Appian · Roman History · 阿庇安 · 罗马史

AENEAS, the son of Anchises, the son of Capys, flourished in the Trojan war. After the capture of Troy he fled, and after long wandering arrived at that part of the Italian coast called Laurentum, where his camping-place is shown to this day, and that shore is called, after him, the Trojan beach. The Aborigines of this part of Italy were then ruled by Faunus, the son of Mars, who gave to Aeneas his daughter Lavinia in marriage, and also a tract of land four hundred stades in circuit. Here Aeneas built a town, which he named after his wife, Lavinium. Three years later, at the death of Faunus, Aeneas succeeded to the kingdom by virtue of his marriage relationship, and he called the Aborigines Latins, from his father-in-law, Latinus Faunus. Three years later still, Aeneas was killed by the Rutuli, a Tuscan tribe, in a war begun on account of his wife Lavinia, who had been previously betrothed to their king. He was succeeded in the government by Euryleon, otherwise called Ascanius, the son of Aeneas and Creusa, a daughter of Priam, to whom he had been married in Troy. But some say that the Ascanius who succeeded to the government was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia. Ascanius died four years after the founding of Alba (for he also built a city and gave it the name of Alba, and settled it with a colony from Lavinium), and Silvius succeeded to the throne. They say that this Silvius had a son named Aeneas Silvius, and he a son named Latinus Silvius, and he a son named Capys, and he a son named Capetus, and he a son named Tiberinus, and he a son named Agrippa, who was the father of the Romulus who was struck by lightning, and who left a son Aventinus, who was the father of Procas. All of these bore the surname of Silvius. Procas had two sons, the elder named Numitor, and the younger Amulius. When the elder succeeded to the throne on the death of the father, the younger took it away from him by force and violence. He also killed Egestus, his brother’s son, and he made Rhea Silvia, his brother’s daughter, a vestal, so that she might remain childless. Notwithstanding a conspiracy against his life, Numitor himself was saved because of the gentleness and clemency of his manners. Silvia having become pregnant contrary to law, Amulius cast her into prison by way of punishment, and when she had given birth to two sons he gave them to some shepherds with orders to throw the babes into the neighboring stream called the river Tiber. These boys were Romulus and Remus. Being of the lineage of Aeneas, on their mother’s side, for their father’s lineage was unknown, they always boasted their descent from the former.

My first book contains the deeds of Rome’s seven kings, viz.: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius (a descendant of Numa), Tarquinius, Servius Tullius, and Lucius Tarquinius, a son of the other Tarquinius. The first of these was the founder and builder of Rome, and although he governed it rather as a father than as an absolute monarch, he was nevertheless slain, or, as some think, translated. The second, not less kingly, but even more so than the first, died at the age of . . . The third was struck by lightning. The fourth died of a disease. The fifth was murdered by some shepherds. The sixth lost his life in a similar manner. The seventh was expelled from the city and kingdom for violating the laws. From that time kingly rule came to an end, and the administration of government was transferred to consuls.

Having kept careful watch against her father’s return, she (Tarpeia) promises Tatius to betray the garrison.

At the command of Tatius they threw pieces of gold at the girl until she succumbed to her wounds and was buried under the heap.

When Tatius waged war against Romulus, the wives of the Romans, who were daughters of the Sabines, made peace between them. Advancing to the camp of the parents they held out their hands to them and showed the infant children already born to them and their husbands, and testified that their husbands had done them no wrong. They prayed that the Sabines would take pity on themselves, their sons-in-law, their grandchildren, and their daughters, and either put an end to this wretched war between relatives, or first kill them in whose behalf it was begun. The parents, moved partly by their own difficulties and partly by pity for the women, and perceiving that what the Romans had done was not from lust but necessity, entered into negotiations with them. For this purpose Romulus and Tatius met in the street which was named from this event Via Sacra and agreed upon these conditions: that both Romulus and Tatius should be kings, and that the Sabines who were then serving in the army under Tatius, and any others who might choose to come, should be allowed to settle in Rome on the same terms and under the same laws as the Romans themselves.

The general, learning this fact from one of his personal friends, communicated it to Hostilius.

Some blamed him [Tullus Hostilius] because he wrongly staked everything on the prowess of three men (the Horatii).

[The Romans thought] that peace might be made [by Tarquinius] on the terms that the Gabini considered just.

[Tarquinius] bought three books [from the Sibyl] at the price [previously asked] for the nine.

Horatius [Cocles] was a cripple. He failed of reaching the consulship, either in war or in peace, on account of his lameness.

The Consuls tendered the oaths [by which they bound themselves], and said that they would yield everything rather than take back Tarquinius.

Tarquinius incited the Sabines against the Roman people. Claudius, an influential Sabine of the town of Regillus, opposed any violation of the treaty, and being condemned for this action, he took refuge in Rome with his relatives, friends, and slaves, to the number of five thousand. To all these the Romans gave a place of habitation, and land to cultivate, and the right of citizenship. Claudius, on account of his brilliant exploits against the Sabines, was chosen a member of the Senate, and the Claudian gens received its name from him.

The Latins, although allied to the Romans by treaty, nevertheless made war against them. They accused the Romans of despising them, although they were allied to them, and of the same blood.

The Volsci, in nowise terrified by the misfortunes of their neighbors, made war against the Romans and laid siege to their colonies.

The people refused to elect Marcius (Coriolanus) when he sought the consulship, not because they considered him unfit, but because they feared his domineering spirit.

Marcius being inflamed against the Romans when they banished him went over to the Volsci, meditating no small revenge.

When he arrived there, having renounced his own country and kin, he did not meditate anything in particular, but intended to side with the Volsci against his country.

When Marcius had been banished, and had taken refuge with the Volsci, and made war against the Romans, and was encamped at a distance of only four hundred stades from the city, the people threatened to betray the walls to the enemy unless the Senate would send an embassy to him to treat for peace. The Senate reluctantly sent plenipotentiaries for this purpose. When they arrived at the camp of the Volsci and were brought into his presence and that of the Volscian chiefs, they offered oblivion and permission to return to the city if he would discontinue the war, and they reminded him that the Senate had never done him any wrong. He, while accusing the people of the many wrongs they had done to him and to the Volsci, promised nevertheless that the latter would come to terms with them if they would surrender the land and towns they had taken from the Volsci and admit them to citizenship on the same terms as the Latins. But if the vanquished were to keep what belonged to the victors, he did not see how peace could be made. Having named these conditions, he dismissed the ambassadors and gave them thirty days to consider. Then he turned against the remaining Latin towns, and having captured seven of them in the thirty days, he came back to receive the answer of the Romans. They replied that if he would withdraw his army from the Roman territory they would send an embassy to him to conclude peace on fair terms. When he refused this, they sent ten others to beg him that nothing should be done unworthy of his native country, and to allow a treaty to be made, not by his command, but of their own free will, for he should regard the honor of his country and the principles of his ancestors, who had never done him any wrong. He replied merely that he would give them three days more in order that they might think better of it. Then the Romans sent their priests to him wearing their sacred vestments to add their entreaties. To these he said that either they must obey his commands or they need not come to him again. Then the Romans prepared for a siege and brought stones and missiles upon the walls to fight off Marcius from above. Now Valeria, the daughter of Publicola, brought a company of women to Veturia, the mother of Marcius, and to Volumnia his wife. All these, clad in mourning garments and bringing their children to join in the supplication, implored that they would go out with them to meet Marcius, and beseech him to spare them and their country. The Senate allowed these women to go alone to the camp of the enemy. Marcius admiring the high courage of the city, where even the women were inspired by it, advanced to meet them, sending away the rods and axes of the lictors, out of respect for his mother. He ran forward and embraced her, brought her into the council of the Volsci, and told her to tell what she wanted. She said that, being his mother, she was as much wronged as he in his banishment from the city; that she saw that the Romans had already suffered grievously at his hands, and had paid a sufficient penalty, so much of their territory had been laid waste and so many of their towns demolished, and themselves reduced to the extremity of sending their consuls and priests, and finally his own mother and wife, as ambassadors to him, and offering to rescind the decree and to grant him forgetfulness of the past and a safe return to his home. Do not, she said, cure an evil by an incurable evil. Do not be the cause of calamities that will smite yourself as well as those you injure. Whither do you carry the torch? From the fields to the city? From the city to your own hearthstone? From your own hearthstone to the temples of the gods? Have mercy, my son, on me and on your country as we plead. After she had thus spoken Marcius replied that the country which had cast him out was not his, but rather the land which had given him shelter. Nothing was dear to him that was unjust, nor was anybody his enemy who treated him well. He told her to cast her eyes upon the men here present with whom he had exchanged the pledge of mutual fidelity, who had granted him citizenship, had chosen him their general, and had intrusted to him their private interests. He mentioned the honors bestowed upon him and the oath he had sworn, and he urged his mother to consider his friends and enemies hers also. While he was still speaking, she, in a burst of anger, and holding her hands up to heaven, invoked their household gods. Two processions of women, said she, have set forth from Rome in the deepest affliction, one in the time of King Tatius, the other in that of Gaius Marcius. Of these two Tatius, a stranger and downright enemy, had respect for the women and yielded to them. Marcius scorns a like delegation of women, including his wife, and his mother besides. May no mother, unblessed in her son, ever again be reduced to the necessity of throwing herself at his feet. This I must submit to. I must prostrate myself before yours. So speaking she flung herself on the ground. He burst into tears, sprang forward and lifted her up, exclaiming with the deepest emotion: Mother, you have gained the victory, but it is a victory by which you have lost your son. So saying he led back the army, in order to give his reasons to the Volsci and to make peace between the two nations. There was some hope that he might be able to persuade the Volsci, but on account of the jealousy of their leader Attius he was put to death.

Marcius did not think proper to gainsay either of these [demands].

(The Fabii) were as much to be pitied for their misfortunes as they were worthy of praise for their bravery. For it was a great misfortune to the Romans, on account of their number, the dignity of a noble house, and its total destruction. The day on which it happened was ever after considered unlucky.

The army was incensed against the general (Appius Claudius) from remembrance of old wrongs, and refused to obey him. They fought badly on purpose, and took to flight, putting bandages on their bodies as though they were wounded. They broke up camp and tried to retreat, putting the blame on the unskilfulness of their commander.

Bad omens from Jupiter were observed after the capture of Veii. The soothsayers said that some religious duty had been neglected, and Camillus remembered that it had been forgotten to appropriate a tenth of the plunder to the god that had given the oracle concerning the lake. Accordingly the Senate decreed that those who had taken anything from Veii should make an estimate, each one for himself, and bring in a tenth of it under oath. Their religious feeling was such that they did not hesitate to add to the votive offering a tenth of the produce of the land that had already been sold, as well as of the spoils. With the money thus obtained they sent to the temple of Delphi a golden cup which stood on a pedestal of brass in the treasury of Rome and Massiliat until Onomarchus melted the cup during the Phocaean war. The pedestal is still standing. Camillus was afterwards accused before the people of being himself the author of those bad omens and portents. The people, who had been for some time set against him, fined him heavily, having no pity for him although he had recently lost a son. His friends contributed the money in order that the person of Camillus might not be disgraced. In deep grief he went into exile in the city of Ardea, praying the prayer of Achilles that the time might come when the Romans would long for Camillus. And in fact this came to pass very soon, for when the Gauls captured the city, the people fled for succor to Camillus and again chose him Dictator, as has been told in my Gallic history.

When Marcus Manlius, the patrician, saved the city of Rome from a Gallic invasion, he received the highest honors. At a later period when he saw an old man, who had often fought for his country, reduced to servitude by a money lender, he paid the debt for him. Being highly commended for this act, he released all his own debtors from their obligations. His glory being much increased thereby, he paid the debts of many others. Being much elated by his popularity, he even proposed that all debts should be cancelled, or that the people should sell the lands that had not yet been distributed and apply the proceeds for the relief of debtors.

WHEN the Roman generals Cornelius and Corvinus, and the plebian Decius, had overcome the Samnites they left a military guard in Campania to ward off the Samnite incursions. These guards, partaking of the luxury and profuseness of the Campanians, were corrupted in their habits and began to envy the riches of these people, being themselves very poor and owing alarming debts in Rome. Finally they took counsel among themselves to kill their entertainers, seize their property, and marry their wives. This infamy would perhaps have been carried out at once, had not the new general Mamercus, who was marching against the Samnites, learned the design of the Roman guard. Concealing his intentions, he disarmed some of them and dismissed them, as soldiers entitled to discharge for long service. The more villanous ones he ordered to Rome on the pretence of important business, and he sent with them a military tribune with orders to keep a secret watch over them. Both parties of soldiers suspected that their design had leaked out, and they broke away from the tribune near the town of Terracina. They set free all those who were working under sentence in the fields, armed them as well as they could, and marched to Rome to the number of about 20,000. About one day’s march from the city they were met by Corvinus who went into camp near them on the Alban mount. He remained quietly in his camp while investigating what the matter was, and did not consider it wise to attack these desperadoes. The men mingled with each other privately, the guards acknowledging with groans and tears, as among relatives and friends, that they were to blame, but declaring that the cause of it all was the debts they owed at Rome. When Corvinus understood this he shrank from the responsibility of so much civil bloodshed and advised the Senate to release these men from debt. He exaggerated the difficulty of the war if it should be necessary to put down such a large body of men, who would fight with the energy of despair. He had strong suspicions also of the result of the meetings and conferences, lest his own army, who were relatives of these men and not less oppressed with debt, should be to some extent lacking in fidelity. If he should be defeated he said that the dangers would be greatly increased; if victorious, the victory itself would be most lamentable to the commonwealth, being gained over so many of their own relatives. The Senate was moved by his arguments and decreed a cancellation of debts to all Romans, and immunity also to these revolters. The latter laid down their arms and returned to the city.

Such was the bravery of the consul Manlius Torquatus. He had a penurious father who did not care for him, but kept him at work with slaves in the fields and left him to partake of their fare. When the tribune Pomponius prosecuted him for numerous misdeeds and thought to mention among others his bad treatment of his son, young Manlius, concealing a dagger under his clothes, went to the house of the tribune and asked to see him privately as though he had something of importance to say about the trial. Being admitted, and just as he was beginning to speak, he fastened the door and threatened the tribune with instant death if he did not take an oath that he would withdraw the accusation against his father. The latter took the oath, dismissed the accusation, and explained the reason to the people. Manlius acquired great distinction from this affair, and was praised for being such a son to such a father.

With jeers he challenged him to single combat. The other [Manlius, the consul’s son] restrained himself for a while; but when he could no longer endure the provocation, he dashed on his horse against him.

While the Samnites were raiding and plundering the territory of Fregellae, the Romans captured eighty-one villages belonging to the Samnites and the Daunii, slew 21,000 of their men, and drove them out of the Fregellian country. Again the Samnites sent ambassadors to Rome bringing the dead bodies of the men whom they had executed as guilty of causing the war, and also gold taken from their store. Wherefore the Senate, thinking that they had been utterly crushed, expected that a people who had been so sorely afflicted would concede the supremacy of Italy. The Samnites accepted the other conditions, or if they disputed any, they either entreated and begged for better terms, or referred the matter to their cities. But as to the supremacy, they could not bear even to hear anything on that subject, because, they said, they had not come to surrender their towns, but to cultivate friendship. Accordingly they used their gold in redeeming prisoners, and went away angry and resolved to make trial for the supremacy hereafter. Thereupon the Romans voted to receive no more embassies from the Samnites, but to wage irreconcilable, implacable war against them until they were subjugated by force. A god humbled this haughty spirit, for soon afterwards the Romans were defeated by the Samnites and compelled to pass under the yoke. The Samnites, under their general Pontius, having shut the Romans up in a defile where they were oppressed by hunger, the consuls sent messengers to him and begged that he should win the gratitude of the Romans, such as not many opportunities offer. He replied that they need not send any more messengers to him unless they were prepared to surrender their arms and their persons. There-upon a lamentation was raised as though a city had been captured, and the consuls delayed several days longer, hesitating to do an act unworthy of Rome. But when no means of rescue appeared and famine became severe, there being 50,000 young men in the defile whom they could not bear to see perish, they surrendered to Pontius and begged him either to kill them, or to sell them into slavery, or to keep them for ransom, but not to put any stigma of shame upon the persons of the unfortunate. Pontius took counsel with his father, sending to Caudium to fetch him in a carriage on account of his age. The old man said to him: My son, for a great enmity there is but one cure,—either extreme generosity or extreme severity. Severity terrifies, generosity conciliates. Regard this first and greatest victory as a treasure-house of good fortune. Release them all without punishment, without shame, without loss of any kind, so that the greatness of the benefit may inure to your advantage. I hear that they are very sensitive on the subject of their honor. Vanquished by benefits only, they will strive to surpass you in deeds of kindness. It is in your power to attain this state of kindly action as a security for everlasting peace. If this does not suit you, then kill them to the last man, not sparing one to carry the news. I advise as my choice the former, otherwise the latter is a necessity. The Romans will avenge themselves inevitably for any shame you put upon them. In that case you should strike the first blow and you will never deal them a heavier one than the slaughter of 50,000 of their young men at one time. When he had thus spoken his son answered: I do not wonder, father, that you have suggested two plans absolutely opposed to each other, for you said in the beginning that you should propose extreme measures of one kind or the other. But I cannot put such a large number of men to death. I should fear the vengeance of a god and the opprobrium of mankind. Nor can I take away from the two nations all hope of mutual accommodation by doing an irreparable wrong. As to releasing them I myself do not approve of that. After the Romans have inflicted so many evils upon us and while they hold so many of our fields and towns in their possession to this day, it is impossible to let these captives go scot free. I shall not do that. Such unreasonable leniency is insanity. Now look at this matter, leaving me out of the account. The Samnites, whose sons, fathers, and brothers have been slain by the Romans, and who have lost their goods and money, want satisfaction. A victor is naturally a haughty creature and our men are greedy of gain. Who then will endure that I should neither kill, nor sell, nor even fine these prisoners, but dismiss them unharmed like meritorious persons? Therefore let us discard the two extremes—the one because it is not in my power, the other because I cannot be guilty of such inhumanity. Yet, in order to humble the pride of the Romans to some extent, and to avoid the censure of others, I will take away the arms they have always used against us, and also their money (for even their money they get from us). Then I will make them pass safe and sound under the yoke, this being the mark of shame they are accustomed to put upon others. Then I will establish peace between the two nations and select the most illustrious of their knights as hostages for its observance until the entire people ratify it. In this way I think I shall have accomplished what belongs to a victor and to a humane man. I think also that the Romans themselves will be content with these terms, which they, who lay claim to such excellence of character, have often imposed upon others. While Pontius was speaking the old man burst into tears, then seated himself in his carriage and went back to Caudium. Pontius then summoned the Roman envoys and asked them if they had any fetial priest with them. There was none present because the army had marched to undertake an irreconcilable, implacable war. Accordingly he commanded the envoys to make this announcement to the consuls and other officers of the army and to the whole multitude: We had concluded perpetual friendship with the Romans, which you yourselves violated by giving aid to the Sidicini, our enemies. When peace was concluded again, you made war upon the Neapolitans, our neighbors. Nor did it escape us that these things were part of a plan of yours to seize the dominion of all Italy. In the first battles, where you gained the advantage on account of the unskilfulness of our generals, you showed us no moderation. Not content with devastating our country and occupying towns and villages not your own, you planted colonies in them. Moreover, when we twice sent embassies to you and made many concessions, you treated us disdainfully, and demanded that we should yield you the supremacy and obey you, as though we were not a nation to make terms with but a conquered race. Thereupon you decreed this irreconcilable, implacable war against your former friends, descendants of the Sabines whom you made your fellow-citizens. On account of your insatiable cupidity we ought not to make a treaty with you. But I, having regard for the divine wrath (which you despised), and mindful of our former relationship and friendship, will permit each one of you to pass under the yoke safe and sound with the clothes you stand in, if you swear to give up all of our lands and strongholds and withdraw your colonies from the same, and never wage war against the Samnites again. When these terms were communicated to the camp there was wailing and lamentation, long and loud, for they considered the disgrace of passing under the yoke worse than death. Afterwards, when they heard about the knights who were to be held as hostages, there was another long lament. Yet they were compelled by want to accept the conditions. Accordingly they took the oaths, Pontius on the one side, and the two consuls, Postumius and Veturius, on the other, together with two quaestors, four division commanders, and twelve tribunes,—all the surviving officers. When the oaths had been taken, Pontius opened a passage from the defile, and having fixed two spears in the ground and laid another across the top, caused the Romans to go under it as they passed out, one by one. He also gave them some animals to carry their sick, and provisions sufficient to bring them to Rome. This method of dismissing prisoners, which they call sending under the yoke, seems to me to serve only to insult the vanquished. When the news of this calamity reached the city there was wailing and lamentation like a public mourning. The women mourned for those who had been saved in this ignominous way as for the dead. The senators discarded their purple-striped tunics. Feasts, marriages, and everything of that kind were prohibited for a whole year, until the calamity was retrieved. Some of the returning soldiers took refuge in the fields for shame, others stole into the city by night. The consuls entered by day according to law, and they wore their usual insignia, but they exercised no further authority.

On account of admiration for his bravery a multitude of chosen youths numbering eight hundred were in the habit of following Dentatus, ready for anything. This was an embarrassment to the Senate at their meetings.

Once a great number of the Senones, a Celtic tribe, aided the Etruscans in war against the Romans. The latter sent ambassadors to the towns of the Senones and complained that, while they were under treaty stipulations, they were furnishing mercenaries to fight against the Romans. Although they bore the caduceus, and wore the garments of their office, Britomaris cut them in pieces and flung the parts away, alleging that his own father had been slain by the Romans while he was waging war in Etruria. The consul Cornelius, learning of this abominable deed while he was on the march, abandoned his campaign against the Etruscans, dashed with great rapidity by way of the Sabine country and Picenum against the towns of the Senones, and devastated them with fire and sword. He carried their women and children into slavery, and killed all the adult youth except a son of Britomaris, whom he reserved for awful torture, and led in his triumph. When the Senones who were in Etruria heard of this calamity, they joined with the Etruscans and marched against Rome. After various mishaps these Senones, having no homes to return to, and being in a state of frenzy over their misfortunes, fell upon Domitius [the other consul], by whom most of them were destroyed. The rest slew themselves in despair. Such was the punishment meted out to the Senones for their crime against the ambassadors.

Cornelius went sight-seeing along the coast of Magna Graecia with ten ships with decks. At Tarentum there was a demagogue named Philocharis, a man of obscene life, who was for that reason nicknamed Thais. He reminded the Tarentines of an old treaty by which the Romans had bound themselves not to sail beyond the promontory of Lacinium. By his passion he persuaded them to excitement against Cornelius, and they sunk four of his ships and seized one of them with all on board. They accused the Thurini of preferring the Romans to the Tarentines although they were Greeks, and held them chiefly to blame for the Romans overpassing the limits. Then they expelled the noblest citizens of Thurii, sacked the city, and dismissed the Roman garrison that was stationed there under a treaty. When the Romans learned of these events, they sent an embassy to Tarentum to demand that the prisoners who had been taken, not in war, but as mere sight-seers, should be surrendered; that the citizens of Thurii who had been expelled should be brought back to their homes; that the property that had been plundered, or the value of what had been lost, should be restored; and finally, that they should surrender the authors of these crimes, if they wished to continue on good terms with the Romans. The Tarentines made difficulties about admitting the embassy to their council at all, and when they had received them jeered at them because they did not speak Greek perfectly, and made fun of their togas and of the purple stripe on them. [The text here describes an indignity put upon Postumius, the chief of the embassy, by one Philonidas, which will not bear translation.] This spectacle was received with laughter by the bystanders. Postumius, holding out his soiled garment, said: You will wash out this defilement with plenty of blood — you who take pleasure in this kind of jokes. As the Tarentines made no sort of answer the embassy departed. Postumius carried the soiled garment just as it was, and showed it to the Romans. The people, deeply incensed, sent orders to AEmilius, who was waging war against the Samnites, to suspend operations for the present and invade the territory of the Tarentines, and offer them the same terms that the late embassy had proposed, and if they did not agree, to wage war against them with all his might. He made them the offer accordingly. This time they did not laugh for they saw the army. They were about equally divided in opinion until one of their number said to them as they doubted and disputed: To surrender citizens is the act of a people already enslaved, yet to fight without allies is hazardous. If we wish to defend our liberty stoutly and to fight on equal terms, let us call on Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and designate him the leader of this war. This was done.

After a shipwreck, Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, arrived at the harbor of Tarentum. The Tarentines were very much put out with the king’s officers, who quartered themselves upon the citizens by force, and openly abused their wives and children. Afterwards Pyrrhus put an end to their revels and other social gatherings and amusements as incompatible with a state of war, and ordered the citizens to severe military exercise, under penalty of death if they disobeyed. Then the Tarentines, tired out by these most unusual exercises and orders, fled the city as though it were a foreign government and took refuge in the fields. Then the king closed the gates and placed guards over them. In this way the Tarentines gained a clear perception of their own folly.

Some Roman soldiers were stationed in Rhegium for the safety and protection of the city against enemies. They, and their leader Decius, envying the good fortune of the inhabitants and seizing an opportunity when they were observing a public festival, slew them and violated their wives. They offered an excuse for this crime, that the citizens of Rhegium were about to betray the garrison to Pyrrhus. So Decius became supreme ruler instead of a prefect of the guard, and he contracted an alliance with the Mamertines, who dwelt on the other side of the strait of Sicily, and who had perpetrated the same kind of an outrage on their hosts not long before. Suffering from an affection of the eyes and distrusting the physicians of Rhegium, Decius sent for a medical man who had migrated from Rhegium to Messana so long before that it was forgotten that he was a Rhegian. The latter persuaded him that, if he wished speedy relief, he should use certain hot drugs. Having applied a burning and corrosive ointment to his eyes, he told him to bear the pain till he should come again. Then he secretly returned to Messana. Decius, after enduring the pain a long time, washed off the ointment and found that he had lost his eyesight. Fabricius was sent by the Romans to restore the city to those Rhegians who still remained. He sent the guards who had been guilty of this revolt back to Rome. They were beaten with rods in the forum, then beheaded, and their bodies cast away unburied. Decius, being placed under strict guard, in the discouragement of a blind man, committed suicide.

Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, having gained a victory over the Romans and desiring to recuperate his forces after the severe engagement, and expecting that the Romans would be particularly desirous of coming to terms, sent to the city Cineas, a Thessalian, who was so renowned for eloquence that he had been compared with Demosthenes. When he was admitted to the senate-chamber, he extolled the king for a variety of reasons, and among others for his moderation after the victory, in that he had neither marched directly against the city nor attacked the camp of the vanquished. He offered them peace, friendship, and an alliance with Pyrrhus, provided the Tarentines should be included in the same treaty, and provided the other Greeks dwelling in Italy should remain free under their own laws, and provided the Romans would restore to the Lucanians, Samnites, Daunii, and Bruttians whatever they had taken from them in war. If they would do this, he said that Pyrrhus would restore all his prisoners without ransom. The Romans hesitated a long time, being much intimidated by the prestige of Pyrrhus and by the calamity that had befallen them. Finally Appius Claudius, surnamed the Blind (because he had lost his eyesight from old age), commanded his sons to lead him into the senate-chamber, where he said: I was grieved at the loss of my sight; now I regret that I did not lose my hearing also, for never did I expect to see or hear deliberations of this kind from you. Have you become so forgetful of yourselves all of a sudden, by reason of one misfortune, as to take the man who brought it upon you, and those who called him hither, for friends instead of enemies, and to give back to the Lucanians and Bruttians the property that your ancestors took from them? What is this but making the Romans servants of the Macedonians? And some of you dare to call this peace instead of servitude! Many other things in the like sense did Appius urge to arouse their spirit. If Pyrrhus wanted peace and the friendship of the Romans, let him withdraw from Italy and then send his embassy. As long as he remained let him be considered neither friend nor ally, neither judge nor arbitrator in Roman affairs. The Senate made answer to Cineas as Appius advised. They decreed the levying of two new legions for Laevinus, and made proclamation that whoever would volunteer in place of those who had been lost should put their names on the army roll. Cineas, who was still present and saw the multitude hastening to be enrolled, is reported to have said to Pyrrhus on his return: We are waging war against a hydra. Others say that not Cineas, but even Pyrrhus himself said this when he saw the new Roman army larger than the former one; for the other consul, Coruncanius, came from Etruria and joined his forces with those of Laevinus. It is said also that when Pyrrhus made some further inquiries about Rome, Cineas replied that it was a city of generals; and when Pyrrhus wondered at this, he corrected himself, and said that it seemed more like a city of kings. When Pyrrhus saw that there was no expectation of peace from the Senate, he marched toward Rome, laying everything waste on his way. When he had come as far as the town of Anagnia, finding his army encumbered with booty and a host of prisoners, he decided to postpone the battle. Accordingly he turned back to Campania, sending his elephants in advance, and distributed his army in winter quarters among the towns. Hither came Roman ambassadors proposing either to ransom the prisoners or to exchange them for Tarentines and his other allies whom they held. He replied that if they were ready for peace on the terms proposed by Cineas, he would release the prisoners gratuitously, but if the war was to continue, he would not give up such a large number of valiant men to fight against him. Otherwise he treated them in a kingly way. Perceiving that Fabricius, the chief of the embassy, had great influence in the city, and also that he was a very poor man, he approached him and said that if he would bring about a treaty of peace, he (Pyrrhus) would take him to Epirus, and make him his chief officer and the sharer of all his possessions; and he asked him to accept a present of money then and there, on the pretext that he was to give it to those who perfected the treaty. Fabricius burst out laughing. He made no answer as to public matters, but said: Neither you nor your friends, O King, can take away my independence. I consider my poverty more blessed than all the riches of kings if conjoined with fear. Others report the conversation differently, saying that Fabricius replied: Beware lest the Epirotes share my nature and prefer me to you. Whichever answer he made, Pyrrhus admired his high spirit. He then tried another plan for procuring peace. He allowed the prisoners to go home without guards to attend the festival of Saturn, on the condition that if the city accepted the terms offered by him they should be free, but if not that they should return to him at the end of the festival. Although the prisoners earnestly besought and urged the Senate to accept the terms, the latter ordered them, at the conclusion of the festival, to deliver themselves up to Pyrrhus on a day specified, and decreed the death penalty to those who should linger beyond that time. This order was observed by all. In this way Pyrrhus learned again that everything depended on the arbitrament of arms.

While Pyrrhus was perplexed by the Roman complication he was disturbed by an uprising of the Molossians. At this time also Agathocles, the king of Sicily, had just died. As Pyrrhus had married his daughter Laneia, he began to look upon Sicily as more of his concern than Italy. Still he was loath to abandon those who had summoned him to their aid, without some kind of arrangement for peace. Seizing eagerly the occasion of the sending back of a traitor who had deserted from him, he testified his gratitude to the consuls for this act and sent Cineas again to Rome to repeat his thanks for the man’s safe-keeping, and to surrender the prisoners by way of recompense,—instructing him to procure peace in whatever way he could. Cineas brought a large number of presents both for men and women, knowing that the people were fond of money and gifts, and that the women had had large influence among the Romans from the earliest times. But they warned each other against the gifts, and replied that no man or woman would accept anything. They gave Cineas the same answer as before. If Pyrrhus would withdraw from Italy and send an embassy to them without gifts, they would agree to fair terms in all respects. They treated the embassy, however, in a sumptuous manner and sent back to Pyrrhus in exchange all the Tarentines and others of his allies whom they held as prisoners. Thereupon Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily with his elephants and 8000 horse, promising his allies that he would return to Italy. Three years later he returned, for the Carthaginians had driven him out of Sicily.

After the battle and the armistice with the Romans, Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily promising he would return to Italy. Three years later he returned, having been driven out of Sicily by the Carthaginians, and having been a grievous burden to the Sicilians themselves by reason of the lodging and supplying of his troops, the garrisons and the tribute he had imposed on them. Enriched by these exactions he set sail for Rhegium with 110 decked ships, besides a much larger number of merchant vessels and ships of burthen. But the Carthaginians made a naval attack upon him, sunk seventy of his ships, and disabled all the rest except twelve. Fleeing with these he took vengeance on the Italian Locrians who had put to death his garrison and their commanding officer, because of outrages commited upon the inhabitants. Such savage vengeance did he take on them in the way of killing and plundering that he did not spare even the temple gifts of Proserpina, saying by way of joke that unseasonable piety was no better than superstition, and that it was good policy to obtain wealth without labor. Loaded down with spoils, a tempest overtook him, sunk some of his ships with the men in them, and cast the others ashore. The waves cast all the sacred things safe upon the Locrian beach. Wherefore Pyrrhus, perceiving too late the consequences of his impiety, restored them to the temple of Proserpina and sought to propitiate the goddess with numerous sacrifices. As the victims were unpropitious he became still more furious, and he put to death all those who had advised the temple-robbing, or had assented to it, or had taken part in it. Thus had Pyrrhus come to grief.

AT an early period the Gauls waged war against the Romans, took Rome itself, except the Capitol, and burned it. Camillus, however, overcame and expelled them. At a later period, when they had made a second invasion, he overcame them again and enjoyed a triumph in consequence, being then in his eightieth year. A third army of Gauls which invaded Italy was destroyed by the Romans under Titus Quintius. Afterwards the Boii, the most savage of the Gallic tribes, attacked the Romans. Gaius Sulpicius, the dictator, marched against them, and is said to have used the following stratagem. He commanded those who were in the front line to discharge their javelins, and immediately crouch low; then the second, third, and fourth lines to discharge theirs, each crouching in turn so that they should not be struck by the spears thrown from the rear; then when the last line had hurled their javelins, all were to rush forward suddenly with a shout and join battle at close quarters. The hurling of so many missiles, followed by an immediate charge, would throw the enemy into confusion. The spears of the Gauls were not like javelins, but what the Romans called , four-sided, part wood and part iron, and not hard except at the pointed end. In this way the army of the Boii was completely destroyed by the Romans. Another Gallic force was defeated by Popillius, and after this Camillus, son of the former Camillus, defeated the same tribe. Afterwards AEmilius Pappus won some trophies from the Gauls. Shortly before the consulships of Marius a most numerous and warlike horde of Celtic tribes, most formidable in bodily strength, made incursions into both Italy and Gaul, and defeated some of the Roman consuls, and cut their armies in pieces. Marius was sent against them and he destroyed them all. The latest and greatest war of the Romans against the Gauls was that waged under the command of Caesar, for, in the ten years that he held command there, he fought with more than 4,000,000 barbarians, taken all together. Of these 1,000,000 were captured and as many more slain in battle. He reduced to subjection 400 tribes and more than 800 towns, which had either revolted from their allegiance or were conquered for the first time. Even before Marius, Fabius Maximus AEmilianus with a very small army killed 120,000 of them in one battle, losing only fifteen of his own men; and he did this although suffering from a recent wound, urging and encouraging his troops and showing them how to fight barbarians, now borne on a litter and now hobbling on foot leaning on the arms of others. Caesar began his war against them by gaining a victory over some 200,000 of the Helvetii and Tigurini. The latter at an earlier period had captured a Roman army commanded by Piso and Cassius and sent them under the yoke, as is related in the writings of Paulus Claudius. The Tigurini were now overcome by Labienus, Caesar’s lieutenant, and the others by Caesar himself, together with the Tricorii, who were aiding them. He also overcame the Germans under Ariovistus, a people who excelled all others, even the largest men, in size; savage, the bravest of the brave, despising death because they believe they shall live hereafter, bearing heat and cold with equal patience, living on herbs in time of scarcity, and their horses browsing on trees. It seems that they were without patient endurance in their battles, and did not fight in a scientific way or in any regular order, but with a sort of high spirit simply made an onset like wild beasts, for which reason they were overcome by Roman science and endurance. For, although the Germans made a tremendous rush and pushed the legions back a short distance, the Romans kept their ranks unbroken, and outmanœuvred them, and eventually slew 800000 of them. Afterwards Caesar fell upon the so-called Belgae as they were crossing a river, and killed so many of them that he crossed the stream on a bridge of their bodies. The Nervii defeated him by falling suddenly upon his army as it was getting itself into camp after a march. They made a very great slaughter, killing all of his tribunes and centurions. Caesar himself took refuge on a hill with his bodyguard, and there he was surrounded by the enemy. The latter being assailed in the rear by the tenth legion were destroyed, although they were 60,000 in number. The Nervii were the descendants of the Cimbri and Teutones. Caesar conquered the Allobroges also. He slaughtered 400,000 of the Usipetes and Tenchteri, armed and unarmed together. The Sicambri with 500 horse put to flight 5000 of Caesar’s horse, falling upon them unexpectedly. They subsequently paid the penalty for this in a defeat. Caesar was also the first of the Romans to cross the Rhine. He also passed over to Britain, an island larger than a very large continent, and still unknown to the men of Rome. He crossed by taking advantage of the movement of the tide. As it rose the fleet was impelled by the waves, slowly at first, then more rapidly, until finally Caesar was carried with great swiftness to Britain.

In the 97th Olympiad, according to the Greek calendar, a considerable part of the Gauls who dwelt along the Rhine moved off in search of new land, that which they occupied being insufficient for their numbers. Having scaled the Alps they fell upon the territory of Clusium, a fertile part of Etruria. The Clusians had made a league with the Romans not long before, and now applied to them for aid. So the three Fabii were sent with the Clusians as ambassadors to the Gauls to order them to vacate the country that was in alliance with Rome, and to threaten them if they did not obey. The Gauls replied that they feared no mortal man in threat or war, that they were in need of land, and that they had not yet meddled with the affairs of the Romans. The Fabii urged the Clusians to make an attack upon the Gauls while they were heedlessly plundering the country. They took part in the expedition themselves and slew an immense number of the Gauls whom they caught foraging. Quintus Fabius, one of the Roman embassy, himself killed the chief of that band, stripped his body, and carried his arms back to Clusium.

After the Fabii had slain this large number of Gauls, Brennus, their king, though he had refused to recognize the Roman embassy, for the purpose of intimidating the Romans selected as ambassadors to them certain Gauls who exceeded all the others in bodily size as much as the Gauls exceeded other peoples, and sent them to Rome to complain that the Fabii, while serving as ambassadors, had joined in war against him, contrary to the law of nations. He demanded that they should be given up to him for punishment unless the Romans wished to make the crime their own. The Romans acknowledged that the Fabii had done wrong, but having great respect for that distinguished family, they urged the Gauls to accept a pecuniary compensation from them. As the latter refused, they elected the Fabii military tribunes for that year, and then said to the Gallic ambassadors that they could not do anything to the Fabii now because they were now holding office, but told them to come again next year if they were still in a bad humor. Brennus and the Gauls under him considered this an insult and took it hard. Accordingly they sent around to the other Gauls asking them to make common cause of war with them. When a large number had collected in obedience to this summons they broke camp and marched against Rome.

He (Caedicius) promised to carry letters through the enemy’s ranks to the Capitol.

When Caedicius bore the decree of the Senate to Camillus, by which he was made consul, he exhorted him not to lay up against his country the injury it had done him. The latter, interrupting him, said: I could not have prayed to the gods that the Romans might some time long for me if I had cherished any such feeling as that towards them. Now I pray the nobler prayer that I may render my country a service equal to the calamity that has befallen her.

When the Gauls could find no means for scaling the Capitol they remained quietly in camp in order to reduce the defenders by famine. A certain priest named Dorso went down from the Capitol to make a certain yearly sacrifice in the temple of Vesta, and passed safely, with the sacred utensils, through the ranks of the enemy, who were either awed by his courage or had respect for his piety and his venerable appearance. Thus he who had incurred danger for the sake of his holy office was saved by it. That this event occurred, as related, the Roman writer Cassius tells us.

The Gauls filled themselves to repletion with wine and other luxuries, being intemperate by nature, and inhabiting a country which yielded only cereals, and was unfruitful and destitute of other productions. Thus their large bodies became delicate, distended with fatness, and heavy by reason of excessive eating and drinking, and quite incapable of running or hardship; and when any exertion was required of them they speedily became exhausted by perspiration and shortness of breath.

He (Camillus) showed them naked to the Romans and said: These are the creatures who assail you with such terrible shouts in battle, and clash their arms and shake their long swords and toss their hair. Behold their weakness of soul, their slothfulness and flabbiness of body, and gird yourselves to your work.

The people beheld the battle from the walls, and constantly sent fresh troops to take the place of the tired ones. But the tired Gauls having to engage with fresh opponents took to disorderly flight.

The Gaul, furious and exhausted with loss of blood, pursued Valerius, hastening in order to grapple with him. As Valerius was all the time dodging just in front of him, the Gaul fell headlong. The Romans felicitated themselves on this second single combat with the Gauls.

The Senones, although they had a treaty with the Romans, nevertheless furnished mercenaries against them, wherefore the Senate sent an embassy to them to remonstrate against this infraction of the treaty. Britomaris, the Gaul, being incensed against them on account of his father, who had been killed by the Romans while fighting on the side of the Etruscans in this very war, slew the ambassadors while they held the caduceus in their hands, and wore the garments of their office. He then cut their bodies in small pieces and scattered them in the fields. The consul Cornelius, learning of this abominable deed while he was on the march, moved with great speed against the towns of the Senones by way of the Sabine country and Picenum, and ravaged them all with fire and sword. He reduced the women and children to slavery, killed all the adult males without exception, devastated the country in every possible way, and made it uninhabitable for anybody else. He carried off Britomaris alone as a prisoner for torture. A little later the Senones (who were serving as mercenaries), having no longer any homes to return to, fell boldly upon the consul Domitius, and being defeated by him killed themselves in despair. Such punishment was meted out to the Senones for their crime against the ambassadors.

The chiefs of the Salyi, a nation vanquished by the Romans, took refuge with the Allobroges. When the Romans asked for their surrender and it was refused, they made war on the Allobroges, under the leadership of Cnaeus Domitius. When he was passing through the territory of the Salyi, an ambassador of Bituitus, king of the Allobroges, met him, arrayed magnificently and followed by attendants likewise arrayed, and also by dogs; for the barbarians of this region use dogs also as body-guards. A musician was in the train who sang in barbarous fashion the praises of King Bituitus, and then of the Allobroges, and then of the ambassador himself, celebrating his birth, his bravery, and his wealth; for which reason chiefly their illustrious ambassadors usually take such persons along with them. But this one, although he begged pardon for the chiefs of the Salyi, accomplished nothing.

A numerous band of the Teutones bent on plunder invaded the territory of Noricum. The Roman consul, Papirius Carbo, fearing lest they should make an incursion into Italy, occupied the Alps at a place where the pass is narrowest. As they made no attempt in this direction he attacked them, complaining that they had invaded the people of Noricum, who were foreign friends of the Romans. It was the practice of the Romans to make foreign friends of any people for whom they wanted to intervene on the score of friendship, without being obliged to defend them as allies. As Carbo was approaching, the Teutones sent word to him that they had not known anything about this relationship between Rome and Noricum, and that for the future they would keep hands off. He praised the ambassadors, and gave them guides for their homeward journey, but privately charged the guides to take them by a longer route. He himself then marched by a shorter one and fell unexpectedly upon the Teutones, though they were still desisting

He ordered them to leave the bodies of the Cimbri intact till daylight because he believed they were adorned with gold.

Two nations, the Tigurini and the Helvetii, made an incursion into the Roman province of Gaul. When Caesar heard of this movement he built a wall along the river Rhone about a hundred and fifty stades in length to intercept them. When they sent ambassadors to him to endeavor to make a treaty, he ordered them to give him hostages and money. They replied that they were accustomed to receive these things, not to give them. As he wished to prevent them

Ariovistus, the king of the Germans beyond the Rhine, crossed to this side before Caesar’s arrival and made war against the AEdui, who were friends of the Romans. But when the Romans commanded him to desist, he obeyed and moved away from AEdui and desired to be accounted a friend of the Roman people also, and this was granted, Caesar being consul and voting for it.

Ariovistus, the king of the Germans, who had been voted a friend of the Roman people, came to Caesar to have a colloquy. After they had separated he wished to have another. Caesar refused it, but sent some of the leading men of the Gauls to meet him. Ariovistus cast them in chains, wherefore Caesar threatened him and made war on him, but fear fell upon the army on account of the military reputation of the Germans.

It is believed that the Usipetes and the Tenchteri, German tribes, with 800 of their own horse, put to flight about 5000 of Caesar’s horse. When they sent ambassadors to Caesar he held them as prisoners and made an attack on them, and took them so completely by surprise that 400,000 of them were cut to pieces. One writer says that Cato in the Roman Senate proposed that Caesar should be surrendered to the barbarians for this deed of blood perpetrated while negotiations were pending. But Caesar in his own diary says that when the Usipetes and Tenchteri were ordered to go back forthwith to their former homes, they replied that they had sent ambassadors to the Suevi, who had driven them away, and that they were waiting for their answer; that while these negotiations were pending, they set upon his men with 800 of their horse, and by the suddenness of the attack put to flight his 5000; and that when they sent another embassy to explain this violation of good faith he suspected a similar deception, and made his attack before giving his answer.

Straightway they stirred up the Britons to violate the oath, complaining that while a treaty with them was in force the camp was still among them.

Caesar apprehending an attack on [Quintus] Cicero turned back.

Britores seduced the AEdui from their Roman allegiance. When Caesar reproached them for this, they said that an ancient alliance had the precedence. [Here follow two fragments of only three words each.]

BOTH Romans and Carthaginians were destitute of money; and the Romans could no longer build ships, being exhausted by taxes, yet they levied foot soldiers and sent them to Africa and Sicily from year to year, while the Carthaginians sent an embassy to Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, king of Egypt, seeking to borrow 2000 talents. He was on terms of friendship with both Romans and Carthaginians, and he sought to bring about peace between them. As he was not able to accomplish this, he said: It behooves one to assist friends against enemies, but not against friends.

When the Carthaginians had met with two disasters on land at the same time, and two at sea where they had considered themselves much the superior, and were already short of money, ships, and men, they sought an armistice from Lutatius and having obtained it sent an embassy to Rome to negotiate a treaty on certain limited conditions. With their own embassy they sent Atilius Regulus, the consul, who was their prisoner, to urge his countrymen to agree to the terms. When he came into the senate-chamber, clad as a prisoner in Punic garments, and the Carthaginian ambassadors had retired, he exposed to the Senate the desperate state of Carthaginian affairs, and advised that either the war should be prosecuted vigorously, or that more satisfactory conditions of peace should be insisted on. For this reason, after he had returned voluntarily to Carthage, the Carthaginians put him to death by enclosing him in a standing posture in a box the planks of which were stuck full of iron spikes so that he could not possibly lie down. Nevertheless peace was made on conditions more satisfactory to the Romans. The conditions were these: All Roman prisoners and deserters held by the Carthaginians were to be delivered up; Sicily and the small neighboring islands to be surrendered to the Romans; the Carthaginians not to initiate any war against Syracuse or its ruler, Hiero, nor to recruit mercenaries in any part of Italy; the Carthaginians to pay the Romans a war indemnity of 2000 Euboïc talents in twenty years, in yearly instalments payable at Rome. The Euboïc talent is equal to 7000 Alexandrine drachmas. So ended the first war between the Romans and the Carthaginians for the possession of Sicily, having lasted twenty-four years, in which the Romans lost 700 ships and the Carthaginians 500. In this way the chief part of Sicily (all of it that had been held by the Carthaginians) passed into the possession of the Romans. The latter levied tribute on the Sicilians, and apportioned certain naval charges among their towns, and sent a praetor each year to govern them. On the other hand Hiero, the ruler of Syracuse, who had coöperated with them in this war, was declared to be their friend and ally. When this war was ended the Gallic mercenaries demanded of the Carthaginians the pay still due to them for their service in Sicily, together with the presents that Hamilcar had promised to give them. The African soldiers, although they were Carthaginian subjects, demanded the same things, on account of their service in Sicily, and this they did the more arrogantly as they saw that the Carthaginians were weakened and humbled; they were angry also on account of the killing of 3000 of their own number whom the Carthaginians had crucified for deserting to the Romans. When the Carthaginians refused the demands of both Gauls and Africans, they joined together and seized the city of Tunis, and also Utica, the largest city in Africa after Carthage. Starting thence they detached the rest of Africa, and brought over to their side some Numidians, and received into their ranks a vast number of fugitive slaves, and pillaged the Carthaginian possessions in every direction. Being pressed by enemies on all sides the Carthaginians appealed to the Romans for aid against the Africans. The Romans did not send them a military force, but allowed them to draw supplies from Italy and Sicily, and to recruit mercenaries in Italy for this war only. They also sent deputies to Africa to arrange peace if they could, but they returned without accomplishing anything. The Carthaginians prosecuted the war vigorously.

Hippocrates and Epicydes, two brothers, were generals of the Syracusans. They had been for a long time incensed against the Romans, and when they could not stir up their fellow-countrymen to war, they went over to the Leontines, who had some differences with the Syracusans. They accused their own countrymen of renewing a separate league with the Romans, although Hiero had made one to include the whole of Sicily. The Leontines were much stirred up by this. The Syracusans made proclamation that if anybody would bring them the head of Hippocrates or of Epicydes, they would give him its weight in gold. But the Leontines chose Hippocrates as their general.

The Sicilians, who had been for a long time embittered against the Roman general Marcellus, on account of his severity, were still more excited against him because he had gained entrance to Syracuse by treachery. For this reason they joined themselves to Hippocrates, and took an oath together that none of them would make peace without the others, and sent him supplies and an army of 20,000 foot and 5000 horse.

Marcellus was in such bad odor that nobody would trust him except under oath, for which reason, when the Tauro-menians gave themselves up to him, he made an agreement and confirmed it with an oath, that he would not station any guard in their city nor require the inhabitants to serve as soldiers.

The island of Crete seemed to be favorably disposed towards Mithridates, king of Pontus, from the beginning, and it was said that they furnished him mercenaries when he was at war with the Romans. It is believed also that they recommended to the favor of Mithridates the pirates who then infested the sea, and openly assisted them when they were pursued by Marcus Antonius. When Antonius sent legates to them on this subject, they made light of the matter and gave him a disdainful answer. Antonius forthwith made war against them, and although he did not accomplish much, he gained the title of Creticus for his work. He was the father of the Mark Antony who, at a later period, fought against Octavius Caesar at Actium. When the Romans declared war against the Cretans, on account of these things, the latter sent an embassy to Rome to treat for peace. The Romans ordered them to surrender Lasthenes, the author of the war against Antonius, and to deliver up all their pirate ships and all the Roman prisoners in their hands, together with 300 hostages, and to pay 4000 talents of silver. As the Cretans would not accept these conditions, Metellus was chosen as the general against them. He gained a victory over Lasthenes at Cydonia. The latter fled to Gnossus, and Panares delivered over Cydonia to Metellus on condition of his own safety. While Metellus was besieging Gnossus, Lasthenes set fire to his own house there, which was full of money, and fled from the place. Then the Cretans sent word to Pompey the Great, who was conducting the war against the pirates, and against Mithridates, that if he would come they would surrender themselves to him. As he was then busy with other things, he commanded Metellus to withdraw from the island, as it was not seemly to continue a war against those who offered to give themselves up, and he said that he would come to receive the surrender of the island later. Metellus paid no attention to this order, but pushed on the war until the island was subdued, making the same terms with Lasthenes as he had made with Panares. Metellus was awarded a triumph and the title of Creticus with more justice than Antonius, for he actually subjugated the island.

The patrician Clodius, surnamed Pulcher, which means handsome, was in love with Caesar’s wife. He arrayed himself in woman’s clothes from head to foot, being still without a beard, and gained admission to Caesar’s house as a woman in the night, at a time when the mysteries [of the Bona Dea] were celebrated, to which only women were admitted. Having lost his guide, and being detected by others by the sound of his voice, he was hustled out.

THE Pyrenees mountains extend from the Tyrrhenian sea to the Northern ocean. The eastern part is inhabited by Celts, otherwise called Galatians, and more lately Gauls. From this part westward, beginning at the Tyrrhenian sea and making a circuit by way of the Pillars of Hercules to the Northern ocean, the Iberians and Celtiberians dwell. Thus the whole of Iberia is sea-girt, except the part embraced by the Pyrenees, the largest and perhaps the most precipitous mountains in Europe. In coasting they follow the Tyrrhenian sea as far as the Pillars of Hercules. They do not traverse the Western and Northern ocean, except in crossing over to Britain, and this they accomplish by availing themselves of the tide, as it is only half a day’s journey. For the rest, neither the Romans nor any of the subject peoples navigate that ocean. The size of Iberia (now called Hispania by some) is almost incredible for a single country. Its breadth is reckoned at ten thousand stades, and its length is equal to its breadth. Many nations of various names inhabit it, and many navigable rivers flow through it.

What nations occupied it first, and who came after them, it is not very important for me to inquire, in writing merely Roman history. However, I think that the Celts, passing over the Pyrenees at some former time, mingled with the natives, and that the name Celtiberia originated in that way. I think also that from an early time the Phœnicians frequented Spain for purposes of trade, and occupied certain places there. In like manner the Greeks visited Tartessus and its king Arganthonius, and some of them settled in Spain; for the kingdom of Arganthonius was in Spain. It is my opinion that Tartessus was then the city on the seashore which is now called Carpessus. I think also that the Phoenicians built the temple of Hercules which stands at the straits. The religious rites performed there are still of Phoenician type, and the god is considered by the worshippers the Tyrian, not the Theban, Hercules. But I will leave these matters to the antiquaries.

This fruitful land, abounding in all good things, the Carthaginians began to exploit before the Romans. A part of it they occupied and another part they plundered, until the Romans expelled them from the part they held, and immediately occupied it themselves. The remainder the Romans acquired with much toil, extending over a long period of time, and in spite of frequent revolts they eventually subdued it and divided it into three parts and appointed a praetor over each. How they subdued each one, and how they contended with the Carthaginians for the possession of them, and afterwards with the Iberians and Celtiberians, this book will show, the first part containing matters relating to the Carthaginians, since it was necessary for me to introduce their relations with Spain in my Spanish history. For the same reason the doings of the Romans and Carthaginians in respect to Sicily from the beginning of the Roman invasion and rule of that island are embraced in the Sicilian history.

The first external war waged by the Romans against the Carthaginians in reference to Sicily was waged in Sicily itself. In like manner the first one concerning Spain was waged in Spain, although in the course of it the combatants sent large forces into, and devastated, both Italy and Africa. This war began about the 140th Olympiad by the infraction of a treaty which had been made at the end of the Sicilian war. The infraction came about in this way. Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, while commanding the Carthaginian forces in Sicily, had promised large rewards to his Celtic mercenaries and African allies, which they demanded after he returned to Africa; and thereupon the African war was kindled. In this war the Carthaginians suffered severely at the hands of the Africans, and they ceded Sardinia to the Romans as compensation for injuries they had inflicted upon Roman merchants during this war. When Hamilcar was brought to trial for these things by his enemies, who held him to blame for such serious calamities to the country, he secured the favor of the chief men in the state (of whom the most popular was Hasdrubal, who had married Barca’s daughter), by which means he escaped punishment; and as a disturbance with the Numidians broke out about this time, he secured the command of the Carthaginian forces in conjunction with Hanno the Great, although he had not yet rendered an account of his former generalship.

At the end of this war, Hanno was recalled to answer certain charges against him in Carthage, and Hamilcar was left in sole command of the army. He associated his son-in-law Hasdrubal with him, crossed the straits to Gades and began to plunder the territory of the Spaniards, although they had done him no wrong. Thus he made for himself an occasion for being away from home, and also for performing exploits and acquiring popularity. For whatever property he took he divided, giving one part to the soldiers, to stimulate their zeal for future plundering with him. Another part he sent to the treasury of Carthage, and a third he distributed to the chiefs of his own faction there. This continued until certain Spanish kings and other chieftains gradually united and put him to death in the following manner. They loaded a lot of wagons with wood and drove them in advance with oxen, they following behind prepared for battle. When the Africans saw this they fell to laughing, not perceiving the stratagem. When they came to close quarters the Spaniards set fire to the wagons and drove the oxen against the enemy. The fire, being carried in every direction by the fleeing oxen, threw the Africans into confusion. Their ranks being thus broken the Spaniards dashed among them and killed Hamilcar himself and a great many others who came to his aid.

The Carthaginians, enjoying the gains they had received from Spain, sent another army thither and appointed Hasdrubal, the son-in-law of Hamilcar, who was still in Spain, commander of all their forces there. He had with him in Spain Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar and brother of his own wife, a young man zealous in war, beloved by the army, and who soon after became famous for his military exploits. Him he appointed lieutenant-general. Hasdrubal brought many Spanish tribes to his support by persuasion, for he was attractive in personal intercourse, and where force was needed he made use of the young man. In this way he pushed forward from the Western ocean to the interior as far as the river Iberus (Ebro), which divides Spain about in the centre, and at a distance of about five days’ journey from the Pyrenees flows down to the Northern ocean.

The Saguntines, a colony of the island of Zacynthus, who lived about midway between the Pyrenees and the river Iberus, and other Greeks who dwelt in the neighborhood of Emporia and other Spanish towns, having apprehensions for their safety, sent ambassadors to Rome. The Senate, who were unwilling to see the Carthaginian power augmented, sent an embassy to Carthage. It was agreed between them that the limit of the Carthaginian power in Spain should be the river Iberus; that beyond that river the Romans should not carry war against the subjects of Carthage, nor should the Carthaginians cross it for a similar purpose; and that the Saguntines and the other Greeks in Spain should remain free and autonomous. So these agreements were added to the treaties between Rome and Carthage.

Some time later, while Hasdrubal was governing that part of Spain belonging to Carthage, a slave whose master he had cruelly put to death killed him secretly in a hunting expedition. Hannibal convicted him of this crime and put him to death with dreadful tortures. Now the army proclaimed Hannibal, although still very young, yet greatly beloved by the soldiers, their general, and the Carthaginian Senate confirmed the appointment. Those of the opposite faction, who had feared the power of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, when they learned of their death, despised Hannibal on account of his youth and prosecuted their friends and partisans with the old charges. The people took sides with the accusers, bearing a grudge against those now prosecuted, because they remembered the old severities of the times of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, and ordered them to turn into the public treasury the large gifts that Hamilcar and Hasdrubal had bestowed upon them, as being enemy’s spoils. The prosecuted parties sent messengers to Hannibal asking him to assist them, and admonished him that, if he should neglect those who were able to assist him at home, he would be thoroughly despised by his father’s enemies.

He had foreseen all this and he knew that the persecution of his friends was the beginning of a plot against himself. He determined that he would not endure this enmity as a perpetual menace, as his father and brother-in-law had done, nor put up forever with the fickleness of the Carthaginians, who usually repaid benefits with ingratitude. It was said also that when he was a boy he had taken an oath upon the altar, at his father’s instance, that when he should arrive at man’s estate he would be the implacable enemy of Rome. For these reasons he thought that, if he could involve his country in arduous and protracted undertakings and plunge it into doubts and fears, he would place his own affairs and those of his friends in a secure position. He beheld Africa, however, and the subject parts of Spain in peace. But if he could stir up a war with Rome, which he strongly desired, he thought that the Carthaginians would have enough to think about and to be afraid of, and that if he should be successful, he would reap immortal glory by gaining for his country the government of the habitable world (for when the Romans were conquered there would be no other rivals), and if he should fail, the attempt itself would bring him great renown.

Conceiving that if he should cross the Iberus that would constitute a brilliant beginning, he suborned the Turbuletes, neighbors of the Saguntines, that they should complain to him that the latter were overrunning their country and doing them many other wrongs. They made this complaint. Then Hannibal sent their ambassadors to Carthage, and wrote private letters saying that the Romans were inciting Carthaginian Spain to revolt, and that the Saguntines were coöperating with the Romans for this purpose. Nor did he desist from this deception, but kept sending messages of this kind until the Carthaginian Senate authorized him to deal with the Saguntines as he saw fit. Since he had a pretext, he arranged that the Turbuletes should come again to make complaints against the Saguntines, and that the latter should send legates also. When Hannibal commanded them to explain their differences to him, they replied that they should refer the matter to Rome. Hannibal thereupon ordered them out of his camp, and the next night crossed the Iberus with his whole army, laid waste the Saguntine territory, and planted engines against their city. Not being able to take it, he surrounded it with a wall and ditch, stationed plenty of guards, and pushed the siege at intervals.

The Saguntines, oppressed by this sudden and unheralded attack, sent an embassy to Rome. The Senate commissioned its own ambassadors to go with them. They were instructed first to remind Hannibal of the agreement, and if he should not obey to proceed to Carthage and complain against him. When they arrived in Spain and were approaching his camp from the sea, Hannibal forbade their coring. Accordingly they sailed for Carthage with the Saguntine ambassadors, and reminded the Carthaginians of the agreement. The latter accused the Saguntines of committing many wrongs on their subjects. When the Saguntines offered to submit the whole question to the Romans as arbitrators, the Carthaginians replied that there was no use of an arbitration because they were able to avenge themselves. When this reply was brought to Rome some advised senting aid to the Saguntines. Others favored delay, saying that the Saguntines were not inscribed as allies in the agreement with them, but merely as free and autonomous, and that they were still free although besieged. The latter opinion prevailed.

The Saguntines, when they despaired of help from Rome, and when famine weighed heavily upon them, and Hannibal kept up the siege without intermission (for he had heard that the city was very prosperous and wealthy, and for this reason relaxed not the siege), issued an edict to bring all the silver and gold, public and private, to the forum, where they melted it with lead and brass, so that it should be useless to Hannibal. Then, thinking that it was better to die fighting than starve to death, they made a sally by night upon the besiegers while they were asleep and not expecting an attack, and killed some as they were getting out of bed, others as they were clumsily arming themselves, and still others who were actually fighting. The battle continued until many of the Africans and all the Saguntines were slain. When the women witnessed the slaughter of their husbands from the walls, some of them threw themselves from the housetops, others hanged themselves, and others slew their children and then themselves. Such was the end of Saguntum, once a great and powerful city. When Hannibal learned what had been done with the gold he was angry, and put all the surviving adults to death with torture. Observing that the city was not far from Carthage and with good land about it situated on the sea, he rebuilt it and made it a Carthaginian colony, and I think it is now called Spartarian Carthage.

The Romans now sent ambassadors to Carthage to demand that Hannibal should be delivered up to them as a violator of the treaty unless they wished to assume the responsibility. If they would not give him up, war was to be declared forthwith. The ambassadors obeyed their instructions, and when the Carthaginians refused to give up Hannibal they declared war. It is said that it was done in the following manner. The chief of the embassy, pointing to the fold of his toga and smiling, said: Here, Carthaginians, I bring you peace or war, you may take whichever you choose. The latter replied: You may give us whichever you like. When the Romans offered war they all cried out: We accept it. Then they wrote at once to Hannibal that he was free to overrun all Spain, as the treaty was at an end. Accordingly he marched against all the neighboring tribes and brought them under subjection, persuading some, terrifying others, and subduing the rest. Then he collected a large army, telling nobody what it was for, but intending to hurl it against Italy. He also sent out ambassadors among the Gauls, and caused an examination to be made of the passes of the Alps, which he traversed later, leaving his brother Hasdrubal in command in Spain.

When the Romans saw that war must be waged against the Carthaginians in Spain and Africa (for they never dreamed of an incursion of Africans into Italy), they sent Tiberius Sempronius Longus with 160 ships and two legions into Africa. What Longus and the other Roman generals did in Africa has been related in my Punic history. They also ordered Publius Cornelius Scipio to Spain with sixty ships, 10,000 foot, and 700 horse, and sent his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio with him as a legate. The former (Publius), learning from Massilian merchants that Hannibal had crossed the Alps and entered Italy, and fearing lest he should fall upon the Italians unawares, turned over to his brother the command in Spain and sailed with his quinqueremes to Etruria. What he and the other Roman generals after him did in Italy, until, at the end of sixteen years and with exceeding difficulty, they drove Hannibal out of the country, will be shown in the following book, which will contain all the exploits of Hannibal in Italy, and is called the Hannibalic book of Roman history.

Gnaeus did nothing in Spain worthy of mention before his brother Publius returned thither. When the latter’s term of office expired, the Romans, having despatched the new consuls against Hannibal in Italy, appointed him proconsul, and sent him again into Spain. From this time the two Scipios managed the war in Spain, Hasdrubal being the general opposed to them until the Carthaginians recalled him and a part of his army to ward off an attack of Syphax, the ruler of the Numidians. The Scipios easily overcame the remainder. Many towns also came over to them voluntarily, for they were as persuasive in inducing subjects as in leading armies.

The Carthaginians, having made peace with Syphax, again sent Hasdrubal into Spain with a larger army than before, and with thirty elephants. With him came also two other generals, Mago and another Hasdrubal, the son of Gisco. After this the war became more serious to the Scipios. They were successful, nevertheless, and many Africans and elephants were destroyed by them. Finally, winter coming on, the Africans went into winter quarters at Turditania, Gnaeus Scipio at Orso, and Publius at Castolo. When news was brought to the latter that Hasdrubal was approaching, he sallied out from the city with a small force to reconnoitre the enemy’s camp and came upon Hasdrubal unexpectedly. He and his whole force were surrounded by the enemy’s horse and killed. Gnaeus, who knew nothing of this, sent some soldiers to his brother to procure corn, who fell in with another African force and became engaged with them. When Gnaeus learned this he started out, with such troops as he had under arms, to assist them. The Carthaginians who had cut off the former party made a charge on Gnaeus, and compelled him to take refuge in a certain tower, which they set on fire, and burned him and his comrades to death.

In this way the two Scipios perished, excellent men in every respect, and greatly regretted by those Spaniards who, by their labors, had been brought over to the Roman side. When the news reached Rome the people were greatly troubled. They sent Marcellus, who had lately come from Sicily, and with him Claudius [Nero], to Spain, with a fleet and 1000 horse, 10,000 foot, and sufficient means. As nothing of importance was accomplished by them, the Carthaginian power increased until it embraced almost the whole of Spain, and the Romans were restricted to a small space in the Pyrenees mountains. When this was learned in Rome the people were greatly discouraged, and apprehensive lest these same Africans should make an incursion into northern Italy while Hannibal was ravaging the other extremity. Although they desired to abandon the Spanish war it was not possible, because of the fear that that war would be transferred to Italy.

Accordingly a day was fixed for choosing a general for Spain. When nobody offered himself the alarm was greatly augmented, and a gloomy silence took possession of the assembly. Finally Cornelius Scipio, son of that Publius Cornelius who had lost his life in Spain, still a very young man (for he was only twenty-four years of age), but reputed to be discreet and high-minded, advanced and made an impressive discourse concerning his father and his uncle, and after lamenting their fate said that he was the only member of the family left to be the avenger of them and of his country. He spoke copiously and vehemently, like one possessed, promising to subdue not only Spain, but Africa and Carthage in addition. To many this seemed like youthful boasting, but he revived the spirits of the people (for those who are cast down are cheered by promises), and was chosen general for Spain in the expectation that he would do something worthy of his high spirit. The older ones said that this was not high spirit, but foolhardiness. When Scipio heard of this he called the assembly together again, and repeated what he had said before, declaring that his youth would be no impediment, but he added that if any of his elders wished to assume the task he would willingly yield it to them. When nobody offered to take it, he was praised and admired still more, and he set forth with 10,000 foot and 500 horse. He was not allowed to take a larger force while Hannibal was ravaging Italy. He received money and apparatus of various kinds and twenty-eight war-ships with which he proceeded to Spain.

Taking the forces already there, and joining them in one body with those he brought, he performed a lustration, and made the same kind of grandiloquent speech to them that he had made at Rome. The report spread immediately through all Spain, wearied of the Carthaginian rule and longing for the virtue of the Scipios, that Scipio the son of Scipio had been sent to them as a general, by divine providence. When he heard of this report he took care to give out that everything he did was by inspiration from heaven. He learned that the enemy were quartered in four camps at considerable distances from each other, containing altogether 25,000 foot and above 2500 horse, and that they kept their supplies of money, food, arms, missiles, and ships, besides prisoners and hostages from all Spain, at the city formerly called Saguntum (but then called Carthage), and that it was in charge of Mago with 10,000 Carthaginian soldiers. He decided to attack these first, on account of the smallness of the force and the great quantity of stores, and because he believed that this city, with its silver-mines and its rich and prosperous territory abounding in everything, and its very short passage to Africa, would constitute a secure base of operations by land and sea against the whole of Spain.

Excited with these thoughts and communicating his intentions to no one, he led his army out at sunset and marched the whole night toward New Carthage. Arriving there the next morning he took the enemy by surprise and began to enclose the town with trenches and planned to open the siege the following day, placing ladders and engines everywhere except at one place where the wall was lowest and where, as it was encompassed by a lagoon and the sea, the guards were careless. Having charged the machines with stones and darts in the night, and stationed his fleet in the harbor so that the enemy’s ships might not escape (for he had high hopes of capturing everything the city contained), at daylight he manned the engines, ordering some of his troops to assail the enemy above, while others propelled the engines against the walls below. Mago stationed his 10,000 men at the gates, some to sally out at a favorable opportunity with swords alone (since spears would be of no use in such a narrow space), and others to man the parapets. He made good use of his machines, stones, darts, and catapults, and did effective work. There was shouting and cheering on both sides, and neither was wanting in dash and courage. Stones, darts, and javelins filled the air, some thrown by hand, some by machines, and some by slings; and whatever other apparatus or force was available was made use of to the utmost.

Scipio suffered severely. The 10,000 Carthaginians who were at the gates made sallies with drawn swords and fell upon those who were working the engines. Although they fought bravely, they suffered in their turn no less, until finally the perseverance and endurance of the Romans began to prevail. With the change of fortune, those who were on the walls began to be distressed. When the ladders were put in place, the Carthaginian swordsmen, who had sallied out, ran back through the gates, closed them, and mounted the walls. This gave new and severe labor to the Romans. Scipio, who, as commanding general, was everywhere, giving orders and cheering on his men, had noticed that, at the place where the wall was low and washed by the lagoon, the sea retired about midday. That was the daily ebb tide, for at one time of day the waves were up to one’s breast; at another they were not knee high. When Scipio observed this, after ascertaining the nature of the tidal movement and that it would be low water for the rest of the day, he darted hither and thither, exclaiming: Now, soldiers, now is our chance. Now the deity comes to my aid. Attack that part of the wall where the sea has made way for us. Bring the ladders. I will lead you.

He was the first to seize a ladder and carry it into the lagoon, and he began to mount where nobody else had yet attempted to do so. But his armor-bearers and other soldiers surrounded him and held him back, while they brought a great number of ladders together, planted them against the wall, and began to mount. Amid shouts and clamor on all sides, giving and receiving blows, the Romans finally prevailed and succeeded in occupying some of the towers, where Scipio placed trumpeters and ordered them to sound a blast as though the city were already taken. This brought others to their assistance and created consternation among the enemy. Some of the Romans jumped down and opened the gates to Scipio, who rushed in with his army. Some of the inhabitants took refuge in their houses, but Mago drew up his 10,000 in the market-place. After most of these were cut down he fled with the remainder to the citadel, which Scipio immediately invested. When Mago saw that he could do nothing with his beaten and cowering force, he surrendered.

Having taken this rich and powerful city by audacity and good fortune in one day (the fourth after his arrival), he was greatly elated and it seemed more than ever that he was divinely inspired. He began to think so himself and to give it out to others, not only then, but all the rest of his life. At all events, he frequently went into the Capitol alone and closed the doors as though he were receiving counsel from the god. Even now in public processions they bring the image of Scipio alone out of the Capitol, all the others being taken from the Forum. In the captured city he obtained great stores of goods, useful in peace and war, many arms, darts, engines, dockyards containing thirty-three war-ships, corn, and provisions of various kinds, ivory, gold, and silver, some in the form of plate, some coined and some uncoined, also Spanish hostages and prisoners, and everything that had previously been captured from the Romans themselves. On the following day he sacrificed to the gods, celebrated the victory, praised the soldiers for their bravery, and after his words to his army made a speech to the townspeople in which he admonished them not to forget the name of the Scipios. He dismissed all the Spanish prisoners to their homes in order to conciliate the towns. He gave rewards to his soldiers for bravery, the largest to the one who first scaled the wall, half as much to the next, one-third as much to the next, and to the others according to their merit. The rest of the gold, silver, and ivory he sent to Rome in the captured ships. The city held a three days’ thanksgiving, because after so many trials their ancestral good fortune had shown itself once more. All Spain, and the Carthaginians who were there, were astounded at the magnitude and suddenness of this exploit.

Scipio placed a garrison in New Carthage and ordered that the wall which was washed by the tide should be raised to the proper height. He then moved against the rest of Spain, sending friends to conciliate where he could, and subduing the others. There were two Carthaginian generals still remaining, both named Hasdrubal. One of these, the son of Hamilcar, was recruiting an army of mercenaries far away among the Celtiberians. The other, the son of Gisco, sent messengers to the towns that were still faithful, urging them to maintain their Carthaginian allegiance, because an army of countless numbers would soon come to their assistance. He sent another Mago into the neighboring country to recruit mercenaries wherever he could, while he made an incursion into the territory of Lersa which had revolted, intending to lay siege to some town there. On the approach of Scipio he retreated to Baetica and encamped before that city. On the following day he was defeated by Scipio, who captured his camp and Baetica also.

Now this Hasdrubal ordered all the remaining Carthaginian forces in Spain to be collected at the city of Carmone to fight Scipio with their united strength. Hither came a great number of Spaniards under the lead of Mago, and of Numidians under Masinissa. Hasdrubal had the infantry in a fortified camp, Masinissa and Mago, who commanded the cavalry, bivouacking in front of it. Scipio divided his own horse so that Laelius should attack Mago while he himself should be opposed to Masinissa. This fight was for some time doubtful and severe to Scipio, since the Numidians discharged their darts at his men, then suddenly retreated, and then wheeled and returned to the charge. But when Scipio ordered his men to hurl their javelins and then pursue without intermission, the Numidians, having no chance to turn around, retreated to their camp. Here Scipio desisted from the pursuit and encamped in a strong position, which he had chosen, about ten stades from the enemy. The total strength of the enemy was 70,000 foot, 5000 horse, and thirty-six elephants. That of Scipio was not one-third of the number. For some time, therefore, he hesitated and did not venture a fight, except some light skirmishes.

When his supplies began to fail and hunger attacked his army, Scipio considered that it would be base to retreat. Accordingly he sacrificed, and bringing the soldiers to an audience immediately after the sacrifice, and putting on again the look and aspect of one inspired, he said that the deity had appeared to him in the customary way and told him to attack the enemy, and had assured him that it was better to trust in heaven than in the size of his army because his former victories were gained by divine favor rather than by numerical strength. In order to inspire confidence in his words he commanded the priests to bring the entrails into the assembly. While he was speaking he saw some birds flying overhead with great swiftness and clamor. Looking up he pointed them out and exclaimed this was a sign of victory which the gods had sent him. He followed their movement, gazing at them and crying out like one possessed. The whole army, as it saw him turning hither and thither, imitated his actions, and all were fired with the idea of certain victory. When he had everything as he wished he did not hesitate, nor permit their ardor to cool, but still as one inspired exclaimed: These signs tell us that we must fight at once. When they had taken their food he ordered them to arm themselves, and led them against the enemy, who were not expecting them, giving the command of the horse to Silanus and of the foot to Laelius and Marcius.

Hasdrubal, Mago, and Masinissa, when Scipio was coming upon them unawares, being only ten stades distant, and their soldiers not having taken their food, drew up their forces in haste, amid confusion and tumult. Battle being joined with both cavalry and infantry, the Roman horse prevailed over the enemy by the same tactics as before, by giving no respite to the Numidians (who were accustomed to retreat and advance by turns), thus making their darts of no effect by reason of their nearness. The infantry were severely pressed by the great numbers of the Africans and were worsted by them all day long, nor could Scipio stem the tide of battle, although he was everywhere cheering them on. Finally, giving his horse in charge of a boy, and snatching a shield from a soldier, he dashed alone into the space between the two armies, shouting: Romans, rescue your Scipio in his peril. Then those who were near seeing, and those who were distant hearing, what danger he was in, and all being in like manner moved by a sense of shame and fear for their general’s safety, charged furiously upon the enemy, uttering loud cries. The Africans were unable to resist this charge. They gave way, as their strength was failing for lack of food, of which they had had none all day. Then, for a short space of time, there was a terrific slaughter. Such was the result to Scipio of the battle of Carmone, although it had been for a long time doubtful. The Roman loss was 800; that of the enemy 15,000.

After this engagement the enemy retreated with all speed, and Scipio followed dealing blows and doing damage whenever he could overtake them. After they had occupied a stronghold, where there was plenty of food and water, and where nothing could be done but lay siege to them, Scipio was called away on other business. He left Silanus to carry on the siege while he went into other parts of Spain and subdued them. The Africans who were besieged by Silanus deserted their position and retreated again until they came to the straits and passed on to Gades. Silanus, having done them all the harm he could, rejoined Scipio at New Carthage. In the meantime Hasdrubal, the son of Hamilcar, who was still collecting troops along the Northern ocean, was called by his brother Hannibal to march in all haste to Italy. In order to deceive Scipio he moved along the northern coast, and passed over the Pyrenees into Gaul with the Celtiberian mercenaries whom he had enlisted. In this way he was hastening into Italy without the knowledge of the Italians.

Now Lucius [his brother], having returned from Rome, told Scipio that the Romans were thinking of sending the latter as general to Africa. Scipio had strongly desired this for some time and hoped that events might take this turn. Accordingly he sent Laelius with five ships to Africa on a mission to King Syphax, to make presents to him and remind him of the friendship of the Scipios, and ask him to join the Romans if they should make an expedition to Africa. He promised to do so, accepted the presents, and sent others in return. When the Carthaginians discovered this they also sent envoys to Syphax to seek his alliance. When Scipio heard of this, judging that it was a matter of importance to win and confirm the alliance of Syphax against the Carthaginians, he took Laelius and went over to Africa with two ships, to see Syphax in person.

When he was approaching the shore the Carthaginian envoys who were still with Syphax sailed out against him with their war-ships, without Syphax’s knowledge. But he spread his sails, outran them completely, and reached the harbor. Syphax entertained both parties, but he made an alliance with Scipio privately, and having exchanged pledges sent him away. He also detained the Carthaginians, who were again lying in wait for Scipio, until he was a good distance out to sea. So much danger did Scipio incur both going and returning. It is reported that at a banquet given by Syphax, Scipio reclined on the same couch with Hasdrubal and that the latter questioned him about many things, and was greatly impressed with his gravity, and afterwards said to his friends that Scipio was formidable not only in war but also at a feast.

At this time certain of the Celtiberians and Spaniards were still serving under Mago as mercenaries, although their towns had gone over to the Romans. Marcius set upon them, slew1500, and scattered the rest of them among their towns. He corralled 700 horse and 6000 foot of the same force, of whom Hanno was in command, on a hill. When they were reduced to extremities by hunger they sent messengers to Marcius to obtain terms. He told them first to surrender Hanno and the deserters, and then he would treat. Accordingly they seized Hanno, although he was their general and was listening to the conversation, and they delivered up the deserters. Then Marcius demanded the prisoners also. When he had received these he ordered them to bring a specified sum of money down to a certain point in the plain, because the high ground was not a suitable place for suppliants. When they had come down to the plain he said: You deserve to be put to death for adhering to the enemy and waging war against us after your country has espoused our side. Nevertheless, if you will lay down your arms, I will allow you to go unpunished. At this they were very angry and exclaimed with one voice that they would not lay down their arms. A severe engagement ensued in which about half of the Celtiberians fell, not unavenged, the other half escaping to Mago, who had arrived a little before at the camp of Hanno with sixty war-ships. When he learned of Hanno’s disaster he sailed to Gades and awaited the turn of events, meanwhile suffering from want of provisions.

While Mago lay here inert, Silanus was sent by Scipio to receive the submission of the city of Castax. When the inhabitants received him in a hostile manner, he encamped before it, and communicated the fact to Scipio. The latter sent him some siege engines and prepared to follow, but turned aside to attack the town of Ilurgia. This place had been an ally of the Romans in the time of the elder Scipio, but at his death changed sides secretly, and having given shelter to the Roman soldiers who had fled thither supposing it to be friendly, had delivered them up to the Carthaginians. To avenge this crime Scipio in his indignation took the place in four hours, and, although wounded in the neck, did not desist from the fight until he had conquered. The soldiers, for his sake, in their fury even forgot to plunder the town, but slew the whole population, including women and children, although nobody gave them any orders to do so, and did not desist until the whole place was razed to the ground. When he arrived at Castax, Scipio divided his army into three parts and invested the city. He did not press the siege, however, but gave the inhabitants time to repent, having heard that they were so disposed. The latter, having slain those of the garrison who objected and put down all opposition, surrendered the place to Scipio, who stationed a new garrison there and placed the town under the government of one of its own citizens, a man of high reputation. He then returned to New Carthage, and sent Silanus and Marcius to the straits to devastate the country as much as they could.

There was a town named Astapa which had been always and wholly of the Carthaginian party. Marcius laid siege to it, and the inhabitants foresaw that, if they were captured by the Romans, they would be reduced to slavery. Accordingly they brought all their valuables into the market-place, piled wood around them, and put their wives and children on the heap. They made fifty of their principal men take an oath that whenever they should see that the city must fall, they would kill the women and children, set fire to the pile, and slay themselves thereon. Then calling the gods to witness what they had done, they sallied out against Marcius, who did not anticipate anything of the kind. For this reason they easily repulsed the light-armed troops and cavalry whom they met. When they became engaged with the legionaries, they still had the best of it, because they fought with desperation. Finally the Romans overpowered them by sheer numbers, for the Astapians certainly were not inferior to them in bravery. When they had all fallen, the fifty who remained behind slew the women and children, kindled the fire, and flung themselves on it, thus leaving the enemy a barren victory. Marcius, in admiration of the bravery of the Astapians, spared the houses.

After this Scipio fell sick, and the command of the army devolved on Marcius. Some of the soldiers, who had squandered their means in riotous living, and who thought that because they had nothing they had found no fit compensation for their toils, but that Scipio was appropriating all the glory of their deeds, seceded from Marcius and went off and encamped by themselves. Many from the garrisons joined them. Messengers came to them from Mago, bringing money and inviting them to revolt to him. They took the money, chose generals and centurions from their own number, made other arrangements to their liking, put themselves under military discipline, and exchanged oaths with each other. When Scipio learned this, he sent word to the seceders separately that on account of his sickness he had not yet been able to remunerate them for their services. He urged others to try and win back their erring comrades. He also sent a letter to all the soldiers in common, as though they had already been reconciled, saying that he was about ready to discharge his debt to them, and telling them to come to New Carthage and get their provisions.

Upon reading these letters, some thought that they were not to be trusted. Others put faith in them. Finally they came to an agreement that all should go to New Carthage together. When they were coming, Scipio enjoined upon those senators who were with him that each one should attach himself to some one of the leaders of the sedition as they came in, as if to admonish him in a friendly way, should then make him his guest, and quietly secure him. He also ordered the military tribunes that each should have his most faithful soldiers in readiness at daylight unobserved, with their swords, and station them at intervals in convenient places about the assembly, and if any tumult should arise, to draw their weapons and kill at once, without waiting for orders. Shortly after daybreak, Scipio was conveyed to the tribunal, and he sent the heralds around to summon the soldiers to the place of meeting. The call was unexpected to them and they were ashamed to keep their sick general waiting. They thought also that they were only called to get their rewards. So they came running together from all sides, some without their swords others dressed only in their tunics, not having had time to put on all their clothing, by reason of their haste.

Scipio, having a guard around himself that was not observed, first accused them of their misdeeds. Nevertheless, he said, the blame belongs only to the authors of the conspiracy, whom I will punish with your help. He had scarcely said this when he ordered the lictors to divide the crowd in two parts, and when they had done so the senators dragged the guilty leaders into the middle of the assembly. When they cried out and called their comrades to their aid, every one who uttered a word was killed by the tribunes. The rest of the crowd, seeing that the assembly was surrounded by armed men, remained in sullen silence. Then Scipio caused the wretches who had been dragged to the middle space to be beaten with rods, those who had cried for help being beaten hardest, after which he ordered that their necks should be fastened to stakes driven in the ground and their heads cut off. The heralds proclaimed pardon to the rest. In this way was the mutiny in Scipio’s camp put down.

While the mutiny was going on in the Roman army, a certain Indibilis, one of the chiefs who had come to an understanding with Scipio, made an incursion into the territory of Scipio’s allies. When Scipio marched against him he made a very stiff fight, and killed some1200 of the Romans, but having lost 20,000 of his own men he sued for peace. Scipio made him pay a fine, and then came to an agreement with him. At this time also Masinissa crossed the straits, without the knowledge of Hasdrubal, and established friendly relations with Scipio, and swore to join him if the war should be carried into Africa. This man remained faithful under all circumstances and for the following reason. The daughter of Hasdrubal had been betrothed to him while he was fighting under the latter’s command. But King Syphax was desperately in love with the same girl, and the Carthaginians, considering it a matter of great moment to secure Syphax against the Romans, gave her to him without consulting Hasdrubal. The latter, when he heard of it, concealed it from Masinissa out of regard for him. When Masinissa learned the facts he made an alliance with Scipio. Mago, the admiral, despairing of Carthaginian success in Spain, sailed to the country of the Ligurians and the Gauls to recruit mercenaries. While he was absent on this business the Romans took possession of Gades, which he had abandoned.

From this time, which was a little before the 144th Olympiad, the Romans began to send praetors to Spain yearly to the conquered nations as governors or superintendents to keep the peace. Scipio left them a small force suitable for a peace establishment, and settled his sick and wounded soldiers in a town which he named Italica after Italy, and this was the native place of Trajan and Hadrian, who afterwards became emperors of Rome. Scipio himself sailed for Rome with a large fleet magnificently arrayed, and loaded down with captives, money, arms, and all kinds of booty. The city gave him a glorious reception, bestowing noble and unprecedented honors upon him on account of his youth and the rapidity and greatness of his exploits. Even those who envied him acknowledged that his boastful promises of long ago were realized in facts. And so, admired by all, he was awarded the honor of a triumph. As soon as Scipio departed from Spain, Indibilis rebelled again. The generals in Spain, collecting together an army from the garrisons and such forces as they could obtain from the subject tribes, defeated and slew him. Those who were guilty of inciting the revolt were brought to trial, and punished with loss of goods and death. The tribes that took sides with Indibilis were fined, deprived of their arms, required to give hostages, and placed under stronger garrisons. These things happened just after Scipio’s departure. And so the first war undertaken by the Romans in Spain came to an end.

Subsequently, when the Romans were at war with the Gauls on the Po, and with Philip of Macedon, the Spaniards attempted another revolution, thinking the Romans now too distracted to heed them. Sempronius Tuditanus and Marcus Helvius were sent from Rome as generals against them, and after them Minucius. As the disturbance became greater, Cato was sent in addition, with larger forces. He was still a very young man, austere, laborious, and of such solid understanding and superb eloquence that the Romans called him Demosthenes for his speeches, for they learned that Demosthenes had been the greatest orator of Greece.

When Cato arrived in Spain at the place called Emporia, the enemy from all quarters assembled against him to the number of 40,000. He took a short time to discipline his forces. When he was about to fight he sent away the ships which he had brought, to Massilia. Then he told his soldiers that they had not so much to fear from the superior lumbers of the enemy (for courage could always overcome numbers), as from their own want of ships, so that there was no safety for them unless they beat the enemy. With these words he had not inspired his army, as would other generals, with hope — but with fear; then he ordered an engagement. But when battle was joined he flew hither and thither exhorting and cheering his troops. When the conflict had continued doubtful till evening and many had fallen on both sides, he ascended a high hill with three cohorts of the reserve, where he could overlook the whole field. When he saw the centre of his own line sorely pressed he sprang to their relief, exposing himself to danger, and broke the ranks of the enemy with a charge and a shout, and here his victory began. He pursued them the whole night, captured their camp, and slew a vast number. Upon his return the soldiers congratulated and embraced him as the author of the victory. After this he gave the army a rest and sold the plunder.

Now envoys came to him from all sides, from whom he required hostages. To each of their towns he sent sealed letters, and he charged the bearers that they should all deliver the letters on one and the same day, for he had fixed the day by calculating how long it would take to reach the farthest town. The letters commanded the magistrates of all the towns to demolish their walls on the very day they received the order. If there was a day’s delay he threatened to sell them into slavery. They, having been lately vanquished in a great battle, and not knowing whether these orders had been sent to them alone or to all, were much perplexed, for if it were to them alone they felt that they were but weak objects of scorn, but if it were to the others also, they feared to be the only ones to delay. Wherefore, as they had no time to send to each other, and the officers who brought the letters urged them to obey, they decided to do so, each town consulting its own safety. And so they threw down their walls with all speed, for when they had once decided to obey they thought that those who did the work most expeditiously would receive most favor. Thus the towns along the river Iberus in one day, and by one act of generalship, levelled their own walls. Being less able to resist the Romans thereafter, they remained longer at peace.

Four Olympiads later, — that is, about the 150th Olympiad, — many Spanish tribes, having insufficient land, including the Lusones and others who dwelt along the river Iberus, revolted from the Roman rule. These being overcome in battle by the consul Fulvius Flaccus, the greater part of them scattered among their towns. The rest, being destitute of land and living a vagabond life, collected at Complega, a city newly built and fortified, and which had grown rapidly. Sallying out from this place they demanded that Flaccus should deliver to each of them a cloak, a horse, and a sword as recompense for their dead in the late war, and take himself out of Spain or suffer the consequences. Flaccus replied that he would bring them plenty of cloaks, and following closely after their messengers, he encamped before the city. Far from making good their threats, they took to their heels, plundering the neighboring barbarians on the road. These people wore a thick outer garment with a double fold which they fastened with a clasp after the manner of the military cloak, and they called it the sagum.

Flaccus was succeeded in the command by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, at which time the city of Caravis, which was in alliance with Rome, was besieged by 20,000 Celtiberians. As it was reported that the place was about to be taken Gracchus hastened all the more to relieve it. He could but circle about the besiegers, and had no means of communicating to the town his own nearness. Cominius, a prefect of horse, having considered the matter carefully, and communicated his plan to Gracchus, donned a Spanish sagum and secretly mingled with the enemy’s foragers. In this way he gained entrance to their camp as a Spaniard, and passed through it into Caravis and told the people that Gracchus was approaching. Wherefore they endured the siege patiently and were saved, for Gracchus arrived three days later, and the besiegers fled. About the same time the inhabitants of Complega, to the number of 20,000, came to Gracchus’ camp in the guise of petitioners bearing olive-branches, and when they arrived they attacked him unexpectedly, and threw everything into confusion. Gracchus adroitly abandoned his camp to them and simulated flight; then suddenly turning he fell upon them while they were plundering, killed most of them, and captured Complega and the surrounding country. Then he divided the land among the poor and settled them on it, and made carefully defined treaties with all the tribes, binding them to be the friends of Rome, and giving and receiving oaths to that effect. These treaties were often longed for in the subsequent wars. In this way Gracchus became celebrated both in Spain and in Rome, and was awarded a splendid triumph.

Some years later another serious war broke out in Spain for the following reason: Segeda, a large and powerful city of a Celtiberian tribe called the Belli, was included in the treaties made by Gracchus. It persuaded some of the smaller towns to settle in its own borders, and then surrounded itself with a wall forty stades in circumference. It also forced the Titthi, a neighboring tribe, to join in the undertaking. When the Senate learned this it forbade the building of the wall, demanded the tribute imposed by Gracchus, and ordered the inhabitants to furnish a contingent for the Roman army, for this was one of the stipulations of the treaty made with Gracchus. As to the wall they replied that the Celtiberians were forbidden by Gracchus to build new cities, but not forbidden to fortify existing ones. As to the tribute and the military contingent they said that they had been released from these requirements by the Romans themselves subsequently. This was true, but the Senate, when granting these exemptions, always added that they should continue only during the pleasure of the Roman people.

Accordingly the praetor Nobilior was sent against them with an army of nearly 30,000 men. When the Segedians learned of his coming, their wall not being yet finished, they fled with their wives and children to the Arevaci and begged that the latter would receive them. The Arevaci did so, and also chose a Segedian named Carus, whom they considered skilful in war, as their general. On the third day after his election he placed 20,000 foot and 500 horse in ambush in a dense forest and fell upon the Romans as they were passing through. The battle was for a long time doubtful, but in the end he gained a splendid victory, 6000 Roman citizens being slain. So great a disaster befell the city on that day. But while he was engaged in a disorderly pursuit after the victory, the Roman horse, who were guarding the baggage, fell upon him and killed Carus himself, who was performing prodigies of valor, and not less than 6000 others with him. Finally night put an end to the conflict. This disaster happened on the day on which the Romans are accustomed to celebrate the festival of Vulcan. For which reason, from that time on, no general will begin a battle on that day unless compelled to do so.

The Arevaci convened immediately, even in the night, at Numantia, which was a very strong city, and chose Ambo and Leuco as their generals. Three days later Nobilior advanced and pitched his camp twenty-four stades from the place. Here he was joined by 300 horse and ten elephants sent to him by Masinissa. When he moved against the enemy he placed these animals in the rear where they could not be seen. Then when battle was joined the army divided and brought the elephants into view. The Celtiberians and their horses, who had never seen elephants before, were thunderstruck and fled to the city. Nobilior advanced at once against the city walls, where the battle raged fiercely, until one of the elephants was struck on the head with a large falling stone, when he became savage, uttered a loud cry, turned upon his friends, and began to destroy everything that came in his way, making no distinction between friend and foe. The other elephants, excited by his cries, all began to do the same, trampling the Romans under foot, scattering and hurling them this way and that. This is always the way with elephants when they are enraged. Then they take everybody for foes; wherefore some people call them the common enemy, on account of their fickleness. The Romans took to disorderly flight. When the Numantines perceived this they sallied out and pursued them, killing about 4000 men and three elephants. They also captured many arms and standards. The loss of the Celtiberians was about 2000.

Nobilior, recovering a little from this disaster, made an attack upon the stores which the enemy had collected at the town of Axinium, but he accomplished nothing, and having lost many of his men there, he returned by night to his camp. Thence he sent Biesius, his master of horse, to secure the alliance of a neighboring tribe and to ask for assistance in the way of cavalry. They gave him some, and as he was returning with them the Celtiberians laid an ambush for him. The ambush was discovered and the allies escaped, but Biesius, who engaged the enemy, was killed and many of his soldiers with him. Under the influence of such a succession of disasters to the Romans, the town of Ocilis, where their provisions and money were stored, revolted to the Celtiberians. Then Nobilior in despair went into winter quarters in his camp, sheltering himself as well as he could. He suffered much from scantiness of supplies, having only what was inside the camp, and from heavy snowstorms and severe frost, so that many of his men perished while outside gathering wood, and others inside fell victims to confinement and cold.

The following year Claudius Marcellus succeeded Nobilior in the command, bringing with him 8000 foot and 500 horse. The enemy laid an ambush for him also, but he moved with circumspection and pitched his camp before Ocilis with his whole army. As he was renowned for good fortune in war, he brought the place to terms at once and granted it pardon, taking hostages and imposing a fine of thirty talents of silver. The Nergobriges, hearing of his moderation, sent and asked what they could do to obtain peace. In reply he ordered them to furnish him 100 horsemen as auxiliaries, and they promised to do so, but in the meantime they were attacking the rear guard of the Romans and carried off a lot of baggage. When the leaders of the hundred horse arrived according to agreement, and were interrogated about the attack on the rear guard, they replied that this had been done by some of their people who did not know of the agreement. Marcellus then put the hundred horsemen in chains, sold their horses, devastated their country, distributed the plunder to his soldiers, and besieged the city. When the Nergobriges saw the engines advanced and the mounds thrown up against their walls they sent a herald, who wore a wolf’s skin instead of bearing a caduceus, and begged forgiveness. Marcellus replied that he would not grant it unless all the Arevaci, the Belli, and the Titthi would ask it together. When these tribes heard of this, they sent ambassadors eagerly, and begged that Marcellus would let them off with a light punishment and renew the terms of the agreement made with Gracchus. This petition was opposed by some of the country people who had been incited to war by them.

Marcellus sent ambassadors from each party to Rome to carry on their dispute there. At the same time he sent private letters to the Senate urging peace. He desired that the war should be brought to an end by himself, thinking that he should gain glory thereby. Some of the ambassadors from the friendly faction on coming to the city were treated as guests, but, as was customary, those from the hostile faction lodged outside the walls. The Senate rejected the proposal of peace and took it ill that these people had refused terms to the Romans when they were asked by Nobilior, the predecessor of Marcellus. So they replied that Marcellus would announce the Senate’s decision to them. And now for the first time they chose an army for Spain by lot, instead of the customary levy, for since many had complained that they had been treated unjustly by the consuls in the enrolment, while others had been chosen for easy service, it was decided now to choose by lot. The consul Iicinius Lucullus was appointed to the command, and he had for his lieutenant Cornelius Scipio who was not long afterwards distinguished as the conqueror of Carthage and of Numantia.

While Lucullus was on the march Marcellus notified the Celtiberians of the coming war, and gave back the hostages in response to their request. Then he sent for the chief of the Celtiberian embassy in Rome and conferred with him privately a long time. From this circumstance it was then suspected, and was strongly confirmed by later events, that he sought to persuade them to put their affairs in his hands, because he tried in every way to bring the war to an end before the arrival of Lucullus. Directly after this conference 5000 of the Arevaci took possession of the city of Nergobriga. Marcellus marched against Numantia, encamped at a distance of five stades from it, and was driving the Numantines inside the walls when their leader Litenno halted and called out that he would like to have a conference with Marcellus. This being granted he said that the Belli, Titthi, and Arevaci would put themselves entirely in his hands. He was delighted to hear this and having demanded and received hostages and money, he let them go free. Thus the war with the Belli, the Titthi, and the Arevaci was brought to an end before Lucullus arrived.

Lucullus being greedy of fame and needing money, because he was in straitened circumstances, invaded the territory of the Vaccaei, another Celtiberian tribe, neighbors of the Arevaci, against whom war had not been declared by the Senate, nor had they ever attacked the Romans, or offended Lucullus himself. Crossing the river Tagus he came to the city of Cauca, and pitched his camp near it. The citizens asked him what he had come for and what occasion there was for war, and when he replied that he had come to aid the Carpetani whom the Vaccaei had maltreated they retired inside their walls, from which they sallied out and fell upon his wood-cutters and foragers, killing many and pursuing the remainder to the camp. When battle was joined the Caucaei, who resembled light-armed troops, had the advantage at first, but when they had expended all their darts they were obliged to fly, not being accustomed to a standing fight, and while forcing their way through the gates about 3000 of them were slain.

The next day the elders of the city came out wearing crowns on their heads and bearing olive-branches, and asked Lucullus what they should do to establish friendly relations. He replied that they must give hostages and 100 talents of silver, and furnish a contingent of horse to the Roman army. When all these demands had been complied with he asked that a Roman garrison should be admitted to the city. When the Caucaei assented to this he brought in 2000 soldiers carefully chosen, to whom he gave orders that when they were admitted they should occupy the walls. When this was (lone Lucullus introduced the rest of his army and ordered them at the sound of the trumpet to kill all the adult males of the Caucaei. The latter, invoking the gods who preside over promises and oaths, and upbraiding the perfidy of the Romans, were cruelly slain, only a few out of 20,000 escaping by leaping down the sheer walls at the gates. Lucullus sacked the city and brought infamy upon the Roman name. The rest of the barbarians collecting together from the fields took refuge among inaccessible rocks or in the most strongly fortified towns, carrying away what they could, and burning what they were obliged to leave, so that Lucullus should not find any plunder.

The latter, having traversed a long stretch of deserted country, came to the city of Intercatia where more than 20,000 foot and 2000 horse had taken refuge together. Lucullus very foolishly invited them to enter into a treaty. They reproached him with the slaughter of the Caucaei, and asked him whether he invited them to the same kind of a pledge that he had given to that people. He, like all guilty souls, being angry with his accusers instead of reproaching himself, laid waste their fields. Then he drew a line of siege around the city, threw up several mounds, and repeatedly set his forces in order of battle to provoke a fight. The enemy did not respond but fought with projectiles only. There was a certain barbarian distinguished by his splendid armor, who frequently rode into the space between the armies and challenged the Romans to single combat, and when nobody accepted the challenge he jeered at them, made insulting gestures, and went back. After he had done this several times, Scipio, who was still a youth, felt very much aggrieved, and springing forward accepted the challenge. Fortunately he won the victory over this giant although he was himself a man of small size.

This victory raised the spirits of the Romans, but the next night they were seized with panic. A body of the enemy’s horse who had gone out foraging before Lucullus arrived, returned and not finding any entrance to the city because it was surrounded by the besiegers, ran about shouting and creating disturbance while those inside the walls shouted back. These noises caused strange terror in the Roman camp. Their soldiers were sick from want of sleep, and because of the unaccustomed food which the country afforded. They had no wine, no salt, no vinegar, no oil, but lived on wheat and barley, and the flesh of deer and rabbits boiled without salt, which caused dysentery, from which many died. Finally when a mound was completed so that they could batter the enemy’s walls, they knocked down a section and rushed into the city, but they were speedily overpowered. Being compelled to retreat and being unacquainted with the ground, they fell into a reservoir where many perished. The following night the barbarians repaired their broken wall. As both sides were now suffering severely (for famine had fastened upon both), Scipio promised the barbarians that if they would make a treaty it should not be violated. They had so much confidence in his word that the war was brought to an end on these conditions: The Intercatii to give to Lucullus 10,000 cloaks, a certain number of cattle, and fifty hostages. As for the gold and silver that Lucullus was after (and for the sake of which he had waged this war, thinking that all Spain abounded with gold and silver), he got nothing. Not only did they have none, but these particular Celtiberians did not set any value on those metals.

He went next to Pallantia, a city more renowned for bravery, where many refugees had congregated, for which reason he was advised by some to pass by without making an attempt upon it. Put, having heard that it was a rich place, he would not go away until the Pallantian horse, by incessantly harassing his foragers, prevented him from getting supplies. When his food was exhausted Lucullus withdrew his army, marching in the form of a square, and pursued by the Pallantians as far as the river Durius. From that place the Pallantians returned by night to their own country. Lucullus passed into the territory of the Turditani, and went into winter quarters. This was the end of the war with the Vaccaei, which was waged by Lucullus without the authority of the Roman people, but he was never called to account for it.

At this time another part of autonomous Spain called Lusitania, under Punicus as leader, was ravaging the fields of the Roman subjects and having put to flight their praetors (first Manilius and then Calpurnius Piso), killed 6000 Romans and among them Terentius Varro, the quaestor. Elated by this success Punicus swept the country as far as the ocean, and joining the Vettones to his army he laid siege to the Blastophœnicae, who were Roman subjects. It is said that Hannibal, the Carthaginian, brought among these people settlers from Africa, from whence they derived their name. Here Punicus was struck on the head with a stone and killed. He was succeeded by a man named Caesarus. The latter joined battle with Mummius, who came from Rome with another army, was defeated and put to flight, but as Mummius was pursuing him in a disorderly way, he rallied and slew about 9000 Romans, recaptured the plunder they had taken from him as well as his own camp, and took that of the Romans also, together with many arms and standards which the barbarians in derision carried throughout all Celtiberia.

Mummius took his 5000 remaining soldiers and drilled them in camp, not daring to go out into the plain until they should have recovered their courage. While he was watching his opportunity the barbarians passed by, carrying a part of the booty they had captured. He fell upon them suddenly, slew a large number, and recaptured the plunder and the standards. Some of the Lusitanians on the other side of the Tagus, under the leadership of Caucenus, being incensed against the Romans, invaded the Cunei, who were Roman subjects, and captured their large city, Conistorgis, and near the Pillars of Hercules they crossed over the straits, and some of them overran part of Africa, while others laid siege to the city of Ocile. Mummius followed them with 9000 foot and 500 horse, and slew about 15,000 of them who were engaged in plundering, and a few of the others, and raised the siege of Ocile. Falling in with a party who were carrying off booty he slew all of them, so that not one was left to bear the tidings of the disaster. All the booty that it was possible to carry he divided among the soldiers. The rest he devoted to the gods of war and burned. Having accomplished these results, Mummius returned to Rome and was awarded a triumph.

He was succeeded in the command by Marcus Atilius, who made an incursion among the Lusitanians and killed about 700 of them and took their largest city, called Oxthracae. This so terrified the neighboring tribes that they all made terms of surrender. Among these were some of the Vettones, a nation adjoining the Lusitanians. But when he went away into winter quarters they all forthwith revolted and besieged some of the Roman subjects. Servius Galba, the successor of Atilius, hastened to relieve them. Having marched 500 stades in one day and night, he came in sight of the Lusitanians and sent his tired army into battle instantly. Fortunately he broke the enemy’s ranks, but he imprudently followed the fugitives, the pursuit being feeble and disorderly on account of the fatigue of his men. When the barbarians saw them scattered, and by turns stopping to rest, they rallied and fell upon them and killed about 7000. Galba, with the cavalry he had about him, fled to the city of Carmone. There he received the fugitives, and having collected allies to the number of 20,000 he moved to the territory of the Cunei, and wintered at Conistorgis.

Lucullus, who had made war on the Vaccaei without authority, was wintering in Turditania. When he discovered that the Lusitanians were making incursions in his neighborhood he sent out some of his best lieutenants and slew about 4000 of them. He killed1500 others while they were crossing the straits near Gades. The remainder took refuge on a hill and he drew a line of circumvallation around it and captured an immense number of them. Then he invaded Lusitania and gradually depopulated it. Galba did the same on the other side. When some of their ambassadors came to him desiring to renew the treaty made with Atilius, his predecessor in the command, though they had transgressed this treaty, he received them favorably, and made a truce and pretended to sympathize with them because they had been compelled by poverty to rob, make war, and break their engagements. For, of course, said he, poorness of soil and penury forced you to do these things. If you wish to be friendly, I will give you good land for your poor people and settle them in three divisions, in a fertile country.

Beguiled by these promises they left their own habitations and came together at the place where Galba directed. He divided them into three parts, and showing to each division a certain plain, he commanded them to remain in this open country until he should assign them their places. Then he came to the first division and told them as friends to lay down their arms. When they had done so he surrounded them with a ditch and sent in soldiers with swords who slew them all, they, meanwhile, crying aloud and invoking the names and faith of the gods. In like manner he hastened to the second and third divisions and destroyed them while they were still ignorant of the fate of the first. Thus he avenged treachery with treachery in a manner unworthy of a Roman, but imitating barbarians. A few escaped, among them Viriathus, who not long afterward became the leader of the Lusitanians and killed many Romans and performed the greatest exploits, which I shall relate hereafter. Galba, being even more greedy than Lucullus, distributed a little of the plunder to the army and a little to his friends and kept the rest himself, although he was already one of the richest of the Romans. Not even in time of peace, they say, did he abstain from lying and perjury in order to get gain. Although generally hated, and called to account for his rascalities, he escaped punishment by means of his wealth.

Not long afterward those who had escaped the villany of Lucullus and Galba, having collected together to the number of 10,000, overran Turditania. Gaius Vetilius marched against them, bringing a new army from Rome and taking also the soldiers already in Spain, so that he had about 10,000 men. He fell upon their foragers, killed many of them, and forced the rest into a place where, if they stayed, they were in danger of famine, and if they came out would fall into the hands of the Romans. Being in these straits they sent messengers to Vetilius with olive-branches asking land for a dwelling-place, and agreeing from that time on to obey the Romans in all things. He promised to give them the land, and an agreement was nearly made to that effect when Viriathus, who had escaped the perfidy of Galba and was then among them, reminded them of the bad faith of the Romans, told them how the latter had often set upon them in violation of oaths, and how this whole army was composed of men who had escaped from the perjuries of Galba and Lucullus. If they would obey him, he said, he would show them a safe retreat from this place.

Excited by the new hopes with which he inspired them, they chose him as their leader. He drew them up in line of battle as though he intended to fight, but gave them orders that when he should mount his horse they should scatter in every direction and make their way by different routes to the city of Tribola and there wait for him. He chose 1000 only whom he commanded to stay with him. These arrangements having been made, they all fled as soon as Viriathus mounted his horse, Vetilius was afraid to pursue those who had scattered in so many different ways, but turning towards Viriathus who was standing there and apparently waiting a chance to attack, joined battle with him. The latter, having very swift horses, harassed the Romans by attacking, then retreating, again standing still and again attacking, and thus consumed the whole of that day and the next dashing around on the same field. As soon as he conjectured that the others had made good their escape, he hastened away in the night by devious paths and arrived at Tribola with his nimble steeds, the Romans not being able to follow him at an equal pace by reason of the weight of their armor, their ignorance of the roads, and the inferiority of their horses. Thus did Viriathus, in an unexpected way, rescue his army from a desperate situation. This feat, coming to the knowledge of the various tribes of that vicinity, brought him fame and many reënforcements from different quarters, and enabled him to wage war against the Romans for eight years.

It is my intention here to relate this war with Viriathus, so very harassing to the Romans and so badly managed by them, and to take up hereafter the other events that happened in Spain at the same time. Vetilius pursued him till he came to Tribola. Viriathus, having first laid an ambush in a dense thicket, retreated until Vetilius was passing through the place, when he turned, and those who were in ambush sprang up. On all sides they began killing the Romans, driving them over the cliffs and taking prisoners. Vetilius himself was taken prisoner; and the man who captured him, not knowing who he was, but seeing that he was old and fat, and considering him worthless, killed him. Of the 10,000 Romans, 6000 with difficulty made their way to the city of Carpessus on the seashore, which I think was formerly called by the Greeks Tartessus, and was ruled by King Arganthonius, who is said to have lived one hundred and fifty years. The soldiers, who made their escape to Carpessus, were stationed on the walls of the town by the quaestor who accompanied Vetilius, badly demoralized. Having asked and obtained 5000 allies from the Belli and Titthi, he sent them against Viriathus who slew them all, so that there was not one left to tell the tale. After that the quaestor remained quietly in the town waiting for help from Rome.

Viriathus overran the fruitful country of Carpetania without hinderance, and ravaged it until Caius Plautius came from Rome bringing 10,000 foot and1300 horse. Then Viriathus again feigned flight and Plautius sent 4000 men to pursue him but he turned upon them and killed all except a few. Then he crossed the river Tagus and encamped on a mountain covered with olive-trees, called Venus’ mountain. There Plautius overtook him, and eager to retrieve his misfortune, joined battle with him, but was defeated with great slaughter, and fled in disorder to the towns, and went into winter quarters in midsummer not daring to show himself anywhere. Accordingly, Viriathus overran the whole country without check and required the owners of the growing crops to pay him the value thereof, or if they would not, he destroyed them.

When these facts became known at Rome, they sent Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, the son of Aemilius Paulus (who had conquered Perseus, the king of Macedonia), to Spain, having given him power to levy an army. As Carthage and Greece had been but recently conquered, and the third Macedonian war brought to a successful end, in order that he might spare the soldiers who had just returned from those places, he chose young men who had never been engaged in war before, to the number of two legions. He obtained additional forces from the allies and arrived at Orso, a city of Spain, having altogether 15,000 foot and about 2000 horse. As he did not wish to engage the enemy until his forces were well disciplined, he made a voyage through the straits to Gades in order to sacrifice to Hercules. In the meantime Viriathus fell upon his wood-cutters, killed many, and struck terror into the rest. His lieutenant coming out to fight, Viriathus defeated him also and captured a great booty. When Maximus returned, Viriathus drew out his forces repeatedly and offered battle. But Maximus declined an engagement with the whole army and continued to exercise his men, frequently sending out skirmishing parties, making trial of the enemy’s strength, and inspiring his own men with courage. When he sent out foragers he always placed a cordon of legionaries around the unarmed men and himself rode about the region with his cavalry. He had seen his father Paulus do this in the Macedonian war. Winter being ended, and his army well disciplined, he attacked Viriathus and was the second Roman general to put him to flight (although he fought valiantly), capturing two of his cities, one of which he plundered and the other burned. He pursued Viriathus to a place called Baecor, and killed many of his men, after which he wintered at Corduba.

Now Viriathus, being not so confident as before, detached the Arevaci, Titthi, and Belli, very warlike peoples, from their allegiance to the Romans, and these began to wage another war on their own account which was long and tedious to the Romans, and which was called the Numantine war from one of their cities. I shall give an account of this after finishing the war with Viriathus. The latter coming to an engagement in another part of Spain with Quintus, another Roman general, and being worsted, returned to the Venus mountain. From this he sallied and slew 1000 of Quintus’ men and captured some standards from them and drove the rest into their camp. He also drove out the garrison of Itucca and ravaged the country of the Bastitani. Quintus was unable to render them aid by reason of his timidity and inexperience, but went into winter quarters at Corduba in the middle of autumn, and frequently sent Caius Marcius, a Spaniard from the city of Italica, against him.

At the end of the year, Fabius Maximus Servilianus, the brother of Aemilianus, came to succeed Quintus in the command, bringing two new legions from Rome and some allies, so that his forces altogether amounted to about 18,000 foot and1600 horse. He wrote to Micipsa, king of the Numidians, to send him some elephants as speedily as possible. As he was hastening to Itucca with his army in divisions, Viriathus attacked him with 6000 troops with great noise and barbaric clamor, and wearing the long hair which in battles they are accustomed to shake in order to terrify their enemies, but he was not dismayed. He stood his ground bravely, and the enemy was driven off without accomplishing anything. When the rest of his army arrived, together with ten elephants and 300 horse from Africa, he established a large camp, advanced against Viriathus, defeated and pursued him. The pursuit became disorderly, and when Viriathus observed this as he fled he rallied, slew about 3000 of the Romans, and drove the rest to their camp. He attacked the camp also where only a few made a stand about the gates, the greater part hiding under their tents from fear, and being with difficulty brought back to their duty by the general and the tribunes. Here Fannius, the brother-in-law of Laelius, showed splendid bravery. The Romans were saved by the approach of darkness. But Viriathus continued to make incursions by night or in the heat of the day, appearing at every unexpected time with his light-armed troops and his swift horses to annoy the enemy, until he forced Servilianus back to Itucca.

Then at length Viriathus, being in want of provisions, and his army much reduced, burnt his camp in the night and returned to Lusitania. Servilianus did not overtake him, but fell upon the country of Baeturia and plundered five towns that had sided with Viriathus. After this he marched against the Cunaei, and thence to Lusitania once more, against Viriathus. While he was on the march two captains of robbers, Curius and Apuleius, with 10,000 men attacked the Romans, threw them into confusion, and captured some booty. Curius was killed in the fight, and Servilianus not long afterward recovered the booty and took the towns of Escadia, Gemella, and Obolcola, which had been garrisoned by Viriathus. Others he plundered and still others he spared. Having captured about 10,000 prisoners, he beheaded 500 of them and sold the rest as slaves. Then he went into winter quarters, having already been two years in the command. Having performed these labors, Servilianus returned to Rome and was succeeded in the command by Quintus Pompeius Aulus. The brother of the former, Maximus Aemilianus, having received the surrender of a captain of robbers, named Connoba, released him but cut off the hands of all of his men.

While following Viriathus, Servilianus laid siege to Erisana, one of his towns. Viriathus entered the town by night, and at daybreak fell upon those who were working in the trenches, compelling them to throw away their spades and run. In like manner he defeated the rest of the army, which was drawn up in order of battle by Servilianus, pursued it, and drove the Romans among some cliffs from which there was no chance of escape. Viriathus was not arrogant in the hour of victory, but considering this a favorable opportunity to bring the war to an end and win the great gratitude of the Romans, he made an agreement with them, and this agreement was ratified at Rome. Viriathus was declared to be a friend of the Roman people, and it was decreed that all of his followers should have the land which they then occupied. Thus the Viriathic war, which had been so extremely tedious to the Romans, seemed to have been settled satisfactorily and brought to an end.

The peace was not of long duration, for Caepio, brother of the Servilianus who had concluded it, and his successor in the command, complained of the treaty, and wrote home that it was most unworthy of the dignity of the Roman people. The Senate at first authorized him to annoy Viriathus according to his own discretion, provided it were done secretly. By persisting and continually sending letters he procured the breaking of the treaty and a renewal of open hostilities against Viriathus. When war was publicly declared Caepio took the town of Arsa, which Viriathus abandoned, and followed Viriathus himself (who fled and destroyed everything in his path) as far as Carpetania, the Roman forces being much stronger than his. Viriathus deeming it unwise to engage in battle, on account of the smallness of his army, ordered the greater part of it to retreat through a hidden defile, while he drew up the remainder on a hill as though he intended to fight. When he judged that those who had been sent before had reached a place of safety, he darted after them with such disregard of the enemy and such swiftness that his pursuers did not know whither he had gone. Caepio turned against the Vettones and the Callaici and wasted their fields.

Emulating the example of Viriathus many other guerilla bands made incursions into Lusitania and ravaged it. Sextus Junius Brutus, who was sent against them, despaired of following them through the extensive country bounded by the navigable rivers Tagus, Lethe, Durius, and Baetis, because he considered it extremely difficult to overtake them while flying from place to place after the manner of robbers, and yet disgraceful not to do so, and a task not very glorious even if he should conquer them. He therefore turned against their towns, thinking that thus he should take vengeance on them, and at the same time secure a quantity of plunder for his army, and that the robbers would scatter, each to his own place, when their homes were threatened. With this design he began destroying everything that came in his way. Here he found the women fighting and perishing in company with the men with such bravery that they uttered no cry even in the midst of slaughter. Some of the inhabitants fled to the mountains with what they could carry, and to these, when they asked pardon, Brutus granted it, taking their goods as a fine.

He then crossed the river Durius, carrying war far and wide and taking hostages from those who surrendered, until he came to the river Lethe, being the first of the Romans to think of crossing that stream. Passing over this he advanced to another river called the Nimis, where he attacked the Bracari because they had plundered his provision train. They were a very warlike people, the women bearing arms with the men, who fought never turning, never showing their backs, or uttering a cry. Of the women who were captured some killed themselves, others slew their children with their own hands, considering death preferable to captivity. There were some towns that surrendered to Brutus and soon afterwards revolted. These he reduced to subjection again.

One of the towns that often submitted and as often rebelled was Talabriga. When Brutus moved against it the inhabitants begged pardon and offered to surrender at discretion. He first demanded of them all the deserters, the prisoners, and the arms they had, and hostages in addition, and then he ordered them to vacate the town with their wives and children. When they had obeyed these orders, he surrounded them with his army and made a speech to them, telling them how often they had revolted and renewed the war against him. Having inspired them with fear and with the belief that he was about to inflict some terrible punishment on them, he ceased his reproaches. Having deprived them of their horses, provisions, public money, and other general resources, he gave them back their town to dwell in, contrary to their expectation. Having accomplished these results, Brutus returned to Rome. I have united these events with the history of Viriathus, because they were undertaken by other guerilla bands at the same time, and in emulation of him.

Viriathus sent his most trusted friends Audax, Ditalco, and Minurus to Caepio to negotiate terms of peace. The latter bribed them by large gifts and promises to assassinate Viriathus, which they did in this way. Viriathus, on account of his excessive cares and labors, slept but little, and for the most part took rest in his armor so that when aroused he should be prepared for every emergency. For this reason it was permitted to his friends to visit him by night. Taking advantage of this custom, those who were associated with Audax in guarding him entered his tent as if on pressing business, just as he had fallen asleep, and killed him by stabbing him in the throat, which was the only part of his body not protected by armor. The nature of the wound was such that nobody suspected what had been done. The murderers fled to Caepio and asked for the rest of their pay. For the present he gave them permission to enjoy safely what they had already received; as for the rest of their demands he referred them to Rome. When daylight came the attendants of Viriathus and the remainder of the army thought he was still resting and wondered at his unusually long repose, until some of them discovered that he was lying dead in his armor. Straightway there was grief and lamentation throughout the camp, all of them mourning for him, fearing for their own safety, thinking what dangers they were in, and of what a general they had been bereft. Most of all were they grieved that they could not find the perpetrators of the crime.

They arrayed the body of Viriathus in splendid garments and burned it on a lofty funeral pile. Many sacrifices were offered for him. Troops of horse and foot in armor marched around him singing his praises in barbarian fashion. Nor did they depart from the funeral pile until the fire had gone out. When the obsequies were ended, they had gladiatorial contests at his tomb. So great was the longing for Viriathus after his death — a man who had the highest qualities of a commander as reckoned among barbarians, always foremost in facing danger and most exact in dividing the spoils. He never consented to take the lion’s share, even when friends begged him to, but whatever he got he divided among the bravest. Thus it came about (a most difficult task and one never before achieved by any other commander so easily) that in the eight years of this war, in an army composed of various tribes, there never was any sedition, the soldiers were always obedient and fearless in the presence of danger. After his death they chose a general named Tantalus and made an expedition against Saguntum, the city which Hannibal had overthrown and reestablished and named New Carthage, after his own country. When they had been repulsed from that place and were crossing the river Baetis, Caepio pressed them so hard that Tantalus became exhausted and surrendered his army to Caepio on condition that they should be treated as subjects. The latter took from them all their arms and gave them sufficient land, so that they should not be driven to robbery by want. In this way the Viriathic war came to an end.

Our history returns to the war against the Arevaci and the Numantines, whom Viriathus stirred up to revolt. Caecilius Metellus was sent against them from Rome with a larger army and he subdued the Arevaci, falling upon them suddenly while they were gathering their crops. There still remained the two towns of Termantia and Numantia to engage his attention. Numantia was difficult of access by reason of two rivers and the ravines and dense woods that surrounded it. There was only one road to the open country and that had been blocked by ditches and palisades. The Numantines were first-rate soldiers, both horse and foot, there being about 8000 altogether. Although small in numbers, yet they gave the Romans great trouble by their bravery. At the end of winter Metellus surrendered to his successor, Quintus Pompeius Aulus, the command of the army, consisting of 30,000 foot and 2000 horse, admirably trained. While encamped against Numantia, Pompeius had occasion to go away somewhere. The Numantines made a sally against a body of his horse that was ranging after him and destroyed them. When he returned he drew up his army in the plain. The Numantines came down to meet him, but retired slowly as though intending flight, until they had drawn Pompeius to the ditches and palisades.

When he saw his forces wasted day by day in skirmishes with an enemy much inferior in numbers, he moved against Termantia as being an easier task. Here he engaged the enemy and lost 700 men; and one of his tribunes, who was bringing provisions to his army, was put to flight by the Termantines. In a third engagement the same day they drove the Romans into a rocky place where many of their infantry and cavalry with their horses were forced down a precipice. The remainder, panic-stricken, passed the night under arms. At daybreak the enemy came out and a regular battle was fought which lasted all day with equal fortune. Night put an end to the conflict. Thence Pompeius marched against a small town named Malia, which was garrisoned by Numantines. The inhabitants slew the garrison by treachery and delivered the town to Pompeius. He required them to surrender their arms and give hostages, after which he moved to Sedatania, which a robber chief named Tanginus was plundering. Pompeius overcame him and took many of his men prisoners. So high-spirited were these robbers that none of the captives would endure servitude. Some killed themselves, others killed those who had bought them, and others scuttled the ships that carried them away.

Pompeius, coming back to the siege of Numantia, endeavored to turn the course of a certain river in order to reduce the city by famine. The inhabitants harassed him while he was doing this work. They rushed out in crowds without giving any signal, and assaulted those who were working on the river, and hurled darts at those who came to their assistance from the camp, and finally shut the Romans up in their own fortification. They also attacked the foragers and killed many, and among them Oppius, a military tribune. They made an assault in another quarter on a party of Romans who were digging a ditch, and killed about 400 of them including their leader. About this time certain counsellors came to Pompeius from Rome, together with an army of new recruits, still raw and undisciplined, to take the places of the soldiers who had served their six years. Pompeius, being put to shame by so many disasters, and desiring to wipe out the disgrace, remained in camp in the winter time with these raw recruits. The soldiers, being exposed to severe cold without shelter, and unaccustomed to the water and climate of the country, fell sick with dysentery and many died. A detachment having gone out for forage, the Numantines laid an ambuscade near the Roman camp and provoked them to a skirmish. The latter, not enduring the affront, sallied out against them. Then those who were in ambush sprang up, and many of the common soldiers and many of the nobility lost their lives. Finally the Numantines encountered the foraging party on its return and killed many of those also.

Pompeius, being cast down by so many misfortunes, marched away with his senatorial council to the towns to spend the rest of the winter, expecting a successor to come early in the spring. Fearing lest he should be called to account, he made overtures to the Numantines secretly for the purpose of bringing the war to an end. The Numantines themselves, being exhausted by the slaughter of so many of their bravest men, by the loss of their crops, by want of food, and by the length of the war, which had been protracted beyond expectation, sent legates to Pompeius. He publicly advised them to surrender at discretion, because no other kind of treaty seemed worthy of the dignity of the Roman people, but privately he told them what terms he should impose. When they had come to an agreement and the Numantines had given themselves up, he demanded and received from them hostages, together with the prisoners and deserters. He also demanded thirty talents of silver, a part of which they paid down and the rest he agreed to wait for. His successor, Marcus Popillius Laena, had arrived when they brought the last instalment. Pompeius being no longer under any apprehension concerning the war, since his successor was present, and knowing that he had made a disgraceful peace and without authority from Rome, began to deny that he had come to any understanding with the Numantines. The latter proved the contrary by witnesses who had taken part in the transaction, senators, and his own prefects of horse and military tribunes. Popillius sent them to Rome to carry on the controversy with Pompeius there. The case was brought before the Senate, and the Numantines and Pompeius debated it there. The Senate decided to continue the war. Thereupon Popillius attacked the Lusones who were neighbors of the Numantines, but he accomplished nothing, and on the arrival of his successor in office, Hostilius Mancinus, he returned to Rome.

Mancinus had frequent encounters with the Numantines in which he was worsted, and finally, after great loss, took refuge in his camp. On a false rumor that the Cantabri and Vaccaei were coming to the aid of the Numantines, he became alarmed, extinguished his fires, and fled in the darkness of night to a desert place where Nobilior once had a camp. Being shut up in this place at daybreak without preparation or fortification and surrounded by Numantines, who threatened all with death unless he made peace, he agreed to terms like those previously made between the Romans and Numantines. To this agreement he bound himself by an oath. When these things were known at Rome there was great indignation at this most ignominious treaty, and the other consul, Aemilius Lepidus, was sent to Spain, Mancinus being called home to stand trial. The Numantine ambassadors followed him thither. Aemilius becoming tired of idleness while awaiting the decision from Rome (for some men sought the command, not for the advantage of the city, but for glory, or gain, or the honor of a triumph), falsely accused the Vaccaei of supplying the Numantines with provisions during the war. Accordingly he ravaged their country and laid siege to their principal city, Pallantia, which had in no way violated the treaty, and he persuaded Brutus, his brother-in-law, who had been sent to Farther Spain (as I have before related), to join him in this undertaking.

Here they were overtaken by Cinna and Caecilius, messengers from Rome, who said that the Senate was at a loss to know why, after so many disasters had befallen them in Spain, Aemilius should be seeking a new war, and they placed in his hands a decree warning him not to attack the Vaccaei. But he, having actually begun the war, considered that the Senate was ignorant of that, and of the fact that Brutus was coöperating with him, and that the Vaccaei had aided the Numantines with provisions, money, and men. Accordingly he made answer that it would be dangerous to abandon the war, since nearly all Spain would rebel if they should imagine that the Romans were afraid. He sent Cinna’s party home without having accomplished their errand, and he wrote in this sense to the Senate. After this he began, in a fortified place, to construct engines and collect provisions. While he was thus engaged, Flaccus, who had been sent out on a foraging expedition, found himself in an ambuscade but he saved himself by a trick. He cunningly spread a rumor among his men that Aemilius had captured Pallantia. The soldiers raised a shout of victory. The barbarians, hearing it and thinking that the report was true, withdrew. In this way Flaccus rescued his convoy from danger.

The siege of Pallantia was long protracted, the food supply of the Romans failed, and they began to suffer from hunger. All their animals perished and many of the men died of want. The generals, Aemilius and Brutus, kept heart for a long time. Being compelled to yield at last, they gave an order suddenly one night, about the last watch, to retreat. The tribunes and centurions ran hither and thither to hasten the movement, so as to get them all away before daylight. Such was the confusion that they left behind everything, and even the sick and wounded, who clung to them and besought them not to abandon them. Their retreat was disorderly and confused and much like a flight, the Pallantines hanging on their flanks and rear and doing great damage from early dawn till evening. When night came the Romans, worn with toil and hunger, threw themselves on the ground by companies just as it happened, and the Pallantines, moved by some divine interposition, went back to their own country. And this was what happened to Aemilius.

When these things were known at Rome, Aemilius was deprived of his command and consulship, and when he returned to Rome as a private citizen he was fined besides. The dispute before the Senate between Mancinus and the Numantine ambassadors was still going on. The latter exhibited the treaty they had made with Mancinus; he, on the other hand, put the blame on Pompeius, his predecessor in the command, who had turned over to him a worthless and ill-provided army, with which Pompeius himself had often been beaten, and so had made a similar treaty with the Numantines. He added that the war had been under bad omens, for it had been decreed by the Romans in violation of these agreements. The senators were equally incensed against both, but Pompeius escaped because he had been tried for this offence long before. They decided to deliver Mancinus to the Numantines for making a disgraceful treaty without their authorization. In this they followed the example of the fathers, who once delivered to the Samnites twenty generals who had made similar treaties without authority. Mancinus was taken to Spain by Furius, and delivered naked to the Numantines, but they refused to receive him. Calpurnius Piso was chosen general against them, but he did not march against Numantia. He made an incursion into the territory of Pallantia, and having collected a small amount of plunder, spent the rest of his term of office in winter quarters in Carpetania.

The Roman people being tired of this Numantine war, which was protracted and severe beyond expectation, elected Cornelius Scipio, the conqueror of Carthage, consul again, believing that he was the only man who could subdue the Numantines. As he was still under the consular age the Senate voted, as was done when Scipio was appointed general against the Carthaginians, that the tribunes of the people should repeal the law respecting the age limit, and reënact it for the following year. Thus Scipio was made consul a second time and hastened to Numantia. He did not take any army by levy because the city was exhausted by so many wars, and because there were plenty of soldiers in Spain. With the Senate’s consent he took a certain number of volunteers sent to him by cities and kings on the score of private friendship. To these were added 500 of his clients and friends whom he joined in one body and called it the troop of friends. All these, about 4000 in number, he put under marching orders in charge of Buteo, his nephew, while he went in advance with a small escort to the army in Spain, having heard that it was full of idleness, discord, and luxury, and well knowing that he could never overcome the enemy unless he should first bring his own men under strict discipline.

When he arrived he expelled all traders and harlots; also the soothsayers and diviners, whom the soldiers were continually consulting because they were demoralized by defeat. For the future he forbade the bringing in of anything not necessary, or any victims for purposes of divination. He ordered all wagons and their superfluous contents to be sold, and all pack animals, except such as he designated, to remain. For cooking utensils it was permitted to have only a spit, a brass kettle, and one cup. Their food was limited to plain boiled and roasted meats. They were forbidden to have beds, and Scipio was the first one to sleep on straw. He forbade them to ride on mules when on the march; for what can you expect in a war, said he, from a man who is not able to walk? Those who had servants to bathe and anoint them were ridiculed by Scipio, who said that only mules, having no hands, needed others to rub them. Thus in a short time he brought them back to good order. He accustomed them also to respect and fear himself by being difficult of access and sparing of favors, especially favors contrary to regulations. He often said that those generals who were severe and strict in the observance of law were serviceable to their own men, while those who were easy-going and bountiful were useful only to the enemy. The soldiers of the latter, he said, might be joyous but insubordinate, while the others, although downcast, would be obedient and ready for all emergencies.

He did not venture to engage the enemy until he had trained his men by many laborious exercises. He traversed all the neighboring plains, and daily fortified new camps one after another, and then demolished them, dug deep trenches and filled them up again, constructed high walls and overthrew them, personally overlooking the work from morning till night. In order to prevent the men from straggling while on the march, as heretofore, he always moved in the form of squares, and no one was allowed to change the place assigned to him. Moving around the line of march he often visited the rear and caused horsemen to dismount and give their places to the sick, and when the mules were overburdened he made the foot soldiers carry a part of the load. When he had come to the end of the day’s march he required those who had formed the vanguard during the day to deploy around the camping-place, and a body of horse to scour the country, while the rest performed their allotted tasks, some digging the trench, others building the rampart, and others pitching the tents. He also fixed the time within which these tasks must be finished, and kept an accurate account thereof.

When he judged that the army was alert, obedient to himself, and patient in labor, he moved his camp near to Numantia. He did not place advance guards in fortified stations, as some do, because he did not wish to divide his army as yet, lest he should meet some disaster at the outset and gain the contempt of the enemy, who had so long despised the Romans. Nor did he proceed at once to attack the enemy because he was still studying the nature of this war, watching his opportunity, and trying to discover the plans of the Numantines. In the meantime he foraged through all the fields behind his camp and cut down the unripe grain. When those fields had been harvested and it was necessary to move forward, and a short road to Numantia was found across the country which many advised him to take, he said: What I am afraid of is the coming back. Our enemies are very nimble. They can dart out of the city and dart back again, while our men, like soldiers who return from foraging, will be tired out with the booty, the wagons, and the burdens they bring. For this reason the fighting will be severe and unequal. If we are beaten the danger will be serious, and if victorious, neither the glory nor the gain will be great. It is foolish to incur danger for small results. He must be considered a reckless general who would fight before there is any need, while a good one takes risks only in cases of necessity. He added by way of simile that physicians do not cut and burn their patients till they have first tried drugs. Having spoken thus, he ordered his officers to take the longer road. Then he made some excursions beyond the camp and later advanced into the territory of the Vaccaei, from whom the Numantines bought their food supplies, cutting down everything, taking for himself what was useful as food, and piling the rest in heaps and burning it.

In a part of Pallantia called Complanio the Pallantians had concealed a large force just below the brow of a hill while others openly annoyed the Roman foragers. Scipio ordered Rutilius Rufus, a military tribune (who afterwards wrote a history of these transactions), to take four troops of horse and drive back the assailants. Rufus followed them too sharply when they retreated, and darted up the hill with the fugitives. When he discovered the ambush he ordered his troops not to pursue or attack the enemy further, but to stand on the defensive with their spears presented to the enemy and merely ward off their attack. Straightway Scipio, seeing that Rufus had exceeded his orders, and fearing for his safety, followed with all haste. When he discovered the ambush he divided his horse into two bodies and ordered them to charge the enemy on either side alternately, hurling their javelins all together and then retiring, not to the same spot from which they had advanced, but a little further back each time. In this way the horsemen were brought in safety to the plain. As he was shifting quarters and retiring again, he had to cross a river which was difficult to ford by reason of its muddy banks, and here the enemy had laid an ambush for him. Having learned this fact, he turned aside and took a route that was longer, and where there was no water supply. Here he marched by night on account of the heat and thirst, and dug wells which yielded for the most part only bitter water. He saved his men with extreme difficulty, but some of his horses and pack animals perished of thirst.

While passing through the territory of the Caucaei, whose treaty with the Romans Lucullus had violated, he made proclamation that they might return in safety to their own homes. Thence he came again to the Numantine territory and went into winter quarters. Here Jugurtha, the grandson of Masinissa, joined him with twelve elephants and the body of archers and slingers who usually accompanied them in war. While Scipio was constantly ravaging and plundering the neighboring country, the enemy laid an ambush for him at a certain village which was surrounded on nearly all sides by a marshy pool. On the remaining side was a ravine in which the ambuscading party was hidden. Scipio’s soldiers were divided so that one part entered the village to plunder it, leaving the standards outside, while another, but not large party, was coursing around it on horseback. The men in ambush fell upon the latter, who began a desperate fight. Scipio, who happened to be standing in front of the village near the standards, recalled by trumpet those who had gone inside, and before he had collected a thousand men went to the aid of the horsemen who were in difficulties. The greater part of those who were in the village rushed out and put the enemy to flight. He did not pursue the fugitives, however, but returned to the camp, a few having fallen on each side.

Not long afterwards he established two camps very near to Numantia and placed his brother Maximus in charge of one while he commanded the other. The Numantines came out in large numbers and offered battle, but he disregarded their challenge, not thinking it wise to engage in battle with men who were fighting in sheer desperation, but rather to shut them up and reduce them by famine. Placing seven towers around the city, he began the siege and wrote letters to each of the allied tribes, telling them what forces he desired them to send. When they came he divided them into several parts and afterwards subdivided his own army. Then he appointed a commander for each division and ordered them to surround the city with a ditch and palisade. The circumference of Numantia itself was twenty-four stades, that of the enclosing works more than twice as great. All of this space was carefully allotted to the several divisions, and he had given orders that if the enemy should make a sally anywhere they should signal to him by raising a red flag on a tall spear in the daytime or by a fire at night, so that he or Maximus might hasten to the aid of those who needed it. When this work was completed and he could effectually repel any assaults, he dug another ditch not far behind this one and fortified it with palisades and built a wall eight feet wide and ten feet high, exclusive of the parapets. He built towers along the whole of this wall at intervals of 100 feet. As it was not possible to carry the wall around the adjoining marsh he threw an embankment around it of the same height and thickness as the wall, to serve in place of it.

Thus Scipio was the first general, as I think, to throw a wall around a city which did not shun a battle in the open field. However, the river Durius, which took its course through the fortifications, was very useful to the Numantines for bringing provisions and sending men back and forth, some diving and others concealing themselves in small boats, some making their way with sail-boats when a strong wind was blowing, or with oars aided by the current. As he was not able to span it on account of its breadth and swiftness, Scipio built two towers in place of a bridge. To each of these towers he moored large timbers with ropes and set them floating across the river. The timbers were stuck full of knives and spear-heads, which were kept constantly in motion by the force of the stream dashing against them, so that the enemy were prevented from passing covertly, either by swimming, or diving, or sailing in boats. Thus was accomplished what Scipio especially desired, namely, that nobody could have any dealings with them, nobody could come in, and they could have no knowledge of what was going on outside. Thus they would be in want of provisions and apparatus of every kind.

When everything was ready and the catapults, ballistae, and other engines were placed on the towers, the stones, darts, and javelins collected on the parapets, and the archers and slingers in their places, he stationed messengers at frequent intervals along the entire wall to pass the word from one to another by day or night to let him know what was taking place. He gave orders to each tower that in any emergency the one that was first attacked should hoist a signal and that the others when they saw it should do the same, in order that he might be advised of the commotion quickly by signal, and learn the particulars afterward by messengers. The army, together with the native forces, now numbering some 60,000 men, he arranged so that one-half should guard the wall and in case of necessity go to any place where they should be wanted, 20,000 were to fight from the top of the wall when necessary, and the remaining 10,000 were kept in reserve. Each division had its place assigned, and it was not permitted to any to change without orders. Each man was to spring to the place assigned to him when any signal of an attack was given. So carefully was everything arranged by Scipio.

The Numantines made several attacks here and there upon those guarding the walls. Swift and terrible was the appearance of the defenders, the signals being everywhere hoisted, the messengers running, the defenders of the walls springing to their places in crowds, and the trumpets sounding on every tower, so that the whole circuit of fifty stades presented to all beholders a most formidable aspect. This circuit Scipio traversed each day and night for the purpose of inspection. He was convinced that the enemy thus enclosed, and unable to obtain food, arms, or succor from without, could not hold out very long.

In the meantime Rhetogenes, a Numantine, surnamed Caraunius, a man of the greatest valor, induced five of his friends to take an equal number of servants and horses, and cross the space between the two armies secretly, on a cloudy night, carrying a bridge made in sections. Arriving at the wall he and his friends sprang upon it, slew the guards on either side, sent back the servants, drew the horses up the bridge, and rode off to the towns of the Arevaci, bearing olive-branches and entreating them, as blood relations, to help the Numantines. The chiefs of the Arevaci, fearing the Romans, would not even listen to them, but sent them away immediately. There was a rich town named Lutia, distant 300 stades from Numantia, whose young men sympathized with the Numantines and urged their city to send them aid. The older citizens secretly communicated this fact to Scipio. Receiving this intelligence about the eighth hour, he marched thither at once with a numerous and well-equipped force. Surrounding the place about daylight, he demanded that the leaders of the young men should be delivered up to him. When the citizens replied that they had fled from the place, he sent a herald to tell them that if these men were not surrendered to him he would sack the city. Being terrified by this threat, they delivered them up, to the number of about 400. Scipio cut off their hands, withdrew his force, rode away, and was back in his own camp the next morning.

The Numantines, being oppressed by hunger, sent five men to Scipio to ask whether he would treat them with moderation if they would surrender. Their leader, Avarus, discoursed much about the prestige and bravery of the Numantines, and said that even now they had done no wrong, but had fallen into their present misery for the sake of their wives and children, and for the freedom of their country. Wherefore, O Scipio, he said, it is worthy of you, as a man renowned for virtue, to spare a brave and honorable race and to extend to us terms dictated by humanity, which we shall be able to bear, now that we have at last experienced a change of fortune. It rests not with us but with you whether you receive the surrender of our city on fair terms, or allow it to perish in a last struggle. When Avarus had thus spoken, Scipio (who knew from prisoners the state of affairs inside) said merely that they must surrender their arms and place themselves and their city in his hands. When this answer was made known, the Numantines, who were previously savage in temper because of their absolute freedom and quite unaccustomed to obey the orders of others, and were now wilder than ever and beside themselves by reason of their hardships, slew Avarus and the five ambassadors who had accompanied him, as bearers of evil tidings, and perhaps thinking that they had made private terms for themselves with Scipio.

Soon after this, all their eatables being consumed, having neither grain, nor flocks, nor grass, they began, as is frequently necessary in wars, to lick boiled hides. When these also failed, they boiled and ate the bodies of human beings, first of those who had died a natural death, chopping them in small bits for cooking. Afterwards being nauseated by the flesh of the sick, the stronger laid violent hands upon the weaker. No form of misery was absent. They were rendered savage in mind by their food, and their bodies were reduced to the semblance of wild beasts by famine, plague, long hair, and neglect. In this condition they surrendered themselves to Scipio. He commanded them the same day to bring their arms to a place designated by him, and on the following day to assemble at another place. But they put off the day, declaring that many of them still clung to liberty and desired to take their own lives. Wherefore they asked for a day to arrange for death.

Such was the love of liberty and of valor which existed in this small barbarian town. With only 8000 fighting men before the war began, how many and what terrible reverses did they bring upon the Romans! How many treaties did they make on equal terms with the Romans, which the latter would not consent to make with any other people! How often did they challenge to open battle the last general sent against them, who had an army of 60,000 men! But he showed himself more experienced in war than themselves, by refusing to join battle with wild beasts when he could reduce them by that invincible enemy, hunger. In this way alone was it possible to capture the Numantines, and in this way alone were they captured. Reflecting upon their small numbers and great sufferings, their valiant deeds and long endurance, it has occurred to me to narrate these particulars of the Numantine history. Many, directly after the surrender, killed themselves in whatever way they chose, some in one way and some in another. The remainder congregated on the third day at the appointed place, a strange and shocking spectacle. Their bodies were foul, their hair and nails long, and they were smeared with dirt. They smelt most horribly, and the clothes they wore were likewise squalid and emitted an equally foul odor. For these reasons they appeared pitiable even to their enemies. At the same time there was something fearful to the beholders in the expression of their eyes—an expression of anger, grief, toil, and the consciousness of having eaten human flesh.

Having reserved fifty of them for his triumph, Scipio sold the rest and razed the city to the ground. So this Roman general overthrew two most powerful cities, — Carthage, by decree of the Senate, on account of its greatness, its power, and its advantages by land and sea; Numantia, small and with a sparse population, the Romans knowing nothing about the transaction as yet. He destroyed the latter either because he thought that it would be for the advantage of the Romans, or because he was in a violent rage against the captives, or, as some think, in order to acquire the glory of two surnames from two great calamities. At any rate, the Romans to this day call him Africanus and Numantinus from the ruin he brought upon those two places. Having divided the territory of the Numantines among their near neighbors and transacted certain business in the other cities, threatening or fining any whom he suspected, he sailed for home.

The Romans, according to their custom, sent ten senators to the newly acquired provinces of Spain, which Scipio, or Brutus before him, had received in surrender, or had taken by force, to settle their affairs on a peace basis. At a later time, other revolts having taken place in Spain, Calpurnius Piso was chosen as commander. He was succeeded by Servius Galba. When the Cimbri invaded Italy, and Sicily was torn by the second servile war, the Romans were too much preoccupied to send soldiers to Spain, but sent legates who endeavored to settle affairs without war as far as they could. When the Cimbri were driven out Titus Didius was sent to Spain, and he slew about 20,000 of the Arevaci. He also removed Termesum, a large city always insubordinate to the Romans, from a place of security into the plain, and ordered the inhabitants to live without walls. He also besieged the city of Colenda and captured it nine months after he had invested it, and sold the inhabitants with their wives and children.

There was another city near Colenda inhabited by mixed tribes of Celtiberians who had been the allies of Marcus Marius in a war against the Lusitanians, and whom he had settled there five years before with the approval of the Senate. They were living by robbery on account of their poverty. Didius, with the concurrence of the ten legates who were still present, resolved to destroy them. Accordingly, he told their principal men that he would allot the land of Colenda to them because they were poor. Finding them very much pleased with this offer, he told them to communicate it to their people, and to come with their wives and children to the parcelling out of the land. When they had done so he ordered his soldiers to vacate their camp, and these people, whom he wanted to ensnare, to go inside, so that he might make a list of their names, the men on one register and the women and children on another, in order to know how much land should be set apart for them. When they had gone inside the ditch and palisade, Didius surrounded them with his army and killed them all, and for this he was honored with a triumph. At a later period, the Celtiberians having revolted again, Flaccus was sent against them and slew 20,000. The people of the town of Belgida were eager for revolt, and when their senate hesitated they set fire to the senate-house and burned the senators. When Flaccus arrived there he put the authors of this crime to death.

These are the events which I have found most worthy of mention in the relations of the Romans with the Spaniards until that time. At a later period, when the dissensions of Sulla and Cinna arose in Rome, and the country was torn with civil wars and hostile camps, Quintus Sertorius, one of Cinna’s party, who had been chosen to the command in Spain, stirred up that country against the Romans. He raised a large army, created a senate of his own friends after the manner of the Roman Senate, and marched towards Rome full of confidence and high courage, for he had been renowned for valor elsewhere. The Senate in great alarm sent against him their most famous generals, first Caecilius Metellus with a large army, and then Pompey with another army, in order to repel if possible this war from Italy, which was terribly distracted with civil strife. But Sertorius was murdered by Perpenna, one of his own partisans, who proclaimed himself general of the faction in place of Sertorius. Pompey slew Perpenna in battle, and so this war, which had greatly alarmed the Romans, came to an end; but I shall speak of this more particularly in my account of the civil wars of Sulla.

After the death of Sulla, Gaius Caesar was sent as praetor into Spain with power to make war wherever it was needful. All of those Spaniards who were doubtful in their allegiance, or had not yet submitted to the Romans, he brought under subjection by force and arms. Some, who afterwards rebelled, were subdued by his adopted son Octavius, surnamed Augustus. From that time it appears that the Romans have divided Iberia (which they now call Hispania) into three parts and sent a praetor to govern each, two being chosen annually by the Senate, and the third appointed by the emperor to hold office during his pleasure.

WHAT Hannibal the Carthaginian did to, and suffered from, the Romans during the sixteen years that he persisted in war against them, from his first march from Spain to Italy until he was recalled by the Carthaginians (their own city being in danger), and was then driven out by the Romans, this book will show. What Hannibal’s real reasons for that invasion were, as well as his public pretext, have been very clearly set forth in my Spanish history, yet I shall mention them here by way of reminder.

Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, the father of this Hannibal, was the commander of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily when they contended with the Romans for possession of that island. Being prosecuted by his enemies on a charge of maladministration, and fearing a conviction, he managed to get himself chosen general against the Numidians before he had settled his accounts. Having proved useful in this war and having secured the favor of the army by plunder and largesses, he passed over the straits into Spain and made an expedition against Gades without the authority of Carthage. From thence he sent much booty to Carthage in order to win the favor of the multitude so that if possible he might ward off censure on account of his command in Sicily. Having gained much territory and great glory he inspired the Carthaginians with a desire to possess the whole of Spain, and persuaded them that it would be an easy task. Thereupon the Saguntines and other Greeks who were settled in Spain had recourse to the Romans, and a boundary was fixed to the Carthaginian possessions in that country, namely, that they should not cross the river Iberus (Ebro), and a treaty to this effect was made between the Romans and the Carthaginians. After this, Hamilcar, while settling the affairs of Carthaginian Spain, was killed in battle, and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, succeeded him as general. The latter while hunting was killed by a slave whose master he had put to death.

After them this Hannibal was chosen by the army as the third commander in Spain because he seemed to have great aptitude and fondness for war. He was the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hasdrubal’s wife, a very young man whose early years had been passed in the company of his father and his brother-in-law. The people of Carthage confirmed his election as general. In this way Hannibal, whose history I am about to write, became the commander of the Carthaginians against the Spaniards. The enemies of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal in Carthage continued to persecute the friends of those men, despising Hannibal on account of his youth. The latter, believing that this persecution was originally directed against himself and that he might secure his own safety by means of his country’s fears, began to think about involving it in a great war. Believing, as was the fact, that a war between the Romans and Carthaginians once begun would last a long time, and that the undertaking would bring great glory to himself, even if he should fail (it was said, also, that he had been sworn on the altar by his father, while yet a boy, that he would be an eternal enemy of Rome), he resolved to cross the Iberus in defiance of the treaty. For a pretext he procured certain persons to make accusations against the Saguntines. By continually forwarding these accusations to Carthage, and by accusing the Romans of secretly inciting the Spaniards to revolt, he obtained permission from Carthage to take such steps as he should think fit. Thereupon he crossed the Iberus and destroyed the city of Saguntum with its inhabitants. Thus the treaty, made between the Romans and the Carthaginians after the war in Sicily, was broken.

What Hannibal himself and what the other Carthaginian and Roman generals after him did in Spain, I have related in the Spanish history. Having collected a large army of Celtiberians, Africans, and other nationalities, and put the command of Spain in the hands of his brother Hasdrubal, he crossed over the Pyrenees mountains into the country of the Celts, which is now called Gaul, with 90,000 foot, 12,000 horse, and 37 elephants. He passed through the country of the Gauls, conciliating some with money and some by persuasion, and overcoming others by force. When he came to the Alps and found no road through or over them (for they were exceedingly precipitous), he nevertheless marched boldly forward, but suffered great losses. The snow and ice being heaped high in front, he cut down and burned wood, quenched the ashes with water and vinegar, and thus rendering the rocks brittle he shattered them with iron hammers and opened a passage which is still in use over the mountains and is called Hannibal’s pass. As his supplies began to fail he pressed forward, the Romans remaining in ignorance until he was actually in Italy. Scarcely six months after leaving Spain, and after suffering heavy losses of men, he descended from the mountains to the plain.

After a brief pause he attacked Taurasia, a Gallic town, took it by storm, and put the prisoners to death, in order to strike terror into the rest of the Gauls. Then he advanced to the river Eridanus, now called the Padus [Po], where the Romans were at war with the Gallic tribe called the Boii, and pitched his camp. The Roman consul, Publius Cornelius Scipio, was at that time contending with the Carthaginians in Spain. When he learned of Hannibal’s incursion into Italy, he left his brother, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, in charge of affairs in Spain and sailed for Etruria. Marching thence with such allies as he could collect, he came before Hannibal to the Po. He sent Manlius and Atilius, who were conducting the war against the Boii, back to Rome, as they had no right to command when a consul was on the ground, and taking their forces drew them up for battle with Hannibal. After a skirmish and a cavalry engagement, the Romans were surrounded by the Africans and fled to their camp. The next night they took refuge in Placentia, a place strongly fortified, crossing the Po and then breaking down the bridge. Nevertheless Hannibal made a new bridge and crossed the river.

These exploits, one after another, following his passage of the Alps, exalted Hannibal’s fame among the Cisalpine Gauls as an invincible commander and one most highly favored by fortune. In order to increase the admiration of those barbarians, who were easily deceived, he frequently changed his clothes and his hair, using carefully prepared devices each time. When the Gauls saw him moving among their people now an old man, then a young man, and again a middle-aged man, and continually changing from one to the other, they were astonished and thought that he partook of the divine nature. Sempronius, the other consul, being then in Sicily and learning what had happened, embarked his forces, came to Scipio’s aid, and encamped at a distance of forty stades from him. The following day they all made ready for battle. The river Trebia separated the hostile armies, which the Romans crossed before daylight on a raw, sleety morning of the spring equinox, wading in the water up to their breasts. Hannibal allowed his army to rest till the second hour and then marched out.

The order of battle on each side was as follows. The Roman cavalry were posted on the wings in order to protect the infantry. Hannibal ranged his elephants opposite the Roman horse and his foot-soldiers against the legions, and he ordered his own cavalry to remain quiet behind the elephants until he should give the signal. When battle was joined the horses of the Romans, terrified by the sight and smell of the elephants, broke and fled. The foot-soldiers, although suffering much and weakened by cold, wet clothes, and want of sleep, nevertheless boldly attacked these beasts, wounded them, and cut the hamstrings of some, and were already pushing back the enemy’s infantry. Hannibal, observing this, gave the signal to his horse to attack the Roman flank. The Roman horse having been just dispersed by fear of the elephants, the foot-soldiers were left without protection, and were now in difficulties. Fearing lest they should be surrounded, they everywhere broke in flight to their own camp. Many foot-soldiers were cut off by the enemy’s horse and many perished in the swift stream, for the river was now swollen with melting snow so that they could not wade, on account of its depth, nor could they swim, on account of the weight of their armor. Scipio, who followed trying to rally them, was wounded and almost killed, and was with difficulty rescued and carried to Cremona. There was a small arsenal near Placentia which Hannibal laid siege to, where he lost 400 men and was himself wounded. And now they all went into winter quarters, Scipio in Cremona and Placentia, and Hannibal on the Po.

When the Romans in the city learned of this third defeat on the Po (for they had in fact been beaten by the Boii before Hannibal arrived), they levied a new army of their own citizens which, with those already on the Po, amounted to thirteen legions, and they called for double that number from the allies. At this time the legion consisted of 5000 foot and 300 horse. Some of these they sent to Spain, some to Sardinia (for they were at war there also), and some to Sicily. The greater part were despatched against Hannibal under Cn. Servilius and Gaius Flaminius, who had succeeded Scipio and Sempronius as consuls. Servilius hastened to the Po where he received the command from Scipio. The latter, having been chosen proconsul, sailed for Spain. Flaminius, with 30,000 foot and 3000 horse, guarded Italy within the Apennines, which alone can be properly called Italy. The Apennines extend from the centre of the Alpine range to the sea. The country on the right-hand side of the Apennines is Italy proper. The other side, extending to the Adriatic, is now called Italy also, just as Etruria is now called Italy, but is inhabited by people of Greek descent, along the Adriatic shore, the remainder being occupied by Gauls, the same people who at an early period attacked and burned Rome. When Camillus drove them out and pursued them to the Apennines, it is my opinion that they crossed over these mountains and made a settlement near the Adriatic instead of their former abode. Hence this part of the country is still called Gallic Italy.

Thus had the Romans divided their large armies at this juncture for many campaigns. Hannibal, learning this fact, moved secretly in the early spring, devastated Etruria, and advanced toward Rome. The citizens became greatly alarmed as he drew near, for they had no force at hand fit for battle. Nevertheless, 8000 of those who remained were brought together, over whom Centenius, one of the patricians, although a private citizen, was appointed commander, there being no regular officer present, and sent into Umbria to the Plestine marshes to occupy the narrow passages which offered the shortest way to Rome. In the meantime Flaminius, who guarded the interior of Italy with 30,000 men, learning of the rapidity of Hannibal’s movement, changed his position hastily, giving his army no chance to rest. Fearing for the safety of the city and being inexperienced in war (for he had been wafted into power on a popular breeze), he hastened to engage with Hannibal.

The latter, well aware of his rashness and inexperience, moved forward and took a position with a mountain and a lake [Thrasimenus] before him, concealing his light-armed troops and his cavalry in a ravine. Flaminius, seeing the enemy’s camp in the early morning, delayed a little to let his men rest from their toilsome march and to fortify his camp, after which he led them straightway to battle, although they were still weary with night-watches and hard labor. Caught between the mountain and the lake and the enemy (for the ambush suddenly appeared everywhere), he lost his own life, and 20,000 men were slain with him. The remaining 10,000 escaped to a village strongly fortified by nature. Maharbal, Hannibal’s lieutenant, who had himself acquired very great renown in war, not being able to take them easily and thinking it unwise to fight with desperate men, persuaded them to lay down their arms, agreeing that they should go free wherever they pleased. When they had complied with this agreement he brought them disarmed to Hannibal. The latter, denying that Maharbal had authority to make such an agreement without his consent, nevertheless treated the Roman allies with kindness and sent them home without ransom, in order to conciliate their towns. He kept all the Romans as prisoners. He gave the booty to the Gauls who were serving with him, in order to attach them to him by the hope of gain, and then marched forward. When this news reached the consul Servilius on the Po, he marched to Etruria with 40,000 men. Centenius, with his 8000, had already occupied the narrow passage previously mentioned.

When Hannibal saw the Plestine marsh and the mountain overhanging it, and Centenius between them guarding the passage, he inquired of the guides whether there was any way around. When they said there was no path but that the whole region was rugged and precipitous, he, nevertheless, sent a body of light-armed troops, under the command of Maharbal, to explore the district and pass around the mountain by night. When he judged that they had reached their destination he attacked Centenius in front. While the engagement was in progress, Maharbal was seen pushing forward strenuously on the summit above, where he raised a shout. The Romans thus surrounded took to flight, and there was a great slaughter among them, 3000 being killed and 800 taken prisoners. The remainder escaped with difficulty. When this news reached the city they feared lest Hannibal should march against them at once. They collected stones upon the walls, and the old men armed themselves. Being in want of arms they took down from the temples those that had been hung there as trophies of former wars, and, as was customary in times of great danger, they chose a dictator, Fabius Maximus being selected.

But divine Providence turned Hannibal away toward the Adriatic, where he ravaged the sea-coast and gathered vast plunder. The consul Servilius, marching parallel with him, came to Ariminum, being distant from Hannibal by one day’s march. He retained his army there in order to hearten those Gauls who were still friendly to Rome. When Fabius Maximus, the dictator, arrived, he sent to Rome Servilius, who could be no longer either consul or general after a dictator had been chosen. Fabius followed Hannibal closely, but did not come to an engagement with him, although often challenged. He kept careful watch on his enemy’s movements, and lay near him and prevented him from besieging any town. After the country was exhausted Hannibal began to be short of provisions. So he traversed it again, drawing his army up each day and offering battle. Fabius would not come to an engagement, although his master of horse, Minucius Rufus, disapproved of his policy, and wrote to his friends in Rome that Fabius held back on account of cowardice. As Fabius had occasion to go to Rome to perform certain sacrifices, the command of the army fell to Minucius, and he had a sort of a fight with Hannibal, and as he thought he had the best of it he grew bolder and wrote to the Senate accusing Fabius of not wanting to win a victory; and the Senate, when Fabius had returned to the camp, voted that his master of horse should share the command equally with him.

They accordingly divided the army and encamped near each other; and each held to his own opinion, Fabius seeking to exhaust Hannibal by the lapse of time and meanwhile to receive no damage from him, while Minucius was eager for a decisive fight. Shortly afterward Minucius joined battle, and Fabius looked on to see what would happen, holding his own forces well in hand. In this way he was enabled to receive Minucius when he was beaten, and to drive Hannibal’s men back from the pursuit. Thus did Fabius save Minucius from a great disaster, bearing him no malice for his slander. Then Minucius, recognizing his own want of experience, laid down his command and delivered his part of the army to Fabius, who held to the belief that the only time for a skilful captain to fight is when it is necessary. This maxim, at a later time, was often brought to mind by Augustus, who was slow to fight and preferred to win by art rather than by valor. Fabius continued to watch Hannibal as before and prevented him from ravaging the country, not coming to an engagement with his whole army but merely cutting off stragglers, well knowing that Hannibal would soon be short of supplies.

They were now approaching a narrow pass of which Hannibal was ignorant. Fabius sent forward 4000 men to occupy it, keeping the remainder of his force at the other extremity where he encamped on a strong hill. When Hannibal discovered that he had been caught between Fabius and the defended pass he was more alarmed than he had ever been before, for there was no way of escape, but all the country round about was rugged and precipitous. He could not hope to overcome Fabius or those defending the pass, on account of the difficulties of the ground. In this desperate situation he put to death his 5000 prisoners lest they should add a new tumult to the danger. Then he tied torches to the horns of all the cattle he had in the camp (and there were many), and when night came he lighted the torches, extinguished all the camp fires, and commanded the strictest silence. Then he ordered the most courageous of his young men to drive the cattle up the rocky places between Fabius and the pass. These, urged on by their drivers and burned by the torches, ran furiously up the mountain side, and if any of them fell down they would get up and run on again.

The Romans on either side when they observed the silence and darkness in Hannibal’s camp and the many and various lights on the mountain side, could not exactly make out what was taking place, because it was night. Fabius, indeed, suspected that it was some stratagem of Hannibal’s, but not being sure he kept his army in its position on account of the darkness. But those who held the pass imagined, just as Hannibal wished, that in his extremity he was trying to escape by scaling the cliffs above. So they hastened away to the place where they saw the lights, in order to catch Hannibal there in difficulties. The latter, when he discovered that the pass was deserted, advanced with a flying detachment, in dead silence and without light, in order to conceal the movement. Having seized the pass and strengthened his position he made a signal by trumpet, and the army in camp answered him with a shout and immediately relighted the fires. Then the Romans saw that they had been deceived. The remainder of Hannibal’s army and those who drove the cattle now advanced to the pass without fear, and when he had brought them all together he moved forward. Thus did Hannibal succeed beyond expectation and rescue his army from danger. Thence he advanced to Geronia, a city of Apulia, which was well stored with provisions. This town he captured, and here went into winter quarters in the midst of abundance.

Fabius, pursuing the same policy as before, followed and encamped at a distance of ten stades from Geronia, with the river Aufidus flowing between them. The six months which limited the terms of dictators among the Romans now expired, and the consuls Servilius and Atilius resumed their offices and came to the camp, and Fabius returned to Rome. During the winter frequent skirmishes took place between Hannibal and the Romans in which the latter were generally successful, and showed to the better advantage. Hannibal was all the time writing exultingly to the Carthaginians about the events of the war, but now, having lost many men and being in want of assistance, he asked them to send him soldiers and money. But his enemies, who had jeered at all of his doings, replied that they could not understand how Hannibal should be asking for help when he said he was winning victories, since victorious generals did not ask for money but sent it home to their own people. The Carthaginians followed their suggestion and sent neither soldiers nor money. Hannibal, lamenting this short-sighted policy, wrote to his brother Hasdrubal in Spain, telling him to make an incursion into Italy at the beginning of summer with what men and money he could raise, and ravage the other extremity so that the whole country might be wasted at once and the Romans exhausted by the double encounter. Such was the situation of Hannibal’s affairs.

The Romans, distressed by the magnitude of the disasters to Flaminius and Centenius, and considering such a succession of surprising defeats unworthy of their dignity, and that a war within their own territory was not to be tolerated, and furious against Hannibal, levied four new legions in the city to serve against him, and hurried the allied forces from all quarters to Apulia. As consuls they chose Lucius Aemilius, who had acquired military fame in the war against the Illyrians, and Terentius Varro, a demagogue who had won popular favor by the usual high-sounding promises. When they sent the consuls forward they begged them as they were leaving the city to end the war by battle, and not to exhaust the city by delay, by conscriptions, by taxes, and by hunger and idleness due to the devastation of the fields. The consuls on taking command of the army in Apulia had altogether 70,000 foot and 6000 horse, and they encamped near a village called Cannae. Hannibal’s camp was near by. Hannibal, who was always ready to fight and impatient of idleness, was especially so now because he was troubled lest his supplies should fail, for which reason he continually offered battle. He feared also lest his mercenaries should desert him, as they had not received their pay, or disperse through the country in search of food. For this reason he challenged the enemy daily.

The opinions of the consuls were diverse. Aemilius thought that it was best to exhaust Hannibal by delay, as he could not hold out long for want of provisions, rather than come to an engagement with a general so skilled in war and an army so accustomed to victory. But Varro, like the demagogue he was, reminded his colleague of the charge which the people had laid upon them at their departure, that they should bring matters to a speedy decision by battle. Servilius, the consul of the previous year, who was still present, alone sustained the opinion of Aemilius. All the senators and the so-called knights who held offices in the army agreed with Varro. While they were still disputing, Hannibal set upon some detachments of theirs that were collecting wood and forage, and he pretended to be defeated, and about the last watch put the bulk of his army in motion as if in retreat. Varro, seeing this, led out the army with the thought of pursuing Hannibal in his flight. Aemilius even then forbade the movement, and as Varro did not obey he consulted the omens alone, according to the Roman custom, and sent word to Varro, just as he was starting, that the day was unpropitious. The latter thereupon came back, not venturing to disregard the omen, but he tore his hair in the sight of the whole army, and cried out that victory had been snatched from him by the envy of his colleague; and the whole crowd shared his anger.

