24. The reports respecting the people of Arretium became daily more

serious, and the anxiety of the fathers increased. A letter was

therefore written to Caius Hostilius, directing him not to delay

taking hostages from that people; and Caius Terentius Varro was sent,

with a command, to receive from him the hostages and convey them to

Rome. On his arrival, Hostilius immediately ordered one legion, which

was encamped before the city, to march into it; and having posted

guards in suitable places, he summoned the senate into the forum and

demanded hostages of them. On the senate's requesting a delay of two

days to consider the matter, he declared that they must themselves

give them forthwith, or he would the next day take all the children of

the senators. After this the military tribunes, the praefects of the

allies, and the centurions, were ordered to keep watch at the gates,

that no one might go out by night. This duty was not performed with

sufficient care and attention, for seven of the principal senators,

with their children, escaped before night, and before the guards were

posted at the gates. The next day, as soon as it was light, the senate

began to be summoned into the forum, when they were missed and their

goods were sold. From the rest of the senators one hundred and twenty

hostages, consisting of their own children, were taken and delivered

over to Caius Terentius to be conveyed to Rome. Before the senate he

made every thing more suspected than before. Considering, therefore,

that there was imminent danger of a commotion in Tuscany, they ordered

Caius Terentius himself to lead one of the city legions to Arretium,

and to employ it for the protection of the city. It was also resolved,

that Caius Hostilius, with the other army, should traverse the whole

province, and use precautions, that no opportunity might be afforded

to those who were desirous of altering the state of things. On his

arrival at Arretium with the legion, Terentius asked the magistrates

for the keys of the gates, when they declared they could not be found;

but he, believing that they had been put out of the way with some bad

intention rather than lost through negligence, took upon himself to

have fresh locks put upon all the gates, and used diligent care to

keep every thing in his own power. He earnestly cautioned Hostilius

to rest his hope in this; that the Tuscans would remain quiet, if he

should take care that not a step could be taken.

25. The case of the Tarentines was then warmly debated in the senate,

Fabius being present, and himself defending those whom he had subdued

by force of arms, while others entertained an angry feeling towards

them; the greater part comparing them with the Campanians in guilt

and punishment. A decree of the senate was passed conformably to

the opinion of Manius Acilius, that the town should be guarded by

a garrison, and that all the Tarentines should be kept within their

walls; and further, that the question touching their conduct should be

hereafter laid before the senate afresh when the state of Italy should

be more tranquil. The case of Marcus Livius, praefect of the citadel

of Tarentum, was also debated with no less warmth; some proposing a

vote of censure against the praefect on the ground that Tarentum was

betrayed to the enemy through his negligence, others proposing rewards

for having defended the citadel for five years, and because Tarentum

had been recovered chiefly by his single efforts; while some, adopting

an intermediate course, declared that it appertained to the censors,

and not to the senate, to take cognizance of his case; and of this

latter opinion was Fabius, who added, however, "that he admitted that

the recovery of Tarentum was owing to the efforts of Livius, as his

friends openly boasted in the senate, but that there would have been

no necessity for its recovery, had it not been lost." One of the

consuls, Titus Quinctius Crispinus, set out for Lucania, with some

troops to make up the numbers, to take the command of the army which

had served under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. Marcellus was detained by

a succession of religious scruples, which presented themselves to his

mind. One of which was, that when in the Gallic war at Clastidium he

had vowed a temple to Honour and Valour, its dedication was impeded

by the pontiffs, who said, that one shrine could not with propriety

be dedicated to two deities; because if it should be struck with

lightning or any kind of portent should happen in it, the expiation

would be attended with difficulty as it could not be ascertained

to which deity sacrifice ought to be made; nor could one victim

be lawfully offered to two deities, unless in particular cases.

Accordingly another temple to Virtue was erected with all speed.

Nevertheless, these temples were not dedicated by Marcellus himself.

Then at length he set out, with the troops raised to fill up the

numbers, to the army he had left the preceding year at Venusia.

Crispinus, who endeavoured to reduce Locri in Bruttium by a siege,

because he considered that the affair of Tarentum had added greatly to

the fame of Fabius, had sent for every kind of engine and machine from

Sicily; he also sent for ships from the same place to attack that part

of the city which lay towards the sea. But this siege was raised by

Hannibal's bringing his forces to Lacinium, and in consequence of a

report, that his colleague, with whom he wished to effect a junction,

had now led his army from Venusia. He therefore returned from Bruttium

into Apulia, and the consuls took up a position in two separate camps,

distant from each other less than three miles, between Venusia and

Bantia. Hannibal, after diverting the war from Locri, returned also

into the same quarter. Here the consuls, who were both of sanguine

temperament, almost daily went out and drew up their troops for

action, confidently hoping, that if the enemy would hazard an

engagement with two consular armies united, they might put an end to

the war.

26. As Hannibal, who gained one and lost the other of the two battles

which he fought the preceding year with Marcellus, would have equal

grounds for hope and fear, should he encounter the same general

again; so was he far from thinking himself a match for the two consuls

together. Directing his attention, therefore, wholly to his own

peculiar arts, he looked out for an opportunity for planting an

ambuscade. Slight battles, however, were fought between the two camps

with varying success. But the consuls, thinking it probable that the

summer would be spun out in engagements of this kind, and being of

opinion that the siege of Locri might be going on notwithstanding,

wrote to Lucius Cincius to pass over to Locri with his fleet from

Sicily. And that the walls might be besieged by land also, they

ordered one half of the army, which formed the garrison of Tarentum,

to be marched thither. Hannibal having found from certain Thurians

that these things would be done, sent a body of troops to lie in

ambush on the road leading from Tarentum. There, under the hill of

Petelia, three thousand cavalry and two thousand foot were placed in

concealment. The Romans, who proceeded without exploring their way,

having fallen into the ambuscade, as many as two thousand soldiers

were slain, and about twelve hundred made prisoners. The others, who

were scattered in flight through the fields and forests, returned to

Tarentum. There was a rising ground covered with wood situated between

the Punic and Roman camps, which was occupied at first by neither

party, because the Romans were unacquainted with its nature on that

side which faced the enemy's camp, while Hannibal had supposed it

better adapted for an ambuscade than a camp. Accordingly, he had sent

thither, by night, several troops of Numidians, concealing them in the

midst of the wood. Not one of them stirred from his position by day,

lest their arms or themselves should be observed from a distance.

There was a general murmur in the Roman camp, that this eminence ought

to be occupied and secured by a fort, lest if it should be seized

by Hannibal they should have the enemy, as it were, immediately over

their heads. Marcellus was moved by this consideration, and observed

to his colleague, "Why not go ourselves with a few horsemen and

reconnoitre? The matter being examined with our own eyes, will make

our measures more certain." Crispinus consenting, they set out with

two hundred and twenty horsemen, of which forty were Fregellans, the

rest Tuscans. Marcus Marcellus, the consul's son, and Aulus Manlius,

military tribunes, together with two prefects of the allies, Lucius

Arennius and Manius Aulius, accompanied them. Some historians have

recorded, that Marcellus had offered sacrifices on that day, and that

in the first victim slain, the liver was found without its head; in

the second, that all the usual parts were present, and that there was

also an excrescence in the head. That the aruspex was not, indeed,

pleased that the entrails should first have appeared mutilated and

foul, and then too exuberant.

27. But the consul Marcellus was influenced by so ardent a desire

of engaging with Hannibal, that he never thought their camps close

enough. At that time also, as he quitted the rampart, he gave orders

that the troops should be ready when occasion required, in order

that if the hill, which they were going to examine, were thought

convenient, they might collect their baggage and follow them. Before

the camp there was a small plain; the road thence to the hill was open

and exposed to view on all sides. A watchman who was stationed, not

under the expectation of so important an event, but in order that they

might be able to intercept any stragglers who had gone too far from

the camp in search of wood or forage, gave a signal to the Numidians

to rise simultaneously one and all from their concealment. Those who

were to rise from the very summit of the hill, and meet the enemy,

did not show themselves until those whose business it was to intercept

their passage in the rear, had gone round. Then they all sprang up

from every side, and, raising a shout, commenced an attack. Although

the consuls were in such a position in the valley that they could

neither make good their way up the hill, which was occupied by the

enemy, nor retreat as they were intercepted in the rear, yet the

contest might have been continued longer had not a retreat, commenced

by the Tuscans, dismayed the rest of the troops. The Fregellans,

however, did not give over fighting, though deserted by the Tuscans,

while the consuls, uninjured, kept up the battle by encouraging

their men and fighting themselves. But when they saw both the consuls

wounded, and Marcellus transfixed with a lance and falling lifeless

from his horse, then they too, and but a very few survived, betook

themselves to flight, together with Crispinus the consul, who had

received two javelin wounds, and young Marcellus, who was himself also

wounded. Aulus Manlius, a military tribune, was slain, and of the two

praefects of allies, Manius Aulius was slain, Lucius Arennius made

prisoner. Five of the consul's lictors fell into the enemy's hands

alive, the rest were either slain or fled with the consul. Forty-three

horsemen fell in the battle or in the flight, and eighteen were taken

alive. An alarm had been excited in the camp, and the troops were

hastening to go and succour the consuls, when they saw one of the

consuls and the son of the other wounded, and the scanty remains

of this unfortunate expedition returning to the camp. The death

of Marcellus was an event to be deplored, as well from other

circumstances which attended it, as because that in a manner

unbecoming his years, for he was then more than sixty, and

inconsistently with the prudence of a veteran general, he had so

improvidently plunged into ruin himself, his colleague, and almost the

whole commonwealth. I should launch out into too many digressions

for a single event, were I to relate all the various accounts which

authors give respecting the death of Marcellus. To pass over others,

Lucius Caelius gives three narratives ranged under different heads;

one as it is handed down by tradition; a second, written in the

panegyric of his son, who was engaged in the affair; a third, which

he himself vouched for, being the result of his own investigation. The

accounts, however, though varying in other points, agree for the most

part in the fact, that he went out of the camp for the purpose of

viewing the ground; and all state that he was cut off by an ambuscade.

