 Part 7 of the works of solist. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Anne Boullet. Works of Gaius Celestius Crispus, translated by Alfred W. Pollard. Cataline Conspiracy, Part 5. While the Senate was engaged with this business and in decreeing rewards to the ambassadors of the Alibroges, and to Titus Vultursius, as informers whose witness had been verified, the freedmen and a few of the dependents of Lentilus went different ways about the city, trying to rouse the artisans and slaves in the streets to rescue him, while others sought out the popular mob captains who had been want to sell their services in disturbing the state. Methodist, moreover, employed messengers to entreat the slaves and freedmen of his household, men picked and trained in the school of audacity, to come in an armed body and break into the house where he lay. The consul, on learning of these designs, posted guards wherever occasion demanded, and having summoned the Senate put the question how they would deal with the men in custody. It should be mentioned that, shortly before this, the Senate in a crowded house had pronounced their conduct reasonable. On the present occasion, Decimus Junius Solanus, who, as consul-elect, was the first called upon to give his opinion as to what was to be done with the actual prisoners, and besides them with Lucius Cassius, Publius Furius, Publius Umbranus, and Quintus Anius, in the event of their capture, at first gave his vote for their punishment. Afterwards, however, he was so influenced by the speech of Gaius Caesar that he declared that on a division he would side with Tiberius Nero, who had proposed that the question should be adjourned till the guards around the Senate House had been increased. The speech of Caesar, when it came to him to be asked his opinion by the consul, was to the following effect. All men, Senators, who deliberate on doubtful matters should be equally free from hate and friendship, from anger and compassion. When these obstruct the view, the mind does not easily discern the truth, nor has anyone ever harmonized the dictates of passion and interest. When the intellect is alert, it is strong, but if passion gains a footing, it becomes a tyrant, and the reason is reduced to impotence. I have no lack of examples of kings and peoples who, under the sway of anger or compassion, have erred in their counsels. I prefer, however, to remind you of some occasions on which our own ancestors preserved a due and orderly course of action, though it conflicted with their passions. In the Macedonian War, which we carried on with King Perseus, the great and splendid state of Rhodes, which had prospered by the help of the Roman people, proved disloyal and hostile to us. When the war was finished and the conduct of the Rhodians came to be considered, our ancestors, to avoid giving any pretext for insertion that they went to war not to avenge an injury, but for the sake of wealth, allowed them to go unpunished. Similarly, in all our Punic Wars, though the Carthaginians often committed many outrages in times both of peace and of truth, our ancestors availed themselves of no opportunity to do the like, but took in consideration rather what was worthy of themselves than what might fairly be inflicted on their enemy. A like occasion has now arisen, and you, Senators, must be on your guard, lest the crime of Publius lentilus and his fellows weigh heavier with you than your own dignity, and lead you to a resolution that will better satisfy your wrath than your repute. If indeed the object of our search is some penalty adequate to the offense, then I approve of our abandoning all precedent in our measures. But if the enormity of the crime taxes our ingenuity too heavily for this, I am of opinion that we should confine ourselves to such punishments as our bylaw provided. Most of those who have spoken before me have, in studied and noble language, bewailed the misfortune of the Republic, have dilated on the horrors of war and the fate of the vanquished, and have reminded you of how maidens are ravished, children torn from their parents' arms, matrons placed at the mercy of the conqueror's passions, temples and houses plundered, fire and slaughter carried everywhere, and whole towns filled with arms and corpses, blood and mourning. But at what, I ask, was all this eloquence aimed to stir you to detestation of the conspiracy, as if the man whom the horrible reality has not moved could be roused by any eloquence? That is not human nature, nor are men ever want to underestimate their own injuries, rather, in many cases they have been known to take too serious a view of them. Extravagance of behavior. Senators, take a different hue in different stations. Men of low rank pass their life in obscurity, and their faults of passion are known to few, for their notoriety never rises above their fortunes. Those, on the other hand, who are the heirs of a great sovereignty, and live in a high position, have their doings known to all the world. The higher their fortunes, the greater the restrictions upon them. They must know nothing of favor or disfavor, and least of all, of anger. For what in others is called anger, in rulers receives the name of pride and cruelty. And though, for my own part, I think any and every punishment inadequate to the crimes of the prisoners, yet most people only remember the end of an incident, and, in the case of the wicked, often forget their misdeeds in talking of their punishment, if that has been somewhat unusually severe. I feel sure that the proposal of that brave and active citizen, Decimus Solanus, was made in all zeal for the state, and that in a matter of such importance, he would allow himself to be influenced neither by hatred nor partiality. My knowledge of his character and self-restraint convinces me of this. But his motion strikes me. I will not say as cruel for what proposal could be cruel when aimed at men like these, but as foreign to the spirit of our state. It must certainly have been either panic or a strong sense of wrong that moved you, Solanus, a consul-elect, to propose an unprecedented form of punishment. To speak of terror was needless, especially when, by the activity of our illustrious consul, we have such numerous guards under arms. As to the actual punishment you propose, I might observe what is indeed the case, that to men in grief and misery death comes as a relief, not as a pain, that it annulls all the ills that flesh is heir to, and that beyond it neither trouble nor joy find place. But what I wish to ask you is, why did you not add to your motion that the condemn should first be punished with the scourge? Was it because it is forbidden by the Porschean law? If so, there are other laws which forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of life and offered the alternative of exile. Did you omit it then because scourging is a heavier punishment than death? Yet what sentence can be harsh or too severe for men convicted of so atrocious a crime? Again, if you thought scourging the lighter punishment, how can it be proper to fear the law in a smaller matter after neglecting it in the greater? It may be asked, who will take exception to any decree against traitors? I answer, time, the events of a day, and fortune whose caprice rules the world. Whatever the prisoner's fate, it will have been well deserved, but you senators must consider the precedent which you are establishing. Every bad precedent has arisen out of a measure in itself good, but when power has fallen to unskillful or less worthy hands, the precedent is no longer applied to fit and deserving subjects, but to unfit and undeserving. The Lachodemonians, when they had crushed the Athenians, imposed on them an oligarchy of 30 members. This government began by executing, without trial, those whose guilt or unpopularity was greatest. The people rejoiced and justified their action. As the spirit of license gradually increased, they killed good and bad alike in mere wantonness, while they filled the rest of the citizens with terror. Thus the state paid for its foolish rejoicing the heavy price of slavery. In our own times, the victorious Sula, amid universal approval, ordered the execution of Demacipus and his fellows, who had fattened on the public disasters. The men were stained with crime and treason, their seditious spirit had embroiled the state, and it was agreed that their death was richly deserved. Nevertheless, that action was the inauguration of a great massacre. Did a man covet a house or a villa? Nay, even a piece of pottery or a rain-ment. He used all his exertions to include its owner in the list of the proscribed. Those who had rejoiced at the death of Demacipus were soon themselves dragged to execution, and the massacre only ceased when Sula had glutted all his followers with wealth. I do not fear any such conduct on the part of Marcus Tullius, nor at the present crisis. But a large state contains many and diverse characters. At a future time and under another consul, entrusted in his turn with an army, some false charge may be believed true, and when the consul has followed this precedent and at the decree of the Senate, drawn his sword, who will there be to check or restrain him? Senators, our ancestors never showed themselves wanting in either wisdom or courage, nor did they allow their pride to prevent them imitating the customs of foreign nations so long as they were good. Most of their armor and weapons of warfare they adopted from the Amnites and the emblems of their magistracies from the Etruscans. Even fine, they zealously copied in their own administration all that seemed serviceable among their allies or enemies. They referred, I may say, to imitate rather than to envy the good. Now, it was at this period of imitation that they adopted the Greek custom of scourging citizens and inflicting capital punishment on convicted criminals. With the growth, however, of the state and the greater violence of party strife, which resulted from the increase of population, it was found that innocent persons were made victims and that other-like abuses were becoming common. To meet this danger, the Porcian and other laws were provided by which convicted persons were allowed to retire into exile. This, Senators, I think a most weighty reason against our adopting any resolution for which there is no precedent. I cannot but think that the men who, with the small resources at their command, won so great an empire, were endowed with greater courage and wisdom than we are, who find a difficulty even in keeping what they so nobly won. Am I then in favor of dismissing our prisoners to swell the army of Catiline? Far from it. My proposal is that their goods be confiscated and that their persons be imprisoned in such borough towns as are best able to support the charge and that no one hereafter make any motion with reference to them in the Senate or bring their case before the people on pain of the Senate's adjudging his action treasonable and prejudicial to the state. On the close of Caesar's speech, all the Senators merely gave their votes for the different motions, some for the one, some for the other. Until it came to Marcus Porcius Cato, he, when asked his opinion, delivered himself as follows. When I turn Senators from surveying the dangers of our position and reflect on the opinions of certain previous speakers, the impression I receive is very different. These speakers appear to have discussed the punishment of the men who have raised