The History of Rome, Books 27 to 36 - Livy

Quinctius and the ten ambassadors then gave audience to the embassies of the several kings, nations, and states. First of all, the ambassadors of king Antiochus were called. Their proceedings, here, were nearly the same as at Rome; a mere display of words unsupported by facts. But the answer given them was not ambiguous as formerly, during the uncertainty of affairs, and while Philip was unsubdued; for the king was required in express terms to evacuate the cities of Asia, which had been in possession either of Philip or Ptolemy; not to meddle with the free cities, or ever take arms against them, and to be in a state of peace and equality with all the cities of Greece wherever they might be. Above all it was insisted on, that he should neither come himself into Europe, nor transport an army thither. The king's ambassadors being dismissed, a general convention of the nations and states was immediately held; and the business was despatched with the greater expedition, because the resolutions of the ten ambassadors mentioned the several states by name. To the people of Orestis, a district of Macedonia, in consideration of their having been the first who came over from the side of the king, their own laws were granted. The Magnesians, Perrhaebians, and Dolopians were likewise declared free. To the nation of the Thessalians, besides the enjoyment of liberty, the Achaean part of Phthiotis was granted, excepting Phthiotian Thebes and Pharsalus. The Aetolians, demanding that Pharsalus and Leucas should be restored to them in conformity to the treaty, were referred to the senate: but the council united to these, by authority of a decree, Phocis and Locris, places which had formerly been annexed to them. Corinth, Triphylia, and Heraea, another city of Peloponnesus, were restored to the Achaeans. The ten ambassadors were inclined to give Oreum and Eretria to king Eumenes, son of Attalus; but Quinctius dissenting, the matter came under the determination of the senate, and the senate declared those cities free; adding to them Carystus. Lycus and Parthinia, Illyrian states, each of which had been under subjection to Philip, were given to Pleuratus. Amynander was ordered to retain possession of the forts, which he had taken from Philip during the war.

When the convention broke up, the ten ambassadors, dividing the business among them, set out by different routes to give liberty to the several cities within their respective districts. Publius Lentulus went to Bargylii; Lucius Stertinius, to Hephaestia, Thasus, and the cities of Thrace; Publius Villius and Lucius Terentius to king Antiochus; and Cneius Cornelius to Philip. The last of these, after executing his commission with respect to smaller matters, asked Philip, whether he was disposed to listen to advice, not only useful but highly salutary. To which the king answered that he was, and would give him thanks besides, if he mentioned any thing conducive to his advantage. He then earnestly recommended to him, since he had obtained peace with the Romans, to send ambassadors to Rome to solicit their alliance and friendship; lest, in case of Antiochus pursuing any hostile measure, he might be suspected of having lain in wait and seized the opportunity of the times for reviving hostilities. This meeting with Philip was at Tempè in Thessaly; and on his answering that he would send ambassadors without delay, Cornelius proceeded to Thermopylae, where all the states of Greece are accustomed to meet in general assembly on certain stated days. This is called the Pylaic assembly. Here he admonished the Aetolians, in particular, constantly and firmly to cultivate the friendship of the Roman people; but some of the principal of these interrupted him with complaints, that the disposition of the Romans towards their nation was not the same since the victory, that it had been during the war; while others censured them with greater boldness, and in a reproachful manner asserted, that "without the aid of the Aetolians, the Romans could neither have conquered Philip, nor even have made good their passage into Greece." To such discourses the Roman forbore giving an answer, lest the matter might end in an altercation, and only said, that if they sent ambassadors to Rome, every thing that was reasonable would be granted to them. Accordingly, they passed a decree for such mission, agreeably to his direction.--In this manner was the war with Philip concluded.

