10
Afterwards, as the contest proceeded, when the superior numbers of the Latins had the advantage in some places, the consul, Manlius, on hearing the circumstance of his colleague's death, after he had, as was right and just, honoured his so glorious a death with tears, as well as with praises so well merited, hesitated, for a little time, whether it was yet time for the Triarii to rise; then judging it better that they should be kept fresh for the decisive blow, he ordered the Accensi to advance from the rear before the standards. When they moved forward, the Latins immediately called up their Triarii, as if their opponents had done the same thing: who, when they had by desperate fighting for a considerable time both fatigued themselves, and had either broken or blunted their spears, and were, however, beating back their adversaries, thinking that the battle was now nearly decided, and that they had come to the last line; then the consul calls to the Triarii, "Arise now, fresh as ye are, against men now wearied, mindful of your country and parents, your wives and children; mindful of your consul who has submitted to death to insure your victory." When the Triarii arose, fresh as they were, with their arms glittering, a new line which appeared unexpectedly, receiving the antepilani into the intervals between the ranks, raised a shout, and broke through the first line of the Latins; and goading their faces, after cutting down thosewho constituted their principal strength, they passed almost intact through the other companies, with such slaughter that they scarcely left one fourth of the enemy. The Samnites also, drawn up at a distance at the foot of the mountain, struck terror into the Latins. But of all, whether citizens or allies, the principal praise for that action was due to the consuls; the one of whom turned on himself alone all the threats and dangers (denounced) by the divinities of heaven and hell; the other evinced such valour and such judgment in the battle, that it was universally agreed among both the Romans and Latins who have transmitted to posterity an account of the battle, that, on whichever side Titus Manlius held the command, the victory must belong to that. The Latins in their flight betook themselves to Minturnæ. Immediately after the battle the camp was taken, and great numbers still alive were surprised therein, chiefly Campanians. Night surprised them in their search, and prevented the body of Decius from being discovered on that day. On the day after it was found amid vast heaps of slaughtered enemies, pierced with a great number of darts, and his funeral was solemnized under the direction of his colleague, in a manner suited to his death. It seems right to add here, that it is lawful for a consul, a dictator, and a prætor, when he devotes the legions of the enemy, to devote not himself particularly, but whatever citizen he may choose out of a Roman legion regularly enrolled: if the person who has been devoted die, the matter is duly performed; if he do not perish, then an image, seven feet high or more, must be buried in the ground, and a victim slain, as an expiation. Where that image shall be buried, there it is not lawful that a Roman magistrate should pass. But if he wish to devote himself, as Decius did, unless he who has devoted himself die, he shall not with propriety perform any act of religion regarding either himself or the public. Should he wish to devote his arms to Vulcan or to any other god, he has a right, whether he shall please, by a victim, or in any other manner. It is not proper that the enemy should get possession of the weapon, on which the consul, standing, pronounced the imprecation: if they should get possession of it, then an expiation must be made to Mars by the sacrifices called the Suove-taurilia. Although the memory of every divine and human custom has been obliterated, in consequence of preferring what is modern and foreign to that which is ancient and belonging to our own country, I deemed it not irrelevant to relate the particulars even in the very terms used, as they have been handed down and expressed.
11
I find it stated in some writers, that the Samnites, having awaited the issue of the battle, came at length with support to the Romans after the battle was over. Also aid from Lavinium, whilst they wasted time in deliberating, was at length sent to the Latins after they had been vanquished. And when the first standards and part of the army just issued from the gates, news being brought of the defeat of the Latins, they faced about and returned back to the city; on which occasion they say that their prætor, Milionius, observed, that "for so very short a journey a high price must be paid to the Romans." Such of the Latins as survived the battle, after being scattered over many roads, collected themselves into a body, and found refuge in the city of Vescia. There their general, Numisius, insisted in their counsels, that "the truly common fortune of war had prostrated both armies by equal losses, and that only the name of victory rested with the Romans; that in other respects they too shared the lot of defeated persons; the two pavilions of the consuls were polluted; one by the murder committed on a son, the other by the blood of a devoted consul; that their army was cut down in every direction; their spearmen and principes were cut down; great havoc was made before the standards and behind them; the Triarii at length restored their cause. Though the forces of the Latins were cut down in an equal proportion, yet for reinforcements, Latium or the Volscians were nearer than Rome. Wherefore, if they thought well of it, he would speedily call out the youth from the Latin and Volscian states, and would return to Capua with a determined army, and by his unexpected arrival strike dismay among the Romans, who were expecting nothing less than battle." Deceptive letters being sent around Latium and the Volscian nation, a tumultuary army, hastily raised from all quarters, was assembled, for as they had not been present at the battle, they were more disposed to believe on slight grounds. This army the consul Torquatus met at Trisanum, a place between Sinuessa and Minturnæ. Before a place was selected for acamp, the baggage on both sides being piled up in a heap, they fought and terminated the war; for so impaired was their strength, that all the Latins surrendered themselves to the consul, who was leading his victorious army to lay waste their lands, and the Campanians followed the example of this surrender. Latium and Capua were fined some land. The Latin with the addition of the Privernian land; and the Falernian land, which had belonged to the people of Campania, as far as the river Vulturnus, is all distributed to the commons of Rome. In the Latin land two acres a man were assigned, so that they should receive an additional three-fourths of an acre from the Privernian land; in the Falernian land three acres were assigned, one fourth of an acre being further added, in consideration of the distance. Of the Latins the Laurentians were exempted from punishment, as also the horsemen of the Campanians, because they had not revolted. An order was issued that the treaty should be renewed with the Laurentians; and it is renewed every year since, on the tenth day after the Latin festival. The rights of citizenship were granted to the Campanian horsemen; and that it might serve as a memorial, they hung up a brazen tablet in the temple of Castor at Rome. The Campanian state was also enjoined to pay them a yearly stipend of four hundred and fifty denarii each; their number amounted to one thousand six hundred.
