Scipio Africanus

by B. h. Liddell Hart

  “ This answer, turned with Punic dexterity, and conveying an unexpected kind of flattery, was highly grateful to Scipio, as it set him apart from the crowd of commanders, as one of incomparable eminence.”

  From Antiochus this embassy gained no direct result, for the “ king of kings ” was too swollen with pride on account of his Asiatic successes, too sure of his own strength, to profit by the examples of Carthage and Macedon. His standards of military measurement were strictly quantitative.

  Realising at last that war was inevitable and imminent, the Roman Senate set about the preparations for this fresh struggle. As a first step they pre-dated the consular election so as to be ready for the coming year ; the new consuls were Publius Scipio, the rejected of the previous year, and Manius Acilius. Next, Bæbius was ordered to cross over with his army from Brundisium (Brindisi) into Epirus, and envoys were sent to all the allied cities to counteract Ætolian propaganda. The Ætolians, nevertheless, gained some success by a mixture of diplomacy and force, and besides causing general commotion throughout Greece, did their best to hasten the arrival of Antiochus. Had his energy approximated to his confidence, he might well have gained command of Greece before the Romans were able to thwart him. Further, to his own undoing, he abandoned Hannibal’s plan and the expedition to Africa, from a jealousy inspired fear that if Hannibal were given an executive role public opinion would regard him as the real commander. Even when he made his belated landing in Greece, with inadequate forces, he missed such opportunity as was left by frittering away his strength and time in petty attacks against the Thessalian towns, and in idle pleasure at Chalcis.

  Meantime, at Rome the consuls cast lots for their provinces; Greece fell to Acilius, and the expeditionary force which he was to take assembled at Brundisium. For its supply, commissaries had been sent to Carthage and Numidia to purchase corn. It is a tribute alike to the spirit in which the Carthaginians were seeking to fulfil their treaty with Rome, and to Scipio’s wise policy after Zama, that they not only offered the corn as a present, but offered to fit out a fleet at their own expense, and to pay in a lump sum the annual tribute money for many years ahead. The Romans, however, whether from proud self-reliance or dislike of being under an obligation to Carthage, refused the fleet and the money, and insisted on paying for the corn.

  In face of all these preparations, Antiochus awoke to his danger too late. His allies, the Ætolians, provided only four thousand men, his own troops delayed in Asia, and in addition he had alienated Philip of Macedon, who stood firm on the Roman side. With a force only ten thousand strong he took up his position at the pass of Thermopylae, but failed to repeat the heroic resistance of the immortal Spartans, and was routed. Thereupon, forsaking his Ætolian allies to their fate, Antiochus sailed back across the Ægean.

  Rome, however, was unwilling to rest content with this decision. She realised that in Greece her army had defeated only the advanced guard and not the main body of Antiochus’s armed strength, and that unless he was subdued he would be a perpetual menace. Further, so long as he dominated Asia Minor from Ephesus, her loyal allies, the Pergamenes and Rhodians, and the Greek cities on the Asiatic side of the Ægean, were at his mercy. All these motives impelled Rome to counter-invasion.

  Once more Hannibal’s grand strategical vision proved right, for he declared that “ he rather wondered the Romans were not already in Asia, than had doubts of their coming.” This time Antiochus took heed of his great adviser, and strengthened his garrisons as well as maintaining a constant patrol of the coast.

  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE LAST LAP.

  ROME, faced with a great emergency—second only to that of the Hannibalic War,—looked for its new saviour in its old. If the danger was less, and less close, the risk at least must have seemed greater, for her armies were venturing into the unknown. The first great trial of strength between Rome and Asiatic civilisation was about to be staged, and the theatre of war was alarmingly distant, connected with the homeland by long and insecure lines of communication. The spur of emergency quickens the memory, and Rome in her fresh hour of trial remembered the man who had saved her in the last, and who had been standing by for several years ready for the occasion which he had prophesied to deaf ears. Yet Scipio Africanus did not himself stand for the consulship—why it is difficult to guess. It may have been that he deemed the forces of jealousy too strong, and wanted to take no risks, or that affection and sympathy for his brother Lucius, a defeated candidate the year before, inspired Africanus to give the latter his chance. Africanus had glory enough, and all through his career he had been ready to share his glory with his assistants. He left envy of others’ fame to lesser men. His aim was service, and in any case he knew that if Lucius was consul, he himself would exercise the real power—Lucius was welcome to the nominal triumph.

