60 In answer to this, the prætor, Terentius, read the Petillian order of the people, the decree of the senate, and the judgment pronounced against Lucius Scipio; and declared that unless the money adjudged were paid into the public treasury, he had no other step to take, than to order the person convicted to be taken into custody, and carried to prison. The tribunes retired to confer together, and in a short time after, Caius Fannius, according to his own opinion and that of all his colleagues, except Gracchus, declared that the tribunes would not interfere with the prætor to hinder his making use of his power. Tiberius Gracchus thus decreed: “that he would not protest against the prætor’s levying the sum adjudged out of the effects of Lucius Scipio; but that Lucius Scipio, who had subdued the most powerful king in the world, had extended the empire of the Roman people to the utmost limits of the earth, had bound under obligations to the Roman people king Eumenes, the Rhodians, and so many other states of Asia, and had led in triumph so many generals of the enemies, and imprisoned them, should himself lie in prison among the enemies of the Roman people, and in chains, he never would suffer; and therefore he ordered him to be discharged.” This decision was heard with such approbation, and the people beheld with so much pleasure the liberation of Scipio, that it could hardly appear that the sentence had been passed in the same community. The prætor then sent the quæstors to take possession of Lucius Scipio’s property, for the use of the public. And not only did no trace appear of money received from the king, but not even so much was made up from the sale as the sum in which he was fined. So large a contribution was made for Lucius Scipio by his relations, friends, and clients, that, if he had accepted it, he would have been much richer than before this misfortune: but he received nothing. Such things as were necessary for his family occasions, were bought back at the sale by his nearest relations. And the public hatred which had been pointed against the Scipios, reverted on the prætor, his advisers, and the accusers.
BOOK XXXIX.
Marcus Æmilius, the consul, having subdued the Ligurians, made a road from Placentia as far as Ariminum, and connected it with the Flaminian way. The commencement of luxury, introduced by the Asiatic army, is related. All the Ligurians who dwell on the hither side of the Apennines were subdued. The Bacchanalia, a Grecian sacred ceremony, held at night, a hot-bed of every vice, after having become a conspiracy including great numbers, were discovered by one of the consuls and suppressed, while many of those concerned were punished. Lucius Quinctius Flamininus, the brother of Titus, was expelled the senate, by the censors Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Porcius Cato, who was most distinguished in the arts of war and peace, for the following reason: because when, as consul, he had held the province of Gaul, he slew with his own hand a certain Gaul, at the request of Philip, a Carthaginian, his noble minion; or, as some have stated, because he had beheaded a condemned criminal at the request of a courtesan of Placentia, with whom he was desperately in love. The speech of Marcus Cato against him is still extant. Scipio died at Liternum. And, as if fortune destined for the same period the death of the two most distinguished men of the day, Hannibal committed suicide by taking poison, when he was on the point of being given up to the Romans by Prusias, king of Bithynia, to whom he had fled for refuge on the defeat of Antiochus: the Romans had sent Titus Quinctius Flamininus to demand Hannibal. Philopœmen likewise, the general of the Achæans, a most distinguished man, after having fallen into the hands of the Messenians in war, was put to death by poison. Colonies are planted at Potentia, Pisaurus, Modena, and Parma. This book contains in addition the success over the Celtiberians, and the commencement and cause of the Macedonian war; the origin of which proceeded from the following source: Philip was dissatisfied that his kingdom was being diminished by the Romans, and because he was compelled to withdraw his garrisons from Thrace and other places.
1 While these things are done at Rome, (if they were truly transacted in this year,) both the consuls were employed in the war with the Ligurians. This enemy seemed born for the purpose of preserving military discipline among the Romans, during the intervals between important wars; nor was any province better calculated to form a soldier to active valour. For Asia, from the enticing pleasures of its cities, the abundance of every production both of land and sea, the unwarlike temper of the enemy, and the wealth of its princes, made Roman armies rich, rather than brave. Under the command of Cneius Manlius, particularly, the troops were kept in a state of idleness and licentiousness. Therefore, in Thrace, a passage somewhat more difficult, and a more vigorous enemy, checked them with severe loss. Whereas in Liguria there was every circumstance that could invigorate the courage of soldiers; the country mountainous and rugged, so that even the taking possession of unoccupied posts, and much more the dislodging of an enemy from those already in possession, was attended with much labour; the roads hilly, narrow, and exposed to ambuscades; the enemy light, active, and energetic in their motions, so as to allow no season or place to be quiet or secure; the necessary attack on the strong forts with much toil and danger; and the country so poor as to constrain the soldier to a sparing mode of living, while it afforded but a small share of booty. Accordingly, no sutler followed the army, no long train of baggage horses extended its line of march, nothing was to be seen but arms, and men having all their hopes in their arms. Nor was either subject or cause for hostilities with them ever wanting; because on account of their poverty at home they made frequent incursions on the territories of their neighbours; they did not. however, fight a battle which could decide the entire war.
2 The consul, Caius Flaminius, after several successful battles against the Frinian Ligurians in their own country, received the submission of that tribe, and ordered them to deliver up their arms; as they did not give them up honourably, and were reproved for their behaviour, who abandoned their villages, and fled to the mountain called Auginus, whither the consul immediately followed them. A part of the enemy again betook themselves to flight; and, running with precipitate haste, the greatest part without arms, over pathless tracts and rocky precipices, they escaped to places where an enemy could not follow them. Thus they got away beyond the Apennine; the rest, who remained in the camp, were surrounded and reduced by assault. The legions were then led over the Apennine; then the enemy, assisted by the height of the mountain, which they had occupied at first, stood on their defence; but, in a little time, submitted. Their arms were then sought for with greater care and all taken from them. The war was then transferred to the Apuan tribe of Ligurians, who had made so many incursions into the territory of Pisa and Bononia, that it could not be cultivated. These being entirely subdued, the consul restored peace to the neighbourhood. And, as he had effected the security of the province from the war, he made a road from Bononia to Anetium, that he might not keep the soldiers in a state of idleness. The other consul, Marcus Æmilius, ravaged with fire and sword the lands of the Ligurians, together with their villages that stood in the plains, while the inhabitants remained posted on two mountains, Ballista and Suismontium. He then attacked those who were on the mountains, harassed them for some time in skirmishes, and, at last, compelled them to come to an engagement, and utterly defeated them in a regular battle: in which he vowed a temple to Diana. Having now reduced all on this side of the Apennine, he marched against those on the other side of that mountain; among whom were the Brinian tribe, which had not been attacked by Flaminius: Æmilius subdued them all, stripped them of their arms, and obliged the multitude to come down from the mountains into the plains. The Ligurians being brought to a state of peace, he led his army into the Gallic territory, and drew a road from Placentia to Ariminum, to meet that made by Flaminius. During the last engagement, when he fought a pitched battle with the Ligurians, he vowed a temple to Imperial Juno. Such were the transactions of this year in Liguria.
3 In Gaul, the prætor, Marcus Furius, seeking a pretext for war in the midst of peace, deprived, the unoffending Cænomanians of their arms. The Cænomanians complained of this to the senate at Rome, and were by them referred to the consul Æmilius, whom the senate authorized to examine into and determine the cause; after a warm contest with the prætor they gained their cause. The prætor was ordered to restore their arms to the Cænomanians, and quit the province.
The senate afterwards gave audience to envoys of the Latin