ing the temple and groves; others with walking about, unarmed, on the strand; and a great part had gone different ways in quest of wood and forage; when on a sudden, Menippus attacked them in that scattered condition, slew many, and took fifty of them prisoners. Very few made their escape, among whom was Mictio, who was received on board a small trading vessel. Though this event caused much grief to Quintius and the Romans, on account of the loss of their men, yet it tended greatly to the justification of their cause in making war on Antiochus. Antiochus, when arrived with his army so near as Aulis, sent again to Chalcis a deputation, composed partly of his own people, and partly of Ætolians, to treat on the same grounds as before, but with heavier denunciations of vengeance: and, notwithstanding all the efforts of Mictio and Xenoclides to the contrary, he carried his point; and the gates were opened to him. Those who adhered to the Roman interest, on the approach of the king, withdrew from the city. The soldiers of the Achæans, and Eumenes, held Salganea; and the few Romans who had escaped, raised, for the security of the place, a little fort on the Euripus. Menippus laid siege to Salganea, and the king himself to the fort. The Achæans and Eumenes' soldiers first surrendered, on the terms of being allowed to retire in safety. The Romans defended their fortress with more obstinacy. But even these, when they found themselves completely invested both by land and sea, and saw the machines and engines prepared for an assault, could hold out no longer. The king, having thus got possession of the capital of Euboea, the other cities of the island did not even attempt resistance; and he seemed to himself to have signalized the commencement of the war by an important acquisition, in having brought under his power so great an island, and so many cities so conveniently situated.

VOL. V.-K

THE

HISTORY OF ROME.

BOOK XXXVI.

Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul, aided by King Philip, defeats Antiochus at Thermopyla, and drives him out of Greece; reduces the Etolians to sue for peace. Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica reduces the Boian Gauls to submission. Sea-fight between the Roman fleet and that of Antiochus, in which the Romans are victorious.

Y. R. 561.

I. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO, son of Cneius, B. C. 191. and Manius Acilius Glabrio, consuls on their assuming the administration, were ordered by the senate, before they settled any thing respecting their provinces, to perform sacrifices, with victims of the greater kinds, at all the shrines where the lectisternium was usually celebrated for the greater part of the year; and to offer prayers, that the business which the state had in contemplation, concerning a new war, might terminate prosperously and happily for the senate and people of Rome. At every one of those sacrifices, appearances were favourable, and the propitious omens were found in the first victims. Accordingly, the haruspices gave this answer:-That, by this war, the boundaries of the Roman empire would be enlarged; and that victory and triumph were portended. When this answer was reported, the senate, having their minds now freed from every religious scruple, ordered this question to be proposed to the people: "Was it their will, and did they order, that war should be

undertaken against king Antiochus, and all who should join his party?" And that, if that order passed, then the consuls were, if they thought proper, to lay the business entire before the senate. Publius Cornelius got the order passed; and then the senate decreed, that the consuls should cast lots for the provinces of Italy and Greece; that he, to whose lot Greece fell, should, in addition to the number of soldiers enlisted and raised from the allies by Quintius for that province, pursuant to a decree of the senate, take under his command that army, which, in the preceding year, Marcus Bæbius, prætor, had, by order of the senate, carried over to Macedonia. Permission was also granted him, to receive succours from the allies, out of Italy, if circumstances should so require, provided their number did not exceed five thousand. It was resolved, that Lucius Quintius, consul of the former year, should be commissioned as lieutenant-general in that war. The other consul, to whom Italy fell, was ordered to carry on the war with the Boians, with whichever he should choose of the two armies commanded by the consuls of the last year; and to send the other to Rome; and these were ordered to be the city legions, and ready to march to whatever place the senate should direct.

