Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 29
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

Book XXIX

1. Scipio, now that he had reached Sicily, assigned¹ his volunteers to their ranks and centuries. [2] Three hundred of them, young men in the bloom of their youth and conspicuous for their physical strength, he kept about him unarmed and ignorant of the purpose for which they were being reserved without being organized in centuries or furnished with arms. [3] Then he chose out of the number of the younger men of all Sicily three hundred horsemen, men of high rank and of wealth, to cross over with him into Africa. [4] He appointed a day also on which they were to present themselves equipped and furnished with horses and arms. Such service far from home seemed to them formidable and likely to bring many hardships and great dangers on land and sea. And concern on this account troubled not merely the men themselves but also their parents and relations. [5] When the day which had been appointed came the men displayed their arms and horses. Then Scipio said reports were coming to him that some of the Sicilian horsemen shrank from that service as formidable and difficult. [6] If any were of that mind he preferred that they should confess it to him at once, rather than complain later and prove spiritless soldiers and useless for the state. Let them declare what was their mind; he would give them a kindly hearing. [7] When one of them ventured to say that [p. 209]if he was free to choose whichever he wished he did² not wish to serve at all, thereupon Scipio said to him: [8] “Accordingly, since you have not concealed what your mind is, young man, I will furnish a substitute for you, and to him you shall hand over your arms and horse and the other equipment for the service, and forthwith shall take him away with you to your home, train him and see that he is taught horsemanship and the use of arms.” [9] As the man gladly accepted the terms Scipio turned over to him one of the three hundred unarmed men that-he had. When the others saw the horseman thus discharged with the consent of the commander, every man excused himself and took a substitute. [10] Thus three hundred Sicilians were replaced by Roman horsemen without expense to the state. [11] Of their training and drilling the Sicilians were in charge, because the general's order was that any man who failed to do so should himself serve.³ [12] They say that this cavalry squadron proved excellent and was of value to the state in many battles.

Then while mustering the legions he chose out of them soldiers who had served for the greatest number of campaigns, especially those who had done so under Marcellus as commander, believing them to have been schooled by the best training and in particular to be most skilled [13??] in besieging cities in consequence of the long siege of Syracuse. For he was planning nothing small, but already the destruction of Carthage. [14] Thereupon he distributed his army among the towns, requisitioned grain from the Sicilian cities, spared the grain imported from [p. 211]Italy. He repaired the old ships,⁴ and with these⁵ sent Gaius Laelius to Africa for plunder. The new ships he beached at Panormus, that they might winter out of the water, since they had been built in haste of green timber.

[15] Every preparation for the war having been made, he came to Syracuse, which was not yet quite peaceful after the great unsettlement due to the war. [16] The Greeks were making their claims to properties granted them by the senate against certain Italians who were holding on with the same use of force with which they had seized the property during the war.⁶ [17] Thinking it of the utmost importance to keep a promise given by the state, Scipio restored their property to the Syracusans, partly by [18??] an edict, partly also by granting hearings against those who persisted in maintaining an unlawful possession. [19] This act was acceptable not only to the owners themselves but to all the communities of Sicily as well, and all the more energetically did they render assistance for the war.

In the same summer a great war broke out in Spain, instigated by Indibilis⁷ of the Ilergetes for no other reason than because contempt for other generals sprang from admiration for Scipio. [20] He thought that Scipio was the one general left to the Romans, the rest having been killed by Hannibal; that consequently after the slaying of the Scipios they had no one else to send to Spain, and had also, once the war grew more serious in Italy, summoned him to face Hannibal; that, besides [p. 213]having merely nominal commanders in Spain, the⁸ Romans had taken away the veteran army also. [21] There was nothing but confusion and an untrained mob of recruits. [22] Never would there be such an opportunity for the liberation of Spain. [23] Slaves they had been down to that time, either to Carthaginians or to Romans, and not by turns to the one people or the other but at times to both at once. [24] The Carthaginians had been driven out by the Romans; the Spaniards, if they should agree, were able to drive out the Romans, so that, free from all foreign authority, Spain might return permanently to its ancestral customs and usages. [25] By these and similar utterances he stirred up not only his own countrymen but also the Ausetani,⁹ a neighbouring tribe, and other peoples adjoining his territory and theirs. [26] And thus within a few days thirty thousand infantry and about four thousand horse came together in the territory of the Sedetani,¹⁰ in accordance with their instructions.

2. The Roman commanders on their part, Lucius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus,¹¹ for fear [2??] the war might grow more serious from neglect of the first hostile acts, likewise united their armies, and leading their soldiers through the Ausetanian territory with restraint on an enemy's soil, as though it [p. 215]were friendly, they reached the place where their¹² enemies had concentrated and pitched camp three miles away from their camp. At first a vain effort was made through envoys to make them abandon fighting. [3] Then when an attack was suddenly made upon Roman foragers by Spanish horse and from a Roman outpost horsemen were sent to the rescue, there was a cavalry battle with no success for either side worth mentioning. [4] At sunrise on the following day, under arms and drawn up, all of them displayed their battle-line at a distance of about a mile from the Roman camp. [5] The Ausetani were in the centre; of the wings the Ilergetes occupied the right, unimportant Spanish tribes the left. Between the wings and the centre they had made spaces broad enough to send the cavalry through when the time came. [6] And the Romans, having drawn up their army in the customary fashion, imitated this feature only of the enemy's line, that they likewise left broad spaces between the legions for the passage of cavalry. [7] But Lentulus thought that whichever side should first send its cavalry out into the enemy's line with its gaping intervals would use its cavalry to advantage. [8] He therefore ordered Servius Cornelius, a tribune of the soldiers, to command his cavalry to give their horses free rein through the broad openings in the battle-line of the enemy. [9] Lentulus himself, after the infantry battle had begun without success, delayed only long enough to bring up the thirteenth legion from the reserves into the front line to support the twelfth legion, which had been placed on the left wing facing the Ilergetes and was giving way. [10] Now that the battle was evenly balanced there, he came up to Lucius Manlius, who [p. 217]was in the foremost ranks, encouraging the men¹³ and bringing up reserves to such positions as the case required. [11] He informed him that all was secured on the left wing; that he had already sent Servius Cornelius to surround the enemy with a whirlwind attack of cavalry.

[12] Scarcely had Lentulus said this when the Roman horse, charging into the midst of the enemy, threw the infantry lines into confusion and at the same time closed for the Spanish cavalry the route by which they might launch their attack. [13] Accordingly the Spaniards gave up the cavalry battle and dismounted. The Roman generals, on seeing the broken ranks of the enemy, and their fright and alarm and the wavering standards, exhorted and implored their soldiers to attack the discouraged enemy and not allow the line to re-form. [14] The barbarians would have failed to withstand so impetuous an attack, had not even their prince, Indibilis, exposed himself with the dismounted cavalry in front of the first units of the infantry. At that point a fierce battle continued for some time. [15] Finally, when those who kept on fighting round the prince, who resisted though half-dead, but was pinned to the ground by a javelin, were overwhelmed by missile weapons and fell, at that moment began a flight pell-mell. [16] Greater numbers were slain because the horsemen had left no room to mount their horses, and because the Romans made a spirited attack upon the terrified. And they did not withdraw until they had routed the enemy out of his camp as well. [17] Thirteen thousand Spaniards were slain that day, about one thousand eight hundred captured. Of the Romans and their allies little more than two [p. 219]hundred fell, mainly on the left wing. [18] Those of the¹⁴ Spaniards who were driven out of their camp or had escaped from the battle scattered at first over the country and then returned to their respective communities.

3. Then they were summoned by Mandonius to a council, and there, after lamenting their heavy losses and berating those who were responsible for the war, they voted that envoys should be sent to arrange for a surrender of arms and a capitulation. [2] When the envoys laid the blame upon Indibilis as responsible-for the war and upon the rest of their leading men, most of whom, they said, had fallen in the battle, and offered to deliver their arms and surrender, the answer given them was: that their surrender would be accepted only in case they should deliver Mandonius and the other instigators of the war alive. [3] If not, the generals said they would lead their army into the lands of the Ilergetes and Ausetani and the other tribes one after another. [4] Such was the reply given to the legates and reported by them to the council. [5] Thereupon Mandonius and the other leaders were seized and handed over to be punished. For the peoples of Spain peace was restored, a double tribute for that year and grain for six months exacted, also cloaks and togas for the army; and hostages were accepted from about thirty tribes.

[6] Thus a rebellious uprising in Spain was incited and suppressed within a few days with no serious consequences, and alarm was completely shifted to Africa. [7] Gaius Laelius, having reached Hippo Regius¹⁵ by night, led out his soldiers and marines under their standards at daybreak to lay the country [p. 221]waste. Since everybody was free from concern, as¹⁶ if in peace-time, great losses were inflicted. [8] And excited messengers filled Carthage with great alarm, reporting that the Roman fleet and Scipio as commander-in-chief had arrived. In fact it had been previously rumoured that he had already crossed over to Sicily. [9] Lacking exact information also as to how many ships the messengers had seen and how large a force was laying waste the country, they exaggerated every report under the stimulus of fear. Accordingly alarm and panic at first, then dejection came over their spirits. [10] So far, they said, had fortune changed that those who as victors had but lately had their own army before the walls of Rome and, after laying low so many armies of the enemy, had by force or by voluntary action received the surrender of all the peoples of Italy, with the shifting fortune [11??] of war were now destined to see the devastation of Africa and a siege of Carthage, when they had no such strength as the Romans had possessed to endure all that. [12] For them, they said, the Roman populace, for them Latium had always furnished a greater and more numerous body of young men growing up in place of so many armies slain. [13] As for their own populace, they were unwarlike in the city, unwarlike in the country. Hireling auxiliaries were being recruited from the Africans,¹⁷ a race shifting with every fickle breath of hope and lacking in loyalty. [14] Of the kings, moreover, Syphax had been alienated after his conference with Scipio,¹⁸ they said, and Masinissa by open defection had shown himself their bitterest enemy. Nowhere was there any hope, nowhere any aid. [15] Mago was neither setting in motion any uprising on the part of Gaul, [p. 223]nor uniting with Hannibal; and Hannibal himself¹⁹ by this time was on the decline both in repute and in strength.

4. Such were the laments into which men had fallen in consequence of the recent news when impending alarm roused them again to deliberate how they should meet the dangers of the moment. [2] It was decided to hold levies speedily in city and country; to send men to hire African auxiliaries; to fortify the city, to bring in grain, to provide arms offensive and defensive, to equip ships and send them to Hippo to face the Roman fleet. [3] While they were already thus employed the news at last came that Laelius, not Scipio, had sailed across and only sufficient forces to raid the farms; that the bulk of the main army was still in Sicily. [4] So there was a breathing spell, and they set about sending embassies to Syphax and other princes, to cement an alliance. To Philip also envoys were sent to promise him two hundred talents of silver, on condition that he should cross over into Sicily or Italy.²⁰ [5] Men were sent likewise to their own commanders in Italy, that by every sort of alarm they should keep Scipio there. [6] Not only envoys were sent to Mago but twenty-five war-ships, six thousand infantry, eight hundred horsemen, seven elephants, and in addition a large sum of money to hire auxiliaries. Relying upon these resources he was to advance nearer to the city of Rome with his army and unite with Hannibal.

[7] Such were their plans and deliberations at Carthage [p. 225]when Masinissa, aroused by the report of a Roman²¹ fleet, came with a few horsemen to Laelius,²² who was carrying off a vast amount of booty from territory that lacked troops and garrisons. [8] Masinissa complained that Scipio was conducting the war without spirit in not having already transported his army to Africa, while the Carthaginians were panic-stricken and Syphax was entangled in wars with neighbours. He was certain, he said, that if Syphax should be given time to settle his affairs to his own satisfaction, there would be no real loyalty in his dealings with the Romans. [9] Laelius should exhort and spur Scipio on to avoid delay. For himself, although he had been driven out of his kingdom, he would assist with no inconsiderable forces of infantry and cavalry. Laelius also must not tarry in Africa. A fleet, he believed, had sailed from Carthage, and with that fleet it was unsafe to engage in the absence of Scipio. 5. Directly after this conversation Laelius sent Masinissa away, and on the following day he weighed anchor at Hippo, his ships booty-laden, and sailing back to Sicily delivered Masinissa's messages to Scipio.

