45 The winter of that year was rendered severe by falls of snow and storms of every kind; those kinds of trees which are susceptible of injury from cold, were all blighted; and it continued at that time somewhat longer than on other occasions. Wherefore a tempest coming on suddenly, and with intolerable violence, shortly after, interrupted the Latin festivals on the mount; and they were celebrated afterwards, pursuant to an order of the pontiffs. The same storm also threw down many statues in the Capitol, disfigured very many buildings by lightning, as the temple of Jupiter at Tarracina, the white temple at Capua, and a Roman gate; and in some places the battlements of the wall were overthrown. Among the rest of these prodigies, an account was received from Reate, that a three-footed mule had been foaled there. On account of those portents, the decemvirs, having been ordered to consult the books, declared to what gods, and with how many victims, sacrifices should be performed; and that on account of very many places being disfigured by lightning, a supplication of one day should be performed at the temple of Jupiter. Then the votive games of the consul Quintus Fulvius were exhibited with great magnificence, during ten days. Soon after was held the election of censors. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, chief pontiff, and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who had triumphed over the Ætolians, were chosen. Apparent hostilities existed between these men, which were frequently displayed in many violent disputes, both in the senate and in the assemblies of the people. When the election was ended, the censors, according to ancient custom, seated themselves in curule chairs in the Campus Martius, near the altar of Mars; whither in a few minutes came the principal senators, accompanied by the body of the citizens, of whom Quintus Cæcilius Metellus spoke as follows:—
46 “Censors, we are not unmindful that you have been just now, by the whole body of the Roman people, set over our morals; and that we ought to be admonished and ruled by you, not you by us. Nevertheless, that should be pointed out which in you may either give offence to all good men, or at least what they would wish to be altered. When we look at you separately, Marcus Æmilius, Marcus Fulvius, we know not, in the whole state, any one person whom, if we were called back again to vote, we could wish to be preferred to you; but when we behold you both together, we cannot avoid fearing that you are but ill associated; and that the public may not reap as much advantage from your being exceedingly pleasing to every one of us, as injury, from your being displeasing one to another. You have for many years past harboured an enmity, violent in its degree, and detrimental to yourselves; and it is to be feared, that from this day forward it may prove more detrimental to us and to the state, than it has been to you. As to the reasons why we fear this, many observations which might be made occur to yourselves; had you not happened to be implacable they would have engrossed your senses. These feuds we all beseech you to terminate this day, in that sacred place, and to suffer those whom the Roman people have united by their suffrages, to be united by us, through this re-establishment of friendship also. May you, with unanimity and harmony, choose the senate, review the knights, hold the census, and close the lustrum, as truly and sincerely as you would wish that to happen which you express in the words, used in almost all your prayers, ‘that this affair may prove good and prosperous to me and my colleague:’ and cause us men also to believe that you really desire that which you entreat of the gods. Titus Tatius and Romulus, after they had engaged in battle as public enemies, in the midst of the forum of this city, reigned there with unanimity. Not only quarrels, but wars, are ended; and from deadly foes men frequently become faithful allies, nay, sometimes, even fellow-citizens. The Albans, after the demolition of Alba, were brought over to Rome: the Latins, the Sabines, were admitted into the number of citizens. It is a common saying, and, because founded in truth, has become a proverb, that ‘friendships ought to be immortal, but enmities mortal.’” A roar of approbation burst forth: and presently after, the voices of every one present, joining in the same request, interrupted his speech. Then Æmilius, besides other complaints, represented, that through Marcus Fulvius he had been twice deprived of the consulship, which seemed sure. On the other hand, Fulvius complained that he had always been assailed by Æmilius, and that security had been given for him, which was attended with great disgrace. Nevertheless, each of them intimated that if the other would wish, he was ready to submit to the direction of such a number of the most respectable members of the state; and all present urgently repeating their request, they mutually pledged their right hands, and their honour, to dismiss in reality and forget all animosity. Then the whole assembly expressing the highest applause of their behaviour, they were escorted to the Capitol. Both the attention paid to such a matter by the persons of the first consequence, and the compliance of the censors, were most warmly approved and commended by the senate. The censors then demanded that a sum of money should be assigned to them, which they might expend in public works; and the customs of one year were accordingly decreed to them.
