55 The transalpine states answered the Roman ambassadors in terms of kindness. Their elders even found fault with the excessive lenity of the Roman people, in “suffering men to depart with impunity, who, without an order of their nation, left their home, attempted to seize on lands belonging to the Roman empire, and to build a town in a territory which belonged to others. They ought,” they said, “to have paid a heavy penalty for their inconsiderate conduct; and as to the restoration of their effects, they expressed a fear, lest, in consequence of this too great forbearance, others might be encouraged to attempts of a like nature.” They not only entertained the ambassadors, but conferred considerable presents on them. The consul, Marcus Claudius, when he had sent the Gauls out of his province, began to prepare for a war with the Istrians, and wrote to the senate for permission to lead the legions into their country. That measure pleased the senate. They formed an intention of establishing a colony at Aquileia; nor were they able to decide whether it should consist of Latins or Roman citizens; at last however they passed a vote in favour of a Latin settlement. The commissioners appointed for the purpose were, Publius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus. In the same year, colonies of Roman citizens were led out to Mutina and Parma. Two thousand men were settled in each colony, on lands which lately belonged to the Boians, and formerly to the Tuscans; they received at Parma eight acres, at Mutina five each. These colonists were conducted by Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, Titus Æbutius Carus, and Lucius Quintius Crispinus. The colony of Saturnia, also consisting of Roman citizens, was settled on the lands of Caletra, by Quintus Fabius Labeo, Caius Afranius Stellio, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. Ten acres were assigned to each man.
56 In the same year Aulus Terentius Varro, the proprætor, fought some successful battles with the Celtiberians, not far from the river Iberus, in the territory of Auseta, reducing several towns, which they had fortified in that quarter. The Farther Spain was quiet during the whole year, because Publius Sempronius, the proprætor, was seized with a lingering disorder, and the Lusitanians, when no one attacked them, very opportunely kept quiet. In Liguria nothing extraordinary was performed by Quintus Fabius, the consul. Marcus Marcellus being recalled out of Istria to attend the elections, disbanded his army, and came home to Rome. He elected Cneius Bæbius Tamphilus and Lucius Æmilius Paulus consuls. This latter had been curule ædile, along with Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, from the time of whose consulate this was the fifth year; and this very Lepidus had been made consul after two repulses. Then Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, Marcus Valerius Lævinus, Publius Manlius a second time, Marcus Ogulnius Gallus, Lucius Cæcilius Denter, and Caius Terentius Istra, were elected prætors. Towards the close of the year, a supplication was performed on occasion of prodigies, for people were persuaded that it had rained blood for two days in the court of the temple of Concord; and an account was received, that near the coast of Sicily a new island, which had never been there before, rose out of the sea. Valerius, of Antium, asserts that Hannibal died in this year, and that besides Titus Quintius Flamininus, whose name was celebrated in this business, Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, and Publius Scipio Nasica, were sent ambassadors to Prusias on that occasion.
BOOK XL
When Philip had ordered the children of those whom he had put to death, to be sought after as hostages, Theoxena, fearing the king’s passion for her own children and those of her sister, who were still quite young, brought forward swords and a cup in which there was poison, and persuaded them to escape, by putting an end to their existence, the mockery that awaited them; after administering which advice, she in company with her husband plunged headlong from the ship into the sea. The quarrels between Perseus and Demetrius, the sons of Philip, king of Macedon, are related; and how that Demetrius was first assailed by accusations invented through his brother’s guile, and among the rest, an impeachment for parricide and aspiring to the throne, and at last, since he was the friend of the Roman people, cut off by poison; and the kingdom of Macedon, on the death of Philip, fell to Perseus. It contains likewise the exploits successfully achieved by very many commanders in Liguria, and against the Celtiberians in Spain. Under the Janiculum, in the field of L. Petillius, the secretary, the books of Numa Pompilius were found by the labourers of the field, enclosed in a stone chest, written in both Latin and Greek characters; in which, when the prætor, to whom they had been brought, had read very many things calculated to overthrow the present system of religion, he swore to the senate that their being read and preserved would be detrimental to the state. And by a decree of the senate they were burned in the Comitium. The colony of Aquilia was planted. Philip, worn out by the pangs of conscience, because, influenced by the false information of his other son Perseus, he had by poison removed from life’s scene his son Demetrius, both resolved on the punishment of Perseus and desired to leave his friend Antigonus, rather than him, as his successor. But, whilst forming this project, he was hurried off by death. Perseus received the kingdom.
1 At the commencement of the next year, the consuls and prætors determined the provinces by lot. For the consuls there was no province to be decreed, except Liguria. The city jurisdiction fell to Marcus Ogulnius Gallus; that among foreigners, to Marcus Valerius; of the Spains, the Hither, to Marcus Fulvius Flaccus; the Farther, to Publius Manlius; Sicily, to Lucius Ctecilius Denter; and Sardinia, to Caius Terentius Istra. The consuls were ordered to hold levies, for Quintus Fabius had written from Liguria, that the Apuani seemed inclined to a renewal of hostilities, and that it was to be feared that they would make an irruption into the district of Pisæ. From the Spains, also, they received intelligence that the Hither province was in arms; that the war still continued with the Celtiberians: that, in the Farther province, because the prætor had been for a long time indisposed, military discipline was relaxed by intemperance and inactivity. For these reasons it was decreed that new armies should be raised; four legions for Liguria, that each might contain five thousand two hundred foot, and three hundred horse, and to these same were added, fifteen thousand foot and eight hundred horse of the Latin allies. These were to complete the two consular armies. They were ordered, also, to enrol seven thousand foot and four hundred horse, of the allies and Latins, and to send them into Gaul to Marcus Marcellus, whose command was prolonged on the expiration of his consulship. There were ordered to be levied, of Roman citizens, four thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry, and of the allies, seven thousand infantry with three hundred cavalry, which should be also led into both Spains. And to Quintus Fabius Labeo, with the army which he had in Liguria, was the command prolonged for a year.