28. Hannibal, concluding that the enemy were greatly dismayed by one

of their consuls being slain and the other wounded, that he might

not be wanting on any opportunity presenting itself, immediately

transferred his camp to the eminence on which the battle had been

fought. Here he found the body of Marcellus, and interred it.

Crispinus, disheartened by the death of his colleague and his own

wound, set out during the silence of the following night, and encamped

upon the nearest mountains he could reach, in a position elevated and

secured on all sides. Here the two generals exerted their sagacity,

the one in effecting, the other in guarding against, a deception.

Hannibal got possession of the ring of Marcellus, together with his

body. Crispinus, fearing lest any artifice should be practised by the

Carthaginian's employing this signet as the means of deception, had

sent round messengers to the neighbouring states, informing them, that

"his colleague had been slain, and that the enemy were in possession

of his seal, and that they must not give credit to any letters written

in the name of Marcellus." This message of the consul arrived at

Salapia a little before a letter was brought from Hannibal, written in

the name of Marcellus, to the effect, that "he should come to Salapia

on the night which followed that day; that the soldiers in the

garrison should hold themselves in readiness, in case he might want

to employ them on any service." The Salapians were aware of the fraud,

and concluding that an opportunity for punishing them was sought by

Hannibal, from resentment, not only on account of their defection,

but also because they slew his horsemen, sent his messenger, who was a

deserter from the Romans, back again, in order that the soldiers might

do what was thought necessary, without his being privy to it, and then

placed the townsmen in parties to keep guard along the walls, and in

convenient parts of the city. The guards and watches they formed with

extraordinary care for that night, and on each side of the gate at

which they supposed the enemy would come, they opposed to them the

choicest of the troops in the garrison. About the fourth watch,

Hannibal approached the city. His vanguard was composed of Roman

deserters, with Roman arms. These, all of whom spoke the Latin

language, when they reached the gate, called up the guards, and

ordered the gate to be opened, for the consul had arrived. The guards,

as if awakened at their call, began to be in a hurry and bustle, and

exert themselves in opening the gate, which was closed by letting down

the portcullis; some raised this with levers, others drew it up with

ropes to such a height that the men could come in without stooping.

The opening was scarcely wide enough, when the deserters eagerly

rushed through the gate, and after about six hundred had got in, the

rope being let go by which it was suspended, the portcullis fell with

a loud noise. Some of the Salapians fell upon the deserters, who were

carrying their arms carelessly suspended upon their shoulders, as is

customary after a march, as if among friends; others frightened away

the enemy by discharging stones, pikes, and javelins from the tower

adjoining the gate and from the walls. Thus Hannibal withdrew, having

been caught by his own stratagem, and proceeded to raise the siege of

Locri, which Cincius was carrying on with the greatest vigour, with

works and engines of every kind, which were brought from Sicily. Mago,

who by that time almost despaired of retaining and defending the

town, derived his first gleam of hope on the death of Marcellus being

reported. This was followed by a message, that Hannibal had despatched

his Numidian cavalry in advance, and was himself following them with

all possible speed with a body of infantry. As soon, therefore, as he

was informed, by a signal displayed from the watch-towers, that

the Numidians were drawing near, suddenly throwing open the gate he

sallied out boldly upon the enemy, and at first, more because he

had done it unexpectedly than from the equality of his strength, the

contest was doubtful; but afterwards, when the Numidians came up, the

Romans were so dismayed that they fled on all hands to the sea and

their ships, leaving their works and the engines with which they

battered the walls. Thus the siege of Locri was raised by the approach

of Hannibal.

29. When Crispinus found that Hannibal had gone into Bruttium, he

ordered Marcus Marcellus, a military tribune, to march the army, which

his colleague had commanded, to Venusia. Having set out himself with

his own legions for Capua, though scarcely able to endure the motion

of the litter, from the severity of his wounds, he sent a letter to

Rome stating the death of his colleague, and in how great danger he

himself was. He said, "it was impossible for him to go to Rome to hold

the election, both because he did not think he could bear the fatigue

of the journey, and because he was anxious about Tarentum, lest

Hannibal should direct his course thither from Bruttium. That it

was expedient that commissioners should be sent to him, men of sound

judgment, with whom he might communicate, when he pleased, respecting

the commonwealth." The reading of this letter excited great grief for

the death of one of the consuls, and apprehension for the safety of

the other. They therefore sent Quintus Fabius the younger to Venusia

to the army; and to the consul three commissioners, Sextus Julius

Caesar, Lucius Licinius Pollio, and Lucius Cincius Alimentus, though

but a few days before he had returned from Sicily. These were directed

to convey a message to the consul, to the effect, that if he could not

himself go to Rome to hold the election, he should nominate a dictator

within the Roman territory for that purpose. If the consul should have

gone to Tarentum, that it was the pleasure of the senate that Marcus

Claudius, the praetor, should march off his legions to that quarter

in which he could protect the greatest number of the cities of the

allies. The same summer Marcus Valerius crossed over from Sicily into

Africa with a fleet of a hundred ships, and making a descent near the

city Clupea, devastated the country to a wide extent, scarcely meeting

with a single person in arms. Afterwards the troops employed in making

these depredations were hastily led back to their ships, and a report

had suddenly reached them that a Carthaginian fleet was drawing near.

It consisted of eighty-three ships. With these the Romans fought

successfully, not far from the city Clupea, and after taking eighteen

and putting the rest to flight, returned to Lilybaeum with a great

deal of booty gained both by land and sea. The same summer also Philip

gave assistance to the suppliant Achaeans. They were harassed

by Machanidas, tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, with a war in their

immediate neighbourhood; and the Aetolians, having passed over an army

in ships through the strait which runs between Naupactus and Patrae,

called by the neighbouring people Rhion, had devastated their country.

It was reported also, that Attalus, king of Asia, would pass over into

Europe, because the Aetolians, in their last council, had offered to

him the office of chief magistrate of their nation.

30. Philip, when marching down into Greece, for these reasons, was met

at the city Lamia by the Aetolians, under the command of Pyrrhias,

who had been created praetor that year jointly with Attalus, who was

absent. They had with them also auxiliaries from Attalus, and about a

thousand men sent from the Roman fleet by Publius Sulpicius. Against

this general and these forces, Philip fought twice successfully, and

slew full a thousand of his enemies in each battle. Whence, as the

Aetolians were compelled by fear to keep themselves under the walls of

Lamia, Philip led back his army to Phalara. This place is situated in

the Malian bay, and was formerly thickly inhabited on account of its

excellent harbour, the safe anchorage in its neighbourhood, and other

conveniences of sea and land. Hither came ambassadors from Ptolemy,

king of Egypt, the Rhodians, Athenians, and Chians, to put a stop

to hostilities between the Aetolians and Philip. The Aetolians also

called in one of their neighbours as a mediator, Amynander, king of

the Athamanians. But all these were less concerned for the Aetolians,

whose arrogance of disposition exceeded that of any other nation of

Greece, than lest Philip and his empire, which was likely to prove

injurious to the cause of liberty, should be intermixed with the

affairs of Greece. The deliberations concerning a peace were put off,

to a council of the Achaeans, for which a place and certain day were

fixed upon; for the mean time a truce of thirty days was obtained. The

king, setting out thence, went through Thessaly and Boeotia to Chalcis

in Euboea, to prevent Attalus, who he heard was about to come to

Euboea with a fleet, from entering the harbours and approaching the

coasts. Leaving a force to oppose Attalus, in case he should cross

over in the mean time, he set out thence with a small body of cavalry

and light-armed troops, and came to Argos. Here the superintendence

of the Heraean and Nemaean games having been conferred upon him by the

suffrages of the people, because the kings of the Macedonians trace

their origin from that state, after completing the Heraean games, he

set out directly after the celebration for Aegium, to the council

of allies, fixed some time before. Here measures were proposed for

putting an end to the Aetolian war, in order that neither the Romans

nor Attalus might have a pretext for entering Greece; but they

were all upset by the Aetolians, before the period of the truce had

scarcely expired, after they heard that Attalus had arrived at Aegina,

and that a Roman fleet was stationed at Naupactus. For when called

into the council of the Achaeans, where the same embassies were

present which had negotiated for peace at Phalara, they at first

complained of some trifling acts committed during the period of the

truce, contrary to the faith of the convention; but at last they

asserted, that it was impossible the war could be terminated unless

the Achaeans gave back Pylus to the Messenians, unless Atintania was

restored to the Romans, and Ardyaea to Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus.