war against their country and parents, their altars and hearts. Our position warns us rather to guard against their attack than to consider their sentence. Other crimes you may be content to avenge when they have actually been committed. Against this, if you fail to prevent it, you will in vain invoke the law. For when a city is once stormed, the conquered have no further resources. I profess, though, I should remember that in you I am appealing to men who ever valued their homes and villas, their statues and paintings more highly than they did the state. If you would keep these cherished possessions of whatever kind, if you would have leisure to indulge in your pleasures, now at last a way can take an active part in the work of government. This is no question of tribute or of the wrongs done to our allies. It is our liberty and our lives that are at stake. Many a time, Senators, I have spoken at length in this house. Often I have complained of the self-indulgence and avarice of our citizens. By so doing, I have made many enemies. But as I never had to excuse any such sin to my own conscience, I could scarcely be so tender to another vices as to pardon his ill deeds. You made slight account of this advice, but the stability of the state was not shaken. Its resources could bear the strain of your neglect. The question, however, now at stake is not whether our lives shall be moral or immoral, nor as to the size or splendor of the empire of the Roman people. It is whether this empire, just as it is, shall remain our own or fall with ourselves a prey to our enemies. Here, someone reminds me of clemency and compassion. Why, long ere this, we have ceased to call things by their right names. To be lavished of the goods of others is now called generosity and to be daring in the compassion of crime courage. This fashion has brought the state to the brink of ruin. But even granting, since morality is come to this, that men may be generous with the fortunes of our allies and compassionate in dealing with plunderers of the exchequer. At least let them hesitate to squander our blood and, in sparing a few villains, work the ruin of all honest men. Gaius Caesar has just addressed to you an eloquent and polished disquission on life and death. He disbelieves, I suppose, those traditions about the dead, which assign to the bad a path different from that of the good, and lead them to noisome and savage abodes full of horrors and terrors. Holding this opinion, he has moved that the property of the prisoners be confiscated, and they themselves kept in confinement in the borough towns. He evidently fears that, should they remain at Rome, they may be rescued either by their accomplices or by a hired mob. As if bad and abandoned men were to be found only in the capital and not throughout Italy, or boldness were not more powerful where the means of repelling it are. His proposal is thus plainly idle. If he really apprehends danger from the prisoners, while if, amid such general alarm, he alone is fearless, there is the more reason why we others should be cautious. Make your decision, then, on Publius Lentulus and his associates. Be assured that you are at the same time deciding the fate of the army of Catiline and of all the conspirators. The more vigorous your measures, the more will their courage be shaken. If they see you hesitating but for a moment, you will have the whole pack aligning against you. Think it that it was by arms that our ancestors raised the state from insignificance to grandeur. If that when, it would now be at its noblest beneath our sway, for our force of allies and citizens, not to mention that of arms and horses, is far greater than was theirs. The sources, however, of their greatness were very different from these, and we have none of them. Such were their energy at home, the justice of their rule abroad, and the unbiased mind, the slave neither of sin nor of lust, which they brought to their councils. For these we have substituted self-indulgence and avarice, a bankrupt state and private millionaires, our praises of riches, idleness our pursuit, good and bad can no longer be distinguished, intrigue wins all the prizes which merit deserves, and who can wonder at it. Each of you frames his policy to serve his individual ends. In your homes you worship pleasure, in the senate money or influence, and so, when an attack comes, the state is found with none to defend her. However, I will say no more of this. Citizens of the highest rank have conspired to destroy their country. To aid them in the war they summon the Gauls, a people most hostile to the name of Rome. The leader of our enemies with his army is at our doors. Can you still be hesitating how to treat enemies caught within your walls? You are to pity them, I suppose. The young men have been led into a mistake, and you are to dismiss them, armed though they be. Look to it that this clemency and mercy do not turn to your own misery, if once they take up arms. The state of affairs is indeed unpromising, but perhaps you do not fear it? Say rather that you are in the greatest terror, but that in your sloth and irresolution, you hesitate and wait one for another. Full, of course, of a pious trust in the eternal gods who have so often upheld the state amid the greatest dangers. I tell you that the help of heaven is not won by vows and womanish prayers, but that by vigilance, by action, by wise councils. A happy issue is attained. Abandon yourself to sloth and cowardice, and you may invoke the gods, but it will be in vain. They are angered and adverse. In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during the Gaelic War, ordered his son to be executed for having fought the enemy against orders. What noble youth atoned by his death for his untempered valor, and are you hesitating as to your sentence on these ruthless traitors? Of course the rest of their lives stand in contrast to this one crime. Respect, then, the rank of lentilus. If ever he respected his modesty, his honor, or any god or man. Pardon the youth of Sethegus. If this be not the second time he has made war on his country. What am I to say of Gabinius, Titus Manlius, a superius? If it had not been for their utter heedlessness, they could never, I suppose, have entertained such designs upon the state. To conclude, Senators, I profess that, if we could safely make a mistake, I would readily suffer you to be convinced of your error by the course of events, since you despise my words. We are, however, actually beset on every side. Catiline, with his army, is at our throats. We have other enemies within the walls and in the very heart of the city. We can make no preparation and come to no determination without its being known. All these are so many reasons for greater dispatch. I therefore move that, in as much as the criminal designs of traitorous citizens have placed the state in the greatest danger, and in as much as the prisoners by the information of Titus Vultursius and the ambassadors of the alabrogis, stand convicted of having planned a massacre, a conflagration, and other disgraceful and cruel atrocities against their fellow citizens and their country, that, therefore, punishment be inflicted according to ancient custom on those who have confessed their guilt as though they had been convicted of capital offenses. End of Catiline Conspiracy, Part 5 Part 8 of works of solace. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Anne Boulet. Works of Gaius Celestius Crispus Translated by Alfred W. Pollard Catiline Conspiracy, Part 6 On Cato resuming his seat, all the men of Consular Rank, together with many other members of the Senate, commended his proposal and praised his courage to the skies. Reproaching each other for what they now call their timidity, they akinned Cato a great and brilliant statesman, and a decree of the Senate was passed in the words of his resolution. I have read and heard much of the noble deeds of the Roman people in peace and in war, on land and on sea, and chances disposed me to consider what circumstance it was that had done most to support it in its gigantic task. I was aware that on many occasions it had confronted large bodies of the enemy with but a handful of troops. I knew of the wars which Rome, with her scanty resources, had waged against wealthy kings. I knew, too, that she had often had to bear the root attack of fortune, and that in eloquence the Greek, in warlike renown the Gaul, had outstripped her children. After much reflection, however, I arrived at the conclusion that it was the preeminent merit of a few of our citizens that had accomplished all, that this was the power that had enabled poverty to subdue wealth, a handful to rout a host. When, however, the state was corrupted by luxury and indolence, the Republic, in its turn, by its very greatness, lent strength to its blundering generals and magistrates, while, as if the vigor of their fathers had perished, at many periods there was not a single man in Rome of conspicuous merit. In my own time, however, there have been two men of surpassing merit, though different character, Marcus Kato and Gaius Caesar. As my subject has brought them into notice, it is not my design to pass them over without disclosing their respective natures and characters, so far as my ability will allow me. In birth, age, and eloquence, Caesar and Kato were nearly equal, and they were well matched in the loftiness of their aims, and in the renown which, each in his own way, they attained. Caesar was esteemed for his kind offices and munificence, Kato for the strict uprightness of his life. The former was distinguished by his clemency and compassion, sternness added dignity to the latter. Caesar won renown by his readiness to give, to help, and to pardon, Kato by never offering a bribe. The one was the refuge of the wretched, the other the destruction of the bad. The former was praised for his affability, the latter for his consistency. In fine, Caesar had formed the resolve to work, to be ever on the watch, to promote his friend's interest even to the detriment of his own, and to refuse nothing which was worth the giving. He aimed at a high command, an army, a war in some new field where his talents might be displayed. Kato, on the other hand, made temperance, dignity, and above all austerity of behavior his pursuit. He did not vie in wealth with the wealthy, nor in intrigue with the intriguer, but encouraged with the man of action, in honor with the scrupulous, in self-restraint with the upright. He preferred to be good rather than to seem so, and thus, the less he pursued renown, the more it attended him. When, as I related, the Senate had passed Kato's resolution, the consul, thinking it better to forestall the coming night, lest the interval should be used for any revolutionary movement, ordered the officers to make the necessary preparations for the execution. After posting guards at various points, he personally conducted Lentilus to the prison, while the preachers did the same to the rest. In the prison there is a place, called the Tullianum, which, after a slight ascent to the left, you find sunk about twelve feet in the ground. It is guarded on every side by walls, and above it is an arched roof of stone. Desolate, darkness, and stench give it a loathsome and dreadful appearance. To this place, Lentilus was conducted, and there strangled by the appointed executioners. A patrician of the illustrious house of the Cornelii, and a man who had held the office of consul at