Mankind who have long admired your Name and Empire as much as the immortal Gods Now what it was very hard to gain I am afraid 't is more difficult to preserve You undertook to defend the liberty of an ancient noble Nation whether you consider the Fame of what they have done or your general commendation for humanity and learning from the Tyranny of Kings And therefore it behoves you perpetually to protect all that Nation which you have receiv'd into your care and tutelage Those Cities that are in the ancient Country of Greece in Europe are not more Grecian Cities than your Colonies which formerly went thence into Asia nor has the changing of their Climate alter'd their nature or their manners We dare every City of us vie with our Parents and Founders in a pious contest for good Arts and Virtue You have many of you been in the Cities of Greece and Asia Save that we are farther distant from you we are outdone in nothing else The Massilians whom if their nature could have been overcome by the genius as it were of the soil so many unciviliz'd Nations as lye round about them had long e'r this corrupted are as much esteemed we hear and justly valued by you as though they lived in the very centre of all Greece For they have kept not only the tone of the Language the Garb and Habit but above all the Manners Laws and Humour of their Country free and entire from the Contagion of their Neighbours The bound of their Empire now is Mount Taurus and whatsoever is within that limit you ought not to think remote But wheresoever your Arms have come thither also 't is fit your justice should reach even from this City Let the Barbarians who never knew any Laws but the commands of their Lords have what they delight in Kings whilst the Greeks are pleas'd with their own Fortune that is their Wills They formerly with domestick force also embraced Empire now they wish that where the Empire at present is there it may for ever continue It is enough for them to defend their Liberty with your Arms since they cannot with their own But some Cities were of Antiochus's side and others before of Philips and Pyrrhus's being Tarentines Not to reckon up any other Nations Carthage is free and enjoys its own Laws See you Grave Fathers how much you owe to this example of yours You will be perswaded to deny that to Eumenes's avarice which you denyed to their own must just anger We Rhodians leave it to your judgment what brave and faithful service we have done you both in this and all other Wars that you have waged upon that Coast And now in time of Peace we give you such advice as if you approve of it will make all People believe that you use your Victory with more Gallantry than you got it This Oration seemed sutable to the Roman grandeur After the Rhodians Antiochus's Embassadors were call'd in who after the ordinary manner of those that beg Pardon Having confessed the Kings error beseech'd the Senate that they would remember and consult their own clemency rather than the Kings faults who had already suffer'd sufficiently for it and in fine that they would by their Authority confirm the Peace made by L. Scipio on the same terms that he had granted it Thereupon not only the Senate agreed to the observation of that Peace but the People also in a few Days after gave their consent The League was struck in the Capitol with Antipater head of the Embassy and Son to King Antiochus's Brother After which the other Embassadors likewise out of Asia had their audience To all which there was this answer given That the Senate after the manner of their Ancestors would send ten Embassadors into Asia to controvert and compose all differences there but that this should be the result of all that all the Country on this side Mount Taurus that was within the Confines of King Antiochus 's Kingdom should be given to Eumenes except Lycia and Caria as far as the River Meander and that should be subject to the Rhodians That the rest of the Cities in Asia that had been stipendiary to Attalus should all pay a tribute to Eumenes but those that had been tributary to Antiochus should be free and without any imposition They pitch'd upon for these ten Embassadors Q. Minucius Rufus L. Furius Purpureo Q. Minucius Thermus Ap. Claudius Nero Cn. Cornelius Merula M. Junius Brutus L. Aurunculeius L. Aemilius Paulus P. Cornelius Lentulus and P. Aelius Tubero Now concerning those things that required their presence upon the place to debate them these Persons were free to do as they thought good but concerning the business in general the Senate determin'd thus That all Lycaonia both the Phrygias Mysia the Kings Woods all Lydia and Ionia except such Towns as had been free at the same time when they fought with King Antiochus and particularly Magnesia near Sipylum with Cana which is called Hydrela and the Country of the Hydrelites lying toward Phrygia the Castles and Villages by the River Meander and all Towns but what were free before the War Telmissus also by name with the Forts belonging to it and the Lands that had belonged to Ptolomy of Telmissus that all these places and things above written should be given to King Eumenes To the Rhodians was assigned all Lycia beyond the aforesaid Telmissus the Forts belonging thereunto and the Lands that formerly appertain'd to Ptolomy of Telmissus for these were excepted both by Eumenes and the Rhodians too That part of Caria too was given to them that lies nearer to the Island of Rhodes beyond the River Meander consisting of Towns Villages Castles and Lands that reach as far as Pisidia saving such Towns among them that had been at liberty the Day before they fought with King Antiochus in Asia For this when the Rhodians had given the Senate thanks they treated concerning the City of Soli in Cilicia saying That they as well as themselves were descended from the Argives from which Cognation they came to love like Brothers Wherefore they desired this extraordinary favour that they would deliver that City from being slaves to the Kings Thereupon King Antiochus's Embassadors were call'd and discours'd but could not be in any wise prevailed upon Antipater appealing to the League against which the Rhodians desired to have not only Soli but to go over Mount Taurus and take all Cilicia Upon that the Rhodians being call'd back into the Senate when the House had told them how vehement the Kings Embassadour was they added That if the Rhodians thought that matter concern'd the dignity of their City the Senate would by all manner of means overcome the obstinacy of the Embassadours With that the Rhodians thank'd them much more heartily than before and said they would rather yield to the arrogance of Antipater than give any occasion of disturbing the Peace So that there was no alteration made as
plant his battering Ram near the Walls Now all Acarnania lying between Aetolia and Epirus looks toward the West and the Sicilian Sea Leucadia which is now an Island divided by a narrow arm of the Sea which was cut through by Art from Acarnania was then a Peninsula joining Westward by a small neck of Land to Acarnania That neck of Land was almost five hundred paces long though not above a hundred and twenty broad and upon this streight was Leucas built upon an Hill Eastward and toward Acarnania but the lower part of the City was plain and lay to that Sea whereby Leucadia is divided from Acarnania For that reason 't is to be taken either by Sea or Land For not only the narrow Chanel which parts that and the Continent is more like to a Pool than a Sea but the Plains all thereabout are fit for Tillage and easy to raise works upon Wherefore the Walls in several places at once were either undermin'd or knock'd down with the Ram. But the City was not more liable to an Assault than the resolutions of the Enemy were Invincible For they laboured day and night to repair the breaches and fill up the gaps that were made in the Walls being very eager to engage in the fight and to defend their Walls with their Arms rather than themselves with their Walls And they had protracted that Siege beyond the expectations of the Romans had not some banish'd persons of Italian Extract who lived at Leucas let the Souldiers into the Castle Yet then also though they ran down in a great tumult from that higher place did the Leucadians for some time resist with a Body form'd as for a pitch'd Battle in the Market-place In the mean time not only the Walls were scaled and taken in several places but they got over the heaps of Stones and Ruins into the City By which time also the Lieutenant himself had with a great number circumvented those that were a fighting of whom part were slain in the middle between the Enemies and part throwing down their Arms surrender'd themselves to the Conquerour And some few days after when they heard of the Battle that was fought at Cynocephalae all the people of Acarnania came and surrender'd themselves to the Lieutenant At the same time now that fortune inclin'd all things at once the same way the Rhodians also to regain that part of the Continent from Philip which they call Peraea and had been long possess'd by their Ancestors sent Pausistratus the Praetor with eight hundred Achaeans that were Foot Souldiers and about nineteen hundred more that were Auxiliaries gather'd up out of several Countries and in different Habiliments of War Gauls Nisuans Pisuans Tamians Areans out of Africa and Laodiceans out of Asia With these Forces Pausistratus lay at Tendeba a place very convenient in the Territories of Stratonicea whilst the Kings men that were at Thera knew nothing of it There came also very seasonably as an addition to that aid which he had gotten a thousand Achaean Foot with a hundred Horse commanded by Theoxenus Dinocrates the Kings Prefect in order to recover the Castle first remov'd his Camp to the very Wall of Tendeba and from thence to another Castle which was in the Territories of Stratonicea likewise call'd Astragon Where summoning all their Forces out of the Garisons who were mightily disabled together with the Thessalian Auxiliaries from Stratonicea it self he march'd forward toward Alabanda where the Enemy then lay Nor did the