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Flavius Eutropius “Summary of Roman History”, Book 2

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Flavius Eutropius

”Summary of Roman History”, Book 2
To Emperor Valens, Gothicus, Maximus, Perpetual Augustus, from the Imperial Secretary Flavius Eutropius

English translation by Lamberto Bozzi (2018)

Flavius Eutropius

EVTROPII BREVIARIVM LIBER SECUNDUS
DOMINO VALENTI GOTHICO MAXIMO PERPETUO AUGUSTO
EUTROPIUS V. C. MAGISTER MEMORIAE.

Chapter 1

In the year three hundred and sixty-
five since the founding of the City
But the first since her occupation
By some tribes of the Gallic nation,
There was a change in the status of the two
Consuls whose official position
Was assigned to military tribunes who
Got consular rank. It was from that date
That the growth began of the Roman State,
As in that very year Camillus won, too,
The seventy-year war against the town
Of the Volsci and managed to put down
The Aequian and Sutrinian armies.
Then, after occupying their cities,
Three times at once he led a march
Through the Roman Triumphal Arch.

Anno trecentesimo sexagesimo quinto ab urbe condita, post captam autem primo, dignitates mutatae sunt, et pro duobus consulibus facti tribuni militares consulari potestate. Hinc iam coepit Romana res crescere. Nam Camillus eo anno Volscorum civitatem, quae per septuaginta annos bellum gesserat, vicit et Aequorum urbem et Sutrinorum atque omnibus deletis earundem exercitibus occupavit et tres simul triumphos egit.

Chapter 2

Quintus Cincinnatus, too,
Cornered and thrashed on the river Allia’s strand
The Praenestine warriors (who
Had brought war to the gates of Rome) and
United eight of their towns to
Rome. By storm Praeneste itself he took
And obtained her surrender. He undertook
And completed these feats in twenty days.
He was decreed the Triumphal Displays.

T. etiam Quintius Cincinnatus Praenestinos, qui usque ad urbis Romae portas cum bello venerant, persecutus ad flumen Alliam vicit, octo civitates, quae sub ipsis agebant, Romanis adiunxit, ipsum Praeneste adgressus in deditionem accepit. Quae omnia ab eo gesta sunt viginti diebus, triumphusque ipsi decretus.

Chapter 3

The Military Tribunes’ position,
Besides, didn’t continue for long. Indeed
After a while there came the decision
To stop electing them so there was no need,
For four years, for a post of more value.
But for three more years the position,
With Consular rank, wanted by and granted to
The Military Tribunes, lived on
In Rome. Then Consuls were elected anew.

Verum dignitas tribunorum militarium non diu perseveravit. Nam post aliquantum nullos placuit fieri et quadriennium in urbe ita fluxit, ut potestates ibi maiores non essent. Praesumpserunt tamen tribuni militares consulari potestate iterum dignitatem et triennio perseveraverunt. Rursus consules facti.

Chapter 4

In the Consulship of Lucius Genucius
And Quintus Servilius, Camillus,
After his death, was distinguished
With the second honour after Romulus’.

L. Genucio et Q. Servilio consulibus mortuus est Camillus. Honor ei post Romulum secundus delatus est.

Chapter 5

To face the Gauls that had come to Italy
Rome sent on mission Dictator Quinctius T.
They had settled beyond the river Anio
Four miles from the City. It was there that Young Senator Lucius Manlius - who was also
One of the noblest among them all - lunged at
A Gaul he had challenged to single combat,
Killed him, and then managed to walk
Away with his gold collar torque
Around his neck. For that reason from then on
Torquatus was called each male family scion.
The Gauls were put to flight and vanquished, too,
By Dictator C. Sulpicius. And just
A while later C. Marcius beat a slew
Of Tuscians. Eight thousand of them were thrust
Behind him, in his triumph enshrined.

T. Quintius dictator adversus Gallos, qui ad Italiam venerant, missus est. Hi ab urbe quarto miliario trans Anienem fluvium consederant. Ibi nobilissimus de senatoribus iuvenis L. Manlius provocantem Gallum ad singulare certamen progressus occidit, et sublato torque aureo colloque suo inposito in perpetuum Torquati et sibi et posteris cognomen accepit. Galli fugati sunt, mox per C. Sulpicium dictatorem etiam victi. Non multo post a C. Marcio Tusci victi sunt et octo milia captivorum ex his in triumphum ducta.