Hannibal, when his scheme failed, returned forth-with to his camp, thus showing that his retreat was feigned, but this did not teach Varro to suspect every movement of Hannibal. Hurrying armed as he was to the praetorium, he complained in the presence of senators, centurions, and tribunes that Aemilius had made a pretence about the omen in order to snatch a sure victory from the city, either hesitating from cowardice or moved by jealousy toward himself. While he was thus venting his wrath the soldiers standing around the tent listened to him and joined in the censure of Aemilius. The latter nevertheless continued to give good advice to those within, but in vain. When all the others, Servilius alone excepted, sided with Varro, he yielded, and on the following day he himself drew up the army in order of battle as commander, for Varro yielded to him that title. Hannibal perceived the movement but he did not come out of his camp because he was not quite ready for battle. On the next day both armies came down to the open field. The Romans were drawn up in three lines with a small interval between them, each part having infantry in the centre, with light-armed troops and cavalry on the wings. Aemilius commanded the centre, Servilius the left wing, and Varro the right. Each had a thousand picked horse at hand to carry aid wherever it should be needed. Such was the Roman formation.

Hannibal had previously observed that a stormy east wind began to blow in that region regularly about noon. So he chose the ground where he should have the wind at his back. Then on a wooded hill cut by ravines he placed some cavalry and light-armed troops in ambush, to whom he gave orders that when the battle was joined and the wind had risen, they should fall upon the enemy’s rear. With them were placed 500 Celtiberians who had, in addition to the long swords at their belts, short daggers under their garments. These they were not to use till he himself gave the signal. He divided his whole army into three lines of battle and extended his horse at long distances on the wings in order to outflank the enemy if possible. He gave the command of the right wing to his brother Mago, and of the left to his nephew Hanno, retaining the centre for himself on account of Aemilius’ reputation as an experienced commander. He had 2000 picked horse and Maharbal had 1000, who were ordered to move about and give assistance wherever they saw any part of the army in difficulties. In making these arrangements he protracted the time till about the second hour so that the wind might come to his aid the sooner.

When all was in readiness on either side the commanders rode up and down the ranks encouraging their soldiers. The Romans were exhorted to remember their parents, wives, and children, and to wipe out the disgrace of former defeats. They were admonished that this battle was the last hope of safety. Hannibal reminded his men of their former exploits and their victories over these same enemies, and said that it would be shameful to be vanquished now by the vanquished. When the trumpets sounded the foot-soldiers raised a shout and the archers, slingers, and light-armed troops advanced and began the battle. After them the legions took up the work. Now began a great slaughter and a great struggle, each side contending valiantly. Presently Hannibal gave the signal to his horse to surround the enemy’s wings. The Roman horse, although inferior in number, advanced against them, and extending their line of battle to a dangerous thinness, nevertheless fought valiantly, especially those on the left toward the sea. Hannibal and Maharbal together now led against them the cavalry they had kept around their own persons, with loud barbarian shouts, thinking to terrify their enemies. Yet the Romans received the shock without flinching and without fear.

When Hannibal saw that his manoeuvre had failed, he gave the signal to his 500 Celtiberians. These passing out of their own line of battle went over to the Romans, holding out their shields, spears, and swords in the manner of deserters. Servilius commended them and at once took possession of their arms and stationed them in the rear, in their tunics alone as he supposed, for he did not think it best to put deserters in chains in the sight of the enemy, nor did he have any suspicion of men whom he saw with nothing but their tunics, nor was there time to take counsel in the thick of the fray. Now some of the African cohorts made a pretence of flight toward the mountains, uttering loud cries. This was the signal to those concealed in the ravines to fall upon the pursuers. Straightway the light-armed troops and cavalry that had been placed in ambush showed themselves, and simultaneously a strong and blinding wind rose carrying dust into the eyes of the Romans, which prevented them from seeing their enemies. The impetus of the Roman missiles was lessened by the opposing wind, while that of the enemy’s was increased and their aim made surer. The Romans, not being able to see and avoid the enemy’s weapons nor to take good aim with their own, stumbled against each other and soon fell into disorder of various kinds.

At this juncture the 500 Celtiberians, seeing that the expected opportunity had come, drew their daggers from their bosoms and first slew those who were just in front of them, then, seizing the swords, shields, and spears of the dead, made a greater onslaught against the whole line, darting from one to another indiscriminately, and they accomplished all the greater slaughter inasmuch as they were in the rear of all. Now were the Romans in great and various trouble, assailed by the enemy in front, by ambuscades in flank, and butchered by foes amid their own ranks. They could not turn upon the latter on account of the pressure of the enemy in front and because it was not easy to distinguish these assailants, for they had possessed themselves of Roman shields. Most of all were they harassed by the dust, which prevented them from even guessing what was taking place. But (as usually happens in cases of disorder and panic) they considered their condition worse than it was, the ambuscades more dreadful, and the 500 more numerous than 500. In short, they imagined that their whole army was surrounded by hostile cavalry and deserters. So they turned and broke into headlong flight, first those on the right wing where Varro himself led the retreat, and after them the left wing, whose commander, Servilius, however, went to the assistance of Aemilius. Around these the bravest of the horse and foot rallied, to the number of about 10,000.

The generals and all the others who had horses, although surrounded by Hannibal’s cavalry, dismounted and fought on foot. They charged the enemy with fury and performed many brilliant exploits, the fruit of military experience, being nerved by the energy of despair. But they fell on all sides, and Hannibal, darting hither and thither, encouraged his soldiers, now exhorting them to make their victory complete, now rebuking and reproaching them because, after they had scattered the main body of the enemy, they could not overcome the small remainder. As long as Aemilius and Servilius survived the Romans stood firm, although giving and receiving many wounds, but when their generals fell they forced their way through the midst of their enemies most bravely, and escaped in various directions. Some took refuge in the two camps where others had preceded them in flight. These were altogether about 15,000, whom Hannibal straightway besieged. Others, to the number of about 2000, took refuge in Cannae, and these surrendered to Hannibal. A few escaped to Canusium. The remainder were dispersed in groups through the woods.

Such was the result of the battle between Hannibal and the Romans at Cannae, which was begun after the second hour of the day and ended within two hours of night-fall, and which is still famous among the Romans as a disaster, for in these few hours 50,000 of their soldiers were slain and a great many taken prisoners. Many senators who were present lost their lives and with them all the military tribunes and centurions, and their two best generals. The most worthless one, who was the cause of the calamity, had made good his escape at the beginning of the rout. The Romans, in their two years’ war with Hannibal in Italy, had now lost, of their own and their allied forces, about 100,000 men.

Hannibal gained this rare and splendid victory by employing four stratagems in one day: by the force of the wind, by the feigned desertion of the Celtiberians, by the pretended flight, and by the ambuscades in the ravines. Immediately after the battle he went to view the dead. When he saw the bravest of his friends lying among the slain he lifted up his voice and wept, saying that he did not want another such victory. It is said that Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, made the same exclamation aforetime, when he too gained a victory over the Romans in Italy, with like loss to himself. Some of those who escaped from the battle and who had taken refuge in the larger camp and in the evening had chosen Publius Sempronius as their general, forced a passage through Hannibal’s guards, who were exhausted by weariness and want of sleep. These men, to the number of about 10,000, made their way to Canusium about midnight. But the 5000 in the smaller camp were captured by Hannibal the following day. Varro, having collected the remains of the army and sought to revive their fainting spirits, put them under the command of Scipio, one of the military tribunes, and himself hastened to Rome.

When the disaster was announced in the city, multitudes thronged the streets uttering lamentations for their relatives, calling on them by name, and bewailing their own fate as soon to fall into the enemy’s hands. Women went to the temples with their children and prayed that there might sometime be an end to the calamities to the city. The magistrates besought the gods by sacrifices and prayers that if they had any cause of anger they would be satisfied with the punishment already visited. The Senate sent Quintus Fabius (the same who wrote a history of these events) to the temple of Delphi to seek an oracle concerning the present posture of affairs. They freed 8000 slaves with their masters’ consent, and ordered everybody in the city to go to work making arms and projectiles. They also made a conscription, as was allowed, even among certain of the allies. They also changed the destination of Claudius Marcellus, who was about to sail to Sicily, and sent him to fight against Hannibal. Marcellus divided the fleet with his colleague Furius and sent a part of it to Sicily, while he himself took the manumitted slaves and as many others as he could collect of citizens and allies, amounting altogether to 10,000 foot and 2000 horse, and marched to Teanum in order to see what Hannibal would do next.

Hannibal allowed his captives to send messengers to Rome in their own behalf, to see if the citizens would ransom them with money. Three were chosen by them, of whom Gn. Sempronius was the leader, from whom Hannibal exacted an oath that they would return to him. The relatives of the prisoners, collecting around the senate-house, declared their readiness to redeem their friends severally with their own money and begged the Senate to allow them to do so, and the people joined them with their own prayers and tears. Some of the senators thought it was not wise, after such great calamities, to expose the city to the loss of so many more men, or to disdain free men while giving liberty to slaves. Others thought that it was not fitting to accustom men to flight by compassion, but rather to teach them to conquer or die, as would be the case if not even his relative should pity the runaway. Many precedents having been adduced on either side, the Senate finally decided that the prisoners should not be ransomed by their relatives, being of opinion that while so many dangers were still impending present clemency would tend to future harm, while severity, although painful, would be for the public advantage hereafter, and indeed at this very time would startle Hannibal by the very boldness of their action. Accordingly Sempronius and the two prisoners who accompanied him returned to Hannibal. The latter in his anger sold some of his prisoners, put others to death, and made a bridge of their bodies with which he passed over a stream. The senators and other distinguished prisoners in his hands he compelled to fight with each other, as a spectacle for the Africans, fathers against sons, and brothers against brothers. He omitted no act of disdainful cruelty.

Hannibal next turned his arms against the territory of the Roman allies and, having devastated it, laid siege to Petilia. The inhabitants, although few in number, made courageous sallies against him (their women joining in the fight) and performing many noble deeds of daring. They burned his siege engines unceasingly, and in these enterprises the women were in no wise inferior to the men. But their numbers were reduced by each assault, and they began to suffer the pangs of hunger. When Hannibal perceived this he drew a line of circumvallation around them and left Hanno to finish the siege. As their sufferings increased they first thrust outside the walls all those who were incapable of fighting and looked on without grieving while Hanno slew them, considering the dead better off than the living, for which reason the remainder, when reduced to the last extremity, made a sally against the enemy, and after performing many splendid acts of bravery, being nearly starved and completely exhausted, they were unable to return and were all slain by the Africans. Thus Hanno possessed himself of the town. But yet a few escaped, who had sufficient strength to run. These wanderers the Romans carefully collected, to the number of about 800, and replaced them in their own country after the war, being moved by kind feeling toward them and admiration for their exceptional fidelity.

As the Celtiberian horse, who were serving with Hannibal as mercenaries, were seen to be splendid fighters, the Roman generals in Spain obtained an equal number from the towns under their charge and sent them to Italy to contend against the others. These when encamped near Hannibal mingled with their fellow-countrymen and won them over. Thus it came about that many of them went over to the Romans and others deserted or ran away, while the remainder were no longer trusted by Hannibal, as they were under suspicion by him and he by them. Hannibal’s affairs began to decline from this circumstance.

There is a city called Arpi in Daunia which is said to have been founded by Diomedes, the Argive. Here a certain Dasius, said to have been a descendant of Diomedes, a very fickle-minded person, quite unworthy of such descent, after the terrible defeat of the Romans at Cannae drew his people over to the Carthaginian side. But now when Hannibal’s power began to wane he rode secretly to Rome, and being introduced to the Senate, said that he could bring the city back to the Roman allegiance and thus atone for his error. The Romans very nearly killed him and drove him from the city forthwith. Then, being in equal fear of them and of Hannibal, he became a wanderer through the country. Hannibal burned his wife and children alive. Arpi was betrayed by a portion of the inhabitants to Fabius Maximus, who captured it by night, and having put to death all the Carthaginians he found there, he established a Roman garrison in the city.

Tarentum, which was held by a Roman garrison, was betrayed by Cononeus in the following manner. Being in the habit of hunting and always bringing a present of game to Livius, the prefect of the guard, he became very familiar with him. As war was raging in the country he said that it was necessary to hunt and bring back his game by night. For this reason the gates were opened to him by night. He made an arrangement with Hannibal in pursuance of which he took a body of soldiers, some of whom he concealed in a thicket near the town; others he ordered to follow himself at no great distance, and still others to go with him, clad outwardly in hunting garments but girded with breastplates and swords underneath. He came by night, a wild boar being carried in front of them on poles. When the guards had opened the gates as usual, those who came with him slew the gate-men immediately. Those following behind made a sudden dash upon the other guards, those from the thicket were admitted, and the gates were opened to Hannibal. When the latter was once inside he speedily possessed himself of the remainder of the town, and having conciliated the Tarentines he laid siege to the citadel, which was held by a Roman garrison. In this way was Tarentum betrayed by Cononeus.

The Romans who held the citadel were about 5000 in number, and some of the Tarentines came to their aid. The prefect of the guard at Metapontum joined them with half of his force, bringing an abundance of missiles and engines with which they expected to drive Hannibal easily back from the walls. But Hannibal had a plentiful supply of these things also. Accordingly he brought up towers, catapults, and tortoises with which he shook some of the walls, pulled off the parapets with hooks attached to ropes, and laid bare the defences. The garrison hurled stones down upon the engines and broke many of them, turned aside the hooks with slip-knots, and making frequent and sudden sallies always threw the besiegers into confusion and returned after killing many. One day when they noticed that the wind was violent some of the Romans threw down firebrands, flax, and pitch upon the engines, while others darted out and put fire under them. Hannibal, despairing of his attempt, threw a wall around the city except on the sea side, where it was not possible to do so. Then turning the siege over to Hanno he advanced into Apulia.

The port of Tarentum looked toward the north and gave entrance through a narrow passage to those sailing in from the sea. The passage was now closed by bridges which were under the control of the Roman garrison, by which means they obtained provisions by sea and prevented the Tarentines from supplying themselves. For this reason the latter began to suffer from want, until Hannibal came back and suggested the making of another passage by excavating the public highway, which ran through the midst of the city from the harbor to the sea on the south. When this was done they had provisions in plenty, and with their triremes they worried the Roman garrison who had no ships, even coming close to the walls, especially in calm weather, and intercepting the supply ships coming to them. The Romans in turn began to suffer from want. When the people of Thurii sent them some ships laden with corn by night, under a convoy of triremes, the Tarentines and the Carthaginians in league with them, getting wind of the affair, laid a trap for them and captured them all, including the corn and the men that brought it. The Thurians sent numerous messengers to negotiate for the release of the captives, and the Tarentines won the negotiators over to Hannibal, who thereupon released all the Thurian prisoners he held. These, when they came home, forced their relatives to open the gates to Hanno. Thus the Thurians, while endeavoring to help the Romans in Tarentum, unexpectedly fell into the power of the Carthaginians. The Roman garrison in Thurii escaped secretly by sea to Brundusium.

The Metapontines, whose prefect had taken half of his force to Tarentum, slew the remainder, who were few in number, and delivered themselves up to Hannibal. Heraclea, which lay midway between Metapontum and Tarentum, followed their example, being moved by fear rather than inclination. Thus Hannibal’s affairs again began to wear a flourishing aspect. In the following year some of the Lucanians revolted from Rome, and Sempronius Gracchus, the proconsul, marched against them. A certain Lucanian named Flavius, of the party that had remained faithful to the Romans, who had been also a friend and guest of Gracchus but was now his betrayer, persuaded him to come to a certain place to have a conference with the Lucanian generals, saying that they had repented and wished to return to the Roman allegiance. Suspecting nothing, he went to the place with thirty horsemen, where he found himself surrounded by a large force of Numidians in ambush, with whom Flavius then joined himself. When Gracchus discovered the treachery he leaped from his horse with his companions, and after performing many noble deeds of valor was slain with all the others, except three. These were the only ones captured by Hannibal, who had exerted himself to the utmost to take the Roman proconsul alive. Although he had basely entrapped him, nevertheless in admiration of his bravery in the final struggle he gave him a funeral and sent his bones to Rome. After this he passed the summer in Apulia and collected large supplies of corn.

The Romans decided to attack the Capuans, and Hannibal sent Hanno with 1000 foot and as many horse to enter Capua by night. This he did without the knowledge of the Romans. At daylight the Romans discovered what had taken place by observing greater numbers of men on the walls. So they turned back from the city forthwith and began hurriedly to reap the harvest of the Capuans and the other inhabitants of Campania. When the Campanians bewailed their losses Hannibal said to them that he had plenty of corn in Apulia, and he gave an order that they should send and get it as often as they wished. Accordingly they sent not only their pack animals and men, but also their women and children, to bring loads of corn. They had no fear of danger on the way because Hannibal had transferred his headquarters from Apulia to Campania and was encamped on the river Calor near the country of the Beneventines, whom alone they feared as the latter were still in alliance with Rome. While Hannibal was there they despised all their enemies.

It happened, however, that Hannibal was called by Hanno into Lucania, leaving the greater part of his baggage under a small guard in the camp near Beneventum. One of the two Roman consuls who were in command there (Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius), learning of this, fell upon the Campanians who were bringing corn and slew many who were unprepared for an attack, and gave the corn to the Beneventines. He also took Hannibal’s camp and plundered his baggage, and, as Hannibal was still in Lucania, drew a line of circumvallation around Capua. Then the two consuls built another wall outside of this and established their camp between the two. They erected battlements also, some toward the besieged Capuans and others toward the enemy outside. There was the appearance of a great city enclosing a smaller one. The space between the enclosing wall and Capua was about two stades, in which many enterprises and encounters took place each day and many single combats, as in a theatre surrounded by walls, for the bravest were continually challenging each other. A certain Capuan named Taureus having had a single combat with the Roman Claudius Asellus, and seeking to escape, retreated, Asellus pursuing till he came to the walls of Capua. The latter not being able to check his horse dashed at full speed through the gate into Capua, and galloping through the whole city, ran out at the opposite gate and rejoined the Romans, and was thus marvellously saved.

Hannibal, having failed in the task that called him to Lucania, turned back to Capua, considering it very important to defend a city so large, and which had been a city of importance under Roman sway. He accordingly at-tacked their enclosing wall, but as he accomplished nothing and could devise no way to introduce either provisions or soldiers into the city, and as none of them could communicate with him on account of the closeness of the siege, he marched to Rome with his whole army, having learned that the Romans also were hard pressed by famine and hoping to draw the Roman generals away from Capua, or to accomplish something more important than its relief. Moving with the greatest celerity through the country inhabited by many hostile peoples, some of whom were not able to hinder him while others would not incur the risk of battle, he encamped at the river Anio, two and thirty stades from Rome.

The city was thrown into consternation as never before. They were without any suitable force (what they had being in Campania), and now this strong, hostile army came suddenly against them under a general of invincible bravery and good fortune. Nevertheless, for the present emergency those who were able to bear arms manned the gates, the old men mounted the walls, and the women and children brought stones and missiles, while those who were in the fields flocked in all haste to the city. Confused cries, lamentations, prayers, and mutual exhortations on every side filled the air. Some went out and cut down the bridge over the river Anio. The Romans had at one time fortified a small town among the Aequi, which they called Alba after the name of their mother city. Its inhabitants with the lapse of time, either because of carelessness of pronunciation or corruption of language, or to distinguish them from the Albanians, were called Albenses. Two thousand of these Albenses hastened to Rome to share the danger. As soon as they arrived they armed themselves and mounted guard at the gates. Such zeal did this one small town, out of many colonies, exhibit, just as the little city of Plataea came to the aid of the Athenians at Marathon and shared their danger.

Appius, one of the Roman generals, remained at Capua, believing that he could capture the place by him-self. Fulvius Flaccus, the other one, marched with untiring haste by other roads and encamped opposite Hannibal, with the river Anio flowing between them. When Hannibal found that the bridge had been destroyed and that Fulvius was occupying the opposite bank, he decided to go around by the sources of the stream. Fulvius moved parallel with him on the other side. Here, again, as was his custom, Hannibal devised a stratagem. He left some Numidian horse behind, who, as soon as the armies had moved off, crossed the Anio and ravaged the Roman territory until they had come very near to the city itself, and had carried consternation into it, when they rejoined Hannibal according to their orders. The latter, when he had passed around the sources of the stream, whence the road to Rome was not long, is said to have reconnoitred the city with three body-guards secretly by night, and to have observed the lack of force and the confusion prevailing. Nevertheless he went back to Capua, either because divine Providence turned him aside this time as in other instances, or because he was intimidated by the valor and fortune of the city, or because, as he said to those who urged him to attack it, he did not wish to bring the war to an end lest the Carthaginians should deprive him of his command. At any rate, the army under Fulvius was by no means a match for him. Fulvius followed him as he retreated, merely preventing him from foraging and taking care not to fall into any traps.

Hannibal, on a certain moonless night, having observed that Fulvius, at the close of the day, had neglected to throw up a wall in front of his camp (but had merely dug a ditch with certain spaces in lieu of gates, and the earth thrown outward instead of a wall), quietly sent a body of cavalry to a fortified hill overlooking Fulvius’ camp, and ordered them to keep silence until the Romans should believe the hill unoccupied. Then he ordered his Indians to mount their elephants and break into the camp of Fulvius through the open spaces, and over the piles of earth, in any way they could. He also directed a number of trumpeters and horn-blowers to follow at a short distance. When they should be inside the entrenchments some of them were ordered to run around and raise a great tumult so that they might seem to be very numerous, while others, speaking Latin, should call out that Fulvius, the Roman general, ordered the evacuation of the camp and the seizure of the neighboring hill. Such was Hannibal’s stratagem, and at first all went according to his intention. The elephants broke into the camp, trampling down the guards, and the trumpeters did as they were ordered. The unexpected clamor striking the ears of the Romans as they started out of bed in the darkness of the night was some-thing fearful. Hearing orders given in Latin directing them to take refuge on the hill, they hurried in that direction.

Fulvius, who was always looking out for some stratagem and suspecting one in everything that Hannibal did, being guided either by his own intelligence or by divine inspiration, or having learned the facts from some prisoner, quickly stationed his military tribunes in the roads leading to the hill to stop those who were rushing that way, and to tell them that it was not the Roman general but Hannibal who had given the command in order to lead them into an ambush. Then he stationed strong guards at the ramparts to repel any new attack from without, and with others passed rapidly through the camp exclaiming that there was no danger and that those who had broken in with the elephants were but few. Torches were lighted and fires kindled on all sides. Then the smallness of the attacking force was so manifest that the Romans utterly despised them, and, turning from fear to wrath, slew them the more easily since they were few in number and light-armed. The elephants not having room to turn around, and being entangled among the tents and huts, furnished an excellent mark for darts by reason of the narrowness of the place and the size of their bodies. Enraged with pain and unable to reach their enemies, they shook off their riders and trampled them under foot with fury and savage outcries, and broke out of the camp. Thus did Fulvius Flaccus by his constancy and skill bring to naught this unexpected ambush, frustrate Hannibal, and save his army, which had always been in terror of Hannibal’s stratagems.

When his scheme had failed, Hannibal moved his army to Lucania and went into winter quarters, and here this fierce warrior gave himself up to unaccustomed luxury and the delights of love. From this time, little by little, his fortune changed. Fulvius returned to his colleague at Capua and both of them pressed the siege vigorously, hastening to take the city during the winter while Hannibal remained quiet. The Capuans, their supplies being exhausted and no more being obtainable from any quarter, surrendered themselves to the Roman generals, together with the Carthaginian garrison and their two commanders, another Hanno and Bostar. The Romans stationed a garrison in the city and cut off the hands of all the deserters they found there. They sent the Carthaginian nobles to Rome and the rest they sold as slaves. Of the Capuans themselves they put to death those who had been chiefly responsible for the defection of the city. From the others they only took away their land. All the country round about Capua is very fertile, being a plain. When Capua was once more restored to the Romans the principal advantage possessed by the Carthaginians in Italy was taken from them.

In Bruttium, which is a part of Italy, there was a man of the town of Tisia (which was garrisoned by the Carthaginians) who was in the habit of plundering and sharing his booty with the commander of the garrison, and who had by this means so ingratiated himself with the latter that he almost shared the command with him. This man was incensed at the arrogant behavior of the garrison toward his country. Accordingly, by an arrangement with the Roman general, with whom he exchanged pledges, he brought in a few soldiers each day as prisoners and lodged them in the citadel, to which place he took their arms also as spoils. When he had introduced a sufficient number he released and armed them, and overpowered the Carthaginian garrison, after which he brought in another garrison from the Roman forces. But as Hannibal passed that way not long afterwards, the guards fled in terror to Rhegium, and the inhabitants of Tisia delivered themselves up to Hannibal, who burned those who had been guilty of the defection and placed another garrison in the town.

In Salapia, subject to Carthage in Apulia, were two men preeminent by birth, wealth, and power, but for a long time enemies to each other. One of these, named Dasius, sided with the Carthaginians, the other, Blatius, with the Romans. While Hannibal’s affairs were flourishing Blatius remained quiet, but when the Romans began to recover their former supremacy he endeavored to come to an understanding with his enemy, simply for the sake of their country, lest, if the Romans should take it by force, some irreparable harm should befall it. Dasius, pretending to agree with him, communicated the matter to Hannibal. Hannibal took the part of a judge between them, Dasius accusing and Blatius defending himself, and saying that he was slandered by reason of his accuser’s personal enmity. He was emboldened to use such language in the presence of his enemy, because he foresaw that such a foe would be likely to be distrusted on account of his private grudge. Hannibal thought that it was not wise to reject the accusation altogether, or to put too much faith in an accuser who was a personal enemy; so he dismissed them as though he would consider of the matter by himself. As they were going out by a very narrow passage Blatius said to Dasius in a low tone, Are you not willing to save your country, good sir? The latter immediately repeated the words in a loud voice, thus letting Hannibal know.

Then in a piteous tone Blatius cried out with much appearance of credibility, that his cunning enemy had made a plot against him. This present scheme, he said, will relieve me from all suspicion, if there was any, as to the former one. For who would have made a confidant of an enemy in such matters in the first place, or, if he had been so thoughtless before, would now, while still in danger and under trial and denying the charge against him, dare to say the same things a second time to one who had been his false accuser concerning these very matters, and especially in the judgment hall where many can hear his words and where his accuser stands ready to renew the charge against him. Even supposing the accuser had suddenly become friendly and well disposed, how would he be able to cooperate with me in saving the country after what has happened? Why should I ask the aid of one who is not able to give any? I think that Blatius again designedly whispered those things to Dasius because he foresaw the event, in order to discredit him still more, and thus induce Hannibal to disbelieve his former accusations. Nor did Blatius, after he had been acquitted, desist from persuading his enemy to change sides, for he despised him now as a person utterly discredited. So Dasius again pretended to agree with him and sought to learn the plan of the revolt. Blatius replied without hesitation: I will ride to one of the Roman camps (indicating one that was very far distant) the commander of which is my particular friend, and obtain a force which I will bring hither. You will remain here and keep watch upon affairs in the city.

Having spoken thus he immediately rode away, without the knowledge of Dasius, not to the camp he had named but to Rome by a shorter journey, and having given his son as a hostage to the Senate, he asked for a thousand horse, with which he hastened back with all speed, anticipating what would be the result. Dasius not seeing his enemy during the next few days thought that he had taken in hand the business they had agreed upon, as now having confidence in him. Supposing that Blatius had in fact gone to the more distant camp he rode to Hannibal, not doubting that he should get back before Blatius. And now, said he to Hannibal, I will deliver Blatius to you in the very act of bringing a hostile force into the city. Having exposed the affair and having received a military force, he hastened back to the town, not imagining that Blatius was yet anywhere near. But the latter was already inside, having slain the Carthaginian garrison, which was small, and taken care to prevent anybody from going out. He had also closed all the gates except that by which Dasius was expected to return. On that side he removed the guards from the wall to avoid suspicion, but the ground inside was intersected by ditches so that an attacking force should not be able to make its way through the whole town. Dasius was delighted when he saw the gates open, thinking that he had anticipated his enemy, and he entered the town rejoicing. Then Blatius shut the gate and slew him and his companions, who were squeezed together in a narrow place and had no way of passage through the ditches. A few of them escaped by leaping from the walls. Thus did Blatius overcome Dasius at the third encounter of their wits.

While Fulvius, the Roman consul, was besieging Herdonia, Hannibal approached him quietly one evening, having given orders that no fires should be lighted and that strict silence should be observed. Early in the morning, which happened to be foggy, he sent a body of horse to attack the Roman camp. The latter repelled them with some confusion as they hurried from their beds, but with boldness, for they believed their foe to be some few men from somewhere or other. As Hannibal was passing around to the other side of the town with a body of infantry in order to reconnoitre, and at the same time to encourage the people inside, he fell in with the Romans in the course of his circuit, either by chance or by design, and surrounded them. Being attacked on both sides they fell confusedly and in heaps. About 8000 of them were killed, including the consul Fulvius himself. The remainder took refuge inside a fortification in front of their camp, and by fighting bravely preserved it and prevented Hannibal from taking the camp.

After this, the Romans ravaged the country of the revolted Apulians, and Hannibal that of the Campanians, all of whom had returned to the Roman allegiance except the Atellaei. The latter he settled in Thurii in order that they might not suffer by the war that was raging in Bruttium, Lucania, and Apulia. The Romans settled the exiles of Nuceria in Atella and then, continuing their attacks on Hannibal’s allies, they took Aulonia and overran the territory of the Bruttians. They also laid siege by land and sea to Tarentum, which was under the command of Carthalo. The latter, as he had few Carthaginian soldiers present, had taken Bruttians into his service. The captain of these Bruttians was in love with a woman whose brother was serving with the Romans, and the latter managed, by means of his sister, that this captain should surrender that part of the wall which he commanded to the Romans, who were directing their engines against it. In this way the Romans again got possession of Tarentum, a place admirably situated for the purposes of war both by land and by sea.

Hannibal was hastening to its relief when he learned of its capture. He turned aside to Thurii greatly disappointed, and proceeded thence to Venusia. There Claudius Marcellus, who had conquered Sicily and was now consul for the fifth time, and Titus Crispinus took the field against him, not venturing, however, to fight a pitched battle. But Marcellus happening to see a party of Numidians carrying off plunder, and thinking that they were only a few, attacked them confidently with three hundred horse. He led the attack in person, being a man of daring courage in battle and ever despising danger. Suddenly, a large body of Africans started up and attacked him on all sides. Those Romans who were in the rear early took to flight, but Marcellus, who thought that they were following him, fought valiantly until he was thrust through with a dart and killed. When Hannibal stood over his body and saw the wounds all on his breast, he praised him as a soldier but criticised him as a general. He took off his ring, burned his body with distinguished honors, and sent his bones to his son in the Roman camp.

Being angry with the Salapians, Hannibal sent a Roman deserter to them with a letter stamped with the signet ring of Marcellus, before the latter’s death had become generally known, saying that the army of Marcellus was on the way thither and that Marcellus gave orders that the gates should be opened to receive them. But the citizens had received letters a little before from Crispinus, who had sent word to all the surrounding towns that Hannibal had got possession of Marcellus’ ring. So they sent Hannibal’s messenger back in order that he might not know by remaining there what was going on, and they promised to do as they had been ordered. Then they armed them-selves and having taken their station on the walls awaited the result of the stratagem. When Hannibal came with his Numidians, whom he had armed with Roman weapons, they drew up the portcullis as though they were gladly welcoming Marcellus. When they had admitted as many as they thought they could easily master, they dropped the portcullis and slew all those who had gained entrance. Upon those who were still standing around outside the walls they hurled missiles from above and covered them with wounds. Hannibal, having failed in his second attempt against the city, now withdrew.

In the meantime his brother Hasdrubal, with the army he had enlisted in Celtiberia, marched to Italy. Being received in a friendly way by the Gauls he had passed over the Alps by the road that Hannibal had opened, accomplishing in two months the journey which had previously taken Hannibal six. He debouched in Etruria with 48,000 foot, 8000 horse, and fifteen elephants. He sent letters to his brother announcing his arrival. These letters were intercepted by the Romans so that the consuls, Salinator and Nero, learned the number of his forces. They combined their own forces in one body, moved against him, and encamped opposite him near the town of Sena. He did not intend to fight yet, but hastening to join his brother, moved off, marching by night among swamps and pools and along an unfordable river, where he lost his way. At daybreak the Romans came up with them, while they were scattered about and wearied with toil and want of sleep, and slew most of them with their officers, while they were still assembling and getting themselves in order of battle. Hasdrubal himself was slain with them. Many of them were taken prisoners. Thus was Italy delivered from a great fear, since Hannibal could never have been conquered if he had received this addition to his forces.

It seems to me that a god gave this victory to the Romans as a compensation for the disaster of Canna, as it came not long afterward and was about equal to it in other respects. In both cases the commanding generals lost their lives, and the number of soldiers killed and the number of prisoners taken were very nearly the same in each case. Each side also captured the other’s camp and a vast quantity of baggage. Thus did Rome taste good and bad fortune alternately. Of the Celtiberians who escaped the slaughter, some made their way to their own country and some to Hannibal.

Hannibal was greatly depressed by the loss of his brother and of so great an army, destroyed suddenly through ignorance of the roads. Deprived of all that he had gained by the untiring labors of fourteen years, during which he had fought with the Romans in Italy, he with-drew to Bruttium, whose people were the only ones that remained in alliance with him. Here he remained quiet, awaiting new forces from Carthage. They sent him 100 merchant ships laden with supplies, soldiers, and money, but as they had not a sufficient force of rowers they were driven by the wind to Sardinia. The praetor of Sardinia attacked them with his war-ships, sunk twenty and captured sixty of them. The remainder escaped to Carthage. Thus was Hannibal still further straitened and he despaired of assistance from the Carthaginians. Nor did Mago, who was collecting mercenaries in Gaul and Liguria, send him any aid, but waited to see what turn affairs would take. Perceiving that he could not stay there long, Hannibal now began to despise the Bruttians themselves as men who would soon be strangers to him, and he loaded them with taxes. He transferred the strongholds of their towns to the plains as though they were planning a revolt. He despoiled many of their men, bringing accusations against them in order that he might confiscate their property. Such was his situation.

In Rome the consuls at this time were Licinius Crassus and Publius Scipio, the conqueror of Spain. Crassus conducted the war against Hannibal in Apulia, but Scipio advised the people that they would never drive Hannibal and the Carthaginians out of Italy except by sending a Roman army into Africa and so bringing danger to their own doors. By persisting strenuously and persuading those who hesitated he was himself chosen general for Africa and sailed forthwith to Sicily. Having collected and drilled an army there he sailed suddenly to Locri in Italy which was garrisoned by Hannibal. Having slain the garrison and put the town under the command of Pleminius he embarked for Africa. Pleminius visited upon the Locrians every kind of outrage, licentiousness, and cruelty, and ended by robbing the temple of Proserpina. For this the Romans put him and his companions in wrong-doing to death in prison, and gave the property they left to the Locrians to be deposited in the treasury of the goddess. All the rest of the plunder that they could find they restored to the goddess, and what they could not find they made good out of their own public treasury.

During the same time Crassus detached Consentia, a large town of Bruttium, and six others, from Hannibal. As certain direful prodigies sent by Jupiter had appeared in Rome, the decemviri, having consulted the Sibylline books, said that something would soon fall from heaven at Pessinus in Phrygia (where the mother of the gods is worshipped by the Phrygians), which ought to be brought to Rome. Not long after, the news came that it had fallen and the image of the goddess was brought to Rome, and still to this day they keep holy to the mother of the gods the day that it arrived. It is said that the ship which bore it stuck in the mud of the river Tiber, and could by no means be moved until the soothsayers proclaimed that it would follow only when drawn by a woman who had never committed adultery. Claudia Quintia, who was under accusation of that crime but not yet tried (being suspected of it on account of fast living), vehemently called the gods to witness her innocence, and fastened her girdle to the ship, whereupon the goddess followed. Thus Claudia acquired the greatest fame in place of her previous bad reputation. But before this affair of Claudia the Romans had been admonished by the Sibylline books to send their best man to bring the image from Phrygia. Scipio Nasica, son of Gn. Scipio, who had been general in Spain and had lost his life there, and cousin of Scipio Africanus the elder, was judged to be their best man. In this way was the goddess brought to Rome by the best of their men and women.

When the Carthaginians were continually beaten by Scipio in Africa those of the Bruttians who heard of it revolted from Hannibal, some of them slaying their garrisons and others expelling them. Those who were not able to do either of these things sent messengers to Rome secretly to explain the necessity under which they had acted and to declare their good will. Hannibal came with his army to Petelia, which was not now occupied by the Petelians, as he had expelled them and given the town to the Bruttians. He accused the latter of sending an embassy to Rome. When they denied it he pretended to believe them, but in order, as he said, that there might be no ground for suspicion, he delivered their principal citizens over to the Numidians, who were ordered to guard each one of them separately. He also disarmed the people, armed the slaves, and stationed them as guards over the city. He did the same to the other cities that he visited. He removed 3000 citizens of Thurii, who were particularly friendly to the Carthaginians, and 500 others from the country, but gave the goods of the remainder as spoils to his soldiers. Leaving a strong garrison in the city he settled these 3500 people at Croton, which he found to be well situated for his operations and where he established his magazines and his headquarters against the other towns.

When the Carthaginians summoned him to hasten to the aid of his own country, which was in danger from Scipio, and sent Hasdrubal, their admiral, to him that there might be no delay, he lamented the perfidious and ungrateful conduct of the Carthaginians toward their generals, of which he had had long experience. Moreover, he had apprehensions for himself touching the cause of this great war, which had been begun by himself in Spain. Nevertheless, he recognized the necessity of obeying, and accordingly he built a fleet, for which Italy supplied abundant timber. Despising the cities still allied to him now as foreigners, he resolved to plunder them all, and thus, by enriching his army, render himself secure against his calumniators in Carthage. But being ashamed of such a breach of faith, he sent Hasdrubal, the admiral, about, on pretence of inspecting the garrisons. The latter, as he entered each city, ordered the inhabitants to take what things they and their slaves could carry, and move away. Then he plundered the rest. Some of them, learning of these proceedings before Hasdrubal came, attacked the garrisons, overcoming them in some places and being over-come by them in others. Indiscriminate slaughter, accompanied by the violation of wives and the abduction of virgins, and all the horrors that usually take place when cities are captured, ensued.

Hannibal himself, knowing that the Italians in his army were extremely well-drilled soldiers, sought to persuade them by lavish promises to accompany him to Africa. Those of them who had been guilty of crimes against their own countries willingly expatriated themselves and followed him. Those who had committed no such wrong hesitated. Collecting together those who had decided to remain, as though he wished to say something to them, or to reward them for their services, or to give them some command as to the future, he surrounded them with his army unexpectedly, and directed his soldiers to choose from among them such as they would like to have for slaves. Some made their selections accordingly. Others were ashamed to reduce their comrades in so many engagements to servitude. All the rest Hannibal put to death with darts in order that the Romans might not avail themselves of such a splendid body of men. With them he slaughtered also about 4000 horses and a large number of pack animals, which he was not able to transport to Africa.

Thereupon he embarked his army and waited for a wind, having left a few garrisons on the land. These the Petalini and other Italians set upon, slew some of them, and then ran away. Hannibal passed over to Africa, having devastated Italy for sixteen successive years, and inflicted countless evils upon the inhabitants, and reduced Rome several times to the last extremity, and treated his own subjects and allies with contumely as enemies. For, just as he had made use of them for a time, not from any good will but from necessity, so now that they could be of no further service to him he scorned them and considered them enemies.

When Hannibal had departed from Italy the Senate pardoned all the Italian peoples who had sided with him, and voted a general amnesty except as to the Bruttians, who remained most zealous for him to the end. From these they took away a considerable part of their land, also their arms, if there were any that Hannibal had not taken. They were also forbidden to be enrolled in the military forces thereafter, as being no longer free persons, and they were required to attend as servants upon the consuls and praetors who went about inspecting the affairs of government and the public works of the provinces. Such was the end of Hannibal’s invasion of Italy.

The Phoenicians settled Carthage, in Africa, fifty years before the capture of Troy. Its founders were either Zorus and Carchedon, or, as the Romans and the Carthaginians themselves think, Dido, a Tyrian woman, whose husband had been slain clandestinely by Pygmalion, the ruler of Tyre. The murder being revealed to her in a dream, she embarked for Africa with her property and a number of men who desired to escape from the tyranny of Pygmalion, and arrived at that part of Africa where Carthage now stands. Being repelled by the inhabitants, they asked for as much land for a dwelling place as they could encompass with an ox-hide. The Africans laughed at this frivolity of the Phoenicians and were ashamed to deny so small a request. Besides, they could not imagine how a town could be built in so narrow a space, and wishing to unravel the mystery they agreed to give it, and confirmed the promise by an oath. The Phoenicians, cutting the hide round and round in one very narrow strip, enclosed the place where the citadel of Carthage now stands, which from this affair was called Byrsa (a hide).

Proceeding from this start and getting the upper hand of their neighbors, as they were more adroit, and engaging in traffic by sea, like the Phoenicians, they built a city around Byrsa. Gradually acquiring strength they mastered Africa and the greater part of the Mediterranean, carried war into Sicily and Sardinia and the other islands of that sea, and also into Spain. They sent out numerous colonies. They became a match for the Greeks in power, and next to the Persians in wealth. But about 700 years after the foundation of the city the Romans took Sicily and Sardinia away from them, and in a second war Spain also. Then, assailing each the other’s territory with immense armies, the Carthaginians, under Hannibal, ravaged Italy for sixteen years in succession, but the Romans, under the leadership of Cornelius Scipio the elder, carried the war into Africa, crushed the Carthaginian power, took their ships and their elephants, and required them to pay tribute for a time. A second treaty was now made between the Romans and the Carthaginians which lasted fifty years, until, upon an infraction of it, the third and last war broke out between them, in which the Romans under Scipio the younger razed Carthage to the ground and forbade the rebuilding of it. But another city was built subsequently by their own people, very near the former one, for convenience in governing Africa. Of these matters the Sicilian part is shown in my Sicilian history, the Spanish in the Spanish history, and what Hannibal did in his Italian campaigns in the Hannibalic history. This book will deal with the operations in Africa from the earliest period.

About the beginning of the Sicilian war the Romans sent 350 ships to Africa, captured a number of towns, and left in command of the army Atilius Regulus, who took some 200 more towns, which gave themselves up to him on account of their hatred of the Carthaginians; and continually advancing he ravaged the territory. Thereupon the Carthaginians, considering that their misfortunes were due to bad generalship, asked the Lacedemonians to send them a commander. The Lacedemonians sent them Xanthippus. Regulus, being encamped in the hot season alongside a lake, marched around it to engage the enemy, his soldiers suffering greatly from the weight of their arms, from dust, thirst, and fatigue, and exposed to missiles from the neigh-boring heights. Toward evening he came to a river which separated the two armies. This he crossed at once, thinking in this way to terrify Xanthippus, but the latter, anticipating an easy victory over an enemy thus harassed and exhausted and having night in his favor, drew up his forces and made a sudden sally from his camp. The expectations of Xanthippus were not disappointed. Of the 30,000 men led by Regulus, only a few escaped with difficulty to the city of Aspis. All the rest were either killed or taken prisoners, and among the latter was the consul Regulus himself.

Not long afterward the Carthaginians, weary of fighting sent him, in company with their own ambassadors, to Rome to obtain peace or to return if it were not granted. Yet Regulus in private strongly urged the chief magistrates of Rome to continue the war, and then went back to certain torture, for the Carthaginians shut him up in a cage stuck full of spikes and thus put him to death. This success was the beginning of sorrows to Xanthippus, for the Carthaginians, in order that the credit might not seem to be due to the Lacedemonians, pretended to honor him with splendid gifts, sent galleys to convey him back to Lacedemon, but enjoined upon the captains of the ships to throw him and his Lacedemonian comrades overboard. In this way he paid the penalty for his successes. Such were the results, good and bad, of the first war of the Romans in Africa, until the Carthaginians surrendered Sicily to them. How this came about has been shown in my Sicilian history.

After this there was peace between the Romans and the Carthaginians, but the Africans, who were subject to the latter and had served them as auxiliaries in the Sicilian war, and certain Celtic mercenaries who complained that their pay had been withheld and that the promises made to them had not been kept, made war against the Carthaginians in a very formidable manner. The latter appealed to the Romans for aid on the score of friendship, and the Romans allowed them for this war only to hire mercenaries in Italy, for even that had been forbidden in the treaty. Nevertheless they sent men to act as mediators between them. The Africans refused the mediation, but offered to become subjects of the Romans if they would take them. The latter would not accept them. Then the Carthaginians blockaded the towns with a great fleet, and cut off their supplies from the sea, and as the land was untilled in consequence of the war they overcame the Africans by the famine, but were driven to supply their own wants by piracy, even taking some Roman ships, killing the crews, and throwing them overboard to conceal the crime. This escaped notice for a long time. When the facts became known and the Carthaginians were called to account they put off the day of reckoning until the Romans voted to make war against them, when they surrendered Sardinia by way of compensation. And this clause was added to the former treaty of peace.

Not long afterwards the Carthaginians invaded Spain and were gradually subduing it, when the Saguntines appealed to Rome and a boundary was fixed to the Carthaginian advance by agreement that they should not cross the river Ebro. The Carthaginians, under the lead of Hannibal, violated this treaty by crossing the stream, and having done so Hannibal marched against Italy, leaving the command in Spain in the hands of others. The Roman generals in Spain, Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, two brothers, after having performed some brilliant exploits were both slain by the enemy. The generals who succeeded them fared badly until Scipio, the son of the Publius Scipio who was killed in Spain, set sail thither, and making all believe that he was come by a divine mission and had divine counsel in all things, prevailed brilliantly, and achieving great glory by this success, gave over his command to those sent to succeed him, returned to Rome, and asked to be sent with an army to Africa so as to draw Hannibal out of Italy and to bring retribution upon the Carthaginians in their own country.

Some of the leading men opposed this plan, saying that it was not best to send an army into Africa while Italy was wasted by such long wars and was subject to the ravages of Hannibal, and while Mago was enlisting Ligurian and Celtic mercenaries for a flank attack upon her. They ought not to attack another land, they said, until they had delivered their own country from its present perils. Others thought that the Carthaginians were emboldened to attack Italy because they were not molested at home, and that if war were brought to their own doors they would recall Hannibal. So it was decided to send Scipio into Africa, but they would not allow him to levy an army in Italy while Hannibal was ravaging it. If he could procure volunteers he might take them, and he might use the forces which were then in Sicily. They authorized him to fit out ten galleys and allowed him to take crews for them, and also to refit those in Sicily. They did not give him any money except what he could raise among his friends. So indifferently at first did they undertake this war, which soon came to be the most great and glorious for them.

Scipio, who seemed to be divinely inspired from long ago against Carthage, having collected scarcely 7000 soldiers, cavalry and infantry, sailed for Sicily, taking as a body-guard 300 chosen youths whom he ordered to accompany him without arms. He then chose 300 wealthy Sicilians by conscription and ordered them to report on a certain day, provided with the best possible arms and horses. When they came he told them that they might furnish substitutes for the war if they preferred. As they all accepted this offer he brought forward his 300 unarmed youths and directed the others to supply them with arms and horses, and this they did willingly. So it came about that Scipio had in place of the Sicilians, 300 Italian youths admirably equipped at other people’s expense, who at once thanked him for this favor and ever afterward rendered him excellent service.

When the Carthaginians learned these things they sent Hasdrubal, the son of Gisco, to hunt elephants, and they despatched to Mago, who was enlisting Ligurian mercenaries, 6000 foot, 800 horse, and seven elephants, and commanded him to attack Etruria with these and such other forces as he could collect, in order to draw Scipio from Africa. But Mago delayed because he could not join Hannibal at such a distance and because he was always of a hesitating disposition. Hasdrubal, on his return from the elephant hunt, levied 6000 foot and 600 horse from both the Carthaginian and the African population, and bought 5000 slaves as oarsmen for the ships. He also obtained 2000 horse from the Numidians and hired mercenaries and exercised them all in camp at a distance of two hundred stades from Carthage.

There were many chieftains in Numidia who had separate dominions. Syphax occupied the highest place among them and was held in greater honor than the others. There was also a certain Masinissa, son of the king of the Massylians, a powerful tribe. He had been brought up and educated at Carthage. He was a man of fine presence and good manners. Hasdrubal, the son of Gisco, who was second in rank to nobody in Carthage, betrothed his daughter to him although he was a Numidian, and after the betrothal took the young man with him to the war in Spain. Syphax, who was also in love with the girl, was indignant at this and began to pillage the Carthaginian territory, and he proposed to Scipio (who made a journey from Spain to meet him) that they should make a joint at-tack on Carthage. The Carthaginians, learning this and knowing how great service Syphax could render them in the war against the Romans, gave the girl to him without the knowledge of Hasdrubal or Masinissa, since they were in Spain. The latter, being greatly exasperated, made an alliance with Scipio in Spain, concealing it from Hasdrubal, as he supposed. Hasdrubal, although he was grieved at the outrage put upon the young man and his daughter, nevertheless thought that it would be an advantage to the country to make away with Masinissa. So when the latter returned from Spain to Africa at the death of his father, he sent a cavalry escort with him and told them to put him to death secretly in whatever way they could.

Masinissa, getting wind of this plot, managed to escape, and made his inherited power strong by collecting a body of cavalry who were trained to hurl the javelin advancing and retreating and advancing again, either by day or by night; for their only method of fighting was flight and pursuit. The Numidians also know how to endure hunger. They often subsist on herbs in place of bread, and they drink nothing but water. Their horses never even taste grain; they feed on grass alone and drink but rarely. Masinissa collected about 20,000 such and led them in the chase and in pillaging expeditions against other tribes, thinking to keel) them exercised in this way. The Carthaginians and Syphax, thinking that these preparations of the young man were made against them (for they were conscious of the affront they had put upon him), decided to make war on him first, and after crushing him to march against the Romans.

Syphax and the Carthaginians were much the more numerous. They marched with wagons and a great load of luggage and luxuries. On the other hand, Masinissa was an example in all doing and enduring and had only cavalry, no pack animals and no provisions. Thus he was able the more easily to retreat, to attack, and to take refuge in strongholds. Often, when surrounded, he divided his forces so that they might scatter as best they could, concealing himself with a handful until they should all come together again, by day or by night, at an appointed rendezvous Once he was one of three who lay concealed in a cave around which his enemies were encamped. He never had any fixed camping-place. His generalship consisted especially in concealing his position. Thus his enemies never could make a regular assault upon him, but were always warding off his attacks. His provisions were obtained each day from whatever place he came upon toward evening, whether village or city. He seized and carried off everything and divided the plunder with his men, for which reason many Numidians flocked to him, although he did not give regular pay, for the sake of the booty, which was better.

In this way Masinissa made war on the Carthaginians. In the meantime Scipio, having completed his preparations in Sicily, and sacrificed to Jupiter and Neptune, set sail for Africa with fifty-two war-ships and 400 transports, with a great number of smaller craft following behind. His army consisted of 16,000 foot and 1600 horse. He carried also projectiles, arms, and engines of various kinds, and a plentiful supply of provisions. And thus Scipio accomplished his voyage. When the Carthaginians and Syphax learned of this they decided to pretend to make terms with Masinissa for the present, until they should over-come Scipio. Masinissa was not deceived by this scheme. In order to deceive them in turn he marched to Hasdrubal with his cavalry as though he were reconciled to him, fully advising Scipio beforehand. Hasdrubal, Syphax, and Masinissa encamped not far from each other near the city of Utica, to which Scipio had been driven by the winds, and he also was camped hard by. Not far from him was Hasdrubal with an army of 20,000 foot, 7000 horse, and 140 elephants.

Now Syphax, either being moved by fear, or being faithless to all parties in turn, pretended that his country was harassed by the neighboring barbarians, and set out for home. Scipio sent out some detachments to feel the enemy, and at the same time several towns surrendered themselves to him. Then Masinissa came to Scipio’s camp secretly by night, and, after mutual greeting, advised him to place not more than 5000 men in ambush on the following day, about thirty stades from Utica, near a tower built by Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse. At daybreak he persuaded Hasdrubal to send Hanno, his master of horse, to reconnoitre the enemy and throw himself into Utica, lest the inhabitants, taking advantage of the proximity of the enemy, should start a revolution. He promised to follow if ordered to do so. Hanno set out accordingly with 1000 picked Carthaginian horse and a lot of Africans. Masinissa followed with his Numidians. Thus they came to the tower and Hanno passed on with a small force to Utica. Hereupon a part of the men in ambush showed themselves, and Masinissa advised the officer who was left in command of the cavalry to attack them as being a small force. He followed at a short distance, as if to support the movement. Then the rest of the men in ambush showed themselves and surrounded the Africans; and the Romans and Masinissa together assailed them on all sides and slew all except 400, who were taken prisoners. After he had accomplished this, Masinissa, as though a friend, hastened after Hanno, who was returning, seized him and carried him to Scipio’s camp, and exchanged him for his own mother, who was in Hasdrubal’s hands.

Scipio and Masinissa ravaged the country and released the Roman prisoners who were digging in the fields, who had been sent thither by Hannibal from Spain, from Sicily, and from Italy itself. They also besieged a large town called Locha, where they met great difficulties. As they were putting up the scaling ladders, the Lochaians asked a parley and offered to leave the city under a truce. Thereupon Scipio sounded a retreat; but the soldiers, angry at what they had suffered in the siege, refused to obey. They scaled the walls and slaughtered indiscriminately, not sparing women and children. Scipio dismissed the survivors in safety; he then deprived the army of its booty and compelled the officers who had disobeyed orders to cast lots publicly, and punished three of them, upon whom the lot had fallen, with death. Having done these things he began ravaging the country again. Hasdrubal sought to draw him into ambush by sending Mago, his master of horse, to attack him in front, while he fell upon his rear. Scipio and Masinissa being surrounded in this way divided their forces into two parts, turning in opposite directions against the enemy, by which means they slew 5000 of the Africans, took 1800 prisoners, and drove the remainder over a precipice.

Soon afterward Scipio besieged Utica by land and sea. He built a tower on two galleys joined together, from which he hurled missiles three cubits long, and also great stones, at the enemy. He inflicted much damage and also suffered much, and the ships were badly shattered. On the landward side he built great mounds, and battered the wall with rams, and tore off with hooks what hides and other coverings were on it. The enemy, on the other hand, undermined the mounds, turned the hooks aside with slipknots, and deadened the force of the rams by interposing transverse wooden beams. They made sallies against the machines with fire whenever the wind was blowing toward them. Whereupon Scipio, despairing of the capture of the city by this means, established a close siege around it.

Syphax, when he learned how things were going, came back with his army and encamped not far from Hasdrubal. Pretending still to be the friend of both parties, and thinking to protract the war until the new ships which were building for the Carthaginians were ready, and the Celtic and Ligurian mercenaries arrived, he proposed an arbitration. He thought that it would be fair for the Romans to discontinue the war in Africa and the Carthaginians in Italy, and that the Romans should retain Sicily, Sardinia, and whatever other islands they now held, and also Spain. He said that if either party should refuse these terms he would join forces with the other. While he was doing this he attempted to draw Masinissa to himself by promising to establish him firmly in the kingdom of the Massylians and to give him in marriage whichever of his three daughters he should choose. The person who delivered this message brought gold also, in order that, if he could not persuade Masinissa, he might bribe one of his servants to kill him. As he did not succeed, he paid the money to one of them to murder him. The servant took the money to Masinissa and exposed the giver.

Then Syphax, finding that he could not deceive any-body, joined the Carthaginians openly. He captured, by means of treachery, an inland town named Tholon, where the Romans had a large store of war materials and food, and slew all of the garrison who would not depart on parole. He also called up another large reënforcement of Numidians. And now, as the mercenaries had arrived and the ships were in readiness, they decided to fight, Syphax attacking those besieging Utica, and Hasdrubal the camp of Scipio, while the ships should bear down upon the ships; all these things to be done the next day and at the same time in order to overwhelm the Romans with numbers.

Masinissa learned of these plans at nightfall from certain Numidians, and communicated them to Scipio. The latter was perplexed, being apprehensive lest his army, divided into so many parts, should be too weak to sustain the whole strength of the enemy. He forthwith called his officers to a council at night. Finding that they were all at a loss what to do, and after meditating for a long time himself, he said: Courage and swiftness, friends, and desperate fighting are our only salvation. We must anticipate the enemy in making the attack. Just see what we shall gain by it. The unexpectedness of the attack and the very strangeness of the thing,— that those who are so few in number should be the aggressors, will terrify them. We shall employ our strength not divided into several detachments, but all together. We shall not be engaged with all of our enemies at once, but with those we choose to attack first, since their camps are separate from each other. We are their equals in strength when we take them separately, while in courage and good fortune we are their superiors. If heaven shall give us victory over the first, we may despise the others. Upon whom the assault shall be made first, and what shall be the time and manner of delivering it, if you please, I will now tell you.

As they all agreed, he continued: The time to strike is immediately after this meeting ends, while it is still night, since the blow will be the more terrifying and the enemy will be unprepared, and none will be able to give aid to their allies in the darkness. Thus we shall anticipate their intention of attacking us to-morrow. They have three stations; that of the ships is at a distance, and it is not easy to attack ships by night. Hasdrubal and Syphax are not far from each other. Hasdrubal is the head of the hostile force. Syphax will not dare to do anything at night; he is a barbarian, effeminate and timid. Come now, let us attack Hasdrubal with all our force. We will place Masinissa in ambush for Syphax, if, contrary to expectation, he should move out of his camp. Let us advance with our infantry against Hasdrubal’s defences, surround and storm them on every side, with high hope and resolute courage, for these are the things most needed now. As the cavalry are not of much use in a night attack, I will send them to surround the enemy’s camp a little farther off, so that if we are overpowered we may have friends to receive us and cover our retreat, and if we are victorious they may pursue the fugitives and destroy them.

Having spoken thus he sent the officers to arm the troops, and he offered sacrifice to Courage and also to Fear in order that no panic should overtake them in the night, but that the army should show itself absolutely intrepid. At the third watch the trumpet sounded lightly and the army moved, observing the most profound silence until the cavalry had completely surrounded the enemy and the infantry had arrived at the trenches. Then, with shouts mingled with the discordant blast of trumpets and horns for the purpose of striking terror into the enemy, they swept the guards away from the outposts, filled up the ditch, and tore down the palisades. The boldest, pushing forward, set some of the huts on fire. The Africans, starting in consternation out of sleep, fumbled around for their arms and tried confusedly to get into order of battle, but on account of the noise could not hear the orders of their officers, nor did their general himself know exactly what was happening. The Romans caught them, as they were starting up and trying to arm themselves, with confusion on every hand. They fired more huts and slew those whom they met. The noise of the invaders, their appearance, and the fearful work they were doing in the midst of darkness and uncertainty made the catastrophe complete. Thinking that the camp had been taken, and being afraid of the fire of the burning huts, they were glad to get out of them; and they pushed on to the plain as a safer place. Thus they ran helter-skelter, just as it happened, and the Roman horse, who had completely surrounded them, fell upon them and slaughtered them.

Syphax, hearing the noise and seeing the fire in the night, did not leave his quarters, but sent a detachment of horse to the assistance of Hasdrubal. Masinissa fell upon these unawares and made a great slaughter. At daybreak, learning that Hasdrubal had fled and that his forces were destroyed, or taken prisoners, or dispersed, and that his camp and war material had fallen into the hands of the Romans, he fled precipitately to the interior, leaving every-thing behind, fearing lest Scipio should return from the pursuit of the Carthaginians and fall upon him. Masinissa took possession of his camp and belongings.

Thus by one act of daring and in a little part of a night, did the Romans demolish two camps and two armies much greater than their own. The Romans lost about 100 men killed, the enemy a little less than 30,000, besides 2400 prisoners. Moreover, 600 horse surrendered them-selves to Scipio on his return. Some of the elephants were killed and some wounded. Scipio, having gained a great store of arms, gold, silver, ivory, and horses, Numidian and other, and having prostrated the Carthaginians by one splendid victory, distributed prizes to the army and sent the richest of the spoils to Rome. Then he began drilling the army diligently, expecting the arrival of Hannibal forthwith from Italy, and of Mago from Liguria.

While Scipio was thus engaged, Hasdrubal, the Carthaginan general, who had been wounded in the night engagement, fled with 500 horse to the town of Anda, where he collected some mercenaries and Numidians who had escaped from the battle, and proclaimed freedom to all slaves who would enlist. Learning that the Carthaginians had decreed the penalty of death against him for his bad generalship, and had chosen Hanno, the son of Bomilcar, as commander, he made this an army of his own, recruited a lot of malefactors, robbed the country for provisions, and drilled his men to the number of 3000 horse and 8000 foot, resting his hopes solely on fighting. His doings were for a long time unknown to both the Romans and the Carthaginians. And now Scipio, having his army in readiness, led it to Carthage itself and haughtily offered battle, but nobody responded. Meanwhile Hamilcar, the admiral, hastened with 100 ships to attack Scipio’s naval station, hoping to outstrip him in reaching the place, and thinking that he could easily destroy the twenty Roman ships there with his hundred.

Scipio, seeing him sail away, sent orders ahead to block up the entrance to the harbor with ships of burthen anchored at intervals so that the galleys could dart out, as through gates, when they should see an opportunity. These ships were bound together by their yard arms and fastened to each other so as to form a wall. This work done he entered into the action. When the Carthaginians made their attack their ships were battered by missiles from the Roman ships, from the shore, and from the walls, and they with-drew at evening discomfited. As they were retreating, the Romans pressed upon them, darting out through the open spaces, and when they were overpowered withdrawing again. They took one ship in tow without any men and brought it to Scipio. After this both combatants went into winter quarters. The Romans received plentiful supplies by sea, but the Uticans and Carthaginians, being pinched with hunger, robbed the merchant ships until new galleys, sent to Scipio from Rome, blockaded the enemy and put an end to their plundering, after which they were severely oppressed by hunger.

This same winter, Syphax being near them, Masinissa asked of Scipio a third part of the Roman army as a reënforcement to his own, and with this force under the command of Laelius, he set out in pursuit of him. Syphax retreated until he came to a certain river, where he gave battle. The Numidians on both sides, as is their custom, discharged volleys of missiles at each other while the Romans advanced, holding their shields in front of them. Syphax, seeing Masinissa, dashed upon him with rage. The latter encountered him eagerly. The battle between them continued until the forces of Syphax turned in flight and began to cross the river. Syphax’s horse received a wound and threw his rider. Masinissa ran up and caught him and also one of his sons, and sent them forthwith to Scipio. In this battle 10,000 of Syphax’s men were killed. The Roman loss was seventy-five and Masinissa’s 300. Four thousand of Syphax’s men also were taken prisoners, of whom 2500 were Massylians who had deserted from Masinissa to Syphax. These Masinissa asked Laelius to surrender to him, and having received them he put them to the sword.

After this they entered the country of the Massylians and of Syphax, and settled them under the government of Masinissa, persuading some and coercing others. Ambassadors came to them from Cirta offering them the palace of Syphax, and others came specially to Masinissa from Sophonisba, the wife of Syphax, to make explanations about her forced marriage. Masinissa accepted her explanations gladly and married her; but when he returned to Scipio he left her at Cirta, foreseeing what would happen. Scipio asked Syphax: What evil genius misled you, after inviting me as your friend to come to Africa, and caused you to forfeit your oath to the gods and your faith to the Roman people, and to join the Carthaginians in making war against us, when not long before we were helping you against the Carthaginians? Syphax replied: Sophonisba, the daughter of Hasdrubal, with whom I fell in love to my hurt, is passionately attached to her country and she is able to make everybody subservient to her wishes. She turned me away from your friendship to that of her own country, and plunged me from that state of good fortune into my present misery. I advise you (for, being now on your side and relieved of Sophonisba, I must be faithful to you) to beware lest she draw Masinissa over to her designs, for it is not to be expected that this woman will ever espouse the Roman side, so strongly is she attached to her own country.

So he spake, but whether he was telling the truth or was moved by jealousy and a desire to hurt Masinissa as much as possible, is not known. But Scipio called Syphax to the council, as he had shown himself sagacious and was acquainted with the country, and advised with him as Cyrus did with Crœsus, king of Lydia. Laelius having returned and told him the same things about Sophonisba that he had learned from many others, he commanded Masinissa to deliver up the wife of Syphax. When the latter tried to beg off and related the facts concerning her as above, Scipio ordered him more sharply not to possess himself by force of the Roman spoils of victory, but to ask for her after she was delivered up and obtain her if he could. Accordingly Masinissa went with a Roman detachment to fetch Sophonisba, but he went ahead secretly and gave her a dose of poison, explaining the circumstances and telling her that she must either drink it or go into voluntary captivity to the Romans. Without another word he mounted his horse. She showed the cup to her nurse, told her not to weep for her since she died gloriously, and drank the poison. Masinissa showed her dead body to the Romans who had now come up, then gave her a royal funeral; after which he returned to Scipio. The latter praised him, and to console him for the loss of a worthless woman, crowned him for his successful attack upon Syphax and gave him many presents. When Syphax arrived in Rome, some of the authorities thought that he ought to be spared because he had been their friend and ally in Spain, others, that he ought to be punished for fighting against his friends. In the meantime he sickened of grief and died.

When Hasdrubal had his forces well drilled he sent word to Hanno, the Carthaginian general, proposing to share the command with him, and intimating that there were many Spanish soldiers serving with Scipio under compulsion, who might be bribed with gold and promises to set fire to Scipio’s camp. He said that he would lend a hand if he were duly notified. Hanno, although he in-tended to cheat Hasdrubal, did not neglect the suggestion. He sent a trusty man, in the guise of a deserter, with gold to Scipio’s camp, who, winning the confidence of those he fell in with, corrupted many, and having fixed a day for the execution of the plot, disappeared. Hanno communicated the date to Hasdrubal. To Scipio, while sacrificing, the victims revealed that there was danger from fire. Accordingly he sent orders all around the camp if any glowing fires were found to put them out. He continued sacrificing several days, and as the victims still indicated danger from fire he became anxious and determined to shift his camp.

At this juncture a Spanish servant of one of the Roman knights, suspecting something of the conspiracy, pretended to be one of the accomplices and in this way learned all about it, and told his master. The latter brought him to Scipio, and he convicted the whole crowd. Scipio put them all to death and cast their bodies out of the camp. Knowledge of this coming quickly to Hanno, who was not far off, he did not come to the rendezvous, but Hasdrubal, who remained in ignorance, did. When he saw the multitude of corpses he guessed what had happened and withdrew. But Hanno slandered him and told every-body that he had come to surrender himself to Scipio, but that the latter would not receive him. Thus Hasdrubal was made more hateful to the Carthaginians than ever. About this time Hamilcar made a sudden dash on the Roman fleet and took one galley and six ships of burthen, and Hanno made an attack upon those who were besieging Utica, but was beaten off. As the siege had lasted a long time without result, Scipio raised it and moved his engines against the town of Hippo. As he accomplished nothing there, he burned his engines as useless, and overran the country, making allies of some and pillaging others.

The Carthaginians, depressed by their ill success, chose Hannibal as their commanding general and sent an admiral with ships to hasten his coming. At the same time they sent ambassadors to Scipio to negotiate for peace, thinking to gain one of two things, either peace or a delay until Hannibal should arrive. Scipio consented to an armistice, and having thus gained sufficient supplies for his army allowed them to send their ambassadors to Rome. They did so, but they were received there as enemies and required to lodge outside the walls. When the Senate gave them audience they asked pardon. Some of the senators adverted to the faithlessness of the Carthaginians, and told how often they had made treaties and broken them, and what injuries Hannibal had inflicted on the Romans and their allies in Spain and Italy. Others represented that the Carthaginians were not more in need of peace than themselves, Italy being exhausted by so many wars; and they showed how much danger was to be feared from the great armies moving together against Scipio, that of Hannibal from Italy, that of Mago from Liguria, and that of Hanno at Carthage.

The Senate was not able to agree, but sent counsellors to Scipio with whom he should advise, and then do whatever he should deem best. Scipio made peace with the Carthaginians on these terms: That Mago should depart from Liguria forthwith, and that hereafter the Carthaginians should hire no mercenaries; that they should not keep more than thirty long galleys; that they should restrict themselves to the territory within the so-called Phœnician trenches; that they should surrender to the Romans all captives and deserters, and that they should pay 6000 talents of silver within a certain time; also that Masinissa should have the kingdom of the Massylians and as much of the dominion of Syphax as he could take. Having made this agreement, ambassadors on both sides set sail, some to Rome to take the oaths of the consuls, and others from Rome to Carthage to receive those of the Carthaginian magistrates. The Romans gave to Masinissa, as a reward for his alliance, a crown of gold, a signet ring of gold, a chair of ivory, a purple robe, a horse with gold trappings, and a suit of armor.

In the meantime Hannibal set sail for Africa against his will, knowing the untrustworthy character of the people of Carthage, their bad faith toward their magistrates, and their general recklessness. He did not believe that a treaty would be made, and if made he well knew that it would not last long. He landed at the city of Hadrumetum, in Africa, and began to collect corn and buy horses. He made an alliance with the chief of a Numidian tribe called the Areacidae. He slew with arrows 4000 horsemen who had come to him as deserters. These had formerly been Syphax’s men and afterward Masinissa’s, and he suspected them. He gave their horses to his own army. Mesotulus, another chieftain, came to him with 1000 horse; also Verminia, another son of Syphax, who ruled the greater part of his father’s dominions. He gained some of Masinissa’s towns by surrender and some by force. He took the town of Narce by stratagem in this way. Dealing in their market he sent to them as to friends, and when he thought the time had come to spring the trap he sent in a large number of men carrying concealed daggers, and ordered them not to do any harm to the traders until the trumpet should sound, and then to set upon all they met, and hold the gates for him. In this way was Narce taken.

The common people of Carthage, although the treaty had been so lately concluded, and Scipio was still there, and their own ambassadors had not yet returned from Rome, plundered some of Scipio’s stores that had been driven into the port of Carthage by a storm, and put the carriers in chains, in spite of the threats of their own council and of their admonitions not to violate the treaty so recently made. The people found fault with the treaty, and said that hunger was more dangerous to them than treaty-breaking. Scipio did not deem it best to renew the war after the treaty, but he demanded reparation as from friends who were in the wrong. The people attempted to seize his messengers, intending to hold them until their own ambassadors should return from Rome, but Hanno the Great and Hasdrubal Eriphus [the Kid] rescued them from the mob and sent them away in two galleys. Some others, however, sent word to Hasdrubal, the admiral, who was moored near the promontory of Apollo, that when the escort should leave them he should set upon Scipio’s galleys. This he did, and some of the messengers were killed with arrows. The others were wounded, and the rowers darted into the harbor of their own camp and sprang from the ship which was just being seized. So narrowly did they escape being taken prisoners.

When the Romans at home learned these things they ordered the Carthaginian ambassadors, who were still there treating for peace, to depart immediately as enemies. They accordingly set sail, and were driven by a tempest to Scipio’s camp. To his admiral, who asked what he should do with them, Scipio said: We shall not imitate Carthaginian bad faith; send them away unharmed. When the Carthaginian Senate learned this they chided the people for the contrast between their behavior and Scipio’s, and advised them to beg Scipio to adhere to the agreement and to accept reparation for the Carthaginian wrong-doing. But the people had been finding fault with the Senate a long time for their ill success, because they had not sufficiently foreseen what was for their advantage, and being pushed on by demagogues and excited by vain hopes, they summoned Hannibal and his army.

Hannibal, in view of the magnitude of the war, asked them to call in Hasdrubal and the force he had in hand. Hasdrubal was accordingly forgiven for his offence, and he delivered his army over to Hannibal. Yet he did not dare to show himself to the Carthaginians, but concealed himself in the city. Now Scipio blockaded Carthage with his fleet and cut off their supplies by sea, while from the land they were poorly supplied by reason of the war. About this time there was a cavalry engagement between the forces of Hannibal and those of Scipio near Zama, in which the latter had the advantage. On the succeeding days they had sundry skirmishes until Scipio, learning that Hannibal was very short of supplies and was expecting a convoy, sent the military tribune, Thermus, by night to attack the supply train. Thermus took a position on the crest of a hill at a narrow pass, where he killed 4000 Africans, took as many more prisoners, and brought the supplies to Scipio.

Hannibal, being reduced to extremity for want of provisions and considering how he might arrange for the present, sent messengers to Masinissa reminding him of his early life and education at Carthage, and asking that he would persuade Scipio to renew the treaty, saying that the former infractions of it were the work of the common people, and of fools who had stirred them up. Masinissa, who had in fact been brought up and educated at Carthage, and who had a high respect for the dignity of the city, and was the friend of many of the inhabitants, besought Scipio to comply, and brought them to an agreement on the following terms: That the Carthaginians should surrender the men and ships bringing provisions to the Romans, which they had taken, also all plunder, or the value of it, which Scipio would estimate, and pay 1000 talents as a penalty for the wrong done. These things were agreed upon. An armistice was concluded until the Carthaginians should be made acquainted with the details; and thus Hannibal was saved in an unexpected way.

The Carthaginian council warmly welcomed the agreement and exhorted the people to adhere to its terms, explaining all their misfortunes and their immediate want of soldiers, money, and provisions. But the people, like a mere mob, behaved like fools. They thought that their generals had made this arrangement for their own private ends, so that, relying upon the Romans, they might hold the power in their own country. They said that Hannibal was doing now what had been done before by Hasdrubal, who had betrayed his camp to the enemy by night, and a little later wanted to surrender to Scipio, having approached him for that purpose, and was now concealed in the city. Thereupon there was a great clamor and tumult, and some of them left the assembly and went in search of Hasdrubal. He had anticipated them by taking refuge in his father’s tomb, where he destroyed himself with poison. But they pulled his corpse out, cut off his head, put it on a pike, and carried it about the city. Thus was Hasdrubal first banished unjustly, next falsely slandered by Hanno, and then driven to his death by the Carthaginians, and loaded with indignities after his death.

Then the Carthaginians ordered Hannibal to break the truce and begin war against Scipio, and to fight as soon as possible on account of the scarcity of provisions. Accordingly he sent word that the truce was at an end. Scipio marched immediately, and took the great city of Partha and encamped near Hannibal. The latter moved off, but he sent three spies into the Roman camp who were captured by Scipio. The latter did not put them to death, however, according to the custom of dealing with spies, but ordered that they should be taken around and shown the camp, the arsenals, the engines, and the army under review. He then set them free so that they might inform Hannibal concerning all these things. The latter deemed it advisable to have a parley with Scipio, and when it was granted he said that the Carthaginians had rejected the former treaty on account of the money indemnity. If he would remit that, and if the Romans would content themselves with Sicily, Spain, and the islands they now held, the agreement would be lasting. Hannibal’s escape from Italy would be a great gain to him, said Scipio, if he could obtain these terms in addition. He then forbade Hannibal to send any more messages to him. After indulging in some mutual threats they departed, each to his own camp.

The town of Cilla was in the neighborhood and near it was a hill well adapted for a camp. Hannibal, perceiving this, sent a detachment forward to seize it and lay out a camp. Then he started and moved forward as though he were already in possession of it. Scipio having anticipated him and seized it beforehand, Hannibal was cut off in the midst of a plain without water and was engaged all night digging wells. His army, by toiling in the sand, with great difficulty obtained a little muddy water to drink, and so they passed the night without food, without care for their bodies, and some of them without removing their arms. Scipio, mindful of these things, moved against them at day-light while they were exhausted with marching, with want of sleep, and want of water. Hannibal was troubled, since he did not wish to join battle in that plight. Yet he saw that if he should remain there his army would suffer severely from want of water, while if he should retreat the enemy would take fresh courage and fall upon his rear. For these reasons it was necessary for him to fight. He speedily put in battle array about 50,000 men and eighty elephants. He placed the elephants in the front line at intervals, in order to strike terror into the enemy’s ranks. Next to them he placed the third part of his army, composed of Celts and Ligurians, and mixed with them everywhere Moorish and Balearic archers and slingers. Behind these was his second line, composed of Carthaginians and Africans. The third line consisted of Italians who had followed him from their own country, in whom he placed the greatest confidence, since they had the most to apprehend from defeat. The cavalry were placed on the wings. In this way Hannibal arranged his forces.

Scipio had about 23,000 foot and 1500 Italian and Roman horse. He had as allies Masinissa with a large number of Numidian horse, and another prince, named Dacamas, with 1600 horse. He drew up his infantry, like those of Hannibal, in three lines. He placed all his cohorts in straight lines with open spaces so that the cavalry might readily pass between them. In front of each cohort he stationed men armed with heavy stakes two cubits long, mostly shod with iron, for the purpose of assailing the oncoming elephants by hand, as with catapult bolts. He ordered these and the other foot-soldiers to avoid the impetus of these beasts by turning aside and continually hurling javelins at them, and by darting around them to hamstring them whenever they could. In this way Scipio disposed his infantry. He stationed his Numidian horse on his wings because they were accustomed to the sight and smell of elephants. As the Italian horse were not so, he placed them all in the rear, ready to charge through the intervals of the foot-soldiers when the latter should have checked the first onset of the elephants. To each horseman was assigned an attendant armed with plenty of darts with which to ward off the attack of these beasts. In this way was his cavalry disposed. Laelius commanded the right wing and Octavius the left. In the middle both Hannibal and himself took their stations, out of respect for each other, each having a body of horse in order to send reënforcements wherever they might be needed. Of these Hannibal had 4000 and Scipio 2000, besides the 300 Italians whom he had armed in Sicily.

When everything was ready each one rode up and down encouraging his soldiers. Scipio, in the presence of his army, invoked the gods, whom the Carthaginians had offended by their frequent violation of treaties. He told the soldiers not to think of the numbers of the enemy but of their own valor, by which aforetime these same enemies, in even greater numbers, had been overcome in this same country. If fear, anxiety, and doubt oppress those who have hitherto been victorious, how much more, he said, must these feelings weigh upon the vanquished. Thus did Scipio encourage his forces and console them for their inferiority in numbers. Hannibal reminded his men of what they had done in Italy, their great and brilliant victories won, not over Numidians, but over those who were all Italians, and throughout Italy. He pointed out, in plain sight, the smallness of the enemy’s force, and exhorted them not to show themselves inferior to a less numerous body in their own country. Each general magnified to his own men the consequences of the coming engagement. Hannibal said that the battle would decide the fate of Carthage and all Africa; if vanquished, they would be enslaved forthwith, if victorious, they would have universal supremacy hereafter. Scipio said that there was no safe refuge for his men if they were vanquished, but if victorious there would be a great increase of the Roman power, a rest from their present labors, a speedy return home, and glory forever after.

Having thus exhorted their men they joined battle. Hannibal ordered the trumpet to sound, and Scipio responded in like manner. The elephants began the fight decked out in fearful panoply and urged on with goads by their riders. The Numidian horse flying around them incessantly thrust darts into them. Being wounded and put to flight and having become unmanageable, their drivers took them out of the combat. This is what happened to the elephants on both wings. Those in the centre trampled down the Roman infantry, who were not accustomed to that kind of fighting and were not able to avoid or to pursue them easily on account of their heavy armor, until Scipio brought up the Italian cavalry, who were in the rear and more lightly armed, and ordered them to dismount from their frightened horses, and run around and stab the elephants. He was himself the first to dismount and wound the front-tramping elephant. The others were encouraged by his example, and they inflicted so many wounds upon the elephants that these also withdrew.

The field being cleared of these beasts the battle was now waged by men and horses only. The Roman right wing, where Laelius commanded, put the opposing Numidians to flight, and Masinissa struck down their prince, Massathes, with a dart, but Hannibal quickly came to their rescue and restored the line of battle. On the left wing, where Octavius commanded and where the hostile Celts and Ligurians were stationed, a doubtful battle was going on. Scipio sent the tribune Thermus thither with a reënforcement of picked men, but Hannibal, after rallying his left wing, flew to the assistance of the Ligurians and Celts, bringing up at the same time his second line of Carthaginians and Africans. Scipio, perceiving this, brought his second line in opposition. When the two greatest generals of the world thus met, in hand to hand fight, there was, on the part of the soldiers of each, a brilliant emulation and reverence for their commanders, and no lack of zeal on either side in the way of sharp and vehement fighting and cheering.

As the battle was long and undecided, the two generals had compassion on their tired soldiers, and rushed upon each other in order to bring it to a more speedy decision. They threw their javelins at the same time. Scipio pierced Hannibal’s shield. Hannibal hit Scipio’s horse. The horse, smarting from the wound, threw Scipio over backwards. He quickly mounted another and again hurled a dart at Hannibal, but missed him and struck another horseman near him. At this juncture, Masinissa, hearing of the crisis, came up, and the Romans seeing their general not only serving as a commander but fighting also as a common soldier, fell upon the enemy more vehemently than before, routed them, and pursued them in flight. Nor could Hannibal, who rode by the side of his men and besought them to make a stand and renew the battle, prevail upon them to do so. Therefore, despairing of these, he turned to the Italians who had come with him, and who were still in reserve and not demoralized. These he led into the fight, hoping to fall upon the Romans in disorderly pursuit. But they perceived his intention, and speedily called one another back from the pursuit and restored the line of battle. As their horse were no longer with them and they were destitute of missiles, they now fought sword in hand in close combat. Great slaughter ensued and innumerable wounds, mingled with the shouts of the combatants and the groans of the dying, until, finally, the Romans routed these also and put them to flight. Such was the brilliant issue of this engagement.

Hannibal in his flight seeing a mass of Numidian horse collected together, ran up and besought them not to desert him. Having secured their promise, he led them against the pursuers, hoping still to turn the tide of battle. The first whom he encountered were the Massylians, and now a single combat between Masinissa and Hannibal took place. Rushing fiercely upon each other, Masinissa drove his spear into Hannibal’s shield, and Hannibal wounded his antagonist’s horse. Masinissa, being thrown, sprang towards Hannibal on foot, and struck and killed a horseman who was advancing towards him in front of the others. At the same time he received in his shield — made of elephant’s hide — several darts, one of which he pulled out and hurled at Hannibal; but, as it happened, it struck another horseman who was near and killed him. While he was pulling out another, he was wounded in the arm, and withdrew from the fight for a brief space. When Scipio learned this, he feared for Masinissa and hastened to his relief, but he found that the latter had bound up his wound and returned to the fight on a fresh horse. Thus the battle continued doubtful and very severe, the soldiers on either side having the utmost reverence for their commanders, until Hannibal, discovering a body of Spanish and Celtic troops on a hill near by, dashed over to them to bring them into the fight. Those who were still engaged, not knowing the cause of his going, thought that he had fled. Accordingly, they abandoned the fight of their own accord and broke into disorderly rout, not following after Hannibal, but helter skelter. This band having been dispersed, the Romans thought that the fight was over and pursued them in a disorderly way, not perceiving Hannibal’s purpose.

Presently Hannibal returned accompanied by the Spanish and Celtic troops from the hill. Scipio hastened to recall the Romans from the pursuit, and formed a new line of battle much stronger than those who were coming against him, by which means he overcame them without difficulty. When this last effort had failed, Hannibal despaired utterly, and fled in plain sight. Many horsemen pursued him, and among others Masinissa, although suffering from his wound, pressed him hard, striving eagerly to take him prisoner and deliver him to Scipio. But night came to his rescue and under cover of darkness, with twenty horsemen who had alone been able to keep pace with him, he took refuge in a town named Thon. Here he found many Bruttian and Spanish horsemen who had fled after the defeat. Fearing the Spaniards because they were fickle barbarians, and apprehending that the Bruttians, as they were Scipio’s countrymen, might deliver him up in order to secure pardon for their transgression against Italy, he fled secretly with one horseman in whom he had full confidence. Having accomplished about 3000 stades in two nights and days, he arrived at the seaport of Hadrumetum, where a part of his army had been left to guard his supplies. Here he began to collect forces from the adjacent country and from those who had escaped from the recent engagement, and to prepare arms and engines of war.

Now Scipio, having gained this splendid victory, girded himself as for a sacrifice and burned the less valuable spoils of the enemy, as is the custom of the Roman generals. He sent to Rome ten talents of gold, 2500 talents of silver, a quantity of carved ivory, and many distinguished captives in ships, and Laelius to carry news of the victory. The remainder of the spoils he sold, and divided the proceeds among the troops. He also made presents for distinguished valor, and crowned Masinissa again. He also sent out expeditions and gathered in more cities. Such was the result of the engagement between Hannibal and Scipio, who here met in combat for the first time. The Roman loss was 2500 men, that of Masinissa rather more. That of the enemy was 25,000 killed, and 8500 taken prisoners. Three hundred Spaniards deserted to Scipio, and 800 Numidians to Masinissa.

Before the news reached either Carthage or Rome, the former sent word to Mago, who was collecting Gallic mercenaries, to invade Italy if possible, and if not, to set sail with his forces for Africa. These letters being intercepted and brought to Rome, another army, together with horses, ships, and money, was despatched to Scipio. The latter had already sent Octavius by the land route to Carthage, and was going thither himself with his fleet. When the Carthaginians learned of Hannibal’s defeat they sent ambassadors to Scipio on a small fast-sailing ship, of whom the principal ones were Hanno the Great and Hasdrubal Eriphus, who bore a herald’s staff aloft on the prow and stretched out their hands toward Scipio in the manner of suppliants. He directed them to come to the camp, and when they had arrived he attended to their business in high state. They threw themselves on the ground weeping, and when the attendants had lifted them up and bade them say what they wished, Hasdrubal Eriphus spoke as follows:

For myself, Romans, and for Hanno here, and for all sensible Carthaginians, let me say that we are guiltless of the wrongs which you lay at our door. For when the same men, driven by hunger, did violence to your legates, we rescued them and sent them back to you. You ought not to condemn all the people of Carthage who so recently sought peace, and when it was granted eagerly took the oath to support it. But cities are easily swayed to their hurt, because the masses are always controlled by what is pleasing to their ears. We have had experience of these things, having been unable either to persuade or to restrain the multitude by reason of those who slandered us at home and who have prevented us from making ourselves understood by you. Romans, do not judge us by the standard of your own discipline and good counsel. If any one esteems it a crime to have yielded to the persuasions of these rabble-rousers, consider the hunger and the necessity that was upon us by reason of suffering. For it could not have been a deliberate intention on the part of our people, first to ask for peace, and give such a large sum of money to obtain it, and deliver up all their galleys except a few, and surrender the bulk of their territory, swear to these things, and send an embassy to Rome with the ratifications, and then wantonly to violate the agreement before our embassy had returned. Surely some god misled them and the tempest that drove your supplies into Carthage; and besides the tempest, hunger carried us away, for people who are in want of everything do not form the best judgments respecting other people’s property. It would not be reasonable to punish with severity a multitude of men so disorganized and unfortunate.

But if you consider us more guilty than unfortunate, we confess our fault and ask pardon for it. Justification belongs to the innocent, entreaty to those who have offended. And much more readily will the fortunate extend pity to others, when they observe the mutability of human affairs, and see people craving mercy to-day who yesterday were carrying things with a high hand. Such is the condition of Carthage, the greatest and most powerful city of Africa, in ships and money, in elephants, in infantry and cavalry, and in subject peoples, which has flourished 700 years and held sway over all Africa and so many other nations, islands, and seas, standing for the greater part of this time on an equality with yourselves, but which now places her hope of safety not in her dominion of the sea, her ships, her horses, her subjects (all of which have passed over to you), but in you, whom we have heretofore shamefully treated. Contemplating these facts, Romans, it is fit that you should beware of the Nemesis which has come upon them and should use your good fortune mercifully, to do deeds worthy of your own magnanimity and of the former fortunes of Carthage, and to deal with the changes which Providence has ordered in our affairs without reproach, so that your conduct may be blameless before the gods and win the praises of all mankind.

There need be no fear that the Carthaginians will change their minds again, after being subjected to such repentance and punishment for their past folly. Wise men are prevented from wrong-doing by their wisdom, the wicked by their suffering and repentance. It is reasonable to suppose that those who have been chastised will be more trusty than those who have not had such experience. Be careful that you do not imitate the cruelty and the sinfulness that you lay at the door of the Carthaginians. The misfortunes of the miserable are the source of fresh transgressions arising from poverty. To the fortunate the opportunity for clemency exists in the abundance of their means. It will be neither to the glory nor to the advantage of your government to destroy so great a city as ours, instead of preserving it. Still, you are the better judges of your own interests. For our safety we rely on these two things: the ancient dignity of the city of Carthage and your well-known moderation, which, together with your arms, has raised you to so great dominion and power. We must accept peace on whatever terms you grant. It is needless to say that we place everything in your hands.

At the conclusion of his speech Eriphus burst into tears. Then Scipio dismissed them and consulted with his officers a long time. After he had come to a decision, he called the Carthaginian envoys back and addressed them thus: You do not deserve pardon, you who have so often violated your treaties with us, and only lately abused our envoys in such a public and heaven-defying manner that you can neither excuse yourselves nor deny that you are worthy of the severest punishment. But what is the use of accusing those who confess? And now you take refuge in prayers, you who would have wiped out the very name of Rome if you had conquered. We did not imitate your bad example. When your ambassadors were at Rome, although you had violated the agreement and maltreated our envoys, the city allowed them to go free, and when they were driven into my camp, although the war had been recommenced, I sent them back to you unharmed. Now that you have condemned yourselves, you may consider whatever terms are granted to you in the light of a gain. I will tell you what my views are, and our Senate will vote upon them as it shall think best.

We will yet grant you peace, Carthaginians, on condition that you surrender to the Romans all your warships ships except ten, all your elephants, the plunder you have lately taken from us, or the value of what has been lost, of which I shall be the judge, all prisoners and deserters and those whom Hannibal led from Italy. These conditions to be fulfilled within thirty days after peace is declared. Mago to depart from Liguria within sixty days, and your garrisons to be withdrawn from all cities beyond the Phoenician trenches and their hostages to be surrendered. You to pay to Rome the sum of 250 Euboïc talents per annum for fifty years. You shall not recruit mercenaries from the Celts or the Ligurians, nor wage war against Masinissa or any other friend of Rome, nor permit any Carthaginians to serve against them with consent of your people. You to retain your city and as much territory inside the Phœnician trenches as you had when I sailed for Africa. You to remain friends of Rome and be her allies on land and sea; all this, if the Senate please, in which case the Romans will evacuate Africa within 150 days. If you desire an armistice until you can send ambassadors to Rome, you shall forthwith give us 150 of your children as hostages whom I shall choose. You shall also give 1000 talents in addition for the pay of my army, and provisions likewise. When the treaty is ratified we will release your hostages.

When Scipio had finished speaking the envoys bore his conditions to Carthage, where the people debated them in the Assembly for several days. The chief men thought that it was best to accept the offer and not, by refusing a part, to run the risk of losing all; but the vulgar crowd, not considering the instant peril rather than the draft, great as it was, upon their resources, and being the majority, refused compliance. They were angry that their rulers, in time of famine, should send provisions away to the Romans instead of supplying their own citizens during the armistice, and they banded together, threatening to plunder and burn the houses of every one of them. Finally, they decided to take counsel with Hannibal, who now had 60000 infantry and 500 cavalry stationed at the town of Marthama. He came and, although moderate citizens feared lest a man so fond of war should excite the people to renewed exertions, he very gravely advised them to accept peace. But the people, mad with rage, reviled him also, and threatened everybody, until some of the notables, despairing of the city, took refuge with Masinissa, and others with the Romans themselves.

The remaining Carthaginians, hearing that a large quantity of provisions had been stored by Hannibal at a certain place, sent a number of transports and war-ships thither, being resolved, if they could obtain food, to continue the war and to endure everything rather than accept servitude to the Romans. But after a storm had shattered their ships, despairing of everything, they accused the gods of conspiring against them, assented to the agreement with Scipio, and sent an embassy to Rome. Scipio also sent counsellors to confirm the agreement. It was said that Scipio was moved by two considerations. He thought that peace would be for the advantage of the city. He knew also that the consul, C. Cornelius Lentulus, would grasp at his command, and he was not willing that another should reap the glory of bringing the war to an end. At all events he enjoined upon his messengers to say that if there should be delay at Rome he would conclude peace himself.

There was great rejoicing at Rome that this mighty city, which had brought so many calamities upon them and had been the second or third in the leadership of the world, had been completely vanquished. But there were differences of opinion as to what should be done. Some were exceedingly bitter toward the Carthaginians. Others had pity on them, thinking that this was a more becoming attitude to take respecting other people’s misfortunes. One of Scipio’s friends rose and said: Gentlemen, this is not so much a question of saving Carthage as it is of preserving our faith with the gods and our reputation among men — lest it be said that we, who have so often charged the carthaginians with cruelty, behave with greater cruelty than they, and that we, who always exercise moderation in small matters, neglect it wholly in large ones, which, on account of their very magnitude, cannot escape notice. The deed will be sounded through all the earth, now and hereafter, if we destroy this famous city, former mistress of the seas, ruler of so many islands, and of the whole expanse of water, and more than half of Africa, and which in contests with ourselves has exhibited such wonderful success and power. While they were in arms it was necessary to fight them; now that they have fallen they should be spared, just as athletes refrain from striking a fallen antagonist, and as many wild beasts spare the enemies they have thrown down. It is fitting, in the hour of success, to beware of the indignation of the gods and of the envy of mankind. If we consider closely what they have done to us, that is itself a most fearful example of the fickleness of fortune, that they are now asking us simply to save them from destruction, they who have been able to inflict so many and so great evils upon us, and not long ago were contending on even terms with us for the possession of Sicily and Spain. But, for these things they have already been punished. For their later transgressions blame the pangs of hunger, the most painful suffering that can afflict mankind, a torture that may easily dethrone the reasoning powers of men.

I do not speak for the Carthaginians; that would not be fitting. Nor do I forget that they violated other treaties before those which are now under review. What our fathers did in like circumstances (and by which means they arrived at the summit of fortune) I will recall to your minds for you know them already. Although the neighboring peoples round about us often revolted and were continually breaking treaties, our ancestors did not disdain them — the Latins, the Etruscans, the Sabines, for example. Afterward, the Aequi, the Volsci, the Campanians, also our neighbors, and various other peoples of Italy, committed a breach of their treaties, and our fathers met it magnanimously. Moreover, the Samnite race, after betraying friendship and agreements three times and waging the most desperate war against us for eighty years, were not destroyed, nor were those others who called Pyrrhus into Italy. Nor did we destroy those Italians who lately joined forces with Hannibal, not even the Bruttians, who remained with him to the last. We took from them a part of their lands and allowed them to keep the remainder. Thus it was esteemed both generous to them and useful to us not to exterminate a whole race, but to bring them into a better state of mind.

Why, in dealing with the Carthaginians, should we change our nature, in the exercise of which we have until now so greatly prospered? Is it because their city is large? That is the very reason why it ought to be spared. Is it because they have often violated their treaties with us? So have other nations, almost all of them. Is it because they are now to be subjected to a light punishment? They are to lose all their ships but ten. They are to give up their elephants, which constitute so large a part of their strength. They are to pay 10,000 Euboïc talents. They are to yield all the cities and territories outside of the Phœnician trenches, and they are forbidden to enlist soldiers. What they took from us when pressed by hunger they are to restore, although they are still hungry. As to all doubtful matters, Scipio, the man who fought against them, is the judge. I praise Scipio the rather for the magnitude and multitude of these things. I think you ought to spare them considering the invidiousness and the mutability of human affairs. They still have (until the treaty is ratified) an abundance of ships and elephants, and Hannibal, that most skilful captain, who still has an army; also Mago, who is leading another considerable force of Celts and Ligurians; also Vermina, the son of Syphax, is allied with them, and other Numidian tribes. They have also a great many slaves. If they despair of pardon from you they will use all these things with a lavish hand. Nothing is more dangerous than desperation in battles, in which also the divine will is both uncertain and vengeful.

It seems that Scipio was apprehensive of these things when he communicated his own opinion to us, saying that if we delayed he would conclude peace himself. It is reasonable to suppose, too, that he can form a better judgment than ourselves, since the one who presides over the whole business can have the best view of it. If we reject his advice we shall give pain to that ardent patriot, that renowned general, who urged us to carry the war into Africa when we were not in favor of it; and when he could not obtain an army from us, raised it himself, and there achieved for us a success far beyond our expectations. It is astonishing that you who entered upon this war so sluggishly in the beginning, should now prosecute it so fiercely and to such extremity. If any one agrees to this, but fears lest the Carthaginians should break faith again, I answer that it is more likely that they now perceive the necessity of keeping their agreements because they have suffered so much from former violations of them, and that they will observe the claims of religion all the more since their impiety has led only to their ruin. It is not consistent to despise the Carthaginians as being powerless, and in the same breath to fear lest they should have power to rebel. It will be easier for us to keep watch over them, that they do not become too great hereafter, than to destroy them now. They will fight with desperation now, but hereafter they will always be held in check by their fears. Besides, they will have plenty of troubles without us, for all their neighbors, angered by their former tyranny, will press upon them, and Masinissa, our most faithful ally, will always be there lying in wait for them.

If any one is disposed to treat all these considerations lightly, and is only thinking how he may succeed to Scipio’s command and turn it to his own advantage, trusting that the favors of fortune will attend him to the end, what are we going to do with the city after we have taken it — supposing we do take it? Shall we destroy it utterly because they seized some of our corn and ships, which they are ready to give back, together with many other things? If we do not do this (having regard to the indignation of the gods and the censures of men) shall we give it to Masinissa? Although he is our friend, it is best not to make him too strong. It should rather be considered a public advantage to the Romans that the two should be at strife with each other. Is it said that we might collect rent from their land? The expense of military protection would eat up the rent, for we should need a strong force to ward off so many surrounding tribes, all of them uncivilized. Can we plant colonies in the midst of such a host of Numidians? They would always be exposed to the depredations of these powerful barbarians, and if they should conquer them they might hereafter become objects of fear and jealousy to us, possessing a country so much more fruitful than ours. All of which things, it seems to me, Scipio clearly discerned when he advised us to yield to the prayers of the Carthaginians. Let us then grant their request and that of our general.

When he had thus spoken, Publius Cornelius, a relative of Cornelius Lentulus, who was then consul and who expected to be Scipio’s successor, replied thus: In war, gentlemen, the only thing to be considered is, what is advantageous. We are told that this city is still powerful. So much the more ought we to be on our guard against treachery joined to power, and to crush the power since we cannot extinguish the treachery. No time can be better chosen to free ourselves from all fear of the Carthaginians than the present, when they are weak and stripped of everything, and before they grow again to their former proportions. Not that I would deny the claims of justice, but I do not think that we can be accused of want of moderation toward the Carthaginians, who in their days of prosperity were unjust and insolent to everybody, but have become suppliants in adversity, and will immediately break away from the new treaty if they have a chance. They have neither respect for treaties nor regard for their oaths—these people whom the gentleman thinks we ought to spare, in order that we may avoid the indignation of the gods and the censures of men. I think that the gods themselves have brought Carthage into this plight in order to punish for their former impiety those who in Sicily, in Spain, in Italy, and in Africa itself, with us and with all others, were always making covenants and breaking their oaths, and committing outrage and savagery. Of these things I will give you some foreign examples before I speak of those that concern ourselves, in order that you may know that all men will rejoice over the Carthaginians if they are brought to condign punishment.

The people of Saguntum, a noble city of Spain, in league with themselves and friendly to us, they slaughtered to the last man, although they had given no offence. Those of Nuceria, a town subject to us, surrendered to them under a sworn agreement that they might depart with two garments each. They shut the senators of Nuceria up in a bath-room and suffocated them with heat. Then they shot the common people with arrows as they were going away. After entering into a treaty with the Senate of Acerra they threw them into wells and buried them alive. Our consul, Marcus Cornelius, they lured by false oaths to an interview with their general, who pretended to be sick. They seized him and carried him prisoner from Sicily into Africa with twenty-two of our ships. They put our other general, Regulus, to death with torture after he had gone back to them in accordance with his oath. The acts perpetrated by Hannibal himself in war, stratagem and perjury, against our cities and armies, and at last against his own allies, destroying their cities and slaughtering their soldiers serving with him, it would take too long to enumerate. In a word, 400 of our towns were depopulated by him. He cast our men, whom he had taken prisoners, into ditches and rivers, making bridges of their bodies to pass over. He had them trodden under foot by elephants. He made them fight with each other, brothers against brothers and fathers against sons. And just now, while they were here treating for peace, and calling the gods to witness, and taking oaths, and while their ambassadors were still among us, they seized our ships in Africa and put our men in chains. To such a pitch of madness have they been brought by the practice of cruelty.

What pity, therefore, or what moderation is due from others to these Carthaginians, who have never exercised moderation or clemency in anything, and who, as Scipio says, would have expunged the very name of Rome if they had vanquished us? But good faith, you say, and the right hand are reliable. How so? What treaty, what oath, have they not trampled under foot? We should not imitate them, the gentleman says. What treaty can we violate when we have not yet made any? But we should not imitate their cruelty, he says. Ought we to make the most cruel people in the world our friends and allies? Neither of these things is desirable. Let them surrender at discretion, as is the custom of the vanquished, as many others have surrendered to us. Then we shall see what we will do, and whatever we accord to them they shall take in the light of a favor and not of a bargain. There is this difference between the two plans. As long as we treat with them they will violate the treaties as they have heretofore, always making some excuse that they were overreached. They will always find plausible grounds for dispute. But when they surrender at discretion, and we take away their arms, and when their persons are in our possession and they see that there is nothing they can call their own, their spirits will be tamed and they will welcome whatever we allow them to have, as a gratuity bestowed by others. If Scipio thinks differently you have the two opinions to choose from. If he is going to make peace with the Carthaginians without you, what is the need of his sending any word to you? For my part, I have given you the opinion which I hold to be for the advantage of the city, as to judges who are really going to exercise a judgment on the matter in hand.

After Publius had spoken, the Senate took a vote on the question, and the majority agreed with Scipio. Thus a third treaty was made between the Romans and the Carthaginians. Scipio deemed it best to urge this policy upon the Romans, either for the reasons mentioned above, or because he considered it a sufficient success for Rome to have taken the supremacy away from Carthage. There are some who think that in order to preserve the Roman discipline he wished to keep a neighbor and rival as a perpetual menace, so that they might never become intoxicated with success and careless by reason of the greatness of their prosperity. That Scipio had this feeling, Cato, not long after, publicly declared to the Romans when he reproached them for undue severity toward the Rhodians. When Scipio had concluded the treaty, he sailed from Africa to Italy with his whole army, and made a triumphal entry into Rome more glorious than that of any of his predecessors.

The form of the triumph (which the Romans continue to employ) was as follows: All who were in the procession wore crowns. Trumpeters led the advance and wagons laden with spoils. Towers were borne along representing the captured cities, and pictures showing the exploits of the war; then gold and silver coin and bullion, and whatever else they had captured of that kind; then came the crowns that had been given to the general as a reward for his bravery by cities, by allies, or by the army itself. White oxen came next, and after them elephants and the captive Carthaginian and Numidian chiefs. Lictors clad in purple tunics preceded the general; also a chorus of musicians and pipers, in imitation of an Etruscan procession, wearing belts and golden crowns, and they march evenly with song and dance. They call themselves Lydi because, as I think, the Etruscans were a Lydian colony. One of these, in the middle of the procession, wearing a purple cloak and golden bracelets and necklace, caused laughter by making various gesticulations, as though he were insulting the enemy. Next came a lot of incense bearers, and after them the general himself on a chariot embellished with various designs, wearing a crown of gold and precious stones, and dressed, according to the fashion of the country, in a purple toga embroidered with golden stars. He bore a sceptre of ivory, and a laurel branch, which is always the Roman symbol of victory. Riding in the same chariot with him were boys and girls, and on horses on either side of him young men, his own relatives. Then followed those who had served him in the war as secretaries, aids, and armor-bearers. After these came the army arranged in companies and cohorts, all of them crowned and carrying laurel branches, the bravest of them bearing their military prizes. They praised some of their captains, derided others, and reproached others; for in a triumph everybody is free, and is allowed to say what he pleases. When Scipio arrived at the Capitol the procession came to an end, and he entertained his friends at a banquet in the temple.

Thus the second war between the Romans and the Carthaginians, which began in Spain and terminated in Africa with the aforesaid treaty, came to an end. This was about the 144th Olympiad according to the Greek reckoning. Presently Masinissa, being incensed against the Carthaginians and relying on the friendship of the Romans, seized a considerable part of the territory belonging to the former on the ground that it had once belonged to himself. The Carthaginians appealed to the Romans to bring Masinissa to terms. The Romans accordingly sent arbitrators, but told them to favor Masinissa as much as they could. Thus Masinissa appropriated a part of the Carthaginian territory and made a treaty with them which lasted about fifty years, during which Carthage, blessed with peace, advanced greatly in population and wealth by reason of the fertility of her soil and the profits of her commerce.

By and by (as frequently happens in periods of prosperity) factions arose. There was a Roman party, a democratic party, and a party which favored Masinissa as king. Each had leaders of eminence in position and in bravery. Hanno the Great was the leader of the Romanizing faction; Hannibal, surnamed the Starling, was the chief of those who favored Masinissa; and Hamilcar, surnamed the Samnite, and Carthalo, of the democrats. The latter party, watching their opportunity while the Romans were at war with the Celtiberians, and Masinissa was marching to the aid of his son, who was surrounded by other Spanish forces, persuaded Carthalo (the commander of auxiliaries and in discharge of that office going about the country) to attack the subjects of Masinissa, whose tents were on disputed territory. Accordingly he slew some of them, carried off booty, and incited the rural Africans against the Numidians. Many other hostile acts took place on both sides, until the Romans again sent envoys to restore peace, telling them as before to help Masinissa secretly. They artfully confirmed Masinissa in the possession of what he had taken before, in this way. They would neither say anything nor listen to anything, so that Masinissa might not be worsted in the controversy, but they passed between the two litigants with outstretched hands, and this was their way of commanding both to keep the peace. Not long afterward Masinissa raised a dispute about the land known as the big fields and the country belonging to fifty towns, which is called Tysca. Again the Carthaginians had recourse to the Romans. Again the latter promised to send envoys to arbitrate the matter, but they delayed until it seemed probable that the Carthaginian interests would be utterly ruined.

At length they sent the envoys, and among others Cato. These went to the disputed territory and they asked that both parties should submit all their differences to them. Masinissa, who was grabbing more than his share and who had confidence in the Romans, consented. The Carthaginians hesitated, because their former experience had led them to fear that they should not receive justice. They said therefore that it was of no use to have a new dispute and a correction of the treaty made with Scipio, they only complained about transgressions of the treaty. As the envoys would not consent to arbitrate on the controversy in parts, they returned home. But they carefully observed the country; they saw how diligently it was cultivated, and what great estates it possessed. They entered the city and saw how greatly it had increased in wealth and population since its overthrow by Scipio not long before. When they returned to Rome they declared that Carthage was to them an object of apprehension rather than of jealousy, the city being so ill affected, so near them, and growing so rapidly. Cato especially said that even the liberty of Rome would never be secure until Carthage was destroyed. When the Senate learned these things it resolved upon war but waited for a pretext, and meanwhile concealed the intention. It is said that Cato, from that time, continually expressed the opinion in the Senate that Carthage must be destroyed. Scipio Nasica held the contrary opinion that Carthage ought to be spared so that the Roman discipline, which was already relaxing, might be preserved through fear of her.

The democratic faction in Carthage sent the leaders of the party favoring Masinissa into banishment, to the number of about forty, and confirmed it by a vote and an oath that they should never be taken back, and that the question of taking them back should never be discussed. The banished took refuge with Masinissa and urged him to declare war. He, nothing loath, sent his two sons, Gulussa and Micipsa, to Carthage to demand that those who had been expelled on his account should be taken back. When they came to the city gates the boëtharch warned them off, fearing lest the relatives of the exiles should prevail with the multitude by their tears. When Gulussa was returning Hamilcar the Samnite set upon him, killed some of his attendants, and thoroughly frightened him. Thereupon Masinissa, making this an excuse, laid siege to the town of Oroscopa, which he desired to possess contrary to the treaty. The Carthaginians with 25,000 foot and 400 city horse under Hasdrubal, their boëtharch, marched against Masinissa. At their approach, Asasis and Suba, Masinissa’s lieutenants, on account of some difference with his sons, deserted with 6000 horse. Encouraged by this accession, Hasdrubal moved his forces nearer to the king and in some skirmishes gained the advantage. But Masinissa by stratagem retired little by little as if in flight, until he had drawn him into a great desert surrounded by hills and crags, and destitute of provisions. Then turning about he pitched his camp in the open plain. Hasdrubal drew up among the hills as being a stronger position.

They were to fight the following day. Scipio the younger, who afterwards captured Carthage, and who was then serving Lucullus in the war against the Celtiberians, was on his way to Masinissa’s camp, having been sent thither to procure elephants. Masinissa, as he was preparing his own person for battle, sent a body of horse to meet him, and charged some of his sons to receive him when he should arrive. At daylight he put his army in order of battle in person, for although he was eighty-eight years old he was still a vigorous horseman and rode bareback, as is the Numidian custom, both when fighting and when performing the duties of a general. Indeed, the Numidians are the most robust of all the African peoples and of the long-lived they live the longest. The reason probably is that their winter is not cold enough to do them much harm and their summer not so extremely hot as that of Ethiopia and of India; for which reason also this country produces the most powerful wild beasts, and the men are always performing labor in the open air. They use very little wine and their food is simple and frugal. When Masinissa, upon his charger, drew up his army Hasdrubal drew up his in opposition. It was very large, since many recruits had flocked in from the country. Scipio witnessed this battle from a height, as one views a spectacle in a theatre. He often said afterwards that he had witnessed various contests, but never enjoyed any other so much, for here only had he seen at his ease 110,000 join battle. He added with an air of solemnity that only two had had such a spectacle before him: Jupiter from Mount Ida, and Neptune from Samothrace, in the Trojan war.

The battle continued from morning till night, many falling on both sides, and it seemed that Masinissa had the advantage. As he was returning from the field Scipio presented himself, and Masinissa greeted him with the greatest attention, having been a friend of his grandfather. When the Carthaginians learned of Scipio’s arrival they besought him to make terms for them with Masinissa. He brought them to a conference, and the Carthaginians made proposals that they would surrender to Masinissa the territory belonging to the town of Emporium and give him 200 talents of silver now and 800 talents later. When he asked for the deserters they would not give them up. So they separated without coming to an agreement. Then Scipio returned to Spain with his elephants. Masinissa drew a line of circumvallation around the hill where the enemy were encamped and prevented them from bringing in any food. Nor could any be found in the neighborhood, for it was with the greatest difficulty that he could procure a scant supply for himself from a long distance. Now Hasdrubal thought that he should be able to break through the enemy’s line with his army, which was still strong and unharmed. Having more supplies than Masinissa, he thought it would be a good plan to provoke him to battle and he delayed because he had just learned that envoys were on their way from Rome to settle the difficulty. By and by they came. They had been instructed if Masinissa were beaten to put an end to the strife, but if he were successful, to spur him on. And they carried out their orders.

In the meantime hunger wasted Hasdrubal and the Carthaginians and, being much debilitated, they were no longer able to assault the enemy. First they ate their pack animals, and after them their horses, and they boiled their leather straps for food. They also fell sick of various diseases due to lack of food, want of exercise, and the season, for they were enclosed in one place and in a contracted camp — a great multitude of men exposed to the heat of an African summer. When the supply of wood for cooking failed they burned their shields. They could not carry out the bodies of the dead because Masinissa kept strict guard; nor could they burn them for want of fuel. So there was a terrible pestilence among them in consequence of living in the stench of putrefying corpses. The greater part of the army was already wasted away. The rest, seeing no hope of escape, agreed to give up the deserters to Masinissa and to pay him 5000 talents of silver in fifty years, and to take back those who had been banished, although this was contrary to their oath. They were to pass out through their enemies, one by one, through a single gate, and with nothing but a short tunic for each. Gulussa, full of wrath at the assault made upon him not long before, either with the connivance of his father or upon his own motion, made a charge upon them with a body of Numidian cavalry as they were going out. As they had neither arms to resist nor strength to fly, many were slain. So, out of 58,000 men composing the army only a few returned safe to Carthage, among them Hasdrubal, the general, and others of the nobility.

Such was the war between Masinissa and the carthaginians. The third and last Punic war of the Romans in Africa followed it. The Carthaginians having suffered this calamity at the hands of Masinissa, and the city being much weakened by it, they began to be apprehensive of the king himself, who was still near them with a large army, and also of the Romans, who were always harboring ill-will toward them and would make the affairs of Masinissa an excuse for it. They were not wrong in either particular. The Romans, when they learned the foregoing facts, straightway began to collect an army throughout all Italy, not telling what it was intended for, but in order, they said, to have it ready for emergencies. The Carthaginians, thinking to put an end to the excuse, condemned Hasdrubal, who had conducted the campaign against Masinissa, and Carthalo, the boëtharch, and any others who were concerned in the matter, to death, putting the whole blame of the war upon them. They sent ambassadors to Rome to complain of Masinissa, and at the same time to accuse their own citizens of taking up arms against him too hastily and rashly, and of furnishing an occasion for an imputation of hostility on the part of their city. When one of the senators asked the ambassadors why they did not condemn their officers at the beginning of the war instead of waiting till they were beaten, and why they did not send their embassy before, instead of postponing it till now, they could not give any answer. The Senate, which had previously resolved upon war and was only seeking some petty excuse, answered that the defence offered by the Carthaginians was not satisfactory. The latter, much disturbed, asked again, if they had done wrong, how they could atone for it. The answer was given in a word: You must make it right with the Roman people. When they inquired among themselves what would make it right, some thought that the Romans would like to have something added to the pecuniary fine imposed by Scipio; others, that the disputed territory should be given up to Masinissa. Being at a loss what to do they sent another embassy to Rome, and asked to know exactly what they should do to make it right. The Romans replied that the Carthaginians knew perfectly well what was necessary, and having given this answer dismissed them.

While they were stricken with fear and perplexity on this account, the city of Utica (the largest in Africa after Carthage itself, having a harbor with good anchorage and well adapted for landing an army, at a distance of sixty stades from Carthage and well situated as a base of operations against it), observing the plight the Carthaginians were in, and recalling their ancient animosity toward them, sent an embassy to Rome at this critical moment offering to give themselves up to the Romans. The Senate, which had been previously eager and prepared for war, having gained the accession of a city so strong and so conveniently placed, now disclosed its purpose. Assembling in the Capitol (where they were accustomed to deliberate on the subject of war), the senators voted to declare war against Carthage. They immediately despatched the consuls in command of the forces, M. Manlius having charge of the foot soldiers and L. Marcius Censorinus of the fleet, and they gave them secret orders not to desist from the war until Carthage was razed to the ground. After offering sacrifice they sailed for Sicily, intending to cross over thence to Utica. They were conveyed in 50 quinqueremes and 100 hemiolii, besides many open boats and transports. The army consisted of 80,000 infantry and about 4000 cavalry, all the very best. There was a general rush of citizens and allies to join this splendid expedition, and absolute confidence in the result, and many were eager to have their names on the enrolment.

The declaration of war and the war itself reached the Carthaginians by the same messenger. He brought the vote of the Senate, and told them that the fleet had already sailed. They were astounded, and in despair for want of ships and by the recent loss of so many young men. They had neither allies, nor mercenaries, nor supplies for enduring a siege, nor anything else in readiness for this sudden and unheralded war. They knew that they could not prevail against the Romans and Masinissa combined. They sent another embassy to Rome with full powers to settle the difficulty on any terms they could. The Senate was convened and it told them that if, within thirty days, the Carthaginians would give to the consuls, who were still in Sicily, three hundred children of their noblest families as hostages, and would obey their orders in other respects, the freedom and autonomy of Carthage should be preserved and that they should retain their lands in Africa. This was voted in public, and they gave the resolution to the ambassadors to carry to Carthage; but they sent word privately to the consuls that they should carry out their secret instructions.

The Carthaginians had some suspicion of this Senate resolution, since there was no security given for the return of the hostages. Nevertheless, the danger was so great that they could omit nothing in which hope could be placed. So, anticipating the appointed time, they sent their children into Sicily, amid the tears of the parents, the kindred, and especially the mothers, who clung to their little ones with frantic cries and seized hold of the ships and of the officers who were taking them away, even holding the anchors and tearing the ropes, and throwing their arms around the sailors in order to prevent the ships from moving; some of them even swam out far into the sea beside the ships, shedding tears and gazing at their children. Some of them tore out their hair on the shore and smote their breasts in the extremity of their grief. It seemed to them that they were giving hostages only nominally, but were really giving up the city, when they surrendered their children without any fixed conditions. Many of them predicted, with lamentations, that it would profit the city nothing to have delivered up their children. Such were the scenes that took place in Carthage when the hostages were sent away. When the consuls received them in Sicily they sent them to Rome, and said to the Carthaginians that they would give them further information at Utica in reference to the ending of the war.

Crossing to the latter place they pitched the camp for their infantry at the same place where that of Scipio had formerly been. The fleet remained in the harbor of Utica. When the ambassadors came there from Carthage the consuls placed themselves on a high seat, with the chief officers and military tribunes standing near, and the whole army drawn up on either side with arms glistening and standards erect, in order that the ambassadors might be impressed in this way with the strength of the expedition. When the consuls had proclaimed silence by the trumpet, a herald told the Carthaginian envoys to come forward, and they advanced through the long camp, but did not draw near to the place where the consuls sat, because they were fenced off by a rope. The consuls then ordered them to tell what they wanted. The envoys then told a various and pitiful tale about the former agreements between the Romans and themselves, about the antiquity of Carthage, its size and power, and its wide dominion on land and sea. They said that they did not mention these things in a boasting way, this was no fit occasion for boasting, but that you, Romans (they said), may be moved to moderation and clemency by the example of our sudden change of fortune. The bravest are those who pity the fallen, and they may cherish confidence in their own continued prosperity in proportion as they do nothing to the injury of others. Such a course will be worthy of you, Romans, and of that reverent spirit which you, of all men, most profess.

But even if we had met ruthless enemies we have suffered enough. Our leadership on land and sea has been taken from us; we delivered our ships to you, and we have not built others; we have abstained from the hunting and possession of elephants. We have given you, both before and now, our noblest hostages, and we have paid tribute to you regularly, we who had always been accustomed to receive it from others. These things were satisfactory to your fathers, with whom we had been at war. They entered into an agreement with us that we should be friends and allies, and we took the same oath together to observe the agreement. And they, with whom we had been at war, observed the agreement faithfully afterward. But you, with whom we have never come to blows, what part of the treaty do you accuse us of violating, that you vote for war so suddenly, and march against us without even declaring it? Have we not paid the tribute? Have we any ships, or any hateful elephants? Have we not been faithful to you from that time to this? Are we not to be pitied for the recent loss of 50,000 men by hunger? But we have fought against Masinissa, you say. He was always grabbing our property, and we endured all things on your account. While holding, all the time and contrary to right, the very ground on which he was nurtured and educated, he seized other lands of ours around Emporium, and after taking that he invaded still others, until the peace which we made with you was broken. If this is an excuse for the war, we condemned those who resisted him, and we sent our ambassadors to you to make the necessary explanations, and afterwards others empowered to make a settlement on any terms you pleased. What need is there of a fleet, an expedition, an army against men who do not acknowledge that they have done wrong, but who, nevertheless, put themselves entirely in your hands? That we are not deceiving you, and that we will submit ungrudgingly to whatever penalty you impose, we demonstrated plainly when we sent, as hostages, the children of our noblest families, demanded by you, as soon as the decree of your Senate ordered us to do so, not even waiting the expiration of the thirty days. It was a part of this decree that if we would deliver the hostages Carthage should remain free under her own laws and in the enjoyment of her possessions.

So spake the ambassadors. Then Censorinus rose and replied as follows: Why is it necessary that I should tell you the causes of the war, Carthaginians, when your ambassadors have been at Rome and have learned them from the Senate? What you have stated falsely, that I will refute. The decree itself declared, and we gave you notice in Sicily when we received the hostages, that the rest of the conditions would be made known to you at Utica. For your promptness in sending the hostages and your care in selecting them, you are entitled to praise. If you are sincerely desirous of peace why do you need any arms? Bring all your weapons and engines of war, both public and private, and deliver them to us. When he had thus spoken the ambassadors said that they would comply with this order also, but that they did not know how they could defend themselves against Hasdrubal, whom they had condemned to death, and who was now leading 20,000 men against them, and was already encamped near Carthage. When the consul said that he would take care of Hasdrubal they promised to deliver up their arms. Thereupon Cornelius Scipio Nasica and Cnaeus Cornelius Hispanus were sent with the ambassadors, and they received complete armor for 200,000 men, besides innumerable javelins and darts, and 2000 catapults for throwing pointed missiles and stones. When they came back it was a remarkable and unparalleled spectacle to behold the vast number of loaded wagons which the enemy themselves brought in. The ambassadors accompanied them, together with numerous senators and other leading men of the city, priests and distinguished persons, who hoped to inspire the consuls with respect or pity for them. They were brought in and stood in their robes before the consuls. Again Censorinus (who was a better speaker than his colleague) rose, and with a stern countenance spoke as follows: —

Your ready obedience up to this point, Carthaginians, in the matter of the hostages and the arms, is worthy of all praise. In cases of necessity we must not multiply words. Bear bravely the remaining commands of the Senate. Yield Carthage to us, and betake yourselves where you like within your own territory at a distance of at least ten miles from the sea, for we are resolved to raze your city to the ground. While he was yet speaking, the Carthaginians lifted their hands toward heaven with loud cries, and called on the gods as avengers of violated faith. They heaped reproaches on the Romans, as if willing to die, or insane, or determined to provoke the Romans to sacrilegious violence to ambassadors. They flung themselves on the ground and beat it with their hands and heads. Some of them even tore their clothes and lacerated their flesh as though they were absolutely bereft of their senses. After the first frenzy was past there was great silence and prostration as of men lying dead. The Romans were struck with amazement, and the consuls thought it best to bear with men who were overwhelmed at an appalling command until their indignation should subside, for they well knew that great dangers often bring desperate courage on the instant, which time and necessity gradually subdue. This was the case with the Carthaginians, for when the sense of their calamity came over them, during the interval of silence, they ceased their reproaches and began to bewail, with fresh lamentations, their own fate and that of their wives and children, calling them by name, and also their country, as though she could hear their cries like a human being. The priests invoked their temples, and the gods within them, as though they were present, accusing them of being the cause of their destruction. So pitiable was this mingling together of public and private grief that it drew tears from the Romans themselves.

The consuls, although moved to pity by this exhibition of the mutability of human affairs, awaited with stern countenances the end of their lamentations. When their outcries ceased there was another interval of silence, in which they reflected that their city was without arms, that it was empty of defenders, that it had not a ship, not a catapult, not a javelin, not a sword, nor a sufficient number of fighting men, having lost 50,000 a short time ago. They had neither mercenaries, nor friends, nor allies, nor time to procure any. Their enemies were in possession of their children, their arms, and their territory. Their city was besieged by foes provided with ships, infantry, cavalry, and engines, while Masinissa, their other enemy, was on their flank. Seeing the uselessness of lamentation and reproaches they desisted from them, and again began to talk. Banno, surnamed Tigillas, the most distinguished man among them, having obtained permission to speak, said:—

If it is permitted to repeat what we have already said to you, Romans, we would speak once more, not as though we were contending for rights (since disputation is never timely for the unfortunate), but that you may perceive that pity on your part toward us is not without excuse and not without reason. We were once the rulers of Africa and of the greater part of the sea, and we contended with yourselves for empire. We desisted from this in the time of Scipio, when we gave up to you all the ships and elephants we had. We agreed to pay you tribute and we pay it at the appointed time. Now, in the name of the gods who witnessed the oaths, spare us, respect the oath sworn by Scipio that the Romans and Carthaginians should be allies and friends. We have not violated the treaty. We have no ships, no elephants. The tribute is not in default. On the contrary, we have fought on your side against three kings. You must not take offence at this recital, although we mentioned it before when you demanded our arms. Our calamities make us verbose, and nothing gives more force to an appeal than the terms of a treaty. Nor can we take refuge in anything else than words, since we have given all other power over to you. Such, Romans, were the former conditions, for which Scipio was our surety. Of the present ones you, consuls, are yourselves the doers and the witnesses. You asked hostages, and we gave you our best. You asked for our arms, and you have received them all, which even captured cities do not willingly give up. We had confidence in your habits and your character. Your Senate sent us word, and you confirmed it, when the hostages were demanded, that if they were delivered, Carthage should be left free and autonomous. If it was added that we should endure your further commands it was not to be expected that in the matter of the hostages you would, in your distinct demand, promise that the city should be independent, and then besides the hostages would make a further demand that Carthage itself be destroyed. If it is right for you to destroy it, how can you leave it free and autonomous as you said you would?

This is what we have to say concerning the former treaties and those made with yourselves. If you do not care to hear it we will omit it altogether and have recourse to prayers and tears, the one refuge of the unfortunate, for which there is ample occasion in the greatness of our calamity. We beseech you, in behalf of an ancient city founded by command of the gods, in behalf of a glory that has become great and a name pervading the whole world, of the many temples it contains and of its gods who have done you no wrong. Do not deprive them of their festivals, solemnities, and sacrifices. Deprive not the dead who have never harmed you, of the offerings which their children bring to their tombs. If you have pity for us (as you say that out of pity you yield us another dwelling-place), spare our shrines, spare our forum, respect the deity who presides over our council, and all else that is dear and precious to the living. What fear can you have of Carthage when you are in possession of our ships and our arms and our hateful elephants? As to a change of dwelling-place (if that is considered in the light of a consolation), it is impracticable for our people, a countless number of whom get their living by the sea, to move into the country. We propose an alternative more desirable for us and more glorious for you. Spare the city which has done you no harm, but if you please, kill us, whom you have ordered to move away. In this way you will seem to vent your wrath upon men, not upon temples, gods, tombs, and an innocent city.

Romans, you desire a good name and reputation for piety in all that you do, and you announce and claim moderation in all your successes and acquisitions. Do not, I implore you in the name of Jove and of your other gods, as well as of those who still preside over Carthage (and may they never remember ill against you or your children), do not tarnish your good name for the first time in your dealings with us. Do not defile your reputation by an act so horrible to do and to hear, and which you will be the first in all history to perform. Greeks and barbarians have waged many wars, and you, Romans, have waged many against other nations, but no one has ever destroyed a city whose people had surrendered before the fight, and delivered up their arms and children, and submitted to every other penalty that could be imposed upon men. Reminding you of the oaths sworn before the gods, of the mutability of the human lot, and the avenging Nemesis that ever lies in wait for the fortunate, we beseech you not to do violence to your own fair record, and not to push our calamities to the last extremity. Or, if you cannot spare our city, grant us time to send another embassy to your Senate to present our petition. Although the intervening time is short, it will bring long agony to us through the uncertainty of the event. It will be all the same to you whether you execute your purposes now or a little later, and in the meantime you will have performed a pious and humane act.

So spake Banno, but the consuls showed by their stern looks that they would yield nothing. When he had ceased, Censorinus replied: What is the use of repeating what the Senate has ordered? It has issued its decrees and they must be carried out. We have no power to alter the commands already laid upon us. If we were addressing you as enemies, Carthaginians, it would be necessary only to speak and then to use force, but since this is a matter of the common good (somewhat of our own and still more of yours), I have no objection to giving you the reasons, if you may be thus persuaded instead of being coerced. The sea reminds you of the dominion and power you once acquired by means of it. It prompts you to wrong-doing and brings you to grief. By this means you invaded Sicily and lost it again. Then you invaded Spain and were driven out of it. While a treaty was in force you plundered merchants on the sea, and ours especially, and in order to conceal the crime you threw them overboard, until finally you were caught at it, and then you gave us Sardinia by way of penalty. Thus you lost Sardinia also by means of this sea, which always begets a grasping disposition by the very facilities which it offers for gain.

In like manner the Athenians, when they became a maritime people, grew mightily, but they fell as suddenly. Naval prowess is like merchants’ gains — a good profit to-day and a total loss to-morrow. You know that those very people whom I have mentioned, when they had extended their sway over the Ionian Sea to Sicily could not restrain their greed until they had lost everything, and were compelled to surrender their harbor and their ships to their enemies, to receive a garrison in their city, to demolish their own long walls, and to become almost exclusively an inland people. And this very thing kept them going a long time. Believe me, Carthaginians, country life, with the joys of agriculture and freedom from danger, is much more wholesome. Although the gains of agriculture are smaller than those of mercantile life, they are surer and a great deal safer. In fact, a maritime city seems to me to be more like a ship than like solid ground, being so tossed about on the waves of trouble and so much exposed to the vicissitudes of life, whereas an inland city enjoys all the security of terra firma. For this reason the ancient seats of empire were generally inland, and in this way those of the Medes, the Assyrians, the Persians, and others became very powerful.

But I will omit kingly examples, which no longer concern you. Look over your African possessions, where there are numerous inland cities out of the reach of danger, from which you can choose one that you would like to have for neighbors, so that you may no longer be in the presence of the thing that excites you, so that you may lose the memory of the ills that now vex you whenever you cast your eyes upon the sea empty of ships, and call to mind the great fleets you once possessed and the spoils you captured and proudly brought into your harbor, and gorged your dockyards and arsenals. When you behold the barracks of your soldiers, the stables of your horses and elephants, and the storehouses alongside them, all empty, what do these things put into your minds? What else but grief and an intense longing to get them back again if you can? When we recall our departed fortune it is human nature to hope that we may recover it. The healing drug for all evils is oblivion, and this is not possible to you unless you put away the sight. The plainest proof of this is that as often as you obtained forgiveness and peace from us you violated the agreement. If you still yearn for dominion, and bear ill-will toward us who took it away from you, and if you are waiting your opportunity, then of course you have need of this city, this great harbor and its dockyards, and these walls built for the shelter of an army. Why should we spare our captured enemies? If you have abdicated dominion sincerely, not in words only but in fact, and are content with what you possess in Africa, and if you honestly desire peace with us, come now, prove it by your acts. Move into the interior of Africa, which belongs to you, and leave the sea, the dominion of which you have yielded to us.

Do not pretend that you are grieved for your temples, your shrines, your forum, your tombs. We shall not harm your tombs. You may come and make offerings there, and sacrifice in your temples, as often as you like. The rest, however, we shall destroy. You do not sacrifice to your shipyards nor do you make offerings to your walls. You can provide yourselves with other shrines and temples and a forum in the place you move to, and presently this will be your country; just as you left your old ones in Tyre when you migrated to Africa, and now consider the newly acquired land your country. Understand then, in brief, that we do not make this decision from any ill-will toward you, but in the interest of a lasting peace and of the common security. If you will remember, we caused Alba, not an enemy, but our mother city, to change her abode to Rome for the common good, acting not in a hostile spirit, but receiving them as settlers with due honor, and this proved to be for the advantage of both. But you say you have many work-people who gain their living by the sea. We have thought of this. In order that you might easily have traffic by sea and a convenient importation and exportation of commodities, we have not ordered you to go more than ten miles from the shore, while we, who give the order, are twelve miles from it ourselves. We offer you whatever place you choose to take, and when you have taken it you shall live under your own laws. This is what we told you beforehand, that Carthage should have her own laws if you would obey our commands. We consider you to be Carthage, not the ground and buildings where you live.

Having spoken thus, Censorinus paused. When the Carthaginians, thunderstruck, answered not a word, he added, All that can be said in the way of persuasion and consolation has been said. The order of the Senate must be carried out, and quickly too. Therefore take your departure, for you are still ambassadors. When he had thus spoken they were thrust out by the lictors, but as they foresaw what was likely to be done by the people of Carthage, they asked permission to speak again. Being readmitted they said, We see that your orders are inexorable since you will not even allow us to send an embassy to Rome. Nor can we hope to return to you again, since we shall be slain by the people of Carthage before we have finished speaking to them. We pray you, therefore, not on our account (for we are ready to suffer everything), but on account of Carthage itself, that you will, if possible, strike terror into them so that they may be able to endure this calamity. Advance your fleet to the city while we are returning by the road, so that, seeing and hearing what you have ordered, they may learn to bear it if they can. To this state has dire necessity brought us that we ask you to hasten your ships against our fatherland. Having spoken thus, they departed, and Censorinus set sail with twenty quinqueremes and cast anchor alongside the city. Some of the ambassadors wandered away from the road, but the greater part moved on in silence.

Meanwhile some of the Carthaginians were watching from the walls the return of the ambassadors, and tore their hair with impatience at their delay. Others, not waiting, ran to meet them in order to learn the news; and when they saw them coming with downcast eyes they smote their own foreheads and questioned them, now all together, now one by one, as each chanced to meet a friend or acquaintance, seizing hold of them and asking questions. When no one answered they wept aloud as though certain destruction awaited them. When those on the walls heard them they joined in the lamentations, not knowing why, but as though some great evil were impending. At the gates the crowd almost crushed the envoys, rushing upon them in such number. They would have been torn in pieces had they not said that they must make their first communication to the senate. Then some of the crowd turned aside, and others opened a path for them, in order to learn the news sooner. When they were come into the senate-chamber the senators turned the others out and sat down alone by themselves, and the crowd remained standing outside. Then the envoys announced first of all the order of the consuls. Immediately there was a great outcry in the senate which was echoed by the people outside. When the envoys went on to tell what arguments and prayers they had used to get permission to send an embassy to Rome, there was again profound silence among the senators, who listened to the end; and the people kept silence also. When they learned that they were not even allowed to send an embassy, they raised a loud and mournful outcry, and the people rushed in among them.

Then followed a scene of indescribable fury and madness such as the Maenads are said to enact in the Bacchic mysteries. Some fell upon those senators who had advised giving the hostages and tore them in pieces, considering them the ones who had led them into the trap. Others treated in a similar way those who had favored giving up the arms. Some stoned the ambassadors for bringing the bad news and others dragged them through the city. Still others, meeting certain Italians, who were caught among them in this sudden and unexpected mischance, maltreated them in various ways, saying that they would make them suffer for the fraud practised upon them in the matter of the hostages and the arms. The city was full of wailing and wrath, of fear and threatenings. People roamed the streets invoking whatever was most dear to them and took refuge in the temples as in asylums. They upbraided their gods for not being able to defend themselves. Some went into the arsenals and wept when they found them empty. Others ran to the dockyards and bewailed the ships that had been surrendered to perfidious men. Some called their elephants by name, as though they had been present, and reviled their own ancestors and themselves for not perishing, sword in hand, with their country, instead of paying tribute and giving up their elephants, their ships, and their arms. Most of all was their anger kindled by the mothers of the hostages who, like Furies in a tragedy, accosted those whom they met with shrieks and accused them of giving away their children against their protest, or mocked at them, saying that the gods were now taking vengeance on them for the lost children. A few kept their wits about them, closed the gates, and brought stones upon the walls to be used in place of catapults.

The same day the Carthaginian senate declared war and proclaimed freedom to the slaves. They also chose generals and selected Hasdrubal for the outside work, whom they had condemned to death, and who had already collected 30,000 men. They despatched a messenger to him begging that, in the extreme peril of his country, he would not remember, or lay up against them, the wrong they had done him under the pressure of necessity from fear of the Romans. Within the walls they chose for general another Hasdrubal, the son of a daughter of Masinissa. They also sent to the consuls asking a truce of thirty days in order to send an embassy to Rome. When this was refused a second time, a wonderful change and determination came over them, to endure everything rather than abandon their city. Quickly all minds were filled with courage from this transformation. All the sacred places, the temples, and every other unoccupied space, were turned into workshops, where men and women worked together day and night without pause, taking their food by turns on a fixed schedule. Each day they made 100 shields, 300 swords, 1000 missiles for catapults, 500 darts and javelins, and as many catapults as they could. For strings to bend them the women cut off their hair for want of other fibres.

While the Carthaginians were preparing for war with such haste and zeal, the consuls, who perhaps hesitated about performing such an atrocious act on the instant, or because they thought that they could easily capture an unarmed city whenever they liked, kept delaying. They thought also that the Carthaginians would give in for want of means, as it usually happens that those who are in desperate straits are very eager to resist at first, but as time brings opportunity for reflection, fear of the consequences of disobedience takes possession of them. Something of this kind happened in Carthage, where a certain citizen, conjecturing that fear had already come upon them, walked into the assembly as if on other business and dared to say that among evils they ought to choose the least, since they were unarmed, thus speaking his mind plainly. Masinissa was vexed with the Romans, and took it hard that when he had brought the Carthaginians to their knees others should carry off the glory, not even communicating with him beforehand as they had done in the former wars. Nevertheless, when the consuls, by way of testing him, asked his assistance, he said that he would send it whenever he should see that they needed it. Not long after he sent to inquire if they wanted anything at present. They, not tolerating his haughtiness and already suspicious of him as a disaffected person, answered that they would send for him whenever they needed him. Yet they were already in much trouble for supplies for the army, which they drew from Hadrumetum, Leptis, Saxo, Utica, and Acholla only, all the rest of Africa being in the power of Hasdrubal, from which he sent supplies to Carthage. Several days having been consumed in this way, the two consuls moved their forces against Carthage, prepared for battle, and laid siege to it.

The city lay in a recess of a great gulf and was in the form of a peninsula. It was separated from the mainland by an isthmus about three miles in width. From this isthmus a narrow and longish tongue of land, about 300 feet wide, extended toward the west between a lake and the sea. On the sea side the city was protected by a single wall. Toward the south and the mainland, where the citadel of Byrsa stood on the isthmus, there was a triple wall. The height of each wall was forty-five feet without counting parapets and towers, which were separated from each other by a space of 200 feet, and each was divided into four stories. The depth was thirty feet. Each wall was divided vertically by two vaults, one above the other. In the lower space there were stables for 300 elephants, and alongside were receptacles for their food. Above were stables for 4000 horses and places for their fodder and grain. There were barracks also for soldiers, 20,000 foot and 4000 horse. Such preparation for war was arranged and provided for in their walls alone. The angle which ran around from this wall to the harbor along the tongue of land mentioned above was the only weak and low spot in the fortifications, having been neglected from the beginning.

The harbors had communication with each other, and a common entrance from the sea seventy feet wide, which could be closed with iron chains. The first port was for merchant vessels, and here were collected all kinds of ships’ tackle. Within the second port was an island which, together with the port itself, was enclosed by high embankments. These embankments were full of shipyards which had capacity for 220 vessels. Above them were magazines for their tackle and furniture. Two Ionic columns stood in front of each dock, giving the appearance of a continuous portico to both the harbor and the island. On the island was built the admiral’s house, from which the trumpeter gave signals, the herald delivered orders, and the admiral himself overlooked everything. The island lay near the entrance to the harbor and rose to a considerable height, so that the admiral could observe what was going on at sea, while those who were approaching by water could not get any clear view of what took place within. Not even the incoming merchants could see the docks, for a double wall enclosed them, and there were gates by which merchant ships could pass from the first port to the city without traversing the dockyards. Such was the appearance of Carthage at that time.

Now the consuls, having divided their work, moved against the enemy. Manilius advanced from the mainland by way of the isthmus, intending to fill up the ditch, surmount the low parapet overlooking it, and from that to scale the high wall. Censorinus raised ladders both from the ground and from the decks of ships against the neglected angle of the wall. Both of them despised the enemy, thinking that they were unarmed, but when they found that they were provided with new arms and were full of courage they were astounded and took to their heels. Thus they met a rebuff at the very beginning, in expecting to take the city without fighting. When they made a second attempt and were again repulsed, the spirits of the Carthaginians were very much raised. The consuls, fearing Hasdrubal, who had pitched his camp behind them on the other side of the lake, not far distant, fortified two camps, Censorinus on the lake under the walls of the enemy, and Manilius on the isthmus leading to the mainland. When the camps were finished Censorinus crossed the lake to get timber for building engines and lost about 500 men, who were cutting wood, and also many tools, the Carthaginian cavalry general, Himilco, surnamed Phameas, having suddenly fallen upon them. Nevertheless, he secured a certain amount of timber with which he made engines and ladders. Again they made an attempt upon the city in concert, and again they failed. Manilius, after some feeble efforts, having with difficulty beaten down a little of the outworks, gave up in despair of taking the city from that side.

Censorinus, having filled up a portion of the lake along the tongue of land in order to have more room, brought up two enormous battering rams, one of which was driven by 6000 foot-soldiers under charge of the military tribunes, and the other by oarsmen of the ships under charge of their captains. Moved by a spirit of emulation among officers and men in the performance of their similar tasks, they beat down a part of the wall, so that they could look into the city. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, drove them back and strove to repair the breaches in the wall by night. As the night time was not sufficient for the work and they feared lest the Roman arms should readily destroy by daylight their moist and newly made wall, they made a sally, some with arms and others with torches, to set fire to the machines. They did not succeed in destroying these entirely (the Romans rallying and not giving them sufficient time), but they rendered them quite useless and regained the city. When daylight returned the Romans conceived the purpose of rushing in through the opening where the Carthaginians had not finished their work and overpowering them. They saw inside an open space, well suited for fighting, where the Carthaginians had stationed armed men in front and others in the rear provided only with stones and clubs, and many others on the roofs of the neighboring houses, all in readiness to meet the invaders. The Romans, when they saw themselves scorned by an unarmed enemy, were still more exasperated, and dashed in fiercely. But Scipio, who a little later took Carthage and from that feat gained the surname Africanus, being then a military tribune, held back, divided his companies into several parts, and stationed them at intervals along the wall, not allowing them to go into the city. When those who entered were driven back by the Carthaginians, who fell upon them from all sides, he gave them succor and saved them from destruction. And this action first brought him renown, as he had shown himself wiser than the consul.

Now the dog star began to rise and sickness broke out in the camp of Censorinus, who was conducting his operations on a lake of stagnant water with high walls shutting off the fresh air from the sea, for which reason he moved his station from the lake to the sea. The Carthaginians, observing that the wind blew toward the Romans, attached ropes to some small boats and hauled them behind the walls, so that they should not be observed by the enemy, and filled them with dry twigs and tow. Then they pushed them back, and as they turned the corner and came in sight of the enemy, they poured brimstone and pitch over the contents, spread the sails, and, as the wind filled them, set fire to the boats. These, driven by the wind and the fury of the flames against the Roman ships, set fire to them and came a little short of destroying the whole fleet. Shortly afterward Censorinus went to Rome to conduct the election. Then the Carthaginians began to press more boldly against Manilius. They made a sally by night, some with arms, others, unarmed, carrying planks with which to bridge the ditch of the Roman camp, and began to tear down the palisades. While all was in confusion in the camp, as is usual in nocturnal assaults, Scipio passed out with his horse by the rear gates where there was no fighting, moved around to the front, and so frightened the Carthaginians that they betook themselves to the city. Thus a second time Scipio appeared to have been the salvation of the Romans by his conduct in this nocturnal mel£ee.

Manilius thereupon fortified his camp more carefully. He threw around it a wall in place of the palisade and built a fort on the sea-shore at the place where his supply-ships came in. Then, turning to the mainland, he ravaged the country with 10,000 foot and 4000 horse, collecting wood and forage and provisions. These foraging parties were in charge of the military tribunes by turns. Now Phameas, the chief of the African horse, — a young man eager for fighting, having small but swift horses that lived on grass when they could find nothing else, and could bear both hunger and thirst when necessary, — hiding in thickets and ravines, when he saw that the enemy were not on their guard swooped down upon them from his hiding-place like an eagle, inflicted as much damage on them as he could, and took refuge in flight. But when Scipio’s turn came he never made his appearance, because Scipio always kept his foot-soldiers in line and his horsemen on horseback, and in foraging he never broke ranks until he had encircled the field where his harvesters were to work, with cavalry and infantry. Moreover, he was always reconnoitring with other troops of horse around the circle, and if any of the harvesters straggled away or passed outside of the circle he punished them severely. For this reason he was the only one that Phameas did not attack.

As these things were happening all the time, the fame of Scipio was on the increase, so that the other tribunes, out of envy, spread a report that there was an understanding between Phameas and Scipio, arising from the former friendship between the ancestors of Phameas and Scipio’s grandfather Scipio. Certain Africans had taken refuge in towers and castles, with which the country abounded, in pursuance of agreements made with the other tribunes, and the latter, after giving them this permission, had set upon them when they were going out; but Scipio always conducted them safely home. For this reason none of them would make any agreement unless Scipio were present. In this way his reputation for courage and good faith spread gradually among both friends and enemies. After the Romans had returned from their foraging the Carthaginians made a night attack on their fort by the sea, causing tremendous confusion, in which the citizens joined by making noises to add to the alarm. While Manilius kept his forces inside, not knowing where the danger lay, Scipio, taking ten troops of horse, led them out with lighted torches, ordering them, as it was night, not to attack the enemy, but to course around them with the firebrands and make a show of numbers and to frighten them by making a feint of attacking here and there. This was done until the Carthaginians, thrown into confusion on all sides, became panicstricken and took refuge in the city. This also was added to the famous exploits of Scipio. Thus in the mouths of all he was proclaimed as the only worthy successor of his father, Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia, and of the Scipios into whose family he had been received by adoption.

Manilius undertook an expedition to Nepheris against Hasdrubal, which Scipio disapproved of, because the road was flanked by mountain crags, gorges, and thickets, and the heights were occupied by the enemy. When they had come within a third of a mile of Hasdrubal, and to the bed of a river where it was necessary to go down and up again, in order to reach the enemy, Scipio urged him to turn back, saying that another time and other means would be more propitious for attacking Hasdrubal. The other tribunes, moved by jealousy, took the opposite view and held that it savored of cowardice, rather than of prudence, to turn back after coming in sight of the enemy, and that it would embolden him to attack them in the rear. Then Scipio gave another piece of advice, that they ought to fortify a camp on the hither side of the stream, to which they could retreat if they were overpowered, there being now no place where they could take refuge. The others laughed at this, and one of them threatened to throw away his sword if Scipio, instead of Manilius, were to command the expedition. Thereupon Manilius, who had not had much experience in war, crossed the river and on the other side encountered Hasdrubal. There was great slaughter on both sides. Finally Hasdrubal took refuge in his strong-hold, where he was safe and from which he could watch his chance of attacking the Romans as they moved off. The latter, who already repented of their undertaking, retired in good order till they came to the river. As the crossing was difficult on account of the fewness and narrowness of the fords, it was necessary for them to break ranks. When Hasdrubal saw this he made a most brilliant attack, and slew a vast number of them who were more intent upon flight than upon defending themselves. Among the killed were three of the tribunes who had been chiefly instrumental in urging the consul to risk the engagement.

Scipio, taking 300 horsemen that he had with him and as many more as he could hastily collect, divided them into two bodies and led them, with many charges, against the enemy, discharging darts at them and retreating by turns, then straightway coming back at them and again retreating, for he had given orders that one-half of them should advance by turns continually, discharge their javelins, and retire, as though they were attacking on all sides. This movement being constantly repeated without any intermission, the Africans, thus assailed, turned against Scipio and pressed less heavily on those who were crossing. The latter hurried across the stream and after them came Scipio with his men under a shower of darts and with great difficulty. At the beginning of this fight four Roman cohorts were cut off from the stream by the enemy and took refuge on a hill. These Hasdrubal surrounded, and the Romans did not miss them until they came to a halt. When they learned the facts they were in a quandary. Some thought they ought to continue their retreat and not to endanger the whole army for the sake of a few, but Scipio maintained that while deliberation was proper when you were laying out your plans, yet in an emergency, when so many men and their standards were in danger, nothing but reckless daring was of any use. Then, selecting some companies of horse, he said that he would either rescue them or willingly perish with them. Taking two days’ rations, he set out at once, the army being in great fear lest he should never return. When he came to the hill where the men were besieged he took possession of another eminence hard by and separated from the former by a narrow ravine. The Africans pressed the siege vigorously, making signals to each other and thinking that Scipio would not be able to relieve his friends on account of the excessive fatigue of his march. But Scipio, seeing that the bases of the two hills curved around the ravine, lost no time but dashed around them and secured a position above the enemy. They, finding themselves surrounded, fled in disorder. Scipio did not pursue them, as they were much superior in numbers.

Thus Scipio saved these men also, who had been given up for lost. When the army at a distance saw him returning safe, and that he had saved the others contrary to expectation, they shouted for joy and conceived the idea that he was aided by the same deity that was supposed to have enabled his grandfather Scipio to foresee the future. Manilius then returned to his camp in front of the city, having suffered severely from not following the advice of Scipio, who had tried to dissuade him from the expedition. When all were grieved that those who had fallen in battle, and especially the tribunes, remained unburied, Scipio released one of the captives and sent him to Hasdrubal, asking that he would give burial to the tribunes. The latter searched among the corpses, and, recognizing them by their signet rings (for the military tribunes wore gold rings while common soldiers had only iron ones), he buried them, thus thinking to do an act of humanity not uncommon in war, or perhaps because he was in awe of the reputation of Scipio and thought to do him a service. As the Romans were returning from the expedition against Hasdrubal, Phameas made an attack upon them while demoralized by that disaster, and as they came into camp the Carthaginians made a sally from the city and killed some of the camp followers.

Now the Senate sent commissioners to the army to get particulars, before whom Manilius and the council and the remaining tribunes bore testimony in favor of Scipio; for all jealousy had been stifled by his glorious actions. The whole army did the same, and his deeds spoke for themselves, so that the messengers, on their return, reported to everybody the military skill and success of Scipio and the attachment of the soldiers to him. These things greatly pleased the Senate. On account of the many mishaps that had taken place they sent to Masinissa to secure his utmost aid against Carthage. The envoys found that he was no longer living, having succumbed to old age and disease. Having several illegitimate sons, to whom he had made large gifts, and three legitimate ones, who differed from each other in their qualities, he had asked Scipio, on the ground of his (Masinissa’s) friendship with him and with his grandfather, to come and consult with him concerning his children and the government. Scipio went immediately, but shortly before he arrived Masinissa breathed his last, having charged his sons to obey Scipio in the matter of the division of the estate.

Having uttered these words he died. He had been a fortunate man in all respects. By divine favor he regained his ancestral kingdom, that had been snatched from him by Syphax and the Carthaginians, and extended it from Mauritania on the ocean through the continent as far as the government of Cyrene. He brought a good deal of land under cultivation where Numidian tribes had lived on herbs for want of agricultural knowledge. He left a large sum of money in his treasury and a well-disciplined army. Of his enemies he took Syphax prisoner with his own hand, and he was a cause of the destruction of Carthage, having left it a prey to the Romans, completely deprived of strength. He was by nature tall, and very strong to extreme old age, and he participated in battles and could mount a horse without assistance to the day of his death. The strongest testimony to his robust health was, that while many children were born to him and died before him, he never had less than ten living at one time, and when he died, at the age of ninety, he left one only four years old. Such a lifetime and such strength of body had Masinissa, but he died at last. Scipio made gifts to the sons of his concubines in addition to those they had already received. To each of the legitimate sons he gave treasures and revenues and the title of king. The other things he divided as he judged fitting, according to the dispositions of each. To Micipsa, the oldest, a lover of peace, he assigned the city of Cirta and the royal palace there. Gulussa, a man of warlike parts and the next in age, he made the director of matters relating to peace and war. Mastanabal, the youngest, who was learned in the law, was appointed judge to decide causes between their subjects.

In this way Scipio divided the government and estate of Masinissa among his children, and he brought Gulussa straightway to the aid of the Romans. The latter searched out the hiding-places from which Phameas had inflicted such distress upon the Romans, and speedily put an end to his raids. One wintry day Scipio and Phameas found themselves on the opposite sides of an impassable stream, where neither could do any harm to the other. Scipio, fearing lest there might be an ambuscade farther on, advanced with three companies to reconnoitre. Phameas, observing this movement, advanced with only one companion. Scipio, anticipating that Phameas wanted to say something to him, advanced further with only one. When they had come near enough to hear each other and were at a sufficient distance from the Carthaginians, Scipio said, Why do you not look out for your own safety since you cannot do anything for your country? The other replied, What chance is there for my safety when the affairs of Carthage are in such straits and the Romans have suffered so much at my hands? If you have any confidence in my word and influence, said Scipio, I will promise you safety and pardon from the Romans and their favor besides. Phameas praised Scipio as the most trustworthy of men, and replied, I will think of it, and if I find that it can be done I will let you know. Then they separated.

Manilius, being ashamed of the miscarriage of his attack upon Hasdrubal, again advanced to Nepheris, taking rations for fifteen days. When he neared the place he fortified a camp with palisade and ditch as Scipio had advised on the former occasion. But he accomplished nothing and was more ashamed than before, and was again in fear of being attacked by Hasdrubal on his retreat. While he was in this helpless state a messenger brought a letter from Gulussa’s army to Scipio, which he showed to the consul under seal. Breaking the seal, they read as follows: On such a day I will occupy such a place. Come there with as many men as you please and tell your outposts to receive one who is coming by night. Such was the content of the letter, which was without signature, but Scipio knew that it was from Phameas. Manilius feared lest Scipio might be drawn into an ambuscade by this very versatile man; nevertheless, when he saw how confident he was, he allowed him to go and authorized him to give Phameas the strongest assurances of safety, but not to make any definite promise of reward, but to tell him that the Romans would do what was fitting. There was no need of promises, for Phameas, when he came to the rendezvous, said that he trusted in the good faith of Scipio for his safety, and as for favors he would leave all that to the Romans. Having said this he drew up his forces on the following day in battle order, and going forward in conference with his officers as though about some other matters, he said, If there is any chance of rendering service to our country I am ready to stand by you for that purpose, but in the state of things that exists, I am going to look out for my own safety. I have made terms for myself and for as many of you as I can persuade to join me. You have now the opportunity to consider what is for your advantage. When he had said this, some of the officers went over to the enemy with their forces to the number of about 2200 horse. The remainder were held together by Hanno, surnamed the White.

When Scipio was returning with Phameas the army went out to meet him and welcomed him as in a triumph. Manilius was overjoyed, and as he after this no longer considered his return disgraceful or thought that Hasdrubal would pursue him after such a stroke, he moved away for want of provisions on the seventeenth instead of the fifteenth day of the expedition. They must have three days more of suffering in their return; therefore Scipio, taking Phameas and Gulussa and their horse, together with some of the Italian cavalry, hastened to the plain called Great Barathrum and returned to the army by night laden with a great quantity of spoils and provisions. Manilius, learning that his successor, Calpurnius Piso, was coming, sent Scipio to Rome with Phameas. The army conducted Scipio to the ship with acclamations and prayed that he might return to Africa as consul, because they thought that he alone could take Carthage, for the opinion had sprung up among them, as by divine inspiration, that only Scipio would take Carthage. Many of them wrote to this effect to their relatives in Rome. The Senate lauded Scipio and bestowed on Phameas a purple robe with gold clasps, a horse with gold trappings, a complete suit of armor, and 10,000 drachmas of silver money. They also gave him 100 minas of silver plate and a tent completely furnished, and told him that he might expect more if he would coöperate with them to the end of the war. He promised to do so and set sail for the Roman camp in Africa.

In the early spring Calpurnius Piso, the new consul, arrived, and with him Lucius Mancinus as admiral of the fleet, but they did not attack either the Carthaginians or Hasdrubal. Marching against the neighboring towns they made an attempt on Aspis by land and sea, and were repulsed. Piso took another town near by and destroyed it, the inhabitants accusing him of attacking them in violation of a treaty. He then moved against Hippagreta, a large city, with walls, citadel, harbor, and dockyards handsomely built by Agathocles, the tyrant of Sicily. Being situated between Carthage and Utica it intercepted the Roman supply-ships and was growing rich thereby. Calpurnius thought to punish them and deprive them of their gains at the same time, but he besieged them the whole summer and accomplished nothing. Twice the inhabitants made sallies, with the aid of the Carthaginians, and burned the Roman engines. The consul, being foiled, returned to Utica and went into winter quarters.

The Carthaginians, finding themselves and the army of Hasdrubal unharmed, and that they had worsted Piso in the fighting around Hippagreta, and their forces being augmented by 800 horse, who had deserted from Gulussa, under Bithya, a Numidian chief; seeing also that Micipsa and Mastanabal, the sons of Masinissa, were always promising arms and money to the Romans, but always delaying and waiting to see what would happen, plucked up their spirits and roamed through Africa without fear, fortifying the country, and making abusive speeches in the town assemblies against the Romans. In proof of their cowardice they pointed to the two victories at Nepheris and the more recent one at Hippagreta, and to Carthage itself, which the enemy had not been able to take although it was unarmed and poorly defended. They sent to Micipsa and Mastanabal and to the free Moors asking their aid, and showing them that they, as well as Carthage, were in danger of subjection to the Romans. They sent messengers to Macedonia to the supposed son of Perseus, who was at war with the Romans, exhorting him to carry on the war with vigor and promising that Carthage would furnish him money and ships. Being now armed they considered nothing too small to be worth attention, and they gained in confidence, courage, and preparation from day to day. Hasdrubal, who commanded in the country and who had twice got the better of Manilius, was in high spirits also. Aspiring to the command in the city, which was held by another Hasdrubal, a nephew of Gulussa, he accused the latter of an intention to betray Carthage to Gulussa. This accusation being brought forward in the assembly, and the accused being at a loss to answer the unexpected charge, they fell upon him and beat him to death with the benches.

When the ill success of Piso and the preparation of the Carthaginians were reported at Rome, the people were chagrined and anxious, as the war was growing larger and more irreconcilable, and coming nearer every day. There could be no expectation of peace since they had been the first to break faith. Remembering the exploits of Scipio while he was a military tribune not long before, and comparing them with the present blunders and recalling the letters written to them by friends and relatives from the army on that subject, there was presently an intense desire that he should be sent to Carthage as consul. The election was drawing near and Scipio was a candidate for the aedileship, for the laws did not permit him to hold the consulship as yet, on account of his youth; yet the people elected him consul. This was illegal, and when the consuls showed them the law they became importunate and urged all the more, exclaiming that by the laws handed down from Tullius and Romulus the people were the judges of the elections, and that, of the laws pertaining thereto, they could set aside or confirm whichever they pleased. Finally one of the tribunes of the people declared that he would take from the consuls the power of holding an election unless they yielded to the people in this matter. Then the Senate allowed the tribunes to repeal this law, and after one year they reënacted it. In like manner the Lacedemonians, when they were obliged to relieve from disgrace those who had surrendered at Pylus, said, Let the laws sleep to-day. Thus Scipio, while seeking the aedileship, was chosen consul. When his colleague, Drusus, proposed to him to cast lots to see which should have Africa as his province, one of the tribunes put the question of the command of that army to the people, and they chose Scipio. They also allowed him to take as many soldiers by conscription as had been lost in the war, and as many volunteers as he could enlist among the allies, and for this purpose to send to the allied kings and states letters written in the name of the Roman people, according to his own discretion. In this way he obtained assistance from them.

Having made these arrangements, Scipio sailed first to Sicily and thence to Utica. Piso, in the meantime, had laid siege to a town in the interior. Mancinus, observing a neglected part of the wall of Carthage, which was protected by continuous and almost impassable cliffs and had been neglected for that reason, made an attack there, thinking to scale the wall secretly by means of ladders. These being fixed, certain soldiers mounted boldly. The Carthaginians, despising their small numbers, opened a gate adjacent to these rocks and made a sally against the enemy. The Romans repulsed and pursued them, and rushed into the city through the open gate. They raised a shout of victory, and Mancinus, transported with joy (for he was giddy and rash by nature), and the whole crowd with him, rushed from the ships, unarmed or half-armed, to aid their companions. As it was now about sunset they occupied a strong position adjacent to the wall and spent the night there. Being without food, Mancinus called upon Piso and the magistrates of Utica to assist him in his perilous position and to send him provisions in all haste, for he was in danger of being thrust out by the Carthaginians at daylight and dashed to pieces on the rocks.

Scipio arrived at Utica that same evening, and happening, about midnight, to meet those to whom Mancinus had written, he ordered the trumpet to sound for fighting immediately, and the heralds to call to the sea-shore those who had come with him from Italy, and also the young men of Utica, and he directed the older ones to bring provisions to the galleys. At the same time, he released some Carthaginian captives so that they might go and tell their friends that Scipio was coming upon them with his fleet. To Piso he sent horseman after horseman, urging him to move with all speed. About the last watch he put to sea, giving orders to the soldiers that when they approached the city they should stand up on the decks in order to give an appearance of vast numbers to the enemy. At early dawn the Carthaginians attacked Mancinus from all sides and he formed a circle with his 500 armed men, within which he placed the unarmed ones, 3000 in number. Suffering from wounds and being forced back to the wall, he was on the point of being pushed over the precipice when Scipio’s fleet came in sight, driven at a tremendous rate of speed, with soldiers crowding the decks everywhere. This was not a surprise to the Carthaginians, who had been advised of it by the returned prisoners, but to the Romans, who were ignorant of what had happened, Scipio brought unexpected relief. Gradually the Carthaginians drew back and Scipio received those who had been in peril into his ships. Straightway he sent Mancinus to Rome (for his successor, Serranus, had come with Scipio to take command of the fleet), and he pitched his camp not far from Carthage. The Carthaginians advanced five stades from the walls and fortified a camp opposite him. Here they were joined by Hasdrubal, the commander of the forces in the country, and Bithya, the cavalry general, who had 6000 foot-soldiers and 1000 horse well trained and seasoned.

Scipio, finding the discipline of the army relaxed and the soldiers under Piso given up to idleness, avarice, and rapine, and a multitude of hucksters mingled with them, who followed the camp for the sake of booty, and accompanied the bolder ones when they made expeditions for plunder without permission (although in contemplation of law everybody was a deserter who went beyond the sound of the trumpet in time of war); seeing also that the commander was held to blame for all their failures and that the plunder they took was the cause of fresh quarrels and demoralization among them, for many of them fell out with their comrades on account of it and proceeded to blows, wounds, and even manslaughter — in view of all these things and believing that he should never master the enemy unless he first mastered his own men, he called them together and, mounting a high platform, he lashed them with these words: —

Soldiers, when I served with you under the command of Manilius, I gave you an example of obedience, as you can testify. I ask the same from you, now that I am in command; for while I have ample powers to punish the disobedient, I think it best to give you warning beforehand. You know what you have been doing. Therefore why should I tell you what I am ashamed to speak of? You are more like robbers than soldiers. You are runaways instead of guardians of the camp. You are more like hucksters than conquerors. You are in quest of luxuries in the midst of war and before the victory is won. For this reason the enemy, from the hopeless weakness in which I left him, has risen to such strength, and your labor has been made harder by your laziness. If I considered you to blame for this I should punish you now, but since I ascribe it to another, I shall overlook the past. I have come here not to rob, but to conquer, not to exact money before victory, but to overcome the enemy first. Now, all of you who are not soldiers must leave the camp to-day, except those who have my permission to remain, and of those who go, I shall allow none to come back except such as bring food, and this must be for the army, and plain food at that. A definite time will be given to them to dispose of their goods, and I and my quaestor will superintend the sale. So much for the camp followers. For you, soldiers, I have one order adapted to all occasions, and that is, that you follow the example of my habits and my industry. If you observe this rule you will not be wanting in your duty and you will not fail of your reward. We must toil while the danger lasts; spoils and luxury must be postponed to their proper time. This I command and this the law commands. Those who obey shall reap large rewards; those who do not will repent it.

Having spoken thus, Scipio forthwith expelled the crowd of useless persons and with them whatever was superfluous, idle, or luxurious. The army being thus purged, and full of awe for him, and keenly intent for his commands, he made an attempt one night, in two different places, to surprise that part of Carthage called Megara. This was a very large suburb adjacent to the city wall. He sent a force round against the opposite side, while he advanced directly against it a distance of twenty stades with axes, ladders, and crowbars, without noise and in the deepest silence. When their approach was perceived and a shout was raised from the walls, they shouted back — first Scipio and his force, then those who had gone around to the other side — as loudly as possible. The Carthaginians were at first struck with terror at finding such a large force of the enemy attacking them on both sides in the night-time, but Scipio with his utmost efforts was not able to scale the walls. There was a deserted tower outside the walls, belonging to a private citizen, of the same height as the walls themselves. He sent some of his bravest young men to the top of this tower, who with their javelins fought back the guards on the wall, threw planks across, and made a bridge by which they reached the walls, descended into the town, broke open a gate, and admitted Scipio. He entered with 4000 men, and the Carthaginians made a hasty flight to Byrsa, as though the remainder of the city had already been taken. All kinds of noises were raised and there was great tumult. Many fell into the hands of the enemy, and the alarm was such that those encamped outside left their fortification and rushed to Byrsa with the others. As Megara was planted with gardens and was full of fruit-bearing trees divided off by low walls, hedges, and brambles, besides deep ditches full of water running in every direction, Scipio was fearful lest it should be impracticable and dangerous for the army to pursue the enemy through roads that they were unacquainted with, and lest they might fall into an ambush in the night. Accordingly he withdrew.

When daylight came Hasdrubal, enraged at the attack upon Megara, took the Roman prisoners whom he held, brought them upon the walls, in full sight of their comrades, and tore out their eyes, tongues, and tendons with iron hooks; of some he lacerated the soles of the feet, he cut off the fingers of others, and some he flayed alive. All who survived these tortures he hurled from the top of the walls. He thus gave the Carthaginians to understand that there was no possibility of peace with the Romans, and sought to fire them with the conviction that their only safety was in fighting. But the result was contrary to his intention, for the Carthaginians, conscience-stricken by these nefarious deeds, became timid instead of courageous, and hated Hasdrubal for depriving them of all hope of pardon. Their senate especially denounced him for committing these savage and unusual cruelties in the midst of so great domestic calamities. So he arrested some of the complaining senators and put them to death. Making himself feared in every way he came to be more like a tyrant than a general, for he considered himself secure only if he were an object of terror to them, and he trusted that he should be protected from danger in this way.

Now Scipio set fire to the camp of the enemy, which they had abandoned the day before, when they took refuge in the city. Being in possession of the whole isthmus he began a trench across it from sea to sea not more than a stone’s throw from the enemy. The latter were not idle. . Along the whole distance of five and twenty stades he had to work and fight at the same time. When he had finished this one he dug another of the same length, at no great distance from the first, looking towards the mainland. He then made two others running transversely, giving the interior space the form of a quadrangle, and threw around the whole a palisade of chevaux-de-frise. In addition to the palisade he fortified the ditches also, and along the one looking toward Carthage he built a wall twenty-five stades in length and twelve feet high, without counting the parapets and towers which surmounted the wall at intervals. The width of the wall was about one-half of its height. The highest tower was at the middle, and upon this another of wood, four stories high, was built, from which to observe what was going on in the city. Having completed this work in twenty days and nights, the whole army working and fighting and taking food and sleep by turns, he brought them all within the fortification.