Rhodians decline the fight but being both their Camps were near to each other came presently into the Field Dinocrates placed five hundred Macedonians in the right Wing and the Agrians in the left taking into the main body those that he had muster'd up out of the several Garisons who were most of them Carians and cover'd the Wings with the Horse The Rhodian Regiment had the Cretan and Thracian Auxiliaries in the right Wing and in the left the mercenary men who were a chosen Band of Foot in their main Body the Auxiliaries made up of several Nations all the Horse and Light armour that were being set about the Wings That the two Armies only stood upon the Bank of a Torrent that flow'd between them with a small stream and having thrown some few Darts retired into their Camps But the next day being marshall'd in the same order they had a far greater fight than was proportionable to the number of those that were engaged in it For they were not above three thousand Foot and about a hundred Horse who fought not only with equal numbers and Armour all alike but with proportionable Courage too and equal hopes The Achaeans first having got over the Torrent made an attack upon the Agrians whereupon almost the whole Army ran over the River But the sight continu'd for a long time doubtful till the Achaeans who were themselves a thousand in number made four hundred of the Enemy give way Then all the right Wing began to yield though the Macedonians as long as they kept to their ranks and stood like a close Phalanx could not be stir'd But when their left Flank being unguarded they began to throw their Spears round about them upon the Enemy who came athwart to attack them they were presently put into disorder and making first a tumult among themselves soon after turn'd their backs till at last throwing away their Arms and running for it as fast as they could they made toward Bargyllae Dinocrates also fled the same way and the Rhodians having pursued them as long as 't was day-light retreated to their Camp Now it is very evident that if the Conquerours had gone immediately to Stratonicea that City might have been taken without any more ado But they lost that opportunity whilst they spent time in recovering the Castles and Villages of Peraea In the mean time the minds of those that were Ingarison'd at Stratonicea were fortified besides that Dinocrates also not long after enter'd their Walls with those Forces that were left For from that time it was to no purpose to besiege or attack that City nor could it be taken till some time after by Antiochus These things past in Thessaly Achaia and Asia about the same time Philip hearing that the Dardans were come into his Dominions out of contempt to him for having relinquish'd his Kingdom and had wasted the upper parts of Macedonia though he were hard put to it in almost all the World now that Fortune was so severe to him and his Party yet thinking it worse than death to be forced from the possession of Macedonia he made a sudden Levy through the Cities of that Kingdom and with six thousand Foot and five hundred Horse near Stobus in Paeonia surpriz'd the Foe And there he slew a great number of men in the fight but a greater that were stragled about the Country for plunder Those that could readily escape and did not so much as try the fortune of the day return'd
was found to be a judgment sent by the offended Deity to punish them Therefore some suspicion arose that their Worship and religious ceremonies were not duly perform'd and observed and the Pontifs upon a stricter inquiry into the matter found several Temples and Chappels turned into private Tenements as also one of the Vestal Virgins called Caparonia guilty of Incest But while her Indictment was a drawing up she prevented the Executioner by hanging her self but he that debauched her and the servants that were privy to the fact were punished according to Law The Sacred Places were vindicated from all those abuses whereby private persons had profan'd them and restor'd to the use they were at first intended for After this reformation of Religion in the City the Senate began to apply themselves again to the Affairs of the Commonwealth And because after the Conquest of Hetruria there was no Enemy in Italy appearing it was resolved that the new Consuls should pass over with the Legions into Sicily The Consuls were M. Valer. Maximus stilled during his Honour Messalla and M. Octacilius Crassus These having luckily put over with their Forces into the Island met afterwards a success answerable to so good a beginning for having first taken the City of the Adranites after a short Siege by storm whilst A. U. 490 they sat down before Centuripium the Alesian Ambassadours arrived there being sent to surrender their Town From whence the Consuls taking their course into several parts of the Island and acting with their Forces together or separately as occasion required spread the terrour of their Arms into the most distant parts of the Land routing the Syracusans and the Carthaginians where-ever they met them And so vigorous and easie was their Conquest whilst they warmly pursu'd their good fortune that a little while after no less than sixty seven Towns were reckon'd which had become subject to the Romans Of which number were the Tauromenitans and Cataneans Upon which the Consuls daily encreasing their Armies by the addition of as many Auxiliary Troops as they pleased to demand were encouraged to incamp before Syracuse it self designing to invest that place Hiero finding matters come to this pass and on the one hand distrusting his own and the Carthaginian Power whilst on the other he took the Romans for the honester Men resolves himself also to enter into Alliance with the Romans and accordingly sends Ambassadours with Instructions to conclude a Peace The Romans were glad enough to dissolve the League between Hiero and the Carthaginians chiefly because hereby their Legions would be better supplied with provisions for no Victuals could be transported out of Italy the Carthaginians being Masters of the Sea and the Consul the year before had received more harm for want of provision than from the Enemy But now Hiero being on their side the Territory of Syracuse so well stor'd with Provisions was likely to afford all necessaries for their Camp Therefore they agreed upon these Articles That whatsoever Places or Persons Hiero had taken from the Romans he should restore them gratis and withal pay one hundred Talents That he should continue in an absolute possession of the City of Syracuse with all other places dependant thereupon whereof Acrae Leontium Megara Elorus Nitini and Tauromenium were the most considerable Ambassadours afterwards coming from Hiero the Articles were interchang'd and reciprocally confirmed and the Senate decreed that a Peace be concluded with Hiero which a little after was ratified by the People upon Cn. Atilius Calatinus's proposing the business to them This League at first being made but for fifteen years lasted ever after Whilst Hiero accosted the Roman grandeur with just and suitable respect and they likewise requited his kindnesses with as much generosity and bounty So that neither had any cause to repent of the Alliance contracted between them When the report of the Peace with Syracuse was nois'd abroad Hannibal the Carthaginian having come as far as Xiphonia on purpose to raise the Siege of Syracuse retreated more hastily than he had set forwards The Romans now having Hiero for their Ally and Associate in the War without delay took in several Towns of the Carthaginians and though from Adrano a walled Town and Macella after a Siege of several days they had been repulsed yet they reduc'd the Segestanes who having kill'd the Punick Garison revolted to them of their own accord besides other reasons these gave out that they favour'd the Romans for Kindreds sake deriving their pedigree too from Aeneas who escap'd from the flames of Troy and shortly after the Alieneans joyn'd themselves to the Romans but as for Hilarus Tyrittus and Ascelus they were forced to batter and storm them and therefore the conquered were more severely treated At which terrour the Tyndaritanes seeing themselves to be next the danger and their Succours too far off whilst they were considering about delivering up their Town to the Romans were hinder'd by the Carthaginians for they guessing from the present juncture at what was in agitation carried away the principal Citizens to Lilybeum for Hostages together with Corn Wine and other Ammunition At this time the severe Discipline of Octacilius Crassus the Consul was of great importance to the Public for he order'd those Soldiers who upon dishonourable terms of safety had suffer'd themselves to be treated as Slaves by Hannibal to post themselves without the Trenches thus exposing them perpetually to the Incursions of their Enemies so that having no hopes but in their Valour they might become resolute and bold and learn to defend themselves rather by the gallantry of their Arms than by the strength of their Camp These things being done and the Winter was now approaching the Consuls leaving their places garison d which were most advantageous return'd to Rome carrying the rest of the Army into Italy where a Triumph was decreed to M. Valerius who had been most successful in the War which he kept before the 16th of March for the Conquest of Hiero King of Sicily and the Carthaginians A Dial which was born up among the Spoils was the more taken notice of because such a thing had never been seen at Rome before Valerius having carried it away after the taking of Catana placed it in the open Street near the Rostra upon a Pillar He also posted a Table wherein the Victory over the Syracusans and Carthaginians was painted upon one side of the Curia Hostilia which none ever did before him but many after him It is certain that this Man was surnam'd Messalla from the City of Messina but I wonder it should be believed upon several considerable Authors testimonies that this name was impos'd for the taking of that place whereas the thing it self manifestly shews that this name was therefore impos'd because Messina which upon Appius Claudius's departure was by the Carthaginians and Hiero sorely distress'd was by him deliver'd by driving the first away and winning the latter to his side The City of
