The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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17. Nothing can be found farther from my intention, since the
commencement of this history, than to digress, more than necessity
required, from the course of narration; and, by embellishing my work
with variety, to seek pleasing resting-places, as it were, for my
readers, and relaxation for my own mind: nevertheless, the mention of
so great a king and commander, now calls forth to public view those
silent reflections, whom Alexander must have fought. Manlius
Torquatus, had he met him in the field, might, perhaps, have yielded
to Alexander in discharging military duties in battle (for these also
render him no less illustrious); and so might Valerius Corvus; men who
were distinguished soldiers, before they became commanders. The same,
too, might have been the case with the Decii, who, after devoting
their persons, rushed upon the enemy; or of Papirius Cursor, though
possessed of such powers, both of body and mind. By the counsels of
one youth, it is possible the wisdom of a whole senate, not to mention
individuals, might have been baffled, [consisting of such members,]
that he alone, who declared that "it consisted of kings," conceived a
correct idea of a Roman senate. But then the danger was, that with
more judgment than any one of those whom I have named he might choose
ground for an encampment, provide supplies, guard against stratagems,
distinguish the season for fighting, form his line of battle, or
strengthen it properly with reserves. He would have owned that he was
not dealing with Darius, who drew after him a train of women and
eunuchs; saw nothing about him but gold and purple; was encumbered
with the trappings of his state, and should be called his prey, rather
than his antagonist; whom therefore he vanquished without loss of
blood and had no other merit, on the occasion, than that of showing a
proper spirit in despising empty show. The aspect of Italy would have
appeared to him of a quite different nature from that of India, which
he traversed in the guise of a traveller, at the head of a crew of
drunkards, if he had seen the forests of Apulia, and the mountains of
Lucania, with the vestiges of the disasters of his house, and where
his uncle Alexander, king of Epirus, had been lately cut off.
18. We are now speaking of Alexander not yet intoxicated by
prosperity, the seductions of which no man was less capable of
withstanding. But, if he is to be judged from the tenor of his conduct
in the new state of his fortune, and from the new disposition, as I
may say, which he put on after his successes, he would have entered
Italy more like Darius than Alexander; and would have brought thither
an army that had forgotten Macedonia, and were degenerating into the
manners of the Persians. It is painful, in speaking of so great a
king, to recite his ostentatious change of dress; of requiring that
people should address him with adulation, prostrating themselves on
the ground, a practice insupportable to the Macedonians, had they even
been conquered, much more so when they were victorious; the shocking
cruelty of his punishments; his murdering his friends in the midst of
feasting and wine; with the folly of his fiction respecting his birth.
What must have been the consequence, if his love of wine had daily
become more intense? if his fierce and uncontrollable anger? And as I
mention not any one circumstance of which there is a doubt among
writers, do we consider these as no disparagements to the
qualifications of a commander? But then, as is frequently repeated by
the silliest of the Greeks, who are fond of exalting the reputation,
even of the Parthians, at the expense of the Roman name, the danger
was that the Roman people would not have had resolution to bear up
against the splendour of Alexander's name, who, however, in my
opinion, was not known to them even by common fame; and while, in
Athens, a state reduced to weakness by the Macedonian arms, which at
the very time saw the ruins of Thebes smoking in its neighbourhood,
men had spirit enough to declaim with freedom against him, as is
manifest from the copies of their speeches, which have been preserved;
[we are to be told] that out of such a number of Roman chiefs, no one
would have freely uttered his sentiments. How great soever our idea of
this man's greatness may be, still it is the greatness of an
individual, constituted by the successes of a little more than ten
years; and those who give it pre-eminence on account that the Roman
people have been defeated, though not in any entire war, yet in
several battles, whereas Alexander was never once unsuccessful in a
single fight, do not consider that they are comparing the actions of
one man, and that a young man, with the exploits of a nation waging
wars now eight hundred years. Can we wonder if, when on the one side
more ages are numbered than years on the other, fortune varied more in
so long a lapse of time than in the short term of thirteen years?
