Roman History, Books I III - Titus Livius
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At the close of the year to some extent there was peace, but, as
frequently at other times, a peace disturbed by contests between the
patricians and commons. The exasperated commons refused to attend the
consular elections: Titus Quinctius and Quintus Servilius were elected
consuls through the influence of the patricians and their dependents:
the consuls had a year similar to the preceding, disturbed at the
beginning, and afterward tranquil by reason of war abroad. The Sabines
crossing the plains of Crustumerium by forced marches, after carrying
fire and sword along the banks of the Anio, being repulsed when they
had nearly come up to the Colline gate and the walls, drove off,
however, great booty of men and cattle: the consul Servilius, having
pursued them with an army bent on attacking them, was unable to
overtake the main body itself in the level country: he, however,
extended his devastations over such a wide area, that he left nothing
unmolested by war, and returned after having obtained booty many times
greater than that carried off by the enemy. The public cause was also
extremely well supported among the Volscians by the exertions both of
the general and the soldiers. First a pitched battle was fought, on
level ground, with great slaughter and much bloodshed on both sides:
and the Romans, because their small numbers caused their loss to be
more keenly felt, would have given way, had not the consul, by a
well-timed fiction, reanimated the army, by crying out that the enemy
was in flight on the other wing; having charged, they, by believing
themselves victorious, became so. The consul, fearing lest, by
pressing on too far, he might renew the contest, gave the signal for
retreat. A few days intervened, both sides resting as if by tacit
suspension of hostilities: during these days a vast number of persons
from all the states of the Volscians and Equans came to the camp,
feeling no doubt that the Romans would depart during the night, if
they perceived them. Accordingly, about the third watch [81], they
came to attack the camp. Quinctius having allayed the confusion which
the sudden panic had occasioned, and ordered the soldiers to remain
quiet in their tents, led out a cohort of the Hernicans for an advance
guard: the trumpeters and horn blowers he mounted on horseback, and
commanded them to sound their trumpets before the rampart, and to keep
the enemy in suspense till daylight: during the rest of the night
everything was so quiet in the camp, that the Romans had even the
opportunity of sleeping.[82] The sight of the armed infantry, whom
they both considered to be more numerous than they were, and at the
same time Romans, the bustle and neighing of the horses, which became
restless, both from the fact of strange riders being mounted on them,
and moreover from the sound of the trumpets frightening them, kept the
Volscians intently awaiting an attack of the enemy.
When the day dawned, the Romans, invigorated and having enjoyed a full
sleep, on being marched out to battle, at the first onset caused the
Volscians to give way, wearied as they were from standing and keeping
watch: though indeed the enemy rather retired than were routed,
because in the rear there were hills to which the unbroken ranks
behind the first line had a safe retreat. The consul, when he came to
the uneven ground, halted his army; the infantry were kept back
with difficulty; they loudly demanded to be allowed to pursue the
discomfited foe. The cavalry were more violent: crowding round the
general, they cried out that they would proceed in front of the first
line. While the consul hesitated, relying on the valour of his men,
yet having little confidence in the nature of the ground, they all
cried out that they would proceed; and execution followed the shout.
Fixing their spears in the ground, in order that they might be lighter
to mount the heights, they advanced uphill at a run. The Volscians,
having discharged their missile weapons at the first onset, hurled
down the stones that lay at their feet upon the Romans as they
were making their way up, and having thrown them into confusion by
incessant blows, strove to drive them from the higher ground: thus
the left wing of the Romans was nearly overborne, had not the consul
dispelled their fear by rousing them to a sense of shame as they were
on the point of retreating, chiding at the same time their temerity
and their cowardice. At first they stood their ground with determined
firmness; then, as they recovered their strength by still holding
their position, they ventured to advance of themselves, and, renewing
their shouts, they encouraged the whole body to advance: then having
made a fresh attack, they forced their way up and surmounted the
unfavourable ground. They were now on the point of gaining the summit
of the hill, when the enemy turned their backs, and pursued and
pursuer at full speed rushed into the camp almost in one body. During
this panic the camp was taken; such of the Volscians as were able to
make good their escape, made for Antium. The Roman army also was
led thither; after having been invested for a few days, the town
surrendered, not in consequence of any new efforts on the part of the
besiegers, but because the spirits of the inhabitants had sunk ever
since the unsuccessful battle and the loss of their camp.
