[12] (1) Thereafter all Achaia was aroused to war though the greater part of it had been crushed, as I have already said, by the valour and arms of this same Metellus Macedonicus. The Corinthians, in particular, were the instigators of it, going so far as to heap grave insults upon the Romans, and Mummius, the consul, was appointed to take charge of the war there.
(2) About the same time the senate resolved to destroy Carthage, rather because the Romans were ready to believe any rumour concerning the Carthaginians, than because the reports were credible. (3) Accordingly at this same time Scipio Aemilianus was elected consul, though but a candidate for the aedileship. He was a man whose virtues resembled those of his grandfather, Publius Africanus, and of his father Lucius Paulus (he was, as has been already said, the son of Paulus, and had been adopted by the son of Publius Scipio) — endowed with all the qualities essential to a good soldier and a good citizen, the most eminent man of his day both in native ability and acquired knowledge, who in his whole life was guilty of no act, word, or thought that was not praiseworthy. He had already received in Spain the mural crown, and in Africa the corona obsidionalis for his bravery, and while in Spain he had challenged and slain an enemy of great stature though himself a man of but ordinary physical strength. (4) The war against Carthage begun by the consuls two years previously he now waged with greater vigour, and destroyed to its foundations the city (5) which was hateful to the Roman name more because of jealousy of its power than because of any offence at that time. He made Carthage a monument to his valour — a city which had been a monument to his grandfather’s clemency. Carthage, after standing for six hundred and seventy-two years, was destroyed in the consulship of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Mummius, one hundred and seventy-three years from the present date. (6) This was the end of Carthage, the rival of the power of Rome, with whom our ancestors began the conflict in the consulship of Claudius and Fulvius two hundred and ninety-two years before you entered upon your consulship, Marcus Vinicius. Thus for one hundred and twenty years there existed between these two people either war, or preparations for war or a treacherous peace. (7) Even after Rome had conquered the world she could not hope for security so long as the name of Carthage remained as of a city still standing: to such an extent does hatred begotten of conflict outlast the fear which caused it; it is not laid aside even when the foe is vanquished nor does the object of it cease to be hated until it has ceased to be.
XIII
Ante triennium quam Carthago deleretur, M. Cato, perpetuus diruendae eius auctor, L Censorino M. Manilio consulibus mortem obiit. Eodem anno, quo Carthago concidit, L. Mummius Corinthum post annos nongentos quinquanginta duos (CMLII), quam ab Alete Hippotis filio erat condita, funditus eruit. Uterque imperator devictae a se gentis nomine honoratus, alter Africanus, alter appellatus est Achaicus; nec quisquam ex novis hominibus prior Mummio cognomen virtute partum vindicavit. Diversi imperatoribus mores, diversa fuere studia: quippe Scipio tam elegans liberalium studiorum omnisque doctrinae et auctor et admirator fuit, ut Polybium Panaetiumque, praecellentes ingenio viros, domi militiaeque secum habuerit. Neque enim quisquam hoc Scipione elegantius intervalla negotiorum otio dispunxit semperque aut belli aut pacis serviit artibus: semper inter arma ac studia versatus aut corpus periculis aut animum disciplinis exercuit. Mummius tam rudis fuit, ut capta Corintho cum maximorum artificum perfectas manibus tabulas ac statuas in Italiam portandas locaret, iuberet praedici conducentibus, si eas perdidissent, novas eos reddituros. 5 Non tamen puto dubites, Vinici, quin magis pro re publica fuerit manere adhuc rudem Corinthiorum intellectum quam in tantum ea intellegi, et quin hac prudentia illa imprudentia decori publico fuerit convenientior.
[13] (1) Cato, the constant advocate of her destruction, died three years before the fall of Carthage, in the consulship of Lucius Censorinus and Manius Manilius. In the same year in which Carthage fell Lucius Mummius destroyed Corinth to her very foundations, nine hundred and fifty-two years after her founding by Aletes, son of Hippos. (2) The two conquerors were honoured by the names of the conquered races. The one was surnamed Africanus, the other Achaicus. Before Mummius no new man earned for himself a cognomen won by military glory.