[Footnote: The duration of Alexander's military career.] But why not
compare the success of one general with that of another? How many
Roman commanders might I name who never lost a battle? In the annals
of the magistrates, and the records, we may run over whole pages of
consuls and dictators, with whose bravery, and successes also, the
Roman people never once had reason to be dissatisfied. And what
renders them more deserving of admiration than Alexander, or any king,
is, that some of these acted in the office of dictator, which lasted
only ten, or it might be twenty days, none, in a charge of longer
duration than the consulship of a year; their levies obstructed by
plebeian tribunes; often late in taking the field; recalled, before
the time, on account of elections; amidst the very busiest efforts of
the campaign, their year of office expired; sometimes the rashness,
sometimes the perverseness of a colleague, proving an impediment or
detriment; and finally succeeding to the unfortunate administration of
a predecessor, with an army of raw or ill-disciplined men. But, on
the other hand, kings, being not only free from every kind of
impediment, but masters of circumstances and seasons, control all
things in subserviency to their designs, themselves uncontrolled by
any. So that Alexander, unconquered, would have encountered
unconquered commanders; and would have had stakes of equal consequence
pledged on the issue. Nay, the hazard had been greater on his side;
because the Macedonians would have had but one Alexander, who was not
only liable, but fond of exposing himself to casualties; the Romans
would have had many equal to Alexander, both in renown, and in the
greatness of their exploits; any one of whom might live or die
according to his destiny, without any material consequence to the
public.
19. It remains that the forces be compared together, with respect to
their numbers, the quality of the men, and the supplies of
auxiliaries. Now, in the general surveys of the age, there were rated
two hundred and fifty thousand men, so that, on every revolt of the
Latin confederates, ten legions were enlisted almost entirely in the
city levy. It often happened during those years, that four or five
armies were employed at a time, in Etruria, in Umbria, the Gauls too
being at war, in Samnium, in Lucania. Then as to all Latium, with the
Sabines, and Volscians, the Aequans, and all Campania; half of Umbria,
Etruria, and the Picentians, Marsians, Pelignians, Vestinians, and
Apulians; to whom may add, the whole coast of the lower sea, possessed
by the Greeks, from Thurii to Neapolis and Cumae; and the Samnites
from thence as far as Antium and Ostia: all these he would have found
either powerful allies to the Romans or deprived of power by their
arms. He would have crossed the sea with his veteran Macedonians,
amounting to no more than thirty thousand infantry and four thousand
horse, these mostly Thessalians. This was the whole of his strength.
Had he brought with him Persians and Indians, and those other nations,
it would be dragging after him an encumbrance other than a support.
Add to this, that the Romans, being at home, would have had recruits
at hand: Alexander, waging war in a foreign country, would have found
his army worn out with long service, as happened afterwards to
Hannibal. As to arms, theirs were a buckler and long spears; those of
the Romans, a shield, which covered the body more effectually, and a
javelin, a much more forcible weapon than the spear, either in
throwing or striking. The soldiers, on both sides, were used to steady
combat, and to preserve their ranks. But the Macedonian phalanx was
unapt for motion, and composed of similar parts throughout: the Roman
line less compact, consisting of several various parts, was easily
divided as occasion required, and as easily conjoined. Then what
soldier is comparable to the Roman in the throwing up of works? who
better calculated to endure fatigue? Alexander, if overcome in one
battle, would have been overcome in war. The Roman, whom Claudium,
whom Cannae, did not crush, what line of battle could crush? In truth,
even should events have been favourable to him at first, he would have
often wished for the Persians, the Indians, and the effeminate tribes
of Asia, as opponents; and would have acknowledged, that his wars had
been waged with women, as we are told was said by Alexander, king of
Epirus, after receiving his mortal wound, when comparing the wars
waged in Asia by this very youth, with those in which himself had been
engaged. Indeed, when I reflect that, in the first Punic war, a
contest was maintained by the Romans with the Carthaginians, at sea,
for twenty-four years, I can scarcely suppose that the life of
Alexander would have been long enough for the finishing of one war
[with either of those nations]. And perhaps, as both the Punic state
was united to the Roman by ancient treaties, and as similar
apprehensions might arm against a common foe those two nations the
most potent of the time in arms and in men, he might have been
overwhelmed in a Punic and a Roman war at once. The Romans have had
experience of the boasted prowess of the Macedonians in arms, not
indeed under Alexander as their general, or when their power was at
the height, but in the wars against Antiochus, Philip, and Perses; and
not only not with any losses, but not even with any danger to
themselves. Let not my assertion give offence, nor our civil wars be
brought into mention; never were we worsted by an enemy's cavalry,
never by their infantry, never in open fight, never on equal ground,
much less when the ground was favourable. Our soldiers, heavy laden
with arms, may reasonably fear a body of cavalry, or arrows; defiles
of difficult passage, and places impassable to convoys. But they have
defeated, and will defeat a thousand armies, more formidable than
those of Alexander and the Macedonians, provided that the same love of
peace and solicitude about domestic harmony, in which we now live,
continue permanent.
