, lest he might seem to have had a province in which there was no employment, to sail over to the island of Crete. The Cydonians were engaged in war against the Gortynians and Gnossians; and a great number of Roman and Italian captives were said to be in slavery in different parts of the island. Having sailed with the fleet from Ephesus, as soon as he touched the shore of Crete, he despatched orders to all the states to cease from hostilities, and to search each of them for the captives in its own cities and territory, and bring them to him; also, to send ambassadors to him, to treat of matters belonging alike to the Romans and Cretans. These orders had little influence on the Cretans. Excepting the Gortynians, none of them restored the captives. Valerius Antias relates, that as many as four thousand captives were restored out of the whole island, because the Cretans feared his threats of war; and that this was deemed a sufficient reason for Fabius obtaining from the senate a naval triumph, although he performed no other exploit. From Crete Fabius returned to Ephesus: having despatched three ships from the latter place to the coast of Thrace, he ordered the garrisons of Antiochus to be withdrawn from Ænos and Maronea, that these cities might be left at liberty.
BOOK XXXVIII.
Marcus Fulvius the consul besieged Ambracia, in Epirus, and received its surrender; he reduced Cephallenia, and granted peace to the Ætolians, on their complete subjection. Cneius Manlius the consul, his colleague, conquered the Gallogræcians, including the Tolistoboii, Tectosagi, and Trocmi who, under the command of Brennus, had crossed over into Asia, since they were the only refractory nation on this side of Mount Taurus. Their origin is related, and likewise the manner in which they became masters of the territories which they now hold. An instance, also, of virtue and chastity in a woman