this Alarm at home he might give a diversion to the Consuls good fortune in Sicily and if they should not be forced to repass the Sea to relieve their people in distress then he might take this advantage to ravage the Country and take their Towns but fortune cross'd him in this his attempt also For the Praetor with the Militia being sent to cover the Confederate Countries and check the incursions of the Enemies obliged Carthalo to return into Sicily laying aside any expectation of the success of his designs Upon his return the Mercenaries mutinying for want of their pay he expos'd some of them in desert Islands and sent many to Carthage to be punish'd which the rest of their Comrades took so heinously and were so inrag'd at that all of them seem'd ready to revolt whence it was fear'd an occasion of a new War might arise But Hamilcar coming in the very nick of time to succeed Carthalo set upon these Mutineers by Night and some he kill'd and drown'd others and as for the rest who begg'd his pardon he admitted them to favour This is that Hamilcar known by the surname of Barcas than whom Carthage never bred a greater or a better Commander a Person that had wanted a Parallel unless he had found one in the Great Hannibal his Son From this time forwards the War began to go harder on the Romans side For immediately after he had quell'd the mutiny of the Mercenaries Hamilcar set out with a Fleet of Ships to wast Italy and far and near ravag'd the Country of the Locrians and Brutians At this time the Romans having been much obliged to Hiero the Syracusan for his constant love and affection towards them remitted him the Annual Tribute which he was engaged to pay by the Articles of the former League and established a perpetual Alliance and good Correspondence with him Mean while Hamilcar returning from Italy made a descent into the Country of Panormus and pitch'd his Camp between Panormus and Eryx at a place very strong by nature called Epiercte a Mountain on every side steep and craggy which is of a considerable heighth and over-looks the Country all about it is not of a small compass at the top but contains one hundred furlongs in circuit all which space of ground is good either for pasture or tillage as being conveniently exposed to the Sea-breezes which preserves it free from all venomous Creatures It has also a certain Eminence which might serve for a Fort and has a good prospect into the Plains below Hard by it is a Port very commodious for those that go to Italy from Drepanum or Lilybaeum being well furnished with fresh Water There are onely three ways by which that Mountain is accessible two from the Land and one from the Sea but all are alike difficult and uneasie Now that Hamilcar encamped here it shew'd the daring spirit and resolution of the Man thus to put himself in the midst of his Enemies whilst he had no Confederate Town near but trusting meerly in the natural strength of the place and his own Courage and experience in War he gave the Romans Centinel Alarms and annoyed them very much from hence and withal very much establish'd the Carthaginian Affairs which began now to prosper at home also For Hanno the other Carthaginian General who was Hamilcar's Rival in the pursuit of Honour and Renown both to advance his fame as also to maintain the Soldiers at the Enemies charge without making them burdensom to the Public carried the War into that part of Lybia which is about Hecatompylos and having taken that Town brought three thousand Hostages to Carthage But their successes were not free from some allay of cross fortune For L. Caecilius Metellus and Num. Fabius Buteo being Consuls a Fleet set out at the charge of some private Persons landed and wasted Affrica For though the Senate determin'd again to forbear fighting any more by Sea yet when the Citizens desired it they gave them leave to make this Voyage upon condition that they should restore all the Ships they borrowed from the State reserving the booty for themselves Thus a considerable Fleet being got together brought much terrour and detriment to the Affrican Coasts and besides that they assaulted Hippo Regius no contemptible place and there destroy'd the Navy of the Hipponensians and many of their Houses but being about to return they found the mouth of the Haven shut up with Chains and here they were forced to use their Wits to escape this danger for the Galleys being rowed swiftly when the Fore-decks almost touch'd the Chain all the people retir'd to the Hind-decks by which means the Fore-decks being lightned of their burden easily passed over the Chains this done they all went into the Fore-decks which sinking down with the weight raised the hind-parts of the Galleys and made them slide also over the Chains that they all escap'd the danger and got clear out of this streight After this deliverance from so much peril and fear it was not long ere they fought the Punic Fleet at Panormus with good success The Roman Consuls acting separately with their Forces this Campaign L. Metellus besieged Lilybaeum and Num. Fabius Drepanum There lies near Drepanum Southward an Island or rather a Rock named by the Greeks the Pelian Isle and by us Columbaria The Consul by night made himself Master of this having put all the Punic Garison in the place to the Sword but Hamilcar who was come in all haste to defend Drepanum at break of Day went out to recover this place which the Consul seeing and not being able to assist his men in the Island resolved to attack Drepanum with his utmost power whereupon Hamilcar drawing back the Consul kept the Island and afterwards made use of that place to annoy and gall the besieged For by a Mole he join'd it to the main Land and because the Walls were weaker on that side he made his first attack upon the Town from thence having raised several betteries Polybius was of Opinion that the Battels betwixt Hamilcar and the present and succeeding Consuls for their number cannot and for the likeness of accidents and occurrences ought not to be describ'd whilst for almost three years together Hamilcar encamped at Epiercta fought very near every day with the Roman Generals especially after they had lain before Panormus and left scarce five furlongs distance betwixt them and the Enemy it being impossible there should be any cessation of Arms or respite from action where two Armies were encamped so near one another though all this while they never came to a general Battel in order to a final determination of the War for several things hinder'd them from this and especially because both having equal forces and both equally secured within their strong Holds even those who were worsted in the Encounter might soon find a shelter and a Sanctuary in their Camp Thus it came to pass that though some were always
in that matter because of the old Fewds between his Father and my self yet I must avow That as I rejoiced when Amilcar dyed for this very reason Because if he had lived we had before this time been involv'd in Wars with the Romans so looking upon this Youth an Imp of his as the very Fury and Fire-brand of such a War I cannot but hate and detest him and rather than that should happen do not only think him fit to be surrendred to them to expiate the breach of the League but if no body demanded him to be Transported as far as there is Sea or Land and to be eternally Banish'd to some place so remote as his name might never hereafter reach our Ears nor his turbulent Genius have any influence to disturb the Repose of our State 'T is therefore my judgment That we presently send away Ambassadors to Rome to give the Senate satisfaction and others to Annibal commanding him forthwith to withdraw the Army from Saguntum and to deliver up the said Annibal himself to the Romans according to the League and that a third Ambassy be dispatch'd to the Saguntines to make them reparation for the Injuries they have sustained When Hanno had concluded his Speech there was none thought it necessary to answer him and bandy the matter with words so intirely prepossessed was almost the whole Senate in Annibals favor only they told Hanno That he had made a virulent Harangue and talk'd more like an Enemy than Flaccus Valerius himself the Roman Ambassador To whom afterwards this Answer was return'd That it was not Annibal but the Saguntines themselves that begun the War and that the People of Rome would deal unjustly If they should prefer the new Amity of the Saguntines before that of the Carthaginians who were their most antient Allies Whil'st the Romans thus spend time in Ambassies Annibal finding his Soldiers wearyed with continual Skirmishes and toil in the Works gave them a few days refreshment setting Guards to defend his Galleries and Engines of Battery and in the mean time endeavors to raise the Spirits of his Men sometimes provoking them against the Enemy and sometimes encouraging them with hopes of Booty But when one day he told them They should have the whole Pillage of the City they were so enflam'd and eager that if he had presently led them on no force seem'd able to resist them The Saguntines as they were quiet this while from fighting being neither assaulted by the Enemy nor yet making any Sallies so they ceased not night or day from Fortifying themselves and making a new Retrenchment behind the Breach But after this short Calm the Storm was more furious than ever nor could they tell so various were the Attacks Shouts and Alarms on every side where they should first apply themselves to make Defence Annibal himself was present in Person to hearten on his Soldiers that were driving up a Tower upon Rowlers so high that it over-look'd all the Fortifications of the City which approaching near the Walls well furnish'd in every Story with Catapulta and Balistae two sorts of Engines the first of which shot whole shoals of great Arrows Darts and the like Weapons the other discharg'd showers of great and small Stones they therewith beat