This was at the same time a camp for himself and a rather long fort commanding the enemy’s country. From this base he could intercept all the supplies sent to the Carthaginians from the interior, since Carthage was every-where washed by the sea except on this neck. Hence this fort was the first and principal cause of famine and other troubles to them, for, while the great multitude betook themselves from the fields to the city, and none could go out on account of the siege, foreign merchants ceased to frequent the place on account of the war. Thus they had to rely on food brought from Africa alone, little coming in by sea and only when the weather was favorable, much the greater part being forwarded by the land route. Deprived of this, they began to suffer severely from hunger. Bithya, their cavalry general, who had been sent out some time before to procure food, did not venture to make the attempt by attacking and breaking through Scipio’s fortification, but he sent supplies a long way around by water, although Scipio s ships were blockading Carthage. The latter did not keel) their place all the time, nor did they stand thickly together, as they had no shelter and the sea was full of reefs. Nor could they anchor near the city itself, with the Carthaginians standing on the walls and the sea pounding on the rocks there worst of all. Thus the ships of Bithya and an occasional merchant, whom the love of gain made reckless of danger, watching for a strong and favorable wind, spread their sails and ran the blockade, the Roman galleys not being able to pursue merchant ships sailing before the wind. But these chances were rare and only when a strong wind was blowing from the sea. These supplies Hasdrubal distributed to his 30,000 soldiers exclusively, for he despised the multitude; for which reason they suffered greatly from hunger.

When Scipio perceived this he planned to close the entrance to the harbor on the west side, not very far from the shore. For this purpose he carried a strong embankment into the sea, beginning on the tongue of land which lay between the lake and sea, advancing straight toward the harbor’s mouth. He filled it with heavy stones so that it might not be washed away by the waves. The embankment was twenty-four feet wide on the top and four times as much on the bottom. The Carthaginians at first despised this work as likely to take a long time, and perhaps impossible of execution altogether. But when they saw the whole army proceeding eagerly, and not intermitting the work by day or by night, they became alarmed, and began to excavate another entrance at another part of the harbor in midsea, where it was impossible to carry an embankment on account of the depth of the water and the fury of the wind. Even the women and children helped to dig. They began the work inside, and carefully concealed what they were doing. At the same time they built triremes and quinqueremes from old material, and they left nothing to be desired in the way of courage and high spirit. Moreover, they concealed everything so perfectly that not even the prisoners could tell Scipio with certainty what was going on, but merely that there was a great racket in the harbor day and night; what it was about they did not know. Finally, everything being finished, the Carthaginians opened the new entrance about the dawn of day and passed out with fifty triremes, besides pinnaces, brigantines, and other small craft decked out in a way to cause terror.

The Romans were so astounded by the sudden appearance of this new entrance, and of the fleet issuing from it, that if the Carthaginians had at once fallen upon their ships, which were in disorder by reason of beleaguerment of the walls, neither sailors nor rowers being present, they might have possessed themselves of the whole fleet. But now (since it was fated that Carthage should perish) they only sailed out to make a show, and, having flouted the enemy in a pompous way, they returned inside the harbor. Three days later they set out for a naval engagement, and the Romans advanced to meet them with their ships and other apparatus in good order. They came together with loud shouts on both sides and cheers from the rowers, steersmen, and marines, the Carthaginians resting their last hope of safety on this engagement and the Romans hoping to make it their final victory. The fight raged till midday. During the battle the Carthaginian small boats, running under the sides of the Roman ships, which were taller, stove holes in their sterns and broke off their oars and rudders, and damaged them in various other ways, advancing and retreating nimbly. As the day verged toward evening the battle was still undecided, and the Carthaginians thought best to withdraw, not that they were beaten, but to renew the engagement the next day.

Their small boats retired first, and arriving at the entrance, and becoming entangled on account of their number, they blocked up the mouth so that when the larger ones arrived they were prevented from entering. They took refuge at a wide quay, which had been built against the city wall for unloading merchant ships some time before, and on which a small parapet had been erected during this war lest the space might sometime be occupied by the enemy. When the Carthaginian ships took refuge here for want of a harbor, they ranged themselves with their bows outward and received the attack of the enemy, some of them standing on the ships, some on the quay, and still others on the parapet. To the Romans the onset was easy, for it is not hard to attack ships that are standing still, but when they attempted to turn around, in order to retire, the movement was slow and difficult on account of the length of the ships, for which reason they received as much damage as they had given; for while they were executing the movement they were exposed to the onset of the Carthaginians. Finally five ships of the city of the Sidetae, which were in alliance with Scipio, dropped their anchors in the sea at some distance, attaching long ropes to them, by which means they were enabled to dash against the Carthaginian ships by rowing, and having delivered their blow warp themselves back by the ropes stern foremost. Then the whole fleet, catching the idea from the Sidetae, followed their example and inflicted great damage upon the enemy. Night put an end to the battle, after which the Carthaginians withdrew to the city — as many of them as survived the engagement.

At daylight Scipio attacked this quay because it was well situated to command the harbor. Assailing the parapet with rams and other engines he beat down a part of it. The Carthaginians, although oppressed by hunger and distress of various kinds, made a sally by night against the Roman engines, not by land, for there was no passage-way, nor by ships, for the water was too shallow, but naked and bearing torches not lighted, so that they might not be seen at a distance. Thus, in a way that nobody would have expected, they plunged into the sea and crossed over, some of them wading in water up to their breasts, others swimming. When they reached the engines they lighted their torches, and becoming visible and being naked they suffered greatly from wounds, which they courageously returned. Although the barbed arrows and spear-points rained on their breasts and faces, they did not relax their efforts, but rushed forward like wild beasts against the blows until they had set the engines on fire and put the Romans to disorderly flight. Panic and confusion spread through the whole camp and such fear as was never before known, caused by the frenzy of these naked enemies. Scipio, fearing the consequences, ran out with a squadron of horse and commanded his attendants to kill those who would not desist from flight. He killed some of them himself. The rest were brought by force into the camp, where they passed the night under arms, fearing some desperate deed of the enemy. The latter, having burned the engines, swam back home.

When daylight returned the Carthaginians, no longer molested by the engines, rebuilt that part of the outwork which had been battered down and added to it a number of towers at intervals. The Romans constructed new engines and built mounds in front of these towers, from which they threw upon them lighted torches and vessels filled with burning brimstone and pitch, and burned some of them, and drove away the Carthaginians. The footway was so slippery with coagulated blood, lately shed in great quantity, that the Romans were compelled, unwillingly, to abandon the pursuit. Scipio, having possessed himself of the entire quay, fortified it and built a brick wall of the same height as that of Carthage, and at no great distance from it. When it was finished, he put 4000 men on it to discharge darts and javelins at the enemy, which they could do with comparative safety. As the walls were of equal height the darts were thrown with great effect. And now the summer came to an end.

At the beginning of winter, Scipio resolved to sweep away the Carthaginian power in the country, and the allies from whom supplies were sent to them. Sending his captains this way and that he moved in person to Nepheris against Diogenes, who held that town as Hasdrubal’s successor, going by the lake while sending Gaius Laelius by land. When he arrived he encamped at a distance of two stades from Diogenes. Leaving Gulussa to keep Diogenes unceasingly employed, he hastened back to Carthage, after which he kept passing to and fro between the two places overseeing all that was done. When two of the spaces between Diogenes’ towers were demolished Scipio came and stationed 1000 picked soldiers in ambush in the enemy’s rear, and 3000 more, also carefully selected for bravery, in his front, to attack the demolished rampart. They. did not make the attack en masse, but by divisions in close order, following each other, so that if those in front were repulsed they could not retreat on account of the weight of those coming behind. The attack was made with loud shouts, and the Africans were drawn thither. The 1000 in ambush, unperceived and unsuspected, fell boldly upon the rear of the camp, as they had been ordered, and tore down and scaled the palisade. When the first ones entered the Africans were panic-stricken and fled, thinking that the numbers of the new assailants were much greater than they were. Gulussa pursued them with his Numidian cavalry and elephants and made a great slaughter, some 70,000, including non-combatants, being killed. Ten thousand were captured and about 4000 escaped. In addition to the camp the city of Nepheris was taken also, after a siege of twenty-two days, prosecuted by Scipio with great labor and suffering on account of the severity of the weather. This success contributed much to the taking of Carthage, for provisions were conveyed to it by this army, and the people of Africa were in good courage as long as they saw this force in the field. As soon as it was captured the remainder of Africa surrendered to Scipio’s lieutenants or was taken without much difficulty. The supplies of Carthage now fell short, since none came from Africa or from foreign parts, navigation being cut off in every direction by the war and the storms of winter.

When spring returned, Scipio laid siege to Byrsa and to the harbor of Cothon. Hasdrubal one night set fire to that part of Cothon which is in the form of a quadrangle. But Laelius, still expecting Scipio to make the attack, and while the Carthaginians were turned to that quarter, without being observed, mounted the other part of Cothon, which was in the form of a circle. A shout went up as though a victory had been gained, the Carthaginians became alarmed, while the Romans mounted on all sides, despising the danger, and filled up the vacant spaces with timbers, engines, and scaffolding, the guards making only a feeble resistance because they were weak from hunger and downcast in spirit. The wall around Cothon being taken, Scipio seized the neighboring forum. Being unable to do more, as it was now nightfall, he and his whole force passed the night there under arms. At daylight he brought in 4000 fresh troops. They entered the temple of Apollo, whose statue was there, covered with gold, in a shrine of beaten gold, weighing 1000 talents, which they plundered, chopping it with their swords, disregarding the commands of their officers until they had divided it among themselves, after which they returned to their duty.

Now Scipio hastened to the attack of Byrsa, the strongest part of the city, where the greater part of the inhabitants had taken refuge. There were three streets ascending from the forum to this fortress, along which, on either side, were houses built closely together and six stories high, from which the Romans were assailed with missiles. They were compelled, therefore, to possess themselves of the first ones and use those as a means of expelling the occupants of the next. When they had mastered the first, they threw timbers from one to another over the narrow passageways, and crossed as on bridges. While war was raging in this way on the roofs, another fight was going on among those who met each other in the streets below. All places were filled with groans, shrieks, shouts, and every kind of agony. Some were stabbed, others were hurled alive from the roofs to the pavement, some of them alighting on the heads of spears or other pointed weapons, or swords. No one dared to set fire to the houses on account of those who were still on the roofs, until Scipio reached Byrsa. Then he set fire to the three streets all together, and gave orders to keep the passageways clear of burning material so that the army might move back and forth freely.

Then came new scenes of horror. As the fire spread and carried everything down, the soldiers did not wait to destroy the buildings little by little, but all in a heap. So the crashing grew louder, and many corpses fell with the stones into the midst. Others were seen still living, especially old men, women, and young children who had hidden in the inmost nooks of the houses, some of them wounded, some more or less burned, and uttering piteous cries. Still others, thrust out and falling from such a height with the stones, timbers, and fire, were torn asunder in all shapes of horror, crushed and mangled. Nor was this the end of their miseries, for the street cleaners, who were removing the rubbish with axes, mattocks, and forks, and making the roads passable, tossed with these instruments the dead and the living together into holes in the ground, dragging them along like sticks and stones and turning them over with their iron tools. Trenches were filled with men. Some who were thrown in head foremost, with their legs sticking out of the ground, writhed a long time. Others fell with their feet downward and their heads above ground. Horses ran over them, crushing their faces and skulls, not purposely on the part of the riders, but in their headlong haste. Nor did the street cleaners do these things on purpose; but the tug of war, the glory of approaching victory, the rush of the soldiery, the orders of the officers, the blast of the trumpets, tribunes and centurions marching their cohorts hither and thither — all together made everybody frantic and heedless of the spectacles under their eyes.

Six days and nights were consumed in this kind of fighting, the soldiers being changed so that they might not be worn out with toil, slaughter, want of sleep, and these horrid sights. Scipio alone toiled without rest, hurrying here and there, without sleep, taking food while he was at work, until, utterly fatigued and relaxed, he sat down on a high place where he could overlook the work. Much remained to be ravaged, and it seemed likely that the carnage would be of longer duration, but on the seventh day some suppliants presented themselves to Scipio bearing the sacred garlands of Aesculapius, whose temple was much the richest and most renowned of all in the citadel. These, taking olive branches from the temple, besought Scipio that he would spare the lives of all who might wish to depart from Byrsa. This he granted to all except the deserters. Forth-with there came out 50,000 men and women together, a narrow gate in the wall being opened, and a guard furnished for them. The Roman deserters, about 900 in number, despairing of their lives, betook themselves to the temple of Aesculapius with Hasdrubal and his wife and their two boys. Here they might have defended themselves a long time although they were few in number, on account of the height and rocky nature of the place, which in time of peace was reached by an ascent of sixty steps. But, finally, overcome by hunger, want of sleep, fear, toil, and approaching dissolution, they abandoned the enclosures of the temple and fled to the shrine and roof.

Thereupon Hasdrubal secretly presented himself to Scipio, bearing an olive branch. Scipio commanded him to sit at his feet and there showed him to the deserters. When they saw him, they asked silence, and when it was granted, they heaped all manner of reproaches upon Hasdrubal, then set fire to the temple and were consumed in it. It is said that as the fire was lighted the wife of Hasdrubal, in full view of Scipio, arrayed in the best attire possible under such circumstances, and with her children by her side, said in Scipio’s hearing, For you, Roman, the gods have no cause of indignation, since you exercise the right of war. Upon this Hasdrubal, betrayer of his country and her temples, of me and his children, may the gods of Carthage take vengeance, and you be their instrument. Then turning to Hasdrubal, Wretch, she exclaimed, traitor, most effeminate of men, this fire will entomb me and my children. Will you, the leader of great Carthage, decorate a Roman triumph? Ah, what punishment will you not receive from him at whose feet you are now sitting. Having reproached him thus, she slew her children, flung them into the fire, and plunged in after them. Such, they say, was the death of the wife of Hasdrubal, which would have been more becoming to himself.

The day shall come in which our sacred Troy And Priam, and the people over whom Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all. (Iliad, vi, 448, 449; Bryant’s translation.)

Carthage being destroyed, Scipio gave the soldiers a certain number of days for plunder, reserving the gold, silver, and temple gifts. He also gave prizes to all who had distinguished themselves for bravery, except those who had violated the shrine of Apollo. He sent a swift ship, embellished with spoils, to Rome to announce the victory. He also sent word to Sicily that whatever temple gifts they could identify as taken from them by the Carthaginians in former wars they might come and take away. Thus he endeared himself to the people as one who united clemency with power. He sold the rest of the spoils, and, in sacrificial cincture, burned the arms, engines, and useless ships as an offering to Mars and Minerva, according to the Roman custom.

When the people of Rome saw the ship and heard of the victory early in the evening, they poured into the streets and spent the whole night congratulating and embracing each other like people just now delivered from some great fear, just now confirmed in their world-wide supremacy, just now assured of the permanence of their own city, and winners of such a victory as never before. Many brilliant deeds of their own, many more of their ancestors, in Macedonia and Spain and lately against Antiochus the Great, and in Italy itself, had they celebrated; but no other war had so terrified them at their own gates as the Punic wars, which ever brought peril to them by reason of the perseverance, skill, and courage, as well as the bad faith, of those enemies. They recalled what they had suffered from the Carthaginians in Sicily and Spain, and in Italy itself for sixteen years, during which Hannibal destroyed 400 towns and killed 300,000 of their men in battles alone, more than once marching up to the city and putting it in extreme peril. Pondering on these things, they were so excited over this victory that they could hardly believe it, and they asked each other over and over again whether it was really true that Carthage was destroyed. And so they gabbled the whole night, telling how the arms of the Carthaginians were got away from them and how, contrary to expectation, they supplied themselves with others; how they lost their ships and built a great fleet out of old material; how the mouth of their harbor was closed, yet they managed to open another in a few days. They talked about the height of the walls, and the size of the stones, and the fires that so often destroyed the engines. They pictured to each other the whole war, as though it were just taking place under their own eyes, suiting the action to the word; and they seemed to see Scipio on the ladders, on shipboard, at the gates, in the battles, and darting hither and thither. In this way the people of Rome passed the night.

The next day there were sacrifices and solemn processions to the gods by tribes, also games and spectacles of various kinds. The Senate sent ten of the noblest of their own number as deputies to arrange the affairs of Africa in conjunction with Scipio, to the advantage of Rome. They decreed that if anything was still left of Carthage, Scipio should obliterate it and that nobody should be allowed to live there. Direful threats were levelled against any who should disobey and chiefly against the rebuilding of Byrsa or Megara, but it was not forbidden to go upon the ground. The towns that had allied themselves with the enemy it was decided to destroy, to the last one. To those who had aided the Romans there was an allotment of lands won by the sword, and first of all to the Uticans was given the territory of Carthage itself, extending as far as Hippo. Upon all the rest a tribute was imposed, both a land tax and a personal tax, upon men and women alike. It was decreed that a praetor should be sent from Rome yearly to govern the country. After these arrangements had been carried out by the deputies, they returned to Rome. Scipio did all that they directed, and he instituted sacrifices and games to the gods for the victory. When all was finished, he sailed for home and was awarded the most glorious triumph that had ever been known, splendid with gold and gorged with statues and votive offerings that the Carthaginians had gathered from all parts of the world through all time, the fruit of their countless victories. It was at this time also that the third Macedonian triumph occurred for the capture of Andriscus, surnamed Pseudophilippus, and the first Grecian one, for Mummius. This was about the 160th Olympiad.

Some time later, in the tribunate of Gaius Gracchus, uprisings occurred in Rome on account of scarcity, and it was decided to send 6000 colonists into Africa. When they were laying out the land for this purpose in the vicinity of Carthage, all the boundary lines were torn down and obliterated by wolves. Then the Senate put a stop to the settlement. At a still later time it is said that Caesar, who afterwards became dictator for life, when he had pursued Pompey to Egypt, and Pompey’s friends from thence into Africa, and was encamped near the site of Carthage, was troubled by a dream in which he saw a whole army weeping, and that he immediately made a memorandum in writing that Carthage should be colonized. Returning to Rome not long after, and while making a distribution of lands to the poor, he arranged to send some of them to Carthage and some to Corinth. But he was assassinated shortly afterward by his enemies in the Roman Senate, and his son Augustus, finding this memorandum, built the present Carthage, not on the site of the old one, but very near it, in order to avoid the ancient curse. I have ascertained that he sent some 3000 colonists from Rome and that the rest came from the neighboring country. And thus the Romans took Africa away from the Carthaginians, destroyed Carthage, and repeopled it again 102 years after its destruction.

BOMILCAR being under accusation fled before his trial, and with him Jugurtha, who uttered that famous saying about bribetakers, that the whole city of Rome could be bought if a purchaser could be found for it.

Metellus went back to the African province, where he was accused by the soldiers of slothfulness toward the enemy and of cruelty toward his own men, because he punished offenders severely.

Metellus put the whole senate of Vacca to death because they had betrayed the Roman garrison to Jugurtha, and with them, also, Turpilius, the prefect of the guard, a Roman citizen, who was under suspicion of being in league with the enemy. After Jugurtha had delivered up to Metellus certain Thracian and Ligurian deserters, the latter cut off the hands of some, and others he buried in the earth up to their stomachs, and after transfixing them with arrows and darts set fire to them while they were still alive.

When Marius arrived at Cirta messengers came to him from Bocchus asking that he would send somebody to hold a conference with him. He accordingly sent Aulus Manlius, his lieutenant, and Cornelius Sulla, his quaestor. To them Bocchus said that he fought against the Romans on account of the acts of Marius, who had taken from him the territory which he himself had taken from Jugurtha. To this complaint of Bocchus, Manlius replied that the Romans had taken this territory from Syphax by the law of war, and had made a present of it to Masinissa, and that such gifts were made by the Romans to be kept by those who received them during the pleasure of the Senate and people of Rome. Nor did the Romans take back their gifts without reason. Masinissa was dead, and Jugurtha, who had murdered his grandchildren, was at war with the Romans. It is not right, he said, that an enemy should keep the gift that we made to a friend, nor should you think that you can take from Jugurtha property that belongs to the Romans. These were the words of Manlius concerning the territory in question.

Bocchus sent another embassy who were to solicit peace from Marius and urge Sulla to assist them in the negotiation. These ambassadors were despoiled by robbers on the road, but Sulla received them kindly and entertained them until Marius returned from Gaetulia. Marius advised them to urge Bocchus to consult with Sulla as to all his affairs. Accordingly, when Bocchus was inclined to betray Jugurtha he sent messengers around to the neighboring Ethiopians (who extend from eastern Ethiopia westward to the Mauritanian Mount Atlas) under pretence of raising a new army, and then asked Marius to send Sulla to him for a conference, and Marius did so. In this way Bocchus himself, and his friend Magdalses, and a certain freedman of Carthage, named Cornelius, deceived Apsar, the friend of Jugurtha, who had been left in Bocchus’ camp to keep watch on his doings.

THE Romans paid no attention to Philip, the Macedonian, when he began war against them. They were so busy about other things that they did not even think of him, for Italy was still scourged by Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, and they were at war in Africa, Carthage, and Spain, and were restoring order in Sicily. Philip himself, moved by a desire of enlarging his dominions, although he had suffered nothing whatever at the hands of the Romans, sent an embassy, the chief of which was Xenophanes, to Hannibal in Italy, proposing to aid him in Italy if he would promise to assist him in the subjugation of Greece. Hannibal agreed to this arrangement and took an oath to support it, and sent an embassy in return to receive the oath of Philip. A Roman trireme intercepted the ambassadors of both on their return and carried them to Rome. Thereupon Philip in his anger attacked Corcyra, which was in alliance with Rome.

The Sibylline books induced the Romans to make war against Philip by these lines: The Macedonians boast their descent from Argive kings. Philip will be the arbiter of weal or woe to you. The elder of that name shall give rulers to cities and peoples, but the younger shall lose every honor, and shall die the subject of a western race.

Ambassadors from Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and with them others from Chios and Mitylene, and from Amynander, king of the Athamanes, assembled at two different times at the place where the Aetolians were accustomed to call their cities together for consultation, to compose the differences between the Romans, the Aetolians, and Philip. But as Sulpicius said that it was not in his power to conclude peace, and wrote privately to the Senate that it was for the advantage of the Romans that the Aetolians should continue the war against Philip, the Senate forbade the treaty and sent 10,000 foot and 1000 horse to assist the Aetolians. With their help the Aetolians took Ambracia, which Philip recovered, not long afterward, on their departure. Again the ambassadors assembled and said that it was very evident that Philip and the Aetolians, by their differences, were subjecting the Greeks to servitude to the Romans, because they were accustoming the latter to make frequent attempts upon Greece. When Sulpicius rose to reply to them the crowd would not hear him, but shouted that the ambassadors had told the truth. Finally the Aetolians took the initiative and made peace with Philip by themselves without the Romans, and messengers were sent to Rome by Philip himself and by the commander of the Roman forces in order to come to an agreement. Peace was made between them on the condition that neither party should do any injury to the friends of the other. This was the result of the first trial of strength between them, and neither of them believed that the treaty would be lasting, since it was not based on good-will.

Not long afterward Philip, having ordered a fleet to be prepared by his maritime subjects, took Samos and Chios and devasted a part of the territory of King Attalus. He even attempted Pergamus itself, not sparing temples or sepulchres. He also ravaged Peraea, which belonged to the Rhodians, who had been promoters of the treaty of peace. With another part of his army he ravaged Attica and laid siege to Athens, as though none of these countries concerned the Romans. It was reported also that a league had been made between Philip and Antiochus, king of Syria, to the effect that Philip should help Antiochus to conquer Egypt and Cyprus, of which Ptolemy IV., surnamed Philopator, who was still a boy, was the ruler; and that Antiochus should help Philip to gain Cyrene, the Cyclades islands, and Ionia. This rumor, so disquieting to all, the Rhodians communicated to Rome. After the Rhodians, ambassadors of Athens came complaining of the siege instituted by Philip. The Aetolians also had repented of their treaty, and they complained of Philip’s bad faith toward them and asked to be inscribed again as allies. The Romans reproached the Aetolians for their recent defection, but they sent ambassadors to the kings ordering Antiochus not to invade Egypt, and Philip not to molest the Rhodians, or the Athenians, or Attalus, or any other ally of theirs. To them Philip made answer that it would be well if the Romans would abide by the treaty of peace they had entered into with him. Thus was the treaty dissolved and a Roman army hastened to Greece, Publius commanding the land forces and Lucius the fleet.

Philip, king of Macedon, had a conference with Flamininus, which had been brought about by the ambassadors of the Epirots. When Flamininus ordered Philip to retire to Greece, not on account of the Romans, but of the Greek cities themselves and to make good the damage he had done to the aforesaid cities. . . .

A shepherd promised to guide an army well equipped for the climb by a mountain path in three days’ time.

Lucius Quintius [Flamininus] sent envoys to the Achaean League to persuade them, together with the Athenians and Rhodians, to abandon Philip and join the Romans, and to ask them to furnish aid as allies. But they, being troubled by a civil war and also by one with Nabis, the neighboring tyrant of Lacedaemon, were divided in mind and hesitated. The greater part of them preferred the alliance of Philip and sided against the Romans on account of certain outrages against Greece committed by Sulpicius, the former commander. When the Roman faction urged their views with vehemence, most of their opponents left the assembly in disgust, and the remainder, being forced to yield by the smallness of their number, entered into an alliance with Lucius and followed him at once to the siege of Corinth, bringing their engines with them.

Flamininus came into conference with Philip a second time at the Malian gulf. When the Rhodians, the Aetolians, and Amynander, king of the Athamanes, made their complaints against Philip, Flamininus ordered him to remove his garrison from Phocis, and required both parties to send ambassadors to Rome. When this was done the Greeks asked the Roman Senate to require Philip to remove from their country the three garrisons which he called the fetters of Greece: the one at Chalcis, which threatened the Bœotians, the Eubœans, and the Locrians; the one at Corinth, which closed the door of the Peloponnesus; and the third at Demetrias, which lay, as it were, in ambush for the Aetolians and the Magnesians. The Senate asked Philip’s ambassadors what the king’s views were respecting the garrisons. When they answered that they did not know, the Senate said that Flamininus should decide the question and do what he considered just. So the ambassadors took their departure from Rome. Flamininus and Philip, being unable to come to any agreement, resumed hostilities.

Philip, being defeated again, sent a herald to Flamininus to sue for peace, and again Flamininus granted him a conference, whereat the Aetolians were greatly displeased and accused him of being bribed by the king, and complained of his sudden change of mind as to all these matters. But he thought that it would not be to the advantage of the Romans, or of the Greeks, that Philip should be deposed and the Aetolian power made supreme. Perhaps, also, the unexpected greatness of the victory made him satisfied. Having agreed upon a place where Philip should come, he directed the allies by cities to deliver their opinions. Some of them were disposed to be moderate, viewing suspiciously the mysteries of fortune as evinced in the calamities of Philip, and considering this disaster that had befallen him due not so much to weakness as to bad luck. But Alexander, the presiding officer of the Aetolians, said, Flamininus cannot be ignorant that this victory will be of no advantage to the Romans or the Greeks unless the kingdom of Philip is overthrown. Flamininus replied, Alexander cannot be ignorant of the custom of the Romans, who never destroy an enemy at once, but have spared many offenders, as recently the Carthaginians, restoring their property to them and making allies of those who had done them wrong. You forget also that there are many barbarous tribes on the border of Macedonia, who would make easy incursions into Greece if the Macedonian kings were taken away. Wherefore, I think that the Macedonian government should be left to protect you against the barbarians, but Philip must retire from those Greek places that he has hitherto refused to give up, and must pay the Romans 200 talents for the expenses of the war, and give hostages of the most noble families, including his own son, Demetrius. Until the Senate ratifies these conditions there shall be an armistice of four months. Philip accepted all these conditions, and the Senate, when it learned the facts, ratified the peace, but considered the terms granted by Flamininus too lenient, and, accordingly, decreed that all the Greek cities that had been under Philip’s rule should be free, and that he should withdraw his garrisons from them before the next celebration of the Isthmian games; that he should deliver to Flamininus all his ships, except one with six benches of oars and five small ones with decks; that he should pay the Romans 500 talents of silver down, and remit to Rome 500 more in ten years, in annual instalments; and that he should surrender all prisoners and deserters in his hands. These conditions were added by the Senate and Philip accepted them all, by which it was made plain that those named by Flamininus were much too lenient. They sent to him as counsellors ten men (as was customary at the end of a war), with whose aid he should regulate the new acquisitions. When he had arranged these things with them he went to the Isthmian games, and, the stadium being full of people, he commanded silence by trumpet and directed the herald to make this proclamation, The Roman people and Senate, and Flamininus, their general, having vanquished the Macedonians and Philip, their king, order that Greece shall be free from foreign garrisons, not subject to tribute, and shall live under her own customs and laws. Thereupon there was great shouting and rejoicing and a scene of rapturous tumult; and groups here and there called the herald back in order that he might repeat his words for them. They threw crowns and fillets upon the general and voted statues for him in their cities. They sent ambassadors with golden crowns to the Capitol at Rome to express their gratitude, and inscribed themselves as allies of the Roman people. Such was the end of the second war between the Romans and Philip. Not long afterward Philip lent aid in Greece to the Romans in their war against King Antiochus. As they were moving against Antiochus in Asia, passing through Thrace and Macedonia by a difficult road, he escorted them with his own troops, supplied them with food and money, repaired the roads, bridged the unfordable streams, and dispersed the hostile Thracians, until he had conducted them to the Hellespont. In return for these favors the Senate released his son Demetrius, who had been held by them as a hostage, and remitted the payments of money still due from him. But these Thracians fell upon the Romans when they were returning from their victory over Antiochus, when Philip was no longer with them, carried off booty and killed many — by which it was plainly shown how great a service Philip had rendered them when they were going. That war being ended, many of the Greeks charged Philip with doing or omitting various things, in disregard of the orders given by Flamininus when he settled the affairs of Greece. To answer these charges Demetrius went as an envoy to Rome in his father’s behalf, the Romans being well pleased with him aforetime, when he had been a hostage, and Flamininus strongly recommending him to the Senate. As he was a very young man and somewhat flustered, they directed him to read his father’s memorandum in which were written down, one by one, the things already done and those yet to be done, although decided upon contrary to justice; for, indeed, his unjust acts were prominent in the thought of many. Nevertheless, the Senate, having regard to his late zeal in the matter of Antiochus, said that it would pardon him, but added that it did so on account of Demetrius. Philip, having been confessedly most useful to them in the war with Antiochus, when he might have done them the greatest damage if he had cooperated with Antiochus, as the latter asked him to, expecting much on this account and now seeing himself discredited and accused, and considered worthy of pardon rather than of gratitude, and even this merely on account of Demetrius, was indignant and angry, but concealed his feelings for a time. Afterwards, in a certain arbitration before the Romans, they transferred much of his territory to Eumenes, seeking all the time to weaken him. Then, at once, he began secretly preparing for war.

Philip utterly destroyed all forces that sailed against him, lest the Romans should say that the Macedonian power was weakening.

The Romans were suspicious of Perseus (the son of Philip) on account of his rapidly growing power, and they were especially disturbed by his nearness to the Greeks and their friendship for him, due to hatred of the Romans, which the Roman generals had caused. Afterward the ambassadors, who were sent to the Bastarnae, reported that they had observed that Macedonia was strongly fortified and had abundant war material, and that its young men were well drilled; and these things also disturbed the Romans. When Perseus perceived this he sent other ambassadors to allay the suspicion. At this time also Eumenes, king of that part of Asia lying about Pergamus, fearing Perseus on account of his own former enmity to Philip, cane to Rome and accused him publicly before the Senate, saying that he had always been hostile to the Romans; that he had killed his brother for being friendly to them; that he had aided Philip in collecting material for war against them, which material, when he became king, he did not desist from collecting, but added much more to it; that he was conciliating the Greeks in every possible way and furnishing military aid to the Byzantines, the Aetolians, and the Bœotians; that he had possessed himself of the great stronghold of Thrace and had stirred up dissensions among the Thessalians and the Perrhaebi when they wanted to send an embassy to Rome. And of your two friends and allies, he said, he drove Abrupolis out of his kingdom and conspired to kill Arthetaurus, the Illyrian chief, and gave shelter to his murderers. Eumenes also slandered him on account of his marriages, both of which were with royal families, and for his bridal processions escorted by the whole fleet of Rhodes. He even made his industry a crime and his sobriety of life (being so young), and his being beloved and praised by so many in so short a time. Of the things that could excite their jealousy, envy, and fear even more strongly than direct accusations, Eumenes omitted nothing, and he urged the Senate to beware of a youthful enemy so highly esteemed and so near to them. The Senate, in fact, did not like to have on their flank a sober-minded, laborious, and popular king, an hereditary enemy to themselves, attaining eminence so suddenly. So, making a pretended accusation of the things alleged by Eumenes, they decided to make war against Perseus, but kept the matter a secret among themselves. When Harpalus, who had been sent by Perseus to answer the charge of Eumenes, and a certain ambassador of the Rhodians, desired to discuss the matter in the presence of Eumenes, who was still there, they were not admitted; but after his departure they were received. These, being angry at such treatment, and using too much freedom of speech, exasperated still more the Romans, who were already meditating war against Perseus and the Rhodians. Many senators, however, blamed Eumenes for causing so great a war on account of his own private grudges and fears, and the Rhodians refused to receive only his among all the representatives of the kings sent to their festival of the sun. When Eumenes was returning to Asia he went up from Cirrha to Delphi to sacrifice, and there four men, hiding behind a wall, made an attempt upon his life. Other causes besides this were advanced by the Romans for a war against Perseus, although it had not yet been decreed, and ambassadors were sent to the allied kings, Eumenes, Antiochus, Ariarathes, Masinissa, and Ptolemy of Egypt, also to Greece Thessaly, Epirus, Acarnania, and to such of the islands as they could perhaps draw to their side. This specially troubled the Greeks, some because fond of Perseus as a Philhellene, and some because compelled to enter into agreement with the Romans. When Perseus learned these facts he sent other ambassadors to Rome, who said that the king was surprised and wished to know for what reason they had abandoned the agreement and sent around legates against himself, their ally. If they were offended at anything, they ought to discuss the matter first. The Senate then accused him of the things that Eumenes had told them, and also of what Eumenes had suffered, and especially that Perseus had taken possession of Thrace and had collected an army and war material, which were not the doings of one desiring peace. Again he sent ambassadors who, deeply grieved, spoke as follows in the senate-chamber: To those who are seeking an excuse for war, O Romans, anything will serve for a pretext, but if you have respect for treaties, — you who profess so much regard for them, — what have you suffered at the hands of Perseus that you should bring war against him? It cannot be because he has an army and war material. He does not hold them against you, nor do you prohibit other kings from having them, nor is it wrong that he should take precautions against those under his rule, and against his neighbors, and foreigners who might have designs against him. But to you, Romans, he sent ambassadors to confirm the peace and only recently renewed the treaty. But, you say, he drove Abrupolis out of his kingdom. Yes, in self-defence, for he had invaded our territory. This fact Perseus himself explained to you, and afterward you renewed the treaty with him, as Eumenes had not yet slandered him. The affair of Abrupolis antedates the treaty and seemed to you just, when you ratified it. You say that he made war on the Dolopians, but they were his own subjects. It is hard if he is to be obliged to give an account to you of what he does with his own. He gives it nevertheless, being moved by his high regard for you and for his own reputation. The Dolopians put their governor to death with torture, and Perseus asks what you would have done to any of your subjects who had been guilty of such a crime. But the slayers of Arthetaurus lived on in Macedonia! Yes, by the common law of mankind, the same under which you give asylum to fugitives from other countries. But when Perseus learned that you considered this a crime he forbade them his kingdom entirely. He gave aid to the Byzantines, the Aetolians, and the Bœotians, not against you, but against others. Of these things our ambassadors advised you beforehand, and you did not object until Eumenes uttered his slander against us, which you did not allow our ambassadors to answer in his presence. But you accuse Perseus of the plot against him at Delphi. How many Greeks, how many barbarians, have sent ambassadors to you to complain against Eumenes, to all of whom he is an enemy because so base a man! As for Erennius of Brundusium, who would believe that Perseus would choose a Roman citizen, your friend and patron, to administer poison to the Senate, as though he could destroy the Senate by means of him, or by destroying some of them render the others more favorable to himself ? Erennius has lied to those who are inciting you to war, furnishing them a plausible pretext. Eumenes, moved by hatred, envy, and fear, does not scruple to make it a crime on the part of Perseus that he is liked by so many people, that he is a Philhellene, and that he leads the life of a temperate ruler, free from drunkenness and luxury. And you endure to listen to such stuff from this accuser! Beware lest his slanders multiply against yourselves, if you cannot endure temperate, honest, and industrious neighbors. Perseus challenges Erennius and Eumenes and anybody else to scrutiny and trial before you. He reminds you of his father’s zeal and assistance to you against Antiochus the Great. You realized it very well at the time; it would be base to forget it now. He invokes the treaties that you made with his father and with himself, and he does not hesitate to exhort you to fear the gods by whom you swore, and not to bring an unjust war against your allies and not to make nearness, sobriety, and preparation causes of complaint. It is not worthy of you to be stirred by envy and fear like Eumenes. On the contrary, it will be the part of wisdom for you to spare neighbors who are diligent and, as Eumenes says, are well prepared! When the ambassadors had thus spoken the Senate gave them no answer, but made a public declaration of war, and the consul ordered the ambassadors to depart from Rome the same day and from Italy within thirty days. The same orders were proclaimed to all Macedonian residents. Consternation mingled with anger followed this action of the Senate, that, on a few hours’ notice, so many people were compelled to depart together, who were not able to find animals in so short a time, or to carry all their goods themselves. Some, in their confusion, could not reach a lodging-place, but passed the night in the middle of the roads. Others threw themselves on the ground at the city gates with their wives and children. Everything happened that was likely to follow such an unexpected decree, for it was unexpected to them on account of the pending negotiation.

After his victory Perseus, either to make sport of Crassus, and by way of joke, or to test his present state of mind, or fearing the power and resources of the Romans, or for some other reason, sent messengers to him to treat for peace, and promised to make many concessions which his father, Philip, had refused. In this promise he seemed to be rather joking with him and testing him. But Crassus replied that it would not be worthy of the dignity of the Roman people to come to terms with him unless he should surrender Macedonia and himself to them. Being ashamed that the Romans were the first to retreat, Crassus called an assembly, in which he praised the Thessalians for their brave conduct in the catastrophe, and falsely accused the Aetolians and the other Greeks of being the first to fly; and these men he sent to Rome.

Both armies employed the rest of the summer in collecting corn, Perseus threshing in the fields and the Romans in their camp.

He (Q. Marcius) was foremost in labor, although sixty years of age and very corpulent.

Then somebody ran to Perseus, while he was refreshing himself with a bath, and told him [that the enemy was approaching]. He sprang out of the water, exclaiming that he had been captured before the battle.

Perseus, having already gradually plucked up courage after his flight, wickedly put to death Nicias and Andronicus, whom he had sent with orders to throw his money into the sea and to burn his ships; because after the ships and money had been saved he knew that they were witnesses of his disgraceful panic and might tell others of it. And from that time, by a sudden change, he became cruel and reckless toward everybody. Nor did he show any soundness or wisdom of judgment thereafter, but he, who had before been most persuasive in council and shrewd in calculation and courageous in battle, barring his inexperience, when fortune began to change became suddenly and unaccountably timid and imprudent, as well as changeable and maladroit in all things. Thus we see many who lose their usual discretion when reverses come.

The Rhodians sent ambassadors to Marcius to congratulate him on the state of affairs in his war with Perseus. Marcius advised the ambassadors to persuade the Rhodians to send legates to Rome to bring about peace between the Romans and Perseus. When the Rhodians heard these things they changed their minds, thinking that the affairs of Perseus were not in such bad shape, for they could not imagine that Marcius would have given this advice without the concurrence of the Romans. But he did this and many other things on his own motion, by reason of cowardice. The Rhodians nevertheless sent ambassadors to Rome and others to Marcius.

Genthius, king of a tribe of Illyrians bordering on Macedonia, having formed an alliance with Perseus in consideration of 300 talents, of which he had received a part down, made an attack upon Roman Illyria, and when the Romans sent Perpenna and Petilius as ambassadors to inquire about it, he put them in chains. When Perseus learned this he decided not to pay the rest of the money, thinking that now the Romans would make war on him for this outrage. He also sent legates to the Getae on the other side of the Danube, and he offered money to Eumenes if he would come over to his side, or negotiate for him a peace with Rome, or help neither party in the contest. He hoped either that Eumenes would do some one of these things, which could not be kept secret from the Romans, or that he should cause Eumenes to be suspected by the very attempt. Eumenes refused to come over to his side, and he demanded 1500 talents for negotiating a peace, or 1000 for remaining neutral. But now Perseus, learning that 10,000 foot and as many horse were coming to him as mercenaries from the Getae, began forthwith to despise Eumenes, and said that he would pay nothing for his neutrality, for that would be a disgrace to both of them, but for negotiating a peace he would not fail to pay, and would deposit the money in Samothrace until the treaty was concluded, so fickle and penurious in all matters had he become in his infatuation. Nevertheless, one of the things that he hoped for took place: Eumenes fell under suspicion at Rome. When the Getae had crossed the Danube, it was claimed that there was due to Clœlius, their leader, 1000 gold staters and, also, ten to each horseman and five to each foot-soldier, the whole amounting to a little over 150,000 pieces of gold. Perseus sent messengers to them bearing military cloaks, gold necklaces, and horses for the officers, and 10,000 staters. When he was not far from their camp he sent for Clœlius. The latter asked the messengers whether they had brought the gold, and when he learned that they had not, he ordered them to go back to Perseus. When Perseus learned this, he was again misled by his evil genius, and complained among his friends of the fickleness and bad faith of the Getae, and pretended to be afraid to receive 20,000 of them in his camp. He said that he could hardly subdue 10,000 of them if they should rebel. While saying these things to his friends, he offered other fictions to the Getae and asked for half of their force, promising to give them the gold that he had on hand — so inconsistent was he, and so anxious about the money that he had ordered to be thrown into the sea a little while before. Clœlius, seeing the messengers returning, asked in a loud voice whether they had brought the gold, and when they wanted to talk about something else he ordered them to speak of the gold first. When he learned that they did not have it, he led his army home without waiting to hear another word from them. Thus Perseus deprived himself of this powerful force of auxiliaries, which had opportunely arrived. He was so foolish, also, that while wintering with a large army at Phila he made no incursion into Thessaly, which furnished supplies to the Romans, but sent a force to Ionia to prevent the bringing of supplies to them from that quarter.

Some divinity was jealous of the prosperity of Paulus when he had reached such a pinnacle of fortune. Of his four sons he gave the two elder, Maximus and Scipio, for adoption into other families. The two younger ones died, one of them three days before his triumph and the other five days after it. Paulus alluded to this among other things in his address to the people. When he came to the forum to give an account of his doings, according to the custom of generals, he said, I sailed from Brundusium to Corcyra in one day. Five days I was on the road from Corcyra to Delphi, where I sacrificed to the god. In five days more I arrived in Thessaly and took command of the army. Fifteen days later I overthrew Perseus and conquered Macedonia. All these strokes of good fortune coming so rapidly led me to fear the approach of some calamity to the army or to you. When the army was made safe, I feared for you on account of the invidiousness of fate. Now that the calamity falls upon me, in the sudden loss of my two sons, I am the most unfortunate of men for myself, but free from anxiety as to you. Having spoken thus, Paulus became the object of universal admiration, and commiseration on account of his children; and he died not long after.

THE Greeks call those people Illyrians who occupy the region beyond Macedonia and Thrace from Chaonia and Thesprotia to the river Ister (Danube). This is the length of the country. Its breadth is from Macedonia and the mountains of Thrace to Pannonia and the Adriatic and the foot-hills of the Alps. Its breadth is five days’ journey and its length thirty — so the Greek writers say. The Romans measured the country and found its length to be upward of 6000 stades and its width about 1200.

They say that the country received its name from Illyrius, the son of Polyphemus; for the Cyclops Polyphemus and his wife, Galatea, had three sons, Celtus, Illyrius, and Galas, all of whom migrated from Sicily; and the nations called Celts, Illyrians, and Galatians took their origin from them. Among the many myths prevailing among many peoples this seems to me the most plausible. Illyrius had six sons, Encheleus, Autarieus, Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus, also daughters, Partho, Daortho, Dassaro, and others, from whom sprang the Taulantii, the Perrhaebi, the Enchelees, the Autarienses, the Dardani, the Partheni, the Dassaretii, and the Darsii. Autarieus had a son Pannonius, or Paeon, and the latter had sons, Scordiscus and Triballus, from whom nations bearing similar names were derived. But I will leave these matters to the archaeologists.

The Illyrian tribes are many, as is natural in so extensive a country; and celebrated even now are the names of the Scordisci and the Triballi, who inhabited a wide region and destroyed each other by wars to such a degree that the remnant of the Triballi took refuge with the Getae on the other side of the Danube, and, though flourishing until the time of Philip and Alexander, is now extinct and its name scarcely known in the regions once inhabited by it. The Scordisci, having been reduced to extreme weakness in the same way, and having suffered much at a later period in war with the Romans, took refuge in the islands of the same river. In the course of time some of them returned and settled on the confines of Pannonia, and thus it happens that a tribe of the Scordisci still remains in Pannonia. In like manner the Ardiaei, who were distinguished for their maritime power, were finally destroyed by the Autarienses, whose land forces were stronger, but whom they had often defeated. The Liburni, another Illyrian tribe, were next to the Ardiaei as a nautical people. These committed piracy in the Adriatic Sea and islands with their light, fast-sailing pinnaces, from which circumstance the Romans to this day call their own light, swift biremes liburnicas.

The Autarienses were overtaken with destruction by the vengeance of Apollo. Having joined Molostimus and the Celtic people called Cimbri in an expedition against the temple of Delphi, the greater part of them were destroyed by storm, hurricane, and lightning just before the sacrilege was committed. Upon those who returned home there came a countless number of frogs, which filled the streams and polluted the water. The noxious vapors rising from the ground caused a plague among the Illyrians which was especially fatal to the Autarienses. At last they fled from their homes, and as the plague still clung to them (and for fear of it nobody would receive them), they came, after a journey of twenty-three days, to a marshy and uninhabited district of the Getae, where they settled near the Bastarnae. The god visited the Celts with an earthquake and overthrew their cities, and did not abate the calamity until these also fled from their abodes and made an incursion into Illyria among their fellow-culprits, who had been weakened by the plague. While robbing the Illyrians they caught the plague and again took to flight and plundered their way to the Pyrenees. When they were returning to the east the Romans, mindful of their former encounters with the Celts, and fearful lest they should cross the Alps and invade Italy, sent against them both consuls, who were annihilated with the whole army. This calamity to the Romans brought great dread of the Celts upon all Italy until Gaius Marius, who had lately triumphed over the Numidians and Mauritanians, was chosen commander and defeated the Cimbri repeatedly with great slaughter, as I have related in my Celtic history. Being reduced to extreme weakness, and for that reason excluded from every land, they returned home, inflicting and suffering many injuries on the way.

Such was the punishment which the god visited upon the Illyrians and the Celts for their impiety. But they did not desist from temple robbing, for again, in conjunction with the Celts, certain Illyrian tribes, especially the Scordisci, the Maedi, and the Dardani again invaded Macedonia and Greece together, and plundered many temples, including that of Delphi, but losing many men this time also. The Romans, thirty-two years after their first encounter with the Celts, having fought with them at intervals since that time, now, under the leadership of Lucius Scipio, made war against the Illyrians, on account of this temple-robbery, as they [the Romans] now held sway over the Greeks and the Macedonians. It is said that the neighboring tribes, remembering the calamity that befell all the Illyrians on account of the crime of the Autarienses, would not give aid to the temple-robbers, but abandoned them to Scipio, who destroyed the greater part of the Scordisci, the remainder fleeing to the Danube and settling in the islands of that river. He made peace with the Maedi and Dardani, accepting from them part of the gold belonging to the temple. One of the Roman writers says that this was the chief cause of the numerous civil wars of the Romans after Lucius Scipio’s time till the establishment of the empire. So much by way of preface concerning the peoples whom the Greeks called Illyrians.

These peoples, and also the Pannonians, the Rhaertians, the Noricans, the Mysians of Europe, and the other neighboring tribes who inhabited the right bank of the Danube, the Romans distinguished from one another just as the various Greek peoples are distinguished from each other, and they call each by its own name, but they consider the whole of Illyria as embraced under a common designation. Whence this idea took its start I have not been able to find out, but it continues to this day, for they farm the tax of all the nations from the source of the Danube to the Euxine Sea under one head, and call it the Illyrian tax. Why the Romans subjugated them, and what were the real causes or pretexts of the wars, I acknowledged, when writing of Crete, that I had not discovered, and I exhorted those who were able to tell more, to do so. I shall write down only what I know.

Agron was king of that part of Illyria which borders the Adriatic Sea, over which sea Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and his successors held sway. Agron captured a part of Epirus and also Corcyra, Epidamnus, and Pharus in succession, where he established garrisons. When he threatened the rest of the Adriatic with his fleet, the isle of Issa implored the aid of the Romans. The latter sent ambassadors to accompany the Issii and to ascertain what offences Agron imputed to them. The Illyrian vessels attacked the ambassadors on their voyage and slew Cleemporus, the envoy of Issa, and the Roman Coruncanius; the remainder escaped by flight. Thereupon the Romans invaded Illyria by land and sea. Agron, in the meantime, had died, leaving an infant son named Pinnes, having given the guardianship and regency to his wife, although she was not the child’s mother. Demetrius, who was Agron’s governor of Pharus and who held Corcyra also, surrendered both places to the invading Romans by treachery. The latter then entered into an alliance with Epidamnus and went to the assistance of the Issii and of the Epidamnians, who were besieged by the Illyrians. The latter raised the siege and fled, and one of their tribes, called the Atintani, went over to the Romans. After these events the widow of Agron sent ambassadors to Rome to surrender the prisoners and deserters into their hands. She begged pardon also for what had been done, not by herself, but by Agron. They received for answer that Corcyra, Pharus, Issa, Epidamnus, and the Illyrian Atintani were already Roman subjects, that Pinnes might have the remainder of Agron’s kingdom and be a friend of the Roman people if he would keep hands off the aforesaid territory, and agree not to sail beyond Lissus nor to keep more than two Illyrian pinnaces, both to be unarmed. The woman accepted all these conditions.

This was the first conflict and treaty between the Romans and the Illyrians. Thereupon the Romans made Corcyra and Apollonia free. To Demetrius they gave certain castles as a reward for his treason to his own people, adding the express condition that they gave them only conditionally, for they suspected the man’s bad faith; and before long he began to show it. While the Romans were engaged in a three years’ war with the Gauls on the river Po, Demetrius, thinking that they had their hands full, set forth on a piratical expedition, brought the Istrians, another Illyrian tribe, into the enterprise, and detached the Atintani from Rome. The Romans, when they had settled their business with the Gauls, immediately sent a naval force and overpowered the pirates. The following year they marched against Demetrius and his Illyrian fellow-culprits. Demetrius fled to Philip, king of Macedon, but when he returned and resumed his piratical career in the Adriatic they slew him and utterly demolished his native town of Pharus, which was associated with him in crime. They spared the Illyrians on account of Pinnes, who again besought them to do so. And such was the second conflict and treaty between them and the Illyrians.

The following events I have written as I have found them, not in due order according to their times of occurrence, but rather taking each Illyrian nation separately. When the Romans were at war with the Macedonians during the reign of Perseus, the successor of Philip, Genthius, an Illyrian chief, made an alliance with Perseus for money and attacked Roman Illyria. When the Romans sent ambassadors to him on this subject he put them in chains, charging that they had not come as ambassadors, but as spies. The Roman general, Anicius, in a naval expedition, captured some of Genthius’ pinnaces and then engaged him in battle on land, defeated him, and shut him up in a castle. When he begged a parley Anicius ordered him to surrender himself to the Romans. He asked and obtained three days for consideration, at the end of which time, his subjects having meanwhile gone over to Anicius, he asked for an interview with the latter, and, falling on his knees, begged pardon in the most abject manner. Anicius encouraged the trembling wretch, lifted him up, and invited him to supper, but as he was going away from the feast he ordered the lictors to cast him into prison. Anicius afterward led both him and his sons in triumph at Rome. The whole war with Genthius was finished within twenty days. When Aemilius Paulus, the conqueror of Perseus, returned to Rome, he received secret orders from the Senate to go back on particular business relating to the seventy towns that had belonged to Genthius. They were much alarmed, but he promised to pardon them for what they had done if they would deliver to him all the gold and silver they had. When they agreed to do so he sent a detachment of his army into each town appointing the same day for all the commanding officers to act, and ordering them to make proclamation at daybreak in each that the inhabitants should bring their money into the market-place within three hours, and when they had done so to plunder what remained. Thus Paulus despoiled seventy towns in one hour.

The Ardei and the Palarii, two other Illyrian tribes, made a raid on Roman Illyria, and the Romans, being otherwise occupied, sent ambassadors to scare them. When they refused to be obedient, the Romans collected an army of 10,000 foot and 600 horse to be despatched against them. When the Illyrians learned this, as they were not yet prepared for fighting, they sent ambassadors to crave pardon. The Senate ordered them to make reparation to those whom they had wronged. As they were slow in obeying, Fulvius Flaccus marched against them. This war resulted in an excursion only, for I cannot find any definite end to it. Sempronius Tuditanus and Tiberius Pandusa waged war with the Iapydes, who live among the Alps, and seem to have subjugated them, as Lucius Cotta and Metellus seem to have subjugated the Segestani; but both tribes revolted not long afterward.

The Dalmatians, another Illyrian tribe, made an attack on the Illyrian subjects of Rome, and when ambassadors were sent to them to remonstrate they were not received. The Romans accordingly sent an army against them, with Marcius Figulus as consul and commander. While Figulus was laying out his camp the Dalmatians over-powered the guard, defeated him, and drove him out of the camp in headlong flight to the plain as far as the river Naro. As the Dalmatians were returning home (for winter was now approaching), Figulus hoped to fall upon them unawares, but he found them reassembled from their towns at the news of his approach. Nevertheless, he drove them into the city of Delminium, from which place they first got the name of Delmatenses, which was afterward changed to Dalmatians. As he was not able to attack this strongly defended town from the road, nor to use the engines that he had, on account of the height of the place, he attacked and captured some other towns that were partially deserted on account of the concentration of forces at Delminium. Then, returning to Delminium, he hurled sticks of wood, two cubits long, covered with flax and smeared with pitch and sulphur, from catapults into the town. These caught fire from friction and, flying in the air like torches, wherever they fell caused a conflagration, so that the greater part of the town was burned. This was the end of the war waged by Figulus against the Dalmatians. At a later period, in the consulship of Caecilius Metellus, war was declared against the Dalmatians, although they had been guilty of no offence, because he desired a triumph. They received him as a friend and he wintered among them at the town of Salona, after which he returned to Rome and was awarded a triumph.

At the time when Caesar held the command in Gaul these same Dalmatians and other Illyrians, who were then in a very prosperous condition, took the city of Promona from the Liburni, another Illyrian tribe. The latter put themselves in the hands of the Romans and appealed to Caesar, who was near by. Caesar sent word to those who were holding Promona that they should give it up to the Liburni, and when they refused, he sent against them a strong detachment of his army who were totally destroyed by the Illyrians. Nor did Caesar renew the attempt, for he had no leisure then, on account of the civil strife with Pompey. When the civil strife burst forth in war Caesar crossed the Adriatic from Brundusium in the winter, with what forces he had, and opened his campaign against Pompey in Macedonia. Antony brought another army to Caesar’s aid in Macedonia, he also crossing the Adriatic in mid-winter. Gabinius led fifteen cohorts of foot and 3000 horse for him by way of Illyria, passing around the Adriatic. The Illyrians, fearing punishment for what they had done to Caesar not long before, and thinking that his victory would be their destruction, attacked and slew the whole army under Gabinius, except Gabinius himself and a few who escaped. Among the spoils captured was a large amount of money and war material.

Caesar was preoccupied by the necessity of coming to a conclusion with Pompey, and, after Pompey’s death, with the numerous parts of his faction still remaining. When he had settled everything he returned to Rome and made preparations for war with the Getae and the Parthians. The Illyrians began to fear lest he should attack them, as they were on his intended line of march. So they sent ambassadors to Rome to crave pardon for what they had done and to offer their friendship and alliance, vaunting themselves as a very brave race. Caesar was hastening his preparations against the Parthians; nevertheless, he gave them the dignified answer that he could not make friends of those who had done what they had, but that he would grant them pardon if they would subject themselves to tribute and give him hostages. They promised to do both, and accordingly he sent Vatinius thither with three legions and a large cavalry force to impose a light tribute on them and receive the hostages. When Caesar was slain the Dalmatians, thinking that the Roman power resided in him and had perished with him, would not listen to Vatinius on the subject of the tribute or anything else. When he attempted to use force they attacked and destroyed five of his cohorts, including their commanding officer, Baebius, a man of senatorial rank. Vatinius took refuge with the remainder of his force in Epidamnus. The Roman Senate transferred this army, together with the province of Macedonia and Roman Illyria, to Brutus Caepio, one of Caesar’s murderers, and at the same time assigned Syria to Cassius, another of the assassins. But they also, being involved in war with Antony and the second Caesar, surnamed Augustus, had no time to attend to the Illyrians.

The Paeones are a great nation on the Danube, extending from the Iapydes to the Dardani. They are called Paeones by the Greeks, but Pannonians by the Romans. They are counted by the Romans as a part of Illyria, as I have previously said, for which reason it seems proper that I should include them in my Illyrian history. They have been renowned from the Macedonian period through the Agrianes, who rendered very important aid to Philip and Alexander and are Paeones of Lower Pannonia bordering on Illyria. When the expedition of Cornelius against the Pannonians resulted disastrously, so great a fear of those people came over all the Italians that for a long time afterwards none of the consuls ventured to march against them. Concerning the early history of the Illyrians and Pannonians, I have not been able to discover anything further, nor have I found in the commentaries of Augustus anything earlier in the chapters treating of the Pannonians.

I think that other Illyrian tribes besides those mentioned had previously come under Roman rule, but how, I do not know. Augustus did not describe the transactions of others so much as his own, telling how he brought back those who had revolted and compelled them again to pay tribute, how he subjugated others that had been independent from the beginning, and how he mastered all the tribes that inhabit the summits of the Alps, barbarous and warlike peoples, who often plundered the neighboring parts of Italy. It is a wonder to me that so many great Roman armies traversing the Alps to conquer the Gauls and Spaniards, should have overlooked these tribes, and that even Gaius Caesar, that most successful man of war, did not despatch them during the ten years that he was fighting the Gauls and wintering in that very country. But the Romans seem to have been intent only upon getting through the Alpine region on the business they were bestirring themselves about, and Caesar seems to have delayed putting an end to the Illyrian troubles on account of the Gallic war and the strife with Pompey, which closely followed it. It appears that he was chosen commander of Illyria as well as of Gaul — not the whole of it, but as much as was then under Roman rule.

When Augustus had made himself master of everything, he informed the Senate, by way of contrast with Antony’s slothfulness, that he had freed Italy from the savage tribes that had so often raided it. He overcame the Oxyaei, the Perthoneatae, the Bathiatae, the Taulantii, the Cambaei, the Cinambri, the Meromenni, and the Pyrissaei in one campaign. By more prolonged effort he also over-came the Docleatae, the Carui, the Interphrurini, the Naresii, the Glintidiones, and the Taurisci. From these tribes he exacted the tributes they had been failing to pay. When these were conquered, the Hippasini and the Bessi, neighboring tribes, were overcome by fear and surrendered themselves to him. Others which had revolted, the Meliteni and the Corcyreans, who inhabited islands and practised piracy, he destroyed utterly, putting the young men to death and selling the rest as slaves. He deprived the Liburnians of their ships because they also practised piracy. The Mœntini and the Avendeatae,two tribes of the Iapydes, dwelling within the Alps, surrendered themselves to him at his approach. The Arrepini, who are the most numerous and warlike of the Iapydes, betook themselves from their villages to their city, but when he arrived there they fled to the woods. Augustus took the city, but did not burn it, hoping that they would deliver themselves up, and when they did so he allowed them to occupy it.

Those who gave him the most trouble were the Salassi, the transalpine Iapydes, the Segestani, the Dalmatians, the Daesitiatae, and the Pannonians, far distant from the Salassi, who occupy the higher Alpine mountains, difficult of access, the paths being narrow and hard to climb. For this reason they had not only preserved their independence, but had levied tolls on those who passed through their country. Vetus assaulted them unexpectedly, seized the passes by stratagem, and besieged them for two years. They were driven to surrender for want of salt, which they use largely, and they received a Roman garrison; but when Vetus went away they expelled the garrison forthwith, and, possessing themselves of the mountain passes, they mocked at the forces that Augustus sent against them, as unable to accomplish anything of importance. Thereupon Augustus, anticipating a war with Antony, acknowledged their independence and allowed them to go unpunished for their offences against Vetus. But as they were suspicious of what might happen, they laid in large supplies of salt and made incursions into the Roman territory until Messala Corvinus was sent against them and reduced them by hunger. In this way were the Salassi subjugated.

The transalpine Iapydes, a strong and savage tribe, drove back the Romans twice within the space of about twenty years, overran Aquileia, and plundered the Roman colony of Tergestus. When Augustus advanced against them by a steep and rugged road, they made it still harder for him by felling trees. As he advanced farther they took refuge in another forest, where they lay in ambush for the approaching foe. Augustus, who was always suspecting something of this kind, sent forces to occupy certain ridges which flanked both sides of his advance through the flat country and the fallen timber. The Iapydes darted out from their ambush and wounded many of the soldiers, but the greater part of their own forces were killed by the Romans who fell upon them from the heights above. The remainder again took refuge in the thickets, abandoning their town, the name of which was Terponus. Augustus took this town, but did not burn it, hoping that they also would give themselves up, and they did so.

Thence he advanced to another place called Metulus, which is the chief town of the Iapydes. It is situated on a heavily timbered mountain, on two ridges with a narrow valley between them. Here were about 3000 warlike and well-armed youth, who easily beat off the Romans who surrounded their walls. The latter raised a mound. The Metulians interrupted the work by assaults by day and by night, and harassed the soldiers from the walls with engines which they had obtained from the war which Decimus Brutus had waged there with Antony and Augustus. When their wall began to crumble they built another inside, abandoned the ruined one, and took shelter behind the other. The Romans captured the abandoned one and burned it. Against the new fortification they raised two mounds and from these threw four bridges to the top of the wall. Then, in order to distract their attention, Augustus sent a part of his force around to the rear of the town and ordered the others to dash across the bridges to the walls. He ascended to the top of a high tower to see the result.

Some of the barbarians ran from the parapet to meet the Romans who were crossing, while others, unseen, sought to undermine the bridges with their long spears. They were much encouraged at seeing one bridge fall and a second one follow on top of it. When a third one went down a regular panic overtook the Romans, so that no one ventured on the fourth bridge until Augustus leaped down from the tower and reproached them. As they were not roused to their duty by his words, he seized a shield and sprang upon the bridge himself. Agrippa and Hiero, two of the generals, and one of his bodyguard, Lucius, and Volas ran with him, only these four with a few armor-bearers. He had almost crossed the bridge when the soldiers, overcome by shame, rushed after him in crowds. Then this bridge, being overweighted, fell also, and the men on it went down in a heap. Some were killed and others were carried away with broken bones. Augustus was injured in the right leg and in both arms. Nevertheless, he ascended the tower with his signals forthwith and showed himself safe and sound, lest dismay should arise from a report of his death. In order that the enemy might not fancy that he was going to give in and retire he began to construct new bridges; by which means he struck terror into the Metulians, who thought that they were contending against an unconquerable will.

The next day they sent messengers to Augustus offering to give fifty hostages whom he might select, and promising to receive a garrison and to assign to them the highest hill while they themselves would occupy the other. When the garrison entered and he ordered them to lay down their arms they were very angry. They shut their wives and children up in their council-chamber and stationed guards there with orders to set fire to the building in case things went wrong with them, and then they attacked the Romans with desperation. Since, however, they made the attack from a lower position upon those occupying higher ground, they were completely overpowered. Then the guards set fire to the council-chamber and many of the women killed their children and themselves. Others, holding in their arms their children still alive, leaped into the flames. Thus all the Metulian youth perished in battle and the greater part of the non-combatants by fire. Their city was entirely consumed, and, large as it was, not a trace of it now remains. After the destruction of Metulus the remainder of the Iapydes, being terror-stricken, surrendered to Augustus. The transalpine Iapydes were then for the first time brought in subjection to the Romans. After Augustus departed the Poseni rebelled and Marcus Helvius was sent against them. He conquered them and after punishing the leaders of the revolt with death sold the rest as slaves.

At an earlier time the Romans twice attacked the country of the Segestani, but obtained no hostages nor anything else, for which reason the Segestani became very arrogant. Augustus advanced against them through the Pannonian territory, which was not yet under subjection to the Romans. Pannonia is a wooded country extending from the Iapydes to the Dardani. The inhabitants do not live in cities, but scattered through the country or in villages according to relationship. They have no common council and no rulers over the whole nation. They number 100,000 fighting men, but they do not assemble in one body, because they have no common government. When Augustus advanced against them they took to the woods, from which they darted out and slew the stragglers of the army. As long as Augustus hoped that they would surrender voluntarily he spared their fields and villages. As none of them came in he devastated the country with fire and sword for eight days, until he came to the Segestani. Theirs is also Pannonian territory, on the river Save, on which is situated a city strongly fortified by the river and by a very large ditch encircling it. For this reason Augustus greatly desired to possess it as a magazine convenient for a war against the Dacians and the Bastarnae on the other side of the Ister, which is there called the Danube, but a little lower down is called the Ister. The Save flows into it, and Augustus caused ships to be built in the latter stream to bring provisions to the Danube for him.

For these reasons he desired to obtain possession of Segesta. As he was approaching, the Segestani sent to inquire what he wanted. He replied that he desired to station a garrison there and to have them give him 100 hostages in order that he might use the town safely as a base of operations in his war against the Dacians. He also asked for as much food as they were able to supply. The chief men of the town acquiesced, but the common people were furious, yet consented to the giving of the hostages, perhaps because they were not their children, but those of the notables. When the garrison came up, however, they could not bear the sight of them, but shut the gates in a mad fury and stationed themselves on the walls. Thereupon Augustus bridged the river and surrounded the place with ditch and palisade, and, having blockaded them, raised two mounds. Upon these the Segestani made frequent assaults and, being unable to capture them, endeavored to destroy them with torches and fire thrown from above. When aid was sent to them by the other Pannonians Augustus met and ambuscaded this reënforcement, destroyed a part of their force, and put the rest to flight. After this they got no more help from the Pannonians.

Thus the Segestani, after enduring all the evils of a siege, were taken by force on the thirtieth day, and then for the first time they began to beg. Augustus, admiring them for their bravery and yielding to their prayers, neither killed nor banished them, but contented himself with a fine. He caused a part of the city to be separated from the rest by a wall, and in this he placed a garrison of twenty-five cohorts. Having accomplished this he went back to Rome, intending to return to Illyria in the spring. But a rumor becoming current that the Segestani had massacred the garrison, he set forth hastily in the winter. However, he found that the rumor was false, yet not without cause. They had been in danger from a sudden uprising of the Segestani and had lost many men by reason of its unexpectedness, but on the next day they rallied and put down the insurgents. Augustus turned his forces to Dalmatia, another Illyrian country bordering on Taulantia.

The Dalmatians, after the slaughter of the five cohorts under Gabinius and the taking of their standards, elated by their success, had not laid down their arms for ten years. When Augustus advanced against them they made an alliance with each other for mutual aid in war. They had upwards of 12,000 fighting men under a general named Versus. He occupied Promona, the city of the Liburni, and fortified it, although it was very strong by nature. It is a mountain stronghold surrounded on all sides by sharp-pointed hills like saw-teeth. The greater part of his forces were stationed in the town, but he placed guards on the hills and all of them looked down upon the Romans from elevated positions. Augustus in plain sight began to draw a wall around the whole, but secretly he sent his bravest men to seek a path to the highest of the hills. These, concealing themselves in the woods, fell upon the guards by night while they were asleep, slew them, and signalled to Augustus in the twilight. He led the bulk of the army to make an attempt upon the city, and sent another force to hold the height that had been taken, while the captors of it should get possession of the lower hills. Terror and confusion fell upon the barbarians everywhere, for they believed themselves to be attacked on all sides. Especially were those on the hills alarmed lest they should be cut off from their supply of water, for which reason they all fled to Promona.

Augustus surrounded the town, and two hills which were still held by the enemy, with a wall forty stades in length. When Testimus, another Dalmatian general, brought an army to the relief of the place Augustus met him and drove him back to the mountains, and while Testimus was still looking on he took Promona before the line of circumvallation was finished. For when the citizens made a sally and were sharply repulsed, the Romans pursued them and entered the town with them, where they killed a third part of them. The remainder took refuge in the citadel, at the gates of which a Roman cohort was placed to keep watch. On the fourth night the barbarians asaulted them, and they fled terror-stricken from the gates. Augustus repulsed the enemy’s assault, and the following day received their surrender. The cohort that had abandoned its position was obliged to cast lots, and every tenth man suffered death. The lot fell upon two centurions among others. It was ordered, as a further punishment, that the surviving members of the cohort should subsist on barley instead of wheat for that summer.

Promona being thus taken, Testimus, who was still looking on, disbanded his army, telling them to scatter in all directions. For this reason the Romans were not able to pursue them long, as they feared to divide themselves into small bands, being ignorant of the roads, and the foot-prints of the fugitives being much confused. They took the town of Sunodium at the edge of the forest in which the army of Gabinius had been entrapped by the Dalmatians in a long and deep gorge between two mountains. There also they laid an ambuscade for Augustus, but after he had burned Sunodium he sent soldiers around by the summits of the mountains to keep even pace with him on either side while he passed through the gorge. He cut down trees and captured and burned all the towns he found on his way. While he was besieging the city of Setovia a force of barbarians came to its assistance, which he met and prevented from entering the place. In this conflict he was struck by a stone on the knee and was confined for several days. When he recovered he returned to Rome to perform the duties of the consulship with Volcatius Tullus, his colleague, leaving Statilius Taurus to finish the war.

Entering upon his new consulship on the Calends of January, and delivering the government to Autronius Paetus the same day, he started back to Dalmatia at once, the triumvirate still existing; for two years remained of the second five-year period which the triumvirs themselves had ordained and the people confirmed. And now the Dalmatians, oppressed by hunger and cut off from foreign supplies, met him on the road and delivered themselves up with supplications, giving 700 of their children as hostages, as Augustus demanded, and also the Roman standards taken from Gabinius. They also promised to pay the tribute that had been in arrears since the time of Gaius Caesar and to be obedient henceforth. Augustus deposited the standards in the portico called the Octavia. After the Dalmatians were prostrated Augustus advanced against the Derbani, who likewise begged pardon with supplications, gave hostages, and promised to pay the past-due tribute. In like manner other tribes at his approach gave hostages for observing the treaties that he made with them. Some, however, he was prevented by sickness from reaching. These gave no hostages and made no treaties. It appears, however, that they were subjugated later. Thus Augustus subdued the whole Illyrian country, not only the parts that had revolted from the Romans, but those that had never before been under their rule. Wherefore the Senate awarded him an Illyrian triumph, which he enjoyed later, together with one for his victory over Antony.

The remaining peoples, who are considered by the Romans to be parts of Illyria, are the Rhaetians and the Noricans, on this side of Pannonia, and the Mysians on the other side as far as the Euxine Sea. I think that the Rhaetians and Noricans were subdued by Gaius Caesar during the Gallic war or by Augustus during the Pannonian war, as they lie between the two. I have found no mention of any war against them separately, whence I infer that they were conquered along with other neighboring tribes.

Marcus Lucullus, brother of that Licinius Lucullus who conducted the war against Mithridates, advanced against the Mysians and arrived at the river where six Grecian cities lie adjacent to the Mysian territory, namely, Istrus, Dionysopolis, Odessus, Mesembria, Catalis, and Apollonia; from which he brought to Rome the great statue of Apollo which was afterward set up on the Palatine Hill. I have found nothing further done by the Roman republic as to the Mysians. They were not subjected to tribute by Augustus, but by Tiberius, who succeeded him as Roman emperor. All the things done by command of the people before the taking of Egypt have been written by me for each country separately. Those countries that the emperors themselves pacified after Egypt was taken, or annexed as their own work, will be mentioned after the affairs of the commonwealth. There I shall tell more about the Mysians. For the present, since the Romans consider the Mysians a part of Illyria and this is my Illyrian history, in order that it may be complete it seems proper to premise that Lucullus invaded Mysia as a general of the republic and that Tiberius took it in the time of the empire.

ANTIOCHUS (the son of Seleucus and grandson of Antiochus), king of the Syrians, the Babylonians, and other nations, was the sixth in succession from that Seleucus who succeeded Alexander in the government of the Asiatic countries around the Euphrates. He invaded Media and Parthia, and other countries that had revolted from his ancestors, and performed many exploits, from which he was named Antiochus the Great. Elated by his successes, and by the title which he had derived from them, he invaded Cœle-Syria and a portion of Cilicia and took them away from Ptolemy Philopator [Epiphanes], king of Egypt, who was still a boy. As there was nothing small in his views he marched among the Hellespontines, the Aeolians, and the Ionians as though they belonged to him as the ruler of Asia; and, indeed, they had been formerly subjects of the Asiatic kings. Then he crossed over to Europe, brought Thrace under his sway, and reduced by force those who would not obey him. He fortified Chersonesus and rebuilt Lysimacheia, which Lysimachus, who ruled Thrace in the time of Alexander, built as a stronghold against the Thracians themselves, but which they destroyed after his death. Antiochus repeopled it, calling back the citizens who had fled, redeeming those who had been sold as slaves, bringing in others, supplying them with cattle, sheep, and agricultural implements, and omitting nothing that might contribute to its speedy completion as a stronghold; for the place seemed to him to be admirably situated to hold all of Thrace in subjection, and a convenient base of supplies for other operations that he contemplated.

Here the open disagreements between him and the Romans began, for as he passed among the Greek cities thereabout most of them joined him and received his garrisons, because they feared capture by him. But the inhabitants of Smyrna and Lampsacus, and some others who still resisted, sent ambassadors to Flamininus, the Roman general, who had lately overthrown Philip the Macedonian in a great battle in Thessaly; for the affairs of the Macedonians and of the Greeks were closely linked together at certain times and places, as I have shown in my Grecian history. Accordingly, certain embassies passed between Antiochus and Flamininus and tested each other to no purpose. The Romans and Antiochus had been suspicious of each other for a long time, the former surmising that he would not keep quiet because he was so much puffed up by the extent of his dominions and the acme of fortune that he had reached. Antiochus, on the other hand, believed that the Romans were the only people who could put a stop to his increase of power and prevent him from passing over to Europe. Still, there was no outward cause of enmity between them until ambassadors came to Rome from Ptolemy Philopator complaining that Antiochus had taken Syria and Cilicia away from him. The Romans gladly seized this occasion as one well suited to their purposes, and sent to Antiochus ostensibly to bring about a reconciliation between him and Ptolemy, but really to find out his designs and to check him as much as they could.

Gnaeus, the chief of the embassy, demanded that Antiochus should allow Ptolemy, who was a friend of the Roman people, to rule over all the countries that his father had left to him, and that the cities of Asia that had been part of the dominions of Philip should be independent, for it was not right that Antiochus should usurp powers of which the Romans had deprived Philip. We are wholly at a loss to know, he said, why Antiochus should come from Media bringing such a fleet and such an army from the upper country to the Asiatic coast, make an incursion into Europe, build cities there, and subdue Thrace, unless these are the preparations for another war. Antiochus replied that Thrace had belonged to his ancestors, that it had fallen away from them when they were occupied elsewhere, and that he had resumed possession because he had leisure to do so. He had built Lysimacheia as the future seat of government of his son Seleucus. He would leave the Greek cities of Asia independent if they would acknowledge the gratitude therefor as due to himself and not to the Romans. I am a relative of Ptolemy, he said, and I shall be his father-in-law, although I am not so now, and I will see to it that he renders gratitude to you. I am at a loss to know by what right you meddle with the affairs of Asia when I never interfere with those of Italy. And so they separated without coming to any understanding, and both sides broke into more open threats.

A rumor having spread abroad that Ptolemy Philopator was dead, Antiochus hastened to Egypt in order to seize the country while bereft of a ruler. While on this journey Hannibal the Carthaginian met him at Ephesus. He was now a fugitive from his own country on account of the accusations of his enemies, who reported to the Romans that he was hostile to them, that he wanted to bring on a war, and that he could never enjoy peace. This was a time when the Carthaginians were leagued with the Romans by treaty. Antiochus received Hannibal in a magnificent manner on account of his great military reputation, and kept him near himself. At Lycia he learned that Ptolemy was alive. So he gave up the idea of seizing Egypt and turned his attention to Cyprus, hoping to take it instead of Egypt, and sailed thither with all speed. Encountering a storm at the mouth of the river Sarus and losing many of his ships, some of them with his soldiers and friends, he sailed back to Seleucia in Syria to repair his damaged fleet. There he celebrated the nuptials of his children, Antiochus and Laodice, whom he had joined together in marriage.

Now, determining no longer to conceal his intended war with the Romans, he formed alliances by marriage with the neighboring kings. To Ptolemy in Egypt he sent his daughter Cleopatra, surnamed Syra, giving with her Cœle-Syria as a dowry, which he had taken away from Ptolemy himself, thus flattering the young king in order to keep him quiet during the war with the Romans. To Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, he sent his daughter Antiochis, and the remaining one to Eumenes, king of Pergamus. But the latter, seeing that Antiochus was about to engage in war with the Romans and that he wanted to form a marriage connection with him on this account, refused her. To his brothers, Attalus and Philetaerus, who were surprised that he should decline marriage relationship with so great a king, who was also his neighbor and who made the first overtures, he showed that the coming war would be of doubtful issue at first, but that the Romans would prevail in the end by their courage and perseverance. If the Romans conquer, said he, I shall be firmly seated in my kingdom. If Antiochus is the victor, I may expect to be stripped of all my possessions by my powerful neighbor, or, if I am allowed to reign, to be ruled over by him. For these reasons he rejected the proffered marriage.

Then Antiochus went down to the Hellespont and crossed over to Chersonesus and possessed himself of a large part of Thrace by conquest or surrender. He freed the Greeks who were under subjection to the Thracians, and conciliated the Byzantines in many ways, because their city was admirably situated at the outlet of the Euxine Sea. By gifts and by fear of his warlike preparations he brought the Galatians into his alliance, because he considered them formidable by reason of their bodily size. Then he went back to Ephesus and sent as ambassadors to Rome Lysias, Hegesianax, and Menippus. They were sent really to find out the intentions of the Senate, but for the sake of appearances Menippus said, King Antiochus, while strongly desirous of the friendship of the Romans and willing to be their ally if they wish, is surprised that they urge him to give up the cities of Ionia and to remit tribute for certain states, and not to interfere with certain of the affairs of Asia and to leave Thrace alone, though it has always belonged to his ancestors. Yours are not the exhortations of friends, but resemble orders given by victors to the vanquished. The Senate, perceiving that the embassy had come to make a test of their disposition, replied curtly, If Antiochus will leave the Greeks in Asia free and independent, and keep away from Europe, he can be the friend of the Roman people if he desires. Such was the answer of the Romans, and they gave no reason for their rejoinder.

As Antiochus intended to invade Greece first and thence begin his war against the Romans, he communicated his design to Hannibal. The latter said that as Greece had been wasted for a long time, the task would be easy; but that wars which were waged at home were the hard ones to bear, by reason of the scarcity which they caused, and that those which took place in foreign territory were much easier to endure. Antiochus could never vanquish the Romans in Greece, where they would have plenty of home-grown corn and all needed material. Hannibal urged him to occupy some part of Italy and make his base of operations there, so that the Romans might be weakened both at home and abroad. I have had experience of Italy, he said, and with 10,000 men I can occupy some convenient place and write to my friends in Carthage to stir up the people to revolt. As they are already discontented with their condition, and harbor ill-will toward the Romans, they will be filled with courage and hope if they hear that I am ravaging Italy again. Antiochus listened eagerly to this advice, and as he considered a Carthaginian accession a great advantage (as it would have been) for his war, directed him to write to his friends at once.

Hannibal did not write the letters, since he did not consider it yet safe to do so, as the Romans were searching out everything and the war was not yet openly declared, and he had many opponents in Carthage, and the city had no fixed or sound policy, — the very lack of which caused its destruction, not long afterward. But he sent Aristo, a Tyrian merchant, to his friends, on the pretext of trading, to tell them that when he should invade Italy they should rouse Carthage to avenge her wrongs. Aristo did this, but when Hannibal’s enemies learned that he was in the city they raised a tumult as though a revolution was impending, and searched everywhere to find him. In order that Hannibal’s friends might not be particularly accused, he posted letters in front of the senate-chamber secretly by night, saying that Hannibal exhorted the whole senate to rescue the country with the help of Antiochus. Having done this he sailed away. In the morning the friends of Hannibal were relieved of their fears by this afterthought of Aristo, which implied that he had been sent to the whole senate. The city was filled with all kinds of tumult, the people feeling bitterly toward the Romans, but despairing of accomplishing anything indirectly. Such was the situation of affairs in Carthage.

In the meantime Roman ambassadors, and among them Scipio, who had humbled the Carthaginian power, were sent, like those of Antiochus, to ascertain his designs and to form an estimate of his strength. Learning that the king had gone to Pisidia, they waited for him at Ephesus. There they entered into frequent conversations with Hannibal, Carthage being then at peace with them and war with Antiochus not yet declared. They reproached Hannibal for flying his country when the Romans had nothing to complain against him, or against the other Carthaginians, under the terms of the last treaty. They did this in order to cast suspicion on Hannibal in the mind of the king by the protracted conversations and intercourse. Hannibal, although a most profound military genius, did not perceive their design, but the king, when he learned what had been going on, did suspect him, and was more reluctant to give him his confidence thereafter. There was also some jealousy and envy added, lest Hannibal should carry off the glory of the exploits.

It is said that at one of their meetings in the gymnasium Scipio and Hannibal had a conversation on the subject of generalship, in the presence of a number of bystanders, and that Scipio asked Hannibal whom he considered the greatest general, to which the latter replied, Alexander of Macedon. To this Scipio assented since he also yielded the first place to Alexander. Then he asked Hannibal whom he placed next, and he replied, Pyrrhus of Epirus, because he considered boldness the first qualification of a general; for it would not be possible, he said, to find two kings more enterprising than these. Scipio was rather nettled by this, but nevertheless he asked Hannibal to whom he would give the third place, expecting that at least the third would be assigned to him; but Hannibal replied, To myself; for when I was a young man I conquered Spain and crossed the Alps with an army, the first after Hercules. I invaded Italy and struck terror into all of you, laid waste 400 of your towns, and often put your city in extreme peril, all this time receiving neither money nor reënforcements from Carthage. As Scipio saw that he was likely to prolong his self-laudation he said, laughing, Where would you place yourself, Hannibal, if you had not been defeated by me? Hannibal, now perceiving his jealousy, replied, In that case I should have put myself before Alexander. Thus Hannibal continued his self-laudation, but flattered Scipio in a delicate manner by suggesting that he had conquered one who was the superior of Alexander.

At the end of this conversation Hannibal invited Scipio to be his guest, and Scipio replied that he would be so gladly if Hannibal were not living with Antiochus, who was held in suspicion by the Romans. Thus did they, in a manner worthy of great commanders, cast aside their enmity at the end of their wars. Not so Flamininus, for, at a later period when Hannibal had fled after the defeat of Antiochus and was wandering around Bithynia, Flamininus sent an embassy to King Prusias on other matters, and, although he had no grievance against Hannibal, and had no orders from the Senate, and Hannibal was no longer for-midable to them, Carthage having fallen, he caused Prusias to put him to death by poison. There was a story that an oracle had once said: Libyssan earth shall cover Hannibal’s remains. So he believed that he should die in Libya. But there is a river Libyssus in Bithynia, and the adjoining country takes the name of Libyssa These things I have placed side by side as memorials of the magnanimity of Hannibal and Scipio and of the smallness of Flamininus.

Antiochus, on his return from Pisidia to Ephesus, entered upon the business with the Roman ambassadors and promised to leave the Rhodians, the Byzantines, the Cyzicaeans, and the other Greeks of Asia free and independent if the Romans would make a treaty with him, but he would not release the Aetolians and the Ionians, since they had long been accustomed to obey the barbarian kings of Asia. The Roman ambassadors came to no agreement with him — in fact, they had not come to make an agreement, but to find out his purposes. So they returned to Rome. There-upon an Aetolian embassy came to Antiochus, of which Thoas was the principal member, offering him the command of the Aetolian forces and urging him to embark for Greece at once, as everything was in readiness there. They would not allow him to wait for the army that was coming from upper Asia, but by exaggerating the strength of the Aetolians and promising the alliance of the Lacedaemonians and of Philip of Macedon in addition, who was angry with the Romans, they urged his crossing. He assembled his forces very hastily, nor did even the news of his son’s death in Syria delay him at all. He sailed to Eubœa with 10,000 men, who were all that he had in hand at the time. He took possession of the whole island, which surrendered to him through fear. Michithio, one of his generals, fell upon the Romans at Delium (a place sacred to Apollo), killed some of them, and took the rest prisoners.

Amynander, king of the Athamanes, leagued himself with Antiochus for the following reason. A certain Macedonian, named Alexander, who had been educated at Megalopolis and admitted to citizenship there, pretended that he was a descendant of Alexander the Great, and to make people believe his fables he named his two sons Philip and Alexander and his daughter Apama. The latter he betrothed to Amynander. Her brother Philip conducted her to the nuptial ceremony, and when he saw that Amynander was weak and inexperienced he remained there and took charge of the government by virtue of this connection. By holding out to this Philip the hope that he would restore his ancestral kingdom of Macedonia to him, Antiochus secured the alliance of the Athamanes. He secured that of the Thebans also by going to Thebes and making a speech to the people. He was emboldened to enter upon this great war relying most rashly on the Thebans, Amynander, and the Aetolians, and he made a reconnoissance of Thessaly to determine whether he should invade it at once or after the winter had passed. As Hannibal expressed no opinion on the subject, Antiochus, before coming to a decision, asked him his thought.

Hannibal replied, It is not difficult to reduce the Thessalians either now or at the end of winter, if you wish. Exhausted by much suffering they will change now to you, and again to the Romans, if any misfortune befalls you. We have come here without any army of our own, trusting to the Aetolians, who said that the Lacedaemonians and Philip would join us. Of these I hear that the Lacedaemonians are as hostile to us as the Achaeans are, and as for Philip I do not see him here helping you, although he can turn the scale of this war for whichever side he favors. I hold the same opinion as before, that you should call in an army from Asia as quickly as possible and not put any reliance on Amynander or the Aetolians. When your army comes, carry the war into Italy so that they may be distracted by evils at home, and thus harm you as little as possible, and make no advance movement for fear of what may befall themselves. The plan I spoke of before is no longer available, but you ought to employ half of your fleet in ravaging the shores of Italy and keep the other half lying in wait for opportunities, while you station yourself with all your land forces at some point in Greece near to Italy, making a feint of invasion and invading it at any time if you can. Try by every means to make an alliance with Philip, because he can be of the greatest service to whichever side he espouses. If he will not consent, send your son Seleucus against him by way of Thrace so that Philip likewise may be distracted by troubles at home, and prevented from furnishing aid to the enemy. Such were the counsels of Hannibal, and they were the best of all that were offered; but, moved by jealousy of his reputation and judgment, the other counsellors, and the king himself no less, cast them all aside lest Hannibal should seem to excel them in generalship, and lest the glory of the exploits should be his — except that Polyxenidas was sent to Asia to bring an army.

When the Romans heard of the irruption of Antiochus into Greece and the killing and capture of Romans at Delium, they declared war. In this way the war between them, which had been smouldering a long time, first actually broke out. So great was the dominion of Antiochus, ruler of many powerful nations of upper Asia, and of all but a few on the sea-coast, who had now invaded Europe; so formidable was his reputation and so complete his preparation, so many and so famous had been his exploits against other peoples, from which he had earned the title of Great, that the Romans anticipated that this war would be long and severe for them. They had their suspicions also of Philip of Macedon, whom they had lately conquered, and of the Carthaginians also, lest they should prove false to the treaty because Hannibal was cooperating with Antiochus. Other subject peoples were under suspicion lest revolution should break out among them in consequence of the fame of Antiochus. For these reasons they sent forces into all the provinces to watch them without provoking hostilities. With them were sent commanders called six-axe men (praetors), so called because the consuls had twelve bundles of rods and axes (as the kings before them had), whereas the praetors had only half the dignity of the consuls and half the number of insignia of office. As in cases of great peril they showed their anxiety for Italy also, lest there should be some weakening or revolt against them there. They sent a large force of infantry to Tarentum to guard against an attack in that quarter, and also a fleet to patrol the coast. So great was the alarm caused by Antiochus at first. When everything appertaining to the government at home was arranged, they raised an army to serve against Antiochus, 20,000 from the city and double that number from the allies, to cross the Adriatic in the early spring. Thus they employed the whole winter in making preparations for war.

Antiochus marched against the Thessalians and came to Cynoscephalae, where the Macedonians had been defeated by the Romans, and finding the remains of the dead still unburied, gave them a magnificent funeral. Thus he curried favor with the Macedonians and accused Philip before them of leaving unburied those who had fallen in his service. Until now Philip had been wavering and in doubt which side he should espouse, but when he heard of this he joined the Romans at once. He invited Baebius, their nearest general, to a rendezvous and gave pledges anew of faithful alliance against Antiochus. Baebius praised him for this, and felt emboldened to send Appius Claudius straightway with 2000 foot through Macedonia into Thessaly. When Appius arrived at Tempe and from that point saw Antiochus besieging Larissa, he kindled a large number of fires to conceal the smallness of his force. Antiochus thought that Baebius and Philip had arrived, and became panic-stricken, abandoned the siege on a pretext of bad weather, and retreated to Chalcis. There he fell in love with a pretty girl, and, although he was above fifty years of age and was supporting the burden of so great a war, he celebrated his nuptials with her, gave a public festival, and allowed his army to spend the whole winter in idleness and luxury. When spring came he made a descent upon Acarnania, where he perceived that idleness had unfitted his army for every kind of duty. Then he repented himself Of his marriage and his public festival. Nevertheless he reduced a part of Acarnania and was besieging the rest of its strongholds when he learned that the Romans were making a passage of the Adriatic. Then at once he returned to Chalcis.

The Romans crossed hastily from Brundusium to Apollonia with the forces that were then ready, being 2000 horse, 20,000 foot, and a few elephants, under the command of Acinius Manius Glabrio. They marched to Thessaly and relieved the besieged cities. They expelled the enemy’s garrisons from the towns of the Athamanes and made a prisoner of that Philip of Megalopolis who was still expecting the throne of Macedonia. They also captured about 3000 of the soldiers of Antiochus. While Manius was doing these things, Philip made a descent upon Athamania and brought the whole of it under subjection, King Amynander fleeing to Ambracia. When Antiochus learned these facts, he was terrified by the rush of events and by the suddenness of the change of fortune, and he now perceived the wisdom of Hannibal’s advice. He sent messenger after messenger to Asia to hasten the coming of Polyxenidas. Then from all sides he drew in what forces he had. These amounted to 10,000 foot and 500 horse of his own, besides some allies, with which he occupied Thermopylae in order to put this difficult pass between himself and the enemy while waiting for the arrival of his army from Asia. The passage at Thermopylae is long and narrow, flanked on the one side by a rough and inhospitable sea and on the other by a deep and impassable morass. It is overhung by two mountain peaks, one called Tichius and the other Callidromus. The place also contains some hot springs, whence comes the name Thermopylae (the Hot Gates).

There Antiochus built a double wall on which he placed engines. He sent Aetolian troops to occupy the summits of the mountains to prevent anybody from coming around secretly by way of the hill called Atropos, as Xerxes had come upon the Spartans under Leonidas, the mountain paths at that time being unguarded. One thousand Aetolians occupied each mountain. The remainder encamped by themselves near the city of Heraclea. When Manius saw the enemy’s preparations he gave the signal for battle on the morrow and ordered two of his tribunes, Marcus Cato and Lucius Valerius, to select such forces as they pleased and to go around the mountains by night and drive the Aetolians from the heights as best they could. Lucius was repulsed from Mount Tichius by the Aetolians, who at that place fought well, but Cato, who moved against Mount Callidromus, fell upon the enemy while they were still asleep, about the last watch. Nevertheless there was a stiff fight here, as he was obliged to climb over high rocks and precipices in the face of an opposing enemy. Meantime Manius was leading his army against Antiochus’ front in straight lines, as this was the only way possible in the narrow pass. The king placed his light-armed troops and peltasts in front of the phalanx, and drew up the phalanx itself in front of the camp, with the archers and slingers on the right hand next to the foot-hills, and the elephants, with the guard that always accompanied them, on the left near the sea.

Battle being joined, the light-armed troops assailed Manius first, rushing in from all sides. He received their onset bravely, first yielding and then advancing and driving them back. The phalanx opened and let the light-armed men pass through. It then closed and pushed forward, the long pikes set densely together in order of battle, with which the Macedonians from the time of Alexander and Philip have struck terror into enemies who have not dared to encounter the thick array of long pikes presented to them. At this juncture the Aetolians were seen fleeing from Callidromus with loud cries, and leaping down into the camp of Antiochus. At first neither side knew what had happened, and there was confusion among both in their uncertainty but when Cato made his appearance pursuing the Aetolians with shouts of victory and was already close above the camp of Antiochus, the king’s forces, who had been hearing for some time back fearful accounts of the Roman style of fighting, and who knew that they themselves had been enervated by idleness and luxury all winter, took fright. Not knowing how large Cato’s force was, it was magnified to their minds by terror. Fearing for the safety of their camp they fled to it in disorder, with the intention of defending it against the enemy. But the Romans were close at their heels and entered the camp with them. Then there was another flight of the Antiocheans as disorderly as the first. Manius pursued them as far as Scarphia, killing and taking prisoners. Returning thence he plundered the king’s camp, and by merely showing himself drove out the Aetolians who had broken into the Roman camp during his absence.

The Romans lost about 200 in the battle and the pursuit; Antiochus about 10,000, including prisoners. The king himself, at the first sign of defeat, fled precipitately with 500 horse as far as Elateia, and from Elateia to Chalcis, and thence to Ephesus with his bride Eubœa, as he called her, with his ships; but not all of them, for the Roman admiral made an attack upon some that were bringing supplies, and sunk them. When the people of Rome heard of this victory, so swiftly and easily gained, they offered sacrifice, being satisfied with their first trial of the formidable reputation of Antiochus. To Philip, in return for his services as an ally, they sent his son Demetrius, who was still a hostage in their hands.

While these things were going on in the city, Manius received the supplications of the Phoceans, the Chalcideans, and others who had coöperated with Antiochus, and he relieved their fears. He and Philip ravaged Aetolia and reduced its cities. He captured, in hiding, Democritus, the general of the Aetolians, who had threatened Flamininus that he would pitch his camp on the banks of the Tiber. Manius, with an army laden with baggage and spoils, made his way to Callipolis over Mount Corax, the highest, rockiest, and most difficult in that region. Many soldiers, by reason of the badness of the road, fell over precipices and were dashed in pieces with their arms and accoutrements. Although the Aetolians might have punished them severely, they were nowhere to be seen, having sent an embassy to Rome to treat for peace. In the meantime Antiochus ordered the satraps of upper Asia to send their army down to the coast in all haste, and he fitted out a fleet which he put under the command of Polyxenidas, an exile from Rhodes. He crossed over to Chersonesus and again fortified it. He also strengthened Sestos and Abydos, through which the Roman legions would be obliged to pass if they should invade Asia. He made Lysimacheia his principal magazine for the present war and accumulated large supplies of arms and provisions in it, believing that the Romans would presently attack him with large land and sea forces. The latter appointed Lucius Scipio as the successor of Manius in the command, as he was then consul, but as he was inexperienced in war they appointed as his lieutenant his brother, Publius Scipio, who had humbled the Carthaginian power and who first bore the title of Africanus.

While the Scipios were still making their preparations, Livius, who had charge of the coast defence of Italy and who had been chosen the successor of Atilius, with his own coast-guard ships and some contributed by the Carthaginians and other allies, sailed for the Piraeus. Receiving there the fleet from Atilius he set sail with eighty-one decked ships, Eumenes following with fifty of his own, one-half of which had decks. They put in at Phocaea, a place belonging to Antiochus, but which received them from fear, and on the following day they sailed out for a naval engagement. Polyxenidas, commanding the fleet of Antiochus, met them with 200 ships much lighter than those opposed to him, which was a great advantage to him, since the Romans were not yet experienced in nautical affairs. Seeing two Carthaginian ships sailing in front, he sent three of his own against them and took them, but found them empty, the crews having leaped overboard. Livius dashed angrily at the three with his flag-ship, much in advance of the rest of the fleet. The enemy being three to one grappled him contemptuously with iron hooks, and when the ships were fastened together the battle was fought as though it were on land. The Romans, being much superior in valor, sprang upon the enemy’s ships, overpowered them, and returned, bringing back two ships captured simultaneously by one. This was the prelude to the naval engagement. When the fleets came together the Romans had the best of it by reason of their bodily strength and bravery, but on account of the unwieldy size of their ships they could not capture the enemy, who got away with their nimble craft, and, by rapid flight, took refuge in Ephesus. The Romans repaired to Chios, where twenty-seven Rhodian ships joined them as allies. When Antiochus received the news of this naval fight, he sent Hannibal to Syria to fit out another fleet from Phœnicia and Cilicia. When he was returning with it the Rhodians drove him into Pamphylia, captured some of his ships, and blockaded the rest.

In the meantime Publius Scipio arrived in Aetolia with the consul and received the command of the army from Manius. He scorned the siege of the Aetolian towns as small business, and allowed the imploring people to send a new embassy to Rome, while he hastened against Antiochus before his brother’s consulship should expire. He moved by way of Macedonia and Thrace to the Hellespont, and it would have been a very hard march for him had not Philip of Macedon repaired the roads, entertained him, escorted him, bridged the streams some time before, and furnished him provisions. In return for this the Scipios immediately relieved him from the payment of the remaining money indemnity, having been authorized to do so by the Senate if they should find him zealous. They also wrote to Prusias, king of Bithynia, reminding him that the Romans were in the habit of augmenting the possessions of the kings in alliance with them. They said that, although they had conquered Philip of Macedon, they had allowed him to retain his kingdom, had released his son whom they had held as a hostage, and had remitted the money payment still due. Thereupon Prusias willingly entered into alliance with them against Antiochus. Livius, the commmander of the fleet, when he learned that the Scipios were on the march, left Pausimachus, the Rhodian, with the Rhodian ships and a part of his own, in Aeolis, and himself sailed with the greater part to the Hellespont to assist the army. Sestos and Rhaeteum, and the harbor of the Achaeans, and several other places surrendered to him. Abydos refused and he laid siege to it.

After the departure of Livius, Pausimachus trained his sailors by repeated exercises, and constructed machines of various kinds. He attached iron pans containing fire to long poles and suspended them over the sea, so as to clear his own ships and fall upon those of the enemy when they approached. While he was thus engaged Polyxenidas, the admiral of Antiochus, who was also a Rhodian, but had been banished for crime, laid a trap for him. He promised to deliver the fleet of Antiochus to him if he would agree to help him in securing readmittance to his own country. Pausimachus suspected the wily rascal and took special pains to guard against him. But after Polyxenidas had written him an autograph letter on the subject of the betrayal and in accord therewith had sailed away from Ephesus on the pretence of procuring corn for the army, Pausimachus, observing the movement and thinking that no one would put his own signature to a letter proposing a betrayal unless he was speaking the truth, felt entire confidence, relaxed his vigilance, and sent his own fleet away to procure corn. Polyxenidas, seeing that his stratagem was successful, reassembled his ships, and sent the pirate Nicander to Samos with a few men to create confusion by getting in the rear of Pausimachus on the land, and himself sailed at midnight, and about daybreak fell upon him while still asleep. Pausimachus, in this sudden and unexpected catastrophe, ordered his men to abandon their ships and defend themselves on land. When Nicander attacked him in the rear he thought that the land had been taken possession of by night not merely by those who were visible, but by a much larger number. So he made another confused rush for his ships. He was foremost in the encounter and the first to fall, fighting bravely. The rest were all captured or killed. Seven of the ships, which were provided with the fire-apparatus, escaped, as no one dared approach them for fear of conflagration. The remaining twenty Polyxenidas towed to Ephesus.

Upon the news of this victory Phocaea again changed sides to Antiochus, as did also Samos and Cuma. Livius, fearing for his own ships, which he had left in Aeolis, returned to them in haste. Eumenes hastened to join him, and the Rhodians sent the Romans twenty new ships. In a short time they were all in good spirits and they sailed toward Ephesus prepared for another engagement. As no enemy appeared they divided their naval force into two parts, one half for a long time showing itself on the high sea, while the other landed on the enemy’s coast and ravaged it until Nicander attacked them from the interior, took away their plunder, and drove them back to their ships. Then they withdrew to Samos, and Livius’ term of office as admiral expired.

About this time Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, ravaged the territory of Eumenes and laid siege to Pergamus, shutting up the soldiers in it. On account of this Eumenes sailed with haste to Elaea, the naval station of his kingdom, and with him L. Aemilius Regillus, the successor of Livius as admiral. One thousand foot-soldiers and 100 picked horse had been sent by the Achaeans as allies to Eumenes. When their commander, Diophanes, from the wall saw the soldiers of Seleucus sporting and drinking in a contemptuous way, he urged the Pergameans to join him in a sally against the enemy. As they would not agree to this he armed his 1000 foot and his 100 horse, led them out of the city under the wall, and stood there quietly. The enemy derided him for a long time on account of the smallness of his force and because he did not dare to fight, but he fell upon them while they were taking their dinner, threw them into confusion, and put their advance guard to flight. While some sprang for their arms, and others tried to bridle their horses or to catch those that ran away or to mount those that would not stand, Diophanes won a most glorious victory, the Pergameans cheering vociferously from the walls, but even then not venturing out. Having killed as many as he could in a brief demonstration and taken a certain number of prisoners with their horses, he quickly returned. The following day he again stationed the Achaeans under the wall, the Pergameans again not going out with him. Seleucus approached him with a large body of horse and challenged him to battle, but Diophanes did not accept the challenge. He kept his station close under the wall and watched his opportunity. Seleucus remained till midday, when he turned and led his tired horsemen back. Then Diophanes fell upon his rear and threw it into confusion, and after doing all the damage he could, returned forthwith to his place under the wall. By continually stealing upon the enemy in this way whenever they were collecting forage or wood, and inflicting losses upon them, he compelled Seleucus to move away from Pergamus, and finally drove him out of Eumenes’ territory altogether.

Not long afterward Polyxenidas and the Romans had a naval engagement near Myonnesus, in which the former had ninety decked ships, and Regillus, the Roman admiral, eighty-three, of which twenty-five were from Rhodes. The latter were ranged by their commander, Eudorus, on the left wing. Seeing Polyxenidas on the other wing extending his line much beyond that of the Romans, and fearing lest it should be surrounded, he sailed rapidly around there with his swift ships and experienced oarsmen, and brought his fire-ships against Polyxenidas first, scattering flames everywhere. The ships of the latter did not dare to meet their assailants on account of the fire, but, sailing round and round, tried to keep out of the way, shipped much water, and were exposed to ramming behind the bows. Presently a Rhodian ship struck a Sidonian, and the blow being severe the anchor of the latter was dislodged and stuck in the former, fastening them together. The two ships being immovable the contest between the crews became like a land fight. As many others hastened to the aid of each, the competition on both sides became spirited, and the Roman ships broke through the Antiochean line of battle, which was exposed in this way, and surrounded the enemy before they knew it. When they discovered it there was a flight and a pursuit. Twenty-nine of the Antiochean ships were lost, thirteen of which were captured with their crews. The Romans lost only two vessels. Polyxenidas captured the Rhodian ship and brought it to Ephesus.

Such was the result of the naval engagement at Myonnesus. Before Antiochus heard of it he was fortifying the Chersonesus and Lysimacheia with the greatest care, thinking, as was the fact, that this was very important as a defence against the Romans, who would have found it very difficult to pass, or to get through the rest of Thrace, if Philip had not conducted them. But Antiochus, who was generally fickle and light-minded, when he heard of his defeat at Myonnesus was completely panic-stricken, and thought that his evil genius had conspired against him. Everything had turned out contrary to his expectations. The Romans had beaten him on the sea, where he thought he was much superior. The Rhodians had shut Hannibal up in Pamphylia. Philip was helping the Romans over the impassable roads, whereas Antiochus supposed that he would have a lively remembrance of what he had suffered from them. Everything unnerved him, and the deity took away his reasoning powers (as is usually the case when misfortunes multiply), so that he abandoned the Chersonesus without cause, even before the enemy came in sight, neither carrying away nor burning the great stores which he had collected there of grain, arms, money, and engines, but leaving all these sinews of war in good condition for the enemy. He paid no attention to the Lysimacheans who, as though after a siege, with lamentations accompanied him in his flight, together with their wives and children. He was intent only upon preventing the enemy from crossing at Abydos, and rested his last hope of success wholly on that. Yet he was so beside himself that he did not even defend the crossing, but hastened to reach the interior in advance of the enemy, not even leaving a guard at the straits.

When the Scipios learned of his flight they took Lysimacheia on their march, possessed themselves of the treasure and arms in the Chersonesus, crossed the unguarded Hellespont in haste in order to arrive at Sardis before Antiochus, who did not yet know that they had crossed. The panic-stricken king, charging his own faults to the score of fortune, sent Heraclides the Byzantine to the Scipios to treat for peace. He offered to give them Smyrna, Alexandria on the Granicus, and Lampsacus, on account of which cities the war had been begun, and to pay them half the cost of the war. He was authorized if necessary to surrender the Ionian and Aeolian cities which had sided with the Romans in the fight and whatever else the Scipios might ask. These things Heraclides was to propose publicly. He was authorized to promise Publius Scipio privately a large sum of money and the surrender of his son, whom the king had taken prisoner in Greece as he was sailing from Chalcis to Demetrias. This son was the Scipio who afterwards took and destroyed Carthage, and was the second to bear the name of Scipio Africanus. He was the son of Paulus, who conquered Perseus, king of Macedon, and of Scipio’s daughter, and had been adopted by Scipio. The Scipios in council gave this answer to Heraclides, If Antiochus wishes peace he must surrender not only the cities of Ionia and Aeolia, but all of Asia this side of Mount Taurus, and pay the whole cost of the war incurred on his account. Privately Publius said to Heraclides, If Antiochus had offered these conditions while he still held the Chersonesus and Lysimacheia they would have been gladly accepted; perhaps so if he were only still guarding the passage of the Hellespont. But now that we have crossed in safety and have not merely bridled the horse (as the saying is), but mounted him, we cannot consent to such light conditions. I thank the king for his proposal and shall thank him still more after receiving my son. I will repay him now with good advice, that he accept the terms offered instead of waiting for severer ones.

After this conference Publius was taken sick and withdrew to Elaea, leaving Gnaeus Domitius as his brother’s counsellor. Antiochus thinking, as Philip of Macedon did, that nothing worse than these terms could befall him if he were vanquished in war, drew his forces together near the plain of Thyatira not far from the enemy, and sent Scipio’s son to him at Elaea. Scipio advised those who brought his son that Antiochus should not fight until he himself should return to the army. Antiochus, acting on this advice, transferred his camp to Mount Sipylus and fortified it with a strong wall. He also interposed the river Phrygius between himself and the enemy, so that he should not be compelled to fight against his will. Domitius, however, in a spirit of ambition, wanted to decide the war himself. So he boldly crossed the river and established a camp at a distance of twenty stades from Antiochus. Four days in succession they both drew up their forces in front of their own fortifications, but neither of them began a battle. On the fifth day Domitius did the same again and haughtily advanced. As Antiochus did not meet him he moved his camp nearer. After an interval of one day he announced by herald in the hearing of the enemy that he would fight Antiochus on the following day whether he was willing or not. The latter was perplexed and again changed his mind. Although he would have ventured heretofore only to make a stand under the wall or to repel the enemy from the wall, till Scipio should regain his health, he now thought that with superior numbers it would be disgraceful to decline an engagement. So he prepared for battle.

Both marched out about the last watch, just before daylight. The ordering of the troops on either side was as follows. The Roman legionaries, to the number of 10,000, formed the left wing resting on the river. Behind these were 10,000 Italian allies, and both these divisions were in files in triple line of battle. Behind the Italians came the army of Eumenes and about 3000 Achaean peltasts. Thus stood the left, while on the right wing were the Roman and Italian cavalry and those of Eumenes, not more than 3000 in all. Mingled with all these were light-armed troops and bowmen, and around Domitius himself were four troops of horse. Altogether they were about 30,000 strong. Domitius took his station on the right wing and placed the consul in the centre. He gave the command of the left wing to Eumenes. Considering his African elephants of no use, being few in number and of small size, as those of Africa usually are (and the small ones are afraid of the larger), he placed them in the rear of all. Such was the Roman line of battle.

The total force of Antiochus was 70,000 and the strongest of these was the Macedonian phalanx of 16,000 men, still arrayed after the fashion of Alexander and Philip. These were placed in the centre, divided into ten sections of 1600 men each, with fifty men in the front line of each section and thirty-two deep. On the flanks of each section were twenty-two elephants. The appearance of the phalanx was like that of a wall, of which the elephants were the towers. Such was the arrangement of the infantry of Antiochus. His horse were stationed on either wing, consisting of the mail-clad Galatians and the Macedonian corps called the Agema, so named because they were picked horsemen. An equal number of these were stationed on either side of the phalanx. Besides these the right wing had certain light-armed troops, and other horsemen with silver shields, and 200 mounted archers. On the left were the Galatian bands of the Tectosagi, the Trocmi, the Tolistoboii, and certain Cappadocians furnished by King Ariarthes, and a mingling of other tribes. There was another body of horse, mail-clad but light-armed, called the Companion cavalry. In this way Antiochus drew up his forces. He seems to have placed most reliance on his cavalry, whom he stationed in large numbers on his front. The serried phalanx, in which he should have placed most confidence, on account of its high state of discipline, was crowded together unskilfully in a narrow space. Besides the forces enumerated there was a great multitude of slingers, archers, javelin throwers, and peltasts from Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Crete, Tralles, and Cilicia, armed after the Cretan fashion. There were also other mounted archers from the Dahae, Mysia, Elymaïs, and Arabia, riding on swift camels, who shot arrows with dexterity from their high position, and used very long thin knives when they came to close combat. Antiochus also placed scythe-bearing chariots in the space between the armies to begin the battle, with orders to retire after the first onset.

The appearance of his formation was like that of two armies, one to begin the fight, the other held in reserve. Each was arranged in a way to strike terror into the enemy both by numbers and equipment. Antiochus commanded the horse on the right wing in person; his son Seleucus commanded the left. Philip, the master of the elephants, commanded the phalanx, and Mendis and Zeuxis the skirmishers. The day was dark and gloomy so that the sight of the display was obscured and the aim of the missiles of all kinds impaired by the misty and murky atmosphere. When Eumenes perceived this he disregarded the remainder of the enemy’s force, and fearing only the onset of the scythe-bearing chariots, which were mostly ranged against him, he ordered the slingers, archers, and other light-armed under his command to circle around the chariots and aim at the horses, instead of the drivers, for when a horse becomes unmanageable in a chariot all the chariot becomes useless. He often breaks the ranks of his own friends, who are afraid of the scythes. So it turned out. The horses being wounded in great numbers charged with their chariots upon their own ranks. The camels were thrown into disorder first, as they were next in line to the chariots, and after them the mail-clad horse who could not easily dodge the scythes on account of the weight of their armor. Great was the tumult and various the disorder started chiefly by these runaways and spreading along the whole front, the apprehension being even worse than the fact. For, as by reason of distance and multitude, discordant cries and manifold fears, the truth was not clearly grasped even by those near the danger, so these transmitted the alarm constantly magnified to those beyond.

Eumenes, having succeeded admirably in his first attempt and cleared the ground held by the camels and chariots, led his own horse and those of the Romans and Italians in his division against the Galatians, the Cappadocians, and the other collection of mercenaries opposed to him, cheering loudly and exhorting them to have no fear of these inexperienced men who had been deprived of their advance supports. They obeyed him and made so heavy a charge that they put to flight not only those, but the adjoining squadrons and the mail-clad horse, who were already thrown into disorder by the chariots. The greater part of these, unable to turn and fly quickly, on account of the weight of their armor, were captured or killed. While this was the state of affairs on the left of the Macedonian phalanx, Antiochus, on the right, broke through the Roman line of battle, dismembered it, and pursued a long distance.

The Macedonian phalanx, which had been stationed between the two bodies of horse in a narrow space in the form of a square, when denuded of cavalry on either side, had opened to receive the light-armed troops, who had been skirmishing in front, and closed again. Thus crowded together, Domitius easily enclosed them with his numerous light cavalry. Having no opportunity to charge or even to deploy their dense mass, they began to suffer severely; and they were indignant that military experience availed them nothing, exposed as they were on all sides to the weapons of the enemy. Nevertheless, they presented their thick-set pikes on all four sides. They challenged the Romans to close combat and preserved at all times the appearance of being about to charge. Yet they did not advance, because they were foot-soldiers and heavily armed, and saw that the enemy were mounted. Most of all they feared to relax their close formation lest they might not readily bring it together again. The Romans did not come to close quarters nor approach them because they feared the discipline, the solidity, and the desperation of this veteran corps ; but circled around them and assailed them with javelins and arrows, none of which missed their mark in the dense mass, who could neither turn the missiles aside nor dodge them. After suffering severely in this way they yielded to necessity and fell back step by step, but with a bold front, in perfect order and still formidable to the Romans. The latter kept their distance and continued to circle around and wound them, until the elephants inside the Macedonian phalanx became excited and unmanageable. Then the phalanx broke into disorderly flight.

After he had gained this success, Domitius hastened to the camp of Antiochus and overpowered the forces guarding it. In the meantime Antiochus, after pursuing for a long distance that part of the Roman legionaries opposed to him, came to the Roman camp, where he found no guard, either of cavalry or light-armed troops (for Domitius, thinking that the river afforded sufficient protection, had not provided any). But a military tribune, the prefect of the camp, hastened to meet him with a body of fresh troops and checked his advance, and the fugitives took new courage from their comrades and rallied. The king returned haughty as one who had gained a victory, knowing nothing of what had taken place elsewhere. When Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, with a large body of horse, threw himself in his way, Antiochus easily cut through them, but he disregarded the enemy, who took to flight before they had received much damage. When he discovered his defeat and saw the field of battle strewn with the bodies of his own men, horses, and elephants, and his camp already captured, he fled precipitately, arriving at Sardis about mid-night. From Sardis he went to the town Ceaenaen, which they call Apamea, whither he had been informed that his son had fled. On the following day he retreated to Syria, leaving officers in Celaenae to collect the remains of his army. He also sent ambassadors to the consul to treat for peace. The latter was engaged in burying his own dead, stripping those of the enemy, and collecting prisoners. Of the Roman dead there were found twenty-four knights and 300 foot-soldiers from the city, being mostly those whom Antiochus had slain. Eumenes lost only fifteen of his horse. It is believed that the loss of Antiochus, including prisoners, was 50,000. It was not easy to number them on account of their multitude. Some of his elephants were killed and fifteen were captured.

After this brilliant victory, to many people quite unexpected (for it did not seem at all likely that the smaller force, fighting in a strange land, would overcome a much larger one so completely, and especially the Macedonian phalanx which was then in a high state of discipline and valor, and had the reputation of being formidable and invincible), the friends of Antiochus began to blame him for his rashness in quarrelling with the Romans and for his want of skill and his bad judgment from the beginning. They blamed him for giving up the Chersonesus and Lysimacheia with their arms and apparatus without making any defence against the enemy, and for leaving the Hellespont unguarded, when even the Romans would not have expected to force a passage easily. They accused him of his latest blunder in rendering the strongest part of his army useless by its cramped position, and for putting his reliance on the promiscuous multitude of raw recruits rather than on men who had become skilled in military affairs by long training, and had been hardened by many wars to the highest state of valor and endurance. While these discussions were going on among the friends of Antiochus, the Romans were in high spirits and considered no tasks too hard for them now, under favor of the gods and their own courage, for it brought them great confidence in their own good fortune that such a small number, meeting the enemy on the march, in the first battle, in a foreign country, should have overcome a much greater number, composed of so many peoples, with all the royal preparations, including valiant mercenaries and the renowned Macedonian phalanx, and the king himself, ruler of this vast empire and surnamed the Great, — all in a single day. It became a common saying among them, There was a king — Antiochus the Great!

While the Romans were thus congratulating them selves the consul gave audience to the ambassadors of Antiochus, his brother, Publius, having recovered his health and returned from Elae. These wanted to know on what terms Antiochus could be a friend of the Roman people. To them Publius made the following reply: The grasping nature of Antiochus has been the cause of his present and past misfortunes. While he was the possessor of a vast empire, which the Romans did not object to, he seized Cœle-Syria, which belonged to Ptolemy, his own relative and our friend. Then he invaded Europe, which did not concern him, subjugated Thrace, fortified the Chersonesus, and rebuilt Lysimacheia. He passed thence into Greece and took away the liberty of the people whom the Romans had lately freed, and kept on this course till he was defeated in battle at Thermopylae, and put to flight. Even then he did not forego his grabbing propensity, for, although frequently beaten at sea, he did not seek peace until we had crossed the Hellespont. Then he scornfully rejected the conditions offered to him, and, again collecting a vast army and uncounted supplies, he continued the war against us, determined to come to an engagement with his betters, until he plunged into this great calamity. We might properly impose a severer punishment on him for his obstinacy in fighting us so persistently, but we are not accustomed to abuse our own prosperity or to aggravate the misfortunes of others. We will offer him the same conditions as before, adding a few which will be equally for our own and his future advantage. He must abandon Europe altogether and all of Asia this side of the Taurus, the boundaries to be fixed hereafter; he shall surrender all the elephants he has, and such number of ships as we may prescribe, and for the future keep no elephants and only so many ships as we allow; must give twenty hostages, whom the consul will select, and pay for the cost of the present war, incurred on his account, 500 Euboïc talents down and 2500 more when the Senate ratifies the treaty; and 12,000 more during twelve years, each yearly installment to be delivered in Rome. He shall also surrender to us all prisoners and deserters, and to Eumenes whatever remains of the possessions he acquired by his agreement with Attalus, the father of Eumenes. If Antiochus accepts these conditions without guile we will grant him peace and friendship subject to the Senate’s ratification.

All the terms offered by Scipio were accepted by the ambassadors. That part of the money which was to be paid down, and the twenty hostages, were furnished. Among the latter was Antiochus, the younger son of Antiochus. The Scipios and Antiochus both sent messengers to Rome. The Senate ratified their acts, and a treaty was written carrying out Scipio’s views, a few things being added or made plain that had been left indefinite. The boundaries of the dominions of Antiochus were to be the two promontories of Calycadnus and Sarpedonium, beyond which he should not sail for purposes of war. He should have only twelve war-ships for the purpose of keeping his subjects under control, but he might have more if he were attacked. He should not recruit mercenaries from Roman territory nor entertain fugitives from the same, and the hostages should be changed every third year, except the son of Antiochus. This treaty was engraved on brazen tablets and deposited in the Capitol (where it was customary to deposit such treaties), and a copy of it was sent to Manlius Vulso, Scipio’s successor in the command. He administered the oath to the ambassadors of Antiochus at Apamea in Phrygia, and Antiochus did the same to the tribune, Thermus, who was sent for this purpose. This was the end of the war between Antiochus the Great and the Romans, and some thought that it was by reason of the favor extended by Antiochus to Scipio’s son that it went no farther.

When Scipio returned, some persons accused him of this, and two tribunes of the people brought a charge of corruption and betrayal of the public interest against him. He made light of it and scorned the accusation, and as his trial was set for the day which happened to be the anniversary of his victory over Carthage, he sent victims for sacrifice to the Capitol in advance of his coming, and then made his appearance in court clad in festive garments instead of the mournful and humble garb customary to those under accusation, whereby he made a profound impression on all and predisposed them favorably as to a high-minded citizen conscious of his own rectitude. When he began to speak he made no mention of the accusation against him, but detailed the events of his life, what he had done, the wars he had waged for his country, how he had carried on each, and how often he had been victorious. It delighted the listeners to hear this grand discourse. When he came to the overthrow of Carthage he was roused to the highest pitch of eloquence and filled the multitude, as well as himself, with noble rage, saying, On this very day, O citizens, I won the victory and laid at you feet Carthage, that had lately been such an object of terror to you. Now I am going up to the Capitol to offer the sacrifice appointed for the day. As many of you as love your country join me in the sacrifice, which is offered for your own good. Having finished his speech he went to the Capitol, having made no allusion to the charge against him. The crowd followed him, including most of the judges, with joyful acclamations, which were continued while he was performing the sacrifice. The accusers were nonplussed and did not dare to call him to trial again, as that was to no purpose, or to charge him with demagogism, because they knew that his whole life had been above the reach of suspicion or calumny.

In this way Scipio disdained to notice an accusation unworthy of his career, being wiser, as I think, than Aristides when charged with theft, or Socrates when accused as he was. Each of these under a like calumny made no reply, unless Socrates said what Plato makes him say. Scipio was more lofty-minded than Epaminondas, too, when he held the office of Bœotarch with Pelopidas and one other. The Thebans gave each of them an army and sent them to assist the Arcadians and Messenians, in war against the Lacedaemlonians, but recalled them on account of certain calumnies, before they had accomplished what they intended to do. Yet they did not turn over the command to their successors for six months, nor until they had driven out the Lacedaemonian garrisons and substituted Arcadians in their places. Epaminondas had compelled his colleagues to take this course and had undertaken that they should be held guiltless. When they returned home the prosecuting officers put them on trial for their lives, separately (for the law made it a capital offence to withhold by force a command which had been assigned to another), but the other two escaped punishment by exciting pity and by long speeches, putting the blame on Epaminondas, who had authorized them to say this and who so testified while they were speaking. He was tried last. I acknowledge, he said, that I retained the command beyond my time, contrary to law, and that I coerced those whom you have just acquitted. Nor do I deprecate the death penalty, since I have broken the law. I only ask, for my past services, that you inscribe on my tomb, Here lies the victor of Leuctra. Although his country had not dared to face this enemy, or even a stranger that wore the Doric cap, he led his fellow-citizens to the very doors of Sparta. His country put him to death for violating the laws for her own good. After saying this he stepped down from the rostrum and offered to surrender his person to those who wished to drag him to punishment. The judges, moved to shame by the speech, and to admiration of the defence, and to reverence for the man who had spoken, did not wait to take the vote, but ran out of the court-room. The reader may compare these cases together as he likes.

Manlius, who succeeded Scipio as consul, went to the countries taken from Antiochus and regulated them. The Tolistoboii, one of the Galatian tribes in alliance with Antiochus, had taken refuge on Mount Olympus in Mysia. With great difficulty Manlius ascended the mountain and pursued them as they fled until he had killed and hurled over the rocks so large a number that it was impossible to count them. He took 40,000 of them prisoners and burned their arms, and as it was impossible to take about with him so many captives while the war was continuing, he gave them to the neighboring barbarians. Among the Tectosagi and the Trocmi he fell into danger by ambush and barely escaped. He came back against them, however, and found them packed together in a great crowd in camp. He enclosed them with his light-armed troops and rode around ordering his men to shoot them at a distance, but not to come in contact with them. The crowd was so dense that no dart missed its mark. He killed 8000 of them and pursued the remainder beyond the river Halys. Ariarthes, king of Cappadocia, who had sent military aid to Antiochus, became alarmed and sent entreaties, and 200 talents in money besides, by which means he kept Manlius out of his country. The latter returned to the Hellespont with vast treasures, uncounted money, and an army laden with spoils.

Manlius had done well so far, but he managed very badly afterward. He scorned to go home by water in the summer time. He made no account of the burden he was carrying. He neglected to keep the army in good discipline while on the march, because it was not going to war, but returning home with its spoils. He marched by a long, narrow, and difficult road through Thrace in a stifling heat. Nor did he send word to Philip of Macedonia to meet and escort him. He did not divide his army into parts, so that it might move more lightly and have what was needed more handy. Nor did he keep his baggage in good order for easy defence. He led his army higgledy-piggledy, all strung out, with the baggage in the centre of the line, so that neither the vanguard nor the rear-guard could render assistance quickly by reason of the length and narrowness of the road. So, when the Thracians attacked him in flank from all directions, he lost a large part of the spoils, and of the public money, and of the army itself. He escaped into Macedonia with the remainder — by which means it became very plain how great a service Philip had rendered by escorting the Scipios, and how Antiochus had blundered in abandoning the Chersonesus. Manlius passed from Macedonia into Thessaly, and thence into Epirus, crossed to Brundusium, dismissed what was left of his army to their homes, and returned to Rome.

The Rhodians and Eumenes, king of Pergamus, were very proud of their share in the alliance against Antiochus. Eumenes set out for Rome in person and the Rhodians sent envoys. The Senate gave to the Rhodians Lycia and Caria, which they took away from them soon afterward, because in the war with Perseus, king of Macedonia, they showed themselves rather favorable to him. They bestowed upon Eumenes all the rest of the territory taken from Antiochus, except the Greek cities in Asia. Of the latter, those that were formerly tributary to Attalus, the father of Eumenes, were ordered to pay tribute to Eumenes, while those which formerly paid to Antiochus were released from tribute altogether and made independent. In this way the Romans disposed of the lands they had gained in the war.

Afterward, on the death of Antiochus the Great, his son Seleucus succeeded him. He gave his son Demetrius as a hostage in place of his brother Antiochus. When the latter arrived at Athens on his way home, Seleucus was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy of a certain Heliodorus, one of the court officers. When Heliodorus sought to possess himself of the government he was driven out by Eumenes and Attalus, who installed Antiochus therein in order to secure his good-will; for, by reason of certain bickerings, they had already grown suspicious of the Romans. Thus Antiochus, the son of Antiochus the Great, ascended the throne of Syria. He was called Epiphanes (the Illustrious) by the Syrians, because when the government was seized by usurpers he showed himself to be their true sovereign. By cementing the friendship and alliance of Eumenes he governed Syria and the neighboring nations with a firm hand. He appointed Timarchus as satrap of Babylon and Heraclides as treasurer, two brothers, both of whom had been his favorites. He made an expedition against Artaxias, king of Armenia, and took him prisoner.

Epiphanes died, leaving a son, Antiochus, nine years of age, to whom the Syrians gave the name of Eupator, in commemoration of his father’s bravery. The boy was educated by Lysias. The Senate was glad that this Antiochus, who had early shown himself high spirited, died young. When Demetrius, the son of Seleucus and nephew of Antiochus Epiphanes (grandson of Antiochus the Great and first cousin of this boy), at this time a hostage at Rome, and twenty-three years old, asked that he should be installed in the kingdom as belonging to him rather than to the boy, the Senate would not allow it. They thought that it would be more for their advantage that Syria should be governed by an immature boy than by a full-grown man. Learning that there were many elephants in Syria and more ships than had been allowed to Antiochus in the treaty, they sent ambassadors thither, who killed the elephants and burned the ships. It was a pitiful sight, the killing of these rare and tame beasts and the burning of the ships. A certain Leptines of Laodicea was so exasperated by the sight that he stabbed Gnaeus Octavius, the chief of this embassy, while he was anointing himself in the gymnasium at that place, and Lysias buried him.

Demetrius came before the Senate again and asked at all events to be released as a hostage, since he had been given as a substitute for Antiochus, who was now dead. When his request was not granted he escaped secretly by boat. As the Syrians received him gladly, he ascended the throne after having put Lysias to death and the boy with him. He removed Heraclides from office and killed Timarchus, who rebelled and who had administered the government of Babylon badly in other respects. For this he received the surname of Soter (the Protector), which was first bestowed upon him by the Babylonians. When he was firmly established in the kingdom he sent a crown valued at 10,000 pieces of gold to the Romans as the gift of their former hostage, and also delivered up Leptines, the murderer of Octavius. They accepted the crown, but not Leptines, because they intended to hold the Syrians responsible for that crime. Demetrius took the government of Cappadocia away from Ariarthes and gave it to Olophernes, who was supposed to be the brother of Ariarthes, receiving 1000 talents therefor. The Romans, however, decided that as brothers both Ariarthes and Olophernes should reign together.

These princes were deprived of the kingdom — and their successor, Ariobarzanes, also, a little later — by Mithridates, king of Pontus. The Mithridatic war grew out of this event, among others, — a very great war, full of vicissitudes to many nations and lasting nearly forty years. During this time Syria had many kings, succeeding each other at brief intervals, but all of the royal lineage, and there were many changes and revolts from the dynasty. The Parthians, who had previously revolted from the rule of the Seleucidae, seized Mesopotamia, which had been subject to that house. Tigranes, the son of Tigranes, king of Armenia, who had annexed many neighboring principalities, and from these exploits had acquired the title of King of Kings, attacked the Seleucidae because they would not acknowledge his supremacy. Antiochus Pius was not able to withstand him. Tigranes conquered all of the Syrian peoples this side of the Euphrates as far as Egypt. He took Cilicia at the same time (for this was also subject to the Seleucidae) and put his general, Magadates, in command of all these conquests for fourteen years.

When the Roman general, Lucullus, was pursuing Mithridates, who had taken refuge in the territory of Tigranes, Magadates went with his army to Tigranes’ assistance. Thereupon Antiochus, the son of Antiochus Pius, entered Syria clandestinely and assumed the government with the consent of the people. Nor did Lucullus, who first made war on Tigranes and wrested his newly acquired territory from him, object to Antiochus exercising his ancestral authority. But Pompey, the successor of Lucullus, when he had overthrown Mithridates, allowed Tigranes to reign in Armenia and expelled Antiochus from the government of Syria, although he had done the Romans no wrong. The real reason for this was that it was easy for Pompey, with an army under his command, to rob an unarmed king, but the pretence was that it was unseemly for the Seleucidae, whom Tigranes had dethroned, to govern Syria, rather than the Romans who had conquered Tigranes.

In this way the Romans, without fighting, came into possession of Cilicia and both inland Syria and Cœle-Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and all the other countries bearing the Syrian name from the Euphrates to Egypt and the sea. The Jewish nation still resisted, and Pompey conquered them, sent their king, Aristobulus, to Rome, and destroyed their greatest, and to them holiest, city, Jerusalem, as Ptolemy, the first king of Egypt, had formerly done. It was afterward rebuilt and Vespasian destroyed it again, and Hadrian did the same in our time. On account of these rebellions the tribute imposed upon all Jews is heavier per capita than upon the generality of taxpayers. The annual tax on the Syrians and Cilicians is one per cent. of the valuation of the property of each. Pompey put the various nations that had belonged to the Seleucidae under kings or chiefs of their own. In like manner he confirmed the four chiefs of the Galatians in Asia, who had coöperated with him in the Mithridatic war, in their tetrarchies. Not long afterward they all came gradually under the Roman rule, mostly in the time of Augustus.

Pompey now put Scaurus, who had been his quaestor in the war, in charge of Syria, and the Senate afterward appointed Marcius Philippus as his successor and Lentulus Marcellinus as the successor of Philippus, both being of praetorian rank. Much of the biennial term of each was consumed in warding off the attacks of the neighboring Arabs. It was on account of these events in Syria that Rome began to appoint for Syria proconsuls, so-called, with power to levy troops and engage in war like consuls. The first of these sent out with an army was Gabinius. As he was in readiness to begin the war, Mithridates, king of the Parthians, who had been driven out of his kingdom by his brother, Orodes, persuaded Gabinius to turn his forces from the Arabs against the Parthians. At the same time Ptolemy XI., king of Egypt, who likewise had lost his throne, prevailed upon him by a large sum of money to turn his arms from the Parthians against Alexandria. Gabinius overcame the Alexandrians and restored Ptolemy to power, but was himself banished by the Senate for invading Egypt without their authority, and undertaking a war considered ill-omened by the Romans; for it was forbidden by the Sibylline books. I think that Crassus succeeded Gabinius in the government of Syria — the same who met with a great disaster when waging war against the Parthians. While Lucius Bibulus was in command of Syria after Crassus, the Parthians made an incursion into that country. While the government was in charge of Saxa, the successor of Bibulus, they overran the country as far as Ionia, the Romans being then occupied by the civil wars. I shall deal with these events more particularly in my Parthian history.

In this book of Syrian history I have told how the Romans came into possession of Syria, and how they brought it to its present condition. It will not be amiss to tell how the Macedonians, who ruled Syria before the Romans, acquired the same country. After the Persians, Alexander became the sovereign of Syria as well as of all other peoples whom he found. He died leaving one son very small and another yet unborn. The Macedonians, who were loyal to the race of Philip, chose Ardiaeus, the brother of Alexander, as king during the minority of Alexander’s sons, although he was considered to be hardly of sound mind, and they changed his name from Ardiaeus to Philip. They also kept careful guard over the wife, who was enceinte. Meanwhile Alexander’s friends continued in charge of the conquered nations, divided into satrapies, which Perdiccas parcelled among them by the authority of King Philip. Not long afterward, when the true kings died, these satraps became kings. The first satrap of Syria was Laomednon of Mitylene, who derived his authority from Perdiccas and from Antipater, who succeeded the latter as prime minister. To this Laomedon, Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt, came with a fleet and offered him a large sum of money if he would hand over Syria to him, because it was well situated for defending Egypt and for attacking Cyprus. When Laomedon refused Ptolemy seized him. Laomedon bribed his guards and escaped to Alcetas in Caria. Thus Ptolemy ruled Syria for a while, left a garrison there, and returned to Egypt.

Antigonus was satrap of Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia. Having been left as overseer of all Asia when Antipater went to Europe, he besieged Eumenes, the satrap of Cappadocia, who had been publicly declared an enemy of the Macedonians. The latter fled and brought Media under his power, but Antigonus afterward captured and killed him. When he returned he was received magnificently by Seleucus, the satrap of Babylon. One day Seleucus punished one of the governors without consulting Antigonus, who was present, and the latter became angry and demanded an accounting of his money and possessions. As Seleucus was inferior to Antigonus in power he fled to Ptolemy in Egypt. Thereupon Antigonus removed Blitor, the governor of Mesopotamia, from office, because he allowed Seleucus to escape, and took upon himself the government of Babylon, Mesopotamia, and all the countries from Media to the Hellespont, Antipater having died in the meantime. The other satraps at once became envious of his possession of so large a share of the territory; for which reason chiefly, and at the instance of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, the satrap of Thrace, and Cassander, the son of Antipater and leader of the Macedonians after his father’s death, entered into a league with each other. They sent a joint embassy to Antigonus and demanded that he should share with them and with the other Macedonians who had lost their satrapies, his newly acquired lands and money. Antigonus treated their demand with scorn, and they jointly made war against him. Antigonus prepared to meet them. He drove out all of Ptolemy’s garrisons in Syria and stripped him of all the possessions that he still retained in Phoenicia and Cœle-Syria.

Then he marched beyond the Cilician gates, leaving his son Demetrius, who was about twenty-two years of age, at Gaza with an army to meet Ptolemy, who was coming from Egypt, but the latter defeated the young man badly in a battle near Gaza and compelled him to fly to his father. Ptolemy immediately sent Seleucus to Babylon to resume the government and gave him 1000 foot-soldiers and 300 horse for the purpose. With this small force Seleucus took Babylon, the inhabitants receiving him with enthusiasm, and within a short time he augmented his power greatly. Nevertheless Antigonus warded off the attack of Ptolemy and gained a splendid naval victory over him near Cyprus, in which his son Demetrius was the commander. On account of this very notable exploit the army began to call both Antigonus and Demetrius kings, as their own kings (Ardiaeus, the son of Philip and Olympias, and the two sons of Alexander) were now dead. Ptolemy’s army also saluted him as king lest by inferiority of rank he should be deemed less lofty than the victors in the late battle. Thus for these men similar consequences followed contrary events. All the others followed suit, and all the satraps became kings.

In this way Seleucus became king of Babylonia. He also acquired the kingdom of Media, slaying with his own hand in battle Nicator whom Antigonus had left as satrap of that country. He afterward waged many wars with Macedonians and barbarians. The two principal ones were with Macedonians, the second with Lysimachus, king of Thrace, the first with Antigonus at Ipsus in Phrygia, where Antigonus commanded in person and fought in person although he was above eighty years of age. Antigonus was killed in battle, and then all the kings who had been in league with Seleucus against him divided his territory among themselves. At this division all Syria from the Euphrates to the sea, also inland Phrygia, fell to the lot of Seleucus. Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, the so-called Seleucid Cappadocia, the Persians, Parthians, Bactrians, Arabs, Tapyri, Sogdiani, Arachotes, Hyrcanians, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus. He crossed the Indus and waged war with Androcottus, king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship. Some of these exploits were performed before the death of Antigonus and some afterward.

It is said that while he was still serving under Alexander and following him in the war against the Persians he consulted the Didymaean oracle to inquire about his return to Macedonia and that he received for answer: — Do not hurry back to Europe; Asia will be much better for you. It was said also that in Macedonia a great fire burst forth on his ancestral hearth without anybody lighting it; also that his mother saw in a dream that whatever ring she found she should give him to carry, and that he should be king at the place where he should lose the ring. She did find an iron ring with an anchor engraved on it, and he lost it near the Euphrates. It is said that at a later period, when he was returning to recover Babylon, he stumbled against a stone and that when he caused this stone to be dug up an anchor was found under it. When the soothsayers were alarmed at this prodigy, thinking that it portended delay, Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, who accompanied the expedition, said that an anchor was a sign of safety, not of delay. For this reason Seleucus, when he became king, used an engraved anchor for his signet-ring. Some say that while Alexander was still alive and looking on, another omen of the future power of Seleucus was made manifest in this wise. After Alexander had returned from India to Babylon and while he was sailing around the Babylonian lagoons with a view to the irrigation of the Assyrian fields from the Euphrates, a wind struck him and carried away his diadem and hung it on a bunch of reeds growing on the tomb of an ancient king. This of itself signified the early death of Alexander. They say that a sailor swam after it, put it on his own head, and, without wetting it, brought it to Alexander, who gave him at once a silver talent as a reward for his kind service. The soothsayers advised putting the man to death. Some say that Alexander followed their advice. Others say the contrary. Other narrators skip that part of the story and say that it was no sailor at all, but Seleucus who swam after the king’s diadem, and that he put it on his own head to avoid wetting it. The signs turned out true as to both of them in the end, for Alexander departed from life in Babylon and Seleucus became the ruler of a larger part of his dominions than any other of Alexander’s successors.

Such are the prophecies I have heard of concerning Seleucus. Directly after the death of Alexander he became the leader of the Companion cavalry, which Hephaestion, and afterwards Perdiccas, commanded during the life of Alexander. After commanding the horse he became satrap of Babylon, and after satrap, king. As he was very successful in war he acquired the surname of Nicator. At least that seems more probable than that he received it from the killing of Nicator. He was of such a large and 28 powerful frame that once when a wild bull was brought for sacrifice to Alexander and broke loose from his ropes, Seleucus held him alone, with nothing but his hands, for which reason his statues are ornamented with horns. He built cities throughout the entire length of his dominions and named sixteen of them Antioch after his father, five Laodicea after his mother, nine after himself, and four after his wives, that is, three Apamea and one Stratonicea. Of these the two most renowned at the present time are the two Seleucias, one on the sea and the other on the river Tigris, Laodicea in Phœnicia, Antioch under Mount Lebanon, and Apamea in Syria. To others he gave names from Greece or Macedonia, or from his own exploits, or in honor of Alexander; whence it comes to pass that in Syria and among the barbarous regions of upper Asia many of the towns bear Greek and Macedonian names, such as Berrhœa, Edessa, Perinthus, Maronea, Callipolis, Achaia, Pella, Orophus, Amphipolis, Arethusa, Astacus, Tegea, Chalcis, Larissa, Heraea, and Apollonia; in Parthia also Sotera, Calliope, Charis, Hecatompylos, Achaia; in India Alexandropolis; in Scythia Alexandreschata. From the victories of Seleucus come the names of Nicephorium in Mesopotamia and of Nicopolis in Armenia very near Cappadocia.

They say that when he was about to build the two Seleucias a portent of thunder preceded the foundation of the one by the sea, for which reason he consecrated thunder as a divinity of the place. Accordingly the inhabitants worship thunder and sing its praises to this day. They say, also, that when the Magi were ordered to indicate the propitious day and hour for beginning the foundations of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris they falsified as to the hour because they did not want to have such a stronghold built against themselves. While the king was waiting in his tent for the appointed hour, and the army, in readiness to begin the work, stood quietly till Seleucus should give the signal, suddenly, at the true hour of destiny, they seemed to hear a voice ordering them on. So they sprang to their work with such alacrity that the heralds who tried to stop them were not able to do so. When the work was brought to an end Seleucus, being troubled in his mind, again made inquiry of the Magi concerning his city, and they, having first secured a promise of impunity, replied, That which is fated, O King, whether it be for better or worse, neither man nor city can change, for there is a fate for cities as well as for men. It pleases the gods that this city shall endure for ages, because it was begun on the hour on which it was begun. We feared lest it should be a stronghold against ourselves, and falsified the appointed time. Destiny is stronger than crafty Magi or an unsuspecting king. For that reason the deity announced the more propitious hour to the army. It is permitted you to know these things so surely that you need not suspect us of deception still, for you were presiding over the army yourself, as king, and you had yourself ordered them to wait; but the army, ever obedient to you in facing danger and toil, could not now be restrained, even when you gave them the order to stop, but sprang to their work, not a part of them merely, but all together, and their officers with them, thinking that the order had been given. In fact it had been given. That was the reason why not even you could hold them back. What can be stronger in human affairs than a king, unless it be a god, who overcame your intention and supplanted us in giving you directions about the city; for the god is in hostility to us and to all the people round about? What can our resources avail hereafter with a more powerful race settled along side of us? This city of yours has had a fortunate beginning, it will be great and enduring. We beg that you will confirm your pardon of our fault which we committed from fear of the loss of our own prosperity. The king was pleased with what the Magi said and pardoned them. This is what I have heard about Seleucia.

Seleucus, while still living, appointed his son, Antiochus, king of upper Asia in place of himself. If this seems noble and kingly on his part, even nobler and wiser was his behavior in reference to his son’s falling in love, and his self-restraint in suffering; for Antiochus was in love with Stratonice, the wife of Seleucus, his own stepmother, who had already borne a child to Seleucus. Recognizing the wickedness of this passion, Antiochus did nothing wrong, nor did he show his feelings, but he fell sick, took to his bed, and longed for death. Nor could the celebrated physician, Erasistratus, who was serving Seleucus at a very high salary, form any diagnosis of his malady. At length, observing that his body was free from all the symptoms of disease, he conjectured that this was some condition of the mind, through which the body is often strengthened or weakened by sympathy. Grief, anger, and other passions disclose themselves; love only is concealed by the modest. As Antiochus would confess nothing when the physician asked him in confidence, he took a seat by his side and watched the changes of his body to see how he was affected by each person who entered his room. He found that when others came the patient was all the time weakening and wasting away at a uniform pace, but when Stratonice came to visit him his mind was greatly agitated by the struggles of modesty and conscience, and he remained silent. But his body in spite of himself became more vigorous and lively, and when she went away he became weaker again. So the physician told Seleucus that his son had an incurable disease. The king was overwhelmed with grief and cried aloud. Then the physician added, His disease is love, love for a woman, but a hopeless love.

Seleucus was astonished that there could be any woman whom he, king of Asia, could not prevail upon to marry such a son as his, by entreaties, by gold, by gifts, by the whole of this great kingdom, the eventual inheritance of the sick prince, which the father would give to him even now, if he wished it, in order to save him. Desiring to learn only one thing more, he asked, Who is this woman? Erasistratus replied, He is in love with my wife. Well then, my good fellow, rejoined Seleucus, since you are so bound to us by friendship and favors, and are a model of goodness and wisdom in matters of small moment, will you not save this princely young man for me, the son of your friend and king, unfortunate in love but virtuous, who has concealed his sinful passion and prefers to die rather than confess it? Do you so despise Antiochus? Do you despise his father also? Then Erasistratus changed his tactics, and, as though he were giving him a knock-down argument, said, You would not give Antiochus your wife if he were in love with her, although you are his father. Seleucus swore by all the gods of his royal house that he would willingly and cheerfully give her, and make himself an illustrious example of a kind and good father to a chaste son who controlled his passion and did not deserve such suffering. Much more he added of the same sort, and, finally, began to lament that he could not himself be the physician to his unhappy boy, but must needs depend on Erasistratus in this matter also.

When Erasistratus saw that the king was in earnest and not hypocritical, he told the whole truth. He related how he had discovered the nature of the malady, and how he had detected the secret passion. Seleucus was overjoyed, but it was a difficult matter to persuade his son and not less so to persuade his wife; but he succeeded finally. Then he assembled his army, which was perhaps expecting something of the kind, and told them of his exploits and of the extent of his empire, showing that it surpassed that of any of the other successors of Alexander, and saying that as he was now growing old it was hard for him to govern it on account of its size. I wish, he said, to divide it, and so at the same time to provide for your safety in the future and give a part of it now to those who are dearest to me. It is fitting that all of you, who had advanced to such greatness of dominion and power under me since the time of Alexander, should coöperate with me in everything. The dearest to me, and well worthy to reign, are my grownup son and my wife. As they are young, I pray they may soon have children to be an ample guarantee to you of the permanency of the dynasty. I will join them in marriage in your presence and will send them to be sovereigns of the upper provinces now. And I charge you that none of the customs of the Persians and other nations is more worthy of observance than this one law, which is common to all of them, That what the king ordains is always right. When he had thus spoken the army shouted that he was the greatest king of all the successors of Alexander and the best father. Seleucus laid the same injunctions on Stratonice and his son, then joined them in marriage, and sent them to their kingdom, showing himself even stronger in this famous act than in his deeds of arms.

Seleucus had seventy-two satraps under him, so extensive was the territory over which he ruled. The greater part he had transferred to his son, but he continued to reign over the country which lies between the Euphrates and the sea. The last war that he waged was with Lysimachus, for the possession of Phrygia on the Hellespont. Lysimachus was defeated and slain in battle. Then Seleucus crossed the Hellespont in order to possess himself of Lysimacheia, but he was killed by Ptolemy Ceraunus who accompanied him. This Ceraunus was the son of Ptolemy Soter and Euridice, the daughter of Antipater. He had left Egypt from fear, because his father had decided to leave the kingdom to his youngest son. Seleucus had received him as the unfortunate son of his friend, and thus he supported, and took around with himself everywhere, his own murderer.

Thus Seleucus died at the age of seventy-three, having reigned forty-two years. It seems to me that the oracle hit the mark in his case when it said to him, Do not hurry back to Europe; Asia will be much better for you, for Lysimacheia is in Europe, and he then crossed over to Europe for the first time after leaving it with the army of Alexander. It is said also that once when he consulted an oracle in reference to his own death he received this answer:— If you keep away from Argos you will reach your allotted year, but if you approach that place you will die before your time. There is an Argos in Peloponnesus, another in Amphilochia, another in Orestea (whence come the Macedonian Argeadae), and the one on the Ionian sea, said to have been built by Diomedes during his wanderings, — all these, and every place named Argos in every other country, Seleucus inquired about and avoided. While he was advancing from the Hellespont to Lysimacheia a splendid great altar presented itself to his view, which he was told had been built either by the Argonauts on their way to Colchis, or by the Achaeans who besieged Troy, for which reason the people in the neighborhood still called it Argos, either by a corruption of the name of the ship Argo, or from the native place of the sons of Atreus. While he was learning these things he was killed by Ptolemy, who stabbed him in the back. Philetzerus, the prince of Pergamus, bought the body of Seleucus from Ceraunus for a large sum of money, burned it, and sent the ashes to his son Antiochus. The latter deposited them at Seleucia-by-the-Sea, where he erected a temple to his father on consecrated ground, to which ground he gave the name of Nicatoreum.

I have heard that Lysimachus, who was one of the armor-bearers of Alexander, was once running by his side for a long distance, and, being fatigued, took hold of the tail of the king’s horse and continued to run; that he was struck in the forehead by the point of the king’s spear, which opened one of his veins from which the blood flowed profusely; that Alexander, for want of a bandage, bound up the wound with his own diadem which was thus saturated with blood; and that Aristandrus, Alexander’s soothsayer, when he saw Lysimachus carried away wounded in this manner, said, That man will be a king, but he will reign with toil and trouble. He reigned nearly forty years, counting those in which he was satrap, and he did reign with toil and trouble. He fell in battle, while still commanding his army, at the age of seventy. Seleucus did not long survive him. Lysimachus’ dog watched his body lying on the ground for a long time, and kept it unharmed by birds or beasts until Thorax of Pharsalia found and buried it. Some say that he was buried by his own son, Alexander, who fled to Seleucus from fear when Lysimachus put to death his other son, Agathocles; that he searched for the body a long time and found it at last by means of the dog, and that it was already partly decomposed. The Lysimacheians deposited the bones in their temple and named the temple itself the Lysimacheum. Thus did these two kings, the bravest and most renowned for bodily size, come to their end at nearly the same time, one of them at the age of seventy, the other three years older, and both fighting with their own hands until the day of their death.

After the death of Seleucus, the kingdom of Syria passed in regular succession from father to son as follows: the first was the same Antiochus who fell in love with his stepmother, to whom was given the surname of Soter (the Protector) for driving out the Gauls who had made an incursion into Asia from Europe. The second was another Antiochus, born of this marriage, who received the surname of Theos(the Divine) from the Milesians in the first instance, because he slew their tyrant, Timarchus. This Theos was poisoned by his wife. He had two wives, Laodice and Berenice, the former a love-match, the latter a daughter pledged to him by Ptolemy Philadelphus. Laodice assassinated him and afterward Berenice and her child. Ptolemy, the son of Philadelphus, avenged these crimes by killing Laodice. He invaded Syria and advanced as far as Babylon. The Parthians now began their revolt, taking advantage of the confusion in the house of the Seleucidae.

Seleucus, the son of Theos and Laodice, surnamed Callinicus (the Triumphant), succeeded Theos as king of Syria. After Seleucus his two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, succeeded in the order of their age. As Seleucus was sickly and poor and unable to command the obedience of the army, he was poisoned by a court conspiracy in the second year of his reign. His brother was Antiochus the Great, who went to war with the Romans, of whom I have written above. He reigned thirty-seven years. I have already spoken of his two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, both of whom ascended the throne. The former reigned twelve years, but feebly and without success by reason of his father’s misfortune. Antiochus (Epiphanes) reigned not quite twelve years, in the course of which he captured Artaxias the Armenian and made an expedition into Egypt against Ptolemy VI., who had been left an orphan with one brother. While he was encamped near Alexandria, Popilius came to him as Roman ambassador, bringing an order in writing that he should not attack the Ptolemies. When he had read it he replied that he would think about it. Popilius drew a circle around him with a stick and said, Think about it here. He was terrified and withdrew from the country, and robbed the temple of Venus Elymais; then died of a wasting disease, leaving a son nine years of age, the Antiochus Eupator already mentioned.

I have also spoken of Demetrius, his successor, who had been a hostage in Rome and who escaped and became king. He was also called Soter by the Syrians, the next who bore that title after the son of Seleucus Nicator. Against him a certain Alexander took up arms, falsely pretending to be of the family of the Seleucidae, to whom Ptolemy, king of Egypt, gave aid because he hated Demetrius. The latter was deprived of his kingdom by this means and died. His son, Demetrius, drove out Alexander. For his victory over this bastard of the family he was surnamed Nicator by the Syrians, the next who bore that title after Seleucus. Following the example of Seleucus he made an expedition against the Parthians. He was taken prisoner by them and lived in the palace of King Phraates, who gave him his sister, Rhodoguna, in marriage.

While the country was without a government Diodotus, a slave of the royal house, placed on the throne a young boy named Alexander, a son of Alexander the Bastard and of Ptolemy’s daughter. Afterward he put the boy to death and undertook the government himself and assumed the name of Trypho. But Antiochus, the brother of the captive Demetrius, learning in Rhodes of his captivity, came home and, with great difficulty, put Trypho to death. Then he marched with an army against Phraates and demanded his brother. Phraates was afraid of him and sent Demetrius back. Antiochus nevertheless fought with the Parthians, was beaten, and committed suicide. When Demetrius returned to his kingdom he was killed by the craft of his wife, Cleopatra, who was jealous on account of his marriage with Rhodoguna, for which reason also she had previously married his brother Antiochus. She had borne two sons to Demetrius, named Seleucus and Antiochus Grypus (the Hook Nosed); and to Antiochus one son, named Antiochus Cyzicenus. She had sent Grypus to Athens and Cyzicenus to Cyzicus to be educated.

As soon as Seleucus assumed the diadem after his brother’s death his mother shot him dead with an arrow, either fearing lest he should avenge his father or moved by an insane hatred for everybody. After Seleucus, Grypus became king, and he compelled his mother to drink poison that she had mixed for himself. So justice overtook her at last. Grypus was worthy of such a mother. He laid a plot against Cyzicenus, his half-brother, but the latter found it out, made war on him, drove him out of the kingdom, and became king of Syria in his stead. Then Seleucus, the son of Grypus, made war on his uncle and took the government away from him. The new sovereign was violent and tyrannical and was burned to death in the gymnasium at the city of Mopsus in Cilicia. Antiochus, the son of Cyzicenus, succeeded him. The Syrians thought that he escaped a plot of his cousin Seleucus on account of his piety, for which reason they gave him the name of Antiochus Pius. He was really saved by a handsome prostitute with whom he was in love. I think that the Syrians must have given him this title by way of joke, for this Pius married Selene, who had been the wife of his father, Cyzicenus, and of his uncle, Grypus. For this reason the divine vengeance pursued him and he was expelled the kingdom by Tigranes.

The son of Pius and Selene, who was brought up in Asia and was for that reason called Asiaticus, was deprived of the government of Syria by Pompey, as I have already mentioned. He was the seventeenth king of Syria, reckoning from Seleucus (for I leave out Alexander and his son as being illegitimate, and also their slave, Diodotus), and he reigned only one year, while Pompey was busy elsewhere. The dynasty of the Seleucidae lasted 230 years. To compute the time from Alexander the Great to the beginning of the Roman domination there must be added fourteen years of the rule of Tigranes. So much, in the way of foreign history, concerning the Macedonian kings of Syria.

THE Greeks think that the Thracians who marched to the Trojan war with Rhesus, who was killed by Diomedes in the night-time in the manner described in Homer’s poems, fled to the outlet of the Euxine sea at the place where the crossing to Thrace is shortest. Some say that as they found no ships they remained there and possessed themselves of the country called Bebrycia. Others say that they crossed over to the country beyond Byzantium called Thracian Bithynia and settled along the river Bithya, but were forced by hunger to return to Bebrycia, to which they gave the name of Bithynia from the river where they had previously dwelt; or perhaps the name was changed by them insensibly with the lapse of time, as there is not much difference between Bithynia and Bebrycia. So some think. Others say that their first ruler was Bithys, the son of Zeus and Thrace, and that the two countries received their names from them.

So much by way of preface concerning Bithynia. Of the forty-nine kings who successively ruled the country before the Romans, it does not concern me to make special mention in writing Roman history. Prusias, surnamed the Hunter, was the one to whom Perseus, king of Macedonia, gave his sister in marriage. When Perseus and the Romans, not long afterward, went to war with each other, Prusias did not take sides with either of them. When Perseus was taken prisoner Prusias went to meet the Roman generals, clad in a toga which they call the tebennus, shod in the Italian fashion, with his head shaved and wearing on it a pilleus in the manner of slaves who have been made free in their masters’ wills, and making himself appear base and insignificant in other ways. When he met them he said in the Latin tongue, I am the freedman of the Romans, which is to say emancipated. They laughed at him and sent him to Rome. As he appeared equally ridiculous there he obtained pardon.

Some time later, being incensed against Attalus, king of the Asiatic country about Pergamus, Prusias ravaged his territory. When the Roman Senate learned of this they sent word to Prusias that he must not attack Attalus, who was their friend and ally. As he was slow in obeying, the ambassadors laid stern commands upon him to obey the orders of the Senate and to go with 1000 horse to the boundary line to negotiate a treaty with Attalus, who, they said, was awaiting him there with an equal number. Despising the handful of men with Attalus and hoping to ensnare him, Prusias sent the ambassadors in advance to say that he was following with 1000 men, but actually put his whole army in motion and advanced as if to battle. When Attalus and the ambassadors learned of this they took to promiscuous flight. Prusias seized the beasts of burden belonging to the Romans that had been left behind, captured and destroyed the stronghold of Nicephorium, burned the temples in it, and besieged Attalus, who had fled to Pergamus. When these things became known in Rome a fresh embassy was sent, ordering Prusias to make compensation to Attalus for the damage done to him. Then Prusias became alarmed, obeyed the order, and retired. The ambassadors decided that as a penalty he must transfer to Attalus twenty decked ships at once, and pay him 500 talents of silver within a certain time. Accordingly he gave up the ships and began to make the payments at the prescribed time.

As Prusias was hated by his subjects on account of his extreme cruelty they became greatly attached to his son, Nicomedes. Thus the latter fell under the suspicion of Prusias, who sent him to live in Rome. Learning that he was much esteemed there also, Prusias directed him to petition the Senate to release him from the payment of the money still due to Attalus. He sent Menas as his fellow-ambassador, and told him if he should secure a remission of the payments to spare Nicomedes, but if not, to kill him at Rome. For this purpose he sent a number of small boats with him and 2000 soldiers. As the fine imposed on Prusias was not remitted (for Andronicus, who had been sent by Attalus to argue on the other side, showed that it was less in amount than the plunder), Menas, seeing that Nicomedes was an estimable and attractive young man, was at a loss to know what to do. He did not dare to kill him, nor to go back himself to Bithynia. The young man noticed his delay and sought a conference with him, which was just what he wanted. They formed a plot against Prusias and secured the coöperation of Andronicus, the legate of Attalus, that he should persuade Attalus to take back Nicomedes to Bithynia. They met by agreement at Bernice, a small town in Epirus, where they entered into a ship by night to confer as to what should be done, and separated before daylight.

In the morning Nicomedes came out of the ship clad in the royal purple and wearing a diadem on his head. Andronicus met him, saluted him as king, and formed an escort for him with 500 soldiers that he had with him. Menas, pretending that he had then for the first time learned that Nicomedes was present, rushed to his 2000 men and exclaimed with assumed trepidation, Since we have two kings, one at home and the other going there, we must look out for our own interests, and form a careful judgment of the future, because our safety lies in foreseeing correctly which of them will be the stronger. One of them is an old man, the other is young. The Bithynians are averse to Prusias; they are attached to Nicomedes. The leading Romans are fond of the young man, and Andronicus has already furnished him a guard, showing that Nicomedes is in alliance with Attalus, who rules an extensive dominion alongside the Bithynians and is an old enemy of Prusias. In addition to this he expatiated on the cruelty of Prusias and his outrageous conduct toward everybody, and the general hatred in which he was held by the Bithynians on this account. When he saw that the soldiers also abhorred the wickedness of Prusias he led them forthwith to Nicomedes and saluted him as king, just as Andronicus had done before, and formed a guard for him with his 2000 men.

Attalus received the young man warmly and ordered Prusias to assign certain towns for his occupation, and territory to furnish him supplies. Prusias replied that he would presently give his son the whole kingdom of Attalus, which he had intended for Nicomedes when he invaded Asia before. After giving this answer he made a formal accusation at Rome against Nicomedes and Attalus and cited them to trial. The forces of Attalus at once made an incursion into Bithynia, the inhabitants of which gradually took sides with the invaders. Prusias, trusting nobody and hoping that the Romans would rescue him from the toils of the conspiracy, asked and obtained from his son-in-law, Diegylis, the Thracian, 500 men, and with these alone as a body-guard he took refuge in the citadel of Nictaea. The Roman praetor, in order to favor Attalus, delayed introducing the ambassadors of Prusias to the Senate at Rome. When he did introduce them, the Senate voted that the praetor himself should choose legates and send them to settle the difficulty. He selected three men, one of whom had once been struck on the head with a stone, from which he was badly scarred; another was a diseased cripple, and the third was considered almost a fool; wherefore Cato made the contemptuous remark concerning this embassy, that it had no understanding, no feet and no head.

The legates proceeded to Bithynia and ordered that the war be discontinued. Nicomedes and Attalus pretended to acquiesce. The Bithynians had been instructed to say that they could no longer endure the cruelty of Prusias, especially after they had openly complained against him. On the pretext that these complaints were not yet known at Rome the legates adjourned, leaving the business unfinished. When Prusias despaired of assistance from the Romans (in reliance upon whom he had neglected to provide means for his own defence) he retired to Nicomedia in order to possess himself of the city and resist the invaders. The inhabitants, however, betrayed him and opened the gates, and Nicomedes entered with his army. Prusias fled to the temple of Zeus, where he was stabbed by some of the emissaries of Nicomedes. In this way Nicomedes succeeded Prusias as king of the Bithynians. At his death his son, Nicomedes, surnamed Philopator, succeeded him, the Senate confirming his ancestral authority. So much for Bithynia. To anticipate the sequel, another Nicomedes, grandson of this one, left the kingdom to the Romans in his will.

Who were the rulers of Cappadocia before the Macedonians I am not able to say exactly — whether it had a government of its own or was subject to Darius. I judge that Alexander left behind him governors of the conquered nations to collect the tribute while he hastened after Darius. But it appears that he restored to Amisus, a city of Pontus, of Attic origin, its original democratic form of government. Yet Hieronymus says that he did not touch those nations at all, but that he went after Darius by another road, along the sea-coast of Pamphylia and Cilicia. But Perdiccas, who ruled the Macedonians after Alexander, captured and hanged Ariarthes, the governor of Cappadocia, either because he had revolted or in order to bring that country under Macedonian rule, and placed Eumenes of Cardia over these peoples. Eumenes was afterward adjudged an enemy of Macedonia and put to death, and Antipater, who succeeded Perdiccas as overseer of the territory of Alexander, appointed Nicanor satrap of Cappadocia.

Not long afterward dissensions broke out among the Macedonians. Antigonus expelled Laomedon from Syria and assumed the government himself. He had with him one Mithridates, a scion of the royal house of Persia. Antigonus had a dream that he had sowed a field with gold, and that Mithridates reaped it and carried it off to Pontus. He accordingly arrested him, intending to put him to death, but Mithridates escaped with six horsemen, fortified himself in a stronghold of Cappadocia, where many joined him in consequence of the decay of the Macedonian power, and possessed himself of the whole of Cappadocia and of the neighboring countries along the Euxine. This great power, which he had built up, he left to his children. They reigned one after another until the sixth Mithridates in succession from the founder of the house, and he went to war with the Romans. Since there were kings of this house of both Cappadocia and Pontus, I judge that they divided the government, some ruling one country and some the other.

At any rate a king of Pontus, the Mithridates surnamed Euergetes (the Benefactor), who was the first of them inscribed as a friend of the Roman people, and who even sent some ships and a small force of auxiliaries to aid them against the Carthaginians, invaded Cappadocia as though it were a foreign country. He was succeeded by his son, Mithridates, surnamed Dionysus, and also Eupator. The Romans ordered him to restore Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, who had fled to them and who seemed to have a better title to the government of that country than Mithridates; or perhaps they distrusted the growing power of that great monarchy and thought it would be better to have it divided into several parts. Mithridates obeyed the order, but he put an army at the service of Socrates, surnamed Chrestus, the brother of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, who overthrew the latter and usurped the government. This Nicomedes was the son of Nicomedes the son of Prusias, who had received the kingdom of Bithynia as his patrimony at the hands of the Romans. Simultaneously Mithraas and Bagoas drove out Ariobarzanes, whom the Romans had confirmed as king of Cappadocia, and installed Ariarthes in his place.

The Romans decided to restore Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes at the same time, each to his own kingdom, and sent thither for this purpose an embassy, of which Manius Aquilius was the chief, and ordered Lucius Cassius, who was in charge of the Asiatic country around Pergamus and had a small army under his command, to coöperate in their mission. Similar orders were sent to Mithridates Eupator himself. But the latter, being angry with the Romans on account of their interference in Cappadocia, and having been recently despoiled of Phrygia by them (as narrated in my Hellenic history), did not coöperate. Nevertheless Cassius and Manius, with the army of the former, and a large force collected from the Galatians and Phrygians, restored Nicomedes to Bithynia and Ariobarzanes to Cappadocia. They urged them at the same time, as they were neighbors of Mithridates, to make incursions into his territory and stir up a war, promising them the assistance of the Romans. Both of them hesitated to begin so important a war on their own border, because they feared the power of Mithridates. When the ambassadors insisted, Nicomedes, who had agreed to pay a large sum of money to the generals and ambassadors for restoring him to power, which he still owed, together with other large sums which he had borrowed on interest from the Romans in his country and for which they were dunning him, made an attack reluctantly on the territory of Mithridates and plundered it as far as the city of Amastris, meeting no resistance. Although Mithridates had his forces in readiness he retreated, because he wanted to have good and sufficient cause for war.

