the Romane valor soon despair'd of effecting ought by arms betook himself to artifices He therefore burnt those who had been slain treated the Prisoners kindly and dismiss'd them without ransome And afterwards sending Ambassadors to Rome he endeavour'd all he could to be receiv'd into friendship But both in war and peace abroad and at home the Romane valour was remarkable upon all occasions nor did any thing make a greater demonstration of the Romane prowesse the wisdome of the Senate and the gallantry of their Generals then the Tarentine Victory What brave persons were those whom we finde over-run by the Elephants at the first battel Their wounds were all in their breasts some found dead upon their enemies all swords in their hands terrour appear'd in their countenances and a lively draught of indignation even in theiâ— death Which Pyrrhus so far admir'd that he said Oh how easie were it for me to possess mâ— self of the Worlds Empire having Romanes tâ— my Soldiers or for the Romanes to do it having me for their King What expedition did they who surviv'd use in re-inforcing the Army when Pyrrhus said I see plainâ—y that I was born under the Constellation of Hercules against whom the heads of so many slâ—in enemies wil start up out of their own blood as if they issued out of the Lernaean Serpent But what a glorious Senate was that When upon the remonstrance of Appius the Blinde the Ambassadors were sent away from the City with their Presents and their King asking them whaâ— they thought of the habitations of their enemies they acknowledged that The City seem'd to them a Temple the Senate a Consistory of Kings Moreover what persons were the Generals either in the Camp When Curius sent back the Physician who exposed the head of Pyrrhus to sale when Fabricius refused part of the Empire profferr'd him by Pyrrhus Or in peace when Curius preferr'd his earthen Dishes before the Gold of the Samnites when Fabricius with a gravity beseeming a Censor condemn'd Ruâ—inus a Consular person of superfluity for having silver-plate to the weight of ten pound Who therefore can wonder that the people of Rome should be victorious being endued with such manners so eminent in vertue and such exact observers of Military Discipline And that by this very war with the Tarentines they should in the space of four years bring under their Jurisdiction the greatest part of Italy most powerful Nations most wealthy Cities and most fruitful Countreys Or what would be more incredible if the beginning of the war be compared with the final issue of it Pyrrhus victor at the first Battel having wasted Liris and Fregellae in Campania * Tâ—tâ tâ—emente Itaâ—iâ Campaniam c. all Italy trembling had a fight of Rome then almost taken from the fortress of Praeneste and at twenty miles distance fill'd the eyes of the startled City with smoke and dust The same Pyrrhus being afterwards twice forc'd out of his Camp twice wounded and driven by Sea and Land back into his own Countrey Greece a deep Peace ensued and the spoils of so many most wealthy Nations were so great that Rome could not contain its own Victory Nor did ever a nobler or more magnificent Triumph enter Rome when as before that day it had seen onely the Cattel of the Volsci the Sheep of the Sabines the Waggons of the Gauls and the shatter'd Arms of the Samnites Then if thou hadst beheld the Captives thou mightst have seen Molossians Thessalians Macedonians Bruttians Apulians and Lucanians if the pomp gold purple statues pictures the delicacies of the Tarentines But the people of Rome was pleased at no sight so much as that of those beasts with towers on their backs whereof they had been so much afraid which out of a sense of their captivity bowing down their necks follow'd the victorious Horses CHAP. XIX The Romans engage in a war against those who had favour'd the Tarentines Ascoli taken Sempronius's vow NOt long after Italy enjoy'd an absolute peace For who durst attempt any thing after Tarentines had it not been that the Romans thought good of their own accord to make war on those who had associated themselves with their enemies Whereupon the Picentes were subdu'd and the Metropolis of the nation Asculum under the conduct of P. Sempronius who upon occasion of an Earthquake which happened during the fight appeased the Goddesse Tellus by a vow of building a Temple to her CHAP. XX. The war with the Sallentini Brundusium taken a Temple vow'd to Pales Goddesse of the Shepherds THe Sallentini follow'd the fate of the Picentes and the chief City of the region Brundusium a place famous for its Port was taken under the conduct of M. Attilius And in that engagement Pales Goddesse of Shepherds earnestly desir'd a Temple might be built to her in acknowledgement of the victory CHAP. XXI The Vulsinians implore the assistance of the Romans against their slaves who are brought to their duty by Fabius Gurges THe last of all the several peoples of Italy that did yeeld themselves into the trust and tuition of the Romans were the Vulsinians the wealthiest of Etruria imploring assistance against some who having formerly been their slaves and set at liberty by them had risen up against them and assum'd the Government to themselves But these also were chastiz'd for their insolence under the conduct of Fabius Gurges CHAP. XXII Of the Seditions which happened at Rome Posthumius General of the Roman Army is kill'd with stones The insolence of the Soldiery refusing to fight an insurrection of the people who banish the chiefest of the Nobility the unworthy treatment of Coriolanus and Camillus dissensions between the Senate and the people THis is the second age and as it were adolescency of the Roman people and in which they were freshest warm and vigorous in the flower of their strength There remain'd yet a certain tincture of the pastoral savagenesse which betray'd somewhat of incivilization Thence it came that the army raising a mutiny in the Camp stoned to death Posthumius the General who deny'd them that part of the prey which he had promised that under Appius Claudius they would not overcome the enemy when they might that Valero being their Leader the Fasces of the Consul were broken to pieces most refusing to enter into the service Thence it came that they condemn'd to banishment the most eminent of the nobility when they opposed their desires that they would have done the like by Coriolanus who order'd they should follow Husbandry Which injury he had as sharply reveng'd had not his Mother Veturia with her tears disarm'd her Son when he was ready to fall upon them The same treatment had Camillus himself upon pretence that he had not made an equal divident of the Veientine prey between the Soldiery and the Citizens But he a better person provided for the besieg'd the City being taken and soon after at their suit avenged them of the