Rome, he met an end worthy of his character and his crimes. On Cethigus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Saperius, the same punishment was inflicted. While this was happening at Rome, Catiline, from the whole force made up of his own contingent and of the original army of Manlius, organized two legions and filled up the cohorts in proportion to the number of his men. Afterwards, as volunteers or members of the conspiracy arrived in the camp, they were drafted in equal numbers into several divisions, and in a short time he had raised his legions to their proper strength, although at first he had not more than two thousand men. Not more than a quarter, however, of his whole force was equipped with weapons of war. The rest, as Chance had armed them, carried hunting spears or javelins and in some cases, pointed steaks. On the approach of Antonius with his army, Catiline moved to and fro among the mountains, frequently changed his quarters, turning now towards Rome, now towards Gaul, and offered the enemy no chance of fighting, for he hoped should his accomplices at Rome succeed in their plans, soon to be at the head of large forces. Meanwhile, he rejected the sleigh of bands, which at the outset rallied round him in large numbers. He trusted to the strength of the conspiracy and at the same time thought it prejudicial to his designs to appear to have made the cause of citizens one with that of runaway slaves. On the arrival at the camp of the news that at Rome the plot was discovered and that lentilus, sethagus, and the others whom I had named above had been executed, many who had been attracted by the hope of plunder or desire for revolution, now deserted. The rest, Catiline led by force marches over rugged mountains to the district of Pistoria, intending to retreat secretly by crossroads into Trans Alpine Gaul. Quintus Metellus Seller, however, was stationed in Pecinium with three legions, and surmised that Catiline, in his present difficulty, would be adopting the very course I have described. Learning the latter's route from deserters, he hastily advanced and pitched his camp at the very foot of the mountains which Catiline would have to descend on his hasty march towards Gaul. Antonius also was close upon him. His army was large, but it was aided by the more level character of its road and he could thus follow in pursuit. Catiline now saw himself hemmed in between the mountains and the forces of the enemy. In the capital he had been defeated, and he had no hope either of escape or refuge. He thought best, therefore, in so perilous a case, to try the fortune of war and determined to come to an instant engagement with Antonius. Accordingly, he called his troops to him and spoke as follows. Soldiers, I have long discovered that words cannot inspire courage and that no speech of a general can give a flagging army energy or the timid courage. Just as so much daring, natural, or acquired, as resides in each man's breast, does he display in war. The man insensible to the call of glory and danger, you will harangue in vain. His cowardice stops his ears. Nevertheless, I have called you together to give you words of advice, and at the same time to disclose the motive of my resolution. I make certain soldiers that you know of the disastrous consequences, to himself and to us, of the cowardice and indolence of lentilus, and how, while awaiting reinforcements from the capital, I have been prevented from marching towards Gaul. You know, too, as well as I do, our present position. Two hostile armies close our path, the one on the side of Rome, the other of Gaul. Wants of corn and other necessaries forbid us to remain longer in our present quarters. Desired, though, we may. In whatever direction we determine to march, we must cut our way with our swords. I exhort you, therefore, to keep a brave and ready heart, and when you enter battle, to remember that in your own right hands lies wealth, honor, and fame, as well as your freedom and the possession of your country. If we conquer, our safety will be secured. We shall have provisions in plenty, and the gates of burrows and colonies will be thrown open to us. If we give way in fear, we shall have all these against us. No place nor friend will protect the man who has failed to protect himself with his own arms. Moreover, soldiers, we and our enemies will be fighting under motives of very different force. For us, the contest is for country, for freedom and for life, while our enemies can have little interest in fighting to maintain the supremacy of a narrow class. Let these thoughts inspire you with hardyhood, advance to the fight mindful of your ancient valor. You might, though to your deep disgrace, have passed your lives in exile. Some of you might, after the confiscation of your goods, have lingered in Rome on the watch for a stranger's bounty. Such courses seem shameful and unbearable to men of spirit, and so you have chosen to follow the one you hear. If you would now quit it, you must use your daring, for it is at the discretion of the victor that war is changed for peace. To hope for safety and flight when your backs, unprotected by armor, our turn to the enemy, is indeed folly. In a battle, it is always the greatest cowards who run the greatest risks, while courage is as a wall of defense. When I look on you soldiers, and count up your achievements, I am possessed with a high hope of your age and your courage, and above all the inevitable nature of the encounter, which often makes even the timid brave, exhort me to this, and the narrowness of the position prevents our being surrounded by the host of the enemy. If, however, fortune shows herself jealous of your valor, see that you do not fall unevent, nor prefer by a surrender to be butchered like sheep rather than to fight like men, and leave your enemies a bloody victory that shall cost them dear. At the end of this speech, after a trifling delay, he ordered the signal to sound, and led his troops in orderly array down to the level ground. He then sent away the horses of all who own them, in order that the soldiers might be encouraged by the sense that their danger was shared by all alike. He himself, on foot, drew up his army with due regard to the nature of the ground and his own numbers. The plain lay between mountains on the left, and a rugged line of rocks on the right. Here he posted eight cohorts to form the front, while the other divisions, with their standards, were stationed in closer order as a reserve. From these cohorts, he withdrew all the picked and veteran centurions, with the bravest and best armed of the common soldiers, and added them to the front. He ordered Gaius Manlius to take the command on the right, and a certain man of face allay on the left. He himself, with his own freedman and some soldier's servants, took up his station by his eagle. One, it was said, which Gaius Maurius used in his army in the Cymbrian War. On the other side, Gaius Antonius was prevented by lameness from taking part in the battle, and entrusted his army to his lieutenant, Marcus Petraeus. By him, the veteran cohorts which he had levied to suppress the revolt were posted in front, and the rest of the army behind them as a reserve. Petraeus himself reviewed his army on horseback, accosting the soldiers by name, encouraging them, and entreating them to remember that they were fighting against half armed brigands for their country and children, their alters and homes. He was an experienced soldier, and during a career of more than 30 years in the army, in which he had filled the offices of Tribune, Prefect, Legate, and Praetor with great distinction, he had gained a knowledge of many of his men and their brave deeds, and by reference to these he now kindled their spirits. Despite himself on every point, Petraeus sounded the signal and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly, and the same movement was made by the enemy. On reaching a distance at which the light troops could engage, the two armies raised a great shout and charged each other, standard to standard, dropping their javelins they fought with swords, the veterans remembering their ancient valor pressed on to engage at close quarters. Their opponents fiercely withstood them, and the conflict raged with his fury. Meanwhile, Catiline, with his light troops, was busy in the front. He relieved the hard pressed, called up fresh men to fill the places of the wounded, had an eye for every need, often fought himself, and often struck down his man. In fine, he played the part at once of an active soldier and a skillful general. Petraeus, on seeing Catiline making such vigorous and unexpected exertions, led the cohort of his guards against the enemy's center. Their ranks were now in confusion and they could only offer a straggling resistance. He cut them down and proceeded to attack the survivors on either flank. Manlius and the Facilin fell fighting in the front rank, and Catiline saw that his troops were routed, and only himself and a few others left. He remembered his race and the rank he had once held and, rushing into the thickest of the foe, fought on till he was pierced with wounds. It was only after the battle was decided that to be fully seen with what daring and resolution Catiline's army had been inspired. Almost the exact position which each had taken up while living, he now in death covered with his body. A few of those in the center, who had been dislodged by the praetor's bodyguard, had fallen less closely together in the different places where they had made a stand, but all bore their wounds in front. Catiline, however, was found at a distance from his own men among the enemy's dead. He continued to breathe for a time, and retained on his countenance that savage courage which had marked him in life. I should not forget to mention, that out of all that host not a single free born man was made prisoner, either in the battle or the rout. So inspiring had all been alike of their own and their enemy's lives. Nor was the victory of the national army either happy or bloodless. Its bravest soldiers had perished in the fight, or came out of it badly wounded. Many, too, who had a curiosity, or for the sake of plunder, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, found some a friend, others those bound to them by the ties of hospitality or blood, while others recognized the features of an enemy. Thus, throughout the whole army, grief and gladness, sorrow and rejoicing, held divided sway. End of Catiline Conspiracy Part 9 of Works of Salist This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Works of Gaius Salustius Crispus translated by Alfred W. Polard Introduction to Eugirthine War Salist has himself informed us of the reasons which induced him to write the history of a period so painful in many respects to a patriotic Roman as that of the war with Eugirtha. It attracted him, he tells us, in the first place, as a great and severe contest waged with varying success. And in the second, as the occasion of resistance for being the first time made to the pride of the nobility, which resistance he regards as the prelude to all civil wars which afterwards exhausted Italy and the whole Roman world. The interest of his narration is therefore twofold, both military and political. And his success in bringing it home to his readers is by no means equal in the different parts of his work. In its military aspect, the war with Eugirtha is really of little importance. Some hundred and twenty or thirty years later, in the reign of Tiberius, another Numidian arose who gave the Romans almost as much trouble as Eugirtha. Tachferinus, like Eugirtha, had become acquainted with the Roman discipline. Like him, he was always with one trifling exception defeated in pitched battles. Like him, by surprises and petty skirmishes, he wore out the enemy whom he could not meet in excess in the field. Two Roman generals triumphed for bringing the war to a supposed conclusion, but each time, after an interval, Tachferinus renewed it with as much and as little success as before, and as in the case of Eugirtha, it was only brought to a final end by his death after the contest had been carried on for seven years. 