20. Marcus Foslius Flaccinator and Lucius Plautius Venno were the next
raised to the consulship. In this year ambassadors came from most of
the states of the Samnites to procure a renewal of the treaty; and,
after they had moved the compassion of the senate, by prostrating
themselves before them, on being referred to the people, they found
not their prayers so efficacious. The treaty therefore, being refused,
after they had importuned them individually for several days, was
obtained. The Teaneans likewise, and Canusians of Apulia, worn out by
the devastations of their country, surrendered themselves to the
consul, Lucius Plautius, and gave hostages. This year praefects first
began to be created for Capua, and a code of laws was given to that
nation, by Lucius Furius the praetor; both in compliance with their
own request, as a remedy for the disorder of their affairs, occasioned
by intestine dissensions. At Rome, two additional tribes were
constituted, the Ufentine and Falerine. On the affairs of Apulia
falling into decline, the Teatians of that country came to the new
consuls, Caius Junius Bubulcus, and Quintus Aemilius Barbula, suing
for an alliance; and engaging, that peace should be observed towards
the Romans through every part of Apulia. By pledging themselves boldly
for this, they obtained the grant of an alliance, not however on terms
of equality, but of their submitting to the dominion of the Roman
people. Apulia being entirely reduced, (for Junius had also gained
possession of Forentum, a town of great strength,) the consuls
advanced into Lucania; there Nerulum was surprised and stormed by the
sudden advance of the consul Aemilius. When fame had spread abroad
among the allies, how firmly the affairs of Capua were settled by [the
introduction of] the Roman institutions, the Antians, imitating the
example, presented a complaint of their being without laws, and
without magistrates; on which the patrons of the colony itself were
appointed by the senate to form a body of laws for it. Thus not only
the arms, but the laws, of Rome became extensively prevalent.
21. The consuls, Caius Junius Bubulcus and Quintus Aemilius Barbula,
at the conclusion of the year, delivered over the legions, not to the
consuls elected by themselves, who were Spurius Nautius and Marcus
Popillius, but to a dictator, Lucius Aemilius. He, with Lucius
Fulvius, master of the horse, having commenced to lay siege to
Saticula, gave occasion to the Samnites of reviving hostilities. Hence
a twofold alarm was occasioned to the Roman army. On one side, the
Samnites having collected a numerous force to relieve their allies
from the siege, pitched their camp at a small distance from that of
the Romans: on the other side, the Saticulans, opening suddenly their
gates, ran up with violent tumult to the posts of the enemy.
Afterwards, each party, relying on support from the other, more than
on its own strength, formed a regular attack, and pressed on the
Romans. The dictator, on his part, though obliged to oppose two
enemies at once, yet had his line secure on both sides; for he both
chose a position not easily surrounded, and also formed two different
fronts. However, he directed his greater efforts against those who had
sallied from the town, and, without much resistance, drove them back
within the walls. He then turned his whole force against the Samnites:
there he found greater difficulty. But the victory, though long
delayed, was neither doubtful nor alloyed by losses. The Samnites,
being forced to fly into their camp, extinguished their fires at
night, and marched away in silence; and renouncing all hopes of
relieving Saticula, sat themselves down before Plistia, which was in
alliance with the Romans, that they might, if possible, retort equal
vexation on their enemy.
