Summary of the Work
I STATED in my first book that my work was to start from
the Social war, the Hannibalian war, and the war for the
possession of
Coele-Syria. In the same book I stated my
reasons for devoting my first two books to a sketch of the
period preceding those events. I will now, after a few
prefatory remarks as to the scope of my own work, address
myself to giving a complete account of these wars, the causes
which led to them, and which account for the proportions to
which they attained.
The one aim and object, then, of all that I have undertaken
A summary of the work from B. C. 220 to B. C. 168. |
to write is to show how, when, and why all the
known parts of the world fell under the
dominion of
Rome. Now as this great event
admits of being exactly dated as to its beginning, duration, and final accomplishment, I think it will
be advantageous to give, by way of preface, a summary statement of the most important phases in it between the beginning
and the end. For I think I shall thus best secure to the
student an adequate idea of my whole plan; for as the comprehension of the whole is a help to the understanding of
details, and the knowledge of details of great service to the
clear conception of the whole; believing that the best and
clearest knowledge is that which is obtained from a combination of these, I will preface my whole history by a brief
summary of its contents.
I have already described its scope and limits. As to its
several parts, the first consists of the above mentioned wars,
while the conclusion or closing scene is the fall of the
Macedonian monarchy. The time included between these
limits is fifty-three years; and never has an equal space embraced
events of such magnitude and importance.
In describing
them I shall start from the 140th Olympiad and
shall arrange my exposition in the following order:
Plan: Causes of Wars
First I shall indicate the causes of the Punic or
1. The cause and course of the Hannibalian war. |
Hannibalian war: and shall have to describe
how the Carthaginians entered
Italy; broke up
the Roman power there; made the Romans
tremble for their safety and the very soil of their country;
and contrary to all calculation acquired a good prospect of
surprising
Rome itself.
I shall next try to make it clear how in the same period
2. Macedonian treaty with Carthage, B. C. 216. |
Philip of
Macedon, after finishing his war with
the Aetolians, and subsequently settling the
affairs of
Greece, entered upon a design of
forming an offensive and defensive alliance with
Carthage.
Then I shall tell how Antiochus and Ptolemy Philopator
3. Syrian war, B. C. 218. |
first quarrelled and finally went to war with
each other for the possession of
Coele-Syria.
Next how the Rhodians and Prusias went to war with the
4. Byzantine war. B. C. 220. |
Byzantines, and compelled them to desist from
exacting dues from ships sailing into the
Pontus.
At this point I shall pause in my narrative to introduce a
First digression on the Roman Constitution. |
disquisition upon the Roman Constitution, in
which I shall show that its peculiar character
contributed largely to their success, not only in
reducing all
Italy to their authority, and in acquiring a
supremacy over the Iberians and Gauls besides, but also at
last, after their conquest of
Carthage, to their conceiving the
idea of universal dominion.
Along with this I shall introduce another
digression on the fall of Hiero of
Syracuse.
After these digressions will come the disturbances in
5. The attempted partition of the dominions of Ptolemy Epiphanes, B. C. 204. |
Egypt; how, after the death of King Ptolemy,
Antiochus and Philip entered into a compact
for the partition of the dominions of that
monarch's infant son. I shall describe their
treacherous dealings, Philip laying hands upon
the islands of the
Aegean, and
Caria and
Samos, Antiochus
upon
Coele-Syria and
Phoenicia.
Plan: Events in Greece
Next, after a summary recapitulation of the proceedings of
6. War with Philip, B. C. 201-197. |
the Carthaginians and Romans in
Iberia,
Libya,
and
Sicily, I shall, following the changes of
events, shift the scene of my story entirely to
Greece. Here I shall first describe the naval battles of Attalus
and the Rhodians against Philip; and the war between Philip
and
Rome, the persons engaged, its circumstances, and result.
Next to this I shall have to record the wrath of the Aetolians,
7. Asiatic war, B. C. 192-191. |
in consequence of which they invited the aid of
Antiochus, and thereby gave rise to what is
called the Asiatic war against
Rome and the
Achaean league. Having stated the causes of this war, and
described the crossing of Antiochus into
Europe, I shall have
to show first in what manner he was driven from
Greece;
secondly, how, being defeated in the war, he was forced to
cede all his territory west of Taurus; and thirdly, how the
Romans, after crushing the insolence of the Gauls, secured
undisputed possession of
Asia, and freed all the nations on
the west of Taurus from the fear of barbarian inroads and
the lawless violence of the Gauls.
Next, after reviewing the disasters of the Aetolians and
8. Gallic wars of Eumenes and Prusias. |
Cephallenians, I shall pass to the wars waged
by Eumenes against Prusias and the Gauls; as
well as that carried on in alliance with Ariarathes
against Pharnaces.
