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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six, by Titus Livius</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of Rome; Books Nine to
+Twenty-Six, by Titus Livius, Translated and Illustrated by D. Spillan
+and Cyrus Edmonds</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six</p>
+<p>Author: Titus Livius</p>
+<p>Release Date: February 1, 2004 [eBook #10907]<br />
+Most recently updated: December 6, 2011</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME; BOOKS NINE TO TWENTY-SIX***</p>
+<p> </p>
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Ben Courtney,<br />
+ and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3></center>
+<p> </p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+
+<h1>THE HISTORY<br />
+ OF ROME.</h1>
+<h2>BY<br />
+ TITUS LIVIUS.</h2>
+<h3>BOOKS NINE TO TWENTY-SIX.</h3>
+<h4>LITERALLY TRANSLATED,<br />
+ WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,<br />
+ BY<br />
+ D. SPILLAN AND CYRUS EDMONDS.</h4>
+<h3>1868.</h3>
+<div class="menu" align="center">
+ <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
+ <tr>
+ <td width="33%"> <a href="#book9"><b>BOOK IX</b></a> <br />
+ <a href="#a1">1</a> <a href="#a2">2</a> <a href="#a3">3</a> <a href="#a4">4</a>
+ <a href="#a5">5</a> <a href="#a6">6</a> <a href="#a7">7</a> <a href="#a8">8</a>
+ <a href="#a9">9</a> <a href="#a10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#a11">11</a> <a href="#a12">12</a> <a href="#a13">13</a> <a href="#a14">14</a>
+ <a href="#a15">15</a> <a href="#a16">16</a> <a href="#a17">17</a> <a href="#a18">18</a>
+ <a href="#a19">19</a> <a href="#a20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#a21">21</a> <a href="#a22">22</a> <a href="#a23">23</a> <a href="#a24">24</a>
+ <a href="#a25">25</a> <a href="#a26">26</a> <a href="#a27">27</a> <a href="#a28">28</a>
+ <a href="#a29">29</a> <a href="#a30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#a31">31</a> <a href="#a32">32</a> <a href="#a33">33</a> <a href="#a34">34</a>
+ <a href="#a35">35</a> <a href="#a36">36</a> <a href="#a37">37</a> <a href="#a38">38</a>
+ <a href="#a39">39</a> <a href="#a40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#a41">41</a> <a href="#a42">42</a> <a href="#a43">43</a> <a href="#a44">44</a>
+ <a href="#a45">45</a> <a href="#a46">46</a> </td>
+ <td width="33%"> <a href="#book10"><b>BOOK X</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#b1">1</a> <a href="#b2">2</a> <a href="#b3">3</a> <a href="#b4">4</a>
+ <a href="#b5">5</a> <a href="#b6">6</a> <a href="#b7">7</a> <a href="#b8">8</a>
+ <a href="#b9">9</a> <a href="#b10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#b11">11</a> <a href="#b12">12</a> <a href="#b13">13</a> <a href="#b14">14</a>
+ <a href="#b15">15</a> <a href="#b16">16</a> <a href="#b17">17</a> <a href="#b18">18</a>
+ <a href="#b19">19</a> <a href="#b20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#b21">21</a> <a href="#b22">22</a> <a href="#b23">23</a> <a href="#b24">24</a>
+ <a href="#b25">25</a> <a href="#b26">26</a> <a href="#b27">27</a> <a href="#b28">28</a>
+ <a href="#b29">29</a> <a href="#b30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#b31">31</a> <a href="#b32">32</a> <a href="#b33">33</a> <a href="#b34">34</a>
+ <a href="#b35">35</a> <a href="#b36">36</a> <a href="#b37">37</a> <a href="#b38">38</a>
+ <a href="#b39">39</a> <a href="#b40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#b41">41</a> <a href="#b42">42</a> <a href="#b43">43</a> <a href="#b44">44</a>
+ <a href="#b45">45</a> <a href="#b46">46</a> <a href="#b47">47</a> </td>
+ <td width="33%"><a href="#lost"><b>LOST BOOKS</b></a> <br />
+ <table border="0" cellspacing="10">
+ <tr>
+ <td> <a href="#book11"><b>BOOK XI</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book12"><b>BOOK XII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book13"><b>BOOK XIII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book14"><b>BOOK XIV</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book15"><b>BOOK XV</b></a><br />
+ </td>
+ <td> <a href="#book16"><b>BOOK XVI</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book17"><b>BOOK XVII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book18"> <b>BOOK XVIII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book19"><b>BOOK XIX</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#book20"><b>BOOK XX</b></a> </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td> <a href="#book21"><b>BOOK XXI</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#c1">1</a> <a href="#c2">2</a> <a href="#c3">3</a> <a href="#c4">4</a>
+ <a href="#c5">5</a> <a href="#c6">6</a> <a href="#c7">7</a> <a href="#c8">8</a>
+ <a href="#c9">9</a> <a href="#c10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#c11">11</a> <a href="#c12">12</a> <a href="#c13">13</a> <a href="#c14">14</a>
+ <a href="#c15">15</a> <a href="#c16">16</a> <a href="#c17">17</a> <a href="#c18">18</a>
+ <a href="#c19">19</a> <a href="#c20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#c21">21</a> <a href="#c22">22</a> <a href="#c23">23</a> <a href="#c24">24</a>
+ <a href="#c25">25</a> <a href="#c26">26</a> <a href="#c27">27</a> <a href="#c28">28</a>
+ <a href="#c29">29</a> <a href="#c30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#c31">31</a> <a href="#c32">32</a> <a href="#c33">33</a> <a href="#c34">34</a>
+ <a href="#c35">35</a> <a href="#c36">36</a> <a href="#c37">37</a> <a href="#c38">38</a>
+ <a href="#c39">39</a> <a href="#c40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#c41">41</a> <a href="#c42">42</a> <a href="#c43">43</a> <a href="#c44">44</a>
+ <a href="#c45">45</a> <a href="#c46">46</a> <a href="#c47">47</a> <a href="#c48">48</a>
+ <a href="#c49">49</a> <a href="#c50">50</a><br />
+ <a href="#c51">51</a> <a href="#c52">52</a> <a href="#c53">53</a> <a href="#c54">54</a>
+ <a href="#c55">55</a> <a href="#c56">56</a> <a href="#c57">57</a> <a href="#c58">58</a>
+ <a href="#c59">59</a> <a href="#c60">60</a><br />
+ <a href="#c61">61</a> <a href="#c62">62</a> <a href="#c63">63</a> </td>
+ <td> <a href="#book22"><b>BOOK XXII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#d1">1</a> <a href="#d2">2</a> <a href="#d3">3</a> <a href="#d4">4</a>
+ <a href="#d5">5</a> <a href="#d6">6</a> <a href="#d7">7</a> <a href="#d8">8</a>
+ <a href="#d9">9</a> <a href="#d10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#d11">11</a> <a href="#d12">12</a> <a href="#d13">13</a> <a href="#d14">14</a>
+ <a href="#d15">15</a> <a href="#d16">16</a> <a href="#d17">17</a> <a href="#d18">18</a>
+ <a href="#d19">19</a> <a href="#d20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#d21">21</a> <a href="#d22">22</a> <a href="#d23">23</a> <a href="#d24">24</a>
+ <a href="#d25">25</a> <a href="#d26">26</a> <a href="#d27">27</a> <a href="#d28">28</a>
+ <a href="#d29">29</a> <a href="#d30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#d31">31</a> <a href="#d32">32</a> <a href="#d33">33</a> <a href="#d34">34</a>
+ <a href="#d35">35</a> <a href="#d36">36</a> <a href="#d37">37</a> <a href="#d38">38</a>
+ <a href="#d39">39</a> <a href="#d40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#d41">41</a> <a href="#d42">42</a> <a href="#d43">43</a> <a href="#d44">44</a>
+ <a href="#d45">45</a> <a href="#d46">46</a> <a href="#d47">47</a> <a href="#d48">48</a>
+ <a href="#d49">49</a> <a href="#d50">50</a><br />
+ <a href="#d51">51</a> <a href="#d52">52</a> <a href="#d53">53</a> <a href="#d54">54</a>
+ <a href="#d55">55</a> <a href="#d56">56</a> <a href="#d57">57</a> <a href="#d58">58</a>
+ <a href="#d59">59</a> <a href="#d60">60</a><br />
+ <a href="#d61">61</a> </td>
+ <td> <a href="#book23"><b>BOOK XXIII</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#e1">1</a> <a href="#e2">2</a> <a href="#e3">3</a> <a href="#e4">4</a>
+ <a href="#e5">5</a> <a href="#e6">6</a> <a href="#e7">7</a> <a href="#e8">8</a>
+ <a href="#e9">9</a> <a href="#e10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#e11">11</a> <a href="#e12">12</a> <a href="#e13">13</a> <a href="#e14">14</a>
+ <a href="#e15">15</a> <a href="#e16">16</a> <a href="#e17">17</a> <a href="#e18">18</a>
+ <a href="#e19">19</a> <a href="#e20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#e21">21</a> <a href="#e22">22</a> <a href="#e23">23</a> <a href="#e24">24</a>
+ <a href="#e25">25</a> <a href="#e26">26</a> <a href="#e27">27</a> <a href="#e28">28</a>
+ <a href="#e29">29</a> <a href="#e30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#e31">31</a> <a href="#e32">32</a> <a href="#e33">33</a> <a href="#e34">34</a>
+ <a href="#e35">35</a> <a href="#e36">36</a> <a href="#e37">37</a> <a href="#e38">38</a>
+ <a href="#e39">39</a> <a href="#e40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#e41">41</a> <a href="#e42">42</a> <a href="#e43">43</a> <a href="#e44">44</a>
+ <a href="#e45">45</a> <a href="#e46">46</a> <a href="#e47">47</a> <a href="#e48">48</a>
+ <a href="#e49">49</a> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td> <a href="#book24"><b>BOOK XXIV</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#f1">1</a> <a href="#f2">2</a> <a href="#f3">3</a> <a href="#f4">4</a>
+ <a href="#f5">5</a> <a href="#f6">6</a> <a href="#f7">7</a> <a href="#f8">8</a>
+ <a href="#f9">9</a> <a href="#f10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#f11">11</a> <a href="#f12">12</a> <a href="#f13">13</a> <a href="#f14">14</a>
+ <a href="#f15">15</a> <a href="#f16">16</a> <a href="#f17">17</a> <a href="#f18">18</a>
+ <a href="#f19">19</a> <a href="#f20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#f21">21</a> <a href="#f22">22</a> <a href="#f23">23</a> <a href="#f24">24</a>
+ <a href="#f25">25</a> <a href="#f26">26</a> <a href="#f27">27</a> <a href="#f28">28</a>
+ <a href="#f29">29</a> <a href="#f30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#f31">31</a> <a href="#f32">32</a> <a href="#f33">33</a> <a href="#f34">34</a>
+ <a href="#f35">35</a> <a href="#f36">36</a> <a href="#f37">37</a> <a href="#f38">38</a>
+ <a href="#f39">39</a> <a href="#f40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#f41">41</a> <a href="#f42">42</a> <a href="#f43">43</a> <a href="#f44">44</a>
+ <a href="#f45">45</a> <a href="#f46">46</a> <a href="#f47">47</a> <a href="#f48">48</a>
+ <a href="#f49">49</a> </td>
+ <td> <a href="#book25"><b>BOOK XXV</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#g1">1</a> <a href="#g2">2</a> <a href="#g3">3</a> <a href="#g4">4</a>
+ <a href="#g5">5</a> <a href="#g6">6</a> <a href="#g7">7</a> <a href="#g8">8</a>
+ <a href="#g9">9</a> <a href="#g10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#g11">11</a> <a href="#g12">12</a> <a href="#g13">13</a> <a href="#g14">14</a>
+ <a href="#g15">15</a> <a href="#g16">16</a> <a href="#g17">17</a> <a href="#g18">18</a>
+ <a href="#g19">19</a> <a href="#g20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#g21">21</a> <a href="#g22">22</a> <a href="#g23">23</a> <a href="#g24">24</a>
+ <a href="#g25">25</a> <a href="#g26">26</a> <a href="#g27">27</a> <a href="#g28">28</a>
+ <a href="#g29">29</a> <a href="#g30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#g31">31</a> <a href="#g32">32</a> <a href="#g33">33</a> <a href="#g34">34</a>
+ <a href="#g35">35</a> <a href="#g36">36</a> <a href="#g37">37</a> <a href="#g38">38</a>
+ <a href="#g39">39</a> <a href="#g40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#g41">41</a> </td>
+ <td> <a href="#book26"><b>BOOK XXVI</b></a><br />
+ <a href="#h1">1</a> <a href="#h2">2</a> <a href="#h3">3</a> <a href="#h4">4</a>
+ <a href="#h5">5</a> <a href="#h6">6</a> <a href="#h7">7</a> <a href="#h8">8</a>
+ <a href="#h9">9</a> <a href="#h10">10</a><br />
+ <a href="#h11">11</a> <a href="#h12">12</a> <a href="#h13">13</a> <a href="#h14">14</a>
+ <a href="#h15">15</a> <a href="#h16">16</a> <a href="#h17">17</a> <a href="#h18">18</a>
+ <a href="#h19">19</a> <a href="#h20">20</a><br />
+ <a href="#h21">21</a> <a href="#h22">22</a> <a href="#h23">23</a> <a href="#h24">24</a>
+ <a href="#h25">25</a> <a href="#h26">26</a> <a href="#h27">27</a> <a href="#h28">28</a>
+ <a href="#h29">29</a> <a href="#h30">30</a><br />
+ <a href="#h31">31</a> <a href="#h32">32</a> <a href="#h33">33</a> <a href="#h34">34</a>
+ <a href="#h35">35</a> <a href="#h36">36</a> <a href="#h37">37</a> <a href="#h38">38</a>
+ <a href="#h39">39</a> <a href="#h40">40</a><br />
+ <a href="#h41">41</a> <a href="#h42">42</a> <a href="#h43">43</a> <a href="#h44">44</a>
+ <a href="#h45">45</a> <a href="#h46">46</a> <a href="#h47">47</a> <a href="#h48">48</a>
+ <a href="#h49">49</a> <a href="#h50">50</a><br />
+ <a href="#h51">51</a> </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+</div>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book9">BOOK IX.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 321-304</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#a1">1</a> <a href="#a2">2</a> <a href="#a3">3</a>
+ <a href="#a4">4</a> <a href="#a5">5</a> <a href="#a6">6</a> <a href="#a7">7</a>
+ <a href="#a8">8</a> <a href="#a9">9</a> <a href="#a10">10</a> <a href="#a11">11</a>
+ <a href="#a12">12</a> <a href="#a13">13</a> <a href="#a14">14</a> <a href="#a15">15</a>
+ <a href="#a16">16</a> <a href="#a17">17</a> <a href="#a18">18</a> <a href="#a19">19</a>
+ <a href="#a20">20</a> <a href="#a21">21</a> <a href="#a22">22</a> <a href="#a23">23</a>
+ <a href="#a24">24</a> <a href="#a25">25</a> <a href="#a26">26</a> <a href="#a27">27</a>
+ <a href="#a28">28</a> <a href="#a29">29</a> <a href="#a30">30</a> <a href="#a31">31</a>
+ <a href="#a32">32</a> <a href="#a33">33</a> <a href="#a34">34</a> <a href="#a35">35</a>
+ <a href="#a36">36</a> <a href="#a37">37</a> <a href="#a38">38</a> <a href="#a39">39</a>
+ <a href="#a40">40</a> <a href="#a41">41</a> <a href="#a42">42</a> <a href="#a43">43</a>
+ <a href="#a44">44</a> <a href="#a45">45</a> <a href="#a46">46</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius, with their army,
+ surrounded by the Samnites at the Caudine forks; enter into a treaty, give six
+ hundred hostages, and are sent under the yoke. The treaty declared invalid;
+ the two generals and the other sureties sent back to the Samnites, but are not
+ accepted. Not long after, Papirius Cursor obliterates this disgrace, by vanquishing
+ the Samnites, sending them under the yoke, and recovering the hostages. Two
+ tribes added. Appius Claudius, censor, constructs the Claudian aqueduct, and
+ the Appian road; admits the sons of freedom into the senate. Successes against
+ the Apulians, Etruscans, Umbrians, Marsians, Pelignians, Aequans, and Samnites.
+ Mention made of Alexander the Great, who flourished at this time; a comparative
+ estimate of his strength, and that of the Roman people, tending to show, that
+ if he had carried his arms into Italy, he would not have been as successful
+ there as he had been in the Eastern countries.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<br />
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="a1" />
+<p>This year is followed by the convention of Caudium, so memorable on account
+ of the misfortune of the Romans, the consuls being Titus Veturius Calvinus and
+ Spurius Postumius. The Samnites had as their commander that year Caius Ponius,
+ son to Herennius, born of a father most highly renowned for wisdom, and himself
+ a consummate warrior and commander. When the ambassadors, who had been sent
+ to make restitution, returned, without concluding a peace, he said, "That ye
+ may not think that no purpose has been effected by this embassy, whatever degree
+ of anger the deities of heaven had conceived against us, on account of the infraction
+ of the treaty, has been hereby expiated. I am very confident, that whatever
+ deities they were, whose will it was that you should be reduced to the necessity
+ of making the restitution, which had been demanded according to the treaty,
+ it was not agreeable to them, that our atonement for the breach of treason should
+ be so haughtily spurned by the Romans. For what more could possibly be done
+ towards appeasing the gods, and softening the anger of men, than we have done?
+ The effects of the enemy, taken among the spoils, which appeared to be our own
+ by the right of war, we restored: the authors of the war, as we could not deliver
+ them up alive, we delivered them dead: their goods we carried to Rome, lest
+ by retaining them, any degree of guilt should remain among us. What more, Roman,
+ do I owe to thee? what to the treaty? what to the gods, the guarantees of the
+ treaty? What arbitrator shall I call in to judge of your resentment, and of
+ my punishment? I decline none; neither nation nor private person. But if nothing
+ in human law is left to the weak against stronger, I will appeal to the gods,
+ the avengers of intolerant arrogance, and will beseech them to turn their wrath
+ against those for whom neither the restoration of their own effects nor additional
+ heaps of other men's property, can suffice, whose cruelty is not satiated by
+ the death of the guilty, by the surrender of their lifeless bodies, nor by their
+ goods accompanying the surrender of the owner; who cannot be appeased otherwise
+ than by giving them our blood to drink, and our entrails to be torn. Samnites,
+ war is just to those for whom it is necessary, and arms are clear of impiety
+ for those who have no hope left but in arms. Wherefore, as in every human undertaking,
+ it is of the utmost importance what matter men may set about with the favour,
+ what under the displeasure of the gods, be assured that the former wars ye waged
+ in opposition to the gods more than to men; in this, which is now impending,
+ ye will act under the immediate guidance of the gods themselves." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="a2" />
+<p>After uttering these predictions, not more cheering than true, he led out the
+ troops, and placed his camp about Caudium as much out of view as possible. From
+ thence he sent to Calatia, where he heard that the Roman consuls were encamped,
+ ten soldiers, in the habit of shepherds, and ordered them to keep some cattle
+ feeding in several different places, at a small distance from the Roman posts;
+ and that, when they fell in with any of their foragers, they should all agree
+ in the same story, that the legions of the Samnites were then in Apulia, that
+ they were besieging Luceria with their whole force, and very near taking it
+ by storm. Such a rumour had been industriously spread before, and had already
+ reached the Romans; but these prisoners increased the credit of it, especially
+ as they all concurred in the same report. There was no doubt but that the Romans
+ would carry succour to the Lucerians, as being good and faithful allies; and
+ for this further reason, lest all Apulia, through apprehension of the impending
+ danger, might go over to the enemy. The only point of deliberation was, by what
+ road they should go. There were two roads leading to Luceria, one along the
+ coast of the upper sea, wide and open; but, as it was the safer, so it was proportionably
+ longer: the other, which was shorter, through the Caudine forks. The nature
+ of the place is this: there are two deep glens, narrow and covered with wood,
+ connected together by mountains ranging on both sides from one to the other;
+ between these lies a plain of considerable extent, enclosed in the middle, abounding
+ in grass and water, and through the middle of which the passage runs: but before
+ you can arrive at it, the first defile must be passed, while the only way back
+ is through the road by which you entered it; or if in case of resolving to proceed
+ forward, you must go by the other glen, which is still more narrow and difficult.
+ Into this plain the Romans, having marched down their troops by one of those
+ passes through the cleft of a rock, when they advanced onward to the other defile,
+ found it blocked up by trees thrown across, and a mound of huge stones lying
+ in their way. When the stratagem of the enemy now became apparent, there is
+ seen at the same time a body of troops on the eminence over the glen. Hastening
+ back, then, they proceed to retrace the road by which they had entered; they
+ found that also shut up by such another fence, and men in arms. Then, without
+ orders, they halted; amazement took possession of their minds, and a strange
+ kind of numbness seized their limbs: they then remained a long time motionless
+ and silent, each looking to the other, as if each thought the other more capable
+ of judging and advising than himself. After some time, when they saw that the
+ consul's pavilions were being erected, and that some were getting ready the
+ implements for throwing up works, although they were sensible that it must appear
+ ridiculous the attempt to raise a fortification in their present desperate condition,
+ and when almost every hope was lost, would be an object of necessity, yet, not
+ to add a fault to their misfortunes, they all, without being advised or ordered
+ by any one, set earnestly to work, and enclosed a camp with a rampart, close
+ to the water, while themselves, besides that the enemy heaped insolent taunts
+ on them, seemed with melancholy to acknowledge the apparent fruitlessness of
+ their toil and labour. The lieutenants-general and tribunes, without being summoned
+ to consultation, (for there was no room for either consultation or remedy,)
+ assembled round the dejected consul; while the soldiers, crowding to the general's
+ quarters, demanded from their leaders that succour, which it was hardly in the
+ power of the immortal gods themselves to afford them. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="a3" />
+<p>Night came on them while lamenting their situation rather than consulting,
+ whilst they urged expedients, each according to his temper; one crying out,
+ "Let us go over those fences of the roads;" others, "over the steeps; through
+ the woods; any way, where arms can be carried. Let us be but permitted to come
+ to the enemy, whom we have been used to conquer now near thirty years. All places
+ will be level and plain to a Roman, fighting against the perfidious Samnite."
+ Another would say, "Whither, or by what way can we go? Do we expect to remove
+ the mountains from their foundations? While these cliffs hang over us, by what
+ road will you reach the enemy? Whether armed or unarmed, brave or dastardly,
+ we are all, without distinction, captured and vanquished. The enemy will not
+ even show us a weapon by which we might die with honour. He will finish the
+ war without moving from his seat." In such discourse, thinking of neither food
+ nor rest, the night was passed. Nor could the Samnites, though in circumstances
+ so joyous, instantly determine how to act: it was therefore universally agreed
+ that Herennius Pontius, father of the general, should be consulted by letter.
+ He was now grown feeble through age, and had withdrawn himself, not only from
+ all military, but also from all civil occupations; yet, notwithstanding the
+ decline of his bodily strength, his mind retained its full vigour. When he heard
+ that the Roman armies were shut up at the Caudine forks between the two glens,
+ being consulted by his son's messenger, he gave his opinion, that they should
+ all be immediately dismissed from thence unhurt. On this counsel being rejected,
+ and the same messenger returning a second time, he recommended that they should
+ all, to a man, be put to death. When these answers, so opposite to each other,
+ like those of an ambiguous oracle, were given, although his son in particular
+ considered that the powers of his father's mind, together with those of his
+ body, had been impaired by age, was yet prevailed on, by the general desire
+ of all, to send for him to consult him. The old man, we are told, complied without
+ reluctance, and was carried in a waggon to the camp, where, when summoned to
+ give his advice, he spoke in such way as to make no alteration in his opinions;
+ he only added the reasons for them. That "by his first plan, which he esteemed
+ the best, he meant, by an act of extraordinary kindness, to establish perpetual
+ peace and friendship with a most powerful nation: by the other, to put off the
+ return of war to the distance of many ages, during which the Roman state, after
+ the loss of those two armies, could not easily recover its strength." A third
+ plan there was not. When his son, and the other chiefs, went on to ask him if
+ "a plan of a middle kind might not be adopted; that they both should be dismissed
+ unhurt, and, at the same time, by the right of war, terms imposed on them as
+ vanquished?" "That, indeed," said he, "is a plan of such a nature, as neither
+ procures friends or removes enemies. Only preserve those whom ye would irritate
+ by ignominious treatment. The Romans are a race who know not how to sit down
+ quiet under defeat; whatever that is which the present necessity shall brand
+ will rankle in their breasts for ever, and will not suffer them to rest, until
+ they have wreaked manifold vengeance on your heads." Neither of these plans
+ was approved, and Herennius was carried home from the camp. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="a4" />
+<p>In the Roman camp also, when many fruitless efforts to force a passage had
+ been made, and they were now destitute of every means of subsistence, forced
+ by necessity, they send ambassadors, who were first to ask peace on equal terms;
+ which, if they did not obtain, they were to challenge the enemy to battle. To
+ this Pontius answered, that "the war was at an end; and since, even in their
+ present vanquished and captive state, they were not willing to acknowledge their
+ situation, he would send them under the yoke unarmed, each with a single garment;
+ that the other conditions of peace should be such as were just between the conquerors
+ and the conquered. If their troops would depart, and their colonies be withdrawn
+ out of the territories of the Samnites; for the future, the Romans and Samnites,
+ under a treaty of equality, shall live according to their own respective laws.
+ On these terms he was ready to negotiate with the consuls: and if any of these
+ should not be accepted, he forbade the ambassadors to come to him again." When
+ the result of this embassy was made known, such general lamentation suddenly
+ arose, and such melancholy took possession of them, that had they been told
+ that all were to die on the spot, they could not have felt deeper affliction.
+ After silence continued a long time, and the consuls were not able to utter
+ a word, either in favour of a treaty so disgraceful, or against a treaty so
+ necessary; at length, Lucius Lentulus, who was the first among the lieutenants-general,
+ both in respect of bravery, and of the public honours which he had attained,
+ addressed them thus: "Consuls, I have often heard my father say, that he was
+ the only person in the Capitol who did not advise the senate to ransom the state
+ from the Gauls with gold; and these he would not concur in, because they had
+ not been enclosed with a trench and rampart by the enemy, (who were remarkably
+ slothful with respect to works and raising fortifications,) and because they
+ might sally forth, if not without great danger, yet without certain destruction.
+ Now if, in like manner as they had it in their power to run down from the Capitol
+ in arms against their foe, as men besieged have often sallied out on the besiegers,
+ it were possible for us to come to blows with the enemy, either on equal or
+ unequal ground, I would not be wanting in the high quality of my father's spirit
+ in stating my advice. I acknowledge, indeed, that death, in defence of our country,
+ is highly glorious; and I am ready, either to devote myself for the Roman people
+ and the legions, or to plunge into the midst of the enemy. But in this spot
+ I behold my country: in this spot, the whole of the Roman legions, and unless
+ these choose to rush on death in defence of their own individual characters,
+ what have they which can be preserved by their death? The houses of the city,
+ some may say, and the walls of it, and the crowd who dwell in it, by which the
+ city is inhabited. But in fact, in case of the destruction of this army, all
+ these are betrayed, not preserved. For who will protect them? An unwarlike and
+ unarmed multitude, shall I suppose? Yes, just as they defended them against
+ the attack of the Gauls. Will they call to their succour an army from Veii,
+ with Camillus at its head? Here on the spot, I repeat, are all our hopes and
+ strength; by preserving which, we preserve our country; by delivering them up
+ to death, we abandon and betray our country. But a surrender is shameful and
+ ignominious. True: but such ought to be our affection for our country, that
+ we should save it by our own disgrace, if necessity required, as freely as by
+ our death. Let therefore that indignity be undergone, how great soever, and
+ let us submit to that necessity which even the gods themselves do not overcome.
+ Go, consuls, ransom the state for arms, which your ancestors ransomed with gold."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="a5" />
+<p>The consuls having gone to Pontius to confer with him, when he talked, in the
+ strain of a conqueror, of a treaty, they declared that such could not be concluded
+ without an order of the people, nor without the ministry of the heralds, and
+ the other customary rites. Accordingly the Caudine peace was not ratified by
+ settled treaty, as is commonly believed, and even asserted by Claudius, but
+ by conventional sureties. For what occasion would these be either for sureties
+ or hostages in the former case, where the ratification is performed by the imprecation,
+ "that whichever nation shall give occasion to the said terms being violated,
+ may Jupiter strike that nation in like manner as the swine is struck by the
+ heralds." The consuls, lieutenants-general, quaestors, and military tribunes,
+ became sureties; and the names of all these who became sureties are extant;
+ where, had the business been transacted by treaty, none would have appeared
+ but those of the two heralds. On account of the necessary delay of the treaty
+ six hundred horsemen were demanded as hostages, who were to suffer death if
+ the compact were not fulfilled; a time was then fixed for delivering up the
+ hostages, and sending away the troops disarmed. The return of the consuls renewed
+ the general grief in the camp, insomuch that the men hardly refrained from offering
+ violence to them, "by whose rashness," they said, "they had been brought into
+ such a situation; and through whose cowardice they were likely to depart with
+ greater disgrace than they came. They had employed no guide through the country,
+ nor scouts; but were sent out blindly, like beasts into a pitfall" They cast
+ looks on each other, viewed earnestly the arms which they must presently surrender;
+ while their persons would be subject to the whim of the enemy: figured to themselves
+ the hostile yoke, the scoffs of the conquerors, their haughty looks, and finally,
+ thus disarmed, their march through the midst of an armed foe. In a word, they
+ saw with horror the miserable journey of their dishonoured band through the
+ cities of the allies; and their return into their own country, to their parents,
+ whither themselves, and their ancestors, had so often come in triumph. Observing,
+ that "they alone had been conquered without a fight, without a weapon thrown,
+ without a wound; that they had not been permitted to draw their swords, nor
+ to engage the enemy. In vain had arms, in vain had strength, in vain had courage
+ been given them." While they were giving vent to such grievous reflections,
+ the fatal hour of their disgrace arrived, which was to render every circumstance
+ still more shocking in fact, than they had preconceived it in their imaginations.
+ First, they were ordered to go out, beyond the rampart, unarmed, and with single
+ garments; then the hostages were surrendered, and carried into custody. The
+ lictors were next commanded to depart from the consuls, and the robes of the
+ latter were stripped off. This excited such a degree of commiseration in the
+ breasts of those very men, who a little before, pouring execrations upon them,
+ had proposed that they should be delivered up and torn to pieces, that every
+ one, forgetting his own condition, turned away his eyes from that degradation
+ of so high a dignity, as from a spectacle too horrid to behold. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="a6" />
+<p>First, the consuls, nearly half naked, were sent under the yoke; then each
+ officer, according to his rank, was exposed to disgrace, and the legions successively.
+ The enemy stood on each side under arms, reviling and mocking them; swords were
+ pointed at most of them, several were wounded and some even slain, when their
+ looks, rendered too fierce by the indignity to which they were subjected, gave
+ offence to the conquerors. Thus were they led under the yoke; and what was still
+ more intolerable, under the eyes of the enemy. When they had got clear of the
+ defile, they seemed as if they had been drawn up from the infernal regions,
+ and then for the first time beheld the light; yet, when they viewed the ignominious
+ appearance of the army, the light itself was more painful to them than any kind
+ of death could have been; so that although they might have arrived at Capua
+ before night, yet, uncertain with respect to the fidelity of the allies, and
+ because shame embarrassed them, in need of every thing, they threw themselves
+ carelessly on the ground, on each side of the road: which being told at Capua,
+ just compassion for their allies got the better of the arrogance natural to
+ the Campanians. They immediately sent to the consuls their ensigns of office,
+ the fasces and lictors; to the soldiers, arms, horses, clothes, and provisions
+ in abundance: and, on their approach to Capua, the whole senate and people went
+ out to meet them, and performed every proper office of hospitality, both public
+ and private. But the courtesy, kind looks, and address of the allies, could
+ not only not draw a word from them, but it could not even prevail on them to
+ raise their eyes, or look their consoling friends in the face, so completely
+ did shame, in addition to grief, oblige them to shun the conversation and society
+ of these their friends. Next day, when some young nobles, who had been sent
+ from Capua, to escort them on their road to the frontiers of Campania, returned,
+ they were called into the senate-house, and, in answer to the inquiries of the
+ elder members, said, that "to them they seemed deeply sunk in melancholy and
+ dejection; that the whole body moved on in silence, almost as if dumb; the former
+ genius of the Romans was prostrated, and that their spirit had been taken from
+ them, together with their arms. Not one returned a salute, nor returned an answer
+ to those who greeted them; as if, through fear, they were unable to utter a
+ word; as if their necks still carried the yoke under which they had been sent.
+ That the Samnites had obtained a victory, not only glorious, but lasting also;
+ for they had subdued, not Rome merely, as the Gauls had formerly done, but what
+ was a much wore warlike achievement, the Roman courage." When these remarks
+ were made and attentively listened to, and the almost extinction of the Roman
+ name was lamented in this assembly of faithful allies, Ofilius Calavius, son
+ of Ovius, a man highly distinguished, both by his birth and conduct, and at
+ this time further respectable on account of his age, is said to have declared
+ that he entertained a very different opinion in the case. "This obstinate silence,"
+ said he, "those eyes fixed on the earth,--those ears deaf to all comfort,--with
+ the shame of beholding the light,--are indications of a mind calling forth,
+ from its inmost recesses, the utmost exertions of resentment. Either he was
+ ignorant of the temper of the Romans, or that silence would shortly excite,
+ among the Samnites, lamentable cries and groans; for that the remembrance of
+ the Caudine peace would be much more sorrowful to the Samnites than to the Romans.
+ Each side would have their own native spirit, wherever they should happen to
+ engage, but the Samnites would not, every where, have the glens of Caudium."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="a7" />
+<p>Their disaster was, by this time, well known at Rome also. At first, they heard
+ that the troops were shut up; afterwards the news of the ignominious peace caused
+ greater affliction than had been felt for their danger. On the report of their
+ being surrounded, a levy of men was begun; but when it was understood that the
+ army had surrendered in so disgraceful a manner, the preparations were laid
+ aside; and immediately, without any public directions, a general mourning took
+ place, with all the various demonstrations of grief. The shops were shut; and
+ all business ceased in the forum, spontaneously, before it was proclaimed. Laticlaves
+ [<a href="#foot1">1</a>] and gold rings were laid aside: and the public were
+ in greater tribulation, if possible, than the army itself; they were not only
+ enraged against the commanders, the advisers and sureties of the peace, but
+ detested even the unoffending soldiers, and asserted, that they ought not to
+ be admitted into the city or its habitations. But these transports of passion
+ were allayed by the arrival of the troops, which excited compassion even in
+ the angry; for entering into the city, not like men returning into their country
+ with unexpected safety, but in the habit and with the looks of captives, late
+ in the evening; they hid themselves so closely in their houses, that, for the
+ next, and several following days, not one of them could bear to come in sight
+ of the forum, or of the public. The consuls, shut up in private, transacted
+ no official business, except that which was wrung from them by a decree of the
+ senate, to nominate a dictator to preside at the elections. They nominated Quintus
+ Fabius Ambustus, and as master of the horse Publius Aelius Paetus. But they
+ having been irregularly appointed, there were substituted in their room, Marcus
+ Aemilius Papus dictator, and Lucius Valerius Flaccus master of the horse. But
+ neither did these hold the elections: and the people being dissatisfied with
+ all the magistrates of that year, an interregnum ensued. The interreges were,
+ Quintus Fabius Maximus and Marcus Valerius Corvus, who elected consuls Quintus
+ Publilius Philo, and Lucius Papirius Cursor a second time; a choice universally
+ approved, for there were no commanders at that time of higher reputation. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="a8" />
+<p>They entered into office on the day they were elected, for so it had been determined
+ by the fathers. When the customary decrees of the senate were passed, they proposed
+ the consideration of the Caudine peace; and Publilius, who was in possession
+ of the fasces, said, "Spurius Postumius, speak:" he arose with just the same
+ countenance with which he had passed under the yoke, and delivered himself to
+ this effect: "Consuls, I am well aware that I have been called up first with
+ marked ignominy, not with honour; and that I am ordered to speak, not as being
+ a senator, but as a person answerable as well for an unsuccessful war as for
+ a disgraceful peace. However, since the question propounded by you is not concerning
+ our guilt, or our punishment; waving a defence, which would not be very difficult,
+ before men who are not unacquainted with human casualties or necessities, I
+ shall briefly state my opinion on the matter in question; which opinion will
+ testify, whether I meant to spare myself or your legions, when I engaged as
+ surety to the convention, whether dishonourable or necessary: by which, however,
+ the Roman people are not bound, inasmuch as it was concluded without their order;
+ nor is any thing liable to be forfeited to the Samnites, in consequence of it,
+ except our persons. Let us then be delivered up to them by the heralds, naked,
+ and in chains. Let us free the people of the religious obligation, if we have
+ bound them under any such; so that there may be no restriction, divine or human,
+ to prevent your entering on the war anew, without violating either religion
+ or justice. I am also of opinion, that the consuls, in the mean time, enlist,
+ arm, and lead out an army; but that they should not enter the enemy's territories
+ before every particular, respecting the surrender of us, be regularly executed.
+ You, O immortal gods! I pray and beseech that, although it has not been your
+ will that Spurius Postumius and Titus Veturius, as consuls, should wage war
+ with success against the Samnites, ye may yet deem it sufficient to have seen
+ us sent under the yoke; to have seen us bound under an infamous convention;
+ to have seen us delivered into the hands of our foes naked and shackled, taking
+ on our own heads the whole weight of the enemy's resentment. And grant, that
+ the consuls and legions of Rome may wage war against the Samnites, with the
+ same fortune with which every war has been waged before we became consuls."
+ On his concluding this speech, men's minds were so impressed with both admiration
+ and compassion, that now they could scarce believe him to be the same Spurius
+ Postumius who had been the author of so shameful a peace; again lamenting, that
+ such a man was likely to undergo, among the enemy, a punishment even beyond
+ that of others, through resentment for annulling the peace. When all the members,
+ extolling him with praises, expressed their approbation of his sentiments, a
+ protest was attempted for a time by Lucius Livius and Quintus Maelius, tribunes
+ of the commons, who said, that "the people could not be acquitted of the religious
+ obligation by the consuls being given up, unless all things were restored to
+ the Samnites in the same state in which they had been at Caudium; nor had they
+ themselves deserved any punishment, for having, by becoming sureties to the
+ peace, preserved the army of the Roman people; nor, finally, could they, being
+ sacred and inviolable, be surrendered to the enemy or treated with violence."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="a9" />
+<p>To this Postumius replied, "In the mean time surrender us as unsanctified persons,
+ which ye may do, without offence to religion; those sacred and inviolable personages,
+ the tribunes, ye will afterwards deliver up as soon as they go out of office:
+ but, if ye listen to me, they will be first scourged with rods, here in the
+ Comitium, that they may pay this as interest for their punishment being delayed.
+ For, as to their denying that the people are acquitted of the religious obligation,
+ by our being given up, who is there so ignorant of the laws of the heralds,
+ as not to know, that those men speak in that manner, that they themselves may
+ not be surrendered, rather than because the case is really so? Still I do not
+ deny, conscript fathers, that compacts, on sureties given, are as sacred as
+ treaties, in the eyes of all who regard faith between men, with the same reverence
+ which is paid to duties respecting the gods: but I insist, that without the
+ order of the people, nothing can be ratified that is to bind the people. Suppose
+ that, out of the same arrogance with which the Samnites wrung from us the convention
+ in question, they had compelled us to repeat the established form of words for
+ the surrendering of cities, would ye, tribunes, say, that the Roman people was
+ surrendered? and, that this city, these temples, and consecrated grounds, these
+ lands and waters, were become the property of the Samnites? I say no more of
+ the surrender, because our having become sureties is the point insisted on.
+ Now, suppose we had become sureties that the Roman people should quit this city;
+ that they should set it on fire; that they should have no magistrates, no senate,
+ no laws; that they should, in future, be ruled by kings: the gods forbid, you
+ say. But, the enormity of the articles lessens not the obligation of a compact.
+ If there is any thing in which the people can be bound, it can in all. Nor is
+ there any importance in another circumstance, which weighs, perhaps, with some:
+ whether a consul, a dictator, or a praetor, be the surety. And this, indeed,
+ was what even the Samnites themselves proved, who were not satisfied with the
+ security of the consuls, but compelled the lieutenants-general, quaestors, and
+ military tribunes to join them. Let no one, then, demand of me, why I entered
+ into such a compact, when neither such power was vested in a consul, and when
+ I could not either to them, insure a peace, of which I could not command the
+ ratification; or in behalf of you, who had given me no powers. Conscript fathers,
+ none of the transactions at Caudium were directed by human wisdom. The immortal
+ gods deprived of understanding both your generals and those of the enemy. On
+ the one side we acted not with sufficient caution in the war; on the other,
+ they threw away a victory, which through our folly they had obtained, while
+ they hardly confided in the places, by means of which they had conquered; but
+ were in haste, on any terms, to take arms out of the hands of men who were born
+ to arms. Had their reason been sound, would it have been difficult, during the
+ time which they spent in sending for old men from home to give them advice,
+ to send ambassadors to Rome, and to negotiate a peace and treaty with the senate,
+ and with the people? It would have been a journey of only three days to expeditious
+ travellers. In the interim, matters might have rested under a truce, that is,
+ until their ambassadors should have brought from Rome, either certain victory
+ or peace. That would have been really a compact, on the faith of sureties, for
+ we should have become sureties by order of the people. But, neither would ye
+ have passed such an order, nor should we have pledged our faith; nor was it
+ right that the affair should have any other issue, than, that they should be
+ vainly mocked with a dream, as it were, of greater prosperity than their minds
+ were capable of comprehending, and that the same fortune, which had entangled
+ our army, should extricate it; that an ineffectual victory should be frustrated
+ by a more ineffectual peace; and that a convention, on the faith of a surety,
+ should be introduced, which bound no other person beside the surety. For what
+ part had ye, conscript fathers; what part had the people, in this affair? Who
+ can call upon you? Who can say, that he has been deceived by you? Can the enemy?
+ Can a citizen? To the enemy ye engaged nothing. Ye ordered no citizen to engage
+ on your behalf. Ye are therefore no way concerned either with us, to whom ye
+ gave no commission; nor with the Samnites, with whom ye transacted no business.
+ We are sureties to the Samnites; debtors, sufficiently wealthy in that which
+ is our own, in that which we can offer--our bodies and our minds. On these,
+ let them exercise their cruelty; against these, let them whet their resentment
+ and their swords. As to what relates to the tribunes, consider whether the delivering
+ them up can be effected at the present time, or if it must be deferred to another
+ day. Meanwhile let us, Titus Veturius, and the rest concerned, offer our worthless
+ persons, as atonements for the breaking our engagements, and, by our sufferings
+ liberate the Roman armies." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="a10" />
+<p>Both these arguments, and, still more, the author of them, powerfully affected
+ the senators; as they did likewise every one, not excepting even the tribunes
+ of the commons who declared, that they would be directed by the senate. They
+ then instantly resigned their office, and were delivered, together with the
+ rest, to the heralds, to be conducted to Caudium. On passing this decree of
+ the senate, it seemed as if some new light had shone upon the state: Postumius
+ was in every mouth: they extolled him to heaven; and pronounced his conduct
+ as equal even to the devoting act of the consul Publius Decius, and to other
+ illustrious acts. "Through his counsel, and exertions," they said, "the state
+ had raised up its head from an ignominious peace. He now offered himself to
+ the enemy's rage, and to torments; and was suffering, in atonement for the Roman
+ people." All turned their thoughts towards arms and war, [and the general cry
+ was,] "When shall we be permitted with arms in our hands to meet the Samnites?"
+ While the state glowed with resentment and rancour, the levies were composed
+ almost entirely of volunteers. New legions, composed of the former soldiers,
+ were quickly formed, and an army marched to Caudium. The heralds, who went before,
+ on coming to the gate, ordered the sureties of the peace to be stripped of their
+ clothes, and their hands to be tied behind their backs. As the apparitor, out
+ of respect to his dignity, was binding Postumius in a loose manner, "Why do
+ you not," said he, "draw the cord tight, that the surrender may be regularly
+ performed?" Then, when they came into the assembly of the Samnites, and to the
+ tribunal of Pontius, Aulus Cornelius Arvina, a herald, pronounced these words:
+ "Forasmuch as these men, here present, without orders from the Roman people,
+ the Quirites, entered into surety, that a treaty should be made, and have thereby
+ rendered themselves criminal; now, in order that the Roman people may be freed
+ from the crime of impiety, I here surrender these men into your hands." On the
+ herald saying thus, Postumius gave him a stroke on the thigh with his knee,
+ as forcibly as he could, and said with a loud voice, that "he was now a citizen
+ of Samnium, the other a Roman ambassador; that the herald had been, by him,
+ violently ill-treated, contrary to the law of nations; and that his people would
+ therefore have the more justice on their side, in waging war." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="a11" />
+<p>Pontius then said, "Neither will I accept such a surrender, nor will the Samnites
+ deem it valid. Spurius Postumius, if you believe that there are gods, why do
+ you not undo all that has been done, or fulfil your agreement? The Samnite nation
+ is entitled, either to all the men whom it had in its power, or, instead of
+ them, to a peace. But why do I call on you, who, with as much regard to faith
+ as you are able to show, return yourself a prisoner into the hands of the conqueror?
+ I call on the Roman people. If they are dissatisfied with the convention made
+ at the Caudine forks, let them replace the legions within the defile where they
+ were pent up. Let there be no deception on either side. Let all that has been
+ done pass as nothing. Let them receive again the army which they surrendered
+ by the convention; let them return into their camp. Whatever they were in possession
+ of, the day before the conference, let them possess again. Then let war and
+ resolute counsels be adopted. Then let the convention, and peace, be rejected.
+ Let us carry on the war in the same circumstances, and situations, in which
+ we were before peace was mentioned. Let neither the Roman people blame the convention
+ of the consuls, nor us the faith of the Roman people. Will ye never want an
+ excuse for not standing to the compacts which ye make on being defeated? Ye
+ gave hostages to Porsena: ye clandestinely withdrew them. Ye ransomed your state
+ from the Gauls, for gold: while they were receiving the gold, they were put
+ to the sword. Ye concluded a peace with us, on condition of our restoring your
+ captured legions: that peace ye now annul; in fine, ye always spread over your
+ fraudulent conduct some show of right. Do the Roman people disapprove of their
+ legions being saved by an ignominious peace? Let them have their peace, and
+ return the captured legions to the conqueror. This would be conduct consistent
+ with faith, with treaties, and with the laws of the heralds. But that you should,
+ in consequence of the convention, obtain what you desired, the safety of so
+ many of your countrymen, while I obtain not, what I stipulated for on sending
+ you back those men, a peace; is this the law which you, Aulus Cornelius, which
+ ye, heralds, prescribe to nations? But for my part, I neither accept those men
+ whom ye pretend to surrender, nor consider them as surrendered; nor do I hinder
+ them from returning into their own country, which stands bound under an actual
+ convention, formally entered into carrying with them the wrath of all the gods,
+ whose authority is thus baffled. Wage war, since Spurius Postumius has just
+ now struck with his knee the herald, in character of ambassador. The gods are
+ to believe that Postumius is a citizen of Samnium, not of Rome; and that a Roman
+ ambassador has been violated by a Samnite; and that therefore a just war has
+ been waged against us by you. That men of years, and of consular dignity, should
+ not be ashamed to exhibit such mockery of religion in the face of day! And should
+ have recourse to such shallow artifices to palliate their breach of faith, unworthy
+ even of children! Go, lictor, take off the bonds from those Romans. Let no one
+ delay them from departing when they think proper." Accordingly they returned
+ unhurt from Caudium to the Roman camp, having acquitted, certainly, their own
+ faith, and perhaps that of the public. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="a12" />
+<p>The Samnites finding that instead of a peace which flattered their pride, the
+ war was revived, and with the utmost inveteracy, not only felt, in their minds,
+ a foreboding of all the consequences which ensued, but saw them, in a manner,
+ before their eyes. They now, too late and in vain, applauded the plans of old
+ Pontius, by blundering between which, they had exchanged the possession of victory
+ for an uncertain peace; and having lost the opportunity of doing a kindness
+ or an injury, were now to fight against men, whom they might have either put
+ out of the way, for ever, as enemies; or engaged, for ever, as friends. And
+ such was the change which had taken place in men's minds, since the Caudine
+ peace, even before any trial of strength had shown an advantage on either side,
+ that Postumius, by surrendering himself, had acquired greater renown among the
+ Romans, than Pontius among the Samnites, by his bloodless victory. The Romans
+ considered their being at liberty to make war, a certain victory; while the
+ Samnites supposed the Romans victorious, the moment they resumed their arms.
+ Meanwhile, the Satricans revolted to the Samnites, who attacked the colony of
+ Fregellae, by a sudden surprise in the night, accompanied, as it appears, by
+ the Satricans. From that time until day, their mutual fears kept both parties
+ quiet: the daylight was the signal for battle, which the Fregellans contrived
+ to maintain, for a considerable time, without loss of ground; both because they
+ fought for their religion and liberty; and the multitude, who were unfit to
+ bear arms, assisted them from the tops of the houses. At length a stratagem
+ gave the advantage to the assailants; for they suffered the voice of a crier
+ to be heard proclaiming, that "whoever laid down his arms might retire in safety."
+ This relaxed their eagerness in the fight, and they began almost every where
+ to throw away their arms. A part, more determined, however, retaining their
+ arms, rushed out by the opposite gate, and their boldness brought greater safety
+ to them, than their fear, which inclined them to credulity, did to the others:
+ for the Samnites, having surrounded the latter with fires, burned them all to
+ death, while they made vain appeals to the faith of gods and men. The consuls
+ having settled the province between them, Papirius proceeded into Apulia to
+ Luceria where the Roman horsemen, given as hostages at Caudium were kept in
+ custody: Publilius remained in Samnium, to oppose the Caudine legions. This
+ proceeding perplexed the minds of the Samnites: they could not safely determine
+ either to go to Luceria, lest the enemy should press on their rear or to remain
+ where they were, lest in the mean time Luceria should be lost. They concluded,
+ therefore, that it would be most advisable to trust to the decision of fortune,
+ and to take the issue of a battle with Publilius: accordingly they drew out
+ their forces into the field. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="a13" />
+<p>When Publilius was about to engage, considering it proper to address his soldiers
+ first, he ordered an assembly be summoned. But though they ran together to the
+ general's quarters with the greatest alacrity, yet so loud were the clamours,
+ demanding the fight, that none of the general's exhortations were heard: each
+ man's own reflections on the late disgrace served as an exhortation. They advanced
+ therefore to battle, urging the standard-bearers to hasten; at rest, in beginning
+ the conflict, there should be any delay, in wielding their javelins and then
+ drawing their swords, they threw away the former, as if a signal to that purpose
+ had been given, and, drawing the latter, rushed in full speed upon the foe.
+ Nothing of a general's skill was displayed in forming ranks or reserves; the
+ resentment of the troops performed all, with a degree of fury little inferior
+ to madness. The enemy, therefore, were not only completely routed, not even
+ daring to embarrass their flight by retreating to their camp but dispersing,
+ made towards Apulia in scattered parties: afterwards, however, collecting their
+ forces into one body, they reached Luceria. The same exasperation, which had
+ carried the Romans through the midst of the enemy's line, carried them forward
+ also into their camp, where greater carnage was made, and more blood spilt,
+ than even in the field, while the greater part of the spoil was destroyed in
+ their rage. The other army, with the consul Papirius, had now arrived at Arpi,
+ on the sea-coast, having passed without molestation through all the countries
+ in their way; which was owing to the ill-treatment received by those people
+ from the Samnites, and their hatred towards them, rather than to any favour
+ received from the Roman people. For such of the Samnites as dwelt on the mountains
+ in separate villages, used to ravage the low lands, and the places on the coast;
+ and being mountaineers, and savage themselves, despised the husbandmen who were
+ of a gentler kind, and, as generally happens, resembled the district they inhabited.
+ Now if this tract had been favourably affected towards the Samnites, either
+ the Roman army could have been prevented from reaching Arpi, or, as it lay between
+ Rome and Arpi, it might have intercepted the convoys of provisions, and utterly
+ destroyed them by the consequent scarcity of all necessaries. Even as it was,
+ when they went from thence to Luceria, both the besiegers and the besieged were
+ distressed equally by want. Every kind of supplies was brought to the Romans
+ from Arpi; but in so very scanty proportion, that the horsemen had to carry
+ corn from thence to the camp, in little bags, for the foot, who were employed
+ in the outposts, watches, and works; and sometimes falling in with the enemy,
+ they were obliged to throw the corn from off their horses, in order to fight.
+ Before the arrival of the other consul and his victorious army, both provisions
+ had been brought in to the Samnites, and reinforcements conveyed in to them
+ from the mountains; but the coming of Publilius contracted all their resources;
+ for, committing the siege to the care of his colleague, and keeping himself
+ disengaged, he threw every difficulty in the way of the enemy's convoys. There
+ being therefore little hope for the besieged, or that they would be able much
+ longer to endure want, the Samnites, encamped at Luceria, were obliged to collect
+ their forces from every side, and come to an engagement with Papirius. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="a14" />
+<p>At this juncture, while both parties were preparing for an action, ambassadors
+ from the Tarentines interposed, requiring both Samnites and Romans to desist
+ from war; with menaces, that "if either refused to agree to a cessation of hostilities,
+ they would join their arms with the other party against them." Papirius, on
+ hearing the purport of their embassy, as if influenced by their words, answered,
+ that he would consult his colleague: he then sent for him, employing the intermediate
+ time in the necessary preparations; and when he had conferred with him on a
+ matter, about which no doubt was entertained, he made the signal for battle.
+ While the consuls were employed in performing the religious rites and the other
+ usual business preparatory to an engagement the Tarentine ambassadors put themselves
+ in their way, expecting an answer: to whom Papirius said, "Tarentines, the priest
+ reports that the auspices are favourable, and that our sacrifices have been
+ attended with excellent omens: under the direction of the gods, we are proceeding,
+ as you see, to action." He then ordered the standards to move, and led out the
+ troops; thus rebuking the exorbitant arrogance of that nation, which at a time
+ when, through intestine discord and sedition, it was unequal to the management
+ of its own affairs, yet presumed to prescribe the bounds of peace and war to
+ others. On the other side, the Samnites, who had neglected every preparation
+ for fighting, either because they were really desirous of peace, or it seemed
+ their interest to pretend to be so, in order to conciliate the favour of the
+ Tarentines, when they saw, on a sudden, the Romans drawn up for battle, cried
+ out, that "they would continue to be directed by the Tarentines, and would neither
+ march out, nor carry their arms beyond the rampart. That if deceived, they would
+ rather endure any consequence which chance may bring, than show contempt to
+ the Tarentines, the advisers of peace." The consuls said that "they embraced
+ the omen, and prayed that the enemy might continue in the resolution of not
+ even defending their rampart." Then, dividing the forces between them, they
+ advanced to the works; and, making an assault on every side at once, while some
+ filled up the trenches, others tore down the rampart, and tumbled it into the
+ trench. All were stimulated, not only by their native courage, but by the resentment
+ which, since their disgrace, had been festering in their breasts. They made
+ their way into the camp; where, every one repeating, that here was not Caudium,
+ nor the forks, nor the impassable glens, where cunning haughtily triumphed over
+ error; but Roman valour, which no rampart nor trench could ward off;--they slew,
+ without distinction, those who resisted and those who fled, the armed and unarmed,
+ freemen and slaves, young and old, men and cattle. Nor would a single animal
+ have escaped, had not the consuls given the signal for retreat; and, by commands
+ and threats, forced out of the camp the soldiers, greedy of slaughter. As they
+ were highly incensed at being thus interrupted in the gratification of their
+ vengeance, a speech was immediately addressed to them, assuring the soldiers,
+ that "the consuls neither did nor would fall short of any one of the soldiers,
+ in hatred toward the enemy; on the contrary, as they led the way in battle,
+ so would they have done the same in executing unbounded vengeance, had not the
+ consideration of the six hundred horsemen, who were confined as hostages in
+ Luceria, restrained their inclinations; lest total despair of pardon might drive
+ on the enemy blindly to take vengeance on them, eager to destroy them before
+ they themselves should perish." The soldiers highly applauded this conduct,
+ and rejoiced that their resentment had been checked, and acknowledged that every
+ thing ought to be endured, rather than that the safety of so many Roman youths
+ of the first distinction should be brought into danger. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="a15" />
+<p>The assembly being then dismissed, a consultation was held, whether they should
+ press forward the siege of Luceria, with all their forces; or, whether with
+ one of the commanders, and his army, trial should be made of the Apulians, a
+ nation in the neighbourhood still doubtful. The consul Publilius set out to
+ make a circuit through Apulia, and in the one expedition either reduced by force,
+ or received into alliance on conditions, a considerable number of the states.
+ Papirius likewise, who had remained to prosecute the siege of Luceria, soon
+ found the event agreeable to his hopes: for all the roads being blocked up through
+ which provisions used to be conveyed from Samnium, the Samnites, who were in
+ garrison, were reduced so low by famine, that they sent ambassadors to the Roman
+ consul, proposing that he should raise the siege, on receiving the horsemen
+ who were the cause of the war, to whom Papirius returned this answer, that "they
+ ought to have consulted Pontius, son of Herennius, by whose advice they had
+ sent the Romans under the yoke, what treatment he thought fitting for the conquered
+ to undergo. But since, instead of offering fair terms themselves, they chose
+ rather that they should be imposed on them by their enemies, he desired them
+ to carry back orders to the troops in Luceria, that they should leave within
+ the walls their arms, baggage, beasts of burthen, and all persons unfit for
+ war. The soldiers he would send under the yoke with single garments, retaliating
+ the disgrace formerly inflicted, not inflicting a new one." The terms were not
+ rejected. Seven thousand soldiers were sent under the yoke, and an immense booty
+ was seized in Luceria, all the standards and arms which they had lost at Caudium
+ being recovered; and, what greatly surpassed all their joy, recovered the horsemen
+ whom the Samnites had sent to Luceria to be kept as pledges of the peace. Hardly
+ ever did the Romans gain a victory more distinguished for the sudden reverse
+ produced in the state of their affairs; especially if it be true, as I find
+ in some annals, that Pontius, son of Herennius, the Samnite general, was sent
+ under the yoke along with the rest, to atone for the disgrace of the consuls.
+ I think it indeed more strange that there should exist any doubt whether it
+ was Lucius Cornelius, in quality of dictator, Lucius Papirius Cursor being master
+ of the horse, who performed these achievements at Caudium, and afterwards at
+ Luceria, as the single avenger of the disgrace of the Romans, enjoying the best
+ deserved triumph, perhaps, next to that of Furius Camillus, which had ever yet
+ been obtained; or whether that honour belongs to the consuls, and particularly
+ to Papirius. This uncertainty is followed by another, whether, at the next election,
+ Papirius Cursor was chosen consul a third time, with Quintus Aulus Ceretanus
+ a second time, being re-elected in requital of his services at Luceria; or whether
+ it was Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, the surname being mistaken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="a16" />
+<p>From henceforth, the accounts are clear, that the other wars were conducted
+ to a conclusion by the consuls. Aulius by one successful battle, entirely conquered
+ the Forentans. The city, to which their army had retreated after its defeat,
+ surrendered on terms, hostages having been demanded. With similar success the
+ other consul conducted his operations against the Satricans; who, though Roman
+ citizens, had, after the misfortune at Caudium, revolted to the Samnites, and
+ received a garrison into their city. The Satricans, however, when the Roman
+ army approached their walls, sent deputies to sue for peace, with humble entreaties;
+ to whom the consul answered harshly, that "they must not come again to him,
+ unless they either put to death, or delivered up, the Samnite garrison:" by
+ which terms greater terror was struck into the colonists than by the arms with
+ which they were threatened. The deputies, accordingly, several times asking
+ the consul, how he thought that they, who were few and weak, could attempt to
+ use force against a garrison so strong and well-armed: he desired them to "seek
+ counsel from those, by whose advice they had received that garrison into the
+ city." They then departed, and returned to their countrymen, having obtained
+ from the consul, with much difficulty, permission to consult their senate on
+ the matter, and bring back their answer to him. Two factions divided the senate;
+ one that whose leaders had been the authors of the defection from the Roman
+ people, the other consisted of the citizens who retained their loyalty; both,
+ however, showed an earnest desire, that every means should be used towards effecting
+ an accommodation with the consul for the restoration of peace. As the Samnite
+ garrison, being in no respect prepared for holding out a siege, intended to
+ retire the next night out of the town, one party thought it sufficient to discover
+ to the consul, at what hour, through what gate, and by what road, his enemy
+ was to march out. The other, against whose wishes defection to the Samnites
+ had occurred, even opened one of the gates for the consul in the night, secretly
+ admitting the armed enemy into the town. In consequence of this twofold treachery,
+ the Samnite garrison was surprised and overpowered by an ambush, placed in the
+ woody places, near the road; and, at the same time, a shout was raised in the
+ city, which was now filled with the enemy. Thus, in the short space of one hour,
+ the Samnites were put to the sword, the Satricans made prisoners, and all things
+ reduced under the power of the consul; who, having instituted an inquiry by
+ whose means the revolt had taken place, scourged with rods and beheaded such
+ as he found to be guilty; and then, disarming the Satricans, he placed a strong
+ garrison in the place. On this those writers state, that Papirius Cursor proceeded
+ to Rome to celebrate his triumph, who say, that it was under his guidance Luceria
+ was retaken, and the Samnites sent under the yoke. Undoubtedly, as a warrior,
+ he was deserving of every military praise, excelling not only in vigour of mind,
+ but likewise in strength of body. He possessed extraordinary swiftness of foot,
+ surpassing every one of his age in running, from whence came the surname into
+ his family; and he is said, either from the robustness of his frame, or from
+ much practice, to have been able to digest a very large quantity of food and
+ wine. Never did either the foot-soldier or horseman feel military service more
+ laborious, under any general, because he was of a constitution not to be overcome
+ by fatigue. The cavalry, on some occasion, venturing to request that, in consideration
+ of their good behaviour, he would excuse them some part of their business, he
+ told them, "Ye should not say that no indulgence has been granted you,--I excuse
+ you from rubbing your horses' backs when ye dismount." He supported also the
+ authority of command, in all its vigour, both among the allies and his countrymen.
+ The praetor of Praeneste, through fear, had been tardy in bringing forward his
+ men from the reserve to the front: he, walking before his tent, ordered him
+ to be called, and then bade the lictor to make ready his axe, on which, the
+ Praenestine standing frightened almost to death, he said, "Here, lictor, cut
+ away this stump, it is troublesome to people as they walk;" and, after thus
+ alarming him with the dread of the severest punishment, he imposed a fine and
+ dismissed him. It is beyond doubt, that during that age, than which none was
+ ever more productive of virtuous characters, there was no man in whom the Roman
+ affairs found a more effectual support; nay, people even marked him out, in
+ their minds, as a match for Alexander the Great, in case that, having completed
+ the conquest of Asia, he should have turned his arms on Europe. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="a17" />
+<p>Nothing can be found farther from my intention, since the commencement of this
+ history, than to digress, more than necessity required, from the course of narration;
+ and, by embellishing my work with variety, to seek pleasing resting-places,
+ as it were, for my
readers, and relaxation for my own mind: nevertheless, the mention
of so great a king and commander, now [editorial note: there is
+ reason to believe that one or two lines of text might be missing at
+ this point] calls forth to public view those silent reflections,
+ whom Alexander must have fought. Manlius Torquatus, had he met
+ him in the field, might, perhaps, have yielded to Alexander in
+ discharging military duties in battle (for these also render
+ him no less illustrious); and so might Valerius Corvus; men who
+ were distinguished soldiers, before they became commanders. The same,
+
+ too, might have been the case with the Decii, who, after
+ devoting their persons, rushed upon the enemy; or of Papirius Cursor, though
+ possessed of such powers, both of body and mind. By the counsels of one youth,
+ it is possible the wisdom of a whole senate, not to mention individuals, might
+ have been baffled, [consisting of such members,] that he alone, who declared
+ that "it consisted of kings," conceived a correct idea of a Roman senate. But
+ then the danger was, that with more judgment than any one of those whom I have
+ named he might choose ground for an encampment, provide supplies, guard against
+ stratagems, distinguish the season for fighting, form his line of battle, or
+ strengthen it properly with reserves. He would have owned that he was not dealing
+ with Darius, who drew after him a train of women and eunuchs; saw nothing about
+ him but gold and purple; was encumbered with the trappings of his state, and
+ should be called his prey, rather than his antagonist; whom therefore he vanquished
+ without loss of blood and had no other merit, on the occasion, than that of
+ showing a proper spirit in despising empty show. The aspect of Italy would have
+ appeared to him of a quite different nature from that of India, which he traversed
+ in the guise of a traveller, at the head of a crew of drunkards, if he had seen
+ the forests of Apulia, and the mountains of Lucania, with the vestiges of the
+ disasters of his house, and where his uncle Alexander, king of Epirus, had been
+ lately cut off. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="a18" />
+<p>We are now speaking of Alexander not yet intoxicated by prosperity, the seductions
+ of which no man was less capable of withstanding. But, if he is to be judged
+ from the tenor of his conduct in the new state of his fortune, and from the
+ new disposition, as I may say, which he put on after his successes, he would
+ have entered Italy more like Darius than Alexander; and would have brought thither
+ an army that had forgotten Macedonia, and were degenerating into the manners
+ of the Persians. It is painful, in speaking of so great a king, to recite his
+ ostentatious change of dress; of requiring that people should address him with
+ adulation, prostrating themselves on the ground, a practice insupportable to
+ the Macedonians, had they even been conquered, much more so when they were victorious;
+ the shocking cruelty of his punishments; his murdering his friends in the midst
+ of feasting and wine; with the folly of his fiction respecting his birth. What
+ must have been the consequence, if his love of wine had daily become more intense?
+ if his fierce and uncontrollable anger? And as I mention not any one circumstance
+ of which there is a doubt among writers, do we consider these as no disparagements
+ to the qualifications of a commander? But then, as is frequently repeated by
+ the silliest of the Greeks, who are fond of exalting the reputation, even of
+ the Parthians, at the expense of the Roman name, the danger was that the Roman
+ people would not have had resolution to bear up against the splendour of Alexander's
+ name, who, however, in my opinion, was not known to them even by common fame;
+ and while, in Athens, a state reduced to weakness by the Macedonian arms, which
+ at the very time saw the ruins of Thebes smoking in its neighbourhood, men had
+ spirit enough to declaim with freedom against him, as is manifest from the copies
+ of their speeches, which have been preserved; [we are to be told] that out of
+ such a number of Roman chiefs, no one would have freely uttered his sentiments.
+ How great soever our idea of this man's greatness may be, still it is the greatness
+ of an individual, constituted by the successes of a little more than ten years;
+ and those who give it pre-eminence on account that the Roman people have been
+ defeated, though not in any entire war, yet in several battles, whereas Alexander
+ was never once unsuccessful in a single fight, do not consider that they are
+ comparing the actions of one man, and that a young man, with the exploits of
+ a nation waging wars now eight hundred years. Can we wonder if, when on the
+ one side more ages are numbered than years on the other, fortune varied more
+ in so long a lapse of time than in the short term of thirteen years? [<a href="#foot2">2</a>]
+ But why not compare the success of one general with that of another? How many
+ Roman commanders might I name who never lost a battle? In the annals of the
+ magistrates, and the records, we may run over whole pages of consuls and dictators,
+ with whose bravery, and successes also, the Roman people never once had reason
+ to be dissatisfied. And what renders them more deserving of admiration than
+ Alexander, or any king, is, that some of these acted in the office of dictator,
+ which lasted only ten, or it might be twenty days, none, in a charge of longer
+ duration than the consulship of a year; their levies obstructed by plebeian
+ tribunes; often late in taking the field; recalled, before the time, on account
+ of elections; amidst the very busiest efforts of the campaign, their year of
+ office expired; sometimes the rashness, sometimes the perverseness of a colleague,
+ proving an impediment or detriment; and finally succeeding to the unfortunate
+ administration of a predecessor, with an army of raw or ill-disciplined men.
+ But, on the other hand, kings, being not only free from every kind of impediment,
+ but masters of circumstances and seasons, control all things in subserviency
+ to their designs, themselves uncontrolled by any. So that Alexander, unconquered,
+ would have encountered unconquered commanders; and would have had stakes of
+ equal consequence pledged on the issue. Nay, the hazard had been greater on
+ his side; because the Macedonians would have had but one Alexander, who was
+ not only liable, but fond of exposing himself to casualties; the Romans would
+ have had many equal to Alexander, both in renown, and in the greatness of their
+ exploits; any one of whom might live or die according to his destiny, without
+ any material consequence to the public. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="a19" />
+<p>It remains that the forces be compared together, with respect to their numbers,
+ the quality of the men, and the supplies of auxiliaries. Now, in the general
+ surveys of the age, there were rated two hundred and fifty thousand men, so
+ that, on every revolt of the Latin confederates, ten legions were enlisted almost
+ entirely in the city levy. It often happened during those years, that four or
+ five armies were employed at a time, in Etruria, in Umbria, the Gauls too being
+ at war, in Samnium, in Lucania. Then as to all Latium, with the Sabines, and
+ Volscians, the Aequans, and all Campania; half of Umbria, Etruria, and the Picentians,
+ Marsians, Pelignians, Vestinians, and Apulians; to whom may add, the whole coast
+ of the lower sea, possessed by the Greeks, from Thurii to Neapolis and Cumae;
+ and the Samnites from thence as far as Antium and Ostia: all these he would
+ have found either powerful allies to the Romans or deprived of power by their
+ arms. He would have crossed the sea with his veteran Macedonians, amounting
+ to no more than thirty thousand infantry and four thousand horse, these mostly
+ Thessalians. This was the whole of his strength. Had he brought with him Persians
+ and Indians, and those other nations, it would be dragging after him an encumbrance
+ other than a support. Add to this, that the Romans, being at home, would have
+ had recruits at hand: Alexander, waging war in a foreign country, would have
+ found his army worn out with long service, as happened afterwards to Hannibal.
+ As to arms, theirs were a buckler and long spears; those of the Romans, a shield,
+ which covered the body more effectually, and a javelin, a much more forcible
+ weapon than the spear, either in throwing or striking. The soldiers, on both
+ sides, were used to steady combat, and to preserve their ranks. But the Macedonian
+ phalanx was unapt for motion, and composed of similar parts throughout: the
+ Roman line less compact, consisting of several various parts, was easily divided
+ as occasion required, and as easily conjoined. Then what soldier is comparable
+ to the Roman in the throwing up of works? who better calculated to endure fatigue?
+ Alexander, if overcome in one battle, would have been overcome in war. The Roman,
+ whom Claudium, whom Cannae, did not crush, what line of battle could crush?
+ In truth, even should events have been favourable to him at first, he would
+ have often wished for the Persians, the Indians, and the effeminate tribes of
+ Asia, as opponents; and would have acknowledged, that his wars had been waged
+ with women, as we are told was said by Alexander, king of Epirus, after receiving
+ his mortal wound, when comparing the wars waged in Asia by this very youth,
+ with those in which himself had been engaged. Indeed, when I reflect that, in
+ the first Punic war, a contest was maintained by the Romans with the Carthaginians,
+ at sea, for twenty-four years, I can scarcely suppose that the life of Alexander
+ would have been long enough for the finishing of one war [with either of those
+ nations]. And perhaps, as both the Punic state was united to the Roman by ancient
+ treaties, and as similar apprehensions might arm against a common foe those
+ two nations the most potent of the time in arms and in men, he might have been
+ overwhelmed in a Punic and a Roman war at once. The Romans have had experience
+ of the boasted prowess of the Macedonians in arms, not indeed under Alexander
+ as their general, or when their power was at the height, but in the wars against
+ Antiochus, Philip, and Perses; and not only not with any losses, but not even
+ with any danger to themselves. Let not my assertion give offence, nor our civil
+ wars be brought into mention; never were we worsted by an enemy's cavalry, never
+ by their infantry, never in open fight, never on equal ground, much less when
+ the ground was favourable. Our soldiers, heavy laden with arms, may reasonably
+ fear a body of cavalry, or arrows; defiles of difficult passage, and places
+ impassable to convoys. But they have defeated, and will defeat a thousand armies,
+ more formidable than those of Alexander and the Macedonians, provided that the
+ same love of peace and solicitude about domestic harmony, in which we now live,
+ continue permanent. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="a20" />
+<p>Marcus Foslius Flaccinator and Lucius Plautius Venno were the next raised to
+ the consulship. In this year ambassadors came from most of the states of the
+ Samnites to procure a renewal of the treaty; and, after they had moved the compassion
+ of the senate, by prostrating themselves before them, on being referred to the
+ people, they found not their prayers so efficacious. The treaty therefore, being
+ refused, after they had importuned them individually for several days, was obtained.
+ The Teaneans likewise, and Canusians of Apulia, worn out by the devastations
+ of their country, surrendered themselves to the consul, Lucius Plautius, and
+ gave hostages. This year praefects first began to be created for Capua, and
+ a code of laws was given to that nation, by Lucius Furius the praetor; both
+ in compliance with their own request, as a remedy for the disorder of their
+ affairs, occasioned by intestine dissensions. At Rome, two additional tribes
+ were constituted, the Ufentine and Falerine. On the affairs of Apulia falling
+ into decline, the Teatians of that country came to the new consuls, Caius Junius
+ Bubulcus, and Quintus Aemilius Barbula, suing for an alliance; and engaging,
+ that peace should be observed towards the Romans through every part of Apulia.
+ By pledging themselves boldly for this, they obtained the grant of an alliance,
+ not however on terms of equality, but of their submitting to the dominion of
+ the Roman people. Apulia being entirely reduced, (for Junius had also gained
+ possession of Forentum, a town of great strength,) the consuls advanced into
+ Lucania; there Nerulum was surprised and stormed by the sudden advance of the
+ consul Aemilius. When fame had spread abroad among the allies, how firmly the
+ affairs of Capua were settled by [the introduction of] the Roman institutions,
+ the Antians, imitating the example, presented a complaint of their being without
+ laws, and without magistrates; on which the patrons of the colony itself were
+ appointed by the senate to form a body of laws for it. Thus not only the arms,
+ but the laws, of Rome became extensively prevalent. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="a21" />
+<p>The consuls, Caius Junius Bubulcus and Quintus Aemilius Barbula, at the conclusion
+ of the year, delivered over the legions, not to the consuls elected by themselves,
+ who were Spurius Nautius and Marcus Popillius, but to a dictator, Lucius Aemilius.
+ He, with Lucius Fulvius, master of the horse, having commenced to lay siege
+ to Saticula, gave occasion to the Samnites of reviving hostilities. Hence a
+ twofold alarm was occasioned to the Roman army. On one side, the Samnites having
+ collected a numerous force to relieve their allies from the siege, pitched their
+ camp at a small distance from that of the Romans: on the other side, the Saticulans,
+ opening suddenly their gates, ran up with violent tumult to the posts of the
+ enemy. Afterwards, each party, relying on support from the other, more than
+ on its own strength, formed a regular attack, and pressed on the Romans. The
+ dictator, on his part, though obliged to oppose two enemies at once, yet had
+ his line secure on both sides; for he both chose a position not easily surrounded,
+ and also formed two different fronts. However, he directed his greater efforts
+ against those who had sallied from the town, and, without much resistance, drove
+ them back within the walls. He then turned his whole force against the Samnites:
+ there he found greater difficulty. But the victory, though long delayed, was
+ neither doubtful nor alloyed by losses. The Samnites, being forced to fly into
+ their camp, extinguished their fires at night, and marched away in silence;
+ and renouncing all hopes of relieving Saticula, sat themselves down before Plistia,
+ which was in alliance with the Romans, that they might, if possible, retort
+ equal vexation on their enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="a22" />
+<p>The year coming to a conclusion, the war was thenceforward conducted by a dictator,
+ Quintius Fabius. The new consuls, Lucius Papirius Cursor and Quintus Publilius
+ Philo, both a fourth time, as the former had done, remained at Rome. Fabius
+ came with a reinforcement to Saticula, to receive the army from Aemilius. For
+ the Samnites had not continued before Plistia; but having sent for a new supply
+ of men from home, and relying on their numbers, had encamped in the same spot
+ as before; and, by provoking the Romans to battle, endeavoured to divert them
+ from the siege. The dictator, so much the more intently, pushed forward his
+ operations against the fortifications of the enemy; considering that only as
+ war which was directed against the city, and showing an indifference with respect
+ to the Samnites, except that he placed guards in proper places, to prevent any
+ attempt on his camp. The more furiously did the Samnites ride up to the rampart,
+ and allowed him no quiet. When the enemy were now come up close to the gates
+ of the camp, Quintus Aulius Cerretanus, master of the horse, without consulting
+ the dictator, sallied out furiously at the head of all the troops of cavalry,
+ and drove back the enemy. In this desultory kind of fight, fortune worked up
+ the strength of the combatants in such a manner, as to occasion an extraordinary
+ loss on both sides, and the remarkable deaths of the commanders themselves.
+ First, the general of the Samnites, indignant at being repulsed, and compelled
+ to fly from a place to which he had advanced so confidently, by entreating and
+ exhorting his horsemen, renewed the battle. As he was easily distinguished among
+ the horsemen, while he urged on the fight, the Roman master of the horse galloped
+ up against him, with his spear directed, so furiously, that, with one stroke,
+ he tumbled him lifeless from his horse. The multitude, however, were not, as
+ is generally the case, dismayed by the fall of their leader, but rather raised
+ to fury. All who were within reach darted their weapons at Aulius, who incautiously
+ pushed forward among the enemy's troops; but the chief share of the honour of
+ revenging the death of the Samnite general they assigned to his brother; he,
+ urged by rage and grief, dragged down the victorious master of the horse from
+ his seat, and slew him. Nor were the Samnites far from obtaining his body also,
+ as he had fallen among the enemies' troops: but the Romans instantly dismounted,
+ and the Samnites were obliged to do the same; and lines being thus formed suddenly
+ but, at the same time, untenable through scarcity of necessaries: "for all the
+ country round, from which provisions could be supplied, has revolted; and besides,
+ even were the inhabitants disposed to aid us, the ground is unfavourable. I
+ will not therefore mislead you by leaving a camp here, into which ye may retreat,
+ as on a former day, without completing the victory. Works ought to be secured
+ by arms, not arms by works. Let those keep a camp, and repair to it, whose interest
+ it is to protract the war; but let us cut off from ourselves every other prospect
+ but that of conquering. Advance the standards against the enemy; as soon as
+ the troops shall have marched beyond the rampart, let those who have it in orders
+ burn the camp. Your losses, soldiers, shall be compensated with the spoil of
+ all the nations round who have revolted." The soldiers advanced against the
+ enemy with spirit inflamed by the dictator's discourse, which seemed indication
+ of an extreme necessity; and, at the same time, the very sight of the camp burning
+ behind them, though the nearest part only was set on fire, (for so the dictator
+ had ordered,) was small incitement: rushing on therefore like madmen, they disordered
+ the enemy's battalions at the very first onset; and the master of the horse,
+ when he saw at a distance the fire in the camp, which was a signal agreed on,
+ made a seasonable attack on their rear. The Samnites, thus surrounded on either
+ side, fled different ways. A vast number, who had gathered into a body through
+ fear, yet from confusion incapable of fleeing, were surrounded and cut to pieces.
+ The enemy's camp was taken and plundered; and the soldiers being laden with
+ spoil, the dictator led them back to the Roman camp, highly rejoiced at the
+ success, but by no means so much as at finding, contrary to their expectation,
+ every thing there safe, except a small part only, which was injured or destroyed
+ by the fire. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="a24" />
+<p>They then marched back to Sora; and the new consuls, Marcus Poetelius and Caius
+ Sulpicius, receive the army from the dictator Fabius, discharging a great part
+ of the veteran soldiers, having brought with them new cohorts to supply their
+ place. Now while, on account of the dire situation of the city, no certain mode
+ of attack could be devised, and success must either be distant in time, or at
+ desperate risk; a deserter from Sora came out of the town privately by night,
+ and when he had got as far as the Roman watches, desired to be conducted instantly
+ to the consuls: which being complied with, he made them an offer of delivering
+ the place into their hands. When he answered their questions, respecting the
+ means by which he intended to make good his promise, appearing to state a project
+ by no means idle, he persuaded them to remove the Roman camp, which was almost
+ close to the walls, to the distance of six miles; that the consequence would
+ be that this would render the guards by day, and the watches by night, the less
+ vigilant. He then desired that some cohorts should post themselves the following
+ night in the woody places under the town, and took with himself ten chosen soldiers,
+ through steep and almost impassable ways, into the citadel, where a quantity
+ of missive weapons had been collected, larger than bore proportion to the number
+ of men. There were stones besides, some lying at random, as in all craggy places,
+ and others heaped up designedly by the townsmen, to add to the security of the
+ place. Having posted the Romans here, and shown them a steep and narrow path
+ leading up from the town to the citadel--"From this ascent," said he, "even
+ three armed men would keep off any multitude whatever. Now ye are ten in number;
+ and, what is more, Romans, and the bravest among the Romans. The night is in
+ your favour, which, from the uncertainty it occasions, magnifies every object
+ to people once alarmed. I will immediately fill every place with terror: be
+ ye alert in defending the citadel." He then ran down in haste, crying aloud,
+ "To arms, citizens, we are undone, the citadel is taken by the enemy; run, defend
+ it." This he repeated, as he passed the doors of the principal men, the same
+ to all whom he met, and also to those who ran out in a fright into the streets.
+ The alarm, communicated first by one, was soon spread by numbers through all
+ the city. The magistrates, dismayed on hearing from scouts that the citadel
+ was full of arms and armed men, whose number they multiplied, laid aside all
+ hopes of recovering it. All places are filled with terror: the gates are broken
+ open by persons half asleep, and for the most part unarmed, through one of which
+ the body of Roman troops, roused by the noise, burst in, and slew the terrified
+ inhabitants, who attempted to skirmish in the streets. Sora was now taken, when,
+ at the first light, the consuls arrived, and accepted the surrender of those
+ whom fortune had left remaining after the flight and slaughter of the night.
+ Of these, they conveyed in chains to Rome two hundred and twenty-five, whom
+ all men agreed in pointing out as the authors, both of the revolt, and also
+ of the horrid massacre of the colonists. The rest they left in safety at Sora,
+ a garrison being placed there. All those who were brought to Rome were beaten
+ with rods in the forum, and beheaded, to the great joy of the commons, whose
+ interest it most highly concerned, that the multitudes, sent to various places
+ in colonies should be in safety. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="a25" />
+<p>The consuls, leaving Sora, turned their warlike operations against the lands
+ and cities of the Ausonians; for all places had been set in commotion by the
+ coming of the Samnites, when the battle was fought at Lautulae: conspiracies
+ likewise had been formed in several parts of Campania; nor was Capua itself
+ clear of the charge: nay, the business spread even to Rome, and inquiries came
+ to be instituted respecting some of the principal men there. However, the Ausonian
+ nation fell into the Roman power, in the same manner as Sora, by their cities
+ being betrayed: these were Ausona Minturnae, and Vescia. Certain young men,
+ of the principal families, twelve in number, having conspired to betray their
+ respective cities, came to the consuls; they informed them that their countrymen,
+ who had for a long time before honestly wished for the coming of the Samnites,
+ on hearing of the battle at Lautulae, had looked on the Romans as defeated,
+ and had assisted the Samnites with supplies of young men and arms; but that,
+ since the Samnites had been beaten out of the country, they were wavering between
+ peace and war, not shutting their gates against the Romans, lest they should
+ thereby invite an attack; yet determined to shut them if an army should approach;
+ that in that fluctuating state they might easily be overpowered by surprise.
+ By these men's advice the camp was moved nearer; and soldiers were sent, at
+ the same time, to each of the three towns; some armed, who were to lie concealed
+ in places near the walls; others, in the garb of peace, with swords hidden under
+ their clothes, when, on the opening of the gates at the approach of day, were
+ to enter into the cities. These latter began with killing the guards; at the
+ same time, a signal was made to the men with arms, to hasten up from the ambuscades.
+ Thus the gates were seized, and the three towns taken in the same hour and by
+ the same device. But as the attacks were made in the absence of the generals,
+ there were no bounds to the carnage which ensued; and the nation of the Ausonians,
+ when there was scarcely any clear proof of the charge of its having revolted,
+ was utterly destroyed, as if it had supported a contest through a deadly war.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="a26" />
+<p>During this year, Luceria fell into the hands of the Samnites, the Roman garrison
+ being betrayed to the enemy. This matter did not long go unpunished with the
+ traitors: the Roman army was not far off, by whom the city, which lay in a plain,
+ was taken at the first onset. The Lucerians and Samnites were to a man put to
+ the sword; and to such a length was resentment carried, that at Rome, on the
+ senate being consulted about sending a colony to Luceria, many voted for the
+ demolition of it. Besides, their hatred was of the bitterest kind, against a
+ people whom they had been obliged twice to subdue by arms; the great distance,
+ also, made them averse from sending away their citizens among nations so ill-affected
+ towards them. However the resolution was carried, that the colonists should
+ be sent; and accordingly two thousand five hundred were transported thither.
+ This year, when all places were becoming disaffected to the Romans, secret conspiracies
+ were formed among the leading men at Capua, as well as at other places; a motion
+ concerning which being laid before the senate, the matter was by no means neglected.
+ Inquiries were decreed, and it was resolved that a dictator should be appointed
+ to enforce these inquiries. Caius Maenius was accordingly nominated, and he
+ appointed Marcus Foslius master of the horse. People's dread of that office
+ was very great, insomuch that the Calavii, Ovius and Novius, who were the heads
+ of the conspiracy, either through fear of the dictator's power, or the consciousness
+ of guilt, previous to the charge against them being laid in form before him,
+ avoided, as appeared beyond doubt, trial by a voluntary death. As the subject
+ of the inquiry in Campania was thus removed, the proceedings were then directed
+ towards Rome: by construing the order of the senate to have meant, that inquiry
+ should be made, not specially who at Capua, but generally who at any place had
+ caballed or conspired against the state; for that cabals, for the attaining
+ of honours, were contrary to the edicts of the state. The inquiry was extended
+ to a greater latitude, with respect both to the matter, and to the kind of persons
+ concerned, the dictator scrupling not to avow, that his power of research was
+ unlimited: in consequence, some of the nobility were called to account; and
+ though they applied to the tribunes for protection, no one interposed in their
+ behalf, or to prevent the charges from being received. On this the nobles, not
+ those only against whom the charge was levelled, but the whole body jointly
+ insisted that such an imputation lay not against the nobles, to whom the way
+ to honours lay open if not obstructed by fraud, but against the new men: so
+ that even the dictator and master of the horse, with respect to that question,
+ would appear more properly as culprits than suitable inquisitors; and this they
+ should know as soon as they went out of office. Then indeed Maenius, who was
+ more solicitous about his character than his office, advanced into the assembly
+ and spoke to this effect, "Romans, both of my past life ye are all witnesses;
+ and this honourable office, which ye conferred on me, is in itself a testimony
+ of my innocence. For the dictator, proper to be chosen for holding these inquiries,
+ was not, as on many other occasions, where the exigencies of the state so required,
+ the man who was most renowned in war; but him whose counsel of life was most
+ remote from such cabals. But certain of the nobility (for what reason it is
+ more proper that ye should judge than that I, as a magistrate, should, without
+ proof, insinuate) have laboured to stifle entirely the inquiries; and then,
+ finding their strength unequal to it, rather than stand a trial have fled for
+ refuge to the stronghold of their adversaries, an appeal and the support of
+ the tribunes; and on being there also repulsed, (so fully were they persuaded
+ that every other measure was safer than the attempt to clear themselves,) have
+ made an attack upon us; and, though in private characters have not been ashamed
+ of instituting a criminal process against a dictator. Now, that gods and men
+ may perceive that they to avoid a scrutiny as to their own conduct, attempt
+ even things which are impossible, and that I willingly meet the charge, and
+ face the accusations of my enemies, I divest myself of the dictatorship. And,
+ consuls, I beseech you, that if this business is put into your hands by the
+ senate, ye make me and Marcus Foslius the first objects of our your examinations;
+ that it may be manifested that we are safe from such imputations by our own
+ innocence, not by the dignity of office." He then abdicated the dictatorship,
+ as did Marcus Foslius, immediately after, his office of master of the horse;
+ and being the first brought to trial before the consuls, for to them the senate
+ had committed the business, they were most honourably acquitted of all the charges
+ brought by the nobles. Even Publilius Philo, who had so often been invested
+ with the highest honours, and had performed so many eminent services, both at
+ home and abroad, being disagreeable to the nobility, was brought to trial, and
+ acquitted. Nor did the inquiry continue respectable on account of the illustrious
+ names of the accused, longer than while it was new, which is usually the case;
+ it then began to descend to persons of inferior rank; and, at length, was suppressed,
+ by means of those factions and cabals against which it had been instituted.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="a27" />
+<p>The accounts received of these matters, but more especially the hope of a revolt
+ in Campania, for which a conspiracy had been formed, recalled the Samnites,
+ who were turning towards Apulia, back to Caudium; so that from thence, being
+ near, they might, if any commotion should open them an opportunity, snatch Capua
+ out of the hands of the Romans. To the same place the consuls repaired with
+ a powerful army. They both held back for some time, on the different sides of
+ the defiles, the roads being dangerous to either party. Then the Samnites, making
+ a short circuit through an open tract, marched down their troops into level
+ ground in the Campanian plains, and there the hostile camps first came within
+ view of each other. Trial of their strength in slight skirmishes was made on
+ both sides, more frequently between the horse than the foot; and the Romans
+ were no way dissatisfied either at the issue of these, or at the delay by which
+ they protracted the war. The Samnite generals, on the contrary, considered that
+ their battalions were becoming weakened daily by small losses, and the general
+ vigour abated by prolonging the war. They therefore marched into the field,
+ disposing their cavalry on both wings, with orders to give more heedful attention
+ to the camp behind than to the battle; for that the line of infantry would be
+ able to provide for their own safety. The consuls took post, Sulpicius on the
+ right wing, Poetelius on the left. The right wing was stretched out wider than
+ usual, where the Samnites also stood formed in thin ranks, either with design
+ of turning the flank of the enemy, or to avoid being themselves surrounded.
+ On the left, besides that they were formed in more compact order, an addition
+ was made to their strength, by a sudden act of the consul Poetelius; for the
+ subsidiary cohorts, which were usually reserved for the exigencies of a tedious
+ fight, he brought up immediately to the front, and, in the first onset, pushed
+ the enemy with the whole of his force. The Samnite line of infantry giving way,
+ their cavalry advanced to support them; and as they were charging in an oblique
+ direction between the two lines, the Roman horse, coming up at full speed, disordered
+ their battalions and ranks of infantry and cavalry, so as to oblige the whole
+ line on that side to give ground. The left wing had not only the presence of
+ Poetelius to animate them, but that of Sulpicius likewise; who, on the shout
+ being first raised in that quarter, rode thither from his own division, which
+ had not yet engaged. When he saw victory no longer doubtful there, he returned
+ to his own post with twelve hundred men, but found the state of things there
+ very different; the Romans driven from their ground, and the victorious enemy
+ pressing on them thus dismayed. However, the arrival of the consul effected
+ a speedy change in every particular; for, on the sight of their leader, the
+ spirit of the soldiers was revived, and the bravery of the men who came with
+ him rendered them more powerful aid than even their number; while the news of
+ success in the other wing, which was heard, and after seen, restored the fight.
+ From this time, the Romans became victorious through the whole extent of the
+ line, and the Samnites, giving up the contest, were slain or taken prisoners,
+ except such as made their escape to Maleventum, the town which is now called
+ Beneventum. It is recorded that thirty thousand of the Samnites were slain or
+ taken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="a28" />
+<p>The consuls, after this important victory, led forward the legions to lay siege
+ to Bovianum; and there they passed the winter quarters, until Caius Poetelius,
+ being nominated dictator, with Marcus Foslius, master of the horse, received
+ the command of the army from the new consuls, Lucius Papirius Cursor a fifth,
+ and Caius Junius Bubulcus a second time. On hearing that the citadel of Fregellae
+ was taken by the Samnites, he left Bovianum, and proceeded to Fregellae, whence,
+ having recovered possession of it without any contest, the Samnites abandoning
+ it in the night, and having placed a strong garrison there, he returned to Campania,
+ directing his operations principally to the recovery of Nola. Within the walls
+ of this place, the whole multitude of the Samnites, and the inhabitants of the
+ country about Nola, betook themselves on the approach of the dictator. Having
+ taken a view of the situation of the city, in order that the approach to the
+ fortifications may be the more open, he set fire to all the buildings which
+ stood round the walls, which were very numerous; and, in a short time after,
+ Nola was taken, either by the dictator Poetelius, or the consul Caius Junius,
+ for both accounts are given. Those who attribute to the consul the honour of
+ taking Nola, add, that Atina and Calatia were also taken by him, and that Poetelius
+ was created dictator in consequence of a pestilence breaking out, merely for
+ the purpose of driving the nail. The colonies of Suessa and Pontiae were established
+ in this year. Suessa had belonged to the Auruncians: the Volscians had occupied
+ Pontiae, an island lying within sight of their shore. A decree of the senate
+ was also passed for conducting colonies to Interamna and Cassinum. But commissioners
+ were appointed, and colonists, to the number of four thousand, were sent by
+ the succeeding consuls, Marcus Valerius and Publius Decius. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="a29" />
+<p>The war with the Samnites being now nearly put an end to, before the Roman
+ senate was freed from all concern on that side, a report arose of an Etrurian
+ war; and there was not, in those times, any nation, excepting the Gauls, whose
+ arms were more dreaded, by reason both of the vicinity of their country, and
+ of the multitude of their men. While therefore one of the consuls prosecuted
+ the remains of the war in Samnium, Publius Decius, who, being attacked by a
+ severe illness, remained at Rome, by direction of the senate, nominated Caius
+ Junius Bubulcus dictator. He, as the magnitude of the affair demanded, compelled
+ all the younger citizens to enlist, and with the utmost diligence prepared arms,
+ and the other matters which the occasion required. Yet he was not so elated
+ by the power he had collected, as to think of commencing offensive operations,
+ but prudently determined to remain quiet, unless the Etrurians should become
+ aggressors. The plans of the Etrurians were exactly similar with respect to
+ preparing for, and abstaining from, war: neither party went beyond their own
+ frontiers. The censorship of Appius Claudius and Caius Plautius, for this year,
+ was remarkable; but the name of Appius has been handed down with more celebrity
+ to posterity, on account of his having made the road, [called after him, the
+ Appian,] and for having conveyed water into the city. These works he performed
+ alone; for his colleague, overwhelmed with shame by reason of the infamous and
+ unworthy choice made of senators, had abdicated his office. Appius possessing
+ that inflexibility Of temper, which, from the earliest times, had been the characteristic
+ of his family, held on the censorship by himself. By direction of the same Appius,
+ the Potitian family, in which the office of priests attendant on the great altar
+ of Hercules was hereditary, instructed some of the public servants in the rites
+ of that solemnity, with the intention to delegate the same to them. A circumstance
+ is recorded, wonderful to be told, and one which should make people scrupulous
+ of disturbing the established modes of religious solemnities: for though there
+ were, at that time, twelve branches of the Potitian family, all grown-up persons,
+ to the number of thirty, yet they were every one, together with their offspring,
+ cut off within the year; so that the name of the Potitii became extinct, while
+ the censor Appius also was, by the unrelenting wrath of the gods, some years
+ after, deprived of sight. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="a30" />
+<p>The consuls of the succeeding year were, Caius Junius Bubulcus a third time,
+ and Quintus Aemilius Barbula a second. In the commencement of their office,
+ they complained before the people, that, by the improper choice of members of
+ the senate, that body had been disgraced, several having been passed over who
+ were preferable to the persons chosen in; and they declared, that they would
+ pay no regard to such election, which had been made without distinction of right
+ or wrong, merely to gratify interest or humour: they then immediately called
+ over the list of the senate, in the same order which had existed before the
+ censorship of Appius Claudius and Caius Plautius. Two public employments, both
+ relating to military affairs, came this year into the disposal of the people;
+ one being an order, that sixteen of the tribunes, for four legions, should be
+ appointed by the people; whereas hitherto they had been generally in the gift
+ of the dictators and consuls, very few of the places being left to suffrage.
+ This order was proposed by Lucius Atilius and Caius Marcius, plebeian tribunes.
+ Another was, that the people likewise should constitute two naval commissioners,
+ for the equipping and refitting of the fleet. The person who introduced this
+ order of the people, was Marcus Decius, plebeian tribune. Another transaction
+ of this year I should pass over as trifling, did it not seem to bear some relation
+ to religion. The flute-players, taking offence because they had been prohibited
+ by the last censors from holding their repasts in the temple of Jupiter, which
+ had been customary from very early times, went off in a body to Tibur; so that
+ there was not one left in the city to play at the sacrifices. The religious
+ tendency of this affair gave uneasiness to the senate; and they sent envoys
+ to Tibur to endeavour that these men might be sent back to Rome. The Tiburtines
+ readily promised compliance, and first, calling them into the senate-house,
+ warmly recommended to them to return to Rome; and then, when they could not
+ be prevailed on, practised on them an artifice not ill adapted to the dispositions
+ of that description of people: on a festival day, they invited them separately
+ to their several houses, apparently with the intention of heightening the pleasure
+ of their feasts with music, and there plied them with wine, of which such people
+ are always fond, until they laid them asleep. In this state of insensibility
+ they threw them into waggons, and carried them away to Rome: nor did they know
+ any thing of the matter, until, the waggons having been left in the forum, the
+ light surprised them, still heavily sick from the debauch. The people then crowded
+ about them, and, on their consenting at length to stay, privilege was granted
+ them to ramble about the city in full dress, with music, and the licence which
+ is now practised every year during three days. And that licence, which we see
+ practised at present, and the right of being fed in the temple, was restored
+ to those who played at the sacrifices. These incidents occurred while the public
+ attention was deeply engaged by two most important wars. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="a31" />
+<p>The consuls adjusting the provinces between them, the Samnites fell by lot
+ to Junius, the new war of Etruria to Aemilius. In Samnium the Samnites had blockaded
+ and reduced by famine Cluvia, a Roman garrison, because they had been unable
+ to take it by storm; and, after torturing with stripes, in a shocking manner,
+ the townsmen who surrendered, they had put them to death. Enraged at this cruelty,
+ Junius determined to postpone every thing else to the attacking of Cluvia; and,
+ on the first day that he assaulted the walls, took it by storm, and slew all
+ who were grown to man's estate. The victorious troops were led from thence to
+ Bovianum; this was the capital of the Pentrian Samnites, by far the most opulent
+ of their cities, and the most powerful both in men and arms. The soldiers, stimulated
+ by the hope of plunder, for their resentment was not so violent, soon made themselves
+ masters of the town: where there was less severity exercised on the enemy; but
+ a quantity of spoil was carried off, greater almost than had ever been collected
+ out of all Samnium, and the whole was liberally bestowed on the assailants.
+ And when neither armies, camps, or cities could now withstand the vast superiority
+ of the Romans in arms; the attention of all the leading men in Samnium became
+ intent on this, that an opportunity should be sought for some stratagem, if
+ by any chance the army, proceeding with incautious eagerness for plunder, could
+ be caught in a snare and overpowered. Peasants who deserted and some prisoners
+ (some thrown in their way by accident, some purposely) reporting to the consul
+ a statement in which they concurred, and one which was at the same time true,
+ that a vast quantity of cattle had been driven together into a defile of difficult
+ access, prevailed on them to lead thither the legions lightly accoutred for
+ plunder. Here a very numerous army of the enemy had posted themselves, secretly,
+ at all the passes; and, as soon as they saw that the Romans had got into the
+ defile, they rose up suddenly, with great clamour and tumult, and attacked them
+ unawares. At first an event so unexpected caused some confusion, while they
+ were taking their arms, and throwing the baggage into the centre; but, as fast
+ as each had freed himself from his burden and fitted himself with arms, they
+ assembled about the standards, from every side; and all, from the long course
+ of their service, knowing their particular ranks, the line was formed of its
+ own accord without any directions. The consul, riding up to the place where
+ the fight was most warm, leaped from his horse, and called "Jupiter, Mars, and
+ the other gods to witness, that he had come into that place, not in pursuit
+ of any glory to himself, but of booty for his soldiers; nor could any other
+ fault be charged on him, than too great a solicitude to enrich his soldiers
+ at the expense of the enemy. From that disgrace nothing could extricate him
+ but the valour of the troops: let them only join unanimously in a vigorous attack
+ against a foe, already vanquished in the field, beaten out of their camps, and
+ stripped of their towns, and now trying their last hope by the contrivance of
+ an ambuscade, placing their reliance on the ground they occupied, not on their
+ arms. But what ground was now unsurmountable to Roman valour?" The citadel of
+ Fregellae, and that of Sora, were called to their remembrance, with many other
+ places where difficulties from situation had been surmounted. Animated by these
+ exhortations, the soldiers, regardless of all difficulties, advanced against
+ the line of the enemy, posted above them; and here there was some fatigue whilst
+ the army was climbing the steep. But as soon as the first battalions got footing
+ in the plain, on the summit, and the troops perceived that they now stood on
+ equal ground, the dismay was instantly turned on the plotters; who, dispersing
+ and casting away their arms, attempted, by flight, to recover the same lurking-places
+ in which they had lately concealed themselves. But the difficulties of the ground,
+ which had been intended for the enemy, now entangled them in the snares of their
+ own contrivance. Accordingly very few found means to escape; twenty thousand
+ men were slain, and the victorious Romans hastened in several parties to secure
+ the booty of cattle, spontaneously thrown in their way by the enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="a32" />
+<p>While such was the situation of affairs in Samnium, all the states of Etruria,
+ except the Arretians, had taken arms, and vigorously commenced hostilities,
+ by laying siege to Sutrium; which city, being in alliance with the Romans, served
+ as a barrier against Etruria. Thither the other consul, Aemilius, came with
+ an army to deliver the allies from the siege. On the arrival of the Romans,
+ the Sutrians conveyed a plentiful supply of provisions into their camp, which
+ was pitched before the city. The Etrurians spent the first day in deliberating
+ whether they should expedite or protract the war. On the day following, when
+ the speedier plan pleased the leaders in preference to the safer, as soon as
+ the sun rose the for battle was displayed, and the troops marched out to the
+ field; which being reported to the consul, he instantly commanded notice to
+ be given, that they should dine, and after taking refreshment, then appear under
+ arms. The order was obeyed; and the consul, seeing them armed and in readiness,
+ ordered the standards to be carried forth beyond the rampart, and drew up his
+ men at a small distance from the enemy. Both parties stood a long time with
+ fixed attention, each waiting for the shout and fight to begin on the opposite
+ side; and the sun had passed the meridian before a weapon was thrown by either
+ side. Then, rather than leave the place without something being done, the shout
+ was given by the Etrurians, the trumpets sounded, and the battalions advanced.
+ With no less alertness do the Romans commence the fight: both rushed to the
+ fight with violent animosity; the enemy were superior in numbers, the Romans
+ in valour. The battle being doubtful, carries off great numbers on both sides,
+ particularly the men of greatest courage; nor did victory declare itself, until
+ the second line of the Romans came up fresh to the front, in the place of the
+ first, who were much fatigued. The Etrurians, because their front line was not
+ supported by any fresh reserves, fell all before and round the standards, and
+ in no battle whatever would there have been seen less disposition to run, or
+ a greater effusion of human blood, had not the night sheltered the Etrurians,
+ who were resolutely determined on death; so that the victors, not the vanquished,
+ were the first who desisted from fighting. After sunset the signal for retreat
+ was given, and both parties retired in the night to their camps. During the
+ remainder of the year, nothing memorable was effected at Sutrium; for, of the
+ enemy's army, the whole first line had been cut off in one battle, the reserves
+ only being left, who were scarce sufficient to guard the camp; and, among the
+ Romans, so numerous were the wounds, that more wounded men died after the battle
+ than had fallen in the field. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="a33" />
+<p>Quintus Fabius, consul for the ensuing year, succeeded to the command of the
+ army at Sutrium; the colleague given to him was Caius Marcius Rutilus. On the
+ one side, Fabius brought with him a reinforcement from Rome, and on the other,
+ a new army had been sent for, and came from home, to the Etrurians. Many years
+ had now passed without any disputes between the patrician magistrates and plebeian
+ tribunes, when a contest took its rise from that family, which seemed raised
+ by fate as antagonists to the tribunes and commons of those times; Appius Claudius,
+ being censor, when the eighteen months had expired, which was the time limited
+ by the Aemilian law for the duration of the censorship, although his colleague
+ Caius Plautius had already resigned his office, could not be prevailed on, by
+ any means, to give up his. There was a tribune of the commons, Publius Sempronius;
+ he undertook to enforce a legal process for terminating the censorship within
+ the lawful time, which was not more popular than just, nor more pleasing to
+ the people generally than to every man of character in the city. After he frequently
+ appealed to the Aemilian law, and bestowed commendations on Mamercus Aemilius,
+ who, in his dictatorship, had been the author of it, for having contracted,
+ within the space of a year and six months, the censorship, which formerly had
+ lasted five years, and was a power which, in consequence of its long continuance,
+ often became tyrannical, he proceeded thus: "Tell me, Appius Claudius, in what
+ manner you would have acted, had you been censor, at the time when Caius Furius
+ and Marcus Geganius were censors?" Appius insisted, that "the tribune's question
+ was irrelevant to his case. For, although the Aemilian law might bind those
+ censors, during whose magistracy it was passed,--because the people made that
+ law after they had become censors; and whatever order is the last passed by
+ the people, that is held to be the law, and valid:--yet neither he, nor any
+ of those who had been created censors subsequent to the passing of that law,
+ could be bound by it." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="a34" />
+<p>While Appius urged such frivolous arguments as these, which carried no conviction
+ whatever, the other said, "Behold, Romans, the offspring of that Appius, who
+ being created decemvir for one year, created himself for a second; and who,
+ during a third, without being created even by himself or by any other, held
+ on the fasces and the government though a private individual; nor ceased to
+ continue in office, until the government itself, ill acquired, ill administered,
+ and ill retained, overwhelmed him in ruin. This is the same family, Romans,
+ by whose violence and injustice ye were compelled to banish yourselves from
+ your native city, and seize on the Sacred mount; the same, against which ye
+ provided for yourselves the protection of tribunes; the same, on account of
+ which two armies of you took post on the Aventine; the same, which violently
+ opposed the laws against usury, and always the agrarian laws; the same, which
+ broke through the right of intermarriage between the patricians and the commons;
+ the same, which shut up the road to curule offices against the commons: this
+ is a name, more hostile to your liberty by far, than that of the Tarquins. I
+ pray you, Appius Claudius, though this is now the hundredth year since the dictatorship
+ of Mamercus Aemilius, though there have been so many men of the highest characters
+ and abilities censors, did none of these ever read the twelve tables? none of
+ them know, that, whatever was the last order of the people, that was law? Nay,
+ certainly they all knew it; and they therefore obeyed the Aemilian law, rather
+ than the old one, under which the censors had been at first created; because
+ it was the last order; and because, when two laws are contradictory, the new
+ always repeals the old. Do you mean to say, Appius, that the people are not
+ bound by the Aemilian law? Or, that the people are bound, and you alone exempted?
+ The Aemilian law bound those violent censors, Caius Furius and Marcus Geganius,
+ who showed what mischief that office might do in the state; when, out of resentment
+ for the limitation of their power, they disfranchised Mamercus Aemilius, the
+ first man of the age, either in war or peace. It bound all the censors thenceforward,
+ during the space of a hundred years. It binds Caius Plautius your colleague,
+ created under the same auspices, with the same privileges. Did not the people
+ create him with the fullest privileges with which any censor ever was created?
+ Or is yours an excepted case, in which this peculiarity and singularity takes
+ place? Shall the person, whom you create king of the sacrifices, laying hold
+ of the style of sovereignty, say, that he was created with the fullest privileges
+ with which any king was ever created at Rome? Who then, do you think, would
+ be content with a dictatorship of six months? who, with the office of interrex
+ for five days? Whom would you, with confidence, create dictator, for the purpose
+ of driving the nail, or of exhibiting games? How foolish, how stupid, do ye
+ think, those must appear in this man's eyes, who, after performing most important
+ services, abdicated the dictatorship within the twentieth day; or who, being
+ irregularly created, resigned their office? Why should I bring instances from
+ antiquity? Lately, within these last ten years, Caius Maenius, dictator, having
+ enforced inquiries, with more strictness than consisted with the safety of some
+ powerful men, a charge was thrown out by his enemies, that he himself was infected
+ with the very crime against which his inquiries were directed;--now Maenius,
+ I say, in order that he might, in a private capacity, meet the imputation, abdicated
+ the dictatorship. I expect not such moderation in you; you will not degenerate
+ from your family, of all others the most imperious and assuming; nor resign
+ your office a day, nor even an hour, before you are forced to it. Be it so:
+ but then let no one exceed the time limited. It is enough to add a day, or a
+ month, to the censorship. But Appius says, I will hold the censorship, and hold
+ it alone, three years and six months longer than is allowed by the Aemilian
+ law. Surely this is like kingly power. Or will you fill up the vacancy with
+ another colleague, a proceeding not allowable, even in the case of the death
+ of a censor? You are not satisfied that, as if a religious censor, you have
+ degraded a most ancient solemnity, and the only one instituted by the very deity
+ to whom it is performed, from priests of that rite who were of the highest rank
+ to the ministry of mere servants. [You are not satisfied that] a family, more
+ ancient than the origin of this city, and sanctified by an intercourse of hospitality
+ with the immortal gods, has, by means of you and your censorship, been utterly
+ extirpated, with all its branches, within the space of a year, unless you involve
+ the whole commonwealth in horrid guilt, which my mind feels a horror even to
+ contemplate. This city was taken in that lustrum in which Lucius Papirius Cursor,
+ on the death of his colleague Julius, the censor, rather than resign his office,
+ substituted Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis. Yet how much more moderate was his
+ ambition, Appius, than yours! Lucius Papirius neither held the censorship alone,
+ nor beyond the time prescribed by law. But still he found no one who would follow
+ his example; all succeeding censors, in case of the death of a colleague, abdicated
+ the office. As for you, neither the expiration of the time of your censorship,
+ nor the resignation of your colleague, nor law, nor shame restrains you. You
+ make fortitude to consist in arrogance, in boldness, in a contempt of gods and
+ men. Appius Claudius, in consideration of the dignity and respect due to that
+ office which you have borne, I should be sorry, not only to offer you personal
+ violence, but even to address you in language too severe. With respect to what
+ I have hitherto said, your pride and obstinacy forced me to speak. And now,
+ unless you pay obedience to the Aemilian law, I shall order you to be led to
+ prison. Nor, since a rule has been established by our ancestors, that in the
+ election of censors unless two shall obtain the legal number of suffrages, neither
+ shall be returned, but the election deferred,--will I suffer you, who could
+ not singly be created censor, to hold the censorship without a colleague." Having
+ spoken to this effect he ordered the censor to be seized, and borne to prison.
+ But although six of the tribunes approved of the proceeding of their colleague,
+ three gave their support to Appius, on his appealing to them, and he held the
+ censorship alone, to the great disgust of all ranks of men. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="a35" />
+<p>While such was the state of affairs at Rome, the Etrurians had laid siege to
+ Sutrium, and the consul Fabius, as he was marching along the foot of the mountains,
+ with a design to succour the allies, and attempt the enemy's works, if it were
+ by any means practicable, was met by their army prepared for battle. As the
+ wide-extended plain below showed the greatness of their force, the consul, in
+ order to remedy his deficiency in point of number, by advantage of the ground,
+ changed the direction of his route a little towards the hills, where the way
+ was rugged and covered with stones, and then formed his troops, facing the enemy.
+ The Etrurians, thinking of nothing but their numbers, on which alone they depended,
+ commence the fight with such haste and eagerness, that, in order to come the
+ sooner to a close engagement, they threw away their javelins, drew their swords,
+ rushing against the enemy. On the other side, the Romans poured down on them,
+ sometimes javelins, and sometimes stones which the place abundantly supplied;
+ so that whilst the blows on their shields and helmets confused even those whom
+ they did not wound, (it was neither an easy matter to come to close quarters,
+ nor had they missive weapons with which to fight at a distance,) when there
+ was nothing now to protect them whilst standing and exposed to the blows, some
+ even giving way, and the whole line wavering and unsteady the spearmen and the
+ first rank, renewing the shout, rush on them with drawn swords. This attack
+ the Etrurians could not withstand, but, facing about, fled precipitately towards
+ their camp; when the Roman cavalry, getting before them by galloping obliquely
+ across the plain, threw themselves in the way of their flight, on which they
+ quitted the road, and bent their course to the mountains. From thence, in a
+ body, almost without arms, and debilitated with wounds, they made their way
+ into the Ciminian forest. The Romans, having slain in many thousands of the
+ Etrurians, and taken thirty-eight military standards, took also possession of
+ their camp, together with a vast quantity of spoil. They then began to consider
+ of pursuing the enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="a36" />
+<p>The Ciminian forest was in those days deemed as impassable and frightful as
+ the German forests have been in latter times; not even any trader having ever
+ attempted to pass it. Hardly any, besides the general himself, showed boldness
+ enough to enter it; the others had not the remembrance of the disaster at Caudium
+ effaced from their mind. On this, of those who were present, Marcus Fabius,
+ the consul's brother, (some say Caeso, others Caius Claudius, born of the same
+ mother with the consul,) undertook to go and explore the country, and to bring
+ them in a short time an account of every particular. Being educated at Caere,
+ where he had friends, he was perfectly acquainted with the Etrurian language.
+ I have seen it affirmed, that, in those times, the Roman youth were commonly
+ instructed in the Etrurian learning, as they are now in the Greek: but it is
+ more probable, that there was something very extraordinary in the person who
+ acted so daringly a counterfeit part, and mixed among the enemy. It is said,
+ that his only attendant was a slave, who had been bred up with him, and who
+ was therefore not ignorant of the same language. They received no further instructions
+ at their departure, than a summary description of the country through which
+ they were to pass; to this was added the names of the principal men in the several
+ states, to prevent their being at a loss in conversation, and from being discovered
+ by making some mistake. They set out in the dress of shepherds, armed with rustic
+ weapons, bills, and two short javelins each. But neither their speaking the
+ language of the country, nor the fashion of their dress and arms, concealed
+ them so effectually, as the incredible circumstance of a stranger's passing
+ the Ciminian forest. They are said to have penetrated as far as the Camertian
+ district of the Umbrians: there the Romans ventured to own who they were, and
+ being introduced to the senate, treated with them, in the name of the consul,
+ about an alliance and friendship; and after being entertained with courteous
+ hospitality, were desired to acquaint the Romans, that if they came into those
+ countries, there should be provisions in readiness for the troops sufficient
+ for thirty days, and that they should find the youth of the Camertian Umbrians
+ prepared in arms to obey their commands. When this information was brought to
+ the consul, he sent forward the baggage at the first watch, ordering the legions
+ to march in the rear of it. He himself staid behind with the cavalry, and the
+ next day, as soon as light appeared, rode up to the posts of the enemy, which
+ had been stationed on the outside of the forest; and, when he had detained them
+ there for a sufficient length of time, he retired to his camp, and marching
+ out by the opposite gate, overtook the main body of the army before night. At
+ the first light, on the following day, he had gained the summit of Mount Ciminius,
+ from whence having a view of the opulent plains of Etruria, he let loose his
+ soldiers upon them. When a vast booty had been driven off, some tumultuary cohorts
+ of Etrurian peasants, hastily collected by the principal inhabitants of the
+ district, met the Romans; but in such disorderly array, that these rescuers
+ of the prey were near becoming wholly a prey themselves. These being slain or
+ put to flight, and the country laid waste to a great extent, the Romans returned
+ to their camp victorious, and enriched with plenty of every kind. It happened
+ that, in the mean time, five deputies, with two plebeian tribunes, had come
+ hither, to charge Fabius, in the name of the senate, not to attempt to pass
+ the Ciminian forest. These, rejoicing that they had arrived too late to prevent
+ the expedition, returned to Rome with the news of its success. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="a37" />
+<p>By this expedition of the consul, the war, instead of being brought nearer
+ to a conclusion, was only spread to a wider extent: for all the tract adjacent
+ to the foot of Mount Ciminius had felt his devastations; and, out of the indignation
+ conceived thereat, had roused to arms, not only the states of Etruria, but the
+ neighbouring parts of Umbria. They came therefore to Sutrium, with such a numerous
+ army as they had never before brought into the field; and not only ventured
+ to encamp on the outside of the wood, but through their earnest desire of coming
+ to an engagement as soon as possible, marched down the plains to offer battle.
+ The troops, being marshalled, stood at first, for some time, on their own ground,
+ having left a space sufficient for the Romans to draw up, opposite to them;
+ but perceiving that the enemy declined fighting, they advanced to the rampart;
+ where, when they observed that even the advanced guards had retired within the
+ works, a shout at once was raised around their generals, that they should order
+ provisions for that day to be brought down to them: "for they were resolved
+ to remain there under arms; and either in the night, or, at all events, at the
+ dawn of day, to attack the enemy's camp." The Roman troops, though not less
+ eager for action, were restrained by the commands of the general. About the
+ tenth hour, the consul ordered his men a repast; and gave directions that they
+ should be ready in arms, at whatever time of the day or night he should give
+ the signal. He then addressed a few words to them; spoke in high terms of the
+ wars of the Samnites, and disparagingly of the Etrurians, who "were not," he
+ said, "as an enemy to be compared with other enemies, nor as a numerous force,
+ with others in point of numbers. Besides, he had an engine at work, as they
+ should find in due time; at present it was of importance to keep it secret."
+ By these hints he intimated that the enemy was circumvented in order to raise
+ the courage of his men, damped by the superiority of the enemy's force; and,
+ from their not having fortified the post where they lay, the insinuation of
+ a stratagem formed against them seemed the more credible. After refreshing themselves,
+ they consigned themselves to rest, and being roused without noise, about the
+ fourth watch, took arms. Axes are distributed among the servants following the
+ army, to tear down the rampart and fill up the trench. The line was formed within
+ the works, and some chosen cohorts posted close to the gates. Then, a little
+ before day, which in summer nights is the time of the profoundest sleep, the
+ signal being given, the rampart was levelled, and the troops rushing forth,
+ fell upon the enemy, who were every where stretched at their length. Some were
+ put to death before they could stir; others half asleep, in their beds; the
+ greatest part, while they ran in confusion to arms; few, in short, had time
+ afforded them to arm themselves; and these, who followed no particular leader,
+ nor orders, were quickly routed by the Romans and pursued by the Roman horse.
+ They fled different ways; to the camp and to the woods. The latter afforded
+ the safer refuge; for the former, being situated in a plain, was taken the same
+ day. The gold and silver was ordered to be brought to the consul; the rest of
+ the spoil was given to the soldiers. On that day, sixty thousand of the enemy
+ were slain or taken. Some affirm, that this famous battle was fought on the
+ farther side of the Ciminian forest, at Perusia; and that the public had been
+ under great dread, lest the army might be enclosed in such a dangerous pass,
+ and overpowered by a general combination of the Etrurians and Umbrians. But
+ on whatever spot it was fought, it is certain that the Roman power prevailed;
+ and, in consequence thereof, ambassadors from Perusia, Cortona, and Arretium,
+ which were then among the principal states of Etruria, soliciting a peace and
+ alliance with the Romans, obtained a truce for thirty years. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="a38" />
+<p>During these transactions in Etruria, the other consul, Caius Marcius Rutilus,
+ took Allifae by storm from the Samnites; and many of their forts, and smaller
+ towns, were either destroyed by his arms, or surrendered without being injured.
+ About the same time also, the Roman fleet, having sailed to Campania, under
+ Publius Cornelius, to whom the senate had given the command on the sea-coast,
+ put into Pompeii. Immediately on landing, the soldiers of the fleet set out
+ to ravage the country about Nuceria: and after they had quickly laid waste the
+ parts which lay nearest, and whence they could have returned to the ships with
+ safety, they were allured by the temptation of plunder, as it often happens,
+ to advance too far, and thereby roused the enemy against them. While they rambled
+ about the country, they met no opposition, though they might have been cut off
+ to a man; but as they were returning, in a careless manner, the peasants overtook
+ them, not far from the ships, stripped them of the booty, and even slew a great
+ part of them. Those who escaped were driven in confusion to the ships. As Fabius'
+ having marched through the Ciminian forest had occasioned violent apprehensions
+ at Rome, so it had excited joy in proportion among the enemy in Samnium: they
+ talked of the Roman army being pent up, and surrounded; and of the Caudine forks,
+ as a model of their defeat. "Those people," they said, "ever greedy after further
+ acquisitions, were now brought into inextricable difficulties, hemmed in, not
+ more effectually by the arms of their enemy, than by the disadvantage of the
+ ground." Their joy was even mingled with a degree of envy, because fortune,
+ as they thought, had transferred the glory of finishing the Roman war, from
+ the Samnites to the Etrurians: they hastened, therefore, with their whole collected
+ force, to crush the consul Caius Marcius; resolving, if he did not give them
+ an opportunity of fighting, to proceed, through the territories of the Marsians
+ and Sabines, into Etruria. The consul met them, and a battle was fought with
+ great fury on both sides, but without a decisive issue. Although both parties
+ suffered severely, yet the discredit of defeat fell on the Romans, because several
+ of equestrian rank, some military tribunes, with one lieutenant-general, had
+ fallen; and, what was more remarkable than all, the consul himself was wounded.
+ On account of this event, exaggerated by report as is usual, the senate became
+ greatly alarmed, so that they resolved on having a dictator nominated. No one
+ entertained a doubt that the nomination would light on Papirius Cursor, who
+ was then universally deemed to possess the greatest abilities as a commander:
+ but they could not be certain, either that a message might be conveyed with
+ safety into Samnium, where all was in a state of hostility, or that the consul
+ Marcius was alive. The other consul, Fabius, was at enmity with Papirius, on
+ his own account; and lest this resentment might prove an obstacle to the public
+ good, the senate voted that deputies of consular rank should be sent to him,
+ who, uniting their own influence to that of government, might prevail on him
+ to drop, for the sake of his country, all remembrance of private animosities.
+ When the deputies, having come to Fabius, delivered to him the decree of the
+ senate, adding such arguments as were suitable to their instructions, the consul,
+ casting his eyes towards the ground, retired in silence, leaving them in uncertainty
+ what part he intended to act. Then, in the silent time of the night, according
+ to the established custom, he nominated Lucius Papirius dictator. When the deputies
+ returned him thanks, for so very meritoriously subduing his passion, he still
+ persevered in obstinate silence, and dismissed them without any answer, or mention
+ of what he had done: a proof that he felt an extraordinary degree of resentment,
+ which had been suppressed within his breast. Papirius appointed Caius Junius
+ Bubulcus master of the horse; and, as he was proceeding in an assembly of the
+ Curiae [<a href="#foot3">3</a>] to get an order passed respecting the command
+ of the army, an unlucky omen obliged him to adjourn it; for the Curia which
+ was to vote first, happened to be the Faucian, remarkably distinguished by two
+ disasters, the taking of the city, and the Caudine peace; the same Curia having
+ voted first in those years in which the said events are found. Licinius Macer
+ supposes this Curia ominous, also, on account of a third misfortune, that which
+ was experienced at the Cremera. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="a39" />
+<p>Next day the dictator, taking the auspices anew, obtained the order, and, marching
+ out at the head of the legions, lately raised on the alarm occasioned by the
+ army passing the Ciminian forest, came to Longula; where having received the
+ old troops of the consul Marcius, he led on his forces to battle; nor did the
+ enemy seem to decline the combat. However, they stood drawn up for battle and
+ under arms, until night came on; neither side choosing to begin the fray. After
+ this, they continued a considerable time encamped near each other, without coming
+ to action; neither diffident of their own strength, nor despising the adversary.
+ Meanwhile matters went on actively in Etruria; for a decisive battle was fought
+ with the Umbrians, in which the enemy was routed, but lost not many men, for
+ they did not maintain the fight with the vigour with which they began it. Besides
+ this the Etrurians, having raised an army under the sanctions of the devoting
+ law, each man choosing another, came to an engagement at the Cape of Vadimon,
+ with more numerous forces, and, at the same time, with greater spirit than they
+ had ever shown before. The battle was fought with such animosity that no javelins
+ were thrown by either party: swords alone were made use of; and the fury of
+ the combatants was still higher inflamed by the long-continued contest; so that
+ it appeared to the Romans as if they were disputing, not with Etrurians, whom
+ they had so often conquered, but with a new race. Not the semblance of giving
+ ground appeared in any part; the first lines fell; and lest the standards should
+ be exposed, without defence, the second lines were formed in their place. At
+ length, even the men forming the last reserves were called into action; and
+ to such an extremity of difficulty and danger had they come, that the Roman
+ cavalry dismounted, and pressed forward, through heaps of arms and bodies, to
+ the front ranks of the infantry. These starting up a new army, as it were, among
+ men now exhausted, disordered the battalions of the Etrurians; and the rest,
+ weak as their condition was, seconding their assault, broke at last through
+ the enemy's ranks. Their obstinacy then began to give way: some companies quitted
+ their posts, and, as soon as they once turned their backs, betook themselves
+ to more decided flight. That day first broke the strength of the Etrurians,
+ now grown exuberant through a long course of prosperity; all the flower of their
+ men were cut off in the field, and in the same assault their camp was seized
+ and sacked. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="a40" />
+<p>Equal danger, and an issue equally glorious, soon after attended the war with
+ the Samnites; who, besides their many preparations for the field, made their
+ army to glitter with new decorations of their armour. Their troops were in two
+ divisions, one of which had their shields embossed with gold, the other with
+ silver. The shape of the shield was this; broad at the middle to cover the breast
+ and shoulders, the summit being flat, sloping off gradually so as to become
+ pointed below, that it might be wielded with ease; a loose coat of mail also
+ served as a protection for the breast, and the left leg was covered with a greave;
+ their helmets were adorned with plumes, to add to the appearance of their stature.
+ The golden-armed soldiers wore tunics of various colours; the silver-armed,
+ of white linen. To the latter the right wing was assigned; the former took post
+ on the left. The Romans had been apprized of these splendid accoutrements, and
+ had been taught by their commanders, that "a soldier ought to be rough; not
+ decorated with gold and silver, but placing his confidence in his sword. That
+ matters of this kind were in reality spoil rather than armour; glittering before
+ action, but soon becoming disfigured amid blood and wounds. That the brightest
+ ornament of a soldier was valour; that all those trinkets would follow victory,
+ and that those rich enemies would be valuable prizes to the conquerors, however
+ poor." Cursor, having animated his men with these observations, led them on
+ to battle. He took post himself on the right wing, he gave the command of the
+ left to the master of the horse. As soon as they engaged, the struggle between
+ the two armies became desperate, while it was no less so between the dictator
+ and the master of the horse, on which wing victory should first show itself.
+ It happened that Junius first, with the left wing, made the right of the enemy
+ give way; this consisted of men devoted after the custom of Samnites, and on
+ that account distinguished by white garments and armour of equal whiteness.
+ Junius, saying "he would sacrifice these to Pluto," pressed forward, disordered
+ their ranks, and made an evident impression on their line: which being perceived
+ by the dictator, he exclaimed, "Shall the victory begin on the left wing, and
+ shall the right, the dictator's own troops, only second the arms of others,
+ and not claim the greatest share of the victory?" This spurred on the soldiers:
+ nor did the cavalry yield to the infantry in bravery, nor the ardour of lieutenants-general
+ to that of the commanders. Marcius Valerius from the right wing, and Publius
+ Decius from the left, both men of consular rank, rode off to the cavalry, posted
+ on the extremities of the line, and, exhorting them to join in putting in for
+ a share of the honour, charged the enemy on the flanks. When the addition of
+ this new alarm assailed the enemies' troops on both sides, and the Roman legions,
+ having renewed the shout to confound the enemy, rushed on, they began to fly.
+ And now the plains were quickly filled with heaps of bodies and splendid armour.
+ At first, their camp received the dismayed Samnites; but they did not long retain
+ even the possession of that: before night it was taken, plundered, and burnt.
+ The dictator triumphed, in pursuance of a decree of the senate; and the most
+ splendid spectacle by far, of any in his procession, was the captured arms:
+ so magnificent were they deemed, that the shields, adorned with gold, were distributed
+ among the owners of the silver shops, to serve as embellishments to the forum.
+ Hence, it is said, arose the custom of the forum being decorated by the aediles,
+ when the grand processions are made on occasion of the great games. The Romans,
+ indeed, converted these extraordinary arms to the honour of the gods: but the
+ Campanians, out of pride, and in hatred of the Samnites, gave them as ornaments
+ to their gladiators, who used to be exhibited as a show at their feasts, and
+ whom they distinguished by the name of Samnites. During this year, the consul
+ Fabius fought with the remnants of the Etrurians at Perusia, which city also
+ had violated the truce, and gained an easy and decisive victory. He would have
+ taken the town itself (for he marched up to the walls,) had not deputies come
+ out and capitulated. Having placed a garrison at Perusia, and sent on before
+ him to the Roman senate the embassies of Etruria, who solicited friendship,
+ the consul rode into the city in triumph, for successes more important than
+ those of the dictator. Besides, a great share of the honour of reducing the
+ Samnites was attributed to the lieutenants-general, Publius Decius and Marcius
+ Valerius: whom, at the next election, the people, with universal consent, declared
+ the one consul, the other praetor. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="a41" />
+<p>To Fabius, in consideration of his extraordinary merit in the conquest of Etruria,
+ the consulship was continued. Decius was appointed his colleague. Valerius was
+ created praetor a fourth time. The consuls divided the provinces between them.
+ Etruria fell to Decius, Samnium to Fabius. The latter, having marched to Nuceria,
+ rejected the application of the people of Alfaterna, who then sued for peace,
+ because they had not accepted it when offered, and by force of arms compelled
+ them to surrender. A battle was fought with the Samnites; the enemy were overcome
+ without much difficulty: nor would the memory of that engagement have been preserved,
+ except that in it the Marsians first appeared in arms against the Romans. The
+ Pelignians, imitating the defection of the Marsians, met the same fate. The
+ other consul, Decius, was likewise very successful in his operations: through
+ terror he compelled the Tarquinians to supply his army with corn, and to sue
+ for a truce for forty years. He took several forts from the Volsinians by assault,
+ some of which he demolished, that they might not serve as receptacles to the
+ enemy, and by extending his operations through every quarter, diffused such
+ a dread of his arms, that the whole Etrurian nation sued to the consul for an
+ alliance: this they did not obtain; but a truce for a year was granted them.
+ The pay of the Roman army for that year was furnished by the enemy; and two
+ tunics for each soldier were exacted from them: this was the purchase of the
+ truce. The tranquillity now established in Etruria was interrupted by a sudden
+ insurrection of the Umbrians, a nation which had suffered no injury from the
+ war, except what inconvenience the country had felt in the passing of the army.
+ These, by calling into the field all their own young men, and forcing a great
+ part of the Etrurians to resume their arms, made up such a numerous force, that
+ speaking of themselves with ostentatious vanity and of the Romans with contempt,
+ they boasted that they would leave Decius behind in Etruria, and march away
+ to besiege Rome; which design of theirs being reported to the consul Decius,
+ he removed by long marches from Etruria towards their city, and sat down in
+ the district of Pupinia, in readiness to act according to the intelligence received
+ of the enemy. Nor was the insurrection of the Umbrians slighted at Rome: their
+ very threats excited tears among the people, who had experienced, in the calamities
+ suffered from the Gauls, how insecure a city they inhabited. Deputies were therefore
+ despatched to the consul Fabius with directions, that, if he had any respite
+ from the war of the Samnites, he should with all haste lead his army into Umbria.
+ The consul obeyed the order, and by forced marches proceeded to Mevania, where
+ the forces of the Umbrians then lay. The unexpected arrival of the consul, whom
+ they had believed to be sufficiently employed in Samnium, far distant from their
+ country, so thoroughly affrighted the Umbrians, that several advised retiring
+ to their fortified towns; others, the discontinuing the war. However, one district,
+ called by themselves Materina, prevailed on the rest not only to retain their
+ arms, but to come to an immediate engagement. They fell upon Fabius while he
+ was fortifying his camp. When the consul saw them rushing impetuously towards
+ his rampart, he called off his men from the work, and drew them up in the best
+ manner which the nature of the place and the time allowed; encouraging them
+ by displaying, in honourable and just terms, the glory which they had acquired,
+ as well in Etruria as in Samnium, he bade them finish this insignificant appendage
+ to the Etrurian war, and take vengeance for the impious expressions in which
+ these people had threatened to attack the city of Rome. Such was the alacrity
+ of the soldiers on hearing this, that, raising the shout spontaneously, they
+ interrupted the general's discourse, and, without waiting for orders, advanced,
+ with the sound of all the trumpets and cornets, in full speed against the enemy.
+ They made their attack not as on men, or at least men in arms, but, what must
+ appear wonderful in the relation, began by snatching the standards out of the
+ hands which held them; and then, the standard-bearers themselves were dragged
+ to the consul, and the armed soldiers transferred from the one line to the other;
+ and wherever resistance was any where made, the business was performed, not
+ so much with swords, as with their shields, with the bosses of which, and thrusts
+ of their elbows, they bore down the foe. The prisoners were more numerous than
+ the slain, and through the whole line the Umbrians called on each other, with
+ one voice, to lay down their arms. Thus a surrender was made in the midst of
+ action, by the first promoters of the war; and on the next and following days,
+ the other states of the Umbrians also surrendered. The Ocriculans were admitted
+ to a treaty of friendship on giving security. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="a42" />
+<p>Fabius, successful in a war allotted to another, led back his army into his
+ own province. And as, in the preceding year, the people had, in consideration
+ of his services so successfully performed, re-elected him to the consulship,
+ so now the senate, from the same motive, notwithstanding a warm opposition made
+ by Appius, prolonged his command for the year following, in which Appius Claudius
+ and Lucius Volumnius were consuls. In some annals I find, that Appius, still
+ holding the office of censor, declared himself a candidate for the consulship,
+ and that his election was stopped by a protest of Lucius Furius, plebeian tribune,
+ until he resigned the censorship. After his election to the consulship, the
+ new war with the Sallentine enemies being decreed to his colleague, he remained
+ at Rome, with design to increase his interest by city intrigues, since the means
+ of procuring honour in war were placed in the hands of others. Volumnius had
+ no reason to be dissatisfied with his province: he fought many battles with
+ good success, and took several cities by assault. He was liberal in his donations
+ of the spoil; and this munificence, engaging in itself, he enhanced by his courteous
+ demeanour, by which conduct he inspired his soldiers with ardour to meet both
+ toil and danger. Quintus Fabius, proconsul, fought a pitched battle with the
+ armies of the Samnites, near the city of Allifae. The victory was complete.
+ The enemy were driven from the field, and pursued to their camp; nor would they
+ have kept possession of that, had not the day been almost spent. It was invested,
+ however, before night, and guarded until day, lest any should slip away. Next
+ morning, while it was scarcely clear day, they proposed to capitulate, and it
+ was agreed, that such as were natives of Samnium should be dismissed with single
+ garments. All these were sent under the yoke. No precaution was taken in favour
+ of the allies of the Samnites: they were sold by auction, to the number of seven
+ thousand. Those who declared themselves subjects of the Hernicians, were kept
+ by themselves under a guard. All these Fabius sent to Rome to the senate; and,
+ after being examined, whether it was in consequence of a public order, or as
+ volunteers, that they had carried arms on the side of the Samnites against the
+ Romans, they were distributed among the states of the Latins to be held in custody;
+ and it was ordered, that the new consuls, Publius Cornelius Arvina and Quintus
+ Marcius Tremulus, who by this time had been elected, should lay that affair
+ entire before the senate: this gave such offence to the Hernicians, that, at
+ a meeting of all the states, assembled by the Anagnians, in the circus called
+ the Maritime, the whole nation of the Hernicians, excepting the Alatrians, Ferentines,
+ and Verulans, declared war against the Roman people. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="a43" />
+<p>In Samnium also, in consequence of the departure of Fabius, new commotions
+ arose. Calatia and Sora, and the Roman garrisons stationed there, were taken,
+ and extreme cruelty was exercised towards the captive soldiers: Publius Cornelius
+ was therefore sent thither with an army. The command against the new enemy (for
+ by this time an order had passed for declaring war against the Anagnians, and
+ the rest of the Hernicians) was decreed to Marcius. These, in the beginning,
+ secured all the passes between the camps of the consuls, in such a manner, that
+ no messenger, however expert, could make his way from one to the other; and
+ each consul spent several days in absolute uncertainty regarding every matter
+ and in anxious suspense concerning the state of the other. Apprehensions for
+ their safety spread even to Rome; so that all the younger citizens were compelled
+ to enlist and two regular armies were raised, to answer sudden emergencies.
+ The conduct of the Hernicians during the progress of the war afterwards, showed
+ nothing suitable to the present alarm, or to the ancient renown of that nation.
