so many more heads as I haue slain spring out of their owne bloud as it were out of Lernas serpent And what a Senate was that when vpon the oration of Appius the Blinde the kings ambassadours who were sent backe out of the citie with their gifts and presents confest to Pyrrhus vpon his demand of what they thought concerning the enemies seat that the citie seemed a temple the Senate a parliament of kings Againe what manner of men were the Generals themselues in camp when Curius sent the kings physician back who made offer in secret for a certain summe to poyson him and Fabricius hauing the choise giuen by Pyrrhus refused to share a kingdome with him Or what were they in time of peace when Curius preferred his earthen dishes before the Samnits gold and Fabricius vsing Censorian seueritie condemn'd it for riotous in Rufinus a Consularie nobleman because hee had siluer plate in all to a tenne pound weight Who wonders now if the people of Rome with such qualities courages and martiall discipline obtained victory or that by this one Tarentine warre they should in foure yeeres space bring into subiection as they did the greatest part of all Italy most puissant nations most rich common-weals most fertill countreys Or what doth so much surpasse beliefe as when you compare the beginnings of the warre with the conclusion Pyrrhus conquerour in the first field harrased trembling Italy Campania Liris and Fregellae came within ken of Rome then almost taken as he beheld it from the castell of Praeneste and within twentie miles off filled the eyes of the quaking citie with smoak and dust The same prince enforced twice after that to quit his campe twice wounded and beaten ouer land and sea into his Greece againe peace and quiet and the spoiles which were gotten from so many the richest nations so infinite as Rome was not wide enough to containe her owne victorie For there neuer entred a more glittering or more goodly triumph because before this time shee had beheld nothing but the cattell of the Volscians the heards of the Sabins the chariots of the Galls the manufactures of the Samnits armes But had you beene now a spectator the captiues were Molossians Thessalians Macedonians the Brutian Apulian and Lucaner the pompe consisted of gold purple statua's tables the delicacies of Tarent But Rome saw nothing which contented her more then those beasts with towrs on their backes of which shee had stood in such feare and they againe sensible of their captiuitie followed drouping with down-hanging neckes after the horse their Masters CHAP. XIX The Picenian Warre ALI Italie forthwith enioyed peace for after Tarent who should dare to do oughts sauing onely as the Romans thought it good of their own meere motion to prosecute the enemies friends Hereupon they conquer'd the Picentines and their chiefe citie Asculum by Generall Sempronius and the field in the time of battel suffring an earth-quake hee appeased the goddesse Tellus by promising to build her a Temple CHAP. XX. The Sallentine Warre THe Sallentines were added by Marcus Atilius cōmander in chiefe for that seruice to the Picentines together with the head-towne of that prouince Brundusium renowned for a port And in this conflict Pales the shepheards deitie of her owne accord demanded a Temple for her selfe in lieu of victorie CHAP. XXI The Vulsinian Warre THe last of the Italian nations who remained constant in their truth to vs were the Vulsinians the richest people of all Etruria and now humble suitours for assistance against their late slaues who had set vp the libertie giuen them by their lords ouer the giuers themselues and getting the power of the State among them did accordingly tyrannize But Fabius Gurges the Roman captaine made the villains smart for their villanie CHAP. XXII Of Seditions THis is the second age of the Roman people and as it were their youth a time in which they were most fresh and budding out in certaine fierie shoots boild ouer as it were in iollitie of spirit On the other side that wildenes which they retained of their shepheardish originall breathed foorth some-what still which was vntamed in thē Thence it came that the armie making a mutinie in the campe stoned Postumius their Generall to death for refusing to giue them the shares he promised That vnder Appius Claudius they would not ouercome the enemie whē they might That vnder Generall Volero most withdrawing their seruice they crusht the Consuls fasces Thence it was that they punisht the most honourable commanders they had with banishment for resisting their pleasure as Coriolanus whome they condemnd to the plough Which iniurie he would as harshly haue chastised with his sword if his mother Veturia when he was now readie to charge had not disweapond him with weeping Yea as Camillus himselfe because in their conceits hee had not made the shares of the Veientine spoiles indifferent between the Commonaltie and the souldier But he a much better man did rescue the besieged in Rome taken and reuenged their quarel vpon the Galls their enemies to whom but euen now they were humble suitours In such sort they contended also with the Se nate it selfe about settling the rules of right that abandoning their houses they threatned emptinesse and vtter decay to their natiue countrey CHAP. XXIII The cities first discord THe first intestine dissention hapned throgh the vnrulinesse of Vsurers who exercising villanous crueltie the whole people departed in armes to the Sacred Hill and very hardly not but vntill they had obtained Tribunes and were perswaded also by the authoritie of Menenius Agrippa a wise and eloquent man could be drawne to return The fable of that old oration effectuall enough to induce concord is extant In which is fained that The parts of mans bodie were once vpon a time at odds together for that all the rest doing their seuerall offices the bellie only was idle but in the end when they found themselues almost pined to death by the separation they became good friends againe for that by the meate which by the stomachs ministerie was conuerted into bloud the veines were filled with nourishment CHAP. XXIIII The cities second discord THE tyrannie of the Decemuirs embroiled the citie the second time in the very heart thereof Ten princes elected for that purpose had bookt the lawes cull'd out of such as were brought from Greece at the peoples commandement and the whole rule of Roman iustice was described by them in Tenne Tables after which though their commission determined they neuerthelesse retained the soueraigne power vpon a tyrannicall humor Appius Claudius was puft vp more then all his partners with so great pride as hee secretly resolued to deflowre a free-borne virgin forgetting Lucretia forgetting the expulsion of kings and the lawes which himselfe had enacted Virginius her father therefore when hee saw his childe by false practice iudged a bond-woman he made no bones to kill her
