the very * In Foro. Forum so that Romulus pray'd to Jupiter to put a stop to the shameful retreat of his people Thence came the Temple and name of Jupiter Stator At length the Virgins who had been surpriz'd run in between the engaged parties with their hair dishevell'd So a peace was made with Tatius and a league entred into and a strange thing follow'd to wit that the enemies leaving their own habitations remov'd into the new City and bestow'd the wealth of their Ancestors on their Sons in law as a portion with their Daughters Their forces being in a short time increased the most prudent King reduc'd the Commonwealth to this state that the young men being divided into Tribes should be ready with Horse and Armes for any unexpected occasions of War that the counsel of the Commonwealth should be managed by the old men who for their authority were called Fathers for their age a Senate These things thus setled while he was speaking to the people without the City neer the Pool of Capra he was of a sudden taken out of their sight Some think him cut to pieces by the Senate for the harshnesse of his disposition but the tempest then rising with an Eclipse of the Sun were look'd on as arguments of his Apotheosis Which opinion Julius Proculus soon after confirm'd affirming that he had seen Romulus in a more Majestick form then he had bin in before that he further commanded they should honour him as a Deity and that the Gods would have him called in Heaven by the name of Quirinus and that so Rome should have the Soveraignty of the world CHAP. II. Numa Pompilius succeeds Romulus his Piety his setlement of Religious affairs NVma Pompilius succeeded Romulus They of their own accord desir'd this man for their King for the greatnesse of his piety He instructed them in sacrifices and ceremonies and what ever relates to the worship of the immortall Gods He instituted Priests Augurs the Saly and the other sacerdoral Functions and distributed the year into twelve months and appointed the days of pleading and vacation He gave them the sacred Bucklers and the Image of Pallas as certain secret pledges of the Empire as also double-fac'd Janus the Symbol of peace and war He first appointed fire to be kept in by the Vestal Virgins that in imitation of the celestial constellations the Guardian-flame of the Empire should be vigilantly continu'd These things he pretended he had receiv'd by the inspirations of the Goddesse Egeria that his barbarous subjects might the more willingly submit thereto In fine he brought that unciviliz'd people to so much moderation that an Empire acquir'd by violence and usurpation was administred with piety and justice CHAP. III. Tullus Hostilius succeeds Numa He instructs the Romans about military engagements declares a war against the people of Alba The famous engagement between the three Horatij and the three Curiatij The treachery of the Latines in the War against the Fidenates A. V.C 82. NExt to Numa Pompilius came Tullus Hostilius on whom the Kingdom was freely bestow'd in acknowledgement of his vertue This man introduc'd military discipline and the art of war Having therefore train'd up the young men in these exercises he presum'd to provoke the Albani a considerable and for a long time a soveraign people But their Forces on both sides being equal after many engagements to bring the war to a period the fates of both nations were committed to the decision of the Horatij and Curiatij three Brethren twins chosen of each side 'T was a doubtful and noble conflict and the issue of it admirable For the three on the other side being wounded on this two slain the surviving Horatius adding subtilty to valour that he might distract the enemy counterfeits flight and setting on them one after another as they were able to pursue him overcomes them all Thus a glory not easily found elsewhere by the hand of one man there was gotten a victory which the Victor soon stain'd with Parricide Seeing his â—wn Sister bewailing to find about him the spoils of one indeed betroath'd to her but an enemy he reveng'd that so unseasonable an affection of the Virgin with his sword The Laws would have punish'd the act but gallantry rescu'd the parracide and his crime was much below his glory Nor was it long ere the Albane broke his faith For coming out as Auxiliaries to the Romaâ—s in the war against the Fidenates according to the league they stood between the two Armies expecting whether of them Fortune would favour But the crafty King perceiving his Auxiliaries ready to side with the enemy takes courage as if he had commanded them so to do whereupon our men were animated the enemies cast down with fear So the evil design of the revolting party prov'd fruitlesse Therefore the enemy being defeated he caus'd Metius Sufetius the breaker of the league to be fastened between two Chariots and drawn to pieces by wild Horses Nay he demolish'd the City Alba treating it though it had been a parent now as a corrival of Rome having first translated all the wealth of the City and the very Inhabitants to Rome that so an ally'd City might not seem to have been destroyd but reunited to its own body CHAP. IV. Ancus Martius Numa's Grand-son is advanc'd to the Throne after Tullus Hostilius he builds the Walls of Rome and a Bridge over the Tiber and sends a Colony to Hostia THen reigned Ancus Martius Grandchild by a daughter to Pompilius of a disposition like that of his Grand-father This Prince therefore compass'd the ancient Fortifications with a wall and made a Bridge over the Tiber and sent a Colony to Ostia seated at the falling of the River into the Sea as it were then foreseeing it would come to passe that the wealth and provisions of the whole world would be brought to that maritime store-house of the City CHAP. V. Tarquinius Priscus a foreigner is for his vertue advanc'd to Royalty heightens the glory of the Senate would have encreas'd the order of Knights but is diverted from it by the Augur Nevius his military atchievements what ornaments of the Empire were of his invention NExt Tarquinius Priscus although a Foreigner courting the Scepter obtains it for his industry and accomplishments for born at Corinth he had improv'd the Grecian inclinations by the artifices of Italy This man heightned the majesty of the Senate by adding to their number and augmented the order of Knights with three Centuries though Actius Nevius chief of the Augurs opposed that augmentation Whom the King asked by way of tryal whether that which he then thought of could be done The other having consulted Augury answer'd that it could Now what I thought of said he was whether I could cut that whetstone with the razor Thou maist said the Augur and he cut it Hence came Augury to be sacred among the Romans Nor was Tarquinius less expert in war than peace for
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
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
before them at a publick assembly but also ordered appeals to the People from the Sentence of the Consuls And that his House built like a Cittadel might give no offence he caus'd it to be built lower in a plain place But Brutus courted the City-applause by the destruction and parricide of his own Family For having discover'd that his Sons endeavour'd the restauration of the Kings he dragged them into the Forum and before the whole assembly caus'd them to be scourg'd with Rods and afterwards cut off their heads that he might plainly seem as a publick Parent in stead of his own Children to have adopted the People of Rome The Roman People being thenceforth free first took up Arms against the Foreigners upon the account of Liberty next about Territories then for their Allies and lastly for Glory â—nd Empire the neighboring Nations assaulted them of all sides For having no Land of their own adjoyning to the City all but Rome belonging to the Enemies and lying as it were in a cross-way between Latium and the Tusci at which Gate soever they sallyed out they fell among enemies which continu'd till that as it were by a certain Contagion they over-run all and having possessed themselves of all the neighboring places they reduced all Italy under their Jurisdiction CHAP. X. Porsenna King of Etruria siding with the Tarquins comes with a powerful Army before Rome reduces it to extream necessity and is ready to force it but astonished at the prodigious gallantry of Mutius Horatius and Clelia he makes an allyance with the Romans The Combat between Brutus and Tarquin's Son wherein they both fell AFter the expulsion of the Kings the first arms the people took up were for assertion of their Liberty For Porsenna King of Etruria was in sight with a powerful Army and brought along with him the Tarquins However though he pressed hard upon them by Arms and Famine and having possess'd himself of Janiculum was lodg'd at the enterance of the City yet they broke his attempts nay beat him back and at last put him into such amazement that though he had much the advantage he entred into a friendly League with those whom he had almost overcome Then flourish'd those Romane Prodigies and Miracles Horatius Mutius Clelia of whom did not the Annals make mention they would now seem Fables For Horatius Cocles finding himself not able alone to remove the pressing Enemies the Bridge being broken down behinde him swam cross the Tiber with his Arms about him Mutius Scaevola attempted