[2] About the same time the ships which had been sent to Mago from Carthage came into port between Ligurian Albingaunum and Genua.²³ [3] In that region, as it happened, Mago had his fleet at the time. On hearing the words of the envoys, who urged him to get together the largest possible armies, he at once held a council of Gauls and Ligurians; for great numbers of both nations were present. [4] And he told [p. 227]them that he had been sent to restore their liberty,²⁴ and that forces were being sent to him from home, as they themselves saw; but with what resources, with how large an army that war was to be waged depended upon themselves. [5] There were two Roman armies, he said, one in Gaul,²⁵ the other in Etruria. He was sure that Spurius Lucretius would unite with Marcus Livius;²⁶ that many thousands must be armed for resistance to two generals, two Roman armies. [6] The Gauls said that they were entirely willing to do so, but that since they had almost before their eyes one Roman camp within their borders and another in the neighbouring land of Etruria, if it should become known that they had aided the Carthaginian by furnishing auxiliaries, forthwith hostile armies would invade their territory from both directions. From Gauls he should require such support as could be given in secret. [7] Ligurians were free to act, they said, since Roman camps were far from their land and their cities; it was right that they should arm their young men and take their proper share in the war. [8] The Ligurians did not refuse, but simply asked for two months' time to hold levies. Meanwhile Mago by sending men secretly through their territory hired Gauls as soldiers. Supplies also of every kind were coming to him in secret from the Gallic nations. [9] Marcus Livius led his army of slave-volunteers over from Etruria into Gaul and, having united with Lucretius, prepared to confront Mago, should he move out of Liguria towards the city;²⁷ but should the [p. 229]Carthaginian quietly remain in a distant region²⁸ at the²⁹ foot of the Alps, he too would remain where he was, near Ariminum, for the defence of Italy.

6. After the return of Gaius Laelius from Africa Scipio was spurred on by Masinissa's encouragement, and the soldiers seeing booty from the land of the enemy being brought ashore from an entire fleet, were likewise fired with a desire to cross over as soon as possible. The greater design, however, was interrupted by a lesser, that of recovering the city of Locri, which in the rebellion of Italy had also gone over to the Carthaginians.³⁰ [2] Bright hopes of accomplishing that purpose, moreover, arose from a petty circumstance. There was brigandage rather than normal war operations in the country of the Bruttii, where a beginning had been made by the Numidians, and the Bruttians fell in with that practice not more on account of their Punic alliance than of their own nature. [3] Finally the Roman soldiers also from a kind of infection now delighted in plunder, making raids upon the enemy's farms just as far as their commanders permitted. [4] They had overpowered certain Locrians straying from the city and had carried them off to Regium. In the number of these captives were some artisans who, as it happened, were in the habit of plying their trade for hire among the Carthaginians in the citadel of Locri. [5] These men were recognized by leading Locrians who, on being driven out by the opposing party, which had surrendered Locri to Hannibal, had retired to Regium. On being asked the questions usually put by men long absent, the artisans first [p. 231]told them what was going on at home, and then³¹ inspired the hope that, if ransomed and sent back, they would betray the citadel to them. [6] It was there, they said, that they dwelt and among the Carthaginians were trusted in everything. [7] Accordingly the leading men, being tormented by home-sickness and at the same time fired with a desire for vengeance on their enemies, at once ransomed the artisans and sent them back after agreeing upon a plan of action and signals for the display of which in the distance they should be on the watch. [8] They themselves went to Scipio at Syracuse, with whom were some of the exiles. There they reported the promises of the captives and inspired in the consul a hope which gave good prospect of success. [9] Consequently Marcus Sergius and Publius Matienus, tribunes of the soldiers, were sent with them and ordered to take three thousand soldiers from Regium to Locri. And a written order was sent to the propraetor³² Quintus Pleminius to assist in carrying out the project.

[10] Setting out from Regium, carrying ladders constructed for the height of the citadel as reported, about midnight they set a signal³³ for the betrayers of the citadel from the place agreed upon. [11] These men were ready and alert, and after they on their part also had lowered ladders made for that very purpose and at several different places at the same time had admitted scaling parties, before any outcry could arise came the attack upon the Carthaginian guards, who in the absence of any such fear naturally were asleep. [12] At first it was the groans of the dying indistinctly heard; then sudden terror on awaking, and confused action, since the reason was unknown; finally greater certainty as they awakened [p. 233]one another. [13] By this time every man was shouting³⁴ his loudest “To arms!” that enemies were on the citadel and guards being cut down. And the Romans, who were by no means equal in numbers, would have been overpowered, had not an outcry raised by the men who were outside the citadel made it uncertain from what quarter the sounds came, while everything they imagined was intensified by the uproar in the dark. [14] Accordingly the Carthaginians, supposing the citadel to be already filled with the enemy, were terrified, gave up fighting and fled to the other citadel; for there are two not far apart. [15] The inhabitants were holding the city, set between combatants as a prize for the victors. From the two citadels came slight engagements every day. [16] Quintus Pleminius commanded the Roman, Hamilcar the Carthaginian garrison. Summoning reinforcements from neighbouring places they kept increasing their numbers. [17] Finally Hannibal himself was on the way, and the Romans would not have held out if the mass of the Locrians, embittered by the arrogance and greed of the Carthaginians, had not taken the side of the Romans.

7. Scipio, on being informed that the situation at Locri had become more critical and that Hannibal himself was approaching, was afraid to take risks for the garrison as well, since it was not easy to retire from the place. [2] Accordingly he too set out from Messana, after leaving his brother Lucius Scipio there in command of the garrison; and as soon as the strait shifted with the tide, he cast off with . . . ships while the current favoured.³⁵ And Hannibal [p. 235]sent a messenger from the river Bulotus —it is not far³⁶ from the city of Locri —ordering his men to engage in battle with the Romans and Locrians with the utmost violence at daybreak, while, when all eyes were turned in the direction of that conflict, he should himself attack the city unawares from the [4] rear. When he came upon the battle, already begun at daybreak, he did not wish to shut himself in the citadel, where he would have clogged a cramped space by his numbers, and on the other hand he had not brought ladders for scaling city [5] walls. After making a pile of the soldiers' baggage and displaying his line of battle at no great distance from the walls to frighten the enemy, while ladders and other requisites for an assault were being prepared, he rode round the city with his Numidian horsemen, to discover just where to make the [6] attack. He had approached the wall when a man who happened to stand nearest to him was struck by a missile from a scorpion. Frightened away by an occurrence so dangerous, he thereupon ordered the recall to be sounded and fortified a camp beyond the range of [7] missiles. The Roman fleet sailing from Messana reached Locri while several hours of daylight [8] remained. All were landed from the ships and before sunset they entered the city.

On the following day a battle was begun by the Carthaginians from their citadel, and Hannibal, having made ready the ladders and everything else for the assault, was coming close to the walls when suddenly the Romans opened a gate and sallied out against an enemy who feared anything but [9] that. In making this surprise attack they slew about two hundred. As for the rest, Hannibal on [p. 237]learning that the consul was there withdrew them³⁷ to his camp, and sending word to the men in the citadel to shift for themselves, he broke camp in the night and marched [10] away. And the men in the citadel set fire to the houses which they were occupying, that the commotion might delay the enemy, and with a speed that resembled flight overtook their own column before nightfall.

8. Scipio, seeing that the citadel had been abandoned by the enemy and the site of the camp deserted, summoned the Locrians to an assembly and stoutly upbraided them for their revolt. [2] He punished those who had prompted it and bestowed their property upon the leaders of the other party in view of their conspicuous loyalty towards the Romans. [3] As regards their state, he said he would neither grant the Locrians anything nor take anything away. [4] They should send envoys to Rome; and whatever lot the senate thought it proper for them to have would be theirs. Even though they had deserved ill of the Roman people, of this he was certain, that they would be in a better position under angry Romans than they were under friendly Carthaginians. [5] Leaving Pleminius, his lieutenant, to defend the city with the force which had captured the citadel, Scipio crossed over to Messana with the troops with which he had come.

[6] With such arrogance and cruelty had the Locrians been treated by the Carthaginians after their revolt from the Romans that they could bear minor wrongs not only calmly but almost willingly. [7] In actual fact, however, so far did Pleminius surpass Hamilcar, commandant of the garrison, so far did the Roman soldiers in the garrison surpass the Carthaginians in [p. 239]villainy and greed that they seemed to be competing³⁸ not in arms but in vices. [8] Of all the things that make the power of the stronger odious to the helpless man not one was overlooked by commander and soldiers in dealing with the townspeople. Unutterable insults were practised upon their own persons, upon their children, upon their wives. [9] It goes without saying that their avarice did not refrain from despoiling even sacred things. And not only were other temples desecrated, but also the treasure chambers of Proserpina,³⁹ untouched in every age except that they were said to have been despoiled by Pyrrhus, who met with a signal punishment and restored the plunder gained by his sacrilege.⁴⁰ [10] Consequently, just as formerly the king's ships, battered and wrecked, had landed nothing intact but the goddess' sacred money which they were trying to carry [11??] away, so on this occasion also, with a different kind of disaster that same money visited insanity upon all who had shared in that desecration of the temple, and mutually turned commander against commander, soldier against soldier, with the frenzy of enemies.

9. The chief command belonged to Pleminius. Part of the soldiers whom he had brought from Regium were under him, part under the tribunes. [2] Having stolen a silver cup from the house of a citizen, a fleeing soldier of Pleminius was being pursued by the owners when he chanced to meet Sergius and Matienus, tribunes of the soldiers. [3] By order of the tribunes the cup was taken away from the man. [p. 241]Thereupon angry words followed and shouting,⁴¹ finally a battle between Pleminius' soldiers and those of the tribunes, while numbers and rioting increased in proportion as one side or the other gained a timely arrival. [4] The soldiers of Pleminius were worsted, and when they came running to him displaying bloody wounds, not without angry shouts as they reported insults that had been heaped even upon him in an altercation, he was inflamed with anger, dashed out of his house, summoned the tribunes and ordered them to be stripped and the rods made ready. [5] While time was being taken to strip them —for they resisted and called upon the soldiers to help them — suddenly soldiers, flushed by their recent victory, came running from every quarter, just as if there had been a call to arms against the enemy. [6] And when they caught sight of the tribunes' backs already welted by the rods, upon that they were indeed suddenly fired to a much more uncontrollable madness, and after roughly handling the lictors in shameful fashion, without regard even for humanity, not to say for the dignity of his rank,⁴² they assaulted the legatus. [7] Then, having separated and cut him off from his men, they slashed him as if an enemy and, mutilating his nose and ears, left him almost lifeless.

[8] These acts being reported at Messana, Scipio a few days later sailed to Locri on a hexēris.⁴³ Then having heard the case of Pleminius and the tribunes, he discharged Pleminius as innocent and left him in command of the same place, while the tribunes were adjudged guilty and put in chains, to be sent to the [p. 243]senate at Rome; whereupon he returned to Messana⁴⁴ and thence to Syracuse. [9] Pleminius was beside himself with rage, thinking the wrong done to him had been overlooked by Scipio and treated as too trivial; also that no one else was capable of naming a penalty for the offence except a man who had known its barbarity by suffering. [10] Accordingly he ordered the tribunes to be brought before him, and had them mangled by every torture which any human body can endure and then put to death. [11] Not satisfied with a penalty paid by the living either, he threw them out unburied. The like cruelty was used by him against leading men of the Locrians who, he learned, had gone to Publius Scipio to complain of the outrages. [12] Then in anger he multiplied the shameful acts which, prompted previously by lust and greed, he had perpetrated upon the allies, and brought infamy and odium not only upon himself but also upon his general.

10. The time for the elections was already at hand when a letter from Publius Licinius, the consul, reached Rome, reporting that he and his army were suffering from a serious malady, and that they could not have held out if an equally violent or even more serious disease had not been visited upon the enemy. [2] Accordingly, since he was unable to come in person to the elections, he would name Quintus Caecilius Metellus dictator to hold the elections, if the senators approved. [3] It was to the interest of the state, he said, that the army of Quintus Caecilius should be discharged; for at present his army had nothing to do, since Hannibal had already withdrawn his troops into winter quarters; and so violent a malady had befallen Caecilius' camp that, unless the troops were promptly disbanded, not one man, it [p. 245]seemed, would survive. The consul was permitted⁴⁵ by the senate to do whatever he thought consistent with the public interest and his own conscience.

