by Plutarch
Still, it signals a significant alteration in Flamininus’ behaviour. Let us recur to chapter 12. There, as we have seen, Plutarch describes the expansion of Rome’s power throughout Greece in the aftermath of Philip’s defeat. He also emphasizes that Flamininus did not see himself as an agent of Roman encroachment: ‘The result was that in a short time, perhaps with God’s assistance, everything was within their power. But Titus himself took most pride of all in the freeing of Greece.’ And so he remains their advocate, during and after the war with Antiochus, even in the case of the disloyal Aetolians and Chalcidians (chs. 15–16).19 By the end of his Life, however, he has either failed in his devotion to ‘true honour’, sacrificing Hannibal on the altar of his ambition, or he has lost his former individuality and commitment to freedom, caught up in the inexorable advance of Roman imperialism.
Perhaps this is less than fully surprising. After all, for all his fluency in Greek and his advocacy of Greek freedom, Flamininus was a Roman and not a Greek. It is often observed how successfully Plutarch, in composing his two Lives dealing with contemporaries who were active in the same theatre, avoids covering the same topics or events twice. There is in fact only one episode common to both Lives: Flamininus’ decision to terminate the war against Nabis, an intertextual moment that is signalled by its repetition of Flamininus’ jealousy of Philopoemen. In each Life, an exasperated and puzzled Flamininus wonders why a Roman consul and a champion of Greek freedom did not deserve greater praise than ‘this Arcadian fellow’ (Philopoemen 15, Flamininus 13). Flamininus is perplexed, however, because he does not understand what is at stake for the Greeks in their liberation by Rome. When he declares the freedom of the Greeks (chs. 10–11), the jubilant response of the audience is accompanied by an account of the Greeks’ reflections on their own history and on their present circumstances, a Plutarchan innovation that diverges from his sources: both Polybius and Livy, in their versions of the proclamation, dilate on Roman virtue and Roman power, not on the feelings of the people they liberated.20 In Plutarch, by contrast, although the Greeks are truly grateful to the Romans, they also clearly regret their missed opportunities, the failures of their past and their current condition, which requires the goodwill of a foreign power. This atmosphere is important in both Lives, and it helps to explain Flamininus’ incomprehension. It is true that he brought the Greeks their liberation from Macedon, but Philopoemen is a champion of Greek independence – on account of whom the Greeks ‘thought of Greece’s ancient glory, and began to hope for it once more. Their belief in themselves now recaptured something of that spirit of old’ (Philopoemen 11).21 For all his Hellenism, Flamininus simply cannot see his role in Greece from the Greeks’ perspective. He remains a foreigner.
Sources
Plutarch’s most important sources for this Life were Polybius (Books 18–23) and Livy (Books 32–40). He also relies on Cicero, especially Cicero’s essay On Old Age. Plutarch cites the first-century BC annalist Valerius Antias (see Introduction to Romulus) at chapter 18 and refers to his version of Hannibal’s death at chapter 21, but probably did not consult him directly (in each case Valerius’ account is reported by Livy). More difficult to assess is Plutarch’s use of Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus, who was consul in 129 BC and celebrated a triumph: he wrote a work on the Roman magistracies as well as a history, the scope and scale of which are irrecoverable.22 Plutarch cites him in chapter 14. Other sources seem to lie behind Plutarch’s text, which includes material that cannot certainly be traced back to any of the sources listed so far. But these sources are beyond recognition.
Life of Titus Flamininus
[c. 229–174 BC]
1. The man we are setting beside Philopoemen is Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Anyone who wishes can gauge his appearance from the bronze statue in Rome, which is positioned next to the great Apollo from Carthage, opposite the Circus,1 and is identified by a Greek inscription. As for his character, he is said to have been swift and sharp in his responses to people, and this came out both in the way he showed anger and in his granting of favours; but the quality took different forms in each case. When it was a question of punishment, his decisions were light ones, and he readily abandoned them; when it came to acts of favour, he would carry them through, and kept up his goodwill to the people he had helped, just as if they had been the ones to do the helping and he the one to benefit; when he had given people favours, he was eager to continue attending to their interests and safety, treating them just as if they were his most prized possessions.
His ambition for honour and glory was unsurpassed, he aspired to perform the noblest and greatest of deeds by his own efforts, and so he took more pleasure in those who wanted help than in those who could do him favours. The one group he regarded as the material on which his virtue could work, the other as if they were his rivals for glory.
His education was one in practical soldiering, for Rome at the time was fighting many great contests, and her young men were taught from the outset to command by serving on campaign. First he served as military tribune under the consul Marcellus in the Hannibalic War.2 Marcellus was ambushed and killed,3 but Titus was appointed to govern the territory of Tarentum and the city itself after it had been captured for the second time.4 Here he won as good a reputation for his justice as he had for his military record, and for this reason, when colonies were being dispatched to the two cities of Narnia and Cosa,5 he was chosen to be their leader and founder.