They both to keepe their promise and not to suffer her to escape ouer-whelmed her to death with their shields The enemies thus getting to the walls there rose a terrible conflict in the very entrance so farreforth that Romulus was glad to beseech Ioue to flay his people from their shamefull flying In this place there is a temple and the statue of IVPITER the Stayer At last they which had beene rauished came running-in tearing their haire betweene the two armies as they were furiously encountring So was peace made with Tatius and a league ratified There ensued a matter wonderfull to bee spoken The Sabine enemies leauing their ancient seate remoued with their whole families into the new citie and share their horded riches among their sonnes in law for portions Their ioynt forces quickly encreasing the most wise Romulus ordayned this forme of common-weale That the young men deuided into tribes should serue on horse-back and watch in armour to bee readie for all sudden occasions of warre the councell of estate should belong to the old and ancient who for their authoritie should be called Fathers and for their antiquitie Senators or Aldermen These things thus established he was taken out of sight in a moment as hee made an oration before the citie at the poole of Capra Some thinke he was torne in pieces by the Senate for his harsh and rough disposition but a tempest rising with an eclipse of the Sun made it seeme like the consecration of a God-head Which opinion Iulius Proculus caused to go presently currant by affirming that Romulus had appeared to him in a more maiesticall shape then euer hee was seene before that hee commanded they should adore him as a power diuine That the Gods had decreed his name in heauen should bee Quirinus and that Rome should so obtayne the empire of the world CHAP. II. Of NVMA POMPILIVS TO Romulus succeeded Numa Pompilius whom liuing at the Sabines Cures the Romans of their owne accord intreated to bee their king for the fame of his religion He taught them sacred rites and ceremonies and all the worship of the immortall gods Hee instituted their Colleges of priests of all sorts Pontifices Augures Salians and the rest distinguisht the yeere into twelue months markt out which dayes were luckie and which were dismall in them He gaue them their Ancilia shields and Palladium as certayne secret pledges of empire Hee gaue them their temple of Ianus to be the sure signe of peace or warre most specially the harth of Vesta for virgins to adore that in imitation of the starres of heauen the flame preserued there aliue might euer keepe awake for safegard of the state All these things he ordayned by as it were the oracle of the goddesse Egeria that the barbarous might so accept them the rather To conclude hee brought the fierce people to that passe that the kingdome which they had atchieued by violence and wrong they gouerned by religion and iustice CHAP. III. Of TVLLVS HOSTILIVS NEXT after Numa reignes Tullus Hostilius to whome the kingdome was freely giuen in honor of his vertue This prince founded all their martiall discipline and arte of warre Their young-men thereby wonderously practised in feates of Armes they durst prouoke the Albanes an honourable people which had long time borne chiefe sway But their forces being equall and their conflicts many when both sides were diminished the warre was drawne by consent to a short worke and the fortunes of both the nations were entrusted to a combat betweene the Horatij and Curatij being three to three of a side and brethren The fight was braue and doubtfull and admirable in the euent For three of the one side being wounded and two of the other slaine that Horatius who remayned aliue helping out his valour with his wit faynes himselfe to flie so to single forth the enemie and then turning vpon each as they were able to follow ouer-came them all So which was otherwise a rare glorie the victorie was gotten with one mans hand which hee forth with stained by parricide Hee saw his sister weepe at the sight of the conquered spoiles he wore being her betrothed husband's though an enemies Which vnseasonable tender-heartednesse he reuenged with sheathing his sword in her For this haynous fact hee was arraigned But the merit of his man-hood preserued the offendor from danger and the crime was hidden with in his valours glorie Nor did the Albanes long keepe their faith For being sent as aydes and fellowes in armes against the Fidenates according to the articles of their league they turned neutrall in battell for their owne aduantage But the politike king Hostilius so soone as hee saw his associates incline to the enemies partie he gathers fresh spirit as if hee had willed them so to doe which did put hope into our men and strooke feare into the foes So the treason came to nothing The battell therefore being wonne he causeth Metius Fufetius the breaker of the league to be tyed betweene two chariots and pluckt in pieces with swift horses and though Alba was the mother of Rome yet withall because it was a riuall he threw it to the ground after hee had first transported the whole riches and all the people thereof to Rome that a citie a kinne by the whole bloud might not altogether seeme to haue perished but to haue as it were turned againe into her proper Body CHAP. IIII. Of ANCVS MARTIVS THe next King was Ancus Martius Grand-Childe of Pompilius by his daughter and of such a wit Hee therfore girt the citie with a wall and ioyned both the sides thereof together with a bridge ouer Tibris which ran betweene and planted a Colonie at Ostia where that riuer falls into the sea His minde giuing him euen then that the wealth of the whole world and passengers to and fro out of all parts should be receiued there as in the hauen towne and maritim Inne of Rome CHAP. V. Of TARQVINIVS PRISCVS TArquinius afterward called Priscus though descended from forainers beyond sea yet of his owne free courage demaunding the kingdome had it as freely graunted for his industrie and noble carriage For sprung out of Corinth hee had mingled Greeke wit with Italian fashions This prince inlarged the maiestie of the Senate and augmented the Tribes with new Centuries notwithstanding that Attius Naeuius excellently seene in Augurie had forbidden the number to be encreased of whom the king to trie his skill demaunded Whether that might be done which hee at that instant had in his minde Naeuius hauing first put in practice the rules of his bird-flying mysterie answered That it might Then it was my thought quoth he whether I could cut that whetstone with a rasour And thou mayest said the Augur and he did it Hence the Augur-ship became sacred among the Romans Nor was Tarquinius better at peace then at warre For hee conquered the twelue Tuscan nations with often fighting and from thence came our