Chapter 6

A census was then taken again
And, as the subject Latins didn’t want to
Provide their own military men,
It was then necessary to make do
With Romans recruits: ten legions were thus
Made up with full sixty thousand, or plus,
Armed men. But the military virtue
Of Rome wasn’t yet matched to her actual might.
When Lucius Furius set out to subdue
The Gauls with his legions, one asked to fight
The most stouthearted Roman legionary.
Then Marcus Valerius, a military
Tribune, stepped forward while on his right
Arm there alighted a crow. During the brawl
With wing and claw the bird, time and again,
Harmed the face and line of vision of the Gaul
Then by Tribune Valerius duly slain.
From then on everybody would call
Him Corvinus because that Victory
Gave an added name to his family;
And, thanks to his merits, that wasn’t all:
He was made Senator at twenty-three.

Census iterum habitus est. Et cum Latini, qui a Romanis subacti erant, milites praestare nollent, ex Romanis tantum tirones lecti sunt, factaeque legiones decem, qui modus sexaginta vel amplius armatorum milia efficiebat. Parvis adhuc Romanis rebus tanta tamen in re militari virtus erat. Quae cum profectae essent adversum Gallos duce L. Furio, quidam ex Gallis unum ex Romanis, qui esset optimus, provocavit. Tum se M. Valerius tribunus militum obtulit, et cum processisset armatus, corvus ei supra dextrum bracchium sedit. Mox commissa adversum Gallum pugna idem corvus alis et unguibus Galli oculos verberavit, ne rectum posset aspicere. Ita a tribuno Valerio interfectus. Corvus non solum victoriam ei, sed etiam nomen dedit. Nam postea idem Corvinus est dictus. Ac propter hoc meritum annorum trium et viginti consul est factus.

Chapter 7

The Latins, who had been unwilling to
Provide troops, had a further request.
They demanded, that is, one of the two
Consuls should by themselves be expressed,
And the other by the Roman nation,
Which was obviously out of the question.
Arms were taken up against them and indeed
They were, in a major battle, made to bleed;
And it was certainly complete
The Triumph that followed their defeat:
Statues to the Consuls were raised to assert,
Upon the rostra, their victorious desert.
Alexandria was founded to celebrate,
In that very year, Alexander the Great.

Latini, qui noluerant milites dare, hoc quoque a Romanis exigere coeperunt, ut unus consul ex eorum, alter ex Romanorum populo crearetur. Quod cum esset negatum, bellum contra eos susceptum est et ingenti pugna superati sunt; ac de his perdomitis triumphatum est. Statuae consulibus ob meritum victoriae in Rostris positae sunt. Eo anno etiam Alexandria ab Alexandro Macedone condita est.

Chapter 8

The Romans were beginning already
To be powerful. One hundred and thirty
Miles from Rome, they waged war on the Samnites
In their mid Apennine territory split
Between Picenum, Campania and Apulia. It
Was Papirius Cursor, with all his rights
As Dictator, who left for that war; And He
Ordered, on his way back to the City,
Quintus Fabius Maximus, Commander
Of the Cavalry in charge of the army,
Not to engage in combat in his absence.
Maximus nevertheless went after
The Samnites, whom he caught off balance,
Fought with good luck and won, contrary
To the Dictator’s orders, which earned him a sentence
Of death overturned by the soldiery
And the populace, all favourable to him
To such a degree that a mutiny
Severely imperilled Papirius’ life and limb.

Iam Romani potentes esse coeperunt. Bellum enim in centesimo et tricesimo fere miliario ab urbe apud Samnitas gerebatur, qui medii sunt inter Picenum, Campaniam et Apuliam. L. Papirius Cursor cum honore dictatoris ad id bellum profectus est. Qui cum Romam rediret, Q. Fabio Maximo, magistro equitum, quem apud exercitum reliquit, praecepit, ne se absente pugnaret. Ille occasione reperta felicissime dimicavit et Samnitas delevit. Ob quam rem a dictatore capitis damnatus, quod se vetante pugnasset, ingenti favore militum et populi liberatus est tanta Papirio seditione commota, ut paene ipse interficeretur.

