creating Tribunes and of a secession or departure of the People was sent before as a Scout to view the place where they should incamp the Soldiers that were sent along with him being commanded when they came to a convenient place to murther him But they did not do it without some kind of retaliation for many of the Ruffians fell before him as he made resistance for he defended himself though surrounded by them with a Courage proportionable to the mighty strength of his Body The rest came and brought news to the Camp that Siccius was surprized but lost his life very manfully and that some of the other Soldiers died with him They believed the Messengers and sent a Party to bury those who were slain by permission of the Decemviri who when they saw ne'r a Body there rifled but Siccius lying in the middle Armed with all their Bodies turned toward him and no body or footsteps of any Enemy that either was there or gone away they concluded he was certainly killed by their own Soldiers and so brought back the Corps Whereupon the Camp was filled with envy and would have had the Body of Siccius straight carried to Rome had not the Decemviri made haste to prepare a Military Funeral for him at the publick expence So he was buried with great lamentations among the Soldiers and the Decemviri were very ill spoken of among the vulgar People This was attended with another crime in the City which was occasioned by lust being no less fatal in the event than that which for the Rape and death of Lucretia had expelled the Tarquins out of the City and Kingdom so that the Decemviri did not only come to the same end as the Kings had done but the cause also of their losing their Authority was the very same Ap. Claudius was instigated by Lust to ravish an ordinary Plebeian Damsel whose Father L. Virginius was a Captain in Algidum being a Man of a good life both at home and in the War nor were his Wife and Children less vertuous This Virginius had espoused his Daughter to one L. Icilius a favourer of the Tribunes who was a keen Man and very well known to be a great stickler for the Peopleâ— Iâ—terest Appius therefore being inflamed with Love endeavoured to win this Maid who was at Womans estate and very Beautiful by mony and fair promises but when he saw heâ— every way guarded with modesty and chastity applied his mind to cruel and outragious violence He imployed and suborned M. Claudius a Client of his to challenge her for his Slave and not to yield to any who should require she might be free 'till the Tryal of her Liberty was over for he thought that now her Father was absent he had the better opportunity to do her wrong Whereupon as the Maid was coming into the Forum where in Shops were petit Schools the Decemvirs servant laid his lustful hands upon her saying She was the Daughter of his Bondwoman and herself a Slave and commanding her to follow him or he 'd drag her away by force The poor Girl being amazed at the surprize her Nurse cryed out and desired the People to assist her which made a great concourse about them By which means the crowd who knew her Father Virginius and her Lover Icilius to be very popular Men were upon their account and the indignity offered to her ready to help the Virgin So she was rescued from his violence but he told them They need not make a tumult he would take a more legal course and not use force He therefore warned her to appear before the Magistrate whilst those that were present advised her to follow him When they came before Appius the Plaintiff tells the story to the Judg who knew it all before as being himself the contriver of it That she was born in his House and thence by stealth conveyed to the House of Virginius whose Wife brought her up as her own Child that he could prove and would prove it by Virginius 's own Confession who was most concerned in that injury but that in the mean time it was but just a Servant as she was should go along with her Master To which the Girls Advocates made answer and said That Virginius was absent in the service of the Commonwealth but would be there in two days if he had notice of the affair that it was unreasonable there should be any dispute concerning his Children in his absence wherefore they desired the whole matter might be put off 'till his return that he would suffer her to have her freedom according to a Law which he himself had made 'till the Tryal were over and not let a Maid of her Age undergo the hazard of her good Name before that of her Liberty Then Appius told them in a Preface to his Decree That very Law which Virginius 's friends brought to back their request declared how much he favoured Liberty but that would not be a sure guard for Liberty where the cause was altered and varied by difference of cases and persons For to those persons who were to be made free because any Man may sue what they said was Law but in the case of that Maid who was in her Fathers custody there was no body else to whom the Master of her could resign his possession wherefore he thought fit that her Father should be sent for though in the mean time he that challenged her should not lose his right but should take the Girl home with him upon security to bring her again into Court when he came who was her pretended Father Against this unjust Decree there were many who murmured but ne'r an one of them durst saâ— a word 'till P. Numitorius the Girls Uncle and her Lover Icilius came in for whom the crowd made way but just as the Multitude were thinking that by the Interposition of Icilius they might be able to thwart Appius the Lictor cryed out He has Decreed it and with that put by Icilius who was very loud upon the point Whereupon though his nature was very mild he was inflamed by that indignity and said Appius You should remove me hence with a Dagger that you may have that kept private which you would fain conceal Know I am to marry this Maid who is to be my chast Wife Wherefore call all your own Lictors and those of your Collegues too about you and bid them make ready your Rods and Axes yet Icilius 's Sweet-heart shall not tarry any where without her Fathers Doors No though you have taken away the Tribunes aid and their Appeal from the People of Rome which were the two forts whereby to defend our Liberty it does not follow that your Lust must tyrannize over our Children and our Wives too Exert your malice upon our backs and necks but let our Chastity at least be secure If she suffer any violence I will conjure the Romans as she is my Spouse Virginius the Soldiers as she
in shewing his severity He commanded M. Livius because he had been condemned by the Judgment of the People to sell his Horse So M. Livius on the other hand when they came to the Tribe called Tribus Narniensis and his Collegues ordered C. Claudius also to sell his Horse for two reasons the one because he had born false witness against him and the other that he was not heartily reconciled to him By this means there was a very ungentile contest between them who should most fully the others reputation though by the loss of his own At the end of his Censorship when C. Claudius had sworn to the Laws and was gone up into the Treasury among the Names of such as he left only tributary to the publick and otherwise totally disfranchised he gave his Collegue a Name Then M. Livius came into the Treasury and except the Tribe called Tribus Maecia which had neither condemned him nor made either Consul or Censor after he was condemned left all the Roman People consisting of thirty four Tribes disfranchised because not only that they had condemned him though innocent but being condemned had made him Consul and Censor nor could they deny either that they had offended once in their Judgment or twice in their Assemblies That among the thirty four Tribes C. Claudius also should be disfranchised And if he had any precedent for making the same person twice disfranchised he would leave C. Claudius particularly by name among those that were so punished This contest of the Censors to reproach each other was very unbecoming but their chastising the peoples inconstancy was worthy of the Censorian gravity of those times By this means the Censors falling under envy Cn. Baebius supposing that he had a good occasion to raise himself by their ruines he as Tribune of the People assigned them both such a day for their Tryal But that matter was by consent of the Senate set aside lest the Censorship in time to come might be obnoxious to the popular breath The same Summer Clampetia a Town in the Country of the Bruttii being taken by the Consul by storm Consentia and Pandosia with other meaner Towns came and made a voluntary surrender And when the time of the Assembly was now at hand they thought fit rather to send for Cornelius out of Etruria where there was no War to Rome and he made Cn. Servilius Caepio with C. Servilius Geminus Consuls Then the Praetorian Assembly was held wherein were chosen P. Cornelius Lentulus P. Quintilius Varus P. Aelius Paetus and P. Villius Tappulus the last two of which were created Praetors though they were at that time Aediles of the People The Consul having ended the Assembly returned into Etruria to the Army Some of the Priests died that year and in their places were put Tib. Veturius Philo High-Priest of Mars who was created and inaugurated into the place of M. Aemilius Regillus who died the year before and in the room of M. Pomponius Matho the Augur and Decemvir were created M. Aurelius Cotta as Decemvir and Tib. Sempronius Gracchus as Augur though he were but a very Youth which was a thing mighty extraordinary in the conferring of the Priesthoods That year there was a golden Chariot set up in the Capitol by the curule or chief Aediles C. Livius and M. Servilius Geminus and the Roman Games were performed two days together as the Plebeian ones also were by the Aediles P. Aelius and P. Villius besides that there was a Feast called Epulum Jovis or Jupiters Feast upon account of those Games DECADE III. BOOK X. The EPITOME 5 6. In Africa Scipio overcame the Carthaginians Syphax King of Numidia and Asdrubal in several Battles by the assistance of Masinissa took two Camps belonging to the Enemy in which 40000 Men were cut off by Fire and Sword 12. He took Syphax by means of C. Laelius and Masinissa 13 14 15. Masinissa fell presently in Love with Sophonisba the Wife of Syphax and Daughter of Asdrubal who was at the same time taken and married her for which being rebuked by Scipio he sent her poyson which she drank and died 20 25. It came to pass through Scipio's many Victories that the Carthaginians being driven to despair called Annibal back out of Italy for a Guard to the publick Safety 30 c. And he departing out of Italy in the sixteenth year crossed over into Africa where he endeavoured by Parley to make a Peace with Scipio 35. But being that they could not agree upon the Terms of it he was conquered in a pitch'd Battle 37. The Carthaginians had a Peace granted to them upon their Petition Annibal laid violent hands upon Gisgo as he was disswading the People from Peace and then excusing the temerity of that action himself stood up and excited them to the same Mago who was wounded in the War that he had with the Romans in the Country of the Insubrians as he came back for Africa upon a Summons that he by certain Ambassadors sent to him dyed of his wound Masinissa had his Kingdom restored to him Scipio returning into the City made a noble and a splendid Triumph which Q. Terentius Culleo a Senator followed with a Cap upon his Head as though he had been by Scipio redeemed from servitude Scipio Africanus who whether through the favour of the Soldiers or the love of the People he were first so surnamed is uncertain was certainly the first General that ever was ennobled with the Name of a whole Nation vanquished by himself CN Servilius Caepio and C. Servilius Geminus who were Consuls in the sixteenth year of the Punick War having made report to the Senate concerning the War and the Provinces the Senate thought fit V. C. 547. that the Consuls should either agree among themselves or cast Lots which of them should have the Province of the Bruttii against Annibal with Etruria and Liguria That he to whose Lot the Bruttii fell should have the Army of the Consul P. Sempronius P. Sempronius for he also was continued in Commission as Proconsul a year longer should succeed P Licinius and he come back to Rome who was also accounted an excellent Warrior besides his other accomplishments in which no Citizen at that time out-did him he having all humane good things amassed together that either Nature or Fortune could supply He likewise was of a Noble Family and rich besides that he was very handsom and strong He was also reckoned very eloquent whether he were to plead a Cause or upon any occasion either in the Senate or before the People were to perswade or disswade the Audience being moreover well skill'd in the Jus Pontificium the Law concerning Religion but above all his warlike Experience had qualified him for the Consulate What was decreed to be done touching one Army in the Country of the Bruttii the same was also ordered as to the Army in Etruria and Liguria M. Cornelius was commanded to deliver the Army to the
the Senate gave them leave to remove to Signia and Ferentinum The Gaditanes also upon their Petition had the immunity granted them not to have a Prefect or Governour sent to their Town of Gadeis contrary to the Agreement between them and L. Marcius Septimus when they first put themselves under the protection of the Romans And when the Narnian Embassadors complained that they had not their full number of Inhabitants but that there were some got in among them who though they were not of their race pretended to be part of the Colony L. Cornelius the Consul was ordered to create Triumviri upon the score of those matters Accordingly he created P. and Sextus Aelius whose Surnames both were Paetus and Cornelius Lentulus But though the Petition of the Narnians wherein they desired to have their Colonies number augmented was allowed the Cosans met not with the same success in the same affair When they had made an end of what they had to do at Rome the Consuls went to their Provinces P. Villius at his coming into Macedonia was received with a fierce mutiny among the Soldiers which having been sometime before raised had not been sufficiently stifled in the beginning Those were the two Thousand Men that had been brought out of Africa after Annibal was quite vanquished into Sicily and thence almost an Year into Macedonia for Voluntiers But they said they were not willing to come For they drew back when the Tribunes were going to put them a-board but however whether they had put themselves into that service by force or free-will they had born the brunt of it and now it was time to put some end to that Campagn That they had not seen Italy in many Years but were grown old under their armour in Sicily Africa and Macedonia That they were quite tired out with labour and toil having lost all the blood in their veins through the wounds that they received To which the Consul said They gave a good reason for their being disbanded if they had made their address with modesty but that neither that nor any thing else could be the just cause of a mutiny among them Wherefore if they would stay by their Ensigns and obey him he would write to the Senate touching their being dismiss'd and that they would obtain their ends by modesty sooner than by stubbornness At that time Philip attacked Thaumaci a Town as fiercely as he could with Mounds and Engines planted against it yea was just going to apply his ram to the Walls but was forced from his enterprize by a sudden sally of the Aetolians who under the command of Archidamus having got through the Macedonian Sentinels into the Walls made constant eruptions night and day one while upon the Guards and another while into the Works In which the very nature of the place was assistant to them For Thaumaci is situate as you go from Pylae and the Malian Bay through Lamia on an high place just by the streights called Caele And if you travel over the rougher parts of Thessaly where the Roads are hard to find they winâ— so strangely through the several Vallies there when you come to this City there is such a large Plain laid open as it were a vast calm Sea before your view that you can hardly see to the end of it From which strange situation of that Town it is called Thaumaci from Thauma i. e. a Wonder Nor is this City secure in its heighth only but also by its being seated upon a steep Rock cut smooth on every side These difficulties and it s not being worth so much toil and hazard made Philip desist from the attempt Besides it was now just Winter too when he departed thence and led his Forces back to Winter Quarters in Macedonia And there the rest all the time they had to rest themselves refreshed both their Minds and their Bodies but Philip by being at ease from the daily fatigues of marching and fighting was so much the more intent upon and sollicitous for the general event of the War not only fearing the Enemies that press'd him both by Sea and Land but being jealous of the affections sometimes of his Allies and otherwhiles of his own Countrymen lest the former should revolt out of hopes of an alliance with the Romans or the latter be desirous to make any Innovation Wherefore he sent Embassadors into Achaia also not only to exact an Oath from that People for so they had agreed To swear fealty to Philip every year but likewise to restore to the Achaeans Orchomenon Heraea and Triphylia and to the Megalopolitans Aliphera being they challenged it and said It never was a City belonging to Triphylia but ought to be restored to them because it was one of those that were allotted to the building of Megalopolis By which means he confirmed his alliance with the Achaeans Then he reconciled the Macedonians with Heraclides For seeing that he was the greatest grievance in all his Kingdom as being loaded with so many accusations he put him in Prison to the great joy of all the People After which he made preparations for the War with as much care as ever he had done in all his time before and disciplined both the Macedonians and the mercenary Soldiers sending in the beginning of the Spring all the foreign Auxiliaries with what light armour he had under the command of Athenagoras through Epirus into Chaonia to seize those streights near Antigonia which the Greeks call Sthena i. e. narrow passes And himself in a few days after following with an heavier Army when he had viewed all the situation of the Country he thought the fittest place to encamp in to be by the River Aous Which River runs between the two Mountains one of which the Natives call Aeropus and the other Asnaus in a narrow Vale with a very strait passage upon the bank of it And of those Hills he ordered Athenagoras to take possession of and to fortifie Asnaus whilst he himself pitched his Camp in Aeropus Where the Rocks were smooth and steep a small guard was kept but where it was less secure he fortified some parts with Trenches some with Bulwarks and others with Turrets There was also a great quantity of Engines that they might be able at a distance to repel the Foe planted in convenient places besides that the Kings Tent was set before the Bulwark on the top of the Hill for a terrour to the Enemy and an encouragement to his own Men. The Consul being informed by Charopus an Epirote where the King with his Army lay after he had wintered in Corcyra came in the beginning of the Spring over into the Continent and marched toward the Enemy When he was about five Thousand Paces from the Kings Camp leaving his Legions in a fortified Place himself went forward with the nimblest of his Men to view the Country and the next day held a Council to advise Whether he should attempt to make his way through the