Nicomedes returned with large booty and Mithridates sent Pelopidas to the Roman generals and ambassadors. He was not ignorant that they wanted to bring on a war, and that they had incited this attack upon him, but he dissembled in order to procure more and clearer causes for the coming war, for which reason he reminded them of his own and his father’s friendship and alliance, in return for which Pelopidas said that Phrygia and Cappadocia had been wrested from him, of which Cappadocia had always belonged to his ancestors and had been left to him by his own father. Phrygia, he continued, was given to him by your own general as a reward for his victory over Aristonicus; nevertheless he paid a large sum of money to that same general for it. But now you allow Nicomedes even to close the mouth of the Euxine, and to overrun the country as far as Amastris, and you see him carrying off vast plunder with impunity. My king was not weak, he was not unprepared to defend himself, but he waited in order that you might be eye-witnesses of these transactions. Since you have seen all this, Mithridates, who is your friend and ally, calls upon you as friends and allies (for so the treaty reads) to defend us against the wrong-doing of Nicomedes, or to restrain the wrong-doer.

When Pelopidas had finished speaking the ambassadors of Nicomedes, who were there to answer him, said: Mithridates plotted against Nicomedes long ago and put Socrates on the throne by force and arms, though Socrates was of a quiet disposition and thought it right that his elder brother should reign. This was the act of Mithridates to Nicomedes whom you, Romans, had established on the throne of Bithynia — a blow which was evidently aimed as much at you as at us. In like manner after you had commanded the Asiatic kings not to molest Europe, he seized the greater part of Chersonesus. Let these acts stand as examples of his arrogance, his hostility, his disobedience towards yourselves. Look at his great preparations. He stands in complete readiness, as for a great and predetermined war, not merely with his own army, but with great force of allies, Thracians, Scythians, and many other neighboring peoples. He has formed a marriage alliance with Armenia, and has sent to Egypt and Syria to make friends with the kings of those countries. He has 300 ships of war and is still adding to the number. He has sent to Phoenicia and Egypt for naval officers and steersmen. These things, that Mithridates is collecting in such vast quantities, are not designed for Nicomedes, nay, O Romans, but for you. He is angry with you because, when he had bought Phrygia by a corrupt bargain from one of your generals, you ordered him to give up his ill-gotten gains. He is angry on account of Cappadocia, which was given by you to Ariobarzanes. He fears your increasing power. He is making preparations under pretence that they are intended for us, but he means to attack you if he can. It will be the part of wisdom not to wait till he declares war against you, but to look at his deeds rather than his words, and not give up true and tried friends for a hypocrite who offers you the fictitious name of friendship, nor allow your decision concerning our kingdom to be annulled by one who is equally the foe of both of us.

After the ambassadors of Nicomedes had thus spoken Pelopidas again addressed the Roman assembly, saying that if Nicomedes was complaining of bygones, he accepted the decision of the Romans, but as to present matters which were transpiring under their eyes, the ravaging of Mithridates’ territory, the closing of the sea, and the carrying away of such vast plunder, there was no need of discussion or adjudication. We call upon you, Romans, again, he said, either to prevent such outrages, or to assist Mithridates, who is their victim, or at all events to stand aside, allow him to defend himself, and not help either party. While Pelopidas was repeating his demand, though it had been determined by the Roman generals long before to help Nicomedes, they made a pretence of listening to the argument on the other side. Yet the words of Pelopidas and the alliance of Mithridates, which was still in force, put them to shame, and they were at a loss for some time what answer to make. Finally, after long thought, they made this artful reply, We would not wish that Mithridates suffer harm at the hands of Nicomedes, nor can we allow war to be made against Nicomedes, because we do not think that it would be for the interest of Rome that he should be weakened. Having delivered this response they dismissed Pelopidas from the assembly, although he wanted to show the insufficiency of their answer.

Mithridates, having been denied justice by the Romans in this public manner, sent his son Ariarthes with a large force to seize the kingdom of Cappadocia. Ariarthes speedily overpowered it and drove out Ariobarzanes. Then Pelopidas returned to the Roman generals and said: How patiently King Mithridates bore injury from you when he was deprived of Phrygia and Cappadocia not long ago you have been told already, O Romans. What injuries Nicomedes inflicted upon him you have seen — and have not heeded. And when we appealed to your friendship and alliance you answered as though we were not the accusers but the accused, saying that it would not be for your interest that harm should come to Nicomedes, as though he were the injured one. You therefore are accountable to the Roman republic for what has taken place in Cappadocia. Mithridates has done what he has done because you disdained us and mocked us in your answers. He intends to send an embassy to your Senate to complain against you. He summons you to defend yourselves there in person in order that ye may do nothing in haste, nor begin a war of such magnitude without the decree of Rome itself. You should bear in mind that Mithridates is ruling his ancestral domain, which is 2000 stades long, and that he has acquired many neighboring nations, the Colchians, a very warlike people, the Greeks bordering on the Euxine, and the barbarian tribes beyond them. He has allies also ready to obey his every command, Scythians, Taurians, Bastarnae, Thracians, Sarmatians, and all those who dwell in the region of the Don and Danube and the sea of Azof. Tigranes of Armenia is his son-in-law and Arsaces of Parthia his ally. He has a large number of ships, some in readiness and others building, and apparatus of all kinds in abundance.

The Bithynians were not wrong in what they told you lately about the kings of Egypt and Syria. Not only are these likely to help us if war breaks out, but also your newly acquired province of Asia, and Greece, and Africa, and a considerable part of Italy itself, which even now wages implacable war against you because it cannot endure your greed. Before you are able to compose this strife you attack Mithridates and set Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes on him by turns, and you say, forsooth, that you are our friends and allies. You pretend to be so, and yet you act like enemies. Come now, if at last the consequences of your acts have put you in a better frame of mind, either restrain Nicomedes from injuring your friends and allies (in which case I promise that King Mithridates shall help you to put down the rebellion in Italy), or throw off the mask of friendship for us, or let us go to Rome and settle the dispute there. So spake Pelopidas. The Romans considered his speech insolent and ordered Mithridates to let Nicomedes and Cappadocia alone (for they had again restored Ariobarzanes to the latter). They also ordered Pelopidas to leave their camp immediately, and not to return unless the king obeyed their commands. Having given this answer they sent him away under guard lest he should inveigle some persons on the road.

After they had finished speaking they did not wait to hear what the Senate and people of Rome would think about such a great war, but began to collect forces from Bithynia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and the Galatians of Asia. As soon as Lucius Cassius, the governor of Asia, had his own army in readiness all the allied forces were assembled. Then they were put in separate divisions and sent into camp, Cassius on the boundary of Bithynia and Galatia, Manius on Mithridates’ line of march to Bithynia, and Oppius, the third general, among the mountains of Cappadocia. Each of these had about 40,000 men, horse and foot together. They had also a fleet under command of Minucius Rufus and Gaius Popillius at Byzantium, guarding the mouth of the Euxine. Nicomedes was present with 50,000 foot and 6000 horse under his command. Such was the total strength of the forces brought together. Mithridates had in his own army 250,000 foot and 40,000 horse, 300 ships with decks, 100 with two banks of oars each, and other apparatus in proportion. He had for generals Neoptolemus and Archelaus, two brothers. The king took charge of the greater number in person. Of the allied forces Arcathias, the son of Mithridates, led 10,000 horse from Armenia Minor, and Doryalus commanded the phalanx. Craterus had charge of 130 war chariots. So great were the preparations on either side when the Romans and Mithridates first came in conflict with each other, about the 173d Olympiad.

When Nicomedes and the generals of Mithridates came in sight of each other in a wide plain bordered by the river Amnias they drew up their forces for battle. Nicomedes had his entire army in hand; Neoptolemus and Archelaus had only their light infantry and the cavalry of Arcathias and a few chariots; for the phalanx had not yet come up. They sent forward a small force to seize a rocky hill in the plain lest they should be surrounded by the Bithynians, who were much more numerous. When Neoptolemus saw his men driven from the hill he was still more in fear of being surrounded. He advanced with haste to their assistance, at the same time calling on Arcathias for help. When Nicomedes perceived the movement he sought to meet it by a similar one. Thereupon a severe and bloody struggle ensued. Nicomedes prevailed and put the Mithridateans to flight until Archelaus, advancing from the right flank, fell upon the pursuers, who were compelled to turn their attention to him. He yielded little by little in order that the forces of Neoptolemus might have a chance to rally. When he judged that they had done so sufficiently he advanced again. At the same time the scythe-bearing chariots made a charge on the Bithynians, cutting some of them in two, and tearing others to pieces. The army of Nicomedes was terrified at seeing men cut in halves and still breathing, or mangled in fragments and their parts hanging on the scythes. Overcome rather by the hideousness of the spectacle than by loss of the fight, fear took possession of their ranks. While they were thus thrown into confusion Archelaus attacked them in front, and Neoptolemus and Arcathias, who had turned about, assailed them in the rear. They fought a long time facing both ways. After the greater part of his men had fallen, Nicomedes fled with the remainder into Paphlagonia, although the Mithridatean phalanx had not come into the engagement at all. His camp was captured, together with a large sum of money and many prisoners. All these Mithridates treated kindly and sent to their homes with supplies for the journey, thus gaining a reputation for clemency among his enemies.

This first engagement of the Mithridatic war alarmed the Roman generals, because they had kindled so great a strife precipitately, without good judgment, and without any public decree. A small number of soldiers had overcome a much larger one, not by having a better position, or through any blunder of the enemy, but by the valor of the generals and the fighting quality of the army. Nicomedes now encamped alongside of Manius. Mithridates ascended Mount Scoroba, which lies on the boundary between Bithynia and Pontus. A hundred Sarmatian horse of his advance-guard came upon 800 of the Nicomedean cavalry and took some of them prisoners. Mithridates dismissed these also to their homes and furnished them supplies. Neoptolemus, and Nemanes the Armenian, overtook Manius on his retreat at the castle of Protophachium about the seventh hour, while Nicomedes was moving away to join Cassius, and compelled him to fight. He had 4000 horse and ten times that number of foot. They killed 10,000 of his men and took 300 prisoners. When they were brought to Mithridates he released them in like manner, thus winning the good opinion of his enemies. The camp of Manius was also captured. He fled to the river Sangarius, crossed it by night, and escaped to Pergamus. Cassius and Nicomedes and all the Roman ambassadors who were with the army decamped to a place called the Lion’s Head, a very powerful stronghold in Phrygia, where they began to drill their newly collected mob of artisans, rustics, and other raw recruits, and made new levies among the Phrygians. Finding them worthless they abandoned the idea of fighting with such unwarlike men, dismissed them and retreated; Cassius with his own army to Apamea, Nicomedes to Pergamus, and Manius toward Rhodes. When those who were guarding the mouth of the Euxine learned these facts they scattered also and delivered the straits and all the ships they had to Mithridates.

Having subverted the whole dominion of Nicomedes at one blow, Mithridates took possession of it and put the cities in order. Then he invaded Phrygia and lodged at an inn which had been occupied by Alexander the Great, thinking that it would bring him luck to halt where Alexander had once stopped. He overran the rest of Phrygia, together with Mysia and those parts of Asia which had been lately acquired by the Romans. Then he sent his officers to the adjoining provinces and subjugated Lycia, Pamphylia, and the rest as far as Ionia. To the Laodiceans on the river Lycus, who were still resisting (for the Roman general, Quintus Oppius, had arrived with his cavalry and certain mercenaries at their town and was defending it), he made this proclamation by herald before the walls, King Mithridates promises that the Laodiceans shall suffer no injury if they will deliver Oppius to him. Upon this announcement they dismissed the mercenaries unharmed, but led Oppius himself to Mithridates with his lictors marching in front of him by way of ridicule. Mithridates did him no harm, but took him around with him unbound, exhibiting a Roman general as his prisoner.

Not long afterward he captured Manius Aquilius, one of the ambassadors and the one who was most to blame for this war. Mithridates led him around, bound on an ass, and compelled him to introduce himself to the public as Manius. Finally, at Pergamus, Mithridates poured molten gold down his throat, thus rebuking the Romans for their bribe-taking. After appointing satraps over the various nations he proceeded to Magnesia, Ephesus, and Mitylene, all of which received him gladly. The Ephesians overthrew the Roman statues which had been erected in their cities—for which they paid the penalty not long afterward. On his return from Ionia Mithridates took the city of Stratonicea, imposed a pecuniary fine on it, and placed a garrison in it. Seeing a handsome virgin there he added her to his list of wives. Her name, if anybody wishes to know it, was Monima, the daughter of Philopœmen. Against those Magnesians, Paphlagonians, and Lycians who still opposed him he directed his generals to make war.

Such was the state of affairs with Mithridates. As soon as his outbreak and invasion of Asia were known at Rome they declared war against him, although they were occupied with grievous dissensions in the city and a formidable Social war, almost all parts of Italy having revolted one after another. When the consuls cast lots, the government of Asia and the Mithridatic war fell to Cornelius Sulla. As they had no money to defray his expenses they voted to sell the treasures that King Numa Pompilius had set apart for sacrifices to the gods; so great was their want of means at that time and so great their ambition for the commonwealth. A part of these treasures, sold hastily, brought 90000 pounds’ weight of gold and this was all they had to spend on so great a war. Moreover Sulla was detained a long time by the civil wars, as I have stated in my history of the same. In the meantime Mithridates built a large number of ships for an attack on Rhodes, and he wrote secretly to all his satraps and magistrates that on the thirtieth day thereafter they should set upon all Romans and Italians in their towns, and upon their wives and children and their domestics of Italian birth, kill them and throw their bodies out unburied, and share their goods with himself. He threatened to punish any who should bury the dead or conceal the living, and offered rewards to informers and to those who should kill persons in hiding, and freedom to slaves for betraying their masters. To debtors for killing money-lenders he offered release from one-half of their obligations. These secret orders Mithridates sent to all the cities at the same time. When the appointed day came calamities of various kinds befell the province of Asia, among which were the following:

The Ephesians tore fugitives, who had taken refuge in the temple of Artemis, from the very images of the goddess and slew them. The Pergameans shot with arrows those who had fled to the temple of Aesculapius, while they were still clinging to his statues. The Adramytteans followed those who sought to escape by swimming, into the sea, and killed them and drowned their children. The Caunii, who had been made subject to Rhodes after the war against Antiochus and had been lately liberated by the Romans, pursued the Italians who had taken refuge about the Vesta statue of the senate-house, tore them from the shrine, killed children before their mothers’ eyes, and then killed the mothers themselves and their husbands after them. The citizens of Tralles, in order to avoid the appearance of blood-guiltiness, hired a savage monster named Theophilus, of Paphlagonia, to do the work. He conducted the victims to the temple of Concord, and there murdered them, chopping off the hands of some who were embracing the sacred images. Such was the awful fate that befell the Romans and Italians throughout the province of Asia, men, women, and children, their freedmen and slaves, all who were of Italian blood; by which it was made very plain that it was quite as much hatred of the Romans as fear of Mithridates that impelled the Asiatics to commit these atrocities. But they paid a double penalty for their crime — one at the hands of Mithridates himself, who ill-treated them perfidiously not long afterward, and the other at the hands of Cornelius Sulla. In the meantime Mithridates crossed over to the island of Cos, where he was welcomed by the inhabitants and where he received, and afterward brought up in a royal way, a son of Alexander, the reigning sovereign of Egypt, who had been left there by his grand-mother, Cleopatra, together with a large sum of money. From the treasures of Cleopatra he sent vast wealth, works of art, precious stones, women’s ornaments, and a great deal of money to Pontus.

While these things were going on the Rhodians strengthened their walls and their harbor and erected engines of war everywhere, receiving some assistance from Telmessus and Lycia. All the Italians who escaped from Asia collected at Rhodes, among them Lucius Cassius, the proconsul of the province. When Mithridates approached with his fleet, the inhabitants destroyed the suburbs in order that they might not be of service to the enemy. Then they put to sea for a naval engagement with some of their ships ranged for an attack in front and some on the flank. Mithridates, who was sailing around in a quinquereme, ordered his ships to extend their wing out to sea and to quicken the rowing in order to surround the enemy, for they were fewer in number. The Rhodians were apprehensive of this manœuvre and retired slowly. Finally they turned about and took refuge in the harbor, closed the gates, and fought Mithridates from the walls. He encamped near the city and continually tried to gain entrance to the harbor, but failing to do so he waited for the arrival of his infantry from Asia. In the meantime there was continual skirmishing going on among the soldiers in ambush around the walls. As the Rhodians had the best of it in these affairs, they gradually plucked up courage and kept their ships well in hand in order to dart upon the enemy whenever they should discover an opportunity.

As one of the king’s merchantmen was moving near them under sail a Rhodian two-bank ship advanced against it. Many on both sides hastened to the rescue and a severe naval engagement took place. Mithridates outweighed his antagonists both in fury and in the multitude of his fleet, but the Rhodians circled around and rammed his ships with such skill that they took one of his triremes in tow with its crew and tackle and much spoil, and brought it into the harbor. Another time, when one of their quinqueremes had been taken by the enemy, the Rhodians, not knowing this fact, sent out six of their swiftest ships to look for it, under command of their admiral, Demagoras. Mithridates despatched twenty-five of his against them. Demagoras retired before them until sunset. When it began to grow dark and the king’s ships turned around to sail back, Demagoras fell upon them, sunk two, drove two others into Lycia, and returned home on the open sea by night. This was the result of the naval engagement, as unexpected to the Rhodians on account of the smallness of their force as to Mithridates on account of the largeness of his. In this engagement while the king was sailing about in his ship and urging on his men, an allied ship from Chios ran against his in the confusion with a severe shock. The king pretended not to mind it at the time, but later he punished the pilot and the lookout man, and conceived a hatred for all Chians.

About the same time the land forces of Mithridates set sail in merchant vessels and triremes, and a storm, blowing from Caunus, drove them toward Rhodes. The Rhodians promptly sailed out to meet them, fell upon them while they were still scattered and suffering from the effects of the tempest, captured some, rammed others, and burned others, and took about 400 prisoners. Thereupon Mithridates prepared for another naval engagement and siege at the same time. He built a sambuca, an immense machine for scaling walls, and mounted it on two ships. Some deserters showed him a hill that was easy to climb, where the temple of Zeus Atabyrius was situated, surrounded by a low wall. He placed a part of his army in ships by night, distributed scaling ladders to others, and commanded both parties to move silently until they should see a fire signal given from Mount Atabyrius; and then to make the greatest possible uproar, and some to attack the harbor and others the wall. Accordingly they approached in profound silence. The Rhodian sentries knew what was going on and lighted a fire. The army of Mithridates, thinking that this was the fire signal from Atabyrius, broke the silence with a loud shout, the scaling party and the naval contingent shouting all together. The Rhodians, not at all dismayed, answered the shout and rushed to the walls in crowds. The king’s forces accomplished nothing that night, and the next day they were beaten off.

The Rhodians were most dismayed by the sambuca, which was moved against the wall where the temple of Isis stands. It was operating with weapons of various kinds, both rams and projectiles. Soldiers in numerous small boats circled around it with ladders, ready to mount the wall by means of it. Nevertheless the Rhodians awaited its attack with firmness. Finally the sambuca collapsed of its own weight, and an apparition of Isis was seen hurling a great mass of fire down upon it. Mithridates despaired of his undertaking and retired from Rhodes. He then laid siege to Patara and began to cut down a grove dedicated to Latona, to get material for his machines, until he was warned in a dream to spare the sacred trees. Leaving Pelopidas to continue the war against the Lycians he sent 88 Archelaus to Greece to gain allies by persuasion or force according as he could. After this Mithridates committed most of his tasks to his generals, and applied himself to raising troops, making arms, and enjoying himself with his Stratonicean wife. He also held court to try those who were accused of conspiring against him, or of inciting revolution, or of favoring the Romans in any way.

While Mithridates was thus occupied the following events took place in Greece: Archelaus, sailing thither with abundant supplies and a large fleet, possessed himself by force and violence of Delos and other strongholds which had revolted from the Athenians. He slew 20,000 men in these places, most of whom were Italians, and turned the strongholds over to the Athenians. In this way, and by boasting about Mithridates and extravagantly praising him, he brought the Athenians into alliance with him. Archelaus sent them the sacred treasure of Delos by the hands of Aristion, an Athenian citizen, attended by 2000 soldiers to guard the money. These soldiers Aristion made use of to make himself master of the country, putting to death immediately some of those who favored the Romans and sending others to Mithridates. And these things he did although he professed to be a philosopher of the school of Epicurus. Nor was it only in Athens that men played the part of tyrants as did he and before him Critias and his fellow-philosophers. But in Italy, too, some of the Pythagoreans and those known as the Seven Wise Men in other parts of the Grecian world, who undertook to manage public affairs, governed more cruelly, and made themselves greater tyrants than ordinary despots; whence arose doubt and suspicion concerning other philosophers, whether their discourses about wisdom proceeded from a love of virtue or as a comfort in their poverty and idleness. We see many of these now, obscure and poverty-stricken, wearing the garb of philosophy as a matter of necessity, and railing bitterly at the rich and powerful, not because they have any real contempt for riches and power, but from envy of the possessors of the same. Those whom they speak ill of have much better reason for despising them. These things the reader should consider as spoken against the philosopher Aristion, who is the cause of this digression.

Archelaus brought over to the side of Mithridates the Achaeans, the Lacedaemonians, and all of Bœotia except Thespiae, to which he laid close siege. At the same time Metrophanes, who had been sent by Mithridates with another army, ravaged Etubcca and the territory of Demetrias and Magnesia, which states refused to espouse his cause. Bruttius advanced against him with a small force from Macedonia, had a naval fight with him, sunk one large ship and one hemiolia, and killed all who were in them while Metrophanes was looking on. The latter fled in terror and, as he had a favorable wind, Bruttius could not overtake him, but stormed Sciathos, which was a storehouse of plunder for barbarians, and crucified some of them who were slaves and cut off the hands of the freemen. Then he turned against Bœotia, having received reënforcements of 1000 horse and foot from Macedonia. Near Chaeronea he was engaged in a fight of three days’ duration with Archelaus and Aristion, which had an indecisive result. When the Lacedaemonians and Achaeans came to the aid of Archelaus and Aristion, Bruttius thought that he was not a match for all of them together and withdrew to the Piraeus until Archelaus came up with his fleet and seized that place also.

Sulla, who had been appointed general of the Mithridatic war by the Romans, now for the first time passed over to Greece with five legions and a few cohorts and troops of horse and straightway called for money, reënforcements and provisions from Aetolia and Thessaly. As soon as he considered himself strong enough he crossed over to In the Chiaramonti Museum, Rome. Considered by B Attica to attack Archelaus. As he was passing through the probable but not certain likeness country all Bœotia joined him except a few, and among others the great city of Thebes which had rather lightly taken sides with the Mithridateans against the Romans, but now even more nimbly changed from Archelaus to Sulla before coming to a trial of strength. When Sulla reached Attica he detached part of his army to lay siege to Aristion in Athens, and himself went down to attack the Piraeus, where Archelaus had taken shelter behind the wall with his forces. The height of the wall was about forty cubits and it was built of large square stones. It was the work of Pericles in the time of the Peloponnesian war, and as he rested his hope of victory on the Piraeus he made it as strong as possible. Notwithstanding the height of the walls Sulla planted his ladders against them at once. After inflicting and receiving much damage (for the Cappadocians bravely repelled his attack), he retired exhausted to Eleusis and Megara, where he built engines for a new attack upon the Piraeus and formed a plan for besieging it with mounds. Artifices and apparatus of all kinds, iron, catapults, and everything of that sort were supplied by Thebes. Sulla chopped down the grove of the Academy and constructed his largest engines there. He demolished the Long Walls, and used the stones, timber, and earth for building mounds.

Two Athenian slaves in the Piraeus — either because they favored the Romans or were looking out for their own safety in an emergency — wrote down everything that took place there, enclosed their writing in leaden balls, and threw them over to the Romans with slings. As this was done continually it came to the knowledge of Sulla, who gave his attention to the missives and found one which said, To-morrow the infantry will make a sally in front upon your workers, and the cavalry will attack the Roman army on both flanks. Sulla placed an adequate force in ambush and when the enemy dashed out with the thought that their movement would completely surprise him he gave them a greater surprise with his concealed force, killing many and driving the rest into the sea. This was the end of that enterprise. When the mounds began to rise Archelaus erected opposing towers and placed the greatest quantity of missiles on them. He sent for reënforcements from Chalcis and the other islands and armed his oarsmen, for he considered himself in extreme danger. As his army was superior in number to that of Sulla before, it now became much more so by these reënforcements. He then darted out in the middle of the night with torches and burned one of the tortoises and the machines alongside of it; but Sulla made new ones in ten days’ time and put them in the places of the former ones. Against these Arclielaus established a tower on that part of the wall.

Having received from Mithridates by sea a new army under command of Dromichaetes, Archelaus led all his troops out to battle. He distributed archers and slingers among them and ranged them close under the walls so that the guards above could reach the enemy with their missiles. Others were stationed around the gates with torches to watch their opportunity to make a sally. The battle remained doubtful a long time; each side yielding by turns. First the barbarians gave way until Archelaus rallied them and led them back. The Romans were so dismayed by this that they were put to flight next, until Murena ran up and rallied them. Just then another legion, which had returned from gathering wood, together with some soldiers who had been disgraced, finding a hot fight in progress, made a powerful charge on the Mithridateans killed about 2000 of them and drove the rest inside the walls. Archelaus tried to rally them again and stood his ground so long that he was shut out and had to be pulled up by ropes. In consideration of their splendid behavior Sulla removed the stigma from those who had been disgraced and gave large rewards to the others.

Now winter came on and Sulla established his camp at Eleusis and protected it by a deep ditch, extending from the high ground to the sea so that the enemy’s horse could not readily reach him. While he was prosecuting this work fighting took place daily, now at the ditch, now at the walls of the enemy, who frequently came out and assailed the Romans with stones, javelins, and leaden balls. Sulla, being in need of ships, sent to Rhodes to obtain them, but the Rhodians were not able to send them because Mithridates controlled the sea. He then ordered Lucullus, a distinguished Roman who later succeeded Sulla as commander in this war, to proceed secretly to Alexandria and Syria, and procure a fleet from those kings and cities that were skilled in nautical affairs, and to bring with it the Rhodian naval contingent also. Lucullus had no fear of the hostile fleet. He embarked in a fast sailing vessel and, by changing from one ship to another in order to conceal his movements, arrived at Alexandria.

Meanwhile the traitors in the Piraeus threw another message over the walls, saying that Archelaus would on that very night send a convoy of soldiers with provisions to the city of Athens, which was suffering from hunger. Sulla laid a trap for them and captured both the provisions and the soldiers. On the same day, near Chalcis, Minutius wounded Neoptolemus, Mithridates’ other general, killed 1500 of his men, and took a still larger number prisoners. Not long after, by night, while the guards on the walls of the Piraeus were asleep, the Romans took some ladders from the engines near by, mounted the walls, and killed the guards at that place. Thereupon some of the barbarians abandoned their posts and fled to the harbor, thinking that all the walls had been captured. Others, recovering their courage, slew the leader of the assailing party and hurled the remainder over the wall. Still others darted out through the gates and almost burned one of the two Roman towers, and would have burned it had not Sulla ridden up from the camp and saved it by a hard fight lasting all that night and the next day. Then the barbarians retired. Archelaus planted another great tower on the wall opposite the Roman tower and these two assailed each other, discharging all kinds of missiles constantly until Sulla, by means of his catapults, each of which discharged twenty of the heaviest leaden balls at one volley, had killed a large number of the enemy, and had so shaken the tower of Archelaus that it was rendered untenable, and the latter was compelled, by fear of its destruction, to draw it back with all speed.

Meanwhile famine pressed more and more on the city of Athens, and the ball throwers in the Piraeus gave information that provisions would be sent thither by night. Archelaus suspected that some traitor was giving information to the enemy about his convoys. Accordingly, at the same time that he sent it, he stationed a force at the gates with torches to make an assault on the Roman works if Sulla should attack the provision train. So it turned out that Sulla captured the train and Archelaus burned some of the Roman works. At the same time Arcathias, the son of Mithridates, with another army invaded Macedonia and without difficulty overcame the small Roman force there, subjugated the whole country, appointed satraps to govern it, and advanced against Sulla, but was taken sick and died near Tisaeus. In the meantime the famine in Athens became very severe. Sulla built stockades around it to prevent anybody from going out so that, by reason of their numbers, the hunger should be more severe upon those who were shut in.

When Sulla had raised his mound to the proper height at the Piraeus he planted his engines on it. But Archelaus undermined the mound and carried away the earth, the Romans for a long time suspecting nothing. Suddenly the mound sank down. Quickly understanding the state of things, the Romans withdrew their engines and filled up the mound, and, following the enemy’s example, began in like manner to undermine the walls. The diggers met each other underground, and fought there with swords and spears as well as they could in the darkness. While this was going on, Sulla pounded the wall with rams erected on the tops of mounds until part of it fell down. Then he hastened to burn the neighboring tower, and discharged a large number of fire-bearing missiles against it, and ordered his bravest soldiers to mount the ladders. Both sides fought bravely, but the tower was burned. Another small part of the wall was thrown down also, over against which Sulla at once stationed a guard. Having now undermined a section of the wall, so that it was only sustained by wooden beams, he placed a great quantity of sulphur, hemp, and pitch under it, and set fire to the whole at once. The walls fell — now here, now there — carrying the defenders down with them. This great and unexpected crash demoralized the forces guarding the walls everywhere, as each one expected that the ground would sink under him next. Fear and loss of confidence kept them turning this way and that way, so that they offered only a feeble resistance to the enemy.

Against the forces thus demoralized Sulla kept up an unceasing fight, continually changing the active part of his own army, bringing up fresh soldiers with ladders, one division after another, with shout and cheer, urging them forward with threats and encouragement at the same time, and telling them that victory would shortly be theirs. Archelaus, on the other hand, brought up new forces in place of his discouraged ones. He, too, changed their labor continually, cheering and urging them on, and telling them that their salvation would soon be secured. A high degree of zeal and courage was excited in both armies again and the fight became very severe, the slaughter being substantially equal on both sides. Finally Sulla, being the attacking party and therefore soonest exhausted, sounded a retreat and led his forces back, praising many of his men for their bravery. Archelaus forthwith repaired the damage to his wall by night, protecting a large part of it with a lunette curving inward. Sulla attacked this newly built wall at once with his whole army, thinking that as it was still moist and weak he could easily demolish it, but as he had to work in a narrow space and was exposed to missiles from above, both in front and flank, as is usual with crescent-shaped fortifications, he was again worn out. Then he abandoned all idea of taking the Piraeus by assault and established a siege around it in order to reduce it by famine.

Knowing that the defenders of Athens were severely pressed by hunger, that they had devoured all their cattle, boiled the hides and skins, and licked what they could get therefrom, and that some had even partaken of human flesh, Sulla directed his soldiers to encircle the city with a ditch so that the inhabitants might not escape secretly, even one by one. This done, he brought up his ladders and at the same time began to break through the wall. The feeble defenders were soon put to flight, and the Romans rushed into the city. A great and pitiless slaughter ensued in Athens, the inhabitants, for want of nourishment, being too weak to fly. Sulla ordered an indiscriminate massacre, not sparing women or children. He was angry that they had so suddenly joined the barbarians without cause, and had displayed such violent animosity toward himself. Most of the Athenians when they heard the order given rushed upon the swords of the slayers voluntarily. A few had taken their feeble course to the Acropolis, among them Aristion, who had burned the Odeum, so that Sulla might not have the timber in it at hand for storming the Acropolis. Sulla forbade the burning of the city, but allowed the soldiers to plunder it. In many houses they found human flesh prepared for food. The next day Sulla sold the slaves at auction. To the freemen who had escaped the slaughter of the previous night, a very small number, he promised their liberty but took away their right as voters and electors because they had made war upon him. The same terms were extended to their offspring.

In this way did Athens have her full of horrors. Sulla stationed a guard around the Acropolis, to whom Aristion and his company were soon compelled by hunger and thirst to surrender. Sulla inflicted the penalty of death on Aristion and his body-guard, and upon all who exercised any authority or who had done anything whatever contrary to the rules laid down for them after the first capture of Greece by the Romans. Sulla pardoned the rest and gave to all of them substantially the same laws that had been previously established for them by the Romans. About forty pounds of gold and 600 pounds of silver was obtained from the Acropolis, — but these events at the Acropolis took place somewhat later.

As soon as Athens was taken Sulla, impatient at the long siege of the Piraeus, brought up rams, and projectiles of all kinds, and a large force of men, who battered the walls under the shelter of tortoises, and numerous cohorts who hurled javelins and shot arrows in vast numbers at the defenders on the walls in order to drive them back. He knocked down a part of the newly built lunette, which was still moist and weak. Archelaus had anticipated this from the first and had built several others like it inside, so that Sulla came upon one wall after another, and found his task endless. But he pushed on with tireless energy, he relieved his men often, he was ubiquitous among them, urging them on and showing them that their entire hope of reward for their labors depended on accomplishing this small remainder. The soldiers, too, believing that this would in fact be the end of their toils, and spurred to their work by the love of glory and the thought that it would be a splendid achievement to conquer such walls as these, pressed forward vigorously. Finally, Archelaus was dumbfounded by their senseless and mad persistence, and abandoned the walls to them and betook himself to that part of the Piraeus which was most strongly fortified and enclosed on all sides by the sea. As Sulla had no ships he could not attack it.

Thence Archelaus withdrew to Thessaly by way of Bœotia and drew what was left of his entire forces together at Thermopyle, both his own and those brought by Dromichiaetes. He also united with his command the army that had invaded Macedonia under Arcathias, the son of King Mithridates, which was fresh and at nearly its full strength, and had lately received recruits from Mithridates; for he never ceased sending forward reinforcements. While Archelaus was hastily gathering these forces Sulla burned the Piraeus, which had given him more trouble than the city of Athens, not sparing the arsenal, or the navy yard, or any other of its famous belongings. Then he marched against Archelaus, proceeding also by way of Bœotia. As they neared each other the forces of Archelaus just from Thermopyle advanced into Phocis, consisting of Thracian, Pontic, Scythian, Cappadocian, Bithynian, Galatian, and Phrygian troops, and others from Mithridates’ newly acquired territory, in all 120,000 men. Each nationality had its own general, but Archelaus had supreme command over all. Sulla’s forces were Italians and some Greeks and Macedonians, who had lately deserted Archelaus and come over to him, and a few others from the surrounding country, but they were not one-third the number of the enemy.

When they had taken position opposite each other Archelaus repeatedly led out his forces and offered battle. Sulla hesitated on account of the nature of the ground and the numbers of the enemy. When Archelaus moved toward Chalcis Sulla followed him closely, watching for a favorable time and place. When he saw the enemy encamped in a rocky region near Chaeronea, where there was no chance of escape for the vanquished, he took possession of a broad plain near by and drew up his forces in such a way that he could compel Archelaus to fight whether he wanted to or not, and where the slope of the plain favored the Romans either in advancing or retreating. Archelaus was hedged in by rocks which, in a battle, would not allow his whole army to act in concert, as he could not bring them together by reason of the unevenness of the ground; and if they were routed their flight would be impeded by the rocks. Relying for these reasons on his advantage of position Sulla moved forward in such a way that the enemy’s superiority of numbers should not be of any service to him. Archelaus did not dream of coming to an engagement at that time, for which reason he had been careless in choosing the place for his camp. Now that the Romans were advancing he perceived sorrowfully and too late the badness of his position, and he sent forward a detachment of horse to prevent the movement. The detachment was put to flight and shattered among the rocks. He next charged with sixty chariots, hoping to sever and break in pieces the formation of the legions by the shock. The Romans opened their ranks and the chariots were carried through by their own momentum to the rear, and before they could turn back they were surrounded and destroyed by the javelins of the rear guard.

Although Archelaus might have fought safely from his fortified camp, where the crags would perhaps have defended him, he hastily led out his vast multitude of men who had not expected to fight here, and drew them up, in a place that had proved much too narrow, because Sulla was already approaching. He first made a powerful charge with his horse, cut the Roman formation in two, and, by reason of the smallness of their numbers, completely surrounded both parts. The Romans turned their faces to the enemy on all sides and fought bravely. The divisions of Galba and Hortensius suffered most since Archelaus led the battle against them in person, and the barbarians fighting under the eye of the commander were spurred by emulation to the highest pitch of valor. But Sulla moved to their aid with a large body of horse and Archelaus, feeling sure that it was Sulla who was approaching, for he saw the standards of the commander-in-chief, and a greater cloud of dust arising, released his grasp and began to resume his first position. Sulla, leading the best part of his horse and picking up two new cohorts that had been placed in reserve, struck the enemy before they had executed their manœuvre and formed a solid front. He threw them into confusion, put them to flight, and pursued them. While victory was dawning on that side, Murena, who commanded the left wing, was not idle. Chiding his soldiers for their remissness he, too, dashed upon the enemy valiantly and put them to flight.

When Archelaus’ two wings gave way the centre no longer held its ground, but took to promiscuous flight. Then everything that Sulla had foreseen befell the enemy. Not having room to turn around, or an open country for flight, they were driven by their pursuers among the rocks. Some of them rushed into the hands of the Romans. Others with more wisdom fled toward their own camp. Archelaus placed himself in front of them and barred the entrance, and ordered them to turn and face the enemy, thus betraying the greatest inexperience of the exigencies of war. They obeyed him with alacrity, but as they no longer had either generals to lead, or officers to align them, or standards to show where they belonged, but were scattered in disorderly rout, and had no room either to fly or to fight, the pursuit having brought them into their very narrowest place, they were killed without resistance, some by the enemy, upon whom they could not retaliate, and others by their own friends in the jam and confusion. Again they fled toward the gates of the camp, around which they became congested. They up braided the gate-keepers. They appealed to them in the name of their country’s gods and their common relationship, and reproached them that they were slaughtered not so much by the swords of the enemy as by the indifference of their friends. Finally Archelaus, after more delay than was necessary, opened the gates and received the disorganized runaways. When the Romans observed this they gave a great cheer, burst into the camp with the fugitives, and made their victory complete.

Archelaus and the rest, who made their escape singly, came together at Chalcis. Not more than 10,000 of the 120,000 remained. The Roman loss was only fifteen, and two of these turned up afterward. Such was the result of the battle of Chaeronea between Sulla and Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, to which the sagacity of Sulla and the blundering of Archelaus contributed in equal measure. Sulla captured a large number of prisoners and a great quantity of arms and spoils, the useless part of which he put in a heap. Then he girded himself according to the Roman custom and burned it as a sacrifice to the gods of war. After giving his army a short rest he hastened with his best troops after Archelaus, but as the Romans had no ships the latter sailed securely among the islands and ravaged the coasts. He landed at Zacynthus and laid siege to it, but being attacked in the night by a party of Romans who were sojourning there he reembarked in a hurry and returned to Chalcis more like a robber than a warrior.

When Mithridates heard of this great disaster he was astonished and terror-stricken, as was natural. Nevertheless, he proceeded with all haste to collect a new army from all his subject nations. Thinking that certain persons would be likely to turn against him on account of his defeat, either now or later, if they should find a good chance, he arrested all suspects before the war should become sharper. First, he put to death the tetrarchs of Galatia with their wives and children, not only those who were united with him as friends, but those who were not his subjects—all except three who escaped. Some of these he took by stratagem, the others he slew one night at a banquet. He believed that none of them would be faithful to him if Sulla should come near. He confiscated their property, established garrisons in their towns, and appointed Eumachus satrap of the nation. But the tetrarchs who had escaped raised an army from the country people forthwith, expelled him and his garrisons, and drove them out of Galatia, so that Mithridates had nothing left of that country except the money he had seized. Being angry with the inhabitants of Chios, one of whose vessels had accidentally run against the royal ship in the naval battle near Rhodes, he first confiscated the goods of all Chians who had fled to Sulla, and then sent persons to inquire what property in Chios belonged to Romans. For a third move, his general, Zenobius, who was conducting an army to Greece, seized the walls of Chios and all the fortified places by night, stationed guards at the gates, and made proclamation that all strangers should remain quiet, and that the Chians should repair to the assembly so that he might give them a message from the king. When they had come together he said that the king was suspicious of the city on account of the Roman faction in it, but that he would be satisfied if they would deliver up their arms and give the children of their principal families as hostages. Seeing that their city was already in his hands they gave both. Zenobius sent them to Erythrae and told the Chians that the king would write to them directly.

A letter came from Mithridates of the following tenor: You favor the Romans even now, and many of your citizens are still sojourning with them. You are reaping the fruits of Roman property of which you do not make returns to us. Your trireme ran against and shook my ship in the battle before Rhodes. I willingly imputed that fault to the pilots alone, hoping that you would observe the rules of safety and remain my submissive subjects. Now you have secretly sent your chief men to Sulla, and you have never proved or declared that this was done without public authority, as was the duty of those who were not cooperating with them. Although my friends consider that those who conspire against my government, and who intend to conspire against my person, ought to suffer death, I will let you off with a fine of 2000 talents. Such was the purport of the letter. The Chians wanted to send legates to the king, but Zenobius would not allow it. As they were disarmed and had given up the children of their principal families, and a large barbarian army was in possession of the city, they groaned aloud, but they collected the temple ornaments and the women’s jewellery to the full amount of 2000 talents. When this sum had been made up Zenobius accused them of giving him short weight and summoned them to the theatre. Then he stationed his army with drawn swords around the theatre itself and along the streets leading from it to the sea. Then he led the Chians one by one out of the theatre and put them in ships, the men separate from the women and children, and all treated with indignity by their barbarian captors. In this way they were dragged to Mithridates, who packed them off to Pontus on the Euxine. Such was the calamity that befell the citizens of Chios.

When Zenobius approached Ephesus with his army, the citizens ordered him to leave his arms at the gates and come in with only a few attendants. He obeyed the order and made a visit to Philopœmen (the father of Monima, the favorite wife of Mithridates), whom the latter had appointed overseer of Ephesus, and summoned the Ephesians to the assembly. They expected nothing good from him, and adjourned the meeting till the next day. During the night, however, they met for mutual consultation and encouragement, after which they cast Zenobius into prison and put him to death. They then manned the walls, put the citizens in training, brought in supplies from the country, and put the city in a state of complete defence. When the people of Tralles, Hypaepa, Metropolis, and several other towns heard of this they feared lest they should meet the fate of Chios, and followed the example of Ephesus. Mithridates sent an army against the revolters and inflicted terrible punishments on those whom he captured, but as he feared other defections, he gave freedom to the Greek cities, proclaimed the cancelling of debts, gave the right of citizenship to all sojourners therein, and freed the slaves. He did this hoping (as indeed it turned out) that the debtors, sojourners, and slaves would consider their new privileges secure only under the rule of Mithridates, and would therefore be well disposed toward him. In the meantime Mynnio and Philotimus of Smyrna, Cleistheness and Asclepiodotus of Lesbos, all of them the king’s intimates (Asclepiodotus had once entertained him as a guest) joined in a conspiracy against Mithridates. Of this conspiracy Asclepiodotus himself became the informer, and in order to confirm his story he arranged that the king should conceal himself under a couch and hear what Mynnio said. The plot being thus revealed the conspirators were put to death with torture, and many others suffered from suspicion of similar designs. Thus eighty citizens of Pergamus were caught taking counsel together to like purpose, and others in other cities. The king sent spies everywhere who denounced their own enemies, and in this way about 1500 men lost their lives. Some of these accusers were captured by Sulla a little later and put to death, others committed suicide, and still others took refuge with Mithridates himself in Pontus.

While these events were taking place in Asia, Mithridates assembled an army of 80,000 men, which Dorylaus led to Archelaus in Greece, who still had 10,000 of his former force remaining. Sulla had taken a position against Archelaus near Orchomenus. When he saw the great number of the enemy’s horse coming up, he dug a number of ditches through the plain ten feet wide, and drew up his army to meet Archelaus when the latter advanced. The Romans fought badly because they were in terror of the enemy’s cavalry. Sulla rode hither and thither a long time, encouraging and threatening his men. Failing to bring them up to their duty in this way, he leaped from his horse, seized a standard, ran out between the two armies with his shield-bearers, exclaiming, If you are ever asked, Romans, where you abandoned Sulla, your general, say that it was at the battle of Orchomenus. When the officers saw his peril they darted from their own ranks to his aid, and the troops, moved by the sense of shame, followed and drove the enemy back in their turn. This was the beginning of the victory. Sulla again leaped upon his horse and rode among his troops praising and encouraging them until the end of the battle. The enemy lost 15,000 men, about 10,000 of whom were cavalry, and among them Diogenes, the son of Archelaus. The infantry fled to their camps.

Sulla feared lest Archelaus should escape him again, because he had no ships, and take refuge in Chalcis as before. Accordingly he stationed night watchmen at intervals over the whole plain, and the next day he enclosed Archelaus with a ditch at a distance of less than 600 feet from his camp, to prevent his escape. Then he appealed to his army to finish the small remainder of the war, since the enemy were no longer even making show of resistance; and so he led them against the camp of Archelaus. Like scenes transpired among the enemy, with a change of feeling necessarily, the officers hurrying hither and thither, representing the imminent danger, and upbraiding the men if they should not be able to defend the camp against assailants inferior in numbers. There was a rush and a shout on each side, followed by many valiant deeds on the part of both. The Romans, protected by their shields, were demolishing a certain angle of the camp when the barbarians leaped down from the parapet inside and took their stand around this corner with drawn swords to ward off the invaders. No one dared to enter until the military tribune, Basillus, first leaped over and killed the man in front of him. Then the whole army dashed after him. The flight and slaughter of the barbarians followed. Some were captured and others driven into the neighboring lake, and, not knowing how to swim, perished while begging for mercy in barbarian speech, not understood by their slayers. Archelaus hid in a marsh, where he found a small boat by which he reached Chalcis. Whatever remained of the Mithridatean forces in separate detachments he summoned thither with all speed.

The next day Sulla decorated the tribune, Basillus, and gave rewards for valor to others. He ravaged Boeotia which was continually changing from one side to the other, and then moved to Thessaly and went into winter quarters, and waited for Lucullus and his fleet. As he had no tidings of Lucullus he began to build ships for himself. At this juncture Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius, his rivals at home, caused him to be declared an enemy of the Roman people, destroyed his houses in the city and the country, and murdered his friends. This, however, did not weaken him in the least, since he had a zealous and devoted army. Cinna sent Flaccus, whom he had caused to be chosen as his colleague in the consulship, to Asia with two legions to take charge of that province and of the Mithridatic war in place of Sulla, who was now declared a public enemy. As Flaccus was inexperienced in the art of war, a man of senatorial rank named Fimbria, who was skilled in military affairs, accompanied him as a volunteer. As they were sailing from Brundusium many of their ships were destroyed by a tempest, and some that had gone in advance were burned by a new army that had been sent forward by Mithridates. Moreover, Flaccus was a rascal, and, being severe in punishments and greedy of gain, was hated by the whole army. Accordingly, a part of them who had been sent ahead into Thessaly went over to Sulla, but Fimbria kept the rest of them from deserting, because they considered him more humane and a better general than Flaccus.

Once while he was at an inn he had a dispute with the quaestor about their lodgings. Flaccus, who acted as arbiter between them, showed little consideration for Fimbria, and the latter was vexed and threatened to go back to Rome. Accordingly Flaccus appointed a successor to perform the duties which he then had charge of. Fimbria watched his opportunity, and when Flaccus had sailed for Chalcedon he first took the fasces away from Thermus, whom Flaccus had left as his praetor, as though the army had conferred the command upon himself, and when Flaccus returned soon afterward and was angry with him, Fimbria compelled him to fly. Flaccus took refuge in a certain house and in the night-time climbed over the wall and fled first to Chalcedon and afterward to Nicomedia, and closed the gates of the city. Fimbria overcame the place, found him concealed in a well, and killed him, although he was a Roman consul and the commanding officer of this war, and Fimbria himself was only a private citizen who had gone with him as an invited friend. Fimbria cut off his head and flung it into the sea, and left the remainder of his body unburied. Then he appointed himself commander of the army and fought several successful battles with the son of Mithridates. He drove the king himself into Pergamus. The latter escaped from Pergamus to Pitane. Fimbria followed him and began to enclose the place with a ditch. Then the king fled to Mitylene on a ship.

Fimbria traversed the province of Asia, punished the Cappadocian faction, and devasted the territory of the towns that did not open their gates to him. The inhabitants of Ilium, who were besieged by Fimbria, appealed to Sulla for aid. The latter said that he would come, and told them to say to Fimbria meanwhile that they had intrusted themselves to Sulla. Fimbria, when he heard this, congratulated them on being already friends of the Roman people, and ordered them to admit him within their walls because he also was a Roman. He spoke in an ironical way also of the relationship existing between Ilium and Rome. When he was admitted he made an indiscriminate slaughter and burned the whole town. Those who had been in communication with Sulla he tortured in various ways. He spared neither the sacred objects nor the persons who had fled to the temple of Athena, but burned them with the temple itself. He demolished the walls, and the next day made a search to see whether anything of the place was left standing. So much worse was the city now treated by one of its relations than it had been by Agamemnon, that not a house, not a temple, not a statue was left. Some say that the image of Athena, called the Palladium, which was supposed to have fallen from heaven, was then found unbroken, the falling walls having formed an arch over it; and this may be true unless Diomedes and Ulysses carried it away from Ilium during the Trojan war. Thus was Ilium destroyed by Fimbria at the close of the 173d Olympiad. Some people think that 1050 years had intervened between this calamity and that which it suffered at the hands of Agamnemnon.

When Mithridates heard of his defeat at Orchomenus he reflected on the immense number of men he had sent into Greece from the beginning, and the continual and swift disaster that had overtaken them. Accordingly, he sent word to Archelaus to make peace on the best terms possible. The latter had an interview with Sulla in which he said, King Mithridates was your father’s friend, O Sulla. He became involved in this war through the rapacity of other Roman generals. He will avail himself of your virtuous character to make peace, if you will grant him fair terms. As Sulla had no ships; as his enemies at Rome had sent him no money, nor anything else, but had declared him an outlaw; as he had already spent the money which he had taken from the Pythian, Olympian, and Epidauric temples, in return for which he had assigned to them half of the territory of Thebes on account of its frequent defections; and because he was in a hurry to lead his army fresh and unimpaired against the hostile faction at home, he assented to the proposal, and said, If injustice was done to Mithridates, O Archelaus, he ought to have sent an embassy to show how he was wronged, instead of which he put himself in the wrong by overrunning such a vast territory belonging to others, killing such a vast number of people, seizing the public and sacred funds of cities, and confiscating the private property of those whom he destroyed. He has been just as perfidious to his own friends as to us, many of whom he has put to death, including the tetrarchs whom he had brought together at a banquet, and their wives and children, although they had committed no hostile act. Toward us he was moved by an inborn enmity rather than by any necessity for war, visiting every possible calamity upon the Italians throughout Asia, torturing and murdering all of our race, together with their wives, children, and servants. Such hatred did this man bear toward Italy, who now pretends friendship for my father!—a friendship which ye did not call to mind until I had destroyed 160,000 of your troops.

Instead of treating for peace we ought to be absolutely implacable toward him, but for your sake I will undertake to obtain his pardon from Rome if he actually repents. But if he is playing the hypocrite again, I advise you, Archelaus, to look out for yourself. Consider how matters stand at present between you and him. Bear in mind how he has treated his other friends and how we treated Eumenes and Masinissa. While he was yet speaking, Archelaus rejected the offer with indignation, saying that he would never betray one who had put an army under his command. I hope, he said, to come to an agreement with you if you offer moderate terms. After a short interval Sulla said, If Mithridates will deliver to us the entire fleet in your possession; if he will surrender our generals and ambassadors and all prisoners, deserters, and runaway slaves, and send back to their homes the people of Chios and all others whom he has dragged off to Pontus; if he will remove his garrison from all places except those that he held before the outbreak of hostilities; if he will pay the cost of the war incurred on his account, and remain content with his ancestral dominions,—I shall hope to persuade the Romans not to remember the injuries he has done them. Such were the terms which he offered. Archelaus at once withdrew his garrison from all the places he held and referred the other conditions to the king. In order to make use of his leisure in the meantime, Sulla marched against the Eneti, the Dardani, and the Sinti, tribes on the border of Macedonia, who were continually invading that country, and devasted their territory. In this way he exercised his soldiers and enriched them at the same time.

The ambassadors of Mithridates returned with ratifications of all the terms except those relating to Paphlagonia, and they added that Mithridates could obtain better conditions, if he should negotiate with your other general, Fimbria. Sulla was indignant that he should be brought into such comparison and said that he would bring Fimbria to punishment, and would go himself to Asia and see whether Mithridates wanted peace or war. Having spoken thus he marched through Thrace to Cypsella after having sent Lucullus forward to Abydus, for Lucullus had arrived at last, having run the risk of capture by pirates several times. He had collected a sort of a fleet composed of ships from Cyprus, Phoenicia, Rhodes, and Pamphylia, and had ravaged much of the enemy’s coast, and had skirmished with the ships of Mithridates on the way. Then Sulla advanced from Cypsella and Mithridates from Pergamus, and they met in a conference. Each went with a small force to a plain in sight of the two armies. Mithridates began by discoursing of his own and his father’s friendship and alliance with the Romans. Then he accused the Roman ambassadors, committeemen, and generals of doing him injuries by putting Ariobarzanes on the throne of Cappadocia, depriving him of Phrygia, and allowing Nicomedes to wrong him. And all this, he said, they did for money, taking it from me and from them by turns; for there is nothing of which most of you are so liable to accusation, O Romans, as the love of lucre. When war had broken out through the acts of your generals all that I did was in self-defence, and was the result of necessity rather than of intention.

When Mithridates had ceased speaking Sulla replied: Although you called us here, he said, for a different purpose, namely, to accept our terms of peace, I shall not refuse to speak briefly of those matters. I restored Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia by decree of the Senate when I was governor in Cilicia, and you obeyed the decree. You ought to have opposed it and given your reasons then, or forever after held your peace. Manius gave Phrygia to you for a bribe, which was a crime on the part of both of you. By the very fact of your getting it by bribery you confess that you had no right to it. Manius was tried at Rome for other acts that he had done for money and the Senate annulled them all. For this reason they decided, not that Phyrgia, which had been given to you wrongfully, should be made tributary to Rome, but should be free. If we who had taken it by war did not think best to govern it, by what right could you hold it? Nicomedes charges that you sent against him an assassin named Alexander, and then Socrates Chrestus, a rival claimant of the kingdom, and that it was to avenge these wrongs that he invaded your territory. However, if he wronged you, you ought to have sent an embassy to Rome and waited for an answer. But although you took swift vengeance on Nicomedes, why did you attack Ariobarzanes, who had not harmed you? When you drove him out of his kingdom you imposed upon the Romans, who were there, the necessity of putting him back. By preventing them from doing so you brought on the war. You had meditated war a long time, because you hoped to rule the whole world if you could conquer the Romans, and the reasons you tell of were mere pretexts to cover your real intent. The proof of this is that you, although not yet at war with any nation, sought the alliance of the Thracians, Sarmatians, and Scythians, sought aid from the neighboring kings, built a navy, and enlisted pilots and helmsmen.

The time you chose convicts you of treachery most of all. When you heard that Italy had revolted from us you seized the occasion when we were occupied to fall upon Ariobarzanes, Nicomedes, Galatia, and Paphlagonia, and finally upon our Asiatic province. When you had taken them you committed all sorts of outrages on the cities, appointing slaves and debtors to rule over some of them, and freeing slaves and cancelling debts in others. In the Greek cities you destroyed 1600 men on one false accusation. You brought the tetrarchs of Galatia together at a banquet and slew them. You butchered or drowned all residents of Italian blood in one day, including mothers and babes, not sparing even those who had fled to the temples. What cruelty, what impiety, what boundless hate did you exhibit toward us! After you had confiscated the property of all your victims you crossed over to Europe with great armies, although we had forbidden the invasion of Europe to all the kings of Asia. You overran our province of Macedonia and deprived the Greeks of their freedom. Nor did you begin to repent and tell Archelaus to intercede for you, until I had recovered Macedonia and delivered Greece from your grasp, and destroyed 160,000 of your soldiers, and taken your camps with all their belongings. I am astonished that you should now seek to justify the acts for which you asked pardon through Archelaus. If you feared me at a distance, do you think that I have come into your neighborhood to have a debate with you? The time for that passed by when you took up arms against us, and we vigorously repelled your assaults and repelled them to the end. While Sulla was still speaking with vehemence the king yielded to his fears and consented to the terms that had been offered through Archelaus. He delivered up the ships and everything else that had been required, and went back to his paternal kingdom of Pontus as his sole possession. And thus the first war between Mithridates and the Romans came to an end.

Sulla now advanced within two stades of Fimbria and ordered him to deliver up his army since he held the command contrary to law. Fimbria replied jestingly that Sulla himself did not now hold a lawful command. Sulla drew a line of circumvallation around Fimbria, and many of the latter’s soldiers deserted openly. Fimbria called the rest of them together and urged them to stand by him. When they refused to fight against their fellow-citizens he rent his garments and besought them man by man. As they still turned away from him, and still more of them deserted, he went around among the tents of the tribunes, bought some of them with money, called these to the assembly again, and got them to swear that they would stand by him. Those who had been suborned exclaimed that all ought to be called up by name to take the oath. He summoned those who were under obligations to him for past favors. The first name called was that of Nonius, who had been his close companion. When even he refused to take the oath Fimbria drew his sword and threatened to kill him, and would have done so had he not been alarmed by the outcry of the others and compelled to desist. Then he hired a slave, with money and the promise of freedom, to go to Sulla as a pretended deserter and assassinate him. As the slave was nearing his task he became frightened, and thus fell under suspicion; was arrested and confessed. Sulla’s soldiers who were stationed around Fimbria’s camp were filled with anger and contempt for him. They reviled him and nicknamed him Athenio—a man who was once a king of fugitive slaves in Sicily for a few days.

Thereupon Fimbria in despair went to the line of circumvallation and asked for a colloquy with Sulla. The latter sent Rutilius instead. Fimbria was disappointed at the outset that he was not deemed worthy of an interview, although it had been given to the enemy. When he begged pardon for an offence due to his youth, Rutilius promised that Sulla would allow him to go away in safety by sea if he would take ship from the province of Asia, of which Sulla was proconsul. Fimbria said that he had another and better route. He went to Pergamus, entered into the temple of Aesculapius, and stabbed himself with his sword. As the wound was not mortal he ordered a slave to drive the weapon in. The latter killed his master and then himself. So perished Fimbria, who next to Mithridates had most sorely afflicted Asia. Sull gave his body to his freedmen for burial, adding that he would not imitate Cinna and Marius, who had deprived many in Rome of their lives and of burial after death. The army of Fimbria came over to him, and he exchanged pledges with it and joined it with his own. Then lie directed Curio to restore Nicomedes to Bithynia and Ariobarzanes to Cappadocia and reported everything to the Senate, ignoring the fact that he had been voted an enemy.

Having settled the affairs of Asia, Sulla bestowed freedom on the inhabitants of Ilium, Chios, Lycia, Rhodes, Magnesia, and some others, either as a reward for their cooperation, or a recompense for what they had bravely suffered on his account, and inscribed them as friends of the Roman people. Then he distributed his army among the remaining towns and issued a proclamation that the slaves who had been freed by Mithridates should at once return to their masters. As many disobeyed and some of the cities revolted, several massacres ensued, of both free men and slaves, on various pretexts. The walls of many towns were demolished. Many others were plundered and their inhabitants sold into slavery. The Cappadocian faction, both men and cities, were severely punished, and especially the Ephesians, who, with servile adulation of the king, had treated the Roman offerings in their temples with indignity. After this a proclamation was sent around commanding the principal citizens to come to Ephesus on a certain day to meet Sulla. When they had assembled Sulla addressed them from the tribune as follows:—

We first came to Asia with an army when Antiochus, king of Syria, was despoiling you. We drove him out and fixed the boundaries of his dominions beyond the river Halys and Mount Taurus. We did not retain possession of you when we had delivered you from him, but set you free, except that we awarded a few places to Eumenes and the Rhodians, our allies in the war, not as tributaries, but as clients. The proof of this is that when the Lycians complained of the Rhodians we deprived them of their authority. Such was our conduct toward you. You, on the other hand, when Attalus Philometor had left his kingdom to us in his will, gave aid to Aristonicus against us for four years. When he was captured most of you, under the impulse of necessity and fear, returned to your duty. Notwithstanding all this, after a period of twenty-four years, during which you had attained to great prosperity and embellishment, public and private, you again became puffed up by ease and luxury and took the opportunity, while we were preoccupied in Italy, some of you to call in Mithridates and others to join him when he came. Most infamous of all, you obeyed the order he gave to kill all the Italians in your communities, including women and children, in one day. You did not even spare those who fled to the temples dedicated to your own gods. You have received some punishment for this crime from Mithridates himself, who broke faith with you and gave you your fill of rapine and slaughter, redistributed your lands, cancelled debts, freed your slaves, appointed tyrants over some of you, and committed robberies everywhere by land and sea; so that you learned immediately by experiment and comparison what kind of defender you chose instead of your former ones. The instigators of these crimes paid some penalty to us also. It is necessary, too, that some penalty should be inflicted upon you in common, as you have been guilty in common, and something corresponding to your deserts. But may the Romans never even conceive of impious slaughter, indiscriminate confiscation, servile insurrections, or other acts of barbarism. I shall spare even now the Greek race and name so celebrated throughout Asia, and for the sake of that fair repute that is ever dear to the Romans I shall only impose upon you the taxes of five years, to be paid at once, together with the cost of the war expended by me, and whatever else may be spent in settling the affairs of the province. I will apportion these charges to each of you according to cities, and will fix the time of payment. Upon the disobedient I shall visit punishment as upon enemies.

After he had thus spoken Sulla apportioned the fine to the delegates and sent men to collect the money. The cities, oppressed by poverty, borrowed it at high rates of interest and mortgaged their theatres, their gymnasiums, their walls, their harbors, and every other scrap of public property, being urged on by the soldiers with contumely. Thus was the money collected and brought to Sulla. The province of Asia had her fill of misery. She was assailed openly by a vast number of pirates, resembling regular fleets rather than robber bands. Mithridates had first fitted them out at the time when he was ravaging all the coasts, thinking he could not long hold these regions. Their numbers had then greatly increased, and they did not confine them-selves to ships alone, but openly attacked harbors, castles, and cities. They captured lassus, Samos, and Clazomenae, also Samothrace, where Sulla was staying at the time, and it was said that they robbed the temple at that place of ornaments valued at 1000 talents. Sulla, willing perhaps that those who had offended him should be maltreated, or because he was in haste to put down the hostile faction in Rome, left them and sailed for Greece, and thence passed on to Italy with the greater part of his army. What he did there I have related in my history of the civil wars.

The second Mithridatic war began in this way. Murena, who had been left by Sulla with Fimbria’s two legions to settle affairs of the rest of Asia, sought trifling pretexts for war, being ambitious of a triumph. Mithridates, after his return to Pontus, went to war with the Colchians and the tribes around the Cimmerian Bosporus who had revolted from him. The Colchians asked him to give them his son, Mithridates, as their ruler, and when he did so they at once returned to their allegiance. The king suspected that this was brought about by his son through his own ambition to be king. Accordingly he sent for him and first bound him with golden fetters, and soon afterward put him to death, although he had served him well in Asia in the battles with Fimbria. Against the tribes of the Bosporus he built a fleet and fitted out a large army. The magnitude of his preparations gave rise to the belief that they were made not against those tribes, but against the Romans, for he had not yet restored the whole of Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, but still retained a part of it. He also had suspicions of Archelaus. He thought that the latter had yielded more than was necessary to Sulla in his negotiations in Greece. When Archelaus heard of this he became alarmed and fled to Murena, and by working on him persuaded him to anticipate Mithridates in beginning hostilities. Murena marched suddenly through Cappadocia and attacked Comana, a very large country town belonging to Mithridates, with a rich and renowned temple, and killed some of the king’s cavalry. When the king’s ambassadors appealed to the treaty he replied that he saw no treaty; for Sulla had not written it out, but had gone away after the terms had been fulfilled by acts. When Murena had delivered his answer he began robbing forthwith, not sparing the money of the temples, and he went into winter quarters in Cappadocia.

Mithridates sent an embassy to the Senate and to Sulla to complain of the acts of Murena. The latter, meantime, had passed over the river Halys, which was then swollen by rains and very difficult to cross. He captured 400 villages belonging to Mithridates. The king offered no opposition, but waited for the return of his embassy. Murena returned to Phrygia and Galatia loaded down with plunder. There he met Calidius, who had been sent from Rome on account of the complaints of Mithridates. Calidius did not bring a decree of the Senate, but he declared in the hearing of all that the Senate ordered him not to molest the king, as he had not broken the treaty. After he had thus spoken he was seen talking to Murena alone. Murena abated nothing of his violence, but again invaded the territory of Mithridates. The latter, thinking that open war had been ordered by the Romans, directed his general, Gordius, to retaliate on their villages. Gordius straightway seized and carried off a large number of animals and other property and men, both private citizens and soldiers, and took position against Murena himself, with a river flowing between them. Neither of them began the fight until Mithridates came up with a larger army, when a severe engagement immediately took place on the banks of the river. Mithridates prevailed, crossed the river, and got the better of Murena decidedly. The latter retreated to a strong hill where the king attacked him. After losing many men Murena fled over the mountains to Phrygia by a pathless route, severely harassed by the missiles of the enemy.

The news of this brilliant and decisive victory spread quickly and caused many to change sides to Mithridates. The latter drove all of Murena’s garrisons out of Cappadocia and offered sacrifice to Zeus Stratius on a lofty pile of wood on a high hill, according to the fashion of his country, which is as follows. First, the kings themselves carry wood to the heap. Then they make a smaller pile encircling the other one, on which they pour milk, honey, wine, oil, and various kinds of incense. A banquet is spread on the ground for those present (as at the sacrifices of the Persian kings at Pasargadae) and then they set fire to the wood. The height of the flame is such that it can be seen at a distance of 1000 stades from the sea, and they say that nobody can come near it for several days on account of the heat. Mithridates performed a sacrifice of this kind according to the custom of his country. Sulla thought that it was not right to make war against Mithridates when he had not violated the treaty. Accordingly, Aulus Gabinius was sent to tell Murena that the former order, that he should not fight Mithridates, was to be taken seriously, and to reconcile Mithridates and Ariobarzanes with each other. At a conference between them Mithridates betrothed his little daughter, four years old, to Ariobarzanes, and improved the occasion to stipulate that he should not only retain that part of Cappadocia which he then held, but have another part in addition. Then he gave a banquet to all, with prizes of gold for those who should excel in drinking, eating, jesting, singing, and so forth, as was customary, in which Gabinius was the only one who did not engage. Thus the second war between Mithridates and the Romans, lasting about three years, came to an end.

As Mithridates was now at leisure he subdued the tribes of the Bosporus and appointed Machares, one of his sons, king over them. Then he fell upon the Achaeans beyond Colchis (who are supposed to be descended from those who lost their way when returning from the Trojan war), but lost two divisions of his army, partly by open war, partly by the severity of the climate, and partly by stratagem. When he returned home he sent ambassadors to Rome to sign the agreements. At the same time Ariobarzanes, either of his own notion or at the prompting of others, sent thither to complain that Cappadocia had not been delivered up to him, but that a greater part of it was yet retained by Mithridates. Sulla commanded Mithridates to give up Cappadocia. He did so, and then sent another embassy to sign the agreements. But now Sulla had just died, and as the Senate was otherwise occupied the praetors did not admit them. So Mithridates persuaded his son-in-law, Tigranes, to make an incursion into Cappadocia as though it were on his own account. This artifice did not deceive the Romans. The Armenian king threw, as it were, a drag net around Cappadocia and made a haul of about 300,000 people, whom he carried off to his own country and settled them, with others, in a certain place where he had first assumed the diadem of Armenia and which he had called after himself, Tigranocerta, or the city of Tigranes.

While these things were taking place in Asia Sertorius, the governor of Spain, incited that province and all the neighboring country to rebel against the Romans, and selected from his associates a senate in imitation of that of Rome. Two members of his faction, Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius, proposed to Mithridates to ally himself with Sertorius, holding out the hope that he would acquire a large part of the province of Asia and of the neighboring nations. Mithridates fell in with this suggestion and sent ambassadors to Sertorius. The latter introduced them to his senate and felicitated himself that his fame had extended to Pontus, and that he could now besiege the Roman power in both the Orient and the Occident. So he made a treaty with Mithridates to give him Asia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Galatia, and sent Marcus Varius to him as a general and the two Luciuses, Magius and Fannius, as counsellors. With their assistance Mithridates began his third and last war against the Romans, in the course of which he lost his entire kingdom, and Sertorius lost his life in Spain. Two generals were sent against Mithridates from Rome; the first, Lucullus, the same who had served as prefect of the fleet under Sulla; the second, Pompey, by whom the whole of his dominions, and the adjoining territory as far as the river Euphrates, under the pretext and impetus of the Mithridatic war, were brought under Roman sway.

Mithridates had been in collision with the Romans so often that he knew that this war, so inexcusably and hastily begun, would be an implacable one. He made every preparation with the thought that all was at stake. The remainder of the summer and the whole of the winter he spent in cutting timber, building ships, and making arms. He distributed 2,000,000 medimni of corn along the coast. Besides his former forces he had for allies the Chalybes, Armenians, Scythians, Taurians, Achaeans, Heniochi, Leucosyrians, and those who occupy the territory about the river Thermodon, called the country of the Amazons. These additions to his former strength were from Asia. From Europe he drew of the Sarmatian tribes, both the Basilidae and the Jazyges, the Coralli, and those Thracians who dwelt along the Danube and on the Rhodope and Haemus mountains, and besides these the Bastarnae, the bravest nation of all. Altogether Mithridates recruited a fighting force of about 140,000 foot and 16,000 horse. A great crowd of road-makers, baggage-carriers, and sutlers followed.

At the beginning of spring Mithridates made trial of his navy and sacrified to Zeus Stratius in the customary manner, and also to Poseidon by plunging a chariot with white horses into the sea. Then he hastened against Paphlagonia with his two generals, Taxiles and Hermocrates, in command of his army. When he arrived there he made a speech to his soldiers, eulogistic of his ancestors and still more so of himself, showing how his kingdom had grown to greatness from small beginnings, and how his army had never been defeated by the Romans when he was present. He accused the Romans of avarice and lust of power to such an extent, he said, that they had enslaved Italy and Rome itself. He accused them of bad faith respecting the last and still existing treaty, saying that they were not willing to sign it because they were watching for an opportunity to violate it again. After thus setting forth the cause of the war he dwelt upon the composition of his army and his apparatus, upon the preoccupation of the Romans, who were waging a difficult war with Sertorius in Spain, and were torn with civil dissensions throughout Italy, for which reason, he said, they have allowed the sea to be overrun by pirates a long time, and have not a single ally, nor any subjects who still obey them willingly. Do you not see, he added, some of their noblest citizens (pointing to Varius and the two Luciuses) at war with their own country and allied with us?

When he had finished speaking and exciting his army, he invaded Bithynia. Nicomedes had lately died childless and bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. Cotta, its governor, was a man altogether unwarlike. He fled to Chalcedon with what force he had. Thus Bithynia again passed under the rule of Mithridates. The Romans from all directions flocked to Cotta at Chalcedon. When Mithridates advanced to that place Cotta did not go out to meet him because he was inexperienced in military affairs, but his naval prefect, Nudus, with a part of the army occupied a very strong position on the plain. He was driven out of it, however, and fled to the gates of Chalcedon over many walls which greatly obstructed his movement. There was a struggle at the gates among those trying to gain entrance simultaneously, for which reason no missile cast by the pursuers missed its mark. The guards at the gates, fearing for the city, let down the gate from the machine. Nudus and some of the other officers were drawn up by ropes. The remainder perished between their friends and their foes, holding out their hands in entreaty to each. Mithridates made good use of his success. He moved his ships up to the harbor the same day, broke the brazen chain that closed the entrance, burned four of the enemy’s ships, and towed the remaining sixty away. Nudus offered no resistance, nor Cotta, for they remained shut up inside the walls. The Roman loss was about 3000, including Lucius Manlius, a man of senatorial rank. Mithridates lost twenty of his Bastarnae, who were the first to break into the harbor.

Lucius Lucullus, who had been chosen consul and general for this war, led one legion of soldiers from Rome, joined with it the two of Fimbria, and added two others, making in all 30,000 foot and 1600 horse, with which he pitched his camp near that of Mithridates at Cyzicus. When he learned from deserters that the king’s army contained about 300.000 men and that all his supplies were furnished by foragers or came by sea, he said to those around him that he would presently reduce the enemy without fighting, and he told them to remember his promise. Seeing a mountain well suited for a camp, where he could readily obtain supplies, and could cut off those of the enemy, he moved forward to occupy it in order to gain a victory by that means without danger. There was only one narrow pass leading to it, and Mithridates held it by a strong guard. He had been advised to do so by Taxiles and his other officers. Lucius Magius, who had brought about the alliance between Sertorius and Mithridates, now that Sertorius was dead, opened secret communications with Lucullus, and having secured pledges from him persuaded Mithridates to allow the Romans to pass through and encamp where they pleased. The two legions of Fimbria, he said, want to desert, and will come over to you directly. What is the use of a battle and bloodshed when you can conquer the enemy without fighting? Mithridates assented to this advice heedlessly and without suspicion. He allowed the Romans to go through the pass unmolested and to fortify the great hill on his front. When they had possessed themselves of it they were able to draw supplies from their rear without difficulty. Mithridates, on the other hand, was cut off by a lake, by mountains, and by rivers, from all provisions on the landward side, except an occasional supply secured with difficulty; he had no easy way out and he could not overcome Lucullus on account of the difficulty of the ground, which he had disregarded when he himself had the advantage. Moreover, winter was now approaching and would soon interrupt his supplies by sea. As Lucullus looked over the situation he reminded his friends of his promise, and showed them that his prediction was practically accomplished.

Although Mithridates might perhaps even now have been able to break through the enemy’s lines by force of numbers, he neglected to do so, but pressed the siege of Cyzicus with the apparatus he had prepared, thinking that he should find a remedy in this way both for the badness of his position and for his want of supplies. As he had plenty of soldiers he pushed the siege in every possible way. He blockaded the harbor with a double sea wall and drew a line of circumvallation around the rest of the city. He raised mounds, built machines, towers, and rams protected by tortoises. He constructed a siege engine 100 cubits high, from which rose another tower furnished with catapults discharging stones and various kinds of missiles. Two quinqueremes joined together carried another tower against the port, from which a bridge could be projected by a mechanical device when brought near the wall. When all was in readiness he first sent against the city on ships 3000 inhabitants of Cyzicus whom he had taken prisoners. These raised their hands toward the wall in supplication and besought their fellow-citizens to spare them in their dangerous position, but Pisistratus, the Cyzicean general, proclaimed from the walls that as they were in the enemy’s hands they must meet their fate bravely.

When this attempt had failed Mithridates brought up the machine erected on the ships and suddenly projected the bridge upon the wall and four of his men ran across. The Cyziceans were at first dumbfounded by the novelty of the device and gave way somewhat, but as the rest of the enemy were slow in following, they plucked up courage and thrust the four over the wall. Then they poured burning pitch on the ships and compelled them to back out stern foremost with the machine. In this way the Cyziceans beat off the invaders by sea. Three times on the same day all the machines on the landward side were massed against the toiling citizens, who flew this way and that way to meet the constantly renewed assault. They broke the rams with stones, or turned them aside with nooses, or deadened their blows with baskets of wool. They extinguished the enemy’s fire-bearing missiles with water and vinegar, and broke the force of others by means of garments suspended or linen cloth stretched before them. In short, they left nothing untried that was within the compass of human zeal. Although they toiled most perseveringly, yet a portion of the wall, that had been weakened by fire, gave way toward evening; but on account of the heat nobody was in a hurry to dash in. The Cyziceans built another wall around it that night, and about this time a tremendous wind came and smashed the rest of the king’s machines.

It is said that the city of Cyzicus was given by Zeus to Proserpina by way of dowry, and that of all the gods the inhabitants have most veneration for her. Her festival now came around, on which they are accustomed to sacrifice a black heifer to her, and as they had none they made one of paste. Just then a black heifer swam to them from the sea, dived under the chain at the mouth of the harbor, walked into the city, found her own way to the temple, and took her place by the altar. The Cyziceans sacrificed her with joyful hopes. Thereupon the friends of Mithridates advised him to sail away from the place since it was sacred, but he would not do so. He ascended Mount Dindymus, which overhung the city, and built a mound extending from it to the city walls, on which he constructed towers, and, at the same time, undermined the wall with tunnels. As his horses were not useful here, and were weak for want of food and had sore hoofs, he sent them by a roundabout way to Bithynia. Lucullus fell upon them as they were crossing the river Rhyndacus, killed a large number, and captured 15,000 men, 6000 horses, and a large amount of baggage. While these things were transpiring at Cyzicus Eumachus, one of Mithridates’ generals, overran Phrygia and killed a great many Romans, with their wives and children, subjugated the Pisidians and the Isaurians and also Cilicia. Finally Deïotarus, one of the tetrarchs of Galatia, drove the marauder away and slew many of his men. Such was the course of events in and around Phrygia.

When winter came Mithridates was deprived of his supplies by sea, if he had any, so that his whole army suffered from hunger, and many of them died. There were some who ate the entrails according to a barbarian custom. Others were made sick by subsisting on herbs. Moreover the corpses that were thrown out in the neighborhood unburied brought on a plague in addition to that caused by famine. Nevertheless Mithridates continued his efforts, hoping still to capture Cyzicus by means of the mounds extending from Mount Dindymus. But when the Cyziceans undermined them and burned the machines on them, and made frequent sallies upon his forces, knowing that they were weakened by want of food, Mithridates began to think of flight. He fled by night, going himself with his fleet to Parius, and his army by land to Lampsacus. Many lost their lives in crossing the river Aesepus, which was then greatly swollen, and where Lucullus attacked them. Thus the Cyziceans escaped the vast siege preparations of the king by means of their own bravery and of the famine that Lucullus brought upon the enemy. They instituted games in his honor, which they celebrate to this day, called the Lucullean games. Mithridates sent ships for those who had taken refuge in Lampsacus, where they were besieged by Lucullus, and carried them away, together with the Lampsaceans themselves. Leaving 10,000 picked men and fifty ships under Varius (the general sent to him by Sertorius), and Alexander the Paphlagonian, and Dionysius the eunuch, he sailed with the bulk of his force for Nicomedia. A storm came up in which many of both divisions perished.

When Lucullus had accomplished this result on land by starving his enemies, he collected a fleet from the Asiatic province and distributed it to the generals serving under him. Trirarius sailed to Apamea, captured it, and slew a great many of the inhabitants who had taken refuge in the temples. Barba took Prusias, situated at the base of a mountain, and occupied Nicaea, which had been abandoned by the Mithridatic garrison. At the harbor of the Achaeans Lucullus captured thirteen of the enemy’s ships. He overtook Varius and Alexander and Dionysius on a barren island near Lemnos (where the altar of Philoctetes is shown with the brazen serpent, the bows, and the breastplate bound with fillets, to remind us of the sufferings of that hero), and dashed at them in a contemptuous manner. They stoutly held their ground. He checked his oarsmen and sent his ships toward them by twos in order to entice them out to sea. As they declined the challenge, but continued to defend themselves on land, he sent a part of his fleet around to another side of the island, disembarked a force of infantry, and drove the enemy to their ships. Still they did not venture out to sea, but hugged the shore, because they were afraid of the army of Lucullus. Thus they were exposed to missiles on both sides, landward and seaward, and received a great many wounds, and after heavy slaughter took to flight. Varius, Alexander, and Dionysius the eunuch were captured in a cave where they had concealed themselves. Dionysius drank poison which he had with him and immediately expired. Lucullus gave orders that Varius be put to death, since he did not want to have his triumph graced by a Roman senator, but he kept Alexander for that purpose. Lucullus sent letters wreathed with laurel to Rome, as is the custom of victors, and then pressed forward to Bithynia.

As Mithridates was sailing to Pontus a second tempest overtook him and he lost about 10,000 men and sixty ships, and the remainder were scattered wherever the wind blew them. His own ship sprang a leak and he went aboard a small piratical craft although his friends tried to dissuade him. The pirates landed him safely at Sinope. From that place he was towed to Amisus, whence he sent appeals to his son-in-law, Tigranes the Armenian, and his son, Machares, the ruler of the Cimmerian Bosporus, that they should hasten to his assistance. He ordered Diocles to take a large quantity of gold and other presents to the neighboring Scythians, but Diodes took the gold and the presents and deserted to Lucullus. Lucullus moved to the front with the prestige of victory, subduing everything in his path and subsisting on the country. Presently he came to a rich district, exempt from the ravages of war, where a slave was sold for four drachmas, an ox for one, and goats, sheep, clothing, and other things in proportion. Lucullus laid siege to Amisus and also to Eupatoria, which Mithridates had built alongside of Amisus and named after himself and where he had fixed the royal residence. With another army he besieged Themiscyra, which is named after one of the Amazons and is situated on the river Thermodon. The besiegers of this place brought up towers, built mounds, and dug tunnels so large that great subterranean battles could be fought in them. The inhabitants cut openings into these tunnels from above and thrust bears and other wild animals and swarms of bees into them against the workers. Those who were besieging Amisus suffered in other ways. The inhabitants repelled them bravely, made frequent sallies, and often challenged them to single combat. Mithridates sent them plenty of supplies and arms and soldiers from Cabira, where he wintered and collected a new army. Here he brought together about 40,000 foot and 4000 horse.

When spring came Lucullus marched over the mountains against Mithridates, who had stationed advanced posts to hinder his approach, and to start signal fires whenever anything important should happen. He appointed a member of the royal family, named Phœnix, commander of this advance guard. When Lucullus drew near, Phœnix gave the fire-signal to Mithridates and then deserted to Lucullus with his forces. Lucullus now passed over the mountains without difficulty and came down to Cabira, but was beaten by Mithridates in a cavalry engagement and retreated again to the mountain. Pomponius, his master of horse, was wounded and taken prisoner and brought to the presence of Mithridates. The king asked him what favor he (Pomponius) could render him for sparing his life. Pomponius replied, A great one if you make peace with Lucullus, but if you continue his enemy I will not even consider your question. The barbarians wanted to put him to death, but the king said that he would not do violence to bravery overtaken by misfortune. He drew out his forces for battle several days in succession, but Lucullus would not come down and fight; so he looked about for some way to come at him by ascending the mountain. At this juncture a Scythian, named Olcaba, who had deserted to Lucullus sometime before and had saved the lives of many in the recent cavalry fight, and for that reason was deemed worthy to share Lucullus’ table, his confidence, and his secrets, came to his tent while he was taking his noonday rest and tried to force his way in. He was wearing a short dagger in his belt as was his custom. When he was prevented from entering he became angry and said that there was a pressing necessity that the general should be aroused. The servants replied that there was nothing more useful to Lucullus than his safety. Thereupon the Scythian mounted his horse and went immediately to Mithridates, either because he had plotted against Lucullus and now thought that he was suspected, or because he considered himself insulted and was angry on that account. He exposed to Mithridates another Scythian, named Sobdacus, who was about to desert to Lucullus. Sobdacus was accordingly arrested.

Lucullus hesitated about going down directly to the plain since the enemy was so much superior in horse, nor could he discover any way around, but he found a hunter in a cave who was familiar with the mountain paths. With him for a guide he made a circuitous descent by rugged paths over Mithridates’ head. He avoided the plain on account of the cavalry, and came down and chose a place for his camp where he had a mountain stream on his front. As he was short of supplies he sent to Cappadocia for corn, and in the meantime had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. Once when the royal forces were put to flight Mithridates came running to them from his camp and, with reproachful words, rallied them to such good purpose that the Romans became terrified in turn and fled up the mountain side with such swiftness that they did not know for a long time that the hostile force had desisted from the pursuit, but each one thought that the fleeing comrade behind him was an enemy, so great was the panic that had overtaken them. Mithridates sent bulletins everywhere announcing this victory. He then sent a detachment composed of the bravest of his horse to intercept the convoy that was bringing supplies from Cappadocia to Lucullus, hoping to bring upon him the same scarcity of provisions from which he had himself suffered at Cyzicus.

It was his great object to cut off Lucullus’ supplies, which were drawn from Cappadocia alone, but when his cavalry came upon the advance guard of the convoy in a narrow defile, they did not wait till their enemies had reached the open country. Consequently their horses were useless in the narrow space, where the Romans hastily put themselves in line of battle across the road. Aided, as foot-soldiers would naturally be, by the difficulties of the ground, they killed some of the king’s troops, drove others over precipices, and scattered the rest in flight. A few of them arrived at their camp by night, and said that they were the only survivors, so that rumor magnified the calamity which was indeed sufficiently great. Mithridates heard of this affair before Lucullus did, and he expected that Lucullus would take advantage of so great a slaughter of his horsemen to attack him forthwith. Accordingly he fell into a panic and contemplated flight, and at once communicated his purpose to his friends in his tent. They did not wait for the signal to be given, but while it was still night each one sent his own baggage out of the camp, which made a great crush of pack animals around the gates. When the soldiers perceived the commotion, and saw what the baggage-carriers were doing, they imagined every sort of absurdity. Filled with terror, mingled with anger that the signal had not been given to them also, they demolished and ran over their own fortification and scattered in every direction over the plain, helter-skelter, without orders from the commanding general or any other officer. When Mithridates heard the disorderly rush he dashed out of his tent among them and attempted to say something, but nobody would listen to him. He was caught in the crowd and knocked from his horse, but remounted and was borne to the mountains with a few followers.

When Lucullus heard of the success of his provision train and observed the enemy’s flight, he sent out a large force of cavalry in pursuit of the fugitives. Those who were still collecting baggage in the camp he surrounded with his infantry, whom he ordered for the time to abstain from plunder, but to kill indiscriminately. But the soldiers, seeing vessels of gold and of silver in abundance and much costly clothing, disregarded the order. Those who overtook Mithridates himself cut open the pack saddle of a mule that was loaded with gold, which fell out, and while they were busy with it they allowed him to escape to Comona. From thence he fled to Tigranes with 2000 horse-men. Tigranes did not admit him to his presence, but ordered that royal entertainment be provided for him on his estates. Mithridates, in utter despair of his kingdom, sent the eunuch Bacchus to his palace to put his sisters, wives, and concubines to death as he could. These, with wonderful devotion, destroyed themselves with daggers, poison, and ropes. When the garrison commanders of Mithridates saw these things they went over to Lucullus in crowds, all but a few. Lucullus marched among the others and regulated them. He also sent his fleet among the cities on the Pontic coast and captured Amastris, Heraclea, and some others.

Sinope continued to resist him vigorously, and the inhabitants fought him on the water not without success, but when they were besieged they burned their heavier ships, embarked on the lighter ones, and went away. Lucullus at once made it a free city, being moved thereto by the following dream. It is said that Autolycus, the companion of Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons, was driven by a tempest into Sinope and made himself master of the place, and that his consecrated statue gave oracles to the Sinopeans. As they were hastening their flight they could not embark it on shipboard, but wrapped it up with linen cloths and ropes. Nobody told Lucullus of this beforehand and he knew nothing about it, but he dreamed that he saw Autolycus calling him, and the following day, when some men passed him carrying the image wrapped up, he ordered them to take off the covering and then he saw what he thought he had seen in the night. This was the kind of dream he had. After Sinope Lucullus restored to their homes the citizens of Amisus, who had fled by sea in like manner, because he learned that they had been settled there by Athens when she held the empire of the sea; that they had had a democratic form of government at first, and afterward had been subject for a long time to the kings of Persia; that their democracy had been restored to them by decree of Alexander; and that they had finally been compelled to serve the kings of Pontus. Lucullus sympathized with them, and in emulation of the favor shown to the Attic race by Alexander he gave the city its freedom and recalled the citizens with all haste. Thus did Lucullus desolate and repeople both Sinope and Amisus. He entered into friendly relations with Machares, the son of Mithridates and ruler of the Bosporus, who sent him a crown of gold. He demanded the surrender of Mithridates from Tigranes. Then he went back to the province of Asia. When the instalment of tribute imposed by Sulla became due he levied upon one-fourth of the harvest, and imposed a house-tax and a slave-tax. He offered a triumphal sacrifice to the gods for the successful termination of the war.

After the sacrifices had been performed he marched with two legions and 500 horse against Tigranes, who had refused to surrender Mithridates to him. He crossed the Euphrates, but he required the barbarians, through whose territory he passed, to furnish only necessary supplies since they did not want to fight, or to expose themselves to suffering by taking sides in the quarrel between Lucullus and Tigranes. No one told Tigranes that Lucullus was advancing, for the first man who brought this news he hanged, considering him a disturber of the good order of the cities. When he learned that it was true, he sent Mithrobarzanes forward with 2000 horse to hinder Lucullus’ march. He intrusted to Mancaeus the defence of Tigranocerta, which city, as I have already said, the king had built in this region in honor of himself, and to which he had summoned the principal inhabitants of the country under penalty of confiscation of all of their goods that they did not transfer to it. He surrounded it with walls fifty cubits high and wide enough to contain stables for horses. In the suburbs he built a palace and laid out large parks, enclosures for wild animals, and fish-ponds. He also erected a strong tower near by. All these he put in charge of Mancaeus, and then he went through the country to collect an army. Lucullus, at his first encounter with Mithrobarzanes, defeated him and put him to flight. Sextilius shut up Mancaeus in Tigranocerta, plundered the palace outside the walls, drew a ditch around the city and tower, moved machines against them, and undermined the wall.

While Sextilius was doing this Tigranes brought together some 250,000 foot and 50,000 horse. He sent about 6000 of the latter to Tigranocerta, who broke through the Roman line to the tower, and seized and brought away the king’s concubines. With the rest of his army Tigranes marched against Lucullus. Mithridates, who was now for the first time admitted to his presence, advised him not to come to close quarters with the Romans, but to circle around them with his horse only, to devastate the country, and reduce them by famine if possible, in the same way that he had been served by Lucullus at Cyzicus, where he lost his army without fighting. Tigranes derided such generalship and advanced and made preparations for battle. When he saw how small the Roman force was, he said jestingly, If they are here as ambassadors they are too many; if as enemies, altogether too few. Lucullus saw a hill favorably situated in the rear of Tigranes. He pushed his horse forward from his own front to worry the enemy and draw them upon himself, retiring as they came up, so that the barbarians should break their own ranks in the pursuit. Then he sent his own infantry around to the hill and took possession of it unobserved. When he saw the enemy pursuing as though they had won the fight, and scattered in all directions, with their entire baggage-train lying at the foot of the hill, he exclaimed, Soldiers, we are victorious, and dashed first upon their baggage-carriers. These immediately fled in confusion and ran against their own infantry, and the infantry against the cavalry. Presently the rout was complete. Those who had been drawn a long distance in pursuit of the Roman horse, the latter turned upon and destroyed. The baggage-train came into collision with others tumultuously. They were all packed together in such a crowd that nobody could see clearly from what quarter their discomfiture proceeded. There was a great slaughter. Nobody stopped to plunder, for Lucullus had forbidden it with threats of punishment, so that they passed by bracelets and necklaces on the road, and continued killing for a distance of 120 stades until nightfall. Then they betook themselves to plunder with the permission of Lucullus.

When Mancaeus beheld this defeat from Tigranocerta he disarmed all of his Greek mercenaries because he suspected them. They, in fear of arrest, walked abroad or rested only in a body, and with clubs in their hands. Mancaeus set upon them with his armed barbarians. They wound their clothing around their left arms, to serve as shields, and fought their assailants courageously, killed some, and shared their arms with each other. When they were sufficiently provided with weapons they seized some of the towers, called to the Romans outside, and admitted them when they came up. In this way was Tigranocerta taken, and the immense wealth, appertaining to a newly built and nobly peopled city, plundered.

Now Tigranes and Mithridates traversed the country collecting a new army, the command of which was committed to Mithridates, because Tigranes thought that his disasters must have taught him some lessons. They also sent messengers to Parthia to solicit aid from that quarter. Lucullus sent opposing legates asking that the Parthians should either help him or remain neutral. Their king made secret agreements with both, but was in no haste to help either of them. Mithridates manufactured arms in every town. The soldiers he recruited were almost wholly Armenians. From these he selected the bravest to the number of about 70,000 foot and half that number of horse and dismissed the rest. He divided them into companies and cohorts as nearly as possible according to the Italian system, and turned them over to Pontic officers to be trained. When Lucullus moved toward them Mithridates, with all the foot-soldiers and a part of the horse, held his forces together on a hill. Tigranes, with the rest of the horse, attacked the Roman foragers and was beaten, for which reason the Romans foraged more freely afterward even in the vicinity of Mithridates himself, and encamped near him. Again a great dust arose indicating the approach of Tigranes. The two kings had resolved to surround Lucullus. The latter perceived their movement and sent forward the best of his horse to engage Tigranes at as great a distance as possible, and prevent him from deploying from his line of march into order of battle. He also challenged Mithridates to fight. He began to surround him with a ditch, but could not draw him out. Finally, winter came on and interrupted the work on both sides.

Tigranes now withdrew into the interior of Armenia and Mithridates hastened to what was left of his own kingdom of Pontus, taking with him 4000 of his own troops and as many more that he had received from Tigranes. Lucullus slowly followed him, but was obliged to turn back frequently for want of provisions. Mithridates made haste and attacked Fabius, who had been left in command by Lucullus, put him to flight, and killed 500 of his men. Fabius freed the slaves who had been in his camp and fought again an entire day, but the battle was going against him until Mithridates was struck by a stone on the knee and wounded by a dart under the eye, and was hastily carried out of the fight. For many days thereafter his forces were alarmed for his safety, and the Romans were quiet on account of the great number of wounds they had received. Mithridates was cured by the Agari, a Scythian tribe, who make use of the poison of serpents as remedies. Some of this tribe always accompanied the king as physicians. Triarius, the other general of Lucullus, now came with his own army to the assistance of Fabius and received from the latter his forces and authority. He and Mithridates not long afterward joined battle, during which a tempest of wind, the like of which had not been known in the memory of man, tore down the tents of both, swept away their beasts of burden, and even dashed some of their men over precipices. Both sides then retreated.

News having been received that Lucullus was corning, Triarius hastened to anticipate his action and made a night attack upon the outposts of Mithridates. The fight continued for a long time doubtful, until the king made a powerful charge on that division of the enemy that was opposed to him and decided the battle. He broke through their ranks and drove their infantry into a muddy trench, where they were unable to stand and were slaughtered. He pursued their horse over the plain and made the most spirited use of the stroke of good luck until a certain Roman centurion, who was riding with him in the guise of an attendant, gave him a severe wound with a sword in the thigh, as he could not expect to pierce his back through his corselet. Those who were near immediately cut the centurion in pieces. Mithridates was carried to the rear and his friends recalled the army, by a hasty signal, from their splendid victory. Confusion befell them by reason of the unexpectedness of the signal, and fear lest some disaster had happened elsewhere. When they learned what it was they gathered around the person of the king on the plain in consternation, until Timotheus, his physician, had stanched the blood and lifted the king up so that he could be seen. In like manner in India, when Alexander was cured, he showed himself on a ship to the Macedonians, who were alarmed about him. As soon as Mithridates came to himself he reproved those who had recalled the army from the fight, and led his men again the same day against the camp of the Romans. But they had already fled from it in terror. In stripping the dead there were found 24 tribunes and 150 centurions. So great a number of officers had seldom fallen in any single Roman defeat.

Mithridates withdrew into the country which the Romans now call Lesser Armenia, taking all the provisions he could and spoiling what he could not carry, so as to prevent Lucullus from getting any on his march. At this juncture a certain Roman of senatorial rank, named Attidius, a fugitive from justice, who had been with Mithridates a long time and had enjoyed his friendship, was detected in a conspiracy against him. The king condemned him to death, but not to torture, because he had once been a Roman senator. His fellow-conspirators were subjected to dreadful tortures. The freedmen who were cognizant of the designs of Attidius he dismissed unharmed, because they were under obligations to their patron. When Lucullus was already encamped near Mithridates, the proconsul of Asia sent heralds to proclaim that Rome had accused Lucullus of unnecessarily prolonging the war, and had ordered that the soldiers under him be dismissed, and that the property of those who did not obey this order should be confiscated. When this information was received the army disbanded at once, all but a few, who remained with Lucullus because they were very poor and did not fear the penalty.

So it turned out that the Mithridatic war under Lucullus came to no fixed and definite conclusion. The Romans, torn by revolts in Italy and threatened with famine by pirates on the sea, considered it inopportune to undertake another war of this magnitude until their present troubles were ended. When Mithridates perceived this he again invaded Cappadocia and fortified his own kingdom. The Romans overlooked these transactions while they were clearing the sea. When this was accomplished, and while Pompey, the destroyer of the pirates, was still in Asia, the Mithridatic war was at once resumed and the command of it given to Pompey. Since the campaign at sea was a part of the operations under his command, which was begun before his Mithridatic war, and has not found proper mention elsewhere in my history, it seems well to introduce it here and to run over the events as they occurred.

When Mithridates first went to war with the Romans and subdued the province of Asia (Sulla being then in difficulties respecting Greece), he thought that he should not hold the province long, and accordingly plundered it in all sorts of ways, as I have mentioned above, and sent out pirates on the sea. In the beginning they prowled around with a few small boats worrying the inhabitants like robbers. As the war lengthened they became more numerous and navigated larger ships. Relishing their large gains, they did not desist when Mithridates was defeated, made peace, and retired. Having lost both livelihood and country by reason of the war and fallen into extreme destitution, they harvested the sea instead of the land, at first with pinnaces and hemiolii, then with two-bank and three-bank ships, sailing in squadrons under pirate chiefs, who were like generals of an army. They fell upon unfortified towns. They undermined or battered down the walls of others, or captured them by regular siege and plundered 85 them. They carried off the wealthier citizens to their haven of refuge and held them for ransom. They scorned the name of robbers and called their takings the prize of warfare. They had artisans chained to their tasks and were continually bringing in materials of timber, brass, and iron. Being elated by their gains and determined not to change their mode of life yet, they likened themselves to kings, rulers, and great armies, and thought that if they should all come together in the same place they would be invincible. They built ships and made all kinds of arms. Their chief seat was at a place called the Crags in Cilicia, which they had chosen as their common anchorage and encampment. They had castles and towers and desert islands and retreats everywhere. They chose for their principal rendezvous the coast of Cilicia where it was rough and harborless and rose in high mountain peaks, for which reason they were all called by the common name of Cilicians. Perhaps this evil had its beginning among the men of the Crags of Cilicia, but thither also men of Syrian, Cyprian, Pamphylian, and Pontic origin and those of almost all the Eastern nations had congregated, who, on account of the long continuance of the Mithridatic war, preferred to do wrong rather than to suffer it, and for this purpose chose the sea instead of the land.

Thus, in a very short time, they increased in number to tens of thousands. They dominated now not only the Eastern waters, but the whole Mediterranean to the Pillars of Hercules. They vanquished some of the Roman praetors in naval engagements, and among others the praetor of Sicily on the Sicilian coast itself. No sea could be navigated in safety, and land remained untilled for want of commercial intercourse. The city of Rome felt this evil most keenly, her subjects being distressed and herself suffering grievously from hunger by reason of her very greatness. It appeared to them to be a great and difficult task to destroy so large a force of seafaring men scattered everywhither on land and sea, and so nimble of flight, sallying out from no particular country or any known places, having no habitation or anything of their own, but only what they might chance to light upon. Thus both the greatness and the unexampled nature of this war, which was subject to no laws and had nothing tangible or visible about it, caused perplexity and fear on all sides. Murena had attacked them, but accomplished nothing worth mention, nor had Servilius Isauricus, who succeeded him. And now the pirates contemptuously assailed the coasts of Italy, around Brundusium and Etruria, and seized and carried off some women of noble families who were travelling, and also two praetors with their very insignia of office.

When the Romans could no longer endure the damage and disgrace they made Gnaeus Pompey, who was then their man of greatest reputation, commander by law for three years, with absolute power over the whole sea within the Pillars of Hercules, and of the land for a distance of 400 stades from the coast. They sent letters to all kings, rulers, peoples, and cities, that they should aid Pompey in all ways. They gave him power to raise troops and to collect money from the provinces, and they furnished a large army from their own enrolment, and all the ships they had, and money to the amount of 6000 Attic talents, — so great and difficult did they consider the task of overcoming such great forces, dispersed over so wide a sea, hiding easily in so many nooks, retreating quickly and darting out again unexpectedly. Never did any man before Pompey set forth with so great authority conferred upon him by the Romans. Presently he had an army of 120,000 foot and 4000 horse, and 270 ships, including hemiolii. He had twenty-five assistants of senatorial rank, whom they call lieutenant-generals, among whom he divided the sea, giving ships, cavalry, and infantry to each, and investing them with the insignia of praetors, in order that each one might have absolute authority over the part intrusted to him, while he, Pompey, like a king of kings, should course among them to see that they remained where they were stationed, lest, while he was pursuing the pirates in one place, he should be drawn to something else before his work was finished, and so that there might be forces to encounter them everywhere and to prevent them from forming junctions with each other.

Pompey disposed of the whole in the following manner. He put Tiberius Nero and Manlius Torquatus in command of Spain and the Straits of Hercules. He assigned Marcus Pomponius to the Gallic and Ligurian waters. Africa, Sardinia, Corsica, and the neighboring islands were committed to Lentulus Marcellinus and Publius Atilius, and the coast of Italy itself to Lucius Gellius and Gnaeus Lentulus. Sicily and the Adriatic as far as Acarnania were assigned to Plotius Varus and Terentius Varro; the Peloponnesus, Attica, Eubœa, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Bœotia to Lucius Sisenna; the Greek islands, the whole Aegean sea, and the Hellespont in addition, to Lucius Lollius; Bithynia, Thrace, the Propontis, and the mouth of the Euxine to Publius Piso; Lycia, Pamphylia, Cyprus, and Phoenicia to Metellus Nepos. Thus were the commands of the praetors arranged for the purpose of attacking, defending, and guarding their respective assignments, so that each might catch the pirates put to flight by others, and not be drawn a long distance from their own stations by the pursuit, nor carried round and round as in a race, and the time for doing the work protracted. Pompey himself made a tour of the whole. He first inspected the western stations, accomplishing the task in forty days, and passing through Rome on his return. Thence he went to Brundusium and, proceeding from this place, he occupied an equal time in visiting the eastern stations. He astonished all by the rapidity of his movement, the magnitude of his preparations, and his formidable reputation, so that the pirates, who had expected to attack him first, or at least to show that the task he had undertaken against them was no easy one, became straightway alarmed, abandoned their assaults upon the towns they were besieging, and fled to their accustomed citadels and inlets. Thus the sea was cleared by Pompey forthwith and without a fight, and the pirates were everywhere subdued by the praetors at their several stations.

Pompey himself hastened to Cilicia with forces of various kinds and many engines, as he expected that there would be need of every kind of fighting and every kind of siege against the rock-bound citadels; but he needed nothing. The terror of his name and the greatness of his preparations had produced a panic among the robbers. They hoped that if they did not resist they might receive lenient treatment. First, those who held Cragus and Anticragus, their largest citadels, surrendered themselves, and after them the mountaineers of Cilicia, and, finally, all, one after another. They gave up at the same time a great quantity of arms, some completed, others in the workshops; also their ships, some still on the stocks, others already afloat; also brass and iron collected for building them, and sailcloth, rope, and various kinds of materials; and finally a multitude of captives either held for ransom or chained to their tasks. Pompey burned the materials, carried away the ships, and sent the captives back to their respective countries. Many of them there found their own cenotaphs, for they were supposed to be dead. Those pirates who had evidently fallen into this way of life not from wickedness, but from poverty consequent upon the war, Pompey settled in Mallus, Adama, and Epiphanea, or any other uninhabited or thinly peopled town in Craggy Cilicia. Some of them he sent to Dyme in Achaia. Thus the war against the pirates, which it was supposed would prove very difficult, was brought to an end by Pompey in a few days. He took seventy-one ships by capture and 306 by surrender from the pirates, and i 20 of their towns, castles, and other places of rendezvous. About 10,000 of the pirates were slain in battles.

For this victory, so swiftly and unexpectedly gained, the Romans extolled Pompey beyond measure; and while he was still in Cilicia they chose him commander of the war against Mithridates, giving him the same unlimited powers as before, to make war and peace as he liked, and to proclaim nations friends or enemies according to his own judgment. They gave him command of all the forces beyond the borders of Italy. All these powers had never been given to any one general before. This was perhaps the reason why they gave him the title of Pompey the Great, for the Mithridatic war had been successfully prosecuted by other generals before him. He accordingly collected his army and marched to the territory of Mithridates. The latter had an army selected from his own forces, of 30,000 foot and 3000 horse, stationed on his frontier; but since Lucullus had lately devastated that region there was a scant supply of provisions, and for this reason many of his men deserted. The deserters whom he caught he crucified, or put out their eyes, or burned them alive. But while the fear of punishment lessened the number of deserters, the scarcity of provisions weakened him.

Mithridates sent envoys to Pompey asking on what terms he could obtain peace. Pompey replied, By delivering up our deserters and surrendering at discretion. When Mithridates was made acquainted with these terms he communicated them to the deserters, and when he observed their consternation he swore that on account of the cupidity of the Romans he would never make peace with them, nor would he give up anybody to them, nor would he ever do anything that was not for the common advantage of all. So spake Mithridates. Then Pompey placed a cavalry force in ambush, and sent forward others to harass the king’s outposts openly, and ordered them to provoke the enemy and then retreat, as though vanquished. This was done until those in ambush took their enemy in the rear and put them to flight. The Romans might have broken into the enemy’s camp along with the fugitives had not the king, apprehending this danger, led forward his infantry. Then the Romans retired. This was the result of the first trial of arms and cavalry engagement between Pompey and Mithridates.

The king, being short of provisions, retreated reluctantly and allowed Pompey to enter his territory, expecting that he also would suffer from scarcity when encamped in the devastated region. But Pompey had arranged to have his supplies sent after him. He passed around to the eastward of Mithridates, established a series of fortified posts and camps extending a distance of 150 stades, and drew a line of circumvallation around him which made foraging still difficult for him. The king did not oppose this work, being either afraid or mentally paralyzed, as often happens on the approach of calamity. Being again pressed for supplies he slaughtered his pack animals, keeping only his horses. When he had scarcely fifty days’ provisions left he fled by night, in profound silence, by bad roads. Pompey overtook him with difficulty in the daytime and assailed his rear guard. The king’s friends then urged him to prepare for battle, but he would not fight. He merely drove back the assailants with his horse and retired into the thick woods in the evening. The following day he took up a strong position defended by rocks, to which there was access by only one road, which he held with an advance guard of four cohorts. The Romans put an opposing force on guard there to prevent Mithridates from escaping.

At daybreak both commanders put their forces under arms. The outposts began skirmishing along the defile, and some of the king’s horsemen, without their horses and without orders, went to the assistance of their advance guard. A larger number of the Roman cavalry came up against them, and the horseless Mithridateans rushed back to their camp to mount their horses and thus to make themselves a more equal match for the advancing Romans. When those who were still arming on the higher ground looked down and saw their own men running toward them with haste and outcries, but did not know the reason, they thought that they had been put to flight. They threw down their arms and fled as though their own camp had already been captured on the other side. As there was no road out of the place they fell foul of each other in the confusion, until finally they leaped down the precipices. Thus the army of Mithridates perished through the rashness of those who caused a panic by going to the assistance of the advance guard without orders. The remainder of Pompey’s task was easy, in the way of killing and capturing men not yet armed and shut up in a rocky defile. About 10,000 were slain and the camp with all its apparatus was taken.

Mithridates made his escape through the cliffs with his attendants only, and fled. He fell in with a troop of mercenary horse and about 3000 foot who accompanied him directly to the castle of Simorex, where he had accumulated a large sum of money. Here he gave rewards and a year’s pay to those who had fled with him. Taking 6000 talents he hastened to the head waters of the Euphrates, intending to proceed thence to Colchis. As his march was uninterrupted, he crossed the Euphrates on the fourth day. Three days later he put in order and armed the forces that had accompanied or joined him, and entered Chotene in Armenia. There the Choteneans and Iberians tried with darts and slings to prevent him from coming in, but he advanced and proceeded to the river Apsarus. Some people think that the Iberians of Asia were the ancestors of the Iberians of Europe; others think that the former emigrated from the latter; still others think they merely have the same name, as their customs and languages are not similar. Mithridates wintered at Dioscurias in Colchis, which city, the Colchians think, preserves the remembrance of the sojourn there of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, with the Argonautic expedition. Mithridates here made no small plans, nor yet plans suitable for a fugitive, but conceived the idea of making the circuit of the whole Pontic coast, passing from Pontus to the Scythians around the sea of Azov and thus arriving at the Bosporus. He intended to take away the kingdom of Machares, his ungrateful son, and confront the Romans once more; wage war against them from the side of Europe while they were in Asia, and to put between them as a dividing line the strait which is believed to have been called the Bosporus because 10 swam across it when she was changed into a cow and fled from the jealousy of Hera.

Such was the chimerical undertaking that Mithridates now set about. He imagined, nevertheless, that he should accomplish it. He pushed on through strange and warlike Scythian tribes, partly by permission, partly by force, for although a fugitive and in misfortune he was still respected and feared. He passed through the country of the Heniochi, who received him willingly. The Achaeans, who resisted him, he put to flight. These, it is said, when returning from the siege of Troy, were driven by a storm into the Euxine sea and underwent great sufferings there at the hands of the barbarians because they were Greeks; and when they sent to their home for ships and their request was disregarded, they conceived such a hatred for the Grecian race that whenever they captured any Greeks they immolated them, Scythian fashion. At first in their anger they served all in this way, afterwards only the handsomest ones, and finally a few chosen by lot. So much for the Achaeans of Scythia. Mithridates finally reached the Azov country, of which there were many princes, all of whom received him, escorted him, and exchanged presents with him, on account of the fame of his deeds, his empire, and his power, which were still not to be despised. He formed alliances with them in contemplation of other and more novel exploits, such as marching through Thrace to Macedonia, through Macedonia to Pannonia, and passing over the Alps into Italy. With the more powerful of these princes he cemented the alliance by giving his daughters in marriage. When his son, Machares, learned that he had made such a journey in so short a time among savage tribes, and through the so-called Scythian Gates, which had never been passed by any one before, he sent envoys to him to defend himself, saying that he was under the necessity of conciliating the Romans. But, knowing his father’s in. exorable temper, he fled to the Pontic Chersonesus, burning the ships to prevent his father from pursuing him. When the latter procured other ships and sent them after him, he anticipated his fate by killing himself. Mithridates put to death all of his own friends whom he had left here in places of authority when he went away, but those of his son he dismissed unharmed, as they had acted under the obligations of private friendship. This was the state of things with Mithridates.

Pompey pursued Mithridates in his flight as far as Colchis, but he thought that his foe would never get around to Pontus or to the sea of Azov, or undertake anything great even if he should escape. He advanced to Colchis in order to gain knowledge of the country visited by the Argonauts, Castor and Pollux, and Hercules, and especially he desired to see the place where they say that Prometheus was fastened to Mount Caucasus. Many streams issue from Caucasus bearing gold-dust so fine as to be invisible. The inhabitants put sheepskins with shaggy fleece into the stream and thus collect the floating particles. Perhaps the golden fleece of Aetes was of this kind. All the neighboring tribes accompanied Pompey on his exploring expedition. Only Orœses, king of the Albanians, and Artoces king of the Iberians, placed 70,000 men in ambush for him at the river Cyrtus, which empties into the Caspian sea by twelve navigable mouths, receiving the waters of several large streams, the greatest of which is the Araxes. Pompey, gaining knowledge of the ambush, bridged the river and drove the barbarians into a dense forest. These people are terrible forest fighters, hiding in the woods and darting out unexpectedly. Pompey surrounded this forest with his army, set it on fire, and pursued the fugitives when they ran out, until they all surrendered and brought him hostages and presents. Pompey was afterward awarded one of his triumphs at Rome for these exploits. Among the hostages and prisoners many women were found, who had suffered wounds no less than the men. These were supposed to be Amazons, but whether the Amazons are a neighboring nation, who were called to their aid at that time, or whether certain warlike women are called Amazons by the barbarians there, is not known.

On his return from that quarter Pompey marched against Armenia, making it a cause of war against Tigranes that he had assisted Mithridates. He was now not far from the royal residence, Artaxata. Tigranes was resolved to fight no longer. He had had three sons by the daughter of Mithridates, two of whom he had himself killed,—one in battle, where the son was fighting against the father, and the other in the hunting-field because he had neglected to assist his father who had been thrown, but had put the diadem on his own head while the father was lying on the ground. The third one, whose name was Tigranes, had seemed to be much distressed by his father’s hunting accident, and had received a crown from him, but, nevertheless, he also deserted him after a short interval, waged war against him, was defeated, and fled to Phraates, king of the Parthians, who had lately succeeded his father Sintricus, in the government of that country. As Pompey drew near, this young Tigranes, after communicating his intentions to Phraates and receiving his approval (for Phraates also desired Pompey’s friendship), took refuge with Pompey as a suppliant; and this although he was a grandson of Mithridates. Pompey’s reputation among the barbarians for justice and good faith was great. Tigranes the father, trusting to it, came to Pompey unheralded to submit all his affairs to the latter’s decision and to make complaint against his son. Pompey ordered tribunes and prefects of horse to meet him on the road, as an act of courtesy, but those who accompanied Tigranes feared to advance without the sanction of a herald and fled to the rear. Tigranes came forward, however, and prostrated himself before Pompey as his superior, in barbarian fashion. There are those who relate that he was led up by lictors when sent for by Pompey. However that may be, he came and made explanations of the past, and gave to Pompey for himself 6000 talents, and for the army fifty drachmas to each soldier, 1000 to each centurion, and 10,000 to each tribune.

Pompey pardoned him for the past, reconciled him with his son, and decided that the latter should rule Sophene and Gordyene (which are now called Lesser Armenia), and the father the rest of Armenia, and that at his death the son should succeed him in that also. He required that Tigranes should at once give up the territory that he had gained by war. Accordingly he gave up the whole of Syria from the Euphrates to the sea; for he held that and a part of Cilicia, which he had taken from Antiochus, surnamed Pius. Those Armenians who deserted Tigranes on the road, when he was going to Pompey, because they were afraid, persuaded his son, who was still with Pompey, to make an attempt upon his father. Pompey seized him and put him in chains. As he still tried to stir up the Parthians against Pompey, he was led in the latter’s triumph and afterward put to death. And now Pompey, thinking that the whole war was at an end, founded a city on the place where he had overcome Mithridates in battle, which is called Nicopolis (the city of victory) from that affair, and is situated in Lesser Armenia. To Ariobarzanes he gave back the kingdom of Cappadocia and added to it Sophene and Gordyene, which he had partitioned to the son of Tigranes, and which are now administered as parts of Cappadocia. He gave him also the city of Castabala and some others in Cilicia. Ariobarzanes intrusted his whole kingdom to his son while he was still living. Many changes took place until the time of Caesar Augustus, under whom this kingdom, like many others, became a Roman province.

Pompey then passed over Mount Taurus and made war against Antiochus, the king of Commagene, until the latter entered into friendly relations with him. He also fought against Darius the Mede, and put him to flight, either because he had helped Antiochus, or Tigranes before him. He made war against the Arabs of Nabathaei, whose king was Aretas, and against the Jews (whose king, Aristobulus, had revolted), until he had captured their holiest city, Jerusalem. He advanced against, and brought under Roman rule without fighting, those parts of Cilicia that were not yet subject to it, and the remainder of Syria which lies along the Euphrates, and the countries called Cœle-Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine, also Idumea and Ituraea, and the other parts of Syria by whatever name called; not that he had any complaint against Antiochus, the son of Antiochus Pius, who was present and asked for his paternal kingdom, but because he thought that since he (Pompey) had dispossessed Tigranes, the conqueror of Antiochus, it belonged to the Romans by the law of war. While he was settling these affairs ambassadors came to him from Phraates and Tigranes, who had gone to war with each other. Those of ligranes asked the aid of Pompey as an ally, while those of the Parthian sought to secure for him the friendship of the Roman people. As Pompey did not think it best to fight the Parthians without a decree of the Senate, he sent mediators to compose their differences.

While Pompey was about this business Mithridates had completed his circuit of the Euxine and occupied Panticapaeum, a European market-town at the outlet of that sea. There at the Bosporus he put to death Xiphares, one of his sons, on account of the following fault of his mother. Mithridates had a castle where, in a secret underground treasury, a great deal of money lay concealed in numerous iron-bound brazen vessels. Stratonice, one of the king’s concubines or wives, had been put in charge of this castle, and while he was still making his journey around the Euxine she delivered it up to Pompey and revealed to him the secret treasures, on the sole condition that he should spare her son, Xiphares, if he should capture him. Pompey took the money and promised her that he would spare Xiphares, and allowed her to take away her own things. When Mithridates learned these facts he killed Xiphares at the straits, while his mother was looking on from the opposite shore, and cast his body out unburied, thus wreaking his spite on the son in order to grieve the mother who had offended him. And now he sent ambassadors to Pompey, who was still in Syria and who did not know that the king was at that place. They promised that the king would pay tribute to the Romans if they would let him have his paternal kingdom. When Pompey required that Mithridates should come himself and make his petition as Tigranes had done, he said that as long as he was Mithridates he would never agree to that, but that he would send some of his sons and his friends to do so. Even while he was saying these things he was levying an army of freemen and slaves promiscuously, manufacturing arms, projectiles, and machines, helping himself to timber, and killing plough-oxen for the sake of their sinews. He levied tribute on all, even those of the slenderest means. His ministers made these exactions with harshness to many, without his knowledge, for he had fallen sick with ulcers on his face and allowed himself to be seen only by three eunuchs, who cured him.

When he had recovered from his illness and his army was collected (it consisted of sixty picked cohorts of 6000 men each and a great multitude of other troops, besides ships and strongholds that had been captured by his generals while he was sick) he sent a part of it across the strait to Phanagoria, another trading-place at the mouth of the sea, in order to possess himself of the passage on either side while Pompey was still in Syria. Castor of Phanagoria, who had once been maltreated by Trypho, the king’s eunuch, fell upon the latter as he was entering the town, killed him, and summoned the citizens to revolt. Although the citadel was already held by Artaphernes and other sons of Mithridates, the inhabitants piled wood around it and set it on fire, in consequence of which Artaphernes, Darius, Xerxes, and Oxathres, sons, and Eupatra, a daughter, of Mithridates, in fear of the fire, surrendered themselves and were led into captivity. Of these Artaphernes alone was about forty years of age; the others were handsome children. Cleopatra, another daughter, resisted. Her father, in admiration of her courageous spirit, sent a number of row-boats and rescued her. All the neighboring castles that had been lately occupied by Mithridates now revolted from him in emulation of the Phanagoreans, namely, Chersonesus, Theodosia, Nymphaeum, and others around the Euxine which were well situated for purposes of war. Mithridates, observing these frequent defections, and having suspicions of the army itself, lest it should fail him because the service was compulsory and the taxes very heavy, and because soldiers always lack confidence in unlucky commanders, sent some of his daughters in charge of eunuchs to be married to the Scythian princes, asking them at the same time to send him reënforcements as quickly as possible. Five hundred soldiers accompanied them from his own army. Soon after they left the presence of Mithridates they killed the eunuchs who were leading them (for they always hated these persons, who were all-powerful with Mithridates) and conducted the young women to Pompey.

Although bereft of so many children and castles and of his whole kingdom, and in no way fit for war, and although he could not expect any aid from the Scythians, still no inferior position, none corresponding to his present misfortunes, even then found a place in his mind. He proposed to turn his course to the Gauls, whose friendship he had cultivated a long time for this purpose, and with them to invade Italy, hoping that many of the Italians themselves would join him on account of their hatred of the Romans; for he had heard that such had been Hannibal’s policy after the Romans had waged war against him in Spain, and that he had become in this way an object of the greatest terror to them. He knew that almost all of Italy had lately revolted from the Romans by reason of their hatred and had waged war against them for a very long time, and had sustained Spartacus, the gladiator, against them, although he was a man of no repute. Filled with these ideas he was for hastening to the Gauls, but his soldiers, though the very bold enterprise might be attractive, were deterred chiefly by its magnitude, and by the long distance of the expedition in foreign territory, against men whom they could not overcome even in their own country. They thought also that Mithridates, in utter despair, wanted to end his life in a valiant and kingly way rather than in idleness. So they tolerated him and remained silent, for there was nothing mean or contemptible about him even in his misfortunes.

While affairs were in this plight Pharnaces, the son whom he was most fond of and whom he had often designated as his successor, either alarmed about the expedition and the kingdom (for he still had hopes of pardon from the Romans, but reckoned that he should lose everything completely if his father should invade Italy), or spurred by other motives, formed a conspiracy against his father. His fellow-conspirators were captured and put to the torture, but Menophanes persuaded the king that it would not be seemly, just as he was starting on his expedition, to put to death the son who had been until then the dearest to him. People were liable to such turns, he said, in time of war, and when they came to an end things quieted down again. In this way Mithridates was persuaded to pardon his son, but the latter, still fearing his father’s anger, and knowing that the army shrank from the expedition, went by night to the leading Roman deserters who were encamped very near the king, and by representing to them in its true light, and as they well knew it, the danger of their advancing against Italy, and by making them many promises if they would refuse to go, induced them to desert from his father. After Pharnaces had persuaded them he sent emissaries the same night to other camps near by and won them over. Early in the morning the first deserters raised a shout, and those next to them repeated it, and so on. Even the naval force joined in the cry, not all of them having been advised beforehand perhaps, but eager for a change, despising failure, and always ready to attach themselves to a new hope. Others, who were ignorant of the conspiracy, thought that all had been corrupted, and that if they remained alone they would be scorned by the majority, and so from fear and necessity rather than inclination joined in the shouting. Mithridates, being awakened by the noise, sent messengers out to inquire what the shouters wanted. The latter made no concealment, but said, We want your son to be king; we want a young man instead of an old one who is ruled by eunuchs, the slayer of so many of his sons, his generals, and his friends.

When Mithridates heard this he went out to reason with them. A part of his own guard then ran to join the deserters, but the latter refused to admit them unless they would do some irreparable deed as a proof of their fidelity, pointing at the same time to Mithridates. So they hastened to kill his horse, for he himself had fled, and at the same time saluted Pharnaces as king, as though the rebels were already victorious, and one of them brought a broad papyrus leaf from a temple and crowned him with it in place of a diadem. The king saw these things from a high portico, and he sent messenger after messenger to Pharnaces asking permission to fly in safety. When none of his messengers returned, fearing lest he should be delivered up to the Romans, he praised the body-guards and friends who had been faithful to him and sent them to the new king, but the army killed some of them under a misapprehension as they were approaching. Mithridates then took out some poison that he always carried next to his sword, and mixed it. There two of his daughters, who were still girls growing up together, named Mithridatis and Nyssa, who had been betrothed to the kings of Egypt and of Cyprus, asked him to let them have some of the poison first, and insisted strenuously and prevented him from drinking it until they had taken some and swallowed it. The drug took effect on them at once; but upon Mithridates, although he walked around rapidly to hasten its action, it had no effect, because he had accustomed himself to other drugs by continually trying them as a means of protection against poisoners. These are still called the Mithridatic drugs. Seeing a certain Bituitus there, an officer of the Gauls, he said to him, I have profited much from your right arm against my enemies. I shall profit from it most of all if you will kill me, and save from the danger of being led in a Roman triumph one who has been an autocrat so many years, and the ruler of so great a kingdom, but who is now unable to die by poison because, like a fool, he has fortified himself against the poison of others. Although I have kept watch and ward against all the poisons that one takes with his food, I have not provided against that domestic poison, always the most dangerous to kings, the treachery of army, children, and friends. Bituitus, thus appealed to, rendered the king the service that he desired.

So died Mithridates, who was the sixteenth in descent from Darius, the son of Hystaspes, king of the Persians, and the eighth from that Mithridates who left the Macedonians and acquired the kingdom of Pontus. He lived sixty-eight or sixty-nine years, and of these he reigned fifty-seven, for the kingdom came to him when he was an orphan. He subdued the neighboring barbarians and many of the Scythians, and waged a formidable war against the Romans for forty years, during which he frequently conquered Bithynia and Cappadocia, besides making incursions into the Roman province of Asia and into Phrygia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, and Macedonia. He invaded Greece, where he performed many remarkable exploits, and ruled the sea from Cilicia to the Adriatic until Sulla confined him again to his paternal kingdom after destroying 160,000 of his soldiers. Notwithstanding these great losses he renewed the war without difficulty. He fought with the greatest generals of his time. He was vanquished by Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey, although several times he got the better of them also. Lucius Cassius, Quintus Oppius, and Manius Aquilius he took prisoners and carried them around with him. The last he killed because he was the cause of the war. The others he surrendered to Sulla. He defeated Fimbria, Murena, the consul Cotta, Fabius, and Triarius. He was always high-spirited and indomitable even in misfortunes. Until finally overthrown he left no avenue of attack against the Romans untried. He made alliances with the Samnites and the Gauls, and he sent legates to Sertorius in Spain. He was often wounded by enemies and by conspirators, but he never desisted from anything on that account, even when he was an old man. None of the conspiracies ever escaped his detection, not even the last one, but he voluntarily overlooked it and perished in consequence of it — so ungrateful is the wickedness that has been once pardoned. He was bloodthirsty and cruel to all — the slayer of his mother, his brother, three sons, and three daughters. He had a large frame, as his armor, which he sent to Nemea and to Delphi, shows, and was so strong that he rode horseback and hurled the javelin to the last, and could ride 1000 stades in one day, changing horses at intervals. He used to drive a chariot with sixteen horses at once. He cultivated Greek learning, and thus became acquainted with the religious cult of Greece, and was fond of music. He was abstemious and patient of labor for the most part, and yielded only to pleasures with women.

Such was the end of Mithridates, who bore the surnames of Eupator and Dionysus. When the Romans heard of his death they held a festival because they were delivered from a troublesome enemy. Pharnaces sent his father’s corpse to Pompey at Sinope in a trireme, together with the persons who captured Manius, and many hostages, both Greek and barbarian, and asked that he should be allowed to rule either his paternal kingdom, or Bosporus alone, which his brother, Machares, had received from Mithridates. Pompey provided for the expenses of the funeral of Mithridates and directed his servants to give his remains a royal interment, and to place them in the tombs of the kings in Sinope, because he admired his great achievements and considered him the first of the kings of his time. Pharnaces, for delivering Italy from much trouble, was inscribed as a friend and ally of the Romans, and was given Bosporus as his kingdom, except Phanagoria, whose inhabitants were made free and independent because they were the first to resist Mithridates when he was recovering his strength, collecting ships, creating a new army and military posts, and because they led others to revolt and were the cause of his final collapse.

Pompey, having cleaned out the robber dens, and prostrated the greatest king then living, in one and the same war, and having fought successful battles, besides those of the Pontic war, with Colchians, Albanians, Iberians, Armenians, Medes, Arabs, Jews, and other Eastern nations, extended the Roman sway as far as Egypt. But he did not advance into Egypt, although the king of that country invited him there to suppress a sedition, and sent gifts to himself and money and clothing for his whole army. He either feared the greatness of this still prosperous kingdom, or wished to guard against the envy of his enemies, or the warning voice of oracles, or for other reasons which I will publish in my Egyptian history. He let some of the subjugated nations go free and made them allies. Others he placed at once under Roman rule, and others he distributed to kings — to Tigranes, Armenia; to Pharnaces, Bosporus; to Ariobarzanes, Cappadocia and the other provinces before mentioned. To Antiochus of Commagene he turned over Seleucia and the parts of Mesopotamia that he conquered. He made Deïotarus and others tetrarchs of the Gallograecians, who are now the Galatians bordering on Cappadocia. He made Attalus prince of Paphlagonia and Aristarchus prince of Colchis. He also appointed Archelaus to the priesthood of the goddess worshipped at Comana, which is a royal prerogative. Castor of Phanagoria was inscribed as a friend of the Roman people. Much territory and money were bestowed upon others.

He founded cities also, — in Lesser Armenia Nicopolis, named for his victory; in Pontus Eupatoria, which Mithridates Eupator had built and named after himself, but destroyed because it had received the Romans. Pompey rebuilt it and named it Magnopolis. In Cappadocia he rebuilt Mazaca, which had been completely ruined by the war. He restored other towns in many places, that had been destroyed or damaged, in Pontus, Palestine, Cœle-Syria, and Cilicia, in which he had settled the greater part of the pirates, and where the city formerly called Soli is now known as Pompeiopolis. The city of Talauri Mithridates used as a storehouse of furniture. Here were found 2000 drinking-cups made of onyx welded with gold, and many cups, wine-coolers, and drinking-horns, also ornamental couches and chairs, bridles for horses, and trappings for their breasts and shoulders, all ornamented in like manner with precious stones and gold. The quantity of this store was so great that the inventory of it occupied thirty days. Some of these things had been inherited from Darius, the son of Hystaspes; others came from the kingdom of the Ptolemies, having been deposited by Cleopatra at the island of Cos and given by the inhabitants to Mithridates; still others had been made or collected by Mithridates himself, as he was a lover of the beautiful in furniture as well as in other things.

At the end of the winter Pompey distributed rewards to the army;1500 Attic drachmas to each soldier and in like proportion to the officers, the whole, it was said, amounting to 16,000 talents. Then he marched to Ephesus, embarked for Italy, and hastened to Rome, having dismissed his soldiers at Brundusium to their homes, by which act his popularity was greatly increased among the Romans. As he approached the city he was met by successive processions, first of youths, farthest from the city, then bands of men of different ages came out as far as they severally could walk; last of all came the Senate, which was lost in wonder at his exploits, for no one had ever before vanquished so powerful an enemy, and at the same time brought so many great nations under subjection and extended the Roman rule to the Euphrates. He was awarded a triumph exceeding in brilliancy any that had gone before, being now only thirty-five years of age. It occupied two successive days, and many nations were represented in the procession from Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, all the peoples of Syria, besides Albanians, Heniochi, Achaeans, Scythians, and Eastern Iberians. Seven hundred complete ships were brought into the harbor. In the triumphal procession were two-horse carriages and litters laden with gold or with other ornaments of various kinds, also the couch of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the throne and sceptre of Mithridates Eupator himself, and his image, eight cubits high, made of solid gold, and 75,100,000 drachmas of silver coin. The number of wagons carrying arms was infinite, and the number of the beaks of ships. After these came the multitude of captives and pirates, none of them bound, but all arrayed in their native costumes.

Before Pompey himself were led the satraps, sons, and generals of the kings against whom he had fought, who were present (some having been captured and others given as hostages) to the number of 324. Among them were Tigranes, the son of Tigranes, and five sons of Mithridates, namely, Artaphernes, Cyrus, Oxathres, Darius, and Xerxes, also his daughters, Orsabaris and Eupatra. Olthaces, chief of the Colchians, was also led in the procession, and Aristobulus, king of the Jews, the tyrants of the Cilicians, and the female rulers of the Scythians, three chiefs of the Iberians, two of the Albanians, and Menander the Laodicean, who had been chief of cavalry to Mithridates. There were carried in the procession images of those who were not present, of Tigranes and of Mithridates, representing them as fighting, as vanquished, and as fleeing. Even the besieging of Mithridates and his silent flight by night were represented. Finally it was shown how he died, and the daughters who perished with him were pictured also, and there were figures of the sons and daughters who died before him, and images of the barbarian gods decked out in the fashion of their countries. A tablet was borne also with this inscription: Ships with brazen beaks captured, 800; cities founded in Cappadocia, 8; in Cilicia and Cœle-Syria, 20; in Palestine the one which is now Seleucis. Kings conquered: Tigranes the Armenian, Artoces the Iberian, Orœzes the Albanian, Darius the Mede, Aretas the Nabataean, Antiochus of Commagene. These were the facts recorded on the inscription. Pompey himself was borne in a chariot studded with gems, wearing, it was said, a cloak of Alexander the Great, if any one can believe that. This was supposed to have been found among the possessions of Mithridates that the inhabitants of Cos had received from Cleopatra. His chariot was followed by the officers who had shared the campaigns with him, some on horseback and others on foot. When he arrived at the Capitol he did not put any of the prisoners to death as had been the custom at other triumphs, but sent them all home at the public expense, except the kings. Of these Aristobulus alone was shortly put to death and Tigranes somewhat later. Such was the character of Pompey’s triumph.

Thus the Romans, having conquered King Mithridates at the end of forty-two years, reduced to subjection Bithynia, Cappadocia, and other neighboring peoples dwelling near the Euxine sea. In this same war that part of Cilicia which was not yet subject to them, together with the Syrian countries, Phœnicia, Cœle-Syria, Palestine, and the territory lying between them and the river Euphrates, although they did not belong to Mithridates, were gained by the impetus of the victory over him and were required to pay tribute, some immediately and others later. Paphlagonia, Galatia, Phrygia, and the part of Mysia adjoining Phrygia, and in addition Lydia, Caria, Ionia, and all the rest of Asia Minor formerly belonging to Pergamus, together with old Greece and Macedonia, that Mithridates had drawn away from them, were completely recovered. Many of these peoples, who did not pay them tribute before, were now subjected to it. For these reasons I think they especially considered this a great war and called the victory which ended it the Great Victory and gave the title of Great to Pompey who gained it for them (by which peculiar appellation he is called to this day); on account of the great number of nations recovered or added to their dominion, the length of time (forty years) that the war had lasted, and the courage and endurance that Mithridates had shown himself capable of in all emergencies.

Many times he had over 400 ships of his own, 50,0000 cavalry, and 250,000 infantry, with engines and arms in proportion. For allies he had the king of Armenia and the princes of the Scythian tribes around the Euxine and the sea of Azov and beyond, as far as the Thracian Bosporus. He held communications with the leaders of the Roman civil wars, which were then fiercely raging, and with those who were inciting insurrection in Spain. He established friendly relations with the Gauls for the purpose of invading Italy. From Cilicia to the Pillars of Hercules he filled the sea with pirates, who stopped all commerce and navigation between cities and caused severe famine for a long time. In short, he left nothing within the power of man undone or untried to start the greatest possible movement, extending from the Orient to the Occident, to vex, so to speak, the whole world, which was warred upon, tangled in alliances, harassed by pirates, or vexed by the neighborhood of the warfare. Such and so diversified was this one war, but in the end it brought the greatest gains to the Romans, for it pushed the boundaries of their dominion from the setting of the sun to the river Euphrates. It has been impossible to distinguish all these exploits by nations, since they were performed at the same time and were complicated with each other. Those which could be separated I have arranged each by itself.

Pharnaces besieged the Phanagoreans and the towns neighboring to the Bosporus until the former were compelled by hunger to come out and fight, when he overcame them in battle; yet he did them no other harm, but made friends with them, took hostages, and withdrew. Not long afterward he took Sinope and had a mind to take Amisus also, for which reason he made war against Calvinus, the Roman commander, at the time when Pompey and Caesar were contending against each other, until Asander, an enemy of his own, drew him away from Asia, while the Romans were still preoccupied. Afterward he fought with Caesar himself (when the latter had overthrown Pompey and returned from Egypt), near Mount Scotius, where his father had defeated the Romans under Triarius. He was beaten and fled to Sinope with 1000 cavalry. Caesar was too busy to follow him, but sent Domitius against him. He surrendered Sinope to Domitius, who agreed to let him go away with his cavalry. He killed his horses, though his men were extremely dissatisfied at this, then took ship and fled to the Bosporus. Here he collected a force of Scythians and Sarmatians and captured Theodosia and Panticapaeum. His enemy, Asander, attacked him again, and his men were defeated for want of horses, and because they were not accustomed to fighting on foot. Pharnaces alone fought valiantly until he died of his wounds, being then fifty years of age and having been king of Bosporus fifteen years.

Thus Pharnaces was cut off from his kingdom and Caesar bestowed it upon Mithridates of Pergamus, who had rendered him very important help in Egypt. But the people of Bosporus now had rulers of their own and a praetor was sent by the Senate yearly to govern Pontus and Bithynia. Although Caesar was offended with the other rulers who held their possessions as gifts from Pompey, since they had aided Pompey against him, nevertheless he confirmed their titles, except the priesthood of Comana which he took from Archelaus and gave to Lycomedes. Not long after, all these countries, and those which Gaius Caesar or Mark Antony had given to others, were made Roman provinces by Augustus Caesar, after he had taken Egypt, as the Romans needed only the slightest pretext in each case. Thus, since their dominion had been advanced in consequence of the Mithridatic war, from Spain and the Pillars of Hercules to the Euxine sea, and the sands which border Egypt, and the river Euphrates, it was fitting that this victory should be called the great one, and that Pompey, who commanded the army, should be styled the Great As they held Africa also as far as Cyrene (for Apion, the king of that country, a bastard of the house of the Lagidae, left Cyrene itself to the Romans in his will), Egypt alone was lacking to their grasp of the whole Mediterranean.

The Romans, as they subdued the Italian nations successively in war, seized a part of their lands and built towns there, or established their own colonies in those already existing, and used them in place of garrisons. Of the land acquired by war they assigned the cultivated part forthwith to settlers, or leased or sold it. Since they had no leisure as yet to allot the part which then lay desolated by war (this was generally the greater part), they made proclamation that in the meantime those who were willing to work it might do so for a share of the yearly crops a tenth of the grain and a fifth of the fruit. From those who kept flocks was required a share of the animals, both oxen and small cattle. They did these things in order to multiply the Italian race, which they considered the most laborious of peoples, so that they might have plenty of allies at home. But the very opposite thing happened; for the rich, getting possession of the greater part of the undistributed lands, and being emboldened by the lapse of time to believe that they would never be dispossessed, and adding to their holdings the small farms of their poor neighbors, partly by purchase and partly by force, came to cultivate vast tracts instead of single estates, using for this purpose slaves as laborers and herdsmen, lest free laborers should be drawn from agriculture into the army. The ownership of slaves itself brought them great gain from the multitude of their progeny, who increased because they were exempt from military service. Thus the powerful ones became enormously rich and the race of slaves multiplied throughout the country, while the Italian people dwindled in numbers and strength, being oppressed by penury, taxes, and military service. If they had any respite from these evils they passed their time in idleness, because the land was held by the rich, who employed slaves instead of freemen as cultivators.

For these reasons the people became troubled lest they should no longer have sufficient allies of the Italian stock, and lest the government itself should be endangered by such a vast number of slaves. Not perceiving any remedy, as it was not easy, nor exactly just, to deprive men of so many possessions they had held so long, including their own trees, buildings, and fixtures, a law was once passed with difficulty at the instance of the tribunes, that nobody should hold more than 500 jugera of this land, or pasture on it more than 100 cattle or 500 sheep. To ensure the observance of this law it was provided also that there should be a certain number of freemen employed on the farms, whose business it should be to watch and report what was going on. Those who held possession of lands under the law were required to take an oath to obey the law, and penalties were fixed for violating it, and it was supposed that the remaining land would soon be divided among the poor in small parcels. But there was not the smallest consideration shown for the law or the oaths. The few who seemed to pay some respect to them conveyed their lands to their relations fraudulently, but the greater part disregarded it altogether.

At length Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, an illustrious man, eager for glory, a most powerful speaker, and for these reasons well known to all, delivered an eloquent discourse, while serving as tribune, concerning the Italian race, lamenting that a people so valiant in war, and blood relations to the Romans, were declining little by little in pauperism and paucity of numbers without any hope of remedy. He inveighed against the multitude of slaves as useless in war and never faithful to their masters, and adduced the recent calamity brought upon the masters by their slaves in Sicily, where the demands of agriculture had greatly increased the number of the latter; recalling also the war waged against them by the Romans, which was neither easy nor short, but long-protracted and full of vicissitudes and dangers. After speaking thus he again brought forward the law, providing that nobody should hold more than 500 jugera of the public domain. But he added a provision to the former law, that the sons of the present occupiers might each hold one-half of that amount, and that the remainder should be divided among the poor by triumvirs, who should be changed annually.

This was extremely disturbing to the rich because, on account of the triumvirs, they could no longer disregard the law as they had done before; nor could they buy the allotments of others, because Gracchus had provided against this by forbidding sales. They collected together in groups, and made lamentation, and accused the poor of appropriating the results of their tillage, their vineyards, and their dwellings. Some said that they had paid the price of the land to their neighbors. Were they to lose the money with the land? Others said that the graves of their ancestors were in the ground, which had been allotted to them in the division of their fathers’ estates. Others said that their wives’ dowries had been expended on the estates, or that the land had been given to their own daughters as dowry. Money-lenders could show loans made on this security. All kinds of wailing and expressions of indignation were heard at once. On the other side were heard the lamentations of the poor—that they had been reduced from competence to extreme penury, and from that to childlessness, because they were unable to rear their offspring. They recounted the military services they had rendered, by which this very land had been acquired, and were angry that they should be robbed of their share of the common property. They reproached the rich for employing slaves, who were always faithless and ill-tempered and for that reason unserviceable in war, instead of freemen, citizens, and soldiers. While these classes were lamenting and indulging in mutual accusations, a great number of others, composed of colonists, or inhabitants of the free towns, or persons otherwise interested in the lands and who were under like apprehensions, flocked in and took sides with their respective factions. Emboldened by numbers and exasperated against each other they attached themselves to turbulent crowds, and waited for the voting on the new law, some trying to prevent its enactment by all means, and others supporting it in every possible way. In addition to personal interest the spirit of rivalry spurred both sides in the preparations they were making against each other for the day of the comitia.

What Gracchus had in his mind in proposing the measure was not wealth, but an increase of efficient population. Inspired greatly by the usefulness of the work, and believing that nothing more advantageous or admirable could ever happen to Italy, he took no account of the difficulties surrounding it. When the time for voting came he advanced many other arguments at considerable length and also asked them whether it was not just to divide among the common people what belonged to them in common; whether a citizen was not worthy of more consideration at all times than a slave; whether a man who served in the army was not more useful than one who did not; and whether one who had a share in the country was not more likely to be devoted to the public interests. He did not dwell long on this comparison between freemen and slaves, which he considered degrading, but proceeded at once to a review of their hopes and fears for the country, saying that the Romans had acquired most of their territory by conquest, and that they had hopes of occupying the rest of the habitable world, but now the question of greatest hazard was, whether they should gain the rest by having plenty of brave men, or whether, through their weakness and mutual jealousy, their enemies should take away what they already possessed. After exaggerating the glory and riches on the one side and the danger and fear on the other, he admonished the rich to take heed, and said that for the realization of these, hopes they ought to bestow this very land as a free gift, if necessary, on men who would rear children, and not, by contending about small things, overlook larger ones; especially since they were receiving an ample compensation for labor expended in the undisputed title to 500 jugera each of free land, in a high state of cultivation, without cost, and half as much more for each son of those who had sons. After saying much more to the same purport and exciting the poor, as well as others who were moved by reason rather than by the desire for gain, he ordered the scribe to read the proposed law.

Marcus Octavius, another tribune, who had been induced by those in possession of the lands to interpose his veto (for among the Romans the tribune’s veto always prevailed), ordered the scribe to keep silence. Thereupon Gracchus reproached him severely and adjourned the comitia to the following day. Then he stationed a sufficient guard, as if to force Octavius against his will, and ordered the scribe with threats to read the proposed law to the multitude. He began to read, but when Octavius again vetoed he stopped. Then the tribunes fell to wrangling with each other, and a considerable tumult arose among the people. The leading citizens besought the tribunes to submit their controversy to the Senate for decision. Gracchus seized on the suggestion, believing that the law was acceptable to all well-disposed persons, and hastened to the senate-house. There, as he had only a few followers and was upbraided by the rich, he ran back to the forum and said that he would take the vote at the comitia of the following day, both on the law and on the magistracy of Octavius, to determine whether a tribune who was acting contrary to the people’s interest could continue to hold his office. And so he did, for when Octavius, nothing daunted, again interposed, Gracchus distributed the pebbles to take a vote on him first. When the first tribe voted to abrogate the magistracy of Octavius, Gracchus turned to him and begged him to desist from this veto. As he would not yield, the votes of the other tribes were taken. There were thirty-five tribes at that time. The seventeen that voted first angrily sustained this motion. If the eighteenth should do the same it would make a majority. Again did Gracchus, in the sight of the people, urgently importune Octavius in his present extreme danger not to prevent this most pious work, so useful to all Italy, and not to frustrate the wishes so earnestly entertained by the people, whose desires he ought rather to share in his character of tribune, and not to risk the loss of his office by public condemnation. After speaking thus he called the gods to witness that he did not willingly do any despite to his colleague. As Octavius was still unyielding he went on taking the vote. Octavius was forthwith reduced to the rank of a private citizen and slunk away unobserved.

Quintus Mummius was chosen tribune in his place, and the agrarian law was enacted. The first triumvirs appointed to divide the land were Gracchus himself, the proposer of the law, his brother of the same name, and his father-in-law, Appius Claudius, since the people still feared that the law might fail of execution unless Gracchus should be put in the lead with his whole family. Gracchus became immensely popular by reason of the law and was escorted home by the multitude as though he were the founder, not of a single city or race, but of all the nations of Italy. After, this the victorious party returned to the fields from which they had come to attend to this business. The defeated ones remained in the city and talked the matter over, feeling bitterly, and saying that as soon as Gracchus should become a private citizen he would be sorry that he had done despite to the sacred and inviolable office of tribune, and had opened such a fountain of discord in Italy.

At the advent of summer the notices for the election of tribunes were given, and as the day for voting approached it was very evident that the rich were earnestly promoting the election of those most inimical to Gracchus. The latter, fearing that evil would befall if he should not be reelected for the following year, summoned his friends from the fields to attend the comitia, but as they were occupied with their harvest he was obliged, when the day fixed for the voting drew near, to have recourse to the plebeians of the city. So he went around asking each one separately to elect him tribune for the ensuing year, on account of the danger he had incurred for them. When the voting took place the first two tribes pronounced for Gracchus. The rich objected that it was not lawful for the same man to hold the office twice in succession. The tribune Rubrius, who had been chosen by lot to preside over the comitia, was in doubt about it, and Mummius, who had been chosen in place of Octavius, urged him to turn over the comitia to his charge. This he did, but the remaining tribunes contended that the presidency should be decided by lot, saying that when Rubrius, who had been chosen in that way, resigned, the casting of lots ought to be done over again for all. As there was much strife over this question, Gracchus, who was getting the worst of it, adjourned the voting to the following day. In utter despair he clothed himself in black, while still in office, and led his son around the forum and introduced him to each man and committed him to their charge, as if he were about to perish at the hands of his enemies.

The poor were moved with deep sorrow, and rightly so, both on their own account (for they believed that they were no longer to live in a free state under equal laws, but were reduced to servitude by the rich), and on account of Gracchus himself, who had incurred such danger and suffering in their behalf. So they all accompanied him with tears to his house in the evening, and bade him be of good courage for the morrow. Gracchus cheered up, assembled his partisans before daybreak, and communicated to them a signal to be displayed in case of a fight. He then took possession of the temple on the Capitoline hill, where the voting was to take place, and occupied the middle of the assembly. As he was obstructed by the other tribunes and by the rich, who would not allow the votes to be taken on this question, he gave the signal. There was a sudden shout from those who saw it, and a resort to violence in consequence. Some of the partisans of Gracchus took position around him like body-guards. Others, having girded themselves, seized the fasces and staves in the hands of the lictors and broke them in pieces. They drove the rich out of the assembly with such disorder and wounds that the tribunes fled from their places in terror, and the priests closed the doors of the temple. Many ran away pell-mell and scattered wild rumors. Some said that Gracchus had deposed all the other tribunes, and this was believed because none of them could be seen. Others said that he had declared himself tribune for the ensuing year without an election.

Under these circumstances the Senate assembled at the temple of Fides. It is astonishing to me that they never thought of appointing a dictator in this emergency, although they had often been protected by the government of a single ruler in such times of peril. Although this resource had been found most useful in former times few people remembered it, either then or later. After reaching the decision that they did reach, they marched up to the Capitol, Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the pontifex maximus, leading the way and calling out with a loud voice, Let those who would save the country follow me. He wound the border of his toga about his head either to induce a greater number to go with him by the singularity of his appearance, or to make for himself, as it were, a helmet as a sign of battle for those who looked on, or in order to conceal from the gods what he was about to do. When he arrived at the temple and advanced against the partisans of Gracchus they yielded to the reputation of a foremost citizen, for they saw the Senate following with him. The latter wrested clubs out of the hands of the Gracchans themselves, or with fragments of broken benches or other apparatus that had been brought for the use of the assembly, began beating them, and pursued them, and drove them over the precipice. In the tumult many of the Gracchans perished, and Gracchus himself was caught near the temple, and was slain at the door close by the statues of the kings. All the bodies were thrown by night into the Tiber.

So perished on the Capitol, and while still tribune, Gracchus, the son of the Gracchus who was twice consul, and of Cornelia, daughter of that Scipio who subjugated Carthage. He lost his life in consequence of a most excellent design, which, however, he pursued in too violent a manner. This shocking affair, the first that was perpetrated in the public assembly, was seldom without parallels thereafter from time to time. On the subject of the murder of Gracchus the city was divided between sorrow and joy. Some mourned for themselves and for him, and deplored the present condition of things, believing that the commonwealth no longer existed, but had been supplanted by force and violence. Others considered that everything had turned out for them exactly as they wished. These things took place at the time when Aristonicus was contending with the Romans for the government of Asia.

After Gracchus was slain Appius Claudius died, and Fulvius Flaccus and Papirius Carbo were appointed, in conjunction with the younger Gracchus, to divide the land. As the persons in possession neglected to hand in lists of their holdings, a proclamation was issued that informers should furnish testimony against them. Immediately a great number of embarrassing lawsuits sprang up. Wherever a new field had been bought adjoining an old one, or wherever a division of land had been made with allies, the whole district had to be carefully inquired into on account of the measurement of this one field, to discover how it had been sold and how divided. Not all owners had preserved their contracts, or their allotment titles, and even those that were found were often ambiguous. When the land was resurveyed some owners were obliged to give up their fruit-trees and farm-buildings in exchange for naked ground. Others were transferred from cultivated to uncultivated lands, or to swamps, or pools. In fact, the measuring had not been carefully done when the land was first taken from the enemy. As the original proclamation authorized anybody to work the undistributed land who wished to do so, many had been prompted to cultivate the parts immediately adjoining their own, till the line of demarkation between them had faded from view. The progress of time also made many changes. Thus the injustice done by the rich, although great, was not easy of ascertainment. So there was nothing but a general turn-about, all parties being moved out of their own places and settled down in other people’s.

The Italian allies who complained of these disturbances, and especially of the lawsuits hastily brought against them, chose Cornelius Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, to defend them against these grievances. As he had availed himself of their very valiant services in war he was reluctant to disregard their request. So he came into the Senate, and although, out of regard for the plebeians, he did not openly find fault with the law of Gracchus, he expatiated on its difficulties and held that these causes ought not to be decided by the triumvirs, because they did not possess the confidence of the litigants, but should be turned over to others. As his view seemed reasonable, they yielded to his persuasion, and the consul Tuditanus was appointed to give judgment in these cases. But when he took hold of the work he saw the difficulties of it, and marched against the Illyrians as a pretext for not acting as judge, and since nobody brought cases for trial before the triumvirs they relapsed into idleness. From this cause hatred and indignation arose among the people against Scipio because they saw him, in whose favor they had often opposed the aristocracy and incurred their enmity, electing him consul twice contrary to law, now taking the side of the Italian allies against them. When Scipio’s enemies observed this, they cried out that he was determined to abolish the law of Gracchus utterly and was about to inaugurate armed strife and bloodshed for that purpose.

When the people heard these charges they were in a state of alarm until Scipio, after placing near his couch at home one evening a tablet on which he intended to write during the night the speech he intended to deliver before the people, was found dead in his bed without a wound. Whether this was done by Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi (aided by her daughter, Sempronia, who was married to Scipio, and was unloved and unloving because she was deformed and childless), lest the law of Gracchus should be abolished, or whether, as some think, he committed suicide because he saw plainly that he could not accomplish what he had promised, is not known. Some say that slaves, who were subjected to torture, testified that unknown persons were introduced through the rear of the house by night who suffocated him, and that those who knew about it hesitated to tell because the people were angry with him still and rejoiced at his death. So died Scipio, and although he had been of immense service to the Roman power he was not honored with a public funeral; so much does the anger of the present moment outweigh gratitude for the past. And this event, sufficiently important in itself, took place as an incident of the sedition of Gracchus.

Those who were in possession of the lands even after these events postponed the division on various pretexts for a very long time. Some thought that the Italian allies, who made the greatest resistance to it, ought to be admitted to Roman citizenship so that, out of gratitude for the greater favor, they should no longer quarrel about the land. The Italians were glad to accept this, because they preferred Roman citizenship to possession of the fields. Fulvius Flaccus, who was then both consul and triumvir, exerted himself to the utmost to bring it about, but the Senate was angry at the proposal to make their subjects equal citizens with themselves. For this reason the attempt was abandoned, and the people, who had been so long in the hope of acquiring land, became disheartened. While they were in this mood Gaius Gracchus, who had made himself agreeable to them as a triumvir, offered himself for the tribuneship. He was the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus, the promoter of the law, and had been silent for some time on the subject of the fate of his brother, but since many of the senators treated him scornfully he announced himself as a candidate for the office of tribune. As soon as he was elected to this distinguished position he began to lay plots against the Senate, and proposed that a monthly distribution of corn should be made to each citizen at the public expense, which had not been customary before. Thus he got the leadership of the people quickly by one measure of policy, in which he had the coöperation of Fulvius Flaccus. Directly after that he was chosen tribune for the following year, for in cases where there was not a sufficient number of candidates the law authorized the people to choose from the whole number then in office.

Thus Gaius Gracchus became tribune a second time. Having bought the plebeians, as it were, he began, by another like political manœuvre, to court the equestrian order, who hold the middle place between the Senate and the plebeians. He transferred the courts of justice, which had become discredited by reason of bribery, from the senators to the knights, reproaching the former especially with the recent examples of Aurelius Cotta, Salinator, and, third in the list, Manius Aquilius (the one who subdued Asia), all notorious bribe-takers, who had been acquitted by the judges, although ambassadors sent to complain against them were still present, going around uttering hateful accusations against them. The Senate was extremely ashamed of these things and yielded to the law, and the people ratified it. In this way were the courts of justice transferred from the Senate to the knights. It is said that soon after the passage of this law Gracchus remarked that he had broken the power of the Senate once for all. This saying of Gracchus has been even more confirmed by experience in the course of events. This power of sitting in judgment on all Romans and Italians, including the senators themselves, in all matters as to property, civil rights, and banishment, exalted the knights like rulers over them and put senators on the same level with subjects. Moreover, as the knights voted in the election to sustain the power of the tribunes, and obtained from them whatever they wanted in return, they became more and more formidable to the senators. So it shortly came about that the political mastery was turned upside down, the power being in the hands of the knights, and the honor only remaining with the Senate. The knights went so far that they not only held power over the senators, but they openly flouted them beyond their right. They also became addicted to bribe-taking, and having once tasted these enormous gains, they indulged in them even more basely and immoderately than the senators had done. They suborned accusers against the rich and did away with prosecutions for bribe-taking altogether, partly by concert of action and partly by force and violence, so that the practice of this kind of investigation became entirely obsolete. Thus the judiciary law gave rise to another struggle of factions, which lasted a long time and was not less baneful than the former ones.

Gracchus made long roads throughout Italy and thus put a multitude of contractors and artisans under obligations to him and made them ready to do whatever he wished. He proposed the founding of numerous colonies. He also called on the Latin allies to demand the full rights of Roman citizenship, since the Senate could not with decency refuse this privilege to their blood relations. To the other allies, who were not allowed to vote in Roman elections, he sought to give the right of suffrage, in order to have their help in the enactment of laws which he had in contemplation. The Senate was very much alarmed at this, and it ordered the consuls to give the following public notice, Nobody who does not possess the right of suffrage shall stay in the city or approach within forty stades of it while voting is going on concerning these laws. The Senate also persuaded Livius Drusus, another tribune, to interpose his veto against the laws proposed by Gracchus, but not to tell the people his reasons for doing so; for a tribune was not required to give reasons for his veto. In order to conciliate the people they gave Drusus the privilege of founding twelve colonies, and the plebeians were so much pleased with this that they began to scoff at the laws proposed by Gracchus.

Having lost the favor of the rabble, Gracchus sailed for Africa in company with Fulvius Flaccus, who, after his consulship, had been chosen tribune for the same reasons as Gracchus himself. A colony had been voted to Africa on account of its reputed fertility, and these men had been expressly chosen the founders of it in order to get them out of the way for a while, so that the Senate might have a respite from demagogism. They marked out a town for the colony on the place where Carthage had formerly stood, disregarding the fact that Scipio, when he destroyed it, had devoted it with curses to sheep-pasturage forever. They assigned 6000 colonists to this place, instead of the smaller number fixed by law, in order further to curry favor with the people thereby. When they returned to Rome they invited the 6000 from the whole of Italy. The functionaries who were still in Africa laying out the city wrote home that wolves had pulled up and scattered the boundary marks made by Gracchus and Fulvius, and the soothsayers considered this an ill omen for the colony. So the Senate summoned the comitia, in which it was proposed to repeal the law concerning this colony. When Gracchus and Fulvius saw their failure in this matter they were furious, and declared that the Senate had lied about the wolves. The boldest of the plebeians joined them, carrying daggers, and proceeded to the Capitol, where the assembly was to be held in reference to the colony.

Now the people were assembled, and Fulvius had begun speaking about the business in hand, when Gracchus arrived at the Capitol attended by a body-guard of his partisans. Disturbed by what he knew about the extraordinary plans on foot he turned aside from the meeting-place of the assembly, passed into the portico, and walked about waiting to see what would happen. Just then a plebeian named Antyllus, who was sacrificing in the portico, saw him in this disturbed state, seized him by the hand, either because he had heard something or suspected something, or was moved to speak to him for some other reason, and asked him to spare his country. Gracchus, still more disturbed, and startled like one detected in a crime, gave the man a piercing look. Then one of his party, although no signal had been displayed or order given, inferred merely from the very sharp glance that Gracchus cast upon Antyllus that the time for action had come, and thought that he should do a favor to Gracchus by striking the first blow. So he drew his dagger and slew Antyllus. A cry was raised, the dead body was seen in the midst of the crowd, and all who were outside fled from the temple in fear of a like fate. Gracchus went into the assembly desiring to exculpate himself of the deed. Nobody would so much as listen to him. All turned away from him as from one stained with blood. Gracchus and Flaccus were nonplussed and, having lost the chance of accomplishing what they wished, they hastened home, and their partisans with them. The rest of the crowd occupied the forum throughout the night as though some calamity were impending. Opimius, one of the consuls, who was staying in the city, ordered an armed force to be stationed at the Capitol at daybreak, and sent heralds to convoke the Senate. He took his own station in the temple of Castor and Pollux in the centre of the city and there awaited events.

When these arrangements had been made the Senate summoned Gracchus and Flaccus from their homes to the senate-house to defend themselves. But they ran out armed toward the Aventine hill, hoping that if they could seize it first the Senate would agree to some terms with them. They ran through the city offering freedom to the slaves, but none listened to them. With such forces as they had, however, they occupied and fortified the temple of Diana, and sent Quintus, the son of Flaccus, to the Senate seeking to come to an arrangement and to live in peace. The Senate replied that they should lay down their arms, come to the senate-house, tell what they wanted, or else send no more messengers. When they sent Quintus a second time the consul Opimius arrested him, as being no longer an ambassador after he had been warned, and at the same time sent an armed force against the Gracchans. Gracchus fled across the river by the Sublician bridge, with one slave, to a grove where he presented his throat to the slave, as he was on the point of being arrested. Flaccus took refuge in the workshop of an acquaintance. As his pursuers did not know which house he was in they threatened to burn the whole row. The man who had given shelter to the suppliant hesitated to point him out, but directed another man to do so. Flaccus was seized and put to death. The heads of Gracchus and Flaccus were carried to Opimius, and he gave their weight in gold to those who brought them. The people plundered their houses. Opimius arrested their fellow-conspirators, cast them into prison, and ordered that they should be strangled. He allowed Quintus, the son of Flaccus, to choose his own mode of death. After this a lustration was performed in behalf of the city for the bloodshed, and the Senate ordered the building of a temple to Concord in the forum.

So the sedition of the younger Gracchus came to an end. Not long afterward a law was enacted to permit the holders to sell the land about which they had quarrelled; for even this had been forbidden by the law of the elder Gracchus. Presently the rich bought the allotments of the poor, or found pretexts for seizing them by force. So the condition of the poor became even worse than it was before, until Spurius Borius, a tribune of the people, brought in a law providing that the work of distributing the public domain should no longer be continued, but that the land should belong to those in possession of it, who should pay rent for it to the people, and that the money so received should be distributed. This distribution was a kind of solace to the poor, but it did not serve to increase the population. By these devices the law of Gracchus (most excellent and useful if it could have been carried out) was once for all frustrated, and a little later the rent itself was abolished at the instance of another tribune. So the piebeians lost everything. Whence resulted a still further decline in the numbers of both citizens and soldiers, and in the revenue from the land and the distribution thereof; and about fifteen years after the enactment of the law of Gracchus, the laws themselves fell into abeyance by reason of the slackness of the judicial proceedings.

About this time the consul Scipio [Nasica] demolished the theatre begun by Lucius Cassius, and now nearly finished, because he considered this also the source of new seditions or because he thought it not altogether desirable that the Romans should become accustomed to Grecian pleasures. The censor, Quintus Caecelius Metellus, attempted to degrade Glaucia, a senator, and Apuleius Saturninus, who had already been a tribune, on account of their disgraceful mode of life, but was not able to do so because his colleague would not agree to it. Accordingly Saturninus, a little later, in order to have revenge on Metellus, became a candidate for the tribuneship again, seizing the occasion when Glaucia held the office of praetor and presided over the election of the tribunes; but Nonius, a man of noble birth, who used much plainness of speech in reference to Saturninus and reproached Glaucia bitterly, was chosen for the office. As they feared lest he should punish them as tribune, they made a rush upon him with a crowd of ruffians just as he was going away from the comitia, pursued him into a certain inn, and stabbed him. As this murder had a pitiful and shocking aspect, the adherents of Glaucia came together early the next morning, before the people had assembled, and declared Saturninus elected tribune. In this way the killing of Nonius was hushed up, since everybody was afraid to call Saturninus to account because he was a tribune.

Metellus was banished by them at the instigation of Gaius Marius, who was then in his sixth consulship, and was the secret enemy of Metellus. Thus they all helped each other. Saturninus brought forward a law to divide the land which the Cimbri (a Celtic tribe lately driven out by Marius) had seized in the country now called Gaul by the Romans, and which was considered as no longer Gallic but Roman territory. It was provided also in this law that if the people should enact it the senators should take an oath within five days to obey it, and that any one who should refuse to do so should be expelled from the Senate and should pay a fine of twenty talents for the benefit of the people. Thus they intended to punish those who should take it with a bad grace, and especially Metellus, who was too high-spirited to submit to the oath. Such was the proposed law. Saturninus appointed the day for holding the comitia and sent messengers to summon from the country districts those in whom he had most confidence, because they had served in the army under Marius. As the law gave the larger share to the Italian allies the city people were not pleased with it.

Sedition broke out in the comitia. Those who attempted to prevent the passage of the laws proposed by the tribunes were assaulted by Saturninus and driven away from the rostra. The city folks exclaimed that thunder was heard in the assembly, in which case it is not permitted by Roman custom to finish the business that day. As the adherents of Saturninus persisted nevertheless, the city people girded themselves, seized whatever clubs they could lay their hands on, and dispersed the rustics. The latter were rallied by Saturninus; they attacked the city folks with clubs, overcame them, and passed the law. When this was done Marius, in his capacity as consul, forthwith proposed to the Senate that they consider concerning taking the oath. Knowing that Metellus was a man of fixed opinion and firm in whatever he might believe or commit himself to, he gave his own opinion publicly, but deceitfully, saying that he would never willingly take this oath himself. When Metellus had agreed with him in this, and the others had praised them both, Marius adjourned the Senate. On the fifth day thereafter (the last day prescribed in the law for taking the oath) he called them together in haste about the tenth hour, saying that he was afraid of the people because they were so zealous for the law. He saw a way, however, to avoid it, and he proposed the following trick—to swear that they would obey the law as far as it was a law, and thus at once disperse the country people by stratagem. Afterward it could be easily shown that this thing, which had been enacted by violence and in spite of thunder, contrary to the custom of their ancestors, was not a law.

After speaking thus he did not wait for the result, but while all were in silent amazement at the plot, and confused because there was no time to be lost and no opportunity for thinking, he rose and went to the temple of Saturn, where the quaestors were accustomed to administer oaths, and took the oath first with his friends. The rest followed his example, as each one feared for his own safety. Metellus alone refused to swear, but stood fearlessly by his first determination. Saturninus proceeded against him at once on the next day. He sent an officer for him and dragged him out of the senate-house. As the other tribunes defended him Glaucia and Saturninus hastened to the country people and told them that they would never get the land, and that the law would not be executed, unless Metellus were banished. They proposed a decree of banishment against him and directed the consuls to interdict fire and water and shelter to him, and appointed a day for the ratification of this decree. Great was the indignation of the city people, who constantly escorted Metellus, carrying daggers. He thanked them and praised them for their good intentions, but said that he could not allow any danger to befall the country on his account. After saying this he withdrew from the city. Saturninus got the decree ratified, and Marius made proclamation that it was a part of the law.