[Footnote 1: The functions of the old priest-king were divided, the
political being assigned to the consuls, the duty of sacrificing
to the newly-created rex sacrificulus, who was chosen from the
patricians: he was, nevertheless, subject to the control of the
Pontifex Maximus, by whom he was chosen from several nominees of the
college of priests.]
[Footnote 2: This, of course applied only to patricians. Plebians were
accounted nobodies.--D.O.]
[Footnote 3: The insula Tiberina between Rome and the Janiculum.]
[Footnote 4: Vindicta was properly the rod which was laid on the head
of a slave by the magistrate who emancipated him, or by one of his
attendants: the word is supposed to be derived from vim dicere
(to declare authority).]
[Footnote 5: Near the Janiculum, between the Via Aurelia and the Via
Claudia.]
[Footnote 6: A part of the Palatine.--D.O.]
[Footnote 7: The goddess of victory [vi(n)co-pot(is)].]
[Footnote 8: Practically a sentence of combined excommunication and
outlawry.--D.O.]
[Footnote 9: Now Chiusi.]
[Footnote 10: They did not let these salt-works by auction, but took
them under their own management, and carried them on by means
of persons employed to work on the public account. These
salt-works, first established at Ostia by Ancus, were, like other
public property, farmed out to the publicans. As they had a high
rent to pay, the price of salt was raised in proportion; but now the
patricians, to curry favour with the plebeians, did not let the salt-pits
to private tenants, but kept them in the hands of public labourers, to
collect all the salt for the public use; and appointed salesmen to
retail it to the people at a cheaper rate.]
[Footnote 11: Just below the sole remaining pillar of the Pons
Aemilius.--D.O.]
[Footnote 12: Macaulay, in his "Lays of Ancient Rome," has made
this incident the basis of one of the most stirring poems in the
English language. Though familiar to all, it does not seem out of
place to quote from his "Horatius" in connection with the story as
told by Livy:
"Alone stood brave Horatius,
But constant still in mind;
Thrice thirty thousand foes before
And the broad flood behind.
'Down with him!' cried false Sextus,
With smile on his pale face.
'Now yield thee,' cried Lars Porsena,
'Now yield thee to our grace.'
* * * * *
'O Tiber! father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day!'
So he spake, and speaking, sheathed
The good sword by his side,
And with his harness on his back
Plunged headlong in the tide.
No sound of joy or sorrow
Was heard from either bank,
But friends and foes, in dumb surprise,
With parted lips and straining eyes,
Stood gazing where he sank;
And when above the surges
They saw his crest appear,
All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer.
But fiercely ran the current,
Swollen high by months of rain;
And fast his blood was flowing,
And he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armour,
And spent with changing blows;
And oft they thought him sinking,
But still again he rose.
* * * * *
'Curse on him!' quoth false Sextus,
'Will not the villain drown?
But for this stay, ere close of day,
We should have sacked the town!'
'Heaven help him!' quoth Lars Porsena
'And bring him safe to shore;
For such a gallant feat of arms
Was never seen before.'
And now he feels the bottom;
Now on dry earth he stands;
Now round him throng the fathers
To press his gory hands;
And now with shouts and clapping,
And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River-gate
Borne by the joyous crowd.
* * * * *
When the goodman mends his armour,
And trims his helmet's plume;
When the good wife's shuttle merrily
Goes flashing through the loom;
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old." ]
[Footnote 13: Of the left hand.--D.O.]
[Footnote 14: Probably where the Cliva Capitolina begins to ascend the
slope of the Capitol.--D.O.]
[Footnote 15: The most ancient of the Greek colonies in Italy. Its
ruins are on the coast north of the Promontory of Miseno.--D.O.]
[Footnote 16: Leading from the forum to the Velabrum.]
[Footnote 17: It was situated in the Alban Hills about ten miles from
Rome, on the site of the modern Frascati.--D.O.]
[Footnote 18: Suessa-Pometia, mentioned in former note. Cora is now
Cori.--D.O.]
[Footnote 19: Their home was in Campania.--D.O.]
[Footnote 20: Wooden roofs covered with earth or wet hides, and rolled
forward on wheels for the protection of those engaged in battering or
mining the walls.--D.O.]
[Footnote 21: That is, the Romans'.]
[Footnote 22: Perhaps because the twenty-four axes of both consuls
went to the dictator.--D.O.]
[Footnote 23: Now Palestrina]
[Footnote 24: See Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome": The Battle of
Lake Regillus.]
[Footnote 25: The bound (by the law of debt), from nexo, to join or
connect.--D.O.]
