and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, to announce their
conquest of Hannibal and the Carthaginians; to give
thanks to the king for his faithful adherence to his
engagements in the time of their distress, when even
the nearest allies of the Romans abandoned them; and
to request that if, compelled by ill treatment, they
should undertake a war with Philip, he would preserve
his former disposition towards the Roman people.
In Gaul, about this time, the consul, Publius Aelius,
having heard that, before his arrival, the Boians
had made inroads on the territories of the allies,
levied two occasional legions on account of this disturbance;
and adding to them four cohorts from his own army,
ordered Caius Oppius, the praefect, to march with this
tumultuary band through Umbria, (which is called the
Sappinian district,) and to invade the territories
of the Boians. He himself led his own troops
thither openly, over the intervening mountains.
Oppius, on entering the same, for some time committed
depredations with tolerable success and safety.
But afterwards, having pitched on a place near a fort
called Mutilum, convenient enough for cutting down
the corn, (for the crops were now ripe,) and setting
out without having reconnoitred around, and without
establishing armed posts of sufficient strength to
protect those who were unarmed and intent on their
work, he was suddenly surrounded, together with his
foragers, by an unexpected invasion of the Gauls.
On this, panic and flight seized even on those who
were furnished with weapons. Seven thousand men,
dispersed through the corn fields, were put to the
sword, among whom was the commander himself, Caius
Oppius. The rest were driven by terror into the
camp; from whence, in consequence of a resolution
of the soldiers, they set out on the following night,
without any particular commander; and, leaving behind
a great part of their baggage, made their way, through
woods almost impassable, to the consul, who returned
to Rome without having performed any thing in his
province worth notice, except that he ravaged the
lands of the Boians, and made a treaty with the Ingaunian
Ligurians.
3. The first time he assembled the senate, it
was unanimously ordered that he should propose no
other business before that which related to Philip
and the complaints of the allies. It was immediately
taken into consideration, and a numerous senate decreed,
that Publius Aelius, consul, should send such person
as he might think proper, vested with command, to
receive the fleet which Cneius Octavius was bringing
home from Sicily, and pass over to Macedonia.
Accordingly Marcus Valerius Laevinus, propraetor,
was sent; and, receiving thirty-eight ships from Cneius
Octavius, near Vibo, he sailed to Macedonia, where,
when Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, had come to
him and informed him what numerous forces and what
large fleets the king had prepared, and how he was
arousing the inhabitants to arms, partly by visiting
them himself and partly by ambassadors, not only through
all the cities of the continent, but even in the islands,
(Laevinus was convinced) that the war ought to be
undertaken by the Romans with greater vigour; lest,
if they were dilatory, Philip might attempt that which
had been formerly undertaken by Pyrrhus, who possessed
not such large dominions. He therefore desired
Aurelius to convey this intelligence by letter to
the consuls and to the senate.