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5 She might therefore send a person to receive an oath from him, in whose presence he would bind himself, before the gods of their country, by whatever execrations she pleased. " 6 Arsinoe, not knowing what to do, was afraid that if she sent any one, she would be deceived by a false oath, and that, if she did not send, she would provoke her brother's fury and cruelty. 7 Fearing, therefore, less for herself than her children, whom she thought she might protect by the marriage, she sent Dion, one of her friends, to him. 8 Ptolemy, after conducting him into the most sacred temple of Jupiter, held in high veneration from of old among the Macedonians, took hold of the altar, and, touching the images and couches of the gods, 9 vowed, with unheard-of and most solemn imprecations, that " he sought a marriage with his sister in true sincerity, and that he would give her the title of Queen, nor would, to her dishonour, have any other wife, or any other children than her sons. " 10 Arsinoe, being thus filled with hope, and relieved from apprehensions, held a conference with her brother in person, and as his looks and flattering glances promised no less sincerity than his oath, she agreed to marry him, though her son Lysimachus exclaimed that " there was treachery at the bottom. "

[24. 3] L The nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence and general rejoicings. 2 Ptolemy, before the assembled army, placed a diadem on his sister's head, and saluted her with the title of Queen. 3 Arsinoe, overjoyed at the name, as having regained what she had lost by the death of Lysimachus her former husband, invited Ptolemy to her city Cassandreia; to get possession of which city the plot was laid. 4 Going thither before her husband, she appointed a festival in the city against his arrival, ordering the houses, temples, and all other places, to be magnificently decorated, altars and victims to be everywhere kept in readiness, 5 and her sons, Lysimachus who was sixteen years old, and Philippus three years younger, both remarkable for their comeliness, to go to meet him with crowns on their heads. 6 Ptolemy, to conceal his treachery, caressing them with eagerness, and beyond the warmth of real affection, persisted for a long time in kissing them. 7 But as soon as he arrived at the gate, he ordered the citadel to be seized, and the boys to be slain. They, fleeing to their mother, were slain upon her lap, as she was embracing them; 8 while Arsinoe exclaimed, " What monstrous clime had she committed, either in marrying or since her marriage ? " She several times offered herself to the assassins in the room of her children, and, embracing them, covered their bodies with her own, endeavouring to receive the wounds intended for them. 9 At last, deprived even of the dead bodies of her sons, she was dragged out of the city, with her garments torn and her hair dishevelled, and with only two attendants, and went to live in exile in Samothrace; sorrowing the more, that she was not allowed to die with her children. 10 But the crimes of Ptolemy were not unpunished; for soon after (the immortal gods inflicting vengeance on him for so many perjuries, and such cruel murders), he was driven from his throne and taken prisoner by the Gauls, and lost his life, as he had merited, by the sword.

[24. 4] L The Gauls, when the land that had produced them was unable, from their excessive increase of population, to contain them, sent out three hundred thousand men, as a sacred spring, to seek new settlements. 2 Of these adventurers part settled in Italy, and took and burnt the city of Rome; 3 and part penetrated into the remotest parts of Illyricum under the direction of a flight of birds (for the Gauls are skilled in augury beyond other nations) making their way amidst great slaughter of the barbarous tribes, and fixed their abode in Pannonia. 4 They were a savage, bold, and warlike nation, and were the first after Hercules (to whom that undertaking procured great admiration for his valour, and a belief in his immortality), to pass the unconquered heights of the Alps, and places uninhabitable from excess of cold. 5 After having subdued the Pannonians, they carried on various wars with their neighbours for many years. 6 Success encouraging them, they betook themselves, in separate bands, some to Greece, and some to Macedonia, laying waste all before them with the sword. 7 Such indeed was the terror of the Gallic name, that even kings, before they were attacked, purchased peace from them with large sums of money. 8 Ptolemy alone, the king of Macedonia, heard of the approach of the Gauls without alarm, and, hurried on by the madness that distracted him for his unnatural crimes, went out to meet them with a few undisciplined troops, as if wars could be dispatched with as little difficulty as murders. 9 An embassy from the Dardanians, offering him twenty thousand armed men, for his assistance, he spurned, adding insulting language, and saying that "the Macedonians were in a sad condition if, after having subdued the whole east without assistance, they now required aid from the Dardanians to defend their country; 10 and that he had for soldiers the sons of those who had served under Alexander the Great, and had been victorious throughout the world. " 11 This answer being repeated to the Dardanian prince, he observed that " the famous kingdom of Macedonia would soon fall a sacrifice to the rashness of a raw youth. "

[24. 5] L The Gauls, under the command of Belgius, sent deputies to Ptolemy to sound the disposition of the Macedonians, offering him peace if he liked to purchase it; 2 but Ptolemy boasted to his courtiers that the Gauls sued for peace from fear of war. 3 Nor was his manner less vaunting before the ambassadors than before his own adherents, saying that " he would grant peace only on condition that they would give their chiefs as hostages, and deliver up their arms; for he would put no trust in them until they were disarmed. " 4 The deputies bringing back this answer, the Gauls laughed, and exclaimed throughout their camp, that " he would soon see whether they had offered peace from regard for themselves or for him. " 5 Some days after a battle was fought, and the Macedonians were defeated and cut to pieces. 6 Ptolemy, after receiving several wounds, was taken, and his head, cut off and stuck on a lance, was carried round the whole army to strike terror into the enemy. 7 Flight saved a few of the Macedonians; the rest were either taken or slain.

8 When the news of this event was spread through all Macedonia, the gates of the city were shut, and all places filled with mourning. 9 Sometimes they lamented their bereavement, from the loss of their children; sometimes they were seized with dread, lest their cities should be destroyed; and at other times they called on the names of their kings, Alexander and Philippus, as deities, to protect them; 10 saying that " under them they were not only secure, but conquerors of the world;" 11 and begging that "they would guard their country, whose fame they had raised to heaven by the glory of their exploits, and give assistance to the afflicted, whom the insanity and rashness of Ptolemy had ruined. " 12 While all were thus in despair, Sosthenes, one of the Macedonian chiefs, thinking that nothing would be effected by prayers, assembled such as were of age for war, repulsed the Gauls in the midst of their exultation at their victory, and saved Macedonia from devastation. 13 For these great services, he, though of humble extraction, was chosen before many nobles that aspired to the throne of Macedonia. 14 But though he was saluted as king by the army, he made the soldiers take an oath to him, not as king, but as general.

[24. 6] L In the meantime Brennus, under whose command a part of the Gauls had made an irruption into Greece, having heard of the success of their countrymen, who, under the leadership of Belgius, had defeated the Macedonians, and being indignant that so rich a booty, consisting of the spoils of the east, had been so lightly abandoned, assembled an army of a hundred and fifty thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, and suddenly invaded Macedonia. 2 As he was laying waste the fields and villages, Sosthenes met him with his army of Macedonians in full array, but being few in number, and in some consternation, they were easily overcome by the more numerous and powerful Gauls; 3 and the defeated Macedonians retiring within the walls of their cities, the victorious Brennus, meeting with no opposition, ravaged the lands throughout the whole of Macedonia. 4 Soon after, as if the spoils of mortals were too mean for him, he turned his thoughts to the temples of the immortal gods, saying, with a profane jest, that " the gods, being rich, ought to be liberal to men. " 5 He suddenly, therefore, directed his march towards Delphi, regarding plunder more than religion, and caring for gold more than for the wrath of the deities, " who," he said, " stood in no need of riches, as being accustomed rather to bestow them on mortals. "

6 The temple of Apollo at Delphi is situated on Mount Parnassus, on a rock steep on all sides. A concourse of people, who, collecting from the parts around, through veneration for the majesty of the god, settled on the rock, formed a city there. 7 Thus, not walls, but precipices, not defences formed by the hand, but by nature, protect the temple and the city; so that it is utterly uncertain whether the strength of the place, or the influence of the deity residing in it, attracts more admiration. 8 The central part of the rock falls back in the shape of an amphitheatre; and, in consequence, if ever shouts are raised, or if the noise of trumpets is mingled with them, the sound, from the rocks echoing and re-echoing to one another, is heard many times repeated, and louder than it was made at first. This effect, on those who are ignorant of its cause, and are struck with wonder at it, produces a greater awe of the power of the god. 9 In the winding of the rock, about half way up the hill, there is a small plain, and in it a deep fissure in the ground, which is open for giving oracles; for a cold exhalation, driven upwards by some force, as it were by a wind, produces in the minds of the priestesses a certain madness, and compels them, filled with the influence of the god, to give answers to such as consult them. 10 Hence many rich presents of kings and nations are to be seen there, which, by their magnificence, testify the grateful feelings of those that have paid their vows, and their belief in the oracles given by the deity.

