Seen in Strategypage



In the dying years of the Roman Republic, men were wont to look back to earlier times, when everyone served for the honor of the state.
Well, perhaps. But not always.


Late in 144 B.C. Q. Caecillius Metellus Macedonicus was elected one of the co-consuls for the following year. An accomplished commander (he had earned a triumph and the honorific “Macedonicus” for crushing a rebellion in Macedonia while propraetor there in 146 B.C.), Metellus was given direction of the war against the Celtiberi in Spain, and was continued in this assignment as proconsul when his consulship expired at the onset of 142 B.C. He conducted the war with skill and honor, earning great respect from the Celtiberi by his chivalric actions, and the work of pacification progressed well. Metellus’ tenure in Spain, however, was to come to an end before the work was done. For following the consular elections for 141 B.C., Quintus Pompeius, one of the newly elected co-consuls, was assigned the province.


Although both men came from plebian families, there were considerable differences between them. The Metelli were an ancient house, full of honors, staunch champions of the aristocratic faction in Roman politics. Pompeius was a “new man,” the first in his family to attain the consulship. Though it’s unlikely that Pompeius’ father had been a flute-player, as aristo propaganda asserted, he had come from humble roots, pulling himself up by his skills as an orator and soldier, not to mention slick political maneuverer. He was also an adherent of the popular party. In short, Metellus and Pompeius were fierce political enemies.
Needless to say, Metellus was outraged that he would be succeeded by Pompeius. It was more than just politics. Since Metellus had not yet completed the subjugation of Spain, the job would be finished by Pompeius, who would thereby earn a triumph; in effect, the upstart was stealing Metellus’ honors. This was so irksome that Metellus set about sabotaging Pompeius’ chances of securing a final victory. As the Roman historian Valerius Maximus tells us, Metellus:


discharged any soldiers who wanted their service terminated, granted leaves of absence to anyone who applied, without inquiring into the reasons for the request or setting them a time to return to duty, removed the guards from the magazines, leaving them open to looters, ordered the bows and arrows of the Cretan archers to be broken and thrown into a river, and forbade rations to be issued to the elephants, so they would starve.

Then, rather than awaiting the arrival of his replacement, as was the custom, Metellus departed immediately for Rome. As a result, by the time Pompeius reached Spain, the army was in terrible shape. Naturally, Pompeius had a hard time on campaign in Spain. His army was defeated several times. An attempt to recoup his losses by besieging the major Celtiberian city of Numantia only led to terrible privation and disease among the troops. Fearful that Metellus and the other aristocrats in the Senate might take his failures as grounds to recall him, Pompeius proposed peace terms. If the Numantines would make a public show of surrendering un¬conditionally, he would demand from them only the release of the Roman prisoners or deserters they held, plus some hostages and 30 talents of gold, leaving them with their lands and freedom intact. The Numan¬tines knew a good deal when they saw one, and a peace was promptly arranged. Thus, when Pompeius’ command in Spain ended, in 138 B.C., he could claim to have pacified the region. Now, Pompeius’ replacement as proconsul was M. Popillius Laenas, one of the co-consuls for 139. Popillius was also an aristocrat and also one of Pompeius’ political enemies. So in a parting gesture reminiscent of that made by Metellus upon his departure form Spain, Pompeius disowned the treaty with the Numantines and went off to Rome with his 30 talents, leaving a renewed war to his replacement.


FootNote: In one of the little ironies of history, a few years later Metellus and Pom¬peius were elected censors for 131 B.C. And an acrimonious censorship that was.

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