BOOK B.C. Embassy of Kineas to Rome. The embassy of Kineas to Rome was celebrated in antiquity and was a favourite topic for rhetorical declama280-275 tion. It is said that he took with him beautiful presents for men and women, but offered them in vain. Rome, which in a later time the Numidian king Jugurtha declared to be ready to sell itself if only a purchaser could be found, was still, as is related, pure and virtuous. It was the time of Manius Curius, the conqueror of the Samnites, who, sitting by his own hearth and eating his simple peasant's food, had proudly rejected the tempting presents of the Samnites; it was the time when C. Cornelius Rufinus was cast out of the senate by the censors because he had silver plate to the weight of ten pounds in his use. And was not Fabricius, the first soldier and statesman of his time, a pattern of simplicity and contentment, and superior to all temptation? What a contrast to the mercenary Greeks, whose greatest patriots and statesmen were publicly accused of bribery, and were compelled to defend themselves against such charges before the public tribunals! But Kineas was a shrewd, experienced negotiator. Where one scheme failed, he tried another. He discovered the point where the stout Romans were vulnerable. He flattered their pride. On the second day after his arrival he knew the names of all the senators and knights, and had something obliging to say to each. He visited the influential men in their houses, to get them secretly to favour his propositions. At length, when he appeared in the senate and made known his commission, when he brought offers of peace and friendship from the powerful king of Epirus, the redoubted warrior, the victor of Heraclea, the senate wavered in its decision; the deliberations lasted many days, and it appeared that the advice of those would prevail whose courage was damped and whose confidence was small. At that critical moment, the blind Appius Claudius, bowed down with age and infirmity, appeared, supported by his sons, in the solemn assembly. 1 Plutarch, Pyrrh., 18. According to Zonaras, however (viii. 3), the attempts at corruption were not fruitless. XVI. 280-275 B.C. He had for some years retired from public life, but his CHAP. haughty temper could not brook the idea that Rome should accept laws from a foreign conqueror. The Claudian pride, which animated him, was the genuine Roman pride, the first national virtue. He summoned all his strength once more to raise his voice in that council which he had so often swayed by his wisdom, and had subdued by his indomitable will. As if from the grave, and as if inspired by the genius of a better time, his words, echoing in the ears of the breathless assembly, scared away all pusillanimous considerations and infused the spirit of resistance which animated the men of Rome when, from the height of the Capitol, they beheld the Gaulish conquerors rioting in the ruins of their town. The speech of Appius Claudius was a monument of a glorious time, the contemplation of which warmed and inspired succeeding generations. It is the first speech of the contents of which there has been preserved a substantially correct report. Later generations believed they possessed even the exact words, and Cicero speaks of it as of a literary composition of acknowledged authenticity.' This view is hardly tenable; but it may be believed that the general purport and some of the arguments of the speech were faithfully preserved in the Claudian family books, and we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of listening to the faint echo which introduces us for the first time into the immediate presence of the most august assembly of the old world. According to the tradition, Appius spoke something as Speech of follows: Hitherto, assembled fathers, I used to mourn Appius Claudius. that I was deprived of the light of the eye; now, however, I should consider myself happy if, in addition to that, I had lost the sense of hearing, that I might not hear the disgraceful counsels which are here publicly proposed, to the shame of the Roman name. How are you changed from your former estate! Whither have your pride and your courage flown? You that boasted you would have opposed 1 Cicero, De Senect., 6; Brutus, 16. BOOK 280-275 B.C. Failure of the embassy. the great Alexander himself, if, in the period of your youth, he had dared to invade Italy; that he would have lost in battle against you the fame of the invincible, and would have found defeat or death in Italy, to the glory of the Roman name, you now show that all this was nothing but vain boasting; for you fear now the Chaonians and Molossians, who have always been the spoil of the Macedonians, and you tremble before Pyrrhus, who passed his life in the service of one of Alexander's satellites. Thus one single misfortune has made you forget what you once were. And you are going to make him who is the author of your shame your friend, together with those who brought him over to Italy. What your fathers won by the sword, you will deliver up to the Lucarians and the Bruttians. What is this but making yourselves servants of the Macedonians? And some of you are not ashamed to call that peace which is really slavery!' When Appius had spoken, the negotiations with Kineas were broken off. He was warned immediately to leave the town, and to inform his king that there could be no idea of peace and friendship between him and the Roman people untill he had left the shores of Italy. That was the answer of a people conquered, but not broken in spirit, a people prepared to stand up for their honour and their greatness, even