39.1
While these incidents
were occurring in Rome -if indeed they did occur in this year -both consuls
were engaged in war with the Ligurians. That enemy seemed born to keep
up the military discipline of the Romans in the intervals between the more
important wars; no other field of operations did more to whet the soldiers'
courage. In Asia the pleasures of city life, the ample supply of luxuries
furnished by land and sea, the effeminacy of the enemy, and the princely
wealth had enriched the armies instead of making them more efficient.
Especially under the command of Manlius they became careless and
undisciplined, and so the somewhat rougher march through Thrace and a
more warlike enemy gave them a much-needed lesson through severe defeat.
In Liguria there was everything to try a soldier's mettle; a rough and difficult
country, mountainous heights which it cost the men as much labour to
secure for themselves as it did to dislodge the enemy from them; steep
narrow roads where there was always the danger of an ambush; an enemy
lightly armed, rapid in his movements, sudden in his onset, who never
allowed any place or hour to remain quiet and undisturbed. Any attack on a
fortified position involved much toil and danger; there was but little to be got
out of the country, and the soldiers were reduced to scanty food, as they
could secure very little plunder. Consequently, there were no
camp-followers, no extended line of baggage animals; there was nothing
beyond the arms and the men who depended solely upon them. Occasions of
fighting were never lacking, for the natives driven by their poverty were in
the habit of raiding their neighbours' fields; they never, however, engaged in
a pitched battle.
