Summary of Book XXXVIII
The consul Marcus Fulvius besieged the Ambraciots
in Epirus and received their surrender, subdued Cephallania, and granted peace to the conquered Aetolians.
Gnaeus Manlius his colleague defeated the Gallogrecians,
that is, the Tolostobogii, the Tectosagi and the Trocmi,
who had crossed into Asia under the leadership of Brennus,
when they alone of the peoples on this side of the Taurus
mountain did not offer submission. Their origin and
the manner in which they gained control of the districts
which they hold are recorded. An example also of virtue
and chastity in a woman is reported. She, being the
wife of the king of the Gallogrecians, and being a prisoner,
slew a centurion who had violated her. The
lustrum was
closed by the censors. The number of citizens rated was
two hundred and fifty-eight thousand three hundred and
ten. A treaty of friendship was concluded with Ariarathes,
king of Cappadocia. Gnaeus Manlius, despite the opposition
of the ten commissioners by whose advice he had put
into form the treaty with Antiochus, having pleaded his
cause in person before the senate, triumphed over the
Gallogrecians. Scipio Africanus, having been accused, as
some say, by Quintus Petillius the tribune of the people,
as others say, by Naevius, on the ground that he had
cheated the treasury of booty taken from Antiochus,
when the day came and he was summoned to the Rostra,
said: “On this day, citizens, I conquered Carthage,”
and with the people attending him ascended the Capitoline.
Then, to avoid being further annoyed by the attacks of
the tribunes, he withdrew to Liternum in voluntary
exile. It is uncertain whether he died there or in Rome;
[p. 215]
for there was a tomb to him in each place. Lucius Scipio
Asiaticus, the brother of Africanus, was accused and
convicted on the same charge of embezzlement, and,
when he was being led to chains and prison, Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus, tribune of the people, who had
formerly been an enemy of the Scipios, intervened for
him, and in return for that act of kindness was given the
daughter of Africanus in marriage. When the quaestors
had been sent to take possession, on behalf of the state,
of the property of Scipio, not only was there no trace of
the king's wealth discovered, but by no means was there
as much found as would equal the amount of the fine.
A countless amount of money collected by his relatives
and friends he refused to accept; what was necessary
for a decent existence for him was redeemed.
