8
Although all these considerations had been urged against the motion and in its favour, the women next day poured out into public in much greater numbers, and in a body beset the doors of the tribunes who had protested against the measure of their colleagues; nor did they retire until this intervention was withdrawn. There was then no further doubt but that every one of the tribes would vote for the repeal of the law. Thus was this law annulled, in the twentieth year after it had been made. The consul Marcus Porcius, as soon as the Oppian law was abolished, sailed immediately, with twenty-five ships of war, of which five belonged to the allies, to the port of Luna, where he ordered the troops to assemble; and having sent an edict along the sea-coast, to collect ships of every description, at his departure from Luna he left orders that they should follow him to the harbour of Pyrenaeus, as he intended to proceed thence against the enemy with his collective fleet. They accordingly, after sailing by the Ligurian mountains and the Gallic bay, congregated together on the day appointed. From thence they went to Rhoda, and forcibly dislodged a garrison of Spaniards that were in that fortress. From Rhoda they proceeded with a favourable wind to Emporiae, and there landed all the forces, excepting the crews of the ships.
9
At that time, as at present, Emporiae consisted of two towns, separated by a wall. One was inhabited by Greeks from Phocaea, whence the Massilians also derive their origin; the other by Spaniards. The Greek town, being open towards the sea, had but a small extent of wall, not above four hundred paces in circuit; but the Spanish town, being farther back from the sea, had a wall three thousand paces in circumference. A third kind of inhabitants was added by the deified Caesar settling a Roman colony there, after the final defeat of the sons of Pompey. At present they are all incorporated in one mass; the Spaniards first, and, at length, the Greeks; having been adopted into the Roman citizenship. Whoever had, at that period, observed the Greeks exposed on one side to the open sea, and on the other to the Spaniards, a fierce and warlike race, would have wondered by what cause they were preserved. Deficient in strength, they guarded against danger by regular discipline; of which, among even more powerful people, the best preservative is fear. That part of the wall which faced the country, they kept strongly fortified, having but one gate, at which some one of the magistrates was continually on guard. During the night, a third part of the citizens kept watch on the walls, posting their watches, and going their rounds, not merely from the force of custom, or in compliance with the law, but with as much vigilance as if an enemy were at their gates. They never admitted any Spaniard into the city, nor did they go outside the walls without precaution. The passage to the sea was open to every one: but, through the gate, next to the Spanish town, none ever passed, but in a large body; these were generally the third division, which had watched on the walls the preceding night. The cause of their going out was this: the Spaniards, ignorant of maritime affairs, were fond of trafficking with them, and glad of an opportunity of purchasing, for their own use, the foreign goods, which the others imported in their ships; and, at the same time, of finding a market for the produce of their lands. The desire of this mutual intercourse caused the Spanish town to be freely open to the Greeks. They were thus the more protected as being sheltered under the friendship of the Romans, which they cultivated with as much cordial zeal, though not possessed of equal resources, as the Massilians. On this account they received the consul, and his army, with kindness and cordiality. Cato staid there a few days, until he could learn what force the enemy had, and where they lay; and, not to be idle during even that short delay, he spent the whole time in exercising his men. It happened to be the season of the year when the Spaniards had the corn in their barns. He therefore ordered the purveyors not to purchase any corn, and sent them home to Rome, saying, that the war would maintain itself. Then, setting out from Emporiae, he laid waste the lands of the enemy with fire and sword, spreading terror and flight through the whole country.
10
At the same time, as Marcus Helvius was going home from Farther Spain, with an escort of six thousand men, given him by the praetor, Appius Claudius, the Celtiberians, with a very numerous force, met him near the city of Illiturgi. Valerius says, that they had twenty thousand effective men; that twelve thousand of them were killed, the town of Illiturgi taken, and all the adult males put to the sword. Helvius, soon after, arrived at the camp of Cato; and as the region was now free from enemies, he sent back the escort to Farther Spain, and proceeded to Rome, where, on account of his successful services, he entered the city with an ovation. He carried into the treasury, of silver bullion, fourteen thousand pounds' weight; of coined, seventeen thousand and twenty-three denarii;[31] and Oscan[32] denarii, one hundred and twenty thousand four hundred and thirty-eight.[33] The reason for which the senate refused him a triumph was, because he fought under the auspices, and in the province, of another. He had returned, moreover, two years after the expiration of his office, because after he had resigned the government of the province to Quintus Minucius, he was detained there during the succeeding year, by a severe and tedious sickness he therefore entered the city in ovation, only two months before his successor, Quintus Minucius, enjoyed a triumph. The latter also brought into the treasury thirty-four thousand eight hundred pounds' weight of silver, seventy-eight thousand denarii,[34] and of Oscan denarii two hundred and seventy-eight thousand.[35]
11
Meanwhile, in Spain, the consul lay encamped at a small distance from Emporiae. Thither came three ambassadors from Bilistages, chieftain of the Ilergetians, one of whom was his son, representing, that "their fortresses were besieged and that they had no hopes of being able to hold out, unless the Roman troops came to their assistance. Three thousand men," they said, "would be sufficient;" and they added, that, "if such a force came to their aid, the enemy would not keep their ground." To this the consul answered, that "he was truly concerned for their danger and their fears; but that he had by no means so great an amount of forces, as that, while there lay in his neighbourhood such a powerful force of the enemy, with whom he daily expected a general engagement, he could safely diminish his strength by dividing his troops." The ambassadors, on hearing this, threw themselves at the consul's feet, and with tears conjured him "not to forsake them at such a perilous juncture. For, if rejected by the Romans, to whom could they apply? They had no other allies, no other hope on earth. They might have escaped the present hazard, if they had consented to forfeit their faith, and to conspire with the rest; but no menaces, no appearances of danger, had been able to shake their constancy, because they hoped to find in the Romans abundant succour and support. If there was no further prospect of this, if it was refused them by the consul, they called gods and men to witness, that reluctantly and under compulsion they must change sides, to avoid such sufferings as the Saguntines had undergone; and that they would perish together with the other states of Spain, rather than alone."