(3) The two commanders differed in their characters as in their tastes. Scipio was a cultivated patron and admirer of liberal studies and of every form of learning, and kept constantly with him, at home and in the field, two men of eminent genius, Polybius and Panaetius. No one ever relieved the duties of an active life by a more refined use of his intervals of leisure than Scipio, or was more constant in his devotion to the arts either of war or peace. Ever engaged in the pursuit of arms or his studies, he was either training his body by exposing it to dangers or his mind by learning. (4) Mummius was so uncultivated that when, after the capture of Corinth, he was contracting for the transportation to Italy of pictures and statues by the hands of the greatest artists, he gave instructions that the contractors should be warned that if they lost them, they would have to replace them by new ones. Yet I do not think, Vinicius, that you would hesitate to concede that it would have been more useful to the state for the appreciation of Corinthian works of art to have remained uncultivated to the present day, than that they will be appreciated to the extent to which they now are, and that the ignorance of those days was more conducive to the public weal than our present artistic knowledge.
XIV
Cum facilius cuiusque rei in unam contracta species quam divisa temporibus oculis animisque inhaereat, statui priorem huius voluminis posterioremque partem non inutili rerum notitia in artum contracta distinguere atque huic loco inserere, quae quoque tempore post Romam a Gallis captam deducta sit colonia iussu senatus; nam militarium et causae et auctores ex ipsarum praefulgent nomine. Huic rei per idem tempus civitates propagatas auctumque Romanum nomen communione iuris haud intempestive subtexturi videmur. Post septem annos quam Galli urbem ceperant, Sutrium colonia deducta est et post annum Setia novemque interiectis annis Nepe, deinde interpositis duobus et triginta Aricini in civitatem recepti. Abhinc annos autem trecentos et sexaginta, Sp. Postumio et Vetuno Calvino consulibus, Campanis data est civitas partique Samnitium sine suffragio, et eodem anno Cales deducta colonia. Interiecto deinde triennio Fundani et Formiani in civitatem recepti, eo ipso anno, quo Alexandria condita est. Insequentibusque consulibus a Sp. Postumio et Philone Publilio censoribus Acerranis data civitas. Et post triennium Tarracina deducta colonia interpositoque quadriennio Luceria ac deinde interiecto triennio Suessa Aurunca et Saticula, Interamnaque post biennium. Decem deinde hoc munere anni vacaverunt: tunc Sora atque Alba deductae coloniae et Carseoli post biennium. At Q. Fabio quintum et Decio Mure quartum consulibus, quo anno Pyrrhus regnare coepit, Sinuessam Minturnasque missi coloni, post quadriennium Venusiam, interiectoque biennio M. Curio et Rufino Cornelio consulibus Sabinis sine suffragio data civitas: id actum ante annos ferme trecentos et viginti. At Cosam et Paestum abhinc annos ferme trecentos Fabio Dorsone et Claudio Canina consulibus, interiectoque quinquennio Sempronio Sopho et Appio Caeci filio consulibus Ariminum et Beneventum coloni missi et suffragii ferendi ius Sabinis datum. At initio primi belli Punici Firmum et Castrum colonis occupata, et post annum Aesernia postque septem et decem annos Aesulum et Alsium Fregenaeque post biennium proximoque anno Torquato Sempronioque consulibus Brundisium et post triennium Spoletium, quo anno Floralium ludorum factum est initium. Postque biennium deducta Valentia et sub adventum in Italiam Hannibalis Cremona atque Placentia.
[14] (1) Inasmuch as related facts make more impression upon the mind and eye when grouped together than when they are given separately in their chronological sequence, I have decided to separate the first part of this work from the second by a useful summary, and to insert in this place an account, with the date, of each colony founded by order of the senate since the capture of Rome by the Gauls; for, in the case of the military colonies, their very names reveal their origins and their founders. And it will perhaps not seem out of place, if, in this connexion, we weave into our history the various ex
tensions of the citizenship and the growth of the Roman name through granting to others a share in its privileges.