Maces our Trabeae our Chairs of State our Rings Trappers Robes purple-guarded Coats Chariots of Triumph guilt ouer drawne with foure horses embroydered Gownes Cassocks chambleted with figures of palmes and briefely all the ornaments ensignes by which soueraigne Maiestie is made eminent CHAP. VI. Of SERVIVS TVLLIVS THen Seruius Tullius vsurpeth the royall power nor was his basenesse any barre vnto him therein though his mother was a bond-woman For Tanaquil the wife of Tarquinius had bred him vp in honourable fashion for his excellent dispositions sake and a flame being seene to blaze about his head did assure hee should prooue famous Therefore in the Interregnum after Tarquinius his death hee being set vp by the Queene dowagers meanes to supply the Kings place as it were but for a time so managed that authority by his wit which he had atchieued by practice that hee seemed to haue good right vnto it By him the people of Rome had their estates valued and bookes of value and musters made themselues marshalled into formes or classes and distributed into courts and companies And by this kings incomparable diligence the Common-weale was so ordered that note was taken of all their lands goods honours ages arts and offices and put into publike register as if the state of a most mightie citie were to be kept vp and held together with the same diligence that a pettie familie CHAP. VII Of TARQVINIVS SVPERBVS THe last of all the kings was Tarquinius surnamed the Proud of his conditions He rather made choise to inuade then to expect his grandfathers realme which was with-holden by Seruius whose murther hauing procured hee gouerned the Commonweale as badly as he had obtained it wickedly Nor was his wife Tullia of any better nature then himselfe For hurrying to salute her husband King shee ranne her amazed Coach-horse ouer the bloudie bodie of her father But Tarquinius raging with slaughter against the Senate and against all men with proud behauiour which worthie men brooke worse then crueltie after hee had tired himselfe at home with shedding bloud hee marcheth at length against the enemie So Ardea Ocriculum Gabij Suessa Pometia towns of strength in Latin land were taken Then turned hee cruell towards his owne For hee stucke not to scourge his sonne to the intent that thereupon counterfeiting himselfe a fugitiue he might gayne credit with the enemie and Gabij according to this plot being surprized when the sonne sent messengers to his father to vnderstand his farther royall pleasure he only strucke off the tops of those poppie-heads with his wand which ouer-topt their fellowes meaning thereby that he would haue the chiefe men put to death And this was all the answere which his pride vouchsafed Neuerthelesse he built a temple out of the spoyles of conquered cities Which when it came to be dedicated according to the rites all other the Gods a wonder to be spoken leauing the place Iuuentas and Terminus only remained This contumacie of the powers diuine pleased the soothsayers well for it promised that the Roman affaires should be flourishing and eternall But this was maruelous that in digging to build there appeared the head of a man for a foundation which all men did confidently interprete as a most faire and happie signe prognosticating that there should bee the head seat of the whole worlds empire The people of Rome suffered the pride of their king while their women were forborne but that insolent abuse they could not endure in his sonnes Of whom when one of them had rauished that most beautious Lady Lucretia and shee clearing her selfe from the infamie by killing her selfe then they vtterly abrogated their name and all the authoritie of Kings CHAP. VIII The summe of the whole premisses THis is the first age of the people of Rome and as it were their infancie vnder seuen kings men by as it were a speciall prouision of the fates as differing in disposition as the reason and profit of the Commonweale required For who could bee more hote or fierie then Romulus But there was need of hauing such an one to set vp the kingdome perforce Who was more religious then Numa But their assayres could not want such a person that the fierce people might bee made temperate through the feare of the Gods How necessarie was that Master of their martiall discipline Tullus to a warlike Nation for whetting and perfecting their courages with reason How needfull was Ancus the builder that the citie might spread it selfe by sending out a Colonie that the parts thereof might bee vnited by a bridge and it selfe bee defended with a Wall Againe how great dignitie and grace did the ornaments and ensignes which Tarquinius Priscus brought in giue to the worlds chiefe people by their very fashion What other effect had the musters and suruey which Seruius tooke then that the commonweale might know and vnderstand it selfe Lastly the intolerable lordlinesse of Superbus did some good nay a very great deale of good For thereby it came to passe that the people stung with abuses were inflamed with the desire of freedome CHAP. III. Of the change in State from Kings to a Commonweale THe people therefore of Rome hauing Brutus and Collatinus to whom the noble matron recommended at her death her iniuries reuenge for captaines authors by as it were a diuine instinct being throughly all of them resolued to restore themselues to libertie and secure the honor of their women sodeinly fell away from the king spoile his goods consecrate his ground to Mars and transferre the soueraigne power to the same men who had beene founders of their freedome but yet changeing both the iudge title For it was agreed that whereas the authoritie had before beene single and perpetuall it should bee now but from yeere to yeere and bipartite lest either by singularitie or continuance it should bee corrupted and for kings they styled them Consuls that they might remember the dutie of their place was to consult and prouide for their Countrey Such ioy was conceiued for this new freedome that they could hardly beleeue the change and one of the Consuls because he was of kingly name and race they depriued him of his office and banished him the citie Into whose roome Valerius Poplicola being substituted hee bent his whole studies to augment the free maiessie of the people For hee bowed downe to them the Fasces in their assemblie and made it lawfull to appeale from the Consuls to the people And that the shew of a seeming castle might not offend he pluckt down his house which stood high built it on a flat or leuel But Brutus to come with all his sailes into popularitie did both cast his house to the ground and slue his sonnes For hauing discouer'd that they practised to bring in kings againe he drew them forth into the Forum and in the mid'st of the assemblie scourged them first with rods and then cut off their heads with the axe so