In this way was Metellus, a most admirable man, sent into banishment. Thereupon Saturninus was made tribune a third time and he had for a colleague one who was thought to be a fugitive slave, but who claimed to be a son of the elder Gracchus. The multitude supported him in the election because they regretted Gracchus. When the election for consuls came on Marcus Antonius was chosen as one of them by common consent. The aforesaid Glaucia and Memmius contended for the other place. Memmius was the more illustrious man by far, and Glaucia and Saturninus were fearful of the result. So they sent a gang of ruffians to attack him with clubs while the election was going on. They fell upon him in the midst of the comitia and beat him to death in the sight of all. The assembly was broken up in terror. Neither laws nor courts nor sense of shame remained. The people ran together in anger the following day intending to kill Saturninus, but he had collected another mob from the country and, with Glaucia and Gaius Saufeius, the quaestor, seized the Capitol. The Senate voted them public enemies. Marius was vexed; nevertheless he armed some of his forces reluctantly, and, while he was delaying, some other persons cut off the water-supply from the Capitoline temple. Saufeius was near perishing with thirst and proposed to set the temple on fire, but Glaucia and Saturninus, who hoped that Marius would assist them, surrendered first, and after them Saufeius. As everybody demanded that they should be put to death, Marius shut them up in the senate-house as though he intended to deal with them in a more legal manner. The crowd considered this a mere pretext. They tore the tiles off the roof and stoned them to death, including a quaestor, a tribune, and a praetor, who were still wearing their insignia of office.

Very many others were swept out of existence in this sedition. Among them was that other tribune who was supposed to be the son of Gracchus, and who perished on that first day of his magistracy. Freedom, democracy, laws, reputation, official position, were no longer of any use to anybody, since even the tribunician office, which had been devised for the restraint of wrong-doers and the protection of the plebeians, and was sacred and inviolable, now committed such outrages and suffered such indignities. When the party of Saturninus was destroyed the Senate and people clamored for the recall of Metellus, but Publius Furius, a tribune who was not the son of a free citizen but of a freedman, boldly resisted them. Not even Metellus, the son of Metellus, who besought him in the presence of the people with tears in his eyes, and threw himself at his feet, could move him. From this spectacle the son ever afterward bore the name of Metellus Pius. The following year Furius was called to account for his obstinacy by the new tribune, Gaius Canuleius. The people did not wait for the argument, but tore Furius in pieces. Thus every year some new deed of abomination was committed in the forum. Metellus was allowed to return, and it is said that a whole day was not sufficient for the greetings of those who went to meet him at the city gates. Such was the third civil strife (that of Saturninus) which succeeded those of the two Gracchi, and such results it brought to the Romans.

While they were thus occupied the so-called Social War, in which many Italian peoples were engaged, broke out. It began unexpectedly, grew to great proportions rapidly, and extinguished the Roman seditions for a long time by a new terror. When it was ended it gave rise to new seditions under more powerful leaders, who did not work by introducing new laws, or by playing the demagogue, but by employing whole armies against each other. I have treated it in this history because it had its origin in a Roman sedition and resulted in another one much worse. It began in this way. Fulvius Flaccus in his consulship first openly excited among the Italians the desire for Roman citizenship, so as to be partners in the hegemony instead of subjects. When he introduced this idea and strenuously persisted in it, the Senate, for that reason, sent him away to take command in a war, in the course of which his consulship expired, but he obtained the tribuneship after that and managed to have the younger Gracchus for a colleague, with whose coöperation he brought forward other measures in favor of the Italians. When they were both killed, as I have previously related, the Italians were still more excited. They could not bear to be considered subjects instead of equals, or to think that Flaccus and Gracchus should suffer such calamities while working for their political advantage.

After them the tribune Livius Drusus, a man of most illustrious birth, promised the Italians, at their urgent request, that he would bring forward a new law to give them citizenship. They desired this especially because by that one step they would become rulers instead of subjects. In order to conciliate the plebeians to this measure he led out to Italy and Sicily several colonies which had been voted some time before, but not yet planted. He endeavored to bring to an agreement the Senate and the equestrian order, who were then in sharp antagonism to each other, in reference to the law courts. As he was not able to restore the courts to the Senate openly, he tried the following artifice on both of them. As the senators had been reduced by the seditions to scarcely 300 in number, he brought forward a law that an equal number should be added to their enrolment from the knights, to be chosen according to merit, and that the law courts should be made up from all of these hereafter. He provided in the law that they should make investigations about bribery, as accusations of that kind were almost unknown, since the custom of bribe-taking prevailed without restraint. This was the plan that he contrived for both of them, but it turned out contrary to his expectations, for the senators were indignant that so large a number should be added to their enrolment at one time and be transferred from knighthood to the highest rank. They thought it not unlikely that they would form a faction in the Senate by themselves and contend against the old senators more powerfully than ever. The knights, on the other hand, suspected that, by this doctoring, the courts of justice would be transferred from their order to the Senate exclusively. Having acquired a relish for the great gains and power of the judicial office, this suspicion disturbed them. Most of them fell into doubt and distrust toward each other, discussing which ones seemed more worthy than others to be enrolled among the 300; and envy against their betters filled the breasts of the remainder. Above all were they angry at the revival of the charge of bribery, which they thought had been ere this entirely suppressed, so far as they were concerned.

Thus it came to pass that both the Senate and the knights, although opposed to each other, were united in hating Drusus. Only the plebeians were gratified with the colonies. The Italians, in whose interest chiefly Drusus was devising these plans, were apprehensive about the law providing for the colonies, because they thought that the Roman public domain (which was still undivided and which they were cultivating, some by force and others clandestinely) would be taken away from them, and that in many cases they might even be disturbed in their private holdings. The Etruscans and the Umbrians had the same fears as the Italians, and when they were summoned to the city, as it was thought, by the consuls, ostensibly for the purpose of complaining against the law of Drusus, but actually, as is believed, for the purpose of killing him, they cried down the law publicly and waited for the day of the comitia. Drusus learned of the plot against him and did not go out frequently, but transacted business from day to day in the atrium of his house, which was poorly lighted. One evening as he was sending the crowd away he exclaimed suddenly that he was wounded, and fell down while uttering the words. A shoemaker’s knife was found thrust into his hip.

Thus was Drusus also slain while serving as tribune. The knights, in order to make his policy a ground of accusation against their enemies, persuaded the tribune Quintus Varius to bring forward a law to prosecute those who should, either openly or secretly, aid the Italians to acquire citizenship. They hoped to bring all the leaders under malicious indictment, and themselves to sit in judgment on them, and that when their enemies were out of the way they should be more powerful than ever in the government of Rome. When the other tribunes interposed their veto the knights surrounded them with drawn daggers and enacted the measure, whereupon accusers at once brought actions against the most illustrious of the senators. Of these Bestia did not respond, but went into exile voluntarily rather than surrender himself into the hands of his enemies. After him Cotta went before the court, made a brilliant defence of his administration of public affairs, and openly reviled the knights. He, too, departed from the city before the vote of the judges was taken. Mummius, the one who had conquered Greece, was basely ensnared by the knights, who promised to acquit him, but condemned him to banishment. He passed the remainder of his life at Delos.

As this wickedness prevailed more and more against the best citizens, the people were grieved because they were deprived all at once of so many men who had rendered such great services. When the Italians learned of the killing of Drusus and of the reason alleged for banishing the others, they considered it no longer bearable that those who were laboring for their political advancement should suffer such outrages, and as they saw no other means of acquiring citizenship they decided to revolt from the Romans altogether, and to make war against them with all their might. They sent envoys to each other secretly, formed a league, and exchanged hostages as a pledge of good faith. The Romans were in ignorance of these facts for a long time, being preoccupied by the judicial proceedings and the seditions in the city. When they heard what was going on they sent men around to the towns, choosing those who were best acquainted with each, to collect information quietly. One of these saw a young man who was being taken as a hostage from the town of Asculum to another town, and informed Servilius, the proconsul in those parts. (It appears that there were proconsuls at that time governing the various parts of Italy; Hadrian revived the custom a long time afterward when he held the supreme power, but it did not long survive him.) Servilius hastened to Asculum and indulged in very menacing language to the people, who were celebrating a festival, and they put him to death, supposing that the plot was discovered. They also killed Fonteius, his legate (for so they call those of the senatorial order who accompany the governors of provinces as assistants). After these were slain none of the other Romans in Asculum were spared. The inhabitants fell upon them, slaughtered them all, and plundered their goods.

When the revolt broke out all the neighboring peoples showed their preparedness at the same time, the Marsi, the Peligni, the Vestini, the Marrucini; and after them the Picentines, the Frentani, the Hirpini, the Pompeiians, the Venusini, the Apulians, the Lucanians, and the Samnites, all of whom had been hostile to the Romans before; also all the rest extending from the river Liris (which is now, I think, the Liternus) to the extremity of the Adriatic gulf, both inland and sea-coast. They sent ambassadors to Rome to complain that although they had coöperated in all ways with the Romans in building up the empire, the latter had not been willing to admit their helpers to citizenship. The Senate answered sternly that if they repented of what they had done they could send ambassadors, otherwise not. The Italians, in despair of any other remedy, went on with their preparations for war. Besides the soldiers which were kept for guards at each town, they had forces in common amounting to about 100,000 foot and horse. The Romans sent an equal force against them, made up of their own citizens and of the Italian peoples who were still in alliance with them.

The Romans were led by the consuls Sextus Julius Caesar and Publius Rutilius Lupus, for in this great civil war both consuls marched forth at once, leaving the gates and walls in charge of others, as was customary in cases of danger arising at home or very near by. When the war was found to be complicated and many-sided, they sent their most renowned men as lieutenant-generals to aid the consuls: to Rutilius, Gnaeus Pompeius, the father of Pompey the Great, Quintus Caepio, Gaius Perpenna, Gaius Marius, and Valerius Messala; to Sextus Caesar, Publius Lentulus, a brother of Caesar himself, Titus Didius, Licinius Crassus, Cornelius Sulla, and Marcellus. All these served under the consuls and the country was divided among them. The consuls visited all parts of the field of operations, and the Romans sent them additional forces continually, knowing that it was a great conflict. The Italians had generals for their united forces besides those of the separate towns. The chief commanders were Titus Lafrenius, Gaius Pontilius, Marius Egnatius, Quintus Pompaedius, Gaius Papius, Marcus Lamponius, Gaius Judacilius, Herius Asinius, and Vettius Cato. They divided their army in equal parts, took their positions against the Roman generals, performed many notable exploits, and suffered many disasters. The most memorable events of each class I shall here summarize.

Vettius Cato defeated Sextus Julius, killed 2000 of his men, and marched against aesernia, which adhered to Rome. L. Scipio and L. Acilius, who were in command here, escaped in the disguise of slaves. The enemy, after a considerable time, reduced it by famine. Marius Egnatius captured Venafrum by treachery and slew two Roman cohorts there. Publius Presenteius defeated Perpenna, who had 10,000 men under his command, killed 4000 and captured the arms of the greater part of the others, for which reason the consul Rutilius deprived Perpenna of his command and gave his division of the army to Gaius Marius. Marcus Lamponius destroyed some 800 of the forces under Licinius Crassus and drove the remainder into the town of Grumentum.

Gaius Papius captured Nola by treachery and offered to the 2000 Roman soldiers in it the privilege of serving under him if they would change their allegiance. They did so, but as their officers refused the proposal the latter were taken prisoners and starved to death by Papius. In conjunction with Stabias he captured Minturnae, and Salernum, which was a Roman colony. The prisoners and the slaves from these places were taken into the military service. Then he plundered the entire country around Nuceria. The towns in the vicinity were struck with terror and submitted to him, and when he demanded military assistance they furnished him about 10,000 foot and 1000 horse. With these Papius laid siege to Acerrae. Sextus Caesar, with 10,000 Gallic foot and certain Numidian and Mauretanian horse and foot, advanced toward Acerrae. Papius took a son of Jugurtha, formerly king of Numidia, named Oxynta, who was under charge of a Roman guard at Venusia, led him out of that place, clothed him in royal purple, and showed him frequently to the Numidians who were in Caesar’s army. Many of them deserted, as if to their own king, so that Caesar was obliged to send the rest back to Africa, as they were not trustworthy. Papius attacked him rashly, and had already made a breach in his fortified camp when Caesar debouched with his horse through the other gates and slew about 6000 of his men, after which Caesar withdrew from Acerrae. Canusia and Venusia and many other towns in Apulia sided with Judacilius. Some that did not submit he besieged, and he put to death the principal Roman citizens in them, but the common people and the slaves he enrolled in his army.

The consul Rutilius and Gaius Marius built bridges over the river Liris at no great distance from each other. Vettius Cato pitched his camp opposite them, but nearer to the bridge of Marius, and placed an ambush by night in some ravines around the bridge of Rutilius. Early in the morning, after he had allowed Rutilius to cross the bridge, he started up from ambush and killed a large number of the enemy on the dry land and drove many into the river. In this fight Rutilius himself was wounded in the head by a missile and died soon afterward. Marius was on the other bridge and when he guessed, from the bodies floating down stream, what had happened, he pushed away those in his front, crossed the river, and captured the camp of Cato, which was guarded by only a small force, so that Cato was obliged to spend the night where he had won his victory, and to retreat in the morning for want of provisions. The body of Rutilius and those of many other patricians were brought to Rome for burial. The corpses of the consul and his numerous comrades made a piteous spectacle and the mourning lasted many days. The Senate decreed from this time on that those who were killed in war should be buried where they fell, lest others should be deterred by the spectacle from entering the army. When the enemy heard of this they made a similar decree for themselves.

There was no successor to Rutilius in the consulship for the remainder of the year, as Sextus Caesar did not have leisure to go to the city and hold the comitia. The Senate appointed G. Marius and Q. Caepio to command the forces of Rutilius in the field. The opposing general, Q. Pompaedius, fled as a pretended deserter to this Caepio. He brought with him and gave as a pledge two slave babies, clad with the purple-bordered garments of free-born children, pretending that they were his own sons. As further confirmation of his good faith he brought masses of lead plated with gold and silver. He urged Caepio to follow him in all haste with his army and capture the hostile army while destitute of a leader. Caepio was deceived and followed him. When they had arrived at a place where an ambush had been laid, Pompaedius ran up to the top of a hill as though he were searching for the enemy, and gave his own men a signal. The latter sprang out of their concealment and cut Caepio and most of his force in pieces. The Senate joined the rest of Caepio’s army to that of Marius.

While Sextus Caesar was passing through a rocky defile with 30,000 foot and 5000 horse Marius Egnatius suddenly fell upon him and defeated him in it. He retreated on a litter, as he was sick, to a certain stream where there was only one bridge, and there he lost the greater part of his force and the arms of the survivors. He escaped to Teanum with difficulty and there he armed the remainder of his men as best he could. Reënforcements were sent to him speedily and he marched to the relief of Acerrae, which was still besieged by Papius, but when their camps were pitched opposite each other neither of them dared to attack the other.

Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius defeated the Marsians, who had attacked them. They pursued the enemy vigorously as far as the walls enclosing their vineyards. The Marsians scaled these walls with loss, but Marius and Sulla did not deem it wise to follow them farther. Cornelius Sulla was encamped on the other side of these enclosures and when he knew what had happened he came out to meet the Marsians, as they tried to escape, and killed a great number. More than 6000 Marsians were slain that day, and the arms of a still greater number were captured by the Romans. The Marsians were rendered as furious as wild beasts by this disaster. They armed their forces again and prepared to march against the enemy, but did not dare to take the offensive or to begin a battle. They are a very warlike race, and it is said that no triumph was ever awarded for a victory over them except for this single disaster. There had been up to this time a saying, No triumph over Marsians or without Marsians.

Judacilius and T. Lafrenius and P. Ventidius united their forces near Mount Falerinus and defeated Gnaeus Pompeius and pursued him to the city of Firmum. Then they went different ways. Lafrenius besieged Pompeius, who had shut himself up in Firmum. The latter armed his remaining forces, but did not come to an engagement. Having learned that another army was approaching, he sent Sulpicius around to take Lafrenius in the rear while he made a sally in front. Battle was joined and both sides were having a doubtful fight when Sulpicius set fire to the enemy’s camp. When the latter saw this they fled to Asculum in disorder and without a general, for Lafrenius had fallen in the battle. Pompeius then advanced and laid siege to Asculum.

Asculum was the native town of Judacilius, and as he feared for its safety he hastened to its relief with eight cohorts. He sent word beforehand to the inhabitants that when they should see him advancing at a distance they should make a sally against the besiegers, so that the enemy should be attacked on both sides at once. The inhabitants were afraid to do so; nevertheless Judacilius forced his way into the city through the midst of the enemy with what followers he could get, and upbraided the citizens for their cowardice and disobedience. As he despaired of saving the city he first put to death all of his enemies, who had been at variance with him before and who, out of jealousy, had prevented the people from obeying his recent orders. Then he erected a funeral pile in the temple and placed a couch upon it, and had a feast with his friends, and while the drinking-bout was at its height he swallowed poison, threw himself on the pile, and ordered his friends to set fire to it. Thus perished Judacilius, a man who considered it glorious to die for his country. Sextus Caesar was invested with the consular power by the Senate after his term of office had expired. He attacked 20,000 of the enemy at some place while they were changing camping-places, killed about 8000 of them, and captured the arms of a much larger number. He died of a disease while pushing the long siege of Asculum; the Senate appointed Gaius Baebius his successor.

While these events were transpiring on the Adriatic side of Italy, the inhabitants of Etruria and Umbria and other neighboring peoples on the other side of Rome heard of them and all were excited to revolt. The Senate, fearing lest they should be surrounded by enemies for want of guards, garrisoned the sea-coast from Cumae to the city with freedmen, who were then for the first time enrolled in the army on account of the scarcity of soldiers. The Senate also voted that those Italians who had adhered to their alliance should be admitted to citizenship, which was the one thing they all desired most. They sent this decree around among the Etruscans, who gladly accepted the citizenship. By this favor the Senate made the faithful more faithful, confirmed the wavering, and mollified their enemies by the hope of similar treatment. The Romans did not enroll the new citizens in the thirty-five existing tribes, lest they should outvote the old ones in the elections, but incorporated them in ten new tribes, which voted last. So it often happened that their vote was useless, since a majority was obtained from the thirty-five tribes that voted first. This fact was either not noticed by the Italians at the time or they were satisfied with what they had gained, but it was observed later and became the source of a new conflict.

The insurgents along the Adriatic coast, before they learned of the change of sentiment among the Etruscans, sent 15,000 men to their assistance by a long and difficult road. Gnaeus Pompeius, who was now consul, fell upon them and killed 5000 of them. The rest made their way homeward through a trackless region, in a severe winter, living on acorns; and half of them perished. The same winter Porcius Cato, the colleague of Pompeius, was killed while fighting with the Marsians. While Sulla was encamped near the Pompeiian mountains Lucius Cluentius pitched his camp in a contemptuous manner at a distance of only three stades from him, Sulla did not tolerate this insolence, but attacked Cluentius without waiting for his own foragers to come in. He was worsted and put to flight, but when he was reënforced by his foragers he turned and defeated Cluentius. The latter then moved his camp to a greater distance. Having received certain Gallic reenforcements he again drew near to Sulla and just as the two armies were coming to an engagement a Gaul of enormous size advanced and challenged any Roman to single combat. A Mauritanian soldier of short stature accepted the challenge and killed him, whereupon the Gauls became panic-stricken and fled. Cluentius’ line of battle was thus broken and the remainder of his troops did not stand their ground, but fled, in disorder to Nola. Sulla followed them and killed 3000 in the pursuit, and as the inhabitants of Nola received them by only one gate, lest the enemy should rush in with them, he killed about 20,000 more outside the walls and among them Cluentius himself, who fell fighting bravely.

Then Sulla moved against the Hirpini and attacked the town of Aeculanum. The inhabitants, who expected aid from the Lucanians that very day, asked Sulla to give them time for consideration. He understood the trick and gave them one hour, and meanwhile piled fagots around their walls, which were made of wood, and at the expiration of the hour set them on fire. They were terrified and surrendered the town. Sulla plundered it because it had not been delivered up voluntarily but by necessity. He spared the other towns that gave themselves up, and in this way the entire population of the Hirpini was brought under subjection. Then Sulla moved against the Samnites, not where Mutilus, the Samnite general, guarded the roads, but by another circuitous route where his coming was not expected. He fell upon them suddenly, killed many, and scattered the rest in disorderly flight. Mutilus was wounded and took refuge with a few followers in Aesernia. Sulla destroyed his camp and moved against Bovianum, where the common council of the rebels was held. The city had three towers. While the inhabitants were looking at Sulla from one of these he ordered a detachment to capture whichever of the others they could, and to make a signal by means of smoke. When the smoke was seen he made an attack in front and, after a severe fight of three hours, took the city. These were the successes of Sulla during that summer. When winter came he returned to Rome to solicit the consulship.

Gnaeus Pompeius brought the Marsians, the Marrucini, and the Vestini under subjection. Gaius Cosconius, another Roman praetor, advanced against and burned Salapia. He received the surrender of Cannae and laid siege to Canusium. He had a severe fight with the Samnites, who came to its relief. After great slaughter on both sides Cosconius was beaten and retreated to Cannae. A river separated the two armies, and Trebatius sent word to Cosconius either to come over to his side and fight him, or to withdraw and let him cross. Cosconius withdrew, and while Trebatius was crossing attacked him and got the better of him, and, while he was flying toward the stream, killed 15,000 of his men. The remainder took refuge with Trebatius in Canusium. Cosconius overran the territory of Larinum, Venusia, and Asculum, and invaded that of the Pœdiculi, and within two days received their surrender.

Caecilius Metellus, his successor in the praetorship, attacked the Apulians and overcame them in battle. Pompaedius, one of the rebel generals, here lost his life. The survivors joined Metellus separately. Such was the course of events throughout Italy as regards the Social War, which had raged with violence thus far and until the whole of Italy came into the Roman state except the Lucanians and the Samnites. These also seem to have obtained what they desired somewhat later. They were each enrolled in tribes of their own, like those who had been admitted to citizenship before, so that they might not, by being mingled with the old citizens, vote them down in the elections by force of numbers.

About the same time dissensions arose in the city between debtors and creditors, since the latter exacted the money due them with interest, although an old law distinctly forbade lending on interest and imposed a penalty upon any one doing so. It seems that the ancient Romans, like the Greeks, abhorred the taking of interest on loans as something knavish, and hard on the poor, and leading to contention and enmity; and by the same kind of reasoning the Persians considered lending itself as having a tendency to deceit and lying. But, since time had sanctioned the practice of taking interest, the creditors demanded it according to custom. The debtors, on the other hand, put off the payment by causing war and civil commotion. Some indeed threatened to visit the legal penalty on the interest-takers. The praetor Asellio, who had charge of these matters, as he was not able to compose their differences by persuasion, allowed them to proceed against each other in the courts, thus bringing the conflict of law and custom before the judges. The lenders, exasperated that the old law should be revived, killed the praetor in the following manner. He was offering sacrifice to Castor and Pollux in the forum, with a crowd standing around as was usual at such a ceremony. In the first place somebody threw a stone at him. He dropped the libation-bowl and ran toward the temple of Vesta. They got ahead of him and prevented him from reaching the temple, and after he had fled into a certain tavern they cut his throat. Many of his pursuers, thinking that he had taken refuge with the Vestal virgins, ran in there, where it was not lawful for men to go. Thus was Asellio, while serving as praetor, and pouring out the libation, and wearing the sacred gilded vestments customary in such ceremonies, slain at the second hour of the day, in the midst of the forum, by the side of the sacrificial offerings. The Senate offered a reward of money to any free person, and freedom to any slave, and impunity to any accomplice, who should give testimony leading to the conviction of the murderers of Asellio, but nobody gave any information. The money-lenders covered up everything.

Hitherto the murders and seditions had been merely intestine squabbles. Afterward the chiefs of factions assailed each other with great armies, according to the usage of war, and the country lay as a prize between them. The beginning and origin of these contentions came about directly after the Social War, in this wise. When Mithridates, king of Pontus and of other nations, invaded Bithynia and Phrygia and that part of Asia adjacent to those countries, as I have related in the preceding book, the consul Sulla was chosen by lot to the command of Asia and the Mithridatic war, but was still in Rome. Marius thought that this would be an easy and lucrative war and he desired the command of it. So he prevailed upon the tribune, Publius Sulpicius, by many promises, to help him obtain it. He also led the new Italian citizens, who had very little power in the elections, to hope that they should be distributed among all the tribes—not putting forward anything concerning his own advantage, but with the expectation of employing them as loyal servants in his every attempt. Sulpicius straightway brought forward a law for this purpose. If it were enacted Marius and Sulpicius would have everything they wanted, because the new citizens far outnumbered the old ones. The old citizens saw this and opposed the new ones with all their might. They fought each other with sticks and stones, and the evil increased continually. The consuls, becoming apprehensive, as the day for voting on the law drew near, proclaimed a vacation of many days’ duration, such as was customary on festal occasions, in order to postpone the voting and the danger.

Sulpicius would not wait for the vacation’s end. He ordered his faction to come to the forum with concealed daggers and to do whatever the exigency might require, and not to spare the consuls themselves upon occasion. When everything was in readiness he denounced the vacation as illegal and ordered the consuls, Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius, to put an end to it at once, in order to proceed to the enactment of laws. A tumult arose, and those who had been armed drew their daggers and threatened to kill the consuls, who were making opposition. Finally Pompeius escaped secretly and Sulla withdrew on the pretext of taking advice. In the meantime the son of Pompeius, who was the son-in-law of Sulla, and who was speaking his mind rather freely, was killed by the Sulpicians. Presently Sulla returned and annulled the vacation, but hurried away to Capua, where his army was stationed, in order to cross over to Asia to take command of the war against Mithridates, for he knew nothing as yet of the designs against himself. As the vacation was annulled and Sulla had left the city, Sulpicius enacted his law, and Marius, for whose sake it was done, was forthwith chosen commander of the war against Mithridates in place of Sulla.

When Sulla heard of this he resolved to decide the question by war. He called the army together in a conference. They were eager for the war against Mithridates because it promised much plunder, and they feared that Marius would enlist other soldiers instead of themselves. Sulla spoke of the indignity put upon him by Sulpicius and Marius, and while he did not openly allude to anything else (for he did not dare as yet to mention this kind of a war), he urged them to be ready to obey his orders. They understood what he meant, and as they feared lest they should miss the campaign they spoke boldly what Sulla had in his mind, and told him to be of good courage, and to lead them to Rome. Sulla was overjoyed and led six legions thither forthwith, but all of his superior officers, except one quaestor, left him and hastened to the city, because they would not submit to the idea of leading an army against their country. Envoys met him on the road and asked him why he was marching with armed forces against his country. To deliver her from her tyrants, he replied. He gave the same answer to a second and a third embassy that came to him, one after another, but he announced to them finally that the Senate and Marius and Sulpicius might meet him in the Campus Martius if they liked, and that he would do whatever might be agreed upon after consultation. As he was approaching, his colleague, Pompeius, came to meet him and praised him for what he had done, for Pompeius was delighted, and coöperated with him in every way. As Marius and Sulpicius needed some short interval for preparation, they sent other messengers, in the guise of envoys from the Senate, directing him not to move his camp nearer than forty stades from the city until they could consider of the business in hand. Sulla and Pompeius understood their game perfectly and promised to comply, but as soon as the envoys were returning they followed them.

Sulla took possession of the Cœlian gate and of the adjoining wall with one legion of soldiers, and Pompeius occupied the Colline gate with another. A third advanced to the Sublician bridge, and a fourth remained on guard in front of the walls. With the remainder Sulla entered the city, being in appearance and in fact an enemy. The inhabitants round about tried to fight him off by hurling missiles from the roofs until he threatened to burn the houses; then they desisted. Marius and Sulpicius went, with some forces they had hastily armed, to meet the invaders near the Aesquiline forum, and here a battle took place between the contending parties, the first that was regularly fought in Rome with trumpet and signal under the rules of war, and not at all in the similitude of a faction fight. To such extremity of evil had the recklessness of party strife progressed among them. Sulla’s forces were beginning to waver when Sulla seized a standard and exposed himself to danger in the foremost ranks. Out of regard for their general and fear of ignominy if they should abandon their standard, they rallied at once. Sulla ordered up fresh troops from his camp and sent others around by the socalled Suburran road to take the enemy in the rear. The Marians fought feebly against these new-comers, and as they feared lest they should be surrounded they called to their aid the other citizens who were still fighting from the houses, and proclaimed freedom to slaves who would share their labors. As nobody came forward they fell into utter despair and fled at once out of the city, together with those of the nobility who had coöperated with them.

Sulla advanced to the so-called Via Sacra and there, in sight of everybody, punished certain soldiers who had plundered persons on the road. He stationed guards at intervals throughout the city, he and Pompeius keeping watch by night. Each kept moving about his own command to see that no calamity was brought about either by the frightened people or by the victorious troops: They summoned the people to an assembly at daybreak and lamented the condition of the republic, which had been so long given over to demagogues, and said that they had done what they had done as a matter of necessity. They proposed that no question should ever again be brought before the people which had not been previously considered by the Senate, an ancient practice which had been abandoned long ago. Also that the voting should not be by tribes, but by centuries, as King Servius Tullius had ordained. They thought that by these two measures—namely, that no law should be brought before the people unless it had been previously before the Senate, and that the voting should be controlled by the well-to-do and sober-minded rather than by the pauper and reckless classes—there would no longer be any starting-point for civil discord. They proposed many other measures for curtailing the power of the tribunes, which had become extremely tyrannical. They enrolled 300 of the best citizens at once in the list of senators, who had been reduced at that time to a very small number and had fallen into contempt for that reason. They annulled all the acts performed by Sulpicius after the vacation had been proclaimed by the consuls, as being illegal.

Thus the seditions proceeded from strife and contention to murder, and from murder to open war, and now the first army of her own citizens had invaded Rome as a hostile country. From this time the civil dissensions were decided only by the arbitrament of arms. There were frequent attacks upon the city and battles before the walls and other calamities incident to war. Henceforth there was no restraint upon violence either from the sense of shame, or regard for law, institutions, or country. Now Sulpicius, who still held the office of tribune, together with Marius, who had been consul six times, and his son Marius, also Publius Cethegus, Junius Brutus, Gnaeus and Quintus Granius, Publius Albinovanus, Marcus Laetorius, and others with them, about twelve in number, fled from Rome, because they had stirred up the sedition, had borne arms against the consuls, had incited slaves to insurrection, had been voted enemies of the Roman people, and anybody meeting them had been authorized to kill them with impunity or to drag them before the consuls, and their goods had been confiscated. Detectives were in pursuit of these men. They caught Sulpicius and killed him.

Marius escaped them and fled to Minturnae without a companion or a servant. While he was resting in a secluded house the magistrates of the city, whose fears were excited by the proclamation of the Roman people, but who hesitated to be the murderers of a man who had been six times consul and had performed so many brilliant exploits, sent a Gaul who was living there to kill him with a sword. It is said that as the Gaul was approaching the pallet of Marius in the dusk he thought he saw the gleam and flash of fire darting from his eyes, and that Marius rose from his bed and shouted to him in a thundering voice, Do you dare to kill Gaius Marius? The Gaul turned and fled out of doors like a madman, exclaiming, I cannot kill Gaius Marius. As the magistrates had come to their previous decision with reluctance, so now a kind of religious awe came over them as they remembered the prophecy uttered while he was a boy, that he should be consul seven times. It was said that while he was a boy seven young eaglets alighted on his breast, and that the soothsayers predicted that he would attain the highest office seven times.

Bearing these things in mind and believing that the Gaul had been inspired with fear by divine influence, the magistrates of Minturnae sent Marius out of the town forthwith, to seek safety wherever he could. As he knew that Sulla was searching for him and that horsemen were pursuing him, he moved toward the sea by unfrequented roads and came to a hut where he rested, covering himself up with leaves. Hearing a noise, he concealed himself more carefully with the leaves. Hearing a somewhat louder noise, he rushed to the boat of an old fisherman, overpowered him, leaped into it, and, although a storm was raging, he cut the rope, spread the sail, and committed himself to chance. He was driven to an island where he found a ship navigated by his own friends, and sailed thence to Africa. He was prohibited from landing there by the governor, Sextius, because he was an enemy, and he passed the winter in his ship a little beyond the province of Africa, along the shore of Numidia. While he was sailing thither he was joined by Cethegus, Granius, Albinovanus, Laetorius, and others, including the son of Marius himself, who had gained tidings of his approach. They had fled from Rome to Hiempsal, prince of Numidia, and now they had run away from him, fearing lest they should be delivered up. They were ready to do just as Sulla had done, that is, to master their country by force, but as they had no army they waited for some opportunity.

In Rome Sulla, who had been the first one to seize the city by force of arms, and was now able perhaps to wield supreme power, having rid himself of his enemies, desisted from violence of his own accord. He sent his army forward to Capua and resumed his functions as consul. The faction under banishment, especially the rich ones, and many wealthy women, who now found a respite from the terror of arms, bestirred themselves for the return of their male relatives from exile. They spared neither pains nor expense to this end, even conspiring against the persons of the consuls when they thought they could not secure the recall of their friends while the consuls survived. Sulla’s army furnished ample protection for himself even after he should cease to be consul, since he had been voted commander of the war against Mithridates. The people commiserated the fears of the other consul, Quintus Pompeius, for his personal safety, and gave him the command of Italy and of the army appertaining to it, which was then under Gnaeus Pompeius. When the latter learned this fact he was greatly displeased. Nevertheless he received Quintus in the camp, and, after transacting the necessary business with him the following day, withdrew for a short time as a private person, but a little later a crowd that had collected around the consul under pretence of listening to him killed him. After the guilty ones had fled, Gnaeus came to the camp in a high state of indignation over the killing of a consul contrary to law. Notwithstanding his displeasure he forthwith resumed his command over them.

When the murder of Pompeius became known in the city, Sulla became apprehensive for his own safety and was surrounded by friends wherever he went, and had them with him even by night. He did not remain long in the city, but went to the army at Capua and from thence to Asia. The friends of the exiles, encouraged by Cinna, Sulla’s successor in the consulship, excited the new citizens in favor of the scheme of Marius, that they should be distributed among the old tribes, so that they should not be powerless by reason of voting last. This was preliminary to the recall of Marius and his friends. Although the old citizens resisted with all their might, Cinna coöperated with the new ones. It was supposed that he had been bribed with 300 talents to do this. The other consul, Octavius, sided with the old citizens. The partisans of Cinna took possession of the forum with concealed daggers, and with loud cries demanded that they should be distributed among all the tribes. The more reputable part of the plebeians adhered to Octavius, and they also carried daggers. While Octavius was still at home awaiting the result, the news was brought to him that the majority of the tribunes had vetoed the proposed action, but that the new citizens had started a riot, drawn their daggers on the street, and assaulted the opposing tribunes on the rostra. When Octavius heard this he ran down through the Via Sacra with a very dense mass of men, burst into the forum like a torrent, pushed through the midst of the crowd, and separated them. He struck terror into them, pushed on to the temple of Castor and Pollux, and drove Cinna away. His companions fell upon the new citizens without orders, killed many of them, put the rest to flight, and pursued them to the city gates.

Cinna, who had been emboldened by the numbers of the new citizens to think that he should conquer, seeing the victory won contrary to his expectation by the bravery of the few, ran through the city calling the slaves to his assistance by an offer of freedom. As none responded he hastened to the towns near by, which had lately been admitted to Roman citizenship, Tibur, Praeneste, and the rest as far as Nola, inciting them all to revolution and collecting money for the purposes of war. While Cinna was making these preparations and plans, certain senators of his party joined him, among them Gaius Milo, Quintus Sertorius, and Gaius Marius the younger. The Senate decreed that since Cinna had left the city in danger while holding the office of consul, and had offered freedom to the slaves, he should no longer be consul, or even a citizen, and elected in his stead Lucius Merula, the priest of Jupiter (flamen Dialis). It is said that this priest alone wore the flamen’s cap at all times, the others wearing it only during sacrifices. Cinna proceeded to Capua, where there was another Roman army, the officers of which, and the senators who were present, he courted. He went to meet them as consul in an assembly, where he laid down the fasces as though he were a private citizen, and shedding tears, said, From you, citizens, I received this authority. The people voted it to me; the Senate has taken it away from me without your consent. Although I am the sufferer by this wrong I grieve amid my own troubles equally for your sakes. What need is there that we should solicit the favor of the tribes in the elections hereafter? What need have we of you? Where will be your power in the assemblies, in the elections, in the choice of consuls? If you do not confirm what you bestow, you will be robbed whenever you give your decision.

He said this to stir them up, and after exciting much pity for himself he rent his garments, leaped down from the rostra, and threw himself on the ground before them, where he lay a long time. With tears in their eyes they raised him up; they restored him to the curule chair; they lifted up the fasces and bade him be of good cheer, as he was consul still, and lead them wherever he would. At their instance the officers came forward and took the military oath to support Cinna, and administered it each to the soldiers under him. When he had been confirmed in this way he traversed the allied cities and stirred them up also, because it was on their account chiefly that this misfortune had happened to him. They furnished him both money and soldiers; and many others, even of the aristocratic party in Rome, to whom a stable form of government was irksome, came and joined him. While Cinna was thus occupied, the consuls, Octavius and Merula, fortified the city with trenches, repaired the walls, and planted engines on them. To raise an army they sent around to the towns that were still faithful and also to the neighboring Gauls. They also summoned Gnaeus Pompeius, the proconsul who commanded the army on the Adriatic, to come in haste to the aid of his country.

Pompeius came and encamped before the Colline gate. Cinna advanced against him and encamped near him. When Gaius Marius heard of these transactions he sailed to Etruria with his fellow-exiles and about 500 slaves who had joined their masters from Rome. Filthy and longhaired, he marched through the towns presenting a pitiable appearance, descanting on his battles, his victories over the Cimbri, and his six consulships; and what was extremely pleasing to them, promising, and also seeming, to be faithful to their interests in the matter of the voting. In this way he collected 6000 Etruscans and joined Cinna, who received him gladly by reason of their common interest in the present enterprise. After their armies were joined they encamped on the banks of the Tiber and divided their forces in three parts: Cinna and Carbo opposite the city, Sertorius above it, and Marius toward the sea. The two latter threw bridges across the river in order to cut off the city’s food-supply. Marius captured Ostia and plundered it. Cinna sent a force and captured Ariminum in order to prevent an army coming to the city from the subject Gauls.

The consuls were alarmed. They needed more troops, but they were unable to call Sulla because he had already crossed over to Asia. They ordered Caecilius Metellus, who was carrying on the remainder of the Social War against the Samnites, to make peace on the best terms he could, and come to the rescue of his beleaguered country. Metellus would not agree to what the Samnites demanded, and when Marius heard of this he made an engagement with them to grant all that they asked from Metellus. In this way the Samnites became allies of Marius. Appius Claudius, a military tribune, who had command of the defences of Rome at the hill called the Janiculum, had once received a favor from Marius which the latter now reminded him of, in consequence of which he admitted him into the city, opening a gate for him at about daybreak. Then Marius admitted Cinna. They were thrust out by Octavius and Pompeius, who attacked them together, but a severe thunder-storm broke upon the camp of Pompeius, and he was killed by lightning together with others of the nobility.

After Marius had stopped the passage of food-supplies from the sea, or by way of the river above, he hastened to attack the neighboring towns where grain was stored for the Romans. He fell upon their garrisons unexpectedly and captured Antium, Aricia, Lanuvium, and others. There were some also that were delivered up to him by treachery. Having cut off their supplies by land in this manner, he advanced boldly against Rome, by the so-called Appian Way, before any other supplies were brought to them by another route. He and Cinna, and their lieutenant-generals, Carbo and Sertorius, halted at a distance of 100 stades from the city and went into camp. Octavius, Crassus, and Metellus had taken position against them at the Alban Mount, where they observed the enemy’s movements. Although they considered themselves superior in bravery and numbers, they hesitated to risk hastily their country’s fate on the hazard of a single battle. Cinna sent heralds around the city to offer freedom to slaves who would desert to him, and forthwith a large number did desert. The Senate was alarmed. Anticipating the most serious consequences from the people if the scarcity of corn should be protracted, it changed its mind and sent envoys to Cinna to treat for peace. The latter asked them whether they had come to see him as a consul or as a private citizen. They were at a loss for an answer and went back to the city; and now a large number of freemen flocked to Cinna, some from fear of famine and others because they had been previously favorable to his party and had been waiting to see which way the scales would turn.

Now Cinna began to despise his enemies and drew near to the wall, halting at the distance of a stone’s throw, where he encamped. Octavius and his party were undecided and fearful, and hesitated to attack him on account of the desertions and the negotiations. The Senate was greatly perplexed and considered it a dreadful thing to depose Lucius Merula, the priest of Jupiter, who had been chosen consul in place of Cinna, and who had done nothing wrong in his office. Yet on account of the impending danger it reluctantly sent envoys to Cinna again, and this time as consul. They no longer expected favorable terms, so they only asked that Cinna should swear to them that he would abstain from bloodshed. He refused to take the oath, but he promised nevertheless that he would not willingly be the cause of anybody’s death. He directed, however, that Octavius, who had gone around and entered the city by another gate, should keep away from the forum lest anything should befall him against Cinna’s will. This answer he delivered to the envoys from a high platform in his character as consul. Marius stood beside the curule chair silent, but showed by the asperity of his countenance how much murder he would commit. When the Senate had accepted these terms and had invited Cinna and Marius to enter (for it was understood that all the things that Cinna had subscribed to were the doings of Marius), the latter said with a scornful smile that it was not lawful for the banished to enter. Forthwith the tribunes voted to repeal the decree of banishment against him and all the others who were expelled under the consulship of Sulla.

Accordingly Cinna and Marius entered the city and everybody received them with fear. Straightway they began to plunder without restraint the goods of those who were supposed to be of the opposite party. Cinna and Marius had sworn to Octavius, and the augurs and soothsayers had predicted, that he would suffer no harm, yet his friends advised him to fly. He replied that he would never desert the city while he was consul. So he withdrew from the forum to the Janiculum with the nobility and what was left of his army, where he occupied the curule chair and wore his robes of office, attended by lictors as a consul. Here he was attacked by Censorinus with a body of horse, and again his friends and the soldiers who stood by him urged him to fly and brought him a horse, but he disdained even to arise, and awaited death. Censorinus cut off his head and carried it to Cinna, and it was suspended in the forum in front of the rostra, the first head of a consul that was so exposed. After him the heads of others who were slain were suspended there. This shocking custom, which began with Octavius, was not discontinued, but was handed down to subsequent intestine massacres. Now the victors sent out spies to search for their enemies of the senatorial and equestrian orders. After the knights were killed no further attention was paid to them, but all the heads of senators were exposed in front of the rostra. Neither reverence for the gods, nor the indignation of men, nor the fear of odium for their acts existed any longer among them. After committing savage deeds they turned to hideous sights. They killed remorselessly and severed the necks of men already dead, and they paraded these horrors before the public eye, either to inspire fear and terror, or for a monstrous spectacle.

Gaius Julius and Lucius Julius, two brothers, Atilius Serranus, Publius Lentulus, Gaius Numatorius, and Marcus Baebius were arrested in the street and killed. Crassus was pursued with his son. He anticipated the pursuers by killing his son, but was himself killed by them. Marcus Antonius, the orator, fled to a certain country place, where he was concealed and entertained by the farmer, who sent his slave to a tavern for wine of a better quality than he was in the habit of buying. The innkeeper asked him why he wanted the better quality. The slave whispered the reason to him, bought the wine, and went back. The seller ran and told Marius. When Marius heard this he sprang up with joy as though he would rush to do the deed himself, but he was restrained by his friends. A tribune was despatched to the house, who sent some soldiers upstairs, whom Antonius, a delightful speaker, entertained with a long discourse. He moved their pity by recounting many and various things, until the tribune, who was at a loss to know what had happened, rushed into the house and, finding his soldiers listening to Antonius, killed him while he was still addressing them, and sent his head to Marius.

Cornutus concealed himself in a hut and was saved by his slaves in an ingenious way. They found a dead body and placed it on a funeral pile, and when the searchers came they set fire to it and said that they were burning the body of their master, who had hanged himself. In this way he was saved by his slaves. Quintus Ancharius watched his opportunity till Marius was about to offer sacrifice in the Capitol, hoping that the temple would be a more propitious place for him. But when he approached and saluted Marius, the latter, who was just beginning the sacrifice, ordered the guards to kill him in the Capitol forthwith; and his head, with that of the orator Antonius, and those of others who had been consuls and praetors, was exposed in the forum. Burial was not permitted to any of the slain. The bodies of such men as these were torn in pieces by birds and dogs. There was also much private and irresponsible murder committed by the factions upon each other. There were banishments, and confiscations of property, and depositions from office, and a repeal of the laws enacted during Sulla’s consulship. All of Sulla’s friends were put to death, his house was razed to the ground, his property confiscated, and himself voted a public enemy. Search was made for his wife and children, but they escaped. Altogether no sort of calamity was wanting, either general or particular.

In addition to the foregoing and under the similitude of legal authority, and after so many had been put to death without trial, accusers were suborned to make false charges against Merula, the priest of Jupiter, who was hated because he had been the successor of Cinna in the consulship, although he had committed no other fault. Accusation was also brought against Lutatius Catulus, who had been the colleague of Marius in the war against the Cimbri, and whose life Marius once saved. It was charged that he had been very ungrateful to Marius and was bitter against him when he was banished. These men were put under secret surveillance, and when the day for holding court arrived were summoned to trial (the proper way was to put the accused under arrest after they had been cited four times at certain fixed intervals), but Merula had opened his own veins, and a tablet lying at his side showed that when he cut his veins he had removed his flamen’s cap, for it was accounted a sin for the priest to wear it at his death. Catulus suffocated himself with burning charcoal in a chamber newly plastered and still moist. So these two men perished. The slaves who had joined Cinna in answer to his proclamation and had thereupon been freed and were at this time enrolled in the army by Cinna himself, broke into and plundered houses, and killed persons whom they met on the street. Some of them attacked their own masters particularly. After Cinna had forbidden this several times, but without avail, he surrounded them with his Gallic soldiery one night while they were taking their rest, and killed them all. Thus did the slaves receive fit punishment for their repeated treachery to their masters.

The following year Cinna was chosen consul for the second time, and Marius for the seventh time; to whom, notwithstanding his banishment and proscription, the augury of the seven young eaglets was yet fulfilled. But he died in the first month of his consulship, while forming all sorts of terrible designs against Sulla. Cinna caused Valerius Flaccus to be chosen in his place and sent him to Asia, and when Flaccus lost his life Cinna chose Carbo as his successor.

Sulla now hastened his return to meet his enemies, having quickly finished all his business with Mithridates, as I have already related. Within less than three years he had killed 160,000 men, recovered Greece, Macedonia, Ionia, Asia, and many other countries that Mithridates had previously occupied, taken the king’s fleet away from him, and from such vast possessions restricted him to his paternal kingdom alone. He returned with a large and well-disciplined army, devoted to him and elated by its exploits. He had abundance of ships, money, and apparatus suitable for all emergencies, and was an object of terror to his enemies. Carbo and Cinna were in such fear of him that they despatched emissaries to all parts of Italy to collect money, soldiers, and supplies. They took their leading citizens into friendly intercourse and appealed especially to the newly created citizens of the towns, pretending that it was on their account that they were threatened with the present danger. They hastily repaired the ships, and recalled those that were in Sicily, guarded the coast, and, with fear and trembling, made rapid preparations in every way.

Sulla wrote to the Senate in a tone of superiority concerning himself. He recounted what he had done in Africa in the Jugurthine war while he was still quaestor, what he had done as lieutenant in the Cimbric war, as praetor in Cilicia and in the Social war, and as consul. Most of all he dwelt upon his recent victories in the Mithridatic war, enumerating to them the many nations that had been under Mithridates and that he had recovered for the Romans. Of nothing did he make more account than that those who had been banished from Rome by Cinna had fled to him, and that he had received the helpless ones and supported them in their affliction. In return for which he said that he had been declared a public enemy by his foes, his house had been destroyed, his friends put to death, and his wife and children had with difficulty made their escape to him. He would be there presently to take vengeance, for them and for the entire city, upon the guilty ones. He assured the other citizens, and the new citizens, that he made no complaint against them. When the contents of the letters became known fear fell upon all, and they began sending messengers to reconcile him with his enemies and to tell him in advance that if he wanted any security he should write to the Senate at once. They ordered Cinna and Carbo to cease recruiting soldiers until Sulla’s answer should be received. They promised to do so, but as soon as the messengers had gone they proclaimed themselves consuls for the ensuing year so that they need not come back to the city directly to hold the election. They traversed Italy, collecting soldiers whom they carried across by detachments on shipboard to Liburnia, as they expected to meet Sulla there.

The first detachment had a prosperous voyage. The next one encountered a storm and those who reached land went home immediately, as they did not relish the prospect of fighting their fellow-citizens. When the rest learned this they refused to cross to Liburnia. Cinna was angry and called them to an assembly in order to coerce them. They, angry also and ready to defend themselves, assembled. One of the lictors, who was clearing the road for Cinna, struck somebody who was in the way and one of the soldiers struck the lictor. Cinna ordered the arrest of the offender, whereupon a clamor rose on all sides, stones were thrown at him, and those who were near him drew their swords and stabbed him. So Cinna also perished during his consulship. Carbo recalled those who had been sent over by ship to Liburnia. As he was solicitous about the present state of things, he did not go back to the city, although the tribunes summoned him with urgency to hold an election for the choice of a colleague. When they threatened to reduce him to the rank of a private citizen he came back and ordered the holding of the consular election, but as the omens were unfavorable he postponed it to another day. When that day came lightning struck the temples of Luna and of Ceres; so the augurs prorogued the comitia beyond the summer solstice, and Carbo remained the sole consul.

Sulla answered those who came to him from the Senate, saying that he would never be on friendly terms with the men who had committed such crimes. Still he would not prevent the city from extending clemency to them. As for security he said that, as he had a devoted army, he could better furnish lasting security to them, and to those who had fled to his camp, than they to him; whereby it was made plain in a single sentence that he would not disband his army, but was contemplating the exercise of supreme power. He demanded of them his former dignity, his property, and the sacerdotal office, and that they should restore to him in full measure whatever other honors he had previously held. He sent some of his own men with the Senate’s messengers to confer about these matters. As soon as they learned from the Brundusians that Cinna was dead and that Rome was in an unsettled state, they went back to Sulla without transacting their business. He started with five legions of Italian troops and 6000 horse, to whom he added some other forces from the Peloponnesus and Macedonia, in all about 40,000 men. He led them from the Piraeus to Patrae, and then sailed from Patrae to Brundusium in 1600 ships. The Brundusians received him without a fight, for which favor he afterward gave them exemption from customs-duties, which they enjoy to this day. Then he put his army in motion and went forward.

He was met on the road by Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been chosen some time before to finish up the Social War, but who did not return to the. city for fear of Cinna and Marius. He had been awaiting the turn of events in Liguria, and now offered himself as a volunteer ally with the force under his command, as he was still a proconsul; for those who have been chosen to this office retain it till they come back to Rome. After Metellus, came Pompey, who not long afterward was surnamed the Great, son of the Pompeius who was killed by lightning and who was supposed to be unfriendly to Sulla. The son removed this suspicion by coming with a legion which he had collected from the territory of Picenum on the reputation of his father, who had been very influential there. A little later he recruited two more legions and became Sulla’s most useful right-hand man in these affairs. So Sulla held him in honor, though still very young; and they say he rose at the entrance of none other than this youth. After the war was finished Sulla sent him to Africa to drive out the party of Carbo and to restore Hiempsal (who had been expelled by the Numidians) to his kingdom. For this service Sulla allowed him a triumph over the Numidians, although he was under age, and was still in the equestrian order. He took his start to greatness from this beginning, and was sent against Sertorius in Spain and later against Mithridates in Pontus. Cethegus also joined Sulla, although with Cinna and Marius he had been violently hostile to him and had been driven out of the city with them. He was now a suppliant, and offered his services to Sulla in any capacity he might desire.

Sulla now had plenty of soldiers and a sufficient number of friends of the higher orders, whom he used as lieutenants. He and Metellus, who were both proconsuls, marched in advance, for it seems that Sulla, who had been appointed proconsul against Mithridates, had at no time laid down his command, although he had been voted a public enemy at the instance of Cinna. Now Sulla moved against his enemies with a most intense yet concealed hatred. The people in the city, who had formed a pretty fair judgment of the character of the man, and who remembered his former attack and capture of the city, and who took into account the decrees they had proclaimed against him, and who had witnessed the destruction of his house, the confiscation of his property, the killing of his friends, and the narrow escape of his family, were in a state of terror. Conceiving that there was no middle ground between victory and utter destruction, they united with the consuls to resist Sulla, but with trepidation. They despatched messengers throughout Italy to collect soldiers, provisions, and money, and, as in cases of extreme peril, they omitted nothing that zeal and earnestness could suggest.

Gaius Norbanus and Lucius Scipio, who were then the consuls, and with them Carbo, who had been consul the previous year (all of them moved by equal hatred of Sulla and more fearful than others because they knew that they were more to blame for what had been done), levied the best possible army from the city, obtained an additional one from Italy, and marched against Sulla in detachments. They had 200 cohorts of 500 men each at first, and their forces were considerably augmented afterward. The sympathies of the people were much in favor of the consuls, because the action of Sulla, who was marching against his country, seemed to be that of an enemy, while that of the consuls, even if they were working for themselves, was ostensibly the cause of the republic. Many persons, too, who knew that they had shared the guilt of the consuls, and who were believed to share their fears, coöperated with them. They knew very well that Sulla was not meditating merely prevention, correction, and alarm for them, but destruction, death, confiscation, and complete extermination. In this they were not mistaken, for the war ruined everything. From 10,000 to 20,000 men were slain in a single battle more than once. Fifty thousand on both sides lost their lives around the city, and to the survivors Sulla was unsparing in severity, both to individuals and to communities, until, finally, he made himself the undisputed master of the whole Roman government, so far as he wished or cared to be.

It seems, too, that divine Providence foretold to them the results of this war. Sights terrible and unexpected were observed by many, both in public and in private, throughout all Italy. Ancient, awe-inspiring oracles were remembered. Many monstrous things happened. A mule gave birth to a colt. A pregnant woman was delivered of a viper instead of a baby. There was a severe earthquake divinely sent and some of the temples in Rome were thrown down (the Romans gave altogether too much attention to such things). The Capitol, that had been built by the kings 400 years before, burned down, and nobody could discover the cause of the fire. All things seemed to point to a succession of slaughters, to the conquest of Italy and of the Romans themselves, to the capture of the city, and a change in the form of government.

This war began as soon as Sulla arrived at Brundusium, which was in the 174th Olympiad. Considering the magnitude of the work accomplished, its length was not great, compared with such wars in general, since the combatants rushed upon each other with the fury of private enemies. For this reason greater and more distressing calamities than usual befell the eager participants in a short space of time. Nevertheless the war lasted three years in Italy alone, until Sulla had secured the supreme power, but in Spain it continued even after Sulla’s death. Battles, skirmishes, sieges, and fighting of all kinds were numerous throughout Italy, both regular engagements under the generals and by detachments, and all were noteworthy. The greatest and most remarkable of them I shall mention in this book. First of all Sulla and Metellus fought a battle against Norbanus at Canusium and killed 6000 of his men, while Sulla’s loss was seventy, but many of his men were wounded. Norbanus retreated to Capua.

While Sulla and Metellus were near Teanum, L. Scipio advanced against them with another army which was very downhearted and longed for peace. The Sullan faction knew this and sent envoys to Scipio to negotiate, not because they hoped or desired to come to an agreement, but because they expected to create dissensions in Scipio’s army, which was in a state of dejection. In this they succeeded. Scipio took hostages for the armistice and marched down to the plain. Only three from each side came to the conference, hence what passed between them is not known. It seems that during the armistice Scipio sent Sertorius to his colleague, Norbanus, to communicate with him concerning the negotiation and that there was a cessation of hostilities while they were waiting for an answer. Sertorius on his way took possession of Suessa, which had espoused the side of Sulla, and Sulla made complaint of this to Scipio. The latter, either because he was privy to the affair or because he did not know what answer to make concerning the strange act of Sertorius, sent back Sulla’s hostages. His army blamed the consuls for the unjustifiable seizure of Suessa during the armistice and for the surrender of the hostages, who were not demanded back, and made a secret agreement with Sulla to go over to him if he would draw nearer. This he did and straightway they all went over en masse, so that the consul, Scipio, and his son Lucius, alone of the whole army, were left nonplussed in their tent, where they were captured by Sulla. That Scipio was not aware of a conspiracy of this kind, embracing his whole army, seems to me inexcusable in a general.

When Sulla was unable to induce Scipio to change, he sent him away with his son unharmed. He also sent other envoys to Norbanus at Capua to open negotiations, either because he was apprehensive of the result (since the greater part of Italy still adhered to the consuls), or in order to play the same game on him that he had played on Scipio. As nobody came back and no answer was returned (for it seems that Norbanus feared lest he should be accused by his army in the same way that Scipio had been), Sulla again advanced, devastating all hostile territory. Norbanus did the same thing on other roads. Carbo hastened to the city and caused Metellus, and all the other senators who had joined Sulla, to be decreed public enemies. It was at this time that the Capitol was burned. Some attributed this deed to Carbo, others to the consuls, others to somebody sent by Sulla. It was a great mystery; nor am I able now to conjecture what caused the fire. Sertorius, who had been some time previously chosen praetor for Spain, after the taking of Suessa fled to his provincet and as the former praetors refused to recognize his authority, he stirred up a great deal of trouble for the Romans there. In the meantime the forces of the consuls were constantly increasing from the major part of. Italy, which still adhered to them, and also from the neighboring Gauls on the Po. Nor was Sulla idle. He sent messengers to all parts of Italy that he could reach, to collect troops by friendship, by fear, by money, and by promises. In this way the remainder of the summer was consumed on both sides.

The consuls for the following year were Papirius Carbo again and Marius, the nephew of the great Marius, then twenty-seven years of age. At first the winter and severe frost kept the combatants apart. At the beginning of spring, on the banks of the river Aesis, there was a severe engagement lasting from early morning till noon between Metellus and Carinas, Carbo’s lieutenant. Carinas was put to flight after heavy loss, whereupon all the country thereabout seceded from the consuls to Metellus. Carbo came up with Metellus and besieged him until he heard that Marius, the other consul, had been defeated in a great battle near Praeneste, when he led his forces back to Ariminum. Pompey hung on his rear doing damage. The defeat at Praeneste was in this wise. Sulla captured the town of Setia. Marius, who was encamped near by, drew a little farther away. When he arrived at the so-called sacred lake (Sacriportus) he gave battle and fought bravely. When his left wing began to give way five cohorts of foot and two of horse decided not to wait for open defeat, but lowered their standards together and went over to Sulla. This was the beginning of a terrible disaster to Marius. His shattered army fled to Praeneste with Sulla in hot pursuit. The Praeestians gave shelter to those who arrived first, but when Sulla pressed upon them the gates were closed, and Marius was hauled up by ropes. There was another great slaughter around the walls by reason of the closing of the gates. Sulla captured a large number of prisoners. All the Samnites among them he killed, because they were always ill-affected toward the Romans.

About the same time Metellus gained a victory over the other army of Carbo, and here again five cohorts, for safety’s sake, deserted to Metellus during the battle. Pompey overcame Marcius near Senae and plundered the town. Sulla, having shut Marius up in Praeneste, drew a line of circumvallation around the town a considerable distance from it and left the work in charge of Lucretius Ofella, as he intended to reduce Marius by famine, not by fighting. When Marius saw that his condition was hopeless he hastened to put his private enemies out of the way. He wrote to Brutus, the city praetor, to call the Senate together on some pretext or other and to kill Publius Antistius, the other Papirius, Lucius Domitius, and Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus. Of these the two first were slain in their seats as Marius had ordered, assassins having been introduced into the senate-house for this purpose. Domitius ran out, but was killed at the door, and Scaevola was killed a little farther away. Their bodies were thrown into the Tiber, for it was now the custom not to bury the slain. Sulla sent an army to Rome in detachments by different roads with orders to seize the gates, and if they were repulsed to rendezvous at Ostia. The towns on the way received them with fear and trembling, and the city opened its gates to them because the people were oppressed by hunger, and because, of present evils, they were accustomed to yield to the ones which were immediately weighing upon them.

When Sulla learned this he came on immediately and established his army before the gates in the Campus Martius. He went inside himself, all of the opposite faction having fled. Their property was at once confiscated and exposed to public sale. Sulla summoned the people to an assembly, where he lamented the necessity of his present doings and told them to cheer up, as the troubles would soon be over and the government go as it ought. Having arranged such matters as were pressing and put some of his own men in charge of the city, he set out for Clusium, where the war was still raging. In the meantime a body of Celtiberian horse, sent by the praetors in Spain, had joined the consuls, and there was a cavalry fight on the banks of the river Glanis. Sulla killed about fifty of the enemy, and then 270 of the Celtiberian horse deserted to him, and Carbo himself killed the rest of them, either because he was angry at the desertion of their countrymen or because he feared similar action on their own part. About the same time Sulla overcame another detachment of his enemies near Saturnia, and Metellus sailed around toward Ravenna and took possession of the level, wheat-growing country of Uritanus. Another Sullan division effected an entrance into Neapolis by treachery in the night, killed all the inhabitants except a few who had made their escape, and seized the triremes belonging to the city. A severe battle was fought near Clusium between Sulla himself and Carbo, lasting all day. Neither party had the advantage when darkness put an end to the conflict.

In the plain of Spoletium, Pompey and Crassus, both Sulla’s officers, killed some 3000 of Carbo’s men and besieged Carinas, the opposing general. Carbo sent reënforcements to Carinas, but Sulla learned of their movement, laid an ambush for them, and killed about 2000 of them on the road. Carinas escaped by night during a heavy rain-storm and thick darkness, and although the besiegers were aware of some movement, they made no opposition on account of the storm. Carbo sent Marcius with eight legions to the relief of his colleague, Marius, at Praeneste, having heard that he was suffering from hunger. Pompey fell upon them from ambush in a defile, defeated them, killed a large number, and surrounded the remainder on a hill. Marcius made his escape, leaving his fires burning. His army blamed him for being caught in an ambush and stirred up an angry mutiny. One whole legion marched off under their standards to Ariminum without orders. The rest separated and went home in squads, so that only seven cohorts remained with their general. Marcius, having made a mess of it in this way, returned to Carbo. However, Marcus Lamponius from Lucania, Pontius Telesinus from Samnium, and Gutta the Capuan, with 70,000 men, hastened to deliver Marius from the siege, but Sulla occupied a pass which was the only approach to the place, and blocked the road. Marius now despaired of aid from without, and built a citadel in the wide space between himself and the enemy, within which he collected his soldiers and his engines, and from which he attempted to force his way through the besieging army of Lucretius. The attempt was renewed several days in different ways, but he accomplished nothing and was again shut up in Praeneste.

About the same time Carbo and Norbanus went by a short road to attack the camp of Metellus in Faventia just before nightfall. There was only one hour of daylight left, and there were thick vineyards thereabout. They made their plans for battle in hot temper and not with good judgment, hoping to take Metellus unawares and to stampede him. But they were beaten, both the place and the time being unfavorable for them. They became entangled in the vines, and suffered a heavy slaughter, losing some 10,000 men. About 6000 more deserted, and the rest were dispersed, only 1000 getting back to Ariminum in good order. Another legion of Lucanians under Albinovanus, when they heard of this defeat, went over to Metellus to the great chagrin of their leader. As the latter was not able to restrain this impulse of his men, he, for the time, returned to Norbanus. Not many days later he sent secretly to Sulla, and having obtained a promise of safety from him, if he should accomplish anything important, he invited Norbanus and his lieutenants, Gaius Antipater and Flavius Fimbria (brother of the one who committed suicide in Asia), together with such of Carbo’s lieutenants as were then present, to a feast. When they had all assembled except Norbanus (he was the only one who did not come), Albinovanus killed them all at the banquet and then fled to Sulla. Norbanus having learned that, in consequence of this disaster, Ariminum and many other camps in the vicinity were going over to Sulla, and being unable to rely on the good faith and firm support of any of his friends there present, since he found himself in adversity, took ship as a private individual and sailed to Rhodes. When, at a later period, Sulla demanded his surrender, and while the Rhodians were deliberating on it, he killed himself in the market-place.

Carbo sent Damasippus in haste with two other legions to Praeneste to relieve Marius, who was still besieged, but not even these could force their way through the pass that was guarded by Sulla. The Gauls who inhabited the country lying between Ravenna and the Alps went over to Metellus en masse and Lucullus won a victory over another body of Carbo’s forces near Placentia. When Carbo learned these facts, although he still had 30,000 men around Clusium, and the two legions of Damasippus, and others under Carinas and Marcius, besides a large force of Samnites, who were courageously enduring hardships at the pass, he fell into despair and weakly fled to Africa with his friends, although he was still consul, in order to make a stand there instead of in Italy. Of those whom he left behind, the army around Clusium had a battle with Pompey in which they lost 20,000. Naturally, after this greatest disaster of all, the remainder of the army dissolved in fragments and each man went to his own home. Carinas, Marcius, and Damasippus went with all the forces they had to the pass in order to force their way through it in conjunction with the Samnites. Failing in the attempt, they marched to Rome, thinking that the city might be easily taken, as it was bereft of men and provisions, and they encamped in the Alban territory at a distance of 100 stades from it.

Sulla feared for the safety of the city, and sent his cavalry forward with all speed to hinder their march, and then hastened in person with his whole army and encamped alongside the Colline gate around the temple of Venus about noon. The enemy were already encamped around the city. A battle was fought at once, late in the afternoon. On the right wing Sulla was victorious. His left wing was vanquished and fled to the gates. The old soldiers on the walls, when they saw the enemy rushing in with their own men, dropped the portcullis. It fell upon and killed many soldiers and many senators. But the majority, impelled by fear and necessity, turned and fought the enemy. The fighting continued through the night and a great many were killed. The generals, Telesinus and Albinus, were killed and their camp was taken. Lamponius the Lucanian, Marcius, and Carinas, and the other generals of the faction of Carbo, fled. It was estimated that 50,000 men on both sides lost their lives in this engagement. Prisoners, to the number of more than 8000, were shot down with darts by Sulla because they were mostly Samnites. The next day Marcius and Carinas were captured and brought in. Sulla did not spare them because they were Romans, but killed them both and sent their heads to Lucretius at Praeneste to be displayed around the walls.

When the Praenestians saw them and knew that Carbo’s army was completely destroyed, and that Norbanus himself had fled from Italy, and that Rome and all the rest of Italy were in the power of Sulla, they surrendered their city to Lucretius. Marius hid himself in an underground tunnel and shortly afterward committed suicide. Lucretius cut off his head and sent it to Sulla, who exposed it in the forum in front of the rostra. It is said that he indulged in a jest at the youth of the consul, saying that one ought to be a rower before he manages the helm. When Lucretius took Praeneste he seized the senators who had held commands under Marius, and put some of them to death and cast the others into prison. The latter were put to death by Sulla when he came that way. All the others who were taken in Praeneste he ordered to march out to the plain without arms, and when they had done so he chose out a very few who had been in any way serviceable to him. The remainder he ordered to be divided into three parts, consisting of Romans, Samnites, and Praenestians respectively. When this had been done he announced to the Romans by herald that they had merited death, but nevertheless he would pardon them. The others he massacred to the last man. He allowed their wives and children to go unharmed. He plundered the town, which was extremely rich at that time. In this way was Praeneste served. Norba, another town, still resisted with all its might until Aemilius Lepidus was admitted to it in the night by treachery. The inhabitants were maddened by this treason. Some killed themselves, or fell on each other’s swords, others strangled themselves with ropes. Still others closed the gates and set fire to the town. A strong wind fanned the flames, which so far consumed the place that no plunder was left in it. In this way did these stout-hearted men perish.

After accomplishing these deeds throughout Italy by war, fire, and murder, Sulla’s generals visited the several cities and established garrisons at the suspected places. Pompey was despatched to Africa against Carbo and to Sicily against Carbo’s friends who had taken refuge there. Sulla himself called the Roman people together in an assembly and made them a speech vaunting his own exploits and making other menacing statements in order to inspire terror. He finished by saying that he would bring about a change which would be beneficial to the public if they would obey him. He would not spare one of his enemies, but would visit them with the utmost severity. He would take vengeance by every means in his power on all praetors, quaestors, military tribunes, and everybody else who had committed any hostile act after the day when the consul Scipio violated the agreement made with him. After saying this he forthwith proscribed about forty senators and 1600 knights. He seems to have been the first one to punish by proscription, to offer prizes to assassins and rewards wards to informers, and to threaten with punishment those who should conceal the proscribed. Shortly afterward he added the names of other senators to the proscription. Some of these, taken unawares, were killed where they were caught, in their houses, in the streets, or in the temples. Others were picked up, carried to Sulla, and thrown down at his feet. Others were dragged through the city and trampled on, none of the spectators daring to utter a word of remonstrance against these horrors. Banishment was inflicted upon some and confiscation upon others. Spies were searching everywhere for those who had fled from the city, and those whom they caught they killed.

There was much killing, banishment, and confiscation also among those Italians who had obeyed Carbo, or Marius, or Norbanus, or their lieutenants. Severe judgments of the courts were rendered against them throughout all Italy on various charges—for exercising military command, for serving in the army, for contributing money, for rendering other service, or even giving counsel against Sulla. Hospitality, private friendship, the borrowing or lending of money, were alike accounted crimes. Now and then one would be arrested for doing a kindness to a suspect, or merely for being his companion on a journey. These accusations abounded mostly against the rich. When charges against individuals failed Sulla took vengeance on whole communities. He punished some of them by demolishing their citadels, or destroying their walls, or by imposing heavy fines and contributions on them. Among most of them he placed colonies of his troops in order to hold Italy under garrisons, sequestrating their lands and houses and dividing them among his soldiers, whom he thus made true to him during his life and even after his death. As they could not be secure in their own holdings unless all of Sulla’s affairs were on a firm foundation, they were his stoutest champions even after he was deceased. While the affairs of Italy were in this state, Pompey sent a force and captured Carbo, who had fled with many persons of distinction from Africa to Sicily and thence to the island of Cossyra. He ordered his officers to kill all of the others without bringing them into his presence; but Carbo, who had been thrice consul, he caused to be brought before his feet in chains, and after making a public harangue at him, killed him and sent his head to Sulla.

When everything had been accomplished against his enemies as he desired, and there was no longer any hostile force except that of Sertorius, who was far distant, Sulla sent Metellus into Spain against him and managed everything in the city to suit himself. There was no longer any occasion for laws, or elections, or for casting lots, because everybody was shivering with fear and in hiding, or dumb. Everything that Sulla had done as consul, or as proconsul, was confirmed and ratified, and his gilded equestrian statue was erected in front of the rostra with the inscription, Cornelius Sulla, a fortunate commander, for so his flatterers called him on account of his unbroken success against his enemies. And this flattering title still attaches to him. I have come across a history which relates that Sulla was styled Epaphroditus by a decree of the Senate itself. This does not seem to me to be inappropriate for he was also called Faustus (lucky), which name seems to have very nearly the same signification as Epaphroditus. There was also an oracle given to him somewhere which, in response to his question concerning the future, assured his prosperous career as follows:— Believe me, Roman, the Cyprian goddess cares for the race of Aeneas and has given it great power. Render yearly gifts to all the immortals, and do not forget them. Convey gifts to Delphi. There is also a place where men go up under snowy Taurus, a wide-reaching city of the Carians, whose inhabitants have named it for Aphrodite. Give the goddess an axe and you shall gain sovereign power. Whichever decree the Romans voted when they erected the statue, they seem to me to have made the inscription by way of jest or cajolery. However, Sulla sent a golden crown and an axe to Venus with this inscription:— The dictator Sulla dedicates this to thee, Venus, because in a dream he saw thee in panoply setting the army in order of battle and fighting with the weapons of Mars.

Thus Sulla became king, or tyrant, de facto, not elected, but holding power by force and violence. As, however, he needed some pretence of being elected it was managed in this way. The kings of the Romans in the olden time were chosen for their bravery, and when one of them died the senators held the royal power in succession for five days each, until the people could decide who should be the new king. This five-day ruler was called the Interrex, which means king for the time being. The retiring consuls always presided over the election of their successors in office, and if there chanced to be no consul at such a time an Interrex was appointed for the purpose of holding the consular comitia. Sulla took advantage of this custom. There were no consuls at this time, Carbo having lost his life in Sicily and Marius in Praeneste. So Sulla went out of the city for a time and ordered the Senate to choose an Interrex. They chose Valerius Flaccus, expecting that he would soon hold the consular comitia. But Sulla wrote to Flaccus to bring before the people the proposition that he (Sulla) considered it advisable, under present circumstances, that the city should be governed by a dictator according to a custom that had been abandoned 400 years. He told them not to appoint the dictator for any definite time, but until the city and Italy and the whole government, so shaken by factions and wars, should be put upon a firm foundation. That this proposal referred to Sulla himself was not at all doubtful. Sulla made no concealment of it. At the conclusion of the letter he declared openly that, in his judgment, he could be serviceable to the city in that capacity.

Such was Sulla’s letter. The Romans were unwilling, but they had no more opportunities for elections according to law, and they considered that this matter was not altogether in their own power. So, in the absence of everything else, they welcomed this pretence of an election as an image and semblance of freedom and chose Sulla their absolute master for as long a time as he pleased. There had been autocratic rule of the dictators before, but it was limited to short periods. But in Sulla’s time it first became unlimited and so an absolute tyranny; yet they added, for propriety’s sake, that they chose him dictator for the enactment of such laws as he might deem best and for the regulation of the commonwealth. Thus the Romans, after having government by kings for sixty Olympiads, and a democracy, under consuls chosen yearly, for 100 Olympiads, resorted to kingly government again. This was in the 175th Olympiad according to the Greek calendar, but there were no Olympic games then except races in the stadium, since Sulla had carried away the athletes and all the sights and shows to Rome to celebrate his victories in the Mithridatic and Italian wars, under the pretext that the masses needed a breathing-spell and recreation after their toils.

Nevertheless, as the form of the republic remained he allowed them to appoint consuls. Marcus Tullius and Cornelius Dolabella were chosen. But Sulla, like a reigning sovereign, was dictator over the consuls. Twenty-four axes were borne in front of him, as was customary with dictators, the same number that were borne before the ancient kings, and he had a large body-guard also. He repealed laws and he enacted others. He forbade anybody to hold the office of praetor until after he had held that of quaestor, or to be consul before he had been praetor, and he prohibited any man from holding the same office a second time till after the lapse of ten years. He reduced the tribunician power to such an extent that it seemed to be destroyed. He curtailed it by a law which provided that one holding the office of tribune should never afterward hold any other office; for which reason all men of reputation or family, who formerly contended for this office, shunned it thereafter. I am not able to say positively whether Sulla transferred this office from the people to the Senate, where it is now lodged, or not. To the Senate itself, which had been much thinned by the seditions and wars, he added about 300 members from the best of the knights, taking the vote of the tribes for each one. To the plebeians he added more than 10,000 slaves of proscribed persons, choosing the youngest and strongest, to whom he gave freedom and Roman citizenship, and he called them Cornelii after himself. In this way he made sure of having 10,000 men among the plebeians always ready to obey his commands. In order to provide the same kind of safeguard throughout Italy he distributed to the twenty-three legions that had served under him a great deal of land among the communities, as I have already related, some of which was public property and some taken from the communities by way of fine.

So terrible was he and so uncontrollable in anger that he slew in the middle of the forum Q. Lucretius Ofella, the one who had besieged and captured Praeneste and the consul Marius, and had won the final victory for him. He did this because, in spite of the new law, Lucretius persisted, though Sulla opposed and forbade, in being a candidate for the consulship while he was still in the equestrian order and before he had been quaestor and praetor, presuming on the greatness of his services, according to the former custom, and captivating the populace. Then Sulla assembled the people and said to them, Know, citizens, and learn from me, that I caused the death of Lucretius because he disobeyed me. And then he told the following story: A husbandman was bitten by fleas while ploughing. He stopped his ploughing twice in order to clear them out of his shirt. When they bit him. again he burned his shirt, so that he might not be so often interrupted in his work. And I tell you, who have felt my hand twice, to take warning lest the third time fire be brought in requisition. With these words he terrified them and thereafter ruled as he pleased. He had a triumph on account of the Mithridatic war, during which some of the scoffers called his government the royalty disavowed because only the name of king was concealed. Others took the contrary view, judging from his acts, and called it the tyranny confessed.

Into such evils were the Romans and all the Italians plunged by this war; and so likewise were all the countries beyond Italy by the recent piracies, or by the Mithridatic war, or by the many exhausting taxes levied to meet the deficit in the public treasury due to the seditions. All the allied nations and kings, and not only the tributary cities, but those which had delivered themselves to the Romans voluntarily under sworn agreements, and those which by virtue of their furnishing aid in war or for some other merit were autonomous and not subject to tribute, all were now required to pay and to obey. Some that had surrendered themselves under treaty arrangements were deprived of their territory and their harbors. Sulla decreed that Alexander (the son of Alexander the former sovereign of Egypt), who had been reared in Cos and given to Mithridates by the inhabitants of that island, and had fled to Sulla and become intimate with him, should be king of Alexandria. He did this because the government of Alexandria was destitute of a sovereign in the male line, and the women of the royal house wanted a man of the same lineage, and because he (Sulla) expected to reap a large reward from the rich kingdom. As Alexander behaved himself in a very offensive manner toward them, relying upon Sulla, the Alexandrians, on the nineteenth day of his reign, dragged him from the palace to the gymnasium and put him to death; so little fear had they of foreigners, either by reason of the magnitude of their own government or their inexperience as yet of external dangers.

The following year Sulla, although he was dictator, undertook the consulship a second time, with Metellus Pius for his colleague, in order to preserve the pretence and form of democratic government. It is perhaps from this example that the Roman emperors now make a showing of consuls to the country and even exhibit themselves in that capacity, considering it not unbecoming to hold the office of consul in connection with the supreme power. The next year the people, in order to pay court to Sulla, chose him consul again, but he refused the office and nominated Servilius Isauricus and Claudius Pulcher for their suffrages, and voluntarily laid down the supreme power, although nobody was troubling him. This act seems wonderful to me—that Sulla should have been the first, and till then the only one, to abdicate such vast power without compulsion, not to sons (like Ptolemy in Egypt, or Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia, or Seleucus in Syria), but to the very people over whom he had tyrannized. Almost incredible is it that after incurring so many dangers in forcing his way to this power he should have laid it down of his own free will after he had acquired it. Paradoxical beyond anything is the fact that he was afraid of nothing, although more than 100,000 young men had perished in this war, and he had destroyed of his enemies ninety senators, fifteen consulars, and 2600 of the so-called knights, including the banished. The property of these men had been confiscated and many of their bodies cast out unburied. Undaunted by the relatives of these persons at home, or by the banished abroad, or by the cities whose towers and walls he had thrown down and whose lands, money, and privileges he had swept away, Sulla now returned to private life.

So great was this man’s boldness and good fortune. It is said that he made a speech in the forum when he laid down his power in which he offered to give the reasons for what he had done to anybody who should ask them. He dismissed the lictors with their axes and discontinued his body-guard, and for a long time walked to the forum with only a few friends, the multitude looking upon him with awe even then. Once only when he was going home he was reproached by a boy. As nobody restrained this boy he made bold to follow Sulla to his house, railing at him, and Sulla, who had opposed the greatest men and states with towering rage, endured his reproaches with calmness and as he went into the house said, divining the future either by his intelligence or by chance, This young man will prevent any other holder of such power from laying it down. This saying was shortly confirmed to the Romans, for Gaius Caesar never laid down his power. Sulla seems to me to have been the same masterful and able man in all respects, whether striving to reach supreme power from private life, or changing back to private life from supreme power, or later when passing his time in rural solitude; for he retired to his own estate at Cumae in Italy and there occupied his leisure in hunting and fishing. He did this not because he was afraid to live a private life in the city, nor because he had not sufficient bodily strength for whatever he might try to do. He was still of virile age and sound constitution, and there were 120,000 men throughout Italy who had recently served under him in war and had received large gifts of money and land from him, and there were the 10,000 Cornelii ready in the city, besides other people of his party devoted to him and still formidable to his opponents, all of whom rested upon Sulla’s safety their hopes of impunity for what they had done in coöperation with him. But I think that he was satiated with war, with power, with city affairs, and that he took to rural life finally because he loved it.

Directly after his retirement the Romans, although delivered from slaughter and tyranny, began gradually to fan the flames of new seditions. Quintus Catulus and Aemilius Lepidus were chosen consuls, the former of the Sullan faction and the latter of the opposite party. They hated each other bitterly and began to quarrel immediately, from which it was plain that fresh troubles were brewing. While he was living in the country Sulla had a dream in which he thought he saw his Genius already calling him. Early in the morning he told the dream to his friends and in haste began writing his will, which he finished that day. After sealing it he was taken with a fever towards evening and died the same night. He was sixty years of age and had been the most fortunate of men even to the very last, and realized in all respects the title he bore; that is, if one can be considered fortunate who obtains all that he desires. Immediately a dissension sprang up in the city over his remains, some proposing to bring them in a procession through Italy and exhibit them in the forum and give him a public funeral. Lepidus and his faction opposed this, but Catulus and the Sullan party prevailed. Sulla’s corpse was borne through Italy on a golden litter with royal splendor. Musicians and horsemen in great numbers went in advance and a great multitude of armed men followed on foot. His fellow-soldiers flocked from all directions under arms to join the procession, and each one was assigned his place in due order as he came. The crowd of other people that came together was unprecedented. The standards and the fasces that he had used while living and ruling were borne in the procession.

When the remains reached the city they were borne through the streets with an enormous procession. More than 2000 golden crowns which had been made in haste were carried in it, the gifts of cities and of the legions that he had commanded and of individual friends. It would be impossible to describe all the splendid things contributed to this funeral. From fear of the assembled soldiery all the priests and priestesses escorted the remains, each in proper costume. The entire Senate and the whole body of magistrates attended with their insignia of office. A multitude of the Roman knights followed with their peculiar decorations, and, in their turn, all the legions that had fought under him. They came together with eagerness, all hastening to join in the task, carrying gilded standards and silver-plated shields, such as are still used on such occasions. There was a countless number of trumpeters who by turns played the most mournful dirges. Loud cries were raised, first by the Senate, then by the knights, then by the soldiers, and finally by the plebeians. For some really longed for Sulla, but others were afraid of his army and his dead body, as they had been of himself when living. As they looked at the present spectacle and remembered what this man had accomplished they were amazed, and agreed with their opponents that he had been most beneficial to his own party and most formidable to themselves even in death. The corpse was shown in the forum on the rostra, where public speeches were usually made, and the most eloquent of the Romans then living delivered the funeral oration, as Sulla’s son, Faustus, was still very young. Then strong men of the senators took up the litter and carried it to the Campus Martius, where only kings were buried, and the knights and the army coursed around the funeral pile. And this was the last of Sulla.

Directly after their return from the funeral the consuls fell into a wordy quarrel and the citizens began to take sides with them. Lepidus, in order to curry favor with the Italians, said that he would restore the land which Sulla had taken from them. The Senate was afraid of both factions and made them take an oath that they would not carry their differences to the point of war. To Lepidus the province of transalpine Gaul was assigned by lot and he did not come back to the comitia because he would be released in the following year from his oath about making war on the Sullans; for it was considered that the oath was binding only during the term of office. As his designs did not escape observation he was recalled by the Senate, and as he knew why he was recalled he came with his whole army, intending to bring them into the city with him. As he was prevented from doing this, he ordered his men under arms and Catulus did the same on the other side. A battle was fought not far from the Campus Martius. Lepidus was defeated and, soon giving up the struggle, sailed shortly afterward to Sardinia, where he died of a wasting disease. His army was frittered away little by little and dissolved, the greater part of it was conducted by Perpenna to Sertorius in Spain.

There remained of the Sullan troubles the war with Sertorius, which had been going on for eight years, and was not an easy war to the Romans since it was waged not merely against Spaniards, but against other Romans and Sertorius. He had been chosen governor of Spain while he was coöperating with Carbo against Sulla; and after taking the city of Suessa during the armistice he fled and assumed his praetorship. He had an army from Italy itself and he raised another from the Celtiberians, and drove out of Spain the former praetors, who, in order to favor Sulla, refused to surrender the government to him. He had also fought nobly against Metellus, who had been sent against him by Sulla. Having acquired a reputation for bravery he enrolled a council of 300 members from the friends who were with him, and called it the Roman Senate in derision of the real one. After Sulla died, and Lepidus later, he obtained another army of Italians which Perpenna, the lieutenant of Lepidus, brought to him and it was supposed that he intended to march against Italy itself, and would have done so had not the Senate become alarmed and sent another army and general into Spain in addition to the former ones. This general was Pompey, who was still a young man, but renowned for his exploits in the time of Sulla, in Africa and in Italy itself.

Pompey courageously crossed the Alps, not in the face of such difficulties as Hannibal experienced, but he opened another passage around the sources of the Rhone and the Eridanus. These issue from the Alpine mountains not far from each other. One of them runs through transalpine Gaul and empties into the Tyrrhenian sea; the other from the interior of the Alps to the Adriatic. The name of the latter has been changed from the Eridanus to the Po. Directly Pompey arrived in Spain Sertorius cut in pieces a whole legion of his army, that had been sent out foraging, with its animals and servants. He also plundered and destroyed the Roman town of Lauro before the very eyes of Pompey. In this siege a woman tore out with her fingers the eyes of a soldier who had insulted her and was trying to commit an outrage upon her. When Sertorius heard of this he put to death the whole cohort that was supposed to be addicted to such brutality, although it was composed of Romans. Then the armies were separated by the advent of winter.

When spring came they resumed hostilities, Metellus and Pompey coming from the Pyrenees mountains, where they had wintered, and Sertorius and Perpenna from Lusitania. They met near the town of Sucro. While the fight was going on flashes of lightning came unexpectedly from a clear sky, but these trained soldiers were not in the least dismayed. They continued the fight, with heavy slaughter on both sides, until Metellus defeated Perpenna and plundered his camp. On the other hand, Sertorius defeated Pompey, who received a dangerous wound from a spear in the thigh, and this put an end to that battle. Sertorius had a white fawn that was tame and allowed to move about freely. When this fawn was not visible Sertorius considered it a bad omen. He became low-spirited and abstained from fighting; nor did he mind the enemy’s scoffing at the fawn. When she made her appearance running through the woods Sertorius would run to meet her and, as though he were inspired by her, he would begin to harass the enemy. Not long afterward Sertorius fought a great battle near Seguntia, lasting from noon till night. Sertorius fought on horseback and vanquished Pompey, killing nearly 6000 of his men and losing about half that number himself. Metellus at the same time destroyed about 5000 of Perpenna’s army. The day after this battle Sertorius, with a large reënforcement of barbarians, attacked the camp of Metellus unexpectedly towards evening with the intention of besieging it with a trench, but Pompey hastened up and caused Sertorius to desist from his bold enterprise. In this way they passed the summer, and again they separated to winter quarters.

The following year, which was in the 176th Olympiad, two countries were acquired by the Romans by bequest. Bithynia was left to them by Nicomedes, and Cyrene by Ptolemy Apion, of the house of the Lagidae. There were wars and wars; the Sertorian was raging in Spain, the Mithridatic in the East, that of the pirates on the entire sea, and another one around Crete against the Cretans themselves, besides the gladiatorial war in Italy, which started suddenly and became very serious. Although distracted by so many conflicts the Romans sent another army of two legions into Spain. With these and the other forces in their hands Metellus and Pompey again descended from the Pyrenees mountains to the Ebro and Sertorius and Perpenna advanced from Lusitania to meet them. At this juncture many of the soldiers of Sertorius deserted to Metellus.

Sertorius was so exasperated by this that he visited savage and barbarous punishment upon many of his men and fell into disrepute in consequence. The soldiers blamed him particularly because wherever he went he surrounded himself with a body-guard of Celtiberian spearmen instead of Romans, removing the latter in favor of the former. Nor could they bear to be reproached with treachery by him while they were serving under an enemy of the Roman people. That they should be charged with bad faith by Sertorius while they were acting in bad faith to their country on his account, was the very thing that vexed them most. Nor did they consider it just that those who remained with the standards should be condemned because others deserted. Moreover, the Celtiberians took this occasion to insult them as men under suspicion. Still they were not altogether alienated from Sertorius since they derived advantages from his service, for there was no other man of that period more skilled in the art of war or more successful in it. For this reason, and on account of the rapidity of his movements, the Celtiberians gave him the name of Hannibal, whom they considered the boldest and most crafty general ever known in their country. In this way the army stood affected toward Sertorius. The forces of Metellus overran many of his towns and brought the men belonging to them under subjection. While Pompey was laying siege to Pallantia and underrunning the walls with wooden supports, Sertorius suddenly appeared on the scene and raised the siege. Pompey hastily set fire to the timbers and retreated to Metellus. Sertorius rebuilt the part of the wall which had fallen and then attacked his enemies who were encamped around the castle of Calagurris and killed 3000 of them. And so this year went by in Spain.

In the following year the Roman generals plucked up rather more courage and advanced in an audacious manner against the towns that adhered to Sertorius, drew many away from him, assaulted others, and were much elated by their success. No great battle was fought, but again . . . until the following year, when they advanced again even more audaciously. Sertorius was now evidently misled by a god, for he relaxed his labors, fell into habits of luxury, and gave himself up to women, and to carousing and drinking, for which reason he was defeated continually. He became hot-tempered, from various suspicions, and extremely cruel in punishment, and distrustful of everybody, so much so that Perpenna, who had belonged to the faction of Lepidus and had come hither as a volunteer with a considerable army, began to fear for his own safety and formed a conspiracy with ten other men against him. The conspiracy was betrayed, some of the guilty ones were punished and others fled, but Perpenna escaped detection in some unaccountable manner and applied himself all the more to carry out the design. As Sertorius was never without his guard of spearmen, Perpenna invited him to a banquet, plied him and his guards with wine, and assassinated him after the feast.

The soldiers straightway rose in tumult and anger against Perpenna, their hatred of Sertorius being suddenly turned to affection for him, as people generally mollify their anger toward the dead, and when the one who has injured them is no longer before their eyes recall his virtues with tender memory. Reflecting on their present situation they despised Perpenna as though he had been a private individual, for they considered that the bravery of Sertorius had been their only salvation. They were angry with Perpenna, and the barbarians were no less so; most of all were the Lusitanians, of whose services Sertorius had especially availed himself. When the will of Sertorius was opened a bequest to Perpenna was found in it, and thereupon still greater anger and hatred of him entered into the minds of all, since he had committed such an abominable crime, not merely against his ruler and commanding general, but against his friend and benefactor. And they would not have abstained from violence had not Perpenna bestirred himself, making gifts to some and promises to others. Some he terrified with threats and some he killed in order to strike terror into the rest. He came forward and made a speech to the multitude, and released from confinement some whom Sertorius had imprisoned, and dismissed some of the Spanish hostages. Reduced to submission in this way they obeyed him as praetor (for he held the next rank to Sertorius) yet they were not without bitterness toward him even then. As he grew bolder he became very cruel in punishments, and put to death three of the nobility who had fled together from Rome to him, and also his own nephew.

As Metellus had gone to other parts of Spain,— for he considered it no longer a difficult task for Pompey alone to vanquish Perpenna, — these two skirmished and made tests of each other for several days, but did not bring their whole strength into the field. On the tenth day, however, a great battle was fought between them. They resolved to decide the contest by one engagement—Pompey because he despised the generalship of Perpenna; Perpenna because he did not believe that his army would long remain faithful to him, and he could now engage with nearly his whole strength. Pompey, as might have been expected, soon got the better of this inferior general and disaffected army. Perpenna was defeated all along the line and concealed himself in a thicket, more fearful of his own troops than of the enemy’s. He was seized by some horsemen and dragged toward Pompey’s headquarters, loaded with the execrations of his own men, as the murderer of Sertorius, and crying out that he could give Pompey a great deal of information about the factions in Rome. This he said either because it was true, or in order to be brought safe to Pompey’s presence, but the latter sent orders to kill him before bringing him into his presence, fearing lest the news that Perpenna wanted to communicate should be the source of new troubles at Rome. Pompey seems to have behaved very prudently in this matter, and his action added to his high reputation. So ended the war in Spain with the life of Sertorius. I think that if he had lived longer the war would not have ended so soon or so successfully.

At the same time Spartacus, a Thracian by birth, who had once served as a soldier with the Romans, but had since been a prisoner and sold for a gladiator, and was in the gladiatorial training-school at Capua, persuaded about seventy of his comrades to strike for their own freedom rather than for the amusement of spectators. They overcame the guards and ran away. They armed themselves with clubs and daggers that they took from people on the roads and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius. There many fugitive slaves and even some freemen from the fields joined Spartacus, and he plundered the neighboring country, having for subordinate officers two gladiators named Œnomaus and Crixus. As he divided the plunder impartially he soon had plenty of men. Varinius Glaber was first sent against him and afterward Publius Valerius, not with regular armies, but with forces picked up in haste and at random, for the Romans did not consider this a war as yet, but a raid, something like an outbreak of robbery. When they attacked Spartacus they were beaten. Spartacus even captured the horse of Varinius; so narrowly did a Roman praetor escape being captured by a gladiator. After this still greater numbers flocked to Spartacus till his army numbered 70,000 men. For these he manufactured weapons and collected apparatus.

Rome now sent out the consuls with two legions. One of them overcame Crixus with 30,000 men near Mount Garganus, two-thirds of whom perished together with himself. Spartacus endeavored to make his way through the Apennines to the Alps and the Gallic country, but one of the consuls anticipated him and hindered his march while the other hung upon his rear. He turned upon them one after the other and beat them in detail. They retreated in confusion in different directions. Spartacus sacrificed 300 Roman prisoners to the manes of Crixus, and marched on Rome with 120,000 foot, having burned all his useless material, killed all his prisoners, and butchered his pack-animals in order to expedite his movement. Many deserters offered themselves to him, but he would not accept them. The consuls again met him in the country of Picenum. Here was another great battle and then, too, a great defeat for the Romans. Spartacus changed his intention of marching on Rome. He did not consider himself ready as yet for that kind of a fight, as his whole force was not suitably armed, for no city had joined him, but only slaves, deserters, and riff-raff. However, he occupied the mountains around Thurii and took the city itself. He prohibited the bringing in of gold or silver by merchants, and would not allow his own men to acquire any, but he bought largely of iron and brass and did not interfere with those who dealt in these articles. Supplied with abundant material from this source his men provided themselves with plenty of arms and continued in robbery for the time being. When they next came to an engagement with the Romans they were again victorious, and returned laden with spoils.

This war, so formidable to the Romans (although ridiculous and contemptible in the beginning, considered as the work of gladiators), had now lasted three years. When the election of new praetors came on, fear fell upon all, and nobody offered himself as a candidate until Licinius Crassus, a man distinguished among the Romans for birth and wealth, assumed the praetorship and marched against Spartacus with six new legions. When he arrived at his destination he received also the two legions of the consuls, whom he decimated by lot for their bad conduct in several battles. Some say that Crassus, too, having engaged in battle with his whole army, and having been defeated, decimated the whole army and was not deterred by their numbers, but destroyed about 4000 of them. Whichever way it was, he demonstrated to them that he was more dangerous to them than the enemy. Presently he overcame 10,000 of the Spartacans, who were encamped somewhere in a detached position, and killed two-thirds of them. He then marched boldly against Spartacus himself, vanquished him in a brilliant engagement, and pursued his fleeing forces to the sea, where they tried to pass over to Sicily. He overtook them and enclosed them with a line of circumvallation consisting of ditch, wall, and paling.

Spartacus tried to break through and make an incursion into the Samnite country, but Crassus slew about 6000 of his men in the morning and as many more towards evening. Only three of the Roman army were killed and seven wounded, so great was the improvement in their morale inspired by the recent punishment. Spartacus, who was expecting from somewhere a reënforcement of horse, no longer went into battle with his whole army, but harassed the besiegers by frequent sallies here and there. He fell upon them unexpectedly and continually, threw bundles of fagots into the ditch and set them on fire and made their labor difficult. He crucified a Roman prisoner in the space between the two armies to show his own men what fate awaited them if they did not conquer. When the Romans in the city heard of the siege they thought it would be disgraceful if this war against gladiators should be prolonged. Believing also that the work still to be done against Spartacus was great and severe they ordered up the army of Pompey, which had just arrived from Spain, as a reënforcement.

On account of this vote Crassus tried in every way to come to an engagement with Spartacus so that Pompey might not reap the glory of the war. Spartacus himself, thinking to anticipate Pompey, invited Crassus to come to terms with him. When his proposals were rejected with scorn he resolved to risk a battle, and as his cavalry had arrived he made a dash with his whole army through the lines of the besieging force and pushed on to Brundusium with Crassus in pursuit. When Spartacus learned that Lucullus had just arrived in Brundusium from his victory over Mithridates he despaired of everything and brought his forces, which were even then very numerous, to close quarters with Crassus. The battle was long and bloody, as might have been expected with so many thousands of desperate men. Spartacus was wounded in the thigh with a spear and sank upon his knee, holding his shield in front of him and contending in this way against his assailants until he and the great mass of those with him were surrounded and slain. The remainder of his army was thrown into confusion and butchered in crowds. So great was the slaughter that it was impossible to count them. The Roman loss was about 1000. The body of Spartacus was not found. A large number of his men fled from the battle-field to the mountains and Crassus followed them thither. They divided themselves in four parts, and continued to fight until they all perished except 6000, who were captured and crucified along the whole road from Capua to Rome.

Crassus accomplished his task within six months, whence arose a contention for honors between himself and Pompey. Crassus did not dismiss his army, for Pompey did not dismiss his. Both were candidates for the consulship. Crassus had been praetor as the law of Sulla required. Pompey had been neither praetor nor quaestor, and was only thirty-four years old. He promised the tribunes of the people that much of their former power should be restored. When they were chosen consuls they did not even then dismiss their armies, which were stationed near the city. Each one offered an excuse. Pompey said that he was waiting the return of Metellus for his Spanish triumph. Crassus said that Pompey ought to dismiss his army first. The people, seeing fresh seditions brewing and fearing two armies encamped round about, besought the consuls, while they were occupying the curule chairs in the forum, to be reconciled to each other. At first both of them repelled these solicitations. When certain persons, who seemed to be divinely inspired, predicted many direful consequences if the consuls did not come to an agreement, the people again implored them with lamentation and the greatest dejection, reminding them of the evils produced by the contentions of Marius and Sulla. Crassus yielded first. He came down from his chair, advanced to Pompey, and offered him his hand in the way of reconciliation. Pompey rose and hastened to meet him. They shook hands amid general acclamations and the people did not leave the assembly until the consuls had given orders in writing to disband the armies. Thus was the well-grounded fear of another great dissension happily dispelled. This was about the sixtieth year in the course of the civil convulsions, reckoning from the killing of Tiberius Gracchus.

AFTER the reign of Sulla, and the later operations of Sertorius and Perpenna in Spain, other internal commotions of a similar nature took place among the Romans until Gaius Caesar and Pompey the Great waged war against each other, and Caesar made an end of Pompey and was himself killed in the senate-chamber because he was accused of exercising royal power. How these things came about and how both Pompey and Caesar lost their lives, this second book of the Civil Wars will show. Pompey had lately cleared the sea of pirates, who were then more numerous than ever before, and afterward had overthrown Mithridates, king of Pontus, and regulated his kingdom and the other nations that he had subdued in the East. Caesar was still a young man, but powerful in speech and action, daring in every way, ambitious of everything, and profuse beyond his means in the pursuit of honors. While yet aedile and praetor he had incurred great debts and had made himself wonderfully agreeable to the multitude, who always sing the praises of those who are lavish in expenditures.

At this time Lucius Catiline was a person of importance, of great celebrity, and high birth, but a madman. It was believed that he had killed his own son because of his own love for Aurelia Orestilla, who was not willing to marry a man who had a son. He had been a friend and zealous partisan of Sulla. He had reduced himself to poverty in order to gratify his ambition, but still he was courted by the powerful, both men and women, and he became a candidate for the consulship as a step leading to absolute power. He confidently expected to be elected; but the suspicion of his ulterior designs defeated him, and Cicero, the most eloquent orator and the rhetorician of the period, was chosen instead. Catiline, by way of raillery and contempt for those who voted for him, called him Novus Homo (a new man) on account of his obscure birth (for so they call those who achieve distinction by their own merits and not by those of their ancestors); and because he was not born in the city he called him Inquilinus (a lodger), by which term they designate those who occupy houses belonging to others. From this time Catiline abstained wholly from politics as not leading quickly and surely to absolute power, but as full of the spirit of contention and malice. He procured much money from many women who hoped that their husbands would get killed in the uprising, and he formed a conspiracy with a number of senators and knights, and collected together a body of plebians, foreign residents, and slaves. His leading fellow-conspirators were Cornelius Lentulus and Cethegus, who were then city praetors. He sent emissaries throughout Italy to those of Sulla’s soldiers who had squandered the gains of their former life of plunder and who longed for similar doings. For this purpose he sent Gaius Manlius to Faesulae in Etruria and others to Picenum and Apulia, who enlisted soldiers for him secretly.

All these facts, while they were still secret, were communicated to Cicero by Fulvia, a woman of quality. Her lover, Quintus Curius, one of the conspirators with Catiline, who had been expelled from the Senate for debauchery, told his mistress in a vain and boastful way that he would soon be in a position of great power. And now a rumor of what was transpiring in Italy was noised about. Accordingly, Cicero stationed guards at intervals throughout the city, and sent many of the nobility to the suspected places to watch what was going on. Catiline, although nobody had ventured to lay hands on him, because the facts were not yet publicly known, was nevertheless fearful lest suspicion should increase with time. Trusting to rapidity of movement he forwarded money to Faesulae and directed his fellow-conspirators to kill Cicero and set the city on fire at a number of different places the same night. Then he departed to join Gaius Manlius, intending to collect additional forces and invade the city while burning. So extremely vain was he that he had the rods and axes borne before him as though he were a proconsul, and he proceeded on his journey to Manlius, enlisting soldiers as he went. Lentulus and his fellow-conspirators decided that when they should learn that Catiline had arrived at Faesulae, Lentulus and Cethegus should present themselves at Cicero’s door early in the morning with concealed daggers, expecting to be admitted because of their rank; enter into conversation with him in the vestibule on some subject, no matter what; draw him away from his own people, and kill him; that Lucius Bestia, the tribune, should at once call an assembly of the people by heralds and accuse Cicero of timidity and of stirring up war and disturbing the city without cause, and that on the night following Bestia’s speech the city should be set on fire by others in twelve places and plundered, and the leading citizens killed.

Such were the designs of Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, the chiefs of the conspiracy, and they waited for the appointed time. Meanwhile ambassadors of the Allobroges, who were in the city making complaint against their magistrates, were solicited to join the conspiracy of Lentulus in order to cause an uprising against the Romans in Gaul. Lentulus sent in company with them, to Catiline, a man of Croton named Vulturcius, who carried letters without signatures. The Allobroges being in doubt communicated the matter to Fabius Sanga, the patron of their state—it was the custom of all the subject states to have patrons at Rome. Sanga communicated the facts to Cicero, who captured the Allobroges and Vulturcius on their journey and brought them straightway before the Senate. They confessed to their understanding with Lentulus and testified in his presence that Cornelius Lentulus had often said that it was written in the book of fate that three Cornelii should be monarchs of Rome, two of whom, Cinna and Sulla, had already been such.

When they had so testified the Senate deprived Lentulus of his office. Cicero put each of the conspirators under arrest at the houses of the praetors, and returned directly to take the vote of the Senate concerning them. In the meantime there was a great tumult around the senate-house, the affair being as yet little understood, and those who did understand it being alarmed. The slaves and freedmen of Lentulus and Cethegus, reënforced by numerous artisans, made a circuit by back streets and assaulted the houses of the praetors in order to rescue their masters. When Cicero heard of this he hurried out of the senate-house and stationed the necessary guards and then came back and hastened the taking of the vote. Silanus, the consul-elect, spoke first, as it was the custom among the Romans for the one who was about to assume that office to deliver his opinion first, because, as I think, he would have most to do with the execution of the decrees, and hence would give more careful consideration and circumspection to each. It was the opinion of Silanus that the culprits should suffer the extreme penalty, and many senators agreed with him until it came Nero’s turn to deliver his opinion. Nero judged that it would be best to keep them under guard until Catiline should be beaten in the field and they could obtain the most accurate knowledge of the facts.

Gaius Caesar was not free from the suspicion of complicity with these men, but Cicero did not venture to bring into the controversy one so popular with the masses. Caesar proposed that Cicero should distribute the culprits among the towns of Italy, according to his own discretion, to be kept until Catiline should be beaten in fight, and that then they should be regularly tried, instead of inflicting an irremediable punishment upon members of the nobility in advance of argument and trial. As this opinion appeared to be just and acceptable, most of the senators changed completely, until Cato openly manifested his suspicion of Caesar; and Cicero, who had apprehensions concerning the coming night (lest the crowd who were concerned with the conspiracy and were still in the forum in a state of suspense, fearful for themselves and the conspirators, might do something desperate), persuaded the Senate to give judgment against them without trial as persons caught in the act. Cicero immediately, while the Senate was still in session, conducted each of the conspirators from the houses where they were in custody to the prison, without the knowledge of the crowd, and saw them put to death. Then he went back to the forum and signified that they were dead. The crowd dispersed in alarm, congratulating themselves that they had not been found out. Thus the city breathed freely once more after the great fear that had weighed upon it that day.

Catiline had assembled about 20,000 troops, of whom one-fourth part were already armed, and was moving toward Gaul in order to complete his preparations, when Antonius, the other consul, overtook him beyond the Alps and easily defeated the madly conceived adventure of the man, which was still more madly put to the test without preparation. Neither Catiline nor any of the nobility who were associated with him deigned to fly, but all perished at close quarters with their enemies. Such was the end of the uprising of Catiline, which almost brought the city to the extreme of peril. Cicero, who had been hitherto distinguished only for eloquence, was now in everybody’s mouth as a man of action, and was considered unquestionably the saviour of his country on the eve of its destruction, for which reason the thanks of the assembly were bestowed upon him, amid general acclamations. At the instance of Cato the people saluted him as the Father of his Country. Some think that this appellation, which is now bestowed upon those emperors who are deemed worthy of it, had its beginning with Cicero. Although they are in fact kings, it is not given to them with their other titles immediately upon their accession, but is decreed to them in the progress of time, not as a matter of course, but as a final testimonial of the greatest services.

Caesar, who had been chosen praetor for Spain, was detained in the city by his creditors, as he owed much more than he could pay, by reason of his political expenses. He was reported as saying that he needed 25,000,000 sesterces in order to have nothing at all. However, he arranged with those who were detaining him as best he could and proceeded to Spain. Here he neglected the transaction of public business, the administration of justice, and all matters of that kind because he considered them of no use to his purposes, but he raised an army and attacked the independent Spanish tribes one by one until he made the whole country tributary to the Romans. He also sent much money to the public treasury at Rome. For these reasons the Senate awarded him a triumph. He was making preparations outside the walls for a most splendid procession, during the days when candidates for the consulship were required to present themselves. It was not lawful for one who was going to have a triumph to enter the city and then go back again for the triumph. As Caesar was very anxious to secure the office, and his procession was not yet ready, he sent to the Senate and asked permission to stand for the consulship while absent, through the intercession of friends, for although he knew it was against the law it had been done by others. Cato opposed his proposition and used up the last day for the presentation of candidates, in speech making. Thereupon Caesar abandoned his triumph, entered the city, offered himself as a candidate, and waited for the comitia.

In the meantime Pompey, who had acquired great glory and power by his Mithridatic war, was asking the Senate to ratify numerous concessions that he had granted to kings, princes, and cities. Many senators, however, moved by envy, made opposition, and especially Lucullus, who had held the command against Mithridates before Pompey, and who considered that the victory was his, since he had left the king in a state of extreme weakness for Pompey. Crassus coöperated with Lucullus in this matter. Pompey was indignant and made friends with Caesar and promised under oath to support him for the consulship. The latter thereupon brought Crassus into friendly relations with Pompey. Thus these three most powerful men coöperated together for their mutual advantage. This coalition the Roman writer Varro treated in a book entitled Tricaranus (the three-headed monster). The Senate had its suspicions of them and elected Lucius Bibulus as Caesar’s colleague to hold him in check.

Strife sprang up between them immediately and they proceeded to arm themselves secretly against each other. Caesar, who was a master of dissimulation, made speeches in the Senate in the interest of harmony with Bibulus, as though he were taking care lest harm should come to the republic from their disagreement. As he was believed to be sincere, Bibulus was thrown off his guard. While Bibulus was unprepared and suspecting nothing, Caesar secretly got a large band of soldiers in readiness and brought before the Senate measures for the relief of the poor by the distribution of the public land to them. The best part of this land around Capua, which was leased for the public benefit, he proposed to bestow upon those who were the fathers of at least three children, by which means he bought for himself the favor of a multitude of men. Twenty-thousand, who had three children each, came forward at once. As many senators opposed his motion he pretended to be indignant at their injustice, and rushed out of the Senate and did not convene it again for the remainder of the year, but harangued the people from the rostra. In a public assembly he asked Pompey and Crassus what they thought about his proposed laws. Both gave their approval, and the people came to the voting-place carrying concealed daggers.

The Senate (since no one called it together and it was not lawful for one consul to do so without the consent of the other) assembled at the house of Bibulus, but did nothing to counteract the force and preparation of Caesar. They planned, however, that Bibulus should oppose Caesar’s laws, so that they should seem to be overcome by force rather than by their own negligence. Accordingly, Bibulus burst into the forum while Caesar was still speaking. Strife and tumult arose, blows were given, and those who had daggers broke the fasces and insignia of Bibulus and wounded some of the tribunes who stood around him. Bibulus was in no wise terrified, but bared his neck to Caesar’s partisans and loudly called on them to strike. If I cannot persuade Caesar to do right, he said, I will affix upon him the guilt and stigma of my death. His friends, however, led him, against his will, out of the crowd and into the neighboring temple of Jupiter Stator. Cato was indignant at these proceedings, and, being a young man, forced his way to the midst of the crowd and began to make a speech, but was lifted up and dragged out by Caesar’s partisans. Then he went around secretly by another street and again mounted the rostra; but as he despaired of making a speech, since nobody would listen to him, he abused Caesar roundly until he was ejected by the Caesarians, and Caesar secured the enactment of his laws.

The plebeians swore to observe these laws forever, and Caesar directed the Senate to do the same. Many of them, including Cato, refused, and Caesar proposed and the people enacted the death penalty to the recusants. Then they became alarmed and took the oath, including the tribunes, for it was no longer of any use to speak against it after the law had been confirmed by the others. And now Vettius, a plebeian, ran into the forum with a drawn dagger and said that he had been sent by Bibulus, Cicero, and Cato to kill Caesar and Pompey, and that the dagger had been given to him by Postumius, the lictor of Bibulus. Although this affair was open to suspicion on both sides, Caesar made use of it to inflame the multitude and postponed the examination of the assailant. Vettius was thrown into prison and killed the same night. As this transaction was variously commented on, Caesar did not let it pass unnoticed, but said that it had been done by the opposite party who were afraid of exposure. Finally, the people furnished him a guard to protect him against conspirators, and Bibulus abstained from public business altogether, like a private citizen, and did not go out of his house for the remainder of his official term.

As Caesar now had the sole administration of public affairs, he did not make any further inquiry concerning Vettius. He brought forward new laws to win the favor of the multitude, and caused all of Pompey’s acts to be ratified, as he had promised him. The so-called knights, who held the middle place in rank between the Senate and the plebeians, and were extremely powerful in all ways by reason of their wealth, and of the farming of the provincial revenues which they contracted for, and who kept for this purpose multitudes of very trusty servants, had been asking the Senate for a long time to release them from a part of what they owed to the treasury. The Senate was consuming time on this question. As Caesar did not want anything of the Senate then, but was employing the people only, he released the publicans from a third part of their contracts. For this unexpected favor, which was far beyond their deserts, the knights extolled Caesar to the skies. Thus a more powerful body of defenders than that of the plebeians was added to Caesar’s support through one political act. He gave spectacles and combats of wild beasts beyond his means, borrowing money on all sides, and surpassing all former exhibitions in lavish display and splendid gifts, in consequence of which he was appointed governor of both Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul for five years, with the command of four legions.

As Caesar saw that he would be away from home a long time, and believed that envy would be in proportion to benefits conferred, he gave his daughter in marriage to Pompey, although she was betrothed to Caepio, because he feared that even a friend might become envious of his great success. He promoted the boldest of his partisans to the principal offices for the ensuing year. He designated his friend Aulus Gabinius as consul, with Lucius Piso as his colleague, whose daughter, Calpurnia, Caesar married, although Cato cried out that the government was debauched by marriages. For tribunes he chose Vatinius and Clodius Pulcher, although the latter had been suspected of an amour with the wife of Caesar himself during a religious ceremony of women, but whom Caesar did not bring to trial because Clodius was very popular with the masses; but he divorced his wife. Others prosecuted Clodius for impiety at the sacred rites, and Cicero made the argument for the prosecution. When Caesar was called as a witness he refused to testify against Clodius, but even raised him to the tribuneship as a foil to Cicero who was already decrying the triumvirate as tending toward monarchy. Thus Caesar turned a private grievance to useful account and benefited one enemy in order to revenge himself on another. It appears, however, that Clodius had previously requited Caesar by helping him to secure the governorship of Gaul.

Such were the acts of Caesar’s consulship. He then laid down his magistracy and proceeded directly to his new government. Clodius now brought an accusation against Cicero for putting Lentulus and Cethegus and their followers to death without trial. Cicero, who had exhibited the highest courage in that transaction, became utterly unnerved at his trial. He put on coarse raiment and, defiled with squalor and dirt, supplicated those whom he met in the streets, not being ashamed to annoy people who knew nothing about the business, so that his doings excited laughter rather than pity by reason of his unseemly aspect. Into such trepidation did he fall at this single trial of his own, although he had been managing other people’s causes successfully all his life. In like manner they say that Demosthenes the Athenian did not stand his ground when accused, but fled before the trial. When Clodius interrupted Cicero’s supplications on the streets with contumely, he gave way to despair and, like Demosthenes, went into voluntary exile. A multitude of his friends went out of the city with him, and the Senate recommended him to the attention of cities, kings, and princes. Clodius demolished his house and his villas. Clodius was so much elated by this affair that he compared himself with Pompey, who was then the most powerful man in Rome.

Accordingly, Pompey held out to Milo, who was Clodius’ colleague in office and a bolder spirit than himself, the hope of the consulship, and incited him against Clodius, and directed him to procure a vote for the recall of Cicero. He hoped that when Cicero should come back he would no longer speak against the existing status (the triumvirate), remembering what he had suffered, but would make trouble for Clodius and bring punishment upon him. Thus Cicero, who had been exiled by means of Pompey, was recalled by means of Pompey about sixteen months after his banishment, and the Senate rebuilt his house and his villas at the public expense. He was received magnificently at the city gates. It is said that a whole day was consumed by the greetings extended to him, as was the case with Demosthenes when he returned.

In the meantime Caesar, who had performed the many brilliant exploits in Gaul and Britain which have been described in my Celtic history, had returned with vast riches to Cisalpine Gaul on the river Po to give his army a short respite from continuous fighting. From this place he sent large sums of money to many persons in Rome, to those who were holding the yearly offices and to persons otherwise distinguished as governors and generals, and they went thither by turns to meet him. So many of them came that 120 lictors could be seen around him at one time, and more than 200 senators, some returning thanks for what they had already received, others asking for money or seeking some other advantage for themselves from the same quarter. All things were now possible to Caesar by reason of his large army, his great riches, and his readiness to oblige everybody. Pompey and Crassus, his partners in the triumvirate, came also. In their conference it was decided that Pompey and Crassus should be elected consuls again and that Caesar’s governorship over his provinces should be extended for five years more. Thereupon they separated and Domitius Ahenobarbus offered himself as a candidate for the consulship against Pompey. When the appointed day came, both went down to the Campus Martius before daylight to attend the comitia. Their followers got into an altercation and came to blows, and finally somebody assaulted the torchbearer of Domitius with a sword. There was a scattering straightway, and Domitius escaped with difficulty to his own house. Even Pompey’s clothing was carried home stained with blood, so great was the danger incurred by both candidates.

Accordingly, Pompey and Crassus were chosen consuls and Caesar’s governorship was extended for five years according to the agreement. The provinces were allotted with an army to each consul in the following manner: Pompey chose Spain and Africa, but sent friends to take charge of them, he himself remaining in Rome. Crassus took Syria and the adjacent country because he wanted a war with the Parthians, which he thought would be easy as well as glorious and gainful. But when he took his departure from the city there were many unfavorable omens, and the tribunes forbade the war against the Parthians, who had done no wrong to the Romans. As he would not obey, they invoked public imprecations on him, which Crassus disregarded; wherefore he perished in Parthia, together with his son of the same name, and his army, not quite 10,000 of whom, out of 100,000, escaped to Syria. The disaster to Crassus will be described in my Parthian history. As the Romans were suffering from scarcity, they appointed Pompey the sole manager of the grain supply and gave him, as in his operations against the pirates, twenty assistants from the Senate. These he distributed in like manner among the provinces while he superintended the whole, and thus Rome was very soon provided with abundant supplies, by which means Pompey again gained great reputation and power.

About this time the daughter of Caesar, who was married to Pompey, died in childbirth, and fear fell upon all lest, with the termination of this marriage connection, Caesar and Pompey with their great armies should come into conflict with each other, especially as the commonwealth had been for a long time disorderly and unmanageable. The magistrates were chosen by means of money, and faction fights, with dishonest zeal, with the aid of stones and even swords. Bribery and corruption prevailed in the most scandalous manner. The people themselves went to the elections to be bought. A case was found where a deposit of 800 talents had been made to obtain the consulship. The consuls holding office yearly could not hope to lead armies or to command in war because they were shut out by the power of the triumvirate. The baser ones strove for gain, instead of military commands, at the expense of the public treasury or from the election of their own successors. For these reasons good men abstained from office altogether. The disorder was such that at one time the republic was without consuls for eight months, Pompey conniving at the state of affairs in order that there might be need of a dictator.

Many citizens began to talk to each other about this, saying that the only remedy for existing evils was the one-man power, but that there was need of a man who combined strength of character and mildness of temper, thereby indicating Pompey, who had a sufficient army under his command and who appeared to be both a friend of the people and a leader of the Senate by virtue of his rank, a man of temperance and self-control and easy of access, or at all events so considered. This expectation of a dictatorship Pompey discountenanced in words, but in fact he did everything secretly to promote it, and willingly overlooked the prevailing disorder and the interregnum consequent upon it. Milo, who had assisted him in his controversy with Clodius, and had acquired great popularity by the recall of Cicero, now sought the consulship, as he considered it a favorable time in view of the present interregnum; but Pompey kept postponing the comitia until Milo became disgusted, believing that Pompey was false to him, and withdrew to his native town of Lanuvium, which they say was the first city founded in Italy by Diomedes on his return from Troy, and which is situated about 150 stades from Rome.

Clodius happened to be coming from his own country-seat on horseback and he met Milo at Bovillae. They merely exchanged hostile scowls and passed along; but one of Milo’s servants attacked Clodius, either because he was ordered to do so or because he wanted to kill his master’s enemy, and stabbed him through the back with a dagger. Clodius’ groom carried him bleeding into a neighboring inn. Milo followed with his servants and finished him, — whether he was still alive, or already dead, is not known, — for, although he claimed that he had neither advised nor ordered the killing, he was not willing to leave the deed unfinished because he knew that he would be accused in any event. When the news of this affair was circulated in Rome, the people were thunderstruck, and they passed the night in the forum. When daylight came, the corpse of Clodius was displayed on the rostra. Some of the tribunes and the friends of Clodius and a great crowd with them seized it and carried it to the senate-house, either to confer honor upon it, as he was of senatorial birth, or as an act of contumely to the Senate for conniving at such deeds. There the more reckless ones collected the benches and chairs of the senators and made a funeral pile for him, which they lighted and from which the senate-house and many buildings in the neighborhood caught fire and were consumed with the corpse of Clodius.

Such was the hardihood of Milo that he was moved less by fear of punishment for the murder than by indignation at the honor bestowed upon Clodius at his funeral. He collected a crowd of slaves and rustics, and, after sending some money to be distributed among the people and buying Marcus Caelius, one of the tribunes, he came back to the city with the greatest boldness. Directly he entered, Caelius dragged him to the forum to be tried by those whom he had bribed, as though by an assembly of the people, pretending to be very indignant and not willing to grant any delay, but hoping that if those present should acquit him he would escape a more regular trial. Milo said that the deed was not premeditated, since one would not set out with such intentions encumbered with his luggage and his wife. The remainder of his speech was directed against Clodius as a desperado and a friend of desperadoes, who had set fire to the senate-house and burned it to ashes with his body. While he was still speaking the other tribunes, with the unbribed portion of the people, burst into the forum armed. Caelius and Milo escaped disguised as slaves, but there was a heavy slaughter of the others. Search was not made for the friends of Milo, but all who were met with, whether citizens or strangers, were killed, and especially those who wore fine clothes and gold rings. As the government was without order these ruffians, who were for the most part slaves and were armed men against unarmed, indulged their rage and, making an excuse of the tumult that had broken out, they turned to pillage. They abstained from no crime, but broke into houses, looking for any kind of portable property, but pretending to be searching for the friends of Milo. For several days Milo was their excuse for burning, stoning, and every sort of outrage.

The Senate assembled in consternation and looked to Pompey, intending to make him dictator at once, for they considered this necessary as a cure for the present evils; but at the suggestion of Cato they appointed him consul without a colleague, so that by ruling alone he might have the power of a dictator with the responsibility of a consul. He was the first of consuls who had two of the greatest provinces, and an army, and the public money, and the one-man power in the city, by virtue of being sole consul. In order that Cato might not cause obstruction by his presence, it was decreed that he should go to Cyprus and take the island away from King Ptolemy—a law to that effect having been enacted by Clodius because once, when he was captured by pirates, the avaricious Ptolemy contributed only two talents for his ransom. When Ptolemy heard of the decree he threw his money into the sea and killed himself, and Cato settled the government of Cyprus. Pompey proposed the prosecution of offenders and especially of those guilty of bribery and corruption. He thought that the seat of the public disorder was there, and that by beginning there he should effect a speedy cure. He brought forward a law, that any citizen who chose to do so might call for an accounting from anybody who had held office from the time of his own first consulship to the present. This embraced a period of a little less than twenty years, during which Caesar also had been consul; wherefore Caesar’s friends suspected that he included so long a time in order to cast reproach and contumely on Caesar, and urged him to straighten out the present crookedness rather than stir up the past to the annoyance of so many distinguished men, among whom they named Caesar. Pompey pretended to be indignant at the mention of Caesar’s name, as though he were above suspicion, and said that his own second consulship was embraced in the period, and that he had reached back a considerable time in order to effect a complete cure of the evils from which the republic had been so long wasting away.

After making this answer he passed his law, and straightway there ensued a great number and variety of prosecutions. In order that the jurors might act without fear Pompey stationed soldiers around them and superintended them in person. The first ones convicted were absentees: Milo for the murder of Clodius; Gabinius both for violation of law and for impiety, because he had invaded Egypt without a decree of the Senate and contrary to the Sibylline books; Hypsaeus, Memmius, Sextius, and many others for bribery and for corrupting the populace. The people interceded for Scaurus, but Pompey made proclamation that they should wait for the decision of the court. When the crowd again interrupted the accusers, Pompey’s soldiers made a charge and killed several. Then the people held their tongues and Scaurus was convicted. All of them were banished. Gabinius was fined in addition. The Senate praised Pompey highly for these proceedings, voted him two more legions, and extended the term of his provincial government. As Pompey’s law offered impunity to any one who should turn state’s evidence, Memmius, who had been convicted of bribery, called Lucius Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompey himself, to trial for like participation in bribery. Thereupon Pompey put on mourning and many of the jurors did the same. Memmius took pity on the republic and withdrew the accusation.

Pompey, as though he had completed the reforms that made the one-man power necessary, now made Scipio his colleague in the consulship for the remainder of the year. At the expiration of his term, however, although others were invested with the consulship, he was none the less the supervisor, and ruler, and all-in-all in Rome. He enjoyed the good-will of the Senate, particularly because they were jealous of Caesar, who did not consult the Senate during his consulship, and because Pompey had so speedily restored the sick commonwealth, and had not made himself troublesome or offensive to any of them during his term of office. The banished ones went to Caesar in crowds and advised him to beware of Pompey, saying that his law about bribery was especially directed against himself. Caesar cheered them up and spoke well of Pompey. He also induced the tribunes to bring in a law to enable himself to stand for the consulship a second time while absent, and this was enacted while Pompey was still consul and without opposition from him. Caesar suspected that the Senate would resist this project and feared lest he should be reduced to the condition of a private citizen and exposed to his enemies. So he tried to retain his power until he should be elected consul, and asked the Senate to grant him a little more time in his present command of Gaul, or of a part of it. Marcellus, who succeeded Pompey as consul, forbade it. They say that when this was announced to Caesar, he clapped his hand on his sword-hilt and exclaimed, This shall give it to me.

Caesar built the town of Novum Comum at the foot of the Alps and gave it the Latin rights, which included a provision that those who had exercised the yearly chief magistracy should be Roman citizens. One of these men, who had held this office and was consequently considered a Roman citizen, was beaten with rods for some reason by order of Marcellus in defiance of Caesar—a punishment that was never inflicted on Roman citizens. Marcellus in his passion revealed his real intention that the blows should be the marks of the foreigner, and he told the man to carry his scars and show them to Caesar. So insulting was Marcellus. Moreover, he proposed to send successors to take command of Caesar’s provinces before his time had expired, but Pompey interfered, making a pretence of fairness and good-will, saying that they ought not to put an indignity on a distinguished man who had been so extremely useful to his country, merely on account of a short interval of time; but he made it plain that Caesar’s command must come to an end immediately on its expiration. For this reason the bitterest enemies of Caesar were chosen consuls for the ensuing year: Aemilius Paulus and Claudius Marcellus, cousin of the Marcellus before mentioned. Curio, who was also a bitter enemy of Caesar, but extremely popular with the masses and a most accomplished speaker, was chosen tribune. Caesar was not able to influence Claudius with money, but he bought the neutrality of Paulus for 1500 talents and the assistance of Curio with a still larger sum, because he knew that the latter was heavily burdened with debt. With the money thus obtained Paulus built and dedicated to the Roman people the Basilica that bears his name, a very beautiful structure.

Curio, in order that he might not be detected changing sides too suddenly, brought forward vast plans for repairing and building roads, of which he was to be superintendent for five years. He knew that he could not carry any such measure, but he hoped that Pompey’s friends would oppose him so that he might have that as an excuse for opposing Pompey. Things turned out as he had anticipated, so that he had a pretext for disagreement. Claudius proposed the sending of successors to take command of Caesar’s provinces, as his term was now expiring. Paulus was silent. Curio, who was thought to differ from both, praised the motion of Claudius, but added that Pompey ought to resign his provinces and army just like Caesar, for in this way he said the commonwealth would be made free and be relieved from fear in all directions. Many opposed this as unjust, because Pompey’s term had not yet expired. Then Curio came out more openly and decidedly against appointing successors to Caesar unless Pompey also should lay down his command; for since they were both suspicious of each other, he contended that there could be no lasting peace to the commonwealth unless both were reduced to the character of private citizens. He said this because he knew that Pompey would not give up his command and because he saw that the people were incensed against Pompey on account of his prosecutions for bribery. As Curio’s position was plausible, the plebeians praised him as the only one who was willing to incur the enmity of both Pompey and Caesar in order to fulfil worthily his duties as a citizen; and once they escorted him home like an athlete, scattering flowers, as though he had won the prize in some great and difficult contest, for nothing was considered more perilous then than to have a difference with Pompey.

Pompey, while lying sick in Italy, wrote an artful letter to the Senate, praising Caesar’s exploits and also recounting his own from the beginning, saying that he had been invested with a third consulship, and with provinces and an army afterward, which he had not solicited, but had been called to serve the public weal. He added that the powers which he had accepted unwillingly he would gladly yield to those who wished to take them back, and would not wait the time fixed for their expiration. The artfulness of this communication consisted in showing the fairness of Pompey and in exciting prejudice against Caesar, as though the latter was not willing to give up his command even at the appointed time. When Pompey came back to the city, he spoke to the senators in the same way and then, also, promised to lay down his command. As a friend and marriage connection of Caesar he said that the latter would very cheerfully do the same, for his had been a long and laborious contest against very warlike peoples; he had added much to the Roman power and now he would come back to his honors and his sacrificings and take his rest. He said these things in order that successors to Caesar might be sent at once, while he (Pompey) should merely stand on his promise. Curio exposed his artifice, saying that promises were not sufficient, and insisting that Pompey should lay down his command now and that Caesar should not be disarmed until Pompey himself had returned to private life. On account of private enmity, he said, it would not be advisable either for Caesar or for the Romans that such great authority should be held by one man. Rather should each of them have power against the other in case one should attempt violence against the commonwealth. Throwing off all disguise, he denounced Pompey unsparingly as one aiming at supreme power, and said that unless he would lay down his command now, when he had the fear of Caesar before his eyes, he would never lay it down at all. He moved that, unless they both obeyed, both should be voted public enemies and military forces be levied against them. In this way he concealed the fact that he had been bought by Caesar.

Pompey was angry with him and threatened him and at once withdrew indignantly to his country-seat. The Senate now had suspicions of both, but it considered Pompey the better republican of the two, and it hated Caesar because he had not shown it proper respect during his consulship. Some of the senators really thought that it would not be safe to the commonwealth to deprive Pompey of his power until after Caesar should lay down his, since the latter was outside of the city and was the man of more towering designs. Curio held the contrary opinion, that they had need of Caesar against the power of Pompey, or otherwise that both armies should be disbanded at the same time. As the Senate would not agree with him he dismissed it, leaving the whole business still unfinished. He had the power to do so as tribune. Thus Pompey had occasion to regret that he had restored the tribunician power to its pristine vigor after it had been reduced to extreme feebleness by Sulla. Nevertheless, one decree was voted before the session was ended, and that was that Caesar and Pompey should each send one legion of soldiers to Syria to defend the province on account of the disaster to Crassus. Pompey artfully recalled. the legion that he had lately lent to Caesar on account of the disaster to Caesar’s two generals, Titurius and Cotta. Caesar awarded to each soldier 250 drachmas and sent the legion to Rome together with another of his own. As the expected danger did not show itself in Syria, these legions were sent into winter quarters at Capua.

The persons who had been sent by Pompey to Caesar to bring these legions spread many reports derogatory to Caesar and repeated them to Pompey. They said that Caesar’s army was wasted by protracted service, that the soldiers longed for their homes and would change to the side of Pompey as soon as they should cross the Alps. They spoke in this way either from ignorance or because they were corrupted. In fact, every soldier was strongly attached to Caesar and labored zealously for him, under the force of discipline and the influence of the gain which war usually brings to victors and which they received from Caesar also; for he gave with ar lavish hand in order to mould them to his designs. They knew what his designs were, but they stood by him nevertheless. Pompey believed what was reported to him and collected neither soldiers nor apparatus suitable for so great a contest. In the Senate the opinion of each member was asked and Claudius craftily divided the question and took the votes separately, thus: Shall successors be sent to Caesar? and again, Shall Pompey be deprived of his command? The majority voted against the latter proposition, and it was decreed that successors to Caesar should be sent. Then Curio put the question whether both should lay down their commands, and 22 senators voted in the negative while 370 went back to the opinion of Curio in order to avoid civil discord. Then Claudius dismissed the Senate, exclaiming, Enjoy your victory and have Caesar for a master.

Suddenly a false rumor came that Caesar had crossed the Alps and was marching on the city, whereupon there was a great tumult and consternation on all sides. Claudius moved that the army at Capua be turned against Caesar as a public enemy. When Curio opposed him on the ground that the rumor was false he exclaimed, If I am prevented by the vote of the Senate from taking steps for the public safety, I will take such steps on my own responsibility as consul. After saying this he darted out of the Senate and proceeded to the suburbs with his colleague, where he presented a sword to Pompey, and said, I and my colleague command you to march against Caesar in behalf of your country, and we give you for this purpose the army now at Capua, or in any other part of Italy, and whatever additional forces you yourself choose to levy. Pompey promised to obey the orders of the consuls, but he added, unless we can do better, thus dealing in trickery and still making a pretence of fairness. Curio had no power outside of the city (for it was not permitted to the tribunes to go beyond the walls), but he publicly deplored the state of affairs and demanded that the consuls should make proclamation that nobody need obey the conscription ordered by Pompey. As he could accomplish nothing, and as his term of office as tribune was about expiring, and he feared for his safety and despaired of being able to render any further assistance to Caesar, he hastily departed to join the latter.

Caesar had lately recrossed the straits from Britain and, after traversing the Gallic country along the Rhine, had passed the Alps with 5000 foot and 300 horse and arrived at Ravenna, which was contiguous to Italy and the last town in his government. After embracing Curio and returning thanks for what he had done for him, he looked over the present situation. Curio advised him to bring his whole army together now and lead it to Rome, but Caesar thought it best still to try and come to terms. So he directed his friends to make an agreement in his behalf, that he should deliver up all his provinces and soldiers, except that he should retain two legions and Illyria with Cisalpine Gaul until he should be chosen consul. This was satisfactory to Pompey, but the consuls refused. Caesar then wrote a letter to the Senate, which Curio carried a distance of 1300 stades in three days and delivered to the newly elected consuls as they entered the senate-house on the first of the calends of January. The letter embraced a calm recital of all that Caesar had done from the beginning of his career and a proposal that he would lay down his command at the same time with Pompey, but that if Pompey should retain his command he would not lay down his own, but would come quickly and avenge his country’s wrongs and his own. When this letter was read, as it was considered a declaration of war, a vehement shout was raised on all sides that Lucius Domitius be appointed as Caesar’s successor. Domitius took the field immediately with 4000 of the new levies.

Since Antony and Cassius, who succeeded Curio as tribunes, agreed with the latter in opinion, the Senate became more bitter than ever and declared Pompey’s army the protector of Rome, and that of Caesar a public enemy. The consuls, Marcellus and Lentulus, ordered Antony and his friends out of the Senate lest they should suffer some harm, although they were tribunes. Then Antony sprang from his chair in anger and with a loud voice called gods and men to witness the indignity put upon the sacred and inviolable office of tribune, saying that while they (the tribunes) were expressing the opinion which they deemed conducive to the public interest, they were driven out with contumely though they had wrought no murder or other outrage. Having spoken thus he rushed out like one possessed, predicting war, slaughter, proscription, banishment, confiscation, and various other impending evils, and invoking direful curses on the authors of them. Curio and Cassius rushed out with him, for a detachment of Pompey’s army was already observed standing around the senate-house. The tribunes made their way to Caesar the next night with the utmost speed, concealing themselves in a hired carriage, and disguised as slaves. Caesar showed them in this condition to his army, whom he excited by saying that his soldiers, after all their great deeds, had been stigmatized as public enemies and that distinguished men like these, who had dared to speak out for them, had been thus driven with ignominy from the city.

The war had now been begun on both sides and already openly declared. The Senate, thinking that Caesar’s army would be slow in arriving from Gaul and that he would not rush into so great an adventure with a small force, directed Pompey to assemble 130,000 Italian soldiers, chiefly veterans who had had experience in war, and to recruit as many able-bodied men as possible from the neighboring provinces. They voted him for the war all the money in the public treasury at once, and their own private fortunes in addition if they should be needed for the pay of the soldiers. With the fury of party rage they levied additional contributions on the allied cities, which they collected with the greatest possible haste. Caesar had sent messengers to bring his own army, but as he was accustomed to rely upon the terror caused by the celerity and audacity of his movements, rather than on the magnitude of his preparations, he decided to take the aggressive in this great war with his 5000 men and to anticipate the enemy by seizing the advantageous positions in Italy.

Accordingly, he sent forward some centurions with a few of his bravest troops in peaceful garb to go inside the walls of Ariminum and take it by surprise. This was the first town in Italy after leaving Cisalpine Gaul. Toward evening Caesar himself rose from a banquet on a plea of indisposition, leaving some friends who were still feasting. He mounted his chariot and drove toward Ariminum, his cavalry following at a short distance. When his course brought him to the river Rubicon, which forms the boundary line of Italy, he stopped and, while gazing at the stream, revolved in his mind the evils that might result from his crossing it with arms. Recovering himself he said to those who were present, My friends, stopping here will be the beginning of sorrows for me; crossing over will be such for all mankind. Thereupon, he crossed with a rush like one inspired, uttering the common phrase, Let the die be cast. Then he resumed his hasty journey and took possession of Ariminum about daybreak, advanced beyond it, stationed guards at the commanding positions, and, either by force or by kindness, mastered all whom he fell in with. As is usual in cases of panic, there was flight and migration from all the country-side in disorder and tears, the people having no exact knowledge, but thinking that Caesar had arrived with an army of boundless strength.

When the consuls learned the facts they did not allow Pompey to act according to his own judgment, experienced as he was in military affairs, but urged him to traverse Italy and raise troops, as though the city were on the point of being captured. The Senate also was alarmed at Caesar’s unexpectedly swift advance, for which it was still unprepared, and in its panic repented that it had not accepted Caesar’s proposals, which it considered just at last, after fear had turned it from party rage to the counsels of prudence. Many portents and signs in the sky took place. It rained blood. Sweat issued from the statues of the gods. Lightning struck several temples. A mule gave birth to a colt. There were many other prodigies which betokened an overturn and change in the form of government for all time. Prayers were offered up in public as was customary in times of danger, and the people who remembered the evil times of Marius and Sulla, clamored that both Caesar and Pompey ought to lay down their commands as the only means of averting war. Cicero proposed to send messengers to Caesar in order to come to an arrangement.

As the consuls opposed all accommodation Favonius, in ridicule of Pompey for something he had said a little before, advised him to stamp on the ground with his foot and raise armies in that way. You can have them, replied Pompey, if you will follow me and not consider it such a terrible thing to leave Rome, and Italy also if need be. Places and houses are not strength and freedom to men; but men, wherever they may be, have these qualities within themselves, and by defending themselves shall recover their homes. After saying this and after threatening those who should remain behind and desert their country’s cause in order to save their fields and their goods, he left the Senate and the city immediately to take command of the army at Capua, and the consuls followed him. The other senators remained undecided a long time and passed the night together in the senate-house. At daybreak, however, most of them departed and hastened after Pompey.

At Corfinium Caesar came up with and besieged Lucius Domitius, who had been sent to be his successor in the command of Gaul but who did not have all of his 4000 men with him. The inhabitants of Corfinium captured him at the gates, as he was trying to escape, and brought him to Caesar. The latter received the soldiers of Domitius, who offered themselves to him, with kindness, in order to encourage others to join him, and he allowed Domitius to go unharmed wherever he liked, and to take his money with him. He hoped perhaps that Domitius would stay with him on account of this beneficence, but he did not prevent him from joining Pompey. While these transactions were taking place so swiftly, Pompey hastened from Capua to Luceria and thence to Brundusium in order to cross the Adriatic to Epirus and complete his preparations for war there. He wrote letters to all the provinces and the commanders thereof, to princes, kings, and cities to send aid for carrying on the war with the greatest possible speed, and this they did zealously. Pompey’s own army was in Spain ready to move wherever it might be needed. Pompey gave some of the legions he already had in Italy to the consuls to be moved from Brundusium to Epirus.

The consuls crossed safely to Dyrrachium, which some persons, by reason of the following error, consider the same as Epidamnus. A barbarian king of the region, Epidamnus by name, built a city on the sea-coast and named it after himself. Dyrrachus, the son of his daughter and of Neptune (as is supposed), added a dockyard to it which he named Dyrrachium. When the brothers of this Dyrrachus made war against him, Hercules, who was returning from Erythea, formed an alliance with him for a part of his territory; wherefore the Dyrrachians claim Hercules as their founder because he had a share of their land, not that they repudiate Dyrrachus, but because they pride themselves on Hercules even more as a god. In the battle which took place it is said that Hercules killed Ionius, the son of Dyrrachus, by mistake, and that after performing the funeral rites he threw the body into the sea in order that it might bear his name. At a later period the Briges, returning from Phrygia, took possession of the city and the surrounding country. They were supplanted by the Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe, who were displaced in their turn by the Liburnians, another Illyrian tribe, who were in the habit of making piratical expeditions against their neighbors, with very swift ships. Hence the Romans call swift ships liburnicae, because these were the first ones they came in conflict with. The people who had been expelled from Dyrrachium by the Liburnians procured the aid of the Corcyreans, who then ruled the sea, and drove out the Liburnians. The Corcyreans mingled their own colonists with them and thus it came to be considered a Greek port; but the Corcyreans changed its name, because they considered it unpropitious, and called it Epidamnus from the town just above it, and Thucydides gives it that name also. Nevertheless, the former name prevailed finally and it is now called Dyrrachium.

A portion of Pompey’s forces had crossed to Dyrrachium with the consuls. Pompey led the remainder to Brundusium, where he awaited the return of the ships that had carried the others over. Here Caesar advanced against him, and he defended himself by walls and dug trenches in the city until his fleet came back. Then he took his departure in the early evening, leaving the bravest of his troops on the walls. These also sailed away after nightfall, with a favorable wind. Thus Pompey and his whole army abandoned Italy and passed over to Epirus. Caesar, seeing the general drift of public opinion toward Pompey, was at a loss which way to turn or from what point to begin the war. As he had apprehensions of Pompey’s army in Spain, which was large and well disciplined by long service (lest while he was pursuing Pompey it should fall upon his rear), he decided to march to Spain and destroy that army first. He now divided his forces into five parts, one of which he left at Brundusium, another at Hydrus, and another at Tarentum to guard Italy. Another he sent under command of Quintus Valerius to take possession of the grain-producing island of Sardinia, which he did. He sent Asinius Pollio to Sicily, which was then under the command of Cato. When Cato asked him whether he had brought the order of the Senate, or that of the people, to take possession of a government that had been assigned to another, Pollio replied, The master of Italy has sent me on this business. Cato answered that in order to spare the lives of those under his command he would not make resistance there. He then sailed away to Corcyra and from Corcyra to Pompey.

Caesar hastened to Rome. He found the people shuddering with recollection of the horrors of Marius and Sulla and he cheered them with the prospect and promise of clemency. In proof of his kindness to his enemies, he said that he had taken Lucius Domitius prisoner and allowed him to go away unharmed with his money. Nevertheless, he broke the bolts of the public treasury, and when Metellus, one of the tribunes, tried to prevent him from entering, threatened him with death. He took away money hitherto untouched, which, they say, had been deposited there long ago, at the time of the Gallic invasion, with a public curse upon anybody who should take it out except in case of a war with the Gauls. Caesar said that he had subjugated the Gauls completely and thus released the commonwealth from the curse. He then placed Aemilius Lepidus in charge of the city, and the tribune, Mark Antony, in charge of Italy and of the army guarding it. Outside of Italy he chose Curio to take command of Sicily in place of Cato, and Quintus Valerius for Sardinia. He sent Gaius Antonius to Illyria and intrusted Cisalpine Gaul to Licinius Crassus. He ordered the building of two fleets with all speed, one in the Adriatic and the other in the Tyrrhenian sea, and appointed Hortensius and Dolabella their admirals while they were still under construction.

Having prevailed so far as to make Italy inaccessible to Pompey, Caesar went to Spain, where he encountered Petreius and Afranius, Pompey’s lieutenants, and was worsted by them at first and afterward had an indecisive engagement with them near the town of Ilerda. He pitched his camp on some high ground and obtained his supplies by means of a bridge across the river Sicoris. Suddenly a freshet of melting snow carried away his bridge and cut off a great number of his men on the opposite side. These were destroyed by the forces of Petreius. Caesar himself, with the rest of his army, suffered very severely from the difficulty of the place, from hunger, from the weather, and from the enemy, his situation being in no wise different from that of a siege. Finally, on the approach of summer, Afranius and Petreius withdrew to the interior of Spain to recruit more soldiers, but Caesar continually anticipated them, blocked their passage, and prevented their advance. He also surrounded one of their divisions that had been sent forward to capture his camp. They raised their shields over their heads in token of surrender, but Caesar neither captured nor slaughtered them, but allowed them to go back to Afranius unharmed, after his usual manner of winning the favor of his enemies. Whence it came to pass that there was continual intercourse between the camps and talk of reconciliation among the rank and file.

To Afranius and some of the other officers it now seemed best to abandon Spain to Caesar, provided they could go unharmed to Pompey. Petreius opposed this and ran through the camp killing those of Caesar’s men whom he found holding communication with his own. He even slew with his own hand one of his officers who tried to restrain him. Moved by these acts of severity on the part of Petreius, the minds of the soldiers were still more attracted to the clemency of Caesar. Soon afterward Caesar managed to cut off the enemy’s access to water, and Petreius was compelled by necessity to come with Afranius to a conference with Caesar between the two armies. Here it was agreed that they should abandon Spain to Caesar, and that he should conduct them unharmed to the other side of the river Varus and allow them to proceed thence to Pompey. Arrived at this stream, Caesar called a meeting of all those who were from Rome or Italy and addressed them as follows: My enemies (for by still using this term I shall make my meaning clearer to you), I did not destroy those of you who surrendered to me when you had been sent to seize my camp, nor the rest of your army when I had cut you off from water, although Petreius had previously slaughtered those of my men who were intercepted on the other side of the river Sicoris. If there is any gratitude among you for these favors tell them to all of Pompey’s soldiers. After speaking thus he dismissed them uninjured, and he appointed Quintus Cassius governor of Spain. So much for the operations of Caesar.

Attius Varus commanded the Pompeian forces in Africa, and Juba, king of the Mauritanian Numidians, was in alliance with him. Curio sailed from Sicily against them in behalf of Caesar with two legions, twelve war vessels, and a number of ships of burden. He landed at Utica and put to flight a body of Numidian horse in a small cavalry engagement near that place, and allowed himself to be saluted as Imperator by the soldiers with their arms still in their hands. This title is an honor conferred upon generals by their soldiers, who thus testify that they consider them worthy to be their commanders. In the olden time the generals accepted this honor only for the greatest exploits. At present I understand that the distinction is limited to cases where at least 10,000 of the enemy have been killed. While Curio was crossing from Sicily the inhabitants of Africa thinking that, in emulation of the glory of Scipio, he would establish his quarters near the camp of the latter, poisoned the water in the neighborhood. Their expectation was fulfilled. Curio encamped there and his army immediately fell sick. When they drank the water their eyesight became dim as in a mist, and sleep with torpor ensued, and after that frequent vomiting and spasms of the whole body. For this reason Curio changed his camp to the neighborhood of Utica itself, leading his enfeebled army through an extensive marshy region. But when they received the news of Caesar’s victory in Spain they took courage and put themselves in order of battle in a narrow space along the seashore. Here a severe battle was fought in which Curio lost only one man, while Varus lost 600 killed, besides a still larger number wounded.

Meantime, while Juba was advancing a false report preceded him, that he had turned back at the river Bagradas, which was not far distant, because his kingdom had been invaded by his neighbors, and that he had left Saburra, his general, with a small force at the river. Curio believed this report and about the third hour of a hot summer day led the greater part of his army against Saburra by a sandy road destitute of water; for even if there were any streams there in winter they were now dried up by the heat of the sun. He found the river in possession of Saburra and of the king himself. Disappointed in his expectation Curio retreated to some hills, oppressed by fatigue, heat, and thirst. When the enemy beheld him in this condition they crossed the river prepared for fight. Curio despised the danger and very imprudently led his enfeebled army down to the plain, where he was surrounded by the Numidian horse. Here for some time he sustained the attack by retiring slowly and drawing his men together into a small space, but being much distressed he retreated again to the hills. Asinius Pollio, at the beginning of the trouble, had retreated with a small force to the camp at Utica lest Varus should make an attack upon it as soon as he should hear the news of the disaster at the river. Curio perished fighting bravely, together with all his men, not one returning to Utica after Pollio. Such was the result of the battle at the river Bagradas. Curio’s head was cut off and carried to Juba.

As soon as the news of this disaster reached the camp at Utica, Flamma, the admiral, fled, fleet and all, not taking a single one of the land forces on board, but Pollio rowed out in a small boat to the merchant ships that were lying at anchor near by and besought them to come to the shore and take the army on board. Some of them did so by night. The soldiers came aboard in such crowds that some of the small boats were sunk. Of those who were carried out to sea, and who had money with them, many were thrown overboard by the merchants for the sake of the money. So much for those who put to sea, but similar calamities, while it was still night, befell those who remained on shore. At daybreak they surrendered themselves to Varus, but Juba came up and, having collected them under the walls, put them all to the sword, claiming that they were the remainder of his victory, and paying no attention to the remonstrances of even Varus. Thus the two Roman legions that sailed to Africa with Curio were totally destroyed, together with the cavalry, the light-armed troops, and the servants belonging to the army. Juba, after vaunting his great exploit to Pompey, returned home.

About this time [Gaius] Antonius was defeated in Illyria by Pompey’s lieutenant, Octavius, and another army of Caesar mutinied at Placentia, crying out against their officers for prolonging the war and not paying them the five minae that Caesar had promised them as a donative while they were still at Brundusium. When Caesar heard of this he flew from Massilia to Placentia and coming before the soldiers, who were still in a state of mutiny, addressed them as follows: You know what kind of speed I use in everything I undertake. This war is not prolonged by us, but by the enemy, who have fled from us. You reaped great advantages from my command in Gaul, and you took an oath to me for the whole of this war and not for a part only; and now you abandon us in the midst of our labors, you revolt against your officers, you propose to give orders to those from whom you are bound to receive orders. Being myself the witness of my liberality to you heretofore I shall now execute the law of our country by decimating the ninth legion, where this mutiny began. Straightway a cry went up from the whole legion, and the officers threw themselves at Caesar’s feet in supplication. Caesar yielded little by little and so far remitted the punishment as to designate 120 only (who seemed to have been the leaders of the revolt), and chose twelve of these by lot to be put to death. One of the twelve proved that he was absent when the conspiracy was formed, and Caesar put to death in his stead the centurion who had accused him.

After thus quelling the mutiny at Placentia Caesar proceeded to Rome, where the trembling people chose him dictator without any decree of the Senate and without the intervention of a magistrate. But he, either deprecating the office as likely to prove invidious or not desiring it, after holding it only eleven days (as some say) designated himself and Publius Isauricus as consuls. He appointed or changed the governors of provinces according to his own pleasure. He assigned Marcus Lepidus to Spain, Aulus Albinius to Sicily, Sextus Peducaeus to Sardinia, and Decimus Brutus to the newly acquired Gaul. He distributed corn to the suffering people and at their petition he allowed the return of all exiles except Milo. When he was asked to decree an abolition of debts, on the ground that the wars and seditions had caused a fall of prices, he refused it, but appointed appraisers of vendible goods which debtors might give to their creditors instead of money. When this had been done, about the winter solstice, he sent for his whole army to rendezvous at Brundusium and he himself took his departure in the month of December, according to the Roman calendar, not waiting for the beginning of his consulship on the calends of the new year, which was close at hand. The people followed him to the city gates, urging him to come to an arrangement with Pompey, for it was evident that whichever of them should conquer would wield sovereign power. Caesar departed on his journey and travelled with all possible speed.

In the meantime Pompey was using all diligence to build ships and collect additional forces of men and money. He captured forty of Caesar’s ships in the Adriatic and guarded against his crossing. He disciplined his army and took part in the exercises of both infantry and cavalry, and was foremost in everything, notwithstanding his age. In this way he readily gained the good-will of his soldiers; and the people flocked to see Pompey’s military drills as to a spectacle. Caesar at that time had ten legions of infantry and 10,000 Gallic horse. Pompey had five legions from Italy, with which he had crossed the Adriatic, and the cavalry belonging to them; also the two surviving legions that had served with Crassus in the Parthian war and a certain part of those who had made the incursion into Egypt with Gabinius, making altogether eleven legions of Italian troops and about 7000 horse. He had auxiliaries also from Ionia, Macedonia, Peloponnesus, and Bœotia, Cretan archers, Thracian slingers, and Pontic javelin-throwers. He had also some Gallic horse and others from Galatia in the east, together with Commageneans sent by Antiochus, Cilicians, Cappadocians, some from Lesser Armenia, also Pamphylians and Pisidians. Pompey did not intend to use all these for fighting. Some were employed in garrison duty, in building fortifications, and in other service for the Italian soldiers, so that none of the latter should be kept away from the battles. Such were Pompey’s land forces. He had 600 war-ships perfectly equipped, of which about 100 were manned by Romans and were understood to be much superior to the rest. He also had a great number of transports and ships of burthen. There were numerous naval commanders for the different divisions, and Marcus Bibulus had the chief command over all.

When all was in readiness Pompey called the senators, the knights, and the whole army to an assembly and addressed them as follows: Fellow-soldiers, the Athenians, too, abandoned their city for the sake of liberty when they were fighting against invasion, because they believed that it was not houses that made a city, but men; and after they had done so they presently recovered it and made it more renowned than even before. So, too, our own ancestors abandoned the city when the Gauls invaded it, and Camillus hasted from Ardea and recovered it. All men of sound mind think that their country is wherever they can preserve their liberty. Because we were thus minded we sailed hither, not as deserters of our native land, but in order to prepare ourselves to defend it gloriously against one who has long conspired against it, and, by means of bribe-takers, has at last seized Italy by a sudden invasion, and whom you have decreed a public enemy. He now sends governors to take charge of your provinces. He appoints others over the city and still others throughout Italy. With such audacity has he deprived the people of their own government. If he does these things while the war is still raging and while he is apprehensive of the result and when we intend, with a god’s help, to bring him to punishment, what cruelty, what violence is he likely to abstain from if he wins the victory? And while he is doing these things against the fatherland certain men, who have been bought with money that he obtained from our province of Gaul, coöperate with him, choosing to be his slaves instead of his equals.

I have not failed and I never will fail to fight with you and for you. I give you my services both as soldier and as general. If I have had any experience in war, if it has been my good fortune to remain unvanquished to this day, I pray the gods to continue all these blessings in our present need and that I may become a man of destiny for my country in her perils as I was in extending her dominion. Surely we may trust in the gods and in the righteousness of the war, which has for its noble and just object the defence of our country’s constitution. In addition to this we may rely upon the magnitude of the preparations which we behold on land and sea, which are all the time growing and will be augmented still more as soon as we come into action. We may say that all the nations of the East and around the Euxine Sea, both Greek and barbarian, stand with us, and the kings, who are friends of the Roman people or of myself, are supplying us soldiers, arms, provisions, and other implements of war. Come to your task then with a spirit worthy of your country, of yourselves, and of me, mindful of the wrongs you have received from Caesar, and ready to obey my orders promptly.

When Pompey had thus spoken the whole army, including the senators and a great many of the nobility who were with him, applauded him vociferously and told him to lead them wherever he would. Pompey thought that as the weather was bad and the sea boisterous Caesar would not attempt to cross till the end of winter, but would be occupied in the meantime with his duties as consul. So he ordered his naval officers to keep watch of the sea, and then divided his army and sent it into winter quarters in Thessaly and Macedonia. So heedlessly did Pompey form his judgment of what was about to take place. Caesar, as I have already said, hastened to Brundusium about the winter solstice, intending to strike terror into his enemies by taking them by surprise. Although he found neither provisions, nor apparatus, nor his whole army collected at Brundusium, he, nevertheless, called those who were present to an assembly and addressed them as follows:—

Fellow-soldiers,—you who are joined with me in the greatest of undertakings,—neither the winter weather, nor the delay of our comrades, nor the want of suitable preparation shall check my onset. I consider rapidity of movement the best substitute for all these things. I think that we who are first at the rendezvous should leave behind us here our servants, our pack-animals, and all our apparatus in order that the ships which are here may take us on board and carry us over at once without the enemy’s knowledge. Let us oppose our good fortune to the winter weather, our courage to the smallness of our numbers, and to our want of supplies the abundance of the enemy, which will be ours to take as soon as we touch the land, if we realize that nothing is ours unless we conquer. Let us go then and possess ourselves of their servants, their apparatus, their provisions, while they are spending the winter under cover. Let us go while Pompey thinks that I am spending my time in winter quarters also, or in processions and sacrifices appertaining to my consulship. It is needless to tell you that the most potent thing in war is the unexpected. It will be glorious for us to carry off the first honors of the coming conflict and to prepare a safe pathway yonder for those who will immediately follow us. For my part I would rather now be sailing than talking, so that I may come in Pompey’s sight while he thinks me engaged in my official duties at Rome. Although I am certain that you agree with me I await your response.

The whole army cried out with enthusiasm that he should lead on. Caesar at once led, from the platform to the seashore, five legions of foot-soldiers and 600 chosen horse, but as a storm came up he was obliged to cast anchor. It was now the winter solstice and the wind kept him back, against his will, and held him in Brundusium, to his great disappointment, until the first day of the new year. In the meantime two more legions arrived and Caesar embarked these also and started in the winter time on merchant ships, for he had only a few war-ships and these were guarding Sardinia and Sicily. The ships were driven by the winds to the Ceraunian Mountains and Caesar sent them back immediately to bring the rest of the army. He then marched by night against the town of Oricum by a rough and narrow path, with his force divided in several parts on account of the difficulties of the road, so that if his army had been anticipated he might have been easily beaten. With much trouble he got his detachments together about daylight and the commander of the garrison of Oricum, having been forbidden by the townsmen to oppose the entrance of a Roman consul, delivered the keys of the place to Caesar and remained with him in a position of honor. Lucretius and Minucius, who were on the other side of Oricum with eighteen war-ships guarding merchant ships loaded with corn for Pompey, sunk the latter to prevent them from falling into Caesar’s hands, and fled to Dyrrachium. From Oricum Caesar hastened to Apollonia, the inhabitants of which received him. Straberius, the commander of the garrison, abandoned the city.

Caesar assembled his army and congratulated them on the success they had achieved by their rapid movement in mid-winter, on conquering such a sea without war-ships, on taking Oricum and Apollonia without a fight, and on capturing the enemy’s supplies, as he had predicted, without Pompey’s knowledge. If we can anticipate him in reaching Dyrrachium, his military arsenal, he added, we shall be in possession of all the things they have collected by the labors of a whole summer. After speaking thus he led his soldiers directly toward Dyrrachium over a long road, not stopping day or night. Pompey, being advised beforehand, marched toward the same place from Macedonia with extreme haste also, cutting down trees along the road, in order to obstruct Caesar’s passage, destroying bridges, and setting fire to all the supplies he met with, considering it of the greatest importance (as it was) to defend his own arsenal. If either of them saw any dust, or fire, or smoke at a distance they thought it was caused by the other, and they strove like athletes in a race. They did not allow themselves time for food or sleep. All was haste and eagerness mingled with the shouts of guides who carried torches, causing tumult and fear as when hostile armies are ever drawing nearer and nearer to each other. Some of the soldiers from fatigue threw away their loads. Others hid themselves in ravines and were left behind, exchanging their fear of the enemy for a moment’s rest.

In the midst of such vicissitudes on either side Pompey arrived first at Dyrrachium and encamped near it. He sent a fleet and retook Oricum and kept the strictest watch on the sea. Caesar pitched his camp so that the river Alor ran between himself and Pompey. By crossing the stream they had occasional cavalry skirmishes with each other. The armies did not come to a general engagement, however, for Pompey was still exercising his new levies and Caesar waited for the forces left at Brundusium. The latter apprehended that if these should sail in merchant ships in the spring they would not escape Pompey’s triremes, which would be patrolling the sea, as guard ships, in great numbers, but if they should cross in winter while the enemy were lying inside among the islands they might perhaps be unnoticed, or might force their way by the strength of the wind and the size of their ships. So he sent orders to them to hasten. As they did not come he decided to cross over secretly to that army, because no one else could bring them so easily. He concealed his intention and sent three servants to the river, a distance of twelve stades, to procure a fast-sailing vessel and a first rate pilot as for a messenger sent by Caesar.

Then he rose from supper pretending to be fatigued and told his friends to remain at the table. He put on the clothing of a private person, stepped into a chariot, and drove away to the ship, pretending to be the one sent by Caesar. He gave the rest of his orders through his servants and remained concealed by the darkness of the night and unrecognized. As there was a severe wind blowing the servants told the pilot to be of good courage and seize this opportunity to avoid the enemy who were in the neighborhood. The pilot made his way down the river by rowing. When they came toward the mouth they found it broken into surf by the wind and the sea. The pilot at the instigation of the servants put forth all his efforts, but as he could make no progress he became fatigued and gave it up. Then Caesar threw off his disguise and called out to him, Brave the tempest with a stout heart, you carry Caesar and Caesar’s fortunes. Both the rowers and the pilot were astounded and all took fresh courage and gained the mouth of the river, but the wind and waves cast the ship high on the bank. As the dawn was near and they feared lest the enemy should discover them in the daylight, Caesar, after accusing his evil genius for its invidiousness, allowed the ship to return, and it sailed up the river with a strong wind.

Some of Caesar’s friends were astonished at this act of bravery; others blamed him, saying that it was a deed becoming a soldier but not a general. As Caesar saw that he could not conceal a second attempt he ordered Postumius to sail to Brundusium in his place and tell Gabinius to cross over with the army immediately, and if he did not obey, to give the same order to Antony, and if he failed then to give it to Calenus. Another letter was written to the whole army in case all three should hesitate, saying, that every one who was willing to do so should follow Postumius on shipboard and sail to any place where the wind might carry them, and not to mind what happened to the ships, because Caesar did not want ships but men. Thus did Caesar put his trust in fortune rather than in prudence. Pompey, in order to anticipate Caesar’s reënforcements, made haste and led his army forward prepared for battle. While two of his soldiers were searching in midstream for the best place to cross the river, one of Caesar’s men attacked and killed them both, whereupon Pompey drew back, as he considered this event inauspicious. All of his friends blamed him for missing this capital opportunity.

When Postumius arrived at Brundusium Gabinius did not obey the order, but led those who were willing to go with him by way of Illyria by forced marches. Almost all of them were destroyed by the Illyrians and Caesar was obliged to endure the outrage on account of his preoccupation. Antony embarked the remainder of the army and sailed for Apollonia with a favorable wind. About noon the wind failed and twenty of Pompey’s ships, that had put out to search the sea, discovered and pursued them. There was great fear on Caesar’s vessels lest in this calm the warships of the enemy should ram them with their prows and sink them. They prepared themselves for battle and began to discharge stones and darts, when suddenly the wind sprang up stronger than before, filled their great sails unexpectedly, and enabled them to complete their voyage without fear. The pursuers were left behind and they suffered severely from the wind and waves in the narrow sea and were scattered along a harborless and rocky coast. With difficulty they captured two of Caesar’s ships that ran on a shoal. Antony brought the remainder to the port of Nymphaeum.

Now Caesar had his whole army together and so had Pompey his. They encamped opposite each other on hills in numerous redoubts. There were frequent collisions around each of these redoubts while they were making lines of circumvallation and trying to cut off each other’s supplies. In one of these fights in front of a redoubt Caesar’s men were worsted, and a centurion, of the name of Scaeva, while performing many deeds of valor, was wounded in the eye with a dart. He advanced in front of his men beckoning with his hand as though he wished to say something. When silence was obtained he called out to one of Pompey’s centurions, who was likewise distinguished for bravery, Save one of your equals, save your friend, send somebody to lead me by the hand, for I am wounded. Two soldiers advanced to him thinking that he was a deserter. One of these he killed before the stratagem was discovered and he cut off the shoulder of the other. This he did because he despaired of saving himself and his redoubt. His men, moved by shame at this act of self-devotion, rushed forward and saved the redoubt. Minucius, the commander of the post, also suffered severely. It is said that he received 120 missiles on his shield, was wounded six times, and, like Scaeva, lost an eye. Caesar honored them both with many military gifts. A certain man of Dyrrachium having offered to betray the town to him, Caesar went by agreement with a small force by night to the gates at the temple of Artemis. . . . The same winter Pompey’s father-in-law (Scipio) advanced with another army from Syria. Caesar’s general, Gaius Calvisius, had an engagement with him in Macedonia, was beaten, and lost a whole legion except 800 men.

As Caesar could obtain no supplies by sea, on account of Pompey’s naval superiority, his army began to suffer from hunger and was compelled to make bread from herbs. When deserters brought loaves of this kind to Pompey, thinking that he would be gladdened by the spectacle, he was not at all pleased, but said, What kind of wild beasts are we fighting with? Then Caesar, compelled by necessity, drew his whole army together in order to force Pompey to fight even against his will. The latter occupied a number of the redoubts that Caesar had vacated and remained quiet. Caesar was greatly vexed at this and ventured upon an extremely difficult and chimerical task; that is, to carry a line of circumvallation around the whole of Pompey’s positions from sea to sea, thinking that even if he should fail he would acquire great renown from the boldness of the enterprise. The circuit was 1200 stades. So, great was the work that Caesar undertook. Pompey built a line of countervallation. Thus they parried each other’s efforts. Nevertheless, they fought one great battle in which Pompey defeated Caesar in the most brilliant manner and pursued his men in headlong flight to his camp and took many of his standards. The eagle (the standard held in highest honor by the Romans) was saved with difficulty, the bearer having just time to throw it over the palisade to those within.