the Kings person in his Tent but finding his blow spent in vain upon one of his Courtiers he thrust his hand into the fire and heightens the Kings terror by policy That thou mayest be satisfied what a person thou hast escaped know that three hundred of us have sworn the same thing thy death when in the mean time a thing dreadful to relate he who spoke was undaunted the other the King trembled as if his own hand had been burning Thus the Men. But that no sex might want its praise see also the gallantry of Virgins Clelia one of the Hostages delivered to the King having got out of custody cross'd the Tiber on horseback So that the King startled at so many and so great Prodigies of Valour kindly dismiss'd them and set them at liberty The Tarquins continu'd the War till Brutus kill'd Aruntes the Kings Son with his own hand and dy'd himself upon him of a mutual wound he had receiv'd from his adversary as if he would have pursu'd the Adulterer even to hell CHAP. XI The Latines engage in the quarrel of the Tarquins give battel to the Romanes by whom they are defeated The other neighboring Nations disturb their quiet The Romanes fight for the dilatation of their Territories Quinctius Cincinnatus taken from the Plough to be Dictator He subdues the Aequi and treats them as beasts THe Latines also out of emulation and envy to the Romanes took up the quarrel of the Tarquins to the end that a people who commanded abroad might at least be made slaves at home Wherefore the whole Countrey of Latium under the Conduct of Mamilius Tusculanus couragiously undertake to revenge the Kings quarrel They engage at the Lake Regillus a long time with a suspence of success till the Dictator himself Posthumius cast one of his Ensigns among the enemies a new and remarkable stratagem that it might be recover'd again by running upon them * Titus AE E. Titus Aebutius Elva Master of the Horse commanded the Bridles to be taken off that also was strange that they might charge with with the greater violence In fine so sharp was the engagement that it is reported the Gods were present at it particularly two mounted on white Horses whom none doubted but they were Castor and Pollux Whereupon the General of the Romane Army worshipped and in case he had the victory promis'd them Temples which he afterwards performed accounting it as due pay to the Auxiliary Gods Hitherto all the wars were for Liberty Afterwards they were in perpetual hostility with the same Latines about their Confines Sora who would believe it and Algidum were formidable places Satricum and Corniculum were but Provinces For the reduction of Veij and the Boâ—illi two wretched places 't is a shame to say it but we triumphed Tibur which is now as it were the Suburbs of Rome and Praeneste a pleasant Summer-walk were not attempted till after Vows were made in the Capitol for their reduction â—aesulae was then what Taphra is of late the Grove of Aricinum what the Hyrcinian Forrest was Fregellae as considerable as Gesloriacum is now in our days * Or as others Tygris the common Edition not so well Tibris Liris then what Euphrates now to wit the limits of the Empire The taking of Corioli Oh shame was thought so glorious that C. Marcius Coriolâ—nus made the reduction of it part of his name as if he had subdu'd Numantia or Africk There are also to be seen the spoils taken from Antius which C. Maenius hung up in the most eminent place of the Forum after he had taken the Enemies Fleet if that were one for there were but six War-ships But that number in those beginnings of Empire made a considerable Naval Force But the most obstinate of the Latines were the Aequi and the Vosci and as I may say perpetual enemies But these were particularly subdu'd by L. Quinctius that Dictator taken from the Plough who by his incomparable Conduct reliev'd the Camp of the Consul L. Minucius though besieg'd and ready to be taken It happen'd to be then about the midst of Sowing-time when the Lictor took the Patrician at his work holding the Plough He went immediately thence to the Army where â—hat he might do nothing disconsonant from his Rural Employment he caused the subdued enemies like beasts to pass under the yoke So the Expedition being over the triumphant Husbandman return'd to his Oxen. Oh ye Gods With what
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
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 Island Eubaea from the continent onely by a small space which let in a small Arm of the Sea Here Antiochus had his Tents of Gold and Silk pitch'd within the noise of the water and wanted not also his musick of flutes and other instruments amidst the waves nor his Roses which were brought from all parts though it were Winter nay that he might seem in all respects the General of an Army he had also companies of Virgins and young Lads Such a King therefore already vanquished by his own luxury the Romans under the conduct of M. Acilius Glabrio assaulting in the very Island forc'd him to forsake it upon the first news of their approach Thence they went immediately into Asia The Royal Navy was commanded by Polexenes and Hannibal for the King himself could not endure to look on the fight Therefore Aemilius Regullus being General it was absolutely defeated by the Rhodian Gallies Let not that Athens flatter it self in Antiochus we overcame Xerxes in Aemilius we match'd Themistodes and in taking Ephesus we have gain'd as much honour as they in taking Salamis Afterwards Scipio being Consul whose Brother surnamed Africanus late Conquerour of Carthage went along with him voluntary as his Lieutenant-General it is resolv'd that Antiochus should be absolutely subdu'd and indeed he was already beaten out of the Sea but we proceed further We encamp at the River Maeander and the Mountain Sipylus There the King had taken up his post with what Forces of his own and Aâ—xiliaries is incredible He had three hundred thousand Foot and about the same number of Horse and Chariots of warre Besides he had surrounded his Army with huge Elephants glittering in Gold Purple Silver and their own Ivory But all these preparations were obstructed by their own greatnesse besides a sudden shower of rain that fell had to our advantage made the Persian bowes uselesse First their consternation then flight made way for our triumph To Antiochus vanquish'd and submitting himself they granted peace and part of his Kingdom and that the more willingly the more easily he had been defeated CHAP. IX The Rhodians and Athenians use their mediation with the Romans on the behalf of the Aetolians Cephalenia and other Islands subdu'd by the Romans THe Aetolian as it ought succeeded the Syrian war For Antiochus being vanquish'd the Romans pursu'd the incendiaries of the Asian war The revenge is committed to the charge of Fulvius Nobilior who immediately with his engins batters the Metropolis of the Nation Ambracia sometime the aboad of K. Pyrrhus Whereupon it was surrendred The Athenians and Rhodians came thither upon the intreaty of the Aetolians upon their mediation remembring the assistance we had received from them it was thought fit they should be pardoned But the war crept into the adjacent parts and spread all over Cephalenia and Zacinithos and all the Island 's scatter'd up and down that Sea between the Ceraunian Mountains and the Promontory of Malaeum came in occasionally by the Aetolian war CHAP. X. The Istrians plunder Manlius's Camp but afterwards being surpriz'd in the midst of the jollity are defeated and their King taken prisoner THe Istrians follow the Aetolians for they had assisted them not long before in their war and the beginning of the fight was fortunate to the enemy and prov'd also the occasion of their ruine For after they had plunder'd the Camp of C. Manlius and possess'd themselves of a rich booty C. Claudius Pulcher falls upon them as they were feasting and sporting nay many of them so overcome with drink that they knew not where they were So they cast up their surpriz'd Victory with their blood and breath The King himself named Apulo being set a Horseback as not able to stand through gluttony and lightnesse of the head was with much ado perswaded that he was taken even after he had recover'd himself CHAP. XI The Gallo-grecians are subdu'd by the Romans the great courage and gallantry of a Lady in revenging her self of a Centurion who had done her violence THe Gallo-grecians were also involv'd in the ruines of the Syrian war They had been among the Auxiliaries of King Antiochus Whether Manlius were over-desirous of a triumph or that he maliciously charg'd them with that offence is doubtful certain it is that though a Conquerour a triumph was deny'd him because the occasion of the war was not approv'd by the Senate Now the Gallo-grecians as appears by the very name is an intermixt and mongrel people the remainders of the Galls who under Brennus had wasted Greece going further Eastward had after sometime plant'd themselves in the midst of Asia But as the seeds of fruits degenerate by change of soil so that innate savagenesse of theirs was abated by the delicacies of Asia They were therefore at two fights quite broken and defeated though upon the approach of an enemy forsaking their own habitations they had retir'd to the highest Mountains which the Tolistobogii and the Tectosagae were already posses'd of * Vtrique Both of them being gall'd with slings and