BOOK LV.
While Publius Cornelius Nasica, [y. r. 614. b. c. 138,] (who was nicknamed Scrapio by the plebeian tribune Curiatius, a man of humour,) and Decius Junius Brutus, the consuls, were holding the levies, an act of public justice was done, in the sight of the whole body of the young men then assembled, which afforded a very useful example: Caius Matienus was accused, before the tribunes, of deserting from the army in Spain; being found guilty, he was scourged under the gallows, and sold as a slave, for a sestertius.[111] The tribunes of the people claimed the privilege of exempting from service any ten soldiers whom they thought proper; on this being refused by the consuls, they commit the latter to prison. Junius Brutus, the consul in Spain, allots lands, and a town called Valentia, to the soldiers who had served under Viriathus. Marcus Popilius, having made peace with the Numantines, which the senate refused to ratify, was routed, and his whole army put to flight. [y. r. 615. b. c. 137.] While Caius Hostilius Mancinus, the consul, was sacrificing, the holy chickens escape from their coop, and fly away; afterwards, as he was getting on board his ship, to sail for Spain, a voice is heard crying out, “Go not, Mancinus, go not.” The event afterwards proves these omens to have been inauspicious: for, being vanquished by the Numantines, and driven out of his camp, when he had no prospect of preserving his army, he made a disgraceful peace, which the senate likewise refused to ratify. Upon this occasion thirty thousand Romans were beaten by only four thousand Numantines. Decius Junius Brutus subdues all Lusitania, as far as the western sea; and when his soldiers refused to pass the river Oblivio, he seizes the standard and carries it over; whereupon they follow him. The son of Alexander, king of Syria, was traitorously murdered by his guardian Diodotus, surnamed Tryphon: his physicians were bribed to give out that he had a stone in his bladder; and in pretending to cut him for it, they killed him.
BOOK LVI.
[y. r. 616. b. c. 136.] Decius Junius Brutus fought with success against the Gallæcians, in Farther Spain: Marcus Æmilius Lepidus engages the Vaccæans, unsuccessfully, and is as unfortunate as Mancinus was against the Numantines. The Romans, to absolve themselves from the guilt of breach of treaty, order Mancinus, who made the peace with the Numantines, to be delivered up to that people; but they refuse to receive him. [y. r. 617. b. c. 135.] The lustrum was closed by the censors: the number of citizens was three hundred and twenty-three thousand. Fulvius Flaccus, the consul, subdued the Vardeans in Illyria. Marcus Cosconius, the prætor, fights against the Scordiscians, in Thrace, and conquers them. The war in Numantia still continuing, owing to the ill-conduct of the generals, the senate and people voluntarily confer the consulship upon Scipio Africanus: on which occasion the law, which prohibits any man from being elected consul a second time, is dispensed with. [y. r. 618. b. c. 134.] An insurrection of the slaves arose in Sicily; which is committed to the care of the consul, Caius Fulvius, when the prætor is unable to quell it. Eunus, a slave, a Syrian by birth, was the author of this war; by gathering a large body of the rustic slaves, and breaking open the prisons, he raised a considerable army: Cleon also, another slave, having assembled seventy thousand slaves, joins him; and they, several times, engage the Roman forces in those parts.
BOOK LVII.
Scipio Africanus laid siege to Numantia, [y. r. 619. b. c. 133,] and restored to the strictest military discipline the army, which had been corrupted by licentiousness and luxury: this he effected by cutting off every kind of pleasurable gratification; driving away the prostitutes who followed the camp, to the number of two thousand; keeping the soldiers to hard labour, and compelling every man to bear on his shoulders provisions for thirty days, besides seven stakes for their fortifications; to any one who lagged behind on account of the burden, he used to cry out, When you are able to defend yourself with your sword, then cease to carry your fortification; he ordered another who carried with ease a small shield, to bear one unusually large; and not unfrequently ridiculed them for being more expert in managing their shields for the defence of their own bodies, than their swords for the annoyance of those of the enemy. When he found any man absent from his post, he ordered him to be flogged with vine twigs, if a Roman; if a foreigner, with rods. He sold all the beasts of burden, that the soldiers might be forced to carry their own baggage. He engaged in frequent skirmishes with the enemy, with good success. The Vaccæans, being reduced to extremity, first put their wives and children to death, and then slew themselves. Antiochus, king of Syria, having sent him some very magnificent presents, Scipio, contrary to the practice of other commanders who used to conceal these royal gifts, received them openly, and ordered the quæstor to place the whole to the public account, and promised out of them, to reward those who should most distinguish themselves by their valour. When Numantia was closely invested on all sides, he gave orders that those who came out in search of victuals should not be killed; saying, that the more numerous the inhabitants were, the sooner would their provisions be consumed.