Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/176

Rh 162 FLAMININUS. the ships which had been stationed there for the protection of Athens. Soon after he was joined by the allied fleets of Attains and the Rhodians, and the combined fleets now undertook the siege of Eretria, which was occupied by a Macedonian gar- rison. Its inhabitants dreaded the Romans as much as the Macedonians, and were uncertain what to do ; but Lucius took the place at niglit by assault. The citizens surrendered, and the con- querors' booty consisted chiefly of works of art which had adorned the town. Carystus imme- diately after surrendered to him without a blow. Having thus, in the space of a few days, gained possession of the two principal towns of Euboea, Flamininus sailed towards Cenchreae, the port of Corinth, where he made preparations for besieging Corinth. By the command of his brother Titus, Lucius and his naval allies sent ambassadors to the Achaeans to win them over to their side. Most of them were persuaded to take up the cause of the Romans, and sent their troops to join Lucius in the siege of Corinth. Lucius had in the mean time taken Cenchreae, and was already engaged in the siege of Corinth. A fierce battle had been fought, in which Lucius and his Romans were beaten. When his forces were strengthened by the arrival of the Achaeans, they equalled in num- ber those of the enemy, and he continued his ope- rations with better hopes of success. But the de- fence made by the Corinthian garrison was despe- rate, for there were among the besieged a great number of Italians, who in the war with Hannibal had deserted from the service of the Romans. Hence Lucius at length despaired of success ; he gave up the siege, and returned to his fleet, vvith which he sailed to Corcyra, while Attains went to Peiraeeus. As his brother's imperium was pro- longed for another year, Lucius also retained the command of the fleet in B. c. 197. He accompanied his brother to the congress with the tyrant Nabis at Argos. Just before the battle of Cynoscephalae, Lucius, who was informed of the intention of the Acarnanians to join the Romans, sailed to Leucas, the chief place of the Acarnanians, and began to blockade it for the purpose of trying their intention. But the inhabitants resisted, and the town was taken by storm. The inhabitants were resolved to defend themselves to the last, and a great massacre took place ; but when the news of the battle of Cynos- cephalae arrived, all the tribes of Acamania sub- mitted to the Romans. In b. c. 1 95, when T. Flamininus marched against Nabis, Lucius went out with 40 sail to join him in his operations .- he took several maritime towns, some of which were conquered by force, while others submitted vo- luntarily, and he then proceeded to Gythium, the great arsenal of Sparta. When Titus began be- sieging the same place by land, Gorgopas, the com- mander of the garrison, treacherously surrendered the town to the Romans. In B. c. 193, L. Flamininus sued for the con- sulship, and, as the remembrance of his exploits in Greece and of his subsequent triumph was yet fresh, he was elected for the year 192, to- gether with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. He re- ceived Gaul as his province, and was ordered to hold the coraitia. While on his march into his province, he fell in with the Ligurians in the neighbourhood of Pisa, and gained a great battle : 9000 enemies fell, and the rest fled to their camp, which was then besieged. In the night following. FLAMININUS. however, the Ligurians made their escape, and the next morning the deserted camp fell into the hands of the Romans. Lucius then advanced into the country of the Boians, of which he ravaged the parts through which he passed. Towards the end of the year he went to Rome to conduct the elec- tions for the next year, and when this was done, he returned to the country of the Boians, who sub- mitted to him without taking up arms. Upon his return to Rome, he levied a large army, at the com- mand of the senate, that the new consuls, immedi- ately after entering upon their office, might have forces ready to set out against Antiochus. In b. c. 191 he was appointed legate to the consul M'. Aci- lius Glabrio, who had to conduct the war in Greece. In B.C. 184, M. Porcius Cato, who was then censor, ejected L.Quintius Flamininus from the senate, and then delivered a most severe speech against him for crimes which he had committed seven years before in his consulship. Among the various charges he brought against Lucius, there is one which ex- hibits him in a truly diabolical light. It seems that he had become acquainted in Greece with the vice of paederastia, and when in his consulship he went to the north of Italy, he took with him hia favourite youth, a young Carthaginian, of the name of Philippus. This youth had often complained that Flamininus had never afforded him an oppor- tunity of seeing a gladiatorial exhibition. Once while Flamininus and his favourite v/ere feasting and drinking in their tent, there came a noble Boian, who, with his children, took refuge in the consul's camp. He was introduced into the tent, and stated through an interpreter what he had to say. Before he had ^nished Flamininus asked his favourite whether he would not like to see a Gaul die, and scarcely had the youth answered in the affirmative, when Flamininus struck the Boian's head with his sword, and when the man endea- voured to escape, imploring the assistance of the bystanders, the consul ran his sword through his body and killed him for the amusement of the con- temptible youth. Valerius Antias related a similar and equally horrible crime of this Flamininus. He died in b. c. 170, holding at the time a priestly office. (Liv. xxxi. 4, 49, xxxii. 1,16, 39, xxxiii. 1 6, xxxiv. 29, XXXV. 10, 20, &c., 40, &c. xxxvi. ], 2, xxxix. 42, 43, xl. 12 ; Val. Max. ii. 9. § 3, iv. 5, § 1 ; Cic. de Se7iect. 12 ; Aurel. Vict, de Vir. II- lustr. 47 ; Plut. Cat. 17, Fiamin. 18 ; Senec. Controv. iv. 25.) 4. T. QuiNTius Flamininus. As he is said to have been about thirty-three years old in b. c. 1 Q^^ he must have been bom about B. c. 230. (Liv. xxxiii. 33.) He is called by Aurelius Victor {De Vir. lUustr. 51) a son of C. Flaminius, who fell in the battle on Lake Trasimenus ; but this statement arises from a confusion of the Flaminia gens with the family of the Flaminini. [Flaminia gens.] He was the brother of L. Quintius Flamininus [No. 3], and is first mentioned in history in B. c. 201, when he was appointed one of the ten com- missioners to measure and distribute the public land in Samnium and Appulia among the veterans who had fought under P. Scipio in Africa, against the Carthaginians, and the year after he was one of the triumvirs appointed to complete the number of colonists at Venusia, which had been greatly reduced during the Hannibalian war. In b. c. 1 99 he was quaestor, and towards the expiration of his office he sued for the consulship. He was