39.
The consul, Publius Cornelius, having received hostages from the Boians, punished them so far as to appropriate almost
[2??]
one-half of their lands for the use of the Roman people, and into which they might afterwards, if they chose, send colonies.
[3]
Then returning home in full confidence of a triumph, he dismissed his troops, and ordered them to attend on the day of his triumph at Rome.
[4]
The next day after his arrival, he held a meeting of the senate, in the temple of Bellona, when he detailed to them the services he had performed, and demanded to ride through the city in triumph.
[5]
Publius Sempronius Blaesus, tribune of the people, advised, that “the honour of a triumph should not be refused to Scipio, but postponed. Wars of the Ligurians,” he said, “were always united with wars of the Gauls; for these nations, lying so near, sent mutual assistance to each other.
[6]
If Publius Scipio, after subduing the Boians in battle, had either gone himself, with his victorious army, into the country of the Ligurians, or sent a part of his forces to Quintus Minucius, who was detained [p. 1648]there, now the third year, by a war which was still undecided, that with the Ligurians might have been brought to an end:
[7]
instead of which, he had, in order to procure a full attendance on his triumph, brought home the troops, who might have performed most material services to the state;
[8]
and might do so still, if the senate thought proper, by deferring this token of victory, to redeem that which had been omitted through eager haste for a triumph. If they would order the consul to return with his legions into his province, and to give his assistance towards subduing the
[9??]
Ligurians, (for, unless these were reduced under the dominion and jurisdiction of the Roman people, neither would the Boians ever remain quiet,) there must be either peace or war with both.
[10]
When the Ligurians should be subdued, Publius Cornelius, in quality of proconsul, might triumph, a few months later, after the precedent of many, who did not attain that honour until the expiration of their office.”
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.