It is delightful even to me to have come to the end of the Punic war, as if I myself had borne a share of the toil and danger. For though it by no means becomes a person, who has ventured to promise an entire history of all the Roman affairs, to be fatigued by any particular parts of so extensive a work; yet when I reflect that sixty-three years (for so many there are from the first Punic war to the end of the second) have occupied as many of my volumes, as the four hundred and eighty-seven years, from the building of the city to the consulate of Appius Claudius, who first made war on the Carthaginians, I plainly perceive that, like those who, tempted by the shallows near the shore, walk into the sea, the farther I advance, I am carried, as it were, into a greater depth and abyss; and that my work almost increases on my hands which seemed to be diminished by the completion of each of its earlier portions. The peace with Carthage was quickly followed by a war with Macedonia: a war, not to be compared to the former, indeed, either in danger, or in the abilities of the commander, or the valour of the soldiers; but almost more remarkable with regard to the renown of their former kings, the ancient fame of that nation, and the vast extent of their empire, in which they had formerly comprehended a large part of Europe, and the greater part of Asia. The contest with Philip, which had begun about ten years before, had been intermitted for the three last years; the Aetolians having been the occasion both of the war and the peace. The entreaties of the Athenians whom, having ravaged their lands, Philip had driven into their city, excited the Romans to a renewal of the war, left, as they were, disengaged by the Carthaginian peace, and incensed against him as well for his treacherous negotiation of peace with the Aetolians and the other allies in that region, as on account of the auxiliaries sent by him with money into Africa to Hannibal and the Carthaginians.
2
About the same time, ambassadors arrived both from king Attalus, and from the Rhodians, with information that the Macedonian was tampering with the states of Asia. To these embassies an answer was given, that the senate would give attention to the affairs of Asia. The determination with regard to the making war on him, was left open to the consuls, who were then in their provinces. In the mean time, three ambassadors were sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, namely, Caius Claudius Nero, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, to announce their conquest of Hannibal and the Carthaginians; to give thanks to the king for his faithful adherence to his engagements in the time of their distress, when even the nearest allies of the Romans abandoned them; and to request that if, compelled by ill treatment, they should undertake a war with Philip, he would preserve his former disposition towards the Roman people. In Gaul, about this time, the consul, Publius Aelius, having heard that, before his arrival, the Boians had made inroads on the territories of the allies, levied two occasional legions on account of this disturbance; and adding to them four cohorts from his own army, ordered Caius Oppius, the praefect, to march with this tumultuary band through Umbria, (which is called the Sappinian district,) and to invade the territories of the Boians. He himself led his own troops thither openly, over the intervening mountains. Oppius, on entering the same, for some time committed depredations with tolerable success and safety. But afterwards, having pitched on a place near a fort called Mutilum, convenient enough for cutting down the corn, (for the crops were now ripe,) and setting out without having reconnoitred around, and without establishing armed posts of sufficient strength to protect those who were unarmed and intent on their work, he was suddenly surrounded, together with his foragers, by an unexpected invasion of the Gauls. On this, panic and flight seized even on those who were furnished with weapons. Seven thousand men, dispersed through the corn fields, were put to the sword, among whom was the commander himself, Caius Oppius. The rest were driven by terror into the camp; from whence, in consequence of a resolution of the soldiers, they set out on the following night, without any particular commander; and, leaving behind a great part of their baggage, made their way, through woods almost impassable, to the consul, who returned to Rome without having performed any thing in his province worth notice, except that he ravaged the lands of the Boians, and made a treaty with the Ingaunian Ligurians.
3
The first time he assembled the senate, it was unanimously ordered that he should propose no other business before that which related to Philip and the complaints of the allies. It was immediately taken into consideration, and a numerous senate decreed, that Publius Aelius, consul, should send such person as he might think proper, vested with command, to receive the fleet which Cneius Octavius was bringing home from Sicily, and pass over to Macedonia. Accordingly Marcus Valerius Laevinus, propraetor, was sent; and, receiving thirty-eight ships from Cneius Octavius, near Vibo, he sailed to Macedonia, where, when Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, had come to him and informed him what numerous forces and what large fleets the king had prepared, and how he was arousing the inhabitants to arms, partly by visiting them himself and partly by ambassadors, not only through all the cities of the continent, but even in the islands, (Laevinus was convinced) that the war ought to be undertaken by the Romans with greater vigour; lest, if they were dilatory, Philip might attempt that which had been formerly undertaken by Pyrrhus, who possessed not such large dominions. He therefore desired Aurelius to convey this intelligence by letter to the consuls and to the senate.
4