I. Poseidonius tells us that Marcus Claudius, who was five times
consul of the Roman people, was the son of Marcus, and was the first
of his family to receive the name of Marcellus, which means warlike.
Indeed, by his experience he became a thorough soldier; his body was
strong, and his arm powerful. He was fond of war, and bore himself
with a lordly arrogance in battle, though otherwise he was of a quiet
and amiable disposition, fond of Greek culture and literature, to the
extent of respecting and admiring those who knew it, though he from
his want of leisure could not make such progress as he wished. For the
Roman chiefs of that period were, if any men ever were, condemned, in
the words of Homer,
"From youth to age, disastrous wars to wage."[12]
In their youth they fought the Carthaginians on the Sicilian coast; in
middle age they fought the Gauls in defence of Italy itself; when
advanced in years they again contended with Hannibal and the
Carthaginians, not, as common men do, obtaining any relief from
constant service because of their old age, but ever urged by their
courage and nobility of soul to accept the command in new campaigns.
II. Marcellus was practised in all forms of battle, but was especially
skilful in single combat, so that he never declined any man's
challenge, and slew all who challenged him. In Sicily he saved the
life of his brother Otacilius when in great peril, by holding his
shield over him and killing his assailants. For this conduct, young as
he was, he received crowns[13] and rewards from the generals, and as
he grew in reputation was elected _curule ædile_ by the people, and
augur by the priests. This is a kind of priestly office, to which the
law especially assigns the observance of auguries drawn from the
flight of birds. During his tenure of the office of ædile, he was
obliged, much against his will, to commence a law-suit. He had a son
of his own name, in the bloom of youth, of great beauty, and equally
with it admired by his countrymen for his modesty and education.
Capitolinus, Marcellus's colleague, a licentious and reckless man,
made disgraceful proposals to this lad. He first repelled his attacks
alone, but on a second attempt told his father, and Marcellus, being
much enraged, summoned the man before the Senate. He attempted many
quibbles and subterfuges, and appealed to the tribunes of the people
to support him, but as they refused his application he betook himself
to pleading denial of the charge. There being no witnesses of what he
had said, the Senate decided to send for the boy, and when they saw
how he blushed and wept with a modesty mingled with unquenchable rage,
they, without requiring any other proof, found Capitolinus guilty, and
condemned him to pay a fine, with which Marcellus had silver libation
vessels made, and consecrated them to the gods.
III. After twenty-two years the first Punic War came to an end, and
the Romans turned their attention to Gaulish troubles. The Insubrians,
a Celtic tribe dwelling in Italy at the foot of the Alps, powerful by
themselves, were collecting other forces, and enrolling all those
Gauls who fought for hire, called Gæsatæ.
It was a wonderful and fortunate circumstance that this Celtic war did
not break out at the same time as that with Carthage, but that the
Gauls, like the gladiator who waits to fight with the survivor of a
pair of combatants, had remained quiet during the whole of that war,
and now stepped forward and challenged the victors when they were at
leisure. Yet the war caused much terror, because it would take place
on their own frontier against their neighbour states, and because of
the ancient reputation of the Gauls, whom the Romans seem to fear more
than any other nation. They once lost their city at their hands, and
afterwards passed a law that the priests should be exempt from all
military service, except in case of another war with Gaul. Their alarm
was shown both by their preparations (for it is said that never before
or since were there so many thousand Romans under arms), and by their
extraordinary sacrifices. For though they never observe the barbarous
ceremonies of foreigners, but as far as possible are humane and like
the Greeks in their religion, on the outbreak of this war they were
compelled to follow certain prophecies in the Sibylline books, and
bury alive two Greeks, a man and a woman, and likewise two Gauls, in
the place called the Cattle Market: and in accordance with these
prophecies they still up to this day in the month of November perform
religious mysteries, which may not be seen or spoken of by either
Greeks or Gauls.