22. The year coming to a conclusion, the war was thenceforward
conducted by a dictator, Quintius Fabius. The new consuls, Lucius
Papirius Cursor and Quintus Publilius Philo, both a fourth time, as
the former had done, remained at Rome. Fabius came with a
reinforcement to Saticula, to receive the army from Aemilius. For the
Samnites had not continued before Plistia; but having sent for a new
supply of men from home, and relying on their numbers, had encamped in
the same spot as before; and, by provoking the Romans to battle,
endeavoured to divert them from the siege. The dictator, so much the
more intently, pushed forward his operations against the
fortifications of the enemy; considering that only as war which was
directed against the city, and showing an indifference with respect to
the Samnites, except that he placed guards in proper places, to
prevent any attempt on his camp. The more furiously did the Samnites
ride up to the rampart, and allowed him no quiet. When the enemy were
now come up close to the gates of the camp, Quintus Aulius Cerretanus,
master of the horse, without consulting the dictator, sallied out
furiously at the head of all the troops of cavalry, and drove back the
enemy. In this desultory kind of fight, fortune worked up the strength
of the combatants in such a manner, as to occasion an extraordinary
loss on both sides, and the remarkable deaths of the commanders
themselves. First, the general of the Samnites, indignant at being
repulsed, and compelled to fly from a place to which he had advanced
so confidently, by entreating and exhorting his horsemen, renewed the
battle. As he was easily distinguished among the horsemen, while he
urged on the fight, the Roman master of the horse galloped up against
him, with his spear directed, so furiously, that, with one stroke, he
tumbled him lifeless from his horse. The multitude, however, were not,
as is generally the case, dismayed by the fall of their leader, but
rather raised to fury. All who were within reach darted their weapons
at Aulius, who incautiously pushed forward among the enemy's troops;
but the chief share of the honour of revenging the death of the
Samnite general they assigned to his brother; he, urged by rage and
grief, dragged down the victorious master of the horse from his seat,
and slew him. Nor were the Samnites far from obtaining his body also,
as he had fallen among the enemies' troops: but the Romans instantly
dismounted, and the Samnites were obliged to do the same; and lines
being thus formed suddenly but, at the same time, untenable through
scarcity of necessaries: "for all the country round, from which
provisions could be supplied, has revolted; and besides, even were the
inhabitants disposed to aid us, the ground is unfavourable. I will not
therefore mislead you by leaving a camp here, into which ye may
retreat, as on a former day, without completing the victory. Works
ought to be secured by arms, not arms by works. Let those keep a camp,
and repair to it, whose interest it is to protract the war; but let us
cut off from ourselves every other prospect but that of conquering.
Advance the standards against the enemy; as soon as the troops shall
have marched beyond the rampart, let those who have it in orders burn
the camp. Your losses, soldiers, shall be compensated with the spoil
of all the nations round who have revolted." The soldiers advanced
against the enemy with spirit inflamed by the dictator's discourse,
which seemed indication of an extreme necessity; and, at the same
time, the very sight of the camp burning behind them, though the
nearest part only was set on fire, (for so the dictator had ordered,)
was small incitement: rushing on therefore like madmen, they
disordered the enemy's battalions at the very first onset; and the
master of the horse, when he saw at a distance the fire in the camp,
which was a signal agreed on, made a seasonable attack on their rear.
The Samnites, thus surrounded on either side, fled different ways. A
vast number, who had gathered into a body through fear, yet from
confusion incapable of fleeing, were surrounded and cut to pieces. The
enemy's camp was taken and plundered; and the soldiers being laden
with spoil, the dictator led them back to the Roman camp, highly
rejoiced at the success, but by no means so much as at finding,
contrary to their expectation, every thing there safe, except a small
part only, which was injured or destroyed by the fire.
24. They then marched back to Sora; and the new consuls, Marcus
Poetelius and Caius Sulpicius, receive the army from the dictator
Fabius, discharging a great part of the veteran soldiers, having
brought with them new cohorts to supply their place. Now while, on
account of the dire situation of the city, no certain mode of attack
could be devised, and success must either be distant in time, or at
desperate risk; a deserter from Sora came out of the town privately by
night, and when he had got as far as the Roman watches, desired to be
conducted instantly to the consuls: which being complied with, he made
them an offer of delivering the place into their hands. When he
answered their questions, respecting the means by which he intended to
make good his promise, appearing to state a project by no means idle,
he persuaded them to remove the Roman camp, which was almost close to
the walls, to the distance of six miles; that the consequence would be
that this would render the guards by day, and the watches by night,
the less vigilant. He then desired that some cohorts should post
themselves the following night in the woody places under the town, and
took with himself ten chosen soldiers, through steep and almost
impassable ways, into the citadel, where a quantity of missive weapons
had been collected, larger than bore proportion to the number of men.
