38 Then, with the concurrence of the ten ambassadors, a treaty was concluded with Antiochus, in nearly the following words: “Let there be friendship between king Antiochus and the Roman people, on the following terms and conditions—Let not the king suffer any army, intended to act against the Roman people, or their allies, to pass through the territories of his own realm, or of any state under his dominion, nor supply it with provisions, or with any other assistance. Let the Romans and their allies observe the same conduct toward Antiochus, and those under his government. Let there not be to Antiochus the right of carrying on war with the inhabitants of the islands, or of passing over into Europe. Let him evacuate the cities, lands, villages, and forts on this side of Mount Taurus, as far as the river Halys; and from the foot of Mount Taurus to the summit, where it verges upon Lycaonia. Let him not remove any arms out of those towns, lands, or forts which he may evacuate; if he hath removed any, let him honourably replace what he ought to make good, and in the place that he ought. Let him not receive any soldier, or other person, from the kingdom of Eumenes. If any natives of those cities, which are hereby separated from his kingdom, are now with Antiochus, or within the bounds of his realms, let them all return to Apamea, before a certain day. Let such of the natives of Antiochus’s kingdom, as are now with the Romans and their allies, have liberty to depart or to stay. Let him deliver to the Romans and their allies, all their slaves, whether fugitives or taken in war, likewise whatever free-born person may be a prisoner or deserter. Let him give up all his elephants, and not procure others. Let him also surrender his ships of war, and their stores; let him not keep more than ten light trading vessels, none of which are to be worked with more than thirty oars, nor a galley of one tier of oars, for the purpose of an offensive war; let him not ail on this side of the promontories, Calycadnus and Sarpedon, except in a ship which will carry money, tribute, ambassadors, or hostages. Let there not be to king Antiochus the right of hiring soldiers out of those nations which are under the dominion of the Roman people, nor of receiving volunteers. Whatever houses and buildings, within the limits of Antiochus’s kingdom, belong to the Rhodians and their allies, let them belong to the Rhodians and allies on the same footing as they did before the war. If any sums of money are due to them, let them have a right to enforce payment; likewise, if any of their property has been taken away, let them have a right to search for, discover, and reclaim it. If any persons, to whom Antiochus hath given the cities which ought to be surrendered, still hold them, let him remove the garrisons, and take care that they may be properly surrendered. Let him pay, within twelve years, by equal annual payments, twelve thousand Attic talents of silver,[32] the talent to weigh not less than eighty Roman pounds; and five hundred and forty thousand pecks of wheat. He shall pay to king Eumenes, within five years, three hundred and fifty talents;[33] and, for the corn due, the sum which arises from his own valuation, one hundred and twenty seven talents.[34] Let him deliver to the Romans twenty hostages, and change them every third year; none of which are to be younger than eighteen, or older than forty-five years. If any of the allies of the Roman people shall make war on Antiochus, let him have liberty to repel force by force, provided he does not keep possession of any city, either by right of arms, or by admitting it into a treaty of amity. Let them decide the controversies among themselves by equity and arbitration; or, if it shall be the choice of both parties, by arms.” A clause was added to this treaty also, about delivering up Hannibal the Carthaginian, Thoas the Ætolian, Mnasimachus the Acarnanian, and the Chalcidians Eubalidas and Philo; and another, that if it should afterwards please the parties that any thing should be added, cancelled, or altered, that it might be done without invalidating the treaty.
