Chapter XIV

A REVIEW OF THE WEST AND EAST. 201-194 B.C.

T

HE war with Hannibal had interrupted Rome in the extension of her dominion to the Alpine boundary of Italy; that task was now resumed. The Celts, aware of the coming vengeance, had again taken up arms in 201 B.C. The insurrection spread far and wide, and Celtic and Ligurian bands sacked Placentia and invested Cremona in the following year. A great battle before the latter city ended in their overthrow, but the struggle continued until 193 B.C. before these people were finally subdued. The Romans intended that the Transpadane Celts should serve as a bulwark against the incursions of northern tribes. It seems that the Celtic nationality in these districts rapidly became submerged in the all-absorbing spread of Latin influence. The terror of the Roman name penetrated even beyond the Alps, and by the founding of Aquileia, about 183 B.C., the Romans showed their determination to close the gates of the Alps forever against the northern nation. New means of communication were opened up by the extension of the Flaminian road, under the name of the Aemilian, from Ariminum to Placentia, and by the reconstruction of the Cassian Way from Rome to Arretium. The result was that the Po, and not the Apennines, now divided Celtic from Italian land, and that south of the Po the old name of Ager Celticus, applied to the district between the Po and the Apennines, ceased to have any meaning.

The same policy was pursued with the Ligurian tribes occupying the hills and valleys in the northwestern highlands of Italy. Some were extirpated, others transplanted, and the mountainous country between the valley of the Po and the Arno was practically cleared. The fortress of Luna was established in 177 B.C., to act as a bulwark against the Ligurians, and as a port for ships sailing to Massilia or Spain. With the more western Ligurian tribes in the Genoese Apennines and the Maritime Alps conflicts were incessant, but no permanent results were effected. Wars, too, of a similar

Hist. Nat. III

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201-194 B.C.

character were waged in Corsica and Sardinia, where the natives. in the interior were continually hunted down by Roman troops.

With regard to Carthage, Rome's great aim was to keep suspended over her head the fear of a declaration of war. Massinissa was established close at her doors as a most powerful Numidian chief, and Carthaginian territory was constantly exposed to the spoliations of the Libyan and Numidian tribes, who exulted in thus retaliating on their old tormentors for their former sufferings. Carthage bore every insult with true Phoenician patience. Her embassies and complaints to Rome had no effect, save that of making her victor more resolved in this short-sighted policy of humiliation. One man, however, still remained at Carthage, a just object of dread to his enemies. Hannibal had already overthrown the rotten oligarchy and instituted the most beneficial political and financial reforms. By checking the embezzlement of the public moneys it was soon found that the tribute to Rome could be paid without extraordinary taxation. Hannibal was doubtless reorganizing Carthage to be ready for the complications which he saw must arise for Rome in the East. We cannot wonder that the Romans at last insisted on the surrender of Hannibal, in 195 B.C., which demand he anticipated by a speedy flight to the East, and thus left to his ancestral city merely the lesser disgrace of banishing its greatest citizen forever from his native land, of confiscating his property, and of razing his house. The profound saying, that those are the favorites of the gods on whom they lavish infinite joys and infinite sorrows, thus verified itself in full measure in the case of Hannibal. Even after his withdrawal, Rome, still not content, adopted a course of perpetual irritation against Carthage. Jealous of her financial prosperity, which remained unshaken by the loss of political power, Rome was ever the credulous receptacle of every rumor of Carthaginian perfidy and intrigue.

