39.7
In his
triumph Cn. Manlius had borne before him 200 golden crowns, each
weighing 12 pounds, 220,000 pounds weight of silver, 2103 pounds of gold,
127,000 Attic tetrachmas, 250 cistophori, 16,320 golden coins of Philip's
mintage, and a large quantity of arms and spoils taken from the Gauls, which
were carried in wagons. Fifty-two of the enemy leaders were marched before
his chariot. He distributed amongst the soldiers 42 denarii for each legionary,
twice as much for the centurions, and three times as much for the cavalry,
and double pay for all. Many of those who followed his chariot had received
military rewards, and it was clear from the songs which the soldiers sang that
they addressed him as an indulgent general who sought their goodwill, and
that it was his popularity with the soldiers rather than with the people that
lent lustre to his triumph. But the friends of Manlius succeeded in winning
the favour of the people also; by their efforts a resolution was passed in the
senate ordering that so much of the soldiers' stipends contributed by the
people as had not yet been paid should be paid out of the money borne in the
triumphal procession. The quaestors, making a true and just valuation, paid
back 25 1/2 for every 1000 ases. Just at this time two military tribunes
arrived with despatches from C. Atinius and L. Manlius, who were
commanding in Hither and Further Spain. It appeared that the Celtiberi and
Lusitanians were in arms and were ravaging the lands of the friendly tribes.
The senate left the new magistrates to deal with the situation. Whilst the
Roman Games were being celebrated this year by P. Cornelius Cethegus and
A. Postumius Albinus, a pole insecurely fixed on the race-course fell on the
statue of Pollentia and threw it down. This was regarded as an omen, and the
senate decided that the Games should be celebrated for one day longer, and
that two statues should be erected in place of the one that had fallen, one of
them to be gilded. The Plebeian Games were exhibited for one day by the
aediles C. Sempronius Blaesus and M. Furius Luscus.
