Livy: Periochae 48-50

Lustrum a censoribus conditum est. Censa sunt civium capita CCCXXIIII milia.

Semina tertii Punici belli referuntur. Cum in finibus Carthaginiensium ingens Numidarum exercitus duce Arcobarzane, Syphacis nepote, diceretur esse, M. Porcius Cato suasit ut Carthaginiensibus, qui exercitum specie contra Masinissam, re contra Romanos accitum in finibus haberent, bellum indiceretur. Contra dicente P. Cornelio Nasica placuit legatos mitti Carthaginem, qui specularentur quid ageretur. Castigato senatu Carthaginiensium, quod contra foedus et exercitum et navales materias haberent, pacem inter eos et Masinissam facere voluerunt, Masinissa agro, de quo lis erat, cedente. Sed Gisgo, Hamilcaris filius, homo seditiosus qui tum in magistratu erat, cum senatus pariturum se iudicio legatis dixisset, ita populum concitavit bellum adversus Romanos suadendo, ut legatos, quo minus violarentur, fuga explicuerit. Id nuntiantes infestum iam senatum Carthaginiensibus infestiorem fecerunt.

M. Porcius Cato filii in praetura mortui funus tenuissimo ut potuit (nam pauper erat) sumptu fecit.

Andriscus, qui se Persei filium, regis quondam Macedoniae, ingenti adseveratione mentiretur, Romam missus.

M. Aemilius Lepidus, qui princeps senatus sextis iam censoribus lectus erat, antequam expiraret, praecepit filiis lecto se strato linteis sine purpura efferrent, in reliquum funus ne plus quam aeris decies consumerent: imaginum specie, non sumptibus nobilitari magnorum virorum funera solere.

De veneficiis quaesitum. Publilia et Licinia, nobiles feminae, quae viros suos consulares necasse insimulabantur, cognita causa, cum praetori praedes vades dedissent, cognatorum decreto necatae sunt.

Gulussa, Masinissae filius, nuntiavit Carthagine dilectus agi, classem conparari et haud dubie bellum strui. Cum Cato suaderet ut his bellum indiceretur, P. Cornelio Nasica dicente nihil temere faciundum, placuit X legatos mitti exploratum.

L. Licinius Lucullus A. Postumius Albinus coss. cum dilectum severe agerent nec quemquam gratia dimitterent, ab tribunis pl., qui pro amicis suis vacationem impetrare non poterant, in carcerem coniecti sunt.

Cum Hispaniense bellum parum prospere aliquotiens gestum ita confudisset civitatem Romanam, ut ne hi quidem invenirentur qui aut tribunatum exciperent aut legati ire vellent, P. Cornelius Aemilianus processit et excepturum se militiae genus, quodcumque imperatum esset, professus est. Quo exemplo omnes ad studium militandi concitavit.

Lucullus cos., cum Claudius Marcellus, cui successerat, pacasse omnes Celtiberiae populos videretur, Vaccaeos et Cantabros et alias incognitas adhuc in Hispania gentes subegit. Ibi P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, L. Pauli filius, Africani nepos, set adoptivus, provocatorem barbarum tribunus militum occidit et in expugnatione Intercatiae urbis maius etiamnunc periculum adiit. Nam murum primus transcendit.

Servius Sulpicius Galba praetor male adversus Lusitanos pugnavit.

Cum legati ex Africa cum oratoribus Carthaginiensium et Gulussa, Masinissae filio, redissent dicerentque et exercitum se et classem Carthagine deprehendisse, perrogari sententias placuit. Catone et aliis principibus senatus suadentibus ut in Africam confestim transportaretur exercitus, quoniam Cornelius Nasica dicebat nondum sibi iustam causam belli videri, placuit ut bello abstinerent, si Carthaginienses classem exussissent et exercitum dimisissent; si minus, proximi consules de bello Punico referrent.