IV. At the beginning of the war the Romans were some times victorious
and sometimes defeated, without coming to any decisive action, until
the consulate of Flaminius and Furius, who led a great army against
the Insubrians. Then the river that passes through Picenum ran blood,
and it was said that three moons were seen at the city of Ariminum,
and the augurs, who watch the omens at the consular elections,
declared that the appointment of these consuls was wrong and of evil
omen for the people. Hereupon the Senate immediately sent despatches
to the camp recalling the consuls, that they might as soon as possible
return and lay down their office and so undertake nothing as consuls
against the enemy. Flaminius, when he received these despatches, did
not open them before he had routed the barbarians in battle and
overrun their country. So when he returned to Rome loaded with spoil,
the people did not go out to meet him, but, because he had not at once
obeyed his orders, and had treated them with insolent contempt, very
nearly refused him his triumph, and after the triumph reduced him to a
private station, forcing both him and his colleague to give up their
office. So much regard had the Romans for religion, that they would
not on occasions of the greatest good fortune overlook any neglect of
the prophecies and customs of their ancestors, holding it more
important for the safety of the state that their generals should
reverence the gods than that they should conquer the enemy.
V. As an example of this, Tiberius Sempronius, a man second to no one
in Rome for courage and virtue, named as his successors when consul
Scipio Nasica and Caius Marcius, and when they were actually in
possession of their provinces and armies he happened to consult a book
of sacred ritual, and found in it an old custom which he did not know
before. It was to this effect. When a consul has hired a house or tent
outside the city to watch the flight of birds, if he be obliged before
any certain omen appears, to return to the city for what cause soever,
he must give up the place which he hired and take another, and make
his observation over again from the beginning. This, it seems,
Tiberius did not know, and it was after using the same place twice
that he named these men consuls. Afterwards, having discovered his
error, he laid the matter before the Senate; and that body did not
despise this apparently slight irregularity, but sent despatches to
the men, who at once left their provinces, returned to Rome, and
resigned their office. Now this happened in later times; but in the
very times of which we write two men of the best family were deprived
of the priesthood: Cornelius Cethegus, because he handled the entrails
improperly at a sacrifice, and Quintus Sulpicius, because when he was
sacrificing, the crested hat which he wore as flamen, fell off his
head. And because, when Minucius the dictator was appointing Caius
Flaminius his master of the knights, the mouse which is called the
coffin-mouse was heard to squeak, they turned them out of their
office, and elected others. But, though so elaborately careful in
trifles, they never admitted any superstitious observance, and neither
altered nor added anything to their ancestral ritual.
VI. When Flaminius and his colleague had resigned their offices,
Marcellus was designated consul by the interreges.[14] On entering
upon his office he nominated Cnæus Cornelius as his colleague. It was
said that the Gauls were offering terms of reconciliation, and that
the Senate wished for peace with them, but that Marcellus raised the
spirit of the people and excited them to continue the war. But still a
peace was concluded; and it seems to have been the Gæsatæ who renewed
the war, by crossing the Alps and stirring up the Insubrians. Thirty
thousand in number, they joined that tribe, which was many times
larger, and in high spirits at once attacked Acerræ, a city beyond the
river Po. From that place Britomartus with ten thousand Gæsatæ
proceeded to plunder the country near the Po.
Marcellus hearing this left his colleague before Acerræ with the
infantry, heavy baggage, and one-third of the cavalry, and himself,
with the rest of the cavalry and about six hundred of the most active
foot soldiers, marched night and day till he fell in with the ten
thousand Gæsatæ at Clastidium, a Gaulish village which not long before
had been subject to the Romans. There was no time for rest or
refreshment; for his arrival was at once perceived by the enemy, and
his force despised, as he had so little infantry with him, for the
Celts thought nothing of his cavalry. Admirable horsemen and proud of
their superior skill, they also had greatly the advantage of Marcellus
in numbers, and at once, their king riding foremost, charged the
Romans with great impetuosity and terrible threats, expecting to sweep
them away. Marcellus, fearing that they might surround and outflank
his small body, spread out his cavalry, thinning and widening his
line, until he presented a front nearly equal to that of the enemy. He
was now advancing to the charge, when his horse, scared at the
terrible display of the enemy, turned short round, and forcibly
carried him back. Marcellus, fearing that this might cause
superstitious terror to the Romans, hastily wheeled his horse round on
the bridle hand, and having again directed him against the enemy, paid
his adorations to the sun, as though he had made this circle not by
chance, but of set purpose; for the Romans have this custom, of
turning round to worship the gods, and so he, as he was on the point
of joining battle, vowed that he would consecrate the finest of the
enemies' arms to Jupiter Feretrius.