12
They were thus dismissed on that day without any positive answer. During the following night, the consul's thoughts were greatly perplexed and divided. He was unwilling to abandon these allies, yet equally so to diminish his army, which might either oblige him to decline a battle, or occasion danger in an engagement. He was firmly resolved, however, not to lessen his forces, lest he should in the mean time suffer some disgrace from the enemy; and therefore he judged it expedient, instead of real succour, to hold out hopes to the allies. For he considered that, in many cases, but especially in war, mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources, virtually has them; that by that very confidence he was insured in his hopes and efforts. Next day he told the ambassadors, that "although he was afraid to lend a part of his forces to others, and so to weaken his own, yet that he was giving more attention to their circumstances and danger than to his own." He then gave orders to the third part of the soldiers of every cohort, to make haste and prepare victuals, which they were to carry with them on board ships, and that the vessels should be got in readiness against the third day. He desired two of the ambassadors to carry an account of these proceedings to Bilistages and the Ilergetians; but, by kind treatment and presents, he prevailed on the chieftain's son to remain with him. The ambassadors did not leave the place until they saw the troops embarked on board the ships; then reporting this at home as a matter of certainty, they spread, not only among their own people, but likewise among the enemy, a confident assurance of the approach of Roman succours.
13
The consul, when a specious appearance had been sufficiently exhibited, ordered the soldiers to be recalled from the ships; and, as the season of the year now approached when it would be proper to enter on action, he pitched a winter camp at the distance of three miles from Emporiae. From this post he frequently led out his troops to ravage the enemy's country; sometimes to one quarter, sometimes to another, as opportunity offered, leaving only a small guard in the camp. They generally began their march in the night, that they might proceed as far as possible from the camp, and surprise the enemy unawares; and this practice disciplined the new-raised soldiers, and great numbers of the enemy were cut off; so that they no longer dared to venture beyond the walls of their forts. When he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the temper of the enemy, and of his own men, he ordered the tribunes and the praefects, with all the horsemen and centurions, to be called together, and addressed them thus: "The time is arrived, which you have often wished for, when you might have an opportunity of displaying your valour. Hitherto you have waged war rather as marauders than as regular troops; you shall now meet your enemies hand to hand, in regular fight. Henceforward you will have it in your power, instead of pillaging country places, to exhaust the treasures of cities. Our fathers, at a time when the Carthaginians had in Spain both commanders and armies, and had themselves neither commander nor soldiers there, nevertheless insisted on its being an article of treaty, that the river Iberus should be the boundary of their empire. Now, when two praetors of the Romans, when a consul, and three armies are employed in Spain, and, for near ten years past, no Carthaginian has been in either of its provinces, yet we have lost that empire on the hither side of the Iberus. This it is your duty to recover by your valour and arms; and to compel this nation, which is in a state rather of giddy insurrection than of steady warfare, to receive again the yoke which it has shaken off." After thus generally exhorting them, he gave notice, that he intended to march by night to the enemy's camp; and then dismissed them to take refreshment.
