Scipio’s order of battle. Instead of drawing up his manipuli like the black squares of a chessboard—the usual order, so that, in advancing, the manipuli of the three lines could form one unbroken line—he placed them one behind the other, like the rounds of a ladder, so as to leave spaces in the lines, through which the elephants might pass without trampling down or throwing into confusion the infantry battalions, e.g.:

Context. Philip V, King of Macedon, had made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 B.C., and provoked the first Macedonian War (214-205 B.C.) by an attack on Apollonia in Illyria, and the capture of the port of Oricum in Epirus. The Romans now resolved to make Philip suffer for the trouble he had caused them by interfering in the war with Hannibal. A casus belli was soon found in the Athenian Embassy to Rome (201 B.C.) asking for help against Philip.

3-4 unus . . . militum. Ihne says ‘He seized the favourable opportunity to shape the battle which had begun without plan into a brilliant victory for Rome.’

5 signorum (= manipulorum) = companies, i.e. with some 3500 men.

13 loco premebantur = they (i.e. the phalanx) began to feel the disadvantage of position.—Rawlins.

16 in medio caesi = cut down from both sides.—R.

Cynoscephalae (Dog’s Heads), a low chain of hills between Pherae and Scotussa in Thessaly.

Results of the Battle. ‘The Romans lost only 700 men. That was the price paid for a victory which laid the Monarchy of Alexander the Great in the dust.’—Ihne.

Terms of Peace, 196 B.C. Macedonia to remain an independent state, but, like Carthage, to lose all her foreign possessions, and to be sunk to the level of a vassal state.

1 Isthmiorum statum ludicrum = time fixed (statum) for the Isthmian Games (celebrated at Corinth every two years).

3-4 quo certamina . . . visuntur = which makes them go to see contests of every kind of artistic performance (artium) and of feats of strength and agility.—Rawlins.

7 concilium is mercatus erat . . . = that gathering was the general rendezvous (mercatus) of . . . mercatus = i. trade, or mart; ii. a festival assemblage (πανήγυρις).

11 in mediam aream = into the centre of the open space (of the stadium).

17 Locrensesque omnes, i.e. E. & W. Locris.

18 Perrhaebos, N. of Thessaly.

 Achaeos Phthiotas = the Achaeans who inhabited Phthiotis (S.E. of Thessaly).

19-24 Esse aliquam . . . ingentis: in these words the Greeks express their astonishment and gratitude at the greatness of the boon conferred upon them.

The Freedom of Greece. ‘The Greeks believed with a childlike simplicity that the Romans really cared for their freedom, and that they had crossed the sea with no other object than to deliver Greece from a foreign yoke. . . . Flamininus was a skilful diplomatist, and particularly qualified to sift and settle the affairs of Greece; for he understood the Greek character, and was not inaccessible, like so many other Romans, to Greek views and opinions.’—Ihne.

Context. In 190 B.C. Lucius Scipio was appointed to carry the war into Asia. Scipio Africanus, who accompanied his brother as Chief of Staff, fell ill at Elaea, the port of Pergamum. His place was taken by Cn. Domitius, an experienced officer.

14-15 Et iam toto cesserat mari, as the result of the decisive defeat, in 190 B.C., of the Syrian fleet off Myonnesus.

15-16 Maeandrum . . . ponuntur. The battle was fought near Magnesia (N.W. of Lydia) at the foot of Mt. Sipylus.

Parallel Passage. Livy, xxxvii. 39-44, ‘The Battle of Magnesia decided the fate of the Syrian Empire, as the battles of Zama and Cynoscephalae had decided the fate of Carthage and Macedonia.’—Ihne.

Context. After Zama Hannibal held the highest office (Suffete = L. praetura) at Carthage, and effected useful democratic reforms. However, his political enemies denounced him to Rome as making plans for a new war, and in 195 B.C. he was forced to flee from Carthage and took refuge with Antiochus. After Magnesia, H. found for seven years a safe asylum with Prusias, king of Bithynia; but the Romans could not be at ease so long as H. lived, and Flamininus the Liberator of Greece undertook the inglorious quest of demanding the surrender of Hannibal.

13-15 non tempore magis congruente quam = not so much in coincidence of (congruente, lit. agreeing with) date as.—R.

18 Philopoemen, the heroic chief of the Achaean League, was taken prisoner by Dinocrates, imprisoned in a dungeon at Messene (in carcere, l. 19), and compelled to drink poison.