Cum locatum a censoribus theatrum exstrueretur, P. Cornelio Nasica auctore tamquam inutile et nociturum publicis moribus ex S.C. destructum est populusque aliquamdiu stans ludos spectavit.

Carthaginienses cum adversus foedus bellum Masinissae intulissent, victi ab eo annos habente XCII et sine pulpamine mandere et siccum gustare panem tantum solito insuper Romanum bellum meruerunt.

Motus praeterea Syriae et bella inter reges gesta referuntur. Inter quos motus Demetrius, Syriae rex, occisus est.

[154 BCE] The censors performed the lustrum ceremony.  324,000 citizens were registered.

The causes of the Third Punic War are described. It was said that a very large Numidian army, commanded by Arcobarzanes, son of Syphax, was on Carthaginian soil, and Marcus Porcius Cato argued that although this force was ostensibly directed against Massinissa, it was in fact against the Romans, and that consequently, war had to be declared. Publius Cornelius Nasica defended the opposite, and it was agreed that envoys were to be sent to Carthage, to see what was going on. They rebuked the Carthaginian Senate because it had, contrary to the treaty, collected an army and timber to build ships, and proposed to make peace between Carthage and Massinissa, because Masinissa was evacuating the contested piece of land. But Hamilcar's son Gesco, a riotous man who occupied an office, provoked the populace to wage war against the Romans, so that when the [Carthaginian] Senate announced it would comply with the Roman wishes, the envoys had to flee to escape violence. When they told this, they made the [Roman] Senate, already hostile towards the Carthaginians, even more hostile.

Marcus Porcius Cato gave his son, who had died during his praetorship, a cheap funeral according to his means (because he was poor).

Andriscus, who pretended persistently that he was the son of Perseus, the former king of Macedonia, was sent to Rome.

Before he died, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been chosen as first among the senators by six pairs of censors, ordered his sons that they should carry his bier to the pyre covered with linens without purple, and they were not to spend more than a million for the remainder: the images [of ancestors] and not the expenditure should enhance the funerals of great men.

There was an investigation of poisonings. The noble women Publilia and Licinia were accused of murdering their husbands, former consuls; after the hearing, they assigned real estate as bail to the praetor, but were executed by a decision of their relatives.

Gulussa, the son of Massinissa, told that a levy was conducted in Carthage, a navy was being built, and that without any doubt, they were preparing for war. When Cato argued that war should be declared, and Publius Cornelius Nasica said that it was better to do nothing too fast, it was decided to send ten investigators.

[151] When consuls Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Aulus Postumius Albinus recruited their army with great strictness and favored no one with an exemption, they were imprisoned by the tribunes of the plebs, because they were unable to obtain exemptions for their friends.

The Spanish War had been waged unsuccessfully and resulted in such a great confusion among the Roman citizens that no one wanted to go there as tribune or commander, but Publius Cornelius [Scipio] Aemilianus came forward and said he would accept any kind of military task to which he should be assigned. This example gave everyone an appetite for war.

Although Claudius Marcellus appeared to have pacified all Celtiberian nations, his successor consul Lucullus subdued the Vaccaeans and Cantabrians and several other hitherto unknown nations in Hispania. Here, tribune Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Lucius [Aemilius] Paullus, and the grandson of [Publius Cornelius Scipio] Africanus (although by adoption), killed a barbarian challenger, and added an even greater danger when the town of Intercatia was stormed, because he was the first to climb the wall.

Praetor Servius Sulpicius unsuccessfully fought against the Lusitanians.

The envoys returned from Africa with Carthaginian ambassadors and Massinissa's son Gulussa, saying they had seen how an army and navy were built in Carthage, and it was decided to ask for opinions [of all senators]. While Cato and other influential senators argued that an army should immediately be sent to Africa, Cornelius Nasica said that it still did not seem to be a justified war, and it was agreed to refrain from war if the Carthaginians would burn their ships and dismiss their army; if they did less, the next pair of consuls should put the Punic War on the agenda.

