(1) Corinthiīs quoque bellum indictum est nōbilissimae Graeciae cīvitātī propter iniūriam lēgātōrum Rōmānōrum. Hanc Mummius cōnsul cēpit et dīruit.
(2) Trēs igitur Rōmae simul celeberrimī triumphī fuērunt: Āfricānī ex Āfricā, ante cuius currum ductus est Hasdrubal, Metellī ex Macedoniā, cuius currum praecessit Andriscus, īdem quī et Pseudophilippus, Mummī ex Corinthō, ante quem sīgna aēnea et pīctae tabulae et alia urbis clārissimae ōrnāmenta praelāta sunt.
notes
Destruction of Corinth, 146 BCE
Dio Cassius 21.31.1, 21.72.1-5; Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.1.2, 7.15.1–7.16.10
(1) Corinthiīs: dative object of compound verb (AG 370)
propter iniūriam lēgātōrum Rōmānōrum: In 149/8 BCE the Romans were induced to allow Sparta and other communities to secede from the Achaean League. The League then attacked and ravaged Laconia in spring 148 BCE. A Roman envoy, L. Aurelius Orestes, arrived at Corinth in 147 BCE and announced Rome's decision to break up the League. It responded in 146 BCE by overrunning central Greece under Critolaus. Caecilius Metellus marched from Macedonia and routed the Achaeans. Later that year the consul, L. Mummius, destroyed an Achaean army near Corinth (in the battle of Leucopatra), razed the city to the ground and sold its inhabitants into slavery (Bird).
dīruit: Florus laments,
Read more
What a vast quantity of statues, garments and pictures was carried off, burnt, and thrown away! How great was the wealth which was plundered or burnt may be judged from the fact that we are told that all the Corinthian bronze-work, which enjoys so high a repute throughout the world, was a survival from the conflagration. For the damage inflicted on this rich city in itself caused a higher value to be placed upon Corinthian bronze, because, by the melting together of countless statues and images by the flames, brass, gold and silver ore were fused into one common mass (Epit. 1.32.1-7; Trans. E. S. Forster).
(2) Āfricānī ex Āfricā: for Scipio Aemilianus' campaign against Carthage and Hasdrubal the Boetharch, see Brev. 4.10–12
Metellī ex Macedoniā: for Q. Caecilius Metellus' campaign over Andriscus/Pseudophilippus in Macedonia, see Brev. 4.13
pīctae tabulae: "pictures" (Hazzard)
vocabulary
Core Vocabulary | Numbers | Dates
| Corinthiī, ōrum, pl. m. |
the inhabitants of Corinth |
| Mummius, ī, m. |
L. Mummius, the conqueror of Corinth; consul 146 B.C. |
| dīruō, ere, uī, utus [dis + ruō, to fall] |
to tear asunder, destroy |
| celeber, bris, bre, adj. | famous |
| triumphus, ī, m. |
a triumph, a splendid procession in which the victorious general entered the city accompanied by his soldiers and the spoil and captives he had taken. The procession passed around the Capitoline Hill into the Via Sacra, then into the Forum, and up to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. |
| Āfrica, ae, f. |
Africa; often the northern part of the continent, especially the part near Carthage |
| Hasdrubal, alis, m. |
(1) Surnamed Calvus, "the Bald," commander of the Carthaginian expedition to Sardinia in the second Punic war 215 B.C.; (2) Brother of Hannibal, defeated and slain at the battle of the Metaurus 207 B.C.; (3) The leader of the Carthaginians in the third Punic war 149–146 B.C. |
| Metellus, ī, m. |
(1) C. Caecilius Metellus, consul 113 B.C.; (2) L. Caecilius Metellus, consul 251 B.C.; (3) L. Caecilius Metellus, consul 123 B.C.; (4) (Q. Caecilius) Metellus Macedonicus, consul 143 B.C.; (5) Q. Caecilius Metellus (Numidicus), consul 109 B.C.; (6) Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus, consul 69 B.C.; (7) L. (Caecilius) Metellus, carried on war against Mithradates; (8) M. (Caecilius) Metellus |
| Macedonia, ae, f. |
an extensive country north of Greece, between Thessaly and Thrace |
| praecēdō, ere, cessī, cessūrus | to go before |
| Andriscus, ī, m. |
a Persian who pretended to be the natural son of Perseus and assumed the name of Philip |
| Pseudophilippus, ī, m. |
a pretended son of Philip, king of Macedonia |
| Corinthus, ī, f. |
a city in the Peloponnesus on the isthmus of Corinth, captured and destroyed by the Romans, 146 B.C. |
| aēneüs, a, um [aes, copper], adj. |
made of copper, bronze |
| pingō, ere, pīnxī, pīctus |
to paint; represent, delineate, portray |
| tabula, ae, f. |
a board, plank; picture (sc. pīcta, painted); writing tablet; record, list |
| ōrnāmentum, ī [ōrnō, to fit out], n. |
a preparation; decoration, ornament, jewel |