There were stones besides, some lying at random, as in all craggy
places, and others heaped up designedly by the townsmen, to add to the
security of the place. Having posted the Romans here, and shown them a
steep and narrow path leading up from the town to the citadel--"From
this ascent," said he, "even three armed men would keep off any
multitude whatever. Now ye are ten in number; and, what is more,
Romans, and the bravest among the Romans. The night is in your favour,
which, from the uncertainty it occasions, magnifies every object to
people once alarmed. I will immediately fill every place with terror:
be ye alert in defending the citadel." He then ran down in haste,
crying aloud, "To arms, citizens, we are undone, the citadel is taken
by the enemy; run, defend it." This he repeated, as he passed the
doors of the principal men, the same to all whom he met, and also to
those who ran out in a fright into the streets. The alarm,
communicated first by one, was soon spread by numbers through all the
city. The magistrates, dismayed on hearing from scouts that the
citadel was full of arms and armed men, whose number they multiplied,
laid aside all hopes of recovering it. All places are filled with
terror: the gates are broken open by persons half asleep, and for the
most part unarmed, through one of which the body of Roman troops,
roused by the noise, burst in, and slew the terrified inhabitants, who
attempted to skirmish in the streets. Sora was now taken, when, at the
first light, the consuls arrived, and accepted the surrender of those
whom fortune had left remaining after the flight and slaughter of the
night. Of these, they conveyed in chains to Rome two hundred and
twenty-five, whom all men agreed in pointing out as the authors, both
of the revolt, and also of the horrid massacre of the colonists. The
rest they left in safety at Sora, a garrison being placed there. All
those who were brought to Rome were beaten with rods in the forum, and
beheaded, to the great joy of the commons, whose interest it most
highly concerned, that the multitudes, sent to various places in
colonies should be in safety.
25. The consuls, leaving Sora, turned their warlike operations against
the lands and cities of the Ausonians; for all places had been set in
commotion by the coming of the Samnites, when the battle was fought at
Lautulae: conspiracies likewise had been formed in several parts of
Campania; nor was Capua itself clear of the charge: nay, the business
spread even to Rome, and inquiries came to be instituted respecting
some of the principal men there. However, the Ausonian nation fell
into the Roman power, in the same manner as Sora, by their cities
being betrayed: these were Ausona Minturnae, and Vescia. Certain young
men, of the principal families, twelve in number, having conspired to
betray their respective cities, came to the consuls; they informed
them that their countrymen, who had for a long time before honestly
wished for the coming of the Samnites, on hearing of the battle at
Lautulae, had looked on the Romans as defeated, and had assisted the
Samnites with supplies of young men and arms; but that, since the
Samnites had been beaten out of the country, they were wavering
between peace and war, not shutting their gates against the Romans,
lest they should thereby invite an attack; yet determined to shut them
if an army should approach; that in that fluctuating state they might
easily be overpowered by surprise. By these men's advice the camp was
moved nearer; and soldiers were sent, at the same time, to each of the
three towns; some armed, who were to lie concealed in places near the
walls; others, in the garb of peace, with swords hidden under their
clothes, when, on the opening of the gates at the approach of day,
were to enter into the cities. These latter began with killing the
guards; at the same time, a signal was made to the men with arms, to
hasten up from the ambuscades. Thus the gates were seized, and the
three towns taken in the same hour and by the same device. But as the
attacks were made in the absence of the generals, there were no bounds
to the carnage which ensued; and the nation of the Ausonians, when
there was scarcely any clear proof of the charge of its having
revolted, was utterly destroyed, as if it had supported a contest
through a deadly war.