that he plainly seemed as a common father to haue adopted the people of Rome into the place of his children From henceforth free the first armes which the people tooke were against aliens for maintenance of their libertie secundly for their bounds thirdly for their associates as also for glorie and dominion their neighbours by all meanes daily vexing them For whereas they had in the beginning no land of their owne lying to their citie they forthwith enlarged their territories with that which they wonne from the enemie and being situated in the midst betweene Latium and Tuscanie as it were in a two-way-leet they neuer gaue ouer to issue out of their gates against the aduersarie till running like a kinde of plague through euery nation and alwayes laying hold of such as were next they brought all Italie at last to be vnder their subiection CHAP. X. The warre with the Tuscans and King PORSENA KIngs being driuen out of the city the first armes which the people tooke were for supportation of their freedome For Porsena king of Tuscans was at hand with huge forces and brought backe the Tarquins vnder his protection Neuerthelesse though he prest them to accept the king againe with fighting and with famine and had gotten mount Ianiculum which stood in the very iawes of the citie yet they both resisted and forced him also to retire and finally they strooke him into so great admiration that after hee was now growne too hard he voluntarily entred into a league of friendship with that people which he had almost ouercome Then were seene those braue Roman aduentures and wonders Horatius Mutius Claelia who if they were not in chronicles would at this day bee taken for fables For Horatius Cocles after that hee alone could not keepe off the enemies who assaulted him on all sides and that the bridge was broken downe behinde him hee crost ouer Tibris swimming and yet held his weapons fast Mutius Scaeuola came by a stratagem to the king and attempted to stabbe him in his campe but when hee saw the stroake lost by mistaking another for him he thrust his hand into the prepared fire and doubled the kings terrour by his cunning For thus he said That thou mayst know from what manner of man thou hast escaped three hundred of vs haue all sworne the same thing Meane while an horrible thing to be spoken Horatius stood vndaunted and the other shook with feare as if it had beene the kings hand which burned Thus much for men But that neither of the sexes should want their praise behold the courage of a noble damosel Claelia one of the hostages deliuer'd to the king breakes from her keepers and swam safe home on horsbacke through her natiue countreys riuer Porsena terrifide with so many and so notable faire warnings bade them farewell and bee free The Tarquins fought so long as till Brutus with his owne hand slue Aruns the guiltie sonne of king Tarquinius and till himselfe also being wounded by the same Aruns fell downe dead withall vpon the bodie as if he plainely meant to pursue the adulterer euen to hell CHAP. XI The warre with the Latins THe Latins in like sort vpon emulation and enuy tooke in hand the quarrell of Tarquinius that the people which were Lords abroad might be made vassals at home All Latium therefore hauing Manilius of Tusculum for leader was vp in armes vpon pretense to reuenge the kings wrong They encountred at sake Regillus in doubtfull fight for a long time till the Dictator himselfe Posthumius tost the standard among the enemies a new and famous deuice that it might bee recouered with running in and Titus Aebutius Elua Master of the horsemen commanded them to slippe their bridles ouer their horse heads and this also was a new deuice that they might charge the more desperately To conclude such was the furious brauerie of the battle that the Gods are said to haue giuen it the looking-on and that Castor and Pollux two of them did mounted vpon white coursers no mā doubteth Therefore the Generall of the Romans adored and vpon condition of victorie vow'd them a temple and duely performed it as pay to his fellow-souldiers Thus farre for libertie Their next warre with the Latins was concerning limits and bounders which brake out presently and continued without truce Sora who would beleeue it and Algidum petie cities were then a terrour to Rome Satricum Corniculum townes of no more fame were Prouinces Ouer Veij Bouilli a shame to say it yet wee triumphed Tibur which is now but a suburb and Praeneste but our summer-recreation were then demanded of the Gods as mighty maters with vowes for victory made solemnly first in the Capitol Faesulae were then what Taphrae were of late and the forest of Aricinum the same which in these dayes the huge Hercinian woods Fregellae what Gessoriacum and Tibrsis what Euphrates Nay it was then held an act of so great glorie to haue ouercome but Corioli that Caius Marcius fie vpon it was thereof called Coriolanus as if hee had cōquer'd Numantia in Spaine or the worlds third portion Africa There are at this day to be seene the tropheas of the sea-fight at Antium which Caius Maeuius hauing vanquisht the enemies nauie hung vp in the stage of the Forum if that at leastwise may bee termed a nauie for they were but sixe beak-heads But in those young dayes that number made a battle at sea The Aequi and Volscians were neuerthelesse of all the Latin nations the most obstinately bent and as I may cal them quotidian enemies But Lucius Quinctius chiefly brought them vnder that noble Dictator who taken from holding the plough did by his excellent vertue deliuer the Consul Lucius Minurius as he was besieged almost distressed in his campe It was then about the mid'st of seed-time when the officer of armes sent from the Senate found the honourable man at his plough-worke From thence setting forward to the army hee to shew hee had not left off any point of countrey-fashions compelled the conquer'd enemies to passe reproachfully vnder the yoke like cattle And so the seruice ending he returned home to his oxen a triumphall husbandman O the goodnesse of the Gods how great was the speed The warre was all begun ended within the space of two and twentie dayes that the Dictator might seeme to haue hastned home to his rurall taske left behinde vnfinished CHAP. XII The warre with the Falisci and Fidenates OVr daily and yeerely enemies were the Veientines people of Tuscanie so farre forth that the noble house of the Fabij promised to the state an extraordinarie band of voluntaries vndertooke their part of the warre vpon their priuate charge but with too too great calamitie to thēselues For at the riuer of Cremera three hundred and sixe of them a little armie of lords were slaine and that gate of Rome through which they issued to that encounter was thereupon entituled Dismall