80.17 to 24. Tacitus gives us a history of this war in some seven chapters. Annals 2.52 3.21.73.74 4.23 to 25. And it may fairly be said that the knowledge we receive from these is quite a satisfactory as that to which Salis Prolex narration affords us of the conflict with Eugirtha. The materials indeed for writing a good military history of any war in Africa did not exist, and we therefore cannot bring Salis for his failure. If he had had an accurate nap of Numidia to refer to as he wrote, and the accounts of eyewitnesses to supply him with details of the several campaigns, there was no reason to doubt that he would have produced an excellent and thoroughly intelligible history of the war. The vivid description which he gives of the battle of Muthul, where he had the account of one of the Roman officers, Publius Rudulus Rufus to guide him, is a sufficient proof of his ability to deal with good materials when he possessed them. As it is, in the absence of all information as to the geography of the country, and with a chronology which seldom extends beyond such references as after a few days, or in the course of the same campaign, it is impossible to extract from the account of Salis any clear idea of the details of the war. We have indeed certain sieges and battles assigned to the several campaigns, but the links connecting them are mostly wanting, and their place is inadequately supplied by repeated assertions at each new tactic of medalists or Marius, reduce Eugirtha to frenzy and despair, and then, after a while, had to be abandoned by the Roman general as ineffectual. Even in the case of the operations which he describes at length, it is often impossible to help feeling that the historian is drawing largely on his imagination, or which comes to the same thing is filling in some bare outline of fact which he found in his authorities from the commonplace book of Roman military description. If we turn now to the chapters in which he deals with the politics of the capital, we shall find much more reason to be grateful to Salis for his history of this period. It is true that his love of fine writing and his pompous affectation of a virtue which he did not possess seriously detract from the value of his work. The recurrence, too, of tags like Palcaiquis Omena, Hanasta Aque and Hanasta, Vendire Mas Aerat gives an annoying impression of pedantry and unreality to much that he says. Despite these drawbacks, however, Salis often speaks to the relation of parties in Rome with all the weight of a practical and clear-headed politician. And for one who lived in the thick of the very struggle which he narrates the beginning is singularly broad and comprehensive in his views. The period with which he deals is full of instruction. Gaius Gracchus had been murdered in B.C. 121, and from that time down to the end of the Eugirthine war, Senate and Democrats alike did nothing but demonstrate at once their power and their impotence. The Senate could recall Pompilius, uphold Appemius at least for a time and prevent any further divisions of the domain land by converting as much of it as still remained in private hands at first into perpetual lease holds and afterwards into full free holds. As was shown, however, by the prosecutions of B.C. 110 and again in B.C. 105 and by the election of Marius to the Councilship, it became utterly powerless as soon as the mob asserted its will. It could not even defend its successful general medallist from a most unjust attack and the whole credit of terminating the war, which was really due to medallists in Sula falling to the Democratic leader Marius. It is significant indeed that at this crisis of their fate the aristocracy of Rome could find no better commander than Marcus Emilius Scarce, a man who, except by some village triumphs in the Alps had never in his life distinguished himself, whose morality was no higher than that of his fellows and who, when the storm came, was quite ready to surrender his party as long as he could save himself. On the other hand, the Democrats were not much better. They could assert their power by persecuting the nobility on the occasion of any disaster to the state, but they were destitute of any worthy policy which they could unite to pursue. Their narrowness of view and anarchistic tendencies alienated from them the two allies by whose help they might have obtained a peaceful triumph over the Senate. The Italians, they had made their enemies by threatening to encroach on the domain lands held by the ally towns and by the disfavor with which they regarded any proposals for a liberal concession of the full Roman franchise. As for the equities or capitalist, the disturbances in the streets of Rome had suffice to estranged him from the party by whose help they had secured the control of the law courts. These two great powers were content to stand aside and allow the nobles and Democrats to decide their battles by themselves, and as a result, the nobles were unable to maintain their monopoly of all the chief offices and prizes of the state, while the mob controlled supreme in the streets of Rome. Such a condition of affairs could not continue forever, and the Eugorhthine war ushered in the military regime by which it was to be superseded. Not only was it this war that both Sula and Marius made their name, but the change was affected by which the future generals in the Civil War were provided with armies suitable to their purposes. Hitherto, levees had always been made from the respectable class of citizens, men who had some interest in the welfare of the state and who looked on war as an evil to be brought to an end as soon as possible. Marius, when starting for Numidia, recruited his army from the Manga Capitae Sensai, who had no stake in the country, but now adopted arms as their profession, and looked to their general for a reward. Armies composed of men like these murdered their commanders if they had become unpopular. If popular, they would follow them to death, but henceforth, obedience was neither tendered nor refused out of any consideration of duty towards the state. This was a kind of force of which a Caesar could make use. End of Introduction to the Eugirthine War Recording by James Christopher JxChristopher at yahoo.com Part 10 of the Works of Sullest This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Scott Michael DeBrucker during the summer of 2009 in beautiful northwestern Pennsylvania Works of Gaius Sallustius Crispus Translated by Alfred W. Pollard Eugirthine War Part 1 It's the unfounded complaint of mankind that they're naturally weak and short-lived and that it's chance, not merit, that rules their destiny. So far as this from the truth, nothing surpasses or excels our nature and that it's rather energy that's lacking to it than power or length of days. It's mine that's the guiding commander of life and mortal men. Where this advances the glory along the path of virtue, its powers, resources, and renown are ample without the help of fortune. For uprightness, activity, and other good qualities fortune can neither give nor take away. Where on the other hand it's become the slave of low passions and is succumb to sloth and bodily pleasures, a short submission to the fatal influence of lust suffices to fritter away strength, opportunities, and intellect, and idleness, and then the weakness of our nature receives the blame and the doers charge circumstances with the defect that lies in themselves. We're men but as anxious and honorable cause as they are zealous in the pursuit of matters of no concern or profit, and often even attended with danger and ill-effects, they would be as much the masters as the slaves of destiny and would attain a pitch of greatness as would make them as far as mortal men may be undying in their glory. Men are made up of body and soul, hence all their fortunes and passions follow in some cases the character of their body and others that of their mind. Beauty of person and greatness of wealth with bodily strength and all other blessings of this kind are soon spent but the noble achievements of genius are as eternal as the soul itself. Moreover in the case of blessings of body or of fortune as is the beginning so is the end. They no sooner arisen than they begin to fall and decay from the moment of their prime. The mind is pure and eternal itself ungoverned as the guide of man it moves and governs all things. Hence we may be the more astonished at the degradation of those who surrender themselves to bodily pleasures and spend their life in luxury and sloth while they allow the intellect, the best nature in man's nature to become inert from indolence and neglect and this too when the qualities of mind by which the highest renown may be one are so many and diverse. Of these pursuits however magistracies and military commands or in fact any share in the public administration seem to me at the present time far from desirable since the honors of office are refused to merit while those who attain them either by navery or force gain nothing nor yet in distinction. To govern country or parents by force even where such rule is possible and is used for the correction of crime is yet a grievous matter especially when every revolution is the short forerunner of massacres, banishments and other horrors of war. On the other hand to labor without result and seek no other reward for toil than unpopularity is the height of madness except perhaps for those who are mastered by a disgraceful and fatal impulse to sacrifice their own honor and freedom to the power of a clique. Among the tasks that occupy the intellect historical narration holds a prominent and useful place as its merits have been often extolled. I think it's best to leave them unmentioned and thus escape my imputation of arrogantly exalting myself by praise of my own pursuit and yet I have no doubt that there will be some who because I've determined to pass my life at a distance from public affairs will apply the name of indolence to my long at any rate the men to whom it seems the height of energy to court the mob and by favor by their public entertainments will do so. These I would ask to remember the character of the men who were unsuccessful as candidates at the times when I obtained my several offices and the class who subsequently gained admittance to the senate. If they do this they'll certainly consider that my change of determination was dictated by sound reason rather than by sloth and that more profit is likely to accrue to the state from my leisure than from the activity of others. I've often heard that Quintus Maximus, Publius Scipio and besides these other illustrious citizens of our state were want to remark that as they gazed upon the effigies of their ancestors their spirits were strongly stirred to the practice of virtue. It