to the last man. The impression which the Romans made on Kineas is described as very powerful. It is said that he compared the town of Rome to a temple, and the senators to kings. Indeed, the dignity, the calmness, and firmness of the Roman people could not have failed to convince him that the Romans were barbarians of a peculiar type; although in refinement and polish, in art and the higher enjoyments of life below the Greeks, still as citizens and soldiers very superior to them. The day of Heraclea was far from damping their courage. A new army was formed in Rome, probably under Kineas' own eyes, from volunteers, who, full of enthusiasm, poured thither from all parts to fill up the gaps. The consul T. Coruncanius was recalled 量 from Etruria. The Latins and the Italian allies showed no inclination to desert Rome. The colonies, the military bulwarks of Roman power, stood firm. Nothing was tottering in the great edifice. The Romans heard without fear the sounds of the approaching storm. CHAP. XVI. 280-275 B.C. Pyrrhus had begun to move, probably at the same time Advance of at which he had sent Kineas to Rome. He directed his Pyrrhus. march through Lucania to Campania, and tried by a coup de main to seize Capua and Naples. Failing in this, he turned northwards, crossed the Volturnus and the Liris, occupied Fregellæ, and reached, on the Latin road, Anagnia, in the country of the Hernicans. He nowhere met with a friendly reception." He was in an enemy's country, and with every step that he made forwards the difficulties and the dangers of his situation increased. His army, which had been joined by Samnite and Lucanian hordes, was encumbered with spoils and numerous prisoners. It is doubtful whether he was in a condition to venture on a battle with Roman legions; a reverse at such a distance from Tarentum would have been ruin. It is nevertheless probable that not Pyrrhus but the Romans avoided a collision; for they knew that, even without a battle, the hostile army would be com The chronology is uncertain. See Droysen, Hellenismus, ii. 133, Anm. 84. It is not likely that the people of Anagnia received him as a friend. Anagnia had been severely punished for its faithlessness in the third Samnite war, and had most probably been dismantled, like Velitræ (Livy, viii. 14), and like all those rebellious towns which were not changed into Roman colonies and thus secured by Roman garrisons. If, then, Anagnia was an open town, it is absurd to speak of a surrender to Pyrrhus. It was occupied because it could make no resistance. Accordingly nothing is said of its punishment by the Romans after the retreat of Pyrrhus. That Pyrrhus advanced beyond Anagnia as far as Præneste and seized the citadel of this latter town (Appian, iii. 10, 3; Florus, i. 18; Eutropius, ii. 7) is not likely. Præneste was impregnable and no doubt garrisoned by Roman soldiers, for the Romans had in the beginning of the war carried away some Prænestines whose fidelity was suspected and had put them to death. After such severity they could not confide the defence of Præneste to the citizens. If any one town received a Roman garrison, as Zonaras says (viii. 3), on account of its fickleness, it was surely the important town of Præneste which blocked up the way to Rome on the Latin road. A re-conquest of Præneste is accordingly not spoken of, any more than a punishment of Anagnia. III. 280-275 B.C. BOOK pelled to evacuate Latium. They confined themselves to harassing the enemy in the flank and rear. On all sides there appeared newly formed legions, so that Pyrrhus exclaimed in despair that he had to fight with the Hydra. Still the Romans ventured on no attack. The enemy marched with their spoils to Campania, where they passed the winter. Pyrrhus went thence to Tarentum. Renewed negotiations for peace. After the termination of the campaign, which, in spite of the important events, had brought no decision, both sides. made their preparations for the anticipated struggle of the ensuing year. The losses of the Romans in dead, wounded, and prisoners had been great. They now sent an embassy to Pyrrhus to treat with him respecting the exchange or ransom of the prisoners. Pyrrhus had not yet given up the hope of concluding peace, and he made use of the presence of the Roman ambassadors to make new proposals. His negotiations with Fabricius, the head of the embassy, supplied the inventors and collectors of anecdotes with favourite topics wherewith to eulogise in the usual manner the civic virtues of the Romans. Pyrrhus, who, as a Greek, naturally thought every man had his price, offered Fabricius, it is said, a large sum of money, from mere friendship and respect, which, however, Fabricius, proud in his poverty, rejected; it is even said that Pyrrhus wished him to enter into his service.1 At last he put his presence of mind to the test by placing his largest elephant behind a curtain and then causing the curtain to be drawn, so that Fabricius found himself immediately under the monster's trunk and tusks. But this test also the undaunted Roman stood: he only smiled when the elephant began to roar. While Roman writers amused themselves with such silly stories, they neglected to investigate and to report the truth about the result of the embassy. According to some of them, Pyrrhus released all the prisoners without There is hardly any degree of absurdity which, in the eyes of some Roman historians, did not seem deserving of credit. Eutropius (ii. 8) coolly relates that Pyrrhus offered Fabricius the fourth part of his kingdom. 2 Livy, epit., xiii. Florus, i. 18. Eutropius, ii. 7. Zonaras, viii. 4. |