12
The war being thus concluded, after rewards and punishment were distributed according to the deserts of each, Titus Manlius returned to Rome: on his approach it appears that the aged only went forth to meet him; and that the young men, both then, and all his life after, detested and cursed him. The Antians made incursions on the territories of Ostia, Ardea, and Solonia. The consul Manlius, because he was unable by reason of his health to conduct that war, nominated as dictator Lucius Papirius Crassus, who then happened to be prætor; by him Lucius Papirius Cursor was appointed master of the horse. Nothing worthy of mention was performed against the Antians by the dictator, although he had kept a standing camp for several months in the Antian territory. To a year signalized by a victory over so many and such powerful states, further by the illustrious death of one of the consuls, as well as by the unrelenting, though memorable, severity of command in the other, there succeeded as consuls Titus Æmilius Mamercinus and Quintus Publilius Philo; neither to a similar opportunity of exploits, and they themselves being mindful rather of their own interests as well as of those of the parties in the state, than of the interests of their country. They routed on the plains of Ferentinum, and stripped of their camp, the Latins, who, in resentment of the land they had lost, took up arms again. Publilius, under whose guidance and auspices the action had been fought, receiving the submission of the Latin states, who had lost a great many of their young men there, Æmilius marched the army to Pedum. The people of Pedum were supported by the states of Tibur, Præneste, and Velitræ; auxiliaries had also come from Lanuvium and Antium. Where, though the Romans had the advantage in several engagements, still the entire labour remained at the city of Pedum itself and at the camp of the allied states, which was adjoining the city: suddenly leaving the war unfinished, because he heard that a triumph was decreed to his colleague, he himself also returned to Rome to demand a triumph before a victory had been obtained. The senate displeased by this ambitious conduct, and refusing a triumph unless Pedum was either taken or should surrender, Æmilius, alienated from the senate in consequence of this act, administered the remainder of the consulship like to a seditious tribuneship. For, as long as he was consul, he neither ceased to criminate the patricians to the people, his colleague by no means interfering, because he himself also was a plebeian; (the scanty distribution of the land among the commons in the Latin and Falernian territory afforded the groundwork of the criminations;) and when the senate, wishing to put an end to the administration of the consuls, ordered a dictator to be nominated against the Latins, who were again in arms, Æmilius, to whom the fasces then belonged, nominated his colleague dictator; by him Junius Brutus was constituted master of the horse. The dictatorship was popular, both in consequence of his discourses containing invectives against the patricians, and because he passed three laws, most advantageous to the commons, and injurious to the nobility; one, that the orders of the commons should be binding on all the Romans; another, that the patricians should, before the suffrages commenced, declare their approbation of the laws which should be passed in the assemblies of the centuries; the third, that one at least of the censorsshould be elected from the commons, as they had already gone so far as that it was lawful that both the consuls should be plebeians. The patricians considered that more of detriment had been sustained on that year from the consuls and dictator than was counterbalanced by their success and achievements abroad.
