1.
SUCH were the occurrences of the winter. In the beginning of spring, Quinctius, having summoned Attalus to Elatia, and being anxious to bring under his authority the nation of the Bœotians, who had until then been wavering in their dispositions, marched through Phocis, and pitched his camp at the distance of five miles from Thebes, the capital of Bœotia.
[2]
Next day, attended by one company of soldiers, and by Attalus, together with the ambassadors, who had come to him in great numbers from all quarters, he proceeded towards the city, having ordered the spearmen of two legions, being [p. 1441]two thousand men, to follow him at the distance of a mile.
[3]
About midway, Antiphilus, praetor of the Bœotians, met him: the rest of the people stood on the walls, watching the arrival of the king and the Roman general.
[4]
Few arms and few soldiers appeared around them —the hollow roads, and the valleys, concealing from view the spearmen, who followed at a distance. When Quinctius drew near the city, he slackened his pace, as if with intention to salute the multitude, who came out to meet him;
[5]
but the real motive of his delaying was, that the spearmen might come up.
[6]
The townsmen pushed forward, in a crowd, before the lictors, not perceiving the band of soldiers who were following them close, until they arrived at the general's quarters. Then, supposing the city betrayed and taken, through the treachery of Antiphilus, their praetor, they were all struck with astonishment and dismay.
[7]
It was now evident that no room was left to the Bœotians for a free discussion of measures in the assembly, which was summoned for the following day.
[8]
However, they concealed their grief, which it would have been both vain and unsafe to have discovered.
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, books twenty-seven to thirty-six. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. Cyrus Edmonds. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers, Bungay. 1850. 3.
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