repel the Enemy at least from this place remove this terror from the Romans and stop their dishonorable flight I vow that here I will build thee a Temple by the name of Jupiter Stator so called for stopping those that fled which may be a Monument to all posterity that by thy present aid our City was preserved Having made this Prayer as if he had been sensible that his Prayers were heard he cryed out From this place Romans the good and great Jupiter bids you rally and renew the Fight Immodiately the Romans faced about and fought as if they had been commanded by a voice from Heaven whil'st Romulus made all the hast he could to the head of the Army Metius Curtius the Sabine General ran down from the Castle and had driven the Romans the breadth of the whole Forum or Market-place nor was he now far from the Gate of the Palace crying out We have routed the perfidious Villains cowardly effeminate Fellows and now they know it is quite another thing to force young Maids than it is to engage with Men. Upon whom as he was boasting on this wise Romulus with a company of brave young fellows made an attack Metius by chance at that time fought on Horseback and consequently was the easier defeated which when the Romans had accomplished they pursu'd him and the other part of the Roman Army encouraged by the example of their King routed the Sabines Metius whose Horse was scared at the noise of them that pursu'd him got into a bog and that made the Sabines also concern'd for the danger that such a great Man was then in But he by the consent and advice of his own Men whose kindness increased his resolution made his escape whil'st in the mean time the Romans and Sabines in a Valley between two Hills renewed the Fight but the Romans won the day Then the Sabine Women who were the unhappy cause of the War with their hair about their ears and their garments all torn having conquered all feminine fear by their misfortunes were so bold as to run in among the flying darts and across between the two Armies to part them and decide the quarrel begging and intreating on the one hand the Sabines as Fathers and on the other the Romans as Husbands That they who were all Fathers and Sons in law would not stain themselves with blood that they would not defile their own Offspring with parricide the Sabines the Progeny of their Grandchildren or the Romans that of their Children If you are vexed at the alliance and intermarriage that is between you turn your anger upon us we are the cause of the War and of all the wounds or slaughter that has been made either of Husbands or Parents 't is better for us to die than live either Widows or Childless without one part of you This moveth both the common Soldiers and the Commanders also and immediately there was silence and a cessation of Arms upon which the Generals marched forth to make a League nor did they conclude a Peace only but made one City out of two join'd both the Kingdoms into one and translated the Empire wholly to Rome Thus the City was doubled but as a complement to the Sabines the Citizens were after that called Quirites from Cures a Town of the Sabines and as a Monument of that fight they called the place where Curtius having escaped out of a deep Fen first stop'd his Horse upon the Strand the Lacus Curtius or Curtian Lake That Peace which so suddenly succeeded such a fatal War made the Sabine Women much dearer to their Husbands and Parents and above all to Romulus himself And therefore when he divided the People into thirty Curiae or Wards he called those Curiae by their names It is not said whether those Women who gave their names to the several Wards which were not so many questionless as there were Women were chosen out upon the score of their age the dignities of their Husbands their own virtue or by lot At the same time also there were three hundred Horse raised the Ramnenses so called from Romulus the Tatienses so called from Titus Tatius and the Luceres the cause of whose name and original is uncertain And from that time two Kings enjoyed that Kingdom not only in common but with peace and concord also Some years after certain Relations of King Tatius abused the Ambassadors that came from Laurentum concerning which the Laurentes desired to be tryed by the Law of Nations but the kindness that King Tatius had for his Kindred and their intreaties prevailed more with him Wherefore he turned their punishment upon himself for at Lavinium when he came thither to a solemn Sacrificing they made a riot and killed him Which thing Romulus they say took not so ill as he might have done either because he thought Tatius an unfaithful partner in the Kingdom or that he lookt upon him as justly slain Wherefore he abstain'd from making War but yet to expiate for the injuries of the Ambassadors and the death of the King the League between those two Cities Rome and Lavinium was renewed But when this unexpected Peace was made with that People another War broke out more near at hand even almost at their very Gates The Fidenates thinking that a great and powerful Empire was growing too near them took an occasion to make a War by way of prevention before it attained to that strength which in time it was likely to have wherefore they sent their youth all armed to ravage the Country that lies between Rome and Fidenae Then turning to the left for on the right hand the Tiber hindred their passage they wasted all before them to the great consternation and terror of the Country people who being put into a sudden tumult by that means brought the news into the City Romulus surprized at it and being much concerned immediately for a War so near at hand would not admit of any long deliberation drew out his Army and pitch'd his Camp a thousand paces from Fidenae Where having left a small Guard he marched out with all the rest of his Forces and ordering some part of his men to make an Ambuscade in the thickets thereabout went on himself with the greater part of his Foot and all his Horse and as his desire was by a tumultuous daring way of fighting and riding about before their very Gates provoked the Enemy to take notice of him besides that way of Fighting on Horse-back gave them less reason to wonder at that flight which his men were to counterfeit and so when the Horse seemed to be in a quandary whether they should fight or run and the Foot too gave back the Enemy came full drive out upon them and seeing the Roman Army make way were so eager to press up and follow them that at last they were decoy'd to the place where the Ambuscade lay From whence the Romans started up all on a sudden and set upon the
animated both by their own natural courage and filled with the exhortations of all the by-standers march forth into the midst between the two Armies The two Armies sate down on both sides before their Camps more free from present danger than from care for their Empire was at stake and ventured upon the courage and fortune of those few men wherefore with great suspence of mind they were very intent on that ungrateful spectacle The Signal was given and the three young men on each side fell fiercely to it with a courage and fury of two great Armies nor were they concerned either one or t'other for their own particular danger but publick Empire and slavery possessed their minds and the thoughts that such would be the fortune of their Country as they themselves procured Upon the first onset when their Arms clash'd and their Swords glitter'd a great dread seized all the Spectatours for the Combat enclining to neither side the People had almost lost their voice and breath But soon after when they came to grappling and shewed not only agility of body and their dexterity in handling their Arms but bloud and wounds two of the Romans fell down dead one over the other having wounded the three Albans at whose fall the Alban Army gave a great shout for joy which made the Roman Legions despair and yet they were extremely concerned for that one single Person who was encompassed by the three Curiatij But it so happened that he was yet unhurt and though being a single person he was not able to cope with them all yet he was strong enough for any one of them wherefore to divide the Combat he pretended to fly supposing that they would each of them follow him as their wounds would permit When he was got some distance from the place where the Combat began looking back he saw them pursue him a good way behind but one of them not far from him and therefore he returned and set upon him very severely And while the Alban Army cried out to the Curiatij to help their Brother the Horatius had now killed his Enemy and being victorious made what haste he could to engage a second of them Then the Romans with a shout like that of People who are beyond all expectation animated to favour any party encouraged their Champion and he did all he could to make an end of the fight Wherefore before the third who was not far off could overtake him he dispatched the second Curiatius And now they were upon equal terms as being one to one though there was no parity between them either of hope or strength for the Roman body which was untouched and the double victory which he had gained made him fit and eager to engage in a third encounter while the Alban who was tired with his wounds had run so far that he could hardly crawl and was in a manner conquered by seeing his Brethren slain before him was exposed to a victorious Enemy nor was that Duel any difficulty at all to him Wherefore the Roman exulting cryed out I have sent two of these Brethren to Hell already and will now send the third who is the cause of this War that the Romans may bear Rule over the Albans With that the Alban being scarce able to support his arms he ran him into the Throat and rifled him when he was down The Romans with shouts and gratulations received the Horatius and their joy was so much the greater by how much more their fears had been Whereupon they went with very different thoughts to bury their dead for one side was advanced to Empire and the other side made subject to Foreigners Their Sepulchres are to be seen in the several places where each of them fell those of the two Romans in one place nearer to Alba and those of the three Albans toward Rome but at a distance from each other according as they fought Before they went thence Metius asked Tullus according to the league which they had made what his commands were To which he replyed that all the young men should be ready in Arms for he should make use of them if he had occasion to make War against the Vientes So the Armies were thence led home Horatius marched in the head of them carrying his triple Spoils before him and being met near the gate called Porta Capena by a Virgin his Sister who was betrothed to one of the Curiatij she knowing her Lovers robe upon her Brothers shoulders which she herself had wrought she let loose her hair and in a mournful tone called out upon the name of her dead Sweet-Heart The moan which his Sister made much moved the generous Youth even amidst his Victories and all that publick joy He therefore drew his Sword and chiding her ran the Maid through Get you gone said he with your untimely amour to your Lover you that have forgot your Brothers that are dead nor care for him that is alive but with him and them neglect your Country too and so may every Maid be served that is a Roman and weeps for the death of an Enemy That seemed a cruel act both to the Senate and the People but his fresh desert did somewhat lessen the fact yet nevertheless he was convened before the King The King lest he should seem the Author of so sad and ungrateful a Judgment in the opinion of the vulgar or after judgment of punishment This was the Crime call'd Perduellio i. e. An Action done either in opposition to the Interest or Honour of the Romans called an assembly of the People and said I constitute two Officers called Duumviri to judg of Horatius 's Crime according to Law That Law was very severe and ran thus Let the Duumviri judg of such facts and if any appeal from the Duumviri let the appeal be tryed in which if the Duumviri carry the cause let the Offenders head be covered and he hanged upon a Gallows and let him have so many stripes either within or without the Walls By this Law the Duumviri were created who thought that they thereby were obliged not to absolve even an innocent person when they had once condemned him and therefore one of them said to him P. Horatius I judg thee guilty of Enmity to thy Country go Officer bind his hands Accordingly the Officer came and tyed him whereupon Horatius by the consent of Tullus who was a favourable Interpreter of the Law cryed out I appeal and so the appeal was tryed before the People All men were concerned at that tryal especially when P. Horatius his Father declared that he thought his Daughter was justly slain and if it had not been so that he would have corrected his Son according to the duty and power of a Father Then he desired them that they would not make him whose Sons they had so lately seen to be so conspicuous for their valour quite childless With that the old man embracing his Son and pointing to
been Consul the Year before shining with fresh glory was pleased to let Caeso partake in his praises by remembring the Eights recounting the noble exploits which they had done sometimes in Skirmishes and other-whiles in pitched Battels persuading and telling them He was a brave Youth full fraught with all the gifts both of nature and fortune and would be the greatest support of any City where-ever he came though he wished to be a Citizen of Rome rather than of any other place As to what was offensive in him his heat and audacity age daily took off that and what was lacking in him prudence was every day increasing his vices growing old and his virtues coming to maturity wherefore they ought to let such a great Man live in their City 'till he was an old Man Among the rest his Father L. Quintius Surnamed Cincinnatus though he did not think fit to repeat his Commendations lest that might heap more envy upon him begging Pardon for his error and youthful carriage desired them that they would pardon his Son for his sake who had never offended any Man living either by word or action But some of them would not hear his intreaties either out of modesty or fear whilst others complaining that they and theirs were mulcted and abused by him gave him a cross answer and resolved to go on with the Tryal But there was one crime besides the common envy of the People that lay very hard upon him and that was that M. Volscius Fictor who some years before had been Tribune of the People came in as a Witness against him That he not long after the Plague was in the City came and caught the young Men playing their mad pranks in the street called Subura where the Whores dwelt that there a Quarrel arose and his elder Brother who was not yet very well recovered of his Distemper was knocked down by Caeso who hit him such a blow with his fist that he lay for dead whereupon they carried him home and thought he thereby got his bane But he could not prosecute Caeso for the Fact because of the Consuls that had been for some years last past When Volscius declared this the People were so netled that they had like to have murthered Caeso upon the place but Virginius ordered him to be laid hold on and put in Prison whilst in the mean time the Patricians opposed force with force T. Quintius cryed out Whereas they had given warning of a Capital Tryal the Man they designed so soon to pass Sentence upon ought not to be so roughly used before he was Convicted or had spoken for himself The Tribune on the other hand said He would not punish a Person uncondemned but yet he would keep him in Bonds 'till the day of Tryal that the Roman People might fairly revenge themselves of him for killing one of their Fellow Citizens Nevertheless the Tribunes being appealed to all together thought fit to mitigate the rigour of their Authority by a moderate Decree between the two extremes so they ordered him not to be put in Prison yet that he should appear at the day appointed and if he did not should engage to pay so much mony to the People though they had some dispute what the sum should be and therefore referred it to the Senate he remaining in Custody whilst they were consulted They therefore ordered him to give Bail one of whom they bound in a Recognizance of 3000 l. but how many should be bound for him was left to the Tribunes who pitching upon ten the Accuser let him go upon their security He was the first that ever gave publick Bail When by this means he was dismissed out of the Forum the next night without the knowledg of the Consuls he banished himself into Tuscany Wherefore upon the day of Tryal when they excused or essoigned him by saying he had fled his Country and was gone into Banishment the rest of the Tribunes being Appealed to though Virginius called it dismissed the Council But the Mony was cruelly exacted from his Father insomuch that when all he had was sold to raise it he was fain to live beyond the Tiber for some time like one Exiled in a pitiful little Cottage This Tryal and the Law being promulged found the City something to do for they were not engaged in any Foreign War When therefore the Tribunes like Conquerors now that the Senate was so terrified by the Banishment of Caeso supposed the Law was as good as passed and that all the Seniors of the Senate had withdrawn themselves from publick business the Juniors especially all that were Caeso's friends were more incensed against the People so far they were from abating in their animosities but that which proved their greatest advantage was that they kept their passion within bounds For when after Caeso's Banishment the Law was first proposed though they were ready prepared with an Army of Clients yet they attacked the Tribunes assoon as by offering any violence to them they gave them cause in such a manner that never an one of them gained more credit or envy by it but the People complained They had got a thousand Caesoes instead of one Though upon other days when the Tribunes did not stickle for their Law there were no Men more civil and quiet than those Juniors were for they would speak kindly and familiarly to the Commonalty invite them to their Houses be in the Forum and permit the Tribunes to hold other Assemblies without any disturbance nor ever look stern or be rough with any Man either in publick or private save when they talked of that Law for in other cases those young Men were popular enough Nor did the Tribunes manage other matters only without any disturbance but being also continued for the Year following had not so much as an ill word given them so far were the young Senators from offering any violence to them For their main design was to sooth and win upon the People so much as to reconcile them and by those Arts the Law was eluded for a whole Year Then C. Claudius the Son Appius and P. Valerius Poplicola being made Consuls found the City much quiter than it had been nor had the new Year brought forth any new accident U. C. 292 for the City was wholly taken up with the thoughts of preferring and the fear of passing that Law But the more the Junior Senators insinuated themselves into the People so much the more industrious the Tribunes were to make the People suspect them saving There was a Conspiracy among them for Caeso was at Rome and that they designed to kill the Tribunes and murther the People that the Senior Senators employed the Juniors to extirpate the Power of the Tribunes out of the Commonwealth and to reduce the City into the same fâ—â—m as it was of before they possessed themselves of the Holy Mount Besides this they were afraid of that constant and almost annual War from the