But that deadly blow was reuenged with notable victories as their strongest townes were taken from them by sundrie Roman Generals with differing euents The Falisci yeelded themselues of their owne accord They of Fidenae were burnt with their owne firebrands The citie of the Veientes was ransackt and razed for euer The Falisci yeelded vpon admiration of their aduersaries noblenesse and not without cause for the Roman Generall sent back the trecherous Pedant fast bound before those childrē which he brought with a purpose by their surrender to betray the citie For Furius Camillus a wise and religious gentleman well vnderstood that victorie to bee a true one which was atchieued without wrong to common honestie and with honour saued The Fidenates to scarre vs came marching forward like an host of infernall furies with blazing firebrands in their hands flaring head-tires speckled like skinnes of serpents but that gastly spectacle was nothing but an omen of their owne destruction How great a State the Veientines were those ten yeeres siege which they endured maketh euident this was the first time of our wintring in tents of leuying money vpon the Commons to pay a winter-campe and the souldiers of their owne free wils tooke a solemne oath neuer to rise from before the citie till they had taken it The spoiles of king Lartes Tolumnius were brought to Iupiter Feretrius To conclude the last act of that cities tragedie was not performed by scaling ladders or assaults but by mines and stratagems vnder ground The hugenesse of the bootle was such that the tithes thereof were sent ouer-sea to Pythian Apollo and the whole people of Rome were called foorth to share in the pillage Such were the Veientines then Now who is hee that once remembreth them to haue had a being which are their remaines or which the least token of them The credit of Histories is put hard to it in making vs beleeue that euer Veij were CHAP. XIII The Gallick warre AFter this either by the enuie of the Gods or by destinie the most round quick streame of spredding dominion was for a while kept vnder by the ouerflowings of the Galli Senones Which season it is hard to say whether it were more dismall to the Roman people through terrible calamities or glorious for the proofes they gaue of their manhood Certaine it is that the violence of their extremes was such as I may well think they were sent from heauen of purpose the immortall Gods desirous to try whether the vertue of the Romanes might deserue the empire of the world These Galli Senones a nation naturally fierce of a wilde behauiour their bodies huge aswell as their warre-like weapons were in all respects so dreadfull as they seemed no other then borne to destroy mankinde and beate downe cities In former ages when the Ocean had surrounded all they comming in an huge plumpe from the vtmost coasts of the earth when they first had wasted what was in their way and then seated themselues betweene the Alpes and Po nor yet contented there they wandred also ouer Italie They lay now at siege before Clusium The Romans became intercessours as for their fellowes and confederates Ambassadors were sent as the manner is But what regard hath right or wrong among the barbarous They carrie themselues roughly and transferre the quarrell from thence Rising therefore from before Clusium and comming to Rome the Consull Fabius giues them battell with an armie at the riuer Alia The discomfiture at Cremera was not more piteous The Romans therefore marke this day among their black ones Our forces defeated they forthwith approch the walls of Rome There was no garrison Then or else neuer did the Roman brauerie of minde appeare For so soone as might be such of the Senatours as had borne highest offices assemble in the Forum and vnder the curses of the chiefe Priest banne and deuoue themselues for their Countries safetie to the gods infernall and those dire ceremonies ended they were each of them immediately put backe againe to their houses before which they seated themselues vpon their Court-chaires apparelled in their robes of state and most honourable habiliments that when the enemie came vpon them they might die in the maiestie of their places The Priests and Flamines did partly packe vp in dry-fats whatsoeuer was most religiously esteemed of in their temples couering them vnder ground and partly trussed into carts transporting it away with themselues The Virgins also of Vesta's colledge did bare-foot accompany their flying gods At which time Albinius one of the common people is said to haue taken his wife children out of their waggon and placed those virgins there So that euen in those dayes the religion of the State was more deare vnto vs then priuate affection Such as were able to beare armes whose number was scarce sixe thousand followed Manlius for captaine vp into the Capitoll praying high Ioue as if he were euen present then among them that as they were flockt together for defence of his temple so he againe would protest their valour vnder his title Meane while the Galls come at first as men amazed finding the gate wide open suspitious of some plot but when they found all hush they enter disorderly with no lesse a cry then furie They goe to the houses whose dores stood euery-where open and when they beheld the purple-cloathed Senatours sitting in their chayres of state they worshipt them at first as gods or locall Ghosts but so soone as it appeared they were mortall men and that otherwise they disdained to answer they straightwayes did as absurdly sacrifice as adore them burne buildings with fire-brands yron tooles and force of hands lay the whole citie as low as the soile it stood vpon Seuen months who would beleeue it the barbarous houered about one hill hauing not onely by day but by night assayed all meanes to force it whom when at last they were mounted vp in the darke Manlius wakened with the creaking of a goose threw headlong backe from the top of the cragge and to put the enemie out of all hope of staruing them hurled loaues of bread from the castle to make a show of confidence though their famine was extreme And vpon a certaine set day hee sent forth Fabius through the middest of the enemies guards to performe a solemne sacrifice vpon mount Quirinal who by the meere awe of religion returned vntoucht through the thickest of the leaguers weapons and brought assurance backe that they had the gods their friends At last when the barbarous were tyred now with their owne siege contented to sell their departure at a thousand pound weight of gold and then also putting in a sword ouer and aboue their bargaine into the false ballances they weighed by insolently iustifying it by this cutting quippe Woe to them who are ouercome L. Camillus suddenly assayles them at their backs and made such slaughter among them that all the characters of destruction which fire had printed in