But Philip, conceiving it an indignity that the vanquished should

presumptuously dictate terms to him the victor, said, "that he did not

before either listen to proposals for peace, or agree to a truce, from

any hope he entertained that the Aetolians would remain quiet, but

in order that he might have all the allies as witnesses that he was

desirous of peace, and that they were the occasion of this war." Thus,

without effecting a peace, he dismissed the council; and leaving four

thousand troops for the protection of the Achaeans, and receiving five

men of war, with which, if he could have joined them to the fleet of

the Carthaginians lately sent to him, and the ships which were coming

from Bithynia, from king Prusias, he had resolved to challenge the

Romans, who had long been masters of the sea in that quarter, to a

naval battle, the king himself went back from the congress to Argos;

for now the time for celebrating the Nemaean games was approaching,

which he wished to be celebrated in his presence.

31. While the king was occupied with the exhibition of the games, and

was indulging himself during the days devoted to festivity with more

freedom than in time of war, Publius Sulpicius, setting out from

Naupactus, brought his fleet to the shore, between Sicyon and Corinth,

and devastated without restraint a country of the most renowned

fertility. Intelligence of this proceeding called Philip away from the

games. He set out hastily with his cavalry, ordering his infantry to

follow him closely; and attacking the Romans as they were scattered

through the fields and loaded with booty, like men who feared nothing

of the kind, drove them to their ships. The Roman fleet returned to

Naupactus by no means pleased with their booty. The fame of a victory

gained by Philip over the Romans, of whatever magnitude, increased

the celebrity of the remaining part of the games. The festival was

celebrated with extraordinary mirth, the more so as the king, in order

to please the people, took the diadem off his head, and laid aside

his purple robe with the other royal apparel, and placed himself, with

regard to appearance, on an equality with the rest, than which nothing

is more gratifying to free states. By this conduct he would have

afforded the strongest hopes of the enjoyment of liberty, had he not

debased and marred all by his intolerable lust; for he ranged

night and day through the houses of married people with one or two

companions, and in proportion as he was less conspicuous by lowering

his dignity to a private level, the less restraint he felt; thus

converting that empty show of liberty, which he had made to others,

into a cover for the gratification of his own unbounded desires. For

neither did he obtain his object in all cases by money or seductive

arts, but he also employed violence in the accomplishment of his

flagitious purposes; and it was dangerous both to husbands and parents

to have presented any impediment to the gratification of royal lust,

by an unseasonable strictness. From one man, Aratus, of the highest

rank among the Achaeans, his wife, named Polycratia, was taken away

and conveyed into Macedonia under the hope of a matrimonial connexion

with royalty. After passing the time appointed for the celebration

of the Nemaean games, and a few days more, in the commission of these

profligate acts, he set out for Dymae to expel the garrison of the

Aetolians, which had been invited by the Eleans, and received into the

town. Cycliadas, who had the chief direction of affairs, met the king

at Dymae, together with the Achaeans, who were inflamed with hatred

against the Eleans, because they had disunited themselves from the

rest of the Achaeans, and were incensed against the Aetolians, because

they considered that they had stirred up a Roman war against them.

Setting out from Dymae, and uniting their forces, they passed the

river Larissus, which separates the Elean from the Dymaean territory.

32. The first day on which they entered upon the enemy's confines,

they employed in plundering. The following day they approached the

city in battle-array, having sent their cavalry in advance, in order

that, by riding up to the gates, they might provoke the Aetolians to

make a sally, a measure to which they were naturally inclined. They

were not aware that Sulpicius had passed over from Naupactus to

Cyllene with fifteen ships, and landing four thousand armed men, had

entered Elis during the dead of night, that his troops might not be

seen. Accordingly, when they recognised the Roman standards and arms

among the Aetolians, so unexpected an event occasioned the greatest

terror; and at first the king had wished to withdraw his troops; but

afterwards, an engagement having taken place between the Aetolians and

Trallians, a tribe of Illyrians, when he saw his men hard pressed, the

king himself with his cavalry charged a Roman cohort. Here his horse

being pierced with a javelin threw the king, who fell over his head;

when a conflict ensued, which was desperate on both sides; the Romans

making a furious attack upon the king, and the royal party protecting

him. His own conduct was highly meritorious, when though on foot he

was obliged to fight among horsemen. Afterwards, when the contest

was unequal, many were falling and being wounded around him, he was

snatched away by his soldiers, and, being placed upon another horse,

fled from the field. On that day he pitched his camp five miles from

the city of the Eleans, and the next day led out all his forces to a

fort called Pyrgus, whither he had heard that a multitude of rustics

had resorted through fear of being plundered. This unorganized and

unarmed multitude he took immediately on his approach, from the first

effects of alarm; and by this capture compensated for the disgrace

sustained at Elis. While engaged in distributing the spoil and

captives, and there were four thousand men and as many as twenty

thousand head of cattle of every kind, intelligence reached him

from Macedonia that one Eropus had gained possession of Lychnidus by

bribing the praefect of the citadel and garrison; that he held also

certain towns of the Dassaretians, and that he was endeavouring

to incite the Dardanians to arms. Desisting from the Achaean war,

therefore, but still leaving two thousand five hundred armed troops of

every description under the generals Menippus and Polyphantas for the

protection of his allies, he set out from Dymae, and passing through

Achaea, Boeotia, and Euboea, arrived on the tenth day at Demetrias in

Thessaly.

33. Here he was met by other messengers with intelligence of still

greater commotions; that the Dardanians, having poured into Macedonia,

were in possession of Orestis, and had descended into the Argestaean

plain; and that there was a general report among the barbarians that

Philip was slain. In that expedition in which he fought with the

plundering party near Sicyon, being carried by the fury of his horse

against a tree, he broke off the extremity of one of the horns of his

helmet against a projecting branch; which being found by a certain

Aetolian and carried into Aetolia to Scerdilaedus, who knew it to

be the ornament of his helmet, spread the report that the king was

killed. After the king had departed from Achaea, Sulpicius, going to

Aegina with his fleet, formed a junction with Attalus. The Achaeans

fought successfully with the Aetolians and Eleans not far from

Messene. King Attalus and Publius Sulpicius wintered at Aegina. In the

close of this year Titus Quinctius Crispinus, the consul, after having

nominated Titus Manlius Torquatus dictator for the purpose of holding

the election and celebrating the games, died of his wound. Some say

that he died at Tarentum, others in Campania. The death of the two

consuls, who were slain without having fought any memorable battle, a

coincidence which had never occurred in any former war, had left the

commonwealth in a manner orphan. The dictator, Manlius, appointed as

his master of the horse Caius Servilius, then curule aedile. On the

first day of its meeting the senate ordered the dictator to celebrate

the great games which Marcus Aemilius, the city praetor, had

celebrated in the consulship of Caius Flaminius and Cneius Servilius,

and had vowed to be repeated after five years. The dictator then both

performed the games and vowed them for the following lustrum. But as

the two consular armies without commanders were so near the enemy,

disregarding every thing else, one especial care engrossed the fathers

and the people, that of creating the consuls as soon as possible; and

that they might create those in preference whose valour was least in

danger from Carthaginian treachery; since, through the whole period

of the war, the precipitate and hot tempers of their generals had been

detrimental, and this very year the consuls had fallen into a snare

for which they were not prepared, in consequence of their excessive

eagerness to engage the enemy, but the immortal gods, in pity to the

Roman name, had spared the unoffending armies, and doomed the consuls

to expiate their temerity with their own lives.

