Titus Quinctius Flamininus : born about 229 B.C. in Rome, died in 174 B.C. in Rome

A Roman consul, who defeated Philip, king of Macedon, and afterwards liberated the states of Greece; and who, during an embassy to Prusias, king of Byhynia, caused the Carthaginian general, Annibal, to destroy himself by poison.
He is supposed to have died about the year 576 of Rome, and 183 years before Christ.

Like early all the Roman youths, Titus Quintius Flaminius, or Flamininus as he is called by some writers, was trained to the profession of arms. He first served as a legionary tribune, under the consul Marcellus, during the war with Annibal; and, after the death of Marcellus, though at that time scarcely more than twenty years of age, he was appointed governor of Tarentum. Here he acquired so much celebrity, in his administration of justice, as afterwards to be appointed to the chief direction of two colonies that were sent to Narnia and Cossa.

Titus Quinctius Flamininus
Delphi, Archaeological Museum

It is remarked, by Livy, that in the year of the city 551, the Roman stage games, were exhibited in a sumptuous manner, and for two days, by the curule Aediles, Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Lucius Quintius Flaminius.

In the thirtieth year of his age, he was elected consul, though he had not served the usually intermediate offices of tribune and praetor; and it fell to his lot to conduct the war which the Romans were, at this time, carrying on against Philip king of Macedon. He sailed from Brundusium with eight thousand foot and eight hundred horse soldiers; and, having reached the island of Corcyra, he passed thence into Epirus, to the Roman camp. Philip, anxious to negociate a peace, held a conference with Flaminius, for that purpose; but it terminated with out the desired effect. He, however, obtained a truce for two months, and took this opportunity of marching to a considerable distance, and posting his army in the midst of a strong and apparently inaccessible part of the country; in the defiles of Epirus, on the banks of the river Aous.

Under the guidance of a herdsman, accustomed to traverse all the paths of an intervening forest, Flaminius, however, was enabled to send a body of troops to a spot which overlooked the enemy's camp. These, when they had reached the place, made a previously concerted signal, to inform him of their success. On seeing this, he marched the other part of his forces against the enemy, in a different direction, and defeated them with considerable loss.

Retiring, with precipitation, from the field of battle, Philip proceeded towards Thessaly, plundering the towns, desolating all the country which lay in his road, and carrying along with him, a great number of the inhabitants. The consul followed him, and, having his army in a state of strict discipline, he adopted a plan wholly different. He spared the country with as much care as if it had been a Roman province, and the event answered his expectations; for his army had no sooner entered Thessaly, than all its cities declared in favour of the Romans.

To the Grecians, Flaminius had, previously, been represented as the ferocious commander of a host of barbarians, who were come to destroy and to ruin; and to reduce the whole population to a state of slavery. This representation, however, proved in no respect injurious to him; for, when the Grecian commanders were afterwards introduced to him, and found him well acquainted with their language, mild and affable in his manners, and a man of strict honour and integrity, they opened to him the gates of their cities, and united united their forces with his, in a confidence that he would conduct them to liberty.

When the term of his cousulship had expired, Flaminius was permitted, as proconsul, to carry on the Macedonian war, until its conclusion. In conjunction with his new allies, he defeated Philip, near a place in Thessaly, called Cynocephalae. In this battle, Philip lost nearly the half of his army; and after its termination, he had great difficulty in effecting his own escape. Unable, any longer, to resist the power of the Romans, he obtained another interview with Flaminius, and was glad to conclude a peace with them on the conditions which had be fore been proposed to him; that he should evacuate every province and town, then possessed by him, in Greece and Asia, pay an annual sum by way of tribute, deliver up all his large ships except five and be received as an ally of Rome.

Flaminius, having thus successfully terminated the Macedonian war, returned into Greece. The different states of that country had long been oppressed by the Macedonian princes; and they were now wholly at the mercy of the Roman conqueror. He encamped his troops on the Isthmus of Corinth, at the time of the Isthmian Games. To these games, immense multitudes of people had assembled, from all the towns of Greece; and, whilst the numerous spectators were sitting in the circus, a Roman herald entered the arena, and, with the sound of a trumpet, demanding the attention of the spectators, he made this solemn proclamation. The senate and people of Rome, and Flaminius, the general of their armies, having subdued Philip and the great kingdom of Macedonia, proclaim it their will that the Corinthians, Locrians, Phocians, Eubaeans, Archwans, Thessalians, and all other states of Greece, whether in Europe or in Asia, shall from this day be FREE.

The first time that the proclamation was made, the whole vast audience stood in silence and amazement. They could scarcely believe what they had insult they looked on one another, as if they all thought it only a dream. But, when the proclamation was made a second time, the burst of delighted aeclamation was so tremendous, that birds, flying over the circus, are said to have dropped down dead; the hills and the shores resounded; and ships, far out at sea, felt the shock of the triumphal shout.

On his leaving the circus, the whole assembly wowed the Roman commander to his camp, with shouts of exultation and of gratitude. To Flaminius this was, indeed, a glorious day, for to him only could the merit of it be ascribed; and most of his conduct, during his continuance in Greece, was worthy of so excellent a beginning. Polybius, speaking of his negociations in Greece, ascribes all the success of this general to his foresight and admirable management. There was not (he says) a man in Rome more dexterous, or who, either in the conduct of public affairs, or in the advancement of his own particular interests, exhibited greater wisdom or ability than Flaminius; and yet he was not, at this time, more than thirty years of age.

