The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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19. Quintus Fabius, the consul, was encamped before Casilinum, which
was occupied by a garrison of two thousand Campanians and seven
hundred of the soldiers of Hannibal. The commander was Statius Metius,
who was sent there by Cneius Magius Atellanus, who was that year
Medixtuticus and was arming the slaves and people without distinction,
in order to assault the Roman camp, while the consul was intently
occupied in the siege of Casilinum. None of these things escaped
Fabius. He therefore sent to his colleague at Nola, "That another army
was requisite, which might be opposed to the Campanians, while the
siege of Casilinum was going on; that either he should come himself,
leaving a force sufficient for the protection of Nola, or if the state
of Nola required him to stay there, in consequence of its not being
yet secure against the attempts of Hannibal, that he should summon
Tiberius Gracchus, the proconsul, from Beneventum." On this message,
Marcellus, leaving two thousand troops in garrison at Nola, came to
Casilinum with the rest of his forces; and at his arrival the
Campanians, who were already in motion, desisted from their
operations. Thus the siege of Casilinum was commenced by the two
consuls. But as the Roman soldiers received many wounds as they rashly
approached the walls, and as they did not succeed satisfactorily in
their attempts. Fabius gave it as his opinion that this, which was a
small matter, though as difficult as more important ones, should be
abandoned, and that they should retire from the place, as affairs of
greater moment were pressing. Marcellus, however, succeeded in
persuading him that they should not go away with their object
unaccomplished, observing that as there were many objects which great
generals should not attempt, so when once attempted they should not be
abandoned, because the mere report in either case would have important
consequences. Upon this the vineae and all kinds of military works and
engines were applied; in consequence of which, the Campanians
entreated Fabius to allow them to retire to Capua in safety; when a
few of them having come out of the town, Marcellus took possession
of the gate through which they passed, and first slew all
indiscriminately who were near the gate, and then rushing in, the
slaughter commenced in the town also. About fifty of the Campanians,
who at first came out of the city, having fled for refuge to Fabius,
arrived safe at Capua under his protection. Thus Casilinum was
captured on an accidental opportunity which occurred during the
conferences and delay of those who were soliciting protection. The
prisoners, both those who were Campanians and those who were
Hannibal's soldiers, were sent to Rome, where they were shut up in a
prison. The crowd of townsmen was distributed among the neighbouring
people to be kept in custody.
20. At the same time that the consuls retired from Casilinum, their
object having been accomplished, Gracchus, who was in Lucania, sent,
under a prefect of the allies, some cohorts which he had levied in
that country to ravage the lands of the enemy. These, as they were
straggling in a careless manner, Hanno surprising, retorted upon his
enemy a defeat not much less disastrous than he had himself received
at Beneventum, and then hastily retired to the territory of the
Bruttians, lest Gracchus should overtake him. Of the consuls,
Marcellus returned to Nola, whence he had come, Fabius proceeded to
Samnium to waste the lands, and recover by force the cities which had
revolted. The Samnites of Caudium suffered the severest devastation;
their fields were laid waste by fire for a wide extent, and both men
and cattle were conveyed away as booty. The towns of Compulteria,
Telesia, Compsa, Melae, Fulfulae, and Orbitanium, were taken by storm.
Blandae, belonging to the Lucanians, and Aecae to the Apulians, were
taken after a siege. Twenty-five thousand of the enemy were captured
or slain in these towns, and three hundred and seventy deserters
recovered; who, being sent to Rome by the consul, were all of them
beaten with rods in the comitium, and thrown down from the rock. Such
were the achievements of Fabius within the space of a few days. Ill
health detained Marcellus from active operations at Nola. The town of
Accua also was taken by storm, during the same period, by the praetor
Quintus Fabius, whose province was the neighbourhood of Luceria; he
also fortified a stationary camp at Ardonea. While the Romans were
thus employed in different quarters, Hannibal had reached Tarentum,
utterly destroying every thing whichsoever way he went. In the
territory of Tarentum, the troops at length began to march in a
peaceable manner. There nothing was violated, nor did they ever go out
of the road; it was evident that this was done not from the moderation
of the soldiery, or their general, but to conciliate the affections of
the Tarentines. However, on advancing almost close to the walls
without perceiving any movement, which he expected would occur on the
sight of his vanguard, he pitched his camp about a mile off the city.