was not the wax or outward form, they said, that possessed this power, but the memory of gallant deeds that kindled a fire in the breasts of brave men that cannot be quenched until their own merit has rivaled their ancestors fame and honor now. As matters now are, is there a single man who doesn't pervert a vie with his ancestors and wealth and expenditure rather than improbity and energy? Even the men of no family, who formerly when they won a victory over the nobility won it by superior merit, now struggle into honors and commands by intrigue and violence rather than by honorable qualities and seem to think that the praetorship, consulship and other high offices possess an intrinsic renown and splendor only esteemed according to the merits of their occupants. I've wandered however too far afield in my sorrow and shame at my country's degradation, I now return to my task. I'm about to write a history of the war which the Roman people carried on with Jagertha, king of the Numidians, in the first place because it was a great and severe contest, waged with varying success and in the second because resistance was then for the first time made to the pride of the nobility and this struggle through all things, both and reached such a pitch of fury that amid the passions of her citizens, war and devastation made an end to Vitaly but before I set forth how these things began, I will touch on a few points of earlier history that my whole narrative may be clearer and more open to the view. In the second Punic war in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal inflicted the severest blow that the resources of Vitaly had received since the Roman power became supreme, Massinissa, king of the Numidians, was admitted to our friendship by Publius whose merits subsequently gained him the title Afrikanis. He achieved many brilliant military successes and after the conquest of the Carthaginians and the capture of suffix, whose rule was powerful in Africa and of wide extent was rewarded by the Roman people with a gift of all the cities and lands which they had conquered, thus favored Massinissa ever remained our loyal and honorable friend and at last his authority in his life came to a common conclusion. After Massinissa's death, his son Mckipsa, whose Goliusha had been removed by disease, succeeded to the throne. He had two sons of his own, Edherba and Hemsal, and also reared in the palace on equal terms with his own children, Jugurtha, his brother Mistanibal's natural son who, on account of his birth, had been left by Massinissa in a private position. Powerful in frame and of handsome appearance, but especially remarkable for his mental ability, Jugurtha on arriving at manhood didn't abandon himself to the seductions of luxury and sloth, but took part in the national suits of riding and marksmanship, vied with his fellows in the race, and while surpassing all in glory at the same time won every heart. He passed much of his time in hunting, and was the first or among the first to wound the lion and other prey. Yet, while thus prominent in action, he was the last to talk about himself. Jugurtha's behavior at first delighted Mckipsa, who thought that his merit would add luster to his own rule. When, however, he marked his nephew in the prime of life ever rising in importance, while his own existence now near its close, and his children were still young, he was greatly disquieted, and turned over in his mind many remedies. He was terrified as he thought of man's innate lust for power and rashness and indulging his heart's desire and reflected, besides how his own and his children's age offered the favorable chance which leads even unambitious men astray in the hope of gain. He saw, too, that the affection of the Numidians was kindled towards Jugurtha, and he was distracted by the fear that to make away of such distinction might occasion riots or even war. But set by these difficulties, he saw that a man who had so won the favor of his countrymen could not be crushed either by violence or craft, and since Jugurtha was ready of hand and eager for military renown, he determined to expose him to danger and in this way to see if fortune would help him. In pursuance of this plan, Mckipsa on sending to Spain a contingent of Numidian foot and horse to the help of the Roman people on the Numantine war placed Jugurtha in force, in the hope he would meet his death either in some display of his own courage or by the fierceness of the enemy. The issue, however, of his plans was very different to what he had expected. Jugurtha, such was the character and activity of his nature, had no sooner acquainted himself with the character of Puglia Scipio, who was at that time in command of the Roman troops, and with the quality of the enemy, then by dint of exertion and forethought by the most unassuming obedience and by the frequency with which he sanctioned as to be the darling of our soldiers and the greatest terror of the Numantines, he achieved, indeed, that most difficult task of uniting vigor and battle with a sound discretion, though the one in its foresight so often breeds terror, and the other in its boldness to rash a hardyhood. The general was thus led to employ Jugurtha in nearly every task of difficulty. He ranked him among his friends, and daily became more attached to him as a man whose advice and enterprise were even attended with success. Jugurtha had also a generous temper, an attack by which he at once united many of the Romans to himself on terms of intimacy. Just at this time there were in our army many men, some of illustrious, some of undistinguished descent, with whom riches weighed more than virtue and honor. By their intrigues at Rome and their influence over the Allies, they had attained prominence rather than distinction, and now began to incite the aspiring spirit of Jugurtha by promises that, on the death of King Makipsa, he should have sole possession of the kingdom of Numidia. Their merit, they told him, was of the highest order, and at Rome there was nothing that could not be bought. At last Numentia was destroyed, and Publius Scipio determined to dismiss the contingents of the Allies and return home. After awarding the most distinguished presence in praises to Jugurtha in a public assembly, he took him apart to his own quarters, and there privately advised him to seek the friendship of the Roman people rather publicly than through individuals and to avoid the habit of bribing anybody. Later he said to buy from the few the favor which rested with the many, if he would be content to preserve in the exercise of his talents, Gloria and Minion would come to him of themselves, should he hasten too eagerly to power, his own money would ensure his ruin. After this speech Scipio dismissed him with a letter from Akipsa, its purport was as follows. In the Numentine war the merits of Jugurtha have been preeminent. At this I'm sure he will rejoice. To me his services have so endeared him that I shall use every effort to give him as strongly to the Roman senate and people. Receive my congratulations as our friendship demands. In Jugurtha you have a kinsman worthy alike of yourself and of his grandfather Masinissa. The king on finding the reports he had heard thus confirmed by the general's letter was impressed by both the merits of Jugurtha and the favor which he had won. He now changed his purpose and endeavored to win him by active kindness, adopted him at once and in his will appointed him his heir on an equal status on sons. As a child Jugurtha you lost your father and were left without hopes of fortune. I received you into the royal family under the belief that my kindness would make me as dear to you as though you had been my son. And the result has not disappointed me. To pass over your other great and noble exploits quite lately on your return from Nimanthia the glory you had won shed fresh luster on myself and my kingdom and your merits drew our ties of friendship with Rome's still nearer. You have renewed the fame of our line in Spain and lastly have achieved the hardest of tasks you have conquered envy by your renown. Nature is bringing my life to an end and now by this right hand the honor of a king I warn and adore you to all dear these boys who are your kinsmen by descent your brothers by my favor do not choose the novel friendship of strangers instead of maintaining the established alliance of blood. The bulwarks of the empire not armies or treasures friends and friendship can neither be compelled by force nor won by money but only by service and loyalty and as friendship are closer tie than that of brother to brother can you hope to find loyalty in a stranger if you turn traitor to your kin? My part is done in assigning my kingdom to you and them if you act up rightly it will be strong if treacherous you will find it weak by harmony fortunes grow from small to great by discord the greatest melt to nothing it becomes huge a girther rather than these boys as their superior in years of wisdom to guard against any ill result for in every contest the stronger even when attacked is made by his greater power to seem the aggressor for you at herbal and yemsal I bid you respect and esteem the great qualities of your girther make his virtues your model and strive that I might not seem more fortunate in the sound of my adoption than in those I have begotten your girther was aware of the wholeness of the king's words and the views that occupied his own thoughts were very different he made, however, a kind reply as the occasion demanded a few days afterwards Makipsa died. End of the Jigurthan War Part 1 Recording by Scott Michael Dubrocker Part 11 of Works of Salus This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Recording by Bologna Times Works of Gaius Celestius Christmas Translated by Alfred W. Pollard Jigurthan War Part 2 After burying him with all the splendor of a royal funeral the princes met together for a discussion among themselves of matters in general Yemsal, the youngest of a headstrong disposition and had long looked down on Jigurtha for his low descent on his mother's side On this occasion he took his seat on the right of Edherbal to prevent Jigurtha from holding the middle place which the Numidians considered the seat of honour His brother importuned him to give way to superior age and at last though with great reluctance he crossed over to the other side a discussion ensued on many points of administration and Jigurtha among other proposals suggested that it would be well to cancel all the edicts and decrees of the previous five years on the ground that during that period Mesipsa had been so weakened by age as to have little mental power On this Yemsal replied that he was of the same opinion himself for it was only within the last three years that Jigurtha, by his adoption had been admitted to authority This remark sacked deeper into Jigurtha's breast than anyone thought at the time then sporth distracted by anger and fear he intrigued, planned and indeed devoted his whole attention to plots for treacherously seizing Yemsal These games progressed but slowly however did nothing to soften his savage spirit and he determined to carry out his design by any means that offered At that first meeting between the princes which I have mentioned they had determined as a safeguard against disputes to divide the treasures and to settle the limits of their several dominions A date was fixed for each of these measures but the division of the money was to be made