14
At midnight, after having given his attention to the auspices, he began his march, that he might take possession of such ground as he chose, before the enemy should observe him. Having led his troops beyond their camp, he formed them in order of battle, and at the first light sent three cohorts close to their very ramparts. The barbarians, surprised at the Romans appearing on their rear, ran hastily to arms. In the mean time, the consul observed to his men, "Soldiers, you have no room for hope, but in your own courage; and I have, purposely, taken care that it should be so. The enemy are between us and our camp; behind us is an enemy's country. What is most honourable, is likewise safest; namely, to place all our hopes in our own valour." He then ordered the cohorts to retreat, in order to draw out the barbarians by the appearance of flight. Every thing happened as he had expected. The enemy, thinking that the Romans retired through fear, rushed out of the gate, and filled the whole space between their own camp and the line of their adversaries. While they were hastily marshalling their troops, the consul, who had all his in readiness, and in regular array, attacked them when in disorder. He caused the cavalry from both wings to advance first to the charge: but those on the right were immediately repulsed, and, retiring in disorder, spread confusion among the infantry also. On seeing this, the consul ordered two chosen cohorts to march round the right flank of the enemy, and show themselves on their rear, before the two lines of infantry could close. The alarm which this gave the enemy, which had been thrown to a disadvantage by the cowardice of the Roman horse, restored the fight to an equality. But such a panic had taken possession of both the cavalry and infantry of the right wing, that the consul laid hold of several with his own hand, and turned them about with their faces to the enemy. As long as the fight was carried on with missile weapons, success was doubtful; and on the right wing, where the disorder and flight had first began, the Romans with difficulty kept their ground. On their left wing, the barbarians were both hard pressed in in front; and looked back, with timidity, at the cohorts that threatened their rear. But when, after discharging their iron darts and large javelins, they drew their swords, the battle, in a manner, began anew. They were no longer wounded by random blows from a distance, but, closing foot to foot, placed all their hope in courage and strength.
15
When the consul's men were now spent with fatigue, he reanimated their courage by bringing up into the fight some subsidiary cohorts from the second line. These formed a new front, and being fresh themselves, and with fresh weapons attacking the wearied enemy in the form of a wedge, by a furious onset they first forced their way through them; and then, when they were once broken, scattered them and put them to flight. They returned towards their camp across the fields with all the speed they could make. When Cato saw the rout become general, he rode back to the second legion, which had been posted in reserve, and ordered the standards to be borne before it, and that it should advance in quick motion, and attack the camp of the enemy. If any of them, through too much eagerness, pushed forward beyond his rank, he himself rode up and struck them with his javelin, and also ordered the tribunes and centurions to chastise them. By this time the camp of the enemy was attacked, though the Romans were kept off from the works by stones, poles, and weapons of every sort. But, on the arrival of the fresh legion, the assailants assumed new courage, and the enemy fought with redoubled fury in defence of their rampart. The consul attentively examined every place himself, that he might break in at that quarter where he saw the weakest resistance. At a gate on the left, he observed that the guard was thin, and thither he led the first-rank men and spearmen of the second legion. The party posted at the gate were not able to withstand their assault; while the rest, seeing the enemy within the rampart, abandoned the defence of the camp, and threw away their standards and arms. Great numbers were killed at the gates, being stopped in the narrow passages by the throng of their own men; and the soldiers of the second legion cut off the hindmost, while the rest were plundering the camp. According to the account of Valerius Antias, there were above forty thousand of the enemy killed on that day. Cato himself, who was certainly no disparager of his own merits, says that a great many were killed, but he specifies no number.
16
The conduct of Cato on that day is judged deserving of commendation in three particulars. First, in leading round his army so far from his camp and fleet, as to fight the battle in the very middle of the enemy, that his men might look for no safety but in their courage. Secondly, in throwing the cohorts on the enemy's rear. Thirdly, in ordering the second legion, when all the rest were disordered by the eagerness of their pursuit, to advance at a full pace to the gate of the camp, in compact and regular order under their standards. He delayed not to improve his victory; but having sounded a retreat, and brought back his men laden with spoil, he allowed them a few hours of the night for rest; and then led them out to ravage the country. They spread their depredations the wider, as the enemy were dispersed in their flight; and this circumstance, no less than the defeat of the preceding day, obliged the Spaniards of Emporiae, and those of their neighbourhood, to make a submission. Many also, belonging to other states, who had made their escape to Emporiae, surrendered; all of whom the consul received with kindness, and after refreshing them with victuals and wine, dismissed to their several homes. He quickly decamped thence, and wherever the army proceeded on its march, he was met by ambassadors, surrendering their respective states; so that, by the time when he arrived at Tarraco, all Spain on this side of the Ebro was in a state of perfect subjection; and the Roman prisoners, and those of their allies and the Latin confederates, who by various chances had fallen into the hands of the enemies in Spain, were brought back by the barbarians, as an offering to the consul. A rumour afterwards spread abroad, that Cato intended to lead his army into Turditania; and it was given out, with equal falsehood, that he meant to proceed to the remote inhabitants of the mountains. On this groundless, unauthenticated report, seven forts of the Bergistans revolted; but the Roman, marching thither, reduced them to subjection without any battle worthy of narration. Not very long after, when the consul returned to Tarraco, and before he removed to any other place, the same persons revolted again. They were again subdued; but, on this second reduction, met not the same mild treatment; they were all sold by auction, that they might not any oftener disturb the peace.