Three days before the arrival of Hannibal, Marcus Livius, who had been
sent by Marcus Valerius, the propraetor, commanding the fleet at
Brundusium, had enlisted the young nobility of Tarentum, and
stationing guards at every gate, and round the walls, wherever
circumstances made it necessary, had kept such a strict watch both by
day and night, as to give no opportunity for making any attempt either
to the enemy or doubtful allies. On this account several days were
consumed there to no purpose, when Hannibal, as none of those who had
come to him at the lake Avernus, either came themselves or sent any
letter or message, perceiving that he had carelessly followed delusive
promises, moved his camp thence. Even after this he did not offer any
violence to the Tarentine territory, not quitting the hope of shaking
their allegiance to the Romans, though his simulated lenity had
hitherto been of no advantage to him; but as soon as he came to
Salapia he collected stores of corn there from the Metapontine and
Heraclean lands; for midsummer was now past, and the situation pleased
him as a place for winter quarters. From hence the Moors and Numidians
were detached to plunder the territory of Sallentum, and the
neighbouring woods of Apulia, from which not much booty of any other
sort was obtained, but principally droves of horses, four thousand of
which were distributed among his horsemen to be broken.
21. The Romans, since a war by no means to be despised was springing
up in Sicily, and the death of the tyrant had furnished the Syracusans
with more enterprising leaders, rather than changed their attachment
to the Carthaginian cause, or the state of their minds, decreed that
province to Marcus Marcellus, one of their consuls. After the
assassination of Hieronymus, at first a tumult had taken place among
the soldiery in the territory of the Leontines. They exclaimed
furiously that the manes of the king should be appeased with the blood
of the conspirators. Afterwards the frequent repetition of the word
liberty, which was restored to them, a word so delightful to the ear,
the hopes they had conceived of largesses from the royal treasury, and
of serving in future under better generals, the relation of the horrid
crimes and more horrid lusts of the tyrant, effected such an
alteration in their sentiments, that they suffered to lie unburied the
corpse of the king, whom a little before they regretted. As the rest
of the conspirators remained behind, in order to keep the army on
their side, Theodotus and Sosis, mounted on the king's horses, rode
off to Syracuse with all possible speed, that they might surprise the
king's party, while unacquainted with all that had occurred. But they
were anticipated not only by report, than which nothing is swifter in
such affairs, but also by a messenger who was one of the royal
servants. In consequence, Andranodorus had occupied with strong
garrisons the Insula and the citadel, and every other convenient part
which he could. After sunset, when it was now growing dark, Theodotus
and Sosis rode in by the Hexapylum, and displayed the royal vest
stained with blood, and the ornament of the king's head; then passing
through the Tycha, and calling the people at once to liberty and arms,
bid them assemble in the Achradina. Some of the multitude ran out into
the streets, some stood in the porches of their houses, while others
looked out from the roofs and windows, and inquired what was the
matter. Every part of the city was filled with lights and noises of
various kinds. Assemblies of armed men were formed in the open spaces.
Those who had no arms tore down from the temple of the Olympian
Jupiter the spoils of the Gauls and Illyrians, which had been
presented to Hiero by the Roman people, and hung up there by him; at
the same time offering up prayers to Jupiter, that he would willingly,
and without feeling offence, lend those consecrated weapons to those
who were arming themselves in defence of their country, of the temples
of their gods, and their liberty. This multitude was also joined by
the watches which were stationed through the principal quarters of the
city. In the island, Andranodorus, among other places, secured the
public granaries by a garrison. This place, which was enclosed by a
wall of stones hewn square, and built up on high, after the manner of
a citadel, was occupied by a body of youth, who had been appointed to
garrison it, and these sent messengers to the Achradina, to give
information that the granaries and the corn were in the power of the
senate.
22. At break of day the whole populace, armed and unarmed, assembled
at the senate-house in the Achradina: where from the altar of Concord,
which stood there, one of the nobles, named Polyaenus, delivered a
liberal and temperate address. He said, that "men who had experienced
servitude and contumely, were enraged against an evil which was well
known, but that the Syracusans had rather heard from their fathers
than seen with their own eyes the disasters which civil discord
introduces." He said, "he commended them for the alacrity with which
they had taken arms; but that he should commend them more if they
should abstain from using them unless compelled by extreme necessity.