  His brother’s election was secured, and with him, as plebeian consul, was elected Gaius Lælius, the old assistant of Africanus. It may be that Scipio worked for this, in order to ensure that to whichever Greece fell as a province he would be able to exercise an influence on the operations. As it happened, however, the double election put him in the unpleasant position of having to support his brother against his friend. For both consuls naturally desired Greece, which meant the command against Antiochus. Lælius, who had a powerful interest with the Senate, asked the Senate to decide—drawing lots was too uncertain for his taste. Lucius Scipio thereupon asked time to seek advice, and consulted Africanus, “ who desired him to leave it unhesitatingly to the Senate.” Then, when a prolonged debate was anticipated, Africanus arose in the Senate and said that “ if they decreed that province to his brother, Lucius Scipio, he would go along with him as his lieutenant.” This proposal “ being received with almost universal approbation,” settled the dispute and was carried by an almost unanimous vote.

  Though it is clear that Africanus planned this result, the fact does not lessen our appreciation of the nobility of a man who, after being the most illustrious commander in Rome’s history, would stoop to take a subordinate position. If the means was diplomatic, the motive was of the purest—to save his country, leaving to another the reward. Apart from blood ties, he doubtless felt more sure of real control through his brother than through Lselius—though Lucius’s obstinacy with the Ætolians refutes Mommsen’s verdict that he was “ a man of straw.” Two good leaders in the same command are not a good combination. It says much for both Scipio Africanus and Lælius that this act did not break down their friendship, and it is a proof of the latter’s generous nature, if also of the former’s transcendent qualities, that in later years Lælius gave Polybius such testimony of Scipio’s greatness.

  In addition to the two legions which he was to take over in Greece from Acilius, the consul was given three thousand Roman foot and one hundred horse, and another five thousand foot and two hundred horse from the Latin confederates. Further, directly it was known that Africanus was going, four thousand veterans of the Hannibalic War volunteered in order to serve again “ under their beloved leader.”

  The expedition set forth in March (the Roman July), 190 B.C., but the advance into Asia was to be delayed because of the Senate’s obstinacy in refusing to grant reasonable peace terms to the Ætolians, so driving them to take up arms anew and maintain a stubborn warfare in their mountain strongholds. It is curious that Scipio, who had always contributed to his military object by the moderation of his political demands, should now be blocked by others’ immoderation.

  When the Scipios landed in Epirus they found their destined army thoroughly embroiled by Acilius in this guerilla warfare. Africanus went ahead while his brother followed with his main body. On arrival at Amphissa, Athenian envoys met them, who, addressing first Africanus and afterwards the consul, pleaded for leniency to the Ætolians. “ They received a milder answer from Africanus, who, wishing for an honourable pretext for finishing the Ætolian war, was directing his view towards Asia and King Antiochus.” Apparently Africanus, with his habitual
foresight, had actually inspired this mission of the Athenians, and another to the Ætolians. Scipio could have given points even to Colonel House as an ambassador of peace as a means to victory. As a result of Athenian persuasion, the Ætolians sent a large embassy to the Roman camp, and from Africanus received a most encouraging reply. But when the decision was referred to the consul, as was necessary, his reply was uncompromising—he put his fist through the web his brother had so delicately woven. A second embassy met with the same obstinate refusal. Then the principal Athenian envoy advised the Ætolians to ask simply for a six months’ armistice in order that they might send an embassy to Rome. The real source of this advice is too obvious to require any guess. Accordingly the Ætolian envoys came back, and “ making their first application to Publius Scipio, obtained, through him, from the consul a suspension of arms for the time they desired.”