17
In the mean time, the praetor, Publius Manlius, having received the army from Quintius Minucius, whom he had succeeded, and joined to it the old army of Appius Claudius Nero, from Farther Spain, marched into Turditania. Of all the Spaniards, the Turditanians are reckoned the least warlike; nevertheless, relying on their great numbers, they went to oppose the march of the Romans. The cavalry, having been sent forward, at once broke their line; and with the infantry there was hardly any conflict. The veteran soldiers, well acquainted with the enemy and their manner of fighting, effectually decided the battle. This engagement, however, did not terminate the war. The Turdulans hired ten thousand Celtiberians, and prepared to carry on the war with foreign troops. The consul, meanwhile, alarmed at the rebellion of the Bergistans, and suspecting that the other states would act in like manner when occasion offered, took away their arms from all the Spaniards on this side of the Iberus; which proceeding affected them so deeply, that many laid violent hands on themselves; this fierce race considering that, without arms, life was of no value. When this was reported to the consul, he summoned before him the senators of every one of the states, to whom he spoke thus: "It is not more our interest than it is your own, that you should not rebel; since your insurrections have, hitherto, always drawn more mi fortune on the Spaniards than labour on the Roman armies. To prevent such things happening in future, I know but one method, which is, to put it out of your power to rebel. I wish to effect this in the gentlest way, and that you would assist me therein with your advice. I will follow none with greater pleasure than what yourselves shall offer." They all remaining silent, he told them that he would give them a few days' time to consider the matter. When, on being called together, even in the second meeting, they uttered not a word, in one day he razed the walls of all their fortresses; and marching against those who had not yet submitted, he received in every country, as he passed through, the submission of all the neighbouring states. Segestica alone, an important and opulent city, he reduced by works and engines.
18
Cato had greater difficulties to surmount, in subduing the enemy, than had those commanders who came first into Spain; for this reason, that the Spaniards, through disgust at the Carthaginian government, came over to their side; whereas he had the task of enforcing their submission to slavery, in a manner, after they had been in full enjoyment of liberty. Besides, he found the whole province in a state of commotion; insomuch, that some were in arms, and others were compelled to join in the revolt by being besieged, nor would they have been able to hold out any longer if they had not received timely succour. But so vigorous was the spirit and capacity of the consul, that there was no kind of business, whether great or small, which he did not himself attend to and perform; and he not only planned and ordered, but generally executed in person such measures as were expedient; nor did he practise a more strict and rigorous discipline over any one than over himself. In spare diet, watching, and labour, he vied with the meanest of his soldiers; nor, excepting the honour of his post, and the command, had he any peculiar distinction above the rest of the army.
19
The Celtiberians, summoned forth by the enemy for hire, as above mentioned, rendered the war in Turditania more difficult to the praetor, Publius Manlius. The consul, therefore, in compliance with a letter from the praetor, led his legions thither. The Celtiberians and Turditanians were lying in separate camps at the approach of the Romans, who began immediately to skirmish with the Turditanians, making attacks on their advanced guards; and they constantly came off victorious from every engagement, however rashly undertaken. The consul ordered some military tribunes to enter into a conference with the Celtiberians, and to offer them their choice of three proposals: first, to come over, if they wished it, to the Romans, and receive double the pay for which they had agreed with the Turditanians: the second, to depart to their own homes, on receiving assurance, under the sanction of the public faith, that it should not operate to their injury that they had joined the enemies of the Romans: the third was, that, if they were absolutely determined on war, they should appoint a day and place to decide the matter with him by arms. The Celtiberians desired a day's time for consideration; and an assembly was held, but in great confusion, from the Turditanians mingling in it, so that no resolution could be come to. Although it was uncertain whether there was to be war or peace with the Celtiberians, the Romans, nevertheless, just as though the latter were determined on, brought provisions from the lands and forts of the enemy, and soon ventured to go within their fortifications, relying on private truces, as they would on a common intercourse established by authority. When the consul found that he could not entice the enemy to a battle, he first led out a number of cohorts, lightly accoutred, in regular order, to ravage a part of the country which was yet unhurt; then hearing that all the baggage of the Celtiberians was deposited at Saguntia, he proceeded thither to attack that town, but was unable, notwithstanding, to provoke them to stir. Paying, therefore, his own troops and those of Minucius, he left the bulk of his army in the praetor's camp, and, with seven cohorts, returned to the Iberus.