13
On the following year, Lucius Furius Camillus and Caius Mænius were consuls, in order that the neglect of his duty by Æmilius, the consul of the preceding year, might be rendered more markedly reproachful, the senate loudly urge that Pedum should be assailed with arms, men, and every kind of force, and be demolished; and the new consuls, being forced to give that matter the precedence of all others, set out on that expedition. The state of affairs was now such in Latium, that they could no longer submit to either war or peace. For war they were deficient in resources; they spurned at peace through resentment for the loss of their land. It seemed necessary therefore to steer a middle course, to keep within their towns, so that the Romans by being provoked might have no pretext for hostilities; and that if the siege of any town should be announced to them, aid should be sent from every quarter from all the states. And still the people of Pedum were aided by only a very few states. The Tiburtians and Prænestines, whose territory lay nearest, came to Pedum. Mænius suddenly making an attack, defeated the Aricinians, and Lanuvians, and Veliternians, at the river Astura, the Volscians of Antium forming a junction with them. The Tiburtian, far the strongest body, Camillus engages at Pedum, encountering much greater difficulty, though with a result equally successful. A sudden sally of the townsmen during the battle chiefly occasioned confusion: Camillus, turning on these with a part of his army, not only drove them within their walls, but on the very same day, after he had discomfited themselves and their auxiliaries, he took the town by scalade. It was then resolved to lead round with greater energy and spirit his victorious army from the storming of a single city to the entire conquest of Latium. Nor did they stop until they reduced all Latium, either by storming, or by becoming masters of the cities one after the other by capitulation. Then, disposing garrisons in the towns which they had taken, they departed to Rome to a triumphuniversally admitted to be due to them. To the triumph was added the honour of having equestrian statues erected to them in the forum, a compliment very unusual at that period. Before they commenced holding the meeting for the election of the consuls for the ensuing year, Camillus moved the senate concerning the Latin states, and spoke thus: "Conscript fathers, that which was to be done by war and arms in Latium has now been fully accomplished by the bounty of the gods and the valour of the soldiers. The armies of the enemy have been cut down at Pedum and the Astura. All the Latin towns, and Antium belonging to the Volscians, either taken by storm, or received into surrender, are occupied by your garrisons. It now remains to be considered, since they annoy us by their repeated rebellions, how we may keep them in quiet submission and in the observance of perpetual peace. The immortal gods have put the determination of this matter so completely in your power, that they have placed it at your option whether Latium is to exist henceforward or not. Ye can therefore insure to yourselves perpetual peace, as far as regards the Latins, either by adopting severe or lenient measures. Do ye choose to adopt cruel conduct towards people who have surrendered and have been conquered? Ye may destroy all Latium, make a vast desert of a place whence, in many and serious wars, ye have often made use of an excellent army of allies. Do you wish, according to the example of your ancestors, to augment the Roman state by admitting the vanquished among your citizens? Materials for extending your power by the highest glory are at hand. That government is certainly by far the most secure, which the subjects feel a pleasure in obeying. But whatever determination ye wish to come to, it is necessary that it be speedy. So many states have ye in a state of suspense between hope and fear; and it is necessary that you be discharged as soon as possible of your solicitude about them, and that their minds, whilst they are still in a state of insensibility from uncertainty, be at once impressed either by punishment or clemency. It was our duty to bring matters to such a pass that you may have full power to deliberate on every matter; yours to decide what is most expedient to yourselves and the commonwealth."
14
The principal members of the senate applauded theconsul's statement of the business on the whole; but said that "as the states were differently circumstanced, that their plan might be readily adjusted so that it might be determined according to the desert of each, if they should put the question regarding each state specifically." The question was therefore so put regarding each separately and a decree past. To the Lanuvians the right of citizenship was granted, and the exercise of their religious rights was restored to them with this provision, that the temple and grove of Juno Sospita should be common between the Lanuvian burghers and the Roman people. The Aricians, Nomentans, and Pedans were admitted into the number of citizens on the same terms as the Lanuvians. To the Tusculans the rights of citizenship which they already possessed were continued; and the crime of rebellion was turned from disaffection on public grounds against a few instigators. On the Veliternians, Roman citizens of long standing, measures of great severity were inflicted because they had so often rebelled; their walls were razed, and their senate removed from thence, and they were ordered to dwell on the other side of the Tiber, so that the fine of any individual who should be caught on the hither side of that river should amount to one thousandasses; and that the person who had apprehended him, should not discharge his prisoner from confinement, until the money was paid down. Into the land of the senators colonists were sent; from the additions of which Velitræ recovered its appearance of former populousness. A new colony was also sent to Antium, with this provision, that if the Antians desired to be enrolled as colonists, permission to that effect should be granted. Their ships of war were removed from thence, and the people of Antium were interdicted the sea, and the rights of citizenship were granted them. The Tiburtians and Prænestines were amerced in some land, not only on account of the recent guilt of the rebellion, which was common to them with the other Latins; but also because, from their dislike to the Roman government, they had formerly associated in arms with the Gauls, a nation of savages. From the other Latin states they took away the privileges of intermarriage, commerce, and of holding meetings. To the Campanians, in compliment to their horsemen, because they had refused to join in rebellion with the Latins, and to the Fundans and Formians,because the passage through their territories had been always secure and peaceful, the freedom of the state was granted with the right of suffrage. It was determined that the people of Cumæ and Suessula should have the same rights and be on the same footing as Capua. Of the ships of the Antians some were drawn up to the docks at Rome, some were burned, and with the prows of these a pulpit built in the forum was ordered to be decorated; and that temple was called Rostra.
