45.34
Anicius' camp was not far away, and the
consul sent a letter telling him not to be disturbed at what was going on, for
the senate had made a grant to his army of the plunder from those cities in
Epirus which had gone over to Perseus. Centurions were sent to each of the
cities to say that they had come to bring away the garrisons in order that the
Epirots should be free as the Macedonians were free. The town councillors
in each community were sent for and warned to have the gold and silver
brought out into some public place, and cohorts were ordered to visit all the
cities. Those who were to go to the more distant places started before those
who were to go to the nearer ones, and they all reached their destination on
the same day. The military tribunes had received instructions as to what they
were to do. All the silver and gold had been collected together in the
morning, and at ten o'clock the signal was given to the soldiers to sack the
cities. So great was the amount of booty secured that 400 denarii were
distributed to each cavalryman and 200 to each foot soldier, and 150,000
human beings were carried off. Then the walls of the plundered cities, some
seventy in number, were destroyed, the booty sold and the proceeds
furnished the above-mentioned sum for the troops. Paulus went down to the
seaport of Oricum, but his soldiers were far from satisfied; they resented
being excluded from all share in the plunder of the palace, as though they
had not taken any part in the Macedonian war. At Oricum he found the
troops which had been sent off with Scipio Nasica and Q. Maximus, and
after seeing his army on board sailed back to Italy. A few days later Anicius,
who had been meeting the representatives of the rest of the Epirots, ordered
those of their leaders whose case he had reserved for the senate to follow
him to Italy. He then waited for the ships which had been used to transport
the army from Macedonia, and on their arrival he too returned to Italy.
During these occurrences in Macedonia and Epirus the mission
which had been sent in company with Attalus to put a stop to the war
between the Gauls and Eumenes landed in Asia. A truce had been arranged
for the winter; the Gauls had gone home and the king had retired into winter
quarters at Pergamum, where he had been seriously ill. The beginning of
spring had drawn the Gauls from their homes and they had gone as far as
Synnada, while Eumenes had assembled at Sardis an army drawn from every
quarter of his kingdom. When the Romans who were there had ascertained
that the Gauls were at Synnada they decided to proceed thither and interview
Solovetius, the Gaulish leader; Attalus accompanied them, but they decided
that he should not enter the Gaulish camp lest there should be an angry
debate. P. Licinius had a conversation with their leader, and brought back
word that all attempts to persuade him only made him more defiant; he
expressed his astonishment that whilst the representations of the Roman
commissioners succeeded in allaying the strife between such powerful
monarchs as Antiochus and Ptolemy, they had no weight whatever with the
Gauls.
