29.9
Pleminius
was in supreme command, and he had with him the troops he had brought
from Regium, the rest were under the military tribunes. One of his men was
running off with a silver cup which he had stolen from a house, and the
owners were running after him. He happened to meet Sergius and Matienus,
the military tribunes, who ordered the cup to be taken from him. A dispute
arose, angry shouts were raised, and at last a regular fight began between the
soldiers of Pleminius and those of the military tribunes. As first one and then
another ran up and joined his own side, the number and noise of the
combatants went on increasing. Pleminius' party were worsted and ran to
their commander with loud and angry shouts, showing him their wounds and
blood-stained armour, and repeating the insulting language which had been
used about him in the quarrel. He was furious, and rushing out of his house
summoned the tribunes before him, and ordered them to be stripped and the
rods got ready. This took some time, for they struggled and appealed for
help to their men, who, excited by their recent victory, ran up from all parts
as though they had been summoned to arms to repel an attack. When they
saw the persons of their tribunes actually outraged by the rods they were
kindled into ungovernable fury, and without the slightest respect for the
majesty of office or even for humanity, they grossly maltreated the lictors,
and then having separated Pleminius from his men and hemmed him in, they
slit his nose and ears and left him half dead. All this was reported to Scipio at
Messana, and a few days later he came in a six-banked galley to Locri, where
he held a formal enquiry into the causes of the disturbance. Pleminius was
acquitted and retained his post; the tribunes were declared to be guilty and
thrown into chains with a view to their being sent to Rome. Scipio then
returned to Messana, and from there proceeded to Syracuse. Pleminius was
beside himself with rage. He considered that Scipio had treated his wrongs
far too lightly, and that the only man who could assess the penalty was the
man who had suffered the outrage. The tribunes were dragged before him,
and after undergoing every torture which the human body can endure, were
put to death. Even then his cruelty was not satiated and he ordered the
bodies to be cast forth unburied. He exercised the same savage cruelty upon
the leading citizens of Locri, who he learnt had gone to Scipio to complain
of his misconduct. The shocking proofs he had already given of his lust and
greed amongst the allies of Rome were now multiplied in his fury, and the
shame and odium they created recoiled not only on him but on his
commander-in-chief as well.