39 The consul swore to the observance of this treaty. Quintus Minucius Thermus and Lucius Manlius, who happened to return just at that time from Oroanda, went to require the oath of the king. At the same time he wrote to Quintus Fabius Labeo, commander of the fleet, to sail, without delay, to Patara, to break up and burn the king’s ships that lay there. Sailing, accordingly, from Ephesus, he broke up or burned fifty decked ships; and, in the same voyage, took Telmessus, the inhabitants being terrified by his sudden appearance. Then having ordered those who were left at Ephesus to follow him, he passed onward from Lycia, through the islands to Greece. At Athens, after waiting a few days, until the ships from Ephesus came to Piræeus, he then brought home the whole fleet to Italy. Cneius Manlius, when he had, among other matters to be given up by Antiochus, received his elephants, and given them all as a present to Eumenes, then examined the causes of the several states, since many had been thrown into confusion amid the violent changes. King Ariarathes, the half of the money levied on him being remitted, through the kind offices of Eumenes, to whom he had betrothed, during that time, his daughter, was received into friendship. The ten ambassadors, after examining the causes of the respective states, made different arrangements, in different cases. They gave independence to those which had been tributary to king Antiochus and had sided with the Romans; and they ordered all such as had taken part with Antiochus, or had been tributary to king Attalus, to pay tribute to Eumenes. Besides they granted independence to the Colophonians, who live in Notium, the Cymæans, and Milasenians, all of whom they specified by name. To the Clazomenians they gave, besides their independence, the island of Drymusa. To the Milesians they restored what was called the sacred lands. They added to the territory of the Trojans, Rhœteum and Gergithus, not so much in consideration of any recent merits of theirs, as out of respect to their own origin. The same motive was the reason of their liberating Dardanum. They gifted the Chians, also the Smyrnæans and Erythræans, with lands, in consideration of the singular fidelity which they displayed during the war, and treated them with every distinguished honour. To the Phocæans, the territory which they had enjoyed before the war was restored; and permission was given them to use their ancient laws. They confirmed to the Rhodians the grants which were mentioned in the former decree. Lycia and Caria were assigned to them as far as the river Mæander, excepting Telmessus. To king Eumenes they gave, in Europe, the Chersonese and Lysimachia, with the forts, towns, and lands thereof, with the same frontier as Antiochus had held them; and, in Asia, both the Phrygias, the one on the Hellespont, and the other called the Greater, and restored to him Mysia, which had been taken by king Prusias, and also gave to him Lycaonia, and Milyas, and Lydia, and, by express mention, the cities of Tralles, and Ephesus, and Telmessus. When a dispute had arisen between Eumenes and Antiochus’s ambassadors, concerning Pamphylia, because part of it lay on the hither side, and part on the further side of Taurus, the matter was referred wholly to the senate.
40 When these treaties and grants were concluded, Manlius, with the ten ambassadors, and all his army, marched to the Hellespont, and dictated to the chiefs of the Gauls, whom he had summoned thither, terms on which they should maintain peace with Eumenes; and warned them to put an end to the practice of straggling in arms, and to confine themselves within the bounds of their own territories. Then, having collected ships from all parts of the coast, and Eumenes’s fleet also being brought thither from Elæa by Athenæus, that king’s brother, he transported all his forces into Europe. Then leading slowly through the Chersonese, by short marches, the army heavily encumbered with booty of every sort, he halted at Lysimachia; in order that he might enter Thrace, the march through which they in general dreaded, with the beasts of burden as fresh and vigorous as possible. On the day in which he set out from Lysimachia, he came to the river which they call Melas,[35] and thence, next day, to Cypsela. The road, about ten miles from Cypsela, proved to be obstructed by woods, narrow and broken. On account of these difficulties he divided the army into two parts; and, ordering one to advance in front, and the other at a considerable distance, to cover the rear, he placed between them the baggage; it was composed of waggons with the public money, and other booty of great value. As he was marching in this order through the defile, a body of Thracians, not more in number than ten thousand, composed of four states, the Astians, Cænians, Maduatians, and Corelians, posted themselves on both sides of the road at the narrowest part. There was an opinion that this was not done without the treacherous connivance of Philip, king of Macedonia; that he knew that the Romans would return by no other route than that through Thrace, and what an immense sum they would carry with them. The general himself was in the van, anxious about the disadvantages of the ground. The Thracians did not stir until the troops passed by; but, when they saw that the foremost division had got clear of the narrow pass, and that the rear division was not yet drawing near, they rushed upon the encumbrances and the baggage, and after killing the guards, some rifled the waggons, while others led off the horses under their loads. After their shouts reached those on the rear, who were then just entering the pass, and afterwards those in the van, the Romans ran together from both extremities to the centre, and an irregular sort of fight commenced, in many different places at once. The booty itself exposed the Thracians to slaughter, as they were encumbered with burdens, and most of them had thrown away their arms, that they might have their hands disengaged for plundering; the disadvantageous nature of the ground militated against the Romans, as the barbarians attacked them through well-known paths, and sometimes lurked in the ravines. The loads too, and the waggons, lying incommodiously for one party or the other, as chance directed, were great obstructions to their movements; and here the plunderer, there the defender of the booty, fell. The fortune of the fight was variable, according as the ground was favourable or unfavourable to this party or that, and according to the spirit of the combatants, and their numbers, for some had come in contact with a stronger party than themselves, others with a weaker. On both sides, however, great numbers fell. The night was now approaching, when the Thracians retired from the fight, not for the purpose of avoiding wounds or death, but because they had got enough of booty.