20
With that small force he took several towns. The Sidetonians, Ausetanians, and Suessetanians came over to his side. The Lacetanians, a remote and wild nation, still remained in arms; partly through their natural ferocity, and partly through consciousness of guilt, in having laid waste, by sudden incursions, the country of the allies, while the consul and his army were employed in the war with the Turditanians. He therefore marched to attack their capital, not only with the Roman cohorts, but also with the troops of the allies, who were justly incensed against them. The town was stretched out into considerable length, but had not proportionable breadth. At the distance of about four hundred paces from it he halted, and leaving there a party composed of chosen cohorts, he charged them not to stir from that spot until he himself should come to them; and then he led round the rest of the men to the farther side of the town. The greater part of his auxiliary troops were Suessetanians, and these he ordered to advance and assault the wall. The Lacetanians, knowing their arms and standards, and remembering how often they had themselves, with impunity, committed every kind of outrage and insult in their territory, how often defeated and routed them in pitched battles, hastily threw open a gate, and all, in one body, rushed out against them. The Suessetanians scarcely stood their shout, much less their onset; and the consul, on seeing this happen, just as he had foreseen, galloped back under the enemy's wall to his cohorts, brought them up quickly to that part of the city where all was silence and solitude, in consequence of the Lacetanians having sallied out on the Suessetanians, and took possession of every part of it before the Lacetanians returned; who, having nothing now left but their arms, soon surrendered themselves also.
21
The conqueror marched thence, without delay, to the fort of Vergium. This was, almost entirely, a receptacle of robbers and plunderers, and thence incursions were made on the peaceable parts of the province. One of the principal inhabitants deserted out of the place to the consul, and endeavoured to excuse himself and his countrymen; alleging, that "the management of affairs was not in their hands; for the robbers, having gained admittance, had reduced the fort entirely under their own power." The consul ordered him to return home, and pretend some plausible reason for having been absent; and then, "when he should see him advancing to the walls, and the robbers intent on defending the city, to seize the citadel with such men as favoured his party." This was executed according to his directions. The double alarm, from the Romans scaling the walls in front, and the citadel being seized on their rear, at once entirely confounded the barbarians. The consul, having taken possession of the place, ordered, that those who had secured the citadel should, with their relations, be set at liberty, and enjoy their property, the rest of the natives he commanded the quaestor to sell; and he put the robbers to death. Having restored quiet in the province, he settled the iron and silver mines on such a footing, that they produced a large revenue; and, in consequence of the regulations then made, the province daily increased in riches. On account of these services performed in Spain, the senate decreed a supplication for three days.
22
During this summer, the other consul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, fought a pitched battle with a body of the Boians in Gaul, near the forest of Litanae, and gained a complete victory. Eight thousand of the Gauls are said to have been slain; the rest, desisting from further opposition, retired quietly to their several villages and lands. During the remainder of the summer, the consul kept his army near the Po, at Placentia and Cremona, and repaired the buildings in these cities which had been demolished in the war. While the affairs of Italy and Spain were in this posture, Titus Quinctius had spent the winter in Greece, in such a manner, that excepting the Aetolians, who neither had gained rewards of victory adequate to their hopes, nor were capable of being long contented with a state of quiet, all Greece, being in full enjoyment of the blessings of peace and liberty, were highly pleased with their present state; and they admired not more the Roman general's bravery in arms, than his temperance, justice, and moderation in victory. And now a decree of the senate was brought to him, containing a denunciation of war against Nabis the Lacedaemonian. On reading it, Quinctius summoned a convention of deputies from all the allied states, to be held, on a certain day, at Corinth. Whither when many persons of the first rank came together, from all quarters, forming a very full assembly, from which even the Aetolians were not absent, he addressed them in this manner:--"The Romans and Greeks, in the war which they waged against Philip, were united in affections and councils, and they had each no less their separate reasons for entering into it. For he had violated friendship with the Romans; first by aiding our enemies, the Carthaginians; and then by attacking our allies here: and, towards you, his conduct was such, that even if we had been willing to forget our own injuries, those offered by him to you would have constituted a sufficient occasion of war. But the business to be considered this day has relation wholly to yourselves: for the subject which I propose to your consideration is, whether you choose to suffer Argos, which, as you know, has been seized by Nabis, to remain under his dominion; or whether you judge it reasonable, that a city of such high reputation and antiquity, seated in the centre of Greece, should be restored to liberty, and placed in the same state with the rest of the cities of Peloponnesus and of Greece. This question, as you see, merely respects yourselves; it concerns not the Romans in any decree, excepting so far as the one city being left in subjection to tyranny hinders their glory, in having liberated Greece, from being full and complete. If, however, you are not moved by regard for that city, nor by the example, nor by the danger of the contagion of that evil spreading wider, we, for our parts, shall rest content. On this subject I desire your opinions, resolved to abide by whatever the majority of you shall determine."