15
During the consulship of Caius Sulpicius Longus and Publius Ælius Pætus, when the Roman power not more than the kindly feeling engendered by acts of kindness diffused the blessings of peace among all parties, a war broke out between the Sidicinians and Auruncans. The Auruncans having been admitted into alliance on the occasion of their surrendering, had since that period made no disturbance; accordingly they had a juster pretext for seeking aid from the Romans. But before the consuls led forth their army from the city, (for the senate had ordered the Auruncans to be defended,) intelligence is brought that the Auruncans deserted their town through fear, and flying with their wives and children, that they fortified Suessa, which is now called Aurunca; that their ancient walls and city were demolished by the Sidicinians. The senate being in consequence incensed against the consuls, by whose delays the allies had been betrayed, ordered a dictator to be created. Caius Claudius Regillensis was appointed, and he nominated Caius Claudius Hortator as master of the horse. A scruple afterwards arose concerning the dictator; and when the augurs declared that he seemed to have been created under an informality, the dictator and the master of the horse laid down their office. This year Minucia, a vestal, at first suspected on account of her dress being more elegant than was becoming, afterwards being arraigned before the pontiffs on the testimony of a slave, after she had been ordered by their decree to abstain from meddling in sacred rites, and to keep her slaves under her own power, when brought to trial, was buried alive at the Colline gate, on the right of the causeway, in the field of wickedness. I suppose that name was given to the place from her crime. On the same year Quintus Publilius Philo was the first of the plebeians elected prætor, being opposed by Sulpicius the consul, who refused to take any notice of him as a candidate; the senate, as they had not succeeded on that ground in the case of the highest offices, being less earnest with respect to the prætorship.
16
The following year, Lucius Papirius Crassus and Kæso Duilius being consuls, was distinguished by a war with the Ausonians, as being new rather than important. This people inhabited the city Cales; they had united their arms with their neighbours the Sidicinians; and the army of the two states being defeated in one battle scarcely worthy of record, was induced to take to flight the earlier in consequence of the proximity of the cities, and the more sheltered on their flight. Nor did the senate, however, discontinue their attention to that war, because the Sidicinians had now so often taken up arms either as principals, or had afforded aid to those who did so, or had been the cause of hostilities. Accordingly they exerted themselves with all their might, to raise to the consulship for the fourth time, Marcus Valerius Corvus, the greatest general of that day. To Corvus was added Marcus Atilius Regulus as colleague; and lest any disappointment might by any chance occur, a request was made of the consuls, that, without drawing lots, that province might be assigned to Corvus. Receiving the victorious army from the former consuls, proceeding to Cales, whence the war had originated, after he had, at the first shout and onset, routed the enemy, who were disheartened by the recollection also of the former engagement, he set about attacking the town itself. And such was the ardour of the soldiers, that they wished to advance immediately up to the walls, and strenuously asserted that they would scale them. Corvus, because that was a hazardous undertaking, wished to accomplish his object rather by the labour than the risk of his men. Accordingly he formed a rampart, prepared his vineæ, and advanced towers up to the walls; but an opportunity which accidentally presented itself, prevented the occasion for them. For Marcius Fabius, a Roman prisoner, when, having broken his chains during the inattention of his guards on a festival day, suspending himself by means of a rope which was fastened to a battlement of the wall, he let himself down by the hands, persuaded the general to make an assault on the enemy whilst stupified by wine and feasting; nor were the Ausonians, together with their city, captured with greater difficulty than they had been routed in the field. A great amount of booty was obtained; and a garrison being stationed at Cales,the legions were marched back to Rome. The consul triumphed in pursuance of a decree of the senate; and that Atilius might not be without a share of glory, both the consuls were ordered to lead the army against the Sidicinians. But first, in conformity with a decree of the senate, they nominated as dictator for the purpose of holding the elections, Lucius Æmilius Mamercinus; he named Quintus Publilius Philo his master of the horse. The dictator presiding at the elections, Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius were elected consuls. Though a part of the war with the Sidicinians still remained; yet that they might anticipate, by an act of kindness, the wishes of the commons, they proposed about sending a colony to Cales; and a decree of the senate being passed that two thousand five hundred men should be enrolled for that purpose, they appointed Kæso Duilius, Titus Quinctius, and Marcus Fabius commissioners for conducting the colony and distributing the land.
17
The new consuls then, recovering the army from their predecessors, entered the enemy's territories and carried their depredations up to the walls and the city. There because the Sidicinians, who had raised a numerous army, seemed determined to fight vigorously for their last hope, and a report existed that Samnium also was preparing for hostilities, Publius Cornelius Rufinus was created dictator by the consuls in pursuance of a decree of the senate; Marcus Antonius was nominated master of the horse. A scruple afterwards arose that they were elected under an informality: and they laid down their office; and because a pestilence followed, recourse was had to an interregnum, as if all the auspices had been infected by that irregularity. By Marcus Valerius Corvus, the fifth interrex from the commencement of the interregnum, Aulus Cornelius a second time, and Cneius Domitius were elected consuls. Things being now tranquil, the rumour of a Gallic war had the effect of a real outbreak, so that they were determined that a dictator should be nominated. Marcus Papirius Crassus was nominated, and Publius Valerius Publicola master of the horse. And when the levy was conducted by them with more activity than was deemed necessary in the case of neighbouring wars, scouts were sent out and brought word, that there was perfect quiet with the Gauls in every direction. It was suspected that Samnium also was now for the second yearin a state of disturbance in consequence of their entertaining new designs: hence the Roman troops were not withdrawn from the Sidicinian territory. But a hostile attack made by Alexander of Epirus on the Lucanians drew away the attention of the Samnites to another quarter; these two nations fought a pitched battle against the king, as he was making a descent on the district adjoining Pæstum. Alexander, having come off victorious in that contest, concluded a peace with the Romans; with what fidelity he would have kept it, if his other projects had been equally successful, is uncertain. The same year the census was performed, and the new citizens were rated; on their account the Mæscian and Scaptian tribes were added: the censors who added them were Quintus Publilius Philo and Spurius Postumius. The Acerrans were enrolled as Romans, in conformity with a law introduced by the prætor, Lucius Papirius, by which the right of citizenship with the privilege of suffrage was conferred. These were the transactions at home and abroad during that year.
