objected to all purchases, lettings, and sales by the Senate of public property which had been made by Cato, and carried his point so far as to have them all declared void.  Thus he, I cannot say justly, became the violent opponent of a legally constituted official and an excellent citizen, for the sake of a man who, though his brother, was a worthless character and had only met with his deserts.  Nevertheless, on one occasion, when the Roman people were witnessing some spectacle in the theatre, the Senate, as is customary, sitting in the best place in great state, they were filled with compassion on seeing Lucius Flamininus sitting on the back benches in a mean dress, and the people became so excited that they could not restrain their cries to him to resume his former seat, until at length he did so, and was welcomed by the other consulars.

XX.  The ambitious character of Titus gained him much glory, while he was in the prime of life, in the wars of which we have made mention:  for after his consulship he again served in the army as military tribune; but when he retired from public life, being an elderly man, he often incurred the blame of his countrymen from his desire to distinguish himself.  For instance, his conduct in regard to Hannibal made him much disliked at Rome.  Hannibal after his escape from Carthage, joined king Antiochus, but when Antiochus, after his defeat in Phrygia, was glad to accept terms of peace from the Romans, he again became an exile, and after many wanderings, at length settled at the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia.  Every one at Rome knew that he was there, but no one wished to meddle with him because of his age and weakness, as he appeared to be deserted by fortune.  However, Titus was sent to Prusias on an embassy about certain other matters, and seeing Hannibal there took offence at his being alive, and would not accede to the prayers and entreaties of Prusias on behalf of his suppliant.  There was, it seems, a certain oracle which ends with this verse:—­

     “Libyssa’s earth shall cover Hannibal.”

Now Hannibal himself took this to mean Libya, and that he should be buried at Carthage; but in Bithynia there is a shingly tract by the seashore near which is a large village named Libyssa, in which Hannibal was living.  As he mistrusted the weakness of Prusias and feared the Romans, he had previously to this arranged seven ways of escape leading from his own room into different subterranean passages, all of which led into the open air by concealed apertures.  When then he heard that Titus insisted upon his death he endeavoured to escape by one of those passages, but finding every outlet watched by the soldiers of Prusias he determined to die by his own hand.  Some say that he destroyed himself by winding his cloak round his neck, and ordered a slave to place his knee in the small of his back and pull the cloak violently until he choked; while some tell us that he imitated Themistokles and Midas, by drinking bull’s blood.