Chapter 9

After that, when Titus Veturius
Held the consulship beside Spurius
Postumius, the Samnites shattered
The Romans who were then fettered
Under a yoke. The peace, nevertheless,
The Senate and the People under duress
Had worked out, was reconsidered.
Then it was Consul Papirius who broke
Down the Samnites and put under a yoke
Seven thousand of them. Papirius won,
First of all, the great Samnitic Nation.
Appius Claudius censor managed to convey
The Claudian aqueduct into the City
At that time and then paved the Appian Way.
The Samnites renewed the war killing three
Thousand men led by Quintus Fabius
Maximus. Then it was Fabius Maximus,
His namesake father and lieutenant, who
Won the Samnites and most of their towns too.
Then Publius Cornelius Rufinus,
Consul with Marius Curius Dentatus,
Having been sent against the Samnites,
Finished them off in colossal fights.
That was the occasion to terminate
The forty-nine year protracted state
Of war with the Samnites. In Italy
No other foe rose that could castigate
Roman bravery to such a high degree

Postea Samnites Romanos T. Veturio et Sp. Postumio consulibus ingenti dedecore vicerunt et sub iugum miserunt. Pax tamen a senatu et populo soluta est, quae cum ipsis propter necessitatem facta fuerat. Postea Samnites victi sunt a L. Papirio consule, septem milia eorum sub iugum missa. Papirius primus de Samnitibus triumphavit. Eo tempore Ap. Claudius censor aquam Claudiam induxit et viam Appiam stravit. Samnites reparato bello Q. Fabium Maximum vicerunt tribus milibus hominum occisis. Postea, cum pater ei Fabius Maximus legatus datus fuisset, et Samnitas vicit et plurima ipsorum oppida cepit. Deinde P. Cornelius Rufinus M. Curius Dentatus, ambo consules, contra Samnitas missi ingentibus proeliis eos confecere. Tum bellum cum Samnitibus per annos quadraginta novem actum sustulerunt. Neque ullus hostis fuit intra Italiam, qui Romanam virtutem magis fatigaverit.

Chapter 10

Yet again the Gauls, a lot of them and so martial,
Closed ranks with the Etruscans spreading out
Towards Rome but were duly put to rout
By Publius Cornelius Dolabella, a Consul.

Interiectis aliquot annis iterum se Gallorum copiae contra Romanos Tuscis Samnitibusque iunxerunt, sed cum Romam tenderent, a Cn. Cornelio Dolabella consule deletae sunt.

Chapter 11

War was declared in those same days to
The inhabitants of Tarentum who
Lived in the Southern tip of Italy,
And whose injurious insulting ploys
Had sorely hurt the Roman envoys.
The Tarentines requested, urgently,
The help of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus,
Descended from Achilles’ family,
Against the Romans. Presently Pyrrhus
Came to Italy. It was the first time Rome took
On an enemy from over the sea
Against whom she sent Publius Valerius
Laevinus who, having by chance managed to hook
Pyrrhus’ scouts, ordered to let them see
The quartered army, then set them free
So that they could correctly report
To the King the routine of the fort.
The Romans engaged the enemy
And put Pyrrhus to flight, but what made him
Win the day was the sight, so new and grim
For them, of his elephants. The night aptly
Put an end to the fighting and by night
Took fittingly place Laevinus’s flight.
The one thousand eight hundred prisoners were
Treated with highest honour by Pyrrhus who
Buried the dead lying in the battlefield too.
He watched their corpses like a connoisseur:
Their breast wounds and stern-faced manhood
Made him hail at the sky and say he could
With such fine men have set the world astir

Eodem tempore Tarentinis, qui iam in ultima Italia sunt, bellum indictum est, quia legatis Romanorum iniuriam fecissent. Hi Pyrrum, Epiri regem, contra Romanos in auxilium poposcerunt, qui ex genere Achillis originem trahebat. Is mox ad Italiam venit, tumque primum Romani cum transmarino hoste dimicaverunt. Missus est contra eum consul P. Valerius Laevinus, qui cum exploratores Pyrri cepisset, iussit eos per castra duci, ostendi omnem exercitum tumque dimitti, ut renuntiarent Pyrro quaecumque a Romanis agerentur. Commissa mox pugna, cum iam Pyrrus fugeret, elephantorum auxilio vicit, quos incognitos Romani expaverunt. Sed nox proelio finem dedit; Laevinus tamen per noctem fugit, Pyrrus Romanos mille octingentos cepit et eos summo honore tractavit, occisos sepelivit. Quos cum adverso vulnere et truci vultu etiam mortuos iacere vidisset, tulisse ad caelum manus dicitur cum hac voce: se totius orbis dominum esse potuisse, si tales sibi milites contigissent.

