HISTORY OF ROME.

ARGUMENTS.

BOOK XXIV.

HIERONYMUS, king of Syracuse, takes part with the Carthaginians; is put to death by his subjects on account of his tyranny and cruelty.-Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, proconsul, with an army composed mostly of slaves, defeats the Carthaginian army under Hanno at Beneventum; gives the slaves liberty. Most of the states in Sicily go over to the side of the Carthaginians.-Claudius Marcellus, consul, besieges Syracuse. War declared against Philip, king of Macedonia, who is surprised by night, and routed at Apollonia.-Operations of the Scipios against the Carthaginians in Spain.Treaty of friendship with Syphax, king of Numidia; he is defeated by Masinissa, king of the Massylians.-The Celtiberians join the Romans, and their troops are taken into pay : the first instance of mercenaries serving in a Roman army.

BOOK XXV.

Publius Cornelius Scipio, afterward called Africanus, elected edile before he had attained the age required by the law. The citadel of Tarentum, in which the Roman garrison had taken refuge, betrayed to Hannibal.-Games instituted in honour of Apollo, called Apollinarian.-Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius, consuls, defeat Hanno the Carthaginian general. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus betrayed by a Lucanian to Mago, and slain.-Centenius Penula, who had been a centurion, asks the senate for the command of an army, promising to engage and vanquish Hannibal; is cut off with eight thousand men.-Cneius Fulvius engages Hannibal, and is beaten, with the loss of sixteen thousand men slain; he himself escapes with only two hundred horsemen.-Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius, consuls, lay siege to Capua.

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Syracuse taken by Claudius Marcellus, after a siege of three years. In the tumult occasioned by taking the city, Archiinides is killed, while intently occupied on some figures which he had drawn in the sand.--Publius and Cornelius Scipio, after having performed many eminent services in Spain, are slain, together with nearly the whole of their armies, eight years after their arrival in that country; and the possession of that province would have been entirely lost, but for the valour and activity of Lucius Marcius, a Roman knight, who, collecting the scattered remains of the vanquished armies, utterly defeats the enemy, storming their two camps, killing thirty-seven thousand of them, and taking eighteen hundred, together with an immense booty.

BOOK XXVI.

Hannibal encamps on the banks of the Anio, within three miles of Rome.-Attended by two thousand horsemen, he advances close to the Colline gate to take a view of the walls and sit. uation of the city.-On two successive days the hostile armies are hindred from engaging by the severity of the weather.Capua taken by Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius: the chief nobles die, voluntarily, by poison.-Quintus Fulvius having condemned the principal senators to death, at the moment they are actually tied to the stakes, receives despatches from Rome, commanding him to spare their lives, which he postpones reading until the sentence is executed.-Publius Scipio offering himself for the service, is sent to command in Spain: takes New Carthage in one day.-Successes in Sicily.Treaty of friendship with the Etolians.-War with Philip, king of Macedonia, and the Acarnanians.

BOOK XXVII.

Cneius Fulvius, proconsul, defeated by Hannibal, and slain: the consul, Claudius Marcellus, engages him with better success.-Hannibal, raising his camp, retires; Marcellus pursues, and forces him to an engagement.-They fight twice: in the first battle Hannibal gains the advantage; in the second Marcellus.-Tarentum betrayed to Fabius Maximus, the consul. Scipio engages with Hasdrubal, the son of Hamilcar, at Bætula, in Spain, and defeats him.-Among other prisoners, a youth of royal race and exquisite beauty is taken; Scipio sets him free, and sends him, enriched with magnifi cent presents, to his uncle Masinissa.-Marcellus and Quintus Crispinus, consuls, drawn into an ambuscade by Hannibal: Marcellus is slain; Crispinus escapes.-Operations by

Publius Sulpicius, pretor, against Philip and the Achæans.A census held: the number of citizens found to amount to one hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eight from which it appears how great a loss they had sustained by the number of unsuccessful battles they had of late been engaged in. Hasdrubal, who had crossed the Alps with a reinforcement for Hannibal, defeated by the consuls Marcus Livius and Claudius Nero, and slain; with him fell fiftysix thousand men.

BOOK XXVIII.

Successful operations against the Carthaginians in Spain under Silanus, Scipio's lieutenant, and L. Scipio, his brother; of Sulpicius and Attalus against Philip, king of Macedonia.-Scipio finally vanquishes the Carthaginians in Spain, and reduces that whole country; passes over into Africa; forms an alliance with Syphax, king of Numidia; represses and punishes a mutiny of a part of his army; concludes a treaty of friendship with Masinissa; returns to Rome, and is elected consul: solicits Africa for his province, which is opposed by Quintus Fabius Maximus; is appointed governor of Sicily, with permission to pass over into Africa.

BOOK XXIX.

In Spain, Mandonius and Indibilis reviving hostilities, are finally subdued-Scipio goes over from Syracuse to Locri; dislodges the Carthaginian general; repulses Hannibal, and recovers that city.-Peace made with Philip.-The Idæan mother brought to Rome from Phrygia; received by Publius Scipio Nasica; judged by the senate the best man in the state. Scipio passes over into Africa.-Syphax, having married a daughter of Hasdrubal, renounces his alliance with -Scipio. Masinissa, who had been expelled his kingdom by Syphax, joins Scipio with two hundred horsemen; they defeat a large army commanded by Hanno.-Hasdrubal and Syphax approach with a most numerous force.-Scipio raises the siege of Utica, and fortifies a post for the winter.-The consul Sempronius gets the better of Hannibal in a battle near Croton.-Dispute between Marcus Livius and Claudius Nero, censors.

BOOK XXX.

Scipio, aided by Masinissa, defeats the Carthaginians, Syphax, and Hasdrubal in several battles.-Syphax taken by Lælius

and Masinissa.-Masinissa espouses Sophonisba, the wife of Syphax, Hasdrubal's daughter; being reproved by Scipio, he sends her poison, with which she puts an end to her life.The Carthaginians, reduced to great extremity by Scipio's repeated victories, call Hannibal home from Italy; he holds a conference with Scipio on the subject of peace, and is again defeated by him in battle.-The Carthaginians sue for peace, which is granted them.-Masinissa reinstated in his kingdom. -Scipio returns to Rome; his splendid triumph; is surnamed Africanus.