VII. At this moment the king of the Gauls, seeing him, and
conjecturing from his dress that he was the Roman leader, rode out far
beyond the rest, and made directly for him, defiantly shouting a
challenge, and brandishing his spear. He was a man distinguished from
the rest of the Gauls by his tall stature and his complete armour,
which glittered like the lightning with gold and silver and all kinds
of gay devices with which it was incrusted. Marcellus, as he looked
along the enemy's line, thought that these were the finest arms, and
were those about which he had made his vow to Jupiter Feretrius. He
rushed upon the Gaul, pierced his breastplate with his spear, and by
the impetus of his horse bore him to the ground alive, and with a
second and third thrust killed him at once. Leaping from his horse and
seizing the armour of the dead man, he said, looking up to heaven,
"Jupiter Feretrius, thou that seest the great deeds of generals and
captains in war, I call thee to witness that I am the third Roman
general that has slain the enemy's general and king, by killing this
man here with my own hand: and having killed him I consecrate to thee
the first and fairest of the spoils. But do thou grant us like good
fortune in the rest of this war."
Hereupon the Roman cavalry charged, not against cavalry by itself, but
they fought against infantry and cavalry mixed together, and won a
victory of an unparalleled and wonderful kind; for never before or
since that day did such a body of horsemen rout such numbers of horse
and foot.
Having slain the greater part of them, and collected their arms and
stores, he returned to his colleague, who was with difficulty holding
his own against the Celts before the walls of the largest and most
populous of Gaulish cities. It is called Mediolanum, and is regarded
by the Cisalpine Gauls as their metropolis: consequently they fought
vigorously in its defence, and more besieged Cornelius than were
besieged by him. But when Marcellus arrived, the Gæsatæ, as soon as
they heard of the defeat and death of their king, went home.
Mediolanum fell, and the Celts of their own accord surrendered the
other cities, and threw themselves upon the mercy of the Romans. They
received moderate terms of peace.
VIII. By a decree of the Senate Marcellus alone triumphed. His
procession was glorious, as few others have been, with the splendour
and value of the booty exhibited, and the great stature of the
captives; but the strangest and most interesting sight of all was the
general himself, as he appeared carrying the suit of armour of the
Gaul to offer it to the god. He had cut and trimmed the trunk of a
tall young oak tree, and had tied and hung the spoils upon it, each
put in its proper place. When the procession began, he himself mounted
his chariot and four, and carried in state through the city, this the
most glorious of all his trophies of victory. The army marched after
him with their finest armour, singing as they went songs and pæans of
victory in honour of the gods and their leader. Thus he proceeded till
he reached the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Here he dismounted, and
dedicated his spoils, being the third, and, up to our day, the last
who ever did so: first comes Romulus, with the spoils of Acron of
Cæninum; second, Cornelius Cossus offered the spoils of Tolumnius the
Etruscan; third, Marcellus offered these spoils of Britomartus, the
king of the Gauls; after Marcellus, no man.
The god to whom they are offered is called Jupiter Feretrius,
according to some, from the trophy being carried upon a _feretrum_, or
bier, as it is called in the Greek tongue, which then was much mixed
with the Latin; but according to others, it is an attribute of Jupiter
the Thunderer, for the Romans call striking _ferire_. Others say that
the name comes from striking the enemy; for even now in battle when
they are pursuing the enemy they keep shouting, "_Feri_," that is,
"Strike," to one another. The word for ordinary spoils is _spolia_,
but for these _spolia opima_. Yet it is said that Numa Pompilius
speaks of first, second, and third degrees of _spolia opima_, ordering
the first to be offered to Jupiter Feretrius, the second to Mars, and
the third to Quirinus; and that for the first the prize is three
hundred ases, two hundred for the second, and one hundred for the
third. But the most common story runs that those spoils alone are
_spolia opima_ which are taken at a pitched battle, and first of all,
and by the general of the one side from the general of the other. But
of these things enough.