When a theater, contracted for by the censors, was built, Publius Cornelius Nasica was the author of a senatorial decree that this building, which was so useless and dangerous for the public morals, should be destroyed; for some time, the people had to stand to watch theatrical performances.

When the Carthaginians declared war upon Massinissa and broke the treaty, they were beaten by this man (who was ninety-two years old and accustomed to eat and enjoy dry bread without a relish) and incurred a war against the Romans.

It [book 48] also contains an account of the situation in Syria and the war waged between its kings. [150] In this turmoil, the Syrian king Demetrius [I Soter] was killed.

Tertii Punici belli initium altero et sescentesimo ab urbe condita anno, intra quintum annum, quam erat coeptum, consummati.

Inter M. Porcium Catonem et Scipionem Nasicam, quorum alter sapientissimus vir in civitate habebatur, alter optimus vir etiam iudicatus a senatu erat, diversis certatum sententiis est, Catone suadente bellum et ut tolleretur delereturque Carthago, Nasica dissuadente. Placuit tamen, quod contra foedus naves haberent, quod exercitum extra fines duxissent, quod socio populi R. et amico Masinissae arma intulissent, quod filium eius, Gulussam, qui cum legatis Romanis erat, in oppidum non recepissent, bellum his indici.

Prius quam ullae copiae in naves imponerentur, Uticenses legati Romam venerunt se suaque omnia dedentes.Ea legatio velut omen grata patribus, acerba Carthaginiensibus fuit.

Ludi Diti patri ad Tarentum ex praecepto librorum facti, qui ante annum centesimum primo Punico bello, quingentesimo et altero anno ab urbe condita facti erant.

Legati XXX Romam venerunt, per quos se Carthaginienses dedebant. Catonis sententia evicit ut in decreto perstaretur et ut consules quam primum ad bellum profiscerentur. Qui ubi in Africam transierunt, acceptis quos imperaverant CCC obsidibus et armis omnibus instrumentisque belli, si qua Carthagine erant, cum ex auctoritate patrum iuberent, ut in alium locum, dum a mari X milia passuum ne minus remotum, oppidum facerent, indignitate rei ad bellandum Carthaginienses compulerunt.

Obsideri obpugnarique coepta est Carthago a L. Marcio M'. Manilio coss. In qua obpugnatione cum neglectos ab una parte muros duo tribuni temere cum cohortibus suis inrupissent et ab oppidanis graviter caederentur, a Scipione Orfiniato expliciti sunt. Per quem et castellum Romanorum, quod nocte expugnabant, paucis equitibus iuvantibus liberatum est castrorumque, quae Carthaginienses omnibus copiis ab urbe pariter egressi obpugnabant, liberatorum is ipse praecipuam gloriam tulit.

Praeterea cum ab inrita obpugnatione Carthaginis consul (alter enim Romam ad comitia ierat) exercitum duceret adversus Hasdrubalem (cum ampla manu saltum iniquum insederat) suasit primo consuli ne tam iniquo loco confligeret. Victus deinde conplurium, qui et prudentiae et virtuti eius invidebant, sententiis et ipse saltum ingressus est. Cum, sicut praedixerat, fusus fugatusque esset Romanus exercitus et duae cohortes ab hoste obsiderentur, cum paucis equitum turmis in saltum reversus liberavit eas et incolumes reduxit. Quam virtutem eius et Cato, vir promptioris ad vituperandum linguae, in senatu sic prosecutus est ut diceret reliquos, qui in Africa militarent, umbras volitare, Scipionem vigere, et populus R. eo favore complexus ut comitiis plurimae eum tribus consulem scriberent, cum hoc per aetatem non liceret.