arrowes accepted conditions of a perpetual peace But being bound they gave us occasion to wonder at them when they proffer'd to bite off their chains and offered their throats one to another to be strangled And yet the wife of Orgiagon a King among them having been ravish'd by a Centurion of ours got out of custody by a memorable example and brought the Soldiers head to her injur'd husband CHAP. XII The second Macedonian or Persian war the allyance between the Macedonians and the Thracians the policy of K. Perses who yet is overcome by P. Aemilius The description of a magnificent triumph the news of the Vitory brought to Rome the very day of the Engagement by the means of two young men who were thought to be Castor and Pollux WHile Nations after Nations follow the fate of the Syrian war Macedonia rose up a second time The remembrance of theiâ— former nobility stirr'd up that most valianâ— people and there had succeeded Philip hiâ— Son Perses who thought it a dishonour to the Nation that Macedonia being overcome once should ever continue so The Macedonians rise with greater animosity under this man than they had done under his father For they had drawn in the Thracians to joyn with them * Aâ—quâ— ita â—dustriam Macâ—donum viâ—ibus Thracum feroâ—iâ—m Thracum disciplina Macedonum tâ—mperavere And so they had ballanc'd the dexterity of the Macedonians by the robust valour of the Thracians and the brutality of the Thracians by the discipline of the Mecedonians What added to this was the prudence of the chief Commander who having observ'd the scituation of his countries from top of Aeonus encamping his Forces in abrupt places had so fortify'd Macedonia with Men and Arms that he seemed not to have left the enemies any way to enter into it unlesse they should fall down from the Heavens For Q. Martius Philippus being Consul the Romans having learn'd
his competitor to the Government assassinated This was another cause of the war against the said King The ensuing revenge is recommended to Albinus But ô dishonour he in like manner so corrupted his Army that by a voluntary flight of ours the Numidian overcame and became master of our Camp and by a dishonourable treaty he suffered the Army which he had before corrupted to escape About the same time not so much to revenge the Roman Empire as its honour rose up Metellus who craftily set upon the enemy with his own artifices while the other eluded him one while with intreaties another with threats making also his advantage of a feign'd as if it had been a real flight Not content with the devastation of Fields and Villages he made attempts against the principal Cities of Numidia and a long time endeavour'd the reduction of Zama but without effect But Thala he sack'd a place well furnish'd with ammunition and where the King's treasure waâ— Afterwards having depriv'd the King of his Cities he pursu'd him as a fugitive out of his own territories through Mauritania and Getulia At last Marius with a considerable recruit after he had taken into the Army persons of mean extraction upon an oath administred to them setting upon the King already defeated and wounded yet found it as hard a task to overcome him as if his Forces had been fresh and entire This man with extraordinary successe reduc'd Capsa a City built in honour of Hercules seated in the midst of Africk and surrounded with Sands and Serpents and by the assistance of a certain Ligurian forc'd his way to the City Mulucha built upon a rocky Mountain a place in a manner inaccessible After which he gave a signal overthrow not onely to Jugurth but also to Bocchus King of Mauritania siding with the Numidian upon the score of kinred neer the City Cirta Bocchus distrusting his affaires and fearing to be involv'd in another's ruine made King Jugurth the price of his agreement and friendship with the Romans So the craftiest of Kings was ensnared by the artifices of his Father in law and deliver'd into the hands of Sylla And at length the people of Rome beheld Jugurth loaden with chains led in triumph but he also though overcome and bound saw the City which he had falsely prophecy'd was to be sold and should be ruin'd if it met with a buyer But if ever saleable it had a Chapman in him and seeing he escaped not it will be an assurance that it shall never perish CHAP. II. The victory obtain'd by the Romans beyond the Alps over the Salii the Allobroges and the Aruerni Domitius Aenobarbus and Fabius Maximus erect Towers of stone and set up Trophies on them THus the Romanes demean'd themselves in the South In the North the troubles were greater and more bloody there being nothing more insufferable than that Coast where the Air is very piercing and the Inhabitants savage All along that quarter an implacable Enemy broke forth on all sides on the right the left and out of the midst of the North. The first who felt our Arms beyond the Alps were the Salii upon complaints made of their Incursions by the most faithful and friendly City Massilia Afterwards the Allobroges and Aruerni upon the like complaints of the Aedui who desired our assistance and relief against them Varus is a witness of the victory and Iscara and the River Vindelicus and the swiftest of Rivers the Rhone The greatest terror to the Barbarians were the Elephants whose bulk was answerable to that of the Inhabitants There was nothing so remarkable in the Triumph as the King himself Bituitus in his Arms of divers colours and a silver Chariot such as he had fought in For both which victories how great the rejoycing was may be imagined hence that Domitius Aenobarbus and Fabius Maximus erected Towers of stone upon the very places where they had fought and fasten'd Trophies thereon adorn'd with the Arms of the Enemies a thing not usual with our people For the Romans ever upbraided those whom they subdu'd with their victory CHAP. III. The Cimbri and Teutones design an Incursion into Italy they defeat several Armies of the Romans but are at last defeated themselves by Marius The strange resolution of their Wives A miraculous thing happen'd at Rome after the defeat THe Cimbrians the Teutones and the Tigurians fugitives from the extremities of Germany upon the Sea 's over-running their Countrey sought new habitations all the world over and being kept out of France and Spain as they were returning into Italy they sent Ambassadors to Silanus's Camp and thence to the Senate desiring the martial people of Rome would assign them some Countrey or other by way of pay which if granted they should dispose of their hands and arms But what Lands should the Romane people give then ready to fall into a Civil War about the Agragrian Lawes Being therefore repuls'd what they could not obtain by entreaty they resolve to get by force For neither could Silanus hold out against the first irruption of the Barbarians nor Manlius against the second nor Caepio against the third All had been lost if Marius had not lived in that age Nor durst he presently engage them but kept in his men within the Camp till that invincible rage and violence which the Barbarians account valour were somewhat remitted They therefore retreated from ours insulting and so great was their confidence of taking the City asking them whether they would any thing to their wives Immediately upon those threats dividing themselves into three Bodies they march'd over the Alps that is the Bars of Italy Marius presently with extraordinary expedition taking the nearer ways prevents the Enemy and pursuing the formost Body the Teutoâ—es at the descent of the Alps at a place caâ—led Aquae Vitae Oh heavenly powers what an overthrow did we give them The enemies were possess'd of the Valley and the River our people wanted water Whether the General did it purposely or made advantage of his Error is doubtful Certain it is Valour heightned by necessity occasion'd the Victory For the Army calling for water Ye are men said he there it is to be bad The Engagement was so sharp and the slaughter of the enemies so great that the Romane Conqueror drunk not so much water out of the river as Barbarians blood which ran down with it Nay the King himself Theutobocchus who was wont to vault over four or six horses could hardly get up one when he was to make his escape and being taking in an adjoyning Grove he was a remarkable Spectacle in as much as being a person of extraordinary stature he was higher than the very Trophies The Teutones being utterly destroy'd they march towards the Cymbrians These had already who would imagine it in the winter-time which raises the Alps to a greater height by the Mountains of Trent made a descent as if they had fallen down into Italy They