[Footnote 26: That is, for allowing themselves to suffer it and yet
fight for their oppressors.--D.O.]
[Footnote 27: For military service.]
[Footnote:28 Known as Mercuriales. Mercury was the patron of
merchants.--D.O.]
[Footnote 29: That is, over the senate.--D.O.]
[Footnote 30: About 40,000 men.--D.O.]
[Footnote 31: That is, like Vetusius, watching the Aequans, who
uncrippled were lying in their mountain fastnesses in northern Latium,
waiting a chance to renew their ravages.--D.O.]
[Footnote 32: Modern Velletri.]
[Footnote 33: a chair-shaped X .Its use was an insignia first of
royalty, then of the higher magistracies.--D.O.]
[Footnote 34: Supposed to be the hill beyond and to the right of the
Ponte Nomentano.--D.O.]
[Footnote 35: Lucius Calpurnius Piso, the historian.]
[Footnote 36: This fable is of very great antiquity. Max Mueller says
it is found among the Hindus.]
[Footnote 37: The law which declared the persons of the tribunes
inviolate and him who transgressed it accursed.--D.O.]
[Footnote 38: Modern Anzio, south of Ostia on the coast of
Latium.--D.O.]
[Footnote 39: Between Ardea and Aricia.]
[Footnote 40: The sixth part of the as, the Roman money unit, which
represented a pound's weight of copper.--D.O.]
[Footnote 41: Its ruins lie on the road to Terracina, near Norma, and
about forty-five miles from Rome.--D.O.]
[Footnote 42: The clientes formed a distinct class; they were the
hereditary dependents of certain patrician families (their patroni) to
whom they were under various obligations; they naturally sided with
the patricians.]
[Footnote 43: Dionysius and Plutarch give an account of the
prosecution much more favourable to the defendant.--D. O.]
[Footnote 44: Celebrated annually in the Circus Maximus, September 4th
to 12th, in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, or, according to
some authorities, of Consus and Neptunus Equestus.--D.O.]
[Footnote 45: A >-shaped yoke placed on the slave's neck, with his
hands tied to the ends.--D.O.]
[Footnote 46: In a grove at the foot of the Alban Hill.--D.O.]
[Footnote 47: There seems to be something wrong here, as Satricum,
etc., were situated west of the Via Appia, while Livy places them on
the Via Latina. Niebuhr thinks that the words "passing across ...
Latin way," should be transposed, and inserted after the words "he
then took in succession." For the position of these towns, see Map.]
[Footnote 48: Quintus Fabius Pictor, the historian.--D.O.]
[Footnote 49: The ager publicus consisted of the landed estates which
had belonged to the kings, and were increased by land taken from
enemies who had been conquered in war. The patricians, having the
chief political power, gained exclusive occupation (possessio) of this
ager publicus, for which they paid a nominal rent in the shape of
produce and tithes. The nature of the charge brought by Cassius was
not the fact of its being occupied by privati, but by patricians to
the exclusion of plebeians.]
[Footnote 50: "Quaestors," this is the first mention of these officers
in Livy; in early times it appears to have been part of their duty
to prosecute those who were guilty of treason, and to carry out the
punishment.]
[Footnote 51: On the west slope of the Esquiline.--D.O.]
[Footnote 52: There seems to be something wrong in the text here, as
the subterfuge was distinctively a patrician one, and the commons had
nothing to gain and all to lose by it. If Livy means that the commons
provoked war by giving cause for the patricians to seek refuge in it,
he certainly puts it very vaguely.--D. O.]
[Footnote 53: July 15th.]
[Footnote 54: By being buried alive. The idea being that the
ceremonies could not be duly performed by an unchaste vestal.--D. O.]
[Footnote 55: By his power of veto.--D.O.]
[Footnote 56: These were veterans and formed the third line. The first
were the "hastati," so called from their carrying long spears,
which were later discarded for heavy javelins. The second were the
"principes," the main line.--D. O.]
[Footnote 57: The space assigned for the general's tent.--D. O.]
[Footnote 58: The legati of a general were at once his council of war
and his staff.--D. O.]
[Footnote 59: There is much in the description of this battle not easy
to understand, and I am inclined to believe it was at least no better
than drawn. The plundered camp, the defeat of the triarii, and
the failure to mention pursuit or consequences, all favour this
supposition.--D. O.]
[Footnote 60: It was to be victory or annihilation.--D. O.]