Cum L. Scribonius tr. pl. rogationem promulgasset, ut Lusitani, qui in fidem populo R. dediti ab Servio Galba in Galliam venissent, in libertatem restituerentur, M. Cato acerrime suasit. (Extat oratio in Annalibus ipsius inclusa.) Q. Fulvius Nobilior ei, saepe ab eo in senatu laceratus, respondit pro Galba; ipse quoque Galba cum se damnari videret, complexus duos filios praetextatos et Sulpicii Galli filium, cuius tutor erat, ita miserabiliter pro se locutus est ut rogatio antiquaretur. (Exstant tres orationes eius, duae adversus Libonem tr. pl. rogationemque eius habitae de Lusitanis, una contra L. Cornelium Cethegum, in qua Lusitanos prope se castra habentis caesos fatetur, quod compertum habuerit, equo atque homine suo ritu immolatis per speciem pacis adoriri exercitum suum in animo habuisse.)

Andriscus quidam, ultimae sortis homo, Persei se regis filium ferens et mutato nomine Philippus vocatus cum ab urbe Romana, quo illum Demetrius, Syriae rex, ob hoc ipsum mendacium miserat, clam profugisset, multis ad falsam eius fabulam (velut ad veram) coeuntibus, contracto exercitu totam Macedoniam aut voluntate incolentium aut armis occupavit.

Fabulam autem talem finxerat: ex paelice se et Perseo rege ortum traditum educandum Cretensi cuidam esse, ut in belli casus quod ille cum Romanis gereret, aliquod velut semen regiae stirpis exstaret. Hydramyti se educatum usque ad XII aetatis annum, patrem eum esse credentem a quo educaretur, ignarum generis fuisse sui. Adfecto deinde eo, cum prope ad ultimum finem vitae esset, detectam tandem sibi originem suam falsaeque matri libellum datum signo Persei regis signatum, quem sibi traderet, cum ad puberem aetatem venisset, obtestationesque ultimas adiectas, ut res in occultato ad id tempus servaretur. Pubescenti libellum traditum in quo relicti sibi duo thesauri a patre dicerentur. Tum scienti mulierem se subditum esse, veram stirpem ignoranti edidisse genus atque obtestatam, ut prius quam manaret ad Eumenen res, Perseo inimicum, excederet his locis, ne interficeretur. Eo se exterritum, simul sperantem aliquod a Demetrio auxilium in Syriam se contulisse atque ibi primum quis esset palam expromere ausum.

[149] The beginning of the Third Punic War was in the six hundred and second year after the founding of Rome, and came to an end five years after its beginning 

Between Marcus Porcius Cato and Scipio Nasica, of which the former was the most intelligent man in the city and the latter considered to be the best man in the Senate, was a debate of opposing opinions, in which Cato argued for and Nasica against war and the removal and sack of Carthage. It was decided to declare war on Carthage, because the Carthaginians had, contrary to the treaty, ships, because they had sent an army outside their territory, because they had waged war against Massinissa, an ally and friend of the Roman people, and because they had refused to receive in their city Massinissa's son Gulussa (who had been with the Roman envoys).

Before any troops had boarded their ships, Utican envoys came to Rome, to surrender themselves and everything they owned.This embassy was received as a good omen by the senators, and as a bad omen in Carthage.

The games of Dis Pater took place at the Tarentum, in accordance with the [Sibylline] Books. Similar festivities had taken place hundred year before, at the beginning of the First Punic War, in the five hundred and second year since the founding of the city.

Thirty envoys came to Rome to surrender Carthage. Cato's opinion prevailed that the declaration of war was to be maintained and that the consuls, as had been agreed, would proceed to the front. When they had crossed into Africa, they received the three hundred hostages they had demanded and all the weapons and war engines that were in Carthage, and demanded on the authority of the Senate that the Carthaginians rebuilt their city on another site, which was to be no less than 15 kilometers from the sea. These offensive demands forced the Carthaginians to war.

The beginning of the siege and the attack of Carthage were organized by consuls Lucius Marcius [Censorinus] and Manius Manilius. During the siege, two tribunes rashly broke through a carelessly defended wall and suffered greatly from the inhabitants, but were relieved by Scipio Orfitianus [Africanus]. With the help of a few cavalry, he also relieved a Roman fort that had been attacked by night, and he received the greatest glory from the liberation of Roman camps which the Carthaginians, sallying in full force from the city, vigorously attacked.