2 The spring of this year was remarkable for storms. On the day before the feast of Pales, a tremendous hurricane arose about mid-day, and made havoc in many places, both sacred and common. It threw down the brazen statues in the Capitol; tore away a gate from the temple of Luna, which is on the Aventine, and fastened it to the back parts of the temple of Ceres; overturned other statues in the Circus Maximus, together with the pillars on which they stood; tore off several cupolas from the roofs of temples, and scattered them in an unseemly manner. This storm was converted into a prodigy, and the aruspices ordered it to be attended to. At the same time expiation was made, because it had been reported that a three-footed mule was born at Reate, and that the temple of Apollo, at Formiæ and at Caieta, was struck with lightning. On account of these prodigies, a sacrifice of twenty larger victims was offered, and there was a supplication of one day’s continuance. About the same time information was obtained from a letter of Aulus Terentius, the proprætor, that Publius Sempronius, after being sick for more than a year, had died in the Farther province: on this account the prætors were ordered to set out sooner for Spain. The foreign embassies were then brought before the senate; and first, those of the kings Eumenes and Pharnaces, and of the Rhodians, complaining of the sufferings of the inhabitants of Sinope. There came also, about the same time, the ambassadors of Philip, the Achæans, and Lacedæmonians. Answers were given to these, after Marcius, who had been sent to inspect the affairs of Greece and Macedonia, had first received an audience. To the Asiatic kings and the Rhodians, they answered, that the senate would send ambassadors to examine into those matters.
3 Marcius had increased their anxiety respecting Philip; for, he acknowledged that the latter had acquiesced with the will of the senate in such a manner, as to render it very evident, that he would conform to it no longer than necessity obliged him; nor was it difficult to see, that he intended to renew hostilities, and that every thing which he then said and did had a tendency that way. Now, in the first place, he removed almost the whole body of the citizens, with their families, from the maritime cities, into Emathia, which is its modern name, it was formerly called Pæonia; he gave up those cities to be inhabited by Thracians, and other barbarians, thinking that this kind of people would prove more faithful to him in case of a war with Rome. This proceeding caused great discontent over all Macedonia; and of those who, with their wives and children, left their dwellings, few concealed their grief in silence; and, their hatred overcoming their fear, imprecations against the king were heard, as they proceeded along in groups. His mind, rendered savage by these things, entertained suspicions of all men, places, and seasons; at last he began to confess openly, that he had nothing sufficiently safe without seizing and confining the sons of those whom he had destroyed, and sending them out of the world at different times.
4 This cruelty, horrible in itself, the calamities of one particular family rendered still more so. Philip had, many years before, put to death Herodicus, a Thessalian of distinction; and afterwards his sons-in-law. His daughters were left widows, having each a little son. The names of the women were Theoxena and Archo. Theoxena, though courted by many, rejected every offer of marriage. Archo married a certain Poris, by far the first of the Ænean nation; and, after bearing him many children, died, leaving them all quite young. Theoxena then, in order that her sister’s children might be educated under her own inspection, married Poris, and as if she herself had borne them all, treated her own and her sister’s sons with the same affectionate care. When she heard of the king’s order for seizing the children of the persons who had been put to death, supposing that they were destined to afford sport not only to the king’s lust, but to that of his guards, she formed in her mind a horrid project, and had the hardiness to declare, that she would kill them all with her own hand, rather than they should come into the power of Philip. Poris, abhorring the mention of such a dreadful deed, told her that he would carry them away to Athens, to some faithful friends, and would himself accompany them in their flight. They all went from Thessalonica to Ænea, to a stated sacrifice, which they offer yearly, with great solemnity, in honour of Æneas, the founder of the nation. Having spent the day there, in the anniversary feast, about the third watch, when all were asleep, they embarked in a vessel ready prepared by Poris, as if intending to return to Thessalonica; but their design was to cross over to Eubœa. However, daylight surprised them at a small distance from the land, struggling in vain against a contrary wind, and the king’s officers, who commanded the garrison of the port, despatched an armed bark to bring back their ship, with a strict injunction not to return without it. When they were now drawing nigh, Poris was intently occupied in animating the rowers and sailors, and, at times, raising his hands towards heaven, supplicated the gods to assist him. Meanwhile, the woman, with desperate fury recurring to the shocking design which she had long premeditated, dissolves some poison, and produces swords; then, placing the cup in their view, and unsheathing the swords, she says, “Death is our only refuge. These paths lead thither, by whichever of them each one’s inclination leads them to adopt, let them escape the tyranny of the king. Come then, dear youths, let those of you who are the elder, first take the sword; or, if a slower death is your choice, drain the cup.” At the same time the enemy was fast approaching, and she, who urged them to despatch themselves, was urgent; the young men, having put an end to their lives some by the one and some by the other fatal expedient, were thrown expiring into the sea. Then, embracing her husband and companion in death, she plunged into the deep. The king’s officers then took possession of the ship, deserted by its owners.