and the Army was two parts of it Allies and the third Romans The Allies therefore being come at the day appointed the Consul pitched his Camp without the Gate called Porta Capena where having purged the Army he went to Antium near which he sate down not far from the Enemy There seeing the Volsci because the Army was not yet come from the Aequi durst not fight but were making Provisions to secure themselves within their Bulwark the next day Fabius formed not one mixt Army of Romans and Allies together but three separate ones of the several People of which he commanded the middlemost consisting of the Roman Legions Then he ordered them all to observe the common signal that the Allies too might fall on and come off again at the same time if a Retreat were sounded placing the Hoâ—se to the Reerward of each Body Thus having put himself into this triple posture he surrounded the Camp and being very sharp upon them on all sides the Volsci were not able to sustein the shock and therefore weâ—e forced down from their Bulwark By which means getting over the Fortifications he drave the fearful crowd who were bent all one way out of the Camp and so as they were making all speed to get away the Horse who could not well climb over the Mounds but were spectators only of what was done having gotten them in a spacious Plain enjoyed a share of the Victory by killing the affrighted Enemies For there was a great slaughter of those that fled both in the Camp and without the Works too but the Plunder was more because the Enemy could hardly take away with them so much as their Arms and the whole Army had been utterly destroyed if the Woods had not proved a refuge to them in their flight Whilst these things passed at Antium the Aequi in the mean while having sent the flower of their Youth before them surprized the Castle of Tusculum in the night time sitting down with the rest of their Army not far from the Walls of the Town with design to breadthen and dissipate the Enemies Forces Which news being told at Rome and coming from thence to the Camp at Antium made the Romans as much concerned as if the Capitol had been said to have been taken not only because the Tusculans had deserved well of them so lately but also for the very resemblance of the danger which seemed to challenge their assistance Fabius therefore omitting all things else conveyed the Booty as fast as possible out of the Camp to Antium where having left a small Guard he made all the haste he could with his Army to Tusculum who were permitted to carry nothing along with them save only their Arms and what Bread or Meat they had ready dressed though in the mean time Consul Cornelius sent them Provisions from Rome So for some Months they were engaged at Tusculum before which Place the Consul with part of his Army attacked the Camp of the Aequi but gave the other part to the Tusculans to regain their Castle withall for he could never get into that by force But at length Famin made the Enemy remove from thence whereby being reduced to extreme necessity they were all sold by the Tusculans for Slaves disarmed and naked whom as they were ignominiously flying home the Roman Consul overtook in Algidum and killed every Man Being now Victorious he pitched his Camp at Columen a Towns name where he received his Men again and the other Consul when the Enemy was now beaten from the Walls of Rome and the danger over went himself also from Rome So the Consuls going two several ways into the Enemies Confines did the Volsci on the one hand and the Aequi on the other a great deal of mischief The same Year also I find in many Authors that the Antians Revolted but that L. Cornelius managed that War and took the Town I dare not affirm because there is no mention of it among the more ancient Authors When this War was ended another at home with the Tribunes put the Senate in a fright for they cryed out It was a cheat to keep the Army abroad so and nothing but a trick to hinder their Law from passing yet for all that they would go through with what they had undertaken But notwithstanding P. Lucretius Prefect of the City prevailed so far that the Tribunes complaints were deferred 'till the coming of the Consuls about which time there arose also a new cause of Commotion A. Cornelius and Q. Servilius being Questors had appointed a day to Try Volscius for that without doubt he was a false Witness against Caeso there being very good evidence to prove not only that Volscius's Brother was never seen abroad after he once fell sick but also that he never recovered of his Distemper but having languished under it for many Months at last died of the same nor was Caeso ever seen at Rome all that time in which Volscius had sworn he was there for several of his fellow Soldiers came in and testified He was with them all the while in the Wars without any furlow which if Volscius denyed there were a great many who privately offered him to name an impartial Judg. When therefore he refused to go to his Tryal all those circumstances agreeing together made Volscius's Condemnation as certain as that of Caeso against whom he had been a Witness But the Tribunes put off the Tryal by saying They would not suffer the Questors to call an Assembly for the Trying of a Criminal unless they had another first about their Law so both Causes were deferred 'till the arrival of the Consuls Who when they came in Triumph with their Victorious Army into the City many People believed because there was no talk of the Law that the Tribunes were disheartened But they it being now the latter end of their Year desiring to be a fourth time chosen Tribunes turned the dispute concerning the Law into a debate about Assemblies In which though the Consuls were as hot against the continuation of the Tribuneship as if the Law to diminish their Power had been preferred yet the Tribunes carried it The same Year the Aequi had a Peace granted them upon their Petition and the Poll which began the Year before was now made an end of that Lustrum or surveying of the People being the tenth from the time that the City was first Built The Rate laid upon the Citizens came to one hundred thirty two thousand four hundred and nine Sesterces In that Year the Consule gained great honour both at home and abroad in that they not only made Peace with their Enemies and reduced the City though not to a perfect Concord yet into such a state that it was less mutinous than before Then L. Minutius and C. Nautius being made Consuls undertook the two omitted Causes U. C. 294 of the precedent Year In which the Consuls strove as much to obstruct the Law as the Tribunes to hinder
which they promised him through their favour he should be Consul But he as Mans mind is never satisfied with what Fortune promises was ambitious of higher things that were not to be allowed of and therefore seeing the Consulship must be wrested from the Senators began to consult of his being King for that he thought was the only reward that could requite all that trouble and pains which he must undergo before he attained even to a Consulship And now the Consular Assembly was at hand which since his designs were not yet ripe for execution destroyed his enterprise For T. Quintius U. C. 315 Capitolinus was the sixth time made Consul who was a Person very unlikely to favour one that would make any innovation and his Collegue was Agrippa Menenius Surnamed Lanatus L. Minucius being Prefect of the Provisions who whether he were newly created again or at first made for an uncertain time as long as occasion required is not known there being no evidence of it but his name as Prefect put in the Linnen Books among the Magistrates both Years This Minucius taking the same care of the Commonwealth as Maelius privately had undertaken to do since there were the same sort of Men in both their Houses discovering the matter told the Senate That there were Arms carried into Maelius 's House and that he had Meetings at home which without doubt were Consults how to gain a Crown that the time for execution was not yet come but all things else were agreed on That the Tribunes also were bribed to betray their Liberty as likewise that the several Commissions were given to those that should head the Multitude That he came to tell them somewhat later than was consistent with their safety lest he should have informed them of what he did not know to be certainly true Which when they heard the chief of the Senate did not only chide the last Years Consuls for suffering such largesses or conventions of the People to be in any private House but blamed the new Consuls also for tarrying 'till the Prefect of the Provisions came and informed the Senate of a thing so weighty which might require a Consul not only for its detector but revenger too Then T. Quintius told them The Consuls were not at all to blame who being bound up by Laws that were made concerning Liberty of Appeal in order to dissolve Authority had not so much strength in their Office as they had Courage to revenge that audacious attempt according to the heinousness of it that would require not only a stout Man but also one that were free and disengaged from the fetters of Law Wherefore he would make L. Quintius Dictator for he had a soul equal to that great Authority Thereupon when they all approved of the proposal Quintius at first refused it and asked them What they meant to expose such an old Man as he was to so much difficulty and danger But soon after when they all around him cried out that there was more Policy and Courage too in that old Soul of his than in all the rest that were there commending him as he deserved whilst the Consul continued of the same mind Cincinnatus having made his supplication to the gods that his old Age might not prove either a damage or dishonour to the Commonwealth in such dangerous circumstances was declared Dictator by the Consul and made C. Servilius Ahala Magister of the Horse The next day having planted Guards in several places he came down into the Forum where the People stared upon him as a new and wonderful sight the Maelians and their Leader saw the force of that great Authority designed against them those that knew nothing of a design to make Maelius King asked What Tumults what sudden War required a Dictator or Quintius to be Governour of the Commonwealth when he was above eighty years of Age whilst in the mean time Servilius Master of the Horse being sent to Maelius by the Dictator told him The Dictator would speak with you to which he in a fear replying What would he have with me Servilius answered You must make your defence against Minucius who hath accused you before the Senate Whereupon Maelius retired into the crowd of his followers and first looking about him was very unwilling to move but at last the Apparitor or Serjeant dragging him along by the Order of the Master of the Horse he was rescued by those that stood about him and running away implored the favour of the Roman People saying He was oppressed by consent of the Senate for having been kind to the Commonalty and desiring that they would assist him now in his last extremity nor suffer him to be murdered before their eyes As he bawled out to this effect Ahala Servilius overtook him and slew him by which means being bespattered with the blood of the Party slain and guarded with a Company of Patrician young Men he carried the news to the Dictator that Maelius who when he was summoned to come before him had repelled the Serjeant and raised the Multitude upon them had what he deserved upon which the Dictator said Go and prosper C. Servilius in thy Courage now thou hast freed the Commonwealth Thereupon seeing the Multitude in a Tumult because they were divided in their opinions of the matter he ordered an Assembly to be called in which he told them That Maelius was justly slain though he were not guilty of a Design to be King for not coming to the Dictator when the Master of the Horse called him for he was then sitting to hear the Cause which when he had examined Maelius should have had as much favour as the case would have born That he who made what resistance he could rather than submit to the Law was restrained by violence nor ought a Magistrate to have dealt with him like a fellow Citizen who though he were born among a free People among Laws and Priviledges in a City from whence he knew all Kings were banished and where the same Year the Sons of a Kings Sister and of the Consul that delivered his Country were Beheaded with an Ax for a Plot in which they were known to be engaged for bringing in of the Kings again a City from whence Collatinus Tarquinius the Consul out of hatred to the name was forced to quit his Office and go into banishment a City in which Sp. Cassius suffered after some Years for a design he had to be King a City in which of late the Decemviri were amerced in all their Estates and punished with Exile or Death for their Kingly pride He I say should not have been dealt with like a fellow Citizen that would hope as Sp. Maelius did to make himself King And pray what a Man is he that he should aspire to Dominion without any Nobility of birth any honours or deserts For though the Claudii and the Cassii were high-minded they had the Consulships the Decemvirates and other honours of their
Ancestors and the splendor of their Families to brag of so that it was no fault in them But that Sp. Maelius who should rather wish than hope to be Tribune of the People who was only a rich Corn-Merchant should hope to buy the Liberty of his fellow Citizens for two pounds of Wheat apiece or should think that by giving them a meals Meat he could wheedle a People into slavery who had conquered all their neighbour Nations or that the City should suffer him to be King whom they could scarce find in their hearts to make a Senator and to have all the Ensigns of State and all that Power which Romulus their Founder who was descended from the gods but now was one of their number had was not more wicked than monstrous Nor was it enough that he atoned fâ—r it with his blood except his House too were demolished in which so much madness was conceived and his Goods that were infected with the Design of their being the price of a Kingdom all confiscated Wherefore he ordered the Questors to sell those Goods and put them into the publick Treasury Then he commanded his House that the place where it stood might be a monument of the frustration of his wicked purpose to be immediately Demolished and the space was called Aequimelium L. Minucius was honoured with a figure of a Golden Bull without the Gate called Porta Trigemina nor were the People unwilling to have it so because he divided Maelius's Corn amongst them at an As i. e. a Bushel I find in some Authors that this same Minucius went over from the Senate to the People being made the eleventh Tribune of the Commons and appeased the Sedition caused by the death of Maelius But it is scarce credible that the Senate suffered the number of the Tribunes to be augmented or that such an example should be introduced by a Patrician especially Nor is it likely that the People ever obtained such a Priviledg or so much as stickled for it But above all it is plainly confuted by a Law that pass'd some few years before That the Tribunes should not have the power to take in any Collegue above their just number Q. Caecilius Q. Junius and Sext. Titinnius were the sole Persons of all the College of Tribunes that did not favour the Law touching Minucius's honour but accused one while Minucius and another while Servilius before the People complaining perpetually of the foul murder of Maelius By which means they brought it to pass that an Assembly should be held for the chusing of Tribunes Military rather than Consuls not doubting but since there were six to be chosen for that was now their legal number some Plebeians that should profess themselves revengers of Maelius's death would be elected The Commons though that Year they were disturbed with many and various Commotions created no more than three Tribunes with power Consular U. C. 316 among whom was L. Quintius Cincinnatus's Son from the envy of whose Dictatorship they sought an occasion to raise a Tumult but Mamercus Aemilius a Man of great Quality was chosen before Quintius and L. Junius was the third In the time of their Magistracy Fidenae a Roman Colony revolted to Lar. Tolumnius King of the Veians and to the Veians But there was a worse offence added to that Revolt For by the command of Tolumnius they killed C. Fulcinius C. Julius Tullus Sp. Nautius and L. Roscius the Roman Embassadors that came to know the reason of their new designs Some extenuate the Kings fault and say that as he threw a lucky Cast at Dice his doubtful words being taken by the Fidenians as though he had meant they should kill them was the cause of their Death But that is incredible that when the Fidenates his new Allies came to him to consult about a Murder that was like to break the Law of Nations his mind should not be off from his Game nor that afterwards he should be concerned for the fact It is more likely that the People of Fidenae had a mind to be so engaged by that action that being conscious of its heinousness they might never after hope for any friendship from the Romans The Embassadors who were slain at Fidenae had their Statues set up publickly in the Rostra And now a bloody Fight drew nigh in which they were to engage with the Veians and the Fidenates who besides their being two neighbour Nations occasioned a War by such an horrid Act wherefore the People and their Tribunes being at quiet that publick affairs U. C. 317 might be the better managed there was nothing said to the contrary but that M. Geganius Macerinus a third time and L. Sergius Fidenas should be made Consuls of which the later I suppose took his Surname of Fidenas from the War which he then waged For he was the first that fought on this side the River Anien with any success against the King of the Veians but he did not obtain a bloodless Victory Wherefore the Romans were more grieved for the Citizens they had lost than they rejoyced at the Defeat of their Enemies and the Senate as in a case of extremity ordered Mamercus Aemilius to be proclaimed Dictator Who was no sooner made but he created L. Quintius Cincinnatus a Youth very worthy of such a Father who had been of the College the last Year when they were Tribunes Military together with power Consular To the Levy which the Consuls made were added the old Centurions who had experience in Warlike affairs and the number of those that were lost in the late Battel made up The Dictator commanded Quintius Capitolinus and M. Fabius Vibulanus to follow him as Lieutenants As therefore he had greater authority than ordinary so the Man was equal to his Commission for he drove the Enemy out of the Roman Territories beyond Anien where they took possession of the Hills betwixt that and Fidenae removing their Camp backward nor did they descend into the Plains before the Faliscan Legions came to their assistance and then at length the Etrurians Camp was pitched before the Walls of Fidenae In the mean time the Roman Dictator sate down not far from thence at the meeting of the two Rivers upon the Banks of them both and raising his Out-works as fast and as far as he could to defend himself for the present the next day led his Army into the Field There were several opinions among the Enemies The Faliscans being a great way from Home very uneasie in a Campaign and confident in their own strength desired to engage but the Veians and the Fidenates thought best to protract the War Tolumnius therefore though he was better pleased with the sentiments of his own Countrymen yet lest the Faliscans should undergo too much hardship declared He would fight the next day The Dictatoâ— and the Romans were the more encouraged when they saw the Enemy declined the Battel and the day following when the Soldiers murmured among themselves and said that