a fortunate temerity did this Message force him upon Over till then unpassable crags of Mountains through unbeaten ways and snows taking his march with a choice light-arm'd party he comes into Gaul he brought together his winter Garisons though at great distances and was got into the midst of Gaul ere it was fear'd he might be coming from the remotest part of it Then assaulting the Cities that were the causes of the War he destroy'd the Avaricum though defended by forty thousand men he fir'd Alexia although maintained by two hundred and fifty thousand young men The whole stress of the War was about Gergovia For that vaste City having fourscore thousand men to defend it with the help of its Walls a Castle and its precipices was by Caesar compassed with Works Palizadoes and a Trench through which he drew the River besides eighteen Bastions and a kinde of huge Counterscarp by which means he first reduc'd it to a famine afterwards killed those who attempted to make sallies in the very Trenches with swords and palizadoes and at last forced the besieged to a surrender Nay the King himself the greatest Ornament of the Victory coming as a Suppliant to the Camp cast his equipage and arms at Caesars feet saying Thou hast O most valiant of men a valiant man before thee whom thou hast overcome CHAP. XI Crassus vanquish'd and kill'd by the Parthians the indignity exercised by his enemies upon him after his death WHile the Romanes by Caesar subdue the Gauls in the northern part of the world they receive a grievous wound in the East from the Parthians Nor can we complain of Fortune our disaster admits not that comfort The covetousness of this Consul Crassus a vice hateful to Gods and men while he mindes nothing but Parthian Gold was punish'd with the loss of eleven Legions and that of his own head for that the Tribune of the people Metellus had made horrid imprecations against him at his departure from Rome And when the Army was past Zeugma the Euphrates swallow'd our Ensigns forc'd into it by sudden Whirlwindes and when he had encamped at Nicephorium the Ambassadors from King Orodes press'd him to call to minde the Leagues made with Pompey and Sylla But he bent upon the Kings Treasures without the least imaginary cause made them onely this return That he would give them his answer at Seleucia Wherefore the Gods avenger of Leagues promoted the Artifices and Valour of the Enemies And first Crassus left behinde him the Euphrates the onely river whereby he could be supply'd with provisions and which serv'd him for a Rampart Then he gave credit to a counterfeit Renegado a Syrian named Mazaras by whose advice the Army being brought into a spacious Champian lay open to the enemies of all sides So that he was hardly got to Carrae but the Kings Generals Syllaces and Surenas display'd their Ensigns glittering with Gold and Silk Then without any more ado the Parthian Horse falling on of all sides pelted them with Darts so fast as if it had been showres of Hail or Rain So the Army receiv'd a dreadful overthrow Crassus himself cajoll'd into a parley had upon a signal given fallen alive into the enemies hands if the resistance of the Tribunes had not moved the Barbarian General to prevent his escape by killing him So having carried away his head the enemy made sport with it His son they had kill'd with the same weapons in his fathers sight The remainder of that unfortunate Army every one shifting for himself was dispersed into Armenia Cilicia and Syria so that there was hardly one left to bring the news of this defeat to Rome His head and right hand being cut off were carried to the King of Parthia who justly made sport therewith For melted Gold was pour'd into his gaping mouth that his dead and breathless body should be burnt with Gold whose mind had been inflamed with an insatiable desire of it CHAP. XII A Recapitulation comprehending a Description of the Misfortunes of the Romanes proceeding from plenty and that their arming against themselves is to be attributed to the same cause THis is the third Age of the Romane people spent in foreign parts during which assuming the confidence to go out of Italy they display'd their Ensigns all over the world Of which age the former Century was sacred just and as we said Golden not stain'd with any wickedness or impiety while there yet remain'd the sincere and innoâ—ent integrity of that pastoral origine and the imminent fear of our Carthagenian enemies kept up the ancient Discipline The latter Century which we have deduced from the destruction of Carthage Corinth and Numantia and the inheritance left us in Asia by King Attalus to him who succeeded them Augustus of whom we shall speak hereafter as it was more magnificent in respect of Military Exploits so was it lamentable and to be blush'd at in respect of the domestick Disturbances that happened therein For as it was noble and praise-worthy to have reduc'd Gaul Thrace Cilicia wealthy and powerful Provinces as also the Armenians and Brittains though not so much for the advantage as the greater reputation of the Empire so to have at the same time broke forth into civil distractions and fought with our Allies our Slaves and Gladiators and that the Senate should be divided into Factions is shameful and to be lamented And I know not whether it had not been better for the Romane people to have contented themselves with Sicily and Africk or indeed to have been without them and confin'd their Government to Italy than to arrive at so much greatness as to be destroy'd by their own strength For what but an excess of prosperity bred those civil Distractions Our first corruption proceeded from the Conquest of Syria the next from the Inheritance left us by the King of Pergamus in Asia That excessive wealth corrupted the manners of that time and prov'd the destruction of the Commonwealth then sunk into its own vices as into a common Shore For whence should it proceed that the people should desire Lands and Food but from the famine which luxury had occasioned Thence therefore proceeded the first and second Gracchane and the third Apuleian sediâ—ion Whence came it that the Knights dissented from the Senate to assume to themselves the cognizance of judgements in Law but from avarice that the tributes of the Commonwealth and the very judgements in Law might be converted to private lucre Hence again came both the promise of communicating the freedom of Rome to all Latium and by the means the wars with our Allies What occasion'd the servile wars but the abundance of Families What occasion'd the Gladiators to raise Armies against their Masters but the profuse liberality used to court the favour of the populace who being excessively taken with showes made that a profession which was at first the punishment of our enemies And now that we may come to some more specious
his mouth which he had fill'd with Brimstone and fire when he breath'd gently the flames came forth with his words This miracle at first drew together two thousand of such as were next met but after breaking open the prisons he made up an Army of above forty thousand And being adorn'd with Royal ornaments that our miseries might be compleat he made a lamentable desolation of Castles Towns and Villages Nay for an absolute dishonour the Camps of the Praetors were taken nor are we asham'd to name them the Camps of Manilius Lentulus Piso Hypsaeus They therefore who should have been reduc'd as fugitives pursu'd our Praetorian General whom they had defeated in fight At length P. Rupilius being General they were punish'd For having overcome them and at last besieg'd them at Euna after he had wasted them with famine as if it had been with a pestilence he put the remainders of the villains into chaines and fetters and crucify'd them For his Victory over the Slaves he was content with an Ovation that he might not derogate from the dignity of a Triumph by a servile inscription The Island had hardly taken breath ere we return from the Slaves and the Syrian to a Cilician Athenio a Shepherd having kill'd his Master puts the Family deliver'd out of prison into Arms. He himself clad in a Purple garment and having a silver staff and his forehead bound about after a Kingly manner got together an Army not inferiour to that of the formentioned Fanatick and with greater violence as if he would avenge him plundring Castles Towns and Villages he exercised his cruelty upon Masters but more insupportably upon Slaves as so many Renegadoes By this fellow also were Praetorian Armies slain the Camps of Servilius and Lucullus taken But Aquilius following the example of P. Rupilius reduc'd the enemy debarr'd from provisions to extremities and easily destroy'd by famine the Forces he had worsted by Arms and they had surrendred themselves if they had not preferr'd a voluntary death to avoid torments Nay the Ring-leader of them mist the punishment he should have had though he came alive into our Lands for that while the multitude strove about the taking of him the prey was torn to pieces between them CHAP. XX. Spartacus a Gladiator heads an Army of Slaves and puts many affronts on the Romans at last Licinius Crassus vindicates the honour of Rome by the death of the Gladiator A Man may support the dishonour of a war with Slaves for though fortune hath made them subject to all things yet are they as it were a second kind of men and capable of the same happinesse of liberty with us But I know not by what name to call the war raised by Spartacus as where the Soldiery were Slaves and the Commanders Gladiators those the meanest of men by their condition these added to their calamity by the scorn of their profession Spartacus Crixus and Oenoma breaking Lentulus's Fencing-school with seaventy or more of the same quality got away from Capua and having call'd the Slaves into their assistance and put them under their Ensignes when they had got together above ten thousand men were not content onely to have made their escape but would also be revenged The Vesuvius was the first refuge these men were pleased to pitch upon Where being besieged by Clodius Glaber they slip'd down the rifts of the