Chapter 12

Then Pyrrhus together with the Brittiis,
The Lucans and the Samnites marched on the City
Of Rome and in the preliminaries
Ransacked, adopting a scorched-earth policy,
The whole Campania region and arrived at
Praeneste eighteen miles from the Roman
Walls. Then he withdrew to the Campanian
Countryside fearful of the army that,
Under the consul, followed in hot pursuit.
The envoys negotiating to restitute
The Roman prisoners were honourably
Treated by Pyrrhus who let them go free
Without ransom. And such was his admiration
For Fabricius one of the Roman envoys,
A poor man, that he offered him the fourth portion
Of his kingdom to win him over to his side;
But Fabricius disdained this kind of ploys.
Thus as Pyrrhus admired the Romans so much
He sent them Cinea a man well qualified
To call for peace on fair conditions and
For King Pyrrhus to have a free hand
On the part of Italy by then occupied.

Postea Pyrrus, coniunctis sibi Samnitibus, Lucanis, Brittiis, Romam perrexit, omnia ferro ignique vastavit, Campaniam populatus est atque ad Praeneste venit, miliario ab urbe octavo decimo. Mox terrore exercitus, qui eum cum consule sequebatur, in Campaniam se recepit. Legati ad Pyrrum de redimendis captivis missi ab eo honorifice suscepti sunt. Captivos sine pretio Romam misit. Unum ex legatis Romanorum, Fabricium, sic admiratus, cum eum pauperem esse cognovisset, ut quarta parte regni promissa sollicitare voluerit, ut ad se transiret, contemptusque est a Fabricio. Quare cum Pyrrus Romanorum ingenti admiratione teneretur, legatum misit, qui pacem aequis condicionibus peteret, praecipuum virum, Cineam nomine, ita ut Pyrrus partem Italiae, quam iam armis occupaverat, obtineret.

Chapter 13

The Senate deplored the proposals of peace
And replied to Pyrrhus the war could not cease
Unless he withdrew from Italy.
Then the Romans issued a decree
Saying that all the prisoners who
Had been returned by Pyrrhus should be
-If captured with weapons undue-
Declared guilty of infamity,
And also forbidden to regain
Their state unless they produced the spoils of two
Enemies they had directly slain.
Pyrrhus’ envoy, after his mission,
Returned and answered the King’s question
About his impression of the City
Of Rome. “The Romans were,” Cineas went on,
In their national deportment kingly
Because in Rome all men were of such stature
The like of which in Greece and in Epirus
Was only to be found in Pyrrhus’ nature”.
Consuls Publius Sulpicius and Decius
Mus were hastily sent against Pyrrhus
Who during the ensuing battle got a wound
While the elephants were killed, and around
Twenty thousand enemies were axed. Only
about four thousand of the Roman soldiery
Died, and Pyrrhus was forced from Tarentum to flee.

Pax displicuit remandatumque Pyrro est a senatu eum cum Romanis, nisi ex Italia recessisset, pacem habere non posse. Tum Romani iusserunt captivos omnes, quos Pyrrus reddiderat, infames haberi, quod armati capi potuissent, nec ante eos ad veterem statum reverti, quam si binorum hostium occisorum spolia retulissent. Ita legatus Pyrri reversus est. A quo cum quaereret Pyrrus, qualem Romam comperisset, Cineas dixit regum se patriam vidisse; scilicet tales illic fere omnes esse, qualis unus Pyrrus apud Epirum et reliquam Graeciam putaretur. Missi sunt contra Pyrrum duces P. Sulpicius et Decius Mus consules. Certamine commisso Pyrrus vulneratus est, elephanti interfecti, viginti milia caesa hostium, et ex Romanis tantum quinque milia; Pyrrus Tarentum fugatus.

Chapter 14

After a year, against King Pyrrhus
Was sent that same envoy, Fabricius,
Who hadn’t been suborned by the King’s smart
Offer of his own Empire’s fourth part.
Then profiting by the contiguity
Of their military camps Pyrrhus’s
Surgeon, in the dead of night, came to his
Tent promising to poison the king in
Exchange for some sort of gratuity.
Fabricius had him bound and sent back to
His Royal Master whose very skin
Had been endangered by the surgeon’s scheme.
Then King Pyrrhus exclaimed, looking up to
Fabricius, “it’s easier to bend a sunbeam
Than push this man away from honesty”
Then the king sailed away to Sicily.
Fabricius having won in succession
The Samnites first and then the Lucani
Marched through Rome in triumphal procession.
Against king Pyrrhus were then sent consuls Manius
Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus.
Curius fought him, wiped out his army,
Compelled him back into the city
Of Tarentum and seized the encampment.
Full twenty-three thousand enemies were killed
On that day: Curius’ consulship was fulfilled
As he obtained a triumphal treatment.
He was the first to take four elephants to
Rome. Anon Pyrrhus left Tarentum too
And was killed in Argo, a Greek settlement.

