ROMAN EMPIRE. 



395 



War with 

 Teuta, 

 queen of 

 Illfiiruin, 



itonMQ hazarded a general battle with the- Romans, but their 

 History, army was almost exterminated in the < < at ; 



^^ "Y""'' and Uoiiie tliu mistress of almost all Italy. 



The reputation of the Romans had now become 



wiilrly extended. Foreign nations solieited their 



\ patronage and aid, and they were thus involved in 



foreign wars which had nearly proved fatal to their 



eountry. 



Tunic In this way they were involved in a war with Car- 

 thage, which lasted twenty-three years, and of which 

 we have given a full account under our article CAU- 



TJIAGE, Vol. V. p. .071. 



After the termination of the first Punic war, the 

 Romans reduced the Boii and the Ligurians, two na- 

 tions of the Gauls who had revolted. They took the 

 islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Malta; and in conse- 

 quence of the piratical proceedings of several Illyrian 

 ships, they carried their arms into Illyricum, a king- 

 dom bordering upon Macedon aud Epirus. 



Teuta, queen of Illyricum, had not only authorised 

 the piracies of her subjects, but had sent troops to be- 

 siege the island of Issa in the Adriatic, which the Ro- 

 mans had taken under their protection. Lucius and 

 Caius Coruncanius were sent as ambassadors to Teuta 

 to remonstrate with her on these acts of injustice; but 

 instead of giving them any satisfaction, she caused the 

 ambassadors to be murdered on their return home to 

 Rome. The Romans, who were then threatened by 

 the Gauls, accepted of the offer of Teuta to deliver up 

 the assassins, but the faithless queen forgot her pro- 

 mise, and even sent her fleet to seize the island of Issa. 

 To revenge these acts of cruelty and perfidy, a fleet 

 of 100 galleys under Fulvius the consul, with an army 

 of i20,000 men, under his colleague Posthumius, set 

 sail for lilyricum. The city and island of Corey ra 

 were given up to them by Demetrias the governor, 

 and Apollonia, one of the keys of Illyricum, was also 

 put into their hands. The submission of the Andy- 

 a?ans, the Parthini, and the Atintanes, and the cap- 

 ture of the principal towns in the interior, induced 

 Posthumius to return to the coast, and to lay siege to 

 Nutria, a place of great strength, which, after much loss, 

 he succeeded in reducing. He captured also forty Illy- 

 rian vessels laden with booty, and afterwards drove 

 the Illyrians from the siege of Issa. 



Spurius Corvilius and Q. Fabius Maximus, having 

 succeeded to the consulship, Fulvius, in the character 

 of proconsul, took the command of the army in Illyri- 

 cum. Teuta retired to Rhizon, one of her strong, 

 holds, but finding opposition in vain she sued for peace. 

 The Romans, however, refused to treat with her ; but 

 they made peace with the young king, on the condi- 

 tion of his paying an annual tribute, and surrendering a 

 part of his dominions. 



The progress of the Carthaginians in Spain, and 

 various hostile movements among the Gauls, excited 

 great alarm at Rome. In order to meet these extraor- 

 dinary emergencies, an army of 800,000 men is said 

 to have been raised ; but the Gauls, forcing their way 

 through Hetruria, advanced towards Rome. Here 

 they had the good fortune to beat one of the Roman 

 armies, but encountering other two, they were totally 

 defeated with the loss of 50,000 men. The Romans 

 pursued them into Gaul, and laid waste their country; 

 but the breaking out of the plague compelled them to 

 return. A new war, however, broke out, and Insu- 

 bria and Liguria were reduced to a Roman province. 

 Second The second Punic war now commenced, and at first 



Punic War. threatened to overwhelm the Roman power; but sub. 



who is de- 

 feated by 



the Ho- 



eequent events, of which we have given a minute ac- 

 count under ( 'AH i HAM:, vol. V. p. 575, led to the de- 

 struction of Carthage, and the total subverbion of the ' 

 Carthaginian power. 



Our limit* will not permit us to follow the Roman 

 arms in their wars in Spain and in Syria. In the con- 

 quest of Macedon they experienced considerable diffi- 

 culties. Philip, the last, but one, of th Macedonian 

 kings, after quarrelling with the Romans, was obliged B. C. til. 

 to enter into an unfavourable treaty with them; out w ***** 

 on the accession of his son Perseus, (179, B. C.) the * 1 * c ^ ai1 

 Macedonians renewed the war. The Romans were**' ^ 171 ' 

 for the first time called upon to resist the Macedonian 

 phalanx, a square body of 1 6,000 men, having 1000 

 men in front, and 1C in depth. Each soldier carried 

 a pike 23 feet long ; the pikes of the fifth rank ex- 

 tended beyond the front of the phalanx, and hence the 

 shock of such a body of men was almost irresistible. 

 In their first encounter with the Macedonians, the 

 Romans were defeated with a loss of 2200 men. Per- 

 seus did not avail himself of this success, and the war 

 was protracted without any decisive advantage on 

 either side. 



Paulus Emilius, a commander of much experience, patju, 

 was now sent to Macedon. Perseus made great pre- Emiliu* 

 parations to receive him, and resolved to hazard a snt to Ma- 

 general engagement. The light troops of the Mace- cedon. 

 donians charged the Romans with incredible vigour, B> *" 1G8> 

 and did great execution, while the phalanx was en- 

 gaged with the main body of the Roman infantry. 

 Upon seeing this advantage Emilius is said to have 

 rent his garments, and abandoned himself to despair ; 

 when perceiving that the phalanx lost its order in some 

 particular places, he commanded his light troops to Defeat* the 

 charge them at these weak points. By this skilful Mactdo- 

 manceuvre this formidable body was thrown into dis- ni* *. 'ko 

 order, and the Macedonian king, followed by his army, uotnit " 

 sought for safety in flight, after leaving about 20,000 the Ko ~ 

 dead on the field. The whole kingdom now sub- 

 mitted to the conquerors. Perseus took refuge in 

 Samothracia, but was at last obliged to surrender to 

 the consul, who carried him in triumph to Rome. 

 The Roman dominion over Macedon was occasionally n < u 

 disturbed by some pretenders to the throne ; but the 

 kingdom was finally reduced to a Roman province. 



The tranquillity of Rome, which the splendour of Sedition of 

 her foreign conquests had so long contributed to pre- Tiberius 

 serve, was now shaken by an intestine sedition. Tibe- tiiacchus, 

 rius Gracchus, the most accomplished youtli in Rome, 

 was equally distinguished by his personal appearance, 

 by his commanding talents, and by his powers of elo- 

 quence and persuasion. He had been deeply attached 

 to the interests of the Patricians, both from his own 

 connexions, and from those of his wife, who was the 

 daughter of Appius Claudius, then at the head of the 

 Senate ; but having negotiated a disgraceful, though a 

 necessary peace with Numantia, he was condemned, 

 along with all those who had signed it, to be delivered 

 up to the Numantines. The people, however, would 

 not suffer Gracchus to be thus sacrificed ; and he him- 

 self, stung with indignation at the treatment which he 

 had experienced, resolved to revenge himself upon the 

 Patrician families. 



Having with this view obtained the tribuneship of who pro- 

 the people, he determined to revive the Licinian law, P?*** 

 which prevented any citizen from holding more than " 

 five hundred acres, and thus to make a direct attack 

 upon the property of the nobles, who, in opposition to fUauiTaT 

 this enactment, had kept possession of some extensive 