off the Defendants and Annibal taking that opportunity sent about Five hundred African Pioneers to undermine the Wall near the bottom nor was it hard to be done being built after the old fashion with Loam instead of Chalk so that it quickly came all tumbling down much further than they had weakned it and through those large Breaches whole Troops of armed Men entred at once into the Town and withal possess'd themselves of a little Hillock and got thither all their Engines and raised a Wall about it so that they might have within the City it self a Bastilion of their own that like a Castle might command all parts on the other hand the Saguntines ran up a Counter-mure to secure that part of the City that was not yet taken Thus both sides fortifie and fight with the utmost diligence and courage yet though they dispute the ground by Inches the City daily grows less and less they still defending stoutly so much as was left until at last scarcity of all Necessaries by reason of the long Siege encreasing and their expectations of relief as fast diminishing the Romans their only hope being so far off and round about them nothing but Enemies they seem'd almost ready to despair yet then for a while their Spirits were bouy'd up by some disturbances amongst the Oretanes and Carpetanes which obliged Annibal himself to repair thither For those People discontented at too rigorous Levies of Soldiers that had been made amongst them had seized some of the Muster-Masters and threatned to revolt but by Annibals sudden arrival in those Parts were quell'd and glad to lay down their Arms. The Siege of Saguntum in the mean time was nothing slackned for Maharbal the Son of Himilco whom Annibal had left Commander in Chief so bestirred himself That neither his own Soldiers nor the Townsmen found any miss of the General This Maharbal had made some fortunate Attacks and with three Rams shattered several parts of the Wall and shewed Annibal at his return every place full of fresh Ruins whereupon the Body of the Army is presently brought up to storm the Castle or main Cittadel it self where a most desperate and bloody Fight was maintain'd with great multitudes slaughtered on each side but in conclusion one part of the said Fortress taken Things being in this extremity there were some small hopes of Peace by the mediation of two Persons Alcon a Saguntine and Alorcus a Spaniard Alcon supposing he could prevail somewhat by way of Entreaty unknown to the Saguntines got by night to Annibal but after he saw all his Lamentations would do no good and that nothing but severe Conditions were propounded as from an incensed Conqueror instead of an Envoy he resolved to turn a Fugitive and so continued with the Enemy alledging That whoever should offer to move his Country-men to a Peace on such terms they would certainly kill him Which terms were these That they should make restitution and satisfaction to the Turditanes for all losses and damages surrender up whatever Gold or Silver they had and departing out of the City but with one suit of Apparel apiece dwell at such place as the Carthaginians should appoint Alcon affirming That the Saguntines would never accept of those Conditions Alorcus replyed Where all things fail the stoutest Courages will fail and be glad to submit to Fortune withal offering himself to carry those Articles and use his endeavors to compass a Peace He was at that time a Soldier in Annibal's Army but publickly profess'd a kindness for the Saguntines with whom he had formerly sojourn'd and been kindly entertained Who having openly surrendred his Arms to the outmost Sentinels pass'd over their Works and was carryed as he
sudden fear hath of late invaded your Breasts which ever heretofore have been utter strangers to that Womanish Passion You have served in the Wars so many years and always Victorious who left not Spain till you had rendred all its several Nations and that vast Tract of Land which reaches from Sea to Sea Tributaries and Vassals to Carthage you who took the Romans demanding all that were at the Siege of Saguntum to be delivered up to them as Malefactors and Slaves in so much scorn and indignation that you pass'd the Iberus full of generous Resolves not only to chastize that Insolence but even root out the Roman name from under Heaven and for ever Enfranchize the World from their Tyranny and in order to so glorious a design did then declare You would think no March too long though it should be even from the setting to the rising of the Sun yet after you now see the far greater part of your Journy already dispatch'd The Pyrenaean Hills and Thickets amongst fierce and desperate Nations happily surmounted that we have pass'd over the great River Rhosne notwithstanding either the rapid fierceness of its Current or those thousands of French which stood armed on its Banks to hinder us Now that we are got within sight of the Alps the other side of which is Italy Will ye faint and languish with a lazy Cowardize when you are even upon the very Gates of your Enemy What Monsters do you fansie these Alps to be They are nothing in the World but a parcel of high Hills and suppose them a little higher than the Clifts of the Pyrenaeans there is no Land I am sure that reaches up to Heaven nor any place for Men unsuperable These very Alps are Inhabited they are Plowed and Tilled like the rest of the Earth and both breed and feed great numbers of Cattel and other living Creatures Are they indeed accessible and to be pass'd by a few but unpassable to whole Armies rather the more they are in company the more helpful they must needs be to each other These very Ambassadors you see here lately arriv'd have no wings nor did they fly over the towering tops of the Alps nor were their Ancestors born and bred there but strangers that with their Wives and Children after the manner of those that seek new Countries to Inhabit did often in vast multitudes safely Troop over these Mountains to dwell in the more pleasant and plentiful Plains of Italy What should there be unpassable or impossible to a Soldier carrying no burden but his Arms What pains did ye take what dangers and hazards did you freely expose your selves unto daily for eight long months together for the taking of Saguntum and now when you are going to conquer Rome when the reward of your Travel is no less than a City that is Mistris of the World Shall any thing seem so hard or difficult as to stop your March or divert your Courage from such glorious hopes Shall it be said That the Gauls heretofore by main force made themselves Masters of that very place which the Carthaginians now despair of being able to get at You must therefore either shamefully confess your selves inferior for valor and spirit to a Nation that of late days you have so often vanquish'd or else never hope for or think of any other end of your March until you come to those fair Fields that lie between Tyber and the Walls of Rome Having with such Discourses rais'd the hearts of his Soldiers he ordered them to betake themselves to rest refresh their Bodies and prepare for their March The next day crossing from the Banks of the Rhone he advanc'd towards the Inland parts of France not because that was the directer Road to the Alps but because the further off he was from the Sea-side the more out of danger he should be of meeting the Romans with whom he resolv'd not to fight if he could avoid it till he got into Italy After four days march he came to a kind of an Island made by the two Rivers the Saone and the Rhone which issuing out of different parts of the Alps after they have in several Courses ran through a good part of the Country there at length fall together and unite their Streams and the Meadows lying between them are called The Isle Not far from thence inhabit the Allobroges People of Dauphinois and Savoy a Nation even so long ago inferior to none in France either for Wealth or Power but at that Juncture at variance amongst themselves occasion'd by two Brothers contending for the Crown The elder whose name was Brancus and had before enjoyed the Kingdom being Deposed and Justled out of the Throne by a younger and a lusty crew of the Youth of his Faction who had more Might though less Right on their side This Quarrel was referr'd to Annibals Arbitrament as seasonably as he could wish who made a very Just Award and no other than what the Senate and Nobles would have given viz. That the Elder Brother should be restored to his Kingdom and all Animosities be buryed in Oblivion For which good Office they plentifully furnish'd him with all sorts of Provisions and especially Cloaths which he thought fit to provide before-hand by reason of the sad reports he heard of the extremity of cold he must expect to meet with on the Alps. Having settled the Differences amongst the Allobroges pursuing his Journey to the Alps he pass'd not straight forward but turn'd towards the left hand to the Tricastins and from thence by the Territories of the Vocontians into the Country of the Tricorians meeting with no obstacle all the way until he came to the Durance a River likewise flowing out of the Alps but the most difficult to be pass'd over of any in all France for though it carries a vast quantity of Water yet 't is no way Navigable nor will bear any Vessel because being kept within no certain Banks it runs at once in several different Channels and not always the same but is continually casting up new Shelves and Heaps and making new deep Passages and Whirl-pits in the Ground which renders it very unsafe and difficult for a Foot-man to wade through it besides the Torrent rolling down perpetually great stones and vast quantities of pibbles and gravel makes it yet more dangerous It chanc'd too at that time to be higher than ordinary by reason of some showers that had lately faln so that much ado they had to get over it being no less discouraged by their own fears and uncertain out-crys as they pass'd through it than by difficulties of the place it self P. Cornelius the Consul about three days after Annibal dislodg'd from the Banks of the Rhone came up with his Army in excellent order to the place where the Enemy lately Encamped resolv'd immediatly to have given them Battel But finding the Works deserted and that 't was unlikely he should easily come up with them who had so