47 In the same year the proprætors in Spain, Lucius Postumius and Tiberius Sempronius, settled between them, that Albinus should march through Lusitania, against the Vaccæans, and thence return into Celtiberia, and Gracchus penetrate into the remotest parts of that province, if the commotions there were more dangerous. First, having made an unexpected assault on the city of Munda, by night, he took it by storm; then, after having received hostages and placed a garrison, he proceeded to attack their forts and ravage the country with fire, until he arrived at another very strong city, (the Celtiberians call it Certima,) there, when he was already advancing his works, deputies came out from the town, whose speech partook of all the simplicity of the earliest times, not dissembling their wishes to continue the war, if they had strength to support it.—For they requested permission to go into the camp of the Celtiberians, and procure assistance from them; and said, that “if they did not obtain it they would then deliberate apart from them. By the permission of Gracchus they went; and in a few days after brought with them ten other ambassadors. It was mid-day. The first thing that they asked of the prætor was, that he would order some drink to be given them. After drinking off the first caps, they asked a second time, causing thereby loud laughter from those present, at minds so unpolished, and ignorant of all civilization. The eldest of them then says, “We have been sent by our nation to ask, on what do you rely that you attack us?” To this question Gracchus answered, that “he came relying on an excellent army; which if they chose to see, in order to carry back more certain information to their friends, he would give them an opportunity;” and he orders the military tribunes to draw up, in array, all the forces both horse and foot, and make them go through their exercise in arms. After this sight, the ambassadors, being dismissed, deterred their people from attempting to succour the besieged city. When the townsmen had from the towers raised fires, (which was the signal agreed upon,) to no purpose, and had been disappointed in their only hope of relief, they capitulated. A contribution of two million four hundred thousand sesterces[61] was imposed on them; and they were ordered to furnish forty horsemen of the highest rank among them, not under the denomination of hostages, for they were ordered to serve as soldiers, but in reality to be pledges for their fidelity.
48 From thence Gracchus now marched to the city of Alce, where lay the camp of the Celtiberians, from which the ambassadors had lately come. When he had harassed them for some days with skirmishes, by sending his light troops to charge their advanced guards, he made attacks more important every day, in order to entice them all out of their intrenchments. As soon as he perceived that his object had been effected, he gives orders to the præfects of the auxiliaries, that after a short contest they should suddenly turn their backs, as if they were overpowered by numbers, and fly with all haste to the camp: in the mean time he himself drew up all his forces in order, within the rampart, at all the gates. No long time had intervened, when he saw a body of his own troops flying back, according to the preconcerted plan, and the barbarians following in a disorderly pursuit. He had his army drawn up within the trench in readiness for this very opportunity. He therefore delayed only so long as to allow his own men to retreat into the camp by a free passage; then, raising the shout, he rushed forth from all the gates at the same time. The enemy did not sustain the unexpected shock. They who came to assault his camp could not defend even their own. For they were instantly routed put to flight, driven in a panic within their trenches; and at last beaten out of them. On that day nine thousand of the enemy were killed, and three hundred and twenty taken, with a hundred and twelve horses and thirty-seven military ensigns. Of the Roman army there fell a hundred and nine.
49 After this battle, Gracchus led the legions to ravage Celtiberia. And when he was carrying and driving off all things from every quarter, some states voluntarily, others through fear, submitted to his yoke; within a few days he received the submission of a hundred and three towns; he got immense booty. He then marched back to Alce, whence he came, and set about besieging that city. The townsmen withstood the first assault of the enemy; as soon as they found themselves attacked, not only by arms but by works also, having despaired of any protection in the city, they all retired to the citadel. And then at last they sent envoys, and surrendered themselves, and every thing belonging to them, to the Romans. Great plunder was obtained from this. Many prisoners of distinction fell into his power, among whom were two sons and a daughter of Thurrus. This chieftain, who governed those tribes, was by far the most powerful of all the Spaniards. On hearing the disasters of his countrymen he sent persons to request protection for himself when coming to the camp to Gracchus, and he came. And he first asked him, “Whether the lives of himself and his subjects would be spared?” When the prætor answered that they would; he asked again, “Whether it would be allowed him to bear arms on the side of the Romans?” To this too Gracchus assenting, he said, “I will follow you then against my old allies, since they have not thought proper to pay any regard to me. From that time he united himself to the Romans, and by his brave and faithful exertions he in many places advanced the Roman interest.