At present he advised that ambassadors should be sent to Andranodorus,
to charge him to submit to the direction of the senate and the people,
to throw open the gates of the island, and withdraw the garrison. If
he resolved to usurp the sovereignty of which he had been appointed
guardian, that he would recommend that their liberty be recovered more
energetically from Andranodorus than it had been from Hieronymus."
From this assembly ambassadors were despatched. The senate began now
to meet, which though during the reign of Hiero it had continued to be
the public council of the state, from the time of his death up to the
present had never been assembled or consulted upon any subject. When
the ambassadors came to Andranodorus, he was himself moved by the
unanimous opinion of his countrymen, by their having possession of
other parts of the city, and by the fact that the strongest part of
the island was betrayed and placed in the hands of others; but his
wife, Demarata, the daughter of Hiero, still swelling with the pride
of royalty and female presumption, called him out from the presence of
the ambassadors, and reminded him of the expression so often repeated
by the tyrant Dionysius, "that a man ought only to relinquish
sovereign power when dragged by the feet, and not while sitting on
horseback. That it was an easy thing, at any moment one pleased, to
give up possession of grandeur, but that to create and obtain them was
difficult and arduous. That he should obtain from the ambassadors a
little time to deliberate, and to employ it in fetching the soldiers
from the Leontines; to whom, if he promised the royal treasure, every
thing would be at his disposal." This advice, suggested by a woman,
Andranodorus neither entirely rejected nor immediately adopted,
considering it the safer way to the attainment of power to temporize
for the present. Accordingly he told the ambassadors to carry word
back, that he should act subserviently to the senate and the people.
The next day, as soon as it was light, he threw open the gates of the
island, and came into the forum of the Achradina; then mounting the
altar of Concord, from which Polyaenus had delivered his harangue the
day before, he commenced a speech by soliciting pardon for his delay.
"He had kept the gates closed," he said, "not as separating his own
from the public interest, but from fear as to where the carnage would
stop when once the sword was drawn; whether they would be satisfied
with the blood of the tyrant, which was sufficient for their liberty,
or whether all who were connected with the court, by consanguinity,
affinity, or any offices, would, as implicated in another's guilt, be
butchered. After he perceived that those who had liberated their
country were desirous of preserving it when liberated, and that the
counsels of all were directed towards the public good, he had not
hesitated to restore to his country his own person and every thing
else which had been committed to his honour and guardianship, since
the person who had intrusted him with them had fallen a victim to his
own madness." Then turning to the persons who had killed the tyrant,
and calling on Theodotus and Sosis by name, he said, "You have
performed a memorable deed, but believe me, your glory is only
beginning, not yet perfected; and there still remains great danger
lest the enfranchised state should be destroyed, if you do not provide
for its tranquillity and harmony."
23. At the conclusion of this speech, he laid the keys of the gates
and of the royal treasure at their feet; and on that day, retiring
from the assembly in the highest spirits, they made supplication with
their wives and children at all the temples of the gods. On the
following day an assembly was held for the election of praetors.
Andranodorus was created among the first; the rest consisted for the
most part of the destroyers of the tyrant; two of these, Sopater and
Dinomenes, they appointed in their absence. These, on hearing of what
had passed at Syracuse, conveyed thither the royal treasure which was
at Leontini, and put it into the hands of quaestors appointed for that
purpose. The treasure also in the island and the Achradina was
delivered to them, and that part of the wall which formed too strong a
separation between the island and the other parts of the city, was
demolished by general consent. Every thing else which was done was in
conformity with this inclination of their minds to liberty.
