BOOK XXXII.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
Successes of Titus Quinctius Flamininus against Philip; and of his brother Lucius with the fleet, assisted by Attalus and the Rhodians. Treaty of friendship with the Achaeans. Conspiracy of the slaves discovered and suppressed. The number of the praetors augmented to six. Defeat of the Insubrian Gauls by Cornelius Cethegus. Treaty of friendship with Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon. Capture of several cities in Macedonia.
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1
The consuls and praetors, having entered upon office on the ides of March, cast lots for the provinces. Italy fell to Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, Macedonia to Publius Villius. Of the praetors, the city jurisdiction fell to Lucius Quinctius, Ariminum to Cneius Baebius, Sicily to Lucius Valerius, Sardinia to Lucius Villius. The consul Lentulus was ordered to levy new legions; Villius, to receive the army from Publius Sulpicius; and, to complete its number, power was given him to raise as many men as he thought proper. To the praetor Baebius were decreed the legions which Caius Aurelius, late consul, had commanded, with directions that he should keep them in their present situation, until the consul should come with the new army to supply their place; and that, on his arriving in Gaul, all the soldiers who had served out their time should be sent home, except five thousand of the allies, which would be sufficient to protect the province round Ariminum. The command was continued to the praetors of the former year; to Cneius Sergius, that he might superintend the distribution of land to the soldiers who had served for many years in Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia; to Quintus Minucius, that he might finish the inquiries concerning the conspiracies in Bruttium, which, while praetor, he had managed with care and fidelity. That he should also send to Locri, to suffer punishment, those who had been convicted of sacrilege, and who were then in chains at Rome; and that he should take care, that whatever had been carried away from the temple of Proserpine should be replaced with expiations. The Latin festival was repeated in pursuance of a decree of the pontiffs, because ambassadors from Ardea had complained to the senate, that during the said solemnity they had not been supplied with meat as usual on the Alban mount. From Suessa an account was brought, that two of the gates, and the wall between them, had been struck with lightning. Messengers from Formiae related, that the temple of Jupiter had also been struck by lightning; from Ostia, likewise, news came of the like accident having happened to the temple of Jupiter there; it was said, too, that the temples of Apollo and Sancus, at Veliternum, were struck in like manner; and that in the temple of Hercules, hair had grown (on the statue). A letter was received from Quintus Minucius, propraetor, from Bruttium, that a foal had been born with five feet, and three chickens with three feet each. Afterwards a letter was brought from Macedonia, from Publius Sulpicius, proconsul, in which, among other matters, it was mentioned, that a laurel tree had sprung up on the poop of a ship of war. On occasion of the former prodigies, the senate had voted, that the consuls should offer sacrifices with the greater victims to such gods as they thought proper. On account of the last prodigy, alone, the aruspices were called before the senate, and, in pursuance of their answer, the people were ordered by proclamation to perform a supplication for one day, and worship was solemnized at all the shrines.
2
This year, the Carthaginians brought to Rome the first payment of the silver imposed on them as a tribute; and the quaestors having reported, that it was not of the proper standard, and that, on the assay, it wanted a fourth part, they made up the deficiency with money borrowed at Rome. On their requesting that the senate would be pleased to order their hostages to be restored to them, a hundred were given up, and hopes were held out with relation to the rest, if they remained in fidelity (to the treaty). They then further requested, that the remaining hostages might be removed from Norba, where they were ill accommodated, to some other place, and they were permitted to remove to Signia and Ferentinum. The request of the people of Gades was likewise complied with: that a governor should not be sent to their city; being contrary to what had been agreed with them by Lucius Marcius Septimus, when they came under the protection of the Roman people. Deputies from Narnia, complaining that they had not their due number of settlers, and that several who were not of their community, had crept in among them, and were conducting themselves as colonists, Lucius Cornelius, the consul, was ordered to appoint three commissioners to adjust those matters. The three appointed were, Publius and Sextus Aelius, both surnamed Paetus, and Caius Cornelius Lentulus. The favour granted to the Narnians, of filling up their number of colonists, was refused to the people of Cossa, who applied for it.