+ Without ever venturing any effort worth mentioning, being stripped of three
+ different camps within a few days, they stipulated for a truce of thirty days,
+ during which they might send to Rome, to the senate, on the terms of furnishing
+ two months' pay, and corn, and a tunic to every soldier. They were referred
+ back to Marcius by the senate, whom by a decree they empowered to determine
+ regarding the Hernicians, and he accepted their submission. Meanwhile, in Samnium,
+ the other consul, though superior in strength, was very much embarrassed by
+ the nature of his situation; the enemy had blocked up all the roads, and seized
+ on the passable defiles, so that no provisions could be conveyed; nor could
+ the consul, though he daily drew out his troops and offered battle, allure them
+ to an engagement. It was evident, that neither could the Samnites support an
+ immediate contest, nor the Romans a delay of action. The approach of Marcius,
+ who, after he had subdued the Hernicians, hastened to the succour of his colleague,
+ put it out of the enemy's power any longer to avoid fighting: for they, who
+ had not deemed themselves a match in the field, even for one of the armies,
+ could not surely suppose that if they should allow the two consular armies to
+ unite, they could have any hope remaining: they made an attack therefore on
+ Marcius, as he was approaching in the irregular order of march. The baggage
+ was hastily thrown together in the centre, and the line formed as well as the
+ time permitted. First the shout which reached the standing camp of Cornelius,
+ then the dust observed at a distance, excited a bustle in the camp of the other
+ consul. Ordering his men instantly to take arms, and leading them out to the
+ field with the utmost haste, he charged the flank of the enemy's line, which
+ had enough to do in the other dispute, at the same time exclaiming, that "it
+ would be the height of infamy if they suffered Marcius's army to monopolize
+ the honour of both victories, and did not assert their claim to the glory of
+ their own war." He bore down all before him, and pushed forward, through the
+ midst of the enemy's line, to their camp, which, being left without a guard,
+ he took and set on fire; which when the soldiers of Marcius saw in flames, and
+ the enemy observed it on looking about, a general flight immediately took place
+ among the Samnites. But they could not effect an escape in any direction; in
+ every quarter they met death. After a slaughter of thirty thousand men, the
+ consuls had now given the signal for retreat; and were collecting, into one
+ body, their several forces, who were employed in mutual congratulations, when
+ some new cohorts of the enemy, which had been levied for a reinforcement, being
+ seen at a distance, occasioned a renewal of the carnage. On these the conquerors
+ rushed, without any order of the consuls, or signal received, crying out, that
+ they would make these Samnites pay dearly for their introduction to service.
+ The consuls indulged the ardour of the legions, well knowing that the raw troops
+ of the enemy, mixed with veterans dispirited by defeat, would be incapable even
+ of attempting a contest. Nor were they wrong in their judgment: all the forces
+ of the Samnites, old and new, fled to the nearest mountains. These the Roman
+ army also ascended, so that no situation afforded safety to the vanquished;
+ they were beaten off, even from the summits which they had seized. And now they
+ all, with on voice, supplicated for a suspension of arms. On which, being ordered
+ to furnish corn for three months, pay for a year, and a tunic to each of the
+ soldiers, they sent deputies to the senate to sue for peace. Cornelius was left
+ in Samnium. Marcius returned into the city, in triumph over the Hernicians;
+ and a decree was passed for erecting to him, in the forum, an equestrian statue,
+ which was placed before the temple of Castor. To three states of the Hernicians,
+ (the Alatrians, Verulans, and Ferentines,) their own laws were restored, because
+ they preferred these to the being made citizens of Rome; and they were permitted
+ to intermarry with each other, a privilege which they alone of the Hernicians,
+ for a long time after, enjoyed. To the Anagnians, and the others, who had made
+ war on the Romans, was granted the freedom of the state, without the right of
+ voting; public assemblies, and intermarriages, were not allowed them, and their
+ magistrates were prohibited from acting except in the ministration of public
+ worship. During this year, Caius Junius Bubulcus, censor, contracted for the
+ building of a temple to Health, which he had vowed during his consulate in the
+ war with the Samnites. By the same person, and his colleague, Marcus Valerius
+ Maximus, roads were made through the fields at the public expense. During the
+ same year the treaty with the Carthaginians was renewed a third time, and ample
+ presents made to their ambassadors who came on that business. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="a44" />
+<p>This year had a dictator in office, Publius Cornelius Scipio, with Publius
+ Decius Mus, master of the horse. By these the election of consuls was held,
+ being the purpose for which they had been created, because neither of the consuls
+ could be absent from the armies. The consuls elected were Lucius Postumius and
+ Titus Minucius; whom Piso places next after Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius,
+ omitting the two years in which I have set down Claudius with Volumnius, and
+ Cornelius with Marcius, as consuls. Whether this happened through a lapse of
+ memory in digesting his annals, or whether he purposely passed over those two
+ consulates as deeming the accounts of them false, cannot be ascertained. During
+ this year the Samnites made incursions into the district of Stellae in the Campanian
+ territory. Both the consuls were therefore sent into Samnium, and proceeded
+ to different regions, Postumius to Tifernum, Minucius to Bovianum. The first
+ engagement happened at Tifernum, under the command of Postumius. Some say, that
+ the Samnites were completely defeated, and twenty thousand of them made prisoners.
+ Others, that the army separated without victory on either side; and that Postumius,
+ counterfeiting fear, withdrew his forces privately by night, and marched away
+ to the mountains; whither the enemy also followed, and took possession of a
+ stronghold two miles distant. The consul, having created a belief that he had
+ come thither for the sake of a safe post, and a fruitful spot, (and such it
+ really was,) secured his camp with strong works. Furnishing it with magazines
+ of every thing useful, he left a strong guard to defend it; and at the third
+ watch, led away the legions lightly accoutred, by the shortest road which he
+ could take, to join his colleague, who lay opposite to his foe. There, by advice
+ of Postumius, Minucius came to an engagement with the enemy; and when the fight
+ had continued doubtful through a great part of the day, Postumius, with his
+ fresh legions, made an unexpected attack on the enemy's line, spent by this
+ time with fatigue: thus, weariness and wounds having rendered them incapable
+ even of flying, they were cut off to a man, and twenty-one standards taken.
+ The Romans then proceeded to Postumius's station, where the two victorious armies
+ falling upon the enemy, already dismayed by the news of what had passed, routed
+ and dispersed them: twenty-six military standards were taken here, and the Samnite
+ general, Statius Gellius, with a great number of other prisoners, and both the
+ camps were taken. Next day Bovianum was besieged, and soon after taken. Both
+ the consuls were honoured with a triumph, with high applause of their excellent
+ conduct. Some writers say, that the consul Minucius was brought back to the
+ camp grievously wounded, and that he died there; that Marcus Fulvius was substituted
+ consul in his place, and that it was he who, being sent to command Minucius's
+ army, took Bovianum. During the same year, Sora, Arpinum, and Censennia were
+ recovered from the Samnites. The great statue of Hercules was erected in the
+ Capitol, and dedicated. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="a45" />
+<p>In the succeeding consulate of Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Sempronius
+ Sophus, the Samnites, desirous either of a termination or a suspension of hostilities,
+ sent ambassadors to Rome to treat of peace; to whose submissive solicitations
+ this answer was returned, that, "had not the Samnites frequently solicited peace,
+ at times when they were actually preparing for war, their present application
+ might, perhaps, in the course of negotiating, have produced the desired effect.
+ But now, since words had hitherto proved vain, people's conduct must be guided
+ by facts: that Publius Sempronius the consul would shortly be in Samnium with
+ an army: that he could not be deceived in judging whether their dispositions
+ inclined to peace or war. He would bring the senate certain information respecting
+ every particular, and their ambassadors might follow the consul on his return
+ from Samnium." When the Roman army accordingly marched through all parts of
+ Samnium, which was in a state of peace, provisions being liberally supplied,
+ a renewal of the old treaty was, this year, granted to the Samnites. The Roman
+ arms were then turned against the Aequans, their old enemies, but who had, for
+ many years past, remained quiet, under the guise of a treacherous peace, because,
+ while the Hernicians were in a state of prosperity, these had, in conjunction
+ with them, frequently sent aid to the Samnites; and after the Hernicians were
+ subdued, almost the whole nation, without dissembling that they acted by public
+ authority, had revolted to the enemy; and when, after the conclusion of the
+ treaty with the Samnites at Rome, ambassadors were sent to demand satisfaction,
+ they said, that "this was only a trial made of them, on the expectation that
+ they would through fear suffer themselves to be made Roman citizens. But how
+ much that condition was to be wished for, they had been taught by the Hernicians;
+ who, when they had the option, preferred their own laws to the freedom of the
+ Roman state. To people who wished for liberty to choose what they judged preferable,
+ the necessity of becoming Roman citizens would have the nature of a punishment."
+ In resentment of these declarations, uttered publicly in their assemblies, the
+ Roman people ordered war to be made on the Aequans; and, in prosecution of this
+ new undertaking, both the consuls marched from the city, and sat down at the
+ distance of four miles from the camp of the enemy. The troops of the Aequans,
+ like tumultuary recruits, in consequence of their having passed such a number
+ of years without waging war on their own account, were all in disorder and confusion,
+ without established officers and without command. Some advised to give battle,
+ others to defend the camp; the greater part were influenced by concern for the
+ devastation of their lands, likely to take place, and the consequent destruction
+ of their cities, left with weak garrisons. Among a variety of propositions,
+ one, however, was heard which, abandoning all concern for the public interest,
+ tended to transfer every man's attention to the care of his private concerns.
+ It recommended that, at the first watch, they should depart from the camp by
+ different roads, so as to carry all their effects into the cities, and to secure
+ them by the strength of the fortifications; this they all approved with universal
+ assent. When the enemy were now dispersed through the country, the Romans, at
+ the first dawn, marched out to the field, and drew up in order of battle; but
+ no one coming to oppose them, they advanced in a brisk pace to the enemy's camp.
+ But when they perceived neither guards before the gates, nor soldiers on the
+ ramparts, nor the usual bustle of a camp,--surprised at the extraordinary silence,
+ they halted in apprehension of some stratagem. At length, passing over the rampart,
+ and finding the whole deserted, they proceeded to search out the tracks of the
+ enemy. But these, as they scattered themselves to every quarter, occasioned
+ perplexity at first. Afterwards discovering their design by means of scouts,
+ they attacked their cities, one after another, and within the space of fifty
+ days took, entirely by force, forty-one towns, most of which were razed and
+ burnt, and the race of the Aequans almost extirpated. A triumph was granted
+ over the Aequans. The Marrucinians, Marsians, Pelignians, and Ferentans, warned
+ by the example of their disasters, sent deputies to Rome to solicit peace and
+ friendship; and these states, on their submissive applications, were admitted
+ into alliance. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="a46" />
+<p>In the same year, Cneius Flavius, son of Cneius, grandson of a freed man, a
+ notary, in low circumstances originally, but artful and eloquent, was appointed
+ curule aedile. I find in some annals, that, being in attendance on the aediles,
+ and seeing that he was voted aedile by the prerogative tribe, but that his name
+ would not be received, because he acted as a notary, he threw down his tablet,
+ and took an oath, that he would not, for the future, follow that business. But
+ Licinius Macer contends, that he had dropped the employment of notary a considerable
+ time before, having already been a tribune, and twice a triumvir, once for regulating
+ the nightly watch, and another time for conducting a colony. However, of this
+ there is no dispute, that against the nobles, who threw contempt on the meanness
+ of his condition, he contended with much firmness. He made public the rules
+ of proceeding in judicial causes, hitherto shut up in the closets of the pontiffs;
+ and hung up to public view, round the forum, the calendar on white tablets,
+ that all might know when business could be transacted in the courts. To the
+ great displeasure of the nobles, he performed the dedication of the temple of
+ Concord, in the area of Vulcan's temple; and the chief pontiff, Cornelius Barbatus,
+ was compelled by the united instances of the people, to dictate to him the form
+ of words, although he affirmed, that, consistently with the practice of antiquity,
+ no other than a consul, or commander-in-chief, could dedicate a temple. This
+ occasioned a law to be proposed to the people, by direction of the senate, that
+ no person should dedicate a temple, or an altar, without an order from the senate,
+ or from a majority of the plebeian tribunes. The incident which I am about to
+ mention would be trivial in itself, were it not an instance of the freedom assumed
+ by plebeians in opposition to the pride of the nobles. When Flavius had come
+ to make a visit to his colleague, who was sick, and when, by an arrangement
+ between some young nobles who were sitting there, they did not rise on his entrance,
+ he ordered his curule chair to be brought thither, and from his honourable seat
+ of office enjoyed the sight of his enemies tortured with envy. However, a low
+ faction, which had gathered strength during the censorship of Appius Claudius,
+ had made Flavius an aedile; for he was the first who degraded the senate, by
+ electing into it the immediate descendants of freed men; and when no one allowed
+ that election as valid, and when he had not acquired in the senate-house that
+ influence in the city which he had been aiming at, by distributing men of the
+ meanest order among all the several tribes, he thus corrupted the assemblies
+ both of the forum and of the field of Mars; and so much indignation did the
+ election of Flavius excite, that most of the nobles laid aside their gold rings
+ and bracelets in consequence of it. From that time the state was split into
+ two parties. The uncorrupted part of the people, who favoured and supported
+ the good, held one side; the faction of the rabble, the other; until Quintus
+ Fabius and Publius Decius were made censors; and Fabius, both for the sake of
+ concord, and at the same time to prevent the elections remaining in the hands
+ of the lowest of the people, purged the rest of the tribes of all the rabble
+ of the forum, and threw it into four, and called them city tribes. And this
+ procedure, we are told, gave such universal satisfaction, that, by this regulation
+ in the orders of the state, he obtained the surname of Maximus, which he had
+ not obtained by his many victories. The annual review of the knights, on the
+ ides of July, is also said to have been instituted by him. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book10">BOOK X.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 303-293</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#b1">1</a> <a href="#b2">2</a> <a href="#b3">3</a>
+ <a href="#b4">4</a> <a href="#b5">5</a> <a href="#b6">6</a> <a href="#b7">7</a>
+ <a href="#b8">8</a> <a href="#b9">9</a> <a href="#b10">10</a> <a href="#b11">11</a>
+ <a href="#b12">12</a> <a href="#b13">13</a> <a href="#b14">14</a> <a href="#b15">15</a>
+ <a href="#b16">16</a> <a href="#b17">17</a> <a href="#b18">18</a> <a href="#b19">19</a>
+ <a href="#b20">20</a> <a href="#b21">21</a> <a href="#b22">22</a> <a href="#b23">23</a>
+ <a href="#b24">24</a> <a href="#b25">25</a> <a href="#b26">26</a> <a href="#b27">27</a>
+ <a href="#b28">28</a> <a href="#b29">29</a> <a href="#b30">30</a> <a href="#b31">31</a>
+ <a href="#b32">32</a> <a href="#b33">33</a> <a href="#b34">34</a> <a href="#b35">35</a>
+ <a href="#b36">36</a> <a href="#b37">37</a> <a href="#b38">38</a> <a href="#b39">39</a>
+ <a href="#b40">40</a> <a href="#b41">41</a> <a href="#b42">42</a> <a href="#b43">43</a>
+ <a href="#b44">44</a> <a href="#b45">45</a> <a href="#b46">46</a> <a href="#b47">47</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Submission of the Marcians accepted. The college of Augurs
+ augmented from four to nine. The law of appeal to the people carried by Valerius
+ the consul. Two more tribes added. War declared against the Samnites. Several
+ successful actions. In an engagement against the combined forces of the Etruscans,
+ Umbrians, Samnites, and Gauls, Publius Decius, after the example of his father,
+ devotes himself for the army. Dies, and, by his death, procures the victory
+ to the Romans. Defeat of the Samnites by Papirius Cursor. The census held. The
+ lustrum closed. The number of the citizens two hundred and sixty-two thousand
+ three hundred and twenty-two.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="b1" />
+<p>During the consulate of Lucius Genucius and Servius Cornelius, the state enjoyed
+ almost uninterrupted rest from foreign wars. Colonies were led out to Sora and
+ Alba. For the latter, situated in the country of the Aequans, six thousand colonists
+ were enrolled. Sora had formerly belonged to the Volscian territory, but had
+ fallen into the possession of the Samnites: thither were sent four thousand
+ settlers. This year the freedom of the state was granted to the Arpinians and
+ Trebulans. The Frusinonians were fined a third part of their lands, because
+ it was discovered that the Hernicians had been tampered with by them; and the
+ heads of that conspiracy, after a trial before the consuls, held in pursuance
+ of a decree of the senate, were beaten with rods and beheaded. However, that
+ the Romans might not pass the year entirely exempt from war, a little expedition
+ was made into Umbria; intelligence being received from thence, that excursions
+ of men, in arms, had been made, from a certain cave, into the adjacent country.
+ Into this cave the troops penetrated with their standards, and, the place being
+ dark, they received many wounds, chiefly from stones thrown. At length the other
+ mouth of the cave being found, for it was pervious, both the openings were filled
+ up with wood, which being set on fire, there perished by means of the smoke
+ and heat, no less than two thousand men; many of whom, at the last, in attempting
+ to make their way out, rushed into the very flames. The two Marci, Livius Denter
+ and Aemilius, succeeding to the consulship, war was renewed with the Aequans;
+ who, being highly displeased at the colony established within their territory,
+ as if it were a fortress, having made an attempt, with their whole force, to
+ seize it, were repulsed by the colonists themselves. They caused, however, such
+ an alarm at Rome, that, to quell this insurrection, Caius Junius Bubulcus was
+ nominated dictator: for it was scarcely credible that the Aequans, after being
+ reduced to such a degree of weakness, should by themselves alone have ventured
+ to engage in a war. The dictator, taking the field, with Marcus Titinius, master
+ of the horse, in the first engagement reduced the Aequans to submission; and
+ returning into the city in triumph, on the eighth day, dedicated, in the character
+ of dictator, the temple of Health, which he had vowed when consul, and contracted
+ for when censor. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="b2" />
+<p>During this year a fleet of Grecians, under the command of Cleonymus, a Lacedaemonian,
+ arrived on the coast of Italy, and took Thuriae, a city in the territory of
+ the Sallentines. Against this enemy the consul Aemilius was sent, who, in one
+ battle, completely defeated them, and drove them on board their ships. Thuriae
+ was then restored to its old inhabitants, and peace re-established in the country
+ of the Sallentines. In some annals, I find that Junius Bubulcus was sent dictator
+ into that country, and that Cleonymus, without hazarding an engagement with
+ the Romans, retired out of Italy. He then sailed round the promontory of Brundusium,
+ and, steering down the middle of the Adriatic gulf, because he dreaded, on the
+ left hand, the coasts of Italy destitute of harbours, and, on the right, the
+ Illyrians, Liburnians, and Istrians, nations of savages, and noted in general
+ for piracy, he passed on to the coasts of the Venetians. Here, having landed
+ a small party to explore the country, and being informed that a narrow beach
+ stretched along the shore, beyond which were marshes, overflowed by the tides;
+ that dry land was seen at no great distance, level in the nearest part, and
+ rising behind into hills, beyond which was the mouth of a very deep river, into
+ which they had seen ships brought round and moored in safety, (this was the
+ river Meduacus,) he ordered his fleet to sail into it and go up against the
+ stream. As the channel would not admit the heavy ships, the troops, removing
+ into the lighter vessels, arrived at a part of the country occupied by three
+ maritime cantons of the Patavians, settled on that coast. Here they made a descent,
+ leaving a small guard with the ships, made themselves masters of these cantons,
+ set fire to the houses, drove off a considerable booty of men and cattle, and,
+ allured by the sweets of plunder, proceeded still further from the shore. When
+ news of this was brought to Patavium, where the contiguity of the Gauls kept
+ the inhabitants constantly in arms, they divided their young men into two bands,
+ one of which was led towards the quarter where the marauders were said to be
+ busy; the other by a different route, to avoid meeting any of the pirates, towards
+ the station of the ships, fifteen miles distant from the town. An attack was
+ made on the small craft, and the guards being killed, the affrighted mariners
+ were obliged to remove their ships to the other bank of the river. By land,
+ also, the attack on the dispersed plunderers was equally successful; and the
+ Grecians, flying back towards their ships, were opposed in their way by the
+ Venetians. Thus they were enclosed on both sides, and cut to pieces; and some,
+ who were made prisoners, gave information that the fleet, with their king, Cleonymus,
+ was but three miles distant. Sending the captives into the nearest canton, to
+ be kept under a guard, some soldiers got on board the flat-bottomed vessels,
+ so constructed for the purpose of passing the shoals with ease; others embarked
+ in those which had been lately taken from the enemy, and proceeding down the
+ river, surrounded their unwieldy ships, which dreaded the unknown sands and
+ flats more than they did the Romans, and which showed a greater eagerness to
+ escape into the deep than to make resistance. The soldiers pursued them as far
+ as the mouth of the river; and having taken and burned a part of the fleet,
+ which in the hurry and confusion had been stranded, returned victorious. Cleonymus,
+ having met success in no part of the Adriatic sea, departed with scarce a fifth
+ part of his navy remaining. Many, now alive, have seen the beaks of his ships,
+ and the spoils of the Lacedaemonians, hanging in the old temple of Juno. In
+ commemoration of this event, there is exhibited at Patavium, every year, on
+ its anniversary day, a naval combat on the river in the middle of the town.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="b3" />
+<p>A treaty was this year concluded at Rome with the Vestinians, who solicited
+ friendship. Various causes of apprehension afterwards sprung up. News arrived,
+ that Etruria was in rebellion; the insurrection having arisen from the dissensions
+ of the Arretians; for the Cilnian family having grown exorbitantly powerful,
+ a party, out of envy of their wealth, had attempted to expel them by force of
+ arms. [Accounts were also received] that the Marsians held forcible possession
+ of the lands to which the colony of Carseoli, consisting of four thousand men,
+ had been sent. By reason, therefore, of these commotions, Marcus Valerius Maximus
+ was nominated dictator, and chose for his master of the horse Marcus Aemilius
+ Paullus. This I am inclined to believe, rather than that Quintus Fabius, at
+ such an age as he then was, and after enjoying many honours, was placed in a
+ station subordinate to Valerius: but I think it not unlikely that the mistake
+ arose from the surname Maximus. The dictator, having set out at the head of
+ an army, in one battle utterly defeated the Marsians, drove them into their
+ fortified towns, and afterwards, in the course of a few days, took Milionia,
+ Plestina, and Fresilia; and then finding Marsians in a part of their lands,
+ granted them a renewal of the treaty. The war was then directed against the
+ Etrurians; and when the dictator had gone to Rome, for the purpose of renewing
+ the auspices, the master of the horse, going out to forage, was surrounded by
+ an ambuscade, and obliged to fly shamefully into his camp, after losing several
+ standards and many of his men. The occurrence of which discomfiture to Fabius
+ is exceedingly improbable; not only because, if in any particular, certainly,
+ above all, in the qualifications of a commander, he fully merited his surname;
+ but besides, mindful of Papirius's severity, he never could have been tempted
+ to fight, without the dictator's orders. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="b4" />
+<p>The news of this disaster excited at Rome an alarm greater than suited the
+ importance of the affair; for, as if the army had been destroyed, a justitium
+ was proclaimed, guards mounted at the gates, and watches set in every street:
+ and armour and weapons were heaped on the walls. All the younger citizens being
+ compelled to enlist, the dictator was ordered to join the army. There he found
+ every thing in a more tranquil state than he expected, and regularity established
+ through the care of the master of the horse, the camp removed to a place of
+ greater safety, the cohorts, which had lost their standards, left without tents
+ on the outside of the ramparts and the troops ardently impatient for battle,
+ that their disgrace might be the sooner obliterated. He therefore immediately
+ advanced his camp into the territory of Rusella. Thither the enemy also followed,
+ and although, since their late success, they entertained the most sanguine hopes
+ from an open trial of strength, yet they endeavoured to circumvent the enemy
+ by a stratagem which they had before practised with success. There were, at
+ a small distance from the Roman camp, the half-ruined houses of a town which
+ had been burnt in the devastation of the country. A body of troops being concealed
+ there, some cattle was driven on, within view of a Roman post, commanded by
+ a lieutenant-general, Cneius Fulvius. When no one was induced by this temptation
+ to stir from his post, one of the herdsmen, advancing close to the works, called
+ out, that others were driving out those cattle at their leisure from the ruins
+ of the town, why did they remain idle, when they might safely drive them through
+ the middle of the Roman camp? When this was interpreted to the lieutenant-general,
+ by some natives of Caere, and great impatience prevailed through every company
+ of the soldiers, who, nevertheless, dared not to move without orders, he commanded
+ some who were skilled in the language to observe attentively, whether the dialect
+ of the herdsmen resembled that of rustics or of citizens. When these reported,
+ that their accent in speaking, their manner and appearance, were all of a more
+ polished cast than suited shepherds, "Go then," said he, "tell them that they
+ may uncover the ambush which they vainly conceal, that the Romans understand
+ all their devices, and can now be no more taken by stratagem than they can be
+ conquered by arms." When these words were heard, and carried to those who lay
+ in ambush, they immediately arose from their lurking place, and marched out
+ in order into the plain which was open to view on every side The lieutenant-general
+ thought their force too powerful for his small band to cope with. He therefore
+ sent in haste to Valerius for support, and in the mean time, by himself, sustained
+ the enemy's onset. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="b5" />
+<p>On receiving his message, the dictator ordered the standards to move, and the
+ troops to follow in arms. But every thing was executed more quickly, almost,
+ than ordered. The standards and arms were instantly snatched up, and they were
+ with difficulty restrained from running impetuously on, both indignation at
+ their late defeat stimulated them, as well as the shouts striking their ears
+ with increasing vehemence, as the contest grew hotter They therefore urged each
+ other, and pressed the standard-bearers to quicken their pace. The dictator,
+ the more eagerly he saw them push forward, took the more pains to repress their
+ haste, and ordered them to march at a slower rate. On the other side, the Etrurians,
+ putting themselves in motion, on the first beginning of the fray had come up
+ with their whole force, and several expresses came to the dictator, one after
+ another, that all the regions of the Etrurians had joined in the fight, and
+ that his men could not any longer withstand them: at the same time, he himself
+ saw, from the higher ground, in how perilous a situation the party was. Confident,
+ however, that the lieutenant-general was able, even yet, to support the contest,
+ and considering that he himself was at hand to rescue him from defeat, he wished
+ to let the enemy be fatigued, as much as might be, in order that, when in that
+ state, he might fall on them with his fresh troops. Slowly as these marched,
+ the distance was now just sufficient for the cavalry to begin their career for
+ a charge. The battalions of the legions marched in front, lest the enemy might
+ suspect any secret or sudden movement, but intervals had been left in the ranks
+ of the infantry, affording room for the horses to gallop through. At the same
+ instant the line raised the shout, and the cavalry, charging at full speed,
+ poured on the enemy, and spread at once a general panic. After this, as succour
+ had arrived, almost too late, to the party surrounded, so now they were allowed
+ entire rest, the fresh troops taking on themselves the whole business of the
+ fight. Nor was that either long or dubious. The enemy, now routed, fled to their
+ camp, and the Romans advancing to attack it, they gave way, and are crowded
+ all together in the remotest part of it. In their flight they are obstructed
+ by the narrowness of the gates, the greater number climbed up on the mounds
+ and ramparts, to try if they could either defend themselves with the aid of
+ the advantageous ground, or get over, by any means, and escape. One part of
+ the rampart, happening to be badly compacted sunk under the weight of the multitude
+ who stood on it, and fell into the trench. On which, crying out that the gods
+ had opened that pass to give them safety, they made their way out, most of them
+ leaving their arms behind. By this battle the power of the Etrurians was, a
+ second time, effectually crushed, so that, engaging to furnish a year's pay,
+ and corn for two months, with the dictator's permission, they sent ambassadors
+ to Rome to treat of peace. This was refused, but a truce for two years was granted
+ to them. The dictator returned into the city in triumph. I have seen it asserted,
+ that tranquillity was restored in Etruria by the dictator, without any memorable
+ battle, only by composing the dissensions of the Arretians, and effecting a
+ reconciliation between the Cilnian family and the commons. Marcus Valerius was
+ elected consul, before the expiration of his dictatorship, many have believed,
+ without his soliciting the office, and even while he was absent; and that the
+ election was held by an interrex. In one point all agree, that he held the consulship
+ with Quintus Appulcius Pansa. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="b6" />
+<p>During this consulate of Marcus Valerius and Quintus Appulcius, affairs abroad
+ wore a very peaceable aspect. Their losses sustained in war, together with the
+ truce, kept the Etrurians quiet. The Samnites, depressed by the misfortunes
+ of many years, had not yet become dissatisfied with their new alliance. At Rome,
+ also, the carrying away of such multitudes to colonies, rendered the commons
+ tranquil, and lightened their burthens. But, that things might not be tranquil
+ on all sides, a contention was excited between the principal persons in the
+ commonwealth, patricians on one hand, and plebeians on the other, by the two
+ Ogulnii, Quintus and Cneius, plebeian tribunes, who, seeking every where occasions
+ of criminating the patricians in the hearing of the people, and having found
+ other attempts fruitless, set on foot a proceeding by which they might inflame,
+ not the lowest class of the commons, but their chief men, the plebeians of consular
+ and triumphal rank, to the completion of whose honours nothing was now wanting
+ but the offices of the priesthood, which were not yet laid open to them. They
+ therefore published a proposal for a law, that, whereas there were then four
+ augurs and four pontiffs, and it had been determined that the number of priests
+ should be augmented, the four additional pontiffs and five augurs should all
+ be chosen out of the commons. How the college of augurs could be reduced to
+ the number of four, except by the death of two, I do not understand: for it
+ is a rule among the augurs, that their number should be composed of threes,
+ so that the three ancient tribes, the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, should
+ have each its own augur; or, in case there should be occasion for more, that
+ each should increase its number of augurs, in equal proportion with the rest,
+ in like manner as when, by the addition of five to four, they made up the number
+ nine, so that there were three to each tribe. However, as it was proposed that
+ they should be chosen out of the commons, the patricians were as highly offended
+ at the proceeding, as when they saw the consulship made common; yet they pretended
+ that the business concerned not them so much as it did the gods, who would "take
+ care that their own worship should not be contaminated; that, for their parts,
+ they only wished that no misfortune might ensue to the commonwealth." But they
+ made a less vigorous opposition, as being now accustomed to suffer defeat in
+ such kind of disputes; and they saw their adversaries, not, as formerly, grasping
+ at that which they could scarcely hope to reach, the higher honours; but already
+ in possession of all those advantages, on the uncertain prospect of which they
+ had maintained the contest, manifold consulships, censorships, and triumphs.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="b7" />
+<p>The principal struggle, however, in supporting and opposing the bill, they
+ say, was between Appius Claudius and Publius Decius Mus. After these had urged
+ nearly the same topics, respecting the privileges of patricians and plebeians,
+ which had been formerly employed for and against the Licinian law, when the
+ proposition was brought forward of opening the consulship to plebeians, Decius
+ is said to have drawn a lively description of his own father, such as many then
+ present in the assembly had seen him, girt in the Gabine dress, standing on
+ a spear, in the attitude in which he had devoted himself for the people and
+ the legions, and to have added, that the consul Publius Decius was then deemed
+ by the immortal gods an offering equally pure and pious, as if his colleague,
+ Titus Manlius, had been devoted. And might not the same Publius Decius have
+ been, with propriety, chosen to perform the public worship of the Roman people?
+ Was there any danger that the gods would give less attention to his prayers
+ than to those of Appius Claudius? Did the latter perform his private acts of
+ adoration with a purer mind, or worship the gods more religiously than he? Who
+ had any reason to complain of the vows offered in behalf of the commonwealth,
+ by so many plebeian consuls and dictators, either when setting out to their
+ armies, or in the heat of battle? Were the numbers of commanders reckoned, during
+ those years since business began to be transacted under the conduct and auspices
+ of plebeians, the same number of triumphs might be found. The commons had now
+ no reason to be dissatisfied with their own nobility. On the contrary, they
+ were fully convinced, that in case of a sudden war breaking out, the senate
+ and people of Rome would not repose greater confidence in patrician than in
+ plebeian commanders. "Which being the case," said he, "what god or man can deem
+ it an impropriety, if those whom ye have honoured with curule chairs, with the
+ purple bordered gown, with the palm-vest and embroidered robe, with the triumphal
+ crown and laurel, whose houses ye have rendered conspicuous above others, by
+ affixing to them the spoils of conquered enemies, should add to these the badges
+ of augurs or pontiffs? If a person, who has rode through the city in a gilt
+ chariot; and, decorated with the ensigns of Jupiter, supremely good and great,
+ has mounted the Capitol, should be seen with a chalice and wand; what impropriety,
+ I say, that he should, with his head veiled, slay a victim, or take an augury
+ in the citadel? When, in the inscription on a person's statue, the consulship,
+ censorship, and triumph shall be read with patience, will the eyes of readers
+ be unable to endure the addition of the office of augur or pontiff? In truth
+ (with deference to the gods I say it) I trust that we are, through the kindness
+ of the Roman people, qualified in such a manner that we should, by the dignity
+ of our characters, reflect back, on the priesthood, not less lustre than we
+ should receive; and may demand, rather on behalf of the gods, than for our own
+ sakes, that those whom we worship in our private we may also worship in a public
+ capacity." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="b8" />
+<p>"But why do I argue thus, as if the cause of the patricians, respecting the
+ priesthood, were untouched? and as if we were not already in possession of one
+ sacerdotal office, of the highest class? We see plebeian decemvirs, for performing
+ sacrifices, interpreters of the Sibylline prophecies, and of the fates of the
+ nation; we also see them presidents of Apollo's festival, and of other religious
+ performances. Neither was any injustice done to the patricians, when, to the
+ two commissioners for performing sacrifices, an additional number was joined,
+ in favour of the plebeians; nor is there now, when a tribune, a man of courage
+ and activity, wishes to add five places of augurs, and four of pontiffs, to
+ which plebeians may be nominated; not Appius, with intent to expel you from
+ your places; but, that men of plebeian rank may assist you, in the management
+ of divine affairs, with the same zeal with which they assist you in matters
+ of human concernment. Blush not, Appius, at having a man your colleague in the
+ priesthood, whom you might have a colleague in the censorship or consulship,
+ whose master of the horse you yourself may be, when he is dictator, as well
+ as dictator when he is master of the horse. A Sabine adventurer, the first origin
+ of your nobility, either Attus Clausus, or Appius Claudius, which you will,
+ the ancient patricians of those days admitted into their number: do not then,
+ on your part, disdain to admit us into the number of priests. We bring with
+ us numerous honours; all those honours, indeed, which have rendered your party
+ so proud. Lucius Sextius was the first consul chosen out of the plebeians; Caius
+ Licinius Stolo, the first master of the horse; Caius Marcius Rutilus, the first
+ dictator, and likewise censor; Quintus Publilius Philo, the first praetor. On
+ all occasions was heard a repetition of the same arguments; that the right of
+ auspices was vested in you; that ye alone had the rights of ancestry; that ye
+ alone were legally entitled to the supreme command, and the auspices both in
+ peace and war. The supreme command has hitherto been, and will continue to be,
+ equally prosperous in plebeian hands as in patrician. Have ye never heard it
+ said, that the first created patricians were not men sent down from heaven,
+ but such as could cite their fathers, that is, nothing more than free born.
+ I can now cite my father, a consul; and my son will be able to cite a grandfather.
+ Citizens, there is nothing else in it, than that we should never obtain any
+ thing without a refusal. The patricians wish only for a dispute; nor do they
+ care what issue their disputes may have. For my part, be it advantageous, happy,
+ and prosperous to you and to the commonwealth, I am of opinion that this law
+ should receive your sanction." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="b9" />
+<p>The people ordered that the tribes should be instantly called; and there was
+ every appearance that the law would be accepted. It was deferred, however, for
+ that day, by a protest, from which on the day following the tribunes were deterred;
+ and it passed with the approbation of a vast majority. The pontiffs created
+ were, Publius Decius Mus, the advocate for the law; Publius Sempronius Sophus,
+ Caius Marcius Rutilus, and Marcus Livius Denter. The five augurs, who were also
+ plebeians, were, Caius Genucius, Publius Aelius Paetus, Marcus Minucius Fessus,
+ Caius Marcius, and Titus Publilius. Thus the number of the pontiffs was made
+ eight; that of the augurs nine. In the same year Marcus Valerius, consul, procured
+ a law to be passed concerning appeals; more carefully enforced by additional
+ sanctions. This was the third time, since the expulsion of the kings, of this
+ law being introduced, and always by the same family. The reason for renewing
+ it so often was, I believe, no other, than that the influence of a few was apt
+ to prove too powerful for the liberty of the commons. However, the Porcian law
+ seems intended, solely, for the security of the persons of the citizens; as
+ it visited with a severe penalty any one for beating with stripes or putting
+ to death a Roman citizen. The Valerian law, after forbidding a person, who had
+ appealed, to be beaten with rods and beheaded, added, in case of any one acting
+ contrary thereto, that it shall yet be only deemed a wicked act. This, I suppose,
+ was judged of sufficient strength to enforce obedience to the law in those days;
+ so powerful was then men's sense of shame; at present one would scarcely make
+ use of such a threat seriously. The Aequans rebelling, the same consul conducted
+ the war against them; in which no memorable event occurred; for, except ferocity,
+ they retained nothing of their ancient condition. The other consul, Appuleius,
+ invested the town of Nequinum in Umbria. The ground, the same whereon Narnia
+ now stands, was steep (on one side even perpendicular); this rendered the town
+ impregnable either by assault or works. That business, therefore, came unfinished
+ into the hands of the succeeding consuls, Marcus Fulvius Paetinus and Titus
+ Manlius Torquatus. When all the centuries named Quintus Fabius consul for that
+ year though not a candidate, Macer Licinius and Tubero state that he himself
+ recommended them to postpone the conferring the consulship on him until a year
+ wherein there might be more employment for their arms; adding, that, during
+ the present year, he might be more useful to the state in the management of
+ a city magistracy; and thus, neither dissembling what he preferred, nor yet
+ making direct application for it, he was appointed curule aedile with Lucius
+ Papirius Cursor. Piso, a more ancient writer of annals, prevents me from averring
+ this as certain; he asserts that the curule aediles of that year were Caius
+ Domitius Calvinus, son of Cneius, and Spurius Carvilius Maximus, son of Caius.
+ I am of opinion, that this latter surname caused a mistake concerning the aediles;
+ and that thence followed a story conformable to this mistake, patched up out
+ of the two elections, of the aediles, and of the consuls. The general survey
+ was performed, this year, by Publius Sempronius Sophus and Publius Sulpicius
+ Saverrio, censors; and two tribes were added, the Aniensian and Terentine. Such
+ were the occurrences at Rome. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="b10" />
+<p>Meanwhile, after much time had been lost in the tedious siege of Nequinum,
+ two of the townsmen, whose houses were contiguous to the wall, having formed
+ a subterraneous passage, came by that private way to the Roman advanced guards;
+ and being conducted thence to the consul, offered to give admittance to a body
+ of armed men within the works and walls. The proposal was thought to be such
+ as ought neither to be rejected, nor yet assented to without caution. With one
+ of these men, the other being detained as an hostage, two spies were sent through
+ the mine, and certain information being received from them, three hundred men
+ in arms, guided by the deserter, entered the city, and seized by night the nearest
+ gate, which being broken open, the Roman consul and his army took possession
+ of the city without any opposition. In this manner came Nequinum under the dominion
+ of the Roman people. A colony was sent thither as a barrier against the Umbrians,
+ and called Narnia, from the river Nar. The troops returned to Rome with abundance
+ of spoil. This year the Etrurians made preparations for war in violation of
+ the truce. But a vast army of the Gauls, making an irruption into their territories,
+ while their attention was directed to another quarter, suspended for a time
+ the execution of their design. They then, relying on the abundance of money
+ which they possessed, endeavour to make allies of the Gauls, instead of enemies;
+ in order that, with their armies combined, they might attack the Romans. The
+ barbarians made no objection to the alliance, and a negotiation was opened for
+ settling the price; which being adjusted and paid, and every thing else being
+ in readiness for commencing their operations, the Etrurians desired them to
+ accompany them in their march. This they refused, alleging that "they had stipulated
+ a price for making war against the Romans: that the payment already made, they
+ had received in consideration of their not wasting the Etrurian territory, or
+ using their arms against the inhabitants. That notwithstanding, if it was the
+ wish of the Etrurians, they were still willing to engage in the war, but on
+ no other condition than that of being allowed a share of their lands, and obtaining
+ at length some permanent settlement." Many assemblies of the states of Etruria
+ were held on this subject, and nothing could be settled; not so much by reason
+ of their aversion from the dismemberment of their territory, as because every
+ one felt a dread of fixing in so close vicinity to themselves people of such
+ a savage race. The Gauls were therefore dismissed, and carried home an immense
+ sum of money, acquired without toil or danger. The report of a Gallic tumult,
+ in addition to an Etrurian war, had caused serious apprehensions at Rome; and,
+ with the less hesitation on that account, an alliance was concluded with the
+ state of the Picentians. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="b11" />
+<p>The province of Etruria fell by lot to the consul Titus Manlius; who, when
+ he had but just entered the enemy's country, as he was exercising the cavalry,
+ in wheeling about at full speed, was thrown from his horse, and almost killed
+ on the spot; three days after the fall, he died. The Etrurians, embracing this
+ omen, as it were, of the future progress of the war, and observing that the
+ gods had commenced hostilities on their behalf, assumed new courage. At Rome
+ the news caused great affliction, on account both of the loss of such a man
+ and of the unseasonableness of the juncture; insomuch that an assembly, held
+ for the purpose of substituting a new consul, having been conducted agreeably
+ to the wishes of people of the first consequence, prevented the senate from
+ ordering a dictator to be created. All the votes and centuries concurred unanimously
+ in appointing Marcus Valerius consul, the same whom the senate would have ordered
+ to be made dictator. They then commanded him to proceed immediately into Etruria,
+ to the legions. His coming gave such a check to the Etrurians, that not one
+ of them dared thenceforward to appear on the outside of their trenches; their
+ own fears operating as a blockade. Nor could the new consul, by wasting their
+ lands and burning their houses, draw them out to an engagement; for not only
+ country-houses, but numbers of their towns, were seen smoking and in ashes,
+ on every side. While this war proceeded more slowly than had been expected,
+ an account was received of the breaking out of another; which was, not without
+ reason, regarded as terrible, in consequence of the heavy losses formerly sustained
+ by both parties, from information given by their new allies, the Picentians,
+ that the Samnites were looking to arms and a renewal of hostilities, and that
+ they themselves had been solicited to join therein. The Picentians received
+ the thanks of the state; and a large share of the attention of the senate was
+ turned from Etruria towards Samnium. The dearness of provisions also distressed
+ the state very much, and they would have felt the extremity of want, according
+ to the relation of those who make Fabius Maximus curule aedile that year, had
+ not the vigilant activity of that man, such as he had on many occasions displayed
+ in the field, been exerted then with equal zeal at home, in the management of
+ the market, and in procuring and forming magazines of corn. An interregnum took
+ place this year, the reason of which is not mentioned. Appius Claudius, and,
+ after him, Publius Sulpicius, were interreges. The latter held an election of
+ consuls, and chose Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Cneius Fulvius. In the beginning
+ of this year, ambassadors came from the Lucanians to the new consuls to complain,
+ that "the Samnites, finding that they could not, by any offers, tempt them to
+ take part in the war, had marched an army in a hostile manner into their country,
+ and were now laying it waste, and forcing them into a war; that the Lucanian
+ people had on former occasions erred enough and more than enough; that their
+ minds were so firmly fixed that they thought it more endurable to bear and suffer
+ every hardship, rather than ever again to outrage the Roman name: they besought
+ the senate to take the people of Lucania into their protection, and defend them
+ from the injustice and outrage of the Samnites; that although fidelity on their
+ part to the Romans would now become necessary, a war being undertaken against
+ the Samnites, still they were ready to give hostages." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="b12" />
+<p>The deliberation of the senate was short. They all, to a man, concurred in
+ opinion, that a compact should be entered into with the Lucanians, and satisfaction
+ demanded from the Samnites: accordingly, a favourable answer was returned to
+ the Lucanians, and the alliance concluded. Heralds were then sent, to require
+ of the Samnites, that they should depart from the country of the allies, and
+ withdraw their troops from the Lucanian territory. These were met by persons
+ despatched for the purpose by the Samnites, who gave them warning, that "if
+ they appeared at any assembly in Samnium, they must not expect to depart in
+ safety." As soon as this was heard at Rome, the senate voted, and the people
+ ordered, that war should be declared against the Samnites. The consuls, then,
+ dividing the provinces between them, Etruria fell to Scipio, the Samnites to
+ Fulvius; and they set out by different routes, each against the enemy allotted
+ to him. Scipio, while he expected a tedious campaign, like that of the preceding
+ year, was met near Volaterra by the Etrurians, in order of battle. The fight
+ lasted through the greater part of the day, while very many fell on both sides,
+ and night came on while it was uncertain to which side victory inclined. But
+ the following dawn showed the conqueror and the vanquished; for the Etrurians
+ had decamped in the dead of the night. The Romans, marching out with intent
+ to renew the engagement, and seeing their superiority acknowledged by the departure
+ of the enemy, advanced to their camp; and, finding even this fortified post
+ deserted, took possession of it, evacuated as it was, together with a vast quantity
+ of spoil. The consul then, leading back his forces into the Faliscian territory,
+ and leaving his baggage with a small guard at Falerii, set out with his troops,
+ lightly accoutred, to ravage the enemy's country. All places are destroyed with
+ fire and sword; plunder driven from every side; and not only was the ground
+ left a mere waste to the enemy, but their forts and small towns were set on
+ fire; he refrained from attacking the cities into which fear had driven the
+ Etrurians. The consul Cneius Fulvius fought a glorious battle in Samnium, near
+ Bovianum, attended with success by no means equivocal. Then, having attacked
+ Bovianum, and not long after Aufidena, he took them by storm. </p>
+<p> This year a colony was carried out to Carseoli, into the territory of the
+ Aequicolae. The consul Fulvius triumphed on his defeat of the Samnites. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="b13" />
+<p>When the consular elections were now at hand, a report prevailed, that the
+ Etrurians and Samnites were raising vast armies; that the leaders of the Etrurians
+ were, in all their assemblies, openly censured for not having procured the aid
+ of the Gauls on any terms; and the magistrates of the Samnites arraigned, for
+ having opposed to the Romans an army destined to act against the Lucanians.
+ That, in consequence, the people were rising up in arms, with all their own
+ strength and that of their allies combined; and that this affair seemed not
+ likely to be terminated without a contest of much greater difficulty than the
+ former. Although the candidates for the consulship were men of illustrious characters,
+ yet this alarming intelligence turned the thoughts of all on Quintus Fabius
+ Maximus, who sought not the employment at first, and afterwards, when he discovered
+ their wishes, even declined it. "Why," said he, "should they impose such a difficult
+ task on him, who was now in the decline of life, and had passed through a full
+ course of labours, and of the rewards of labour? Neither the vigour of his body,
+ nor of his mind, remained the same; and he dreaded fortune herself, lest to
+ some god she should seem too bountiful to him, and more constant than the course
+ of human affairs allowed. He had himself succeeded, in gradual succession, to
+ the dignities of his seniors; and he beheld, with great satisfaction, others
+ rising up to succeed to his glory. There was no scarcity at Rome, either of
+ honours suited to men of the highest merit, or of men of eminent merit suited
+ to the highest honours." This disinterested conduct, instead of repressing,
+ increased, while in fact it justified their zeal. But thinking that this ought
+ to be checked by respect for the laws, he ordered that clause to be read aloud
+ by which it was not lawful that the same person shall be re-elected consul within
+ ten years. The law was scarcely heard in consequence of the clamour; and the
+ tribunes of the commons declared, that this "decree should be no impediment;
+ for they would propose an order to the people, that he should be exempted from
+ the obligation of the laws." Still he persisted in his opposition, asking, "To
+ what purpose were laws enacted, if they eluded by the very persons who procured
+ them? The laws now," he said, "instead of being rulers, were overruled." The
+ people, nevertheless, proceeded to vote; and, according as each century was
+ called in, it immediately named Fabius consul. Then at length, overcome by the
+ universal wish of the state, he said, "Romans, may the gods approve your present,
+ and all your future proceedings. But since, with respect to me, ye intend to
+ act according to your own wills, let my interest find room with you, with respect
+ to my colleague. I earnestly request, that ye will place in the consulship with
+ me Publius Decius; a man with whom I have already experienced the utmost harmony
+ in our joint administration of that office; a man worthy of you, worthy of his
+ father." The recommendation was deemed well founded, and all the remaining centuries
+ voted Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius consuls. This year, great numbers were
+ prosecuted by the aediles, for having in possession larger quantities of land
+ than the state allowed; and hardly any were acquitted: by which means, a very
+ great restraint was laid on exorbitant covetousness. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="b14" />
+<p>Whilst the new consuls, Quintus Fabius Maximus a fourth, and Publius Decius
+ Mus a third time, were settling between themselves that one should command against
+ the Samnites, and the other against the Etrurians; and what number of forces
+ would be sufficient for this and for that province; and which would be the fitter
+ commander in each war; ambassadors from Sutrium, Nepete, and Falerii, stating
+ that the states of Etruria were holding assemblies on the subject of suing for
+ peace, they directed the whole force of their arms against Samnium. The consuls,
+ in order that the supply of provisions might be the more ready, and to leave
+ the enemy in the greater uncertainty on what quarter the war would fall, Fabius
+ led his legions towards Samnium through the territory of Sora, and Decius his
+ through that of Sidicinum. As soon as they arrived at the frontiers of the enemy,
+ both advanced briskly, spreading devastation wherever they came; but still they
+ explore the country, to a distance beyond where the troops were employed in
+ plundering. Accordingly the fact did not escape the notice of the Romans, that
+ the enemy were drawn up in a retired valley, near Tifernum, which, when the
+ Romans entered, they were preparing to attack them from the higher ground. Fabius,
+ sending away his baggage to a place of safety, and setting a small guard over
+ it, and having given notice to his soldiers that a battle was at hand, advanced
+ in a square body to the hiding-place of the enemy already mentioned. The Samnites,
+ disappointed in making an unexpected attack, determined on a regular engagement,
+ as the matter was now likely to come to an open contest. They therefore marched
+ out into the plain; and, with a greater share of spirit than of hopes, committed
+ themselves to the disposal of fortune. However, whether in consequence of their
+ having drawn together, from every state, the whole of the force which it possessed,
+ or that the consideration of their all being at stake, heightened their courage,
+ they occasioned, even in open fight, a considerable alarm. Fabius, when he saw
+ that the enemy in no place gave way, ordered Marcus Fulvius and Marcus Valerius,
+ military tribunes, with whom he hastened to the front, to go to the cavalry,
+ and to exhort them, that, "if they remembered any instance wherein the public
+ had received advantage from the service of the horsemen, they would, on that
+ day, exert themselves to insure the invincible renown of that body; telling
+ them that the enemy stood immovable against the efforts of the infantry, and
+ the only hope remaining was in the charge of horse." He addressed particularly
+ both these youths, and with the same cordiality, loading them with praises and
+ promises. But considering that, in case that effort should also fail, it would
+ be necessary to accomplish by stratagem what his strength could not effect;
+ he ordered Scipio, one of his lieutenants-general, to draw off the spearmen
+ of the first legion out of the line; to lead them round as secretly as possible
+ to the nearest mountains; and, by an ascent concealed from view, to gain the
+ heights, and show himself suddenly on the rear of the enemy. The cavalry, led
+ on by the tribunes, rushing forward unexpectedly before the van, caused scarcely
+ more confusion among the enemy than among their friends. The line of the Samnites
+ stood firm against the furious onset of the squadrons; it neither could be driven
+ from its ground, nor broken in any part. The cavalry, finding their attempts
+ fruitless, withdrew from the fight, and retired behind the line of infantry.
+ On this the enemies' courage increased, so that the Roman troops in the van
+ would not have been able to support the contest, nor the force thus increasing
+ by confidence in itself, had not the second line, by the consul's order, come
+ up into the place of the first. These fresh troops checked the progress of the
+ Samnites, who had now began to gain ground; and, at this seasonable juncture,
+ their comrades appearing suddenly on the mountains, and raising a shout, occasioned
+ in the Samnites a fear of greater danger than really threatened them; Fabius
+ called out aloud that his colleague Decius was approaching; on which all the
+ soldiers, elated with joy, repeated eagerly, that the other consul was come,
+ the legions were arrived! This artifice, useful to the Romans, filled the Samnites
+ with dismay and terror; terrified chiefly lest fatigued as they were, they should
+ be overpowered by another army fresh and unhurt. As they dispersed themselves
+ in their flight on every side, there was less effusion of blood than might have
+ been expected, considering the completeness of the victory. There were three
+ thousand four hundred slain, about eight hundred and thirty made prisoners,
+ and twenty-three military standards taken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="b15" />
+<p>The Apulians would have joined their forces to the Samnites before this battle,
+ had not the consul, Publius Decius, encamped in their neighbourhood at Maleventum;
+ and, finding means to bring them to an engagement, put them to the rout. Here,
+ likewise, there was more of flight than of bloodshed. Two thousand of the Apulians
+ were slain; but Decius, despising such an enemy, led his legions into Samnium.
+ There the two consular armies, overrunning every part of the country during
+ the space of five months, laid it entirely waste. There were in Samnium forty-five
+ places where Decius, and eighty-six where the other consul, encamped. Nor did
+ they leave traces only of having been there, as ramparts and trenches, but other
+ dreadful mementos of it--general desolation and regions depopulated. Fabius
+ also took the city of Cimetra, where he made prisoners two thousand four hundred
+ soldiers; and there were slain in the assault about four hundred and thirty.
+ Going thence to Rome to preside at the elections, he used all expedition in
+ despatching that business. All the first-called centuries voted Quintus Fabius
+ consul. Appius Claudius was a candidate, a man of consular rank, daring and
+ ambitious; and as he wished not more ardently for the attainment of that honour
+ for himself, than he did that the patricians might recover the possession of
+ both places in the consulship, he laboured, with all his own power, supported
+ by that of the whole body of the nobility, to prevail on them to appoint him
+ consul along with Quintus Fabius. To this Fabius objected, giving, at first,
+ the same reasons which he had advanced the year before. The nobles then all
+ gathered round his seat, and besought him to raise up the consulship out of
+ the plebeian mire, and to restore both to the office itself, and to the patrician
+ rank, their original dignity. Fabius then, procuring silence, allayed their
+ warmth by a qualifying speech, declaring, that "he would have so managed, as
+ to have received the names of two patricians, if he had seen an intention of
+ appointing any other than himself to the consulship. As things now stood, he
+ would not set so bad a precedent as to admit his own name among the candidates;
+ such a proceeding being contrary to the laws." Whereupon Appius Claudius, and
+ Lucius Volumnius, a plebeian, who had likewise been colleagues in that office
+ before, were elected consuls. The nobility reproached Fabius for declining to
+ act in conjunction with Appius Claudius, because he evidently excelled him in
+ eloquence and political abilities. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="b16" />
+<p>When the election was finished, the former consuls, their command being continued
+ for six months, were ordered to prosecute the war in Samnium. Accordingly, during
+ this next year also, in the consulate of Lucius Volumnius and Appius Claudius,
+ Publius Decius, who had been left consul in Samnium by his colleague, in the
+ character of proconsul, ceased not to spread devastation through all parts of
+ that country; until, at last, he drove the army of the Samnites, which never
+ dared to face him in the field, entirely out of the country. Thus expelled from
+ home, they bent their route to Etruria; and, supposing that the business, which
+ they had often in vain endeavoured to accomplish by embassies, might now be
+ negotiated with more effect, when they were backed by such a powerful armed
+ force, and could intermix terror with their entreaties, they demanded a meeting
+ of the chiefs of Etruria: which being assembled, they set forth the great number
+ of years during which they had waged war with the Romans, in the cause of liberty;
+ "they had," they said, "tried to sustain, with their own strength, the weight
+ of so great a war: they had also made trial of the support of the adjoining
+ nations, which proved of little avail. When they were unable longer to maintain
+ the conflict, they had sued the Roman people for peace; and had again taken
+ up arms, because they felt peace was more grievous to those with servitude,
+ than war to free men. That their one only hope remaining rested in the Etrurians.
+ They knew that nation to be the most powerful in Italy, in respect of arms,
+ men, and money; to have the Gauls their closest neighbours, born in the midst
+ of war and arms, of furious courage, both from their natural temper, and particularly
+ against the people of Rome, whom they boasted, without infringing the truth,
+ of having made their prisoners, and of having ransomed for gold. If the Etrurians
+ possessed the same spirit which formerly Porsena and their ancestors once had,
+ there was nothing to prevent their obliging the Romans, driven from all the
+ lands on this side of the Tiber, to fight for their own existence, and not for
+ the intolerable dominion which they assumed over Italy. The Samnite army had
+ come to them, in readiness for action, furnished with arms and pay, and were
+ willing to follow that instant, even should they lead to the attack of the city
+ of Rome itself." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="b17" />
+<p>While they were engaged in these representations, and intriguing at Etruria,
+ the operations of the Romans in their own territories distressed them severely.
+ For Publius Decius, when he ascertained through his scouts the departure of
+ the Samnite army, called a council, and there said, "Why do we ramble through
+ the country, carrying the war from village to village? Why not attack the cities
+ and fortified places? No army now guards Samnium. They have fled their country;
+ they are gone into voluntary exile." The proposal being universally approved,
+ he marched to attack Murgantia, a city of considerable strength; and so great
+ was the ardour of the soldiers, resulting from their affection to their commander,
+ and from their hopes of richer treasure than could be found in pillaging the
+ country places, that in one day they took it by assault. Here, two thousand
+ one hundred of the Samnites, making resistance, were surrounded and taken prisoners;
+ and abundance of other spoil was captured. Decius, not choosing that the troops
+ should be encumbered in their march with heavy baggage, ordered them to be called
+ together, and said to them, "Do ye intend to rest satisfied with this single
+ victory, and this booty? or do ye choose to cherish hopes proportioned to your
+ bravery? All the cities of the Samnites, and the property left in them, are
+ your own; since, after so often defeating their legions, ye have finally driven
+ them out of the country. Sell those effects in your hands; and allure traders,
+ by a prospect of profit, to follow you on your march. I will, from time to time,
+ supply you with goods for sale. Let us go hence to the city of Romulea, where
+ no greater labour, but greater gain awaits you." Having sold off the spoil,
+ and warmly adopting the general's plan, they proceeded to Romulea. There, also,
+ without works or engines, as soon as the battalions approached, the soldiers,
+ deterred from the walls by no resistance, hastily applying ladders wherever
+ was most convenient to each, they mounted the fortifications. The town was taken
+ and plundered. Two thousand three hundred men were slain, six thousand taken
+ prisoners, and the soldiers obtained abundance of spoil. This they were obliged
+ to sell in like manner as the former; and, though no rest was allowed them,
+ they proceeded, nevertheless, with the utmost alacrity to Ferentinum. But here
+ they met a greater share both of difficulty and danger: the fortifications were
+ defended with the utmost vigour, and the place was strongly fortified both by
+ nature and art. However, the soldiers, now inured to plunder, overcame every
+ obstacle. Three thousand of the enemy were killed round the walls, and the spoil
+ was given to the troops. In some annals, the principal share of the honour of
+ taking these cities is attributed to Maximus. They say that Murgantia was taken
+ by Decius; Romulea and Ferentinum by Fabius. Some ascribe this honour to the
+ new consuls: others not to both, but to one of these, Lucius Volumnius: that
+ to him the province of Samnium had fallen. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="b18" />
+<p>While things went on thus in Samnium, whoever it was that had the command and
+ auspices, powerful combination, composed of many states, was formed in Etruria
+ against the Romans, the chief promoter of which was Gellius Egnatius, a Samnite.
+ Almost all the Etrurians had united in this war. The neighbouring states of
+ Umbria were drawn in, as it were, by the contagion; and auxiliaries were procured
+ from the Gauls for hire: all their several numbers assembled at the camp of
+ the Samnites. When intelligence of this sudden commotion was received at Rome,
+ after the consul, Lucius Volumnius, had already set out for Samnium, with the
+ second and third legions, and fifteen thousand of the allies; it was, therefore,
+ resolved, that Appius Claudius should, at the very earliest opportunity, go
+ into Etruria. Two Roman legions followed him, the first and fourth, and twelve
+ thousand allies; their camp was pitched at a small distance from the enemy.
+ However, advantage was gained by his early arrival in this particular, that
+ the awe of the Roman name kept in check some states of Etruria which were disposed
+ to war, rather than from any judicious or successful enterprise achieved under
+ the guidance of the consul. Several battles were fought, at times and places
+ unfavourable, and increasing confidence rendered the enemy daily more formidable;
+ so that matters came nearly to such a state, as that neither could the soldiers
+ rely much on their leader, nor the leader on his soldiers. It appears in three
+ several histories, that a letter was sent by the consul to call his colleague
+ from Samnium. But I will not affirm what requires stronger proof, as that point
+ was a matter of dispute between these two consuls of the Roman people, a second
+ time associated in the same office; Appius denying that the letter was sent,
+ and Volumnius affirming that he was called thither by a letter from Appius.
+ Volumnius had, by this time, taken three forts in Samnium, in which three thousand
+ of the enemy had been slain, and about half that number made prisoners; and,
+ a sedition having been raised among the Lucanians by the plebeians and the more
+ indigent of the people, he had, to the great satisfaction of the nobles, quelled
+ it by sending thither Quintus Fabius, proconsul, with his own veteran army.
+ He left to Decius the ravaging of the enemy's country; and proceeded with his
+ troops into Etruria to his colleague; where, on his arrival, the whole army
+ received him with joy. Appius, if he did not write the letter, being conscious
+ of this, had, in my opinion, just ground of displeasure; but if he had actually
+ stood in need of assistance, his disowning it, as he did, arose from an illiberal
+ and ungrateful mind. For, on going out to receive him, when they had scarcely
+ exchanged salutations, he said, "Is all well, Lucius Volumnius? How stand affairs
+ in Samnium? What motive induced you to remove out of your province?" Volumnius
+ answered, that "affairs in Samnium were in a prosperous state; and that he had
+ come thither in compliance with the request in his letter. But, if that were
+ a forged letter, and that there was no occasion for him in Etruria, he would
+ instantly face about, and depart." "You may depart." replied the other; "no
+ one detains you: for it is a perfect inconsistency, that when, perhaps, you
+ are scarcely equal to the management of your own war, you should vaunt of coming
+ hither to succour others." To this Volumnius rejoined, "May Hercules direct
+ all for the best; for his part, he was better pleased that he had taken useless
+ trouble, than that any conjuncture should have arisen which had made one consular
+ army insufficient for Etruria." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="b19" />
+<p>As the consuls were parting, the lieutenants-general and tribunes of Appius's
+ army gathered round them. Some entreated their own general that he would not
+ reject the voluntary offer of his colleague's assistance, which ought to have
+ been solicited in the first instance: the greater number used their endeavours
+ to stop Volumnius, beseeching him "not, through a peevish dispute with his colleague,
+ to abandon the interest of the commonwealth; and represented to him, that in
+ case any misfortune should happen, the blame would fall on the person who forsook
+ the other, not on the one forsaken; that the state of affairs was such, that
+ the credit and discredit of every success and failure in Etruria would be attributed
+ to Lucius Volumnius: for no one would inquire, what were the words of Appius,
+ but what the situation of the army. Appius indeed had dismissed him, but the
+ commonwealth, and the army, required his stay. Let him only make trial of the
+ inclinations of the soldiers." By such admonitions and entreaties they, in a
+ manner, dragged the consuls, who almost resisted, to an assembly. There, longer
+ discourses were made to the same purport, as had passed before in the presence
+ of a few. And when Volumnius, who had the advantage of the argument, showed
+ himself not deficient in oratory, in despite of the extraordinary eloquence
+ of his colleague; Appius observed with a sneer, that "they ought to acknowledge
+ themselves indebted to him, in having a consul who possessed eloquence also,
+ instead of being dumb and speechless, when in their former consulate, particularly
+ during the first months, he was not able so much as to open his lips; but now,
+ in his harangues, even aspired after popularity." Volumnius replied, "How much
+ more earnestly do I wish, that you had learned from me to act with spirit, than
+ I from you to speak with elegance: that now he made a final proposal, which
+ would determine, not which is the better orator, for that is not what the public
+ wants, but which is the better commander. The provinces are Etruria and Samnium:
+ that he might select which he preferred; that he, with his own army, will undertake
+ to manage the business either in Etruria or in Samnium." The soldiers then,
+ with loud clamours, requested that they would, in conjunction, carry on the
+ war in Etruria; when Volumnius perceiving that it was the general wish, said,
+ "Since I have been mistaken in apprehending my colleague's meaning, I will take
+ care that there shall be no room for mistake with respect to the purport of
+ your wishes. Signify by a shout whether you choose that I should stay or depart."
+ On this, a shout was raised, so loud, that it brought the enemy out of their
+ camp: they snatched up their arms, and marched down in order of battle. Volumnius
+ likewise ordered the signal to be sounded, and the standard to be advanced from
+ the camp. It is said that Appius hesitated, perceiving that, whether he fought
+ or remained inactive, his colleague would have the victory; and that, afterwards,
+ dreading lest his own legions also should follow Volumnius, he also gave the
+ signal, at the earnest desire of his men. On neither side were the forces drawn
+ up to advantage; for, on the one, Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite general, had
+ gone out to forage with a few cohorts, and his men entered on the fight as the
+ violence of their passions prompted, rather than under any directions or orders.
+ On the other, the Roman armies neither marched out together, nor had time sufficient
+ to form: Volumnius began to engage before Appius came up to the enemy, consequently
+ the engagement commenced, their front in the battle being uneven; and by some
+ accidental interchange of their usual opponents, the Etrurians fought against
+ Volumnius; and the Samnites, after delaying some time on account of the absence
+ of their general, against Appius. We are told that Appius, during the heat of
+ the fight, raising his hands toward heaven, so as to be seen in the foremost
+ ranks, prayed thus, "Bellona, if thou grantest us the victory this day, I vow
+ to thee a temple." And that after this vow, as if inspirited by the goddess,
+ he displayed a degree of courage equal to that of his colleague and of the troops.
+ The generals performed every duty, and each of their armies exerted, with emulation,
+ its utmost vigour, lest victory should commence on the other side. They therefore
+ routed and put to flight the enemy, who were ill able to withstand a force so
+ much superior to any with which they had been accustomed to contend: then pressing
+ them as they gave ground, and pursuing them closely as they fled, they drove
+ them into their camp. There, by the interposition of Gellius and his Samnite
+ cohorts, the fight was renewed for a little time. But these being likewise soon
+ dispersed, the camp was now stormed by the conquerors; and whilst Volumnius,
+ in person, led his troops against one of the gates, Appius, frequently invoking
+ Bellona the victorious, inflamed the courage of his men, they broke in through
+ the rampart and trenches. The camp was taken and plundered, and an abundance
+ of spoil was found, and given up to the soldiers. Of the enemy seven thousand
+ three hundred were slain; and two thousand one hundred and twenty taken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="b20" />
+<p>While both the consuls, with the whole force of the Romans, pointed their exertions
+ principally against the war in Etruria, a new army which arose in Samnium, with
+ design to ravage the frontiers of the Roman empire, passed over through the
+ country of the Vescians, into the Campanian and Falernian territories, and committed
+ great depredations. Volumnius, as he was hastening back to Samnium, by forced
+ marches, because the term for which Fabius and Decius had been continued in
+ command was nearly expired, heard of this army of Samnites, and of the mischief
+ which they had done in Campania; determining, therefore, to afford protection
+ to the allies, he altered his route towards that quarter. When he arrived in
+ the district of Gales, he found marks of their recent ravages; and the people
+ of Gales informed him that the enemy carried with them such a quantity of spoil,
+ that they could scarcely observe any order in their march: and that the commanders
+ then directed publicly that the troops should go immediately to Samnium, and
+ having deposited the booty there, that they should return to the business of
+ the expedition, as they must not commit to the hazard of an engagement an army
+ so heavily laden. Notwithstanding that this account carried every appearance
+ of truth, he yet thought it necessary to obtain more certain information; accordingly
+ he despatched some horsemen, to seize on some of the straggling marauders; from
+ these he learned, on inquiry, that the enemy lay at the river Vulturnus; that
+ they intended to remove thence at the third watch; and that their route was
+ towards Samnium. On receiving this intelligence, which could be depended upon,
+ he set out, and sat down at such a distance from the enemy, that his approach
+ could not be discovered by his being too near them, and, at the same time, that
+ he might surprise them, as they should be coming out of their camp. A long time
+ before day, he drew nigh to their post, and sent persons, who understood the
+ Oscan language, to discover how they were employed: these, mixing with the enemy,
+ which they could easily do during the confusion in the night, found that the
+ standards had gone out thinly attended; that the booty, and those appointed
+ to guard it, were then setting out, a contemptible train; each busied about
+ his own affairs, without any concert with the rest, or much regard to orders.
+ This was judged the fittest time for the attack, and daylight was now approaching;
+ he gave orders to sound the charge, and fell on the enemy as they were marching
+ out. The Samnites being embarrassed with the spoil, and very few armed, some
+ quickened their pace, and drove the prey before them; others halted, deliberating
+ whether it would be safer to advance, or to return again to the camp; and while
+ they hesitated, they were overtaken and cut off. The Romans had by this time
+ passed over the rampart, and filled the camp with slaughter and confusion: the
+ Samnite army, in addition to the disorder caused by the enemy, had their disorder
+ increased by a sudden insurrection of their prisoners; some of whom, getting
+ loose, set the rest at liberty, while others snatched the arms which were tied
+ up among the baggage, and being intermixed with the troops, raised a tumult
+ more terrible than the battle itself. They then performed a memorable exploit:
+ for making an attack on Statius Minacius, the general, as he was passing between
+ the ranks and encouraging his men; then, dispersing the horsemen who attended
+ him, they gathered round himself, and dragged him, sitting on his horse, a prisoner
+ to the Roman consul. By this movement the foremost battalions of the Samnites
+ were brought back, and the battle, which seemed to have been already decided,
+ was renewed: but they could not support it long. Six thousand of them were slain,
+ and two thousand five hundred taken, among whom were four military tribunes,
+ together with thirty standards, and, what gave the conquerors greater joy than
+ all, seven thousand four hundred prisoners were recovered. The spoil which had
+ been taken from the allies was immense, and the owners were summoned by a proclamation,
+ to claim and receive then property. On the day appointed, all the effects, the
+ owners of which did not appear, were given to the soldiers, who were obliged
+ to sell them, in order that they might have nothing to think of but their duty.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="b21" />
+<p>The depredations, committed on the lands of Campania, had occasioned a violent
+ alarm at Rome, and it happened, that about the same time intelligence was brought
+ from Litruria, that, after the departure of Volumnius's army, all that country
+ had risen up in arms, and that Gellius Egnatius, the leader of the Samnites,
+ was causing the Umbrians to join in the insurrection, and tempting the Gauls
+ with high offers. Terrified at this news, the senate ordered the courts of justice
+ to be shut, and a levy to be made of men of every description. Accordingly not
+ only free-born men and the younger sort were obliged to enlist, but cohorts
+ were formed of the elder citizens, and the sons of freed-men were incorporated
+ in the centuries. Plans were formed for the defence of the city, and the praetor,
+ Publius Sempronius, was invested with the chief command. However, the senate
+ was exonerated of one half of their anxiety, by a letter from the consul, Lucius
+ Volumnius informing them that the army, which had ravaged Campania, had been
+ defeated and dispersed whereupon, they decreed a public thanksgiving for this
+ success, in the name of the consul. The courts were opened, after having been
+ shut eighteen days, and the thanksgiving was performed with much joy. They then
+ turned their thoughts to devising measures for the future security of the country
+ depopulated by the Samnites, and, with this view, it was resolved, that two
+ colonies should be settled on the frontiers of the Vescian and Falernian territories,
+ one at the mouth of the river Liris, which has received the name of Minturnae,
+ the other in the Vescian forest, which borders on the Falernian territory, where,
+ it is said, stood Sinope, a city of Grecians, called thenceforth by the Roman
+ colonists Sinuessa. The plebeian tribunes were charged to procure an order of
+ the commons, commanding Publius Sempronius, the praetor, to create triumphs
+ for conducting the colonies to those places. But persons were not readily found
+ to give in their names, because they considered that they were being sent into
+ what was almost a perpetual advanced guard in a hostile country, not as a provision
+ from concord between consuls, and the evils arising from their disagreement
+ in the conduct of military affairs; at the same time remarking, "how near the
+ extremity of danger matters had been brought, by the late dispute between his
+ colleague and himself." He warmly recommended to Decius and Fabius to "live
+ together with one mind and one spirit." Observed that "they were men qualified
+ by nature for military command: great in action, but unpractised in the strife
+ of words and eloquence; their talents were such as eminently became consuls.
+ As to the artful and the ingenious lawyers and orators, such as Appius Claudius,
+ they ought to be kept at home to preside in the city and the forum; and to be
+ appointed praetors for the administration of justice." In these proceedings
+ that day was spent, and, on the following, the elections both of consuls and
+ praetor were held, and were guided by the recommendations suggested by the consul.
+ Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were chosen consuls; Appius Claudius, praetor;
+ all of them absent; and, by a decree of the senate, followed by an order of
+ the commons, Lucius Volumnius was continued in the command for another year.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="b23" />
+<p>During that year many prodigies happened. For the purpose of averting which,
+ the senate decreed a supplication for two days: the wine and frankincense for
+ the sacrifices were furnished at the expense of the public; and numerous crowds
+ of men and women attended the performance. This supplication was rendered remarkable
+ by a quarrel, which broke out among the matrons in the chapel of patrician chastity,
+ which stands in the cattle market, near the round temple of Hercules. Virginia,
+ daughter of Aulus, a patrician, but married to Volumnius the consul, a plebeian,
+ was, because she had married out of the patricians, excluded by the matrons
+ from sharing in the sacred rites: a short altercation ensued, which was afterwards,
+ through the intemperance of passion incident to the sex, kindled into a flame
+ of contention. Virginia boasted with truth that she had a right to enter the
+ temple of patrician chastity, as being of patrician birth, and chaste in her
+ character, and, besides, the wife of one husband, to whom she was betrothed
+ a virgin, and had no reason to be dissatisfied either with her husband, or his
+ exploits or honours: to her high-spirited words, she added importance by an
+ extraordinary act. In the long street where she resided, she enclosed with a
+ partition a part of the house, of a size sufficient for a small chapel, and
+ there erected an altar. Then calling together the plebeian matrons, and complaining
+ of the injurious behaviour of the patrician ladies, she said, "This altar I
+ dedicate to plebeian chastity, and exhort you, that the same degree of emulation
+ which prevails among the men of this state, on the point of valour, may be maintained
+ by the women on the point of chastity; and that you contribute your best care,
+ that this altar may have the credit of being attended with a greater degree
+ of sanctity, and by chaster women, than the other, if possible." Solemn rites
+ were performed at this altar under the same regulations, nearly, with those
+ at the more ancient one; no person being allowed the privilege of taking part
+ in the sacrifices, except a woman of approved chastity, and who was the wife
+ of one husband. This institution, being afterwards debased by [the admission
+ of] vicious characters, and not only by matrons, but women of every description,
+ sunk at last into oblivion. During this year the Ogulnii, Cneius and Quintus,
+ being curule aediles, carried on prosecutions against several usurers; whose
+ property being fined, out of the produce, which was deposited in the treasury,
+ they ordered brazen thresholds for the Capitol, utensils of plate for three
+ tables in the chapel of Jupiter, a statue of Jupiter in a chariot drawn by four
+ horses placed on the roof, and images of the founders of the city in their infant
+ state under the teats of the wolf, at the Ruminal fig-tree. They also paved
+ with square stones the roads from the Capuan gate to the temple of Mars. By
+ the plebeian aediles likewise, Lucius Aelius Paetus and Caius Fulvius Corvus,
+ out of money levied as fines on farmers of the public pastures, whom they had
+ convicted of malpractices, games were exhibited, and golden bowls were placed
+ in the temple of Ceres. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="b24" />
+<p>Then came into the consulship Quintus Fabius a fifth time, and Publius Decius
+ a fourth. They had been colleagues from the censorship, and twice in the consulship,
+ and were celebrated not more for their glorious achievements, splendid as these
+ were, than for the unanimity which had ever subsisted between them. The continuance
+ of this feeling I am inclined to think was interrupted by a jarring between
+ the [opposite] orders rather than between themselves, the patricians endeavouring
+ that Fabius should have Etruria for his province, without casting lots, and
+ the plebeians insisting that Decius should bring the matter to the decision
+ of lots. There was certainly a contention in the senate, and the interest of
+ Fabius being superior there, the business was brought before the people. Here,
+ between military men who laid greater stress on deeds than on words, the debate
+ was short. Fabius said, "that it was unreasonable, after he had planted a tree,
+ another should gather the fruit of it. He had opened the Ciminian forest, and
+ made a way for the Roman arms, through passes until then impracticable. Why
+ had they disturbed him, at that time of his life, if they intended to give the
+ management of the war to another?" Then, in the way of a gentle reproof, he
+ observed, that "instead of an associate in command, he had chosen an adversary;
+ and that Decius thought it too much that their unanimity should last through
+ three consulates." Declaring, in fine, that "he desired nothing further, than
+ that, if they thought him qualified for the command in the province, they should
+ send him thither. He had submitted to the judgment of the senate, and would
+ now be governed by the authority of the people." Publius Decius complained of
+ injustice in the senate; and asserted, that "the patricians had laboured, as
+ long as possible, to exclude the plebeians from all access to the higher honours;
+ and since merit, by its own intrinsic power, had prevailed so far, as that it
+ should not, in any rank of men, be precluded from the attainment of honours,
+ expedients were sought how not only the suffrages of the people, but even the
+ decisions of fortune may be rendered ineffectual, and be converted to the aggrandizement
+ of a few. All the consuls before him had disposed of the provinces by lots;
+ now, the senate bestowed a province on Fabius without lots. If this was meant
+ as a mark of honour, the merits of Fabius were so great towards the commonwealth,
+ and towards himself in particular, that he would gladly second the advancement
+ of his reputation, provided only its splendour could be increased without reflecting
+ dishonour on himself. But who did not see, that, when a war of difficulty and
+ danger, and out of the ordinary course, was committed to only that one consul,
+ the other would be considered as useless and insignificant. Fabius gloried in
+ his exploits performed in Etruria: Publius Decius wished for a like subject
+ of glory, and perhaps would utterly extinguish that fire, which the other left
+ smothered, in such a manner that it often broke out anew, in sudden conflagrations.
+ In fine, honours and rewards he would concede to his colleague, out of respect
+ to his age and dignified character: but when danger, when a vigorous struggle
+ with an enemy was before them, he never did, nor ever would, willingly, give
+ place. With respect to the present dispute, this much he would gain at all events,
+ that a business, appertaining to the jurisdiction of the people, should be determined
+ by an order of that people, and not complimented away by the senate. He prayed
+ Jupiter, supremely good and great, and all the immortal gods, not to grant him
+ an equal chance with his colleague, unless they intended to grant him equal
+ ability and success, in the management of the war. It was certainly in its nature
+ reasonable, in the example salutary, and concerned the reputation of the Roman
+ people, that the consuls should be men of such abilities, that under either
+ of them a war with Etruria could be well managed." Fabius, after requesting
+ of the people nothing else than that, before the tribes were called in to give
+ their votes, they would hear the letters of the praetor Appius Claudius, written
+ from Etruria, withdrew from the Comitium, and with no less unanimity of the
+ people than of the senate, the province of Etruria was decreed to him without
+ having recourse to lots. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="b25" />
+<p>Immediately almost all the younger citizens flocked together to the consul,
+ and readily gave in their names; so strong was their desire of serving under
+ such a commander. Seeing so great a multitude collected round him, he said,
+ "My intention is to enlist only four thousand foot and six hundred horse: such
+ of you as give in your names to-day and to-morrow, I will carry with me. I am
+ more solicitous to bring home all my soldiers rich, than to employ a great multitude."
+ Accordingly, with a competent number of men, who possessed greater hopes and
+ confidence because a numerous army had not been required, he marched to the
+ town of Aharna, from which the enemy were not far distant, and proceeded to
+ the camp of the praetor Appius. When within a few miles of it, he was met by
+ some soldiers, sent to cut wood, attended by a guard. Observing the lictors
+ preceding him, and learning that he was Fabius the consul, they were filled
+ with joy and alacrity; they expressed their thanks to the gods, and to the Roman
+ people, for having sent them such a commander. Then as they gathered round to
+ pay their respects, Fabius inquired whither they were going, and on their answering
+ they were going to provide wood, "What do you tell me," said he, "have you not
+ a rampart, raised about your camp?" When to this they replied, "they had a double
+ rampart, and a trench, and, notwithstanding, were in great apprehension." </p>
+<p> "Well then," said he, "you have abundance of wood, go back and level the rampart."
+ They accordingly returned to the camp and there levelling the rampart threw
+ the soldiers who had remained in it, and Appius himself, into the greatest fright,
+ until with eager joy each called out to the rest, that, "they acted by order
+ of the consul, Quintus Fabius." Next day the camp was moved from thence, and
+ the praetor, Appius, was dismissed to Rome. From that time the Romans had no
+ fixed post, the consul affirming, that it was prejudicial to an army to lie
+ in one spot, and that by frequent marches, and changing places, it was rendered
+ more healthy, and more capable of brisk exertions, and marches were made as
+ long as the winter, which was not yet ended, permitted. Then, in the beginning
+ of spring, leaving the second legion near Clusium, which they formerly called
+ the Camertian, and giving the command of the camp to Lucius Scipio, as propraetor,
+ he returned to Rome, in order to adjust measures for carrying on the war, either
+ led thereto by his own judgment, because the war seemed to him more serious
+ than he had believed, from report, or, being summoned by a decree of the senate,
+ for writers give both accounts. Some choose to have it believed, that he was
+ forced back by the praetor, Appius Claudius, who, both in the senate, and before
+ the people, exaggerated, as he was wont in all his letters, the danger of the
+ Etrurian war, contending, that "one general, or one army, would not be sufficient
+ to oppose four nations. That whether these directed the whole of their combined
+ force against him alone, or acted separately in different parts, there was reason
+ to fear, that he would be unable to provide against every emergency. That he
+ had left there but two Roman legions; and that the foot and horse, who came
+ with Fabius, did not amount to five thousand. It was, therefore, his opinion,
+ that the consul, Publius Decius should, without delay, set out to his colleague
+ in Etruria, and that the province of Samnium should be given to Lucius Volumnius.
+ But if the consul preferred going to his own province, that then Volumnius should
+ march a full consular army into Etruria, to join the other consul." When the
+ advice of the praetor influenced a great part of the members, they say that
+ Publius Decius recommended that every thing should be kept undetermined, and
+ open for Quintus Fabius; until he should either come to Rome, if he could do
+ so without prejudice to the public, or send some of his lieutenants, from whom
+ the senate might learn the real state of the war in Etruria; and with what number
+ of troops, and by how many generals, it should be carried on. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="b26" />
+<p>Fabius, as soon as he returned to Rome, qualified his discourses, both in the
+ senate and when brought before the people, in such a manner as to appear neither
+ to exaggerate or lessen, any particular relating to the war; and to show, that,
+ in agreeing to another general being joined with him, he rather indulged the
+ apprehensions of others, than guarded against any danger to himself, or the
+ public. "But if they chose," he said, "to give him an assistant in the war,
+ and associate in command, how could he overlook Publius Decius the consul, whom
+ he had tried during so many associations in office? There was no man living
+ whom he would rather wish to be joined in commission with him: with Publius
+ Decius he should have forces sufficient, and never too many enemies. If, however,
+ his colleague preferred any other employment, let them then give him Lucius
+ Volumnius as an assistant." The disposal of every particular was left entirely
+ to Fabius by the people and the senate, and even by his colleague. And when
+ Decius declared that he was ready to go either to Etruria or Samnium, such general
+ congratulation and satisfaction took place, that victory was anticipated, and
+ it seemed as if a triumph, not a war, had been decreed to the consuls. I find
+ in some writers, that Fabius and Decius, immediately on their entering into
+ office, set out together for Etruria, without any mention of the casting of
+ lots for the provinces, or of the disputes which I have related. Others, not
+ satisfied with relating those disputes, have added charges of misconduct, laid
+ by Appius before the people against Fabius, when absent; and a stubborn opposition,
+ maintained by the praetor against the consul, when present; and also another
+ contention between the colleagues, Decius insisting that each consul should
+ attend to the care of his own separate province. Certainty, however, begins
+ to appear from the time when both consuls set out for the campaign. Now, before
+ the consuls arrived in Etruria, the Senonian Gauls came in a vast body to Clusium,
+ to attack the Roman legion and the camp. Scipio, who commanded the camp, wishing
+ to remedy the deficiency of his numbers by an advantage in the ground, led his
+ men up a hill, which stood between the camp and the city but having, in his
+ haste, neglected to examine the place, he reached near the summit, which he
+ found already possessed by the enemy, who had ascended on the other side. The
+ legion was consequently attacked on the rear, and surrounded in the middle,
+ when the enemy pressed it on all sides. Some writers say, that the whole were
+ cut off, so that not one survived to give an account of it, and that no information
+ of the misfortune reached the consuls, who were, at the time, not far from Clusium,
+ until the Gallic horsemen came within sight, carrying the heads of the slain,
+ some hanging before their horses' breasts, others on the points of their spears,
+ and expressing their triumph in songs according to their custom. Others affirm,
+ that the defeat was by Umbrians, not Gauls, and that the loss sustained was
+ not so great. That a party of foragers, under Lucius Manlius Torquatus, lieutenant-general,
+ being surrounded, Scipio, the propraetor, brought up relief from the camp, and
+ the battle being renewed, that the Umbrians, lately victorious, were defeated,
+ and the prisoners and spoil retaken. But it is more probable that this blow
+ was suffered from a Gallic than an Umbrian enemy, because during that year,
+ as was often the case at other times, the danger principally apprehended by
+ the public, was that of a Gallic tumult, for which reason, notwithstanding that
+ both the consuls had marched against the enemy, with four legions, and a large
+ body of Roman cavalry, joined by a thousand chosen horsemen of Campania, supplied
+ on the occasion, and a body of the allies and Latin confederates, superior in
+ number to the Romans, two other armies were posted near the city, on the side
+ facing Etruria, one in the Faliscian, the other in the Vatican territory. Cneius
+ Fulvius and Lucius Postumius Megellus, both propraetors, were ordered to keep
+ the troops stationed in those places. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="b27" />
+<p>The consuls, having crossed the Apennines, came up with the enemy in the territory
+ of Sentinum, their camp was pitched there at the distance of about four miles.
+ Several councils were then held by the enemy, and their plan of operations was
+ thus settled: that they should not encamp together, nor go out together to battle;
+ the Gauls were united to the Samnites, the Umbrians to the Etrurians. The day
+ of battle was fixed. The part of maintaining the fight was committed to the
+ Samnites and Gauls; and the Etrurians and Umbrians were ordered to attack the
+ Roman camp during the heat of the engagement. This plan was frustrated by three
+ Clusian deserters, who came over by night to Fabius, and after disclosing the
+ above designs, were sent back with presents, in order that they might discover,
+ and bring intelligence of, any new scheme which should be determined on. The
+ consuls then wrote to Flavius and Postumius to move their armies, the one from
+ the Faliscian, the other from the Vatican country, towards Clusium; and to ruin
+ the enemy's territory by every means in their power. The news of these depredations
+ drew the Etrurians from Sentinum to protect their own region. The consuls, in
+ their absence, practised every means to bring on an engagement. For two days
+ they endeavoured, by several attacks, to provoke the enemy to fight; in which
+ time, however, nothing worth mention was performed. A few fell on each side,
+ but still the minds [of the Romans] were irritated to wish for a general engagement;
+ yet nothing decisive was hazarded. On the third day, both parties marched out
+ their whole force to the field: here, while the armies stood in order of battle,
+ a hind, chased by a wolf from the mountains, ran through the plain between the
+ two lines: there the animals taking different directions, the hind bent its
+ course towards the Gauls, the wolf towards the Romans: way was made between
+ the ranks for the wolf, the Gauls slew the hind with their javelins; on which
+ one of the Roman soldiers in the van said, "To that side, where you see an animal,
+ sacred to Diana, lying prostrate, flight and slaughter are directed; on this
+ side the victorious wolf of Mars, safe and untouched, reminds us of our founder,
+ and of our descent from that deity." The Gauls were posted on the right wing,
+ the Samnites on the left: against the latter, Fabius drew up, as his right wing,
+ the first and third legions: against the Gauls, Decius formed the left wing
+ of the fifth and sixth. The second and fourth were employed in the war in Samnium,
+ under the proconsul, Lucius Volumnius. In the first encounter the action was
+ supported with strength so equal on both sides, that had the Etrurians and Umbrians
+ been present, either in the field or at the camp, in whichever place they might
+ have employed their force, the Romans must have been defeated. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="b28" />
+<p>However, although the victory was still undecided, fortune not having declared
+ in favour of either party, yet the course of the fight was by no means similar
+ on both right and left wings. The Romans, under Fabius, rather repelled than
+ offered assault, and the contest was protracted until very late in the day,
+ for their general knew very well, that both Samnites and Gauls were furious
+ in the first onset, so that, to withstand them would be sufficient. It was known,
+ too, that in a protracted contest the spirits of the Samnites gradually flagged,
+ and even the bodies of the Gauls, remarkably ill able to bear labour and heat,
+ became quite relaxed, and although, in their first efforts, they were more than
+ men, yet in their last they were less than women. He, therefore, reserved the
+ strength of his men as unimpaired as possible, until the time when the enemy
+ were the more likely to be worsted. Decius, more impetuous, as being in the
+ prime of life and full flow of spirits, exerted whatever force he had to the
+ utmost in the first encounter, and thinking the infantry not sufficiently energetic,
+ brought up the cavalry to the fight. Putting himself at the head of a troop
+ of young horsemen of distinguished bravery, he besought those youths, the flower
+ of the army, to charge the enemy with him, [telling them] "they would reap a
+ double share of glory, if the victory should commence on the left wing, and
+ through their means." Twice they compelled the Gallic cavalry to give way. At
+ the second charge, when they advanced farther and were briskly engaged in the
+ midst of the enemy's squadrons, by a method of fighting new to them, they were
+ thrown into dismay. A number of the enemy, mounted on chariots and cars, made
+ towards them with such a prodigious clatter from the trampling of the cattle
+ and rolling of wheels, as affrighted the horses of the Romans, unaccustomed
+ to such tumultuous operations. By this means the victorious cavalry were dispersed,
+ through a panic, and men and horses, in their headlong flight, were tumbled
+ promiscuously on the ground. Hence also the battalions of the legions were thrown
+ into disorder, through the impetuosity of the horses, and of the carriages which
+ they dragged through the ranks, many of the soldiers in the van were trodden
+ or bruised to death, while the Gallic line, as soon as they saw their enemy
+ in confusion, pursued the advantage, nor allowed them time to take breath or
+ recover themselves. Decius, calling aloud, "Whither were they flying, or what
+ hope could they have in running away?" strove to stop them as they turned their
+ backs, but finding that he could not, by any efforts, prevail on them to keep
+ their posts, so thoroughly were they dismayed, he called on his father, Publius
+ Decius, by name. He said, "Why do I any longer defer the fate entailed on my
+ family? It is destined to our race, that we should serve as expiatory victims
+ to avert the public danger. I will now offer the legions of the enemy, together
+ with myself, to be immolated to Earth, and the infernal gods." Having thus said,
+ he commanded Marcus Livius, a pontiff, whom, at his coming out to the field,
+ he had charged not to stir from him, to dictate the form of words in which he
+ was to devote himself, and the legions of the enemy, for the army of the Roman
+ people, the Quirites. He was accordingly devoted with the same imprecations,
+ and in the same habit, in which his father, Publius Decius, had ordered himself
+ to be devoted at the Veseris in the Latin war. When, immediately after the solemn
+ imprecation, he added, that "he drove before him dismay and flight, slaughter
+ and blood, and the wrath of the gods celestial and infernal, that, with the
+ contagious influence of the furies, the ministers of death, he would infect
+ the standards, the weapons, and the armour of the enemy, and that the same spot
+ should be that of his perdition, and that of the Gauls and Samnites." After
+ uttering these execrations on himself and the foe, he spurred forward his horse,
+ where he saw the line of the Gauls thickest, and, rushing upon the enemy's weapons,
+ met his death. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="b29" />
+<p>Thenceforward the battle seemed to be fought with a degree of force scarcely
+ human. The Romans, on the loss of their general, a circumstance which, on other
+ occasions, is wont to inspire terror, stopped their flight, and were anxious
+ to begin the combat afresh. The Gauls, and especially the multitude which encircled
+ the consul's body, as if deprived of reason, cast their javelins at random without
+ execution, some became so stupid as not to think of either fighting or flying,
+ while on the other side, Livius, the pontiff, to whom Decius had transferred
+ his lictors, with orders to act as propraetor, cried out aloud, that "the Romans
+ were victorious, being saved by the death of their consul. That the Gauls and
+ Samnites were now the victims of mother Earth and the infernal gods. That Decius
+ was summoning and dragging to himself the army devoted along with him, and that,
+ among the enemy, all was full of dismay, and the vengeance of all the furies."
+ While the soldiers were busy in restoring the fight, Lucius Cornelius Scipio
+ and Caius Marcius, with some reserved troops from the rear, who had been sent
+ by Quintus Fabius, the consul, to the support of his colleague, came up. There
+ the fate of Decius is ascertained, a powerful stimulus to brave every danger
+ in the cause of the public. Wherefore, when the Gauls stood in close order,
+ with their shields formed into a fence before them, and but little prospect
+ of success appeared from a close fight, the javelins, which lay scattered between
+ the two lines, were, therefore, by order of the lieutenants-general, gathered
+ up from the ground, and thrown against the enemy's shields, and as most of them
+ pierced the fence, the long pointed ones even into their bodies, their compact
+ band was overthrown in such a manner, that a great many, who were unhurt, yet
+ fell as if thunderstruck. Such were the changes of fortune on the left wing
+ of the Romans; on the right, Fabius had at first protracted the time, as we
+ mentioned above, in slow operations, then, as soon as he perceived that neither
+ the shout, nor the efforts of the enemy, nor the weapons which they threw, retained
+ their former force, having ordered the commanders of the cavalry to lead round
+ their squadrons to the flank of the Samnites, so that, on receiving the signal,
+ they should charge them in flank, with all possible violence, he commanded,
+ at the same time, his infantry to advance leisurely, and drive the enemy from
+ their ground. When he saw that they were unable to make resistance, and that
+ their exhaustion was certain, drawing together all his reserves, whom he had
+ kept fresh for that occasion, he made a brisk push with the legions, and gave
+ the cavalry the signal to charge. The Samnites could not support the shock,
+ but fled precipitately to their camp, passing by the line of the Gauls, and
+ leaving their allies to fight by themselves. These stood in close order under
+ cover of their shields. Fabius, therefore, having heard of the death of his
+ colleague, ordered the squadron of Campanian cavalry, in number about five hundred,
+ to fall back from the ranks, and riding round, to attack the rear of the Gallic
+ line, then the chief strength of the third legion to follow, with directions
+ that wherever they should see the enemy's troops disordered by the charge, to
+ follow the blow, and cut them to pieces, when in a state of consternation. After
+ vowing a temple and the spoils of the enemy to Jupiter the Victorious, he proceeded
+ to the camp of the Samnites, whither all their forces were hurrying in confusion.
+ The gates not affording entrance to such very great numbers, those who were
+ necessarily excluded, attempted resistance just at the foot of the rampart,
+ and here fell Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite general. These, however, were soon
+ driven within the rampart; the camp was taken after a slight resistance; and
+ at the same time the Gauls were attacked on the rear, and overpowered. There
+ were slain of the enemy on that day twenty-five thousand: eight thousand were
+ taken prisoners. Nor was the victory an unbloody one; for, of the army of Publius
+ Decius, the killed amounted to seven thousand; of the army of Fabius, to one
+ thousand two hundred. Fabius, after sending persons to search for the body of
+ his colleague, had the spoils of the enemy collected into a heap, and burned
+ them as an offering to Jupiter the Victorious. The consul's body could not be
+ found that day, being hid under a heap of slaughtered Gauls: on the following,
+ it was discovered and brought to the camp, amidst abundance of tears shed by
+ the soldiers. Fabius, discarding all concern about any other business, solemnized
+ the obsequies of his colleague in the most honourable manner, passing on him
+ the high encomiums which he had justly merited. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="b30" />
+<p>During the same period, matters were managed successfully by Cneius Fulvius,
+ propraetor, he having, besides the immense losses occasioned to the enemy by
+ the devastation of their lands, fought a battle with extraordinary success,
+ in which there were above three thousand of the Perusians and Clusians slain,
+ and twenty military standards taken. The Samnites, in their flight, passing
+ through the Pelignian territory, were attacked on all sides by the Pelignians;
+ and, out of five thousand, one thousand were killed. The glory of the day on
+ which they fought at Sentinum was great, even when truly estimated; but some
+ have gone beyond credibility by their exaggerations, who assert in their writings,
+ that there were in the army of the enemy forty thousand three hundred and thirty
+ foot, six thousand horse, and one thousand chariots, that is, including the
+ Etrurians and Umbrians, who [they affirm] were present in the engagement: and,
+ to magnify likewise the number of Roman forces, they add to the consuls another
+ general, Lucius Volumnius, proconsul, and his army to the legions of the consul.
+ In the greater number of annals, that victory is ascribed entirely to the two
+ consuls. Volumnius was employed in the mean time in Samnium; he drove the army
+ of the Samnites to Mount Tifernus, and, not deterred by the difficulty of the
+ ground, routed and dispersed them. Quintus Fabius, leaving Decius's army in
+ Etruria, and leading off his own legions to the city, triumphed over the Gauls,
+ Etrurians, and Samnites: the soldiers attended him in his triumph. The victory
+ of Quintus Fabius was not more highly celebrated, in their coarse military verses,
+ than the illustrious death of Publius Decius; and the memory of the father was
+ recalled, whose fame had been equalled by the praiseworthy conduct of the son,
+ in respect of the issue which resulted both to himself and to the public. Out
+ of the spoil, donations were made to the soldiers of eighty-two <i>asses</i>
+ [<a href="#foot4">4</a>] to each, with cloaks and vests; rewards for service,
+ in that age, by no means contemptible. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="b31" />
+<p>Notwithstanding these successes, peace was not yet established, either among
+ the Samnites or Etrurians: for the latter, at the instigation of the Perusians,
+ resumed their arms, after his army had been withdrawn by the consul; and the
+ Samnites made predatory incursions on the territories of Vescia and Formiae;
+ and also on the other side, on those of Aesernia, and the parts adjacent to
+ the river Vulturnus. Against these was sent the praetor Appius Claudius, with
+ the army formerly commanded by Decius. In Etruria, Fabius, on the revival of
+ hostilities, slew four thousand five hundred of the Perusians, and took prisoners
+ one thousand seven hundred and forty, who were ransomed at the rate of three
+ hundred and ten <i>asses</i> [<a href="#foot5">5</a>] each. All the rest of
+ the spoil was bestowed on the soldiers. The legions of the Samnites, though
+ pursued, some by the praetor Appius Claudius, the others by Lucius Volumnius,
+ proconsul, formed a junction in the country of the Stellatians. Here sat down
+ the whole body of the Samnites; and Appius and Volumnius, with their forces
+ united in one camp. A battle was fought with the most rancorous animosity, one
+ party being spurred on by rage against men who had so often renewed their attacks
+ on them, and the other now fighting in support of their last remaining hope.
+ Accordingly, there were slain, of the Samnites, sixteen thousand three hundred,
+ and two thousand and seven hundred made prisoners: of the Roman army fell two
+ thousand and seven hundred. This year, so successful in the operations of war,
+ was filled with distress at home, arising from a pestilence, and with anxiety,
+ occasioned by prodigies: for accounts were received that, in many places, showers
+ of earth had fallen; and that very many persons, in the army of Appius Claudius,
+ had been struck by lightning; in consequence of which, the books were consulted.
+ At this time, Quintus Fabius Gurges, the consul's son, having prosecuted some
+ matrons before the people on a charge of adultery, built, with the money accruing
+ from the fines which they were condemned to pay, the temple of Venus, which
+ stands near the circus. Still we have the wars of the Samnites on our hands,
+ notwithstanding that the relation of them has already extended, in one continued
+ course, through four volumes of our history, and through a period of forty-six
+ years, from the consulate of Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, who first
+ carried the Roman arms into Samnium. And, not to recite the long train of disasters
+ sustained by both nations, and the toils which they underwent, by which, however,
+ their stubborn breasts could not be subdued; even in the course of the last
+ year, the Samnites, with their own forces separately, and also in conjunction
+ with those of other nations, had been defeated by four several armies, and four
+ generals of the Romans, in the territory of Sentinum, in that of the Pelignians,
+ at Tifernum, and in the plains of the Stellatians; had lost the general of the
+ highest character in their nation; and, now, saw their allies in the war, the
+ Etrurians, the Umbrians, and the Gauls, in the same situation with themselves;
+ but, although they could now no longer stand, either by their own or by foreign
+ resources, yet did they not desist from the prosecution of hostilities. So far
+ were they from being weary of defending liberty, even though unsuccessfully:
+ and they preferred being defeated to not aspiring after victory. Who does not
+ find his patience tired, either in writing, or reading, of wars of such continuance;
+ and which yet exhausted not the resolution of the parties concerned? </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="b32" />
+<p>Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were succeeded in the consulship by Lucius
+ Postumius Megellus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. The province of Samnium was decreed
+ to both in conjunction; because intelligence had been received that the enemy
+ had embodied three armies; with one that Etruria was to be recovered; with another
+ the ravages in Campania were to be repeated; and the third was intended for
+ the defence of their frontiers. Sickness detained Postumius at Rome, but Atilius
+ set out immediately, with design to surprise the enemy in Samnium, before they
+ should have advanced beyond their own borders; for such had been the directions
+ of the senate. The Romans met the enemy, as if by mutual appointment, at a spot
+ where, while they could be hindered, not only from ravaging, but even from entering
+ the Samnite territory, they could likewise hinder the Samnites from continuing
+ their progress into the countries which were quiet, and the lands of the allies
+ of the Roman people. While their camps lay opposite to each other, the Samnites
+ attempted an enterprise, which the Romans, so often their conquerors, would
+ scarcely have ventured to undertake; such is the rashness inspired by extreme
+ despair: this was to make an assault on the Roman camp. And although this attempt,
+ so daring, succeeded not in its full extent, yet it was not without effect.
+ There was a fog, which continued through a great part of the day, so thick as
+ to exclude the light of the sun, and to prevent not only the view of any thing
+ beyond the rampart, but scarcely the sight of each other, when they should meet.
+ Depending on this, as a covering to the design, when the sun was scarcely yet
+ risen, and the light which he did afford was obscured by the fog, the Samnites
+ came up to an advanced guard of the Romans at one of the gates, who were standing
+ carelessly on their post. In the sudden surprise, these had neither courage
+ nor strength to make resistance: an assault was then made, through the Decuman
+ gate, in the rear of the camp: the quaestor's quarters in consequence were taken,
+ and the quaestor, Lucius Opimius Pansa, was there slain; on this a general alarm
+ was given to take up arms. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="b33" />
+<p>The consul, being roused by the tumult, ordered two cohorts of the allies,
+ a Lucanian and Suessanian, which happened to be nearest, to defend the head-quarters,
+ and led the companies of the legions down the principal street. These ran into
+ the ranks, scarcely taking time to furnish themselves with arms; and, as they
+ distinguished the enemy by their shout rather than by sight, could form no judgment
+ how great their number might be: thus, ignorant of the circumstances of their
+ situation, they at first drew back, and admitted the enemy into the heart of
+ the camp. Then when the consul cried out, asking them, whether they intended
+ to let themselves be beaten out beyond the rampart, and then to return again
+ to storm their own camp, they raised the shout, and uniting their efforts, stood
+ their ground; then made advances, pushed closely on the enemy, and having forced
+ them to give way, drove them back, without suffering their first terror to abate.
+ They soon beat them out beyond the gate and the rampart, but not daring to pursue
+ them, because the darkness of the weather made them apprehend an ambush, and
+ content with having cleared the camp, they retired within the rampart, having
+ killed about three hundred of the enemy. Of the Romans, including the first
+ advanced guard and the watchmen, and those who were surprised at the quaestor's
+ quarters, two hundred and thirty perished. This not unsuccessful piece of boldness
+ raised the spirits of the Samnites so high, that they not only did not suffer
+ the Romans to march forward into their country, but even to procure forage from
+ their lands; and the foragers were obliged to go back into the quiet country
+ of Sora. News of these events being conveyed to Rome, with circumstances of
+ alarm magnified beyond the truth, obliged Lucius Postumius, the consul, though
+ scarcely recovered from his illness, to set out for the army. However, before
+ his departure, having issued a proclamation that his troops should assemble
+ at Sora, he dedicated the temple of Victory, for the building of which he had
+ provided, when curule aedile, out of the money arising from fines; and, joining
+ the army, he advanced from Sora towards Samnium, to the camp of his colleague.
+ The Samnites, despairing of being able to make head against the two armies,
+ retreated from thence, on which the consuls, separating, proceeded by different
+ routes to lay waste the enemy's lands and besiege their towns. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="b34" />
+<p>Postumius attempted to make himself master of Milionia, at first by storm and
+ an assault; but these not succeeding, he carried his approaches to the walls,
+ and thus gained an entrance into the place. The fight was continued in all parts
+ of the city from the fourth hour until near the eighth, the result being a long
+ time uncertain: the Romans at last gained possession of the town. Three thousand
+ two hundred of the Samnites were killed, four thousand seven hundred taken,
+ besides the other booty. From thence the legions were conducted to Ferentinum,
+ out of which the inhabitants had, during the night, retired in silence through
+ the opposite gate, with all their effects which could be either carried or driven.
+ The consul, on his arrival, approached the walls with the same order and circumspection,
+ as if he were to meet an opposition here equal to what he had experienced at
+ Milionia. Then, perceiving a dead silence in the city, and neither arms nor
+ men on the towers and ramparts, he restrains the soldiers, who were eager to
+ mount the deserted fortifications, lest they might fall into a snare. He ordered
+ two divisions of the confederate Latin horse to ride round the walls, and explore
+ every particular. These horsemen observed one gate, and, at a little distance,
+ another on the same side, standing wide open, and on the roads leading from
+ these every mark of the enemy having fled by night. They then rode up leisurely
+ to the gates, from whence, with perfect safety, they took a clear view through
+ straight streets quite across the city. They report to the consul, that the
+ city was abandoned by the enemy, as was plain from the solitude, the recent
+ tracks on their retreat, and the things which, in the confusion of the night,
+ they had left scattered up and down. On hearing this, the consul led round the
+ army to that side of the city which had been examined, and making the troops
+ halt at a little distance from the gate, gave orders that five horsemen should
+ ride into the city; and when they should have advanced a good way into it, then,
+ if they saw all things safe, three should remain there, and the other two return
+ to him with intelligence. These returned and said, that they had proceeded to
+ a part of the town from which they had a view on every side, and that nothing
+ but silence and solitude reigned through the whole extent of it. The consul
+ immediately led some light-armed cohorts into the city; ordering the rest to
+ fortify a camp in the mean time. The soldiers who entered the town, breaking
+ open the doors, found only a few persons, disabled by age or sickness; and such
+ effects left behind as could not, without difficulty, be removed. These were
+ seized as plunder: and it was discovered from the prisoners, that several cities
+ in that quarter had, in pursuance of a concerted plan, resolved on flight; that
+ their towns-people had gone off at the first watch, and they believed that the
+ same solitude they should find in the other places. The accounts of the prisoners
+ proved well-founded, and the consul took possession of the forsaken towns. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="b35" />
+<p>The war was by no means so easy with the other consul, Marcus Atilius. As he
+ was marching his legions towards Luceria, to which he was informed that the
+ Samnites had laid siege, the enemy met him on the border of the Lucerian territory.
+ Rage supplied them, on this occasion, with strength to equal his: the battle
+ was stubbornly contested, and the victory doubtful; in the issue, however, more
+ calamitous on the side of the Romans, both because they were unaccustomed to
+ defeat, and that, on leaving the field, they felt more sensibly, than during
+ the heat of the action, how much more wounds and bloodshed had been on their
+ side. In consequence of this, such dismay spread through the camp, as, had it
+ seized them during the engagement, a signal defeat would have been the result.
+ Even as the matter stood, they spent the night in great anxiety; expecting,
+ every instant, that the Samnites would assault the camp; or that, at the first
+ light, they should be obliged to stand a battle with a victorious enemy. On
+ the side of the enemy, however, although there was less loss, yet there was
+ not greater courage. As soon as day appeared, they wished to retire without
+ any more fighting; but there was only one road, and that leading close by the
+ post of their enemy; on their taking which, they seemed as if advancing directly
+ to attack the camp. The consul, therefore, ordered his men to take arms, and
+ to follow him outside the rampart, giving directions to the lieutenants-general,
+ tribunes, and the praefects of the allies, in what manner he would have each
+ of them act. They all assured him that "they would do every thing in their power,
+ but that the soldiers were quite dejected; that, from their own wounds, and
+ the groans of the dying, they had passed the whole night without sleep; that
+ if the enemy had approached the camp before day, so great were the fears of
+ the troops, that they would certainly have deserted their standards." "Even
+ at present they were restrained from flight merely by shame; and, in other respects,
+ were little better than vanquished men." This account made the consul judge
+ it necessary to go himself among the soldiers, and speak to them; and, as he
+ came up to each, he rebuked them for their backwardness in taking arms, asking,
+ "Why they loitered, and declined the fight? If they did not choose to go out
+ of the camp, the enemy would come into it; and they must fight in defence of
+ their tents, if they would not in defence of the rampart. Men who have arms
+ in their hands, and contend with their foe, have always a chance for victory;
+ but the man who waits naked and unarmed for his enemy, must suffer either death
+ or slavery." To these reprimands and rebukes they answered, that "they were
+ exhausted by the fatigue of the battle of yesterday; and had no strength, nor
+ even blood remaining; and besides, the enemy appeared more numerous than they
+ were the day before." The hostile army, in the mean time, drew near; so that,
+ seeing every thing more distinctly as the distance grew less, they asserted
+ that the Samnites carried with them pallisades for a rampart, and evidently
+ intended to draw lines of circumvallation round the camp. On this the consul
+ exclaimed, with great earnestness, against submitting to such an ignominious
+ insult, and from so dastardly a foe. "Shall we even be blockaded," said he,
+ "in our camp, and die, with ignominy, by famine, rather than bravely by the
+ sword, if it must be so? May the gods be propitious! and let every one act in
+ the manner which he thinks becomes him. The consul Marcus Atilius, should no
+ other accompany him, will go out, even alone, to face the enemy; and will fall
+ in the middle of the Samnite battalions, rather than see the Roman camp enclosed
+ by their trenches." The lieutenants-general, tribunes, every troop of the cavalry,
+ and the principal centurions, expressed their approbation of what the consul
+ said; and the soldiers at length, overcome by shame, took up their arms, but
+ in a spiritless manner; and in the same spiritless manner, marched out of the
+ camp. In a long train, and that not every where connected, melancholy, and seemingly
+ subdued, they proceeded towards the enemy, whose hopes and courage, were not
+ more steady than theirs. As soon therefore as the Roman standards were beheld,
+ a murmur spread from front to rear of the Samnites, that, as they had feared,
+ "the Romans were coming out to oppose their march; that there was no road open,
+ through which they could even fly thence; in that spot they must fall, or else
+ cut down the enemy's ranks, and make their way over their bodies." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="b36" />
+<p>They then threw the baggage in a heap in the centre, and, with their arms prepared
+ for battle, formed their line, each falling into his post. There was now but
+ a small interval between the two armies, and both stood, waiting until the shout
+ and onset should be begun by their adversary. Neither party had any inclination
+ to fight, and they would have separated, and taken different roads, unhurt and
+ untouched, but that each had a dread of being harassed, in retreat, by the other.
+ Notwithstanding this shyness and reluctance, an engagement unavoidably began,
+ but spiritless, and with a shout which discovered neither resolution nor steadiness;
+ nor did any move a foot from his post. The Roman consul, then, in order to infuse
+ life into the action, ordered a few troops of cavalry to advance out of the
+ line and charge: most of whom being thrown from their horses and the rest put
+ in disorder, several parties ran forward, both from the Samnite line, to cut
+ off those who had fallen, and from the Roman, to protect their friends. In consequence
+ the battle became a little more brisk, but the Samnites had come forward with
+ more briskness, and also in greater numbers, and the disordered cavalry, with
+ their affrighted horses, trod down their own party who came to their relief.
+ Flight commencing in this quarter, caused the whole Roman line to turn their
+ backs. And now the Samnites had no employment for their arms but against the
+ rear of a flying enemy, when the consul, galloping on before his men to the
+ gate of the camp, posted there a body of cavalry, with orders to treat as an
+ enemy any person who should make towards the rampart, whether Roman or Samnite;
+ and, placing himself in the way of his men, as they pressed in disorder towards
+ the camp, denounced threats to the same purport: "Whither are you going, soldiers?"
+ said he; "here also you will find both men and arms; nor, while your consul
+ lives, shall you pass the rampart, unless victorious. Choose therefore which
+ you will prefer, fighting against your own countrymen, or the enemy." While
+ the consul was thus speaking the cavalry gathered round, with the points of
+ their spears presented, and ordered the infantry to return to the fight. Not
+ only his own brave spirit, but fortune likewise aided the consul, for the Samnites
+ did not push their advantage; so that he had time to wheel round his battalions,
+ and to change his front from the camp towards the enemy. The men then began
+ to encourage each other to return to the battle, while the centurions snatched
+ the ensigns from the standard-bearers and bore them forward, pointing out to
+ the soldiers the enemy, coming on in a hurry, few in number, and with their
+ ranks disordered. At the same time the consul, with his hands lifted up towards
+ heaven, and raising his voice so as to be heard at a distance, vowed a temple
+ to Jupiter Stator, if the Roman army should rally from flight, and, renewing
+ the battle, cut down and defeat the Samnites. All divisions of the army, now,
+ united their efforts to restore the fight; officers, soldiers, the whole force,
+ both of cavalry and infantry; even the powers of heaven seemed to have looked,
+ with favour, on the Roman cause; so speedily was a thorough change effected
+ in the fortune of the day, the enemy being repulsed from the camp, and, in a
+ short time, driven back to the spot where the battle had commenced. Here they
+ stopped, being obstructed by the heap of baggage, lying in their way, where
+ they had thrown it together; and then, to prevent the plundering of their effects,
+ formed round them a circle of troops. On this, the infantry assailed them vigorously
+ in front, while the cavalry, wheeling, fell on their rear: and, being thus enclosed
+ between the two, they were all either slain, or taken prisoners. The number
+ of the prisoners was seven thousand two hundred, who were all sent under the
+ yoke; the killed amounted to four thousand eight hundred. The victory did not
+ prove a joyous one, even on the side of the Romans: when the consul took an
+ account of the loss sustained in the two days, the number returned, of soldiers
+ lost, was seven thousand three hundred. During these transactions in Apulia,
+ the Samnites with the other army having attempted to seize on Iteramna, a Roman
+ colony situated on the Latin road, did not however obtain the town; whence,
+ after ravaging the country, as they were driving off spoil, consisting of men
+ and cattle, together with the colonists whom they had taken, they met the consul
+ returning victorious from Luceria, and not only lost their booty, but marching
+ in disorder, in a long train, and heavily encumbered, were themselves cut to
+ pieces. The consul, by proclamation, summoned the owners to Interamna, to claim
+ and receive again their property, and leaving his army there, went to Rome to
+ hold the elections. On his applying for a triumph, that honour was refused him,
+ because he had lost so many thousands of his soldiers; and also, because he
+ had sent the prisoners under the yoke without imposing any conditions. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="b37" />
+<p>The other consul, Postumius, because there was no employment for his arms in
+ Samnium, having led over his forces into Etruria, first laid waste the lands
+ of the Volsinians; and afterwards, on their marching out to protect their country,
+ gained a decisive victory over them, at a small distance from their own walls.
+ Two thousand two hundred of the Etrurians were slain; the proximity of their
+ city protected the rest. The army was then led into the territory of Rusella,
+ and there, not only were the lands wasted, but the town itself taken. More than
+ two thousand men were made prisoners, and somewhat less than that number killed
+ on the walls. But a peace, effected that year in Etruria, was still more important
+ and honourable than the war had been. Three very powerful cities, the chief
+ ones of Etruria, (Volsinii, Perusia, and Arretium,) sued for peace; and having
+ stipulated with the consul to furnish clothing and corn for his army, on condition
+ of being permitted to send deputies to Rome, they obtained a truce for forty
+ years, and a fine was imposed on each state of five hundred thousand <i>asses</i>,[<a href="#foot6">6</a>]
+ to be immediately paid. When the consul demanded a triumph from the senate,
+ in consideration of these services, rather to comply with the general practice,
+ than in hope of succeeding; and when he saw that one party, his own personal
+ enemies, another party, the friends of his colleague, refused him the triumph,
+ the latter to console a similar refusal, some on the plea that he had been rather
+ tardy in taking his departure from the city; others, that he had passed from
+ Samnium into Etruria without orders from the senate; he said, "Conscript fathers,
+ I shall not be so far mindful of your dignity, as to forget that I am consul.
+ By the same right of office by which I conducted the war, I shall now have a
+ triumph, when this war has been brought to a happy conclusion, Samnium and Etruria
+ being subdued, and victory and peace procured. With these words he left the
+ senate." On this arose a contention between the plebeian tribunes; some of them
+ declaring that they would protest against his triumphing in a manner unprecedented;
+ others, that they would support his pretensions, in opposition to their colleagues.
+ The affair came at length to be discussed before the people, and the consul
+ being summoned to attend, when he represented, that Marcus Horatius and Lucius
+ Valerius, when consuls, and lately Caius Marcus Rutilus, father of the present
+ censor, had triumphed, not by direction of the senate, but by that of the people;
+ he then added that "he would in like manner have laid his request before the
+ public, had he not known that some plebeian tribunes, the abject slaves of the
+ nobles, would have obstructed the law. That the universal approbation and will
+ of the people were and should be with him equivalent to any order whatsoever."
+ Accordingly, on the day following, by the support of three plebeian tribunes,
+ in opposition to the protest of the other seven, and the declared judgment of
+ the senate, he triumphed; and the people paid every honour to the day. The historical
+ accounts regarding this year are by no means consistent; Claudius asserts, that
+ Postumius, after having taken several cities in Samnium, was defeated and put
+ to flight in Apulia; and that, being wounded himself, he was driven, with a
+ few attendants, into Luceria. That the war in Etruria was conducted by Atilius,
+ and that it was he who triumphed. Fabius writes, that the two consuls acted
+ in conjunction, both in Samnium and at Luceria; that an army was led over into
+ Etruria, but by which of the consuls he has not mentioned; that at Luceria,
+ great numbers were slain on both sides; and that in that battle, the temple
+ of Jupiter Stator was vowed, the same vow having been formerly made by Romulus,
+ but the fane only, that is, the area appropriated for the temple, had been yet
+ consecrated. However, in this year, the state having been twice bound by the
+ same vow, it became a matter of religious obligation that the senate should
+ order the temple to be erected. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="b38" />
+<p>In the next year, we find a consul, distinguished by the united splendour of
+ his own and his father's glory, Lucius Papirius Cursor, as also a war of vast
+ importance, and a victory of such consequence, as no man, excepting Lucius Papirius,
+ the consul's father, had ever before obtained over the Samnites. It happened
+ too that these had, with the same care and pains as on the former occasion,
+ decorated their soldiers with the richest suits of splendid armour; and they
+ had, likewise, called in to their aid the power of the gods, having, as it were,
+ initiated the soldiers, by administering the military oath, with the solemn
+ ceremonies practised in ancient times, and levied troops in every part of Samnium,
+ under an ordinance entirely new, that "if any of the younger inhabitants should
+ not attend the meeting, according to the general's proclamation, or shall depart
+ without permission, his head should be devoted to Jupiter." Orders being then
+ issued, for all to assemble at Aquilonia, the whole strength of Samnium came
+ together, amounting to forty thousand men. There a piece of ground, in the middle
+ of the camp, was enclosed with hurdles and boards, and covered overhead with
+ linen cloth, the sides being all of an equal length, about two hundred feet.
+ In this place sacrifices were performed, according to directions read out of
+ an old linen book, the priest being a very old man, called Ovius Paccius, who
+ affirmed, that he took these ceremonials from the ancient ritual of the Samnites,
+ being the same which their ancestors used, when they had formed the secret design
+ of wresting Capua from the Etrurians. When the sacrifices were finished, the
+ general ordered a beadle to summon every one of those who were most highly distinguished
+ by their birth or conduct: these were introduced singly. Besides the other exhibitions
+ of the solemnity, calculated to impress the mind with religious awe, there were,
+ in the middle of the covered enclosure, altars erected, about which lay the
+ victims slain, and the centurions stood around with their swords drawn. The
+ soldier was led up to the altars, rather like a victim, than a performer in
+ the ceremony, and was bound by an oath not to divulge what he should see and
+ hear in that place. He was then compelled to swear, in a dreadful kind of form,
+ containing execrations on his own person, on his family and race, if he did
+ not go to battle, whithersoever the commanders should lead; and, if either he
+ himself fled from the field, or, in case he should see any other flying, did
+ not immediately kill him. At first some, refusing to take the oath, were put
+ to death round the altars, and lying among the carcasses of the victims, served
+ afterwards as a warning to others not to refuse it. When those of the first
+ rank in the Samnite nation had been bound under these solemnities, the general
+ nominated ten, whom he desired to choose each a man, and so to proceed until
+ they should have called up the number of sixteen thousand. This body, from the
+ covering of the enclosure wherein the nobility had been thus devoted, was called
+ the linen legion. They were furnished with splendid armour and plumed helmets,
+ to distinguish them above the rest. They had another body of forces, amounting
+ to somewhat more than twenty thousand, not inferior to the linen legion, either
+ in personal appearance, or renown in war, or their equipment. This number, composing
+ the main strength of the nation, sat down at Aquilonia. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="b39" />
+<p>On the other side, the consuls set out from the city. First, Spurius Carvilius,
+ to whom had been decreed the veteran legions, which Marcus Atilius, the consul
+ of the preceding year, had left in the territory of Interamna, marched at their
+ head into Samnium; and, while the enemy were busied in their superstitious rites,
+ and holding their secret meeting, he took by storm the town of Amiternum. Here
+ were slain about two thousand eight hundred men; and four thousand two hundred
+ and seventy were made prisoners. Papirius, with a new army, which he raised
+ in pursuance of a decree of the senate, made himself master of the city of Duronia.
+ He took fewer prisoners than his colleague; but slew much greater numbers. Rich
+ booty was acquired in both places. The consuls then, overrunning Samnium, and
+ wasting the province of Atinum with particular severity, arrived, Carvilius
+ at Cominium, and Papirius at Aquilonia, where the main force of the Samnites
+ were posted. Here, for some time, there was neither a cessation of action, nor
+ any vigorous effort. The day was generally spent in provoking the enemy when
+ quiet, and retiring when they offered resistance; in menacing, rather than making
+ an attack. By which practice of beginning, and then desisting, even those trifling
+ skirmishes were continually left without a decision. The other Roman camp was
+ twenty miles distant, and the advice of his absent colleague was appealed to
+ on every thing which he undertook, while Carvilius, on his part, directed a
+ greater share of his attention to Aquilonia, where the state of affairs was
+ more critical and important, than to Cominium, which he himself was besieging.
+ When Papirius had fully adjusted every measure, preparatory to an engagement,
+ he despatched a message to his colleague, that "he intended, if the auspices
+ permitted, to fight the enemy on the day following; and that it would be necessary
+ that he (Carvilius) should at the same time make an assault on Cominium, with
+ his utmost force, that the Samnites there might have no leisure to send any
+ succour to Aquilonia." The messenger had the day for the performance of his
+ journey, and he returned in the night, with an answer to the consul, that his
+ colleague approved of the plan. Papirius, on sending off the messenger, had
+ instantly called an assembly, where he descanted, at large, on the nature of
+ the war in general, and on the present mode of equipment adopted by the enemy,
+ which served for empty parade, rather than for any thing effectual towards insuring
+ success; for "plumes," he said, "made no wounds; that a Roman javelin would
+ make its way through shields, however painted and gilt; and that the army, refulgent
+ from the whiteness of their tunics, would soon be besmeared with blood, when
+ matters came to be managed with the sword. His father had formerly cut off,
+ to a man, a gold and silver army of the Samnites; and such accoutrements had
+ made a more respectable figure, as spoils, in the hands of the conquering foe,
+ than as arms in those of the wearers. Perhaps it was allotted, by destiny, to
+ his name and family, that they should be opposed in command against the most
+ powerful efforts of the Samnites; and should bring home spoils, of such beauty,
+ as to serve for ornaments to the public places. The immortal gods were certainly
+ on his side, on account of the leagues so often solicited and so often broken.
+ Besides, if a judgment might be formed of the sentiments of the deities, they
+ never were more hostile to any army, than to that which, smeared with the blood
+ of human beings mixed with that of cattle in their abominable sacrifice, doomed
+ to the twofold resentment of the gods, dreading on the one hand the divinities,
+ witnesses of the treaties concluded with the Romans, on the other hand the imprecations
+ expressed in the oath sworn in contradiction to those treaties, swore with reluctance,
+ abhorred the oath, and feared at once the gods, their countrymen, and their
+ enemies." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="b40" />
+<p>When the consul had recounted these particulars, ascertained from the information
+ of the deserters, to the soldiers already enraged of themselves, they then,
+ filled with confidence in both divine and human aid, with one universal shout,
+ demanded the battle; were dissatisfied at the action being deferred to the following
+ day; they are impatient under the intended delay of a day and a night. Papirius,
+ at the third watch, having received his colleague's letter, arose in silence,
+ and sent the keeper of the chickens to take the auspices. There was no one description
+ of men in the camp who felt not earnest wishes for the fight: the highest and
+ the lowest were equally eager; the general watching the ardour of the soldiers,
+ and the soldiers that of the general. This universal zeal spread even to those
+ employed in taking the auspices; for the chickens having refused to feed, the
+ auspex ventured to misrepresent the omen, and reported to the consul that they
+ had fed voraciously.[<a href="#foot7">7</a>] The consul, highly pleased, and
+ giving notice that the auspices were excellent, and that they were to act under
+ the direction of the gods, displayed the signal for battle. Just as he was going
+ out to the field, he happened to receive intelligence from a deserter, that
+ twenty cohorts of Samnites, consisting of about four hundred each, had marched
+ towards Cominium. Lest his colleague should be ignorant of this, he instantly
+ despatched a messenger to him, and then ordered the troops to advance with speed,
+ having already assigned to each division of the army its proper post, and appointed
+ general officers to command them. The command of the right wing he gave to Lucius
+ Volumnius, that of the left to Lucius Scipio, that of the cavalry to the other
+ lieutenants-general, Caius Caedicius and Caius Trebonius. He ordered Spurius
+ Nautius to take off the panniers from the mules, and to lead them round quickly,
+ together with his auxiliary cohorts, to a rising ground in view; and there to
+ show himself during the heat of the engagement, and to raise as much dust as
+ possible. While the general was employed in making these dispositions, a dispute
+ arose among the keepers of the chickens, about the auspices of the day, which
+ was overheard by some Roman horsemen, who, deeming it a matter not to be slighted,
+ informed Spurius Papirius, the consul's nephew, that there was a doubt about
+ the auspices. The youth, born in an age when that sort of learning which inculcates
+ contempt of the gods was yet unknown, examined into the affair, that he might
+ not carry an uncertain report to the consul; and then acquainted him with it.
+ His answer was, "I very much applaud your conduct and zeal. However, the person
+ who officiates in taking the auspices, if he makes a false report, draws on
+ his own head the evil portended; but to the Roman people and their army, the
+ favourable omen reported to me is an excellent auspice." He then commanded the
+ centurions to place the keepers of the chickens in the front of the line. The
+ Samnites likewise brought forward their standards; their main body followed,
+ armed and decorated in such a manner, that the enemy afforded a magnificent
+ show. Before the shout was raised, or the battle begun, the auspex, wounded
+ by a random cast of a javelin, fell before the standards; which being told to
+ the consul, he said, "The gods are present in the battle; the guilty has met
+ his punishment." While the consul uttered these words, a crow, in front of him,
+ cawed with a clear voice; at which augury, the consul being rejoiced, and affirming,
+ that never had the gods interposed in a more striking manner in human affairs,
+ ordered the charge to be sounded and the shout to be raised. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="b41" />
+<p>A furious conflict now ensued, but with very unequal spirit [in the combatants].
+ Anger, hope, and ardour for conquest, hurried on the Romans to battle, thirsting
+ for their enemy's blood; while the Samnites, for the most part reluctantly,
+ as if compelled by necessity and religious dread, rather stood on their defence,
+ than made an attack. Nor would they, familiarized as they were to defeats, through
+ a course of so many years, have withstood the first shout and shock of the Romans,
+ had not another fear, operating still more powerfully in their breasts, restrained
+ them from flying. For they had before their eyes the whole scene exhibited at
+ the secret sacrifice, the armed priests, the promiscuous carnage of men and
+ cattle, the altars besmeared with the blood of victims and of their murdered
+ countrymen, the dreadful curses, and the direful form of imprecation, drawn
+ up for calling down perdition on their family and race. Prevented by these shackles
+ from running away, they stood, more afraid of then countrymen than of the enemy.
+ The Romans pushed on both the wings, and in the centre, and made great havoc
+ among them, stupified as they were, through their fears of the gods and of men.
+ A faint resistance is now made, as by men whom fear alone prevented from running
+ away. The slaughter had now almost reached to their standards, when, on one
+ side, appeared a cloud of dust, as if raised by the marching of a numerous army:
+ it was Spurius Nautius, (some say Octavius Metius,) commander of the auxiliary
+ cohorts: for these raised a greater quantity of dust than was proportioned to
+ the number of men, the servants of the camp, mounted on the mules, trailing
+ boughs of trees, full of leaves, along the ground. Through the light thus obscured,
+ arms and standards were seen in front; behind, a higher and denser cloud of
+ dust presented the appearance of horsemen bringing up the rear. This effectually
+ deceived, not only the Samnites, but the Romans themselves: and the consul confirmed
+ the mistake, by calling out among the foremost battalions, so that his voice
+ reached also the enemy, that "Cominium was taken, and that his victorious colleague
+ was approaching," bidding his men "now make haste to complete the defeat of
+ the enemy, before the glory should fall to the share of the other army." This
+ he said as he sat on horseback, and then ordered the tribunes and centurions
+ to open passages for the horse. He had given previous directions to Trebonius
+ and Caedicius, that, when they should see him waving the point of his spear
+ aloft, they should incite the cavalry to charge the enemy with all possible
+ violence. Every particular, as previously concerted, was executed with the utmost
+ exactness. The passages were opened between the ranks, the cavalry darted through,
+ and, with the points of their spears presented, rushed into the midst of the
+ enemy's battalions, breaking down the ranks wherever they charged. Voluminius
+ and Scipio seconded the blow, and taking advantage of the enemy's disorder,
+ made a terrible slaughter. Thus attacked, the cohorts, called <i>linteatae</i>,
+ regardless of all restraints from either gods or men, quitted their posts in
+ confusion, the sworn and the unsworn all fled alike, no longer dreading aught
+ but the enemies. The body of their infantry which survived the battle, were
+ driven into the camp at Aquilonia. The nobility and cavalry directed their flight
+ to Bovianum. The horse were pursued by the Roman horse, the infantry by their
+ infantry, while the wings proceeded by different roads; the right, to the camp
+ of the Samnites; the left to the city. Volumnius succeeded first in gaining
+ possession of the camp. At the city, Scipio met a stouter resistance; not because
+ the conquered troops there had gained courage, but because walls were a better
+ defence against armed men than a rampart. From these they repelled the enemy
+ with stones. Scipio, considering that unless the business were effected during
+ their first panic, and before they could recover their spirits, the attack of
+ so strong a town would be very tedious, asked his soldiers "if they could endure,
+ without shame, that the other wing should already have taken the camp, and that
+ they, after all their success, should be repulsed from the gates of the city?"
+ Then, all of them loudly declaring their determination to the contrary, he himself
+ advanced, the foremost, to the gate, with his shield raised over his head: the
+ rest, following under the like cover of their shields conjoined, burst into
+ the city, and dispersing the Samnites who were near the gate, took possession
+ of the walls, but they ventured not to push forward into the interior of the
+ city in consequence of the smallness of their number. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="b42" />
+<p>Of these transactions the consul was for some time ignorant; and was busily
+ employed in calling home his troops, for the sun was now hastening to set, and
+ the approach of night rendered every place suspicious and dangerous, even to
+ victorious troops. Having rode forward a considerable way, he saw on the right
+ the camp taken, and heard on the left a shouting in the city, with a confused
+ noise of fighting, and cries of terror. This happened while the fight was going
+ on at the gate. When, on riding up nearer, he saw his own men on the walls,
+ and so much progress already made in the business, pleased at having gained,
+ through the precipitate conduct of a few, an opportunity of striking an important
+ blow, he ordered the troops, whom he had sent back to the camp, to be called
+ out, and to march to the attack of the city: these, having made good their entrance
+ on the nearest side, proceeded no farther, because night approached. Before
+ morning, however, the town was abandoned by the enemy. There were slain of the
+ Samnites on that day, at Aquilonia, thirty thousand three hundred and forty;
+ taken, three thousand eight hundred and seventy, with ninety-seven military
+ standards. One circumstance, respecting Papirius, is particularly mentioned
+ by historians: that, hardly ever was any general seen in the field with a more
+ cheerful countenance; whether this was owing to his natural temper or to his
+ confidence of success. From the same firmness of mind it proceeded, that he
+ did not suffer himself to be diverted from the war by the dispute about the
+ auspices; and that, in the heat of the battle, when it was customary to vow
+ temples to the immortal gods, he vowed to Jupiter the victorious, that if he
+ should defeat the legions of the enemy, he would, before he tasted of any generous
+ liquor, make a libation to him of a cup of wine and honey. This kind of vow
+ proved acceptable to the gods, and they conducted the auspices to a fortunate
+ issue. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="b43" />
+<p>Matters were conducted with the same success by the other consul at Cominium:
+ leading up his forces to the walls, at the first dawn, he invested the city
+ on every side, and posted strong guards opposite to the gates to prevent any
+ sally being made. Just as he was giving the signal, the alarming message from
+ his colleague, touching the march of the twenty Samnite cohorts, not only caused
+ him to delay the assault, but obliged him to call off a part of his troops,
+ when they were formed and ready to begin the attack. He ordered Decius Brutus
+ Scaeva, a lieutenant-general, with the first legion, ten auxiliary cohorts,
+ and the cavalry, to go and oppose the said detachment; and in whatever place
+ he should meet the foe, there to stop and detain them, and even to engage in
+ battle, should opportunity offer for it; at all events not to suffer those troops
+ to approach Cominium. He then commanded the scaling ladders to be brought up
+ to the walls, on every side of the city; and, under a fence of closed shields,
+ advanced to the gates. Thus, at the same moment, the gates were broken open,
+ and the assault made on every part of the walls. Though the Samnites, before
+ they saw the assailants on the works, had possessed courage enough to oppose
+ their approaches to the city, yet now, when the action was no longer carried
+ on at a distance, nor with missile weapons, but in close fight; and when those,
+ who had with difficulty gained the walls, having overcome the disadvantage of
+ ground, which, they principally dreaded, fought with ease on equal ground, against
+ an enemy inferior in strength, they all forsook the towers and walls, and being
+ driven to the forum, they tried there for a short time, as a last effort, to
+ retrieve the fortune of the fight; but soon throwing down their arms, surrendered
+ to the consul, to the number of eleven thousand four hundred; four thousand
+ three hundred and eighty were slain. Such was the course of events at Cominium,
+ such at Aquilonia. In the middle space between the two cities, where a third
+ battle had been expected, the enemy were not found; for, when they were within
+ seven miles of Cominium, they were recalled by their countrymen, and had no
+ part in either battle. At night-fall, when they were now within sight of their
+ camp, and also of Aquilonia, shouts from both places reaching them with equal
+ force induced them to halt; then, on the side of the camp, which had been set
+ on fire by the Romans, the wide-spreading flames indicating with more certainty
+ the disaster [which had happened], prevented their proceeding any farther. In
+ that same spot, stretched on the ground at random under their arms, they passed
+ the whole night in great inquietude, at one time wishing for, at another dreading
+ the light. At the first dawn, while they were still undetermined to what quarter
+ they should direct their march, they were obliged to betake themselves hastily
+ to flight, being descried by the cavalry; who having gone in pursuit of the
+ Samnites, that left the town in the night, saw the multitude unprotected either
+ by a rampart or advanced guard. This party had likewise been perceived from
+ the walls of Aquilonia, and the legionary cohorts now joined in the pursuit.