41 The first division of the Romans encamped beyond the pass, in open ground, round the temple of Bendis;[36] the second division remained in the middle of the defile, surrounded by a double rampart, to guard the baggage. Next day, having carefully examined the ground before they put themselves in motion, they rejoined the first. In that battle, although part of the baggage was lost, while a great part of the attendants and many of the soldiers perished, (since the fight was carried on through almost the whole extent of the defile,) yet the heaviest loss sustained was in the death of Quintus Minucius Thermus, a brave and gallant officer. The army arrived that day at the Hebrus, and thence passed through the country of the Ænians, by the temple of Apollo, whom the natives call Zerynthius. Another defile, as rugged and uneven as the former, awaits them around Tempyra (this is the name of the place); but, as there were no woods near, it afforded no cover for an ambuscade. Hither assembled the Thrausians, (who are also a Thracian tribe,) with the same hope of plunder; but because the bare valleys had this effect, that they were visible at a distance besetting the defile, there was less terror and tumult among the Romans; for, although they were obliged to fight on disadvantageous ground, yet it was in a regular battle, in an open field, and a fair encounter. Advancing in close order, with the war-shout, and falling on the enemy, they soon drove them off the ground, and put them to flight. Afterwards the rout and massacre began to take place, for the narrow passes actually impeded them. The victorious Romans encamped at a village of the Maronites, called Sare. Next day, after marching through an open country, the plain of Priate received them, where they halted three days, to receive supplies of corn, partly from the country of the Maronites, who made a voluntary contribution, and partly from their own ships, which attended them with stores of every kind. From this post there was one day’s march to Apollonia, whence they proceeded through the territory of Abdera to Neapolis. All this march through the Grecian colonies was performed in security. The rest of their march through the midst of the Thracians, though not harassed, was full of apprehension, by day and night, until they arrived in Macedon. This same army, when it proceeded by the same route under Scipio, had found the Thracians more peaceable, but for no other reason, than because it had then less booty, which was the object of their attack: although Claudius writes, that even on that occasion, a body of fifteen thousand Thracians opposed Mutines, the Numidian, who had advanced to reconnoitre the country. That the Numidians were four hundred horsemen, and a few elephants. That the son of Mutines, with a hundred and fifty chosen horsemen, broke through the middle of the enemy; and that the same individual, presently, when Mutines, placing his elephants in the centre, and the horse on the wings, had begun to engage the enemy, cast terror into them by an attack on their rear; and that owing to this, the enemy, routed by the storm, as it were, of cavalry, did not come near the main body of infantry. Cneius Manlius conducted his army through Macedon into Thessaly; and, having proceeded, through Epirus to Apollonia, passed the winter there, as the sea in the winter was not as yet considered so little formidable that he might venture on the passage.