to discourage the enemies though he was in great want of provisions yet to expresse his confidence he cast down loaves of bread from the Fort. And on a certain day he sent Fabius the Priest out of the Fort ordering him to passe through the enemies guards to perform a solemn sacrifice on the mount Quirinal And he by the protection of Religion return'd safe through the midst of the enemies weapons and brought word that the Gods were appeased At length the Barbarians wearyed out with their own siege selling their departure at a thousand weight of gold yet even in that insolent enough when into their ballance though unequal they also put a sword with this proud exprobration Wo to the vanquish'd Camillus falling of a sudden upon the rear of them made such a slaughter that all tracks of the former conflagration were defaced by a deluge of Gaulish blood Here we have reason to give thanks to the immortal Gods for the greatnesse of our misfortune Since that the fire took away the cottages of the Shepherds and that flame smother'd the poverty of Romulus For what was the effect of that conflagration but that a City design'd to be the mansion of Men and Gods should not be destroy'd or laid desolate but seem rather cleansed and expiated Being therefore preserv'd by Manlius and restor'd by Camillus it rose up against the neighbouring Nations with greater earnestnesse and vigour And first not thinking it enough to have forc'd that Nation of the Gauls from the walls of Rome under the conduct of the same Camillus it so pursued the wretched remainders of them stragling up and down Italy that now there is no track of their having been in the world Once they were put to the slaughter at the River Anien where Manlius having taken away from one of the Barbarians with whom he had fought hand to hand among other spoils a gold chain gave occasion for the name of the Torquati Another time in the Field of Pontinus at such another combat when M. Valerius assisted by a sacred bird brought away the spoils of the pursuing Gaul deriv'd to his family the name of Corvinus And not many years after Dolabella utterly destroy'd all that remain'd of them in Italy neer the Lake of Vadimon that there might not any one of that nation survive who should boast that Rome was set on fire by it CHAP. XIV The war against the Latines who enâ—y the glory of the Romans Manlius Torquatus put his Son to death for fighting contrary to his orders Decius devotes himself to death for the safety of the Army MAnlius Torquatus and Decius Mas being Consuls the people of Rome turn'd â—heir arms from the Gauls upon the Latines a people always indeed troublesome out of envy to their Empire and Magistracy but now somewhat the more out of a contempt upon the burning of the City So that they demanded to be made free Denizens of Rome and to participate of the Government and Magistracy and if they did not presum'd they could do more than fight the Romans But who will wonder that at that time the enemy should give way when one of the Consuls put his own Son to death though Conquerour for fighting contrary to his orders as preferring Obedience before Victory The other as it were by an instinct of the Gods having cover'd his face devoted himself to the Dii Manes at the head of the Army whereupon rushing in among the thickest of the enemies weapons he open'd a new way to victory by the track of his own blood CHAP. XV. The war with the Sabins the Romans waste all their Territories under the conduct of the Consul Curius Dentatus AFter the Latines they set upon the Sabines who unmindful of the Allyance entred into under Titus Talius had by a certain contagion of war joyn'd with the Latines But Curius Dentatus being Consul they wasted with fire and sword all that Tract compass'd by the Nar and the springs of Velini as far as the Adriatick Sea By which victory so great a multitude â—f people and so great an extent of territory was reduc'd under their jurisdiction that whether were more considerable even he who had subdu'd them was not able to judge CHAP. XVI The war with the Samnites siding with those of Capua the Soil whereof is commended The Romans spend fifty years in that war they are defeated at the streight of Arpaja they revenge that affront upon the Samnites MOv'd at the petitions of Campania they engage against the Samnites nor upon their own but which is most glorious the account of their Associates There was indeed a league between the Romans and both those Nations but the Campâ—nians had treated first and confirm'd what they had done by an absolute surrender of all they had So that the people of Rome manag'd the war against the Samnites as if they had been themselves concern'd Campania is the noblest region not onely of Italy but even of the whole world Nothing more pleasant then its Aire in a word it produces Flowers twice a year Nothing more fertile then its Soile whence it is called the Theatre of Ceres and Bacchus Nothing more hospitable then its shores Here are those noble harbors Caieta Misenus and Baiae famous for its baths Lucrinus and Avernus which are as so many with-drawing-rooms of the Ocean Here the mountains are cloath'd with vines as the Gaurus Falernus Massicus and the most pleasant of all Vesuvius Aetna's competitor in casting out fire The maritine Cities are Formiae Cumae Puteoli Naples Herculaneum Pompeij and Capua the chiefest of all these Cities heretofore accounted one of the three greatest Rome and Carthage being the other two For this City for those Regions the Roman people invaded the Samnites a Nation if you enquire after its wealth armed with gold and silver weapons and clad in garments of divers colours even to excesse if you respect their subtlety in laying ambushes stragling in the recesses of Woods and Mountains if their rage and fury exasperated for the destruction of Rome by horrid imprecations and humane sacrifices if their obstinacy the more enrag'd and irreconcileable by their misfortunes after six breaches of the League between them and the Romans Yet in the space of fifty years the Roman people subdu'd and tamed these people by the Fabij and Papirij the Fathers and their Children so far that they laid waste the very ruins of their Cities that at this day Samnium may be looked for even in Samnium nor can it easily be seen what should give occasion for four and twenty Triumphs But the greatest and most remarkable overthrow we received from that Nation was at the streight passage neer Caudium under the Consulship of Veturius and Post-humius For the Army being shut up by surprize within that wood whence it could not get out Ponâ—ius General of the enemies wondring at so fair an opportunity consulted his Father Herennius who wisely as an experienc'd man advised him to set