draue the Carthaginian garrisons out of Agrigentum Drepanum Panormus Eryx Lilybaeum well-neere all they had The Romans were once in great feare of a mischiefe about the forrest of Camarina but through the excellent vertue of Calpurnius Flamma a tribune of souldiers wee escaped For hee with a choise band of three hundred did beat the enemie from a ground of aduantage which hee had taken and meant to haue made good against vs holding play till our whole armie was gotten out of danger By which his so prosperous successe hee matcht the glory of Leonidas at the straits of Thermopylae in this one point our Calpurnius more famous then the other that hee ouer-liued the exploit though he drew no characters in bloud Lucius Cornelius Scipio when Sicilia was now become a purliew or suburbe-prouince of the Roman state and warre crept farther crost ouer into Sardinia and Corsica neighbour Ilands where he so affrighted the inhabitants by rasing the citie Carala and so vanquisht all the Carthaginians or Paenish-men as well by land as sea that nothing now was left to be conquered but Africa it selfe Marcus Atilius Regulus sayled with warre aboord him into Africa Yet there wanted not some who fainted at the terrible name which the Carthaginian seas had gotten Mannius the tribune also augmenting by his feare this fearfull conceit till the Generall menacing him with the naked axe vnlesse hee obeyed made him take heart and put to sea for feare of his head They forthwith plyde it with oare saile and the feare of our comming was such among the Paenish-men that Carthage had almost set open her gates and been taken The first reward of this martiall voyage was the taking of the citie Clypea for that stands first in sight vpon the Punick shore like a fort and sentinell and aboue three hundred castles besides the same were sackt and rased Nor fought they only with men but with monsters also for a serpent of prodigious bignesse and bred as it were to take vengeance on behalfe of Africa vext our campe at Bagrada But Regulus who conquerd all things hauing spred the terrour of his name farre and neare multitudes of their youth slaine their captaines dead at his foot or fast in chains his nauie fraighted with infinite spoiles which he had sent heauie laden away to Rome as stuffe for triumph laid siege to the chiefe seate of that warre Carthage itselfe and lodged close at the very gates Here fortune wheeld about a little only that Rome might haue the more glories to adorne it whose greatnesse is for the more part most improued by great mischances For the enemies turning themselues to make vse of forreine aids the Lacedemonians sent them Xantippus for a Generall who being most expert in the Art of warre gaue vs a grieuous ouerthrow the most stout Regulus himselfe a misfortune which had neuer hapned to the Romans before fell aliue into the enemies hands But he was a man able to beare so great a distresse For his mind could neither be conquered by imprisonment nor with the message he vndertooke because quite contrary to that which hee had in charge from the Carthaginians he deliuered his opinion in the Roman Senate That they should not make peace nor yeeld exchange of prisoners But neither was the maiesty of the man embased by voluntarie returne to the foe in discharge of his honour nor finally by captiuitie nor by nayling on a gibbet for punishment nay all these things increased the admiration of him For what other thing was all this else then that the vanquisht did triumph ouer the vanquishers and though not ouer Carthage yet ouer fortunes selfe And the Romans were more eager more offensiuely bent to take reuenge for Regulus then to cōpasse victory The Carthaginians therfore bearing their crests aloft the warre comming back into Sicilia Metellus Consul made such a slaughter of the enemie at Panormus that there was no more stirre in that Iland An argument of a most braue day gained was the seisure of an hundred and twentie elephants a great prey had such an heard been gotten not by warre but by hunting Publius Claudius Consull the Romans were ouercome not by the enemie but by the Gods thēselues whose ceremonies they had contemned their nauie forthwith sinking in the place where he had commanded the birds to be cast in because they had giuen signes he should not fight Marcus Fabius Buteo Consul met the enemies nauie in the African sea about Aegymurus sailing onward to the inuasion of Italy and ouerthrew it O how great a triumph perished vtterly at that time by stresse of weather when the pillage of the enemies ships driuen by diuerse winds filled the shores of Africa the Syrts the coasts of all nations and the Ilands about with wrecks and ruins A mighty losse but it was not without some respect to the honour of the prince of people the Romans that the victorie was intercepted by tempest and the triumph miscarried by shipwracke And yet when the Carthaginian spoyles floated vp downe and were split vpon all the capes of land Iles about the Romans triumpht notwithstanding Lutatius Consul an end was made of this warre at the Ilands called Aegates A soret sea-fight was there neuer for in the enemies armada was their prouant their land-forces their engines their weapons and as it were all Carthage which burthen was their bane the Romans nauie yare light vnincumbred in one kind like a landcampe and in another like a fight on horsebacke they were so guided with their oares as with bridles the gallies themselues seemed liuing creatures their prowes and beakes nimbly fitted to strike here or there at pleasure The enemies vessels therefore torne to pieces in a trice couer'd all the sea with their shipwracks betweene Sicilia and Sardinia So exceeding great was that victorie as no question was moued now about razing the bulwarks of their enemies townes It seemed friuolous to rage against the castell stone-walls thereof when Carthage it selfe was swallowed thus in the bottom of the sea CHAP. III. The Ligurian warre THe first Carthaginian warre thus sinisht a short repose such as might serue as it were to take breath in followed and for a sure signe of peace and that armes were laide aside indeed then first after the dayes of king Numa the temple-gate of Ianus was shut in but it was forthwith set open againe For the Ligurians the Galls of Insubria and the Illyrians prouoked them as in like sort did the nations from vnder the Alps that is from vnder the very entrances into Italy some one or other of the Gods daily egging them on that the armes of the Romans might not take dust or cancker-fret to be briefe quotidian and as it were domestike enemies were as a schoole of warre to the young frie of souldiers nor did the people of Rome vse this or that nation of them otherwise then as a whetstone to sharpen the