[24. 7] L Brennus, when he came within sight of the temple, deliberated for some time, whether he should at once make an attempt upon it, or should allow his soldiers, wearied with their march, a night to refresh themselves. 2 The captains of the Aenianians and Thessalians, who had joined him for a share in the booty, advised that " no delay should be made," while the enemy were unprovided for defence, and the alarm at their coming still fresh; 3 that in the interval of a night, the courage of the enemy would perhaps revive, and assistance come to them; and that the approaches, which were now open, might be blocked up. " 4 But the common soldiers, when, after a long endurance of scarcity, they found a country abounding with wine and other provisions, had dispersed themselves over the fields, rejoicing as much at the plenty as if they had gained a victory, 5 and leaving their standards deserted, wandered about to seize on everything like conquerors. This conduct gave some respite to the Delphians. 6 At the first report that the Gauls were approaching, the countrypeople are said to have been prohibited by the oracle from carrying away their corn and wine from their houses. 7 The salutariness of this prohibition was not understood, until, through this abundance of wine and other provisions being thrown in the way of the Gauls, as a stop to their progress, reinforcements from their neighbours had time to collect. 8 The Delphians, accordingly, supported by the strength of their allies, secured their city before the Gauls, who clung to the wine-skins, on which they had seized, could be recalled to their standards. 9 Brennus had sixty-five thousand infantry, selected from his whole army; of the Delphians there were not more than four thousand ; 10 in utter contempt of whom, Brennus, to rouse the courage of his men, pointed to the vast quantity of spoil before them, declaring that the statues, and four-horse chariots, of which a great number were visible at a distance, were made of solid gold, and would prove greater prices when they came to be weighed than they were in appearance.

[24. 8] L The Gauls, animated by these assertions, and disordered, at the same time, with the wine which they had drunk the day before, rushed to battle without any fear of danger. 2 The Delphians, on the other hand, placing more confidence in the god than in their own strength, resisted the enemy with contempt, and, from the top of the hill, repelled the Gauls as they climbed up, partly with pieces of rock, and partly with their weapons. 3 Amidst this contest between the two, the priests of all the temples, as well as the priestesses themselves, with their hair loose, and with their decorations and fillets, rushed, trembling and frantic, into the front ranks of the combatants, 4 exclaiming that " the god was come; that they had seen him leap down into his temple through the opening roof; 5 that, while they were all humbly imploring aid of the deity, a youth of extraordinary beauty, far above that of mortals, and two armed virgins, coming from the neighbouring temples of Diana and Minerva, met them; 6 that they had not only perceived them with their eyes, but had heard also the sound of a bow and the rattling of arms;" 7 and they therefore conjured them with the strongest entreaties, " not to delay, when the gods were leading them on, to spread slaughter among the enemy, and to share the victory with the powers of heaven. " 8 Incited by these exhortations, they all rushed eagerly to the field of battle, 9 where they themselves also soon perceived the presence of the divinity; for a part of the mountain, broken off by an earthquake, overwhelmed a host of the Gauls and some of the densest bodies of the enemy were scattered abroad, not without wounds, and fell to the earth. 10 A tempest then followed, which destroyed, with hail and cold, those that were suffering from bodily injuries. 11 The general Brennus himself, unable to endure the pain of his wounds, ended his life with hi, dagger. 12 The other general, after punishing the advisers of the war, made off from Greece with all expedition, accompanied with ten thousand wounded men. 13 But neither was fortune more favourable to those who fled; for in their terror, they passed no night under shelter, and no day without hardship and danger; 14 and continual rains, snow congealed by the frost, famine, fatigue, and, what was the greatest evil, the constant want of sleep, consumed the wretched remains of the unfortunate army. 15 The nations and people too, through whom they marched, pursued their stragglers, if to spoil them. 16 Hence it happened that, of so great an army which, little before, presuming on its strength, contended even against the gods, not a man was left to be a memorial of its destruction.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 25 to 30
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.

← Previous books (22-24)

BOOK 25

[25. 1] L After peace was made between the two kings, Antigonus and Antiochus, a new enemy suddenly started up against Antigonus as he was returning to Macedonia. 2 The Gauls, who had been left behind by their general Brennus, when he marched into Greece, to defend the borders of their country, armed fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse (that they alone might not seem idle), 3 and having routed the forces of the Getae and Triballi, and preparing to invade Macedonia, sent ambassadors to Antigonus to offer him peace if he would pay for it, and to play the part of spies, at the same time, in his camp. 4 Antigonus, with royal munificence, invited them to a banquet, and entertained them with a sumptuous display of luxuries. 5 But the Gauls were so struck with the vast quantity of gold and silver set before them, and so tempted with the richness of such a spoil, that they returned more inclined to war than they had come. 6 The king had also ordered his elephants to be shown them, as monsters unknown to those barbarians, and his ships laden with stores to be displayed; 7 little thinking that he was thus exciting the cupidity of those to seize his treasures, whom he sought to strike with terror by the ostentation of his strength. 8 The ambassadors, returning to their countrymen, and exaggerating every thing excessively, set forth at once the wealth and unsuspiciousness of the king; 9 saying that "his camp was filled with gold and silver, but secured neither by rampart nor trench, and that the Macedonians, as if they had sufficient protection in their wealth, neglected all military duties, 10 apparently thinking that, as they had plenty of gold, they had no use for steel. "

[25. 2] L By this statement, the desires of a covetous people were sufficiently stimulated to take possession of such spoil. 2 The example of Belgius, too, had its influence with them, who, a little before, had cut to pieces the army of the Macedonians and their king. 3 Being all of one mind, therefore, they attacked the king's camp by night; but he, foreseeing the storm that threatened him, had given notice to his soldiers to remove all their baggage, and to conceal themselves noiselessly in a neighbouring wood; and the camp was only saved because it was deserted. 4 The Gauls, when they found it destitute not only of defenders, but of sentinels, suspecting that there was not a flight, but some stratagem on the part of the enemy, were for some time afraid to enter the gates. 5 At last, leaving the defences entire and untouched, and more like men come to explore than to plunder, they took possession of the camp; 6 and then, carrying off what they found, they directed their course towards the coast. Here, as they were incautiously plundering the vessels, and fearing no attack, they were cut down by the sailors, and a part of the army that had fled thither with their wives and children; 7 and such was the slaughter among them that the report of this victory procured Antigonus peace, not only from the Gauls, but from his other barbarous neighbours.

8 The nation of the Gauls, however, was at that time so prolific, that they filled all Asia as with one swarm. 9 The kings of the east then carried on no wars without a mercenary army of Gauls; nor, if they were driven from their thrones, did they seek protection with any other people than the Gauls. 10 Such indeed was the terror of the Gallic name, and the unvaried good fortune of their arms, that princes thought they could neither maintain their power in security, nor recover it if lost, without the assistance of Gallic valour. 11 Hence, being called by the king of Bithynia to his aid, and having gained him the victory over his enemies, they shared his kingdom with him, and called their part of it Gallograecia.

[25. 3] L During these transactions in Asia, Pyrrhus, having been defeated by the Carthaginians in a sea fight on the coast of Sicily, sent ambassadors to Antigonus king of Macedonia, to ask for a supply of troops, 2 saying that, "unless he sent him some, he should be obliged to return to his kingdom, and to seek that enlargement of his dominions from him, which he had wished to gain from the Romans. " 3 The ambassadors bringing word that his request was refused, he pretended to be suddenly obliged to depart, but concealed his reasons for doing so. 4 Meanwhile he directed his allies to prepare for war, and committed the citadel of Tarentum to the guardianship of his son Helenus and his friend Milon. 5 Returning to Epirus, he immediately invaded Macedonia; Antigonus met him with an army, but was defeated in battle, and put to flight. 6 Pyrrhus then allowed the Macedonians to surrender on terms; and as if, by the acquisition of Macedonia, he had made up for his loss of Sicily and Italy, he sent for his son and his friend, whom he had left at Tarentum. 7 Antigonus, divesting himself at once of all the marks of royalty, repaired with a few horsemen, that attended him in his flight, to Thessalonica, there to watch what would follow on the loss of his throne, and to renew the war with a hired army of Gauls. 8 But being utterly defeated, a second time, by Ptolemaeus the son of Pyrrhus, he fled with only seven followers, and no longer indulged hopes of recovering his kingdom, but sought only hiding places for safety and solitary ways for flight.

[25. 4] L Pyrrhus, being raised to such a height of royal power, and not content with what had once been the object of his wishes, began to contemplate the subjugation of Greece and Asia. 2 He had no greater delight in ruling than in warfare; nor was any power able to withstand him, wheresoever he directed his attack. 3 But irresistible as he was deemed in conquering kingdoms, he also easily lost those which he subdued and acquired, so much better did he manage to gain dominion than to keep it.

4 Having led his army into the Peloponnesus, he was met by embassies from the Athenians, Achaeans, and Messenians; 5 and all Greece, indeed, struck with admiration at his name, and at the glory of his achievements against the Romans and Carthaginians, was eagerly looking for his arrival. 6 His first contest was with the Spartans, in which, being resisted with greater spirit by the women than by the men, he lost his son Ptolemaeus and the flower of his army; 7 for, when he proceeded to attack the city, such a number of women assembled to defend their birth-place, that he retreated, overcome not more by bravery on their part than by shame on his own.