them all at Liberty or put them to the Sword He chose rather to make them pass disarm'd under the Yoak that they might not think themselves oblig'd by his kindness but be the more eager enemies after that affront The Consuls therefore by a voluntary surrender of themselves took off the dishonour of the Treaty and the Souldiery crying for revenge a thing strange to relate under the conduct of Papiâ—ius express'd their being enrag'd with their Swords drawn all along the way before they â—ame to engage and the enemy himself related that in the engagement the eyes of the Romans sparkled as fire Nor was there any end of the slaughter till they had brought the enemies and the General of them under the yoke CHAP. XVII The nations of Italy conspire against Rome Fabius Maximus defeats their Army His fellow Consul Decius following the example of his Father devoted himself to death HItherto the people of Rome warr'd against particular nations one after another but now it hath to do with them combin'd yet is able to deal with all The Etrusci divided into twelve several people the Vmbri as yet untouch'd the ancientest of all Italy the remainders of the Samnites all these upon a sudden conspire together the utter * Etruscorum 12. populi Vmbri in id tempus intacti antiquissimus Italiae populus Samnitium reliqui in excidium Romani nominis repente conjurâ—nâ— Thus Vâ—netus and other Editions ruine of the Romane name The conjunction of so many and so considerable Nations struck a great terror There march'd up and down Etruria the Ensigns of four hostile Armies The Ciminian wood lying in the midst as unpassable before as the Caeledonian or Hercynian Forrests was so great a terrour then that the Senate ordered the Consul not to expose himself to so great a danger But nothing of all this startled the General or diverted him from sending his Brother before to enquire into the Avenues of the Forrest He having put on a shepherds habit observed all in the night time and brings an account of it Thus then did Fabius Maximus without any hazard terminate a most hazardous war For falling upon them surpriz'd and in disorder and possessing himself of the most eminent places he gall'd as he pleas'd himself those who were underneath For the Engagement was such as if the Darts were thrown from the Heavens and the Clouds at the Gyants upon earth Yet was it not an unbloody Victory for Decius one of the Consuls being pressed upon by the Enemy in the bottom of the Valley after his Fathers example devoted himself to the Dii manes and so purchased a Victory by that kinde of Consecration which was ordinary to those of his Family CHAP. XVIII The Tarentines affront the Romanes who arm against them Divers people of Italy assist the Tarentines Pyrrhus King of Epirus engages in their quarrel is victorious at the first Engagement against the Romanes and defeated at the two ensuing Battels At last he is forc'd out of Italy and driven back into Greece NOw follows the Tarentine war accounted one particular war as to the name but containing several if we repeat the Victories For this war involv'd the Campanians Apulians and Lucanians and the Authors of it the Tarentines as also the whole Countrey of Italy and with all these Pyrrhus the most famous King of Greece in one and the same ruine that the Romanes might at the same time compleat the reduction of Italy and begin their transmarine triumphs Tarentum also built by the Lacedemonians was heretofore the Metropolis of Apulia and all Lucania famous for its Greatness Walls and Port and admirable for its scituation for it lyes at the very entrance of the Adriatick Sea and sends ships into our Coasts as also to Istria Illiricum Eâ—irus Achaia Africa Sicily Upon the Port which hath a Prospect towards the Sea stands the City-Theatre which prov'd the occasion of all that Cities calamities They were celebrating some solemn Sports when they thence see the Romane Fleet sayling by and taking them to be Enemies they hurry out and disorderly fall upon them not knowing either who the Romanes were or whence they came Whereupon an Embassy was sent from Rome with Complaints this they violate by a disgrace obscene and not decently to be mentioned That occasion'd a war Dreadful were the preparations when so many Nations engag'd in the quarrel of the Tarentines especially one more violent than all the rest Pyrrhus who to defend a City half-Greek as built by the Lacedemonians brought along with him the whole strength of Epirus Thessaly Macedonia and till then unknown Elephants coming upon us by Sea by Land and menacing us with the multitude of Men Horses Arms and moreover the dreadfulness of wilde beasts The first fight was at Heraclea and Siris a River of Campania Levinus being Consul which was so bloody that Obsidius Commander of a Party of Tarentines setting upon the King put him into disorder and forc'd him to cast away his Royal Ensigns and shift out of the Field He had been clearly defeated if the Elephants the * Converso in spectaculum bello Engagement being turn'd into a show had not come into play by whose bulk and deformity as also by their scent and noise the Horse being startled and imagining the Beastâ— to them unknown had been somewhat more than they were occasion'd the first flight and defeat of the Romane Army Afterwards at Asculum in Apulia we engag'd with better success Fabricius and Aemilius being Consuls For the terror of the Elephants being spent C. Minucius a Spear-man of the fourth Legion having cut off the trunck of one of those beasts made it appear they were mortal Whereupon darts were cast also at them and fire-brands being also thrown into the towerâ— upon them overwhelm'd the whole forces oâ— the enemies with burning ruins Nor was thâ— overthrow at an end till night divided thâ— engag'd and Pyrrhus last of all retreating was carried away arm'd and wounded in thâ— shoulder by his guard The last fight was iâ— Lucania in the Aurusinian fields as they calâ— them under the same Consuls And theâ— chance put a period to that victory which valour should have decided For the Elephant being again brought into the front one oâ— them a young one grievously wounded in thâ— head with a dart turned back and bemoaning its self by its noise as it run over those oâ— the enemies whom it had thrown down the damn knew it and broke out of the rank as it were to revenge the injury done it Which put the enemies Camp into confusion and so the same beasts which had gain'd the first fight ballanc'd the second made the Romans victors in the third without any dispute But they fought against Pyrrhus not onely by force of arms and in the open field but they had to do with him also in their Counsels and at home within the City For after the first victory the crafty King assured of