[4] At that time religious scruples had suddenly assailed the citizens because in the Sibylline books, which were consulted on account of the frequent showers of stones that year, an oracle was found that, if ever a foreign foe should invade the land of [5??] Italy, he could be driven out of Italy and defeated if the Idaean Mother⁴⁶ should be brought from Pessinus to Rome. [6] The discovery of that oracle by the decemvirs impressed the senators all the more because the ambassadors also who had carried a gift to Delphi reported that, when they offered sacrifices themselves to Pythian Apollo, the omens had been favourable, and that likewise from the sanctum there had come a response that a much greater victory was in prospect for the Roman people than that from spoils of which they were bringing gifts. [7] To the facts supporting that same hope the senators added Publius Scipio's state of mind, virtually forecasting the end of the war, in that he demanded Africa as his province. [8] And so, that they might the sooner be in possession of the victory which foreshadowed itself in oracles, forecasts⁴⁷ and responses, they planned and discussed what should be the method of transporting the goddess to Rome.

11. In Asia the Roman people had as yet no allied states. They bore in mind, however, that Aesculapius⁴⁸ also had been summoned once upon a [p. 247]time from Greece on account of an epidemic, while⁴⁹ there was as yet no treaty of alliance; [2] that at present on account of a joint war against Philip they had already entered into friendly relations with King Attalus. [3] Thinking that he would do what he could for the sake of the Roman people, they decided to send ambassadors to him. These were Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who had been twice consul⁵⁰ and had held a command in Greece, Marcus Caecilius Metellus, an ex-praetor, Servius Sulpicius Galba, an ex-aedile, and two former quaestors, Gnaeus Tremelius Flaccus and Marcus Valerius Falto. [4] For them they voted five quinqueremes,⁵¹ that in keeping with the dignity of the Roman people they might visit lands where the highest respect for the Roman name was to be won. [5] The ambassadors on the voyage to Asia made their way up to Delphi and consulted the oracle, enquiring what hope of accomplishing the task for which they had been sent from home it foresaw for themselves and the Roman people. [6] The response, they say, was that they should gain what they sought with the help of King Attalus; that after conveying the goddess to Rome they were then to make sure that the best man at Rome should hospitably welcome her. [7] They came to the king at Pergamum. He courteously received the ambassadors and, escorting them to Pessĭnus in Phrygia,⁵² presented them with the sacred stone⁵³ [p. 249]which the inhabitants said was the Mother of the⁵⁴ Gods, and bade them carry it away to Rome. [8] Sent on in advance by the ambassadors, Marcus Valerius Falto brought the news that they were bringing the goddess; they must seek out the best man in the state to receive her with due hospitality.

[9] Quintus Caecilius Metellus was named, by the consul who was in the land of the Bruttians, dictator for the purpose of holding the elections, and Metellus' army was disbanded. [10] Lucius Veturius Philo was named master of the horse. The elections were held by the dictator. [11] Marcus Cornelius Cethegus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus were elected consuls, the latter in his absence, since he had Greece as his province. Then Tiberius Claudius Nero, Marcus Marcius Ralla, Lucius Scribonius Libo, Marcus Pomponius Matho were elected praetors. The elections being completed, the dictator abdicated his office.

[12] The Roman Games were repeated for three of the days, the Plebeian Games for seven. The curule aediles were Gnaeus and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus. [13] Lucius was in charge of the province of Spain; being elected in absence he was aedile in absence. Tiberius Claudius Asellus and Marcus Iunius Pennus were plebeian aediles. The Temple of Valour⁵⁵ at the Porta Capena was dedicated that year by Marcus Marcellus, in the seventeenth year after it had been vowed at Clastidium in Gaul by his father in his first consulship. [14] And the flamen of Mars, Marcus Aemilius Regillus, died that year.

12. In Greece the situation had been ignored in the last two years. Consequently when the Aetolians were abandoned by the Romans,⁵⁶ the one defence in [p. 251]which they trusted, Philip compelled them to sue⁵⁷ for peace and make a treaty on terms of his own choosing. [2] Had he not used every effort to bring that about promptly, he would have been surprised while still making war upon the Aetolians by Publius Sempronius,⁵⁸ the proconsul, who with ten thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry and thirty-five warships had been sent as Sulpicius' successor in command and was no small factor in bringing aid to the allies. [3] Scarcely had peace been made when word came to the king that the Romans had arrived at Dyrrachium, and that the Parthini and other neighbouring tribes were aroused to the hope of revolution and that Dimallum⁵⁹ was besieged. [4] To that place the Romans had turned aside from helping the Aetolians, to whom they had been sent. They were angry because without Roman consent and contrary to the treaty⁶⁰ the Aetolians had made peace with the king. [5] On hearing of this Philip, fearing some greater disturbance might begin among neighbouring tribes and peoples, hastened by forced marches to Apollonia,⁶¹ to which Sempronius had withdrawn after sending Laetorius, his lieutenant, with a part of his troops and fifteen ships into Aetolia to survey the situation and, if possible, to disturb the peace. [6] Philip laid waste the farms of the Apollonians and, moving his troops up to the city, gave the Roman an opportunity to engage. [7] As soon as he saw that they remained inactive, merely defending the walls, Philip, who had not sufficient confidence in his forces to assault the city and was desirous of peace [p. 253]with the Romans also, if possible, just as with the⁶² Aetolians, but if not, of making an armistice, retired to his own kingdom without provoking any further animosities by a fresh conflict.

[8] About the same time the Epirotes, weary of the protracted war, first sounding the disposition of the Romans, sent ambassadors to Philip in regard to a general peace, asserting their confidence that it [9??] would be agreed upon if he should come to a conference with Publius Sempronius, the Roman general. [10] The king was easily prevailed upon to cross over into Epirus, for he himself was not disinclined to peace. [11] Phoenice⁶³ is a city in Epirus; there the king first conferred with Aëropus and Derdas and Philip, chief magistrates of the Epirotes, and later met Publius Sempronius. [12] Present at the conference were Amynander,⁶⁴ King of the Athamanians, and in addition magistrates of the Epirotes and Acarnanians. The first to speak was Philip, the magistrate, begging the king and at the same time the Roman general to make an end of the war and grant that favour to the Epirotes. [13] Publius Sempronius stated as terms of the peace that the Parthini and Dimallum and Bargullum⁶⁵ and Eugenium⁶⁶ should fall to the Romans; that Atintania⁶⁷ should be annexed to Macedonia, if the king, sending ambassadors to Rome, should obtain the senate's consent. [14] Peace being agreed upon on these terms, [p. 255]Prusias, King of Bithynia, the Achaeans, Boeotians,⁶⁸ Thessalians, Acarnanians and Epirotes were included on the king's side of the treaty; on the side of the Romans, the Ilians,⁶⁹ King Attalus, Pleuratus,⁷⁰ Nabis, tyrant of the Lacedaemonians,⁷¹ also the Eleans, Messenians and Athenians. [15] These provisions were reduced to writing and sealed, and an armistice was made for two months, that meanwhile ambassadors might be sent to Rome, so that the people might order peace to be made on these terms. [16] And all the tribes so ordered, since, now that the war had shifted to Africa, they wished for the present to be relieved of all other wars. Publius Sempronius, after the peace had been made, left his province for Rome to enter upon his consulship.

13. In the consulship of Marcus Cornelius and⁷² Publius Sempronius, this being the fifteenth year of the Punic war, the province of Etruria was assigned by decree to Cornelius with the old army, the land of the Bruttii to Sempronius, with orders to enrol new legions. [2] As for the praetors, the city jurisdiction fell to Marcus Marcius, that over strangers and also the province of Gaul to Lucius Scribonius Libo, Sicily to Marcus Pomponius Matho, Sardinia to Tiberius Claudius Nero. [3] Publius Scipio's command was continued for one year with the army and the fleet which he then had. The same was done in the case of Publius Licinius, who was to hold the Bruttian territory with two legions so long as the consul should judge it to the public interest for him to remain in the province with a high command. [4] Marcus Livius also and Spurius Lucretius had their [p. 257]commands continued, with two legions each to defend⁷³ Gaul against Mago. [5] So Gnaeus Octavius also, with the order that, after turning over Sardinia and the legion to Tiberius Claudius, his duty should be the defence of the sea-coast with forty war-ships within an area to be defined by the senate. [6] To Marcus Pomponius, the praetor in Sicily, was assigned the army⁷⁴ from Cannae, two legions. Titus Quinctius⁷⁵ was to have Tarentum, Gaius Hostilius Tubulus to have Capua, both as propraetors, as in the preceding year, with the old garrison in each case. [7] As for the command in Spain, the question what two men it wished to send to that province as proconsuls was brought before the people. The tribes unanimously ordered that the same men, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus should hold these provinces⁷⁶ as proconsuls, as they had done in the preceding year. [8] The consuls began the conduct of a levy both for the enrolment of new legions for the Bruttian territory and to fill the ranks of the other armies; for so they had been ordered by the senate.

14. Although Africa had not been openly assigned as a province, while the senators kept the matter dark, I believe, for fear the Carthaginians might know in advance, nevertheless the people were aroused to hope that the war would be waged that year in Africa, and that the end of the Punic war was at hand. [2] That situation had filled men's [p. 259]minds with superstitious fears and they were⁷⁷ indined both to report and to believe portents. [3] All the greater was the number of them in circulation: that two suns had been seen, and that at night there had been light for a time;⁷⁸ and that at Setia a meteor⁷⁹ had been seen shooting from east to west; that at Tarracina a city-gate had been struck by lightning, at Anagnia a gate and also the wall at many points; that in the temple of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium a noise was heard with a dreadful crash. [4] To expiate these there was a single day of prayer, and on account of the shower of stones nine days of rites⁸⁰ were observed. [5] In addition they deliberated on the reception of the Idaean Mother,⁸¹ in regard to whom not only had Marcus Valerius, one of the ambassadors, arriving in advance, reported that she would be in Italy very soon, but also there was recent news that she was already at Tarracina. [6] It was no unimportant decision that occupied the senate — the question who was the best man in the state. [7] At any rate every man would have preferred a real victory in that contest to any high commands or magistracies, whether conferred by vote of the senators or of the people. [8] Publius Scipio, son of the Gnaeus who had fallen in Spain, was the young man not yet of an age to be quaestor,⁸² whom they judged to be the best of good men among all the [9] citizens. If writers who lived nearest in time to men who [p. 261]remembered those days had handed down by what⁸³ virtues the senate was led to make that judgment, I should indeed gladly hand it on to posterity. But I shall not interject my own opinions, reached by conjecture in a matter buried by the lapse of [10] time. Publius Cornelius was ordered to go to Ostia with all the matrons to meet the goddess, and himself to receive her from the ship, and carrying her to land to turn her over to the matrons to [11] carry. After the ship had reached the mouth of the river Tiber, in compliance with the order he sailed out into open water on a ship, received the goddess from her priests⁸⁴ and carried her to [12] land. The foremost matrons in the state, among whom the name of one in particular, that of Claudia Quinta,⁸⁵ is conspicuous, received her. Claudia's repute, previously not unquestioned, as tradition reports it, has made her purity the more celebrated among posterity by a service so [13] devout. The matrons passed the goddess from hand to hand in an unbroken succession to each other, while the entire city poured out to meet her. Censers had been placed before the doors along the route of the bearers, and kindling their incense, people prayed that gracious and benignant she might enter the city of Rome. It was to the Temple of Victory, which is on the Palatine, that they carried the goddess on the day before the Ides of April, and that was a holy [14] day. The people thronged to the [p. 263]Palatine bearing gifts for the goddess, and there⁸⁶ was a banquet of the gods, and games also, called the Megalesia.⁸⁷