Besides, when the consul (his colleague had returned to Rome for the elections) led the army against Hasdrubal (who had occupied with many troops an inaccessible pass), he convinced the consul first not to attack on this inaccessible place. However, the opinions of the others, who were jealous of his intelligence and valor, prevailed, and he entered the pass himself, and when -as he had predicted- the Roman army was defeated and routed and two subunits were besieged by the enemy, he returned with a few cavalry squadrons, relieved them, and brought them back unharmed. In the Senate, his valor was praised by even Cato, a man whose tongue was better suited for criticism, but now said that the others fighting in Africa were mere spirits, whereas Scipio was alive; and the Roman people received him with so much enthusiasm that most districts elected him as consul, although his age did not allow this.

When Lucius Scribonius, a tribune of the plebs, proposed a law that the Lusitanians, who had surrendered to the Roman people but had been sold [into slavery] by Servius [Sulpicius] Galba in Gaul, would be liberated, Marcus Porcius Cato supported him energetically. (His speech still exists and is included in his Annals.) Quintus Fulvius Nobilior, who had often been assailed by Cato in the Senate, spoke for Galba; and Galba himself, seeing that he was about to be condemned, embracing his two young sons and the son of Sulpicius Gallus, whose guardian he was, spoke so pitiably in his own defense, that the case was abandoned. (Three of his speeches still exist: two against tribune Libo in the Lusitanian case, and one against Lucius Cornelius Cethegus, in which he admits that during a truce, he had massacred the Lusitanians near his camp because, as he explains, he had found out that they had sacrificed a man and a horse, which according to their custom meant that they were preparing an attack.)

A certain Andriscus, a man of the lowest kind, pretending to be a son of king Perseus, changed his name into Philip, and secretly fled from the city of Rome, to which king Demetrius [I Soter] of Syria had sent him, precisely because of this lie; many people were attracted by his false story (as if it were true), he gathered an army and occupied all of Macedonia, whether the people wanted it or not.

He told the following story: born as the son of king Perseus and a courtesan, he had been handed over for education to a certain Cretan, so that, in this situation of war against the Romans, some scion of the royal stock would survive. Without knowledge of his family and believing that the man who taught him was his father, he had been educated at Adramyttion until he was twelve years old. When this man fell ill and was close to the end of his life, he finally told Andriscus about his origin and gave his "mother" a writing that had been sealed by king Perseus, which she should give the boy when he reached maturity, and the teacher added that everything had to be kept secret until that moment. When he reached maturity, Andriscus received the writing, from which he learned that his father had left him two treasures. Until then he had only known that he was a foster son and had been unaware about his real ancestry; now his foster mother told him about his lineage and begged him to avoid being assassinated by departing from the country before the news reached [king] Eumenes [II Soter of Pergamon], an enemy of Perseus. Frightened and hoping to obtain assistance from Demetrius, he went to Syria, where he had declared for the first time who he was.

Thessalia, cum et illam invadere armis atque occupare Pseudophilippus vellet, per legatos Romanorum auxiliis Achaeorum defensa est.

Prusias, rex Bithyniae, omnium humillimorumque vitiorum, a Nicomede filio adiuvante Attalo, rege Pergami, occisus, habebat alterum filium (qui pro superiore ordine dentium enatum habuisse unum os continens dicitur). Cum III legati ad pacem inter Nicomedem et Prusiam faciendam ab Romanis missi essent, cum unus ex his multis cicatricibus sartum caput haberet, alter pedibus aeger esset, tertius ingenio socors haberetur, M. Cato dixit eam in legationem, nec caput nec pedes nec cor habere.

In Syria, quae eo tempore stirpe generis parem Macedonum regis, inertia socordiaque similem Prusiae regem habebat, iacente eo in ganea et lustris Hammonius regnabat, per quem et amici omnes regis et Laodice regina et Antigonus, Demetri filius, occisi sunt.