confidence is there where there is courage that simple people descended from Shepherds and wholly accustomed to the Land made it appear that it was indifferent to Valor whether the Engagement were on Horse-back or in Ships on Land or at Sea Appius Claudius being Consul they first went into a Sea infamous by reason of the fabulous Monsters within it and of an impetuous Current but they were so far from being frightned that they entertained that Violence of the rowling Sea as a kindness in so much that they overcame Hiero King of Syracuse with such expedition that he acknowledged himself conquer'd before he saw any enemy Duilius and Cornelius being Consuls they had another Engagement at Sea And then indeed the expedition us'd in building the Navy was a presage of the Victory For within sixty days after the felling of the Timber there was a Navy of a hundred and sixty Ships at anchor so that they seem'd not built by Art but that the Trees through a certain design of the Gods had been turn'd into Ships Now the relation of the Engagement is admirable when those heavy Sluggs of ours took the fleet * Loâ—ge illis nauticae artes detergere remos c. So Lipsius Brigantines of the Enemies Little availed their skill in Sea-fight either to justle a whole side of Oars or avoid the Beak of their Enemies by yare or ready turning For the Grapling-irons being fastened and other Engines cast into the Ships though they scornfully laugh'd at them yet were they by their means forc'd to engage as it were upon even ground Having therefore obtain'd a victory at Lyparae the Enemies Fleet being sunk and fled occasion'd the first Naval Triumph Whereat how great was the Joy when Duilus the General not satisfied with one dayes Triumph as long as he liv'd had Torches lighted and some Musick playing before him as soon as he rose from Supper as if he triumphed every day The loss at this Engagement was small considering the greatness of the Victory Cn. Cornelius Asina one of the Consuls was surpriz'd and call'd out under pretence of a Parley was carried away whereby we had an instance of the African perfidiousness During the Dictatorship of Calatrinus most of the Carthaginian Garisons were forc'd out of Agrigentum Drepanum Panormus Eryx Lilibaeum We were once at a loss near the Camarinensian wood but we recovered our selves through the extraordinary Conduct of Calpurnius Flamma a Military Tribune who taking a Party of three hundred choice men possess'd himself of a small piece of Ground where the Enemies were lodg'd to our annoyance and kept them play till the whole Army had march'd away and so by a most happy issue of his attempt he gain'd as great a reputation as that of Leonidas at Thermopylae Onely in this ours is more illustrious that he surviv'd the Expedition though he made no Inscription with his blood L. Cornelius Scipio being Consul when Sicily was become a Suburb-Province to Rome the war spreading farther they cross'd over into Sardinia as also into Corfica which is adjoyning to the other The * Annexâ—mque Corsicam trâ—â—siit Olbi â— hic Aleriae ibi urbis excidio incolâ—s terruit Thus restor'd by Salmâ—sius Inhabitants of the one they terrified by the destruction of the City Olbia those of the other by that Oleria and by Sea and Land so defeated the Carthaginians that there remained only Africk to make an absolute Conquest Under Marcus Attilius Regulus the war sayled over into Africk Yet were there some who trembled at the very name of the Carthaginian Sea the Tribune Mannus adding to the fear but the General threatning him with the naked Ax if he obey'd not encourag'd him to embarque out of a fear of death Whereupon they made all the haste they could with the advantage of Winde and Oars and the Carthaginians were so much startled at the arrival of their Enemies that Carthage had been almost surpriz'd with the gates open The first Booty gain'd by that war was the City Clypea for on the Carthaginian shore that was the first Fort and place of discovery and so that and three hundred Fortresses more were laid desolate Nor had we to do with men-onely but also with monsters when as if bred for the revenge of Africk a Serpent of extraordinary bulk infested our Camp at Bagrada But Regulus whom nothing withstood having spread the terror of his name far and near and either slain a great number of their young men and divers of their Commanders or made them prisoners and sent the Navy home before him loaden with prey and full of triumph had also besieg'd the Source of the war Carthage it self and lay close to the very gates of it Here fortune met with a check that there might be more demonstrations of the Roman Gallantry the greatneâ—â— whereof for the most part requir'd the test of calamities For the enemies being forc'd to make use of forreign Aid the Lacedemonians sent them Xantippus for a General who being a most experienc'd person in Military Affairs gave us so foul an Overthrow that the most valiant General of the Romanes fell alive into the hands of the Enemies But he was a man to support so great a misfortune For neither Imprisonment among the Carthaginians nor the Embassy they forced him upon could abate his constancy For being come to Rome he urged things much different from what the Enemies had enjoyn'd him to wit that no Peace should be made with them nor any exchange of Prisoners Nay his voluntary return to the enemies nor the extremities of imprisonment and ignominious crucifixion took off nothing of his gallantry but rather being the more to be admired in all these what may be said of him but that being vanquish'd he triumphed over his vanquishers and because Carthage had not yeelded of Fortune it self And the people of Rome were more eager and exasperated to prosecute the revenge of Regulus then to obtaine the victory The Carthaginians growing so much the more insolent and the war being brought back into Sicily the Consul Metellus gave the enemies so great an overthrow at Panormus that there was no contestation afterwards in that Island An argument of the greatnesse of the Victory was the taking of about a hundred Elephants which had been a great prey had they not been taken in war but in hunting P. Claudius being Consul the Romans were not worsted by the enemies but by the Gods themselves whose auspices they had slighted the navy being there sunk where he had commanded the birds to be cast over-board because they would have diverted them from engaging M. Fabius Buteo being Consul they defeated in the African Sea neer Aegyniurus the enemies Fleet then bound for Italy O what a great triumph happened then when their navy fraught with wealthy prey being forc'd by contrary winds fill'd Africk and the Syrtes and the coasts and shores of all nations and Islands with their own wrack Great was