50 After this, Ergavia, a celebrated and powerful city, terrified by the disasters of the surrounding states, opened its gates to the Romans. There are some writers who say, that this submission of the towns was not made with sincerity; that, from whatever district he might have led the legions, hostilities were there renewed forthwith; and that he afterwards fought, near Mount Caunus, a pitched battle with the Celtiberians, from break of day to the sixth hour; that many fell on both sides, and that the Romans did not perform any feat from which you might believe that they were not vanquished, excepting that, next day, they offered battle to the enemy remaining in their intrenchments: that they employed that whole day in collecting the spoils, on the third day they fought again a more desperate battle, then there was no doubt that the Celtiberians were at last completely defeated, and their camp taken and plundered. Twenty-two thousand of the enemy were killed on that day, more than three hundred taken, and almost an equal number of horses, and seventy-two military standards. This put an end to the war: the Celtiberians concluded a sincere peace, and did not waver in their allegiance as before. They say also, that during the same summer Lucius Postumius fought twice with success in the Farther Spain against the Vaccæans, killed thirty-five thousand of the enemy, and took their camp. It is however more probable, that he came into the province too late to succeed well in that summer.
51 The censors inspected the senate with sincere unanimity. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, the censor, who was likewise chief pontiff, was chosen head of the senate; three were expelled from that body. Lepidus restored some who were rejected by his colleague. They completed these works with the money which had been assigned, and divided between them:—Lepidus built a mole at Tarracina, an unpopular work, because he had estates there, and brought into the account of the public expenditure what ought to have been done at his own expense. He contracted for the building of a theatre and stage near the temple of Apollo, the whitening of the temple of Jupiter in the Capitol, and the columns around it; he also removed from those columns the statues that stood unseemingly before them, and took down from them the shields and military ensigns of all sorts hung thereon. Marcus Fulvius made contracts for works more numerous and of more use; a haven on the Tiber, and piers for a bridge across it; on which piers Publius Scipio Africanus and Lucius Mummius, who were the censors, many years after, bargained for the erection of arches; a court of justice behind the new bankers’ houses, and a fish-market surrounded with shops, which he sold to private persons; also a forum and portico, on the outside of the gate Trigemina; another portico behind the dock-yard, and one at the temple of Hercules; also a temple of Apollo Medicus, behind that of Hope, on the bank of the Tiber. They had besides, some of the money undivided, and out of this they jointly agreed to pay for water being brought, and arches being made; but Marcus Licinius Crassus hindered this work, for he would not suffer it to be brought through his grounds. They also established many port duties and customs, and took care that very many public chapels, which had been occupied by private individuals, should be public and consecrated, and open to the people. They likewise made an alteration in the mode of voting; for, through all the regions, they divided the tribes[62] according to the different ranks, conditions, and callings of men.
52 One of the censors, Marcus Æmilius, petitioned the senate, that a sum of money should be voted for the celebration of games, in honour of the dedication of the temples of Imperial Juno and Diana, which he had vowed eight years before, when employed in the Ligurian war. They accordingly voted twenty thousand asses.[63] He dedicated those temples each in the Flaminian circus; and celebrated theatrical games for three days after the dedication of the temple of Juno, and for two after that of Diana, and each day in the circus. He also dedicated a temple to the deities of the sea[64] in the field of Mars, which Lucius Æmilius Regillus had vowed eleven years before this, in a naval engagement against the commanders of king Antiochus. Over the gate of the temple was hung up a tablet with this inscription: “This temple was vowed by Lucius Æmilius, the son of Marcus Æmilius, on coming forth from a battle which he fought for the purpose of establishing peace, in which he concluded a mighty war and subdued kings,—because under his auspices, command, and successful generalship, the fleet of king Antiochus, under the very eyes of Antiochus himself and his entire army, cavalry and elephants, was conquered, thrown into confusion, shattered, and put to flight, on the eleventh day before the calends of January; and there on that day thirteen ships of war with all their crews taken. When that battle was fought, king Antiochus and his dominions * * * * * * *.[65] On this account he vowed a temple to the titular gods of the sea.” In the same manner a tablet was placed over the gate of the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitol.
53 Two days after the censors had inspected the senate, the consul Quintus Fulvius marched against the Ligurians; and having with his army crossed over pathless mountains and woody valleys, he fought a pitched battle with the enemy, and not only defeated them in the field, but took their camp the same day. Three thousand two hundred of the enemy, and all that tract of Liguria, surrendered. The consul brought down all those who surrendered into the low-lands, and posted guards on the mountains. His letters from that province quickly reached Rome, and thanksgivings for three days were voted on account of his successes. The prætors, during these thanksgivings, celebrated divine worship by sacrificing forty victims of the larger kind. By the other consul, Lucius Manlius, nothing worth recording was done in Liguria. Transalpine Gauls, to the number of three thousand, coming over into Italy, without offering to commit hostilities on any one, petitioned the consul and senate for some land, that they might live as peaceable subjects, under the government of the Roman people. But the senate ordered them to quit Italy, and enjoined the consul Quintus Fulvius to search after and punish those who had been the first to advise them to cross the Alps.