fought to any purpose they tack'd about and fled and the mouth of the River not being large enough to receive so many of them huddling in all together they run their Vessels on ground any where and the Men some waded others leap'd on shore some with their Arms and some without fled to their own Army which stood drawn up in Battalia on the Strand However in the first On-set two Carthaginian Ships were taken and four sunk The Romans though they saw the Enemy Masters at Land and standing in Battel-array all along the Banks yet they neglected not to pursue their trembling Fleet and as many of the abandoned Ships as had not either broke their Stems on the shore or stuck fast in the Sands by the Keels they tow'd off to Sea and so out of thirty Sail carryed away with them five and twenty Nor was the taking of them so happy a fruit of their Victory as that by this one slight Engagement they were Masters at Sea and had all those Coasts at their devotion therefore they sail'd to Honosca and making a descent upon the Land took that City by storm and plundered it thence set forwards to New Carthage plundered all the adjacent Country and burn'd the Suburbs up to the very Walls and Gates Well laden now with rich Pillage the Fleet came before Loguntica where Annibal had laid up abundance of Cordage for the use of his Navy of which they took away as much as they needed and burnt the rest nor were they content only to coast along the Continent but stood over to the Isle Ebusus and having for two days together assaulted the chief City of that Island when they saw they did but spend time in vain left it pillaged the Country burnt several Villages and got better booty there than on the main-Main-land Here arrived Ambassadors from the Balearean Isles to Treat with Scipio for Peace After this steering his Course back again to the hither parts of his Province Agents resorted to him on the same Errand from all the People that dwelt along the Iberus and from many in the furthermost parts of Spain so that no less than One hundred and twenty several States or petty Nations did then become absolute Subjects to the Roman Government and gave Hostages for their faithful Obedience By which means the Romans being reinforced at Land made an Expedition as far as the Forrest of Castulo and Asdrubal was glad to retire into Portugal near the Ocean Sea The rest of the Summer was like to be quiet and had proved so for any thing considerable that the Carthaginians did to the contrary But besides that the natural temper of all Spaniards is restless and desirous of new Commotions Mandonius and Indibilis who before was a petty King of the Illergetes after the Romans were retreated from that Forrest towards the Sea-coasts raising their Country-men in Arms fell upon the peaceable Territories of the Romans Allies and plundered them against whom Scipio sent a Detachment of Three thousand with some Auxiliaries lightly arm'd who easily routed them as being but a tumultuary Rabble kill'd many took some and the rest generally fled away without their Arms. This Insurrection drew back Asdrubal that before was marching towards the Ocean to return on this side the Iberus to protect his Confederates The Carthaginians lay encamped in the Lands of the Ilercaonians the Romans near their new Armado when sudden News arriv'd That the War was diverted another way for the Celtiberians who had sent the principal Persons of their Country Ambassadors and Hostages to the Romans being privately excited by a Message from Scipio took Arms and with a formidable Army invaded those parts which remained under the Carthaginian Government stormed three Towns and afterwards bravely Engaging Asdrubal himself in two set Battels kill'd Fifteen thousand of his Men and took Four thousand Prisoners with many Military Standards and Colours The Affairs of Spain were in this posture when P. Scipio arriv'd there being sent by the Senate who had continued his Command after his Consulship expired with thirty long Ships and Eight thousand Soldiers and great store of Provisions which at a distance seem'd a mighty Fleet by reason of the great number of Ships of Burthen that attended him and with no small joy both of the Romans and their Associates was welcom'd into the Port at Tarracon where Scipio landing his Army joined his Brother and thenceforwards by united Councils and with one accord managed the War Therefore whil'st the Carthaginians had their hands full of the Celtiberian War without any delay they pass'd the Iberus and not finding any Enemy to oppose them march'd directly for Saguntum because 't was reported that the Hostages of all Spain delivered into the custody of Annibal were kept there in the Castle but with a small Guard about them That was the only Pledge which kept all the Cities of Spain in awe for though they were inclinable enough to enter into League with the Romans yet they durst not do it for fear it should cost them the Lives of their Children But they were all eased of those apprehensions by the crafty rather than faithful Counsel of one Abelox a Spanish Noble-man at Saguntum that had hitherto join'd with and been very trusty to the Carthaginians but now as 't is the nature for the most part of these Barbarians with this change of Fortune he resolv'd to shift his Party and considering that if he should fly to the Enemy without having done them some signal Service they would not much esteem the accession of his Person but look upon him as infamous and of no regard and therefore applyed his mind to get these Hostages at liberty as the greatest favor he could possibly do his Country-men and the readiest means to bring over their chief Men to take part with the Romans But well he knew that without warrant from Bostar Governor of the Castle those that had the custody of the Hostages would do nothing he begins therefore to wheedle with Bostar himself who at that time lay without the City by the Sea-side to prevent the Romans from entring the Haven After he had taken him aside in private Discourse he represents to him the present state of Affairs That it was only fear that had hitherto kept the Spaniards quiet and in obedience because the Romans were too far off to assist or protect them But now the Roman Army being advanced on this side the Iberus will be a sure refuge and ready to back them on in any Insurrection and therefore seeing they could no longer be retained by fear it would be the best way to secure their Affections by kindness and some signal favor Bostar in some admiration demanding What Obligation was it possible for him now all of a sudden to lay upon them that might be effectual for such a purpose Why quoth the other send home the Hostages to their respective Cities This will be a most welcome Courtesie both to
Souldiers being generally busy in that part of the City which they had already taken Bomilcar taking the advantage thereof and of a tempestuous night wherein the Roman Fleet by reason of the rough weather could not ride at Anchor in the main Sea got out of the Haven of Syracuse with thirty five Ships and set Sail for Carthage leaving fifty five Sail still behind with Epicides and the Syracusians and having inform'd the Carthaginians in what extream danger the affairs of Syracuse were at that Juncture return'd again thither reinforc'd with an hundred Sail for which 't is reported he was richly rewarded with Presents made him by Epicides out of King Hiero's Treasury Marcellus having gain'd Euryalus and planted there a Garrison was rid of one of his former fears viz. Lest some new Forces of the Enemy abroad should get into that Fortress behind him where they might greatly have annoy'd his men being then as it were enclosed within the Walls Thence-forwards he began to besiege the Acradine having posted his Forces at convenient places in three distinct Camps and was in good hopes in short time to reduce those within to extream want and scarcity The Guards on either side had for some days been pretty quiet when on a sudden the Arrival of Hippocrates and Himilco so incourag'd the Enemy that on all parts they of themselves began to attacque the Romans for both Hippocrates having Encampt and strongly fortified himself by the great Key and given a Signal to those in Acradine fell upon the old Quarters of the Romans where Crispinus Commanded in Chief and at the same time Epicides sallied out upon Marcellus's Guards and the Carthaginian Fleet came and lay close by the shore that was between the City and the Roman Camp to hinder Crispinus's having any succour sent him from Marcellus and yet after all this ado the noise and tumultuous Alarm was greater than the Execution For Crispinus did not only repulse Hippocrates from his Works but pursued him as he fled and Marcellus as easily beat back Epicides into the City so as they seem'd now sufficiently provided against the like sudden Sallies or Irruptions for the future Besides there happen'd a Calamity common to them both viz. a grievous Plague which much took off their minds on either side from prosecuting the War It being now Autumn the place it self naturally unwholsome and a bad Air and the weather intolerable hot mightily distemper'd their Bodies in each Camp but much more without the City than within As first they fell sick and died by the distemperature of the Season and noisomness of the place so afterwards by visiting and tending one another when sick the Disease was spread and became infectious so that those that were taken ill either perisht for want of help and looking to or else they that went to assist and tend them were seiz'd with the same violence of the distemper so that continually there were Coarses carrying to their Graves nothing to be met with but Spectacles of Mortality and night and day there were heard in all places lamentation and dying groans But at last being continually used to this misery their hearts were so hardned that they not only gave over to mourn for the dead but even so much as to