by the Romans Upon intelligence therefore that an ally'd City was besieg'd calling to mind the leaguâ— made with the Carthaginians they do not presently arm but chose rather after a legal way to make their complaints In the mean time the Inhabitants of Saguntus wearied out with famine and all the extremities of a siege in fine their fidelity being heightned into exasperation made a great pile in the midst of their City upon which being got themselves their relations and all their wealth perish'd by fire and sword Hannibal is demanded as Author of so great a calamity The Carthaginians seeming at a losse what to do What means this delay said Fabius the principal person of the Roman Embassy in this bosome I bring war and peace whether do you make choice of Take which you think best Whereto it being reply'd that he should produce which he pleased Take war then saith he and thereupon letting down the forepart of his garment in the midst of the Councel-room he did it with such a dreadfull noise as if he had really brought war in his lap The period of the war was suitable to the beginning of it For as if the last imprecations of the Saguntines at their publick self-slaughter and conflagration had commanded such obsequies to be performed for them their ghosts were appeased by the desolation of Italy the reduction of Africk and the destruction of those Kings and Generals who manag'd that war When therefore that sad and dismal violence and tempest of the Carthaginian war had in the fire at Saguntus forg'd out the thunder-bolt long before design'd against the Romans immediately as forc'd by some whirlewind it broke through the middle of the Alpâ— and fell down upon Italy from those incredible heights of snow as if it had descended from the Heavens The first eruptions of the storm broke forth about the Po and Ticinus Scipiâ— being then General our Army was defeated and he himself had fallen wounded into the hands of the enemies if his Son then but young had not reliev'd and rescu'd his Father from death it self This was the Scipio who afterwards grew up for the destruction oâ— Africk and had his surname from its misfortunes Trebia had the same fate as Ticinus Here rag'd the second tempest of the Punick war Sempronius being Consul At this time the crafty enemies having pitch'd upon a cold and snowy day after they had warm'd themselves at the fire and anointed themselves with oil though people coming from the southerly and Sunny parts of the world a thing hardly creditable made their advantage of our own Winter to overcome us Hannibal's third thunderbolt fell at the lake Trasimanenus Flaminius being General There also they made use of another knack of Punick artifice For the Horse being shadow'd by a misâ— arising from the Lake and the Osiars growing there abouts fell upon the rear of us being engag'd Nor can we complain of the Gods For swarms of Bees sticking to the Ensigns and the unwillingnesse of the Eagles to march out and a great Earth-quake happening at the joyning of the battel had forewarned the temerarious General of the approaching defeat unlesse that Earthquake might proceed from the trampling of Men and Horses and the over-violent handling of arms The fourth that is in a manner the last wound of the Empire was at Cannae an obscure village of Apulia but the greatnesse of the overthrow and the slaughter of forty thousand men hath made it famous There the General himself Earth Heaven the day in fine the whole course of nature combin'd to the destruction of an unfortunate Army For Annibal not contenting himself onely with counterfeit fugitives who fell upon the rear of us but the most subtle General having in a most spacious champion observ'd the scituation of the place as also that the Sun shin'd very hot and much dust arose and that the East-wind blew constantly as if it had been design'd to do it so order'd his Forces that the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences and he favour'd by Heaven engag'd them with the advantage of wind dust and Sun Whereupon ensu'd the slaughter of two very powerful Armies till the enemies were glutted with killing and Annibal said to his Soldiers Give over One of the Generals made his escape the other was slain whether express'd greater courage is doubtful Paulus was asham'd Varro despaired not Demonstrations of the great slaughter were that the Anâ—idus continu'd bloody for some time that by the command of the Enemy there was a bridge of carcasses made over the torrent Gellus that two bushels of rings were sent to Carthage and so by measure it was known whaâ— number of Roman Knights were slain Then was it not doubted but that Rome was come to its period and that within five days Annibal might feast it in the Capitol if as was said by the Carthaginian Maherbal the Son of Bomiliar Annibal had known as well how to use a victory as gain it But then as is commonly said either the fate of that City which was to be Empresse of the world or his own evil Genius or the Gods averse from Carthage carried him another way When he might have press'd on his victory to the utmost advantage he chose rather to content himself with what had been done and leaving Rome took a progresse into Campania and Tarentus where in a short time both he and his army languished so that it was truely said that Capua had been as fatal to Annibal as Canna to the Romans For the warmth of Campania and the baths of Baiae who would believe it overcame him whom the Alps and arms had found unconquerable In the mean time the Romans took breath and seemed as it were to rise out of their graves Arms being wanting they took down those which had been set up in the Temples There wanted young men to â—ear them they set free their slaves and give them the military oath The Treasury was exhausted the Senate brought in their wealth reserving to themselves nothing of gold but what was in Jewels Belts and Rings The Knights follow'd their example and the Commonalty theirs In fine when the wealth of private persons was brought into the publick stock Levinus and Marcellus being Consuls the contributions were so great that there were hardly Registers or Writers enough to set them down But what did they in the election of Magistrates How great was the prudence of the Centuries When the younger asked Counsel of the ancient about the creation of Consuls For it concern'd them to fight against an Enemy so often Conquerour and so subtle not onely by valour but also by their Counsels The first hope of the recovering and as I may say reviving Empire was Fabius who found out a new way of vanquishing Hannibal which was not to fight Thence he got that new name so beneficial to the Commonwealth of Cunctator or Temporizer Thence that other given him by the people the Buckler of