hollow mountain with the help of cords made of vine branches and got down to the very foot of it and at the same time of a sudden surpriz'd the General 's Camp who feared no such thing They afterwards took another Camp Then they wander up and down Thora and all Campania And not content with the devastation of Villages and Hamlets they destroy all in Nola and Nuceria and Metapont Forces coming in daily they became a compleat Army and made themselves Bucklers of twiggs and the skins of beasts and swords and other weapons of the Iron about the prisons And that nothing might be wanting to compleat the Army they get horse by taming those they met with wild and the Ensignes and Fasces taken from our Praetors they brought to their General Nor did he refuse them though a person who of a mercenary Thracian became a Soldier of a Soldier a Renegado then a Robber and at last upon the presumption of his strength a Gladiator He also celebrated the funerals of his Commanders kill'd in fight with Princely exequies commanding such as he had taken prisoners to fight about the funeral pile as it were to expiate all Praetorian dishonour by becoming of a Gladiator a rewarder of those who found him that divertisement Afterwards engaging with Consular Armies he defeated that of Lentulus in the Appenine and destroy'd the Camp of C. Cassius at Mutina Puffed up with these victories he design'd to invade the City of Rome which was shame enough for us In fine we rise with all our Forces against this wretched Fencer and Licinius Crassus vindicated Rome's honour by whom the enemies being put to flight escaped to the extremities of Italy Being there shut up into a corner of Brutium they prepared to escape into Sicily but wanting vessels to transport themselves and having try'd to supply that defect with boats of hurdles and barrels fasten'd together with twigs but vainly by reason of the swiftnesse of the current at last sallying out they dy'd like men and as was fit under the conduct of a Gladiator fought without reprieve Spartacus behaving himself gallantly in the front of the battel fell like a General CHAP. XXI The Civil War of the Romans occasion'd by the ambition of Marius and Sylla THis onely wanted to compleat the misfortunes of the Romans that they might have a parricidial war amongst themselves and that Citizens should engage one against another like Gladiators in the midst of the City and Forum as in a Theatre Yet would it grieve me the lesse if the wickednesse had proceeded from Plebeian Leaders or if from Noble persons bad ones But ô indignity what men what Generals were they Marius and Sylla the glory and ornaments of their age promoted that execrable evil with dignity and it was carried on by three different constellations as I may say The first was mean and slight and rather a tumult then a war the cruelty being onely between the Leaders the next was more cruel and bloody the victory spreading through the Bowels of the Senate the last exceeded in point of rage not onely a civil but even a hostile fury when the horrour of the war engag'd all the Forces of Italy the animosities being exaspâ—ted so far till there were not any to be kill'd The beginning of the war proceeded from Marius's insatiable desire of honours while he laboured to deprive Sylla of the Province design'd him But Sylla impatient of the injury brought about his Legions and deferring the war with Mithridates pour'd into the City at the Esquiline and Colline gates with two great bodies
Forces a long time and with doubtfull successe yet was he not overcome by war till he was betray'd by his own domesticks Having pursu'd his Forces all over Spain they had many and those doubtful engagements The first were managed by Lieutenants when of one side Domitius and Thorius and the Herculians on the other met as forlorns Soon after the latter being defeated neer Segovia the former at the River Ana the Generals themselves approaching one the other had another tryal neer Lauro and Sucro and the losse was equal on both sides Whereupon one side minding the desolation of the Country the other the destruction of Cities wretched Spain ru'd the differences of the Roman Generals till that Sertorius being murther'd by his servants and Perpenna vanquish'd and having surrendred himself the Cities also reacknowledg'd the jurisdiction of the Romans to wit Osea Terme Tutia Valentia Auxima Calaguris after it had endur'd the extremities of a famine So Spain being restor'd to peace the victorious Generals would have it accounted rather a forreign than a civil war that they might have the satisfaction of a triumph CHAP. XXIII Lepidus raises new commotions he is vanquish'd and dies in Sardinia MArcus Lepidus and Q. Catulus being Consuls there broke forth a civil war which was extinguish'd in lesse time then it had been begun But how far soever the fire-brand of that commotion spread it was a spark arising from the funeral pile of Sylla For Lepides insolently desirous to see some alteration would abrogate the acts of so great a person not unjustly could it have been done without injury to the Commonwealth For the Dictator Sylla having prescrib'd his enemies by the Law of Arms those who surviv'd to what end should they be called together but to war And the estates of the condemn'd Citizens being bestow'd by Sylla upon others though it were a thing unjustiable in it self yet done with a certain form of Justice the restitution thereof to the former proprietors must no doubt disturb the tranquillity of the City It therefore concern'd the Commonwealth now indisposed and wounded to rest though upon any terms that the wounds of it might not be opened in order to its cure Lepidus therefore having startled the City with seditious remonstrances as with an alarm he went into Etruria and thence brought an Army against Rome But Lutatius Catulus and Cn. Pompeius the Captains and Promoters of Sylla's tyranny had already possessed themselves of Milvius bridge and mount Janiculus with another Army By whom being forc'd back at the first onset and declar'd an enemy by the Senate he retreated without any bloodshed to Etruria afterwards into Sardinia and there of sicknesse and grief died The Conquerours a thing rarely seen in any of the other civil wars contented themselves onely with the peace THE ROMAN HISTORY BY L. JULIUS FLORUS The Fourth Book CHAP. I. The detestable conspiracy of Catiline against his Country he is assisted by several persons of the Noblest Families in Rome Cicero discovers the design the punishment of the Conspirators Antonius gives Catiline and his Army an absolute overthrow FIrst luxury and what is the effect of that the want of things necessary and withall opportunity in regard the Roman Armies were distant as far as the uttermost parts of the world forc'd Cataline upon these hainous designs of oppressing his Country murthering the Senate killing the Consuls firing the City robbing the Treasury overturning the whole Commonwealth and doing what Hannibal seems not to have wish'd What complices had he to compasse that horrid act He himself was of the order of the Patricii but that amounted to little There were engag'd with him in the same design some of the Curii the Porcii the Sylla's the Cethegi the Antronii the Vargunteii and Longini How great Families were these What ornaments of the Senate Nay Lentulus also then Praetor had entertained all these as instruments to carry on his most horrid attempt The conspiracy was seal'd with humane blood which carried about in goblets they drunk one to another a crime the most enormous in the world that onely excepted upon the account of which they drunk it There had been an end of the Noblest Empire in the World if that conspiracy had not happened in the time of the Consulship of Cicero and Antonius of whom the one discovered it by his industry the other quashed it by force The discovery of so great a wickednesse came from Fulvia a common Strumpet but not guilty of the intended parricide Whereupon Cicero assembling the Senate made an Oration against the Parricide Catiline present than among them but that proceeded no further then that the enemy might escape openly professing that he would extinguish the conflagration of the City by the utter destruction of it He goes to the Army raised by Manlius in Etruria with a design to bring it against the City Lentulus prophecying to himself the Government design'd his Family by the Sibylline verses disposes at set places about the City Men Firebrands and Arms against the day appointed by Catiline and not content with a civil conspiracy he drew into Arms the Ambassadors of the Allebroges then casually at Rome And the fury had spread beyond the Alps if upon another discovery of Vulturius the Praetor's letters had not been intercepted Whereupon by the order of Cicero the Barbarians were secured The Praetor is openly convicted in the Senate Being in consultation about their punishment Caesar would have had him spar'd upon the account of their quality but Cato would have them punish'd according to the horridnesse of the crime Which opinion the rest fellowing the Parricides were put to death in prison Though some part of the Conspiracy were smother'd yet Catiline persisted in his design and upon his march from Etruria with an army against his country he is defeated by Antonius How sharply they fought the event made appear not one of the enemies surviv'd the encounter that place which every one fought upon prov'd that whereon his body reposed after death Catiline himself was found at a great distance from his own people among the carcasses of his enemies a most noble death had he so fallen for his Country CHAP. II. A Relation of the War between Caesar and Pompey which was rather an universal one than a civil The league between Pompey Crassus and Caesar the distrust between Caesar and Pompey upon which ensu'd an open war Pompey flies out of Italy Caesar's exploits he besieges Marseils passes over into Spain defeats Pompey's Lieutenants and follows him into Epirus The courage and fortune of Caesar Pompey vanquish'd by him in Thessaly his deplorable death in Aegypt Caesar utterly destroys the Army of Pharnaces Scipio defeated Cara and Juba the bloody fight against Pompey's Sons the valour conduct and incomparable fortune of Caesar his clemency the great honours attributed to him he is envied at Rome and murthered THe whole world being now in a manner overcome the Roman Empire
