| Ex libro LI
Carthago, in
circuitum
XXIII milia patens, magno labore obsessa et per partes capta est;
primum
a Mancino legato, deinde a Scipione cos., cui extra sortem Africa
provincia
data erat. Carthaginienses
portu novo, quia vetus obstructus a Scipione erat, facto et contracta
clam
exiguo tempore ampla classe infeliciter navali proelio
pugnaverunt. Hasdrubalis
quoque, ducis eorum, castra ad Nepherim oppidum loco difficili sita cum
exercitu deleta sunt a Scipione, qui tandem expugnavit septingentesimo
anno quam erat condita.
Spoliorum
maior
pars Siculis, quibus ablata erant, reddita.
Ultimo urbis
excidio
cum se Hasdrubal Scipioni dedisset, uxor eius, quae paucis ante diebus
de marito impetrare non potuerat ut ad victorem transfugerent, in
medium
se flagrantis urbis incendium cum duobus liberis ex arce praecipitavit.
Scipio
exemplo
patris sui, Aemili Pauli, qui Macedoniam vicerat, ludos fecit
transfugasque
ac fugitivos bestiis obiecit.
Belli Achaici
semina
referuntur haec, quod legati Romani ab Achaeis pulsati sint Corinthi,
missi
ut eas civitates, quae sub dicione Philippi fuerant, ab Achaico
concilio
secernerent.
|
From book 51
Carthage,
which had a circumference of 34 kilometers, was besieged with much
labor,
and captured part by part; first by deputy Mancinus, then by consul
Scipio [Aemilianus], to whom the African command had been assigned
without
casting lots. Because
the old harbor had been blocked by Scipio, the Carthaginians dug a new
one, and quickly and secretly built a large fleet, with which they
fought
an unsuccessful naval battle. The
castle of Hasdrubal,
their leader, on difficult terrain near the town of Nepheris was also
destroyed
by Scipio, who [146 BCE]
finally captured
the city in the seven-hundredth year since it was founded.
A major part
of
the spoils were given back to the Sicilians,
from whom they had been seized.
When
Hasdrubal
surrendered to Scipio during the final stage of the siege, his wife,
who
had -only a few days before- been unable to convince her husband to
escape
to the victor, threw herself from the citadel into the flames of the
burning
city with her two children.
Scipio,
following
the example of his father, the Aemilius Paullus who had conquered Macedonia,
organized games and cast deserters and runaways for the wild animals.
The origins
of
the Achaean War are described as follows: at Corinth, Roman envoys were
attacked by Achaeans. These envoys had been sent to separate those
towns
that had been under control of Philip
[V of Macedonia] from the Achaean league.
|
| Ex libro LII
Cum Achaeis,
qui
in auxilio Boeotos et Chalcidenses habebant, Q. Caecilius Metellus ad
Thermopylas
bello conflixit. Quibus
victis dux eorum Critolaus mortem sibi veneno conscivit. In
cuius locum Diaeus, Achaici motus primus auctor, ab Achaeis dux creatus
ad Isthmon a L. Mummio cos. victus est. Qui
omni Achaia in deditionem accepta Corinthon ex S.C. diruit, quia ibi
legati
Romani violati erant. Thebae
quoque et Chalchis, quae auxilio fuerant, dirutae. Ipse
L. Mummius abstinentissimum virum egit, nec quicquam ex his operibus
ornamentisque
quae praedives Corinthos habuit in domum eius pervenit.
Q. Caecilius
Metellus
de Andrisco triumphavit, P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus de Carthagine
et
Hasdrubale.
Viriathus in
Hispania
(primum ex pastore venator, ex venatore latro, mox iusti quoque
exercitus
dux factus) totam Lusitaniam occupavit, M. Vetilium praetorem fuso eius
exercitu cepit, post quem C. Plautius praetor nihilo felicius rem
gessit;
tantumque terroris is hostis intulit ut adversus eum consulari opus
esset
et duce et exercitu.
Praeterea
motus
Syriae et bella inter reges gesta referuntur. Alexander,
homo ignotus et incertae stirpis, occiso, sicut ante dictum est,
Demetrio
rege in Syria regnabat. Hunc Demetrius,
Demetri filius, qui a patre quondam ob incertos belli casus ablegatus
Cnidon
fuerat, contempta socordia inertiaque eius, adiuvante Ptolemaeo,
Aegypti
rege, cuius filiam Cleopatram in matrimonium acceperat, bello
interemit. Ptolemaeus
graviter in caput vulneratus inter curationem, dum ossa medici
terebrare
conantur, expiravit, atque in locum eius frater minor Ptolemaeus (qui
Cyrenis
regnabat) successit. Demetrius
ob crudelitatem quam in suos per tormenta exercebat, ab Diodoto quodam,
uno ex subiectis, qui Alexandri filio bimulo admodum regnum adserebat,
bello superatus Seleuceam confugit.