the Empire He therefore so wearied Annibal by leading him through the whole Country of the Samnites and through the woods of Falernus and Gaurus that he who could not be overcomâ— by valour was broken and harass'd by delay Afterwards Claudius Marcelius being General the Romanes ventur'd to engage him they drove him out of his dear Campania and forc'd him to raise the siege from before Nola. Nay Sempronius Gracchus being General they presum'd to pursue him through Lucania and press hard upon him in his retreat though then ô what shame they fought with servile hands For the concurrence of so many disasters had forc'd them to it * Sed libertate dona i fecerat de serâ—is vâ—tus Romanos But they were made free afterwards though their own valour had made them Romans before O the prodigious constancy in so many adversities O the extraordinary courage and gallantry of the Romans in the midst of so many extremities when they were not assur'd of Italy they have the confidence to aime at other places and when the enemies march'd up and down Campania and Apulia ready to cut their throats and had brought Africk into the midst of Italy they at the same time kept Hannibal in play and sent Forces into Sicily Sardinia Spain and other parts of the world Sicily was the charge of Marcellus nor did it hold out long For the whole Island was reduc'd in one City â—yracuse that great and till then conquer'd Metropolis though defended by the skill of Archimedes yeelded at last It was compass'd at a good distance by a treble wall and had so many Fortresses the port was built all about with marble there was also the famous Fountaine of Archusa but what avayl'd they save only that they occasion'd the sparing of the vanquish'd City for its beauty sake Gracchus reduc'd Sardinia nor did the savagenesse of the Inhabitants nor the excessive height of the Mad Mountains so they call them stand them in any stead The Cities were treated with the extremities of hostility especially the chiefest of all Caralis that an obstinate Nation which contemn'd death might be brought down by the desolation of their native soile Cneus and Publius Scipio being sent into Spain had once depriv'd the Carthaginians of all hope but surpriz'd by their artifices they lost all again even after they had beaten the Carthaginian Forces in very great fights But the Punick treachery prov'd so successeful that they kill'd one of them as he was encamping and the other having escaped into a Tower they set it a fire about him Therefore to revenge his Father and Uncle there was sent thither with an Army Scipio for whom the Fates reserv'd the great surname deriv'd from Africk He recover'd all Spain that martial country famous for men and arms the seminary of the enemies Army and the Tutresse of Hannibal himself all I say though hardly to be credited from the Pyrenean Mountains to Hercules Pillars and the Ocean whether with greater expedition or lesse difficulty is not known With what expedition it was effected four years witnesse with how little difficulty may be deduc'd from one City for it was taken the same day it was first besieg'd and it was an omen of our victory over Africk that Carthage in Spain was so easily taken Yet is it certain withal that what most contributed to the reduction of the Province was the admirable Sanctimony and continency of the General who return'd back to the Barbarians young lads that had been taken and Virgins of extraordinary beauty not having suffered them to be brought into his sight that he might not seem so much as with his eyes to have blasted the flower of their Virginity Thus did the Romans do in forreign Countries yet could they not remove Hannibal lodg'd in the heart of Italy Several Nations had revolted to the enemy who being exasperated against the Romanes made his advantages of the artifices of Italy Yet had we forc'd him out of several Cities and regions Tarentus was come in to us We had also almost recover'd Capua the seat and mansion and second Country of Hannibal the losse whereof gave him so much trouble that he thereupon brought all his Forces against Rome O people worthy the world's Empire worthy the favour and admiration of Men and Gods Being reduc'd to the greatest extremities they desisted not from their attempt and while they provided for the safety of the City they neglected not Capua but part of the Army being left there under the Consul Appius part having follow'd Flaccus to the City they fought both present and absent What therefore do we wonder at Hannibal encamped within three miles of Rome and ready to come on the Gods I say the Gods nor is it a shame to acknowledge it once more prevented him for there fell such excessive rains at every motion of his and such extraordinary winds that it should seem they had been sent from above to remove the enemy not from Heaven as the Gyants sometime were but from the Walls of the City and the Capitol He therefore departed fled and retired to the extremities of Italy leaving the City when he was just upon the point of assaulting it This is a thing hardly worth mentioning yet a pregnant argument of the magnanimity of the people of Rome that during the time the City was besieg'd the ground on which Hannibal was encamped being publickly set to sale met with a purchasor On the contrary Hannibal desirous to imitate our confidence proferr'd to sale the Goldsmiths shops of the City but found no buyer whence it may be seen that the destinies had also their presages But there had yet been nothing done answerably to so great valour and favour of the Gods For Asdrubal Hannibal's brother was upon his march from Spain with a fresh Army new-raised Forces and other requisites for the prosecution of the war We had no doubt been ruin'd if he had joyn'd his Brother but Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator defeat him as he was encamping his Army Nero was employ'd about the dislodging of Hannibal in the most remote part of Italy Livius was gone into the contrary part so vast that is the whole territory of Italy where it is longest lying between them By what intelligence with what expedition the Consuls joyn'd their forces and joyntly engag'd the enemy and all without Hannibal's knowledge of any thing done it is hard to give an account of This is certain that Hannibal being assur'd of it when he saw his Brother's head cast into his camp said I now see the unhappinesse of Carthage This was the first acknowledgement of the man not without a certain presage of the fate hanging over him Now it was taken for granted that Hannibal even by his own confession might be vanquished But the people of Rome heightned by so many prosperities thought it a noble attempt to subdue that most irreconcileable enemy in his own Country Africk Scipio therefore being