Unwilling to have any possessions of her own in Africa, Rome established the great Berber chief Massinissa in his new Numidian kingdom. This remarkable man was in every way fitted for the post. Thoroughly conversant with Carthage, in which city he had been educated, and with whose armies he had fought both as friend. and foe, fired with bitter hatred of the Carthaginian oppressor, both as a native African and as a prince personally wronged, gifted with a physique which knew no fatigue, and with a nature that recked not of scruple or honor, Massinissa became the soul of his nation's

201-194 B.C.

revival; and, during ninety years of unimpaired life and sixty years of vigorous reign, was completely successful in consolidating the vast kingdom of which he was the founder. By the addition of the kingdom of Syphax, who died in captivity in Rome, and by occupying the old Sidonian city of Great Leptis and other districts, Massinissa held rule from the Mauretanian to the Cyrenaean frontier, and enclosed the Carthaginian territory on all sides; indeed, he fixed his eyes on Carthage as his future capital. Under his example the Berber became converted from a nomad shepherd into a farmer and settled citizen; the Numidian hordes of plunderers became trained soldiers, worthy to fight by the side of Roman legions; Cirta, his capital, became the seat of Phoenician civilization, which the king carefully fostered, with a view, perhaps, to the future extension of his power over Carthage. Thus the Libyan language, nationality, and manners, after so many years of degradation, reasserted their position, and made themselves felt even in the old Phoenician cities.

In Spain the Greek and Phoenician towns along the coast at once submitted to the Romans, and were absorbed in their civilization. On the other hand, the natives, especially in the west and north and in the interior, were a perpetual thorn in the side of the Romans, nor was it even safe for a Roman governor to travel without a strong escort. Bound together by all-powerful laws of chivalry, proud of their military honor, fired with a love of war and change, the barbaric Spaniards were utterly devoid of political instinct, and could neither submit to military discipline nor political combination. Thus in Spain there was no serious war nor real peace.

The Romans divided the peninsula into two provinces, and while the governor of Hither Spain, the modern Arragon and Catalonia, was ever occupied with quelling Celtiberian revolts, his colleague in Further Spain, which comprised the modern Andalusia, Granada, Murcia, and Valencia, was similarly busy in attempts to hold in check the Lusitanians. Necessity thus compelled the Romans to adopt a new policy-to maintain a standing army of four legions in the country; hence it was in Spain that the military occupation of the land on a large scale first became continuous, and that the military service first acquired a permanent character. The obvious danger of withdrawing or even changing every year a large portion of the forces in so remote and turbulent a country forced the

201-194 B.C.

Romans to adopt this course. Thus service in Spain became very odious to the Roman people, who now learned that dominion over a foreign nation is a burden not only to the slave, but also to the master. Reality was first given to the Roman rule in the peninsula by the valor of Quintus Fulvius Flaccus in 181 B.C.; and two years later, his successor, Tiberius Gracchus, achieved results. of a permanent character, not merely by force of arms, but by his adroit comprehension of the Spanish character. By inducing Celtiberians to serve in the Roman army, by settling free-booting tribes in towns, by wise and equitable treaties, Gracchus made the Roman name not only feared but liked, and his own memory was ever held dear by the natives.

The Spanish provinces were governed on principles similar to those which were observed in Sicily and Sardinia; but the Romans proceeded with great caution, and often conceded considerable privileges to Spanish towns, such as the right of coining their own money. The old Carthaginian imposts of fixed money payments and other contributions were retained, instead of the tithes and customs paid by Sicilian and Sardinian communities. The grave fault of changing the pretors every year was still committed, and that in spite of the Baebian law, which in 192 B.C. prolonged the command of Spanish governors for two years. On the whole, Spain, notwithstanding its mines both of iron and silver, was a burden rather than a gain to the Roman state; but probably the chief reason for its retention as a province was the fear that, if left unoccupied, it might serve another foe as it had served Hannibal, and act as a basis of operations against the sovereignty of Rome.

We must now turn our eyes eastward, and see how those complications arose which involved Rome in the Macedonian and Asiatic wars. Macedonia, alone of all the Greek states, had preserved that national vigor which made the Greek race so famous in earlier days. Philip V. ruled not only over Macedonia proper, but over all Thessaly, Euboea, Locris, Phocis, and Doris, and held many isolated and important positions in Attica and the Peloponnese, of which the chief were Demetrias in Magnesia, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth, "the three fetters of the Hellenes." His real strength, however, lay in his hereditary kingdom of Macedonia proper. It is true that this land was very sparsely populated, but the national character of its loyal and courageous people, never