Interiecto anno contra Pyrrum Fabricius est missus, qui prius inter legatos sollicitari non potuerat, quarta regni parte promissa. Tum, cum vicina castra ipse et rex haberent, medicus Pyrri nocte ad eum venit, promittens veneno se Pyrrum occisurum, si sibi aliquid polliceretur. Quem Fabricius vinctum reduci iussit ad dominum Pyrroque dici quae contra caput eius medicus spopondisset. Tum rex admiratus eum dixisse fertur: "Ille est Fabricius, qui difficilius ab honestate quam sol a cursu suo averti potest. " Tum rex ad Siciliam profectus est. Fabricius victis Lucanis et Samnitibus triumphavit. Consules deinde M. Curius Dentatus et Cornelius Lentulus adversum Pyrrum missi sunt. Curius contra eum pugnavit, exercitum eius cecidit, ipsum Tarentum fugavit, castra cepit. Ea die caesa hostium viginti tria milia. Curius in consulatu triumphavit. Primus Romam elephantos quattuor duxit. Pyrrus etiam a Tarento mox recessit et apud Argos, Graeciae civitatem, occisus est.

Chapter 15

In the four hundred and sixty-first year
Since the Foundation of the City, Caius
Fabius Licinius being consul with Caius
Claudius Canina, there arrived right here
In Rome from Alexandria Ptolomeus’
Ambassadors with peace feelers addressed
To the Romans. They were granted their request.

C. Fabio Licinio C. Claudio Canina consulibus anno urbis conditae quadringentesimo sexagesimo primo legati Alexandrini a Ptolomaeo missi Romam venere et a Romanis amicitiam, quam petierant, obtinuerunt.

Chapter 16

In the consulship of Quintus Ogulnius
And Caius Fabius Pictor the Picenian
Tribes took up arms and went to war but were won
By Publius Sempronius and Appius Claudius,
The next consuls. The victory was
Honoured with a triumphal applause.
Two towns were then founded: in Samnium
Beneventum, and Ariminum
In Gallia, both subject to Roman laws.

Q. Ogulnio C. Fabio Pictore consulibus Picentes bellum commovere et ab insequentibus consulibus P. Sempronio Ap. Claudio victi sunt; et de his triumphatum est. Conditae a Romanis civitates Ariminum in Gallia et Beneventum in Samnio.

Chapter 17

During the consulship of Lucius Julius
Libo and Marcus Atilius Regulus
War was declared, in Apulia, to
The Salentinians who were waylaid
In their town, and the Brundisians too,
Which earned them a triumphal parade.

M. Atilio Regulo L. Iulio Libone consulibus Sallentinis in Apulia bellum indictum est, captique sunt cum civitate simul Brundisini, et de his triumphatum est.

Chapter 18

In the year four hundred and seventy-
Seven, when the name of Rome was already
great, her arms had not yet moved outside
The bounds of the Italian countryside.
Therefore it was in order to make
Their extensive number of citizens known
That the Romans decided to take
A census. Two hundred thousand three hundred
And thirty-four men were the country’s backbone,
Though armed conflicts had been unnumbered
Since the foundation of the City.
Hostilities were first conducted
Against the Africans by Appius Claudius,
During his consulship with Quintus Flaccus.
A battle was fought against them and granted
Was also their triumph after the victory
On the Africans and the King of Sicily.

Anno quadringentesimo septuagesimo septimo, cum iam clarum urbis Romae nomen esset, arma tamen extra Italiam mota non fuerant. Ut igitur cognosceretur, quae copiae Romanorum essent, census est habitus. Tum inventa sunt civium capita ducenta nonaginta duo milia trecenta triginta quattuor, quamquam a condita urbe numquam bella cessassent. Et contra Afros bellum susceptum est primum Ap. Claudio Q. Fulvio consulibus. In Sicilia contra eos pugnatum est et Ap. Claudius de Afris et rege Siciliae Hierone triumphavit.

Chapter 19

In the consulship of Valerius
And Marcus Otacilius Crassus,
A year later, the Romans performed
Great deeds in the island of Sicily.
The acceptance of more that fifty
Towns, protected and transformed
Into clients, like the Catinenses
And the Taurometani. In Sicily
Warlike plans were indeed formed
Against Hiero their King who with all his
Syracusan citizens of quality
Asked the Romans for peace settlements
And gave two hundred silver talents.
In Sicily the Africans were won, therefore
In Rome a triumphal march was granted once more.

