It was thought necessary, that before the consuls and praetors went abroad, some prodigies should be expiated. For the temples of Vulcan and Summanus,[[10]] at Rome, and a wall and a gate at Fregellae, had been struck by lightning. At Frusino, light had shone forth during the night. At Asculum, a lamb had been born with two heads and five feet. At Formiae, two wolves entering the town had torn several persons who fell in their way; and, at Rome, a wolf had made its way, not only into the city, but into the Capitol. Caius Acilius, plebeian tribune, caused an order to be passed, that five colonies should be led out to the sea-coast; two to the mouths of the rivers Vulturnus and Liternus; one to Puteoli and one to the fort of Salernum. To these was added Buxentum. To each colony three hundred families were ordered to be sent. The commissioners appointed to conduct them thither, and who were to hold the office for three years, were Marcus Servilius Geminus, Quintus Minucius Thermus, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus. As soon as the levies, and such other business, religious and civil, as required their personal attendance, was finished, both the consuls set out for Gaul. Cornelius took the direct road towards the Insubrians, who were then in arms, and had been joined by the Caenomanians. Quintus Minucius turned his route to the left side of Italy, and leading away his army to the lower sea, to Genoa, opened the campaign with an invasion of Liguria. Two towns, Clastidium and Litubium, both belonging to the Ligurians, and two states of the same nation, Celela and Cerdicium, surrendered to him. And now, all the states on this side of the Po, except the Boians among the Gauls and the Ilvatians among the Ligurians, were reduced to submission: no less, it is said, than fifteen towns and twenty thousand men surrendered themselves. He then led his legions into the territory of the Boians.
30
The Boian army had, not very long before, crossed the Po and joined the Insubrians and Caenomanians; for, having heard that the consuls intended to act with their forces united, they wished to increase their own strength by this junction. But when information reached them that one of the consuls was ravaging the country of the Boians, a dispute instantly arose. The Boians demanded, that all, in conjunction, should carry succour to those who were attacked; while the Insubrians positively refused to leave their country defenceless. In consequence of this dissension, the armies separated; the Boians went to defend their own territory, and the Insubrians, with the Caenomanians, encamped on the banks of the river Mincius. About five miles below this spot, the consul Cornelius pitched his camp close to the same river. Sending emissaries hence into the villages of the Caenomanians, and to Brixia, the capital of their tribe, he learned with certainty that their young men had taken arms without the approbation of the elders; and that the Caenomanians had not joined in the revolt of the Insubrians by any public authority. On which he invited to him the principal of the natives, and endeavoured to contrive and concert with them that the Caenomanians should separate from the Insubrians; and either march away and return home, or come over to the side of the Romans. This he was not able to effect; but so far, he received solemn assurances that, in case of a battle, they would either stand inactive, or, should any occasion offer, would even assist the Romans. The Insubrians knew not that such an agreement had been concluded, but they harboured in their minds some kind of suspicion, that the fidelity of their confederates was wavering. Wherefore, in forming their troops for battle, not daring to intrust either wing to them, lest, if they should treacherously give ground, they might cause a total defeat, they placed them in reserve behind the line. At the beginning of the fight, the consul vowed a temple to Juno Sospita, provided the enemy should, on that day, be routed and driven from the field; on which the soldiers raised a shout, declaring, that they would insure to their commander the completion of his vow, and at the same time an attack was made on the enemy. The Insubrians did not stand even the first onset. Some writers affirm, that the Caenomanians, falling on their rear during the heat of the engagement, caused as much disorder there as prevailed in their front: and that, thus assailed on both sides, thirty-five thousand of them were slain, five thousand seven hundred taken prisoners, among whom was Hamilcar, a Carthaginian general, who had been the cause of the war; and that a hundred and thirty military standards and above two hundred waggons were taken. On this, the towns of the Gauls, which had joined in the revolt of the Insubrians, surrendered to the Romans.
31
The other consul, Minucius, had at first traversed the territories of the Boians, with wide-spread ravaging parties; but afterwards, when that people left the Insubrians, and came home to defend their own property, he kept his men within their camp, expecting to come to a regular engagement with the enemy. Nor would the Boians have declined a battle, if their spirits had not been depressed by hearing of the defeat of the Insubrians. Upon this, deserting their commander and their camp, they dispersed themselves through the several towns, each wishing to take care of his own effects. Thus they changed the enemy's method of carrying on the war: for, no longer hoping to decide the matter by a single battle, he began again to lay waste the lands, burn the houses, and storm the villages. At this time, Clastidium was burned, and the legions were led thence against the Ilvatian Ligurians, who alone refused to submit. That state, also, on learning that the Insubrians had been defeated in battle, and the Boians so terrified that they had not dared to try the fortune of an engagement, made a submission. Letters from the consuls, containing accounts of their successes, came from Gaul to Rome at the same time. Marcus Sergius, city praetor, read them in the senate, and afterwards, by direction of the fathers, in an assembly of the people; on which a supplication, of four days' continuance, was decreed.
32
It was by this time winter; and while Titus Quinctius, after the reduction of Elatia, had his winter quarters distributed in Phocis and Locris, a violent dissension broke out at Opus. One faction invited to their assistance the Aetolians who were nearest at hand; the other, the Romans. The Aetolians arrived first; but the other party, which was the more powerful, refused them admittance, and, despatching a courier to the Roman general, held the city until his arrival. The citadel was possessed by a garrison belonging to the king, and they could not be prevailed on to retire from thence, either by the threats of the people of Opus, or by the authority of the Roman consul's commands. What prevented their being immediately attacked was, the arrival of an envoy from the king, to solicit the appointing of a time and place for a conference. This was granted to the king with great reluctance; not that Quinctius did not wish to see war concluded under his own auspices, partly by arms, and partly by negotiation: for he knew not, yet, whether one of the new consuls would be sent out as his successor, or whether he should be continued in the command; a point which he had charged his friends and relations to labour for with all their might. But he thought that a conference would answer this purpose; that it would put it in his power to give matters a turn towards war, in case he remained in the province, or towards peace, if he were to be removed. They chose for the meeting a part of the sea-shore, in the Malian gulf, near Nicaea. Thither Philip came from Demetrias, with five barks and one ship of war: he was accompanied by some principal Macedonians, and an Achaean exile, name Cycliades, a man of considerable note. With the Roman general, were king Amynander, Dionysidorus, ambassador from king Attalus, Agesimbrotus, commander of the Rhodian fleet, Phaeneas, praetor of the Aetolians, and two Achaeans, Aristaenus and Xenophon. Attended by these, the Roman general advanced to the brink of the shore, when the king had come forward to the prow of his vessel, as it lay at anchor; and said, "If you will come on the shore, we shall mutually speak and hear with more convenience." This the king refused; and on Quinctius asking him, "Whom do you fear?" With the haughty spirit of royalty, he replied, "Fear I have none, but of the immortal gods; but I have no confidence in the faith of those whom I see about you, and least of all in the Aetolians." "That danger," said the Roman, "is equal to all in common who confer with an enemy, if no confidence subsists." "But, Titus Quinctius," replied the king, "if treachery be intended, the prizes of perfidy are not equal, namely, Philip and Phaeneas. For it will not be so difficult for the Aetolians to find another praetor, as for the Macedonians to find another king in my place."--Silence then ensued.