15. While they were discussing the men needed to recruit the legions in the provinces, certain senators suggested that, since now by favour of the gods fear had at last been removed, it was time for them no longer to tolerate what had been endured as best they could in critical circumstances. [2] As the senate was alert and in suspense, they added that the twelve Latin colonies⁸⁸ which had refused to furnish soldiers in the consulship of Quintus Fabius and Quintus Fulvius had been exempt from service for now [3??] about five years, as though it were an honour and a favour bestowed upon them, whereas in the meantime good and obedient allies, in return for their loyalty and submission to the Roman people, had been exhausted by successive levies every year. These words revived the memory of an affair almost obliterated and correspondingly inflamed the anger of the senators. [4] Accordingly, allowing the consuls to bring up no other question first, they decreed that the consuls should summon to Rome [5??] the magistrates⁸⁹ and ten leading citizens in each case from Nepete, Sutrium, Ardea, Cales, Alba, Carsioli, Sora, Suessa, Setia, Circeii, Narnia, Interamna, for these were the colonies concerned; that they should order them to furnish double the maximum number of infantry that each of those colonies had ever furnished to the Roman people since the enemy was [p. 265]in Italy, and also one hundred and twenty horsemen⁹⁰ in each case. [6] If any colony should be unable to make up that number of horsemen, it should be permitted to give three foot-soldiers for-one horseman. Men having the largest means should be chosen for infantry and cavalry and sent to any place outside of Italy where supplements were needed. [7] If any delegation should refuse, it was decided that the magistrates and envoys of that colony should be detained, and that if they asked for a hearing in the senate, it should be refused until they had done what was required of them. [8] It was further ordered that a tax of one as for each thousand be laid upon those colonies and exacted, every year, and that a census be taken in those colonies on the basis of a census-list⁹¹ furnished by the Roman censors. [9] They resolved also that it be the same which was given to the Roman people —and [10] that it be sworn to by the censors of the colonies and brought to Rome before they laid down their office.⁹²

In accordance with this decree of the senate the consuls summoned the magistrates and leading citizens of those colonies to Rome and required of them soldiers and the tax. [11] Thereupon they outdid each other in refusing and loudly protesting. [12] They said that such a number of soldiers could not be made up; that even if the normal number were required according to the original compact,⁹³ they could hardly reach it. [13] They begged and implored that they be permitted to go before the senate and make their plea. No such offence, they said, had been committed that they deserved to perish. But even if perish they must, neither their crime nor the anger of the Roman people could enable them to [p. 267]furnish more soldiers than they had. [14] The consuls,⁹⁴ disinclined to yield, ordered the envoys to remain at Rome, the magistrates to go to their homes in order to conduct levies, adding that unless the number of soldiers demanded of them was first brought to Rome, no one would give them a hearing in the senate. [15] Thus, after their hopes of appearing before the senate and of making their plea had been shattered, a levy was carried out in those twelve colonies without difficulty, since owing to long exemption the number of younger men had increased.

16. In like manner another matter which had been passed over in silence for about the same length of time was broached by Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who said it was proper that the sums contributed⁹⁵ when he and Marcus Claudius were consuls should at last be repaid to private citizens; and that no one ought to be astonished that a matter in which the credit of the state-was involved should especially concern himself. [2] For in addition to the responsibility that in a way belonged peculiarly to a consul of the year in which the moneys had been contributed, he had also been the first to suggest such contribution, since the treasury was empty and the common people unable to pay a tax.⁹⁶ [3] This reminder was welcomed by the senators, and bidding the consuls to introduce the measure, they decreed that the money should be paid in three instalments; that the consuls who were then in office should pay the first in ready money, that the consuls of the third and fifth years should pay two instalments.⁹⁷

[4] Thereafter all other concerns yielded place to a single one, when the atrocities suffered by the Locrians⁹⁸ but up to that time unknown were spread [p. 269]abroad by the arrival of their envoys. [5] And it was⁹⁹ not so much the crime of Pleminius that provoked men to anger as Scipio's partiality for him or else indifference. [6] The ten envoys of the Locrians, in soiled and neglected clothing and holding out the woollen bands of suppliants and olive branches, as is the custom of the Greeks, towards the consuls seated in the Comitium, fell to the ground before the tribunal as they raised a mournful plaint. [7] In answer to the consuls' question they said that they were Locrians who had suffered from Quintus Pleminius, the legatus, and the Roman soldiers such things as the Roman people would not wish even the Carthaginians to suffer; that they begged the consuls to give them permission to go before the senate and complain of their sufferings.

17. A hearing in the senate being granted, the eldest of them said: "I know, conscript fathers, that in determining what weight is to be given to our complaints in your presence very much depends upon your being well informed both as to how Locri was betrayed to Hannibal, and how by driving out Hannibal's garrison it was restored to your authority. [2] For if it prove that no guilt for the revolt attaches to our council of state, and if it be at the same time evident that we returned to your authority not by our consent only but also by our effort and our courage, you will be all the more indignant that good and faithful allies are receiving such outrageous treatment from your legatus and his soldiers. [3] But in my opinion enquiry into our revolts should be put off in both cases to another time for two reasons. [4] The first is in order that the hearing may be in the presence of Publius Scipio, who recovered Locri and [p. 271]is our witness for every act, the good and the bad.¹⁰⁰ The second reason is because, whatever our character is, we nevertheless did not deserve to suffer these things that we have suffered. [5] We cannot conceal the truth, conscript fathers, that when we had a Punic garrison in our citadel we suffered many shameful outrages both at the hands of Hamilcar, commandant of the garrison, and from the Numidians and Africans. But what are they in comparison with the things we are suffering today? [6] With kind indulgence, conscript fathers, give ear, I pray, to what I shall reluctantly say. The entire human race is now in suspense as to whether it is to see you, or the Carthaginians, lords of the whole world. [7] If one must judge Roman and Carthaginian rule from what we Locrians either have suffered from them, or are at this very moment suffering from your garrison, no one would fail to prefer them rather than you as his masters. And yet observe how the Locrians are disposed towards you. [8] Although from the Carthaginians we were suffering wrongs so much less serious, we sought refuge with your general. Although from your garrison we are suffering acts worse than those of an enemy, we have brought our complaints nowhere else than to you. [9] Either you will have regard for our ruin, conscript fathers, or else no help remains for us to pray for even from the immortal gods.

[10] "Quintus Pleminius was sent as legatus with a military force to recover Locri from the Carthaginians, and with that same force he was left there. In this legatus of yours —for the depths of misery [p. 273]embolden me to speak freely —there [11] is nothing of a¹⁰¹ human being, conscript fathers, except his form and outward appearance, nothing of a Roman citizen except his bearing and garments and the sound of the Latin language. [12] He is a pest-bringing monster, like those of which myths say that, in order to destroy mariners, they once had their abode on this side and that of the strait by which we are separated from Sicily. [13] And if he were content to be the only man to practise his criminal passion and greed upon your allies, we in our long-suffering should still be filling up a single whirlpool however deep. [14] As it is, he has made every centurion and every soldier of yours a Pleminius; so universal has he wished licence and dishonour to be. [15] They all rob, plunder, beat, wound, slay. They defile matrons, maidens and free-born boys, dragged from the embrace of parents. Every day our city is captured, every day it is plundered. [16] Day and night every part of it re-echoes the wailing of women and children who are being seized and carried off. [17] Knowing that, any one would wonder either how we have the patience to endure, or how those who commit such outrages are not yet sated with them. Neither can I retail them all, nor is it worth your while to hear each thing that we have suffered. In a general statement I shall embrace everything.¹⁰² [18] I tell you there is not a house at Locri, not a man that has not suffered a wrong. I tell you there remains no kind of crime, lust, avarice that has been overlooked in the case of any possible victim. [19] It is all but impossible to decide [p. 275]which of the two is the more revolting lot for a state¹⁰³ —when the enemy have captured the city in war, or when a death-dealing tyrant has overpowered it by force of arms. [20] All things that captured cities suffer we have suffered and at this very moment are suffering, conscript fathers. All the crimes that the most cruel and despotic tyrants inflict upon their helpless citizens Pleminius has inflicted upon us and our children and our wives.

18. "There is one thing in regard to which conscientious scruples implanted in our minds compel us to complain in particular, and at the same time we would have you, conscript fathers, give us your attention and, if you approve, free your state from impiety. [2] For we have seen with what punctiliousness you worship, not your own gods merely, but even welcome them from abroad.¹⁰⁴ [3] We have in our city a sanctuary of Proserpina, a temple of whose sanctity I believe some report reached you in the war with Pyrrhus.¹⁰⁵ [4] When on his return from Sicily he was passing Locri in his fleet, among other shameful acts which he visited upon our state for its loyalty to you, he despoiled the treasury of Proserpina¹⁰⁶ as well, which had been untouched down to that time. And, that done, he put the money on shipboard, setting out himself by land. What happened, conscript fathers, in consequence? [5] On the following day the fleet was shattered by a terrible storm, and all the ships which had the sacred money on board were cast upon our shores. [6] Having at last learned from this great disaster that the gods do exist, the haughtiest [p. 277]of kings ordered that all the money should be sought¹⁰⁷ out and restored to the treasure-chambers of Proserpina. And yet never thereafter did he meet with any success, and having been driven out of Italy, he rashly entered Argos by night and died an inconspicuous and inglorious death.¹⁰⁸ [7] Although your legatus and the tribunes had heard all this and a thousand other occurrences which were repeated to them, not merely to increase religious feeling but as facts repeatedly confirmed for us and our ancestors by the evident intervention of the goddess, they nevertheless dared to lay sacrilegious hands upon those treasure-chambers that were not to be touched, [8??] and by that unspeakable plunder to bring pollution upon themselves and their homes and upon your soldiers. [9] With such men, conscript fathers, I beg of you for conscience' sake not to undertake any action either in Italy or in Africa until you first atone for their crime, lest for the sacrilege committed they make amends not only by their own blood but also by a disaster to the state.

"Even now, however, the wrath of the goddess is not idle, conscript fathers, as regards either your commanders or your men. [10] Several times already have they clashed with each other in actual battle. Pleminius was in command of the one faction, of the other faction two tribunes of the soldiers. They have fought each other with the sword as fiercely as against the Carthaginians, and by their madness would have given Hannibal a chance to regain Locri, had not Scipio forestalled that in answer to our call for help. [11] True, you may say, the soldiers polluted by sacrilege are indeed frenzied, but the power of the goddess has not been manifest in punishing the [p. 279]commanders themselves. [12] On the contrary, it is¹⁰⁹ there that it was most evident. The tribunes were scourged by the legatus;¹¹⁰ [13] whereupon the legatus was isolated by a ruse of the tribunes, and besides receiving wounds in every part of his body, he was left half-dead after even his nose and ears had been mutilated. [14] Then when the legatus had recovered from his wounds and the tribunes of the soldiers had been thrown into chains, then, after scourging them and racking them with all the torments applied to slaves, he put them to death, then forbade burial of the dead.

[15] "Such are the penalties the goddess has exacted of those who despoil her temple, nor will she cease to drive them on by every form of madness until the consecrated money has been replaced in her treasury. [16] Our ancestors once in a serious war with the Crotonians¹¹¹ desired to bring that money over into the city, since the temple is outside the city. In the night a voice from the sanctuary was heard: let them keep their hands off; the goddess will defend her temples. Since conscientious scruples were raised against moving the treasure away, they planned to surround the temple with a wall of defence. [17] The walls had already been raised to a considerable height when suddenly they fell in ruins. But both at this time and at that, and often on other occasions, the goddess has either defended her abode and her temple, or else has exacted heavy penalties from those who profaned them. [18] To avenge wrongs done to us, however, no one but you, conscript fathers, [p. 281]has the power —and may no one else have it! [19] To¹¹² you and your protection we have come for refuge as suppliants. It makes no difference to us whether you allow Locri to remain under that legatus, under that garrison, or surrender it to angry Hannibal and the Carthaginians for punishment. We do not demand that you at once believe us in regard to an absent defendant, his case unheard. Let him come, let him hear in person, in person let him disprove. [20] If there is any crime which a man can perpetrate upon human beings that he has failed to commit upon us, we do not refuse to endure all the same wrongs again, if that is possible for us, while he is to be acquitted of every crime against gods and men.

19. After the envoys had thus spoken and Fabius¹¹³ asked them whether they had carried such complaints to Publius Scipio, they replied that emissaries had been sent, but that he was occupied with preparations for war and had either already crossed over to Africa, or was about to do so within a few days; [2] and they had learned what partiality for his legatus was felt by the general-in-command when, after hearing the charges of Pleminius and those of the tribunes, he put the tribunes in chains and, though the legatus was equally guilty or even more so, left him in that command.