8 As for his son Ptolemaeus, he is said to have been so brave and enterprising that he took the city of Corcyra with only sixty men. In a naval engagement, too, he is reported to have leaped from a boat, with seven men, into a fifty-oared galley, and to have taken and kept possession of it. 9 At the attack on Sparta he rode into the very middle of the city, and was there slain in a crowd that gathered around him. 10 When his body was carried to his father, he exclaimed, it is said, "that he had not been killed as soon as he had feared, or his own rashness deserved. "

[25. 5] L Pyrrhus, on being repulsed by the Spartans, marched to Argos, where, while he was endeavouring to capture Antigonus, who was shut up in the city, and was fighting furiously among the thickest of the assailants, he was struck with a stone from the walls, and killed. 2 His head was carried to Antigonus, who, using his victory with moderation, sent back his son Helenus, who surrendered to him with several Epirots, into his own country , and gave him the bones of his father, not having yet received the rites of burial, to carry home with him.

3 It is pretty generally stated by authors, that no king, either of that or the former age, was to be compared to Pyrrhus; and that there has seldom been seen, either among princes, or other illustrious men, a man of more upright life or of stricter justice; 4 and that he had such knowledge of the military art, that though he fought against such great princes as Lysimachus, Demetrius, and Antigonus, he was never conquered. 5 In his wars too with the Illyrians, Sicilians, Romans, and Carthaginians, he never came off inferior, but generally victorious; 6 and he rendered his country, which was before but mean and obscure, renowned throughout the world by the fame of his exploits and the glory of his name.

BOOK 26

[26. 1] L After the death of Pyrrhus, there were great warlike commotions, not only in Macedonia, but in Asia and Greece; 2 for the Peloponnesians were betrayed into the power of Antigonus; 3 and while partly concern, partly exultation, prevailed variously among the inhabitants, as any city had either expected aid from Pyrrhus or conceived apprehensions of him, they either entered into alliance with Antigonus, or, impelled by mutual animosity, plunged into hostilities with one another. 4 Amidst these tumults in the disturbed provinces, the sovereignty over the city of the Epeans was usurped by an eminent man named Aristotimus; 5 and when many of the leading persons had been slain by him, and more driven into banishment, and the Aetolians sent ambassadors to ask him "to give up the wives and children of the exiles," he at first refused, 6 but afterwards, as if relenting, he gave all the married women leave to go to their husbands, and fixed a day for their departure. 7 They, as being about to spend their lives in banishment with their husbands, were going to carry all their most valuable property with them; but, when they assembled at one of the gates of the city, intending to go forth in a body, they were despoiled of all that they had, and confined in the public prison, the infants having been first killed in the arms of their mothers, and the young women carried off for violation. 8 The people being all amazed at such cruel tyranny, Hellanicus, the chief of them, an old man and without children, and consequently having no fear either for life or offspring, assembled the most faithful of his friends in his house, and encouraged them to attempt the delivery of their country. 9 But as they hesitated to remove a public evil at their own private risk, and demanded time for deliberation, Hellanicus, calling for his attendants, ordered the doors to be locked, and a message to be carried to the tyrant, requesting him "to send officers to seize a band of conspirators in Hellanicus's house;" and he told all of them, with reproaches, that "since he could not be the deliverer of his country, he would at least take revenge for the abandonment of its cause. " 10 Being thus placed between two perils, they chose the more honourable course, and conspired to kill the tyrant; and thus Aristotimus was cut off in the fifth month after he had usurped the government.

[26. 2] L In the meantime Antigonus, being harassed with wars, of varied aspect, from the Spartans and King Ptolemy, and perceiving that a new enemy, an army from Gallograecia, was coming upon him, left a few troops as a semblance of a camp, to amuse his other assailants, and proceeded with all the rest of his force against the Gauls; 2 who, becoming aware of his approach, as they were preparing for battle, sacrificed victims to take presages for the event; and as, from the entrails, great slaughter and destruction of them all was portended, they were moved, not to fear, but to fury, and thinking that the anger of the gods might be appeased by the slaughter of their kindred, butchered their wives and children, commencing hostilities with the murder of their own people; 3 for such rage had possessed their savage breasts, that they did not spare even that tender age which an enemy would have spared, but made deadly war on their own children and their children's mothers, in defence of whom wars are wont to be undertaken. 4 As if, therefore, they had purchased life and victory by their barbarity, they rushed, stained as they were with the fresh blood of their relatives, into the field of battle, but with success no better than their auspices: 5 for, as they were fighting, the furies, the avengers of murder, overwhelmed them sooner than the enemy, and the ghosts of the slain rising up before their eyes, they were all cut off with utter destruction. 6 Such was the havoc among them, that the gods seemed to have conspired with men to annihilate an army of murderers.

7 In consequence of the result of this battle, Ptolemy and the Spartans, avoiding the victorious army of the enemy, retreated to safer ground; 8 and Antigonus, when he heard of their departure, turned his arms against the Athenians, while the ardour of his men was yet fresh from their recent victory. 9 But during the time that he was thus engaged, Alexander, king of Epirus, longing to avenge the death of his father Pyrrhus, laid waste the frontiers of Macedonia. 10 Antigonus returned from Greece to give him battle, but being deserted by his men, who went over to the enemy, he lost both the throne of Macedonia and his army. 11 His son Demetrius, however, though but a boy, collecting an army in the absence of his father, not only recovered Macedonia, which had been lost, but drove Alexander from the throne of Epirus. 12 Such was the fickleness of the soldiers, or the mutability of fortune, that kings were seen one day in the character of sovereigns, and the next in that of exiles.

[26. 3] L Alexander, after fleeing, on his expulsion, to the Acarnanians, was restored to his throne, with not less eagerness on the part of the Epirots than exertion on the part of his allies. 2 About the same time died Magas, king of Cyrene, who, before he fell sick, had betrothed his only daughter Berenice to his brother Ptolemy's son, in order to end all disputes with him. 3 But after the death of the king, Arsinoe, the mother of the girl, resolving to break off a marriage which had been contracted against her will, sent for Demetrius, the brother of King Antigonus, from Macedonia, to marry the damsel, and occupy the throne of Cyrene. 4 Nor did Demetrius delay to comply with her wishes. But having speedily arrived, by the aid of a favourable wind, at Cyrene, he began, from the very first, through presuming on his handsome person (with which he had already made too much impression on his mother-in-law), to conduct himself haughtily and overbearingly both to the royal family and the army. He also transferred his desire to please from the daughter to the mother; 5 a fact which was first suspected by the damsel, and at last drew odium upon him from the people and the army. 6 The affections of all, therefore, being set on the son of Ptolemy, a conspiracy was formed against Demetrius, and assassins were sent to kill him, when he was gone to bed with his mother-in-law. 7 Arsinoe, hearing the voice of her daughter, standing at the door, and desiring them "to spare her mother," covered her paramour a while with her own person. 8 He was however slain, and Berenice, by his death, both took revenge for the licentiousness of her mother, without violation of her duty to her, and, in choosing a husband, followed the judgment of her father.

BOOK 27

[27. 1] L On the death of Antiochus, king of Syria, his son Seleucus, succeeding in his stead, commenced his reign with murder in his own family, his mother Laodice, who ought to have restrained him, encouraging him to it. 2 He put to death his step-mother Berenice, the sister of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, together with his little brother, her son. 3 By perpetrating this cruelty, he both incurred the stain of infamy, and involved himself in a war with Ptolemy. 4 As for Berenice, when she heard that assassins were sent to despatch her, she shut herself up in Daphne; 5 and it being reported throughout the cities of Asia, that she and her little son were besieged there, they all, commiserating her undeserved misfortunes from their recollection of the high character of her father and her ancestors; sent her assistance. 6 Her brother Ptolemy, too, alarmed at the danger of his sister, left his kingdom, and hastened to her support with all his forces. 7 But Berenice, before succour could arrive, was surprised by treachery, as she could not be taken by force, and killed. 8 The deed was regarded by every one as an atrocity; and all the cities, in consequence, which had revolted (after having equipped a vast fleet), being suddenly alarmed at this instance of cruelty, and wishing to take revenge for her whom they had meant to defend, gave themselves up to Ptolemy, 9 who, if he had not been recalled to Egypt by disturbances at home, would have made himself master of all Seleucus's dominions. 10 Such hatred did an unnatural crime bring upon Seleucus; or so much good feeling did the death of a sister, dishonourably killed, excite in behalf of Ptolemy!