+ The foot were unable to overtake them, but about two hundred and eighty of their
+ rear guard were cut off by the cavalry. In their consternation they left behind
+ them a great quantity of arms and eighteen military standards: they reached
+ Bovianum with the rest of their party in safety, as far as could be expected
+ after so disorderly a rout. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="b44" />
+<p>The joy of both Roman armies was enhanced by the success achieved on the other
+ side. Each consul, with the approbation of his colleague, gave to his soldiers
+ the plunder of the town which he had taken; and, when the houses were cleared,
+ set them on fire. Thus, on the same day, Aquilonia and Cominium were both reduced
+ to ashes. The consuls then united their camps, where mutual congratulations
+ took place between them and between their soldiers. Here, in the view of the
+ two armies, Carvilius bestowed on his men commendations and presents according
+ to the desert of each; and Papirius likewise, whose troops had been engaged
+ in a variety of actions, in the field, in the assault of the camp, and in that
+ of the city, presented Spurius Nautius, Spurius Papirius, his nephew, four centurions,
+ and a company of the spearmen, with bracelets and crowns of gold:--to Nautius,
+ on account of his behaviour at the head of his detachment, when he had terrified
+ the enemy with the appearance as of a numerous army; to young Papirius, on account
+ of his zealous exertions with the cavalry, both in the battle and in harassing
+ the Samnites in their flight by night, when they withdrew privately from Aquilonia;
+ and to the centurions and company of soldiers, because they were the first who
+ gained possession of the gate and wall of that town. All the horsemen he presented
+ with gorgets and bracelets of silver, on account of their distinguished conduct
+ on many occasions. As the time was now come for withdrawing the army out of
+ Samnium, the expediency was considered, as to whether they should withdraw both,
+ or at least one. It was concluded, that the lower the strength of the Samnites
+ was reduced, the greater perseverance and vigour ought to be used in prosecuting
+ the war, so that Samnium might be given up to the succeeding consuls perfectly
+ subjected. As there was now no army of the enemy which could be supposed capable
+ of disputing the field, there remained one mode of operations, the besieging
+ of the cities; by the destruction of which, they might be enabled to enrich
+ their soldiers with the spoil; and, at the same time, utterly to destroy the
+ enemy, reduced to the necessity of fighting, their all being at stake. The consuls,
+ therefore, after despatching letters to the senate and people of Rome, containing
+ accounts of the services which they had performed, led away their legions to
+ different quarters; Papirius going to attack Saepioura, Carvilius to Volana.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="b45" />
+<p>The letters of the consuls were heard with extraordinary exultation, both in
+ the senate-house and in the assembly of the people; and, in a thanksgiving of
+ four days' continuance, the public rejoicings were celebrated with zeal by individuals.
+ These successes were not only important in themselves to the Roman people, but
+ peculiarly seasonable; for it happened, that at the same time intelligence was
+ brought that the Etrurians were again in arms. The reflection naturally occurred
+ to people's minds, how it would have been possible, in case any misfortune had
+ happened in Samnium, to have withstood the power of Etruria; which, being encouraged
+ by the conspiracy of the Samnites, and seeing both the consuls, and the whole
+ force of the Romans, employed against them, had made use of that juncture, in
+ which the Romans had so much business on their hands, for reviving hostilities.
+ Ambassadors from the allies, being introduced to the senate by the praetor Marcus
+ Atilius, complained that their countries were wasted with fire and sword by
+ the neighbouring Etrurians, because they had refused to revolt from the Romans;
+ and they besought the conscript fathers to protect them from the violence and
+ injustice of their common enemy. The ambassadors were answered, </p>
+<p> that "the senate would take care that the allies should not repent their fidelity."
+ That the "Etrurians should shortly be in the same situation with the Samnites."
+ Notwithstanding which, the business respecting Etruria would have been prosecuted
+ with less vigour, had not information been received, that the Faliscians likewise,
+ who had for many years lived in friendship with Rome, had united their arms
+ with those of the Etrurians. The consideration of the near vicinity of that
+ nation quickened the attention of the senate; insomuch that they passed a decree
+ that heralds should be sent to demand satisfaction: which being refused, war
+ was declared against the Faliscians by direction of the senate, and order of
+ the people; and the consuls were desired to determine, by lots, which of them
+ should lead an army from Samnium into Etruria. Carvilius had, in the mean time,
+ taken from the Samnites Volana, Palumbinum, and Herculaneum; Volana after a
+ siege of a few days, Palumbinum the same day on which he approached the walls.
+ At Herculaneum, it is true, the consul had two regular engagements without any
+ decisive advantage on either side, and with greater loss on his side than on
+ that of the enemy; but afterwards, encamping on the spot, he shut them up within
+ their works. The town was besieged and taken. In these three towns were taken
+ or slain ten thousand men, of whom the prisoners composed somewhat the greater
+ part. On the consuls casting lots for the provinces, Etruria fell to Carvilius,
+ to the great satisfaction of the soldiers, who could no longer bear the intensity
+ of the cold in Samnium. Papirius was opposed at Saepinum with a more powerful
+ force: he had to fight often in pitched battles, often on a march, and often
+ under the walls of the city, against the eruptions of the enemy; and could neither
+ besiege, nor engage them on equal terms; for the Samnites not only protected
+ themselves by walls, but likewise protected their walls with numbers of men
+ and arms. At length, after a great deal of fighting, he forced them to submit
+ to a regular siege. This he carried on with vigour, and made himself master
+ of the city by means of his works, and by storm. The rage of the soldiers on
+ this occasion caused the greatest slaughter in the taking of the town; seven
+ thousand four hundred fell by the sword; the number of the prisoners did not
+ amount to three thousand. The spoil, of which the quantity was very great, the
+ whole substance of the Samnites being collected in a few cities, was given up
+ to the soldiers. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="b46" />
+<p>The snow had now entirely covered the face of the country, and they could no
+ longer dispense with the shelter of houses: the consul therefore led home his
+ troops from Samnium. While he was on his way to Rome, a triumph was decreed
+ him with universal consent; and accordingly he triumphed while in office, and
+ with extraordinary splendour, considering the circumstances of those times.
+ The cavalry and infantry marched in the procession, adorned with presents. Great
+ numbers of civic, vallar, and mural crowns were seen.[<a href="#foot8">8</a>]
+ The spoils of the Samnites were inspected with much curiosity, and compared,
+ in respect of magnificence and beauty, with those taken by his father, which
+ were well known, from being frequently exhibited as ornaments of the public
+ places. Several prisoners of distinction, renowned for their own exploits and
+ those of their ancestors, were led in the cavalcade. There were carried in the
+ train two millions and thirty-three thousand <i>asses</i> in weight.[<a href="#foot9">9</a>]
+ This money was said to be produced by the sale of the prisoners. Of silver,
+ taken in the cities, one thousand three hundred and thirty pounds. All the silver
+ and brass were lodged in the treasury, no share of this part of the spoil being
+ given to the soldiers. The ill humour in the commons was further exasperated,
+ because the tax for the payment of the army was collected by contribution; whereas,
+ said they, if the vain parade of conveying the produce of the spoil to the treasury
+ had been disregarded, donations might have been made to the soldiers out of
+ the spoil, and the pay of the army also supplied out of that fund. The temple
+ of Quirinus, vowed by his father when dictator, (for that he himself had vowed
+ it in the heat of battle, I do not find in any ancient writer, nor indeed could
+ he in so short a time have finished the building of it,) the son, in the office
+ of consul, dedicated and adorned with military spoils. And of these, so great
+ was the abundance, that not only that temple and the forum were decorated with
+ them, but some were also distributed among the allies and colonies in the neighbourhood,
+ to serve as ornaments to their temples and public places. Immediately after
+ his triumph, he led his army into winter quarters in the territory of Vescia;
+ because that country was harassed by the Samnites. Meanwhile, in Etruria, the
+ consul Carvilius having set about laying siege to Troilium, suffered four hundred
+ and seventy of the richest inhabitants to depart; they had paid a large sum
+ of money for permission to leave the place: the town, with the remaining multitude,
+ he took by storm. He afterwards reduced, by force, five forts strongly situated,
+ wherein were slain two thousand four hundred of the enemy, and not quite two
+ thousand made prisoners. To the Faliscians, who sued for peace, he granted a
+ truce for a year, on condition of their furnishing a hundred thousand <i>asses</i>
+ in weight,[<a href="#foot10">10</a>] and that year's pay for his army. This
+ business completed, he returned home to a triumph, which, though it was less
+ illustrious than that of his colleague, in respect of his share in the defeat
+ of the Samnites, was yet raised to an equality with it, by his having put a
+ termination to the war in Etruria. He carried into the treasury three hundred
+ and ninety thousand <i>asses</i> in weight.[<a href="#foot11">11</a>] Out of
+ the remainder of the money accruing to the public from the spoils, he contracted
+ for the building of a temple to Fors Fortuna, near to that dedicated to the
+ same goddess by king Servius Tullius; and gave to the soldiers, out of the spoil,
+ one hundred and two asses each, and double that sum to the centurions and horsemen,
+ who received this donative the more gratefully, on account of the parsimony
+ of his colleague. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="b47" />
+<p>The favour of the consul saved from a trial, before the people, Postumius;
+ who, on a prosecution being commenced against him by Marcus Scantius, plebeian
+ tribune, evaded, as was said, the jurisdiction of the people, by procuring the
+ commission of lieutenant-general, so the indictment against him could only be
+ held out as a threat, and not put in force. The The year having now elapsed,
+ new plebeian tribunes had come unto office; and for these, in consequence of
+ some irregularity on their appointments, others had been, within five days after,
+ substituted in their room. The lustrum was closed this year by the censors Publius
+ Cornelius Arvina and Caius Marcius Rutilus. The number of citizens rated was
+ two hundred and sixty-two thousand three hundred and twenty-two. These were
+ the twenty-sixth pair of censors since the first institution of that office;
+ and this the nineteenth lustrum. In this year, persons who had been presented
+ with crowns, in consideration of meritorious behaviour in war, first began to
+ wear them at the exhibition of the Roman games. Then, for the first time, palms
+ were conferred on the victors according to a custom introduced from Greece.
+ In the same year the paving of the road from the temple of Mars to Bovillae
+ was completed by the curule aediles, who exhibited those games out of fines
+ levied on the farmers of the pastures. Lucius Papirius presided at the consular
+ election, and returned consuls Quintus Fabius Gurges, son of Maximus, and Decius
+ Junius Brutus Scaeva. Papirius himself was made praetor. This year, prosperous
+ in many particulars, was scarcely sufficient to afford consolation for one calamity,
+ a pestilence, which afflicted both the city and country: the mortality was prodigious.
+ To discover what end, or what remedy, was appointed by the gods for that calamity,
+ the books were consulted: in the books it was found that Aesculapius must be
+ brought to Rome from Epidaurus. Nor were any steps taken that year in that matter,
+ because the consuls were fully occupied in the war, except that a supplication
+ was performed to Aesculapius for one day. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<a id="lost" />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Here ten books of the original are lost, making a chasm
+ of seventy-five years. The translator's object being to publish the work of
+ Livy only, he has not thought it his duty to attempt to supply this deficiency,
+ either by a compilation of his own, or by transcribing or translating those
+ of others. The leader, however, who may be desirous of knowing the events which
+ took place during this interval, will find as complete a detail of them as can
+ now be given, in Hooke's or Rollin's Roman History.The contents of the lost
+ books have been preserved, and are as follows--</i></div>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book11">BOOK XI.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y.R. 460. B.C. 292.] Fabius Gurges, consul, having fought
+ an unsuccessful battle with the Samnites, the senate deliberate about dismissing
+ him from the command of the army; are prevailed upon not to inflict that disgrace
+ upon him, principally by the entreaties of his father, Fabius Maximus, and by
+ his promising to join the army, and serve, in quality of lieutenant-general,
+ under his son: which promise he performs, and the consul, aided by his counsel
+ and co-operation, obtains a victory over the Samnites, and a triumph in consequence.
+ C. Pontius, the general of the Samnites, led in triumph before the victor's
+ carriage, and afterwards beheaded. A plague at Rome. [Y.R. 461. B.C. 291.] Ambassadors
+ sent to Epidaurus, to bring from thence to Rome the statue of Aesculapius: a
+ serpent, of itself, goes on board their ship; supposing it to be the abode of
+ the deity, they bring it with them; and, upon its quitting their vessel, and
+ swimming to the island in the Tiber, they consecrate there a temple to Aesculapius.
+ L. Postumius, a man of consular rank, condemned for employing the soldiers under
+ his command in working upon his farm. [Y.R. 462. B.C. 290] Curius Dentatus,
+ consul, having subdued the Samnites, and the rebellious Sabines, triumphs twice
+ during his year of office. [Y.R. 463. B.C. 289.] The colonies of Castrum, Sena,
+ and Adria, established. Three judges of capital crimes now first appointed.
+ A census and lustrum: the number of citizens found to be two hundred and seventy-three
+ thousand. After a long-continued sedition, on account of debts, the commons
+ secede to the Janiculum: [Y.R. 466. B.C. 286.] are brought back by Hortensius,
+ dictator, who dies in office. Successful operations against the Volsinians and
+ Lucanians, [Y.R. 468. B.C. 284.] against whom it was thought expedient to send
+ succour to the Thuringians.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book12">BOOK XII.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y.R. 469. B.C. 283.] The Senonian Gauls having slain the
+ Roman ambassadors, war is declared against them: they cut off L. Caecilius,
+ praetor, with the legions under his command, [Y.R. 470. B.C. 282.] The Roman
+ fleet plundered by the Tarentines, and the commander slain: ambassadors, sent
+ to complain of this outrage, are ill-treated and sent back; whereupon war is
+ declared against them. The Samnites revolt; against whom, together with the
+ Lucanians, Bruttians, and Etruscans, several unsuccessful battles are fought
+ by different generals. [Y.R. 471. B.C. 281.] Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, comes
+ into Italy, to succour the Tarentines. A Campanian legion, sent, under the command
+ of Decius Jubellius, to garrison Rhegium, murder the inhabitants, and seize
+ the city.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book13">BOOK XIII.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y.R. 472. B.C. 280.] Valerius Laevinus, consul, engages
+ with Pyrrhus, and is beaten, his soldiers being terrified at the unusual appearance
+ of elephants. After the battle, Pyrrhus, viewing the bodies of the Romans who
+ were slain, remarks, that they all of them lay with their faces turned towards
+ their enemy. He proceeds towards Rome, ravaging the country as he goes along.
+ C. Fabricius is sent by the senate to treat for the redemption of the prisoners:
+ the king, in vain, attempts to bribe him to desert his country. The prisoners
+ restored without ransom. Cineas, ambassador from Pyrrhus to the senate, demands,
+ as a condition of peace, that the king be admitted into the city of Rome: the
+ consideration of which being deferred to a fuller meeting, Appius Claudius,
+ who, on account of a disorder in his eyes, had not, for a long time, attended
+ in the senate, comes there; moves, and carries his motion, that the demand of
+ the king be refused. Cneius Domitius, the first plebeian censor, holds a lustrum;
+ the number of the citizens found to be two hundred and seventy-eight thousand
+ two hundred and twenty-two. A second, but undecided battle with Pyrrhus. [Y.R.
+ 473. B.C. 279.] The treaty with the Carthaginians renewed a fourth time. An
+ offer made to Fabricius, the consul, by a traitor, to poison Pyrrhus; [Y. R.
+ 474. B. C. 278.] he sends him to the king, and discovers to him the treasonable
+ offer. Successful operations against the Etruscans, Lucanians, Bruttians, and
+ Samnites.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book14">BOOK XIV.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">Pyrrhus crosses over into Sicily. [Y. R. 475. B. C. 277.]
+ Many prodigies, among which, the statue of Jupiter in the Capitol is struck
+ by lightning, and thrown down. [Y. R. 476. B. C. 276.] The head of it afterwards
+ found by the priests. Curius Dentatus, holding a levy, puts up to sale the goods
+ of a person who refuses to answer to his name when called upon. [Y. R. 477.
+ B. C. 275.] Pyrrhus, after his return from Sicily, is defeated, and compelled
+ to quit Italy. The censors hold a lustrum, and find the number of the citizens
+ to be two hundred and seventy-one thousand two hundred and twenty-four. [Y.
+ R. 479. B. c. 273.] A treaty of alliance formed with Ptolemy, king of Egypt.
+ Sextilia, a vestal, found guilty of incest, and buried alive. Two colonies sent
+ forth, to Posidonium and Cossa. [Y. R. 480. B. C. 272.] A Carthaginian fleet
+ sails, in aid of the Tarentines, by which act the treaty is violated. Successful
+ operations against the Lucanians, Samnites, and Bruttians. Death of king Pyrrhus.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book15">BOOK XV.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">The Tarentines overcome: peace and freedom granted to them.
+ [Y. R. 481. B. C. 271.] The Campanian legion, which had forcibly taken possession
+ of Rhegium, besieged there; lay down their arms, and are punished with death.
+ Some young men, who had ill-treated the ambassadors from the Apollonians to
+ the senate of Rome, are delivered up to them. Peace granted to the Picentians.
+ [Y. R. 484. B. C. 268.] Two colonies established; one at Ariminum in Picenum,
+ another at Beneventum in Samnium. Silver coin now, for the first time, used
+ by the Roman people. [Y. R. 485. B. C. 267.] The Umbrians and Sallentines subdued.
+ The number of quaestors increased to eight.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book16">BOOK XVI.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y. R. 488. B. C. 264.] Origin and progress of the Carthaginian
+ state. After much debate, the senate resolves to succour the Mammertines against
+ the Carthaginians, and against Hiero, king of Syracuse. Roman cavalry, then,
+ for the first time, cross the sea, and engage successfully, in battle with Hiero;
+ who solicits and obtains peace. [Y.R. 489. B.C. 263.] A lustrum: the number
+ of the citizens amounts to two hundred and ninety-two thousand two hundred and
+ twenty-four. D. Junius Brutus exhibits the first show of gladiators, in honour
+ of his deceased father. [Y.R. 490. B.C. 262.] The Aesernian colony established.
+ Successful operations against the Carthaginians and Vulsinians. [Y.R. 491. B.C.
+ 261.]</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book17">BOOK XVII.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y.R. 492. B.C. 260.] Cneius Cornelius, consul, surrounded
+ by the Carthaginian fleet; and, being drawn into a conference by a stratagem,
+ is taken. [Y.R. 493. B.C. 259.] C. Duilius, consul, engages with and vanquishes
+ the Carthaginian fleet; is the first commander to whom a triumph was decreed
+ for a naval victory; in honour of which, he is allowed, when returning to his
+ habitation at night, to be attended with torches and music. L. Cornelius, consul,
+ fights and subdues the Sardinians and Corsicans, together with Hanno, the Carthaginian
+ general, in the island of Sardinia. [Y.R. 494. B.C. 258.] Atilius Calatinus,
+ consul, drawn into an ambuscade by the Carthaginians, is rescued by the skill
+ and valour of M. Calpurnius, a military tribune, who making a sudden attack
+ upon the enemy, with a body of only three hundred men, turns their whole force
+ against himself. [Y.R. 495. B.C. 257.] Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian
+ fleet which was beaten, is put to death by his soldiers.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book18">BOOK XVIII.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y.R. 496. B.C. 256.] Attilius Regulus, consul, having overcome
+ the Carthaginians in a sea-fight, passes over into Africa: kills a serpent of
+ prodigious magnitude, with great loss of his own men. [Y.R. 497. B.C. 255.]
+ The senate, on account of his successful conduct of the war, not appointing
+ him a successor, he writes to them, complaining; and, among other reasons for
+ desiring to be recalled, alledges, that his little farm, being all his subsistence,
+ was going to ruin, owing to the mismanagement of hired stewards. [Y.R. 498.
+ B.C. 254.] A memorable instance of the instability of fortune exhibited in the
+ person of Regulus, who is overcome in battle, and taken prisoner by Xanthippus,
+ a Lacedaemonian general. [Y. R. 499. B. C. 253.] The Roman fleet shipwrecked;
+ which disaster entirely reverses the good fortune which had hitherto attended
+ their affairs. Titus Corucanius, the first high priest chosen from among the
+ commons. [Y. R. 500. B. C. 252.] P. Sempronius Sophus and M. Yalerius Maximus,
+ censors, examine into the state of the senate, and expel thirteen of the members
+ of that body. [Y. R. 501. B. C. 251.] They hold a lustrum, and find the number
+ of citizens to be two hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven.
+ [Y. R. 502. B. C. 250.] Regulus being sent by the Carthaginians to Rome to treat
+ for peace, and an exchange of prisoners, binds himself by oath to return if
+ these objects be not attained; dissuades the senate from agreeing to the propositions:
+ and then, in observance of his oath, returning to Carthage, is put to death
+ by torture.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book19">BOOK XIX.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">[Y. R. 502. B. C. 250.] C. Caecilius Metellus, having been
+ successful in several engagements with the Carthaginians, triumphs with more
+ splendour than had ever yet been seen; thirteen generals of the enemy, and one
+ hundred and twenty elephants, being exhibited in the procession, [Y. R. 503.
+ B. C. 249.] Claudius Pulcher, consul, obstinately persisting, notwithstanding
+ the omens were inauspicious, engages the enemy's fleet, and is beaten; drowns
+ the sacred chickens which would not feed: recalled by the senate, and ordered
+ to nominate a dictator; he appoints Claudius Glicia, one of the lowest of the
+ people, who, notwithstanding his being ordered to abdicate the office, yet attends
+ the celebration of the public games in his dictator's robe. [Y. R. 504. B. C.
+ 248.] Atilius Calatinus, the first dictator who marches with an army out of
+ Italy. An exchange of prisoners with the Carthaginians. Two colonies established
+ at Fregenae and Brundusium in the Sallentine territories. [Y. R. 505. B. C.
+ 247.] A lustrum; the citizens numbered amount to two hundred and fifty-one thousand
+ two hundred and twenty-two. [Y. R. 506. B. C. 246.] Claudia, the sister of Claudius,
+ who had fought unsuccessfully, in contempt of the auspices, being pressed by
+ the crowd, as she was returning from the game, cries out, <i>I wish my brother
+ were alive and had again the command of the fleet</i>: for which offence she
+ is tried and fined. [Y. R. 507. B. C. 245.] Two praetors now first created.
+ Aulus Postumius, consul, being priest of Mars, forcibly detained in the city
+ by Caecilius Metellus, the high priest, and not suffered to go forth to war,
+ being obliged by law to attend to the sacred duties of his office. [Y.R. 508.
+ B.C. 244.] After several successful engagements with the Carthaginians, Caius
+ Lutatius, consul, puts an end to the war, [Y.R. 509. B.C. 243.] by gaining a
+ complete victory over their fleet, at the island of Aegate. The Carthaginians
+ sue for peace, which is granted to them. [Y.R. 510. B.C. 242.] The temple of
+ Vesta being on fire, the high priest, Caecilius Metellus, saves the sacred utensils
+ from the flames. [Y.R. 511. B.C. 241.] Two new tribes added, the Veline and
+ Quirine. The Falisci rebel; are subdued in six days.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book20">BOOK XX.</div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes">A colony settled at Spoletum. [Y.R. 512. B.C. 240.] An army
+ sent against the Ligurians; being the first war with that state. The Sardinians
+ and Corsicans rebel, and are subdued. [Y.R. 514. B.C. 238.] Tuccia, a vestal,
+ found guilty of incest. War declared against the Illyrians, who had slain an
+ ambassador; they are subdued and brought to submission. [Y.R. 515. B.C. 237.]
+ The number of praetors increased to four. The Transalpine Gauls make an irruption
+ into Italy: are conquered and put to the sword. [Y.R. 516. B.C. 236.] The Roman
+ army, in conjunction with the Latins, is said to have amounted to no less than
+ three hundred thousand men. [Y.R. 517. B.C. 235.] The Roman army for the first
+ time crosses the Po; fights with and subdues the Insubrian Gauls. [Y.R. 530.
+ B.C. 222.] Claudius Marcellus, consul, having slain Viridomarus, the general
+ of the Insubrian Gauls, carries off the <i>spolia opima</i>. [Y.R. 531. B.C.
+ 221.] The Istrians subdued; also the Illyrians, who had rebelled. [Y.R. 532.
+ B.C. 220.] The censors hold a lustrum, in which the number of the citizens is
+ found to be two hundred and seventy thousand two hundred and thirteen. The sons
+ of freed-men formed into four tribes; the Esquiline, Palatine, Suburran, and
+ Colline. [Y.R. 533. B.C. 219.] Caius Flaminius, censor, constructs the Flaminian
+ road, and builds the Flaminian circus.</div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book21">BOOK XXI.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 219-218</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#c1">1</a> <a href="#c2">2</a> <a href="#c3">3</a>
+ <a href="#c4">4</a> <a href="#c5">5</a> <a href="#c6">6</a> <a href="#c7">7</a>
+ <a href="#c8">8</a> <a href="#c9">9</a> <a href="#c10">10</a> <a href="#c11">11</a>
+ <a href="#c12">12</a> <a href="#c13">13</a> <a href="#c14">14</a> <a href="#c15">15</a>
+ <a href="#c16">16</a> <a href="#c17">17</a> <a href="#c18">18</a> <a href="#c19">19</a>
+ <a href="#c20">20</a> <a href="#c21">21</a> <a href="#c22">22</a> <a href="#c23">23</a>
+ <a href="#c24">24</a> <a href="#c25">25</a> <a href="#c26">26</a> <a href="#c27">27</a>
+ <a href="#c28">28</a> <a href="#c29">29</a> <a href="#c30">30</a> <a href="#c31">31</a>
+ <a href="#c32">32</a> <a href="#c33">33</a> <a href="#c34">34</a> <a href="#c35">35</a>
+ <a href="#c36">36</a> <a href="#c37">37</a> <a href="#c38">38</a> <a href="#c39">39</a>
+ <a href="#c40">40</a> <a href="#c41">41</a> <a href="#c42">42</a> <a href="#c43">43</a>
+ <a href="#c44">44</a> <a href="#c45">45</a> <a href="#c46">46</a> <a href="#c47">47</a>
+ <a href="#c48">48</a> <a href="#c49">49</a> <a href="#c50">50</a> <a href="#c51">51</a>
+ <a href="#c52">52</a> <a href="#c53">53</a> <a href="#c54">54</a> <a href="#c55">55</a>
+ <a href="#c56">56</a> <a href="#c57">57</a> <a href="#c58">58</a> <a href="#c59">59</a>
+ <a href="#c60">60</a> <a href="#c61">61</a> <a href="#c62">62</a> <a href="#c63">63</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Origin of the second Punic war. Hannibal's character.
+ In violation of a treaty, he passes the Iberus. Besieges Saguntum, and at length
+ takes it. The Romans send ambassadors to Carthage; declare war. Hannibal crosses
+ the Pyrenees: makes his way through Gaul; then crosses the Alps; defeats the
+ Romans at the Ticinus. The Romans again defeated at the Trebia. Cneius Cornelius
+ Scipio defeats the Carthaginians in Spain, and takes Hanno, their general, prisoner.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<br />
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="c1" />
+<p>I may be permitted to premise at this division of my work, what most historians
+ [<a href="#foot12">12</a>] have professed at the beginning of their whole undertaking;
+ that I am about to relate the most memorable of all wars that were ever waged:
+ the war which the Carthaginians, under the conduct of Hannibal, maintained with
+ the Roman people. For never did any states and nations more efficient in their
+ resources engage in contest; nor had they themselves at any other period so
+ great a degree of power and energy. They brought into action too no arts of
+ war unknown to each other, but those which had been tried in the first Punic
+ war; and so various was the fortune of the conflict, and so doubtful the victory,
+ that they who conquered were more exposed to danger. The hatred with which they
+ fought also was almost greater than their resources; the Romans being indignant
+ that the conquered aggressively took up arms against their victors; the Carthaginians,
+ because they considered that in their subjection it had been lorded over them
+ with haughtiness and avarice. There is besides a story, that Hannibal, when
+ about nine years old, while he boyishly coaxed his father Hamilcar that he might
+ be taken to Spain, (at the time when the African war was completed, and he was
+ employed in sacrificing previously to transporting his army thither,) was conducted
+ to the altar; and, having laid his hand on the offerings, was bound by an oath
+ to prove himself, as soon as he could, an enemy to the Roman people. The loss
+ of Sicily and Sardinia grieved the high spirit of Hamilcar: for he deemed that
+ Sicily had been given up through a premature despair of their affairs; and that
+ Sardinia, during the disturbances in Africa, had been treacherously taken by
+ the Romans, while, in addition, the payment of a tribute had been imposed. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="c2" />
+<p>Being disturbed with these anxieties, he so conducted himself for five years
+ in the African war, which commenced shortly after the peace with Rome, and then
+ through nine years employed in augmenting the Carthaginian empire in Spain,
+ that it was obvious that he was revolving in his mind a greater war than he
+ was then engaged in; and that if he had lived longer, the Carthaginians under
+ Hamilcar would have carried the war into Italy, which, under the command of
+ Hannibal, they afterwards did. The timely death of Hamilcar and the youth of
+ Hannibal occasioned its delay. Hasdrubal, intervening between the father and
+ the son, held the command for about eight years. He was first endeared to Hamilcar,
+ as they say, on account of his youthful beauty, and then adopted by him, when
+ advanced in age, as his son-in-law, on account of his eminent abilities; and,
+ because he was his son-in-law, he obtained the supreme authority, against the
+ wishes of the nobles, by the influence of the Barcine faction, [<a href="#foot13">13</a>]
+ which was very powerful with the military and the populace. Prosecuting his
+ designs rather by stratagem than force, by entertaining the princes, and by
+ means of the friendship of their leaders, gaining the favour of unknown nations,
+ he aggrandized the Carthaginian power, more than by arms and battles. Yet peace
+ proved no greater security to himself. A barbarian, in resentment of his master's
+ having been put to death by him, publicly murdered him; and, having been seized
+ by the bystanders, he exhibited the same countenance as if he had escaped; nay,
+ even when he was lacerated by tortures, he preserved such an expression of face,
+ that he presented the appearance of one who smiled, his joy getting the better
+ of his pains. With this Hasdrubal, because he possessed such wonderful skill
+ in gaining over the nations and adding them to his empire, the Roman people
+ had renewed the treaty, [<a href="#foot14">14</a>] on the terms, that the river
+ Iberus should be the boundary of both empires; and that to the Saguntines, who
+ lay between the territories of the two states, their liberty should be preserved.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="c3" />
+<p>There was no doubt that in appointing a successor to Hasdrubal, the approbation
+ of the commons would follow the military prerogative, by which the young Hannibal
+ had been immediately carried to the praetorium, and hailed as general, amid
+ the loud shouts and acquiescence of all. Hasdrubal had sent for him by letter,
+ when scarce yet arrived at manhood; and the matter had even been discussed in
+ the senate, the Barcine faction using all their efforts, that Hannibal might
+ be trained to military service and succeed to his father's command. Hanno, the
+ leader of the opposite faction, said, "Hasdrubal seems indeed to ask what is
+ reasonable, but I, nevertheless, do not think his request ought to be granted."
+ When he had attracted to himself the attention of all, through surprise at this
+ ambiguous opinion, he proceeded: "Hasdrubal thinks that the flower of youth
+ which he gave to the enjoyment of Hannibal's father, may justly be expected
+ by himself in return from the son: but it would little become us to accustom
+ our youth, in place of a military education, to the lustful ambition of the
+ generals. Are we afraid that the son of Hamilcar should be too late in seeing
+ the immoderate power and splendour of his father's sovereignty? or that we shall
+ not soon enough become slaves to the son of him, to whose son-in-law our armies
+ were bequeathed as an hereditary right? I am of opinion, that this youth should
+ be kept at home, and taught, under the restraint of the laws and the authority
+ of magistrates, to live on an equal footing with the rest of the citizens, lest
+ at some time or other this small fire should kindle a vast conflagration." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="c4" />
+<p>A few, and nearly every one of the highest merit, concurred with Hanno; but,
+ as usually happens, the more numerous party prevailed over the better. Hannibal,
+ having been sent into Spain, from his very first arrival drew the eyes of the
+ whole army upon him. The veteran soldiers imagined that Hamilcar, in his youth,
+ was restored to them; they remarked the same vigour in his looks and animation
+ in his eye the same features and expression of countenance; and then, in a short
+ time, he took care that his father should be of the least powerful consideration
+ in conciliating their esteem. There never was a genius more fitted for the two
+ most opposite duties of obeying and commanding; so that you could not easily
+ decide whether he were dearer to the general or the army: and neither did Hasdrubal
+ prefer giving the command to any other, when any thing was to be done with courage
+ and activity; nor did the soldiers feel more confidence and boldness under any
+ other leader. His fearlessness in encountering dangers, and his prudence when
+ in the midst of them, were extreme. His body could not be exhausted, nor his
+ mind subdued, by any toil. He could alike endure either heat or cold. The quantity
+ of his food and drink was determined by the wants of nature, and not by pleasure.
+ The seasons of his sleeping and waking were distinguished neither by day nor
+ night. The time that remained after the transaction of business was given to
+ repose; but that repose was neither invited by a soft bed nor by quiet. Many
+ have seen him wrapped in a military cloak, lying on the ground amid the watches
+ and outposts of the soldiers. His dress was not at all superior to that of his
+ equals: his arms and his horses were conspicuous. He was at once by far the
+ first of the cavalry and infantry; and, foremost to advance to the charge, was
+ last to leave the engagement. Excessive vices counterbalanced these high virtues
+ of the hero; inhuman cruelty, more than Punic perfidy, no truth, no reverence
+ for things sacred, no fear of the gods, no respect for oaths, no sense of religion.
+ With a character thus made up of virtue and vices, he served for three years
+ under the command of Hasdrubal, without neglecting any thing which ought to
+ be done or seen by one who was to become a great general. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="c5" />
+<p>But from the day on which he was declared general, as if Italy had been decreed
+ to him as his province, and the war with Rome committed to him, thinking there
+ should be no delay, lest, while he procrastinated, some unexpected accident
+ might defeat him, as had happened to his father, Hamilcar, and afterwards to
+ Hasdrubal, he resolved to make war the Saguntines. As there could be no doubt
+ that by attacking them the Romans would be excited to arms, he first led his
+ army into the territory of the Olcades, a people beyond the Iberus, rather within
+ the boundaries than under the dominion of the Carthaginians, so that he might
+ not seem to have had the Saguntines for his object, but to have been drawn on
+ to the war by the course of events; after the adjoining nations had been subdued,
+ and by the progressive annexation of conquered territory. He storms and plunders
+ Carteia, a wealthy city, the capital of that nation; at which the smaller states
+ being dismayed, submitted to his command and to the imposition of a tribute.
+ His army, triumphant and enriched with booty, was led into winter-quarters to
+ New Carthage. Having there confirmed the attachment of all his countrymen and
+ allies by a liberal division of the plunder, and by faithfully discharging the
+ arrears of pay, the war was extended, in the beginning of spring, to the Vaccaei.
+ The cities Hermandica and Arbocala were taken by storm. Arbocala was defended
+ for a long time by the valour and number of its inhabitants. Those who escaped
+ from Hermandica joining themselves to the exiles of the Olcades, a nation subdued
+ the preceding summer, excite the Carpetani to arms; and having attacked Hannibal
+ near the river Tagus, on his return from the Vaccaei, they threw into disorder
+ his army encumbered with spoil. Hannibal avoided an engagement, and having pitched
+ his camp on the bank, as soon as quiet and silence prevailed among the enemy,
+ forded the river; and having removed his rampart so far that the enemy might
+ have room to pass over, resolved to attack them in their passage. He commanded
+ the cavalry to charge as soon as they should see them advanced into the water.
+ He drew up the line of his infantry on the bank with forty elephants in front.
+ The Carpetani, with the addition of the Olcades and Vaccaei amounted to a hundred
+ thousand, an invincible army, were the fight to take place in the open plain.
+ Being therefore both naturally ferocious and confiding in their numbers; and
+ since they believed that the enemy had retired through fear thinking that victory
+ was only delayed by the intervention of the river, they raise a shout, and in
+ every direction, without the command of any one, dash into the stream, each
+ where it nearest to him. At the same time, a heavy force of cavalry poured into
+ the river from its opposite bank, and the engagement commenced in the middle
+ of the channel on very unequal terms; for there the foot-soldier, having no
+ secure footing, and scarcely trusting to the ford, could be borne down even
+ by an unarmed horseman, by the mere shock of his horse urged at random; while
+ the horseman, with the command of his body and his weapons, his horse moving
+ steadily even through the middle of the eddies, could maintain the fight either
+ at close quarters or at a distance. A great number were swallowed up by the
+ current; some being carried by the whirlpools of the stream to the side of the
+ enemy, were trodden down by the elephants; and whilst the last, for whom it
+ was more safe to retreat to their own bank, were collecting together after their
+ various alarms, Hannibal, before they could regain courage after such excessive
+ consternation, having entered the river with his army in a close square, forced
+ them to fly from the bank. Having then laid waste their territory, he received
+ the submission of the Carpetani also within a few days. And now all the country
+ beyond the Iberus, excepting that of the Saguntines, was under the power of
+ the Carthaginians. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="c6" />
+<p>As yet there was no war with the Saguntines, but already, in order to a war,
+ the seeds of dissension were sown between them and their neighbours, particularly
+ the Turetani, with whom when the same person sided who had originated the quarrel,
+ and it was evident, not that a trial of the question of right, but violence,
+ was his object, ambassadors were sent by the Saguntines to Rome to implore assistance
+ in the war which now evidently threatened them. The consuls then at Rome were
+ Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus, who, after the ambassadors
+ were introduced into the senate, having made a motion on the state of public
+ affairs, it was resolved that envoys should be sent into Spain to inspect the
+ circumstances of the allies; and if they saw good reason, both to warn Hannibal
+ that he should refrain from the Saguntines, the allies of the Roman people,
+ and to pass over into Africa to Carthage, and report the complaints of the allies
+ of the Roman people. This embassy having been decreed but not yet despatched,
+ the news arrived, more quickly than any one expected, that Saguntum was besieged.
+ The business was then referred anew to the senate. And some, decreeing Spain
+ and Africa as provinces for the consuls, thought the war should be maintained
+ both by sea and land, while others wished to direct the whole hostilities against
+ Spain and Hannibal. There were others again who thought that an affair of such
+ importance should not be entered on rashly; and that the return of the ambassadors
+ from Spain ought to be awaited. This opinion, which seemed the safest, prevailed;
+ and Publius Valerius Flaccus, and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus, were, on that account,
+ the more quickly despatched as ambassadors to Hannibal at Saguntum, and from
+ thence to Carthage, if he did not desist from the war, to demand the general
+ himself in atonement for the violation of the treaty. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="c7" />
+<p>While the Romans thus prepare and deliberate, Saguntum was already besieged
+ with the utmost vigour. That city, situated about a mile from the sea, was by
+ far the most opulent beyond the Iberus. Its inhabitants are said to have been
+ sprung from the island Zacynthus, and some of the Rutulian race from Ardea to
+ have been also mixed with them; but they had risen in a short time to great
+ wealth, either by their gains from the sea or the land, or by the increase of
+ their numbers, or the integrity of their principles, by which they maintained
+ their faith with their allies, even to their own destruction. Hannibal having
+ entered their territory with a hostile army, and laid waste the country in every
+ direction, attacks the city in three different quarters. There was an angle
+ of the wall sloping down into a more level and open valley than the other space
+ around; against this he resolved to move the vineae, by means of which the battering-ram
+ might be brought up to the wall. But though the ground at a distance from the
+ wall was sufficiently level for working the vineae, yet their undertakings by
+ no means favourably succeeded, when they came to effect their object. Both a
+ huge tower overlooked it, and the wall, as in a suspected place, was raised
+ higher than in any other part; and a chosen band of youths presented a more
+ vigorous resistance, where the greatest danger and labour were indicated. At
+ first they repelled the enemy with missile weapons, and suffered no place to
+ be sufficiently secure for those engaged in the works; afterwards, not only
+ did they brandish their weapons in defence of the walls and tower, but they
+ had courage to make sallies on the posts and works of the enemy; in which tumultuary
+ engagements, scarcely more Saguntines than Carthaginians were slain. But when
+ Hannibal himself, while he too incautiously approached the wall, fell severely
+ wounded in the thigh by a javelin, such flight and dismay spread around, that
+ the works and vineae had nearly been abandoned. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="c8" />
+<p>For a few days after, while the general's wound was being cured, there was
+ rather a blockade than a siege: during which time, though there was a respite
+ from fighting, yet there was no intermission in the preparation of works and
+ fortifications. Hostilities, therefore, broke out afresh with greater fury,
+ and in more places, in some even where the ground scarcely admitted of the works,
+ the vineae began to be moved forward, and the battering-ram to be advanced to
+ the walls. The Carthaginian abounded in the numbers of his troops; for there
+ is sufficient reason to believe that he had as many as a hundred and fifty thousand
+ in arms. The townsmen began to be embarrassed, by having their attention multifariously
+ divided, in order to maintain their several defences, and look to every thing;
+ nor were they equal to the task, for the walls were now battered by the rams,
+ and many parts of them were shattered. One part by continuous ruins left the
+ city exposed; three successive towers and all the wall between them had fallen
+ down with an immense crash, and the Carthaginians believed the town taken by
+ that breach; through which, as if the wall had alike protected both, there was
+ a rush from each side to the battle. There was nothing resembling the disorderly
+ fighting which, in the storming of towns, is wont to be engaged in, on the opportunities
+ of either party; but regular lines, as in an open plain, stood arrayed between
+ the ruins of the walls and the buildings of the city, which lay but a slight
+ distance from the walls. On the one side hope, on the other despair, inflamed
+ their courage; the Carthaginian believing that, if a little additional effort
+ were used, the city was his; the Saguntines opposing their bodies in defence
+ of their native city deprived of its walls, and not a man retiring a step, lest
+ he might admit the enemy into the place he deserted. The more keenly and closely,
+ therefore, they fought on both sides, the more, on that account, were wounded,
+ no weapon falling without effect amidst their arms and persons. There was used
+ by the Saguntines a missile weapon, called falarica, with the shaft of fir,
+ and round in other parts except towards the point, whence the iron projected:
+ this part, which was square, as in the pilum, they bound around with tow, and
+ besmeared with pitch. It had an iron head three feet in length, so that it could
+ pierce through the body with the armour. But what caused the greatest fear was,
+ that this weapon, even though it stuck in the shield and did not penetrate into
+ the body, when it was discharged with the middle part on fire, and bore along
+ a much greater flame, produced by the mere motion, obliged the armour to be
+ thrown down, and exposed the soldier to succeeding blows. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="c9" />
+<p>When the contest had for a long time continued doubtful, and the courage of
+ the Saguntines had increased, because they had succeeded in their resistance
+ beyond their hopes, while the Carthaginian, because he had not conquered, felt
+ as vanquished, the townsmen suddenly set up a shout, and drive their enemies
+ to the ruins of the wall; thence they force them, while embarrassed and disordered;
+ and lastly, drove them back, routed and put to flight, to their camp. In the
+ mean time it was announced that ambassadors had arrived from Rome; to meet whom
+ messengers were sent to the sea-side by Hannibal, to tell them that they could
+ not safely come to him through so many armed bands of savage tribes, and that
+ Hannibal at such an important conjuncture had not leisure to listen to embassies.
+ It was obvious that, if not admitted, they would immediately repair to Carthage:
+ he therefore sends letters and messengers beforehand to the leaders of the Barcine
+ faction, to prepare the minds of their partisans, so that the other party might
+ not be able in any thing to give an advantage to the Romans. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="c10" />
+<p>That embassy, therefore, excepting that the ambassadors were admitted and heard,
+ proved likewise vain and fruitless. Hanno alone, in opposition to the rest of
+ the senate, pleaded the cause of the treaty, amidst deep silence on account
+ of his authority, and not from the approbation of the audience. He said: that
+ he had admonished and forewarned them by the gods, the arbiters and witnesses
+ of treaties, that they should not send the son of Hamilcar to the army; that
+ the manes, that the offspring of that man could not rest in peace, nor ever,
+ while any one of the Barcine name and blood survived, would the Roman treaties
+ continue undisturbed. "You, supplying as it were fuel to the flame, have sent
+ to your armies a youth burning with the desire of sovereign power, and seeing
+ but one road to his object, if by exciting war after war, he may live surrounded
+ by arms and legions. You have therefore fostered this fire, in which you now
+ burn. Your armies invest Saguntum, whence they are forbidden by the treaty:
+ ere long the Roman legions will invest Carthage, under the guidance of those
+ gods through whose aid they revenged in the former war the infraction of the
+ treaty. Are you unacquainted with the enemy, or with yourselves, or with the
+ fortune of either nation? Your good general refused to admit into his camp ambassadors
+ coming from allies and in behalf of allies, and set at nought the law of nations.
+ They, however, after being there repulsed, where not even the ambassadors of
+ enemies are prohibited admittance, come to you: they require restitution according
+ to the treaty: let not guilt attach to the state, they demand to have delivered
+ up to them the author of the transgression, the person who is chargeable with
+ this offence. The more gently they proceed,--the slower they are to begin, the
+ more unrelentingly, I fear, when they have once commenced, will they indulge
+ resentment. Set before your eyes the islands Aegates and Eryx, all that for
+ twenty-four years ye have suffered by land and sea. Nor was this boy the leader,
+ but his father Hamilcar himself, a second Mars, as these people would have it:
+ but we had not refrained from Tarentum, that is, from Italy, according to the
+ treaty; as now we do not refrain from Saguntum. The gods and men have, therefore,
+ prevailed over us; and as to that about which there was a dispute in words,
+ whether of the two nations had infringed the treaty, the issue of the war, like
+ an equitable judge, hath awarded the victory to the party on whose side justice
+ stood. It is against Carthage that Hannibal is now moving his vineae and towers:
+ it is the wall of Carthage that he is shaking with his battering-ram. The ruins
+ of Saguntum (oh that I may prove a false prophet!) will fall on our heads; and
+ the war commenced against the Saguntines must be continued against the Romans.
+ Shall we, therefore, some one will say, deliver up Hannibal? In what relates
+ to him I am aware that my authority is of little weight, on account of my enmity
+ with his father. But I both rejoice that Hamilcar perished, for this reason,
+ that, had he lived we should have now been engaged in a war with the Romans;
+ and this youth, as the fury and firebrand of this war, I hate and detest. Nor
+ ought he only to be given up in atonement for the violated treaty; but even
+ though no one demanded him, he ought to be transported to the extremest shores
+ of earth or sea, and banished to a distance, whence neither his name nor any
+ tidings of him can reach us, and he be unable to disturb the peace of a tranquil
+ state. I therefore give my opinion, that ambassadors be sent immediately to
+ Rome to satisfy the senate; others to tell Hannibal to lead away his army from
+ Saguntum, and to deliver up Hannibal himself, according to the treaty to the
+ Romans; and I propose a third embassy to make restitution to the Saguntines."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="c11" />
+<p>When Hanno had concluded, there was no occasion for any one to contend with
+ him in debate, to such a decree were almost all the senators devoted to Hannibal;
+ and they accused Hanno of having spoken with more malignity than Flaccus Valerius,
+ the Roman ambassador. It was then said in answer to the Roman ambassadors, "that
+ the war had been commenced by the Saguntines, not by Hannibal; and that the
+ Roman people acted unjustly if they preferred the Saguntines to the most ancient
+ [<a href="#foot15">15</a>] alliance of the Carthaginians." Whilst the Romans
+ waste time in sending embassies, Hannibal, because his soldiers were fatigued
+ with the battles and the works, allowed them rest for a few days, parties being
+ stationed to guard the vineae and other works. In the mean time he inflames
+ their minds, now by inciting their anger against the enemy, now with the hope
+ of reward. But when he declared before the assembled army, that the plunder
+ of the captured city should be given to the soldiers, to such a degree were
+ they all excited, that if the signal had been immediately given, it appeared
+ that they could not have been resisted by any force. The Saguntines, as they
+ had a respite from fighting, neither for some days attacking nor attacked, so
+ they had not, by night or day, ever ceased from toiling, that they might repair
+ anew the wall in the quarter where the town had been exposed by the breach.
+ A still more desperate storming than the former then assailed them; nor whilst
+ all quarters resounded with various clamours, could they satisfactorily know
+ where first or principally they should lend assistance. Hannibal, as an encouragement,
+ was present in person, where a movable tower, exceeding in height all the fortifications
+ of the city, was urged forward. When being brought up it had cleared the walls
+ of their defenders by means of the catapultae and ballistae ranged through all
+ its stories, then Hannibal, thinking it a favourable opportunity, sends about
+ five hundred Africans with pickaxes to undermine the wall: nor was the work
+ difficult, since the unhewn stones were not fastened with lime, but filled in
+ their interstices with clay, after the manner of ancient building. It fell,
+ therefore, more extensively than it was struck, and through the open spaces
+ of the ruins troops of armed men rushed into the city. They also obtain possession
+ of a rising ground; and having collected thither catapultae and ballistae, so
+ that they might have a fort in the city itself, commanding it like a citadel,
+ they surround it with a wall: and the Saguntines raise an inner wall before
+ the part of the city which was not yet taken. On both sides they exert the utmost
+ vigour in fortifying and fighting: but the Saguntines, by erecting these inner
+ defences, diminish daily the size of their city. At the same time, the want
+ of all supplies increased through the length of the siege, and the expectation
+ of foreign aid diminished, since the Romans, their only hope, were at such a
+ distance, and all the country round was in the power of the enemy. The sudden
+ departure of Hannibal against the Oretani and Carpetani [<a href="#foot16">16</a>]
+ revived for a little their drooping spirits; which two nations, though, exasperated
+ by the severity of the levy, they had occasioned, by detaining the commissaries,
+ the fear of a revolt, having been suddenly checked by the quickness of Hannibal,
+ laid down the arms they had taken up. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="c12" />
+<p>Nor was the siege of Saguntum, in the mean time, less vigorously maintained;
+ Maharbal, the son of Himilco, whom Hannibal had set over the army, carrying
+ on operations so actively that neither the townsmen nor their enemies perceived
+ that the general was away. He both engaged in several successful battles, and
+ with three battering-rams overthrew a portion of the wall; and showed to Hannibal,
+ on his arrival the ground all covered with fresh ruins. The army was therefore
+ immediately led against the citadel itself, and a desperate combat was commenced
+ with much slaughter on both sides, and part of the citadel was taken. The slight
+ chance of a peace was then tried by two persons; Alcon a Saguntine, and Alorcus
+ a Spaniard. Alcon, thinking he could effect something by entreaties, having
+ passed over, without the knowledge of the Saguntines, to Hannibal by night,
+ when his tears produced no effect, and harsh conditions were offered as from
+ an exasperated conqueror, becoming a deserter instead of an advocate, remained
+ with the enemy; affirming that the man would be put to death who should treat
+ for peace on such terms. For it was required that they should make restitution
+ to the Turdetani; and after delivering up all their gold and silver, departing
+ from the city each with a single garment, should take up their dwelling where
+ the Carthaginian should direct. Alcon having denied that the Saguntines would
+ accept such terms of peace, Alorcus, asserting that when all else is subdued,
+ the mind becomes subdued, offers himself as the proposer of that peace. Now
+ at that time he was a soldier of Hannibal's, but publicly the friend and host
+ of the Saguntines. Having openly delivered his weapon to the guards of the enemy
+ and passed the fortifications, he was conducted, as he had himself requested,
+ to the Saguntine praetor; whither when there was immediately a general rush
+ of every description of people, the rest of the multitude being removed, an
+ audience of the senate is given to Alorcus; whose speech was to the following
+ effect: </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="c13" />
+<p>"If your citizen Alcon, as he came to implore a peace from Hannibal, had in
+ like manner brought back to you the terms of peace proposed by Hannibal, this
+ journey of mine would have been unnecessary; by which circumstance I should
+ not have had to come to you as the legate of Hannibal, nor as a deserter. Since
+ he has remained with your enemies, either through your fault or his own, (through
+ his own, if he counterfeited fear; through yours, if among you there be danger
+ to those who tell the truth,) that you may not be ignorant that there are some
+ terms of safety and peace for you, I have come to you in consideration of the
+ ancient ties of hospitality which subsist between us. But that I speak what
+ I address to you for your sake and that of no other, let even this be the proof:
+ that neither while you resisted with your own strength, nor while you expected
+ assistance from the Romans, did I ever make any mention of peace to you. But
+ now, after you have neither any hope from the Romans, nor your own arms nor
+ walls sufficiently defend you, I bring to you a peace rather necessary than
+ just: of effecting which there is thus some hope, if, as Hannibal offers it
+ in the spirit of a conqueror, you listen to it as vanquished; if you will consider
+ not what is taken from you as loss, (since all belongs to the conqueror,) but
+ whatever is left as a gift. He takes away from you your city, which, already
+ for the greater part in ruins, he has almost wholly in his possession; he leaves
+ you your territory, intending to mark out a place in which you may build a new
+ town; he commands that all the gold and silver, both public and private, shall
+ be brought to him; he preserves inviolate your persons and those of your wives
+ and children, provided you are willing to depart from Saguntum, unarmed, each
+ with two garments. These terms a victorious enemy dictates. These, though harsh
+ and grievous, your condition commends to you. Indeed I do not despair, when
+ the power of every thing is given him, that he will remit something from these
+ terms. But even these I think you ought rather to endure, than suffer, by the
+ rights of war, yourselves to be slaughtered, your wives and children to be ravished
+ and dragged into captivity before your faces." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="c14" />
+<p>When an assembly of the people, by the gradual crowding round of the multitude,
+ had mingled with the senate to hear these proposals, the chief men suddenly
+ withdrawing before an answer was returned, and throwing all the gold and silver
+ collected, both from public and private stores, into a fire hastily kindled
+ for that purpose, the greater part flung themselves also into it. When the dismay
+ and agitation produced by this deed had pervaded the whole city, another noise
+ was heard in addition from the citadel. A tower, long battered, had fallen down;
+ and when a Carthaginian cohort, rushing through the breach, had made a signal
+ to the general that the city was destitute of the usual outposts and guards,
+ Hannibal, thinking that there ought to be no delay at such an opportunity, having
+ attacked the city with his whole forces, took it in a moment, command being
+ given that all the adults should be put to death; which command, though cruel,
+ was proved in the issue to have been almost necessary. For to whom of those
+ men could mercy have been shown, who, either shut up with their wives and children,
+ burned their houses over their own heads, or abroad in arms made no end of fighting,
+ except in death. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="c15" />
+<p>The town was taken, with immense spoil. Though the greater part of the goods
+ had been purposely damaged by their owners, and resentment had made scarce any
+ distinction of age in the massacre, and the captives were the booty of the soldiers;
+ still it appears that some money was raised from the price of the effects that
+ were sold, and that much costly furniture and garments were sent to Carthage.
+ Some have written that Saguntum was taken in the eighth month after it began
+ to be besieged; that Hannibal then retired to New Carthage, into winter quarters;
+ and that in the fifth month after he had set out from Carthage he arrived in
+ Italy. If this be so, it was impossible that Publius Cornelius and Tiberius
+ Sempronius could have been consuls, to whom both at the beginning of the siege
+ the Saguntine ambassadors were despatched, and who, during their office, fought
+ with Hannibal; the one at the river Ticinus, and both some time after at the
+ Trebia. Either all these events took place in a somewhat shorter period, or
+ Saguntum was not begun to be besieged, but taken at the beginning of the year
+ in which Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius were consuls. For the battle
+ at Trebia could not have been so late as the year of Cneius Servilius and Caius
+ Flaminius, since Flaminius entered on the office at Ariminum, having been created
+ by the consul Tiberius Sempronius; who, having repaired to Rome after the battle
+ at Trebia for the purpose of creating consuls, returned when the election was
+ finished to the army into winter quarters. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="c16" />
+<p>Nearly about the same time, both the ambassadors who had returned from Carthage
+ brought intelligence to Rome that all appearances were hostile, and the destruction
+ of Saguntum was announced. Then such grief, and pity for allies so undeservingly
+ destroyed, and shame that aid was withheld, and rage against the Carthaginians,
+ and fear for the issue of events, as if the enemy were already at the gates,
+ took at once possession of the senators, that their minds, disturbed by so many
+ simultaneous emotions, trembled with fear rather than deliberated. For they
+ considered that neither had a more spirited or warlike enemy ever encountered
+ them nor had the Roman state been ever so sunk in sloth, and unfit for war:
+ that the Sardinians, the Corsicans, the Istrians, and the Illyrians, had rather
+ kept in a state of excitement than exercised the Roman arms; and with the Gauls
+ it had been more properly a tumult than a war. That the Carthaginian, a veteran
+ enemy, ever victorious during the hardest service for twenty-three years among
+ the tribes of Spain, first trained to war under Hamilcar, then Hasdrubal, now
+ Hannibal, a most active leader, and fresh from the destruction of a most opulent
+ city, was passing the Iberus; that along with them he was bringing the numerous
+ tribes of Spain, already aroused, and was about to excite the nations of Gaul,
+ ever desirous of war; and that a war against the world was to be maintained
+ in Italy and before the walls of Rome. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="c17" />
+<p>The provinces had already been previously named for the consuls; and having
+ been now ordered to cast lots for them, Spain fell to Cornelius, and Africa
+ with Sicily to Sempronius. Six legions were decreed for that year, and as many
+ of the allies as should seem good to the consuls, and as great a fleet as could
+ be equipped. Twenty-four thousand Roman infantry were levied, and one thousand
+ eight hundred horse: forty thousand infantry of the allies, and four thousand
+ four hundred horse: two hundred and twenty ships of three banks of oars, and
+ twenty light galleys, were launched. It was then proposed to the people, "whether
+ they willed and commanded that war should be declared against the people of
+ Carthage;" and for the sake of that war a supplication was made through the
+ city, and the gods were implored that the war which the Roman people had decreed
+ might have a prosperous and fortunate issue. The forces were thus divided between
+ the consuls. To Sempronius two legions were given, (each of these consisted
+ of four thousand infantry and three hundred horse,) and sixteen thousand of
+ the infantry of the allies, and one thousand eight hundred horse: one hundred
+ and sixty ships of war, and twelve light galleys. With these land and sea forces
+ Tiberius Sempronius was despatched to Sicily, in order to transport his army
+ to Africa if the other consul should be able to prevent the Carthaginian from
+ invading Italy. Fewer troops were given to Cornelius, because Lucius Manlius,
+ the praetor, also had been sent with no weak force into Gaul. The number of
+ ships in particular was reduced to Cornelius. Sixty of five banks of oars were
+ assigned to him, (for they did not believe that the enemy would come by sea,
+ or would fight after that mode of warfare,) and two Roman legions with their
+ regular cavalry, and fourteen thousand of the infantry of the allies, with one
+ thousand six hundred horse. The province of Gaul being not as yet exposed to
+ the Carthaginian invasion, had, in the same year, two Roman legions, ten thousand
+ allied infantry, one thousand allied cavalry, and six hundred Roman. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="c18" />
+<p>These preparations having been thus made, in order that every thing that was
+ proper might be done before they commenced war, they send Quintus Fabius, Marcus
+ Livius, Lucius Aemilius, Caius Licinius, and Quintus Baebius, men of advanced
+ years, as ambassadors into Africa, to inquire of the Carthaginians if Hannibal
+ had laid siege to Saguntum by public authority; and if they should confess it,
+ as it seemed probable they would, and defend it as done by public authority,
+ to declare war against the people of Carthage. After the Romans arrived at Carthage,
+ when an audience of the senate was given them, and Quintus Fabius had addressed
+ no further inquiry than the one with which they had been charged, then one of
+ the Carthaginians replied: "Even your former embassy, O Romans, was precipitate,
+ when you demanded Hannibal to be given up, as attacking Saguntum on his own
+ authority: but your present embassy, though so far milder in words, is in fact
+ more severe. For then Hannibal was both accused, and required to be delivered
+ up: now both a confession of wrong is exacted from us, and, as though we had
+ confessed, restitution is immediately demanded. But I think that the question
+ is not, whether Saguntum was attacked by private or public authority, but whether
+ it was with right or wrong. For in the case of our citizen, the right of inquiry,
+ whether he has acted by his own pleasure or ours, and the punishment also, belongs
+ to us. The only dispute with you is, whether it was allowed to be done by the
+ treaty. Since, therefore, it pleases you that a distinction should be made between
+ what commanders do by public authority, and what on their own suggestion, there
+ was a treaty between us made by the consul Lutatius; in which, though provision
+ was made for the allies of both, there is no provision made for the Saguntines,
+ for they were not as yet your allies. But in that treaty which was made with
+ Hasdrubal, the Saguntines are excepted; against which I am going to say nothing
+ but what I have learned from you. For you denied that you were bound by the
+ treaty which Caius Lutatius the consul first made with us, because that it had
+ neither been made by the authority of the senate nor the command of the people;
+ and another treaty was therefore concluded anew by public authority. If your
+ treaties do not bind you unless they are made by your authority and your commands,
+ neither can the treaty of Hasdrubal, which he made without our knowledge, be
+ binding on us. Cease, therefore, to make mention of Saguntum and the Iberus,
+ and let your mind at length bring forth that with which it has long been in
+ labour." Then the Roman, having formed a fold in his robe, said, "Here we bring
+ to you peace and war; take which you please." On this speech they exclaimed
+ no less fiercely in reply: "he might give which he chose;" and when he again,
+ unfolding his robe, said "he gave war," they all answered that "they accepted
+ it, and would maintain it with the same spirit with which they accepted it."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="c19" />
+<p>This direct inquiry and denunciation of war seemed more consistent with the
+ dignity of the Roman people, both before and now, especially when Saguntum was
+ destroyed, than to cavil in words about the obligation of treaties. For if it
+ was a subject for a controversy of words, in what was the treaty of Hasdrubal
+ to be compared with the former treaty of Lutatius, which was altered? Since
+ in the treaty of Lutatius, was expressly added, "that it should only be held
+ good if the people sanctioned it;" but in the treaty of Hasdrubal, neither was
+ there any such exception; and that treaty during its life had been so established
+ by the silence of so many years, that not even after the death of its author
+ was any change made in it. Although even were they to abide by the former treaty,
+ there had been sufficient provision made for the Saguntines by excepting the
+ allies of both states; for neither was it added, "those who then were," nor
+ "those who should afterwards be admitted." and since it is allowable to admit
+ new allies, who could think it proper, either that no people should be received
+ for any services into friendship? or that, being received under protection,
+ they should not be defended? It was only stipulated, that the allies of the
+ Carthaginians should not be excited to revolt, nor, revolting of their own accord,
+ be received. The Roman ambassadors, according as they had been commanded at
+ Rome, passed over from Carthage into Spain, in order to visit the nations, and
+ either to allure them into an alliance, or dissuade them from joining the Carthaginians.
+ They came first to the Bargusii, by whom having been received with welcome,
+ because they were weary of the Carthaginian government, they excited many of
+ the states beyond the Iberus to the desire of a revolution. Thence they came
+ to the Volciani, whose reply being celebrated through Spain, dissuaded the other
+ states from an alliance with the Romans; for thus the oldest member in their
+ council made answer: "What sense of shame have ye, Romans, to ask of us that
+ we should prefer your friendship to that of the Carthaginians, when you, their
+ allies, betrayed the Saguntines with greater cruelty than that with which the
+ Carthaginians, their enemies, destroyed them? There, methinks, you should look
+ for allies, where the massacre of Saguntum is unknown. The ruins of Saguntum
+ will remain a warning as melancholy as memorable to the states of Spain, that
+ no one should confide in the faith or alliance of Rome." Having been then commanded
+ to depart immediately from the territory of the Volciani, they afterwards received
+ no kinder words from any of the councils of Spain: they therefore pass into
+ Gaul, after having gone about through Spain to no purpose. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="c20" />
+<p>Among the Gauls a new and alarming spectacle was seen, by reason of their coming
+ (such is the custom of the nation) in arms to the assembly. When, extolling
+ in their discourse the renown and valour of the Roman people, and the wide extent
+ of their empire, they had requested that they would refuse a passage through
+ their territory and cities to the Carthaginian invading Italy; such laughter
+ and yelling is said to have arisen, that the youths were with difficulty composed
+ to order by the magistrates and old men. So absurd and shameless did the request
+ seem, to propose that the Gauls, rather than suffer the war to pass on to Italy,
+ should turn it upon themselves and expose their own lands to be laid waste instead
+ of those of others. When the tumult was at length allayed, answer was returned
+ to the ambassadors, "that they had neither experienced good from the Romans,
+ nor wrong from the Carthaginians, on account of which they should either take
+ up arms in behalf of the Romans, or against the Cathaginians. On the contrary,
+ they had heard that men of their nation had been driven from the lands and confines
+ of Italy by the Roman people, that they had to pay a tribute, and suffered other
+ indignities." Nearly the same was said and heard in the other assemblies of
+ Gaul; nor did they hear any thing friendly or pacific before they came to Marseilles.
+ There, every thing found out by the care and fidelity of the allies was made
+ known to them--"that the minds of the Gauls had been already prepossessed by
+ Hannibal, but that not even by him would that nation be found very tractable,
+ (so fierce and untameable are their dispositions,) unless the affections of
+ the chiefs should every now and then be conciliated with gold, of which that
+ people are most covetous." Having thus gone round through the tribes of Spain
+ and Gaul, the ambassadors return to Rome not long after the consuls had set
+ out for their provinces. They found the whole city on tiptoe in expectation
+ of war, the report being sufficiently confirmed, that the Carthaginians had
+ already passed the Iberus. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="c21" />
+<p>Hannibal, after the taking of Saguntum, had retired to New Carthage into winter
+ quarters; and there, having heard what had been done and decreed at Rome and
+ Carthage, and that he was not only the leader, but also the cause of the war,
+ after having divided and sold the remains of the plunder, thinking there ought
+ to be no longer delay, he calls together and thus addresses his soldiers of
+ the Spanish race: "I believe, tribes, that even you yourselves perceive that,
+ all the tribes of Spain having been reduced to peace, we must either conclude
+ our campaigns and disband our armies, or transfer the war into other regions:
+ for thus these nations will flourish amid the blessings not only of peace, but
+ also of victory, if we seek from other countries spoils and renown. Since, therefore,
+ a campaign far from home soon awaits you, and it is uncertain when you shall
+ again see your homes, and all that is there dear to you, if any one of you wishes
+ to visit his friends, I grant him leave of absence. I give you orders to be
+ here at the beginning of spring, that, with the good assistance of the gods,
+ we may enter on a war which will prove one of great glory and spoil." This power
+ of visiting their homes, voluntarily offered, was acceptable to almost all,
+ already longing to see their friends, and foreseeing in future a still longer
+ absence Repose through the whole season of winter, between toils already undergone
+ and those that were soon to be endured, repaired the vigour of their bodies
+ and minds to encounter all difficulties afresh. At the beginning of spring they
+ assembled according to command. Hannibal, when he had reviewed the auxiliaries
+ of all the nations, having gone to Gades, performs his vows to Hercules; and
+ binds himself by new vows, provided his other projects should have a prosperous
+ issue. Then dividing his care at the same time between the offensive and defensive
+ operations of the war, lest while he was advancing on Italy by a land journey
+ through Spain and Gaul, Africa should be unprotected and exposed to the Romans
+ from Sicily, he resolved to strengthen it with a powerful force. For this purpose
+ he requested a reinforcement from Africa, chiefly of light-armed spearmen, in
+ order that the Africans might serve in Spain, and the Spaniards in Africa, each
+ likely to be a better soldier at a distance from home, as if bound by mutual
+ pledges. He sent into Africa thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty targetteers,
+ eight hundred and seventy Balearic slingers, and one thousand two hundred horsemen,
+ composed of various nations. He orders these forces partly to be used as a garrison
+ for Carthage and partly to be distributed through Africa: at the same time having
+ sent commissaries into the different states, he orders four thousand chosen
+ youth whom they had levied to be conducted to Carthage, both as a garrison and
+ as hostages. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="c22" />
+<p>Thinking also that Spain ought not to be neglected (and the less because he
+ was aware that it had been traversed by the Roman ambassadors, to influence
+ the minds of the chiefs,) he assigns that province to his brother Hasdrubal,
+ a man of active spirit, and strengthens him chiefly with African troops: eleven
+ thousand eight hundred and fifty African infantry, three hundred Ligurians,
+ and five hundred Balearians. To these forces of infantry were added four hundred
+ horsemen of the Libyphoenicians, a mixed race of Carthaginians and Africans;
+ of the Numidians and Moors, who border on the ocean, to the number of one thousand
+ eight hundred, and a small band of Ilergetes from Spain, amounting to two hundred
+ horse: and, that no description of land force might be wanting, fourteen elephants.
+ A fleet was given him besides to defend the sea-coast, (because it might be
+ supposed that the Romans would then fight in the same mode of warfare by which
+ they had formerly prevailed,) fifty quinqueremes, two quadriremes, five triremes:
+ but only thirty-two quinqueremes and five triremes were properly fitted out
+ and manned with rowers. From Gades he returned to the winter quarters of the
+ army at Carthage; and thence setting out, he led his forces by the city Etovissa
+ to the Iberus and the sea-coast. There, it is reported, a youth of divine aspect
+ was seen by him in his sleep, who said, "that he was sent by Jupiter as the
+ guide of Hannibal into Italy, and that he should, therefore, follow him, nor
+ in any direction turn his eyes away from him." At first he followed in terror,
+ looking no where, either around or behind: afterwards, through the curiosity
+ of the human mind, when he revolved in his mind what that could be on which
+ he was forbidden to look back, he could not restrain his eyes; then he beheld
+ behind him a serpent of wonderful size moving along with an immense destruction
+ of trees and bushes, and after it a cloud following with thunderings from the
+ skies; and that then inquiring "what was that great commotion, and what the
+ cause of the prodigy," he heard in reply: "That it was the devastation of Italy:
+ that he should continue to advance forward, nor inquire further, but suffer
+ the fates to remain in obscurity." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="c23" />
+<p>Cheered by this vision, he transported his forces in three divisions across
+ the Iberus, having sent emissaries before him to conciliate by gifts the minds
+ of the Gauls, in the quarter through which his army was to be led, and to examine
+ the passes of the Alps. He led ninety thousand infantry and twelve thousand
+ cavalry across the Iberus. He then subdued the Ilergetes, the Bargusii, the
+ Ausetani, and that part of Lacetania which lies at the foot of the Pyrenaean
+ mountains; and he placed Hanno in command over all this district, that the narrow
+ gorges which connect Spain with Gaul might be under his power. Ten thousand
+ infantry, and a thousand cavalry, were given to Hanno for the defence of the
+ country he was to occupy. After the army began to march through the passes of
+ the Pyrenees, and a more certain rumour of the Roman war spread through the
+ barbarians, three thousand of the Carpetanian infantry turned back: it clearly
+ appeared that they were not so much swayed by the prospect of the war as by
+ the length of the journey and the insuperable passage of the Alps. Hannibal,
+ because it was hazardous to recall or detain them by force, lest the fierce
+ minds of the rest might also be irritated, sent home above seven thousand men,
+ whom also he had observed to be annoyed with the service, pretending that the
+ Carpetani had also been dismissed by him. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="c24" />
+<p>Then, lest delay and ease might unsettle their minds, he crosses the Pyrenees
+ with the rest of his forces, and pitches his camp at the town Illiberis. The
+ Gauls, though they had heard that the war was directed against Italy, yet because
+ there was a report that the Spaniards on the other side of the Pyrenees had
+ been reduced by force, and that strong forces had been imposed on them, being
+ roused to arms through the fear of slavery, assembled certain tribes at Ruscino.
+ When this was announced to Hannibal, he, having more fear of the delay than
+ of the war, sent envoys to say to their princes, "that he wished to confer with
+ them; and that they should either come nearer to Illiberis, or that he would
+ proceed to Ruscino, that their meeting might be facilitated by vicinity: for
+ that he would either be happy to receive them into his camp, or would himself
+ without hesitation come to them: since he had entered Gaul as a friend, and
+ not as an enemy, and would not draw the sword, if the Gauls did not force him,
+ before he came to Italy." These proposals, indeed, were made by his messengers.
+ But when the princes of the Gauls, having immediately moved their camp to Illiberis,
+ came without reluctance to the Carthaginian, being won by his presents, they
+ suffered his army to pass through their territories, by the town of Ruscino,
+ without any molestation. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="c25" />
+<p>In the mean time no further intelligence had been brought into Italy to Rome
+ by the ambassadors of Marseilles than that Hannibal had passed the Iberus; when
+ the Boii asked if he had already passed the Alps, revolted after instigating
+ the Insubrians; not so much through their ancient resentment towards the Roman
+ people, as on account of their having felt aggrieved that the colonies of Placentia
+ and Cremona had been lately planted in the Gallic territory about the Po. Having
+ therefore, suddenly taken up arms, and made an attack on that very territory,
+ they created so much of terror and tumult, that not only the rustic population,
+ but even the Roman triumvirs, Caius Lutatius, Caius Servilius, and Titus Annius,
+ who had come to assign the lands, distrusting the walls of Placentia, fled to
+ Mutina. About the name of Luttius there is no doubt: in place of Caius Servilius
+ and Titus Annius, some annals have Quintus Acilius and Caius Herenrius; others,
+ Publius Cornelius Asina and Caius Papirius Maso. This point is also uncertain,
+ whether the ambassadors went to expostulate to the Boii suffered violence, or
+ whether an attack was made on the triumvirs while measuring out the lands. While
+ they were shut up in Mutina, and a people unskilled in the arts of besieging
+ towns, and, at the same time, most sluggish at military operations, lay inactive
+ before the walls, which they had not touched, pretended proposals for a peace
+ were set on foot; and the ambassadors, being invited out to a conference by
+ the chiefs of the Gauls, are seized, not only contrary to the law of nations,
+ but in violation of the faith which was pledged on that very occasion; the Gauls
+ denying that they would set them free unless their hostages were restored to
+ them. When this intelligence respecting the ambassadors was announced, and that
+ Mutina and its garrison were in danger, Lucius Manlius, the praetor, inflamed
+ with rage, led his army in haste to Mutina. There were then woods on both sides
+ of the road, most of the country being uncultivated. There, having advanced
+ without previously exploring his route, he fell suddenly into an ambuscade;
+ and after much slaughter of his men, with difficulty made his way into the open
+ plains. Here a camp was fortified, and because confidence was wanting to the
+ Gauls to attack it, the spirit of the soldiers revived, although it was sufficiently
+ evident that their strength was much clipped. The journey was then commenced
+ anew; nor while the army was led in march through open tracts did the enemy
+ appear: but, when the woods were again entered, then attacking the rear, amid
+ great confusion and alarm of all, they slew eight hundred soldiers, and took
+ six standards. There was an end to the Gauls of creating, and to the Romans
+ of experiencing terror, when they escaped from the pathless and entangled thicket;
+ then easily defending their march through the open ground, the Romans directed
+ their course to Tanetum, a village near the Po; where, by a temporary fortification,
+ and the supplies conveyed by the river, and also by the aid of the Brixian Gauls,
+ they defended themselves against the daily increasing multitude of their enemies.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="c26" />
+<p>When the account of this sudden disturbance was brought to Rome, and the senators
+ heard that the Punic had also been increased by a Gallic war, they order Caius
+ Atilius, the praetor, to carry assistance to Manlius with one Roman legion and
+ five thousand of the allies, enrolled in the late levy by the consul: who, without
+ any contest, for the enemy had retired through fear, arrived at Tanetum. At
+ the same time Publius Cornelius, a new legion having been levied in the room
+ of that which was sent with the praetor, setting out from the city with sixty
+ ships of war, by the coast of Etruria and Liguria, and then the mountains of
+ the Salyes, arrived at Marseilles, and pitched his camp at the nearest mouth
+ of the Rhone, (for the stream flows down to the sea divided into several channels,)
+ scarcely as yet well believing that Hannibal had crossed the Pyrenaean mountains;
+ whom when he ascertained to be also meditating the passage of the Rhone, uncertain
+ in what place he might meet him, his soldiers not yet being sufficiently recovered
+ from the tossing of the sea, he sends forward, in the mean time, three hundred
+ chosen horses, with Massilian guides and Gallic auxiliaries, to explore all
+ the country, and observe the enemy from a safe distance. Hannibal, the other
+ states being pacified by fear or bribes, had now come into the territory of
+ the Volcae, a powerful nation. They, indeed, dwell on both sides of the Rhone:
+ but doubting that the Carthaginian could be driven from the hither bank, in
+ order that they might have the river as a defence, having transported almost
+ all their effects across the Rhone, occupied in arms the farther bank of the
+ river. Hannibal, by means of presents, persuades the other inhabitants of the
+ river-side, and some even of the Volcae themselves, whom their homes had detained,
+ to collect from every quarter and build ships; and they at the same time themselves
+ desired that the army should be transported, and their country relieved, as
+ soon as possible, from the vast multitude of men that burthened it. A great
+ number, therefore, of ships and boats rudely formed for the neighbouring passages,
+ were collected together; and the Gauls, first beginning the plan, hollowed out
+ some new ones from single trees; and then the soldiers themselves, at once induced
+ by the plenty of materials and the easiness of the work, hastily formed shapeless
+ hulks, in which they could transport themselves and their baggage, caring about
+ nothing else, provided they could float and contain their burthen. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="c27" />
+<p>And now, when all things were sufficiently prepared for crossing, the enemy
+ over against them occupying the whole bank, horse and foot, deterred them. In
+ order to dislodge them, Hannibal orders Hanno, the son of Bomilcar, at the first
+ watch of the night, to proceed with a part of the forces, principally Spanish,
+ one day's journey up the river; and having crossed it where he might first be
+ able, as secretly as possible, to lead round his forces, that when the occasion
+ required he might attack the enemy in the rear. The Gauls, given him as guides
+ for the purpose, inform him that about twenty-five miles from thence, the river
+ spreading round a small island, broader where it was divided, and therefore
+ with a shallower channel, presented a passage. At this place timber was quickly
+ cut down and rafts formed, on which men, horses, and other burthens might be
+ conveyed over. The Spaniards, without making any difficulty, having put their
+ clothes in bags of leather, and themselves leaning on their bucklers placed
+ beneath them, swam across the river. And the rest of the army, after passing
+ on the rafts joined together, and pitching their camp near the river, being
+ fatigued by the journey of the night and the labour of the work, are refreshed
+ by the rest of one day, their leader being anxious to execute his design at
+ a proper season. Setting out next day from this place, they signify by raising
+ a smoke that they had crossed, and were not far distant; which when Hannibal
+ understood, that he might not be wanting on the opportunity, he gives the signal
+ for passing. The infantry already had the boats prepared and fitted; a line
+ of ships higher up transporting the horsemen for the most part near their horses
+ swimming beside them, in order to break the force of the current, rendered the
+ water smooth to the boats crossing below. A great part of the horses were led
+ across swimming, held by bridles from the stern, except those which they put
+ on board saddled and bridled, in order that they might be ready to be used by
+ the rider the moment he disembarked on the strand. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="c28" />
+<p>The Gauls run down to the bank to meet them with various whoopings and songs,
+ according to their custom, shaking their shields above their heads, and brandishing
+ their weapons in their right hands, although such a multitude of ships in front
+ of them alarmed them, together with the loud roaring of the river, and the mingled
+ clamours of the sailors and soldiers, both those who were striving to break
+ through the force of the current, and those who from the other bank were encouraging
+ their comrades on their passage. While sufficiently dismayed by this tumult
+ in front, more terrifying shouts from behind assailed them, their camp having
+ been taken by Hanno; presently he himself came up, and a twofold terror encompassed
+ them, both such a multitude of armed men landing from the ships, and this unexpected
+ army pressing on their rear. When the Gauls, having made a prompt and bold effort
+ to force the enemy, were themselves repulsed, they break through where a way
+ seemed most open, and fly in consternation to their villages around. Hannibal,
+ now despising these tumultuary onsets of the Gauls, having transported the rest
+ of his forces at leisure, pitches his camp. I believe that there were various
+ plans for transporting the elephants; at least there are various accounts of
+ the way in which it was done. Some relate, that after the elephants were assembled
+ together on the bank, the fiercest of them being provoked by his keeper, pursued
+ him as he swam across the water, to which he had run for refuge, and drew after
+ him the rest of the herd; the mere force of the stream hurrying them to the
+ other bank, when the bottom had failed each, fearful of the depth. But there
+ is more reason to believe that they were conveyed across on rafts; which plan,
+ as it must have appeared the safer before execution, is after it the more entitled
+ to credit. They extended from the bank into the river one raft two hundred feet
+ long and fifty broad, which, fastened higher up by several strong cables to
+ the bank, that it might not be carried down by the stream they covered, like
+ a bridge, with earth thrown upon it, so that the beasts might tread upon it
+ without fear, as over solid ground. Another raft equally broad and a hundred
+ feet long, fit for crossing the river, was joined to this first; and when the
+ elephants, driven along the stationary raft as along a road had passed, the
+ females leading the way, on to the smaller raft which was joined to it, the
+ lashings, by which it was slightly fastened, being immediately let go, it was
+ drawn by some light boats to the opposite side. The first having been thus landed,
+ the rest were then returned for and carried across. They gave no signs of alarm
+ whatever while they were driven along as it were on a continuous bridge. The
+ first fear was, when, the raft being loosed from the rest, they were hurried
+ into the deep. Then pressing together, as those at the edges drew back from
+ the water, they produced some disorder, till mere terror, when they saw water
+ all around, produced quiet. Some, indeed, becoming infuriated, fell into the
+ river; but, steadied by their own weight, having thrown off their riders, and
+ seeking step by step the shallows, they escaped to the shore. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="c29" />
+<p>Whilst the elephants were conveyed over, Hannibal, in the mean time, had sent
+ five hundred Numidian horsemen towards the camp of the Romans, to observe where
+ and how numerous their forces were, and what they were designing. The three
+ hundred Roman horsemen sent, as was before said, from the mouth of the Rhone,
+ meet this band of cavalry; and a more furious engagement than could be expected
+ from the number of the combatants takes place. For, besides many wounds, the
+ loss on both sides was also nearly equal: and the flight and dismay of the Numidians
+ gave victory to the Romans, now exceedingly fatigued. There fell of the conquerors
+ one hundred and sixty, not all Romans, but partly Gauls: of the vanquished more
+ than two hundred. This commencement, and at the same time omen of the war, as
+ it portended to the Romans a prosperous issue of the whole, so did it also the
+ success of a doubtful and by no means bloodless contest. When, after the action
+ had thus occurred, his own men returned to each general, Scipio could adopt
+ no fixed plan of proceeding, except that he should form his measures from the
+ plans and undertakings of the enemy: and Hannibal, uncertain whether he should
+ pursue the march he had commenced into Italy, or fight with the Roman army which
+ had first presented itself, the arrival of ambassadors from the Boii, and of
+ a petty prince called Magalus, diverted from an immediate engagement; who, declaring
+ that they would be the guides of his journey and the companions of his dangers,
+ gave it as their opinion, that Italy ought to be attacked with the entire force
+ of the war, his strength having been no where previously impaired. The troops
+ indeed feared the enemy, the remembrance of the former war not being yet obliterated;
+ but much more did they dread the immense journey and the Alps, a thing formidable
+ by report, particularly to the inexperienced. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="c30" />
+<p>Hannibal, therefore, when his own resolution was fixed to proceed in his course
+ and advance on Italy, having summoned an assembly, works upon the minds of the
+ soldiers in various ways, by reproof and exhortation. He said, that "he wondered
+ what sudden fear had seized breasts ever before undismayed: that through so
+ many years they had made their campaigns with conquest; nor had departed from
+ Spain before all the nations and countries which two opposite seas embrace,
+ were subjected to the Carthaginians. That then, indignant that the Romans demanded
+ those, whosoever had besieged Saguntum, to be delivered up to them, as on account
+ of a crime, they had passed the Iberus to blot out the name of the Romans, and
+ to emancipate the world. That then the way seemed long to no one, though they
+ were pursuing it from the setting to the rising of the sun. That now, when they
+ saw by far the greater part of their journey accomplished, the passes of the
+ Pyrenees surmounted, amid the most ferocious nations, the Rhone, that mighty
+ river, crossed, in spite of the opposition of so many thousand Gauls, the fury
+ of the river itself having been overcome, when they had the Alps in sight, the
+ other side of which was Italy, should they halt through weariness at the very
+ gates of the enemy, imagining the Alps to be--what else than lofty mountains?
+ That supposing them to be higher than the summits of the Pyrenees, assuredly
+ no part of the earth reached the sky, nor was insurmountable by mankind. The
+ Alps in fact were inhabited and cultivated;--produced and supported living beings.
+ Were they passable by a few men and impassable to armies? That those very ambassadors
+ whom they saw before them had not crossed the Alps borne aloft through the air
+ on wings; neither were their ancestors indeed natives of the soil, but settling
+ in Italy from foreign countries, had often as emigrants safely crossed these
+ very Alps in immense bodies, with their wives and children. To the armed soldier,
+ carrying nothing with him but the instruments of war, what in reality was impervious
+ or insurmountable? That Saguntum might be taken, what dangers, what toils were
+ for eight months undergone! Now, when their aim was Rome, the capital of the
+ world, could any thing appear so dangerous or difficult as to delay their undertaking?
+ That the Gauls had formerly gained possession of that very country which the
+ Carthaginian despairs of being able to approach. That they must, therefore,
+ either yield in spirit and valour to that nation which they had so often during
+ those times overcome; or look forward, as the end of their journey, to the plain
+ which spreads between the Tiber and the walls of Rome." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="c31" />
+<p>He orders them, roused by these exhortations, to refresh themselves and prepare
+ for the journey. Next day, proceeding upward along the bank of the Rhone, he
+ makes for the inland part of Gaul: not because it was the more direct route
+ to the Alps, but believing that the farther he retired from the sea, the Romans
+ would be less in his way; with whom, before he arrived in Italy, he had no intention
+ of engaging. After four days' march he came to the Island: there the streams
+ of the Arar and the Rhone, flowing down from different branches of the Alps,
+ after embracing a pretty large tract of country, flow into one. The name of
+ the Island is given to the plains that lie between them. The Allobroges dwell
+ near, a nation even in those days inferior to none in Gaul in power and fame.
+ They were at that time at variance. Two brothers were contending for the sovereignty.
+ The elder, named Brancus, who had before been king, was driven out by his younger
+ brother and a party of the younger men, who, inferior in right, had more of
+ power. When the decision of this quarrel was most opportunely referred to Hannibal,
+ being appointed arbitrator of the kingdom, he restored the sovereignty to the
+ elder, because such had been the opinion of the senate and the chief men. In
+ return for this service, he was assisted with a supply of provisions, and plenty
+ of all necessaries, particularly clothing, which the Alps, notorious for extreme
+ cold, rendered necessary to be prepared. After composing the dissensions of
+ the Allobroges, when he now was proceeding to the Alps, he directed his course
+ thither, not by the straight road, but turned to the left into the country of
+ the Tricastini, thence by the extreme boundary of the territory of the Vocontii
+ he proceeded to the Tricorii; his way not being any where obstructed till he
+ came to the river Druentia. This stream, also arising amid the Alps, is by far
+ the most difficult to pass of all the rivers in Gaul; for though it rolls down
+ an immense body of water, yet it does not admit of ships; because, being restrained
+ by no banks, and flowing in several and not always the same channels, and continually
+ forming new shallows and new whirlpools, (on which account the passage is also
+ uncertain to a person on foot,) and rolling down besides gravelly stones, it
+ affords no firm or safe passage to those who enter it; and having been at that
+ time swollen by showers, it created great disorder among the soldiers as they
+ crossed, when, in addition to other difficulties, they were of themselves confused
+ by their own hurry and uncertain shouts. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="c32" />
+<p>Publius Cornelius the consul, about three days after Hannibal moved from the
+ bank of the Rhone, had come to the camp of the enemy, with his army drawn up
+ in square, intending to make no delay in fighting: but when he saw the fortifications
+ deserted, and that he could not easily come up with them so far in advance before
+ him, he returned to the sea and his fleet, in order more easily and safely to
+ encounter Hannibal when descending from the Alps. But that Spain, the province
+ which he had obtained by lot, might not be destitute of Roman auxiliaries, he
+ sent his brother Cneius Scipio with the principal part of his forces against
+ Hasdrubal, not only to defend the old allies and conciliate new, but also to
+ drive Hasdrubal out of Spain. He himself, with a very small force, returned
+ to Genoa, intending to defend Italy with the army which was around the Po. From
+ the Druentia, by a road that lay principally through plains, Hannibal arrived
+ at the Alps without molestation from the Gauls that inhabit those regions. Then,
+ though the scene had been previously anticipated from report, (by which uncertainties
+ are wont to be exaggerated,) yet the height of the mountains when viewed so
+ near, and the snows almost mingling with the sky, the shapeless huts situated
+ on the cliffs, the cattle and beasts of burden withered by the cold, the men
+ unshorn and wildly dressed, all things, animate and inanimate, stiffened with
+ frost, and other objects more terrible to be seen than described, renewed their
+ alarm. To them, marching up the first acclivities, the mountaineers appeared
+ occupying the heights over head; who, if they had occupied the more concealed
+ valleys, might, by rushing out suddenly to the attack, have occasioned great
+ flight and havoc. Hannibal orders them to halt, and having sent forward Gauls
+ to view the ground, when he found there was no passage that way, he pitches
+ his camp in the widest valley he could find, among places all rugged and precipitous.
+ Then, having learned from the same Gauls, when they had mixed in conversation
+ with the mountaineers, from whom they differed little in language and manners,
+ that the pass was only beset during the day, and that at night each withdrew
+ to his own dwelling, he advanced at the dawn to the heights, as if designing
+ openly and by day to force his way through the defile. The day then being passed
+ in feigning a different attempt from that which was in preparation, when they
+ had fortified the camp in the same place where they had halted, as soon as he
+ perceived that the mountaineers had descended from the heights, and that the
+ guards were withdrawn, having lighted for show a greater number of fires than
+ was proportioned to the number that remained, and having left the baggage in
+ the camp, with the cavalry and the principal part of the infantry, he himself
+ with a party of light-armed, consisting of all the most courageous of his troops,
+ rapidly cleared the defile, and took post on those very heights which the enemy
+ had occupied. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="c33" />
+<p>At dawn of light the next day the camp broke up, and the rest of the army began
+ to move forward. The mountaineers, on a signal being given, were now assembling
+ from their forts to their usual station, when they suddenly behold part of the
+ enemy overhanging them from above, in possession of their former position, and
+ the others passing along the road. Both these objects, presented at the same
+ time to the eye and the mind, made them stand motionless for a little while;
+ but when they afterwards saw the confusion in the pass, and that the marching
+ body was thrown into disorder by the tumult which itself created, principally
+ from the horses being terrified, thinking that whatever terror they added would
+ suffice for the destruction of the enemy, they scramble along the dangerous
+ rocks, as being accustomed alike to pathless and circuitous ways. Then indeed
+ the Carthaginians were opposed at once by the enemy and by the difficulties
+ of the ground; and each striving to escape first from the danger, there was
+ more fighting among themselves than with their opponents. The horses in particular
+ created danger in the lines, which, being terrified by the discordant clamours
+ which the groves and re-echoing valleys augmented, fell into confusion; and
+ if by chance struck or wounded, they were so dismayed that they occasioned a
+ great loss both of men and baggage of every description: and as the pass on
+ both sides was broken and precipitous, this tumult threw many down to an immense
+ depth, some even of the armed men; but the beasts of burden, with their loads,
+ were rolled down like the fall of some vast fabric. Though these disasters were
+ shocking to view, Hannibal however kept his place for a little, and kept his
+ men together, lest he might augment the tumult and disorder; but afterwards,
+ when he saw the line broken, and that there was danger that he should bring
+ over his army, preserved to no purpose if deprived of their baggage, he hastened
+ down from the higher ground; and though he had routed the enemy by the first
+ onset alone, he at the same time increased the disorder in his own army: but
+ that tumult was composed in a moment, after the roads were cleared by the flight
+ of the mountaineers; and presently the whole army was conducted through, not
+ only without being disturbed, but almost in silence. He then took a fortified
+ place, which was the capital of that district, and the little villages that
+ lay around it, and fed his army for three days with the corn and cattle he had
+ taken; and during these three days, as the soldiers were neither obstructed
+ by the mountaineers, who had been daunted by the first engagement, nor yet much
+ by the ground, he made considerable way. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="c34" />
+<p>He then came to another state, abounding, for a mountainous country, with inhabitants;
+ where he was nearly overcome, not by open war, but by his own arts of treachery
+ and ambuscade. Some old men, governors of forts, came as deputies to the Carthaginian,
+ professing, "that having been warned by the useful example of the calamities
+ of others, they wished rather to experience the friendship than the hostilities
+ of the Carthaginians: they would, therefore, obediently execute his commands,
+ and begged that he would accept of a supply of provisions, guides of his march,
+ and hostages for the sincerity of their promises." Hannibal, when he had answered
+ them in a friendly manner, thinking that they should neither be rashly trusted
+ nor yet rejected, lest if repulsed they might openly become enemies, having
+ received the hostages whom they proffered, and made use of the provisions which
+ they of their own accord brought down to the road, follows their guides, by
+ no means as among a people with whom he was at peace, but with his line of march
+ in close order. The elephants and cavalry formed the van of the marching body;
+ he himself, examining every thing around, and intent on every circumstance,
+ followed with the choicest of the infantry. When they came into a narrower pass,
+ lying on one side beneath an overhanging eminence, the barbarians, rising at
+ once on all sides from their ambush, assail them in front and rear, both at
+ close quarters and from a distance, and roll down huge stones on the army. The
+ most numerous body of men pressed on the rear; against whom the infantry, facing
+ about and directing their attack, made it very obvious, that had not the rear
+ of the army been well supported, a great loss must have been sustained in that
+ pass. Even as it was they came to the extremity of danger, and almost to destruction:
+ for while Hannibal hesitates to lead down his division into the defile, because,
+ though he himself was a protection to the cavalry, lie had not in the same way
+ left any aid to the infantry in the rear; the mountaineers, charging obliquely,
+ and on having broken through the middle of the army, took possession of the
+ road; and one night was spent by Hannibal without his cavalry and baggage. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="c35" />
+<p>Next day, the barbarians running in to the attack between (the two divisions)
+ less vigorously, the forces were re-united, and the defile passed, not without
+ loss, but yet with a greater destruction of beasts of burden than of men. From
+ that time the mountaineers fell upon them in smaller parties, more like an attack
+ of robbers than war, sometimes on the van, sometimes on the rear, according
+ as the ground afforded them advantage, or stragglers advancing or loitering
+ gave them an opportunity. Though the elephants were driven through steep and
+ narrow roads with great loss of time, yet wherever they went they rendered the
+ army safe from the enemy, because men unacquainted with such animals were afraid
+ of approaching too nearly. On the ninth day they came to a summit of the Alps,
+ chiefly through places trackless; and after many mistakes of their way, which
+ were caused either by the treachery of the guides, or, when they were not trusted,
+ by entering valleys at random, on their own conjectures of the route. For two
+ days they remained encamped on the summit; and rest was given to the soldiers,
+ exhausted with toil and fighting: and several beasts of burden, which had fallen
+ down among the rocks, by following the track of the army arrived at the camp.
+ A fall of snow, it being now the season of the setting of the constellation
+ of the Pleiades, caused great fear to the soldiers, already worn out with weariness
+ of so many hardships. On the standards being moved forward at daybreak, when
+ the army proceeded slowly over all places entirely blocked up with snow, and
+ languor and despair strongly appeared in the countenances of all, Hannibal,
+ having advanced before the standards, and ordered the soldiers to halt on a
+ certain eminence, whence there was a prospect far and wide, points out to them
+ Italy and the plains of the Po, extending themselves beneath the Alpine mountains;
+ and said "that they were now surmounting not only the ramparts of Italy, but
+ also of the city of Rome; that the rest of the journey would be smooth and down-hill;
+ that after one, or, at most, a second battle, they would have the citadel and
+ capital of Italy in their power and possession." The army then began to advance,
+ the enemy now making no attempts beyond petty thefts, as opportunity offered.
+ But the journey proved much more difficult than it had been in the ascent, as
+ the declivity of the Alps being generally shorter on the side of Italy is consequently
+ steeper; for nearly all the road was precipitous, narrow, and slippery, so that
+ neither those who made the least stumble could prevent themselves from falling,
+ nor, when fallen, remain in the same place, but rolled, both men and beasts
+ of burden, one upon another. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="c36" />
+<p>They then came to a rock much more narrow, and formed of such perpendicular
+ ledges, that a light-armed soldier, carefully making the attempt, and clinging
+ with his hands to the bushes and roots around, could with difficulty lower himself
+ down. The ground, even before very steep by nature, had been broken by a recent
+ falling away of the earth into a precipice of nearly a thousand feet in depth.
+ Here when the cavalry had halted, as if at the end of their journey, it is announced
+ to Hannibal, wondering what obstructed the march that the rock was impassable.
+ Having then gone himself to view the place, it seemed clear to him that he must
+ lead his army round it, by however great a circuit, through the pathless and
+ untrodden regions around. But this route also proved impracticable; for while
+ the new snow of a moderate depth remained on the old, which had not been removed,
+ their footsteps were planted with ease as they walked upon the new snow, which
+ was soft and not too deep; but when it was dissolved by the trampling of so
+ many men and beasts of burden, they then walked on the bare ice below, and through
+ the dirty fluid formed by the melting snow. Here there was a wretched struggle,
+ both on account of the slippery ice not affording any hold to the step, and
+ giving way beneath the foot more readily by reason of the slope; and whether
+ they assisted themselves in rising by their hands or their knees, their supports
+ themselves giving way, they would stumble again; nor were there any stumps or
+ roots near; by pressing against which, one might with hand or foot support himself;
+ so that they only floundered on the smooth ice and amid the melted snow. The
+ beasts of burden sometimes also went into this lower ice by merely treading
+ upon it, at others they broke it completely through, by the violence with which
+ they struck in their hoofs in their struggling, so that most of them, as if
+ taken in a trap, stuck in the hardened and deeply frozen ice. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="c37" />
+<p>At length, after the men and beasts of burden had been fatigued to no purpose,
+ the camp was pitched on the summit, the ground being cleared for that purpose
+ with great difficulty, so much snow was there to be dug out and carried away.
+ The soldiers being then set to make a way down the cliff by which alone a passage
+ could be effected, and it being necessary that they should cut through the rocks,
+ having felled and lopped a number of large trees which grew around, they make
+ a huge pile of timber; and as soon as a strong wind fit for exciting the flames
+ arose, they set fire to it, and, pouring vinegar on the heated stones, they
+ render them soft and crumbling. They then open a way with iron instruments through
+ the rock thus heated by the fire, and soften its declivities by gentle windings,
+ so that not only the beasts of burden, but also the elephants could be led down
+ it. Four days were spent about this rock, the beasts nearly perishing through
+ hunger: for the summits of the mountains are for the most part bare, and if
+ there is any pasture the snows bury it. The lower parts contain valleys, and
+ some sunny hills, and rivulets flowing beside woods, and scenes more worthy
+ of the abode of man. There the beasts of burden were sent out to pasture, and
+ rest given for three days to the men, fatigued with forming the passage: they
+ then descended into the plains, the country and the dispositions of the inhabitants
+ being now less rugged. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="c38" />
+<p>In this manner chiefly they came to Italy in the fifth month (as some authors
+ relate) after leaving New Carthage, having crossed the Alps in fifteen days.
+ What number of forces Hannibal had when he had passed into Italy is by no means
+ agreed upon by authors. Those who state them at the highest, make mention of
+ a hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse; those who state them at the
+ lowest, of twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse. Lucius Cincius Alimentus,
+ who relates that he was made prisoner by Hannibal, would influence me most as
+ an authority, did he not confound the number by adding the Gauls and Ligurians.
+ Including these, (who, it is more probable, flocked to him afterwards, and so
+ some authors assert,) he says, that eighty thousand foot and ten thousand horse
+ were brought into Italy; and that he had heard from Hannibal himself, that after
+ crossing the Rhone he had lost thirty-six thousand men, and an immense number
+ of horses, and other beasts of burden, among the Taurini, the next nation to
+ the Gauls, as he descended into Italy. As this circumstance is agreed on by
+ all, I am the more surprised that it should be doubtful by what road he crossed
+ the Alps; and that it should commonly be believed that he passed over the Pennine
+ mountain, and that thence [<a href="#foot17">17</a>] the name was given to that
+ ridge of the Alps. Coelius says, that he passed over the top of Mount Cremo;
+ both which passes would have brought him, not to the Taurini, but through the
+ Salasian mountaineers to the Libuan Gauls. Neither is it probable that these
+ roads into Gaul were then open, especially once those which, lead to the Pennine
+ mountain would have been unlocked up by nations half German; nor by Hercules
+ (if this argument has weight with any one) do the Veragri, the inhabitants of
+ this ridge, know of the name being given to these mountains from the passage
+ of the Carthaginians, but from the divinity, whom the mountaineers style Penninus,
+ worshipped on the highest summit. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="c39" />
+<p>Very opportunely for the commencement of his operations, a war had broken out
+ with the Taurini, the nearest nation, against the Insubrians; but Hannibal could
+ not put his troops under arms to assist either party, as they very chiefly felt
+ the disorders they had before contracted, in remedying them; for ease after
+ toil, plenty after want, and attention to their persons after dirt and filth,
+ had variously affected their squalid and almost savage-looking bodies. This
+ was the reason that Publius Cornelius, the consul, when he had arrived at Pisa
+ with his fleet, hastened to the Po, though the troops he received from Manlius
+ and Atilius were raw and disheartened by their late disgraces, in order that
+ he might engage the enemy when not yet recruited. But when the consul came to
+ Placentia, Hannibal had already moved from his quarters, and had taken by storm
+ one city of the Taurini, the capital of the nation, because they did not come
+ willingly into his alliance; and he would have gained over to him, not only
+ from fear, but also from inclination, the Gauls who dwell beside the Po, had
+ not the arrival of the consul suddenly checked them while watching for an opportunity
+ of revolt. Hannibal at the same time moved from the Taurini, thinking that the
+ Gauls, uncertain which side to choose, would follow him if present among them.
+ The armies were now almost in sight of each other, and their leaders, though
+ not at present sufficiently acquainted, yet met each other with a certain feeling
+ of mutual admiration. For the name of Hannibal, even before the destruction
+ of Saguntum, was very celebrated among the Romans; and Hannibal believed Scipio
+ to be a superior man, from the very circumstance of his having been specially
+ chosen to act as commander against himself. They had increased too their estimation
+ of each other; Scipio, because, being left behind in Gaul, he had met Hannibal
+ when he had crossed into Italy; Hannibal, by his daring attempt of crossing
+ the Alps and by its accomplishment. Scipio, however, was the first to cross
+ the Po, and having pitched his camp at the river Ticinus, he delivered the following
+ oration for the sake of encouraging his soldiers before he led them out to form
+ for battle: </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="c40" />
+<p>"If, soldiers, I were leading out that army to battle which I had with me in
+ Gaul, I should have thought it superfluous to address you; for of what use would
+ it be to exhort either those horsemen who so gloriously vanquished the cavalry
+ of the enemy at the river Rhone, or those legions with whom, pursuing this very
+ enemy flying before us, I obtained in lieu of victory, a confession of superiority,
+ shown by his retreat and refusal to fight? Now because that army, levied for
+ the province of Spain, maintains the war under my auspices [<a href="#foot18">18</a>]
+ and the command of my brother Cneius Scipio, in the country where the senate
+ and people of Rome wished him to serve, and since I, that you might have a consul
+ for your leader against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, have offered myself
+ voluntarily for this contest, few words are required to be addressed from a
+ new commander to soldiers unacquainted with him. That you may not be ignorant
+ of the nature of the war nor of the enemy, you have to fight, soldiers, with
+ those whom in the former war you conquered both by land and sea; from whom you
+ have exacted tribute for twenty years; from whom you hold Sicily and Sardinia,
+ taken as the prizes of victory. In the present contest, therefore, you and they
+ will have those feelings which are wont to belong to the victors and the vanquished.
+ Nor are they now about to fight because they are daring, but because it is unavoidable;
+ except you can believe that they who declined the engagement when their forces
+ were entire, should have now gained more confidence when two-thirds of their
+ infantry and cavalry have been lost in the passage of the Alps, and when almost
+ greater numbers have perished than survive. Yes, they are few indeed, (some
+ may say,) but they are vigorous in mind and body; men whose strength and power
+ scarce any force may withstand. On the contrary, they are but the resemblances,
+ nay, are rather the shadows of men; being worn out with hunger, cold, dirt,
+ and filth, and bruised and enfeebled among stones and rocks. Besides all this,
+ their joints are frost-bitten, their sinews stiffened with the snow, their limbs
+ withered up by the frost, their armour battered and shivered, their horses lame
+ and powerless. With such cavalry, with such infantry, you have to fight: you
+ will not have enemies in reality, but rather their last remains. And I fear
+ nothing more than that when you have fought Hannibal, the Alps may appear to
+ have conquered him. But perhaps it was fitting that the gods themselves should,
+ without any human aid, commence and carry forward a war with a leader and a
+ people that violate the faith of treaties; and that we, who next to the gods
+ have been injured, should finish the contest thus commenced and nearly completed."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="c41" />
+<p>"I do not fear lest any one should think that I say this ostentatiously for
+ the sake of encouraging you, while in my own mind I am differently affected.
+ I was at liberty to go with my army into Spain, my own province, whither I had
+ already set out; where I should have had a brother as the bearer of my councils
+ and my dangers, and Hasdrubal, instead of Hannibal, for my antagonist, and without
+ question a less laborious war: nevertheless, as I sailed along the coast of
+ Gaul, having landed on hearing of this enemy, and having sent forward the cavalry,
+ I moved my camp to the Rhone. In a battle of cavalry, with which part of my
+ forces the opportunity of engaging was afforded, I routed the enemy; and because
+ I could not overtake by land his army of infantry, which was rapidly hurried
+ away, as if in flight, having returned to the ships with all the speed I could,
+ after compassing such an extent of sea and land, I have met him at the foot
+ of the Alps. Whether do I appear, while declining the contest, to have fallen
+ in unexpectedly with this dreaded foe, or encounter him in his track? to challenge
+ him and drag him out to decide the contest? I am anxious to try whether the
+ earth has suddenly, in these twenty years, sent forth a new race of Carthaginians,
+ or whether these are the same who fought at the islands Aegates, and whom you
+ permitted to defeat from Eryx, valued at eighteen denarii a head; and whether
+ this Hannibal be, as he himself gives out, the rival of the expeditions of Hercules,
+ or one left by his father the tributary and taxed subject and slave of the Roman
+ people; who, did not his guilt at Saguntum drive him to frenzy, would certainly
+ reflect, if not upon his conquered country, at least on his family, and his
+ father, and the treaties written by the hand of Hamilcar; who, at the command
+ of our consul, withdrew the garrison from Eryx; who, indignant and grieving,
+ submitted to the harsh conditions imposed on the conquered Carthaginians; who
+ agreed to depart from Sicily, and pay tribute to the Roman people. I would,
+ therefore, have you fight, soldiers, not only with that spirit with which you
+ are wont to encounter other enemies, but with a certain indignation and resentment,
+ as if you saw your slaves suddenly taking up arms against you. We might have
+ killed them when shut up in Eryx by hunger, the most dreadful of human tortures;
+ we might have carried over our victorious fleet to Africa, and in a few days
+ have destroyed Carthage without any opposition. We granted pardon to their prayers;
+ we released them from the blockade; we made peace with them when conquered;
+ and we afterwards considered them under our protection when they were oppressed
+ by the African war. In return for these benefits, they come under the conduct
+ of a furious youth to attack our country. And I wish that the contest on your
+ side was for glory, and not for safety: it is not about the possession of Sicily
+ and Sardinia, concerning which the dispute was formerly, but for Italy, that
+ you must fight: nor is there another army behind, which, if we should not conquer,
+ can resist the enemy; nor are there other Alps, during the passage of which
+ fresh forces may be procured: here, soldiers, we must make our stand, as if
+ we fought before the walls of Rome. Let every one consider that he defends with
+ his arms not only his own person, but his wife and young children: nor let him
+ only entertain domestic cares and anxieties, but at the same time let him revolve
+ in his mind, that the senate and people of Rome now anxiously regard our efforts;
+ and that according as our strength and valour shall be, such henceforward will
+ be the fortune of that city and of the Roman empire." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="c42" />
+<p>Thus the consul addressed the Romans. Hannibal, thinking that his soldiers
+ ought to be roused by deeds rather than by words, having drawn his army around
+ for the spectacle, placed in their midst the captive mountaineers in fetters;
+ and after Gallic arms had been thrown at their feet, he ordered the interpreter
+ to ask, "whether any among them, on condition of being released from chains,
+ and receiving, if victorious, armour and a horse, was willing to combat with
+ the sword?" When they all, to a man, demanded the combat and the sword, and
+ lots were cast into the urn for that purpose, each wished himself the person
+ whom fortune might select for the contest. As the lot of each man came out,
+ eager and exulting with joy amidst the congratulations of his comrades, and
+ dancing after the national custom, he hastily snatched up the arms: but when
+ they fought, such was the state of feeling, not only among their companions
+ in the same circumstances, but among the spectators in general, that the fortune
+ of those who conquered was not praised more than that of those who died bravely.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="c43" />
+<p>When he had dismissed the soldiers, thus affected after viewing several pairs
+ of combatants, having then summoned an assembly, he is said to have addressed
+ them in these terms: "If, soldiers, you shall by and by, in judging of your
+ own fortune, preserve the same feelings which you experienced a little before
+ in the example of the fate of others, we have already conquered; for neither
+ was that merely a spectacle, but as it were a certain representation of your
+ condition. And I know not whether fortune has not thrown around you still stronger
+ chains and more urgent necessities than around your captives. On the right and
+ left two seas enclose you, without your possessing a single ship even for escape.
+ The river Po around you, the Po larger and more impetuous than the Rhone, the
+ Alps behind, scarcely passed by you when fresh and vigorous, hem you in. Here,
+ soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the
+ same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting, holds out to you,
+ if victorious, rewards, than which men are not wont to desire greater, even
+ from the immortal gods. If we were only about to recover by our valour Sicily
+ and Sardinia, wrested from our fathers, the recompence would be sufficiently
+ ample; but whatever, acquired and amassed by so many triumphs, the Romans possess,
+ all, with its masters themselves, will become yours. To gain this rich reward,
+ hasten, then, and seize your arms with the favour of the gods. Long enough in
+ pursuing cattle among the desert mountains of Lusitania [<a href="#foot19">19</a>]
+ and Celtiberia, you have seen no emolument from so many toils and dangers: it
+ is time to make rich and profitable campaigns, and to gain the great reward
+ of your labours, after having accomplished such a length of journey over so
+ many mountains and rivers, and so many nations in arms. Here fortune has granted
+ you the termination of your labours; here she will bestow a reward worthy of
+ the service you have undergone. Nor, in proportion as the war is great in name,
+ ought you to consider that the victory will be difficult. A despised enemy has
+ often maintained a sanguinary contest, and renowned states and kings been conquered
+ by a very slight effort. For, setting aside only the splendour of the Roman
+ name, what remains in which they can be compared to you? To pass over in silence
+ your service for twenty years, distinguished by such valour and success you
+ have made your way to this place from the pillars of Hercules, [<a href="#foot20">20</a>]
+ from the ocean, and the remotest limits of the world advancing victorious through
+ so many of the fiercest nations of Gaul and Spain: you will fight with a raw
+ army, which this very summer was beaten, conquered, and surrounded by the Gauls,
+ as yet unknown to its general, and ignorant of him. Shall I compare myself,
+ almost born, and certainly bred in the tent of my father, that most illustrious
+ commander, myself the subjugator of Spain and Gaul, the conqueror too not only
+ of the Alpine nations, but what is much more, of the Alps themselves, with this
+ six months' general, the deserter of his army? To whom, if any one, having taken
+ away their standards, should show to-day the Carthaginians and Romans, I am
+ sure that he would not know of which army he was consul. I do not regard it,
+ soldiers, as of small account, that there is not a man among you before whose
+ eyes I have not often achieved some military exploit; and to whom, in like manner,
+ I the spectator and witness of his valour, could not recount his own gallant
+ deeds, particularized by time and place. With soldiers who have a thousand times
+ received my praises and gifts, I, who was the pupil of you all before I became
+ your commander, will march out in battle-array against those who are unknown
+ to and ignorant of each other." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="c44" />
+<p>"On whatever side I turn my eyes I see nothing but what is full of courage
+ and energy; a veteran infantry; calvary, both those with and those without the
+ bridle, composed of the most gallant nations, you our most faithful and valiant
+ allies, you Carthaginians, who are about to fight as well for the sake of your
+ country as from the justest resentment. We are the assailants in the war, and
+ descend into Italy with hostile standards, about to engage so much more boldly
+ and bravely than the foe, as the confidence and courage of the assailant are
+ greater than those of him who is defensive. Besides suffering, injury and indignity
+ inflame and excite our minds: they first demanded me your leader for punishment,
+ and then all of you who had laid siege to Saguntum; and had we been given up
+ they would have visited us with the severest tortures. That most cruel and haughty
+ nation considers every thing its own, and at its own disposal; it thinks it
+ right that it should regulate with whom we are to have war, with whom peace:
+ it circumscribes and shuts us up by the boundaries of mountains and rivers,
+ which we must not pass; and then does not adhere to those boundaries which it
+ appointed. Pass not the Iberus; have nothing to do with the Saguntines. Saguntum
+ is on the Iberus; you must not move a step in any direction. Is it a small thing
+ that you take away my most ancient provinces Sicily and Sardinia? will you take
+ Spain also? and should I withdraw thence, you will cross over into Africa--will
+ cross, did I say? they have sent the two consuls of this year one to Africa,
+ the other to Spain: there is nothing left to us in any quarter, except what
+ we can assert to ourselves by arms. Those may be cowards and dastards who have
+ something to look back upon; whom, flying through safe and unmolested roads,
+ their own lands and their own country will receive: there is a necessity for
+ you to be brave; and since all between victory and death is broken off from
+ you by inevitable despair, either to conquer, or, if fortune should waver, to
+ meet death rather in battle than flight. If this be well fixed and determined
+ in the minds of you all, I will repeat, you have already conquered: no stronger
+ incentive to victory has been given to man by the immortal gods." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="c45" />
+<p>When the minds of the soldiers on both sides had been animated to the contest
+ by these exhortations, the Romans throw a bridge over the Ticinus, and, for
+ the sake of defending the bridge, erect a fort on it. The Carthaginian, while
+ the Romans were engaged in this work, sends Maharbal with a squadron of five
+ hundred Numidian horse, to lay waste the territories of the allies of the Roman
+ people. He orders that the Gauls should be spared as much as possible, and the
+ minds of their chiefs be instigated to a revolt. When the bridge was finished,
+ the Roman army being led across into the territory of the Insubrians, took up
+ its station five miles from Victumviae. At this place Hannibal lay encamped;
+ and having quickly recalled Maharbal and the cavalry, when he perceived that
+ a battle was approaching, thinking that in exhorting the soldiers enough could
+ never be spoken or addressed by way of admonition, he announces to them, when
+ summoned to an assembly, stated rewards, in expectation of which they might
+ fight. He promised, "that he would give them land in Italy, Africa, Spain, where
+ each man might choose, exempt from all burdens to the person who received it,
+ and to his children: if any one preferred money to land, he would satisfy him
+ in silver; if any of the allies wished to become citizens of Carthage, he would
+ grant them permission; if others chose rather to return home, he would lend
+ his endeavours that they should not wish the situation of any one of their countrymen
+ exchanged for their own." To the slaves also who followed their masters he promised
+ freedom, and that he would give two slaves in place of each of them to their
+ masters. And that they might know that these promises were certain, holding
+ in his left hand a lamb, and in his right a flint, having prayed to Jupiter
+ and the other gods, that, if he was false to his word, they would thus slay
+ him as he slew the lamb; after the prayer he broke the skull of the sheep with
+ the stone. Then in truth all, receiving as it were the gods as sureties, each
+ for the fulfilment of his own hopes, and thinking that the only delay in obtaining
+ the object of their wishes arose from their not yet being engaged, with one
+ mind and one voice demanded the battle. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="c46" />
+<p>By no means so great an alacrity prevailed among the Romans, who, in addition
+ to other causes, were also alarmed by recent prodigies; for both a wolf had
+ entered the camp, and having torn those who met him, had escaped unhurt; and
+ a swarm of bees had settled on a tree overhanging the general's tent. After
+ these prodigies were expiated, Scipio having set out with his cavalry and light-armed
+ spearmen towards the camp of the enemy, to observe from a near point their forces,
+ how numerous, and of what description they were, falls in with Hannibal, who
+ had himself also advanced with his cavalry to explore the circumjacent country:
+ neither at first perceived the other, but the dust arising from the trampling
+ of so many men and horses soon gave the signal of approaching enemies. Both
+ armies halted, and were preparing themselves for battle. Scipio places his spearmen
+ and Gallic cavalry in front; the Romans and what force of allies he had with
+ him, in reserve. Hannibal receives the horsemen who rode with the rein in the
+ centre, and strengthens his wings with Numidians. When the shout was scarcely
+ raised, the spearmen fled among the reserve to the second line: there was then
+ a contest of the cavalry, for some time doubtful; but afterwards, on account
+ of the foot soldiers, who were intermingled, causing confusion among the horses,
+ many of the riders falling off from their horses, or leaping down where they
+ saw their friends surrounded and hard pressed, the battle for the most part
+ came to be fought on foot; until the Numidians, who were in the wings, having
+ made a small circuit, showed themselves on the rear. That alarm dismayed the
+ Romans, and the wound of the consul, and the danger to his life, warded off
+ by the interposition of his son, then just arriving at the age of puberty, augmented
+ their fears. This youth will be found to be the same to whom the glory of finishing
+ this war belongs, and to whom the name of Africanus was given, on account of
+ his splendid victory over Hannibal and the Carthaginians. The flight, however,
+ of the spearmen, whom the Numidians attacked first, was the most disorderly.
+ The rest of the cavalry, in a close body, protecting, not only with their arms,
+ but also with their bodies, the consul, whom they had received into the midst
+ of them, brought him back to the camp without any where giving way in disorder
+ or precipitation. Coelius attributes the honour of saving the consul to a slave,
+ by nation a Ligurian. I indeed should rather wish that the account about the
+ son was true, which also most authors have transmitted, and the report of which
+ has generally obtained credit. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="c47" />
+<p>This was the first battle with Hannibal; from which it clearly appeared that
+ the Carthaginian was superior in cavalry; and on that account, that open plains,
+ such as lie between the Po and the Alps, were not suited to the Romans for carrying
+ on the war. On the following night, therefore, the soldiers being ordered to
+ prepare their baggage in silence, the camp broke up from the Ticinus, and they
+ hastened to the Po, in order that the rafts by which the consul had formed a
+ bridge over the river, being not yet loosened, he might lead his forces across
+ without disturbance or pursuit of the enemy. They arrived at Placentia before
+ Hannibal had ascertained that they had set out from the Ticinus. He took, however,
+ six hundred of those who loitered on the farther bank, who were slowly unfastening
+ the raft; but he was not able to pass the bridge, as the whole raft floated
+ down the stream as soon as the ends were unfastened. Coelius relates that Mago,
+ with the cavalry and Spanish infantry, immediately swam the river; and that
+ Hannibal himself led the army across by fords higher up the Po, the elephants
+ being opposed to the stream in a line to break the force of the current. These
+ accounts can scarcely gain credit with those who are acquainted with that river;
+ for it is neither probable that the cavalry could bear up against the great
+ violence of the stream, without losing their arms or horses, even supposing
+ that inflated bags of leather had transported all the Spaniards; and the fords
+ of the Po, by which an army encumbered with baggage could pass, must have been
+ sought by a circuit of many days' march. Those authors are more credited by
+ me, who relate that in the course of two days a place was with difficulty found
+ fit for forming a bridge of rafts across the river, and that by this way the
+ light-armed Spanish cavalry was sent forward with Mago. Whilst Hannibal, delaying
+ beside the river to give audience to the embassies of the Gauls, conveys over
+ the heavy-armed forces of infantry, in the mean time Mago and the cavalry proceed
+ towards the enemy at Placentia one day's journey after crossing the river. Hannibal,
+ a few days after, fortified his camp six miles from Placentia, and on the following
+ day, having drawn up his line of battle in sight of the enemy, gave them an
+ opportunity of fighting. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">48 </div>
+<a id="c48" />
+<p>On the following night a slaughter was made in the Roman camp by the auxiliary
+ Gauls, which appeared greater from the tumult than it proved in reality. Two
+ thousand infantry and two hundred horse, having killed the guards at the gates,
+ desert to Hannibal; whom the Carthaginians having addressed kindly, and excited
+ by the hope of great rewards, sent each to several states to gain over the minds
+ of their countrymen. Scipio, thinking that that slaughter was a signal for the
+ revolt of all the Gauls, and that, contaminated with the guilt of that affair,
+ they would rush to arms as if a frenzy had been sent among them, though he was
+ still suffering severely from his wound, yet setting out for the river Trebia
+ at the fourth watch of the following night with his army in silence, he removes
+ his camp to higher ground and hills more embarrassing to the cavalry. He escaped
+ observation less than at the Ticinus: and Hannibal, having despatched first
+ the Numidians and then all the cavalry, would have thrown the rear at least
+ into great confusion, had not the Numidians, through anxiety for booty, turned
+ aside into the deserted Roman camp. There whilst, closely examining every part
+ of the camp, they waste time, with no sufficient reward for the delay, the enemy
+ escaped out of their hands; and when they saw the Romans already across the
+ Trebia, and measuring out their camp, they kill a few of the loiterers intercepted
+ on that side of the river. Scipio being unable to endure any longer the irritation
+ of his wound, caused by the roughness of the road, and thinking that he ought
+ to wait for his colleague, (for he had now heard that he was recalled from Sicily,)
+ fortified a space of chosen ground, which, adjoining the river, seemed safest
+ for a stationary camp. When Hannibal had encamped not far from thence, being
+ as much elated with the victory of his cavalry, as anxious on account of the
+ scarcity which every day assailed him more severely, marching as he did through
+ the territory of the enemy, and supplies being no where provided, he sends to
+ the village of Clastidium, where the Romans had collected a great stock of corn.
+ There, whilst they were preparing for an assault, a hope of the town being betrayed
+ to them was held out: Dasius, a Brundusian, the governor of the garrison, having
+ been corrupted for four hundred pieces of gold, (no great bribe truly,) Clastidium
+ is surrendered to Hannibal. It served as a granary for the Carthaginians while
+ they lay at the Trebia. No cruelty was used towards the prisoners of the surrendered
+ garrison, in order that a character for clemency might be acquired at the commencement
+ of his proceedings. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">49 </div>
+<a id="c49" />
+<p>While the war by land was at a stand beside the Trebia, in the mean time operations
+ went on by land and sea around Sicily and the islands adjacent to Italy, both
+ under Sempronius the consul, and before his arrival. Twenty quinqueremes, with
+ a thousand armed men, having been sent by the Carthaginians to lay waste the
+ coast of Italy, nine reached the Liparae, eight the island of Vulcan, and three
+ the tide drove into the strait. On these being seen from Messana, twelve ships
+ sent out by Hiero king of Syracuse, who then happened to be at Messana, waiting
+ for the Roman consul, brought back into the port of Messana the ships taken
+ without any resistance. It was discovered from the prisoners that, besides the
+ twenty ships, to which fleet they belonged, and which had been despatched against
+ Italy, thirty-five other quinqueremes were directing their course to Sicily,
+ in order to gain over their ancient allies: that their main object was to gain
+ possession of Lilybaeum, and they believed that that fleet had been driven to
+ the islands Aegates by the same storm by which they themselves had been dispersed.
+ The king writes these tidings, according as they had been received, to Marcus
+ Aemilius the praetor, whose province Sicily was, and advises him to occupy Lilybaeum
+ with a strong garrison. Immediately the lieutenants, generals, and tribunes,
+ with the praetor, were despatched to the different states, in order that they
+ might keep their men on vigilant guard; above all things it was commanded, that
+ Lilybaeum should be secured: an edict having been put forth that, in addition
+ to such warlike preparations, the crews should carry down to their ships dressed
+ provisions for ten days, so that no one when the signal was given might delay
+ in embarking; and that those who were stationed along the whole coast should
+ look out from their watch-towers for the approaching fleet of the enemy. The
+ Carthaginians, therefore, though they had purposely slackened the course of
+ their ships, so that they might reach Lilybaeum just before daybreak, were descried
+ before their arrival, because both the moon shone all night, and they came with
+ their sails set up. Immediately the signal was given from the watch-towers,
+ and the summons to arms was shouted through the town, and they embarked in the
+ ships: part of the soldiers were left on the walls and at the stations of the
+ gates, and part went on board the fleet. The Carthaginians, because they perceived
+ that they would not have to do with an unprepared enemy, kept back from the
+ harbour till daylight, that interval being spent in taking down their rigging
+ and getting ready the fleet for action. When the light appeared, they withdrew
+ their fleet into the open sea, that there might be room for the battle, and
+ that the ships of the enemy might have a free egress from the harbour. Nor did
+ the Romans decline the conflict, being emboldened both by the recollection of
+ the exploits they had performed near that very spot, and by the numbers and
+ valour of their soldiers. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">50 </div>
+<a id="c50" />
+<p>When they had advanced into the open sea, the Romans wished to come to close
+ fight, and to make a trial of strength hand to hand. The Carthaginians, on the
+ contrary, eluded them, and sought to maintain the fight by art, not by force,
+ and to make it a battle of ships rather than of men and arms: for though they
+ had their fleet abundantly supplied with mariners, yet it was deficient in soldiers;
+ and when a ship was grappled, a very unequal number of armed men fought on board
+ of it. When this was observed, their numbers increased the courage of the Romans,
+ and their inferiority of force diminished that of the others. Seven Carthaginian
+ ships were immediately surrounded; the rest took to flight: one thousand seven
+ hundred soldiers and mariners were captured in the ships, and among them were
+ three noble Carthaginians. The Roman fleet returned without loss to the harbour,
+ only one ship being pierced, and even that also brought back into port. After
+ this engagement, before those at Messana were aware of its occurrence, Titus
+ Sempronius the consul arrived at Messana. As he entered the strait, king Hiero
+ led out a fleet fully equipped to meet him; and having passed from the royal
+ ship into that of the general, he congratulated him on having arrived safe with
+ his army and fleet, and prayed that his expedition to Sicily might be prosperous
+ and successful. He then laid before him the state of the island and the designs
+ of the Carthaginians, and promised that with the same spirit with which he had
+ in his youth assisted the Romans during the former war, he would now assist
+ them in his old age; that he would gratuitously furnish supplies of corn and
+ clothing to the legions and naval crews of the consul; adding, that great danger
+ threatened Lilybaeum and the maritime states, and that a change of affairs would
+ be acceptable to some of them. For these reasons it appeared to the consul that
+ he ought to make no delay, but to repair to Lilybaeum with his fleet. The king
+ and the royal squadron set out along with him, and on their passage they heard
+ that a battle had been fought at Lilybaeum, and that the enemy's ships had been
+ scattered and taken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">51 </div>
+<a id="c51" />
+<p>The consul having dismissed Hiero with the royal fleet, and left the praetor
+ to defend the coast of Sicily, passed over himself from Lilybaeum to the island
+ Melita, which was held in possession by the Carthaginians. On his arrival, Hamilcar,
+ the son of Gisgo, the commander of the garrison, with little less than two thousand
+ soldiers, together with the town and the island, are delivered up to him: thence,
+ after a few days, he returned to Lilybaeum, and the prisoners taken, both by
+ the consul and the praetor, excepting those illustrious for their rank, were
+ publicly sold. When the consul considered that Sicily was sufficiently safe
+ on that side, he crossed over to the islands of Vulcan, because there was a
+ report that the Carthaginian fleet was stationed there: but not one of the enemy
+ was discovered about those islands. They had already, as it happened, passed
+ over to ravage the coast of Italy, and having laid waste the territory of Vibo,
+ were also threatening the city. The descent made by the enemy on the Vibonensian
+ territory is announced to the consul as he was returning to Sicily: and letters
+ were delivered to him which had been sent by the senate, about the passage of
+ Hannibal into Italy, commanding him as soon as possible to bring assistance
+ to his colleague. Perplexed with having so many anxieties at once, he immediately
+ sent his army, embarked in the fleet, by the upper sea to Ariminum; he assigned
+ the defence of the territory of Vibo, and the sea-coast of Italy, to Sextus
+ Pomponius, his lieutenant-general, with twenty-five ships of war: he made up
+ a fleet of fifty ships for Marcus Aemilius the praetor; and he himself, after
+ the affairs of Sicily were settled, sailing close along the coast of Italy with
+ ten ships, arrived at Ariminum, whence, setting out with his army for the river
+ Trebia, he joined his colleague. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">52 </div>
+<a id="c52" />
+<p>Both the consuls and all the strength of Rome being now opposed to Hannibal,
+ made it sufficiently obvious that the Roman empire could either be defended
+ by those forces, or that there was no other hope left. Yet the one consul being
+ dispirited by the battle of the cavalry and his own wound, wished operations
+ to be deferred: the other having his spirits unsubdued, and being therefore
+ the more impetuous, admitted no delay. The tract of country between the Trebia
+ and the Po was then inhabited by the Gauls, who, in this contest of two very
+ powerful states, by a doubtful neutrality, were evidently looking forward to
+ the favour of the conqueror. The Romans submitted to this conduct of the Gauls
+ with tolerable satisfaction, provided they did not take any active part at all;
+ but the Carthaginian bore it with great discontent, giving out that he had come
+ invited by the Gauls to set them at liberty. On account of that resentment,
+ and in order that he might at the same time maintain his troops from the plunder,
+ he ordered two thousand foot and a thousand horse, chiefly Numidians, with some
+ Gauls intermixed, to lay waste all the country straightforward as far as the
+ banks of the Po. The Gauls, being in want of assistance, though they had up
+ to this time kept their inclinations doubtful, are forced by the authors of
+ the injury to turn to some who would be their supporters; and having sent ambassadors
+ to the consul, they implore the aid of the Romans in behalf of a country which
+ was suffering for the too great fidelity of its inhabitants to the Romans. Neither
+ the cause nor the time of pleading it was satisfactory to Cornelius; and the
+ nation was suspected by him, both on account of many treacherous actions, and
+ though others might have been forgotten through length of time, on account of
+ the recent perfidy of the Boii. Sempronius, on the contrary, thought that it
+ would be the strongest tie upon the fidelity of the allies, if those were defended
+ who first required support. Then, while his colleague hesitated, he sends his
+ own cavalry, with about a thousand spearmen on foot in their company, to protect
+ the Gallic territory beyond the Trebia. These, when they had unexpectedly attacked
+ the enemy while scattered and disordered, and for the most part encumbered with
+ booty, caused great terror, slaughter, and flight, even as far as the camp and
+ outposts of the enemy; whence being repulsed by the numbers that poured out,
+ they again renewed the fight with the assistance of their own party. Then pursuing
+ and retreating in doubtful battle, though they left it at last equal, yet the
+ fame of the victory was more with the Romans than the enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">53 </div>
+<a id="c53" />
+<p>But to no one did it appear more important and just than to the consul himself.
+ He was transported with joy "that he had conquered with that part of the forces
+ with which the other consul had been defeated; that the spirits of the soldiers
+ were restored and revived; that there was no one, except his colleague, who
+ would wish an engagement delayed; and that he, suffering more from disease of
+ mind than body, shuddered, through recollection of his wound, at arms and battle.
+ But others ought not to sink into decrepitude together with a sick man. For
+ why should there be any longer protraction or waste of time? What third consul,
+ what other army did they wait for? The camp of the Carthaginians was in Italy,
+ and almost in sight of the city. It was not Sicily and Sardinia, which had been
+ taken from them when vanquished, nor Spain on this side of the Iberus, that
+ was their object, but that the Romans should be driven from the land of their
+ fathers, and the soil in which they were born. How deeply," he continued, "would
+ our fathers groan, who were wont to wage war around the walls of Carthage, if
+ they should see us their offspring, two consuls and two consular armies, trembling
+ within our camps in the heart of Italy, while a Carthaginian had made himself
+ master of all the country between the Alps and the Apennine!" Such discourses
+ did he hold while sitting beside his sick colleague, and also at the head-quarters,
+ almost in the manner of an harangue. The approaching period of the elections
+ also stimulated him, lest the war should be protracted till the new consuls
+ were chosen, and the opportunity of turning all the glory to himself, while
+ his colleague lay sick. He orders the soldiers, therefore, Cornelius in vain
+ attempting to dissuade him, to get ready for an immediate engagement. Hannibal,
+ as he saw what conduct would be best for the enemy, had scarce at first any
+ hope that the consuls would do any thing rashly or imprudently, but when he
+ discovered that the disposition of the one, first known from report, and afterwards
+ from experience, was ardent and impetuous, and believed that it had been rendered
+ still more impetuous by the successful engagement with his predatory troops,
+ he did not doubt that an opportunity of action was near at hand. He was anxious
+ and watchful not to omit this opportunity, while the troops of the enemy were
+ raw, while his wound rendered the better of the two commanders useless, and
+ while the spirits of the Gauls were fresh; of whom he knew that a great number
+ would follow him with the greater reluctance the farther they were drawn away
+ from home. When, for these and similar reasons, he hoped that an engagement
+ was near and desired to make the attack himself, if there should be any delay;
+ and when the Gauls, who were the safer spies to ascertain what he wished, as
+ they served in both camps, had brought intelligence that the Romans were prepared
+ for battle, the Carthaginian began to look about for a place for an ambuscade.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">54 </div>
+<a id="c54" />
+<p>Between the armies was a rivulet, bordered on each side with very high banks,
+ and covered around with marshy plants, and with the brushwood and brambles with
+ which uncultivated places are generally overspread; and when, riding around
+ it, he had, with his own eyes, thoroughly reconnoitred a place which was sufficient
+ to afford a covert even for cavalry, he said to Mago his brother: "This will
+ be the place which you must occupy. Choose out of all the infantry and cavalry
+ a hundred men of each, with whom come to me at the first watch. Now is the time
+ to refresh their bodies." The council was thus dismissed, and in a little time
+ Mago came forward with his chosen men. "I see," said Hannibal, "the strength
+ of the men; but that you may be strong not only in resolution, but also in number,
+ pick out each from the troops and companies nine men like yourselves: Mago will
+ show you the place where you are to lie in ambush. You will have an enemy who
+ is blind to these arts of war." A thousand horse and a thousand foot, under
+ the command of Mago, having been thus sent off, Hannibal orders the Numidian
+ cavalry to ride up, after crossing the river Trebia by break of day, to the
+ gates of the enemy, and to draw them out to a battle by discharging their javelins
+ at the guards; and then, when the fight was commenced, by retiring slowly to
+ decoy them across the river. These instructions were given to the Numidians:
+ to the other leaders of the infantry and cavalry it was commanded that they
+ should order all their men to dine; and then, under arms and with their horses
+ equipped, to await the signal. Sempronius, eager for the contest, led out, on
+ the first tumult raised by the Numidians, all the cavalry, being full of confidence
+ in that part of the forces; then six thousand infantry, and lastly all his army,
+ to the place already determined in his plan. It happened to be the winter season
+ and a snowy day, in the region which lies between the Alps and the Apennine,
+ and excessively cold by the proximity of rivers and marshes: besides, there
+ was no heat in the bodies of the men and horses thus hastily led out without
+ having first taken food, or employed any means to keep off the cold; and the
+ nearer they approached to the blasts from the river, a keener degree of cold
+ blew upon them. But when, in pursuit of the flying Numidians, they entered the
+ water, (and it was swollen by rain in the night as high as their breasts,) then
+ in truth the bodies of all, on landing, were so benumbed, that they were scarcely
+ able to hold their arms; and as the day advanced they began to grow faint, both
+ from fatigue and hunger. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">55 </div>
+<a id="c55" />
+<p>In the mean time the soldiers of Hannibal, fires having been kindled before
+ the tents, and oil sent through the companies to soften their limbs, and their
+ food having been taken at leisure, as soon as it was announced that the enemy
+ had passed the river, seized their arms with vigour of mind and body, and advanced
+ to the battle. Hannibal placed before the standards the Baliares and the light-armed
+ troops, to the amount of nearly eight thousand men; then the heavier-armed infantry,
+ the chief of his power and strength: on the wings he posted ten thousand horse,
+ and on their extremities stationed the elephants divided into two parts. The
+ consul placed on the flanks of his infantry the cavalry, recalled by the signal
+ for retreat, as in their irregular pursuit of the enemy they were checked, while
+ unprepared, by the Numidians suddenly turning upon them. There were of infantry
+ eighteen thousand Romans, twenty thousand allies of the Latin name, besides
+ the auxiliary forces of the Cenomani, the only Gallic nation that had remained
+ faithful: with these forces they engaged the enemy. The battle was commenced
+ by the Baliares; whom when the legions resisted with superior force, the light-armed
+ troops were hastily drawn off to the wings; which movement caused the Roman
+ cavalry to be immediately overpowered: for when their four thousand already
+ with difficulty withstood by themselves ten thousand of the enemy, the wearied,
+ against men for the most part fresh, they were overwhelmed in addition by a
+ cloud as it were of javelins, discharged by the Baliares; and the elephants
+ besides, which held a prominent position at the extremities of the wings, (the
+ horses being greatly terrified not only at their appearance, but their unusual
+ smell,) occasioned flight to a wide extent. The battle between the infantry
+ was equal rather in courage than strength; for the Carthaginian brought the
+ latter entire to the action, having a little before refreshed themselves, while,
+ on the contrary, the bodies of the Romans, suffering from fasting and fatigue,
+ and stiff with cold, were quite benumbed. They would have made a stand, however,
+ by dint of courage, if they had only had to fight with the infantry. But both
+ the Baliares, having beaten off the cavalry, poured darts on their flanks, and
+ the elephants had already penetrated to the centre of the line of the infantry;
+ while Mago and the Numidians, as soon as the army had passed their place of
+ ambush without observing them, starting up on their rear, occasioned great disorder
+ and alarm. Nevertheless, amid so many surrounding dangers, the line for some
+ time remained unbroken, and, most contrary to the expectation of all, against
+ the elephants. These the light infantry, posted for the purpose, turned back
+ by throwing their spears; and following them up when turned, pierced them under
+ the tail, where they received the wounds in the softest skin. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">56 </div>
+<a id="c56" />
+<p>Hannibal ordered the elephants, thus thrown into disorder, and almost driven
+ by their terror against their own party, to be led away from the centre of the
+ line to its extremity against the auxiliary Gauls on the left wing. In an instant
+ they occasioned unequivocal flight; and a new alarm was added to the Romans
+ when they saw their auxiliaries routed. About ten thousand men, therefore, as
+ they now were fighting in a circle, the others being unable to escape, broke
+ through the middle of the line of the Africans, which was supported by the Gallic
+ auxiliaries, with immense slaughter of the enemy: and since they neither could
+ return to the camp, being shut out by the river, nor, on account of the heavy
+ rain, satisfactorily determine in what part they should assist their friends,
+ they proceeded by the direct road to Placentia. After this several irruptions
+ were made in all directions; and those who sought the river were either swallowed
+ up in its eddies, or whilst they hesitated to enter it were cut off by the enemy.