Finally, after speaking of the unity and settlement of the
9. Union of the Peloponnese. Antiochus Epiphanes in Egypt. Fall of the Macedonian monarchy, B. C. 188-168. |
Peloponnese, and of the growth of the commonwealth of
Rhodes, I shall add a summary of
my whole work, concluding by an account
of the expedition of Antiochus Epiphanes
against
Egypt; of the war against Perseus;
and the destruction of the Macedonian
monarchy. Throughout the whole narrative it
will be shown how the policy adopted by the Romans in one
after another of these cases, as they arose, led to their eventual
conquest of the whole world.
Extension of the First Plan of the Work
And if our judgment of individuals and constitutions,
for praise or blame, could be adequately formed from a simple
consideration of their successes or defeats, I must necessarily
have stopped at this point, and have concluded my history as
soon as I reached these last events in accordance with my
original plan. For at this point the fifty-three years were
coming to an end, and the progress of the Roman power had
arrived at its consummation. And, besides, by this time
the acknowledgment had been extorted from all that the
supremacy of
Rome must be accepted, and her commands
obeyed.
The plan extended to embrace the period from B. C. 168-146. |
But in truth, judgments of either side
founded on the bare facts of success or failure
in the field are by no means final. It has
often happened that what seemed the most
signal successes have, from ill management, brought the
most crushing disasters in their train; while not unfrequently the most terrible calamities, sustained with spirit,
have been turned to actual advantage. I am bound, therefore, to add to my statement of facts a discussion on the
subsequent policy of the conquerors, and their administration of their universal dominion: and again on the
various feelings and opinions entertained by other nations
towards their rulers. And I must also describe the tastes
and aims of the several nations, whether in their private
lives or public policy. The present generation will learn
from this whether they should shun or seek the rule
of
Rome; and future generations will be taught whether to
praise and imitate, or to decry it. The usefulness of my
history, whether for the present or the future, will mainly lie
in this. For the end of a policy should not be, in the eyes
either of the actors or their historians, simply to conquer others
and bring all into subjection. Nor does any man of sense
go to war with his neighbours for the mere purpose of
mastering his opponents; nor go to sea for the mere sake of
the voyage; nor engage in professions and trades for the sole
purpose of learning them. In all these cases the objects are
invariably the pleasure, honour, or profit which are the results
of the several employments. Accordingly the object of this
work shall be to ascertain exactly what the position of the several
states was, after the universal conquest by which they fell under
the power of
Rome, until the commotions and disturbances
which broke out at a later period. These I designed to
make the starting-point of what may almost be called a new
work, partly because of the greatness and surprising nature of
the events themselves, but chiefly because, in the case of most
of them, I was not only an eye-witness, but in some cases one
of the actors, and in others the chief director.
The True Theory of Historical Causes
The events I refer to are the wars of
Rome against the
A new departure the breaking-up of the arrangement made after the fall of Macedonia. Wars of Carthage against Massinissa; and of Rome against the Celtiberians, B. C. 155-150; and against Carthage (3d Punic war, B. C. 149-146). |
Celtiberians and Vaccaei; those of
Carthage
against Massinissa, king of
Libya; and those
of Attalus and Prusias in
Asia. Then also
Ariarathes, King of
Cappadocia, having been
ejected from his throne by Orophernes through
the agency of King Demetrius, recovered his
ancestral power by the help of Attalus; while
Demetrius, son of Seleucus, after twelve years'
possession of the throne of
Syria, was deprived
of it, and of his life at the same time, by a combination of the other kings against him. Then
it was, too, that the Romans restored to their
country those Greeks who had been charged
with guilt in the matter of the war with Perseus, after formally
acquitting them of the crimes alleged against them. Not
long afterwards the same people turned their hands against
Carthage: at first with the intention of forcing its removal to
some other spot, but finally, for reasons to be afterwards
stated, with the resolution of utterly destroying it. Contemporaneous with this came the renunciation by the Macedonians of their friendship to
Rome, and by the Lacedaemonians of their membership of the Achaean league, to
which the disaster that befell all
Greece alike owed its beginning and end.
This is my purpose: but its fulfilment must depend upon
whether Fortune protracts my life to the necessary length. I am
persuaded, however, that, even if the common human destiny
does overtake me, this theme will not be allowed to lie idle
for want of competent men to handle it; for there are many
besides myself who will readily undertake its completion.
But having given the heads of the most remarkable events,
with the object of enabling the reader to grasp the general
scope of my history as well as the arrangement of its several
parts, I must now, remembering my original plan, go back to
the point at which my history starts.
Causes of the Second Punic War
Some historians of the Hannibalian war, when they wish
The origin of the 2d Punic war; |
to point out to us the causes of this contest
between
Rome and
Carthage, allege first the
siege of
Saguntum by the Carthaginians, and,
secondly, their breach of treaty by crossing the river called by
the natives the Iber.
But though I should call these the
first actions in the war, I cannot admit them
to be its causes. One might just as well say
that the crossing of Alexander the Great into
Asia was the
cause of the Persian war, and the descent of
Antiochus upon
Demetrias the
cause of his war
with