  Thus by diplomacy Africanus secured his lines of communication and released his army; the determination with which he sought a peaceful solution, and avoided being embroiled in a side-show, is an object-lesson in economy of force and the maintenance of the true objective.

  The consul, having taken over the army from Acilius, decided to lead his troops into Africa through Macedonia and Thrace—taking the long land instead of the short sea route, because Antiochus had one fleet at Ephesus and another being raised by Hannibal in Phœnicia specially to prevent their crossing by sea. Africanus, while approving of this route, told his brother that everything depended on the attitude of Philip of Macedon ; “ for if he be faithful to our Government he will afford us a passage, and all provisions and material necessary for an army on a long march. But if he should fail you in this, you will find no safety in any part of Thrace. In my opinion, therefore, the King’s dispositions ought to be ascertained first of all. He will best be tested if whoever is sent comes suddenly upon him, instead of by pre-arrangement.”

  Acting on this advice, as instinct with security as with psychology, Tiberius Gracchus, a specially active young man, was sent, riding by relays of horses, and so fast that he travelled from Amphissa to Pella—from the Gulf of Corinth almost to Salonika—in under three days, and caught Philip in the middle of a banquet—“ far gone in his cups.” This helped to remove suspicion that he was planning any countermove, and next day Gracchus saw provision dumps prepared, bridges made over rivers, and hill roads buttressed—ready for the coming of the Roman army.

  He then rode back to meet the army, which was thus able to move through Macedonia with confidence. On their passage through his domains Philip met and accompanied them, and Livy relates that “ much geniality and good humour appeared in him, which recommended him much to Africanus, a man who, as he was unparalleled in other respects, was not averse to courteousness unaccompanied by luxury.” The army then pushed on through Thrace to the Hellespont—the Dardanelles,—taking the same route apparently as Xerxes, in an opposite direction.

  Their crossing of the Dardanelles had been smoothed for them as much by the mistakes of Antiochus as by the action of their own fleet. Livius, the Roman naval commander, had sailed for the Dardanelles, in accordance with instructions, in order to seize the fortress which guarded the passage of the Narrows. Sestos—modern Maidos—was already occupied, and Abydos—now Chanak—parleying for surrender, when news reached Livius of the surprise and defeat of the allied Rhodian fleet at Samos. He abandoned his primary object—an action which might have upset Scipio’s plans—and sailed south to restore the naval situation in the Ægean. However, after some rather aimless operations, the arrival of Hannibal’s fleet and its defeat—in his first and last sea battle—cleared the situation in the Mediterranean. A second victory in August, this time over Antiochus’s Ægean fleet, ensured for the Romans command of the sea.

  With Antiochus, the loss of it led him into a move, intended for safety, that was actually the reverse. Despairing of being able to defend his possessions across the Dardanelles, he ordered the garrison to retire from Lysimachia, “ lest it should there be cut off by the Romans.” Now Lysimachia stood close to where Bulair stands to-day, and there is no need to emphasise how difficult it would have been to force those ancient Bulair Lines, commanding the isthmus of the Gallipoli peninsula. The garrison might well have held out till winter. Perhaps another factor, apart from the naval defeat, was his failure to gain the alliance of Prusias, King of Bithynia—a country whose sea coast lay partly on the Black Sea and partly on the Sea of Marmora. Antiochus sent to play on his fears of being swallowed by Rome, but once again Scipio’s grand strategical vision had led him to foresee this move and take steps to checkmate it. Months before he reached Gallipoli, Scipio had written a letter to Prusias to dispel any such fears. “ The petty chieftains in Spain,” he wrote, “ who had become allies, he had left kings. Masinissa he had not only re-established in his father’s kingdom, but had put him in possession of that of Syphax ”—a clever hint!