While this remarkable defeat was in progress Caesar brought up other troops from another quarter, but these also fell into a panic even when they beheld Pompey still far distant. Although they were already close to the gates they would neither make a stand, nor enter in good order, nor obey the commands given to them, but all fled pell-mell without shame, without orders, without reason. Caesar ran among them and with reproaches showed them that Pompey was still far distant, yet under his very eye some threw down their standards and fled, while others bent their gaze upon the ground in shame and did nothing; so great consternation had befallen them. One of the standard bearers, with his standard reversed, dared to thrust the end of it at Caesar himself, but the attendants of the latter cut him down. When the soldiers entered the camp they did not station any guards. All precautions were neglected and the fortification was left unprotected, so that it is probable that Pompey might then have captured it and brought the war to an end by that one engagement had not Labienus, misled by a god, persuaded him to pursue the fugitives instead. Moreover Pompey himself hesitated, either because he suspected a stratagem when he saw the gates unguarded or because he considered the war already decided by this battle. So he turned against those outside of the camp and made a heavy slaughter and took twenty-eight standards in the two engagements of this day, but he here missed his second opportunity to give the finishing stroke to the war. It is reported that Caesar said, The war would have been ended to-day in the enemy’s favor if they had had a commander who knew how to make use of a victory.

Pompey sent letters to all the kings and cities magnifying his victory, and he expected that Caesar’s army would come over to him directly, conceiving that it was oppressed by hunger and cast down by defeat, and especially the officers because apprehensive of punishment for their bad conduct in the battle. But the latter, as though some god had brought them to repentance, were ashamed of their fault, and as Caesar chided them gently and granted them pardon, they became still more angry with themselves and by a surprising change demanded that they should be decimated according to the law of their country. When Caesar did not agree to this they were still more mortified, and acknowledged that he had been shamefully treated by them. They cried out that he should at least put the standard bearers to death because they themselves would never have run away unless the standards had turned in flight first. Caesar would not consent to this, but he reluctantly punished a few. So great was the zeal excited among all by his moderation that they demanded to be led against the enemy immediately. They urged him vehemently, beseeching and promising to wipe out their disgrace by a splendid victory. Of their own accord they visited each other in military order and took an oath by companies, under the eye of Caesar himself, that they would not leave the field of battle except as victors.

Wherefore Caesar’s friends urged him to avail himself of the army’s repentance and eagerness promptly, but he said in the hearing of the host, that he would take a better opportunity to lead them against the enemy, and he exhorted them to be mindful of their present zeal. He privately admonished his friends that it was necessary first for the soldiers to recover from the very great alarm of their recent defeat, and for the enemy to lose something of their present high confidence. He confessed also that he had made a mistake in encamping before Dyrrachium where Pompey had abundance of supplies, whereas he ought to have drawn him to some place where he would be subject to the same scarcity as themselves. After saying this he marched directly to Apollonia and from there to Thessaly, advancing by night in order to conceal his movements. The small town of Gomphi to which he came refused to open its gates to him, and he took it by storm and allowed his army to plunder it. The soldiers, who had suffered much from hunger, stuffed themselves immoderately and drank wine to excess. The Germans among them were especially ridiculous under the influence of drink. It seems probable that Pompey might have attacked them then and gained another victory had he not disdainfully neglected a close pursuit. After seven days of rapid marching Caesar encamped near Pharsalus. It is said that among the notable calamities of Gomphi the bodies of twenty venerable men of the first rank were found lying on the floor in an apothecary’s shop, not wounded, and with goblets near them, as though they were drunk, and that one of them, like a physician, was seated in a chair and had dealt out poison to them.

After Caesar had withdrawn Pompey called a council of war, at which Afranius advised that they should make use of their naval force in which they were much superior, and being masters of the sea should harass Caesar, who was now wandering and destitute, and that Pompey himself should conduct his infantry with all haste to Italy, which was well disposed toward him and was now free from a hostile army. Having mastered it, together with Gaul and Spain, they could attack Caesar again from their own home, the seat of imperial power. Although this was the best possible advice Pompey disregarded it and allowed himself to be persuaded by those who said that Caesar’s army would presently desert to him on account of hunger, and that there was not much left of it anyway after the victory of Dyrrachium. They said it would be disgraceful to abandon the pursuit of Caesar when he was in flight, and for the victor to flee as though vanquished. Pompey sided with these advisers partly out of regard for the opinions of the eastern nations that were looking on, partly to prevent any harm befalling Lucius Scipio, who was still in Macedonia, but most of all because he thought that he ought to fight while his army was in high spirits. Accordingly he advanced and pitched his camp opposite to Caesar’s near Pharsalus, so that they were separated from each other by a distance of thirty stades.

Pompey’s supplies came from every quarter, for the roads, harbors, and strongholds had been so provided beforehand that food was brought to him at all times from the land, and every wind blew it to him from the sea. Caesar, on the other hand, had only what he could find with difficulty and seize by hard labor. Yet even so nobody deserted him, but all, by a kind of divine fury, longed to come to close quarters with the enemy. They considered that they, who had been trained in arms for ten years, were much superior to the new levies of Pompey in fighting, but that for digging ditches and building fortifications and for laborious foraging they were weaker by reason of their age. Tired as they were they altogether preferred to perform some deed of valor rather than perish with hunger in inaction. Pompey perceived this and he considered it dangerous to risk everything on a single battle with disciplined and desperate men, and against the amazing luck of Caesar. It would be easier and safer to reduce them by want as they controlled no fertile territory, and could get nothing by sea, and had no ships for rapid flight. So he decided on the most prudent calculation to protract the war and wear out the enemy by hunger from day to day.

Pompey was surrounded by a great number of senators, of equal rank with himself, by very distinguished knights, and by many kings and princes. Some of these, by reason of their inexperience in war, others because they were too much elated by the victory at Dyrrachium, others because they outnumbered the enemy, and others because they were quite tired of the war and preferred a quick decision rather than a sound one — all urged him to fight, pointing out to him that Caesar was always drawn up for battle and challenging him. Pompey answered along this very line of argument by saying that Caesar was compelled to do so by his want of supplies, and that they had the more reason to remain quiet because Caesar was pushed by necessity. Yet, harassed by the whole army, which was unduly puffed up by the victories at Dyrrachium, and by men of rank who accused him of being fond of power and of delaying purposely in order to prolong his authority over so many men of his own rank — and for this reason called him derisively king of kings and Agamemnon, because that general also ruled over kings while war lasted — he allowed himself to be moved from his own purpose and gave in to them, being deceived now by the god that had misled him on other occasions during the whole of this war. He had now become, contrary to his nature, sluggish and dilatory in all things, and he prepared for battle against his will, to his own hurt and that of the men who had persuaded him to it.

That same night three of Caesar’s legions started out to forage; for Caesar himself approved Pompey’s dilatory proceedings and had no idea that he would change, and accordingly sent them out to procure food. When he perceived that the enemy was preparing to fight he was delighted at the pressure which he conjectured had been put upon Pompey by his army, and he recalled all of his forces at once and made preparations on his own side. He offered sacrifice at midnight and invoked Mars and his own ancestress, Venus (for it was believed that from Aeneas and his son, Ilus, was descended the Julian race, with a slight change of name), and he vowed that he would build a temple in Rome as a thank-offering to her as the Bringer of Victory if everything went well. Thereupon a flame from heaven flew through the air from Caesar’s camp to Pompey’s, where it was extinguished. Pompey’s men said that it signified a brilliant victory for them over their enemies, but Caesar interpreted it as meaning that he should fall upon and extinguish the fame and power of Pompey. When Pompey was sacrificing the same night some of the victims escaped and could not be caught, and a swarm of bees settled on the altar, the type of weakness. Shortly before daylight a panic occurred in his army. He himself went around and quieted it and then fell into a deep sleep.

When his friends aroused him he said that he had just dreamed that he had dedicated a temple in Rome to Venus the Bringer of Victory. His friends and his whole army when they heard of this were delighted, being in ignorance of Caesar’s vow, and they went about their work in a reckless and contemptuous way as though it were already accomplished. Many of them adorned their tents with laurel branches, the insignia of victory, and their slaves prepared magnificent banquets for them. Some of them began already to contend with each other for Caesar’s office of Pontifex Maximus. Pompey, being experienced in military affairs, turned away from these squabbles with concealed indignation. He remained altogether silent in hesitancy and dread, as though he were no longer commander but under command, and as though he were doing everything under compulsion and against his judgment; such dejection had come over this man of great deeds (who, until this day, had been most fortunate in every undertaking), either because he had not carried his point when he had decided what was the best course but was about to cast the die involving the safety of so many men and also involving his own reputation, until now invincible; or because some presentiment of approaching evil troubled him, presaging his complete downfall that very day from a position of such vast power. After merely saying to his friends that whichever should conquer, that day would be the beginning of great evils to the Romans for all future time, he began to make arrangements for the battle. In this remark some people thought his real intentions escaped him, involuntarily expressed in a moment of fright, and they inferred that if Pompey had been victorious he would not have laid down the supreme power.

Caesar’s army (for since many writers differ I shall follow the most credible Roman authorities, who give the most careful enumeration of the Italian soldiers, in whom they place most confidence, but do not make much account of the allied forces or record them exactly, regarding them as foreigners and as contributing to them little real assistance) consisted of about 22,000 men and of these about 1000 were cavalry. Pompey had more than double that number, of whom about 7000 were cavalry. Some of the most trustworthy writers say that 70,000 Italian soldiers were engaged in this battle. Others give the smaller number, 60,00000. Still others, grossly exaggerating, say 400,000. Of the whole number some say Pompey’s forces were to those of Caesar as one-and-a-half to one, others say that he had two parts out of three. So much doubt is there as to the exact truth. However that may be, each of them placed his chief reliance on his Italian troops. In the way of allied forces Caesar had cavalry from both Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, besides some light-armed Greeks, consisting of Dolopians, Acarnanians, and Aetolians. Such were Caesar’s allies. Pompey had a great number from all the eastern nations, part horse, part foot. From Greece he had Lacedemonians marshalled by their own kings, and others from Peloponnesus and Bœotians with them. The Athenians marched to his aid also, although proclamation had been made on both sides that no harm should be done to them by the soldiers, since they were the priests of the Thesmophorae. Nevertheless, they wished to share in the glory of the war because this was a contest for the Roman leadership.

Besides the Greeks almost all the nations that one meets in making the circuit of the eastern sea sent aid to Pompey: Thracians, Hellespontines, Bithynians, Phrygians, Ionians, Lydians, Pamphylians, Pisidians, Paphlagonians, Cilicians, Syrians, Phœnicians, Hebrews, and their neighbors the Arabs, Cyprians, Rhodians, Cretan slingers, and other islanders. Kings and princes were there leading their own troops: Deïotarus, the tetrarch of Galatia in the East, and Ariarthes, king of Cappadocia. Taxiles commanded the Armenians from the hither side of the Euphrates. Those from the other side were led by Megabates, the lieutenant of King Artabazes. Some other small princes took part with Pompey in the work. It was said that sixty ships from Egypt were contributed to him by the sovereigns of that country, Cleopatra and her brother, who was still a boy. But these did not take part in the battle, nor did any other naval force. They remained idle at Corcyra. Pompey seems to have acted very foolishly in this respect in disregarding the fleet, in which he excelled so greatly that he could have deprived the enemy of all the supplies brought to them from abroad, and in risking a battle on land with men who boasted that they were inured to every kind of toil and who were ferocious fighters. Although he had been on his guard against them at Dyrrachium, a certain spell seems to have come over him at a time when it would inure most to Caesar’s advantage. Under this spell also Pompey’s army was most nonsensically puffed up, and rendered insubordinate to its own commander, and hurried into action without previous experience in war. But this was the ordering of divine Providence to bring in the imperial power which now embraces everything.

Then each of the commanders assembled his soldiers and made an appeal to them. Pompey spoke as follows: You, my fellow soldiers, are the leaders in this task rather than the led, for while I was still desirous of wearing Caesar out by hunger you urged on this engagement. Since, therefore, you are the arbiters of the battle, conduct yourselves like those who are greatly superior in numbers. Despise the enemy as victors do the vanquished, as young men do the old, as fresh troops do those who are wearied with many toils. Fight like those who have the power and the means, and the consciousness of a good cause. We are contending for liberty and country. On our side are the laws and honorable fame, and this great number of senators and knights, against one man who has seized the government by robbery. Go forward then, as you have determined to do, with good hope, keeping in vision the flight of the enemy at Dyrrachium, and the great number of their standards that we captured in one day when we defeated them there. Such was Pompey’s speech.

Caesar addressed his men as follows: My friends, we have already overcome our most formidable enemies, and are now about to encounter not hunger and want, but men. This day will decide everything. Remember what you promised me at Dyrrachium. Remember how you swore to each other in my presence that you would never leave the field except as conquerors. These men, fellow-soldiers, are the same that we met at the Pillars of Hercules, the same that we drove out of Italy. They are the same who sought to disband us without honors, without a triumph, without rewards, after the toils and struggles of ten years, after we had finished those great wars, after innumerable victories, and after we had added 400 nations in Spain, Gaul, and Britain to our country’s sway. I have not been able to prevail upon them by offering fair terms, nor to win them by benefits. You know that I dismissed them unharmed, hoping that we should obtain justice from them. Recall all these facts to your minds to-day, and if you have had any experience of me recall also my care for you, my good faith, and the generosity of my gifts to you.

Nor is it difficult for hardy and veteran soldiers to overcome new recruits who are without experience in war, and who, moreover, like boys, spurn the rules of discipline and of obedience to their commander. I learn that he was afraid and unwilling to come to an engagement. His star has already passed its zenith; he has become slow and hesitating in all his acts, and no longer commands, but obeys the orders of others. I say these things of his Italian forces only. As for his allies, do not think about them, pay no attention to them, do not fight with them at all. They are Syrian, Phrygian, and Lydian slaves, always ready for flight or servitude. I know very well, and you will presently see, that Pompey himself will not assign them any place in his line of battle. Give your attention to the Italians only, even though these allies come running around you like dogs trying to frighten you. When you have put the enemy to flight let us spare the Italians as being our own kindred, but slaughter the allies in order to strike terror into the others. Before all else, in order that I may know that you are mindful of your promise to choose victory or death, throw down the walls of your camp as you go out to battle and fill up the ditch, so that we may have no place of refuge if we do not conquer, and so that the enemy may see that we have no camp and know that we are compelled to occupy theirs.

Nevertheless, after he had thus spoken Caesar detailed 2000 of his oldest men to guard the tents. The rest, as they passed out, demolished their fortification in the profoundest silence and filled up the ditch with the debris. When Pompey saw this, although some of his friends thought that it was a preparation for flight, he knew it was an exhibition of daring and groaned in spirit, that although they had with them famine, the most appropriate cure for such wild beasts, he must now meet these creatures in a hand-to-hand contest. But there was no drawing back now, his affairs being on the razor’s edge. Wherefore, leaving 4000 of his Italian troops to guard his camp, Pompey drew up the remainder between the city of Pharsalus and the river Enipeus opposite the place where Caesar was marshalling his forces. Each of them ranged his Italians in front, divided into three lines with a moderate space between them, and placed his cavalry on the wings of each division. Archers and slingers were mingled among all. Thus were the Italian troops disposed, on which each commander placed his chief reliance. The allied forces were marshalled by themselves rather for show than for use. There was great clamor and confusion of tongues among Pompey’s auxiliaries. Pompey stationed the Macedonians, Peloponnesians, Bœotians, and Athenians near the Italian legions, as he approved of their good order and quiet behavior. The rest, as Caesar had anticipated, he ordered to lie in wait by tribes outside of the line of battle, and when the engagement should become close to surround the enemy, to pursue, to do what damage they could, and to plunder Caesar’s camp, which was without defences.

The centre of Pompey’s formation was commanded by his father-in-law, Scipio, the left wing by Domitius Ahenobarbus, and the right by Lentulus. Afranius and Pompey guarded the camp. On Caesar’s side the commanders were P. Sulla, Antony, and Cn. Domitius. Caesar took a convenient place in the tenth legion, as was his custom. When the enemy saw this they transferred, to face that legion, the best of their horse, in order to surround it if they could, by their superiority of numbers. When Caesar perceived this movement he placed 3000 of his bravest foot-soldiers in ambush and ordered them, when they should see the enemy trying to flank him, to rise, dart forward, and thrust their spears directly in the faces of the men because, as they were fresh and inexperienced and still in the bloom of youth, they could not endure injury to their faces. Thus they laid their plans against each other, and each commander passed through the ranks of his own troops, attending to what was needful, exhorting his men to courage, and giving them the watchword, which on Caesar’s side was Venus the Victorious, and on Pompey’s Hercules the Invincible.

When all was in readiness on both sides they waited for some time in profound silence, hesitating, looking steadfastly at each other, each expecting the other to begin the battle. They were stricken with sorrow for the great host, for never before had such large Roman armies confronted the same danger together. They had pity for the valor of these men (the elite of both parties), especially because they saw Romans embattled against Romans. As the danger came nearer, the ambition that had inflamed and blinded them was extinguished, and gave place to fear. Reason purged the mad passion for glory, estimated the peril, and exposed the cause of the war, showing how two men contending with each other for supremacy had put themselves in a position where the one who should be vanquished could no longer hold even the humblest place, and how so great a number of the nobility were incurring the same risk on their account. The leaders reflected also that they, who had lately been friends and relatives by marriage, and had coöperated with each other in many ways to gain rank and power, had now drawn the sword for mutual slaughter and were leading to the same impiety those serving under them, men of the same city, of the same tribe, blood relations, and in some cases brothers against brothers. Even these circumstances were not wanting in this battle; because many unexpected things must happen when thousands of the same nation come together in the clash of arms. Reflecting on these things each of them was seized with unavailing repentance, and since this day was to decide for each whether he should be the highest or the lowest of the human race, they hesitated to begin the fight. It is said that both of them shed tears.

While they were waiting and looking at each other the day was advancing. All the Italian troops stood motionless in their places, but when Pompey saw that his allied forces were falling into confusion by reason of the delay he feared lest the disorder should spread from them before the beginning of the battle. So he gave the signal first and Caesar reëchoed it. Straightway the trumpets, of which there were many distributed among so great a host, aroused the soldiers with their inspiring blasts, and the standard-bearers and officers put themselves in motion and exhorted their men. The latter advanced confidently to the encounter, but with stolidity and absolute silence, like men who had had experience in many similar engagements. And now, as they came nearer together, there was first a discharge of arrows and stones. Then as the cavalry were a little in advance of the infantry they charged each other. Those of Pompey prevailed and began to flank the tenth legion. Caesar then gave the signal to the cohorts in ambush and these, starting up suddenly, advanced to meet the cavalry, and with spears elevated aimed at the faces of the riders. The latter could not endure the enemy’s savagery, nor the blows on their mouths and eyes, but fled in disorder. Thereupon Caesar’s men, who had just now been afraid of being surrounded, fell upon the flank of Pompey’s infantry which was denuded of its cavalry supports.

When Pompey learned this he ordered his infantry not to advance farther, not to break the line of formation, and not to hurl the javelin, but to bring their spears to a rest and ward off the onset of the enemy. Some persons praise this order of Pompey as the best in a case where one is attacked in flank, but Caesar criticises it in his letters. He says that the blows are delivered with more force, and that the spirits of the men are raised, by running, while those who stand still lose courage by reason of their immobility and become excellent targets for those charging against them. So, he says, it proved in this case, for the tenth legion, with Caesar himself, surrounded Pompey’s left wing, now deprived of cavalry, and assailed it with javelins in flank, where it stood immovable; until, finally, the assailants threw it into disorder, routed it, and this was the beginning of the victory. In the rest of the field killing and wounding of all kinds were going on, but no cry came from the scene of carnage, no lamentation from the wounded or the dying, only sighs and groans from those who were falling honorably in their tracks. The allies, who were looking at the battle as at a game, were astonished at the discipline of the combatants. So dumfounded were they that they did not dare attack Caesar’s tents, although they were guarded only by a few old men. Nor did they accomplish anything else, but stood in a kind of stupor.

As Pompey’s left wing began to give way his men even still retired step by step and in perfect order, but the allies who had not been in the fight, fled with headlong speed, shouting, we are vanquished, dashed upon their own tents and fortifications as though they had been the enemy’s, and pulled down and plundered whatever they could carry away in their flight. Now the rest of Pompey’s legions, perceiving the disaster to the left wing, retired slowly at first, in good order, and still resisting as well as they could; but when the enemy, flushed with victory, pressed upon them they turned in flight. Then, in order that they might not rally, and that this might be the end of the whole war and not of one battle merely, Caesar, with the greatest prudence, sent heralds everywhere among the ranks to order the victors to spare their own countrymen and to smite only the auxiliaries. The heralds drew near to the retreating enemy and told them to stand still without fear. As this proclamation was passed from man to man they halted, and the phrase stand without fear began to be passed as a sort of watchword among Pompey’s soldiers; for, being Italians, they were clad in the same style as Caesar’s men and spoke the same language. Accordingly, the latter passed by them and fell upon the auxiliaries, who were not able to resist, and made a very great slaughter among them.

When Pompey saw the retreat of his men he became dazed and retired slowly to his camp, and when he reached his tent he sat down speechless, resembling Ajax, the son of Telamon, who, they say, suffered in like manner in the midst of his enemies at Troy, being deprived of his senses by a god. Very few of the rest returned to the camp, for Caesar’s proclamation caused them to remain unharmed, and as their enemies had passed beyond them they dispersed in groups. As the day was declining Caesar ran hither and thither among his troops and besought them to continue their exertions till they should capture Pompey’s camp, telling them that if they allowed the enemy to rally they would be the victors for only a single day, whereas if they should take the enemy’s camp they would finish the war with this one blow. He stretched out his hands to them and took the lead in person. Although they were weary in body, the words and example of their commander lightened their spirits. Their success so far, and the hope of capturing the enemy’s camp and the contents thereof, excited them; for in the midst of hope and prosperity men feel fatigue least. So they fell upon the camp and assaulted it with the utmost disdain for the defenders. When Pompey learned this he started up from his strange silence, exclaiming, What! in our very camp? Having spoken thus he changed his clothing, mounted a horse, and fled with four friends, and did not draw rein until he reached Larissa early the next morning. So Caesar established himself in Pompey’s camp as he had promised to do when he was preparing for the battle, and ate Pompey’s supper, and the whole army feasted at the enemy’s expense.

The losses of Italians on each side — for there was no report of the losses of auxiliaries, either because of their multitude or because they were despised — were as follows: in Caesar’s army. thirty centurions and 200 legionaries, or, as some authorities have it, 1200; on Pompey’s side ten senators, among whom was Lucius Domitius, the same who had been sent to succeed Caesar himself in Gaul, and about forty distinguished knights. Some exaggerating writers put the loss in the remainder of his forces at 25,000, but Asinius Pollio, who was one of Caesar’s officers in this battle, records the number of dead Pompeians found as 6000. Such was the result of the famous battle of Pharsalus. Caesar himself carries off the palm for first and second place by common consent, and with him the tenth legion. The third place is taken by the centurion Crastinus, whom Caesar asked at the beginning of the battle what result he anticipated, and who responded proudly, We shall conquer, O Caesar, and you will thank me either living or dead. The whole army testifies that he darted through the ranks like one possessed and did many brilliant deeds. When sought for he was found among the dead, and Caesar bestowed military honors on his body and buried it, and erected a special tomb for him near the common burial-place of the others.

From Larissa Pompey continued his flight to the sea where he embarked in a small boat, and meeting a ship by chance he sailed to Mitylene. There he joined his wife, Cornelia, and they embarked with four triremes which had come to him from Rhodes and Tyre. He decided not to sail for Corcyra and Africa, where he had other large military and naval forces as yet untouched, but intended to push on eastward to the king of the Parthians, expecting to receive every assistance from him. He concealed his intention until he arrived at Cilicia, where he revealed it hesitatingly to his friends; but they advised him to beware of the Parthian, against whom Crassus had lately led an expedition, and who was puffed up by his victory over the latter, and especially not to put in the power of these barbarians the beautiful Cornelia, who had formerly been the wife of Crassus. Then he made a second proposal respecting Egypt and Juba. The latter they despised as not sufficiently distinguished, but they all agreed about going to Egypt, which was near and was a great kingdom, still prosperous and abounding in ships, provisions, and money. Its sovereigns, although children, were allied to Pompey by their father’s friendship. For these reasons he sailed to Egypt.

Cleopatra, who had previously reigned with her brother, had been lately expelled from Egypt and was collecting an army in Syria. Ptolemy, her brother, was at Mount Casius in Egypt, lying in wait for her invasion, and, as Providence would have it, the wind carried Pompey thither. Seeing a large army on the shore he stopped his ship, judging that the king was there, which was the fact. So he sent messengers to tell of his arrival and to speak of his father’s friendship. The king was then about thirteen years of age and was under the tutelage of Achillas, who commanded his army, and the eunuch Pothinus, who had charge of his treasury. These took counsel together concerning Pompey. There was present also Theodotus, a rhetorician of Samos, the boy’s tutor, who offered the infamous advice that they should lay a trap for Pompey and kill him in order to curry favor with Caesar. His opinion prevailed. So they sent a miserable skiff to bring him, pretending that the sea was shallow and not adapted to large ships. Some of the king’s attendants came in the skiff, among them a Roman, named Sempronius, who was then serving in the king’s army and had formerly served under Pompey himself. He gave his hand to Pompey in the king’s name and directed him to take passage in the boat to the young man as to a friend. At the same time the whole army was marshalled along the shore as if to do honor to Pompey, and the king was plainly seen in the midst of them wearing a purple robe.

Pompey’s suspicions were aroused by all that he observed — the marshalling of the army, the meanness of the skiff, and the fact that the king himself did not come to meet him nor send any of his high dignitaries. Nevertheless, he entered the skiff, repeating to himself these lines of Sophocles, Whoever resorts to a tyrant becomes his slave, even if he were free when he went. While rowing to the shore all were silent, and this made him still more suspicious. Finally, either recognizing Sempronius as a Roman soldier who had served under him or guessing that he was such because he alone remained standing (for, according to military discipline, a soldier does not sit in the presence of his commander), he turned to him and said, Do I not know you, comrade? The other nodded and, as Pompey turned away, he immediately gave him the first stab and the others followed his example. Pompey’s wife and friends who saw this at a distance cried out and, lifting their hands to heaven, invoked the gods, the avengers of violated faith. Then they sailed away in all haste as from an enemy’s country.

The servants of Pothinus cut off Pompey’s head and kept it for Caesar, in expectation of a large reward, but he visited condign punishment on them for their nefarious deed. The remainder of the body was buried by somebody on the shore, and a small monument was erected over it, on which somebody else wrote this inscription: — What a pitiful tomb is here for one who had temples in abundance. In the course of time the monument was wholly covered with sand, and the bronze images that had been erected to Pompey by his partisans at a later period near Mount Casius had been degraded and removed to the secret recess of the temple, but in my time they were sought for and found by the Roman emperor Hadrian, while making a journey thither, who cleared away the rubbish from the monument and made it again conspicuous, and placed Pompey’s images in their proper places. Such was the end of Pompey, who had carried on the greatest wars and had made the greatest additions to the empire of the Romans, and had acquired by that means the title of Great. He had never been defeated before, but had remained unvanquished and most fortunate from his youth till now. From his twenty-third to his fifty-eighth year he had not ceased to exercise royal power, but on account of his jealousy of Caesar he had seemed to rule in the interest of the people.

Lucius Scipio, Pompey’s father-in-law, and the other notables who had escaped from the battle of Pharsalus, more prudent than Pompey, proceeded to Corcyra and joined Cato, who had been left there with another army and 300 triremes. The leaders apportioned the fleet among themselves, and Cassius sailed to Pharnaces in Pontus to induce him to take up arms against Caesar. Scipio and Cato embarked for Africa, relying on Varus and his army and his ally, Juba, king of Numidia. The elder son of Pompey, together with Labienus and Scapula, each with his own part of the army, hastened to Spain and, having detached it from Caesar, collected a new army of Spaniards, Celtiberians, and slaves, and made formidable preparations for war. So great were the forces still remaining which Pompey had prepared, and which Pompey himself over-looked and ran away from in his insanity. Cato had been chosen commander of the forces in Africa, but he declined the appointment since there were consulars present who outranked him, he having held only the praetorship in Rome. So Lucius Scipio was made the commander and he collected and drilled a large army there. Thus two armies of considerable magnitude were brought together against Caesar, one in Africa and the other in Spain.

Caesar remained two days at Pharsalus after the victory, offering sacrifice and giving his army a respite from fighting. Then he set free his Thessalian allies and granted pardon to the suppliant Athenians, and said to them, How often will the glory of your ancestors save you from self-destruction? On the third day he marched eastward, having learned that Pompey had fled thither, and for want of triremes he essayed to cross the Hellespont in skiffs. Here Cassius came upon him in mid-stream, with a part of his fleet, as he was hastening to Pharnaces. Although he might have mastered these small boats with his numerous triremes he was panic-stricken by Caesar’s astounding success, which was then heralded with consternation everywhere, and he thought that Caesar had sailed purposely against him. So he extended his hands in entreaty from his trireme toward the skiff, begged pardon, and surrendered his fleet. So great was the power of Caesar’s prestige. I can see no other reason myself, nor can I think of any other instance where fortune was more propitious in a trying emergency than when Cassius, a most valiant man, with seventy triremes, fell in with Caesar when he was unprepared, but did not venture to come to blows with him. And yet he who thus disgracefully surrendered to Caesar, through fear alone, when the latter was crossing the straits, afterward murdered him in Rome when he was at the height of his power; by which fact it is evident that the panic which then seized Cassius was due to the fortune by which Caesar was uplifted.

Being thus unexpectedly saved, Caesar passed the Hellespont and granted pardon to the Ionians, the Aeolians, and the other peoples who inhabit the great peninsula called by the common name of Lower Asia, and who sent ambassadors to him to ask it. Learning that Pompey had gone to Egypt he sailed for Rhodes. He did not wait there for his army, which was coming forward by detachments, but embarked with those whom he had on board the triremes of Cassius and the Rhodians. Letting nobody know whither he intended to go he set sail toward evening, telling the other pilots to steer by the torch of his own ship by night and by his signal in the daytime. After they had proceeded a long way from the land he ordered his pilot to steer for Alexandria. After a three days’ sail he arrived there. He was received by the king’s guardians, the king himself being still at Mount Casius. At first, on account of the smallness of his forces, he pretended to take his ease, receiving visitors in a friendly way, traversing the city, admiring its beauty, and listening to the lectures of the philosophers while he stood among the crowd. Thus he gained the good-will and esteem of the Alexandrians as one who had no designs against them.

When his soldiers arrived by sea he punished Pothinus and Achillas with death for their crime against Pompey. (Theodotus escaped and was afterward crucified by Cassius, who found him wandering in Asia.) The Alexandrians thereupon rose in tumult, and the king’s army marched against Caesar and various battles took place around the palace and on the neighboring shores. In one of these Caesar escaped by leaping into the sea and swimming a long distance in deep water. The Alexandrians captured his cloak and hung it up as a trophy. He fought the last battle against the king on the banks of the Nile, in which he won a decisive victory. He consumed nine months in this strife, at the end of which he established Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt in place of her brother. He ascended the Nile with 400 ships, exploring the country in company with Cleopatra and enjoying himself with her in other ways. The details of these events are related more particularly in my Egyptian history. Caesar could not bear to look at the head of Pompey when it was brought to him, but ordered that it be buried, and set apart for it a small plot of ground near the city which was dedicated to Nemesis, but in my time, while the Roman emperor Trajan was exterminating the Jewish race in Egypt, it was devastated by them in the exigencies of the war.

After Caesar had performed these exploits in Alexandria he hastened by way of Syria against Pharnaces. The latter had Already accomplished many of his aims, had seized some of the Roman countries, had fought a battle with Caesar’s lieutenant, Domitius, and won a very brilliant victory over him. Being much elated by this affair he had subjugated the city of Amisus in Pontus, which adhered to the Roman interest, sold their inhabitants into slavery, and made all their boys eunuchs. On the approach of Caesar he became alarmed and repented of his deeds, and when Caesar was within 200 stades he sent ambassadors to him to treat for peace. They bore a golden crown and foolishly offered him the daughter of Pharnaces in marriage. When Caesar learned what they were bringing he moved forward with his army, walking in advance and chatting with the ambassadors until he arrived at the camp of Pharnaces, when he merely said, Why should I not take instant vengeance on this parricide? Then he sprang upon his horse and at the first shout put Pharnaces to flight and killed a large number of the enemy, although he had with him only about 1000 of his own cavalry who had accompanied him in the advance. Here it is said that he exclaimed, O fortunate Pompey, who wast considered and named the Great for warring against such men as these in the time of Mithridates, the father of this man. Of this battle he wrote to Rome the words, I came, I saw, I conquered.

After this, Pharnaces was glad to escape to the kingdom which Pompey had assigned to him on the Bosporus. As Caesar had no time to waste on small matters while such great wars were still unfinished elsewhere, he returned to the province of Asia and while passing through it transacted public business in the cities, which were oppressed by the farmers of the revenue, as I have shown in my Asiatic history. Learning that a sedition had broken out in Rome and that Antony, his master of horse, had occupied the forum with soldiers, he laid aside everything else and hastened to the city. When he arrived there the sedition had been quieted, but another one sprang up against himself in the army because the promises made to them after the battle of Pharsalus had not been kept, and because they had been held in service beyond the term fixed by law. They demanded that they should be dismissed to their homes. Caesar had made them certain indefinite promises at Pharsalus, and others equally indefinite after the war in Africa should be finished. Now he sent them a promise of 1000 drachmas more to each man. They answered him that they did not want any more promises but all cash down. Sallustius Crispus, who had been sent to them on this business, had a narrow escape. He would have been killed if he had not fled. When Caesar learned of this he stationed the legion, with which Antony had been guarding the city, around his own house and the city gates, as he apprehended attempts at plunder. Then, notwithstanding all his friends were alarmed and cautioned him against the fury of the soldiers, he went boldly among them while they were still riotous in the Campus Martius, without sending word beforehand, and showed himself on the platform.

The soldiers ran together tumultuously without arms, and, as was their custom, saluted their commander who had suddenly appeared among them. When he bade them tell what they wanted they were so surprised that they did not venture to speak openly of the donative in his presence, but they adopted the more moderate course of demanding their discharge from the service, hoping that, since he needed soldiers for the unfinished wars, he would speak about the donative himself. But, contrary to the expectation of all, he replied without hesitation, I discharge you. Then, to their still greater astonishment, and while the silence was most profound, he added, And I will give you all that I have promised when I have my triumph with others. At this expression, as unexpected as it was kind to them, shame immediately took possession of all, and reflection, together with jealousy at the thought of their abandoning their commander in the midst of such great wars and of others joining in the triumph instead of themselves, and of their losing the gains of the war in Africa, which were expected to be great, and becoming enemies of Caesar himself as well as of the opposite party. Moved by these fears they remained still more silent and embarrassed, hoping that Caesar would yield and change his mind on account of his immediate necessity. But he remained silent also, until his friends urged him to say something more to them and not leave his old comrades of so many campaigns with a short and austere word. Then he began to speak, addressing them first as citizens, not fellow-soliders, which implied that they were already discharged from the army and were private individuals.

They could endure it no longer, but cried out that they repented of what they had done, and besought him to keep them in his service. But Caesar turned away and was leaving the platform when they shouted with greater eagerness and urged him to stay and punish them for their misdeeds. He delayed a while longer, not going away and not turning back, but pretending to be undecided. At length he came back and said that he would not punish any of them, but that he was grieved that even the tenth legion, to which he had always given the first place of honor, should join in such a riot. And this legion alone, he continued, I will discharge from the service. Nevertheless, when I return from Africa I will give them all that I have promised. And when the wars are ended I will give lands to all, not as Sulla did by taking it from the present holders and colonizing the takers among the losers, and making them everlasting enemies to each other, but I will give the public land, and my own, and will purchase what may be needful. There was clapping of hands and joyful acclaim on all sides, but the tenth legion was plunged in grief because to them alone Caesar appeared inexorable. They begged him to choose a portion of their number by lot and put them to death. But Caesar, seeing that there was no need of stimulating them any further when they had repented so bitterly, became reconciled to all, and departed straightway for the war in Africa.

He crossed from Rhegium to Messana and went to Lilybaeum. Here, learning that Cato was guarding the enemy’s magazines with a fleet and a part of the land forces at Utica, and that he had with him 300 men who had for a long time constituted their council of war and were called the Senate, and that the commander, L. Scipio, and the flower of the army were at Adrumetum, he sailed against the latter. He arrived at a time when Scipio had gone away to meet Juba, and he drew up his forces for battle near Scipio’s very camp in order to come to an engagement with the enemy at a time when their commander was absent. Labienus and Petreius, Scipio’s lieutenants, attacked him, defeated him badly, and pursued him in a haughty and disdainful manner until Labienus’ horse was wounded in the belly and threw him, and his attendants carried him off. Petreius, thinking that he had made a thorough test of the army and that he could conquer whenever he liked, drew off his forces, saying to those around him, Let us not deprive our general, Scipio, of the victory. In one part of the day’s work did Caesar’s luck show itself, in that the victorious enemy seems to have abandoned the field at the very moment of success. It is said that in the flight Caesar dashed up to his whole line and turned it around and seizing one of those who carried the principal standards (the eagles) dragged him to the front. Finally, Petreius retired and Caesar was glad to do the same. Such was the result of Caesar’s first battle in Africa.

Not long afterward it was reported that Scipio himself was advancing with eight legions of foot, 20,000 horse (of which most were Africans), and a large number of light-armed troops, and thirty elephants; together with King Juba, who had some 30,000 foot-soldiers in addition, raised for this war, and 20,000 Numidian cavalry, besides a large number of spearmen and sixty elephants. Caesar’s army began to be alarmed and a tumult broke out among them on account of the disaster they had already experienced and of the reputation of the forces advancing against them, and especially of the numbers and bravery of the Numidian cavalry. War with elephants, to which they were unaccustomed, also frightened them. But Bocchus, another Mauritanian prince, seized Cirta, which was the capital of Juba’s kingdom. When this news reached Juba he started for home at once with his army, leaving thirty of his elephants only with Scipio. Thereupon Caesar’s men plucked up courage to such a degree that the fifth legion begged to be pitted against the elephants, and it overcame them valiantly. From that day to the present this legion has borne the figure of an elephant on its standards.

The battle was long, severe, and doubtful in all parts of the field until toward evening, when victory declared itself on the side of Caesar, who went straight on and captured Scipio’s camp and did not desist, even in the night, from reaping the fruits of his victory until he had made a clean sweep. The enemy scattered in small bodies wherever they could. Scipio himself with Afranius, abandoning everything, fled by sea with twelve open ships. And thus was this army also, composed of nearly 80,000 men who had been under long training and were inspired with hope and courage by the previous battle, in the second engagement, completely annihilated. And now Caesar’s fame began to be celebrated as of a man of invincible fortune, and those who were vanquished by him attributed nothing to his merit, but ascribed everything, including their own blunders, to Caesar’s luck. And it seems that the result of this war also was due to the bad generalship of the commanders who, as in Thessaly, neglected their opportunity to wear out Caesar by delay until his supplies were exhausted, in this foreign land, and in like manner failed to reap the fruits of their first victory by pushing it sharply to the end.

As these facts became known at Utica some three days later, and as Caesar was marching right against that place, a general flight began. Cato did not detain anybody. He gave ships to all the nobility who asked for them, but himself adhered firmly to his post. When the inhabitants of Utica promised to intercede for him before doing so for themselves, he answered with a smile that he did not need any intercessors with Caesar, and that Caesar knew it very well. Then he placed his seal on all the public property and gave the accounts of each kind to the magistrates of Utica. Toward evening he bathed and dined. He ate in a sitting posture, as had been his custom since Pompey’s death. He changed his habits in no respect. He partook of the dinner, neither more nor less than usual. He conversed with the others present concerning those who had sailed away and inquired whether the wind was favorable and whether they would make sufficient distance before Caesar should arrive the next morning. Nor did he change any of his habits when he retired to rest, except that he embraced his son rather more affectionately than usual. As he did not find his sword in its accustomed place by his couch, he exclaimed that he had been betrayed by his servants to the enemy. What weapon shall I use if I am attacked in the night? he said. When they besought him to do no violence to himself but to go to sleep without his sword, he replied still more plausibly, Could I not strangle myself with my clothing if I wished to, or knock my brains out against the wall, or throw myself headlong to the ground, or destroy myself by holding my breath? Much more he said to the same purport until he persuaded them to bring back his sword. When it had been put in its place he called for Plato’s treatise on the soul and began to read.

When he had read the book through and when he thought that those who were stationed at the doors were asleep, he stabbed himself under the breast. His intestines protruded and the attendants heard a groan and rushed in. Physicians replaced his bowels, which were still uninjured, in his body, and after sewing up the wound put a bandage around it. When Cato came to himself he dissembled again. Although he blamed himself for the insufficiency of the wound, he expressed thanks to those who had saved him and said that he only needed sleep. The attendants then retired, taking the sword with them, and closed the door, thinking that he had become quiet. When Cato thought that they were asleep, he tore off the bandage with his hands without making any noise, opened the suture of the wound, enlarged it with his nails like a wild beast, plunged his fingers into his stomach, and tore out his entrails until he died, being then about fifty years of age. He was considered the most steadfast of all men in upholding any opinion that he had once espoused and in adhering to justice, rectitude, and morality, not as a matter of custom merely, but rather from high-souled considerations. He had married Marcia, the daughter of Philippus, when she was a virgin. He was extremely fond of her and had had children by her. Nevertheless, he gave her to Hortensius, one of his friends, — who desired to have children but was married to a barren wife, — until she bore a child to him also, when Cato took her back to his own house as though he had merely loaned her. Such a man was Cato. The Uticans gave him a magnificent funeral. Caesar said that Cato had envied him the opportunity for a deed of honor, but when Cicero pronounced an encomium on him which he styled the Cato, Caesar wrote an answer to it which he called the Anti-Cato.

Juba and Petreius, in view of the circumstances, perceiving no chance of flight or safety, slew each other with swords at a banquet. Caesar made Juba’s kingdom tributary to the Romans and appointed Sallustius Crispus its governor. He pardoned the Uticans and the son of Cato. He captured the daughter of Pompey together with her two children in Utica and sent them safe to young Pompey. Of the 300 he put to death all that he found. Lucius Scipio, the general-in-chief, was overtaken by a storm, and met a hostile fleet and bore himself bravely until he was overpowered, when he stabbed himself and leaped into the sea. This was the end of Caesar’s war in Africa.

When Caesar returned to Rome he had four triumphs together: one for his Gallic wars, in which he had added many great nations to the Roman sway and subdued others that had revolted; one for the Pontic war against Pharnaces; one for the war in Africa against the African allies of L. Scipio, in which the historian Juba (the son of King Juba), then an infant, was led a captive. Between the Gallic and the Pontic triumphs he introduced a kind of Egyptian triumph, in which he led some captives taken in the naval engagement on the Nile. Although he took care not to inscribe any Roman names in his triumph (as it would have been unseemly in his eyes and base and inauspicious in those of the Roman people to triumph over fellow-citizens), yet all these misfortunes were represented in the processions and the men also by various images and pictures, all except Pompey, the only one whom he did not venture to exhibit, since the latter was still greatly regretted by all. The people, although restrained by fear, groaned over their domestic ills, especially when they saw the picture of Lucius Scipio, the general-in-chief, wounded in the breast by his own hand, casting himself into the sea, and Petreius committing self-destruction at the banquet, and Cato torn open by himself like a wild beast. They applauded the death of Achillas and Pothinus, and laughed at the flight of Pharnaces.

It is said that money to the amount of 60,500 talents [of silver] was borne in the procession and 2822 crowns of gold weighing 20,414 pounds, from which wealth Caesar made apportionments immediately after the triumph, paying the army all that he had promised and more. Each soldier received 5000 Attic drachmas, each centurion double, and each tribune of infantry and praefect of cavalry fourfold that sum. To each plebeian citizen also was given an Attic mina. He gave also various spectacles with horses and music, a combat of foot-soldiers, 1000 on each side, and a cavalry fight of 200 on each side. There was also another combat of horse and foot together. There was a combat of elephants, twenty against twenty, and a naval engagement of 4000 oarsmen, where 1000 fighting men contended on each side. He erected a temple to Venus, his ancestress, as he had vowed to do when he was about to begin the battle of Pharsalus, and he laid out ground around the temple which he intended to be a forum for the Roman people, not for buying and selling, but a meeting-place for the transaction of public business, like the public squares of the Persians, where the people assemble to seek justice or to learn the laws. He placed a beautiful image of Cleopatra by the side of the goddess, which stands there to this day. He caused an enumeration of the people to be made, and it is said that it was found to be only one-half of the number existing before this war. To such a degree had the rivalry of these two men reduced the city.

Caesar, now in his fourth consulship, marched against young Pompeius in Spain. This was all that was left of the civil war, but it was not to be despised, for such of the nobility as had escaped from Africa had assembled here. The army was composed of soldiers from Pharsalus and Africa itself, who had come hither with their leaders, and of Spaniards and Celtiberians, a strong and warlike race. There was a great number of emancipated slaves also in Pompeius’ camp. All had been under discipline four years and were ready to fight with desperation. Pompeius was misled by this fact and did not postpone the battle, but engaged Caesar straightway on his arrival, although the older ones, who had learned by experience at Pharsalus and Africa, advised him to wear Caesar out by delay and reduce him to want, as he was in a hostile country. Caesar made the journey from Rome in twenty-seven days, coming with a heavily-laden army by a very long route. Fear fell upon his soldiers as never before, in consequence of the reports received of the numbers, the discipline, and the desperate valor of the enemy.

For this reason Caesar himself also was ready to move slowly until Pompeius approached him at a certain place where he was reconnoitering and accused him of cowardice. Caesar could not endure this reproach. He drew up his forces for battle near Corduba and then, too, gave Venus for his watchword. Pompeius, on the other hand, gave Piety for his. When battle was joined fear seized upon Caesar’s army and hesitation was joined to fear. Caesar, lifting his hands toward heaven, implored all the gods that his many glorious deeds be not stained by this single disaster. He ran up and encourged his soldiers. He took his helmet off his head and shamed them to their faces and exhorted them. As they abated nothing of their fear he seized a shield from a soldier and said to the officers around him, This shall be the end of my life and of your military service. Then he sprang forward in advance of his line of battle toward the enemy so far that he was only ten feet distant from them. Some 200 missiles were aimed at him, some of which he dodged while others were caught on his shield. Then each of the tribunes ran toward him and took position by his side, and the whole army rushed forward and fought the entire day, advancing and retreating by turns until, toward evening, Caesar with difficulty won the victory. It was reported that he said that he had often fought for victory, but that this time he had fought even for existence.

After a great slaughter the Pompeians fled to Corduba, and Caesar, in order to prevent the fugitives from preparing for another battle, ordered a siege of that place. The soldiers, wearied with toil, piled the bodies and arms of the slain together, fastened them to the earth with spears, and encamped behind this kind of a wall. On the following day the city was taken. Scapula, one of the Pompeian leaders, erected a funeral pile on which he consumed himself. The heads of Varus, Labienus, and other distinguished men were brought to Caesar. Pompeius himself fled from the scene of his defeat with 150 horsemen toward Carteia, where he had a fleet, and entered the dockyard secretly as a private individual borne in a litter. When he saw that the men here despaired of their safety he feared lest he should be delivered up, and took to flight again. While going on board a small boat his foot was caught by a rope, and a man who attempted to cut the rope with his sword cut the sole of his foot instead. So he sailed to a certain place for medical treatment. Being pursued thither he fled by a rough and thorny road that aggravated his wound, until fagged out he took a seat under a tree. Here his pursuers came upon him and he was cut down while defending himself bravely. His head was brought to Caesar who gave orders for its burial. Thus this war also, contrary to expectation, was brought to an end in one battle. A younger brother of this Pompeius, also named Pompeius but called by his first name, Sextus, collected those who escaped from this fight; but as yet he kept moving about in concealment and lived by robbery.

Having ended the civil wars Caesar hastened to Rome, honored and feared as no one had ever been before. All kinds of honors were devised for his gratification without stint, even such as were superhuman — sacrifices, games, statues in all the temples and public places, by every tribe, by all the provinces, and by the kings in alliance with Rome. His likeness was painted in various forms, in some cases crowned with oak as the savior of his country, by which crown the citizens were accustomed formerly to reward those to whom they owed their safety. He was proclaimed the Father of his Country and chosen dictator for life and consul for ten years, and his person was declared sacred and inviolable. It was decreed that he should transact business on a throne of ivory and gold; that he should perform his sacerdotal functions always in triumphal costume; that each year the city should celebrate the days on which he had won his victories; that every five years the priests and Vestal virgins should offer up public prayers for his safety; and that the magistrates immediately upon their inauguration should take an oath not to oppose any of Caesar’s decrees. In honor of his gens the name of the month Quintilis was changed to July. Many temples were decreed to him as to a god, and one was dedicated in common to him and the goddess Clemency, who were represented as clasping hands.

Thus while they feared his power they besought his clemency. There were some who proposed to give him the title of king, but when he learned of their purpose he forbade it with threats, saying that it was an inauspicious name by reason of the curse of their ancestors. He dismissed the praetorian cohorts that had served as his bodyguard during the wars, and showed himself with the ordinary public attendance only. To him in this state and while he was transacting business in front of the rostra, the Senate, preceded by the consuls, each one in his robes of office, brought the decree awarding him the honors aforesaid. He extended his hand to them, but did not rise when they approached nor while they remained there, which afforded his slanderers a pretext for accusing him of wishing to be greeted as a king. He accepted all the honors conferred upon him except the ten-year consulship. As consuls for the ensuing year he designated himself and Antony, his master of horse, and he appointed Lepidus, who was then governor of Spain, but was administering it by his friends, master of horse in place of Antony. Caesar also recalled the exiles, except those who were banished for some very grave offence. He pardoned his enemies and forthwith advanced many of those who had fought against him to the yearly magistracies, or to the command of provinces and armies. Therefore the wearied people especially hoped that he would restore the republic to them as Sulla did after he had grasped the same power. But in this they were disappointed.

Some person among those who wished to spread the report of his desire to be king placed a crown of laurel on his statue, bound with a white fillet. The tribunes, Marullus and Caesetius, sought out this person and put him in prison, pretending to gratify Caesar in this way, as he had threatened any who should talk about making him king. Caesar was well satisfied with their action. Some others who met him at the city gates as he was returning from some place greeted him as king, and when the people groaned, he said with happy readiness to those who had thus saluted him, I am no king, I am Caesar, as though they had mistaken his name. The attendants of Marullus found out which man began the shouting and ordered the officers to bring him to trial before his tribunal. Caesar was at last vexed and accused the faction of Marullus before the Senate of conspiring to make him odious by artfully accusing him of aiming at royalty. He added that they were deserving of death, but that it would be sufficient if they were deprived of their office and expelled from the Senate. Thus he confirmed the suspicion that he desired the title, and that he was privy to the attempts to confer it upon him, and that his tyranny was already complete; for the cause of their punishment was their zeal against the title of king, and, moreover, the office of tribune was sacred and inviolable according to law and the ancient oath. By not waiting for the expiration of their office he sharpened the public indignation.

When Caesar perceived this he repented, and, reflecting that this was the first severe and arbitrary act that he had done without military authority and in time of peace, it is said that he ordered his friends to protect him, since he had given his enemies the handle they were seeking against him. But when they asked him if he would bring together again his Spanish cohorts as a body-guard, he said, There is nothing more unlucky than perpetual watching; that is the part of one who is always afraid. Nor were the attempts to claim royal honors for him brought to an end even thus, for, while he was in the forum looking at the games of the Lupercal, seated on his golden chair before the rostra, Antony, his colleague in the consulship, who was running naked and anointed, as was the priests’ custom at that festival, sprang upon the rostra and put a diadem on his head. At this sight some few clapped their hands, but the greater number groaned, and Caesar threw off the diadem. Antony again put it on him and again Caesar threw it off. While they were thus contending the people remained silent, being in suspense to see how it would end. When they saw that Caesar prevailed they shouted for joy, and at the same time applauded him because he did not accept it.

And now Caesar, either renouncing his hope, or tired out, and wishing to avoid the plot and accusation, or giving up the city to certain of his enemies, or to cure his bodily ailment of epilepsy and convulsions, which came upon him suddenly and especially when he was inactive, conceived the idea of a long campaign against the Getae and the Parthians. The Getae, a hardy, warlike, and neigh-boring nation, were to be attacked first. The Parthians were to be punished for their perfidy toward Crassus. He sent across the Adriatic in advance sixteen legions of foot and 10,000 horse. And now another rumor gained currency that the Sibylline books had predicted that the Parthians would never submit to the Romans until the latter should be commanded by a king. For this reason some people ventured to say that Caesar ought to be called dictator and emperor of the Romans, as he was in fact, or whatever other name they might prefer to that of king, and that he ought to be distinctly named king of the nations that were subject to the Romans. Caesar declined this also, and was wholly engaged in hastening his departure from the city in which he was exposed to such envy.

Four days before his intended departure he was slain by his enemies in the senate-house, either from jealousy of his fortune and power, now grown to enormous proportions, or, as they themselves alleged, from a desire to restore the republic of their fathers; for they well knew that if he should conquer those nations he would be a king without a doubt. But I think that they took, as a pretext for their own design, this plan for an additional title, which really made no difference to them except in name, for in fact a dictator is exactly the same as a king. Chief among the conspirators were two men, Marcus Brutus, surnamed Caepio (son of the Brutus who was put to death during the Sullan revolution), who had sided with Caesar after the disaster of Pharsalus, and Gaius Cassius, the one who had surrendered his triremes to Caesar in the Hellespont, both having been of Pompey’s party. Among the conspirators also was Decimus Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar’s dearest friends. All of them had been held in honor and trust by Caesar at all times. He had employed them in the largest affairs. When he went to the war in Africa he gave them the command of armies, putting Decimus Brutus in charge of Transalpine, and Marcus Brutus of Cisalpine, Gaul.

Brutus and Cassius, who had been designated as praetors at the same time, had a controversy with each other as to which of them should be the city praetor, this being the place of highest honor, either because they were really ambitious of the distinction or as a pretence so that they might not seem to have a common understanding with each other. Caesar, who was chosen umpire between them, is reported to have said to his friends that justice seemed to be on the side of Cassius, but that he must nevertheless favor Brutus. He exhibited the same affection and preference for this man in all things. It was even thought that Brutus was his son, as Caesar was the lover of his mother, Servilia (Cato’s sister) at the time of his birth, for which reason, when he won the victory at Pharsalus, it is said that he gave an immediate order to his officers to save Brutus by all means. Whether Brutus was ungrateful, or ignorant of his mother’s fault, or disbelieved it, or was ashamed of it; whether he was such an ardent lover of liberty that he preferred his country to everything, or whether it was because he was a descendant of that Brutus of the olden time who expelled the kings, he was aroused and shamed to this deed principally by people who secretly affixed to the statues of the elder Brutus and also to the tribunal of Brutus himself such writings as these, Brutus, are you corrupted by bribes. Brutus, are you dead? or would that you were still alive! or, your posterity is unworthy of you, or, you are not the descendant of that Brutus. These and many like incentives fired the young man to a deed like that of his own ancestor.

While the talk about the kingship was going on, and just before there was to be a meeting of the Senate, Cassius met Brutus, and, seizing him by the hand, said, What shall we do in the senate-house if Caesar’s flatterers propose a decree making him king? Brutus replied that he would not be there. Then Cassius asked him further, What if we are summoned there as praetors, what shall we do then, my good Brutus? I will defend my country to the death, he replied. Cassius embraced him, saying, Which of the nobility will you allow to share your thought? Do you think that artisans and shopkeepers have written those clandestine messages on your tribunal, or rather the noblest Romans, those who ask from the other praetors games, horse-races, and combats of wild beasts, but from you liberty, as a boon worthy of your ancestry? Thus did they disclose to each other what they had been privately thinking about for a long time. Each of them tested those of their own friends, and of Caesar’s also, whom they considered the most courageous of either faction. Of their own friends they inveigled two brothers, Caesilius and Bucolianus, and besides these Rubrius Ruga, Quintus Ligarius, Marcus Spurius, Servilius Casca, Servius Galba, Sextius Naso, and Pontius Aquila. These were of their own faction. Of Caesar’s friends they secured Decimus Brutus, whom I have already mentioned, also Gaius Casca, Trebonius, Tillius Cimber, and Minucius Basillus.

When they thought that they had a sufficient number, and that it would not be wise to divulge the plot to any more, they pledged each other without oaths or sacrifices, yet no one changed his mind or betrayed the secret. They sought a time and place. Time was pressing because Caesar was to depart on his campaign four days hence and would thereupon have a body-guard of soldiers. They chose the Senate as the place, believing that, even though the senators did not know of it beforehand, they would join heartily when they saw the deed. It was said that this happened in the case of Romulus when he changed from a king to a tyrant. They thought that this deed, like that one of old, taking place in open Senate, would seem to be performed not by private plotters, but in behalf of the country, and that, being in the public interest, there would be no danger from Caesar’s army. At the same time they thought the honor would be theirs because the public would not be ignorant that they took the lead. For these reasons they unanimously chose the Senate as the place, but they were not agreed as to the mode. Some thought that Antony ought to be killed also because he was consul with Caesar, and was his most powerful friend, and the one of most repute with the army; but Brutus said that they would win the glory of tyrannicide from the death of Caesar alone, because that would be the killing of a king. If they should kill his friends also, the deed would be imputed to private enmity and to the Pompeian faction.

The day before the meeting of the Senate Caesar went to sup with Lepidus, his master of horse, taking Decimus Brutus Albinus with him to the drinking-bout. While they were in their cups the conversation turned on the question, What is the best kind of death for a man? Various opinions were given, but Caesar alone expressed the preference for a sudden death. In this way he foretold his own end, and conversed about what was to happen on the morrow. After the banquet a certain bodily faintness came over him in the night, and his wife, Calpurnia, had a dream, in which she saw him streaming with blood, for which reason she tried to prevent him from going out in the morning. When he offered sacrifice there were many unfavorable signs. He was about to send Antony to dismiss the Senate when Decimus, who was with him, persuaded him, in order not to incur the charge of disregard for the Senate, to go there and dismiss it himself. Accordingly he was borne thither in a litter. Games were going on in Pompey’s theatre, and the Senate was about to assemble in one of the adjoining buildings, as was the custom when the games were taking place. Brutus and Cassius were early at the portico in front of the theatre, very calmly engaging in public business as praetors with those seeking their services. When they heard of the bad omens at Caesar’s house and that the Senate was to be dismissed, they were greatly disconcerted. While they were in this state of mind a certain person took Casca by the hand and said, You kept the secret from me, although I am your friend, but Brutus has told me all. Casca was suddenly conscience-stricken and shuddered, but his friend, smiling, continued, Where shall you get the money to stand for the aedileship? Then Casca recovered himself. While Brutus and Cassius were conferring and talking together, Popillius Laena, one of the senators, drew them aside and said that he joined them in his prayers for what they had in mind, and he urged them to make haste. They were confounded, but remained silent from terror.

While Caesar was being borne to the Senate one of his intimates, who had learned of the conspiracy, ran to his house to tell what he knew. When he arrived there and found only Calpurnia he merely said that he wanted to speak to Caesar about urgent business, and then waited for him to come back from the Senate, because he did not know all the particulars of the affair. Meantime Artemidorus, whose hospitality Caesar had enjoyed at Cnidus, ran to the Senate and found him already murdered. A tablet informing him of the conspiracy was put into Caesar’s hand by another person while he was sacrificing in front of the curia, but he went in immediately and it was found in his hand after his death. Directly after he stepped out of the litter Popillius Laena, who a little before had joined his prayers with the party of Cassius, accosted Caesar and engaged him aside in earnest conversation. The sight of this proceeding and especially the length of the conversation struck terror into the hearts of the conspirators, and they made signs to each other that they would kill themselves rather than be captured. As the conversation was prolonged they saw that Laena did not seem to be revealing anything to Caesar, but rather to be urging some petition. They recovered themselves and when they saw him return thanks to Caesar after the conversation they took new courage. It was the custom of the magistrates, when about to enter the Senate, to take the auspices at the entrance. Here again Caesar’s first victim was without a heart, or, as some say, the beginning of the entrails was wanting. A soothsayer said that this was a sign of death. Caesar, laughing, said that the same thing had happened to him when he was beginning his campaign against Pompeius in Spain. The soothsayer replied that he had been in very great danger then and that now the omen was still more entitled to credence. So Caesar ordered him to sacrifice again. None of the victims were more propitious; but being ashamed to keep the Senate waiting, and being urged by his enemies in the guise of friends, he went in disregarding the omens. For it was fated that Caesar should meet his doom.

The conspirators had left Trebonius, one of their number, to engage Antony in conversation at the door. The others, with concealed daggers, stood around Caesar like friends as he sat in his chair. Then one of them, Tillius Cimber, came up in front of him and petitioned him for the recall of his brother, who had been banished. When Caesar answered that the matter must be deferred, Cimber seized hold of his purple robe as though still urging his petition, and pulled it away so as to expose his neck, exclaiming, Friends, what are you waiting for? Then first Casca, who was standing over Caesar’s head, drove his dagger at his throat, but missed his aim and wounded him in the breast. Caesar snatched his toga from Cimber, seized Casca’s hand, sprang from his chair, turned around, and hurled Casca with great violence. While he was in this position another one stabbed him with a dagger in the side, which was exposed by his turning around, Cassius wounded him in the face, Brutus smote him in the thigh, and Bucolianus between the shoulder-blades. With rage and outcries Caesar turned now upon one and now upon another like a wild animal, but after receiving the wound from Brutus he despaired and, veiling himself with his robe, he fell in a decent position at the foot of Pompey’s statue. They continued their attack after he had fallen until he had received twenty-three wounds. Several of them while thrusting with their swords wounded each other.

When the murderers had perpetrated their crime, in a sacred place, on one whose person was sacred and inviolable, there was an immediate flight from the curia and throughout the whole city. Some senators were wounded in the tumult and others killed. Many other citizens and strangers were murdered also, not designedly, but as such things happen in public commotions, by the mistakes of those into whose hands they fell. Gladiators, who had been armed early in the morning for that day’s spectacles, ran out of the theatre into the balcony of the Senate. The theatre itself was emptied in haste and panic-terror, and the markets were plundered. All citizens closed their front doors and put themselves in a posture of defence on their roofs. Antony fortified his house, apprehending that the conspiracy was against him as well as Caesar. Lepidus, the master of horse, being in the forum at the time, learned what had been done and ran to the island in the river where he had a legion of soldiers, which he transferred to the plain in order to be in greater readiness to execute Antony’s orders; for he yielded to Antony as a closer friend of Caesar and also as consul. While pondering over the matter they were strongly moved to avenge the death of Caesar, but they feared lest the Senate should espouse the side of the murderers and so they concluded to await events. There had been no military guard around Caesar, for he did not like guards except the usual attendants of the magistracy. Many civilian officers and a large crowd of citizens and strangers, of slaves and freedmen, had accompanied him from his house to the Senate, but had fled en masse, all except three slaves, who placed the body in a litter and, with uneven step (being an uneven number), bore him homeward who, a little before, had been master of the earth and sea.

The murderers wished to make a speech in the Senate, but as nobody remained there they wrapped their togas around their left arms to serve as shields, and, with swords still reeking with blood, ran, crying out that they had slain a king and tyrant. One of them bore a cap on the end of a spear as a symbol of freedom and exhorted the people to restore the government of their fathers and recall the memory of the elder Brutus and of those who took the oath together against the ancient kings. With them ran some with drawn swords who had not participated in the deed, but wanted to share the glory, among whom were Lentulus Spinther, Favonius, Aquinus, Dolabella, Murcus, and Patiscus. These did not share the glory, but they suffered punishment with the guilty. As the people did not flock to them they were disconcerted and alarmed. Although the Senate had at first fled through ignorance and alarm, they had confidence in it nevertheless as being their own relatives and friends, and oppressed equally with themselves by the tyranny. They had apprehensions of the plebeians and of Caesar’s soldiers, many of whom were then present in the city, some lately dismissed from the service and to whom lands had been allotted; others who had been already settled, but had come in to serve as an escort for Caesar on his departure from the city. The assassins had fears of Lepidus, too, and of the army under him in the city, and also of Antony in his character as consul, lest he should consult the people alone, instead of the Senate, and bring some fearful punishment upon them.

In this frame of mind they hastened up to the Capitol with their gladiators. There they took counsel and decided to bribe the populace, hoping that if some would begin to praise the deed others would join in from love of liberty and longing for the republic. They thought that the Roman people were still exactly the same as they had heard that they were at the time when the elder Brutus expelled the kings. They did not perceive that they were counting on two incompatible things, namely, that people could be lovers of liberty and bribe-takers at the same time. The latter class were much easier to find of the two, because the government had been corrupt for a long time. The plebeians were now much mixed with foreign blood, freedmen had equal rights of citizenship with them, and slaves were dressed in the same fashion as their masters. Except in the case of the senatorial rank the same costume was common to slaves and to free citizens. Moreover the distribution of corn to the poor, which took place in Rome only, drew thither the lazy, the beggars, the vagrants of all Italy. The multitude of discharged soldiers no longer returned one by one to their native places as formerly, fearing that some of them might be accused of having engaged in iniquitous wars, but were sent in groups to unjust allotments of lands and houses belonging to others. These were now encamped in temples and sacred enclosures under one standard, and one person appointed to lead them to their colony, and as they had already sold their own be longings preparatory to their departure they were in readiness to be bought for any purpose.

From so many men of this kind a considerable crowd was drawn speedily and without difficulty to the party of Cassius in the forum. These, although bought, did not dare to praise the murder, because they feared Caesar’s reputation and doubted what course the rest of the people might take. So they shouted for peace as being for the public advantage, and with one accord recommended this policy to the magistrates, intending by this device to secure the safety of the murderers; for there could be no peace without amnesty to them. While they were thus engaged the praetor Cinna, a relative of Caesar by marriage, made his appearance, advanced unexpectedly into the middle of the forum, laid aside his praetorian robe, as if disdaining the gift of a tyrant, and called Caesar a tyrant and his murderers tyrannicides. He extolled their deed as exactly like that of their ancestors, and ordered that the men themselves should be called from the Capitol as benefactors and rewarded with public honors. So spake Cinna, but when the hirelings saw that the unbought portion of the crowd did not agree with them they did not call for the men in the Capitol, nor did they do anything else but continually demand peace.

But after Dolabella, a young man of noble family who had been chosen by Caesar as consul for the remainder of his own year when he was about to leave the city, and who had put on the consular garb and taken the other insignia of the office, came forward next and railed against the man who had advanced him to this dignity and pretended to have been privy to the conspiracy against him, and that his hand alone was unwillingly absent — some say that he even proposed a decree that this day should be consecrated as the birthday of the republic — then the hirelings took new courage, seeing that they had both a praetor and a consul on their side, and demanded that Cassius and his friends be summoned from the Capitol. They were delighted with Dolabella and thought that now they had a young optimate, who was also consul, to oppose against Antony. Only Cassius and Marcus Brutus came down, the latter with his hand still bleeding from the wound he had received when he and Cassius were dealing blows at Caesar. When they reached the forum neither of them said anything which betokened humility. On the contrary they praised each other as for something confessedly admirable. They considered the city fortunate and bore special testimony to the merits of Decimus Brutus because he had furnished them gladiators at a critical moment. They exhorted the people to be like their ancestors, who had expelled the kings, although the latter were exercising the government not by violence like Caesar, but had been chosen according to law. They advised the recall of Sextus Pompey (the son of Pompey the Great, the defender of the republic against Caesar), who was still warring against Caesar’s lieutenants in Spain. They also recommended that the tribunes, Caesetius and Marullus, who had been deposed by Caesar, should be recalled from exile.

After they had thus spoken Cassius and Brutus returned directly to the Capitol, because they had not yet entire confidence in the present posture of affairs. Having first enabled their friends and relatives to come to them in the temple, they chose from among them messengers to treat on their behalf with Lepidus and Antony for conciliation and the preservation of liberty, and for warding off the evils that would befall the country if they should not come to an agreement. This the messengers asked, not extolling the deed that had been done, however, for they did not dare to do this in the presence of Caesar’s friends. They asked that it be tolerated now that it was done, out of pity for the perpetrators (who had been actuated, not by hatred toward Caesar, but by love of country), and out of compassion for the city exhausted by long-continued civil strife, and which a new sedition might deprive of the good men still remaining. If enmity were entertained against certain persons, they said, it would be an act of impiety to gratify it in a time of public danger. It would be far preferable to sink private animosity in the public weal, or, if anybody were irreconcilable, at least to postpone his private grievances for the present.

Antony and Lepidus wished to avenge Caesar, as I have already said, either on the score of friendship, or of the oaths they had sworn, or because they were aiming at the supreme power themselves and thought that their course would be easier if so many men of such rank were put out of the way at once. But they feared the friends and relatives of these men and the leaning of the rest of the Senate toward them, and especially they feared Decimus Brutus, who had been chosen by Caesar governor of Cisalpine Gaul, which had a large army. So they decided to watch a future opportunity and to try if possible to draw over to themselves the army of Decimus, which was already disheartened by its protracted labors. Having come to this decision, Antony replied to the messengers, We shall do nothing from private enmity, yet in consequence of the crime and of the oaths we have all sworn to Caesar, that we would either protect his person or avenge his death, a solemn regard for our oath requires us to drive out the guilty and to live with a smaller number of innocent men rather than that all should be liable to the divine curse. Yet for our own part, although this seems to us the proper course, we will consider the matter with you in the Senate and we will agree to whatever may be decided in common to be propitious for the city.

Thus did Antony make a safe answer. The messengers returned their thanks and went away full of hope, for they had entire confidence that the Senate would cooperate with them. Antony ordered the magistrates to have the city watched by night, stationing guards at intervals as in the daytime, and he had fires lighted throughout the city. By this means the friends of the murderers were enabled to traverse the city the whole night, going to the houses of the senators and beseeching them in behalf of these men and of the republic. On the other hand, the leaders of the colonized soldiers ran about uttering threats lest they should fail to hold the lands set apart, either already assigned or proclaimed to them. And now the more honest citizens began to recover courage when they learned how small was the number of the conspirators, and when they remembered Caesar’s merits they became much divided in opinion. That same night Caesar’s money and his official papers were transferred to Antony’s house, either because Calpurnia thought that they would be safer there or because Antony ordered it.

While these things were taking place Antony, by means of a notice sent around by night, called the Senate to meet before daybreak at the temple of Tellus, which was very near his own house, because he did not dare to go to the senate-house situated just below the Capitol, where the gladiators were aiding the conspirators, nor did he wish to disturb the city by bringing in the army. Lepidus, however, did that. As daylight was approaching the senators assembled at the temple of Tellus, including the praetor Cinna, clothed again in the robe of office which he had cast off the previous day as the gift of a tyrant. Some of the unbribed people and some of Caesar’s veterans, when they saw him, were indignant that he, although a relative of Caesar, should have been the first to slander him in a public speech, threw stones at him, pursued him, and when he had taken refuge in a house brought fagots and were about to set it on fire when Lepidus came up with his soldiers and stopped them. This was the first decided expression of opinion in favor of Caesar. The hirelings, and the murderers themselves, were alarmed by it.

In the Senate only a small number were free from sympathy with the act of violence and indignant at the murder. Most of them sought to aid the murderers in various ways. They proposed first to invite them to be present under a pledge of safety and sit in council with them, thus changing them from criminals to judges. Antony did not oppose this because he knew they would not come; and they did not come. Then, in order to test the feeling of the Senate, some of them extolled the deed openly and without disguise, called the men tyrannicides, and proposed that they should be rewarded. Others were opposed to giving rewards, saying that the men did not want them and had not done the deed for the sake of reward, but thought that they should merely be thanked as public benefactors. Still others were opposed to thanking them and thought that it would be sufficient to grant them impunity. Such were the devices to which they resorted, and were trying to discover which of these courses the Senate would be inclined to accept first, hoping that after a little that body would be more easily led on by them to the other measures. The honester portion revolted at the murder as impious, but out of respect for the great families of the murderers would not oppose the granting of impunity, yet they were indignant at the proposal to honor them as public benefactors. Others argued that if impunity were granted it would not be fitting to refuse the most ample means of safety. When one speaker said that honoring them would be dishonoring Caesar, it was answered that it was not permissible to prefer the interests of the dead to those of the living. Another having said plainly that one of two things must be decided beforehand — either that Caesar was a tyrant or that his murderers were to be pardoned as an act of clemency — the others [Caesar’s enemies] seized upon this simple proposition and asked that an opportunity be given them of expressing themselves by vote concerning the character of Caesar, under the solemn pledge that, if they voluntarily should give their unbiased judgment, the penalty of the oath should not befall them for having previously voted Caesar’s decrees under compulsion — never willingly and never until they were in fear for their own lives, after the killing of Pompey and of numberless others besides Pompey.

When Antony, who had been looking on and waiting, saw that sufficient material for discussion had been introduced which was not open to dispute, he resolved to balk their scheme by exciting fear and anxiety for themselves. Seeing a great number of these senators themselves who had been designated by Caesar for city magistracies, priestly offices, and the command of provinces and armies (for, as he was going on a long expedition, he had appointed them for five years), Antony proclaimed silence as consul and said: Those who are asking for a vote on the character of Caesar ought to consider in the first place that all the things done and decreed under his government and while he was the chosen ruler of the state remain in full force. If it is decided that he usurped the government by violence, his body should be cast out unburied and all his acts annulled. These acts, to speak briefly, embrace the whole earth and sea, and most of them will stand whether we like them or not, as I shall presently show. Those things which alone belong to us to decide, because they concern us alone, I will propose to you first, so that you may gain a conception of the more difficult questions from a consideration of the easier ones. Almost all of us have held office under Caesar; or do so still, having been chosen thereto by him; or will do so soon, having been designated in advance by him; for, as you know, he had disposed of the city offices, the yearly magistracies, and the command of provinces and armies for five years. If you are willing to resign these offices (for this is entirely in your power), I will put that question to you first and then I will take up the remaining ones.

Having lighted this kind of a firebrand among them, not in reference to Caesar, but to themselves, Antony relapsed into silence. They rose immediately en masse, and with loud clamor protested against new elections or submitting their claims to the people. They preferred to keep a firm hold on what they possessed. Some were opposed to new elections because they were not of lawful age, or for some other unavowed reason, and among these was the consul Dolabella himself, who could not legally stand for an election to that office as he was only twenty-five years old. Although he had pretended yesterday that he had a share in the conspiracy, a sudden change came over him, and now he reviled the majority for seeking to confer honor on murderers and dishonoring their own magistrates under the pretext of securing the safety of the former. Some encouraged Dolabella himself and the other magistrates to believe that they would obtain for them the same positions from the people’s gratitude without any change of officers, but simply by the more legal method of election in place of monarchical appointment, and that it would be an additional honor to them to hold the same places under the monarchy and the republic. While these speakers were still talking some of the praetors, in order to ensnare the opposing faction, laid aside their robes of office as if they were about to exchange them for a more legal title to their places, in common with the others; but the others did not fall into the trap. They knew that these men could not control the future election.

While affairs were proceeding thus, Antony and Lepidus went out of the Senate, having been called for by a crowd that had been assembling for some time. When they were perceived in an elevated place, and the shouters had been with difficulty silenced, one of their number, either of his own volition or because he was prompted, called out, Have a care lest you suffer a like fate. Antony loosened his tunic and showed him a coat-of-mail inside, thus exciting the beholders, as though it were impossible even for consuls to be safe without arms. Some cried out that the deed must be avenged, but a greater number demanded peace. To those who called for peace Antony said, That is what we are striving for, that it may come and be permanent, but it is hard to get security for it when so many oaths and solemnities were of no avail in the case of Caesar. Then, turning to those who demanded vengeance, he praised them as more observant of the obligations of oaths and religion, and added, I myself would join you and would be the first to call for vengeance if I were not the consul, who must care for what is called expedient rather than for what is just. So these people who are inside tell us. So Caesar himself perhaps thought when, for the good of the country, he spared those citizens whom he captured in war, and was slain by them.

When Antony had in this way worked upon both parties by turns, those who wanted to have vengeance on the murderers asked Lepidus to execute it. As Lepidus was about to speak those who were standing at a distance asked him to go down to the forum where all could hear him equally well. So he went directly there, thinking that the crowd was now changing its mind, and when he had taken his place on the rostra he groaned and wept in plain sight for some time. Then recovering himself, he said, Yesterday I stood with Caesar here, where now I am com- pelled to ask what you wish me to do about his murder. Many cried out Avenge Caesar. The hirelings shouted on the other side, Peace for the republic. To the latter he replied, Agreed, but what kind of a peace do you mean? By what sort of oaths shall it be confirmed? We all swore the national oaths to Caesar and we have trampled on them — we who are considered the most distinguished of the oath-takers. Then, turning to those who called for vengeance, he said, Caesar, that truly sacred and revered man, has gone from us, but we hesitate to deprive the republic of those who still remain. Our conscript fathers, he added, are considering these matters, and this is the opinion of most of them. They shouted again, Avenge him yourself. I would like to, he replied, and it is right that I should do it even alone, but it is not fitting that you and I should wish to do it alone, or alone set ourselves up against them.

While Lepidus was employing such devices the hirelings, who knew that he was ambitious, praised him and offered him Caesar’s place as pontifex maximus. He was delighted. Mention this to me later, he said, if you consider me worthy of it, whereupon the mercenaries, encouraged by their offer of the priesthood, insisted still more strongly on peace. Although it is contrary to religion and law, he said, I will do what you wish. So saying he returned to the Senate, where Dolabella had consumed all the intervening time in unseemly talk about his own office. Antony, who was waiting to see what the people would do, looked at Dolabella with derision, for the two were at variance with each other. After enjoying the spectacle sufficiently and perceiving that the people would not do anything rashly, he decided, under compulsion, to extend protection to the murderers (concealing the necessity, however, and pretending to act in this way as a matter of the greatest favor), and at the same time to have Caesar’s acts ratified and his plans carried into effect by common agreement. Accordingly he commanded silence again and spoke as follows:—

Fellow-citizens, while you have been considering the case of the offenders I have not joined in the debate. When you called for a vote on Caesar instead of on them, I had brought forward, until this moment, only one of Caesar’s acts. This one threw you into these many present controversies, and not without reason, for if we resign our offices we shall confess that we (so many and of such high rank as we are) came by them undeservedly. Consider the matters that cannot be easily controlled by us. Reckon them up by cities and provinces, by kings and princes. Almost all of these, from the rising to the setting sun, Caesar either subdued for us by force and arms, or organized by his laws, or confirmed in their allegiance by his favors and kindness. Which of these powers do you think will consent to be deprived of what they have received, unless you mean to fill the world with new wars — you who propose to spare these wretches for the sake of your exhausted country? But, omitting the more distant dangers and apprehensions, we have others not only near at hand, but even of our own household throughout Italy itself,— men who are here after receiving the rewards of victory, many of them with arms in their hands and in the same organization in which they fought, men assigned to colonies by Caesar (many thousands of whom are still in the city), — what think you they will do if they are deprived of what they have received, or expect to receive, in town and country? The past night showed you a sample. They were coursing the streets with threats against you who were supplicating in behalf of the murderers.

Think you that Caesar’s fellow-soldiers will allow his body to be dragged through the streets, dishonored, and cast away unburied — for our laws prescribe such treatment for tyrants? Will they consider the rewards they have received for their victories in Gaul and Britain secure, when he who gave them is treated with contumely? What will the Roman people themselves do? What the Italians? What ill-will of gods and men will attend you if you put ignominy upon one who advanced your dominion to shores of the ocean hitherto unknown? Will not such fickleness on our part be held in greater reprobation and condemnation if we vote to confer honor on those who have slain a consul in the senate-house, an inviolable man in a sacred place, in full senate, under the eyes of the gods, and if we dishonor one whom even our enemies honor for his bravery? I warn you to abstain from these proceedings as being sacrilegious in themselves and not in our power. I move that all the acts and intentions of Caesar be ratified and that the authors of the crime be by no means applauded (for that would be neither pious, nor just, nor consistent with the ratification of Caesar’s acts). Let them be spared, if you please, as an act of clemency only, for the sake of their families and friends, if the latter will accept it in this sense in behalf of the murderers and acknowledge it in the light of a favor.

When Antony had said these things with intense feeling and impetuosity, all the others remaining silent and agreeing, the following decree was passed: There shall be no prosecution for the murder of Caesar, but all of his acts and decrees are confirmed, because this policy is deemed advantageous to the commonwealth. The friends of the murderers insisted that those last words should be added for their security, implying that Caesar’s acts were confirmed as a measure of utility and not of justice; and in this matter Antony yielded to them. When this decree had been voted the leaders of the colonists who were present asked for another act special to themselves, in addition to the general one, in order to confirm their colonies. Antony did not oppose this, but rather intimidated the Senate to pass it. So this was adopted, and another like it concerning the colonists who had been already sent out. The Senate was thereupon dismissed, and a number of senators collected around Lucius Piso, whom Caesar had made the custodian of his will and urged him not to make the will public, and not to give the body a public funeral, lest some new disturbance should arise therefrom. As he would not yield they threatened him with a public prosecution for defrauding the people of such an amount of wealth which ought to go into the public treasury; thus giving new signs that they were suspicious of a tyranny.

Then Piso called out with a loud voice and demanded that the consuls should reconvene the senators, who were still present, which was done, and then he said: These men who talk of having killed a tyrant are already so many tyrants over us in place of one. They forbid the burying of a Pontifex Maximus and they threaten me when I produce his will. Moreover, they intend to confiscate his property as that of a tyrant. They have ratified Caesar’s acts as regards themselves, but they annul those which relate to him. It is no longer Brutus or Cassius who do this, but those who instigated them to the murder. Of his burial you are the masters. Of his will I am, and never will I betray what has been intrusted to me unless somebody kills me also. This speech excited clamor and indignation on all sides, and especially among those who hoped that they should obtain something from the will. It was decreed that the will should be read in public and that Caesar should have a public funeral. Thereupon the Senate adjourned.

When Brutus and Cassius learned what had been done they sent messengers to the plebeians, whom they invited to come up to them at the Capitol. Presently a large number came together and Brutus addressed them as follows: Here, citizens, we meet you, we who yesterday met together with you in the forum. We have come hither, not as taking refuge in a sanctuary (for we have done nothing wrong), nor in a citadel (for as regards our own affairs we intrust ourselves to you), but the sudden and unexpected attack made upon Cinna compelled us to do so. I know that our enemies accuse us of perjury and say that we render a lasting peace difficult. What we have to reply to these accusations we will say in your presence, citizens, with whose help we shall do what remains to be done for the restoration of democratic government. After Gaius Caesar advanced from Gaul with hostile arms against his country, and Pompey, the most popular man among you, suffered as he did, and after him a great number of other good citizens, who had been driven into Africa and Spain, had perished, Caesar was naturally apprehensive, although his power was firmly intrenched, and we granted him amnesty at his request and confirmed it by oath. If he had required us to swear not only to condone the past, but to be willing slaves for the future, what would our present accusers have done? For my part I think that, being Romans, they would have chosen to die many times rather than take an oath of voluntary servitude.

If Caesar did no more against your liberty then are we perjured. But if he restored to you neither the magistracies of the city nor those of the provinces, neither the command of armies, the priestly offices, the leadership of colonies, nor any other posts of honor; if he neither consulted the Senate about anything nor asked the authority of the people, but if Caesar’s command was all in all; if he was not even ever satiated with our misfortunes as Sulla was (for Sulla, when he had destroyed his enemies restored to you the government of the commonwealth, but Caesar, as he was going away for another long military expedition, anticipated by his appointments your elections for five years), what sort of freedom was this in which not a ray of hope could be any longer discerned? What shall I say of the defenders of the people, Caesetius and Marullus? Were not the incumbents of a sacred and inviolable office ignominiously banished? Although the law and the oath prescribed by our ancestors forbid calling the tribunes to account during their term of office, Caesar banished them even without a trial. Have we then, or has he, done violence to inviolable persons — unless you say that Caesar was sacred and inviolable, upon whom we conferred that distinction not of our own free will, but by compulsion, and not until he had invaded his country with arms and killed a great number of our noblest and best citizens? Did not our fathers in a democracy and without compulsion take an oath that the office of tribune should be sacred and inviolable, and declare with maledictions that it should remain so forever? What has become of the public tribute? What of the public accounts? Who opened the public treasury without our consent? Who removed part of the consecrated money? Who threatened with death another tribune who opposed him?

But what kind of an oath after this will be a guarantee of peace? they ask. If there is no tyrant there will be no need of oaths. Our fathers never needed any. If anybody else seeks to establish tyranny, no faith, no oath, will ever bind Romans to the tyrant. This we said before, while we were still in danger; this we will continue to say forever for our country’s sake. We, who held places of honor securely at the hands of Caesar, had a higher regard for our country than for our offices. They slander us about the colonies and so excite you against us. If there are any present who have been settled in colonies, or are about to be settled, you will gratify me by making yourselves known.

A large number did so, whereupon Brutus continued, Bravo, my men, you have done well to come here with the others. You ought, since you receive due honors and bounties from your country, to give her equal honor in return as she sends you forth. The Roman people gave you to Caesar to fight against the Gauls and Britons, and your valiant deeds call for recognition and recompense. But Caesar, taking advantage of your military oath, led you against your country much against your will. He led you against our best citizens in Africa, in like manner against your will. If this were all that you had done you would perhaps be ashamed to ask reward for such exploits, but since neither envy, nor time, nor the forgetfulness of men can extinguish the glory of your deeds in Gaul and Britain, you shall have the rewards due to them, such as the people gave to those who served in the army of old, yet not by taking land from your unoffending fellow-citizens, nor by dividing other people’s property with new-comers, nor by considering it proper to requite your services by means of acts of injustice. When our ancestors overcame their enemies they did not take from them all their land. They shared it with them and colonized a portion of it with Roman soldiers, who were to serve as guards over the vanquished. If the conquered territory was not sufficient for the colonies, they added some of the public domain or bought other land with the public money. In this way the people colonized you without harm to anybody. But Sulla and Caesar, who invaded their country like a foreign land and needed guards and garrisons against their own country, did not dismiss you to your homes, nor buy land for you, nor divide among you the property of citizens which they confiscated, nor did they make compensation for the relief of those who were despoiled, although those who despoiled them had plenty of money from the treasury and plenty from confiscated estates. They took, by the law of war, — nay, by the practice of robbery, — from Italians who had committed no offence, who had done no wrong, their land and houses, tombs and temples, which we do not take away even from foreign enemies, except a mere tenth of their produce by way of tax.

They divided among you the property of your own people, the very ones who sent you with Caesar to the Gallic war, and who offered up their prayers at your festival of victory. They colonized you in that way collectively, under your standards and in your military organization, so that you could neither enjoy peace nor be free from fear of those whom you displaced. The man who is driven out and deprived of his goods will always be watching his opportunity to ensnare you. This was the very thing that the tyrants sought to accomplish, — not to provide you with land, which they could have obtained for you elsewhere; but that you, because always beset by lurking enemies, might be the firm bulwark of a government that was committing wrongs in common with you. A common interest between tyrants and their satellites grows out of common crimes and common fears. And this, ye gods, they call colonization, in which are common the lamentations of a kindred people and the expulsion of innocent men from their homes. They purposely made you enemies to your countrymen for their own advantage. We, the defenders of the republic, to whom our opponents say they grant safety out of pity, confirm this very same land to you and will confirm it forever; and to this promise we call to witness the god of this temple. You have and shall keep what you have received. None of us will take it from you, neither Brutus, nor Cassius, nor any of us who have incurred danger for your freedom. The one thing wanting in this business we will supply — a reconciliation with your fellow-countrymen most agreeable to them now, as they hear that we shall at once pay them out of the public money the price of this land of which they have been deprived; so that not only shall your colony be secure, but it shall not even be exposed to hatred.

While Brutus was still speaking in this sort, and after the assembly was dissolved, his discourse was approved by all as being entirely just. He and his associates were admired as men of intrepidity, and as peculiarly the friends of the people. The latter were favorably inclined toward them, and promised to coöperate with them on the following day. At daybreak the consuls called the people to an assembly and communicated to them the decisions of the Senate, and Cicero pronounced a long encomium on the decree of amnesty. The people were delighted with it and invited Cassius and his friends to come down from the Capitol. The latter asked that hostages be sent to them in the meantime, and, accordingly, the sons of Antony and Lepidus were sent. When Brutus and his associates made their appearance they were received with shouts of applause, and when the consuls desired to say something the people would not allow them to do so, but demanded that they should first shake hands with these men and make peace with them, which was done. The minds of the consuls were much disturbed by fear and envy lest the conspirators should get the upper hand of them in other political matters.

Caesar’s will was now produced and the people ordered that it be read at once. In it Octavius, the grandson of his sister, was adopted by Caesar. His gardens were given to the people as a place of recreation, and to every Roman still living in the city he gave seventy-five Attic drachmas. The people were again stirred to anger when they saw the will of this lover of his country, whom they had before heard accused of tyranny. Most of all did it seem pitiful to them that Decimus Brutus, one of the murderers, should have been named by him for adoption in the second degree; for it was customary for the Romans to name alternate heirs in case of the failure of the first. Whereupon there was still greater disturbance among the people, who considered it shocking and sacrilegious that Decimus should have conspired against Caesar when he had been adopted as his son. When Piso brought Caesar’s body into the forum a countless multitude ran together with arms to guard it, and with acclamations and magnificent display placed it on the rostra. Wailing and lamentation were renewed for a long time, the armed men clashed their shields, and gradually they began to repent themselves of the amnesty. Antony, seeing how things were going, did not abandon his purpose, but, having been chosen to deliver the funeral oration, as a consul for a consul, a friend for a friend, a relative for a relative (for he was related to Caesar on his mother’s side), resumed his artful design and spoke as follows:—

It is not fitting, citizens, that the funeral oration of so great a man should be pronounced by me alone, but rather by his whole country. The decrees which all of us, in equal admiration of his merit, voted to him while he was alive — the Senate and the people acting together — I will read, so that I may voice your sentiments rather than my own. Then he began to read with a severe and gloomy countenance, pronouncing each sentence distinctly and dwelling especially on those decrees which declared Caesar to be superhuman, sacred, and inviolable, and which named him the father of his country, or the benefactor, or the chieftain without a peer. With each decree Antony turned his face and his hand toward Caesar’s corpse, illustrating his discourse by his action, and at each appellation he added some brief remark full of grief and indignation; as, for example, where the decree spoke of Caesar as the father of his country he added that this was a testimonial of his clemency; and again, where he was made sacred and inviolable and everybody else was to be held unharmed who should find refuge with him,— Nobody, said Antony, who found refuge with him was harmed, but he, whom you declared sacred and inviolable, was killed, although he did not extort these honors from you as a tyrant, and did not even ask for them. Most servile are we if we give such honors to the unworthy who do not ask for them. But you, faithful citizens, vindicate us from this charge of servility by paying such honors as you now pay to the dead.

Antony resumed his reading and recited the oaths by which all were pledged to guard Caesar and Caesar’s body with all their strength, and all were devoted to perdition who should not avenge him against any conspiracy. Here, lifting up his voice and extending his hand toward the Capitol, he exclaimed, Jupiter, guardian of this city, and ye other gods, I stand ready to avenge him as I have sworn and vowed, but since those who are of equal rank with me have considered the decree of amnesty beneficial, I pray that it may prove so. A commotion arose among the senators in consequence of this exclamation, which seemed to have special reference to them. So Antony quieted them again and recanted, saying, It seems to me, fellow-citizens, that this deed is not the work of human beings, but of some evil spirit. It becomes us to consider the present rather than the past, since the greatest danger approaches, if it is not already here, lest we be drawn into our former civil commotions and lose whatever remains of noble birth in the city. Let us then conduct this sacred one to the abode of the blest, chanting our accustomed hymn of lamentation for him.

Having spoken thus,, he gathered up his garments like one inspired, girded himself so that he might have the free use of his hands, took his position in front of the bier as in a play, bending down to it and rising again, and sang first as to a celestial deity. In order to testify to Caesar’s godlike origin, he raised his hands to heaven and with rapid speech recited his wars, his battles, his victories, the nations he had brought under his country’s sway, and the spoils he had sent home, extolling each exploit as miraculous, and all the time exclaiming, Thou alone hast come forth unvanquished from all the battles thou hast fought. Thou alone hast avenged thy country of the out-rage put upon it 300 years ago, bringing to their knees those savage tribes, the only ones that ever broke into and burned the city of Rome. Many other things Antony said in a kind of divine frenzy, and then lowered his voice from its high pitch to a sorrowful tone, and mourned and wept as for a friend who had suffered unjustly, and prayed that his own life might be given in exchange for Caesar’s. Carried away by extreme passion he uncovered the body of Caesar, lifted his robe on the point of a spear and shook it aloft, pierced with dagger-thrusts and red with the dictator’s blood. Whereupon the people, like a chorus, mourned with him in the most lugubrious manner, and from sorrow became again filled with anger. After the discourse other lamentations were chanted with funeral music according to the national custom, by the people in chorus, to the dead; and his deeds and his sad fate were again recited. Somewhere from the midst of these lamentations Caesar himself was supposed to speak, recounting the benefits he had conferred on his enemies by name, and speaking of the murderers themselves, exclaiming, as it were, Oh that I should have spared these men to slay me. The people could endure it no longer. It seemed to them monstrous that all the murderers who, with the single exception of Decimus Brutus, had been made prisoners while belonging to the faction of Pompey, and who, instead of being punished, had been advanced by Caesar to the magistracies of Rome and to the command of provinces and armies, should have conspired against him; and that Decimus should have been deemed by him worthy of adoption as his son.

While they were in this temper and were already near to violence, somebody raised above the bier an image of Caesar himself made of wax. The body itself, as it lay on its back on the couch, could not be seen. The image was turned round and round by a mechanical device, showing the twenty-three wounds in all parts of the body and on the face, which gave him a shocking appearance. The people could no longer bear the pitiful sight presented to them. They groaned, and, girding themselves, they burned the senate-chamber where Caesar was slain, and ran hither and thither searching for the murderers, who had fled some time previously. They were so mad with rage and grief that like wild beasts they tore in pieces the tribune Cinna on account of his similarity of name to the praetor Cinna who had made a speech against Caesar, not waiting to hear any explanation about the simhilarity of name, so that no part of him was ever found for burial. They carried fire to the houses of the other murderers, but the domestics valiantly fought them off and the neighbors besought them to desist. So the people abstained from the use of fire, but they threatened to come back with arms on the following day.

The murderers fled from the city secretly. The people returned to Caesar’s bier and bore it as a consecrated thing to the Capitol in order to bury it in the temple and place it among the gods. Being prevented from doing so by the priests, they placed it again in the forum where in the olden time stood the palace of the kings of Rome. There they collected together sticks of wood and benches, of which there were many in the forum, and anything else they could find of that sort, for a funeral pile, throwing on it the adornments of the procession, some of which were very costly. Some of them cast their own crowns upon it and many military gifts. Then they set fire to it, and the entire people remained by the funeral pile throughout the night. There an altar was first erected, but now there stands the temple of Caesar himself, as he was deemed worthy of divine honors; for Octavius, his son by adoption, who took the name of Caesar, and, following in the footsteps of the latter in political matters, greatly strengthened the government founded by Caesar, and which remains to this day, decreed divine honors to his father. From this example the Romans now pay like honors to each emperor at his death if he has not reigned in a tyrannical manner or made himself odious, although at first they could not bear to call them kings while living.

So died Gaius Caesar on the so-called Ides of March, which correspond nearly with the middle of the Greek month Anthesterion, which day the soothsayer predicted that he should not survive. Caesar jokingly said to him early in the morning, Well, the Ides have come, and the latter, nothing daunted, answered, But they are not past. Despising such prophecies, uttered with so much confidence by the soothsayer, and other prodigies that I have previously mentioned, Caesar went on his way and was killed, being fifty-six years of age. He was a man most fortunate in all things, superhuman, of grand designs, and fit to be compared with Alexander. Both were men of the greatest ambition, both were most skilled in the art of war, most rapid in executing their decisions, most reckless of danger, least sparing of themselves, and relying as much on audacity and luck as on military skill. Alexander made a long journey through the desert in the hot season to visit the oracle of Ammon and crossed the Gulf of Pamphylia against a head sea successfully. A god restrained the waves for him until he had passed over, and sent him rain on his journey by land. In India he ventured upon an unknown sea. Once he was the first to ascend the scaling ladders and leaped over the wall among his enemies alone, and in this condition received thirteen wounds. Yet he was never defeated, and he finished almost every war in one or two battles. He conquered many barbarians in Europe and made himself master of Greece, a people hard to control, fond of freedom, who boasted that they had never obeyed anybody before him, except Philip for a little while under the guise of his leadership in war. He overran almost the whole of Asia. To sum up Alexander’s fortune and power in a word, he acquired as much of the earth as he saw, and died while he was devising means to capture the rest.

The Adriatic Sea yielded to Caesar, becoming navigable and quiet in mid-winter. He also crossed the western ocean to Britain, which had never been attempted before, and he ordered his pilots to break their ships in pieces by running them on the rocks of the British coast. He was exposed to the violence of another tempest when alone in a small boat by night, and he ordered the pilot to spread his sails and to keep in mind Caesar’s fortune rather than the waves of the sea. He often dashed against the enemy single-handed when all others were afraid. He fought thirty pitched battles in Gaul alone, where he conquered forty nations so formidable to the Romans previously that in the law which exempted priests and old men from military enrolment an exception was made of a Gallic war, in case of which priests and old men were required to serve in the army. Once in the course of the Alexandrian war, when he was left alone on a bridge in extreme peril, he threw off his purple garment, leaped into the sea, and, being sought by the enemy, swam under water a long distance, coming to the surface only at intervals to take breath, until he came near a friendly ship, when he made himself known by raising his hands, and was saved. In these civil wars, in which he engaged either through apprehension, as he says, or ambition, he was brought in conflict with the first generals of the age and with many large armies, not now of barbarians, but of Romans in the highest state of efficiency and good fortune, and, like Alexander, he overcame them all by one or two engagements with each. His forces were not, like Alexander’s, always victorious, for they were defeated by the Gauls most disastrously under the command of his lieutenants, Cotta and Titurius; and in Spain Petreius and Afranius shut them up like an army besieged. At Dyrrachium and in Africa they were put to flight, and in Spain they were terrified by young Pompey. But Caesar himself was always undaunted and was victorious at the end of every war. He grasped, partly by force, partly by good-will, the Roman power which ruled the earth and sea from the setting sun to the river Euphrates, and held it much more firmly and strongly than Sulla had done, and he showed himself to be a king in spite of opposition, even though he did not accept the title. And, like Alexander, he expired while planning new wars.

Their armies were equally zealous and devoted to both, and in battles they fought with the greatest ferocity, but were often disobedient and mutinous on account of the severity of their tasks. Yet they mourned and longed for their commanders when they were dead, and paid them divine honors. Both were well-formed and handsome in person, and both were descended from Jupiter, Alexander through Aeacus and Hercules, Caesar through Anchises and Venus. Both were as prompt to fight their adversaries as they were ready to make peace and grant pardon to the vanquished, and after pardon to confer benefits; for they desired only to conquer. Thus far let the parallel hold good, although they did not both start toward empire from the same footing; Alexander from the monarchy founded by Philip, Caesar from a private station, well born and illustrious indeed, but very short of money.

Both of them despised the prodigies relating to themselves, but they did not deal harshly with the sooth-sayers who predicted their death; for more than once the very same prodigies confronted both, pointing to the same end. Twice in the case of each the victims were without a liver, and the first time it indicated a doubtful danger. It happened to Alexander when he was among the Oxydracae and while he was leading his Macedonians in scaling the enemy’s wall. The ladder broke, leaving him alone on the top. Taking counsel of his courage, he leaped inside the town against his enemies, and was struck severely in the breast and on the neck by a very heavy club, so that he fell down, and was rescued with difficulty by the Macedonians, who broke down the gates in their alarm for him. It happened to Caesar in Spain while his army was in great fear of young Pompey, and hesitated to join battle. Caesar dashed in advance of all into the space between the armies, and received 200 darts on his shield until his army, moved by shame and fear for his safety, rushed forward and rescued him. Thus in the case of each the first victims without livers presaged danger of death; the second presaged death itself. As Peithagoras, the soothsayer, was inspecting the entrails, he told Apollodorus, who was in fear of Alexander and Hephestion, not to be afraid of them, because they would both be out of the way very soon. Hephestion died immediately, and Apollodorus, being apprehensive lest some conspiracy might exist against Alexander, communicated the prophecy to him. Alexander smiled, and asked Peithagoras himself what the prodigy meant. When the latter replied that it meant fatality, he smiled again. Nevertheless, he commended Apollodorus for his good-will and the soothsayer for his freedom of speech.

As Caesar was entering the Senate for the last time, as I have shortly before related, the same omens were observed, but he said, jestingly, that the same thing had happened to him in Spain. When the soothsayer replied that he was in danger then too, and that the omen was now more deadly, he yielded somewhat to the warning and sacrificed again, and continued to do so until he became vexed with the priests for delaying him, and went in and was killed. The same kind of thing happened to Alexander. As he was returning from India to Babylon with his army, and was nearing the latter place, the Chaldeans urged him to postpone his entrance for the present. He replied with the iambic verse, He who guesses right is the best prophet. Again, the Chaldeans urged him not to march his army into the city while looking toward the setting sun, but to go around and enter facing the east. It is said that he yielded to this suggestion and started to go around, but being bothered by a lake and marshy ground, he disregarded this second prophecy also, and entered the city looking toward the west. Not long after entering he went down the Euphrates in a boat to the river Pallacotta, which takes its water from the Euphrates and carries it away in marshes and ponds and thus hinders the irrigation and navigation of the Assyrian country. While he was considering how he should dyke this stream and while he was sailing out to it for this purpose, it is said that he jeered at the Chaldeans because he had gone into Babylon and sailed out of it safely. But scarcely had he returned back to it when he died. Caesar jeered at the prophecies in like manner, for the soothsayer predicted the day of his death, saying that he should not survive the Ides of March, and when the day came Caesar mocked him saying, The Ides have come; and the same day he died. Thus both alike made light of the prophecies concerning themselves, and were not angry at the soothsayers who uttered them, yet they became the inevitable victims of the prophecies.

Both were students of the science and arts of their own country, of Greece, and of foreign nations. As to those of India, Alexander interrogated the Brahmins who seem to be the astronomers and learned men of that country, like the Magi among the Persians. Caesar likewise interrogated the Egyptians while he was there restoring Cleopatra to the throne, by which means he made many improvements among the peaceful arts for the Romans. He changed the calendar, which was still in disorder by reason of the intercalary months till then in use, for the Romans reckoned the year by the moon. Caesar changed it to the sun’s course, as the Egyptians reckoned it. It happened in his case that not one of the conspirators against him escaped, but all were brought to condign punishment by his adopted son, just as the murderers of Philip were by Alexander. How they were punished the succeeding books will show.

I. THUS was Gaius Caesar, who had been foremost in extending the Roman sway, slain by his enemies and buried by the people. All of his murderers were brought to punishment. How the most distinguished of them were punished this book and the next one will show, and the other civil wars waged by the Romans will likewise be included in them.

The Senate blamed Antony for his funeral oration over Caesar, by which, chiefly, the people were incited to disregard the decree of amnesty lately passed, and to scour the city in order to fire the houses of the murderers. But he changed it from bad to good feeling toward himself by one capital stroke of policy. There was a certain pseudo-Marius in Rome named Amatius. He pretended to be a grandson of Marius, and for this reason was popular with the masses. Being, according to this pretence, a relative of Caesar, he was pained beyond measure by the latter’s death, and erected an altar on the site of his funeral pyre. He collected a band of reckless men and made himself a perpetual terror to the murderers. Some of these had fled from the city, and those who had accepted the command of provinces from Caesar himself had gone away to take charge of the same, Decimus Brutus to Cisalpine Gaul, Trebonius to Asia adjoining Ionia, and Tillius Cimber to Bithynia. Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who were the special favorites of the Senate, had been chosen by Caesar as governors for the following year, the former of Syria, and the latter of Macedonia. Being still city praetors, they remained there necessarily, and in their official capacity they conciliated the colonists by various decrees, and among others by one enabling them to sell their allotments, the law hitherto forbidding the alienation of the land till the end of twenty years.

It was said that Amatius was only waiting an opportunity to entrap Brutus and Cassius. On the rumor of this plot, Antony, using his consular authority, arrested Amatius and boldly put him to death without a trial. The senators were astonished at this deed as an act of violence and contrary to law, but they enjoyed it exceedingly because they thought that the situation of Brutus and Cassius would never be safe without such boldness. The followers of Amatius, and the plebeians generally, missing Amatius and feeling indignation at the deed, and especially because it had been done by Antony, whom the people had honored, determined that they would not be scorned in that way. With shouts they took possession of the forum, exclaiming against Antony and called on the magistrates, in place of Amatius, to dedicate the altar and to offer the first sacrifices on it to Caesar. Having been driven out of the forum by soldiers sent by Antony, they became still more indignant, and vociferated more loudly, and some of them showed places where Caesar’s statues had been torn from their pedestals. One man told them that he could show a shop where the statues had been broken up. The others followed, and having witnessed the fact, they set fire to the place. Finally, Antony sent more soldiers and some of those who resisted were killed, others were captured, and of these the slaves were crucified and the freemen thrown over the Tarpeian rock.

So this tumult was quieted. The extreme fondness of the plebeians for Antony was turned into extreme hatred. The Senate was delighted, because it believed that Brutus and his associates could not rest secure otherwise. Antony also moved that Sextus Pompeius (the son of Pompey the Great, who was still much beloved by all) should be recalled from Spain, where he was still at war with Caesar’s lieutenants, and that he should be paid 50,000,000 of Attic drachmas out of the public treasury for his father’s confiscated property and be appointed commander of the sea, as his father had been, with charge of all the Roman ships, wherever situated, which were needed for immediate service. The astonished Senate accepted each of these decrees with alacrity and applauded Antony the whole day; for nobody, in their estimation, was more devoted to the republic than the elder Pompey, and hence nobody was more regretted. Cassius and Brutus, who were of Pompey’s faction, and the ones most honored by all at that time, thought that they would be entirely safe. They thought that what they had done would be confirmed, and the republic be at last restored, and their party successful. Wherefore Cicero praised Antony continually, and the Senate, perceiving that the plebeians were making plots against him on its account, allowed him a guard for his personal safety, chosen by himself from the veterans who were sojourning in the city.

Antony, either because he had done everything for this very purpose, or seizing the happy chance as very useful to him, enlisted his guard and kept adding to it till it amounted to 6000 men. They were not common soldiers. He thought that he should easily get the latter for his service otherwise. These were composed wholly of centurions, as being fit for command, and of long experience in war, and his own acquaintances through service under Caesar. He appointed tribunes over them, chosen from their own number and adorned with military decoration, and these he held in honor and made sharers of his public councils. The Senate began to be suspicious of the number of his guards, and of his care in choosing them, and advised him to reduce them to a moderate number so as to avoid invidious remarks. He promised to do so as soon as the disorder among the plebeians should be quieted. It had been decreed that all the things done by Caesar, and all that he intended to do, should be ratified. The memoranda of Caesar’s intentions were in Antony’s possession, and Caesar’s secretary, Faberius, was obedient to him in every way since Caesar himself, on the point of his departure, had placed all petitions of this kind in Antony’s discretion. Antony made many additions in order to secure the favor of many persons. He made gifts to cities, to princes, and to his own guards, and although all were advised that these were Caesar’s memoranda, yet the recipients knew that the favor was due to Antony. In the same way he enrolled many new names in the list of senators and did many other things to please the Senate, in order that it might not bear him ill-will in reference to his guards.

While Antony was busy with these matters, Brutus and Cassius, seeing nobody among either the plebeians or the veterans inclined to be at peace with them, and considering that any other person might lay plots against them like that of Amatius, became distrustful of the fickleness of Antony, who now had an army under his command. Seeing that the republic was not confirmed by deeds, they suspected Antony for that reason also. They reposed most confidence in Decimus Brutus, who had three legions near by. They sent secretly to Trebonius in Asia and to Tillius in Bithynia, asking them to collect money quietly and to prepare an army. They were anxious to enter upon the government of the provinces assigned to them by Caesar, but as the time for doing so had not yet come, they thought that it would be indecorous for them to leave their service as city praetors unfinished, and that they should incur the suspicion of an undue longing for power over the provinces. They preferred, nevertheless, to spend the remainder of their year as private citizens somewhere, as a matter of necessity, rather than serve as praetors in the city where they were not safe, and were not held in honor corresponding to the benefits they had conferred upon their country. Being in this state of mind, and the Senate holding the same opinion as themselves, the latter gave them charge of the supply of corn for the city from all parts of the world until the time should arrive for them to take command of their provinces. This was done in order that Brutus and Cassius might not at any time seem to have fled. So great was the anxiety and regard for them that the Senate cared for the other murderers chiefly on their account.

After Brutus and Cassius had left the city, Antony, being in possession of something like monarchical power, cast about for the government of a province and an army for himself. He desired that of Syria most of all, but he was not ignorant of the fact that he was under suspicion and that he would be more so if he should ask for it; for the Senate had secretly encouraged Dolabella, the other consul, to oppose Antony, as the former had always been at variance with the latter. Antony, knowing that this young Dolabella was himself ambitious, persuaded him to solicit the province of Syria and the army enlisted against the Parthians, in place of Cassius, and to ask it, not from the Senate, which had not the power to grant it, but from the people by a law. Dolabella was delighted, and immediately brought forward the law. The Senate accused him of nullifying the decrees of Caesar. He replied that Caesar had not assigned the war against the Parthians to anybody, and that Cassius, who had been assigned to the command of Syria, had himself been the first to alter the decrees of Caesar by authorizing colonists to sell their allotments before the expiration of the legal period of twenty years. He said also that it would be an indignity to himself if he, being Dolabella, were not chosen for Syria instead of Cassius. The Senate then persuaded one of the tribunes, named Asprenas, to falsify the signs in the sky during the comitia, expecting that Antony, who was both consul and augur, and was supposed to be still at variance with Dolabella, would coöperate with him. But when the voting came on, and Asprenas said that the signs in the sky were unfavorable, as it was not his business to attend to this, Antony, angry at his lying, ordered that the tribes should go on with the voting on the subject of Dolabella.

Thus Dolabella became governor of Syria and general of the war against the Parthians and of the forces enlisted for that purpose by Caesar, together with those that had gone in advance to Macedonia. Then it became known for the first time that Antony was coöperating with Dolabella. After this business had been transacted by the people, Antony solicited the province of Macedonia from the Senate, well knowing that after Syria had been given to Dolabella, they would be ashamed to deny Macedonia to himself, especially as it was a province without an army. They gave it to him unwillingly, at the same time wondering why Antony should let Dolabella have the army, but glad nevertheless that the latter had it rather than the former. They themselves took the opportunity to ask of Antony other provinces for Brutus and Cassius. They assigned to them Cyrenaica and Crete; or, as some say, both of these to Cassius and Bithynia to Brutus. Such was the state of affairs at Rome.

Octavius, the son of the daughter of Caesar’s sister, had been appointed master of Caesar’s horse for one year, for Caesar at times made this a yearly office, passing it around among his friends. Being still a young man, he had been sent by Caesar to Apollonia on the Adriatic to be educated and trained in the art of war, so that he might accompany Caesar on his expeditions. Troops of horse from Macedonia were sent to him by turns for the purpose of drill, and certain army officers visited him frequently as a relative of Caesar. As he received all with kindness, an acquaintance and good feeling grew up by means of them between himself and the army. At the end of a six months’ sojourn in Apollonia, it was announced to him one evening that Caesar had been killed in the senate-house by those who were dearest to him, and were then the most powerful ones under him. As the rest of the story was untold he was overcome by fear, not knowing whether the deed had been committed by the Senate as a whole or was confined to the immediate actors; nor whether they had already been punished by the people, or would be, or whether the people were pleased with what had been done.

Thereupon his Roman friends advised him to take refuge with the army in Macedonia to insure his personal safety, and that when he should learn that the murder was only a private transaction he should take courage and avenge Caesar of his enemies; and there were high officers who promised to protect him if he would come. But his mother and his stepfather, Philippus, wrote to him from Rome not to be too confident and not to attempt anything rash, but to bear in mind what Caesar, after conquering every enemy, had suffered at the hands of his closest friends; that it would be safer under present circumstances to choose a private life and hasten to them at Rome, but with caution. Octavius yielded to them because he did not know what had happened after Caesar’s death. He took leave of the army officers and crossed the Adriatic, not to Brundusium (for as he had made no test of the army at that place he avoided all risk), but to another town not far from it and out of the direct route, named Lupiae. There he took lodgings and remained for a while.

When more accurate information about the murder and the public grief had reached him, together with copies of Caesar’s will and the decrees of the Senate, his relatives still cautioned him to beware of the enemies of Caesar, as he was the latter’s adopted son and heir. They even advised him to renounce the adoption, together with the inheritance. But he thought that to do so, and not to avenge Caesar, would be disgraceful. So he went to Brundusium, first sending in advance to see that none of the murderers had laid any trap for him. When the army there advanced to meet him, and received him as Caesar’s son, he took courage, offered sacrifice, and immediately assumed the name of Caesar; for it is customary among the Romans for the adopted son to take the name of the adoptive father. He not only assumed it, but he changed his own name and his patronymic completely, calling himself Caesar the son of Caesar, instead of Octavius the son of Octavius, and he continued to do so ever after. Directly multitudes of men from all sides flocked to him as Caesar’s son, some from friendship to Caesar, others his freedmen and slaves, and with them other soldiers, who were either engaged in conveying supplies and money to the army in Macedonia, or bringing other money and tribute from other countries to Brundusium.

Encouraged by the numbers who were joining him, and by the glory of Caesar, and by the good-will of all toward himself, he journeyed to Rome with a notable crowd which, like a torrent, grew larger and larger each day. Although he was safe from any open attacks by reason of the multitude surrounding him, he was all the more on his guard against secret ones, because almost all of those accompanying him were new acquaintances. Some of the towns were not altogether favorable to him, but Caesar’s veterans, who had been distributed in colonies, flocked from their settlements to greet the young man. They bewailed Caesar, and cursed Antony for not proceeding against the monstrous crime, and said that they would avenge it if anybody would lead them. Octavius praised them, but postponed the matter for the present and sent them away. When he had arrived at Tarracina, about 400 stades from Rome, he received news that Cassius and Brutus had been deprived of Syria and Macedonia by the consuls, and had received the smaller provinces of Cyrenaica and Crete by way of compensation; that certain exiles had returned; that Sextus Pompey had been recalled; that some new members had been added to the Senate in accordance with Caesar’s memoranda, and that many other things were happening.

When he arrived at the city his mother and Philippus and the others who were interested in him were anxious about the estrangement of the Senate from Caesar, and the decree that his murderers should not be punished, and the contempt shown him by Antony, who was then all-powerful, and had neither gone to meet Caesar’s son when he was coming nor sent anybody to him. Octavius quieted their fears, saying that he would call on Antony, as the younger man on the older and the private citizen on the consul, and that he would show proper respect for the Senate. As for the decree, he said that it had been passed because nobody had prosecuted the murderers; whenever anybody should have courage to prosecute, the people and the Senate would lend their aid to him as one enforcing the law, the gods would do so for the justice of his cause, and perhaps Antony himself would help. If he (Octavius) should reject the inheritance and the adoption, he would be false to Caesar and would wrong the people who had a share in the will. As he was finishing his remarks he burst out that he ought not only to incur danger, but even to die, after he had been preferred before all others in this way by Caesar, if he would show himself worthy of one who had himself braved every danger. Then turning to his mother, he repeated the words of Achilles to Thetis, which were then fresh in his mind: — Then quickly let me die since fate denied That I should aid my friend against the foes That slew him. Iliad, xviii. 98, Bryant’s translation. After saying this he added that these words of Achilles, and especially the deed that followed, had of all things given him immortal renown; and he invoked Caesar not as a friend, but a father; not as a fellow-soldier, but a commander-in-chief; not as one who had fallen by the law of war, but as the victim of sacrilegious murder in the senate-house.

Thereupon his mother’s anxiety was changed to joy, and she embraced him as the only one worthy of Caesar. She checked his speaking and urged him to prosecute his designs with the favor of fortune. She advised him, however, to use art and patience rather than open boldness. Octavius approved of this policy and promised to adopt it in action, and forthwith sent around to his friends the same evening, asking them to come to the forum early in the morning and bring a crowd with them. There presenting himself to Gaius Antonius, the brother of Antony, who was the city praetor, he said that he accepted the adoption of Caesar; for it is a Roman custom that adoptions are confirmed by witnesses before the praetors. When the public scribes had taken down his declaration, Octavius went from the forum straightway to Antony. The latter was in the gardens that Caesar had given to him, that had formerly been Pompey’s. As Octavius was kept waiting at the vestibule for some time, he interpreted the fact as a sign of Antony’s displeasure. When he was admitted there were greetings and mutual questionings proper to the occasion. When the time came to speak of the business in hand, Octavius said: —

Father Antony (for the benefits that Caesar conferred upon you and your gratitude toward him warrant me in giving you that title), for some of the things that you have done since his death I praise you and owe you thanks; for others I blame you. I shall speak freely of what my sorrow prompts me to speak. When Caesar was killed you were not present, as the murderers detained you at the door; otherwise you would have saved him or incurred the danger of sharing the same fate with him. If the latter would have befallen you, then it is well that you were not present. When certain senators proposed rewards to the murderers as tyrannicides you strongly opposed them. For this I give you hearty thanks, although you knew that they intended to kill you also; not, as I think, because you were likely to avenge Caesar, but, as they themselves say, lest you should be his successor in the tyranny. At the same time they made it clear that they were not tyrant-killers, but murderers, by taking refuge in the Capitol, either as guilty suppliants in a temple or as enemies in a fortress. How then could they have obtained amnesty and impunity for their crime unless some portion of the Senate and people had been corrupted by them? Yet you, as consul, ought to have seen what would be for the interest of the majority, and if you had wished to avenge such a monstrous crime, or to reclaim the erring, your office would have enabled you to do either. But you sent hostages from your own family to the murderers at the Capitol for their security. Let us suppose that those who had been corrupted forced you to do this also, yet when Caesar’s will had been read, and you had delivered your righteous funeral oration, and the people, in lively remembrance of Caesar, had carried firebrands to the houses of the murderers, but spared them for the sake of their neighbors, agreeing to come back armed the next day, why did you not coöperate with them and lead them with fire or arms? Or why did you not bring them to trial, if trial was necessary for men seen in the act of murder — you, Caesar’s friend; you, the consul; you, Antony?

The pseudo-Marius was put to death by your order in the plenitude of your authority, but you connived at the escape of the murderers, some of whom have passed on to the provinces which they nefariously hold as gifts at the hands of him whom they slew. These things were no sooner done than you and Dolabella, the consuls, proceeded, very properly, to strip them and possess yourselves of Syria and Macedonia. I should have owed you thanks for this also, had you not immediately voted them Cyrenaica ana Crete; had you not preferred these fugitives for governorships, where they can always defend themselves against me, and had you not tolerated Decimus Brutus in the command of Hither Gaul, although he, like the rest, was one of my father’s slayers. It may be said that these were decrees of the Senate. But you put the vote and you presided over the Senate — you who ought most of all to have opposed them on your own account. To grant amnesty to the murderers was merely to insure their personal safety as a matter of favor, but to vote them provinces and rewards forthwith was to insult Caesar and annul your own opinion. Grief has compelled me to speak these words, against the rules of decorum perhaps, considering my youth and the respect I owe you. They have been spoken, however, to the firmest friend of Caesar, to one who was invested by him with the greatest honor and power, and who would have been adopted by him no doubt if he had known that you would accept kinship with the family of Aeneas in exchange for that of Hercules; for this created doubt in his mind when he was thinking strongly of designating you as his successor.

For the future, Antony, I conjure you by the gods who preside over friendship, and by Caesar himself, to change somewhat the measures that have been adopted, for you can change them if you wish to; if not, that you will hereafter aid and cooperate with me in punishing the murderers, with the help of the people and of those who are still my father’s faithful friends. If you still have regard for the conspirators and the Senate, do not be hard on us. So much for that. You know about my private affairs and the expense I must incur for the legacy which my father directed to be given to the people, and the haste involved in it lest I may seem churlish by reason of delay, and lest those who have been assigned to colonies be compelled to remain in the city and waste their time on my account. Of Caesar’s movables, that were brought immediately after the murder from his house to yours as a safer place, I beg you to take keepsakes and anything else by way of ornament and whatever you like to retain from us. But in order that I may pay the legacy to the people, please give me the gold coin that Caesar had collected for his intended wars. That will suffice for the distribution to 300,000 men now. For the rest of my expenses I may perhaps borrow from you, if I may be so bold, or from the public treasury on your security, if you will give it, and I will offer my own property for sale at once.

While Octavius was speaking in this fashion Antony was astonished at his freedom of speech and his boldness, which seemed much beyond the bounds of propriety and of his years. He was offended by the words because they were wanting in the respect due to him, and still more by the demand for money, and, accordingly, he replied in the severe terms following: Young man, if Caesar left you the government, together with the inheritance and his name, it is proper for you to ask and for me to give the reasons for my public acts. But if the Roman people never surrendered the government to anybody to dispose of in succession, not even when they had kings, whom they expelled and swore never to have any more (this was the very charge that the murderers brought against your father, saying that they killed him because he was no longer leading but reigning), then there is no need of my answering you as to my public acts. For the same reason I release you from any indebtedness to me in the way of gratitude for those acts. They were performed not as a favor to you, but to the people, except in one particular, which was of the greatest importance to Caesar and to yourself. For if, to secure my own safety and to shield myself from enmity, I had allowed honors to be voted to the murderers as tyrannicides, Caesar would have been declared a tyrant, to whom neither glory, nor any kind of honor, nor confirmation of his acts would have been possible; who could make no valid will, have no son, nor any burial of his body, even as a private citizen. The laws provide that the bodies of tyrants shall be cast out unburied, their memory stigmatized, and their property confiscated.

Apprehending all of these consequences, I entered the lists for Caesar, for his immortal honor, and his public funeral, not without danger, not without incurring hatred to myself, contending against hot-headed, blood-thirsty men, who, as you know, had already conspired to kill me; and against the Senate, which was displeased with your father on account of his usurped authority. But I willingly chose to incur these dangers and to suffer anything rather than allow Caesar to remain unburied and dishonored — the most valiant man of his time, the most fortunate in every respect, and the one to whom the highest honors were due from me. It is by reason of the dangers I incurred that you enjoy your present distinction as the successor of Caesar, his family, his name, his dignity, his wealth. It was more becoming in you to testify your gratitude to me for these things than to reproach me for concessions made to soothe the Senate, or in compensation for what I demanded of it, or in pursuance of other needs or reasons — you a younger man addressing an older one. But enough of that. You hint that I am ambitious of the leadership. I am not ambitious of it, although I do not consider myself unworthy of it. You think that I am distressed because I was not mentioned in Caesar’s will, though you agree with me that the family of the Heraclidae is enough to content one.

As to your pecuniary needs and your wishing to borrow from the public funds, I should think you must be joking, unless we might believe that you are still ignorant of the fact that the public treasury was left empty by your father. After he assumed the government the public revenues were brought to him instead of to the treasury, and they will presently be found among Caesar’s assets when we vote an investigation into these matters. This will not be unjust to Caesar now that he is dead, nor would he say that it was unjust if he were living and were asked for the accounts. And as there will be many private persons to dispute with you concerning single pieces of property, you may assume that this portion will not be uncontested. The money transferred to my house was not so large a sum as you conjecture, nor is any part of it in my custody now. The men in power and authority, except Dolabella and my brothers, divided up the whole of it straightway as the property of a tyrant, but were brought around by me to support the decrees in favor of Caesar, and you, if you are wise, when you get possession of the remainder, will distribute it among those who are disaffected toward you rather than among the people. The former, if they are in harmony with you, will send the people, who are to be colonized, away to their settlements. The people, however, as you ought to have learned from the Greek studies you have been lately pursuing, are as unstable as the waves of the sea, now advancing, now retreating. In like manner, among us also, the people are forever exalting their favorites, and casting them down again.

Feeling outraged by the many insulting things said by Antony, Octavius went away, invoking his father repeatedly by name, and offered for sale all the property which had come to him by the inheritance, at the same time exhorting the people to stand by him. While this hasty action made manifest Antony’s enmity toward him, and the Senate voted an immediate investigation of the public accounts, most of them grew apprehensive of the young Caesar’ on account of the favor in which his father was held by the soldiers and the plebeians, and on account of his own present popularity based on the expected distribution of the money, and by reason of the wealth which had fallen to him in such vast measure that in the opinion of many he would not restrict himself to the rank of a private citizen. But they were most apprehensive of Antony, lest he should bring the young Caesar, distinguished and rich as he was, under his own control, and grasp the sovereignty held by the elder Caesar. Others were delighted with the present state of affairs, believing that the two men would come in conflict with each other; and that the investigation concerning the public money would presently put an end to the wealth of Octavius, and that the treasury would be filled thereby because much of the public property would be found in Caesar’s estate.

In the meantime many persons brought lawsuits against Octavius for the recovery of landed property, some making one claim and some another, differing in other respects, but for the most part having this in common, that it had been confiscated from persons who had been banished or put to death by the proscription. These suits were brought before Antonius himself or the other consul, Dolabella. If any were brought before other magistrates, Octavius was worsted through Antony’s influence, although he showed by the public records that the purchases had been made by his father, and that the last decree of the Senate had confirmed all of Caesar’s acts. Great wrongs were done him in these judgments, and the losses in consequence thereof were going on without end, until Pedius and Pinarius, who had a certain portion of the inheritance under Caesar’s will, complained to Antony, both for themselves and for Octavius, that they were suffering injustice in violation of the Senate’s decree. They thought that he ought to annul only the things done in derogation of Caesar, and to ratify all that had been done by him. Antony acknowledged that his course was perhaps somewhat contrary to the agreements voted. The decrees also, he said, had been recorded in a sense different from the understanding at the time. While hastily passing a mere decree of amnesty, it had been registered that whatever had been previously determined on should stand unrepealed, not for its own sake, not because it was satisfactory in all respects, but rather to promote good order and to quiet the people, who had been thrown into tumult by these events. It would be more just, he added, to observe the spirit than the letter of the decree, and not to make an unseemly opposition to so many men who had lost their own and their ancestors’ property in the civil convulsions, and to do this in favor of a young man who had received an amount of other people’s wealth disproportionate to a private station and beyond his hopes, and who was not making good use of his fortune, but employing it in the rashest adventures. He would take care of them (Pedius and Pinarius) after their portion should have been separated from that of Octavius. This was the answer made by Antony to Pedius and Pinarius. So they took their portion immediately, in order not to lose their own share by the lawsuits, and they did this not so much on their own account as on that of Octavius, for they were going to bestow the whole of it upon him soon afterward.

The games were now approaching, which Gaius Antonius, the brother of Antony, was about to give in behalf of Brutus, the praetor, as he attended also to the other duties of the praetorship which devolved on him in the latter’s absence. Lavish expense was incurred in the preparations for them, in the hope that the people, gratified by the spectacle, would recall Brutus and Cassius. Octavius, on the other hand, intrigued against this scheme, distributing the money derived from the sale of his property among the head men of the tribes by turns, to be divided by them among the first comers. He went around to the places where his property was on sale and ordered the auctioneers to announce the lowest possible price for everything, both on account of the uncertainty and danger of the lawsuits still pending, and on account of his own zeal for the people, all of which brought him both popularity and sympathy as one undeserving of such treatment. When, in addition to what he had received as Caesar’s heir, he offered for sale his own property derived from his father Octavius, and whatever he had from other sources, and all that belonged to his mother and to Philippus, and the shares of Pedius and Pinarius which he begged from them, in order to make the distribution to the people (because in consequence of the litigation Caesar’s property was not sufficient even for this purpose), then the people considered it no longer the gift of the elder Caesar, but of the younger one, and they commiserated him deeply and praised him both for what he endured and for what he aspired to be. It was evident that they would not long tolerate the wrong that Antony was doing him.

They showed their feelings clearly while Brutus’ games were in progress, lavish as these were. Although a certain number, who had been hired for the purpose, shouted that Brutus and Cassius should be recalled, and the rest of the spectators were thus wrought up to a feeling of pity for them, crowds ran in and stopped the games until the demand for their recall ceased. When Brutus and Cassius learned that Octavius had frustrated what they had hoped to obtain from the games, they decided to go to Syria and Macedonia, which had been theirs before these provinces were voted to Dolabella and Antony, and to seize them by force. When their intentions became known, Dolabella hastened to Syria, taking the province of Asia in his way in order to collect money there. Antony, thinking that he should soon need troops for his own purposes, conceived the idea of transferring to himself the army in Macedonia, which was composed of the very best material and was of large size (it consisted of six legions, besides a great number of archers and light-armed troops, much cavalry, and a corresponding amount of apparatus of all kinds), although it properly belonged to Dolabella, who had been intrusted with Syria and the war against the Parthians, because Caesar was about to use these forces against the Parthians. Antony wanted it especially because it was close at hand, and, by crossing the Adriatic, could be thrown at once into Italy.

Presently a rumor was noised about that the Getae, learning of Caesar’s death, had made an incursion into Macedonia and were ravaging it. Antony asked the Senate to give him an army in order to punish them, saying that this army had been prepared by Caesar to be used against the Getae before marching against the Parthians, and that everything was now quiet on the Parthian frontier. The Senate distrusted the rumor, and sent messengers to make inquiry. Antony, in order to dissipate their fear and suspicion, proposed a decree that it should not be lawful for anybody, for any cause whatever, to vote for a dictatorship, or to accept it if offered. If anybody should disregard any of these provisions, he might be killed with impunity by anybody who should meet him. Having deceived the Senate chiefly by this means, and having agreed with the friends of Dolabella to give him one legion, he was chosen absolute commander of the forces in Macedonia. Having obtained what he desired, he sent his brother Gaius with haste to communicate the decree of the Senate to the army. Those who had been sent to inquire into the rumor came back and reported that they had seen no Getae in Macedonia, but they added, either truthfully, or because they were instructed to do so by Antony, that it was feared that they would make an incursion into Macedonia if the army were withdrawn.

While these things were taking place at Rome, Cassius and Brutus were collecting troops and money, and Trebonius, who was governor of the province of Asia, was fortifying his towns for them. When Dolabella arrived, Trebonius would not admit him to Pergamus or Smyrna, but allowed him, as consul, to occupy a market-place outside the walls. When the latter attacked the walls with fury, but accomplished nothing, Trebonius said that he would be admitted to Ephesus. Dolabella started for Ephesus forthwith, and Trebonius sent a force to follow him at a certain distance. While these were observing Dolabella’s march, they were overtaken by night, and, having no farther suspicions, returned to Smyrna, leaving a few of their number to follow him. Dolabella laid an ambush for this small number, captured and killed them, and went back the same night to Smyrna. Finding it unguarded, he took it by escalade. Trebonius, who was captured in bed, told his captors to lead the way to Dolabella, saying that he was willing to follow them. One of the centurions answered him facetiously, Go where you please, but you must leave your head behind, for we are ordered to bring your head, not yourself. With these words the centurion immediately cut off his head, and early in the morning Dolabella ordered it to be displayed on the praetor’s chair where Trebonius was accustomed to transact public business. Since Trebonius had participated in the murder of Caesar by detaining Antony in conversation at the door of the senate-house while the others killed him, the soldiers and camp-followers fell upon the rest of his body with fury and treated it with every kind of indignity. They rolled his head from one to another in sport along the city pavements like a ball till it was completely crushed. This was the first of the murderers who was visited with such punishment.

Antony conceived the idea of bringing his army from Macedonia to Italy; and being in want of any other pretext for this step he asked the Senate to let him exchange the province of Macedonia for that of Cisalpine Gaul, which was under the command of Decimus Brutus Albinus. He remembered that Caesar had marched from the latter province when he overthrew Pompey and he thought that he should appear to be transferring his army to Gaul and not to Italy. The Senate, which looked upon Cisalpine Gaul as its own fortress, was angry, and now for the first time perceived the stratagem and repented having given him Macedonia. The principal members sent word privately to Decimus to keep a strong hold on his province, and to raise additional troops and money lest he should be overpowered by Antony, so much did they fear and hate the latter. Antony then bethought him to ask the people, instead of the Senate, for this province by a law, in the same manner that Caesar had obtained it at a former time and Dolabella had recently obtained Syria. In order to intimidate the Senate he ordered his brother, Gaius, to bring his army across the Adriatic to Brundusium; and the latter proceeded to do as he was directed.

This was the time for the games that the aedile Critonius was about to exhibit, and Octavius made preparations to display his father’s gilded throne and crown, which the Senate had voted should be placed in front for him at all games. When Critonius said that he could not allow Caesar to be honored in this way at games given at his expense, Octavius brought him before Antony as consul. Antony said he would refer the matter to the Senate. Octavius was vexed and said, Refer it; I will place the throne there as long as the decree is in force. Antony was angry and prohibited it. He prohibited it still more unreasonably in the next games given by Octavius himself, which had been instituted by his father in honor of Venus Genetrix when he dedicated a temple to her in a forum, together with the forum itself. It was evident that universal hatred of Antony had already grown out of this affair, since he seemed to be moved not so much by a feeling of rivalry toward the younger Caesar as by an ungrateful purpose to insult the memory of the elder one. Octavius himself, with a crowd of people like a body-guard, moved about among the plebeians and those who had received benefits from his father, or had served under him in war, stirring their anger and beseeching them not to despise him, the victim of so many and so great outrages, nor willingly desert him, but to defend Caesar, their commander and benefactor, dishonored by Antony; to defend him for their own sakes, because they would never be secure in what they had received from Caesar unless the decrees passed in his honor should remain in full force. He exclaimed against Antony everywhere throughout the city, and especially from the high places that he came to, saying, O Antony, do not be angry with Caesar on my account. Do not insult one who has been the greatest benefactor to you. Heap indignities on me to your heart’s content. Cease plundering his property until the legacy to the citizens is paid; then take all the rest. However poor I may be, my father’s glory, if that remains, and the distribution to the people, if you will allow it to be made, will be all-sufficient for me.

Henceforth there were open and repeated outcries against Antony on all sides. The latter indulged in severer threats against Octavius, and when they became known the people were still more incensed against him. The tribunes of Antony’s guard, who had served under the elder Caesar, and who were then in the highest favor with Antony, urged him to refrain from insult, both on their account and on his own, as he had served under Caesar and had obtained his present good fortune at Caesar’s hands. Antony, recognizing the truth of these words, and feeling a sense of shame before those who uttered them and needing some help from Octavius himself, with the people, to procure the exchange of provinces, agreed with what they said and swore that what he had done had been quite contrary to his intention, but that he had been compelled to change his purpose because the young man was inordinately puffed up, being still a youth and showing no respect for his elders and no honor for those in authority. Although for his own benefit the young man still needed reproof, yet in deference to their remonstrances he would restrain his anger and return to his former disposition and intention if Octavius, also, would curb his presumption.

The tribunes were delighted with this reply and they brought Antony and Octavius together, who, after some mutual chiding, formed an alliance. The law concerning Cisalpine Gaul was proposed at once to the great dismay of the senators. They intended, if Antony should first bring the law before them, to reject it, and if he should bring it before the popular assembly without consulting them, to have the tribunes of the people veto it. There were some who advised that this province be made free altogether, so much was it dreaded on account of its nearness. Antony, on the other hand, accused them of intrusting it to Decimus because he had been one of Caesar’s murderers and of having no confidence in himself because he had not joined in killing the man who had subdued the province and brought it to its knees — throwing out these insinuations openly against all of his opponents, as persons who rejoiced over the assassination. When the day for the comitia came the Senate desired that the votes should be taken by centuries, but the Antonians, who had enclosed the forum with a rope during the night, demanded that the votes be taken by tribes according to a plan they had agreed upon. Although the plebeians were incensed against Antony they nevertheless coöperated with him for the sake of Octavius, who stood alongside the rope and begged them to do so. He did this in order that Decimus, who had been one of his father’s murderers, might not have the government of a province so convenient, and of the army belonging to it, and, moreover, to gratify Antony, who was now in league with him. He expected also to get some assistance from Antony in return. The tribunes had been corrupted with money by Antony and remained silent. So the law was passed and Antony now with plausible reason brought his army across the Adriatic.

One of the tribunes of the people having died Octavius favored the election of Flaminius as his successor. The people thought that he was ambitious of this office for himself, but that he refrained from being a candidate because he was under age, and, accordingly, they proposed to cast their votes for him for tribune. The Senate begrudged him this increase of power, fearing lest, as tribune, he should bring the murderers of his father before the popular assembly for trial. Antony, in disregard of his recent alliance with Octavius, either to curry favor with the Senate, or to appease its dissatisfaction with the law respecting Cisalpine Gaul, or for private reasons, gave public notice, as consul, that Octavius should not solicit votes contrary to law; and that if he should do so he (Antony) would use every means in his power against him. As this edict was an act of ingratitude toward Octavius, and was insulting both to him and to the people, the latter were extremely angry and took steps to defeat Antony’s wishes in the election, so that he became alarmed and annulled the comitia, saying that the remaining number of tribunes was sufficient. Octavius, thus at last openly attacked, sent numerous agents to the towns colonized by his father to tell how he had been treated and to learn the state of feeling in each. He also sent certain persons in the guise of traders into Antony’s camp to mingle with the soldiers, to work upon the boldest of them, and secretly distribute handbills among the rank and file.

While Octavius was doing this the military tribunes again sought an audience with Antony and addressed him thus: We, O Antony, and the others who served with you under Caesar, established his rule and continued to maintain it from day to day as its faithful supporters. We know how his murderers hate and conspire against us and how the Senate favors them. But after the people drove them out we took fresh courage seeing that Caesar’s acts were not altogether without friends, were not forgotten, were not unappreciated. For our future security we put our trust in you, the friend of Caesar, after him the most experienced of all as a commander, our present leader, and the one most fit to be such. Our enemies are starting up afresh. They have boldly seized Syria and Macedonia and are raising money and troops against us. The Senate is stirring up Decimus Brutus against you. Yet you are wasting your powers of mind in a disagreement with the young Caesar. We naturally fear lest there be added to the war, which has not yet broken out but is imminent, dissensions among you, which shall accomplish all that our enemies desire against us. We beseech you to consider these things for the sake of piety toward Caesar and care for us, who have never given you cause for complaint, and for your own interest even more than ours. Help Octavius as much as you can, or at all events as much as may be needful, to punish the murderers. Then you will enjoy your power without anxiety and will provide security for us, who are now apprehensive both for ourselves and for you.

To the tribunes who had thus spoken Antony made the following reply: What friendship and zeal I had for Caesar while he lived, what dangers I braved in his service, you, who have been my fellow-soldiers and the sharers in those events, know full well. What favors he showed me, what honors he continually bestowed upon me, it does not become me to say. The murderers, too, were acquainted with these facts. They conspired to kill me with Caesar because they knew that if I were living they could not compass their designs. Whoever dissuaded them from that purpose did so not from regard for my safety, but to preserve the appearance of tyrannicide, so that they might not seem to be killing a number of persons as enemies, but only one as a despot. Who, then, will believe that I have no care for Caesar, who was my benefactor, that I prefer his enemies, and that I willingly condone his murder at the hands of those who conspired against me also, as the young Caesar imagines? Whence came their amnesty, whence their preferment? For he wishes to charge these things upon me instead of the Senate. Learn from me how they came about.

When Caesar was suddenly slain in the senate-house fear fell upon me most of all by reason of my friendship for him and my ignorance of the facts, as I knew not the particulars of the conspiracy nor against whom it was designed. The people were terror-stricken. The murderers with their gladiators took possession of the Capitol and shut themselves up in it. The Senate was on their side, just as it now is more openly, and was about to vote rewards to them as tyrannicides. If Caesar were declared a tyrant then might we all have perished as the friends of a tyrant. In the midst of such confusion, anxiety, and fear, when it would not have been surprising if I had been at a loss what to do, you will find, if you examine, that where courage was needed I was boldest and where artifice was required I was most crafty. The first thing to be done, because it embraced everything else, was to prevent the voting of rewards to the conspirators. This I accomplished against the strong opposition of the Senate and of the murderers, with unfailing courage and in the face of danger, because I then believed that we of Caesar’s party could be safe only in case Caesar were not declared a tyrant. But when I saw our enemies, and the Senate itself, plunged in the same fear (lest, if Caesar were not decreed a tyrant, they themselves should be convicted of murder), and making their fight, for this reason, I yielded and granted amnesty instead of rewards to the murderers, in order to gain what I wanted in exchange. What did I want and how important was it? That Caesar’s name should not be blotted out was the dearest wish of all to me, that his property should not be confiscated, that the adoption on which this young man prides himself should not be annulled, that the will should not be declared invalid, that his body should have a royal funeral, that the immortal honors previously decreed to him should be fulfilled, that all his acts should be confirmed, and that his son, and we his friends, both generals and soldiers, should remain in perfect safety and enjoy a life of honor instead of ignominy.

Think you that I asked few or small things from the Senate in exchange for the amnesty, or that the Senate would have made these concessions without the amnesty? If this exchange had been made in all sincerity it would have been a fair bargain to actually spare the murderers for the sake of Caesar’s immortal glory and our complete security, but in fact I did it not with that intention, but in order to gain time. Accordingly, as soon as I had obtained what I wanted from the Senate, and the murderers were freed from anxiety, I took fresh courage and undermined the amnesty, not by votes, not by decrees (for that was impossible), but by working on the people imperceptibly. I brought Caesar’s body into the forum under pretence of burial, I laid bare his wounds, I showed the number of them and his clothing all bloody and slashed by the knives. In public speech I dwelt on his bravery and his services to the common people in pathetic terms, weeping for him as slain and invoking him as a god. These acts and words of mine stirred up the people, kindled a fire in spite of the amnesty, sent them against the houses of our enemies, and drove the murderers from the city. How much the Senate was thwarted and grieved by this was presently shown when they blamed me for exciting the people and sent the murderers away to take command of provinces, Brutus and Cassius to Syria and Macedonia, which were provided with great armies, telling them to hasten before the appointed time, under pretence of looking after the corn supply. And now another and still greater fear took possession of me (as I had no military force of my own anywhere), lest we should be exposed without arms to the assaults of so many armed men. I suspected my colleague also because he was always at variance with me. He had pretended to be in the conspiracy against Caesar and he had proposed that the day of the murder should be celebrated as the birthday of the republic.

While I was at a loss what to do, desiring to disarm our enemies and to arm ourselves instead, I put Amatius to death and recalled Sextus Pompeius in order to entrap the Senate again and bring it over to my side. But as even then I had no confidence in it I persuaded Dolabella to ask for the province of Syria, not from the Senate, but from the people by a law, and I favored his petition so that he should become an enemy instead of a friend of the murderers, and so that the senators should be ashamed to refuse me Macedonia afterwards. Still, the Senate would not have assigned Macedonia to me, even after Dolabella had been provided for, by reason of the army belonging to it, if I had not previously transferred the army to Dolabella, as the war against the Parthians fell to the lot of the one governing Syria. But they would not have taken Macedonia and Syria away from Brutus and Cassius unless other provinces had been obtained for them to ensure their safety. When it became necessary to make them a recompense, look at the quid pro quo that was given to them — Cyrene and Crete, devoid of troops, provinces which even our enemies despise as not sufficient for their safety; and they are now trying to seize by force those that were taken from them. Thus in fact was the army transferred from our enemies to Dolabella by artifice, by stratagem, by exchange; for when there was no way to gain our end openly by arms we had necessarily to have recourse to the laws.

After these events our enemies had raised another army and it became needful for me to have the one in Macedonia; but I was in want of a pretext. A rumor gained currency that the Getae were ravaging Macedonia. This was disbelieved, and while messengers were sent to make inquiry I brought forward the decree about the dictatorship, providing that it should not be lawful to speak of it, to vote for it, or to accept it if offered. The senators were particularly taken with this proposal and they gave me the army. Then for the first time I considered myself on an equality with my enemies, not merely with the open ones [as Octavius thinks], but with the more numerous and powerful ones who still choose to remain secret. When I had accomplished these plans there remained one of the murderers on my flank, Decimus Brutus, who governed a conveniently placed province with a large army, whom I, knowing him to be bolder than the rest, have deprived of Cisalpine Gaul, by promising, in order to keep up appearances with the Senate, to give him in exchange Macedonia, when it has lost its army. The Senate was indignant, for it now perceived the stratagem, and you know what kind of letters, and how many, they are writing to Decimus, and how they are inciting my successors in the consulship. I decided to take a bolder course and ask the people for this province by a law, instead of asking the Senate, and I brought my army from Macedonia to Brundusium so that I might use it in emergencies. And, with the help of the gods, we will use it as may be needful.

Thus have we changed from the great fear that formerly beset us to a state of entire safety for ourselves, where we can boldly face our foes. When these facts became known the multitude showed their zeal against our enemies. You see how the latter regret the decrees that have been passed and what a fight they are making to deprive me of the Gallic province which has already been given to me. You know what they have written to Decimus and how they are urging my successors in the consulship to get the law relating to this province changed. But with the help of our country’s gods, and with pious intent, and by means of your valor, with which Caesar also conquered, we will avenge him, devoting to that purpose our powers of body and of mind. While these events were in progress, fellow-soldiers, I preferred that they should not be talked of; now that they are accomplished I have laid them before you, whom I shall make the sharers of my deeds and my counsels in every particular hereafter. Communicate to others, if there are any, who do not see them in the same light — excepting only Octavius, who behaves ungratefully toward us.

These words of Antony convinced the tribunes that in all he had done he had been moved by bitter animosity toward the murderers and that he had been scheming against the Senate. Nevertheless they urged him to come to an agreement with Octavius; and as both yielded they formed a new alliance in the Capitol. Not long afterward Antony announced to his friends that some of his body-guard had been tampered with by Octavius, who had formed a plot against him. This he said either as a slander, or because he believed it to be true, or because he had heard of the emissaries of Octavius in his camp and thought they were actually plotting against his life. When this story was noised about there was a general tumult forthwith and great indignation, for there were few who had sufficient penetration to see that it was for the interest of Octavius that Antony, even though he were unjust to him, should live, because he (Antony) was a terror to the murderers. If he were dead they would quite fearlessly dare anything, especially as they had the support of the Senate. The more intelligent knew this, but the greater part, seeing what Octavius suffered daily from the indignities and the losses inflicted on him, considered the accusation not incredible, yet held it to be impious and intolerable that a conspiracy should be formed against Antony’s life while he was consul. Octavius ran with mad fury to those who held this opinion of him, exclaiming that it was Antony that had conspired against him to alienate from him the friendship of the people, which was the only thing left to him. He ran to Antony’s door and repeated the same things, calling the gods to witness, taking all kinds of oaths, and inviting Antony to a judicial investigation. As nobody came forward he said, I will accept your friends as judges. With these words he attempted to enter the house. Being prevented from doing so he again cried out and railed at Antony and vented his wrath against the doorkeepers who restrained him from having a dispute with Antony. Then he went away and called the people to witness that if anything should happen to him his death would be due to Antony’s plots. As these words were spoken with deep feeling the multitude underwent a change, and a kind of penitence took the place of their former opinion. There were some who still doubted, and hesitated to put faith in either of them. Some accused them both of making false pretences, believing that they had come to an agreement in the temple, and that these were plots devised against their enemies. Still others thought that this was a device of Antony to increase his body-guard. or to alienate the veterans from Octavius.

Presently news was brought to Octavius by his secret emissaries that the army at Brundusium and the colonized soldiers were incensed against Antony for neglecting to avenge the murder of Caesar, and that they would assist him (Octavius) to do so if they could. For this reason Antony departed to Brundusium. As Octavius feared lest Antony, returning with the army, should catch him unprotected he went to Campania with money to enlist the veterans who had been colonized in those towns by his father. He first brought over those of Calatia and next those of Casilinum, two towns situated on either side of Capua, giving 500 drachmas to each man. He collected about 10,000 men, not fully armed and not mustered in regular cohorts, but serving merely as a body-guard under one banner The citizens of Rome were alarmed at the approach of Antony with an army, and when they learned that Octavius was advancing with another one some were doubly alarmed, while others were well pleased, believing that they could make use of Octavius against Antony. Still others, who had seen them reconciled to each other in the Capitol, considered these transactions a game of false pretences by which Antony was to have the supreme power and Octavius was to wreak vengeance on the murderers in return therefor.

In this time of consternation Canutius, a tribune of the people and enemy of Antony, and hence friendly to Octavius, went to meet the latter. Having learned his intentions Canutius addressed the people, saying that Octavius was advancing with real hostility to Antony and that those who were afraid that Antony was aiming at tyranny should side with Octavius as they had no other army at present. After speaking thus he brought in Octavius, who was encamped before the city at the temple of Mars, fifteen stades distant. When the latter arrived he proceeded to the temple of Castor and Pollux, which his soldiers surrounded carrying concealed daggers. Canutius addressed the people first, speaking against Antony. Octavius also reminded them of his father and of what he had himself suffered at the hands of Antony, on account of which he had enlisted this army as a guard for himself. He declared himself the obedient servant of his country in all things, and said that he was ready to confront Antony in the present emergency.

After he had thus spoken and the assembly had been dissolved, the soldiers, taking the opposite view (that they had come to support the alliance of Antony and Octavius or as a mere guard for the latter and to punish the murderers), were vexed at the declaration of war against Antony, who had been their general and was now consul. Some of them asked leave to return home in order to arm themselves, saying that they could not perform their duty with other arms than their own. Others spoke out the truth. As things had turned out contrary to his expectation, Octavius was at a loss what to do. Hoping, however, to retain them by persuasion rather than by force he yielded to their requests, and sent some of them to get their arms and others simply to their homes. Concealing his disappointment he praised all of the assembled multitude, gave them new presents, and said that he would reward them still more generously, for he made use of them for emergencies rather as the friends of his father than as soldiers. After he had spoken these words, from 10,000 he influenced 1000 only to remain with him, or perhaps 3000, for accounts differ as to the number. The rest then took their departure, but presently they remembered the toils of agriculture and the gains of military service, the words of Octavius, his compliance with their wishes, and the favors they had received and hoped still to receive from him. And so, like the fickle multitude, they repented, and seizing upon their former pretext for the sake of appearances, they armed themselves and went back to him. Octavius had already proceeded with new supplies of money to Ravenna and the neighboring parts, enlisting new forces continually and sending them all to Arretium.

In the meantime four of the five Macedonian legions had joined Antony at Brundusium. They blamed him because he had not proceeded against the murderers of Caesar. They conducted him without applause to the platform, implying that they required explanations on this subject first. Antony was angry at their silence. He did not keep his temper, but charged them with ingratitude in that they had expressed no thanks for being transferred from the Parthian expedition to Italy. He blamed them because they had not arrested and delivered to him the emissaries of a rash boy (for so he called Octavius) who had been sent among them to stir up discord. But he would find them out, he said. He would lead the army to the province voted to him, the fair Gallic country, and would give 100 drachmas to each man present. They laughed at his parsimony, and when he became angry they broke out in tumult and went away. Antony rose and departed, saying, You shall learn to obey orders. Then he required the military tribunes to bring before him the fomenters of the sedition (for it is customary in Roman armies to keep at all times a record of the character of each man). From these he chose by lot a certain number according to military law, and he put to death not every tenth man, but a smaller number, thinking to strike terror into the rest by means of the few. But the others were turned to rage and hatred instead of fear by this act.

In view of these facts the men whom Octavius had sent to tamper with the soldiers distributed the greatest possible number of handbills throughout the camp, reflecting on Antony’s stinginess and cruelty, recalling the memory of the elder Caesar and urging them to share the service of the younger one and his liberal gifts. Antony tried to find these emissaries by means of rewards to informers and threats against those who abetted them, but as he caught no one he became angry, believing that the soldiers concealed them. When the news came of what Octavius was doing among the colonized veterans and at Rome, he became alarmed, and going before the army again he said that he was sorry for what he had been compelled by military discipline to do to a few instead of the much larger number who were punishable by law, and that they must know very well that Antony was neither cruel nor stingy. Let us lay aside ill-will, he continued, and rest satisfied with these faults and punishments. The 100 drachmas which I have ordered to be given you is not my donative, for that would be unworthy of the fortune of Antony, but rather the salutation of our first meeting than a full reward, but it is necessary to obey the laws of our country, and of the army, in this affair as in all others. When he had thus spoken he did not as yet add anything to the donative, that it might not seem that as general he had yielded anything to the army. Whether moved by penitence or by fear they took what was given them. Antony, being still angry at the outbreak, or from some other suspicion, changed their tribunes. The remainder he treated well because he had need of their services, and he sent them forward by detachments along the sea-coast toward Ariminum.

Antony chose from the whole number a praetorian cohort of the men who were best in body and character and marched to Rome, intending to push on thence toward Ariminum. He entered the city in a haughty manner leaving his squadron of horse encamped outside the walls. But the troops that accompanied him were girded as for war, and they mounted guard over his house at night under arms, and he gave them a countersign and relieved them regularly, just as in a camp. He convoked the Senate in order to make complaint of the acts of Octavius, and just as he was entering it he learned that the so-called Martian legion, one of the four on the road, had gone over to Octavius. While he was waiting at the entrance cogitating over this news it was announced to him that another legion, called the Fourth, had followed the example of the Martian and espoused the side of Octavius. Disconcerted as he was he entered the senate-house, pretending that he had convened them about other matters, said a few words, and immediately departed to the city gates, and thence to the town of Alba, in order to persuade the deserters to come back to him. They shot arrows at him from the walls, and he retreated. To the other legions he forwarded 500 drachmas per man. With the soldiers he had with him he marched to Tibur, taking the apparatus customary to those who are going to war; for war was now certain, since Decimus Brutus had refused to give up Cisalpine Gaul.

While Antony was at Tibur nearly all the Senate, and the greater part of the knights, and the most influential plebeians, came there to do him honor. These persons, arriving while he was swearing into his service the soldiers present and also the discharged veterans who had flocked in (of whom there was a goodly number), voluntarily joined in taking the oath that they would not fail in friendship and fidelity to Antony; so that one would have been at a loss to know who were the men who, a little before, had decried Antony at Octavius’ public meeting. With this brilliant send-off Antony started for Ariminum, which lies on the border of Cisalpine Gaul. His army, exclusive of the new levies, consisted of three legions summoned from Macedonia (for the remainder had now arrived). There were also some discharged veterans, old men, who appeared nevertheless to be worth twice as much as the new levies. Thus Antony had four legions of well-disciplined troops, and the helpers who usually accompanied them, besides his body-guard and the new levies. Lepidus in Spain with four legions, Asinius Pollio with two, and Plancus in Transalpine Gaul with three, seemed likely to espouse the side of Antony.

Octavius had two legions equally efficient, which had deserted from Antony to him, also one legion of new levies and two of discharged veterans, not complete in numbers or in arms, but filled up with new recruits. He brought them all to Alba and there communicated with the Senate, which congratulated him in such a way that now one would have been at a loss to know who were those who had lately ranged themselves with Antony; but it regretted that the legions had not come over to the Senate itself instead of to him. It praised them and Octavius nevertheless, and said that it would vote them whatever was needful as soon as the new magistrates should enter upon their duties. It was plain that the Senate would use these forces against Antony; but having no army of its own anywhere, and being unable to levy one without consuls, it adjourned all business until the new consuls should come in.

The soldiers of Octavius furnished him lictors provided with fasces and urged him to assume the title of propraetor, carrying on war and leading themselves, since they were always marshalled under magistrates. He thanked them for the honor, but referred the matter to the Senate. When they wanted to go before the Senate en masse he prevented them and would not even allow them to send messengers, believing that the Senate would vote these things to him voluntarily; and would do this all the more, he said, if they know of your zeal and my hesitation. They were reconciled to this course with difficulty. The leading officers complained that he disdained them, and he explained to them that the Senate was moved not so much by good-will toward him as by fear of Antony and the want of an army; and that will be the case, he continued, until we humble Antony, and until the murderers, who are friends and relatives of the senators, collect a military force for them. Knowing these facts I falsely pretend to be serving them. Let us not be the first to expose this false pretence. If we usurp the office they will accuse us of arrogance and violence, whereas if we are modest they will probably give it of their own accord, fearing lest I accept it from you. After he had thus spoken he witnessed some military exercises of the two legions that had deserted from Antony, who ranged themselves opposite each other and gave a complete representation of a battle, except only the killing. Octavius was delighted with the spectacle and was pleased to make this a pretext for distributing 500 drachmas more to each man, and he promised that in case of war he would give them 5000 drachmas each if they were victorious. Thus, by means of lavish gifts, did Octavius bind these mercenaries to himself. Such was the course of events in Italy.

In Cisalpine Gaul Antony ordered Decimus Brutus to withdraw to Macedonia in obedience to the decree of the Roman people, and for his own good. Decimus, in reply, sent him the letters that had been furnished him by the Senate, as much as to say that he cared no more for the command of the people than Antony did for that of the Senate. Antony then fixed a day for his compliance, after which he should treat him as an enemy. Decimus advised him to fix a later day lest he (Antony) should too soon make himself an enemy to the Senate. Although Antony could have easily overcome him, as he was still in the open country, he decided to proceed first against the cities. These opened their gates to him. Decimus, fearing lest none of them should be opened to him, fabricated letters from the Senate calling him to Rome with his army and retired towards Italy, welcomed by all as he passed along, until he arrived at the wealthy city of Mutina. Here he closed the gates and possessed himself of the property of the inhabitants for the support of his army. He slaughtered and salted all the cattle he could find there in anticipation of a long siege, and he awaited Antony. His army consisted of a large number of gladiators and three legions of infantry, one of which was composed of new recruits as yet inexperienced. The other two had served under him before and were entirely trustworthy. Antony advanced against him with fury, drew a line of circumvallation around Mutina, and laid siege to Decimus.

In Rome, at the beginning of the new year, the consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, convened the Senate on the subject of Antony immediately after the sacrifices had been performed and in the very temple. Cicero and his friends urged that Antony be now declared a public enemy, since he had seized Cisalpine Gaul with an armed force against the will of the Senate and made of it a point of attack on the republic, and had brought into Italy an army given to him to operate against the Thracians. They spoke also of his seeking the supreme power as Caesar’s successor, because he publicly surrounded himself in the city with such a large body of armed centurions, and converted his house into a fortress with arms and countersigns, and had borne himself more haughtily in other respects than was befitting a yearly magistrate. Lucius Piso, who had charge of Antony’s interests in his absence, a man among the most illustrious in Rome, and others who sided with him on his own account, or on Antony’s, or because of their own opinion, contended that Antony ought to have a trial, that it was not the custom of their ancestors to condemn a man unheard, that it was not decent to declare a man an enemy to-day who was a consul yesterday, and especially one whom Cicero himself as well as the rest had so often lavishly praised. The Senate, which was about equally divided in opinion, remained in session till night. Early the next morning it reassembled to consider the same question and then the party of Cicero was in the majority and Antony would have been voted a public enemy had not the tribune Salvius adjourned the sitting to the following day; for among the magistrates the one who has the veto power always prevails.

The Ciceronians heaped gross reproaches and insults on Salvius for this, and sallied out among the plebeians to excite them against him and summoned him to answer before them. He set forth to obey the summons undismayed until he was restrained by the Senate, which feared lest he should change the people around by recalling Antony to their memory; for the senators well knew that they were condemning an illustrious man without a trial, and that the people had given him this very Gallic province. But since they feared for the safety of the murderers they were angry with Antony because he had made the first movement against them after the amnesty, for which reason the Senate had previously needed the help of Octavius against him. Although Octavius knew this he desired nevertheless to take the lead in humbling Antony. Such were the reasons why the Senate was angry with Antony. Although the vote on him was adjourned by the command of the tribune, they passed a decree praising Decimus for not abandoning Cisalpine Gaul to Antony, and directing Octavius to assist the consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, with the army he now had. They awarded him a gilded statue and the right to declare his opinion among the consulars in the Senate even now, and the right to stand for the consulship itself ten years before the legal period, and voted from the public treasury to the legions that deserted from Antony to him the same amount that he had promised to give them if they should be victorious. After passing these decrees they adjourned, thinking that Antony would in fact know from the votes taken that he was declared a public enemy and believing, also, that on the following day the tribune would no longer interpose his veto. The mother, the wife, and the son of Antony (who was still a young man), and his other relatives and friends went around the whole night visiting the houses of influential men and beseeching them. In the morning they put themselves in the way of those going to the senate-house, fell at their feet with wailing and lamentation and in mourning garments, crying out alongside the doors. Some of the senators were moved by these cries, this spectacle, this so sudden change of fortune. Cicero, fearing the result, addressed the Senate as follows: —

What decision ought to be reached concerning Antony we determined yesterday. When we bestowed honors on his enemies we thereby voted him an enemy. Salvius, who alone interrupted the proceedings, must either have been wiser than all the rest, or moved to do so by private friendship, or by ignorance of present circumstances. It would be most disgraceful to us, on the one hand, if all should seem to know less than one, and to Salvius, on the other hand, if he should prefer private friendship to the public weal. If he is not well acquainted with the present circumstances he ought to repose confidence in the consuls, rather than in himself, in the praetors, in his fellow-tribunes, and the other senators, so imposing in dignity and in numbers, so much his superiors in age and experience, who have condemned Antony. In our elections and in our jury trials justice is ever on the side of the majority. If it be needful still to acquaint him with the reasons for our action I will briefly recount the principal ones by way of reminder. At Caesar’s death Antony possessed himself of our money. Having been invested with the government of Macedonia by us he seized upon that of Cisalpine Gaul without our authority. Having received an army to operate against the Thracians he brought it into Italy against us instead. Each of these powers with his own secret motives he asked from us, and when they were refused he acted on his own authority. At Brundusium he organized a royal cohort for his own use and openly made men-at-arms his private guards and night watchmen, serving under a countersign. The whole remainder of the army he led from Brundusium to the city, aiming by a shorter path at the same designs that Caesar contemplated. Being anticipated by the younger Caesar and his army he became alarmed and turned his course to the Gallic province as a convenient point of attack on us, just as Caesar found it when he made himself our master.

In order to intimidate the soldiers to do every unlawful act he should order, he decimated them although they had not revolted and had not abandoned their watch or their ranks in time of war, for which offences alone military law allows such cruel punishment, which only a few generals have visited upon their soldiers and with reluctance, in cases of extreme peril, as a matter of necessity. These citizens Antony put to death for a word or a laugh when they had not been regularly condemned but chosen by lot. For this reason those who could do so revolted from him, and you yesterday voted them a donative as well-doers. Those who could not desert joined him in wrong-doing under the influence of fear, marched against our province as enemies, and besieged our army and our general, to whom you sent letters directing him to hold the province. Antony now orders him to evacuate it. Are we voting Antony an enemy, or is he already making war against us? And these things our tribune is still ignorant of, and will remain so until Decimus is overthrown and this great province on our border, together with the army of Decimus, is added to the resources with which Antony hopes to attack us. I suppose that the tribune will vote Antony an enemy as soon as the latter becomes more powerful than we are.

Scarcely had Cicero finished speaking when his friends broke forth in such tumultuous applause that for a long time nobody could be heard on the other side, until finally Piso came forward, when the senators, out of respect for him, became silent and even the Ciceronians restrained themselves. Then Piso said: Our law, Conscript Fathers, requires that the accused shall himself hear the charge preferred against him and shall be judged after he has made his own defence; and for the truth of this I appeal to Cicero, our greatest orator. Since he hesitates to accuse Antony when present, but brings against him in his absence certain charges which he considers of the greatest gravity, and not open to doubt, I have come forward to show, in the fewest words, that these charges are false. He says that Antony converted the public money to his own use after Caesar’s death. The law declares such a person to be a thief, not a public enemy, and limits his punishment accordingly. After Brutus had killed Caesar he accused the latter before the people of plundering the public money and leaving the treasury empty. Soon afterward Antony proposed a decree to investigate these matters and you adopted and confirmed his motion and promised a reward of one-tenth to informers, which reward we will double if anybody will prove that Antony had any part in the fraud. So much for the charge in reference to money.

We did not vote the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul to Antony. The people gave it to him by a law, Cicero being present; just as other provinces had often been given, and as this same governorship had previously been given to Caesar. It was a part of this law that, when Antony should arrive at the province given to him, if Decimus would not yield it Antony should declare war and lead the army into the Gallic province against him, instead of using it against the Thracians, who were still quiet. But Cicero does not consider Decimus, who is bearing arms against the law, an enemy, although he considers Antony an enemy who is fighting in accordance with law. He who accuses the law itself accuses the authors of the law, whom he ought to change by persuasion, not to insult after having himself agreed with them. He ought not to intrust the province to Decimus, whom the people drove out of the city on account of the murder, while refusing to intrust to Antony what the people gave to him. It is not the part of good counsellors to be at variance with the people, especially in times of danger, or to forget that this very power of deciding who are friends and who are enemies formerly belonged to the people. According to the ancient laws the people are the sole arbiters of peace and war. Heaven grant that they may not be reminded of this, and consequently be angry with us when they have found a leader.