+ Some, who had been scattered abroad through the country in their flight, by
+ following the traces of the retreating army, arrived at Placentia; others, the
+ fear of the enemy inspired with boldness to enter the river, having crossed
+ it, reached the camp. The rain mixed with snow, and the intolerable severity
+ of the cold, destroyed many men and beasts of burden, and almost all the elephants.
+ The river Trebia was the termination of the Carthaginians' pursuit of the enemy;
+ and they returned to the camp so benumbed with cold, that they could scarcely
+ feel joy for the victory. On the following night, therefore, though the guard
+ of the camp and the principal part of the soldiers that remained passed the
+ Trebia on rafts, they either did not perceive it, on account of the beating
+ of the rain, or being unable to bestir themselves, through their fatigue and
+ wounds, pretended that they did not perceive it; and the Carthaginians remaining
+ quiet, the army was silently led by the consul Scipio to Placentia, thence transported
+ across the Po to Cremona, lest one colony should be too much burdened by the
+ winter quarters of two armies. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">57 </div>
+<a id="c57" />
+<p>Such terror on account of this disaster was carried to Rome, that they believed
+ that the enemy was already approaching the city with hostile standards, and
+ that they had neither hope nor aid by which they might repel his attack from
+ the gates and walls. One consul having been defeated at the Ticinus, the other
+ having been recalled from Sicily, and now both consuls and their two consular
+ armies having been vanquished, what other commanders, what other legions were
+ there to be sent for? The consul Sempronius came to them whilst thus dismayed,
+ having passed at great risk through the cavalry of the enemy, scattered in every
+ direction in search of plunder, with courage, rather than with any plan or hope
+ of escaping, or of making resistance if he should not escape it. Having held
+ the assembly for the election of the consuls, the only thing which was particularly
+ wanting at present, he returned to the winter quarters. Cneius Servilius and
+ Caius Flaminius were elected consuls. But not even the winter quarters of the
+ Romans were undisturbed, the Numidian horse ranging at large, and where the
+ ground was impracticable for these, the Celtiberians and Lusitanians. All supplies,
+ therefore, from every quarter, were cut off, except such as the ships conveyed
+ by the Po. There was a magazine near Placentia, both fortified with great care
+ and secured by a strong garrison. In the hope of taking this fort, Hannibal
+ having set out with the cavalry and the light-armed horse, and having attacked
+ it by night, as he rested his main hope of effecting his enterprise on keeping
+ it concealed, did not escape the notice of the guards. Such a clamour was immediately
+ raised, that it was heard even at Placentia. The consul; therefore, came up
+ with the cavalry about daybreak, having commanded the legions to follow in a
+ square band. In the mean time an engagement of cavalry commenced, in which the
+ enemy being dismayed because Hannibal retired wounded from the fight, the fortress
+ was admirably defended. After this, having taken rest for a few days, and before
+ his wound was hardly as yet sufficiently healed, he sets out to lay siege to
+ Victumviae. This magazine had been fortified by the Romans in the Gallic war;
+ afterwards a mixture of inhabitants from the neighbouring states around had
+ made the place populous; and at this time the terror created by the devastation
+ of the enemy had driven together to it numbers from the country. A multitude
+ of this description, excited by the report of the brave defence of the fortress
+ near Placentia, having snatched up their arms, went out to meet Hannibal. They
+ engaged on the road rather like armies in order of march than in line of battle;
+ and since on the one side there was nothing but a disorderly crowd, and on the
+ other a general confident in his soldiers, and soldiers in their general, as
+ many as thirty-five thousand men were routed by a few. On the following day,
+ a surrender having been made, they received a garrison within their walls; and
+ being ordered to deliver up their arms, as soon as they had obeyed the command,
+ a signal is suddenly given to the victors to pillage the city, as if it had
+ been taken by storm; nor was any outrage, which in such cases is wont to appear
+ to writers worthy of relation, left unperpetrated; such a specimen of every
+ kind of lust, barbarity, and inhuman insolence was exhibited towards that unhappy
+ people. Such were the expeditions of Hannibal during the winter. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">58 </div>
+<a id="c58" />
+<p>For a short time after, while the cold continued intolerable, rest was given
+ to the soldiers; and having set out from his winter quarters on the first and
+ uncertain indications of spring, he leads them into Etruria, intending to gain
+ that nation to his side, like the Gauls and Ligurians, either by force or favour.
+ As he was crossing the Apennines, so furious a storm attacked him, that it almost
+ surpassed the horrors of the Alps. When the rain and wind together were driven
+ directly against their faces, they at first halted, because their arms must
+ either be cast away, or striving to advance against the storm they were whirled
+ round by the hurricane, and dashed to the ground: afterwards, when it now stopped
+ their breath, nor suffered them to respire, they sat down for a little, with
+ their backs to the wind. Then indeed the sky resounded with loud thunder, and
+ the lightnings flashed between its terrific peals; all, bereft of sight and
+ hearing, stood torpid with fear. At length, when the rain had spent itself,
+ and the fury of the wind was on that account the more increased, it seemed necessary
+ to pitch the camp in that very place where they had been overtaken by the storm.
+ But this was the beginning of their labours, as it were, afresh; for neither
+ could they spread out nor fix any tent, nor did that which perchance had been
+ put up remain, the wind tearing through and sweeping every thing away: and soon
+ after, when the water raised aloft by the wind had been frozen above the cold
+ summits of the mountains, it poured down such a torrent of snowy hail, that
+ the men, casting away every thing, fell down upon their faces, rather buried
+ under than sheltered by their coverings; and so extreme an intensity of cold
+ succeeded, that when each wished to raise and lift himself from that wretched
+ heap of men and beasts of burden, he was for a long time unable, because their
+ sinews being stiffened by the cold, they had great difficulty in bending their
+ joints. Afterwards, when, by continually moving themselves to and fro, they
+ succeeded in recovering the power of motion, and regained their spirits, and
+ fires began to be kindled in a few places, every helpless man had recourse to
+ the aid of others. They remained as if blockaded for two days in that place.
+ Many men and beasts of burden, and also seven elephants, of those which had
+ remained from the battle fought at the Trebia, were destroyed. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">59 </div>
+<a id="c59" />
+<p>Having descended from the Apennines, he moved his camp back towards Placentia,
+ and having proceeded as far as ten miles, took up his station. On the following
+ day he leads out twelve thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry against
+ the enemy. Nor did Sempronius the consul (for he had now returned from Rome)
+ decline the engagement; and during that day three miles intervened between the
+ two camps. On the following day they fought with amazing courage and various
+ success. At the first onset the Roman power was so superior, that they not only
+ conquered the enemy in the regular battle, but pursued them when driven back
+ quite into their camp, and soon after also assaulted it. Hannibal, having stationed
+ a few to defend the rampart and the gates, and having admitted the rest in close
+ array into the middle of the camp orders them to watch attentively the signal
+ for sallying out. It was now about the ninth hour of the day when the Roman,
+ having fatigued his soldiers to no purpose, after there was no hope of gaining
+ possession of the camp, gave the signal for retreat; which when Hannibal heard,
+ and saw that the attack was slackened, and that they were retreating from the
+ camp, instantly having sent out the cavalry on the right and left against the
+ enemy, he himself in the middle with the main force of the infantry rushed out
+ from the camp. Seldom has there been a combat more furious, and few would have
+ been more remarkable for the loss on both sides, if the day had suffered it
+ to continue for a longer time. Night broke off the battle when raging most from
+ the determined spirit of the combatants. The conflict therefore was more severe
+ than the slaughter: and as it was pretty much a drawn battle, they separated
+ with equal loss. On neither side fell more than six hundred infantry, and half
+ that number of cavalry. But the loss of the Romans was more severe than proportionate
+ to the number that fell, because several of equestrian rank, and five tribunes
+ of the soldiers, and three prefects of the allies were slain. After this battle
+ Hannibal retired to the territory of the Ligurians, and Sempronius to Luca.
+ Two Roman quaestors, Caius Fulvius and Lucius Lucretius, who had been treacherously
+ intercepted, with two military tribunes and five of the equestrian order, mostly
+ sons of senators, are delivered up to Hannibal when coming among the Ligurians,
+ in order that he might feel more convinced that the peace and alliance with
+ them would be binding. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">60 </div>
+<a id="c60" />
+<p>While these things are transacting in Italy, Cneius Cornelius Scipio having
+ been sent into Spain with a fleet and army, when, setting out from the mouth
+ of the Rhone, and sailing past the Pyrenaean mountains, he had moored his fleet
+ at Emporiae, having there landed his army, and beginning with the Lacetani,
+ he brought the whole coast, as far as the river Iberus, under the Roman dominion,
+ partly by renewing the old, and partly by forming new alliances. The reputation
+ for clemency, acquired by these means, had influence not only with the maritime
+ states, but now also with the more savage tribes in the inland and mountainous
+ districts; nor was peace only effected with them, but also an alliance of arms,
+ and several fine cohorts of auxiliaries were levied from their numbers. The
+ country on this side of the Iberus was the province of Hanno, whom Hannibal
+ had left to defend that region. He, therefore, judging that he ought to make
+ opposition, before every thing was alienated from him, having pitched his camp
+ in sight of the enemy, led out his forces in battle-array; nor did it appear
+ to the Roman, that the engagement ought to be deferred, as he knew that he must
+ fight with Hanno and Hasdrubal, and wished rather to contend against each of
+ them separately, than against both together. The conflict did not prove one
+ of great difficulty; six thousand of the enemy were slain, and two thousand
+ made prisoners, together with the guard of the camp; for both the camp was stormed,
+ and the general himself, with several of the chief officers, taken; and Scissis,
+ a town near the camp, was also carried by assault. But the spoil of this town
+ consisted of things of small value, such as the household furniture used by
+ barbarians and slaves that were worth little. The camp enriched the soldiers;
+ almost all the valuable effects, not only of that army which was conquered,
+ but of that which was serving with Hannibal in Italy, having been left on this
+ side the Pyrenees, that the baggage might not be cumbrous to those who conveyed
+ it. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">61 </div>
+<a id="c61" />
+<p>Before any certain news of this disaster arrived, Hasdrubal, having passed
+ the Iberus with eight thousand foot and a thousand horse, intending to meet
+ the Romans on their first approach, after he heard of the ruin of their affairs
+ at Scissis, and the loss of the camp, turned his route towards the sea. Not
+ far from Tarraco, having despatched his cavalry in various directions, he drove
+ to their ships, with great slaughter, and greater route, the soldiers belonging
+ to the fleet and the mariners, while scattered and wandering through the fields
+ (for it is usually the case that success produces negligence), but not daring
+ to remain longer in that quarter, lest he should be surprised by Scipio, he
+ withdrew to the other side of the Iberus. And Scipio, having quickly brought
+ up his army on the report of fresh enemies, after punishing a few captains of
+ ships and leaving a moderate garrison at Tarraco, returned with his fleet to
+ Emporiae. He had scarcely departed, when Hasdrubal came up, and having instigated
+ to a revolt the state of the Ilergetes, which had given hostages to Scipio,
+ he lays waste, with the youth of that very people, the lands of the faithful
+ allies of the Romans. Scipio being thereupon roused from his winter quarters,
+ Hasdrubal again retires from in all the country on this side the Iberus. Scipio,
+ when with a hostile army he had invaded the state of the Ilergetes, forsaken
+ by the author of their revolt, and having driven them all into Athanagia, which
+ was the capital of that nation laid siege to the city; and within a few days,
+ having imposed the delivery of more hostages than before, and also fined the
+ Ilergetes in a sum of money, he received them back into his authority and dominion.
+ He then proceeded against the Ausetani near the Iberus, who were also the allies
+ of the Carthaginians; and having laid siege to their city, he cut off by an
+ ambuscade the Lacetani, while bringing assistance by night to their neighbours,
+ having attacked them at a small distance from the city, as they were designing
+ to enter it. As many as twelve thousand were slain; the rest, nearly all without
+ their arms, escaped home, by dispersing through the country in every direction.
+ Nor did any thing else but the winter, which was unfavourable to the besiegers,
+ secure the besieged. The blockade continued for thirty days, during which the
+ snow scarce ever lay less deep than four feet; and it had covered to such a
+ degree the sheds and mantelets of the Romans, that it alone served as a defence
+ when fire was frequently thrown on them by the enemy. At last, when Amusitus,
+ their leader, had fled to Hasdrubal, they are surrendered, on condition of paying
+ twenty talents of silver. They then returned into winter quarters at Tarraco.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">62 </div>
+<a id="c62" />
+<p>At Rome during this winter many prodigies either occurred about the city, or,
+ as usually happens when the minds of men are once inclined to superstition,
+ many were reported and readily believed; among which it was said that an infant
+ of good family, only six months old, had called out "Io triumphe" in the herb
+ market: that in the cattle market an ox had of his own accord ascended to the
+ third story, and that thence, being frightened by the noise of the inhabitants,
+ had flung himself down; that the appearance of ships had been brightly visible
+ in the sky, and that the temple of Hope in the herb market had been struck by
+ lightning; that the spear at Lanuvium had shaken itself; that a crow had flown
+ down into the temple of Juno and alighted on the very couch; that in the territory
+ of Amiternum figures resembling men dressed in white raiment had been seen in
+ several places at a distance, but had not come close to any one; that in Picenum
+ it had rained stones; that at Caere the tablets for divination had been lessened
+ in size; and that in Gaul a wolf had snatched out the sword from the scabbard
+ of a soldier on guard, and carried it off. On account of the other prodigies
+ the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; but on account of its having
+ rained stones in Picenum the festival of nine days was proclaimed, and almost
+ all the state was occupied in expiating the rest, from time to time. First of
+ all the city was purified, and victims of the greater kind were sacrificed to
+ those gods to whom they were directed to be offered; and a gift of forty pounds'
+ weight of gold was carried to the temple of Juno at Lanuvium; and the matrons
+ dedicated a brazen statue to Juno on the Aventine; and a lectisternium was ordered
+ at Caere, where the tablets for divination had diminished; and a supplication
+ to Fortune at Algidum; at Rome also a lectisternium was ordered to Youth, and
+ a supplication at the temple of Hercules, first by individuals named and afterwards
+ by the whole people at all the shrines; five greater victims were offered to
+ Genius; and Caius Atilius Serranus the praetor was ordered to make certain vows
+ if the republic should remain in the same state for ten years. These things,
+ thus expiated and vowed according to the Sibylline books, relieved, in a great
+ degree, the public mind from superstitious fears. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">63 </div>
+<a id="c63" />
+<p>Flaminius, one of the consuls elect, to whom the legions which were wintering
+ at Placentia had fallen by lot, sent an edict and letter to the consul, desiring
+ that those forces should be ready in camp at Ariminum on the ides of March.
+ He had a design to enter on the consulship in his province, recollecting his
+ old contests with the fathers, which he had waged with them when tribune of
+ the people, and afterwards when consul, first about his election to the office,
+ which was annulled, and then about a triumph. He was also odious to the fathers
+ on account of a new law which Quintus Claudius, tribune of the people, had carried
+ against the senate, Caius Flaminius alone of that body assisting him, that no
+ senator, or he who had been father of a senator, should possess a ship fit for
+ sea service, containing more than three hundred amphorae. This size was considered
+ sufficient for conveying the produce of their lands: all traffic appeared unbecoming
+ a senator. This contest, maintained with the warmest opposition, procured the
+ hatred of the nobility to Flaminius, the advocate of the law; but the favour
+ of the people, and afterwards a second consulship. For these reasons, thinking
+ that they would detain him in the city by falsifying the auspices, by the delay
+ of the Latin festival, and other hinderances to which a consul was liable, he
+ pretended a journey, and, while yet in a private capacity, departed secretly
+ to his province. This proceeding, when it was made public, excited new and additional
+ anger in the senators, who were before irritated against him. They said, "That
+ Caius Flaminius waged war not only with the senate, but now with the immortal
+ gods; that having been formerly made consul without the proper auspices, he
+ had disobeyed both gods and men recalling him from the very field of battle;
+ and now, through consciousness of their having been dishonoured, had shunned
+ the Capitol and the customary offering of vows, that he might not on the day
+ of entering his office approach the temple of Jupiter, the best and greatest
+ of gods; he might not see and consult the senate, himself hated by it, as it
+ was hateful to him alone; that he might not proclaim the Latin festival, or
+ perform on the Alban mount the customary rights to Jupiter Latiaris; that he
+ might not, under the direction of the auspices, go up to the Capitol to recite
+ his vows, and thence, attended by the lictors, proceed to his province in the
+ garb of a general; but that he had set off, like some camp boy, without his
+ insignia, without the lictors, in secrecy and stealth, just as if he had been
+ quitting his country to go into banishment; as if forsooth he would enter his
+ office more consistently with the dignity of the consul at Ariminum than Rome,
+ and assume the robe of office in a public inn better than before his own household
+ gods."--it was unanimously resolved that he, should be recalled and brought
+ back, and be constrained to perform in person every duty to gods and men before
+ he went to the army and the province. Quintus Terentius and Marcus Antistius
+ having set out on this embassy, (for it was decreed that ambassadors should
+ be sent,) prevailed with him in no degree more than the letter sent by the senate
+ in his former consulship. A few days after he entered on his office, and as
+ he was sacrificing a calf, after being struck, having broken away from the hands
+ of the ministers, sprinkled several of the bystanders with its blood. Flight
+ and disorder ensued, to a still greater degree at a distance among those who
+ were ignorant what was the cause of the alarm. This circumstance was regarded
+ by most persons as an omen of great terror. Having then received two legions
+ from Sempronius, the consul of the former year, and two from Caius Atilius,
+ the praetor, the army began to be led into Etruria, through the passes of the
+ Apennines. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book22">BOOK XXII.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 217-216</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#d1">1</a> <a href="#d2">2</a> <a href="#d3">3</a>
+ <a href="#d4">4</a> <a href="#d5">5</a> <a href="#d6">6</a> <a href="#d7">7</a>
+ <a href="#d8">8</a> <a href="#d9">9</a> <a href="#d10">10</a> <a href="#d11">11</a>
+ <a href="#d12">12</a> <a href="#d13">13</a> <a href="#d14">14</a> <a href="#d15">15</a>
+ <a href="#d16">16</a> <a href="#d17">17</a> <a href="#d18">18</a> <a href="#d19">19</a>
+ <a href="#d20">20</a> <a href="#d21">21</a> <a href="#d22">22</a> <a href="#d23">23</a>
+ <a href="#d24">24</a> <a href="#d25">25</a> <a href="#d26">26</a> <a href="#d27">27</a>
+ <a href="#d28">28</a> <a href="#d29">29</a> <a href="#d30">30</a> <a href="#d31">31</a>
+ <a href="#d32">32</a> <a href="#d33">33</a> <a href="#d34">34</a> <a href="#d35">35</a>
+ <a href="#d36">36</a> <a href="#d37">37</a> <a href="#d38">38</a> <a href="#d39">39</a>
+ <a href="#d40">40</a> <a href="#d41">41</a> <a href="#d42">42</a> <a href="#d43">43</a>
+ <a href="#d44">44</a> <a href="#d45">45</a> <a href="#d46">46</a> <a href="#d47">47</a>
+ <a href="#d48">48</a> <a href="#d49">49</a> <a href="#d50">50</a> <a href="#d51">51</a>
+ <a href="#d52">52</a> <a href="#d53">53</a> <a href="#d54">54</a> <a href="#d55">55</a>
+ <a href="#d56">56</a> <a href="#d57">57</a> <a href="#d58">58</a> <a href="#d59">59</a>
+ <a href="#d60">60</a> <a href="#d61">61</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Hannibal, after an uninterrupted march of four days and
+ three nights, arrives in Etruria, through the marshes, in which he lost an eye.
+ Caius Flaminius, the consul, an inconsiderate man, having gone forth in opposition
+ to the omens, dug up the standards which could not otherwise be raised, and
+ been thrown from his horse immediately after he had mounted, is insnared by
+ Hannibal, and cut off by his army near the Thrasimene lake. Three thousand who
+ had escaped are placed in chains by Hannibal, in violation of pledges given.
+ Distress occasioned in Rome by the intelligence. The Sibylline books consulted,
+ and a sacred spring decreed. Fabius Maximus sent as dictator against Hannibal,
+ whom he frustrates by caution and delay. Marcus Minucius, the master of the
+ horse, a rash and impetuous man, inveighs against the caution of Fabius, and
+ obtains an equality of command with him. The army is divided between them, and
+ Minucius engaging Hannibal in an unfavourable position, is reduced to the extremity
+ of danger, and is rescued by the dictator, and places himself under his authority.
+ Hannibal, after ravaging Campania, is shut up by Fabius in a valley near the
+ town of Casilinum, but escapes by night, putting to flight the Romans on guard
+ by oxen with lighted faggots attached to their horns. Hannibal attempts to excite
+ a suspicion of the fidelity of Fabius by sparing his farm while ravaging with
+ fire the whole country around it. Aemilius Paulus and Terentius Varro are routed
+ at Cannae, and forty thousand men slain, among whom were Paulus the consul,
+ eighty senators, and thirty who had served the office of consul, praetor, or
+ edile. A design projected by some noble youths of quitting Italy in despair
+ after this calamity, is intrepidly quashed by Publius Cornelius Scipio, a military
+ tribune, afterwards surnamed Africanus. Successes in Spain, eight thousand slaves
+ are enlisted by the Romans, they refuse to ransom the captives, they go out
+ in a body to meet Varro, and thank him for not having despaired of the commonwealth.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="d1" />
+<p>Spring was now at hand, when Hannibal quitted his winter quarters, having both
+ attempted in vain to cross the Apennines, from the intolerable cold, and having
+ remained with great danger and alarm. The Gauls, whom the hope of plunder and
+ spoil had collected, when, instead of being themselves engaged in carrying and
+ driving away booty from the lands of others, they saw their own lands made the
+ seat of war and burdened by the wintering of the armies of both forces, turned
+ their hatred back again from the Romans to Hannibal; and though plots were frequently
+ concerted against him by their chieftains, he was preserved by the treachery
+ they manifested towards each other; disclosing their conspiracy with the same
+ inconstancy with which they had conspired; and by changing sometimes his dress,
+ at other times the fashion of his hair, he protected himself from treachery
+ by deception. However, this fear was the cause of his more speedily quitting
+ his winter quarters. Meanwhile Cneius Servilius, the consul, entered upon his
+ office at Rome, on the ides of March. There, when he had consulted the senate
+ on the state of the republic in general, the indignation against Flaminius was
+ rekindled. They said "that they had created indeed two consuls, that they had
+ but one; for what regular authority had the other, or what auspices? That their
+ magistrates took these with them from home, from the tutelar deities of themselves
+ and the state, after the celebration of the Latin holidays; the sacrifice upon
+ the mountain being completed, and the vows duly offered up in the Capitol: that
+ neither could an unofficial individual take the auspices, nor could one who
+ had gone from home without them, take them new, and for the first time, in a
+ foreign soil." Prodigies announced from many places at the same time, augmented
+ the terror: in Sicily, that several darts belonging to the soldiers had taken
+ fire; and in Sardinia, that the staff of a horseman, who was going his rounds
+ upon a wall, took fire as he held it in his hand; that the shores had blazed
+ with frequent fires; that two shields had sweated blood at Praeneste; that redhot
+ stones had fallen from the heavens at Arpi; that shields were seen in the heavens,
+ and the sun fighting with the moon, at Capena; that two moons rose in the day-time;
+ that the waters of Caere had flowed mixed with blood; and that even the fountain
+ of Hercules had flowed sprinkled with spots of blood. In the territory of Antium,
+ that bloody ears of corn had fallen into the basket as they were reaping. At
+ Falerii, that the heavens appeared cleft as if with a great chasm; and, that
+ where it had opened, a vast light had shone forth; that the prophetic tablets
+ had spontaneously become less; and that one had fallen out thus inscribed, "Mars
+ shakes his spear." During the same time, that the statue of Mars at Rome, on
+ the Appian way, had sweated at the sight of images of wolves. At Capua that
+ there had been the appearance of the heavens being on fire, and of the moon
+ as falling amidst rain. After these, credence was given to prodigies of less
+ magnitude: that the goats of certain persons had borne wool; that a hen had
+ changed herself into a cock; and a cock into a hen: these things having been
+ laid before the senate as reported, the authors being conducted into the senate-house,
+ the consul took the sense of the fathers on religious affairs. It was decreed
+ that those prodigies should be expiated, partly with full-grown, partly with
+ sucking victims; and that a supplication should be made at every shrine for
+ the space of three days; that the other things should be done accordingly as
+ the gods should declare in their oracles to be agreeable to their will when
+ the decemviri had examined the books. By the advice of the decemviri it was
+ decreed, first, that a golden thunderbolt of fifty pounds' weight should be
+ made as an offering to Jupiter; that offerings of silver should be presented
+ to Juno and Minerva; that sacrifices of full-grown victims should be offered
+ to Juno Regina on the Aventine; and to Juno Sospita at Lanuvium; that the matrons,
+ contributing as much money as might be convenient to each, should carry it to
+ the Aventine, as a present to Juno Regina; and that a lectisternium should be
+ celebrated. Moreover, that the very freed-women should, according to their means,
+ contribute money from which a present might be made to Feronia. When these things
+ were done, the decemviri sacrificed with the larger victims in the forum at
+ Ardea. Lastly, it being now the month of December, a sacrifice was made at the
+ temple of Saturn at Rome, and a lectisternium ordered, in which senators prepared
+ the couch and a public banquet. Proclamation was made through the city, that
+ the Saturnalia should be kept for a day and a night; and the people were commanded
+ to account that day as a holiday, and observe it for ever. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="d2" />
+<p>While the consul employs himself at Rome in appeasing the gods and holding
+ the levy, Hannibal, setting out from his winter quarters, because it was reported
+ that the consul Flaminius had now arrived at Arretium, although a longer but
+ more commodious route was pointed out to him, takes the nearer road through
+ a marsh where the Arno had, more than usual, overflowed its banks. He ordered
+ the Spaniards and Africans (in these lay the strength of his veteran army) to
+ lead, their own baggage being intermixed with them, lest, being compelled to
+ halt any where, they should want what might be necessary for their use: the
+ Gauls he ordered to go next, that they might form the middle of the marching
+ body; the cavalry to march in the rear: next, Mago with the light-armed Numidians
+ to keep the army together, particularly coercing the Gauls, if, fatigued with
+ exertion and the length of the march, as that nation is wanting in vigour for
+ such exertions, they should fall away or halt. The van still followed the standards
+ wherever the guides did but lead them, through the exceeding deep and almost
+ fathomless eddies of the river, nearly swallowed up in mud, and plunging themselves
+ in. The Gauls could neither support themselves when fallen, nor raise themselves
+ from the eddies. Nor did they sustain their bodies with spirit, nor their minds
+ with hope; some scarce dragging on their wearied limbs; others dying where they
+ had once fallen, their spirits being subdued with fatigue, among the beasts
+ which themselves also lay prostrate in every place. But chiefly watching wore
+ them out, endured now for four days and three nights. When, the water covering
+ every place, not a dry spot could be found where they might stretch their weary
+ bodies, they laid themselves down upon their baggage, thrown in heaps into the
+ waters. Piles of beasts, which lay every where through the whole route, afforded
+ a necessary bed for temporary repose to those seeking any place which was not
+ under water. Hannibal himself, riding on the only remaining elephant, to be
+ the higher from the water, contracted a disorder in his eyes, at first from
+ the unwholesomeness of the vernal air, which is attended with transitions from
+ heat to cold; and at length from watching, nocturnal damps, the marshy atmosphere
+ disordering his head, and because he had neither opportunity nor leisure for
+ remedies, loses one of them. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="d3" />
+<p>Many men and cattle having been lost thus wretchedly, when at length he had
+ emerged from the marshes, he pitched his camp as soon as he could on dry ground.
+ And here he received information, through the scouts sent in advance, that the
+ Roman army was round the walls of Arretium. Next the plans and temper of the
+ consul, the situation of the country, the roads, the sources from which provisions
+ might be obtained, and whatever else it was useful to know; all these things
+ he ascertained by the most diligent inquiry. The country was among the most
+ fertile of Italy, the plain of Etruria, between Faesulae and Arretium, abundant
+ in its supply of corn, cattle, and every other requisite. The consul was haughty
+ from his former consulship, and felt no proper degree of reverence not only
+ for the laws and the majesty of the fathers, but even for the gods. This temerity,
+ inherent in his nature, fortune had fostered by a career of prosperity and success
+ in civil and military affairs. Thus it was sufficiently evident that, heedless
+ of gods and men, he would act in all cases with presumption and precipitation;
+ and, that he might fall the more readily into the errors natural to him, the
+ Carthaginian begins to fret and irritate him; and leaving the enemy on his left,
+ he takes the road to Faesulae, and marching through the centre of Etruria, with
+ intent to plunder, he exhibits to the consul, in the distance, the greatest
+ devastation he could with fires and slaughters. Flaminius, who would not have
+ rested even if the enemy had remained quiet; then, indeed, when he saw the property
+ of the allies driven and carried away almost before his eyes, considering that
+ it reflected disgrace upon him that the Carthaginian now roaming at large through
+ the heart of Italy, and marching without resistance to storm the very walls
+ of Rome, though every other person in the council advised safe rather than showy
+ measures, urging that he should wait for his colleague, in order that, joining
+ their armies, they might carry on the war with united courage and counsels;
+ and that, meanwhile, the enemy should be prevented from his unrestrained freedom
+ in plundering by the cavalry and the light-armed auxiliaries; in a fury hurried
+ out of the council, and at once gave out the signal for marching and for battle.
+ "Nay, rather," says he, "let him be before the walls of Arretium, for here is
+ our country, here our household gods. Let Hannibal, slipping through our fingers,
+ waste Italy through and through; and, ravaging and burning every thing, let
+ him arrive at the walls of Rome; let us move hence till the fathers shall have
+ summoned Flaminius from Arretium, as they did Camillus of old from Veii." While
+ reproaching them thus, and in the act of ordering the standards to be speedily
+ pulled up, when he had mounted upon his horse, the animal fell suddenly, and
+ threw the unseated consul over his head. All the bystanders being alarmed at
+ this as an unhappy omen in the commencement of the affair, in addition word
+ is brought, that the standard could not be pulled up, though, the standard-bearer
+ strove with all his force. Flaminius, turning to the messenger, says, "Do you
+ bring, too, letters from the senate, forbidding me to act. Go, tell them to
+ dig up the standard, if, through fear, their hands are so benumbed that they
+ cannot pluck it up." Then the army began to march; the chief officers, besides
+ that they dissented from the plan, being terrified by the twofold prodigy; while
+ the soldiery in general were elated by the confidence of their leader, since
+ they regarded merely the hope he entertained, and not the reasons of the hope.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="d4" />
+<p>Hannibal lays waste the country between the city Cortona and the lake Trasimenus,
+ with all the devastation of war, the more to exasperate the enemy to revenge
+ the injuries inflicted on his allies. They had now reached a place formed by
+ nature for an ambuscade, where the Trasimenus comes nearest to the mountains
+ of Cortona. A very narrow passage only intervenes, as though room enough just
+ for that purpose had been left designedly; after that a somewhat wider plain
+ opens itself, and then some hills rise up. On these he pitches his camp, in
+ full view, where he himself with his Spaniards and Africans only might be posted.
+ The Baliares and his other light troops he leads round the mountains; his cavalry
+ he posts at the very entrance of the defile, some eminences conveniently concealing
+ them; in order that when the Romans had entered, the cavalry advancing, every
+ place might be enclosed by the lake and the mountains. Flaminius, passing the
+ defiles before it was quite daylight, without reconnoitering, though he had
+ arrived at the lake the preceding day at sunset, when the troops began to be
+ spread into the wider plain, saw that part only of the enemy which was opposite
+ to him; the ambuscade in his rear and overhead escaped his notice. And when
+ the Carthaginian had his enemy enclosed by the lake and mountains, and surrounded
+ by his troops, he gives the signal to all to make a simultaneous charge; and
+ each running down the nearest way, the suddenness and unexpectedness of the
+ event was increased to the Romans by a mist rising from the lake, which had
+ settled thicker on the plain than on the mountains; and thus the troops of the
+ enemy ran down from the various eminences, sufficiently well discerning each
+ other, and therefore with the greater regularity. A shout being raised on all
+ sides, the Roman found himself surrounded before he could well see the enemy;
+ and the attack on the front and flank had commenced ere his line could be well
+ formed, his arms prepared for action, or his swords unsheathed. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="d5" />
+<p>The consul, while all were panic-struck, himself sufficiently undaunted though
+ in so perilous a case, marshals, as well as the time and place permitted, the
+ lines which were thrown into confusion by each man's turning himself towards
+ the various shouts; and wherever he could approach or be heard exhorts them,
+ and bids them stand and fight: for that they could not escape thence by vows
+ and prayers to the gods but by exertion and valour; that a way was sometimes
+ opened by the sword through the midst of marshalled armies, and that generally
+ the less the fear the less the danger. However, from the noise and tumult, neither
+ his advice nor command could be caught; and so far were the soldiers from knowing
+ their own standards, and ranks, and position, that they had scarce sufficient
+ courage to take up arms and make them ready for battle; and certain of them
+ were surprised before they could prepare them, being burdened rather than protected
+ by them; while in so great darkness there was more use of ears than of eyes.
+ They turned their faces and eyes in every direction towards the groans of the
+ wounded, the sounds of blows upon the body or arms, and the mingled clamours
+ of the menacing and the affrighted. Some, as they were making their escape,
+ were stopped, having encountered a body of men engaged in fight; and bands of
+ fugitives returning to the battle, diverted others. After charges had been attempted
+ unsuccessfully in every direction, and on their flanks the mountains and the
+ lake, on the front and rear the lines of the enemy enclosed them, when it was
+ evident that there was no hope of safety but in the right hand and the sword;
+ then each man became to himself a leader, and encourager to action; and an entirely
+ new contest arose, not a regular line, with principes, hastati, and triarii;
+ nor of such a sort as that the vanguard should fight before the standards, and
+ the rest of the troops behind them; nor such that each soldier should be in
+ his own legion, cohort, or company: chance collects them into bands; and each
+ man's own will assigned to him his post, whether to fight in front or rear;
+ and so great was the ardour of the conflict, so intent were their minds upon
+ the battle, that not one of the combatants felt an earthquake which threw down
+ large portions of many of the cities of Italy, turned rivers from their rapid
+ courses, carried the sea up into rivers, and levelled mountains with a tremendous
+ crash. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="d6" />
+<p>The battle was continued near three hours, and in every quarter with fierceness;
+ around the consul, however, it was still hotter and more determined. Both the
+ strongest of the troops, and himself too, promptly brought assistance wherever
+ he perceived his men hard pressed and distressed. But, distinguished by his
+ armour, the enemy attacked him with the utmost vigour, while his countrymen
+ defended him; until an Insubrian horseman, named Ducarius, knowing him also
+ by his face, says to his countrymen, "Lo, this is the consul who slew our legions
+ and laid waste our fields and city. Now will I offer this victim to the shades
+ of my countrymen, miserably slain;" and putting spurs to his horse, he rushes
+ through a very dense body of the enemy; and first slaying his armour-bearer,
+ who had opposed himself to his attack as he approached, ran the consul through
+ with his lance; the triarii, opposing their shields, kept him off when seeking
+ to despoil him. Then first the flight of a great number began; and now neither
+ the lake nor the mountains obstructed their hurried retreat; they run through
+ all places, confined and precipitous, as though they were blind; and arms and
+ men are tumbled one upon another. A great many, when there remained no more
+ space to run, advancing into the water through the first shallows of the lake,
+ plunge in, as far as they could stand above it with their heads and shoulders.
+ Some there were whom inconsiderate fear induced to try to escape even by swimming;
+ but as that attempt was inordinate and hopeless, they were either overwhelmed
+ in the deep water, their courage failing, or, wearied to no purpose, made their
+ way back, with extreme difficulty, to the shallows; and there were cut up on
+ all hands by the cavalry of the enemy, which had entered the water. Near upon
+ six thousand of the foremost body having gallantly forced their way through
+ the opposing enemy, entirely unacquainted with what was occurring in their rear,
+ escaped from the defile; and having halted on a certain rising ground, and hearing
+ only the shouting and clashing of arms, they could not know nor discern, by
+ reason of the mist, what was the fortune of the battle. At length, the affair
+ being decided, when the mist, dispelled by the increasing heat of the sun, had
+ cleared the atmosphere, then, in the clear light, the mountains and plains showed
+ their ruin and the Roman army miserably destroyed; and thus, lest, being descried
+ at a distance, the cavalry should be sent against them, hastily snatching up
+ their standards, they hurried away with all possible expedition. On the following
+ day, when in addition to their extreme sufferings in other respects, famine
+ also was at hand, Maharbal, who had followed them during the night with the
+ whole body of cavalry, pledging his honour that he would let them depart with
+ single garments, if they would deliver up their arms, they surrendered themselves;
+ which promise was kept by Hannibal with Punic fidelity, and he threw them all
+ into chains. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="d7" />
+<p>This is the celebrated battle at the Trasimenus, and recorded among the few
+ disasters of the Roman people. Fifteen thousand Romans were slain in the battle.
+ Ten thousand, who had been scattered in the flight through all Etruria, returned
+ to the city by different roads. One thousand five hundred of the enemy perished
+ in the battle; many on both sides died afterwards of their wounds. The carnage
+ on both sides is related, by some authors, to have been many times greater.
+ I, besides that I would relate nothing drawn from a worthless source, to which
+ the minds of historians generally incline too much, have as my chief authority
+ Fabius, who was contemporary with the events of this war. Such of the captives
+ as belonged to the Latin confederacy being dismissed without ransom, and the
+ Romans thrown into chains, Hannibal ordered the bodies of his own men to be
+ gathered from the heaps of the enemy, and buried: the body of Flaminius too,
+ which was searched for with great diligence for burial, he could not find. On
+ the first intelligence of this defeat at Rome, a concourse of the people, dismayed
+ and terrified, took place in the forum. The matrons, wandering through the streets,
+ ask all they meet, what sudden disaster was reported? what was the fate of the
+ army? And when the multitude, like a full assembly, having directed their course
+ to the comitium and senate-house, were calling upon the magistrates, at length,
+ a little before sunset, Marcus Pomponius, the praetor, declares, "We have been
+ defeated in a great battle;" and though nothing more definite was heard from
+ him, yet, full of the rumours which they had caught one from another, they carry
+ back to their homes intelligence, that the consul, with a great part of his
+ troops, was slain; that a few only survived, and these either widely dispersed
+ in flight through Etruria, or else captured by the enemy. As many as had been
+ the calamities of the vanquished army, into so many anxieties were the minds
+ of those distracted whose relations had served under Flaminius, and who were
+ uninformed of what had been the fate of their friends, nor does any one know
+ certainly what he should either hope or fear. During the next and several successive
+ days, a greater number of women almost than men stood at the gates, waiting
+ either for some one of their friends or for intelligence of them, surrounding
+ and earnestly interrogating those they met: nor could they be torn away from
+ those they knew especially, until they had regularly inquired into every thing.
+ Then as they retired from the informants you might discern their various expressions
+ of countenance according as intelligence, pleasing or sad, was announced to
+ each; and those who congratulated or condoled on their return home. The joy
+ and grief of the women were especially manifested. They report that one, suddenly
+ meeting her son, who had returned safe, expired at the very door before his
+ face--that another, who sat grieving at her house at the falsely reported death
+ of her son, became a corpse, from excessive joy, at the first sight of him on
+ his return. The praetors detained the senators in the house for several days
+ from sunrise to sunset, deliberating under whose conduct and by what forces,
+ the victorious Carthaginians could be opposed. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="d8" />
+<p>Before their plans were sufficiently determined another unexpected defeat is
+ reported: four thousand horse, sent under the conduct of C. Centenius, propraetor,
+ by Servilius to his colleague, were cut off by Hannibal in Umbria, to which
+ place, on hearing of the battle at Trasimenus, they had turned their course.
+ The report of this event variously affected the people. Some, having their minds
+ preoccupied with heavier grief, considered the recent loss of cavalry trifling,
+ in comparison with their former losses; others did not estimate what had occurred
+ by itself, but considered that, as in a body already labouring under disease,
+ a slight cause would be felt more violently than a more powerful one in a robust
+ constitution, so whatever adverse event befell the state in its then sickly
+ and impaired condition, ought to be estimated, not by the magnitude of the event
+ itself, but with reference to its exhausted strength, which could endure nothing
+ that could oppress it. The state therefore took refuge in a remedy for a long
+ time before neither wanted nor employed, the appointment of a dictator, and
+ because the consul was absent, by whom alone it appeared he could be nominated,
+ and because neither message nor letter could easily be sent to him through the
+ country occupied by Punic troops, and because the people could not appoint a
+ dictator, which had never been done to that day, the people created Quintus
+ Fabius Maximus pro dictator, and Marcus Minucius Rufus master of the horse.
+ To them the senate assigned the task of strengthening the walls and towers of
+ the city, of placing guards in such quarters as seemed good, and breaking down
+ the bridges of the river, considering that they must now fight at home in defence
+ of their city, since they were unable to protect Italy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="d9" />
+<p>Hannibal, marching directly through Umbria, arrived at Spoletum, thence, having
+ completely devastated the adjoining country, and commenced an assault upon the
+ city, having been repulsed with great loss and conjecturing from the strength
+ of this one colony, which had been not very successfully attacked, what was
+ the size of the city of Rome, turned aside into the territory of Picenum, which
+ abounded not only with every species of grain, but was stored with booty, which
+ his rapacious and needy troops eagerly seized. There he continued encamped for
+ several days, and his soldiers were refreshed, who had been enfeebled by winter
+ marches and marshy ground, and with a battle more successful in its result than
+ light or easy. When sufficient time for rest had been granted for soldiers delighting
+ more in plunder and devastation than ease and repose, setting out, he lays waste
+ the territories of Pretutia and Hadria, then of the Marsi, the Marrucini, and
+ the Peligni, and the contiguous region of Apulia around Arpi and Luceria. Cneius
+ Servilius, the consul, having fought some slight battles with the Gauls, and
+ taken one inconsiderable town, when he heard of the defeat of his colleague
+ and the army, alarmed now for the walls of the capital, marched towards the
+ city, that he might not be absent at so extreme a crisis. Quintus Fabius Maximus,
+ a second time dictator, assembled the senate the very day he entered on his
+ office; and commencing with what related to the gods, after he had distinctly
+ proved to the fathers, that Caius Flaminius had erred more from neglect of the
+ ceremonies and auspices than from temerity and want of judgment, and that the
+ gods themselves should be consulted as to what were the expiations of their
+ anger, he obtained a resolution that the decemviri should be ordered to inspect
+ the Sibylline books, which is rarely decreed, except when some horrid prodigies
+ were announced. Having inspected the prophetic books, they reported, that the
+ vow which was made to Mars on account of this war, not having been regularly
+ fulfilled, must be performed afresh and more fully; that the great games must
+ be vowed to Jupiter, temples to Venus Erycina and Mens; that a supplication
+ and lectisternium must be made, and a sacred spring vowed, if the war should
+ proceed favourably and the state continue the condition it was in before the
+ war. Since the management of the war would occupy Fabius, the senate orders
+ Marcus Aemilius, the praetor, to see that all these things are done in good
+ time, according to the directions of the college of pontiffs. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="d10" />
+<p>These decrees of the senate having been passed, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus,
+ pontifex maximus, the college of praetors consulting with him, gives his opinion
+ that, first of all, the people should be consulted respecting a sacred spring:
+ that it could not be without the order of the people. The people having been
+ asked according to this form: Do ye will and order that this thing should be
+ performed in this manner? If the republic of the Roman people, the Quirites,
+ shall be safe and preserved as I wish it may, from these wars for the next five
+ years, (the war which is between the Roman people and the Carthaginian, and
+ the wars which are with the Cisalpine Gauls), the Roman people, the Quirites,
+ shall present whatsoever the spring shall produce from herds of swine, sheep,
+ goats, oxen and which shall not have been consecrated, to be sacrificed to Jupiter,
+ from the day which the senate and people shall appoint. Let him who shall make
+ an offering do it when he please, and in what manner he please; in whatsoever
+ manner he does it, let it be considered duly done. If that which ought to be
+ sacrificed die, let it be unconsecrated, and let no guilt attach; if any one
+ unwittingly wound or kill it, let it be no injury to him; if any one shall steal
+ it, let no guilt attach to the people or to him from whom it was stolen; if
+ any one shall unwittingly offer it on a forbidden day, let it be esteemed duly
+ offered; also whether by night or day, whether slave or free-man perform it.
+ If the senate and people shall order it to be offered sooner than any person
+ shall offer it, let the people being acquitted of it be free. On the same account
+ great games were vowed, at an expense of three hundred and thirty-three thousand
+ three hundred and thirty-three <i>asses</i> and a third; moreover, it was decreed
+ that sacrifice should be done to Jupiter with three hundred oxen, to many other
+ deities with white oxen and the other victims. The vows being duly made, a supplication
+ was proclaimed; and not only the inhabitants of the city went with their wives
+ and children, but such of the rustics also as, possessing any property themselves,
+ were interested in the welfare of the state. Then a lectisternium was celebrated
+ for three days, the decemviri for sacred things superintending. Six couches
+ were seen, for Jupiter and Juno one, for Neptune and Minerva another, for Mars
+ and Venus a third, for Apollo and Diana a fourth, for Vulcan and Vesta a fifth,
+ for Mercury and Ceres a sixth. Then temples were vowed. To Venus Erycina, Quintus
+ Fabius Maximus vowed a temple; for so it was delivered from the prophetic books,
+ that he should vow it who held the highest authority in the state. Titus Otacilius,
+ the praetor vowed a temple to Mens. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="d11" />
+<p>Divine things having been thus performed, the dictator then put the question
+ of the war and the state; with what, and how many legions the fathers were of
+ opinion that the victorious enemy should be opposed. It was decreed that he
+ should receive the army from Cneius Servilius, the consul: that he should levy,
+ moreover, from the citizens and allies as many horse and foot as seemed good;
+ that he should transact and perform every thing else as he considered for the
+ good of the state. Fabius said he would add two legions to the army of Servilius.
+ These were levied by the master of the horse, and were appointed by Fabius to
+ meet him at Tibur on a certain day. And then having issued proclamation that
+ those whose towns or castles were unfortified should quit them and assemble
+ in places of security; that all the inhabitants of that tract through which
+ Hannibal was about to march, should remove from the country, having first burnt
+ their buildings and spoiled their fruits, that there might not be a supply of
+ any thing; he himself set out on the Flaminian road to meet the consul and his
+ army; and when he saw in the distance the marching body on the Tiber, near Ocriculum,
+ and the consul with the cavalry advancing to him, he sent a beadle to acquaint
+ the consul that he must meet the dictator without the lictors. When he had obeyed
+ his command, and their meeting had exhibited a striking display of the majesty
+ of the dictatorship before the citizens and allies, who, from its antiquity,
+ had now almost forgotten that authority; a letter arrived from the city, stating
+ that the ships of burden, conveying provisions from Ostia into Spain to the
+ army, had been captured by the Carthaginian fleet off the port of Cossa. The
+ consul, therefore, was immediately ordered to proceed to Ostia, and, having
+ manned the ships at Rome or Ostia with soldiers and sailors, to pursue the enemy,
+ and protect the coasts of Italy. Great numbers of men were levied at Rome, sons
+ of freed-men even, who had children, and were of the military age, had taken
+ the oath. Of these troops levied in the city, such as were under thirty-five
+ were put on board ships, the rest were left to protect the city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="d12" />
+<p>The dictator, having received the troops of the consul from Fulvius Flaccus,
+ his lieutenant-general, marching through the Sabine territory, arrived at Tibur
+ on the day which he had appointed the new-raised troops to assemble. Thence
+ he went to Praeneste, and cutting across the country, came out in the Latin
+ way, whence he led his troops towards the enemy, reconnoitering the road with
+ the utmost diligence; not intending to expose himself to hazard any where, except
+ as far as necessity compelled him. The day he first pitched his camp in sight
+ of the enemy, not far from Arpi, the Carthaginian, without delay, led out his
+ troops, and forming his line gave an opportunity of fighting: but when he found
+ all still with the enemy, and his camp free from tumult and disorder, he returned
+ to his camp, saying indeed tauntingly, "That even the spirit of the Romans,
+ inherited from Mars, was at length subdued; that they were warred down and had
+ manifestly given up all claim to valour and renown:" but burning inwardly with
+ stifled vexation because he would have to encounter a general by no means like
+ Flaminius and Sempronius; and because the Romans, then at length schooled by
+ their misfortunes, had sought a general a match for Hannibal; and that now he
+ had no longer to fear the headlong violence, but the deliberate prudence of
+ the dictator. Having not yet experienced his constancy, he began to provoke
+ and try his temper, by frequently shifting his camp and laying waste the territories
+ of the allies before his eyes: and one while he withdrew out of sight at quick
+ march, another while he halted suddenly, and concealed himself in some winding
+ of the road, if possible to entrap him on his descending into the plain. Fabius
+ kept marching his troops along the high grounds, at a moderate distance from
+ the enemy, so as neither to let him go altogether nor yet to encounter him.
+ The troops were kept within the camp, except so far as necessary wants compelled
+ them to quit it; and fetched in food and wood not by small nor rambling parties.
+ An outpost of cavalry and light-armed troops, prepared and equipped for acting
+ in cases of sudden alarm, rendered every thing safe to their own soldiers, and
+ dangerous to the scattered plunderers of the enemy. Nor was his whole cause
+ committed to general hazard; while slight contests, of small importance in themselves,
+ commenced on safe ground, with a retreat at hand, accustomed the soldiery, terrified
+ by their former disasters, now at length to think less meanly either of their
+ prowess or good fortune. But he did not find Hannibal a greater enemy to such
+ sound measures than his master of the horse, who was only prevented from plunging
+ the state into ruin by his inferiority in command. Presumptuous and precipitate
+ in his measures, and unbridled in his tongue, first among a few, then openly
+ and publicly, he taunted him with being sluggish instead of patient, spiritless
+ instead of cautious; falsely imputing to him those vices which bordered on his
+ virtues; and raised himself by means of depressing his superiors, which, though
+ a most iniquitous practice, has become more general from the too great successes
+ of many. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="d13" />
+<p>Hannibal crosses over from the Hirpini into Samnium; lays waste the territory
+ of Beneventum; takes the town of Telesia; and purposely irritates the dictator,
+ if perchance he could draw him down to a battle on the plain, exasperated by
+ so many indignities and disasters inflicted on his allies. Among the multitude
+ of allies of Italian extraction, who had been captured by Hannibal at the Trasimenus,
+ and dismissed, were three Campanian horsemen, who had even at that time been
+ bribed by many presents and promises from Hannibal to win over the affections
+ of their countrymen to him. These, bringing him word that he would have an opportunity
+ of getting possession of Capua, if he brought his army into the neighbourhood
+ in Campania, induced Hannibal to quit Samnium for Campania; though he hesitated,
+ fluctuating between confidence and distrust, as the affair was of more importance
+ than the authorities. He dismissed them, repeatedly charging them to confirm
+ their promises by acts, and ordering them to return with a greater number, and
+ some of their leading men. Hannibal himself orders his guide to conduct him
+ into the territory of Casinum, being certified by persons acquainted with the
+ country, that if he seized that pass he would deprive the Romans of a passage
+ by which they might get out to the assistance of their allies. But his Punic
+ accent, ill adapted to the pronunciation of Latin names, caused the guide to
+ understand Casilinum, instead of Casinum; and leaving his former course, he
+ descends through the territory of Allifae, Calatia, and Cales, into the plain
+ of Stella, where, seeing the country enclosed on all sides by mountains and
+ rivers, he calls the guide to him, and asks him where in the world he was? when
+ he replied, that on that day he would lodge at Casilinum: then at length the
+ error was discovered, and that Casinum lay at a great distance in another direction.
+ Having scourged the guide with rods and crucified him, in order to strike terror
+ into all others, he fortified a camp, and sent Maharbal with the cavalry into
+ the Falernian territory to pillage. This depredation reached as far as the waters
+ of Sinuessa; the Numidians caused destruction to a vast extent, but flight and
+ consternation through a still wider space. Yet not even the terror of these
+ things, when all around was consuming in the flames of war, could shake the
+ fidelity of the allies; for this manifest reason, because they lived under a
+ temperate and mild government: nor were they unwilling to submit to those who
+ were superior to them, which is the only bond of fidelity. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="d14" />
+<p>But when the enemy's camp was pitched on the Vulturnus, and the most delightful
+ country in Italy was being consumed by fire, and the farm-houses, on all hands,
+ were smoking from the flames, whilst Fabius led his troops along the heights
+ of Mount Massicus, then the strife had nearly been kindled anew, for they had
+ been quiet for a few days, because, as the army had marched quicker than usual,
+ they had supposed that the object of this haste was to save Campania from devastation;
+ but when they arrived at the extreme ridge of Mount Massicus, and the enemy
+ appeared under their eyes, burning the houses of the Falernian territory, and
+ of the settlers of Sinuessa, and no mention made of battle, Minucius exclaims,
+ "Are we come here to see our allies butchered, and their property burned, as
+ a spectacle to be enjoyed? and if we are not moved with shame on account of
+ any others, are we not on account of these citizens, whom our fathers sent as
+ settlers to Sinuessa, that this frontier might be protected from the Samnite
+ foe: which now not the neighbouring Samnite wastes with fire, but a Carthaginian
+ foreigner, who has advanced even thus far from the remotest limits of the world,
+ through our dilatoriness and inactivity? What! are we so degenerate from our
+ ancestors as tamely to see that coast filled with Numidian and Moorish foes,
+ along which our fathers considered it a disgrace to their government that the
+ Carthaginian fleets should cruise? We, who erewhile, indignant at the storming
+ of Saguntum, appealed not to men only, but to treaties and to gods, behold Hannibal
+ scaling the walls of a Roman colony unmoved. The smoke from the flames of our
+ farm-houses and lands comes into our eyes and faces; our ears ring with the
+ cries of our weeping allies, imploring us to assist them oftener than the gods,
+ while we here are leading our troops, like a herd of cattle, through shady forests
+ and lonely paths, enveloped in clouds and woods. If Marcus Furius had resolved
+ to recover the city from the Gauls, by thus traversing the tops of mountains
+ and forests, in the same manner as this modern Camillus goes about to recover
+ Italy from Hannibal, who has been sought out for our dictator in our distress,
+ on account of his unparalleled talents, Rome would be the possession of the
+ Gauls; and I fear lest, if we are thus dilatory, our ancestors will so often
+ have preserved it only for the Carthaginians and Hannibal; but that man and
+ true Roman, on the very day on which intelligence was brought him to Veii, that
+ he was appointed dictator, on the authority of the fathers and the nomination
+ of the people, came down into the plain, though the Janiculum was high enough
+ to admit of his sitting down there, and viewing the enemy at a distance, and
+ on that very day defeated the Gallic legions in the middle of the city, in the
+ place where the Gallic piles are now, and on the following day on the Roman
+ side of Gabii. What many years after this, when we were sent under the yoke
+ at the Caudine forks by the Samnite foe, did Lucius Papirius Cursor take the
+ yoke from the Roman neck and place it upon the proud Samnites, by traversing
+ the heights of Samnium? or was it by pressing and besieging Luceria, and challenging
+ the victorious enemy? A short time ago, what was it that gave victory to Caius
+ Lutatius but expedition? for on the day after he caught sight of the enemy he
+ surprised and overpowered the fleet, loaded with provisions, and encumbered
+ of itself by its own implements and apparatus. It is folly to suppose that the
+ war can be brought to a conclusion by sitting still, or by prayers, the troops
+ must be armed and led down into the plain, that you may engage man to man. The
+ Roman power has grown to its present height by courage and activity, and not
+ by such dilatory measures as these, which the cowardly only designate as cautious."
+ A crowd of Roman tribunes and knights poured round Minucius, while thus, as
+ it were, haranguing, his presumptuous expressions reached the ears of the common
+ soldiers, and had the question been submitted to the votes of the soldiers,
+ they showed evidently that they would have preferred Minucius to Fabius for
+ their general. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="d15" />
+<p>Fabius, keeping his attention fixed no less upon his own troops than on the
+ enemy, first shows that his resolution was unconquered by the former. Though
+ he well knew that his procrastination was disapproved, not only in his own camp,
+ but by this time even at Rome, yet, inflexibly adhering to the same line of
+ policy, he delayed through the remainder of the summer, in order that Hannibal,
+ devoid of all hope of a battle, which he so earnestly desired, might now look
+ out for a place for winter quarters, because that district was one of present,
+ but not constant, supply, consisting, as it did, of plantations and vineyards,
+ and all places planted luxurious rather than useful produce. This intelligence
+ was to Fabius by his scouts. When he felt convinced that he would return by
+ the same narrow pass through which he had entered the Falernian territory, he
+ occupied Mount Callicula and Casilinum with a pretty strong guard. Which city,
+ intersected by the river Vulturnus, divides the Falernian and Campanian territories.
+ He himself leads back his troops along the same heights, having sent Lucius
+ Hostilius Mancinus with four hundred of the allied cavalry to reconnoitre; who
+ being one of the crowd of youths who had often heard the master of the horse
+ fiercely haranguing, at first advanced after the manner of a scout, in order
+ that he might observe the enemy in security; and when he saw the Numidians scattered
+ widely throughout the villages, having gotten an opportunity, he also slew a
+ few of them. But from that moment his mind was engrossed with the thoughts of
+ a battle, and the injunctions of the dictator were forgotten, who had charged
+ him, when he had advanced as far as he could with safety, to retreat before
+ he came within the enemy's view. The Numidians, party after party, skirmishing
+ and retreating, drew the general almost to their camp, to the fatigue of his
+ men and horses. Then Karthalo, who had the command of the cavalry, charging
+ at full speed, and having put them to flight before he came within a dart's
+ throw, pursued them for five miles almost in a continuous course. Mancinus,
+ when he saw that the enemy did not desist from the pursuit, and that there was
+ no hope of escape, having encouraged his troops, turned back to the battle though
+ inferior in every kind of force. Accordingly he himself, and the choicest of
+ his cavalry, being surrounded, are cut to pieces. The rest in disorderly retreat
+ fled first to Cales, and thence to the dictator, by ways almost impassable.
+ It happened that on that day Minucius had formed a junction with Fabius, having
+ been sent to secure with a guard the pass above Tarracina, which, contracted
+ into a narrow gorge, overhangs the sea, in order that Hannibal might not be
+ able to get into the Roman territory by the Appian way's being unguarded. The
+ dictator and master of the horse, uniting their forces, lead them down into
+ the road through which Hannibal was about to march his troops. The enemy was
+ two miles from that place. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="d16" />
+<p>The following day the Carthaginians filled the whole road between the two camps
+ with his troops in marching order; and though the Romans had taken their stand
+ immediately under their rampart, having a decidedly superior position, yet the
+ Carthaginian came up with his light horse and, with a view to provoke the enemy,
+ carried on a kind of desultory attack, first charging and then retreating. The
+ Roman line remained in its position. The battle was slow and more conformable
+ to the wish of the dictator than of Hannibal. On the part of the Romans there
+ fell two hundred, on the part of the enemy eight hundred. It now began to appear
+ that Hannibal was hemmed in, the road to Casilinum being blockaded; and that
+ while Capua, and Samnium, and so many wealthy allies in the rear of the Romans
+ might supply them with provisions, the Carthaginian, on the other hand, must
+ winter amid the rocks of Formiae and the sands and hideous swamps of Liternum.
+ Nor did it escape Hannibal that he was assailed by his own arts; wherefore,
+ since he could not escape by way of Casilinum, and since it was necessary to
+ make for the mountains, and pass the summit of Callicula, lest in any place
+ the Romans should attack his troops while enclosed in valleys; having hit upon
+ a stratagem calculated to deceive the sight, and excite terror from its appearance,
+ by means of which he might baffle the enemy, he resolved to come up by stealth
+ to the mountains at the commencement of night. The preparation of his wily stratagem
+ was of this description. Torches, collected from every part of the country,
+ and bundles of rods and dry cuttings, are fastened before the horns of oxen,
+ of which, wild and tame, he had driven away a great number among other plunder
+ of the country: the number of oxen was made up to nearly two thousand. To Hasdrubal
+ was assigned the task of driving to the mountains that herd, after having set
+ fire to their horns, as soon as ever it was dark; particularly, if he could,
+ over the passes beset by the enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="d17" />
+<p>As soon as it was dark the camp was moved in silence; the oxen were driven
+ a little in advance of the standards. When they arrived at the foot of the mountains
+ and the narrow passes, the signal is immediately given for setting fire to their
+ horns and driving them violently up the mountains before them. The mere terror
+ excited by the flame, which cast a glare from their heads, and the heat now
+ approaching the quick and the roots of their horns, drove on the oxen as if
+ goaded by madness. By which dispersion, on a sudden all the surrounding shrubs
+ were in a blaze, as if the mountains and woods had been on fire; and the unavailing
+ tossing of their heads quickening the flame, exhibited an appearance as of men
+ running to and fro on every side. Those who had been placed to guard the passage
+ of the wood, when they saw fires on the tops of the mountains, and some over
+ their own heads, concluding that they were surrounded, abandoned their post;
+ making for the tops of the mountains in the direction in which the fewest fires
+ blazed, as being the safest course; however they fell in with some oxen which
+ had strayed from their herds. At first, when they beheld them at a distance,
+ they stood fixed in amazement at the miracle, as it appeared to them, of creatures
+ breathing fire; afterwards, when it showed itself to be a human stratagem, then,
+ forsooth, concluding that there was an ambuscade, as they are hurrying away
+ in flight, with increased alarm, they fall in also with the light-armed troops
+ of the enemy. But the night, when the fear was equally shared, kept them from
+ commencing the battle till morning. Meanwhile Hannibal, having marched his whole
+ army through the pass, and having cut off some of the enemy in the very defile,
+ pitches his camp in the country of Allifae. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="d18" />
+<p>Fabius perceived this tumult, but concluding that it was a snare, and being
+ disinclined for a battle, particularly by night, kept his troops within the
+ works. At break of day a battle took place under the summit of the mountain,
+ in which the Romans, who were considerably superior in numbers, would have easily
+ overpowered the light-armed of the enemy, cut off as they were from their party,
+ had not a cohort of Spaniards, sent back by Hannibal for that very purpose,
+ reached the spot. That body being more accustomed to mountains, and being more
+ adapted, both from the agility of their limbs and also from the character of
+ their arms, to skirmishing amid rocks and crags, easily foiled, by their manner
+ of fighting, an enemy loaded with arms, accustomed to level ground and the steady
+ kind of fighting. Separating from a contest thus by no means equal, they proceeded
+ to their camps; the Spaniards almost all untouched; the Romans having lost a
+ few. Fabius also moved his camp, and passing the defile, took up a position
+ above Allifae, in a strong and elevated place. Then Hannibal, pretending to
+ march to Rome through Samnium, came back as far as the Peligni, spreading devastation.
+ Fabius led his troops along the heights midway between the army of the enemy
+ and the city of Rome; neither avoiding him altogether, nor coming to an engagement.
+ From the Peligni the Carthaginian turned his course, and going back again to
+ Apulia, reached Geronium, a city deserted by its inhabitants from fear, as a
+ part of its walls had fallen down together in ruins. The dictator formed a completely
+ fortified camp in the territory of Larinum, and being recalled thence to Rome
+ on account of some sacred rites, he not only urged the master of the horse,
+ in virtue of his authority, but with advice and almost with prayers, that he
+ would trust rather to prudence than fortune; and imitate him as a general rather
+ than Sempronius and Flaminius; that he would not suppose that nothing had been
+ achieved by having worn out nearly the whole summer in baffling the enemy; that
+ physicians too sometimes gained more by rest than by motion and action. That
+ it was no small thing to have ceased to be conquered by an enemy so often victorious,
+ and to have taken breath after successive disasters. Having thus unavailingly
+ admonished the master of the horse, he set out for Rome. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="d19" />
+<p>In the beginning of the summer in which these events occurred, the war commenced
+ by land and sea in Spain also. To the number of ships which he had received
+ from his brother, equipped and ready for action, Hasdrubal added ten. The fleet
+ of forty ships he delivered to Himilco: and thus setting out from Carthage,
+ kept his ships near the land, while he led his army along the shore, ready to
+ engage with whichever part of his forces the enemy might fall in with. Cneius
+ Scipio, when he heard that the enemy had quitted his winter quarters, at first
+ formed the same plan; but afterwards, not daring to engage him by land, from
+ a great rumour of fresh auxiliaries, he advances to meet him with a fleet of
+ thirty-five ships, having put some chosen soldiers on board. Setting out from
+ Tarraco, on the second day, he reached a convenient station, ten miles from
+ the mouth of the Iberus. Two ships of the Massilians, sent forward from that
+ place reconnoitering, brought word back that the Carthaginian fleet was stationed
+ in the mouth of the river, and that the camp was pitched upon the bank. In order,
+ therefore, to overpower them while off their guard and incautious, by a universal
+ and wide-spread terror, he weighed anchor and advanced. In Spain there are several
+ towers placed in high situations, which they employ both as watch-towers and
+ as places of defence against pirates. From them first, a view of the ships of
+ the enemy having been obtained, the signal was given to Hasdrubal; and a tumult
+ arose in the camp, and on land sooner than on the ships and at sea; the dashing
+ of the oars and other nautical noises not being yet distinctly heard, nor the
+ promontories disclosing the fleet. Upon this, suddenly one horseman after another,
+ sent out by Hasdrubal, orders those who were strolling upon the shore or resting
+ quietly in their tents, expecting any thing rather than the enemy and a battle
+ on that day, immediately to embark and take up arms: that the Roman fleet was
+ now a short distance from the harbour. The horsemen, despatched in every direction,
+ delivered these orders; and presently Hasdrubal himself comes up with the main
+ army. All places resound with noises of various kinds; the soldiers and rowers
+ hurrying together to the ships, rather like men running away from the land than
+ marching to battle. Scarcely had all embarked, when some, unfastening the hawsers,
+ are carried out against the anchors; others cut their cables, that nothing might
+ impede them; and by doing every thing with hurry and precipitation, the duties
+ of mariners were impeded by the preparations of the soldiers, and the soldiers
+ were prevented from taking and preparing for action their arms, by the bustle
+ of the mariners. And now the Roman was not only approaching, but had drawn up
+ his ships for the battle. The Carthaginians, therefore, thrown into disorder,
+ not more by the enemy and the battle than by their own tumult, having rather
+ made an attempt at fighting than commenced a battle, turned their fleet for
+ flight; and as the mouth of the river which was before them could not be entered
+ in so broad a line, and by so many pressing in at the same time, they ran their
+ ships on shore in every part. And being received, some in the shallows, and
+ others on the dry shore, some armed and some unarmed, they escaped to their
+ friends, who were drawn up in battle-array over the shore. Two Carthaginian
+ ships were captured and four sunk on the first encounter. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="d20" />
+<p>The Romans, though the enemy was master of the shore, and they saw armed troops
+ lining the whole bank, promptly pursuing the discomfited fleet of the enemy,
+ towed out into the deep all the ships which had not either shattered their prows
+ by the violence with which they struck the shore, or set their keels fast in
+ the shallows. They captured as many as twenty-five out of forty. Nor was that
+ the most splendid result of their victory: but they became masters of the whole
+ sea on that coast by one slight battle; advancing, then, with their fleet to
+ Honosca, and making a descent from the ships upon the coast, when they had taken
+ the city by storm and pillaged it, they afterwards made for Carthage: then devastating
+ the whole surrounding country, they, lastly, set fire also to the buildings
+ contiguous to the wall and gates. Thence the fleet laden with plunder, arrived
+ at Longuntica, where a great quantity of oakum for naval purposes had been collected
+ by Hasdrubal: of this, taking away as much as was sufficient for their necessities,
+ they burnt all the rest. Nor did they only sail by the prominent coasts of the
+ continent, but crossed over into the island Ebusus; where, having with the utmost
+ exertion, but in vain, carried on operations against the city, which is the
+ capital of the island, for two days, when they found that time was wasted to
+ no purpose upon a hopeless task, they turned their efforts to the devastation
+ of the country; and having plundered and fired several villages, and acquired
+ a greater booty than they had obtained on the continent, they retired to their
+ ships, when ambassadors from the Baliares came to Scipio to sue for peace. From
+ this place the fleet sailed back, and returned to the hither parts of the province,
+ whither ambassadors of all the people who dwell on the Iberus, and of many people
+ in the most distant parts of Spain, assembled. But the number of states who
+ really became subject to the authority and dominion of the Romans, and gave
+ hostages, amounted to upwards of one hundred and twenty. The Roman therefore,
+ relying sufficiently on his land forces also, advanced as far as the pass of
+ Castulo. Hasdrubal retired into Lusitania, and nearer the ocean. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="d21" />
+<p>After this, it seemed probable that the remainder of the summer would be peaceful;
+ and so it would have been with regard to the Punic enemy: but besides that the
+ tempers of the Spaniards themselves are naturally restless, and eager for innovation,
+ Mandonius, together with Indibilis, who had formerly been petty prince of the
+ Ilergetes, having stirred up their countrymen, came to lay waste the peaceful
+ country of the Roman allies, after the Romans had retired from the pass to the
+ sea-coast. A military tribune with some light-armed auxiliaries being sent against
+ these by Scipio, with a small effort put them all to the rout, as being but
+ a disorderly band: some having been captured and slain, a great portion of them
+ were deprived of their arms. This disturbance, however, brought back Hasdrubal,
+ who was retiring to the ocean, to protect his allies on this side the Iberus.
+ The Carthaginian camp was in the territory of Ilercao, the Roman camp at the
+ New Fleet, when unexpected intelligence turned the war into another quarter.
+ The Celtiberians, who had sent the chief men of their country as ambassadors
+ to the Romans, and had given them hostages, aroused by a message from Scipio,
+ take up arms and invade the province of the Carthaginians with a powerful army;
+ take three towns by storm; and after that, encountering Hasdrubal himself in
+ two battles with, splendid success, slew fifteen thousand and captured four
+ thousand, together with many military standards. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="d22" />
+<p>This being the state of affairs in Spain, Publius Scipio came into his province,
+ having been sent thither by the senate, his command being continued to him after
+ his consulate, with thirty long ships, eight thousand soldiers, and a large
+ importation of provisions. That fleet, swelled to an enormous size by a multitude
+ of transports, being descried at a distance, entered safe the port of Tarraco,
+ to the great joy of the citizens and allies. Landing his troops there, Scipio
+ set out and formed a junction with his brother, and thenceforward they prosecuted
+ the war with united courage and counsels. While the Carthaginians, therefore,
+ were occupied with the Celtiberian war, they promptly crossed the Iberus, and
+ not seeing any enemy, pursue their course to Saguntum; for it was reported that
+ the hostages from every part of Spain, having been consigned to custody, were
+ kept in the citadel of that place under a small guard. That pledge alone checked
+ the affections of all the people of Spain, which were inclined towards an alliance
+ with the Romans; lest the guilt of their defection should be expiated with the
+ blood of their children. One man, by a stratagem more subtle than honourable,
+ liberated the Spaniards from this restraint. There was at Saguntum a noble Spaniard,
+ named Abelux, hitherto faithful to the Carthaginians, but now (such are for
+ the most part the dispositions of barbarians) had changed his attachment with
+ fortune; but considering that a deserter going over to enemies without the betraying
+ of something valuable, would be looked upon only as a stigmatized and worthless
+ individual, was solicitous to render as great a service as possible to his new
+ confederates. Having turned over in his mind, then, the various means which,
+ under the favour of fortune, he might employ, in preference to every other,
+ he applied himself to the delivering up of the hostages; concluding that this
+ one thing, above all others, would gain the Romans the friendship of the Spanish
+ chieftains. But since he knew that the guards of the hostages would do nothing
+ without the authority of Bostar, the governor, he addresses himself with craft
+ to Bostar himself. Bostar had his camp without the city, just upon the shore,
+ in order to preclude the approach of the Romans from that quarter. He informs
+ him, taken aside to a secret place, and as if uninformed, in what position affairs
+ were: "That hitherto fear had withheld the minds of the Spaniards to them, because
+ the Romans were at a great distance: that now the Roman camp was on this side
+ the Iberus, a secure fortress and asylum for such as desired a change, that
+ therefore those whom fear could not bind should be attached by kindness and
+ favour." When Bostar, in astonishment, earnestly asked him, what sudden gift
+ of so much importance that could be, he replied, "Send back the hostages to
+ their states: this will be an acceptable boon, privately to their parents, who
+ possess the greatest influence in their respective states, and publicly to the
+ people. Every man wishes to have confidence reposed in him; and confidence reposed
+ generally enforces the fidelity itself. The office of restoring the hostages
+ to their homes, I request for myself; that I may enhance my project by the trouble
+ bestowed, and that I may add as much value as I can to a service in its own
+ intrinsic nature so acceptable." When he had persuaded the man, who was not
+ cunning as compared with Carthaginian minds in general, having gone secretly
+ and by night to the outposts of the enemy, he met with some auxiliary Spaniards;
+ and having been brought by them into the presence of Scipio, he explains what
+ brought him. Pledges of fidelity having been given and received, and the time
+ and place for delivering the hostages having been appointed, he returns to Saguntum.
+ The following day he spent with Bostar, in taking his commands for effecting
+ the business; having so arranged it, that he should go by night, in order that
+ he might escape the observation of the enemy, he was dismissed; and awakening
+ the guards of the youths at the hour agreed upon with them, set out and led
+ them, as if unconsciously, into a snare prepared by his own deceit. They were
+ brought to the Roman camp, and every thing else respecting the restoration of
+ the hostages was transacted as had been agreed upon with Bostar, and in the
+ same course as if the affair had been carried on in the name of the Carthaginians.
+ But the favour of the Romans was somewhat greater than that of the Carthaginians
+ would have been in a similar case; for misfortune and fear might have seemed
+ to have softened them, who had been found oppressive and haughty in prosperity.
+ The Roman, on the contrary, on his first arrival, having been unknown to them
+ before, had begun with an act of clemency and liberality: and Abelux, a man
+ of prudence, did not seem likely to have changed his allies without good cause.
+ Accordingly all began, with great unanimity, to meditate a revolt; and hostilities
+ would immediately have commenced, had not the winter intervened, which compelled
+ the Romans, and the Carthaginians also, to retire to shelter. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="d23" />
+<p>Such were the transactions in Spain also during the second summer of the Punic
+ war; while in Italy the prudent delay of Fabius had procured the Romans some
+ intermission from disasters; which conduct, as it kept Hannibal disturbed with
+ no ordinary degree of anxiety, for it proved to him that the Romans had at length
+ selected a general who would carry on the war with prudence, and not in dependence
+ on fortune; so was it treated with contempt by his countrymen, both in the camp
+ and in the city; particularly after that a battle had been fought during his
+ absence from the temerity of the master of the horse, in its issue, as I may
+ justly designate it, rather joyful than successful. Two causes were added to
+ augment the unpopularity of the dictator: one arising out of a stratagem and
+ artful procedure of Hannibal; for the farm of the dictator having been pointed
+ out to him by deserters, he ordered that the fire and sword and every outrage
+ of enemies should be restrained from it alone, while all around were levelled
+ with the ground; in order that it might appear to have been the term of some
+ secret compact: the other from an act of his own, at first perhaps suspicious,
+ because in it he had not waited for the authority of the senate, but in the
+ result turning unequivocally to his highest credit, with relation to the exchange
+ of prisoners: for, as was the case in the first Punic war, an agreement had
+ been made between the Roman and Carthaginian generals, that whichever received
+ more prisoners than he restored, should give two pounds and a half of silver
+ for every man. And when the Roman had received two hundred and forty-seven more
+ than the Carthaginian, and the silver which was due for them, after the matter
+ had been frequently agitated in the senate, was not promptly supplied, because
+ he had not consulted the fathers, he sent his son Quintus to Rome and sold his
+ farm, uninjured by the enemy, and thus redeemed the public credit at his own
+ private expense. Hannibal lay in a fixed camp before the walls of Geronium,
+ which city he had captured and burnt, leaving only a few buildings for the purpose
+ of granaries: thence he was in the habit of sending out two-thirds of his forces
+ to forage; with the third part kept in readiness, he himself remained on guard,
+ both as a protection to his camp, and for the purpose of looking out, if from
+ any quarter an attack should be made upon his foragers. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="d24" />
+<p>The Roman army was at that time in the territory of Larinum. Minucius, the
+ master of the horse, had the command of it; the dictator, as was before mentioned,
+ having gone to the city. But the camp, which had been pitched in an elevated
+ and secure situation, was now brought down into the plain; plans of a bolder
+ character, agreeably with the temper of the general, were in agitation; and
+ either an attack was to be made upon the scattered foragers, or upon the camp
+ now left with an inconsiderable guard. Nor did it escape the observation of
+ Hannibal, that the plan of the war had been changed with the general, and that
+ the enemy would act with more boldness than counsel. Hannibal himself too, which
+ one would scarcely credit, though the enemy was near, despatched a third part
+ of his troops to forage, retaining the remaining two-thirds in the camp. After
+ that he advanced his camp itself nearer to the enemy, to a hill within the enemy's
+ view, nearly two miles from Geronium; that they might be aware that he was on
+ the alert to protect his foragers if any attack should be made upon them. Then
+ he discovered an eminence nearer to, and commanding the very camp of the Romans:
+ and because if he marched openly in the day-time to occupy it, the enemy would
+ doubtless anticipate him by a shorter way, the Numidians having been sent privately
+ in the night, took possession of it. These, occupying this position, the Romans,
+ the next day, despising the smallness of their numbers, dislodge, and transfer
+ their camp thither themselves. There was now, therefore, but a very small space
+ between rampart and rampart, and that the Roman line had almost entirely filled;
+ at the same time the cavalry, with the light infantry sent out against the foragers
+ through the opposite part of the camp, effected a slaughter and flight of the
+ scattered enemy far and wide. Nor dared Hannibal hazard a regular battle; because
+ with so few troops, that he would scarcely be able to protect his camp if attacked.
+ And now he carried on the war (for part of his army was away) according to the
+ plans of Fabius, by sitting still and creating delays. He had also withdrawn
+ his troops to their former camp, which was before the walls of Geronium. Some
+ authors affirm that they fought in regular line, and with encountering standards;
+ that in the first encounter the Carthaginian was driven in disorder quite to
+ his camp; but that, a sally thence having been suddenly made all at once, the
+ Romans in their turn became alarmed; that after that the battle was restored
+ by the arrival of Numerius Decimius the Samnite; that this man, the first in
+ family and fortune, not only in Bovianum, whence he came, but in all Samnium,
+ when conducting by command of the dictator to the camp eight thousand infantry
+ and five hundred horse, having shown himself on the rear of Hannibal, seemed
+ to both parties to be a fresh reinforcement coming with Quintus Fabius from
+ Rome; that Hannibal, fearing also some ambuscade, withdrew his troops; and that
+ the Roman, aided by the Samnite, pursuing him, took by storm two forts on that
+ day; that six thousand of the enemy were slain, and about five thousand of the
+ Romans; but that though the loss was so nearly equal, intelligence was conveyed
+ to Rome of a signal victory; and a letter from the master of the horse still
+ more presumptuous. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="d25" />
+<p>These things were very frequently discussed, both in the senate and assemblies.
+ When the dictator alone, while joy pervaded the city, attached no credit to
+ the report or letter; and granting that all were true, affirmed that he feared
+ more from success than failure; then Marcus Metilius, a Plebeian tribune, declares
+ that such conduct surely could not be endured. That the dictator, not only when
+ present was an obstacle to the right management of the affair, but also being
+ absent from the camp, opposed it still when achieved; that he studiously dallied
+ in his conduct of the war, that he might continue the longer in office, and
+ that he might have the sole command both at Rome and in the army. Since one
+ of the consuls had fallen in battle, and the other was removed to a distance
+ from Italy, under pretext of pursuing a Carthaginian fleet; and the two praetors
+ were occupied in Sicily and Sardinia, neither of which provinces required a
+ praetor at this time. That Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse, was almost
+ put under a guard, lest he should see the enemy, and carry on any warlike operation.
+ That therefore, by Hercules, not only Samnium, which had now been yielded to
+ the Carthaginians, as if it had been land beyond the Iberus, but the Campanian,
+ Calenian, and Falernian territories had been devastated, while the dictator
+ was sitting down at Casilinum, protecting his own farm with the legions of the
+ Roman people: that the army, eager for battle, as well as the master of the
+ horse, were kept back almost imprisoned within the rampart: that their arms
+ were taken out of their hands, as from captured enemies: at length, as soon
+ as ever the dictator had gone away, having marched out beyond their rampart,
+ that they had routed the enemy and put him to flight. On account of which circumstances,
+ had the Roman commons retained their ancient spirit, that he would have boldly
+ proposed to them to annul the authority of Quintus Fabius; but now he would
+ bring forward a moderate proposition, to make the authority of the master of
+ the horse and the dictator equal; and that even then Quintus Fabius should not
+ be sent to the army, till he had substituted a consul in the room of Caius Flaminius.
+ The dictator kept away from the popular assemblies, in which he did not command
+ a favourable hearing, and even in the senate he was not heard with favourable
+ ears, when his eloquence was employed in praising the enemy, and attributing
+ the disasters of the last two years to the temerity and unskilfulness of the
+ generals; and when he declared that the master of the horse ought to be called
+ to account for having fought contrary to his injunction. That "if the supreme
+ command and administration of affairs were intrusted to him, he would soon take
+ care that men should know, that to a good general fortune was not of great importance;
+ that prudence and conduct governed every thing; that it was more glorious for
+ him to have saved the army at a crisis, and without disgrace, than to have slain
+ many thousands of the enemy." Speeches of this kind having been made without
+ effect, and Marcus Atilius Regulus created consul, that he might not be present
+ to dispute respecting the right of command, he withdrew to the army on the night
+ preceding the day on which the proposition was to be decided. When there was
+ an assembly of the people at break of day, a secret displeasure towards the
+ dictator, and favour towards the master of the horse, rather possessed their
+ minds, than that men had not sufficient resolution to advise a measure which
+ was agreeable to the public; and though favour carried it, influence was wanting
+ to the bill. One man indeed was found who recommended the law, Caius Terentius
+ Varro, who had been praetor in the former year, sprung not only from humble
+ but mean parentage. They report that his father was a butcher, the retailer
+ of his own meat, and that he employed this very son in the servile offices of
+ that trade. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="d26" />
+<p>This young man, when a fortune left him by his father, acquired in such a traffic,
+ had inspired him with the hope of a higher condition, and the gown and forum
+ were the objects of his choice, by declaiming vehemently in behalf of men and
+ causes of the lowest kind, in opposition to the interest and character of the
+ good, first came to the notice of the people, and then to offices of honour.
+ Having passed through the offices of quaestor, plebeian, and curule aedile,
+ and, lastly, that of praetor; when now he raised his mind to the hope of the
+ consulship, he courted the gale of popular favour by maligning the dictator,
+ and received alone the credit of the decree of the people. All men, both at
+ Rome and in the army, both friends and foes, except the dictator himself, considered
+ this measure to have been passed as an insult to him; but the dictator himself
+ bore the wrong which the infuriated people had put upon him, with the same gravity
+ with which he endured the charges against him which his enemies laid before
+ the multitude; and receiving the letter containing a decree of the senate respecting
+ the equalization of the command while on his journey, satisfied that an equal
+ share of military skill was not imparted together with the equal share of command,
+ he returned to the army with a mind unsubdued alike by his fellow-citizens and
+ by the enemy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="d27" />
+<p>But Minucius, who, in consequence of his success and the favour of the populace,
+ was scarcely endurable before now especially, unrestrained by shame or moderation,
+ boasted not more in having conquered Hannibal than Quintus Fabius. "That he,
+ who had been sought out in their distress as the only general, and as a match
+ for Hannibal; that he, an event which no record of history contains, was by
+ the order of the people placed upon an equal footing with himself,--a superior
+ with an inferior officer, a dictator with a master of the horse,--in that very
+ city wherein the masters of the horse are wont to crouch and tremble at the
+ rods and axes of the dictator. With such splendour had his valour and success
+ shone forth. That he therefore would follow up his own good fortune, though
+ the dictator persisted in his delay and sloth; measures condemned alike by the
+ sentence of gods and men." Accordingly, on the first day on which he met Quintus
+ Fabius, he intimated "that the first point to be settled was the manner in which
+ they should employ the command thus equalized. That he was of opinion that the
+ best plan would be for them to be invested with the supreme authority and command
+ either on alternate days, or, if longer intervals were more agreeable, for any
+ determinate periods; in order that the person in command might be a match for
+ the enemy, not only in judgment, but in strength, if any opportunity for action
+ should occur." Fabius by no means approved of this proposition: he said, "that
+ Fortune would have at her disposal all things which the rashness of his colleague
+ had; that his command had been shared with him, and not taken away; that he
+ would never, therefore, willingly withdraw from conducting the war, in whatever
+ post he could with prudence and discretion: nor would he divide the command
+ with him with respect to times or days, but that he would divide the army, and
+ that he would preserve, by his own measures, so much as he could, since it was
+ not allowed him to save the whole." Thus he carried it, that, as was the custom
+ of consuls, they should divide the legions between them: the first and fourth
+ fell to the lot of Minucius, the second and third to Fabius. They likewise divided
+ equally between them the cavalry, the auxiliaries of the allies and of the Latin
+ name. The master of the horse was desirous also that they should have separate
+ camps. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="d28" />
+<p>From this Hannibal derived a twofold joy, for nothing which was going on among
+ the enemy escaped him, the deserters revealing many things, and he himself examining
+ by his own scouts. For he considered that he should be able to entrap the unrestrained
+ temerity of Minucius by his usual arts, and that half the force of the sagacity
+ of Fabius had vanished. There was an eminence between the camps of Minucius
+ and the Carthaginians, whoever occupied it would evidently render the position
+ of his enemy less advantageous. Hannibal was not so desirous of gaining it without
+ a contest, though that were worth his while, as to bring on a quarrel with Minucius,
+ who, he well knew, would at all times throw himself in his way to oppose him.
+ All the intervening ground was at first sight unavailable to one who wished
+ to plant an ambuscade, because it not only had not any part that was woody,
+ but none even covered with brambles, but in reality formed by nature to cover
+ an ambush, so much the more, because no such deception could be apprehended
+ in a naked valley and there were in its curvatures hollow rocks, such that some
+ of them were capable of containing two hundred armed men. Within these recesses,
+ five thousand infantry and cavalry are secreted, as many as could conveniently
+ occupy each. Lest, however, in any part, either the motion of any one of them
+ thoughtlessly coming out, or the glittering of their arms, should discover the
+ stratagem in so open a valley, by sending out a few troops at break of day to
+ occupy the before-mentioned eminence, he diverts the attention of the enemy.
+ Immediately, on the first view of them, the smallness of their number was treated
+ with contempt, and each man began to request for himself the task of dislodging
+ the enemy. The general himself, among the most headstrong and absurd, calls
+ to arms to go and seize the place, and inveighs against the enemy with vain
+ presumption and menaces. First, he despatches his light-armed, after that his
+ cavalry, in a close body, lastly, perceiving that succours were also being sent
+ to the enemy, he marches with his legions drawn up in order of battle. Hannibal
+ also, sending band after band, as the contest increased, as aids to his men
+ when distressed, had now completed a regular army, and a battle was fought with
+ the entire strength of both sides. First, the light infantry of the Romans,
+ approaching the eminence, which was preoccupied, from the lower ground, being
+ repulsed and pushed down, spread a terror among the cavalry, which was marching
+ up also and fled back to the standards of the legions: the line of infantry
+ alone stood fearless amidst the panic-struck; and it appeared that they would
+ by no means have been inferior to the enemy, had it been a regular and open
+ battle, so much confidence did the successful battle a few days before inspire.
+ But the troops in ambush created such confusion and alarm, by charging them
+ on both flanks and on their rear, that no one had spirit enough left to fight,
+ or hope enough to try to escape. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="d29" />
+<p>Then Fabius, first having heard the shout of the terrified troops, and then
+ having gotten a view of their disordered line, exclaims, "It is so; and no sooner
+ than I feared, has adverse fortune overtaken temerity. Equalled to Fabius in
+ command, he sees that Hannibal is superior to him in courage and in fortune.
+ But another will be the time for reproaches and resentment. Now advance your
+ standards beyond the rampart: let us wrest the victory from the enemy, and a
+ confession of their error from our countrymen." A great part of the troops having
+ been now slain, and the rest looking about for a way to escape; the army of
+ Fabius showed itself on a sudden for their help, as if sent down from heaven.
+ And thus, before he came within a dart's throw or joined battle, he both stayed
+ his friends from a precipitate flight and the enemy from excessive fierceness
+ of fighting. Those who had been scattered up and down, their ranks being broken,
+ fled for refuge from every quarter to the fresh army; those who had fled together
+ in parties, turning upon the enemy, now forming a circle, retreat slowly, now
+ concentrating themselves, stand firm. And now the vanquished and the fresh army
+ had nearly formed one line, and were bearing their standards against the enemy,
+ when the Carthaginians sounded a retreat; Hannibal openly declaring that though
+ he had conquered Minucius, he was himself conquered by Fabius. The greater part
+ of the day having been thus consumed with varying success, Minucius calling
+ together his soldiers, when they had returned to the camp, thus addressed them:
+ "I have often heard, soldiers, that he is the greatest man who himself counsels
+ what is expedient, and that he who listens to the man who gives good advice
+ is the second, but that he who neither himself is capable of counselling, and
+ knows not how to obey another, is of the lowest order of mind. Since the first
+ place of mind and talent has been denied us, let us strive to obtain the second
+ and intermediate kind, and while we are learning to command, let us prevail
+ upon ourselves to submit to a man of prudence. Let us join camps with Fabius,
+ and, carrying our standards to his pavilion, when I have saluted him as my parent,
+ which he deserves on account of the service he has rendered us and of his dignity;
+ you, my soldiers, shall salute those men as patrons, whose arms and right-hands
+ just now protected you: and if this day has conferred nothing else upon us,
+ it hath at least conferred upon us the glory of possessing grateful hearts."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="d30" />
+<p>The signal being given, there was a general call to collect the baggage: then
+ setting out, and proceeding in order of march to the dictator's camp, they excited
+ at once the surprise of the dictator himself and all around him. When the standards
+ were planted before the tribunal, the master of the horse, advancing before
+ the rest, having saluted Fabius as father, and the whole body of his troops
+ having, with one voice, saluted the soldiers who surrounded him as patrons,
+ said, "To my parents, dictator, to whom I have just now equalled you, only in
+ name, as far as I could express myself, I am indebted for my life only; to you
+ I owe both my own preservation and that of all these soldiers. That order of
+ the people, therefore, with which I have been oppressed rather than honoured,
+ I first cancel and annul, and (may it be auspicious to me and you, and to these
+ your armies, to the preserved and the preserver,) I return to your authority
+ and auspices, and restore to you these standards and these legions, and I entreat
+ you that, being reconciled, you would order that I may retain the mastership
+ of the horse, and that these soldiers may each of them retain their ranks."
+ After that hands were joined, and when the assembly was dismissed, the soldiers
+ were kindly and hospitably invited by those known to them and unknown: and that
+ day, from having been a little while ago gloomy in the extreme, and almost accursed,
+ was turned into a day of joy. At Rome, the report of the action was conveyed
+ thither, and was afterwards confirmed, not less by letters from the common soldiers
+ of both armies, than from the generals themselves, all men individually extolled
+ Maximus to the skies. His renown was equal with Hannibal, and his enemies the
+ Carthaginians and then at length they began to feel that they were engaged in
+ war with Romans, and in Italy. For the two preceding years they entertained
+ so utter a contempt for the Roman generals and soldiers, that they could scarcely
+ believe that they were waging war with the same nation which their fathers had
+ reported to them as being so formidable. They relate also, that Hannibal said,
+ as he returned from the field that at length that cloud, which was used to settle
+ on the tops of the mountains, had sent down a shower with a storm. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="d31" />
+<p>While these events occur in Italy, Cneius Servilius Geminus, the consul, having
+ sailed round the coast of Sardinia and Corsica with a fleet of one hundred and
+ twenty ships, and received hostages from both places, crossed over into Africa,
+ and before he made a descent upon the continent, having laid waste the island
+ of Meninx, and received from the inhabitants of Cercina ten talents of silver,
+ in order that their fields too might not be burnt and pillaged, he approached
+ the shores of Africa, and landed his troops. Thence the soldiers were led out
+ to plunder, and the crews scattered about just as if they were plundering uninhabited
+ islands and thus, carelessly falling upon an ambuscade, when they were surrounded--the
+ ignorant of the country by those acquainted with it, the straggling by those
+ in close array, they were driven back to then ships in ignominious flight, and
+ with great carnage. As many as one thousand men, together with Sempionius Blaesus,
+ the quaestor, having been lost, the fleet hastily setting sail from the shore,
+ which was crowded with the enemy, proceeded direct for Italy, and was given
+ up at Lilybaeum to Titus Otacilius, the praetor, that it might be taken back
+ to Rome by his lieutenant, Publius Suia. The consul himself, proceeding through
+ Sicily on foot, crossed the strait into Italy, summoned, as well as his colleague,
+ Marcus Atilius, by a letter from Quintus Fabius, to receive the armies from
+ him, as the period of his command, which was six months, had nearly expired.
+ Almost all the annalists record that Fabius conducted the war against Hannibal,
+ as dictator Caelius also writes, that he was the first dictator created by the
+ people. But it has escaped Caelius and all the others that Cneius Servilius,
+ the consul, who was then a long way from home in Gaul, which was his province,
+ was the only person who possessed the right of appointing a dictator, and that
+ as the state, terrified by the disasters which had just befallen it, could not
+ abide the delay, it had recourse to the determination that the people should
+ create a prodictator, that his subsequent achievements, his singular renown
+ as a general, and his descendants, who exaggerated the inscription of his statue,
+ easily brought it about that he should be called dictator, instead of prodictator.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="d32" />
+<p>The consuls, Atilius and Geminus Servilius, having received, the former the
+ army of Fabius, the latter that of Minucius, and fortified their winter quarters
+ in good time, (it was the close of the autumn,) carried on the war with the
+ most perfect unanimity, according to the plans of Fabius. In many places they
+ fell upon the troops of Hannibal when out on foraging excursions, availing themselves
+ of the opportunity, and both harassing their march and intercepting the stragglers.
+ They did not come to the chance of a general battle, which the enemy tried by
+ every artifice to bring about. And Hannibal was so straitened by the want of
+ provisions, that had he not feared in retiring the appearance of flight, he
+ would have returned to Gaul, no hope being left of being able to subsist an
+ army in those quarters, if the ensuing consuls should carry on the war upon
+ the same plan. The war having been arrested in its progress at Geronium, the
+ winter interrupting it, ambassadors from Naples came to Rome. They carried into
+ the senate-house forty golden goblets, of great weight, and spoke to this effect.
+ "That they knew the treasury of the Romans was exhausted by the war, and since
+ the war was carried on alike in defence of the cities and the lands of the allies,
+ and of the empire and city of Rome, the capital and citadel of Italy, that the
+ Neapolitans thought it but fair that they should assist the Roman people with
+ whatever gold had been left them by their ancestors as well for the decoration
+ of their temples as for the relief of misfortune. If they had thought that there
+ was any resource in themselves, that they would have offered it with the same
+ zeal. That the Roman fathers and people would render an acceptable service to
+ them, if they would consider all the goods of the Neapolitans as their own,
+ and if they would think them deserving, that they should accept a present at
+ their hands, rendered valuable and of consequence rather by the spirit and affection
+ of those who gave it with cheerfulness, than by its intrinsic worth." Thanks
+ were given to the ambassadors for their munificence and attention, and the goblet
+ of least weight was accepted. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="d33" />
+<p>During the same days a Carthaginian spy, who had escaped for two years, was
+ apprehended at Rome, and his hands having been cut off, was let go: and twenty-five
+ slaves were crucified for forming a conspiracy in the Campus Martius; his liberty
+ was given to the informer, and twenty thousand <i>asses</i> of the heavy standard.
+ Ambassadors were also sent to Philip, king of the Macedonians, to demand Demetrius
+ of Pharia, who, having been vanquished in war had fled to him. Others were sent
+ to the Ligurians, to expostulate with them for having assisted the Carthaginians
+ with their substance and with auxiliaries; and, at the same time, to take a
+ near view of what was going on amongst the Boii and Insubrians. Ambassadors
+ were also sent to the Illyrians to king Pineus, to demand the tribute, the day
+ of payment of which had passed; or if he wished to postpone the day, to receive
+ hostages. Thus, though an arduous war was on their shoulders, no attention to
+ any one concern in any part of the world, however remote, escapes the Romans.
+ It was made a matter of superstitious fear also, that the temple of Concord,
+ which Lucius Manlius, the praetor, had vowed in Gaul two years ago, on occasion
+ of a mutiny, had not been contracted for to that day. Accordingly, Cneius Pupius
+ and Caeso Quinctius Flaminius, created duumviri by Marcus Aemilius, the city
+ praetor, for that purpose, contract for the building a temple in the citadel.
+ By the same praetor a letter was sent to the consuls, agreeably to a decree
+ of the senate, to the effect that, if they thought proper, one of them should
+ come to Rome to elect consuls; and that he would proclaim the election for whatever
+ day they might name. To this it was replied by the consuls, that they could
+ not leave the enemy without detriment to the public; that it would be better,
+ therefore, that the election should be held by an interrex, than that one of
+ the consuls should be called away from the war. It appeared more proper to the
+ fathers, that a dictator should be nominated by a consul, for the purpose of
+ holding the election Lucius Veturius Philo was nominated, who chose Manius Pomponius
+ Matho master of the horse. These having been created with some defect, they
+ were ordered to give up their appointment on the fourteenth day; and the state
+ came to an interregnum. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="d34" />
+<p>To the consuls the authority was continued for a year longer. Caius Claudius
+ Centho, son of Appius, and then Publius Cornelius Asina, were appointed interreges
+ by the fathers. During the interregnum of the latter the election was held with
+ a violent contest between the patricians and the people, Caius Terentius Varro,
+ whom, as a man of their own order, commended to their favour by inveighing against
+ the patricians and by other popular arts; who had acquired celebrity by maligning
+ others, by undermining the influence of Fabius, and bringing into contempt the
+ dictatorial authority, the commons strove to raise to the consulship. The patricians
+ opposed him with all their might, lest men, by inveighing against them, should
+ come to be placed on an equality with them. Quintus Boebius Herennius, a plebeian
+ tribune, and kinsman of Caius Terentius, by criminating not only the senate,
+ but the augurs also, for having prevented the dictator from completing the election,
+ by the odium cast upon them, conciliated favour to his own candidate. He asserted,
+ "that Hannibal had been brought into Italy by the nobility, who had for many
+ years been desirous of a war. That by the fraudulent machinations of the same
+ persons the war had been protracted, whereas it might have been brought to a
+ conclusion. That it had appeared that the war could be maintained with an army
+ consisting of four legions in all, from Marcus Minucius's having fought with
+ success in the absence of Fabius. That two legions had been exposed to be slain
+ by the enemy, and were afterwards rescued from absolute destruction, in order
+ that that man might be saluted as father and patron, who had deprived them of
+ victory before he delivered them from defeat. That subsequently the consuls,
+ pursuing the plans of Fabius, had protracted the war, whereas it was in their
+ power to have put a period to it. That this was an agreement made by the nobility
+ in general; nor would they ever have the war concluded till they had created
+ a consul really plebeian; that is, a new man: for that plebeians who had attained
+ nobility were now initiated into the mysteries, and had begun to look down with
+ contempt upon plebeians, from the moment they ceased to be despised by the patricians.
+ Who was not fully aware that their end and object was, that an interregnum should
+ be formed, in order that the elections might be under the influence of the patricians?
+ That both the consuls had that in view in tarrying with the army: and that afterwards
+ a dictator having been nominated to hold the election contrary to their wishes,
+ they had carried it, as it were, by storm, that the augurs should declare the
+ dictator informally elected. That they therefore had gotten an interregnum;
+ but one consulate was surely in the hands of the Roman people. Thus the people
+ would have that at their own unbiassed disposal, and that they would confer
+ it on that man who would rather conquer in reality than lengthen the term of
+ his command." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="d35" />
+<p>When the people had been inflamed by these harangues, though there were three
+ patrician candidates for the consulship, Publius Cornelius Merenda, Lucius Manlius
+ Vulso, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, two of plebeian families, who had been ennobled,
+ Caius Atilius Serranus and Quintus Aelius Paetus, one of whom was pontiff, the
+ other an augur, Terentius alone was created consul, that the comitia for choosing
+ his colleague might be in his own management. Then the nobles, finding that
+ the competitors whom they had set up were not strong enough, though he strenuously
+ refused for a long time, prevail upon Aemilius Paulus, who was strongly opposed
+ to the people, to become a candidate. He had been consul before with Marcus
+ Livius, and from the condemnation of his colleague, and almost of himself, had
+ come off scathed. On the next day of the election, all who had opposed Varro
+ withdrawing, he is given to the consul rather as a match to oppose him than
+ as a colleague. Afterwards the assembly for the election of praetors was held,
+ and Manius Pomponius Matho and Publius Furius Philus were chosen. The city lot
+ for the administration of justice at Rome fell to the lot of Pomponius; between
+ Roman citizens and foreigners, to Philus. Two praetors were added, Marcus Claudius
+ Marcellus for Sicily, and Lucius Postumius for Gaul. These were all appointed
+ in their absence; nor was an honour which he had not previously borne committed
+ to any one of them, except the consul Terentius, several brave and able men
+ having been passed over, because, at such a juncture, it did not appear advisable
+ that a new office should be committed to any one. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="d36" />
+<p>The forces also were augmented. But how great was the augmentation of infantry
+ and cavalry authors vary so much, that I scarcely dare positively assert. Some
+ state, that ten thousand soldiers were levied as a reinforcement; others, four
+ fresh legions, that there might be eight legions in service. It is said also,
+ that the complement of the legion was increased in respect both to foot and
+ horse, one thousand foot and one hundred horse being added to each, so that
+ each might contain five thousand foot and three hundred horse; and that the
+ allies furnished twice as many cavalry, and an equal number of infantry. Some
+ authorities affirm that there were eighty-seven thousand two hundred soldiers
+ in the Roman camp when the battle of Cannae was fought. There is no dispute,
+ that the war was prosecuted with greater energy and spirit than during former
+ years, because the dictator had given them a hope that the enemy might be subdued.
+ Before, however, the new-raised legions marched from the city, the decemviri
+ were ordered to have recourse to and inspect the sacred volumes, on account
+ of persons having been generally alarmed by extraordinary prodigies; for intelligence
+ was brought, that it had rained stones on the Aventine at Rome and at Aricia
+ at the same time. That among the Sabines, statues had sweated blood copiously,
+ and at Caere the waters had flowed warm, from a fountain. The latter prodigy
+ excited a greater degree of alarm, because it had frequently occurred. In a
+ street called the Arched Way, near the Campus Martius, several men were struck
+ by lightning and killed. These prodigies were expiated according to the books.
+ Ambassadors from Paestum brought some golden goblets to Rome; they were thanked,
+ as the Neapolitans were, but the gold was not accepted. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="d37" />
+<p>During the same time a fleet from Hiero arrived at Ostia with a large cargo
+ of supplies. The Syracusan ambassadors, on being introduced into the senate,
+ delivered this message: "That king Hiero was so much affected at the slaughter
+ announced to him of Caius Flaminius the consul and his troops, that he could
+ not have been more distressed at any disasters which could have befallen himself
+ or his own kingdom; and accordingly, though he was well aware that the greatness
+ of the Roman people was almost more admirable in adversity than prosperity,
+ he had nevertheless sent every thing which good and faithful allies are wont
+ to contribute to assist the operations of war, which he earnestly implored the
+ conscript fathers not to refuse to accept. First of all, for the sake of the
+ omen, they had brought a golden statue of Victory, of three hundred pounds'
+ weight, which they begged them to accept, keep by them, and hold as their own
+ peculiar and lasting possession. That they had also brought three hundred thousand
+ pecks of wheat, and two hundred thousand of barley, that there might be no want
+ of provisions, and that as much more as might be necessary they would convey,
+ as a supply, to whatever place they might appoint. He knew that the Roman people
+ employed no legionary troops or cavalry who were not Romans, or of the Latin
+ confederacy, that he had seen foreign auxiliary as well as native light-armed
+ troops in the Roman camps, he had, therefore, sent one thousand archers and
+ slingers, a suitable force against the Bahares and Moors, and other nations
+ which fought with missile weapons" To these presents they added also advice
+ "That the praetor to whose lot the province of Sicily had fallen, should pass
+ a fleet over to Africa, that the enemy also might have a war in their own country,
+ and that less liberty should be afforded them of sending reinforcements to Hannibal"
+ The senate thus replied to the king. "That Hiero was a good man and an admirable
+ ally, and that from the time he first formed a friendship with the Roman people
+ he had uniformly cultivated a spirit of fidelity, and had munificently assisted
+ the Roman cause at all times and in every place. That this was, as it ought
+ to be, a cause of gratitude to the Roman people. That the Roman people had not
+ accepted gold which had been brought them also from certain states, though they
+ felt gratitude for the act. The Victory and the omen," they said, "they would
+ accept, and would assign and dedicate to that goddess, as her abode, the Capitol,
+ the temple of Jupiter, the best and greatest of gods, hoping that, consecrated
+ in that fortress of the city of Rome, she would continue there firm and immoveable,
+ kind and propitious to the Roman people." The slingers, archers, and corn were
+ handed over to the consuls. To the fleet which Titus Otacilius the proprietor
+ had in Sicily, twenty-five quinqueremes were added, and permission was given
+ him, if he thought it for the interest of the state to pass over into Africa.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="d38" />
+<p>The levy completed, the consuls waited a few days, till the allies of the Latin
+ confederacy arrived. At this time the soldiers were bound by an oath, which
+ had never before been the case, dictated by the military tribunes, that they
+ would assemble at the command of the consuls, and not depart without orders;
+ for up to that time the military oath only had been employed; and further, when
+ the soldiers met to divide into decuries or centuries, the cavalry being formed
+ into decuries and the infantry into centuries, all swore together, amongst themselves,
+ of their own accord, that they would not depart or quit their ranks for flight
+ or fear, except for the purpose of taking up or fetching a weapon, and either
+ striking an enemy or saving a countryman. This, from being a voluntary compact
+ among the soldiers themselves, was converted into the legal compulsion of an
+ oath by the tribunes. Before the standards were moved from the city, the harangues
+ of Varro were frequent and furious, protesting that the war had been invited
+ into Italy by the nobles, and that it would continue fixed in the bowels of
+ the state if it employed any more such generals as Fabius; that he would bring
+ the war to conclusion on the very day he got sight of the enemy. His colleague
+ Paulus made but one speech, on the day before they set out from the city, which
+ was more true than gratifying to the people, in which nothing was said severely
+ against Varro, except this only. "That he wondered how any general, before he
+ knew any thing of his own army, or that of the enemy, the situation of the places,
+ or the nature of the country, even now while in the city, and with the gown
+ on, could tell what he must do when in arms, and could even foretell the day
+ on which he would fight standard to standard with the enemy. That, for his own
+ part, he would not, before the time arrived, prematurely anticipate those measures
+ which circumstances imposed on men, rather than men on circumstances. He could
+ only wish that those measures which were taken with due caution and deliberation
+ might turn out prosperously. That temerity, setting aside its folly, had hitherto
+ been also unsuccessful." This obviously appeared, that he would prefer safe
+ to precipitate counsels; but that he might persevere the more constantly in
+ this, Quintus Fabius Maximus is reported to have thus addressed him on his departure.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="d39" />
+<p>"If you either had a colleague like yourself, Lucius Aemilius, which is what
+ I should prefer, or you were like your colleague, an address from me would be
+ superfluous. For were you both good consuls, you would do every thing for the
+ good of the state from your own sense of honour, even without my saying a word:
+ and were you both bad consuls, you would neither receive my words into your
+ ears, nor my counsels into your minds. As the case now is, looking at your colleague
+ and yourself, a man of such character, my address will be solely to you; who,
+ I feel convinced, will prove yourself a good man and a worthy citizen in vain,
+ if the state on the other hand should halt. Pernicious counsels will have the
+ same authority and influence as those which are sound. For you are mistaken,
+ Lucius Paulus, if you imagine that you will have a less violent contest with
+ Caius Terentius than with Hannibal. I know not whether the former, your opponent,
+ or the latter, your open enemy, be the more hostile. With the latter you will
+ have to contend in the field only; with the former, at every place and time.
+ Hannibal, moreover, you have to oppose with your own horse and foot; while Varro
+ will head your own soldiers against you. Let Caius Flaminius be absent from
+ your thoughts, even for the omen's sake. Yet he only began to play the madman's
+ consul, in his province, and at the head of the army. This man is raving before
+ he put up for the consulship, afterwards while canvassing for it, and now having
+ obtained it, before he has seen the camp or the enemy. And he who by talking
+ largely of battles and marshalled armies, even now excites such storms among
+ the citizens with their gowns on, what do you think he will effect among the
+ youth in arms, where words are followed forthwith by acts? But be assured, if
+ this man, as he protests he will, shall immediately engage the enemy either
+ I am unacquainted with military affairs, with this kind of war, and the character
+ of the enemy, or another place will become more celebrated than the Trasimenus
+ by our disaster. Neither is this the season for boasting while I am addressing
+ one man; and besides, I have exceeded the bounds of moderation in despising
+ rather than in courting fame. But the case is really this. The only way of conducting
+ the war against Hannibal is that which I adopted: nor does the event only, that
+ instructor of fools, demonstrate it, but that same reasoning which has continued
+ hitherto, and will continue unchangeable so long as circumstances shall remain
+ the same. We are carrying on war in Italy, in our own country, and our own soil.
+ All around us are countrymen and allies in abundance. With arms, men, horses,
+ and provisions, they do and will assist us. Such proofs of their fidelity have
+ they given in our adversity. Time, nay, everyday makes us better, wiser, and
+ firmer. Hannibal, on the contrary, is in a foreign, a hostile land, amidst all
+ hostile and disadvantageous circumstances, far from his home, far from his country;
+ he has peace neither by land nor sea: no cities, no walls receive him: he sees
+ nothing any where which he can call his own: he daily lives by plunder. He has
+ now scarcely a third part of that army which he conveyed across the Iberus.
+ Famine has destroyed more than the sword; nor have the few remaining a sufficient
+ supply of provisions. Do you doubt, therefore, whether by remaining quiet we
+ shall not conquer him who is daily sinking into decrepitude? who has neither
+ provisions nor money? How long before the walls of Geronium, a miserable fortress
+ of Apulia, as if before the walls of Carthage--? But not even in your presence
+ will I boast. See how Cneius Servilius and Atilius, the last consuls, fooled
+ him. This is the only path of safety, Lucius Paulus, which your countrymen will
+ render more difficult and dangerous to you than their enemies will. For your
+ own soldiers will desire the same thing as those of the enemy: Varro, a Roman
+ consul, and Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, will wish the same thing. You
+ alone must resist two generals: and you will resist them sufficiently if you
+ stand firm against the report and the rumours of men; if neither the empty glory
+ of your colleague, and the unfounded calumnies against yourself, shall move
+ you. They say that truth too often suffers, but is never destroyed. He who despises
+ fame will have it genuine. Let them call you coward instead of cautious, dilatory
+ instead of considerate, unwarlike instead of an expert general. I would rather
+ that a sagacious enemy should fear you, than that foolish countrymen should
+ commend you. A man who hazards all things Hannibal will despise, him who does
+ nothing rashly he will fear. And neither do I advise that nothing should be
+ done; but that in what you do, reason should guide you, and not fortune. All
+ things will be within your own power, and your own. Be always ready armed and
+ on the watch, and neither be wanting when a favourable opportunity presents
+ itself, nor give any favourable opportunity to the enemy. All things are clear
+ and sure to the deliberate man. Precipitation is improvident and blind." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="d40" />
+<p>The address of the consul in reply was by no means cheerful, admitting that
+ what he said was true, rather than easy to put in practice. He said, "That to
+ him, as dictator, his master of the horse was unbearable: what power or influence
+ could a consul have against a factious and intemperate colleague? That he had
+ in his former consulate escaped a popular conflagration not without being singed:
+ his prayer was, that every thing might happen prosperously; but if, on the contrary,
+ any misfortune should occur, that he would rather expose his life to the weapons
+ of the enemy, than to the votes of his incensed countrymen." Directly after
+ this discourse, it is related that Paulus set out, escorted by the principal
+ senators. The plebeian consul attended his own plebeian party, more distinguished
+ by their numbers than respectability. When they had arrived at the camp, the
+ old and new troops being united, they formed two distinct camps, so that the
+ new and smaller one might be the nearer to Hannibal, and the old one might contain
+ the greater part, and all the choicest of the troops. They then sent to Rome
+ Marcus Atilius, the consul of the former year, who alleged his age in excuse.
+ They appoint Geminus Servilius to the command of a Roman legion, and two thousand
+ of the allied infantry and cavalry in the lesser camp. Hannibal, although he
+ perceived that the forces of the enemy were augmented by one-half, was yet wonderfully
+ rejoiced at the arrival of the consuls; for he had not only nothing remaining
+ of the provisions which he daily acquired by plunder, but there was not even
+ any thing left which he could seize, the corn in all the surrounding country
+ having been collected into fortified cities, when the country was too unsafe;
+ so that, as was afterwards discovered, there scarcely remained corn enough for
+ ten days, and the Spaniards would have passed over to the enemy, through want
+ of food, if the completion of that time had been awaited. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="d41" />
+<p>But fortune afforded materials also to the headstrong and precipitate disposition
+ of the consul, for in checking the plundering parties a battle having taken
+ place, of a tumultuary kind, and occasioned rather by a disorderly advance of
+ the soldiers, than by a preconcerted plan, or by the command of the general,
+ the contest was by no means equal with the Carthaginians. As many as one thousand
+ seven hundred of them were slain, but not more than one hundred of the Romans
+ and allies. The consul Paulus, however, who was in command on that day, (for
+ they held the command on alternate days,) apprehending an ambuscade, restrained
+ the victorious troops in their headstrong pursuit; while Varro indignantly vociferated,
+ that the enemy had been allowed to slip out of their hands, and that the war
+ might have been terminated had not the pursuit been stopped. Hannibal was not
+ much grieved at that loss; nay, rather he felt convinced, that the temerity
+ of the more presumptuous consul, and of the soldiers, particularly the fresh
+ ones, would be lured by the bait; and besides, all the circumstances of the
+ enemy were as well known to him as his own: that dissimilar and discordant men
+ were in command; that nearly two-thirds of the army consisted of raw recruits.
+ Accordingly, concluding that he now had both a time and place adapted for an
+ ambuscade, on the following night he led his troops away with nothing but their
+ arms, leaving the camp filled with all their effects, both public and private.
+ His infantry drawn up he conceals on the left, on the opposite side of the adjoining
+ hills; his cavalry on the right; his baggage in an intermediate line he leads
+ over the mountains through a valley, in order that he might surprise the enemy
+ when busy in plundering the camp, deserted, as they would imagine, by its owners,
+ and when encumbered with booty. Numerous fires were left in the camp, to produce
+ a belief that his intention was to keep the consuls in their places by the appearance
+ of a camp, until he could himself escape to a greater distance, in the same
+ manner as he had deceived Fabius the year before. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="d42" />
+<p>When it was day, the outpost withdrawn first occasioned surprise, then, on
+ a nearer approach, the unusual stillness. At length, the desertion being manifest,
+ there is a general rush to the pavilions of the consuls, of those who announced
+ the flight of the enemy so precipitate, that they left their camp, with their
+ tents standing; and, that their flight might be the more secret, that numerous
+ fires were left. Then a clamour arose that they should order the standards to
+ be advanced, and lead them in pursuit of the enemy, and to the immediate plunder
+ of the camp. The other consul too was as one of the common soldiers. Paulus
+ again and again urged, that they should see their way before them, and use every
+ precaution. Lastly, when he could no longer withstand the sedition and the leader
+ of the sedition, he sends Marius Statilius, a prefect, with a Lucanian troop,
+ to reconnoitre, who, when he had ridden up to the gates, ordered the rest to
+ stay without the works, and entered the camp himself, attended by two horsemen.
+ Having carefully examined every thing, he brings back word that it was manifestly
+ a snare: that fires were left in that part of the camp which faced the enemy:
+ that the tents were open, and that all their valuables were left exposed: that
+ in some places he had seen silver carelessly thrown about the passages, as if
+ laid there for plunder. This intelligence, which it was hoped would deter their
+ minds from greediness, inflamed them; and the soldiers clamorously declaring,
+ that unless the signal was given they would advance without their leaders, they
+ by no means wanted one, for Varro instantly gave the signal for marching. Paulus,
+ whom, unwilling from his own suggestions to move, the chickens had not encouraged
+ by their auspices, ordered the unlucky omen to be reported to his colleague,
+ when he was now leading the troops out of the gate. And though Varro bore it
+ impatiently, yet the recent fate of Flaminius, and the recorded naval defeat
+ of Claudius, the consul in the first Punic war, struck religious scruples into
+ his mind. The gods themselves (it might almost be said) rather postponed than
+ averted the calamity which hung over the Romans; for it fell out by mere accident,
+ that when the soldiers did not obey the consul who ordered them to return to
+ the camp, two slaves, one belonging to a horseman of Formiae, the other to one
+ of Sidicinum, who had been cut off by the Numidians among a party of foragers,
+ when Servilius and Atilius were consuls, had escaped on that day to their masters:
+ and being brought into the presence of the consuls, inform them that the whole
+ army of Hannibal was lying in ambush on the other side of the adjoining mountains.
+ The seasonable arrival of these men restored the consuls to their authority,
+ when the ambition of one of them had relaxed his influence with the soldiers,
+ by an undignified compliance.43. Hannibal, perceiving that the Romans had been
+ indiscreetly prompted rather than rashly carried to a conclusion, returned to
+ his camp without effecting any thing, as his stratagem was discovered. He could
+ not remain there many days, in consequence of the scarcity of corn; and, moreover,
+ not only among the soldiers, who were mixed up of the off-scouring of various
+ nations, but even with the general himself, day by day new designs arose: for,
+ first, when there had been murmuring of the soldiers, and then an open and clamorous
+ demand of their arrears of pay, and a complaint first of the scarcity of provisions,
+ and lastly of famine; and there being a report that the mercenaries, particularly
+ the Spanish, had formed a plan of passing over to the enemy, it is affirmed
+ that Hannibal himself too sometimes entertained thoughts of flying into Gaul,
+ so that, having left all his infantry, he might hurry away with his cavalry.
+ Such being the plans in agitation, and such the state of feeling in the camp,
+ he resolved to depart thence into the regions of Apulia, which were warmer,
+ and therefore earlier in the harvest. Thinking also, that the farther he retired
+ from the enemy, the more difficult would desertion be to the wavering. He set
+ out by night, having, as before, kindled fires, and leaving a few tents to produce
+ an appearance; that a fear of an ambuscade, similar to the former, might keep
+ the Romans in their places. But when intelligence was brought by the same Lucanian
+ Statilius, who had reconnoitred every place on the other side the mountains,
+ and beyond the camp, that the enemy was seen marching at a distance, then plans
+ began to be deliberated on about pursuing him. The consuls persisted in the
+ same opinions they ever entertained; but nearly all acquiesced with Varro, and
+ none with Paulus except Servilius, the consul of the former year. In compliance
+ with the opinion of the majority, they set out, under the impulse of destiny,
+ to render Cannae celebrated by a Roman disaster. Hannibal had pitched his camp
+ near that village, with his back to the wind Vulturnus, which, in those plains
+ which are parched with drought, carries with it clouds of dust. This circumstance
+ was not only very advantageous to the camp, but would be a great protection
+ to them when they formed their line; as they, with the wind blowing only on
+ their backs, would combat with an enemy blinded with the thickly blown dust.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="d44" />
+<p>When the consuls, employing sufficient diligence in exploring the road in pursuit
+ of the Carthaginian, had arrived at Cannae, where they had the enemy in the
+ sight of them, having divided their forces, they fortify two camps with nearly
+ the same interval as before, at Geronium. The river Aufidus, which flowed by
+ both the camps, afforded approach to the watering parties of each, as opportunity
+ served, though not without contest. The Romans in the lesser camp, however,
+ which was on the other side the Aufidus, were more freely furnished with water,
+ because the further bank had no guard of the enemy. Hannibal, entertaining a
+ hope that the consuls would not decline a battle in this tract, which was naturally
+ adapted to a cavalry engagement, in which portion of his forces he was invincible,
+ formed his line, and provoked the enemy by a skirmishing attack with his Numidians.
+ Upon this the Roman camp began again to be embroiled by a mutiny among the soldiers,
+ and the disagreement of the consuls: since Paulus instanced to Varro the temerity
+ of Sempronius and Flaminius; while Varro pointed to Fabius, as a specious example
+ to timid and inactive generals. The latter called both gods and men to witness,
+ "that no part of the blame attached to him that Hannibal had now made Italy
+ his own, as it were, by right of possession; that he was held bound by his colleague;
+ that the swords and arms were taken out of the hands of the indignant soldiers
+ who were eager to fight." The former declared, "that if any disaster should
+ befall the legions thus exposed and betrayed into an ill-advised and imprudent
+ battle, he should be exempt from any blame, though the sharer of all the consequences.
+ That he must take care that their hands were equally energetic in the battle
+ whose tongues were so forward and impetuous." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="d45" />
+<p>While time is thus consumed in altercation rather than deliberating, Hannibal,
+ who had kept his troops drawn up in order of battle till late in the day, when
+ he had led the rest of them back into the camp, sends Numidians across the river
+ to attack a watering party of the Romans from the lesser camp. Having routed
+ this disorderly band by shouting and tumult, before they had well reached the
+ opposite bank, they advanced even to an outpost which was before the rampart,
+ and near the, very gates of the camp. It seemed so great an indignity, that
+ now even the camp of the Romans should be terrified by a tumultuary band of
+ auxiliaries, that this cause alone kept back the Romans from crossing the river
+ forthwith, and forming their line, that the chief command was on that day held
+ by Paulus. Accordingly Varro, on the following day, on which it was his turn
+ to hold the command, without consulting his colleague, displayed the signal
+ for battle, and forming his troops, led them across the river. Paulus followed,
+ because he could better disapprove of the proceeding, than withhold his assistance.
+ Having crossed the river, they add to their forces those which they had in the
+ lesser camp; and thus forming their line, place the Roman cavalry in the right
+ wing, which was next the river; and next them the infantry: at the extremity
+ of the left wing the allied cavalry; within them the allied infantry, extending
+ to the centre, and contiguous to the Roman legions. The darters, and the rest
+ of the light-armed auxiliaries, formed the van. The consuls commanded the wings;
+ Terentius the left, Aemilius the right. To Geminus Sevilius was committed the
+ charge of maintaining the battle in the centre. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="d46" />
+<p>Hannibal, at break of day, having sent before him the Baliares and other light-armed
+ troops, crossed the river, and placed his troops in line of battle, as he had
+ conveyed them across the river. The Gallic and Spanish cavalry he placed in
+ the left wing, opposite the Roman cavalry: the right wing was assigned to the
+ Numidian cavalry, the centre of the line being strongly formed by the infantry,
+ so that both extremities of it were composed of Africans, between which Gauls
+ and Spaniards were placed. One would suppose the Africans were for the most
+ part Romans, they were so equipped with arms captured at the Trebia, and for
+ the greater part at the Trasimenus. The shields of the Gauls and Spaniards were
+ of the same shape; their swords unequal and dissimilar. The Gauls had very long
+ ones, without points. The Spaniards, who were accustomed to stab more than to
+ cut their enemy, had swords convenient from their shortness, and with points.
+ The aspect of these nations in other respects was terrific, both as to the appearance
+ they exhibited and the size of their persons. The Gauls were naked above the
+ navel: the Spaniards stood arrayed in linen vests resplendent with surprising
+ whiteness, and bordered with purple. The whole amount of infantry standing in
+ battle-array was forty thousand, of cavalry ten. The generals who commanded
+ the wings were on the left Hasdrubal, on the right Maharbal: Hannibal himself,
+ with his brother Mago, commanded the centre. The sun very conveniently shone
+ obliquely upon both parties; the Romans facing the south, and the Carthaginians
+ the north; either placed so designedly, or having stood thus by chance. The
+ wind, which the inhabitants of the district call the Vulturnus, blowing violently
+ in front of the Romans, prevented their seeing far by rolling clouds of dust
+ into their faces. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="d47" />
+<p>The shout being raised, the auxiliaries charged, and the battle commenced in
+ the first place with the light-armed troops: then the left wing, consisting
+ of the Gallic and Spanish cavalry, engages with the Roman right wing, by no
+ means in the manner of a cavalry battle; for they were obliged to engage front
+ to front; for as on one side the river, on the other the line of infantry hemmed
+ them in, there was no space left at their flanks for evolution, but both parties
+ were compelled to press directly forward. At length the horses standing still,
+ and being crowded together, man grappling with man, dragged him from his horse.
+ The contest now came to be carried on principally on foot. The battle, however,
+ was more violent than lasting; and the Roman cavalry being repulsed, turn their
+ backs. About the conclusion of the contest between the cavalry, the battle between
+ the infantry commenced. At first the Gauls and Spaniards preserved their ranks
+ unbroken, not inferior in strength or courage: but at length the Romans, after
+ long and repeated efforts, drove in with their even front and closely compacted
+ line, that part of the enemy's line in the form of a wedge, which projected
+ beyond the rest, which was too thin, and therefore deficient in strength. These
+ men, thus driven back and hastily retreating, they closely pursued; and as they
+ urged their course without interruption through this terrified band, as it fled
+ with precipitation, were borne first upon the centre line of the enemy; and
+ lastly, no one opposing them, they reached the African reserved troops. These
+ were posted at the two extremities of the line, where it was depressed; while
+ the centre, where the Gauls and Spaniards were placed, projected a little. When
+ the wedge thus formed being driven in, at first rendered the line level, but
+ afterwards, by the pressure, made a curvature in the centre, the Africans, who
+ had now formed wings on each side of them, surrounded the Romans on both sides,
+ who incautiously rushed into the intermediate space; and presently extending
+ their wings, enclosed the enemy on the rear also. After this the Romans, who
+ had in vain finished one battle, leaving the Gauls and Spaniards, whose rear
+ they had slaughtered, in addition commence a fresh encounter with the Africans,
+ not only disadvantageous, because being hemmed in they had to fight against
+ troops who surrounded them, but also because, fatigued, they fought with those
+ who were fresh and vigorous. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">48 </div>
+<a id="d48" />
+<p>Now also in the left wing of the Romans, in which the allied cavalry were opposed
+ to the Numidians, the battle was joined, which was at first languid, commencing
+ with a stratagem on the part of the Carthaginians. About five hundred Numidians,
+ who, besides their usual arms, had swords concealed beneath their coats of mail,
+ quitting their own party, and riding up to the enemy under the semblance of
+ deserters, with their bucklers behind them, suddenly leap down from their horses;
+ and, throwing down their bucklers and javelins at the feet of their enemies,
+ are received into their centre, and being conducted to the rear, ordered to
+ remain there; and there they continued until the battle became general. But
+ afterwards, when the thoughts and attention of all were occupied with the contest,
+ snatching up the shields which lay scattered on all hands among the heaps of
+ slain, they fell upon the rear of the Roman line, and striking their backs and
+ wounding their hams, occasioned vast havoc, and still greater panic and confusion.
+ While in one part terror and flight prevailed, in another the battle was obstinately
+ persisted in, though with little hope. Hasdrubal, who was then commanding in
+ that quarter, withdrawing the Numidians from the centre of the army, as the
+ conflict with their opponents was slight, sends them in pursuit of the scattered
+ fugitives, and joining the Africans, now almost weary with slaying rather than
+ fighting the Spanish and Gallic infantry. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">49 </div>
+<a id="d49" />
+<p>On the other side of the field, Paulus, though severely wounded from a sling
+ in the very commencement of the battle, with a compact body of troops, frequently
+ opposed himself to Hannibal, and in several quarters restored the battle, the
+ Roman cavalry protecting him; who, at length, when the consul had not strength
+ enough even to manage his horse, dismounted from their horses. And when some
+ one brought intelligence that the consul had ordered the cavalry to dismount,
+ it is said that Hannibal observed, "How much rather would I that he delivered
+ them to me in chains." The fight maintained by the dismounted cavalry was such
+ as might be expected, when the victory was undoubtedly on the side of the enemy,
+ the vanquished preferring death in their places to flight; and the conquerors,
+ who were enraged at them for delaying the victory, butchering those whom they
+ could not put to flight. They at length, however, drove the few who remained
+ away, worn out with exertion and wounds. After that they were all dispersed,
+ and such as could, sought to regain their horses for flight. Cneius Lentulus,
+ a military tribune, seeing, as he rode by, the consul sitting upon a stone and
+ covered with blood, said to him: "Lucius Aemilius! the only man whom the gods
+ ought to regard as being guiltless of this day's disaster, take this horse,
+ while you have any strength remaining, and I am with you to raise you up and
+ protect you. Make not this battle more calamitous by the death of a consul.
+ There is sufficient matter for tears and grief without this addition." In reply
+ the consul said: "Do thou indeed go on and prosper, Cneius Servilius, in your
+ career of virtue! But beware lest you waste in bootless commiseration the brief
+ opportunity of escaping from the hands of the enemy. Go and tell the fathers
+ publicly, to fortify the city of Rome, and garrison it strongly before the victorious
+ enemy arrive: and tell Quintus Fabius individually, that Lucius Aemilius lived,
+ and now dies, mindful of his injunctions. Allow me to expire amid these heaps
+ of my slaughtered troops, that I may not a second time be accused after my consulate,
+ or stand forth as the accuser of my colleague, in order to defend my own innocence
+ by criminating another." While finishing these words, first a crowd of their
+ flying countrymen, after that the enemy, came upon them; they overwhelm the
+ consul with their weapons, not knowing who he was: in the confusion his horse
+ rescued Lentulus. After that they fly precipitately. Seven thousand escaped
+ to the lesser camp, ten to the greater, about two thousand to the village itself
+ of Cannae who were immediately surrounded by Carthalo and the cavalry, no fortifications
+ protecting the village. The other consul, whether by design or by chance, made
+ good his escape to Venusia with about seventy horse, without mingling with any
+ party of the flying troops. Forty thousand foot, two thousand seven hundred
+ horse, there being an equal number of citizens and allies, are said to have
+ been slain. Among both the quaestors of the consuls, Lucius Atilius and Lucius
+ Furius Bibaculus; twenty-one military tribunes; several who had passed the offices
+ of consul, praetor, and aedile; among these they reckon Cneius Servilius Germinus,
+ and Marcus Minucius, who had been master of the horse on a former year, and
+ consul some years before: moreover eighty, either senators, or who had borne
+ those offices by which they might be elected into the senate, and who had voluntarily
+ enrolled themselves in the legions. Three thousand infantry and three hundred
+ cavalry are said to have been captured in that battle. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">50 </div>
+<a id="d50" />
+<p>Such is the battle of Cannae, equal in celebrity to the defeat at the Allia:
+ but as it was less important in respect to those things which happened after
+ it, because the enemy did not follow up the blow, so was it more important and
+ more horrible with respect to the slaughter of the army; for with respect to
+ the flight at the Allia, as it betrayed the city, so it preserved the army.
+ At Cannae, scarcely seventy accompanied the flying consul: almost the whole
+ army shared the fate of the other who died. The troops collected in the two
+ camps being a half-armed multitude without leaders, those in the larger send
+ a message to the others, that they should come over to them at night, when the
+ enemy was oppressed with sleep, and wearied with the battle, and then, out of
+ joy, overpowered with feasting: that they would go in one body to Canusium.
+ Some entirely disapproved of that advice. "For why," said they, "did not those
+ who sent for them come themselves, since there would be equal facility of forming
+ a junction? Because, evidently, all the intermediate space was crowded with
+ the enemy, and they would rather expose the persons of others to so great a
+ danger than their own." Others did not so much disapprove, as want courage to
+ fulfil the advice. Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, a military tribune, exclaims,
+ "Would you rather, then, be captured by the most rapacious and cruel enemy,
+ and have a price set upon your heads, and have your value ascertained by men
+ who will ask whether you are Roman citizens or Latin confederates, in order
+ that from your miseries and indignities honour may be sought for another? Not
+ you, at least, if you are the fellow-citizens of Lucius Aemilius, the consul
+ who preferred an honourable death to a life of infamy, and of so many brave
+ men who lie heaped around him. But, before the light overtakes us and more numerous
+ bodies of the enemy beset the way, let us break through those disorderly and
+ irregular troops who are making a noise at our gates. By the sword and courage,
+ a road may be made through enemies, however dense. In a wedge we shall make
+ our way through this loose and disjointed band, as if nothing opposed us. Come
+ along with me therefore, ye who wish the safety of yourselves and the state."
+ Having thus said, he draws his sword, and forming a wedge, goes through the
+ midst of the enemy; and as the Numidians discharged their javelins on their
+ right side, which was exposed, they transferred their shields to the right hand,
+ and thus escaped, to the number of six hundred, to the greater camp; and setting
+ out thence forthwith, another large body having joined them, arrived safe at
+ Canusium. These measures were taken by the vanquished, according to the impulse
+ of their tempers, which his own disposition or which accident gave to each,
+ rather than in consequence of any deliberate plan of their own, or in obedience
+ to the command of any one. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">51 </div>
+<a id="d51" />
+<p>When all others, surrounding the victorious Hannibal, congratulated him, and
+ advised that, having completed so great a battle, he should himself take the
+ remainder of the day and the ensuing night for rest, and grant it to his exhausted
+ troops; Maharbal, prefect of the cavalry, who was of opinion that no time should
+ be lost, said to him, "Nay, rather, that you may know what has been achieved
+ by this battle, five days hence you shall feast in triumph in the Capitol. Follow
+ me: I will go first with the cavalry, that they may know that I am arrived before
+ they know of me as approaching." To Hannibal this project appeared too full
+ of joy, and too great for his mind to embrace it and determine upon it at the
+ instant. Accordingly, he replied to Maharbal, that "he applauded his zeal, but
+ that time was necessary to ponder the proposal." Upon this Maharbal observed,
+ "Of a truth the gods have not bestowed all things upon the same person. You
+ know how to conquer, Hannibal; but you do not know how to make use of your victory."
+ That day's delay is firmly believed to have been the preservation of the city
+ and the empire. On the following day, as soon as it dawned, they set about gathering
+ the spoils and viewing the carnage, which was shocking, even to enemies. So
+ many thousands of Romans were lying, foot and horse promiscuously, according
+ as accident had brought them together, either in the battle or in the flight.