[27. 2] L After the departure of Ptolemy, Seleucus, having prepared a great fleet against the cities that had revolted, lost it in a storm that suddenly arose, as if the gods themselves had taken vengeance on him for his murder; 2 nor did fortune leave him anything, of all his mighty armament, except his body and life, and a few companions amid the wreck. 3 It was indeed a lamentable occurrence, and yet such as Seleucus might have desired; for the cities, which from hatred to him had gone over to Ptolemy, being moved, by a sudden change in their feelings, to compassionate his loss at sea (as if, in the judgment of the gods, satisfaction had been made them), put themselves again under his government. 4 Rejoiced at his misfortune, therefore, and enriched by his loss, he made war upon Ptolemy, as being now a match for him in strength; 5 but as though he had been born only for a sport to fortune, and had received the power of a king only to lose it, he was defeated in a battle, and fled in trepidation to Antioch, not much better attended than after his shipwreck. 6 From this place he despatched a letter to his brother Antiochus, in which he implored his aid, and offered him that part of Asia within Mount Taurus, as a recompense for his services. 7 But Antiochus, though he was but fourteen years old, yet, being greedy of dominion beyond his years, caught at the opportunity, not with the kindly feeling with which it was offered, but, like a robber, desiring to take the whole kingdom from his brother, assumed, boy as he was, a manly and unprincipled audacity. 8 Hence he was called Hierax, because, in taking away the possessions of others, he conducted himself, not like a man, but like a bird of prey.

9 Ptolemy Euergetes, in the meantime, learning that Antiochus was coming to the aid of Seleucus, and not wishing to have to contend with two enemies at once, made peace with Seleucus for ten years. 10 But the peace that was granted Seleucus by his enemy, was broken by his own brother, who, having hired an army of Gauls, brought hostilities instead of succour, and showed himself, though he had been implored for aid, an enemy instead of a brother. 11 In the battle that followed Antiochus was victor, indeed, through the prowess of the Gauls; but they, thinking that Seleucus had fallen on the field, began to turn their arms against Antiochus himself, in the hope of ravaging Asia with greater freedom, if they destroyed the whole royal family. 12 Antiochus, seeing their design, purchased peace from them, as from robbers, with a sum of money, and formed an alliance with his own mercenaries.

[27. 3] L Meanwhile Eumenes, king of Bithynia, when the brothers were divided and exhausted by civil war, attacked both the victorious Antiochus and the Gauls, as if he intended to take possession of Asia while it was left without a master. 2 Nor did he find any difficulty in overthrowing them, as they were weakened by their previous conflicts, and he himself was fresh and vigorous. 3 At that period, indeed, every war was intended for the reduction of Asia; whoever was stronger than his neighbours was ready to seize on Asia for his prey. 4 The brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus, went to war for the sovereignty of Asia; Ptolemy, king of Egypt, under pretext of avenging his sister, was eager to secure Asia. 5 On the one side Eumenes of Bithynia, on the other the Gauls (an army of mercenaries always ready to support the weaker), laid waste Asia, while no one, among so many robbers, was found to be its protector.

6 When Antiochus was overthrown, and Eumenes had possessed himself of the greater part of the country, the two brothers, though the prize for which they had fought was lost, could not even then come to an agreement, but, leaving their foreign enemies unmolested, continued the war for the destruction of each other. 7 Antiochus, being again defeated, and exhausted with a flight of many days' continuance, arrived at last at the palace of Artamenes, his father-in-law, king of Cappadocia. 8 Being kindly received by him at first, but learning, after some days, that treacherous designs were forming against him, he sought safety by again taking to flight. 9 When he was thus a fugitive, and found nowhere a place of security, he betook himself to his enemy Ptolemy, whose faith he thought more to be trusted than that of his brother, whether he reflected on what he would have done to his brother, or what he had deserved from him. 10 But Ptolemy, not more friendly to him when he came to surrender, than when he had been an open foe, ordered that he should be kept in the closest confinement. 11 From hence however he escaped, eluding his keepers by the aid of a courtesan, with whom he had been familiar, and was slain in his flight by some robbers. 12 Seleucus too, about the same time, lost his kingdom, and was killed by a fall from his horse. Thus these two brothers, as if brothers also in fate, both became exiles; and both, after losing their dominions, died a death merited by their crimes.

BOOK 28

[28. 1] L When Olympias, daughter of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, had lost her husband Alexander, who was also her brother, she took upon herself the guardianship of her sons Pyrrhus and Ptolemy, whom she had by him, and the administration of the kingdom; and finding that the Aetolians wanted to take from her a part of Acarnania, which the father of the boys had received as a recompense for assisting them in war, she addressed herself to Demetrius king of Macedonia, 2 and gave him her daughter Phthia in marriage (though he was already united to a sister of Antiochus king of Syria), that she might secure by right of relationship the assistance which she could not obtain from his compassion. 3 A marriage was accordingly solemnized, by which Demetrius gained the love of a new wife, and the hatred of his former one; 4 who, as if divorced, went off to her brother Antiochus, and excited him to make war upon her husband.

5 The Acarnanians also, fearing to trust for support to the Epirots, requested of the Romans assistance against the Aetolians, and prevailed on the senate to send ambassadors 6 to order the Aetolians "to withdraw their garrisons from the cities of Acarnania, and allow those to be free, who alone, of all the people of Greece, had not contributed aid to the Greeks against the Trojans, the authors of the Roman race. "

[28. 2] L But the Aetolians listened to the embassy of the Romans with haughtiness, upbraiding them with their fortune against the Carthaginians and Gauls, by whom they had been fearfully slaughtered in so many wars, 2 and saying that "their gates, which the terror of the Punic war had closed, should be opened to meet the Carthaginians, before their arms were brought into Greece. " 3 They then desired them to remember, who they were that threatened, and whom they threatened. 4 That the Romans had not been able to defend their city against the Gauls; and, when it was taken, had recovered it, not by the sword, but with gold; 5 but that when that people entered Greece, in considerably greater numbers, they themselves had utterly destroyed them, not only without the assistance of any foreign power, but without even calling into action the whole of their own force, and had made that a place for their graves which they had intended for the seat of their cities and empire; 6 while Italy, on the other hand, when the Romans were still trembling at the recent burning of their city, was almost entirely occupied by the Gauls. 7 That they should therefore have expelled the Gauls from Italy before they threatened the Aetolians, and have defended their own possessions before they sought those of others. And what sort of men were the Romans? 8 mere shepherds, who occupied a territory wrested from its lawful owners by robbery ; 9 who, when they were unable to procure wives, from the baseness of their origin, seized them by open force; 10 who, moreover, had founded their very city in fratricide, and sprinkled the foundation of their walls with the blood of their king's brother. 11 But that the Aetolians had always been the chief people of Greece, and, as they surpassed others in dignity, excelled them also in bravery; 12 that they were the only nation who had always despised the Macedonians, even when flourishing in possession of the empire of the world; who had felt no dread of king Philippus, and who had spurned the edicts of Alexander the Great, after he had conquered the Persians and Indians, and when all trembled at his name. 13 That they therefore advised the Romans to be content with their present fortune, and not provoke the arms by which they knew that the Gauls had been cut to pieces, and the Macedonians set at nought. " 14 They thus dismissed the Roman embassy, and, that they might not seem to speak more boldly than they acted, laid waste the borders of Epirus and Acarnania.

[28. 3] L Olympias had now given up her dominions to her sons, and Ptolemy had succeeded in the room of his deceased brother Pyrrhus. 2 Ptolemy, as he was marching to meet the enemy with his army in array, was seized with a fit of sickness, and died on his route. 3 Olympias too, afflicted with her double bereavement in the death of her sons, and dragging on a suffering existence, did not long survive her offspring. 4 The young princess Nereis, and her sister Laodamia, being then the only survivors of the royal family, 5 Nereis married Gelon, the son of the king of Sicily; and Laodamia, fleeing for refuge to the altar of Diana, was killed in a tumult of the populace; 6 a crime which the immortal gods punished by a series of disasters, and almost the total destruction of the people; 7 for after suffering from barrenness and famine, and being harassed by civil discord, they were at length nearly cut off by foreign wars; 8 and Milon, the assassin of Laodamia, becoming mad, and lacerating his flesh, sometimes with the sword, sometimes with stones, and at last with his teeth, died the twelfth day afterwards.

9 While these things were occurring in Epirus, king Demetrius in Macedonia died, leaving a son named Philippus, quite a child; 10 and Antigonus, being appointed his guardian, and marrying his mother, did his utmost to get himself made king. 11 But some time after, being besieged in the palace by an alarming insurrection of the Macedonians, he walked forth publicly unattended by his guards, 12 and throwing his diadem and purple robe among the mob, bade them "give those to somebody else, who either knew not how to rule them, or whom they knew how to obey; 13 for that he had found regal authority enviable, not for its pleasures, but for its toils and dangers.
" 14 He then mentioned his own services; "how he had punished the defection of their allies; how he had put down the Dardanians and Thessalians, when they were in exultation at the death of king Demetrius; how he had not only maintained the honour of the Macedonians, but added to it. 15 Yet, if they were displeased at such services, he was ready to resign the government, and to return what they had conferred upon him; and they themselves might look out for a prince whom they could govern. " 16 The people, overcome with shame, bade him resume the regal authority; but he refused to do so till the leaders of the insurrection were delivered up to punishment.