42 It was almost at the expiration of the year, that the consul, Marcus Valerius, came from Liguria to Rome to elect new magistrates, although he had not performed in his province any memorable act that could afford a reasonable excuse for coming later than usual to the elections. The assembly for choosing the consuls was held on the twelfth day before the calends of March. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus and Caius Flaminius were elected consuls. The following day, Appius Claudius Pulcher, Servius Sulpicius Galba, Quintus Terentius Culleo, Lucius Terentius Massa, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and Marcus Furius Crassipes were elected prætors. When the elections were concluded, the consul asked the senate what were the provinces that they wished should be given to the prætors: they decreed two for the administration of justice in Rome; two out of Italy—Sicily and Sardinia; and two in Italy—Tarentum and Gaul: the prætors were ordered to cast lots immediately, before they entered on their office. Servius Sulpicius received by lot the city jurisdiction; Quintus Terentius, the foreign; Lucius Terentius obtained Sicily; Quintus Fulvius, Sardinia; Appius Claudius, Tarentum; and Marcus Furius, Gaul. In that year, Lucius Minucius Myrtilus and Lucius Manlius, as they were charged with having beaten the Carthaginian ambassadors, were, by order of Marcus Claudius, city prætor, delivered up by heralds to the ambassadors, and carried to Carthage. Reports prevailed of a great war, growing too every day more formidable, in Liguria. The senate, therefore, decreed Liguria as the province of both the new consuls, on the day that they made their motion in the senate concerning the republic and the provinces. To this vote the consul, Lepidus, objected, asserting that “it would be highly indecorous to shut up the consuls among the valleys of Liguria, while Marcus Fulvius and Cneius Manlius reigned, a second year, one in Europe, another in Asia, as if substituted in the room of Philip and Antiochus. If it was resolved to keep armies in those countries, it was more fitting that consuls, rather than private persons, should have the command of them. That they made their circuits with all the terrors of war, among nations against whom war had not been declared, trafficking peace for money. If it was necessary to hold these provinces with armies, in the same manner as Lucius Scipio, consul, had succeeded Manius Acilius, consul; and as Marcus Fulvius and Cneius Manlius succeeded Lucius Scipio; so ought Caius Livius and Marcus Valerius, the consuls, to have succeeded Fulvius and Manlius. But, unquestionably, at this time, after the Ætolian war had been concluded, Asia taken from Antiochus, and the Gauls subdued,—either the consuls ought to be sent to the consular armies, or the legions ought be brought home, and restored to the commonwealth.” The senate, although they heard these words, persisted in their vote, that Liguria should be the province of both the consuls; but they ordered, that Manlius and Fulvius should leave their provinces, withdraw the troops, and come home to Rome.
43 There was a quarrel between Marcus Fulvius and the consul Æmilius; and in addition to other motives, Æmilius thought, that he had been made consul two years later, by the opposition of Marcus Fulvius. In order, therefore, to exasperate the minds of the public against him, he introduced to the senate ambassadors from Ambracia, whom he had secretly instructed in the charges they were to make against him. These complained, that “war had been made on them when they were in a state of peace, after they had executed the commands of former consuls, and were ready to show the same obedience to Marcus Fulvius; that first their lands were ravaged; and that, the terror of rapine and carnage was then cast into the city, that by that fear they might be compelled to shut their gates. They were then besieged and assaulted, and all the horrors of war were inflicted on them, murders, burnings, the sacking and demolishing of their city. Their wives and children were dragged away into slavery; their goods taken from them; and, what shocked them more than all, their temples were despoiled of their ornaments, and the images of their gods, nay, the gods themselves were torn from their mansions, and carried away; so that the Ambracians had nothing left to adore, to which they could address their prayers and supplications, but naked walls and pillars.” While they were making these complaints, the consul, as had been agreed, by asking questions leading to further charges, drew them on, as if against their inclinations, to the mention of other matters. The senators being moved by these accusations, the other consul, Caius Flaminius, took up the cause of Marcus Fulvius: and he said that “the Ambracians had set out in an old course, now long out of use. In this manner Marcus Marcellus had been accused by the Syracusans; and Quintus Fulvius by the Campanians. Why might not the senate as well allow Titus Quintius to be accused by king Philip; Manius Acilius and Lucius Scipio, by Antiochus; Cneius Manlius, by the Gauls; and Fulvius himself, by the Ætolians and the states of Cephallenia? Do you think, conscript fathers, either that I in behalf of Marcus Fulvius, or that Marcus Fulvius himself, will deny the besieging and taking Ambracia, the removing thence the statues and ornaments, and the other proceedings, which are usual on the capture of cities? He is about to demand a triumph from you for those very services, and to carry before his chariot those statues, the removal of which is charged as criminal, together with the other spoils of that city, and hang them up on the pillars of his house. There is no kind of pretence for their separating themselves from the Ætolians; the cause of the Ambracians and of the Ætolians is the same. Let, therefore, my colleague either vent his malice in some other case; or, if he is determined to proceed in this, let him detain his Ambracians until Fulvius comes home. I will not suffer any determination, concerning either the Ambracians or Ætolians, to pass in the absence of Marcus Fulvius.”