23
After the address of the Roman general, the several deputies proceeded to give their opinions. The ambassador of the Athenians extolled, to the utmost of his power, and expressed the greatest gratitude for the kindness of the Romans towards Greece, "in having, when applied to for assistance, brought them succours against Philip; and now, without being applied to, voluntarily offering assistance against the tyrant Nabis." He at the same time severely censured the conduct of some, who, in their discourses, "depreciated those kindnesses, and propagated evil surmises of the future, when it would better become them rather to return thanks for the past." It was evident that this was pointed at the Aetolians: wherefore Alexander, deputy of that nation, having first inveighed against the Athenians, who, having formerly been the most strenuous supporters of liberty, now betrayed the general cause, for the sake of recommending themselves by flattery. He then complained that "the Achaeans, formerly soldiers of Philip, and lately, on the decline of his fortune, deserters from him, had regained possession of Corinth, and were so acting as that they might acquire Argos; while the Aetolians, who had first opposed their arms to Philip, who had always been allies of the Romans, and who had stipulated by treaty, that, on the Macedonian being conquered, the lands and cities should be theirs, were defrauded of Echinus and Pharsalus." He charged the Romans with insincerity, because, "while they put forth empty professions of establishing liberty, they held possession of Demetrias and Chalcis by their garrisons; though, when Philip hesitated to withdraw his garrisons from those places, they always urged against him that the Grecians would never be free while Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth were in the hands of the others. And, lastly, that they named Argos and Nabis merely as a pretext for remaining in Greece, and keeping their armies there. Let them carry away their legions to Italy; and the Aetolians were ready to undertake, either that Nabis should voluntarily withdraw his forces from Argos, on terms; or they would compel him by force of arms to comply with the unanimous judgment of Greece."
24
This arrogant speech called up, first, Aristaenus, praetor of the Achaeans, who said:--"Forbid it, Jupiter, supremely good and great, and imperial Juno, the tutelar deity of Argos, that that city should be staked as a prize between the Lacedaemonian tyrant and the Aetolian plunderers, under such unhappy circumstances, that its being retaken by you should be productive of more calamitous consequences than its capture by him. Titus Quinctius, the sea lying between us, does not secure us from those robbers; what then will become of us, should they procure themselves a stronghold in the centre of Peloponnesus? They have nothing Grecian but the language, as they have nothing human but the shape. They live under customs and rites more brutally savage than any barbarians, nay, than wild beasts themselves. Wherefore, Romans, we beseech you, not only to recover Argos from Nabis, but also to establish the affairs of Greece on such a footing, as to leave these countries adequately secured from the robberies of the Aetolians." The rest concurring in these censures on the Aetolians, the Roman general said, that "he had himself intended to have answered them, but that he perceived all so highly incensed against those people, that the general resentment required rather to be appeased than irritated. Satisfied, therefore, with the sentiments entertained of the Romans, and of the Aetolians, he would simply put this question: What was the general opinion concerning war with Nabis, in case of his refusing to restore Argos to the Achaeans?" When all had pronounced for war, he recommended to them, to send in their shares of auxiliary troops, each state in proportion to its ability. He even sent an ambassador to the Aetolians; rather to make them disclose their sentiments, which was the actual result, than with any hope of obtaining their concurrence. He gave orders to the military tribunes, to bring up the army from Elatia. To the ambassadors of Antiochus, who, at this time, proposed to treat of an alliance, he answered, that "he could say nothing on the subject in the absence of the ten ambassadors. They must go to Rome, and apply to the senate."
25
As soon as the troops arrived from Elatia, Quinctius set out to lead them towards Argos. When near Cleonae he was met by the praetor, Aristaenus, with ten thousand Achaean foot and one thousand horse; and having joined forces, they pitched their camp at a small distance from thence. Next day they marched down into the plains of Argos, and fixed their post about four miles from that city. The commander of the Lacedaemonian garrison was Pythagoras, the tyrant's son-in-law, and his wife's brother; who, on the approach of the Romans, posted strong guards in both the citadels, for Argos has two, and in every other place that was commodious for defence, or exposed to danger. But, while thus employed, he could by no means dissemble the dread inspired by the approach of the Romans; and, to the alarm from abroad, was added an insurrection within. There was an Argive, named Damocles, a youth of more spirit than prudence, who held conversations, with proper persons, on a design of expelling the garrison; at first, with the precaution of imposing an oath, but afterwards, through his eager desire to add strength to the conspiracy, he estimated people's sincerity with too little caution. While he was in conference with his accomplices, an officer, sent by the commander of the garrison, summoned him to appear before him, and he perceived that his design was betrayed; on which, exhorting the conspirators, who were present, to take arms with him, rather than be tortured to death, he went on with a few companions towards the forum, crying out to all who wished the preservation of the state, to follow him as the vindicator and author of their liberty. He could prevail on none to join him; for they saw no prospect of any attainable advantage, and much less any sufficiently powerful support. While he exclaimed in this manner, the Lacedaemonians surrounded him and his party, and put them to death. Many others were afterwards seized, the greater part of whom were executed, and the remaining few thrown into prison. During the following night, great numbers, letting themselves down from the walls by ropes, came over to the Romans.