18
The following year was disastrous, whether by the intemperature of the air, or by human guilt, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Caius Valerius being consuls. I find in the annals Flaccus and Potitus variously given as the surname of the consul; but in this it is of little consequence which is the true one. I would heartily wish that this other account were a false one, (nor indeed do all writers mention it,) viz. that those persons, whose death rendered the year signal for the pestilence, were carried off by poison. The circumstance however must be stated as it is handed down to us, that I may not detract from the credit of any writer. When the principal persons of the state were dying of similar diseases, and all generally with the same result, a certain maid-servant undertook, before Quintius Fabius Maximus, curule ædile, to discover the cause of the public malady, provided the public faith would be given to her by him, that the discovery should not be made detrimental to her. Fabius immediately lays the matter before the consuls, and the consuls before the senate, and with the concurrence of that order the public faith was pledged to the informer. It was then disclosed that the state was afflicted by the wickedness of certain women, and that certain matrons were preparing those poisonous drugs; and if they wished to follow her forthwith, they might be detected in the very fact. Having followed the informer, they found women preparing certain drugs, and others of the same kind laid up. These being brought into the forum, and several matrons, to the number of twenty, in whose possession they had been detected, being summoned by the beadle, two of them, Cornelia and Sergia, both of patrician rank, maintaining that these drugs were wholesome, were directed by the informer who confronted them to drink some, that they might convict her of having stated what was false; having taken time to confer together, when, the crowd being removed, they referred the matter to the other matrons in the open view of all; they also not refusing to drink, they all drank of the preparation, and perished by their own wicked device. Their attendants being instantly seized, informed against a great number of matrons, of whom to the number of one hundred and seventy were condemned. Nor up to that day was there ever an inquiry made at Rome concerning poisoning. The circumstance was considered a prodigy; and seemed the act rather of insane persons than of persons depraved by guilt. Wherefore mention having been found in the annals, that formerly in the secessions of the commons the nail had been driven by the dictator, and that the minds of the people, distracted by discord, had been restored to a sane state, it was determined that a dictator should be nominated for the purpose of driving the nail. Cneius Quinctilius being nominated, appointed Lucius Valerius master of the horse, who, as soon as the nail was driven, abdicated their offices.
19
Lucius Papirius Crassus a second time, and Lucius Plautius Venno were elected consuls; at the commencement of which year ambassadors came to Rome from the Fabraternians, a Volscian people, and from the Lucanians, soliciting to be admitted into alliance: [promising] that if they were defended from the arms of the Samnites, they would continue in fidelity and obedience under the government of the Roman people. Ambassadors were then sent by the senate; and the Samnites were directed to withhold all violence from the territories of those states; and this embassy proved effectual not so much because the Samnites were desirous of peace, as because they were not prepared for war. The same year a war broke out with the people of Privernum; in which the people of Fundi were their supporters, their leader also beinga Fundanian, Vitruvius Vaccus; a man of distinction not only at home, but in Rome also. He had a house on the Palatine hill, which, after the building was razed and the ground thrown open, was called the Vacciprata. Lucius Papirius having set out to oppose him whilst devastating extensively the districts of Setia, Norba, and Cora, posted himself at no great distance from his camp. Vitruvius neither adopted the prudent resolution to enclose himself with his trenches against an enemy his superior in strength, nor had he sufficient courage to engage at any great distance from his camp. When his army had scarcely got out of the gate of the camp, and his soldiers were looking backwards to flight rather than to battle or the enemy, he enters on an engagement without judgment or boldness; and as he was conquered by a very slight effort and unequivocally, so did he by the very shortness of the distance, and by the facility of his retreat into the camp so near at hand, protect his soldiers without difficulty from much loss; and scarcely were any slain in the engagement itself, and but few in the confusion of the flight in the rear, whilst they were making their way into the camp; and as soon as it was dark they repaired to Privernum in trepidation, so that they might protect themselves rather by walls than by a rampart. Plautius, the other consul, after laying waste the lands in every direction and driving off the spoil, leads his army into the Fundanian territory. The senate of the Fundanians met him as he was entering their borders; they declare that "they had not come to intercede in behalf of Vitruvius or those who followed his faction, but in behalf of the people of Fundi, whose exemption from any blame in the war had been proved by Vitruvius himself, when he made Privernum his place of retreat, and not his native country, Fundi. At Privernum, therefore, the enemies of the Roman people were to be looked for, and punished, who revolted at the same time from the Fundanians and the Romans, unmindful of both countries. That the Fundanians were at peace, that they had Roman feelings and a grateful recollection of the political rights received. They entreated the consul to withhold war from an inoffensive people; their lands, city, their own bodies and those of their wives and children, were, and ever should be, at the disposal of the Roman people." The consul, having commended the Fundanians, and despatched letters to Rome that the Fundanians had preserved their allegiance,turned his march to Privernum. Claudius states, that the consul first punished those who were at the head of the conspiracy; that three hundred and fifty of the conspirators were sent in chains to Rome; and that such submission was not received by the senate, because they considered that the people of Fundi wished to come off with impunity by the punishment of needy and humble persons.