was grown too great to be destroy'd by any forrein Forces Fortune therefore envying the Soveraign people of the world armed it to its own destruction The rage of Marius and Cinna had kept within the Walls of the City as it were to make a tryal the storm raised by Sylla spread farther yet went not out of Italy but the fury of Caesar and Pompey as it were a delugâ— or genetal conflagration over-ran the City Italy Countries Nations and at last the whole Empire so that it cannot rightly be called a civil nor social nor forreign war but somewhat comprehending all these and indeed more then a war For if we consider the Generals the whole Senate was divided into factions if the Armies we find on the one side eleven Legions on the other eighteen both consisting of the flower and strength of Italy if the assistance of confederates there was on the one side the choice of the Gauls and Germans on the other Dejotarus Ariobarzanes Tarcondimotus Cothus the whole Force of Thrace Cappadocia Cilicia Macedonia Greece Italy and all the East if the continuance of the war we find four years a small time considering the destructions if the space and stage on which it was acted we and it begun in Italy and spread thence into Gaul and Spain and returning from the West it seated it self with its whole burthen in Epirus and Thessaly thence it made a sudden sally into Aegypt then return'd into Asia and stuck a while in Asia at last returning into Spain there after some time receiv'd its period But the animosity of the factions ended not with the war For they rested not till the malice of those who were conquer'd had satisfy'd it self with the murther of the Conquerour and that done in the very City nay in the midst of the Senate The cause of this so great a calamity was the same with that of all the rest to wit excessive prosperity For Quintus Metellus and Lucius Afranius being Consuls when the Majesty of Rome was spread all over the world and the City celebrated the late-gain'd victories and the Pontick and Armenian triumphs of Pompey in the Pompeain Theaters the over great power of that person raised a jealousy as it is often wont in some busy Citizens Metellus discontented at the abatement of his triumph over Creet Cato ever an enemy to the powerful calumniated Pompey and found fault with his actions The grief he conceavid thereat stuck like a dart in his bosom and forc'd him to endeavour the support of his authority As chance would then flourish'd Crassus a person eminent for his extraction wealth and dignity yet thought he not himself wealthy enough Caius Caesar was in great repute for his eloquence wit and his being then Consul Yet was Pompey more eminent than either So that Caesar being desirous to attain greater dignity Crassus to increase his and Pompey to retain his and all equally aiming at power they easily conspir'd together to invade the Commonwealth Making therefore every one of them his advantage of their mutual Forces Caesar invades Gaul Crassus Asia Pompey Spain with three very great Armies and so the Empire of the World was divided among three Princes That Government lasted ten years They had till then been ballanc'd by a mutual fear of each other but upon the death of Crassus among the Parthians and that of Julia Caesar's Daughter who married to Pompey maintain'd concord between the Father and Son-in-law emulation soon discover'd it self Pompâ—y was jealous of Caesar's wealth and Caesar could not brook Pompey's dignity the one could not endure an equal nor the other a superiour O horrour they so disputed for principality as if the fortune of so great an Empire could not suffice two Whereupon having during the Consulship of Lentulus and Marcellus made the first breach of the conspiracy the Senate that is Pompey by whom they were guided moved the appointing of a successor to Caesar nor was Caesar himself against it if in the first Assembly for the election of Consuls there were a respect had of him which honour ten Tribunes had decreed to him though absent and that with Pompey's approbation but now upon the same person's indifference it is deny'd alledginig that he should come and demand it after the ancient form On the contrary Caesar was earnest for the passing of the decrees protesting he would not disband the Army if they perform'd not their promises Whereupon they decree against him as an Enemy Caesar mov'd at these things resolv'd by Arms to maintain the rewards of Arms. The first scene of the civil war was Italy the Fortresses whereof Pompey had supply'd with slight Garrisons but all upon Caesar's sudden advance were reduc'd The First encounter was at Ariminum Whereupon Libo was forced out of Etruria Thermus out of Vmbria Domitius out of Corfinium And the war had been at an end without any bloodshed if Caesar as he had attempted it could have surpriz'd Pompey at Brundusium But he made his escape by night through the closures of the besieged port A shameful thing to be spoken that he who not long before had been chiefest of the Senate and the umpire of peace and war should venture himself in a torn and unarm'd vessel into that Sea on which he had triumphed Pompey had no sooner got out of Italy but the Senate left the City which almost emptied by fear Caesar entring into makes himself Consul He also commanded the sacred Treasury to be broke open because the Tribunes were tedious in the doing of it otherwise and violently seiz'd the revenue and patrimony of the people before he assumed the soveraignety Pompey being forc'd to flight he thought fitter to settle the Provinces then follow him Sicily and Sardinia he secur'd by his Lieutenants that he might be assur'd of provisions There was no hostility among the Gauls he himself had made a peace there But he passing through it against the Pompeian Armies in Spain Massilia presum'd to shut her gates against him Wretched Massilia out of a fear of war falls into a war But having strong walls he order'd it to be reduc'd in his absence That half-Greek City not so delicate as the name might intimate presum'd to force the enemies Trenches fire their Machines and give them a Sea engagement But Brutus who manag'd the war overcame it both by Sea and Land At length surrendring themselves all was taken from them their liberty onely excepted which they valued above all Caesar's war in Spain with Petreius and Afranius Lieutenants under Cneius Pompeius was various doubtful and bloody whom having their Camp at Illerda he attemps to besiege at the River Sicoris and to shut up in the Town In the mean time by the overflowing of the River happening commonly in the Spring he was reduc'd to a want of provisions So his Camp began to be sensible of famine and the besiege himself was in a manner besieged But the River returning within its channel he
any of Pompey's party engag'd in it For Ptolemey King of Alexandria having committed the most heynous act of any during the civil war and assur'd his Allyance with Caesar by the means of Pompey's head fortune desiring the manes of so great a person should be revenged there wanted not an occasion Cleopatra the King's sister falling at Caesar's feet demanded a restitution of one part of the Kingdom The young Virgin was beautiful and what heightned her beauty was that being such she had suffered an injury besides he could not but have a horrour for the King himself who had murther'd Pompey not so much out of love to Caesar as out of complyance with the present conjuncture and would have treated him after the same manner if it had been expedient Caesar therefore having commanded that Cleopatra should be restor'd to her own was immediately besieg'd in the Palace by the same persons who had murther'd Pompey and yet with a small force stood out against the attempts of a vast Army And first firing the next Houses and Ships that were in the Port he avoided the darts of his importunate enemies then he got off of a sudden into the Peninsula of Pharos and thence being forced into the Sea by a strange good fortune he swam to the Navy that lay hard by leaving behind him his Soldiers coat in the water either by chance or out of design that that might receive the darts and stones cast by the enemies Being thus received by his own Fleet and Soldiers assaulting the enemies of all sides he performed the last obsequies to the manes of his Son-in-law by