11.
This letter having been read they decreed, that the consul Aurelius should order the army which he had appointed to assemble on a certain day in Etruria, to attend him on the same day at Ariminum;
[2]
and should either go in person, if the public business would permit, to suppress the tumult of the Gauls, or write to the praetor Lucius Furius, that, as soon as
[3??]
the legions from Etruria came to him, he should send five thousand of the allies to guard that place in the mean time, and should himself proceed to relieve the colony from the siege.
[4]
They also determined, that ambassadors should be sent to Carthage, and also into Numidia, to Masinissa: to Carthage, to announce that “their countryman, Hamilcar, having been left in Gaul, (either with a part of the army formerly commanded by Hasdrubal, or with that of Mago —they
[5]
did not with certainty know which,) was waging war, contrary to the treaty. That he had excited the armies of the Gauls and Ligurians to arms against the Roman people.
[6]
That, if they wished for peace, they must recall him, and give him up to the Roman people.” They were ordered at the same time to tell them, that “all the deserters had not been sent back; that a great part of them were said to appear openly in Carthage, who ought to be sought after, and surrendered according to the treaty.”
[7]
Such was the message to the Carthaginians. To Masinissa they were charged with congratulations, on his “having not only recovered the kingdom of his father, but enlarged it by the acquisition of the most flourishing parts of Syphax's territories.”
[8]
They were ordered also to acquaint him, that “a war had been undertaken against Philip, because he had given aid to
[9??]
the Carthaginians, while, by the injuries which he offered to the allies of the Roman people, he had obliged them to send fleets and armies into Greece, while Italy was blazing with war;
[10]
and that by thus making them separate their forces, had been the principal cause of their being so late passing over into Africa; and to request him to send to that war supplies of Numidian horsemen.”
[11]
Ample presents were given them to be carried to the king; vases of gold and silver, a purple robe, and a tunic adorned with palms of purple, an ivory sceptre, and a robe of state, with a curule [p. 1352]chair.
[12]
They were also directed to assure him, that if he deemed any thing further requisite to confirm and enlarge his kingdom, the Roman people, in return for his good services, would exert their utmost zeal to effect it.
[13]
At this time, too, ambassadors from Vermina, son of Syphax, came to the senate apologizing for his mistaken conduct, on account of his youth and want of judgment, and throwing all the blame on the deceitful policy of the Carthaginians:
[14]
adding, that as Masinissa had from an enemy become a friend to the Romans, so Vermina would also use his best endeavours that he should not be outdone in offices of friendship to the Roman people, either by Masinissa, or by any other; and requesting that he might receive from the senate the title of king, friend, and ally."
[15]
The answer given to these ambassadors was, that “not only his father Syphax, from a friend and ally, had on a sudden, without any reason, become an enemy to the Roman people, but that he himself had made his first essay of manhood in bearing arms against them.
[16]
He must, therefore, sue to the Roman people for peace, before he could expect to be acknowledged king, ally, and friend; that it was the practice of that people to bestow the honour of such title, in return for great services performed by kings towards them;
[17]
that the Roman ambassadors would soon be in Africa, to whom the senate would give instructions to regulate conditions of peace with Vermina, if he would leave the terms of it entirely to the will of the Roman people; and that, if he wished that any thing should be added, left out, or altered, he must make a second application to the senate.”
[18]
The ambassadors sent to Africa on those affairs, were Caius Terentius Varro, Publius Lucretius, and Cneius Octavius, each of whom had a quinquereme assigned him.
Livy. History of Rome by Titus Livius, books twenty-seven to thirty-six. literally translated, with notes and illustrations, by. Cyrus Edmonds. York Street, Covent Garden, London. Henry G. Bohn. John Child and son, printers, Bungay. 1850. 3.
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