20
While the siege of Privernum was being conducted by the two consular armies, one of the consuls was recalled to Rome, on account of the elections. This year gaols were first erected in the circus. While the attention of the public was still occupied by the Privernian war, an alarming report of the Gauls being in arms, a matter scarcely ever slighted by the senate, suddenly came on them. The new consuls, therefore, Lucius Æmilius Mamercinus and Caius Plautius, on the calends of July, the very day on which they entered into office, received orders to settle the provinces immediately between themselves; and Mamercinus, to whom the Gallic war fell, was directed to levy troops, without admitting any plea of immunity: nay, it is said, that even the rabble of handicrafts, and those of sedentary trades, of all the worst qualified for military service, were called out; and a vast army was collected at Veii, in readiness to meet the Gauls. It was thought proper not to proceed to a greater distance, lest the enemy might by some other route arrive at the city without being observed. In the course of a few days it being ascertained, on a careful inquiry, that every thing on that side was quiet at the time; the whole force, which was to have opposed the Gauls, was then turned against Privernum. Of the issue of the business, there are two different accounts: some say, that the city was taken by storm; and that Vitruvius fell alive into the hands [of the conquerors]: others maintain that the townsmen, to avoid the extremities of a storm, presenting the rod of peace, surrendered to the consul; and that Vitruvius was delivered up by his troops. The senate, being consulted with respect to Vitruvius and the Privernians, sent directions, that the consul Plautius should demolish the walls of Privernum, and, leaving a strong garrison there, come home to enjoy the honour of a triumph; at the same time ordering that Vitruvius should be kept in prison, until the return of the consul, and that he should then be beaten with rods, and put to death. His house, which stoodon the Palatine hill, they commanded to be razed to the ground, and his effects to be devoted to Semo Sancus. With the money produced by the sale of them, brazen globes were formed, and placed in the chapel of Sancus, opposite to the temple of Quirinus. As to the senate of Privernum, it was decreed, that every person who had continued to act as a senator of Privernum, after the revolt from the Romans, should reside on the farther side of the Tiber, under the same restrictions as those of Velitræ. After the passing of these decrees, there was no further mention of the Privernians, until Plautius had triumphed. After the triumph, Vitruvius, with his accomplices, having been put to death, the consul thought that all being now fully gratified by the sufferings of the guilty, allusion might be safely made to the business of the Privernians, he spoke in the following manner: "Conscript fathers, since the authors of the revolt have received, both from the immortal gods and from you, the punishment so well merited, what do ye judge proper to be done with respect to the guiltless multitude? For my part, although my duty consists rather in collecting the opinions of others than in offering my own, yet, when I reflect that the Privernians are situated in the neighbourhood of the Samnites, our peace with whom is exceedingly uncertain, I should wish, that as little ground of animosity as possible may be left between them and us."
21
The affair naturally admitted of a diversity of opinions, each, agreeably to his particular temper, recommending either severity or lenity; matters were still further perplexed by one of the Privernian ambassadors, more mindful of the prospects to which he had been born, than to the exigency of the present juncture: who being asked by one of the advocates for severity, "What punishment he thought the Privernians deserved?" answered, "Such as those deserve who deem themselves worthy of liberty." The consul observing, that, by this stubborn answer, those who were adverse to the cause of the Privernians were the more exasperated against them, and wishing, by a question of favourable import, to draw from him a more conciliating reply, said to him, "What if we remit the punishment, in what manner may we expect that ye will observe the peace which shall be established between us?" He replied, "If the peace which ye grant us be a goodone, both inviolable and eternal; if bad, of no long continuance." Then indeed some exclaimed, that the Privernian menaced them, and not in ambiguous terms; and that by such expressions peaceable states were incited to rebellion. But the more reasonable part of the senate interpreted his answers more favourably, and said, that "the words they had heard were those of a man, and of a free-man. Could it be believed that any people, or even any individual, would remain, longer than necessity constrained, in a situation which he felt painful? That peace was faithfully observed, only when those at peace were voluntarily so; but that fidelity was not to be expected where they wished to establish slavery." In this opinion they were led to concur, principally, by the consul himself, who frequently observed to the consulars, who had proposed the different resolutions, in such a manner as to be heard by several, that "surely those men only who thought of nothing but liberty, were worthy of being made Romans." They consequently both carried their cause in the senate; and, moreover, by direction of that body, a proposal was laid before the people, that the freedom of the state should be granted to the Privernians. The same year a colony of three hundred was sent to Anxur, and received two acres of land each.