The Roman people were so overjoyed at that victory and the end of the
war that they made from the money paid to ransom captives, a golden
statue, and sent it to Apollo at Delphi as a thank-offering, and gave
a magnificent share of the booty to their allies, and even sent many
presents to Hiero the king of Syracuse, their friend and ally.
IX. When Hannibal invaded Italy, Marcellus was sent with an army to
Sicily: but when the disaster at Cannæ took place, where many thousand
Romans perished, and only a few fugitives collected at Canusium, it
was expected that Hannibal would at once march to attack Rome, as he
had cut off the greater part of the army. Marcellus at once sent a
garrison of fifteen hundred men to guard the city, and afterwards, in
obedience to a senatus-consultum, went to Canusium, and taking command
of the fugitives collected there, led them out of their fortified
camp, to show that he would not deliver up the country to the enemy.
The Romans had lost many of their most capable leaders in the wars,
and Fabius Maximus, who had the greatest reputation, was blamed by
them for sloth and want of enterprise because of his excessive caution
in avoiding a defeat. Thinking, therefore, that he was an excellent
general for defence, not for attack, they cast their eyes upon
Marcellus, and in order to combine his vigour and daring with the
cautious and far-seeing tactics of the other, they at one time elected
them both consuls, at another made the one consul with the other
serving as proconsul. Poseidonius tells us that Fabius was called the
shield of the state, and Marcellus the sword. And Hannibal himself
said that he feared Fabius as a schoolmaster, but regarded Marcellus
as an antagonist, for the former prevented his doing any mischief,
while the latter might make him suffer some.
X. At first Hannibal's soldiers, elated with their victory, roamed
with careless confidence out of their camp and plundered the country;
where Marcellus fell upon them, and by a series of defeats
considerably weakened them. Next, he went to Naples and Nola. At
Naples he encouraged the citizens, who of their own accord wished
well to the Roman cause; but at Nola he found the city in a state of
faction, as the senate were unable to restrain the populace, who
favoured Hannibal. There was one Bandius, a man of the first nobility
of the city, and renowned for bravery. This man had fought at Cannæ
with conspicuous valour, and had slain many Carthaginians. When after
the battle he was found in a heap of slain with his body pierced with
darts, Hannibal, in admiration of his courage, not only dismissed him
without ransom, but gave him presents and made him a personal friend.
Bandius, out of gratitude, was one of the most eager partisans of
Hannibal, and, having great influence with the people, was urging them
to revolt. Marcellus thought that it would be a crime to put to death
a man of such glorious antecedents, and who had taken part in one of
the greatest struggles of the Romans; and, besides his natural
kindliness, being able by his conversation to win over any man of
noble nature, he on one occasion when greeted by Bandius inquired who
he might be, though he knew very well, but merely wanted a pretext and
opportunity for conversation with him. For, when he answered, "Lucius
Bandius," Marcellus, as though surprised and pleased, said, "Are you
indeed that Bandius, of whom all those who fought at Cannæ told us at
Rome, the only man who did not desert Paulus Æmilius the consul, but
who received upon his own body the greater part of the darts which
were aimed at him?" Bandius admitted that he was the man, and
endeavoured to speak lightly of his wounds, but Marcellus went on:
"Then, as you bear about you such marks of your devotion to our cause,
why did you not at once come to me? Do you think us slow to requite
the valour of our friends, when it is honoured even by the enemy."
Having spoken to him thus courteously, he embraced him, and presented
him with a war-horse and five hundred silver drachmas.