a cold snowie day hauing first well warm'd themselues at fires and suppled their limbs with oyle men a wonder to bee spoken cōming out of the South and sun-burnt climats ouercame vs at home with our own winter The third lightnings of Annibal flew randome at vs by Trasimenus lake Flaminius our Generall There also the Carthaginians vented another new trick of their trade For the lake lying hiddē vnder a thick mist the cauallerie shadowed from sight with twigs long osiars which grew in the marsh gaue a suddē charge vpon our rere Neuerthelesse wee cannot blame the enemie but our selues For swarms of bees which clustred vpō the Romā ensigns their gilt eagles vnwilling to come out and an huge earthquake at the ioyning of the battels all of thē vnlucky signes had forewarned our rash Generall of the euent and preuented it but that the concourse of the horse foot the extraordinary lowd clashing of their weapons gaue to Flaminius alone the honor of leading them on against the other Consuls liking The fourth the almost deadly wound of the empire was at Cannae an obscure village of Apulia but through the greatnesse of the blow which was receiued there it got to be famous at the cost of fortie thousand liues In that place the General himselfe earth heauen the day and all things else consented to the fall of that vnfortunate army For Annibal not content to haue put counterfeit fugitiues vpon vs who seeing their vantage forthwith set vpon our men at their backs but that most dangerous captaine hauing moreouer in the open fields markt the nature of the place where the sunne-beams did beat hottest the dust was infinite and the easterne winde blew stint as it were he so marshall'd his battels that the Romans standing with their faces towards all these disaduantages himselfe had the whole fauour of the skie the winde the dust sun at once to fight for him The enemies therfore were so glutted with the execution of two most mighty hosts that Annibal himself bade his souldiers spare the sword Of the two Consuls the one fled the other was slaine hard to say whether of them the more braue therein Aemilius ashamed to suruiue Varro despaired not of better Signes of the greatnes of the ouerthrow were these the riuer Aufidus ran bloud for a while a bridge of dead carcases made at Annibals commādemēt ouer Gellus brooke two bushels of gold rings sent to Carthage and the estimate of Roman gentlemen slaine calculated not by tale but measure It was then past all doubt that Rome had seene her last day that Annibal within fiue dayes might haue feasted in the Capitol if as the Carthaginian Maharbal Bumilcar's sonne is reported to haue said Annibal had as well vnderstood how to make vse of his victory as how to obtaine it But as the common voice goeth either the fate of Rome ordain'd to bee empresse of the earth or Annibals euill Genius or the Gods of Carthage now auerted carried him a diuerse way For when hee might haue put his victory home he rather made choise to enioy it suffred Rome to rest while hee progrest to Campania Tarent where both he and his armie lost by and by their spirit so as it was truly said that Capua was Annibals Cannae For him whom neither the Alps nor force of armes could daunt Campania alone and the delicate warme springs of Baiae did who would beleeue it subdue Meanwhile the Romans tooke breath and rise as it were from death to life againe Weapons wanted they tooke them downe out of the temples Fresh souldiers wanted they minister the oath of warre to their bondmen and make them free Treasure wanted the lords of the counsell bring gladly all they had leauing no gold to themselues but what was in their brooches belts and rings the knights and gentlemen followed the Senatours example and the comoners the gentlemens to bee briefe Leuinus and Marcellus Consuls such abundance of riches was brought together out of priuate contributions for the publike seruice that the eschequer had scarcely bookes and clerks enow to enter the particulars What shall we say of them at this time in the choise of magistrats how great was the wisdome of the centuries or hundred-men when the yonger sort askt coūsel of the ancient whom they should nominate for Consuls For it stood them vpon not to deale with faire force onely against so cunning an enemie who had so often beaten them but to meet with him also in his owne policies The first hope of their empires recouerie and as I may say reuiuall thereof was Fabius who inuented a new method of vanquishing Anibal Not to fight And from hence it was that in happie time for Rome hee got the nick-name to bee called The draw-backe or Cunctator and from hence it came that the people stiled him The shield of the state Hee therefore so ground and punned Annibal by coasting him thorow all Samnium the forrests of Falernus and Gaurus that whom plaine strength could not breake in pieces delay might fret and weare Soone after Claudius Marcellus Generall they durst also encounter him came hand to hand draue him out of his Campania and forced him to rayse his siege from before Nola. They durst in like sort Sempronius Gracchus Generall pursue him thorow Lucania and set vpon his backe in his retreat though O the shame the Romans were compelled to fight with the hands of their bondslaues O the horrible confidence of a people among so many aduersities O the high haughtinesse and brauerie of their spirit in their so extreme afflicted estate that being doubtfull of keeping Italy they durst notwithstanding tend to other places and when their enemies flew vp and downe at their throats ouer all Campania and Apulia and made halfe Afrike in Italie did both at one time beare the brunt of his assaults and at the same time dispatched forces into Sicilia Sardinia Spaine and other parts of the world Marcellus was sent into Sicilia which held not out long for the power of the whole Iland was put apart into one citie Syracusae that great and till that time vnconquered chiefe-towne though defended by the wit of Archimedes did yeeld at last Her treble wall alike number of castles her hauen of marble and her fountaine Arethusa so farre renowned what auayled they other then thus farre onely that the citie was spared in respect of her beautie Gracchus seized Sardinia neyther did the wildnesse of the Ilanders nor the monstrous cragges of their mad mountaines for so they were called stand them in any stead A terrible course was taken with their cities and with their Citie of cities Caralis that the head-strong nation scarce worth killing might bee tamed at last with the lacke of their natiue soyle The two Scipio's Cnaeus and Publius sent into Spaine had pluckt away once all hope from the Carthaginians but lost their hold againe being destroyed by the cunning inuentions
