Whilst the Macedonian triumph was still fresh in men's minds and almost before their eyes, L. Anicius triumphed on the day of the Quirinalia (Feb. 17) over Gentius and the Illyrians. [2] The spectacle as a whole showed rather a general resemblance to the triumph of Paulus than a correspondence in details. The general himself was a smaller man, and people contrasted the position of the house of Anicius and his authority as praetor with the high lineage of Aemilius and his rank as consul, and there could be no comparison between Gentius and Perseus, or between the Illyrians [3??] and the Macedonians, or between the spoils and wealth carried in the two processions, or the amount of the donative to the soldiers in the two armies. [4] But though the recent triumph eclipsed this one, it was clear to the onlookers that in itself it was by no means contemptible. The Illyrians were a nation formidable both by land and sea, who felt secure in their strong fortified positions, and Anicius had thoroughly subjugated them in a few days and captured their king and all his family. [5] Many captured standards were carried in the procession, together with other spoils, and the furniture of the palace, 27 pounds of gold, and 19 of silver, besides 13,000 denarii and 120,000 silver pieces of Illyrian coinage. [6] Before his chariot walked Gentius, with his wife and children, Caravantius his brother, and several Illyrian nobles. [7] Out of the booty each legionary received 45 denarii, the centurions twice, and the cavalry three times as much. Anicius gave to the Latin allies as much as to the Romans, and to the seamen of the fleet as much as the soldiers received. [8] The soldiers marched more joyously in this triumph, and the general himself was the subject of many laudatory songs. According to Antias, 200,000 sesterces were realised from the sale of that booty, besides the gold and silver deposited in the treasury, but as it is not clear to me how this sum was realised, I quote his authority instead of stating it as a fact. [9] By resolution of the senate, Gentius, with his wife and children and brother, were interned in Spoletium; the rest of the captives were thrown into prison in Rome. As the Spoletians refused to be responsible for their safe-keeping, the royal family were transferred to Iguvium. [10] The remainder of the Illyrian spoils consisted of 220 swift barques. These Q. Cassius was ordered by the senate to distribute amongst the Corcyraeans, the Apolloniates and the Dyrrhachians.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.