34. On the fathers' looking round to see whom they should appoint as

consuls, Caius Claudius Nero appeared pre-eminently. They then looked

out for a colleague for him, and although they considered him a man of

the highest talents, they also were of opinion that he was of a more

forward and vehement disposition than the circumstances of the war, or

the enemy, Hannibal, required, they resolved that it would be right to

qualify the impetuosity of his temper by uniting with him a cool and

prudent colleague. The person fixed upon was Marcus Livius, who, many

years ago, was, on the expiration of his consulship, condemned in a

trial before the people; a disgrace which he took so much to heart,

that he retired into the country, and for many years absented himself

from the city, and avoided all public assemblies. Much about the

eighth year after his condemnation, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and

Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the consuls, had brought him back into the

city; but he appeared in a squalid dress, his hair and beard allowed

to grow, and exhibiting in his countenance and attire the deep

impression of the disgrace he had sustained. Lucius Veturius and

Publius Licinius, the censors, compelled him to have his beard and

hair trimmed, to lay aside his squalid garb, to come into the senate,

and discharge other public duties. But even then he either gave his

assent by a single word, or signified his vote by walking to one side

of the house, till the trial of Marcus Livius Macatus, a kinsman

of his, whose character was at stake, obliged him to deliver his

sentiments in the senate upon his legs. On being heard in the senate

on this occasion, after so long an interval, he drew the eyes of all

upon him, and gave occasion to conversations to the following effect:

"That the people had injuriously disgraced a man who was undeserving

of it and that it had been greatly detrimental to the state that,

in so important a war, it had not had the benefit of the service

and counsels of such a man. That neither Quintus Fabius nor Marcus

Valerius Laevinus could be given to Caius Nero as colleagues, because

it was not allowed for two patricians to be elected. That the

same cause precluded Titus Manlius, besides that he had refused a

consulship when offered to him, and would refuse it. That they would

have two most distinguished consuls if they should add Marcus Livius

as a colleague to Caius Claudius." Nor did the people despise a

proposal, the mention of which originated with the fathers. The only

person in the state who objected to the measure was the man to whom

the honour was offered, who accused his countrymen of inconstancy,

saying, "that, having withheld their pity from him when arrayed in a

mourning garment and a criminal, they now forced upon him the white

gown against his will; that honours and punishments were heaped upon

the same person. If they esteemed him a good man, why had they thus

passed a sentence of condemnation upon him as a wicked and guilty one?

If they had proved him a guilty man, why should they thus trust him

with a second consulate after having improperly committed to him the

first?" While thus remonstrating and complaining, the fathers rebuked

him, putting him in mind, that "Marcus Furius too, being recalled from

exile, had reinstated his country when shaken from her very base.

That we ought to soothe the anger of our country as we would that of

parents, by patience and resignation." All exerting themselves to the

utmost, they succeeded in uniting Marcus Livius in the consulate with

Caius Claudius.

35. The third day afterwards the election of praetors was held. The

praetors created were, Lucius Porcius Licinus, Caius Mamilius, Aulus

Hostilius Cato, and Caius Hostilius Cato. The election completed, and

the games celebrated, the dictator and master of the horse abdicated

their offices. Caius Terentius Varro was sent as propraetor into

Etruria, in order that Caius Hostilius might quit that province and

go to Tarentum to that army which Titus Quinctius, the consul, had

commanded, and that Lucius Manlius might go as ambassador across the

sea, and observe what was going on there; and at the same time, as

the games at Olympia, which were attended by the greatest concourse

of persons of any solemnity in Greece, were about to take place that

summer, that if he could without danger from the enemy, he might go to

that assembly, in order that any Sicilians who might be there, having

been driven away by the war, or any Tarentine citizens banished by

Hannibal, might return to their homes, and be informed that the Roman

people would restore to them every thing which they had possessed

before the war. As a year of the most dangerous character seemed to

threaten them, and there were no consuls to direct the government, all

men fixed their attention on the consuls elect, wishing them to

draw lots for their provinces, as soon as possible, and determine

beforehand what province and what enemy each should have. The senate

also took measures, at the instance of Quintus Fabius Maximus, to

effect a reconciliation between them. For the enmity between them was

notorious; and in the case of Livius his misfortunes rendered it more

inveterate and acrimonious, as he considered that in that situation

he had been treated with contempt. He was, therefore, the more

inexorable, and said, "that there was no need of a reconciliation, for

that they would use greater diligence and activity in every thing they

did for fear lest they should give their colleague, who was an enemy,

an opportunity of advancing himself at their expense." However, the

authority of the senate prevailed; and, laying aside their private

differences, they conducted the affairs of the state in friendship

and unanimity. Their provinces were not districts bordering upon

each other, as in former years, but quite separate, in the remotest

confines of Italy. To one was decreed Bruttium and Lucania, to act

against Hannibal; to the other Gaul, to act against Hasdrubal, who, it

was reported, was now approaching the Alps; and that he to whose lot

Gaul fell should choose whichever he pleased of the two armies, one of

which was in Gaul, the other in Etruria, and receive the city legions

in addition; and that he to whose lot Bruttium fell, should, after

enlisting fresh legions for the city, take the army of whichever

of the consuls of the former year he pleased. That Quintus Fulvius,

proconsul, should take the army which was left by the consul, and that

his command should last for a year. To Caius Hostilius, to whom they

had given the province of Tarentum in exchange for Etruria, they gave

Capua instead of Tarentum, with one legion which Fulvius had commanded

the preceding year.

36. The anxiety respecting the approach of Hasdrubal to Italy

increased daily. At first, ambassadors from the Massilians had brought

word that he had passed over into Gaul and that the expectations

of the Gauls were raised by his coming, as he was reported to

have brought a large quantity of gold for the purpose of hiring

auxiliaries. Afterwards, Sextus Antistius and Marcus Raecius, who were

sent from Rome, together with these persons, as ambassadors, to look

into the affair, had brought word back that they had sent persons

with Massilian guides, who, through the medium of Gallic chieftains

connected with them by hospitality, might bring back all ascertained

particulars; that they found that Hasdrubal, who had already collected

an immense army, would cross the Alps the ensuing spring; and that the

only cause which delayed him there was, that the passage of the

Alps was closed by winter. Publius Aelius Paetus was created and

inaugurated in the office of augur in the room of Marcus Marcellus and

Cneius Cornelius Dolabella was inaugurated king of the sacred rites in

the room of Marcus Marcius, who had died two years before. This same

year, for the first time since Hannibal came into Italy, the lustrum

was closed by the censors Publius Sempronius Tuditanus and Marcus

Cornelius Cethegus. The citizens numbered in the census were one

hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eight, a number

considerably smaller than before the war. This year it is recorded

that the Comitium was covered, and that the Roman games were repeated

once by the curule aediles, Quintus Metellus and Caius Servilius; and

that the plebeian games were repeated twice by Quintus Mamilius and

Marcus Caecilius Metellus, plebeian aediles. The same persons also

gave three statues for the temple of Ceres, and there was a feast in

honour of Jupiter on occasion of the games. After this Caius Claudius

Nero and Marcus Livius a second time entered upon their consulate;

and as they had already, while consuls elect, drawn lots for their

provinces, they ordered the praetors to draw lots for theirs. Caius

Hostilius had the city jurisdiction, to which the foreign was added,

in order that three praetors might go out to the provinces. Aulus

Hostilius had Sardinia, Caius Mamilius, Sicily, Lucius Porcius,

Gaul. The total amount of legions employed in the provinces was

twenty-three, which were so distributed that the consuls might have

two each; Spain, four; the three praetors in Sicily, Sardinia, and

Gaul, two each; Caius Terentius, two in Etruria; Quintus Fulvius, two

in Bruttium; Quintus Claudius two in the neighbourhood of Tarentum and

the territory of Sallentum; Caius Hostilius Tubulus, one at Capua;

and two were ordered to be enlisted for the city. For the first four

legions the people elected tribunes, the consuls sent those for the

rest.

37. Before the consuls set out, the nine days' sacred rite was

performed, as a shower of stones had fallen from the sky at Veii.

After the mention of one prodigy, others also were reported, as usual.

At Minturnae, that the temple of Jupiter and the grove of Marica, and

at Atella also that a wall and gate, had been struck by lightning.