While these transactions passed in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia, a conspiracy among the slaves had well nigh made Etruria an hostile province. To examine into and suppress this, Manius Acilius the praetor, whose province was the administration of justice between natives and foreigners, was sent at the head of one of the two city legions. A number of them, who were by this time formed in a body, he reduced by force of arms, killing and taking many. Some, who had been the ringleaders of the conspiracy, he scourged with rods and then crucified; some he returned to their masters. The consuls repaired to their provinces. Just as Marcellus entered the frontiers of the Boians, and while his men were fatigued with marching the whole length of the day, and as he was pitching his camp on a rising ground, Corolam, a chieftain of the Boians, attacked him with a very numerous force, and slew three thousand of his men: several persons of distinction fell in that tumultuary engagement; amongst others, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Marcus Junius Silanus, praefects of the allies; and Aulus Ogulnius and Publius Claudius, military tribunes in the second legion. The Romans, not withstanding, had courage enough to finish the fortification of their camp, and to defend it, in spite of an assault made on it by the enemy, elated by their success in the field. Marcellus remained for some time in the same post, until he could tend the wounded, and revive the spirits of his men after such a disheartening blow. The Boians, a nation remarkably impatient of delay, and quickly disgusted at a state of inaction, separated, and withdrew to their several forts and villages. Marcellus then, suddenly crossing the Po, led his legions into the territory of Comum, where the Insubrians, after rousing the people of the country to arms, lay encamped. The fierce Boian Gauls attacked him on his march, and they first onset was so vigorous, as to make a considerable impression on his van. On perceiving which, and fearing lest, if his men once gave way, they would be dislodged, he brought up a cohort of Marsians against the enemy, and ordered every troop of the Latin cavalry to charge them. The first and second charges of these having checked the enemy in their furious attack, the other troops in the Roman line, resuming courage, advanced briskly on the foe. The Gauls no longer maintained the contest, but turned their backs and fled in confusion. Valerius Antias relates, that in that battle above forty thousand men were killed, five hundred and seven military standards taken, with four hundred and thirty-two chariots, and a great number of gold chains, one of which, of great weight, Claudius says, was deposited as an offering to Jupiter, in his temple in the Capitol. The camp of the Gauls was taken and plundered the same day; and the town of Comum was reduced in a few days after. In a little time, twenty-eight forts came over to the consul. There is a doubt among writers, whether the consul led his legions first against the Boians, or against the Insubrians; so as to determine, whether the successful battle obliterated the disgrace of the defeat, or whether the victory obtained at Comum was tarnished by the disaster incurred among the Boii.

Soon after those matters had passed with such variety of fortune, Lucius Furius Purpureo, the other consul, came into the country of the Boians, through the Sappinian tribe. He proceeded almost to the fort of Mutilus, when, beginning to apprehend that he might be enclosed between the Boians and Ligurians, he marched back by the road by which he came; and, making a long circuit, through an open and therefore safe country, arrived at the camp of his colleague. After this junction of their forces, they overran the territory of the Boians, spreading devastation as far as the city of Felsina. This city, with the other fortresses, and almost all the Boians, excepting only the young men who kept arms in their hands for the sake of plunder, and had at that time withdrawn into remote woods, made submission. The army was then led away against the Ligurians. The Boians thought that the Romans, as they were supposed to be at a great distance, would be the more careless in keeping their army together, and thereby afford an opportunity of attacking them unawares: with this expectation, they followed them by secret paths through the forests. They did not overtake them: and therefore, passing the Po suddenly in ships, they ravaged all the country of the Laevans and Libuans; whence, as they were returning with the spoil of the country, they fell in with the Roman army on the borders of Liguria. A battle was begun with more speed, and with greater fury, than if the parties had met with their minds prepared, and at an appointed time and place. On this occasion it appeared to what degree of violence anger can stimulate men; for the Romans fought with such a desire of slaughter, rather than of victory, that they scarcely left one of the enemy to carry the news of their defeat. On account of these successes, when the letters of the consuls were brought to Rome, a supplication for three days was decreed. Soon after, Marcellus came to Rome, and had a triumph decreed him by an unanimous vote of the senate. He triumphed, while in office, over the Insubrians and Comans. The prospect of a triumph over the Boians he left to his colleague, because his own arms had been unfortunate in that country; those of his colleague, successful. Large quantities of spoils, taken from the enemy, were carried in the procession in captured chariots, and many military standards; also, three hundred and twenty thousand asses of brass,[[23]] two hundred and thirty-four thousand of silver denarii,[[24]] stamped with a chariot. Eighty asses[[25]] were bestowed on each foot soldier, and thrice that value on each horseman and centurion.