Insequenti anno Valerio Marco et Otacilio Crasso consulibus in Sicilia a Romanis res magnae gestae sunt. Tauromenitani, Catinenses et praeterea quinquaginta civitates in fidem acceptae. Tertio anno in Sicilia contra Hieronem, regem Siculorum, bellum paratum est. Is cum omni nobilitate Syracusanorum pacem a Romanis impetravit deditque argenti ducenta talenta. Afri in Sicilia victi sunt et de his secundo Romae triumphatum est.

Chapter 20

In the fifth year of the Punic war against the
Africans, the Romans fought on the seas,
For the first time, in the consulship of Caius
Duilius and Asina (Scipio Cornelius Gnaeus).
They utilized iron-beaked war galleys
Also known as Liburnas. Consul Cornelius
Was ambushed. So, having joined battle, Duilius
Vanquished the Carthaginian leader, and then
Caught thirty-one ships, sank fourteen, took seven
Thousand soldiers prisoner and struck down three
Thousand. Much appreciated was that victory
By the Romans as they had proved to be men
Invincible on the field and on the sea.
In the consulship of Lucius Scipio
And Caius Aquilius Florus, Corsica
Was totally ravaged along with Sardinia
By Scipio who took thousands of captives, so
He was awarded a big triumphal show.

Quinto anno Punici belli, quod contra Afros gerebatur, primum Romani C. Duillio et Cn. Cornelio Asina consulibus in mari dimicaverunt paratis navibus rostratis, quas Liburnas vocant. Consul Cornelius fraude deceptus est. Duillius commisso proelio Carthaginiensium ducem vicit, triginta et unam naves cepit, quattuordecim mersit, septem milia hostium cepit, tria milia occidit. Neque ulla victoria Romanis gratior fuit, quod invicti terra iam etiam mari plurimum possent. C. Aquilio Floro L. Scipione consulibus Scipio Corsicam et Sardiniam vastavit, multa milia inde captivorum adduxit, triumphum egit.

Chapter 21

In the consulship that Manlius Vulsus
Shared with Marcus Atilius Regulus
War was moved onto African soil.
Carthage’s general Hamilcar thus
Vanquished at sea was made to recoil
After losing sixty-four ships (compared to
The Romans who in turn lost twenty-two).
But on first arriving in Clypea,
After their landing in Africa,
They accepted its submission.
The consuls proceeded to Carthage then
Manlius Vulso, after the annihilation
Of many forts, returned to the City
Taking along with him twenty-seven
Thousand captives. Atilius Regulus stayed on
In Africa. He drew up his army
Against the Africans, overcame three
Carthaginian generals in the field,
And slaughtered eighteen thousand enemies.
(Five thousand men he managed to seize,
And besides had eighteen elephants sealed
Off). He also accepted the keys
To seventy-four towns. After their defeat
The Carthaginians sued for peace,
But as Regulus was inclined to treat
Them very harshly they turned for help to
The Lacedaemonians from Greece,
Whose chosen champion was Xantippo who
Gave Regulus, the Roman army’s chief,
A thorough beating and a lot of grief,
Given that out of the whole army
Only two thousand managed to flee.
Five hundred found from death relief
With their general, thirty thousand were slain
And Regulus himself was bound with a chain.

L. Manlio Vulsone M. Atilio Regulo consulibus bellum in Africam translatum est. Contra Hamilcarem, Carthaginiensium ducem, in mari pugnatum victusque est. Nam perditis sexaginta quattuor navibus retro se recepit. Romani viginti duas amiserunt. Sed cum in Africam transissent, primam Clypeam, Africae civitatem, in deditionem acceperunt. Consules usque ad Carthaginem processerunt multisque castellis vastatis Manlius victor Romam rediit et viginti septem milia captivorum reduxit, Atilius Regulus in Africa remansit. Is contra Afros aciem instruxit. Contra tres Carthaginiensium duces dimicans victor fuit, decem et octo milia hostium cecidit, quinque milia cum decem et octo elephantis cepit, septuaginta quattuor civitates in fidem accepit. Tum victi Carthaginienses pacem a Romanis petiverunt. Quam cum Regulus nollet nisi durissimis condicionibus dare, Afri auxilium a Lacedaemoniis petiverunt. Et duce Xanthippo, qui a Lacedaemoniis missus fuerat, Romanorum dux Regulus victus est ultima pernicie. Nam duo milia tantum ex omni Romano exercitu refugerunt, quingenti cum imperatore Regulo capti sunt, triginta milia occisa, Regulus ipse in catenas coniectus.