XI. After this Bandius became the firmest partisan and ally of
Marcellus, and a terrible denouncer and assailant of the opposite
party. This was a numerous one; and their design was, when the Romans
should march out of the town against the enemy, to attack their
baggage. Marcellus, therefore, having marshalled his troops within
the city, brought the baggage to the gates, and by proclamation
forbade the people of Nola to approach the walls. Thus no force was
visible, and he induced Hannibal to march up to the city in disorderly
array, as he supposed that within it all was confusion. Then Marcellus
ordered the gate nearest him to be thrown open, and with the best
equipped of his cavalry charged out of it and fell upon the enemy hand
to hand. Presently the infantry poured out of another gate, running
with loud shouts; and while Hannibal was dividing his forces to deal
with them a third gate opened, and from it issued the remainder of the
army, and from all sides attacked the Carthaginians, who were
bewildered at the unexpectedness of the attack, and fought without
spirit against their immediate assailants, because of the others who
they saw would soon beset them.
There first did Hannibal's troops give way before the Romans, and were
chased with great loss into their camp. It is said that more than five
thousand perished, and that no more than five hundred Romans fell. But
Livy does not consider that a great defeat took place, or that so many
of the enemy fell, but he points out that Marcellus gained much glory
by that battle, and that the Roman people took courage after their
misfortunes, thinking that it was not against an unconquerable and
invulnerable foe that they were fighting, but one who could be made to
suffer as well as themselves.
XII. For this reason, as one of the consuls was dead, the people
called for Marcellus, though he was absent, to become his successor;
and in spite of the efforts of the government they put off the day of
election until he came to Rome from the army. He was elected consul by
the votes of all the tribes, but it thundered at the time, and as the
priests declared this an unpropitious omen, but did not dare openly to
oppose his election for fear of the people, he himself voluntarily
resigned his office. But he did not avoid military service, but was
created proconsul, and returning to Nola and his army he harassed
those who had chosen the side of Hannibal. When the latter hastily
marched to the assistance of his friends, and offered to fight a
pitched battle with Marcellus, he declined; but subsequently, when the
greater part of the Carthaginian army was scattered in search of
plunder, and no longer expecting an attack, he fell upon it. He had
distributed long lances, such as are used on ship-board, among his
infantry, and instructed them to watch their opportunity and hurl
these from a distance at the Carthaginians, who had no javelin-men,
and whose heavy spears were only used to thrust with at close
quarters. In consequence, it seems, of this, all who engaged with the
Romans that day turned their backs and shamefully fled, losing five
thousand killed, six hundred prisoners; while of their elephants, four
were killed and two taken alive. And, what was of the greatest
importance of all, on the third day after the above battle, three
hundred Spanish and Numidian cavalry deserted to the Romans, a thing
which never had happened to Hannibal before, as, although his army was
composed of so many different nations, he had been able for a very
long time to inspire it with the same spirit. These men faithfully
served Marcellus and the generals who succeeded him.
XIII. Marcellus, when elected consul for the third time, sailed to
Sicily; for Hannibal's successes in the war had encouraged the
Carthaginians to recover that island, especially as Syracusan politics
were in a disturbed state in consequence of the death of the despot
Hieronymus; and on this account a Roman army under Appius had already
been sent there. When Marcellus had taken the command of this army, he
received a large accession of Roman soldiers, whose misfortune was as
follows. Of the troops who fought with Hannibal at Cannæ, some fled,
and some were taken alive, in such numbers that the Romans scarcely
thought that they had left sufficient citizens to man the city walls,
but this remnant was so full of pride and so great of soul, that,
though Hannibal offered to release the captives for a small ransom,
they would not take them, but refused by a decree of the Senate, and
endured to see some of them put to death, and others sold out of Italy
as slaves. The mass of those who had saved themselves by flight they
sent to Sicily, with orders not to set foot on the soil of Italy until
the war with Hannibal was over. So when Marcellus went to Sicily,
these men came in a body into his presence, and falling on the ground
before him besought him to permit them to serve as honourable
soldiers, promising with cries and tears that they would prove by
their actions that it was more by their bad fortune than their
cowardice that the defeat at Cannæ took place. Marcellus was touched
with compassion, and wrote to the Senate asking to be allowed to fill
up from these men the vacancies which would occur in the ranks of his
army. Much discussion followed; and at last the Senate decreed that
Rome did not require the services of cowardly citizens, but, if
Marcellus nevertheless wished to make use of them, they must not
receive any of the crowns and other rewards which are commonly
bestowed by generals as the prizes of valour. This decree vexed
Marcellus, and after the war in Sicily he returned to Rome and blamed
the Senate that, in spite of all that he had done for them, they would
not allow him to relieve so many citizens from such a miserable
position.