busied in a mutual execution in the greatest heat of the work there was of a sudden a deep silence on both sides as if it had been by consent This was the general conceit of it At last happen'd a misfortune which Caesar had not seen before the choice band of Veterans gave ground And though that they had not fled yet was their resistance to be attributed rather to a certain shame than valour Whereupon Caesar lighting off his Horse runs like a distracted person to the front of the Battel There he stay'd such as were shrinking encourag'd them and finally by his eyes hands and voice assures the whole body It is reported that in that disturbance he was thinking of killing himself and that it was apparent in his countenance he would have hasten'd his own death if five Cohorts of the enemies crossing the Battel being sent by Labienus to reinforce the Pompeian Camp then in some danger had not seem'd as if they fled Which Caesar either really believ'd or cunningly laying hold upon that occasion and charging them as a flying party he both heightned the courage of his own people and gave the enemy an overthrow For the Caesarians imagining themselves Conquerors pursue the more eagerly on the other side the Pompeyans supposing their party ran away began to fly How great the slaughter of the enemies was and how great the fury and animosity of the victorious may be guessed hence When such as had escaped out of the fight had retreated to Munda and Caesar had given order that the vanquish'd should immediately be besieg'd there was a rampire made of the carcasses brought together which were fasten'd and kept in with spears and Javelins a spectacle would have been abominable even amongst Barbarians But Pompey's Sons despairing of the victory Cneus escaping out of the fight wounded in the leg and going towards the desarts and unfrequented places was overtaken at the Town of Lauro by Cesennius who there kill'd him fighting so that he had not as yet despaired In the mean time fortune kept Sextus undiscover'd in Celtiberia and reserv'd him for other wars after Caesar's time Caesar returns victor into his Country His first triumph over Gaul was brought in by a representation of the Rhine and the Rhone and the captive Ocean in gold The second the Aegyptian Lawrel In that was represented the Nile Arsinoë and the Pharus on fire The third triumphal Chariot brought in Pharnaces and Pontus The fourth Juba and the Mauritanians and exposed Spain twice subdu'd Pharsalia and Thapsus and Munda appeared not amongst his triumphs And how many greater victories had he obtain'd for which he triumphed not Here at last arms were laid down the rest of the peace was without bloodshed Caesar's clemency made amends for the cruelties of the war No man was put to death by his command but Afranius 't was enough that he had been pardoned once and Faustus Sylla he had learnt to fear his Sons-in-law and the Daughter of Pompey with her Cousin-germans descended from Sylla This was to secure his posterity His Citizens not ungrateful bestow all honours upon this one Prince his Images are set up in the Temples he hath in the Theatre a Crown surrounded with rays a Chair of State in the Senate a Terret upon his House top and is assign'd a month in the Heavens and withal this is entituled Father of his Country and perpetual Dictator lastly it is a question whether with his consent regal ornaments were proffer'd him before the Rostra by the Consul Antonius all which honours were done him and seem'd as the garlands set about a Victim design'd to die For the clemency of this Prince was envy'd and the great power he had to confer benefits was insupportable to free persons Nor did they delay it any longer but Brutus and Cassius and others of the Senators conspir'd the Prince's death How inevitable is the blow of fate The conspiracy was known to many nay a paper discovering it was presented that very day to Caesar himself and of a hundred victims sacrific'd not one propitious Yet he went to the Senate thinking on the Parthian expedition There the Senate set upon him sitting in his Chair of State and layd him on the ground with three and twenty wounds So he who had fill'd the world with the blood of his Citizens at length fill'd the Senate with his own CHAP. III. Sextus Pompeius demands his Father's estate Octavius resolves to revenge Caesar's death Mark Antony a slave to Cleopatra CAesar and Pompey being slain the people of Rome seem'd to have return'd to the state of their former liberty and had really done so if Pompey had not left children and Caesar an heir or what was more pernicious than either if Antonius heretofore Colleague and since a competitor of Caesar's power the firebrand and disturber of the ensuing age had not surviv'd them For while Sextus demands what had been his Father's his fear spreads over all Seas while Octavius revenges his Fathers death Thessaly must into arms again while Antonius a person of a fickle disposition disdains that Octavius should be Caesar's successor or for the love of Cleopatra would basely have condescended to accept the title of a King the people of Rome could not otherwise have been safe without returning to servitude In so great a disturbance we had this to rejoyce at that the Soveraign authority was devolv'd to Octavius Caesar Augustus who by his prudence and conduct reduc'd to order the body of the Empire then so shaken and disturbed on all sides that no doubt it could never have been reunited had it not submitted to the authority of one Governor as unto one and the same soul and mind Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella being Consuls fortune transferring the Roman Empire to the Cesars there happen'd diverse commotions in the City And as it comes to passe in the annual revolution of the Heavens that the motion of the Stars cause Thunder and discover their periods by the weather so in the change of the Roman Government that is that of mankind the body of the Empire in a manner shook and was distracted with all the misfortunes consequent to civil insurrections and wars as well by Sea as Land CHAP. IV. The quarrel between Octavius Caesar and Marcus Antonius the siege of Mutina raised THe first occasion of the civil Commotions was Caesar's Will whose second heir Antonius enrag'd that Octavius was preferr'd before him undertook an irreconcileable war against the adoption of that most forward young man For seeing him not fully eighteen years of age apt to be wrought upon and receive affronts he derogated from Caesar's dignity by calumnies and purloyn'd his inheritance and ceased not to persecute him with opprobrious speeches and by all imaginable artifices to oppose his adoption into the Julian Family Nay at last to oppresse the young man he broke forth into open hostility and having raised an Army in that part of Gaul on this