26. During this year, Luceria fell into the hands of the Samnites, the
Roman garrison being betrayed to the enemy. This matter did not long
go unpunished with the traitors: the Roman army was not far off, by
whom the city, which lay in a plain, was taken at the first onset. The
Lucerians and Samnites were to a man put to the sword; and to such a
length was resentment carried, that at Rome, on the senate being
consulted about sending a colony to Luceria, many voted for the
demolition of it. Besides, their hatred was of the bitterest kind,
against a people whom they had been obliged twice to subdue by arms;
the great distance, also, made them averse from sending away their
citizens among nations so ill-affected towards them. However the
resolution was carried, that the colonists should be sent; and
accordingly two thousand five hundred were transported thither. This
year, when all places were becoming disaffected to the Romans, secret
conspiracies were formed among the leading men at Capua, as well as at
other places; a motion concerning which being laid before the senate,
the matter was by no means neglected. Inquiries were decreed, and it
was resolved that a dictator should be appointed to enforce these
inquiries. Caius Maenius was accordingly nominated, and he appointed
Marcus Foslius master of the horse. People's dread of that office was
very great, insomuch that the Calavii, Ovius and Novius, who were the
heads of the conspiracy, either through fear of the dictator's power,
or the consciousness of guilt, previous to the charge against them
being laid in form before him, avoided, as appeared beyond doubt,
trial by a voluntary death. As the subject of the inquiry in Campania
was thus removed, the proceedings were then directed towards Rome: by
construing the order of the senate to have meant, that inquiry should
be made, not specially who at Capua, but generally who at any place
had caballed or conspired against the state; for that cabals, for the
attaining of honours, were contrary to the edicts of the state. The
inquiry was extended to a greater latitude, with respect both to the
matter, and to the kind of persons concerned, the dictator scrupling
not to avow, that his power of research was unlimited: in consequence,
some of the nobility were called to account; and though they applied
to the tribunes for protection, no one interposed in their behalf, or
to prevent the charges from being received. On this the nobles, not
those only against whom the charge was levelled, but the whole body
jointly insisted that such an imputation lay not against the nobles,
to whom the way to honours lay open if not obstructed by fraud, but
against the new men: so that even the dictator and master of the
horse, with respect to that question, would appear more properly as
culprits than suitable inquisitors; and this they should know as soon
as they went out of office. Then indeed Maenius, who was more
solicitous about his character than his office, advanced into the
assembly and spoke to this effect, "Romans, both of my past life ye
are all witnesses; and this honourable office, which ye conferred on
me, is in itself a testimony of my innocence. For the dictator, proper
to be chosen for holding these inquiries, was not, as on many other
occasions, where the exigencies of the state so required, the man who
was most renowned in war; but him whose counsel of life was most
remote from such cabals. But certain of the nobility (for what reason
it is more proper that ye should judge than that I, as a magistrate,
should, without proof, insinuate) have laboured to stifle entirely the
inquiries; and then, finding their strength unequal to it, rather than
stand a trial have fled for refuge to the stronghold of their
adversaries, an appeal and the support of the tribunes; and on being
there also repulsed, (so fully were they persuaded that every other
measure was safer than the attempt to clear themselves,) have made an
attack upon us; and, though in private characters have not been
ashamed of instituting a criminal process against a dictator. Now,
that gods and men may perceive that they to avoid a scrutiny as to
their own conduct, attempt even things which are impossible, and that
I willingly meet the charge, and face the accusations of my enemies, I
divest myself of the dictatorship. And, consuls, I beseech you, that
if this business is put into your hands by the senate, ye make me and
Marcus Foslius the first objects of our your examinations; that it may
be manifested that we are safe from such imputations by our own
innocence, not by the dignity of office." He then abdicated the
dictatorship, as did Marcus Foslius, immediately after, his office of
master of the horse; and being the first brought to trial before the
consuls, for to them the senate had committed the business, they were
most honourably acquitted of all the charges brought by the nobles.
Even Publilius Philo, who had so often been invested with the highest
honours, and had performed so many eminent services, both at home and
abroad, being disagreeable to the nobility, was brought to trial, and
acquitted. Nor did the inquiry continue respectable on account of the
illustrious names of the accused, longer than while it was new, which
is usually the case; it then began to descend to persons of inferior
rank; and, at length, was suppressed, by means of those factions and
cabals against which it had been instituted.