But it is said that Antony put certain soldiers to death. Being commander-in-chief he was empowered to do so by you. No commander has ever rendered an account of such matters. The laws do not consider it expedient that the general should be answerable to his soldiers. There is nothing worse in an army than disobedience, on account of which some soldiers have been put to death even after a victory, and no one called to account those who killed them. None of their relatives complain now, but Cicero complains and while accusing Antony of murder stigmatizes him as a public enemy, instead of calling for the punishment prescribed for murderers. The desertion of two of his legions shows how insubordinate and arrogant Antony’s army was—which legions you had voted that he should command, and who deserted, in violation of military law, not to you, but to Octavius. Nevertheless Cicero praised them and yesterday proposed that they be paid out of the public treasury. Heaven grant that this example may not plague you hereafter. Hatred has betrayed Cicero into inconsistency, for he accused Antony of aiming at supreme power and yet punishing his soldiers, whereas such conspirators are always lenient, not severe, toward the men serving under them. As Cicero does not hesitate to arraign as tyrannical all the rest of Antony’s administration since Caesar’s death, come, let me examine his acts one by one.

Whom has Antony put to death in a tyrannical manner without trial—he who is now in danger of being condemned unheard? Whom has he banished from the city? Whom has he slandered in our presence? Or, if innocent toward us individually, has he conspired against all of us collectively? When, O Cicero? Was it when he carried through the Senate the act of amnesty for the past? Was it when he abstained from prosecuting anybody for the murder? Was it when he moved an investigation of the public moneys? Was it when he proposed the recall of Sextus Pompey, the son of your Pompey, and payment for his father’s confiscated property out of the public treasury? Was it when he seized that conspirator, the false Marius, and put him to death, and you all applauded? And because you did so it was the only act of Antony that Cicero did not calumniate. Was it when he brought in a decree that nobody should ever propose a dictatorship, or vote for it, and that anybody disobeying the decree might be killed with impunity by any one who wished? These are the public acts that Antony performed for us during two months the only months that he remained in the city after Caesar’s death, the very time when the people were pursuing the murderers and you were apprehensive of the future. If he were a villain what better opportunity could he have had? But it is said that he was not in a condition to do otherwise. How? Did he not exercise the sole authority after Dolabella departed for Syria? Did he not have an armed force in readiness in the city, one that you gave him ? Did he not patrol the city by night ? Was he not guarded at night against any conspiracy of his enemies? Did he not have an excuse for this in the murder of Caesar, his friend and benefactor, the man most beloved by the common people ? Did he not have another of a personal kind in the fact that the murderers conspired against his life also? None of them did he kill or banish, but pardoned them what he could in decency, and did not begrudge them the governorships that were offered to them. Ye behold then, O Romans, these very grave and indisputable charges of Cicero against Antony.

Since, in addition to charges, surmises are introduced to the effect that Antony was about to lead an army to the city, but became alarmed because Octavius had anticipated him with another army, how does it happen that when the mere intention to do this makes a man an enemy the one who actually comes and encamps alongside of us without authority is not considered an enemy? What would have prevented Antony from coming if he had wanted to? With 30,000 troops in line was he afraid of Octavius’ 3000, half-armed, unorganized, who had come together merely to gain his friendship, and who left him as soon as they knew that he had chosen them for war? If Antony was afraid to come with 30,000 how did he dare to come with only 1000? With these what a crowd of us accompanied him to Tibur! What a crowd of us voluntarily joined the soldiers in taking the oath of fidelity to him! What praises did Cicero lavish on his acts and virtues! If Antony himself contemplated any such thing [as invasion] why did he leave as pledges in our hands his mother, his wife, and his grown up son, who are even now at the door of the Senate weeping and fearful, not on account of what Antony has done, but on account of the overwhelming power of his enemies.

These facts furnish you an example of Antony’s defence and of Cicero’s fickleness. I will add an exhortation to right-minded men, not to do injustice to the people or to Antony, not to expose the public interests to new enmities and dangers while the commonwealth is sick and in want of timely defenders, but to establish a sufficient force in the city to ward off danger before breeding disorder outside, to provide against attacks from every quarter, and to come to such decisions as you please when you are able to carry them into effect. How shall these ends be accomplished? By allowing Antony, as a matter of policy, or for the sake of the people, to have Cisalpine Gaul. Call Decimus thence with his three legions, and when he comes send him to Macedonia, retaining his legions here. If the two legions that deserted from Antony deserted to us, as Cicero says, let us summon them also from Octavius to the city. Thus with five legions sustaining us we might pass such decrees as we think best with entire confidence, depending on the favor of no man.

I have addressed these words to men who listen to me without malice or the spirit of contention. Those who would excite you heedlessly and inconsiderately on account of private enmity and private strife I exhort not to come to hasty and rash decisions against the most important personages, who command strong armies, and not to force them into war against their will. Remember Marcius Coriolanus. Recall the recent doings of Caesar, whom we rashly voted an enemy while he was in like manner leading an army and offering us the fairest terms of peace, whereby we forced him to be an enemy in fact. Have regard for the people who were lately pursuing Caesar’s murderers, lest we seem to insult them by giving those murderers the governorship of provinces, by praising Decimus for nullifying the people’s law, and by voting Antony an enemy because he accepted the Gallic province from the people. For which reasons the well-wishers of the country ought to take thought for the erring, and the consuls and tribunes ought to be more than ever careful in view of the public dangers.

Thus did Piso defend Antony, reproaching his enemies and alarming them. He was evidently the cause of their not voting Antony an enemy. Nevertheless, he did not succeed in securing for him the governorship of the Gallic province. The friends and relatives of the murderers prevented it, fearing lest, at the end of the war, Antony should join Octavius in avenging the murder, for which reason they meant to keep Octavius and Antony always at variance with each other. They voted to offer Antony Macedonia instead of the Gallic province, and they ordered, either heedlessly or designedly, that the other commands of the Senate be reduced to writing by Cicero and delivered to the ambassadors. Cicero altered the decree and wrote as follows: Antony must raise the siege of Mutina forthwith, relinquish Cisalpine Gaul to Decimus, withdraw to the hither side of the river Rubicon (which forms the boundary between Italy and the province) before a specified day, and submit himself in all things to the Senate. Thus provokingly and falsely did Cicero write the orders of the Senate, not by reason of an underlying hostility, as it seems, but at the instigation of some evil spirit that was goading the republic to revolution and meditating destruction to Cicero himself. The remains of Trebonius having been lately brought home and the indignities visited upon them more carefully inquired into, the Senate with little opposition declared Dolabella a public enemy.

The ambassadors who had been sent to Antony, ashamed of the extraordinary character of the orders, said nothing, but simply delivered them to him. Antony in his wrath indulged in many invectives against the Senate and Cicero. He was astonished, he said, that they should consider Caesar (the man who had contributed most to the Roman sway) a tyrant and a king, and did not so consider Cicero, whom Caesar had captured in war and whose life he had spared, while Cicero in return now prefers Caesar’s assassins to his friends. He hated Decimus as long as the latter was the friend of Caesar, but loves him now that he has become his murderer. He favors a man who took the province of Gaul after Caesar’s death without authority, and makes war on one who received it at the hands of the people. He gives rewards to those who deserted from the legions voted to me, and none to those who remain faithful, thus impairing military discipline not more to my disadvantage than to that of the state. He has given amnesty to the murderers, to which I have assented on account of two respectable men. He holds Antony and Dolabella as enemies because we keep what was given to us. That is the real reason. And if I but withdraw from Gaul, then I am neither enemy nor monarch! I declare that I will bring to naught the amnesty with which they are not satisfied.

After saying much more to the same purpose Antony wrote his reply to the decree, saying that he would obey the Senate in all respects as the voice of his country, but to Cicero, who wrote the orders, he would make the following answer: The people gave me the province of Gaul by a law, and I shall prosecute Decimus for not obeying the law, and I shall visit punishment for the murder upon him alone, as representative of them all, in order that the Senate, which now participates in the wickedness by reason of Cicero’s support of Decimus, may at last be purged of the shocking crime. These words Antony spoke and wrote in reply. The Senate immediately voted him an enemy and also the army under him if it should not abandon him. The government of Macedonia and Illyria, with the troops still remaining in both, was assigned to Marcus Brutus until the republic should be reëstablished. The latter already had an army of his own and had received some troops from Apuleius. He also had war-ships and ships of burden and about 16,000 talents in money and quantities of arms which he found in Demetrias, where they had been placed by Gaius Caesar long before, all of which the Senate now voted that he should use for the advantage of the republic. They voted that Cassius should be governor of Syria and that he should make war against Dolabella, and that all other commanders of Roman provinces and soldiers between the Adriatic sea and the Orient should obey the orders of Cassius and Brutus in all things.

Thus quickly did the Senate seize the opportunity to put the affairs of Cassius and his party in a brilliant aspect. When Octavius learned what had been done he was troubled. He had considered the amnesty in the light of an act of humanity and of pity for the relatives and compeers of these men, and that the very small commands had been given them for their safety merely; finally, the confirming of the Gallic province to Decimus seemed to him to have been done by reason of the Senate’s difference with Antony respecting the supreme power, on which ground also they were inciting him against Antony. But the voting of Dolabella an enemy because he had put one of the murderers to death, the changing of the commands of Brutus and Cassius to the largest provinces, the granting of great armies and large sums of money to them and putting them in command of all the governors beyond the Adriatic sea —all pointed plainly to the building up of the party of Pompey and the pulling down of that of Caesar. He bethought himself of their artifice in treating him as a young man, in providing him a statue and a front seat, and giving him the title of propraetor, when in fact they were taking from him what army he did have, for a proprietor has no authority when consuls are serving with him. Then the rewards voted only to those of his soldiers who had deserted from Antony to him were an indignity to those who had enlisted under him. Finally the war would be nothing but a disgrace to him, for the Senate would simply make use of him against Antony till the latter was crushed.

Meditating thus to himself he performed the sacrifices appertaining to the command assigned to him, and said to his army: I owe these honors of mine to you, fellow-soldiers, not now merely but from the time when you gave me the command; for the Senate conferred them upon me on account of you. Know, therefore, that my gratitude will be due to you for these things, and that it will be expressed to you abundantly if the gods grant success to our undertakings. In this way he conciliated the soldiers and attached them to himself. In the meantime, Pansa, one of the consuls, was collecting recruits throughout Italy, and the other one, Hirtius, shared the command of the forces with Octavius, and as he was secretly ordered to do it by the Senate he demanded as his share the two legions that had deserted from Antony, knowing that they were the most reliable in the army. Octavius yielded to him in everything and they shared with each other and went into winter quarters together. As winter advanced Decimus began to suffer from hunger, and Hirtius and Octavius advanced toward Mutina lest Antony should receive in surrender Decimus’ army now weak with famine; but as Mutina was closely hemmed in by Antony, they did not venture to come to close quarters with him at once, but waited for Pansa. There were frequent cavalry engagements, as Antony had a much larger force of horse, but the difficulty of the ground, which was cut up by torrents, deprived him of the advantage of numbers.

Such was the course of events around Mutina. At Rome, in the absence of the consuls, Cicero took the lead by public speaking. He held frequent assemblies, procured arms by inducing the artificers to work without pay, collected money, and exacted heavy contributions from the Antonians. These paid without complaining in order to avoid calumny, until Publius Ventidius, who had served under Gaius Caesar and was a friend of Antony, unable to endure the exactions of Cicero, betook himself to Caesar’s colonies, where he was well known, and raised two legions for Antony and hastened to Rome to seize Cicero. The consternation was extreme. They removed most of the women and children in a panic, and Cicero himself fled from the city. When Ventidius learned this he turned his course toward Antony, but being intercepted by Octavius and Hirtius, he proceeded to Picenum, where he recruited another legion and waited to see what would happen. When Pansa was drawing near with his army, Octavius and Hirtius sent Carsuleius to him with Octavius’ praetorian cohort and the Martian legion to assist him in passing through a defile. Antony had disdained to occupy the defile as it served no other purpose than to hinder the enemy; but, eager to fight, and having no chance to win distinction with his cavalry, because the ground was marshy and cut by ditches, he placed his two best legions in ambush in the marsh, where they were concealed by the reeds and where the road, which had been thrown up artificially, was narrow.

Carsuleius and Pansa passed through the defile by night. At daybreak, with only the Martian legion and five other cohorts, they entered upon the road above mentioned, which was still free from enemies, and looked over the marsh on either side. There was a suspicious agitation of the bushes, then a gleaming of shields and helmets, and Antony’s praetorian cohort suddenly showed itself directly in their front. The Martian legion, surrounded on all sides and having no way to escape, ordered the new levies, if they came up, not to join in the fight lest they should cause confusion by their inexperience. The praetorians of Octavius confronted the praetorians of Antony. The other troops divided themselves in two parts and advanced into the marsh on either side, the one commanded by Pansa and the other by Carsuleius. Thus there were two battles in two marshes, and neither division could see the other by reason of the elevated road, while along the road itself the praetorian cohorts fought another battle of their own. The Antonians were determined to punish the Martians for desertion as being traitors to themselves. The Martians were equally determined to punish the Antonians for condoning the slaughter of their comrades at Brundusium. Recognizing in each other the flower of either army they hoped to decide the whole war by this single engagement. The one side was moved by shame lest its two legions should be beaten by one; the other by ambition that its single legion should overcome the two.

Thus urged on rather by their own animosity and ambition than by their generals they assailed each other, considering this their own affair. Being veterans they raised no battle-cry, since they could not expect to terrify each other, nor in the engagement did they utter a sound, either as victors or vanquished. As there could be neither flanking nor charging in marshes and ditches, they stood together in close order, and since neither could dislodge the other they locked together with their swords as in a wrestling match. No blow missed its mark. There were wounds and slaughter but no cries, only groans; and when one fell he was instantly borne away and another took his place. They needed neither admonition nor encouragement, since experience had made each one his own general. When they were overcome by fatigue they drew apart from each other for a brief space to take breath, as in gymnastic games, and then rushed again to the encounter. Amazement took possession of the new levies who had come up, as they beheld such deeds done with such precision and in such silence.

All put forth superhuman exertions, and the praetorians of Octavius perished to the last man. Those of the Martians who were under Carsuleius got the better of those opposed to them, who gave way, not in disgraceful rout, but little by little. Those under Pansa were likewise in difficulties, but they held out with equal bravery on both sides until Pansa was wounded in the abdomen by a javelin and carried off the field to Bononia. Then his soldiers retired, at first step by step, but afterward they turned and took refuge in flight. When the new levies saw this they fled in disorder, and with loud cries, to their camp, which the quaestor, Torquatus, had put in readiness for them while the battle was in progress, apprehending that it might be needed. The new levies dashed into it confusedly although they were Italians, the same as the Martians, so much more than race does training contribute to bravery. The Martians for fear of shame did not enter into the camp, but ranged themselves near it. Although fatigued they were still furious and ready to fight to the bitter end if anybody should attack them. Antony refrained from the attack as a bad job, but he fell upon the new levies and made a great slaughter.

When Hirtius near Mutina heard of this fight, at a distance of sixty stades, he hurried thither with the other legion that had deserted from Antony. It was already evening and the victorious Antonians were returning singing hymns of triumph. While they were in loose order Hirtius made his appearance in perfect order with his legion complete and fresh. The Antonians got themselves in line under compulsion, and performed against this foe also many splendid deeds of valor; but being wearied by their recent exertions they were overcome by the fresh army opposed to them, and the greater part of them were slain in this encounter by Hirtius, although the latter did not pursue, being apprehensive of the marshy ground. As darkness was coming on he allowed them to escape. A wide stretch of the marsh was filled with arms, corpses, wounded men, and half-dead men. Some were unhurt but were overcome by fatigue. Antony’s cavalry, as many as he had with him, went to their assistance and collected them through the entire night. Some they put on horse-back in their own places, others they took on the horses with themselves, still others they urged to take hold of the horses’ tails and run along with them and so secure their safety. Thus were Antony’s forces, after he had fought splendidly, scattered by the coming of Hirtius. He encamped without entrenchments in a village near the plain, named Forum Gallorum. Antony and Pansa each lost about one-half of their men. The whole of Octavius’ praetorian cohort perished. The loss of Hirtius was slight.

The next day they all withdrew to the camps at Mutina. After so severe a disaster Antony decided not to come to a general engagement with his enemies at present, not even if they should attack him, but merely to harass them daily with his cavalry until Decimus, who was reduced to extremity by famine, should surrender. For this very reason Hirtius and Octavius decided to push on a fight. As Antony would not come out when they offered battle, they moved toward the other side of Mutina where it was less closely besieged on account of the badness of the ground, as if about to force their way into the town with their strong army. Antony followed their movement with his cavalry and this time also with those alone. As the enemy fought him with their cavalry only, moving the rest of their army in whatever way they chose, Antony, lest he should lose Mutina, drew out of his entrenchments two legions. Then his enemies rejoiced at this, turned and delivered battle. Antony ordered up other legions from other camps, but as they came slowly, by reason of the suddenness of the call or the long distance, the army of Octavius won the victory. Hirtius even broke into Antony’s camp, where he was killed, fighting near the general’s tent. Octavius rushed in and carried off his body and possessed himself of the camp. A little later he was driven out by Antony. Both sides passed the night under arms.

When Antony had suffered this second defeat, he took counsel with his friends directly after the battle. They advised him to adhere to his first resolution, to continue the siege of Mutina and not to go out and fight, saying that the losses had been about equal on both sides, Hirtius having been killed and Pansa wounded; that he (Antony) was superior in cavalry and that Mutina was reduced to extremity by famine and must soon succumb. Such was the advise of his friends, and it was truly for the best. But Antony, now misled by a god, was fearful lest Octavius should make another attempt to break into Mutina like that of yesterday, or even try to enclose him (Antony), as Octavius had the greater force of laborers, in which case. said he, our cavalry will be useless and Lepidus and Plancus will despise me as a vanquished man. If we withdraw from Mutina, Ventidius will presently join us with three legions from Picenum, and Lepidus and Plancus will be emboldened to ally themselves with us. So he spoke, although he was not a timid man in the presence of danger; and breaking camp forthwith he made his way toward the Alps.

When Decimus was delivered from the siege he began to be afraid of Octavius, whom, after the removal of the two consuls, he feared as an enemy. So he broke down the bridge over the river before daybreak and sent certain persons to Octavius in a boat, as if to return thanks for rescuing him, and asked that Octavius would come to the opposite bank of the river to hold a conversation with him in the presence of the citizens as witnesses, because he could convince Octavius, he said, that an evil spirit had deceived him and led him into the conspiracy against Caesar with the others. Octavius answered the messengers in a tone of anger, declining the thanks that Decimus gave him, saying: I am here not to rescue Decimus, but to fight Antony, with whom I may properly come to terms sometime, but nature forbids that I should even look at Decimus or hold any conversation with him. Let him have safety, however, as long as the authorities at Rome please. When Decimus heard this he stood on the river bank and, calling Octavius by name, read with a loud voice the letters of the Senate giving him command of the Gallic province, and forbade Octavius to cross the river without consular authority, into the government belonging to another, and not to follow Antony further, because he (Decimus) would suffice for the pursuit of the latter. Octavius knew that he was prompted to this audacious course by the Senate, and although able to seize him by giving an order, he spared him for the present and withdrew to Pansa at Bononia, where he wrote a full report to the Senate, and Pansa did likewise.

In Rome Cicero read to the people the report of the consul, and to the Senate alone that of Octavius. For the victory over Antony, he caused them to vote a thanksgiving of fifty days,— a longer festivity than the Romans had ever decreed even after the Gallic or any other war. He induced them to give the army of the consuls to Decimus, although Pansa was still alive (for his life was now despaired of), and to appoint Decimus the sole commander against Antony. Public prayers were offered that Decimus might prevail over him. Such was Cicero’s passion and want of decorum in reference to Antony. He confirmed again, to the two legions that had deserted from Antony, the 5000 drachmas per man previously promised to them as the rewards of victory, as though they had already conquered, and gave them the perpetual right to wear the olive crown at the public festivals. There was nothing about Octavius in the decrees, and his name was not even mentioned. He was forthwith disregarded as though Antony were already destroyed. They wrote to Lepidus, to Plancus, and to Asinius Pollio to fight Antony when he should draw near them. Such was the course of events at Rome.

In the meantime Pansa was dying of his wound, and he summoned Octavius to his side, and said: I loved your father as I did myself, yet I could not avenge his death, nor could I fail to unite with the majority, whom you have also done well to obey, although you have an army. At first they feared you and Antony, and especially Antony, as he seemed to be the one most ambitious to fill the rôle of Caesar, and they were delighted with your dissensions, thinking that you would mutually destroy each other. When they saw you the master of an army, they complimented you as a young man with specious and inexpensive honors. When they saw that you were more proud and self-restrained in respect of honors than they had supposed, and especially when you declined the magistracy that your army offered you, they were alarmed and they appointed you to the command with us in order that we might draw your two experienced legions away from you, hoping that when one of you was vanquished the other would be weakened and isolated, and so the whole of Caesar’s party would be effaced and that of Pompey be restored to power. This is their chief aim.

Hirtius and I did what we were ordered to do, until we could humble Antony, who was much too arrogant; but we intended when he was vanquished to bring him into alliance with you and thus to pay the debt of gratitude we owed to Caesar’s friendship, the only payment that could be serviceable to Caesar’s party hereafter. It was not possible to communicate this to you before, but now that Antony is vanquished and Hirtius dead, and I am about to pay the debt of nature, the time for speaking has come, not that you may be grateful to me after my death, but that you, born to a happy destiny, as your deeds proclaim, may know what is for your own interest, and know that the course taken by Hirtius and myself was a matter of necessity. The army that you yourself gave to us should most properly be given back to you, and I do give it. If you can take and hold the new levies, I will give you those also. If they are too much in awe of the Senate (for their officers were sent to act as spies upon us), and if the task would be an invidious one, and would create trouble for you prematurely, the quaestor Torquatus will take command of them. After speaking thus he transferred the new levies to the quaestor and expired. The quaestor transferred them to Decimus as the Senate had ordered. Octavius sent the bodies of Hirtius and Pansa with honors to Rome, where they received a public funeral.

The following events took place in Syria and Macedonia about the same time. Gaius Caesar, when he passed through Syria, left a legion there, as he was already contemplating an expedition against the Parthians. Caecilius Bassus had charge of it, but the title of commander was held by Sextus Julius, a young man related to Caesar himself, who was given over to dissipation and who led the legion around everywhere in an indecorous manner. Once when Bassus reproved him, he replied insultingly, and sometime later, when he called Bassus to him and the latter was slow in obeying, he ordered him to be dragged before him. A tumult and blows ensued. The soldiers would not tolerate the indignity and stabbed Julius. This act was followed by repentance and fear of Caesar. Accordingly, they took an oath together that they would defend themselves to the death if they were not pardoned and restored to confidence, and they compelled Bassus to take the same oath. They also enlisted and drilled another legion as associates with themselves. This is one account of Bassus, but Libo says that he belonged to the army of Pompey and that after the latter’s defeat he became a private citizen in Tyre, where he corrupted certain members of the legion, who slew Sextus and chose Bassus for their leader. However that may have been, Caesar sent Statius Marcus against him with three legions. Bassus defeated him badly. Finally, Marcus appealed to Marcius Crispus, the governor of Bithynia, and the latter came to his aid with three legions.

While Bassus was besieged by the latter, Cassius suddenly came up with them and took possession, not only of the two legions of Bassus, but also of the six that were besieging him, whose leaders surrendered in a friendly way and obeyed him as proconsul; for the Senate had decreed, as I have already said, that all [beyond the Adriatic] should obey Cassius and Brutus. Just then Allienus, who had been sent to Egypt by Dolabella, brought from that quarter four legions of soldiers dispersed by the disasters of Pompey and of Crassus, or left with Cleopatra by Caesar. Cassius surrounded him unawares in Palestine and compelled him to surrender, as he did not dare to fight with four legions against eight. Thus Cassius became the master, in a surprising way, of twelve legions, and laid siege to Dolabella, who was coming from Asia with two legions and had been received in Laodicea in a friendly manner. The Senate was delighted when it heard the news.

In Macedonia Gaius Antonius, the brother of Mark Antony, with one legion of foot soldiers, contended with Brutus, and, being inferior in strength to the latter, laid an ambuscade for him. Brutus avoided the trap, and, in his turn, laid an ambuscade, but he did no harm to those whom he caught in it, but ordered his own soldiers to salute their adversaries. Although the latter did not return the salutation or accept the courtesy he allowed them to pass out of the trap unharmed. Then he went around by other roads and confronted them again at a precipice, and again did them no harm but saluted them. Then, regarding him as a saviour of his fellow-citizens, and as one deserving the reputation he had gained for wisdom and mildness, they conceived an admiration for him, saluted him, and passed over to him. Gaius also surrendered himself and was treated with honor by Brutus until he was convicted of having tried several times to corrupt the army, when he was put to death. Thus, including his former forces, Brutus had possession of six legions, and since he approved the valor of the Macedonians he raised two legions among them, whom he drilled in the Italian discipline.

Such was the state of affairs in Syria and Macedonia. In Italy Octavius, although he considered it an insult that Decimus, instead of himself, was chosen general against Antony, concealed his indignation and asked the honors of a triumph for his exploits. Being disdained by the Senate as though he were seeking honors beyond his years, he began to fear lest if Antony were destroyed he should be despised still more, and so he desired a reconciliation with Antony, as Pansa on his death-bed had recommended to him. Accordingly, he began to make friends of those of Antony’s army who had been taken prisoners, both officers and soldiers. He enrolled them among his own troops, or if they wished to return to Antony he allowed them to do so, in order to show that he was not moved by implacable hatred against him. When he was encamped near to Ventidius, Antony’s friend, who had command of three legions, he inspired the latter with fear, but performed no hostile act, and in like manner gave him the opportunity to join himself or to go on safely with his army to Antony, and told him to chide the latter for ignoring their common interests. Ventidius took the hint and proceeded to join Antony. Octavius also allowed Decius, one of Antony’s officers, who had been taken prisoner at Mutina, and had been treated with honor, to return to Antony if he wished, and when Decius tried to find out what were his sentiments toward Antony, he said that he had given plenty of indications to persons of discernment and that more would be insufficient for fools.

After conveying these hints to Antony, Octavius wrote still more plainly to Lepidus and Asinius concerning the indignities put upon himself and the rapid advancement of the murderers, causing them to fear, lest in consequence of the favor extended to the Pompeian faction, each of the Caesarians should, one by one, share the fate of Antony, although he was suffering the consequences of his own folly and arrogance. He advised that, for the sake of appearances, they should obey the Senate, but that they should confer together for their own safety while they could still do so, and reproach Antony for his conduct; that they should follow the example of their own soldiers, who did not separate even when theywere discharged from the service but, in order that they might not be exposed to the assaults of enemies, preferred to unite their strength by settling together on ground that belonged not to them in groups, rather than enjoy their own homesteads singly. These things Octavius wrote to Lepidus and Asinius. The first soldiers of Decimus fell sick by reason of excessive eating after their famine, and suffered from dysentery, and the newer ones were still undrilled. Plancus soon joined him with his army, and then Decimus wrote to the Senate that he would pursue and capture Antony immediately.

When the Pompeians learned what had happened (and an astonishing number showed themselves to be of that party), they exclaimed that their ancestral freedom had at last been regained, and they each offered sacrifices. Decemvirs were chosen to examine the accounts of Antony’s magistracy. This was a preliminary step to annulling Caesar’s arrangements, for Antony had done little or nothing himself, but had conducted all the affairs of state in accordance with Caesar’s memoranda. The Senate knew this well, but it hoped that by finding a pretext for annulling a part of the measures it should be enabled in the same way to annul the whole. The decemvirs gave public notice that whoever had received anything from Antony’s government should make it known in writing immediately, and threatened any who should disobey. The Pompeians also sought the consulship for the remainder of the year in place of Hirtius and Pansa. But Octavius also sought it, applying not to the Senate, but to Cicero privately, whom he urged to become his colleague, saying that Cicero should carry on the government, as he was the elder and more experienced, and that he (Octavius) would enjoy the title only, by which means he could dismiss his army in a becoming manner, for which reason he had previously asked the honor of a triumph. Cicero, whose desire for office was excited by this proposal, said to the Senate that he understood that a negotiation was on foot among the generals commanding the provinces, and he advised that they should conciliate the man whom they had treated with disdain and who was still at the head of a large army, and allow him to hold office in the city, notwithstanding his youth, rather than that he should remain under arms in a hostile attitude. But lest he should do anything contrary to the interest of the Senate, Cicero proposed that some man of prudence from among the older ones should be chosen as his colleague as a firm check upon the immaturity of Octavius. The Senate laughed at Cicero’s ambition, and the relatives of the conspirators especially opposed him, fearing lest Octavius, as consul, should bring the murderers to punishment.”

When Laterensis, one of the distinguished members of the Senate, perceived this he warned Lepidus. As the latter was incredulous Laterensis advised him to divide his army in several parts and send them away on certain errands in order to test whether they were faithful or not. Accordingly, Lepidus divided them in three parts, and ordered them to go out by night in order to protect some quaestors who were approaching. About the last watch the soldiers armed themselves as if for the march, seized the fortified parts of the camp, and opened the gates to Antony. The latter came running to the tent of Lepidus, whose whole army was now escorting Antony, and they besought Lepidus for peace and compassion to their unfortunate fellow-citizens. Lepidus leaped out of bed among them undressed, just as he was, promised to do what they asked, embraced Antony, and pleaded necessity as his excuse. Some say that he fell on his knees before Antony, being an inexperienced and timid man. Not all writers put faith in this report, nor do I, for he had as yet done nothing whatever inimical to Antony and nothing to cause fear. Thus did Antony again become a very powerful man and most formidable to his enemies. He had the army with which he had abandoned the siege of Mutina, including its magnificent cavalry. Ventidius had joined him on the road with three legions. Lepidus had become his ally with seven legions of foot soldiers and a great number of auxiliary troops and apparatus in proportion. Lepidus nominally retained the command of these, but Antony directed every-thing.

When these facts became known at Rome a wonderful and sudden change took place. Those who had just now held Antony in contempt were alarmed, while the fears of others were changed to courage. The edicts of the decemvirs were torn down with derision and the consular election was still further postponed. The Senate, wholly at a loss what to do and fearful lest Octavius and Antony should form an alliance, sent two of their number, Lucius and Pansa, secretly to Brutus and Cassius, under pretence of attending the games in Greece, to urge them to lend all the assistance possible. It recalled from Africa two of the three legions under Sextius, and ordered the third to be given over to Cornificius, who commanded another portion of Africa, and who favored the senatorial party. Although they knew that these legions had served under Gaius Caesar, and although they suspected everything of his, yet the want of other forces compelled them to take this course. Most awkwardly, too, they reappointed the young Octavius as general with Decimus against Antony, for they feared lest he should unite with Antony.

Octavius excited the army to anger against the Senate on account of its repeated indignities toward himself, and for requiring the soldiers to undertake a second campaign before paying them the 5000 drachmas per man which it had promised to give them for the first. He advised them to send and ask for the money. They sent their centurions. The Senate understood that the men had been advised to this course by Octavius and said that it would make answer by its own legates. It sent the latter, under instructions, to address themselves, when Octavius was not present, to the two legions which had deserted from Antony, and to advise the soldiers not to rest their hopes on a single person, but on the Senate, which alone had perpetual power, and to go to the camp of Decimus, where they would find the promised money. Having delivered this charge to the legates it forwarded one-half of the donative and appointed ten men to divide it, to whom it did not add Octavius as the eleventh. As the two legions refused to meet them without Octavius, the legates returned leaving the business unfinished. Octavius no longer held communication with the troops through the medium of others and no longer asked them to wait, but assembled the army and came before them and related to them the indignities he had suffered from the Senate, and its purpose to destroy all the friends of Gaius Caesar, one by one. He admonished them also to beware against being transferred to a general opposed to their party and sent to one war after another for the purpose of being killed or arrayed in opposition to each other. This was the reason why, after their common struggles at Mutina were ended, rewards were given to only two legions, in order to induce strife and sedition in the army.

You know, he said, the reason why Antony was lately vanquished. You have heard what the Pompeians in the city did to those who had received certain gifts from Caesar. What confidence can you have of keeping the lands and money you have received from him, or what confidence can I have in my own safety while the relatives of the murderers dominate the Senate ? I shall accept my fate, whatever it may be, for it is beautiful to suffer anything in the service of a father; but I fear for you, such a host of brave men, who have incurred danger in behalf of me and my father. You know that I have been free from ambition from the time when I declined the praetorship that you offered me with the insignia of that office. I see only one path of safety now for both of us, and that is that I obtain the consulship by your help. In that case all of my father’s gifts to you will be confirmed, the colonies that are still due to you will be forthcoming, and all your rewards will be paid in full; and after bringing the murderers to punishment I will release you from any more wars.

At these words the army cheered heartily, and forthwith sent their centurions to ask the consulship for Octavius. When the Senate began to make talk about his youth, the centurions replied, as they had been instructed, that in the olden time Corvinus had held the office and at a later period the Scipios, both the elder and the younger, before the legal age, and that the country profited much from the youth of each. They instanced, as recent examples, Pompey the Great and Dolabella and said that it had been granted to Caesar himself to stand for the consulship ten years before the legal age. While the centurions were arguing with much boldness, some of the senators, who could not endure that army officers should use such freedom of speech, rebuked them for exceeding the bounds of military discipline. When the army heard of this, they were still more exasperated and demanded to be led immediately to the city, saying that they would hold a special election and elevate him to the consulship because he was Caesar’s son. At the same time they extolled the elder Caesar without stint. When Octavius saw them in this excited state, he led them directly from the assembly toward the city, eight legions of foot and a corresponding number of horse, and the auxiliary troops that were serving with the legions. Having crossed the river Rubicon from the Gallic province into Italy, — the stream that his father crossed in like manner at the beginning of the civil war, — he divided his army in two parts. One of these divisions he ordered to follow in a leisurely way. The other and better one, consisting of picked men, made forced marches, hastening in order to take the city unprepared. Meeting a convoy on the road with a part of the money which the Senate was sending as a present to the soldiers, Octavius feared the effect it might have on his mercenaries. So he secretly sent forward a force to scare away the convoy, and they took to flight with the money.

When the news of Octavius’ approach reached the city there was immense confusion and alarm. People ran hither and thither, and some conveyed their wives and children and whatever they held most dear to the fields and to the fortified parts of the city, for it was not yet known that he aimed only at securing the consulship. Having heard that an army was advancing with hostile intentions, there was nothing that they did not fear. The Senate was struck with consternation since it had no military force in readiness. As is usual in cases of panic they blamed each other. Some were blamed because they had wrongfully deprived him of the command of the campaign against Antony, others because they had treated with contempt his demand for a triumph, a request which was not without justice; others because they had envied him the honor of distributing the money; others because he had not been made an additional member of the board of ten. Still others said that the army had become hostile because the gifts voted to them had not been quickly and fully paid. They complained especially because of the inopportune time for such a strife, while Brutus and Cassius were far away and their forces not yet organized, and on their own flank in a hostile attitude were Antony and Lepidus, who, they thought, might form an alliance with Octavius. Thus their fears were greatly augmented. Cicero, who had so long taken the lead, was nowhere to be seen.

There was a sudden change on all hands. Instead of 2500 drachmas 5000 were given. Instead of two legions only, the entire eight were to be paid. Octavius was appointed to make the distribution instead of the ten commissioners, and he was allowed to be a candidate for the consulship while absent. Messengers were hastily despatched to tell him these things. Directly after they had left the city the Senate repented. It felt that it ought not to be so weakly terror-stricken, or accept a new tyranny without bloodshed, or accustom those seeking office to gain it by violence, or the soldiers to govern the country by the word of command. Rather should they arm themselves as far as possible and oppose the laws to the invaders, for there was some hope that, if the laws were opposed to them, not even they would bear arms against their country. If they should do so, it would be best to endure a siege until Decimus and Plancus should come to the rescue, and to defend themselves to the death rather than submit voluntarily to a slavery thenceforth without remedy. They recounted the high spirit and endurance in behalf of freedom of the Romans of old, who never yielded anything prejudicial to their liberty.

As the two legions sent for from Africa happened to arrive in the harbor on the same day, it seemed as though the gods were urging them to defend their freedom. Their regret for what they had done was confirmed; Cicero again made his appearance, and they repealed all of the decrees above mentioned. All who were of military age were called to arms, also the two legions from Africa, and 1000 horse with them, and another legion that Pansa had left behind, all these were assigned to their proper places. Some of them guarded the so-called hill of Janiculum, where the money was stored, others held the bridge over the Tiber, and the city praetors were put in command of the separate divisions. Others made ready small boats and ships in the harbor, together with money, in order to escape by sea in case they should be vanquished. While courageously making these hasty preparations they hoped to alarm Octavius in his turn, and induce him to seek the consulship from them instead of the army, or they hoped at least to defend themselves to the last extremity. They hoped also to change those of the opposite faction as soon as it became a contest for liberty. When they sought for the mother and sister of Octavius, and did not discover them either in any open or secret abode, they were again alarmed at finding themselves deprived of such important hostages, and as the Caesarians showed no disposition to yield to them they concluded that these women had been carefully concealed by them.

While Octavius was still giving audience to the messengers, it was announced to him that the decrees had been rescinded. The messengers thereupon withdrew, covered with confusion. With his army still more exasperated Octavius hastened to the city, fearing lest some evil should befall his mother and sister. To the plebeians, who were in a state of consternation, he sent horsemen in advance to tell them to have no fear. While all were amazed he took a position just beyond the Quirinal hill, no one daring to fight or prevent him. Now another wonderful and sudden change took place. Patricians flocked out and saluted him. The common people ran also and admired the good order of the soldiers, which they considered a sign of peace. On the following day Octavius advanced toward the city, leaving his army where it was, and having with him only a sufficient guard. Here, again, crowds met him along the whole road and saluted him, omitting nothing that savored of friendliness and weak compliance. His mother and sister, who were in the temple of Vesta with the Vestal virgins, embraced him. The three legions, in spite of their generals, sent ambassadors and transferred themselves to him. One of the generals in command of them, Cornutus, killed himself. The others allied themselves with Octavius. When Cicero learned this he sought an interview with Octavius through friends. When it was granted he defended himself and dwelt much upon his proposing Octavius for the consulship, as he had done in the Senate on a former occasion. Octavius answered ironically that Cicero seemed to be the last of his friends to greet him.

The next night a rumor gained currency that two of Octavius’ legions, the Martian and the Fourth, had gone over to the side of the republic, because they had been led against their country by deception. The praetors and the Senate put faith in this report heedlessly, although the army was very near, thinking that with the assistance of these two legions, as they were the bravest, it would be possible to hold out against the rest of Octavius’ army until some force from elsewhere should come to the rescue. The same night they sent Manius Aquilius Crassus to Picenum to raise troops, and ordered one of the tribunes, named Apuleius, to run through the city and proclaim the good news to the people. The senators assembled by night in the senate-house, and Cicero received them at the door, but when the news was contradicted he took flight in a litter.

Octavius laughed at them and moved his army nearer to the city and stationed it in the Campus Martius. He did not then punish any of the praetors, not even Crassus who had rushed off to Picenum, although the latter was brought before him just as he was caught, in the disguise of a slave. He pardoned all in order to acquire a reputation for clemency. But not long afterward they were put on the list of the proscribed. He ordered that the public money on the Janiculum or elsewhere be brought to him, and that the amount that had been previously ordered to be paid on the motion of Cicero be distributed; that is, he divided 2500 drachmas per man and promised to give them the remainder. Then he took his departure from the city until the consuls should be chosen by the comitia. Having been elected, together with Quintus Pedius, whom he desired to have as his colleague, and who had given to him his own portion of his inheritance from Caesar, he entered the city as consul. He offered the usual sacrifices, and twelve vultures were seen; the same number, they say, that appeared to Romulus when he laid the foundations of the city. After the sacrifices he caused his adoption by his father to be ratified again, according to the lex curiata, — that is, by a popular vote, — for the parts into which the tribes, or the common people, are divided are called curiae, just as I suppose the similar divisions among the Greeks are called phratriae. Among the Romans this was the method of adoption most in accordance with law in the case of orphans; and those who follow it have the same rights as real sons in respect of the relatives and the freedmen of the persons who adopt them. Among the other splendid accessories of Caesar was a large number of freedmen, many of them rich, and this was perhaps the principal reason why Octavius wanted the adoption by a vote of the people in addition to the former adoption which came to him by Caesar’s will.

He caused a new law to be passed to repeal the one which declared Dolabella a public enemy, and also to punish the murder of Caesar. Indictments were found forthwith, the friends of Caesar bringing accusations against some for actual participation in the crime and against others as having guilty knowledge only. Several were indicted, and among them some who were not in the city when Caesar was killed. One day was fixed by public proclamation for the trial of all, and judgment was taken against all by default while Octavius was overlooking the court. None of the judges voted for acquittal except one patrician, who then escaped with impunity, but was included with others in the proscription a little later. It appears that about this time Quintus Gallius, a city praetor and brother of Marcus Gallius, who was serving with Antony, asked Octavius for the command of Africa, and, being thus brought into his presence, attempted to take his life. His colleagues stripped him of his praetorship, the people tore his house down, and the Senate condemned him to death. Octavius ordered him to depart to his brother, and it is said that he took ship and was never seen again.

These things accomplished, Octavius formed plans for a reconciliation with Antony, for he had learned that Brutus and Cassius had already collected twenty legions of soldiers, and he needed Antony’s help against them. He moved out of the city toward the Adriatic coast and proceeded in a leisurely way, waiting to see what the Senate would do. Pedius persuaded the senators, after Octavius had taken his departure, not to make their differences with each other irremediable, but to be reconciled to Lepidus and Antony. They foresaw that such a reconciliation would not be for their advantage or for that of the country, but would be merely an assistance to Octavius against Brutus and Cassius. Nevertheless, they gave their approval and assent to it as a matter of necessity. So the decrees declaring Antony and Lepidus, and the soldiers under them, public enemies, were repealed, and others of a peaceful nature were sent to them. Thereupon Octavius wrote and congratulated them, and he promised to lend assistance to Antony against Decimus Brutus if he needed it. They replied to him at once in a friendly spirit and eulogized him. Antony wrote that he would himself take vengeance on Decimus for Caesar’s account and on Plancus for his own, and that then he would join forces with Octavius.

Such were the letters which they exchanged with each other. While pursuing Decimus, Antony was joined by Asinius Pollio with two legions. Asinius also brought about an arrangement with Plancus, by virtue of which the latter passed over to Antony with three legions, so that Antony now had much the strongest force. Decimus had ten legions, of whom four, the most experienced in war, had suffered severely from famine and were still enfeebled. The other six were new levies, still untrained and unaccustomed to their labors. As he despaired of fighting, he decided to flee to Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. He retreated not by the higher Alps, but toward Ravenna and Aquileia. Since Caesar had travelled by this route, Decimus proposed another longer and more difficult one — to cross the Rhine and traverse the wild country of barbarian tribes. Thereupon the new levies, bewildered and fatigued, were the first to desert him and join Octavius. After them the four older legions joined Antony, and the auxiliaries did the same, except a body-guard of Gallic horse. Then Decimus allowed those who wished to do so to return to their own homes, and, after distributing among them the gold he had with him, proceeded toward the Rhine with 300 followers, the only ones who remained. As it was difficult to cross the river with so few, he was now abandoned by all the others except ten. He put on Gallic clothing, and, as he was acquainted with the language, he proceeded on his journey with these, passing himself off as a Gaul. He no longer followed the longer route, but went toward Aquileia, thinking that he should escape notice by reason of the smallness of his force.

Having been captured by robbers and bound, he asked them who was the chief of this Gallic tribe. He was informed that it was Camillus, a man to whom he had done many favors. So he told them to bring him to Camillus. When the latter saw him led in, he greeted him in a friendly way in public, and scolded those who had bound him, for putting an indignity on so great a man through ignorance; but he sent word to Antony secretly. Antony was some-what touched by this change of fortune, and was not willing to see Decimus, but he ordered Camillus to kill him and send his head to himself. When he saw the head he ordered his attendants to bury it. Such was the end of Decimus, who had been Caesar’s praefect of horse and had governed Farther Gaul under him and had been designated by him for the consulship the coming year and for the governorship of Hither Gaul. He was the next of the murderers after Trebonius to meet punishment, within a year and a half of the assassination. About the same time Minucius Basilus, another of Caesar’s murderers, was killed by his slaves, some of whom he was castrating by way of punishment.

THUS was punishment visited upon two of Caesar’s murderers, who were conquered in their own provinces, Trebonius in Asia and Decimus Brutus in Gaul. How vengeance overtook Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who were the principal leaders in the conspiracy against Caesar, and who controlled the territory from Syria to Macedonia, and had large forces of cavalry and sailors, and more than twenty legions of infantry, together with ships and money, this fourth book of the Civil Wars will show. During the progress of these events came the pursuit and capture of the proscribed in Rome and the sufferings consequent thereon, the like of which cannot be recalled among the civil commotions or wars of the Greeks, or those of the Romans themselves save only in the time of Sulla, who was the first to put his enemies on a proscription list. Marius searched for his and punished those whom he found, but Sulla proclaimed large rewards to persons who should kill the proscribed and severe punishment to those who should conceal them. But what took place in the time of Marius and Sulla I have previously narrated in the history relating to them. The following events came next in order.

Octavius and Antony composed their differences on a small, gradually sloping islet in the river Lavinius, near the city of Mutina. Each had five legions of soldiers whom they stationed opposite each other, after which each proceeded with 300 men to the bridges over the river. Lepidus himself went before them, searched the island, and shook his military cloak as a signal to them to come. Then each left his three hundred in charge of friends on the bridges and advanced to the middle of the island in plain sight, and there the three sat together in council, Octavius in the centre because he was consul. They were in conference from morning till night for two days, and came to these decisions: That Octavius should resign the consulship and that Ventidius should take it for the remainder of the year; that anew magistracy for quieting the civil dissensions should be created by law, which Lepidus, Antony, and Octavius should hold for five years with consular power (for this name seemed preferable to that of dictator, perhaps because of Antony’s decree abolishing the dictatorship); that these three should at once designate the yearly magistrates of the city for the five years; that a distribution of the provinces should be made, giving to Antony the whole of Gaul except the part bordering the Pyrenees Mountains, which was called Old Gaul. The latter, together with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus, while Octavius was to have Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily, and the other islands in the vicinity thereof.

Thus was the dominion of the Romans divided by the triumvirate among themselves. The assignment of the parts beyond the Adriatic only was postponed, since these were still under the control of Brutus and Cassius, against whom Antony and Octavius were to wage war. Lepidus was to be consul the following year and to remain in the city to do what was needful there, meanwhile governing Spain by proxy. He was to retain three of his legions to guard the city, and to divide the other seven between Octavius and Antony, three to the former and four to the latter, so that each of them might lead twenty legions to the war. To encourage the army with the expectation of booty they promised them, beside other gifts, eighteen cities of Italy as colonies — cities which excelled in wealth, in the fertility of their territory, and in handsome houses, and which were to be divided among them (land, buildings, and all), just as though they had been captured from an enemy in war. The most renowned among these were Capua, Rhegium, Venusia, Beneventum, Nuceria, Ariminum, and Vibo. Thus were the most beautiful parts of Italy marked out for the soldiers. But they decided to destroy their personal enemies beforehand, so that the latter should not interfere with their arrangements while they were carrying on war abroad. Having come to these decisions, they reduced them to writing, and Octavius, as consul, communicated them to the soldiers, all except the proscriptions. When the soldiers heard them they applauded and embraced each other in token of mutual reconciliation.

While these transactions were taking place many fearful prodigies and portents were observed at Rome. Dogs howled exactly like wolves — a fearful sign. Wolves darted through the forum — an animal unused to the city. Cattle used the human voice. A newly born infant spoke. Sweat issued from statues; some even sweated blood. Loud voices of men were heard and the clashing of arms and the tramp of horses where none could be seen. Many fearful signs were observed around the sun, there were showers of stones, and continuous lightning fell upon the sacred temples and images; in consequence of which the Senate sent for diviners and soothsayers from Etruria. The oldest of them said that the kingly rule of former times was coming back, and that they would all be slaves except himself, whereupon he closed his mouth and held his breath till he was dead.

As soon as the triumvirs were by themselves they joined in making a list of those who were to be put to death. They put on the list those whom they suspected because of their power, and also their personal enemies, and they swapped their own relatives and friends with each other for death, both then and later. For they made additions to the catalogue from time to time, some on the ground of enmity, others for a grudge merely, or because the victims tims were friends of their enemies or enemies of their friends. Some were proscribed on account of their wealth, for the triumvirs needed a great deal of money to carry on the war, since the revenue from Asia had been paid to Brutus and Cassius, who were still collecting it, and the kings and satraps were coöperating with them. So the triumvirs were short of money because Europe, and especially Italy, was exhausted by wars and exactions; for which reason they levied very heavy contributions from the plebeians and finally even from women, and contemplated taxes on sales and rents. Some were proscribed because they had handsome villas or city residences. The number of senators who were sentenced to death and confiscation was about 300, and of the so-called knights about 2000. There were brothers and uncles of the triumvirs in the list of the proscribed, and also some of the lieutenants serving under them who had had some difficulty with the leaders, or with their fellow-lieutenants.

As they left the conference to proceed to Rome they postponed the proscription of the greater number of victims, but they decided to send executioners in advance and without warning to kill twelve, or, as some say, seventeen, of the most important ones, among whom was Cicero. Four of these were slain immediately, either at banquets or as they were met on the streets. Search was made for the others in temples and houses. There was a sudden panic which lasted through the night, and a running to and fro with cries and lamentation as in a captured city. When it was known that men had been seized and massacred, although nobody had been previously sentenced by proscription, every man thought that he was the one whom the pursuers were in search of. In despair some were on the point of burning their own houses, and others the public buildings, or of committing some terrible deed in their frenzied state before the blow should fall upon them; and they would have done so had not the consul Pedius hurried around with heralds and encouraged them, telling them to wait till daylight and get more accurate information. When morning came Pedius, contrary to the intention of the triumvirs, published the list of seventeen as deemed the sole authors of the civil strife and the only ones condemned. To the rest he pledged the public faith, being ignorant of the determinations of the triumvirs. Pedius died in consequence of fatigue the following night.

The triumvirs entered the city separately on three successive days, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, each with a praetorian cohort and one legion. As they arrived, the city was speedily filled with arms and military standards, disposed in the most advantageous places. A public assembly was forthwith convened in the midst of these armed men, and the tribune Publius Titius proposed a law providing for a new magistracy for settling the present disorders, to consist of three men to hold office for five years, namely, Lepidus, Antony, and Octavius, with the same power as consuls. (Among the Greeks these would have been called harmosts, which is the name the Lacedaemonians gave to those whom they appointed over their subject states.) No time was given for consideration of this measure, nor was a future day appointed for voting on it, but it was passed forthwith. That same night, the proscription of 130 men in addition to the seventeen was proclaimed in various parts of the city, and a little later 150 more, and additions to the lists were constantly made of those who had been previously condemned or killed by mistake, so that they might seem to have perished justly. It was ordered that the heads of all the victims should be brought to the triumvirs in order to adjust the rewards, which to a free person were payable in money and to a slave in both money and freedom. All were required to afford opportunity for searching their houses. Those who received fugitives, or concealed them, or refused to allow search to be made, were liable to the same penalties as the proscribed, and those who informed against concealers were allowed the same rewards [as those who killed the proscribed].

The proscription was in the following words: Marcus Lepidus, Mark Antony, and Octavius Caesar, chosen by the people to set in order and regulate the republic, do declare that, had not perfidious scoundrels begged for mercy and when they obtained it become the enemies of their benefactors and conspired against them, neither would Gaius Caesar have been slain by those whom he saved by his clemency after capturing them in war, whom he admitted to his friendship and upon whom he heaped offices, honors, and gifts; nor should we have been compelled to use severity against those who have insulted us and declared us public enemies. Now, seeing that the malice of those, who have conspired against us and from whom Gaius Caesar suffered, cannot be overcome by kindness, we prefer to anticipate our enemies rather than suffer at their hands. Let no one who sees what both Caesar and ourselves have suffered consider our action unjust, cruel, or immoderate. Although Caesar was clothed with supreme power, although he was pontifex maximus, although he had overthrown and added to our sway the nations most formidable to the Romans, although he was the first man to attempt the untried sea beyond the pillars of Hercules and was the discoverer of a country hitherto unknown to the Romans, this man was slain in a public and sacred place designated as the senate-house, under the eyes of the gods, with twenty-three dastardly wounds, by men whom he had taken prisoners in war and had spared, some of whom he had named as co-heirs of his wealth. After this execrable crime, instead of arresting the guilty wretches, the rest sent them forth as commanders and governors, in which capacity they seized upon the public money with which they are collecting an army against us and are seeking reënforcements from barbarians ever hostile to Roman rule. Cities subject to Rome that would not obey them they have burned, or ravaged, or levelled to the ground; other cities they have forced by terror to bear arms against the country and against us.

Some of them we have punished already; and by the aid of divine providence you shall see the rest punished presently. Although the chief part of this work has been finished by us or is well in hand, appertaining to Spain and Gaul as well as to Italy, one task still remains, and that is to march against Caesar’s assassins beyond the sea. On the eve of undertaking this foreign war for you, we do not consider it safe, either for you or for us, to leave other enemies behind to take advantage of our absence and watch for opportunities during the war. We think that there should be no delay in such an emergency, but that we ought rather to sweep them out of our pathway, once for all, seeing that they began the war against us when they voted us and the armies under us public enemies.

What vast numbers of citizens have they doomed to destruction with us, disregarding the vengeance of the gods and the reprobation of mankind! We shall not deal harshly with any multitude of men, nor shall we count as enemies all who have opposed us or plotted against us, or those distinguished for their riches merely, their estates, or their high position; nor shall we go to the same lengths as another man who held the supreme power before us, when he, too, was regulating the commonwealth in civil convulsions, and whom you named the Fortunate on account of his success; and yet necessarily three persons will have more enemies than one. We shall take vengeance only on the worst and most guilty. This we shall do for your interest no less than for our own, for while we keep up our conflicts you will all be involved necessarily in great dangers. It is incumbent on us also to do something to quiet the army, which has been insulted, irritated, and decreed a public enemy by our common foes. Although we might arrest on the spot whomsoever we please, we prefer to proscribe rather than seize them unawares; and this, too, on your account, so that it may not be in the power of enraged soldiers to exceed their orders, but that they may be restricted to a certain number designated by name, and spare the others according to order.

In God’s name then, let no one harbor any one of those whose names are hereto appended, or conceal them, or send them away, or be corrupted by their money. Whoever shall be detected in saving, or aiding, or conniving with them we will put on the list of the proscribed without allowing any excuse or pardon. Those who kill the proscribed and bring us their heads shall receive the following rewards: to a free man 25,000 Attic drachmas per head; to a slave his freedom and 10,000 Attic drachmas and his master’s right of citizenship. Informers shall receive the same rewards. In order that they may remain unknown the names of those who receive the rewards shall not be inscribed in our registers. Such was the language of the proscription of the triumvirate as nearly as it can be rendered from Latin into Greek.

Lepidus was the first to begin the work of proscription, and his brother Paulus was the first on the list of the proscribed. Antony came next, and the second name on the list was that of his uncle, Lucius Caesar. These two men had been the first to vote Lepidus and Antony public enemies. The third and fourth victims were relatives of the consuls-elect for the coming year, namely, Plotius, the brother of Plancus, and Quintus, the father-in-law of Asinnius. These four were placed at the head of the list, not so much on account of their dignity as to produce terror and despair, so that none of the proscribed might hope to escape. Among the proscribed was Thoranius, who was said by some to have been a tutor of Octavius. When the lists were published, the gates and all the other exits from the city, the harbor, the marshes, the pools, and every other place that was suspected as adapted to flight or concealment, were occupied by soldiers; the centurions were charged to scour the surrounding country. All these things took place simultaneously.

Straightway, throughout city and country, wherever each one happened to be found, there were sudden arrests and murder in various forms, and decapitations for the sake of the rewards when the head should be shown; also undignified flights in strange costumes, of persons hitherto well dressed. Some descended into wells, others into filthy sewers. Some took refuge in chimneys. Others crouched in the deepest silence under the thick-set tiles of their roofs. Some were not less fearful of their wives and ill-disposed children than of the murderers. Others feared their freedmen and their slaves; creditors feared their debtors and neighbors feared neighbors who coveted their lands. There was a sudden outburst of previously smouldering hates and a shocking change in the condition of senators, consulars, praetors, tribunes (men who were about to enter upon those offices, or who had already held them), who threw themselves with lamentations at the feet of their own slaves, giving to the servant the character of savior and master. It was most lamentable that even after submitting to this humiliation they did not obtain pity.

Every kind of calamity was rife, but not as in ordinary sedition or military occupation, for in those cases the people had to fear only the members of the opposite faction, or the enemy, and could rely on their own domestics. But now they were more afraid of them than of the assassins, for as the former had nothing to fear on their own account, as in ordinary seditions or wars, they were suddenly transformed from domestics into enemies, either from some concealed hatred, or in order to obtain the published rewards, or to possess themselves of the gold and silver in their masters’ houses. For these reasons each one became treacherous to the household, preferring his own gain to compassion for the home. Those who were faithful and well-disposed feared to aid, or conceal, or connive at the escape of the victims, because such acts made them liable to the very same punishments. This was quite different from the peril that befell the seventeen men first condemned. Then there was no proscription, but certain persons were arrested unexpectedly, and as all feared similar treatment all sheltered each other. After the proscriptions some immediately became the betrayers of all. Others, being free from danger themselves and eager for gain, became hunting dogs for the murderers for the sake of the rewards. Of the remainder, some plundered the houses of the slain, and their private gains turned their thoughts away from the public calamities; others, more prudent and upright, were palsied with consternation. It seemed most astounding to them, when they reflected upon it, that while other states afflicted by civil strife had been rescued by harmonizing the factions, in this case the dissensions of the leaders had wrought ruin in the first instance and their agreement with each other had had like consequences afterwards.

Some died defending themselves against their slayers. Others made no resistance, considering the assailants not to blame. Some starved, or hanged, or drowned themselves, or flung themselves from their roofs or into the fire. Some offered themselves to the murderers or sent for them when they delayed. Others concealed themselves and made abject entreaties, or dodged, or tried to buy themselves off. Some were killed by mistake, or by private malice, contrary to the intention of the triumvirs. It was evident that a corpse was not one of the proscribed if the head was still attached to it, for the heads of the proscribed were displayed on the rostra in the forum, where it was necessary to bring them in order to get the rewards. Equally conspicuous were the fidelity and courage of others — of wives, of children, of brothers, of slaves, who rescued the proscribed or planned for them in various ways, and died with them when they did not succeed in their designs. Some even killed themselves on the bodies of the slain. Of those who made their escape some perished by shipwreck, ill luck pursuing them to the last. Others were preserved, contrary to expectation, to become city magistrates, commanders in war, and even to enjoy the honors of a triumph. Such a display of paradoxes did this time afford.

These things took place not in an ordinary city, not in a weak and petty kingdom; but the deity thus smote the most powerful mistress of so many nations and of land and sea, and so brought about, after a long period of time, the present well-ordered condition. Other like events had taken place in the time of Sulla and even before him in that of Gaius Marius. The most notable of these calamities I have narrated in my history of those times, in which was the added horror that the dead were cast away unburied. The matters we are now considering are the more remarkable by reason of the dignity of the triumvirs and especially of one of them, who, by means of his character and good fortune, established the government on a firm foundation, and left his lineage and name to those who now rule after him. I shall now run over the most remarkable as well as the most shocking of these events, which are all the more worthy to be remembered because they were the last of the kind. I shall not speak of all, however, because the mere killing, or flight, or subsequent return of those who were pardoned by the triumvirs at a later period and passed undistinguished lives at home, is not worthy of mention. I shall refer only to those which are calculated to astonish by their extraordinary nature or to confirm what has already been said. These events are many, and they have been written in numerous books by many Roman historians successively. By way of summary, and to shorten my narrative, I shall record a few of each kind in order to confirm the truth of each and to illustrate the happiness of the present time.

The massacre began, as it happened, among those who were still in office, and the first one slain was the tribune Salvius. His was, according to the laws, a sacred and inviolable office, endowed with the greatest powers, even that of imprisoning the consuls in certain circumstances. Salvius was the tribune who had at first prevented the Senate from declaring Antony a public enemy, but later he had coöperated with Cicero in everything. When he heard of the agreement of the triumvirs, and of their hastening to the city, he gave a banquet to his friends, believing that he should not have many more opportunities for doing so. Soldiers burst in while the feast was going on. Some of the guests started up in tumultuous alarm, but the centurion in command ordered them to resume their places and remain quiet. Then, seizing Salvius by the hair, just as he was, the centurion drew him as far as need be across the table, cut off his head, and ordered the guests to stay where they were and make no disturbance unless they wished to suffer a like fate. So they remained after the centurion’s departure, stupefied and speechless, till the most silent watches of the night, reclining by the side of the tribune’s body. The second one slain was the praetor Minucius, who was holding the comitia in the forum. Learning that the soldiers were seeking him, he fled, and while he was still running about looking for a hiding-place he changed his clothes, and then darted into a shop, sending away his attendants and the insignia of his office. The attendants, moved by shame and pity, lingered near the place, and thus unintentionally made the discovery of the praetor more easy to his slayers.

Annalis, another praetor, was going around with his son, who was a candidate for the quaestorship, and soliciting votes for him. Some friends who accompanied him, and those who bore his insignia of office, when they heard that he was on the list of the proscribed, ran away from him. Annalis took refuge with one of his clients, who had in the suburbs a small, mean apartment in every way despicable, where he remained safely concealed until his son, suspecting that he had fled to this client, guided the murderers to the place. The triumvirs gave him his father’s fortune and raised him to the aedileship. As he was returning home drunk he fell into a quarrel about something, and was killed by the same soldiers who had killed his father. Thoranius, who was not then praetor but had been such, and who was the father of a young man who was a scapegrace generally, but had great influence with Antony, asked the centurions to postpone his death for a short time, till his son could appeal to Antony for him. They laughed at him, and said, He has already appealed, but on the other side. When the old man knew this he asked for another very short interval until he could see his daughter, and when he saw her he told her not to claim her share of the inheritance lest her brother should ask for her death also from Antony. It happened in the son’s case that, after squandering his fortune in disgraceful ways, he was convicted of theft and sentenced to banishment.

Cicero, who had held supreme power after Caesar’s death, as much as a public speaker could, was proscribed, together with his son, his brother, and his brother’s son and all of his household, his faction, and his friends. He fled in a small boat, but as he could not endure the seasickness, he landed and went to a country place of his own near Caieta, a town of Italy, which I visited to gain knowledge of this lamentable affair, and here he remained quiet. While the searchers were approaching (for of all others Antony sought for him most eagerly and the rest did so for Antony’s sake), crows flew into his chamber and awakened him from sleep by their croaking, and pulled off his bed-covering until his servants, perceiving that this was a warning from one of the gods, put him in a litter and again conveyed him toward the sea, going cautiously through a dense thicket. Many soldiers were hurrying around in squads inquiring if Cicero had been seen anywhere. Some people, moved by good-will and pity, said that he had already put to sea; but a shoemaker, a client of Clodius, who had been a most bitter enemy of Cicero, pointed out the path to Laena, the centurion, who was pursuing with a small force. The latter ran after him, and seeing slaves mustering for the defence in much larger number than the force under his own command, he called out by way of stratagem, Come on, you centurions in the rear, this is the place. whereupon the slaves, thinking that more soldiers were coming, were terror-stricken.

Laena, although he had been once saved by Cicero when under trial, drew his head out of the litter and cut it off, striking it three times, or rather sawing it off by reason of his inexperience. He also cut off the hand with which Cicero had written the speeches against the tyranny of Antony and which he had entitled Philippics in imitation of those of Demosthenes. Then some of the soldiers hastened on horseback and others on shipboard to convey the good news quickly to Antony. The latter was sitting in front of the tribunal in the forum when Laena, a long distance off, showed him the head and hand by lifting them up and shaking them. Antony was delighted beyond measure. He crowned the centurion and gave him 250,000 Attic drachmas in addition to the stipulated reward for killing the man who had been his greatest and most bitter enemy. The head and hand of Cicero were suspended for a long time from the rostra in the forum where formerly he had been accustomed to make public speeches, and more people came together to behold this spectacle than had previously come to listen to him. It is said that even at his meals Antony placed the head of Cicero before his table, until he became satiated with the horrid sight. Thus was Cicero, a man famous even yet for his eloquence, and one who had rendered the greatest service to his country when he held the office of consul, slain, and insulted after his death. His son had been sent in advance to Brutus in Greece. Cicero’s brother, Quintus, was captured, together with his son. He begged the murderers to kill him before his son, and the son prayed that he might be killed before his father. The murderers said that they would grant both requests, and, dividing themselves into two parties, each taking one, killed them at the same time according to agreement.

The Egnatii, father and son, while embracing each other, died by the same blow, and their heads were cut off while the remainder of their bodies were still locked together. Balbus sent his son in advance of himself in flight toward the sea in order that they might not be too conspicuous travelling together, and he followed at a short interval. Somebody told him, either by design or by mistake, that his son had been captured. He went back and delivered himself to the murderers. It happened, too, that his son perished by shipwreck. Thus did ill luck add to the calamities of the time. Aruntius had a son who was not willing to fly without his father. The latter with difficulty persuaded him to seek his safety because he was young. His mother accompanied him to the city gates and returned only to bury her slain husband. When she learned that her son also had perished at sea she starved herself to death. Such examples were there of good and bad sons.

Two brothers of the name of Ligarius, being proscribed together, hid themselves in an oven till their slaves found them, when one of them was killed and the other fled. When the latter learned that his brother had perished he threw himself from a bridge into the Tiber. Some fishermen seized him thinking that he had fallen into the water instead of leaping in. He resisted rescue and tried to throw himself into the river again. When he was overcome by the fishermen he exclaimed, You are not saving me, but ruining yourselves by helping one who is proscribed. Nevertheless they had pity on him and saved him until some soldiers who were guarding the bridge saw him, ran to him, and cut off his head. One of two brothers threw himself into the river and one of his slaves searched for the body five days. At last he found it, and as it was still possible to recognize it, he cut off the head for the sake of the reward. The other brother had concealed himself in a dung-heap and another slave betrayed him. The murderers disdained to go into the heap, but thrust their spears into him and dragged him out. They then cut off his head, just as he was, without washing it. Another one seeing his brother arrested ran up to him, not knowing that he was himself proscribed also, and said, Kill me instead of him. The centurion, having the proscription list at hand, said, Your request is a proper one, for your name comes before his. And so saying, he killed both of them in due order. Let these serve as examples in the case of brothers.

Ligarius was concealed by his wife, who communicated the secret to only one female slave. Having been betrayed by the latter, she followed her husband’s head as it was carried away, crying out, I sheltered him; those who give shelter are to share the punishment. As nobody killed her or informed of her, she came to the triumvirs and accused herself before them. Being moved by her love for her husband they pretended not to see her. So she starved herself to death. I have mentioned her in this place because she failed to save her husband and would not survive him. I shall refer to those who were successful in their devotion to their husbands when I speak of the men who escaped. Other women betrayed their husbands infamously. Among these was the wife of Septimius, who had an amour with a certain friend of Antony. Being impatient to exchange this illicit connection for matrimony, she besought Antony through her paramour to rid her of her husband. Septimius was at once put on the list of the proscribed. He learned this fact from his wife, and in ignorance of his domestic ills prepared for flight. She, as though with loving anxiety, closed the doors, and kept him until the murderers came. The same day that her husband was killed she celebrated her new nuptials.

Salassus escaped, and, not knowing what to do with himself, came back to the city by night, thinking that the danger had mostly passed away. His house had been sold. The janitor, who had been sold with the house, was the only one who recognized him, and he received him in his room, promising to conceal him and feed him as well as he could. Salassus told the janitor to call his wife from her own house. She pretended to be very desirous to come, but to be fearful of the night and distrustful of her servants, and said that she would come at daybreak. When daylight came she went for the murderers. The janitor, because she was delaying, ran to her house to hasten her coming. When the janitor went out Salassus feared that he had gone to lay a plot against him, and went up to the roof to watch what would happen. Seeing that it was not the janitor but his wife who was bringing the murderers, he precipitated himself from the roof. Fulvius fled to the house of a female servant, who had been his mistress, and to whom he had given freedom and a dowry on her marriage. Although she had been so well treated by him she betrayed him on account of jealousy of the woman whom Fulvius had married after his relations with her. Let these serve as examples of depraved women.

Statius, the Samnite, who had had great influence with the Samnites during the social war and who had been raised to the rank of a Roman senator for his noble deeds, his wealth, and his lineage, and who was now eighty years of age, was proscribed on account of his riches. He threw open his house to the people and to his own slaves to carry away whatever they pleased. He also scattered his property around with his own hand. When at last the house was empty he closed the doors, set fire to it, and perished, and the fire spread to many other parts of the city. Capito, through his half-opened door, for a long time resisted those who had been sent against him, killing them one by one. Finally, he was overpowered by numbers and slain after killing single-handed many of his assailants. Vetulinus assembled around Rhegium a large force of the proscribed and those who had fled with them, and others from the eighteen cities which had been promised as rewards of victory to the soldiers and who were indignant at such treatment. With these men Vetulinus slew the centurions who were scouting thereabouts, until a larger force was sent against him, and even then he did not desist, but passed over to Sicily and joined Sextus Pompeius, who had mastered that island and who received the fugitives. There he fought bravely until he was defeated in several engagements. Then he sent his son and the remainder of the proscribed who were with him to Messana, and when he saw that their boat was passing the straits he dashed upon the enemy and was cut in pieces.

Naso, having been betrayed by a freedman who had been his favorite, snatched a sword from one of the soldiers, and, having killed his betrayer with it, surrendered himself to the murderers. A slave who was devoted to his master left the latter on a hill while he went to the sea-shore to hire a boat. On his return he found that his master had been killed, and while he was breathing his last the slave called out to him, Wait a moment, my master. whereupon he fell suddenly upon the centurion and slew him. Then he killed himself, saying to his master, Now you have consolation. Lucius placed his gold in the hands of his two most faithful freedmen and started for the seashore. They ran away with it, and he turned around, despairing of his life, and gave himself up to the murderers. Labienus, who had captured and killed many persons in the time of the proscription of Sulla, thought that he would be disgraced if he did not bear himself bravely under similar circumstances. So he.went to his front door, seated himself in a chair, and waited for the murderers. Cestius concealed himself in the fields among faithful slaves. When he saw centurions running hither and thither with weapons and the heads of the proscribed he could not endure the prolonged fear. He persuaded the slaves to light a funeral pyre, so that they might say that they were paying the last rites to the dead Cestius. They were deceived by him and lighted the pyre accordingly, whereupon he leaped into it. Aponius concealed himself securely, but, as he could not endure the meanness of his diet, he came forth and delivered himself to slaughter. Another proscript voluntarily seated himself in full view, and, as the murderers delayed their coming, he strangled himself in public.

Lucius, the father-in-law of Asinius, who was then consul, fled by sea, but, as he could not endure the anguish of the tempest, he leaped overboard. Sisinius fled from his pursuers, exclaiming that he was not proscribed, but that they had conspired against him on account of his money. They brought him to the proscription list and told him to read his name on it, and while he was reading killed him. Aemilius, not knowing that he was proscribed and seeing another man pursued, asked the pursuing centurion who the proscribed man was. The centurion, recognizing Aemilius, replied, You and he, and killed them both. Cilo and Decius were going out of the senate-house when they learned that their names were on the list of the proscribed, but no one had yet gone in pursuit of them. They fled incontinently through the city gates, and their running betrayed them to the centurions whom they met on the road. Icilius, who was one of the judges in the trial of Brutus and Cassius when Octavius presided over the tribunal with his army, and who, when all the other judges deposited secret ballots of condemnation, alone publicly deposited one of acquittal, now unmindful of his former magnanimity and independence put his shoulder under a dead body that was being conveyed to burial, and took a place among the carriers of the bier. The guards at the city gates noticed that the number of corpse-bearers was greater by one man than usual, but they did not suspect the bearers. They only searched the bier to make sure that it was not somebody counterfeiting a corpse, but, as the bearers fell into a dispute with Icilius as not being a member of their trade, he was recognized by the murderers and killed.

Varus, who was betrayed by a freedman, ran away, and after wandering from mountain to mountain came to a marsh at Minturnae, where he stopped to take rest. The inhabitants of Minturnae were mounting guard over this marsh in search of robbers, and the agitation of the reeds revealed the hiding-place of Varus. He was captured and said that he was a robber. He was condemned to death and resigned himself to his fate, but as they were preparing to subject him to torture to compel him to reveal his accomplices, he could not bear such an indignity. I forbid you, citizens of Minturnae, he said, either to torture or to kill one who has been a consul and — what is more important in the eyes of our present rulers — also proscribed! If it is not permitted me to escape, I prefer to suffer at the hands of my equals. The Minturnians did not believe him. They discredited his story until a centurion, who was scouting in that neighborhood, recognized him, and cut off his head, leaving the remainder of his body to the Minturnians. Largus was captured in the fields by soldiers who were pursuing another man. They took pity on him because he had been captured when they were not seeking him, and allowed him to escape in the forest. Being pursued by others, he ran back to his first captors, saying, I would rather that you, who had compassion on me, should kill me, so that you may have the reward instead of those men. Thus he recompensed them with his death for their kindness to him.

Rufus possessed a handsome house near that of Fulvia, the wife of Antony, which she had wanted to buy, but he would not sell it, and although he now offered it to her as a free gift, he was proscribed. His head was brought to Antony, who said it did not concern him and sent it to his wife. She ordered that it be fastened to the front of his own house instead of the rostra. Another man had a very handsome and well-shaded country-place in which was a beautiful and deep grotto, on account of which probably he was proscribed. He was taking the air in this grotto when the murderers were observed by a slave, as they were coming toward him, but still some distance off. The slave conveyed him to the innermost recess of the grotto, dressed himself in his master’s short tunic, pretended that he was the man and simulated alarm, and would have been killed on the spot had not one of his fellow-slaves exposed the trick. In this way the master was killed, but the people were so indignant that they gave the triumvirs no rest until they had obtained from them the crucifixion of the slave who had betrayed his master, and the freedom of the one who had tried to save him. A slave revealed the hiding-place of Aterius and obtained his freedom in consequence. He had the impudence to bid against the sons at the sale of the dead man’s property, and insulted them grossly. They followed him everywhere with silent tears till the people became exasperated, and the triumvirs made him again the slave of the sons of the proscript, for doing more than was needful. Such were the evils that befell the men.

The calamity extended to orphan children on account of their wealth. One of these, who was going to school, was killed, together with the attendant, who threw his arms around the boy and would not give him up. Atilius, who was just assuming the virile toga, went, as was customary, with a procession of friends to sacrifice in the temples. His name being put on the proscription list unexpectedly, his friends and servants ran away. Left alone, and bereft of his brilliant escort, he went to his mother. She was afraid to receive him. As he did not consider it safe to ask help from anybody else after his mother had failed him, he fled to a mountain. Hunger drove him down to the plain, where he was captured by a robber and committed to a workhouse. The delicate boy, unable to endure the toil, escaped to the high road with his fetters, revealed himself to some passing centurions, and was killed.

While these events were taking place Lepidus enjoyed a triumph for his exploits in Spain, and an edict was displayed in the following terms: In God’s name, let it be proclaimed to all men and women that they celebrate this day with sacrifices and feasting. Whoever shall fail to do so shall be put on the list of the proscribed. Lepidus led the triumphal procession to the Capitol, accompanied by all the citizens, who showed the external appearance of joy, but were sad at heart. The houses of the proscribed were gutted, but there were not many buyers of their lands. Some were ashamed to add to the burdens of the unfortunate. Others thought that such property would bring them bad luck, or that it would not be quite safe for them to be seen with gold and silver in their possession, or that, as they were not free from danger with their present holdings, it would be extra-hazardous to increase them. Only the boldest spirits came forward and purchased at the lowest prices, because they were the only buyers. Thus it came to pass that the triumvirs, who had hoped to realize a sufficient sum for their preparations, were short 20,000,000 of drachmas.

The triumvirs addressed the people on this subject and published an edict requiring 1400 of the richest women to make a valuation of their property, and to furnish for the service of the war such portion as the triumvirs should require from each. It was provided further that if any should conceal their property or make a false valuation they should be fined, and that rewards should be given to informers, whether free persons or slaves. The women resolved to beseech the female relatives of the triumvirs. With the sister of Octavius and the mother of Antony they did not fail, but they were repulsed from the doors of Fulvia, the wife of Antony, whose rudeness they could scarce endure. They then forced their way to the tribunal of the triumvirs in the forum, the people and the guards dividing to let them pass. There, through the mouth of Hortensia, they spoke as follows, according to previous arrangement: As is befitting women of our rank addressing a petition to you, we had recourse to your female relatives. Having suffered unseemly treatment on the part of Fulvia, we have been compelled by her to visit the forum. You have deprived us of our fathers, our sons, our husbands, and our brothers, whom you accused of having wronged you. If you take away our property also, you reduce us to a condition unbecoming our birth, our manners, our sex. If we have done you wrong, as you say our husbands have, proscribe us as you do them. If we women have not voted you public enemies, have not torn down your houses, destroyed your army, or led another one against you; if we have not hindered you in obtaining offices and honors, — why do you visit upon us the same punishment as upon the guilty, whose offences we have not shared?

Why should we pay taxes when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the state-craft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful results? Because this is a time of war, do you say? When have there not been wars, and when have taxes ever been imposed on women, who are exempted by their sex among all mankind? Our mothers once for all rose superior to their sex and made contributions when you were in danger of losing the whole empire and the city itself through the conflict with the Carthaginians. But then they contributed voluntarily, not from their landed property, their fields, their dowries, or their houses, without which life is not possible to free women, but only from their own jewellery, and not according to fixed valuation, not under fear of informers or accusers, not by force and violence, but what they themselves were willing to give. Who now causes you alarm for the empire or the country? Let war with the Gauls or the Parthians come, and we shall not be inferior to our mothers in zeal for the common safety; but for civil wars may we never contribute, nor ever assist you against each other. We did not contribute to Caesar or to Pompey. Neither Marius nor Cinna imposed taxes upon us. Nor did Sulla, who held despotic power in the state, do so, whereas you say that you are reëstablishing the commonwealth.

When Hortensia had thus spoken the triumvirs were angry that women should dare to hold a public meeting when the men were silent; that they should demand from magistrates the reasons for their acts, and not furnish money while the men were serving in the army. They ordered the lictors to drive them away from the tribunal, which they proceeded to do until cries were raised by the multitude outside, when the lictors desisted and the triumvirs said they would postpone till the next day the consideration of the matter. On the following day they reduced the number of women, who were to present a valuation of their property, from 1400 to 400, and decreed that all men who possessed more than 100,000 drachmas, both citizens and strangers, freedmen and priests, and men of all nationalities without a single exception, should (under the same dread of penalty and also of informers) lend them at interest a fiftieth part of their property and contribute one year’s income to the war expenses.

Such calamities befell the Romans from the orders of the triumvirs. Even worse ones were visited upon them by the soldiers in disregard of orders. Believing that they alone enabled the triumvirs to do what they were doing with impunity, some of them asked for the confiscated houses, or fields, or villas, or entire property of the proscribed. Others demanded that they should be made the adopted sons of rich men. Others, of their own motion, killed men who had not been proscribed, and plundered the houses of those who were not under accusation, so that the triumvirs were obliged to publish an edict that one of the consuls should put a restraint upon those who were exceeding their orders. The consul did not dare to touch the soldiers lest he should excite their rage against himself, but he seized and crucified certain slaves who were masquerading as soldiers and committing outrages in company with them.

Such are examples of the extreme misfortunes that befell the proscribed. Instances where some were unexpectedly saved and at a later period raised to positions of honor are more agreeable to me to relate, and will be more useful to my readers, as showing that hope should not be abandoned in adverse circumstances. Some, who were able to do so, fled to Cassius, or to Brutus, or to Africa, where Cornificius upheld the republican cause. The greater number, however, went to Sicily because of its nearness to Italy, where Sextus Pompeius received them gladly. The latter showed the most admirable zeal in behalf of the unfortunate at this crisis, sending heralds who invited all to come to him, and offered to those who should save the proscribed, both slaves and free persons, double the rewards that had been offered for killing them. His small boats and merchant ships met those who were escaping by sea, and his war-ships sailed along the shore and made signals to those wandering there and saved such as they found. Pompeius himself met the newcomers and provided them at once with clothing and other necessaries. To those who were worthy he assigned commands in his military and naval forces. When, at a later period, he entered into negotiations with the triumvirs, he would not conclude a treaty without embracing in its terms those who had taken refuge with him. In this way he rendered to his unfortunate country the greatest service, from which he gained a high reputation of his own in addition to that which he had inherited from his father, and not less than that. Others escaped by concealing themselves in various ways, some in the fields or in the tombs, others in the city itself, undergoing cruel anxiety until peace was restored. Remarkable examples were shown of the love of wives for their husbands, of sons for their fathers, and of slaves for their masters, quite beyond expectation. Some of the most remarkable of these I shall now relate.

Paulus, the brother of Lepidus, made his escape to Brutus by the connivance of the centurions who respected him as the brother of the triumvir. After the death of Brutus he went to Miletus, which he refused to leave after peace was restored, although he was invited to return. The mother of Antony gave shelter to her brother Lucius, Antony’s uncle, without concealment, and the centurions had respect for her for a long time as the mother of the triumvir. When, later, they attempted to do violence to him, she dashed into the forum where Antony was seated with his colleagues, and exclaimed, I denounce myself to you, triumvir, for having received Lucius under my roof and for still keeping him, and I shall keep him till you kill us both together, for it is decreed that those who give shelter shall suffer the same punishment. Antony reproached her for being an unreasonable mother, although a good sister, saying that she ought to have prevented Lucius in the first place from voting her son a public enemy instead of seeking to save him now. Nevertheless, he procured from the consul Plancus a decree restoring Lucius to citizenship.

Messala, a young man of distinction, fled to Brutus. The triumvirs, fearing his high spirit, published the following edict: Since the relatives of Messala have made it clear to us that he was not in the city when Gaius Caesar was slain, let his name be removed from the list of the proscribed. He would not accept pardon, but, after Brutus and Cassius had fallen in Thrace, although there was a considerable army left, as well as ships and money, and although strong hopes of success still existed, Messala would not accept the command when it was offered to him, but persuaded his associates to yield to overpowering fate and join forces with Antony. He became intimate with Antony and adhered to him until the latter became the slave of Cleopatra. Then he heaped reproaches upon him and joined himself to Octavius, who made him consul in place of Antony himself when the latter was deposed and again voted a public enemy. After the battle of Actium, where he held a naval command against Antony, Octavius sent him as a general against the revolted Celts and awarded him a triumph for his victory over them. Bibulus was received into favor at the same time with Messala, and was given a naval command by Antony, and often served as an intermediary in the negotiations between Octavius and Antony. He was appointed governor of Syria by Antony and died while serving in that capacity.

Acilius fled from the city secretly. His hiding-place was disclosed by a slave to the soldiers, but he prevailed upon them, by the hope of a larger reward, to send some of their number to his wife with a private token that he gave them. When they came she gave them all of her jewellery, saying that she gave it in return for what they had promised, although she. did not know whether they would keep their agreement. But her fidelity to her husband was not disappointed, for the soldiers hired a ship for Acilius and conducted him to Sicily. The wife of Lentulus asked that she might accompany him in his flight and kept watch upon his movements for that purpose, but he was not willing that she should share his danger, and fled secretly to Sicily. Being appointed praetor there by Pompeius he sent word to her that he was saved and elevated to office. When she learned in what part of the earth her husband was she escaped with two slaves from her mother, who was keeping watch over her. With these she travelled in the guise of a slave, with great hardship and the meanest fare, until she was able to make the passage from Rhegium to Messana about nightfall. She learned without difficulty where the praetor’s tent was, and there she found Lentulus, not in the attitude of a praetor, but on a low pallet with unkempt hair and wretched food, mourning for his wife.

The wife of Apuleius threatened that, if he should fly without her, she would give information against him. So he took her with him unwillingly, and he succeeded in avoiding suspicion in his flight by travelling with his wife and his male and female slaves in a public manner. The wife of Antius wrapped him up in a clothes-bag and gave the bundle to some porters to carry from the house to the sea-shore, whence he made his escape to Sicily. The wife of Rheginus concealed him in a sewer by night. The soldiers were not willing to follow him there in the daytime, on account of the foul odor. The next night she fixed him up as a charcoal dealer, and furnished him an ass to drive, carrying coals. She led the way at a short distance, borne in a litter. One of the soldiers at the city gates suspected the litter and searched it. Rheginus was alarmed and hastened his steps, and as he passed along admonished the soldier not to give trouble to women. The latter, who took him for a charcoal dealer, answered him angrily, but suddenly recognizing him (for he had served under him in Syria), said, Go on your way rejoicing, general, for such I ought still to call you. The wife of Coponius obtained his safety by yielding herself to Antony, although she had previously been chaste, thus curing one evil with another.

The son of Geta pretended to burn his father’s remains in the courtyard of his house, making people believe that he had strangled himself. Then he conveyed him secretly to a newly bought field and left him. There the old man changed his appearance by putting a bandage over one of his eyes. After the return of peace he took off the bandage and found that he had lost the sight of that eye by disuse. Oppius, by reason of the infirmities of age, was unwilling to fly, but his son carried him on his shoulder till he had brought him outside the gates. The remainder of the journey as far as Sicily he accomplished partly by leading and partly by carrying him, nobody suspecting the trick and nobody troubling him. In like manner they say that Aeneas was respected even by his enemies when carrying his father. In admiration of his piety the people in later days elected the young man to the aedileship, and since his property had been confiscated and he could not defray the expenses of the office [for public games], the artisans performed the work appertaining thereto without pay, and each of the spectators tossed such money as he could afford to give into the orchestra, so that he became a rich man. By the will of Arrianus the following inscription was engraved on the father’s tomb: Here lies one who, when proscribed, was concealed by his son, who had not been proscribed, but who fled with him and saved him.

There were two men named Metellus, father and son. The father held a command under Antony at the battle of Actium and was taken prisoner, but not recognized. The son fought on the side of Octavius and held a command under him at the same battle. When Octavius looked over the prisoners at Samos the son was sitting with him. The old man was led forward covered with hair, misery, and dirt, and completely metamorphosed by them. When his name was called by the herald in the array of prisoners the son sprang from his seat, and, with difficulty recognizing his father, embraced him with a cry of anguish. Then restraining his lamentation he said to Octavius, He was your enemy, I was your fellow-soldier. He has earned your punishment, I your reward. I ask you either to spare my father on my account, or to kill me at the same time on his account. There was much emotion on all sides, and Octavius spared Metellus, although he had been bitterly hostile to himself and had scorned many offers made to him to desert Antony.

The slaves of Marcus guarded him with fidelity and success within his own house during the whole period of the proscription until there was nothing more to fear, when Marcus came out of his house as though from exile. Hirtius escaped from the city with his household servants and traversed Italy releasing prisoners, collecting runaways, and ravaging small towns at first and afterward large ones, until he found himself possessed of sufficient force to master Bruttium. When an army was sent against him he crossed the straits with his forces and joined Pompeius. When Restio fled, thinking that he was alone, he was followed secretly by a slave, who had been brought up by himself and had been very well treated by him formerly, but had lately been branded for bad conduct. While Restio was stopping in a marsh the slave came up to him. He was startled at the sight, but the slave said that he did not feel the pain of the brand so much as he remembered the former kindness shown to him. Then he found a resting-place for his master in a cave, and by working procured such sustenance for him as he could. The soldiers in the neighborhood of the cave had their suspicions aroused concerning Restio, and went to it. The slave observed their movements and followed them, and, seeing an old man walking in front of them, he ran up and killed him and cut off his head. The soldiers were astounded. They arrested him for a highwayman, but he said, I have killed Restio, my master, the man who marked me with these scars. The soldiers took the head from him for the sake of the reward, and made haste to the city to no purpose. The slave brought his master away and conveyed him by ship to Sicily.

Appion was resting at his country-place when the soldiers burst in. A slave put on his master’s clothes and threw himself on his bed and voluntarily died for his master, who was standing beside him dressed as a slave. When the soldiers made a descent upon the house of Menenius, one of his slaves got into his master’s litter and procured himself to be carried by his fellow-slaves, and in this way allowed himself to be killed for Menenius, who thereby escaped to Sicily. Vinius had a freedman named Philemon, the owner of a splendid mansion, who concealed him in the inmost recess thereof, in an iron chest used for holding money or manuscripts, and gave him food in the night-time, until the return of peace. Another freedman, who had the custody of his master’s tomb, guarded his master’s son, who had been proscribed, in the tomb with his father. Lucretius, who had been wandering about with two faithful slaves and had become destitute of food, set out to find his wife and was carried in a litter, in the guise of a sick man, by the slaves to the city. One of the slaves broke his leg and walked leaning upon the other with his hand. When they reached the gate where the father of Lucretius, who had been proscribed by Sulla, had been captured, he saw a cohort of soldiers coming out. Being unnerved by the coincidence, he concealed himself with one of the slaves in a tomb. When some tomb-robbers came there searching for plunder, the slave offered himself to these robbers to be stripped till Lucretius could escape to the city gate. There Lucretius waited for him and shared his clothing with him, and then went to his wife, by whom he was concealed between the planks of a double roof until his friends got his name erased from the proscription. After the restoration of peace he was raised to the consulship.

Sergius was concealed at the house of Antony himself until Antony persuaded the consul Plancus to procure a decree of amnesty for him. At a later period, when Octavius and Antony had fallen into disagreement, and when the Senate was voting Antony a public enemy, Sergius alone cast his vote openly in the negative. The following named persons were saved as I shall now relate. Pomponius arrayed himself in the garb of a praetor and disguised his slaves as his official attendants. He passed through the city as a praetor attended by lictors, his attendants pressing close to him lest he should be recognized. At the city gates he took possession of public carriages and traversed Italy in the character of a praetor sent by the triumvirs to conduct negotiations with Pompeius, all the people receiving him and sending him on as such, until he entered into a public ship and passed over to Pompeius.

Apuleius and Aruntius assumed the character of centurions, armed their slaves as soldiers, and passed through the gates pretending to be in pursuit of other persons. For the remainder of their course they took different roads. They released prisoners and collected fugitives until a sufficient force was obtained by each to display the standards, the equipment, and the appearance of an army. When they arrived at the sea-shore they took position on either side of a certain hill and contemplated each other with great apprehension. At daybreak the next morning, after reconnoitring each other from the hillside, each army took the other for an army sent against itself, and they actually came to blows and fought until they discovered their error, when they dropped their arms and broke into lamentations, blaming the hard fate that pursued them everywhere. Then they took ship, and one of them sailed to Brutus and the other to Pompeius. The latter was included in the reconciliation with Pompeius. The former took command of Bithynia for Brutus, and when Brutus fell he surrendered Bithynia to Antony and was restored to citizenship. When Ventidius was proscribed one of his freedmen put fetters on him as though intending to deliver him to the murderers. But at night he gave instructions to some slaves, whom he armed as soldiers, and then he led his master forth in the character of a centurion, and traversed the whole of Italy as far as Sicily, and often passed the night in company with other centurions who were in search of Ventidius.

Another proscript was concealed by a freedman in a tomb, but as he could not endure the horror of the place he was transferred to a miserable hired hovel. A soldier was lodged near him, and as he could not endure this fear he changed from a feeling of cowardice to the most wonderful audacity. He cut off his hair and opened a school in Rome itself, which he taught until the return of peace. Volusius was proscribed while holding the office of aedile. He had a friend who was a priest of Isis, whose robe he begged. He clothed himself with this linen garment reaching to his feet, put on the dog’s head, and thus celebrating the mysteries of Isis he made the journey to Pompeius. The inhabitants of Cales protected Sittius, one of their citizens who had made lavish expenditures from his own fortune for their benefit, and provided an armed guard for him. They silenced his slaves by threats and prevented the soldiers from approaching their walls until the troubles began to subside, when they sent envoys to the triumvirs on his behalf and obtained for Sittius that he might remain at home, but should be excluded from the rest of Italy. Sittius was the first or the only man who was ever an exile in his own country. Varro was a philosopher and a historian, a soldier and a distinguished general, and for these reasons perhaps was proscribed as hostile to the monarchy. His friends were eager to give him shelter and contended with each other for the honor of doing so. Calenus won the privilege and took him to his country house, where Antony was accustomed to stop when travelling. Yet no slave, either of Calenus or of Varro himself, revealed the fact that Varro was there.

Virginius, an orator of distinction, told his slaves that if they should kill him for a small and uncertain reward they would be filled with remorse and terror afterward, while if they should save him they would enjoy an excellent reputation and good hopes, and, later, a much larger and more certain reward. So they fled, taking him with them in the guise of a fellow-slave, and when he was recognized on the road they fought against the soldiers. Being captured by the latter, he told them that they had no reason for killing him except for money, and that they would get a more honorable reward and a larger one by going with him to the sea-shore, where, said he, my wife has arranged to bring a ship with money. They followed his suggestion and went with him to the sea-shore. His wife had come to the rendezvous according to agreement, but as Virginius had been delayed, she thought that he had already sailed to Pompeius. So she had embarked, leaving a slave at the rendezvous, however, to tell him if he should come. When the slave saw Virginius he ran up as though to his master, and pointed out to him the ship which had just started, and told him about his wife and the money and why he (the slave) had been left behind. The soldiers now believed all that they heard, and when Virginius asked them to wait till his wife could be called back, or to go with him after her to obtain the money, they embarked in a small boat and conveyed him to Sicily, rowing with all their might. There they received what had been promised them, and they did not go back, but remained in his service until peace was declared. A ship captain received Rebilus in his vessel in order to convey him to Sicily and then demanded money, threatening to betray him if he did not get it. Rebilus followed the example of Themistocles when he fled. He threatened in turn that he would tell how the captain was helping a proscript to escape for money. The captain was afraid, and he carried Rebilus over to Pompeius.

Marcus was one of the lieutenants of Brutus and was proscribed for that reason. When Brutus was defeated he was captured. He pretended to be a slave and was bought by Barbula. The latter, perceiving that he was skilful, placed him over his fellow-slaves and gave him charge of his private disbursements. As he was clever in all respects and superior in intelligence to the condition of a slave, his master had suspicions and encouraged him to hope that if he would confess that he was one of the proscribed he (Barbula) would procure his pardon. He denied stoutly, and gave himself a feigned name and family and former masters. Barbula brought him to Rome, expecting that if he were a proscript he would show reluctance to come, but he followed all the same. One of Barbula’s friends, who met him at the gates, saw Marcus standing by his side in the character of a slave, and privately told Barbula who he was. The latter obtained from Octavius, through the intercession of Agrippa, the erasure of the name of Marcus from the proscription. The latter became a friend of Octavius, and some time later served as his lieutenant against Antony at the battle of Actium. Barbula was then serving with Antony, and the fortune of both of them was reversed. For when Antony was vanquished Barbula was taken prisoner and he pretended to be a slave, and Marcus bought him, pretending not to know him. Then he laid the whole matter before Octavius and asked that he might compensate Barbula with a like service, and his request was granted. Like good fortune attended them in after times, for they both held the chief magistracy in the city the same year.

Balbinus took refuge with Pompeius and was restored with him, and became consul not long afterward. Lepidus, who had meanwhile been deposed from the triumvirate by Octavius and reduced to private life, presented himself to Balbinus under the following stress. Maecenas prosecuted the son of Lepidus for lèse-majeste against Octavius and also the young man’s mother as knowing to the crime. Lepidus himself he overlooked as being a person of no consequence. Maecenas sent the son to Octavius at Actium, but in order to spare his mother the journey on account of her sex, he demanded that she should give bail to the consul for her appearance before Octavius. As nobody offered bail for her, Lepidus presented himself frequently at the door of Balbinus and also at his tribunal, and though the attendants long forced him away, he made himself heard with difficulty to this effect: The accusers testify to my innocence, since they say that I was not an accomplice of my wife and son. I did not cause you to be proscribed, yet I am now inferior to the proscribed. Consider the mutability of human affairs and grant to one, who stands by your side, the favor of becoming security for my wife’s appearance before Octavius, or let me go there with her. When Lepidus had thus spoken, Balbinus took pity on his reverse of fortune and released his wife from bail altogether.

Cicero, the son of Cicero, had been sent away to Greece by his father, who anticipated these evils. From Greece he proceeded to join Brutus, and after the latter’s death he joined Pompeius, by both of whom he was honored with a military command. Afterward Octavius, by way of apology for his betrayal of Cicero, caused him to be appointed augur, and not long afterward consul and then proconsul of Syria. When the news of the overthrow of Antony at Actium was forwarded by Octavius this same Cicero, as consul, announced it to the people and affixed it to the rostra where formerly his father’s head had been exhibited. Appius distributed his goods among his slaves and then sailed with them to Sicily. Being overtaken by a storm, the slaves formed a plot to get possession of his money, and placed Appius in a small boat, pretending to transfer him to a safer place; but it turned out that he reached port most unexpectedly, while their ship was wrecked and they all perished. Publius, quaestor of Brutus, was solicited by the party of Antony to betray his chief, but refused, and was for that reason proscribed. Afterward he was restored to citizenship and became a friend of Octavius. Once when Octavius came to visit him Publius showed him some images of Brutus, and Octavius praised him for doing so. Such were some of the most remarkable cases where the proscribed were lost or saved. Many others I have omitted.

While these transactions were taking place at Rome all the outlying countries were torn by hostilities growing out of the same commotion. Chief among these wars was the one in Africa between Cornificius and Sextius, the one in Syria between Cassius and Dolabella, and the one against Pompeius around Sicily. Many cities suffered the calamity of capture by siege. I shall pass by the smaller ones and confine myself to the largest, and especially the very celebrated ones of Laodicea, Tarsus, Rhodes, Patara, and Xanthus. I shall relate briefly what took place at each of these.

That part of Africa which the Romans took from the Carthaginians they still call Old Africa. The part that belonged to King Juba, and which was taken by Gaius Caesar at a later period, they call for that reason New Africa; it might also be called Numidian Africa. Accordingly Sextius, who held the government of New Africa as the appointee of Octavius, summoned Cornificius to abandon Old Africa to him because the whole country had been assigned to Octavius in the allotment of the triumvirs. Cornificius replied that he did not know what allotment the triumvirs had made among themselves, and that since he had received the government from the Senate he would not surrender it to anybody else without the order of the Senate. This was the origin of hostilities between them. Cornificius had the heavier and more numerous army. That of Sextius was more nimble though inferior in number, by which means he was enabled to dash around and detach from Cornificius his inland districts until he was besieged by Ventidius, a lieutenant of Cornificius, who brought against him superior forces and whom he resisted valiantly. Laelius, another lieutenant of Cornificius, ravaged the province of Sextius, sat down before the city of Cirta, and laid siege to it.

Both parties sent ambassadors to secure the alliance of King Arabio and of the so-called Sittians, who received their name from the following circumstance. A certain Sittius, who was under accusation at Rome, took flight in order to avoid trial. Collecting an army from Italy and Spain, he crossed over to Africa, where he allied himself now with one and now with another of the warring kings of that country. As those with whom he joined himself were always victorious, Sittius acquired a reputation and his army became wonderfully efficient. When Gaius Caesar pursued the Pompeians to Africa Sittius joined him and destroyed Juba’s famous general, Saburra, and received from Caesar, as a reward for these services, the territory of Masinissa, not all, but the best part of it. Masinissa was the father of this Arabio and the ally of Juba. Caesar gave his territory to this Sittius, and to Bocchus, the king of Mauritania, and Sittius divided his own portion among his soldiers. Arabio then fled to the sons of Pompey in Spain. He returned to Africa after Caesar’s death and kept sending to the younger Pompeius detachments of his men, whom he received back in a state of good training. He expelled Bocchus from his territory and killed Sittius by stratagem. Although for these reasons he was friendly toward the Pompeians, he nevertheless decided against that party, because it was so extremely unlucky, and joined Sextius, through whom he acquired the favor of Octavius. The Sittians also joined him by reason of their friendship for the elder Caesar.

Thus encouraged Sextius made a sortie by which Ventidius was killed and his army put to headlong flight. Sextius pursued them, killing and taking prisoners. When Laelius heard the news he raised the siege of Cirta and joined Cornificius. Sextius, elated by his success, advanced against Cornificius himself at Utica and encamped opposite him, although the latter had the superior force. Cornificius sent Laelius with his cavalry to make a reconnoissance, and Sextius ordered Arabio to engage him with his own cavalry in front, and Sextius himself with his light troops fell upon the enemy’s flank and threw them into such confusion that Laelius, although not vanquished, feared lest his retreat should be cut off and took possession of a hill near by. Arabio hung upon his rear, killed many, and surrounded the hill. When Cornificius saw this he sallied out with a larger force to assist Laelius. Sextius, who was in his rear, dashed up and attacked him, but Cornificius turned upon him and drove him back, although suffering severely.

Meanwhile Arabio, with a band of men accustomed to climbing rocks, scaled a precipice to the camp of Cornificius and stole into it unobserved. When the camp was captured Roscius, the custodian, offered his throat to one of his assistants and was killed. Cornificius, overcome by the fatigue of the engagement, retired toward Laelius on the hill, not yet knowing what had happened to his camp. While he was retreating the cavalry of Arabio charged upon him and killed him, and when Laelius, looking down from the hill, saw what had happened he killed himself. When the leaders had fallen the soldiers fled in various directions. Of the proscribed who were with Cornificius, some crossed over to Sicily, others took refuge wherever they could. Sextius gave great spoils to Arabio and the Sittians. He brought the cities into allegiance to Octavius and granted pardon to all. This was the end of the war in Africa between Sextius and Cornificius, which seemed inconsiderable by reason of the rapidity with which it was prosecuted.

Resuming the narrative of Cassius and Brutus, I shall repeat some small part of what has already been said, in order to refresh the memory. When Caesar was assassinated his murderers took possession of the Capitol, and when amnesty was voted to them they came down. The people were greatly moved at Caesar’s funeral and scoured the city in pursuit of his murderers. The latter defended themselves from the roofs of their houses, and those of them who had been appointed by Caesar himself as governors of provinces departed from the city forthwith. Cassius and Brutus were still city praetors. Cassius had been chosen by Caesar as governor of Syria and Brutus of Macedonia. As they could not enter at once upon these offices, and as they were afraid to remain in the city, they took their departure while still praetors, and the Senate, for the sake of appearances, gave them charge of the supply of corn, so that they might not seem to have taken flight in the interval. After they had gone, the provinces of Syria and Macedonia were transferred to the consuls Dolabella and Antony much against the will of the Senate. Nevertheless, Cyrene and Crete were given to Brutus and Cassius in exchange. These provinces they despised because of their insignificance, and, accordingly, they set about raising troops and money in order to invade Syria and Macedonia.

While they were thus engaged Dolabella put Trebonius to death in Asia and Antony besieged Decimus Brutus in Cisalpine Gaul. The Senate in indignation voted both Dolabella and Antony public enemies, and restored both Brutus and Cassius to the former commands and added Illyria to that of Brutus. It also ordered all other persons holding commands of Roman provinces or armies, between the Adriatic and Syria, to obey the orders of Cassius and Brutus. Thereupon Cassius anticipated Dolabella by entering Syria, where he raised the standards of a governor and won over twelve legions of soldiers who had been enlisted and trained by Gaius Caesar long before. One of these Caesar had left in Syria when he was contemplating a war against the Parthians, and had placed it under the charge of Caecilius Bassus, but had given the nominal command to Sextus Julius, a young man who was his kinsman. This Julius was a fellow of loose habits who led the legion into shameful dissipations and once insulted Bassus when the latter remonstrated with him. Afterward he summoned Bassus to his presence, and when the latter delayed he ordered that he be dragged before him. There was a disgraceful tumult in consequence, and some blows were given to Bassus, the sight of which the army resented, and Julius was stabbed. This act was followed straightway by repentance and fear of Caesar, and so they bound each other by an oath that, unless they were granted pardon and reconciliation, they would fight to the death; and they compelled Bassus to take the same oath. They recruited another legion and both were drilled together. Caesar sent Statius Murcus against them with three legions, but they resisted bravely. Marcius Crispus was then sent from Bithynia to the aid of Murcus with three additional legions, and thus Bassus was besieged by six legions altogether.

Cassius speedily intervened in this siege and took command at once of the army of Bassus with its consent, and afterward of the legions of Murcus and Marcius, who surrendered them to him in a friendly way and in pursuance of the decree of the Senate, which they obeyed in all respects. About the same time Allienus, who had been sent to Egypt by Dolabella, brought from that country four legions composed of men who had been dispersed after the disasters of Pompey and Crassus, and who had been left with Cleopatra by Caesar. Cassius surrounded him in Palestine unexpectedly, while he was in ignorance of what had happened, and compelled him to come to terms and surrender his army, as he did not dare to fight with four legions against eight. Thus in a marvellous manner Cassius came into possession of twelve first-rate legions, to whom were added a certain number of Parthian mounted bowmen, who were attracted by the reputation he had acquired among them from the time when, as quaestor to Crassus, he had shown himself to be more skilful than that general.

Dolabella was spending his time in Ionia, having put Trebonius to death, levied tribute on the towns, and hired a naval force, by means of Lucius Figulus, from the Rhodians, Lycians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians. When this was in readiness he advanced toward Syria, leading two legions by land while Figulus proceeded by sea. After he had learned of the forces of Cassius he passed on to Laodicea, a city friendly to himself, situated on a peninsula, fortified on the landward side and having a roadstead in the sea, so that supplies might be easily obtained by water and he might sail away securely whenever he wished. When Cassius learned this, fearing lest Dolabella should escape him, he threw up a mound across the isthmus, two stades in length, composed of stones and all sorts of material brought together from suburban houses and tombs, and at the same time sent to Phoenicia, Lycia, and Rhodes for ships.

Being refused by all except the Sidonians, he came to a naval engagement with Dolabella, in which a number of ships were sunk on both sides and Dolabella captured five with their crews. Then Cassius again sent to those who had rejected his application, and also to Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and to Serapio, her viceroy in Cyprus. The Tyrians, the Aradii, and Serapio, without consulting Cleopatra, sent Cassius what ships they had. The queen excused herself on the ground that Egypt was at that time suffering from famine and pestilence, but she was really cooperating with Dolabella on account of her relations with the elder Caesar. This was the reason why she had sent him the four legions by Allienus, and had another fleet ready to assist him, which was kept back by adverse winds. The Rhodians and the Lycians said that they would help neither Cassius nor Brutus in civil wars, and that when they supplied ships to Dolabella they furnished them as an escort, not knowing that they were to be used as allies in war.

When Cassius was again ready with the forces in hand he engaged Dolabella a second time. The first battle was doubtful, but in the next one Dolabella was beaten on the sea. Then Cassius completed his mound and battered Dolabella’s walls till they trembled. He tried unsuccessfully to corrupt Marsus, the captain of the night-watch, but he bribed the centurions of the day force and, while Marsus was taking his rest, effected an entrance by daylight through a number of small gates that were secretly opened to him one after another. When the city was taken Dolabella offered his head to his own body-guard and told him to cut it off and carry it to Cassius in order to secure his own safety. The guard cut it off, but he killed himself also, and Marsus took his own life. Cassius swore Dolabella’s army into his own service. He plundered the temples and the treasury of Laodicea, punished the chief citizens, and exacted very heavy contributions from the rest, so that the city was reduced to the extremest misery.

After the capture of Laodicea Cassius turned his attention to Egypt. Having learned that Cleopatra was about to join Octavius and Antony with a strong fleet, he purposed to prevent its sailing and to punish the queen for her intention. He had before this thought that the condition of Egypt was especially favorable for these designs, because it was wasted by famine and had no considerable foreign army, now that the forces of Allienus had taken their departure. In the midst of his eagerness, his hopes, and his opportunity came a hasty summons from Brutus telling him that Octavius and Antony were crossing the Adriatic. Cassius reluctantly gave up his hopes in respect of Egypt. He also sent back his Parthian mounted bowmen with presents, and with them ambassadors to their king asking for a larger force of auxiliaries. This force arrived after the decisive battle, ravaged Syria and many of the neighboring provinces as far as Ionia, and then returned home. Cassius left his nephew in Syria with one legion and sent his cavalry in advance into Cappadocia, who presently killed Ariobarzanes for plotting against Cassius. Then they seized his large treasures and other military supplies and brought them to Cassius.

The people of Tarsus were divided into factions. One of these factions had crowned Cassius, who was the first to arrive. The other had done the same for Dolabella, who came later. Both had acted thus in the name of the city. As the inhabitants bestowed their honors upon each alternately, each of them treated it despitefully as a fickleminded place. After Cassius had overcome Dolabella he levied a contribution on it of 1500 talents. Being unable to find the money, and being pressed for payment with violence by the soldiers, the people sold all their public property and after that they coined all the sacred articles used in religious processions and the temple offerings into money. As this was not sufficient, the magistrates sold free persons into bondage, first girls and boys, afterward women and miserable old men, who brought a very small price, and finally young men. Most of these committed suicide. Finally Cassius, on his return from Syria, took pity on their sufferings and released them from the remainder of the contribution. Such were the calamities that befell Tarsus and Laodicea.

When Brutus and Cassius had their conference, Brutus was in favor of uniting their armies and making Macedonia their chief concern, since the enemy had forty legions, of which eight had already crossed the Adriatic. Cassius was of the opinion that the enemy might still be disregarded, believing that they would waste away for want of supplies by reason of their great numbers. He thought it would be best to subvert the Rhodians and Lycians, who were friendly to Octavius and Antony and who had fleets, lest they should fall upon the rear of the republicans while the latter were busy with the enemy. Having decided to do this, they separated, Brutus proceeding against the Lycians and Cassius against Rhodes, in which place he was brought up, and educated in the literature of Greece. As he had to contend with men of superior naval prowess, he prepared his own ships with care, filled them with troops, and drilled them at Myndus.

The Rhodians of distinction were alarmed at the prospect of a conflict with Romans, but the common people were in high spirits, because they recalled former victories achieved over men of different character. They launched thirty-three of their best ships, but while doing so they sent messengers to Myndus nevertheless to urge Cassius not to despise Rhodes, which had always defended herself against those who underestimated her, and not to disregard the treaty which existed between the Rhodians and the Romans which bound them not to bear arms against each other. If he complained of them for not rendering military assistance, they would be glad to hear from the Roman Senate, and if called upon they would lend such assistance. When they had spoken thus Cassius replied that as to the other matters war would decide instead of words, but as regarded the treaty, which forbade them to bear arms against each other, the Rhodians had violated it by allying themselves with Dolabella against Cassius. The treaty required them to assist each other in war, but when Cassius asked for assistance they quibbled about the Roman Senate, which was either in flight or held captive at present by the tyrants who had mastered the city. Those tyrants would be punished, and the Rhodians would be punished also for siding with them, unless they speedily obeyed his commands. Such was the answer Cassius returned to them. The more prudent Rhodians were still more alarmed, but the multitude were excited by two public speakers named Alexander and Mnaseas, who reminded them that Mithridates had invaded Rhodes with a still larger fleet, and that Demetrius had done so before him; whereupon they elected Alexander as prytanis, who is the magistrate exercising the supreme power among them, and Mnaseas as admiral of their fleet.

Nevertheless, they sent still another ambassador to Cassius in the person of Archelaus, who had been his teacher in Greek literature in Rhodes, to present a more earnest petition. This he did, taking Cassius by the right hand in a familiar manner, and saying, O friend of the Greeks, do not subvert a Greek city. O friend of freedom, do not attack Rhodes. Do not put to shame the glory of a Doric state hitherto unvanquished. Do not forget the famous histories you learned both at Rhodes and at Rome — at Rhodes, what the Rhodians accomplished against states and kings (and especially against Demetrius and Mithridates, who were deemed invincible), in behalf of that freedom for which you say that you also are now contending — at Rome, our services to you, among others those that were rendered when we fought with you against Antiochus the Great, concerning which you have monuments inscribed in our honor. So much, O Roman, for our race, our dignity, our condition hitherto unenslaved, our alliance, and our good-will toward you.

As for you, Cassius, you owe a peculiar reverence to this city in which you were brought up and educated, restored to health when sick, where you had your hearthstone, and where you attended my very school. You owe respect to me who have hoped that I should some time plume myself on your education with different hopes, but I am now pleading this relation in behalf of my country, lest it be forced into a war with you, its pupil and its ward, where one of two things must necessarily happen: either that the Rhodians perish utterly, or Cassius be defeated. In addition to my entreaty I give you the advice that while engaged in such important tasks in behalf of the Roman commonwealth you take the gods for your leaders at every step. You, Romans, swore by the gods when you recently concluded the treaty with us through Gaius Caesar, and to the oaths you added libations and gave the right hand, which is valid even among enemies, not to mention friends and wards. Besides dreading the judgment of the gods, have regard for the opinions of mankind, who consider nothing more base than a violation of treaties, which causes the violators to be distrusted in all respects by both friends and enemies.

When the old man had thus spoken he did not let go Cassius’ hand, but shed tears on it, so that Cassius blushed at the spectacle and was moved somewhat by the sense of shame, yet he drew away his hand, and said, If you have not counselled the Rhodians not to wrong me, you have yourself done me wrong. If you have so counselled them and they have not followed your advice I will avenge you. That I have suffered injury is plain enough. The first wrong done me was when I asked assistance and was slighted by my guardians and instructors. In the next place they gave the preference to Dolabella, whom they had not brought up and educated, rather than to me. And what makes it worse, O freedom-loving Rhodians, is that Brutus and I and the noblest men of the Senate, whom you see here, were fugitives from tyranny for endeavoring to liberate their country, while Dolabella was seeking to enslave it to others, whom you also favor while pretending to abstain from our civil wars. This would be a civil war if we also were aiming at supreme power, but it is plainly a war of the republic against monarchy. And you, who appeal to me in behalf of your own freedom, have refused aid to the republic. While professing friendship for the Romans you have no pity for those who have been sentenced to death and confiscation without trial. You pretend that you want to hear from the Senate, which is suffering from these very evils and is not yet able to defend itself. But the Senate had answered you beforehand when it decreed that all the peoples of the Orient should lend aid to Brutus and myself.

Whatever aid you have rendered us when we were adding to our possessions (for which you reaped an abundant reward) you remind us of, but when in our time of adversity you fail us in the struggle for freedom and safety, you have very short memories. Even if we had had no relations with each other before, you ought, as members of the Doric race, to be willing to begin now to fight for the Roman republic. Instead of such thoughts and deeds you quote to us treaties, — treaties made with you by Gaius Caesar, the founder of the present monarchy, — yet these very treaties say that the Romans and the Rhodians shall assist each other in case of need. Therefore, assist the Romans in the time of their greatest peril! It is Cassius who quotes these very treaties to you and calls for your help in war, — Cassius, a Roman citizen and a Roman general, whom, as the Senate’s decree says, all the countries beyond the Adriatic are required to obey. The same decrees are presented to you by Brutus, and also by Pompeius, who has been invested by the Senate with the command of the sea. Added to these decrees are the prayers of all these senators who have fled, some to myself and Brutus, and others to Pompeius. The treaty provides that the Rhodians shall lend aid to the Romans even in cases where the application is made by single individuals. If you do not consider us as generals or even as Romans, but as exiles, or strangers, or persons condemned, as the proscribers call us, O Rhodians, you have no treaties with us, but only with the Roman people. Being strangers and foreigners to the treaties, we will fight you till you obey our orders in everything. With this ironical remark Cassius sent Archelaus away.

Alexander and Mnaseas, the Rhodian leaders, put to sea with their thirty-three ships against Cassius at Myndus, intending to surprise him by the suddenness of their attack. They built their hopes somewhat lightly on the supposition that by sailing against Mithridates at Myndus they had brought that war to a successful end. In order to display their seamanship they took their station the first day at Cnidus. The next day they showed themselves to the forces of Cassius on the high sea. The latter in astonishment put to sea against them, and it was a battle of strength and skill on both sides. The Rhodians with their light ships darted swiftly through the enemy’s line, turned around, and attacked them in the rear. The Romans had heavier ships, and whenever they could come to close quarters they prevailed, as in an engagement on land, by their greater strength. Cassius, by reason of his more numerous fleet, was enabled to surround his enemy, and then the latter could no longer turn and dart through his line. When they could only attack in front and then haul off, their nautical skill was of no avail in the narrow space where they were confined. The ramming with their prows and broadside movements against the heavier Roman ships did little damage, while those of the Romans against the lighter vessels were more effective. Finally, three Rhodian ships were captured with their crews, two were rammed and sunk, and the remainder took flight to Rhodes in a damaged condition. All of the Roman ships returned to Myndus, where they were repaired, the greater part having suffered injury.

Such was the result of the naval engagement of the Romans and the Rhodians at Myndus. Cassius watched the fight while it was going on from the summit of a mountain. When he had repaired his ships he sailed to Loryma, a fortified place belonging to the Rhodians on the mainland opposite the island, from which he sent his foot-soldiers across in transports under the command of Fannius and Lentulus. He advanced in person with eighty ships rigged in a way to produce terror. He surrounded Rhodes with his land and naval forces, and then remained quiet, expecting that the enemy would show signs of weakening. But they sailed out again valiantly and, after losing two more ships, were hemmed in on all sides. Then they mounted the walls, heaped them with missiles, and resisted simultaneously the soldiers of Fannius, who were assailing them on the landward side, and Cassius, who was advancing his naval force, prepared for wall-fighting, against the defences on the sea. Anticipating such a necessity he had brought with him turrets in sections, which were then elevated. Thus was Rhodes, after suffering two naval defeats, beleaguered by land and sea, and, as frequently happens in sudden and unexpected trouble, found herself wholly unprepared for siege; whence it became evident that the city must speedily be taken either by assault or by famine. The more intelligent of the Rhodians perceived this and opened communications with Fannius and Lentulus.

While they were doing so Cassius suddenly made his appearance in the midst of the city with a chosen band of soldiers, without any show of violence or use of ladders. Most people conjectured, as seemed the fact, that those of the citizens who were favorable to him had opened the small gates, being moved by pity for the town and the apprehension of famine. Thus was Rhodes captured; and Cassius took his seat on the tribunal and planted a spear by the side of it to indicate that he had taken the city by force. Laying strict commands upon his soldiers to remain quiet, and threatening with death any who should resort to violence or plunder, he summoned by name about fifty citizens, and punished with death those who were led before him. The others, who were not found, numbering about twenty-five, he ordered to be banished. All the money that was found, either gold or silver, in the temples and the public treasury, he seized, and he ordered private citizens who had any to bring it to him on a day named, proclaiming death to those who should conceal it, together with a reward of one-tenth to informers and freedom in addition in the case of slaves. At first many concealed what they had, hoping that in the end the threat would not be carried out, but when they saw the rewards paid and those who had been informed against punished, they became alarmed, and having procured the appointment of another day, some of them dug their money out of the ground, others drew it out of wells, and others brought it from tombs, in much larger amounts than the former collections.

Such were the calamities that befell the Rhodians. Lucius Varus was left in charge of them with a garrison. Cassius, although delighted with the quickness of the capture and the quantity of money taken, nevertheless ordered all the other peoples of Asia to pay ten years’ tribute, and this they did within a short space of time. News now reached him that Cleopatra was about to sail with a large fleet and very extensive apparatus to Octavius and Antony. She had espoused their cause previously on account of her relations with the first Caesar, and now she espoused it all the more by reason of her fear of Cassius. The latter sent Murcus, with a legion of the best soldiers and a certain number of archers, with sixty decked ships, to the Peloponnesus, to lie in wait in the neighborhood of Taenarum and to collect what booty they could from that country.

We will now relate the transactions of Brutus in Lycia, first glancing at what has been mentioned above in order to refresh the memory. When he had received from Apuleius certain soldiers which the latter had under his command, together with 16,000 talents in money which Apuleius had collected from the tribute of Asia, he passed into Bœotia. The Senate having voted that he should use this money for his present necessities and that he should have command of Macedonia, and of Illyria in addition, he came into possession of three legions of soldiers which Vatinius, the former governor of Illyria, delivered to him. Another one he captured from Gaius, the brother of Mark Antony, in Macedonia. He collected four more in addition to these, so that he had eight legions in all, most of whom had served under Gaius Caesar. He had a large force of cavalry, light-armed troops, and archers. He had a high opinion of his Macedonian soldiers and he trained them in the Roman discipline. While he was still collecting soldiers and money a piece of good luck came to him from Thrace, of the following sort. Polemocratia, the wife of one of the Thracian princes, whose husband had been killed by his enemies, being alarmed for her son, who was still a boy, came to Brutus bringing the boy, whom she placed in his hands together with her husband’s treasures. Brutus delivered the boy to the inhabitants of Cyzicus to be cared for until he (Brutus) should have leisure to restore him to his kingdom. Among the treasures he found an unexpected quantity of gold and silver. This he stamped and converted into money.

When Cassius came, and it was decided to begin by reducing the Lycians and Rhodians, Brutus turned his attention first to the inhabitants of Xanthus in Lycia. The latter destroyed their suburbs in order that Brutus might not effect a lodgment or find material there. They also surrounded the city with a trench and embankment of more than fifty feet vertically and of corresponding breadth, from which they fought, so that standing upon it they could hurl darts and shoot arrows as though protected by an impassable river. Brutus invested the place, pushed forward coverings for his workmen, divided his army into day and night forces, brought up material from long distances, hurrying and cheering as in contests for prizes, and spared neither zeal nor labor. So the work which it seemed most likely could not be done at all in the face of an opposing enemy, or only at the end of many months, was accomplished by him in a few days.

The Xanthians were now subjected to close siege. Brutus attacked them now with battering-rams against the walls, now by assaults upon the gates with foot-soldiers, whom he kept changing continually. The defenders, although fatigued by being always pitted against fresh soldiers, and all wounded, nevertheless held out as long as their parapets remained. When these were battered down and the towers broken through, Brutus, foreseeing what would happen, ordered those who were attacking the gates to withdraw. The Xanthians, thinking that the enemy’s works were deserted and unguarded, darted out by night to set fire to the machines. Suddenly the Romans attacked them as ordered, and they again fled to the gates, the guards of which closed them before they entered, fearing lest the enemy should rush in with them — in consequence of which there was around the gates a great slaughter of the Xanthians who were shut out.

Soon afterwards the remainder made a fresh sally about midday, and as the besiegers withdrew again, they burned all the machines. As the gates were left open for them on account of the former calamity, about 2000 Romans broke in with them. While others were pushing in at the entrance the portcullis suddenly fell upon them, either by the design of the Xanthians or the accidental breaking of the ropes, so that some of the Romans who were forcing their way in were crushed and the others found their retreat cut off, as they could not raise the portcullis without the hoisting apparatus. Pelted by missiles hurled upon them by the Xanthians from the roofs in the narrow streets, they forced their way with difficulty till they came to the forum, which was near by, and there they overcame the forces which were at close quarters with them, but, being under a heavy volley of arrows and having themselves neither bows nor javelins, they took refuge in the temple of Sarpedon to avoid being surrounded. The Romans who were outside the walls were excited and anxious for those inside, and tried every means [to effect an entrance], Brutus meantime darting hither and thither, but they were not able to break the portcullis, which was protected with iron, nor could they procure ladders or towers since their own had been burned. Nevertheless some of them made extemporized ladders, and others pushed trunks of trees against the walls to serve in place of ladders. Still others fastened iron hooks to ropes and hurled them up to the walls, and whenever one of them caught fast they climbed up.

The Œnandians, who were neighbors of the Xanthians, and who had formed an alliance with Brutus by reason of their enmity to the latter, clambered up by way of a precipice. When the Romans saw them they toiled up after them. Many fell off, but some scaled the wall and opened a small gate, defended with a very dense palisade, and admitted the most daring of the assailants, who swung themselves over the palings. Being now more numerous they began to chop down the portcullis, which was not protected with iron on the inside, while others outside chopped in conjunction with them, and coöperated to the same end. While the Xanthians, with loud cries, were rushing upon the Romans who were at the temple of Sarpedon, the Romans within and without who were demolishing the portcullis, fearful for their comrades, struggled with frantic zeal. Finally they broke it down and rushed through in crowds about sunset, with a loud shout intended as a signal to those in the temple.

When the city was taken the Xanthians ran to their houses and killed those dearest to them, all of whom willingly offered themselves to the slaughter. Upon hearing cries of lamentation, Brutus thought that plundering was going on, and he gave orders to the army to stop it; but when he knew what the facts were he commiserated the freedom-loving spirit of the citizens, and sent messengers to offer them terms. They hurled missiles at the messengers, and, after destroying their own families, placed the bodies on funeral piles, which they had previously erected in their houses, set fire to them, and slew themselves on the same. Brutus saved such of the temples as he could, but he captured only the slaves of the Xanthians; and of the citizens a few free women and hardly 150 men. Thus the Xanthians perished the third time by their own hands on account of their love of liberty; for when the city was besieged by Harpagus, the Mede, the general of Cyrus the Great, they destroyed themselves in like manner rather than be enslaved, and the city, shut up by Harpagus, then became the tomb of the Xanthians; and it is said that they suffered a similar fate at the hands of Alexander, the son of Philip, as they would not submit to obey him even after he had become the master of so large a portion of the earth.

Brutus went from Xanthus down to Patara, a city which was something like a seaport of the Xanthians. He surrounded it with his army and ordered the inhabitants to obey him in everything, under penalty of meeting the fate of the Xanthians. Certain Xanthians were brought to them who lamented their own misfortunes and advised them to adopt wiser counsels. As the inhabitants of Patara made no sort of answer to the Xanthians, Brutus gave them the remainder of the day to consider the matter, and went away. The next morning he moved his troops forward. The Patarans cried out from the walls that they would obey all his commands, and opened their gates. He came in, but he neither killed nor banished anybody; but he ordered them to deliver to him whatever gold and silver the city possessed, and each citizen to bring in his private holdings under the same penalties and rewards to informers as those proclaimed by Cassius at Rhodes. They obeyed his order. One slave testified that his master had concealed his gold, and showed it to a centurion who was sent to find it. All the parties were brought before the tribunal. The master remained silent, but his mother, who had followed in order to save her son, cried out that she had concealed the gold. The slave, although not interrogated, disputed her, saying that she lied and that his master had concealed it. Brutus approved of the young man’s silence and sympathized with his mother’s grief. He allowed them both to depart unharmed and to take their gold with them, and he crucified the slave for superserviceable zeal in accusing his superiors.

At the same time Lentulus, who had been sent to Andriace, the seaport of the Myreans, broke the chain which closed the harbor and ascended to Myra. As the inhabitants obeyed his commands, he collected money in the same way as at Patara and returned to Brutus. The confederation of Lycia sent ambassadors to Brutus promising to form a military league with him and to contribute what money they could. He imposed taxes on them and he restored the free Xanthians to their city. He ordered the Lycian fleet, together with his own ships, to set sail for Abydus, where he would rendezvous with his land forces and await Cassius, who was coming from Ionia, so that they might cross over to Sestus together. When Murcus, who was at Peloponnesus lying in wait for Cleopatra, learned that her fleet had been damaged by a storm on the Libyan coast, and saw the wreckage borne by the waves as far as Laconia, and knew that she had returned home with difficulty and in ill health, he sailed for Brundusium in order that he might not be idle with so great a fleet. He came to anchor at the island lying opposite the harbor, and prevented the remainder of the enemy’s army and supplies from passing over to Macedonia. Antony fought him with the few war-ships that he had, and with towers mounted on floats, whenever he sent out detachments of his army on transports and was favored by a strong wind from the land, in order that they might not be captured by Murcus. As he fared badly he called for help from Octavius, who was contending on the water with Sextus Pompeius along the coast of Sicily for possession of that island.

With Pompeius the situation was as follows. Being the younger son of Pompey the Great, he was at first disregarded by Gaius Caesar in Spain as not likely to accomplish anything of importance on account of his youth and inexperience. He roamed about the ocean with a few followers, committing piracy and concealing the fact that he was Pompeius. When larger numbers joined him for the purpose of pillage, and his force became powerful, he revealed his name. Presently those who had served with his father and his brother, and who were leading a vagabond life, drifted to him as their natural leader, and Arabio, who had been deprived of his ancestral kingdom, as I have related previously, came to him from Africa. His forces being thus augmented, his doings were now more important than robbery, and as he flew from place to place the name of Pompeius spread through the whole of Spain, which was the most extensive of the provinces; but he avoided coming to an engagement with the governors of it appointed by Gaius Caesar. When Caesar learned of his doings he sent Carinas with a stronger army to fight him. Pompeius, however, being the more nimble of the two, would show himself and then disappear, and so he wore out his enemy and got possession of a number of towns, large and small.

Then Caesar sent Asinius Pollio as successor to Carinas to prosecute the war against Pompeius. While they were carrying on the same kind of warfare, Caesar was assassinated and the Senate recalled Pompeius. The latter came to Massilia and there watched the course of events at Rome. Having been appointed commander of the sea with the same powers that his father had exercised, he did not yet come back to the city, but, taking what ships he found in the harbors, and joining them with those he had brought from Spain, he put to sea. When the triumvirate was established he sailed to Sicily, and as Bithynicus, the governor, would not yield the island, he besieged him, until Hirtius and Fannius, two men who had been proscribed and had fled from Rome, persuaded Bithynicus to surrender Sicily to Pompeius.

In this way Pompeius possessed himself of Sicily, and thus had ships, and an island lying convenient to Italy, and an army, now of considerable size, composed of those whom he had before, and those who had fled from Rome, both freemen and slaves, or those sent to him by the Italian cities which had been proclaimed as prizes of victory for the soldiers. These cities dreaded a victory of the triumvirs more than anything else, and whatever they could do against them secretly they did. The wealthy citizens fled from a country that they could no longer consider their own and took refuge with Pompeius, who was near by and greatly beloved by all at that time. There were present with him also many seafaring men from Africa and Spain, skilled in naval affairs, so that Pompeius was well provided with officers, ships, troops, and money. When Octavius learned these facts he sent Salvidienus with a fleet to come alongside of Pompeius and destroy him, as though it were an easy task, while he passed through Italy himself with the intention of joining Salvidienus at Rhegium. Pompeius advanced with a large fleet to meet Salvidienus, and a naval engagement took place between them at the entrance of the straits near the promontory of Scyllaeum. The ships of Pompeius, being lighter and manned by better sailors, excelled in swiftness and skill, while those of the Romans, being of great tonnage and size, labored heavily. When the usual rush of waves through the straits came on, and the sea dashed hither and thither under the influence of the current, the ships of Pompeius suffered less than their adversaries, because they were accustomed to the agitation of the waters; while those of Salvidienus, being unable to maintain their position firmly, or to work their oars, or manage their rudders, by reason of their inexperience, were thrown into confusion. Accordingly, about sunset, Salvidienus was the first to give the signal of retreat. Pompeius withdrew also. The ships suffered about equally on both sides. Salvidienus retired to the port of Balarus, facing the straits, where he repaired what was left of his damaged and wasted fleet.

When Octavius arrived he gave a solemn promise to the inhabitants of Rhegium and Vibo that they should be exempt from the list of prizes of victory, for he feared them on account of their nearness to the straits. As Antony had sent him a hasty summons, he set sail to join the latter at Brundusium, having Sicily and Pompeius on his left hand; and postponing the conquest of the island for the time being. On the approach of Octavius, Murcus withdrew a short distance from Brundusium in order that he might not be between Antony and Octavius, and there he watched for the passage of the transports that were carrying the army across from Brundusium to Macedonia. The latter were escorted by triremes, but a strong and favorable wind having sprung up they darted across fearlessly, needing no escort. Murcus was vexed, but he lay in wait for the empty ships on their return. Yet these returned, took on board the remainder of the soldiers, and crossed again with full sails until the whole army, together with Octavius and Antony, had passed over. Although Murcus recognized that his plans were frustrated by some fatality, he held his position nevertheless, in order to hinder as much as possible the passage of the enemy’s munitions and supplies, or supplementary troops. Domitius Ahenobarbus was sent by Brutus and Cassius to coöperate with him in this work, which they deemed most useful, together with fifty additional ships, one legion, and a body of archers; for, as the triumvirs did not have a plentiful supply of provisions from elsewhere, it was deemed important to cut off their convoys from Italy. And so Murcus and Domitius, with their 130 long ships and a still greater number of small ones, and their large military force, sailed hither and thither harassing the enemy.

Decidius and Norbanus, whom Octavius and Antony had sent in advance with eight legions to Macedonia, proceeded from that country a distance of 1500 stades toward the mountainous part of Thrace until they had passed beyond the city of Philippi, and seized the passes of the Corpileans and the Sapaeans, tribes under the rule of Rhascupolis, where lies the only known route of travel from Asia to Europe. Here was the first obstacle encountered by Brutus and Cassius after they had crossed over from Abydus to Sestus. Rhascupolis and Rhascus were brothers of the royal family of Thrace, ruling one country. They differed in opinion at that time in regard to the proper alliance. Rhascus had taken up arms for Antony and Rhascupolis for Cassius, each having 3000 horse. When the Cassians came to inquire about the roads, Rhascupolis told them that the one by way of Aenus and Maronea was the short and usual and most travelled route, but that it led to the gorge of the Sapaeans, which was occupied by the enemy and hence was impassable, but that there was a roundabout road which was difficult and three times as long.

Brutus and Cassius, thinking that the enemy had taken that position not so much to close the passage to them as to transfer themselves from Macedonia to Thrace for want of provisions, marched toward Aenus and Maronea from Lysimacheia and Cardia, which clasp the neck of the Thracian Chersonesus like gates. The next day brought them to the gulf of Melas. Here they reviewed their army, which contained in all nineteen legions of infantry. Of these Brutus had eight and Cassius nine, not full, but among them were two legions that were nearly full, so that they mustered about 80,000 foot-soldiers. Brutus had 4000 Gallic and Lusitanian horse, 3000 Thracian and Illyrian, and 2000 Parthian and Thessalian. Cassius had 2000 Spanish and Gallic horse and 4000 mounted bowmen, Arabs, Medes, and Parthians. The allied kings and tetrarchs of the Galatians in Asia followed him, leading a large additional force of foot-soldiers and about 5000 horse.

Such was the size of the army reviewed by Brutus and Cassius at the gulf of Melas, and with it they advanced to battle, leaving the remainder of their forces on duty elsewhere. After performing a lustration for the army, they completed the payment of the promised donative still due to the soldiers. They had provided themselves with an abundant supply of money in order to propitiate them with gifts, especially the large number who had served under Gaius Caesar, lest at the sight or the name of the younger Caesar, who was advancing, they should change their minds. For which reason also it was deemed best to address the soldiers publicly. A large platform was built, upon which the generals took their places, accompanied by the senators only. The soldiers, both their own and their allies, stood around it below, filled with joy at the sight of their vast number, the most powerful they had ever beheld. To both the generals this was an immediate source of the greatest hope and courage. This more than anything else confirmed the fidelity of the army to the generals, for common hopes generate good feeling. There was a great deal of noise, as is usual on such occasions. The heralds and trumpeters proclaimed silence, and, when this was obtained, Cassius, who was the elder of the two, advanced a little in front of his companions and spoke as follows:—

A common peril, fellow-soldiers, is the first thing that binds us in a common fidelity to each other. The second is, that we have given you all that we have promised, and this is the surest guarantee for what we have promised you in the future. All our hopes rest in bravery — the bravery of you, fellow-soldiers, and of us whom you see on this platform, this large and noble body of senators. We have, as you see, the most abundant munitions of war, supplies, arms, money, ships, and auxiliaries both from Roman provinces and the allied kings. Why is it needful, then, to exhort you with words to zeal and unanimity — you whom a common purpose and common interests have brought together? As to the slanders that those two men, our enemies, have brought against us, you understand them perfectly, and it is for that reason that you were ready to take up arms with us. Yet it seems fitting to explain our reasons once more. These will prove to you that we have the most honorable and righteous cause for war.

We raised Caesar to his high place, serving him in war in conjunction with you and holding commands under him. We continued his friends so long that no one could imagine that we conspired against him on account of any private grudge. It was in time of peace that he sinned, not against us, his friends (for we were honored before others by him), but against the laws, against the order of the commonwealth. There was no longer any law supreme, either aristocratic or plebeian, nor any of the institutions that our fathers established when they expelled the kings and swore never to tolerate royal government again. We, descendants of the men who thus swore, sustained that oath and warded off the curse from ourselves. We could no longer endure that one man, although he was our friend and benefactor, should take from the people and vest in himself the control of the public money, the armies, and the elections, and from the Senate the appointment of governors of the provinces; that his will should take the place of the laws, his rule should supplant that of the people, and his supremacy that of the Senate in everything.

Perhaps you did not understand these matters particularly, but saw only his bravery in war. Yet you may easily learn about them now by observing only the part that concerns yourselves. You, of the common people, when you go to the wars, obey your generals as masters in everything. But in time of peace you resume the mastery over us. The Senate deliberates first, in order that you may not make a slip, but you decide for yourselves; you give your votes by tribes, or by centuries; you choose the consuls, the tribunes, the praetors. In the comitia you pass judgment on the weightiest questions, and you decide rewards and punishments when we have deserved rewards or punishments at your hands. This balance of powers, O citizens, has raised the empire to the summit of fortune and conferred honors upon those worthy of them, and the men thus honored have returned thanks to you. By virtue of this power you made Scipio consul when you bore testimony to his deeds in Africa, and you elected whom you pleased each year as tribunes, to oppose us in your interest if necessary. But why should I repeat so many things that you already know?

From the time when Caesar’s domination began you no longer elected any magistrate, either praetor, or consul, or tribune. Nor did you bear testimony to anybody’s deeds, nor, if you had done so, could you have rewarded them. In a word, nobody owed you any thanks either for a magistracy or a governorship, either for approving his accounts or acquitting him on a trial. Most lamentable of all, you could not defend your tribunes against insult, whom you had constituted your own peculiar and perpetual magistracy, and had made sacred and inviolable. Yet you saw these inviolable men despoiled with contumely of this inviolable office, and of their sacred vestments, without trial, at the order of one man, because in your behalf they saw fit to proceed against certain persons who wished to proclaim him as king. The senators were deeply grieved at this on your account, for the office of tribune is yours, not theirs. But they were not able to censure this man openly or to bring him to trial by reason of the strength of the armies, which, although heretofore belonging to the republic, he had made his own. So they adopted the only remaining method to ward off tyranny, and that was to conspire against the person of the tyrant.

It was necessary that the decision should be that of the best men, but that the deed should be done by a few. When it was done the Senate voiced the general approval clearly by proposing rewards to the tyrannicides. Antony restrained them from doing so on the pretext that it would lead to disorder; nor was it our intention to confer this benefit upon Rome for the sake of reward, but solely for the sake of the country. Accordingly the senators refrained, not wishing to insult Caesar, but only to get rid of the tyranny. So they voted amnesty for all, and it was more particularly decreed that there should be no prosecution for the murder. After a little, when Antony excited the mob against us, the Senate gave us command of the largest provinces and armies, and ordered all the countries between Syria and the Adriatic to obey us. In so doing did they punish us as monsters, or did they rather distinguish us as tyrannicides with the royal purple and with the rods and axes? For like reason the Senate recalled from exile the younger Pompeius (who was not concerned in this conspiracy), because he was the only son of Pompey the Great, who first took up arms to defend the republic, and because the young man had made some little opposition in a private way to the tyranny in Spain. It passed a decree also to pay back to him, out of the public funds, the value of his father’s property, and it appointed him admiral in order that he also might hold a command because he was on the side of the republic. What more could you ask of the Senate by way of deed or of sign to show that everything was done with their approval, unless that they should declare it to you in so many words? But they will do and say this very thing, and saying it they will repay you with magnificent gifts, when they are able to speak and to requite your services.

What their present situation is you know. They have been proscribed without trial, and their property confiscated. Without being condemned, they have been put to death in their houses, in the streets, in temples, by soldiers, by slaves, by personal enemies. They have been dragged out of their hiding-places and pursued everywhere, although the laws allow anybody to go into voluntary exile. In the forum, where the head of an enemy was never carried, but only captured arms and the beaks of ships, the heads of those who were lately consuls, praetors, tribunes, aediles, and knights have been exhibited. Rewards have been assigned for these horrors. This is a breaking out of all the wounds that had been previously healed over, — sudden seizures of men, and all kinds of infamy perpetrated by wives and sons, freedmen and slaves. Into so desperate a plight and such conditions has the city now been plunged. At the head of all these villains are the triumvirs, who proscribe their own brothers and uncles and tutors first of all. It is said that the city was once captured by the most savage barbarians, but the Gauls never cut off any heads, they never insulted the dead, they never begrudged their enemies a chance to hide or fly. Nor did we ever treat in this way any city that we had captured in war, nor did we ever hear of others doing so. Moreover, it is no ordinary city, but the mistress of the world, that is thus wronged by those who have been chosen to set in order and regulate the republic. What did Tarquin ever do like this, — Tarquin, whom our ancestors hurled from the throne for an outrage committed upon one woman under the influence of the amatory passion, and then, for that one act, they resolved to be ruled by kings no longer?

While the triumvirs are committing these outrages, O citizens, they call us infamous wretches. They say they are avenging Caesar when they proscribe men who were not in Rome when he was killed. Very many of these are here, as you see, who have been proscribed on account of their wealth, their family, or their preferences for republican government. For this reason Pompeius was proscribed with us, although he was far away in Spain when we did the deed. Because he was the son of a republican father (for which reason also he was recalled by the Senate and made commander of the sea), he was proscribed by the triumvirs. What part have those women had in the conspiracy against Caesar, who have been condemned to pay tribute? What part have those plebeians had, whose property is worth 100,000 drachmas each, upon whom new taxes and contributions have been imposed, which they have been ordered to pay under penalty of being informed against and fined? And even while levying these exactions the triumvirs have not fully paid the sums promised to their troops, while we, who have done nothing contrary to justice, have given you all that we promised and have other funds ready for still larger rewards. So it comes about that the gods favor us because we do what is just.

Besides the favor of the gods you can see that we have that of mankind by looking at these, your fellow-citizens, whom you have often beheld as your generals and your consuls, and who have won your praises as such. You see that they have had recourse to us as to men doing right and defending the republic. They espouse our cause, they offer up their prayers, and they coöperate with us for what still remains to be done. Far more just are the rewards we have offered to those who rescue them than those which the triumvirs offer for killing them. The triumvirs know that we, who killed Caesar because he assumed the monarchy, would not tolerate them in assuming his power and that we would not assume it ourselves, but that we would restore to the people in common the government as we received it from our ancestors. So you see the two sides have not taken up arms for the same reason, — the enemy aiming at monarchy and despotism, as their proscription already proves, while we seek nothing but the mere privilege of living as private citizens under the laws of our country made once more free. Naturally the men before you espouse our side as the gods had done previously. In war the greatest hope lies in the justice of one’s cause.

Let it give no one any concern that he has been one of Caesar’s soldiers. We were not his soldiers then, but our country’s. The pay and the rewards given were not Caesar’s, but the republic’s. For the same reason you are not now the soldiers of Cassius, or of Brutus, but of Rome. We, Roman generals, are your fellow-soldiers. If our enemies were of the same spirit with ourselves it would be possible for all to lay down their arms without danger, and give back all the armies to the commonwealth, and let it choose its own destiny. If they will accept such terms, we challenge them to do so. Since they will not (for they could not, on account of the proscription and the other things they have done), let us go forward, fellow-soldiers, with unwavering confidence and honest zeal, fighting only for the freedom of the Senate and people of Rome.

They all cried out, Let us go forward! and urged him to lead them on immediately. Cassius was delighted with their spirit, and again proclaimed silence and again addressed them, saying: May the gods who preside over just wars and over good faith reward your zeal, fellow-soldiers. How far superior we are to the enemy in everything that the human foresight of generals can provide let me tell you. We are equal to them in the number of legions, although we have left behind us the large detachments needed in many places. In cavalry and ships we greatly surpass them, as also in auxiliaries from kings and nations as far as the Medes and Parthians. Besides this we have to deal only with an enemy in front, while Pompeius is cooperating with us in Sicily in their rear, and in the Adriatic Murcus and Ahenobarbus with a large fleet and abundance of small craft, besides two legions of soldiers and a body of archers, are cruising hither and thither harassing them in various ways, while both land and sea in our rear are cleared of enemies. As regards money, which some call the sinews of war, they are destitute. They cannot pay what they have promised their army. The proceeds of the proscription have not met their expectation, because no good man will buy lands entailed with hate. Nor can they obtain resources elsewhere from Italy, exhausted as it is by civil strife, exactions, and proscriptions. Thanks to abundant foresight, we have plenty for the present, so that we can give you more shortly, and there are other large sums on the road collected from the nations behind us.

Provisions, the supply of which is the chief difficulty in large armies, they can obtain only from Macedonia, a mountainous region, and the narrow country of Thessaly, and this must be carried to them overland with severe labor. If they try to obtain any from Africa, or Lucania, or Apulia, Pompeius, Murcus, and Domitius will cut them off entirely. We have abundance, and it is brought to us daily by sea without labor from all the islands and mainlands which lie between Thrace and the river Euphrates, and without hindrance, since we have no enemy in our rear. So it rests with us either to hasten the battle, or by delaying it to waste the enemy by hunger. Such and so great, fellow-soldiers, are our preparations, so far as they depend on human foresight. May the future event correspond to these preparations by your efforts and by the help of the gods. As we have paid you all that we promised for your former exploits and have rewarded your fidelity with abundant gifts, so for this greater battle we will, under the favor of the gods, provide you a reward worthy of it. And now, to increase the zeal with which you already advance to your task, and in remembrance of this assembly and of these words, we will make an additional gift from this platform — to each soldier 1500 Italic drachmas, to each centurion five times that sum, and to each tribune in proportion.

Having thus spoken and having put his army in good spirits by deed and word and gifts, he dissolved the assembly. The soldiers remained a long time heaping praises on Cassius and Brutus and promising to do their duty. The generals immediately counted out the money to them, and to the bravest awarded an additional sum on various pretexts. As they received their pay they were dismissed by detachments on the march to Doriscus, and the generals themselves followed soon afterward. Two eagles alighted upon the two silver eagles which surmounted the standards, pecking at them, or, as others say, protecting them, and there they remained, being fed by the generals from the public stores until the day before the battle, when they flew away. After marching two days around the gulf of Melas the army came to Aenus and thence to Doriscus and other towns on the coast as far as Mount Serrium.

As Mount Serrium projected into the sea Cassius and Brutus turned to the mainland, but they sent Tillius Cimber with the fleet and one legion of troops and some archers to sail around the promontory, which, although fertile, was formerly deserted because the Thracians were not accustomed to the sea and avoided the coast for fear of pirates. So the Chalcideans and other Greeks took possession of it, being seafaring people, and caused it to flourish with commerce and agriculture, and the Thracians were much gratified by the opportunity for the exchange of products. Finally Philip, the son of Amyntas, drove out the Chalcideans and other Greeks so that no traces of them were to be seen except the ruins of their temples. Tillius sailed along this promontory, again deserted, as he had been ordered to do by Cassius and Brutus, measuring and mapping places suitable for camps, and approaching it with his ships now and then in order that the forces of Norbanus might abandon the pass, under the belief that it was useless to hold it longer. And it turned out as he had anticipated, for on the appearance of the ships Norbanus became alarmed for the Sapaean pass and called on Decidius to hasten from that of the Corpileans to his assistance, which he did. As soon as the latter pass was abandoned Brutus and Cassius marched through it.

When the stratagem became manifest Norbanus and Decidius occupied the gorge of the Sapaeans strongly. Again Brutus and Cassius could find no passage. They fell into discouragement lest they should now have to begin the roundabout journey which they had disdained, and to turn upon their own tracks, although pressed by time and the lateness of the season. While they were in this mood Rhascupolis said that there was a circuitous route (along the very side of the Sapaean mountain) of three days’ march, which had been impassable to men up to this time on account of rocks, scarcity of water, and dense forests. If they would carry their water and make a narrow but sufficient pathway, they would be so enveloped in shade that they would not be perceived even by birds. On the fourth day they would come to the river Harpessus, which falls into the Hebrus, and in one day more they would be at Philippi, flanking the enemy so as to cut him off completely and leave him no chance to retreat. They adopted this plan since there was nothing else to do, and especially because it held out the hope of surrounding so large a force of the enemy.

They sent a detachment in advance under command of Lucius Bibulus, in company with Rhascupolis, to cut a path. They found it a very laborious task, but they accomplished it nevertheless with enthusiastic zeal, and all the more when some who had gone ahead came back and said that they had had a distant view of the river. On the fourth day, fatigued with labor and thirst, the water which they carried being nearly exhausted, they recollected that it had been said that they should be in a waterless region only three days. So they fell into a panic, fearing that they were the victims of a stratagem. They did not disbelieve those who had been sent in advance and who said that they had seen the river, but they thought that they themselves had been led in a different direction. They lost heart and cried aloud, and when they saw Rhascupolis riding by and exhorting them to have courage, they reviled him and threw stones at him. While Bibulus was beseeching them with words of good cheer to persevere to the end, towards evening the river was seen by those in front, who, as was natural, raised a cry of joy, which was taken up by those behind in due order until it reached the rear. When Brutus and Cassius learned this they hurried forward at once, leading on the remainder of their army through the pathway that had been cleared. Nevertheless, they did not conceal their doings from the enemy altogether, nor surround them, for Rhascus, the brother of Rhascupolis, having his suspicions aroused by the shouting, made a reconnoissance; and when he saw what was being done he was astonished at so large an army traversing a pathway where no water could be obtained, and where he thought not even a wild beast could penetrate by reason of the dense foliage, and he forthwith communicated the news to the army of Norbanus. The latter retreated by night from the gorge of the Sapaeans toward Amphipolis. Each of the Thracian brothers received an ovation in his own army, the one because he had led an army by an unknown path, the other because he had discovered the movement.

Thus Brutus and Cassius by an astounding act of audacity advanced to Philippi, where Tillius also disembarked, and the whole army was there assembled. Philippi is a city that was formerly called Datus, and before that Crenides, because there are many springs bubbling around a hill there. Philip fortified it because he considered it an excellent stronghold against the Thracians, and named it from himself, Philippi. It is situated on a precipitous hill and its size is exactly that of the summit of the hill. There are woods on the north through which Rhascupolis led the army of Brutus and Cassius. On the south is a marsh extending to the sea. On the east are the gorges of the Sapaeans and Corpileans, and on the west a very fertile and beautiful plain extending to the towns of Murcinus and Drabiscus and the river Strymon, about 350 stades. Here it is said that Cora was carried off while gathering flowers, and here is the river Zygactes, in crossing which they say that the yoke of the god’s chariot was broken, from which circumstance the river received its name. The plain slopes downward so that movement is easy to those descending from Philippi, but toilsome to those going up from Amphipolis.

There is another hill not far from Philippi which is called the Hill of Dionysus, in which are gold mines called the Asyla. Ten stades farther are two other hills, at a distance of eighteen stades from Philippi itself and eight stades from each other. On these hills Cassius and Brutus were encamped, the former on the southern and the latter on the northern of the two. They did not advance against the retreating army of Norbanus because they learned that Antony was approaching, Octavius having been left behind at Epidamnus on account of sickness. The plain was admirably situated for fighting and the precipitous hill-tops for camping, since on one side of them were marshes and ponds stretching as far as the river Strymon, and on the other gorges destitute of roads and impassable. Between these hills, eight stades apart, lay the main pass from Europe to Asia as between gates. Across this space they built a fortification from camp to camp, leaving a gate in the middle, so that the two camps became virtually one. Alongside this fortification flowed a river, which is called by some the Ganga and by others the Gangites, and behind it was the sea, where they could keep their supplies and shipping in safety. Their depot was on the island of Thasos, 100 stades distant. Their triremes were anchored at Neapolis, at a distance of seventy stades. Brutus and Cassius were satisfied with the position and they proceeded to fortify their camps.

Antony moved his army rapidly, wishing to anticipate the enemy in occupying Amphipolis as an advantageous position for the battle. When he found it already fortified by Norbanus he was delighted. Leaving his apparatus there and one legion, under the command of Pinarius, he advanced with the greatest boldness and encamped in the plain at a distance of only eight stades from the enemy, and straightway the superiority of the enemy’s situation and the inferiority of his own became evident. The former were on elevated ground, the latter on the plain; the former procured fuel from the mountains, the latter from the marshes; the former obtained water from a river, the latter from wells freshly dug; the former drew their supplies from Thasos, requiring carriage of only a few stades, while the latter was 350 stades from Amphipolis. Still it seems that Antony was compelled to do as he did, for there was no other hill, and the rest of the plain, lying in a sort of hollow, was liable to inundation at times from the river; for which reason also the fountains of water were found fresh and abundant in the wells that were dug there. Antony’s audacity, although he was driven to it by necessity, confounded the enemy when they saw him pitch his camp so near them and in such a contemptuous manner as soon as he arrived. He raised numerous towers and fortified himself on all sides with ditch, wall, and palisade. The enemy also completed their fortification wherever the work was defective. Cassius, observing that Antony’s advance was reckless, extended his fortification at the only place where it was still wanting, from the camp to the marsh, a space which had been overlooked on account of its narrowness, so that there was now nothing unfortified except the cliffs on Brutus’s flank and the marsh on that of Cassius and the sea lying against the marsh. In the centre everything was intercepted by ditch, palisade, wall, and gates.

In this way both sides had fortified themselves, in the meantime making trial of each other by cavalry skirmishes only. When they had done all that they intended and Octavius had arrived (for, although he was not yet strong enough for a battle, he could be carried along the ranks reclining in a litter), he and Antony prepared for battle forthwith. Brutus and Cassius also drew out their forces on their higher ground, but did not come down. They decided not to give battle, hoping to wear out the enemy by want of supplies. There were nineteen legions of infantry on each side, but those of Brutus and Cassius lacked something of being full, while those of Octavius and Antony were complete. Of cavalry the latter had 13,000 and the former 20,000, including Thracians on both sides. Thus in the multitude of men, in the spirit and bravery of the commanders, and in arms and munitions, was beheld a most magnificent display on both sides; yet they did nothing for several days. Brutus and Cassius did not wish to engage, but rather to continue wasting the enemy by lack of provisions, since they themselves had abundance from Asia, all transported by the sea from close at hand, while the enemy had nothing in abundance and nothing from their own territory. They could obtain nothing through merchants from Egypt, since that country was exhausted by famine, nor from Spain or Africa by reason of Pompeius, nor from Italy by reason of Murcus and Domitius. Macedonia and Thessaly, which were the only countries then supplying them, would not suffice much longer.

Mindful chiefly of these facts Brutus and Cassius protracted the war. Antony, fearful of the same, resolved to force them to an engagement. He formed a plan of effecting a passage through the marsh secretly, if possible, in order to get in the enemy’s rear without their knowledge, and cut off their avenue of supply from Thasos. So he arrayed his forces for battle with all the standards set each day, so that it might seem that his entire army was drawn up, while a part of his force was really working night and day cutting a narrow passage in the marsh, cutting down reeds, throwing up a causeway and flanking it with stone so that the earth should not fall away, and bridging the deeper parts with piles, all in the profoundest silence. The reeds, which were still growing around his passage-way, prevented the enemy from seeing his work. After working ten days in this manner he sent a column of troops by night suddenly, who occupied all the strong positions inside and built several redoubts at the same time. Cassius was amazed at the ingenuity as well as the secrecy of this work, and he formed the counter design of cutting Antony off from his redoubts. He carried a transverse wall across the whole marsh from his camp to the sea, cutting and bridging in the same manner as Antony had done, and laying a solid foundation for his rampart, thus intercepting the passage sage made by Antony, so that those inside could not escape to him, nor he render assistance to them.

When Antony saw this about noon, instantly, with rage and fury, he turned his own army, which was facing in another direction, and led it against the fortification of Cassius which lay between his camp and the marsh. He carried tools and ladders intending to take it by storm and force his way into Cassius’ camp. While he was making this audacious charge, obliquely and up hill, across the space that separated the two armies, the soldiers of Brutus were provoked at the insolence of the enemy in dashing boldly athwart their front while they stood there armed. So they charged of their own volition, without any order from their officers, took them in flank, and killed as many as they could reach. The battle once begun they charged upon the army of Octavius, also, which was drawn up opposite, put it to flight, pursued it to the camp which Antony and Octavius had in common, and captured it. Octavius himself was not there, having been warned in a dream to beware of that day, as he has himself written in his Memoirs.

When Antony saw that battle was joined he was delighted because he had forced it, for he had been in trouble about his supplies. He judged it inadvisable to turn again toward the plain, lest in making the evolution his ranks should be thrown into disorder. So he continued his charge, as he had begun it, on the run, and advanced under a shower of missiles, and forced his way till he struck a body of Cassius’ troops, which had not moved from its assigned position and which was amazed at this unexpected audacity. He courageously broke this advance guard and dashed against the fortification that ran between the marsh and the camp, demolished the palisade, filled up the ditch, undermined the works, and killed the men at the gates, disregarding the missiles hurled from the wall, until he had forced an entrance through the gates, and others had made breaches in the fortification, and still others had climbed up on the debris. All this was done so swiftly that those who had just now captured the fortification met Cassius’ men, who had been at work in the marsh, coming to the assistance of their friends, and, with a powerful charge, put them to flight, drove them into the marsh, and then at once wheeled against the camp of Cassius itself. These were only the men who had scaled the fortification with Antony, the remainder being engaged in conflict with the enemy on the other side of the wall.

As the camp was in a strong position it was guarded by only a few men, for which reason Antony easily overcame them. Cassius’ soldiers outside the camp were already worsted, and when they saw that the camp was taken they scattered in disorderly flight. The victory was complete and alike on either side, Brutus defeating the enemy’s left wing and taking their camp, while Antony overcame Cassius and ravaged his camp with irresistible courage. There was great slaughter on both sides, but by reason of the extent of the plain and the clouds of dust they were ignorant of each other’s fate. When they learned the facts they recalled their scattered forces. Those who returned resembled porters rather than soldiers, and did not at once perceive each other nor see anything clearly. Otherwise either party would have flung down their burdens and fiercely attacked the others carrying off plunder in this disorderly fashion. According to conjecture the number of killed on the side of Cassius, including slave shield-bearers, was about 8000 and on the side of Octavius double that number.

When Cassius was driven out of his fortifications and no longer had any camp to go to, he ascended the hill to Philippi and took a survey of the situation. He could not see accurately on account of the dust, nor could he see everything, but upon discovering that his own camp was captured he ordered Pindarus, his shield-bearer, to draw his sword and kill him. While Pindarus delayed a messenger ran up and said that Brutus had been victorious on the other wing and was ravaging the enemy’s camp. Cassius merely answered, Tell him that I pray his victory may be complete. Then, turning to Pindarus, he said, What are you waiting for? Why do you not deliver me from my shame? Then, as he presented his throat, Pindarus slew him. This is one account of the death of Cassius. Others say that as some horsemen were approaching, bringing the good news from Brutus, he took them for enemies and sent Titinius to find out exactly; that the horsemen pressed around Titinius joyfully as a friend of Cassius, and at the same time uttered loud hurrahs; that Cassius, thinking that Titinius had fallen into the hands of enemies, said, Have I waited to see my friend torn from me? and that then he withdrew to a tent with Pindarus, and Pindarus was never seen afterward. For this reason some persons think that he killed Cassius without orders. Cassius ended his life on his birthday, on which also the battle was fought, and Titinius killed himself because he had been too slow.

Brutus wept over the dead body of Cassius and called him the last of the Romans, meaning that his equal in virtue would never exist again. He reproached him for haste and precipitancy, but at the same time he esteemed him happy because he was freed from cares and troubles, which, he said, are leading Brutus, ah, whither? He delivered the corpse to friends to be buried secretly lest the army should be moved to tears at the sight; and himself passed the whole night, without food and without care for his own person, restoring order in Cassius’ army. In the morning the enemy drew up their army in order of battle, so that they might not seem to have been beaten. Brutus, perceiving their design, exclaimed, Let us arm also and make believe that we have suffered no defeat. So he put his forces in line, and the enemy withdrew. Brutus said to his friends, jeeringly, They challenged us when they thought we were tired, but they dared not put us to the test.

On the same day that witnessed the battle of Philippi another great calamity took place in the Adriatic. Domitius Calvinus was bringing two legions of infantry on transport ships to Octavius, one of which was known as the Martian legion, a name which had been given to it as a distinction for bravery. He led also a praetorian cohort of about 2000 men, four squadrons of horse, and a considerable corps d’elite of other troops, under the convoy of a few triremes. Murcus and Ahenobarbus met them with 130 war-ships. A few of the transports that were in front got away under sail. The wind suddenly failing, the rest floated about in a dead calm on the sea, having been delivered by some god into the hands of their enemies. The latter, without danger to themselves, fell upon each ship and crushed it; nor could the triremes that escorted them render any aid, since they were hemmed in by reason of their small number. The men who were exposed to this danger performed many deeds of valor. They hastily lashed their ships together with ropes and spars to prevent the enemy from breaking through their line. But when they succeeded in doing this Murcus discharged burning arrows at them. Then they cast off their fastenings as quickly as possible and separated from each other on account count of the fire, and thus again were exposed to being surrounded or rammed by the triremes.

Some of the soldiers, and especially the Martians, who excelled in bravery, were exasperated that they should lose their lives uselessly, and so killed themselves rather than be burned to death; others leaped on board the triremes of the enemy, giving and receiving blows. Vessels half burned floated a long time, containing men perishing by fire, by hunger, and by thirst. Others, clinging to masts or planks, were thrown upon barren rocks or promontories, and of these some were saved unexpectedly. Some of them were nourished for five days by licking pitch, or chewing sails or ropes, until the waves bore them to the land. The greater part, vanquished by their misfortunes, surrendered to the enemy. Seventeen triremes surrendered, and the men in them took the oath to Murcus. Their general, Calvinus, who was believed to have perished, returned to Brundusium on his ship five days later. Such was the catastrophe that befell in the Adriatic on the same day that the battle of Philippi was fought, whether it be more fitly called a shipwreck or a naval engagement. The coincidence of the two battles caused amazement when it became known later.

Brutus assembled his army and addressed it as follows: In yesterday’s engagement, fellow-soldiers, you were in every respect superior to the enemy. You began the battle eagerly, although without orders, and you utterly destroyed their far-famed fourth legion, on which their wing placed its reliance, and all those supporting it as far as their camp, and you took and plundered their camp first, so that our victory far outweighs the disaster on our left wing. When it was in your power to finish the whole work, you chose rather to plunder than to kill the vanquished. Most of you passed by the enemy and made a rush for his property. We are the superior again in this, that of our two camps they captured only one, while we took all of theirs, so that here our gain is twice as great as our loss. So great are our advantages in the battle. How far we excel them in other respects you may learn from our prisoners — concerning the scarcity and dearness of provisions among them, the difficulty of procuring further supplies, and how near they are to absolute want. They can obtain nothing from Sicily, Sardinia, Africa, or Spain, because Pompeius, Murcus, and Ahenobarbus with 260 ships close the sea against them. They have already exhausted Macedonia. They are now dependent on Thessaly alone. How much longer will it suffice?

When, therefore, you see them eager to fight, bear in mind that they are so pressed by hunger that they prefer death by battle. We will make it part of our plan that hunger shall engage them before we do, so that when it is necessary to fight we shall find them weakened and exhausted. Let us not be carried away by our ardor before the proper time. Let no one think that delay implies want of generalship more than haste, when he casts his eye on the sea behind us, which sends us aid and provisions and enables us to win victory without danger if we wait and do not mind the insults and provocations of the enemy, who are not braver than ourselves, as yesterday’s work shows, but are trying to avert another danger. Let the zeal which I now desire you to repress be shown abundantly when I ask it. The rewards of victory I will pay you in full when it shall please the gods that our work be finished. And now for your bravery in yesterday’s engagement, I will give to each soldier 1000 drachmas and to your officers in proportion. After speaking thus he distributed the donative to the legions in their order. Some writers say that he promised to give them also the cities of Lacedaemon and Thessalonica to plunder.

Octavius and Antony, seeing that Brutus was not willing to fight, assembled their men, and Antony addressed them thus: Soldiers, I am sure that the enemy claim in their speeches a share of yesterday’s victory because they drove some of us and plundered our camp, but they will show by their action that it was wholly yours. I promise you that neither to-morrow nor on any subsequent day will they be willing to fight. It is the clearest proof of their defeat yesterday and of their lack of courage that, like those who have been vanquished in public games, they keep out of the arena. Surely they did not collect so numerous an army in order to pass their time in fortifications in the desert parts of Thrace. They built their fortifications when you were still approaching because they were afraid. Now that you have come they adhere to them because of yesterday’s defeat, on which account also the older and more experienced of their generals in utter despair committed suicide, and this act is itself the greatest proof of their disaster. Since, therefore, they do not accept our challenge and come down from the mountain, but trust to their rocky fastnesses instead of their arms, be valliant, O my soldiers of Rome, and force them to it again as you forced them yesterday. Let us consider it base to yield to those who are afraid of us, to keep our hands off such sluggards, or, soldiers as we are, to be unequal to the capture of their fortifications. We did not come hither to pass our lives in this plain, and if we delay we shall be in want of everything. If we are well advised we shall prosecute the war sharply, in order that peace may be of the longest duration possible.