fled at length into Syria where out of an incredible stupidity he became more insolent than before as if he who had made his escape had gain'd the victory CHAP. XI Antonius besotted with the love of Cleopatra promises her the Roman Empire the preparations for the war a Naval engagement between Octavius and Antonius the death of him and Cleopatra LUst and Luxury put an end to Antonius's fury though ambition could not For after the expedition against the Parthians detesting war and giving himself over to sloath he fell in love with Cleopatra and as if he had manag'd things excellently well he enjoy'd himself in the embraces of a Princesse This Aegyptian woman desires of the besotted General for the reward of her lust no lesse then the Roman Empire And Antonius promised it her as if the Romans were more easily overcome than the Parthians He therefore began to plot Soveraignty not covertly but having forgot his Country Name Habit and Dignity he absolutely degenerated into that monster a tyrant not onely in his thoughts but also in his inclinations and attire He walk'd with a golden staff in his hand had a Cimitar by his side was clad in a purple garment beset with large Pearls nay he wanted not a Diadem that he might enjoy a Queen as a King Upon the first intelligence of these new commotions Caesar crossed the Sea at Brundusium to prevent the approaching war and having encamped in Epirus he surrounded the Island Leucades and the Mount Leucates and the points of the Ambracian Bay with a powerful Fleet. We had above four hundred Ships the enemies about two hundred but their Bulk made up their number For they had from six to nine Banks of Oars besides being raised up high with turrets and decks like Castles and fortify'd Cities they made the Sea groan and put the winds out of breath to carry them and that excessive Bulk prov'd the occasion of their destruction Caesar's Ships had from three to six banks of Oars and none beyond so that they were in readinesse to take all advantages whether to charge recharge or turn about and diverse of them at the same assaulting those heavy and unweildy slugges with their beaks as also with darts and fire cast into them they dispersed them as they pleased themselves Nor did the greatnesse of the enemies Forces appear in any thing so much as after the victory For that prodigious Fleet having been wrack'd in the engagement was scatter'd all over the Sea became the spoil of the Arabians the Sabaeans and a thousand other Nations of Asia and the Waves continually stirr'd by the Winds cast up Purple and Gold upon the shores The Queen beginning the flight made to Sea with her Ship all gilt at the stern and purple sails and soon after Antonius follow'd but Caesar was not far behind him So that neither their design'd escape into the Ocean nor the two points of Aegypt Paretonium and Pelusium which they had fortify'd with Garrisons stood them in any stead in as much as they were in a manner within his reach Antonius kill'd himself first The Queen falling at Caesar's feet endeavour'd to dazzle his sight but in vain for her beauty prevayled not upon that Prince's chastity Her suit was not for her life which was proffer'd her but to obtain part of the Kingdom Which when she was out of all hope to obtain and perceiv'd she was reserv'd for a triumph taking advantage of the negligence of her guard she fled into the Mausoleum so they call the Sepulchres of their Kings And there having put on her most sumptuous garments as she was wont and seated her self close to her Antonius in a Throne fill'd with rich perfumes she apply'd Serpents to her veins and died as it were in a slumber CHAP. XII A war raised by the Germans in Augustus's time his exploits in the Northern Provinces the valour and conduct of Drusus who is surnam'd Germanicus his death Quintilius surpriz'd by the Germans his defeat A war in Armenia the attempt of a Barbarian on the person of Caius Augustus's conquests in Spain a general Peace the most remote Nations submit to the Roman Empire the Parthians return the Ensignes taken from Crassus Octavius Caesar shuts Janus Temple He is named Father of the Country and Augustus HEre ended the civil wars what follow'd were against forreign Nations who duâ—ing the Empire 's conflict with his own miseâ—ies began to stir in divers parts of the world For Peace was a new thing and the necks of those proud and insolent Nations being not accustom'd to the curb of bondage they slipp'd out of the yoke not long before imposed upon them That part of the world which is towards the North the Inhabitants whereof are the Noricians the Illyrians Pannonians Dalmatians Mysians Thracians and Dacians Sarmatians and Germans was the most violent The Noricians were encourag'd by the Alps and snows thinking the war could not get over them But Augustus quieted all those parts to wit the Brenni the Senones and the Vindelici by his Step-Son Claudius Drusus How strangely barbarous these Nations were may be easily seen by their women who having spent their weapons flung their groveling infants at our Soldiers races The Illyrians also live under the Alps and guard the lower Valleys and certain passages thereof where they are secured by impetuous torrents Caesar himself engag'd against these and ordered a Bridge to be made to get over into their Province Being here put to a stand by waters and the enemy he snatch'd the Buckler out of the hand of a Soldier who seem'd loath to get up on the Bridge and march'd in the front of the Forces when * Oum lubricus multitudine pons succidisset the untrusty Bridge shrinking down by reason of its being o'repressed with multitude he was hurt in the hands and leggs yet so as that deriving Majesty from the danger and the blood he had lost rendring him the more amiable he had the pursuit of the retreating enemy The Pannonians are compassed by two Forrests and three Rivers Dravus Savus and Ister These having wasted their neighbouring Countries retreated within the banks of their Rivers He sent Vibius to reduce them and they were destroy'd upon the two Rivers the Arms of the conquered were not burnt according to the custom but were taken and thrown into the Rivers to assure the rest who stood out of our victory The Dalmatians live for the most part in woods and so ly most conveniently for Robberies Marcius having fir'd the City Delminium had already given these a great blow Afterwards Asinius Pollio had punish'd them with the losse of their Flocks Arms and Fields But Augustus recommends the subduing of them to Vibius who forc'd those Savages to dig the Earth and fetch pure gold out of its veins which that most covetous Nation is sufficiently inclined to do it self as if they seem'd to keep it for their own use 'T is a horrid thing to