they had rebell'd get to be made free Denizens of Rome 25. The Palaepolitans vanquish'd and besieg'd submit 26. Q. Publilius who first besieg'd them is continued in Command and allow'd to Triumph 28. The Commons freed from the Tyranny of their Creditors by reason of the filthy Lust of Lucius Papirius who would have ravish'd C. Publilius his Debtor 30. Whil'st L. Papirius the Dictator was gone from the Army to Rome to repeat the Sacrifices Q Fabius General of the Horse invited by an occasional advantage fights with the Samnites contrary to his Edict and worsts them for which the Dictator goes about to punish him 33. Fabius flies to Rome 35. And when his cause would not hold water at Law by the Peoples intreaty he obtains a Pardon 36. This Book contains the prosperous proceedings against the Samnites THE Consuls now were C. Plautius the second time and L. Aemilius Mamercus U. C. 412 when the Setines and Norbans sent advice to Rome that the Privernates had Revolted with Complaints of damages by them sustained Intelligence also arriv'd That an Army of Volscians under the Conduct of the Antiates were Encamp'd at Satricum The management of both these Wars fell to Plautius's Lot who advancing first to Privernum presently gave them Battel The Enemy was easily vanquish'd the Town taken but restored only a strong Garison placed in it and two parts of their Lands taken away from them Thence the Victorious Army march'd to Satricum against the Antiates where a cruel Battel was fought with great slaughter on both sides and when a Tempest had parted them before either could lay claim to the Victory the Romans nothing wearied with that so doubtful Conflict made preparations to renew the Encounter in the Morning But the Volscians having taken an Account of what Men they had lost had not so much mind to repeat the Danger For in the Night thereby confessing themselves beaten they dislodged and in fear and confusion went their ways towards Antium leaving their wounded Men and part of their Baggage behind them A power of Arms were found amongst the Dead and in their Camp which the Consul promis'd to Dedicate to the Goddess called Mother Lua thought to signifie the Earth which after Blood-shed was to be appeas'd with Offerings and Lustrations after which he forrag'd and spoil'd the Enemies Country as far as the Sea-Coast Aemilius the other Consul made an Inroad into the Sabellian Territories but neither were the Samnites in the Field nor did their Legions offer to oppose him On the contrary as he was destroying all before him with Fire and Sword they sent Ambassadors to him desiring Peace whom he referr'd to the Senate where having obtain'd Audience their haughty stomachs being come down They requested the Romans to grant them Peace and leave to prosecute their War against the Sidicins which they alledged they might with the more Justice and Equity desire since as they had sought and entred into Amity with the People of Rome in their highest Prosperity and not as the Campanians enforced by necessity so the Arms they desired to bear was against the Sidicins always their Enemies and never Friends to the Romans A Nation who neither in Peace as the Samnites ever desired any Alliance with the Romans nor yet in time of War had like the Campanians requested any Assistance from thence and could not pretend to be under the protection of or in subjection to the People of Rome When touching these Demands of the Samnites Tib. Aemelius the Praetor had consulted the Senate and they had thought fit to renew the League he returned them this Answer That as it was not the fault of the People of Rome that the Friendship heretofore concluded between them was not perpetual so since they now seem'd to be weary of the War of which themselves were the occasion the Romans would not oppose the Renewing of the League and settling of the Ancient Amity But as to the Sidicins they should not interpose but leave the Samnites to their Liberty of making Peace and War as they should think best The League being ratified they return'd home and forthwith the Roman Army was recall'd having got a years Pay and Corn for three months according to the Capitulation made with the Consul for granting them a Truce till their Ambassadors came back The Samnites now imployed all their Forces against the Sidicins and doubted not but in little time to be Masters of their City Then first of all the Sidicins made an offer to yield up themselves and become Subjects to the Romans but the Senate rejected the same as coming too late and wrested as it were from them perforce in their last Extremity Whereupon they tendred the same to the Latines who already of their own accord had revolted and taken Arms nor were the Campanians wanting to join in the same Association so much fresher in their minds was the memory of the Injuries offered them by the Samnites than of the good Offices done them by the Romans Out of so many several Nations confederated together a vast Army was raised which under the Conduct of the Latines invaded the Borders of the Samnites and slew more in Forraging and Plundering than by fair Fighting And though the Latines seem'd to have the better on 't in several Skirmishes yet they were well content for avoiding frequent Encounters to retreat out of the Enemies Territories Then had the Samnites time to send Ambassadors to Rome who made complaint to the Senate That they suffered as hard measure now they were Confederates as they did before whil'st they were Enemies and therefore did humbly request That the Romans would be satisfied with that Victory which they snatch'd out of the Samnites hands over the Campanians and Sidicins and not suffer them now to be trampled under foot by united multitudes of base and cowardly people That if the Latins and Campanians were Subjects to the People of Rome they would by their Authority restrain them from Infesting the Samnites Country and if they refuse that then they would by force of Arms compel them to forbear Hereunto the Senate framed a doubtful Answer For on the one side they were ashamed to say that the Latins were not now under their Dominion and on the other side afraid that if they should go about to rufflle with them it might alienate them the more and cause them to break out into open Hostility therefore they told the Ambassadors That as to the Campanians they were united not by League but by absolute Surrender and therefore whether they would or no they would make them be quiet But in their League with the Latins there was no Article whereby they should be prohibited from making War against whomsoever they thought fit This Answer as it sent away the Samnites altogether uncertain what measures the Romans would take so it wholly estranged the Campanians for fear and at the same time rendred the Latins more stout and daring as if the Romans
it with Reserves and all kind of Warlike skill and policy But the Soldiers went on coldly and on purpose hindered the Victory to discredit their General yet many of the Samnites were slain and not a few of the Romans wounded The Dictator like a prudent and experienced Commander easily perceived where the matter stuck and found it necessary to moderate the harshness of his temper and allay that Severity with a mixture of Courtesie therefore taking with him the Commissary-Generals he himself went to visit the Wounded Men thrusting his Head into their Tents asking them severally how they did and charging the Commissaries Tribâ—nes and Prefects to take particular care of every one of them by Name this being a thing in is self Popular he manag'd so dexterously that by curing their Bodies he also healed the rancour of their Minds and won their Hearts Nor did any thing contribute more to the speedy Recovery of their Health than the pleasure they took to see his care and diligence to procure it Having thus refresh'd his Army he once again encountred the Enemy with an assured hope both in himself and his Soldiers to Vanquish them which he perform'd so effectually that the same was the last day they durst look him in the Face Thenceforwards he march'd his Victorious Army which way soever the hopes of Booty invited and as they over-ran all the Enemies Country met with no Resistence neither of open Force nor yet so much as any attempt by Ambuscade The more to encourage the Soldiers the Dictator had ordered all the Plunder to be divided amongst them so that private Advantage spurr'd them on as well as the publick Quarrel At last the Samnites were so cow'd and brought down that they became Suppliants to the Dictator for Peace offering to new Cloath all his Soldiers and give them a Years pay but being referred to the Senate answered That they would follow him and submit their Cause wholly to his Vertue and Goodness to do with and for them as he thought fit The Dictator entred the City in Triumph and before he laid down his Office by the Order of the Senate Created new Consuls C. Sulpicius Longus the second time and Q. Aemilius Caeretanus The Samnites had not yet concluded Peace for the Articles were still under Debate but had obtained a Truce from Year to Year which yet they did not honestly observe for when they heard that Papirius was out of Command their fingers itch'd to be again in Arms. But besides their playing fast and loose a War broke out with the Apulians the management of which latter fell to the share of Aemilius as that against the Samnites to Sulpicius There are some Authors who write That the War was not against the Apulians but in defence of some of their Allies that were Invaded by the Samnites But the low Condition of the Samnites at that time scarce able to defend themselves makes it more probable that they did not Attack the Apulians but rather the Romans quarrel'd with both the Nations at the same time because they had Confederated with each other against them However there happened no remarkable Action The Country of Apulia and Samnium Forraged but no Enemy either here or there to be met with At Rome there happened one Night a strange and unaccountable Pannick fear which on a sudden raised the whole City out of their Beds so that the Capitol the Castle the Walls and the Gates were fill'd with Armed Men And after there had been every wher evast concourse of People and a general Cry Arm Arm at Break of Day no Author or cause of all this Fear and Distraction could be discovered This Year the Inhabitants of Tusculum were proceeded against upon the prosecution of M. Flavius Tribune of the Commons who proposed That they might be punish'd for having by their Counsel and Assistance excited the Veliternians and Privernates to War against the Romans The People of Tusculum with their Wives and Children resorted to Rome and having changed their Apparel in despicable habit like Prisoners at the Bar went about from Tribe to Tribe before they gave their Suffrages falling down to every Man on their knees to beg favour whereby Pity prevail'd more to Pardon them than the goodness of their Cause to purge their Guilt Insomuch that all the Tribes except that called Pollia Voted to repeal the Law that had been preferr'd against them But the Sentence of the Pollian Tribe was That all the Men of fourteen Years of Age or upwards should be scourg'd and put to death And their Wives and Children by Martial Law to be sold for Slaves Which cruel Doom has stuck in the stomack of the Tusculanians even to the last Age and so great an Antipathy they have always had to the Authors thereof and their Posterity That scarce ever any Man of the Tribe Pollia when he stood Candidate for an Office could get the Voices of the Tribe Papiria into which the Tusculans were cast but in regard of this old Fewd they would right or wrong oppose his Pretensions The Year following Q. Fabius and L. Fulvius Consuls A. Cornelius Arvina Dictator and M. Fabius Ambustus General of the Horse upon apprehensions of a smarter War in Samnium because they were reported to have hired Auxiliaries from the Neighboring Nations there was a greater Levy of Soldiers than ordinary and a gallant Army advanc'd thither but encamp'd carelesly in the Enemies Country as if no Enemy had been near them When on a sudden the Samnites Legions came on so bravely that they carryed up their Trenches to the Romans Out-guards and if not hindred by the approach of Night would have fallen upon their Camp which they resolved to Attack early next Morning The Dictator seeing he was like to be oblig'd to a Battel sooner than he expected lest the disadvantage of the Ground should baulk the Courage of his Men leaving Fires thick burning in his Camp to amuse the Enemy silently dis-lodges and draws off his Troops but being so very near could not avoid being discovered The Horse presently pursued him in the Rere and press'd hard upon the Army in their March yet so as they would not Fight before it was Light nor indeed did the Foot advance out of their Camp till Break of day But then the Horse began to charge upon the Romans and what with Skirmishing continually with the Rere and falling sometimes upon their Flanks in streight and disadvantegeous Passes hindred their March till their own Foot came up so as now the Samnites with all their Forces were ready to Attack them The Dictator seeing he could not March on without great loss and hazard Commanded his Men to fortifie the Ground they stood on but the Enemies Light-Horse were skirting round about upon them so that they could not go out to provide Stakes for a Palizade nor with any safety begin their Trenches When therefore he found that he could neither go on nor abide there without
us number the Commanders in Chief ever since Affairs begun to fall under the management of Commoners and reckon up the several Triumphs it will appear the Commons have no cause to blush at their own Nobility This I am sure of whenever any mighty dangerous War happens the Senate and People of Rome do not repose more confidence in their Patritian than in their Plebeian Commanders Since this is so how can it seem an indignity to God or Man if to those great and illustrious Personages whom you have dignified with Ivory Chairs of State with Robes of Honor of all sorts with Triumphant Crowns and Laurels and whose Houses are above others rendred Glorious with the affix'd spoils of Enemies you shall also add the Sacred Accoutrements of Pontiffs and Augurs He that hath already been deck'd in the Ornaments ef Almighty Jupiter and being drawn through the City in a Chariot of Gold hath mounted the Capitol who can think it too much to see the same Person that hath thus appear'd as a God to Men to shew himself an humble Suppliant to the Gods to hold in Triumphal Hands the Sacred Cup or Holy-water-pot and the Divining Wand or Crosier Staff and with a veiled Head to kill the Sacrifices or take the lucky Auguries for the Publick When Posterity shall read the stile of some brave Man upon his Statue and find there so many Consulats Censorships and Triumphs Will they think you be frighted if you shall have added thereunto an Augurship or the Pontificial Dignity For my part I verily hope with reverence and the good leave of the Gods be it spoken That by the Beneficence of the People of Rome we are now such as by our Quality may bring as much Credit and Honor to the Priestly Function as we shall derive from it And that we desire it more in respect of the Service of the Gods than for any Interest of our own That whom we have hitherto reverenc'd privately we may henceforth have opportunities publickly to Worship But why plead I all this while as if the Patricians alone were intirely Invested with the Priviledge of Sacerdotal Dignities and as if we were not already in possession of one Honorable and most Principal Priesthood We see the Decemvirs appointed for Celebration of Sacrifices and Interpreting the Sibylline Verses for reading the Destinies of our Nation the same Persons being Chief Ministers at the Sacred Rites of Apollo and other Ceremonies are Commoners And as no Injury was done the Patritii when in favor of the Commons the number of the Duumviri or Superintendents of the aforesaid Mysteries was augmented to Ten so neither have they now any greater cause to complain if the Tribune a worthy and brave Man hath added five places more of Augurs and four of Pontiffs unto which Commoners may be nominated Not to dispossess you Appius but that Commoners may be assistant to you in Sacred Things who are so highly helpful to you in Civils Be not ashamed O Appius to have the same Person your Collegue in the Priesthood who might fitly be your Companion in a Censor or Consulship To whom being Dictator you might be Master of the Horse as well as he Master of the Horse when you happen to be Dictator The Patritii of Old refus'd not to admit into their Rank a Sabine Stranger Appius Clausus or Claudius I know not which his Name was the very Top of your Kindred you must not think much then to accept Us into the number of the Priests who