We, who have not incurred your censure for the onset and the plan of yesterday’s battle, will devise fresh opportunities and means for this end. You, on the other hand, when you are asked, repay your generals with your valor. Nor will you be troubled, after a little, by yesterday’s plundering of our camp, for our wealth consists not in the property we hold, but in conquering with might, which will restore to us as victors not only what we lost yesterday, which is still safe in the enemy’s possession, but the enemy’s wealth in addition. And if we are in haste to take these things let us hasten to bring on a battle. What we took from them yesterday balances what we lost, and perhaps more, for they brought with them all that they had extorted and plundered from Asia, while we, coming from our own country, left at home everything in the way of luxury, and brought with us only what was necessary. If there was anything lavish in our camp it was the property of your generals, who will gladly give it all to you as a reward for your victory. And as compensation for your losses we will give you an additional reward of 5000 drachmas for each soldier, five times as much to each centurion, and twice the latter sum to each tribune.

Having spoken thus, he led out his men again on the following day. As the enemy would not come down then, Antony was disgusted, but he continued to lead out his men daily. Brutus had a part of his army in line lest he should be compelled to fight; and with another part he guarded the road by which his supplies were conveyed. There was a hill very near the camp of Cassius, which it was difficult for an enemy to occupy because, by reason of its nearness, it was exposed to arrows from the camp. Nevertheless, Cassius had placed a guard on it, lest it should be forced unexpectedly. As it had been abandoned by Brutus, the army of Octavius occupied it by night with four legions and protected themselves with wickerwork and hides against the enemy’s bowmen. When this position was secured they transferred ten other legions a distance of more than five stades toward the sea. Four stades farther they placed two legions, in order to extend themselves in this manner quite to the sea, with a view of breaking through the enemy’s line either along the sea itself, or through the marsh, or in some other way, and to cut off their supplies. Brutus counteracted this movement by building fortified posts opposite their camps and in other ways.

The task of Octavius and Antony became pressing, hunger was already felt, and fear fell upon them more and more each day, for Thessaly could no longer furnish sufficient supplies, nor could they hope for anything from the sea, which was commanded by the enemy everywhere. News of their recent disaster in the Adriatic having now reached both armies, it caused them fresh alarm, as also did the approach of winter while they were quartered in this muddy plain. Moved by these considerations they sent a legion of troops to Achaia to collect all the food they could find and send it to them in haste. As they could not rest under so great an impending danger, and as their other artifices were of no avail, they ceased offering battle in the plain and advanced with shouts to the enemy’s fortifications, and challenged Brutus to fight, reviling and scoffing at him, intending not so much to besiege him as by a mad rush to bring him to an engagement against his will.

Brutus adhered to his original intention, and all the more because he knew of the famine and of his own success in the Adriatic, and of the enemy’s desperation for want of supplies. He preferred to endure a siege, or anything else, rather than come to an engagement with men who were famishing, and whose hopes rested solely on fighting because they despaired of every other resource. His soldiers, however, without reflection, entertained a different opinion. They took it hard that they should be shut up, idle and cowardly, like women, within their fortifications. Their officers, although they approved of Brutus’ design, were vexed, thinking that in the present temper of the army they might overpower the enemy more quickly. Brutus himself was the cause of these murmurs, being of a gentle and kindly disposition toward all — not like Cassius, who was austere and imperious in every way, for which reason the army obeyed his orders promptly, not interfering with his authority, not inquiring the reasons for his orders, and not criticising them when they had learned them. But in the case of Brutus they expected nothing else than to share the command with him on account of his mildness of temper. Finally, the soldiers began openly to collect together in companies and groups and to ask each other, Why does our general put a stigma upon us? How have we offended lately — we who conquered the enemy and put him to flight; we who slaughtered those opposed to us and took their camp? Brutus took no notice of these murmurs, nor did he call an assembly, lest he should be forced from his position, contrary to his dignity, by the unreasoning multitude, and especially by the mercenaries, who, like fickle slaves seeking new masters, always rest their hopes of safety on desertion to the enemy.

His officers kept teasing and urging him to make use of the eagerness of the army now, which would speedily bring glorious results. If the battle should turn out adversely, they could fall back to their walls and put the same fortifications between themselves and the enemy. Brutus was especially vexed with these, for they were his officers, and he grieved that they, who were exposed to the same peril as himself, should capriciously side with the soldiers in preferring a quick and doubtful chance to a victory without danger; but, to the ruin of himself and them, he yielded, chiding them with these words, I seem to be carrying on war like Pompey the Great, not so much commanding as commanded. I think that Brutus restricted himself to these words in order to conceal his greatest fear, lest those of his soldiers who had formerly served under Caesar should become disaffected and desert to the enemy. This both himself and Cassius had apprehended from the beginning, and they had been careful not to give any excuse for such disaffection toward themselves.

So Brutus led out his army unwillingly and formed them in line of battle before his walls, ordering them not to advance very far from the hill so that they might have a safe retreat if necessary and a good position for hurling darts at the enemy. In each army the men exchanged exhortations with each other. There was great eagerness for battle, and unbounded confidence. On the one side was the fear of famine, on the other a well-deserved shame that they had constrained their general to fight when he still favored delay, and fear lest they should come short of their promises and prove weaker than their boastings, and expose themselves to the charge of rashness instead of winning praise for good counsel; because also Brutus, riding through the ranks on horseback, showed himself before them with a severe countenance and reminded them in a few words of what the opportunity offered. You want to fight, he said; you force me to battle when I am able to conquer otherwise. Do not falsify my hopes or your own. You have the advantage of the higher ground and everything safe in your rear. The enemy’s position is the one of peril because he lies between you and famine. With these words he passed on, the soldiers telling him to trust them and echoing his words with shouts of confidence.

Octavius and Antony rode through their own ranks shaking hands with those nearest them, and urging them in the most serious manner to do their duty, and not concealing the danger of famine, because they believed that that would be the greatest incitement to bravery. Soldiers, they said, we have found the enemy. We have before us those whom we sought to catch outside of their fortifications. Let none of you shame his own challenge or prove unequal to his own threat. Let no one prefer hunger, that unmanageable and distressing evil, to the walls and bodies of the enemy which they will yield to bravery, to the sword, to despair. Our situation at this moment is so pressing that nothing can be postponed till to-morrow, but this very day must decide for us either a complete victory or an honorable death. If we conquer we gain in one day and by one blow provisions, money, ships, and camps, and the prizes of victory offered by ourselves. Such will be the result if, from our first onset upon them, we are mindful of the necessity urging us on, and if, after breaking their ranks, we immediately cut them off from their gates and drive them upon the rocks or into the plain, so that the war may not spring up again or these enemies get away for another period of idleness — the only warriors who are so weak as to rest their hopes, not on fighting, but on declining to fight.

In this way Octavius and Antony roused the spirit of those with whom they came in contact. The emulation of the troops was excited to show themselves worthy of their commanders and also to escape the danger of famine, which had been greatly augmented by the naval disaster in the Adriatic. They preferred, if necessary, to suffer in battle, with the hope of success, rather than be wasted by an irresistible foe. Inspired by these thoughts, which each man exchanged with his nearest neighbor, the spirit of the two armies was wonderfully raised and both were filled with undaunted courage. They did not now remember that they were fellow-citizens of their enemies, but hurled threats at each other as though they had been enemies by birth and descent, so much did the anger of the moment extinguish reason and nature in them. Both sides divined equally that this day and this battle would decide the fate of Rome completely; and it did decide it.

The day was consumed in preparations till the ninth hour, at which time two eagles fell upon each other and fought in the space between the armies, amid the profoundest silence. When the one on the side of Brutus took flight his enemies raised a great shout and battle was joined. The onset was superb and terrible. They had little need of arrows, stones, or javelins, which are customary in war, for they did not resort to the usual manœuvres and tactics of battles, but, coming to close combat with naked swords, they slew and were slain, seeking to break each other’s ranks. On the one side it was a fight for self-preservation rather than victory; on the other for victory and for the satisfaction of the general who had been forced to fight against his will. The slaughter and the groans were terrible. The bodies of the fallen were carried back and others stepped into their places from the rear ranks. The generals flew hither and thither overlooking everything, exciting the men by their ardor, exhorting the toilers to toil on, and relieving those who were exhausted so that there was always fresh courage at the front. Finally, the soldiers of Octavius, either from fear of famine, or by the good fortune of Octavius himself (for the soldiers of Brutus were not blameworthy), pushed back the enemy’s line as though they were putting in motion a very heavy machine. The latter were driven back step by step, slowly at first and without loss of courage. Presently their ranks began to dissolve and they retreated more rapidly, and then the second and third ranks in the rear retreated with them, all mingled together in disorder, crowded by each other and by the enemy, who pressed upon them without ceasing until it became plainly a flight. The soldiers of Octavius, then especially mindful of the order they had received, seized the gates of the enemy’s fortification, but at great risk to themselves because they were exposed to missiles from above and in front, but they prevented a great many of the enemy from gaining entrance. These fled, some to the sea, and some through the river Zygactes to the mountains.

The enemy having been routed, the generals divided the remainder of the work between themselves, Octavius to capture those who should break out of the camp and to watch the main camp, while Antony was everywhere, and everywhere attacking, falling upon the fugitives and those who still held together, and upon their other camping-places, crushing all with vehement impetuosity. Fearing lest the leaders should escape him and collect another army, he despatched cavalry upon the roads and outlets of the field of battle to capture those who were trying to escape. These divided their work; some of them hurried up the mountain with Rhascus, the Thracian, who was sent with them on account of his knowledge of the roads. They surrounded the fortified positions and escarpments, hunted down the fugitives, and kept watch upon those inside. Others pursued Brutus himself. Lucilius seeing them rushing on furiously, surrendered himself, pretending to be Brutus, and asked them to take him to Antony instead of Octavius; for which reason chiefly he was believed to be Brutus trying to avoid his implacable enemy. When Antony heard that they were bringing him, he went to meet him, with a pause to reflect on the fortune, the dignity, and the virtue of the man, and thinking how he should receive Brutus. As he was approaching, Lucilius presented himself, and said with perfect boldness, You have not captured Brutus, nor will virtue ever be taken prisoner by vice. I deceived these men and so here I am. Antony, observing that the horse-men were ashamed of their mistake, consoled them, saying, The game you have caught for me is not worse, but better than you think — as much better as a friend is than an enemy. Then he committed Lucilius to the care of one of his friends, and later took him into his own service and employed him in a confidential capacity.

Brutus fled to the mountains with a considerable force, intending to return to his camp by night, or to move down to the sea. But since all the roads were encompassed by guards he passed the night under arms with all his party, and it is said that, looking up to the stars, he exclaimed: — Forget not, Zeus, the author of these ills. referring to Antony. It is said that Antony himself repeated this saying at a later period in the midst of his own dangers, regretting that, when he might have associated himself with Cassius and Brutus, he had become the tool of Octavius. At the present time, however, Antony passed the night under arms with his outposts over against Brutus, fortifying himself with a breastwork of dead bodies and spoils collected together. Octavius toiled till midnight and then retired on account of his illness, leaving Norbanus to watch the enemy’s camp.

On the following day Brutus, seeing the enemy still lying in wait for him, and having less than four full legions, which had ascended the mountain with him, thought it best not to address himself to his troops, but to their officers, who were ashamed and repentant of their fault. To them he sent to put them to the test and to learn whether they were willing to break through the enemy’s lines and regain their own camp, which was still held by their troops who had been left there. These officers, though they had rushed to battle unadvisedly, had been of good courage for the most part, but now, misled by a god, gave to their general the undeserved answer that he should look out for himself, that they had tempted fortune many times, and that they would not throw away the last remaining hope of accommodation. Then Brutus said to his friends, I am no longer useful to my country if such is the temper of these men, and calling Strato, the Epirote, who was one of his friends, gave him the order to stab him. While Strato was still willing to deliberate, Brutus called one of his servants. Then Strato said, Your friend shall not come short of your servants in executing your last commands, if the decision is actually reached. With these words he thrust his sword into the side of Brutus, who did not shrink or turn away.

So died Cassius and Brutus, two most noble and illustrious Romans, and of incomparable virtue, but for one crime. Although they belonged to the party of Pompey the Great, and had been the enemies, in peace and in war, of Gaius Caesar, he made them his friends, and from being friends he was treating them as sons. The Senate at all times had a peculiar attachment to them, and commiseration for them when they fell into misfortune. On account of those two it granted amnesty to all the assassins, and when they took flight it bestowed governorships on them in order that they should not be exiles; not that it was disregardful of Gaius Caesar or rejoiced at what had happened to him, for it admired his bravery and good fortune, gave him a public funeral at his death, ratified his acts, and had for a long time awarded the magistracies and governorships to his nominees, considering that nothing better could be devised than what he proposed. But its zeal for these two men and its solicitude for them brought it under suspicion of complicity in the assassination, — so much were those two held in honor by all. By the most illustrious of the exiles they were preferred to [Sextus] Pompeius, although he was nearer and not implacable to the triumvirs, while they were farther away and irreconcilable.

When it became necessary for them to take up arms, two whole years had not elapsed ere they had brought together upward of twenty legions of infantry and something like 20,000 cavalry, and 200 ships of war, with corresponding apparatus and a vast amount of money, some of it from willing and some from unwilling contributors. They carried on wars with many peoples and with cities and with men of the adverse faction successfully. They brought under their sway all the nations from Macedonia to the Euphrates. Those whom they had fought against they had brought into alliance with them and had found them most faithful. They had had the services of the independent kings and princes, and in some small measure even of the Parthians, who were enemies of the Romans; but they did not wait for them to come and take part in the decisive battle, lest this barbarous and hostile race should become accustomed to encounters with the Romans. Most extraordinary of all was the fact that the greater part of their army had been the soldiers of Gaius Caesar and wonderfully attached to him, yet they were won over by the very murderers of Caesar and followed them more faithfully against Caesar’s son than they had followed Antony, who was Caesar’s companion in arms and colleague; for not one of them deserted Brutus and Cassius even when they were vanquished, while some of them had abandoned Antony at Brundusium before the war began. The reason for their service, both under Pompey aforetime and now under Brutus and Cassius, was not their own interest, but the cause of democracy; a specious name indeed, but generally hurtful. Both of the leaders, when they thought they could no longer be useful to their country, alike despised their own lives. In that which related to their cares and labors Cassius gave his attention strictly to war, like a gladiator to his antagonist. Brutus, wherever he might be, wanted to see and hear everything because he was by nature a seeker after knowledge.

Against all these virtues and merits must be set down the crime against Caesar, which was not an ordinary or a small one, for it was committed unexpectedly against a friend, ungratefully against a benefactor who had spared them in war, and nefariously against the head of the state, in the senate-house, against a pontiff clothed in his sacred vestments, against a ruler without an equal, who was most useful above all other men to Rome and its empire. For these reasons Heaven was incensed against them and often forewarned them of their doom. When Cassius was performing a lustration for his army his lictor presented his garland wrong side up. A gilded statue of Victory dedicated to Cassius fell down. Many birds hovered over his camp, but uttered no sound, and swarms of bees continually settled upon it. While Brutus was celebrating his birthday at Samos it is said that in the midst of the feast, although not a ready man with such quotations, he shouted out this verse without any apparent cause: — A cruel fate O’ertakes me, aided by Latona’s son. Iliad, xvi. 849. Bryant’s translation. Once when he was about to cross from Asia into Europe with his army, and while he was awake at night and the light was burning low, he beheld an apparition of extraordinary form standing near him, and when he boldly asked who of men or gods it might be, the spectre answered, I am thy evil genius, Brutus. I shall appear to thee again at Philippi. And it is said that it did appear to him before the last battle. When the soldiers were going out to the fight an Ethiopian met them in front of the gates, and as they considered this a bad omen they immediately cut him in pieces. It was due to divine interposition, no doubt, that Cassius gave way to despair without reason after a drawn battle, and that Brutus was forced from his policy of wise delay to an engagement with men who were pressed by hunger, while he himself had supplies in abundance and the command of the sea, so that his calamity proceeded rather from his own troops than from the enemy. Although they had participated in many engagements, they never received any hurt in battle, but both became the slayers of themselves, as they had been of Cae sar. Such was the punishment that overtook Cassius and Brutus.

Antony found the body of Brutus, wrapped it in his best purple garment, burned it, and sent the ashes to his mother, Servilia. Brutus’ army, when it learned of his death, sent envoys to Octavius and Antony and obtained pardon, and was divided between their armies. It consisted of about 14,000 men. Besides these a large number who were in garrisons surrendered. The garrisons themselves and the enemy’s camp were given to the soldiers of Octavius and Antony to be plundered. Of the distinguished men in Brutus’ camp some perished in the battles, others killed themselves as the two generals had done, others purposely continued fighting till death. Among these men of note were Lucius Cassius, a nephew of Cassius himself, and Cato, the son of Cato. The latter charged upon the enemy many times; then, when his men began to retreat, he threw off his helmet, either that he might be recognized, or be easily hit, or for both reasons. Labeo, a man renowned for learning, father of the Labeo who is still celebrated as a jurisconsult, dug a trench in his tent the size of his body, gave orders to his slaves in reference to the remainder of his affairs, made such arrangements as he desired for his wife and children, and gave letters to his domestics to carry to them. Then, taking his most faithful slave by the right hand and whirling him around, as is the Roman custom in granting freedom, he handed him a sword as he turned, and presented his throat. And so his tent became his tomb.

Rhascus, the Thracian, brought many troops from the mountains. He asked and received as his reward the pardon of his brother, Rhascupolis, from which it was made plain that from the beginning these Thracians had not been at variance with each other, but that seeing two great and hostile armies coming into conflict near their territory, they took sides in the contest in such a way that the victor might save the vanquished. Portia, the wife of Brutus and sister of the younger Cato, when she learned that both had died in the manner described, although very strictly watched by domestics, seized some coals of fire that they were carrying, and swallowed them. Of the members of the nobility who escaped to Thasos some took ship from thence, others committed themselves with the remains of the army to the judgment of Messala Corvinus and Lucius Bibulus, men of equal rank, to do for all what they should decide to do for themselves. These came to an arrangement with Antony and Octavius, whereby they delivered to Antony on his arrival at Thasos the money and arms, besides abundant supplies and a great quantity of war material, there in store.

Thus did Octavius and Antony by perilous daring and by two infantry engagements achieve a success, the like of which was never before known; for never before had such numerous and powerful Roman armies come in conflict with each other. These soldiers were not enlisted from the ordinary conscription, but were picked men. They were not new levies, but under long drill and arrayed against each other, not against foreign or barbarous races. Speaking the same language and using the same tactics, being of like discipline and power of endurance, they were for these reasons evenly matched. Nor was there ever such fury and daring in war as here, when citizens contended against citizens, families against families, and fellow-soldiers against each other. The proof of this is that, taking both battles into the account, the number of the slain among the victors appeared to be not less [than among the vanquished].

Thus the army of Antony and Octavius confirmed the prediction of their generals, passing in one day and by one blow from extreme danger of famine and fear of destruction to lavish wealth, absolute security, and glorious victory. That result came about which Antony and Octavius had predicted as they advanced into battle. Their form of government was decided by that day’s work chiefly, and they have not gone back to democracy yet. Nor was there any further need of similar contentions with each other, except the strife between Antony and Octavius not long afterward, which was the last that took place between Romans. The events that transpired after the death of Brutus, under Sextus Pompeius and the friends of Cassius and Brutus, who escaped with the very considerable remains of their extensive war material, were not to be compared to the former in daring or in the devotion of men, cities, and armies to their leaders; nor did any of the nobility, nor the Senate, nor the same glory, attend them as attended Brutus and Cassius.

AFTER the death of Cassius and Brutus, Octavius returned to Italy. Antony proceeded to Asia, where he met Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and succumbed to her charms at first sight. This passion brought ruin upon them and upon all Egypt besides. For this reason a part of this book will treat of Egypt — a small part, however, not worth mentioning in the title, since it is incidental to the narrative of the civil wars, which constitutes much the larger portion. Other similar civil wars took place after Cassius and Brutus, but there was no one in command of all the forces as they had been. The later wars were sporadic. But, finally, Sextus Pompeius, the younger son of Pompey the Great, the last remaining leader of that faction, was slain, as Brutus and Cassius had been, and Lepidus was deprived of his share of the triumvirate, and the whole government of the Romans was centred in two only, Antony and Octavius. These events came about in the following manner.

Cassius, surnamed Parmesius, had been left by Cassius and Brutus in Asia with a fleet and an army to collect money. After the death of Cassius, not anticipating the like fate of Brutus, he selected thirty ships belonging to the Rhodians, which he intended to man, and burned the rest, except the sacred one, so that they might not be able to revolt. Having done this he took his departure with his own ships and the thirty. Clodius, who had been sent by Brutus to Rhodes with thirteen ships, found the Rhodians in revolt (for Brutus also was now dead). Clodius took away the garrison, consisting of 3000 soldiers, and joined Parmesius. They were joined by Turulius, who had a numerous fleet and a large sum of money which he had previously extorted from Rhodes. To this fleet, which was now quite powerful, flocked those who were rendering service in various parts of Asia, and they manned the ships with soldiers as well as they could, and with slaves, prisoners, and inhabitants of the islands where they touched, as rowers. The son of Cicero joined them, and others of the nobility who had escaped from Thasos. Thus in a short time there was a considerable gathering and organization of officers, soldiers, and ships. Having received additional forces under Lepidus, who had brought Crete under subjection to Brutus, they made sail to the Adriatic and united with Murcus and Domitius Ahenobarbus, who had a large force under their command. Some of these sailed with Murcus to Sicily to join Sextus Pompeius. The rest remained with Ahenobarbus and formed a faction by themselves. Such was the first reassembling of what remained of the war preparations of Cassius and Brutus.

After the battle of Philippi Octavius and Antony offered a magnificent sacrifice and awarded praise to their army. In order to provide the rewards of victory Octavius went to Italy to divide the land among the soldiers and to settle the colonies. He was chosen for this purpose on account of his illness. Antony went to the nations beyond the Aegean to collect the money that had been promised to the soldiers. They divided the provinces among themselves as before and took those of Lepidus besides. It was decided, at the instance of Octavius, to make Cisalpine Gaul free, as the elder Caesar had intended. Lepidus had been accused of betraying the affairs of the triumvirate to Pompeius. It was decided that if Octavius should find that this accusation was false other provinces should be given to Lepidus. They dismissed from the military service the soldiers who had served their full time, except 8000 who had asked to remain. These they took back and divided between themselves and formed them in praetorian cohorts. There remained to them, including those who had come over from Brutus, eleven legions of infantry and 14,000 horse. Of these Antony took, for his foreign expedition, six legions and 10,000 horse. Octavius had five legions and 4000 horse, but of these he gave two legions to Antony in exchange for others that Antony had left in Italy under the command of Calenus. Then Octavius proceeded toward the Adriatic.

When Antony arrived at Ephesus he offered a splendid sacrifice to the city’s goddess and pardoned those who, after the disaster to Brutus and Cassius, had fled to the temple as suppliants, except Petronius, who had been privy to the murder of Caesar, and Quintus, who had betrayed Dolabella to Cassius at Laodicea. Having assembled the Greeks and other peoples who inhabited the Asiatic country around Pergamos, and who were present on a peace embassy, and others who had been summoned thither, Antony addressed them as follows: Your King Attalus, O Greeks, left you to us in his will, and straightway we proved better to you than Attalus had been, for we released you from the taxes that you had been paying to him, until the action of popular agitators among us made these taxes necessary. When they became necessary we did not impose them upon you according to a fixed valuation so that we could collect an absolutely certain sum, but we required you to contribute a portion of your yearly harvest in order that we might share with you the vicissitudes of the seasons. When the publicans, who made these collections by the authority of the Senate, wronged you by demanding more than was due, Gaius Caesar remitted to you one-third of what you had paid to them and put an end to their outrages; for he even turned over to you the collection of the taxes from the cultivators of the soil. And this was the kind of man that our honorable citizens called a tyrant, and you contributed vast sums of money to the murderers of your benefactor and against us, who were seeking to avenge him.

Now that a just fortune has decided the war, not as you wished, but as was right, if we were to treat you as allies of our enemies we should be obliged to punish you. But as we are willing to believe that you were constrained to this course by necessity, we will release you from the heavier penalty. We need money and land and cities as rewards for our soldiers. There are twenty-eight legions of infantry which, with the auxiliaries, amount to upwards of 170,000 men, besides cavalry and various other arms of the service. The sum that we need for such a vast number of men you can easily imagine. Octavius has gone to Italy to provide them with land and cities — to expropriate Italy, if we must speak plainly. That we may not be under the necessity of expelling you from your lands, cities, houses, temples, and tombs, we must count upon getting money from you, not all that you have (we could not think of that), but a part, a very small part, which, when you learn it, I think you will cheerfully pay. What you contributed to our enemies in two years (for you gave them the taxes of ten years in that time) will be quite sufficient for us; but it must be paid in one year, because we are pressed by necessity. As you are sensible of our leniency toward you, I will merely add that the penalty imposed is by no means equal to your deserts.

Antony spoke thus of providing a donative for twenty-eight legions of infantry, whereas I think that they had forty-three legions when they came to their agreement at Mutina and made these promises, but the war had probably reduced them to this number. The Greeks, while he was still speaking, threw themselves upon the ground, declaring that they had been subjected to force and violence by Brutus and Cassius, and that they were deserving of pity, not of punishment; that they would willingly give to their benefactors, but that they had been stripped by their enemies, to whom they had delivered not only their money, but, in default of money, their plate and their ornaments, and who had coined these things into money in their presence. Finally, they prevailed by their entreaties that the amount should be reduced to nine years’ taxes, payable in two years. It was ordered that the kings, princes, and free cities should make additional contributions according to their means, respectively.

While Antony was making the circuit of the provinces Lucius Cassius, the brother of Gaius, and some others, who feared for their own safety, when they heard of the pardon of Ephesus, presented themselves to him as suppliants. He released them all except those who had been privy to the murder of Caesar. To these alone he was inexorable. He gave relief to the cities that had suffered most severely. He released the Lycians from taxes altogether, and urged the rebuilding of Xanthus. He gave to the Rhodians Andros, Tenos, Naxos, and Myndus, which were taken from them not long afterward because they ruled them harshly. He made Laodicea and Tarsus free cities and released them from taxes entirely, and those inhabitants of Tarsus who had been sold into slavery he liberated by an order. To the Athenians when they came to see him he gave Aegina in exchange for Tenos, and also Icos, Cea, Sciathos, and Peparethos. Proceeding onward to Phrygia, Mysia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Cœle-Syria, Palestine, Ituraea, and the other provinces of Syria, he imposed heavy contributions on all, and acted as arbiter between kings and cities, — in Cappadocia, for example, between Ariarthes and Sisinna, awarding the kingdom to Sisinna on account of his mother, Glaphyra, who appeared to him to be a beautiful woman. In Syria he delivered the cities from tyrants one after another.

Cleopatra came to meet him in Cilicia, and he blamed her for not sharing their labors in avenging Caesar. Instead of apologizing she enumerated to him the things she had done, saying that she had sent the four legions that had been left with her to Dolabella forthwith, and that she had another fleet in readiness, but had been prevented from sending it by adverse winds and by the misfortune of Dolabella, whose defeat came suddenly; that she did not lend assistance to Cassius, who had threatened her twice; that while the war was going on she had set sail for the Adriatic in person with a fleet to assist them, in defiance of Cassius, and disregarding Murcus, who was lying in wait for her; but that a tempest shattered the fleet and prostrated herself with illness, for which reason she was not able to put to sea again till they had already gained their victory. Antony was amazed at her wit as well as her good looks, and became her captive as though he were a young man, although he was forty years of age. It is said that he was always very susceptible in this way, and that he had been enamoured of her long ago when she was still a girl and he was serving as master of horse under Gabinius at Alexandria.

Straightway Antony’s interest in public affairs began to dwindle. Whatever Cleopatra ordered was done, regardless of laws, human or divine. While her sister Arsinoe was a suppliant in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus, Antony sent assassins thither and put her to death. Serapion, Cleopatra’s prefect in Cyprus, who had assisted Cassius and was now a suppliant at Tyre, Antony ordered the Tyrians to deliver to her. He commanded the Aradians to deliver up another suppliant who, when Ptolemy, the brother of Cleopatra, disappeared at the battle with Caesar on the Nile, said that he was Ptolemy, and whom the Aradians now held. He ordered the priest of Artemis at Ephesus, whom they called Megabyzus, and who had once received Arsinoe as queen, to be brought before him, but in response to the supplications of the Ephesians, addressed to Cleopatra herself, released him. So swiftly was Antony transformed, and this passion was the beginning and the end of evils that befell him. When Cleopatra returned home Antony sent a cavalry force to Palmyra, situated not far from the Euphrates, to plunder it, bringing the trifling accusations against its inhabitants, that, being on the frontier between the Romans and the Parthians, they had avoided taking sides between them; for, being merchants, they bring the products of India and Arabia and dispose of them in the Roman territory. In fact, Antony’s intention was to enrich his horsemen, but the Palmyreans were forewarned and they transported their property across the river, and, stationing themselves on the bank, prepared to shoot anybody who should attack them, for they were expert bowmen. The cavalry found nothing in the city. They turned around and came back, having met no foe, and empty-handed.

It seems that this course on Antony’s part caused the outbreak of the Parthian war not long afterward, as many of the rulers expelled from Syria had taken refuge with the Parthians. Syria, until the reign of Antiochus Pius and his son, Antiochus, had been ruled by the descendants of Seleucus Nicator, as I have related in my Syrian history. Pompey added it to the Roman sway, and Scaurus was appointed praetor over it. After Scaurus the Senate sent others, including Gabinius, who made war against the Alexandrians, and after Gabinius, Crassus, who lost his life in the Parthian war, and after Crassus, Bibulus. At the time of Caesar’s death and the intestine strife which followed, tyrants got possession of the cities one by one, and they were assisted by the Parthians, who made an irruption into Syria after the disaster to Crassus and coöperated with the tyrants. Antony drove out the latter, who took refuge in Parthia. He then imposed very heavy tribute on the masses and committed the outrage already mentioned against the Palmyreans, and did not wait for the disturbed country to become quiet, but distributed his army in winter quarters in the provinces, and himself went to Egypt to join Cleopatra.

She gave him a magnificent reception, and he spent the winter there without the insignia of his office and with the habit and mode of life of a private person, either because he was in a foreign jurisdiction, in a city under royal sway, or because he regarded his wintering as a festal occasion. He laid aside the cares and duties of a general, and wore the square-cut garment of the Greeks instead of the costume of his own country, and the white Attic shoe of the Athenian and Alexandrian priests, which they call the phaecasium. He went out only to the temples, the schools, and the discussions of the learned, and spent his time with Greeks, out of deference to Cleopatra, to whom his sojourn in Alexandria was wholly devoted. Such was the state of affairs with Antony.

As Octavius was journeying to Rome he became dangerously ill at Brundusium, and a rumor gained currency that he was dead. On his recovery he returned to the city and showed to Antony’s friends the letters Antony had written. The Antonians directed Calenus to give Octavius the two legions, and wrote to Sextius in Africa to turn that province over to him. This was the course of the Antonians while, as it appeared that Lepidus had not been guilty of any serious wrong, Octavius transferred Africa to him in exchange for his former provinces. He also sold the remainder of the property confiscated under the conscriptions. The task of assigning the soldiers to their colonies and dividing the land was one of exceeding difficulty. The soldiers demanded the cities which had been selected for them before the war as prizes for their valor. The cities demanded that the whole of Italy should share the burden, or that the cities should cast lots with the other cities, and that those who gave the land should be paid the value of it; but there was no money. They came to Rome in crowds, young and old, women and children, to the forum and the temples, uttering lamentations, saying that they had done no wrong for which they, Italians, should be driven from their fields and their hearthstones, like people conquered in war. The Romans mourned and wept with them, especially when they reflected that the war had been waged, and the rewards of victory given, not in behalf of the commonwealth, but against themselves and for a change of the form of government; that the colonies were established so that democracy should never again lift its head, — colonies composed of hirelings settled there by the rulers to be in readiness for whatever purpose they might be wanted.

Octavius explained to the cities the necessity of the case, but he knew that it would not satisfy them; and it did not. The soldiers encroached upon their neighbors in an insolent manner, seizing more than had been given to them and choosing the best lands; nor did they cease when Octavius rebuked them and made them numerous other presents. They were contemptuous in the knowledge that their rulers needed them to confirm their power, for the five years’ term of the triumvirate was passing away, and army and rulers needed the services of each other for mutual security. The chiefs depended on the soldiers for the continuance of their government, while, for the control of what they had received, the soldiers depended on the permanence of the government of those who had given it. Believing that they could not keep a firm hold unless the givers had a strong government, they fought for them with good-will, necessarily. Octavius made many other gifts to the indigent soldiers, borrowing from the temples for that purpose, for which reason the affections of the army were turned toward him. The greater thanks were bestowed upon him both as the giver of the land, the cities, the money, and the houses, and as the object of denunciation on the part of the despoiled, and as one who bore this contumely for the army’s sake.

Observing this, Lucius Antonius, the brother of Antony, who was then consul, and Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and Manius, his procurator during his absence, resorted to artifices to delay the settlement of the colonies till Antony should return home, in order that it might not seem to be wholly the work of Octavius, and that he might not reap the thanks alone, and Antony be bereft of the favor of the soldiers. As this could not be done, on account of the haste of the soldiers, they asked that Octavius should take the colony leaders of Antony’s legions from Antony’s own friends, although the agreement with Antony yielded the selection to Octavius exclusively. They made it a matter of complaint that Antony was not present. They brought Fulvia and Antony’s children before the soldiers, and, in envious terms, besought them not to forget Antony or allow him to be deprived of the glory or the gratitude due to his service to them. The fame of Antony was then at its maximum, not only among the soldiers, but among all others. The victory of Philippi was considered wholly due to him, on account of Octavius’ illness. Although Octavius was not ignorant that it was a violation of the agreement, he yielded as a matter of favor to Antony, and appointed friends of the latter as colony leaders for Antony’s legions. These leaders, in order that they might appear more favorable to the soldiers than Octavius was, allowed them to commit still greater outrages. So there was another multitude from other communities, neighbors of the dispossessed ones, suffering many injuries at the hands of the soldiers, and crying out against Octavius, saying that the colonization was worse than the proscription, since the latter was directed against foes, while the former was against inoffensive persons.

Octavius knew that these citizens were suffering injustice, but he was without means to prevent it. There was no money to pay the value of the land to the cultivators, nor could the rewards to the soldiers be postponed, on account of the enemies who were still on foot. Pompeius ruled the sea and was reducing the city to famine by cutting off supplies. Ahenobarbus and Murcus were collecting a new fleet and army. The soldiers would be less zealous in the future if they were not paid for their former service. It was a matter of much importance that the five years’ term of office was running out, and that the good-will of the soldiers was needed to renew it, for which reason he was willing to overlook for the time being their insolence and arrogance. Once in the theatre when he was present, a soldier, not finding his own seat, went and took one in the place reserved for the knights. The people pointed him out and Octavius had him removed. The soldiers were angry. They gathered around Octavius as he was going away from the theatre and demanded their comrade, for, as they did not see him, they thought that he had been put to death. When he was produced before them they supposed that he had been brought from prison, but he denied that he had been imprisoned and related what had taken place. They said that he had been instructed to tell a lie and reproached him for betraying their common interests. Such was the example of their insolence in the theatre.

Having been called, about that time, to the Campus Martius for a division of the land, they came in haste while it was still night, and they grew angry because Octavius delayed his coming. Nonius, a centurion, chided them with considerable freedom, urging decent treatment of the commander by the commanded, and saying that the cause of the delay was Octavius’ illness, not his disregard of them. They first jeered at him as a sycophant. Then, as the excitement waxed hot on both sides, they reviled him, threw stones at him, and pursued him when he fled. Finally he plunged into the river and they pulled him out and killed him and threw his body into the road where Octavius was about to pass along. The friends of Octavius advised him not to go among them, but to keep out of the way of their mad career. But he went forward, thinking that their madness would be augmented if he did not come. When he saw the body of Nonius he turned aside. Then, assuming that the crime had been committed by a few, he chided them and advised them to exercise forbearance toward each other hereafter, and proceeded to divide the land. He allowed the meritorious ones to ask for rewards, and he gave to some who were not meritorious, contrary to their expectation. Finally the crowd were confounded. They repented and were ashamed of their importunity. They condemned themselves and asked him to search out and punish the slayers of Nonius. He replied that he knew them and would punish them only with their own guilty consciences and the condemnation of their comrades. The soldiers, thus honored with pardon, rewards, and gifts, changed at once to joyful acclamations.

Let these two instances serve as examples of the prevailing insubordination. The cause was that the generals, for the most part, as is usually the case in civil wars, were not regularly chosen; that their armies were not drawn from the enrolment according to the custom of the fathers, nor for the benefit of their country; that they did not serve the public so much as they did the individuals who brought them together; and that they served these not by the force of law, but by reason of private promises; not against the common enemy, but against private foes; not against foreigners, but against fellow-citizens, their equals in rank. All these things impaired military discipline, and the soldiers thought that they were not so much serving in the army as lending assistance, by their own favor and judgment, to leaders who needed them for their own personal ends. Desertion, which had formerly been unpardonable, was now rewarded with gifts, and whole armies resorted to it, including some illustrious men, who did not consider it desertion to change to a similar cause, for all parties were alike, since neither of them could be distinguished as battling against the common enemy of the Roman people. The common pretence of the generals that they were all striving for the good of the country made desertion easy in the thought that one could serve his country in any party. Understanding these facts the generals tolerated this behavior, for they knew that their authority over their armies depended on donatives rather than on law. Thus, everything was torn in factions, and the armies indulged in insubordination toward the leaders of the factions.

Now famine began to afflict Rome, the supplies by sea being cut off by Pompeius, and Italian agriculture ruined by the wars. Whatever food was produced was consumed by the troops. Many robberies were committed by night in the city. There were acts of violence worse than robbery which went unpunished, and which were supposed to have been committed by soldiers. The people closed their shops and drove the magistrates from their places as though there were no need of courts of justice, or of the useful arts in a city oppressed by hunger and infested with brigands.

Lucius Antonius, who was a republican and ill affected toward the triumvirate, which seemed not likely to come to an end at the appointed time, fell into controversy, and even graver differences, with Octavius. He alone received kindly, and promised aid to, the agriculturists who had been deprived of their lands and who were now the suppliants of every man of importance; and they promised to carry out his orders. Antony’s soldiers, and Octavius also, blamed him for working against Antony’s interests, and Fulvia blamed him for stirring up war at an inopportune time, until Manius maliciously changed her mind by telling her that as long as Italy remained at peace Antony would stay with Cleopatra, but that if war should break out there he would come back speedily. Then Fulvia, moved by a woman’s jealousy, incited Lucius to discord. While Octavius was leading out the last of the colonies she sent the children of Antony, together with Lucius, to follow him, so that he should not acquire too great eclat with the army by being seen alone. A body of Octavius’ cavalry made an expedition to the coast of Bruttium, which Pompeius was ravaging, and Lucius either thought or pretended to think that it had been sent against himself and Antony’s children. Accordingly, he betook himself to the Antonian colonies to collect a body-guard, and accused Octavius to the soldiers as being treacherous to Antony. Octavius replied that everything was on a friendly and harmonius footing between himself and Antony, and that Lucius was trying to stir up a war between them for another reason, in that he was working against the triumvirate, by virtue of which the soldiers had a firm hold upon their colonies, and that the cavalry were now in Bruttium executing the triumvirate’s orders.

When the officers of the army learned these facts, they arbitrated between Lucius and Octavius at Teanum and brought them to an agreement on the following terms: That the consuls should exercise their office in the manner of the fathers and not be hindered by the triumvirs; that the land should be assigned only to those who fought at Philippi; that of the money derived from confiscated property, and of the value of that which was still to be sold, Antony’s soldiers in Italy should have an equal share; that neither Antony nor Octavius should draw soldiers from Italy by conscription hereafter; that two of Antony’s legions should serve with Octavius in the campaign against Pompeius; that the passes of the Alps should be opened to the forces sent by Octavius into Spain, and that Asinius Pollio should not further interfere with them; that Lucius should be satisfied with those conditions, should dispense with his body-guard, and administer his office fearlessly. Such was the agreement which they made with each other through the influence of the officers of the army. Of these only the two last were carried into effect, and Salvidienus crossed the Alps unhindered.

As the other conditions were not carried into effect, or were delayed, Lucius departed to Praeneste, saying that he was in fear of Octavius, who, by virtue of his office, had a guard, while he (Lucius) was unprotected. Fulvia went there to meet Lucius, saying now that she had fears for her children on account of Lepidus. She used him for a pretext this time instead of Octavius. Both of them wrote these things to Antony, and friends were sent to him with the letters, who were to give him particulars about each complaint. Although I have searched, I have not been able to find any clear account of what Antony wrote in reply. The officers of the armies bound themselves by an oath to act as umpires again between their magistrates, to decide what was right, and to coerce whichever should refuse to obey the decision; and they summoned Lucius and his friends to attend for this purpose. These refused to come, and Octavius reproached them in invidious terms to the officers of the army and in the presence of the optimates of Rome. The latter hastened to Lucius and implored him to have pity on the city and on Italy, torn by the civil wars, and to accept the arbitration of themselves, or of the officers, whatever the decision might be.

Although Lucius had respect for the speakers and for what they said, Manius boldly declared that while Antony was doing nothing but collecting money from foreigners, Octavius was, by his favors, preoccupying the affections of the army and the desirable places in Italy; that in fraud of Antony he had freed Cisalpine Gaul, which had previously been given to Antony; that he had assigned to the soldiers almost the whole of Italy instead of the eighteen cities; that, instead of the twenty-eight legions that had participated in the battle, he had admitted thirty-four to a share of the lands and also of the money from the temples, which he had collected on the pretext of fighting Pompeius, against whom he had done nothing as yet, although the city was oppressed by famine; that he had distributed this money in order to curry favor with the soldiers, to the prejudice of Antony, and that the property of the proscribed had been not so much sold as given to the soldiers outright; and, finally, that if he really wanted peace he should give his reasons for what he had already done, and for the future do only what should be agreed upon in common. Thus arrogantly did Manius proclaim his views, implying that Octavius could not do anything by his own authority and that his agreement with Antony was of no validity, although it provided that each should have absolute power over the affairs committed to him, and that each should ratify what was done by the other. When Octavius saw that they were everywhere preparing for war, he made similar preparations on his own side.

Two legions of the army which had been colonized at Ancona and which had served under the elder Caesar and under Antony, hearing of their respective preparations for war, and being moved by friendship for each of them, sent ambassadors to Rome to beseech them both to come to an agreement. Octavius replied that he was not making war against Antony, but that Lucius was making war against him. The ambassadors then united with the officers of this army in a common embassy to Lucius asking him to submit his controversy with Octavius to a tribunal; and they made it plain what they would do if he should not accept the decision. Lucius and his friends accepted the proposal, and fixed the place for the trial at Gabii, a city midway between Rome and Praeneste. A council-chamber was prepared for the arbiters, and two platforms for the speakers in the centre, as in a regular trial. Octavius, who arrived first, sent some horsemen along the road by which Lucius was to come, in order to find out whether any stratagem was discoverable. These met certain horsemen of Lucius, either his advance guard or men spying like the others, and as the two parties came into collision some of them were killed. Lucius retreated, saying that he was afraid of being entrapped, and, although recalled by the officers of the army, who promised to escort him, he could not be persuaded to come again.

Thus the negotiations came to nothing, and Octavius and Lucius resolved upon war and issued proclamations full of bitterness against each other. The army of Lucius consisted of six legions of infantry, which he commanded by virtue of his consulship, and eleven others belonging to Antony, which were under the command of Calenus. These were all in Italy. Octavius had four legions at Capua and some praetorian cohorts about his person. Salvidienus was leading six other legions to Spain. Lucius had supplies of money from Antony’s provinces where peace prevailed. War was raging in all the provinces that had fallen to the lot of Octavius except Sardinia, for which reason he borrowed money from the temples, promising to return it with thanks — from the Capitoline temple at Rome, from those of Antium, of Lanuvium, of Nemus, and of Tibur, in which cities there are to-day the most abundant stores of consecrated money.

The affairs of Octavius were in disorder outside of Italy also. Pompeius, by reason of the proscription, the colonizing of the soldiers, and the dissensions with Lucius, had gained much in reputation and power. Those who feared for their safety, or had been despoiled of their property, or who utterly abhorred the form of government, mostly went and joined him. Young men, also, eager for military service for the sake of gain, and who thought that it made no difference under whom they served, since all service was Roman service, rather preferred to join Pompeius as representing the better cause. He had become rich by sea-robbery and had a numerous fleet and a full complement of men. Murcus joined him with two legions of soldiers, 500 archers, a large sum of money, and eighty ships. He also sent after the other army from Cephalenia. Accordingly, some persons think that if Pompeius had then invaded Italy, which was afflicted with famine and civil strife, and was looking for him, he might have mastered it. But Pompeius lacked wisdom. His idea was not to invade, but only to defend, and this he did till he failed of that also.

In Africa Sextius, Antony’s lieutenant, had just delivered his army, in pursuance of an order from Lucius, to Fango, a lieutenant of Octavius. He was ordered to resume the command, and as Fango would not relinquish it he collected a force composed of retired veterans, a miscellaneous crowd of Africans, and auxiliaries of the native princes, and made war on him. Fango, having been defeated on both wings and having lost his camp, thought that he had been betrayed, and committed suicide; and Sextius again became master of the two African provinces. Bocchus, king of Mauritania, at the instance of Lucius, made war on Carinas, who was Octavius’ procurator in Spain. Ahenobarbus, who was patrolling the Adriatic with seventy ships, two legions of soldiers, and a force of archers and slingers, light-armed troops and gladiators, devastated the regions subject to the triumvirs. He sailed against Brundusium, captured some of the triremes of Octavius, burned others, shut the inhabitants up in their walls, and plundered their territory.

Octavius sent a legion of soldiers to Brundusium and hastily recalled Salvidienus from his march to Spain. Both Octavius and Lucius sent recruiting officers through-out Italy, who had skirmishes with each other of more or less importance, and frequent ambuscades. The good-will of the Italians was of great service to Lucius, as they believed that he was fighting for them against the new colonies. Not only the cities that had been designated for the army, but almost the whole of Italy, rose, fearing like treatment. They drove out of the towns, or killed, those who were borrowing money from the temples for Octavius, manned their walls, and joined Lucius. On the other hand, the colonized soldiers joined Octavius. Each one in both parties took sides as though this were his own war.

Though these events were taking place, Octavius, nevertheless, convoked the Senate and the equestrian order and addressed them as follows: I know very well that I am accused by Lucius and his friends of weakness and want of courage because I do not fight them, and that I shall be still further accused on account of my calling you together. I have strong forces who have suffered wrong in common with me, both those who have been dispossessed of their colonies by Lucius and the others whom I have in hand. I am strong in all respects except only in the purpose to fight. I am not fond of fighting in civil wars except under dire necessity, or of wasting the remainder of our citizens in conflicts with each other; least of all in this civil war, whose horrors will be announced to us not from Macedonia or Thrace, but will take place in Italy itself, which, if it becomes the field of battle, must suffer countless evils in addition to the loss of life. For these reasons I hesitate. And now I protest that I have done Antony no wrong. Nor have I suffered any wrong from him. I beseech you to reason with Lucius and his friends on your own account, and to bring them to a reconciliation with me. If you cannot now persuade them, I shall presently show them that I have hitherto been moved by good-will, not by cowardice. I ask you to be witnesses for me not only among yourselves, but also to Antony, and to sustain me on account of the arrogance of Lucius.

So spake Octavius. Thereupon some of his hearers went again to Praeneste. Lucius said to them merely, that both sides had already begun hostilities, that Octavius was practising deception; for he had lately sent a legion to Brundusium to prevent Antony from coming home. Manius showed a letter of Antony’s, either true or fictitious, saying that they should fight if anybody assailed his dignity. When the senators asked if anybody had assailed Antony’s dignity, and urged Manius to submit that question to trial, he indulged in many other quibbles till they went away without transacting their business. Nor did they collectively bring any answer to Octavius, either because they had communicated it each for himself, or because they were ashamed, or for some other reason. The war broke out and Octavius set forth to take part in it, leaving Lepidus with two legions to guard Rome. Most of the optimates then showed, by joining Lucius, that they were not pleased with the rule of the triumvirs.

The following were the principal events of the war. A sedition broke out in two of Lucius’ legions at Alba, which expelled their commanding officers and started to revolt. Both Octavius and Lucius hastened to them. Lucius arrived there first and kept them by a large donative and great promises. While Furnius was bringing a reënforcement to Lucius, Octavius fell upon his rear guard. Furnius took refuge on a hill and withdrew by night to Sentia, a city of his own faction. Octavius did not dare to follow by night, suspecting an ambush, but the next day he laid siege to Sentia and Furnius’ camp together. Lucius, who was hastening toward Rome, sent forward three cohorts, which effected an entrance into the city clandestinely by night. He followed with his main army and some cavalry and gladiators. Nonius, who had charge of the gates, admitted him, and handed over to him the forces under his own command. Lepidus fled to Octavius. Lucius made a speech to the citizens, saying that he should visit punishment upon Octavius and Lepidus for their lawless rule, and that his brother would voluntarily resign his share of it and accept the consulship, exchanging an unlawful magistracy for a lawful one, and establishing the government of their fathers in place of a tyranny.

All were delighted with this speech, and thought that the government of the triumvirs was already ended. Lucius was saluted as imperator by the people. He marched against Octavius, and collected a fresh army from the cities colonized by Antony’s soldiers, and strengthened their fortifications. These colonies were well affected toward Antony. Barbatius, a quaestor of Antony, who had had some difficulty with him and was returning home for that reason, said, in answer to inquiries, that Antony was displeased with those who were making war on Octavius to the prejudice of their common sway; whereupon some, who were not aware of the deception practised by Barbatius, changed sides from Lucius to Octavius. Lucius put himself in the way of Salvidienus, who was returning to Octavius with a large army from Gaul. Asinius and Ventidius, Antony’s generals, were following Salvidienus to prevent him from advancing. Agrippa, who was the closest friend of Octavius, fearing lest Salvidienus should be surrounded, seized Sutrium, a stronghold very useful to Lucius, expecting that Lucius would turn from Salvidienus against himself, and that Salvidienus, who would then be in the rear of Lucius, would assist him (Agrippa). It all turned out as Agrippa had anticipated. So Lucius, having failed of his undertaking, marched to join Asinius and Ventidius. Salvidienus and Agrippa harassed him on both sides, watching especially for an opportunity to catch him in the defiles.

When Lucius perceived their design he did not dare to come to an engagement with both of them closing in upon him. So he turned aside to Perusia, a strongly fortified city, and encamped near it, to wait there for Ventidius. Agrippa, Salvidienus, and Octavius advanced against him and against Perusia and enclosed them with three armies, and Octavius summoned reënforcements in haste from all directions, as against the vital point of the war, where he had Lucius surrounded. He sent others forward to hold in check the forces of Ventidius, who were approaching. The latter, however, hesitated on their own account to advance, as they did not altogether approve of the war and did not know what Antony thought about it, and on account of mutual rivalry were unwilling to yield to each other the military chieftainship. Lucius did not go out to battle with the forces surrounding him, because they were better and more numerous and well drilled, while his were for the most part new levies; nor did he resume his march, for so many enemies were on his flanks. He sent Manius to Ventidius and Asinius to hasten them to the aid of the besieged, and he sent Tisienus with 4000 horse to pillage the enemy’s supplies, in order to force him to raise the siege. Lucius entered within the walls of Perusia so that he might winter in a strong place, if necessary, until Ventidius and Asinius should arrive.

Octavius, with all haste and with his whole army, drew a line of circumvallation around Perusia fifty-six stades in circuit, on account of the hill on which it was situated; he extended long arms to the Tiber, so that nothing could be introduced into the place. Lucius built a similar line of countervallation, thus fortifying the foot of the hill. Fulvia urged Ventidius, Asinius, Ateius, and Calenus to hasten from Gaul to the assistance of Lucius, and collected reënforcements, which she sent to Lucius under the lead of Plancus. Plancus destroyed one of Octavius’ legions, which was on the march to Rome. While Asinius and Ventidius were proceeding, at the instance of Fulvia and Manius, to the relief of Lucius (but with hesitation and doubt as to Antony’s preference), in order to raise the blockade, Octavius and Agrippa, leaving a guard at Perusia, threw themselves in the way. The former, who had not yet formed a junction with each other and were not proceeding with much alacrity, retreated, — Asinius to Ravenna and Ventidius to Ariminum. Plancus took refuge in Spoletium. Octavius stationed a force in front of each, to prevent them from forming a junction, and returned to Perusia, where he speedily strengthened his investment of the place and doubled the depth and width of his ditch to the dimensions of thirty feet each way. He increased the height of his wall and built 1500 wooden towers on it, sixty feet apart. He had also strong redoubts and every other kind of intrenchment, with double front, to besiege those within and to repel assaults from without. While these works were under construction there were frequent sorties and fights, in which the forces of Octavius had the advantage in the use of missiles, and the gladiators of Lucius were better at hand-to-hand fighting. So these killed many at close quarters.

When the work of Octavius was finished famine fastened upon Lucius, and the evil grew more pressing, since neither he nor the city had made preparations before-hand. Knowing this fact Octavius kept the most vigilant watch. On the day preceding the Calends of January, Lucius thought to avail himself of the holiday, under the belief that the enemy would be off their guard, to make a sally by night against their gates, hoping to break through them and bring in his other forces, of which he had abundance in many places. But the legion that was lying in wait near by, and Octavius himself with some praetorian cohorts, attacked him, and Lucius, although he fought valiantly, was driven back. About the same time the mass of the people in Rome openly denounced the war and the victory, because the grain was kept under guard for the soldiers. They broke into houses in search of food, and carried off whatever they could find.

Ventidius and his friends, ashamed to look on while Lucius was perishing of hunger, all moved to his support, intending to overpower the forces surrounding and besieging him. Agrippa and Salvidienus went to meet them with still larger forces. Fearing lest they should be surrounded, they diverged to the stronghold of Fulginium, distant 160 stades from Perusia. There Agrippa besieged them, and they lighted fires as signals to Lucius. Ventidius and Asinius were of the opinion that they should go forward and fight, but Plancus said that, as they were between Octavius and Agrippa, they had best await events. The opinion of Plancus prevailed. Those in Perusia were rejoiced when they saw the fires, but when Ventidius delayed his coming they conjectured that he, too, was in difficulties, and when the fires ceased they thought that he had been destroyed. Lucius, oppressed by hunger, again fought a night battle, extending from the first watch till daylight, around the whole circumvallation; but he failed and was driven back into Perusia. There he took an account of the remaining provisions, and forbade the giving of any to the slaves, and prohibited them from escaping, lest the enemy should gain better knowledge of his desperate situation. The slaves wandered about in crowds, threw themselves upon the ground in the city, and between the city and their forts, and ate grass or green leaves wherever they could find them. Those who died Lucius buried in long trenches, lest, if he burned them, the enemy should discover what was taking place, and, if they were unburied, disease should result from the poisonous exhalations.

As no end of the famine, or of the deaths, could be discerned, the soldiers became restive under the condition of affairs, and implored Lucius to make another attempt upon the enemy’s works, believing that they could break through them completely. He approved of their ardor, saying, In our recent battle we did not fight in a way corresponding to our present necessity. Now we must either surrender, or, if that seems worse than death, we must fight to the death. All assented eagerly, and, in order that no one should have the night for an excuse, they demanded to be led out by daylight. Lucius marched out at dawn. He took an abundance of iron tools, for wall fighting, and ladders of every form. He carried machines for filling the ditches, and folding towers from which planks could be thrown to the walls; also all kinds of missiles and stones and wickerwork to be thrown upon the palisades. They made a violent assault, filled up the ditch, scaled the palisades, and advanced to the walls, which some of them undermined, while others applied the ladders, and others simultaneously moved up the towers and defended themselves with stones, arrows, and leaden balls, with absolute contempt of death. This was done at many different places, and the enemy being drawn in many different directions made a more feeble resistance.

The planks having been thrown upon the walls at some places, the struggle became very hazardous, for the forces of Lucius fighting on bridges were exposed to missiles and javelins on every side. They forced their way, nevertheless, and a few leaped over the wall. Others followed, and they would speedily have accomplished something important in their desperation had not the fact become known to Octavius that they had not many such machines, and had not the best of his reserves been brought to the assistance of the tired men. These fresh troops flung the assailants down from the walls, broke their machines in pieces, and hurled missiles upon them contemptuously from above. Their enemy, although their shields and bodies were pierced and even their voices had failed, held their ground bravely. When the corpses of those who had been killed on the wall were stripped and thrown down among them, they could not bear the indignity, but turned away from the spectacle and stood for a moment undecided, like athletes taking a breathing-spell in the gymnastic games. Lucius had pity on them in this condition and sounded a retreat. Then the troops of Octavius joyfully clashed their arms as for a victory, whereupon those of Lucius were roused to anger and again seized their ladders (although they had no more towers), and carried them to the walls with desperation. Yet they did not do any harm to the enemy, for they could not. Lucius ran among them and besought them to sacrifice their lives no longer, and led them back groaning and reluctant.

This was the end of this hotly contested siege. In order that the enemy might not make another attempt on his works, Octavius stationed a part of his army, that was held in reserve, alongside the fortifications, and instructed others in other places to leap upon the wall at the sound of the trumpet. Although no one urged them on, they went through this exercise continually, in order to become familiar with it, and to inspire the enemy with fear. The troops of Lucius began to grow down-hearted, and, as usually happens in such cases, the guards relaxed their vigilance, and thus desertion became more frequent, not only of the common soldiers, but, in some cases, of the higher officers also. And now Lucius inclined toward peace, out of pity for the perishing multitude, but the fears of some of the enemies of Octavius for their own safety still restrained him. But as Octavius was observed to treat the deserters kindly, and the desire for peace increased among all, Lucius began to fear lest, if he refused, he should be delivered up.

Accordingly, having made a sort of test which gave him encouragement, Lucius called his army together and spoke as follows: It was my intention, fellow-soldiers, to restore the republic to you when I saw that the government of the triumvirs was a tyranny, which was established, indeed, on the pretext of combating Brutus and Cassius, but was not relaxed after their death. Lepidus had been deprived of his share of the government, Antony was far away collecting money, and this one man was managing everything according to his own will, and the ancient system of Roman government was only a pretence and a laughing-stock. With the intention of reverting to the freedom and democratic government of our ancestors, I asked that after the rewards of victory had been distributed the monarchy should be dissolved. When my request was not granted, I sought to enforce it by virtue of my office. Octavius falsely accused me, before the army, of obstructing the colonies out of pity for the landowners. I was ignorant of this slander for a long time, and even when I learned of it I did not suppose that anybody could believe it, when one saw that the colony officers were men assigned by my very self to divide the lands among you. But the calumny misled some people, who joined Octavius in order to make war against us as they think. But eventually they will find that they have been warring against their own interests. I affirm that you have chosen the better cause, and that you have suffered for it beyond your strength. We are vanquished, not by our enemies, but by hunger, to which we have been left a prey by our own generals. It would be becoming in me to fight to the last extremity for my country. Such an end would make my fame glorious after my high purposes. To that destiny I do not submit, for the sake of you, whom I prefer to my own fame. I will send to the conqueror and beg that he will inflict such punishment as he chooses upon me alone, in place of all of you; that he will grant amnesty, not to me, but to you, his fellow-citizens and formerly his soldiers, who are not now in the wrong, who are not fighting without good cause, and are vanquished, not by war, but by hunger.

After speaking thus he at once selected three men from the optimates for this mission. The multitude wept, some on their own account, some on account of their general, who appeared to them to have been actuated by the most excellent and democratic purpose, and who now yielded to extreme necessity. The three envoys, when admitted to the presence of Octavius, reminded him that the soldiers on both sides were all of one race, and that they had made campaigns together. They called to mind the friendship of the nobility on either side and also the virtue of their ancestors, who did not allow their differences to become irreconcilable. They advanced other like arguments which were calculated to prevail with him. Octavius, knowing that some of the enemy were still raw recruits, while others were colonized veterans, replied artfully that he would grant amnesty to Antony’s soldiers out of regard for him, but that the others must surrender at discretion. This he said in the presence of all, but, taking aside Furnius, one of the three, he led him to expect mild treatment for Lucius and the rest, except his own personal enemies.

These personal enemies of Octavius, having learned of Furnius’ private interview and suspecting that it related to themselves, reproached him when he came back, and demanded of Lucius either that he should ask a new treaty, which should include all alike, or fight to the death, saying that this had not been a private war for any individual, but a public one in behalf of the country. Lucius in pity commended them as men of the same rank as himself, and said that he would send another embassy. Then he added that no one was better fitted for this task than himself, and went immediately without a herald, merely preceded by some persons who went in advance to announce to Octavius his coming. The latter at once advanced to meet him. There they saw each other surrounded by their friends and distinguished by the standards and military equipment of generals on either side. Then Lucius, dismissing his friends, went forward with two lictors only, showing his state of mind by his outward appearance. Octavius understood and imitated his example, showing his intended good-will toward Lucius. When he saw the latter hastening to pass inside his fortification, indicating thereby that he had already surrendered, Octavius anticipated him and went outside the fortification in order that Lucius might still be free to consult and decide concerning his own interests. Thus as they moved forward they foreshadowed their intentions to each other in advance, by their retinue and their outward appearance.

When they came to the ditch they saluted each other, and Lucius said: If I were a foreigner waging war against you, Octavius, I should consider it disgraceful to be vanquished in this way and still more disgraceful to surrender, and I should have for myself an easy means of deliverance from such humiliation. Since I have been contending with a countryman, my equal in rank, in a matter appertaining to our common country, I do not consider it disgraceful to be beaten in such a cause by such a man. This I say not to deprecate any suffering that you may choose to inflict upon me (for you see that I have come to your camp without any guarantee), but to ask for others such pardon as may be just, and conducive to your own interests. That I may make this clear to you it is necessary to separate their cause from mine, so that, when you know that I am the only one to blame, you may visit your wrath upon me, and not think that I have come here to bandy words (that would be inopportune), but to tell the truth, for it is not in my power to speak otherwise.

I undertook this war against you, not in order to succeed to the leadership by destroying you, but to restore to the country the patrician government which had been subverted by the triumvirate, as not even yourself will deny. For when you created the triumvirate you acknowledged that it was not in accordance with law, but you established it as something necessary and temporary because Cassius and Brutus were still alive and you could not be reconciled to them. When they, who had been the head of the faction, were dead, and the remainder, if there were any left, were bearing arms, not against the state, but because they feared you, and moreover the five years’ term was running out, I demanded that the magistracies should be revived in accordance with the customs of our fathers, not even preferring my brother to my country, but hoping to persuade him to assent upon his return and hastening to bring this about during my own term of office. If you had begun this reform you alone would have reaped the glory. Since I was not able to persuade you, I thought to march against the city and to use force, being a citizen, a nobleman, and a consul. These are the causes of the war I waged and these alone; not my brother, nor Manius, nor Fulvia, nor the colonization of those who fought at Philippi, nor pity for the cultivators who were deprived of their holdings, since I myself appointed the leaders of colonies to my brother’s legions who deprived the cultivators of their possessions and divided them among the soldiers. Yet you brought this charge against me before the soldiers, shifting the cause of the war from yourself to the land distribution, and in this way chiefly you drew them to your side and overcame me, for they were persuaded that I was warring against them, and that they were defending themselves against my wrong-doing. You certainly needed to use artifice in the war you were waging. Now that you have conquered, if you are the enemy of the country you must consider me your enemy also, since I wished what I thought was for her advantage, but was prevented by famine from accomplishing it.

While I say these things I surrender myself to you, as I have already declared, to do with me whatever you wish. I came here alone merely to show what I have thought of you heretofore and what I still think. So much for myself. Concerning my friends and my whole army, if you will not discredit my words, I will give you some advice for your own best interests, and that is, that you inflict no severity upon them on account of the quarrel between you and me. As you are a mortal and in the hands of fortune, which is always fickle, do not deter those who might be willing to incur danger for you in hazardous or trying times hereafter, by teaching them that under your rules there is no hope of safety except for the victors. Even if all advice from an enemy is suspected or untrustworthy, I would not hesitate to implore you not to punish my friends for my fault and my ill fortune, but to put the whole punishment on me, who am alone to blame. I purposely left my friends behind so that I might not seem, by using these words in their presence, to be securing favor for myself in an underhand way.

After Lucius had thus spoken he relapsed into silence, and Octavius said: When I saw you, Lucius, approaching without any guarantee I hastened to meet you while you were still outside my intrenchments, so that you might even now be master of your own counsels and be able to say or do whatever you should think best for your own interests. Since you deliver yourself to me (as is customary to those who acknowledge that they are in the wrong), it is not necessary that I should discuss the false accusations that you have brought against me with so much art. You began by injuring me and you continue to do so. If you were here negotiating a treaty, you would be dealing with a victor whom you had wronged. Now that you surrender yourself and your friends and your army without conditions, you take away not only all resentment, but also the power which, under negotiations for a treaty, you would necessarily have given me. There is involved in this question not only what you and your friends ought to suffer, but what it is becoming in me, as a just man, to do. I shall make the latter my chief consideration on account of the gods, on my own account, and on yours, Lucius, and I shall not disappoint the expectation with which you came to me. These things they said to each other, as nearly as it is possible to gather the meaning of the speakers from the Memoirs and translate it into our language. They then separated, and Octavius eulogized and admired Lucius because he had said nothing impolite or inconsiderate (as is usual in adversity), and Lucius praised Octavius for his mildness and brevity of speech. The others gathered the meaning of what had been said from the countenances of the speakers.

Lucius sent tribunes to receive the watchword for the army from Octavius. They took the army roll to him, as it is still customary for the tribune who asks for the watchword to deliver to the commander the daily register of the number of troops present. After they had received the watchword they still kept their outposts on duty, for Octavius himself ordered that each army should keep its own guard that night. The next morning Octavius offered sacrifice, and Lucius sent his soldiers to him bearing their arms, but prepared for marching. They saluted Octavius as imperator while still at some distance, and each legion took its separate position as Octavius had directed, the colonized veterans being apart from the new levies. When Octavius had finished the sacrifice he took his seat in front of the tribunal, crowned with laurel, the symbol of victory, and ordered them all to lay down their arms where they stood. When they had done so he ordered the veterans to draw nearer, intending to reproach them for their ingratitude and to strike terror into them. It was known beforehand what he was about to do, and his own army, either purposely (as soldiers are often advised beforehand), or moved by sympathy as for their own relatives, broke from the formation in which they had been placed, crowded around Lucius’ men as they approached their former fellow-soldiers, embraced them, wept with them, and implored Octavius in their behalf, and ceased not crying out and embracing them, the new levies sharing in the outburst of feeling, so that it was impossible to distinguish or discriminate between them.

For this reason Octavius did not persist in his intention, but, after appeasing the tumult with difficulty, addressed his own men as follows: You have always behaved in such a way to me, fellow-soldiers, that you can ask nothing from me in vain. I think that the new levies served Lucius under compulsion. I intended to ask the old soldiers, who have often served with us and who are now saved from punishment by you, what they have suffered at our hands, or what favor they have asked in vain, or what greater favors they expected from anybody else, that they have taken up arms against me, against you, against them-selves. All the trouble I have met with has grown out of the division of the lands, in which they had their share. And now if you will permit me I will ask them these questions. They would not allow him to do so, but continued their beseeching. I grant what you wish, he said. They are dismissed without punishment for their wrongdoing, provided they will hereafter be like-minded with you. They promised on both sides with acclamations and thanks to Octavius, who allowed some of his own men to entertain some of their men as guests. He ordered the remainder to pitch their tents where they had been stationed, at a certain distance from the others, until he should assign them towns for winter quarters and appoint persons to lead them thither.

Then, seated on his tribunal, Octavius summoned from Perusia Lucius and the Romans of responsibility who were with him. Many of the senators and knights came down, all presenting a pitiful appearance by reason of their sudden change of fortune. As soon as they passed out of Perusia a guard was stationed around it. When they reached the tribunal Octavius placed Lucius by his own side. Of the rest, some were taken in charge by the friends of Octavius, others by centurions, all of whom had been instructed beforehand to show them honor and to keep watch upon them unobserved. He commanded those Perusians to come forward who had stretched out their hands to him from the walls, all except their town council, and as they presented themselves he pardoned them. The councillors were thrown into prison and soon afterward put to death, except Lucius Aemilius, who had sat as a judge at Rome in the trial of the murderers of Caesar, who had voted openly for condemnation, and had advised all the others to do the same in order to expiate the guilt.

Octavius intended to turn Perusia itself over to the soldiers for plunder, but Cestius, one of the citizens, who was somewhat out of his mind, who had fought in Macedonia and for that reason called himself the Macedonian, set fire to his house and plunged into the flames. A strong wind fanned the conflagration and drove it over the whole of Perusia, which was entirely consumed, except the temple of Vulcan. Such was the end of Perusia, a city renowned for its antiquity and importance. It is said that it was one of the first twelve cities built by the Etruscans in Italy in the olden time. For this reason the worship of Juno prevailed there, as among the Etruscans generally. But thereafter those who shared among themselves the remains of the city took Vulcan for their tutelary deity instead of Juno. On the following day Octavius made peace with all of them, but the soldiers did not desist from tumults against some of them until the latter were killed. These were chiefly the personal enemies of Octavius, namely, Canutius, Gaius Flavius, Clodius Bithynicus, and others. Such was the conclusion of the siege of Lucius in Perusia, and thus came to an end a war which had promised to be long-continued and most grievous to Italy.

Now Asinius, Plancus, Ventidius, Crassus, Ateius, and the others of that party, who had forces not to be despised, numbering about thirteen legions of disciplined troops and upward of 6500 horse, considering Lucius the chief actor in the war, retired to the sea-coast by various routes, some to Brundusium, some to Ravenna, some to Tarentum, some to Murcus and Ahenobarbus, and still others to Antony. The friends of Octavius followed them, offering terms of peace, and harassing those who refused, especially the infantry. From among them only two legions, belonging to Plancus, who were intercepted at Cameria, were persuaded by Agrippa to desert to him. Fulvia fled with her children to Dicaearchia, and thence to Brundusium, with 3000 horse, who were sent with her by the generals as an escort. At Brundusium there were five war-ships which had been sent for from Macedonia, and she embarked and put to sea, accompanied by Plancus, who abandoned the remains of his army through cowardice. These soldiers chose Ventidius as their commander. Asinius drew over Ahenobarbus to the side of Antony. Both Asinius and Ventidius wrote these facts to Antony, and they prepared landing-places, in expectation of his early arrival, and stores of provisions throughout Italy.

Octavius was planning to get possession of another considerable army belonging to Antony, that was under the command of Fufius Calenus near the Alps. He already had suspicions of Antony, and he hoped, if the latter remained friendly, to preserve these forces for him, or, if war should break out, to add this large force to his own strength. While he was still delaying and looking around for a fair-seeming occasion, Calenus died. Octavius, believing that he had found a good excuse for both transactions, went and took possession of the army and of Gaul and Spain besides, which were Antony’s provinces. Fufius, the son of Calenus, was terrified, and delivered everything over to him without a fight. Octavius, having acquired eleven legions of soldiers and these large provinces by one stroke, dismissed the chief officers from their commands, substituted his own, and returned to Rome.

As it was still winter, Antony retained the deputies of the colonized veterans, who had been sent to him, and concealed his intentions. In the spring he set out from Alexandria and proceeded by land to Tyre, and thence by sea, touching at Cyprus and Rhodes, to the province of Asia. There he learned of the doings at Perusia and he blamed his brother and Fulvia, and, most of all, Manius. He found Fulvia at Athens, whither she had fled from Brundusium. His mother, Julia, who had fled to Pompeius, had been sent thither by him from Sicily with warships, and escorted by some of the optimates of his party, by Lucius Libo, his father-in-law, by Saturninus and others, who, being attracted by Antony’s capacity for great deeds, sought to bring him into friendly relations with Pompeius and to form an alliance between them against Octavius. Antony replied that he thanked Pompeius for sending his mother and that he would requite him for the service in due time; that if there should be a war with Octavius he would ally himself with Pompeius, but that if Octavius should adhere to their agreements he would endeavor to reconcile him with Pompeius. Such was his answer.

When Octavius returned from Gaul to Rome he heard about those who had set sail for Athens. Not knowing exactly what answer Antony had given them, he began to excite the colonized soldiers against the latter, representing that Antony intended to bring back Pompeius with the owners of the lands which the soldiers now held, for most of the owners had taken refuge with Pompeius. Although this cause of irritation was plausible, the soldiers would not even then take up arms against Antony with any zeal, the reputation he had gained at Philippi having made him popular. Octavius considered himself far superior to Antony, to Pompeius, and to Ahenobarbus in the number of troops, as he now had more than forty legions, but as he had no ships and no time to make any, while they had 500, he feared lest they should bring famine upon Italy by patrolling the coast. While meditating on those things, and while he had the choice of many virgins in marriage, he wrote to Maecenas to make an engagement for him with Scribonia, the sister of Libo, the father-in-law of Pompeius, so that he might have the means of coming to an arrangement with the latter if need be. When Libo heard of this he wrote to his family that they should betroth her to Octavius without delay. Then Octavius, on various pretexts, sent away, to this place and that, such of Antony’s friends and soldiers as he could not trust, and he sent Lepidus to Africa, the province assigned to him, and with him the six of Antony’s legions who were under suspicion.

Then he summoned Lucius to his presence and praised him for his attachment to his brother, because he had taken the blame upon himself while carrying out Antony’s wishes, but reproached him with ingratitude if, after meeting such a favor from himself, he should now refuse to confess concerning the aims of Antony, who was said to have formed an alliance openly with Pompeius. Having confidence in you, he said, when Calenus died I took charge of his provinces and army through my friends for Antony, so that they might not be without a head, but now that the plot is unveiled I shall keep them all for myself, and if you wish to go to your brother I will allow you to do so fearlessly. He spoke thus, either to test Lucius or in order that what he said might reach Antony. Lucius replied in the same spirit as before, saying, I knew that Fulvia was in favor of the monarchy, but I joined with her and made use of my brother’s soldiers to overthrow all of you. And now if my brother should come to dissolve the monarchy I would go to join him, either openly or secretly, and would fight you again in behalf of the country, although you have been a benefactor to me. If he seeks allies to assist him in maintaining the tyranny, I will fight on your side against him as long as I think that you are not trying to establish a monarchy. I shall always set my country above gratitude and above family. So spake Lucius. Octavius, holding him in the same admiration as recently [at Perusia], said that he did not wish to incite him against his brother, but that he would intrust to Lucius, because he was what he was, the whole of Spain, and the army in it, which were now under the command of his lieutenants, Peducaeus and Lucius. So Octavius dismissed Lucius with honor, but kept a secret watch upon him by means of his lieutenants.

Antony left Fulvia ill at Sicyon, and set sail from Corcyra into the Adriatic with an inconsiderable army and 200 ships that he had built in Asia. Antony learned that Ahenobarbus was coming to meet him with a fleet and a large number of soldiers. Then some of Antony’s friends thought that it was not safe to trust to the agreement exchanged between them, since Ahenobarbus had been condemned at the trial of Caesar’s murderers, and had been placed on the list of the proscribed, and had fought against Antony and Octavius at the time of the battle of Philippi. Nevertheless, Antony advanced with five of his best ships in order to seem to have confidence in Ahenobarbus, and he ordered the others to follow at a certain distance. When Ahenobarbus was observed coming forward, rowing swiftly, with his whole army and fleet, Plancus, who was standing by the side of Antony, was alarmed and advised him to check his course and send a few men forward to make a test, as to a man whose intentions were doubtful. Antony replied that he would rather die by a breach of the treaty than to be saved by an appearance of cowardice, and continued his course. Now they were drawing near, and the vessels which bore the chiefs were distinguishable by their ensigns and approached each other. Antony’s first lictor, who stood on the prow as was customary, either forgetful that Ahenobarbus was a man of doubtful purpose, and that he was leading his own forces, or moved by a lofty spirit as though he were meeting subject or inferior men, ordered them to lower their flag. They did so, and laid their ship alongside of Antony’s. When the two commanders saw each other they exchanged greetings, and the army of Ahenobarbus saluted Antony as imperator. Plancus recovered his courage with difficulty. Antony received Ahenobarbus in his own ship and sailed to Palœis, where Ahenobarbus had his infantry, and here he yielded his tent to Antony.

From thence they sailed to Brundusium, which was garrisoned by five cohorts of Octavius’ troops. The citizens closed their gates against Ahenobarbus, as an old enemy, and against Antony, as one introducing an enemy. Antony was indignant. Considering this a pretence, and that he was in fact shut out by Octavius’ garrison at the latter’s instance, he drew a ditch and palisade across the isthmus that connects the town with the mainland. The city is situated on a peninsula which fronts a crescent-shaped harbor. Now the people coming from the mainland could no longer reach the rising ground on which the city stands, as it had been cut off and walled in. Antony also surrounded the harbor, which is large, and the islands in it, with towers planted closely together. He sent forces along the coasts of Italy, whom he ordered to seize the advantageous positions. He called upon Pompeius to move against Italy with his fleet and to do whatever he could. Pompeius, with alacrity, despatched Menodorus with a numerous fleet and four legions of soldiers, who seized Sardinia, which belonged to Octavius, and two legions in it, who were panic-stricken at this agreement between Pompeius and Antony. In Italy Antony’s men captured the town of Sipuntum of Ausonia. Pompeius besieged Thurii and Consentia and ravaged their territory with his cavalry.

Octavius, attacked so suddenly and in so many places, sent Agrippa into Ausonia to succor the distressed inhabitants. Agrippa called out the colonized veterans along the road, and they followed at a certain interval, supposing that they were moving against Pompeius, but when they learned that what had happened had been done at Antony’s instance, they turned around and went back secretly. Octavius was greatly alarmed by this. Nevertheless, while marching to Brundusium with another army he again fell in with the colonized veterans, and interceded with them, and prevailed upon those who had been colonized by himself to follow him. They were ashamed to refuse, but they had the secret intention to bring Antony and Octavius into harmony with each other, and if Antony should refuse and should go to war, then to defend Octavius. The latter was detained some days at Canusium by sickness. Although his forces considerably outnumbered those of Antony, he found Brundusium walled in, and he could do nothing but encamp alongside of it and await events.

Antony was enabled by means of his intrenchments to defend himself easily, although he was much inferior in numbers. He summoned his army from Macedonia in haste, and in the meantime he resorted to the stratagem of sending war-ships and merchant vessels to sea by night secretly with a multitude of private citizens on board, which returned, one after another, the next day, in sight of Octavius, bearing armed men, as though they had just come from Macedonia. Antony had his machines already prepared and was about to attack the Brundusians, to the great chagrin of Octavius, since he was not able to defend them. Toward evening the news reached both armies that Agrippa had captured Sipuntum and that Pompeius had been repulsed from Thurii, but was still besieging Consentia. Antony was disturbed by this news. When it was announced that Servilius was coming to the assistance of Octavius with 1500 horse, Antony could not restrain his rage, but sprang up from supper, and, with such friends as he could find ready and with 400 horse, he pressed forward with the utmost intrepidity, and fell upon the 1500, who were still asleep near the town of Uria, threw them into a panic, captured them without a fight, and returned to Brundusium the same day. Thus did the reputation that Antony had gained at Philippi as an invincible man still inspire terror.

Antony’s praetorian cohorts, proud of his prestige, approached the camp of Octavius in groups and reproached their former comrades for coming hither to fight Antony, to whom they all owed their safety at Philippi. When the latter replied that the others had come making war against themselves, they fell to arguing and brought charges against each other. Antony’s men said that Brundusium had been closed against him and that Calenus’ troops had been taken from him. The others spoke of the investment and siege of Brundusium, the invasion of Southern Italy, the agreement with Ahenobarbus, one of Caesar’s murderers, and the treaty with Pompeius, their common enemy. Finally Octavius’ men revealed their purpose to the others, saying that they had come with Octavius, not because they were forgetful of Antony’s merits, but with the intention of bringing them to an agreement, or, if Antony refused and continued the war, of defending Octavius against him. These things they openly said also when they approached Antony’s works. While these events were in progress the news came that Fulvia was dead. It was said that she was dispirited by Antony’s reproaches and fell sick; and it was thought that she had become a willing victim of disease on account of the anger of Antony, who had left her while she was sick and had not visited her even when he was going away. The death of this turbulent woman, who had stirred up so disastrous a war on account of her jealousy of Cleopatra, seemed extremely fortunate to both of the parties who were rid of her. Nevertheless, Antony was much saddened by this event because he considered himself in some sense the cause of it.

There was a certain Lucius Cocceius, a friend of both, who had been sent, in company with Caecina, by Octavius, the previous summer, to Antony in Phœnicia, and had remained with Antony after Caecina returned. This Cocceius, seizing his opportunity, pretended that he had been sent for by Octavius for the purpose of a friendly greeting. When Antony allowed him to go he asked, by way of testing his disposition, whether Antony would like to write any letter to Octavius which he could convey. Antony replied: What can we write to each other, now that we are enemies, except mutual recrimination? I wrote letters in reply to his of some time ago, which I sent by the hand of Caecina. Take copies of those if you like. This he said by way of jest, but Cocceius would not yet allow him to call Octavius an enemy after his generous behavior toward Lucius and Antony’s other friends. But Antony replied: He has shut me out of Brundusium and taken my provinces and the army of Calenus from me. He is kind only to my friends, and evidently not to keep them friendly, but to make them enemies to me by his benefactions. Cocceius, after hearing these complaints, did not care to irritate further a naturally passionate disposition, but proceeded to make his visit to Octavius.

When Octavius saw him he expressed astonishment that he had not come sooner. I did not save your brother, he exclaimed, in order that you should be my enemy. Cocceius replied, How is it that you, who make friends out of enemies, call your friends enemies and take from them their armies and provinces? It was not fitting, replied Octavius, that after the death of Calenus such large resources should be left in the hands of such a stripling as Calenus’ son while Antony was still far distant. Lucius was excited to frenzy by them and Asinius and Ahenobarbus, who were near by, were about to use them against us. So, too, I took sudden possession of the legions of Plancus, in order that they might not join the Pompeians. His cavalry have actually gone to Sicily. These matters have been told differently, said Cocceius; but Antony did not credit the statements made to him until he was shut out of Brundusium as an enemy. I gave no order on that subject, replied Octavius, nor did I know beforehand that he was coming, nor did I anticipate that he would come here with enemies. The Brundusians themselves and the praefect, who had been left with them on account of the raids of Ahenobarbus, of their own motion excluded Antony, who was in league with the common enemy, Pompeius, and was bringing in Ahenobarbus, one of my father’s murderers, who has been condemned by vote of the Senate, by judgment of the court, and by the proscription, who besieged Brundusium after the battle of Philippi, and is still blockading the Adriatic coast, who has burned my ships and plundered Italy.

But it was agreed between you, said Cocceius, that you might treat with whomsoever you chose. Yet Antony has not made a treaty with any of the murderers, and he holds your father in no less honor than you do. Ahenobarbus was not one of the murderers. The vote was cast against him on account of personal animosity, for he had no share whatever in the plots of those days. If we consider him unpardonable because he was a friend of Brutus, are we not in a fair way to be bitter against almost everybody? Antony made an agreement with Pompeius, not to make an aggressive war with him, but either to secure his help in case of an attack by you, or to bring him into good relations with you, since he has done nothing which should make him irreconcilable. You are the one to blame for these things, for if there had been no war in Italy those men would not have ventured to send ambassadors to Antony. Octavius repeated his accusations, saying, Manius and Fulvia and Lucius brought war against Italy, and against me as well as Italy; and Pompeius, who did not attack before, now makes descents upon the coast, encouraged by Antony. Cocceius replied, Not encouraged by Antony, but directed by him; for I will not conceal from you the fact that the rest of Italy, which is destitute of naval defences, will be attacked by a powerful fleet unless you agree to peace. Octavius, who gave due weight to this artful suggestion, reflected a moment, and then said, But Pompeius will have the worst of it. He has just been repulsed from Thurii as he deserves. Then Cocceius, having gone over the whole controversy, led the conversation up to the death of Fulvia and the manner of it, saying that she fell sick because she could not bear the anger of Antony and wasted away with grief because he would not see her when she was ill, and that he was in a manner the cause of his wife’s death. Now that she is dead, he continued, it only remains for you to tell each other frankly what your suspicions are.

In this way Cocceius won the confidence of Octavius and passed the day as his guest, and begged him to write to Antony as the younger man to the older. Octavius said that he would not write to one who was still waging war against him, because Antony had not written to him, but that he would make complaint to Antony’s mother, because, although a relative and held in the highest honor by Octavius, she had fled from Italy, as though she could not have obtained everything from him as from her own son. This was his artful way of opening a correspondence by writing to Julia. As Cocceius was going away from the camp many of the higher officers advised him of the purpose of the army, and he communicated this and other things he had learned to Antony, so that he might know that they would fight against him because he did not come to an agreement. So he advised Antony that Pompeius should be called back from his ravaging to Sicily, and that Ahenobarbus should be sent somewhither until a treaty of peace should be made. Antony’s mother besought him to the same purpose, for she belonged to the Julian gens. Antony apprehended that if the negotiations should fail he would be put to the shame of calling on Pompeius for assistance again, but his mother encouraged him to believe that they would not fail, and Cocceius confirmed her, intimating that he knew more than he had told. So Antony yielded, and ordered Pompeius back to Sicily, implying that he would take care of their mutual concerns, and sent Ahenobarbus away as governor of Bithynia.

When Octavius’ soldiers learned these facts they chose deputies and sent the same ones to both commanders. They took no notice of accusations because they had been chosen, not to decide a controve sy, but to restore peace. Cocceius was added to their number as she common friend of both, together with Pollio from Antony’s party and Maecenas from that of Octavius. It was determined that there should be amnesty between Antony and Octavius for the past and friendship for the future. Moreover, as Marcellus, the husband of Octavius’ sister Octavia, had recently died, the umpires decided that her brother should betroth her to Antony, which he did immediately. Then Antony and Octavius embraced each other. Thereupon shouts went up from the soldiers and congratulations were offered to each of the generals, without intermission, through the entire day and night.

Now Octavius and Antony made a fresh partition of the whole Roman empire between themselves, the boundary line being Scodra, a city of Illyria which was supposed to be situated about midway up the Adriatic gulf. All provinces aid islands east of this place, as far as the river Euphrates, were to belong to Antony and all west of it to the ocean to Octavius. Lepidus was to govern Africa, as Octavius had given it to him. Octavius was to make war against Pompeius unless they should come to some agreement, and Antony was to make war against the Parthians to avenge their treachery toward Crassus. Octavius was to make the same agreement with Ahenobarbus that Antony had already made. Both of them might freely enlist soldiers in Italy in equal numbers. These were the last conditions of peace between Octavius and Antony. Straightway each of them sent his friends to attend to urgent business. Antony despatched Ventidius to Asia against the Parthians and against Labienus, the son of Labienus, who, with the Parthians, had made a hostile incursion into Syria and had advanced as far as Ionia during the late troubles. What Labienus and the Parthians did and suffered I will show in my Parthian history.

In the meantime Helenus, a lieutenant of Octavius, who had repossessed Sardinia by a sudden onset, was driven out again by Menodorus, the lieutenant of Pompeius. Octavius was so exasperated by this that he rejected Antony’s endeavors to bring him to an agreement with Pompeius. They proceeded to Rome together and celebrated the marriage. Antony put Manius to death because he had excited Fulvia by his accusations against Cleopatra and had been the cause of so many evils. He also revealed to Octavius the fact that Salvidienus, who was in command of Octavius’ army on the Rhone, had had the intention of deserting him, and had sent word to that effect to Antony while he was besieging Brundusium. This secret Antony revealed, not with universal approbation, but because of his frankness and eagerness to show his good-will. Octavius instantly summoned Salvidienus to Rome, pretending that he had some private communication to make to him, and that he should send him back to the army. When he came Octavius confronted him with proofs of his treachery and put him to death, and gave his army to Antony, as he considered it untrustworthy.

Now famine fell upon Rome, since the merchants of the Orient could not put to sea for fear of Pompeius, who controlled Sicily, and those of the west were deterred by Sardinia and Corsica, which the lieutenants of Pompeius held, while those of Africa opposite were prevented by the same hostile fleets, which infested both shores. There was great dearness of provisions, and the people considered the cause of it to be the strife between the chiefs, and cried out against them and urged them to make peace with Pompeius. As Octavius would by no means yield, Antony advised him to hasten the war on account of the scarcity. As there was no money for this purpose, an edict was published that the owners of slaves should pay a tax for each one, equal to one-half of the twenty-five drachmas that had been ordained for the war against Brutus and Cassius, and that those who acquired property by legacies should contribute a share thereof. The people tore down the edict with fury. They were exasperated that, after exhausting the public treasury, stripping the provinces, burdening Italy itself with contributions, taxes, and confiscations, not for foreign war, not for extending the empire, but for private enmities and to add to their own power (for which reason the proscriptions and this terrible famine had come about), the triumvirs should deprive them of the remainder of their property. They banded together, with loud cries, and stoned those who did not join them, and threatened to plunder and burn their houses, until the whole populace was aroused.

Octavius with his friends and a few attendants came into the forum intending to intercede with the people and to show the unreasonableness of their complaints. As soon as he made his appearance they stoned him unmercifully, and they were not ashamed when they saw him enduring this treatment patiently, and offering himself to it, and even bleeding from wounds. When Antony learned what was going on he came with haste to his assistance. When the people saw him coming down the Via Sacra they did not throw stones at him, since he was in favor of a treaty with Pompeius, but they told him to go away. When he refused to do so they stoned him also. He called in a larger force of troops, who were outside the walls. As the people would not allow him to pass through, the soldiers divided right and left on either side of the street and the forum, and made their attack from the narrow lane, striking down those whom they met. The people could no longer find ready escape on account of the crowd, nor was there any way out of the forum. There was a scene of slaughter and wounds, while shrieks and groans sounded from the housetops. Antony made his way into the forum with difficulty, and snatched Octavius from the most manifest danger, in which he then was, and brought him safe to his house. The mob having been dispersed, the corpses were thrown into the river in order to avoid a shocking spectacle. It was a fresh cause of lamentation to see them floating down the stream, and the soldiers stripping them, and certain miscreants, as well as the soldiers, carrying off the clothing of the better class as their own property. This insurrection was suppressed, but with terror and hatred for the triumvirs. The famine grew worse. The people groaned, but did not stir.

Antony suggested to the relatives of Libo that they should summon him from Sicily for the purpose of congratulating his brother-in-law, and to accomplish something more important; and he promised him a safe-conduct. His relatives wrote promptly and Pompeius acquiesced. Libo, on his arrival, cast anchor at the isle of Pithecusa, which is now called Aenaria. When the people learned this, they assembled together again and besought Octavius with tears to send letters of safeguard to Libo, who desired to negotiate with him for peace. He did so reluctantly. The people also threatened to burn Mucia, the mother of Pompeius, with her house, if she did not communicate with her son in the interest of peace. When Libo perceived that his enemies were on the point of yielding, he demanded that the leaders themselves should come together in order to make such concessions to each other as they could agree upon. The people compelled them to this course, and, accordingly, Octavius and Antony went to Baiae.

All the friends of Pompeius urged him with one accord to make peace, except Menodorus, who wrote to him from Sardinia either to prosecute the war vigorously or still to procrastinate, because famine was fighting for them, and he would thus get better terms if he should decide to make peace. Menodorus also advised him to distrust Murcus, who opposed these views, intimating that he was seeking power for himself. Pompeius, who had been vexed with Murcus lately on account of his high position and his stubbornness, became still more averse to him for this reason, and held no communication with him whatever, until, finally, Murcus retired in disgust to Syracuse. Here he saw some of Pompeius’ guards following him, and he expressed his opinion of Pompeius to them freely. Then Pompeius bribed a tribune and a centurion of Murcus, and induced them to kill him and to say that he had been murdered by slaves. To give credibility to this falsehood he crucified the slaves. But he did not succeed in concealing this crime, — the next one committed by him after the murder of Bithynicus, — Murcus having been a man distinguished for his warlike deeds, who had been strongly attached to that party from the beginning, and had rendered great assistance to Pompeius in Spain, and had joined him in Sicily voluntarily. Such was the death of Murcus.

His other friends urged Pompeius to make peace, and they accused Menodorus of fondness of power and as opposing peace not so much from good-will to his master as from a desire to command an army and a province. Pompeius yielded and set sail for Aenaria with a large number of his best ships, having embarked himself on a magnificent one with six banks of oars. In this style, toward evening, he sailed proudly past Puteoli in sight of his enemies. Early in the morning two sets of piles were driven in the sea a short distance apart, and planks were placed upon them. Upon the platform nearest the shore Octavius and Antony took their places, while Pompeius and Libo occupied the seaward one, a small space of water separating them, but not preventing them from hearing each other without shouting. As Pompeius thought that he had come in order to be admitted to a share of the government in place of Lepidus, while the others would concede nothing but his recall from exile, they separated for the time without accomplishing anything. Nevertheless, negotiations were continued on the part of friends, who advanced various proposals from one side to the other. Pompeius demanded that, of the proscripts and the men with him, those who had participated in the murder of Gaius Caesar should be allowed a safe place of exile, and the rest an honorable recall to their homes, and that the property they had lost should be restored to them. Urged on by the famine and by the people to an agreement, Octavius and Antony reluctantly conceded a fourth part of this property, promising to buy it from the present holders. They wrote to this effect to the proscripts themselves, hoping that this would satisfy them. The latter accepted all the terms, for they already had apprehensions of Pompeius on account of his crime against Murcus. So they gathered around Pompeius and besought him to come to an agreement. Pompeius rent his garments, declaring that he had been betrayed by those for whom he had fought, and he frequently invoked the name of Menodorus as his most competent officer and his only friend.

Finally, at the instance of his mother, Mucia, and of his wife, Julia, again the three men (Octavius, Antony, and Pompeius) came together on the mole of Puteoli, washed by the waves on both sides, and with ships moored around it as guards. Here they came to an agreement on the following terms: That the war should cease on both land and sea, and that commerce should be everywhere unmolested; that Pompeius should remove his garrisons from Italy and no longer afford a refuge to fugitive slaves; that he should not assail with his fleet the Italian coast, but should govern Sardinia, Sicily, and Corsica, and any other islands then in his possession, as long as Antony and Octavius should hold sway over the other countries; that he should send to Rome the corn that had been previously required as tribute from those islands, and that he might have Peloponnesus in addition; that he might hold the consulship in his absence through any friend he might choose, and be inscribed as a member of the priesthood of the first rank. Such were the conditions accorded to Pompeius himself. Members of the nobility who were still in exile were allowed to return, except those who had been condemned by vote of the Senate and judgment of court for participation in the murder of Gaius Caesar. The property of those who had fled merely from fear, and whose goods had been seized by violence, should all be restored except movables. Proscripts should receive one fourth part of theirs. Slaves who had served in the army of Pompeius should be free, and free persons who had thus served should, upon their discharge, receive the same rewards as those who had served under Octavius and Antony.

Such were the terms of the treaty, to which they attached their names and seals and sent it to Rome to be placed in the custody of the Vestal virgins. Then they entertained each other, casting lots to determine the order of the ceremony. The first banquet took place on Pompeius’ six-banked ship, moored alongside the mole. On succeeding days Antony and Octavius gave banquets in tents pitched on the mole, on the pretext that thus all might participate, but perhaps really for their better security and to quiet apprehensions; for they did not even then neglect precautions. Their ships were moored alongside and guards were stationed around them, and the banqueters were girded with concealed daggers. It is said that, while the three were feasting in the ship, Menodorus sent a message to Pompeius advising him to entrap these men and avenge the wrongs of his father and his brother, and to avail himself of this most favorable occasion to resume the sway that his father had exercised, saying that he, with his own ships, would take care that nobody should escape; but that Pompeius replied, in a manner worthy of his family and his position, Would that Menodorus had done this without my knowledge. False swearing may become Menodorus, but not Pompeius. At this banquet the daughter of Pompeius and granddaughter of Libo was betrothed to Marcellus, the stepson of Antony and nephew of Octavius. On the following day they designated the consuls for the next four years, viz., for the first year Antony and Libo, Antony being privileged to substitute whomsoever he liked in his own place; next Octavius and Pompeius; next Ahenobarbus and Sossius; and, finally, Antony and Octavius again; and as they would then have been consuls the third time it was expected that they would restore the government to the people.

Having finished this business they separated, Pompeius going to Sicily by sea, Octavius and Antony to Rome by land. When the Romans and Italians learned the news 3 there was universal rejoicing at the return of peace and at their deliverance from intestine war, from the conscription of their sons, from the arrogance of guards, from the running away of slaves, from the pillage of fields, from the ruin of agriculture, and, above all, from the famine that had pressed upon them with the greatest severity. As the triumvirs were proceeding on their journey sacrifices were offered in their honor as to saviours. The city would have given them a magnificent reception, had they not entered secretly by night in order to avoid jealousies. The only ones disappointed were those to whom had been allotted lands belonging to men who were to be restored with Pompeius. They thought that they should have irreconcilable enemies dwelling alongside of them as landlords, who would do them injury whenever they could. The exiles who were with Pompeius, all but a few, took leave of him at Puteoli and set sail for Rome. Their coming was to the people a new source of joy and acclamations, so great a number of illustrious men having been unexpectedly saved from death.

After these events Octavius set forth on an expedition to Gaul, which was in a disturbed state, and Antony started for the war against the Parthians. The Senate having voted to ratify all that he had done or should do, Antony again despatched his lieutenants in all directions and arranged everything else as he wished. He set up kings here and there as he pleased, on condition of their paying a prescribed tribute: in Pontus, Darius, the son of Pharnaces and grandson of Mithridates; in Idumea and Samaria, Herod; in Pisidia, Amyntas; in a part of Cilicia, Polemon, and others in other countries. Desiring to enrich as well as to exercise the soldiers, who were to go with him into winter quarters, he sent some of them against the Partheni, an Illyrian tribe near Epidamnus, who had been very much attached to Brutus; others against the Dardani, another Illyrian tribe, who were forever making.incursions into Macedonia. Others he ordered to remain in Epirus, in order to have them all within reach, as he intended to pass the winter himself in Athens. He sent Furnius to Africa to bring four legions, that were under the command of Sestius, for service against the Parthians. He did not know as yet that Lepidus had deprived Sestius of the command of these troops.

Having made these dispositions, he spent the winter at Athens with Octavia just as he had spent the previous one at Alexandria with Cleopatra, merely looking over the reports sent from the army, exchanging the display of a commander for the simplicity of private life, wearing the square-cut pallium and the Attic shoe, and without formal company. He went out, in like manner, without the insignia of office, accompanied by two friends and two attendants, to the discussions and lectures of the public teachers. He took his meals in the Greek fashion, passed his leisure time with Greeks, and enjoyed their festivals in company with Octavia, with whom he was very much in love, being by nature excessively fond of women. At the end of the winter he was like another man. He changed his clothing, and with his clothing his whole appearance. There was straightway a crowd around his doors composed of lictors, army officers, guards, and all things that inspire terror and awe. Embassies were received which had previously been kept waiting by his orders, lawsuits were decided, ships were launched, and all other preparations for the campaign were put in motion.

While Antony was thus occupied the treaty existing beween Octavius and Pompeius was broken for other reasons, as was suspected, than those avowed by Octavius, which were the following: Antony had ceded Peloponnesus to Pompeius on condition that the tribute then due from the Peloponnesians should either be given over at once, or that it should be guaranteed by Pompeius to Antony, or that the former should wait till the collection had been made. Pompeius had not accepted it on these conditions. He thought that it had been given to him with the amount of tribute then due. Vexed, as Octavius said, whether at this state of things, or from his general faithlessness, or his jealousy because the others had large armies, or because Menodorus had prompted him to consider the agreement as a truce rather than a lasting peace, he began to build ships, and recruit crews, and once harangued his soldiers, telling them they must be prepared for everything. Private robbery again infested the sea, and there was little or no relief from the famine among the Romans, who cried out that the treaty had brought no deliverance from their sufferings, but only a fourth partner to the tyranny. Octavius having caught certain pirates and put them to torture, they said that Pompeius had sent them out, and Octavius proclaimed this to the people and wrote it to Pompeius himself, who disavowed it and made a counter complaint respecting the Peloponnesus.

Those of the nobility who were still with Pompeius, seeing him always under the influence of his freedmen, bribed some of them, either for their own purposes or to gratify Octavius, to incite their master against Menodorus, who was still governing Corsica and Sardinia. The freedmen did this gladly, because they were envious of the power of Menodorus. In this way Pompeius was brought to an estrangement with Menodorus. About the same time Philadelphus, a freedman of Octavius, made a voyage to Menodorus to procure corn, and Micylio, the closest friend of Menodorus, visited Octavius to arrange for the desertion of Menodorus. The latter promised to hand over to him Sardinia, Corsica, three legions of soldiers, and a large number of light-armed troops. Whether this was the work of Philadelphus, or was a consequence of the calumnies against Menodorus, which Pompeius had listened to, Octavius accepted the offer, not immediately, but soon, since he considered the peace broken in fact. He invited Antony to come from Athens and meet him at Brundusium on an appointed day, in order to take counsel with him about the war. At the same time he brought war-ships from Ravenna and an army from Gaul, and the remainder of his apparatus, rapidly to Brundusium and Puteoli, intending to sail from both sides of Italy to Sicily if Antony should agree in opinion with him.

Antony came at the appointed day with a small escort, but not finding Octavius there he did not wait, either because he did not approve of the war, considering it a violation of the treaty, or because he observed Octavius’ great preparations (for the desire to be the sole ruler did not permit their fears to slumber at any time), or because he was alarmed by a prodigy. It was found that one of the guards who slept around his tent had been devoured by wild beasts except his face only, as though this had been left for the purpose of recognition, and that he had uttered no cry, nor did any of those who were asleep with him know of it. The Brundusians said that a wolf had been seen just before daybreak running away from the tents. Nevertheless Antony wrote to Octavius not to violate the treaty, and he threatened Menodorus with punishment as his own fugitive slave; for the latter had been the slave of Pompey the Great, whose property Antony had bought when it was sold under the law of war.

Octavius sent officers to receive Sardinia and Corsica, which Menodorus turned over to them. He strengthened the Italian coast with numerous towers to prevent Pompeius from raiding it again. He ordered the building of new triremes at Rome and Ravenna, and he sent for a large army from Illyria. When Menodorus came he made the latter a free citizen instead of a freedman, and put him in command, under the admiral Calvisius, of the ships which he had brought with him. When he had finished these preparations and brought together a still larger amount of war material he yet delayed, and he reproached Antony for not waiting. He ordered Cornificius to bring with him to Tarentum everything that was now in readiness. While Cornificius was making the voyage a storm overtook him which destroyed only the admiral’s ship, which had been built for Octavius himself. This was considered an omen of what was to take place. As the belief still prevailed that this war was a violation of the treaty, Octavius sought to dispel the suspicion. He wrote to the city and he told his soldiers that Pompeius had violated the treaty by encouraging piracy, that the pirates had confessed this, that Menodorus had revealed the whole design, and that Antony knew it, and for that reason had refused to give up the Peloponnesus.

When all things were in readiness he set sail for Sicily, going himself from Tarentum, while Calvisius, with Sabinus and Menodorus, sailed from Etruria. The infantry was sent on the march to Rhegium and great haste was displayed in all quarters. Pompeius had scarcely heard of the desertion of Menodorus when Octavius was already moving against him. While the hostile fleets were advancing from both sides, he awaited the attack of Octavius at Messana, and ordered his freedman Menecrates, who was the bitterest enemy of Menodorus, to advance against Calvisius and Menodorus with a large fleet. Menecrates was observed by his enemies near nightfall on the open sea. They retired into the bay near Cumae, where they passed the night, Menecrates proceeding to Aenaria. At daybreak they drew up their fleet, in the form of a crescent, as close to the shore as possible, in order to prevent the enemy from breaking through it. Menecrates again showed himself, and immediately came on with a rush. As his enemies would not advance to the open sea, and he could do nothing of importance there, he made a charge in order to drive them upon the land. They beached their ships and fought back against the attacking prows. Menecrates had the opportunity to draw off and renew the attack as he pleased, and to bring up fresh ships by turns, while the enemy were distressed by the rocks, on which they had grounded, and by the inability to move. They were like infantry contending against sea forces, unable either to pursue or retreat.

In this situation Menodorus and Menecrates came in sight of each other; and, abandoning the rest of the fight, drove against each other with fury and shouting, as though they had staked the issue of the battle on this encounter, whichever should be the victor. Their ships came into violent collision and were badly damaged, Menodorus losing his prow and Menecrates his oar-blades. Grapplingirons were thrown by both, and the ships, being fastened together, could no longer manœuvre, but the men, as in a battle on land, failed not in deeds of valor. Showers of javelins, stones, and arrows were discharged, and bridges for boarding were thrown from one ship to the other. As the ship of Menodorus was higher than the other his bridges made a better passageway for his daring crew, and his missiles were more effective for the same reason. Many men were already slain, and the remainder wounded, when Menodorus was pierced in the arm with a dart, which was, however, drawn out. Menecrates was struck in the thigh with a Spanish javelin, made wholly of iron with numerous barbs, which could not be readily extracted. Although Menecrates could no longer take part in the fight, he remained there all the same, encouraging the others, until his ship was captured, when he plunged into the depths of the sea. Menodorus towed the captured ship to the land, but was able to do nothing more himself.

This took place on the left wing of the naval fight. Calvisius directed his course from the right to the left and cut off some of Menecrates’ ships from the main body, and when they fled pursued them to the open sea. Demochares, who was a fellow-freedman of Menecrates and his lieutenant, fell upon the remainder of Calvisius’ ships, put some of them to flight, broke others in pieces on the rocks, and set fire to them after the crews had abandoned them. Finally Calvisius, returning from the pursuit, led back his own fleeing ships and prevented the burning of any more. As night was approaching, all returned to their former station. Such was the end of this naval fight, in which the forces of Pompeius had much the best of it; but Demochares, grieving over the death of Menecrates as the greatest possible defeat (for those two, Menecrates and Menodorus, had been the foremost of Pompeius’ sea captains), abandoned everything and sailed for Sicily immediately, mediately, as though he had lost not merely the body of Menecrates and one ship, but his whole, fleet.

Calvisius, as long as he expected that Demochares would renew his attack, remained at his station, unable to fight in the open sea, for his best ships had been destroyed and the others were unfit for battle. When he learned that his antagonist had gone to Sicily, he repaired his ships and coasted along the shore exploring the bays. Octavius, in the meantime, proceeded from Tarentum to Rhegium, with a large fleet and army, and near Messana came up with Pompeius, who had forty ships only. Octavius’ friends advised him to improve this most favorable opportunity and attack Pompeius with his great fleet, while the latter had so few ships and before the rest of his naval force should arrive. He did not follow this advice, but waited for Calvisius, saying that it was not good policy to run a risk when he was expecting reinforcements. When Demochares arrived at Messana, Pompeius appointed him and Apollophanes, another of his freedmen, admirals in place of Menodorus and Menecrates.

When Octavius heard of his disaster at Cumae he sailed out of the straits to meet Calvisius. After accomplishing the greater part of the distance and while he was passing Stylis and turning into Scyllaeum, Pompeius darted out of Messana and fell upon his rear, pushed on to his front, attacked him all along the line, and challenged him to fight. Although beset in this way, Octavius’ fleet did not give battle, since Octavius did not permit it, either because he feared to fight in the straits or because he adhered to his first determination not to fight without Calvisius. He gave orders, however, that all should hug the shore, cast anchor, and defend themselves with their prows toward the enemy. Demochares,by setting two of his ships by turns against one of the enemy’s, threw them into confusion. They dashed against the rocks and against each other, and began to fill with water. And so these ships were lost, like those at Cumae, without striking a blow, being stuck fast and battered by the enemy, who had freedom of movement to advance and retreat.

Octavius leaped from his ship upon the rocks and pulled out of the water those who swam ashore, and conducted them to the mountain above. However, Cornificius and the other generals who were there, encouraged each other, cut loose from their anchors without awaiting orders, and put to sea against the enemy, thinking that it was better to be conquered fighting than to fall unresisting before the blows of their assailants. First, with wonderful audacity, Cornificius rammed the flag-ship of Demochares and captured it. The latter leaped upon another vessel. Then, while the struggle and carnage were in progress, Calvisius and Menodorus hove in sight, advancing from the open sea, although they had not been observed by Octavius’ men either from the land or the water. The Pompeians, being farther out at sea, beheld them first, and, when they saw them, retreated, for darkness was approaching, and, fatigued as they were, they dared not encounter fresh men. This conjuncture happened very opportunely for those who had just now been in difficulties.

At nightfall, those who had reached the shore from the ships took refuge on the mountains and lighted numerous fires as signals to those who were still on the sea, and there passed the night without food, uncared for, and in want of everything. Octavius fared like the rest, and moved around exhorting them to endure their privations till morning. While he was undergoing these hardships it was not known that Calvisius had arrived, nor could anything thing needful be obtained from the ships in their wrecked condition. But good luck came to them from another quarter. The thirteenth legion was approaching by way of the mountains, and, learning of the disaster and judging of the road by the fire, they made their way through the crags. They found their commander, and those who had taken refuge with him, suffering from fatigue and want of food, and ministered to them, dividing the work, some caring for some, others for others. The centurions brought their commander into an improvised tent, as none of his body-servants were present, these having been dispersed in the darkness and disorder. He sent messengers in all directions forthwith, to announce that he was safe, and he learned that Calvisius had arrived with the vanguard of his fleet; and, in view of these two helpful and unexpected events, he allowed himself some rest.

The next morning, when Octavius looked out upon the water, he beheld some of his ships burned, others partly burned, others still burning, and others broken in pieces; and the sea filled with sails, rudders, and furniture, while, of the ships that were saved, the greater part were damaged. Having ranged the fleet of Calvisius in front, he made repairs on those of his vessels that most needed them, turning them on their sides, the enemy meantime remaining quiet, either because they feared Calvisius, or because they had decided to attack again in the open sea. Thus they remained on either side until midday, when a south wind burst upon them, raising violent billows in that surging and confined channel. Pompeius was then inside the harbor of Messana. The ships of Octavius were again shattered on the rough and inhospitable coast, dashing against the rocks and against each other, for, as they were not fully manned, they were not under good control.

Menodorus, apprehending that this rising storm would increase in violence, moved farther seaward and rode at anchor where, on account of the depth of water, the waves were less boisterous; and even here he had recourse to hard rowing to avoid being driven ashore. Some of the others followed his example, but most of them, thinking that the wind would soon subside, as it usually did in the springtime, moored themselves with anchors on either side, landward and seaward, and thrust out poles to prevent collisions with each other. As the wind grew more violent everything was thrown into confusion. The ships collided, broke their anchors, and were upset on the shore one after another. Cries of alarm and groans of pain were mingled together, and exhortations that fell upon deaf ears. Orders could not be heard. There was no distinction between pilot and common sailor. Knowledge and authority were alike unavailing. The same destruction awaited those in the ships and those who fell overboard, the latter being crushed by wind, waves, and floating timber. The sea was full of sails, spars, and men, living and dead. Those who sought to escape by swimming to land were dashed against the rocks by the surf. When the convulsion seized the water, as is usual in that strait, they were terrified, being unaccustomed to it, and then their vessels were whirled around and dashed against each other worse than ever. As night came on the wind increased in fury, so that they perished no longer in the light but in the darkness.

Groans were heard throughout the entire night, and the cries of men running along the shore and calling their friends and relatives upon the sea by name, and mourning for them as lost when they could hear no responses; and anon the cries of others lifting their heads above the waves and beseeching aid from those on shore. Nothing could be done on either land or water. Not only was the sea inexorable to those engulfed in it, as well as to those still in the ships, but the danger from the storm was almost as great on land, lest the surf should dash them against the rocks. So distressed were they by this unexampled tempest that those who were nearest the land feared the land, yet could not get sufficient offing to avoid collision with each other, for the narrowness of the place and its naturally difficult outlet, together with the force of the waves, the rotary motion of the wind, caused by the surrounding mountains, and the whirlpool of the deep, holding everything in its grasp, allowed neither tarrying nor escape. The darkness of a very black night added to their distress. And so they perished, no longer even seeing each other, some uttering confused cries, others yielding in silence, accepting their doom, some even hastening it, believing that they were utterly lost. The disaster so far surpassed their experience that it bereft them of the hope of saving themselves even by chance. Finally, at the approach of daylight, the wind suddenly relaxed its force, and after sunrise wholly died away; yet even then, although the storm had ceased, the surges rolled a long time. The fury of the tempest surpassed the memory of the oldest inhabitants. It was altogether unexampled, and the greater part of Octavius’ ships and men were destroyed by it.

Octavius, who had lost heavily in the battle the previous day and had sustained two severe calamities together, took the road in haste to Vibo that same night, by way of the mountains, being unable to repair this disaster, for which there was no help at hand. He wrote to all his friends and generals to be on the alert lest a plot should be formed against him here or there, as is liable to be the case when adversity comes. He despatched the infantry he had with him to all points on the Italian coast, lest Pompeius should be emboldened by his good luck even to invade the mainland. But the latter had no thought of an expedition by land. He did not even attack the ships that were left from the wreck, nor those that went away after the storm had subsided. On the contrary, he paid no attention to the enemy while they were tying their ships together with ropes as well as they could, and sailing with a favorable wind to Vibo. He neglected them either because he thought that the disaster was all-sufficient for him, or because he did not know how to follow up a victory, or, as I have said elsewhere, because he was altogether inefficient in attack and cared only to defend himself against assailants.

Less than half of Octavius’ ships were saved, and these badly damaged. He left certain officers in charge of them and proceeded to Campania much cast down, for he had no other ships and he needed many; nor did he have time to build them, pressed as he was by the famine and by the people, who were again harassing him about a new treaty and mocking at the war as being in violation of the old one. He needed money, but had none. The Romans were not paying the taxes, nor would they allow the use of the revenues that he had devised. But he was always clever at discovering what was for his advantage. He sent Maecenas to Antony to change the mind of the latter respecting the things about which they had lately had some bickering, and to bring him to an alliance. If Maecenas should not succeed, he intended to embark his infantry on merchant vesels, cross over to Sicily, abandon the sea, and wage war on land. While in this state of dejection the news reached him that Antony had agreed to the alliance, and he heard of a splendid victory over the Gauls of Aquitania, gained under the leadership of Agrippa. His friends and certain cities also promised him ships, and built them. Accordingly, Octavius cast off his despondency, and made more formidable preparations than his previous ones.

At the beginning of spring, Antony set sail from Athens to Tarentum with 300 ships to assist Octavius as he had promised. But the latter had changed his mind and postponed his movement until his own ships should be finished. When called upon again and told that Antony’s forces were ready and sufficient, he advanced other reasons for delay. It was evident that he was again offended with Antony about something, or that he disdained his assistance because his own resources were abundant. Antony was vexed, but he remained, nevertheless, and communicated with Octavius again, because the expense of his fleet was burdensome. Moreover, he needed Italian soldiers for his war against the Parthians, and he contemplated exchanging his fleet for a part of Octavius’ army; for, although it was provided in their treaty that each of them might recruit soldiers in Italy, it would be difficult for him to do so when Italy had fallen to the lot of Octavius. Accordingly, Octavia betook herself to her brother to act as mediator between them. Octavius complained that he had been abandoned by Antony when he was overtaken by danger in the straits. She replied that that had been explained through Maecenas. Octavius said that Antony had sent his freedman Callias to Lepidus in Africa to induce the latter to make an alliance against him. She replied that she knew that Callias had been sent to make arrangements about a marriage, because Antony desired, before setting out on his Parthian expedition, to marry his daughter to the son of Lepidus, as had been agreed. After Octavia had made this statement Antony sent Callias to Octavius with permission to put him to torture [in order to learn the truth]. Octavius would not receive him, but said that he would go and have an interview with Antony between Metapontum and Tarentum, at a place where there is a river of the latter name between them.

They both chanced to reach the river at the same time. Antony sprang down from his chariot and leaped alone into one of the skiffs moored near by, and rowed toward Octavius, showing confidence in him as a friend. When Octavius saw this he followed the example. So they met in the stream and contended with each other which of them should disembark on the other’s bank. Octavius prevailed because he was going to make a visit to Octavia at Tarentum. He took a seat with Antony in the latter’s chariot, and proceeded to his lodgings at Tarentum unprotected, and passed the night there without guards. On the following day Antony made the same exhibition of trust. Thus they were continually changing from suspicion born of rivalry to confidence due to their mutual needs.

However, Octavius postponed his expedition against Pompeius till the following year. On account of the Parthian war Antony was not able to wait. Nevertheless, they made an exchange with each other, Antony giving to Octavius 120 ships, which he sent at once and delivered at Tarentum, in return for which Octavius promised to send him 20,000 Italian legionaries. Octavia, begging the favor from Antony, made her brother a present of ten three-banked phaseli — a combination of war-ship and merchant vessel — and Octavius gave her in return 1000 picked men as a body-guard, to be selected by Antony. As the term of the triumvirate voted to them was about expiring, they renewed it for five years without again asking the people. And so they separated, Antony proceeding straightway to Syria and leaving Octavia with her brother, and also a daughter already born to them.

But Menodorus, — either because he was an habitual traitor, or because he feared the former threat of Antony, who had said that he would punish him as a rebellious slave, or because he had received less consideration than he had expected, or because the other freedmen of Pompeius were continually reproaching him for unfaithfulness to his master and urging him to return, — now that Menecrates was dead, asked forgiveness, and, having obtained it, deserted to Pompeius with seven ships, without the knowledge of Octavius’ admiral, Calvisius. For this reason Octavius dismissed the latter from his command and appointed Agrippa in his place. When the fleet was ready, Octavius performed a lustration for it in the following manner. Altars were erected on the margin of the sea, and the multitude were ranged around them in ships, observing the most profound silence. The priests who performed the ceremony offered the sacrifice while standing at the water’s edge, and carried the expiatory offerings in skiffs three times around the fleet, the general sailing with them, beseeching the gods to turn the bad omens against the victims instead of the fleet. Then, dividing the entrails, they cast a part of them into the sea, and put the remainder on the altars and burned them, while the multitude chanted in unison. In this way the Romans perform lustrations of the fleet.

It was intended that Octavius should set sail from Puteoli, Lepidus from Africa, and Taurus from Tarentum, to Sicily, in order to surround the enemy at once, from the east, the west, and the south. The day of Octavius’ sailing had been previously communicated to all. It was the tenth day after the summer solstice. This, in the Roman calendar, was the calends of the month which, in honor of the first Caesar, they call July instead of Quintilis. Octavius fixed on this day, perhaps because he considered it propitious on account of his father, who was always victorious. Pompeius stationed Plennius at Lilybaeum with one legion and a considerable body of light-armed troops, to oppose Lepidus. He guarded the whole coast of Sicily, both east and west, and especially the islands of Lipara and Cossyra, lest they should become convenient harbors and naval stations for Octavius and Lepidus against Sicily. The best part of his naval force he kept together at Messana watching its chances. In this way they made their preparations on either side.

When the calends came they all set sail at daybreak, Lepidus from Africa with 1000 ships of burden, seventy war vessels, twelve legions of soldiers, 500 Numidian horse, and a great quantity of apparatus; Taurus from Tarentum with only 102 of the 130 ships that Antony had left, since the oarsmen of the remainder had perished during the winter. Octavius sailed from Puteoli, offering sacrifices and pouring out libations from the admiral’s ship into the water to the propitious winds, and to Neptune, the guardian, and to the tranquil sea, that they should be his assistants against his father’s enemies. Certain ships sent in advance made examination of the bays, and Appius with a large squadron followed as a rear guard. On the third day after their departure a south wind blew with violence and capsized a large number of ships of burden belonging to Lepidus. Nevertheless, he reached the Sicilian coast, laid siege to Plennius in Lilybaeum, and got possession of some towns by persuasion and others by force. When the wind began to blow Taurus returned to Tarentum. While Appius was doubling the promontory of Minerva, some of his ships were shattered against the rocks, others ran with violence on the shoals, and the rest were dispersed, not without injury. At the beginning of the storm, Octavius took refuge in the sheltered bay of Elea, except one six-banked ship, which was wrecked on the promontory. The south wind was succeeded by a southwester, which threw the bay into commotion, as it opened toward the west. It was impossible to sail out of the bay with the wind still ahead, nor could the ships be held by oars or anchors. They crashed against each other or against the rocks, and the confusion became worse confounded by night.

When the tempest had subsided, Octavius buried the dead, cared for the wounded, clothed those who had swum ashore and furnished them with new weapons, and repaired his whole fleet with the means at his command. Six of his heavy ships, twenty-six lighter ones, and a still larger number of liburnicas had been destroyed. He was likely to consume nearly thirty days in these repairs; and now the end of summer was approaching, for which reason he deemed it best to postpone the war till the following summer, but as the people were suffering from scarcity he drew his ships upon the land and made his preparations rapidly, and sent the crews of the ships that he had lost to fill the empty ones in the fleet of Taurus. In anticipation of more serious misfortune he sent Maecenas to Rome on account of those who were still under the spell of the memory of Pompey the Great, for the fame of that man had not yet lost its influence over them. Octavius himself visited the new colonies throughout Italy and dispelled their fears, which had been excited by the recent events. He also went to Tarentum and inspected the naval force under Taurus. Thence he proceeded to Vibo, where he encouraged his infantry and hastened the preparations of his fleet, the time for his second invasion of Sicily being near at hand.

Pompeius did not deign to seize the fine opportunity presented to him by so many shipwrecks. He merely offered sacrifice to the sea and to Neptune, assuming to call himself their son, and persuading himself that it was not without the special act of Providence that his enemies had been twice overwhelmed in this way in the summer months. It is said that he was so much puffed up by these circumstances that he exchanged the purple cloak customary to Roman commanders for a dark blue one, to signify that he was the adopted son of Neptune. He hoped that Octavius would now desist from his undertaking, but when he learned that the latter was building ships and was about to renew the expedition against him that summer, he became alarmed at finding himself at war with a man of such indomitable spirit and such formidable preparations. He sent Menodorus, with the seven ships he had brought, to reconnoitre the dockyards of Octavius and to do whatever damage he could. Menodorus had been vexed for some time past because the naval command had not been given to him, and he now perceived that he was intrusted with only the ships that he had brought, because he was under suspicion. So he plotted a new desertion.

Conceiving that, however matters might turn out, he should first signalize himself by some act of valor, he distributed among his companions all the gold he had, and sailed, by rowing three days, accomplishing a distance of 1500 stades, and fell like a thunderbolt, unperceived, on the vessels that were guarding Octavius’ shipyards, and darted away to an unseen place carrying off the guard-ships by twos and threes. He also sunk, or captured, or burned some merchant vessels, laden with corn, that were moored there or sailing along the coast. Everything was thrown into confusion by this raid of Menodorus, both Octavius and Agrippa being absent. The latter had gone away to procure timber. In a spirit of bravado Menodorus ran his ship upon the soft ground, voluntarily and contemptuously, and pretended to be stuck in the mud, until his enemies dashed down from the mountains as to a certain prey, when he backed away, laughing, and left the soldiers of Octavius the victims of both chagrin and astonishment. When he had sufficiently shown what he was capable of, as enemy or friend, he dismissed a senator whom he had taken prisoner, named Rebillus, having a view already to the future.

During his former desertion he had been a friend of Mindius Marcellus, one of the companions of Octavius, and he now told his own men that Mindius had the intention of betraying his party and deserting to that of Pompeius. Then he drew near to the enemy and invited Mindius to go with him to a small island in order to have a conference. When the latter came, and there was nobody else within earshot, Menodorus said that he had gone back to Pompeius because he was ill-treated by the admiral of those days, Calvisius, but that since Agrippa had been appointed to the command of the fleet he would come back to Octavius, who had done him no wrong, if Mindius would bring him a safe-conduct from Messala, who was commanding in Agrippa’s absence. He said that on his return he would make amends for his fault by brilliant exploits, but that until the safe-conduct arrived he should be obliged to harass the forces of Octavius as before in order to avoid suspicion; and this he did. Messala hesitated on account of the baseness of the transaction, but he nevertheless yielded, either because he considered such things necessary in war, or because he had learned beforehand, or conjectured, the mind of Octavius. Menodorus at once deserted, and, upon the approach of Octavius, threw himself at his feet and begged that he would pardon him without asking for the reasons for his flight. Octavius conceded his safety on account of the pledges made, but had him secretly watched. He dismissed the captains of his triremes and allowed them to go wherever they pleased.

When the fleet was ready Octavius set sail again. He landed at Vibo and ordered Messala, who had two legions of infantry, to cross over to Sicily, join the army of Lepidus, pass through to the bay in front of Tauromenium, and station himself there. He sent three legions to Stylis and the extremity of the straits, to await events. He ordered Taurus to sail around from Tarentum to Mount Scylacium, which is opposite Tauromenium. Taurus did so, having prepared himself for fighting as well as for rowing. His infantry kept even pace with him, the cavalry reconnoitring by land and the liburnicas by sea. While he was making this movement Octavius, who had advanced from Vibo, made his appearance near Scylacium, and, after giving his approval to the good order of the forces, returned to Vibo. Pompeius, as I have already said, guarded all the landing-places on the island and retained his fleet at Messana, in order to send aid where it might be needed.

Such were the preparations of Octavius and Pompeius in this quarter. Meanwhile four more legions were en route to Lepidus from Africa in merchant ships, being the remainder of his army. Papias, one of Pompeius’ captains, threw himself in their way on the sea, and, after they had received him as a friend (for they thought that these were ships sent by Lepidus to meet them), destroyed them. Some ships were despatched by Lepidus later, and when these were approaching, the merchant ships that had escaped mistook them for other enemies and fled. So some of them were burned, some captured, some upset, and the rest returned to Africa. Two legions perished in the sea, or, if any of them could swim, Tisienus, the lieutenant of Pompeius, slew them when they reached the land. The other legions reëmbarked and joined Lepidus, some sooner and some later. Papias sailed back to Pompeius.

Octavius crossed from Vibo with his whole fleet to Strongyle, one of the five Aeolian islands, having made a reconnoissance of the sea beforehand. Seeing large forces in front of him on the Sicilian shore at Pelorum, Mylae, and Tyndaris, he conjectured that Pompeius himself was there. So he left Agrippa in command and returned again to Vibo, and thence hastened with Messala and three legions to the camp of Taurus, intending to seize Tauromenium while Pompeius was still absent, and thus threaten him on two sides at once. In pursuance of this plan Agrippa moved forward from Strongyle to the island of Hiera, and as Pompeius’ garrison made no resistance he occupied it and intended on the following day to attack, at Mylae, Demochares, the lieutenant of Pompeius, who had forty ships. Pompeius observed the menacing attitude of Agrippa, and sent to Demochares from Messana forty-five ships, under the command of his freedman Apollophanes, and followed in person with seventy others.

Agrippa, with half of his ships, sailed out of Hiera before daylight in order to have a naval engagement with Papias only. When he saw the fleet of Apollophanes also, and seventy ships on the other wing, he sent word to Octavius at once that Pompeius was at Mylae with the greater part of his naval forces. Then he placed himself with his heavy ships in the centre, and summoned the remainder of his fleet from Hiera in all haste. The preparations on both sides were superb. The ships had towers on both stem and stern. When the usual exhortation had been given and the standards raised, they rushed against each other, some coming bow on, others making flank attacks, the shouts of the men and the spray from the ships adding terror to the scene. The Pompeian ships were shorter and lighter, and better adapted to blockading and darting about. Those of Octavius were larger and heavier, and, consequently, slower, yet stronger to give blows and not so easily damaged. The Pompeian crews were better sailors than those of Octavius, but the latter were stronger. Accordingly, the former excelled not so much in close fighting as in the nimbleness of their movements, in breaking oar blades and rudders, cutting off oar handles, or separating the enemy’s ships entirely, doing them no less harm than by ramming. Those of Octavius sought to cut down with their beaks the hostile ships, which were smaller in size, or shatter them, or break through them. When they came to close quarters, being higher, they could hurl missiles down upon the enemy, and more easily throw the corvus and the grappling-irons. The Pompeians, whenever they were overpowered in this manner, leaped into the sea and were picked up by their small boats, which were hovering around for this purpose.

Agrippa bore down directly upon Papias and struck his ship under the bow, shattering it and breaking a hole in the keel. The men in the towers were shaken down, the water rushed into the ship, and all the oarsmen on the lower benches were cut off. The others broke through the deck and escaped by swimming. Papias escaped to a ship alongside of his own, and returned to the battle. Pompeius, who observed from a mountain that his ships were making little headway, and that whenever they came to close quarters with the enemy they were denuded of fighting men, and that reinforcements were coming to Agrippa from Hiera, gave the signal to retire in good order. This they did, advancing and retreating little by little. Agrippa continued to bear down upon them, and they took refuge, not on the beach, but among the shoals formed in the sea by river deposits.

Agrippa’s pilots prevented him from running his large ships on the shoals. He cast anchor in the open sea, intending to blockade the enemy and to fight a battle by night if necessary; but his friends advised him not to be carried away by rashness and not to wear out his soldiers with excessive toil and want of sleep, and not to trust to that tempestuous sea. So in the evening he reluctantly withdrew. The Pompeians made sail to their harbors, having lost thirty of their ships, and sunk five of the enemy’s, and having inflicted considerable other damage and suffered as much in return. Pompeius praised his own men because they had resisted such formidable vessels, saying they had fought against walls rather than against ships; and he rewarded them as though they had been victorious. He encouraged them to believe that, as they were lighter, they would prevail over the enemy in the straits on account of the current. He said also that he would make some addition to the height of his ships. Such was the result of the naval battle at Mylae between Agrippa and Papias.

Pompeius suspected that Octavius had gone to the camp of Taurus for the purpose of attacking Tauromenium, which was the fact. So, directly after supper, he sailed to Messana, leaving a part of his forces at Mylae so that Agrippa might think that he was still there. Agrippa, as soon as his army was sufficiently rested, bestirred himself and set sail for Tyndaris, which had offered to surrender. He entered the town, but the garrison fought valiantly and drove him out. Some other towns espoused his cause and received his garrisons, and he returned that evening. In the meantime, Octavius had sailed from Scylacium to Leucopetra, having learned for a certainty that Pompeius had gone from Messana to Mylae on account of Agrippa. He was about to cross the straits from Leucopetra to Tauromenium by night, but learning of the sea-fight he changed his mind, thinking that a victor ought not to steal his passage, but to cross with his army boldly by daylight; for he was fully convinced that Pompeius was still confronting Agrippa. Looking down from the mountains upon the sea at daybreak and finding that it was clear of enemies, he set sail with as many troops as the ships could carry, leaving the rest with Messala until the fleet could return to him. Arriving at Tauromenium, he sent messengers to demand its surrender. As his guards were not admitted, he made sail to the river Onobalas and the temple of Venus, and moored his fleet at the shrine of the Archegetes, the god of the Naxians, intending to pitch his camp there and attack Tauromenium. The Archegetes is a small statue of Apollo, erected by the Naxians when they first migrated to Sicily.

When Octavius disembarked from his ship he slipped and fell, but arose without assistance. While he was yet laying out his camp, Pompeius made his appearance with a large fleet—an astounding spectacle, since Octavius believed that he had been beaten by Agrippa. Pompeius’ cavalry advanced at the same time, rivalling the fleet in rapidity of movement, and his infantry was seen on the other side. The forces of Octavius were terrified at finding themselves surrounded by enemies on three sides, and Octavius himself was alarmed because Messala could not join him. The cavalry of Pompeius assailed Octavius’ men while they were still fortifying their camp. If his infantry and his naval force had attacked simultaneously with the cavalry, Pompeius might have accomplished greater results, but, being inexperienced in war and ignorant of the panic among the troops of Octavius, and hesitating to begin a battle at the approach of nightfall, one part of his forces stationed themselves at the promontory of Coccynus, while his infantry, deeming it unwise to encamp near the enemy, withdrew to the town of Phœnix. Night coming on they went to rest, and Octavius’ soldiers finished their camp, but were incapacitated for battle by toil and want of sleep. They consisted of three legions, and 500 cavalry without horses, 1000 light-armed, and 2000 colonists serving as allies, but not enrolled, besides his fleet.

Octavius placed all of his infantry under charge of Cornificius, and ordered him to drive back the enemy and do whatever the exigencye required. He took ship before daylight and went seaward lest the enemy should enclose him on this side also, giving the right wing of the fleet to Titinius and the left to Carcius, and embarking himself on a liburnica, with which he sailed around the whole fleet, exhorting them to have courage. Having done this he lowered the general’s ensign, as is customary in times of extreme danger. Pompeius put to sea against him, and they encountered each other twice, the battle ending with the night. Some of Octavius’ ships were captured and burned; others spread their small sails and made for the Italian coast, contrary to orders. Those of Pompeius followed them a short distance and then turned against the remainder, capturing some and burning others. Some of the crews swam ashore, most of whom were slaughtered or taken prisoners by Pompeius’ cavalry. Some of them set out to reach the camp of Cornificius, who sent only his light-armed troops to assist them as they came near, because he did not consider it prudent to move his disheartened legionaries against the enemy’s infantry, who were naturally much encouraged by their victory.

Octavius spent the greater part of the night among his small boats, in doubt whether he should go back to Cornificius through the scattered remains of his fleet, or take refuge with Messala. Providence brought him to the harbor of Abala with a single armor-bearer, without friends, attendants, or slaves. Certain persons, who had come down from the mountain to learn the news, found him suffering in body and mind and brought him in rowboats (changing from one to another for the purpose of concealment) to the camp of Messala, which was not far distant. Straightway, and before he had attended to his bodily wants, he despatched a liburnica to Cornificius, and sent word throughout the mountains that he was safe, and ordered all his forces to help Cornificius, and wrote to him that he would send him aid forthwith. After attending to his own person and taking a little rest, he set forth by night, accompanied by Messala, to Stylis, where Carinas was stationed with three legions ready to embark, and ordered him to set sail for Lipara, to which place he would shortly follow. He wrote to Agrippa and urged him to send Laronius with an army to the rescue of Cornificius with all speed. He sent Maecenas again to Rome on account of the revolutionists; and some of these, who were stirring up disorder, were punished. He also sent Messala to Puteoli to bring the so-called first legion to Vibo.

This was the same Messala whom the triumvirs proscribed at Rome, and for the killing of whom money and freedom were offered as rewards. He had fled to Cassius and Brutus, and after their death had delivered his fleet to Antony, in pursuance of an agreement made between them. It seems fitting to recall this fact in honor of Roman magnanimity, inasmuch as Messala, when he had in his power, overwhelmed with misfortune, the man who had proscribed him, saved him and cared for him as his commander. Cornificius was able easily to defend his camp against attack; but, being in danger from want of supplies, he drew his men out for battle and challenged the enemy. But Pompeius did not care to come to an engagement with men whose only hope rested in battle and whom he expected to subdue by famine. Cornificius, having placed in the centre the unarmed men who had escaped to him from the ships, took to the road, grievously exposed to missiles in the open plains from the enemy’s horsemen and in the broken country from the light-armed troops from Numidia in Africa, who hurled darts from long distances and made their escape when charged by their enemies.

On the fourth day, with difficulty, they arrived at the waterless region which they say was formerly inundated by a stream of fire that ran down as far as the sea and dried up all the streams in the district. The inhabitants of the country traverse it only by night, on account of the stifling heat and the dust and ashes with which it abounds. Being ignorant of the roads and fearing ambush, Cornificius and his men did not dare to march through it by night, especially as there was no moon, nor could they endure the daytime, because of suffocation. Moreover, the bottoms of their feet were burned (especially those who had no shoes), as it was now the hottest part of the summer. On account of the tormenting thirst they could not delay. They could no longer charge upon their assailants, but received wounds without any means of defence. When they saw the place of exit from this burned district occupied by enemies, the able-bodied ones, heedless of their sick and barefooted companions, dashed at the defiles with amazing courage and overpowered the enemy with all their remaining strength. When they found the next defiles occupied by hostile forces they gave way to despair and succumbed to thirst and heat. Cornificius aroused them by showing them a spring of water near by; and again they overpowered the enemy, but with heavy loss to themselves. Another body of enemies held possession of the fountain, and now Cornificius’ men lost all courage and gave way completely.

While they were in this state Laronius, who had been sent by Agrippa with three legions, made his appearance a long way off. Although it was not yet plain that he was a friend, still, as they had been all the time hoping for something of this kind, they once more recovered their spirits. When they saw the enemy abandon the water in order not to be exposed to attack on both sides, they shouted for joy with all their strength. When the troops of Laronius shouted in return, they ran and seized the fountain. The leaders forbade the men to drink to excess. Some who neglected this advice died while drinking. In this unexpected manner did Cornificius, and what was left of his army, escape to Agrippa at Mylae.

Agrippa had just taken Tyndaris, a stronghold full of provisions and admirably situated for naval warfare. Thither Octavius transported his infantry and cavalry. He had in Sicily all together twenty-one legions of the former, 20,000 of the latter, and more than 5000 light-armed troops. The garrison of Pompeius still held Mylae, and all the places from Mylae to Naulochi and Pelorus, and all the coast. These garrisons, in fear of Agrippa, kept fires burning continually, signifying that they would set fire to any ships that should sail against them. Pompeius was also master of the defiles on both sides of the island. The mountain passes in the neighborhood of Tauromenium and around Mylae were fortified by him, and he harassed Octavius when the latter was making a forward movement from Tyndaris, but not coming to an engagement. Believing that Agrippa was moving his fleet against him, Pompeius changed his position to Pelorus, abandoning the defiles around Mylae; and Octavius occupied them and also Mylae and Artemisium, a very small town, in which, they say, were the cattle of the Sun and where Ulysses fell asleep.

When the report of Agrippa’s movement turned out to be false, Pompeius was troubled that he had lost the defiles, and he called to his assistance Tisienus with his army. Octavius sought to intercept Tisienus, but lost his way around Mount Myconium. He passed the night there without tents. There was a heavy rainfall, as often occurs in the autumn, and some of his armor-bearers held a Gallic shield over his head the whole night. Harsh mutterings and prolonged roars from Mount Etna were heard, accompanied by flames which lighted up the camp, so that the Germans sprang from their beds in fear. Others, who had heard what had been related of Mount Etna, would not have been surprised, in presence of these remarkable phenomena, if a torrent of fire had rolled upon them. After this Octavius ravaged the territory of the Abacaenians, where Lepidus, who was foraging, met him, and they both encamped near Messana.

As there had been many skirmishes throughout Sicily, but no general engagement, Octavius sent Taurus to cut off Pompeius’ supplies by first capturing the towns that furnished them. Pompeius was so much inconvenienced by this that he decided to stake everything on a great battle. Since he feared the enemy’s infantry, but had confidence in his own ships, he sent and asked Octavius if he would allow the war to be decided by a naval engagement. Octavius, although he dreaded all naval encounters, which until now had turned out badly for him, considered it base to refuse, and, accordingly, accepted the challenge. A day was fixed by them, for which 300 ships were put in readiness on either side, provided with missiles of all kinds, with towers and whatever machines they could think of. Agrippa devised one called the harpago, a piece of wood five cubits long bound with iron and having rings at the extremities. To one of these rings was attached the harpago, an iron claw, to the other numerous ropes, which drew the harpago by machine power after it had been thrown by a catapult and had seized the enemy’s ships.

When the appointed day came the rival shouts of the oarsmen were first heard, accompanied by missiles thrown by machines and by hand, such as stones, firebrands, and arrows. Then the ships dashed against each other, some striking amidships, others on the prows, others on the beaks, where the blows are most effectual in discomposing the crew and rendering the vessel useless. Others broke the opposing line by sailing through it, at the same time discharging arrows and javelins; and the small boats picked up those who fell overboard. There was a struggle of soldiers while the sailors put forth their strength and the pilots their skill and their lung-power. The generals cheered their men, and all the machines were brought into requisition. The harpago achieved the greatest success. Thrown from a long distance upon the ships, as it could be by reason of its lightness, it clutched them, especially when the ropes pulled on it from behind. On account of the iron bands it could not be easily cut by the men whom it attacked, and those who tried to cut the ropes were prevented from reaching them by its length. As this apparatus had never been known before, the enemy had not provided themselves with scythe-mounted poles. One thing seemed advisable in this unexpected emergency, and that was, to back water and draw the ship away; but as the enemy did the same the force exerted by the men was equal on both sides, and the harpago did its work.

Accordingly, when the ships were drawn together, there was every kind of fighting, the men leaping upon each other’s decks. It was no longer easy to distinguish an enemy from a friend, as they used the same weapons for the most part, and nearly all spoke the Latin tongue, and the watchwords of each side were divulged to the other while they were mingled together. Hence arose many and divers frauds and lack of confidence on both sides on the part of those using the same watchword. They failed to recognize each other completely, and meanwhile the fighting and the sea were a confused medley of corpses, clashing arms, and crashing ships. They left nothing untried except fire. This they abstained from, after their first onset, because they were locked together. The foot-soldiers of each army on the land beheld this sea-fight with apprehension and eagerness, believing that their own hope of safety was bound up in it. They could not distinguish anything, however sharply they might look, but merely a long-drawn-out line of 600 ships, and an alternation of cries and groans now on one side and now on the other.

Judging from the colors of the towers, which constituted the only difference between them, Agrippa with difficulty made out that Pompeius’ ships had sustained the greater loss, and he cheered on those who were close to him as though they were already victors. Then he drove at the enemy and pressed upon them without ceasing, until he overpowered those nearest him. They then lowered their towers and turned their ships in flight toward the straits. Seventeen of them, which were in advance, made their escape thither. The rest were cut off by Agrippa and some were pursued and driven aground. The pursuers ran aground with them in the rush, and either pulled off those that had come to a standstill or set fire to them. When the Pompeian ships that were still fighting saw what had befallen these, they surrendered to their enemies. Then the soldiers of Octavius who were in the ships raised a shout of victory and those on the land gave an answering shout. Those of Pompeius groaned. Pompeius himself, darting away from Naulochi, hastened to Messana, giving no orders to his infantry in his panic. Accordingly Octavius received the surrender of Tisienus on terms agreed upon, and of the cavalry besides, who were surrendered by their officers. Three of Octavius’ ships were sunk in the fight. Pompeius lost twenty-eight in this way, and the remainder were burned, or captured, or run aground, and stove in pieces, except the seventeen that escaped.

Pompeius learned of the defection of his infantry while on the road, and changed his costume from that of a commander to that of a private citizen, and sent orders to Messana to put on shipboard everything possible. All preparations to this end had been made long before. He summoned Plennius from Lilybaeum in haste, with the eight legions he had, intending to take flight with them. Plennius hastened to comply with this order, but as other friends, garrisons, and soldiers were deserting, and the enemy’s fleet was moving into the straits, Pompeius did not wait for Plennius in his well-fortified city, but fled, with his seventeen ships, from Messana to Antony, whose mother he had saved in similar circumstances. After his departure Plennius arrived at Messana and occupied the place. Octavius himself remained in the camp at Naulochi, but he ordered Agrippa to lay siege to Messana, which the latter did, in conjunction with Lepidus. Plennius sent envoys to treat for peace. Agrippa wanted to wait till morning for the arrival of Octavius, but Lepidus granted terms, and, in order to conciliate the soldiers of Plennius to himself, allowed them to join the rest of the army in plundering the city. They had asked for nothing but safety, and now, finding unexpected gain in addition, they plundered Messana the whole night, in conjunction with the soldiers of Lepidus, and then ranged themselves under his standards.

Including this new accession, Lepidus now had twenty-two legions of infantry and a large body of cavalry. He was elated, and thought to make himself master of Sicily, using the pretext that he was the first to invade the island and that he had induced many cities to join the triumvirs. He sent word to the garrisons of these places that they should not admit the emissaries of Octavius, and he seized all the defiles. Octavius arrived on the following day, and reproached Lepidus through friends, who reminded him that he had come into Sicily as an ally of Octavius, not to acquire it for himself. Lepidus replied that he had been despoiled of his former allotment, which was now in the exclusive possession of Octavius, and that, if the latter pleased, he would now exchange Africa and Sicily for that former allotment. Octavius was exasperated. He came to Lepidus in anger and heaped reproaches on him for ingratitude. They separated, indulging in mutual threats. They forthwith surrounded themselves with guards, and the ships of Octavius were anchored away from the shore, as it was said that Lepidus intended to set fire to them.

The soldiers were angry at the thought of engaging in another civil war, and that there was never to be an end of sedition. They did not, however, seek to compare Octavius and Lepidus; not even the army of Lepidus did that. They admired the energy of Octavius, and.they were aware of the indolence of Lepidus. They also blamed him for admitting the defeated enemy to an equal share of the plunder. When Octavius learned their state of mind, he sent emissaries among them to advise them secretly of their individual interests. Many of them he tampered with, especially those who had served under Pompeius, who feared lest the terms of their capitulation should not be valid if Octavius did not ratify them. While Lepidus, by reason of his ineptitude, remained ignorant of these things Octavius came to his camp with a large body of horse, whom he left at the entrance, and himself went in with a few. Coming forward, he declared to those whom he met that he was drawn into war unwillingly. Those who saw him saluted him as imperator. First of all the Pompeians, who had been tampered with, collected together and asked his forgiveness. He said that he was astonished that persons asking forgiveness should not do what their own interests demanded. They understood his meaning, and forthwith seized their standards and went over to him, while others began to take down their tents.

When Lepidus became aware of this tumult he sprang from his tent to arms. Blows were exchanged and one of Octavius’ armor-bearers was killed. Octavius himself was struck by a weapon on his breastplate, but it did not penetrate the flesh, and he ran and took refuge with his horsemen. A detachment of guards belonging to Lepidus jeered at him as he ran. Octavius was so angry that he could not restrain himself from dashing upon them with his horsemen and destroying them. The officers of the other guards transferred their allegiance from Lepidus to Octavius, some immediately, others during the night; some without solicitation, others pretending to be coerced more or less by the cavalry. There were some who still resisted the assault and beat off the assailants, for Lepidus sent reenforcements in all directions; but when these very reënforcements went over, the remainder of his army, even those who were yet well disposed toward him, changed their opinion. Again the first to move were those Pompeians who still remained with him. They transferred themselves by detachments, one after another. Lepidus armed others to prevent them from going, but the very ones who were armed for this purpose seized their standards and went over to Octavius with the rest. Lepidus threatened and besought them as they took their departure. He held fast to the standards, and said he would not give them up, until one of the standard-bearers said to him, Let go, or you are a dead man. Then he was afraid and let go.

The last to come over were the cavalry. They sent a messenger to Octavius to ask if they should kill Lepidus, who was no longer a commander. He replied in the negative. Thus was Lepidus deserted by all and bereft, in a moment of time, of so exalted a station and so great an army. He changed his costume and hastened to Octavius, all the spectators running with him to enjoy the spectacle. Octavius started up as he approached, and prevented him from throwing himself at his feet, and sent him to Rome in the garb of a private citizen, which he was wearing, deprived of his command, but not of the priesthood, which he held. And so this man, who had often been a commander and once a triumvir, who had appointed magistrates and had proscribed so many men of his own rank, passed his life as a private citizen, asking favors of some of the proscribed, who were magistrates at a later period.

Octavius neither pursued Pompeius nor allowed others to do so; either because he refrained from encroaching on Antony’s dominions, or because he preferred to wait and see what Antony would do to Pompeius and make that a pretext for a quarrel if he should do wrong (for they had long entertained the suspicion that ambition would bring them into mutual conflict when other rivals were out of the way), or, as Octavius said later, because Pompeius was not one of his father’s murderers. He now brought his forces together, and they amounted to forty-five legions of infantry, 25,000 horse, and some 40,000 light-armed troops. He also had 600 war-ships and an immense number of merchant vessels, which he sent back to their owners. To the soldiers he awarded the prizes of victory, paying a part down and promising the rest later. He distributed crowns and other honors to all, and granted pardon to the Pompeian leaders.

Fortune became jealous of his great prosperity. His army revolted, especially his own troops. They demanded to be discharged from the service and that rewards should be given them equal to those given to the men who fought at Philippi. Octavius knew that the present war had not been of the same grade as that one. He promised nevertheless to pay what their services were worth, and to include the soldiers serving under Antony when the latter should return. As to their breach of discipline, he reminded them, in a threatening tone, of the laws of their ancestors, of their oaths and of the punishments. As they gave little heed to what he said, he abandoned his threatening tone lest the spirit of mutiny should extend to his newly acquired troops, and said that he would discharge them at the proper time in conjunction with Antony. He said, also, that he would not engage them in any more civil wars, which had fortunately come to an end, but in war against the Illyrians and other barbarous tribes, who were disturbing the peace which had been gained with so much difficulty; from which war the soldiers would acquire great riches. They said that they would not go to war again until they had received the prizes and honors of the previous wars. He said that he would not postpone the honors. So he distributed many prizes, and gave to the legions additional crowns, and to the centurions and tribunes purple-bordered garments and the dignity of chief councillors in their native towns. While he was distributing other awards of this kind, the tribune Ofilius exclaimed that crowns and purple garments were playthings for boys, that the rewards for soldiers were lands and money. The multitude cried out, Well said; whereupon Octavius descended from the platform in anger. The soldiers gathered around the tribune, praising him and railing at those who did not join with them. Ofilius said that he alone would suffice to defend so just a cause, but after saying this he disappeared the following day, and it was never known what became of him.

The soldiers no longer dared to give utterance to their complaints singly, but they joined together in groups and called for their discharge in common. Octavius conciliated their leaders in various ways. He released those who had served at Philippi and Mutina, and who wished to be discharged, as their time had expired. These, to the number of 20,000, he dismissed and sent out of the island at once, lest they should seduce the others. To those only who had served at Mutina he added, that, although they were discharged in this way, he would fulfil the promises made to them at that time. He came before the rest of the army and called upon them to bear witness to the perjury of the revolters, who had been dismissed contrary to the wish of their military commander. He praised those who remained with him, and encouraged them to expect a speedy release, saying that nobody would be sorry, and that they would be discharged rich, and that he would give them 500 drachmas per man now. Having thus spoken, he exacted tribute from Sicily to the amount of 1600 talents, appointed propraetors for Africa and Sicily, and assigned a division of the army to each of these provinces. He sent back Antony’s ships to Tarentum. A part of the army he sent in advance of himself to Italy in ships, and took the remainder with him when he departed from the island.

When he arrived at Rome the Senate voted him unbounded honors, giving him the privilege of accepting all, or such as he chose. They and the people went out a long distance to meet him, wearing garlands on their heads, and escorted him, when he arrived, first to the temples, and then from the temples to his house. The next day he made speeches to the Senate and to the people, recounting his exploits and his policy from the beginning to the present time. These speeches he wrote down and distributed in pamphlet form. He proclaimed peace and good-will, said that the civil wars were ended, remitted the unpaid taxes, and released the farmers of the revenue and the holders of public leases from what they owed. Of the honors voted to him, he accepted an ovation and annual solemnities on the days of his victories, and a golden image to be erected in the forum, with the garb he wore when he entered the city, to stand on a column surrounded by the beaks of captured ships. There the image was placed bearing the inscription: PEACE, LONG DISTURBED, HE REËSTABLISHED ON LAND AND SEA.

When the people desired to transfer from Lepidus to himself the office of pontifex maximus, which the law bestowed upon one person for life, he would not accept it, and when they prayed that Lepidus might be put to death as a public enemy he would not allow it. He sent sealed letters to all the armies, with instructions to open them all on a designated day and to execute the orders contained therein. These orders related to the slaves who had run away during the civil dissensions and joined the armies, for whom Pompeius had asked freedom, which the Senate and the treaty had granted. These were all arrested on the same day and brought to Rome, and Octavius returned them to their Roman or Italian masters, or to the heirs of the same. He also gave back those belonging to Sicilian masters. Those whom nobody claimed he caused to be put to death in the cities from which they had absconded.

This seemed to be the end of the civil dissensions. Octavius was now twenty-eight years of age. Cities joined in placing him among their tutelary gods. At this time Italy and Rome itself were openly infested with bands of robbers, whose doings were more like barefaced plunder than secret theft. Sabinus was chosen by Octavius to correct this disorder. He executed many of the captured brigands, and within one year brought about a condition of absolute security. At that time, they say, originated the custom and system of cohorts of night watchmen still in force. Octavius excited astonishment by having put an end to this evil with such unexampled rapidity. He allowed the yearly magistrates to administer public affairs, in many particulars, according to the customs of the fathers. He burned the writings which contained evidence concerning the civil strife, and said that he would abdicate entirely when Antony should return from the Parthian war, for he was persuaded that Antony, too, would be willing to lay down the government, the civil wars being at an end. Thereupon he was chosen tribune for life by acclamation, the people urging him, by the offer of this perpetual magistracy, to give up his former one. This he accepted, and at the same time he wrote privately to Antony in reference to their government. Antony gave instructions to Bibulus, who was going away from him, to confer with Octavius. He sent governors to take charge of his provinces in like manner as Octavius had done, and he had thoughts of joining the latter in his expedition against the Illyrians.

Pompeius, fleeing from Sicily to Antony, stopped at the Lacinian promontory and robbed the rich temple of Juno of its gifts. He landed at Mitylene and spent some time at that place, where his father, when at war with Caesar, had bestowed him with his mother, when he was still a boy, and where his father had recovered him after his defeat. As Antony was now waging war in Media against the Medes and the Parthians, Pompeius decided to intrust himself to Antony on his return. When he heard that Antony had been worsted, and this result was confirmed by the reports, his hopes once more revived, and he fancied that he might succeed Antony if the latter were dead, or share his power if he returned. He was continually thinking of Labienus, who had overrun Asia not long before. While he was in this frame of mind the news reached him that Antony had returned to Alexandria. Scheming with both projects, he sent ambassadors to Antony ostensibly to place himself at the latter’s disposal and to offer himself as a friend and ally, but really to get accurate information about Antony’s affairs. At the same time he sent others secretly to the princes of Thrace and Pontus, intending, if he should not obtain what he desired from Antony, to take flight through Pontus to Armenia. He sent also to the Parthians, hoping that, for the remainder of their war against Antony, they would be eager to receive him as a general, because he was a Roman, and especially because he was the son of Pompey the Great. He refitted his ships and drilled the soldiers he had brought in them, pretending at one time that he was in fear of Octavius, and at another that he was getting ready to assist Antony.

As soon as Antony heard of the coming of Pompeius he designated Titius to take the field against him. He ordered the latter to take ships and soldiers from Syria and to wage war vigorously against Pompeius if he showed himself hostile, but to treat him with honor if he submitted himself to Antony. Then he gave audience to the ambassadors who had arrived, and who addressed him as follows: Pompeius has sent us to you, not because he was without a place of refuge (if he were minded to continue the war) in Spain, a country friendly to him on his father’s account and which espoused his own cause when he was younger, and even now calls upon him for that purpose, but because he prefers to enjoy peace with you, or, if need be, to fight under your orders. He makes these advances now not for the first time, but did so while he was master of Sicily and was ravaging Italy, and when he rescued your mother and sent her to you. If you had accepted these advances, Pompeius would not have been driven out of Sicily (for you would not have provided Octavius with ships against him), nor would you have been defeated in Parthia, in consequence of Octavius, not sending you the soldiers he agreed to send. In fact, you would now be in possession of Italy in addition to your other dominions. As you did not accept the offer at the time when it would have been most advantageous to you, he repeats it now in order that you may not be so often ensnared by Octavius’ words and by the marriage relationship existing between you; for you will remember that, although he is connected by marriage with Pompeius, he declared war against the latter after the treaty had been made, and without excuse. He also deprived Lepidus, his partner in the government, of his share, and divided no part of it with you.

You are now the only remaining one who stands between him and the monarchy that he longs for. He would already have been at blows with you, had not Pompeius stood in the way. Although you ought to have foreseen these things for yourself, Pompeius calls your attention to them out of good-will, because he prefers a candid and magnanimous man to a deceitful, treacherous, and artful one. He does not blame you for the gift of ships which you made to Octavius against him as a matter of necessity, in order to procure soldiers for the Parthian war in exchange, but he reminds you that those soldiers were not sent. In short, Pompeius delivers himself to you with the ships which he still has and his most faithful soldiers, who have not abandoned him even in his flight. If peace is maintained, it will be a great glory to you to have saved the son of Pompey the Great. In case of war, he will be a considerable help to your party in the conflict which is coming, unless, to be sure, it has already come.

When the ambassadors had thus spoken, Antony showed them the orders he had sent to Titius, and said that if Pompeius was truly in this frame of mind he should come in person under the escort of Titius. In the meantime, the messengers who had been sent by Pompeius to the Parthians were captured by Antony’s generals and brought to Alexandria. After Antony had examined each of them he summoned the ambassadors of Pompeius and showed the captives to them. They made excuses for Pompeius even then as a young man in a desperate plight, fearful lest Antony should not treat him kindly, and driven by necessity to make trial even of the bitterest enemies of Rome. They said that he would show his true disposition as soon as he should learn Antony’s, and would then need no other attempt or devices. Antony believed them, being in other respects and at all times of a frank, magnanimous, and unsuspecting nature.

In the meantime Furnius, who was governing the province of Asia for Antony, had received Pompeius when he arrived, as he was behaving quietly; since Furnius had not sufficient force to prevent him and did not yet know Antony’s mind. Seeing Pompeius drilling his troops, he mustered a force from the provincials and hastily summoned Ahenobarbus, who had command of an army in the vicinity, and also Amyntas from the other side. They responded promptly, and Pompeius complained against Furnius for regarding him in the light of an enemy when he had sent ambassadors to Antony and was waiting for an answer from him. While he was saying this he was meditating the project of seizing Ahenobarbus, with the connivance of Curius, one of Ahenobarbus’ officers, intending to hold that general as a valuable hostage to exchange for himself in case of need. The treachery was discovered and Curius was convicted before the Romans present and put to death. Pompeius put to death his freedman Theodorus, the only person who was privy to the plan, believing that he had divulged it. As he no longer expected to conceal his projects from Furnius, he possessed himself of Lampsacus by treachery, a city which contained many Italians, colonized there by Gaius Caesar. These Italians he induced to enter his military service by large bounties. Having now 200 horse and three legions of infantry, he attacked Cyzicus by land and sea. He was repulsed on both sides, because there was a force, although not a large one, in Cyzicus, that was guarding some gladiators whom Antony supported there. So Pompeius retired to the harbor of the Achaeans and collected provisions.

Furnius did not begin hostilities, but he continually camped alongside of Pompeius with a large body of horse and prevented his foe from foraging or winning the cities to his side. As Pompeius had no cavalry, he assaulted the camp of Furnius in front and, at the same time, sent a force secretly around to his rear. Furnius accordingly directed his forces against Pompeius’ front attack, but he was driven out of his camp by the force in his rear. Pompeius pursued his men and killed many as they fled over the Scamandrian plain, which was saturated with recent rains. Those who were saved withdrew to a place of safety, as they were not fit for battle. While they were waiting for assistance from Mysia, the Propontis, and elsewhere, the inhabitants, who were distressed by continual exactions, enlisted gladly under Pompeius, especially on account of the reputation he had gained by his victory at the harbor of the Achaeans. While Pompeius was deficient in cavalry, and was thus crippled in procuring supplies, he learned that a troop of Italian horse was coming to Antony, sent by Octavia, who was passing the winter in Athens. So he sent emissaries with gold to corrupt this troop, but Antony’s governor of Macedonia caught these men and distributed their gold to the cavalry.

Pompeius took Nicaea and Nicomedia, from which he obtained large supplies of money, and his strength was augmented in all respects with a rapidity that exceeded his expectations. But Furnius, who was camping not far away from him, was reënforced, at the beginning of spring, first with seventy ships that had come from Sicily, which had been saved from those that Antony had lent to Octavius against Pompeius; for after the close of the war in Sicily Octavius had dismissed them. Then Titius arrived from Syria with 120 additional ships and a large army; and all these had landed at Proconnesus. Pompeius became alarmed and burned his own ships and armed his oarsmen, believing that he could fight to better advantage with all of his forces combined on land. Cassius of Parma, Nasidius, Saturninus, Thermus, Antistius, and the other distinguished men of his party who were still with him as friends, and Fannius, who held the highest rank of all, and Pompeius’ father-in-law, Libo, when they saw that he did not desist from war against superior forces even after Titius, to whom Antony had given entire charge, had arrived, despaired of him, and, having made terms for themselves, went over to Antony.

Pompeius, now deserted by his friends, withdrew to the interior of Bithynia, being reported as making his way to Armenia. One night as he marched out of his camp quietly, Furnius and Titius followed him, and Amyntas joined in the pursuit. After a hot chase they came up with him toward evening, and each encamped by himself around a certain hill without ditch or palisade, as it was late and they were tired. While they were in this state, Pompeius made a night attack with 300 light troops and killed many who were still asleep or springing out of bed. The rest took to disgraceful flight in a state of nudity. It is evident that if Pompeius had made this night attack with his entire army, or if he had followed up energetically the victory he did win, he would have overcome them completely. But, misled by a god, he gave no heed to these opportunities, and he gained no other advantage from the affair than to penetrate farther into the interior of the country. His enemies, having formed a junction, followed him and cut off his supplies, until he was in danger from want. Then he sought an interview with Furnius, who had been a friend of Pompey the Great, and who was of higher rank and of a more trustworthy character than the others.

Taking a position where a river flowed between them, Pompeius said that he had sent ambassadors to Antony, and he added that, being in need of provisions meanwhile, and nobody supplying him, he had done what he had done. If you have fought against me, he continued, by Antony’s direction, Antony has misconceived his own interests in not foreseeing the coming war. If you are anticipating Antony’s intentions, I protest and implore you to wait for the embassy that I sent to Antony or to take and bring me to him now. I will surrender myself to you alone, Furnius, asking merely your pledge that you will conduct me to him in safety. He spoke thus because he had confidence in Antony as a man of generous nature, and he apprehended merely that something might happen to him on the journey. Furnius replied to him as follows: If you wished to surrender yourself to Antony you ought to have done so in the beginning, or else have waited quietly at Mitylene for his answer. But if you desired the war you should have done as you have done. Why is it necessary to recount your deeds to one who knows them? If now you repent, do not bring us, generals, into collision with each other, but surrender yourself to Titius, to whom these matters have been intrusted by Antony. The pledge which you ask from me you can ask from him. He has been ordered by Antony to put you to death if you wage war, but, if you surrender yourself, to send you to him in an honorable manner.

Pompeius was angry with Titius as an ingrate, in that he undertook to wage this war against him, for he had once been taken prisoner and spared by Pompeius. Besides being angry he considered it beneath his dignity to be in the power of Titius, who was not of noble birth. Moreover he suspected Titius, either because he was acquainted with his character and did not consider him trustworthy, or because he was conscious of some old injury done to him previous to the benefaction above mentioned. Again he offered to surrender himself to Furnius, and begged that he would receive him. When the latter refused he said that he would surrender to Amyntas. Furnius said that Amyntas would not receive him, because that would be an insult to the one whom Antony had intrusted with this whole business; and so the interview ended. The opinion prevailed in the camp of Furnius that, for want of other resources, Pompeius would deliver himself up to Titius on the following day. When night came Pompeius left the customary fires burning, and the trumpets giving the usual signal at intervals through the night, while he quietly withdrew from the camp with a well-prepared band, who had not been previously advised whither they were to go. He intended to go to the sea-shore and burn Titius’ fleet, and perhaps would have done so had not Scaurus deserted from him and communicated the fact of his departure and the road he had taken, although ignorant of his design. Amyntas, with 1500 horse, pursued Pompeius, who had no cavalry. When Amyntas drew near, Pompeius’ men passed over to him, some privately, others openly. Pompeius, being almost entirely deserted and afraid of his own men, surrendered himself to Amyntas without conditions, although he had scorned to surrender to Titius with conditions.

Thus was Sextus Pompeius captured. He was the last remaining son of Pompey the Great, and had been deprived of his father when very young and of his brother while still a stripling. After their death he concealed himself for a long time and practised robbery secretly in Spain until he had collected a large following, because he made himself known as Pompey’s son. Then he practised more open robbery. After the death of Gaius Caesar he carried on war vigorously and collected a large army, together with ships and money, took islands, became master of the western sea, brought famine upon Italy, and compelled his enemies to make peace on such terms as he chose. Of most importance was the aid that he rendered to the proscribed in Rome exposed to utter destruction, rescuing many of the nobility who were, at this later time, safe at home by means of him. But stricken with mental aberration, he never pursued an aggressive policy against his foes, although fortune offered him many opportunities; he only defended himself. After such a career Pompeius was taken prisoner.

Titius brought Pompeius’ soldiers into Antony’s service and put Pompeius himself to death at Miletus in the fortieth year of his age. This he did either on his own account, angry at some former insult, and ungrateful for the subsequent kindness, or in pursuance of Antony’s order. Some say that Plancus, not Antony, gave this order. They think that Plancus, while governing Syria, was authorized by letters to sign Antony’s name in cases of urgency and to use his seal. Others think that it was written by Plancus with Antony’s knowledge, but that the latter was ashamed to write it on account of the name Pompeius, and because Cleopatra was favorable to him on account of Pompey the Great. Still others think that Plancus, being cognizant of these facts, took it upon himself to give the order as a matter of precaution, lest Pompeius, with the coöperation of Cleopatra, should breed dissension between Antony and Octavius.

After the death of Pompeius Antony made a new expedition to Armenia, and Octavius made one against the Illyrians, who were plundering Italy, some of whom had never been subject to the Romans, while others had revolted during the civil wars. Since these Illyrian affairs are not very well known to me, and are not of sufficient length to make a book by themselves, and have no suitable place to be treated elsewhere, I have recorded them above (beginning with the time when Illyria was acquired by the Romans and bringing them down to the end), and added them to the history of the neighboring Macedonia.