Of Sparta alone Flaminius was unable to effect the deliverance, for it was subject to a tyrant so wicked, and at the same time so powerful, and his troops had received so severe a check, in an attack upon it, that Flaminius was obliged to abandon it to its fate. But the other states he not only liberated from the power of the oppressors, but he now withdrew from them all his own troops. Nor was liberty the only benefit which he conferred upon them. So far was he from the mean policy of sowing party dissensions and factions hatreds among any people, for the purpose of rendering the power of a bad government irresistible by them all; that, like a parent ardently desirous to emote the happiness of his children, be exerted his utmost influence to reconcile them to each other, and to establish not only a good government, but mutual and universal concord.

In return for the benefits which he had conferred on Greece, he required only one favour. During the Carthaginian war, Annibal had made captive a great number of Romans, and had sold them, into different countries, as slaves. Twelve hundred of these unhappy men were now in Greece. Flaminius, therefore, expressed a hope that, in return for the benefits which he had conferred upon the Grecians, they would not refuse to give freedom to a portion of that nation, from whom they had themselves so lately received their own. The Achaeans purchased these slaves, at the rate of five minae each man; and presented them in a body, to Flaminius, when he was making preparations to leave the country.

On his return to Rome, Flaminius was honoured with a triumph, which was remarkable for lasting three days. Among the principal decorations of the solemnity, were Demetrius, son of the king of Macedon, and Armenez, son of the tyrant of Sparta, whom he had brought with him as hostages for peace; there were also carried, in the procession, one hundred and fourteen crowns of gold, which Flaminius had received from so many Grecian cities, in grateful acknowledgment for the restoration of their liberties; the Grecian helmets and Macedonian targets and spears, with other spoils; three thousand seven hundred and thirteen pounds weight of unwrought gold; forty-three thousand two him dred and seventy-three ounces of silver, and fourteen thousand five hundred and fourteen pieces of coined gold. But, to the feelings of humanity, it was chiefly gratifying to witness the triumphal entry of Flaminius, not on account of the richness of the spoils, nor of the number of captives, in fetters who followed, in sad dejection, the conqueror's chariot; but of the numerous Roman citizens whom he had released from captivity, and who now accompanied him.

It has been well observed that, if such had always been the honours and pleasures of the great men of this famous nation: if Rome had thus always placed her happiness in doing good; had always followed the exalted spirit of such majestic benevolence, making it the constant and the real object of her military labours, to deliver, by her power, the neighbouring nations from tyranny and oppression, the Roman history would have been truly glorious. But, alas! in nearly every instance, this ambitious people subjugated instead of liberated; and they were, in general, much more attentive to the increase of their own wealth, dominion, and power, than to the promotion of happiness among mankind.

After the peace with Philip had been ratified, Antiochus, king of Syria, passed into Greece with a powerful fleet and army, and, having solicited the Grecian states to join him, the AEtolians were induced to do so. The Romans, either fearing, or pretending to fear a general revolt of these states, sent Flaminius thither, with a view of keeping them steady to their alliance with Rome. His appearance amongst them prevented those who were wavering, from entire defection; and some of the states, which had recently become decided enemies to Rome, were overcome by his mild and equitable treatment of them.

In the year of the city 564, Flaminius was created censor, and had, for his colleague, the son of the celebrated Roman general, Marcellus. This was about five years before the censorship of Cato. With the latter, when in office, he had a quarrel very unworthy of a man whose character was, in most respects, well deserving of imitation. Lucius, the brother of Flaminius, a man who had served the consular of office, was so abandoned in his pleasures, and so totally regardless of moral feeling, that he had been guilty of a murder, for the mere amusement of a boy who resided with him. Cato caused him to be expelled the senate. This gave great offence to Flaminius. He did not pretend to justify the conduct of his brother; but, erroneously considering that his family was more disgraced by the upright decision of the censor, than by the conduct of which his brother had been guilty, he leagued with the enemies of Cato, and, gaining a majority in the senate, he opposed him in every possible way. He caused all the contracts, leases, and bargains, which Cato had made, for the benefit of the public revenue, to be annulled; and he occasioned many prosecutions to be instituted against him. Such conduct, however, was neither politic nor honourable. Cato have only fulfilled the duties of his office, and the punishment inflicted upon Lucius was even more lenient than he deserved.

After the defeat of Antiochus, that monarch retired to Crete, and thence into Bithynia. Prusias, the king of Bithynia, was then at war with Eumenes, king of Pergamus, a faithful ally of the Romans; and, by the instigation of Annibal, Philip of Macedon had joined his forces with those of Prusias. At the request of Eumenes, the Romans were induced to send an ambassador to Prusias, and Flaminius was the person selected for this office. On his arrival at the court of Bithynia, he found there the aged Carthaginian general, who, exiled from his own country, had placed himself under the protection of Prusias. Flaminius demanded that he should be given up to the Romans. Prusias used much entreaty in behalf of a man who had come to him a suppliant for protection, and who had hitherto resided with him, under the sanction of hospitality. This, however, was to no purpose; be was obliged to yield to the demand, but, before the purpose of Flaminius could be accomplished, the veteran had destroyed himself by poison.

When intelligence of this event was conveyed to Rome, many of the senators expressed great indignation at the conduct of Flaminius. Plutarch asserts that he had demanded the person of Annibal, without any authority from the Romans; and only from a love of fame, actuated by a desire to be recorded, in history, as the destroyer of the great Carthaginian hero. If so, all his preceding virtues were scarcely sufficient to redeem his character from the infamy of so base an action. How much is it to be regretted, that, among the worthies of antiquity, there is scarcely one to be found, whose example can be safely held out for imitation; and whose reputation, though deserving of applause in many particulars, is not, in others, lamentably deficient.

Nothing seems to be known respecting Flaminius, from the time of his embassy to Prusias, until his death; and all that Plutarch states respecting this is, that he died in his bed.

Authorities-Livy, Plutarch, Polybius, and Appian.