first Meanwhile the princes retired to different places in the neighborhood of the treasury and it so happened that Yemsal who was in the town of Thermida occupied the house of a man who had acted as Jigurtha's nearest attendant and had always been esteemed and favored by him Finding this instrument offered him by chance Jigurtha loaded him with promises and induced him on pretense of visiting his own property to go to his house and to bring the keys to the gates as the true ones were always delivered to Yemsal For the rest, he said that on a fitting opportunity he would come in person with a strong body of followers The Numidian soon executed his orders and, according to his instructions admitted Jigurtha's soldiers by night They burst into the house and searched for the king in every direction killing some of his attendants as they slept as they ran out to meet them ransacking every recess breaking bars and bolts and with their noise and tumult causing a general confusion In the midst of this Yemsal was found hiding in the hut of a female slave Wither at the outset he had fled in his fright and ignorance of the place The Numidians, according to their orders conveyed his head to Jigurtha The news of so great an outrage was quickly spread throughout Africa and fear came upon Edherbal and upon all who had lived under the rule of Misdipza The Numidians separated into two parties the larger of which followed Edherbal while the more warlike joined his rival Jigurtha armed as large forces as he could one over the cities to his government in some cases by force in others with their own consent and prepared to assert his rule over all Numidia Meanwhile, Edherbal had dispatched an embassy to Rome to inform the senate of his brother's murder at his own position but trusting in the numbers of his troops was also preparing for open war He was soon defeated in a pitched battle and fled from the field into the Roman province and subsequently to Rome itself Jigurtha had attained his end and now that he had gained possession of all Numidia had leisure to reflect on the nature of his conduct he feared the Roman people and had no other hope of defense against their anger than was afforded by the cubitity of these nobles and his own wealth In the course therefore of a few days he dispatched ambassadors to Rome with a large sum in silver and gold and instructions that after loading his early friends with presence they should proceed to gain him new ones and in fine should be zealous in enlisting every ally whom money could procure The ambassadors reached Rome and in accordance with their instructions sent large presence to the king's old friends and to others whose influence was at that time powerful in the senate this produced such a change of feeling as raised Jigurtha from the greatest unpopularity into the favor and goodwill of the nobility some of these incited by the hope others by the actual receipt of a payment strove by canvassing individual senators to prevent any really serious steps being taken against him As soon therefore as the ambassadors felt sufficiently assured a day was fixed and the senate gave a hearing in both parties I have been informed that on this occasion Adderbal spoke to the following effect Senators my father Misipsa charged me on his deathbed to account only the administration of the kingdom of Numeria as my own the real authority and supremacy as belonging to you at the same time both in peace and war to serve the Roman people to the utmost of my power and to regard you in the place of relations and kin if I did this your friendship, he told me would serve instead of armies and treasures as the safeguard of my kingdom I was acting in obedience to my father's commands when Jigurtha the blackest villain on the face of the earth Masanisa and by my very descent the friend and ally of the Roman people from my kingdom and all my possessions Senators since I was fated to reach this depth of distress I could wish that I was able to claim your help on the strength of personal not of ancestral services if possible that the Roman people should have owed me for benefits received I had no need to ask or at least that if I needed your services I might have received them as my due but unaided innocence is poorly secured from danger the character of Jigurtha it was not mine to shape and so Senators I fly to you for refuge to whom it is the bitterest part of my fate that I must be a burden before I can be a help all other kings were admitted to friendship after being conquered in war or sought your alliance when their own fate was in the balance my family formed its friendship with the Roman people in the Carthaginian war when we could hope to find in you no more than a loyal though luckless ally of these old Confederates I am the descendant and I bid you not to allow me the grandson of Masanisa to ask your help in vain to support my request than my pitiable fortunes that I who but yesterday was a king rich in ancestry in renown and in resources am now overcast with misery and become a needy supliant for foreign help it would yet accord with the dignity of the Roman people to prevent the wrong and to refuse to allow any man to increase his kingdom by crime but the realm from which I am ousted is that which the Roman people granted to my ancestors that from which my father and grandfather united with you in expelling suffax and the Carthaginians it is the gift of the senate of which I have been robbed it is you who are contempt in the wrong I suffer miserable man that I am has your kindness missipsum my father resulted in this the equal of your children and joint heir of your kingdom that he of all others is to be the destroyer of your race is our family never to be in peace must our lot be always one of blood of battle and of flight while the power of Carthage was unbroken we suffered every cruelty as our natural do the enemy was close at hand you our allies were far away we hoped lay in our swords that plague spot was rooted out of Africa and we were enjoying the delights of peace as men who had no enemies except those whom you might happily bid us regard as such when of a sudden Jurgurtha came upon us overweening and reckless in a burst of insolence and crime he murdered my brother his own cousin and then began seizing the kingdom as the reward of his guilt when he found that the same device failed to put me in his power he drove me when prepared for anything rather than violence and war into exile as you see in your dominions far from country and home he has heaped want and misery upon me and has rendered me anywhere safer than in my own kingdom Senators I placed my faith in a maxim which I once heard my father deliver that those who diligently cherished your friendship to themselves it was true many a toil but enjoyed in return an unequaled safety that side of the agreement which it lay with our family to perform we have carried out we have fought by your side in all your wars it lies with you Senators to secure our safety in time of peace my father left behind him two sons my brother and myself and thought that his kindness would unite Jagertha to us as a third of my co-heirs the one has been murdered and I myself have hardly escaped the wicked hands of the other what am I to do whether in my misfortune were it best for me to fly every support of my family has perished my father has paid the inevitable debt to nature my brother who little deserves such a fate has been found slain by his cousin all my family connected with me by blood or by marriage have been overwhelmed by some form of destruction of those made prisoners by Jagertha some have been sent to the cross others thrown to wild beasts and the few who are still allowed to breathe are immured in darkness and amid sorrow and lamentation drag out a life more bitter than death had I still all the supporters whom I lost or who have deserted me for the enemy yet were any sudden calamity to befall me I should still invoke the aid of your house for the greatness of your dominion makes right and wrong throughout the earth your care but being as I am an outcast from my country and my home alone and lacking every pertinence of my rank wither shall I go to whom shall I take my prayer for the peace and beings whose enmity my family has earned by its friendship for you is there any land I can approach where my ancestors have not left memorials in numbers of their hostility is there any that can have compassion upon me who has been at any time an enemy of Rome finally Senators Masinissa laid down for us this rule that seek the friendship of no people save the Roman form no fresh alliances or engagements in your friendship he said we should find protection sufficient for every need and should the fortunes of your empire change it was our duty to share your fall by your valor and the favor of heaven you are great and wealthy all things are favorable all nations obedient to you and so it is the easier for you to make the sufferings of your allies your care one thing and one only do I fear and this is lest some be led astray by a private friendship for which they have not yet had time to prove I hear that his envoys are using every exertion and are canvassing and importoning you man by man to come to no decision in his absence and before the case has been investigated and asserting that I come here with a lying tale and playing the part of an exile when at liberty to remain in my kingdom would that I may see that man whose unhallowed deed was hurled me to this depth of distress playing this part that now is mine would that either you or the immortal gods begin to take some thought for the affairs of men when that is so he who is now so confident so brilliantly successful in his crimes will be racked with every ill and pay the heavy penalty of his disloyalty to my father his murder of my brother and the misery that he has occasioned me brother dear to my heart your life was torn from you before its time by the hand that should have been the last to do the deed yet I count your lot a cause for gladness rather than for grief with your life you did not lose a kingdom but flight exile, beggary and all the miseries that are crushing me less fortunate than you I have been hurled from my ancestral throne into all these ills and stand here to show what human fortune is I know not what course to take can I, a helpless myself attempt to avenge your wrongs or take thought for my kingdom when my power of life and death depends on foreign help would that death offered an honorable release from my troubles and that I could escape well merited contempt if wearied out by misfortune I submitted to wrong as it is I have no pleasure in life and cannot die without disgrace Senators by your own selves by your children and parents by the dignity of the Roman people I demand your help in my misery take arms against wrongdoing refuse to allow that kingdom of Numidia which is your own to languish amid crime and the blood of our family after the king had made an end of speaking the ambassadors of Drogirtha in reliance rather on their bribes than on the goodness of their cause made a brief reply himself they said had been killed by the numerians for his own cruelty as for Ed Herbal he had made war without provocation and now that he was beaten was complaining because he had failed to inflict a wrong all that Drogirtha sought from the senate was that they should think of him as the man he had proved himself at Numancha and refused to have evidence of