[Footnote 61: so called from the altar of Carmenta, which stood near
it. It was located in or near what is now the Piazza Montanara, and
was always after considered a gate of evil omen.--D. O.]
[Footnote 62: Now the Valchetta.--D. O.]
[Footnote 63: Probably of mercenaries, as the Veientines are alluded
to throughout the paragraph as commanding, and it was apparently not a
case of alliance.--D. O.]
[Footnote 64: On the Via Flaminia (near the grotta rossa).]
[Footnote 65: This story has been much questioned by learned
commentators. I see nothing improbable in it if we pare down the
exploits a little, and the evidence, such as it is all pro.--D.O.]
[Footnote 66: As this temple was about a mile from the city, it is
probable the Romans were defeated and that the second fight at the
gate means simply that they repulsed an assault on the walls.--D.O.]
[Footnote 67: That is, did not renew their assault on the
walls.--D.O.]
[Footnote 68: Evidently only a small detatchment, since they were
in condition to assault a fortified consular camp despite their
defeat.--D.O.]
[Footnote 69: The story of this war is much more doubtful than the
exploit of the Fabii, and Livy, as usual, furnishes the material for
his own criticism.--D.O.]
[Footnote 70: After the manner of animals about to be
sacrificed.--D.O.]
[Footnote 71: This was probably the origin of the "clubs" of young
patricians, to which so much of the later violance was due.--D.O.]
[Footnote 72: The lex sacrata, which declared their persons
inviolate.--D.O.]
[Footnote 73: The assembly of the plebeians by tribes.--D.O.]
[Footnote 74: Of tribunes.]
[Footnote 75: The consular year.]
[Footnote 76: One of the rewards of good conduct was double
rations.--D.O.]
[Footnote 77: That is, the contest to obtain the reform.--D.O.]
[Footnote 78: While the plebeians lost the dignity conferred on the
assembly by the presence of distinguished patricians, they gained
nothing, as, in the mere matter of votes, they already had a majority;
and the patricians lost nothing, as the number of their votes would
not be sufficient to render them of much importance.]
[Footnote 79: There were other specific charges, but Livy confines
himself to the spirit of the prosecution.--D.O.]
[Footnote 80: The port of Antium, now Nettuno.--D.O.]
[Footnote 81: Midnight.--D. O.]
[Footnote 82: The rendering of the rest of this section is vague and
unsatisfactory.--D. O.]
BOOK III
THE DECEMVIRATE
After the capture of Antium, Titus AEmilius and Quintus Fabius became
consuls. This was the Fabius who was the sole survivor of the family
that had been annihilated at the Cremera. AEmilius had already in his
former consulship recommended the bestowal of land on the people.
Accordingly, in his second consulship also, both the advocates of the
agrarian law encouraged themselves to hope for the passing of the
measure, and the tribunes took it up, thinking that a result, that
had been frequently attempted in opposition to the consuls, might be
obtained now that at any rate one consul supported it: the consul
remained firm in his opinion. The possessors of state land [1]--and
these a considerable part of the patricians--transferred the odium of
the entire affair from the tribunes to the consul, complaining that a
man, who held the first office in the state, was busying himself with
proposals more befitting the tribunes, and was gaining popularity by
making presents out of other people's property. A violent contest
was at hand; had not Fabius compromised the matter by a suggestion
disagreeable to neither party. That under the conduct and auspices of
Titus Quinctius a considerable tract of land had been taken in the
preceding year from the Volscians: that a colony might be sent to
Antium, a neighbouring and conveniently situated maritime city: in
this manner the commons would come in for lands without any complaints
on the part of the present occupiers, and the state remain at peace.
This proposition was accepted. He secured the appointment of Titus
Quinctius, Aulus Verginius, and Publius Furius as triumvirs for
distributing the land: such as wished to receive land were ordered to
give in their names. The attainment of their object created disgust
immediately, as usually happens, and so few gave in their names that
Volscian colonists were added to fill up the number: the rest of the
people preferred to ask for land in Rome, rather than to receive it
elsewhere. The Aequans sued for peace from Quintus Fabius (he had
gone thither with an army), and they themselves broke it by a sudden
incursion into Latin territory.