bring with us not a few Marks of Honor nay even all that you can boast of You tell us That the first Commoner that was made a Consul was L. Sextius the first Master of the Horse Caius Licinius Stolo the first both Dictator and Censor C. Marcius Rutilus we have heard you repeating a thousand times the same thredbare Allegations That to you forsooth alone belongs the taking of the Auspicia that you only are Gentlemen that you and none but you ought to have the Chief management of Affairs both at home and abroad Yet still I must tell you the Commoners have always been as prosperous hitherto as the Nobles in any brave or difficult Undertaking and I doubt not but they ever will be so Did you never hear that the Patritii did not drop down from Heaven but were at first establish'd by Humane Policy being composed of such as were able to name their Father that is to say Honest Free-men and no more I my self can already nominate my Father to have been a Consul and shortly my Son will be able to alledge his Grandfather of that Quality The bottom of the Business is only this That every thing must be denyed us and nothing obtained without tugging The Patritians Design is only to maintain a Faction and contend and regard not greatly what the end of the Dispute is It is therefore my Vote That to the good of you all and the Weal-Publick this Law be passed and established The People presently commanded the Tribes to be call'd to a Scrutiny and it appeared That without all doubt the Law would be accepted but that day was lost by the Interposition and Negative of some of the Tribunes But on the Morrow they were afraid to oppose it and then it pass'd unanimously and the New additional Pontiffs then Created were the Promoter of the Law P. Decius Mus P. Sempronius Sophus C. Marcius Rutilus and M. Livius Denter The five Plebeian Augurs C. Genutius P. Aelius Paetus M. Minucius Fessus C. Marcius and T. Publilius thus the number of the Pontiffs came to be Eight and of the Augurs Nine The same Year M. Valerius the Consul procured the Law Touching Appeals to the People to be confirm'd This was the third time since the expulsion of Kings that Law had been establish'd and always by the same Family The Cause of renewing it so oft I conceive might be because the power of a few of the Grandees and Nobles was apt to be too hard for the Liberties of the Commons The Porcian Law seems Enacted only to save the Romans skins imposing a grievous punishment on any that should Kill or Scourge a Citizen of Rome The Valerian Law which prohibited any man to be Whipt or Beheaded that made his Appeal had no express Penalty but only declared That whoever should act contrary the same would be naughtily done that seeming then as I believe such was the Modesty and Reverence of those Times a sufficient Obligation and Restraint whereas now a days if a Man should threaten but his Slave at such a rate he would despise it The same Consul manag'd the War against the Aequians who were broke out in Rebellion but there was little remarkable in it for they had nothing left of their Antient Fortune but the stoutness of their Stomachs The other Consul Apuleius besieged the City Nequinum in Umbria a place difficult of Access as being situate high and on the one side was a steep
killed whilst they fought yet as soon as they turn'd their backs they retreated safely within their fortifications But the same year that Drepanum was besieged the Punic Fleet infested not onely the Sicilian but also the Italian Coasts and Hamilcar ravaging all he could set his foot upon over-ran the Maritime Coast of Italy as far as Cumae By these Inroads as also by the Battels in Sicily when many of the Romans had been taken Prisoners by the Enemy the Generals enter'd into Articles with the Carthaginians about exchange of Prisoners wherein it was agreed betwixt them That that side which should receive most Prisoners should pay two pounds and a half of Silver for every head and the Carthaginians receiving more than they had restor'd paid the Money according to the Articles We find two Colonies to have been sent out in Italy this year to Aesulum and Alsium The Lustration likewise being the forty second was made at Rome this year by the Censors A. Atilius Calatinus and A. Manlius Atticus The number of all the People now poll'd came but to 257222. Whereas in the former Lustrum there had been poll'd very near 300000 Men. So great a multitude of Mortals had the Wrecks and Wars destroyed at that time but yet for all this the Army in Sicily was then reinforc'd with a considerable supply of men which was brought thither by the two Consuls M. Octacilius Crassus and M. Fabius Licinus These had a very difficult Province to manage and a troulesom Campaign to pass for there was work A. U. 507 enough cut out for them but not being able to force Hamilcar from his strong Holds they performed no action that is memorable which was also the Case of some of the succeeding Consuls by reason of the same disadvantage Besides that being young Generals chosen against an old well practised Commander they were forced to spend in preparation and acquainting themselves with the Site of places the minds of the Soldiery and state of the War more time than remained for action And for this reason it seems that year when the time of Elections was at hand they were inclin'd rather to chuse a Dictator than that either of the Consuls should be called out of Sicily Titus Coruncanius was chosen Dictator than that either of the Consuls should be called out of Sicily Titus Coruncanius was chosen Dictator in whose name the Assemblies for Election of Magistrates were held he named M. Fulvius Flaccus General of the Horse Mean while the two Tribunes of the Commons Sempronius and Fundanius summon'd Claudia Appius Caecus his Daughter to appear before the People at such a day because that returning from the Plays when she was press'd by a throng of People and her Chariot stopt in the croud she had used this direful imprecation Oh that my Brother were alive again that he might lead forth another Fleet There was scarce any great or noble Family in all Rome but either by Bloud or Marriage was akin to the House of the Claudii Therefore she wanted not her Compurgators to defend her who pleading the greatness of her Family the good Services of her Father Appius and frailty of her Sex alledg'd That it was unusual to impeach any Woman before the Commons and that the Cause was too slender and light to make a new Custom commence from Clodia which neither in thought or deed was guilty of any Treason against the the Roman People and had onely spoken some rash words which she might have spar'd Against which the two Tribunes thus argued What impious and cursed words Claudia has spoken you know already O Romans for what needs there any Evidence when we have her own confession for the thing neither can she deny the matter if she would for she spoke these words in the face of the Sun having no respect for a multitude of good Citizens upon whom she used this Imprecation Why therefore should we doubt of the punishment since we are certain of the Crime Have the Laws made too little provision in the matter or shall we too strictly insisting upon the letter of the Law suffer our selves to be impos'd upon by false interpretations thereof They plead that it is an unusual thing to prosecute a Woman before this Tribunal Suppose it is so 't is an unusual thing likewise for any Woman to offend in this nature nor had we ever an instance of any Woman that committed so great a Villany till now and I could wish now there were no need of making a President for we had rather the World were once grown so innocent that the Sword of Justice might be asleep in the scabbard than be forc'd as now to draw it out against Criminals with a necessary and expedient rigour though it may make us seem harsh and severe A strict execution of Laws is necessary for every State that would support it self and those Laws ought not surely to be infring'd and violated by any much less by such Persons as would pass for the Atlasses and Pillars of the State who being well read and learned in the Laws must of necessity be sensible that though there is no express mention made of Women in several Laws yet in the words if any one or the like a Man with half an Eye may see that Sex is imply'd as well as the Male. Is it any thing strange therefore if we suppose laws made against Treason to reach both Sexes when even this Claudia is an Example which may convince us that Women as well as Men may become Traitors But some are for extenuating and palliating the matter They would have us look on that as a Peccadillo which went no farther than words and not expressed by any overt Act. We must prove forsooth that she us'd all her endeavour to compass and bring about a hellish design kept correspondence with the Carthaginians concerning it armed the Rabble seiz'd the Capitol and actually involv'd us all in that Mine of Calamity which by her Curses she imprecated upon us But Actions are not more punishable by the Laws than the intentions and designs of Men. Indeed let a Madman or a Child do any mischief and there is no Action against him but that is not the case here 'T is certain that a Mans mind may be understood as well by his words as deeds She who wishes such things as these what would she do if it lay in her power to bring about what she wishes But if we despise not others judgments in the matter as I am sure we ought not to do We may find that in other Countries an impious Wish has been esteem'd a heinous Crime and punish'd accordingly At Athens a place eminent above any other in Greece for good Government a Man has been condemned to die for wishing himself a good Trade which he could not have except in times of great mortality he being one that sold all necessaries for the burials of the dead and yet those words might have been
had as it were taken up his Winter-Quarters at Venusia whilst Annibal was ranging at his pleasure through Italy the truth is C. Publicius Bibulus a Tribune of the people was his Enemy and from the first Battel which proved unfavourable he had endeavoured to render Claudius infamous and odious to the Commons and was contriving a Bill for taking away his Commission But Marcellus's Friends and Relations prevail'd That leaving the Army with his Lieutenant he might come to Rome in person to clear himself of what was objected and that they would not proceed in his absence to abrogate his Command And it happened that about one and the same time Marcellus came to Town to wipe off these aspersions and Q. Fulvius the Consul upon occasion of holding the Elections The Question touching the continuance or taking away of Marcellus's Command was agitated in the Flaminian Circus with a vast concourse of people of all Degrees the Tribune not only accused him but the Nobility in general That by their fraudulent practices and dilatory proceedings Annibal had now for ten years continued in Italy as if it were his proper Province and spent more of his life there than he had done in Carthage it self though his native Country That the people of Rome now tasted the fruit of prorogning Marcellus's Command and continuing one and the same man so long in power for what has followed but his Army twice routed and now forced to take up their Quarters at Venusia and lye hous'd for fear of Sun-burning But Marcellus so effectually refuted his Adversaries Invectives by recounting his manifold good services that not only the Bill preferred against him was quash'd but the very next day he was by unanimous Votes of all the Centuries created Consul and for his Collegue was chosen T. Quintius Crispinus who at present was Praetor The day following the Praetors were created viz. P. Licinius Crassus Dives then Sovereign Pontiff P. Licinius Varus Sex Julius Caesar and Q. Claudius Flamen During this Choice of Magistrates the City was not a little disquieted with apprehensions of a Rebellion in Tuscany wherein the Aretines were like to be the Ring-Leaders as was advertiz'd by C. Calpurnius the Governour of that Province therefore immediately Marcellus the Consul Elect was dispatched to inspect the State of Affairs in those Parts and if he found cause to draw the Army out of Apulia thither by whose Arrival the Tuscans were frighted from their designs and kept quiet Agents from Tarentum apply'd themselves to the Senate for peace and to be restored to their former Liberties and Laws but were answered That they must attend again when Fabius the Consul was come home from thence The solemn Games both those called Roman and those of the Commons were celebrated this Year with a Day extraordinary The Aediles of State were L. Cornelius Caudinus and Servius Sulpicius Galba those of the Commons Q Caecilius and C. Servilius but as to this last some denied That he was lawfully either Tribune before or Aedile now because it was found that his Father of whom for ten years the current opinion had been that he was slain by the Boii when he was a Triumvir near Modena was still living and in bondage to the Enemy and therefore it was doubted whether his Son by right were capable of any Magistracy In the Eleventh Year of this Punick War M. Marcellus entered upon the Consulship the fifth time reckoning that when he was chosen and did not hold it because of some errour alledged in his Creation and with him T. Quintius Crispinus to both of them was assign'd Italy for their Province and the former Consuls two Armies But because there was another Army on Foot at Venusia under Marcellus they were to chuse which two they pleased of the three and the third should be committed to him that should happen to have the Province of Tarentum and the Salentines Country The other Provinces were disposed as follows amongst the Praetors P. Licinius Varus to have the City-Jurisdiction P. Licinius Crassus that of the Foreigners and what other charge the Senate should appoint to S. Julius Caesar Sicily to Q. Claudius Flamen Tarentum Q. Fulvius Flaccus was continued in Commission for another Year and to be Governour of Capua and have under him one Legion so was also C. Hostilius Tubulus as Propraetor to succeed C. Calpurnius in Sicily and have the two Legions that were there and L. Veturius Philo to remain in the same Quality in his old Province the Cisalpine Gallia with the two Legions he had before The same Order the Senate pass'd in favour of C. Arunculeius and though it were questioned before the people yet they confirmed him in Sardinia with two Legions and to have also the fifty Men of War which Scipio should send back from Spain to secure the Coasts of that Island Scipio and Silanus were still to enjoy their Commands in Spain and the same Forces only whereas Scipio what with the Ships from home and those taken at Carthage had a Fleet of eighty Sail he was to remit fifty of them to Sardinia because it was reported That the Carthaginians were that Year making mighty Naval Preparations and that they would scowre the Seas and all the Coasts of Italy Sicily and Sardinia with a Navy of two hundred Sail. In Sicily the Forces were thus divided the Cannian Army was granted to S. Caesar and M. Valerius Laevinus for he too was continued was to be Admiral of those seventy Ships already there whereunto were to be added thirty more from Tarentum and with that Navy of a hundred Sail he should if he thought fit cross the Seas and pillage the Coasts of Africk P. Sulpicius had his Command renewed that with the Fleet he had before he might attend the Provinces of Greece and Macedonia In the two City-Legions there was alteration but the Consuls were empowered to raise what Recruits they saw necessary The Roman Empire was that Year defended with one and twenty Legions and P. Licinius Varus the City-Praetor had charge to refit those thirty old Ships that lay at Ostia and to man out twenty more new ones that there might be fifty Sail abroad to defend the Coasts near Rome C. Calpurnius was forbid to remove his Army from Aretium before his Successor arriv'd and the like command was laid on Tubulus and especially to prevent any Mutinies The Praetors went away for their respective Provinces but the Consuls were detained a while longer upon account of Religion because when they went to expiate certain Prodigies they found not the Gods very propitious or easy to be appeased From Campania it was related That two Temples that of Fortune and that of Mars were blasted with Lightning as also several Sepulchres That at Cumes the Mice forsooth had nibled some of the gold in Jupiters Chappel so apt is superstition to concern the Gods in every trifling accident That at Cassinum a great swarm of Bees setled in the Market-place