XIV. In Sicily, at this time, he had just cause of complaint against
Hippokrates the Syracusan general, who, favouring the Carthaginian
side, and wishing to establish himself as despot, put to death many
Romans at Leontini. Marcellus took Leontini by storm, and did no harm
to the inhabitants, but flogged and executed all the deserters whom he
found. Hippokrates first sent to Syracuse a story that Marcellus was
exterminating the people of Leontini, and when this report had thrown
the city into confusion he fell upon it and made himself master of it.
Marcellus hereupon proceeded to Syracuse with his whole army, and
encamping near the city sent ambassadors to tell them what had really
happened in Leontini. By this, however, he gained nothing, as the
Syracusans would not listen to him (for the party of Hippokrates was
in the ascendant). He now attacked the city both by sea and land,
Appius commanding the land forces, while Marcellus directed a fleet of
sixty quinqueremes[15] full of armed men and missile weapons. He
raised a vast engine upon a raft made by lashing eight ships together,
and sailed with it to attack the wall, trusting to the numbers and
excellence of his siege engines, and to his own personal prestige.
But Archimedes and his machines cared nothing for this, though he did
not speak of any of these engines as being constructed by serious
labour, but as the mere holiday sports of a geometrician. He would not
indeed have constructed them but at the earnest request of King Hiero,
who entreated him to leave the abstract for the concrete, and to bring
his ideas within the comprehension of the people by embodying them in
tangible forms.
Eudoxus and Archytas were the first who began to treat of this
renowned science of mechanics, cleverly illustrating it, and proving
such problems as were hard to understand, by means of solid and actual
instruments, as, for instance, both of them resorted to mechanical
means to find a mean proportional, which is necessary for the solution
of many other geometrical questions. This they did by the
construction, from various curves and sections, of certain instruments
called mesographs. Plato was much vexed at this, and inveighed against
them for destroying the real excellence of geometry by making it leave
the region of pure intellect and come within that of the senses, and
become mixed up with bodies which require much base servile labour. So
mechanics became separated from geometry, and, long regarded with
contempt by philosophy, was reckoned among the military arts. However
Archimedes, who was a relative and friend of Hiero, wrote that with a
given power he could move any given weight whatever, and, as it were
rejoicing in the strength of his demonstration, he is said to have
declared that if he were given another world to stand upon, he could
move this upon which we live. Hiero wondered at this, and begged him
to put this theory into practice, and show him something great moved
by a small force. Archimedes took a three-masted ship, a transport in
the king's navy, which had just been dragged up on land with great
labour and many men; in this he placed her usual complement of men and
cargo, and then sitting at some distance, without any trouble, by
gently pulling with his hand the end of a system of pullies, he
dragged it towards him with as smooth and even a motion as if it were
passing over the sea. The king wondered greatly at this, and
perceiving the value of his arts, prevailed upon Archimedes to
construct for him a number of machines, some for the attack and some
for the defence of a city, of which he himself did not make use, as he
spent most of his life in unwarlike and literary leisure, but now
these engines were ready for use in Syracuse, and also, the inventor
was present to direct their working.