Hippocrates and Epicydes, on hearing of the death of the tyrant, which
Hippocrates had wished to conceal even by putting the messenger to
death, being deserted by the soldiery, returned to Syracuse, as that
appeared the safest course under present circumstances; but lest if
they appeared there in common they should become objects of suspicion,
and looked upon as persons who were seeking an opportunity of
effecting some change, they in the first place addressed themselves to
the praetors and then through them to the senate. They declared, that
"they were sent by Hannibal to Hieronymus, as to a friend and ally;
that they had obeyed the orders of that man whom their general wished
them to obey; that they desired to return to Hannibal; but as the
journey would not be safe, as armed Romans were ranging at large
through the whole of Sicily, that they requested to be furnished with
some escort which might convey them in safety to Locri in Italy; and
that thus they would confer a great obligation upon Hannibal, with
little trouble." The request was easily obtained, for they were
desirous of getting rid of these generals of the king, who were
skilled in war, and at once necessitous and enterprising. But they did
not exert themselves so as to effect what they desired with the
requisite speed. Meanwhile these young men, who were of a military
turn and accustomed to the soldiers, employed themselves in
circulating charges against the senate and nobles, sometimes in the
minds of the soldiers themselves, sometimes of the deserters, of which
the greater part were Roman sailors, at other times of men belonging
to the lowest order of the populace, insinuating, that "what they were
secretly labouring and contriving to effect, was to place Syracuse
under the dominion of the Romans with the pretence of a renewed
alliance, and then that faction and the few promoters of the alliance
would be supreme."
24. The crowds of persons disposed to hear and credit these
insinuations which flowed into Syracuse from every quarter increased
daily, and afforded hopes, not only to Epicydes but to Andranodorus
also, of effecting a revolution. The latter, wearied at length by the
importunities of his wife, who warned him, "that now was the
favourable time for seizing the government, while every thing was in
confusion in consequence of liberty being recent and not yet regularly
established; while a soldiery supported by the royal pay was to be met
with, and while generals sent by Hannibal and accustomed to the
soldiery might forward the attempt;" he communicated his design with
Themistus, who had married the daughter of Gelon, and a few days
afterwards incautiously disclosed it to a certain tragic actor, named
Ariston, to whom he was in the habit of committing other secrets. He
was a man of reputable birth and fortune, nor did his profession
disgrace them, for among the Greeks no pursuit of that kind was
considered dishonourable. He therefore discovered the plot to the
praetors, from a conviction that his country had a superior claim upon
his fidelity. These having satisfied themselves that his statement was
not false by indubitable proofs, took the advice of the elder
senators, and with their sanction, having placed a guard at the doors,
slew Themistus and Andranodorus as soon as they had entered the
senate-house. A disturbance arising in consequence of this act, which,
as none but the praetors knew the cause of it, wore an appearance of
atrocity, the praetors, having at length procured silence, introduced
the informer into the senate-house; and after he had in a regular
manner detailed to the senate every particular, showing that the
conspiracy owed its origin to the marriage of Harmonia, the daughter
of Gelon, with Themistus; that the African and Spanish auxiliaries had
been prepared to murder the praetors and others of the nobility; that
it had been given out that their goods were to be the booty of the
assassins; that already a band of mercenaries accustomed to obey the
command of Andranodorus had been procured for the reoccupation of the
island; and having then distinctly represented to them the several
parts which the persons implicated in the transaction were performing,
and having brought under their view the entire plot prepared for
execution with men and arms; it seemed to the senate that they had
fallen as justly as Hieronymus had. A shout was raised before the
senate-house by a crowd of people variously disposed and uncertain of
the facts; but as they were conducting themselves in a furious and
menacing manner, the bodies of the conspirators in the vestibule of
the senate-house restrained them with such alarm, that they silently
followed the more discreet part of the commons to an assembly. Sopater
was the person commissioned by the senate and his colleague to explain
the affair.