When the envoys had been ordered to retire from the Senate House,¹¹⁴ not Pleminius only but also Scipio was savagely attacked in the speeches of leading men. [3] First and foremost Quintus Fabius charged that he was by nature adapted to corrupt his soldiers' discipline. [4] Thus even in Spain, he said, almost more soldiers had been lost in a mutiny than [p. 283]by war;¹¹⁵ that after the manner of a foreign tyrant he¹¹⁶ gave free rein to the excesses of his soldiers and was also cruel to them. [5] He then appended to his speech an equally ruthless resolution: that it was the will of the senate that Pleminius, the legatus, be brought to Rome bound and plead his cause in chains, and if the complaints of the Locrians should prove true, that he be put to death in the prison and his property confiscated; [6] that Publius Scipio, having left his province without orders of the senate, be recalled, and that the tribunes of the plebs be urged to bring before the people a bill to annul his command; that the senate should make answer to the Locrians face to face that neither the senate nor the Roman people approved of the wrongs which they complained had been inflicted upon them; that they be declared good men and good allies and friends; [7] that their children, their wives and whatever else had been taken away by violence be restored to them; that all the money removed from the treasure-chambers of Proserpina be sought out and twice that amount be restored to her treasury; [8] and that expiatory rites be performed, with the provision that the question be first laid before the college of pontiffs, in view of the removal, opening and profanation of the sacred treasure, what expiations they would order to be made, to what divinities, with what victims; that all the soldiers who were at Locri be transported to Sicily; [9] that four cohorts of Latin allies be brought to Locri as a garrison.

[10] Not all the senators could be asked their opinion on that day owing to the heat of party feeling for [p. 285]Scipio and against Scipio. In addition to the crime¹¹⁷ of Pleminius and the sufferings of the [11??] Locrians, they kept censuring even the personal appearance of the general-in-chief, as not even soldierly, not to say un- Roman; that wearing a Greek mantle and sandals he strolled about in the gymnasium, giving his attention to books in Greek and physical exercise;¹¹⁸ [12] that with equal indolence and self-indulgence his entire retinue¹¹⁹ was enjoying the charms of Syracuse; that Carthage and Hannibal had been forgotten; [13] that the entire army, being spoiled by lack of restraint and, like the army formerly at Sucro in Spain, like the troops now at Locri, was more to be feared by allies than by the enemy.

20. Although some of these taunts were true, some half-true and hence plausible, nevertheless the motion of Quintus Metellus¹²⁰ carried the day. In agreement with Maximus on the other points, he disagreed with him so far as concerned Scipio, the man whom the state chose not long before, he said, in spite of his youth as sole general to recover Spain; [2] then, after Spain had been rewon from the enemy, elected him consul to put an end to the Punic war, and counted upon him to draw Hannibal out of Italy and to conquer Africa. [3] How then was it logical for him, as if he were a Quintus Pleminius, suddenly to be all but condemned without a hearing, recalled from his province, although the Locrians said that the criminal acts against them of which they complained had been committed when Scipio was not even present, and nothing else could be charged [p. 287]against him than slowness to anger, or else reluctance¹²¹ in sparing his legatus? [4] His proposal, he said, was that Marcus Pomponius, the praetor, to whom Sicily had been allotted as his province, should within three days leave for the province; that the consuls should choose ten legati at their discretion from the senate, to be sent with the praetor, as also two tribunes of the plebs and an aedile;¹²² [5] that with these men as assessors the praetor should conduct an examination; if the offences of which the Locrians complained had been committed by the command or with the consent of Publius Scipio, they should order him to retire from his province; [6] if Publius Scipio should have already crossed over into Africa, the tribunes of the plebs and the aedile should go to Africa with two of the legati —those [7] whom the praetor should judge most competent —the tribunes and aedile to bring Scipio away, the legati to be in command of the army until anew general-in-command should reach that army; [8] if Marcus Pomponius-and the ten legati should find that the acts had been committed neither by order of Publius Scipio nor with his consent, that Scipio should remain with the army and carry on the war as he had planned. [9] A decree of the senate to this effect having been passed, the tribunes of the plebs were requested either to arrange among themselves or to choose by lot which two of them should go with the praetor and legati. [10] The matter of expiation for all that in the temple of Proserpina at Locri had been touched and profaned and carried away was referred to the college of pontiffs.

[11] The tribunes of the plebs, Marcus Claudius [p. 289]Marcellus¹²³ and Marcus Cincius Alimentus^{124 125} departed with the praetor and ten legati. A plebeian aedile was added to their number, and either in case Scipio in Sicily should fail to obey the praetor, or if he should have crossed already into Africa, the tribunes were to order the aedile to arrest him, and by virtue of their inviolable authority they were to bring him back. It was their plan to go to Locri first and then to Messana.

21. But so far as Pleminius is concerned we have two reports. Some authorities relate that, on hearing what had been done at Rome, he was on his way into exile at Neapolis when he happened to encounter Quintus Metellus, one of the legati, and that he was forcibly brought back by him to Regium. [2] Others say that Scipio himself sent a legatus with thirty horsemen of the first order, to throw Quintus Pleminius into chains and with him the leaders of the outbreak. [3] All of them, whether by Scipio's order earlier or at this time by that of the praetor, were delivered into the custody of the men of Regium.

The praetor and legati went to Locri and, as they had been instructed, made religion their first concern. [4] For they sought out and restored to the treasure-chambers all the sacred money, both what was in the hands of Pleminius and what was in the possession of the soldiers, together with what they had themselves brought with them; and they performed the rite of expiation. [5] Then the praetor summoned the soldiers to an assembly, ordered their units to march out of the city, and assigned a site in the plain for their camp, with a threatening edict in case any soldier should either remain in the [p. 291]city or carry out with him what was not his own.¹²⁶ In this he stated that he gave permission to the Locrians to seize any possession a man should recognize as his; and if anything was not produced he should demand its restitution. [6] Above all, he said, he ruled that free persons should be restored to the Locrians without delay; that a heavy penalty would be paid by the man who did not restore them.

[7] Thereupon he held an assembly of the Locrians and said that the Roman people and senate restored to them their independence and their own laws; that if anyone desired to bring charges against Pleminius or any other man, let him follow him to Regium. [8] As regarded Publius Scipio, should they wish, he said, to make complaint in the name of their state, claiming that such wicked deeds as had been committed at Locri against gods and men had been done by command of Publius Scipio or with his consent, let them send envoys to Messana; there with his assessors he would conduct the inquiry. [9] The Locrians thanked the praetor and his legati, the senate and the Roman people. They would go, they said, to prefer charges against Pleminius. [10] As for Scipio, although he was not sufficiently pained by the wrongs done to their state, he was such a man as they would prefer to have as their friend rather than as an enemy. [11] They had definitely ascertained that the many unspeakable crimes had not been committed either by order or consent of Publius Scipio; but either he had trusted Pleminius too much and themselves too little; or else for some men it was natural to disapprove of misdoing but to lack sufficient spirit to punish the misdeeds.

[12] Both the praetor and his assessors were relieved of [p. 293]the burden —no slight one either —of a court of¹²⁷ inquiry concerning Scipio. Pleminius and with him some thirty-two men they found guilty¹²⁸ and sent in chains to Rome. [13] They themselves went to Scipio with the further intention to see for themselves what had been common talk in regard to the dress and indolent habits of the general and lax discipline of his soldiers, and to report back to Rome.

22. While they were on their way to Syracuse Scipio prepared tangible evidence, not words, in his defence. He ordered the entire army to be concentrated there, and the fleet to be cleared for action, as if on that day he must fight on land and sea with the Carthaginians. [2] On the day of their arrival they were hospitably entertained, and the next day he showed them his land and naval forces, not merely drawn up in line, but the soldiers in manœuvres¹²⁹ and the fleet likewise manœuvring in mimicry of a naval battle in the harbour. [3] Then the praetor and the legati were conducted on a tour of inspection of arsenals and magazines and other equipment for war. [4] And so much was their admiration aroused for particular things and for the sum total that they fully believed the Carthaginian people could be defeated either by that general and army or by no other, and bade [5??] him with the blessing of the gods to cross over, and at the first possible moment to bring to the Roman people the fulfilment of the hope inspired on the day on which all the centuries [p. 295]had named him consul first. [6] So happy also were they¹³⁰ on leaving the city, it was if they were to carry to Rome the news of a victory, not of a magnificent preparation for war.

[7] Pleminius and those who were involved in the same charge, upon their arrival in Rome, were at once put in the prison. And when first brought before the people by the tribunes, while men's minds were already filled with the sufferings of the Locrians, they found no room left for pity. [8] Later, as they were brought out repeatedly,¹³¹ men's anger was subsiding as animosity now waned, and even Pleminius' disfigurement and the memory of the absent Scipio won them support among the populace. [9] He died, however, in prison before his trial in the assembly of the people could be completed.

Clodius Licinus¹³² in the third book of his Roman History relates of this Pleminius that during the votive games which Africanus was conducting at Rome in his second consulship,¹³³ he made an attempt, with the aid of certain men whom he had bribed, to set fire to the city in a number of places, in order to have a chance to break out of prison and escape; [10] [p. 297]that then, when his crime was revealed, he was¹³⁴ consigned to the Tullianum¹³⁵ in accordance with a decree of the senate.

[11] In regard to Scipio no action was taken anywhere except in the senate, in which both legati and tribunes united in praise of the fleet, army and general. Consequently the senate voted that at the earliest possible moment the crossing to Africa must take place, and that out of the armies then in Sicily Scipio should be permitted to choose for himself what forces he would transport with him to Africa, and what he would leave as a garrison [12??] for the province.

23. While these events were in progress among the Romans, the Carthaginians on their part, placing watch-towers on all the promontories, had passed an anxious winter, gathering information and alarmed by each fresh report. [2] And then, as no small factor in the defence of Africa, they added an alliance of their own with King Syphax, in reliance chiefly upon whom the Roman, they had believed, intended to cross over to Africa. [3] Hasdrubal the son of Gisgo had not merely a guest-friendship with the king, of which mention has been made above¹³⁶ —when Scipio and Hasdrubal coming from Spain arrived, as it happened, at the same time —but also the first proposal of a marriage tie was made, in which the king was to marry Hasdrubal's daughter. [4] To carry the matter through and to fix a time for the wedding, Hasdrubal went to him; for the maiden was already of marriageable age. On perceiving that he was [p. 299]fired with passion —and more than all barbarians¹³⁷ the Numidians are prone to sensuality —he summoned the maiden from Carthage and hastened the wedding. [5] And in the midst of congratulations on other grounds, in order that a public compact might be added to the private, an alliance between the Carthaginian people and the king was cemented by an oath, while a pledge was given by both sides that they would have the same friends and enemies.

[6] Hasdrubal, however, remembered not only the alliance with Scipio into which the king had entered, but also how naturally characterless and fickle are barbarians. He feared that if Scipio should cross over to Africa this marriage would be a slender bond. Consequently while the Numidian, fired by his newfound love, was in his power, with the help also of the young woman's allurements, Hasdrubal prevailed upon him to send ambassadors to Scipio in Sicily, and through these men he was to warn Scipio not to cross over to Africa in reliance upon his previous promises. [7] They were to say that he was [8??] linked with the Carthaginian people both by his marriage to a citizen of Carthage, daughter of the Hasdrubal whom Scipio had seen received as a guest in his own house, and by a public treaty as well; [9] that in the first place he wished that the Romans would carry on war with the Carthaginians, as they had done hitherto, far from Africa, making it unnecessary for him to be involved in their conflicts and to follow the arms of this side or that, rejecting alliance with the other side; [10] that if Scipio did not keep away from Africa and moved his army up to Carthage, it would be necessary for him to fight both for the land of Africa, in which he too had [p. 301]been born, and for the native city of his wife and for¹³⁸ her father and her home.