(2) Seven years after the capture of the city by the Gauls a colony was founded at Sutrium, another a year later at Setia, and another after an interval of nine years at Nepe. Thirty-two years later the Aricians were admitted to the citizenshi Three hundred and sixty years from the present date, in the consulship of Spurius Postumius and Veturius Calvinus, the citizenship without the right of voting was given to the Campanians and a portion of the Samnites, and in the same year a colony was established at Cales. Then, after an interval of three years, the people of Fundi and of Formiae were admitted to the citizenship, in the very year of the founding of Alexandria. (4) In the following year the citizenship was granted to the inhabitants of Acerra by the censors Spurius Postumus and Philo Publilius. Three years later a colony was established at Tarracina, four years afterwards another at Luceria; others three years later at Suessa Aurunca and Saticula, and another two years after these at Interamna. (5) After that the work of colonization was suspended for ten years. Then the colonies of Sora and Alba were founded, and two years later that of Carseoli. (6) But in the fifth consulship of Quintus Fabius, and the fourth of Decius Mus, the year in which King Pyrrhus began his reign, colonists were sent to Minturnae and Sinuessa, and four years afterwards to Venusia. After an interval of two years the citizenship without the right of suffrage was given to the Sabines in the consulship of Manius Curius and Rufinus Cornelius. This event took place three hundred and twenty years ago. (7) In the consulship of Fabius Dorso and Claudius Canina, three hundred years before the present date, colonies were established at •Cosa and Paestum. After an interval of five years, in the consulship of Sempronius Sophus and Appius, the son of Appius the Blind, colonists were sent to Ariminum and Beneventum and the right of suffrage was granted to the Sabines. (8) At the outbreak of the First Punic War Firmum and Castrum were occupied by colonies, a year later Aesernia, Aefulum and •Alsium seventeen years later, and Fregenae two years afterward. Brundisium was established in the next year in the consulship of Torquatus and Sempronius, Spoletium three years afterwards in the year in which the •Floralia were instituted. Two years afterwards a colony was established at Valentia, and Cremona and Placentia were established just before Hannibal’s arrival in Italy.
XV
Deinde neque dum Hannibal in Italia moratur, neque proximis post excessum eius annis vacavit Romanis colonias condere, cum esset in bello conquirendus potius miles quam dimittendus et post bellum vires refovendae magis quam spargendae. Cn. autem Manlio Voisone et Fulvio Nobiliore consulibus Bononia deducta colonia abhinc annos ferme ducentos septendecim, et post quadriennium Pisaurum ac Potentia interiectoque triennio Aquileia et Gravisca et post quadriennium Luca. Eodem temporum tractu, quamquam apud quosdam ambigitur, Puteolos Salernumque et Buxentum missi coloni, Auximum autem in Picenum abhinc annos ferme centum octoginta quinque, ante triennium quam Cassius censor a Lupercali in Palatium versus theatrum facere instituit, cui in eo moliendo eximia civitatis severitas et consul Scipio restitere, quod ego inter clarissima publicae voluntatis argumenta numeraverim. Cassio autem Longino et Sextio Calvino, qui Sallues apud aquas, quae ab eo Sextiae appellantur, devicit, consulibus Fabrateria deducta est abhinc annos ferme centum quinquaginta tris. Et post annum Scolacium Minervium, Tarentum Neptunia, Carthagoque in Africa, prima, ut praediximus, extra Italiam colonia condita est. De Dertona ambigitur, Narbo autem Martius in Gallia, Porcio Marcioque consulibus, abhinc annos circiter centum quadraginta sex colonia deducta est. Post duodeviginti annos in Bagiennis Eporedia, Mario sextum Valerioque Flacco consulibus. Neque facile memoriae mandaverim quae, nisi militans, post hoc tempus deducta sit.