The people of Minturnae added what was more alarming, that a stream of

blood had flowed at their gate. At Capua, a wolf, which had entered at

the gate by night, had torn a watchman. These prodigies were expiated

with victims of the larger kind, and a supplication for one day was

made, according to a decree of the pontiffs. The nine days' sacred

rite was then performed again, because a shower of stones had been

seen to fall in the armilustrum. After the people's minds had

been freed from superstitious fears, they were again disturbed by

intelligence that an infant had been born at Frusino as large as a

child of four years old, and not so much an object of wonder from

its size, as that it was born without any certain mark of distinction

whether it was male or female, which was the case two years before

at Sinuessa. Aruspices, called in from Etruria, declared this to be

indeed a foul and ill-omened prodigy, which ought to be removed out of

the Roman territory, and, being kept far from coming in contact with

the earth, to be plunged into the deep. They shut it up alive in a

chest, and carrying it away, threw it into the sea. The pontiffs also

decreed, that thrice nine virgins should go through the city singing

a hymn. While in the temple of Jupiter Stator they were learning

this hymn, which was composed by the poet Livius, the temple of Juno

Regina, on the Aventine, was struck by lightning; and the aruspices,

on being consulted, having replied that that prodigy appertained to

the matrons, and that the goddess must be appeased by a present, such

of the matrons as dwelt within the city and within the tenth milestone

from it, were summoned to the Capitol by an edict of the curule

aediles; when they themselves chose twenty-five out of their own body,

to whom they paid a contribution out of their dowries, from which

a golden basin was made, as a present, and carried to the Aventine,

where a sacrifice was performed by the matrons in a pure and chaste

manner. Immediately a day was given out by the decemviri for another

sacrifice to the same goddess, which was performed in the following

order: two white heifers were led from the temple of Apollo into the

city through the Carmental gate; after these, two cypress images of

Juno Regina were carried; after these went seven and twenty virgins,

arrayed in white vestments, and singing in honour of Juno Regina a

hymn, which to the uncultivated minds of that time might appear to

have merit, but if repeated now would seem inelegant and uncouth. The

train of virgins was followed by the decemvirs, crowned with laurel,

and in purple-bordered robes. From the gate they proceeded by the

Jugarian street into the forum: in the forum the procession stopped,

and the virgins, linked together by a cord passed through their hands,

moved on, beating time with their feet to the music of their voices.

They then proceeded by the Tuscan street and the Velabrum, through

the cattle market, up the Publician hill, and to the temple of Juno

Regina; where two victims were immolated by the decemviri, and the

cypress images carried into the temple.

38. After the deities were appeased in due form, the consuls made the

levy with greater diligence and strictness than any one remembered

it to have been made in former years; for the war was now doubly

formidable, in consequence of the advance of a new enemy into Italy,

while the number of the youth from which they could enlist soldiers

was diminished. They therefore resolved to compel the settlers upon

the sea-coast, who were said to possess an exemption from service

solemnly granted, to furnish soldiers; and on their refusing to do

so, appointed that they should severally lay before the senate, on

a certain day, the grounds on which they claimed exemption. On the

appointed day the following people came to the senate: the people

of Ostia, Alsia, Antium, Anxur, Minturnae, and Sinuessa, and, on

the upper sea, Sena. After each people had stated their grounds of

exemption, the exemption of none was allowed, as the enemy was in

Italy, except those of Antium and Ostia, and of these colonies the

young men were bound by oath that they would not lodge without the

walls of their colony, while the enemy was in Italy, more than thirty

days. Although it was the opinion of all that the consuls ought to

proceed to the war as soon as possible, (for Hasdrubal ought to be met

on his descent from the Alps, lest he might seduce the Cisalpine Gauls

and Etruria, which was anxiously looking forward to a revolution;

while it was necessary to occupy Hannibal with a war in his own

quarters, lest he should emerge from Bruttium, and advance to meet his

brother;) yet Livius delayed, not having sufficient confidence in

the armies destined for his provinces. He said his colleague had his

option to take which he pleased out of two excellent consular armies,

and a third which Quintus Claudius commanded at Tarentum. He also

made mention of recalling the volunteer slaves to their standards.

The senate gave the consuls unrestricted liberty of filling up their

numbers from what source they pleased, of selecting out of all the

armies such as they liked, and of exchanging and removing from one

province to another, as they thought conducive to the good of the

state. In all these affairs the consuls acted with the most perfect

harmony. The volunteer slaves were enlisted into the nineteenth and

twentieth legions. Some authors state that very efficient auxiliaries

were sent out of Spain also to Marcus Livius by Publius Scipio;

namely, eight thousand Spaniards and Gauls, two thousand legionary

soldiers, a thousand horse of Numidians and Spaniards together.

That Marcus Lucretius brought these forces in ships, and that Caius

Mamilius sent as many as four thousand bowmen and slingers out of

Sicily.

39. A letter which was brought out of Gaul from Lucius Porcius, the

praetor, increased the alarm at Rome. It stated that Hasdrubal had

quitted his winter quarters, and was now crossing the Alps; that eight

thousand Ligurians had been enlisted and armed, which would join him

when he had crossed over into Italy, unless some general were sent

into Liguria to engage them with a war. That he would himself advance

as far as he thought it safe with his small forces. This letter

obliged the consuls hastily to conclude the levy, and go earlier than

they had determined into their provinces, with the intention that each

should keep his enemy in his own province, and not allow them to form

a junction or concentrate their forces. This object was much aided by

an opinion possessed by Hannibal; for although he felt assured that

his brother would cross over into Italy that summer, yet when he

recollected what difficulties he had himself experienced through a

period of five months, first in crossing the Rhone, then the Alps,

contending against men, and the nature of the ground, he was far from

expecting that his transit would be so easy and expeditious, and this

was the cause of his moving more slowly from his winter quarters. But

all things were done by Hasdrubal with less delay and trouble than he

himself or any others expected. For the Arverni, and after them the

other Gallic and Alpine nations in succession, not only gave him a

friendly reception, but followed him to the war; and not only had

roads been formed during the passage of his brother in most of the

countries through which he marched, and which were before impassable,

but also as the Alps had been passable for a period of twelve years,

he marched through tribes of less ferocious dispositions. For

before that time, being never visited by foreigners, nor accustomed,

themselves, to see a stranger in their country, they were unsociable

to the whole human race. And at first, not knowing whither the

Carthaginian was going, they had imagined that their own rocks and

forts, and the plunder of their cattle and people, were his objects;

but afterwards, the report of the Punic war with which Italy was being

desolated for now ten years, had convinced them that the Alps were

only a passage, and that two very powerful nations, separated from

each other by a vast tract of sea and land, were contending for empire

and power. These were the causes which opened the Alps to Hasdrubal.

But the advantage which he gained by the celerity of his march he

lost by his delay at Placentia, while he carried on a fruitless siege,

rather than an assault. He had supposed that it would be easy to take

by storm a town situated on a plain; and the celebrity of the colony

induced him to believe that by destroying it he should strike great

terror into the rest. This siege not only impeded his own progress,

but had the effect of restraining Hannibal, who was just on the point

of quitting his winter quarters, after hearing of his passage, which

was so much quicker than he expected; for he not only revolved in his

mind how tedious was the siege of towns, but also how ineffectual was

his attempt upon that same colony, when returning victorious from the

Trebia.

40. The consuls, on departing from the city in different directions,

had drawn the attention of the public, as it were, to two wars at

once, while they called to mind the disasters which Hannibal's first

coming had brought upon Italy, and at the same time, tortured with

anxiety, asked themselves what deities would be so propitious to the

city and empire as that the commonwealth should be victorious in both

quarters at once. Hitherto they had been enabled to hold out to the

present time by compensating for their misfortunes by their successes.

When the Roman power was laid prostrate at the Trasimenus and at

Cannae in Italy, their successes in Spain had raised it up from its

fallen condition. Afterwards, when in Spain one disaster after another

had in a great measure destroyed two armies, with the loss of two

distinguished generals, the many successes in Italy and Sicily had,

as it were, afforded a haven for the shattered state; and the mere

interval of space, as one war was going on in the remotest quarter

of the world, gave them time to recover their breath. Whereas now two

wars were received into Italy; two generals of the highest renown were

besetting the Roman city; while the whole weight of the danger and

the entire burden pressed upon one point. Whichever of these generals

should be first victorious, he would in a few days unite his camp

with the other. The preceding year also, saddened by the deaths of two

consuls, filled them with alarm. Such were the anxious feelings with

which the people escorted the consuls on their departure to their

provinces. It is recorded that Marcus Livius, still teeming with

resentment against his countrymen, when setting out to the war,

replied to Fabius, who warned him not rashly to come to an action till

he had made himself acquainted with the character of his enemy, that

as soon as ever he had got sight of the troops of the enemy he would

engage them. When asked what was his reason for such haste, he said,

"I shall either obtain the highest glory from conquering the enemy,

or the greatest joy from the defeat of my countrymen, a joy which

they have deserved, though it would not become me." Before the consul

Claudius arrived in his province, Caius Hostilius Tubulus, attacking

Hannibal with his light cohorts while marching his army through the

extreme borders of the territory of Larinum into that of Sallentum,

caused terrible confusion in his unmarshalled troops; he killed as

many as four thousand, and captured nine military standards. Quintus

Claudius, who had his camps distributed through the towns of the

Sallentine territory, had quitted his winter quarters on hearing of

the enemy; and Hannibal, fearing on that account lest he should have

to engage with two armies at once, decamped by night, and retired from

the Tarentine to the Bruttian territory. Claudius turned his army

to the Sallentine territory. Hostilius, on his way to Capua, met

the consul Claudius at Venusia. Here forty thousand infantry and two

thousand five hundred horse were selected from both armies, with which

the consul might carry on the war against Hannibal. The rest of the

troops Hostilius was directed to march to Capua to deliver them over

to Quintus Fulvius, proconsul.