25. Treating them as if they stood upon their trial, he began with
their past lives; and insisted that Andranodorus and Themistus were
the authors of every act of iniquity and impiety which had been
perpetrated since the death of Hiero. "For what," said he, "did the
boy Hieronymus ever do of his own accord? What could he do who had
scarce as yet arrived at puberty? His tutors and guardians had ruled,
while the odium rested on another. Therefore they ought to have been
put to death either before Hieronymus or with him. Nevertheless those
men, deservedly marked out for death, had attempted fresh crimes after
the decease of the tyrant; first openly, when, closing the gates of
the island, Andranodorus declared himself heir to the throne, and kept
that as proprietor which he had held only in the capacity of guardian;
afterwards, when betrayed by those who were in the island and
blockaded by the whole body of the citizens who held the Achradina, he
endeavoured to obtain, by secret and artful means, that sovereignty
which he had in vain attempted openly; whom not even benefits and
honorary distinction could move, for even this conspirator against the
liberty of his country was created praetor among her liberators. But
that wives of royal blood had infected them with this thirst for
royalty, one having married the daughter of Hiero, the other the
daughter of Gelon." On hearing these words, a shout arose from every
part of the assembly, that "none of these women ought to live, and
that not one of the royal family should be left alive." Such is the
nature of the populace; they are either cringing slaves or haughty
tyrants. They know not how with moderation to spurn or to enjoy that
liberty which holds the middle place; nor are there generally wanting
ministers, the panders to their resentment, who incite their eager and
intemperate minds to blood and carnage. Thus, on the present occasion,
the praetors instantly proposed the passing of a decree, which was
consented to almost before it was proposed, that all the royal family
should be put to death; and persons despatched for the purpose by the
praetors, put to death Demarata, the daughter of Hiero, and Harmonia,
the daughter of Gelon, the wives of Andranodorus and Themistus.
26. There was a daughter of Hiero, named Heraclea, the wife of
Zoippus, who, having been sent by Hieronymus as ambassador to king
Ptolemy, had become a voluntary exile. As soon as she was apprized
that they were coming to her also, she fled for refuge into the chapel
to the household gods, accompanied by her two virgin daughters, with
dishevelled hair, and other marks of wretchedness. In addition to
this, she had recourse to prayers also; she implored them "by the
memory of her father, Hiero, and her brother, Gelon, that they would
not suffer her, a guiltless person, to be consumed by their hatred of
Hieronymus. That all that she had derived from his reign was the exile
of her husband. That neither did she enjoy the same advantages as her
sister while Hieronymus was alive, nor was her cause the same as hers
now he was dead. What? Though her sister would have shared the throne
with Andranodorus, had he succeeded in his designs, she must have been
in servitude with the rest. Can any one doubt, that if information
should be conveyed to Zoippus that Hieronymus had been put to death,
and that Syracuse was free, he would instantly embark and return to
his native land. But how are all human hopes deceived! His wife and
children are struggling for their lives in his native land, now
blessed with liberty! In what manner standing in the way of liberty or
the laws? What danger could arise to any one from them, from a
solitary, and in a manner, widowed woman and girls living in a state
of orphanage? But perhaps it will be granted that no danger is to be
apprehended from them, but alleged that the whole royal family is
detested. If this were the case, she entreated that they would banish
them far from Syracuse and Sicily, and order them to be conveyed to
Alexandria, the wife to her husband, the daughters to their father."
Seeing that their ears and minds were unimpressed, and that certain of
them were drawing their swords to prevent a fruitless consumption of
time, she gave over entreating for herself, and began to implore them
to "spare, at least, her daughters, at an age which even exasperated
enemies spared." She entreated them "that they would not, in their
revenge on tyrants, themselves imitate the crimes which were odious to
them." While thus employed, they dragged her from the sanctuary and
murdered her; and after that they fell upon the virgins, who were
sprinkled with the blood of their mother; who, distracted alike by
fear and grief, and as if seized with madness, rushed out of the
chapel with such rapidity, that had there been an opening by which
they might have escaped into the street, they would have filled the
city with confusion. As it was, they several times made their escape
through the midst of so many armed men with their persons uninjured in
the contracted space which the house afforded, and extricated
themselves from their grasp, though they had to disengage themselves
from so many and such strong hands; but at length enfeebled by wounds,
and after covering every place with blood, they fell down lifeless.
This murder, piteous as it was in itself, was rendered still more so
by its happening that a short time after it a message arrived that
they should not be killed, as the minds of the people were now turned
to compassion. This compassion then gave rise to a feeling of anger,
because so much haste had been shown in carrying the punishment into
effect, and because no opportunity was left for relenting or retracing
the steps of their passion. The multitude therefore gave vent to their
indignation, and demanded an election to supply the places of
Andranodorus and Themistus, for both of them had been praetors; an
election by no means likely to be agreeable to the praetors.