his own deeds each party then quitted the house and the senate proceeded to discuss the question the patrons of the ambassadors reinforced by a large section of the senate made light of the assertions of Ed Herbal extolled Drogirtha's services and strove by personal influence by eloquence and by every means in their power to shield the crime and wickedness of a stranger as though it were their own honor that was at stake on the other side a few who valued right and justice more dearly than wealth gave as their opinion that help should be rendered to Ed Herbal and the death of Hemsul sternly punished of these the most conspicuous was Marcus Amelius Scarus a man of high berth an energetic partisan greedy for power, office and wealth and adept in concealing his personal vices perceiving the notorious and shameless character of the king's bribery he feared lest such scandalous excess might rouse indignation as in such a case often happens and therefore restrained his usual greed success nevertheless fell to the party and the senate which let profit and personal influence outweigh the interests of truth a decree was passed ordering that the kingdom which Missipsa had held should be divided between Jagertha and Ed Herbal by ten commissioners at the head of this commission was Lucius Opemius a man of distention and at that time of great influence in the senate owing to the stern use which he had made as council of the nobility at the time when Gaines Gragas and Marcus Fulveus Falakas were murdered at Rome Jagertha had counted him as one of his enemies nevertheless he received him with labored respect and by large gifts and promises succeeded in making him prefer his advantage to reputation and honor and even to his own true interests approaching the other commissioners in the same way Jagertha gained the majority of them it was only a few who held their honor dearer than money in the division the part of Numerium bordering on Mauritania the richest in soil and population was assigned to Jagertha the remainder to which its abundance of harbors and public buildings gave the appearance rather than the reality of higher value Ed Herbal received as his share end of juggerthain war part two part twelve of works of salist this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Chester works of Gaius Celestius Crispus translated by Alfred W. Pollard juggerthain war part three my subject seems to require that I should briefly explain the position of Africa and touch upon the races with which we have been at war or an alliance of the regions and tribes which on account of the heat, ruggedness or desert nature of the country have been less often visited I could hardly that I wish it give any certain account the rest I shall deal with as briefly as possible in dividing the earth most writers have made Africa a third continent if you hold that only Asia and Europe can be reckoned as such and that Africa forms a part of Europe it is bounded on the west by the strait that unites our sea with the ocean on the east by a shelving plane called by the inhabitants catabathmos the sea is stormy and harbourless the soil productive and good for pasture but wanting and timber while both rainfall and springs are scanty the natives are healthy nimble and enured to toil except the victims of wild beast and the sword few succumb to any disease but old age it must be added that the number of dangerous animals is large as to who were the original inhabitants of Africa and who subsequently arrived or how the races intermingled I know that my account differs from the received opinion I shall however briefly presented as it was interpreted to me from the Punic books said to have belonged to King Hamsell and as the inhabitants of the country believe the events to have taken place for the truth of the version my informants must be responsible the original inhabitants of Africa were Gaitulians and Libyans savage and barbarous peoples living off the flesh of wild beast or like cattle on the grass of the field they were controlled by no customs or laws nor by any chief wandering aimlessly about they occupied such quarters of night compelled but after Hercules I believe died in Spain his leaderless army which was made up of various races dispersed itself abroad as his followers sought to win themselves demands on this side of that of his troops the Medes Persians and Armenians crossed and shipped to Africa and settled on the lands nearest to our own sea the Persians took up their boat nearest to the ocean and brought the Persians upside down and used them as huts for there was no timber in the land and no means of obtaining it by purchase or barter from Spain as the wide sea and the ignorance of the language made commerce impossible gradually the Persians by intermarriage absorbed the Gaitulians and as in their frequent search for suitable lands they had wandered widely from place to place took the name of nomads to this very day the dwellings of the Numerian country people which they call Mapella are of an oblong shape and curving roofs which resemble the kills of boats the Medes and Armenians were reinforced by Libyans a people who lay closer to the African sea while the Gaitulians lived more directly beneath the sun near to the zone of intense heat the combined nations early possessed towns for as they were but divided by a strait from Spain they had formed the practice of mutual barter the name was in course of time perverted by the Libyans who in their barbarous speech called them Mori instead of Medes the power of the Persians rapidly increased weakly a part of them under the name of Numerians separated from the parent stock on account of their growing numbers and settled on the territory round Carthage which is now called Numeria then forth each in reliance on their other support by the terror of their arms they forced their neighbors to submit to their rule and one for themselves glory and renown this was more especially the case with those whose territory extended to our sea for the Libyans are less war-like than the Gaitulians at last the greater part of the coast of Africa was occupied by the Numerians and the conquered were all merged in the race and name of their lords at a later date the Phoenicians others to lessen the home population urged the commons and such others as were eager for chains to emigrate and founded Hippo Hadramentum Leptus and other cities along the coast these quickly rolls to importance and served in some cases as a defense and others as an ornament to their parent states as to Carthage I think it better to be silent than to give an inadequate account for time warns me to hasten to another subject after the Catabathmos which divides Egypt from Africa the first place as you follow the coast is Cyrene a colony of Thera next to this come the two Syretes and between them Leptus then the altars of the Philene the boundary of the Carthaginians on the side of Egypt and after this other Punic cities the rest of the land as far as Mauritania is held by the Numidians Mauritania lies nearest to Spain to the south of Numidia I learned that the Gaetuli lived some in Hutts others wandering about in a more barbarous state beyond these are the Ethiopians and beyond them again lands dried up by the burning heat of the sun in the Yuga themed war most of the Punic towns and the lands which the Carthaginians had owned just before their fall were governed by the Roman people through magistrates the great part of the Gaetuli and the Numidians as far as the river Malucha were under Yugaertha while the ruler over all the Mauritanians was King Bacchus who knew nothing of the Roman people saved their name and had hitherto been brought beneath our notice neither in peace or war the foregoing account of Africa and its people were suffice for our needs when the kingdom had been divided the commissioners left Africa and Yugaertha found himself in spite of his fears in possession of the reward of his crime he now took the maxim which he had heard from his friends at Numantia that at Rome all things might be bought for an assured truth and excited by the promises of the men whom he had recently glutted with his gifts turned his thoughts toward the kingdom of Adderbal he himself was of an active and war-like nature the man he had sailed was quiet and peace-loving of a gentle disposition which laid him open to injury and one who rather felt than inspired fear he therefore suddenly marched into Adderbal's territory with a large force seized many prisoners with cattle and other booty burnt buildings with cavalry raids on many places and then retreated with his whole force into his own kingdom in the belief that indignation would make his victim avenge his wrongs by arms and that such a step would give rise to war Adderbal however failing himself no match for Yugaertha in arms and placing more reliance on the friendship of the Roman people than his Numidian subjects sent ambassadors to Yugaertha to complain of this aggression and although the answer they brought back was insulting determined to endure anything rather than embark on a war since his former attempt had ended so unfavorably this availed nothing to lessen the greed of Yugaertha for he was already in imagination possessor of the whole kingdom not as before with the band of Marauders but at the head of an army duly equipped he began open war undisguisely seeking dominion over all Numidia on his marts he laid waste cities and fields carried off booty and threw fresh heart into his own men fresh fear into the enemy Adderbal now understood that matters had reached such a pass that he must either abandon his kingdom or defend it by arms under the pressure of necessity he mustered his forces and advanced against Yugaertha and now the army of either king took up a position near the town of Serta not far from the sea but as it was late in the day battle was not given when however the night was far advanced in the darkness that still prevailed the soldiers of Yugaertha at a given signal fell upon the enemy's camp and scattered and routed its defenders who were but half awake or in the act of seizing their arms Adderbal with a few horsemen made his escape to Serta and had not there been a number of roman citizens in the place who stopped the Numidian pursuers from entering the war a single day would have seen the beginning and the end of the war between the two kings as it was Yugaertha blockaded the town and set about reducing it by means of mantlets, towers and engines of every kind using the greatest haste and forced darling the ambassadors whom he had heard that Adderbal had sent to Rome before the battle took place when the senate received news of their war it dispatched three young men to Africa to go to both kings and acquaint them in the name of the roman senate and people that it was their will and determination that they should lay down their arms and decide their disputes by arbitration instead of war such a course they were to say would be worthy both of their advisors and of themselves the commissioners speeded on their journey to Africa or the more because while they were making their preparations for departure news was received in Rome of the battle and the siege of Serta though the report dealt lightly with the facts after listening to their address Yugaertha replied that nothing carried more weight with or was dearer to him than the authority of the senate from his early man heard he said he had used every effort to win the approval of the good it