+ Some, whom their wounds, pinched by the morning cold, had roused, as they were
+ rising up, covered with blood, from the midst of the heaps of slain, were overpowered
+ by the enemy. Some too they found lying alive with their thighs and hams cut
+ who, laying bare their necks and throats, bid them drain the blood that remained
+ in them. Some were found with their heads plunged into the earth, which they
+ had excavated; having thus, as it appeared, made pits for themselves, and having
+ suffocated themselves by overwhelming their faces with the earth which they
+ threw over them. A living Numidian, with lacerated nose and ears, stretched
+ beneath a lifeless Roman who lay upon him, principally attracted the attention
+ of all; for when his hands were powerless to grasp his weapon, turning from
+ rage to madness, he had died in the act of tearing his antagonist with his teeth.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">52 </div>
+<a id="d52" />
+<p>The spoils having been gathered for a great part of the day, Hannibal leads
+ his troops to storm the lesser camp, and, first of all, interposing a trench,
+ cuts it off from the river. But as the men were fatigued with toil, watching,
+ and wounds, a surrender was made sooner than he expected. Having agreed to deliver
+ up their arms and horses, on condition that the ransom of every Roman should
+ be three hundred denarii, for an ally two hundred, for a slave one hundred,
+ and that on payment of that ransom they should be allowed to depart with single
+ garments, they received the enemy into the camp, and were all delivered into
+ custody, the citizens and allies being kept separate. While the time is being
+ spent there, all who had strength or spirit enough, to the number of four thousand
+ foot and two hundred horse, quitted the greater camp and arrived at Canusium;
+ some in a body, others widely dispersed through the country, which was no less
+ secure a course: the camp itself was surrendered to the enemy by the wounded
+ and timid troops, on the same terms as the other was. A very great booty was
+ obtained; and with the exception of the men and horses, and what silver there
+ was which was for the most part on the trappings of the horses; for they had
+ but very little in use for eating from, particularly in campaign; all the rest
+ of the booty was given up to be plundered. Then he ordered the bodies of his
+ own troops to be collected for burial. They are said to have been as many as
+ eight thousand of his bravest men. Some authors relate, that the Roman consul
+ also was carefully searched for and buried. Those who escaped to Canusium, being
+ received by the people of that place within their walls and houses only, were
+ assisted with corn, clothes, and provisions for their journey, by an Apulian
+ lady, named Busa, distinguished for her family and riches; in return for which
+ munificence, the senate afterwards, when the war was concluded, conferred honours
+ upon her. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">53 </div>
+<a id="d53" />
+<p>But, though there were four military tribunes there, Fabius Maximus of the
+ first legion, whose father had been dictator the former year; and of the second
+ legion, Lucius Publicius Bibulus and Publius Cornelius Scipio; and of the third
+ legion, Appius Claudius Pulcher, who had been aedile the last year; by the consent
+ of all, the supreme command was vested in Publius Scipio, then a very young
+ man, and Appius Claudius. To these, while deliberating with a few others on
+ the crisis of their affairs, Publius Furius Philus, the son of a man of consular
+ dignity, brings intelligence, "That it was in vain that they cherished hopes
+ which could never be realized: that the state was despaired of, and lamented
+ as lost. That certain noble youths, the chief of whom was Lucius Caecilius Metellus,
+ turned their attention to the sea and ships, in order that, abandoning Italy,
+ they might escape to some king." When this calamity, which was not only dreadful
+ in itself, but new, and in addition to the numerous disasters they had sustained,
+ had struck them motionless with astonishment and stupor; and while those who
+ were present gave it as their opinion that a council should be called to deliberate
+ upon it, young Scipio, the destined general of this war, asserts, "That it is
+ not a proper subject for deliberation: that courage and action, and not deliberation,
+ were necessary in so great a calamity. That those who wished the safety of the
+ state would attend him forthwith in arms; that in no place was the camp of the
+ enemy more truly, than where such designs were meditated." He immediately proceeds,
+ attended by a few, to the lodging of Metellus; and finding there the council
+ of youths of which he had been apprized, he drew his sword over the heads of
+ them, deliberating, and said, "With sincerity of soul I swear that neither will
+ I myself desert the cause of the Roman republic, nor will I suffer any other
+ citizen of Rome to desert it. If knowingly I violate my oath, then, O Jupiter,
+ supremely great and good, mayest thou visit my house, my family, and my fortune
+ with perdition the most horrible! I require you, Lucius Caecilius, and the rest
+ of you who are present, to take this oath; and let the man who shall not take
+ it be assured, that this sword is drawn against him." Terrified, as though they
+ were beholding the victorious Hannibal, they all take the oath, and deliver
+ themselves to Scipio to be kept in custody. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">54 </div>
+<a id="d54" />
+<p>During the time in which these things were going on at Canusium, as many as
+ four thousand foot and horse, who had been dispersed through the country in
+ the flight, came to Venusia, to the consul. These the Venusini distributed throughout
+ their families, to be kindly entertained and taken care of; and also gave to
+ each horseman a gown, a tunic, and twenty-five denarii; and to each foot soldier
+ ten denarii, and such arms as they wanted; and every other kind of hospitality
+ showed them, both publicly and privately: emulously striving that the people
+ of Venusia might not be surpassed by a woman of Canusium in kind offices. But
+ the great number of her guests rendered the burden more oppressive to Busa,
+ for they amounted now to ten thousand men. Appius and Scipio, having heard that
+ the other consul was safe, immediately send a messenger to inquire how great
+ a force of infantry and cavalry he had with him, and at the same time to ask,
+ whether it was his pleasure that the army should be brought to Venusia, or remain
+ at Canusium. Varro himself led over his forces to Canusium. And now there was
+ some appearance of a consular army, and they seemed able to defend themselves
+ from the enemy by walls, if not by arms. At Rome intelligence had been received,
+ that not even these relics of their citizens and allies had survived, but that
+ the two consuls, with their armies, were cut to pieces, and all their forces
+ annihilated. Never when the city was in safety was there so great a panic and
+ confusion within the walls of Rome. I shall therefore shrink from the task,
+ and not attempt to relate what in describing I must make less than the reality.
+ The consul and his army having been lost at the Trasimenus the year before,
+ it was not one wound upon another which was announced, but a multiplied disaster,
+ the loss of two consular armies, together with the two consuls: and that now
+ there was neither any Roman camp, nor general nor soldiery: that Apulia and
+ Samnium, and now almost the whole of Italy, were in the possession of Hannibal.
+ No other nation surely would not have been overwhelmed by such an accumulation
+ of misfortune. Shall I compare with it the disaster of the Carthaginians, sustained
+ in a naval battle at the islands Aegates, dispirited by which they gave up Sicily
+ and Sardinia, and thenceforth submitted to become tributary and stipendiary?
+ Or shall I compare with it the defeat in Africa under which this same Hannibal
+ afterwards sunk? In no respect are they comparable, except that they were endured
+ with less fortitude. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">55 </div>
+<a id="d55" />
+<p>Publius Furius Philus and Manius Pomponius, the praetors, assembled the senate
+ in the curia hostilia, that they might deliberate about the guarding of the
+ city; for they doubted not but that the enemy, now their armies were annihilated,
+ would come to assault Rome, the only operation of the war which remained. Unable
+ to form any plan in misfortunes, not only very great, but unknown and undefined,
+ and while the loud lamentations of the women were resounding, and nothing was
+ as yet made known, the living and the dead alike being lamented in almost every
+ house; such being the state of things, Quintus Fabius gave it as his opinion,
+ "That light horsemen should be sent out on the Latin and Appian ways, who, questioning
+ those they met, as some would certainly be dispersed in all directions from
+ the flight, might bring back word what was the fate of the consuls and their
+ armies; and if the gods, pitying the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman
+ name where these forces were; whither Hannibal had repaired after the battle,
+ what he was meditating; what he was doing, or about to do. That these points
+ should be searched out and ascertained by active youths. That it should be the
+ business of the fathers, since there was a deficiency of magistrates, to do
+ away with the tumult and trepidation in the city; to keep the women from coming
+ into public, and compel each to abide within her own threshold; to put a stop
+ to the lamentations of families; to obtain silence in the city; to take care
+ that the bearers of every kind of intelligence should be brought before the
+ praetors; that each person should await at home the bearer of tidings respecting
+ his own fortune: moreover, that they should post guards at the gates, to prevent
+ any person from quitting the city; and oblige men to place their sole hopes
+ of safety in the preservation of the walls and the city. That when the tumult
+ had subsided the fathers should be called again to the senate-house, and deliberate
+ on the defence of the city." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">56 </div>
+<a id="d56" />
+<p>When all had signified their approbation of this opinion, and after the crowd
+ had been removed by the magistrates from the forum, and the senators had proceeded
+ in different directions to allay the tumult; then at length a letter is brought
+ from the consul Terentius, stating, "That Lucius Aemilius, the consul, and his
+ army were slain; that he himself was at Canusium, collecting, as it were after
+ a shipwreck, the remains of this great disaster; that he had nearly ten thousand
+ irregular and unorganized troops. That the Carthaginian was sitting still at
+ Cannae, bargaining about the price of the captives and the other booty, neither
+ with the spirit of a conqueror nor in the style of a great general." Then also
+ the losses of private families were made known throughout the several houses;
+ and so completely was the whole city filled with grief, that the anniversary
+ sacred rite of Ceres was intermitted, because it was neither allowable to perform
+ it while in mourning, nor was there at that juncture a single matron who was
+ not in mourning. Accordingly, lest the same cause should occasion the neglect
+ of other public and private sacred rites, the mourning was limited to thirty
+ days, by a decree of the senate. Now when the tumult in the city was allayed,
+ an additional letter was brought from Sicily, from Titus Otacilius, the propraetor,
+ stating, "that the kingdom of Hiero was being devastated by the Carthaginian
+ fleet: and that, being desirous of affording him the assistance he implored,
+ he received intelligence that another Carthaginian fleet was stationed at the
+ Aegates, equipped and prepared; in order that when the Carthaginians had perceived
+ that he was gone away to protect the coast of Syracuse, they might immediately
+ attack Lilybaeum and other parts of the Roman province; that he therefore needed
+ a fleet, if they wished him to protect the king their ally, and Sicily." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">57 </div>
+<a id="d57" />
+<p>The letters of the consul and the propraetor having been read, they resolved
+ that Marcus Claudius, who commanded the fleet stationed at Ostia, should be
+ sent to the army to Canusium; and a letter be written to the consul, to the
+ effect that, having delivered the army to the praetor, he should return to Rome
+ the first moment he could, consistently with the interest of the republic. They
+ were terrified also, in addition to these disasters, both with other prodigies,
+ and also because two vestal virgins, Opimia and Floronia, were that year convicted
+ of incontinence; one of whom was, according to custom, buried alive at the Colline
+ gate; the other destroyed herself. Lucius Cantilius, secretary of the pontiff,
+ whom they now call the lesser pontiffs, who had debauched Floronia, was beaten
+ by rods in the comitium, by order of the chief pontiff, so that he expired under
+ the stripes. This impiety being converted into a prodigy, as is usually the
+ case when happening in the midst of so many calamities, the decemviri were desired
+ to consult the sacred books. Quintus Fabius Pictor was also sent to Delphi,
+ to inquire of the oracle by what prayers and offerings they might appease the
+ gods, and what termination there would be to such great distresses. Meanwhile
+ certain extraordinary sacrifices were performed, according to the directions
+ of the books of the fates; among which a Gallic man and woman, and a Greek man
+ and woman, were let down alive in the cattle market, into a place fenced round
+ with stone, which had been already polluted with human victims, a rite by no
+ means Roman. The gods being, as they supposed, sufficiently appeased, Marcus
+ Claudius Marcellus sends from Ostia to Rome, as a garrison for the city, one
+ thousand five hundred soldiers, which he had with him, levied for the fleet.
+ He himself sending before him a marine legion, (it was the third legion,) under
+ the command of the military tribunes, to Teanum Sidicinum, and delivering the
+ fleet to Publius Furius Philus, his colleague, after a few days, proceeded by
+ long marches to Cannsium. Marcus Junius, created dictator on the authority of
+ the senate, and Titus Sempronius, master of the horse, proclaiming a levy, enrol
+ the younger men from the age of seventeen, and some who wore the toga praetexta:
+ of these, four legions and a thousand horse were formed. They send also to the
+ allies and the Latin confederacy, to receive the soldiers according to the terms
+ of the treaty. They order that arms, weapons, and other things should be prepared;
+ and they take down from the temples and porticoes the old spoils taken from
+ the enemy. They adopted also another and a new form of levy, from the scarcity
+ of free persons, and from necessity: they armed eight thousand stout youths
+ from the slaves, purchased at the public expense, first inquiring of each whether
+ he was willing to serve. They preferred this description of troops, though they
+ had the power of redeeming the captives at a less expense. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">58 </div>
+<a id="d58" />
+<p>For Hannibal, after so great a victory at Cannae, being occupied with the cares
+ of a conqueror, rather than one who had a war to prosecute, the captives having
+ been brought forward and separated, addressed the allies in terms of kindness,
+ as he had done before at the Trebia and the lake Trasimenus, and dismissed them
+ without a ransom; then he addressed the Romans too, who were called to him,
+ in very gentle terms: "That he was not carrying on a war of extermination with
+ the Romans, but was contending for honour and empire. That his ancestors had
+ yielded to the Roman valour; and that he was endeavouring that others might
+ be obliged to yield, in their turn, to his good fortune and valour together.
+ Accordingly, he allowed the captives the liberty of ransoming themselves, and
+ that the price per head should be five hundred denarii for a horseman, three
+ hundred for a foot soldier, and one hundred for a slave." Although some addition
+ was made to that sum for the cavalry, which they stipulated for themselves when
+ they surrendered, yet they joyfully accepted any terms of entering into the
+ compact. They determined that ten persons should be selected, by their own votes,
+ who might go to Rome to the senate; nor was any other guarantee of their fidelity
+ taken than that they should swear that they would return. With these was sent
+ Carthalo, a noble Carthaginian, who might propose terms, if perchance their
+ minds were inclined towards peace. When they had gone out of the camp, one of
+ their body, a man who had very little of the Roman character, under pretence
+ of having forgotten something, returned to the camp, for the purpose of freeing
+ himself from the obligation of his oath, and overtook his companions before
+ night. When it was announced that they had arrived at Rome, a lictor was despatched
+ to meet Carthalo, to tell him, in the words of the dictator, to depart from
+ the Roman territories before night. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">59 </div>
+<a id="d59" />
+<p>An audience of the senate was granted by the dictator to the delegates of the
+ prisoners. The chief of them, Marcus Junius, thus spoke: "There is not one of
+ us, conscript fathers, who is not aware that there never was a nation which
+ held prisoners in greater contempt than our own. But unless our own cause is
+ dearer to us than it should be, never did men fall into the hands of the enemy
+ who less deserved to be disregarded than we do; for we did not surrender our
+ arms in the battle through fear; but having prolonged the battle almost till
+ night-fall, while standing upon heaps of our slaughtered countrymen, we betook
+ ourselves to our camp. For the remainder of the day and during the following
+ night, although exhausted with exertion and wounds, we protected our rampart.
+ On the following day, when, beset by the enemy, we were deprived of water, and
+ there was no hope of breaking through the dense bands of the enemy; and, moreover,
+ not considering it an impiety that any Roman soldier should survive the battle
+ of Cannae, after fifty thousand of our army had been butchered; then at length
+ we agreed upon terms on which we might be ransomed and let off; and our arms,
+ in which there was no longer any protection, we delivered to the enemy. We had
+ been informed that our ancestors also had redeemed themselves from the Gauls
+ with gold, and that though so rigid as to the terms of peace, had sent ambassadors
+ to Tarentum for the purpose of ransoming the captives. And yet both the fight
+ at the Allia with the Gauls, and at Heraclea with Pyrrhus, was disgraceful,
+ not so much on account of the loss as the panic and flight. Heaps of Roman carcasses
+ cover the plains of Cannae; nor would any of us have survived the battle, had
+ not the enemy wanted the strength and the sword to slay us. There are, too,
+ some of us, who did not even retreat in the field; but being left to guard the
+ camp, came into the hands of the enemy when it was surrendered. For my part,
+ I envy not the good fortune or condition of any citizen or fellow-soldier, nor
+ would I endeavour to raise myself by depressing another: but not even those
+ men who, for the most part, leaving their arms, fled from the field, and stopped
+ not till they arrived at Venusia or Canusium; not even those men, unless some
+ reward is due to them on account of their swiftness of foot and running, would
+ justly set themselves before us, or boast that there is more protection to the
+ state in them than in us. But you will both find them to be good and brave soldiers,
+ and us still more zealous, because, by your kindness, we have been ransomed
+ and restored to our country. You are levying from every age and condition: I
+ hear that eight thousand slaves are being armed. We are no fewer in number;
+ nor will the expense of redeeming us be greater than that of purchasing these.
+ Should I compare ourselves with them, I should injure the name of Roman. I should
+ think also, conscript fathers, that in deliberating on such a measure, it ought
+ also to be considered, (if you are disposed to be over severe, which you cannot
+ do from any demerit of ours,) to what sort of enemy you would abandon us. Is
+ it to Pyrrhus, for instance, who treated us, when his prisoners, like guests;
+ or to a barbarian and Carthaginian, of whom it is difficult to determine whether
+ his rapacity or cruelty be the greater? If you were to see the chains, the squalid
+ appearance, the loathsomeness of your countrymen, that spectacle would not,
+ I am confident, less affect you, than if, on the other hand, you beheld your
+ legions prostrate on the plains of Cannae. You may behold the solicitude and
+ the tears of our kinsmen, as they stand in the lobby of your senate-house, and
+ await your answer. When they are in so much suspense and anxiety in behalf of
+ us, and those who are absent, what think you must be our own feelings, whose
+ lives and liberty are at stake? By Hercules! should Hannibal himself, contrary
+ to his nature, be disposed to be lenient towards us, yet we should not consider
+ our lives worth possessing, since we have seemed unworthy of being ransomed
+ by you. Formerly, prisoners dismissed by Pyrrhus, without ransom, returned to
+ Rome; but they returned in company with ambassadors, the chief men of the state,
+ who were sent to ransom them. Would I return to my country, a citizen, and not
+ considered worth three hundred denarii? Every man has his own way of thinking,
+ conscript fathers. I know that my life and person are at stake. But the danger
+ which threatens my reputation affects me most, if we should go away rejected
+ and condemned by you; for men will never suppose that you grudged the price
+ of our redemption." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">60 </div>
+<a id="d60" />
+<p>When he had finished his address, the crowd of persons in the comitium immediately
+ set up a loud lamentation, and stretched out their hands to the senate, imploring
+ them to restore to them their children, their brothers, and their kinsmen. Their
+ fears and affection for their kindred had brought the women also with the crowd
+ of men in the forum. Witnesses being excluded, the matter began to be discussed
+ in the senate. There being a difference of opinion, and some advising that they
+ should be ransomed at the public charge, others, that the state should be put
+ to no expense, but that they should not be prevented redeeming themselves at
+ their own cost; and that those who had not the money at present should receive
+ a loan from the public coffer, and security given to the people by their sureties
+ and properties; Titus Manlius Torquatus, a man of primitive, and, as some considered,
+ over-rigorous severity, being asked his opinion, is reported thus to have spoken:
+ "Had the deputies confined themselves to making a request, in behalf of those
+ who are in the hands of the enemy, that they might be ransomed, I should have
+ briefly given my opinion, without inveighing against any one. For what else
+ would have been necessary but to admonish you, that you ought to adhere to the
+ custom handed down from your ancestors, a precedent indispensable to military
+ discipline. But now, since they have almost boasted of having surrendered themselves
+ to the enemy, and have claimed to be preferred, not only to those who were captured
+ by the enemy in the field, but to those also who came to Venusia and Canusium,
+ and even to the consul Terentius himself; I will not suffer you to remain in
+ ignorance of things which were done there. And I could wish that what I am about
+ to bring before you, were stated at Canusium, before the army itself, the best
+ witness of every man's cowardice or valour; or at least that one person, Publius
+ Sempronius, were here, whom had they followed as their leader, they would this
+ day have been soldiers in the Roman camp, and not prisoners in the power of
+ the enemy. But though the enemy was fatigued with fighting, and engaged in rejoicing
+ for their victory, and had, the greater part of them, retired into their camp,
+ and they had the night at their disposal for making a sally, and as they were
+ seven thousand armed troops, might have forced their way through the troops
+ of the enemy, however closely arrayed; yet they neither of themselves attempted
+ to do this, nor were willing to follow another. Throughout nearly the whole
+ night Sempronius ceased not to admonish and exhort them, while but few of the
+ enemy were about the camp, while there was stillness and quiet, while the night
+ would conceal their design, that they would follow him; that before daybreak
+ they might reach places of security, the cities of their allies. If as Publius
+ Decius, the military tribune in Samnium, said, within the memory of our grandfathers;
+ if he had said, as Calpurnius Flamma, in the first Punic war, when we were youths,
+ said to the three hundred volunteers, when he was leading them to seize upon
+ an eminence situated in the midst of the enemy: LET US DIE, SOLDIERS, AND BY
+ OUR DEATHS RESCUE THE SURROUNDED LEGIONS FROM AMBUSCADE;--if Publius Sempronius
+ had said thus, he would neither have considered you as Romans nor men, had no
+ one stood forward as his companion in so valorous an attempt. He points out
+ to you the road that leads not to glory more than to safety; he restores you
+ to your country, your parents, your wives and children. Do you want courage
+ to effect your preservation? What would you do if you had to die for your country?
+ Fifty thousand of your countrymen and allies on that very day lay around you
+ slain. If so many examples of courage did not move you, nothing ever will. If
+ so great a carnage did not make life less dear, none ever will. While in freedom
+ and safety, show your affection for your country; nay, rather do so while it
+ is your country, and you its citizens. Too late you now endeavour to evince
+ your regard for her when degraded, disfranchised from the rights of citizens,
+ and become the slaves of the Carthaginians. Shall you return by purchase to
+ that degree which you have forfeited by cowardice and neglect? You did not listen
+ to Sempronius, your countryman, when he bid you take arms and follow him; but
+ a little after you listened to Hannibal, when he ordered your arms to be surrendered,
+ and your camp betrayed. But why do I charge those men with cowardice, when I
+ might tax them with villany? They not only refused to follow him who gave them
+ good advice, but endeavoured to oppose and hold him back, had not some men of
+ the greatest bravery, drawing their swords, removed the cowards. Publius Sempronius,
+ I say, was obliged to force his way through a band of his countrymen, before
+ he burst through the enemy's troops. Can our country regret such citizens as
+ these, whom if all the rest resembled, she would not have one citizen of all
+ those who fought at Cannae? Out of seven thousand armed men, there were six
+ hundred who had courage to force their way, who returned to their country free,
+ and in arms; nor did forty thousand of the enemy successfully oppose them. How
+ safe, think you, would a passage have been for nearly two legions? Then you
+ would have had this day at Canusium, conscript fathers, twenty thousand bold
+ and faithful. But now how can these men be called faithful and good citizens,
+ (for they do not even call themselves brave,) except any man suppose that they
+ showed themselves such when they opposed those who were desirous of forcing
+ their way through the enemy? or, unless any man can suppose, that they do not
+ envy those men their safety and glory acquired by valour, when the must know
+ that their timidity and cowardice were the cause of their ignominious servitude?
+ Skulking in their tents they preferred to wait for the light and the enemy together,
+ when they had an opportunity of sallying forth during the silence of the night.
+ But though they had not courage to sally forth from the camp, had they courage
+ to defend it strenuously? Having endured a siege for several days and nights,
+ did they protect their rampart by their arms, and themselves by their rampart?
+ At length, having dared and suffered every extremity, every support of life
+ being gone, their strength exhausted with famine, and unable to hold their arms,
+ were they subdued by the necessities of nature rather than by arms? At sunrise,
+ the enemy approached the rampart: before the second hour, without hazarding
+ any contest, they delivered up their arms and themselves. Here is their military
+ service for you during two days. When they ought to have stood firm in array
+ and fight on, then they fled back into their camp; when they ought to have fought
+ before their rampart, they delivered up their camp: good for nothing, either
+ in the field or the camp. I redeem you. When you ought to sally from the camp,
+ you linger and hesitate; and when you ought to stay and protect your camp in
+ arms, you surrender the camp, your arms, and yourselves to the enemy. I am of
+ opinion, conscript fathers, that these men should no more be ransomed, than
+ that those should be surrendered to Hannibal, who sallied from the camp through
+ the midst of the enemy, and, with the most distinguished courage, restored themselves
+ to their country." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">61 </div>
+<a id="d61" />
+<p>After Manlius had thus spoken, notwithstanding the captives were related to
+ many even of the senators, besides the practice of the state, which had never
+ shown favour to captives, even from the remotest times, the sum of money also
+ influenced them: for they were neither willing to drain the treasury, a large
+ sum of money having been already issued for buying and arming slaves to serve
+ in the war, nor to enrich Hannibal, who, according to report, was particularly
+ in want of this very thing. The sad reply, that the captives would not be ransomed,
+ being delivered, and fresh grief being added to the former on account of the
+ loss of so many citizens, the people accompanied the deputies to the gate with
+ copious tears and lamentations. One of them went home, because he had evaded
+ his oath by artfully returning to the camp. But when this was known and laid
+ before the senate, they all resolved that he should be apprehended and conveyed
+ to Hannibal by guards, furnished by the state. There is another account respecting
+ the prisoners, that ten came first, and that, the senate hesitating whether
+ they should be admitted into the city or not, they were admitted, on the understanding
+ that they should not have an audience of the senate. That when these staid longer
+ than the expectation of all, three more came, Scribonius, Calpurnius, and Manlius.
+ That then at length a tribune of the people, a relation of Scribonius, laid
+ before the senate the redemption of the captives, and that they resolved that
+ they should not be ransomed. That the three last deputies returned to Hannibal,
+ and the ten former remained, because they had evaded their oath, having returned
+ to Hannibal after having set out, under pretence of learning afresh the names
+ of the captives. That a violent contest took place in the senate, on the question
+ of surrendering them, and that those who thought they ought to be surrendered
+ were beaten by a few votes, but that they were so branded by every kind of stigma
+ and ignominy by the ensuing censors, that some of them immediately put themselves
+ to death, and the rest, for all their life afterwards, not only shunned the
+ forum, but almost the light and publicity. You can more easily wonder that authors
+ differ so much than determine what is the truth. How much greater this disaster
+ was than any preceding, even this is a proof, that such of the allies as had
+ stood firm till that day then began to waver, for no other cause certainly but
+ that they despaired of the empire. The people who revolted to the Carthaginians
+ were these: the Atellani, Calatini, the Hirpini, some of the Apulians, the Samnites,
+ except the Pentrians, all the Bruttians, and the Lucanians. Besides these the
+ Surrentinians, and almost the whole coast possessed by the Greeks, the people
+ of Tarentum, Metapontum, Croton, the Locrians, and all Cisalpine Gaul. Yet not
+ even these losses and defections of their allies so shook the firmness of the
+ Romans, that any mention of peace was made among them, either before the arrival
+ of the consul at Rome, or after he came thither, and renewed the memory of the
+ calamity they had suffered. At which very juncture, such was the magnanimity
+ of the state, that the consul, as he returned after so severe a defeat, of which
+ he himself was the principal cause, was met in crowds of all ranks of citizens,
+ and thanks bestowed because he had not despaired of the republic, in whose case,
+ had he been a Carthaginian commander, no species of punishment would have been
+ spared. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book23">BOOK XXIII.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 216-215</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#e1">1</a> <a href="#e2">2</a> <a href="#e3">3</a>
+ <a href="#e4">4</a> <a href="#e5">5</a> <a href="#e6">6</a> <a href="#e7">7</a>
+ <a href="#e8">8</a> <a href="#e9">9</a> <a href="#e10">10</a> <a href="#e11">11</a>
+ <a href="#e12">12</a> <a href="#e13">13</a> <a href="#e14">14</a> <a href="#e15">15</a>
+ <a href="#e16">16</a> <a href="#e17">17</a> <a href="#e18">18</a> <a href="#e19">19</a>
+ <a href="#e20">20</a> <a href="#e21">21</a> <a href="#e22">22</a> <a href="#e23">23</a>
+ <a href="#e24">24</a> <a href="#e25">25</a> <a href="#e26">26</a> <a href="#e27">27</a>
+ <a href="#e28">28</a> <a href="#e29">29</a> <a href="#e30">30</a> <a href="#e31">31</a>
+ <a href="#e32">32</a> <a href="#e33">33</a> <a href="#e34">34</a> <a href="#e35">35</a>
+ <a href="#e36">36</a> <a href="#e37">37</a> <a href="#e38">38</a> <a href="#e39">39</a>
+ <a href="#e40">40</a> <a href="#e41">41</a> <a href="#e42">42</a> <a href="#e43">43</a>
+ <a href="#e44">44</a> <a href="#e45">45</a> <a href="#e46">46</a> <a href="#e47">47</a>
+ <a href="#e48">48</a> <a href="#e49">49</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>The Campanians revolt to Hannibal. Mago is sent to Carthage
+ to announce the victory of Cannae. Hanno advises the Carthaginian senate to
+ make peace with the Romans, but is overborne by the Barcine faction. Claudius
+ Marcellus the praetor defeats Hannibal at Nola. Hannibal's army is enervated
+ in mind and body by luxurious living at Capua. Casilinum is besieged by the
+ Carthaginians, and the inhabitants reduced to the last extremity of famine.
+ A hundred and ninety-seven senators elected from the equestrian order. Lucius
+ Postumius is, with his army, cut off by the Gauls. Cneius and Publius Scipio
+ defeat Hasdrubal in Spain, and gain possession of that country. The remains
+ of the army, defeated at Cannae, are sent off to Sicily, there to remain until
+ the termination of the war. An alliance is formed between Philip, king of Macedon,
+ and Hannibal. Sempronius Gracchus defeats the Campanians. Successes of Titus
+ Manlius in Sardinia he takes Hasdrubal the general, Mago, and Hanno prisoners.
+ Claudius Marcellus again defeats the army of Hannibal at Nola, and the hopes
+ of the Romans are revived as to the results of the war.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="e1" />
+<p>After the battle of Cannae, Hannibal, having captured and plundered the Roman
+ camp, had immediately removed from Apulia into Samnium; invited into the territory
+ of the Hirpini by Statius, who promised that he would surrender Compsa. Tiebius,
+ a native of Compsa, was conspicuous for rank among his countrymen; but a faction
+ of the Mopsii kept him down--a family of great influence through the favour
+ of the Romans. After intelligence of the battle of Cannae, and a report of the
+ approach of Hannibal, circulated by the discourse of Trebius, the Mopsian party
+ had retired from the city; which was thus given up to the Carthaginian without
+ opposition, and a garrison received into it. Leaving there all his booty and
+ baggage, and dividing his forces, he orders Mago to receive under his protection
+ the cities of that district which might revolt from the Romans, and to force
+ to defection those which might be disinclined. He himself, passing through the
+ territory of Campania, made for the lower sea, with the intention of assaulting
+ Naples, in order that he might be master of a maritime city. As soon as he entered
+ the confines of the Neapolitan territory, he placed part of his Numidians in
+ ambush, wherever he could find a convenient spot; for there are very many hollow
+ roads and secret windings: others he ordered to drive before them the booty
+ they had collected from the country, and, exhibiting it to the enemy, to ride
+ up to the gates of the city. As they appeared to be few in number and in disorder,
+ a troop of horse sallied out against them, which was cut off, being drawn into
+ an ambuscade by the others, who purposely retreated: nor would one of them have
+ escaped, had not the sea been near, and some vessels, principally such as are
+ used in fishing, observed at a short distance from the shore, afforded an escape
+ for those who could swim. Several noble youths, however, were captured and slain
+ in that affair. Among whom, Hegeas, the commander of the cavalry, fell when
+ pursuing the retreating enemy too eagerly. The sight of the walls, which were
+ not favourable to a besieging force, deterred the Carthaginian from storming
+ the city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="e2" />
+<p>Thence he turned his course to Capua, which was wantoning under a long course
+ of prosperity, and the indulgence of fortune: amid the general corruption, however,
+ the most conspicuous feature was the extravagance of the commons, who exercised
+ their liberty without limit. Pacuvius Calavius had rendered the senate subservient
+ to himself and the commons, at once a noble and popular man, but who had acquired
+ his influence by dishonourable intrigues. Happening to hold the chief magistracy
+ during the year in which the defeat at the Trasimenus occurred, and thinking
+ that the commons, who had long felt the most violent hostility to the senate,
+ would attempt some desperate measure, should an opportunity for effecting a
+ change present itself; and if Hannibal should come into that quarter with his
+ victorious army, would murder the senators and deliver Capua to the Carthaginians;
+ as he desired to rule in a state preserved rather than subverted (for though
+ depraved he was not utterly abandoned), and as he felt convinced that no state
+ could be preserved if bereaved of its public council, he adopted a plan by which
+ he might preserve the senate and render it subject to himself and the commons.
+ Having assembled the senate, he prefaced his remarks by observing, "that nothing
+ would induce him to acquiesce in a plan of defection from the Romans, were it
+ not absolutely necessary; since he had children by the daughter of Appius Claudius,
+ and had a daughter at Rome married to Livius: but that a much more serious and
+ alarming matter threatened them, than any consequences which could result from
+ such a measure. For that the intention of the commons was not to abolish the
+ senate by revolting to the Carthaginians, but to murder the senators, and deliver
+ the state thus destitute to Hannibal and the Carthaginians. That it was in his
+ power to rescue them from this danger, if they would resign themselves to his
+ care, and, forgetting their political dissensions, confide in him." When, overpowered
+ with fear, they all put themselves under his protection, he proceeded: "I will
+ shut you up in the senate-house, and pretending myself to be an accomplice in
+ the meditated crime, I will, by approving measures which I should in vain oppose,
+ find out a way for your safety. For the performance of this take whatever pledge
+ you please." Having given his honour, he went out; and having ordered the house
+ to be closed, placed a guard in the lobby that no one might enter or leave it
+ without his leave. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="e3" />
+<p>Then assembling the people, he thus addressed them: "What you have so often
+ wished for, Campanians, the power of punishing an unprincipled and detestable
+ senate, you now have, not at your own imminent peril, by riotously storming
+ the houses of each, which are guarded and garrisoned with slaves and dependants,
+ but free and without danger. Take them all, shut up in the senate-house, alone
+ and unarmed; nor need you do any thing precipitately or blindly. I will give
+ you the opportunity of pronouncing upon the life or death of each, that each
+ may suffer the punishment he has deserved. But, above all, it behoves you so
+ to give way to your resentment, as considering that your own safety and advantage
+ are of greater importance. For I apprehend that you hate these particular senators,
+ and not that you are unwilling to have any senate at all; for you must either
+ have a king, which all abominate, or a senate, which is the only course compatible
+ with a free state. Accordingly you must effect two objects at the same time;
+ you must remove the old senate and elect a new one. I will order the senators
+ to be summoned one by one, and I shall put it to you to decide whether they
+ deserve to live or die: whatever you may determine respecting each shall be
+ done; but before you execute your sentence on the culprit, you shall elect some
+ brave and strenuous man as a fresh senator to supply his place." Upon this he
+ took his seat, and, the names having been thrown together into an urn, he ordered
+ that the name which had the lot to fall out first should be proclaimed, and
+ the person brought forward out of the senate-house. When the name was heard,
+ each man strenuously exclaimed that he was a wicked and unprincipled fellow,
+ and deserved to be punished. Pacuvius then said, "I perceive the sentence which
+ has been passed on this man; now choose a good and upright senator in the room
+ of this wicked and unprincipled one." At first all was silence, from the want
+ of a better man whom they might substitute; afterwards, one of them, laying
+ aside his modesty, nominating some one, in an instant a much greater clamour
+ arose; while some denied all knowledge of him, others objected to him at one
+ time on account of flagitious conduct, at another time on account of his humble
+ birth, his sordid circumstances, and the disgraceful nature of his trade and
+ occupation. The same occurred with increased vehemence with respect to the second
+ and third senators, so that it was evident that they were dissatisfied with
+ the senator himself, but had not any one to substitute for him; for it was of
+ no use that the same persons should be nominated again, to no other purpose
+ than to hear of their vices, and the rest were much more mean and obscure than
+ those who first occurred to their recollection. Thus the assembly separated,
+ affirming that every evil which was most known was easiest to be endured, and
+ ordering the senate to be discharged from custody. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="e4" />
+<p>Pacuvius, having thus rendered the senators more subservient to himself than
+ to the commons by the gift of their lives, ruled without the aid of arms, all
+ persons now acquiescing. Henceforward the senators, forgetful of their rank
+ and independence, flattered the commons; saluted them courteously; invited them
+ graciously; entertained them with sumptuous feasts; undertook those causes,
+ always espoused that party, decided as judges in favour of that side, which
+ was most popular, and best adapted to conciliate the favour of the commons.
+ Now, indeed, every thing was transacted in the senate as if it had been an assembly
+ of the people. The Capuans, ever prone to luxurious indulgence not only from
+ natural turpitude, but from the profusion of the means of voluptuous enjoyment
+ which flowed in upon them, and the temptations of all the luxuries of land and
+ sea; at that time especially proceeded to such a pitch of extravagance in consequence
+ of the obsequiousness of the nobles and the unrestrained liberty of the commons,
+ that their lust and prodigality had no bounds. To a disregard for the laws,
+ the magistrates, and the senate, now, after the disaster of Cannae, was added
+ a contempt for the Roman government also, for which there had been some degree
+ of respect. The only obstacles to immediate revolt were the intermarriages which,
+ from a remote period, had connected many of their distinguished and influential
+ families with the Romans; and, which formed the strongest bond of union, that
+ while several of their countrymen were serving in the Roman armies, particularly
+ three hundred horsemen, the flower of the Campanian nobility, had been selected
+ and sent by the Romans to garrison the cities of Sicily. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="e5" />
+<p>The parents and relations of these men with difficulty obtained that ambassadors
+ should be sent to the Roman consul. The consul, who had not yet set out for
+ Canusium, they found at Venusia with a few half-armed troops, an object of entire
+ commiseration to faithful, but of contempt to proud and perfidious allies, like
+ the Campanians. The consul too increased their contempt of himself and his cause,
+ by too much exposing and exhibiting the disastrous state of his affairs; for
+ when the ambassadors had delivered their message, which was, that the senate
+ and people of Capua were distressed that any adverse event should have befallen
+ the Romans, and were promising every assistance in prosecuting the war, he observed,
+ "In bidding us order you to furnish us with all things which are necessary for
+ the war, Campanians, you have rather observed the customary mode of addressing
+ allies, than spoken suitably to the present posture of our affairs; for hath
+ anything been left us at Cannae, so that, as if we possessed that, we can desire
+ what is wanting to be supplied by our allies? Can we order a supply of infantry,
+ as if we had any cavalry? Can we say we are deficient in money, as if that were
+ the only thing we wanted? Fortune has not even left us anything which we can
+ add to. Our legions, cavalry, arms, standards, horses, men, money, provisions,
+ all perished either in the battle, or in the two camps which were lost the following
+ day. You must, therefore, Campanians, not assist us in the war, but almost take
+ it upon yourselves in our stead. Call to mind how formerly at Saticula we received
+ into our protection and defended your ancestors, when dismayed and driven within
+ their walls; terrified not only by their Samnite but Sidicinian enemies; and
+ how we carried on, with varying success, through a period of almost a century,
+ a war with the Samnites, commenced on your account. Add to this, that when you
+ gave yourselves up to us we granted you an alliance on equal terms, that we
+ allowed you your own laws, and lastly, what before the disaster at Cannae was
+ surely a privilege of the highest value, we bestowed the freedom of our city
+ on a large portion of you, and held it in common with you. It is your duty,
+ therefore, Campanians, to look upon this disaster which has been suffered as
+ your own, and to consider that our common country must be protected. It is not
+ a Samnite or Tuscan foe we are engaged with, so that the empire taken from us
+ might still continue in Italy. A Carthaginian enemy draws after him from the
+ remotest regions of the world, from the straits of the ocean and the pillars
+ of Hercules, a body of soldiers who are not even natives of Africa, destitute
+ of all laws, and of the condition and almost of the language of men. Savage
+ and ferocious from nature and habit, their general has rendered them still more
+ so, by forming bridges and works with heaps of human bodies; and, what the tongue
+ can scarcely utter, by teaching them to live on human flesh. What man, provided
+ he were born in any part of Italy, would not abominate the idea of seeing and
+ having for his masters these men, nourished with such horrid food, whom even
+ to touch were an impiety; of fetching laws from Africa and Carthage; and of
+ suffering Italy to become a province of the Moors and Numidians? It will be
+ highly honourable, Campanians, that the Roman empire, sinking under this disastrous
+ defeat, should be sustained and restored by your fidelity and your strength.
+ I conceive that thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse may be raised in
+ Campania. You have already abundance of money and corn. If your zeal corresponds
+ with your means, neither will Hannibal feel that he has been victorious, nor
+ the Romans that they have been defeated." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="e6" />
+<p>After the consul had thus spoken, the ambassadors were dismissed; and as they
+ were returning home, one of them, named Vibius Virius, observed, "that the time
+ had arrived at which the Campanians might not only recover the territory once
+ injuriously taken away by the Romans, but also possess themselves of the sovereignty
+ of Italy. For they might form a treaty with Hannibal on whatever terms they
+ pleased; and there could be no question but that after Hannibal, having put
+ an end to the war, had himself retired victorious into Africa, and had withdrawn
+ his troops, the sovereignty of Italy would be left to the Campanians." All assenting
+ to Vibius, as he said this, they framed their report of the embassy so that
+ all might conclude that the Roman power was annihilated. Immediately the commons
+ and the major part of the senate turned their attention to revolt. The measure,
+ however, was postponed for a few days at the instigation of the elder citizens.
+ At last, the opinion of the majority prevailed, that the same ambassadors who
+ had gone to the Roman consul should be sent to Hannibal. I find in certain annals,
+ that before this embassy proceeded, and before they had determined on the measure
+ of revolting, ambassadors were sent by the Campanians to Rome, requiring that
+ one of the consuls should be elected from Campania if they wished assistance
+ to the Roman cause. That from the indignation which arose, they were ordered
+ to be removed from the senate-house, and a lictor despatched to conduct them
+ out of the city and command them to lodge that day without the Roman frontier.
+ But as this request is too much like that which the Latins formerly made, and
+ as Coelius and other writers had, not without reason, made no mention of it,
+ I have not ventured to vouch for its truth. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="e7" />
+<p>The ambassadors came to Hannibal and concluded a treaty of peace with him on
+ the terms, "That no Carthaginian commander should have any authority over a
+ Campanian citizen, nor any Campanian serve in war or perform any office against
+ his will: that Capua should have her own laws and her own magistrates: that
+ the Carthaginian should give to the Campanians three hundred captives selected
+ by themselves, who might be exchanged for the Campanian horse who were serving
+ in Sicily." Such were the stipulations: but in addition to them, the Campanians
+ perpetrated the following atrocities; for the commons ordered that the prefects
+ of the allies and other citizens of Rome should be suddenly seized, while some
+ of them were occupied with military duties, others engaged in private business,
+ and be shut up in the baths, as if for the purpose of keeping them in custody,
+ where, suffocated with heat and vapour, they might expire in a horrid manner.
+ Decius Magius, a man who wanted nothing to complete his influence except a sound
+ mind on the part of his countrymen, had resisted to the uttermost the execution
+ of these measures, and the sending of the embassy to Hannibal, and when he heard
+ that a body of troops was sent by Hannibal, bringing back to their recollection,
+ as examples, the haughty tyranny of Pyrrhus and the miserable slavery of the
+ Tarentines, he at first openly and loudly protested that the troops should not
+ be admitted, then he urged either that they should expel them when received,
+ or, if they had a mind to expiate, by a bold and memorable act, the foul crime
+ they had committed in revolting from their most ancient and intimate allies,
+ that leaving slain the Carthaginian troops they should give themselves back
+ to the Romans. These proceedings, having been reported to Hannibal, for they
+ were not carried on in secret, he at first sent persons to summon Magius into
+ his presence at his camp, then, on his vehemently refusing to come, on the ground
+ that Hannibal had no authority over a Campanian, the Carthaginian, excited with
+ rage, ordered that the man should be seized and dragged to him in chains, but
+ afterwards, fearing lest while force was employed some disturbance might take
+ place, or lest, from excitement of feeling, some undesigned collision might
+ occur, he set out himself from the camp with a small body of troops, having
+ sent a message before him to Marius Blosius, the praetor of Campania, to the
+ effect, that he would be at Capua the next day. Marius calling an assembly,
+ issued an order that they should go out and meet Hannibal in a body, accompanied
+ by their wives and children. This was done by all, not only with obedience,
+ but with zeal, with the full agreement of the common people, and with eagerness
+ to see a general rendered illustrious by so many victories. Decius Magius neither
+ went out to meet him, nor kept himself in private, by which course he might
+ seem to indicate fear from a consciousness of demerit, he promenaded in the
+ forum with perfect composure, attended by his son and a few dependants, while
+ all the citizens were in a bustle to go to see and receive the Carthaginian.
+ Hannibal, on entering the city, immediately demanded an audience of the senate;
+ when the chief men of the Campanians, beseeching him not to transact any serious
+ business on that day, but that he would cheerfully and willingly celebrate a
+ day devoted to festivity in consequence of his own arrival, though naturally
+ extremely prone to anger, yet, that he might not deny them any thing at first,
+ he spent a great part of the day in inspecting the city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="e8" />
+<p>He lodged at the house of the Ninii Celeres, Stenius and Pacuvius, men distinguished
+ by their noble descent and their wealth. Thither Pacuvius Calavius, of whom
+ mention has already been made, who was the head of the party which had drawn
+ over the state to the Carthaginian cause, brought his son, a young man, whom
+ he had forced from the side of Decius Magius, in conjunction with whom he had
+ made a most determined stand for the Roman alliance in opposition to the league
+ with the Carthaginians; nor had the leaning of the state to the other side,
+ or his father's authority, altered his sentiments. For this youth his father
+ procured pardon from Hannibal, more by prayers than by clearing him. Hannibal,
+ overcome by the entreaties and tears of his father, even gave orders that he
+ should be invited with his father to the banquet; to which entertainment he
+ intended to admit no Campanian besides his hosts, and Jubellius Taurea, a man
+ distinguished in war. They began to feast early in the day, and the entertainment
+ was not conformable to the Carthaginian custom, or to military discipline, but
+ as might be expected in a city and in a house both remarkable for luxury, was
+ furnished with all the allurements of voluptuousness. Perolla, the son of Calavius,
+ was the only person who could not be won either by the solicitations of the
+ masters of the house, or those which Hannibal sometimes employed. The youth
+ himself pleaded ill health as an apology, while his father urged as an excuse
+ the disturbed state of his mind, which was not surprising. About sunset, Calavius,
+ who had gone out from the banquet, was followed by his son; and when they had
+ arrived at a retired place, (it was a garden at the back part of the house,)
+ he said, "I have a plan to propose to you, my father, by which we shall not
+ only obtain pardon from the Romans for our crime, in that we revolted from them
+ to the Carthaginian, but shall be held in much higher esteem, than we Campanians
+ ever have been." When the father inquired with surprise what that plan could
+ be, he threw back his gown off his shoulder and exposed to view his side, which
+ was girt with a sword. "Forthwith will I ratify the alliance with Rome with
+ the blood of Hannibal. I was desirous that you should be informed of it first,
+ in case you might prefer to be absent while the deed is performing." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="e9" />
+<p>On hearing and seeing which the old man, as though he were actually present
+ at the transactions which were being named to him, wild with fear, exclaimed,
+ "I implore, I beseech you, my son, by all the ties which unite children to parents,
+ that you will not resolve to commit and to suffer every thing that is horrible
+ before the eyes of a father. Did we but a few hours ago, swearing by every deity,
+ and joining right hands, pledge our fidelity to Hannibal, that immediately on
+ separating from the conference we should arm against him the hands which were
+ employed as the sacred pledges of our faith? Do you rise from the hospitable
+ board to which as one of three of the Campanians you have been admitted by Hannibal,
+ that you may ensanguine that very board with the blood of your host. Could I
+ conciliate Hannibal to my son, and not my son to Hannibal? But let nothing be
+ held sacred by you, neither our pledges, nor the sense of religion, nor filial
+ duty; let the most horrid deeds be dared, if with guilt they bring not ruin
+ upon us. Will you singly attack Hannibal? What will that numerous throng of
+ freemen and slaves be doing? What the eyes of all intent on him alone? What
+ those so many right hands? Will they be torpid amidst your madness? Will you
+ be able to bear the look of Hannibal himself, which armed hosts cannot sustain,
+ from which the Roman people shrink with horror? And though other assistance
+ be wanting, will you have the hardihood to strike me when I oppose my body in
+ defence of Hannibal's? But know that through my breast you must strike and transfix
+ him. Suffer yourself to be deterred from your attempt here, rather than to be
+ defeated there. May my entreaties prevail with you, as they did for you this
+ day." Upon this, perceiving the youth in tears, he threw his arms around him,
+ and kissing him affectionately, ceased not his entreaties until he prevailed
+ upon him to lay aside his sword and give his promise that he would do no such
+ thing. The young man then observed, "I will indeed pay to my father the debt
+ of duty which I owe to my country, but I am grieved for you on whom the guilt
+ of having thrice betrayed your country rests; once when you sanctioned the revolt
+ from the Romans; next when you advised the alliance with Hannibal; and thirdly,
+ this day, when you are the delay and impediment of the restoration of Capua
+ to the Romans. Do thou, my country, receive this weapon, armed with which in
+ thy behalf I would fain have defended this citadel, since a father wrests it
+ from me." Having thus said, he threw the sword into the highway over the garden
+ wall, and that the affair might not be suspected, himself returned to the banquet.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="e10" />
+<p>The next day an audience of a full senate was given to Hannibal, when the first
+ part of his address was full of graciousness and benignity, in which he thanked
+ the Campanians for having preferred his friendship to an alliance with the Romans,
+ and held out among his other magnificent promises "that Capua should soon become
+ the capital of all Italy, and that the Romans as well as the other states should
+ receive laws from it. That there was, however, one person who had no share in
+ the Carthaginian friendship and the alliance formed with him, Decius Magius,
+ who neither was nor ought to be called a Campanian. Him he requested to be surrendered
+ to him, and that the sense of the senate should be taken respecting his conduct,
+ and a decree passed in his presence." All concurred in this proposition, though
+ a great many considered him as a man undeserving such severe treatment; and
+ that this proceeding was no small infringement of their liberty to begin with.
+ Leaving the senate-house, the magistrate took his seat on the consecrated bench,
+ ordered Decius Magius to be apprehended, and to be placed by himself before
+ his feet to plead his cause. But he, his proud spirit being unsubdued, denied
+ that such a measure could be enforced agreeably to the conditions of the treaty;
+ upon which he was ironed, and ordered to be brought into the camp before a lictor.
+ As long as he was conducted with his head uncovered, he moved along earnestly
+ haranguing and vociferating to the multitude which poured around him on all
+ sides. "You have gotten that liberty, Campanians, which you seek; in the middle
+ of the forum, in the light of day, before your eyes, I, a man second to none
+ of the Campanians, am dragged in chains to suffer death. What greater outrage
+ could have been committed had Capua been captured? Go out to meet Hannibal,
+ decorate your city to the utmost, consecrate the day of his arrival, that you
+ may behold this triumph over a fellow-citizen." As the populace seemed to be
+ excited by him, vociferating these things, his head was covered, and he was
+ ordered to be dragged away more speedily without the gate. Having been thus
+ brought to the camp, he was immediately put on board a ship and sent to Carthage,
+ lest if any commotion should arise at Capua on account of the injustice of the
+ proceeding, the senate also should repent of having given up a leading citizen;
+ and lest if an embassy were sent to request his restoration, he must either
+ offend his new allies by refusing their first petition, or, by granting it,
+ be compelled to retain at Capua a promoter of sedition and disturbance. A tempest
+ drove the vessel to Cyrenae, which was at that time under the dominion of kings.
+ Here flying for refuge to the statue of king Ptolemy, he was conveyed thence
+ in custody to Alexandria to Ptolemy; and having instructed him that he had been
+ thrown into chains by Hannibal, contrary to the law of treaties, he was liberated
+ and allowed to return to whichever place he pleased, Rome or Capua. But Magius
+ said, that Capua would not be a safe place for him, and that Rome, at a time
+ when there was war between the Romans and Capuans, would be rather the residence
+ of a deserter than a guest. That there was no place that he should rather dwell
+ in, than in the dominions of him whom he esteemed an avenger and the protector
+ of his liberty. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="e11" />
+<p>While these things were carrying on, Quintus Fabius Pictor, the ambassador,
+ returned from Delphi to Rome, and read the response of the oracle from a written
+ copy. In it both the gods were mentioned, and in what manner supplication should
+ be made. It then stated, "If you do thus, Romans, your affairs will be more
+ prosperous and less perplexed; your state will proceed more agreeably to your
+ wishes; and the victory in the war will be on the side of the Roman people.
+ After that your state shall have been restored to prosperity and safety, send
+ a present to the Pythian Apollo out of the gains you have earned, and pay honours
+ to him out of the plunder, the booty, and the spoils. Banish licentiousness
+ from among you." Having read aloud these words, translated from the Greek verse,
+ he added, that immediately on his departure from the oracle, he had paid divine
+ honours to all these deities with wine and frankincense; and that he was ordered
+ by the chief priest of the temple, that, as he had approached the oracle and
+ performed the sacred ceremonies decorated with a laurel crown, so he should
+ embark wearing the crown, and not put it off till he had arrived at Rome. That
+ he had executed all these injunctions with the most scrupulous exactness and
+ diligence, and had deposited the garland on the altar of Apollo at Rome. The
+ senate decreed that the sacred ceremonies and supplications enjoined should
+ be carefully performed with all possible expedition. During these events at
+ Rome and in Italy, Mago, the son of Hamilcar, had arrived at Carthage with the
+ intelligence of the victory at Cannae. He was not sent direct from the field
+ of battle by his brother, but was detained some days in receiving the submission
+ of such states of the Bruttii as were in revolt. Having obtained an audience
+ of the senate he gave a full statement of his brother's exploits in Italy: "That
+ he had fought pitched battles with six generals, four of whom were consuls,
+ two a dictator and master of the horse, with six consular armies; that he had
+ slain above two hundred thousand of the enemy, and captured above fifty thousand.
+ That out of the four consuls he had slain two; of the two remaining, one was
+ wounded, the other, having lost his whole army, had fled from the field with
+ scarcely fifty men; that the master of the horse, an authority equal to that
+ of consul, had been routed and put to flight; that the dictator, because he
+ had never engaged in a pitched battle, was esteemed a matchless general; that
+ the Bruttii, the Apulians, part of the Samnites and of the Lucanians had revolted
+ to the Carthaginians. That Capua, which was the capital not only of Campania,
+ but after the ruin of the Roman power by the battle of Cannae, of Italy also,
+ had delivered itself over to Hannibal. That in return for these so many and
+ so great victories, gratitude ought assuredly to be felt and thanks returned
+ to the immortal gods." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="e12" />
+<p>Then, in proof of this such joyful news, he ordered the golden rings to be
+ poured out in the vestibule of the senate-house, of which there was such a heap
+ that some have taken upon themselves to say that on being measured they filled
+ three pecks and a half. The statement has obtained and is more like the truth,
+ that there were not more than a peck. He then added, by way of explanation,
+ to prove the greater extent of the slaughter, that none but knights, and of
+ these the principal only, wore that ornament. The main drift of his speech was,
+ "that the nearer the prospect was of bringing the war to a conclusion, the more
+ should Hannibal be aided by every means, for that the seat of war was at a long
+ distance from home and in the heart of the enemy's country. That a great quantity
+ of corn was consumed and money expended; and that so many pitched battles, as
+ they had annihilated the armies of the enemy, had also in some degree diminished
+ the forces of the victor. That a reinforcement therefore ought to be sent; and
+ money for the pay, and corn for the soldiers who had deserved so well of the
+ Carthaginian name." After this speech of Mago's, all being elated with joy,
+ Himilco, a member of the Barcine faction, conceiving this a good opportunity
+ for inveighing against Hanno, said to him, "What think you now, Hanno? do you
+ now also regret that the war against the Romans was entered upon? Now urge that
+ Hannibal should be given up; yes, forbid the rendering of thanks to the immortal
+ gods amidst such successes; let us hear a Roman senator in the senate-house
+ of the Carthaginians." Upon which Hanno replied, "I should have remained silent
+ this day, conscript fathers, lest, amid the general joy, I should utter any
+ thing which might be too gloomy for you. But now, to a senator, asking whether
+ I still regret the undertaking of the war against the Romans, if I should forbear
+ to speak, I should seem either arrogant or servile, the former of which is the
+ part of a man who is forgetful of the independence of others, the latter of
+ his own. I may answer therefore to Himilco, that I have not ceased to regret
+ the war, nor shall I cease to censure your invincible general until I see the
+ war concluded on some tolerable terms; nor will any thing except a new peace
+ put a period to my regret for the loss of the old one. Accordingly those achievements,
+ which Mago has so boastingly recounted, are a source of present joy to Himilco
+ and the other adherents of Hannibal; to me they may become so; because successes
+ in war, if we have a mind to make the best use of fortune, will afford us a
+ peace on more equitable terms; for if we allow this opportunity to pass by,
+ on which we have it in our power to appear to dictate rather than to receive
+ terms of peace, I fear lest even this our joy should run into excess, and in
+ the end prove groundless. However, let us see of what kind it is even now. I
+ have slain the armies of the enemy, send me soldiers. What else would you ask
+ if you had been conquered? I have captured two of the enemy's camps, full, of
+ course, of booty and provisions; supply me with corn and money. What else would
+ you ask had you been plundered and stripped of your camp? And that I may not
+ be the only person perplexed, I could wish that either Himilco or Mago would
+ answer me, for it is just and fair that I also should put a question, since
+ I have answered Himilco. Since the battle at Cannae annihilated the Roman power,
+ and it is a fact that all Italy is in a state of revolt; in the first place,
+ has any one people of the Latin confederacy come over to us? In the next place,
+ has any individual of the five and thirty tribes deserted to Hannibal?" When
+ Mago had answered both these questions in the negative, he continued: "there
+ remains then still too large a body of the enemy. But I should be glad to know
+ what degree of spirit and hope that body possesses." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="e13" />
+<p>Mago declaring that he did not know; "Nothing," said he, "is easier to be known.
+ Have the Romans sent any ambassadors to Hannibal to treat of peace? Have you,
+ in short, ever heard that any mention has been made of peace at Rome?" On his
+ answering these questions also in the negative: "We have upon our hands then,
+ said he, a war as entire as we had on the day on which Hannibal crossed over
+ into Italy. There are a great many of us alive now who remember how fluctuating
+ the success was in the former Punic war. At no time did our affairs appear in
+ so prosperous a condition as they did before the consulship of Caius Lutatius
+ and Aulus Posthumius. In the consulship of Caius Lutatius and Aulus Posthumius
+ we were completely conquered at the islands Aegates. But if now, as well as
+ then, (oh! may the gods avert the omen!) fortune should take any turn, do you
+ hope to obtain that peace when we shall be vanquished which no one is willing
+ to grant now we are victorious. I have an opinion which I should express if
+ any one should advise with me on the subject of proffering or accepting terms
+ of peace with the enemy; but with respect to the supplies requested by Mago,
+ I do not think there is any necessity to send them to a victorious army; and
+ I give it as my opinion that they should far less be sent to them, if they are
+ deluding us by groundless and empty hopes." But few were influenced by the harangue
+ of Hanno, for both the jealousy which he entertained towards the Barcine family,
+ made him a less weighty authority; and men's minds being taken up with the present
+ exultation, would listen to nothing by which their joy could be made more groundless,
+ but felt convinced, that if they should make a little additional exertion the
+ war might be speedily terminated. Accordingly a decree of the senate was made
+ with very general approbation, that four thousand Numidians should be sent as
+ a reinforcement to Hannibal, with four hundred elephants and many talents of
+ silver. Moreover, the dictator was sent forward into Spain with Mago to hire
+ twenty thousand foot and four thousand horse, to recruit the armies in Italy
+ and Spain. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="e14" />
+<p>But these resolutions, as generally happens in the season of prosperity, were
+ executed in a leisurely and slothful manner. The Romans, in addition to their
+ inborn activity of mind, were prevented from delaying by the posture of their
+ affairs. For the consul was not wanting in any business which was to be done
+ by him; and the dictator, Marcus Junius Pera, after the sacred ceremonies were
+ concluded, and after having, as is usual, proposed to the people that he might
+ be allowed to mount his horse; besides the two legions which had been enlisted
+ by the consuls in the beginning of the year, and besides the cohorts collected
+ out of the Picenian and Gallic territories, descended to that last resort of
+ the state when almost despaired of, and when propriety gives place to utility,
+ and made proclamation, that of such persons as had been guilty of capital crimes
+ or were in prison on judgment for debt, those who would serve as soldiers with
+ him, he would order to be released from their liability to punishment and their
+ debts. These six thousand he armed with the Gallic spoils which were carried
+ in the procession at the triumph of Caius Flaminius. Thus he marched from the
+ city at the head of twenty-five thousand men. Hannibal, after gaining Capua,
+ made a second fruitless attempt upon the minds of the Neapolitans, partly by
+ fear and partly by hope: and then marched his troops across into the territory
+ of Nola: not immediately in a hostile attitude, for he did not despair of a
+ voluntary surrender, yet intending to omit nothing which they could suffer or
+ fear, if they delayed the completion of his hopes. The senate, and especially
+ the principal members of it, persevered faithfully in keeping up the alliance
+ with the Romans; the commons, as usual, were all inclined to a change in the
+ government and to espouse the cause of Hannibal, placing before their minds
+ the fear lest their fields should be devastated, and the many hardships and
+ indignities which must be endured in a siege; nor were there wanting persons
+ who advised a revolt. In this state of things, when a fear took possession of
+ the senate, that it would be impossible to resist the excited multitude if they
+ went openly to work, devised a delay of the evil by secret simulation. They
+ pretended that they were agreeable to the revolt to Hannibal; but that it was
+ not settled on what terms they should enter into the new alliance and friendship.
+ Thus having gained time, they promptly sent ambassadors to the Roman praetor,
+ Marcellus Claudius, who was at Casilinum with his army, and informed him what
+ a critical situation Nola was in; that the fields were already in the possession
+ of Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and that the city soon would be, unless succour
+ were sent; that the senate, by conceding to the commons that they would revolt
+ when they pleased, had caused them not to hasten too much to revolt. Marcellus,
+ after bestowing high commendations on the Nolans, urged them to protract the
+ business till his arrival by means of the same pretences; in the mean time,
+ to conceal what had passed between them, as well as all hope of succour from
+ the Romans. He himself marched from Casilinum to Calatia, and thence crossing
+ the Vulturnus, and passing through the territories of Saticula and Trebula,
+ pursuing his course along the mountains above Suessula, he arrived at Nola.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="e15" />
+<p>On the approach of the Roman praetor, the Carthaginians retired from the territory
+ of Nola and marched down to the sea close upon Naples, eager to get possession
+ of a maritime town to which there would be a safe course for ships from Africa.
+ But hearing that Naples was held by a Roman prefect, Marcus Junius Silanus,
+ who had been invited thither by the Neapolitans themselves, he left Naples as
+ he had left Nola, and directed his course to Nuceria, which he at length starved
+ into capitulation, after having besieged it for a considerable time, often by
+ open force, and often by soliciting to no purpose sometimes the commons, at
+ other times the nobles; agreeing that they should depart with single garments
+ and without arms. Then, as wishing to appear from the beginning to show lenity
+ to all the inhabitants of Italy except the Romans, he proposed rewards and honours
+ to those who might remain with him, and would be willing to serve with him.
+ He retained none, however, by the hopes he held out; they all dispersed in different
+ directions throughout the cities of Campania, wherever either hospitable connexions
+ or the casual impulse of the mind directed them, but principally to Nola and
+ Naples. About thirty senators, including as it happened all of the first rank,
+ made for Capua; but being shut out thence, because they had closed their gates
+ on Hannibal, they betook themselves to Cumae. The plunder of Nuceria was, given
+ to the soldiery, the city sacked and burned. Marcellus continued to hold possession
+ of Nola, relying not more from confidence in his own troops than from the favourable
+ disposition of the leading inhabitants. Apprehensions were entertained of the
+ commons, particularly Lucius Bantius, whose having been privy to an attempt
+ at defection, and dread of the Roman praetor, stimulated sometimes to the betrayal
+ of his country, at others, should fortune fail him in that undertaking, to desertion.
+ He was a young man of vigorous mind, and at that time enjoying the greatest
+ renown of almost any of the allied cavalry. Found at Cannae half dead amid a
+ heap of slain, Hannibal had sent him home, after having had him cured, with
+ the kindest attention, and even with presents. In gratitude for this favour,
+ he had conceived a wish to put Nola under the power and dominion of the Carthaginian;
+ but his anxiety and solicitude for effecting a change did not escape the notice
+ of the praetor. However, as it was necessary that he should be either restrained
+ by penal inflictions or conciliated by favours, he preferred attaching to himself
+ a brave and strenuous ally, to depriving the enemy of him; and summoning him
+ into his presence, in the kindest manner said, "that the fact that he had many
+ among his countrymen who were jealous of him, might be easily collected from
+ the circumstance that not one citizen of Nola had informed him how many were
+ his splendid military exploits. But that it was impossible for the valour of
+ one who served in the Roman camp to remain in obscurity; that many who had served
+ with him had reported to him how brave a man he was, how often and what dangers
+ he had encountered for the safety and honour of the Roman people; and how in
+ the battle of Cannae he had not given over fighting till, almost bloodless,
+ he was buried under a heap of men, horses, and arms which fell upon him. Go
+ on then," says he, "and prosper in your career of valour, with me you shall
+ receive every honour and every reward, and the oftener you be with me, the more
+ you shall find it will be to your honour and emolument." He presented the young
+ man, delighted with these promises, with a horse of distinguished beauty, ordered
+ the quaestor to give him five hundred denarii, and commanded the lictors to
+ allow him to approach him whenever he might please. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="e16" />
+<p>The violent spirit of the youth was so much soothed by the courteous treatment
+ of Marcellus, that thenceforward no one of the allies displayed greater courage
+ or fidelity in aiding the Roman cause. Hannibal being now at the gates, for
+ he had moved his camp back again from Nuceria to Nola, and the commons beginning
+ to turn their attention to revolt afresh, Marcellus, on the approach of the
+ enemy, retired within the walls; not from apprehension for his camp, but lest
+ he should give an opportunity for betraying the city, which too many were anxiously
+ watching for. The troops on both sides then began to be drawn up; the Romans
+ before the walls of Nola, the Carthaginians before their own camp. Hence arose
+ several battles of small account between the city and the camp, with varying
+ success, as the generals were neither willing to check the small parties who
+ inconsiderately challenged the enemy, nor to give the signal for a general engagement.
+ While the two armies continued to be thus stationed day after day, the chief
+ men of the Nolans informed Marcellus, that conferences were held by night between
+ the commons of Nola and the Carthaginians; and that it was fixed, that, when
+ the Roman army had gone out at the gates, they should make plunder of their
+ baggage and packages, then close the gates and post themselves upon the walls,
+ in order that when in possession of the government and the city, they might
+ then receive the Carthaginian instead of the Roman. On receiving this intelligence
+ Marcellus, having bestowed the highest commendations on the senators, resolved
+ to hazard the issue of a battle before any commotion should arise within the
+ city. He drew up his troops in three divisions at the three gates which faced
+ the enemy; he gave orders that the baggage should follow close by, that the
+ servants, suttlers' boys, and invalids should carry palisades; at the centre
+ gate he stationed the choicest of the legionary troops and the Roman cavalry,
+ at the two gates on either side, the recruits, the light-armed, and the allied
+ cavalry. The Nolans were forbidden to approach the walls and gates, and the
+ troops designed for a reserve were set over the baggage, lest while the legions
+ were engaged in the battle an attack should be made upon it. Thus arranged they
+ were standing within the gates. Hannibal, who had waited with his troops drawn
+ up in battle-array, as he had done for several days, till the day was far advanced,
+ at first was amazed that neither the Roman army marched out of the gates, nor
+ any armed man was to be seen on the walls, but afterwards concluding that the
+ conferences had been discovered, and that they were quiet through fear, he sent
+ back a portion of his troops into the camp, with orders to bring into the front
+ line, with speed, every thing requisite for assaulting the city; satisfied that
+ if he urged them vigorously while they were indisposed to action, the populace
+ would excite some commotion in the city. While, in the van, the troops were
+ running up and down in a hurried manner in discharge of their several duties,
+ and the line was advancing up to the gates, suddenly throwing open the gate,
+ Marcellus ordered that the signal should be given, and a shout raised, and that
+ first the infantry and after them the cavalry should burst forth upon the enemy
+ with all possible impetuosity. They had occasioned abundant terror and confusion
+ in the centre of the enemy's line, when, at the two side gates, the lieutenant-generals,
+ Publius Valerius Flaccus and Caius Aurelius, sallied forth upon the wings. The
+ servants, suttlers' boys, and the other multitude appointed to guard the baggage,
+ joined in the shout, so that they suddenly exhibited the appearance of a vast
+ army to the Carthaginians, who despised chiefly their paucity of numbers. For
+ my own part I would not take upon me to assert what some authors have declared,
+ that two thousand eight hundred of the enemy were slain, and that the Romans
+ lost not more than five hundred. Whether the victory was so great or not; it
+ is certain that a very important advantage, and perhaps the greatest during
+ the war, was gained on that day: for not to be vanquished by Hannibal was then
+ a more difficult task to the victorious troops, than to conquer him afterwards.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="e17" />
+<p>When Hannibal, all hope of getting possession of Nola being lost, had retired
+ to Acerrae, Marcellus, having closed the gates and posted guards in different
+ quarters to prevent any one from going out, immediately instituted a judicial
+ inquiry in the forum, into the conduct of those who had been secretly in communication
+ with the enemy. He beheaded more than seventy who were convicted of treason,
+ and ordered their foods to be confiscated to the Roman state; and then committing
+ the government to the senate, set out with all his forces, and, pitching a camp,
+ took up a position above Suessula. The Carthaginian, having at first endeavoured
+ to win over the people of Acerrae to a voluntary surrender, but finding them
+ resolved, makes preparations for a siege and assault. But the people of Acerrae
+ had more spirit than power. Despairing therefore, of the defence of the city,
+ when they saw their walls being circumvallated, before the lines of the enemy
+ were completed, they stole off in the dead of night through the opening in the
+ works, and where the watches had been neglected; and pursuing their course through
+ roads and pathless regions, accordingly as design or mistake directed each,
+ made their escape to those towns of Campania which they knew had not renounced
+ their fidelity. After Acerrae was plundered and burnt, Hannibal, having received
+ intelligence that the Roman dictator with the new-raised legions was seen at
+ some distance from Casilinum, and fearing lest, the camp of the enemy being
+ so near, something might occur at Capua, marched his army to Casilinum. At that
+ time Casilinum was occupied by five hundred Praenestines, with a few Romans
+ and Latins, whom the news of the defeat at Cannae had brought to the same place.
+ These men setting out from home too late, in consequence of the levy at Praeneste
+ not being completed at the appointed day, and arriving at Casilinum before the
+ defeat was known there, where they united themselves with other troops, Romans
+ and allies, were proceeding thence in a tolerably large body, but the news of
+ the battle at Cannae them back to Casilinum. Having spent several days there
+ in evading and concerting plots, in fear themselves and suspected by the Campanians,
+ and having now received certain information that the revolt of Capua and the
+ reception of Hannibal were in agitation, they put the townsmen to the sword
+ by night, and seized upon the part of the town on this side the Vulturnus, for
+ it is divided by that river. Such was the garrison the Romans had at Casilinum;
+ to these was added a cohort of Perusians, in number four hundred and sixty,
+ who had been driven to Casilinum by the same intelligence which had brought
+ the Praenestines a few days before. They formed a sufficient number of armed
+ men for the defence of walls of so limited extent, and protected on one side
+ by the river. The scarcity of corn made them even appear too numerous. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="e18" />
+<p>Hannibal having now advanced within a short distance of the place, sent forward
+ a body of Getulians under a commander named Isalca, and orders them in the first
+ place, if an opportunity of parley should be given, to win them over by fair
+ words, to open the gates, and admit a garrison; but, if they persisted in obstinate
+ opposition, to proceed to action, and try if in any part he could force an entrance
+ into the city. When they had approached the walls, because silence prevailed
+ there appeared a solitude; and the barbarian, supposing that they had retired
+ through fear, made preparation for forcing the gates and breaking away the bars,
+ when, the gates being suddenly thrown open, two cohorts, drawn up within for
+ that very purpose, rushed forth with great tumult, and made a slaughter of the
+ enemy. The first party being thus repulsed, Maharbal was sent with a more powerful
+ body of troops; but neither could even he sustain the sally of the cohorts.
+ Lastly, Hannibal, fixing his camp directly before the walls, prepared to assault
+ this paltry city and garrison, with every effort and all his forces, and having
+ completely surrounded the city with a line of troops, lost a considerable number
+ of men, including all the most forward, who were shot from the walls and turrets,
+ while he pressed on and provoked the enemy. Once he was very near cutting them
+ off, by throwing in a line of elephants, when aggressively sallying forth, and
+ drove them in the utmost confusion into the town; a good many, out of so small
+ a number, having been slain. More would have fallen had not night interrupted
+ the battle. On the following day, the minds of all were possessed with an ardent
+ desire to commence the assault, especially after a golden mural crown had been
+ promised, and the general himself had reproached the conquerors of Saguntum
+ with the slowness of their siege of a little fort situated on level ground;
+ reminding them, each and all, of Cannae, Trasimenus, and Trebia. They then began
+ to apply the vineae and to spring mines: nor was any measure, whether of open
+ force or stratagem, unemployed against the various attempts of the enemy. These
+ allies of the Romans erected bulwarks against the vineae, cut off the mines
+ of the enemy by cross-mines, and met their efforts both covertly and openly,
+ till, at last, shame compelled Hannibal to desist from his undertaking; and,
+ fortifying a camp in which he placed a small guard, that the affair might not
+ appear to have been abandoned, he retired into winter quarters to Capua. There
+ he kept, under cover, for the greater part of the winter, that army, which,
+ though fortified by frequent and continued hardships against every human ill,
+ had yet never experienced or been habituated to prosperity. Accordingly, excess
+ of good fortune and unrestrained indulgence were the ruin of men whom no severity
+ of distress had subdued; and so much the more completely, in proportion to the
+ avidity with which they plunged into pleasures to which they were unaccustomed.
+ For sleep, wine, feasting, women, baths, and ease, which custom rendered more
+ seductive day by day, so completely unnerved both mind and body, that from henceforth
+ their past victories rather than their present strength protected them; and
+ in this the general is considered by those who are skilled in the art of war
+ to have committed a greater error than in not having marched his troops to Rome
+ forthwith from the field of Cannae: for his delay on that occasion might be
+ considered as only to have postponed his victory, but this mistake to have bereaved
+ him of the power of conquering. Accordingly, by Hercules, as though he marched
+ out of Capua with another army, it retained in no respect any of its former
+ discipline; for most of the troops returned in the embrace of harlots; and as
+ soon as they began to live under tents, and the fatigue of marching and other
+ military labours tried them, like raw troops, they failed both in bodily strength
+ and spirit. From that time, during the whole period of the summer campaign,
+ a great number of them slunk away from the standards without furloughs, while
+ Capua was the only retreat of the deserters. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="e19" />
+<p>However, when the rigour of winter began to abate, marching his troops out
+ of their winter quarters he returned to Casilinum; where, although there had
+ been an intermission of the assault, the continuance of the siege had reduced
+ the inhabitants and the garrison to the extremity of want. Titus Sempronius
+ commanded the Roman camp, the dictator having gone to Rome to renew the auspices.
+ The swollen state of the Vulturnus and the entreaties of the people of Nola
+ and Acerrae, who feared the Campanians if the Roman troops should leave them,
+ kept Marcellus in his place; although desirous himself also to bring assistance
+ to the besieged. Gracchus, only maintaining his post near Casilinum, because
+ he had been enjoined by the dictator not to take any active steps during his
+ absence, did not stir; although intelligence was brought from Casilinum which
+ might easily overcome every degree of patience. For it appeared that some had
+ precipitated themselves from the walls through famine and that they were standing
+ unarmed upon the walls, exposing their undefended bodies to the blows of the
+ missile weapons. Gracchus, grieved at the intelligence, but not daring to fight
+ contrary to the injunctions of the dictator, and yet aware that he must fight
+ if he openly attempted to convey in provisions, and having no hope of introducing
+ them clandestinely, collected corn from all parts of the surrounding country,
+ and filling several casks sent a message to the magistrate to Casilinum, directing
+ that they might catch the casks which the river would bring down. The following
+ night, while all were intent upon the river, and the hopes excited by the message
+ from the Romans, the casks sent came floating down the centre of the stream,
+ and the corn was equally distributed among them all. This was repeated the second
+ and third day; they were sent off and arrived during the same night; and hence
+ they escaped the notice of the enemy's guards. But afterwards, the river, rendered
+ more than ordinarily rapid by continual rains, drove the casks by a cross current
+ to the bank which the enemy were guarding; there they were discovered sticking
+ among the osiers which grew along the banks; and, it being reported to Hannibal,
+ from that time the watches were kept more strictly, that nothing sent to the
+ city by the Vulturnus might escape notice. However, nuts poured out at the Roman
+ camp floated down the centre of the river to Casilinum, and were caught with
+ hurdles. At length they were reduced to such a degree of want, that they endeavoured
+ to chew the thongs and skins which they tore from their shields, after softening
+ them in warm water; nor did they abstain from mice or any other kind of animals.
+ They even dug up every kind of herb and root from the lowest mounds of their
+ wall; and when the enemy had ploughed over all the ground producing herbage
+ which was without the wall, they threw in turnip seed, so that Hannibal exclaimed,
+ Must I sit here at Casilinum even till these spring up? and he, who up to that
+ time had not lent an ear to any terms, then at length allowed himself to be
+ treated with respecting the ransom of the free persons. Seven ounces of gold
+ for each person were agreed upon as the price; and then, under a promise of
+ protection, they surrendered themselves. They were kept in chains till the whole
+ of the gold was paid, after which they were sent back to Cumae, in fulfilment
+ of the promise. This account is more credible than that they were slain by a
+ body of cavalry, which was sent to attack them as they were going away. They
+ were for the most part Praenestines. Out of the five hundred and seventy who
+ formed the garrison, almost one half were destroyed by sword or famine; the
+ rest returned safe to Praeneste with their praetor Manicius, who had formerly
+ been a scribe. His statue placed in the forum at Praeneste, clad in a coat of
+ mail, with a gown on, and with the head covered, formed an evidence of this
+ account; as did also three images with this legend inscribed on a brazen plate,
+ "Manicius vowed these in behalf of the soldiers who were in the garrison at
+ Casilinum." The same legend was inscribed under three images placed in the temple
+ of Fortune. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="e20" />
+<p>The town of Casilinum was restored to the Campanians, strengthened by a garrison
+ of seven hundred soldiers from the army of Hannibal, lest on the departure of
+ the Carthaginian from it, the Romans should assault it. To the Praenestine soldiers
+ the Roman senate voted double pay and exemption from military service for five
+ years. On being offered the freedom of the state, in consideration of their
+ valor, they would not make the exchange. The account of the fate of the Perusians
+ is less clear, as no light is thrown upon it by any monument of their own, or
+ any decree of the Romans. At the same time the Petelini, the only Bruttian state
+ which had continued in the Roman alliance, were attacked not only by the Carthaginians,
+ who were in possession of the surrounding country, but also by the rest of the
+ Bruttian states, on account of their having adopted a separate policy. The Petelini,
+ unable to bear up against these distresses, sent ambassadors to Rome to solicit
+ aid, whose prayers and entreaties (for on being told that they must themselves
+ take measures for their own safety, they gave themselves up to piteous lamentations
+ in the vestibule of the senate-house) excited the deepest commiseration in the
+ fathers and the people. On the question being proposed a second time to the
+ fathers by Manius Pomponius, the praetor, after examining all the resources
+ of the empire, they were compelled to confess that they had no longer any protection
+ for their distant allies, and bid them return home, and having done every thing
+ which could be expected from faithful allies, as to what remained to take measures
+ for their own security in the present state of fortune. On the result of this
+ embassy being reported to the Petelini, their senate was suddenly seized with
+ such violent grief and dismay, that some advised that they should run away wherever
+ each man could find an asylum, and abandon the city. Some advised, that as they
+ were deserted by their ancient allies, they should unite themselves with the
+ rest of the Bruttian states, and through them surrender themselves to Hannibal.
+ The opinion however which prevailed was that of those who thought that nothing
+ should be done in haste and rashly, and that they should take the whole matter
+ into their consideration again. The next day, when they had cooled upon it,
+ and their trepidation had somewhat subsided, the principal men carried their
+ point that they should collect all their property out of the fields, and fortify
+ the city and the walls. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="e21" />
+<p>Much about the same time letters were brought from Sicily and Sardinia. That
+ of Titus Otacilius the propraetor was first read in the senate. It stated that
+ Lucius Furius the praetor had arrived at Lilybaeum from Africa with his fleet.
+ That he himself, having been severely wounded, was in imminent danger of his
+ life; that neither pay nor corn was punctually furnished to the soldiers or
+ the marines; nor were there any resources from which they could be furnished.
+ That he earnestly advised that such supplies should be sent with all possible
+ expedition; and that, if it was thought proper, they should send one of the
+ new praetors to succeed him. </p>
+<p> Nearly the same intelligence respecting corn and pay was conveyed in a letter
+ from Aulus Cornelius Mammula, the propraetor, from Sardinia. The answer to both
+ was, that there were no resources from whence they could be supplied, and orders
+ were given to them that they should themselves provide for their fleets and
+ armies. Titus Otacilius having sent ambassadors to Hiero, the only source of
+ assistance the Romans had, received as much money as was wanting to pay the
+ troops and a supply of corn for six months. In Sardinia, the allied states contributed
+ liberally to Cornelius. The scarcity of money at Rome also was so great, that
+ on the proposal of Marcus Minucius, plebeian tribune, a financial triumvirate
+ was appointed, consisting of Lucius Aemilius Papus, who had been consul and
+ censor, Marcus Atilius Regulus, who had been twice consul, and Lucius Scribonius
+ Libo, who was then plebeian tribune. Marcus and Caius Atilius were also created
+ a duumvirate for dedicating the temple of Concord, which Lucius Manlius had
+ vowed when praetor. Three pontiffs were also created, Quintus Caecilius Metellus,
+ Quintus Fabius Maximus, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, in the room of Publius
+ Scantinius deceased, and of Lucius Aemilius Paulus the consul, and of Quintus
+ Aelius Paetus, who had fallen in the battle of Cannae. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="e22" />
+<p>The fathers having repaired, as far as human counsels could effect it, the
+ other losses from a continued series of unfortunate events, at length turned
+ their attention on themselves, on the emptiness of the senate-house, and the
+ paucity of those who assembled for public deliberation. For the senate-roll
+ had not been reviewed since the censorship of Lucius Aemilius and C. Flaminius,
+ though unfortunate battles, during a period of five years, as well as the private
+ casualties of each, had carried off so many senators. Manius Pomponius, the
+ praetor, as the dictator was now gone to the army after the loss of Casilinum,
+ at the earnest request of all, brought in a bill upon the subject. When Spurius
+ Carvilius, after having lamented in a long speech not only the scantiness of
+ the senate, but the fewness of citizens who were eligible into that body, with
+ the design of making up the numbers of the senate and uniting more closely the
+ Romans and the Latin confederacy, declared that he strongly advised that the
+ freedom of the state should be conferred upon two senators from each of the
+ Latin states, if the Roman fathers thought proper, who might be chosen into
+ the senate to supply the places of the deceased senators. This proposition the
+ fathers listened to with no more equanimity than formerly to the request when
+ made by the Latins themselves. A loud and violent expression of disapprobation
+ ran through the whole senate-house. In particular, Manlius reminded them that
+ there was still existing a man of that stock, from which that consul was descended
+ who formerly threatened in the Capitol that he would with his own hand put to
+ death any Latin senator he saw in that house. Upon which Quintus Fabius Maximus
+ said, "that never was any subject introduced into the senate at a juncture more
+ unseasonable than the present, when a question had been touched upon which would
+ still further irritate the minds of the allies, who were already hesitating
+ and wavering in their allegiance. That that rash suggestion of one individual
+ ought to be annihilated by the silence of the whole body; and that if there
+ ever was a declaration in that house which ought to be buried in profound and
+ inviolable silence, surely that above all others was one which deserved to be
+ covered and consigned to darkness and oblivion, and looked upon as if it had
+ never been made." This put a stop to the mention of the subject. They determined
+ that a dictator should be created for the purpose of reviewing the senate, and
+ that he should be one who had been a censor, and was the oldest living of those
+ who had held that office. They likewise gave orders that Caius Terentius, the
+ consul, should be called home to nominate a dictator; who, leaving his troops
+ in Apulia, returned to Rome with great expedition; and, according to custom,
+ on the following night nominated Marcus Fabius Buteo dictator, for six months,
+ without a master of the horse, in pursuance of the decree of the senate. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="e23" />
+<p>He having mounted the rostrum attended by the lictors, declared, that he neither
+ approved of there being two dictators at one time, which had never been done
+ before, nor of his being appointed dictator without a master of the horse; nor
+ of the censorian authority being committed to one person, and to the same person
+ a second time; nor that command should be given to a dictator for six months,
+ unless he was created for active operations. That he would himself restrain
+ within proper bounds those irregularities which chance, the exigencies of the
+ times, and necessity had occasioned. For he would not remove any of those whom
+ the censors Flaminius and Aemilius had elected into the senate; but would merely
+ order that their names should be transcribed and read over, that one man might
+ not exercise the power of deciding and determining on the character and morals
+ of a senator; and would so elect in place of deceased members, that one rank
+ should appear to be preferred to another, and not man to man. The old senate-roll
+ having been read, he chose as successors to the deceased, first those who had
+ filled a curule office since the censorship of Flaminius and Aemilius, but had
+ not yet been elected into the senate, as each had been earliest created. He
+ next chose those who had been aediles, plebeian tribunes, or quaestors; then
+ of those who had never filled the office of magistrate, he selected such as
+ had spoils taken from an enemy fixed up at their homes, or had received a civic
+ crown. Having thus elected one hundred and seventy-seven senators, with the
+ entire approbation of his countrymen, he instantly abdicated his office, and,
+ bidding the lictors depart, he descended from the rostrum as a private citizen,
+ and mingled with the crowd of persons who were engaged in their private affairs,
+ designedly wearing away this time, lest he should draw off the people from the
+ forum for the purpose of escorting him home. Their zeal, however, did not subside
+ by the delay, for they escorted him to his house in great numbers. The consul
+ returned to the army the ensuing night, without acquainting the senate, lest
+ he should be detained in the city on account of the elections. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="e24" />
+<p>The next day, on the proposition of Manius Pomponius the praetor, the senate
+ decreed that a letter should be written to the dictator, to the effect, that
+ if he thought it for the interest of the state, he should come, together with
+ the master of the horse and the praetor, Marcus Marcellus, to hold the election
+ for the succeeding consuls, in order that the fathers might learn from them
+ in person in what condition the state was, and take measures according to circumstances.
+ All who were summoned came, leaving lieutenant-generals to hold command of the
+ legions. The dictator, speaking briefly and modestly of himself, attributed
+ much of the glory Of the campaign to the master of the horse, Tiberius Sempronius
+ Gracchus. He then gave out the day for the comitia, at which the consuls created
+ were Lucius Posthumius in his absence, being then employed in the government
+ of the province of Gaul, for the third time, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus,
+ who was then master of the horse and curule aedile. Marcus Valerius Laevinus,
+ Appius Claudius Pulcher, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and Quintus Mucius Scaevola,
+ were then created praetors. After the election of the magistrates, the dictator
+ returned to his army, which was in winter quarters at Teanum, leaving his master
+ of the horse at Rome, to take the sense of the fathers relative to the armies
+ to be enlisted and embodied for the service of the year, as he was about to
+ enter upon the magistracy after a few days. While busily occupied with these
+ matters, intelligence arrived of a fresh disaster--fortune crowding into this
+ year one calamity after another--that Lucius Posthumius, consul elect, himself
+ with all his army was destroyed in Gaul. He was to march his troops through
+ a vast wood, which the Gauls called Litana. On the right and left of his route,
+ the natives had sawed the trees in such a manner that they continued standing
+ upright, but would fall when impelled by a slight force. Posthumius had with
+ him two Roman legions, and besides had levied so great a number of allies along
+ the Adriatic Sea, that he led into the enemy's country twenty-five thousand
+ men. As soon as this army entered the wood, the Gauls, who were posted around
+ its extreme skirts, pushed down the outermost of the sawn trees, which falling
+ on those next them, and these again on others which of themselves stood tottering
+ and scarcely maintained their position, crushed arms, men, and horses in an
+ indiscriminate manner, so that scarcely ten men escaped. For, most of them being
+ killed by the trunks and broken boughs of trees, the Gauls, who beset the wood
+ on all sides in arms killed the rest, panic-struck by so unexpected a disaster.
+ A very small number, who attempted to escape by a bridge, were taken prisoners,
+ being intercepted by the enemy who had taken possession of it before them. Here
+ Posthumius fell, fighting with all his might to prevent his being taken. The
+ Boii having cut off his head, carried it and the spoils they stole off his body,
+ in triumph into the most sacred temple they had. Afterwards they cleansed the
+ head according to their custom, and having covered the skull with chased gold,
+ used it as a cup for libations in their solemn festivals, and a drinking cup
+ for their high priests and other ministers of the temple. The spoils taken by
+ the Gauls were not less than the victory. For though great numbers of the beasts
+ were crushed by the falling trees, yet as nothing was scattered by flight, every
+ thing else was found strewed along the whole line of the prostrate band. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="e25" />
+<p>The news of this disaster arriving, when the state had been in so great a panic
+ for many days, that the shops were shut up as if the solitude of night reigned
+ through the city; the senate gave it in charge to the aediles to go round the
+ city, cause the shops to be opened, and this appearance of public affliction
+ to be removed. Then Titus Sempronius, having assembled the senate, consoled
+ and encouraged the fathers, requesting, "that they who had sustained the defeat
+ at Cannae with so much magnanimity would not now be cast down with less calamities.
+ That if their arms should prosper, as he hoped they would, against Hannibal
+ and the Carthaginians, the war with the Gauls might be suspended and deferred
+ without hazard. The gods and the Roman people would have it in their power to
+ revenge the treachery of the Gauls another time. That they should now deliberate
+ about the Carthaginian foe, and the forces with which the war was to be prosecuted."
+ He first laid before them the number of foot and horse, as well citizens as
+ allies, that were in the dictator's army. Then Marcellus gave an account of
+ the amount in his. Those who knew were asked what troops were in Apulia with
+ Caius Terentius Varro the consul. But no practicable plan could be devised for
+ raising consular armies sufficient to support so important a war. For this reason,
+ notwithstanding a just resentment irritated them, they determined that Gaul
+ should be passed over for that year. The dictator's army was assigned to the
+ consul; and they ordered such of the troops of Marcellus's army as had fled
+ from Cannae, to be transported into Sicily, to serve there as long as the war
+ continued in Italy. Thither, likewise, were ordered to be sent as unfit to serve
+ with him, the weakest of the dictator's troops, no time of service being appointed,
+ but the legal number of campaigns. The two legions in the city were voted to
+ the other consul who should be elected in the room of Posthumius; and they resolved
+ that he should be elected as soon as the auspices would permit. Besides, two
+ legions were immediately to be recalled from Sicily, out of which the consul,
+ to whom the city legions fell, might take what number of men he should have
+ occasion for. The consul Caius Terentius Varro was continued in his command
+ for one year, without lessening the army he had for the defence of Apulia. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="e26" />
+<p>During these transactions and preparations in Italy, the war in Spain was prosecuted
+ with no less vigour; but hitherto more favourably to the Romans. The two generals
+ had divided their troops, so that Cneius acted by land, and Publius by sea.
+ Hasdrubal, general of the Carthaginians, sufficiently trusting to neither branch
+ of his forces, kept himself at a distance from the enemy, secured by the intervening
+ space and the strength of his fortifications, until, after much solicitation,
+ four thousand foot and five hundred horse were sent him out of Africa as a reinforcement.
+ At length, inspired with fresh hopes, he moved nearer the enemy; and himself
+ also ordered a fleet to be equipped and prepared for the protection of the islands
+ and sea-coasts. In the very onset of renewing the war, he was greatly embarrassed
+ by the desertion of the captains of his ships, who had ceased to entertain a
+ sincere attachment towards the general and the Carthaginian cause, ever since
+ they were severely reprimanded for abandoning the fleet in a cowardly manner
+ at the Iberus. These deserters had raised an insurrection among the Tartessians,
+ and at their instigation some cities had revolted; they had even taken one by
+ force. The war was now turned from the Romans into that country, which he entered
+ in a hostile manner, and resolved to attack Galbus, a distinguished general
+ of the Tartessians, who with a powerful army kept close within his camp, before
+ the walls of a city which had been captured but a few days before. Accordingly,
+ he sent his light-armed troops in advance to provoke the enemy to battle, and
+ part of his infantry to ravage the country throughout in every direction, and
+ to cut off stragglers. There was a skirmish before the camp, at the same time
+ that many were killed and put to flight in the fields. But having by different
+ routes returned to their camp, they so quickly shook off all fear, that they
+ had courage not only to defend their lines, but challenge the enemy to fight.
+ They sallied out, therefore, in a body from the camp, dancing according to their
+ custom. Their sudden boldness terrified the enemy, who a little before had been
+ the assailants. Hasdrubal therefore drew off his troops to a tolerably steep
+ eminence, and secured further by having a river between it and the enemy. Here
+ the parties of light-armed troops which had been sent in advance, and the horse
+ which had been dispersed about, he called in to join him. But not thinking himself
+ sufficiently secured by the eminence or the river, he fortified his camp completely
+ with a rampart. While thus fearing and feared alternately, several skirmishes
+ occurred, in which the Numidian cavalry were not so good as the Spanish, nor
+ the Moorish darters so good as the Spanish targetteers, who equalled them in
+ swiftness, but were superior to them in strength and courage. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="e27" />
+<p>The enemy seeing they could not, by coming up to Hasdrubal's camp, draw him
+ out to a battle, nor assault it without great difficulty, stormed Asena, whither
+ Hasdrubal, on entering their territories, had laid up his corn and other stores.
+ By this they became masters of all the surrounding country. But now they became
+ quite ungovernable, both when on march and within their camp. </p>
+<p> Hasdrubal, therefore, perceiving their negligence, which, as usual, was the
+ consequence of success, after having exhorted his troops to attack them while
+ they were straggling and without their standards, came down the hill, and advanced
+ to their camp in order of battle. On his approach being announced in a tumultuous
+ manner, by men who fled from the watchposts and advanced guards, they shouted
+ to arms; and as each could get his arms, they rushed precipitately to battle,
+ without waiting for the word, without standards, without order, and without
+ ranks. The foremost of them were already engaged, while some were running up
+ in parties, and others had not got out of their camp. However, at first, the
+ very boldness of their attack terrified the enemy. But when they charged their
+ close ranks with their own which were thin, and were not able to defend themselves
+ for want of numbers, each began to look out for others to support him; and being
+ repulsed in all quarters they collected themselves in form of a circle, where
+ being so closely crowded together, body to body, armour to armour, that they
+ had not room to wield their arms, they were surrounded by the enemy, who continued
+ to slaughter them till late in the day. A small number, having forced a passage,
+ made for the woods and hills. With like consternation, their camp was abandoned,
+ and next day the whole nation submitted. But they did not continue long quiet,
+ for immediately upon this, Hasdrubal received orders from Carthage to march
+ into Italy with all expedition. The report of which, spreading over Spain, made
+ almost all the states declare for the Romans. Accordingly he wrote immediately
+ to Carthage, to inform them how much mischief the report of his march had produced.
+ "That if he really did leave Spain, the Romans would be masters of it all before
+ he could pass the Iberus. For, besides that he had neither an army nor a general
+ whom he could leave to supply his place, so great were the abilities of the
+ Roman generals who commanded there, that they could scarcely be opposed with
+ equal forces. If, therefore, they had any concern for preserving Spain, they
+ ought to send a general with a powerful army to succeed him. To whom, however
+ prosperous all things might prove, yet the province would not be a position
+ of ease." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="e28" />
+<p>Though this letter made at first a great impression on the senate, yet, as
+ their interest in Italy was first and most important, they did not at all alter
+ their resolution in relation to Hasdrubal and his troops. However, they despatched
+ Himilco with a complete army, and an augmented fleet, to preserve and defend
+ Spain both by sea and land. When he had conveyed over his land and naval forces,
+ he fortified a camp; and having drawn his ships upon dry land, and surrounded
+ them with a rampart, he marched with a chosen body of cavalry, with all possible
+ expedition; using the same caution when passing through people who were wavering,
+ and those who were actually enemies; and came up with Hasdrubal. As soon as
+ he had informed him of the resolutions and orders of the senate, and in his
+ turn been thoroughly instructed in what manner to prosecute the war in Spain,
+ he returned to his camp; his expedition more than any thing else saving him,
+ for he quitted every place before the people could conspire. Before Hasdrubal
+ quitted his position he laid all the states in subjection to him under contribution.
+ He knew well that Hannibal purchased a passage through some nations; that he
+ had no Gallic auxiliaries but such as were hired; and that if he had undertaken
+ so arduous a march without money, he would scarcely have penetrated so far as
+ the Alps. For this reason, having exacted the contributions with great haste,
+ he marched down to the Iberus. As soon as the Roman generals got notice of the
+ Carthaginian senate's resolution, and Hasdrubal's march, they gave up every
+ other concern, and uniting their forces, determined to meet him and oppose his
+ attempt. They reflected, that when it was already so difficult to make head
+ against Hannibal alone in Italy, there would be an end of the Roman empire in
+ Spain, should Hasdrubal join him with a Spanish army. Full of anxiety and care
+ on these accounts, they assembled their forces at the Iberus, and crossed the
+ river; and after deliberating for some time whether they should encamp opposite
+ to the enemy, or be satisfied with impeding his intended march by attacking
+ the allies of the Carthaginians, they made preparations for besieging a city
+ called Ibera, from its contiguity to the river, which was at that time the wealthiest
+ in that quarter. When Hasdrubal perceived this, instead of carrying assistance
+ to his allies, he proceeded himself to besiege a city which had lately placed
+ itself under the protection of the Romans; and thus the siege which was now
+ commenced was given up by them, and the operations of the war turned against
+ Hasdrubal himself. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="e29" />
+<p>For a few days they remained encamped at a distance of five miles from each
+ other, not without skirmishes, but without going out to a regular engagement.
+ At length the signal for battle was given out on both sides on one and the same
+ day, as though by concert, and they marched down into the plain with all their
+ forces. The Roman army stood in triple line; a part of the light troops were
+ stationed among the first line, the other half were received behind the standards,
+ the cavalry covering the wings. Hasdrubal formed his centre strong with Spaniards,
+ and placed the Carthaginians in the right wing, the Africans and hired auxiliaries
+ in the left. His cavalry he placed before the wings, attaching the Numidians
+ to the Carthaginian infantry, and the rest to the Africans. Nor were all the
+ Numidians placed in the right wing, but such as taking two horses each into
+ the field are accustomed frequently to leap full armed, when the battle is at
+ the hottest, from a tired horse upon a fresh one, after the manner of vaulters:
+ such was their own agility, and so docile their breed of horses. While they
+ stood thus drawn up, the hopes entertained by the generals on both sides were
+ pretty much upon an equality; for neither possessed any great superiority, either
+ in point of the number or quality of the troops. The feelings of the soldiers
+ were widely different. Their generals had, without difficulty, induced the Romans
+ to believe, that although they fought at a distance from their country, it was
+ Italy and the city of Rome that they were defending. Accordingly, they had brought
+ their minds to a settled resolution to conquer or die; as if their return to
+ their country had hinged upon the issue of that battle. The other army consisted
+ of less determined men; for they were principally Spaniards, who would rather
+ be vanquished in Spain, than be victorious to be dragged into Italy. On the
+ first onset, therefore, ere their javelins had scarcely been thrown, their centre
+ gave ground, and the Romans pressing on with great impetuosity, turned their
+ backs. In the wings the battle proceeded with no less activity; on one side
+ the Carthaginians, on the other the Africans, charged vigorously, while the
+ Romans, in a manner surrounded, were exposed to a twofold attack. But when the
+ whole of the Roman troops had united in the centre, they possessed sufficient
+ strength to compel the wings of the enemy to retire in different directions;
+ and thus there were two separate battles, in both of which the Romans were decidedly
+ superior, as after the defeat of the enemy's centre they had the advantage both
+ in the number and strength of their troops. Vast numbers were slain on this
+ occasion; and had not the Spaniards fled precipitately from the field ere the
+ battle had scarce begun, very few out of the whole army would have survived.
+ There was very little fighting of the cavalry, for as soon as the Moors and
+ Numidians perceived that the centre gave way, they fled immediately with the
+ utmost precipitation, leaving the wings uncovered, and also driving the elephants
+ before them. Hasdrubal, after waiting the issue of the battle to the very last,
+ fled from the midst of the carnage with a few attendants. The Romans took and
+ plundered the camp. This victory united with the Romans whatever states of Spain
+ were wavering, and left Hasdrubal no hope, not only of leading an army over
+ into Italy, but even of remaining very safely in Spain. When these events were
+ made generally known at Rome by letters from the Scipios, the greatest joy was
+ felt, not so much for the victory, as for the stop which was put to the passage
+ of Hasdrubal into Italy. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="e30" />
+<p>While these transactions were going on in Spain, Petilia, in Bruttium, was
+ taken by Himilco, an officer of Hannibal's, several months after the siege of
+ it began. This victory cost the Carthaginians much blood and many wounds, nor
+ did any power more subdue the besieged than that of famine; for after having
+ consumed their means of subsistence, derived from fruits and the flesh of every
+ kind of quadrupeds, they were at last compelled to live upon skins found in
+ shoemakers' shops, on herbs and roots, the tender barks of trees, and berries
+ gathered from brambles: nor were they subdued until they wanted strength to
+ stand upon the walls and support their arms. After gaining Petilia, the Carthaginian
+ marched his forces to Consentia, which being less obstinately defended, he compelled
+ to surrender within a few days. Nearly about the same time, an army of Bruttians
+ invested Croton, a Greek city, formerly powerful in men and arms, but at the
+ present time reduced so low by many and great misfortunes, that less than twenty
+ thousand inhabitants of all ages remained. The enemy, therefore, easily got
+ possession of a city destitute of defenders: of the citadel alone possession
+ was retained, into which some of the inhabitants fled from the midst of the
+ carnage during the confusion created by the capture of the city. The Locrians
+ too revolted to the Bruttians and Carthaginians, the populace having been betrayed
+ by the nobles. The Rhegians were the only people in that quarter who continued
+ to the last in faithful attachment to the Romans, and in the enjoyment of their
+ independence. The same alteration of feeing extended itself into Sicily also;
+ and not even the family of Hiero altogether abstained from defection; for Gelo,
+ his oldest son, conceiving a contempt for his father's old age, and, after the
+ defeat of Cannae, for the alliance with Rome, went over to the Carthaginians;
+ and he would have created a disturbance in Sicily, had he not been carried off,
+ when engaged as arming the people and soliciting the allies, by a death so seasonable
+ that it threw some degree of suspicion even upon his father. Such, with various
+ result, were the transactions in Italy, Africa, Sicily, and Spain during this
+ year. At the close of the year, Quintus Fabius Maximus requested of the senate,
+ that he might be allowed to dedicate the temple of Venus Erycina, which he had
+ vowed when dictator. The senate decreed, that Tiberius Sempronius, the consul
+ elect, as soon as ever he had entered upon his office, should propose to the
+ people, that they should create Quintus Fabius duumvir, for the purpose of dedicating
+ the temple. Also, in honour of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been consul
+ twice and augur, his three sons, Lucius, Marcus, and Quintus exhibited funeral
+ games and twenty-two pairs of gladiators for three days in the forum. The curule
+ aediles, Caius Laetorius, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus consul elect, who
+ during his aedileship had been master of the horse, celebrated the Roman games,
+ which were repeated for three days. The plebeian games of the aediles, Marcus
+ Aurelius Cotta and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, were thrice repeated. At the conclusion
+ of the third year of the Punic war, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the consul
+ entered upon his office on the ides of March. Of the praetors, Quintus Fulvius
+ Flaccus, who had before been consul and censor, had by lot the city jurisdiction;
+ Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the foreign. Sicily fell to the lot of Appius Claudius
+ Pulcher; Sardinia to Quintus Mucius Scaevola. The people ordered that Marcus
+ Marcellus should be in command as proconsul, because he was the only Roman general
+ who had been successful in his operations in Italy since the defeat at Cannae.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="e31" />
+<p>The senate decreed, the first day they deliberated in the Capitol, that double
+ taxes should be imposed for that year, one moiety of which should be immediately
+ levied, as a fund from which pay might be given forthwith to all the soldiers,
+ except those who had been at Cannae. With regard to the armies they decreed,
+ that Tiberius Sempronius the consul should appoint a day for the two city legions
+ to meet at Cales, whence these legions should be conveyed into the Claudian
+ camp above Suenula. That the legions which were there, and they consisted principally
+ of the troops which had fought at Cannae, Appius Claudius Pulcher, the praetor,
+ should transport into Sicily; and that those in Sicily should be removed to
+ Rome. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was sent to the army, which had been ordered
+ to meet at Cales on a certain day, with orders to march the city legions thence
+ to the Claudian camp. Titus Metilius Croto, lieutenant-general, was sent by
+ Appius Claudius Pulcher to receive the old army and remove it into Sicily. People
+ at first had expected in silence that the consul would hold an assembly for
+ the election of a colleague, but afterwards perceiving that Marcus Marcellus,
+ whom they wished above all others to be consul this year, on account of his
+ brilliant success during his praetorship, was removed to a distant quarter,
+ as it were on purpose, a murmuring arose in the senate-house, which the consul
+ perceiving, said "Conscript fathers, it was conducive to the interest of the
+ state, both that Marcus Marcellus should go into Campania to make the exchange
+ of the armies, and that the assembly should not be proclaimed before he had
+ returned thence after completing the business with which he was charged, in
+ order that you might have him as consul whom the situation of the republic required
+ and yourselves prefer." Thus nothing was said about the assembly till Marcellus
+ returned. Meanwhile Quintus Fabius Maximus and Titus Otacilius Crassus were
+ created duumvirs for dedicating temples, Otacilius to Mens, Fabius to Venus
+ Erycina. Both are situated in the Capitol, and separated by one channel. It
+ was afterwards proposed to the people, to make Roman citizens of the three hundred
+ Campanian horsemen who had returned to Rome after having faithfully served their
+ period, and also that they should be considered to have been citizens of Cumae
+ from the day before that on which the Campanians had revolted from the Roman
+ people. It had been a principal inducement to this proposition, that they themselves
+ said they knew not to what people they belonged, having left their former country,
+ and being not yet admitted into that to which they had returned. After Marcellus
+ returned from the army, an assembly was proclaimed for electing one consul in
+ the room of Lucius Posthumius. Marcellus was elected with the greatest unanimity,
+ and was immediately to enter upon his office, but as it thundered while he entered
+ upon it, the augurs were summoned, who pronounced that they considered the creation
+ formal, and the fathers spread a report that the gods were displeased, because
+ on that occasion, for the first time, two plebeians had been elected consuls.
+ Upon Marcellus's abdicating his office, Fabius Maximus, for the third time,
+ was elected in his room. This year the sea appeared on fire; at Sinuessa a cow
+ brought forth a horse foal; the statues in the temple of Juno Sospita Lanuvium
+ flowed down with blood; and a shower of stones fell in the neighbourhood of
+ that temple: on account of which shower the nine days' sacred rite was celebrated,
+ as is usual on such occasions, and the other prodigies were carefully expiated.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="e32" />
+<p>The consuls divided the armies between them. The army which Marcus Junius the
+ dictator had commanded fell to the lot of Fabius. To that of Sempronius fell
+ the volunteer slaves, with twenty-five thousand of the allies. To Marcus Valerius
+ the praetor were assigned the legions which had returned from Sicily. Marcus
+ Claudius, proconsul, was sent to that army which lay above Suessula for the
+ protection of Nola. The praetors set out for Sicily and Sardinia. The consuls
+ issued a proclamation, that as often as they summoned a senate, the senators
+ and those who had a right to give their opinion in the senate, should assemble
+ at the Capuan gate. The praetors who were charged with the administration of
+ justice, fixed their tribunals in the public fish market; there they ordered
+ sureties to be entered into, and here justice was administered this year. Meanwhile
+ news was brought to Carthage, from which place Mago, Hannibal's brother, was
+ on the point of carrying over into Italy twelve thousand foot, fifteen hundred
+ horse, twenty elephants, and a thousand talents of silver, under a convoy of
+ sixty men of war, that the operations of the war had not succeeded in Spain,
+ and that almost all the people in that province had gone over to the Romans.
+ There were some who were for sending Mago with that fleet and those forces into
+ Spain, neglecting Italy, when an unexpected prospect of regaining Sardinia broke
+ upon them. They were informed, that "the Roman army there was small, that Aulus
+ Cornelius, who had been praetor there, and was well acquainted with the province,
+ was quitting it, and that a new one was expected. Moreover, that the minds of
+ the Sardinians were now wearied with the long continuance of rule; and that
+ during the last year it had been exercised with severity and rapacity. That
+ the people were weighed down with heavy taxes, and an oppressive contribution
+ of corn: that there was nothing wanting but a leader to whom they might revolt."
+ This secret embassy had been sent by the nobles, Hampsicora being the chief
+ contriver of the measure, who at that time was first by far in wealth and influence.
+ Disconcerted and elated almost at the same time by these accounts, they sent
+ Mago with his fleet and forces into Spain, and selecting Hasdrubal as general
+ for Sardinia, assigned to him about as large a force as to Mago. At Rome, the
+ consuls, after transacting what was necessary to be done in the city now prepared
+ themselves for the war. Tiberius Sempronius appointed a day for his soldiers
+ to assemble at Sinuessa; and Quintus Fabius also, having first consulted the
+ senate, issued a proclamation, that all persons should convey corn from the
+ fields into fortified towns, before the calends of June next ensuing: if any
+ neglected to do so he would lay waste his lands, sell his slaves by auction,
+ and burn his farm-houses. Not even the praetors, who were created for the purpose
+ of administering justice, were allowed an exemption from military employments.
+ It was resolved that Valerius the praetor should go into Apulia, to receive
+ the army from Terentius, and that, when the legions from Sicily had arrived,
+ he should employ them principally for the protection of that quarter. That the
+ army of Terentius should be sent into Sicily, with some one of the lieutenant-generals.
+ Twenty-five ships were given to Marcus Valerius, to protect the sea-coast between
+ Brundusium and Tarentum. An equal number was given to Quintus Fulvius, the city
+ praetor, to protect the coasts in the neighbourhood of the city. To Caius Terentius,
+ the proconsul, it was given in charge to press soldiers in the Picenian territory,
+ and to protect that part of the country; and Titus Otacilius Crassus, after
+ he had dedicated the temple of Mens in the Capitol, was invested with command,
+ and sent into Sicily to take the conduct of the fleet. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="e33" />
+<p>On this contest, between the two most powerful people in the world, all kings
+ and nations had fixed their attention. Among them Philip, king of the Macedonians,
+ regarded it with greater anxiety, in proportion as he was nearer to Italy, and
+ because he was separated from it only by the Ionian Sea. When he first heard
+ that Hannibal had crossed the Alps, as he was rejoiced that a war had arisen
+ between the Romans and the Carthaginians, so while their strength was yet undetermined,
+ he felt doubtful which he should rather wish to be victorious. But after the
+ third battle had been fought and the third victory had been on the side of the
+ Carthaginians, he inclined to fortune, and sent ambassadors to Hannibal. These,
+ avoiding the harbours of Brundusium and Tarentum, because they were occupied
+ by guards of Roman ships, landed at the temple of Juno Lacinia. Thence passing
+ through Apulia, on their way to Capua, they fell in with the Roman troops stationed
+ to protect the country, and were conveyed to Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the praetor,
+ who lay encamped in the neighbourhood of Luceria. Here Xenophanes, who was at
+ the head of the embassy, fearlessly stated, that he was sent by King Philip
+ to conclude a treaty of alliance and friendship with the Roman people, and that
+ he had commissions to the Roman consuls, senate, and people. The praetor, highly
+ delighted with this new alliance with a distinguished potentate, amidst the
+ desertions of her old allies, courteously entertained these enemies as guests,
+ and furnished them with persons to accompany them carefully to point out the
+ roads, and inform them what places, and what passes, the Romans or the enemy
+ occupied. Xenophanes passing through the Roman troops came into Campania, whence,
+ by the shortest way, he entered the camp of Hannibal, and concluded a treaty
+ of alliance and friendship with him on the following terms: That "King Philip,
+ with as large a fleet as he could, (and it was thought he could make one of
+ two hundred ships,) should pass over into Italy, and lay waste the sea-coast,
+ that he should carry on the war by land and sea with all his might; when the
+ war was concluded, that all Italy, with the city of Rome itself, should be the
+ property of the Carthaginians and Hannibal, and that all the booty should be
+ given up to Hannibal. That when Italy was completely subdued they should sail
+ into Greece, and carry on war with such nations as the king pleased. That the
+ cities on the continent and the islands which border on Macedonia, should belong
+ to Philip, and his dominions." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="e34" />
+<p>A treaty was concluded between the Carthaginian general and the ambassadors,
+ upon nearly these terms; and Gisgo, Bostar, and Mago were sent as ambassadors
+ with them to receive the ratification of the king in person. They arrived at
+ the same place, near the temple of Juno Lacinia, where the vessel lay concealed
+ in a creek. Setting out thence, when they had got into the open sea, they were
+ descried by the Roman fleet, which was guarding the coasts of Calabria. Publius
+ Valerius Flaccus having sent fly-boats to pursue and bring back the ship, the
+ king's party at first attempted to fly; but afterwards, finding that they were
+ overmatched in swiftness, they delivered themselves up to the Romans, and were
+ brought to the commander of the fleet. Upon being asked by him who they were,
+ whence they came, and whither they were going, Xenophanes, having once been
+ pretty successful, made up a fictitious story and said, "that he was sent from
+ Philip to the Romans; that he had succeeded in reaching Marcus Valerius, to
+ whom alone he had safe access; that he was unable to make his way through Campania,
+ which was beset with the troops of the enemy." But afterwards the Carthaginian
+ dress and manners excited suspicions of the messengers of Hannibal, and when
+ interrogated, their speech betrayed them; then on their companions being removed
+ to separate places, and intimidated by threats, even a letter from Hannibal
+ to Philip was discovered, and the agreement made between the king of the Macedonians
+ and the Carthaginian. These points having been ascertained, the best course
+ appeared to be, to convey the prisoners and their companions as soon as possible
+ to the senate at Rome, or to the consuls, wheresoever they might be; for this
+ service five of the fastest sailing vessels were selected, and Lucius Valerius
+ Antias sent in command of them, with orders to distribute the ambassadors through
+ all the ships separately, and take particular care that they should hold no
+ conversation or consultation with each other. About the same time Aulus Cornelius
+ Mammula, on his return from the province of Sardinia, made a report of the state
+ of affairs in the island; that every body contemplated war and revolt; that
+ Quintus Mucius who succeeded him, being on his arrival affected by the unwholesomeness
+ of the air and water, had fallen into a disorder rather lingering than dangerous,
+ and would for a long time be incapable of sustaining the violent exertion of
+ the war; that the army there, though strong enough for the protection of a province
+ in a state of tranquillity, was, nevertheless, not adequate to the maintenance
+ of the war which seemed to be about to break out. Upon which the fathers decreed,
+ that Quintus Fulvius Flaccus should enlist five thousand foot and four hundred
+ horse, and take care that the legion thus formed should be transported as soon
+ as possible into Sardinia, and send invested with command whomsoever he thought
+ fit to conduct the business of the war until Mucius had recovered. For this
+ service Titus Manlius Torquatus was sent; he had been twice consul and censor,
+ and had subdued the Sardinians during his consulate. Nearly about the same time
+ a fleet sent from Carthage to Sardinia under the conduct of Hasdrubal, surnamed
+ the Bald, having suffered from a violent tempest, was driven upon the Balearian
+ islands, where a good deal of time was lost in refitting the ships, which were
+ hauled on shore, so much were they damaged, not only in their rigging but also
+ in their hulls. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="e35" />
+<p>As the war was carried on in Italy with less vigour since the battle of Cannae,
+ the strength of one party having been broken, and the energy of the other relaxed,
+ the Campanians of themselves made an attempt to subjugate Cumae, at first by
+ soliciting them to revolt from the Romans, and when that plan did not succeed,
+ they contrived an artifice by which to entrap them. All the Campanians had a
+ stated sacrifice at Hamae. They informed the Cumans that the Campanian senate
+ would come there, and requested that the Cuman senate should also be present
+ to deliberate in concert, in order that both people might have the same allies
+ and the same enemies; they said that they would have an armed force there for
+ their protection, that there might be no danger from the Romans or Carthaginians.
+ The Cumans, although they suspected treachery, made no objection, concluding
+ that thus the deception they meditated might be concealed. Meanwhile Tiberius
+ Sempronius, the Roman consul, having purified his army at Sinuessa, where he
+ had appointed a day for their meeting, crossed the Vulturnus, and pitched his
+ camp in the neighbourhood of Liternum. As his troops were stationed here without
+ any employment, he compelled them frequently to go through their exercise, that
+ the recruits, which consisted principally of volunteer slaves, might accustom
+ themselves to follow the standards, and know their own centuries in battle While
+ thus engaged, the general was particularly anxious for concord, and therefore
+ enjoined the lieutenant-generals and the tribunes that "no disunion should be
+ engendered among the different orders, by casting reproaches on any one on account
+ of his former condition. That the veteran soldier should be content be placed
+ on an equal footing with the tiro, the free-man with the volunteer slave; that
+ all should consider those men sufficiently respectable in point of character
+ and birth, to whom the Roman people had intrusted their arms and standards;
+ that the measures which circumstances made it necessary to adopt, the same circumstances
+ also made it necessary to support when adopted." This was not more carefully
+ prescribed by the generals than observed by the soldiers; and in a short time
+ the minds of all were united in such perfect harmony, that the condition from
+ which each became a soldier was almost forgotten. While Gracchus was thus employed,
+ ambassadors from Cumas brought him information of the embassy which had come
+ to them from the Campanians, a few days before, and the answer they had given
+ them; that the festival would take place in three days from that time; that
+ not only the whole body of their senate, but that the camp and the army of the
+ Campanians would be there. Gracchus having directed the Cumans to convey every
+ thing out of their fields into the town, and to remain within their walls, marched
+ himself to Cumae, on the day before that on which the Campanians were to attend
+ the sacrifice. Hamae was three miles distant from his position. The Campanians
+ had by this time assembled there in great numbers according to the plan concerted;
+ and not far off Marius Alfius, Medixtuticus, which is the name of the chief
+ magistrate of the Campanians, lay encamped in a retired spot with fourteen thousand
+ armed men, considerably more occupied in making preparation for the sacrifice
+ and in concerting the stratagem to be executed during it, than in fortifying
+ his camp or any other military work. The sacrifice at Hamae lasted for three
+ days. It was a nocturnal rite, so arranged as to be completed before midnight.
+ Gracchus, thinking this the proper time for executing his plot, placed guards
+ at the gates to prevent any one from carrying out intelligence of his intentions;
+ and having compelled his men to employ the time from the tenth hour in taking
+ refreshment and sleep, in order that they might be able to assemble on a signal
+ given as soon as it was dark. He ordered the standards to be raised about the
+ first watch, and marching in silence, reached Hamae at midnight; where, finding
+ the Campanian camp in a neglected state, as might be expected during a festival,
+ he assaulted it at every gate at once; some he butchered while stretched on
+ the ground asleep, others as they were returning unarmed after finishing the
+ sacrifice. In the tumultuous action of this night more than two thousand men
+ were slain, together with the general himself, Marius Alfius, and thirty-four
+ military standards were captured. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="e36" />
+<p>Gracchus, having made himself master of the enemy's camp with the loss of less
+ than a hundred men, hastily returned to Cumae, fearful of an attack from Hannibal,
+ who lay encamped above Capua on Tifata; nor did his provident anticipation of
+ the future deceive him; for as soon as intelligence was brought to Capua of
+ this loss, Hannibal, concluding that he should find at Hamae this army, which
+ consisted for the most part of recruits and slaves, extravagantly elated with
+ its success, despoiling the vanquished and collecting booty, marched by Capua
+ at a rapid pace, ordering those Campanians whom he met in their flight to be
+ conducted to Capua under an escort, and the wounded to be conveyed in carriages.
+ He found at Hamae the camp abandoned by the enemy, where there was nothing to
+ be seen but the traces of the recent carnage, and the bodies of his allies strewed
+ in every part. Some advised him to lead his troops immediately thence to Cumae,
+ and assault the town. Though Hannibal desired, in no ordinary degree, to get
+ possession of Cumae at least, as a maritime town, since he could not gain Neapolis;
+ yet as his soldiers had brought out with them nothing besides their arms on
+ their hasty march, he retired to his camp on Tifata. But, wearied with the entreaties
+ of the Campanians, he returned thence to Cumae the following day, with every
+ thing requisite for besieging the town; and having thoroughly wasted the lands
+ of Cumae, pitched, his camp a mile from the town, in which Gracchus had stayed
+ more because he was ashamed to abandon, in such an emergency, allies who implored
+ his protection and that of the Roman people, than because he felt confidence
+ in his army. Nor dared the other consul, Fabius, who was encamped at Cales,
+ lead his troops across the Vulturnus, being employed at first in taking new
+ auspices, and afterwards with the prodigies which were reported one after another;
+ and while expiating these, the aruspices answered that they were not easily
+ atoned. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="e37" />
+<p>While these causes detained Fabius, Sempronius was besieged, and now works
+ were employed in the attack. Against a very large wooden tower which was brought
+ up to the town, the Roman consul raised up another considerably higher from
+ the wall itself; for he had made use of the wall, which was pretty high of itself,
+ as a platform, placing strong piles as supports. From this the besieged at first
+ defended their walls and city, with stones, javelins, and other missiles; but
+ lastly, when they perceived the tower advanced into contact with the wall they
+ threw upon it a large quantity of fire, making use of blazing fire-brands; and
+ while the armed men were throwing themselves down from the tower in great numbers,
+ in consequence of the flames thus occasioned, the troops sallying out of the
+ town at two gates at once, routed the enemy, and drove them back to their camp;
+ so that the Carthaginians that day were more like persons besieged than besiegers.
+ As many as one thousand three hundred of the Carthaginians were slain, and fifty-nine
+ made prisoners, having been unexpectedly overpowered, while standing careless
+ and unconcerned near the walls and on the outposts, fearing any thing rather
+ than a sally. Gracchus sounded a retreat, and withdrew his men within the walls,
+ before the enemy could recover themselves from the effects of this sudden terror.
+ The next day Hannibal, supposing that the consul, elated with his success, would
+ engage him in a regular battle, drew up his troops in battle-array between the
+ camp and the city; but finding that not a man was removed from the customary
+ guard of the town, and that nothing was hazarded upon rash hopes, he returned
+ to Tifata without accomplishing any thing. At the same time that Cumae was relieved
+ from siege, Tiberius Sempronius, surnamed Longus, fought successfully with the
+ Carthaginian general, Hanno, at Grumentum in Lucania. He slew above two thousand
+ of the enemy, losing two hundred and eighty of his own men. He took as many
+ as forty-one military standards. Hanno, driven out of the Lucanian territory,
+ drew back among the Bruttii. Three towns belonging to the Hirpinians, which
+ had revolted from the Romans, were regained by force by the praetor, Marcus
+ Valerius, Vercellius and Sicilius, the authors of the revolt, were beheaded;
+ above a thousand prisoners sold by auction; and the rest of the booty having
+ been given up to the soldiery, the army was marched back to Luceria. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="e38" />
+<p>While these things were taking place in Lucania and Hirpinia, the five ships,
+ which were conveying to Rome the captured ambassadors of the Macedonians and
+ Carthaginians, after passing round the whole coast of Italy from the upper to
+ the lower sea, were sailing by Cumae, when, it not being known whether they
+ belonged to enemies or allies, Gracchus despatched some ships from his fleet
+ to meet them. When it was ascertained, in the course of their mutual inquiries
+ that the consul was at Cumae, the ships put in there, the captives were brought
+ before the consul, and their letters placed in his hands. The consul, after
+ he had read the letters of Philip and Hannibal, sent them all, sealed up, to
+ the senate by land, ordering that the ambassadors should be conveyed thither
+ by sea. The ambassadors and the letters arriving at Rome nearly on the same
+ day, and on examination the answers of the ambassadors corresponding with the
+ contents of the letters, at first intense anxiety oppressed the fathers, on
+ seeing what a formidable war with Macedonia threatened them, when with difficulty
+ bearing up against the Punic war; yet so far were they from sinking under their
+ calamities, that they immediately began to consider how they might divert the
+ enemy from Italy, by commencing hostilities themselves. After ordering the prisoners
+ to be confined in chains, and selling their attendants by public auction, they
+ decreed, that twenty more ships should be got ready, in addition to the twenty-five
+ ships which Publius Valerius Flaccus had been appointed to command. These being
+ provided and launched, and augmented by the five ships which had conveyed the
+ captive ambassadors to Rome, a fleet of fifty ships set sail from Ostia to Tarentum.
+ Publius Valerius was ordered to put on board the soldiers of Varro, which Lucius
+ Apustius, lieutenant-general, commanded at Tarentum; and, with this fleet of
+ fifty ships, not only to protect the coast of Italy, but also to make inquiry
+ respecting the Macedonian war. If the plans of Philip corresponded with his
+ letter, and the discoveries made by his ambassadors, he was directed to acquaint
+ the praetor, Marcus Valerius, with it, who, leaving Lucius Apustius, lieutenant-general,
+ in command of the army, and going to Tarentum to the fleet, was to cross over
+ to Macedonia with all speed, and endeavour to detain Philip in his own dominions.
+ The money which had been sent into Sicily to Appius Claudius, to be repaid to
+ Hiero, was assigned for the support of the fleet and the maintenance of the
+ Macedonian war. This money was conveyed to Tarentum, by Lucius Apustius, lieutenant-general,
+ and with it Hiero sent two hundred thousand pecks of wheat, and a hundred thousand
+ of barley. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="e39" />
+<p>While the Romans were engaged in these preparations and transactions, the captured
+ ship, which formed one of those which had been sent to Rome, made its escape
+ on the voyage and returned to Philip; from which source it became known that
+ the ambassadors with their letters had been made prisoners. Not knowing, therefore,
+ what had been agreed upon between Hannibal and his ambassadors, or what proposals
+ they were to have brought back to him, he sent another embassy with the same
+ instructions. The ambassadors sent to Hannibal were Heraclitus, surnamed Scotinus,
+ Crito of Beraea, and Sositheus of Magnesia; these successfully took and brought
+ back their commissions, but the summer had passed before the king could take
+ any step or make any attempt. Such an influence had the capture of one vessel,
+ together with the ambassadors, in deferring a war which threatened the Romans.
+ Fabius crossed the Vulturnus, after having at length expiated the prodigies,
+ and both the consuls prosecuted the war in the neighbourhood of Capua. Fabius
+ regained by force the towns Compulteria, Trebula, and Saticula, which had revolted
+ to the Carthaginians; and in them were captured the garrisons of Hannibal and
+ a great number of Campanians. At Nola, as had been the case the preceding year,
+ the senate sided with the Romans, the commons with Hannibal; and deliberations
+ were held clandestinely on the subject of massacring the nobles and betraying
+ the city; but to prevent their succeeding in their designs, Fabius marched his
+ army between Capua and the camp of Hannibal on Tifata, and sat down in the Claudian
+ camp above Suessula, whence he sent Marcus Marcellus, the proconsul, with those
+ forces which he had under him, to Nola for its protection. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="e40" />
+<p>In Sardinia also the operations of the war, which had been intermitted from
+ the time that Quintus Mucius, the praetor, had been seized with a serious illness,
+ began to be conducted by Titus Manlius, the praetor. Having hauled the ships
+ of war on shore at Carale, and armed his mariners, in order that he might prosecute
+ the war by land, and received the army from the praetor, he made up the number
+ of twenty-two thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. Setting out for the territory
+ of the enemy with these forces of foot and horse, he pitched his camp not far
+ from the camp of Hamsicora. It happened that Hampsicora was then gone among
+ the Sardinians, called Pelliti, in order to arm their youth, whereby he might
+ augment his forces. His son, named Hiostus, had the command of the camp, who
+ coming to an engagement, with the presumption of youth, was routed and put to
+ flight. In that battle as many as three thousand of the Sardinians were slain,
+ and about eight hundred taken alive. The rest of the army at first wandered
+ in their flight through the fields and woods, but afterwards all fled to a city
+ named Cornus, the capital of that district, whither there was a report that
+ their general had fled; and the war in Sardinia would have been brought to a
+ termination by that battle, had not the Carthaginian fleet under the command
+ of Hasdrubal, which had been driven by a storm upon the Balearian islands, come
+ in seasonably for inspiring a hope of renewing the war. Manlius, after hearing
+ of the arrival of the Punic fleet, returned to Carale, which afforded Hampsicora
+ an opportunity of forming a junction with the Carthaginian. Hasdrubal, having
+ landed his forces and sent back his fleet to Carthage, set out under the guidance
+ of Hampsicora, to lay waste the lands of the allies of the Romans; and he would
+ have proceeded to Carale, had not Manlius, meeting him with his army, restrained
+ him from this wide-spread depredation. At first their camps were pitched opposite
+ to each other, at a small distance; afterwards skirmishes and slight encounters
+ took place with varying success; lastly, they came down into the field and fought
+ a regular pitched battle for four hours. The Carthaginians caused the battle
+ to continue long doubtful, for the Sardinians were accustomed to yield easily;
+ but at last, when the Sardinians fell and fled on all sides around them, the
+ Carthaginians themselves were routed. But as they were turning their backs,
+ the Roman general, wheeling round that wing with which he had driven back the
+ Sardinians, intercepted them, after which it was rather a carnage than a battle.
+ Two thousand of the enemy, Sardinians and Carthaginians together, were slain,
+ about three thousand seven hundred captured, with twenty-seven military standards.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="e41" />
+<p>Above all, the general, Hasdrubal, and two other noble Carthaginians having
+ been made prisoners, rendered the battle glorious and memorable; Mago, who was
+ of the Barcine family, and nearly related to Hannibal, and Hanno, the author
+ of the revolt of the Sardinians, and without doubt the instigator of this war.
+ Nor less did the Sardinian generals render that battle distinguished by their
+ disasters; for not only was Hiostus, son of Hampsicora, slain in the battle,
+ but Hampsicora himself flying with a few horse, having heard of the death of
+ his son in addition to his unfortunate state, committed suicide by night, lest
+ the interference of any person should prevent the accomplishment of his design.
+ To the other fugitives the city of Cornus afforded a refuge, as it had done
+ before; but Manlius, having assaulted it with his victorious troops, regained
+ it in a few days. Then other cities also which had gone over to Hampsicora and
+ the Carthaginians, surrendered themselves and gave hostages, on which having
+ imposed a contribution of money and corn, proportioned to the means and delinquency
+ of each, he led back his troops to Carale. There launching his ships of war,
+ and putting the soldiers he had brought with him on board, he sailed to Rome,
+ reported to the fathers the total subjugation of Sardinia, and handed over the
+ contribution of money to the quaestors, of corn to the aediles, and the prisoners
+ to the praetor Fulvius. During the same time, as Titus Otacilius the praetor,
+ who had sailed over with a fleet of fifty ships from Lilybaeum to Africa, and
+ laid waste the Carthaginian territory, was returning thence to Sardinia, to
+ which place it was reported that Hasdrubal had recently crossed over from the
+ Baleares, he fell in with his fleet on its return to Africa; and after a slight
+ engagement in the open sea, captured seven ships with their crews. Fear dispersed
+ the rest far and wide, not less effectually than a storm. It happened also,
+ at the same time, that Bomilcar arrived at Locri with soldiers sent from Carthage
+ as a reinforcement, bringing with him also elephants and provisions. In order
+ to surprise and overpower him, Appius Claudius, having hastily led his troops
+ to Messana, under pretext of making the circuit of the province, crossed over
+ to Locri, the tide being favourable. Bomilcar had by this time left the place,
+ having set out for Bruttium to join Hanno. The Locrians closed their gates against
+ the Romans, and Appius Claudius returned to Rome without achieving any thing,
+ by his strenuous efforts. The same summer Marcellus made frequent excursions
+ from Nola, which he was occupying with a garrison, into the lands of the Hirpini
+ and Caudine Samnites, and so destroyed all before him with fire and sword, that
+ he renewed in Samnium the memory of her ancient disasters. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="e42" />
+<p>Ambassadors were therefore despatched from both nations at the same time to
+ Hannibal, who thus addressed the Carthaginian: "Hannibal, we carried on hostilities
+ with the Roman people, by ourselves and from our own resources, as long as our
+ own arms and our own strength could protect us. Our confidence in these failing,
+ we attached ourselves to king Pyrrhus. Abandoned by him, we accepted of a peace,
+ dictated by necessity, which we continued to observe up to the period when you
+ arrived in Italy, through a period of almost fifty years. Your valour and good
+ fortune, not more than your unexampled humanity and kindness displayed towards
+ our countrymen, whom, when made prisoners, you restored to us, so attached us
+ to you, that while you our friend were in health and safety, we not only feared
+ not the Romans, but not even the anger of the gods, if it were lawful so to
+ express ourselves. And yet, by Hercules, you not only being in safety and victorious,
+ but on the spot, (when you could almost hear the shrieks of our wives and children,
+ and see our buildings in flames,) we have suffered, during this summer, such
+ repeated devastations, that Marcellus, and not Hannibal, would appear to have
+ been the conqueror at Cannae; while the Romans boast that you had strength only
+ to inflict a single blow; and having as it were left your sting, now lie torpid.
+ For near a century we waged war with the Romans, unaided by any foreign general
+ or army; except that for two years Pyrrhus rather augmented his own strength
+ by the addition of our troops, than defended us by his. I will not boast of
+ our successes, that two consuls and two consular armies were sent under the
+ yoke by us, nor of any other joyful and glorious events which have happened
+ to us. We can tell of the difficulties and distresses we then experienced, with
+ less indignation than those which are now occurring. Dictators, those officers
+ of high authority, with their masters of horse, two consuls with two consular
+ armies, entered our borders, and, after having reconnoitred and posted reserves,
+ led on their troops in regular array to devastate our country. Now we are the
+ prey of a single propraetor, and of one little garrison, for the defence of
+ Nola. Now they do not even confine themselves to plundering in companies, but,
+ like marauders, range through our country from one end to the other, more unconcernedly
+ than if they were rambling through the Roman territory. And the reason is this,
+ you do not protect us yourself, and the whole of our youth, which, if at home,
+ would keep us in safety, is serving under your banners. We know nothing either
+ of you or your army, but we know that it would be easy for the man who has routed
+ and dispersed so many Roman armies, to put down these rambling freebooters of
+ ours, who roam about in disorder to whatsoever quarter the hope of booty, however
+ groundless, attracts them. They indeed will be the prey of a few Numidians,
+ and a garrison sent to us will also dislodge that at Nola, provided you do not
+ think those men undeserving that you should protect them as allies, whom you
+ have esteemed worthy of your alliance." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="e43" />
+<p>To this Hannibal replied, "that the Hirpini and Samnites did every thing at
+ once: that they both represented their sufferings, solicited succours, and complained
+ that they were undefended and neglected. Whereas, they ought first to have represented
+ their sufferings, then to have solicited succours; and lastly, if those succours
+ were not obtained, then, at length, to make complaint that assistance had been
+ implored without effect. That he would lead his troops not into the fields of
+ the Hirpini and Samnites, lest he too should be a burthen to them, but into
+ the parts immediately contiguous, and belonging to the allies of the Roman people,
+ by plundering which, he would enrich his own soldiers, and cause the enemy to
+ retire from them through fear. With regard to the Roman war, if the battle of
+ Trasimenus was more glorious than that at Trebia, and the battle of Cannae than
+ that of Trasimenus, that he would eclipse the fame of the battle of Cannae by
+ a greater and more brilliant victory." With this answer, and with munificent
+ presents, he dismissed the ambassadors. Having left a pretty large garrison
+ in Tifata, he set out with the rest of his troops to go to Nola. Thither came
+ Hanno from the Bruttii with recruits and elephants brought from Carthage. Having
+ encamped not far from the place, every thing, upon examination, was found to
+ be widely different from what he had heard from the ambassadors of the allies.
+ For Marcellus was doing nothing, in such a way that he could be said to have
+ committed himself rashly either to fortune or to the enemy. He had gone out
+ on plundering expeditions, having previously reconnoitred, planted strong guards,
+ and secured a retreat; the same caution was observed and the same provisions
+ made, as if Hannibal were present. At this time, when he perceived the enemy
+ on the approach, he kept his forces within the walls, ordered the senators of
+ Nola to patrol the walls, and explore on all hands what was doing among the
+ enemy. Of these Herennius Bassus and Herius Petrius, having been invited by
+ Hanno, who had come up to the wall, to a conference, and gone out with the permission
+ of Marcellus, were thus addressed by him, through an interpreter. After extolling
+ the valour and good fortune of Hannibal, and vilifying the majesty of the Roman
+ people, which he represented as sinking into decrepitude with their strength;
+ he said, "but though they were on an equality in these respects, as once perhaps
+ they were, yet they who had experienced how oppressive the government of Rome
+ was towards its allies, and how great the clemency of Hannibal, even towards
+ all his prisoners of the Italian name, were bound to prefer the friendship and
+ alliance of the Carthaginians to those of the Romans." If both the consuls with
+ their armies were at Nola, still they would no more be a match for Hannibal
+ than they had been at Cannae, much less would one praetor with a few raw soldiers
+ be able to defend it. It was a question which concerned themselves more than
+ Hannibal whether he should take possession of Nola as captured or surrendered,
+ for that he would certainly make himself master of it, as he had done with regard
+ to Capua and Nuceria, and what difference there was between the fate of Capua
+ and Nuceria, the Nolans themselves, situated as they were nearly midway between
+ them, were well aware. He said he was unwilling to presage the evils which would
+ result to the city if taken by force, but would in preference pledge himself
+ that if they would deliver up Nola, together with Marcellus and his garrison,
+ no other person than themselves should dictate the conditions on which they
+ should come into the friendship and alliance of Hannibal. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="e44" />
+<p>To this Herennius Bassus replied, that, "a friendship had subsisted now for
+ many years between the Romans and the Nolans, which neither party up to that
+ day regretted; and even had they been disposed to change their friends upon
+ a change of fortune, it was now too late to change; had they intended to surrender
+ themselves to Hannibal, they should not have called a Roman garrison to their
+ aid: that all fortunes both were now and should to the last be shared with those
+ who had come to their protection." This conference deprived Hannibal of the
+ hope of gaining Nola by treachery; he therefore completely invested the city,
+ in order that he might attack the walls in every part at once. Marcellus, when
+ he perceived that he had come near to the walls, having drawn up his troops
+ within the gate, sallied forth with great impetuosity; several were knocked
+ down and slain on the first charge: afterwards the troops running up to those
+ who were engaged, and their forces being thus placed on an equality? the battle
+ began to be fierce; nor would there have been many actions equally memorable,
+ had not the combatants been separated by a shower of rain attended with a tremendous
+ storm. On that day, after having engaged in a slight contest, and with inflamed
+ minds, they retired, the Romans to the city, the Carthaginians to their camp.
