C49
WAR WITH ANDRISCUS AND THE ACHAEANS, 148-146 B.C.
_Destruction of Corinth (L. Mummius Achaicus), 146 B.C._
Eodem anno, quo Carthago concidit, L. Mummius Corinthum post annos DCCCCLII, quam ab Alete Hippotis filio erat condita, funditus eruit.
Uterque imperator devictae a se gentis nomine honoratus, alter Africanus, alter appellatus est Achaicus; nec {5} quisquam ex novis hominibus prior Mummio cognomen virtute partum vindicavit. Diversi imperatoribus mores, diversa fuere studia: quippe Scipio tam elegans liberalium studiorum omnisque doctrinae et auctor et admirator fuit, ut Polybium Panaetiumque, {10} praecellentes ingenio viros, domi militiaeque secum habuerit. Neque enim quisquam hoc Scipione elegantius intervalla negotiorum otio dispunxit semperque aut belli aut pacis serviit artibus: semper inter arma ac studia versatus aut corpus periculis {15} aut animum disciplinis exercuit. Mummius tam rudis fuit, ut capta Corintho cum maximorum artificum perfectas manibus tabulas ac statuas in Italiam portandas locaret, iuberet praedici conducentibus, si eas perdidissent, novas eos reddituros. {20}
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, i. 13.
+Context.+ In 149 B.C. an adventurer named Andriscus claimed to be Philip, the son of Perseus, and mastered Macedonia and part of Thessaly.
He totally defeated the praetor Juventius, but in 148 B.C. his army was routed and himself taken prisoner by Q. Caecilius Metellus. The Romans, _no longer needing the help of Greek troops_, determined to break up the Achaean League. A last desperate struggle for freedom ensued, but the Greeks were easily defeated (146 B.C.) by L. Mummius on the Isthmus, and Corinth itself was plundered and destroyed.
[Linenotes: 2-3. +quam ... condita.+ Aletes, son of Hippotes and a descendant of Heracles, is said to have taken possession of Corinth by the help of the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, and therefore named the city ????
10. +Panaetium+, a native of Rhodes and a celebrated Stoic philosopher, settled in Rome, where he became the intimate friend of Laelius and Scipio Africanus Minor.
13. +dispunxit+ = _he devoted, gave up_ (lit. _marked off_).
19. +locaret+ = _he hired_ (lit. _place out_, i.e. _give out on contract_).
+conducentibus+ = _to the contractors_.]
+The Destruction of Corinth.+ 'The flames which consumed Miletus (destroyed by the Persians 494 B.C.) and Athens (burnt by Xerxes 480 B.C.) were the signal for the great rising of the people, the dawn of a magnificent day of Greek splendour: after the fall of Corinth came the long dark night.' --Ihne.
+Macedonia made a Roman Province. Greece placed under the control of the Roman governor of Macedonia+.
C50
WAR WITH VIRIATHUS IN SPAIN, 149-140 B.C.
_The Lusitanian Hannibal._
Sed tota certaminum moles cum Lusitanis fuit et Numantinis. Quippe solis gentium Hispaniae duces contigerunt. Lusitanos Viriathus erexit, vir calliditatis acerrimae. Qui ex venatore latro, ex latrone subito dux atque imperator et, si fortuna {5} cessisset, Hispaniae Romulus, non contentus libertatem suorum defendere, per quattuordecim annos omnia citra ultraque Hiberum et Tagum igni ferroque populatus, castra etiam praetoria et praesidia aggressus Claudium Unimanum paene ad internecionem {10} exercitus cecidit et insignia trabeis et fascibus nostris quae ceperat in montibus suis tropaea fixit. Tandem eum iam Fabius Maximus consul oppresserat; sed a successore Popilio violata victoria est. Quippe qui conficiendae rei cupidus, fractum ducem et extrema {15} deditionis agitantem per fraudem et insidias et domesticos percussores aggressus hanc hosti gloriam dedit ut videretur aliter vinci non posse.
FLORUS, II. xvii. 13-17 (sel.).
+Context.+ After the defeat of Perseus (168 B.C.) and before the outbreak of the third Punic War (149 B.C.) a suitable opportunity seemed to present itself to Rome for continuing the interrupted conquest of Spain; but 'for eight long years Viriathus, although a barbarian and of humble origin, defied the armies of Rome, and thereby secured for himself a position in history almost equal to that of Hannibal and Mithridates.' Ihne.
[Linenotes: 1. +cum Lusitanis.+ The Lusitani (S. of the R. Tagus = mod.
Portugal, and part of Estremadura and Toledo) were not finally subdued till after the capture of Numantia by Scipio in 133 B.C.
6. +cessisset+ (= _concessisset_) = _had permitted._ 10-12. +Claudium Unimanum ... fixit+, i.e. in 147 B.C. 'The captured fasces of the lictors were exhibited, with other trophies (e.g.
+trabeis+, l. 11), far and wide on the Spanish mountains.' --Ihne.
13. +Fabius Maximus consul+, i.e. Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, who allowed himself to be decoyed into an ambush 141 B.C., and was compelled to grant an honourable peace, which Rome soon found a pretext for breaking.
17. +percussores+ = _assassins_, lit. _strikers_ (_per + cutio_ = _quatio_). Cf. the fate of Sertorius, 72 B.C.]