2. It was this success in particular which inspired him to miss out the intermediate offices which young men usually held – the tribunate, praetorship and aedileship6 – and to think himself ready for the consulship itself; and he came down to the forum as a candidate, supported by his followers from the colonies. The tribunes Fulvius and Manius7 objected. It was a monstrous thing, they said, for a young man to elbow his way into the highest office against all laws and precedents;8 it was as if he was still uninitiated in the first rites and mysteries of the state. The senate left it to the people’s vote, and the people elected him consul together with Sextus Aelius.9 He was not yet thirty years old.10
The lot brought him the war against Philip and the Macedonians,11 and it was a stroke of luck for the Romans that this issue and this people fell to him. They did not call for a commander whose hallmark was always war and violence, but were more susceptible to persuasion and to charm. The Macedonian realm gave Philip an adequate spearhead for battle; but if the war dragged on, the whole fighting force depended on Greece. Greece was their strength, their supplier, their refuge, their entire machine: if the Greeks could not be detached from Philip, the war would certainly not be a question of a single battle. At the time Greece had little experience of Rome, and this was their first practical exposure.12 What would have happened if the commander had not been naturally a fine man, one who turned more readily to words than to war, one who carried conviction as he met people, one who was unaggressive to those he met, one who strained for justice? Greece would certainly not have been so ready to accept the rule of foreigners13 instead of those they knew. That emerges clearly if we look at the man’s achievements.
3. Titus saw that his predecessors in command, first Sulpicius14 and then Publius Villius,15 had invaded Macedon late in the season, and their slow start to the war had forced them to exhaust their efforts in skirmishing for positions and sparring with Philip over routes and provisions. This, he decided, was a mistake. Those men had spent their year at home with their honours and their politics, and had only come out to campaign at the end; but he was not going to try to gain an additional year in office, one of the consulship and one of warfare: his ambition was to combine the two and provide a term of office which contributed actively to the war. Thus he abandoned those honours of the city and his presidential functions; he asked the senate to let him have the services of his brother Lucius16 as naval commander, and they agreed; he took as his spearhead those of Scipio’s army who were still fit and willing, the conquerors of Hasdrubal in Spain and Hannibal himself
in Africa,17 3,000 in number,18 and he crossed safely to Epirus.19
There he found Publius with his army encamped against Philip, who was defending the approaches around the River Apsus20 and the Narrows.21 Philip had occupied this position for some considerable time, and Publius was making no progress, such was the strength of the enemy position. Titus took over the army, sent Publius away and examined the terrain. The position is as naturally strong as the Narrows at Tempe,22 though it does not have such beautiful trees, such green foliage or such pleasant haunts and meadows. There are massive, towering mountains which converge to produce one vast deep ravine: through this the Apsus runs, and it comes to resemble the Peneius in its appearance and the speed of its current, in that its waters cover the rest of the valley but leave a precipitous cutting and narrow path next to the river’s flow. In normal circumstances it would be difficult for an army to negotiate; once guarded, it would become utterly impossible.
4. There were some who tried to take Titus on a circuitous route through Dassaretis by Lyncus, where there was an easy and straightforward road.23 But Titus was nervous of moving too far away from the sea, into terrain which was difficult and poor in crops. With Philip avoiding battle, there was a danger that the Romans would run into difficulties of provisioning, and Titus would be forced to retreat to the sea, as unsuccessful as his predecessor. So he decided to launch an attack with all his power, and try to force an entry through the gorge.24 Philip was occupying the mountains with his phalanx. Javelins and arrows rained down on the Romans from everywhere on both flanks. There were clashes and the fighting was fierce. Men were falling on both sides. No end of the war was in sight.
Then some local herdsmen25 came up. They told Titus of a path which the enemy had overlooked, and they undertook to guide the army along it and to bring it to the tops of the mountains in two days’ time. They provided someone to vouch for their identity and good faith, Charops son of Machatas,26 a prominent man of Epirus and a good friend of the Romans, even though his fear of Philip had led him to keep his collaboration quiet. That persuaded Titus, and he sent one military tribune with 4,000 infantry and 300 cavalry. The shepherds led the way in chains.27 During the daytime they rested, concealing themselves in caves or woods; at night they marched on, by the light of the moon, which was then at its fullest.28
Once Titus had sent them off, he rested the army for the intervening days, except for drawing the enemy off with some skirmishing; but when the day came on which the turning party was due to appear on the mountain tops, Titus moved his whole force at dawn,29 both heavy- and light-armed. He divided his army into three. He himself led his cohorts in columns into the narrowest part of the gorge, along by the river itself. The Macedonian missiles came down; he grappled with the enemy which met him on the difficult terrain; meanwhile the other two divisions tried to join the attack on either side, and eagerly pressed on to the rough ground.
The sun came up, and a gentle spiral of smoke could be seen: nothing very obvious, rather like a mountain mist rising up in the distance and gently becoming apparent. The enemy did not see it – it was to their rear, where the heights had already been taken; the Romans were uncertain about it, as amid such hard fighting they were so eager to interpret it according to their wishes. But it grew stronger and stronger, and gradually became a black cloud; now it was big enough to be clearly a beacon of good news. The Romans raised a cry, pressed on powerfully and forced the enemy back into the roughest places; the others answered their cry from the enemy rear, on the heights.