20-23 Scipio was accused, at the instigation of Cato, by the tribune Naevius (185 B.C.) of having been bribed by Antiochus to procure for him favourable conditions of peace. Too proud to defend himself against such a charge, Scipio retired to his country-seat at Liternum, where by a voluntary act he consigned both himself and his grave to exile (voluntarium . . . indixit).

‘Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes.’

Epitaph of Scipio, written by himself.

1 Censor, 184 B.C., with L. Valerius Flaccus, his great friend and patron, by whom he was introduced to political life.

3 in edictum. The Censors, on their entrance upon office, issued a proclamation or edict, setting forth the principles upon which they intended to act. Cato set forth in his edict that he intended to use his power for the suppression of luxury.

5 pullulare = to spread, increase; lit. to put forth, of plants and animals. Cf. pull-us (our pullet), pu-er, πῶλος (= a foal).

 octoginta. This is an exaggeration. He was only eighty-five when he died 149 B.C.

6-7 rei publicae . . . non destitit. Seneca says: Scipio cum hostibus nostris bellum, Cato cum moribus gessit.

7-9 Cato was accused no less than 44 times, but each time acquitted.

11 iuris consultus = lawyer.

12 magnus imperator, e.g. in the 2nd Punic War, and the decisive victory at Thermopylae (191 B.C.) was mainly due to Cato.

 probabilis orator = a tolerable, acceptable orator. Oscar Browning.

17-21 His two great works were his treatise De Re Rustica (or De Agri Cultura), the earliest extant work in Latin prose, and his Origines, or accounts of the rise and growth of the Italian nation, the earliest history in Latin prose. ‘It was Cato’s great merit that he asserted the rights of his native language for literary prose composition.’—Ihne.

Cato the Censor. ‘He deserves our highest respect for the defiant and manly spirit that animated him in his untiring contest with the vices of the age.’—Ihne.

Argument. ‘Our palaces and fish-ponds and ornamental gardens are supplanting the cultivation of corn and vines and olives. This is not the spirit of Romulus or of Cato. Their rule was private thrift, public magnificence; private houses of turf, public buildings and temples of hewn stone.’—W.

1 Iam = presently.

1-2 regiae moles = princely piles. moles, lit. masses, of huge buildings.

2-4 undique . . . lacu = and fish-ponds (stagna) of wider extent than the L. lake will be sights to see (visentur).—Wickham.

4 platanus caelebs = the bachelor plane, so called because vines were not wedded to it (i.e. trained upon it).—Gow.

6 omnis copia narium = all that is sweet to smell. Lit. all the fulness of the nostrils.

10 ictus (sc. solis). The point is that formerly trees were stripped to admit the sun to the vines and olives: nowadays the sun is excluded.—Gow.

11 intonsi (= antiqui) = old-fashioned. Cf. Cic.’s use of barbatus.

13 census erat brevis = list of property was short.

14 commune (= τὸ κοινόν) = the common (public) stock.

14-15 decempedis metata privatis = measured with ten-foot rods for private owners. In old days the porticūs were always publicae.

17 fortuitum caespitem = the chance-cut (handy) turf.

20 novo saxo = with fresh-hewn stone, i.e. hewn on purpose.—W.

Parallel Passages. Livy xxxix. 6. 40. 41; Sallust, Catiline 12, 13.

‘Cato saw the greatness of Rome in the olden time, and he endeavoured without success to bring this old time back.’—Ihne.

Context. Perseus, son of Philip, became King of Macedonia on the death of his father in 179 B.C. He did all he could to prepare for the inevitable struggle with Rome by strengthening Macedonia, posing as the Liberator of Greece, and forming marriage alliances with Seleucus of Syria (the successor of Antiochus), and Prusias of Bithynia. In 174 B.C., the Romans were informed that Perseus was secretly negotiating with Carthage, and after fruitless embassies war was declared. The Senate, after three years of unsuccessful warfare (171-168 B.C.), appointed L. Aemilius Paulus (son of the hero who died at Cannae) to the supreme command in Macedonia.

4 caetratos = Targeteers, armed with the small round shield.

5-7 A tergo . . . habebat (sc. legio prima) = the (first) Legion thus took the Targeteers in the rear, while it faced towards the Shieldmen.—Rawlins.

6 clipeatos = Shieldmen, armed with the large round shield.

7 chalcaspides = Brazen Shields, Right Division of phalanx.

9 leucaspidem = White Shields, Left Division of phalanx.

10 in dextrum cornu (sc. Romanum), i.e. nearest to the sea.