was his merit and not any cunning devices that had recommended him to the noble Scipio the same qualities and not any lack of children of his own had caused messipsa to adopt him into the royal family for the rest the more proofs he had given of his devotion and energy the less was he inclined to submit to Rome Adibor had conspired to take his life and on discovering the plot he had taken up arms against his guilt the Roman people would be acting neither rightly nor for their own interests if they had hindered his exercise of the law of nations lastly he was intending shortly to send ambassadors to Rome to explain the whole state of affairs after this they separated Adibor the commissioners had no means of addressing Eugirtha as soon as he judged that they had left Africa finding it impossible on account of its situation to take Sertaba Storm through a rampart and trench round its walls raised in garrison towers and while assailing the town night and day by attacks both open and disguised held out to the guardians of its walls now promises and now threats roused his men to courage by his exhortations and in fine showed himself bent on making every possible provision meantime Adibor perceived that his fortunes were desperate his enemy implacable himself without hope of help but from lack of the requisite means the war cannot be prolonged he therefore chose the two most enterprising of his fellow fugitives to Serta and by large promises and pitiful allusions to his own plight encourage them to make their way by night through the enemy's lines to the nearest point on the coast and thence to Rome in a few days the Numadians carried out his orders and Adibor's letter was read in the senate its purport was as follows it is through no fault of mine senators that I send so often to you to employ your help I am compelled to do so by the violence of Eugirtha who has been seized with such a passion for my destruction that unmindful a like of yourselves and of the immortal gods he prefers my blood to all else beside hence it is that I the friend and ally of the Roman people have now been beceived for more than four months and that neither the services of my father Missipsa nor your decrees avail me art I am pressed by sword and famine by which the harder I cannot say my previous fortune dissuades me from writing more about Eugirtha I have already discovered how little the wretched are believed it may be however that I am right in my conviction that my foe is aiming at a higher mark than myself that he does not expect to retain at once your friendship and my kingdom which of the two beholds of more importance is obvious enough he began by murdering Hemsaw my brother then ousted me from my ancestral kingdom these wrongs I admit were personal to myself and did not touch you but now he is in an armed possession of a kingdom which belongs to you and is keeping me whom you may rule over the Numidians a closed prisoner how little weight he attaches to the words of your commissioners my danger may serve to show what means then of moving him is there other than the might of Rome for myself I could wish that the words I am now writing and those in which I once made my complaint in the senate told an idle story rather than that they should be confirmed at the cost of my own misery but as I was born to give you girth of scope for the display of his wickedness I crave no relief from death or hardship I only seek to be saved from the tyranny of an enemy and bodily torture make what prison you will for the kingdom of Numidia for it is your own but rescue me from this unhollowed grasp this I entreat of you by the dignity of your empire by the loyalty of your friendship and by whatever memory of my ancestor Massinicia still lingers among you on the reading of this letter some propose the despatch of an army to Africa for their immediate rescue of Adderball that meanwhile they should discuss your girth as conduct and disobeying the commission every effort however was used by the king's old partisans to prevent such a decree being passed and as generally happens the public good was overruled by private interest commissioners however were sent to Africa of a more advanced age of noble birth and who had filled high offices of states among their number of tourists of whom I spoke above a man who had been consul and at that time was leader of the senate the matter was exciting adium and the prayers of the Numidians were urgent the ambassadors therefore embarked on the third day and after a quick passage to Utica sent a despatch to Ugertha commanding his immediate attendance in the province forcing their commission to him from the senate Ugertha on hearing that men of distinction whose influence in Rome he knew by report had come to bar his proceedings was at first greatly disturbed and wavered between the impulses of fear and passion he was afraid of the anger of the senate should he fail to obey the commissioners while the vehemence of his desire blindly hurried him along to complete his crime the result in his covetous nature was the victory of the evil course in circling Serta with his army he strained every nerve to force his way into the town and was filled with hope that could he divide the strength of the enemy by assault or stratagem victory would fall to his lot his efforts failed and he could not attain this object of seizing Adderbal before meeting the commissioners fearful therefore less further delay should anger Scarce of whom he was most afraid he entered the province attended by a few horsemen but those serious threats were uttered in the name of the senate if he did not raise the siege after much parlaying the commissioners departed without having affected anything when this news reached Serta the Italians whose courage was defending its walls confident that the greatness of the Roman people would secure their safety on a surrender advised Adderbal to deliver up himself and the town to Eugerta only bargaining for his life and leaving everything else to the care of the senate Adderbal judged any cause preferable to reliance on the word of Eugerta he saw that should he resist his advisors had power to compel and therefore made the surrender Eugerta's first act was to torture and put him to death next he made an indiscriminate massacre of all the adult Numidians and the traitors as they came in contact with his troops when this was known in Rome and the matter began to be discussed in the senate the old supporters of the king attempted by wasting time over questions and quarrels and by the exercise of private influence to soften the enormity of the offense indeed had not Gaius Memius a tribune elect an active man and an enemy to the power of the nobility apprised the people that their object the few partisans to gain Eugerta pardon for his crime by the delay of the inquiry all public feeling against the king would have subsided such was the power of his wealth and influence the senate however conscious of his guilt feared the people and in accordance with the sympronian law Numidia and Italy were signed to the consuls of the next year in the provinces the consuls elected were Publius Scipio Nascica and Lucius Calpurnius Bestia Calpurnius received Numidia and Scipio Italy an army was then levied for service in Africa and pay and what else was needed for the conduct of the war voted Eugerta received the news of this with great surprise so firmly planted in his mind was the belief that at Rome everything could be bought he now sent his son and two intimate friends as ambassadors to the senate and instructed them as he had done those sent after the murder of Hamptso to attack every soul in Rome with bribes on their drawing nigh to the city the senate was consulted by Bestia as to whether it was their pleasure that the ambassadors of Eugerta should be received within the walls and a decree was passed that unless they had come to surrender his kingdom and person they should leave Italy within the next ten days the consul ordered notice to be given to the Numidians pursuant to the decree and accordingly they departed home with their mission unfulfilled meanwhile Calpurnius now that his army was ready chose for his death a party man of noble birth whose authority he hoped would shield any misconduct of his own among them was the Scorus of who disposition and character I have spoken as for our consul he had many good qualities both of mind and body but his avarice hampered the exercise of them all he had great power of endurance a keen intellect and considerable forethought was not ignorant of war and never dismayed by danger or sudden attack the legions were taken through Italy to Regium thence to Sicily and from Sicily to Africa after organizing his commissariat Calpurnius at first vigorously attacked Numidia capturing many prisoners and taking several towns by storm when however Eugirtha began through ambassadors to tempt him with bribes and to show him the difficulty of the war he was conducting his resolution weakened by covetousness readily succumbed as colleague and assistant in all his proceedings he adopted Scorus who built at first when many of his party had already been perverted he had strenuously resisted the king was now by the magnitude of the bribe offered seduced from the path of virtue and integrity and to that of Dessanna Eugirtha began by purchasing no more than a delay in the war thinking that in the meanwhile his bribery or influence might affect something at Rome but the news that Scorus was taking part in the intrigue led him to form the highest hopes of regaining peace and he determined to treat with the commissioners personally on all the conditions meanwhile to inspire confidence the consul sent his Christdor Sextius Tuvarga a town of Eugirtha's ostensibly to receive the corn which Coppurnius had openly demanded of the ambassadors in return for the grant of Etrus till the surrender should be made on this the king in pursuance of his plan came to the camp and after saying a few words in the presence of the consul about the ill will exited by his deed and his desire to be allowed to submit arranged all other points in a secret conference with Bestia and Scorus on the following day the opinion of the consul was taken amid an irregular discussion and Eugirtha's submission was received in accordance with the command given in the presence of the consul thirty elephants a large number of cattle and horses together with a small sum in silver were delivered to the Christdor Coppurnius then sat out for Rome to hold the elections was observed in Numedia and in our army when rumor spread the news of the events in Africa and of the way in which they had been brought about the conduct of the consul was discussed at every place in every assemblage in Rome among the common people his unpopularity was great while the senators were anxious and undecided whether they should sanction a serious crime or annul the consul's ordinance the chief obstacle to their following the true and upright course was the influence of Scorus the reputed advisor and accomplice of Bestia but while the senate was hesitating and raising delays Gaius Memius whose independent character and hatred of the power of the nobility I spoke above roused the people to vengeance by his addresses bade them not to betray the Republic in their own freedom exposed many instances of the pride and cruelty of the nobility and in fine showed great energy in exciting the populace by every possible means End of Eugirthine War Part 3