[15] (1) Thereafter, during Hannibal’s stay in Italy, and in the next few years subsequent to his departure, the Romans had no leisure for the founding of colonies, since, while the war lasted, they had to find soldiers, rather than muster them out, and, after it was over, the strength of the city needed to be revived and concentrated rather than to be dispersed. (2) But, about two hundred and seventeen years ago, in the consulship of Gnaeusº Manlius Volso and Fulvius Nobilior, a colony was established at Bononia, others four years later at Pisaurum and Potentia, others three years later still at Aquileia and •Gravisca, and another four years afterwards at Luca. (3) About the same time, although the date is questioned by some, colonists were sent to Puteoli, Salernum, and Buxentum, and to Auximum in Picenum, one hundred and eighty-five years ago, three years before Cassius the censor began the building of a theatre beginning at the •Lupercal and facing the Palatine. But the remarkable austerity of the state and Scipio the consul successfully opposed him in its building, an incident which I regard as one of the clearest indications of the attitude of the people of that time. (4) In the consulship of Cassius Longinus and Sextius Calvinus — the Sextius who defeated the Sallues at the waters which are called Aquae Sextiae from his name — Fabrateria was founded about one hundred and fifty-three years before the present date, and in the next year Scolacium Minervium, Tarentum Neptunia, and Carthage in Africa — the first colony founded outside of Italy, as already stated. (5) In regard to Dertona the date is in question. A colony was established at Narbo Martius in Gaul about one hundred and forty-six years ago in the consulship of Porcius and Marcius. Eighteen years later Eporedia was founded in the country of the Bagienni in the consulship of Marius, then consul for the sixth time, and Valerius Flaccus.
It would be difficult to mention any colony founded after this date, except the military colonies.
XVI
Cum haec particula operis velut formam propositi excesserit, quamquam intellego mihi in hac tam praecipiti festinatione, quae me rotae pronive gurgitis ac verticis modo nusquam patitur consistere, paene magis necessaria praetereunda quam supervacua amplectenda, nequeo tamen temperare mihi, quin rem saepe agitatam animo meo neque ad liquidum ratione perductam signem stilo. Quis enim abunde mirari potest, quod eminentissima cuiusque professionis ingenia in eandem formam et in idem artati temporis congruere spatium, et quemadmodum clausa capso aliove saepto diversi generis animalia nihilo minus separata alienis in unum quodque corpus congregantur, ita cuiusque clari operis capacia ingenia in similitudine et temporum et profectuum semet ipsa ab aliis separaverunt? Una neque multorum annorum spatio divisa aetas per divini spiritus viros, Aeschylum, Sophoclen Euripiden, inlustravit tragoediam; una priscam illam et veterem sub Cratino Aristophaneque et Eupolide comoediam; ac novam comicam Menander aequalesque eius aetatis magis quam operis, Philemo ac Diphilus, et invenere intra paucissimos annos neque imitandam reliquere. Philosophorum quoque ingenia Socratico ore defluentia omnium, quos pauco ante enumeravimus, quanto post Platonis Aristotelisque mortem floruere spatio? Quid ante Isocratem, quid post eius auditores eorumque discipulos clarum in oratoribus fuit? Adeo quidem artatum angustiis temporum, ut nemo memoria dignus alter ab altero videri nequiverint.
[16] (1) Although this portion of my work has already, as it were, outgrown my plan, and although I am aware that in my headlong haste — which, just like a revolving wheel or a down-rushing and eddying stream, never suffers me of stop — I am almost obliged to omit matters of essential importance rather than to include unessential details, yet I cannot refrain from noting a subject which has often occupied my thoughts but has never been clearly reasoned out. (2) For who can marvel sufficiently that the most distinguished minds in a branch of human achievement have happened to adopt the same form of effort, and to have fallen within the same narrow space of time? Just as animals of different species when shut in the same pen or other enclosure still segregate themselves from those which are not of their kind, and gather together each in its own group, so the minds that have had the capacity for distinguished achievement of each kind have set themselves apart from the rest by doing like things in the same period of time. (3) A single epoch, and that only of a few years’ duration, gave lustre to tragedy through three men of divine inspiration, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
So, with Comedy, a single age brought to perfection that early form, the Old Comedy, through the agency of Cratinus, Aristophanes, and Eupolis; while Menander, and Philemon and Diphilus, his equals in age rather than in performance, within the space of a very few years invented the New Comedy and left it to defy imitation. (4) The great philosophers, too, who received their inspiration from the lips of Socrates — their names we gave a moment ago — how long did they flourish after the death of Plato and of Aristotle? (5) What distinction was there in oratory before Isocrates, or after the time of his disciples and in turn of their pupils? So crowded were they into a brief epoch that there were no two worthy of mention who could not have seen each other.
Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus Page 42