+The War with Viriathus.+ 'It was sad and disgraceful for the Roman arms, but in a far higher degree for Roman morals. It sowed, moreover, the seeds of the Numantine War, in which both the warlike ability and the moral virtues of the Roman nation appear more deteriorated than even in the war with Viriathus.' --Ihne.
C51
NUMANTINE WAR, 143-133 B.C.
_Destruction of Numantia, 133 B.C._
Tanti esse exercitum quanti imperatorem vere proditum est. Sic redacto in disciplinam milite a Scipione commissa acies, quodque nemo visurum se umquam speraverat, factum ut fugientes Numantinos quisquam videret.
Dedere etiam se volebant, {5} si toleranda viris imperarentur. Cum fossa atque lorica quattuorque castris circumdatos fames premeret, a duce orantes proelium, ut tamquam viros occideret, ubi non impetrabant, placuit eruptio. Sic conserta manu plurimi occisi, et cum urgueret {10} fames, novissime consilium fugae sedit; sed hoc quoque ruptis equorum cingulis uxores ademere, summo scelere per amorem. Itaque deplorato exitu in ultimam rabiem furoremque conversi, postremo Rhoecogene duce se suos patriam ferro veneno {15} subiecto igne undique peregerunt. Macte fortissimam et meo iudicio beatissimam in ipsis malis civitatem!
Asseruit cum fide socios, populum orbis terrarum viribus fultum sua manu aetate tam longa sustinuit. Novissime maximo duce oppressa civitas nullum de {20} se gaudium hosti reliquit. Unus enim vir Numantinus non fuit qui in catenis duceretur; praeda, ut de pauperrimis, nulla: arma ipsa cremaverunt. Triumphus fuit tantum de nomine.
FLORUS, II. xviii. 11-17 (sel.).
+Context.+ In 143 B.C. the Celtiberians (of Middle Spain), encouraged by the successes of the Lusitanians, took up arms once more. Their most important town was Numantia, situated near the sources of the R. Durius (Douro), strongly fortified by nature and by art. Consul after consul failed to take it, until in 134 B.C. Scipio Africanus Minor, the conqueror of Carthage, was sent out to Spain to reduce the stubborn city.
[Linenotes: 2-3. +Sic redacto ... a Scipione.+ 'Scipio's first task, when he arrived in Spain, was to accustom the army which he found there, once more to Roman discipline. Luxury and indulgence were rife, and cowardice--the most unroman of all vices--had begun to creep in.'
--Ihne.
7. +lorica+ = _a breastwork_, serving as _a screen_. Usu. = _a cuirass_.
11. +sedit+ = _was decided on_, lit. _settled_.
16. +Macte+ = _a blessing on_ or _hail to thee_. +Mactus+ prob. from va?, e.g. in ??-a? = _blessed_, but cf. _mag-nus_.
18. +Asseruit+ = _it protected_. +assero+ (_ad + sero_) = lit.
_join-to_.]
+Destruction of Numantia.+ Scipio, of his own accord, razed the town to the ground, and received the added surname of +Numantinus+.
+Roman Province in Spain.+
C52
_Rome the Invincible._
Dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal: 'Cervi, luporum praeda rapacium, Sectamur ultro, quos opimus Fallere et effugere est triumphus. 52 Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio Iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra Natosque maturosque patres Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes, 56 Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido, Per damna, per caedes ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro 60 Non Hydra secto corpore firmior Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem, Monstrumve submisere Colchi Maius Echioniaeve Thebae. 64 Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit; Luctere: multa proruet integrum Cum laude victorem geretque Proelia coniugibus loquenda.' 68
HORACE, _Odes_, IV. iv. 49-68.
[Linenotes: 51. +ultro+ = _aggressively, needlessly_. --Wickham.
51-52. +opimus triumphus+ = _a rare_ (lit. _rich, noble_) _triumph_.
Cf. _spolia opima_.
53-56. 'This stanza is a _resume_ of the story of the _Aeneid_.' --W.
53. +gens+ (sc. +illa+), i.e. the Roman stock.
57-60. 'The idea of this stanza is that their very calamities only gave them fresh heart and vigour. They rise like the Phoenix from its pyre.' --W.
58. +frondis+ with +feraci+. Cf. _fertilis frugum_.
59-60. +ab ipso ... ferro+ = _from the very edge of the steel itself, the holm-oak_ (= _the Roman stock_) _draws fresh power and spirit_.
61-62. Cf. the saying of Pyrrhus, recorded by Floras i. 18, 'I see that I was born under the constellation of Hercules, since so many heads of enemies, that were cut off, arise upon me afresh out of their own blood, as if from the Lernaean serpent.'
63-64. i.e. of the armed warriors which sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Jason at Colchis or by Cadmus at Thebes.
63. +submisere+ = _produced, raised_.
64. +Echioniae Thebae.+ Echion was one of the five survivors of the Spa?t?? (sown men). He helped Cadmus to found Thebes.
65. +Merses+ (= +si mersaris+) = _plunge it if you will_.
+evenit+ = _it emerges (comes forth)_.
66-67. +multa cum laude+ = _amid loud applause_, of a feat in a wrestling match. --W.
68. +coniugibus+ = i. _by Roman wives_ or ii. _by Carthaginian widows_. So Conington, 'Whose story widow'd wives shall tell.']