he punish them too much For the present therefore as he had begun he thought fit to deal very gently with them and by sending Collectors all about to the Cities that were Tributaries toward the paying of the Army to put them in some nearer prospect and hopes of their pay Thereupon he set forth an Edict That they should come to Carthage for their arrears either in small parties or all together as they pleased But that which totally quieted this Sedition which was already of it self in a languishing condition was the suddain reconciliation of the rebellious Spaniards For Mandonius and Indibilis were come home again having quitted their enterprise when they heard that Scipio was alive nor had the seditious now any Countrymen or Stranger wherewithal to communicate their Fury Wherefore considering all things they found there was nothing left for them to do better than the safest refuge which was To resign themselves either to the just anger or the clemency of their General which was not even yet to be despaired of That he had pardoned even his Enemies with whom he had fought and that their sedition was carried on without any blood or wounds being neither cruel it self nor consequently deserving any very severe punishment Which words of theirs were according to the nature of Mankind who are but too rhetorical when they would lessen their own guilt This only doubt they made Whether they should go to fetch their pay in single Regiments or all together but that opinion took which they thought carryed most safety in it That they should go all at once At the same time when they were in this consultation there was a Council held about them at Carthage where they differed in opinion Whether they should punish only the Authors of the Sedition who were not above five and thirty or whether a defection rather than a sedition of such ill example ought to be revenged upon more But the milder opinion took place That whence the fault first sprung there the punishment should be laid and that any sort of chastisement was enough to keep the multitude in order Having dismissed the Council to shew he minded what he was about Scipio ordered the Army that was at Carthage to go immediately against Mandonius and Indibilis and to take Provisions along with them for several Days Then sending the seven Tribunes of the Soldiers who before also went to Sucro to appease the Sedition to meet the Army there being five Names brought in of such as were Ringleaders of the Sedition he ordered the Tribunes to get them invited into some Inn by Men fit for that purpose with fair words and courteous behaviour and when they were drunk to bind them They were not far from Carthage when those they met told them That the next day the whole Army went with M. Silanus against the Lacetans which News did not only free them from all fear which tacitely lay upon their Spirits but made them exceeding glad because they were like to have a sole General more than to be under his command About Sun-setting they came into the City and saw another Army preparing all things for their March Then having been entertain'd with speeches made on purpose in which they were complemented and told That their arrival was very happy and opportune for the General that they should come just upon the setting out of another Army they refreshed themselves Which when they had done they laid hold of the Authors of the Sedition without any noise when they were brought into the Inns by Men fit for that purpose and bound them At the fourth Watch the carriages of the Army which they pretended would march began to set out At break of Day the Ensigns moved but the Body of the Army was stop'd at the Gate and Guards sent to all the Gates of the City to hinder any Body from going out Then those who came the Day before being summoned to an Assembly ran all together with speed and vehemence into the Forum to the Generals Tribunal designing to frighten them with their shouts At the same time the General also got up upon the Tribunal and the Soldiers being brought back from the Gates planted themselves behind the unarm'd Assembly Thereupon all their courage was cooled as they afterward confessed That nothing terrified them so much as the Generals strength and colour whom they expected to find very ill he having such a complection they said as that they never remembered him to have such an one even in the field He sate silent for a while till word was brought that the Authors of the Sedition were come into the Forum and all things were ready Then the Cryer commanding silence he thus began I thought I should never want words to speak to my Army not that I ever made words more than things my business but because almost from my childhood having lived in a Camp I was always used to military dispositions yet how I shall speak to you I do not know no not so much as by what name to apply my self to you and call you Citizens who have revolted from your Country Or Soldiers who have refused my command and conduct and broken your military oath Enemies I own you have the bodies faces habit and guise of Citizens but I see the actions words designs and inclinations of Enemies For what have you either desired or hoped for but what the Illergetes and Lacetans have done Nay they followed Mandonius and Indibilis who were Princes when they rebell'd but you have conferred the command and conduct of your Persons upon Umbrus Atrius and Calenus Albius Tell me you did not all do so or desired it should be so but that it was the fury and madness of some few I am very willing to believe you when you say so For there have such things been committed as if they were common to all the Army could be atoned for without great Sacrifices But I am loth to touch them as I would be to touch wounds though if they are not touch'd and handled they cannot be cured And indeed since the Carthaginians were driven out of Spain I did not think there had been any place in the whole Province or any Person where or to whom my life had been an eye-sore so cautiously did I behave my self not only in respect to our Allies but even my Enemies also In my own Camp see how I was mistaken the report of my Death was not only well taken but expected too Not that I would have you think every one of them guilty for if I thought my Army wished my Death I would dye here presently before their faces nor would my life do me any good if it wâ—re hateful to my Countrymen and fellow Soldiers But every multitude like the Sea though of its own nature immoveable as the winds and breezes move it is calm or stormy and the original cause of all your fury were the Authors of it for you are mad by
and 120 Horse And if any Colony could not furnish out that number of Horse they should for every Horsman supply three Footmen but that Horse and Foot should be the richest men they could get who should be sent to any place out of Italy where there should be occasion for Auxiliaries If any of them refused they order'd the Magistrates and Ambassadors of that Colony to be detain'd nor though they demanded it were they to have Audience of the Senate till they had done what was injoy'd them Moreover that a Tax of an As a Roman Coyn should be laid upon each one who had an Estate of 3000 Sesterces and collected every year as also that a Poll should be made in those Colonies according to the form prescrib'd by the Roman Censors which form should be the same as at Rome and be brought to Rome by the sworn Censors of each Colony before they went out of their Offices By this Order of Senate the Magistrates and chief Men in all those Colonies being fetch'd to Rome after the Consuls had injoyn'd them to raise such and such Soldiers and to pay such a stipend some of them refused and boggled at it more than others saying They could not raise so many men no though they were to do no more than by the form before prescrib'd they had done they should scarce be able to perform it Wherefore they begg'd and desir'd that they might go before the Senate and get it off for they had done noting to deserve a total ruine but said if they must needs perish too yet that neither the Levy nor the anger of the Roman People could make them raise more Soldiers than they had The Consuls were obstinate and commanded the Ambassadors to stay at Rome but sent the Magistrates home to make Levies saying That ne're a man at Rome would consent to their having an Audience of the Senate unless they brought thither the Quota of Soldiers that was expected from them By which means their hopes of appearing before the Senate and begging the thing off being frustrated they with no difficulty at all made a sufficient Levy the number of their young men being by a long vacation from military service much augmented Then another matter which had been buried in silence almost as long was reviv'd by M. Valerius Laevinus who said That the Money contributed by private persons when he and M. Claudius were Consuls ought at length to be restored nor ought any man to wonder that when the publick Faith was so far obliged he took such great care For besides that the Consul of that year wherein the Money was contributed was some way concern'd in the affair that he also was the cause of that Contribution when the Treasury was poor and the people had not wherewithal to pay their Taxes That was a Memorial very grateful to the Senate who having order'd the Consuls to make report of it decreed That that Money should be paid at three payments the first in hand by those that were then in being and the other two by the Consuls that should be in the third and fifth year following But then all other cares were swallow'd up in one after that the calamities of the Locrians which had been unknown to that day were upon the arrival of their Ambassadors publish'd Nor did Pleminius's villany provoke the minds of men so much as either the ambition or negligence of Scipio in that business Ten Ambassadors from Locri all over squalid and in a sordid guise with boughs of Olive in their hands according to the Grecian custom and in a dress on purpose to move commiseration appear'd before the Consuls as they sate in the Assembly and threw themselves all aâ—ong upon the ground with a lamentable outcry before the Tribunal Of whom the Consuls demanding who they were they answer'd They were Locrians and had suffer'd those indignities from Q. Pleminius the Lieutenant together with the Roman Soldiers that the Roman People would not be willing even the Carthaginians should endure wherefore they intreated them to give them leave to go before the Senate and complain of their severe usage Having an Audience of the Senate granted to them the eldest of them said I know grave Fathers how much you value our complaints but the greatest weight lies in this that you know well not only how Locri was betray'd to Annibal but also how his Guards being beaten thence it was restored to you For if both the crime of that revolt were far from being the publick design and it appear that the Town return'd to its obedience toward you not only with our good liking but through our assistance and courage also you may justly conceive the greater indignation that such inhumane indignities are offer'd to us your good and faithful Allies by your Lieutenant and Soldiers there But I suppose the cause of both our revolts may be better deferr'd till another time for two reasons the one that it may be pleaded before P. Scipio who retook Locri and who is a Witness of all we did both right and wrong and the other in that whatever we are we ought not to have suffer'd what we have done We cannot deny grave Fathers but we when we had the Punick Forces in our Garrison suffer'd many base unworthy things from Amilcar who was the Governour as well as from the Numidians and Africans But what were those to that we now endure Grave Fathers I beseech you to hear me with patience what I am unwilling to utter Mankind is now at a stand and doubts whether you or the Carthaginians are Lords of the World But truly if the Roman and Punick Government were to be valued according to what we Locrians formerly suffer'd from them or now so severely feel from your Garrison there 's no man but would wish to have them for his Masters before you And yet see how the Locrians are affected toward you Though we receiv'd much lesser injuries from the Carthaginians we fled to your General though we endure more than hostile indignities from the hands of your Garrison yet we complain to none but you Either you grave Fathers must look upon our calamities or we have nothing left to desire the immortal Gods Q. Pleminius was sent as Lieutenant with a Guard to recover Locri from the Carthaginians and there he was left with that same Guard but in this Lieutenant of yours our extreme misery forces us to speak so freely there is nothing at all grave Fathers of a man save only shape and look nor of a Roman Citizen except his mien his garb and the meer sound of the Latine Tongue No he 's a mere nuisance and a savage beast like those that Fables tell us infested that Strait by which we are divided from Sicily and were the destruction of all Sailers Yet if he alone would be content himself to exercise his villany lust and avarice upon your poor Allies we should with our patience hope to satisfie and
purple which was freely presented to them If Cineas should now go about with those presents which he then offer'd he would find the Women standing in the streets to receive them Now for my part I cannot imagine what is the cause or reason of some desires For as it carries something perhaps of natural shame and indignation with it that the same thing which another may do you may not so when the habits of all people are alike why should any of you be afraid to be seen in such a garb I must confess to be niggardly or poor are the worst of causes why a man should be ashamed but the Law in this Case frees you from both these imputations when you have not that which you cannot lawfully have But sayes a great Lady I cannot endure this very levelling and equality why should not I appear all glittering with gold and clothed in purple Why should the poverty of others lie hid under the umbrage of this Law so as that what they cannot have they if it were lawful should seem to be able to buy Will you Romans give your Wives occasion to contend in this manner that the rich Women shall desire to have what no Woman else can purchase and the poorer sort lest for this very reason they should be contemn'd to stretch beyond their abilities If so then certainly as soon as they are once ashamed of what they ought not they will not be ashamed of what they ought She that can out of her own stock will purchase the thing she lacks and she that cannot will ask her Husband And woe be to that man who either does or does not grant their requests when he shall see that which he himself would not give her given by another man Now a-dayes they commonly ask other Womens Husbands to give them such or such a thing or do them this or that kindness yea and which is more desire them to make a Law and give their Votes in favour of the Women and of some they obtain their desires though toward thee thy Estate and Children they are inexorable As soon as the Law ceases to set bounds to thy Wives extravagancy thou wilt never be able to do it Romans do not suppose that you shall be in the same condition as you were before this Law was made For as it is safer not to accuse an ill man than to have him upon the accusation acquitted so luxury would have been more tolerable had it never been medled with than it will be now being like a savage Beast by its very bonds first enraged and then let out For my part I do not think the Oppian Law ought to be abrogated by any means But do you what you please and Heaven direct you in it After this the Tribunes of the people also who professed that they would interpose having added some few words to the same purpose L. Valerius to promote the Law which he had proposed made this Speech If private persons only had come forth to speak both for and against that which we now propose I also since there have been enough said on both sides should have with silence expected their Votes But now seeing so grave a person as M. Porcius Cato the Consul hath opposed our Bill not only by his authority which though silent would have been prevalent enough but in a long and accurate Oration also I must of necessity make some short answer to him though he has been at the expence of more breath to chastize the Matrons than in arguing against our Bill and has strove to make a doubt of it whether the Matrons had done what he found fault with on their own accord or by our advice But I 'll defend the cause not our persons upon whom the Consul has thrown these things rather verbally than fix'd any real accusation upon us He has call'd it a Caballing Seditious and sometime a secession of the Women that the Matrons should ask you in the open streets to abrogate a Law made against them in the time of War now in the happy and flourishing times of Peace I know there are great words not only these but others also that may be found out to aggravate the matter and we all know that Cato is an Orator not only grave but sometimes also severe though naturally he be very mild For what new thing I pray have the Matrons done in going out great numbers of them together into the streets upon a business that concern'd them Did they never appear in publick before I will turn over your own Book Cato called Origines against you See there how oft they have done it and that also for the publick good In the very first Age when Romulus reigned and the Capitol being taken by the Sabines there was a set Battle in the midst of the Forum was not the fight made an end of by the Matrons running in between the two Armies What After the Kings were driven out when the Volscinian Legions had Encamped at the fifth stone five miles from Rome under the Conduct of Coriolanus did not the Matrons divert that Army which would have otherwise destroy'd this City When the City was taken by the Gauls how was it redeemed Why the Matrons brought in their gold to the publick stock by general consent In the next War not to mention old stories when money was short did not the Widows moneys augment the treasury and when new Gods also were sent for to assist us in our doubtful circumstances all the Matrons went to the Seaside to receive the Goddess Cybele But the causes you 'll say are not alike Nor did I design to make them parallel 'T is enough if I prove this to be no new thing Now can we wonder that they should do in a case that so nearly concern'd them what no body admired that they did in affairs that equally belonged to all Men and Women both But what have they done Really Gentlemen we have very proud Ears if when Masters do not reject the Petitions of their Slaves we cannot endure to be intreated by freeborn virtuous Women I come now to that which is the main point in which the Consul said two things For he was neither willing that any Law at all should be abrogated nor that especially that had been made to restrain the luxury of Women One part of his Speech seemed to defend all Laws in general and the other was against Luxury very agreeable to his severe behaviour Wherefore it may chance that unless we inform you what mistakes there are in both parts you may be deceiv'd into a false opinion For I as I confess that I would have none of those Laws which were not made for any particular time but being of perpetual advantage to stand for ever in full force abrogated unless either experience refuses it or some state of the Common-wealth has made it of no use so those Laws which were occasion'd by such and such junctures of