26
As these men affirmed, that if the Roman army had been at the gates, this commotion would not have ended without effect; and that, if the camp was brought nearer, the Argives would not remain inactive; Quinctius sent some horsemen and infantry, lightly accoutred, who, meeting at the Cylarabis, a place of exercise, less than three hundred paces from the city, a party of Lacedaemonians, who sallied out of a gate, engaged them, and, without much difficulty, drove them back into the town; and the Roman general encamped on the very spot where the battle had been fought. There he passed one day, on the look-out if any new commotion might arise; but perceiving that the inhabitants were quite depressed by fear, he called a council concerning the besieging of Argos. All the deputies of Greece, except Aristaenus, were of one opinion, that, as that city was the sole object of the war, with it the war should commence. This was by no means agreeable to Quinctius; but he listened, with evident marks of approbation, to Aristaenus, arguing in opposition to the joint opinion of all the rest; while he himself added, that "as the war was undertaken in favour of the Argives, against the tyrant, what could be less proper than to leave the enemy in quiet, and lay siege to Argos? For his part, he was resolved to point his arms against the main object of the war, Lacedaemon and the tyrant." He then dismissed the meeting, and sent out light-armed cohorts to collect forage. Whatever was ripe in the adjacent country, they reaped, and brought together; and what was green they trod down and destroyed, that the enemy might not subsequently get it. He then proceeded over Mount Parthenius, and, passing by Tegaea, encamped on the third day at Caryae; where he waited for the auxiliary troops of the allies, before he entered the enemy's territory. Fifteen hundred Macedonians came from Philip, and four hundred horsemen of the Thessalians; and now the Roman general had no occasion to wait for more auxiliaries, having abundance; but he was obliged to stop for supplies of provisions, which he had ordered the neighbouring cities to furnish. He was joined also by a powerful naval force; Lucius Quinctius had already come from Leucas, with forty ships; eighteen ships of war had arrived from the Rhodians; and king Eumenes was cruising among the Cyclades, with ten decked ships, thirty barks, and smaller vessels of various sorts. Of the Lacedaemonians themselves, also, a great many, who had been driven from home by the cruelty of the tyrants, came into the Roman camp, in hopes of being reinstated in their country; for the number was very great of those who had been banished by the several despots, during many generations since they first got Lacedaemon into their power. The principal person among the exiles was Agesipolis, to whom the sovereignty of Lacedaemon belonged in right of his birth; but who had been driven out when an infant by Lycurgus, after the death of Cleomenes, who was the first tyrant of Lacedaemon.
27
Although Nabis was enclosed between such powerful armaments on land and sea, and, on a comparative view of his own and his enemy's strength, could scarcely conceive any degree of hope; yet he did not desist from the war, but brought, from Crete, a thousand chosen young men of that country in addition to a thousand whom he had before; he had, besides, under arms, three thousand mercenary soldiers, and ten thousand of his countrymen, with the peasants, who belonged to the fortresses. He fortified the city with a ditch and rampart; and lest any intestine commotion should arise, curbed the people's spirits by fear, punishing them with extreme severity, as he could not hope for good wishes towards a tyrant. As he had his suspicions respecting some of the citizens, he drew out all his forces to a field called Dromos, (the course,) and ordered the Lacedaemonians to be called to an assembly without their arms. He then formed a line of armed men round the place where they were assembled, observing briefly, "that he ought to be excused, if, at such a juncture, he feared and guarded against every thing that might happen; and that, if the present state of affairs subjected any to suspicion, it was their advantage to be prevented from attempting any design, rather than to be punished for attempting it: he therefore intended," he said, "to keep certain persons in custody, until the storm, which then threatened, should have passed over; and would discharge them as soon as the enemy should have been driven away, from whom the danger would be less, when proper precaution was taken against internal treachery." He then ordered the names of about eighty of the principal young men to be called over, and as each answered to his name, he put them in custody. On the night following, they were all put to death. Some of the Helotes, a race of rustics, who have been feudal vassals even from the earliest times, being charged with an intention to desert, they were driven with stripes through all the streets, and put to death. The terror which this excited so confounded the multitude, as to deter them from all attempts to effect a revolution. He kept his forces within the fortifications, knowing that he was not a match for the enemy in the field; and, besides, he was afraid to leave the city, while all men's minds were in a state of such suspense and uncertainty.
