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. [2] He succeeded in escaping with a few followers but without his lictors to Massilia, where after three days he expired. [3] 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. [4] 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 [5??] 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. [6] 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. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9] 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. [10] 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. [11] 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. [12] The evidence given by the staff officers and military tribunes was conflicting. [13] 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. [14] 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 [15??] a "new man" as himself, and therefore the object of silent indignation amongst the nobility, was defaming him by perjured evidence.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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