being reveng'd on that cowardly and perfidious Nation For not only Theodorus the Kings Tutor occasioner of the whole war but also those men-monsters the Eunuchs Photinus and Ganimedes making their escape differently by Sea and Land were consum'd by exile and death The King's body was found cover'd with slime known onely by the gaudinesse of a golden breast-plate In Asia also there broke forth now Commotions in Pontus as if fortune had design'd the period of Mithridates's Kingdom that as the Father was overcome by Pompey the Son should be by Caesar King Pharnaces presuming more upon our distractions then his own valour with an offensive Army invaded Cappadocia But Caesar engaging him defeated him at one and as I may say that not a compleat Battel taking him like a thunderbolt which in the same moment comes strikes and is gone So that it was no vain assertion of Caesar's That the enemy was overcome ere he was seen Thus went affairs with forreign enemies But he had a harder task with our Country-men in Africk then at Pharsalia Into these parts had some fluxe of fury forc'd the remainders of the wrack'd party not remainders but an entire war The Forces were rather scatter'd than defeated Nay the misfortune of their General engag'd them to a stricter prosecution of the war nor did the succeeding Commanders degenerate from those who had gone before them For Cato and Scipio sounded full enough in stead of Pompey's name There were brought in additional Forces by Juba King of Mauritania to the end Caesar's conquests might spread the farther There is therefore no difference between Pharsalia and Thapsus save that in the latter the efforts of the Caesarians were greater and more violent as being incensed that the war should have increased after Pompey's death Lastly what never happened before the trumpets sounded a charge before the General gave order for it The overthrow began with Juba his Elephants not accustomed to war and not long before brought out of the woods were startled at the sudden noise of the trumpets Whereupon the Army was put to flight and the chief Commanders could do no otherwise then endeavour an escape when all were cut off nobly before them Scipio was got away in a Ship but the enemies having overtaken him he fell upon his own sword and one asking where he was he himself return'd this answer The General is well Juba being got into his Palace and having magnificently treated his companion in flight Petreius proffered himself to be killed by him in the midst of the entertainment Petreius dispatch'd both the King and himself and so the half-eaten meats and the funeral messes were mixt with the blood of a King and a Roman Cato was not in the fight but having encamped at Bagrada kept Vtica as another main Fort of Africk But hearing of the defeat of his party without any further delay as became a Wiseman he cheerfully hasten'd his own death For having dismissed his Son and Companions with embraces he went to bed and after he had by a light read a while in Plato's Treatise concerning the Immortality of the Soul he took a little rest then about the first watch having drawn his sword he thrust it twice into his uncover'd breast After which the Physicians would needs by violence trouble the man with plaisters He bore with them till they were gone but then opened the wounds afresh and there came forth such abundance of blood that his dying hands were congeal'd to the place New Armies and parties arose as if there yet had been no fighting and Spain exceeded Africk as much as Africk had done â—hâ—ssâ—ly and whaâ— gave a great advantage to the parties was that there were two Brothers Generals and instead of one Pompey there were two Never was there a more cruel and withal a more doubtful encounter The first engagement happened between Varus and Didius the Lieutenants of the several parties at the very entrance into the Ocean But the opposition they both met with from the Sea was sorer than that of the several Fleets For as if the Ocean would chastise the fury of enrag'd Country men both Fleets were wrack'd What horrour must there be when at the same time there was a confused conflict between the * Fluctus â—raecellae viri naves armamenâ—a waves the storm Men Ships Arms Adde to this the dreadful scituation of the place it self the shores on the one side of Spain on the other of Mauritania as it were closing the Mediterranean Sea and the Ocean joyning together and Hercules Pillars hanging over and with this all the extremities of a fight and tempest Afterwards both sides fell to the besieging of Cities which between both miserably smarted for their friendship with the Romans The last of all the engagements was at Munda Here not answerably to former prosperity there was so doubtful and lamentable a fight as if Fortune seem'd to be in suspence what to do Nay Caesar himself seem'd dejected before the Army not as he was wont to be either out of a regard of humane frailty or a mistrust of a too long continu'd prosperity or fearing Pompey's fate since he began to be what Pompey was But in the midst of the fight there happen'd an accident which no man could remember he had heard before when the two Armies were upon equal terms and
side the Alps besieg'd Decimus Brutus who opposed his designs Octavius Caesar favour'd upon the account of his age and the injury done him as also the Majestical title he had assum'd got together the Veterane Bands and though but a private person who would credit it engages against a Consul relieves Brutus besieg'd at Mutina and forces Antonius out of his Camp Besides he behav'd himself verâ— gallantly upon that occasion for being all bloody and wounded he brought back upon his own shoulders the Eagled Ensigne which had been deliver'd to him by the dying bearer of it CHAP. V. The confederacy between Octavius M. Antonius and Lepidus the proscriptions and great cruelties exercised at Rome AS if Antonius had not been a sufficient obstructer of peace and burthen to the Commonwealth Lepidus as an additional fire must needs joyn with him so that to secure himself against two Armies it was of necessity that Caesar entred into that bloody association These conflagrations proceeded from different designs Lepidus's thoughts were wholly bent upon wealth which he hoped to acquire by the disturbance of the Commonwealth Antonius's upon his being reveng'd of those who had declar'd him an enemy and Caesar minded his unreveng'd Father and his Manes unappeased by the survivance of Cassius and Brutus Upon this association there is a peace concluded between the three Generals they shake hands between Perusia and Bononia and the Armies salute each other at the place where the two Rivers meet So they enter upon the Triumvirate against all right The Commonwealth being oppressed by an armed force the Syllanian proscription is reviv'd the fury whereof included no lesse than one hundred and forty Senators shameful cruel and miserable were the ends of those who fled into all parts of the world For whom who can do lesse considering the heynousnesse of the thing than condole When Antonius with Caesar's consent proscrib'd his Uncle L. Caesar and Lepidus did the like with his own Brother L. Paulus At Rome to expose the heads of those who had been kill'd on the Rostra was a thing had been usually done But the City could not forbear tears when they saw the head of Cicero exposed at that very place and they throng'd no lesse to see that spectacle than they had sometime done to hear him there These impieties proceeded from Antonius and Lepidus Caesar contented himself with the murtherers of his Father the slaughters of whom might be accounted just enough had they not reach'd so great a number of persons CHAP. VI. Brutus and Cassius charged by Octavius and Antonius the memorable fight in Thessaly attended by prodigies the death of Brutus and Cassius BRutus and Cassius imagin'd to themselves that they had put Caesar out of the Government as King Tarquin had been but that liberty which they thought to have restor'd they lost by that very parricide Being therefore afraid after they had committed the murther of Caesar's Veteranes they fled out of the Senate into the Capitol The Soldiers had a desire to be reveng'd but they wanted a Commander When therefore it was apparent what destruction hung over the Commonwealth all thoughts of revenge were layd aside upon an act of oblivion put out by the Consul However to be out of the eye of publick grief Brutus and Cassius went into Syria and Macedonia the Provinces which had been bestowed on them by that Caesar whom they had murther'd So Caesar's revenge was rather put off for a time than quit smother'd The Commonwealth therefore being setled rather as it could than as it ought upon the Triumviri and Lepidus left for the defence of the City Caesar and Antonius engage in a war against Brutus and Cassius They having got very great forces together pitch'd upon the same scene which had been fatal to Cneus Pompeius nor wanted there at this time the manifest presages of a decreed destruction for those birds which are wont to feed on dead carcasses were already seen flying about their Camp A Negro meeting them as they were going to engage was an apparent sign of a dismal event And Brutus himself being retired after night and a light brought him according to his custom a dreadful apparition stood before him which being by him