In the following year Quintus Servilius (for he was consul with
Spurius Postumius), being sent against the Aequans, pitched his camp
permanently in Latin territory: unavoidable inaction held the army in
check, since it was attacked by illness. The war was protracted to the
third year, when Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius were consuls. To
Fabius, because he, as conqueror, had granted peace to the Aequans
that sphere of action was assigned in an unusual manner.[2]He, setting
out with a sure hope that his name and renown would reduce the Aequans
to submission, sent ambassadors to the council of the nation, and
ordered them to announce that Quintus Fabius, the consul, stated that
he had brought peace to Rome from the Aequans, that from Rome he now
brought them war, with that same right hand, but now armed, which he
had formerly given to them in amity; that the gods were now witnesses,
and would presently take vengeance on those by whose perfidy and
perjury that had come to pass. That he, however, be matters as they
might, even now preferred that the Aequans should repent of their own
accord rather than suffer the vengeance of an enemy. If they repented,
they would have a safe retreat in the clemency they had already
experienced; but if they still took pleasure in perjury, they would
wage war with the gods enraged against them rather than their enemies.
These words had so little effect on any of them that the ambassadors
were near being ill-treated, and an army was sent to Algidum[3]
against the Romans. When news of this was brought to Rome, the
indignity of the affair, rather than the danger, caused the other
consul to be summoned from the city; thus two consular armies advanced
against the enemy in order of battle, intending to come to an
engagement at once. But as it happened that not much of the day
remained, one of the advance guard of the enemy cried out: "This is
making a show of war, Romans, not waging it: you draw up your army
in line of battle, when night is at hand; we need a longer period of
daylight for the contest which is to come. Tomorrow at sunrise return
to the field: you shall have an opportunity of fighting, never fear."
The soldiers, stung by these taunts, were marched back into camp till
the following day, thinking that a long night was approaching, which
would cause the contest to be delayed. Then indeed they refreshed
their bodies with food and sleep: on the following day, when it was
light, the Roman army took up their position some considerable time
before. At length the Aequans also advanced. The battle was hotly
contested on both sides, because the Romans fought under the influence
of resentment and hatred, while the Aequans were compelled by a
consciousness of danger incurred by misconduct, and despair of any
confidence being reposed in them hereafter, to venture and to have
recourse to the most desperate efforts. The Aequans, however, did
not withstand the attack of the Roman troops, and when, having been
defeated, they had retired to their own territories, the savage
multitude, with feelings not at all more disposed to peace, began to
rebuke their leaders: that their fortunes had been intrusted to the
hazard of a pitched battle, in which mode of fighting the Romans were
superior. That the Aequans were better adapted for depredations and
incursions, and that several parties, acting in different directions,
conducted wars with greater success than the unwieldy mass of a single
army.
Accordingly, having left a guard over the camp, they marched out and
attacked the Roman frontiers with such fury that they carried terror
even to the city: the fact that this was unexpected also caused
more alarm, because it was least of all to be feared that an enemy,
vanquished and almost besieged in their camp, should entertain
thoughts of depredation: and the peasants, rushing through the gates
in a state of panic, cried out that it was not a mere raid, nor
small parties of plunderers, but, exaggerating everything in their
groundless fear, whole armies and legions of the enemy that were close
at hand, and that they were hastening toward the city in hostile
array. Those who were nearest carried to others the reports heard from
these, reports vague and on that account more groundless: and the
hurry and clamour of those calling to arms bore no distant resemblance
to the panic that arises when a city has been taken by storm. It so
happened that the consul Quinctius had returned to Rome from Algidum:
this brought some relief to their terror; and, the tumult being
calmed, after chiding them for their dread of a vanquished enemy, he
set a guard on the gates. Then a meeting of the senate was summoned,
and a suspension of business proclaimed by their authority: he
himself, having set out to defend the frontiers, leaving behind
Quintus Servilius as prefect of the city, found no enemy in the
country. Affairs were conducted with distinguished success by the
other consul; who, having attacked the enemy, where he knew that they
would arrive, laden with booty, and therefore marching with their
army the more encumbered, caused their depredation to prove their
destruction. Few of the enemy escaped from the ambuscade; all the
booty was recovered. Thus the return of the consul Quinctius to the
city put an end to the suspension of business, which lasted four days.
A census[4] was then held, and the lustrum [Footnote: The ceremony of
purification took place every five years, hence "Justrum" came to be
used for a period of five years.] closed by Quinctius: the number of
citizens rated is said to have been one hundred and four thousand
seven hundred and fourteen, not counting orphans of both sexes.
Nothing memorable occurred afterward among the AEquans; they retired
into their towns, allowing their possessions to be consumed by
fire and devastated. The consul, after he had repeatedly carried
devastation with a hostile army through the whole of the enemy's
country, returned to Rome with great glory and booty.