+ Of the Carthaginians, however, there fell from the shock of the first sally
+ not more than thirty, of the Romans not one. The rain continued without intermission
+ through the whole night, until the third hour of the following day, and therefore,
+ though both parties were eager for the contest, they nevertheless kept themselves
+ within their works for that day. On the third day Hannibal sent a portion of
+ his troops into the lands of the Nolans to plunder. Marcellus perceiving this,
+ immediately led out his troops and formed for battle, nor did Hannibal decline
+ fighting. The interval between the city and the camp was about a mile. In that
+ space, and all the country round Nola consists of level ground, the armies met.
+ The shout which was raised on both sides, called back to the battle, which had
+ now commenced, the nearest of those cohorts which had gone out into the fields
+ to plunder. The Nolans too joined the Roman line. Marcellus having highly commended
+ them, desired them to station themselves in reserve, and to carry the wounded
+ out of the field but not take part in the battle, unless they should receive
+ a signal from him. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="e45" />
+<p>It was a doubtful battle; the generals exerting themselves to the utmost in
+ exhorting, and the soldiers in fighting Marcellus urged his troops to press
+ vigorously on men who had been vanquished but three days before, who had been
+ put to flight at Cumae only a few days ago, and who had been driven from Nola
+ the preceding year by himself, as general, though with different troops. He
+ said, "that all the forces of the enemy were not in the field; that they were
+ rambling about the country in plundering parties, and that even those who were
+ engaged, were enfeebled with Campanian luxury, and worn out with drunkenness,
+ lust, and every kind of debauchery, which they had been indulging in through
+ the whole winter. That the energy and vigour had left them, that the strength
+ of mind and body had vanished, by which the Pyrenees and the tops of the Alps
+ had been passed. That those now engaged were the remains of those men, with
+ scarcely strength to support their arms and limbs. That Capua had been a Cannae
+ to Hannibal; that there his courage in battle, his military discipline, the
+ fame he had already acquired, and his hopes of future glory, were extinguished."
+ While Marcellus was raising the spirits of his troops by thus inveighing against
+ the enemy, Hannibal assailed them with still heavier reproaches. He said, "he
+ recognised the arms and standards which he had seen and employed at Trebia and
+ Trasimenus, and lastly at Cannae; but that he had indeed led one sort of troops
+ into winter quarters at Capua, and brought another out. Do you, whom two consular
+ armies could never withstand, with difficulty maintain your ground against a
+ Roman lieutenant-general, and a single legion with a body of auxiliaries? Does
+ Marcellus now a second time with impunity assail us with a band of raw recruits
+ and Nolan auxiliaries? Where is that soldier of mine, who took off the head
+ of Caius Flaminius, the consul, after dragging him from his horse? Where is
+ the man who slew Lucius Paulus at Cannae? Is it that the steel hath lost its
+ edge? or that your right hands are benumbed? or what other miracle is it? You
+ who, when few, have been accustomed to conquer numbers, now scarce maintain
+ your ground, the many against the few. Brave in speech only, you were wont to
+ boast that you would take Rome by storm if you could find a general to lead
+ you. Lo! here is a task of less difficulty. I would have you try your strength
+ and courage here. Take Nola, a town situated on a plain, protected neither by
+ river nor sea; after that, when you have enriched yourselves with the plunder
+ and spoils of that wealthy town, I will either lead or follow you whithersoever
+ you have a mind." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="e46" />
+<p>Neither praises nor reproaches had any effect in confirming their courage.
+ Driven from their ground in every quarter, while the Romans derived fresh spirits,
+ not only from the exhortations of their general, but from the Nolans, who, by
+ their acclamations in token of their good wishes, fed the flame of battle, the
+ Carthaginians turned their backs, and were driven to their camp, which the Roman
+ soldiers were eager to attack; but Marcellus led them back to Nola, amidst the
+ great joy and congratulations even from the commons, who hitherto had been more
+ favourable to the Carthaginians. Of the enemy more than five thousand were slain
+ on that day, six hundred made prisoners, with nineteen military standards and
+ two elephants. Four elephants were killed in the battle. Of the Romans less
+ than a thousand were killed. The next day was employed by both parties in burying
+ their dead, under a tacit truce. Marcellus burnt the spoils of the enemy, in
+ fulfilment of a vow to Vulcan. On the third day after, on account of some pique,
+ I suppose, or in the hope of more advantageous service, one thousand two hundred
+ and seventy-two horsemen, Numidians and Spaniards, deserted to Marcellus. The
+ Romans had frequently availed themselves of their brave and faithful service
+ in that war. After the conclusion of the war, portions of land were given to
+ the Spaniards in Spain, to the Numidians in Africa, in consideration of their
+ valour. Having sent Hanno back from Nola to the Bruttians with the troops with
+ which he had come, Hannibal went himself into winter quarters in Apulia, and
+ took up a position in the neighbourhood of Arpi. Quintus Fabius, as soon as
+ he heard that Hannibal was set out into Apulia, conveyed corn, collected from
+ Nola and Naples, into the camp above Suessula; and having strengthened the fortifications
+ and left a garrison sufficient for the protection of the place during the winter,
+ moved his camp nearer to Capua, and laid waste the Campanian lands with fire
+ and sword; so that at length the Campanians, though not very confident in their
+ strength, were obliged to go out of their gates and fortify a camp in the open
+ space before the city. They had six thousand armed men, the infantry, unfit
+ for action. In their cavalry they had more strength. They therefore harassed
+ the enemy by attacking them with these. Among the many distinguished persons
+ who served in the Campanian cavalry was one Cerrinus Jubellius, surnamed Taurea.
+ Though of that extraction, he was a Roman citizen, and by far the bravest horseman
+ of all the Campanians, insomuch that when he served under the Roman banners,
+ there was but one man, Claudius Asellus, a Roman, who rivalled him in his reputation
+ as a horseman. Taurea having for a long time diligently sought for this man,
+ riding up to the squadrons of the enemy, at length having obtained silence,
+ inquired where Claudius Asellus was, and asked why, since he had been accustomed
+ to dispute about their merit in words, he would not decide the matter with the
+ sword, and if vanquished give him <i>spolia opima</i>, or if victorious take
+ them. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="e47" />
+<p>Asellus, who was in the camp, having been informed of this, waited only to
+ ask the consul leave to depart from the ordinary course and fight an enemy who
+ had challenged him. By his permission, he immediately put on his arms, and riding
+ out beyond the advanced guards called on Taurea by name, and bid him come to
+ the encounter when he pleased. By this time the Romans had gone out in large
+ bodies to witness the contest, and the Campanians had crowded not only the rampart
+ of the camp, but the walls of the city to get a view of it. After a flourish
+ of expressions of mutual defiance, they spurred on their horses with their spears
+ pointed. Then evading each other's attacks, for they had free space to move
+ in, they protracted the battle without a wound. Upon this the Campanian observed
+ to the Roman, "This will be only a trial of skill between our horses and not
+ between horsemen, unless we ride them down from the plain into this hollow way.
+ There, as there will be no room for retiring, we shall come to close quarters."
+ Almost quicker than the word, Claudius leaped into the hollow way. Taurea, bold
+ in words more than in reality, said, "Never be the ass in the ditch;" an expression
+ which from this circumstance became a common proverb among rustics. Claudius
+ having rode up and down the way to a considerable distance, and again come up
+ into the plain without meeting his antagonist, after reflecting in reproachful
+ terms on the cowardice of the enemy, returned in triumph to the camp, amidst
+ great rejoicing and congratulation. To the account of this equestrian contest,
+ some histories add a circumstance which is certainly astonishing, how true it
+ is, is an open matter of opinion that Claudius, when in pursuit of Taurea, who
+ fled back to the city, rode in at one of the gates of the enemy which stood
+ open and made his escape unhurt through another, the enemy being thunderstruck
+ at the strangeness of the circumstance. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">48 </div>
+<a id="e48" />
+<p>The camps were then undisturbed, the consul even moved his camp back, that
+ the Campanians might complete their sowing, nor did he do any injury to the
+ lands till the blades in the corn-fields were grown sufficiently high to be
+ useful for forage. This he conveyed into the Claudian camp above Suessula, and
+ there erected winter quarters. He ordered Marcus Claudius, the proconsul, to
+ retain at Nola a sufficient force for the protection of the place, and send
+ the rest to Rome, that they might not be a burthen to their allies nor an expense
+ to the republic. Tiberius Gracchus also, having led his legions from Cumae to
+ Luceria in Apulia, sent Marcus Valerius, the praetor, thence to Brundusium with
+ the troops which he had commanded at Luceria, with orders to protect the coast
+ of the Sallentine territory, and make provisions with regard to Philip and the
+ Macedonian war. At the close of the summer, the events of which I have described,
+ letters arrived from Publius and Cneius Scipio, stating the magnitude and success
+ of their operations in Spain, but that the army was in want of money, clothing,
+ and corn, and that then crews were in want of every thing. With regard to the
+ pay, they said, that if the treasury was low, they would adopt some plan by
+ which they might procure it from the Spaniards, but that the other supplies
+ must certainly be sent from Rome, for otherwise neither the army could be kept
+ together nor the province preserved. When the letters were read, all to a man
+ admitted that the statement was correct, and the request reasonable, but it
+ occurred to their minds, what great forces they were maintaining by land and
+ sea, and how large a fleet must soon be equipped if a war with Macedon should
+ break out, that Sicily and Sardinia, which before the war had wielded a revenue,
+ were scarcely able to maintain the troops which protected those provinces, that
+ the expenses were supplied by a tax, that both the number of the persons who
+ contributed this tax was diminished by the great havoc made in their armies
+ at the Trasimenus and Cannae, and the few who survived, if they were oppressed
+ with multiplied impositions, would perish by a calamity of a different kind.
+ That, therefore, if the republic could not subsist by credit, it could not stand
+ by its own resources. It was resolved, therefore, that Fulvius, the praetor,
+ should present himself to the public assembly of the people, point out the necessities
+ of the state, and exhort those persons who had increased their patrimonies by
+ farming the public revenues, to furnish temporary loans for the service of that
+ state, from which they had derived their wealth, and contract to supply what
+ was necessary for the army in Spain, on the condition of being paid the first
+ when there was money in the treasury. These things the praetor laid before the
+ assembly, and fixed a day on which he would let on contract the furnishing the
+ army in Spain with clothes and corn, and with such other things as were necessary
+ for the crews. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">49 </div>
+<a id="e49" />
+<p>When the day arrived, three companies, of nineteen persons, came forward to
+ enter into the contract; but they made two requests: one was, that they should
+ be exempt from military service while employed in that revenue business; the
+ second was, that the state should bear all losses of the goods they shipped,
+ which might arise either from the attacks of the enemy or from storms. Having
+ obtained both their requests, they entered into the contract, and the affairs
+ of the state were conducted by private funds. This character and love of country
+ uniformly pervaded all ranks. As all the engagements were entered into with
+ magnanimity, so were they fulfilled with the strictest fidelity; and the supplies
+ were furnished in the same manner as formerly, from an abundant treasury. At
+ the time when these supplies arrived, the town of Illiturgi was being besieged
+ by Hasdrubal, Mago, and Hamilcar the son of Bomilcar, on account of its having
+ gone over to the Romans. Between these three camps of the enemy, the Scipios
+ effected an entrance into the town of their allies, after a violent contest
+ and great slaughter of their opponents, and introduced some corn, of which there
+ was a scarcity; and after exhorting the townsmen to defend their walls with
+ the same spirit which they had seen displayed by the Roman army fighting in
+ their behalf, led on their troops to attack the largest of the camps, in which
+ Hasdrubal had the command. To this camp the two other generals of the Carthaginians
+ with their armies came, seeing that the great business was to be done there.
+ They therefore sallied from the camp and fought. Of the enemy engaged there
+ were sixty thousand; of the Romans about sixteen; the victory, however, was
+ so decisive, that the Romans slew more than their own number of the enemy, and
+ captured more than three thousand, with nearly a thousand horses and fifty-nine
+ military standards, five elephants having been slain in the battle. They made
+ themselves masters of the three camps on that day. The siege of Illiturgi having
+ been raised, the Carthaginian armies were led away to the siege of Intibili;
+ the forces having been recruited out of that province, which was, above all
+ others, fond of war, provided there was any plunder or pay to be obtained, and
+ at that time had an abundance of young men. A second regular engagement took
+ place, attended with the same fortune to both parties; in which above three
+ thousand of the enemy were slain, more than two thousand captured, together
+ with forty-two standards and nine elephants. Then, indeed, almost all the people
+ of Spain came over to the Romans, and the achievements in Spain during that
+ summer were much more important than those in Italy. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book24">BOOK XXIV.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 215-213</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#f1">1</a> <a href="#f2">2</a> <a href="#f3">3</a>
+ <a href="#f4">4</a> <a href="#f5">5</a> <a href="#f6">6</a> <a href="#f7">7</a>
+ <a href="#f8">8</a> <a href="#f9">9</a> <a href="#f10">10</a> <a href="#f11">11</a>
+ <a href="#f12">12</a> <a href="#f13">13</a> <a href="#f14">14</a> <a href="#f15">15</a>
+ <a href="#f16">16</a> <a href="#f17">17</a> <a href="#f18">18</a> <a href="#f19">19</a>
+ <a href="#f20">20</a> <a href="#f21">21</a> <a href="#f22">22</a> <a href="#f23">23</a>
+ <a href="#f24">24</a> <a href="#f25">25</a> <a href="#f26">26</a> <a href="#f27">27</a>
+ <a href="#f28">28</a> <a href="#f29">29</a> <a href="#f30">30</a> <a href="#f31">31</a>
+ <a href="#f32">32</a> <a href="#f33">33</a> <a href="#f34">34</a> <a href="#f35">35</a>
+ <a href="#f36">36</a> <a href="#f37">37</a> <a href="#f38">38</a> <a href="#f39">39</a>
+ <a href="#f40">40</a> <a href="#f41">41</a> <a href="#f42">42</a> <a href="#f43">43</a>
+ <a href="#f44">44</a> <a href="#f45">45</a> <a href="#f46">46</a> <a href="#f47">47</a>
+ <a href="#f48">48</a> <a href="#f49">49</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Hieronymus, king of Syracuse, whose grandfather Hiero
+ had been a faithful ally of Rome, revolts to the Carthaginians, and for his
+ tyranny is put to death by his subjects. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the proconsul,
+ defeats the Carthaginians under Hanno at Beneventum chiefly by the services
+ of the slaves in his army, whom he subsequently liberated. Claudius Marcellus,
+ the consul, besieges Syracuse. War is declared against Philip, king of Macedon,
+ he is routed by night at Apollonia and retreats into Macedonia. This war is
+ intrusted to Valerius the praetor. Operations of the Scipios against the Carthaginians
+ in Spain. Syphax, king of the Numidians, is received into alliance by the Romans,
+ and is defeated by Masinissa, king of the Massillians, who fought on the side
+ of the Carthaginians. The Celtiberians joined the Romans, and their troops having
+ been taken into pay, mercenary soldiers for the first time served in a Roman
+ camp.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="f1" />
+<p>On his return from Campania into Bruttium, Hanno, with the assistance and under
+ the guidance of the Bruttians, made an attempt upon the Greek cities; which
+ were the more disposed to continue in alliance with the Romans, because they
+ perceived that the Bruttians, whom they feared and hated, had taken part with
+ the Carthaginians. The first place attempted was Rhegium, where several days
+ were spent without effect. Meanwhile the Locrians hastily conveyed from the
+ country into the city, corn, wood, and other things necessary for their use,
+ as also that no booty might be left for the enemy. The number of persons which
+ poured out of every gate increased daily, till at length those only were left
+ in the city whose duty it was to repair the walls and gates, and to collect
+ weapons in the fortresses. Against this mixed multitude, composed of persons
+ of all ages and ranks, while rambling through the country, and for the most
+ part unarmed, Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, sent out his cavalry, who, having
+ been forbidden to hurt any one, only interposed their squadrons, so as to cut
+ them off from the city when dispersed in flight. The general himself, having
+ posted himself upon an eminence which commanded a view of the country and the
+ city, ordered a cohort of Bruttians to approach the walls, call out the leaders
+ of the Locrians to a conference, and promising them the friendship of Hannibal,
+ exhort them to deliver up the city. At first the Bruttians were not believed
+ in any thing they stated in the conference, but afterwards, when the Carthaginian
+ appeared on the hills, and a few who had fled back to the city brought intelligence
+ that all the rest of the multitude were in the power of the enemy, overcome
+ with fear, they said they would consult the people. An assembly of the people
+ was immediately called, when, as all the most fickle of the inhabitants were
+ desirous of a change of measures and a new alliance, and those whose friends
+ were cut off by the enemy without the city, had their minds bound as if they
+ had given hostages, while a few rather silently approved of a constant fidelity
+ than ventured to support the opinion they approved, the city was surrendered
+ to the Carthaginians, with an appearance of perfect unanimity. Lucius Atilius,
+ the captain of the garrison, together with the Roman soldiers who were with
+ him, having been privately led down to the port, and put on board a ship, that
+ they might be conveyed to Rhegium, Hamilcar and the Carthaginians were received
+ into the city on condition that an alliance should be formed on equal terms;
+ which condition, when they had surrendered, the Carthaginian had very nearly
+ not performed, as he accused them of having sent away the Roman fraudulently,
+ while the Locrians alleged that he had spontaneously fled. A body of cavalry
+ went in pursuit of the fugitives, in case the tide might happen to detain them
+ in the strait, or might carry the ships to land. The persons whom they were
+ in pursuit of they did not overtake, but they descried some ships passing over
+ the strait from Messana to Rhegium. These contained Roman troops sent by the
+ praetor, Claudius, to occupy the city with a garrison. The enemy therefore immediately
+ retired from Rhegium. At the command of Hannibal, peace was concluded with the
+ Locrians on these terms: that "they should live free under their own laws; that
+ the city should be open to the Carthaginians, the harbour in the power of the
+ Locrians. That their alliance should rest on the principle, that the Carthaginian
+ should help the Locrian and the Locrian the Carthaginian in peace and war."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="f2" />
+<p>Thus the Carthaginian troops were led back from the strait, while the Bruttians
+ loudly complained that Locri and Rhegium, cities which they had fixed in their
+ minds that they should have the plundering of, they had left untouched. Having
+ therefore levied and armed fifteen thousand of their own youth, they set out
+ by themselves to lay siege to Croto, which was also a Greek city, and on the
+ coast, believing that they would obtain a great accession to their power, if
+ they could get possession of a city upon the sea-coast, which had a port and
+ was strongly defended by walls. This consideration annoyed them, that they neither
+ could venture on the business without calling in the Carthaginians to their
+ assistance, lest they should appear to have done any thing in a manner unbecoming
+ allies, and on the other hand, lest, if the Carthaginian general should again
+ show himself to have been rather an umpire of peace than an auxiliary in war,
+ they should fight in vain against the liberty of Croto, as before in the affair
+ of the Locrians. The most advisable course, therefore, appeared to be, that
+ ambassadors should be sent to Hannibal, and that a stipulation should be obtained
+ from him that Croto, when reduced, should be in possession of the Bruttians.
+ Hannibal replied, that it was a question which should be determined by persons
+ on the spot, and referred them to Hanno, from whom they could obtain no decisive
+ answer. For they were unwilling that so celebrated and opulent a city should
+ be plundered, and were in hopes that if the Bruttians should attack it, while
+ the Carthaginians did not ostensibly approve or assist in the attack, the inhabitants
+ would the more readily come over to them. The Crotonians were not united either
+ in their measures or wishes. All the states of Italy were infected with one
+ disease, as it were, the commons dissented from the nobles, the senate favouring
+ the Romans, while the commons endeavoured to draw the states over to the Carthaginians.
+ A deserter announced to the Bruttii that such a dissension prevailed in the
+ city, that Aristomachus was the leader of the commons, and the adviser of the
+ surrender of the city, that the city was of wide extent and thinly inhabited,
+ that the walls in every part were in ruins, that it was only here and there
+ that the guards and watches were kept by senators, and that wherever the commons
+ kept guard, there an entrance lay open. Under the direction and guidance of
+ the deserter, the Bruttians completely invested the city, and being received
+ into it by the commons, got possession of every part, except the citadel, on
+ the first assault. The nobles held the citadel, which they had taken care beforehand
+ to have ready as a refuge against such an event. In the same place Aristomachus
+ took refuge, as though he had advised the surrender of the city to the Carthaginians,
+ and not to the Bruttians. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="f3" />
+<p>The wall of the city of Croto in circuit extended through a space of twelve
+ miles, before the arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy. After the devastation occasioned
+ by that war, scarcely half the city was inhabited. The river which had flowed
+ through the middle of the town, now ran on the outside of the parts which were
+ occupied by buildings, and the citadel was at a distance from the inhabited
+ parts. Six miles from this celebrated city stood the temple of Juno Lacinia,
+ more celebrated even than the city itself, and venerated by all the surrounding
+ states. Here was a grove fenced with a dense wood and tall fir trees, with rich
+ pastures in its centre, in which cattle of every kind, sacred to the goddess,
+ fed without any keeper; the flocks of every kind going out separately and returning
+ to their folds, never being injured, either from the lying in wait of wild beasts,
+ or the dishonesty of men. These flocks were, therefore, a source of great revenue,
+ from which a column of solid gold was formed and consecrated; and the temple
+ became distinguished for its wealth also, and not only for its sanctity. Some
+ miracles are attributed to it, as is generally the case with regard to such
+ remarkable places. Rumour says that there is an altar in the vestibule of the
+ temple, the ashes of which are never moved by any wind. But the citadel of Croto,
+ overhanging the sea on one side, on the other, which looks towards the land,
+ was protected formerly by its natural situation only, but was afterwards surrounded
+ by a wall. It was in this part that Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, took it
+ by stratagem, approaching by way of some rocks which faced from it. This citadel,
+ which was considered sufficiently secure, was now occupied by the nobles of
+ Croto, the Bruttians, in conjunction even with their own commons, besieging
+ them. The Bruttians, however, perceiving at length that it was impossible to
+ take the citadel by their own efforts, compelled by necessity, implored the
+ aid of Hanno. He endeavoured to bring the Crotonians to surrender, under an
+ agreement that they should allow a colony of Bruttians to settle there; so that
+ their city, desolate and depopulated by wars, might recover its former populousness:
+ but not a man besides Aristomachus did he move; they affirmed, that "they would
+ die sooner than, mixing with Bruttians, be turned to the rites, manners, and
+ laws, and soon the language also of others." Aristomachus alone, since he was
+ neither able to persuade them to surrender, nor could obtain an opportunity
+ for betraying the citadel as he had betrayed the city, deserted to Hanno. A
+ short time afterwards ambassadors of Locri, entering the citadel with the permission
+ of Hanno, persuaded them to allow themselves to be removed to Locri, and not
+ resolve to hazard extremities. They had already obtained leave from Hannibal
+ to do this, by ambassadors sent for this purpose. Accordingly, Croto was evacuated,
+ and the inhabitants were conducted to the sea, where they embarked; and the
+ whole multitude removed to Locri. In Apulia, Hannibal and the Romans did not
+ rest even during the winter. The consul Sempronius wintered at Luceria, Hannibal
+ not far from Arpi. Slight engagements took place between them, accordingly as
+ either side had an opportunity or advantage; by which the Roman soldiery were
+ improved, and became daily more guarded and more secure against stratagems.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="f4" />
+<p>In Sicily, the death of Hiero, and the transfer of the government to his grandson,
+ Hieronymus, had completely altered all things with regard to the Romans. Hieronymus
+ was but a boy, as yet scarcely able to bear liberty, still less sovereign power.
+ His guardians and friends gladly observed in him a disposition which might be
+ easily plunged into every kind of vice; which Hiero foreseeing, is said to have
+ formed an intention, in the latter part of his long life, of leaving Syracuse
+ free, lest the sovereignty which had been acquired and established by honourable
+ means, should be made a sport of and fall into ruin, under the administration
+ of a boy. This plan of his his daughters strenuously opposed, who anticipated
+ that the boy would enjoy the name of royalty, but that the administration of
+ all affairs would be conducted by themselves and their husbands, Andranodorus
+ and Zoippus, for these were left the principal of his guardians. It was not
+ an easy task for a man in his ninetieth year, beset night and day by the winning
+ artifices of women, to disenthral his judgment, and to consult only the good
+ of the state in his domestic affairs. Accordingly, all he did was to leave fifteen
+ guardians over his son, whom he entreated, on his death-bed, to preserve inviolate
+ that alliance with the Romans, which he had himself cultivated for fifty years,
+ and to take care that the young king should, above all things, tread in the
+ steps of his father, and in that course of conduct in which he had been educated.
+ Such were his injunctions. On the death of the king, the will was brought forward
+ by the guardians, and the young king, who was now about fifteen, introduced
+ into the public assembly, where a few persons, who had been placed in different
+ parts on purpose to raise acclamations, expressed their approbation of the will;
+ while all the rest were overwhelmed with apprehensions, in the destitute condition
+ of the state, which had lost as it were its parent. The funeral of the king
+ was then performed, which was honoured more by the love and affection of his
+ citizens than the attentions of his kindred. Andranodorus next effected the
+ removal of the other guardians, giving out that Hieronymus had now attained
+ the years of manhood, and was competent to assume the government; and thus,
+ by voluntarily resigning the guardianship which he shared with several others,
+ united the powers of all in himself. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="f5" />
+<p>It would scarcely have been easy even for any good and moderate king, succeeding
+ one so deeply rooted in their affections as Hiero was, to obtain the favour
+ of the Syracusans. But Hieronymus, forsooth, as if he was desirous of exciting
+ regret for the loss of his grandfather by his own vices, showed, immediately
+ on his first appearance, how completely every thing was changed. For those who
+ for so many years had seen Hiero and his son Gelon differing from the rest of
+ the citizens neither in the fashion of their dress nor any other mark of distinction,
+ now beheld the purple, the diadem, and armed guards, and their king sometimes
+ proceeding from his palace in a chariot drawn by four white horses, according
+ to the custom of the tyrant Dionysius. This costliness in equipage and appearance
+ was accompanied by corresponding contempt of everybody, capricious airs, insulting
+ expressions, difficulty of access, not to strangers only, but even to his guardians
+ also, unheard of lusts, inhuman cruelty. Terror so great took possession of
+ every body therefore, that some of his guardians, either by a voluntary death,
+ or by exile, anticipated the tenor of his inflictions. Three of those persons
+ to whom alone belonged a more familiar access to the palace, Andranodorus and
+ Zoippus, sons-in-law of Hiero, and one Thraso, were not much attended to upon
+ other subjects, but the two former exerting themselves in favour of the Carthaginians,
+ while Thraso argued for the Roman alliance, they sometimes engaged the attention
+ of the young king by their zeal and earnestness. It was at this time that a
+ conspiracy formed against the life of the tyrant was discovered by a certain
+ servant, of the same age as Hieronymus, who from his very childhood had associated
+ with him on entirely familiar terms. The informer was able to name one of the
+ conspirators, Theodotus, by whom he himself had been solicited. He was immediately
+ seized, and delivered to Andranodorus to be subjected to torture, when, without
+ hesitation, he confessed as to himself, but concealed his accomplices. At last,
+ when racked with every species of torture, beyond the power of humanity to bear,
+ pretending to be overcome by his sufferings, he turned his accusation from the
+ guilty to the innocent, and feigned that Thraso was the originator of the plot,
+ without whose able guidance, he said, they never would have been bold enough
+ to attempt so daring a deed, he threw the guilt upon such innocent men, near
+ the king's person, as appeared to him to be the most worthless, while fabricating
+ his story amid groans and agonies. The naming of Thraso gave the highest degree
+ of credibility to the story in the mind of the tyrant. Accordingly he was immediately
+ given up to punishment, and others were added who were equally innocent. Not
+ one of the conspirators, though their associate in the plot was for a long time
+ subjected to torture, either concealed himself or fled, so great was their confidence
+ in the fortitude and fidelity of Theodotus, and so great was his firmness in
+ concealing their secret. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="f6" />
+<p>Thus on the removal of Thraso, who formed the only bond which held together
+ the alliance with the Romans, immediately affairs clearly indicated defection.
+ Ambassadors were sent to Hannibal, who sent back in company with a young man
+ of noble birth named Hannibal, Hippocrates and Epicydes, natives of Carthage,
+ and of Carthaginian extraction on their mother's side, but whose grandfather
+ was an exile from Syracuse. Through their means an alliance was formed between
+ Hannibal and the tyrant of Syracuse; and, with the consent of Hannibal, they
+ remained with the tyrant. As soon as Appius Claudius, the praetor, whose province
+ Sicily was, had received information of these events, he sent ambassadors to
+ Hieronymus; who, upon stating that the object of their mission was to renew
+ the alliance which had subsisted between the Romans and his grandfather, were
+ heard and dismissed in an insulting manner, Hieronymus asking them sneeringly,
+ "how they had fared at the battle of Cannae? for that the ambassadors of Hannibal
+ stated what could hardly be credited." He said, "he wished to know the truth,
+ in order that before he made up his mind, he might determine which he should
+ espouse as offering the better prospect." The Romans replied, that they would
+ return to him when he had learned to receive embassies with seriousness; and,
+ after having cautioned, rather than requested him, not rashly to change his
+ alliance, they withdrew. Hieronymus sent ambassadors to Carthage, to conclude
+ a league in conformity with the alliance with Hannibal. It was settled in the
+ compact, that after they had expelled the Romans from Sicily, (which would speedily
+ be effected if the Carthaginians sent ships and troops,) the river Himera, which
+ divides the island in nearly equal portions, should be the limit of the Carthaginian
+ and Syracusan dominions. Afterwards, puffed up by the flattery of those persons
+ who bid him be mindful, not of Hiero only, but of king Pyrrhus, his maternal
+ grandfather, he sent another embassy, in which he expressed his opinion that
+ equity required that the whole of Sicily should be conceded to him, and that
+ the dominion of Italy should be acquired as the peculiar possession of the Carthaginians.
+ This levity and inconstancy of purpose in a hot-headed youth, did not excite
+ their surprise, nor did they reprove it, anxious only to detach him from the
+ Romans. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="f7" />
+<p>But every thing conspired to hurry him into perdition. For having sent before
+ him Hippocrates and Epicydes with two thousand armed men, to make an attempt
+ upon those cities which were occupied by Roman garrisons, he himself also proceeded
+ to Leontium with all the remaining troops, which amounted to fifteen thousand
+ foot and horse, when the conspirators (who all happened to be in the army) took
+ possession of an uninhabited house, which commanded a narrow way, by which the
+ king was accustomed to go to the forum. The rest stood here prepared and armed,
+ waiting for the king to pass by. One of them, by name Dinomenes, as he was one
+ of the body-guards, had the task assigned him of keeping back the crowd behind
+ in the narrow way, upon some pretext, when the king approached the door. All
+ was done according to the arrangement. Dinomenes having delayed the crowd, by
+ pretending to lift up his foot and loosen a knot which was too tight, occasioned
+ such an interval, that an attack being made upon the king, as he passed by unattended
+ by his guards, he was pierced with several wounds before any assistance could
+ be brought. When the shout and tumult was heard, some weapons were discharged
+ on Dinomenes, who now openly opposed them; he escaped from them, however, with
+ only two wounds. The body-guard, as soon as they saw the king prostrate, betook
+ themselves to flight. Of the assassins, some proceeded to the forum to the populace,
+ who were rejoiced at the recovery of their liberty; others to Syracuse to anticipate
+ the measures of Andranodorus and the rest of the royal party. Affairs being
+ in this uncertain state, Appius Claudius perceiving a war commencing in his
+ neighbourhood, informed the senate by letter, that Sicily had become reconciled
+ to the Carthaginians and Hannibal. For his own part, in order to frustrate the
+ designs of the Syracusans, he collected all his forces on the boundary of the
+ province and the kingdom. At the close of this year, Quintus Fabius, by the
+ authority of the senate, fortified and garrisoned Puteoli, which, during the
+ war, had begun to be frequented as an emporium. Coming thence to Rome to hold
+ the election, he appointed the first day for it which could be employed for
+ that purpose, and, while on his march, passed by the city and descended into
+ the Campus Martius. On that day, the right of voting first having fallen by
+ lot on the junior century of the Anien tribe, they appointed Titus Otacilius
+ and Marcus Aemilius Regillus, consuls, when Quintus Fabius, having obtained
+ silence, delivered the following speech: </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="f8" />
+<p>"If we had either peace in Italy, or had war with such an enemy that the necessity
+ to be careful was less urgent than it is, I should consider that man as wanting
+ in respect for your liberty, who would at all impede that zealous desire which
+ you bring with you into the Campus Martius, of conferring honours on whom you
+ please. But since during the present war, and with the enemy we have now to
+ encounter, none of our generals have ever committed an error which has not been
+ attended with most disastrous consequences to us, it behoves you to use the
+ same circumspection in giving your suffrages for the creation of consuls, which
+ you would exert were you going armed into the field of battle. Every man ought
+ thus to say to himself I am nominating a consul who is to cope with the general
+ Hannibal. In the present year, at Capua, when Jubellius Taurea, the most expert
+ horseman of the Campanians, gave a challenge, Claudius Asellus, the most expert
+ among the Roman horsemen, was pitted against him. Against the Gaul who at a
+ former period gave a challenge on the bridge of the Amo, our ancestors sent
+ Titus Manlius, a man of resolute courage and great strength. It was for the
+ same reason, I cannot deny it, that confidence was placed in Marcus Valerius,
+ not many years ago, when he took arms against a Gaul who challenged him to combat
+ in a similar manner. In the same manner as we wish to have our foot and horse
+ more powerful, but if that is impracticable, equal in strength to the enemy,
+ so let us find out a commander who is a match for the general of the enemy.
+ Though we should select the man as general whose abilities are greater than
+ those of any other in the nation, yet still he is chosen at a moment's warning,
+ his office is only annual; whereas he will have to cope with a veteran general
+ who has continued in command without interruption, unfettered by any restrictions
+ either of duration or of authority, which might prevent him from executing or
+ planning every thing according as the exigencies of the war shall require. But
+ with us the year is gone merely in making preparations, and when we are only
+ commencing our operations. Having said enough as to what sort of persons you
+ ought to elect as consuls, it remains that I should briefly express my opinion
+ of those on whom the choice of the prerogative century has fallen. Marcus Aemilius
+ Regillus is flamen of Quirinus, whom we can neither send abroad nor retain at
+ home without neglecting the gods or the war. Otacilius is married to my sister's
+ daughter, and has children by her, but the favours you have conferred upon me
+ and my ancestors, are not such as that I should prefer private relationship
+ to the public weal. Any sailor or passenger can steer the vessel in a calm sea,
+ but when a furious storm has arisen, and the vessel is hurried by the tempest
+ along the troubled deep, then there is need of a man and pilot We are not sailing
+ on a tranquil sea, but have already well nigh sunk with repeated storms, you
+ must therefore employ the utmost caution and foresight in determining who shall
+ sit at the helm Of you, Titus Otacilius, we have had experience in a business
+ of less magnitude, and, certainly you have not given us any proof that we ought
+ to confide to you affairs of greater moment The fleet which you commanded this
+ year we fitted out for three objects: to lay waste the coast of Africa, to protect
+ the shores of Italy, but, above all, to prevent the conveyance of reinforcements
+ with pay and provisions from Carthage to Hannibal. Now if Titus Otacilius has
+ performed for the state, I say not all, but any one of these services, make
+ him consul But if, while you had the command of the fleet supplies of whatever
+ sort were conveyed safe and untouched to Hannibal, even as though he had no
+ enemy on the sea, if the coast of Italy has been more infested this year than
+ that of Africa, what can you have to urge why you should be preferred before
+ all others as the antagonist of Hannibal? Were you consul, we should give it
+ as our opinion that a dictator should be appointed in obedience to the example
+ of our ancestors Nor could you feel offended that some one in the Roman nation
+ was deemed superior to you in war It concerns yourself more than any one else,
+ Titus Otacilius, that there be not laid upon your shoulders a burthen under
+ which you would fall I earnestly exhort you, that with the same feelings which
+ would influence you if standing armed for battle, you were called upon suddenly
+ to elect two generals, under whose conduct and auspices you were to fight, you
+ would this day elect your consuls, to whom your children are to swear allegiance,
+ at whose command they are to assemble, and under whose protection and care they
+ are to serve. The Trasimene Lake and Cannae are melancholy precedents to look
+ back upon, but form useful warnings to guard against similar disasters Crier,
+ call back the younger century of the Amen tribe to give their votes again" </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="f9" />
+<p>Titus Otacilius, vociferating in the most furious manner, that his object was
+ to continue in the consulship, the consul ordered the lictors to go to him,
+ and as he had not entered the city, but had proceeded directly without halting
+ from his march to the Campus Martius, admonished him that the axes were in the
+ fasces which were carried before him. The prerogative century proceeded to vote
+ a second time, when Quintus Fabius Maximus for the fourth time, and Marcus Marcellus
+ for the third time, were created consuls. The other centuries voted for the
+ same persons without any variation. One praetor, likewise, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus,
+ was re-elected; the other new ones who were chosen, were Titus Otacilius Crassus
+ a second time, Quintus Fabius, son of the consul, who was at that time curule
+ aedile, and Publius Cornelius Lentulus. The election of the praetors completed,
+ a decree of the senate was passed, that Quintus Fulvius should have the city
+ department out of the ordinary course, and that he in preference to any other
+ should command in the city while the consuls were absent in the war. Great floods
+ happened twice during this year, and the Tiber overflowed the fields, with great
+ demolition of houses and destruction of men and cattle. In the fifth year of
+ the second Punic war Quintus Fabius Maximus for the fourth time, and Marcus
+ Claudius Marcellus for the third time, entering upon their office, drew the
+ attention of the state upon them in a more than ordinary degree, for there had
+ not been two such consuls now for many years. The old men observed, that thus
+ Maximus Rullus and Publius Decius were declared consuls for conducting the Gallic
+ war; that thus afterwards Papirius and Carvilius were appointed to that office
+ against the Samnites, the Bruttians, and the Lucanian with the Tarentine people.
+ Marcellus, who was with the army, was created consul in his absence; to Fabius,
+ who was present and held the election himself, the office was continued. The
+ critical state of affairs, the exigencies of the war, and the danger which threatened
+ the state, prevented any one from looking narrowly into the precedent, or suspecting
+ that the consul was actuated by an excessive love of command; on the contrary,
+ they applauded his magnanimity in that when he knew the state was in want of
+ a general of the greatest ability, and that he was himself confessedly such
+ an one, he thought less of the personal odium which might arise out of the transaction,
+ than of the good of the state. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="f10" />
+<p>On the day on which the consuls entered on their office, the senate was assembled
+ in the Capitol, and in the first place a decree was passed to the effect that
+ the consuls should draw lots, and settle between themselves which should hold
+ the election for the creation of censors, before they proceeded to join the
+ army. Next, all those who had the command of armies were continued in their
+ offices, and ordered to remain in their provinces; Tiberius Gracchus at Luceria,
+ where he was with an army of volunteer slaves; Caius Terentius Varro in the
+ Picenian, and Manius Pomponius in the Gallic territory. Of the praetors of the
+ former year, it was settled that Quintus Mucius should have the government of
+ Sardinia as propraetor, Marcus Valerius the command of the sea-coast near Brundusium,
+ watchful against all the movements of Philip, king of the Macedonians. To Publius
+ Cornelius Lentulus, the praetor, the province of Sicily was assigned. Titus
+ Otacilius received the same fleet which he had employed the year before against
+ the Carthaginians. Many prodigies were reported to have happened this year,
+ which increased in proportion as they were believed by the credulous and superstitious.
+ That crows had built a nest within the temple of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium; that
+ a green palm-tree had taken fire in Apulia; that a pool at Mantua, formed by
+ the overflowing of the river Mincius, had assumed the appearance of blood; that
+ it had rained chalk at Cales, and blood at Rome in the cattle market; that a
+ fountain under ground in the Istrian street had discharged so violent a stream
+ of water, that rolling along with the impetuosity of a torrent, it carried away
+ the butts and casks which were near it; that the public court in the Capitol
+ had been struck by lightning; also the temple of Vulcan in the Campus Martius,
+ a nut-tree in the Sabine territory, a wall and gate at Gabii. Now other miracles
+ were published: that the spear of Mars at Praeneste moved forward of its own
+ accord; that in Sicily an ox had spoken; that a child in the womb of its mother
+ cried out Io Triumphe! in the country of the Marrucinians; at Spoletum, that
+ a woman was transformed into a man; at Hadria, that an altar, with appearances
+ as of men surrounding it in white clothing, was seen in the heavens. Nay, even
+ in the city of Rome itself, after a swarm of bees had been seen in the forum,
+ some persons roused the citizens to arms, affirming that they saw armed legions
+ on the Janiculum; but those who were on the Janiculum at the time, declared
+ that they had seen no person there besides the usual cultivators of the hill.
+ These prodigies were expiated by victims of the larger kind, according to the
+ response of the aruspices; and a supplication was ordered to all the deities
+ who had shrines at Rome. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="f11" />
+<p>The ceremonies which were intended to propitiate the gods being completed,
+ the consuls took the sense of the senate on the state of the nation, the conduct
+ of the war, what troops should be employed, and where they were severally to
+ act. It was resolved that eighteen legions should be engaged in the war; that
+ the consuls should take two each; that two should be employed in each of the
+ provinces of Gaul, Sicily, and Sardinia; that Quintus Fabius, the praetor, should
+ have the command of two in Apulia, and Tiberius Gracchus of two legions of volunteer
+ slaves in the neighbourhood of Luceria; that one each should be left for Caius
+ Terentius, the proconsul, for Picenum, and to Marcus Valerius for the fleet
+ off Brundusium, and two for the protection of the city. To complete this number
+ of legions six fresh ones were to be enlisted, which the consuls were ordered
+ to raise as soon as possible; and also to prepare the fleet, so that, together
+ with the ships which were stationed off the coasts of Calabria, it might amount
+ that year to one hundred and fifty men of war. The levy completed, and the hundred
+ new ships launched, Quintus Fabius held the election for the creation of censors,
+ when Marcus Atilius Regulus and Publius Furius Philus were chosen. A rumour
+ prevailing that war had broken out in Sicily, Titus Otacilius was ordered to
+ proceed thither with his fleet; but as there was a deficiency of sailors, the
+ consuls, in conformity with a decree of the senate, published an order that
+ those persons who themselves or whose fathers had been rated in the censorship
+ of Lucius Aemilius and Caius Flaminius, at from fifty to one hundred thousand
+ <i>asses</i>, or whose property had since reached that amount, should furnish
+ one sailor and six months' pay; from one to three hundred thousand, three sailors
+ with a year's pay; from three hundred thousand to a million, five sailors; above
+ one million, seven sailors; that senators should furnish eight sailors with
+ a year's pay. The sailors furnished according to this proclamation being armed
+ and equipped by their masters, embarked with cooked provisions for thirty days.
+ Then first it happened that the Roman fleet was manned at the expense of individuals.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="f12" />
+<p>These unusually great preparations alarmed the Campanians particularly, lest
+ the Romans should commence the year's campaign with the siege of Capua. They
+ therefore sent ambassadors to Hannibal, to implore him to bring his army to
+ Capua, and tell him that new armies were levying at Rome for the purpose of
+ besieging it; and that there was not any city the defection of which had excited
+ more hostile feelings. As they announced this with so much fear, Hannibal concluded
+ he must make haste lest the Romans should get there before him; and setting
+ out from Arpi, took up his position in his old camp at Tifata, above Capua.
+ Leaving his Numidians and Spaniards for the protection both of the camp and
+ Capua, he went down thence with the rest of his troops to the lake Avernus on
+ the pretence of performing sacrifice, but in reality to make an attempt upon
+ Puteoli and the garrison in it. Maximus, on receiving intelligence that Hannibal
+ had set out from Arpi, and was returning to Campania, went back to his army,
+ pursuing his journey without intermission by night or by day. He also ordered
+ Tiberius Gracchus to bring up his troops from Luceria to Beneventum, and Quintus
+ Fabius the praetor, the son of the consul, to go to Luceria in the room of Gracchus.
+ At the same time the two praetors set out for Sicily, Publius Cornelius to join
+ his army, Otacilius to take the command of the sea-coast and the fleet; the
+ rest also proceeded to their respective provinces, and those who were continued
+ in command remained in the same countries as in the former year. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="f13" />
+<p>While Hannibal was at the lake Avernus, five noble youths came to him from
+ Tarentum. They had been made prisoners partly at the lake Trasimenus, and partly
+ at Cannae, and had been sent home by the Carthaginian with the same civility
+ which he had shown towards all the Roman allies. They stated to him that, impressed
+ with gratitude for his favours, they had succeeded in inducing a large portion
+ of the Tarentine youth to prefer his alliance and friendship to that of the
+ Romans; and that they were sent by their countrymen as ambassadors to request
+ Hannibal to bring his forces nearer to Tarentum; that if his standards and camp
+ were within sight of Tarentum, that city would be delivered into his hands without
+ delay; that the commons were under the influence of the youth, and the state
+ of Tarentum in the hands of the commons. Hannibal after bestowing the highest
+ commendations upon them, and loading them with immense promises, bid them return
+ home to mature their plans, saying that he would be there in due time. With
+ these hopes, the Tarentines were dismissed. Hannibal had himself conceived the
+ strongest desire of getting possession of Tarentum. He saw that it was a city
+ opulent and celebrated, on the coast, and lying conveniently over against Macedonia.
+ And that as the Romans were in possession of Brundusium, king Philip would make
+ for this port if he crossed over into Italy. Having completed the sacrifice
+ for which he came, and during his stay there laid waste the territory of Cumae
+ as far as the promontory of Misenum, he suddenly marched his troops thence to
+ Puteoli to surprise the Roman garrison there. It consisted of six thousand men,
+ and the place was secured not only by its natural situation, but by works also.
+ The Carthaginian having waited there three days, and attempted the garrison
+ in every quarter, without any success, proceeded thence to devastate the territory
+ of Naples, influenced by resentment more than the hope of getting possession
+ of the place. The commons of Nola, who had been long disaffected to the Romans
+ and at enmity with their own senate, moved into the neighbouring fields on his
+ approach; and in conformity with this movement ambassadors came to invite Hannibal
+ to join them, bringing with them a positive assurance that the city would be
+ surrendered to him. The consul, Marcellus, who had been called in by the nobles,
+ anticipated their attempt. In one day he had reached Suessula from Cales, though
+ the river Vulturnus had delayed him crossing; and from thence the ensuing night
+ introduced into Nola for the protection of the senate, six thousand foot and
+ three hundred horse. The dilatoriness of Hannibal was in proportion to the expedition
+ which the consul used in every thing he did in order to preoccupy Nola. Having
+ twice already made the attempt unsuccessfully, he was slower to place confidence
+ in the Nolans. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="f14" />
+<p>During the same time, the consul, Fabius, came to attempt Casilinum, which
+ was occupied by a Carthaginian garrison; and, as if by concert, Hanno approached
+ Beneventum on one side from the Bruttians, with a large body of foot and horse,
+ while on the other side Gracchus approached it from Luceria. The latter entered
+ the town first. Then, hearing that Hanno had pitched his camp three miles from
+ the city, at the river Calor, and from thence was laying waste the country,
+ he himself marched without the walls, and pitching his camp about a mile from
+ the enemy, harangued his soldiers. The legions he had consisted for the most
+ part of volunteer slaves, who chose rather to earn their liberty silently by
+ another year's service, than demand it openly. The general, however, on quitting
+ his winter quarters, had perceived that the troops murmured, asking when the
+ time would arrive that they should serve as free citizens. He had written to
+ the senate, stating not so much what they wanted as what they had deserved;
+ he said they had served him with fidelity and courage up to that day, and that
+ they wanted nothing but liberty, to bring them up to the model of complete soldiers.
+ Permission was given him to act in the business as he thought for the interest
+ of the state, and, accordingly, before he engaged with the enemy, he declared
+ that the time was now arrived for obtaining that liberty which they had so long
+ hoped for; that on the following day he should fight a pitched battle on a level
+ and open plain, in which the contest would be decided by valour only, without
+ any fear of ambuscade. The man who should bring back the head of an enemy, he
+ would instantly order to be set free; but that he would punish, in a manner
+ suited to a slave, the man who should quit his post; that every man's fortune
+ was in his own hands; that not he himself alone would authorize their enfranchisement,
+ but the consul, Marcus Marcellus, and the whole body of the fathers, who, on
+ being consulted by him on the subject, had left the matter to his disposal.
+ He then read the letter of the consul and the decree of the senate, on which
+ they raised a general shout of approbation, demanded to be led to battle, and
+ vehemently urged him to give the signal forthwith. Gracchus broke up the assembly,
+ after proclaiming the battle for the following day. The soldiers, highly delighted,
+ particularly those whose enfranchisement was to be the reward of one day's prowess,
+ employed the remaining time in getting ready their arms. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="f15" />
+<p>The next day, as soon as the trumpets began to sound, they were the first to
+ assemble at the general's tent, armed and ready for action. When the sun had
+ risen, Gracchus led out his troops to the field of battle; nor did the enemy
+ delay to engage him. His troops consisted of seventeen thousand infantry, principally
+ Bruttians and Lucanians, with twelve hundred horse, among which were very few
+ Italians, almost all the rest being Numidians and Moors. The contest was fierce
+ and protracted. For four hours neither side had the advantage, nor did any other
+ circumstance more impede the Romans, than that the heads of their enemies were
+ made the price of their liberty. For when each man had gallantly slain his enemy,
+ first, he lost time in cutting off his head, which was done with difficulty
+ amid the crowd and confusion, and secondly, all the bravest troops ceased to
+ be engaged in fight, as their right hands were employed in holding the heads;
+ and thus the battle was left to be sustained by the inactive and cowardly. But
+ when the military tribunes reported to Gracchus that the soldiers were employed
+ not in wounding any of the enemy who were standing, but in mangling those who
+ were prostrate, their right hands being occupied in holding the heads of men
+ instead of their swords, he promptly ordered a signal to be given that they
+ should throw down the heads and charge the enemy; that they had given evident
+ and signal proofs of valour, and that the liberty of such brave men was certain.
+ Then the fight was revived, and the cavalry also were sent out against the enemy.
+ The Numidians engaging them with great bravery, and the contest between the
+ cavalry being carried on with no less spirit than that between the infantry,
+ the victory again became doubtful; when, the generals on both sides vilifying
+ their opponents, the Roman saying, that their enemies were Bruttians and Lucanians,
+ who had been so often vanquished and subjugated by their ancestors; the Carthaginian,
+ that the troops opposed to them were Roman slaves, soldiers taken out of a workhouse;
+ at last Gracchus exclaimed, that his men had no ground to hope for liberty unless
+ the enemy were routed and put to flight that day. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="f16" />
+<p>These words at length kindled their courage so effectually, and renewing the
+ shout, as if suddenly changed into other men, they bore down upon the enemy
+ with such impetuosity that they could not longer be withstood. First, of the
+ Carthaginians who stood before the standards; then the standards were thrown
+ into disorder; and lastly the whole line was compelled to give way. They then
+ turned their backs downright, and fled precipitately to their camp with such
+ terror and consternation, that not a man made stand in the gates or on the rampart;
+ while the Romans, who pursued them so close as to form almost a part of their
+ body commenced the battle anew, enclosed within the rampart of the enemy. Here
+ the battle was more bloody as the combatants had less room to move, from the
+ narrowness of the place in which they fought. The prisoners too assisted; for
+ snatching up swords in the confusion, and forming themselves into a body, they
+ slew the Carthaginians in the rear and prevented their flight. Thus less than
+ two thousand men out of so large an army, and those principally cavalry, effected
+ their escape with their commander, all the rest were slain or taken prisoners.
+ Thirty-eight standards were taken. Of the victors about two thousand fell. All
+ the booty except that of the prisoners was given up to the soldiery. Such cattle
+ also as the owners should identify within thirty days was excepted. When they
+ returned to their camp loaded with spoil, about four thousand of the volunteer
+ slaves who had fought with less spirit, and had not joined in breaking into
+ the enemy's camp, through fear of punishment, took possession of a hill not
+ far from the camp. Being brought down thence the next day by a military tribune,
+ it happened that they arrived during an assembly of the soldiers which Gracchus
+ had called. At this assembly the proconsul, having first rewarded the veteran
+ soldiers with military presents, according to the valour displayed, and the
+ service rendered by each man in the engagement, then observed, with respect
+ to the volunteer slaves, that he would rather that all should be praised by
+ him whether deserving it or not, than that any one should be chastised on that
+ day. I bid you, said he, all be free, and may the event be attended with advantage,
+ happiness, and prosperity to the state and to yourselves. These words were followed
+ by the most cordial acclamations, the soldiers sometimes embracing and congratulating
+ one another, at other times lifting up their hands to heaven, and praying that
+ every blessing might attend the Roman people, and Gracchus in particular; when
+ Gracchus addressed them thus: "Before I had placed you all on an equal footing
+ with respect to the enjoyment of liberty, I was unwilling to affix any marks
+ by which the brave and dastardly soldier might be distinguished. But now the
+ pledge given by the state being redeemed, lest all distinction between courage
+ and cowardice should disappear, I shall order that the names of those persons
+ be laid before me, who, conscious of their dastardly conduct in the battle,
+ have lately seceded. I shall have them cited before me, when I shall bind them
+ by an oath, that none of them, except such as shall have the plea of sickness,
+ will, so long as they serve, take either meat or drink in any other posture
+ than standing. This penalty you will bear with patience when you reflect that
+ it is impossible your cowardice could be marked with a slighter stigma." He
+ then gave the signal for packing up the baggage; and the soldiers, sporting
+ and jesting as they drove and carried their booty, returned to Beneventum in
+ so playful a mood, that they appeared to be returning, not from the field of
+ battle, but from a feast celebrated on some remarkable holiday. All the Beneventans
+ pouring out in crowds to meet them at the gate, embraced, congratulated, and
+ invited the troops to entertainments. They had all prepared banquets in the
+ courts of their houses, to which they invited the soldiers, and of which they
+ entreated Gracchus to allow them to partake. Gracchus gave permission, with
+ the proviso that they should feast in the public street. Each person brought
+ every thing out before his door. The volunteers feasted with caps of liberty
+ on their heads, or filletted with white wool; some reclining at the tables,
+ others standing, who at once partook of the repast, and waited upon the rest.
+ It even seemed a fitting occasion that Gracchus, on his return to Rome, should
+ order a picture representing the festivities of that day to be executed in the
+ temple of Liberty, which his father caused to be built on the Aventine out of
+ money arising from fines, and which his father also dedicated. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="f17" />
+<p>While these events occurred at Beneventum, Hannibal having laid waste the territory
+ of Naples, moved his camp to Nola. The consul, as soon as he was aware of his
+ approach, sent for Pemponius the propraetor, with the troops he had in the camp
+ above Suessula; and then prepared to meet the enemy and to make no delay in
+ fighting. He sent out Caius Claudius Nero in the dead of night with the main
+ strength of the cavalry, through the gate which was farthest removed from the
+ enemy, with orders to make a circuit so as not to be observed, and then slowly
+ to follow the enemy as they moved along, and as soon as he perceived the battle
+ begun, to charge them on the rear. Whether Nero was prevented from executing
+ these orders by mistaking the route, or from the shortness of the time, is doubtful.
+ Though he was absent when the battle was fought, the Romans had unquestionably
+ the advantage; but as the cavalry did not come up in time, the plan of the battle
+ which had been agreed upon was disconcerted and Marcellus, not daring to follow
+ the retiring enemy, gave the signal for retreat when his soldiers were conquering
+ More than two thousand of the enemy are said, however, to have fallen on that
+ day; of the Romans, less than four hundred. Nero, after having fruitlessly wearied
+ both men and horses, through the day and night, without even having seen the
+ enemy, returned about sunset; when the consul went so far in reprimanding him
+ as to assert, that he had been the only obstacle to their retorting on the enemy
+ the disaster sustained at Cannae. The following day the Roman came into the
+ field, but the Carthaginian, beaten even by his own tacit confession, kept within
+ his camp. Giving up all hope of getting possession of Nola, a thing never attempted
+ without loss, during the silence of the night of the third day he set out for
+ Tarentum, which he had better hopes of having betrayed to him. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="f18" />
+<p>Nor were the Roman affairs administered with less spirit at home than in the
+ field. The censors being freed from the care of letting out the erection of
+ public works, from the low state of the treasury, turned their attention to
+ the regulation of men's morals, and the chastisement of vices which sprung up
+ during the war, in the same manner as constitutions broken down by protracted
+ disease, generate other maladies. In the first place, they cited those persons
+ who, after the battle of Cannae, were said to have formed a design of abandoning
+ the commonwealth, and leaving Italy. The chief of these was Lucius Caecilius
+ Metellus, who happened to be then quaestor. In the next place, as neither he
+ nor the other persons concerned were able to exculpate themselves on being ordered
+ to make their defence, they pronounced them guilty of having used words and
+ discourse prejudicial to the state, that a conspiracy might be formed for the
+ abandonment of Italy. After them were cited those persons who showed too much
+ ingenuity in inventing a method of discharging the obligation of their oath,
+ namely, such of the prisoners as concluded that the oath which they had sworn
+ to return, would be fulfilled by their going back privately to Hannibal's camp,
+ after setting out on their journey. Such of these and of the above-mentioned
+ as had horses at the public expense were deprived of them, and all were degraded
+ from their tribes and disfranchised. Nor was the attention of the censors confined
+ to the regulation of the senate and the equestrian order. They erased from the
+ lists of the junior centuries the names of all who had not served during the
+ last four years, unless they were regularly exempted, or were prevented by sickness.
+ Those too, amounting to more than two thousand names, were numbered among the
+ disfranchised, and were all degraded. To this more gentle stigma affixed by
+ the censors, a severe decree of the senate was added, to the effect that all
+ those whom the censor had stigmatized, should serve on foot, and be sent into
+ Sicily to join the remains of the army of Cannae, a class of soldiers whose
+ time of service was not to terminate till the enemy was driven out of Italy.
+ The censors, in consequence of the poverty of the treasury, having abstained
+ from receiving contracts for the repairs of the sacred edifices, the furnishing
+ of curule horses, and similar matters, the persons who had been accustomed to
+ attend auctions of this description, came to the censors in great numbers, and
+ exhorted them to "transact all their business and let out the contracts in the
+ same manner as if there were money in the treasury. That none of them would
+ ask for money out of the treasury before the war was concluded." Afterwards
+ the owners of those slaves whom Tiberius Sempronius had manumitted at Beneventum,
+ came to them, stating that they were sent for by the public bankers, to receive
+ the price of their slaves, but that they would not accept of it till the war
+ was concluded. This disposition on the part of the commons to sustain the impoverished
+ treasury having manifested itself, the property of minors first, and then the
+ portions of widows, began to be brought in; the persons who brought them being
+ persuaded, that their deposit would no where be more secure and inviolable than
+ under the public faith. If any thing was bought or laid in for the widows and
+ minors, an order upon the quaestor was given for it. This liberality in individuals
+ flowed from the city into the camp also, insomuch that no horseman or centurion
+ would accept of his pay, and those who would accept it were reproached with
+ the appellation of mercenary men. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="f19" />
+<p>Quintus Fabius, the consul, was encamped before Casilinum, which was occupied
+ by a garrison of two thousand Campanians and seven hundred of the soldiers of
+ Hannibal. The commander was Statius Metius, who was sent there by Cneius Magius
+ Atellanus, who was that year Medixtuticus and was arming the slaves and people
+ without distinction, in order to assault the Roman camp, while the consul was
+ intently occupied in the siege of Casilinum. None of these things escaped Fabius.
+ He therefore sent to his colleague at Nola, "That another army was requisite,
+ which might be opposed to the Campanians, while the siege of Casilinum was going
+ on; that either he should come himself, leaving a force sufficient for the protection
+ of Nola, or if the state of Nola required him to stay there, in consequence
+ of its not being yet secure against the attempts of Hannibal, that he should
+ summon Tiberius Gracchus, the proconsul, from Beneventum." On this message,
+ Marcellus, leaving two thousand troops in garrison at Nola, came to Casilinum
+ with the rest of his forces; and at his arrival the Campanians, who were already
+ in motion, desisted from their operations. Thus the siege of Casilinum was commenced
+ by the two consuls. But as the Roman soldiers received many wounds as they rashly
+ approached the walls, and as they did not succeed satisfactorily in their attempts.
+ Fabius gave it as his opinion that this, which was a small matter, though as
+ difficult as more important ones, should be abandoned, and that they should
+ retire from the place, as affairs of greater moment were pressing. Marcellus,
+ however, succeeded in persuading him that they should not go away with their
+ object unaccomplished, observing that as there were many objects which great
+ generals should not attempt, so when once attempted they should not be abandoned,
+ because the mere report in either case would have important consequences. Upon
+ this the vineae and all kinds of military works and engines were applied; in
+ consequence of which, the Campanians entreated Fabius to allow them to retire
+ to Capua in safety; when a few of them having come out of the town, Marcellus
+ took possession of the gate through which they passed, and first slew all indiscriminately
+ who were near the gate, and then rushing in, the slaughter commenced in the
+ town also. About fifty of the Campanians, who at first came out of the city,
+ having fled for refuge to Fabius, arrived safe at Capua under his protection.
+ Thus Casilinum was captured on an accidental opportunity which occurred during
+ the conferences and delay of those who were soliciting protection. The prisoners,
+ both those who were Campanians and those who were Hannibal's soldiers, were
+ sent to Rome, where they were shut up in a prison. The crowd of townsmen was
+ distributed among the neighbouring people to be kept in custody. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="f20" />
+<p>At the same time that the consuls retired from Casilinum, their object having
+ been accomplished, Gracchus, who was in Lucania, sent, under a prefect of the
+ allies, some cohorts which he had levied in that country to ravage the lands
+ of the enemy. These, as they were straggling in a careless manner, Hanno surprising,
+ retorted upon his enemy a defeat not much less disastrous than he had himself
+ received at Beneventum, and then hastily retired to the territory of the Bruttians,
+ lest Gracchus should overtake him. Of the consuls, Marcellus returned to Nola,
+ whence he had come, Fabius proceeded to Samnium to waste the lands, and recover
+ by force the cities which had revolted. The Samnites of Caudium suffered the
+ severest devastation; their fields were laid waste by fire for a wide extent,
+ and both men and cattle were conveyed away as booty. The towns of Compulteria,
+ Telesia, Compsa, Melae, Fulfulae, and Orbitanium, were taken by storm. Blandae,
+ belonging to the Lucanians, and Aecae to the Apulians, were taken after a siege.
+ Twenty-five thousand of the enemy were captured or slain in these towns, and
+ three hundred and seventy deserters recovered; who, being sent to Rome by the
+ consul, were all of them beaten with rods in the comitium, and thrown down from
+ the rock. Such were the achievements of Fabius within the space of a few days.
+ Ill health detained Marcellus from active operations at Nola. The town of Accua
+ also was taken by storm, during the same period, by the praetor Quintus Fabius,
+ whose province was the neighbourhood of Luceria; he also fortified a stationary
+ camp at Ardonea. While the Romans were thus employed in different quarters,
+ Hannibal had reached Tarentum, utterly destroying every thing whichsoever way
+ he went. In the territory of Tarentum, the troops at length began to march in
+ a peaceable manner. There nothing was violated, nor did they ever go out of
+ the road; it was evident that this was done not from the moderation of the soldiery,
+ or their general, but to conciliate the affections of the Tarentines. However,
+ on advancing almost close to the walls without perceiving any movement, which
+ he expected would occur on the sight of his vanguard, he pitched his camp about
+ a mile off the city. Three days before the arrival of Hannibal, Marcus Livius,
+ who had been sent by Marcus Valerius, the propraetor, commanding the fleet at
+ Brundusium, had enlisted the young nobility of Tarentum, and stationing guards
+ at every gate, and round the walls, wherever circumstances made it necessary,
+ had kept such a strict watch both by day and night, as to give no opportunity
+ for making any attempt either to the enemy or doubtful allies. On this account
+ several days were consumed there to no purpose, when Hannibal, as none of those
+ who had come to him at the lake Avernus, either came themselves or sent any
+ letter or message, perceiving that he had carelessly followed delusive promises,
+ moved his camp thence. Even after this he did not offer any violence to the
+ Tarentine territory, not quitting the hope of shaking their allegiance to the
+ Romans, though his simulated lenity had hitherto been of no advantage to him;
+ but as soon as he came to Salapia he collected stores of corn there from the
+ Metapontine and Heraclean lands; for midsummer was now past, and the situation
+ pleased him as a place for winter quarters. From hence the Moors and Numidians
+ were detached to plunder the territory of Sallentum, and the neighbouring woods
+ of Apulia, from which not much booty of any other sort was obtained, but principally
+ droves of horses, four thousand of which were distributed among his horsemen
+ to be broken. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="f21" />
+<p>The Romans, since a war by no means to be despised was springing up in Sicily,
+ and the death of the tyrant had furnished the Syracusans with more enterprising
+ leaders, rather than changed their attachment to the Carthaginian cause, or
+ the state of their minds, decreed that province to Marcus Marcellus, one of
+ their consuls. After the assassination of Hieronymus, at first a tumult had
+ taken place among the soldiery in the territory of the Leontines. They exclaimed
+ furiously that the manes of the king should be appeased with the blood of the
+ conspirators. Afterwards the frequent repetition of the word liberty, which
+ was restored to them, a word so delightful to the ear, the hopes they had conceived
+ of largesses from the royal treasury, and of serving in future under better
+ generals, the relation of the horrid crimes and more horrid lusts of the tyrant,
+ effected such an alteration in their sentiments, that they suffered to lie unburied
+ the corpse of the king, whom a little before they regretted. As the rest of
+ the conspirators remained behind, in order to keep the army on their side, Theodotus
+ and Sosis, mounted on the king's horses, rode off to Syracuse with all possible
+ speed, that they might surprise the king's party, while unacquainted with all
+ that had occurred. But they were anticipated not only by report, than which
+ nothing is swifter in such affairs, but also by a messenger who was one of the
+ royal servants. In consequence, Andranodorus had occupied with strong garrisons
+ the Insula and the citadel, and every other convenient part which he could.
+ After sunset, when it was now growing dark, Theodotus and Sosis rode in by the
+ Hexapylum, and displayed the royal vest stained with blood, and the ornament
+ of the king's head; then passing through the Tycha, and calling the people at
+ once to liberty and arms, bid them assemble in the Achradina. Some of the multitude
+ ran out into the streets, some stood in the porches of their houses, while others
+ looked out from the roofs and windows, and inquired what was the matter. Every
+ part of the city was filled with lights and noises of various kinds. Assemblies
+ of armed men were formed in the open spaces. Those who had no arms tore down
+ from the temple of the Olympian Jupiter the spoils of the Gauls and Illyrians,
+ which had been presented to Hiero by the Roman people, and hung up there by
+ him; at the same time offering up prayers to Jupiter, that he would willingly,
+ and without feeling offence, lend those consecrated weapons to those who were
+ arming themselves in defence of their country, of the temples of their gods,
+ and their liberty. This multitude was also joined by the watches which were
+ stationed through the principal quarters of the city. In the island, Andranodorus,
+ among other places, secured the public granaries by a garrison. This place,
+ which was enclosed by a wall of stones hewn square, and built up on high, after
+ the manner of a citadel, was occupied by a body of youth, who had been appointed
+ to garrison it, and these sent messengers to the Achradina, to give information
+ that the granaries and the corn were in the power of the senate. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="f22" />
+<p>At break of day the whole populace, armed and unarmed, assembled at the senate-house
+ in the Achradina: where from the altar of Concord, which stood there, one of
+ the nobles, named Polyaenus, delivered a liberal and temperate address. He said,
+ that "men who had experienced servitude and contumely, were enraged against
+ an evil which was well known, but that the Syracusans had rather heard from
+ their fathers than seen with their own eyes the disasters which civil discord
+ introduces." He said, "he commended them for the alacrity with which they had
+ taken arms; but that he should commend them more if they should abstain from
+ using them unless compelled by extreme necessity. At present he advised that
+ ambassadors should be sent to Andranodorus, to charge him to submit to the direction
+ of the senate and the people, to throw open the gates of the island, and withdraw
+ the garrison. If he resolved to usurp the sovereignty of which he had been appointed
+ guardian, that he would recommend that their liberty be recovered more energetically
+ from Andranodorus than it had been from Hieronymus." From this assembly ambassadors
+ were despatched. The senate began now to meet, which though during the reign
+ of Hiero it had continued to be the public council of the state, from the time
+ of his death up to the present had never been assembled or consulted upon any
+ subject. When the ambassadors came to Andranodorus, he was himself moved by
+ the unanimous opinion of his countrymen, by their having possession of other
+ parts of the city, and by the fact that the strongest part of the island was
+ betrayed and placed in the hands of others; but his wife, Demarata, the daughter
+ of Hiero, still swelling with the pride of royalty and female presumption, called
+ him out from the presence of the ambassadors, and reminded him of the expression
+ so often repeated by the tyrant Dionysius, "that a man ought only to relinquish
+ sovereign power when dragged by the feet, and not while sitting on horseback.
+ That it was an easy thing, at any moment one pleased, to give up possession
+ of grandeur, but that to create and obtain them was difficult and arduous. That
+ he should obtain from the ambassadors a little time to deliberate, and to employ
+ it in fetching the soldiers from the Leontines; to whom, if he promised the
+ royal treasure, every thing would be at his disposal." This advice, suggested
+ by a woman, Andranodorus neither entirely rejected nor immediately adopted,
+ considering it the safer way to the attainment of power to temporize for the
+ present. Accordingly he told the ambassadors to carry word back, that he should
+ act subserviently to the senate and the people. The next day, as soon as it
+ was light, he threw open the gates of the island, and came into the forum of
+ the Achradina; then mounting the altar of Concord, from which Polyaenus had
+ delivered his harangue the day before, he commenced a speech by soliciting pardon
+ for his delay. "He had kept the gates closed," he said, "not as separating his
+ own from the public interest, but from fear as to where the carnage would stop
+ when once the sword was drawn; whether they would be satisfied with the blood
+ of the tyrant, which was sufficient for their liberty, or whether all who were
+ connected with the court, by consanguinity, affinity, or any offices, would,
+ as implicated in another's guilt, be butchered. After he perceived that those
+ who had liberated their country were desirous of preserving it when liberated,
+ and that the counsels of all were directed towards the public good, he had not
+ hesitated to restore to his country his own person and every thing else which
+ had been committed to his honour and guardianship, since the person who had
+ intrusted him with them had fallen a victim to his own madness." Then turning
+ to the persons who had killed the tyrant, and calling on Theodotus and Sosis
+ by name, he said, "You have performed a memorable deed, but believe me, your
+ glory is only beginning, not yet perfected; and there still remains great danger
+ lest the enfranchised state should be destroyed, if you do not provide for its
+ tranquillity and harmony." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="f23" />
+<p>At the conclusion of this speech, he laid the keys of the gates and of the
+ royal treasure at their feet; and on that day, retiring from the assembly in
+ the highest spirits, they made supplication with their wives and children at
+ all the temples of the gods. On the following day an assembly was held for the
+ election of praetors. Andranodorus was created among the first; the rest consisted
+ for the most part of the destroyers of the tyrant; two of these, Sopater and
+ Dinomenes, they appointed in their absence. These, on hearing of what had passed
+ at Syracuse, conveyed thither the royal treasure which was at Leontini, and
+ put it into the hands of quaestors appointed for that purpose. The treasure
+ also in the island and the Achradina was delivered to them, and that part of
+ the wall which formed too strong a separation between the island and the other
+ parts of the city, was demolished by general consent. Every thing else which
+ was done was in conformity with this inclination of their minds to liberty.
+ Hippocrates and Epicydes, on hearing of the death of the tyrant, which Hippocrates
+ had wished to conceal even by putting the messenger to death, being deserted
+ by the soldiery, returned to Syracuse, as that appeared the safest course under
+ present circumstances; but lest if they appeared there in common they should
+ become objects of suspicion, and looked upon as persons who were seeking an
+ opportunity of effecting some change, they in the first place addressed themselves
+ to the praetors and then through them to the senate. They declared, that "they
+ were sent by Hannibal to Hieronymus, as to a friend and ally; that they had
+ obeyed the orders of that man whom their general wished them to obey; that they
+ desired to return to Hannibal; but as the journey would not be safe, as armed
+ Romans were ranging at large through the whole of Sicily, that they requested
+ to be furnished with some escort which might convey them in safety to Locri
+ in Italy; and that thus they would confer a great obligation upon Hannibal,
+ with little trouble." The request was easily obtained, for they were desirous
+ of getting rid of these generals of the king, who were skilled in war, and at
+ once necessitous and enterprising. But they did not exert themselves so as to
+ effect what they desired with the requisite speed. Meanwhile these young men,
+ who were of a military turn and accustomed to the soldiers, employed themselves
+ in circulating charges against the senate and nobles, sometimes in the minds
+ of the soldiers themselves, sometimes of the deserters, of which the greater
+ part were Roman sailors, at other times of men belonging to the lowest order
+ of the populace, insinuating, that "what they were secretly labouring and contriving
+ to effect, was to place Syracuse under the dominion of the Romans with the pretence
+ of a renewed alliance, and then that faction and the few promoters of the alliance
+ would be supreme." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="f24" />
+<p>The crowds of persons disposed to hear and credit these insinuations which
+ flowed into Syracuse from every quarter increased daily, and afforded hopes,
+ not only to Epicydes but to Andranodorus also, of effecting a revolution. The
+ latter, wearied at length by the importunities of his wife, who warned him,
+ "that now was the favourable time for seizing the government, while every thing
+ was in confusion in consequence of liberty being recent and not yet regularly
+ established; while a soldiery supported by the royal pay was to be met with,
+ and while generals sent by Hannibal and accustomed to the soldiery might forward
+ the attempt;" he communicated his design with Themistus, who had married the
+ daughter of Gelon, and a few days afterwards incautiously disclosed it to a
+ certain tragic actor, named Ariston, to whom he was in the habit of committing
+ other secrets. He was a man of reputable birth and fortune, nor did his profession
+ disgrace them, for among the Greeks no pursuit of that kind was considered dishonourable.
+ He therefore discovered the plot to the praetors, from a conviction that his
+ country had a superior claim upon his fidelity. These having satisfied themselves
+ that his statement was not false by indubitable proofs, took the advice of the
+ elder senators, and with their sanction, having placed a guard at the doors,
+ slew Themistus and Andranodorus as soon as they had entered the senate-house.
+ A disturbance arising in consequence of this act, which, as none but the praetors
+ knew the cause of it, wore an appearance of atrocity, the praetors, having at
+ length procured silence, introduced the informer into the senate-house; and
+ after he had in a regular manner detailed to the senate every particular, showing
+ that the conspiracy owed its origin to the marriage of Harmonia, the daughter
+ of Gelon, with Themistus; that the African and Spanish auxiliaries had been
+ prepared to murder the praetors and others of the nobility; that it had been
+ given out that their goods were to be the booty of the assassins; that already
+ a band of mercenaries accustomed to obey the command of Andranodorus had been
+ procured for the reoccupation of the island; and having then distinctly represented
+ to them the several parts which the persons implicated in the transaction were
+ performing, and having brought under their view the entire plot prepared for
+ execution with men and arms; it seemed to the senate that they had fallen as
+ justly as Hieronymus had. A shout was raised before the senate-house by a crowd
+ of people variously disposed and uncertain of the facts; but as they were conducting
+ themselves in a furious and menacing manner, the bodies of the conspirators
+ in the vestibule of the senate-house restrained them with such alarm, that they
+ silently followed the more discreet part of the commons to an assembly. Sopater
+ was the person commissioned by the senate and his colleague to explain the affair.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="f25" />
+<p>Treating them as if they stood upon their trial, he began with their past lives;
+ and insisted that Andranodorus and Themistus were the authors of every act of
+ iniquity and impiety which had been perpetrated since the death of Hiero. "For
+ what," said he, "did the boy Hieronymus ever do of his own accord? What could
+ he do who had scarce as yet arrived at puberty? His tutors and guardians had
+ ruled, while the odium rested on another. Therefore they ought to have been
+ put to death either before Hieronymus or with him. Nevertheless those men, deservedly
+ marked out for death, had attempted fresh crimes after the decease of the tyrant;
+ first openly, when, closing the gates of the island, Andranodorus declared himself
+ heir to the throne, and kept that as proprietor which he had held only in the
+ capacity of guardian; afterwards, when betrayed by those who were in the island
+ and blockaded by the whole body of the citizens who held the Achradina, he endeavoured
+ to obtain, by secret and artful means, that sovereignty which he had in vain
+ attempted openly; whom not even benefits and honorary distinction could move,
+ for even this conspirator against the liberty of his country was created praetor
+ among her liberators. But that wives of royal blood had infected them with this
+ thirst for royalty, one having married the daughter of Hiero, the other the
+ daughter of Gelon." On hearing these words, a shout arose from every part of
+ the assembly, that "none of these women ought to live, and that not one of the
+ royal family should be left alive." Such is the nature of the populace; they
+ are either cringing slaves or haughty tyrants. They know not how with moderation
+ to spurn or to enjoy that liberty which holds the middle place; nor are there
+ generally wanting ministers, the panders to their resentment, who incite their
+ eager and intemperate minds to blood and carnage. Thus, on the present occasion,
+ the praetors instantly proposed the passing of a decree, which was consented
+ to almost before it was proposed, that all the royal family should be put to
+ death; and persons despatched for the purpose by the praetors, put to death
+ Demarata, the daughter of Hiero, and Harmonia, the daughter of Gelon, the wives
+ of Andranodorus and Themistus. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="f26" />
+<p>There was a daughter of Hiero, named Heraclea, the wife of Zoippus, who, having
+ been sent by Hieronymus as ambassador to king Ptolemy, had become a voluntary
+ exile. As soon as she was apprized that they were coming to her also, she fled
+ for refuge into the chapel to the household gods, accompanied by her two virgin
+ daughters, with dishevelled hair, and other marks of wretchedness. In addition
+ to this, she had recourse to prayers also; she implored them "by the memory
+ of her father, Hiero, and her brother, Gelon, that they would not suffer her,
+ a guiltless person, to be consumed by their hatred of Hieronymus. That all that
+ she had derived from his reign was the exile of her husband. That neither did
+ she enjoy the same advantages as her sister while Hieronymus was alive, nor
+ was her cause the same as hers now he was dead. What? Though her sister would
+ have shared the throne with Andranodorus, had he succeeded in his designs, she
+ must have been in servitude with the rest. Can any one doubt, that if information
+ should be conveyed to Zoippus that Hieronymus had been put to death, and that
+ Syracuse was free, he would instantly embark and return to his native land.
+ But how are all human hopes deceived! His wife and children are struggling for
+ their lives in his native land, now blessed with liberty! In what manner standing
+ in the way of liberty or the laws? What danger could arise to any one from them,
+ from a solitary, and in a manner, widowed woman and girls living in a state
+ of orphanage? But perhaps it will be granted that no danger is to be apprehended
+ from them, but alleged that the whole royal family is detested. If this were
+ the case, she entreated that they would banish them far from Syracuse and Sicily,
+ and order them to be conveyed to Alexandria, the wife to her husband, the daughters
+ to their father." Seeing that their ears and minds were unimpressed, and that
+ certain of them were drawing their swords to prevent a fruitless consumption
+ of time, she gave over entreating for herself, and began to implore them to
+ "spare, at least, her daughters, at an age which even exasperated enemies spared."
+ She entreated them "that they would not, in their revenge on tyrants, themselves
+ imitate the crimes which were odious to them." While thus employed, they dragged
+ her from the sanctuary and murdered her; and after that they fell upon the virgins,
+ who were sprinkled with the blood of their mother; who, distracted alike by
+ fear and grief, and as if seized with madness, rushed out of the chapel with
+ such rapidity, that had there been an opening by which they might have escaped
+ into the street, they would have filled the city with confusion. As it was,
+ they several times made their escape through the midst of so many armed men
+ with their persons uninjured in the contracted space which the house afforded,
+ and extricated themselves from their grasp, though they had to disengage themselves
+ from so many and such strong hands; but at length enfeebled by wounds, and after
+ covering every place with blood, they fell down lifeless. This murder, piteous
+ as it was in itself, was rendered still more so by its happening that a short
+ time after it a message arrived that they should not be killed, as the minds
+ of the people were now turned to compassion. This compassion then gave rise
+ to a feeling of anger, because so much haste had been shown in carrying the
+ punishment into effect, and because no opportunity was left for relenting or
+ retracing the steps of their passion. The multitude therefore gave vent to their
+ indignation, and demanded an election to supply the places of Andranodorus and
+ Themistus, for both of them had been praetors; an election by no means likely
+ to be agreeable to the praetors. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="f27" />
+<p>The day was fixed for the election, when, to the surprise of all, one person
+ from the extremity of the crowd nominated Epicydes, and then another from the
+ same quarter nominated Hippocrates. Afterwards the voices in favour of these
+ persons increased with the manifest approbation of the multitude. The assembly
+ was one of a heterogeneous character, consisting not only of the commons, but
+ a crowd of soldiers, with a large admixture even of deserters, who were desirous
+ of innovation in every thing. The praetors, at first, concealed their feelings,
+ and were for protracting the business; but at length, overcome by the general
+ opinion, and apprehensive of a sedition, they declared them the praetors. These
+ did not, however, immediately openly avow their sentiments, though they were
+ chagrined that ambassadors had been sent to Appius Claudius to negotiate a ten
+ days' truce, and that on obtaining this, others were sent to treat for the renewal
+ of the old alliance. The Romans, with a fleet of a hundred ships, were then
+ stationed at Murgantia, waiting the issue of the commotion raised at Syracuse
+ by the death of the tyrants, and to what their recent acquisition of liberty
+ would impel the people. Meanwhile, the Syracusan ambassadors were sent by Appius
+ Claudius to Marcellus on his coming into Sicily, and Marcellus having heard
+ the conditions of peace, and being of opinion that matters might be brought
+ to a settlement, himself also sent ambassadors to Syracuse to treat with the
+ praetors in person on the renewal of the alliance. But now by no means the same
+ state of quiet and tranquillity existed there. Hippocrates and Epicydes, their
+ fears being removed, after that intelligence had arrived that a Carthaginian
+ fleet had put in at Pachynum, complained sometimes to the mercenary soldiers,
+ at other times to the deserters, that Syracuse was being betrayed to the Romans.
+ And when Appius began to station his ships at the mouth of the port, in order
+ to inspire the other party with courage, their false insinuations appeared to
+ receive great corroboration; and on the first impulse, the populace had even
+ run down in a disorderly manner to prevent them from disembarking. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="f28" />
+<p>While affairs were in this unsettled state, it was resolved to call an assembly;
+ in which, when some leaned to one side and some to the other, and an insurrection
+ being on the point of breaking out, Apollonides, one of the nobles, delivered
+ a speech fraught with salutary advice, considering the critical state of affairs:
+ "Never," he said, "had a state a nearer prospect of safety and annihilation.
+ For if they would all unanimously espouse the cause either of the Romans or
+ the Carthaginians, there could be no state whose condition would be more prosperous
+ and happy; but if they pulled different ways, the war between the Romans and
+ Carthaginians would not be more bloody than that which would take place between
+ the Syracusans themselves, in which both the contending parties would have their
+ forces, their troops, and their generals, within the same walls. Every exertion
+ ought therefore to be made that all might think alike. Which alliance would
+ be productive of the greater advantages, was a question of quite a secondary
+ nature, and of less moment; though the authority of Hiero ought to be followed
+ in preference to that of Hieronymus in the selection of allies, and a friendship
+ of which they had had a happy experience through a space of fifty years, ought
+ to be chosen rather than one now untried and formerly unfaithful. That it ought
+ also to have some weight in their deliberations, that peace with the Carthaginians
+ might be refused in such a manner as not immediately, at least, to have a war
+ with them, while with the Romans they must forthwith have either peace or war."
+ The less of party spirit and warmth appeared in this speech the greater weight
+ it had. A military council also was united with the praetors and a chosen body
+ of senators; the commanders of companies also, and the praefects of the allies,
+ were ordered to consult conjointly. After the question had been agitated with
+ great warmth, at length, as there appeared to be no means of carrying on a war
+ with the Romans, it was resolved that a treaty of peace should be formed, and
+ that ambassadors should be sent with those from Rome to ratify the same. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="f29" />
+<p>Not many days intervened before ambassadors came from the Leontines, requesting
+ troops to protect their frontiers; an embassy which appeared to afford a very
+ favourable opportunity for disencumbering the city of a turbulent and disorderly
+ rabble, and for removing their leaders to a distance. The praetor, Hippocrates,
+ was ordered to lead the deserters thither. Many of the mercenary auxiliaries
+ accompanying them made them number four thousand armed men. This expedition
+ gave great delight both to those who were sent and those who sent them, for
+ to the former an opportunity was afforded of change which they had long desired,
+ while the latter were rejoiced because they considered that a kind of sink of
+ the city had been drained off. But they had, as it were, only relieved a sick
+ body for a time, that it might afterwards fall into a more aggravated disease.
+ For Hippocrates began to ravage the adjoining parts of the Roman province, at
+ first by stealthy excursions, but afterwards, when Appies had sent a body of
+ troops to protect the lands of the allies, he made an attack with all his forces
+ upon the guard posted over against him, and slew many. Marcellus, when informed
+ of this, immediately sent ambassadors to Syracuse, who said that the faith of
+ the treaty had been broken, and that there would never be wanting a cause for
+ hostilities, unless Hippocrates and Epicydes were removed not only from Syracuse,
+ but far from all Sicily. Epicydes, lest by being present he should be arraigned
+ for the offence committed by his absent brother, or should be wanting on his
+ own part in stirring up a war, proceeded himself also to the Leontines; and
+ seeing that they were already sufficiently exasperated against the Romans, he
+ endeavoured to detach them from the Syracusans also. His argument was, that
+ the terms on which they had formed a treaty of peace with the Romans were, that
+ whatever people had been subject to their kings should be placed under their
+ dominion; and that now they were not satisfied with liberty unless they could
+ also exercise kingly power and dominion over others. The answer, therefore,
+ he said, which they ought to send back was, that the Leontines also considered
+ themselves entitled to liberty, either on the ground that the tyrant fell in
+ the streets of their city, or that there the shout was first raised for liberty;
+ and that they were the persons who, abandoning the king's generals, flocked
+ to Syracuse. That, therefore, either that article must be expunged from the
+ treaty, or that that term of it would not be admitted. They easily persuaded
+ the multitude; and when the ambassadors of Syracuse complained of the slaughter
+ of the Roman guard, and ordered that Hippocrates and Epicydes should depart
+ either to Locri or any other place they pleased, provided they quitted Sicily,
+ a reply was made to them in a haughty manner, "that they had neither placed
+ themselves at the disposal of the Syracusans to make a peace for them with the
+ Romans, nor were they bound by the treaties of other people." This answer the
+ Syracusans laid before the Romans, declaring at the same time that "the Leontines
+ were not under their control, and that, therefore, the Romans might make war
+ on them without violating the treaty subsisting between them; that they would
+ also not be wanting in the war, provided that when brought again under subjection,
+ they should form a part of their dominion, agreeably to the conditions of the
+ peace." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="f30" />
+<p>Marcellus marched with his entire forces against Leontini, having sent for
+ Appius also, in order that he might attack it in another quarter; when, such
+ was the ardour of the troops in consequence of the indignation they felt at
+ the Roman guards being put to the sword during the negotiations for a peace,
+ that they took the town by storm on the first assault. Hippocrates and Epicydes,
+ perceiving that the enemy were getting possession of the walls and breaking
+ open the gates, retired with a few others into the citadel, from which they
+ fled unobserved during the night to Herbessus. The Syracusans, who had marched
+ from home with eight thousand troops, were met at the river Myla by a messenger,
+ who informed them that the city was taken. The rest which he stated was a mixture
+ of truth and falsehood; he said that there had been an indiscriminate massacre
+ of the soldiers and the townsmen, and that he did not think that one person
+ who had arrived at puberty had survived; that the town had been pillaged, and
+ the property of the rich men given to the troops. On receiving such direful
+ news the army halted; and while all were under violent excitement, the generals,
+ Sosis and Dinomenes, consulted together as to the course to be taken. The scourging
+ and beheading of two thousand deserters had given to this false statement a
+ plausibility which excited alarm; but no violence was offered to any of the
+ Leontine or other soldiers after the city was taken; and every man's property
+ was restored to him, with the exception only of such as was destroyed in the
+ first confusion which attended the capture of the city. The troops, who complained
+ of their fellow-soldiers having been betrayed and butchered, could neither be
+ induced to proceed to Leontini, nor wait where they were for more certain intelligence.
+ The praetors, perceiving their minds disposed to mutiny, but concluding that
+ their violence would not be of long continuance, if those who had led them on
+ to such folly were removed, led the troops to Megara, whence they themselves
+ with a few horsemen proceeded to Herbessus, under the expectation of having
+ the city betrayed to them in the general consternation; but being disappointed
+ in this attempt, they resolved to resort to force, and moved their camp from
+ Megara on the following day, in order to attack Herbessus with all their forces.
+ Hippocrates and Epicydes having formed the design of putting themselves into
+ the hands of the soldiers, who were for the most part accustomed to them, and
+ were now incensed at the report of the massacre of their comrades, not so much
+ as a safe measure on the first view of it as that it was their only course,
+ now that all hope was cut off, went out to meet the army. It happened that the
+ troops which marched in the van were six hundred Cretans, who had been engaged
+ in the service of Hieronymus under their command, and were under obligation
+ to Hannibal, having been captured at the Trasimenus among the Roman auxiliaries,
+ and dismissed by him. Hippocrates and Epicydes, recognising them by their standards
+ and the fashion of their armour, held out olive branches, and the fillets usually
+ worn by suppliants, and implored them to receive them into their ranks, protect
+ them when received, and not betray them to the Syracusans, by whom they themselves
+ would soon be delivered up to the Romans to be butchered. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="f31" />
+<p>But the Cretans with one accord called out to them to be of good courage; that
+ they would share every fortune with them. During this conversation, the vanguard
+ had halted, and the march was delayed; nor had the cause of the delay as yet
+ reached the generals. After the report had spread that Hippocrates and Epicydes
+ were there, and a voice was heard through the whole army, which showed evidently
+ that the troops were pleased at their arrival, the praetors immediately gallopped
+ to the front, and earnestly asked "what was the meaning of that violation of
+ discipline, which the Cretans had committed in holding conference with the enemy,
+ and allowing them to mingle with their ranks without the authority of the praetors."
+ They ordered Hippocrates to be seized and thrown into chains. On hearing which
+ such a clamour was raised, first by the Cretans and then by the rest, that it
+ was quite evident if they proceeded farther that they would have cause to fear.
+ In this state of anxiety and perplexity, they gave orders to march back to Megara,
+ whence they had set out, and sent messengers to Syracuse, to give information
+ of their present condition. Hippocrates added a deception, seeing that the minds
+ of the troops were disposed to entertain every suspicion. Having sent some Cretans
+ to lie in wait in the roads, he read a letter he pretended had been intercepted,
+ but which he had written himself. The address was: "The praetors of Syracuse
+ to the consul Marcellus." After the customary wishing of health, it stated "that
+ he had acted duly and properly in sparing none of the Leontines, but that the
+ cause of all the mercenary troops was the same, and that Syracuse would never
+ be tranquil while there were any foreign auxiliaries in the city or in the army.
+ That it was therefore necessary that he should endeavour to get into his power
+ those who were encamped at Megara, with their praetors, and by punishing them,
+ at length restore Syracuse to liberty." After this letter had been read, they
+ ran to seize their arms in every direction, with so great a clamour, that the
+ praetors, in the utmost consternation, rode away to Syracuse during the confusion.
+ The mutiny, however, was not quelled even by their flight, but an attack was
+ made upon the Syracusan soldiers; nor would any one have escaped their violence,
+ had not Hippocrates and Epicydes opposed the resentment of the multitude, not
+ from pity or any humane motive, but lest they should cut off all hope of effecting
+ their return; and that they might have the soldiers, both as faithful supporters
+ of their cause, and as hostages, and conciliate to themselves their relatives
+ and friends, in the first place by so great an obligation, and in the next by
+ reason of the pledge. Having also experienced that the populace could be excited
+ by any cause, however groundless or trifling, they procured a soldier of the
+ number of those who were besieged at Leontini, whom they suborned to carry a
+ report to Syracuse, corresponding with that which had been falsely told at the
+ Myla; and by vouching for what he stated, and relating as matters which he had
+ seen, those things of which doubts were entertained, to kindle the resentment
+ of the people. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="f32" />
+<p>This man not only obtained credit with the commons, but being introduced into
+ the senate-house, produced an impression upon the senate also. Some men of no
+ small authority openly declared, that it was very fortunate that the rapacity
+ and cruelty of the Romans had been made apparent in the case of the Leontines;
+ that if they had entered Syracuse, they would have committed the same or even
+ more horrible acts, as there the temptations to rapacity would have been greater.
+ All, therefore, advised that the gates should be closed and the city guarded,
+ but not the same persons were objects of fear or hatred to all alike. Among
+ the soldiers of every kind, and a great part of the people, the Roman name was
+ hated. The praetors, and a few of the nobles, though enraged by the fictitious
+ intelligence, rather directed their cautions against a nearer and more immediate
+ evil. Hippocrates and Epicycles were now at the Hexapylum; and conversations
+ were taking place, fomented by the relatives of the native soldiers who were
+ in the army, touching the opening of the gates, and the allowing their common
+ country to be defended from the violence of the Romans. One of the doors of
+ the Hexapylum was now thrown open, and the troops began to be taken in at it,
+ when the praetors interposed; and first by commands and menaces, then by advice,
+ they endeavoured to deter them from their purpose, and last of all, every other
+ means proving ineffectual, forgetful of their dignity, they tried to move them
+ by prayers, imploring them not to betray their country to men heretofore the
+ satellites of the tyrant, and now the corrupters of the army. But the ears of
+ the excited multitude were deaf to all these arguments, and the exertions made
+ from within to break open the gates, were not less than those without; the gates
+ were all broken open, and the whole army received into the Hexapylum. The praetors,
+ with the youth of the city, fled into the Achradina; the mercenary soldiers
+ and deserters, with all the soldiers of the late king who were at Syracuse,
+ joined the forces of the enemy. The Achradina also was therefore taken on the
+ first assault, and all the praetors, except such as escaped in the confusion,
+ were put to the sword. Night put an end to the carnage. On the following day
+ the slaves were invited to liberty, and those bound in prison were released;
+ after which this mixed rabble created Hippocrates and Epicydes their praetors,
+ and thus Syracuse, when for a brief period the light of liberty had shone on
+ it, relapsed into her former state of servitude. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="f33" />
+<p>The Romans, on receiving information of these events, immediately moved their
+ camp from Leontini to Syracuse. It happened at this time that ambassadors were
+ sent by Appius in a quinquereme, to make their way through the harbour. A quadrireme
+ was sent in advance, which was captured as soon as it entered the mouth of the
+ harbour, and the ambassadors with difficulty made their escape. And now not
+ only the laws of peace but of war also were not regarded, when the Roman army
+ pitched their camp at Olympium, a temple of Jupiter, a mile and a half from
+ the city. From which place also it was thought proper that ambassadors should
+ be sent forward; these were met by Hippocrates and Epicydes with their friends
+ without the gate, to prevent their entering the city. The Roman, who was appointed
+ to speak, said that "he did not bring war, but aid and assistance to the Syracusans,
+ not only to such as, escaping from the midst of the carnage, fled to the Romans
+ for protection, but to those also, who, overpowered by fear, were submitting
+ to a servitude more shocking, not only than exile, but than death. Nor would
+ the Romans suffer the horrid murder of their friends to go unavenged. If, therefore,
+ those who had taken refuge with them were allowed to return to their country
+ with safety, the authors of the massacre delivered up, and the Syracusans reinstated
+ in the enjoyment of their liberty and laws, there would be no necessity for
+ arms; but if these things were not done, they would direct their arms unceasingly
+ against those who delayed them, whoever they might be." Epicydes replied, that
+ "if they had been commissioned with any message for them, they would have given
+ them an answer; and when the government of Syracuse was in the hands of those
+ persons to whom they were come, they might visit Syracuse again. If they should
+ commence hostilities, they would learn by actual experience that it was by no
+ means the same thing to besiege Syracuse and Leontini." With this he left the
+ ambassadors and closed the gate. The siege of Syracuse then commenced by sea
+ and land at the same time; by land on the side of the Hexapylum; by sea on the
+ side of the Achradina, the wall of which is washed by its waves; and as the
+ Romans felt a confidence that as they had taken Leontini by the terror they
+ occasioned on the first assault, they should be able in some quarter to effect
+ an entrance into a city so desert, and diffused over so large an extent of ground,
+ they brought up to the walls every kind of engine for besieging cities. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="f34" />
+<p>And an attempt made with so much energy would have succeeded, had it not been
+ for one person then at Syracuse. That person was Archimedes, a man of unrivalled
+ skill in observing the heavens and the stars, but more deserving of admiration
+ as the inventor and constructor of warlike engines and works, by means of which,
+ with a very slight effort, he turned to ridicule what the enemy effected with
+ great difficulty. The wall which ran along unequal eminences, most of which
+ were high and difficult of access, some low and open to approach along level
+ vales, he furnished with every kind of warlike engine, as seemed suitable to
+ each particular place. Marcellus attacked from the quinqueremes the wall of
+ the Achradina, which, as before stated, was washed by the sea. From the other
+ ships the archers and slingers and light infantry, whose weapon is difficult
+ to be thrown back by the unskilful, allowed scarce any person to remain upon
+ the wall unwounded. These, as they required room for the discharge of their
+ missiles, kept their ships at a distance from the wall. Eight more quinqueremes
+ joined together in pairs, the oars on their inner sides being removed, so that
+ side might be placed to side, and which forming as it were ships, were worked
+ by means of the oars on the outer sides, carried turrets built up in stories,
+ and other engines employed in battering walls. Against this naval armament,
+ Archimedes placed on different parts of the walls engines of various dimensions.
+ Against the ships which were at a distance he discharged stones of immense weight.
+ Those which were nearer he assailed with lighter, and therefore more numerous
+ missiles. Lastly, in order that his own men might heap their weapons upon the
+ enemy, without receiving any wounds themselves, he perforated the wall from
+ the top to the bottom with a great number of loop-holes, about a cubit in diameter,
+ through which some with arrows, others with scorpions of moderate size, assailed
+ the enemy without being seen. Certain ships which came nearer to the walls in
+ order to get within the range of the engines, he placed upon their sterns, raising
+ up their prows by throwing upon them an iron grapple, attached to a strong chain,
+ by means of a tolleno which projected from the wall, and overhung them, having
+ a heavy counterpoise of lead which forced back the lever to the ground; then
+ the grapple being suddenly disengaged, the ship falling as it were from the
+ wall, was, by these means, to the utter consternation of the mariners, dashed
+ in such a manner against the water, that even if it fell back in an erect position
+ it took in a great quantity of water. Thus the attack by sea was foiled, and
+ their whole efforts were directed to an attack by land with all their forces.
+ But on this side also the place was furnished with a similar array of engines
+ of every kind, procured at the expense of Hiero, who had given his attention
+ to this object through a course of many years, and constructed by the unrivalled
+ abilities of Archimedes. The nature of the place also assisted them; for the
+ rock which formed the foundation of the wall was for the most part so steep,
+ that not only materials discharged from engines, but such as were rolled down
+ by their own gravity, fell upon the enemy with great force; the same cause rendered
+ the approach to the city difficult, and the footing unsteady. Wherefore, a council
+ being held, it was resolved, since every attempt was frustrated, to abstain
+ from assaulting the place, and keeping up a blockade, only to cut off the provisions
+ of the enemy by sea and land. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="f35" />
+<p>Meanwhile, Marcellus, who had set out with about a third part of the army,
+ to recover the towns which, during the commotion, had gone over to the Carthaginians,
+ regained Helorus and Herbessus by voluntary surrender. Megara, which he took
+ by storm, he demolished and plundered, in order to terrify the rest, but particularly
+ the Syracusans. Much about the same time, Himilco, who had kept his fleet for
+ a long time at the promontory of Pachynus, landed twenty-five thousand infantry,
+ three thousand horse, and twelve elephants, at Heraclea, which they call Minoa.
+ This force was much greater than that which he had before on board his fleet
+ at Pachynus. But after Syracuse was seized by Hippocrates, he proceeded to Carthage,
+ where, being aided by ambassadors from Hippocrates, and a letter from Hannibal,
+ who said that now was the time to recover Sicily with the highest honour, while
+ his own advice given in person had no small influence, he had prevailed upon
+ the Carthaginians to transport into Sicily as large a force as possible, both
+ of foot and horse. Immediately on his arrival he retook Heraclea, and within
+ a few days after Agrigentum; and in the other states which sided with the Carthaginians,
+ such confident hopes were kindled of driving the Romans out of Sicily, that
+ at last even those who were besieged at Syracuse took courage; and thinking
+ that half their forces would be sufficient for the defence of the city, they
+ divided the business of the war between them in such a manner, that Epicydes
+ superintended the defence of the city, while Hippocrates, in conjunction with
+ Himilco, prosecuted the war against the Roman consul. The latter, having passed
+ by night through the intervals between the posts, with ten thousand foot and
+ five hundred horse, was pitching a camp near the city Acrillae, when Marcellus
+ came upon them, while engaged in raising the fortifications, on his return from
+ Agrigentum, which was already occupied by the enemy, having failed in his attempt
+ to get there before the enemy by expeditious marching, Marcellus calculated
+ upon any thing rather than meeting with a Syracusan army at that time and place;
+ but still through fear of Himilco and the Carthaginians, for whom he was by
+ no means a match with the forces he had with him, he was marching with all possible
+ circumspection, and with his troops so arranged, as to be prepared for any thing
+ which might occur. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="f36" />
+<p>It happened that the caution he had observed with intent to guard him against
+ the Carthaginians, proved useful against the Sicilians. Having caught them in
+ disorder and dispersed, employed in forming their camp, and for the most part
+ unarmed, he cut off all their infantry. Their cavalry, having commenced a slight
+ engagement, fled to Acrae with Hippocrates. This battle having checked the Sicilians
+ in their purpose of revolting from the Romans, Marcellus returned to Syracuse,
+ and a few days after Himilco, being joined by Hippocrates, encamped on the river
+ Anapus, about eight miles distant from that place. Nearly about the same time,
+ fifty-five ships of war of the Carthaginians, with Bomilcar as commander of
+ the fleet, put into the great harbour of Syracuse from the sea, and a Roman
+ fleet of thirty quinqueremes landed the first legion at Panormus; and so intent
+ were both the contending powers upon Sicily, that the seat of war might seem
+ to have been removed from Italy. Himilco, who thought that the Roman legion
+ which had been landed at Panormus, would doubtless fall a prey to him on its
+ way to Syracuse, was mistaken in his road; for the Carthaginian marched through
+ the inland parts of the country, while the legion, keeping along the coast,
+ and attended by the fleet, came up with Appius Claudius, who had advanced to
+ Pachynum with a part of his forces to meet it. Nor did the Carthaginians delay
+ longer at Syracuse. Bomilcar, who at the same time that he did not feel sufficient
+ confidence in his naval strength, as the Romans had a fleet more than double
+ his number, was aware that delay which could be attended with no good effect,
+ would only increase the scarcity of provisions among the allies by the presence
+ of his troops, sailed out into the deep, and crossed over into Africa. Himilco,
+ who had in vain followed Marcellus to Syracuse, to see if he could get any opportunity
+ of engaging him before he was joined by larger forces, failing in this object,
+ and seeing that the enemy were secured at Syracuse, both by their fortifications
+ and the strength of their forces, to avoid wasting time in sitting by as an
+ idle spectator of the siege of his allies, without being able to do any good,
+ marched his troops away, in order to bring them up wherever the prospect of
+ revolt from the Romans might invite him, and wherever by his presence he might
+ inspire additional courage in those who espoused his interest. He first got
+ possession of Murgantia, the Roman garrison having been betrayed by the inhabitants
+ themselves. Here a great quantity of corn and provisions of every kind had been
+ laid up by the Romans. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="f37" />
+<p>To this revolt the minds of other states also were stimulated; and the Roman
+ garrisons were now either driven out of the citadels, or treacherously given
+ up and overpowered. Enna, which stood on an eminence lofty and of difficult
+ ascent on all sides, was impregnable on account of its situation, and had besides
+ in its citadel a strong garrison commanded by one who was very unlikely to be
+ overreached by treachery, Lucius Pinarius, a man of vigorous mind, who relied
+ more on the measures he took to prevent treachery, than on the fidelity of the
+ Sicilians; and at that time particularly the intelligence he had received of
+ so many cities being betrayed, and revolting, and of the massacre of the garrisons,
+ had made him solicitous to use every precaution. Accordingly, by day and night
+ equally, every thing was kept in readiness, and every place furnished with guards
+ and watches, the soldiery being continually under arms and at their posts. But
+ when the principal men in Enna, who had already entered into a covenant with
+ Himilco to betray the garrison, found that they could get no opportunity of
+ circumventing the Roman, they resolved to act openly. They urged, that "the
+ city and the citadel ought to be under their control, as they had formed an
+ alliance with the Romans on the understanding that they were to be free, and
+ had not been delivered into their custody as slaves. That they therefore thought
+ it just that the keys of the gates should be restored to them. That their honour
+ formed the strongest tie upon good allies, and that the people and senate of
+ Rome would entertain feelings of gratitude towards them if they continued in
+ friendship with them of their own free will, and not by compulsion." The Roman
+ replied, that "he was placed there by his general to protect the place; that
+ from him he had received the keys of the gates and the custody of the citadel,
+ trusts which he held not subject to his own will, nor that of the inhabitants
+ of Enna, but to his who committed them to him. That among the Romans, for a
+ man to quit his post was a capital offence, and that parents had sanctioned
+ that law by the death even of their own children. That the consul Marcellus
+ was not far off; that they might send ambassadors to him, who possessed the
+ right and liberty of deciding." But they said, they would certainly not send
+ to him, and solemnly declared, that as they could not obtain their object by
+ argument, they would seek some means of asserting their liberty. Pinarius upon
+ this observed, "that if they thought it too much to send to the consul, still
+ they would, at least, grant him an assembly of the people, that it might be
+ ascertained whether these denunciations came from a few, or from the whole state."
+ An assembly of the people was proclaimed for the next day, with the general
+ consent. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="f38" />
+<p>After this conference, he returned into the citadel, and assembling his soldiers,
+ thus addressed them: "Soldiers, I suppose you have heard in what manner the
+ Roman garrisons have been betrayed and cut off by the Sicilians of late. You
+ have escaped the same treachery, first by the kindness of the gods, and secondly
+ by your own good conduct, in unremittingly standing and watching under arms.
+ I wish the rest of our time may be passed without suffering or committing dreadful
+ things. This caution, which we have hitherto employed, has been directed against
+ covert treachery, but not succeeding in this as they wished, they now publicly
+ and openly demand back the keys of the gates; but as soon as we shall have delivered
+ them up, Enna will be instantly in the hands of the Carthaginians, and we shall
+ be butchered under circumstances more horrid than those with which the garrison
+ of Murgantia were massacred. I have with difficulty procured a delay of one
+ night for deliberation, that I might employ it in acquainting you with the danger
+ which threatens you. At daybreak they intend holding a general assembly for
+ the purpose of criminating me, and stirring up the people against you; to-morrow,
+ therefore, Enna will be inundated either with your blood, or that of its own
+ inhabitants. If they are beforehand with you, you will have no hope left, but
+ if you anticipate their proceedings, you will have no danger. Victory will belong
+ to that side which shall have drawn the sword first. You shall all, therefore,
+ full armed, attentively wait the signal. I shall be in the assembly, and by
+ talking and disputing will spin out the time till every thing shall be ready.
+ When I shall have given the signal with my gown, then, mind me raising a shout
+ on all sides rush upon the multitude, and fell all before you with the sword,
+ taking care that no one survive from whom either force or fraud can be apprehended.
+ You, mother Ceres and Proserpine, I entreat, and all ye other gods, celestial
+ and infernal, who frequent this city and these consecrated lakes and groves,
+ that you would lend us your friendly and propitious aid, as we adopt this measure
+ not for the purpose of inflicting, but averting injury. I should exhort you
+ at greater length my soldiers, if you were about to fight with armed men, men
+ unarmed and off their guard, you will slay to satiety. The consul's camp too
+ is near, so that nothing can be apprehended from Himilco and the Carthaginians'."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="f39" />
+<p>Being allowed to retire immediately after this exhortation, they employed themselves
+ in taking refreshment. The next day they stationed themselves some in one place
+ and others in another, to block up the streets, and shut up the ways by which
+ the townsmen might escape, the greater part of them stationing themselves upon
+ and round the theatre, as they had been accustomed before also to be spectators
+ of the assemblies. When the Roman praefect, having been brought into the presence
+ of the people by the magistrates, said, that the power and authority of deciding
+ the question appertained to the consul, and not to him, repeating for the most
+ part what he had urged the day before, first of all a small number, and then
+ more, desired him to give up the keys, but afterwards all with one consent demanded
+ it, and when he hesitated and delayed, threatened him furiously, and seemed
+ as though they would not further delay violent extremities then the praefect
+ gave the signal agreed upon with his gown and the soldiers, who had been long
+ anxiously waiting the signal, and in readiness, raising a shout, ran down, some
+ of them from the higher ground, upon the rear of the assembly while others blocked
+ up the passages leading out of the crowded theatre. The people of Enna thus
+ shut up in the pit were put to the sword, being heaped one upon another not
+ only in consequence of the slaughter, but also from their own efforts to escape,
+ for some scrambling over the heads of others, and those that were unhurt falling
+ upon the wounded, and the living upon the dead, they were accumulated together.
+ Thence they ran in every direction throughout the city, when nothing was any
+ where to be seen but flight and bloodshed, as though the city had been captured,
+ for the rage of the soldiery was not less excited in putting to the sword an
+ unarmed rabble, than it would have been had the heat of battle and an equality
+ of danger stimulated it. Thus possession of Enna was retained, by an act which
+ was either atrocious or unavoidable. Marcellus did not disapprove of the deed,
+ and gave up the plunder of the place to the soldiery, concluding that the Sicilians,
+ deterred by this example, would refrain from betraying their garrisons. As this
+ city was situated in the heart of Sicily, and was distinguished both on account
+ of the remarkable strength of its natural situation, and because every part
+ of it was rendered sacred by the traces it contained of the rape of Proserpine
+ of old, the news of its disaster spread though the whole of Sicily in nearly
+ one day, and as people considered that by this horrid massacre violence had
+ been done not only to the habitations of men, but even of the gods, then indeed
+ those who even before this event were in doubt which side they should take,
+ revolted to the Carthaginians Hippocrates and Himilco, who had in vain brought
+ up their troops to Enna at the invitation of the traitors, retired thence, the
+ former to Murgantia, the latter to Agrigentum. Marcellus retrograded into the
+ territory of Leontium, and after collecting a quantity of corn and other provisions
+ in his camp there, left a small body of troops to protect it, and then went
+ to carry on the siege of Syracuse. Appius Claudius having been allowed to go
+ from thence to Rome to put up for the consulship, he appointed Titus Quintus
+ Crispinus to command the fleet and the old camp in his room. He himself fortified
+ his camp, and built huts for his troops at a distance of five miles from Hexapylum,
+ at a place called Leon. These were the transactions in Sicily up to the beginning
+ of the winter. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="f40" />
+<p>The same summer the war with king Philip, as had been before suspected, broke
+ out. Ambassadors from Oricum came to Marcus Valerius, the praetor, who was directing
+ his fleet around Brundusium and the neighbouring coasts of Calabria, with intelligence,
+ that Philip had first made an attempt upon Apollonia, having approached it by
+ sailing up the river with a hundred and twenty barks with two banks of oars;
+ after that, not succeeding so speedily as he had hoped, that he had brought
+ up his army secretly to Oricum by night; which city, as it was situated on a
+ plain, and was not secured either by fortifications or by men and arms, was
+ overpowered at the first assault. At the same time that they delivered this
+ intelligence, they entreated him to bring them succour, and repel that decided
+ enemy of the Romans by land or by a naval force, since they were attacked for
+ no other cause than that they lay over against Italy. Marcus Valerius, leaving
+ Publius Valerius lieutenant-general charged with the protection of that quarter,
+ set sail with his fleet equipped and prepared, having put on board of ships
+ of burthen such soldiers as there was not room for in the men of war, and reached
+ Oricum on the second day; and as that city was occupied by a slight garrison,
+ which Philip had left on his departure thence, he retook it without much opposition.
+ Here ambassadors came to him from Apollonia, stating that they were subjected
+ to a siege because they were unwilling to revolt from the Romans, and that they
+ would not be able any longer to resist the power of the Macedonians, unless
+ a Roman force were sent for their protection. Having undertaken to perform what
+ they wished, he sent two thousand chosen armed men in ships of war to the mouth
+ of the river, under the command of Quintus Naevius Crista, praefect of the allies,
+ a man of enterprise, and experienced in military affairs. Having landed his
+ troops, and sent back the ships to join the rest of the fleet at Oricum, whence
+ he had come, he marched his troops at a distance from the river, by a way not
+ guarded at all by the king's party, and entered the city by night, so that none
+ of the enemy perceived him. During the following day they remained quiet, to
+ afford time for the praefect to inspect the youth of Apollonia, together with
+ the arms and resources of the city. Having derived considerable confidence from
+ a review and inspection of these, and at the same time discovering from scouts
+ the supineness and negligence which prevailed among the enemy, he marched out
+ of the city during the dead of night without any noise, and entered the camp
+ of the enemy, which was in such a neglected and exposed state, that it was quite
+ clear that a thousand men had passed the rampart before any one perceived them,
+ and that had they abstained from putting them to the sword, they might have
+ penetrated to the royal pavilion. The killing of those who were nearest the
+ gate aroused the enemy; and in consequence, they were all seized with such alarm
+ and dismay, that not only none of the rest attempted to take arms or endeavour
+ to expel the enemy from the camp, but even the king himself, betaking himself
+ to flight, in a manner half naked and just as he was when roused from his sleep,
+ hurried away to the river and his ships in a garb scarcely decent for a private
+ soldier, much less for a king. Thither also the rest of the multitude fled with
+ the utmost precipitation. Little less than three thousand men were slain or
+ made prisoners in the camp; considerably more, however, were captured than slain.
+ The camp having been plundered, the Apollonians removed into their city the
+ catapults, ballistas, and other engines which had been got together for the
+ purpose of assaulting their city, for the protection of their walls, in case
+ at any time a similar conjuncture should arise; all the rest of the plunder
+ which the camp afforded was given up to the Romans. Intelligence of these events
+ having been carried to Oricum, Marcus Valerius immediately brought his fleet
+ to the mouth of the river, that the king might not attempt to make his escape
+ by ship. Thus Philip, having lost all hope of being able to cope with his enemies
+ by land or sea, and having either hauled on shore or burnt his ships, made for
+ Macedonia by land, his troops being for the most part unarmed and despoiled
+ of their baggage. The Roman fleet, with Marcus Valerius, wintered at Oricum.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="f41" />
+<p>The same year the war was prosecuted in Spain with various success; for before
+ the Romans crossed the Iberus, Mago and Hasdrubal had routed an immense army
+ of Spaniards; and the farther Spain would have revolted from the Romans, had
+ not Publius Cornelius, hastily crossing the Iberus with his army, given a seasonable
+ stimulus to the wavering resolutions of his allies by his arrival among them.
+ The Romans first encamped at a place called the High Camp, which is remarkable
+ for the death of the great Hamilcar. It was a fortress strongly defended by
+ works, and thither they had previously conveyed corn; but as the whole circumjacent
+ country was full of enemy's troops, and the Roman army on its march had been
+ charged by the cavalry of the enemy without being able to take revenge upon
+ them, two thousand men, who either loitered behind or had strayed through the
+ fields, having been slain, the Romans quitted this place to get nearer to a
+ friendly country, and fortified a camp at the mount of Victory. To this place
+ came Cneius Scipio with all his forces, and Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, and a third
+ Carthaginian general, with a complete army, all of whom took up a position opposite
+ the Roman camp and on the other side the river. Publius Scipio, going out with
+ some light troops to take a view of the surrounding country, was observed by
+ the enemy; and he would have been overpowered in the open plain, had he not
+ seized an eminence near him. Here too he was closely invested, but was rescued
+ from the troops which environed him by the arrival of his brother. Castulo,
+ a city of Spain, so strong and celebrated, and so closely connected with the
+ Carthaginians, that Hannibal had taken a wife from it, revolted to the Romans.
+ The Carthaginians commenced the siege of Illiturgi, because there was a Roman
+ garrison in it; and it seemed that they would carry the place, chiefly in consequence
+ of a lack of provisions. Cneius Scipio, setting out with a legion lightly equipped,
+ in order to bring succour to his allies and the garrison, entered the city,
+ passing between the two camps of the enemy, and slaying a great number of them.
+ The next day also he sallied out and fought with equal success. Above twelve
+ thousand were slain in the two battles, more than a thousand made prisoners,
+ and thirty-six military standards captured. In consequence of this they retired
+ from Illiturgi. After this the siege of Bigerra, a city which was also in alliance
+ with the Romans, was commenced by the Carthaginians; but Scipio coming up, raised
+ the siege without experiencing any opposition. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="f42" />
+<p>The Carthaginians then removed their camp to Munda, whither the Romans speedily
+ followed them. Here a pitched battle was fought, which lasted almost four hours;
+ and while the Romans were carrying all before them in the most glorious manner,
+ the signal for retreat was sounded, because the thigh of Cneius Scipio had been
+ transfixed with a javelin. The soldiers round about him were thrown into a state
+ of great alarm, lest the wound should be mortal. However, there was no doubt
+ but that if they had not been prevented by the intervention of this accident,
+ they might have taken the Carthaginian camp that day. By this time, not only
+ the men, but the elephants, were driven quite up to the rampart; and even upon
+ the top of it nine and thirty elephants were pierced with spears. In this battle,
+ too, as many as twelve thousand are said to have been slain, nearly three thousand
+ captured, with fifty-seven military standards. The Carthaginians retired thence
+ to the city Auringis, whither the Romans followed them, in order to take advantage
+ of their terror. Here Scipio again fought them, having been carried into the
+ field in a small litter; the victory was decisive; but not half so many of the
+ enemy were slain as before, because fewer survived to fight. But this family,
+ which possessed a natural talent at renewing war and restoring its effects,
+ in a short time recruited their army, Mago having been sent by his brother to
+ press soldiers, and assumed courage to try the issue of a fresh struggle. Though
+ the soldiers were for the most part different, yet as they fought in a cause
+ which had so often been unsuccessful within the space of a few days, they carried
+ into the field the same state of mind as those which had been engaged before,
+ and the issue of the battle was similar. More than eight thousand were slain,
+ not much less than a thousand captured, with fifty-eight military standards.
+ The greater part of the spoils had belonged to the Gauls, consisting of golden
+ chains and bracelets in great numbers. Also two distinguished Gallic petty princes,
+ whose names were Moenicaptus and Civismarus, fell in this battle. Eight elephants
+ were captured and three slain. When affairs went on so prosperously in Spain,
+ the Romans began to feel ashamed that Saguntum, on account of which the war
+ had originated, should continue for now the eighth year in the power of the
+ enemy. Accordingly, having expelled by force the Carthaginian garrison, they
+ retook that town, and restored it to such of the ancient inhabitants as had
+ survived the fury of the war. The Turditanians also, who had been the cause
+ of the war between that people and the Carthaginians, they reduced under their
+ power, sold them as slaves, and razed their city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="f43" />
+<p>Such were the achievements in Spain during the consulate of Quintus Fabius
+ and Marcus Claudius. At Rome, as soon as the new plebeian tribunes entered upon
+ their office, Lucius Metellus, a plebeian tribune, immediately appointed a day
+ for impleading the censors, Publius Furius and Marcus Atilius, before the people.
+ In the preceding year, when he was quaestor, they had deprived him of his horse,
+ removed him from his tribe, and disfranchised him, on account of the conspiracy
+ entered into at Cannae to abandon Italy. But being aided by the other nine tribunes,
+ they were forbidden to answer while in office, and were discharged. The death
+ of Publius Furius prevented their completing the lustrum. Marcus Atilius abdicated
+ his office. An assembly for the election of consuls was held by Quintus Fabius
+ Maximus. The consuls elected were Quintus Fabius Maximus, son of the consul,
+ and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus a second time, both being absent. The praetors
+ appointed were Marcus Atilius, and the two curule aediles, Publius Sempronius
+ Tuditanus and Cneius Fulvius Centumalus, together with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
+ It is recorded, that the scenic games were this year, for the first time, celebrated
+ for four days by the curule aediles. The aedile Tuditanus was the man who made
+ his way through the midst of the enemy at Cannae when all the rest were paralysed
+ with fear, in consequence of that dreadful calamity. As soon as the elections
+ were completed, the consuls elect having been summoned to Rome, at the instance
+ of Quintus Fabius, the consul, entered upon their office, and took the sense
+ of the senate respecting the war, their own provinces as well as those of the
+ praetors, and also respecting the armies to be employed, and which each of them
+ was to command. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="f44" />
+<p>The provinces and armies were thus distributed: the prosecution of the war
+ with Hannibal was given to the consuls, and of the armies, one which Sempronius
+ himself had commanded, and another which the consul Fabius had commanded, each
+ consisting of two legions. Marcus Aemilius, the praetor, who had the foreign
+ jurisdiction, was to have Luceria as his province, with the two legions which
+ Quintus Fabius, then consul, had commanded as praetor, his colleague, Marcus
+ Atilius, the city praetor, undertaking the duties of his office. The province
+ of Ariminum fell to the lot of Publius Sempronius, that of Suessula to Cneius
+ Fulvius, with two legions each likewise; Fulvius taking with him the city legions;
+ Tuditanus receiving his from Manius Pomponius. The following generals were continued
+ in command, and their provinces assigned to them thus: to Marcus Claudius, so
+ much of Sicily as lay within the limits of the kingdom of Hiero; to Lentulus,
+ the propraetor, the old province in that island; to Titus Otacilius, the fleet;
+ no additional troops were assigned to them. Marcus Valerius had Greece and Macedonia,
+ with the legion and the fleet which he had there; Quintus Mucius had Sardinia,
+ with his old army, consisting of two legions; Caius Terentius, Picenum, with
+ one legion which he then commanded. Besides, orders were given to enlist two
+ legions for the city, and twenty thousand men from the allies. With these leaders
+ and these forces did they fortify the Roman empire against the many wars which
+ had either actually broken out, or were suspected at one and the same time.
+ After enlisting the city legions and raising troops to make up the numbers of
+ the others, the consuls, before they quitted the city, expiated the prodigies
+ which were reported. A wall and a gate had been struck by lightning; and at
+ Aricia even the temple of Jupiter had been struck by lightning. Other illusions
+ of the eyes and ears were credited as realities. An appearance as of ships had
+ been seen in the river at Tarracina, when there were none there. A clashing
+ of arms was heard in the temple of Jupiter Vicilinus, in the territory of Compsa;
+ and a river at Amiternum had flowed bloody. These prodigies having been expiated
+ according to a decree of the pontiffs, the consuls set out, Sempronius for Lucania,
+ Fabius for Apulia. The father of the latter came into the camp at Suessula,
+ as his lieutenant-general; and when the son advanced to meet him, the lictors,
+ out of respect for his dignity, went on in silence. The old man rode past eleven
+ of the fasces, when the consul ordered the lictor nearest to him to take care
+ and he called to him to dismount; then at length dismounting, he exclaimed,
+ "I wished to try, my son, whether you were duly sensible that you are a consul."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="f45" />
+<p>To this camp came Dasias Altinius of Arpi privately and by night, attended
+ by three slaves, with a promise that if he should receive a reward for it, he
+ would engage to betray Arpi to them. Fabius having laid the matter before a
+ council, some were of opinion that "he ought to be scourged and put to death
+ as a deserter, as a man of unstable mind, and a common enemy to both sides;
+ who, after the defeat at Cannae, had gone over to Hannibal and drawn Arpi into
+ revolt, as if it were right that a man's fidelity should vary according to the
+ fluctuations of fortune; and who now, when the Roman cause, contrary to his
+ hopes and wishes, was as it were rising up again, would seem to aggravate his
+ baseness by recompensing those whom he had formerly betrayed, by fresh betrayal.
+ That a man whose custom it was to espouse one side, while his heart was on another,
+ was unworthy of confidence as an ally, and contemptible as an enemy; that he
+ ought to be made a third example to deserters, in addition to the betrayers
+ of Falerii and Pyrrhus." On the other hand, Fabius, the father of the consul,
+ observed, that, "forgetful of circumstances, men were apt to exercise a free
+ judgment on every question in the heat of war, as in time of peace; for though
+ in the present instance that which ought rather to form the object of their
+ endeavours and to occupy their thoughts, is by what means it may be brought
+ about that none of the allies may revolt from the Roman people, yet that they
+ never think of; but, on the contrary, they urge that an example ought to be
+ made of any who might repent and look back upon their former alliance. But if
+ it is allowable to forsake the Romans, and not allowable to return to them,
+ who can doubt but that in a short time the Romans, deserted by their allies,
+ will see every state in Italy united in leagues with the Carthaginians. Not,
+ however, that he was of opinion that any confidence was to be reposed in Altinius,
+ but he would invent some middle course of proceeding. Treating him neither as
+ an enemy nor as a friend for the present, his wish was, that he should be kept
+ during the war in some city whose fidelity could be relied on, at a short distance
+ from the camp, in a state of easy restraint; and that when the war was concluded,
+ they should then deliberate whether he more deserved to be punished for his
+ former defection, or pardoned for his present return." The opinion of Fabius
+ was approved of. Altinius was bound in chains and given into custody, together
+ with his companions, and a large quantity of gold which he brought with him
+ was ordered to be kept for him. He was kept at Cales, where, during the day,
+ he was unconfined, but attended by guards who locked him up at night. He was
+ first missed and inquired for at his house at Arpi. but afterwards, when the
+ report of his absence had spread through the city, a violent sensation was excited,
+ as if they had lost their leader, and, from the apprehension of some attempt
+ to alter the present state of things, messengers were immediately despatched
+ to Hannibal. With this the Carthaginian was far from being displeased, both
+ because he had long regarded the man himself with suspicion, as one of doubtful
+ fidelity, and because he had now been lucky enough to get a pretext for possessing
+ himself of the property of so wealthy a person. But that the world might suppose
+ that he had yielded to resentment more than to avarice, he added cruelty to
+ rapacity; for he summoned his wife and children to the camp, and after having
+ made inquiry, first, respecting the flight of Altinius, and then, touching the
+ quantity of gold and silver which was left at his house, and informed himself
+ on all these points, he burned them alive. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="f46" />
+<p>Fabius, setting out from Suessula, first set about the siege of Arpi; and having
+ pitched his camp about half a mile from it, he took a near view of the site
+ and walls of the city, and resolved to attack it, in preference, in that quarter
+ where it was most secured by works, and where the least care was taken in guarding
+ it. After getting all things together which could be of use in besieging a city,
+ he selected the most efficient of the centurions out of the whole army, placing
+ them under the command of tribunes of approved valour, and giving them six hundred
+ soldiers, a number which was thought sufficient for the purpose. These he ordered
+ to bring the scaling ladders to the place which he had marked out, as soon as
+ the signal of the fourth watch had sounded. In this part there was a low and
+ narrow gate, opening into a street which was little frequented, and which led
+ through a deserted part of the city. He ordered them, after scaling the wall,
+ to proceed to this gate, and break down the bars on the inside by force, and
+ when they were in possession of that part of the city, to give a signal with
+ a cornet, that the rest of the troops might be brought up, observing that he
+ would have every thing prepared and ready. These orders were executed promptly,
+ and that which seemed likely to impede their operations, served more than any
+ thing to conceal them. A shower of rain, which came on suddenly at midnight,
+ compelled the guards and watches to slip away from their posts and take shelter
+ in the houses; and the noise of the shower, which was somewhat copious, at first
+ prevented their hearing that which was made by the men in breaking open the
+ gate. Afterwards, when it fell upon the ear more gently and uniformly, it lulled
+ a great number of the men to sleep. After they had secured possession of the
+ gate, they placed cornet-players in the street at equal distances, and desired
+ them to sound, in order to call the consul. This being done according to the
+ plan previously agreed upon, the consul ordered the troops to march, and a little
+ before daylight entered the city through the broken gate. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="f47" />
+<p>Then at length the enemy were roused, the shower was now subsiding, and daylight
+ coming on. Hannibal had a garrison of about five thousand armed men in the city,
+ and the inhabitants themselves had three thousand men in arms; these the Carthaginians
+ placed in front against the enemy, to guard against any treachery on their rear.
+ The fight was carried on at first in the dark, and in the narrow streets, the
+ Romans having seized not only the streets, but the houses also nearest the gate,
+ that they might not be struck or wounded by any thing discharged at them from
+ above. Some of the Arpinians and Romans recognised each other, which led to
+ conversations, in which the Romans asked them, what it was they meant? for what
+ offence on the part of the Romans, or what service on that of the Carthaginians,
+ they, who were Italians, made war in favour of foreigners and barbarians, against
+ their ancient allies the Romans, and endeavoured to render Italy tributary and
+ stipendiary to Africa? The Arpinians urged in excuse of themselves, that in
+ ignorance of all the circumstances, they had been sold to the Carthaginians
+ by their nobility, and that they were kept in a state of thraldom and oppression
+ by the few. A beginning having been made, greater numbers on both sides entered
+ into conversation; and at length the praetor of Arpi was brought by his countrymen
+ before the consul, and after exchanging assurances in the midst of the standards
+ and the troops, the Arpinians suddenly turned their arms against the Carthaginians,
+ in favour of the Romans. Some Spaniards also, little less than a thousand in
+ number, after only stipulating with the consul that the Carthaginian garrison
+ might be allowed to march out unhurt, passed over to the consul. The gates were
+ therefore thrown open for the Carthaginians; and being allowed to go out unmolested,
+ in conformity with the stipulation, they joined Hannibal in Salapia. Thus was
+ Arpi restored to the Romans, without the loss of a life, except that of one
+ man, who was formerly a traitor, and recently a deserter. The Spaniards were
+ ordered to receive a double allowance of provisions, and on very many occasions
+ the republic availed itself of their brave and faithful services. While one
+ of the consuls was in Apulia, and the other in Lucania, a hundred and twelve
+ Campanian noblemen, having gone out of Capua, with the permission of the magistrates,
+ under pretence of collecting booty from the enemy's lands, came into the Roman
+ camp, which lay above Suessula. They told the soldiers, forming the vanguard,
+ that they wished to speak with the praetor. Cneius Fulvius commanded the camp;
+ who, on being informed of the circumstance, ordered ten of them to be brought
+ into his presence unarmed; and after hearing their request, (and all they asked
+ was, that when the Romans should recover Capua, their property might be restored
+ to them,) they were all received under his protection. The other praetor, Sempronius
+ Tuditanus, took by force the town of Aternum; more than seven thousand were
+ captured, with a considerable quantity of coined brass and silver. A dreadful
+ fire happened at Rome, which continued for two nights and a day; every thing
+ was burnt to the ground between the Salinae and the Carmental gate, with the
+ Aequimaelium and the Jugarian street. In the temples of Fortune, Mater Matuta,
+ and Hope, which latter stood without the gate, the fire, spreading to a wide
+ extent, consumed much both sacred and profane. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">48 </div>
+<a id="f48" />
+<p>The same year, the two Cornelii, Publius and Cneius, as affairs were now in
+ a prosperous state in Spain, and they had recovered many ancient allies, and
+ attached fresh ones to them, extended their views even to Africa. Syphax was
+ a king of the Numidians, who had suddenly become hostile to the Carthaginians;
+ to him they sent three centurions as ambassadors, to form a treaty of friendship
+ and alliance with him; and to promise, that, if he persevered in pressing the
+ war against the Carthaginians, he would render an acceptable service to the
+ senate and people of Rome, and they would endeavour to requite the favour with
+ large additions, and at a seasonable time. This embassy was gratifying to the
+ barbarian; and when conversing with the ambassadors on the art of war he heard
+ the observations of those experienced soldiers, by comparing his own practice
+ with so regular a system of discipline, he became sensible of how many things
+ he himself was ignorant. Then he entreated them to give the first proof of their
+ being good and faithful allies, "by letting two of them carry back the result
+ of their embassy to their generals, while one remained with him as his instructor
+ in military science, observing that the Numidian nation were unacquainted with
+ the method of carrying on war with foot forces, being useful only as mounted
+ soldiers. That it was in this manner that their ancestors had carried on war
+ even from the first origin of their nation, and to this they were habituated
+ from their childhood. But that they had to contend with an enemy who relied
+ upon the prowess of their infantry; with whom, if they wished to be placed upon
+ an equality in respect of efficient strength, they must also furnish themselves
+ with infantry. That his dominions abounded with a large quantity of men fit
+ for the purpose, but that he was unacquainted with the art of arming, equipping,
+ and marshalling them; that all his infantry were unwieldy and unmanageable,
+ like a rabble collected together by chance." The ambassadors answered, that
+ they would comply with his request for the present, on his engaging to send
+ him back immediately, if their generals did not approve of what they had done.
+ The name of the person who staid behind with the king was Quintus Statorius.
+ With the two other Romans, the Numidian sent ambassadors into Spain, to receive
+ the ratification of the alliance from the Roman generals. He gave it in charge
+ to the same persons, forthwith to induce the Numidians, who were serving as
+ auxiliaries among the Carthaginian troops, to go over to the other side. Statorius
+ raised a body of infantry for the king out of the large number of young men
+ which he found; and having formed them into companies, in close imitation of
+ the Roman method, taught them to follow their standards and keep their ranks
+ when being marshalled, and when performing their evolutions; and he so habituated
+ them to military works and other military duties, that in a short time the king
+ relied not more on his cavalry than on his infantry; and in a regular and pitched
+ battle, fought on a level plain, he overcame his enemies, the Carthaginians.
+ In Spain also the arrival of the king's ambassadors was of the greatest advantage
+ to the Romans, for at the news thereof the Numidians began rapidly to pass over.
+ Thus the Romans and Syphax were united in friendship, which the Carthaginians
+ hearing of, immediately sent ambassadors to Gala, who reigned in another part
+ of Numidia, over a nation called Massylians. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">49 </div>
+<a id="f49" />
+<p>Gala had a son named Masinissa, seventeen years of age, but a youth of such
+ talents, that even at that time it was evident that he would render the kingdom
+ more extensive and powerful than when he received it. The ambassadors represented
+ that, "since Syphax had united himself with the Romans, that by their alliance
+ he might strengthen his hands against the kings and nations of Africa, it would
+ be better for Gala also to unite with the Carthaginians as soon as possible,
+ before Syphax crossed over into Spain, or the Romans into Africa; that Syphax
+ might be overpowered, while as yet he derived nothing from his league with the
+ Romans but the name of it." Gala, his son claiming to be intrusted with the
+ conduct of the war, was easily prevailed upon to send an army, which, joined
+ by the legions of the Carthaginians, totally defeated Syphax in a great battle.
+ In this thirty thousand men are said to have been slain. Syphax, with a few
+ horsemen, fled from the field, and took refuge among the Maurusian Numidians,
+ a nation dwelling at the extremity of Africa, near the ocean, and over against
+ Gades. But the barbarians flocking to his standard from all sides, in consequence
+ of his great renown, he speedily armed a very large force. Before he passed
+ over with these forces into Spain, which was separated only by a narrow strait,
+ Masinissa came up with his victorious army; and here he acquired great glory
+ in the prosecution of the war with Syphax, in which he acted alone and unsupported
+ by any aid from the Carthaginians. In Spain nothing worth mentioning was performed,
+ except that the Romans drew over to their side the Celtiberian youth, by giving
+ them the same pay which they had stipulated with the Carthaginians to pay them.
+ They also sent above three hundred Spaniards of the greatest distinction into
+ Italy, to bring over their countrymen, who served among the auxiliary troops
+ of Hannibal. The only memorable circumstance of this year in Spain was, that
+ the Romans then, for the first time, employed mercenary troops in their camp,
+ namely, the Celtiberians. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book25">BOOK XXV.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C. 213-212</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#g1">1</a> <a href="#g2">2</a> <a href="#g3">3</a>
+ <a href="#g4">4</a> <a href="#g5">5</a> <a href="#g6">6</a> <a href="#g7">7</a>
+ <a href="#g8">8</a> <a href="#g9">9</a> <a href="#g10">10</a> <a href="#g11">11</a>
+ <a href="#g12">12</a> <a href="#g13">13</a> <a href="#g14">14</a> <a href="#g15">15</a>
+ <a href="#g16">16</a> <a href="#g17">17</a> <a href="#g18">18</a> <a href="#g19">19</a>
+ <a href="#g20">20</a> <a href="#g21">21</a> <a href="#g22">22</a> <a href="#g23">23</a>
+ <a href="#g24">24</a> <a href="#g25">25</a> <a href="#g26">26</a> <a href="#g27">27</a>
+ <a href="#g28">28</a> <a href="#g29">29</a> <a href="#g30">30</a> <a href="#g31">31</a>
+ <a href="#g32">32</a> <a href="#g33">33</a> <a href="#g34">34</a> <a href="#g35">35</a>
+ <a href="#g36">36</a> <a href="#g37">37</a> <a href="#g38">38</a> <a href="#g39">39</a>
+ <a href="#g40">40</a> <a href="#g41">41</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Publius Cornelius Scipio, afterwards called Africanus,
+ elected aedile before he had attained the age required by the law. The citadel
+ of Tarentum, in which the Roman garrison had taken refuge, betrayed to Hannibal.