that being hinder'd by sickness he had not been concern'd in the War From thence they went several wayes to attack two Cities at once that lie some seven thousand paces asunder And because Lamia not only stands upon a Bank but also looks chiefly to that part of the Country where the distance seems short and all things are in view the Romans and the Macedonians being Antagonists as it were both day and night as well in their works as their fighting the Macedonians had thus much the greater difficulty that the Romans attack'd it with Mounds Galleries and all their works above ground but the Macedonians under ground with Mines and in rough places an impenetrable Flint Rock many times resisted their tools Wherefore seeing that design went but slowly on the King by the Nobility tempted the Townsmen to surrender the City being well assured that if Heraclaea were first taken they would surrender themselves to the Romans rather than to him and that the Consul would have the opportunity of obliging them in his stead by raising the Siege Nor was he deceiv'd in his guess for immediately their came a Message from Heraclaea as soon as it was taken that he should abstain from making any farther attempt upon it For that it was more fit that the Roman Souldiers who had fought a pitch'd Battle with the Aetolians should have the rewards of Victory So they retired from Lamia which by the warning it had in the case of Heraclaea a Neighbouring City avoided suffering of the same thing A few dayes before Heraclaea was taken the Aetolians having summon'd a Council to Hypata sent Embassadours to Antiochus among whom Thoas was one being the same person who was formerly sent Their Orders were first to desire the King that he would muster up all his Land and Sea Forces and come again over into Greece and next that if he were kept by any business there that he would send them men and money That that did not only concern his dignity and honour not to betray his Allies but conduced also to the safety of his Kingdom not to let the Romans who would be void of all care when they had quite destroy'd the Aetolian Nation come over with all their Forces into Asia What they said was true and therefore it moved the King so much the more Wherefore at present he gave the Embassadours what money was necessary for the uses of the War affirming that he would send them both Land and Naval Auxiliaries But he kept one of them there with him and that was Thoas who was not unwilling to stay because he had a mind to be still present to put the King continually in mind of his Promises But the taking of Heraclaea at last broke the Aetolians hearts and therefore a few dayes after they had sent Embassadours into Asia to renew and excite the King laying aside all thoughts of a War they sent Agents to the Consul to desire a Peace Whom when they had begun to speak the Consul interrupted and said He had other business to mind before theirs sending them back to Hypata but granted them a Truce of ten dayes and L. Valerius Flaccus along with them and bidding them tell him what they had then a mind to say to him himself or any thing else that they had to desire When they came to Hypata the Aetolian Nobility held a Council at Flaccus's House consulting in what manner they ought to apply themselves to the Consul But when they were going to recount their ancient rights of Leagues and their deserts toward the Romans Flaccus bad them not pretend to those things which they themselves had violated that a confession of their fault would do them more good and Speech turn'd all into Petition For their hopes of safety lay not in their cause but in the Clemency of the Roman People That he would assist them if they behaved themselves like suppliants both with the Consul and the Senate at Rome for thither also they must needs send Embassadours This therefore they all thought the only means for their preservation To put themselves upon the honour of the Romans For by this method they should not only lay an obligation upon that people not to hurt them as suppliants but should themselves also continue free if fortune gave them any better prospect When they came to the Consul Phaeneas who was head of the Embassy made a long Speech which was so variously composed to mitigate the anger of the Conquerour that at the end of it he said that the Aetolians committed themselves and all they had to the mercy and goodness of the Romans Which when the Consul heard he reply'd Be sure Aetolians that you do so Then Phaeneas shew'd the Decree in which it was so expresly written whereupon the Consul said Since you are so resolv'd I require that you immediately deliver up into my hands Dicaearchus your Fellow Citizen and Menetas the Epirote He was got with a guard into Naupactum and had tempted that Town to revolt and Amynander with the Athaman Nobility by whose advice you revolted from us With that Phaeneas standing by him put in and told the Consul We do not commit our selves to you as slaves but for protection though I am well assur'd that you through want of knowledge are now mistaken in laying such injunctions upon us as are not correspondent to the Customs of Greece To which the Consul made Answer For that I care not what the Aetolians think consonant to the Grecian Customs whilst I after the Roman fashion have that command over men that have surrender'd themselves being conquer'd now by your own Decree as before by our arms Wherefore unless what I order'd he presently done I now command you to be bound and with that he bid his Servants bring thither some Chains and the Lictors to stand ready about him Upon which words of his both Phaeneas and the other Aetolians were discouraged and at last perceiv'd what case they were in Wherefore Phaeneas said that he and all the Aetolians there present knew they must do as they were bidden but that to determine of those things they must call a Council of the Aetolians For which he desir'd they might have a Truce of ten dayes Upon a motion made by Flaccus on behalf of the Aetolians they had a Truce granted them and so return'd to Hypata Where when in a Council of their chosen men whom they call Apocleti Phaeneas had declar'd both what was injoin'd them and what had like to have befallen them the Nobility indeed bewailed their condition but yet thought fit to obey the Conquerour and summon all the Aetolians out of the several Towns to a general Assembly When all the Commonalty came together and heard the same things they were so exasperated at the severity and indignity of the Injunction that if they had been in Peace they might by that sudden passion have been excited to a War But their indignation was encreased too by
inquir'd into and discover'd by the Consul who punish'd a great many of the Conspirators and abolish'd it T. Q. Flaminius Brother to Titus was put out of the Senate by the Censors L. Valerius Flaccus and M. Porcius Cato who was a very great man for managing affairs either in Peace or War for that he when he had Gaul for his Province as Consul upon the request of one Philip a Carthaginian whom he loved had kill'd a certain Gaul with his own hands or as some say had with an Axe Beheaded a Condemn'd Person at the request of a certain Placentian Whore whom he was in love with There is an Oration of M. Cato extant against him 52. Scipio died at Liternum 51. And as though Fortune had resolv'd to join two Funerals of the two greatest men together Annibal being deliver'd up to the Romans by Prusias King of Bithynia to whom when Antiochus was now conquer'd he had fled who had sent T. Quintius Flaminius to demand him poyson'd himself 50. Philopaemen also General of the Achaeans and a very great man was likewise poyson'd by the Messenians who had taken him in the War 55. The Colonies of Potentia Pisaurum Parma and Mutina were planted 56. Good success against the Celtiberians with the beginning and causes of the Macedonian War The original whereof proceeded from Philips resentment that his Kingdom should be impair'd by the Romans and that he was forced to draw his Garisons out of Thrace and other places WHilst these things were transacted at Rome if so be they were done that year both the Consuls made War in Liguria That Enemy was design'd as it were by Fate to keep up the military Discipline of the Romans in the intervals of such great Wars nor did any other Province more sharpen their Souldiers to Courage For Asia by the pleasantness of its Cities the plenty of all things both by Sea and Land the effeminacy of the Enemy and the help of the Kings wealth made their Armies more rich than valiant Especially under the Command of Cn. Manlius they were dissolute and negligent Wherefore their march through Thrace being somewhat rougher and their Enemy more exercised in Arms by great misadventures chastiz'd them In Liguria there were all things that could excite a Souldier Mountainous and craggy places which for them to take and to dispossess the Enemy of was very difficult steep wayes that were also narrow and beset with Ambuscades a light swift and surprizing Foe that would not suffer them in any place or at any time to be quiet or secure a necessity of attacking fortified Castles which was both laborious and dangerous a poor Country that obliged Souldiers to be sparing as not affording much booty Wherefore no Sutlers or Scullions for the Camp c. follow'd them nor did a long train of Beasts extend their Army which consisted of nothing but arms and men who placed all their hopes in their Arms. Nor was their ever wanting either opportunity or cause for a War with those People for by reason of their domestick poverty they made inrodes into the Neighbouring Countries though they did not fight so as to run the hazard of all they had C. Flaminius the Consul having fought several successful Battles with the Friniates of Liguria in their own Country accepted of their surrender and disarm'd them but when he chastized them for not delivering up their Arms so sincerely as they should have done they fled into the Angine Mountains Whither the Consul presently follow'd them But they again made hast from thence and the greatest part of them ran unarm'd through pathless places and over craggy Rocks as hard as they could drive where the Enemy could not follow them till they got beyond the Apennine But those that staid in the Camp were circumvented and taken Then the Legions were led beyond the Apennine There the Enemy having for some time defended themselves by the heighth of the Mountain which they were possess'd of soon after surrender'd themselves Then their Arms were look'd after with greater care and all taken away From thence the War was transfer'd to the Apuan Ligurians who had made such incursions into the Territories of Pisa and Bononia that they could not be well inhabited or cultivated And having quite subdu'd these people also the Consul gave Peace to the adjacent Nations Now since he had so brought it to pass that the Province was quiet from War least his Souldiers should be idle he march'd from Bononia to Arretâ—um M. Aemilius the other Consul burnt and laid wast the Countries of Liguria with all the Villages that lay in Plains or Vales whilst they themselves kept upon two Mountains called Ballyta and Suissimontium and then setting upon those also that were upon the Hills he first teazed them with light Skirmishes and at last having forced them down into the Field overcame them in a set Battle at which he vow'd to build a Temple to Diana Having subdu'd all on this side the Apennine Aemilius set upon the Tramontanes or those that lived beyond the Mountains among whom were the Briniates of Liguria whom C. Flaminius had not visited subdued them all took away their Arms and brought the multitude of them down from the Hills into the Plain Then when he had settled Liguria he led his Army into the Gallick Dominions and made a way from Placentia to Arminum to meet the Flaminian way In the last Battel that he had with the Ligurians hand to hand he vow'd to build a Temple to Queen Juno Now these things were done in Liguria that Year In Gaul M. Furius the Praetor who in time of Peace desired a plausible pretence for a War had taken their Arms from the innocent Caenomans Of which the Caenomans complained to the Senate at Rome but were referred to the Consul Aemilius whom the Senate had impowred to make inquiry and determine of the matter They therefore having had a great contest with the Praetor carryed the cause and had their Arms restored to them the Praetor being order'd to quit the Province Then there was a Senate or audience of the Senate granted to the Embassadors from the Latine Allies who were come thither in great numbers from all parts of Latium Upon whose complaint That a great many of their Citizens were come to Rome and there were poled Q. Terentius Culleo was imploy'd To inquire after all such persons and whomsoever the Allies could prove to be poled or rated he or his Father in their Cities when C. Claudius and M. Livius were Censors or after their time to force them to return to the place at which they were so poled Upon this search being made twelve Thousand Latines returned home for the City was even at that time oppressed with a vast multitude of Foreigners Before the Consuls returned to Rome M. Fulvius the Proconsul came back out of Aetolia Wherefore in the Senate held at the Temple of Apollo after he had discoursed concerning his Atchievements in
whom they in their last Council had condemn'd to dye with the Embassadors nor for that reason durst any one of them so much as speak Appius said That those things of which the Lacaedemonians complain'd displeas'd the Senate viz. First the slaughter of those Persons who being called forth by Philopaemen to take their tryal were kill'd and next when they had been so barbarous to those Men neither did their cruelty abate in any kind For the Walls of that most famous City were demolish'd their ancient Laws abrogated and the Discipline of Licurgus so celebrated through all Nations quite destroyed When Appius had said this Lycortas not only as he was Praetor State-holder but also because he was of Philopaemen's faction who had been the Author of all things that were done at Lacedaemon made this answer 'T is much more difficult Appius Claudius for us to speak before you than it was lately to the Senate For then we were to answer the Lacedaemonians who accused us but now we are accused by you your selves before whom we are to make our defence Which unequal circumstances of ours we undergo with that hope that you 'll hear us with the impartial mind of a Judge laying aside that heat wherewith you just now spake I truly since you a little while agone mentioned those things of which the Lacedemonians complain'd not only formerly here to Q. Caecilius but afterward also to the Senate of Rome shall believe that I answer not to you but to them in your presence Now you charge us with the slaughter of those Persons who being summon'd by Philopaemen to make their defence were kill'd but this crime Romans I suppose ought not only not to have been objected to us by you but not so much as even before you Why so why because it was in their League that the Lacaedemonians should not meddle with the maritime Cities Now when they took up Arms and by force in the Night time seiz'd those Cities from which they were ordered to abstain if T. Quintius or the Roman Army had been then in Peloponnesus as before the surpriz'd and oppressed Inhabitants of those places would have all fled to them But since you were a great way off whither should they run but to us their Allies whom they had seen assisting Gytheum and attacking Lacedaemon with you upon the like occasion 'T was upon your account therefore that we undertook a just and a pious War Which since some People commend nor can the Lacedaemonians themselves blame us for it and the Gods too approved of who gave us the Victory how do these things that were done by the Law of Arms come now into dispute though the greatest part of them does not at all concern us Indeed we were the Persons that summon'd them to a tryal who had excited the multitude to take up Arms that by force had taken and rifled the maritime Towns and made such a slaughter of the chief Men in them but that they were killed as they were coming to make their defence is their charge Areus and Alcibiades who now forsooth are our accusers and not ours For the banish'd Lacedaemonians of which number they were two and then with you as having chosen the maritime Towns for their habitation thinking themselves to be aimed at made an attack upon them by whose means they were driven into Exile but even there which the more inraged them could not live in quiet for them and so Lacedaemonians kill'd Lacedaemonians and not Achaeans Nor does it concern us to argue whether they were justly or injuriously slain But sure Achaeans it was you that abolish'd the ancient Laws and Discipline of Lycurgus and pull'd down their Walls Both which objections bow can the same persons make since the Walls of Lacedemon were not built by Lycurgus but some few years ago in order to dissolve Lycurgus 's Discipline For the Kings made them of late dayes as a guard and defence to themselves not to the City And if Lycurgus were alive again he would be glad to see them down and would say that now he saw the face of his Country even ancient Sparta You Lacedemonians ought not to have expected Philopaemen or the Achaeans but should with your own hands have removed and thrown down all the Monuments their of Tyranny For those were your ugly scars as it were of servitude for though you had lived free without Walls for almost eight hundred years and sometimes also had been chief of all Greece yet you were afterward Slaves for a hundred years bound up in Walls made round about your Town like Fetters As to the abrogation of the Laws I suppose the Tyrants abolish'd the ancient Lacedaemonian Laws and that we did not take away their own which they then were not possess'd of but gave them ours nor did we do the City any small kindness when we made it part of our Council and mingled them among us that so there might be but one Body of men and one general Council in all Peloponnesus Then I conceive if we our selves had lived under one sort of Laws and had injoin'd them another they might have well complain'd and have been angry that they were so hardly dealt with I know Appius Claudius that what I have hitherto said hath not been proper for Allies to say before their Allies nor like a free Nation but rather like Slaves that are making their defence before their Masters For if those words of the Cryer were to any purpose whereby you order'd the Achaeans to be first of all declared free if the League continue in force if our Alliance and Friendship be equally preserv'd on both side why do you since I do not desire to know what you Romans did after you had taken Capua require to be inform'd what we Achaeans did when we had conquer'd the Lacedaemonians in War Why some of them were kill'd suppose by us What Did not you behead the Capuan Senators We demolish'd their Walls Did not you not only pull down their Walls but also take away their City and Country from them The League you 'll say is equally obliging on both sides to the Romans as well as the Achaeans to see to but in reality the Achaeans have but a precarious sort of liberty besides that the Government is in the hands of the Romans I know it Appius and if I ought not to be I am not vext at it But I desire you that what difference soever there be between the Romans and the Achaeans yet ours and your Enemies may not be in the same or rather better circumstances with you than we who are your Allies For we were the cause of their being equal with us when we gave them our Laws and made them part of the Achaean Council But that 's too little for them that are conquer'd which satisfies the Conquerours They desire more as Enemies than they have as Allies Those things which we are obliged by Oath to preserve in Monuments of