[28. 4] L After this occurrence he made war upon the Spartans, who were the only people that, during the wars of Philippus and Alexander, had set at nought the power of the Macedonians, and those arms which were dreaded by every other nation. 2 Between these two most remarkable peoples war was prosecuted with the greatest vigour on both sides, the one fighting to support the old glory of the Macedonians, and the other, not only to secure their hitherto unviolated liberty, but even their lives. 3 The Lacedaemonians being worsted, not only the men, but their wives and children, endured their adverse fortune with magnanimity. 4 As no man had shrunk from exposing his life in the field, so no woman wept for her lost husband; the old men extolled the honourable deaths of their sons, and the sons rejoiced over their fathers that were slain in battle; and all who survived lamented their lot, in not having died for the liberty of their country. 5 All received the wounded with open doors, dressed their wounds, and recruited them in their exhaustion. 6 In this condition of affairs, there was no noise or hurry in the city, and everyone lamented the public suffering more than his own private troubles. 7 In the course of these proceedings, king Cleomenes returned, with his whole body wet, after the great slaughter that he had made among the enemy, with his own blood and that of his adversaries, 8 and, entering the city, did not rest himself on the ground, or call for meat or drink, or even relieve himself from the weight of his armour, 9 but leaning against a wall, and finding that only four thousand men survived the battle, exhorted them "to reserve themselves for the better times that would come to their country. " 10 He then set out with his wife and children to Egypt to Ptolemy, by whom he was honourably received, and lived a long time in the highest esteem with that monarch. 11 After the decease of Ptolemy, he was put to death, with all his family, by Ptolemy's son.

12 Antigonus, when the Spartans were thus reduced, pitying the distress of so famous a city, prohibited his soldiers from plundering it, and granted pardon to all who survived, 13 observing that "he had engaged in war, not with the Spartans, but with Cleomenes, with whose flight all his resentment was terminated; 14 nor would it be less glory to him, if Sparta should be recorded to have been saved by him by whom alone it had been taken; 15 and that he accordingly spared the ground and buildings of the city, scarcely any inhabitants being left for him to spare. " 16 Not long afterwards Antigonus died, and left the throne to his ward Philippus, who was then fourteen years old.

BOOK 29

[29. 1] L About this time almost all the kingdoms of the world underwent alterations, in consequence of a succession of new princes. 2 In Macedonia, Philippus, on the death of Antigonus his guardian, who was also his father-in-law, assumed the government at the age of fourteen. 3 In Asia, after Seleucus was killed, Antiochus, though still in his minority, was made king. 4 In Cappadocia, the father of Ariarathes, yet a boy, had resigned the sovereignty to him. 5 Of Egypt Ptolemy had made himself master, after putting to death his father and mother; from which crime he had afterwards the surname of Philopator. 6 As for the Spartans, they had elected Lycurgus in the room of Cleomenes. 7 And that no changes might be wanting at that period, Hannibal, at a very early age, was appointed general of the Carthaginians, not for want of older men, but because of his hatred to the Romans, with which they knew that he had been imbued from his boyhood; the mischief that he did, however, was not so pernicious to the Romans as to Africa itself. 8 In these youthful rulers, although they had no directors of maturer years, yet, as each was anxious to tread in the steps of his predecessors, great talent and ability appeared. 9 Ptolemy was the only exception, who, reckless as he had been in the attainment of power, was equally remiss in the administration of it. 10 As to Philippus, the Dardanians, and all the neighbouring people, who cherished, as it were, an immortal hatred to the kings of the Macedonians, were perpetually molesting him in contempt of his youth. 11 He, on the other hand, after repulsing his enemies, was not content with having defended his own dominions, but manifested the greatest eagerness to make war upon the Aetolians.

[29. 2] L While he was meditating this enterprise, Demetrius king of the Illyrians, who had lately been conquered by Aemilius Paulus, the Roman consul, applied to him with earnest entreaties for aid, 2 and complaints of the injustice of the Romans, "who," he said, "not content within the limits of Italy, but grasping, with presumptuous hopes, at the empire of the whole world, made war upon all kings. 3 Thus, aspiring to the dominion of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and finally to that of all Africa, they had engaged in a war with the Carthaginians and Hannibal; 4 and that hostilities had been directed against himself too, for no other reason than that he appeared to lie near Italy, as if it were unlawful for any king to be on the borders of their empire. 5 And that Philippus also himself must take warning by his case, since the nearer and more valuable his kingdom, the more determined enemies would he find the Romans to be. " 6 In addition, he said, that "he would give up his kingdom, which the Romans had seized, to Philippus himself, as he should be better pleased to see his ally, rather than his enemies, in possession of his dominions. " 7 With such representations as these, he prevailed upon Philippus to lay aside his designs on the Aetolians, and to make war upon the Romans; Philippus supposing that there would be the less difficulty in the undertaking, as he had heard that they had already been beaten by Hannibal at the lake Trasimenus. 8 Not to be distracted, therefore, with more than one war at the same time, he concluded a peace with the Aetolians, not as if intending to carry war elsewhere, but as if he wished to promote the tranquillity of Greece, "which," he asserted, "had never been in greater danger, 9 as the new empires of the Carthaginians and Romans were rising in the west, who forbore from attacking Greece and Asia only till they should decide their dispute for the sovereignty by the sword, when the superior power of the two would immediately invade the east.

[29. 3] L "He contemplated therefore," he said, "that cloud of cruel and sanguinary war which was rising in Italy; he contemplated the storm roaring and thundering from the west, which, to whatever parts of the world the tempest of victory might carry it, would pollute everything with a vast shower of blood. 2 That Greece had frequently felt great disturbances at one time from the wars of the Persians, at another from those of the Gauls, at another from those of the Macedonians, but that they would think all those to have been but trifling, if the force, which was now collecting in Italy, should once pour itself forth from that country. 3 He saw what cruel and bloody conflicts those two powers were maintaining with each other, with all the strength of their forces, and all the abilities of their generals; and that such fury could not end with the destruction of one party only, without ruin to the neighbouring people. 4 That the cruel resolutions of the conquerors, it was true, were less to be dreaded by Macedonia than by Greece; for Macedonia was both more remote, and better able to defend itself; 5 but he knew that those who contended with such spirit would not be content with Greece as a limit to their conquests, and that he himself should have to fear a conflict with the party that should get the advantage. " 6 Concluding, on this pretext, the war with the Aetolians, and thinking of nothing else but the contest of the Carthaginians and Romans, he carefully weighed the strength of each. 7 But neither did the Romans, with the Carthaginians and Hannibal on their necks, appear free from apprehension of Macedonia; 8 indeed, both the ancient valour of the Macedonians, their glory in having conquered the east, and the character of Philippus, who was fired with the ambition of rivalling Alexander, and whom they knew to be active and eager for the field, gave them sufficient cause for alarm.

[29. 4] L Philippus, as soon as he heard that the Romans had been defeated by the Carthaginians in a second battle, openly declared himself their enemy, and began to build ships for transporting an army into Italy. 2 He then sent a deputy to Hannibal with a letter, with the view of forming an alliance with him. 3 This deputy was taken prisoner, and brought before the senate, but released unharmed; not from respect to the king, but that one who appeared still undetermined might not be rendered a decided enemy. 4 But afterwards, when news was brought to the Romans that Philippus was preparing to transport troops into Italy, they despatched the praetor Laevinus, with a well appointed fleet, to hinder him from crossing.

5 Laevinus, sailing over to Greece, prevailed on the Aetolians, by making them numerous promises, to take up arms against Philippus, who, on his side, solicited the Achaeans to go to war with the Romans. 6 Meanwhile the Dardanians began to ravage the country of Macedonia, and, carrying off twenty thousand prisoners, recalled Philippus from his war with the Romans to defend his own territories. 7 At the same time the praetor Laevinus, having made an alliance with king Attalus, proceeded to lay waste Greece; of which the several states, dismayed at such calamities, importuned Philippus with embassies for succour; 8 while the princes of the Illyrians, sticking close to his side, demanded, with constant solicitations, the performance of his promises to them. In addition, the p1undered Macedonians called on him for vengeance. 9 Beset by such and so many difficulties, he was in doubt to what he should first turn his attention; but he promised them an to send them assistance shortly; not that he was able to do what he promised, but in order to keep them, by feeding them with hopes, in the bond of alliance with him. 10 His first expedition, however, was against the Dardanians, who, watching for his absence, were ready to fall on Macedonia with a still heavier force. 11 He made peace, too, with the Romans, who were well content to put off war with Macedonia for a time. He laid a plot, moreover, for the life of Philopoemen, strategus of the Achaeans, who, he understood, was soliciting some of his allies to join the Romans; but Philopoemen, having discovered and escaped the plot, induced the Achaeans, by the influence which he had with them, to abandon Philippus's cause.