24. With these instructions ambassadors were sent to Scipio by the king, and they met him at Syracuse. [2] Scipio had lost, to be sure, an important factor for the campaign in Africa and a high hope; nevertheless, sending the messengers back to Africa promptly, before the matter should be widely reported, he gave them a letter to the king. [3] In this he insistently admonished him not to prove false to the claims of a guest-friendship entered into with himself, nor to those of an alliance contracted with the Roman people, nor to divine law, to honour, to the clasped hands, to the gods as witnesses and arbiters of compacts. [4] But the arrival of the Numidians could not be kept secret, for they had roamed about the city and had showed themselves at headquarters;¹³⁹ [5] and if the object of their mission was passed over in silence there would be danger that the facts might of themselves transpire, all the more from the very attempt to conceal them, and that the fear of having to fight at the same time with the king and the Carthaginians might overtake the army. [6] For that reason Scipio diverted men's attention from the truth by preoccupation with false statements, and summoning the soldiers to an assembly, he told them that there must be no further delay; that the kings, their allies, were insisting that he cross over to Africa as soon as possible. [7] Masinissa, he said, had previously come in person to Gaius Laelius complaining because they were wasting time in hesitation; and now Syphax was sending ambassadors, stating that he also was at a loss to explain what was the reason for a delay so protracted, and [p. 303]demanding either that the army be at last¹⁴⁰ transported [8??] to Africa, or, if their plans had been changed, that he be informed, so that he on his part might take measures for himself and his kingdom. [9] Accordingly, since now everything had been duly fitted out and made ready and the situation admitted of no further delay, Scipio said [10??] it was his intention to shift his fleet to Lilybaeum and concentrate there all his infantry and cavalry forces, then on the first day that offered a passage to his ships to cross over with the blessing of the gods to Africa. [11] He sent a letter to Marcus Pomponius,¹⁴¹ requesting him, if he approved, to come to Lilybaeum, so that they might jointly decide which particular legions to transport to Africa and how large a number of men. [12] He likewise sent orders round the entire coastline to have all merchantmen pressed into the service and concentrated at Lilybaeum.

When all the soldiers and ships in Sicily had been brought together at Lilybaeum and the city could not contain the multitude of men nor the harbour the ships, such was the ardour of every man [13??] for the passage to Africa that it seemed as though they were being led, not to a war but to assured rewards of victory. [14] Especially the soldiers who were left of the army at Cannae believed that under that general and no other, by active duty for the state they could bring their ignominious service to an end.¹⁴² [2] And Scipio did not in the least scorn soldiers of that kind, [p. 305]as he knew that the disaster at Cannae had not been¹⁴³ incurred by their cowardice,¹⁴⁴ and that there were no soldiers in the Roman army who were such veterans and as highly trained not only in battles of different kinds but also in besieging cities. [3] The fifth and sixth legions were those from Cannae. Having said he would transport these legions to Africa, he inspected the soldiers one by one, and leaving those whom he believed to be unfit, he substituted for them men whom he had brought with him from Italy, and recruited the legions to such an extent that each had six thousand two hundred infantry¹⁴⁵ and three hundred cavalry. [4] In like manner he chose foot-soldiers and horse from the Latin allies out of the army which fought at Cannae.

XXV. As to the number of soldiers transported to Africa the authorities differ by no small figure. In some I find that ten thousand infantry, two thousand two hundred cavalry were embarked; in others sixteen thousand infantry, sixteen hundred cavalry; in others the total is more than doubled —thirty-five thousand infantry and cavalry. [5] Some authorities have not introduced the figures, and it is among these that I should myself prefer to be counted in view of the uncertainty. [6] Coelius, while he gives no figures, nevertheless immensely increases the impression of great numbers.¹⁴⁶ He says that birds fell to the ground owing to the shouts of the soldiers, and that such a multitude boarded the ships that not a human being seemed to be left either in Italy or Sicily.

[7] [p. 307] That the soldiers should board the ships in good¹⁴⁷ order and without confusion the general took upon himself. As for the crews, Gaius Laelius, who was admiral of the fleet, ordered them to go on board first, and kept them there. [8] The duty of loading supplies was assigned to Marcus Pomponius, the praetor. Rations for forty-five days —of these cooked rations for fifteen days —were placed on board. [9] When now they had all embarked, Scipio sent ships' boats round with orders that pilots and masters from all the ships and two soldiers from each should assemble before the headquarters to receive commands. When they were assembled he first asked them if they had put on board water for men and beasts for just as many days as they had grain. [10] When they replied that there was water for forty-five days on board, he thereupon gave orders to the soldiers to remain quiet and ensure silence in proper obedience to the seamen and without interference, that these might perform their duties. [11] With twenty warships, he said, he and Lucius Scipio¹⁴⁸ on the right wing would protect the transports; on the left wing the same number of war-ships and Gaius Laelius, admiral of the fleet, with Marcus Porcius Cato, who was at that time quaestor;¹⁴⁹ that war-ships should have one lantern for each ship, transports two for each; that on the flagship the designation at night [p. 309]would be three lanterns. [12] He ordered the pilots to¹⁵⁰ steer for the Emporia.¹⁵¹ There the soil is very fertile and for that reason the region supplies everything in abundance; and the natives are unwarlike, as is usually the case in a fertile country, and it seemed that they could be overpowered before aid could be sent from Carthage.¹⁵² After he had issued these commands they were ordered to return to their ships and on the following day, with the blessing of the gods, to cast off at the given signal.

26. Many Roman fleets had sailed from Sicily and out of that very harbour. Yet not only during that war was there never a sailing so spectacular and no wonder, since most of the fleets had sailed out merely to plunder-but there had been nothing similar even in the previous war. [2] And yet if one had based his comparison upon the size of the fleet, more than once¹⁵³ before had two consuls with two armies made the passage, and there had been almost as many war-ships in those fleets as now transports with which Scipio was crossing over. For in addition to forty war-ships only, he carried his army across on about four hundred transports. [3] But the second war was made to appear to the [4??] Romans more terrible [p. 311]than the first both by being carried on in Italy and¹⁵⁴ by the immense losses which befell so many armies, with the death of their generals at the same time. [5] Furthermore Scipio, whom men praised as a general partly because of his brave deeds, partly because of a good fortune peculiarly his own —a matter of the greatest importance to his growing celebrity —had commanded attention, as had also the very thought, not hazarded by any previous general in this war, of crossing the sea. [6] For he had spread the report that he was making the passage in order to draw Hannibal out of Italy and, shifting its scene, to bring the war to an end in Africa. [7] To see that sight there had flocked to the harbour a crowd made up, not only of all the inhabitants of Lilybaeum, but of all the delegations from Sicily which had arrived to show their respect as an escort to Scipio, and of those that had followed the praetor of the province, Marcus Pomponius. [8] In addition the legions that were being left behind in Sicily had turned out to escort their fellow-soldiers. And not only was the fleet a spectacle for those who viewed it from the shore, but also the whole densely crowded shore on this side and that was a sight for those who were sailing.

27. When the day dawned Scipio on his flagship, after silence had been secured by a herald, prayed: [2] “Ye gods and goddesses who inhabit seas and lands, I pray and beseech you that whatever under my authority has been done, is being done, and shall henceforth be done, may prosper for me, for the Roman people and the commons, for allies and Latins who by land, by sea, and by rivers follow the [p. 313]lead, authority and auspices of the Roman people¹⁵⁵ and of myself; and that ye lend your kind aid to all those acts and make them bear good fruit; [3] that when the foe has been vanquished, ye bring the victors home with me safe and sound, adorned with spoils, laden with booty, and in triumph; [4] that ye grant power to punish opponents and enemies; and that ye bestow upon the Roman people and upon me the power to visit upon the state of the Carthaginians the fate that the people of Carthage have endeavoured to visit upon our state.”

[5] Immediately after this prayer a victim was slain and Scipio threw the organs raw into the sea, as is customary,¹⁵⁶ and by a trumpet gave the signal to sail. A favouring wind sufficiently strong quickly carried them out of sight of land. [6] And after mid-day they encountered a fog, so that with difficulty could they avoid collisions between the ships. In the open sea the wind was gentler. [7] Through the following night the same fog held; and when the sun was up, it was dispersed and the wind increased in force. Already they were in sight of land. Not very long afterwards the pilot told Scipio that Africa was not more than five miles away; that they sighted the Promontory of Mercury;¹⁵⁷ if he should order him to steer for that, the entire fleet would soon be in port. [8] Scipio, now that the land was visible, after a prayer to the gods that [9??] his sight of Africa might be a [p. 315]blessing to the state and to himself, gave orders to¹⁵⁸ make sail and to seek another landing-place for the ships farther down.¹⁵⁹ [10] They were running before the same wind; but at about the same time as on the preceding day a fog appeared cutting off the sight of land, and under the weight of fog the wind dropped. [11] Then night added to all their uncertainties; so they cast anchor, that the ships might not collide or drift onto the shore. When day dawned the same wind sprang up and by dispelling the fog revealed the whole African coast. [12] Scipio inquired what the nearest promontory was, and upon being told it was called Cape of the Fair God,¹⁶⁰ he said “A welcome omen! steer your ships this way!” There the fleet came into port and all the troops were disembarked.¹⁶¹

[13] That the passage was successful and free from alarm and disorder I have accepted on the authority of many Greek and Latin writers. Coelius¹⁶² alone describes all the terrors of weather and waves —everything short of saying that the ships were overwhelmed by the seas. [14] He relates that finally the fleet was swept by the storm away from Africa to the island of Aegimurus¹⁶³ and that from there the proper [p. 317]course was regained with difficulty; [15] and that as the¹⁶⁴ ships were all but sinking the soldiers, without waiting for an order from the general, made their way to the shore in small boats, as though they had been shipwrecked, with no arms and in the greatest disorder.¹⁶⁵

28. After landing their troops the Romans laid out a camp on the nearest heights. [2] By this time, first from the sight of the fleet, and then from the commotion produced as they were disembarking, apprehension and panic had reached not only the farms near the coast but even into the cities. [3] For it was not merely the massed humanity that, interspersed with columns of women and children, had filled all the roads in every direction, but cattle also driven before them by the farmers, so that one would have said Africa was suddenly being deserted. [4] But even in the cities they inspired greater alarm than that which they had brought with them. [5] Especially at Carthage the uproar was almost like that of a captured city. For since the consulship of Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius, for almost fifty years¹⁶⁶ they had seen no Roman forces except only predatory fleets, by means of which descents had been made on farms near the sea; [6] and seizing whatever chance had put in their way, the men had always raced back to their ships before the outcry should arouse the farmers. [7] All the greater at this time was the flight and alarm in the city. They lacked also, to be sure, both a strong army at home and a general to confront the enemy. [8] Hasdrubal the son of Gisgo was far the foremost man of the state in family, reputation, wealth, and at that time also by reason [p. 319]of his relationship to a king. But they recalled that¹⁶⁷ in a number of battles in Spain he had been routed and beaten by the self-same Scipio, and that the one general was no more a match for the other than was their own irregular army for the Roman army. [9] Accordingly they sounded the alarm, as if Scipio were intending forthwith to attack the city. The gates were hastily closed also and armed men posted on the walls, sentries and outposts stationed, while the following night no one slept. [10] Next day five hundred horsemen, sent to the coast to reconnoitre and to break up the disembarkation, encountered Roman outposts. [11] For already Scipio, after sending the fleet towards Utica, had himself advanced not very far from the sea and taken the nearest heights. He had stationed cavalry on outpost duty in suitable positions and had sent others to plunder the countryside.

29. These horsemen, having engaged in battle with the Carthaginian cavalry, slew a few in the actual engagement, many more as they pursued them in flight, among the number Hanno¹⁶⁸ also, the commander, a young man of rank. [2] Scipio not only laid waste the farms all around but also captured the nearest city of the Africans, quite a prosperous place. [3] There, in addition to the other spoils which had been at once loaded on transports and sent to Sicily, eight thousand free persons and slaves were taken captive.