5. All the enemy turned immediately to headlong flight,30 though no more than 2,000 were killed, for the rough nature of the land ruled out any pursuit. But the Romans plundered the money, tents and slaves of the beaten army and took possession of the Narrows, then marched through Epirus, but with extraordinary discipline and restraint. They were far from their ships and the sea. They had not received their monthly ration of grain and had no facilities for buying any. Yet they still refrained from ravaging the territory, despite all the abundance of booty which it offered.
This was because Titus had heard what Philip was doing. He was going through Thessaly like a man in retreat, driving the inhabitants out of the cities into the mountains, burning the cities, offering to his men as plunder what was too heavy or plentiful for the inhabitants to remove: it was as if he was already ceding the country to the Romans.31 That stirred Titus’ ambition, and he told his men to take care of the country on their march as if it had been handed over to them as their own. The results of that discipline were quickly visible: as soon as they reached Thessaly the cities came over to him,32 the Greeks south of Thermopylae were eager to see him and full of excited enthusiasm,33 and the Achaeans renounced their alliance with Philip and voted to join the Romans in making war;34 the Opuntians35 too, even though the Aetolians were then enthusiastic allies of the Romans and were asking to take over their city and guard it, refused the request, and sent for Titus and entrusted themselves wholly to his good faith.
Pyrrhus’ remark is still recalled, when from a lookout point he first caught sight of the Roman army in battle array:36 these barbarians’ line of battle, he said, does not look as barbarian as all that. When people first met Titus they had to speak in similar terms. They had heard from the Macedonians that a man was approaching in command of a barbarian army, conquering and enslaving everything in arms; then they met a person who was young in years, welcoming in appearance, speaking Greek like a native and a lover of true honour. They were wholly enchanted, and they went off and filled the cities with goodwill for him: they had, they thought, their champion of freedom.37 Then Philip seemed ready to come to terms, and Titus met him and offered him peace and alliance, on condition that he allowed the Greeks their independence and removed his garrisons; and Philip refused.38 At that point even Philip’s supporters came to the view that the Romans had not come to fight the Greeks, but to fight the Macedonians on the Greeks’ behalf.
6. The rest of Greece came over to him without any trouble, with one exception.39 He was making his way peaceably through Boeotia when he was met by the leading men of Thebes. They favoured the Macedonians because of Brachyllas,40 but were also full of welcoming words and honour for Titus; the presumption was that they were allies of both sides. He responded to them in friendly terms and greeted them warmly; then he went slowly on his way, sometimes asking questions and gathering information, sometimes telling them things in return, distracting them deliberately until his soldiers could come up from their march.41
Then, at the head of his men, he went into the city along with the Thebans. They were anything but happy with this – but they did not like to stop him, given that he was followed by a considerable number of soldiers. Once Titus was inside, he spoke as if there were no question of the city being already in his power, and he tried to persuade them to come over to the Romans. King Attalus42 was there too, and joined in the appeals and encouragement to the Thebans. It seems that Attalus was ambitious to play the enthusiastic speaker for Titus – too enthusiastic, indeed, for a man of his age. Some fit of giddiness or flux came over him while he was speaking, and he lost his senses and fell. Soon after he returned by ship to Asia, where he died. The Boeotians joined Rome.
7. Philip now dispatched ambassadors to Rome, and Titus too sent representatives of his own,43 whose object was to get the senate to vote him an additional period in command, if the war was to continue; if not, to ensure that the peace came about through Titus’ efforts.44 For he was strongly ambitious, and his fear was that he might lose the glory if another general were sent to take over the war. His friends proved successful, ensuring both that Philip did not get what he wanted and that Titus retained command of the war.
When news of the decision arrived, Titus, agitated and hopeful, immediately moved into Thessaly to fight Philip. His force numbered more than 26,000 men, including an Aetolian detachment of 6,000 infantry and 400 cavalry. Philip’s army was of a similar size.45 The two armies closed on one ano
ther and came to Scotussa;46 that was where they were to risk conflict. Yet the armies were not as fearful of meeting one another as one would expect. It was more that they were filled with vigour and ambition. The Romans relished the prospect of defeating the Macedonians, whom Alexander47 had made such a byword among them for formidable strength and power; the Macedonians thought that the Romans were greater than the Persians, and so victory here would show Philip to be a more brilliant general than Alexander. Thus Titus encouraged his men to show themselves fine and vigorous warriors: here they would be fighting in the fairest of theatres, in Greece, against the best of adversaries.48 And Philip? It may have been bad luck, it may have been negligence born of the urgency of the moment; anyway, there was a high burial mound outside his camp,49 and he climbed onto this to make his speech. He began with the usual material which orators use to encourage troops before battle, but there was great dispirit everywhere because of the bad omen. Philip, disturbed, held off battle for that day.