+ Games instituted in honour of Apollo, called Apollinarian. Quintus Fulvius and
+ Appius Claudius, consuls, defeat Hanno the Carthaginian general. Tiberius Sempronius
+ Gracchus betrayed by a Lucanian to Mago, and slain. Centenius Penula, who had
+ been a centurion, asks the senate for the command of an army, promising to engage
+ and vanquish Hannibal, is cut off with eight thousand men. Cneius Fulvius engages
+ Hannibal, and is beaten, with the loss of sixteen thousand men slain, he himself
+ escapes with only two hundred horsemen. Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius,
+ consuls, lay siege to Capua. Syracuse taken by Claudius Marcellus after a siege
+ of three years. In the tumult occasioned by taking the city, Archimedes is killed
+ while intently occupied on some figures which he had drawn in the sand. Publius
+ and Cornelius Scipio, after having performed many eminent services in Spain,
+ are slain, together with nearly the whole of their armies, eight years after
+ their arrival in that country; and the possession of that province would have
+ been entirely lost, but for the valour and activity of Lucius Marcius, a Roman
+ knight, who, collecting the scattered remains of the vanquished armies, utterly
+ defeats the enemy, storming their two camps, killing thirty-seven thousand of
+ them, and taking eighteen hundred together with an immense booty.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="g1" />
+<p>Hannibal passed the summer during which these events occurred in Africa and
+ Italy, in the Tarentine territory, with the hope of having the city of the Tarentines
+ betrayed to him. Meanwhile some inconsiderable towns belonging to them, and
+ to the Sallentines, revolted to him. At the same time, of the twelve states
+ of the Bruttians, which had in a former year gone over to the Carthaginians,
+ the Consentians and Thurians returned to the protection of the Roman people.
+ And more would have done the same, had not Titus Pomponius Veientanus, praefect
+ of the allies, having acquired the appearance of a regular general, in consequence
+ of several successful predatory expeditions in the Bruttian territory, got together
+ a tumultuary band, and fought a battle with Hanno. In that battle, a great number
+ of men, consisting, however, of a disorderly rabble of slaves and rustics, were
+ slain or captured. The least part of the loss was, that the praefect himself
+ was taken prisoner; for he was not only in the present instance guilty of having
+ rashly engaged the enemy, but previously, in the capacity of farmer of the revenue,
+ by iniquitous practices of every description, had shown himself faithless and
+ injurious to the state, as well as the companies. Among the Lucanians, the consul,
+ Sempronius, fought several small battles, but none worthy of being recorded,
+ he also took several inconsiderable towns. In proportion as the war was protracted,
+ and the sentiments no less than the circumstances of men fluctuated accordingly
+ as events flowed prosperously or otherwise, the citizens were seized with such
+ a passion for superstitious observances, and those for the most part introduced
+ from foreign countries, that either the people or the gods appeared to have
+ undergone a sudden change. And now the Roman rites were growing into disuse,
+ not only in private, and within doors, but in public also; in the forum and
+ Capitol there were crowds of women sacrificing, and offering up prayers to the
+ gods, in modes unusual in that country. A low order of sacrificers and soothsayers
+ had enslaved men's understandings, and the numbers of these were increased by
+ the country people, whom want and terror had driven into the city, from the
+ fields which were lain uncultivated during a protracted war, and had suffered
+ from the incursions of the enemy, and by the profitable cheating in the ignorance
+ of others which they carried on like an allowed and customary trade. At first,
+ good men gave protest in private to the indignation they felt at these proceedings,
+ but afterwards the thing came before the fathers, and formed a matter of public
+ complaint. The aediles and triumviri, appointed for the execution of criminals,
+ were severely reprimanded by the senate for not preventing these irregularities,
+ but when they attempted to remove the crowd of persons thus employed from the
+ forum, and to overthrow the preparations for their sacred rites, they narrowly
+ escaped personal injury. It being now evident, that the evil was too powerful
+ to be checked by inferior magistrates, the senate commissioned Marcus Atilius,
+ the city praetor, to rid the people of these superstitions. He called an assembly,
+ in which he read the decree of the senate, and gave notice, that all persons
+ who had any books of divination, or forms of prayer, or any written system of
+ sacrificing, should lay all the aforesaid books and writings before him before
+ the calends of April; and that no person should sacrifice in any public or consecrated
+ place according to new or foreign rites. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="g2" />
+<p>Several of the public priests too died this year: Lucius Cornelius Lentulus,
+ chief pontiff, Caius Papirius Maso, son of Caius, a pontiff, Publius Furius
+ Philo, an augur, and Caius Papirius Maso, son of Lucius, a decemvir for the
+ superintendence of sacred rites. In lieu of Lentulus, Marcus Cornelius Cethegus,
+ in lieu of Papirius Cnaeius, Servilius Caepio, were created pontiffs. Lucius
+ Quinctius Flaminius was created augur, and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus decemvir
+ for the superintendence of sacred rites. The time for the election of consuls
+ was now approaching; but as it was not thought proper to call the consuls away
+ from the war with which they were intently occupied, Tiberius Sempronius, the
+ consul, nominated Caius Claudius Centho as dictator to hold the election. He
+ appointed Quintus Fulvius Flaccus as his master of the horse. On the first day
+ on which the election could be held, the dictator appointed as consuls, Quintus
+ Fulvius Flaccus, his master of the horse, and Appius Claudius Pulcher, who had
+ held the government of Sicily as praetor. The praetors created were Cneius Fulvius
+ Flaccus, Caius Claudius Nero, Marcus Junius Silanus, Publius Cornelius Sulla.
+ The election completed, the dictator retired from his office. This year, Publius
+ Cornelius Scipio, afterwards surnamed Africanus, held the office of curule aedile,
+ with Marcus Cornelius Cethegus; and when the tribunes of the people opposed
+ his pretensions to the aedileship, alleging, that no notice ought to be taken
+ of him, because he had not attained the legal age for candidateship, he observed,
+ "if the citizens in general are desirous of appointing me aedile, I am old enough."
+ Upon this the people ran to their respective tribes to give their votes, with
+ feelings so strongly disposed in his favour, that the tribunes on a sudden abandoned
+ their attempt. The largesses bestowed by the aediles were the following: the
+ Roman games were sumptuously exhibited, considering the present state of their
+ resources; they were repeated during one day, and a gallon of oil was given
+ to each street. Lucius Villius Tapulus, and Marcus Fundanius Fundulus, the plebeian
+ aediles, accused some matrons of misconduct before the people, and some of them
+ they convicted and sent into exile. The plebeian games were repeated during
+ two days, and a feast in honour of Jupiter was celebrated on occasion of the
+ games. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="g3" />
+<p>Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, for the third time, and Appius Claudius entered upon
+ the office of consuls. The praetors determined their provinces by lot. Publius
+ Cornelius Sulla received both the city and the foreign jurisdiction, formerly
+ allotted to two persons, Cneius Fulvius Flaccus, Apulia, Caius Claudius Nero,
+ Suessula, and Marcus Junius Silanus, Tuscany. To the consuls the conduct of
+ the war with Hannibal was decreed with two legions each, one taking the troops
+ of Quintus Fabius, the consul of the former year, the other those of Fulvius
+ Centumalus. Of the praetors, Fulvius Flaccus was to have the legions which were
+ in Luceria under Aemilius the praetor, Nero Claudius those in Picenum under
+ Caius Terentius, each raising recruits for himself to fill up the number of
+ his troops. To Marcus Junius the city legions of the former year were assigned,
+ to be employed against the Tuscans. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Publius
+ Sempronius Tuditanus were continued in command in their provinces of Lucania
+ and Gaul with the armies they had, as was also Publius Lentulus in that part
+ of Sicily which formed the ancient Roman province. Marcus Marcellus had Syracuse,
+ and that which was the kingdom of Hiero. Titus Otacilius was continued in the
+ command of the fleet, Marcus Valerius in that of Greece, Quintus Mucius Scaevola
+ in that of Sardinia. The Cornelii, Publius and Cneius, were continued in the
+ command of Spain. In addition to the armies already existing, two legions for
+ the service of the city were levied by the consuls, and a total of twenty-three
+ legions was made up this year. The levy of the consuls was impeded by the conduct
+ of Marcus Posthumius Pyrgensis, almost accompanied with a serious disturbance.
+ Posthumius was a farmer of the revenue, who, for knavery and rapacity, practised
+ through a course of many years, had no equal except Titus Pomponius Veientanus,
+ who had been taken prisoner the former year by the Carthaginians under the conduct
+ of Hanno, while carelessly ravaging the lands in Lucania. As the state had taken
+ upon itself the risk of any loss which might arise from storms to the commodities
+ conveyed to the armies, not only had these two men fabricated false accounts
+ of shipwrecks, but even those which had really occurred were occasioned by their
+ own knavery, and not by accident. Their plan was to put a few goods of little
+ value into old and shattered vessels, which they sank in the deep, taking up
+ the sailors in boats prepared for the purpose, and then returning falsely the
+ cargo as many times more valuable than it was. This fraudulent practice had
+ been pointed out to Marcus Atilius, the praetor in a former year, who had communicated
+ it to the senate; no decree, however, had been passed censuring it, because
+ the fathers were unwilling that any offence should be given to the order of
+ revenue farmers while affairs were in such a state. The people were severer
+ avengers of the fraud; and at length two tribunes of the people, Spurius and
+ Lucius Carvilius, being moved to take some active measure, as they saw that
+ this conduct excited universal disgust, and had become notorious, proposed that
+ a fine of two hundred thousand asses should be imposed on Marcus Posthumius.
+ When the day arrived for arguing the question, the people assembled in such
+ numbers, that the area of the Capitol could scarcely contain them; and the cause
+ having been gone through, the only hope of safety which presented itself was,
+ that Caius Servilius Casca, a tribune of the people, a connexion and relation
+ of Posthumius, should interpose his protest before the tribes were called to
+ give their votes. The witnesses having been produced, the tribunes caused the
+ people to withdraw, and the urn was brought, in order that the tribes should
+ draw lots which should give the vote first. Meanwhile, the farmers of the revenue
+ urged Casca to stop the proceedings for that day. The people, however, loudly
+ opposed it; and Casca happened to be sitting on the most prominent part of the
+ rostrum, whose mind fear and shame were jointly agitating. Seeing that no dependence
+ was to be placed in him for protection, the farmers of the revenue, forming
+ themselves into a wedge, rushed into the void space occasioned by the removal
+ of the people for the purpose of causing disturbance, wrangling at the same
+ time with the people and the tribunes. The affair had now almost proceeded to
+ violence, when Fulvius Flaccus, the consul, addressing the tribunes, said, "Do
+ you not see that you are degraded to the common rank, and that an insurrection
+ will be the result, unless you speedily dismiss the assembly of the commons."
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="g4" />
+<p>The commons being dismissed, the senate was assembled, when the consuls proposed
+ the consideration of the interruption experienced by the assembly of the commons,
+ in consequence of the violence and audacity of the farmers of the revenue. They
+ said, that "Marcus Furius Camillus, whose banishment was followed by the downfall
+ of the city, had suffered himself to be condemned by his exasperated countrymen.
+ That before him, the decemviri, according to whose laws they lived up to the
+ present day, and afterwards many men of the first rank in the state, had submitted
+ to have sentence passed upon them by the people. But Posthumius Pyrgensis had
+ wrested from the Roman people their right of suffrage, had dissolved the assembly
+ of the commons, had set at nought the authority of the tribunes, had drawn up
+ a body of men in battle-array against the Roman people; and seized upon a post,
+ in order to cut off the tribunes from the commons, and prevent the tribes being
+ called to give their votes. That the only thing which had restrained the people
+ from bloodshed and violence, was the forbearance of the magistrates in giving
+ way for the moment to the fury and audacity of a few individuals, and suffering
+ themselves and the Roman people to be overcome; and that no opportunity might
+ be afforded those who were seeking an occasion of violence, in dissolving, agreeably
+ to the wish of the defendant himself, that assembly which he was about to interrupt
+ by force of arms." Observations of this kind having been urged with a warmth
+ proportioned to the atrocity of the conduct which called them forth, by all
+ the most respectable persons, and the senate having passed a decree to the effect
+ that the violence offered was prejudicial to the state, and a precedent of pernicious
+ tendency, immediately the Carvilii, tribunes of the people, giving up the action
+ for a fine, appointed a day on which Posthumius should be tried capitally, and
+ ordered, that unless he gave bail, he should be apprehended by the beadle, and
+ carried to prison. Posthumius gave bail, but did not appear. The tribunes then
+ proposed to the commons, and the commons resolved, that if Marcus Posthumius
+ did not appear before the calends of May, and if on being cited on that day
+ he did not answer, and sufficient cause were not shown why he did not, he would
+ be adjudged an exile, his goods would be sold, and himself interdicted from
+ water and fire. They then proceeded to indict capitally, and demand bail of
+ each of the persons who had been the promoters of the disorder and riot. At
+ first they threw into prison those who did not give bail, and afterwards even
+ such as could; upon which the greater part of them went into exile, to avoid
+ the danger to which this proceeding exposed them. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="g5" />
+<p>The knavery of the revenue farmers, and their subsequent audacious conduct
+ to screen themselves from its effects, thus terminated. An assembly was then
+ held for the creation of a chief pontiff. The new pontiff, Marcus Cornelius
+ Cethegus, presided. The election was contested with the greatest obstinacy by
+ three candidates, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, the consul, who had been twice consul
+ before and censor, Titus Manhus Torquatus, who had himself also been distinguished
+ by two consulships and the censorship, and Publius Licinius Ciassus, who was
+ about to stand for the office of curule aedile. In this contest, the last-mentioned
+ candidate, though a young man, beat the others, who were his superiors in years,
+ and had filled offices of honour. Before him there had not been a man for a
+ hundred and twenty years, except Publius Cornelius Calussa, who had been created
+ chief pontiff without having sat in the curule chair. Though the consuls found
+ great difficulty in completing the levy, for in consequence of the scarcity
+ of young men, it was not easy to procure enough for the two purposes of forming
+ the new city legions, and recruiting the old ones, the senate forbade them to
+ desist from the attempt, and ordered two triumvirates to be appointed, one of
+ which within, the other without the fiftieth mile from the city, might ascertain
+ the utmost number of free-born men which were to be found in the villages, and
+ market towns, and hamlets, and enlist whom they thought strong enough to bear
+ arms, though they had not attained the military age. That the tribunes of the
+ people, if they thought proper, should propose to the people, that such as should
+ take the military oath being under seventeen years, should be allowed to reckon
+ their period of service in the same manner as if they had enlisted at seventeen
+ or older. The two triumvirates, created agreeably to this decree of the senate,
+ enlisted free-born men throughout the country. At the same time a letter from
+ Marcellus from Sicily, respecting the petition of the troops who served with
+ Publius Lentulus, was read in the senate. These troops were the relics of the
+ disaster at Cannae, and had been sent out of the way into Sicily, as has been
+ mentioned before, on an understanding that they should not be brought home before
+ the conclusion of the Carthaginian war. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="g6" />
+<p>With the permission of Lentulus, these men sent the most distinguished of the
+ cavalry and centurions, and a select body of the legionary infantry, as ambassadors
+ to Marcellus, to his winter quarters. Having obtained leave to speak, one of
+ them thus addressed him: "We should have approached you, Marcus Marcellus, when
+ consul in Italy, as soon as that decree of the senate was passed respecting
+ us, which, though not unjust, was certainly severe, had we not hoped, that being
+ sent into a province which was in a state of disorder in consequence of the
+ death of its kings, to carry on an arduous war against the Sicilians and Carthaginians
+ together, we should make atonement to the state by our blood and wounds, in
+ the same manner as, within the memory of our fathers, those who were taken prisoners
+ by Pyrrhus at Heraclea, made atonement by fighting against the same Pyrrhus.
+ And yet, for what fault of ours, conscript fathers, did you then, or do you
+ now, feel displeasure towards us; for when I look upon you, Marcus Marcellus,
+ I seem to behold both the consuls and the whole body of the senate; and had
+ you been our consul at Cannae, a better fate would have attended the state as
+ well as ourselves. Permit me, I entreat you, before I complain of the hardship
+ of our situation, to clear ourselves of the guilt with which we are charged.
+ If it was neither by the anger of the gods, nor by fate, according to whose
+ laws the course of human affairs is unalterably fixed, but by misconduct that
+ we were undone at Cannae; but whose was that misconduct; the soldiers', or that
+ of their generals? For my own part, I, as a soldier, will never say a word of
+ my commander, particularly when I know that he received the thanks of the senate
+ for not having despaired of the state; and who has been continued in command
+ through every year since his flight from Cannae. We have heard that others also
+ who survived that disaster, who were military tribunes, solicit and fill offices
+ of honour, and have the command of provinces. Do you then, conscript fathers,
+ pardon yourselves and your children, while you exercise severity towards such
+ insignificant persons as we are? It was no disgrace to a consul and other leading
+ persons in the state, to fly when no other hope remained; and did you send your
+ soldiers into the field as persons who must of necessity die there? At the Allia
+ nearly the whole army fled; at the Caudine Forks the troops delivered up their
+ arms to the enemy, without even making an effort; not to mention other disgraceful
+ defeats of our armies. Yet, so far from any mark of infamy being sought for,
+ which might be fixed upon these troops, the city of Rome was recovered by means
+ of those very troops who had fled to Veii from the Allia; and the Caudine legions,
+ which had returned to Rome without their arms, being sent back armed to Samnium,
+ brought under the yoke that very enemy who had exulted in the disgrace which,
+ in this instance, attached to them. But is there a man who can bring a charge
+ of cowardice or running away against the army which fought at Cannae, where
+ more than fifty thousand men fell; from whence the consul fled with only seventy
+ horsemen; where not a man survived, except perchance those whom the enemy left,
+ being wearied with killing? When the proposal to ransom the prisoners was negatived,
+ we were the objects of general commendation, because we reserved ourselves for
+ the service of the state; because we returned to the consul to Venusia, and
+ exhibited an appearance of a regular army. Now we are in a worse condition than
+ those who were taken prisoners in the time of our fathers; for they only had
+ their arms, the nature of their service, and the place where they might pitch
+ their tents in the camp altered; all which, however, they got restored by one
+ service rendered to the state, and by one successful battle. Not one of them
+ was sent away into banishment; not one was deprived of the hope of completing
+ the period of his service; in short, an enemy was assigned to them, fighting
+ with whom they might at once terminate their life or their disgrace. We, to
+ whom nothing can be objected, except that it is owing to us that any Roman soldier
+ has survived the battle of Cannae, are removed far away, not only from our country
+ and Italy, but even from an enemy; where we may grow old in exile, where we
+ can have no hope or opportunity of obliterating our disgrace, of appeasing the
+ indignation of our countrymen, or, in short, of obtaining an honourable death.
+ We seek neither to have our ignominy terminated, nor our virtue rewarded, we
+ only ask to be allowed to make trial of our courage, and to exercise our virtue.
+ We seek for labour and danger that we may discharge the duty of men and soldiers.
+ A war is carrying on in Sicily, now for the second year, with the utmost vigour
+ on both sides. The Carthaginians are storming some cities, the Romans others,
+ armies of infantry and horse are engaging in battle, at Syracuse the war is
+ prosecuted by sea and by land. We hear distinctly the shout of the combatants,
+ and the din of arms, while we ourselves lie inactive and unemployed, as if we
+ had neither hands nor arms. The consul, Sempronius has now fought many pitched
+ battles with the enemy with legions of slaves. They receive as the fruits of
+ their exertion their liberty, and the rights of citizens. Let us at least be
+ employed by you as slaves purchased for the service of this war, let us be allowed
+ to combat with the enemy and acquire our freedom by fighting. Do you wish to
+ make trial of our valour by sea, by land, in a pitched battle, or in the assault
+ of towns? We ask as our portion all those enterprises which present the greatest
+ difficulty and danger, that what ought to have been done at Cannae may be done
+ as soon as possible, for the whole of our subsequent lives has been doomed to
+ ignominy." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="g7" />
+<p>At the conclusion of this speech they prostrated themselves at the knees of
+ Marcellus. Marcellus replied, that the question was neither within his authority
+ nor his power, that he would, however, write to the senate, and be guided in
+ every thing he did by the judgment of the fathers. This letter was brought to
+ the new consuls, and by them read in the senate, and, on the question being
+ put relative to this letter, they decreed, "that the senate saw no reason why
+ the interests of the republic should be intrusted to the hands of soldiers who
+ had deserted then comrades, in battle, at Cannae. If Marcus Marcellus, the proconsul,
+ thought otherwise, that he should act as he deemed consistent with the good
+ of the republic and his own honour, with this proviso, however, that none of
+ these men should be exempt from service, nor be presented with any military
+ reward in consideration of valour, or be conveyed back to Italy, while the enemy
+ was in that country." After this, agreeably to the decree of the senate, and
+ the order of the people, an election was held by the city praetor, at which
+ five commissioners were created for the purpose of repairing the walls and turrets,
+ and two sets of triumviri, one to search for the property belonging to the temples,
+ and to register the offerings, the other for repairing the temples of Fortune
+ and Mother Matuta within the Carmental gate, and also that of Hope without the
+ gate, which had been destroyed by fire the year before. Dreadful storms occurred
+ at this time. It rained stones for two days without intermission in the Alban
+ mount. Many places were struck by lightning; two buildings in the Capitol, the
+ rampart in the camp above Suessula in many places, and two of the men on guard
+ were killed. A wall and certain towers at Cannae were not only struck with lightning,
+ but demolished. At Reate, a vast rock was seen to fly about; the sun appeared
+ unusually red and blood-like. On account of these prodigies there was a supplication
+ for one day, and the consuls employed themselves for several days in sacred
+ rites; at the same time there was a sacred rite performed through nine days.
+ An accidental circumstance which occurred at a distance, hastened the revolt
+ of Tarentum, which had now for a long time been the object of the hopes of Hannibal
+ and of the suspicion of the Romans. Phileas, a native of Tarentum, who had been
+ a long time at Rome under the pretence of an embassy, being a man of a restless
+ mind, and ill brooking that inactive state in which he considered that his powers
+ had been for too long a time sinking into imbecility, discovered for himself
+ a means of access to the Tarentine hostages. They were kept in the court of
+ the temple of Liberty, and guarded with less care, because it was neither the
+ interest of themselves nor of their state to escape from the Romans. By corrupting
+ two of the keepers of the temple, he was enabled to hold frequent conferences
+ with them, at which he solicited them to come into this design; and having brought
+ them out of their place of confinement as soon as it was dark, he became the
+ companion of their clandestine flight, and got clear away. As soon as day dawned,
+ the news of their escape spread through the city, and a party sent in pursuit,
+ having seized them all at Tarracina, brought them back. They were led into the
+ Comitium, and after being scourged with rods, with the approbation of the people,
+ were thrown down from the rock. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="g8" />
+<p>The severity of this punishment exasperated the inhabitants of two of the most
+ distinguished Greek states in Italy, not only publicly as communities, but privately
+ as individuals, according as each was connected, either by relationship or friendship,
+ with those who had been so disgracefully put to death. Of these about thirteen
+ noble Tarentine youths formed a conspiracy, the chief of whom were Nico and
+ Philemenus. Concluding that it would be right to confer with Hannibal before
+ they took any step, they went to him, having been allowed to go out of the city
+ by night on pretence of hunting. When they were now not far from the camp, all
+ the rest hid themselves in a wood by the road side; but Nico and Philemenus,
+ proceeding to the advanced guard, were seized, and at their own request brought
+ before Hannibal. Having laid before him the motives of their plan, and the object
+ they had in view, they received the highest commendation, and were loaded with
+ promises; and that their countrymen might believe that they had gone out of
+ the city to obtain plunder, they were desired to drive to the city some cattle
+ of the Carthaginians which had been sent out to graze. A promise was given them
+ that they might do this without danger or interruption. The booty of the young
+ men attracted notice, and less astonishment was therefore felt that they should
+ frequently repeat the attempt. At a second meeting with Hannibal they entered
+ into a solemn engagement, that the Tarentines should be free, enjoying their
+ own laws, and all their rights uninterfered with; that they should neither pay
+ any tribute to the Carthaginians, nor receive a garrison against their will;
+ that their present garrison should be delivered up to the Carthaginians. These
+ points being agreed upon, Philemenus then began to repeat more frequently his
+ customary practice of going out and returning to the city followed by his dogs,
+ and furnished with the other requisites for hunting; for he was remarkable for
+ his fondness of hunting; and generally bringing home something which he had
+ captured or taken away from the enemy, who had purposely placed it in his way
+ he presented it to the commander or the guards of the gates. They supposed that
+ he preferred going and returning by night through fear of the enemy. After this
+ practice had become so familiar, that at whatever time of the night he gave
+ a signal, by whistling, the gate was opened, Hannibal thought that it was now
+ time to put the plan in execution. He was at the distance of three days' journey,
+ and to diminish the wonder which would be felt at his keeping his camp fixed
+ in one and the same place so long, he feigned himself ill. Even to the Romans
+ who formed the garrison of Tarentum, his protracted inactivity had ceased to
+ be an object of suspicion. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="g9" />
+<p>But after he determined to proceed to Tarentum, selecting from his infantry
+ and cavalry ten thousand men, whom, from activity of body, and lightness of
+ arms, he judged best adapted for the expedition, he began his march in the fourth
+ watch of the night; and sending in advance about eighty Numidian horsemen, ordered
+ them to scour the country on each side of the road, and narrowly examine every
+ place, lest any of the rustics who might have observed his army at a distance
+ should escape; to bring back those who were got before, and kill those whom
+ they met, that they might appear to the neighbouring inhabitants to be a plundering
+ party, rather than a regular army. Hannibal himself, marching at a rapid pace,
+ pitched his camp about fifteen miles from Tarentum; and without telling his
+ soldiers even there, what was their destination, he only called them together
+ and admonished them to march all of them in the road, and not to suffer any
+ one to turn aside or deviate from the line; and above all, that they would be
+ on the watch, so as to catch the word of command, and not do any thing without
+ the order of their leaders; that in due time he would issue his commands as
+ to what he wished to be done. About the same hour a rumour reached Tarentum,
+ that a few Numidian horsemen were devastating the fields, and had terrified
+ the rustics through a wide extent of country; at which intelligence the Roman
+ praefect took no further step than to order a division of his cavalry to go
+ out the following day at sunrise to check the depredations of the enemy; and
+ so far was he from directing his attention to any thing else on this account,
+ that on the contrary, this excursion of the Numidians was a proof to him that
+ Hannibal and his army had not moved from his camp. Early in the night Hannibal
+ put his troops in motion, and Philemenus, with his customary burden of prey
+ taken in hunting, was his guide. The rest of the conspirators waited the accomplishment
+ of what had been concerted; and the agreement was, that Philemenus, while bringing
+ in his prey through the small gate by which he was accustomed to pass, should
+ introduce some armed men, while Hannibal in another quarter approached the gate
+ called Temenis, which faced the east, in that quarter which was towards the
+ continent, near the tombs which were within the walls. When he drew near to
+ the gate, Hannibal raised a fire according to agreement, which made a blaze;
+ the same signal was returned by Nico, and the fires were extinguished on both
+ sides. Hannibal led his troops on in silence to the gate. Nico suddenly fell
+ upon the guards while asleep, slew them in their beds, and opened the gate.
+ Hannibal then entered with his infantry, ordering his cavalry to stay behind,
+ that they might be able to bring their assistance wherever it was required without
+ obstruction. Philemenus also in another quarter approached the small gate by
+ which he was accustomed to pass and re-pass. His voice, which was well known,
+ for he said he could scarcely bear the weight of the huge beast he had gotten,
+ and his signal, which had now become familiar, having roused the guard, the
+ small gate was opened. Two youths carrying in a boar, Philemenus himself followed,
+ with a huntsman, unencumbered, and while the attention of the guard was incautiously
+ turned upon those who carried the boar, in consequence of its astonishing size,
+ he transfixed him with a hunting spear. About thirty armed men then entering,
+ slew the rest of the guards, and broke open the adjoining gate, when a body
+ of troops, in regular array, instantly rushed in. Being conducted hence in silence
+ to the forum, they joined Hannibal. The Carthaginian then sent the Tarentines,
+ with two thousand Gauls formed into three divisions, in different directions
+ through the city, with orders to occupy the most frequented streets. A confusion
+ arising, the Romans were put to the sword on all hands. The townsmen were spared;
+ but in order to insure this, he instructed the Tarentine youths, when they saw
+ any of their friends at a distance, to bid them be quiet and silent, and be
+ of good courage. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="g10" />
+<p>The tumult and clamour was now such as usually takes place in a captured city,
+ but no man knew for certain what was the occasion. The Tarentines supposed that
+ the Romans had suddenly risen to plunder the city. To the Romans it appeared,
+ that some commotion had been set on foot by the townsmen with a treacherous
+ design. The praefect, who was awakened at the first alarm, escaped to the port,
+ whence getting into a boat he was conveyed round to the citadel. The sound of
+ a trumpet also from the theatre excited alarm; for it was a Roman trumpet, prepared
+ by the conspirators for this very purpose; and as it was blown unskilfully by
+ a Grecian, it could not be ascertained who gave the signal, or to whom it was
+ given. At dawn of the day, the Romans recognised the Carthaginian and Gallic
+ arms, which removed all doubt; and the Greeks, seeing the bodies of slain Romans
+ spread about in all directions, perceived that the city had been taken by Hannibal.
+ When the light had increased, so that they could discriminate with greater certainty,
+ and the Romans who survived the carnage had taken refuge in the citadel, the
+ tumult now beginning to subside a little, Hannibal gave orders to assemble the
+ Tarentines without their arms. All of them attended the assembly, except those
+ who had accompanied the Romans in their retreat to the citadel, to share every
+ fortune with them. Here Hannibal having addressed the Tarentines in terms of
+ kindness, and appealed to the services he had rendered to those of their countrymen
+ whom he had captured at the Trasimenus and at Cannae, and having at the same
+ time inveighed against the haughty domination of the Romans, desired that they
+ would every one of them retire to their respective houses, and inscribe their
+ names upon their doors; declaring, that he should give orders that those houses
+ which had not the names written upon them should be plundered. That if any man
+ should write his name upon the house of a Roman, (and the Romans occupied houses
+ by themselves,) he should treat him as an enemy. Having dismissed the assembly,
+ and the names inscribed upon the doors having made it easy to distinguish the
+ house of an enemy from that of a friend, on a signal given, the troops ran in
+ every direction to plunder the lodgings of the Romans, and a considerable booty
+ was found. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="g11" />
+<p>The next day he led his troops to assault the citadel; but seeing that it was
+ protected by very high rocks towards the sea, which washed the greater part
+ of it, and formed it into a sort of peninsula, and towards the city by a wall
+ and ditch, and consequently that it could not be taken by assault or by works;
+ lest the design to protect the Tarentines should detain him from the prosecution
+ of more important objects, and lest the Romans should have the power of sallying
+ from the citadel whenever they pleased against the Tarentines, if left without
+ a strong protecting force, he resolved to cut off the communication between
+ the citadel and city by a rampart; not without a hope that he might have an
+ opportunity of fighting with the Romans, when attempting to obstruct the work;
+ and if they should sally forth too eagerly, that by killing many of them the
+ strength of the garrison would be so far reduced, that the Tarentines alone
+ would be easily able to defend themselves from them. After they had begun, the
+ Romans, suddenly throwing open the gate, rushed in upon the workmen. The guard
+ stationed before the works allowed itself to be driven back, in order that their
+ boldness might be increased by success, and that they might pursue them when
+ driven back, in greater numbers, and to a greater distance. Then on a signal
+ given, the Carthaginians, whom Hannibal kept in readiness for this purpose,
+ sprang up on all sides; nor could the Romans sustain the attack, but were prevented
+ from precipitate flight by the narrowness of the ground, by impediments occasioned
+ in some places by the works already commenced, in others by the preparations
+ for the work. Most of them were driven headlong into the ditch, and more were
+ killed in the flight than in the battle. After this the work was commenced without
+ any attempt to obstruct it. A large ditch was formed, within which a rampart
+ was thrown up. He prepared also to add a wall at a small distance, and on the
+ same side, that they might defend themselves from the Romans even without a
+ garrison. He, however, left them a small force, at once for their protection
+ and to assist in building the wall. The general himself, setting out with the
+ rest of his forces, pitched his camp at the river Galaesus, five miles from
+ the city. Returning from this position to inspect the work, which had gone on
+ somewhat faster than he had anticipated, he conceived a hope that the citadel
+ might even be taken by storm; for it was not protected by an elevated situation
+ as the other parts were, but placed upon a plain, and separated from the city
+ only by a wall and ditch. While subjected to an attack from every kind of military
+ engine and work, a reinforcement sent from Metapontum inspired the Romans with
+ courage to assault the works of the enemy, by a sudden attack, under cover of
+ the night. Some of them they threw down, others they destroyed by fire, and
+ thus there was an end to Hannibal's attempts against the citadel in that quarter.
+ His only remaining hope was in a siege; nor did that afford a good prospect
+ of success, because, occupying a citadel which was placed on a peninsula and
+ commanded the entrance of the harbour, they had the sea open to them, while
+ the city, on the contrary, was deprived of any supplies by sea: and thus the
+ besiegers were in greater danger of want than the besieged. Hannibal assembled
+ the chief men of the Tarentines, and laid before them all the present difficulties.
+ He said, "That he could neither discover any method by which a citadel so well
+ fortified could be taken, nor could he hope for any favourable result from a
+ siege, while the enemy was master of the sea; but that if ships could be obtained,
+ by which the introduction of supplies might be prevented, the enemy would either
+ immediately evacuate it, or surrender themselves." The Tarentines agreed with
+ him; but were of opinion, that "he who gave the advice ought also to assist
+ in carrying it into execution; for if the Carthaginian ships were brought there
+ from Sicily, they would be able to effect it; but by what means could their
+ own ships, shut up as they were in a confined harbour, the mouth of which was
+ in the command of the enemy, be brought out into the open sea." "They shall
+ be brought out," said Hannibal. "Many things which are difficult in themselves,
+ are easily effected by contrivance. You have a city situated upon a plain; you
+ have level and sufficiently wide roads extending in every direction. By the
+ road which runs through the midst of the city from the harbour to the sea I
+ will convey your ships in waggons without any great difficulty, and the sea
+ will be ours which the enemy now commands. We will invest the citadel on one
+ side by sea, on the other by land; nay, rather, in a short time, we will take
+ it either abandoned by the enemy, or with the enemy in it." This speech not
+ only inspired hopes of accomplishing the object, but excited the greatest admiration
+ of the general. Waggons were immediately collected from every quarter and joined
+ together; machines were employed to haul the ships on shore, and the road was
+ prepared, in order that the waggons might run more easily, and thus the difficulty
+ of passing be diminished. Beasts of burden and men were next collected, and
+ the work was actively commenced. After the lapse of a few days, the fleet, equipped
+ and ready for action, sailed round the citadel, and cast anchor just before
+ the mouth of the harbour. Such was the state of things at Tarentum, when Hannibal
+ left it and returned to his winter quarters. Authors, however, are divided as
+ to whether the defection of the Tarentines took place in the present or former
+ year. The greater number, and those who, from their age, were more able to recollect
+ these events, represent it to have occurred in the present year. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="g12" />
+<p>The Latin holidays detained the consuls and praetors at Rome till the fifth
+ of the calends of May; on which day, having completed the solemnities on the
+ mount, they proceeded to their respective provinces. Afterwards a new difficulty
+ respecting religious matters arose out of the prophetic verses of Marcius, who
+ had been a distinguished soothsayer; and on a search being made the year before,
+ for books of this description, agreeably to a decree of the senate, these verses
+ had fallen into the hands of Marcus Atilius, the city praetor, who had the management
+ of that business, and he had immediately handed them over to the new praetor,
+ Sulla. The importance attached to one of the two predictions of Marcius, which
+ was brought to light after the event to which it related had occurred, and the
+ truth of which was confirmed by the event, attached credence to the other, the
+ time of whose fulfilment had not yet arrived. In the former prophecy, the disaster
+ at Cannae was predicted in nearly these words: "Roman of Trojan descent, fly
+ the river Canna, lest foreigners should compel thee to fight in the plain of
+ Diomede. But thou wilt not believe me until thou shalt have filled the plain
+ with blood, and the river carries into the great sea, from the fruitful land,
+ many thousands of your slain countrymen, and thy flesh becomes a prey for fishes,
+ birds, and beasts inhabiting the earth. For thus hath Jupiter declared to me."
+ Those who had served in that quarter recognised the correspondence with respect
+ to the plains of the Argive Diomede and the river Canna, as well as the defeat
+ itself. The other prophecy was then read, which was more obscure, not only because
+ future events are more uncertain than past, but also from being more perplexed
+ in its style of composition. "Romans, if you wish to expel the enemy and the
+ ulcer which has come from afar, I advise, that games should be vowed, which
+ may be performed in a cheerful manner annually to Apollo; when the people shall
+ have given a portion of money from the public coffers, that private individuals
+ then contribute, each according to his ability. That the praetor shall preside
+ in the celebration of these games, who holds the supreme administration of justice
+ to the people and commons. Let the decemviri perform sacrifice with victims
+ after the Grecian fashion. If you do these things properly you will ever rejoice,
+ and your affairs will be more prosperous, for that deity will destroy your enemies
+ who now, composedly, feed upon your plains." They took one day to explain this
+ prophecy. The next day a decree of the senate was passed, that the decemviri
+ should inspect the books relating to the celebration of games and sacred rites
+ in honour of Apollo. After they had been consulted, and a report made to the
+ senate, the fathers voted, that "games should be vowed to Apollo and celebrated;
+ and that when the games were concluded, twelve thousand <i>asses</i> should
+ be given to the praetor to defray the expense of sacred ceremonies, and also
+ two victims of the larger sort." A second decree was passed, that "the decemviri
+ should perform sacrifice in the Grecian mode, and with the following victims:
+ to Apollo, with a gilded ox, and two white goats gilded; to Latona, with a gilded
+ heifer." When the praetor was about to celebrate the games in the Circus Maximus,
+ he issued an order, that during the celebration of the games, the people should
+ pay a contribution, as large as was convenient, for the service of Apollo. This
+ is the origin of the Apollinarian games, which were vowed and celebrated in
+ order to victory, and not restoration to health, as is commonly supposed. The
+ people viewed the spectacle in garlands; the matrons made supplications; the
+ people in general feasted in the courts of their houses, throwing the doors
+ open; and the day was distinguished by every description of ceremony. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="g13" />
+<p>While Hannibal was in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, and both the consuls in
+ Samnium, though they seemed as if they were about to besiege Capua, the Campanians
+ were experiencing famine, that calamity which is the usual attendant of a protracted
+ siege. It was occasioned by the Roman armies' having prevented the sowing of
+ the lands. They therefore sent ambassadors to Hannibal, imploring him to give
+ orders that corn should be conveyed to Capua from the neighbouring places, before
+ both the consuls led their legions into their fields, and all the roads were
+ blocked up by the troops of the enemy. Hannibal ordered Hanno to pass with his
+ army from Bruttium into Campania, and to take care that the Campanians were
+ supplied with corn. Hanno, setting out from Bruttium with his army, and carefully
+ avoiding the camp of the enemy and the consuls who were in Samnium, when he
+ drew near to Beneventum, pitched his camp on an eminence three miles from the
+ city. He next ordered that the corn which had been collected during the summer,
+ should be brought from the neighbouring people in alliance with him, into his
+ camp, assigning a guard to escort those supplies. He then sent a messenger to
+ the Capuans, fixing a day when they should attend at his camp to receive the
+ corn, bringing with them vehicles and beasts of every description, collected
+ from every part of their country. The Campanians executed this business with
+ their usual indolence and carelessness. Somewhat more than four hundred vehicles,
+ with a few beasts of burden besides, were sent. After receiving a reproof from
+ Hanno for this conduct, who told them, that not even hunger, which excited dumb
+ animals to exertion, could stimulate them to diligence, another day was named
+ when they were to fetch the corn after better preparation. All these transactions
+ being reported to the Beneventans, just as they occurred, they lost no time
+ in sending ten ambassadors to the Roman consuls, who were encamped in the neighbourhood
+ of Bovianum. The consuls, hearing what was going on at Capua, arranged it so
+ that one of them should lead an army into Campania; and Fulvius, to whose lot
+ that province had fallen, setting out by night, entered the walls of Beneventum.
+ Being now near the enemy, he obtained information that Hanno had gone out to
+ forage with a portion of his troops; that the Campanians were supplied with
+ corn by a quaestor; that two thousand waggons had arrived together with an undisciplined
+ and unarmed rabble; that every thing was done in a disorderly and hurried manner;
+ and that the form of a camp, and all military subordination, were destroyed
+ by the intermixture of rustics out of the neighbourhood. This intelligence being
+ sufficiently authenticated, the consul ordered his soldiers to get ready only
+ their standards and arms against the next night, as he must attack the Carthaginian
+ camp. They set out at the fourth watch of the night, leaving all their packages
+ and baggage of every description at Beneventum; and arriving a little before
+ daylight at the camp, they occasioned such a panic, that, had the camp been
+ situated on level ground, it might doubtlessly have been taken on the first
+ assault. The height of its situation and the works defended it; for they could
+ not be approached on any side except by a steep and difficult ascent. At break
+ of day a hot engagement commenced, when the Carthaginians not only defended
+ their rampart, but having more even ground, threw down the enemy as they attempted
+ to ascend the steep. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="g14" />
+<p>Persevering courage, however, at length prevailed over every impediment, and
+ they made their way up to the ditch and rampart in several parts at the same
+ time, but with many wounds and much loss of soldiers. The consul, therefore
+ assembling the military tribunes, said they must desist from this inconsiderate
+ enterprise; and that it appeared to him to be the safer course, that the troops
+ should be led back to Beneventum for that day, and then on the following day
+ to pitch his camp close to that of the enemy, so that the Campanians could not
+ quit it, nor Hanno return to it; and in order that that object might be attained
+ with the greater ease, that he should send for his colleague and his army; and
+ that they would direct their whole force on that point. This plan of the general
+ was disconcerted, after the signal began to sound for a retreat, by the clamours
+ of the soldiery, who despised so pusillanimous an order. Nearest to the gate
+ of the enemy's camp was a Pelignian cohort, whose commander, Vibius Accuaeus,
+ seizing the standard, threw it over the rampart. Then pronouncing a curse upon
+ himself and his cohort, if the enemy got possession of that standard, he rushed
+ forward before the rest, and crossing the ditch and rampart, burst into the
+ camp of the enemy. The Pelignians were now fighting within the rampart, when
+ in another quarter Valerius Flaccus, a military tribune of the third legion,
+ taunting the Romans with cowardice for conceding to allies the honour of taking
+ the camp. Titus Pedanius, first centurion of the first century, snatched the
+ standard out of the hands of the standard-bearer, and cried out, "Soon shall
+ this standard, and this centurion, be within the rampart of the enemy; let those
+ follow who would prevent the standard's being captured by the enemy." Crossing
+ the ditch, he was followed first by the men of his own maniple, and then by
+ the whole legion. By this time the consul also, changing his plan on seeing
+ them crossing the rampart, began to incite and encourage his soldiers, instead
+ of calling them off; representing to them, how critical and perilous was the
+ situation of the bravest cohort of their allies and a legion of their countrymen.
+ All, therefore, severally exerting themselves to the utmost, regardless whether
+ the ground were even or uneven, while showers of weapons were thrown against
+ them from all sides, the enemy opposing their arms and their persons to obstruct
+ them, made their way and burst in. Many who were wounded, even those whose blood
+ and strength failed them, pressed forward, that they might fall within the rampart
+ of the enemy. The camp, therefore, was taken in an instant, as if it had been
+ situated upon level ground, and not completely fortified. What followed was
+ a carnage rather than a battle. The troops of both sides being huddled together
+ within the rampart, above six thousand of the enemy were slain; above seven
+ thousand, together with the Campanians who fetched the corn, and the whole collection
+ of waggons and beasts of burden, were captured. There was also a great booty,
+ which Hanno in his predatory excursions, which he had been careful to make in
+ every quarter, had drawn together from the lands of the allies of the Romans.
+ After throwing down the camp of the enemy, they returned thence to Beneventum;
+ and there both the consuls (for Appius Claudius came thither a few days after)
+ sold the booty and distributed it, making presents to those by whose exertions
+ the camp of the enemy had been captured; above all, to Accuaeus the Pelignian,
+ and Titus Pedanius, first centurion of the third legion. Hanno, setting off
+ from Cominium in the territory of Cere, whither intelligence of the loss of
+ the camp had reached him, with a small party of foragers, whom he happened to
+ have with him, returned to Bruttium, more after the manner of a flight than
+ a march. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="g15" />
+<p>The Campanians, when informed of the disaster which had befallen themselves
+ and their allies, sent ambassadors to Hannibal to inform him, that "the two
+ consuls were at Beneventum, which was a day's march from Capua; that the war
+ was all but at their gates and their walls; and that if he did not hasten to
+ their assistance, Capua would fall into the power of the enemy sooner than Arpi
+ had; that not even Tarentum itself, much less its citadel, ought to be considered
+ of so much consequence as to induce him to deliver up to the Roman people, abandoned
+ and undefended, Capua, which he used to place on an equal footing with Carthage."
+ Hannibal, promising that he would not neglect the interest of the Campanians,
+ sent, for the present, two thousand horse, with the ambassadors, aided by which,
+ they might secure their lands from devastation. The Romans, meanwhile, among
+ the other things which engaged their attention, had an eye to the citadel of
+ Tarentum, and the garrison besieged therein. Caius Servilius, lieutenant-general,
+ having been sent, according to the advice of the fathers, by Publius Cornelius,
+ the praetor, to purchase corn in Etruria, made his way into the harbour of Tarentum,
+ through the guard-ships of the enemy, with some ships of burden. At his arrival,
+ those who before, having very slight hopes of holding out, were frequently invited
+ by the enemy, in conferences, to pass over to them, now, on the contrary, were
+ the persons to invite and solicit the enemy to come over to them; and now, as
+ the soldiers who were at Metapontum had been brought to assist in guarding the
+ citadel of Tarentum, the garrison was sufficiently powerful. In consequence
+ of this measure, the Metapontines, being freed from the fears which had influenced
+ them, immediately revolted to Hannibal. The people of Thurium, situated on the
+ same coast, did the same. They were influenced not more by the defection of
+ the Metapontines and Tarentines, with whom they were connected, being sprung
+ from the same country, Achaia, than by resentment towards the Romans, in consequence
+ of the recent execution of the hostages. The friends and relations of these
+ hostages sent a letter and a message to Hanno and Mago, who were not far off
+ among the Bruttii, to the effect, that if they brought their troops up to the
+ walls, they would deliver the city into their hands. Marcus Atinius was in command
+ at Thurium, with a small garrison, who they thought might easily be induced
+ to engage rashly in a battle, not from any confidence which he reposed in his
+ troops, of which he had very few, but in the youth of Thurium, whom he had purposely
+ formed into centuries, and armed against emergencies of this kind. The generals,
+ after dividing their forces between them, entered the territory of Thurium;
+ and Hanno, with a body of infantry, proceeded towards the city in hostile array.
+ Hanno staid behind with the cavalry, under the cover of some hills, conveniently
+ placed for the concealment of an ambush. Atinius, having by his scouts discovered
+ only the body of infantry, led his troops into the field, ignorant both of the
+ domestic treachery and of the stratagem of the enemy. The engagement with the
+ infantry was particularly dull, a few Romans in the first rank engaging while
+ the Thurians rather waited than helped on the issue. The Carthaginian line retreated,
+ on purpose that they might draw the incautious enemy to the back of the hill,
+ where their cavalry were lying in ambush; and when they had come there, the
+ cavalry rising up on a sudden with a shout, immediately put to flight the almost
+ undisciplined rabble of the Thurians, not firmly attached to the side on which
+ they fought. The Romans, notwithstanding they were surrounded and hard pressed
+ on one side by the infantry, on the other by the cavalry, yet prolonged the
+ battle for a considerable time; but at length even they were compelled to turn
+ their backs, and fled towards the city. There the conspirators, forming themselves
+ into a dense body, received the multitude of their countrymen with open gates;
+ but when they perceived that the routed Romans were hurrying towards the city,
+ they exclaimed that the Carthaginian was close at hand, and that the enemy would
+ enter the city mingled with them, unless they speedily closed the gates. Thus
+ they shut out the Romans, and left them to be cut up by the enemy. Atinius,
+ however, and a few others were taken in. After this for a short time there was
+ a division between them, some being of opinion that they ought to defend the
+ city, others that they ought, after all that had happened, to yield to fortune,
+ and deliver up the city to the conquerors; but, as it generally happens, fortune
+ and evil counsels prevailed. Having conveyed Atinius and his party to the sea
+ and the ships, more because they wished that care should be taken of him, in
+ consequence of the mildness and justice of his command, than from regard to
+ the Romans, they received the Carthaginians into the city. The consuls led their
+ legions from Beneventum into the Campanian territory, with the intention not
+ only of destroying the corn, which was in the blade, but of laying siege to
+ Capua; considering that they would render their consulate illustrious by the
+ destruction of so opulent a city, and that they would wipe away the foul disgrace
+ of the empire, from the defection of a city so near remaining unpunished for
+ three years. Lest, however, Beneventum should be left without protection, and
+ that in case of any sudden emergency, if Hannibal should come to Capua, in order
+ to bring assistance to his friends, which they doubted not he would do, the
+ cavalry might be able to sustain his attack, they ordered Tiberius Gracchus
+ to come from Lucania to Beneventum with his cavalry and light-armed troops and
+ to appoint some person to take the command of the legions and stationary camp,
+ for the defence of Lucania. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="g16" />
+<p>An unlucky prodigy occurred to Gracchus, while sacrificing, previous to his
+ departure from Lucania. Two snakes gliding from a secret place to the entrails,
+ after the sacrifice was completed, ate the liver; and after having been observed,
+ suddenly vanished out of sight. The sacrifice having been repeated according
+ to the admonition of the aruspices, and the vessel containing the entrails being
+ watched with increased attention, it is reported that the snakes came a second,
+ and a third time, and, after tasting the liver, went away untouched. Though
+ the aruspices forewarned him that the portent had reference to the general,
+ and that he ought to be on his guard against secret enemies and machinations,
+ yet no foresight could avert the destiny which awaited him. There was a Lucanian,
+ named Flavius, the leader of that party which adhered to the Romans when the
+ others went over to Hannibal; he was this year in the magistracy, having been
+ created praetor by the same party. Suddenly changing his mind, and seeking to
+ ingratiate himself with the Carthaginians, he did not think it enough that he
+ himself should pass over to them, or that he should induce the Lucanians to
+ revolt with him, unless he ratified his league with the enemy with the head
+ and blood of the general, betrayed to them, though his guest. He entered into
+ a secret conference with Mago, who had the command in Bruttium, and receiving
+ a solemn promise from him, that he would take the Lucanians into his friendship,
+ without interfering with their laws, if he should betray the Roman general to
+ the Carthaginians, he conducted Mago to a place to which he was about to bring
+ Gracchus with a few attendants. He then directed Mago to arm his infantry and
+ cavalry, and to occupy the retired places there, in which he might conceal a
+ very large number of troops. After thoroughly inspecting and exploring the place
+ on all sides, a day was agreed upon for the execution of the affair. Flavius
+ came to the Roman general, and said, that "he had begun a business of great
+ importance, for the completion of which, it was necessary to have the assistance
+ of Gracchus himself. That he had persuaded the praetors of all the states which
+ had revolted to the Carthaginians in the general defection of Italy, to return
+ into the friendship of the Romans, since now the Roman power too, which had
+ almost come to ruin by the disaster at Cannae. was daily improving and increasing,
+ while the strength of Hannibal was sinking into decay, and was almost reduced
+ to nothing. He had told them that the Romans would be disposed to accept an
+ atonement for their former offence; that there never was any state more easy
+ to be entreated, or more ready to grant pardon; how often, he had observed to
+ them, had they forgiven rebellion even in their own ancestors! These considerations,"
+ he said, "he had himself urged, but that they would rather hear the same from
+ Gracchus himself in person, and touching his right hand, carry with them that
+ pledge of faith. That he had agreed upon a place with those who were privy to
+ the transaction, out of the way of observation, and at no great distance from
+ the Roman camp; that there the business might be settled in few words, so that
+ all the Lucanian states might be in the alliance and friendship of the Romans."
+ Gracchus, not suspecting any treachery either from his words or the nature of
+ the proposal, and being caught by the probability of the thing, set out from
+ the camp with his lictors and a troop of horse, under the guidance of his host,
+ and fell headlong into the snare. The enemy suddenly arose from their lurking-place,
+ and Flavius joined them; which made the treachery obvious. A shower of weapons
+ was poured from all sides on Gracchus and his troop. He immediately leaped from
+ his horse, and ordering the rest to do the same, exhorted them, that "as fortune
+ had left them only one course, they would render it glorious by their valour.
+ And what is there left," said he, "to a handful of men, surrounded by a multitude,
+ in a valley hemmed in by a wood and mountains, except death? The only question
+ was, whether, tamely exposing themselves to be butchered like cattle, they should
+ die unavenged; or whether, drawing the mind off from the idea of suffering and
+ anticipation of the event, and giving full scope to fury and resentment, they
+ should fall while doing and daring, covered with hostile blood, amid heaps of
+ arms and bodies of their expiring foes." He desired that "all would aim at the
+ Lucanian traitor and deserter;" adding, that "the man who should send that victim
+ to the shades before him, would acquire the most distinguished glory, and furnish
+ the highest consolation for his own death." While thus speaking, he wound his
+ cloak round his left arm, for they had not even brought their shields out with
+ them, and then rushed upon the enemy. The exertion made in the fight was greater
+ than could be expected from the smallness of the number. The bodies of the Romans
+ were most exposed to the javelins, with which, as they were thrown on all sides
+ from higher ground into a deep valley, they were transfixed. The Carthaginians
+ seeing Gracchus now bereft of support, endeavoured to take him alive; but he
+ having descried his Lucanian host among the enemy, rushed with such fury into
+ their dense body that it became impossible to save his life without a great
+ loss. Mago immediately sent his corpse to Hannibal, ordering it to be placed,
+ with the fasces which were taken at the same time, before the tribunal of the
+ general. This is the true account; Gracchus fell in Lucania, near the place
+ called the Old Plains. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="g17" />
+<p>There are some who have put forth an account, stating, that when in the territory
+ of Beneventum, near the river Calor, having gone out from his camp with his
+ lictors and three servants, for the purpose of bathing, he was slain while naked
+ and unarmed, and endeavouring to defend himself with the stones which the river
+ brought down, by a party of the enemy which happened to be concealed among the
+ osiers which grew upon the banks. Others state, that having gone out five hundred
+ paces from the camp, at the instance of the aruspices, in order to expiate the
+ prodigies before mentioned on unpolluted ground, he was cut off by two troops
+ of Numidians who happened to be lying in ambush there. So different are the
+ accounts respecting the place and manner of the death of so illustrious and
+ distinguished a man. Various also are the accounts of the funeral of Gracchus.
+ Some say that he was buried by his own friends in the Roman camp; others relate,
+ and this is the more generally received account, that a funeral pile was erected
+ by Hannibal, in the entrance of the Carthaginian camp; that the troops under
+ arms performed evolutions, with the dances of the Spaniards, and motions of
+ the arms and body, which were customary with the several nations; while Hannibal
+ himself celebrated his obsequies with every mark of respect, both in word and
+ deed. Such is the account of those who assert that the affair occurred in Lucania.
+ If you are disposed to credit the statement of those who relate that he was
+ slain at the river Calor, the enemy got possession only of the head of Gracchus;
+ which being brought to Hannibal, he immediately despatched Carthalo to convey
+ it into the Roman camp to Cneius Cornelius, the quaestor, who buried the general
+ in the camp, the Beneventans joining the army in the celebration. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="g18" />
+<p>The consuls having entered the Campanian territory, while devastating the country
+ on all sides, were alarmed, and thrown into confusion, by an eruption of the
+ townsmen and Mago with his cavalry. They called in their troops to their standards
+ from the several quarters to which they were dispersed, but having been routed
+ when they had scarcely formed their line, they lost above fifteen hundred men.
+ The confidence of the Campanians, who were naturally presumptuous, became excessive
+ in consequence of this event, and in many battles they challenged the Romans;
+ but this one battle, which they had been incautiously and imprudently drawn
+ into, had increased the vigilance of the consuls. Their spirits were restored,
+ while the presumption of the other party was diminished, by one trifling occurrence;
+ but in war nothing is so inconsiderable as not to be capable, sometimes, of
+ producing important consequences. Titus Quinctius Crispinus was a guest of Badius,
+ a Campanian, united with him by the greatest intimacy. Their acquaintance had
+ increased from the circumstance of Badius having received the most liberal and
+ kind attentions at the house of Crispinus, in a fit of illness, at Rome, before
+ the Campanian revolt. On the present occasion, Badius, advancing in front of
+ the guards, which were stationed before the gate, desired Crispinus to be called;
+ and Crispinus, on being informed of this, thinking that a friendly and familiar
+ interview was requested, and the memory of their private connexion remaining
+ even amidst the disruption of public ties, advanced a little from the rest.
+ When they had come within view of each other, Badius exclaimed, "I challenge
+ you to combat, Crispinus; let us mount our horses, and making the rest withdraw,
+ let us try which is the better soldier." In reply, Crispinus said, that "neither
+ of them were in want of enemies to display their valour upon; for his own part,
+ even if he should meet him in the field he would turn aside, lest he should
+ pollute his right-hand with the blood of a guest;" and then turning round, was
+ going away. But the Campanian, with increased presumption, began to charge him
+ with cowardice and effeminacy, and cast upon him reproaches which he deserved
+ himself, calling him "an enemy who sheltered himself under the title of host,
+ and one who pretended to spare him for whom he knew himself not to be a match.
+ If he considered; that when public treaties were broken, the ties of private
+ connexion were not severed with them, then Badius the Campanian openly, and
+ in the hearing of both armies, renounced his connexion of hospitality with Titus
+ Quinctius Crispinus the Roman. He said, that there could exist no fellowship
+ or alliance with him and an enemy whose country and tutelary gods, both public
+ and private, he had come to fight against. If he was a man, he would meet him."
+ Crispinus hesitated for a long time; but the men of his troop at length prevailed
+ upon him not to allow the Campanian to insult him with impunity. Waiting, therefore,
+ only to ask his generals whether they would allow him to fight, contrary to
+ rule, with an enemy who had challenged him; having obtained their permission,
+ he mounted his horse, and addressing Badius by name, called him out to the combat.
+ The Campanian made no delay. They engaged with their horses excited to hostility.
+ Crispinus transfixed Badius with his spear in the left shoulder, over his shield.
+ He fell from his horse in consequence of the wound; and Crispinus leaped down
+ to despatch him as he lay, on foot. But Badius, before his enemy was upon him,
+ ran off to his friends, leaving his horse and buckler. Crispinus, decorated
+ with the spoils, and displaying the horse and arms which he had seized together
+ with the bloody spear, was conducted amid the loud plaudits and congratulations
+ of the soldiery into the presence of the consuls, where he was highly commended,
+ and was presented with gifts. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="g19" />
+<p>Hannibal, having moved his camp from the territory of Beneventum to Capua,
+ drew out his troops in order of battle the third day after his arrival; not
+ entertaining the least doubt but that, as the Campanians had fought successfully
+ a few days ago when he was absent, the Romans would be still less able to withstand
+ him and his army, which had been so often victorious. After the battle had commenced,
+ the Roman line was distressed chiefly from the attack of the cavalry, being
+ overwhelmed with their darts, till the signal was given to the Roman cavalry
+ to direct their horses against the enemy; thus it was a battle of the cavalry.
+ But at this time the Sempronian army, commanded by Cneius Cornelius the quaestor,
+ being descried at a distance, excited alarm in both parties equally, lest those
+ who were approaching should be fresh enemies. As if by concert, therefore, both
+ sounded a retreat; and the troops were withdrawn from the field to their camps,
+ in an equal condition; a greater number, however, of the Romans fell in the
+ first charge of the cavalry. The consuls, to divert the attention of Hannibal
+ from Capua, departed thence on the following night in different directions,
+ Fulvius into the territory of Cuma, Claudius into Lucania. The next day Hannibal,
+ having received intelligence that the camp of the Romans was deserted, and that
+ they had gone off in different directions in two divisions, doubtful at first
+ which he should follow, commenced the pursuit of Appius; who, after leading
+ him about whichever way he pleased, returned by another route to Capua. Hannibal,
+ while in this quarter, had another opportunity of gaining an advantage. Marcus
+ Centenius, surnamed Penula, was distinguished among the centurions of the first
+ rank by the size of his person, and his courage. Having gone through his period
+ of service, he was introduced to the senate by Publius Cornelius Sulla, when
+ he requested of the fathers that five thousand men might be placed at his disposal.
+ He said, that "as he was acquainted with the character of the enemy, and the
+ nature of the country, he should speedily perform some service; and that he
+ would employ those arts by which our generals and armies had been hitherto ensnared
+ against the inventor of them." This was not promised more foolishly than it
+ was believed; as if the qualifications of a soldier and a general were the same.
+ Instead of five, eight thousand men were given him, half Romans, half allies.
+ He himself also got together a considerable number of volunteers, in the country,
+ on his march; and having almost doubled his force, arrived in Lucania, where
+ Hannibal had halted after having in vain pursued Claudius. No doubt could be
+ entertained of the issue of a contest which was to take place between Hannibal,
+ as general on one side, and a centurion on the other; between armies, one of
+ which had grown old in victory, the other entirely inexperienced, and for the
+ most part even tumultuary and half-armed. As soon as the troops came within
+ sight of each other, and neither of them declined an engagement, the lines were
+ formed. The battle, notwithstanding the utter disparity of the contending parties,
+ lasted more than two hours, the Roman troops acting with the greatest spirit
+ as long as their general survived. But after that he had fallen, for he continually
+ exposed himself to the weapons of the enemy, not only from regard to his former
+ character, but through fear of the disgrace which would attach to him if he
+ survived a disaster occasioned by his own temerity, the Roman line was immediately
+ routed. But so completely were they prevented from flying, every way being beset
+ by the cavalry, that scarcely a thousand men escaped out of so large an army;
+ the rest were destroyed on all hands, in one way or other. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="g20" />
+<p>The siege of Capua was now resumed by the consuls with the utmost energy. Every
+ thing requisite for the business was conveyed thither and got in readiness.
+ A store of corn was collected at Casilinum; at the mouth of the Vulturnus, where
+ a town now stands, a strong post was fortified; and a garrison was stationed
+ in Puteoli, which Fabius had formerly fortified, in order to have the command
+ of the neighbouring sea and the river. Into these two maritime forts, the corn
+ recently sent from Sicily, with that which Marcus Junius, the praetor, had bought
+ up in Etruria, was conveyed from Ostia, to supply the army during the winter.
+ But, in addition to the disaster sustained in Lucania, the army also of volunteer
+ slaves, who had served during the life of Gracchus with the greatest fidelity,
+ as if discharged from service by the death of their general, left their standards.
+ Hannibal was not willing that Capua should be neglected, or his allies deserted,
+ at so critical a juncture; but, having obtained such success from the temerity
+ of one Roman general, his attention was fixed on the opportunity which presented
+ itself of crushing the other general and his army. Ambassadors from Apulia reported
+ that Cneius Fulvius, the praetor, had at first conducted his measures with caution,
+ while engaged in besieging certain towns of Apulia, which had revolted to Hannibal;
+ but that afterwards, in consequence of extraordinary success, both himself and
+ his soldiers, being glutted with booty, had so given themselves up to licentiousness
+ and indolence, that all military discipline was disregarded. Having frequently
+ on other occasions, as well as but a few days ago, experienced what an army
+ was good for, when conducted by an unskilful commander, he moved his camp into
+ Apulia. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="g21" />
+<p>The Roman legions, and the praetor, Fulvius, were in the neighbourhood of Herdonia,
+ where, receiving intelligence of the approach of the enemy, they had nearly
+ torn up the standards and gone out to battle without the praetor's orders; nor
+ did any thing tend more to prevent it than the assured hope they entertained
+ that they could do so whenever they pleased, consulting only their own will.
+ The following night, Hannibal having obtained information that the camp was
+ in a state of tumult, and that most of the troops were in a disorderly manner
+ urging the general to give the signal, and calling out to arms, and therefore
+ feeling convinced that an opportunity presented itself for a successful battle,
+ distributed three thousand light troops in the houses in the neighbourhood,
+ and among the thorns and woods. These, on a signal being given, were to rise
+ up from their lurking-place with one accord; and Mago, with about two thousand
+ horse, was ordered to occupy all the roads in the direction in which he supposed
+ their flight would be directed. Having made these preparations during the night,
+ he led his troops into the field at break of day. Nor did Fulvius decline the
+ challenge; not so much from any hope of success entertained by himself, as drawn
+ by the blind impetuosity of his soldiers. Accordingly, the line itself was formed
+ with the same want of caution with which they entered the field, agreeably to
+ the whim of the soldiers, who came up as chance directed, and took their stations
+ just where they pleased; which they afterwards abandoned, as fear or caprice
+ suggested. The first legion and the left wing of the allied troops were drawn
+ up in front. The line was extended to a great length, the tribunes remonstrating,
+ that there was no strength in it, and that wherever the enemy made the charge
+ they would break through it: but no salutary advice reached their minds, nor
+ even their ears. Hannibal was now come up, a general of a totally different
+ character, with an army neither similar in its nature, nor similarly marshalled.
+ The consequence was, that the Romans did not so much as sustain their shout
+ and first attack. Their general, equal to Centenius in folly and temerity, but
+ by no means to be compared with him in courage, when he saw things going against
+ him, and his troops in confusion, hastily mounting his horse, fled from the
+ field with about two hundred horsemen. The rest of the troops, beaten in front,
+ and surrounded on the flank and rear, were slaughtered to such a degree, that
+ out of eighteen thousand men, not more than two thousand escaped. The enemy
+ got possession of the camp. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="g22" />
+<p>When these disastrous defeats, happening one upon another, were reported at
+ Rome, great grief and consternation seized the city. But still, as the consuls
+ had been hitherto successful when it was most important, they were the less
+ affected by these disasters. Caius Lastorius and Marcus Metilius were sent as
+ ambassadors to the consuls, with directions carefully to collect the remains
+ of the two armies, and use every endeavour to prevent their surrendering themselves
+ to the enemy, through fear or despair, (which was the case after the battle
+ of Cannae,) and to search for the deserters from the army of volunteer slaves.
+ Publius Cornelius was charged with the same business; to him also the levy was
+ intrusted. He caused an order to be issued throughout the market and smaller
+ towns, that search should be made for the volunteer slaves, and that they should
+ be brought back to their standards. All these things were executed with the
+ most vigilant care. The consul, Appius Claudius, having placed Decius Junius
+ in command at the mouth of the Vulturnus, and Marcus Aurelius Cotta at Puteoli,
+ with directions to send off the corn immediately to the camp, as each of the
+ ships from Etruria and Sardinia arrived with it, returned himself to Capua,
+ and found his colleague Quintus Fulvius at Casilinum, conveying every requisite
+ thence, and making every preparation for the siege of Capua. Both of them then
+ joined in besieging the city, summoning Claudius Nero, the praetor, from the
+ Claudian camp at Suessula; who, leaving a small garrison there, marched down
+ to Capua with all the rest of his forces. Thus there were three generals' tents
+ erected round Capua; and three armies, applying themselves to the work in different
+ parts, proceeded to surround the city with a ditch and rampart, erecting forts
+ at moderate intervals. The Campanians attempting to obstruct the work, a battle
+ was fought in several places at once; the consequence of which was, that at
+ length the Campanians confined themselves within their gates and walls. Before,
+ however, these works were carried quite round, ambassadors were sent to Hannibal
+ to complain that Capua was abandoned, and almost given up to the Romans, and
+ to implore him, that he would now, at least, bring them assistance, when they
+ were not only besieged, but surrounded by a rampart. A letter was sent to the
+ consuls from Publius Cornelius, the praetor, directing that before they completely
+ enclosed Capua with their works, they should grant permission to such of the
+ Campanians as chose to quit Capua, and take their property with them. That those
+ should retain their liberty, and all their possessions, who quitted it before
+ the ides of March, but that those who quitted it after that day, as well as
+ those who continued there, would be considered as enemies. Proclamation was
+ made to the Campanians to this effect, but it was received with such scorn,
+ that they spontaneously used insulting language and menaces. Hannibal had marched
+ his legions from Herdonea to Tarentum, with the hope of getting possession of
+ the citadel of that place, by force or stratagem. But not succeeding there,
+ he turned his course to Brundusium, thinking that town would be betrayed to
+ him, but, while fruitlessly spending time there also, the Campanian ambassadors
+ came to him with complaints and entreaties. Hannibal answered them in a proud
+ manner, that he had before raised the siege of Capua, and that now the consuls
+ would not sustain his approach. The ambassadors, dismissed with these hopes,
+ with difficulty effected their return to Capua, which was by this time surrounded
+ by a double trench and rampart. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="g23" />
+<p>At the time when the circumvallation of Capua was carrying on with the greatest
+ activity, the siege of Syracuse, which had been forwarded by intestine treachery,
+ in addition to the efforts and bravery of the general and his army, was brought
+ to a conclusion. For in the beginning of spring, Marcellus being in doubt whether
+ he should direct the operations of the war against Himilco and Hippocrates at
+ Agrigentum, or press the siege of Syracuse, though he saw that it was impossible
+ to take the city by force, which, from its situation, both with respect to sea
+ and land, was impregnable, nor by famine, as it was supported by an uninterrupted
+ supply of provisions from Carthage, yet that he might leave no course untried,
+ directed the Syracusan deserters (and there were in the Roman camp some men
+ in this situation of the highest rank, who had been driven out of the city during
+ the defection from the Romans, because they were averse to a change of measures)
+ to sound the feelings of those who were of the same party in conferences, and
+ to promise them, that if Syracuse was delivered up, they should have their liberty,
+ and be governed by their own laws. There was no opportunity however, of having
+ a conference; for as many were suspected of disaffection, the attention and
+ observation of all were exerted, lest any thing of the kind should occur unknown
+ to them. One of the exiles, who was a servant, having been allowed to enter
+ the city in the character of a deserter, assembled a few persons, and opened
+ a conversation upon the subject. After this, certain persons, covering themselves
+ with nets in a fishing smack, were in this way conveyed round to the Roman camp,
+ and conferred with the fugitives. The same was frequently repeated by different
+ parties, one after another; and at last they amounted to eighty. But after every
+ thing had been concerted for betraying the city, the plot was reported to Epicydes,
+ by one Attalus, who felt hurt that he had not been intrusted with the secret;
+ and they were all put to death with torture. This attempt having miscarried,
+ another hope was immediately raised. One Damippus, a Lacedaemonian, who had
+ been sent from Syracuse to king Philip, had been taken prisoner by the Roman
+ fleet. Epicydes was particularly anxious to ransom this man above any other;
+ nor was Marcellus disinclined to grant it; the Romans, even at this time, being
+ desirous of gaining the friendship of the Aetolians, with whom the Lacedaemonians
+ were in alliance. Some persons having been sent to treat respecting his ransom,
+ the most central and convenient place to both parties for this purpose appeared
+ to be at the Trogilian port, near the tower called Galeagra. As they went there
+ several times, one of the Romans, having a near view of the wall, and having
+ determined its height, as nearly as it could be done by conjecture, from counting
+ the stones, and by forming an estimate, in his own mind, what was the height
+ of each stone in the face of the work; and having come to the conclusion that
+ it was considerably lower than he himself and all the rest had supposed it,
+ and that it was capable of being scaled with ladders of moderate size, laid
+ the matter before Marcellus. It appeared a thing not to be neglected; but as
+ the spot could not be approached, being on this very account guarded with extraordinary
+ care, a favourable opportunity of doing it was sought for. This a deserter suggested,
+ who brought intelligence that the Syracusans were celebrating the festival of
+ Diana; that it was to last three days, and that as there was a deficiency of
+ other things during the siege, the feasts would be more profusely celebrated
+ with wine, which was furnished by Epicydes to the people in general, and distributed
+ through the tribes by persons of distinction. When Marcellus had received this
+ intelligence, he communicated it to a few of the military tribunes; then having
+ selected, through their means, such centurions and soldiers as had courage and
+ energy enough for so important an enterprise, and having privately gotten together
+ a number of scaling-ladders, he directed that a signal should be given to the
+ rest of the troops to take their refreshment, and go to rest early, for they
+ were to go upon an expedition that night. Then the time, as it was supposed,
+ having arrived, when, after having feasted from the middle of the day, they
+ would have had their fill of wine, and have begun to sleep, he ordered the soldiers
+ of one company to proceed with the ladders, while about a thousand armed men
+ were in silence marched to the spot in a slender column. The foremost having
+ mounted the wall, without noise or confusion, the others followed in order;
+ the boldness of the former inspiring even the irresolute with courage. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="g24" />
+<p>The thousand armed men had now taken a part of the city, when the rest, applying
+ a greater number of ladders, mounted the wall on a signal given from the Hexapylos.
+ To this place the former party had arrived in entire solitude; as the greater
+ part of them, having feasted in the towers, were either asleep from the effects
+ of wine, or else, half asleep, were still drinking. A few of them, however,
+ they surprised in their beds, and put to the sword. They began then to break
+ open a postern gate near the Hexapylos, which required great force; and a signal
+ was given from the wall by sounding a trumpet, as had been agreed upon. After
+ this, the attack was carried on in every quarter, not secretly, but by open
+ force; for they had now reached Epipolae, a place protected by numerous guards,
+ where the business was to terrify the enemy, and not to escape their notice.
+ In effect they were terrified; for as soon as the sound of the trumpets was
+ heard, and the shouts of the men who had got possession of the walls and a part
+ of the city, the guards concluded that every part was taken, and some of them
+ fled along the wall, others leaped down from it, or were thrown down headlong
+ by a crowd of the terrified townsmen. A great part of the inhabitants, however,
+ were ignorant of this disastrous event, all of them being overpowered with wine
+ and sleep; and because, in a city of so wide extent, what was perceived in one
+ quarter was not readily made known through the whole city. A little before day,
+ Marcellus having entered the city with all his forces, through the Hexapylos,
+ which was forced open roused all the townsmen; who ran to arms, in order, if
+ possible, by their efforts, to afford succour to the city, which was now almost
+ taken. Epicydes advanced with a body of troops at a rapid pace from the Insula,
+ which the Syracusans themselves call Nasos, not doubting but that he should
+ be able to drive out what he supposed a small party, which had got over the
+ wall through the negligence of the guards. He earnestly represented to the terrified
+ inhabitants who met him, that they were increasing the confusion, and that in
+ their accounts they made things greater and more important than they really
+ were. But when he perceived that every place around Epipolae was filled with
+ armed men, after just teasing the enemy with the discharge of a few missiles,
+ he marched back to the Achradina, not so much through fear of the number and
+ strength of the enemy, as that some intestine treachery might show itself, taking
+ advantage of the opportunity, and he might find the gates of the Achradina and
+ island closed upon him in the confusion. When Marcellus, having entered the
+ walls, beheld this city as it lay subjected to his view from the high ground
+ on which he stood, a city the most beautiful, perhaps, of any at that time,
+ he is said to have shed tears over it; partly from the inward satisfaction he
+ felt at having accomplished so important an enterprise, and partly in consideration
+ of its ancient renown. The fleets of the Athenians sunk there, and two vast
+ armies destroyed, with two generals of the highest reputation, as well as the
+ many wars waged with the Carthaginians with so much peril arose before his mind;
+ the many and powerful tyrants and kings; but above all Hiero, a king who was
+ not only fresh in his memory, but who was distinguished for the signal services
+ he had rendered the Roman people, and more than all by the endowments which
+ his own virtues and good fortune had conferred. All these considerations presenting
+ themselves at once to his recollection, and reflecting, that in an instant every
+ thing before him would be in flames, and reduced to ashes; before he marched
+ his troops to the Achradina, he sent before him some Syracusans, who, as was
+ before observed, were among the Roman troops, to induce the enemy, by a persuasive
+ address, to surrender the city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="g25" />
+<p>The gates and walls of the Achradina were occupied principally by deserters,
+ who had no hopes of pardon in case of capitulation. These men would neither
+ suffer those who were sent to approach the walls, nor to address them. Marcellus,
+ therefore, on the failure of this attempt, gave orders to retire to the Euryalus,
+ which is an eminence at the extremity of the city, at the farthest point from
+ the sea, and commanding the road leading into the fields and the interior of
+ the island, and is conveniently situated for the introduction of supplies. This
+ fort was commanded by Philodemus, an Argive, who was placed in this situation
+ by Epicydes. Marcellus sent Sosis, one of the regicides, to him. After a long
+ conversation, being put off for the purpose of frustrating him, he brought back
+ word to Marcellus, that Philodemus had taken time to deliberate. This man postponing
+ his answer day after day, till Hippocrates and Himilco should quit their present
+ position, and come up with their legions; not doubting but that if he should
+ receive them into the fort, the Roman army, shut up as it was within the walls,
+ might be annihilated, Marcellus, who saw that the Euryalus would neither be
+ delivered up to him, nor could be taken by force, pitched his camp between Neapolis
+ and Tycha, which are names of divisions of the city, and are in themselves like
+ cities; fearful lest if he entered populous parts of the city, he should not
+ be able to restrain his soldiers, greedy of plunder, from running up and down
+ after it. When three ambassadors came to him from Tycha and Neapolis with fillets
+ and other badges of supplicants, imploring him to abstain from fire and slaughter,
+ Marcellus, having held a council respecting these entreaties, for so they were,
+ rather than demands, ordered his soldiers, according to the unanimous opinion
+ of the council, not to offer violence to any free person, but told them that
+ every thing else might be their booty. The walls of the houses forming a protection
+ for his camp, he posted guards and parties of troops at the gates, which were
+ exposed, as they faced the streets, lest any attack should be made upon his
+ camp while the soldiers were dispersed in pursuit of plunder. After these arrangements,
+ on a signal given, the soldiers dispersed for that purpose; and though they
+ broke open doors and every place resounded in consequence of the alarm and confusion
+ created, they nevertheless refrained from blood. They did not desist from plunder
+ till they had gutted the houses of all the property which had been accumulated
+ during a long period of prosperity. Meanwhile, Philodemus also, who despaired
+ of obtaining assistance, having received a pledge that he might return to Epicydes
+ in safety, withdrew the garrison, and delivered up the fortress to the Romans.
+ While the attention of all was engaged by the tumult occasioned in that part
+ of the city which was captured, Bomilcar, taking advantage of the night, when,
+ from the violence of the weather the Roman fleet was unable to ride at anchor
+ in the deep, set out from the bay of Syracuse, with thirty-five ships, and sailed
+ away into the main without interruption; leaving fifty-five ships for Epicydes
+ and the Syracusans; and having informed the Carthaginians in what a critical
+ situation Syracuse was placed, returned, after a few days, with a hundred ships;
+ having, as report says, received many presents from Epicydes out of the treasure
+ of Hiero. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="g26" />
+<p>Marcellus, by gaining possession of the Euryalus, and placing a garrison in
+ it, was freed from one cause of anxiety; which was, lest any hostile force received
+ into that fortress on his rear might annoy his troops, shut up and confined
+ as they were within the walls. He next invested the Achradina, erecting three
+ camps in convenient situations, with the hope of reducing those enclosed within
+ it to the want of every necessary. The outposts of both sides had remained inactive
+ for several days, when the arrival of Hippocrates and Himilco suddenly caused
+ the Romans to be attacked aggressively on all sides; for Hippocrates, having
+ fortified a camp at the great harbour, and given a signal to those who occupied
+ the Achradina, attacked the old camp of the Romans, in which Crispinus had the
+ command; and Epicydes sallied out against the outposts of Marcellus, the Carthaginian
+ fleet coming up to that part of the shore which lay between the city and the
+ Roman camp, so that no succour could be sent by Marcellus to Crispinus. The
+ enemy, however, produced more tumult than conflict; for Crispinus not only drove
+ back Hippocrates from his works, but pursued him as he fled with precipitation,
+ while Marcellus drove Epicydes into the city; and it was considered that enough
+ was now done even to prevent any danger arising in future from their sudden
+ sallies. They were visited too by a plague; a calamity extending to both sides,
+ and one which might well divert their attention from schemes of war. For as
+ the season of the year was autumn, and the situation naturally unwholesome,
+ though this was much more the case without than within the city, the intolerable
+ intensity of the heat had an effect upon the constitution of almost every man
+ in both the camps. At first they sickened and died from the unhealthiness of
+ the season and climate; but afterwards the disease was spread merely by attending
+ upon, and coming in contact with, those affected; so that those who were seized
+ with it either perished neglected and deserted, or else drew with them those
+ who sat by them and attended them, by infecting them with the same violence
+ of disease. Daily funerals and death were before the eye; and lamentations were
+ heard from all sides, day and night. At last, their feelings had become so completely
+ brutalized by being habituated to these miseries, that they not only did not
+ follow their dead with tears and decent lamentations, but they did not even
+ carry them out and bury them; so that the bodies of the dead lay strewed about,
+ exposed to the view of those who were awaiting a similar fate; and thus the
+ dead were the means of destroying the sick, and the sick those who were in health,
+ both by fear and by the filthy state and the noisome stench of their bodies.
+ Some preferring to die by the sword, even rushed alone upon the outposts of
+ the enemy. The violence of the plague, however, was much greater in the Carthaginian
+ than the Roman army; for the latter, from having been a long time before Syracuse,
+ had become more habituated to the climate and the water. Of the army of the
+ enemy, the Sicilians, as soon as they perceived that diseases had become very
+ common from the unwholesomeness of the situation, dispersed to their respective
+ cities in the neighbourhood; but the Carthaginians, who had no place to retire
+ to, perished, together with their generals, Hippocrates and Himilco, to a man.
+ Marcellus, on seeing the violence with which the disease was raging, had removed
+ his troops into the city, where their debilitated frames were recruited in houses
+ and shade. Many however, of the Roman army were cut off by this pestilence.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="g27" />
+<p>The land forces of the Carthaginians being thus destroyed, the Sicilians, who
+ had served under Hippocrates retired to two towns of no great size, but well
+ secured by natural situation and fortifications; one was three miles, the other
+ fifteen, from Syracuse. Here they collected a store of provisions from their
+ own states, and sent for reinforcements. Meanwhile, Bomilcar, who had gone a
+ second time to Carthage, by so stating the condition of their allies as to inspire
+ a hope that they might not only render them effectual aid, but also that the
+ Romans might in a manner be made prisoners in the city which they had captured,
+ induced the Carthaginians to send with him as many ships of burden as possible,
+ laden with every kind of provisions, and to augment the number of his ships.
+ Setting sail, therefore, from Carthage with a hundred and thirty men of war
+ and seven hundred transports, he had tolerably fair winds for crossing over
+ to Sicily, but was prevented by the same wind from doubling Cape Pachynum. The
+ news of the approach of Bomilcar, and afterwards his unexpected delay, excited
+ alternate fear and joy in the Romans and Syracusans. Epicydes, apprehensive
+ lest if the same wind which now detained him should continue to blow from the
+ east for several days, the Carthaginian fleet would return to Africa, put the
+ Achradina in the hands of the generals of the mercenary troops, and sailed to
+ Bomilcar; whom he at length prevailed upon to try the issue of a naval battle,
+ though he found him with his fleet stationed in the direction of Africa, and
+ afraid of fighting, not so much because he was unequal in the strength or the
+ number of his ships, for he had more than the Romans, as because the wind was
+ more favourable to the Roman fleet than to his own. Marcellus also seeing that
+ an army of Sicilians was assembling from every part of the island, and that
+ the Carthaginian fleet was approaching with a great want of supplies, though
+ inferior in the number of his ships, resolved to prevent Bomilcar from coming
+ to Syracuse, lest, blocked up in the city of his enemies, he should be pressed
+ both by sea and land. The two hostile fleets were stationed near the promontory
+ of Pachynum, ready to engage as soon as the sea should become calm enough to
+ admit of their sailing out into the deep. Accordingly, the east wind, which
+ had blown violently for several days, now subsiding, Bomilcar got under sail
+ first, his van seeming to make for the main sea, in order to double the promontory
+ with greater ease; but seeing the Roman ships bearing down upon him, terrified
+ by some unexpected occurrence, it is not known what, he sailed away into the
+ main sea; and sending messengers to Heraclea, to order the transports to return
+ to Africa, he passed along the coast of Sicily and made for Tarentum. Epicydes,
+ thus suddenly disappointed in such great expectations, to avoid returning to
+ endeavour to raise the siege of a city, a great part of which was already in
+ the hands of the enemy, sailed to Agrigentum, intending to wait the issue of
+ the contest, rather than take any new measures when there. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="g28" />
+<p>Intelligence of these events having been carried into the camp of the Sicilians,
+ that Epicydes had departed from Syracuse, that the island was deserted by the
+ Carthaginians, and almost again delivered up to the Romans; after sounding the
+ inclinations of the besieged in conferences, they sent ambassadors to Marcellus,
+ to treat about terms of capitulation. They had not much difficulty in coming
+ to an agreement, that all the parts of the island which had been under the dominion
+ of their kings should be ceded to the Romans; that the rest, with their liberty
+ and their own laws, should be preserved to the Sicilians. They then invited
+ to a conference the persons who had been intrusted with the management of affairs
+ by Epicydes; to whom they said, that they were sent from the army of the Sicilians,
+ at once to Marcellus and to them, that both those who were besieged and those
+ who were not might share the same fortune; and that neither of them might stipulate
+ any thing for themselves separately. They were then allowed to enter, in order
+ to converse with their relations and friends; when, laying before them the terms
+ which they had made with Marcellus, and holding out to them a hope of safety,
+ they induced them to join with them in an attack upon the prefects of Epicydes,
+ Polyclitus, Philistion, and Epicydes, surnamed Sindon. Having put them to death,
+ they summoned the multitude to an assembly; and after complaining of the famine,
+ at which they had been accustomed to express their dissatisfaction to each other
+ in secret, they said, that "although they were pressed by so many calamities,
+ they had no right to accuse Fortune, because it was at their own option how
+ long they should continue to suffer them. That the motive which the Romans had
+ in besieging Syracuse was affection for the Syracusans, and not hatred; for
+ when they heard that the government was usurped by Hippocrates and Epicydes,
+ the creatures first of Hannibal and then of Hieronymus, they took arms and began
+ to besiege the city, in order to reduce not the city itself, but its cruel tyrants.
+ But now that Hippocrates is slain, Epicydes shut out of Syracuse, his praefects
+ put to death, and the Carthaginians driven from the entire possession of Sicily
+ by sea and land, what reason can the Romans have left why they should not desire
+ the preservation of Syracuse, in the same manner as they would if Hiero were
+ still lining, who cultivated the friendship of Rome with unequalled fidelity?
+ That, therefore, neither the city nor its inhabitants were in any danger, except
+ from themselves, if they neglected an opportunity of restoring themselves to
+ the favour of the Romans; and that no so favourable a one would ever occur as
+ that which presented itself at the present instant, immediately upon its appearing
+ that they were delivered from their insolent tyrants." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="g29" />
+<p>This speech was received with the most unqualified approbation of all present.
+ It was resolved, however, that praetors should be elected before the nomination
+ of deputies; which being done, some of the praetors themselves were sent as
+ deputies to Marcellus, the chief of whom thus addressed him: "Neither in the
+ first instance did we Syracusans revolt from you, but Hieronymus, whose impiety
+ towards you was by no means so great as towards us; nor afterwards was it any
+ Syracusan who disturbed the peace established by the death of the tyrant, but
+ Hippocrates and Epicydes, creatures of the tyrant; while we were overpowered,
+ on the one hand by fear, and on the other by treachery. Nor can any one say
+ that there ever was a time when we were in possession of our liberty, when we
+ were not also at peace with you. In the present instance, manifestly, as soon
+ as ever we became our own masters, by the death of those persons who held Syracuse
+ in subjection, we lost no time in coming to deliver up our arms, to surrender
+ ourselves, our city, and our walls, and to refuse no conditions which you shall
+ impose upon us. To you, Marcellus, the gods have given the glory of having captured
+ the most renowned and beautiful of the Grecian cities. Every memorable exploit
+ which we have at any time achieved by land or sea accrues to the splendour of
+ your triumph. Would you wish that it should be known only by fame, how great
+ a city has been captured by you, rather than that she should stand as a monument
+ even to posterity; so that to every one who visits her by sea or land, she may
+ point out at one time our trophies gained from the Athenians and Carthaginians,
+ at another time those which you have gained from us; and that you should transmit
+ Syracuse unimpaired to your family, to be kept under the protection and patronage
+ of the race of the Marcelli? Let not the memory of Hieronymus have greater weight
+ with you than that of Hiero. The latter was your friend for a much longer period
+ than the former was your enemy. From the latter you have realized even benefits,
+ while the frenzy of Hieronymus only brought ruin upon himself." At the hands
+ of the Romans all things were obtainable and secure. There was a greater disposition
+ to war, and more danger to be apprehended among themselves; for the deserters,
+ thinking that they were delivered up to the Romans, induced the mercenary auxiliaries
+ to entertain the same apprehension; and hastily seizing their arms, they first
+ put the praetors to death, and then ran through the city to massacre the Syracusans.
+ In their rage they slew all whom chance threw in their way, and plundered every
+ thing which presented itself; and then, lest they should have no leaders, they
+ elected six praetors, so that three might have the command in the Achradina,
+ and three in the island. At length, the tumult having subsided, and the mercenary
+ troops having ascertained, by inquiry, what had been negotiated with the Romans,
+ it began to appear, as was really the case, that their cause and that of the
+ deserters were different. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="g30" />
+<p>The ambassadors returned from Marcellus very opportunely. They informed them
+ that they had been influenced by groundless suspicions, and that the Romans
+ saw no reason why they should inflict punishment upon them. Of the three praefects
+ of the Achradina one was a Spaniard, named Mericus. To him one of the Spanish
+ auxiliaries was designedly sent, among those who accompanied the ambassadors.
+ Having obtained an interview with Mericus in the absence of witnesses, he first
+ explained to him the state in which he had left Spain, from which he had lately
+ returned: "That there every thing was in subjection to the Roman arms; that
+ it was in his power, by doing the Romans a service, to become the first man
+ among his countrymen, whether he might be inclined to serve with the Romans,
+ or to return to his country. On the other hand, if he persisted in preferring
+ to hold out against the siege, what hope could he have, shut up as he was by
+ sea and land?" Mericus was moved by these suggestions, and when it was resolved
+ upon to send ambassadors to Marcellus, he sent his brother among them; who,
+ being brought into the presence of Marcellus, apart from the rest, by means
+ of the same Spaniard, after receiving an assurance of protection, arranged the
+ method of carrying their object into effect, and then returned to the Achradina.
+ Mericus then, in order to prevent any one from conceiving a suspicion of treachery,
+ declared, that he did not like that deputies should be passing to and fro; he
+ thought that they should neither admit nor send any; and in order that the guards
+ might be kept more strictly, that such parts as were most exposed should be
+ distributed among the prefects, each being made responsible for the safety of
+ his own quarter. All approved of the distribution of the posts. The district
+ which fell to the lot of Mericus himself extended from the fountain Arethusa
+ to the mouth of the large harbour, of which he caused the Romans to be informed.
+ Accordingly, Marcellus ordered a transport with armed men to be towed by a quadrireme
+ to the Achradina during the night, and the soldiers to be landed in the vicinity
+ of that gate which is near the fountain of Arethusa. This order having been
+ executed at the fourth watch, and Mericus having received the soldiers when
+ landed at the gate, according to the agreement, Marcellus assaulted the walls
+ of the Achradina with all his forces at break of day, so that he not only engaged
+ the attention of those who occupied the Achradina, but also bands of armed men,
+ quitting their own posts ran to the spot from the island, in order to repel
+ the furious attack of the Romans. During this confusion, some light ships which
+ had been prepared beforehand, and had sailed round, landed a body of armed men
+ at the island; these suddenly attacking the half-manned stations and the opened
+ door of the gate at which the troops had a little before run out, got possession
+ of the island without much opposition, abandoned as it was, in consequence of
+ the flight and trepidation of its guards. Nor were there any who rendered less
+ service, or showed less firmness in maintaining their posts, than the deserters;
+ for as they did not repose much confidence even in those of their own party,
+ they fled in the middle of the contest. When Marcellus learnt that the island
+ was taken, one quarter of the Achradina in the hands of his troops, and that
+ Mericus, with the men under his command, had joined them, he sounded a retreat,
+ lest the royal treasure, the fame of which was greater than the reality, should
+ be plundered. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="g31" />
+<p>The impetuosity of the soldiers having been checked, time and opportunity to
+ escape were given to the deserters in the Achradina; and the Syracusans, at
+ length delivered from their fears, threw open the gates of the Achradina, and
+ sent deputies to Marcellus, requesting only safety for themselves and children.
+ Having summoned a council, to which the Syracusans were invited who were among
+ the Roman troops, having been driven from home during the disturbances, Marcellus
+ replied, "that the services rendered by Hiero through a period of fifty years,
+ were not more in number than the injuries committed against the Roman people
+ in these few years by those who had had possession of Syracuse; but that most
+ of these injuries had justly recoiled upon their authors, and that they had
+ inflicted much more severe punishment upon themselves for the violation of treaties,
+ than the Roman people desired. That he was indeed now besieging Syracuse for
+ the third year, but not that the Romans might hold that state in a condition
+ of slavery, but that the ringleaders of the deserters might not keep it in a
+ state of thraldom and oppression. What the Syracusans could do was exemplified,
+ either by the conduct of those Syracusans who were among the Roman troops, or
+ that of the Spanish general, Mericus, who had delivered up the post which he
+ was appointed to command, or, lastly, by the late but bold measure adopted by
+ the Syracusans themselves. That the greatest possible recompence for all the
+ evils and dangers which he had for so long a time undergone, both by sea and
+ land, around the walls of Syracuse, was the reflection, that he had been able
+ to take that city." The quaestor was then sent with a guard to the island, to
+ receive and protect the royal treasure. The city was given up to be plundered
+ by the soldiery, after guards had been placed at each of the houses of those
+ who had been with the Roman troops. While many acts exhibited horrid examples
+ of rage and rapacity, it is recorded that Archimedes, while intent on some figures
+ which he had described in the dust, although the confusion was as great as could
+ possibly exist in a captured city, in which soldiers were running up and down
+ in search of plunder, was put to death by a soldier, who did not know who he
+ was; that Marcellus was grieved at this event, and that pains were taken about
+ his funeral, while his relations also for whom diligent inquiry was made, derived
+ honour and protection from his name and memory. Such, for the most part, was
+ the manner in which Syracuse was captured. The quantity of booty was so great,
+ that had Carthage itself, which was carrying on a contest on equal terms, been
+ captured, it would scarcely have afforded so much. A few days before the taking
+ of Syracuse, Titus Otacilius passed over from Lilybaeum to Utica with eighty
+ quinqueremes, and entering the harbour before it was light, took some transports
+ laden with corn; then landing, he laid waste a considerable portion of the country
+ around Utica, and brought back to his ships booty of every description. He returned
+ to Lilybaeum, the third day after he set out, with a hundred and thirty transports
+ laden with corn and booty. The corn he sent immediately to Syracuse; and had
+ it not been for the very seasonable arrival of this supply, a destructive famine
+ threatened alike the victors and the vanquished. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="g32" />
+<p>Nothing very memorable had been done in Spain for about two years, the operations
+ of the war consisting more in laying plans than in fighting; but during the
+ same summer in which the events above recorded took place, the Roman generals,
+ quitting their winter quarters, united their forces; then a council was summoned;
+ and the opinions of all accorded, that since their only object hitherto had
+ been to prevent Hasdrubal from pursuing his march into Italy, it was now time
+ that an effort should be made to bring the war in Spain to a termination; and
+ they thought that the twenty thousand Celtiberians, who had been induced to
+ take arms that winter, formed a sufficient accession to their strength. There
+ were three armies of the enemy. Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, and Mago, who had united
+ their forces, were about a five days' journey from the Romans. Hasdrubal, son
+ of Hamilcar, who was the old commander in Spain, was nearer to them: he was
+ with his army near the city Anitorgis. The Roman generals were desirous that
+ he should be overpowered first; and they hoped that they had enough and more
+ than enough strength for the purpose. Their only source of anxiety was, lest
+ the other Hasdrubal and Mago, terrified at his discomfiture, should protract
+ the war by withdrawing into trackless forests and mountains. Thinking it, therefore,
+ the wisest course to divide their forces and embrace the whole Spanish war,
+ they arranged it so that Publius Cornelius should lead two-thirds of the Roman
+ and allied troops against Mago and Hasdrubal, and that Cneius Cornelius, with
+ the remaining third of the original army, and with the Celtiberians added to
+ them, should carry on the war with the Barcine Hasdrubal. The two generals and
+ their armies, setting out together, preceded by the Celtiberians, pitched their
+ camp near the city Anitorgis, within sight of the enemy, the river only separating
+ them. Here Cneius Scipio, with the forces above mentioned, halted, but Publius
+ Scipio proceeded to the portion of the war assigned to him. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="g33" />
+<p>Hasdrubal perceiving that there were but few Roman troops in the camp, and
+ that their whole dependence was on the Celtiberian auxiliaries; and having had
+ experience of the perfidy of the barbarian nations in general, and particularly
+ of all those nations among which he had served for so many years; as there was
+ every facility of intercourse, for both camps were full of Spaniards, by secret
+ conferences with the chiefs of the Celtiberians, he agreed with them, for a
+ large consideration, to take their forces away. Nor did they conceive it to
+ be any great crime; for the object was not that they should turn their arms
+ against the Romans, while the reward which they were to receive to abstain from
+ the war was large enough to remunerate them for their service in it. At the
+ same time the mere rest from labour, the return to their homes, with the pleasure
+ of seeing their friends and property, were pleasing to the generality. Accordingly,
+ the multitude were prevailed upon as easily as their leaders. They had, moreover,
+ nothing to fear from the Romans, in consequence of the smallness of their numbers,
+ should they endeavour to detain them by force. It will indeed be the duty of
+ all Roman generals to take care, and the instances here recorded should be considered
+ as strong arguments, never to place so much confidence in foreign auxiliaries,
+ as not to retain in their camps a preponderance of their own strength and of
+ that force which is properly their own. The Celtiberians, suddenly taking up
+ their standards, marched away, replying only to the Romans, who asked the cause
+ of their departure and entreated them to stay, that they were called away by
+ a war at home. Scipio seeing that his allies could be detained neither by prayers
+ nor force, and that he was neither a match for his enemy without them, nor could
+ again effect a junction with his brother, no other course which promised safety
+ offering itself, resolved to retire as far as possible, carefully using every
+ caution not to encounter the enemy any where on level ground. On his departing,
+ the enemy, crossing the river, pursued him almost in his footsteps. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="g34" />
+<p>During the same period an equal terror and a greater danger pressed upon Publius
+ Scipio. Masinissa was a young man at that time an ally of the Carthaginians,
+ whom afterwards the friendship of the Romans rendered illustrious and powerful.
+ He not only opposed himself with his Numidian cavalry to Scipio on his approach,
+ but afterwards harassed him incessantly day and night, so as both to cut off
+ his stragglers, who had gone out to a distance from the camp in search of wood
+ and forage, and riding up to the very gates of his camp, and charging into the
+ midst of his advanced guards, to fill every quarter with the utmost confusion.
+ By night also alarm was frequently occasioned in the gates and rampart by his
+ sudden attacks. Nor was there any time or place at which the Romans were exempt
+ from fear and anxiety; and driven within their rampart, and deprived of every
+ necessary, they suffered in a manner a regular siege; and it appeared that it
+ would have been still straiter, if Indibilis, who it was reported was approaching
+ with seven thousand five hundred Suessetani, should form a junction with the
+ Carthaginians. Scipio, though a wary and provident general, overpowered by difficulties,
+ adopted the rash measure of going to meet Indibilis by night, with the intention
+ of fighting him wherever he should meet him. Leaving, therefore, a small force
+ in his camp, under the command of Titus Fonteius, lieutenant-general, he set
+ out at midnight, and meeting with the enemy, came to battle with him. The troops
+ fought in the order of march rather than of battle. The Romans, however, had
+ the advantage, though in an irregular fight; but the Numidian cavalry, whose
+ observation the general supposed that he had escaped, suddenly spreading themselves
+ round his flanks, occasioned great terror. After a new contest had been entered
+ into with the Numidians, a third enemy came up in addition to the rest, the
+ Carthaginian generals having come up with their rear when they were now engaged
+ in fighting. Thus the Romans were surrounded on every side by enemies; nor could
+ they make up their minds which they should attack first, or in what part, forming
+ themselves into a close body, they should force their way through. The general,
+ while fighting and encouraging his men, exposing himself wherever the strife
+ was the hottest, was run through the right side with a lance; and when the party
+ of the enemy, which, formed into a wedge, had charged the troops collected round
+ the general, perceived Scipio falling lifeless from his horse, elated with joy,
+ they ran shouting through the whole line with the news that the Roman general
+ had fallen. These words spreading in every direction, caused the enemy to be
+ considered as victors, and the Romans as vanquished. On the loss of the general
+ the troops immediately began to fly from the field; but though it was not difficult
+ to force their way through the Numidians and the other light-armed auxiliaries,
+ yet it was scarcely possible for them to escape so large a body of cavalry,
+ and infantry equal to horses in speed. Almost more were slain in the flight
+ than in the battle; nor would a man have survived, had not night put a stop
+ to the carnage, the day by this time rapidly drawing to a close. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="g35" />
+<p>After this, the Carthaginian generals, who were not slow in following up their
+ victory, immediately after the battle, scarcely giving their soldiers necessary
+ rest, hurry their army to Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar; confidently hoping, that
+ after uniting their forces with his, the war might be brought to a conclusion.
+ On their arrival, the warmest congratulations passed between the troops and
+ their generals, who were delighted with their recent victory; for they had not
+ only destroyed one distinguished general and all his men, but looked forward
+ to another victory of equal magnitude as a matter of certainty. The intelligence
+ of this great disaster had not yet reached the Romans; but there prevailed a
+ kind of melancholy silence and mute foreboding, such as is usually found in
+ minds which have a presentiment of impending calamity. The general himself,
+ besides feeling that he was deserted by his allies, and that the forces of the
+ enemy were so much augmented, was disposed from conjecture and reasoning rather
+ to a suspicion that some defeat had been sustained, than to any favourable hopes.
+ "For how could Hasdrubal and Mago bring up their troops without opposition,
+ unless they had terminated their part of the war? How was it that his brother
+ had not opposed his progress or followed on his rear? in order that if he could
+ not prevent the armies and generals of the enemy from forming a junction, he
+ might himself join his forces with his brother's." Disturbed with these cares,
+ he believed that the only safe policy for the present was to retire as far as
+ possible; and, accordingly, he marched a considerable distance thence in one
+ night, the enemy not being aware of it, and on that account continuing quiet.
+ At dawn, perceiving that their enemy had decamped, they sent the Numidians in
+ advance, and began to pursue them as rapidly as possible. The Numidians overtook
+ them before night, and charged; sometimes their rear, at other times their flanks.
+ They then began to halt and defend themselves as well as they could; but Scipio
+ exhorted them at once to fight so as not to expose themselves, and march at
+ the same time, lest the infantry should overtake them. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="g36" />
+<p>But having made but little progress for a long time, in consequence of his
+ making his troops sometimes advance and at others halt, and night now drawing
+ on, Scipio recalled his troops from the battle, and collecting them, withdrew
+ to a certain eminence, not very safe, indeed, particularly for dispirited troops,
+ but higher than any of the surrounding places. There, at first, his infantry,
+ drawn up around his baggage and cavalry, which were placed in their centre,
+ had no difficulty in repelling the attacks of the charging Numidians; but afterwards,
+ when three generals with three regular armies marched up in one entire body,
+ and it was evident that his men would not be able to do much by arms in defending
+ the position without fortifications, the general began to look about, and consider
+ whether he could by any means throw a rampart around; but the hill was so bare,
+ and the soil so rough, that neither could a bush be found for cutting a palisade,
+ nor earth for making a mound, nor the requisites for making a trench or any
+ other work; nor was the place naturally steep or abrupt enough to render the
+ approach and ascent difficult to the enemy, as it rose on every side with a
+ gentle acclivity. However, that they might raise up against them some semblance
+ of a rampart, they placed around them the panniers tied to the burdens, building
+ them up as it were to the usual height, and when there was a deficiency of panniers
+ for raising it, they presented against the enemy a heap of baggage of every
+ kind. The Carthaginian armies coming up, very easily marched up the eminence,
+ but were stopped by the novel appearance of the fortification, as by something
+ miraculous, when their leaders called out from all sides, asking "what they
+ stopped at? and why they did not tear down and demolish that mockery, which
+ was scarcely strong enough to impede the progress of women and children; that
+ the enemy, who were skulking behind their baggage, were, in fact, captured and
+ in their hands." Such were the contemptuous reproofs of their leaders. But it
+ was not an easy task either to leap over or remove the burdens raised up against
+ them, or to cut through the panniers, closely packed together and covered completely
+ with baggage. When the removal of the burdens had opened a way to the troops,
+ who were detained by them for a long time, and the same had been done in several
+ quarters, the camp was now captured on all sides; the Romans were cut to pieces
+ on all hands, the few by the many, the dispirited by the victorious. A great
+ number of the men, however, having fled for refuge into the neighbouring woods,
+ effected their escape to the camp of Publius Scipio, which Titus Fonteius commanded.
+ Some authors relate that Cneius Scipio was slain on the eminence on the first
+ assault of the enemy; others that he escaped with a few attendants to a castle
+ near the camp; this, they say, was surrounded with fire, by which means the
+ doors which they could not force were consumed; that it was thus taken, and
+ all within, together with the general himself, put to death. Cneius Scipio was
+ slain in the eighth year after his arrival in Spain, and on the twenty-ninth
+ day after the death of his brother. At Rome the grief occasioned by their death
+ was not more intense than that which was felt throughout Spain. The sorrow of
+ the citizens, however, was partly distracted by the loss of the armies, the
+ alienation of the province, and the public disaster, while in Spain they mourned
+ and regretted the generals themselves, Cneius, however, the more, because he
+ had been longer in command of them, had first engaged their affections, and
+ first exhibited a specimen of Roman justice and forbearance. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="g37" />
+<p>When it seemed that the Roman armies were annihilated, and Spain lost, one
+ man recovered this desperate state of affairs. There was in the army one Lucius
+ Marcius, the son of Septimus, a Roman knight, an enterprising youth, and possessing
+ a mind and genius far superior to the condition in which he had been born. To
+ his high talents had been added the discipline of Cneius Scipio, under which
+ he had been thoroughly instructed during a course of so many years in all the
+ qualifications of a soldier. This man, having collected the troops which had
+ been dispersed in the flight, and drafted some from the garrisons, had formed
+ an army not to be despised, and united it with Titus Tonteius, the lieutenant-general
+ of Publius Scipio. But so transcendent was the Roman knight in authority and
+ honour among the troops, that when, after fortifying a camp on this side of
+ the Iberus, it had been resolved that a general of the two armies should be
+ elected in an assembly of the soldiers, relieving each other in the guard of
+ the rampart, and in keeping the outposts until every one had given his vote,
+ they unanimously conferred the supreme command upon Lucius Marcius. All the
+ intervening time, which was but short, was occupied in fortifying their camp
+ and collecting provisions, and the soldiers executed every order not only with
+ vigour, but with feelings by no means depressed. But when intelligence was brought
+ them that Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, who was coming to put the finishing stroke
+ to the war, had crossed the Iberus and was drawing near, and when they saw the
+ signal for battle displayed by a new commander, then calling to mind whom they
+ had had for their leaders a little while ago, relying on what leaders and what
+ forces they used to go out to fight, they all suddenly burst into tears and
+ beat their heads, some raising their hands to heaven and arraigning the gods,
+ others prostrating themselves upon the ground and invoking by name each his
+ own former commander. Nor could their lamentations be restrained, though the
+ centurions endeavoured to animate their companies, and though Marcius himself
+ soothed and remonstrated with them, asking them "why they had given themselves
+ up to womanish and unavailing lamentations rather than summon up all their courage
+ to protect themselves and the commonwealth together, and not suffer their generals
+ to lie unavenged?" But suddenly a shout and the sound of trumpets were heard;
+ for by this time the enemy were near the rampart. Upon this, their grief being
+ suddenly converted into rage, they hastily ran to arms, and, as it were, burning
+ with fury, rushed to the gates and charged the enemy, while advancing in a careless
+ and disorderly manner. This unexpected event instantly struck terror into the
+ Carthaginians, who wondering whence so many enemies could have sprung up so
+ suddenly, as the army had been almost annihilated; what could have inspired
+ men who had been vanquished and routed with such boldness and confidence in
+ themselves; what general could have arisen now that the two Scipios were slain;
+ who could command the camp, and who had given the signal for battle; in consequence
+ of these so many and so unexpected circumstances, at first, being in a state
+ of complete uncertainty and amazement, they gave ground; but afterwards, discomfited
+ by the violence of the charge, they turned their backs; and either there would
+ have been a dreadful slaughter of the flying enemy, or a rash and dangerous
+ effort on the part of the pursuers, had not Marcius promptly given the signal
+ for retreat, and by throwing himself in the way of the front rank, and even
+ holding some back with his own hands, repressed the infuriated troops. He then
+ led them back to the camp, still eager for blood and slaughter. When the Carthaginians,
+ who were at first compelled to fly with precipitation from the rampart of their
+ enemy, saw that no one pursued them, concluding that they had stopped from fear,
+ now on the other hand went away to their camp at an easy pace, with feelings
+ of contempt for the enemy. There was a corresponding want of care in guarding
+ their camp; for though the enemy were near, yet it seemed that they were but
+ the remains of the two armies which had been cut to pieces a few days before.
+ As in consequence of this all things were neglected in the enemy's camp, Marcius
+ having ascertained this, addressed his mind to a measure which on the first
+ view of it might appear rather rash than bold: it was, aggressively to assault
+ the enemy's camp, concluding that the camp of Hasdrubal, while alone, might
+ be carried with less difficulty than his own could be defended, if the three
+ armies and as many generals should again unite; taking into consideration also
+ that either if he succeeded he would retrieve their prostrate fortune, or if
+ repulsed, still, by making the attack himself, he would rescue himself from
+ contempt. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="g38" />
+<p>Lest, however, the suddenness of the affair, and the fear of night, should
+ frustrate a measure which was in itself ill adapted to his condition, he thought
+ it right that his soldiers should be addressed and exhorted; and having called
+ an assembly, he discoursed as follows: "Soldiers, either my veneration for our
+ late commanders, both living and dead, or our present situation, may impress
+ on every one the belief that this command, as it is highly honourable to me,
+ conferred by your suffrages, so is it in its nature a heavy and anxious charge.
+ For at a time when I should be scarcely so far master of myself as to be able
+ to find any solace for my afflicted mind, did not fear deaden the sense of sorrow,
+ I am compelled to take upon myself alone the task of consulting for the good
+ of you all; a task of the greatest difficulty when under the influence of grief.
+ And not even at that critical moment, when I ought to be considering in what
+ manner I may be enabled to keep together for my country these remains of two
+ armies, can I divert my mind from the affliction which incessantly preys upon
+ me. For bitter recollection is ever present, and the Scipios ever disturb me
+ with anxious cares by day and dreams by night, frequently rousing me from my
+ sleep, and imploring me not to suffer themselves nor their soldiers, your companions
+ in war, who had been victorious in this country for eight years, nor the commonwealth
+ to remain unrevenged; enjoining me also to follow their discipline and their
+ plans; and desiring that as there was no one more obedient to their commands
+ while they were alive than I, so after their death I would consider that conduct
+ as best, which I might have the strongest reason for believing they would have
+ adopted in each case. I could wish also that you, my soldiers, should not show
+ your respect for them by lamentations and tears, as if they were dead; (for
+ they still live and flourish in the fame of their achievements;) but that whenever
+ the memory of those men shall occur to you, you would go into battle as though
+ you saw them encouraging you and giving you the signal. Nor certainly could
+ anything else than their image presenting itself yesterday to your eyes and
+ minds, have enabled you to fight that memorable battle, in which you proved
+ to the enemy that the Roman name had not become extinct with the Scipios; and
+ that the energy and valour of that people, which had not been overwhelmed by
+ the disaster at Cannae, would, doubtlessly, emerge from the severest storms
+ of fortune. Now since you have dared so much of your own accord, I have a mind
+ to try how much you will dare when authorized by your general: for yesterday,
+ when I gave the signal for retreat while you were pursuing the routed enemy
+ with precipitation, I did not wish to break your spirit, but to reserve it for
+ greater glory and more advantageous opportunities; that you might afterwards,
+ when prepared and armed, seize an occasion of attacking your enemy while off
+ their guard, unarmed, and even buried in sleep. Nor do I entertain the hope
+ of gaining an opportunity of this kind rashly, but from the actual state of
+ things. Doubtless, if any one should ask even himself, by what means, though
+ few in number and disheartened by defeat, you defended your camp against troops
+ superior in number and victorious, you would give no other answer than that,
+ as this was the very thing you were afraid of, you had kept every place secured
+ by works and yourselves ready and equipped. And so it generally happens: men
+ are least secure against that which fortune causes not to be feared; because
+ you leave unguarded and exposed what you think is not necessary to be cared
+ about. There is nothing whatever which the enemy fear less at the present time,
+ than lest we, who were a little while ago besieged and assaulted, should aggressively
+ assault their camp ourselves. Let us dare, then, to do that which it is incredible
+ we should have the courage to attempt; it will be most easy from the very fact
+ of its appearing most difficult. At the third watch of the night I will lead
+ you thither in silence. I have ascertained by means of scouts that they have
+ no regular succession of watches, no proper outposts. Our shout at their gates,
+ when heard, and the first assault, will carry their camp. Then let that carnage
+ be made among men, torpid with sleep, terrified at the unexpected tumult, and
+ overpowered while lying defenceless in their beds, from which you were so grieved
+ to be recalled yesterday. I know that the measure appears to you a daring one;
+ but in difficult and almost desperate circumstances the boldest counsels are
+ always the safest. For if when the critical moment has arrived, the opportunity
+ of seizing which is of a fleeting nature, you delay ever so little, in vain
+ do you seek for it afterwards when it has been neglected. One army is near us;
+ two more are not far off. We have some hopes if we make an attack now; and you
+ have already made trial of your own and their strength. If we postpone the time
+ and cease to be despised in consequence of the fame of yesterday's irruption,
+ there is danger lest all the generals and all the forces should unite. Shall
+ we be able then to withstand three generals and three armies, whom Cneius Scipio
+ with his army unimpaired could not withstand? As our generals have perished
+ by dividing their forces, so the enemy may be overpowered while separated and
+ divided. There is no other mode of maintaining the war; let us, therefore, wait
+ for nothing but the opportunity of the ensuing night. Now depart, with the favour
+ of the gods, and refresh yourselves, that, unfatigued and vigorous, you may
+ burst into the enemy's camp with the same spirit with which you have defended
+ your own." This new enterprise, proposed by their new general, they received
+ with joy; and the more daring it was the more it pleased them. The remainder
+ of the day was spent in getting their arms in readiness and recruiting their
+ strength, the greater part of the night was given to rest, and at the fourth
+ watch they were in motion. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="g39" />
+<p>At a distance of six miles beyond their nearest camp lay other forces of the
+ Carthaginians. A deep valley, thickly planted with trees, intervened. Near about
+ the middle of this wood a Roman cohort and some cavalry were placed in concealment
+ with Punic craft. The communication between the two armies being thus cut off,
+ the rest of the forces were marched in silence to the nearest body of the enemy;
+ and as there were no outposts before the gates, and no guards on the rampart,
+ they entered quite into the camp, as though it had been their own, no one any
+ where opposing them. The signals were then sounded and a shout raised. Some
+ put the enemy to the sword when half asleep; others threw fire upon the huts,
+ which were covered in with dry straw; others blocked up the gates to intercept
+ their escape. The enemy, who were assailed at once with fire, shouting, and
+ the sword, were in a manner bereaved of their senses, and could neither hear
+ each other, nor take any measures for their security. Unarmed, they fell into
+ the midst of troops of armed men: some hastened to the gates; others, as the
+ passes were flocked up, leaped over the rampart, and as each escaped they fled
+ directly towards the other camp, where they were cut off by the cohort and cavalry
+ rushing forward from their concealment, and were all slain to a man. And even
+ had any escaped from that carnage, the Romans, after taking the nearer camp,
+ ran over to the other with such rapidity, that no one could have arrived before
+ them with news of the disaster. In this camp, as they were far distant from
+ the enemy, and as some had gone off just before daylight for forage, wood, and
+ plunder, they found every thing in a still more neglected and careless state.
+ Their arms only were placed at the outposts, the men being unarmed, and either
+ sitting and reclining upon the ground, or else walking up and down before the
+ rampart and the gates. On these men, thus at their ease and unguarded, the Romans,
+ still hot from the recent battle, and flushed with victory, commenced an attack;
+ no effectual opposition therefore could be made to them in the gates. Within
+ the gates, the troops having rushed together from every part of the camp at
+ the first shout and alarm, a furious conflict arose; which would have continued
+ for a long time, had not the bloody appearance of the Roman shields discovered
+ to the Carthaginians the defeat of the other forces, and consequently struck
+ them with dismay. This alarm produced a general flight; and all except those
+ who were overtaken with the sword, rushing out precipitately wherever they could
+ find a passage, abandoned their camp. Thus, in a night and a day, two camps
+ of the enemy were carried, under the conduct of Lucius Marcius. Claudius, who
+ translated the annals of Acilius out of Greek into Latin, states that as many
+ as thirty-seven thousand men were slain, one thousand eight hundred and thirty
+ made prisoners, and a great booty obtained; among which was a silver shield
+ of a hundred and thirty-eight pounds' weight, with an image upon it of the Barcine
+ Hasdrubal. Valerius Antias states, that the camp Of Mago only was captured,
+ and seven thousand of the enemy slain; and that in the other battle, when the
+ Romans sallied out and fought with Hasdrubal, ten thousand were slain, and four
+ thousand three hundred captured. Piso writes, that five thousand were slain
+ in an ambuscade when Mago incautiously pursued our troops who retired. With
+ all, the name of the general, Marcius, is mentioned with great honour, and to
+ his real glory they add even miracles. They say, that while he was haranguing
+ his men a stream of fire poured from his head without his perceiving it, to
+ the great terror of the surrounding soldiers; and that a shield, called the
+ Marcian, with an image of Hasdrubal upon it, remained in the temple up to the
+ time of the burning of the Capitol, a monument of his victory over the Carthaginians.
+ After this, affairs continued for a considerable time in a tranquil state in
+ Spain, as both parties, after giving and receiving such important defeats, hesitated
+ to run the hazard of a general battle. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="g40" />
+<p>During these transactions in Spain, Marcellus, after the capture of Syracuse,
+ having settled the other affairs in Sicily with so much honour and integrity
+ as not only to add to his own renown, but also to the majesty of the Roman people,
+ conveyed to Rome the ornaments of the city, together with the statues and pictures
+ with which Syracuse abounded. These were certainly spoils taken from enemies,
+ and acquired according to the laws of war; but hence was the origin of the admiration
+ of the products of Grecian art, and to that freedom with which at present all
+ places, both sacred and profane, are despoiled; which at last recoiled upon
+ the Roman gods, and first upon that very temple which was so choicely adorned
+ by Marcellus. For foreigners were in the habit of visiting the temples dedicated
+ by Marcellus near the Capuan gate, on account of their splendid ornaments of
+ this description, of which a very small portion can be found. Embassies from
+ almost all the states of Sicily came to him. As their cases were different,
+ so were also the terms granted to them. Those who had either not revolted or
+ had returned to the alliance before the capture of Syracuse, were received and
+ honoured as faithful allies. Those who had been induced to submit through fear
+ after the capture of Syracuse, as vanquished, received laws from the conqueror.
+ The Romans, however, had still remaining a war of no small magnitude at Agrigentum,
+ headed by Epicydes and Hanno, generals in the late war, and a third new one
+ sent by Hannibal in the room of Hippocrates, a Libyphoenician by nation, and
+ a native of Hippo, called by his countrymen Mutines; an energetic man, and thoroughly
+ instructed in all the arts of war under the tuition of Hannibal. To this man
+ the Numidian auxiliaries were assigned by Epicydes and Hanno. With these he
+ so thoroughly overran the lands of his enemies, and visited his allies with
+ such activity, in order to retain them in their allegiance, and for the purpose
+ of bringing them seasonable aid as each required it, that in a short time he
+ filled all Sicily with his fame, nor was greater confidence placed in any one
+ else by those who favoured the Carthaginian interest. Accordingly the Carthaginian
+ and Syracusan generals, who had been hitherto compelled to keep within the walls
+ of Agrigentum, not more at the advice of Mutines than from the confidence they
+ reposed in him, had the courage to go out from the walls, and pitched a camp
+ near the river Himera. When this was announced to Marcellus, he immediately
+ advanced and sat down at a distance of about four miles from the enemy, with
+ the intention of waiting to see what steps they took, and what they meditated.
+ But Mutines allowed no room or time for delay or deliberation, but crossed the
+ river, and, charging the outposts of his enemy, created the greatest terror
+ and confusion. The next day, in an engagement which might almost be called regular,
+ he compelled his enemy to retire within their works. Being called away by a
+ mutiny of the Numidians, which had broken out in the camp, and in which about
+ three hundred of them had retired to Heraclea Minoa, he set out to appease them
+ and bring them back; and is said to have earnestly warned the generals not to
+ engage with the enemy during his absence. Both the generals were indignant at
+ this conduct, but particularly Hanno, who was before disturbed at his reputation.
+ "Is it to be borne," said he, "that a mongrel African should impose restraints
+ upon me, a Carthaginian general, commissioned by the senate and people?" Epicydes,
+ who wished to wait, was prevailed upon by him to agree to their crossing the
+ river and offering battle; for, said he, if they should wait for Mutines, and
+ the battle should terminate successfully, Mutines would certainly have the credit
+ of it. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="g41" />
+<p>But Marcellus, highly indignant that he who had repulsed Hannibal from Nola,
+ when rendered confident by his victory at Cannae, should succumb to enemies
+ whom he had vanquished by sea and land, ordered his soldiers immediately to
+ take arms and raise the standards. While marshalling his army, ten Numidians
+ rode up rapidly from the enemy's line with information that their countrymen,
+ first induced by the same causes which brought on the mutiny, in which three
+ hundred of their number retired to Heraclea, and secondly, because they saw
+ their commander, just on the approach of a battle, sent out of the way by generals
+ who wished to detract from his glory, would not take any part in the battle.
+ This deceitful nation made good their promise in this instance. Accordingly
+ the spirits of the Romans were increased by the intelligence, which was speedily
+ conveyed through the lines, that the enemy were abandoned by the cavalry, which
+ the Romans principally feared; while at the same time the enemy were dispirited,
+ not only because they were deprived of the principal part of their strength,
+ but further, because they were afraid lest they should themselves be attacked
+ by their own cavalry. Accordingly, there was no great resistance made: the first
+ shout and onset determined the business. The Numidians who stood quiet in the
+ wings during the action, when they saw their party turning their backs, accompanied
+ them in their flight only for a short time; but when they perceived that they
+ were all making for Agrigentum with the most violent haste, they turned off
+ to the neighbouring towns round about, through fear of a siege. Many thousand
+ men were slain and captured, together with eight elephants. This was the last
+ battle which Marcellus fought in Sicily, after which he returned victorious
+ to Syracuse. The year was now about closing; the senate therefore decreed that
+ Publius Cornelius, the praetor, should send a letter to Capua to the consuls,
+ with directions that while Hannibal was at a distance, and nothing of any great
+ importance was going on at Capua, one of them, if they thought fit, should come
+ to Rome to elect new magistrates. On the receipt of the letter, the consuls
+ arranged it between themselves, that Claudius should hold the election, and
+ Fulvius remain at Capua. The consuls created by Claudius were Cneius Fulvius
+ Centumalus, and Publius Sulpicius Galba, the son of Servius, who had never exercised
+ any curule magistracy. After this Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, Marcus Cornelius
+ Cethegus, Caius Sulpicius, and Caius Calpurnius Piso, were created praetors.
+ Piso had the city jurisdiction; Sulpicius, Sicily; Cethegus, Apulia; Lentulus,
+ Sardinia. The consuls were continued in command for a year longer. </p>
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="book" id="book26">BOOK XXVI.</div>
+<div class="date">B.C 212-211</div>
+<br />
+<div class="chapmen"><a href="#h1">1</a> <a href="#h2">2</a> <a href="#h3">3</a>
+ <a href="#h4">4</a> <a href="#h5">5</a> <a href="#h6">6</a> <a href="#h7">7</a>
+ <a href="#h8">8</a> <a href="#h9">9</a> <a href="#h10">10</a> <a href="#h11">11</a>
+ <a href="#h12">12</a> <a href="#h13">13</a> <a href="#h14">14</a> <a href="#h15">15</a>
+ <a href="#h16">16</a> <a href="#h17">17</a> <a href="#h18">18</a> <a href="#h19">19</a>
+ <a href="#h20">20</a> <a href="#h21">21</a> <a href="#h22">22</a> <a href="#h23">23</a>
+ <a href="#h24">24</a> <a href="#h25">25</a> <a href="#h26">26</a> <a href="#h27">27</a>
+ <a href="#h28">28</a> <a href="#h29">29</a> <a href="#h30">30</a> <a href="#h31">31</a>
+ <a href="#h32">32</a> <a href="#h33">33</a> <a href="#h34">34</a> <a href="#h35">35</a>
+ <a href="#h36">36</a> <a href="#h37">37</a> <a href="#h38">38</a> <a href="#h39">39</a>
+ <a href="#h40">40</a> <a href="#h41">41</a> <a href="#h42">42</a> <a href="#h43">43</a>
+ <a href="#h44">44</a> <a href="#h45">45</a> <a href="#h46">46</a> <a href="#h47">47</a>
+ <a href="#h48">48</a> <a href="#h49">49</a> <a href="#h50">50</a> <a href="#h51">51</a></div>
+<br />
+<div class="bookdes"><i>Hannibal encamps on the banks of the Amo, within three
+ miles of Rome. Attended by two thousand horsemen, he advances close to the Colline
+ gate to take a view of the walls and situation of the city. On two successive
+ days the hostile armies are hindered from engaging by the severity of the weather.
+ Capua taken by Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius, the chief nobles die, voluntarily,
+ by poison. Quintus Fulvius having condemned the principal senators to death,
+ at the moment they are actually tied to the stakes, receives despatches from
+ Rome, commanding him to spare their lives, which he postpones reading until
+ the sentence is executed. Publius Scipio, offering himself for the service,
+ is sent to command in Spain, takes New Carthage in one day. Successes in Sicily.
+ Treaty of friendship with the Aetolians. War with Philip, king of Macedonia,
+ and the Acarnanians.</i></div>
+<br />
+<h3> * * * * *</h3>
+<div class="lsidenote">1 </div>
+<a id="h1" />
+<p>The consuls, Cneius Fulvius Centumalus and Publius Sulpicius Galba, having
+ entered on their office on the ides of March, assembled the senate in the Capitol,
+ and took the opinion of the fathers on the state of the republic, the manner
+ of conducting the war, and on what related to the provinces and the armies.
+ Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius, the consuls of the former year, were continued
+ in command; and the armies which they before had were assigned to them, it being
+ added that they should not withdraw from Capua, which they were besieging, till
+ they had taken it. The Romans were now solicitously intent upon this object,
+ not from resentment so much, which was never juster against any city, as from
+ the consideration that as this city, so celebrated and powerful, had by its
+ defection drawn away several states, so when reduced it would bring back their
+ minds to respect for the former supreme government. Two praetors also of the
+ former year, Marcus Junius and Publius Sempronius, were each continued in command
+ of the two legions which they had under them, the former in Etruria, the latter
+ in Gaul. Marcus Marcellus also was continued in command, that he might, as proconsul,
+ finish the war in Sicily with the army he had there. If he wanted recruits he
+ was to take them from the legions which Publius Cornelius, the propraetor, commanded
+ in Sicily, provided he did not choose any soldier who was of the number of those
+ whom the senate had refused to allow to be discharged, or to return home till
+ the war was put an end to. To Caius Sulpicius, to whose lot Sicily had fallen,
+ the two legions which Publius Cornelius had commanded were assigned, to be recruited
+ from the army of Cneius Fulvius, which had been shamefully beaten, and had experienced
+ a dreadful loss the year before in Apulia. To soldiers of this description the
+ senate had assigned the same period of service as to those who fought at Cannae;
+ and as an additional mark of ignominy upon both, they were not allowed to winter
+ in towns, or to build huts for wintering within the distance of ten miles from
+ any town. To Lucius Cornelius, in Sardinia, the two legions which Quintus Mucius
+ had commanded were assigned; if recruits were wanted, the consuls were ordered
+ to enlist them. To Titus Otacilius and Marcus Valerius was allotted the protection
+ of the coasts of Sicily and Greece, with the legions and fleets which they had
+ commanded. The Greek coast had fifty ships with one legion; the Sicilian, a
+ hundred ships with two legions. Twenty-three legions were employed by the Romans
+ in carrying on the war this year by land and sea. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">2 </div>
+<a id="h2" />
+<p>In the beginning of the year, on a letter from Lucius Marcius being laid before
+ the senate, they considered his achievements as most glorious; but the title
+ of honour which he assumed (for though he was neither invested with the command
+ by the order of the people, nor by the direction of the fathers, his letter
+ ran in this form, "The propraetor to the senate") gave offence to a great many.
+ It was considered as an injurious precedent for generals to be chosen by the
+ armies, and for the solemn ceremony of elections, held under auspices, to be
+ transferred to camps and provinces, and (far from the control of the laws and
+ magistrates) to military thoughtlessness. And though some gave it as their opinion,
+ that the sense of the senate should be taken on the matter, yet it was thought
+ more advisable that the discussion should be postponed till after the departure
+ of the horsemen who brought the letter from Marcius. It was resolved, that an
+ answer should be returned respecting the corn and clothing of the army, stating,
+ that the senate would direct its attention to both those matters; but that the
+ letter should not be addressed to Lucius Marcius, propraetor, lest he should
+ consider that as already determined which was the very point they reserved for
+ discussion. After the horsemen were dismissed, it was the first thing the consuls
+ brought before the senate; and the opinions of all to a man coincided, that
+ the plebeian tribunes should be instructed to consult the commons with all possible
+ speed, as to whom they might resolve to send into Spain to take the command
+ of that army which had been under the conduct of Cneius Scipio. The plebeian
+ tribunes were instructed accordingly, and the question was published. But another
+ contest had pre-engaged the minds of the people: Caius Sempronius Blaesus, having
+ brought Cneius Fulvius to trial for the loss of the army in Apulia, harassed
+ him with invectives in the public assemblies: "Many generals," he reiterated,
+ "had by indiscretion and ignorance brought their armies into most perilous situations,
+ but none, save Cneius Fulvius, had corrupted his legions by every species of
+ excess before he betrayed them to the enemy; it might therefore with truth be
+ said, that they were lost before they saw the enemy, and that they were defeated,
+ not by Hannibal, but by their own general. No man, when he gave his vote, took
+ sufficient pains in ascertaining who it was to whom he was intrusting an army.
+ What a difference was there between this man and Tiberius Sempronius! The latter
+ having been intrusted with an army of slaves, had in a short time brought it
+ to pass, by discipline and authority, that not one of them in the field of battle
+ remembered his condition and birth, but they became a protection to our allies
+ and a terror to our enemies. They had snatched, as it were, from the very jaws
+ of Hannibal, and restored to the Roman people, Cumae, Beneventum, and other
+ towns. But Cneius Fulvius had infected with the vices peculiar to slaves, an
+ army of Roman citizens, of honourable parentage and liberal education; and had
+ thus made them insolent and turbulent among their allies, inefficient and dastardly
+ among their enemies, unable to sustain, not only the charge, but the shout of
+ the Carthaginians. But, by Hercules, it was no wonder that the troops did not
+ stand their ground in the battle, when their general was the first to fly; with
+ him, the greater wonder was that any had fallen at their posts, and that they
+ were not all the companions of Cneius Fulvius in his consternation and his flight.
+ Caius Flaminius, Lucius Paullus, Lucius Posthumius, Cneius and Publius Scipio,
+ had preferred falling in the battle to abandoning their armies when in the power
+ of the enemy. But Cneius Fulvius was almost the only man who returned to Rome
+ to report the annihilation of his army. It was a shameful crime that the army
+ of Cannae should be transported into Sicily, because they fled from the field
+ of battle, and not be allowed to return till the enemy has quitted Italy; that
+ the same decree should have been lately passed with respect to the legions of
+ Cneius Fulvius; while Cneius Fulvius himself has no punishment inflicted upon
+ him for running away, in a battle brought about by his own indiscretion; that
+ he himself should be permitted to pass his old age in stews and brothels, where
+ he passed his youth, while his troops, whose only crime was that they resembled
+ their general, should be sent away in a manner into banishment, and suffer an
+ ignominious service. So unequally," he said, "was liberty shared at Rome by
+ the rich and the poor, by the ennobled and the common people." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">3 </div>
+<a id="h3" />
+<p>The accused shifted the blame from himself to his soldiers; he said, "that
+ in consequence of their having in the most turbulent manner demanded battle,
+ they were led into the field, not on the day they desired, for it was then evening,
+ but on the following; that they were drawn up at a suitable time and on favourable
+ ground; but either the reputation or the strength of the enemy was such, that
+ they were unable to stand their ground. When they all fled precipitately, he
+ himself also was carried away with the crowd, as had happened to Varro at the
+ battle of Cannae, and to many other generals. How could he, by his sole resistance,
+ benefit the republic, unless his death would remedy the public disasters? that
+ he was not defeated in consequence of a failure in his provisions; that he had
+ not, from want of caution, been drawn into a disadvantageous position; that
+ he had not been cut off by an ambuscade in consequence of not having explored
+ his route, but had been vanquished by open force, and by arms, in a regular
+ engagement. He had not in his power the minds of his own troops, or those of
+ the enemy. Courage and cowardice were the result of each man's natural constitution."