What brought the greatest joy, however, to the Romans at the beginning of the campaign was the [p. 321]arrival of Masinissa. [4] Some authorities relate that¹⁶⁹ he came with no more than two hundred horsemen, the majority say with two thousand cavalry. [5] But since he was far the greatest of all the kings of his time and gave the greatest aid to the Roman state, it seems worth while to digress a little to tell how checkered was the fortune he met with in losing and recovering his father's kingdom.¹⁷⁰

[6] While he was serving on the side of the Carthaginians in Spain his father died; Gala was his name. The kingdom came to the king's brother, Oezalces, a very aged man, such being the custom among the Numidians. [7] Not long after, upon the death of Oezalces also, the elder of his two sons, Capussa, succeeded to his father's throne, the other son being a mere boy. [8] But inasmuch as he held the kingship more by customary law of his people than by prestige among his countrymen or by his might, a man came forward named Mazaetullus, not unconnected by blood with the royal house and member of a family that had always been hostile and had contested the throne with different results against the house which was then in possession. [9] After rousing his countrymen, among whom he had great influence because of the unpopularity of the royal family, and openly pitching his camp, he compelled the king to go out into battle-line and fight for his kingdom. [10] In that battle Capussa fell with many of the leading men. The entire tribe of the Maesulii submitted to the sway and authority of Mazaetullus. [11] Nevertheless he refrained from using the kingly title and, contented with the modest style of guardian, he gave the royal title to the boy Lacumazes, who also belonged to the royal line. [12] He married a noble Carthaginian lady, [p. 323]daughter of Hannibal's sister and lately wedded to¹⁷¹ King Oezalces. [13] He did so in the hope of an alliance with the Carthaginians, and with Syphax he renewed a guest-friendship of long standing, sending envoys for the purpose. All these advantages he was preparing against Masinissa.

30. And Masinissa having heard of the death of his uncle, and then that his cousin had fallen, crossed over from Spain into Mauretania, Baga being at that time king of the Mauri. [2] From Baga with the most abject entreaties as a suppliant he obtained four thousand Mauri as an escort on his journey, being unable to obtain aid for the war. [3] When with that escort, after first sending word to his father's friends and his own, he had reached the frontier of the kingdom, about five hundred Numidians joined him. [4] Therefore from that point he sent back the Mauri to their king, as it had been agreed, and although the numbers that had joined him were considerably smaller than he had hoped for, and not such that he quite dared to attempt so great a venture with them, he thought that by vigorous action he would also gather up the forces needed for some success. [5] Hence as Lacumazes, the prince, was on his way to Syphax, Masinissa encountered him near Thapsus.¹⁷² When the frightened column had sought refuge in the city, Masinissa not only took the city by the first assault but received the surrender of some of the royal escort and slew others attempting resistance. [6] The majority together with the boy himself in the midst of the commotion made [p. 325]their way to Syphax, towards whom they had¹⁷³ originally directed their march. [7] The report of this modest success at the beginning of the campaign brought the Numidians over to Masinissa, and from farms and villages on all sides old soldiers of Gala flocked to him; and they spurred the young man on to recover the kingdom of his father.

[8] In the number of his soldiers Mazaetullus was considerably superior; for not only did he himself have the army with which he had defeated Capussa, and a number of men whom he had taken over after the slaying of the king, but also the young Lacumazes had brought up very large auxiliary forces from Syphax. [9] Fifteen thousand infantry Mazaetullus had and ten thousand cavalry; and with these he engaged in battle with Masinissa, who was far from having so great a number of infantry or cavalry. [10] Nevertheless victory was won by the courage of the veteran soldiers and the sagacity of a general who had been trained in the war between Roman and Carthaginian armies. The prince with his guardian and a very small band of Masaesulians sought refuge in the territory of Carthage. So, having recovered his father's kingdom, Masinissa, seeing that his remaining conflict against Syphax would be considerably more serious, thought it best to be reconciled with his cousin. [11] Accordingly he sent men to encourage the boy to hope that, if he should put himself in the hands of Masinissa, he would be held in the same honour as Oezalces had formerly been in the house of Gala. [12] To Mazaetullus also they were to pledge, besides impunity, the faithful restoration of all his property. [13] By this means, as they preferred a modest fortune at home to exile, Masinissa won [p. 327]them both over, although the Carthaginians purposely¹⁷⁴ did everything to prevent it.

31. Hasdrubal happened to be with Syphax¹⁷⁵ all the time that these events were in progress. And when the Numidian said he believed it was of no great importance to him whether the kingdom of the Maesulians was in the hands of Lacumazes or of Masinissa, Hasdrubal said he was very much mistaken if he believed that Masinissa would be content with what had satisfied his father Gala or his uncle Oezalces; [2] that he had in him a far greater gift of spirit and talent than had ever been found in any man of his tribe; that often in Spain he had given allies and enemies alike evidence of a courage rare among men. [3] He added that unless Syphax and the Carthaginians should put out that incipient flame, they would be consumed later by a mighty conflagration when they could no longer cope with it; that Masinissa's strength was still slight and frail, while he was nursing a kingdom whose wounds had barely begun to heal. [4] By insisting and goading him on Hasdrubal brought him to the point of advancing his army to the frontier of the Maesulians and pitching his camp as though upon soil to which he was unquestionably entitled —land concerning which he had not only argued with Gala repeatedly but had contended also in arms. [5] If anyone should try to drive him away he would fight a regular battle, which would be greatly to his advantage. [6] But if Masinissa in fear should withdraw from that region they must advance into the interior of the kingdom. Either the Maesulians would submit without resistance to the rule of Syphax, or they would be no match for him in arms.

[p. 329] Aroused by these words Syphax made war upon¹⁷⁶ Masinissa and in the first engagement routed the Maesulians and put them to flight. [7] Masinissa with a few horsemen fled from the battle-field to a mountain called Bellus by the natives.¹⁷⁷ [8] A considerable number of households followed the king with their portable huts¹⁷⁸ and their flocks, the latter being their only wealth. But the rest, the mass of the Maesulians, submitted to the rule of Syphax. [9] The mountain which the fugitives had occupied is well supplied with grass and water and being suitable for the support of cattle, it was quite capable of sustaining men also who lived on flesh and milk. From it they rendered all the surrounding country unsafe, first by stealthy raids in the night and later by open brigandage. [10] Most of all it was Carthaginian territory that was ravaged, because there was more plunder than among the Numidians, and also brigandage was safer. [11] By this time they played their game so openly as to bring their booty down to the sea and sell it to traders who put in with their vessels for that very purpose; and more Carthaginians fell or were captured than occurred often in regular warfare.

The Carthaginians complained of all this to Syphax and, as he also was enraged, they spurred him on to complete what was left of the war. [12] But it seemed hardly becoming for a king to pursue a nomad bandit in the mountains. 32. One of the king's officers, Bucar, a man of spirit and energy, was chosen for the purpose. Four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry were given to him; and he [p. 331]was laden with immense rewards in anticipation, if¹⁷⁹ he should bring back the head of Masinissa, or —and this would be a joy beyond price —should capture him alive. [2] While they were scattered and off their guard Bucar unexpectedly attacked them, and separating the great number of cattle and men from their armed escort, he drove Masinissa himself with a few of his men up to the top of the mountain. [3] Then, just as though the war had been already finished, he sent not only the booty in cattle and captives to the king but returned his troops also, as much too many for the remainder of the war. [4] With not more than five hundred foot-soldiers and two hundred horsemen he pursued Masinissa (who had come down from the heights), and penned him in a gorge with both entrances blocked. [5] There a great slaughter of the Maesulians took place; but Masinissa with no more than fifty horsemen following him through the unknown recesses of the mountain made his escape. [6] Bucar, however, kept on the trail and overtaking him in an open plain near the city of Clupea¹⁸⁰ so overwhelmed him that he slew every one of his horsemen except four. With these men, in the midst of the uproar he let the wounded Masinissa himself slip away when almost in his hands. [7] The fugitives were insight; a squadron of cavalry, scattering over the breadth of the plain, while some, in order to head them off, pushed on obliquely, was pursuing five enemies. [8] A broad stream¹⁸¹ was the refuge of the [p. 333]fleeing; for without hesitation, under the pressure¹⁸² of a greater fear, they put their horses into it; and swept by the whirling current, they were borne obliquely past the enemy. [9] When two of them had been drowned in the swiftly whirling waters before the eyes of the enemy, Masinissa himself, whom they believed to have perished, and the two remaining horsemen with him made their way out among the bushes of the farther bank. That was the end of pursuit for Bucar, as he did not dare enter the river and believed he had no one left to pursue. [10] Then he returned to the king, falsely reporting that Masinissa had been drowned; and messengers were sent to bring tidings of great joy to Carthage. And all Africa was filled with the story of Masinissa's death, producing different emotions.

[11] While Masinissa in a hidden cave was nursing his wound with herbs, he lived for some days on booty brought in by the two horsemen. [12] As soon as the wound had closed and it seemed possible for him to endure jolting, with great audacity he set out to reclaim his kingdom. [13] And after picking up not more than forty horsemen as he rode along, he came among the Maesulians, openly announcing now who he was; thereupon he caused a great stir, owing to their old-time favour and especially to their unexpected joy because they saw a man safe and sound whom they had believed to have perished. [14] The results were that within a few days six thousand armed foot-soldiers and four thousand horsemen flocked to him, and that now he was not merely in possession of his father's kingdom but was even laying waste lands of allies of the Carthaginians and those of the Masaesulians, the kingdom, that is, of [p. 335]Syphax. Consequently, having provoked Syphax to¹⁸³ war, he established himself between Cirta¹⁸⁴ and Hippo¹⁸⁵ on a mountain range that in every way was favourable.

33. Therefore Syphax, thinking the affair was now too serious to be conducted by his officers, sent a part of the army under his young son, Vermina by name, with orders to lead his column round and attack the rear of the enemy, whose eyes would be upon the king himself. [2] Vermina, who was to make a secret attack, set out by night. But Syphax broke camp and marched by day along an open road, since he intended to engage in battle formation, standards against standards. [3] When the interval seemed to be such that the flanking party might be thought to have reached their objective already, the king on his part, relying both on numbers and on the ambuscade prepared in the rear, led his line up along the face of the mountain over a gentle slope leading in the direction of the enemy. [4] Masinissa also, relying chiefly upon the much more favourable ground on which he was to fight, led his men out into line. The battle was fierce and long indecisive, while position and the courage of his soldiers aided Masinissa and numbers that were far superior favoured Syphax. [5] That great army in its two sections —since the one pressed the enemy hard in front, while the other had accomplished its flanking movement in the rear —gave no uncertain victory to Syphax; and there was not even a way of escape open to men enclosed both in front and in the rear. [6] Accordingly the rest, infantry and cavalry, were slain or captured; but some two hundred horsemen were ordered by Masinissa to mass about him, divide into [p. 337]three troops, and so to break their way through, a¹⁸⁶ place being assigned in advance at which they should meet after their flight in different directions. [7] He himself escaped in the direction he had chosen through the midst of the enemies' weapons. Two of the squadrons were held fast; one in fear surrendered to the enemy, while the other, offering a more stubborn resistance, was overwhelmed by missiles and slain. [8] Vermina, who was almost at his heels, Masinissa evaded by turning now into this road and now into that, and compelled him at last to abandon pursuit when he was weary and had given up hope. He himself made his way with sixty horsemen to the Lesser Syrtis. [9] There, with the proud consciousness of having repeatedly made claim to his father's kingdom, in the region between the Punic Emporia¹⁸⁷ and the tribe of the Garamantes¹⁸⁸ he spent the whole time until the arrival in Africa of Gaius Laelius and the Roman fleet. These circumstances incline me to believe that Masinissa came to Scipio also later with a small force¹⁸⁹ of cavalry rather than with a large one. [10] For such great numbers are suited to a monarch, while my small figures match the plight of an exile.

34. The Carthaginians, having lost a squadron of cavalry with its commander¹⁹⁰ and acquired other horse by a fresh levy, placed Hanno the son of Hamilcar¹⁹¹ in command. [2] Again and again they summoned Hasdrubal and Syphax by letters and messengers, finally even by envoys. They bade [p. 339]Hasdrubal bring aid to his native city, now almost¹⁹² invested; they entreated Syphax to come to the rescue of Carthage, to the rescue of all Africa. [3] Scipio at that time had his camp near Utica, about a mile from the city,¹⁹³ having shifted it from the seashore, where for a few days the camp had been established close to the fleet. [4] Hanno, who had received a cavalry force not strong enough even to prevent the devastation of farms, to say nothing of attacking the enemy, made it his very first task to increase the number of his horsemen by recruiting. [5] And though he did not reject men from other tribes, it was nevertheless especially Numidians that he hired, they being easily the foremost type of cavalry in Africa. [6] Already he had about four thousand horsemen when he seized a city named Salaeca,¹⁹⁴ some fifteen miles from the Roman camp. When this was reported to Scipio, he said “Cavalry summering under roofs! [7] Let them be even more numerous, provided they have that kind of a commander!” [8] Thinking that the more spiritless they were the less must he delay, he sent Masinissa forward with cavalry, ordering him to ride up to the gates and draw the enemy out into battle. When the whole multitude should have sallied out and in battle should then prove too powerful for them to withstand easily, he was gradually to retire. He would himself come into the battle at the right moment. [9] After delaying only long enough to give time, as it seemed, for Masinissa, who had preceded him, to draw out the enemy, Scipio followed with the [p. 341]Roman cavalry and advanced unseen under cover of¹⁹⁵ the hills, which were most conveniently placed on both sides of a winding road.

