37.57
During
this time, deputies from Massilia brought word that the praetor L. Baebius
whilst on his way to Spain to take up his command had been intercepted by
the Ligurians, a large part of his escort killed and he himself wounded. He
succeeded in escaping with a few followers but without his lictors to
Massilia, where after three days he expired. On receipt of this intelligence the
senate decreed that P. Junius Brutus, who was administering Etruria as
propraetor, should hand over his government and army to whichever of his
lieutenants he decided upon and start at once for Further Spain, which was
to be his province. This decision of the senate and the despatch announcing
it were sent to Etruria by the praetor Sp. Postumius, and Publius Junius set
out for Spain L. Aemilius Paulus, who in after years won a great reputation
by his defeat of Perseus, had been in charge of this province and the previous
year had met with a reverse, but notwithstanding this he raised a force of
irregulars and fought a pitched battle with the Lusitanians. The enemy were
routed, 18,000 were killed, 2300 made prisoners and their camp stormed.
The report of this victory made matters quieter in Spain. On December 13th
of this year the colony of Bononia was founded in pursuance of a senatorial
decree, the three commissioners being L. Valerius Flaccus, M. Atilius
Serranus and L. Valerius Tappo. The colonists numbered 3000; the equites
received each seventy jugera, the other settlers fifty. The land had been taken
from the Boii who had themselves formerly expelled the Etruscans from it.
The censorship this year was an object of ambition with many men
of distinction, and as though it were not important enough in itself to excite
keen competition, it provoked a still more exciting contest of a different
character. The rival candidates were T. Quinctius Flamininus, P. Cornelius
Scipio, L. Valerius Flaccus, M. Porcius Cato, M. Claudius Marcellus and
Manius Acilius Glabrio, the conqueror of Antiochus and the Aetolians at
Thermopylae. The last-named was the popular candidate owing to the fact
that he had had numerous opportunities of distributing largesse and so had
placed a considerable number of men under obligations to him. Many of the
nobility were extremely angry at such preference being shown for a "new
man" and two of the tribunes of the plebs, P. Sempronius Gracchus and C.
Sempronius Rutilus, fixed a day for his impeachment on the charge of
neglecting to carry in his triumphal procession or deposit in the treasury a
large part of the royal treasure and the plunder gathered in the camp of
Antiochus. The evidence given by the staff officers and military tribunes was
conflicting. A conspicuous witness who came forward was M. Cato; the
authority which he had acquired by the uniform tenor of his life was
somewhat impaired by his being a rival candidate for the censorship He gave
evidence to the effect that the gold and silver plate which he had noticed
amongst the royal booty when the camp was taken, he had not seen in the
triumphal procession. At last Glabrio, mainly with the object of creating
odium against him, gave out that he was abandoning his candidature since a
competitor who was as much a "new man" as himself, and therefore the
object of silent indignation amongst the nobility, was defaming him by
perjured evidence.