41. Hannibal, having drawn together his forces from all quarters, both

those which he had in winter quarters, and those which he had in the

garrisons of the Bruttian territory, came to Grumentum in Lucania,

with the hope of regaining the towns which through fear had revolted

to the Romans. To the same place the Roman consul proceeded from

Venusia, exploring the way as he went, and pitched his camp about

fifteen hundred paces from the enemy. The rampart of the Carthaginians

seemed almost united with the walls of Grumentum, though five hundred

paces intervened. Between the Carthaginian and Roman camps lay a

plain; and overhanging the left wing of the Carthaginians and the

right of the Romans were some naked hills, which were not objects

of suspicion to either party, as they had no wood upon them, nor any

hiding-places for an ambuscade. In the plain which lay between them

skirmishes hardly worth mentioning took place between parties sallying

from the outposts. It was evident that what the Roman aimed at was to

prevent the enemy from going off, while Hannibal, who was desirous of

escaping thence, came down with all his forces, and formed in order

of battle. Upon this the consul, imitating the crafty character of his

enemy, ordered five cohorts, with the addition of five maniples, to

pass the summit by night and sit down in the valleys on the opposite

side; a measure to which he was prompted the more strongly in

proportion as he felt that there could exist no suspicion of an

ambuscade in hills so uncovered. Of the time for rising up from their

retreat and of falling upon the enemy he informed Tiberius Claudius

Asellus, a military tribune, and Publius Claudius, praefect of the

allies, whom he sent with them. The general himself, at break of day,

drew out all his forces, both foot and horse, for battle. Shortly

after, the signal for battle was given out by Hannibal, and a noise

was raised in the camp, from the troops running hastily to arms; then

both horse and foot eagerly rushed through the gates, and spreading

themselves over the plain, hastened to the enemy. The consul

perceiving them thus disordered, gave orders to Caius Aurunculeius, a

military tribune of the third legion, to send out the cavalry of the

legion to charge the enemy with all possible vehemence, for that the

enemy had spread themselves like cattle in such disorder throughout

the whole plain, that they might be knocked down and trampled under

foot before they could be formed.

42. Hannibal had not yet gone out of the camp, when he heard the shout

of his troops engaged; and thus roused by the alarm, he hastily led

his forces against the enemy. Already had the Roman horse spread

terror through the Carthaginian van; the first legion also of the

infantry and the right wing were commencing the action, while the

troops of the Carthaginians, in disorder, engaged just as chance threw

each in the way of horse or foot. The battle became more general by

reinforcements, and the number of those who ran out to the combat.

Hannibal, amid the terror and confusion, would have drawn up his

troops while fighting, (which would not have been an easy task unless

to a veteran general with veteran soldiers,) had not the shouts of the

cohorts and maniples, running down from the hills, which was heard in

their rear, created an alarm lest they should be cut off from their

camp. After this they were seized with a panic, and a flight commenced

in every part; but the number slain was less, because the nearness of

the camp offered to the terrified troops a shorter distance to fly.

For the cavalry hung upon their rear, and the cohorts, running down

the declivities of the hills by an unobstructed and easy path, charged

them transversely in flank. However, above eight thousand men

were slain, above seven hundred made prisoners, and eight military

standards taken. Of the elephants also, which had been of no use in

such a sudden and irregular action, four were killed and two captured.

The conquerors lost about five hundred Romans and allies. The

following day the Carthaginian remained quiet. The Roman having led

out his troops into the field, when he saw that no one came out to

meet him, gave orders that the spoils of those of the enemy who were

slain should be collected, and that the bodies of his own men should

be gathered into one place and buried. After this, for several days

following in succession, he came up so near the enemy's gates that he

almost seemed to be carrying in his standards. But at length Hannibal

at the third watch, leaving a number of fires and tents in that part

of the camp which faced the enemy, and also a few Numidians who might

show themselves in the rampart and the gates, decamped and proceeded

towards Apulia. As soon as it dawned, the Roman army came up to the

trenches, and the Numidians, according to the plan concerted, took

care to show themselves for a little time on the rampart and in the

gates; and having deceived the enemy for some time, rode off at full

speed, and overtook their friends on their march. The consul, when all

was silence in the camp, and he could now no where see even the few

who at break of day had walked up and down, sent two horsemen in

advance to reconnoitre; and after he had ascertained that all was safe

enough, ordered his troops to march in; and after staying there only

while his men distributed themselves for plunder, sounded a retreat

and led back his forces long before night. The next day he set out as

soon as it was light, and following the rumour and the track of the

enemy by forced marches, came up with them not far from Venusia. Here

also an irregular battle took place, in which two thousand of the

Carthaginians were slain. The Carthaginian quitting this place made

for Metapontum, marching by night and over mountainous districts in

order to avoid a battle. Thence Hanno, who commanded the garrison of

that place, was sent into Bruttium with a small party to raise a

fresh army. Hannibal, after adding his forces to his own, went back

to Venusia by the same route by which he came, and proceeded thence

to Canusium. Nero had never quitted the enemy's steps, and when he

himself went to Metapontum, had sent for Quintus Fulvius into Lucania,

lest that region should be left without protection.

43. Meanwhile four Gallic horsemen and two Numidians, who were sent to

Hannibal with a letter from Hasdrubal, after he had retired from the

siege of Placentia, having traversed nearly the whole length of Italy

through the midst of enemies, while following Hannibal as he was

retiring to Metapontum, were taken to Tarentum by mistaking the roads;

where they were seized by some Roman foragers, who were straggling

through the fields, and brought before the proprietor, Caius Claudius.

At first they endeavoured to baffle him by evasive answers, but

threats of applying torture being held out to them, they were

compelled to confess the truth; when they fully admitted that they

were the bearers of a letter from Hasdrubal to Hannibal. They were

delivered into the custody of Lucius Virginius, a military tribune,

together with the letter sealed as it was, to be conveyed to the

consul Claudius. At the same time two troops of Samnites were sent

with them as an escort. Having made their way to the consul, the

letter was read by means of an interpreter, and the captives were

interrogated; when Claudius, coming to the conclusion that the

predicament of the state was not such as that her generals should

carry on the war, each within the limits of his own province, and with

his own troops, according to the customary plans of warfare, and with

an enemy marked out for him by the senate, but that some unlooked

for and unexpected enterprise must be attempted, which, in its

commencement, might cause no less dread among their countrymen than

their enemies, but which, when accomplished, might convert their

great fear into great joy, sent the letter of Hasdrubal to Rome to the

senate; and at the same time informed the conscript fathers what his

intentions were; and recommended that, as Hasdrubal had written to his

brother that he should meet him in Umbria, they should send for the

legion from Capua to Rome, enlist troops at Rome, and oppose the city

forces to the enemy at Narnia. Such was his letter to the senate.

Messengers were sent in advance through the territory of Larinum,

Marrucia, Frentana, and Praetutia, where he was about to march his

army, with orders that they should all bring down from their farms and

towns to the road-side provisions ready dressed for the soldiers to

eat; and that they should bring out horses and other beasts of burden,

so that those who were tired might have plenty of conveyances. He then

selected the choicest troops out of the whole army of the Romans and

allies, to the amount of six thousand infantry and one thousand horse;

and gave out that he intended to seize on the nearest town in Lucania

and the Carthaginian garrison in it, and that they should all be

in readiness to march. Setting out by night he turned off towards

Picenum, and making his marches as long as possible, led his troops to

join his colleague, having left Quintus Catius, lieutenant-general, in

command of the camp.

44. At Rome the alarm and consternation were not less than they had

been two years before, when the Carthaginian camp was pitched over

against the Roman walls and gates; nor could people make up their

minds whether they should commend, or censure, this so bold march of

the consul. It was evident that the light in which it would be viewed

would depend upon its success; than which nothing can be more unfair.

They said, "that the camp was left near to the enemy, Hannibal,

without a general, and with an army from which all the flower and

vigour had been withdrawn; and that the consul had pretended an

expedition into Lucania, when he was in reality going to Picenum and

Gaul, leaving his camp secured only by the ignorance of the enemy, who

were not aware that the general and part of his army were away. What

would be the consequence if that should be discovered, and Hannibal

should think proper either to pursue Nero with his whole army, who

had gone off with only six thousand armed men, or to assault the camp,

which was left as a prey for him, without strength, without command,

without auspices?" The disasters already experienced in the war,

the deaths of two consuls the preceding year, augmented their fears.