asked what it was reply'd Thy evil Genius This said it vanish'â— leaving him amaz'd In Caesar's Camp all the presages the Birds and the Victims promised prosperity but nothing more remarkeable than that Caesar's Physician was admonished in a dream that Caesar should depart out of his own Camp which were in danger to be taken as it afterwards happened For the Armies being engaged when they had fought some time with equal eagernesse and though the chief Commanders were not then present one by reason of sicknesse the other through fear cowardize the invincible fortune both of the person revenging and him whom he reveng'd declar'd which was to be the victorious side At first the danger was doubtful and equal on both sides as the event of the battel made appear on the one side Caesar's Camp was taken on the other Cassius's But how far more prevalent is fortune then vertue and how true is that which Brutus said at his death That vertue was but a name no real thing The victory in this battel proceeded from a mistake Cassius observing a wing of his Army to give ground and seeing his Horse retreating in full speed after they had taken Caesar's Camp upon an imagination that they were upon the rout got to a Hillock where the dust and noise and the approaching night not permitting him to see what was done and the scout he had sent to bring him an account coming later than he expected looking on his party as lost got one that was neer him to strike off his head Brutus having lost all courage in the losse of Cassius that he might keep his promise with him for so they had agreed to be equal survivors of the war got one of his companions to run him through the body Who cannot but admire that these wise persons would not dispatch themselves with their own hands unlesse it may be out of this perswasion that they might defile them but that in the surrender of their most sacred and pious souls the directions should be theirs and the crime of the execution another's CHAP. VII A commotion raised by M. Antonius who shut up in Perusia by Octavius Caesar is forc'd to surrender it ANother war was occasion'd by the distribution of the Lands which Caesar assign'd the Veteranes as a reward for their service Antonius a person upon all other occasions of a lew'd disposition was now egg'd on by his wife Fulvia who with a sword by her side served in the wars as a man Wherefore animating those Husband-men who had been forc'd out of their Lands she occasion'd another war In this case Antonius is set upon by Caesar not upon any private account but as one adjudg'd an enemy by the suffrages of the whole
both short-liv'd but one dy'd ere he had gain'd any honour For Lucius dy'd of a disease at Massilia Cajus in Lycia of a wound while he was employ'd about the reduction of Armenia then ready to revolt to the Parthians Pompey having vanquish'd King Tigranes had brought the Armenians to this point of bondage as to receive Governours from us That right of ours being interrupted was by this Caius reasserted after a bloody though short engagement For Domnes whom the King had made Governor of Artaxata pretending he would betray his Master runs him with his Sword into the Temples while he was earnestly perusing a scroll which he himself had presented to him containing the accounts of the Treasures But the Barbarian pursu'd on all sides by the incensed Army was destroy'd by a sword and a fire into which being wounded he cast himself and so made some satisfaction to Caesar not yet dead of his wound In the West all Spain was quiet save onely that part of it which is adjacent to the rocks of the Pyrenean Mountains and lies upon the hither Ocean Here were two most valiant Nations the Cantabrians and the Asturians who acâ—nowledg'd not jurisdiction of the Empire The Cantabrians were the first the more insolent and more obstinate in the revolt nay not content to maintain their own liberty they attempted to rule over their neighbours and harrassed the Vaccaeans the Curgonians and the Autrigonians with their frequent incursions Against these therefore as such as were reported to be the most daring Caesar did not put the expedition upon another but went in person Being come to Segisama he encamped afterwards dividing his Army he compassed the whole Country of Cantabria and subdu'd that savage Nation like wild beasts taken in a toyl Nor had they any quiet at Sea where our Navy charg'd the enemies in the reare The first engagement with the Cantabrians was under the Walls of Vellica Thence they fled to the most steepy Mountain Vindius where they thought the Ocean would ascend sooner than the Roman Armies Thirdly the City Arracillum made great resistance but at last was taken by the Siege of the Edulian Mountain compassed with a trench of fifteen miles by which means the Romans falling on of all sides and the Barbarians being reduc'd to the utmost extremities they anticipated their own deaths some by fire some by the sword in the midst of their banquets and some by poison which is there commonly extracted out of the Yew-trees and so the greater part of them prevented that captivity which they saw coming upon them Caesar wintring at Tarracon a Sea-Town receiv'd an account of these things done by Antistius Furnius and Agrippa his Lieutenants Being come to the Army he forc'd some out of the Mountains engaged others by Hostages and according to martial Law exposed some to sale as slaves The Senate thought the expedition worthy a Lawrel worthy a triumphal Charriot But Caesar was already so great as to slight Triumphs The Asturians having about the same time got a vast Army together were come down out of their Mountains * Nec temere sumptus ut Barbari impetus nor was their attempt inconsiderate as is ordinary with Barbarians but having encamped at the River Astura they divided their Forces into three bodies and design'd to set upon the three Camps of the Romans at the same time It had been a hazardous and a bloody bout * Et uticnam mutua clade certamen I wish the losse on both sides had been but equal we having to do with people so valiant and coming upon us so unexpectedly and with so much deliberation if they had not been betray'd by the Brigaecini by whom Carisius being forewarned came with the Army and frustrated their designs Yet was not that done without much bloodshed The remainders of that most valiant defeated Army escaped to the City Lancia where there was so sharp an encounter that the Soldiry desiring â—hat the City being taken might be fir'd the General with much ado prevayl'd with them That it should be a monument of the Roman victory rather as it stood than burnt Here Augustus put a period to his warlike exploits and this was the last rebellion of Spain From that time there was constant fidelity and a continual peace which proceeded partly from the inclinations of the Inhabitants then more bent thereto and partly from Caesar's prudence who fearing the confidence they deriv'd from their Mountainous habitations into which they retreated commanded them thence forward to inhabit in the plains where his Camp was * Ingentis ecce cousilii â—llud Observaâ—i caepit natuae c. Behold that indeed was an act of great policy Men began to make observations into the nature of the Country which was full of Gold-mines and well stor'd with borax and vermilion and other colours He therefore commanded the ground to be cultivated So the Asturians began to understand the wealth they had lying under ground while they digg'd it out for others All Nations to the West and South being quieted as also to the North onely within the Rhine and the Dannow and in like manner to the East between * Tigris Tigris and Euphrates those others also which were not subject to the Empire were yet sensible of its greatnesse and look'd on the Roman people as Conquerors of the world For even the Scyâ—hians and Sarmatians sent their Ambassadors to us desiring our friendship The Seres also and the Indians who live under the very Sun came with gems and precious stones and bringing also Elephants among their presents complain'd of nothing so much as the greatnesse of their journey which they compleated in four years and yet the very colour of the men argu'd their coming from under another Sun The Parthians also as if it repented them of the Victory of their own accord return'd the Ensignes at the overthrow given to Crassus So was all mankind reduc'd to a firm and uninterrupted peace either by conquest or compact And Caesar Augustus in the seven hundredth year from the first building of the City presum'd to shut the Temple of double-fac'd Janus which had been shut but twice before him under King Numa and after the first reduction of Carthage Thence forward giving his thoughts to peace he reform'd an age bent to all enormities and inclining to dissolution by many prudent and severe edicts For these so many transcendent Actions he was denominated Perpetual Dictator and Father of the Country It was debated in the Senate whether he should be called Romulus because he had establish'd the Empire But the name of AUGUSTUS was thought more sacred and more venerable that even while he lives on Earth he might in name and title be ranked among the Gods A TABLE Of the several CHAPTERS contained in the whole Book The first Book CHAP. I. THe Birth of Romulus first King of the Romans the actions of his youth the foundation of Rome the death of his