BOOK 30

[30. 1] L While Philippus was intent on great exploits in Macedonia, the conduct of Ptolemy in Egypt was of an opposite character; 2 for having got the throne by parricide, and added the murder of his brother to that of both his parents, he resigned himself, as if all had gone happily with him, to the attractions of luxury; and the whole court had followed the manners of their king. 3 Not only his personal friends, and chief officers, but the whole of the army had laid aside military exercises, and grown corrupt and enervated in idleness.

4 Antiochus, king of Syria, when he heard of this state of things, and while the old animosity between the two kingdoms incited him, captured many cities belonging to Ptolemy by a sudden attack, and carried his arms into Egypt itself. 5 Ptolemy was accordingly in consternation, and endeavoured to retard Antiochus, by sending embassies, until he could get troops in readiness. 6 Having then hired a large army in Greece, he fought a battle with good success, and would have driven Antiochus from his throne, if he had supported his fortune with suitable spirit. 7 But, content with recovering the cities that he had lost, and making peace, he eagerly seized the opportunity of sinking again into sloth, and, returning to his former licentious habits, he put to death his wife Eurydice, who was also his sister, and gave himself up to the caresses of a mistress named Agathocleia; 8 and thus, forgetful of all the greatness of his name and dignity, he passed his nights in wantonness, and his days in the pleasures of the table. 9 As ministrations to his luxury, timbrels and tabors were introduced; and the king, no longer a mere spectator, but a leader of the revels, produced music from stringed instruments himself. 10 Such were at first the secret and latent pests of a tottering court.

[30. 2] L Licentiousness subsequently increasing, the audacity of his mistress could no longer be confined within the walls of the palace; 2 for the daily debaucheries of the king, which he shared with her brother Agathocles, a corrupt youth of captivating beauty, rendered her still more shameless. 3 To all this was added, too, the influence of their mother Oenanthe, who, by the charms of her two children, kept the monarch quite enthralled. 4 Not content with enslaving the king, they made themselves rulers of the kingdom; they showed themselves in public places, received salutations, and were followed by a train of attendants. 5 Agathocles, attaching himself closely to the king's side, assumed the administration of the state; women disposed of offices, governments, and commissions; nor had anyone less power in the kingdom than the king himself. 6 In the midst of this state of things the king died, leaving a son, five years old, by his sister Eurydice; but his death, while the women were seizing on the royal treasures, and endeavouring, by forming a confederacy with some desperate characters, to get the government into their own hands, was for a long time kept secret. 7 But the truth becoming known, Agathocles was killed by a rising of the people, and the women nailed on crosses to avenge the death of Eurydice.

8 After the king's decease, and when the infamy of the kingdom was expiated, as it were, by the punishment of the courtezans, the people of Alexandria sent ambassadors to the Romans, requesting them "to take on themselves the guardianship of the orphan, and to defend the kingdom of Egypt, which, they said, Philippus and Antiochus had already portioned out between them by a treaty made for the purpose. "

[30. 3] L This embassy was acceptable to the Romans, who were seeking a pretence for making war upon Philippus, for having formed designs against them in the time of the Punic war. 2 To this feeling was added the circumstance, that, since the Carthaginians and Hannibal were conquered, there was no one of whose arms they had a greater dread, considering what a commotion Pyrrhus, with but a small force, had excited in Italy, and what exploits the Macedonians had achieved in the east. 3 Ambassadors were accordingly despatched to warn Philippus and Antiochus "to make no attempt upon Egypt. " 4 Marcus Lepidus was also sent into Egypt, to govern the orphan's kingdom in the character of guardian. 5 During the course of these proceedings, embassies from king Attalus, and from the Rhodians, arrived at Rome, to complain of injuries that they had suffered from Philippus. These representations removed from the minds of the senate all hesitation about going to war with Macedonia; 6 and forthwith, under pretence of taking the part of their allies, war was declared against Philippus, and some legions, with one of the consuls, were sent off to Macedonia. 7 Not long after, too, the whole of Greece, stimulated by confidence in the Romans, and the hope of recovering their ancient liberty, to rise against Philippus, made war upon him; and thus, being assailed on every side, he was compelled to beg for peace. 8 But when the terms of it were set forth by the Romans, both Attalus and the Rhodians, as well as the Achaeans and Aetolians, began to demand that the places belonging to them should be restored. 9 Philippus, on the other hand, allowed that "he might be induced to submit to the Romans, but that it was intolerable that the Greeks, who had been subdued by his ancestors Philippus and Alexander, and brought under the yoke of the Macedonian empire, should dictate articles of peace to him, as if they were conquerors; and that they ought to give an account of their conduct in their state of slavery, before they sought to recover their liberty. " 10 At last, on his request, a truce was allowed for two months, that the peace, on which they could not come to terms in Macedonia, might be obtained from the senate at Rome.

[30. 4] L In the same year a concussion of the earth happened between the islands Thera and Therasia, in the midst of the sea at an equal distance from either shore, 2 where, to the astonishment of those that were sailing past, an island rose suddenly from the deep, the water being at the same time hot. 3 In Asia too, on the same day, the same earthquake shattered Rhodes, and many other cities, with a terrible ruin; some it swallowed up entire. 4 As all men were alarmed at this prodigy, the soothsayers predicted that "the rising power of the Romans would swallow up the ancient empire of the Greeks and Macedonians. "

5 In the meantime, Philippus, as his terms of peace were rejected by the senate, prevailed on the tyrant Nabis to join him in prosecuting the war. 6 Having then led out his army into the field, he began to encourage his men, while the enemy stood in array on the opposite side, by saying that "the Persians, Bactrians, and Indians, and all Asia to the utmost boundaries of the east, had been subdued by the Macedonians; 7 and that this war was more bravely to be maintained than those which had preceded it, in proportion as liberty was more precious than empire. " 8 Flamininus, too, the Roman consul, animated his men to battle by representing what had lately been achieved by the Romans, observing that "Carthage and Sicily on one side, and Italy and Spain on the other, had been thoroughly reduced by Roman valour; 9 and that Hannibal, by whose expulsion from Italy they had become masters of Africa, a third part of the world, was not to be thought inferior to Alexander the Great. 10 Nor were the Macedonians to be estimated by their ancient reputation, but by their present power; 11 for that the Romans were not waging war with Alexander the Great, whom they had heard called invincible, or with his army, which had conquered all the east, 12 but with Philippus, a youth of immature years, who could scarcely defend the frontiers of his dominions against his neighbours, and with those Macedonians who were not long ago a prey to the Dardanians. 13 That they might recount the achievements of their forefathers, but that he could relate those of his own soldiers ; 14 since Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and almost all the west, had not been conquered by any other army, but by those very troops which he had with him in the field. " 15 The soldiers on both sides, roused by these exhortations, rushed to the encounter, the one army exulting in their conquest of the east, the other in that of the west; the one carrying to the battle the ancient and fading glory of their ancestors, the other the flower of valour fresh from recent exertions. 16 But the fortune of Rome was superior to that of the Macedonians; 17 and Philippus, exhausted by his efforts in war, and suing for peace from Flamininus, the consul, was allowed to retain indeed the name of king; but, being deprived of all the cities of Greece, as being parts of his dominion beyond the bounds of its ancient territory, he preserved only Macedonia. 18 The Aetolians, however, were displeased, because Macedonia was not taken from the king at their suggestion, and given to themselves as a reward for their service in the war, and sent ambassadors to Antiochus, to induce him, by flattering his greatness, to engage in a war with the Romans, in the hope of securing the alliance of all Greece.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 31 to 36
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.

← Previous books (25-30)

BOOK 31

[31. 1] L Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt, being dead, and the youthful age of his son (who, left with the prospect of wielding the sceptre, was a prey even to his own domestics), being held in contempt, Antiochus, king of Syria, resolved to get possession of Egypt. 2 As he attacked Phoenice, accordingly, and several cities, which, though situated in Syria, belonged of right to Egypt, the senate despatched ambassadors to him, to warn him "not to molest the dominions of an orphan, who had been recommended to their protection by the last prayers of his dying father. " 3 This embassy being disregarded, another arrived some time after, which, saying nothing on behalf of the orphan, ordered that "the cities, which had fallen to the Roman people by the right of war, should be restored to their former condition. " 4 On his refusal to comply with this mandate, war was declared against him, which he, after lightly undertaking it, prosecuted with ill success.

5 At the same time, the tyrant Nabis had taken possession of several cities of Greece. 6 The senate, in consequence, that the Roman forces might not be distracted by two wars at once, sent orders to Flamininus, that "he should, if he thought it expedient, deliver Greece from Nabis, as he had delivered Macedonia from Philippus. " 7 To this end, his term of command was prolonged. The name of Hannibal, indeed, rendered a war with Antiochus an object of dread; for Hannibal's enemies, by secret communications to the Romans, accused him of having entered into a league with Antiochus, 8 saying that "he, who was accustomed to command, and to extravagant military licentiousness, was unable to live patiently under the control of laws; and that, from disgust at the quiet of the city, he was always looking about for occasions for war. " 9 These charges, though false, passed for true with such as were timid.