castles and cities making the very sea grone vnder the windes out of breath to carry them which hugenesse of theirs was it selfe their bane Caesar's nauie had not in it any vessell but from three bankes of oares to sixe and none aboue therefore they are yare ready for all the needes of seruice whether to charge recharge or turne about those of the other side were meere slugges and vnwieldie for all worke vpon euery of which many of ours setting and plying them what with darts and all sorts of flingings what with beak-heads or prows and castings of fire scattred them all at pleasure nor did the greatnesse of the enemies preparations appeare at any time more then after the victorie for the huge armada bulged split in the fight was carryed in the wracks thereof vp and downe ouer the whole sea containing the spoiles of Arabia and Saba and of thousand other nations of Asia and the waues stirred with the winds did daily belch vp gold and purple vpon the shores the first who led the way to running away was the Queen who in a galleon whose poope was of gold and saile of purple thrust into the deepes Antonius forth-with following her but Caesar was at his heeles So that neither the preparations which he had made to fly into the Indian Ocean nor Paraetonium and Pelusium the two corner coasts of Aegypt stuft by him with garrisons stood him in any stead all were so quickly seized Antonius was the first of the two who slew himselfe the Queene kneeling at the feete of Caesar laid baits for his eyes but in vaine her beauties were beneath that princes chastitie nor was life her suit for that was offered but her care was for a part of the kingdome which when she despaired to obtaine of the prince and saw her selfe reserued for triumph the guard put about her being negligent she betooke herselfe to the Mausolie so cal they the sepulchres of their kings where attired in most pompous habit as her custome was shee seated herselfe in a throne sweetned with rich perfumes close to her Lord Antonius and clapping serpents to her veines died away in a slumber CHAP. XII Warres against foraine nations HEre ended the ciuill wars the rest were against strangers who while the empire was turmoild with these intestiue miseries sallied out against vs in diuers quarters of the world For peace was but greene and the stif-swoln necks of nations not yet inured to the curbe of seruitude slipt the yoke which had but newly beene imposed the climat which is almost vnder the north-pole bare it selfe more roughly the Noricks Illyrians Pannonians Dalmatians Mysians Thracians and Dacians Getes and Sarmatians and Germans The Alps and snow vpon them whither warre could not climbe gaue incouragement to the Noricks But Caesar throughly quieted all the nations of that tract the Brenns Senons Vindelicians by his son in law whose mother hee had married Claudius Drusus How sauage those crafty people were appeared wel enough by the women who for want of mischieuous weapons pasht their sprawling babes on the ground and hurld them in the souldiers faces as they came against them The Illyrians also liue vnder the Alps possesse the vallies between and guard certaine passages at it were barres themselues wrapt in with abrupt water-falls Against them hee went in person commaunding bridges to be made Here the waters and enemies empeaching him as our souldiers were slacke to scale hee rasht a target out of one of their hands and led the way the troupe then following thick but the Illyrian hauing with their multitude saw'd in sunder the bridge his hands and legges were wounded in the fall so the bloud which dropt from him making him shew the brauer and his danger it selfe the more maiesticall he assaild the enemy at the back The Pannonians are wall'd in with two wilde forests and three great riuers Drauus Sauus and Ister and they hauing first foraged their next neighbours retired themselues within their defences For taming these hee sent out Vibius who slue them on either banke of their riuers The armours of the vanquisht were not consumed with fire as the fashion of warre was but were preserued and throwne into the streames that the newes of their fellowes ouerthrow might so be conueighed to the residue The Dalmatians for the most part dwell close at wood-sides which makes them wondrous forward more then all other to commit robberies Marcius by burning Delminium their principall citie had now as it were cut off their head Asinius Pollio amerced them with the losse of their cattell armes and tillage but Augustus commanded Vibius to subdue them vtterly Who made those fierce nations digge in mines and to refine gold-oare which they the most couetous men of the world doe search for with careful diligence that they may seeme to hoord it for their proper vses How wilde and grimme the Mysians be and how barbarous aboue all barbarisme is horrible to bee spoken One of their captaines stepping out before the armie pray'd silence and said Who are yee answere was made We are lords of the world They replide Yee may well say so if you conquer vs Marcus Crassus General tooke the word as a faire forebodeing The Mysians forthwith offer-vp an horse before their battalions vowing to sacrifice and eat the bowels of those captaines of ours whom they should kill I may very well beleeue the Gods heard their speech they could not stand out the sounding of a trumpet Domitius a captaine strooke no little terrour into the barbarous himselfe a man of a barbarous blunt wit but which did well enough among his likes who carrying for as it were his crest a chafing-dish or little harth vpon his helmet and the coales thereof kindling with the motion of his body the flames seemed to blaze as if his head were on fire Before them in time the most mightie people of Thrace rebelled who as barbarous as they were yet were accustomed to militarie ensignes and discipline yea and to Roman weapons also but being vtterly subdued by Piso they shewed their wood rage in their very bondage it selfe For attempting to gnaw their chaines in sunder with their teeth they punisht their owne wildenesse The Dacians keepe them to their mountaines till the yce haue knit both the bankes of Danubius together and then as often as it is hard frozen ouer they passe it as vnder the guidance of Cotiso their king and destroy the border-countreys Caesar Augustus thought good to make that practice too hot for them though it was a most difficult matter to come where they were Sending Lentulus therefore against them he draue them beyond the farther banke and planted garrisons on the hither If Dacia was not conquer'd then it was put by and deferred The Sarmatians gallop and ride in champaine fields and it was held enough to command them by the same Lentulus not to approach Danubius They haue nothing but snow and thinne woods Their