Besides, all these events had occurred "when there was only one

general and one army of the enemy in Italy; whereas now they had

two Punic wars, two immense armies, and in a manner two Hannibals

in Italy, inasmuch as Hasdrubal was descended from the same father,

Hamilcar, was a general equally enterprising, having been trained in

a Roman war during so many years in Spain, and rendered famous by a

double victory, having annihilated two armies with two most renowned

generals. For he could glory even more than Hannibal himself, on

account of the celerity with which he had effected his passage out

of Spain, and his success in stirring up the Gallic nations to arms,

inasmuch as he had collected an army in those very regions in which

Hannibal lost the major part of his soldiers by famine and cold, the

most miserable modes of death." Those who were experienced in the

events which had occurred in Spain, added, that "he would not have to

engage with Caius Nero, the general, as an unknown person, whom, when

accidentally caught in a difficult defile, he had eluded and baffled

like a little child, by drawing up fallacious terms of peace." Under

the dictation of fear, which always puts the worst construction upon

things, they magnified all the advantages which the enemy possessed,

and undervalued their own.

45. When Nero had got such a distance from the enemy that his plan

might be disclosed without danger, he briefly addressed his soldiers,

observing, that "there never was a measure adopted by any general

which was in appearance more daring than this, but in reality more

safe. That he was leading them on to certain victory. For as his

colleague had not set out to prosecute the war which he conducted,

until forces both of horse and foot had been assigned to him by the

senate to his own satisfaction, and those greater and better equipped

than if he had been going against Hannibal himself, that they would,

by joining him, however small the quantity of force which they might

add, completely turn the scale. That when it was only heard in the

field of battle (and he would take care that it should not be heard

before) that another consul and another army had arrived, it would

insure the victory. That rumour decided war; and that the most

inconsiderable incidents had power to excite hope and fear in the

mind. That they would themselves reap almost the entire glory which

would be obtained if they succeeded, for it was invariably the case

that the last addition which is made is supposed to have effected the

whole. That they themselves saw with what multitudes, what admiration,

and what good wishes of men their march was attended." And, by

Hercules, they marched amid vows, prayers, and commendations, all the

roads being lined with ranks of men and women, who had flocked there

from all parts of the country. They called them the safeguards of the

state, the protectors of the city and empire of Rome. They said that

the safety and liberty of themselves and their children were treasured

up in their arms and right hands. They prayed to all the gods and

goddesses to grant them a prosperous march, a successful battle, and a

speedy victory over their enemies; and that they might be bound to

pay the vows which they had undertaken in their behalf; so that as

now they attended them off with anxiety, go after a few days' interval

they might joyfully go out to meet them exulting in victory. Then

they severally and earnestly invited them to accept, offered them,

and wearied them with entreaties, to take from them in preference to

another, whatever might be requisite for themselves or their cattle.

They generously gave them every thing in abundance, while the soldiers

vied with each other in moderation, taking care not to accept any

thing beyond what was necessary for use. They did not make any delay

nor quit their ranks when taking food; they continued the march day

and night, scarcely giving as much to rest as was necessary to the

requirements of the body. Messengers were also despatched in advance

to his colleague, to inform him of his approach, and to ask whether

he wished that he should come secretly or openly, by day or night,

whether they should lodge in the same or different camps. It appeared

most advisable that they should come into the camp secretly by night.

46. A private signal was sent through the camp by the consul

Livius, that each tribune should receive a tribune, each centurion a

centurion, each horseman a horseman, each foot-soldier a foot-soldier;

for it was not expedient that the camp should be enlarged, lest the

enemy should discover the arrival of the other consul, while the

crowding together of several persons, who would have their tents in a

confined place, would be attended with less inconvenience, because the

army of Claudius had brought with them on their expedition scarcely

any thing except their arms. Claudius, on the very march, had

augmented his numbers by volunteers; for not only veteran soldiers,

who had completed their period of service, but young men also offered

themselves without solicitation; and, as they vied with each other in

giving in their names, he had enlisted those whose personal appearance

and bodily strength seemed fit for military service. The camp of the

other consul was near Sena, and Hasdrubal's position was about five

hundred paces from it. Nero, therefore, when he was now drawing near,

halted under cover of the mountains, in order that he might not enter

the camp before night. Having entered when all was still, they

were severally conducted into their tents by the men of their own

description, where they were hospitably entertained with the utmost

joy on the part of all. The next day a council was held, at which

Lucius Porcius Licinus, the praetor, was present. He had his camp

joined to that of the consuls, and before their arrival, by leading

his army along the heights, sometimes occupying narrow defiles that he

might intercept his passage, at other times harassing his troops while

marching by attacking their flank or rear, he had baffled the enemy by

all the arts of war. This man was, on the present occasion, one of

the council. Many inclined to the opinion that an engagement should

be deferred till Nero had recruited his soldiers, who were weary with

marching and watching, and had employed a few days in acquiring a

knowledge of his enemy. Nero urged, not only by persuasion, but with

the most earnest entreaties, "that they would not render rash by delay

that measure of his which despatch had made safe. That Hannibal, who

lay in a state of torpid inactivity in consequence of a delusion which

would not continue long, had neither attacked his camp, left as it was

without a leader, nor had directed his course in pursuit of him. That

the army of Hasdrubal might be annihilated, and he might retire into

Apulia before he stirred a step. The man who by delay gave time to the

enemy both betrayed the camp to Hannibal, and opened a way to him

into Gaul, so that he might effect a junction with Hasdrubal at his

leisure, and when he pleased. That they ought to give the signal for

battle instantly, and march out into the field, and take advantage of

the delusion of their enemies present and absent, while neither those

were aware that they had fewer, nor these that they had more and

stronger forces to encounter." On the breaking up of the council the

signal for battle was displayed, and the troops immediately led into

the field.

47. The Carthaginians were already standing before their camp in

battle-array. This circumstance delayed the battle: Hasdrubal, who

had advanced before the line with a few horsemen, remarked some old

shields among the enemy, which he had not seen before, and some horses

leaner than the rest their numbers also appeared greater than usual.

Suspecting therefore, what was really the case, he hastily sounded

a retreat, and sent a party to the river from which they got their

water, where some of them might be intercepted, and notice taken

whether there were perchance any there whose complexions were more

than ordinarily sun-burnt, as from a recent march. At the same time he

ordered a party to ride round the camp at a distance, and note whether

the rampart was extended in any part, and also observe whether the

signal sounded once or twice. Having received a report of all these

particulars, the fact of the camp's not being enlarged led him into

error. There were now two camps, as there were before the other consul

arrived, one belonging to Marcus Livius, the other to Lucius Porcius,

and to neither of them had any addition been made to give more room

for the tents. But the veteran general, who was accustomed to a Roman

enemy, was much struck by their reporting that the signal sounded once

in the praetor's camp, and twice in the consul's; there must therefore

be two consuls, and felt the most painful anxiety as to the manner

in which the other had got away from Hannibal. Least of all could he

suspect, what was really the case, that he had got away from Hannibal

by deceiving him to such an extent, as that he knew not where the

general was, and where the army whose camp stood opposite to his own.

Surely, he concluded, deterred by a defeat of no ordinary kind, he has

not dared to pursue him; and he began to entertain the most serious

fears that he had himself come too late with assistance, now that

affairs were desperate, and lest the same good fortune attended the

Roman arms in Italy which they had experienced in Spain. Sometimes

he imagined that his letter could not have reached him, and that, it

having been intercepted, the consul had hastened to overpower him.

Thus anxious and perplexed, having put out the fires, he issued a

signal at the first watch to collect the baggage in silence, and gave

orders to march. In the hurry and confusion occasioned by a march

by night, their guides were not watched with sufficient care and

attention. One of them stopped in a place of concealment which he had

beforehand fixed upon in his mind, the other swam across the river

Metaurus, at a ford with which he was acquainted. The troops, thus

deserted by their guides, at first wandered up and down through the

fields; and some of them, overpowered with sleep, and fatigued with,

watching, stretched themselves on the ground here and there, leaving

their standards thinly attended. Hasdrubal gave orders to march along

the bank of the river until the light should discover the road; but,

pursuing a circuitous and uncertain course along the turnings and

windings of that tortuous river, with the intention of crossing it

as soon as the first light should discover a place convenient for

the purpose he made but little progress; but wasting the day in a

fruitless attempt to discover a ford, for the further he went from the

sea the higher he found the banks which kept the river in its course,

he gave the enemy time to overtake him.

