7.
In his triumph Gnaeus Manlius carried two hundred and twelve golden crowns, two hundred and twenty thousand pounds of silver, two thousand one hundred and three pounds of gold, of Attic four-drachma pieces one hundred and twenty-seven thousand, of
cistophori1 two hundred and fifty thousand, of gold
Philippei sixteen thousand three hundred and twenty; there were also arms and many Gallic spoils transported in carts, and fifty-two leaders of the enemy led before his car.
[
2]
To the soldiers he gave forty-two
denarii each, twice that amount to each centurion and thrice to each cavalryman, and he gave them also double pay;
2 many of all ranks, presented with military decorations, followed his car.
[
3]
Such songs were sung by the soldiers about their commander that it was easily seen that they were sung about an indulgent leader who sought popularity, and that the triumph was
[p. 239]marked more by the applause of the military than
3 of the civil population.
[
4]
But the friends of Manlius were able to curry favour with the people as well;
[
5]
at their instance a decree of the senate was passed that, with regard to the tax
4 which had been paid by the people into the treasury, whatever portion of this was in arrears should be paid out of the money which had been carried in the triumph. The city quaestors, displaying fidelity and diligence, paid twenty-five and one-half
asses each per thousand
asses.5
[
6]
About the same time two tribunes of the soldiers arrived from the two Spains, bringing dispatches from Gaius Atinius and Lucius Manlius, who were holding those provinces.
6
[
7]
From these letters it was learned that the Celtiberians and Lusitanians were in arms and were ravaging the lands of the allies. The decision regarding the whole question was left to the new magistrates by the senate.
[
8]
At the Roman Games that year, which Publius Cornelius Cethegus and Aulus Postumius Albinus gave, a badly-fixed mast
7 in the Circus fell on the statue of Pollentia and shattered it.
[
9]
The Fathers, disturbed by this omen, voted, first, that one day should be added to the Games, and, second, that two statues should be set up in place of one and the new one gilded.
[
10]
The Plebeian Games too were repeated, to the extent of one day, by the plebeian aediles Gaius Sempronius Blaesus and Marcus Furius Luscus.
[p. 241]