30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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 _asses_ 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.

34. 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."

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. "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."

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. 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.

44. 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."

45. 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.

46. 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.

47. 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.

48. 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.

49. 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.

50. 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.

51. 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.

52. 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.

53. 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.

54. 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.

55. 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."

56. 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."

57. 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.

58. 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.

59. 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."

60. 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."

61. 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.