13-15 commenta . . . oportet = lit. the contrivances of men, though in theory (in verbis) they had some importance (vim) yet upon trial (experiendo) when there is need of action and not of discussion (edisseri) how to act. . . .

17 commenta Macedonum. Perh. with reference to Perseus’ contrivances (e.g. by the use of dummy elephants) to prepare his men and horses to make a stand against real elephants.

1 In medio . . . immissa = On the centre the second legion charged (immissa), i.e. into the interstices of the phalanx, which was not preserving its usual close order.—Rawlins.

4-6 fluctuantem . . . vires sunt = first demoralised the phalanx so as to make it waver, (fluctuantem), and then shattered it. Its (aggressive) force, so long as it keeps close order and bristles with couched (intentis) spears, is irresistible (intolerabiles).

6 carptim aggrediendo = by repeated harassing attacks.

10 ruinae modo = in hopeless confusion.—R.

17 classe. The Roman fleet under Octavius was co-operating with the army.

Results of the Battle. Perseus was captured, and his kingdom was divided into four independent parts. The Macedonian phalanx had fought its last great battle.

Character of Paulus. ‘He was a model of the Roman of the best time. He was not, like his contemporary Cato, a onesided worshipper of everything old; but he was a Conservative in the best sense of the word, anxious to preserve old institutions, but at the same time to improve them.’—Ihne.

Context. An Embassy was sent from Rome in 157 B.C. to inquire into the affairs of Africa. Among its members was M. Porcius Cato, who, astonished and alarmed at the flourishing condition of Carthage, returned to Rome with the firm conviction that Carthage must be destroyed—delenda est Carthago. A pretext was soon found in the war (151 B.C.) between Carthage and Masinissa, King of Numidia, the ally of Rome. Though the Carthaginians surrendered all their arms and munitions of war, Rome declared that they would have to leave their city and settle ten miles from the sea. The Carthaginians resolved to die rather than give up the sacred soil of their country.

5 profligato = almost finished.

6 in alium Scipionem, i.e. P. Corn. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Minor, the younger son of Aemilius Paulus (of Pydna) and adopted by P. Scipio, the son of the conqueror of Hannibal.

12 alterum portum, i.e. they pierced the narrow strip of land separating the round naval port (Cothon) from the sea.

18 deploratis = was looked upon as lost, lit. wept for bitterly.

20 duce Hasdrubale: ‘Hasdrubal seems to have deserved the name of the last Carthaginian in the best sense of the word, as a representative of the intensity of the strength, endurance, and patriotism of his race.’—Ihne.

‘The plough was drawn over the site of destroyed Carthage, and a solemn curse was pronounced against anyone who should ever undertake to build a new town on that spot.’—Ihne.

Africa made a Roman Province.

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.

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 Διὸς Κόρινθος.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 √μακ, e.g. in μάκ-αρ = 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.

51 ultro = aggressively, needlessly.—Wickham.

51-52 opimus triumphus = a rare (lit. rich, noble) triumph. Cf. spolia opima.

53-56 ‘This stanza is a résumé 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 Σπαρτοί (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.’

1-3 quorum maiores . . . addiderant, e.g. their grandfather P. Scipio Africanus Maior, and their father Tib. Sempronius Gracchus (in Spain and Sardinia).

3-4 paucorum scelera . . . coepere. (i) Tib. Gracchus by his Agrarian Law tried to counteract the selfish land-grabbing of the ruling class (in excess of the 500 iugera limit of the Licinian Laws, 367 B.C.). (ii) C. Gracchus exposed the corrupt Senatorian Courts, transferred their judicial power to the Equites, and carried the Sempronian Law, ‘one of the cornerstones of individual liberty.’

5 per socios . . . Latinum, by working on Roman jealousy against the Italians, for whom equality was claimed.

6 spes societatis, i.e. the hope of sharing with the nobility in office, and in provincial appointments.

10 triumvirum c. d., one of the three Commissioners for establishing Colonies of Roman citizens on the ager publicus.

11 Fulvio Flacco, slain with C. Gracchus, 121 B.C.

17 pessum dedit = has destroyed. pessum (prob.) = pedis + versum = towards the feet, to the ground, cf. pessum ire.

The aim of the Gracchi. ‘Their object was to reduce the excessive power of the nobility, and to make the sovereignty of the people, which had become merely nominal, a reality.’—Ihne.

Their political mistake. ‘Their error consisted in the belief that such a change was possible by returning to the simple forms of the old Comitia. They overlooked the necessity of remodelling the Roman people itself by giving the popular assemblies a form which would in reality make them represent the people.’—Ihne.