II. Things being thus adjusted in the senate, excepting the assignment of his particular province to each of the magistrates, the consuls were ordered to cast lots. Greece fell to Acilius, Italy to Cornelius. The lot of each being now determined, the senate passed a decree, that "inasmuch as the Roman people had ordered war to be declared against king Antiochus, and those who were under his government, the consuls should command a supplication to be performed, on account of that business; and that Manius Acilius, consul, should vow the great games to Jupiter, and offerings at all the shrines." This vow was made by the consul in these words, which were dictated by Publius Licinius, chief pontiff: "If the war, which the people has ordered to be under

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taken against king Antiochus, shall be concluded agreeably to the wishes of the senate and people of Rome, then, O Jupiter, the Roman people will, through ten successive days, exhibit the great games in honour of thee, and offerings shall be presented at all the shrines, of such value as the senate shall direct. Whatever magistrate shall celebrate those games, and at whatever time and place, let the celebration be deemed proper, and the offerings rightly and duly made." The two consuls then proclaimed a supplication for two days. When the consuls had determined their provinces by lots, the prætors, likewise, immediately cast lots for theirs. The two civil jurisdictions fell to Marcus Junius Brutus; Bruttium, to Aulus Cornelius Mammula; Sicily, to Marcus Æmilius Lepidus; Sardinia, to Lucius Oppius Salinator: the fleet, to Caius Livius Salinator; and farther Spain, to Lucius Æmilius Paullus. The troops for these were settled thus:-to Aulus Cornelius were assigned the new soldiers, raised last year by Lucius Quintius, consul, pursuant to the senate's decree; and he was ordered to defend the whole coast near Tarentum and Brundusium. Lucius Emilius Paullus was directed to take with him into farther Spain, (to fill up the numbers of the army, which he was to receive from Marcus Fulvius, pro-prætor,) three thousand new raised foot, and three hundred horse, of whom two-thirds should be Latine allies, and the other third Roman citizens. An equal reinforcement was sent to hither Spain, to Caius Flaminius, who was continued in command. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus was ordered to receive both the province and army from Lucius Valerius, whom he was to succeed, and, if he thought proper, to retain Lucius Valerius, as proprætor, in the province, which he was to divide with him in such a manner, that one division should reach from Agrigentum to Pachynum, and the other from Pachynum to Tyndarium, the sea coasts whereof Lucius Valerius was to protect with a fleet of twenty ships of war. The same prætor received a charge to levy two

tenths of corn, and to take care that it should be carried to the coast, and thence conveyed into Greece. Lucius Oppius was likewise commanded to levy a second tenth in Sardinia; but with directions that it should be transported, not into Greece, but to Rome. Caius Livius, the prætor, whose lot was the command of the fleet, was ordered to sail directly to Greece with thirty ships, which were ready, and to receive the other fleet from Atilius. The prætor Marcus Junius was commissioned to refit and arm the old ships which were in the dock-yards; and, for the manning of these, to enlist the sons of freemen as seamen.

III. Commissaries were sent into Africa, three to Carthage, and a like number to Numidia, to procure corn to be carried into Greece; for which the Roman people were to pay the value. And so particularly attentive was the state to the making of every preparation and provision necessary for the carrying on of this war, that the consul, Publius Cornelius, published an edict, that "no senator, nor any who had the privilege of giving an opinion in the senate, nor any of the inferior magistrates, should go so far from the city of Rome as that they could not return the same day; and that not more than five of the senators should be absent at the same time." The exertions of the prætor, Caius Livius, in fitting out the fleet, were for some time retarded by a dispute which arose with the maritime colonies. For, when he insisted on their manning the ships, they appealed to the tribunes of the people, by whom the cause was referred to the senate. The senate, without one dissenting voice, resolved, that those colonies were not entitled to exemption from the sea-service. The colonies which disputed this point with the prætor were, Ostia, Fregenæ, Castrumnovum, Pyrgi, Antium, Tarracina, Minturne, and Sinuessa. The consul, Manius Acilius, then, by direction of the senate, consulted the college of heralds, "whether a declaration of war should be made to Antiochus in person, or whether it