22
The year following, in which the consuls were Publius Plautius Proculus and Publius Cornelius Scapula, was remarkable for no one transaction, civil or military, except the sending of a colony to Fregellæ, a district which had belonged to the Sidicinians, and afterwards to the Volscians; and a distribution of meat to the people, made by Marcus Flavius, on occasion of the funeral of his mother. There were many who represented, that, under the appearance of doing honour to his parent, a deserved recompence was made to the people, for having acquitted him, when prosecuted by the ædiles on a charge of having debauched a married woman. This distribution of meat intended as a return for favours shown on the trial, proved also the means of procuring him the honour of a public office; for, at the next election, though absent, he was preferred before the candidates who solicited in person the tribuneship of the commons. The city of Palæpolis was situated at no great distance from the spot where Neapolis now stands. The two cities were inhabited by one people: these came from Cumæ, and the Cumans derive their originfrom Chalcis in Eubœa. By means of the fleet in which they had been conveyed hither, they possessed great power on the coast of the sea, near which they dwelt. Having first landed on the islands of Ænaria, and the Pithecusæ, they afterwards ventured to transfer their settlement to the continent. This state, relying both on their own strength, as well as on the treacherous nature of the alliance of the Samnites with the Romans; or, encouraged by the report of a pestilence having attacked the city of Rome, committed various acts of hostility against the Romans settled in the Campanian and Falernian territories. Wherefore, in the succeeding consulate of Lucius Cornelius, and Quintus Publilius Philo a second time, heralds being sent to Palæpolis to demand satisfaction, when a haughty answer was returned by these Greeks, a race more magnanimous in words than in action, the people, in pursuance of the direction of the senate, ordered war to be declared against the Palæpolitans. On settling the provinces between the consuls, the war against the Greeks fell to Publilius. Cornelius, with another army, was appointed to watch the Samnites if they should attempt any movement; but a report prevailed that they, anxiously expecting a revolt in Campania, intended to march their troops thither; that was judged by Cornelius the properest station for him.
23
The senate received information, from both the consuls, that there was very little hope of peace with the Samnites. Publilius informed them, that two thousand soldiers from Nolæ, and four thousand of the Samnites, had been received into Palæpolis, a measure rather forced on the Greeks by the Nolans than agreeable to their inclination. Cornelius wrote, that a levy of troops had been ordered, that all Samnium was in motion, and that the neighbouring states of Privernum, Fundi, and Formiæ, were openly solicited to join them. When in consequence it was thought proper, that, before hostilities were commenced, ambassadors should be sent to the Samnites, an insolent answer is returned by them; they even went so far as to accuse the Romans of behaving injuriously towards them; but, nevertheless, they took pains to clear themselves of the charges made against them, asserting, that "the Greeks were not assisted with either counsel or aid by their state, nor were the Fundanians or Formians tampered with by them; for, if they were disposed to war,they had not the least reason to be diffident of their own strength. However, they could not dissemble, that it gave great offence to the state of the Samnites, that Fregellæ, by them taken from the Volscians and demolished, should have been rebuilt by the Romans; and that they should have established a colony within the territory of the Samnites, to which their colonists gave the name of Fregellæ. This injury and affront, if not done away by the authors, they were determined themselves to remove, by every means in their power." When one of the Roman ambassadors proposed to discuss the matter before their common allies and friends, their magistrate said, "Why do we disguise our sentiments? Romans, no conferences of ambassadors, nor arbitration of any person whatever, can terminate our differences; but the plains of Campania, in which we must meet; our arms and the common fortune of war will settle the point. Let our armies, therefore, meet between Capua and Suessula; and there let us decide, whether the Samnite or the Roman shall hold the sovereignty of Italy." To this the ambassadors of the Romans replied, "that they would go, not whither their enemy called, but whither their commanders should lead." In the mean time, Publilius, by seizing an advantageous post between Palæpolis and Neapolis, had cut off that interchange of mutual aid, which they had hitherto afforded each other, according as either place was hard pressed. Accordingly, when both the day of the elections approached, and as it was highly inexpedient for the public interest that Publilius should be called away when on the point of assailing the enemy's walls, and in daily expectation of gaining possession of their city, application was made to the tribunes, to recommend to the people the passing of an order, that Publilius Philo, when his year of office should expire, might continue in command, as pro-consul, until the war with the Greeks should be finished. A letter was despatched to Lucius Cornelius, with orders to name a dictator; for it was not thought proper that the consul should be recalled from the vigorous prosecution of the war now that he had entered into Samnium. He nominated Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who appointed Spurius Postumius master of the horse. The elections, however, were not held by the dictator, because it became a question whether he had been appointed under an irregularity;and the augurs being consulted, pronounced that it appeared that the dictator's appointment was defective. The tribunes inveighed against this proceeding as dangerous and dishonourable; "for it was not probable," they said, "that such defect could have been discovered, as the consul, rising in the night, had nominated the dictator while every thing was still;[172]nor had the said consul in any of his letters, either public or private, made any mention of such a thing to any one; nor did any person whatever come forward who said that he saw or heard any thing which could vitiate the auspices. Neither could the augurs sitting at Rome divine what inauspicious circumstance had occurred to the consul in the camp. Who did not plainly perceive, that the dictator's being a plebeian, was the defect which the augurs had discovered?" These and other arguments were urged in vain by the tribunes: the affair however ended in an interregnum. At last, after the elections had been adjourned repeatedly on one pretext or another, the fourteenth interrex, Lucius Æmilius, elected consuls Caius Pætelius, and Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, or Cursor, as I find him named in some annals.