[31. 2] L At length the senate, struck with alarm, sent Cnaeus Servilius, in the character of ambassador, into Africa, to watch the proceedings of Hannibal, giving him secret instruction "to compass his death, if he could, by the agency of his enemies, and deliver the Roman people from the terror of his hated name. " 2 But this circumstance did not long escape the knowledge of Hannibal, a man sagacious in foreseeing and guarding against dangers, and not less thoughtful of adversity in prosperity than of prosperity in adversity. 3 Having shown himself in public, therefore, during the whole day, in the forum of Carthage, before the face of the chief personages and the Roman ambassador, he mounted his horse, on the approach of evening, and galloped off to a farm which he had in the suburbs, near the sea-coast, his attendants, who knew nothing of his intentions, being directed to wait for his return at the gate of the city. 4 He had vessels, with rowers, concealed in an unfrequented inlet on the coast; and he had also a large sum of ready money at his farm, so that, when occasion should require, neither difficulty nor want of resources might retard his escape. 5 Selecting the most vigorous of his slaves, therefore, the number of whom a body of Italian prisoners augmented, he went on board a ship, and directed his course towards the dominions of Antiochus. 6 The next day the city looked for their chief, who was then consul, in the forum; 7 and when intelligence was brought that he was gone, they were all in as much trepidation as if the city had been taken, and foreboded that his flight would prove fatal to them; 8 while the Roman ambassador, as if war was already commenced on Italy by Hannibal, returned privately to Rome, carrying the alarming news with him.

[31. 3] L In Greece, meanwhile, Flamininus, having formed an alliance with several cities, defeated Nabis the tyrant in two successive battles, and left him sadly humbled, with his resources apparently exhausted, in his own dominions. 2 But after liberty was restored to Greece, the garrisons withdrawn from the cities, and the Romans returned to Italy, Nabis, as if tempted afresh by the deserted state of the country, possessed himself of several cities by sudden attacks; 3 when the Achaeans, alarmed at his proceedings, and fearing that the evils in their neighbourhood might reach themselves, determined upon war against him, and appointed to the command in it their strategus Philopoemen, a man of extraordinary energy, 4 and whose merit was so eminent in the contest, that he was thought equal, in public opinion, to the Roman general Flamininus.

5 Hannibal, arriving about the same time at the court of Antiochus, was received by him as a gift from the gods; 6 and such ardour, in consequence of his coming, was added to the courage of the king, that he thought less of the mode of conducting the war, than of the prizes of victory. 7 But Hannibal, to whom the spirit of Rome was well known, said that the Romans could not be subdued any where but in Italy. 8 To accomplish their overthrow, he asked for himself a hundred ships, ten thousand foot, and a thousand cavalry, promising that "with this force he would revive in Italy no less a war than he had formerly carried on there, 9 and would secure to the king, remaining quiet in Asia, either a triumph over the Romans, or equitable conditions of peace. 10 To the Spaniards," he added, "who were burning with ardour for war, nothing was wanting but a leader; that Italy was better known to him now than in past times; and that Carthage would not rest in peace, but join him as an ally without delay. "

[31. 4] L As this counsel pleased the king, one of the attendants of Hannibal was despatched to Carthage, to encourage the Carthaginians, already forward enough of themselves, to take up arms, acquainting them that "Hannibal would support them with an army," and saying that "nothing was wanting, on the side of the Carthaginians, but resolution, as Asia would supply both troops and money for the enterprise. " 2 When this announcement arrived at Carthage, the messenger was seized by Hannibal's enemies, and being asked, when he was brought before the senate, "to whom he was sent," he replied, with Punic subtlety, that "he was sent to the whole senate, as this was not the concern of a few individuals only, but of the entire people. " 3 As they spent several days in deliberating, whether they should send him to Rome to clear them from guilt as a nation, he, in the meanwhile, went secretly on board his vessel, and returned to Hannibal. As soon as this was discovered, the Carthaginians sent intelligence of the matter to Rome by an ambassador. 4 The Romans also sent ambassadors to Antiochus, who, under colour of delivering a message, were to watch the preparations of the king, and either to soften Hannibal's feelings towards the Romans, or, by frequent association with him, to render him suspected and unpopular with Antiochus. 5 The ambassadors, accordingly, meeting with Antiochus at Ephesus, made their communication from the senate, 6 and, while they waited for an answer, were every day constantly visiting Hannibal, and observing that, "he had withdrawn from his country under needless apprehension, as the Romans would with the greatest honour observe a peace which was made not so much with his government as with himself; 7 and that they knew he had made war upon the Romans, less from hatred to them, than from love to his country (to which every honourable man owed life itself), since the reasons for going to war were public ones between the nations, and not private ones between the generals. " They then extolled his exploits; 8 and he, pleased with their conversation, talked frequently and readily with them, not being aware that by his familiarity with the Romans, he was incurring the dislike of the king; for 9 Antiochus, supposing that by such frequent intercourse a good understanding had been effected between him and the Romans, communicated nothing to him as he had been used to do, and began to detest him, when he had excluded him from his councils, as an enemy and a traitor to him. This distrust ruined the mighty preparations for war, the skill of a leader being wanting to conduct it. 10 The communication from the senate was, that "Antiochus should confine himself within the limits of Asia, lest he should lay on them the necessity of invading that country. " Slighting this message, he resolved not to wait for war, but to commence it.

[31. 5] L It is said, that after the king had frequently held councils concerning the war, from which Hannibal was excluded, he at length desired that he should be called in, not that he might act in any respect according to his advice, but that he might not appear entirely to disregard him; and that, when all the rest had been asked their opinions, he in conclusion inquired his. 2 Hannibal, understanding what Antiochus's feelings were, observed that "he was aware he was asked to attend, not because the king wished for his advice, but to make up the full number of votes; yet, from his hatred towards the Romans, and regard for the king, with whom alone a secure retreat was left him in his exile, he would explain the method in which the war should be conducted. " 3 Then, requesting indulgence for the freedom with which he was going to speak, he said, that "he approved none of the present suggestions or proceedings; nor did he like Greece as a seat of the war, when Italy was a far more advantageous field for it; 4 for the Romans could not be conquered but by their own arms, nor Italy subdued but by the resources of Italy; since that people differed from others, and their mode of warfare from that of other nations. 5 In other wars, it was of the greatest importance to have been the first to take advantage of any ground or opportunity, to have ravaged the lands, or to have captured towns, but that, with the Romans, whether you took their cities, or defeated them, you would still have to struggle with the enemy even when vanquished and fallen. 6 If anyone should attack them in Italy, therefore, he might conquer them with their own strength, their own resources, their own arms, as he himself had done; 7 but if anyone left Italy to them, which was the fountain-head, as it were, of their power, he would act just as absurdly, as a man who should attempt, not to exhaust rivers at their sources, but to alter their channels or dry them up when great floods of water had collected in them. 8 He had entertained this," he said, "as his private opinion, and had readily offered his advice to that effect; and that he repeated it now, in the presence of his friends, that they might all understand the way to go to war with the Romans, who, though invincible abroad, might be reduced at home; 9 for they might be deprived of their city sooner than of their empire, and of Italy sooner than of their provinces; since they had lost their city to the Gauls, and been almost crushed by him; nor was he ever defeated till he had quitted their country, but that, when he returned to Carthage, the fortune of the war was immediately changed with the seat of it. "

[31. 6] L The king's courtiers were all opposed to this advice, not regarding the advantages of the plan, but fearing that Hannibal, if his counsel were approved, would gain the first place in the king's favour. 2 As for Antiochus, he did not so much dislike the scheme as the proposer of it, in the apprehension that whatever glory resulted from its success would be given to Hannibal, and not to himself. 3 All proceedings were therefore rendered ineffectual by the various flatteries of those who sought to please the king; nothing was conducted with judgement or reason, Antiochus himself, resigning himself to luxury during the winter, was every day engaged in celebrating some new marriage. 4 Acilius the Roman consul, on the other hand, who had been appointed to command in this war, provided forces, arms, and every thing necessary for the contest, with the utmost activity: he animated the confederate cities, and drew to his interest such as were undecided. Nor was the result of the conflict at variance with the preparations of each party for it; 5 for, in the first engagement, when the king saw his men giving ground, he did not support those who were in distress, but put himself at the head of those that fled; and left his rich camp a prey to the conquerors. 6 But having reached Asia in his flight, while the Romans were busied about the spoil, he began to repent of having neglected Hannibal's counsel, and, taking that general again into his friendship, conducted every thing according to his directions. 7 In the mean time intelligence was brought that Livius, the Roman general, was approaching with eighty ships of war, having been despatched by the senate to carry on the war by sea. This news gave him hopes of retrieving his fortune; 8 and accordingly he resolved to fight a battle by sea before any of the cities in alliance with him could revolt to the enemy, hoping that the defeat which he had suffered in Greece might be compensated by a new victory. 9 The fleet was therefore entrusted to Hannibal, and a battle was fought; but neither were the Asiatic soldiers a match for the Romans, nor their vessels equal to the beaked ships of the enemy. The loss, however, was rendered less than it would otherwise have been, by the able management of the general. 10 The report of the victory had not yet reached Rome, and therefore the city was in suspense about the consuls to be chosen.