L. Mummius de Achaeis triumphavit,
signa aerea marmoreaque et tabulas pictas in triumpho tulit.
|
From book 52
At
Thermopylae,
Quintus Caecilius Metellus fought a battle against the Achaeans, who
received
support from the Boeotians and Chalcidians. After
their defeat, their commander Critolaus poisoned himself. In
his place Diaeus, the instigator of the Achaean revolt, was elected as
leader by the Achaeans, and he was defeated at the Isthmus by consul
Lucius
Mummius. Having
received the surrender of all Achaea and being ordered to do so by the
Senate,
he sacked Corinth, where the Roman envoys had been maltreated. Thebes
and Chalcis, which had supported the Achaeans, were also
destroyed. This
Lucius Mummius was a selfless man: none of the works of art and
decorations
that had been in "rich Corinth", entered his house.
Quintus
Caecilius
Metellus celebrated a triumph over Andriscus, and Publius Cornelius
Scipio
Aemilianus over Carthage and Hasdrubal.
In Hispania,
Viriathus
(who first changed from a shepherd into a hunter, then into a bandit,
and
soon into the leader of an army) occupied all of Lusitania, routed the
army of praetor
Marcus Vetilius and captured him, after which praetor Gaius Plautius
fought
without any luck. This enemy inspired so much fear that a consul and
his
army were needed.
There is also
an
account of the situation in Syria
and the war waged between its kings. As
already indicated,
Alexander
[I Balas], an unknown man of uncertain descent, ruled Syria after king
Demetrius
[Soter] had been killed. [145]
Demetrius
[II Nicator], son of Demetrius, who had been sent to Cnidus by his
father
because of the uncertainties of war, despised Alexander's slowness and
indolence, and killed him in a battle in which he received the support
of king Ptolemy
[VI Philometor] of Egypt, whose daughter Cleopatra
[Thea] he had married. Ptolemy
received a severe head wound and died when physicians tried to trepan
the
skull in order to heal the wound; he was succeeded by his younger
brother
Ptolemy
[VIII Euergetes] (who had reigned in Cyrene). Because
of the cruelty with which Demetrius tortured his own people, he was
defeated
in war and forced to flee to Seleucia
by one Diodotus,
one of his subjects and a man who supported the claim to the throne of
Alexander's two year old son.
Lucius Mummius celebrated a triumph
over the Achaeans, and carried in the procession statues of bronze and
marble and paintings.
|
| Ex libro LIII
Appius
Claudius
cos. Salassos, gentem Alpinam, domuit.
Alter
Pseudophilippus
in Macedonia a L. Tremellio quaestore cum exercitu caesus est.
Q. Caecilius
Metellus
procos. Celtiberos cecidit et a Q. Fabio procos. magna pars Lusitaniae
expugnatis aliquot urbibus recepta est.
Acilius
senator
Graece res Romanas scribit.
|
From book 53
[143]
Consul
Appius Claudius subdued the Salassians, a nation from the Alps.
In Macedonia,
another
false Philip was killed, together with his army, by quaestor
Lucius Temellius.
Proconsul
Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated the Celtiberians and proconsul
Quintius
Fabius recovered a large part of Lusitania after he had stormed several
towns.
Senator
Acilius
wrote a Roman History, in Greek.
|
| Ex libro LIV
Q. Pompeius
cos.
in Hispania Termestinos subegit. Cum
isdem et Numantinis pacem a populo R. infirmatam fecit.
Lustrum a
censoribus
conditum est. Censa
sunt civium capita CCCXXVIII milia CCCCXLII.
Cum Macedonum
legati
questum de D. Iunio Silano praetore venissent, quod acceptis pecuniis
provinciam
spoliasset, et senatus de querellis eorum vellet cognoscere, T. Manlius
Torquatus (pater Silani) petiit impetravitque ut sibi cognitio
mandaretur;
et domi causa cognita filium condemnavit abdicavitque. Ac
ne funeri quidem eius, cum suspendio vitam finisset, interfuit
sedensque
domi potestatem consultantibus ex instituto fecit.
Q. Fabius
procos.
rebus in Hispania prospere gestis labem imposuit pace cum Viriatho
aequis
condicionibus facta.
Viriathus a
proditoribus,
consilio Servili Caepionis, interfectus est et ab exercitu suo multum
comploratus
ac nobiliter sepultus, vir duxque magnus et per XIIII annos quibus cum
Romanis bellum gessit, frequentius superior.
|
From book 54
[141]
In
Hispania, consul Quintus Pompeius defeated the Termestinians. With
them and the Numantines he concluded a peace treaty that was not
ratified
by the Roman people.
