Book XLVIII.
A census was held by the censors [Y.R. 600. B.C. 152]; the number of citizens amounted to
three hundred and twenty-four thousand. The causes of the third Punic war are enumerated:
when a large army of Numidians was said to be in the territory of the Carthaginians, with
Ariobarzanes, the descendant of Syphax, as general, Marcus Porcius Cato advised that war
should be declared against the Carthaginians, because they had invited Ariobarzanes into
their country, apparently to oppose king Masinissa, but in reality against the Romans.
Publius Scipio Nasica being of a contrary opinion, it is resolved to send ambassadors to
Carthage, to inquire into the truth of the affair. The Carthaginian senate being reproved
for levying forces, and preparing materials for shipbuilding, contrary to treaty, declare
themselves ready to make peace with Masinissa, upon condition of his giving up the lands
in dispute. But Gisgo, son of Hamilcar, a man of a seditious disposition, at that time
chief magistrate, notwithstanding the determination of the senate to abide by the decision
of the ambassadors, urges the Carthaginians to war against the Romans, in such strong
terms, that the ambassadors are obliged to save themselves by flight from personal
violence. On this being announced at Rome, the senate becomes more highly incensed against
them. Cato, being poor, celebrated the funeral obsequies of his son, who died in the
office of praetor, at a very small expense. Andriscus, an impostor, pretending to be the
son of Perseus, king of Macedonia, was sent to Rome. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been
six times declared chief of the senate, on his death-bed, gives strict orders to his sons
that he shall be carried out to burial on a couch, without the usual ornaments of purple
and fine linen, and that there shall not be expended on his funeral more than ten pieces
of brass: alleging that the funerals of the most distinguished men used, formerly, to be
decorated by trains of images, and not by vast expense. An inquiry was instituted
concerning poisoning. Publicia and Licinia, women of high rank, accused of the murder of
their husbands, were tried before the praetor, and executed. [Y.R. 601. B.C. 151.]
Gulussa, son of Masinissa, gives information that troops were levying and a fleet fitting
out at Carthage, and that there could be no doubt of their intending war. Cato urging a
declar-
[p. 2177] ation of war, and Nasica speaking against it, entreated
the senate to do nothing rashly; it is resolved to send ten ambassadors to inquire into
the affair. The consuls, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and Aulus Postumius Albinus, carrying
on the levying of soldiers with inflexible severity, were committed to prison by the
tribunes of the people, for not, at their entreaty, sparing some of their friends. The ill
success of the war in Spain having so discouraged the citizens of Rome, that none could be
found to undertake any military command or office, Publius Cornelius Aemilianus comes
forward, and offers to undertake any office whatever, which it should be thought proper to
call him to: roused by his example, the whole body of the people make the like offer. It
was thought that the consul, Claudius Marcellus, had reduced all the states of Celtiberia
to a state of tranquillity; nevertheless, his successor, Lucius Lucullus, is engaged in
war with the Vaccaeans, Cantabrians, and other nations of Spaniards, hitherto unknown; all
of which he subdues. In this war, Publius Cornelius Africanus Scipio Aemilianus, the son
of Lucius Paullus, and nephew, by adoption, of Africanus, a military tribune, slays a
barbarian who had challenged him, and distinguishes himself highly at the siege of
Intercatia, being the first who scaled the wall. The praetor, Servius Sulpicius Galba,
fights against the Lusitanians unsuccessfully. When the ambassadors, returning from
Africa, together with some Carthaginian deputies, and Gulussa, reported that they found an
army and a fleet ready for service at Carthage, the matter was taken into consideration by
the senate. Cato, and other principal senators, urge that an army should be immediately
sent over into Africa; but Cornelius Nasica declaring that he yet saw no just cause for
war, it is resolved that it should not be declared, provided the Carthaginians would burn
their fleet, and disband their troops; but if not, that then the next succeeding consuls
should propose the question of war. A theatre which the censors had contracted for, being
built, Cornelius Nasica moves, and carries the question, that it be pulled down, as being
not only useless, but injurious to the morals of the people: the people, therefore,
continue to behold the public shows standing. Masinissa, now ninety-two years old,
vanquishes the Carthaginians, who had made war against him unjustly, and contrary to
treaty. By this infraction of the treaty, they also involve themselves in a war with
Rome.
