earned away all its treasures, consigned it to the flames (B.C. 146). Corinth was filled with masterpieces of ancient art; but Mummius was so insensible to their surpassing excellence as to stipulate with those who contracted to convey them to Italy that, if any were lost in the passage, they should be replaced by others of equal value! Mummius then employed himself in chastising and regulating the whole of Greece; and ten commissioners were sent from Rome to settle its future condition. The whole country, to the borders of Macedonia and Epirus, was formed into a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, derived from that confederacy which had made the last struggle for political existence. The Roman commissioners then proceeded northward, and also formed Macedonia into a province. Polybius, who had hastened to Greece immediately after the capture of Corinth, exerted all his influence to alleviate the misfortunes of his countrymen, and to procure for them favorable terms. As a friend of Scipio he was received by the Roman commissioners with great distinction, and obtained from them a relaxation of some of the most severe enactments which had been made against the Achaeans. Metellus and Mummius both triumphed on their return to Rome, the former taking the surname of Macedonicus, the latter that of Achaicus. Carthage, so long the rival of Rome, had fallen in the same year as Corinth. The reforms introduced by Hannibal after the battle of Zama had restored some degree of prosperity to the state; and, though the Roman party obtained the supremacy after he had been compelled to fly to Antiochus, the commercial activity of the Carthaginians restored to the city much of its former influence. Rome looked with a jealous eye upon its reviving power, and encouraged Masinissa to make repeated aggressions upon its territory. At length the popular party, having obtained more weight in the government, made a stand against these repeated encroachments of Masinissa. Thereupon Cato recommended an instant declaration of war against Carthage; but this met with considerable opposition in the Senate, and it was at length arranged that an embassy should be sent to Africa to gain information as to the real state of affairs. The ten embassadors, of whom Cato was the chief, offered their arbitration, which was accepted by Masinissa, but rejected by the Carthaginians, who had no confidence in Roman justice. The deputies accurately observed the warlike preparations and the defenses of the frontier. They then entered the city, and saw the strength and population it had acquired since the Second Punic War. Upon their return Cato was the foremost in asserting that Rome would never be safe as long as Carthage was so powerful, so hostile, and so near. One day he drew a bunch of early ripe figs from beneath his robe, and, throwing it upon the floor of the Senate-house, said to the assembled fathers, who were