44 When Æmilius inveighed against the artful malignity of his adversary as being notorious to all, and affirmed, that he would spin out the time by affecting delays, so as not to return to Rome while an adversary was consul; two days were wasted in this dispute, and it was apparent that while Flaminius was present, no decision of the cause could be procured. The opportunity was eagerly caught at by Æmilius, when Flaminius, happening to fall sick, was absent, and on his proposing the motion the senate decreed, that, “all their effects should be restored to the Ambracians, that they should enjoy liberty, and the benefit of their own laws, and should levy what duties they might think proper on goods conveyed by land or sea, provided that the Romans and the allies of the Latin nation should be exempted therefrom. That with respect to the statues, and other ornaments, which they complained were carried away from their sacred buildings, their order was, that immediately on the return of Marcus Fulvius to Rome, the business should be laid before the college of pontiffs, and that whatever they might think proper should be done.” Nor was the consul content with this; but afterwards, in a badly attended meeting, he procured a clause to be added to the decree, “that it did not appear that Ambracia was taken by force.” A supplication of three days’ continuance was then performed for the health of the people, because a grievous pestilence was desolating the city and country. The Latin festival was afterwards celebrated, when the consuls, being relieved from these religious duties, and having finished their levies, (for both of them chose to employ new soldiers,) set out for their provinces, where they disbanded all the old troops.
Shortly after the departure of the consuls, Cneius Manlius, the proconsul, arrived at Rome; and, when an audience of the senate was granted to him in the temple of Bellona, by Servius Sulpicius, the prætor, after enumerating the services which he had performed, he demanded that, in consideration thereof, public thanks should be offered to the immortal gods, and permission be granted to himself, to ride through the city in triumph; the greater number of the ten ambassadors, who had been in the province along with him, opposed the grant, and particularly Lucius Furius Purpureo, and Lucius Æmilius Paulus.
45 They alleged that “they had been appointed ambassadors in conjunction with Manlius, to make peace with Antiochus, and to conclude the terms of the treaty which had been entered on with Lucius Scipio. That Cneius Manlius laboured to the utmost of his power, to confound this peace, and to seize Antiochus by treachery, if he should put his person in the consul’s power; but that he (Antiochus) having discovered the treacherous designs of the consul, though frequently tempted by proposals of a conference, had not only avoided the meeting, but even the sight of him. That Manlius, desiring to cross Mount Taurus, was with difficulty restrained by the entreaties of all the ambassadors, who besought him not to brave the curse denounced in the Sibylline verses against such as should pass those fatal limits. Nevertheless, he marched his army thither, and encamped almost on the very summit where the waters take opposite directions. As he could find no sort of pretence for hostilities, the king’s subjects being perfectly quiet, he led his army round to the Gallogræcians, against which nation war was waged, without any decree of the senate, or order of the people. Which did ever any general before presume to do in like manner, on his own judgment? The latest wars were those with Antiochus, with Philip, and with Hannibal and the Carthaginians; concerning all these the senate had passed its decrees, the people their orders; several embassies were previously sent; restitution demanded; and, finally, heralds were sent to proclaim war. Now, Cneius Manlius,” said they, “has any one of these proceedings been observed in the present case, that we should consider it a war of the Roman people, and not a predatory expedition of your own contrivance? But, were you even content with this? Did you lead your army against those whom you had chosen to consider as enemies, by the direct course; or did you ramble through every deflection of the roads, when you stopped at every division of the way, in order that, to whatever side Eumenes’s brother, Attalus, should turn his route, you the consul, as an auxiliary in his pay, might follow with a Roman army? Did you not traverse every recess and corner of Pisidia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia; levying contributions from the tyrants and peasants in those remote regions? For, what had you to do with the Oroandians, what with other states equally inoffensive?
“But, in what manner did you conduct this war, on the merit of which you ask a triumph? Did you fight on equal ground, and at the time of your own choosing? Indeed you with propriety require that thanks be returned to the immortal gods; first, because they did not ordain that the army should undergo the penalty deserved by the temerity of its commander, in commencing a war in accordance with no law of nations; and next, because they gave us, for antagonists, brutes, and not men.