[10] Masinissa according to plan, now as inspirer of terror, now as the terror-stricken, would either ride up to the very gates, or retiring would tempt them to reckless pursuit whenever his pretence of fear added to the enemy's boldness. [11] Not yet had all sallied out, and the commander was exerting himself in various ways, as he compelled some men heavy with wine and sleep to take up their arms and bridle their horses, and stood in the way of others, to prevent their dashing out of all the gates, scattering and unformed, with no order, no standards. [12] At first, as they rashly charged, Masinissa would meet their attack. Later larger numbers, dashing out of a gate in a mass, had made it an even combat. [13] Finally, when all their cavalry was engaged, they could no longer be withstood. Yet Masinissa did not flee in disorder, but retiring gradually would meet their attacks until he drew them to the hills which concealed the Roman cavalry. [14] Thereupon the horsemen dashing out, themselves with undiminished strength and their horses fresh, surrounded Hanno and the Africans, who were exhausted by fighting and pursuit; and Masinissa, suddenly turning his horses about, went into battle again. [15] About a thousand men who had been at the head of the column, finding retreat difficult, were cut off and slain along with Hanno himself, their commander. [16] As for the rest, who were terrified especially by the death of their commander, the victors pursuing them in headlong flight for thirty miles either captured or slew about two thousand more [p. 343]horsemen. [17] Among these it was well established that¹⁹⁶ there were not less than two hundred Carthaginian horsemen, some of them distinguished both for wealth and noble blood.

35. On the same day on which these events took place the ships which had carried booty to Sicily happened to return with supplies, as though with a presentiment that they had come for booty a second time. [2] Not all the historians vouch for the slaying of two Carthaginian commanders of the same name in two cavalry battles, fearing, I suppose, unwittingly to tell the same story twice.¹⁹⁷ Coelius and Valerius, to be sure, relate that Hanno too was captured.¹⁹⁸

[3] Scipio bestowed conspicuous rewards upon the commanders and the horsemen according to the service each had rendered, and above all on Masinissa. [4] And having posted a strong garrison at Salaeca, he set out himself with the rest of the army. Laying waste not merely the farms wherever he went, but storming certain cities also and villages, while the alarm of the war was spread far and wide, on the seventh day after his departure he returned to camp bringing a great number of men and cattle and much booty of every kind; and again he sent away the ships loaded down with spoils of the enemy. [5] Then, giving up small raids and petty pillaging, he applied [p. 345]all his military [6??] resources to the siege of Utica, with¹⁹⁹ the intention of having that city, if captured, as a base henceforth for all remaining operations. [7] From the fleet marines were brought up to the city on the side where it is washed by the sea,²⁰⁰ and at the same time land forces on the side where a height almost overhung the very walls. [8] Artillery and engines he had not only brought with him but they had also been sent from Sicily with the supplies, and new ones were being made in an arsenal where many makers of such devices had been interned for the purpose.²⁰¹

For the people of Utica, completely beset by so great a force, all their hope was in the Carthaginian people; for the Carthaginians it was in Hasdrubal, provided he should prevail upon Syphax. But everything was moving more slowly than people in need of help desired. [9] Although Hasdrubal by most intensive recruiting had made up a [10??] total of about thirty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry, it was not before the arrival of Syphax, however, that he dared to move his camp nearer to the enemy. [11] Syphax came with fifty thousand foot-soldiers and ten thousand horsemen, whereupon Hasdrubal, at once moving his camp away from Carthage, established himself not far from Utica and the Roman fortifications. [12] Their arrival had this effect at any [p. 347]rate, that Scipio, after besieging Utica for about²⁰² forty days to no purpose in spite of all his attempts, retired from the place, having failed in his undertaking. [13] And as winter was now at hand, he fortified a winter camp on a promontory which is connected with the mainland by a narrow ridge, but extends for a considerable distance into the sea.²⁰³ [14] By a single earthwork he enclosed the naval camp as well. The camp of the legions being placed on the middle of the ridge, its northern side was occupied by the beached ships and the men to man them, its southern slope, descending to the other shore, by the cavalry. [15] Such were the events in Africa down to the end of autumn.

36. Besides the grain brought in on all sides from ravaged farms of the whole region and supplies transported from Sicily and Italy, Gnaeus Octavius, the propraetor, brought a large amount of grain sent from Sardinia by Tiberius Claudius, the praetor in charge of that province. [2] And not only were the granaries filled which had been built already, but also new granaries were built. Clothing was insufficient for the army. Octavius was ordered to obtain from the praetor whatever could be assembled and sent from that province. This charge also was carried out without delay. [3] Twelve hundred togas were sent in a short time and twelve thousand tunics.

[p. 349] In the summer in which these events occurred in²⁰⁴ Africa Publius Sempronius, the [4??] consul who had the land of the Bruttii as his province, engaged with Hannibal in the territory of Croton in an unorganized battle while actually on the march. They fought in columns rather than in battle-line. The Romans were worsted, and in what was in fact a confused struggle rather than a battle about twelve hundred of the consul's army were slain. [5] There was a panic-stricken retreat to the camp, and yet the enemy did not venture to attack it. [6] But in the silence of the following night the consul set out, and after despatching a messenger to Publius Licinius, the proconsul, urging him to bring up his legions, he united their forces. [7] Thus two generals and two armies once more confronted Hannibal, and there was no delay in engaging, since doubled forces emboldened the consul, as his recent victory did the Carthaginian. Sempronius led his legions into the first line, while Publius Licinius' legions were posted in reserve. [8] At the beginning of the battle the consul vowed a temple to Fortuna Primigenia,²⁰⁵ if he should rout the enemy that day; and he had his wish. The Carthaginians were routed and put to flight. [9] Over four thousand armed men were slain, a little less than three hundred were captured alive, and forty horses and eleven military standards taken. Discouraged by defeat, Hannibal led his army back to Croton.

[10] At the same time Marcus Cornelius, the consul, in [p. 351]the north of Italy held Etruria in check not so much²⁰⁶ by arms as by the alarm produced by the trials,²⁰⁷ while almost the whole land was inclined towards Mago and through him to the hope of a political change. [11] In accordance with a decree of the senate he conducted these cases with no respect of persons. And at first many noble Etruscans who either had gone in person to Mago or had sent others to him reporting on the disloyalty of their communities, had appeared and had been condemned. [12] Later on men who from a guilty conscience went into voluntary exile, on being condemned in absence, eluded bodily punishment, merely exposing their property instead to possible confiscation.²⁰⁸

37. While the consuls were thus employed in opposite regions, the censors Marcus Livius and Gaius Claudius at Rome meanwhile publicly read the list of senators. Quintus Fabius Maximus was chosen princes for the second time.²⁰⁹ Seven men received their “mark,”²¹⁰ but no one who had occupied a curule chair. [2] Repairs to public buildings and their roofs they enforced strictly and with the greatest fidelity. They let the contract for the making of a street leading out of the Cattle Market, on both sides of the spectators' stands, as far as the Temple of Venus,²¹¹ also for the erection of a Temple of the Great Mother²¹² on the Palatine. [3] They also established a new revenue from the yearly production of salt. Both at Rome and throughout Italy salt was then sold at one-sixth of an as.The censors let [p. 353]contracts for the sale of salt at the same price at²¹³ Rome, at a higher price even in market-towns and local centres,²¹⁴ and at prices which varied from place to place. [4] This source of revenue was generally believed to have been devised by only one of the censors, who was angry with the people because he had formerly been condemned by an unjust verdict; [5] and that in the price of salt those tribes by whose efforts he had been condemned were most heavily burdened.²¹⁵ Hence the cognomen Salinator was bestowed upon Livius.

[6] The ceremony of purification was completed later than usual because the censors had sent men to the various provinces to report the number of Roman citizens in each of the armies. [7] Including these, 214,000 men²¹⁶ were listed. Gaius Claudius Nero concluded the rite of purification. Then they received the census lists of the twelve colonies²¹⁷ presented by their own censors, as had never been done before. [8] The purpose was that documents, to show what was their strength in the number of soldiers and what in money, might be found in the public records. Then they began to take the census of the knights; and it happened that both of the censors had horses from the state. [9] When they had reached the Pollia tribe, in which stood the name of [p. 355]Marcus Livius, and while the herald was hesitating²¹⁸ to summon the censor himself, Nero said, “Summon Marcus Livius!” And whether as still nursing their ancient quarrel, or priding himself on an ill-timed display of strictness because he had been condemned by a verdict of the people, he ordered Marcus Livius to sell his horse.²¹⁹ [10] Likewise Marcus Livius, when they had reached the Arniensis tribe and the name of his colleague, ordered Gaius Claudius to sell his horse for two reasons: one because he had given false testimony²²⁰ against Livius, the other that he had not honestly been reconciled with him. [11] Equally shameful at the close of their censorship was their contest in besmirching each the other's reputation to the detriment of his own. [12] When Gaius Claudius had taken the oath that he had complied with the laws, upon going up into the Treasury and giving the names of those whom he was leaving as mere tax-payers,²²¹ he gave the name of his colleague. [13] Then Marcus Livius came into the Treasury, and except for the Maecia tribe, which had neither condemned him nor after his condemnation voted for him either for consul or for censor, he left the entire Roman people, thirty-four tribes, as mere tax-payers, alleging that they had [14??] both condemned him, an innocent man, and after his condemnation had made him consul and censor, and could not deny that they had erred either once in their verdict or twice in the elections. [15] He said that among the thirty-four tribes Gaius Claudius also would be a mere tax-payer; and that if he had a precedent [p. 357]for twice leaving the same man a mere tax-payer,²²² he would have left Gaius Claudius among them with express mention of his name. [16] A perverted contest between the censors in regard to their “marks”; but to the fickleness of the people it was a rebuke worthy of a censor and in keeping with the earnestness of those times. [17] Since the censors were unpopular, Gnaeus Baebius, a tribune of the plebs,²²³ thinking it an opportunity to advance himself at their expense, named a day for both to appear before the people. That procedure was quashed by unanimity among the senators, lest the censorship should be subject thereafter to the caprice of the populace.

38. During the same summer in the land of the Bruttii Clampetia was taken by storm by the consul. Consentia²²⁴ together with Pandosia and other cities of no importance voluntarily submitted to his authority. [2] And since the time for elections was now at hand, it was decided to summon Cornelius to Rome from Etruria, where there was no war. [3] He announced the election of Gnaeus Servilius Caepio and Gaius Servilius Geminus as consuls. [4] Then elections for the praetorships were held. Elected were Publius Cornelius Lentulus, Publius Quinctilius Varus, Publius Aelius Paetus, Publius Villius Tappulus, the last two being made praetors while they were plebeian aediles. [5] The consul after the elections were over returned to the army in Etruria.

Priests who died that year and successors appointed [p. 359]in their places were: [6] Tiberius Veturius Philo,²²⁵ elected and installed flamen of Mars in place of Marcus Aemilius Regillus, who had died in the preceding year;²²⁶ [7] in succession to Marcus Pomponius Matho, augur and decemvir,²²⁷ were elected Marcus Aurelius Cotta as decemvir, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus as augur, being a mere youth, which was then a very unusual thing in the assignment of priesthoods. [8] A gilded four-horse chariot was set up in that year on the Capitol by the curule aediles Gaius Livius and Marcus Servilius Geminus. And the Roman Games were repeated for two days, as were the Plebeian Games also for two days by the aediles Publius Aelius and Publius Villius; and on account of the festival there was a banquet for Jupiter.