that which if he should do even in the private Houses of our Allies would seem an indignity he does in demolishing the Temples of the Immortal Gods and layes the Roman people under religious obligations by building one Temple out of the ruins of another as though there were not the same immortal Gods in all places but that some of them were to be worshipped and adorn'd with the spoils of others Now whereas before the report was made it appeared what the Senate intended to do the report being made they all were of opinion that those Tiles ought to be carry'd back to the same Temple again and that there should be atoning Sacrifices made to Juno What concern'd Religion was accordingly done with all diligence but the Persons that undertook at such a rate to carry them back brought word that they had left the Tiles in the Court before the Temple because there was never a Workman that could tell how to place them as they were before Of those Praetors that were gone into their Provinces Num. Fabius died at Massilia as he was going into the hither Spain Wherefore when that was told by the Massilian Embassadours the Senate decreed that P. Furius and Cn. Servilius whom he was to succeed should cast Lots between them which should continue in Commission and have the Government of the hither Spain The Lot fell very luckily for P. Furius the same person whose Province that had been should stay there The same year since part of the Ligurian and Gallick Territories that was taken in the War was now vacant there was an Order of Senate made that that Land should be divided among so many men A. Atilius the City Praetor created Decemviri i. e. ten Officers for that purpose by Order of Senate whose names were M. Aemilius Lepidus C. Cassius T. Aebutius Carus C. Tremelius P. Cornelius Cethegus Q. and L. Apuleius M. Caecilius C. Salonius and C. Munatius They divided ten Acres to each Roman but to the Latine Allies only three apiece At the same time that these things were transacted there came Embassadours out of Aetolia to Rome concerning their discords and seditions and the Thessalian Embassadours too to tell what was done in Macedonia Perseus revolving in his thoughts the War which whilst his Father was alive he design'd he reconciled to himself not only all the Nations of Greece but the Cities also by sending Embassies to them and promising more than he performed But indeed the minds of the people were generally inclined to favour him and that something more than they did Eumenes though all the Cities of Greece and most of the Nobility were obliged to Eumenes for his many kindnesses and favours that he had confer'd upon them and though he so behaved himself in his own Kingdom that those Cities which were under his Government would not change conditions with any free City But on the other hand it was reported that Perseus after his Fathers Death kill'd his Wife with his own hand and that he privately murder'd Apelles who was formerly the instrument of his treachery in taking off of his Brother for which when Philip sought him out to punish him he went into exile though he sent for him after his Fathers Death with great promises of rewarding him for doing so great an action Yet him who was infamous for many other domestick as well as Foreign Murderers and no way at all commendable upon the score of merit the Cities commonly preferr'd before a King who was so kind to his Neighbours so just to his Subjects and Countrymen and so munisicent toward all men whether out of a prejudice taken up through the Fame and Grandeur of the Macedonian Kings which moved them to despise the origine of a new Kingdom or through desire of innovation or because they had a mind he should be exposed to the Romans Now not only the Aetolians were in an uproar upon the score of their vast Debts but the Thessalians also by which contagion that evil like a Plague had got into Perraebia too When the news came that the Thessalians were up in Arms the Senate sent Ap. Claudius the Lieutenant to inspect and compose those matters Who having checked the Heads of both Factions and eased the Debtors of a great part of their use money which they were to pay even with the good liking of some that had occasion'd that burden upon them he order'd all that was justly and truly due to be paid at such and such dayes or terms for several years to come By the same Appius in the same manner were the affairs in Perraebia composed As for the causes of the Aetolians Marcellus heard them then at Delphi where they were pleaded with hostile vehemency as fierce as a civil War Wherefore when he saw that both sides contended as rashly as boldly he would not by his own Decree or ease or load either party but desired of them both together that they would desist from War and by forgetting what was past make an end of all differences between them The promise of this reconciliation was back'd with Hostages that were given to and fro for performance whereof they met at Corinth where the Hostages were to be deposited From Delphi and the Aetolian Council Marcellus went over into Peloponnesus where he had appointed a Convention of the Achaeans And there having commended that Nation in that they had constantly adhered to that old Decree for keeping the Macedonian Kings out of their Dominions he made the hatred of the Romans against Perseus very evident which that it might the sooner break forth King Eumenes bringing a Book with him which he had made after a full inquiry into all things concerning the preparations for the War came to Rome At the same time there were five Embassadours sent to the King to view the state of Affairs in Macedonia who were also order'd to go to Ptolomy at Alexandria to renew their Alliance with him The Embassadours were these C. Valerius Cn. Lutatius Cerco Q. Babius Sulca M. Cornelius Mammula and M. Caecilius Denter There came Embassadours also from Antiochus about the same time of whom Apollonius who was the chief being introduced into the Senate for many and just causes excused the King and said that they had brought all that stipend which the King was a little behind hand in the payment of as to the day that the King might not be beholding to them for any thing more than time That they likewise had brought golden Vessels of five hundred pound weight That the King desired that what Friendship and Alliance they had contracted with his Father they would renew the same with him and that the Roman People would injoin him to do what was fit for a good and a faithful Ally that was a King to do that he would not be backward in any duty That the Senate deserv'd so well of him when he was at Rome and the young Gentlemen were so civil that he was
Atilius a noble youth observing that the Samothracians were at a publick Assembly desir'd of the Magistratâ—s that they would permit him to speak some few words to the people Which being permitted he ask'd them Have we my good Friends of Samothrace or truly or falsly been told that this holy Island is all a sacred and inviolable soil Whereupon when all the Company agreed to the acknowledg'd sanctity of the place he demanded farther Why then said he hath a murderer polluted it with the blood of King Eumenes And since every Preface or the solemn words before the performance of holy rites forbids all those who have not pure hands to come into the sacred place where such religious duties are perform'd will you suffer your Temples to be prophaned with the bloody body of a Villain Now there was a common report about all the Cities of Greece that Evander almost kill'd King Eumenes at Delphi Wherefore besides that they saw themselves and the whole Island together with the Temple in the power of the Romans supposing that these things were not objected against them without cause sent Theondas who was the chief Magistrate among them by them stiled Rex i. e. King to Perseus to tell him That Evander the Cretan was accused of murder and that they had old Laws which they received by tradition from their Ancestors concerning those that were said to bring polluted hands within the sacred limits of their Temples If Evander were confident of his own innocency that he should coâ—e and make his defence but if he durst not venture a Tryal that he should at least no longer defile the Temple but consult his own safety Perseus calling forth Evander told him He would not by any means advise him to submit to a tryal for he could not come off either upon the very case it self or by any favour he would meet with Besides that he was also afraid lest if Evander were condemned he would detect him for the author of so horrid an action Wherefore what had he to do but bravely to die Evander openly refused nothing that he proposed but saying that he had rather die by poyson than by the Sword privately contrived his escape Which when the King heard he fearing lest the anger of the Samothracians might be turn'd all against him as though the guilty person had been by him convey'd from Justice caused Evander to be kill'd Which rash murder being committed it came immediately into his mind that he had taken that stain upon himself which had been Evanders for Evander had wounded King Eumenes at Delphi and he himself had kill'd Evander at Samothrace so that two the most sacred Temples in the World were by his instigation polluted with humane blood But this crime was so far palliated by his bribing Theondas that he carry'd word back to the People that Evander kill'd himself But by this base act against the only Friend which he had lâ—ft whom he himself had tried upon so many occasions and betray'd because he would not be a Traytor he so far alienated the affections of all people that every body revolted to the Romans and forced him who was left almost alone to consult how to make his escape and therefore he sent for Oroandes a Cretan who knew the Coast of Thrace because he had traded there as a Merchant to put him on board a Bark and carry him to Cotys There is a Port at a certain Cape belonging to Samothrace where the Bark stood To which place about Sun-setting they carry'd down all things that were necessary and money too as much as they could privately convey The King himself at midnight with three others that knew of his flight went out at the back Door of the House where he lay into a Garden near his Bed-Chamber and from thence getting with much ado over a stone Wall came to the Sea-side Oroandes at that very time when the money was coming down which was the edge of night had set Sail and was going for Crete Wherefore since he found not the Ship in the Port Perseus having wander'd for some time upon the shore at last fearing the light which now approach'd and not daring to return to his Lodging lay in one side of the Temple near an obscure Corner thereof The Children of Noblemen among the Macedonians who were chosen to attend upon the King were called Pueri Regii the Kings Attendants Now that Retinue follow'd the King in his slight nor did they even then forsake him till by order from Cn. Octavius the Cryer made Proclamation that the Kings Servants and all other Macedonians that were in Samothrace if they would come over to the Romans should save their Lives Liberties and Estates which they either had with them there or had left in Macedonia Upon which Declaration they all came over and gave in their names to C. Postumius Tribune of the Souldiers Ion also of Thessalonica deliver'd up to Cn. Octavius the Kings small Children nor was there ever an one of them lest with the King except Philip only who was the eldest of his Sons Then he surrender'd himself and his Son to Octavius accusing fortune and the Gods in whose Temple they were for not assisting one that pray'd to them for it with any aid Whereupon he was order'd to be put into the Admirals Ship whereinto the money which remained was also carry'd and so the Fleet set Sail immediately for Amphipolis And thence Octavius sent the King into the Camp to the Consul having sent a Letter before-hand to let him know that he had him in his custody and was a bringing him thither to him Paulus supposing that to be as it really was an happy Victory kill'd several Victims upon the news of it and having called a Council in which he read the Praetors Letter sent Q. Aelius Tubero to meet the King commanding the rest to stay in a full body at his Tent. There never was such a multitude of people at any show as came to see this sight King Syphax indeed in the memory of our Fathers had been taken and brought into the Roman Camp who besides that he was not to be compared with Perseus either upon the score of his own Fame or that of his Country was then also no more than an addition to the Punick as Gentius of the Macedonian War But Perseus was the head and first mover of a War nor did the renown of his Father and Grand-Father only whose Descendant he was render him conspicuous but Philip also and Great Alexander shone brightly forth who had made the Macedonian Empire the chiefest in the whole World Perseus came into the Camp in a mourning Garb without any body else to Accompany him and make him more miserable by being in the same sad condition He could not go forward to be seen for the crowd of those that came to meet him till the Consul had sent the Lictors to remove the people and make a Lane to the Generals
with whom he routed the Enemy and restored the small principality call'd Matenes to its former Lord Thence turning his Arms against the Dardanians he not only restrain'd their Incursions but coming upon their Army when they suspected no Enemy near slew ten thousand and forc'd the rest to fly over the Mountains plentifully returning the terrour they had brought into Thrace upon their own Country by laying wast their Fields and destroying divers of their Towns and so led back his Souldiers loaden with booty home to Macedonia his longer stay in those parts being hindred by Intelligence that the Romans were hovering on the Sea-Coasts and threatned the Frontiers of Thessaly and Illyricum About this time viz. whilst P. Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus were Consuls we find in the Annals of Cassinius that a certain Girl under her Parents tuition was turn'd into a Boy and by that change of Sex being esteem'd a Monster was by the Order of the Soothsayers carried into and left in a desert Island M. Junius Pennus the Praetor sailing over into his Province the hithermost Spain with a supply of eight thousand Foot and four hundred and fifty Horse found all things amongst the Celtiberians and the other Nations allied with them put into confusion by the Arts or rather Furies of one particular man named Olonicus or Salondicus as some call him who had instigated them to an Insurrection with assurances of certain Victory who for being a Fellow endued with no less Craft than boldness he took upon him to act as a kind of Prophet and brandishing a silver Spear which he pretended was sent him from Heaven he so fill'd the heads of the Barbarians with his Whimsies that by his perswasions they took Arms in greater multitudes than ever before of which the Praetor having advice before he march'd against them made it his business to engage the minds of the rest of the Provinces by all sorts of kindness and bounty to continue faithful and peaceable Then passing into the Borders of Celtiberia encamped close by the Enemy who then calling to mind their past overthrows began to tremble which Salondicus perceiving and that they did not sufficiently confide in his Oracles he undertook an Enterprize worthy of that rashness and celestial assistance which he had hitherto boasted of which was to imitate the example of Mucius Scaevola and kill the Roman General in his own Tent conceiving the thing easy to be done and which if it succeeded there would then be nothing more easy than to destroy the Army being but as a Trunk without an Head and by the Miracle of such an event confirming his Propheciâ—s he should be sure to acquire the highest Authority amongst his Countrymen The truth is amongst so many Spaniards mixt amongst the Romans and serving them as Auxiliaries so that neither his Habit nor Arms nor Language was like to be taken notice of he had some reason to hope that he might without much difficulty get into their Camp and even up as far as the Praetors Pavilion so taking with him a Companion as desperate as himself towards night he makes towards the Roman Camp and got to Junius's Tent without being question'd but attempting to enter one of the Guards run him through with a Javelin and his Comrade likewise paid his Life for his â—olly both whose Heads Junius caused to be stuck upon Spears and to be delivered to certain Prisoners he had lately taken commanding them to carry the same to their Countrymens Army which when they came into the Camp they caused such a consternation c. fol. 832. The Supplement of the second defective Passage in the forty third Book to be inserted at the End of that Book fol. 840. To lay out any money upon a thing of the greatest moment to him to all intents and purposes which neglect caused both his own and Gentius's ruine Whilst by these Successes the Roman Empire was augmented the Fortunes of private persons were also increased especially by the Macedonian Spoils and as their Wealth so their Profuseness and Luxury grew every day greater and more extravagant which gave occasion for a new Law For as the Female Sex seem'd most obnoxious to this disease of superfluous Expences having less opportunity to commit more grievous Crimes so it was thought fit to provide That there should not be too great a conflâ—x of the Cities wealth into their slippery hands To which purpose Q Voconius Saxa Aricinus a Tribune of the Commons as if he design'd to shew himself no less severe a Censor to the Women than Claudius and Gracchus had been to the Men promulgated an Ordinance of the Commons whereby it was provided That no person who since the Censorship of Q Fulvius and A. Posthumius that is within five years last past had been rankt in the first Classis of Citizens for wealth should by his Will make any Maid or Woman his Heir and those were to be reckon'd amongst the richer sort and placed in the first Class whose Patrimony amounted to one hundred thousand Asses and upwards The Women quickly took the Alarm and were not wanting to make all the interest they had in the World to ward off this threatned Blow and they had Advocates who with very plausible Reasons defended their Cause Therefore as the Matrons one and twenty years ago when L. Valerius Flaccus and M. Porcius Cato were Consuls stiffly opposed the Oppian Law and stickled for their Mundus Muliebris or the Priviledges of their Dressing-boxes and Honour of their fine Cloaths and Ornaments so no less did they now bestir themselves to prevent the passing of this Law which more nearly concern'd them for against the other only the study of appearing neat and fine had made them mutiny but against this they were excited both by Covetousness and the desire of adorning themselves as they list and spending as much as they pleased each no small Argument to a Womans Reason Nor can we easily determine which was of greater weight since 't is a Moot-point not yet resolved whether their Beauty or their Money be most charming or if the one do not please the men as much as the other can do themselves Both the Nobles and Commons were bandied into opposite Factions about this business and every one according to his Capacity Understanding or Interest did either favour or decry the Bill Some affirmed That the publick Liberty was therein concern'd to undermine which they began with this small Essay but succeeding therein they would drive the wedge still further and by degrees utterly subvert the Roman Freedoms For what for the future would be left free if that most ample Power of Bequeathing ones own Estate as one pleases granted by the twelve Tables to all as private and domestick Legislators in their particular Fortunes and for so many Ages observed inviolate shall now by a new and special Law be taken away How strange a thing is it to treat them as Foreigners and