28
Quinctius, when all his preparations were now sufficiently made, decamped; and, on the second day, came to Sellasia, on the river Oenus, on the spot where it is said Antigonus, king of Macedonia, fought a pitched battle with Cleomenes, tyrant of Lacedaemon. Being told that the ascent from thence was difficult, and the passes narrow, he made a short circuit by the mountains, sending forward a party to make a road, and came, by a tolerably broad and open passage, to the river Eurotas, where it flows almost immediately under the walls of the city. Here, the tyrant's auxiliary troops attacked the Romans, while they were forming their camp, together with Quinctius himself, (who, with a division of cavalry and light troops, had advanced beyond the rest,) and threw them into a state of alarm and confusion; not expecting any thing of the kind, as no one had opposed them throughout their whole march, and they had passed, as it were, through a friendly territory. The disorder lasted a considerable time the infantry calling for aid on the cavalry, and the cavalry on the infantry, each having but little confidence in himself. At length, the foremost ranks of the legions came up; and no sooner had the cohorts of the vanguard taken part in the fight, than those who had lately been an object of dread were driven back in terror into the city. The Romans, retiring so far from the wall as to be out of the reach of weapons, stood there for some time in battle-array; and then, none of the enemy coming out against them, retired to their camp. Next day Quinctius led on his army in regular order along the bank of the river, passed the city, to the foot of the mountain of Menelaus, the legionary cohorts marching in front, and the cavalry and light infantry bringing up the rear. Nabis kept his mercenary troops, on whom he placed his whole reliance, in readiness, and drawn up in a body, within the walls, intending to attack the rear of the enemy; and, as soon as the last of their troops passed by, these rushed out of the town, from several places at once, with as great fury as the day before. The rear was commanded by Appius Claudius, who having beforehand prepared his men to expect such an event, that it might not come upon them unawares, instantly made his troops face about, and presented an entire front to the enemy. A regular engagement, therefore, took place, as if two complete lines had encountered, and it lasted a considerable time; but at length Nabis's troops betook themselves to flight, which would have been attended with less dismay and danger, if they had not been closely pressed by the Achaeans, who were well acquainted with the ground. These made dreadful havoc, and dispersing them entirely, obliged the greater part to throw away their arms. Quinctius encamped near Amyclae; and afterwards, when he had utterly laid waste all the pleasant and thickly inhabited country round the city, not one of the enemy venturing out of the gates, he removed his camp to the river Eurotas. From thence he ravaged the valley lying under Taygetus, and the country reaching as far as the sea.
29
About the same time, Lucius Quinctius got possession of the towns on the sea-coast; of some, by their voluntary surrender; of others, by fear or force. Then, learning that the Lacedaemonians made Gythium the repository of all their naval stores, and that the Roman camp was at no great distance from the sea, he resolved to attack that town with his whole force. It was, at that time, a place of considerable strength; well furnished with great numbers of native inhabitants and settlers from other parts, and with every kind of warlike stores. Very seasonably for Quinctius, when commencing an enterprise of no easy nature, king Eumenes and the Rhodian fleet came to his assistance. The vast multitude of seamen, collected out of the three fleets, finished in a few days all the works requisite for the siege of a city so strongly fortified, both on the land side and on that next the sea. Covered galleries were soon brought up; the wall was undermined, and, at the same time, shaken with battering rams. By the frequent shocks given with these, one of the towers was thrown down, and, by its fall, the adjoining wall on each side was laid flat. The Romans, on this, attempted to force in, both on the side next the port, to which the approach was more level than to the rest, hoping to divert the enemy's attention from the more open passage, and, at the same time, to enter the breach caused by the falling of the wall. They were near effecting their design of penetrating into the town, when the assault was suspended by the prospect which was held out of the surrender of the city. This however, was subsequently dissipated. Dexagoridas and Gorgopas commanded there, with equal authority. Dexagoridas had sent to the Roman general a message that he would give up the city; and, after the time and the mode of proceeding had been agreed on, he was slain as a traitor by Gorgopas, and the defence of the city was maintained with redoubled vigour by this single commander. The further prosecution of the siege would have been much more difficult, had not Titus Quinctius arrived with a body of four thousand chosen men. He showed his army in order of battle, on the brow of a hill at a small distance from the city; and, on the other side, Lucius Quinctius plied the enemy hard with his engines, both on the quarter of the sea, and of the land; on which Gorgopas was compelled to adopt that proceeding, which, in the case of another, he had punished with death. After stipulating for liberty to carry away the soldiers whom he had there as a garrison, he surrendered the city to Quinctius. Previous to the surrender of Gythium, Pythagoras, who had been left as commander at Argos, having intrusted the defence of the city to Timocrates of Pellene, with a thousand mercenary soldiers and two thousand Argives, came to Lacedaemon and joined Nabis.