24
It has been recorded, that in this year Alexandria in Egypt was founded; and that Alexander, king of Epirus, being slain by a Lucanian exile, verified in the circumstances of his death the prediction of Jupiter of Dodona. At the time when he was invited into Italy by the Tarentines, a caution had been given him, "to beware of the Acherusian waters and the city Pandosia, for there were fixed the limits of his destiny." For that reason he made the greater haste to pass over to Italy, in order to be at as great a distance as possible from the city Pandosia in Epirus, and the river Acheron, which, after flowing through Molossis, runs into the lakes called Infernal, and is received into the Thesprotian gulf. But, (as it frequently happens, that men, by endeavouring to shun their fate, run directly upon it,) after having often defeated the armies of Bruttium and Lucania, and taken Heraclea, a colony of the Tarentines, Consentia and Metapontum from the Lucanians, Terina from the Bruttians, and several other cities of the Messapians and Lucanians; and having sentinto Epirus three hundred illustrious families, whom he intended to keep as hostages, he posted his troops on three hills, which stood at a small distance from each other, not far from the city Pandosia, and close to the frontiers of the Bruttians and Lucanians, in order that he might thence make incursions into every part of the enemy's country. At that time he kept about his person two hundred Lucanian exiles, as faithful attendants, but whose fidelity, according to the general disposition of people of that description, was ever ready to follow the changes of fortune. When continual rains spread such an inundation over all the plains, as cut off from the three separate divisions of the army all means of mutual aid, the two parties, in neither of which the king was present, were suddenly attacked and overpowered by the enemy, who, after putting them to the sword, employed their whole force in blockading the king himself. From this place the Lucanian exiles sent emissaries to their countrymen, and stipulating a safe return for themselves, promised to deliver the king, either alive or dead, into their power. But he, bravely resolving to make an extraordinary effort, at the head of a chosen band, broke through the midst of their forces; engaged singly, and slew the general of the Lucanians, and collecting together his men, who had been scattered in the retreat, arrived at a river which pointed out his road by the ruins of a bridge which had been recently broken by the violence of the flood. Here, while the party was fording the river on a very uneven bottom, a soldier, almost spent with fatigue and apprehension, cried out as a reflection on the odious name of it,—"You are justly named Acheros (dismal):" which expression reaching the king's ears, and instantly recalling to his mind the fate denounced on him, he halted, hesitating whether he should cross over or not. Then Sotimus, one of the royal band of youths which attended him, asking why he delayed in such a critical moment, showed him that the Lucanians were watching an opportunity to perpetrate some act of treachery: whereupon the king, looking back, and seeing them coming towards him in a body, drew his sword, and pushed on his horse through the middle of the river. When he had now reached the shallow, a Lucanian exile from a distance transfixed him with a javelin: after his fall, the current carried down his lifeless body, with the weapon sticking in it, to the posts of the enemy: there ashocking mangling of it took place; for dividing it in the middle, they sent one half to Consentia, and kept the other, as a subject of mockery, to themselves. While they were throwing darts and stones at it, a woman mixing with the crowd, who were enraged to a degree beyond the credible extent of human resentment, prevailed on them to stop for a moment. She then told them with tears in her eyes that she had a husband and children, prisoners among the enemy; and that she hoped to be able with the king's body, however disfigured, to ransom her friends: this put an end to their outrages. The remnants of his limbs were buried at Consentia, entirely through the care of the woman; and his bones were sent to Metapontum to the enemy, from whence they were conveyed to Epirus to his wife Cleopatra and his sister Olympias; the latter of whom was the mother, the former the sister, of Alexander the Great. Such was the melancholy end of Alexander of Epirus; of which, although fortune did not allow him to engage in hostilities with the Romans, yet, as he waged war in Italy, I have thought it proper to give this brief account. This year, the fifth time since the building of the city, the lectisternium was performed at Rome for procuring the favour of the same deities to whom it was addressed before.