+ He was twice accused, and the penalty was laid at a fine. On the third accusation,
+ at which witnesses were produced, he was not only overwhelmed with an infinity
+ of disgraceful charges, but a great many asserted on oath, that the flight and
+ panic commenced with the praetor, that the troops being deserted by him, and
+ concluding that the fears of their general were not unfounded, turned their
+ backs; when so strong a feeling of indignation was excited, that the assembly
+ clamorously rejoined that he ought to be tried capitally. This gave rise to
+ a new controversy; for when the tribune, who had twice prosecuted him as for
+ a finable offence, now, on the third occasion, declared that he prosecuted him
+ capitally; the tribunes of the commons being appealed to, said, "they would
+ not prevent their colleague from proceeding, as he was permitted according to
+ the custom of their ancestors, in the manner he himself preferred, whether according
+ to the laws or to custom, until he had obtained judgment against a private individual,
+ convicting him either of a capital or finable offence." Upon this, Sempronius
+ said, that he charged Cneius Fulvius with the crime of treason; and requested
+ Caius Calpurnius, the city praetor, to appoint a day for the comitia. Another
+ ground of hope was then tried by the accused, viz. if his brother, Quintus Fulvius,
+ could be present at his trial, who was at that time flourishing in the fame
+ of his past achievements and in the near expectation of taking Capua. Fulvius
+ wrote to the senate, requesting the favour in terms calculated to excite compassion,
+ in order to save the life of his brother; but the fathers replied, that the
+ interest of the state would not admit of his leaving Capua. Cneius Fulvius,
+ therefore, before the day appointed for the comitia arrived, went into exile
+ to Tarquinii, and the commons resolved that it was a legal exile. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">4 </div>
+<a id="h4" />
+<p>Meanwhile all the strength of the war was directed against Capua. It was, however,
+ more strictly blockaded than besieged. The slaves and populace could neither
+ endure the famine, nor send messengers to Hannibal through guards so closely
+ stationed. A Numidian was at length found, who, on undertaking to make his way
+ with it, was charged with a letter; and going out by night, through the midst
+ of the Roman camp, in order to fulfil his promise, he inspired the Campanians
+ with confidence to try the effect of a sally from every quarter, while they
+ had any strength remaining. In the many encounters which followed, their cavalry
+ were generally successful, but their infantry were beaten: however, it was by
+ no means so joyful to conquer, as it was miserable to be worsted in any respect
+ by a besieged and almost subdued enemy. A plan was at length adopted, by which
+ their deficiency in strength might be compensated by stratagem. Young men were
+ selected from all the legions, who, from the vigour and activity of their bodies,
+ excelled in swiftness; these were supplied with bucklers shorter than those
+ worn by horsemen, and seven javelins each, four feet in length, and pointed
+ with steel in the same manner as the spears used by light-armed troops. The
+ cavalry taking one of these each upon their horses, accustomed them to ride
+ behind them, and to leap down nimbly when the signal was given. When, by daily
+ practice, they appeared to be able to do this in an orderly manner, they advanced
+ into the plain between the camp and the walls, against the cavalry of the Campanians,
+ who stood there prepared for action. As soon as they came within a dart's cast,
+ on a signal given, the light troops leaped down, when a line of infantry formed
+ out of the body of horse suddenly rushed upon the cavalry of the enemy, and
+ discharged their javelins one after another with great rapidity; which being
+ thrown in great numbers upon men and horses indiscriminately, wounded a great
+ many. The sudden and unsuspected nature of the attack, however, occasioned still
+ greater terror; and the cavalry charging them, thus panic-struck, chased them
+ with great slaughter as far as their gates. From that time the Roman cavalry
+ had the superiority; and it was established that there should be velites in
+ the legions. It is said that Quintus Navius was the person who advised the mixing
+ of infantry with cavalry, and that he received honour from the general on that
+ account. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">5 </div>
+<a id="h5" />
+<p>While affairs were in this state at Capua, Hannibal was perplexed between two
+ objects, the gaining possession of the citadel of Tarentum, and the retaining
+ of Capua. His concern for Capua, however, prevailed, on which he saw that the
+ attention of every body, allies and enemies, was fixed; and whose fate would
+ be regarded as a proof of the consequences resulting from defection from the
+ Romans. Leaving therefore, a great part of his baggage among the Bruttians,
+ and all his heavier armed troops, he took with him a body of infantry and cavalry,
+ the best he could select for marching expeditiously, and bent his course into
+ Campania. Rapidly as he marched he was followed by thirty-three elephants. He
+ took up his position in a retired valley behind Mount Tifata, which overhung
+ Capua. Having at his coming taken possession of fort Galatia, the garrison of
+ which he dislodged by force, he then directed his efforts against those who
+ were besieging Capua. Having sent forward messengers to Capua stating the time
+ at which he would attack the Roman camp, in order that they also, having gotten
+ themselves in readiness for a sally, might at the same time pour forth from
+ all their gates, he occasioned the greatest possible terror; for on one side
+ he himself attacked them suddenly, and on the other side all the Campanians
+ sallied forth, both foot and horse, joined by the Carthaginian garrison under
+ the command of Bostar and Hanno. The Romans, lest in so perilous an affair they
+ should leave any part unprotected, by running together to any one place, thus
+ divided their forces: Appius Claudius was opposed to the Campanians; Fulvius
+ to Hannibal; Caius Nero, the propraetor, with the cavalry of the sixth legion,
+ placed himself in the road leading to Suessula; and Caius Fulvius Flaccus, the
+ lieutenant-general, with the allied cavalry, on the side opposite the river
+ Vulturnus. The battle commenced not only with the usual clamour and tumult,
+ but in addition to the din of men, horses, and arms, a multitude of Campanians,
+ unable to bear arms, being distributed along the walls, raised such a shout
+ together with the clangour of brazen vessels, similar to that which is usually
+ made in the dead of night when the moon is eclipsed, that it diverted the attention
+ even of the combatants. Appius easily repulsed the Campanians from the rampart.
+ On the other side Hannibal and the Carthaginians, forming a larger force, pressed
+ hard on Fulvius. There the sixth legion gave way; being repulsed, a cohort of
+ Spaniards with three elephants made their way up to the rampart. They had broken
+ through the centre of the Roman line, and were in a state of anxious and perilous
+ suspense, whether to force their way into the camp, or be cut off from their
+ own army. When Fulvius saw the disorder of the legion, and the danger the camp
+ was in, he exhorted Quintus Navius, and the other principal centurions, to charge
+ the cohort of the enemy which was fighting under the rampart; he said, "that
+ the state of things was most critical; that either they must retire before them,
+ in which case they would burst into the camp with less difficulty than they
+ had experienced in breaking through a dense line of troops, or they must cut
+ them to pieces under the rampart: nor would it require a great effort; for they
+ were few, and cut off from their own troops, and if the line which appeared
+ broken, now while the Romans were dispirited, should turn upon the enemy on
+ both sides, they would become enclosed in the midst, and exposed to a twofold
+ attack." Navius, on hearing these words of the general, snatched the standard
+ of the second company of spearmen from the standard-bearer, and advanced with
+ it against the enemy, threatening that he would throw it into the midst of them
+ unless the soldiers promptly followed him and took part in the fight. He was
+ of gigantic stature, and his arms set him off; the standard also, raised aloft,
+ attracted the gaze both of his countrymen and the enemy. When, however, he had
+ reached the standards of the Spaniards, javelins were poured upon him from all
+ sides, and almost the whole line was turned against him; but neither the number
+ of his enemies nor the force of the weapons could repel the onset of this hero.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">6 </div>
+<a id="h6" />
+<p>Marcus Atilius, the lieutenant-general, also caused the standard of the first
+ company of principes of the same legion to be borne against a cohort of the
+ Spaniards. Lucius Portius Licinus and Titus Popilius, the lieutenant-generals,
+ who had the command of the camp, fought valiantly in defence of the rampart,
+ and slew the elephants while in the very act of crossing it. The carcasses of
+ these filling up the ditch, afforded a passage for the enemy as effectually
+ as if earth had been thrown in, or a bridge erected over it; and a horrid carnage
+ took place amid the carcasses of the elephants which lay prostrate. On the other
+ side of the camp, the Campanians, with the Carthaginian garrison, had by this
+ time been repulsed, and the battle was carried on immediately under the gate
+ of Capua leading to Vulturnus. Nor did the armed men contribute so much in resisting
+ the Romans, who endeavoured to force their way in, as the gate itself, which,
+ being furnished with ballistas and scorpions, kept the enemy at bay by the missiles
+ discharged from it. The ardour of the Romans was also clamped by the general,
+ Appius Claudius, receiving a wound; he was struck by a javelin in the upper
+ part of his breast, beneath the left shoulder, while encouraging his men before
+ the front line. A great number, however, of the enemy were slain before the
+ gate, and the rest were driven in disorder into the city. When Hannibal saw
+ the destruction of the cohort of Spaniards, and that the camp of the enemy was
+ defended with the utmost vigour, giving up the assault, he began to withdraw
+ his standards, making his infantry face about, but throwing out his cavalry
+ in the rear lest the enemy should pursue them closely. The ardour of the legions
+ to pursue the enemy was excessive, but Flaccus ordered a retreat to be sounded,
+ considering that enough had been achieved to convince the Campanians, and Hannibal
+ himself, how unable he was to afford them protection. Some who have undertaken
+ to give accounts of this battle, record that eight thousand of the army of Hannibal,
+ and three thousand Campanians, were slain; that fifteen military standards were
+ taken from the Carthaginians, and eighteen from the Campanians. In other authors
+ I find the battle to have been by no means so important, and that there was
+ more of panic than fighting; that a party of Numidians and Spaniards suddenly
+ bursting into the Roman camp with some elephants, the elephants, as they made
+ their way through the midst of the camp, threw down their tents with a great
+ noise, and caused the beasts of burden to break their halters and run away.
+ That in addition to the confusion occasioned, a stratagem was employed; Hannibal
+ having sent in some persons acquainted with the Latin language, for he had some
+ such with him, who might command the soldiers, in the name of the consuls, to
+ escape every one as fast as he could to the neighbouring mountains, since the
+ camp was lost; but that the imposture was soon discovered, and frustrated with
+ a great slaughter of the enemy; that the elephants were driven out of the camp
+ by fire. However commenced, and however terminated, this was the last battle
+ which was fought before the surrender of Capua. Seppius Lesius was Medixtuticus,
+ or chief magistrate of Capua, that year, a man of obscure origin and slender
+ fortune. It is reported that his mother, when formerly expiating a prodigy which
+ had occurred in the family in behalf of this boy, who was an orphan, received
+ an answer from the aruspex, stating, that "the highest office would come to
+ him;" and that not recognising, at Capua, any ground for such a hope, exclaimed,
+ "the state of the Campanians must be desperate indeed, when the highest office
+ shall come to my son." But even this expression, in which the response was turned
+ into ridicule, turned to be true, for those persons whose birth allowed them
+ to aspire to high offices, refusing to accept them when the city was oppressed
+ by sword and famine, and when all hope was lost, Lesius, who complained that
+ Capua was deserted and betrayed by its nobles, accepted the office of chief
+ magistrate, being the last Campanian who held it. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">7 </div>
+<a id="h7" />
+<p>But Hannibal, when he saw that the enemy could not be drawn into another engagement,
+ nor a passage be forced through their camp into Capua, resolved to remove his
+ camp from that place and leave the attempt unaccomplished, fearful lest the
+ new consuls might cut off his supplies of provision. While anxiously deliberating
+ on the point to which he should next direct his course, an impulse suddenly
+ entered his mind to make an attack on Rome, the very source of the war. That
+ the opportunity of accomplishing this ever coveted object, which occurred after
+ the battle of Cannae, had been neglected, and was generally censured by others,
+ he himself did not deny. He thought that there was some hope that he might be
+ able to get possession of some part of the city, in consequence of the panic
+ and confusion which his unexpected approach would occasion, and that if Rome
+ were in danger, either both the Roman generals, or at least one of them, would
+ immediately leave Capua; and if they divided their forces, both generals being
+ thus rendered weaker, would afford a favourable opportunity either to himself
+ or the Campanians of gaining some advantage. One consideration only disquieted
+ him, and that was, lest on his departure the Campanians should immediately surrender.
+ By means of presents he induced a Numidian, who was ready to attempt any thing,
+ however daring, to take charge of a letter; and, entering the Roman camp under
+ the disguise of a deserter, to pass out privately on the other side and go to
+ Capua. As to the letter, it was full of encouragement. It stated, that "his
+ departure, which would be beneficial to them, would have the effect of drawing
+ off the Roman generals and armies from the siege of Capua to the defence of
+ Rome. That they must not allow their spirits to sink; that by a few days' patience
+ they would rid themselves entirely of the siege." He then ordered the ships
+ on the Vulturnus to be seized, and rowed up to the fort which he had before
+ erected for his protection. And when he was informed that there were as many
+ as were necessary to convey his army across in one night, after providing a
+ stock of provisions for ten days, he led his legions down to the river by night,
+ and passed them over before daylight. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">8 </div>
+<a id="h8" />
+<p>Fulvius Flaccus, who had discovered from deserters that this would happen,
+ before it took place, having written to Rome to the senate to apprize them of
+ it, men's minds were variously affected by it according to the disposition of
+ each. As might be expected in so alarming an emergency, the senate was immediately
+ assembled, when Publius Cornelius, surnamed Asina, was for recalling all the
+ generals and armies from every part of Italy to protect the city, disregarding
+ Capua and every other concern. Fabius Maximus thought that it would be highly
+ disgraceful to retire from Capua, and allow themselves to be terrified and driven
+ about at the nod and menaces of Hannibal. "Was it probable that he, who, though
+ victorious at Cannae, nevertheless dared not approach the city, now, after having
+ been repulsed from Capua, had conceived hopes of making himself master of Rome?
+ It was not to besiege Rome, but to raise the siege of Capua that he was coming.
+ Jupiter, the witness of treaties violated by Hannibal, and the other deities,
+ would defend the city of Rome with that army which is now at the city." To these
+ opposite opinions, that of Publius Valerius Flaccus, which recommended a middle
+ course, was preferred. Regardful of both objects, he thought that a letter should
+ be written to the generals at Capua, informing them of the force they had at
+ the city for its protection, and stating, that as to the number of forces which
+ Hannibal was bringing with him, or how large an army was necessary to carry
+ on the siege of Capua, they themselves knew. If one of the generals and a part
+ of the army could be sent to Rome, and at the same time Capua could be efficiently
+ besieged by the remaining general and army, that then Claudius and Fulvius should
+ settle between themselves which should continue the siege of Capua, and which
+ should come to Rome to protect their capital from being besieged. This decree
+ of the senate having been conveyed to Capua, Quintus Fulvius, the proconsul,
+ who was to go to Rome, as his colleague was ill from his wound, crossed the
+ Vulturnus with a body of troops, to the number of fifteen thousand infantry
+ and a thousand horse, selected from the three armies. Then having ascertained
+ that Hannibal intended to proceed along the Latin road, he sent persons before
+ him to the towns on and near the Appian way, Setia, Cora, and Lanuvium, with
+ directions that they should not only have provisions ready in their towns, but
+ should bring them down to the road from the fields which lay out of the way,
+ and that they should draw together into their towns troops for their defence,
+ in order that each state might be under its own protection. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">9 </div>
+<a id="h9" />
+<p>On the day he crossed the Vulturnus, Hannibal pitched his camp at a small distance
+ from the river. The next day, passing by Cales, he reached the Sidicinian territory,
+ and having spent a day there in devastating the country, he led his troops along
+ the Latin way through the territory of Suessa, Allifae, and Casinum. Under the
+ walls of Casinum he remained encamped for two days, ravaging the country all
+ around; thence passing by Interamna and Aquinum, he came into the Fregellan
+ territory, to the river Liris, where he found the bridge broken down by the
+ Fregellans in order to impede his progress. Fulvius also was detained at the
+ Vulturnus, in consequence of Hannibal's having burnt the ships, and the difficulty
+ he had in procuring rafts to convey his troops across that river from the great
+ scarcity of materials. The army having been conveyed across by rafts, the remainder
+ of the march of Fulvius was uninterrupted, a liberal supply of provisions having
+ been prepared for him, not only in all the towns, but also on the sides of the
+ road; while his men, who were all activity, exhorted each other to quicken their
+ pace, remembering that they were going to defend their country. A messenger
+ from Fregella, who had travelled a day and a night without intermission, arriving
+ at Rome, caused the greatest consternation; and the whole city was thrown into
+ a state of alarm by the running up and down of persons who made vague additions
+ to what they heard, and thus increased the confusion which the original intelligence
+ created. The lamentations of women were not only heard from private houses,
+ but the matrons from every quarter, rushing into the public streets, ran up
+ and down around the shrines of the gods, sweeping the altars with their dishevelled
+ hair, throwing themselves upon their knees and stretching their uplifted hands
+ to heaven and the gods, imploring them to rescue the city of Rome out of the
+ hands of their enemies, and preserve the Roman mothers and their children from
+ harm. The senate sat in the forum near the magistrates, in case they should
+ wish to consult them. Some were receiving orders and departing to their own
+ department of duty; others were offering themselves wherever there might be
+ occasion for their aid. Troops were posted in the citadel, in the Capitol, upon
+ the walls around the city, and also on the Alban mount, and the fort of Aesula.
+ During this confusion, intelligence was brought that Quintus Fulvius, the proconsul,
+ had set out from Capua with an army; when the senate decreed that Quintus Fulvius
+ should have equal authority with the consuls, lest on entering the city his
+ power should cease. Hannibal, having most destructively ravaged the Fregellan
+ territory, on account of the bridge having been broken down, came into the territory
+ of the Lavici, passing through those of Frusino, Ferentinum, and Anagnia; thence
+ passing through Algidum he directed his course to Tusculum; but not being received
+ within the walls, he went down to the right below Tusculum to Gabii; and marching
+ his army down thence into the territory of the Pupinian tribe, he pitched his
+ camp eight miles from the city. The nearer the enemy came, the greater was the
+ number of fugitives slain by the Numidians who preceded him, and the greater
+ the number of prisoners made of every rank and age. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">10 </div>
+<a id="h10" />
+<p>During this confusion, Fulvius Flaccus entered the city with his troops through
+ the Capuan gate, passed through the midst of the city, and through Carinae,
+ to Esquiliae; and going out thence, pitched his camp between the Esquiline and
+ Colline gates. The plebeian aediles brought a supply of provisions there. The
+ consuls and the senate came to the camp, and a consultation was held on the
+ state of the republic. It was resolved that the consuls should encamp in the
+ neighbourhood of the Colline and Esquiline gates; that Caius Calpurnius, the
+ city praetor, should have the command of the Capitol and the citadel; and that
+ a full senate should be continually assembled in the forum, in case it should
+ be necessary to consult them amidst such sudden emergencies. Meanwhile, Hannibal
+ advanced his camp to the Anio, three miles from the city, and fixing his position
+ there, he advanced with two thousand horse from the Colline gate as far as the
+ temple of Hercules, and riding up, took as near a view as he could of the walls
+ and site of the city. Flaccus, indignant that he should do this so freely, and
+ so much at his ease, sent out a party of cavalry, with orders to displace and
+ drive back to their camp the cavalry of the enemy. After the fight had begun,
+ the consuls ordered the Numidian deserters who were on the Aventine, to the
+ number of twelve hundred, to march through the midst of the city to the Esquiliae,
+ judging that no troops were better calculated to fight among the hollows, the
+ garden walls, and tombs, or in the enclosed roads which were on all sides. But
+ some persons, seeing them from the citadel and Capitol as they filed off on
+ horseback down the Publician hill, cried out that the Aventine was taken. This
+ circumstance occasioned such confusion and terror, that if the Carthaginian
+ camp had not been without the city, the whole multitude, such was their alarm,
+ would have rushed out. They then fled for refuge into their houses and upon
+ the roofs, where they threw stones and weapons on their own soldiers as they
+ passed along the streets, taking them for enemies. Nor could the tumult be repressed,
+ or the mistake explained, as the streets were thronged with crowds of rustics
+ and cattle, which the sudden alarm had driven into the city. The battle between
+ the cavalry was successful, and the enemy were driven away; and as it was necessary
+ to repress the tumults which were arising in several quarters without any cause,
+ it was resolved that all who had been dictators, consuls, or censors, should
+ be invested with authority till such time as the enemy had retired from the
+ walls. During the remainder of the day and the following night, several tumults
+ arose without any foundation, and were repressed. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">11 </div>
+<a id="h11" />
+<p>The next day Hannibal, crossing the Anio, drew out all his forces in order
+ of battle; nor did Flaccus and the consuls decline to fight. When the troops
+ on both sides were drawn up to try the issue of a battle, in which Rome was
+ to be the prize of the victors, a violent shower of rain mingled with hail created
+ such disorder in both the lines, that the troops, scarcely able to hold their
+ arms, retired to their camps, less through fear of the enemy than of any thing
+ else. On the following day, likewise, a similar tempest separated the armies
+ marshalled on the same ground; but after they had retired to their camps the
+ weather became wonderfully serene and tranquil. The Carthaginians considered
+ this circumstance as a Divine interposition, and it is reported that Hannibal
+ was heard to say, "That sometimes he wanted the will to make himself master
+ of Rome, at other times the opportunity." Two other circumstances also, one
+ inconsiderable, the other important, diminished his hopes. The important one
+ was, that while he lay with his armed troops near the walls of the city, he
+ was informed that troops had marched out of it with colours flying, as a reinforcement
+ for Spain; that of less importance was, that he was informed by one of his prisoners,
+ that the very ground on which his camp stood was sold at this very time, without
+ any diminution in its price. Indeed, so great an insult and indignity did it
+ appear to him that a purchaser should be found at Rome for the very soil which
+ he held and possessed by right of conquest, that he immediately called a crier,
+ and ordered that the silversmiths' shops, which at that time stood around the
+ Roman forum, should be put up for sale. Induced by these circumstances he retired
+ to the river Tutia, six miles from the city, whence he proceeded to the grove
+ of Feronia, where was a temple at that time celebrated for its riches. The Capenatians
+ and other states in the neighbourhood, by bringing here their first-fruits and
+ other offerings according to their abilities, kept it decorated with abundance
+ of gold and silver. Of all these offerings the temple was now despoiled. After
+ the departure of Hannibal, vast heaps of brass were found there, as the soldiers,
+ from a religious feeling, had thrown in pieces of uncoined brass. The spoliation
+ of this temple is undoubted by historians; but Caelius asserts, that Hannibal,
+ in his progress to Rome, turned out of his way to it from Eretum. According
+ to him his route commenced with Amiternum, Caetilii, and Reate. He came from
+ Campania into Samnium, and thence into Pelignia; then passing the town Sulmio,
+ he entered the territory of the Marrucini; thence through the Alban territory
+ he came to that of the Marsi, from which he came to Amiternum and the village
+ of Foruli. Nor is this diversity of opinion a proof that the traces of so great
+ an army could be confounded in the lapse of so brief a period. That he went
+ that way is evident. The only question is, whether he took this route to the
+ city, or returned by it from the city into Campania? </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">12 </div>
+<a id="h12" />
+<p>With regard to Capua, Hannibal did not evince such obstinate perseverance in
+ raising the siege of it as the Romans did in pressing it; for quitting Lucania,
+ he came into the Bruttian territory, and marched to the strait and Rhegium with
+ such rapidity, that he was very near taking the place by surprise, in consequence
+ of the suddenness of his arrival. Though the siege had been urged with undiminished
+ vigour during his absence, yet Capua felt the return of Flaccus; and astonishment
+ was excited that Hannibal had not returned with him. Afterwards they learnt,
+ by conversations, that they were abandoned and deserted, and that the Carthaginians
+ had given up all hopes of retaining Capua. In addition to this a proclamation
+ was made by the proconsul, agreeably to a decree of the senate, and published
+ among the enemy, that any Campanian citizen who came over before a stated day
+ should be indemnified. No one, however, came over, as they were held together
+ by fear more than fidelity; for the crimes they had committed during their revolt
+ were too great to admit of pardon. As none of them passed over to the enemy,
+ consulting their own individual interest, so no measure of safety was taken
+ with regard to the general body. The nobility had deserted the state, nor could
+ they be induced to meet in the senate, while the office of chief magistrate
+ was filled by a man who had not derived honour to himself from his office, but
+ stripped the office of its influence and authority by his own unworthiness.
+ Now none of the nobles made their appearance even in the forum, or any public
+ place, but shut themselves up in their houses, in daily expectation of the downfall
+ of their city, and their own destruction together. The chief responsibility
+ in every thing devolved upon Bostar and Hanno, the praefects of the Punic garrison,
+ who were anxious on account of their own danger, and not that of their allies.
+ They addressed a letter to Hannibal, in terms, not only of freedom, but severity,
+ charging him with "delivering, not only Capua into the hands of the enemy, but
+ with treacherously abandoning themselves also, and their troops, to every species
+ of torture;" they told him "he had gone off to the Bruttians, in order to get
+ out of the way, as it were, lest Capua should be taken before his eyes; while,
+ by Hercules, the Romans, on the contrary, could not be drawn off from the siege
+ of Capua, even by an attack upon their city. So much more constant were the
+ Romans in their enmity than the Carthaginians in their friendship. If he would
+ return to Capua and direct the whole operations of the war to that point, that
+ both themselves and the Campanians would be prepared for a sally. That they
+ had crossed the Alps not to carry on a war with the people of Rhegium nor Tarentum.
+ That where the Roman legions were, there the armies of the Carthaginians ought
+ to be. Thus it was that victories had been gained at Cannae and Trasimenus;
+ by uniting, by pitching their camp close to that of the enemy, by trying their
+ fortune." A letter to this effect was given to some Numidians who had already
+ engaged to render their services for a stated reward. These men came into the
+ camp to Flaccus under pretence of being deserters, with the intention of quitting
+ it by seizing an opportunity, and the famine, which had so long existed at Capua,
+ afforded a pretext for desertion which no one could suspect. But a Campanian
+ woman, the paramour of one of the deserters, unexpectedly entered the camp,
+ and informed the Roman general that the Numidians had come over according to
+ a preconcerted plan of treachery, and were the bearers of letters to Hannibal;
+ that she was prepared to convict one of the party of that fact, as he had discovered
+ it to her. On being brought forward, he at first pretended, with considerable
+ pertinacity, that he did not know the woman; but afterwards, gradually succumbing
+ to the force of truth, when he saw the instruments of torture called for and
+ preparing, he confessed that it was so. The letters were produced, and a discovery
+ was made of an additional fact, before concealed, that other Numidians were
+ strolling about in the Roman camp, under pretence of being deserters. Above
+ seventy of these were arrested, and, with the late deserters, scourged with
+ rods; and after their hands had been cut off, were driven back to Capua. The
+ sight of so severe a punishment broke the spirit of the Campanians. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">13 </div>
+<a id="h13" />
+<p>The people, rushing in crowds to the senate-house, compelled Lesius to assemble
+ a senate, and openly threatened the nobles, who had now for a long time absented
+ themselves from the public deliberations, that unless they attended the meeting
+ of the senate, they would go round to their houses and drag them all before
+ the public by force. The fear of this procured the magistrate a full senate.
+ Here, while the rest contended for sending ambassadors to the Roman generals,
+ Vibius Virrius, who had been the instigator of the revolt from the Romans, on
+ being asked his opinion, observed, that "those persons who spoke of sending
+ ambassadors, and of peace, and a surrender, did not bear in mind either what
+ they would do if they had the Romans in their power, or what they themselves
+ must expect to suffer. What! do you think," says he, "that your surrender will
+ be like that in which formerly we placed ourselves and every thing belonging
+ to us at the disposal of the Romans, in order that we might obtain assistance
+ from them against the Samnites? Have you already forgotten at what a juncture
+ we revolted from the Romans, and what were their circumstances? Have you forgotten
+ how at the time of the revolt we put to death, with torture and indignity, their
+ garrison, which might have been sent out? How often, and with determined hostility,
+ we have sallied out against them when besieging us, and assaulted their camp?
+ How we invited Hannibal to come and cut them off? And how most recently we sent
+ him hence to lay siege to Rome? But come, retrace on the other hand what they
+ have done in hostility towards us, that you may learn therefrom what you have
+ to hope for. When a foreign enemy was in Italy, and that enemy Hannibal; when
+ the flame of war was kindled in every quarter; disregarding every other object,
+ disregarding even Hannibal himself, they sent two consuls with two consular
+ armies to lay siege to Capua. This is the second year, that, surrounded with
+ lines and shut up within our walls, they consume us by famine, having suffered
+ in like manner with ourselves the extremest dangers and the severest hardships,
+ having frequently had their troops slain near their rampart and trenches, and
+ at last having been almost deprived of their camp. But I pass over these matters.
+ It has been usual, even from of old, to suffer dangers and hardships in besieging
+ an enemy's city. The following is a proof of their animosity and bitter hatred.
+ Hannibal assaulted their camp with an immense force of horse and foot, and took
+ a part of it. By so great a danger they were not in the least diverted from
+ the siege. Crossing the Vulturnus, he laid waste the territory of Cales with
+ fire. Such calamities inflicted upon their allies had no effect in calling them
+ off. He ordered his troops to march in hostile array to the very city of Rome.
+ They despised the tempest which threatened them in this case also. Crossing
+ the Anio, he pitched his camp three miles from the city, and lastly, came up
+ to the very walls and gates. He gave them to understand that he would take their
+ city from them, unless they gave up Capua. But they did not give it up. Wild
+ beasts, impelled by headlong fury and rage, you may divert from their object
+ to bring assistance to those belonging to them, if you attempt to approach their
+ dens and their young. The Romans could not be diverted from Capua by the blockade
+ of Rome, by their wives and children, whose lamentations could almost be heard
+ from this place, by their altars, their hearths, the temples of their gods,
+ and the sepulchres of their ancestors profaned and violated. So great was their
+ avidity to bring us to punishment, so insatiable their thirst for drinking our
+ blood. Nor, perhaps, without reason. We too would have done the same had the
+ opportunity been afforded us. Since, however, the gods have thought proper to
+ determine it otherwise, though I ought not to shrink from death, while I am
+ free, while I am master of myself, I have it in my power, by a death not only
+ honourable but mild, to escape the tortures and indignities which the enemy
+ hope to inflict upon me. I will not see Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius
+ in the pride and insolence of victory, nor will I be dragged in chains through
+ Rome as a spectacle in a triumph, that afterwards in a dungeon, or tied to a
+ stake, after my back has been lacerated with stripes, I may place my neck under
+ a Roman axe. I will neither see my native city demolished and burnt, nor the
+ matrons, virgins, and free-born youths of Campania dragged to constupration.
+ Alba, from which they themselves derived their origin, they demolished from
+ her foundations, that there might remain no trace of their rise and extraction,
+ much less can I believe they will spare Capua, towards which they bear a more
+ rancorous hatred than towards Carthage. For such of you, therefore, as have
+ a mind to yield to fate, before they behold such horrors, a banquet is furnished
+ and prepared at my house. When satiated with wine and food, the same cup which
+ shall have been given to me shall be handed round to them. That potion will
+ rescue our bodies from torture, our minds from insult, our eyes and ears from
+ seeing and hearing all those cruelties and indignities which await the vanquished.
+ There will be persons in readiness who will throw our lifeless bodies upon a
+ large pile kindled in the court-yard of the house. This is the only free and
+ honourable way to death. Our very enemies will admire our courage, and Hannibal
+ will learn that those whom he deserted and betrayed were brave allies." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">14 </div>
+<a id="h14" />
+<p>More of those who heard this speech of Virrius approved of the proposal contained
+ in it, than had strength of mind to execute what they approved. The greater
+ part of the senate being not without hopes that the Romans, whose clemency they
+ had frequently had proof of in many wars, would be exorable by them also, decreed
+ and sent ambassadors to surrender Capua to the Romans. About twenty-seven senators,
+ following Vibius Virrius to his home, partook of the banquet with him; and after
+ having, as far as they could, withdrawn their minds, by means of wine, from
+ the perception of the impending evil, all took the poison. They then rose from
+ the banquet, after giving each other their right hands, and taking a last embrace,
+ mingling their tears for their own and their country's fate; some of them remained,
+ that they might be burned upon the same pile, and the rest retired to their
+ homes. Their veins being filled in consequence of what they had eaten, and the
+ wine they drank, rendered the poison less efficacious in expediting death; and
+ accordingly, though the greater part of them languished the whole of that night
+ and part of the following day, all of them, however, breathed their last before
+ the gates were opened to the enemy. The following day the gate of Jupiter, which
+ faced the Roman camp, was opened by order of the proconsul, when one legion
+ and two squadrons of allies marched in at it, under the command of Caius Fulvius,
+ lieutenant-general. When he had taken care that all the arms and weapons to
+ be found in Capua should be brought to him; having placed guards at all the
+ gates to prevent any one's going or being sent out, he seized the Carthaginian
+ garrison, and ordered the Campanian senators to go into the camp to the Roman
+ generals. On their arrival they were all immediately thrown into chains, and
+ ordered to lay before the quaestor an account of all the gold and silver they
+ had. There were seventy pounds of gold, and three thousand two hundred of silver.
+ Twenty-five of the senators were sent to Cales, to be kept in custody, and twenty-eight
+ to Teanum; these being the persons by whose advice principally it appeared that
+ the revolt from the Romans had taken place. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">15 </div>
+<a id="h15" />
+<p>Fulvius and Claudius were far from being agreed as to the punishment of the
+ Campanian senators. Claudius was disposed to grant their prayer for pardon,
+ but Fulvius was more inclined to severity. Appius, therefore, was for referring
+ the entire disposal of the question to the Roman senate. He thought it right
+ also, that the fathers should have the opportunity of asking them whether any
+ of the Latin confederates, or of the municipal towns, had taken part in these
+ designs, and whether they had derived any assistance from them in the war. Fulvius,
+ on the contrary, urged that they ought by no means to run the hazard of having
+ the minds of faithful allies harassed by doubtful accusations, and subjected
+ to informers who never cared at all what they did or what they said. For this
+ reason he said that he should prevent and put a stop to any such inquiry. After
+ this conversation they separated; Appius not doubting but that his colleague,
+ though he expressed himself so warmly, would, nevertheless, wait for a letter
+ from Rome, in an affair of such magnitude. But Fulvius, fearing that his designs
+ would be frustrated by that very means, dismissed his council, and commanded
+ the military tribunes and the praefects of the allies to give notice to two
+ thousand chosen horsemen to be in readiness at the third trumpet. Setting out
+ for Teanum with this body of cavalry, he entered the gate at break of day, and
+ proceeded direct to the forum; and a number of people having flocked together
+ at the first entrance of the horsemen, he ordered the Sidicinian magistrate
+ to be summoned; when he desired him to bring forth the Campanians whom he had
+ in custody. These were all accordingly brought forth, scourged, and beheaded.
+ He then proceeded at full speed to Cales; where, when he had taken his seat
+ on the tribunal, and while the Campanians, who had been brought forth, were
+ being bound to the stake, an express arrived from Rome, and delivered to him
+ a letter from Caius Calpurnius, the praetor, and a decree of the senate. A murmur
+ immediately pervaded the whole assembly, beginning at the tribunal, that the
+ entire question respecting the Campanians was referred to the decision of the
+ fathers, and Fulvius, suspecting this to be the case, took the letter, and without
+ opening it put it into his bosom, and then commanded the crier to order the
+ lictor to do his duty. Thus punishment was inflicted on those also who were
+ at Cales. The letter was then read, together with the decree of the senate,
+ when it was too late to prevent the business which was already executed, and
+ which had been accelerated by every means to prevent its being obstructed. When
+ Fulvius was now rising from his seat, Jubellius Taurea, a Campanian making his
+ way through the middle of the city and the crowd, called upon him by name, and
+ when Flaccus, who wondered greatly what he could want, had resumed his seat,
+ he said, "Order me also to be put to death, that you may be able to boast, that
+ a much braver man than yourself has been put to death by you." Fulvius at first
+ said, that the man could not certainly be in his senses, then, that he was restrained
+ by a decree of the senate, even though he might wish it, when Jubellius exclaimed
+ "Since, after the capture of my country, and the loss of my relations and friends,
+ after having killed, with my own hand, my wife and children to prevent their
+ suffering any indignity, I am not allowed even to die in the same manner as
+ these my countrymen, let a rescue be sought in courage from this hated existence."
+ So saying, he thrust a sword, which he had concealed under his garment, right
+ through his breast, and fell lifeless at the general's feet. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">16 </div>
+<a id="h16" />
+<p>Because not only what related to the punishment of the Campanians, but most
+ of the other particulars of this affair, were transacted according to the judgment
+ of Flaccus alone, some authors affirm that Appius Claudius died about the time
+ of the surrender of Capua, and that this same Taurea neither came to Cales voluntarily
+ nor died by his own hand, but that while he was being tied to the stake among
+ the rest, Flaccus, who could not distinctly hear what he vociferated from the
+ noise which was made, ordered silence, when Taurea said the things which have
+ been before related "that he, a man of the greatest courage, was being put to
+ death by one who was by no means his equal in respect to valour." That immediately
+ on his saying this, the herald, by command of the proconsul, pronounced this
+ order. "Lictor, apply the rods to this man of courage, and execute the law upon
+ him first." Some authors also relate, that he read the decree of the senate
+ before he beheaded them, but that as there was a clause in it, to the effect,
+ that if he thought proper he should refer the entire question to the senate,
+ he construed it that the decision as to what was most for the interest of the
+ state was left to himself. He returned from Cales to Capua. Atella and Calatia
+ surrendered themselves, and were received. Here also the principal promoters
+ of the revolt were punished. Thus eighty principal members of the senate were
+ put to death, and about three hundred of the Campanian nobles thrown into prison.
+ The rest were distributed through the several cities of the Latin confederacy,
+ to be kept in custody, where they perished in various ways. The rest of the
+ Campanian citizens were sold. The remaining subject of deliberation related
+ to the city and its territory. Some were of opinion that a city so eminently
+ powerful, so near, and so hostile, ought to be demolished. But immediate utility
+ prevailed, for on account of the land, which was evidently superior to any in
+ Italy from the variety and exuberance of its produce, the city was preserved
+ that it might become a settlement of husbandmen. For the purpose of peopling
+ the city, a number of sojourners, freed-men, dealers, and artificers, were retained,
+ but all the land and buildings were made the property of the Roman state. It
+ was resolved, however, that Capua should only be inhabited and peopled as a
+ city, that there should be no body-politic, nor assembly of the senate or people,
+ nor magistrates. For it was thought that a multitude not possessing any public
+ council, without a ruling power, and unconnected by the participation of any
+ common rights, would be incapable of combination. They resolved to send a praefect
+ annually from Rome to administer justice. Thus were matters adjusted at Capua,
+ upon a plan in every respect worthy of commendation. Punishment was inflicted
+ upon the most guilty with rigour and despatch, the populace dispersed beyond
+ all hope of return, no rage vented in fire and ruins upon the unoffending houses
+ and walls. Together also with advantage, a reputation for clemency was obtained
+ among the allies, by the preservation of a city of the greatest celebrity and
+ opulence, the demolition of which, all Campania, and all the people dwelling
+ in the neighbourhood of Campania, would have bewailed, while their enemies were
+ compelled to admit the ability of the Romans to punish their faithless allies,
+ and how little assistance could be derived from Hannibal towards the defence
+ of those whom he had taken under his protection. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">17 </div>
+<a id="h17" />
+<p>The Roman senate having gone through every thing which required their attention
+ relative to Capua, decreed to Caius Nero six thousand foot and three hundred
+ horse, whichever he should himself choose out of those two legions which he
+ had commanded at Capua, with an equal number of infantry, and eight hundred
+ horse of the Latin confederacy. This army Nero embarked at Puteoli, and conveyed
+ over into Spain. Having arrived at Tarraco with his ships, landed his troops,
+ hauled his ships ashore, and armed his mariners to augment his numbers, he proceeded
+ to the river Iberus, and received the army from Titus Fonteius and Lucius Marcius.
+ He then marched towards the enemy. Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, was encamped
+ at the black stones in Ausetania, a place situated between the towns Illiturgi
+ and Mentissa. The entrance of this defile Nero seized, and Hasdrubal, to prevent
+ his being shut up in it, sent a herald to engage that, if he were allowed to
+ depart thence, he would convey the whole of his army out of Spain. The Roman
+ general having received this proposition gladly, Hasdrubal requested the next
+ day for a conference, when the Romans might draw up conditions relative to the
+ surrender of the citadels of the towns, and the appointment of a day on which
+ the garrisons might be withdrawn, and the Carthaginians might remove every thing
+ belonging to them without imposition. Having obtained his point in this respect,
+ Hasdrubal gave orders that as soon as it was dark, and during the whole of the
+ night afterwards, the heaviest part of his force should get out of the defile
+ by whatever way they could. The strictest care was taken that many should not
+ go out that night, that the very fewness of their numbers might both be more
+ adapted to elude the notice of the enemy from their silence, and to an escape
+ through confined and rugged paths. Next day they met for the conference; but
+ that day having been spent, on purpose, in speaking and writing about a variety
+ of subjects, which were not to this point, the conference was put off to the
+ next day. The addition of the following night gave him time to send still more
+ out; nor was the business concluded the next day. Thus several days were spent
+ in openly discussing conditions, and as many nights in privately sending the
+ Carthaginian troops out of their camp; and after the greater part of the army
+ had been sent out, he did not even keep to those terms which he had himself
+ proposed; and his sincerity decreasing with his fears, they became less and
+ less agreed. By this time nearly all the infantry had cleared the defile, when
+ at daybreak a dense mist enveloped the whole defile and the neighbouring plains;
+ which Hasdrubal perceiving, sent to Nero to put off the conference to the following
+ day, as the Carthaginians held that day sacred from the transaction of any serious
+ business. Not even then was the cheat suspected. Hasdrubal having gained the
+ indulgence he sought for that day also, immediately quitted his camp with his
+ cavalry and elephants, and without creating any alarm escaped to a place of
+ safety. About the fourth hour the mist, being dispelled by the sun, left the
+ atmosphere clear, when the Romans saw that the camp of the enemy was deserted.
+ Then at length Claudius, recognising the Carthaginian perfidy, and perceiving
+ that he had been caught by trickery, immediately began to pursue the enemy as
+ they moved off, prepared to give battle; but they declined fighting. Some skirmishes,
+ however, took place between the rear of the Carthaginians and the advanced guard
+ of the Romans. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">18 </div>
+<a id="h18" />
+<p>During the time in which these events occurred, neither did those states of
+ Spain which had revolted after the defeat that was sustained, return to the
+ Romans, nor did any others desert them. At Rome, the attention of the senate
+ and people, after the recovery of Capua, was not fixed in a greater degree upon
+ Italy than upon Spain. They resolved that the army there should be augmented
+ and a general sent. They were not, however, so clear as to the person whom they
+ should send, as that, where two generals had fallen within the space of thirty
+ days, he who was to supply the place of them should be selected with unusual
+ care. Some naming one person, and others another, they at length came to the
+ resolution that the people should assemble for the purpose of electing a proconsul
+ for Spain, and the consuls fixed a day for the election. At first they waited
+ in expectation that those persons who might think themselves qualified for so
+ momentous a command would give in their names, but this expectation being disappointed,
+ their grief was renewed for the calamity they had suffered, and then regret
+ for the generals they had lost. The people thus afflicted, and almost at their
+ wits' end, came down, however, to the Campus Martius on the day of the election,
+ where, turning towards the magistrates, they looked round at the countenances
+ of their most eminent men, who were earnestly gazing at each other, and murmured
+ bitterly, that their affairs were in so ruinous a state, and the condition of
+ the commonwealth so desperate, that no one dared undertake the command in Spain.
+ When suddenly Publius Cornelius, son of Publius who had fallen in Spain, who
+ was about twenty-four years of age, declaring himself a candidate, took his
+ station on an eminence from which he could be seen by all. The eyes of the whole
+ assembly were directed towards him, and by acclamations and expressions of approbation,
+ a prosperous and happy command were at once augured to him. Orders were then
+ given that they should proceed to vote, when not only every century, but every
+ individual to a man, decided that Publius Scipio should be invested with the
+ command in Spain. But after the business had been concluded, and the ardour
+ and impetuosity of their zeal had subsided, a sudden silence ensued, and a secret
+ reflection on what they had done, whether their partiality had not got the better
+ of their judgment? They chiefly regretted his youth, but some were terrified
+ at the fortune which attended his house and his name, for while the two families
+ to which he belonged were in mourning, he was going into a province where he
+ must carry on his operations between the tombs of his father and his uncle.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">19 </div>
+<a id="h19" />
+<p>Perceiving the solicitude and anxiety which people felt, after performing the
+ business with so much ardour, he summoned an assembly, in which he discoursed
+ in so noble and high minded a manner, on his years, the command intrusted to
+ him, and the war which he had to carry on, as to rekindle and renew the ardour
+ which had subsided, and inspire the people with more confident hopes than the
+ reliance placed on human professions, or reasoning on the promising appearance
+ of affairs, usually engenders. For Scipio was not only deserving of admiration
+ for his real virtues, but also for his peculiar address in displaying them,
+ to which he had been formed from his earliest years;--effecting many things
+ with the multitude, either by feigning nocturnal visions or as with a mind divinely
+ inspired; whether it was that he was himself, too, endued with a superstitious
+ turn of mind, or that they might execute his commands and adopt his plans without
+ hesitation, as if they proceeded from the responses of an oracle. With the intention
+ of preparing men's minds for this from the beginning, he never at any time from
+ his first assumption of the manly gown transacted any business, public or private,
+ without first going to the Capitol, entering the temple, and taking his seat
+ there; where he generally passed a considerable time in secret and alone. This
+ practice, which was adhered to through the whole of his life, occasioned in
+ some persons a belief in a notion which generally prevailed, whether designedly
+ or undesignedly propagated, that he was a man of divine extraction; and revived
+ a report equally absurd and fabulous with that formerly spread respecting Alexander
+ the Great, that he was begotten by a huge serpent, whose monstrous form was
+ frequently observed in the bedchamber of his mother, but which, on any one's
+ coming in, suddenly unfolding his coils, glided out of sight. The belief in
+ these miraculous accounts was never ridiculed by him, but rather increased by
+ his address; neither positively denying any such thing nor openly affirming
+ it. There were also many other things, some real and others counterfeit, which
+ exceeded in the case of this young man the usual measure of human admiration,
+ in reliance on which the state intrusted him with an affair of so much difficulty,
+ and with so important a command, at an age by no means ripe for it. To the forces
+ in Spain, consisting of the remains of the old army, and those which had been
+ conveyed over from Puteoli by Claudius Nero, ten thousand infantry and a thousand
+ horse were added; and Marcus Junius Silanus, the propraetor, was sent to assist
+ in the management of affairs. Thus with a fleet of thirty ships, all of which
+ were quinqueremes, he set sail from the mouth of the Tiber, and coasting along
+ the shore of the Tuscan Sea, the Alps, and the Gallic Gulf, and then doubling
+ the promontory of the Pyrenees, landed his troops at Emporiae, a Greek city,
+ which also derived its origin from Phocaea. Ordering his ships to attend him,
+ he marched by land to Tarraco; where he held a congress of deputies from all
+ the allies; for embassies had poured forth from every province on the news of
+ his arrival. Here he ordered his ships to be hauled on shore, having sent back
+ the four triremes of the Massilians which had, in compliment to him, attended
+ him from their home. After that, he began to give answers to the embassies of
+ the several states, which had been in suspense on account of the many vicissitudes
+ of the war; and this with so great dignity, arising from the great confidence
+ he had in his own talents, that no presumptuous expression ever escaped him;
+ and in every thing he said there appeared at once the greatest majesty and sincerity.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">20 </div>
+<a id="h20" />
+<p>Setting out from Tarraco, he visited the states of his allies and the winter
+ quarters of his army; and bestowed the highest commendations upon the soldiers,
+ because, though they had received two such disastrous blows in succession, they
+ had retained possession of the province, and not allowing the enemy to reap
+ any advantage from their successes, had excluded them entirely from the territory
+ on this side of the Iberus, and honourably protected their allies. Marcius he
+ kept with him, and treated him with such respect, that it was perfectly evident
+ there was nothing he feared less than lest any one should stand in the way of
+ his own glory. Silanus then took the place of Nero, and the fresh troops were
+ led into winter quarters. Scipio having in good time visited every place where
+ his presence was necessary, and completed every thing which was to be done,
+ returned to Tarraco. The reputation of Scipio among his enemies was not inferior
+ to that which he enjoyed among his allies and countrymen. They felt also a kind
+ of presentiment of what was to come, which occasioned the greater apprehension,
+ the less they could account for their fears, which had arisen without any cause.
+ They had retired to their winter quarters in different directions. Hasdrubal,
+ son of Gisgo, had gone quite to the ocean and Gades; Mago into the midland parts
+ chiefly above the forest of Castulo; Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, wintered in
+ the neighbourhood of Saguntum, close upon the Iberus. At the close of the summer
+ in which Capua was recovered and Scipio entered Spain, a Carthaginian fleet,
+ which had been fetched from Sicily to Tarentum, to cut off the supplies of the
+ Roman garrison in the citadel of that place, had blocked up all the approaches
+ to the citadel from the sea; but by lying there too long, they caused a greater
+ scarcity of provisions to their friends than to their enemies. For so much corn
+ could not be brought in for the townsmen, along the coasts which were friendly
+ to them, and through the ports which were kept open through the protection afforded
+ by the Carthaginian fleet, as the fleet itself consumed, which had on board
+ a crowd made up of every description of persons. So that the garrison of the
+ citadel, which was small in number, could be supported from the stock they had
+ previously laid in without importing any, while that which they imported was
+ not sufficient for the supply of the Tarentines and the fleet. At length the
+ fleet was sent away with greater satisfaction than it was received. The scarcity
+ of provisions, however, was not much relieved by it; because when the protection
+ by sea was removed corn could not be brought in. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">21 </div>
+<a id="h21" />
+<p>At the close of the same summer, Marcus Marcellus arriving at the city from
+ his province of Sicily, an audience of the senate was given him by Caius Calpurnius,
+ the praetor, in the temple of Bellona. Here, after discoursing on the services
+ he had performed, and complaining in gentle terms, not on his own account more
+ than that of his soldiers, that after having completely reduced the province,
+ he had not been allowed to bring home his army, he requested that he might be
+ allowed to enter the city in triumph; this he did not obtain. A long debate
+ took place on the question, whether it was less consistent to deny a triumph
+ on his return to him, in whose name, when absent, a supplication had been decreed
+ and honours paid to the immortal gods, for successes obtained under his conduct;
+ or, when they had ordered him to deliver over his army to a successor, which
+ would not have been decreed unless there were still war in the province, to
+ allow him to triumph, as if the war had been terminated, when the army, the
+ evidence of the triumph being deserved or undeserved, were absent. As a middle
+ course between the two opinions, it was resolved that he should enter the city
+ in ovation. The plebeian tribunes, by direction of the senate, proposed to the
+ people, that Marcus Marcellus should be invested with command during the day
+ on which he should enter the city in ovation. The day before he entered the
+ city he triumphed on the Alban mount; after which he entered the city in ovation,
+ having a great quantity of spoils carried before him, together with a model
+ of the capture of Syracuse. The catapultas and ballistas, and every other instrument
+ of war were carried; likewise the rich ornaments laid up by its kings during
+ a long continuance of peace; a quantity of wrought silver and brass, and other
+ articles, with precious garments, and a number of celebrated statues, with which
+ Syracuse had been adorned in such a manner as to rank among the chief Grecian
+ cities in that respect. Eight elephants were also led as an emblem of victory
+ over the Carthaginians. Sosis, the Syracusan, and Mericus, the Spaniard, who
+ preceded him with golden crowns, formed not the least interesting part of the
+ spectacle; under the guidance of one of whom the Romans had entered Syracuse
+ by night, while the other had betrayed to them the island and the garrison in
+ it. To both of them the freedom of the city was given, and five hundred acres
+ of land each. Sosis was to have his portion in the Syracusan territory, out
+ of the lands which had belonged either to the kings or the enemies of the Roman
+ people, together with a house at Syracuse, which had belonged to any one of
+ those persons who had been punished according to the laws of war. Mericus and
+ the Spaniards who had come over with him were ordered to have a city and lands
+ assigned to them in Sicily, which had belonged to some of those who had revolted
+ from the Romans. It was given in charge to Marcus Cornelius to assign them the
+ city and lands wherever he thought proper. In the same country, four hundred
+ acres of land were decreed to Belligenes, by whose means Mericus had been persuaded
+ to come over. After the departure of Marcellus from Sicily, a Carthaginian fleet
+ landed eight thousand infantry and three thousand Numidian cavalry. To these
+ the Murgantian territories revolted; Hybla, Macella, and certain other towns
+ of less note followed their defection. The Numidians also, headed by Mutines,
+ ranging without restraint through the whole of Sicily, ravaged with fire the
+ lands of the allies of the Romans. In addition to these unfortunate circumstances,
+ the Roman soldiers, incensed partly because they had not been taken from the
+ province with their general, and partly because they had been forbidden to winter
+ in towns, discharged their duties negligently, and wanted a a leader more than
+ inclination for a mutiny. Amid these difficulties Marcus Cornelius, the praetor,
+ sometimes by soothing, at other times by reproving them, pacified the minds
+ of the soldiers; and reduced to obedience all the states which had revolted;
+ out of which he gave Murgantia to those Spaniards who were entitled to a city
+ and land, in conformity with the decree of the senate. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">22 </div>
+<a id="h22" />
+<p>As both the consuls had Apulia for their province, and as there was now less
+ to be apprehended from Hannibal and the Carthaginians, they were directed to
+ draw lots for the provinces of Apulia and Macedonia. Macedonia fell to the lot
+ of Sulpicius, who succeeded Laevinus. Fulvius having been called to Rome on
+ account of the election, held an assembly to elect new consuls; when the junior
+ Veturian century, which had the right of voting first, named Titus Manlius Torquatus
+ and Titus Otacilius. A crowd collecting round Manlius, who was present, to congratulate
+ him, and it being certain that the people would concur in his election, he went,
+ surrounded as he was with a multitude of persons, to the tribunal of the consul,
+ and requested that he would listen to a few words from him; and that he would
+ order the century which had voted to be recalled. While all present were waiting
+ impatiently to hear what it was he was going to ask, he alleged as an excuse
+ the weakness of his eyes; observing, that "a pilot or a general might fairly
+ be charged with presumption who should request that the lives and fortunes of
+ others might be intrusted to him, when in every thing which was to be done he
+ must make use of other people's eyes. Therefore he requested, that, if it seemed
+ good to him, he would order the junior Veturian century to come and vote again;
+ and to recollect, while electing consuls, the war which they had in Italy, and
+ the present exigencies of the state. That their ears had scarcely yet ceased
+ to ring with the noise and tumult raised by the enemy, when but a few months
+ ago they nearly scaled the walls of Rome." This speech was followed by the century's
+ shouting out, one and all, that "they would not in the least alter their vote,
+ but would name the same persons for consuls;" when Torquatus replied, "neither
+ shall I as consul be able to put up with your conduct, nor will you be satisfied
+ with my government. Go back and vote again, and consider that you have a Punic
+ war in Italy, and that the leader of your enemies is Hannibal." Upon this the
+ century, moved by the authority of the man and the shouts of admirers around,
+ besought the consul to summon the elder Veturian century; for they were desirous
+ of conferring with persons older than themselves, and to name the consuls in
+ accordance with their advice. The elder Veturian century having been summoned,
+ time was allowed them to confer with the others by themselves in the <i>ovile</i>.
+ The elders said that there were three persons whom they ought to deliberate
+ about electing, two of them having already served all the offices of honour,
+ namely, Quintus Fabius and Marcus Marcellus; and if they wished so particularly
+ to elect some fresh person as consul to act against the Carthaginians, that
+ Marcus Valerius Laevinus had carried on operations against king Philip by sea
+ and land with signal success. Thus, three persons having been proposed to them
+ to deliberate about, the seniors were dismissed, and the juniors proceeded to
+ vote. They named as consuls, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, then glorious with the
+ conquest of Sicily, and Marcus Valerius, both in their absence. All the centuries
+ followed the recommendation of that which voted first. Let men now ridicule
+ the admirers of antiquity. Even if there existed a republic of wise men, which
+ the learned rather imagine than know of; for my own part I cannot persuade myself
+ that there could possibly be a nobility of sounder judgment, and more moderate
+ in their desire of power, or a people better moralled. Indeed that a century
+ of juniors should have been willing to consult their elders, as to the persons
+ to whom they should intrust a command by their vote, is rendered scarcely probable
+ by the contempt and levity with which the parental authority is treated by children
+ in the present age. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">23 </div>
+<a id="h23" />
+<p>The assembly for the election of praetors was then held, at which Publius Manlius
+ Vulso, Lucius Manlius Acidinus, Caius Laetorius, and Lucius Cincius Alimentus
+ were elected. It happened that just as the elections were concluded, news was
+ brought that Titus Otacilius, whom it seemed the people would have made consul
+ in his absence, with Titus Manlius, had not the course of the elections been
+ interrupted, had died in Sicily. The games in honour of Apollo had been performed
+ the preceding year, and on the motion of Calpurnius, the praetor, that they
+ should be performed this year also, the senate decreed that they should be vowed
+ every year for the time to come. The same year several prodigies were seen and
+ reported. At the temple of Concord, a statue of Victory, which stood on the
+ roof, having been struck by lightning and thrown down, stuck among the figures
+ of Victory, which were among the ornaments under the eaves, and did not fall
+ to the ground from thence. Both from Anagnia and Fregellae it was reported that
+ a wall and some gates had been struck by lightning. That in the forum of Sudertum
+ streams of blood had continued flowing through a whole day; at Eretum, that
+ there had been a shower of stones; and at Reate, that a mule had brought forth.
+ These prodigies were expiated with victims of the larger sort, the people were
+ commanded to offer up prayers for one day, and perform the nine days' sacred
+ rite. Several of the public priests died off this year, and fresh ones were
+ appointed. In the room of Manius Aemilius Numida, decemvir for sacred rites,
+ Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was appointed; in the room of Manius Pomponius Matho,
+ the pontiff, Caius Livius; in the room of Spurius Carvilius Maximus, the augur,
+ Marcus Servilius. As Titus Otacilius Crassus, a pontiff, died after the year
+ was concluded, no person was nominated to succeed him. Caius Claudius, flamen
+ of Jupiter, retired from his office, because he had distributed the entrails
+ improperly. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">24 </div>
+<a id="h24" />
+<p>During the same time Marcus Valerius Laevinus, having first sounded the intentions
+ of the leading men by means of secret conferences, came with some light ships
+ to a council of the Aetolians, which had been previously appointed to meet for
+ this very purpose. Here having proudly pointed to the capture of Syracuse and
+ Capua, as proofs of the success of the Roman arms in Sicily and Italy, he added,
+ that "it was a custom with the Romans, handed down to them from their ancestors,
+ to respect their allies; some of whom they had received into their state, and
+ had admitted to the same privileges they enjoyed themselves, while others they
+ treated so favourably that they chose rather to be allies than citizens. That
+ the Aetolians would be honoured by them so much the more, because they were
+ the first of the nations across the sea which had entered into friendship with
+ them. That Philip and the Macedonians were troublesome neighbours to them, but
+ that he had broken their strength and spirits already, and would still further
+ reduce them to that degree, that they should not only evacuate the cities which
+ they had violently taken from the Aetolians, but have Macedonia itself disturbed
+ with war. And that as to the Acarnanians, whose separation from their body was
+ a source of grief to the Aetolians, he would place them again under their ancient
+ system of jurisdiction and dominion." These assertions and promises of the Roman
+ general, Scopas, who was at that time praetor of the nation, and Dorymachus,
+ a leading man among the Aetolians, confirmed on their own authority, extolling
+ the power and greatness of the Roman people with less reserve, and with greater
+ force of conviction. However, the hope of recovering Acarnania principally moved
+ them. The terms, therefore, were reduced to writing, on which they should enter
+ into alliance and friendship with the Roman people, and it was added, that "if
+ it were agreeable to them and they wished it, the Eleans and Lacedaemonians,
+ with Attalus, Pleuratus, and Scerdilaedas, should be included on the same conditions."
+ Attalus was king of Asia; the latter, kings of the Thracians and Illyrians.
+ The conditions were, that "the Aetolians should immediately make war on Philip
+ by land, in which the Romans should assist, with not less than twenty quinqueremes.
+ That the site and buildings, together with the walls and lands, of all the cities
+ as far as Corcyra, should become the property of the Aetolians, every other
+ kind of booty, of the Romans. That the Romans should endeavour to put the Aetolians
+ in possession of Acarnania. If the Aetolians should make peace with Philip,
+ they should insert a stipulation that the peace should stand good only on condition
+ that they abstained from hostilities against the Romans, their allies, and the
+ states subject to them. In like manner, if the Romans should form an alliance
+ with the king, that they should provide that he should not have liberty to make
+ war upon the Aetolians and their allies." Such were the terms agreed upon; and
+ copies of them having been made, they were laid up two years afterwards by the
+ Aetolians at Olympia, and by the Romans in the Capitol, that they might be attested
+ by these consecrated records. The delay had been occasioned by the Aetolian
+ ambassadors' having been detained at Rome. This, however, did not form an impediment
+ to the war's proceeding. Both the Aetolians immediately commenced war against
+ Philip, and Laevinus taking, all but the citadel, Zacynthus, a small island
+ near to Aetolia, and having one city of the same name with the island; and also
+ taking Aeniadae and Nasus from the Acarnanians, annexed them to the Aetolians;
+ and also considering that Philip was sufficiently engaged in war with his neighbours
+ to prevent his thinking of Italy, the Carthaginians, and his compact with Hannibal,
+ he retired to Corcyra. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">25 </div>
+<a id="h25" />
+<p>To Philip intelligence of the defection of the Aetolians was brought while
+ in winter quarters at Pella. As he was about to march an army into Greece at
+ the beginning of the spring, he undertook a sudden expedition into the territories
+ of Oricum and Apollonia, in order that Macedonia might not be molested by the
+ Illyrians, and the cities bordering upon them, in consequence of the terror
+ he would thus strike them with in turn. The Apollonians came out to oppose him,
+ but he drove them, terrified and dismayed, within their walls. After devastating
+ the adjacent parts of Illyricum he turned his course into Pelagonia, with the
+ same expedition. He then took Sintia, a town of the Dardanians, which would
+ have afforded them a passage into Macedonia. Having with the greatest despatch
+ performed these achievements, not forgetting the war made upon him by the Aetolians
+ and Romans in conjunction, he marched down into Thessaly through Pelagonia,
+ Lyncus, and Bottiaea. He trusted that people might be induced to take part with
+ him in the war against the Aetolians, and, therefore, leaving Perseus with four
+ thousand armed men at the gorge, which formed the entrance into Thessaly, to
+ prevent the Aetolians from passing it, before he should be occupied with more
+ important business, he marched his army into Macedonia, and thence into Thrace
+ and Maedica. This nation had been accustomed to make incursions into Macedonia
+ when they perceived the king engaged in a foreign war, and the kingdom left
+ unprotected. Accordingly, he began to devastate the lands in the neighbourhood
+ of Phragandae, and to lay siege to the city Jamphorina, the capital and chief
+ fortress of Maedica. Scopas, on hearing that the king had gone into Thrace,
+ and was engaged in a war there, armed all the Aetolian youths, and prepared
+ to invade Acarnania. The Acarnanian nation, unequal to their enemy in point
+ of strength, and seeing that they had lost Aeniadae and Nasus, and moreover
+ that the Roman arms were threatening them, prepare the war rather with rage
+ than prudence. Having sent their wives, children, and those who were above sixty
+ years old into the neighbouring parts of Epirus, all who were between the ages
+ of fifteen and sixty, bound each other by an oath not to return unless victorious.
+ That no one might receive into his city or house, or admit to his table or hearth,
+ such as should retire from the field vanquished, they drew up a form of direful
+ execration against their countrymen who should do so; and the most solemn entreaty
+ they could devise, to friendly states. At the same time they entreated the Epirotes
+ to bury in one tomb such of their men as should fall in the encounter, adding
+ this inscription over their remains: HERE LIE THE ACARNANIANS, WHO DIED WHILE
+ FIGHTING IN DEFENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY, AGAINST THE VIOLENCE AND INJUSTICE OF
+ THE AETOLIANS. Having worked up their courage to the highest pitch by these
+ means, they fixed their camp at the extreme borders of their country in the
+ way of the enemy; and sending messengers to Philip to inform him of the critical
+ situation in which they stood, they obliged him to suspend the war in which
+ he was engaged, though he had gained possession of Jamphorina by surrender,
+ and had succeeded in other respects. The ardour of the Aetolians was damped,
+ in the first instance, by the news of the combination formed by the Acarnanians;
+ but afterwards the intelligence of Philip's approach compelled them even to
+ retreat into the interior of the country. Nor did Philip proceed farther than
+ Dium, though he had marched with great expedition to prevent the Acarnanians
+ being overpowered; and when he had received information that the Aetolians had
+ returned out of Acarnania, he also returned to Pella. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">26 </div>
+<a id="h26" />
+<p>Laevinus set sail from Corcyra in the beginning of the spring, and doubling
+ the promontory Leucate, arrived at Naupactus; when he gave notice that he should
+ go thence to Anticyra, in order that Scopas and the Aetolians might be ready
+ there to join him. Anticyra is situated in Locris, on the left hand as you enter
+ the Corinthian Gulf. The distance between Naupactus and this place is short
+ both by sea and land. In about three days after, the attack upon this place
+ commenced on both elements. The attack from the sea produced the greatest effect,
+ because there were on board the ships engines and machines of every description,
+ and because the Romans besieged from that quarter. In a few days, therefore,
+ the town surrendered, and was delivered over to the Aetolians, the booty, according
+ to compact, was given up to the Romans. Laevinus then received a letter informing
+ him, that he had been elected consul in his absence, and that Publius Sulpicius
+ was coming as his successor. He arrived at Rome later than he was generally
+ expected, being detained by a lingering illness. Marcus Marcellus, having entered
+ upon the consulship on the ides of March, assembled the senate on that day merely
+ for form's sake He declared, that "in the absence of his colleague he would
+ not enter into any question relative to the state or the provinces." He said,
+ "he well knew there were crowds of Sicilians in the neighbourhood of the city
+ at the country-houses of those who maligned him, whom he was so far from wishing
+ to prevent from openly publishing, at Rome, the charges which had been circulated
+ and got up against him by his enemies, that did they not pretend that they entertained
+ some fear of speaking of a consul in the absence of his colleague, he would
+ forthwith have given them a hearing of the senate. That when his colleague had
+ arrived, he would not allow any business to be transacted before the Sicilians
+ were brought before the senate. That Marcus Cornelius had in a manner held a
+ levy throughout all Sicily, in order that as many as possible might come to
+ Rome to prefer complaints against him, that the same person had filled the city
+ with letters containing false representations that there was still war in Sicily,
+ in order to detract from his merit." The consul, having acquired on that day
+ the reputation of having a well-regulated mind, dismissed the senate, and it
+ appeared that there would be almost a total suspension of every kind of business
+ till the other consul returned to the city. The want of employment, as usual,
+ produced expressions of discontent among the people. They complained of the
+ length of the war, that the lands around the city were devastated wherever Hannibal
+ had marched his hostile troops; that Italy was exhausted by levies, and that
+ almost every year their armies were cut to pieces, that the consuls elected
+ were both of them fond of war, men over-enterprising and impetuous, who would
+ probably stir up war in a time of profound peace, and therefore were the less
+ likely to allow the state to breathe in time of war. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">27 </div>
+<a id="h27" />
+<p>A fire which broke out in several places at once in the neighbourhood of the
+ forum, on the night before the festival of Minerva, interrupted these discourses.
+ Seven shops, where five were afterwards erected, and the banks, which are now
+ called the new banks, were all on fire at once. Afterwards the private dwellings
+ caught, for there were no public halls there then, the prisons called the Quarry,
+ the fish-market, and the royal palace. The temple of Vesta was with difficulty
+ saved, principally by the exertions of thirteen slaves, who were redeemed at
+ the public expense and manumitted. The fire continued for a day and a night.
+ It was evident to every body that it was caused by human contrivance, because
+ the flames burst forth in several places at once, and those at a distance from
+ each other. The consul, therefore, on the recommendation of the senate, publicly
+ notified, that whoever should make known by whose act the conflagration was
+ kindled, should rewarded, if a free-man, with money, if a slave, with liberty.
+ Induced by this reward, a slave of the Campanian family, the Calavii, named
+ Mannus, gave information that "his masters, with five noble Campanian youths,
+ whose parents had been executed by Fulvius, were the authors of the fire, and
+ that they would commit various other acts of the same kind if they were not
+ seized." Upon this they were seized, as well as their slaves. At first, the
+ informer and his evidence were disparaged, for that "he had run away from his
+ masters the day before in consequence of a whipping, and that from an event
+ which had happened by mere chance, he had fabricated this charge, from resentment
+ and wantonness." But when they were charged by their accusers face to face,
+ and the ministers of their villanies begin to be examined in the middle of the
+ forum, they all confessed, and punishment was inflicted upon the masters and
+ their accessory slaves. The informer received his liberty and twenty thousand
+ <i>asses</i>. The consul Laevinus, while passing by Capua, was surrounded by
+ a multitude of Campanians, who besought him, with tears, that they might be
+ permitted to go to Rome to the senate, so that if they could at length be in
+ any degree moved by compassion, they might not carry their resentment so far
+ as to destroy them utterly, nor suffer the very name of the Campanian nation
+ to be obliterated by Quintus Flaccus. Flaccus declared, that "he had individually
+ no quarrel with the Campanians, but that he did entertain an enmity towards
+ them on public grounds and because they were foes, and should continue to do
+ so as long as he felt assured that they had the same feelings towards the Roman
+ people; for that there was no nation or people on earth more inveterate against
+ the Roman name. That his reason for keeping them shut up within their walls
+ was, that if any of these got out any where they roamed through the country
+ like wild beasts, tearing and massacring whatever fell in their way. That some
+ of them had deserted to Hannibal, others had gone and set fire to Rome; that
+ the consul would find the traces of the villany of the Campanians in the half-burnt
+ forum. That the temple of Vesta, the eternal fire, and the fatal pledge for
+ the continuance of the Roman empire deposited in the shrine, had been the objects
+ of their attack. That in his opinion it was extremely unsafe for any Campanians
+ to be allowed to enter the walls of Rome." Laevinus ordered the Campanians to
+ follow him to Rome, after Flaccus had bound them by an oath to return to Capua
+ on the fifth day after receiving an answer from the senate. Surrounded by this
+ crowd, and followed also by the Sicilians and Aeolians, who came out to meet
+ him, he went to Rome; taking with him into the city as accusers of two men who
+ had acquired the greatest celebrity by the overthrow of two most renowned cities,
+ those whom they had vanquished in war. Both the consuls, however, first proposed
+ to the senate the consideration of the state of the commonwealth, and the arrangements
+ respecting the provinces. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">28 </div>
+<a id="h28" />
+<p>On this occasion Laevinus reported the state of Macedonia and Greece, of the
+ Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Locrians, and the services he had himself performed
+ there on sea and land. That "Philip, who was bringing an army against the Aetolians,
+ had been driven back by him into Macedonia, and compelled to retire into the
+ heart of his kingdom. That the legion might therefore be withdrawn from that
+ quarter, and that the fleet was sufficient to keep the king out of Italy." Thus
+ much he said respecting himself and the province where he had commanded. The
+ consuls jointly proposed the consideration of the provinces, when the senate
+ decreed, that, "Italy and the war with Hannibal should form the province of
+ one of the consuls; that the other should have the command of the fleet which
+ Titus Otacilius had commanded, and the province of Sicily, in conjunction with
+ Lucius Cincius, the praetor." The two armies decreed to them were those in Etruria
+ and Gaul, consisting of four legions. That the two city legions of the former
+ year should be sent into Etruria and the two which Sulpicius, the consul, had
+ commanded, into Gaul; that he should have the command of Gaul, and the legions
+ there whom the consul, who had the province of Italy, should appoint. Caius
+ Calpurnius, having his command continued to him for a year after the expiration
+ of his praetorship, was sent into Etruria. To Quintus Fulvius also the province
+ of Capua was decreed, with his command continued for a year. The army of citizens
+ and allies was ordered to be reduced, so that, out of two, one legion should
+ be formed consisting of five thousand foot and three hundred horse, those being
+ discharged who had served the greatest number of campaigns. That of the allies
+ there should be left seven thousand infantry and three hundred horse, the same
+ rule being observed with regard to the periods of their service in discharging
+ the old soldiers. With Cneius Fulvius, the consul of the former year, no change
+ was made touching his province of Apulia nor his army; only he was continued
+ in command for a year. Publius Sulpicius, his colleague, was ordered to discharge
+ the whole of his army excepting the marines. It was ordered also, that the army
+ which Marcus Cornelius had commanded, should be sent out of Sicily as soon as
+ the consul arrived in his province. The soldiers which had fought at Cannae,
+ amounting to two legions, were assigned to Lucius Cincius, the praetor, for
+ the occupation of Sicily. As many legions were assigned to Publius Manlius Vulso,
+ the praetor, for Sardinia, being those which Lucius Cornelius had commanded
+ in that province the former year. The consuls were directed so to raise legions
+ for the service of the city, as not to enlist any one who had served in the
+ armies of Marcus Claudius, Marcus Valerius, or Quintus Fulvius, so that the
+ Roman legions might not exceed twenty-one that year. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">29 </div>
+<a id="h29" />
+<p>After the senate had passed these decrees, the consuls drew lots for their
+ provinces. Sicily and the fleet fell to the lot of Marcellus; Italy, with the
+ war against Hannibal, to Laevinus. This result so terrified the Sicilians, who
+ were standing in sight of the consuls waiting the determination of the lots,
+ that their bitter lamentations and mournful cries both drew upon them the eyes
+ of all at the time, and afterwards furnished matter for conversation. For they
+ went round to the several senators in mourning garments, affirming, that "they
+ would not only abandon, each of them, his native country, but all Sicily, if
+ Marcellus should again go thither with command. That he had formerly been implacable
+ toward them for no demerit of theirs, what would he do now, when exasperated
+ that they had come to Rome to complain of him? That it would be better for that
+ island to be overwhelmed with the fires of Aetna, or sunk in the sea, than to
+ be delivered up, as it were, for execution to an enemy." These complaints of
+ the Sicilians, having been carried round to the houses of the nobility, and
+ frequently canvassed in conversations, which were prompted partly by compassion
+ for the Sicilians and partly by dislike for Marcellus, at length reached the
+ senate also. The consuls were requested to take the sense of the senate on an
+ exchange of provinces. Marcellus said, that "if the Sicilians had already had
+ an audience of the senate, his opinion perhaps might have been different, but
+ as the case now stood, lest any one should be able to say that they were prevented
+ by fear from freely venting their complaints respecting him, to whose power
+ they were presently about to be subject, he was willing, if it made no difference
+ to his colleague, to exchange provinces with him. That he deprecated a premature
+ decision on the part of the senate, for since it would be unjust that his colleague
+ should have the power of selecting his province without drawing lots, how much
+ greater injustice would it be, nay, rather indignity, for his lot to be transferred
+ to him." Accordingly the senate, having rather shown than decreed what they
+ wished, adjourned. An exchange of provinces was made by the consuls of themselves,
+ fate hurrying on Marcellus to encounter Hannibal, that he might be the last
+ of the Roman generals, who, by his fall, when the affairs of the war were most
+ prosperous, might add to the glory of that man, from whom he derived the reputation
+ of having been the first Roman general who defeated him. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">30 </div>
+<a id="h30" />
+<p>After the provinces had been exchanged, the Sicilians, on being introduced
+ into the senate, discoursed largely on the constant fidelity of king Hiero to
+ the Roman people, converting it into a public merit. They said, "that the tyrants,
+ Hieronymus, and, after him, Hippocrates and Epicydes, had been objects of detestation
+ to them, both on other accounts and especially on account of then deserting
+ the Romans to take part with Hannibal. For this cause Hieronymus was put to
+ death by the principal young men among them, almost with the public concurrence,
+ and a conspiracy was formed to murder Epicydes and Hippocrates, by seventy of
+ the most distinguished of their youth; but being left without support in consequence
+ of the delay of Marcellus, who neglected to bring up his troops to Syracuse
+ at the time agreed upon, they were all, on an indictment that was made, put
+ to death by the tyrants. That Marcellus, by the cruelty exercised in the sacking
+ of Leontini, had given occasion to the tyranny of Hippocrates and Epicydes.
+ From that time the leading men among the Syracusans never ceased going over
+ to Marcellus, and promising him that they would deliver the city to him whenever
+ he pleased; but that he, in the first instance, was disposed rather to take
+ it by force, and afterwards, finding it impossible to effect his object by sea
+ or land, after trying every means, he preferred having Syracuse delivered to
+ him by Sosis, a brazier, and Mericus, a Spaniard, to receiving it from the principal
+ men of Syracuse, who had so often offered it to him voluntarily to no purpose;
+ doubtless in order that he might with a fairer pretext butcher and plunder the
+ most ancient allies of the Roman people. If it had not been Hieronymus who revolted
+ to Hannibal, but the people and senate of Syracuse; if the body of the Syracusan
+ people, and not their tyrants, Hippocrates and Epicydes, who held them in thraldom,
+ had closed the gates against Marcellus; if they had carried on war with the
+ Roman people with the animosity of Carthaginians, what more could Marcellus
+ have done in hostility than he did, without levelling Syracuse with the ground?
+ Nothing indeed was left at Syracuse except the walls and gutted houses of her
+ city, the temples of her gods broken open and plundered; her very gods and their
+ ornaments having been carried away. From many their possessions also were taken
+ away, so that they were unable to support themselves and their families, even
+ from the naked soil, the only remains of their plundered property. They entreated
+ the conscript fathers, that they would order, if not all, at least such of their
+ property as could be found and identified, to be restored to the owners." After
+ they had made these complaints, Laevinus ordered them to withdraw from the senate-house,
+ that the senate might deliberate on their requests, when Marcellus exclaimed,
+ "Nay, rather let them stay here, that I may reply to their charges in their
+ presence, since we conduct your wars for you, conscript fathers, on the condition
+ of having as our accusers those whom we have conquered with our arms. Of the
+ two cities which have been captured this year, let Capua arraign Fulvius, and
+ Syracuse Marcellus." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">31 </div>
+<a id="h31" />
+<p>The deputies having been brought back into the senate-house, the consul said:
+ "I am not so unmindful of the dignity of the Roman people and of the office
+ I fill as consul, conscript fathers, as to make a defence against charges brought
+ by Greeks, had the inquiry related only to my own delinquency. But it is not
+ so much what I have done, as what they deserved to suffer, which comes into
+ dispute. For if they were not our enemies, there was no difference between sacking
+ Syracuse then, and when Hiero was alive. But if, on the other hand, they have
+ renounced their connexion with us, attacked our ambassadors sword in hand, shut
+ us out of their city and walls, and defended themselves against us with an army
+ of Carthaginians, who can feel indignant that they should suffer the hostilities
+ they have offered? I turned away from the leading men of the Syracusans, when
+ they were desirous of delivering up the city to me, and esteemed Sosis and Mericus
+ as more proper persons for so important an affair. Now you are not the meanest
+ of the Syracusans, who reproach others with the meanness of their condition.
+ But who is there among you, who has promised that he would open the gates to
+ me, and receive my armed troops within the city? You hate and execrate those
+ who did so; and not even here can you abstain from speaking with insult of them;
+ so far is it from being the case that you would yourselves have done any thing
+ of the kind. The very meanness of the condition of those persons, conscript
+ fathers, with which these men reproach them, forms the strongest proof that
+ I did not turn away from any man who was willing to render a service to our
+ state. Before I began the siege of Syracuse I attempted a peace, at one time
+ by sending ambassadors, at another time by going to confer with them; and after
+ that they refrained not from laying violent hands on my ambassadors, nor would
+ give me an answer when I held an interview with their chief men at their gates,
+ then, at length, after suffering many hardships by sea and land, I took Syracuse
+ by force of arms. Of what befell them after their city was captured they would
+ complain with more justice to Hannibal, the Carthaginians, and those who were
+ vanquished with them, than to the senate of the victorious people. If, conscript
+ fathers, I had intended to conceal the fact that I had despoiled Syracuse, I
+ should never have decorated the city of Rome with her spoils. As to what things
+ I either took from individuals or bestowed upon them, as conqueror, I feel assured
+ that I have acted agreeably to the laws of war, and the deserts of each. That
+ you should confirm what I have done, conscript fathers, certainly concerns the
+ commonwealth more than myself, since I have discharged my duty faithfully; but
+ it is the duty of the state to take care, lest, by rescinding my acts, they
+ should render other commanders for the time to come less zealous. And since,
+ conscript fathers, you have heard both what the Sicilians and I had to say,
+ in the presence of each other, we will go out of the senate-house together,
+ in order that in my absence the senate may deliberate more freely." Accordingly,
+ the Sicilians having been dismissed, he himself also went away to the Capitol
+ to levy soldiers. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">32 </div>
+<a id="h32" />
+<p>The other consul then proposed to the fathers the consideration of the requests
+ of the Sicilians, when a long debate took place. A great part of the senate
+ acquiesced in an opinion which originated with Titus Manlius Torquatus, "that
+ the war ought to have been carried on against the tyrants, the enemies both
+ of the Syracusans and the Roman people; that the city ought to have been recovered,
+ not captured; and, when recovered, should have been firmly established under
+ its ancient laws and liberty, and not distressed by war, when worn out with
+ a wretched state of bondage. That in the contest between the tyrants and the
+ Roman general, that most beautiful and celebrated city, formerly the granary
+ and treasury of the Roman people, which was held up as the reward of the victor,
+ had been destroyed; a city by whose munificence and bounty the commonwealth
+ had been assisted and adorned on many occasions, and lastly, during this very
+ Punic war. Should king Hiero, that most faithful friend of the Roman empire,
+ rise from the shades, with what face could either Syracuse or Rome be shown
+ to him, when, after beholding his half-demolished and plundered native city,
+ he should see, on entering Rome, the spoils of his country in the vestibule,
+ as it were, of the city, and almost in the very gates?" Although these and other
+ similar things were said, to throw odium upon the consul and excite compassion
+ for the Sicilians, yet the fathers, out of regard for Marcellus, passed a milder
+ decree, to the effect, "that what Marcellus had done while prosecuting the war,
+ and when victorious, should be confirmed. That for the time to come, the senate
+ would look to the affairs of Syracuse, and would give it in charge to the consul
+ Laevinus, to consult the interest of that state, so far as it could be done
+ without detriment to the commonwealth." Two senators having been sent to the
+ Capitol to request the consul to return to the senate-house, and the Sicilians
+ having been called in, the decree of the senate was read. The deputies were
+ addressed in terms of kindness, and dismissed, when they threw themselves at
+ the knees of the consul, Marcellus, beseeching him to pardon them for what they
+ had said for the purpose of exciting compassion, and procuring relief from their
+ calamities, and to receive themselves and the city of Syracuse under his protection
+ and patronage; after which, the consul addressed them kindly and dismissed them.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">33 </div>
+<a id="h33" />
+<p>An audience of the senate was then granted to the Campanians. Their speech
+ was more calculated to excite compassion, but their case less favourable, for
+ neither could they deny that they deserved the punishment they had suffered,
+ nor were there any tyrants to whom they could transfer their guilt. But they
+ trusted that sufficient atonement had been made by the death of so many of their
+ senators by poison and the hands of the executioner. They said, "that a few
+ only of their nobles remained, being such as were not induced by the consciousness
+ of their demerit to adopt any desperate measure respecting themselves, and had
+ not been condemned to death through the resentment of their conquerors. That
+ these implored the restoration of their liberty, and some portion of their goods
+ for themselves and families, being citizens of Rome, and most of them connected
+ with the Romans by affinity and now too near relationship, in consequence of
+ intermarriages which had taken place for a long period." After this they were
+ removed from the senate-house, when for a short time doubts were entertained
+ whether it would be right or not to send for Quintus Fulvius from Capua, (for
+ Claudius, the proconsul, died after the capture of that place,) that the question
+ might be canvassed in the presence of the general who had been concerned, as
+ was done in the affair between Marcellus and the Sicilians. But afterwards,
+ when they saw in the senate Marcus Atilius, and Caius Fulvius, the brother of
+ Flaccus, his lieutenant-generals, and Quintus Minucius, and Lucius Veturius
+ Philo, who were also his lieutenant-generals, who had been present at every
+ transaction; and being unwilling that Fulvius should be recalled from Capua,
+ or the Campanians put off, Marcus Atilius Regulus, who possessed the greatest
+ weight of any of those present who had been at Capua, being asked his opinion,
+ thus spoke: "I believe I assisted at the council held by the consuls after the
+ capture of Capua, when inquiry was made whether any of the Campanians had deserved
+ well of our state; and it was found that two women had done so; Vestia Oppia,
+ a native of Atella and an inhabitant of Capua, and Faucula Cluvia, formerly
+ a common woman. The former had daily offered sacrifice for the safety and success
+ of the Roman people, and the latter had clandestinely supplied the starving
+ prisoners with food. The sentiments of all the rest of the Campanians towards
+ us had been the same," he said, "as those of the Carthaginians; and those who
+ had been decapitated by Fulvius, were the most conspicuous in rank, but not
+ in guilt. I do not see," said he, "how the senate can decide respecting the
+ Campanians who are Roman citizens, without an order of the people. And the course
+ adopted by our ancestors, in the case of the Satricani when they had revolted,
+ was, that Marcus Antistius, the plebeian tribune, should first propose and the
+ commons make an order, that the senate should have the power of pronouncing
+ judgment upon the Satricani. I therefore give it as my opinion, that application
+ should be made to the plebeian tribunes, that one or more of them should propose
+ to the people a bill, by which we may be empowered to determine in the case
+ of the Campanians." Lucius Atilius, plebeian tribune, proposed to the people,
+ on the recommendation of the senate, a bill to the following effect: "Concerning
+ all the Campanians, Atellanians, Calatinians, and Sabatinians, who have surrendered
+ themselves to the proconsul Fulvius, and have placed themselves under the authority
+ and dominion of the Roman people; also concerning what things they have surrendered,
+ together with their persons, both lands and city, divine or human, together
+ with their utensils and whatsoever else they have surrendered; concerning these
+ things, Roman citizens, I ask you what it is your pleasure should be done."
+ The commons thus ordered: "Whatsoever the senate on oath, or the majority of
+ those present, may determine, that we will and order." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">34 </div>
+<a id="h34" />
+<p>The senate having taken the matter into their consideration in conformity with
+ this order of the people, first restored to Oppia and Cluvia their goods and
+ liberty; directing, that if they wished to solicit any other rewards from the
+ senate, they should come to Rome. Separate decrees were passed respecting each
+ of the Campanian families, all of which it is not worth while to enumerate.
+ The goods of some were to be confiscated; themselves, their children, and their
+ wives were to be sold, excepting such of their daughters as had married before
+ they came into the power of the Roman people. Others were ordered to be thrown
+ into chains, and their cases to be considered at a future time. They made the
+ amount of income the ground on which they decided, whether the goods of the
+ rest of the Campanians should be confiscated or not. They voted, that all the
+ cattle taken except the horses, all the slaves except adult males, and every
+ thing which did not belong to the soil, should be restored to the owners. They
+ ordered that all the Campanians, Atellanians, Calatinians, and Sabatinians,
+ except such as were themselves, or whose parents were, among the enemy, should
+ be free, with a proviso, that none of them should become a Roman citizen or
+ a Latin confederate; and that none of those who had been at Capua while the
+ gates were shut should remain in the city or territory of Capua after a certain
+ day. That a place should be assigned to them to inhabit beyond the Tiber, but
+ not contiguous to it. That those who had neither been in Capua nor in any Campanian
+ city which had revolted from the Romans during the war, should inhabit a place
+ on this side the river Liris towards Rome; and that those who had come over
+ to the Romans before Hannibal arrived at Capua, should be removed to a place
+ on this side the Vulturnus, with a proviso, that none of them should have either
+ land or house within fifteen miles of the sea. That such of them as were removed
+ to a place beyond the Tiber, should neither themselves nor their posterity acquire
+ or possess any property any where, except in the Veientian, Sutrian, or Nepetian
+ territories; and, except on condition, that no one should possess a greater
+ extent of land than fifty acres. That the goods of all the senators, and such
+ as had been magistrates at Capua, Calatia, and Atella, should be sold at Capua;
+ but that the free persons who were decreed to be exposed to sale, should be
+ sent to Rome and sold there. As to the images and brazen statues, which were
+ said to have been taken from the enemy, whether sacred or profane, they referred
+ them to the college of pontiffs. They sent the Campanians away, considerably
+ more grieved than they were when they came, in consequence of these decrees;
+ and now they no longer complained of the severity of Quintus Fulvius towards
+ them, but of the malignity of the gods and their own accursed fortune. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">35 </div>
+<a id="h35" />
+<p>After the Sicilians and Campanians were dismissed, a levy was made; and after
+ the troops had been enlisted for the army, they then began to consider about
+ making up the number of rowers; but as there was neither a sufficient supply
+ of men for that purpose, nor any money at that time in the treasury by which
+ they might be purchased or paid, the consuls issued an edict, that private persons
+ should furnish rowers in proportion to their income and rank, as had been done
+ before, with pay and provisions for thirty days. So great was the murmuring
+ and indignation of the people, on account of this edict, that a leader, rather
+ than matter, was wanting for an insurrection. It was said, that "the consuls,
+ after having ruined the Sicilians and Campanians, had undertaken to destroy
+ and lacerate the Roman commons; that, drained as they had been for so many years
+ by taxes, they had nothing left but wasted and naked lands. That the enemy had
+ burned their houses, and the state had taken away their slaves, who were the
+ cultivators of their lands, at one time by purchasing them at a low rate for
+ soldiers, at another by commanding a supply of rowers. If any one had any silver
+ or brass it was taken away from him, for the payment of rowers or for annual
+ taxes. That no force could compel and no command oblige them to give what they
+ had not got. That they might sell their goods and then vent their cruelty on
+ their persons, which were all that remained to them. That they had nothing even
+ left from which they could be redeemed." These complaints were uttered not in
+ secret, but publicly in the forum, and before the eyes of the consuls themselves,
+ by an immense crowd which surrounded them; nor could the consuls appease them
+ now by coercing nor by soothing them. Upon this they said that three days should
+ be allowed them to consider of the matter; which interval the consuls employed
+ in examining and planning. The following day they assembled the senate to consider
+ of raising a supply of rowers; and after arguing at great length that the people's
+ refusal was fair, they brought their discourse to this point, that whether it
+ were just or unjust, this burden must be borne by private individuals. For from
+ what source could they procure rowers, when there was no money in the treasury?
+ and how, without fleets, could Sicily be kept in subjection, or Philip be prevented
+ from entering Italy, or the shores of Italy be protected? </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">36 </div>
+<a id="h36" />
+<p>In this perplexing state of affairs, when all deliberation was at a stand,
+ and a kind of torpor had seized on men's minds, Laevinus, the consul, observed,
+ that "as the magistrates were more honoured than the senators, and the senators
+ than the people, so also ought they to be the first in taking upon themselves
+ every thing that was burdensome and arduous. If you would enjoin any duty on
+ an inferior, and would first submit yourself and those belonging to you to the
+ obligation, you will find everybody else more ready to obey; nor is an expense
+ thought heavy, when the people see every one of their principal men taking upon
+ himself more than his proportion of it. Are we then desirous that the Roman
+ people should have and equip a fleet? that private individuals should without
+ repugnance furnish rowers? Let us first execute the command ourselves. Let us,
+ senators, bring into the treasury to-morrow all our gold, silver, and coined
+ brass, each reserving rings for himself, his wife, and children, and a bulla
+ for his son; and he who has a wife or daughters, an ounce weight of gold for
+ each. Let those who have sat in a curule chair have the ornaments of a horse,
+ and a pound weight of silver, that they may have a salt-cellar and a dish for
+ the service of the gods. Let the rest of us, senators, reserve for each father
+ of a family, a pound weight only of silver and five thousand coined <i>asses</i>.
+ All the rest of our gold, silver, and coined brass, let us immediately carry
+ to the triumviri for banking affairs, no decree of the senate having been previously
+ made; that our voluntary contributions, and our emulation in assisting the state,
+ may excite the minds, first, of the equestrian order to emulate us, and after
+ them of the rest of the community. This is the only course which we, your consuls,
+ after much conversation on the subject, have been able to discover. Adopt it,
+ then, and may the gods prosper the measure. If the state is preserved, she can
+ easily secure the property of her individual members, but by betraying the public
+ interests you would in vain preserve your own." This proposition was received
+ with such entire approbation, that thanks were spontaneously returned to the
+ consuls. The senate was then adjourned, when every one of the members brought
+ his gold, silver, and brass into the treasury, with such emulation excited,
+ that they were desirous that their names should appear among the first on the
+ public tables; so that neither the triumviri were sufficient for receiving nor
+ the notaries for entering them. The unanimity displayed by the senate was imitated
+ by the equestrian order, and that of the equestrian order by the commons. Thus,
+ without any edict, or coercion of the magistrates, the state neither wanted
+ rowers to make up the numbers, nor money to pay them; and after every thing
+ had been got in readiness for the war, the consuls set out for their provinces.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">37 </div>
+<a id="h37" />
+<p>Nor was there ever any period of the war, when both the Carthaginians and the
+ Romans, plunged alike in vicissitudes, were in a state of more anxious suspense
+ between hope and fear. For on the side of the Romans, with respect to their
+ provinces, their failure in Spain on the one hand, and their successes in Sicily
+ on the other, had blended joy and sorrow; and in Italy, the loss of Tarentum
+ was an injury and a source of grief to them, while the unexpected preservation
+ of the citadel with the garrison was matter of joy to them. The sudden terror
+ and panic occasioned by the siege and attack of Rome, was turned into joy by
+ the capture of Capua, a few days after. Their affairs beyond sea also were equalized
+ by a kind of compensation. Philip had become their enemy at a juncture somewhat
+ unseasonable; but then the Aetolians, and Attalus, king of Asia, were added
+ to their allies; fortune now, in a manner, promising to the Romans the empire
+ of the east. The Carthaginians also set the loss of Capua against the capture
+ of Tarentum; and as they considered it as glorious to them to have reached the
+ walls of Rome without opposition, so they were chagrined at the failure of their
+ attempt, and they felt ashamed that they had been held in such contempt, that
+ while they lay under the walls of Rome, a Roman army was marched out for Spain
+ at an opposite gate. With regard also to Spain itself, the greater the reason
+ was to hope that the war there was terminated, and that the Romans were driven
+ from the country, after the destruction of two such renowned generals and their
+ armies, so much the greater was the indignation felt, that the victory had been
+ rendered void and fruitless by Lucius Marcius, a general irregularly appointed.
+ Thus fortune balancing events against each other, all was suspense and uncertainty
+ on both sides, their hopes and their fears being as strong as though they were
+ now first commencing the war. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">38 </div>
+<a id="h38" />
+<p>What grieved Hannibal more than any thing was the fact, that Capua having been
+ more perseveringly besieged by the Romans than defended by him, had turned from
+ him the regard of many of the states of Italy, and it was not only impossible
+ for him to retain possession of all these by means of garrisons, unless he could
+ make up his mind to tear his army into a number of small portions, which at
+ that time was most inexpedient, but he could not, by withdrawing the garrisons,
+ leave the fidelity of his allies open to the influence of hope, or subject to
+ that of fear. His disposition, which was strongly inclined to avarice and cruelty,
+ induced him to plunder the places he could not keep possession of, that they
+ might be left for the enemy in a state of desolation. This resolution was equally
+ horrid in principle and in its issue, for not only were the affections of those
+ who suffered such harsh treatment alienated from him, but also of the other
+ states, for the warning affected a greater number than did the calamity. Nor
+ did the Roman consul fail to sound the inclinations of the cities, whenever
+ any prospect of success presented itself. Dasius and Blasius were the principal
+ men in Salapia, Dasius was the friend of Hannibal, Blasius, as far as he could
+ do it with safety, promoted the Roman interest, and, by means of secret messengers,
+ had given Marcellus hopes of having the place betrayed to him, but the business
+ could not be accomplished without the assistance of Dasius. After much and long
+ hesitation and even then more for the want of a better plan than from any hope
+ of success, he addressed himself to Dasius; but he, being both adverse to the
+ measure and also hostile to his rival in the government, discovered the affair
+ to Hannibal. Both parties were summoned, and while Hannibal was transacting
+ some business on his tribunal, intending presently to take cognizance of the
+ case of Blasius, and the accuser and the accused were standing apart from the
+ crowd, which was put back, Blasius solicited Dasius on the subject of surrendering
+ the city; when he exclaimed, as if the case were now clearly proved, that he
+ was being treated with about the betrayal of the city, even before the eyes
+ of Hannibal. The more audacious the proceeding was, the less probable did it
+ appear to Hannibal and those who were present. They considered that the charge
+ was undoubtedly a matter of rivalry and animosity, and that it had been brought
+ because it was of such a nature that, not admitting of being proved by witnesses,
+ it could the more easily be fabricated. Accordingly the parties were dismissed.
+ But Blasius, notwithstanding, desisted not from his bold undertaking, till by
+ continually harping upon the same subject, and proving how conducive such a
+ measure would be to themselves and their country, he carried his point that
+ the Punic garrison, consisting of five hundred Numidians, and Salapia, should
+ be delivered up to Marcellus. Nor could it be betrayed without much bloodshed,
+ consisting of the bravest of the cavalry in the whole Punic army. Accordingly,
+ though the event was unexpected, and their horses were of no use to them in
+ the city, yet hastily taking arms, during the confusion, they endeavoured to
+ force their way out; and not being able to escape, they fell fighting to the
+ last, not more than fifty of them falling into the hands of the enemy alive.
+ The loss of this body of cavalry was considerably more detrimental to Hannibal
+ than that of Salapia, for the Carthaginian was never afterwards superior in
+ cavalry, in which he had before been most effective. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">39 </div>
+<a id="h39" />
+<p>During this time the scarcity of provisions in the citadel of Tarentum was
+ almost intolerable; the Roman garrison there, and Marcus Livius, the praefect
+ of the garrison and the citadel, placing all their dependence in the supplies
+ sent from Sicily; that these might safely pass along the coast of Italy, a fleet
+ of about twenty ships was stationed at Rhegium. Decius Quinctius, a man of obscure
+ birth, but who had acquired great renown as a soldier, on account of many acts
+ of bravery, had charge of the fleet and the convoys. At first he had five ships,
+ the largest of which were two triremes, given to him by Marcellus, but afterwards,
+ in consequence of his spirited conduct on many occasions, three quinqueremes
+ were added to his number, at last, by exacting from the allied states of Rhegium,
+ Velia, and Paestum, the ships they were bound to furnish according to treaty,
+ he made up a fleet of twenty ships, as was before stated. This fleet setting
+ out from Rhegium, was met at Sacriportus, about fifteen miles from the city
+ by Democrates, with an equal number of Tarentine ships. It happened that the
+ Roman was then coming with his sails up, not expecting an approaching contest,
+ but in the neighbourhood of Croto and Sybaris, he had supplied his ships with
+ rowers, and had his fleet excellently equipped and armed for the size of his
+ vessels, and it also happened, that just at the time when the enemy were in
+ sight, the wind completely fell, so that there was sufficient time to furl their
+ sails, and get their rowers and soldiers in readiness for the approaching action.
+ Rarely elsewhere have regular fleets engaged with so much spirit, for they fought
+ for what was of greater importance than the fleets themselves. The Tarentines,
+ in order that, having recovered their city from the Romans after the lapse of
+ almost a century, they might also rescue their citadel, hoping also to cut off
+ the supplies of their enemy, if by a naval battle they could deprive them of
+ the dominion of the sea. The Romans, that, by keeping possession of the citadel,
+ they might prove that Tarentum was lost not by the strength and valour of their
+ enemies, but by treachery and stealth. Accordingly, the signal having been given
+ on both sides, they charged each other with the beaks of their ships, and neither
+ did they draw back their own, nor allow the ships of the enemy with which they
+ were engaged to separate from them, having thrown then grappling irons, and
+ thus the battle was carried on in such close quarters, that they fought not
+ only with missile weapons, but in a manner foot to foot even with their swords.
+ The prows joined together remained stationary, while the sterns were moved round
+ by the force of their adversaries' oars. The ships were crowded together in
+ so small a compass, that scarcely one weapon fell into the sea without taking
+ effect. They pressed front against front like lines of troops engaging on land,
+ and the combatants could pass from one ship to another. But the contest between
+ two ships which had engaged each other in the van, was remarkable above the
+ rest. In the Roman ship was Quinctius himself, in the Tarentine, Nico, surnamed
+ Perco, who hated, and was hated by, the Romans, not only on public grounds,
+ but also personally, for he belonged to that faction which had betrayed Tarentum
+ to Hannibal. This man transfixed Quinctius with a spear while off his guard,
+ and engaged at once in fighting and encouraging his men, and he immediately
+ fell headlong with his arms over the prow. The victorious Tarentine promptly
+ boarded the ship, which was all in confusion from the loss of the commander,
+ and when he had driven the enemy back, and the Tarentines had got possession
+ of the prow, the Romans, who had formed themselves into a compact body, with
+ difficulty defending the stern, suddenly another trireme of the enemy appeared
+ at the stern. Thus the Roman ship, enclosed between the two, was captured. Upon
+ this a panic spread among the rest, seeing the commander's ship captured, and
+ flying in every direction, some were sunk in the deep and some rowed hastily
+ to land, where, shortly after, they became a prey to the Thurians and Metapontines.
+ Of the storeships which followed, laden with provisions, a very few fell into
+ the hands of the enemy; the rest, shifting their sails from one side to another
+ with the changing winds, escaped into the open sea. An affair took place at
+ Tarentum at this time, which was attended with widely different success; for
+ a party of four thousand men had gone out to forage, and while they were dispersed,
+ and roaming through the country, Livius, the commander of the citadel and the
+ Roman garrison, who was anxious to seize every opportunity of striking a blow,
+ sent out of the citadel Caius Persius, an active officer, with two thousand
+ soldiers, who attacked them suddenly when widely dispersed and straggling about
+ the fields; and after slaying them for a long time on all hands, drove the few
+ that remained of so many into the city, to which they fled in alarm and confusion,
+ and where they rushed in at the doors of the gates, which were half-opened that
+ the city might not be taken in the same attack. In this manner affairs were
+ equally balanced at Tarentum, the Romans being victorious by land, and the Tarentines
+ by sea. Both parties were equally disappointed in their hope of receiving provisions
+ after they were within sight. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">40 </div>
+<a id="h40" />
+<p>While these events were occurring, the consul, Laevinus, after a great part
+ of the year had elapsed, having arrived in Sicily, where he had been expected
+ by both the old and new allies, considered it his first and principal duty to
+ adjust the affairs of Syracuse, which were still in a state of disorder, the
+ peace being but recent. He then marched his legions to Agrigentum, the seat
+ of the remaining part of the war, which was occupied by a strong garrison of
+ Carthaginians; and here fortune favoured his attempt. Hanno was commander-in-chief
+ of the Carthaginians, but their whole reliance was placed upon Mutines and the
+ Numidians. Mutines, scouring the whole of Sicily, employed himself in carrying
+ off spoil from the allies of the Romans; nor could he by force or stratagem
+ be cut off from Agrigentum, or prevented from sallying from it whenever he pleased.
+ The renown which he gained by this conduct, as it began now to eclipse the fame
+ of the commander-in-chief, was at last converted into a source of jealousy;
+ so that even now his successes were not as acceptable as they ought to have
+ been, on account of the person who gained them. For these reasons Hanno at last
+ gave his commission to his own son, concluding that by taking away his command
+ he should also deprive him of the influence he possessed with the Numidians.
+ But the result was very different; for their former attachment to him was increased
+ by the envy incurred by him. Nor did he brook the affront put upon him by this
+ injurious treatment, but immediately sent secret messengers to Laevinus, to
+ treat about delivering up Agrigentum. After an agreement had been entered into
+ by means of these persons, and the mode of carrying it into execution concerted,
+ the Numidians seized on a gate which leads towards the sea, having driven the
+ guards from it, or put them to the sword, and then received into the city a
+ party of Romans sent for that purpose; and when these troops were now marching
+ into the heart of the city and the forum with a great noise, Hanno, concluding
+ that it was nothing more than a disturbance and secession of the Numidians,
+ such as had happened before, advanced to quell the mutiny; but observing at
+ a distance that the numbers were greater than those of the Numidians, and hearing
+ the Roman shout, which was far from being new to him, he betook himself to flight
+ before he came within reach of their weapons. Passing out of the town at a gate
+ in the opposite quarter, and taking Epicydes to accompany him, he reached the
+ sea with a few attendants; and having very seasonably met with a small vessel,
+ they abandoned to the enemy Sicily, for which they had contended for so many
+ years, and crossed over into Africa. The remaining multitude of Carthaginians
+ and Sicilians fled with headlong haste, but as every passage by which they could
+ escape was blockaded up, they were cut to pieces near the gates. On gaining
+ possession of the town, Laevinus scourged and beheaded those who took the lead
+ in the affairs of Agrigentum. The rest, together with the booty, he sold. All
+ the money he sent to Rome. Accounts of the sufferings of the Agrigentines spreading
+ through all Sicily, all the states suddenly turned to the Romans. In a short
+ time twenty towns were betrayed to them, and six taken by storm. As many as
+ forty put themselves under their protection, by voluntary surrender. The consul
+ having rewarded and punished the leading men of these states, according to their
+ several deserts, and compelled the Sicilians, now that they had at length laid
+ aside arms, to turn their attention to the cultivation of their lands, in order
+ that the island might by its produce not only maintain its inhabitants, but,
+ as it had frequently done on many former occasions, add to the supplies of Rome
+ and Italy, he returned into Italy, taking with him a disorderly multitude from
+ Agathyrna. These were as many as four thousand men, made up of a mixed assemblage
+ of every description of persons, exiles, bankrupts, the greater part of them
+ felons, who had supported themselves by rapine and robbery, both when they lived
+ in their native towns, under the restraint of the laws, and also after that
+ a coincidence in their fortunes, brought about by causes different in each case,
+ had congregated them at Agathyrna. These men Laevinus thought it hardly safe
+ to leave in the island, when an unwonted tranquillity was growing up, as the
+ materials of fresh disturbances; and besides, they were likely to be useful
+ to the Rhegians, who were in want of a band of men habituated to robbery, for
+ the purpose of committing depredations upon the Bruttian territory. Thus, so
+ far as related to Sicily, the war was this year terminated. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">41 </div>
+<a id="h41" />
+<p>In Spain, in the beginning of spring, Publius Scipio, having launched his ships,
+ and summoned the auxiliary troops of his allies to Tarraco by an edict, ordered
+ his fleet and transports to proceed thence to the mouth of the Iberus. He also
+ ordered his legions to quit their winter quarters, and meet at the same place;
+ and then set out from Tarraco, with five thousand of the allies, to join the
+ army. On his arrival at the camp he considered it right to harangue his soldiers,
+ particularly the old ones who had survived such dreadful disasters; and therefore,
+ calling an assembly, he thus addressed them: "Never was there a new commander
+ before myself who could, with justice and good reason, give thanks to his soldiers
+ before he had availed himself of their services. Fortune laid me under obligations
+ to you before I set eyes on my province or your camp; first, on account of the
+ respect you have shown to my father and uncle, both in their lifetime and since
+ their death; and secondly, because by your valour you have recovered and preserved
+ entire, for the Roman people, and me their successor, the possession of the
+ province which had been lost in consequence of so dreadful a calamity. But since,
+ now, by the favour of the gods, our purpose and endeavour is not that we may
+ remain in Spain ourselves, but that the Carthaginians may not; and not to stand
+ on the bank of the Iberus, and hinder the enemy from crossing that river, but
+ cross it first ourselves, and carry the war to the other side, I fear lest to
+ some among you the enterprise should appear too important and daring, considering
+ your late misfortunes, which are fresh in your recollection, and my years. There
+ is no person from whose mind the memory of the defeats sustained in Spain could
+ be obliterated with more difficulty than from mine; inasmuch as there my father
+ and uncle were both slain within the space of thirty days, so that one death
+ after another was accumulated on my family. But as the orphanhood and desolation
+ of my own family depresses my mind, so both the good fortune and valour of our
+ nation forbid me to despair of the safety of the state. It has happened to us
+ by a kind of fatality, that in all important wars we have been victorious, after
+ having been defeated. I pass over those wars of ancient date with Porsena, the
+ Gauls, and Samnites. I will begin with the Punic wars. How many fleets, generals,
+ and armies were lost in the former war? Why should I mention what has occurred
+ in this present war? I have either been myself present at all the defeats sustained,
+ or have felt more than any other those from which I was absent. What else are
+ the Trebia, the Trasimenus, and Cannae, but monuments of Roman armies and consuls
+ slain? Add to these the defection of Italy, of the greater part of Sicily and
+ Sardinia, and the last terror and panic, the Carthaginian camp pitched between
+ the Anio and the walls of Rome, and the victorious Hannibal seen almost in our
+ gates. Amid this general ruin, the courage of the Roman people alone stood unabated
+ and unshaken. When every thing lay prostrate on the ground, it was this that
+ raised and supported the state. You, first of all, my soldiers, under the conduct
+ and auspices of my father, opposed Hasdrubal on his way to the Alps and Italy,
+ after the defeat of Cannae, who, had he formed a junction with his brother,
+ the Roman name would now have been extinct. These successes formed a counterpoise
+ to those defeats. Now, by the favour of the gods, every thing in Italy and Sicily
+ is going on prosperously and successfully, every day affording matter of fresh
+ joy, and presenting things in a better light. In Sicily, Syracuse and Agrigentum
+ have been captured, the enemy entirely expelled the island, and the province
+ placed again under the dominion of the Romans. In Italy, Arpi has been recovered
+ and Capua taken. Hannibal has been driven into the remotest corner of Bruttium,
+ having fled thither all the way from Rome, in the utmost confusion; and now
+ he asks the gods no greater boon than that he might be allowed to retire in
+ safety, and quit the territory of his enemy. What then, my soldiers, could be
+ more preposterous than that you, who here supported the tottering fortune of
+ the Roman people, together with my parents, (for they may be equally associated
+ in the honour of that epithet,) when calamities crowded one upon another in
+ quick succession, and even the gods themselves, in a manner, took part with
+ Hannibal, should now sink in spirits when every thing is going on happily and
+ prosperously? Even with regard to the events which have recently occurred, I
+ could wish that they had passed with as little grief to me as to you. At the
+ present time the immortal gods who preside over the destinies of the Roman empire,
+ who inspired all the centuries to order the command to be given to me, those
+ same gods, I say, by auguries and auspices, and even by nightly visions, portend
+ entire success and joy. My own mind also, which has hitherto been to me the
+ truest prophet, presages that Spain will be ours; that the whole Carthaginian
+ name will in a short time be banished from this land, and will fill both sea
+ and land with ignominious flight. What my mind presages spontaneously, is also
+ supported by sound reasoning. Their allies, annoyed by them, are by ambassadors
+ imploring our protection; their three generals, having differed so far as almost
+ to have abandoned each other, have divided their army into three parts, which
+ they have drawn off into regions as remote as possible from each other. The
+ same fortune now threatens them which lately afflicted us; for they are both
+ deserted by their allies, as formerly we were by the Celtiberians, and they
+ have divided their forces, which occasioned the ruin of my father and uncle.
+ Neither will their intestine differences allow them to unite, nor will they
+ be able to cope with us singly. Only do you, my soldiers, favour the name of
+ the Scipios, favour the offspring of your generals, a scion springing up from
+ the trunks which have been cut down. Come then, veterans, lead your new commander
+ and your new army across the Iberus, lead us across into a country which you
+ have often traversed, with many a deed of valour. I will soon bring it to pass
+ that, as you now trace in me a likeness to my father and uncle in my features,
+ countenance, and figure, I will so restore a copy of their genius, honour, and
+ courage, to you, that every man of you shall say that his commander, Scipio,
+ has either returned to life, or has been born again." </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">42 </div>
+<a id="h42" />
+<p>Having animated his troops with this harangue, and leaving Marcus Silanus with
+ three thousand infantry and three hundred horse, for the protection of that
+ district, he crossed the Iberus with all the rest of his troops, consisting
+ of twenty-five thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred horse. Though
+ certain persons there endeavoured to persuade him that, as the Carthaginian
+ armies had retired from each other into three such distant quarters, he should
+ attack the nearest of them; yet concluding that if he did so there was danger
+ lest he should cause them to concentrate all their forces, and he alone should
+ not be a match for so many, he determined for the present to make an attack
+ upon New Carthage, a city not only possessing great wealth of its own, but also
+ full of every kind of military store belonging to the enemy; there were their
+ arms, their money, and the hostages from every part of Spain. It was, besides,
+ conveniently situated, not only for a passage into Africa, but also near a port
+ sufficiently capacious for a fleet of any magnitude, and, for aught I know,
+ the only one on the coast of Spain which is washed by our sea. No one but Caius
+ Laelius knew whither he was going. He was sent round with the fleet, and ordered
+ so to regulate the sailing of his ships, that the army might come in view and
+ the fleet enter the harbour at the same time. Both the fleet and army arrived
+ at the same time at New Carthage, on the seventh day after leaving the Iberus.
+ The camp was pitched over against that part of the city which looks to the north.
+ A rampart was thrown up as a defence on the rear of it, for the front was secured
+ by the nature of the ground. Now the situation of New Carthage is as follows:
+ at about the middle of the coast of Spain is a bay facing for the most part
+ the south-west, about two thousand five hundred paces in depth, and a little
+ more in breadth. In the mouth of this bay is a small island forming a barrier
+ towards the sea, and protecting the harbour from every wind except the south-west.
+ From the bottom of the bay there runs out a peninsula, which forms the eminence
+ on which the city is built; which is washed in the east and south by the sea,
+ and on the west is enclosed by a lake which extends a little way also towards
+ the north, of variable depth according as the sea overflows or ebbs. An isthmus
+ of about two hundred paces broad connects the city with the continent, on which,
+ though it would have been a work of so little labour, the Roman general did
+ not raise a rampart; whether his object was to make a display of his confidence
+ to the enemy from motives of pride, or that he might have free regress when
+ frequently advancing to the walls of the city. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">43 </div>
+<a id="h43" />
+<p>Having completed the other requisite works, he drew up his ships in the harbour,
+ that he might exhibit to the enemy the appearance of a blockade by sea also;
+ he then went round the fleet, and having warned the commanders of the ships
+ to be particularly careful in keeping the night-watches, because an enemy, when
+ besieged, usually tried every effort and in every quarter at first, he returned
+ into his camp; and in order to explain to his soldiers the reason why he had
+ adopted the plan of commencing the war with the siege of a city, in preference
+ to any other, and also by exhortations to inspire them with hopes of making
+ themselves masters of it, he summoned them to an assembly, and thus addressed
+ them: "Soldiers, if any one among you suppose that you have been brought here
+ to attack a single city, that man takes a more exact account of your present
+ labour than of its profitable result from it. For you will in truth attack the
+ walls of a single city, but in that single city you will have made yourselves
+ masters of all Spain. Here are the hostages of all her most distinguished kings
+ and states; and as soon as you shall have gained possession of these, they will
+ immediately deliver into your hands every thing which is now subject to the
+ Carthaginians. Here is the whole of the enemy's treasure, without which they
+ cannot carry on the war, as they are keeping mercenary troops, and which will
+ be most serviceable to us in conciliating the affections of the barbarians.
+ Here are their engines, their arms, their tackle, and every requisite in war;
+ which will at once supply you, and leave the enemy destitute. Besides, we shall
+ gain possession of a city, not only of the greatest beauty and wealth, but also
+ most convenient as having an excellent harbour, by means of which we may be
+ supplied with every requisite for carrying on the war both by sea and land.
+ Great as are the advantages we shall thus gain, we shall deprive our enemies
+ of much greater. This is their citadel, their granary, their treasury, their
+ magazine, their receptacle for every thing. Hence there is a direct passage
+ into Africa; this is the only station for a fleet between the Pyrenees and Gades;
+ this gives to Africa the command of all Spain. But as I perceive you are arrayed
+ and marshalled, let us pass on to the assault of New Carthage, with our whole
+ strength, and with undaunted courage." Upon this, they all with, one accord
+ cried out that it should be done; and he led them to Carthage, and ordered that
+ the assault should be made both by sea and land. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">44 </div>
+<a id="h44" />
+<p>On the other side, Mago, the Carthaginian general, perceiving that a siege
+ was being prepared for both by sea and land, himself also disposed his forces
+ thus: he placed two thousand of the townsmen to oppose the enemy, on the side
+ facing the Roman camp; he occupied the citadel with five hundred soldiers, and
+ stationed five hundred on a rising ground, facing the east; the rest of his
+ troops he ordered, intent on every thing that occurred, to hasten with assistance
+ wherever the shout, or any sudden emergency, might call them. Then, throwing
+ open the gate, he sent out those he had drawn up in the street leading to the
+ camp of the enemy. The Romans, according to the direction of their general,
+ retired a little, in order that they might be nearer to the reserved troops
+ which were to be sent to their assistance during the engagement. At first they
+ stood with pretty equal force, but afterwards the reserved troops, sent from
+ time to time from the camp, not only obliged the enemy to turn their backs,
+ but followed them up so close when flying in disorder, that had not a retreat
+ been sounded, they seemed as though they would have rushed into the city together
+ with the fugitives. The consternation in the field was not greater than in every
+ part of the city; many of the outposts were abandoned in panic and flight; and
+ the walls were deserted, as they leaped down each in the part nearest him. Scipio,
+ who had gone out to an eminence called Mercury's hill, perceiving that the walls
+ were abandoned by their defenders in many parts, ordered all his men to be called
+ out of his camp and advance to take the city, and orders them to bring the scaling-ladders.
+ The general himself, covered by the shields of three stout young men, (for now
+ an immense number of missiles of every description were let fly from the walls,)
+ came up to the city, cheered them on, and gave the requisite orders; and, what
+ was of the utmost importance in exciting the courage of his men, he appeared
+ among them a witness and spectator of the valour or cowardice of each. Accordingly,
+ they rushed forward, amidst wounds and weapons; nor could the walls, or the
+ armed troops which stood upon them, repel them from eagerly mounting them. At
+ the same time an attack was commenced by the fleet upon that part of the city
+ which was washed by the sea. But here the alarm occasioned was greater than
+ the force which could be employed; for while they were bringing the boats to
+ shore, and hastily landing the ladders and the men, each man pressing forward
+ to gain the land the shortest way, they hindered one another by their very haste
+ and eagerness. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">45 </div>
+<a id="h45" />
+<p>In the mean time, the Carthaginians had now filled the walls again with armed
+ men, who were supplied with a great quantity of missiles from the immense stores
+ which they had laid up. But neither men nor missiles, nor any thing else, so
+ effectually defended them as the walls themselves, for very few of the ladders
+ were equal to the height of them, and all those which were longer than the rest
+ were proportionably weaker. Accordingly, those who were highest being unable
+ to mount from them, and being followed, nevertheless, by others, they broke
+ from the mere weight upon them. Some, though the ladders stood, a dizziness
+ having come over their eyes in consequence of the height, fell to the ground.
+ And as men and ladders were every where tumbling down, while the boldness and
+ alacrity of the enemy were increased by the mere success, the signal for retreat
+ was sounded, which afforded hopes to the besieged, not only of present rest
+ after such a laborious contest, but also for the future, as it appeared their
+ city could not be taken by scalade and siege. To raise works they considered
+ would be attended with difficulty, and would give time to their generals to
+ bring them assistance. Scarcely had the first tumult subsided, when Scipio ordered
+ other fresh and unfatigued troops to take the ladders from those who were tired
+ and wounded and assault the city with increased vigour. Having received intelligence
+ that the tide was ebbing, and having before been informed by some fishermen
+ of Tarraco who used to pass through the lake, sometimes in light boats, and,
+ when these ran aground, by wading, that it afforded an easy passage to the wall
+ for footmen, he led some armed men thither in person. It was about mid-day,
+ and besides that the water was being drawn off naturally, in consequence of
+ the tide receding, a brisk north wind rising impelled the water in the lake,
+ which was already in motion, in the same direction as the tide, and rendered
+ it so shallow, that in some parts the water reached only to the navel, while
+ in others it scarcely rose above the knees. Scipio, referring this discovery,
+ which he had made by his own diligence and penetration, to the gods and to miracle,
+ which had turned the course of the sea, withdrawn it from the lake, and opened
+ ways never before trodden by human feet to afford a passage to the Romans, ordered
+ them to follow Neptune as their guide, and passing through the middle of the
+ lake, make good their way to the walls. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">46 </div>
+<a id="h46" />
+<p>Those who renewed the assault by land experienced great difficulty; for they
+ were baffled not only by the height of the walls, but also because they exposed
+ the Romans, as they approached them, to the missiles of the enemy from different
+ quarters, so that their sides were endangered more than the fronts of their
+ bodies. But in the other quarter five hundred passed without difficulty through
+ the lake, and then mounted the wall, for neither was it defended by any fortifications,
+ because there they thought the city was sufficiently protected by the nature
+ of the place and the lake, nor were there any outposts or guards stationed there,
+ because all were engaged in bringing succour to that quarter in which the danger
+ appeared. Having entered the city without opposition, they proceeded direct,
+ with all possible speed, to that gate near which the contest was concentrated;
+ and so intently occupied with this were not only the minds, but the eyes and
+ ears of all, both of those who were engaged in fighting, and of those who were
+ looking on and encouraging the combatants, that no one perceived that the city
+ had been captured in their rear till the weapons fell upon their backs, and
+ they had an enemy on both sides of them. Then, the defenders having been thrown
+ into confusion through fear, both the walls were captured, and the gate began
+ to be broken open both from within and from without; and presently, the doors
+ having been broken to pieces by blows, in order that the way might not be obstructed,
+ the troops rushed in. A great number had also got over the walls, but these
+ employed themselves in putting the townsmen to the sword; those which entered
+ by the gate, forming a regular body, with officers and in ranks, advanced through
+ the midst of the city into the forum. Scipio then perceiving that the enemy
+ fled in two different directions, some to the eminence which lay eastward, which
+ was occupied by a garrison of five hundred men, others to the citadel, into
+ which Mago himself also had fled for refuge, together with almost all the troops
+ which had been driven from the walls, sent part of his forces to storm the hill,
+ and part he led in person against the citadel. Not only was the hill captured
+ at the first assault, but Mago also, after making an effort to defend it, when
+ he saw every place filled with the enemy, and that there was no hope, surrendered
+ himself and the citadel, with the garrison. Until the citadel was surrendered,
+ the massacre was continued in every quarter throughout the city; nor did they
+ spare any one they met who had arrived at puberty: but after that, on a signal
+ given, a stop was put to the carnage, and the victors turned their attention
+ to the plunder, of which there was an immense quantity of every description.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">47 </div>
+<a id="h47" />
+<p>Of males of free condition, as many as ten thousand were captured. Of these
+ he allowed to depart such as were citizens of New Carthage; and restored to
+ them their city, and all their property which the war had left them. The artisans
+ amounted to two thousand, whom he assigned to the Roman people as their property;
+ holding out to them a hope of speedy emancipation, provided they should address
+ themselves strenuously to the service of the war. Of the rest of the mass of
+ inhabitants, the young men and able-bodied slaves he assigned for the service
+ of the fleet, to fill up the numbers of the rowers. He had also augmented his
+ fleet with five ships which he had captured. Besides this multitude, there remained
+ the Spanish hostages, to whom as much attention was paid as if they had been
+ children of allies. An immense quantity of military stores was also taken; one
+ hundred and twenty catapultae of the larger size, two hundred and eighty-one
+ of the smaller; twenty-three ballistae of the larger size, fifty-two of the
+ smaller; an immense number of scorpions of the larger and smaller size, and
+ also of arms and missile weapons; and seventy-four military standards. Of gold
+ and silver, an immense quantity was brought to the general; there were two hundred
+ and seventy-six golden bowls, almost all of them weighing a pound; of silver,
+ wrought and coined, eighteen thousand three hundred pounds' weight; and of silver
+ vessels an immense number. All these were weighed and reckoned to the quaestor,
+ Caius Flaminius. There were twenty thousand pecks of wheat, and two hundred
+ and seventy of barley. One hundred and thirteen ships of burden were boarded
+ and captured in the harbour, some of them with their cargoes, consisting of
+ corn and arms, besides brass, iron, sails, spartum, and other naval materials,
+ of use in equipping a fleet; so that amid such large military stores which were
+ captured, Carthage itself was of the least consideration. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">48 </div>
+<a id="h48" />
+<p>Having ordered Caius Laelius with the marines to guard the city, Scipio led
+ back his legions to the camp the same day in person; and as his soldiers were
+ tired, as they had in one day gone through every kind of military labour; for
+ they had engaged the enemy in the field, and had undergone very great fatigue
+ and danger in taking the city; and after they had taken it had fought, and that
+ on disadvantageous ground, with those who had fled to the citadel, he ordered
+ them to attend to themselves. The next day, having assembled the land and naval
+ forces, he, in the first place, ascribed praise and thanks to the immortal gods,
+ who had not only in one day made him master of the wealthiest city in Spain,
+ but had previously collected in it the riches of almost all Africa and Spain;
+ so that while his enemy had nothing left, he and his army had a superabundance
+ of every thing. He then commended in the highest terms the valour of his soldiers,
+ because that neither the sally of the enemy, nor the height of the walls, nor
+ the unexplored fords of the lake, nor the fort standing upon a high hill, nor
+ the citadel, though most strongly fortified, had deterred them from surmounting
+ and breaking through every thing. Therefore, though all credit was due to them
+ all, he said that the man who first mounted the wall ought to be distinguished
+ above the rest, by being honoured with a mural crown; and he desired that he
+ who thought himself worthy of that reward would claim it. Two persons laid claim
+ to it, Quintus Trebellius, a centurion of the fourth legion, and Sextus Digitius,
+ a marine. Nor did these contest so fiercely as each excited the zeal of his
+ own body of men. Caius Laelius, admiral of the fleet, patronized the marines,
+ and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, the legionary troops. As this contest began
+ almost to assume the character of a mutiny, Scipio having notified that he should
+ appoint three delegates, who, after making themselves acquainted with the case,
+ and examining the witnesses, might decide which had been the first to scale
+ the wall and enter the town, added Publius Cornelius Caudinus, a middle party,
+ to Laelius and Sempronius, the advocates of the two parties, and ordered these
+ three delegates to sit and determine the cause. But as the contest was now carried
+ on with increased warmth, because those high characters, who had acted more
+ as moderators of the zeal of both than as advocates of any particular party,
+ were withdrawn, Caius Laelius, leaving the council, went up to the tribunal
+ of Scipio and informed him, "that the contest was proceeding without bounds
+ or moderation, and that they had almost come to blows. But still, though no
+ violence should take place, that the proceedings formed a most hateful precedent,
+ for that the honours due to valour were being sought by fraud and perjury. That
+ on one side stood the legionary troops, on the other the marines, ready to swear
+ by all the gods what they wished, rather than what they knew, to be true, and
+ to involve in the guilt of perjury not only themselves and their own persons,
+ but the military standards, the eagles, and their solemn oath of allegiance.
+ That he laid these matters before him, in accordance with the opinion of Publius
+ Cornelius and Marcus Sempronius." Scipio, after highly praising Laelius, summoned
+ an assembly, and then declared, "that he had ascertained satisfactorily that
+ Quintus Trebellius and Sextus Digitius had mounted the wall at the same time,
+ and that he presented them both with mural crowns in consideration of their
+ valour." He then gave presents to the rest, according to the merit and valour
+ of each. Above all he honoured Caius Laelius, the admiral of the fleet, by the
+ placing him upon an equality with himself, and bestowing upon him every kind
+ of commendation, and also by presenting him with a golden crown and thirty oxen.
+</p>
+<div class="lsidenote">49 </div>
+<a id="h49" />
+<p>He then ordered the Spanish hostages to be summoned. What the number of these
+ was I feel reluctant to state, because in some authors I find that it was about
+ three hundred, in others seven hundred and twenty-five. There is the same difference
+ between authors with regard to the other particulars. One writes that the Punic
+ garrison consisted of ten thousand, another of seven, a third of not more than
+ two thousand. In some you may find that ten thousand persons were captured,
+ in others above twenty-five thousand. I should have stated the number of scorpions
+ captured, both of the greater and smaller size, at sixty, if I had followed
+ the Greek author, Silenus, if Valerius Antius, of the larger at six thousand,
+ of the smaller at thirteen, so great is the extent of falsehood. Nor are they
+ agreed even respecting the commanders, most say that Laelius commanded the fleet,
+ but some say Marcus Junius Silanus. Valerius Antius says, that Arines commanded
+ the Punic garrison, and was given up to the Romans; other writers say it was
+ Mago. They are not agreed respecting the number of the ships taken, respecting
+ the weight of gold and silver, and of the money brought into the public treasury.
+ If we must assent to some of their statements, the medium is nearest to the
+ truth. However, Scipio having summoned the hostages, first bid them all keep
+ up their spirits observing, "that they had fallen into the hands of the Roman
+ people, who chose to bind men to them by benefits rather than by fear, and keep
+ foreign nations attached to them by honour and friendship, rather than subject
+ them to a gloomy servitude." Then receiving the names of the states to which
+ they belonged, he took an account of the captives, distinguishing the number
+ belonging to each people, and sent messengers to their homes, to desire that
+ they would come and take back their respective friends. If ambassadors from
+ any of the states happened to be present, he delivered their countrymen to them
+ in person, and assigned to them the quaestor, Caius Flaminius, the charge of
+ kindly taking care of the rest. Meanwhile, there advanced from the midst of
+ the crowd of hostages a woman in years, the wife of Mandonius, who was the brother
+ of Indibilis, the chieftain of the Illergetians; she threw herself weeping at
+ the general's feet, and began to implore him to give particularly strict injunctions
+ to their guardians with respect to the care and treatment of females. Scipio
+ replied, that nothing certainly should be wanting; when the woman rejoined:
+ "We do not much value such things, for what is not good enough for such a condition?
+ A care of a different kind disquiets me, when beholding the age of these females;
+ for I am myself no longer exposed to the danger peculiar to females." Around
+ her stood the daughters of Indibilis, in the bloom of youth and beauty, with
+ others of equal rank, all of whom looked up to her as a parent. Scipio then
+ said: "Out of regard for that discipline which I myself and the Roman nation
+ maintain, I should take care that nothing, which is any where held sacred, should
+ be violated among us. In the present case, your virtue and your rank cause me
+ to observe it more strictly; for not even in the midst of misfortunes have you
+ forgotten the delicacy becoming matrons." He then delivered them over to a man
+ of tried virtue, ordering him to treat them with no less respect and modesty
+ than the wives and mothers of guests. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">50 </div>
+<a id="h50" />
+<p>The soldiers then brought to him a female captive, a grown-up virgin, of such
+ exquisite beauty, that whichever way she walked she attracted the eyes of every
+ body. Scipio, on making inquiries as to her country and parentage, heard, among
+ other particulars, that she was betrothed to a young prince of the Celtiberians,
+ named Allucius. He immediately, therefore, summoned from their abode her parents
+ and lover, and having heard in the mean time that the latter was desperately
+ enamoured of her, as soon as he arrived he addressed him in a more studied manner
+ than her parents. "A young man myself," said he, "I address myself to a young
+ man, and therefore there need be the less reserve in this conversation. As soon
+ as your intended bride, having been captured by my soldiers, was brought into
+ my presence, and I was informed that she was endeared to you, which her beauty
+ rendered probable, considering that I should myself wish that my affection for
+ my intended bride, though excessive, should meet with indulgence, could I enjoy
+ the pleasures suited to my age, (particularly in an honourable and lawful love,)
+ and were not my mind engrossed by public affairs, I indulge as far as I can
+ your passion. Your mistress, while under my protection, has received as much
+ respect as under the roof of her own parents, your father-in-law and mother-in-law.
+ She has been kept in perfect safety for you, that she might be presented to
+ you pure, a gift worthy of me and of you. This only reward I bargain for in
+ return for the service I have rendered you, that you would be a friend to the
+ Roman people, and if you believe that I am a true man, as these nations knew
+ my father and uncle to have been heretofore, that you would feel assured that
+ in the Roman state there are many like us, and that no nation in the world at
+ the present time can be mentioned, with which you ought to be less disposed
+ that you, or those belonging to you, should be at enmity, or with which you
+ would rather be in friendship." The young man, overcome at once with joy and
+ modesty, clung to Scipio's right hand, and invoked all the gods to recompense
+ him in his behalf, since he himself was far from possessing means proportioned
+ either to his own wishes or Scipio's deserts. He then addressed himself to the
+ parents and relatives of the damsel, who, on receiving her back without any
+ reward, whom they had brought a very large weight of gold to redeem, entreated
+ Scipio to accept it from them as a present to himself; affirming, that if he
+ would do so, they should feel as grateful for it as they did for the restoration
+ of their daughter inviolate. As they were so earnest in their entreaties, Scipio
+ promised to accept it, and ordered it to be laid at his feet. Then calling Allucius
+ to him, he said: "To the dowry which you are about to receive from your father-in-law,
+ let these marriage presents also from me be added;" bidding him take away the
+ gold and keep it for himself. Delighted with these presents and honours, he
+ was dismissed to his home, where he inspired his countrymen with the deserved
+ praises of Scipio, observing, "that a most godlike youth had come among them,
+ who conquered every thing, not only by arms, but by kindness and generosity."
+ Accordingly, making a levy among his dependants, he returned to Scipio after
+ a few days, with fourteen hundred chosen horsemen. </p>
+<div class="lsidenote">51 </div>
+<a id="h51" />
+<p>Scipio kept Laelius with him until he had disposed of the captives, hostages,
+ and booty, in accordance with his advice; but when all these matters were satisfactorily
+ arranged, he gave him a quinquereme; and selecting from the captives Mago, and
+ about fifteen senators who had been made prisoners at the same time with him,
+ put them on board, and sent him to Rome with the news of his victory. He himself
+ employed the few days he had resolved to stay at Carthage, in exercising his
+ naval and land forces. On the first day the legions under arms performed evolutions
+ through a space of four miles; on the second day he ordered them to repair and
+ clean their arms before their tents; on the third day they engaged in imitation
+ of a regular battle with wooden swords, throwing javelins with the points covered
+ with balls; on the fourth day they rested; on the fifth they again performed
+ evolutions under arms. This succession of exercise and rest they kept up as
+ long as they staid at Carthage. The rowers and mariners, pushing out to sea
+ when the weather was calm, made trial of the manageableness of their ships by
+ mock sea-fights. Such exercises, both by sea and land, without the city prepared
+ their minds and bodies for war. The city itself was all bustle with warlike
+ preparations, artificers of every description being collected together in a
+ public workshop. The general went round to all the works with equal attention.
+ At one time he was employed in the dock-yard with his fleet, at another he exercised
+ with the legions; sometimes he would devote his time to the inspection of the
+ works, which were every day carried on with the greatest eagerness by a multitude
+ of artificers both in the workshops, and in the armoury and docks. Having put
+ these preparations in a train, repaired the walls in a part where they had been
+ shattered, and placed bodies of troops to guard the city, he set out for Tarraco;
+ and on his way thither was visited by a number of embassies, some of which he
+ dismissed, having given them answers on his journey, others he postponed till
+ his arrival at Tarraco; at which place he had appointed a meeting of all his
+ new and old allies. Here ambassadors from almost all the people dwelling on
+ this side the Iberus, and from many dwelling in the further Spain, met. The
+ Carthaginian generals at first industriously suppressed the rumour of the capture
+ of Carthage; but afterwards, when it became too notorious to be concealed or
+ dissembled, they disparaged its importance by their language. They said, that
+ "by an unexpected attack, and in a manner by stealth, in one day, one city of
+ Spain had been snatched out of their hands; that a presumptuous youth, elated
+ with the acquisition of this, so inconsiderable an advantage, had, by the extravagance
+ of his joy, given it the air of an important victory; but that as soon as he
+ should hear that three generals and three victorious armies of his enemies were
+ approaching, the deaths which had taken place in his family would occur to his
+ recollection." Such was the tone in which they spoke of this affair to the people,
+ though they were, at the same time, far from ignorant how much their strength
+ had been diminished, in every respect, by the loss of Carthage. </p>
+<h2> END OF VOL. II </h2>
+<div id="footnotes">
+ <h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+ <div class="foots">
+ <div id="foot1"><b>Footnote 1</b>: In the original, <i>lati clavi</i>. The
+ latus clavus was a tunic, or vest, ornamented with a broad stripe of purple
+ on the fore part, worn by the senators; the knights wore a similar one,
+ only ornamented with a narrower stripe. Gold rings were also used as badges
+ of distinction, the common people wore iron ones. </div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot2"><b>Footnote 2</b>: The duration of Alexander's military career.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot3"><b>Footnote 3</b>: The <i>comitia curiata</i>, or assemblies
+ of the curiae, alone had the power of conferring military command; no magistrate,
+ therefore, could assume the command without the previous order of their
+ assembly. In time, this came to be a mere matter of form; yet the practice
+ always continued to be observed.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot4"><b>Footnote 4</b>: 5s. 31d.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot5"><b>Footnote 5</b>: £1.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot6"><b>Footnote 6</b>: £1614. 11s 8d.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot7"><b>Footnote 7</b>: When the auspices were to be taken from
+ the chickens, the keeper threw some of them food upon the ground, in their
+ sight, and opened the door of then coop. If they did not come out; if they
+ came out slowly; if they refused to feed, or ate in a careless manner, the
+ omen was considered as bad. On the contrary, if they rushed out hastily
+ and ate greedily, so that some of the food fell from their mouths on the
+ ground, this was considered as an omen of the best import; it was called
+ <i>tripudium solistinum</i>, originally, <i>terripavium</i>, from <i> terra</i>,
+ and <i>pavire</i>, to strike.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot8"><b>Footnote 8</b>: These marks of honour were bestowed for
+ having saved the lives of citizens, or for having been the first to mount
+ walls or ramparts.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot9"><b>Footnote 9</b>: £4940 13s.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot10"><b>Footnote 10</b>: £322 18s. 4d.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot11"><b>Footnote 11</b>: £1259 7s. 6d.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot12"><b>Footnote 12</b>: Thucydides seems to be specially referred
+ to.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot13"><b>Footnote 13</b>: The Barcine faction derived its name
+ from Hamilcar, who was surnamed Barca. Hanno appears to have been at the
+ head of the opposite party.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot14"><b>Footnote 14</b>: A.U.C. 526, thirteen years after the
+ conclusion of the first Punic war, being the sixth treaty between the Carthaginians
+ and Romans. The first was a commercial agreement made during the first consulate,
+ in the year that the Tarquins were expelled from Rome; but is not mentioned
+ by Livy. The second is noted by him, lib. vii. 27, and the third, lib. ix.
+ 43. The fourth was concluded during the war with Pyrrhus and the Tarentines,
+ Polyb. V. iii. 25: and the fifth was the memorable treaty at the close of
+ the first war.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot15"><b>Footnote 15</b>: Alluding to the first treaty made in
+ the year that the kings were expelled from Rome.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot16"><b>Footnote 16</b>: The Carpetani have already been mentioned,
+ chap. v. The Oretani, then neighbours, occupied the country lying between
+ the sources of the Baetis and the Anas, or what are now called the Guadalquiver
+ and Guadiana. In a part of Orospeda they deduced their name from a city
+ called Oretum, the site of which has been brought to light in a paltry village
+ to which the name of Oreto still remains.--<i>D'Anville</i>.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot17"><b>Footnote 17</b>: from Paenus, Carthaginian.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot18"><b>Footnote 18</b>: Because Spain was his proper province
+ as consul.</div>
+ <br />
+ <div id="foot19"><b>Footnote 19</b>: The ancient name of Portugal.</div>
+ <br />
+ </div>
+</div>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME; BOOKS NINE TO TWENTY-SIX***</p>
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