Chapter 22

It was when Sergius Fulvius Nobiliore
Was consul with Marcus Aemilius Paulus
That in that very capacity the two
Sailed for Africa with a fleet of three
Hundred ships. Consul Aemilius
First broke through the whole African navy,
Sank one hundred and four ships then,
Along with their crews, seized thirty
Vessels, fifteen thousand enemy
soldiers were either killed or penned.
Great was his soldiers’ allotted bounty.
That would have been the moment to keep in check
Africa but for a drought that would suspend
The staying power of the Roman army.
The consuls’ winning fleet suffered a shipwreck,
Sailing back, off the coast of Sicily.
And such was the force of the tempest
That out of all four hundred and sixty
Four vessels there escaped only eighty.
Never before had the sea been so harassed.
Nevertheless the Romans soon repaired two
Hundred, keeping intact their warlike virtue.

M. Aemilio Paulo Ser. Fulvio Nobiliore consulibus ambo Romani consules ad Africam profecti sunt cum trecentarum navium classe. Primum Afros navali certamine superant. Aemilius consul centum et quattuor naves hostium demersit, triginta cum pugnatoribus cepit, quindecim milia hostium aut occidit aut cepit, militem suum ingenti praeda ditavit. Et subacta Africa tunc fuisset, nisi quod tanta fames erat, ut diutius exercitus expectare non posset. Consules cum victrici classe redeuntes circa Siciliam naufragium passi sunt. Et tanta tempestas fuit, ut ex quadringentis sexaginta quattuor navibus tantum octoginta servari potuerint; neque ullo tempore tanta maritima tempestas audita est. Romani tamen statim ducentas naves reparaverunt, neque in aliquo animus his infractus fuit.

Chapter 23

In the consulship of Gnaeus Servilius
Caepio and Caius Sempronius Blaesus,
Both consuls set sail for Africa with two
Hundred and sixty ships. They occupied
A number of cities. But they could not ride
Out a storm and lost their booty of value.
The Romans weren’t pleased: the Senate set aside
All military engagements at sea
Save sixty ship to defend Italy

Cn. Servilius Caepio C. Sempronius Blaesus consules cum ducentis sexaginta navibus ad Africam profecti sunt. Aliquot civitates ceperunt. Praedam ingentem reducentes naufragium passi sunt. Itaque cum continuae calamitates Romanis displicerent, decrevit senatus, ut a maritimis proeliis recederetur et tantum sexaginta naves ad praesidium Italiae salvae essent.

Chapter 24

In the consulship of Lucius Caecilius
Metellus and Caius Furius Placidus,
Metellus took on and won, in Sicily,
The Africans’ general’s numerous
soldiers and his one hundred and twenty-
Six Elephants which, with those still straggling in
His Numidian allies’ lands, he brought within
Rome with great pomp: one hunded and thirty
Beasts that jampacked the streets to capacity.
After these disasters the Carthaginians,
Who then held Regulus in captivity,
Asked him to go to Rome and sue the Romans
For peace talks and at the same time arrange
A program for a prisoner exchange.

L. Caecilio Metello C. Furio Placido consulibus Metellus in Sicilia Afrorum ducem cum centum triginta elephantis et magnis copiis venientem superavit, viginti milia hostium cecidit, sex et viginti elephantos cepit, reliquos errantes per Numidas, quos in auxilium habebat, collegit et Romam deduxit ingenti pompa, cum CXXX elephantorum numerus omnia itinera compleret. Post haec mala Carthaginienses Regulum ducem, quem ceperant, petiverunt, ut Romam proficisceretur et pacem a Romanis obtineret ac permutationem captivorum faceret.

Chapter 25

Once in Rome he was introduced to
The Senate but didn’t act like a true
Roman citizen saying that from the day
He’d been in the Carthaginians’ hands
He’d renounced his Roman Fatherland’s
Rights. His wife’s embrace he thus kept away
And urged the Senate to refuse the peace
Feelers of the Carthaginians who were past
Praying for. It was no use exchanging the massed
Thousands of their prisoners for his short lease
On life and few Roman captives’ liberty.
His aspirations were fulfilled accordingly.
For the Africans, with their prayers for peace,
Found no hearing at all. He himself went
Back to Carthage. The Romans’offer - meant
To let him stay behind in Rome and save
His life - was refused. After being the slave
Of the Africans he could no more be
An honest citizen with dignity.
So he went back to Africa to brave
All kinds of suffering and agony.