[139]
The
censors
performed the lustrum
ceremony. 328,442
citizens were registered.
When
Macedonian
envoys arrived to complain about praetor Decimus Junius Silanus, who
had
accepted bribes and had looted the province,
the Senate wanted to investigate the complaints, but Titus Manlius
Torquatus
(the [adoptive] father of Silanus) successfully asked that he would
hear
the case; at home, he condemned and sent away his son. And
he did not attend the funeral of his son who hanged himself, but sat at
home, offering legal advice to those wanted it, as was his custom.
In Hispania,
proconsul
Quintus Fabius met with success but spoilt it because he concluded a
peace
treaty with Viriathus on equal terms.
Viriathus was
killed
by traitors, instigated by Servilius Caepio, and he was deeply mourned
by his soldiers, who gave him a splendid funeral. For fourteen years,
this
great man and commander had waged war against the Romans, often
successfully.
|
| Ex libro LV
P. Cornelio
Nasica
(cui cognomen Serapion fuit ab inridente Curiatio
trib. pleb. impositum)
et Dec. Iunio Bruto coss. dilectum habentibus in conspectu tironum res
saluberrimi exempli facta est. Nam
C. Matienius accusatus est apud tribunos pl., quod exercitum ex
Hispania
deservisset, damnatusque sub furca diu virgis caesus est et sestertio
nummo
veniit.
Tribuni pleb.
quia
non inpetrarent ut sibi denos quos vellent milites eximere liceret,
consules
in carcerem duci iusserunt.
Iunius Brutus
cos.
in Hispania iis qui sub Viriatho militaverant agros et oppidum dedit,
quod
vocatum est Valentia.
M. Popilius a
Numantinis,
cum quibus pacem factam inritam fieri senatus censuerat, cum exercitu
fusus
fugatusque est.
C. Hostilio
Mancino
cos. sacrificante pulli ex cavea evolaverunt; conscendenti deinde
navem,
ut in Hispaniam proficisceretur, accidit vox: "Mane, Mancine". Quae
auspicia tristia fuisse, eventu probatum est. Victus
enim a Numantinis et castris exutus, cum spes nulla servandi exercitus
esset, pacem cum his fecit ignominiosam, quam ratam esse senatus
vetuit. XXXX
milia Romanorum ab IIII milibus Numantinorum victa erant.
Decimus Iunius Lusitaniam expugnationibus
urbium usque ad Oceanum perdomuit, et cum flumen Oblivionem transire
nollent,
raptum signifero signum ipse transtulit et sic ut transgrederentur
persuasit.
Alexandri filius, rex Syriae, X
annos admodum habens, a Diodoto, qui
Tryphon cognominabatur, tutore
suo, per fraudem occisus est corruptis medicis qui illum calculi dolore
consumi ad populum mentiti, dum secant, occiderunt.
|
From book 55
[138]
When
the consuls Publius Cornelius Nasica (whose surname Serapio
was
invented by the irreverent tribune
of the plebs
Curiatius) and Decimus Junius Brutus were holding the levy, something
happened
in front of the recruits that served as an example: Gaius
Matienus was accused before the tribunes because he had deserted the
Spanish
army, and was, after he had been condemned, sent under the yoke,
chastised
with rods, and sold for one sesterce.
Because it
was
not permitted to the tribunes to select ten men that would be free from
military service, they ordered that the consuls were imprisoned.
In Hispania,
consul
Junius Brutus gave land and a town, called Valentia, to those who had
fought
under Virtiathus.
After the
Senate
had refused to sign a peace treaty, Marcus Popilius and his army were
defeated
and routed by the Numantines.
[137]
When
consul Gaius Hostilius Manicius wanted to sacrifice, the chickens flew
out of the coop, and when he boarded his ship to sail to Hispania, a
voice
was heard that said "Stay, Manicius!" This
was a bad omen, as was shown by the events, for
he was not only defeated but also expelled from his camp, and when he
despaired
of saving his army, he concluded an ignominious peace treaty, which the
Senate refused to ratify. Forty
thousand Romans had been defeated by four thousand Numantines.
By storming all its cities until
he had reached the Ocean, Decimus Junius subdued Lusitania completely,
and when his soldiers refused to cross the river Oblivion, he took the
standard from its bearer, carried it across the water, and persuaded
them
to follow him.
[Antiochus]
the son of Alexander, the king of Syria, who was a mere ten years old,
was killed by the treachery of his tutor Diodotus, surnamed "the
magnificent".
He had bribed the physicians, who said that the boy suffered severely
from
a stone, and killed him on the operation table.
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