carry them forth or inter them so that the dead Bodies lay scatter'd all about on the ground in the sight of those who every moment look'd for the like miserable death themselves Thus the dead kill'd the sick and the sick infected the sound partly with fear and partly with corruption and pestiferous stench Insomuch that some chusing rather to die on the Swords point would venture alone to invade the Enemies Guards on purpose that they might be kill'd out of the way However the Plague was hotter by far in the Carthaginian Camp than in the Romans by reason of bad water the tedious Siege they had endured and the great slaughter there committed Therefore the Sicilians when once they saw the sickness spread so fast got away and stole every man home to the Cities near adjoining but the Carthaginians having no place to retire to were generally swept away by the raging Pestilence together with both their Generals Hippocrates and Himilco and indeed there was scarce a man of them escaped Marcellus when he found the Mortality encreased so sorely drew his men into the City where the Houses and shadowy places yielded some refreshment to the sick yet still a great many of the Roman Army were by this Pestilence destroy'd The Carthaginian Land-Army being thus totally consumed those Sicilians who had served under Hippocrates withdrew themselves into two Towns which were not great but strong and well fortified one but three Miles from Syracuse the other fifteen Miles and thithey they convey'd all manner of Victuals from their own Cities adjoining and sent abroad for recruits of men In the mean time Bomilcar was return'd as we told you with a greater Fleet from Carthage for he gave account of the Syracusians condition in such terms as gave hopes not only that he might come time enough to relieve them but also that the Romans notwithstanding they had in a manner taken the City might be surprized and taken therein themselves by which suggestions he prevail'd so with the Senate That they granted him abundance of Ships of Burthen laden with all sorts of necessary Provisions but also encreas'd the number of his Men of War so that with one hundred and thirty Sail of tall Ships and seventy Merchant-men he put out to Sea with a Gale fair enough to wast him over to Sicily but the same Wind did not serve him to double the point of the Cape Pachymus The Report of Bomilcars arrival first and then his delay beyond expectation wrought diversly in the minds of the Romans and Syracusians administring matter sometimes of fear and sometimes of joy unto them both At last Epicides apprehending That if the same Easterly Winds should long continue the Navy might possibly sail back for Carthage he leaving the Guard of the Acridine to the Commanders of the hired Souldiers goes down by water to Bomilcar riding still with his Fleet in the Road that looks towards Africk and fearing to venture an Engagement at Sea not that he was inferiour in strength or number of Ships for he had considerably more than the Enemy but because that Wind sat more favourably for the Romans Fleet than for his However Epicides was so importunate that he in Fine prevail'd with him to hazard the Fortune of a Sea-fight On the other side Marcellus seeing the Sicilian Forces gathering together against him from all parts of the Island and understanding that this Punick Fleet brought vast quantities of provisions that he might not be blockt up by Sea and Land in an Enemies City resolv'd to hinder Bomilcar from coming into the Bay of Syracuse Thus rid the two Armado's affronting each other about the head of Pachynus ready to Engage as soon as calm
being several Brethren of the Family of the Blossii who had agreed at a certain hour of the night to set all the Camp on Fire at several places but the same being revealed by some of the same Family the Gates being suddenly shut up by the Proconsul's command and the Alarm given all the Conspirators were seized and after rigorous Examinations and Tortures condemned and executed The Discoverers had their Liberty given them and each a reward of ten thousand Asses about thirty one Pounds five Shillings Sterling Acerrae being partly burnt and Nuceria wholly demolished the Inhabitants of those Towns made complaints for some place to dwell in Fulvius directed them to make application to the Senate who gave the Acerrans leave to rebuild the Houses that were burnt and as for the Nucerines because they rather chose it they were removed to Atella the Atellanes being transferred to Calatia Amidst the many weighty Affairs that the Romans had to manage and which fell out sometimes well and sometimes ill they forgot not their Garrison in the Castle of Tarentum but sent M. Ogulnius and P. Aquilius as Commissioners into Etruria to buy up Corn to be carried thither appointing a thousand Souldiers drawn out of the City-Army one half Romans and the other Allies to guard the Corn thither and then to remain there to strengthen the Garrison The Summer was now almost spent and the time for chusing of Consuls drew on Marcellus by Letters acquainting the Senate That he could not for the interest of the Common-wealth stir a foot from Annibal whom he continually pursued and pressed upon him daily to force him to an Engagement The Fathers were in some perplexity loth to call away the Consul from the War when he was in prospect of doing them considerable service and as unwilling to be without Consuls for the Year insuing to prevent both it was thought the best course rather to call home the other Consul Valerius though he were out of Italy in Sicilia to whom L. Manlius the Praetor by the Senates Order wrote to that purpose sending him also the other Consul's Letters that he might thereby understand why they recalled him rather than his Collegue who was nearer home About this time arrived at Rome Ambassadors from King Syphax advising of several Victories their Master had obtained against the Carthaginians and that as he was not a more mortal Enemy to any people in the World than the Carthaginians so there was none that he desired so much to enter into Alliance with as the Romans to which purpose he had heretofore sent his Agents to the two Scipio's in Spain and now they were come hither so willing he was to seek the Romans Amity from the Well-head The Father 's not only returned them a most obliging Answer but sent back with them Ambassadors of their own viz. L. Genutius P. Petelius and P. Popilius with rich Presents to his Majesty that is to say a Gown of State a Purple Robe an Ivory Chair and a Golden Bowl weighing five Pound They had also Instructions after they had dispatched their Affairs in that Court to visit other Princes and great Lords of Africk for whom they were also furnish'd with Presents as Purple Robes richly Embroidered and Golden Bowls of three Pound weight apiece Likewise M. Atilius and Manius Acilius were sent as far as Alexandria in Egypt to complement King Ptolomy and Queen Cleopatra and renew the League of Amity with them To the King they carried a Gown and Purple Robe and an Ivory Chair to the Queen a Purple Veil and rich Cimarre Embroidered with Diamonds This Summer abundance of strange Stories came from neighbouring Towns and Villages of Prodigies that had been seen as that at Tusculum there was yean'd a Lamb having an Udder yielding Milk The Temple of Jupiter struck with Lightning and almost all the Roof beat off That almost the same day at Anagnia the Ground before the Gate was struck in like manner and continued burning a whole day and night without any matter of Fewel and that the Birds had forsook their Nests which they had built in Diana's Grove near the Cross-wents in the same Town That in the Sea not far from the Port of Tarricina there were seen Serpents of a wonderful bigness playing and leaping on the top of the Water as Fish are wont to do At Tarquinium a Sow farrow'd a Pig with an humane face And in the Country of Capena about the Feronian Grove there were four Statues that sweat bloud for the space of a day and a night The Pontiffs made an Order That these Prodigies should be expiated with the greater Sacrifices and a solemn Day of Prayers was kept at all the Shrines in Rome and the like at Capena at the Temple of Feronia M. Valerius the Consul call'd home by the before mentioned Letters leaving the Province and Army to the charge of Cnicius the Praetor and having sent M. Valerius Messala the Admiral with part of the Fleet toward the Coast of Africk as well to get what Booty he could as also to discover what the Carthaginians were doing does himself with ten Ships set Sail for Rome where being arriv'd he presently call'd a Senate and gave an Account of his Proceedings That whereas for well nigh sixty years Sicily had been the Seat of War both by Land and Sea where oft they had sustained great overthrows he had now brought those troubles to an happy end and settled that Island in an intire peace That there was not in all Sicily one Carthaginian left nor one Sicilian of all those which were forced away by the Tyrants but were return'd every one to his City and his Farm where they were all busie in ploughing and sowing the Land which before lay wast being again cultivated and made fruitful not only to serve its own Inhabitants but to serve as a faithful Store-house and supply plentifully the Romans on any Exigency in Peace or War Then Mutines and if there were others that had deserved well of the people of Rome were brought into the Senate and had honours done them to discharge the Consul's promise on that behalf Mutines in particular was made a free Burgher of Rome by a Bill preferred to the Commons by one of their Tribunes on an Order of the Senate In the mean time M. Valerius Messala arriving on the Coast of Africk with fifty Sail before it was light unexpectedly made a descent on shore in the Territory of Vtica which he plundered far and near took captive great multitudes of people besides other Booty of all sorts and therewith returned safe to their Ships and over to Sicily arriving at Lilybaeum the thirteenth day after he sail'd from thence Some of the Prisoners upon Examination gave the following Information which was forthwith transmitted to Levinus the Consul that he might the better understand the present posture of the Affairs of Africk That Massinissa the Son of Gala a most warlike young Prince was at