Ille Romam cum venisset, inductus in senatum nihil quasi Romanus egit, dixitque se ex illa die, qua in potestatem Afrorum venisset, Romanum esse desisse. Itaque et uxorem a complexu removit et senatui suasit, ne pax cum Poenis fieret; illos enim fractos tot casibus spem nullam habere; se tanti non esse, ut tot milia captivorum propter unum se et senem et paucos, qui ex Romanis capti fuerant, redderentur. Itaque obtinuit. Nam Afros pacem petentes nullus admisit. Ipse Carthaginem rediit, offerentibusque Romanis, ut eum Romae tenerent, negavit se in ea urbe mansurum, in qua, postquam Afris servierat, dignitatem honesti civis habere non posset. Regressus igitur ad Africam omnibus suppliciis extinctus est.

Chapter 26

In the consulship of both Publius Claudius
Pulcher and Lucius Iunius, it was Claudius
Who, having fought against the auspices,
Was vanquished by the Carthaginienses,
As out of two hundred and twenty
Ships he could get away with thirty;
Ninety were captured with their crews and
Several of them were sunk. The other consul too
Lost his fleet in a shipwreck, the army could eschew
Death, though, on the nearby coastal sand.

P. Claudio Pulchro L. Iunio consulibus Claudius contra auspicia pugnavit et a Carthaginiensibus victus est. Nam ex ducentis et viginti navibus cum triginta fugit, nonaginta cum pugnatoribus captae sunt, demersae ceterae. Alius quoque consul naufragio classem amisit, exercitum tamen salvum habuit, quia vicina litora erant.

Chapter 27

In the consulship of both Caius Lutatius
Catulus and Aulus Postumius, Catulus
Was entrusted with the campaign versus
The Africans in the twenty-third year
Of the Punic war. He set sail for Sicily
With three hundred ships. Never did at sea
Such a numerous armada appear.
Lutatius Catulus was on board still suffering
The after-effects of a wound from a preceding
Engagement. The Romans fought with great audacity
In front of Lilybaeum, a city in Sicily,
For sixty-three Carthaginian ships were
Captured, one hundred and twenty-five were
Sunk, thirty-two thousand enemies were
Taken, thirteen thousand were killed and a slew
Of gold and silver pieces were plundered too
By the Romans. Out of the Roman fleet
Twelve vessels were sunk. On the eighth day
Of March (sixth of the Ides, that is) this feat
Of arms took place. The Carthaginians promptly
Sued for peace and were let have their way.
The Carthaginians proceeded to set free
The Roman prisoners in their hands. Then
The Carthaginians asked to be allowed to
Ransom also the Africans who
Had been captured by the Romans, and again
The Senate ordered to directly set free
The prisoners still in public custody;
On the contrary those who were held privately,
Once their captors had been paid the price,
Should go back to Carthage but that ransom’s slice
Should be paid by the Roman State Treasury.

C. Lutatio Catulo A. Postumio Albino consulibus, anno belli Punici vicesimo et tertio Catulo bellum contra Afros commissum est. Profectus est cum trecentis navibus in Siciliam; Afri contra ipsum quadringentas paraverunt. Numquam in mari tantis copiis pugnatum est. Lutatius Catulus navem aeger ascendit; vulneratus enim in pugna superiore fuerat. Contra Lilybaeum, civitatem Siciliae, pugnatum est ingenti virtute Romanorum. Nam LXIII Carthaginiensium naves captae sunt, CXXV demersae, XXXII milia hostium capta, XIII milia occisa, infinitum auri, argenti, praedae in potestatem Romanorum redactum. Ex classe Romana XII naves demersae. Pugnatum est VI Idus Martias. Statim pacem Carthaginienses petiverunt tributaque est his pax. Captivi Romanorum, qui tenebantur a Carthaginiensibus, redditi sunt. Etiam Carthaginienses petiverunt, ut redimi eos captivos liceret, quos ex Afris Romani tenebant. Senatus iussit sine pretio eos dari, qui in publica custodia essent; qui autem a privatis tenerentur, ut pretio dominis reddito Carthaginem redirent atque id pretium ex fisco magis quam a Carthaginiensibus solveretur.

Chapter 28

Both Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius having
Been appointed consuls started by declaring
War on the inhabitants of Falerii
Once an opulent city in Italy.
The consuls within six days swept clean
Their enemies, killing fifteen
Thousand, granting the survivors peace and
Taking possession of half of their land.

Q. Lutatius A. Manlius consules creati bellum Faliscis intulerunt, quae civitas Italiae opulenta quondam fuit. Quod ambo consules intra sex dies, quam venerant, transegerunt XV milibus hostium caesis, ceteris pace concessa, agro tamen ex medietate sublato.

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