Masinissa, Numidiae rex, maior XC annis decessit, vir insignis. Inter cetera iuvenalia opera, quae ad ultimum edidit, adeo etiam nervis in senecta viguit, ut post sextum et octogesimum annum filium genuerit. Inter tres liberos eius (maximus natu Micipsa, Gulussa, Mastanabal, qui etiam Graecis litteris eruditus erat) P. Scipio Aemilianus, cum commune his regnum pater reliquisset et dividere eos arbitro Scipione iussisset, partes administrandi regni divisit.

Item Phameae Hamilconi, praefecto equitum Carthaginiensium, viro forti et cuius praecipua opera Poeni utebantur, persuasit ut ad Romanos cum equitatu suo transiret.

Ex tribus legatis qui ad Masinissam missi erant, M. Claudius Marcellus cohorta tempestate fluctibus obrutus est.

Carthaginienses Hasdrubalem, Masinissae nepotem, quem praetorem habebant, hominem proditionis suspectum, in curia occiderunt; quae suspicio inde manavit, quod propinquus esset Gulussae Romanorum auxilia iuvantis.

P. Scipio Aemilianus cum aedilitatem peteret, consul a populo dictus. Quoniam per annos consuli fieri non licebat, cum magno certamine suffragantis plebis et repugnantibus ei aliquamdiu patribus, legibus solutus et consul creatus.

M'. Manilius aliquot urbes circumpositas Carthagini expugnavit.

Pseudophilippus in Macedonia, caeso cum exercitu P. Iuventio praetore, ab Q. Caecilio victus captusque est, et revicta Macedonia.

Thessaly, which the false Philip wanted to invade and occupy with his armies, was defended by Roman envoys and Achaean allies.

King Prusias [II the Hunter] of Bithynia, a man full of the lowest moral defects, was killed by his son Nicomedes [Epiphanes], who received help from king Attalus [II] of Pergamon, but had a second son (who is said to have had one single bone growing in place of his upper teeth). When the Romans sent three envoys to negotiate peace between Nicomedes and Prusias, of which the first had many scars on his head, the second was gouty, and the third was considered to have a slow mind, Marcus [Porcius] Cato said that this was embassy without head, feet, and brains.

In Syria, which had until then had a king [Alexander I Balas] who was equal to that of Macedonia in ancestry but to Prusias in laziness and slowness, and who took his ease in kitchens and brothels, Hammonius ruled, and he murdered all friends of the king, and queen Laodice, and Demetrius' son Antigonus.

[148] More than ninety years old, king Massinissa of Numidia died, a remarkable man. He was so vigorous that among the other youthful exploits that he performed during his final years, he was still sexually active and begot a son when he was eighty-six. He left his undivided kingdom to his three sons (Micipsa the eldest, Gulussa, and Mastanabal, who was well-versed in Greek literature), and ordered them to divide it according to the instructions of Publius [Cornelius] Scipio Aemilianus, who accordingly assigned the part of the kingdom they were to rule.

The same man persuaded Phameas Himilco, the commander of the Carthaginian cavalry and a man of valor who was important to the Carthaginians, to join the Romans with his squadron.

From the three envoys that were sent to Massinissa, Marcus Claudius Marcellus drowned during a tempest at sea.

In their Senate room, the Carthaginians killed Hasdrubal, a grandson of Massinissa who served them as general, because they believed he was a traitor. Their suspicion was based on his relation to the Romans' ally Gulussa.

When Publius [Cornelius] Scipio Aemilianus ran for aedile, he was elected consul by the people. Because he could not lawfully be made consul as he was under age, there was a big struggle between the people, who campaigned for him, and the senators, who resisted him for some time, but eventually the law was repealed and he was made consul.

Manius Manilius stormed several cities in the neighborhood of Carthage.

[147] After the false Philip had massacred praetor Publius Juventius with his army in Macedonia, he was defeated and captured by Quintus Caecilius, and Macedonia was subdued again.