48. First Nero arrived with the whole body of his cavalry, then

Porcius came up with him, with the light infantry. And while these

were harassing his weary troops on every side, and charging them, and

the Carthaginian, stopping his march, which resembled a flight, was

desirous of encamping on an eminence, on the bank of the river, Livius

came up with all his foot forces, not after the manner of troops on

march, but armed and marshalled for immediate action. When they had

united all their forces, and the line was drawn out, Claudius took

the direction of the battle in the right wing, Livius in the left; the

management of the centre was given to the praetor. Hasdrubal, when he

saw that an engagement was inevitable, giving over the fortification

of a camp, placed his elephants in the front line, before the

standards; on either side these he placed in the left wing the Gauls

to oppose Claudius, not so much from any confidence he reposed in

them, as because he believed them to be dreaded by the enemy; the

right wing he took to himself against M. Livius, together with the

Spaniards, in whom, as being veteran troops, he placed his greatest

hopes. Behind the elephants, in the centre, the Ligurians were posted;

but his line was rather long than deep. The Gauls were covered by

a hill, which extended in front. That part of the line which was

occupied by the Spaniards, engaged the left wing of the Romans, the

whole of whose right wing, extending beyond the line of battle, was

unengaged. The hill before them prevented their making an attack

either in front or flank. Between Livius and Hasdrubal a furious

contest arose, and the slaughter on both sides was dreadful. Here were

both generals, here the major part of the Roman horse and infantry,

here the Spaniards, veteran troops, and experienced in the Roman

manner of fighting, and the Ligurians, a nation inured to war. The

elephants were also driven to the same place which, on the first

onset, disordered the van, and had made even dislodged the standards;

but afterwards, the contest growing hotter, and the shout increasing,

they became less submissive to their riders, and ranged to and fro

between the two lines, as if not knowing to which side they belonged,

like ships floating about without rudders. Claudius, when he had

striven in vain to advance up the hill, repeatedly calling out to his

soldiers, "To what purpose then have we performed so long a march with

such expedition?" when he found it impossible to make his way to the

enemy in that quarter, withdrawing several cohorts from the right

wing, where he saw they would occupy an inactive station, rather than

join in the fight, led them round the rear of the line, and, to the

surprise not only of the enemy but his own party, charged their right

flank; and such was their rapidity, that after showing themselves on

their flank, they almost immediately made an attack on their rear.

Thus on all sides, in front, flank, and rear, the Spaniards and

Ligurians were cut to pieces; and now the carnage had even reached the

Gauls. Here the least opposition was found; for a great number of them

had quitted their standards, having slunk off during the night, and

laid themselves down to sleep up and down the fields, while even those

who were present, being tired with marching and watching, for their

bodies are most intolerant of fatigue, could scarcely carry their arms

upon their shoulders. And now it was mid-day, and thirst and heat gave

them over to the enemy to be killed or captured in multitudes.

49. More elephants were killed by their guides than by the enemy. They

used to have with them a workman's knife, with a mallet. When these

beasts began to grow furious, and attack their own party, the rider,

placing this knife between the ears, just on the joint by which the

neck is connected with the head, used to drive it in, striking it with

all the force he could. This was found to be the most expeditious mode

of putting these bulky animals to death, when they had destroyed all

hope of governing them. This method was first practised by Hasdrubal,

a general whose conduct both frequently on other occasions, and

especially in this battle, deserved to be recorded. By encouraging the

men when fighting, and sharing equally in every danger, he kept up

the battle. Sometimes by entreating, at other times by rebuking,

the troops, when tired and indisposed to fight from weariness and

over-exertion, he rekindled their spirits. He called back the flying,

and restored the battle in many places when it had been given up. At

length, when fortune decidedly declared for the Romans, lest he should

survive so great an army which had been collected under the influence

of his name, he put spurs to his horse and rushed upon a Roman cohort,

where he fell fighting, as was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and the

brother of Hannibal. At no time during that war were so many of the

enemy slain in one battle; so that a defeat equal to that sustained at

Cannae, whether in respect of the loss of the general or the troops,

was considered to have been retorted upon him. Fifty-six thousand of

the enemy were slain, five thousand four hundred captured. The other

booty was great, both of every other kind, and also of gold and

silver. In addition to the rest, there were recovered above four

thousand Roman citizens, who had been taken by the enemy, which formed

some consolation for the soldiers lost in that battle. For the victory

was by no means bloodless. Much about eight thousand of the Romans

and the allies were slain; and so completely were even the victors

satiated with blood and slaughter, that the next day, when Livius the

consul received intelligence that the Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians,

who had either not been present at the battle or had made their escape

from the carnage, were marching off in one body without a certain

leader, without standards, without any discipline or subordination;

that if one squadron of horse were sent against them they might be

all destroyed, he replied, "Let some survive to bear the news of the

enemy's losses and of our valour."

50. Nero set out on the night following the battle, and marching at

a more rapid rate than when he came, arrived at his camp before the

enemy on the sixth day. As he was not preceded by a messenger, fewer

people attended him on the march; but the joy felt was so great, that

they were almost insane with delight. Neither state of feeling at Rome

can be well described or told, whether that in which the citizens were

when in doubtful expectation of the issue, or when they received the

intelligence of victory. Every day, from the time that news arrived

that the consul Claudius had set out, from sun-rise to sun-set, none

of the senators ever quitted the senate-house, or did the people

depart from the forum. The matrons, as they had themselves no means

of affording assistance, had recourse to prayers and entreaties,

and going about to all the temples, wearied the gods with vows and

supplications. While the city was in this state of solicitude and

suspense, a vague report first arrived that two Narnian horsemen had

come from the field of battle into the camp which stood as a defence

in the entrance to Umbria, with intelligence that the enemy were cut

to pieces. At first they rather heard than credited this news, as

being too great and too joyful for the mind to take in, or obtain a

firm belief. Even the very rapidity with which it had arrived formed

an obstacle to its reception; for it was stated that the battle took

place two days before. After this a letter was brought which had been

sent by Lucius Manlius Acidinus, from his camp, on the subject of the

arrival of the Narnian horsemen. This letter being conveyed through

the forum to the tribunal of the praetor, drew the senators out of the

senate-house; and with such eagerness and hurry did the people

crowd to the doors of the senate-house, that the messenger could not

approach, but was dragged off by persons who asked him questions, and

demanded vociferously that the letter should be read on the rostrum

before it was read in the senate. At length they were put back

and restrained by the magistrates; and thus the joy was gradually

dispensed to their overpowered spirits. The letter was read first in

the senate, and then in the assembly of the people. The effect was

various, according to the difference in the cast of men's minds, some

thinking that there were already sure grounds for rejoicing, while

others would place no confidence in the news, till they listened to

ambassadors, or a letter from the consuls.

51. After this, news came that the ambassadors themselves were on the

point of arriving. Then, indeed, people of all ages ran to meet them,

each man being eager to be the first to receive an assurance of such

joyful tidings, by the evidence of his eyes and ears. One continued

train extended as far as the Mulvian bridge. The ambassadors,

Lucius Veturius Philo, Publius Licinius Varus, and Quintus Caecilius

Metellus, made their way into the forum, surrounded by a crowd

of persons of every description; when some asked the ambassadors

themselves, others their attendants, what had been done; and, as soon

as each had heard that the army and general of the enemy had been

cut off, that the Roman legions were safe, and the consuls unhurt, he

immediately imparted the joyful intelligence to others, imparting to

them the joy he felt himself. Having with difficulty made their way

into the senate-house, and the crowd with still more difficulty being

removed, that they might not mix with the fathers, the letter was

read in the senate; after which the ambassadors were brought into

the general assembly. Lucius Veturius Philo, after reading the letter

himself, gave a more explicit account of all that had occurred, amidst

great approbation, and at last of general shouting from the assembly,

while their minds could scarcely contain their joy. They then ran off

in various directions, some to the different temples of the gods,

to return thanks, others to their homes, to impart the joyful

intelligence to their wives and children. The senate decreed a

supplication for three days, because Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius,

the consuls, had cut off the general and legions of the enemy, their

own army being safe. This supplication Caius Hostilius, the praetor,

proclaimed in the assembly, and was celebrated both by men and women.

During the whole three days all the temples were uniformly crowded,

whilst the matrons, dressed in their richest robes, and accompanied

by their children, just as though the war had been brought to a

conclusion, and free from every apprehension, offered thanksgivings

to the immortal gods. This victory produced an alteration also in the

condition of the state, so that immediately from this event, just as

though it had been a time of peace, men were not afraid to do business

with each other, buying, selling, lending, and paying borrowed money.

Caius Claudius, the consul, on his return to his camp, ordered the

head of Hasdrubal, which he had carefully kept and brought with him,

to be thrown before the advanced guards of the enemy, and the African

prisoners to be shown to them bound just as they were. Two of these

also he unbound, and bid them go to Hannibal and tell him what had

occurred. Hannibal, smitten by such severe distress, at once public

and domestic, is said to have declared that he recognised the destiny

of Carthage; and decamping thence with the intention of drawing

together into Bruttium, the remotest corner of Italy, all his

auxiliaries which he could not protect when widely scattered, removed

into Bruttium the whole state of the Metapontines, summoned away from

their former habitations, and also such of the Lucanians as were under

his authority.