of none but the Gods only Do not venture the happiness of so many years upon the hazard of one hour Consider not only your own strength but the force of Fortune and the common casualties of War There will Swords and Men on both sides fall Events answer our expectations no where less than in War You will not add so much to that glory which though you grant me a Peace you now may have if you should get the day as you will lose if any thing should happen contrary to your expectation The Fortune of one hour may overthrow all the honour both that you have gained and that you hope for All things now we talk of Peace are in your power P. Cornelius but then you must take such Fortune as the Gods will give you Among the few examples of courage and success M. Atilius had been one of old in this same Country if he had granted a Peace to our Forefathers when they desired it but he by setting no bounds to his happiness nor restraining his exorbitant Fortune the higher he was raised the greater was his fall It is indeed his part that gives not his that desires it to make the Conditions of Peace but perhaps we may not seem unworthy to lay a mulct upon our own heads We are willing you should have all those things for which the War was first undertaken to wit Sicily Sardinia Spain and all the Islands that are contained in the whole Sea between Africa and Italy Let us Carthaginians inclosed within the Shores of Africa see you since Heaven will have it so govern those foreign Dominions by Sea and Land I do not deny but because we did not more sincerely of late desire and expect a Peace you suspected our Punick way of dealing But 't is of great consequence Scipio to the preserving of a Peace to take care by whom it be desired And I hear that your Senate also denied it for this reason among others that there were no Men of Quality concerned in the Embassy But I am Annibal that now desire Peace of you who would not yet make such a request if I did not think it advantageous and for the same advantage that I desired it will I keep it And as I because the War was begun by me suffer'd no man to repent of it till the Gods themselves began to envy me so will I endeavour that no man shall repent of the Peace obtained by my means To this the Roman General answer'd thus I was not ignorant Annibal that their hopes of yo r arrival made the Carthaginians break off not only the present Truce but decline the hopes of a future Peace Nor dost thou indeed deny it who withdrawest all things out of the former Conditions of Peace save them alone which are long since in our power But as it is your care to make your Country-men sensible what a burden they are eased of by your assistance so I must endeavour to hinder them from having that which they formerly agreed to now taken out of the Conditions of Peace and made the reward of your perfidiousness You who have still the same Conditions offer'd to you are very unworthy if you desire to make advantage by your fraud Neither did our Fathers before us make War for Sicily nor we for Spain No the danger that the Mamertines our Allies were then in and the sacking of Saguntum now moved us to take up just and pâ—ous Arms. That you provoked us both you your self confess and the Gods are our Witnesses who also gave us success in that War according to justice and equity as they now do and will do of this As for my part I both remember humane infirmity and consider the force of Fortune knowing that all we do is subject to a thousand mischances But as I should owne my self to have acted very proudly and severely if before I was come into Africa when you had of your own accord quitted Italy and putting your Men on board several Ships had come in person to desire a Peace I should have slighted you so now when I have forced you so much against your inclination over into Africa I am obliged by any ties of modesty to answer your request Wherefore if any addition be made to those things for which we were then like to conclude a Peace you know what they are the mulcts due for taking our Ships and Provisions during the time of the Truce and abusing our Ambassadors I have somewhat to propose to the Council But if even those things also seem grievous to you prepare for War because you could not endure Peace Thus being come back from the Parley to their Party without concluding of a Peace they declared They had spent all their breath to no purpose for they mus dispute it with their Swords in their hands and accept of such Fortune as the Gods would please to give them Assoon as they came into the Camp they both gave Orders That the Soldiers should make ready their Arms and prepare their minds for the last push whereby they were like to be Conquerors not for one day only but if they succeeded for ever That they should know before the next day at night whether Rome or Carthage should give Laws to the World For not only Africa or Italy but the whole Vniverse would be the reward of their Victory though the danger would prove equal to the reward to those that happen'd to lose the day For neither had the Romans any way to escape as being in a foreign Country wherewith they were unacquainted and Carthage which must now produce its last Auxiliaries seemed to be liable to present ruine To this Combate therefore the next day marched forth the two far most renowned Generals of two Nations that were the most opulent and with them two the bravest Armies with resolutions that day either to augment or overturn all the Trophies they had formerly erected Their minds therefore were doubtfully divided betwixt hope and fear and whilst they viewed one while their own and another while the Enemies Army by weighing their strength more with the outward eye than that of reason they were at once both glad and sorry But what did not of its own accord come into their thoughts the Generals by admonition and exhortations suggested The Carthaginian reminded them of the actions they had performed for sixteen years together in Italy where they killed so Many Roman Generals and totally vanquished so many Armies with the particular Exploits of every signal Person that he had occasion to mention upon the score of his memorable behaviour in any Battle Scipio discoursed of the Spains his late Battles in Africa and the confession of the Enemy how they were forced through fear to sue for Peace but could not continue in it by reason of their natural perfidiousness Besides which he added the Conference between him and Annibal in private which because he was at his liberty to say what
rough by Works that he raised in all the Avenues unpassable There were a great many Woody places all about very incommodious to the Macedonian Phalanx especially i. e. a Body of Souldiers of a form peculiar to the Macedonians who unless they could keep their long Spears like a Bullwark before their Shields which to do would require an open Plain were of no use at all Their Swords also which were of such a vast length among the Branches of the Trees that stood in their way on all sides hindered the Thracians The Cretan Regiment only was of use to them and yet even that too as when an Horse or its Rider lay open to them they could hit them with their Darts so against the Roman Shields they had neither force enough to strike through nor were their Bodies exposed in any part to that kind of Artillery Wherefore when they found by experience that to be a foolish sort of Weapons they set upon the Enemy with Stones that lay in great quantities all over the Vale. That clattering upon their Shields which made more noise than Wounds detained the Romans for some time as they were coming up But soon after despising such trifles they went part of them with their Shields close over their Heads through the opposing Enemies and part of them who going a little about had got to the top of the Hill forced the frighted Macedonians from their Posts and since the places thereabout were so rough that they could not escape cut off a great many of them The Consul therefore having passed the streights with less opposition than he proposed to himself he marched into Eordaea where when they had wasted all the Country he went into Elimea Thence he made an inrode into Orestis a Country and attack'd a Town called Celetrum situate in a Peninsula Land that is almost an Island save only one neck that joins it to the Continent about which Town there is a Lake except on one side where a strait neck of Land leads you to the Continent The Inhabitants therefore at first relying upon the very situation of the place refused to submit and shut their Gates but soon after when they saw the Ensigns coming near and that the Romans were got by putting their shields close over their Heads which they call'd Testudo as looking somewhat like the back of a Tortoise or rather a multitude of Tortoises join'd together up to the Gate and that the streights were full of the Enemy would not put it to the hazard of a Fight but were frighted into a surrender From Celetrum he went on into the Country of the Dassaretians where he took the City Pelium by storm carrying thence all the slaves with other Booty but dismiss'd the freemen without ransom and gave them their Town again not but that he put a strong guard into it because it was very conveniently situate for the making Incursions into Macedonia Thus having marched through all the Enemies Dominions the Consul led his forces back into peaceful Places about Apollonia whence the War first began For the Aetolians the Athamanes the Dardans and so many several Wars breaking out in divers places one upon the neck of another had diverted Philip who in opposition to the Dardans that were now marching out of Macedonia sent Athenagoras with his nimblest Foot and the greater part of his Horse commanding him to lye very hard upon their reer and pressing them behind to make their army the more slow in their motion fromward home Damocritus the Praetor who had