[31. 7] L But to oppose Hannibal, what fitter leader could be appointed than the brother of Africanus, since it was the business of the Scipios to conquer the Carthaginians? 2 Lucius Scipio was therefore made consul, and his brother Africanus appointed to be his lieutenant-general, to let Antiochus see that he had not more confidence in the conquered Hannibal than the Romans in the victorious Scipio. 3 As the Scipios were transporting their army into Asia, news reached them that the war, both by land and sea, was almost at an end; as Antiochus had been defeated in a battle by land, and Hannibal in a battle by sea. 4 As soon as they arrived, Antiochus sent ambassadors to them, desiring peace, and having with them, as an offering to Africanus individually, the son of that general, whom the king had captured as he was crossing in a small boat. 5 But Africanus replied, "that private favours were distinct from public concerns; that the obligations of a father, and the claims of one's country, were things entirely different; claims which were to be preferred not only to children, but even to life itself. 6 That he, however, thankfully accepted the kindness, and would make a return to the king's generosity at his own individual expense; but as to what related to war and peace, nothing could be allowed to private favour, or cut off from the interests of his country. " 7 He had never, indeed, either treated about the ransom of his son, or allowed the senate to treat about it, but, as became his dignity, said that "he would recover his son by force of arms. " 8 The terms of peace were then specified to the ambassadors: "that the king should give up Asia to the Romans; that he should confine himself to his kingdom of Syria; that he should give up all his ships, with the prisoners and deserters, and repay the Romans all the expenses of the war. " 9 These terms being repeated to Antiochus, he said that "he was not yet so utterly reduced, as that he should suffer himself to be despoiled of his dominions; and that such proposals were provocations to war, not invitations to peace. "

[31. 8] L Preparations for a contest were in consequence made on both sides; and when the Romans, having entered Asia, had reached Troy, mutual gratulations took place between the Trojans and the Romans; the Trojans observing that "Aeneias, and the other leaders that accompanied him, had gone forth from them;" the Romans telling them that "they were their children;" 2 and such joy was among them all as is wont to be between parents and children met after a long separation. 3 The Trojans were delighted that their descendants, after having conquered the west and Africa, were now laying claim to Asia as their hereditary domain, remarking that "the ruin of Troy had been an event to be desired, since it was so happily to revive again. " 4 On the other hand, an insatiable longing to gaze on their ancient home, the birth-place of their ancestors, and the temples and images of the gods, had taken possession of the Romans.

5 As the Romans were coming from Troy, king Eumenes met them with some auxiliary troops; and soon after a battle was fought with Antiochus; 6 in which one of the Roman legions, on the right wing, being beaten back, and fleeing to their camp with more disgrace than danger, Marcus Aemilius, a military tribune, who had been left to defend the camp, ordered his men to arm themselves, and advance without the rampart, and to threaten the fugitives with their swords drawn, saying that "they should be put to death unless they returned to the field, and should find their own camp more hostile to them than that of the enemy. " 7 The legion, alarmed at such peril on both sides, returned to the battle, their fellow soldiers, who had stopped their flight, accompanying them, and, making great havoc among the enemy, were the first cause of the victory. Fifty thousand of the enemy were slain, and eleven thousand taken prisoners. 8 Antiochus suing for peace, nothing was added to the former articles, Africanus observing that "the spirit of the Romans was never broken if they were defeated, and, if they were victorious, they were not rendered tyrannical by success. " 9 The cities that were taken they divided among their allies, deeming that glory was more desirable for the Romans than dominions merely for pleasure; and that the honour of victory was worthy of being attached to the Roman name, but that the luxuries of wealth might be left to their adherents.

BOOK 32

[32. 1] L The Aetolians, who had persuaded Antiochus to make war on the Romans, were left, after he was defeated, to oppose them by themselves, unequal in force, and unsupported by assistance. 2 Being soon after, in consequence, subdued, they lost that liberty which they alone, among so many states of Greece, had preserved inviolate against the power of the Athenians and Spartans. 3 This state of things was the more grievous to them, as it was later in befalling them; for they reflected on those times in which they had withstood the mighty power of the Persians by their own strength, and had humbled, in the Delphic war, the violent spirit of the Gauls that was dreaded by Asia and Italy; and these glorious recollections increased their grief at the loss of their liberty. 4 During the course of these occurrences, a dispute at first, and afterwards a war, arose between the Messenians and Achaeans, to determine which of the two should rule the other. 5 In this struggle Philopoemen, the famous general of the Achaeans, was taken prisoner, not from having been fearful of exposing his life in the field; but from having fallen from his horse in leaping a ditch, as he was rallying his men for the contest, and being overpowered by a host of enemies. 6 The Messenians, whether from fear of his valour, or respect for his dignity, did not venture to kill him as he lay on the ground; 7 but, as if they had ended the war by capturing him, they led him prisoner through their whole city as in triumph, while the people poured forth to meet him, as if it were their own general, and not that of the enemy, that was coming; 8 nor would the Achaeans have more eagerly beheld him victorious than the enemy saw him under defeat. They ordered him accordingly to be led into the theatre, that everyone might see him whose capture seemed incredible to every one. 9 Being then conducted to prison, they gave him, from respect for his high character, poison to drink, which he received with pleasure, just as if he had been conqueror, first asking "whether Lycortas," a general of the Achaeans, whom he knew to be next to himself in the art of war, "had got off safe? " Hearing that he had escaped, he observed that "things were not utterly desperate with the Achaeans," and expired. 10 The war being renewed shortly after, the Messenians were conquered, and made some atonement for putting Philopoemen to death.

[32. 2] L In Syria, meanwhile, king Antiochus, being burdened, after he was conquered by the Romans, with a heavy tribute under his articles of peace, and being impelled by want of money or stimulated by avarice, brought up his army one night, and made an assault upon the temple of Jupiter in Elymais, hoping that he might more excusably commit sacrilege under plea of wanting money to pay his tribute. 2 But the affair becoming known, he was killed by a rising of the people who dwelt about the temple.

3 At Rome, as many cities of Greece had sent thither, to complain of injuries received from Philippus king of Macedonia, and as a dispute arose in the senate-house between Demetrius, Philippus' son, whom his father had sent to justify him to the senate, and the deputies of the cities, the young prince, confounded at the number of accusations brought forward, suddenly became speechless; 4 when the senate, moved at his modesty, which had been admired by everyone when he was a hostage at Rome, suffered the controversy to terminate in his favour. Thus Demetrius, by his modesty, obtained pardon for his father, which was granted, not to the justice of his defence, but from respect for his bashfulness; 5 and this was particularly signified in the decree of the senate, that it might be known that it was not so much the king that was acquitted, as the father that was excused for the sake of the son. 6 The circumstance, however, procured Demetrius no thanks for his embassy at home, but rather odium and detraction; 7 for envy drew upon him hatred from his brother Perseus, and with his father, the cause of the indulgence shown him, as soon as he knew it, became a source of dislike towards him, as he was indignant that the character of his son should have had more weight with the senate than his own authority as a father or his dignity as a king. 8 Perseus, in consequence, observing his father's chagrin, laid before him, day after day, accusations against Demetrius in his absence, and rendered him first an object of hatred, and afterwards of suspicion, charging him at one time with friendship for the Romans, and at another with treachery to his father. 9 At last he pretended that a plot was laid for his own life by Demetrius, and, to prove the charge, brought forward informers, suborned witnesses, and committed the very crime of which he accused his brother. 10 Impelling his father, by these artifices, to put his son to death, he filled the whole palace with mourning.

[32. 3] L After Demetrius was killed, and his rival removed, Perseus grew not only more careless in his behaviour towards his father, but even more insolent, conducting himself, not as heir to the crown, but as king. 2 Philippus, offended at his manner, became every day more concerned for the death of Demetrius, and began at length to suspect that he had been deceived by treachery, and put to the torture all the witnesses and informers. 3 Having, by this means, come to the knowledge of the deception, he was not less afflicted at the dishonesty of Perseus than at the execution of the innocent Demetrius, whom he would have avenged, had he not been prevented by death; 4 for shortly after he died of a disease contracted by mental anxiety, leaving great preparations for a war with the Romans, of which Perseus afterwards made use. 5 He had induced the Scordiscan Gauls to join him, and would have had a desperate struggle with the Romans, had not death carried him off.

6 The Gauls, after their disastrous attack upon Delphi, in which they had felt the power of the divinity more than that of the enemy, and had lost their leader Brennus, had fled, like exiles, partly into Asia, and partly into Thrace, 7 and then returned, by the same way by which they had come, into their own country.