  The double news of the naval victory and the evacuation of Lysimachia reached the Scipios on arrival at Ænos (Enos), and, considerably relieved, they pressed forward and occupied the city. After a few days’ halt, to allow the baggage and sick to overtake them, they marched down the Chersonese—the Gallipoli peninsula,—arrived at the Narrows, and made an unopposed crossing. They crossed, however, without Africanus, who was detained behind by his religious duties as one of the Salian priests. The rules of his order compelled him during this festival of the Sacred Shields to remain wherever he was until the month was out—and without Africanus the army had lost its dynamo, so that “ he himself was a source of delay, until he overtook the rest of the army.” Unnecessary delay was far from one of his military characteristics, so that the incident serves to suggest that his piety was genuine and not merely a psychological tool to inspire his troops. While the army was waiting for him, an envoy came to the camp from Antiochus, and as he had been ordered by the king to address Africanus first, he also waited for him before discussing his mission!

  “ In him he had the greatest hope, besides that his greatness of soul, and the fulness of his glory, tended very much to make him inclined to peace, and it was known to all nations what sort of a conqueror he had been, both in Spain and afterwards in Africa; and also because his son was then a prisoner with Antiochus ” (Livy). How the son was captured is uncertain, whether in a distant cavalry reconnaissance, or earlier at sea, as Appian suggests.

  At a full council the Syrian envoy put forward a basis for peace—that Antiochus would give up the Greek cities in Asia Minor allied to Rome, as he had already evacuated Europe, and would pay the Romans half the expenses of the war. The council regarded these concessions as inadequate, contending that Antiochus should give up all the Greek seaboard on the Ægean, and, in order to establish a wide and secure neutral zone, relinquish possession of all Asia Minor west of the Taurus mountains. Further, he ought to pay all the expense of the war, as he had caused and initiated it.

  Thus rebuffed, the envoy sought a private interview with Africanus, according to his orders. “First of all he told him that the King would restore his son without a ransom; and then, as ignorant of the disposition of Scipio as he was of Roman manners, he promised an immense weight of gold, and, save for the title of king, an absolute partnership in the sovereignty—if through his means Antiochus should obtain peace.” To these advances Scipio replied, “ I am the less surprised that you are ignorant of the Romans in general, and of me, to whom you have been sent, when I see that you do not realise the military situation of the person from whom you come. You ought to have kept Lysimachia to prevent our entering the Chersonese (Gallipoli), or to have opposed us at the Hellespont to hinder our passing into Asia, if you meant to ask peace as from people anxious as to the issue of the war. But after leaving the passage into Asia open, and receiving not only a bridle but a yoke,9 what negotiation on equal terms is left to you, when you must submit to orders ? I shall consider my son as a very great gift from the generosity of the King. I pray to the gods that my circu
mstances may never require others ; my mind certainly never will require any. For such an act of generosity to me he shall find me grateful, if for a personal favour he will accept a personal return of gratitude. In my public capacity, I will neither accept from him nor give anything. All that I can give at present is sincere advice. Go, then, and desire him in my name to cease hostilities, and to refuse no terms of peace” (Livy). Polybius’s version of the last sentence is a shade different: “ In return for his promise in regard to my son, I will give him a hint which is well worth the favour he offers me—make any concession, do anything, rather than fight with the Romans.”

  This advice had no effect on Antiochus, and he decided to push on his military preparations, which were already well in hand. The consular army then advanced south-east, by way of Troy, towards Lydia. “ They encamped near the source of the Caicus river, preparing provisions for a rapid march against Antiochus, in order to crush him before winter should prevent operations.” Antiochus faced them at Thyatira —modern Akhissar. At this moment, just as the curtain was about to rise on the final act, and Scipio reap the reward of his strategy, fate stepped in. He was laid low by sickness, and had to be conveyed to Elæa on the coast. Hearing of this, Antiochus sent an escort to take back his son to him. This unexpected return of his son was so great a relief to Scipio’s mind as to hasten his recovery from the illness. To the escort he said, “ Tell the King that I return him thanks, that at present I can make him no other return but my advice; which is, not to come to an engagement until he hears that I have rejoined the army ”—by this Scipio evidently meant that if he was in charge Antiochus’s life at least was safe.