formerly occasioned that delay in their resolutions concerning a War at Naupactum had now himself in the next Council perswaded the Aetolians to take up Arms after he had heard of the Horses engaging at Octolophus the coming over of the Dardans and Pleuratus with the Illyrians into Macedonia the arrival of the Roman Fleet at Oreum and against so many Macedonian Countries as lye round about a Sea siege also near at hand These reasons brought Damocritus and the Aetolians over to the Romans and thereupon marching forced with Amynander King of the Athamanes joyned to them they besieged Cercinium The Inhabitants had shut their Gates whether by force or freely is uncertain because they had a party of the Kings Soldiers to guard their Town However within a few days Cercinium was taken and burnt Those that survived out of that great Massacre were carryed away both slaves and free-men too among the rest of the booty That terrible news made all those that lived round the fenn Boebe leave their Cities and fly into the Mountains But the Aetolians for want of plunder departed thence and went into Perrhaebia where they took Cyretia by storm and rifled it in a miserable manner but accepted of a voluntary surrender and an alliance with the Inhabitants of Mallea From Perrhaebia Amynander advised them to go to Gomphi to which City Athamania is so near that they might take it without any great difficulty Then the Aetolians made toward the fertile Fields of Thessaly for plunders sake and Amynander followed them though he did not approve either of their exorbitant devastations or the pitching of their Camp at a venture in any place without any distinction or care to fortifie it Wherefore lest their rashness and negligence might be the cause of any miscarriage to him and his Men when he saw them encamping in the Plains under the City Phecadum he seiz'd a bank a little more than five Hundred Paces from thence though defended with no great fortification whereupon to post his Soldiers Now since the Aetolians save that they plundered all before them did not seem to think they were in an Enemies Country some of them stragling half-arm'd about the Fields and the rest who lay in the Camp without any Guards sleeping and drinking turning the day into night Philip surpriz'd them Of whose coming when some that were in the Fields came trembling to bring the news Damocritus and the rest of the Commanders were in a great fright it being then noon as it fell out when many of them whose Bellies were full were fallen asleep At that news therefore they waked one another and bad them take up their Arms sending some to call those back who were stragled for forage about the Country And thereupon so great was their consternation that some of the Horsemen went out without their Swords and many of them did not put on their Coats of Mail. Thus being hurryed forth scarce full six Hundred in all both Horse and Foot they light into the hands of the Kings Horse who were too many for them every way Wherefore they were defeated at the first onset and having scarce offered to fight ran shamefully back to their Camp though some of them which the Horse intercepted from the body of those that fled were slain and taken Philip when his Men were come near to the Bulwark ordered the Trumpets to sound a retreat for the Horses and their Riders too were
arrival of the Navy in the same Expedition Out of Lycia he forthwith cross'd over into Greece by the Islands having order'd those that were left at Ephesus to follow him Then having staid some few dayes at Athens till the Ships came from Ephesus to Piraeeus he brought his whole Fleet thence back into Italy Cn. Manlius when he had receiv'd among other things that he was to have the Elephants also from Antiochus and had given them all as a present to Eumenes after that try'd the causes of the several Cities many of which were much disorder'd amidst their innovations King Ariarathes also having by the intercession of Eumenes to whom he at that time had betroth'd his Daughter got half the money remitted which he was injoin'd to pay was receiv'd into Friendship When the causes of the Cities were all heard the ten Embassadours made a great deal of difference in their conditions To those that had been stipendiary to King Antiochus and of the Roman side they gave their freedom but all such as had been on Antiochus's side or stipendiaries to King Attalus they order'd all to pay a Tribute to Eumenes They likewise granted a particular immunity to the Colophonians that dwell in Notium to the Cymeans and Milesians by name But to the Clazomenians besides their immunity they gave the Island of Drymusa too for a present restoring to the Milesians also that Land which they call Sacred as they likewise added Rheteum and Gergithum to the Ilian Territories not so much for any late deserts as upon the score and in remembrance of their Extraction they being derived from the Ilians or Trojans There was the same reason for their freeing Dardanum also in like manner They likewise not only presented the Chians Smyrnaeans and Erythraeans upon the account of their singular fidelity shewn in the late War with Lands but paid them all extraordinary honours To the Phocaeans they not only restored the Lands which they had before the War but likewise permitted them to use their ancient Laws The Rhodians had those things confirm'd that were given them by the former Decree For Lycia and Caria were given to them as far as the River Maeander excepting Telmessum To King Eumenes they assign'd Chersonesus in Europe and Lysimachia with the Castles Villages and Lands thereabouts in the same manner and with the same Boundaries wherewith Antiochus had enjoy'd them restoring to him both the Phrygias the one lying to the Hellespont and the other which they call the greater Phrygia with Mysia which King Prusias had taken away from him Lycaonia Mylias Lydia and several Cities particularly named as Tralleis Ephesus and Telmessum Concerning Pamphylia seeing there was a dispute between Eumenes and Antiochus's Embassadours for that part of it was on this side and part of it beyond Taurus the whole matter was referr'd to the Senate Having made these Leagues and Decrees Manlius with the ten Embassadours and his whole Army went to Hellespont whither he summon'd all the petit Kings of the Gauls and prescribed and denounced unto them conditions on which they should keep Peace with Eumenes that they might no longer wander up and down in Arms but keep within the bounds of their own Dominions Then having muster'd together all the Ships on that Coast Eumenes's Fleet being also brought by his Brother Athenaeus from Elaea he went over with all his Forces into Europe After which marching slowly through Chersonesus for that his men were heavy laden with Booty of all sorts he halted at Lysimachia that he enter Thrace with his Beasts as fresh and entire as possible because they generally dreaded to march through that Country That day that he went from Lysimachia he came to the River Melas as they call it and thence the next day to Cypsela From whence for about ten thousand paces the way was woody narrow and rough Upon account of which difficulty he divided his Army into two parts ordering the one to go before and the other to follow at a great distance with the carriages between them which were Waggons with the publick money and other pretious Booty Wherefore as he travelled through the Woods ten thousand Thracians made up of four Nations the Astians Caenians Maduatenes and Caletes beset the way at the very streights of the pass Now 't was believ'd that this was not done without King Philip of Macedons knowledge and contrivance for that he knew the Romans would not return any other way home than through Thrace and how much money they carry'd with them In the first Body was the General who was much concern'd for the roughness of the wayes The Thracians stir'd not till the Souldiers were all gone by But when they saw that the foremost were got beyond the streights to which the hindmost were not yet come near they set upon the Baggage and Carriages And having slain the Guard thereof they partly rifled what was in the Waggons and partly took away the Beasts from under their burdens Whereupon when the noise of it came first to them that were now just enter'd into the Wood behind and then also to the foremost Body they ran on both sides up to each other and engaged in a disorderly fight in several places at the same time Now the Thracians being cumber'd with their burdens and many of them that they might have their hands empty to catch what they could unarm'd the very Booty which they got exposed them to slaughter whilst roughness of the places betray'd the Romans to the Barbarians who ran upon them through paths that they well knew or lay sometimes in wait along the hollow Vales. The very Carriages also and the Waggons as it happen'd falling inconveniently in their several wayes were a great hinderance to the one or the other side in the time of their fight in which there fell here a Robber and there one that endeavour'd to get the booty again So that according as the place was even or uneven for this or that Party according as the Souldiers minds were and according to their numbers for sometimes they met with more than they themselves were and sometimes with fewer the Fortune of the fight was various though many fell on both sides And now Night drew nigh when the Thracians quitted the Battle not to avoid Wounds or being kill'd but because they had booty enough The foremost Body of the Romans Encamp'd in an open place without the Woods near the Temple of Bendis i. e. Diana whilst the other part staid in the middle of the Wood Encompass'd round with a double Bullwark to guard the Carriages The next day having search'd the Wood before they removed they join'd the foremost In that Battle though they lost part of their Carriages and Servants with some Souldiers for they fought allmost all over the Wood they receiv'd most damage by the death of Q. Minucius Thermus who was a strong and a valiant man That day they arrived at the River Hebrus from whence they pass'd