XV. So when the Romans attacked by sea and land at once, the
Syracusans were at first terrified and silent, dreading that nothing
could resist such an armament. But Archimedes opened fire from his
machines, throwing upon the land forces all manner of darts and great
stones, with an incredible noise and violence, which no man could
withstand; but those upon whom they fell were struck down in heaps,
and their ranks thrown into confusion, while some of the ships were
suddenly seized by iron hooks, and by a counter-balancing weight were
drawn up and then plunged to the bottom. Others they caught by irons
like hands or claws suspended from cranes, and first pulled them up by
their bows till they stood upright upon their sterns, and then cast
down into the water, or by means of windlasses and tackles worked
inside the city, dashed them against the cliffs and rocks at the base
of the walls, with terrible destruction to their crews. Often was seen
the fearful sight of a ship lifted out of the sea into the air,
swaying and balancing about, until the men were all thrown out or
overwhelmed with stones from slings, when the empty vessel would
either be dashed against the fortifications, or dropped into the sea
by the claws being let go. The great engine which Marcellus was
bringing up on the raft, called the Harp, from some resemblance to
that instrument, was, while still at a distance, struck by a stone of
ten talents weight, and then another and another, which fell with a
terrible crash, breaking the platform on which the machine stood,
loosening its bolts, and tearing asunder the hulks which supported it.
Marcellus, despairing of success, drew off his ships as fast as
possible, and sent orders to the land forces to retreat. In a council
of war, it was determined to make another assault by night; for they
argued that the straining cords which Archimedes used to propel his
missiles required a long distance to work in, and would make the shot
fly over them at close quarters, and be practically useless, as they
required a long stroke. But he, it appears, had long before prepared
engines suited for short as well as long distances, and short darts to
use in them; and from many small loop-holes pierced through the wall
small scorpions, as they are called, stood ready to shoot the enemy,
though invisible to them.
XVI. When then they attacked, expecting that they would not be seen,
they again encountered a storm of blows from stones which fell
perpendicularly upon their heads and darts which were poured from all
parts of the wall. They were forced to retire, and when they came
within range of the larger machines missiles were showered upon them
as they retreated, destroying many men and throwing the ships into
great disorder, without their being able to retaliate. For most of the
engines on the walls had been devised by Archimedes, and the Romans
thought that they were fighting against gods and not men, as
destruction fell upon them from invisible hands.
XVII. However, Marcellus escaped unhurt, and sarcastically said to his
own engineers: "Are we to give in to this Briareus of a geometrician,
who sits at his ease by the seashore and plays at upsetting our ships,
to our lasting disgrace, and surpasses the hundred-handed giant of
fable by hurling so many weapons at us at once?" For indeed all the
other Syracusans were merely the limbs of Archimedes, and his mind
alone directed and guided everything. All other arms were laid aside
and the city trusted to his weapons solely for defence and safety. At
length Marcellus, seeing that the Romans had become so scared that if
only a rope or small beam were seen over the wall they would turn and
fly, crying out that Archimedes was bringing some engine to bear upon
them, ceased assaulting the place, and trusted to time alone to reduce
it. Yet Archimedes had so great a mind and such immense philosophic
speculations that although by inventing these engines he had acquired
the glory of a more than human intellect, he would not condescend to
leave behind him any writings upon the subject, regarding the whole
business of mechanics and the useful arts as base and vulgar, but
placed his whole study and delight in those speculations in which
absolute beauty and excellence appear unhampered by the necessities of
life, and argument is made to soar above its subject matter, since by
the latter only bulk and outward appearance, but by the other accuracy
of reasoning and wondrous power, can be attained: for it is impossible
in the whole science of geometry to find more difficult hypotheses
explained on clearer or more simple principles than in his works. Some
attribute this to his natural genius, others say that his
indefatigable industry made his work seem as though it had been done
without labour, though it cost much. For no man by himself could find
out the solution of his problems, but as he reads, he begins to think
that he could have discovered it himself, by so smooth and easy a road
does he lead one up to the point to be proved. One cannot therefore
disbelieve the stories which are told of him: how he seemed ever
bewitched by the song of some indwelling syren of his own so as to
forget to eat his food, and to neglect his person, and how, when
dragged forcibly to the baths and perfumers, he would draw geometrical
figures with the ashes on the hearth, and when his body was anointed
would trace lines on it with his finger, absolutely possessed and
inspired by the joy he felt in his art. He discovered many beautiful
problems, and is said to have begged his relatives and friends to
place upon his tomb when he died a cylinder enclosing a sphere, and to
write on it the proof of the ratio of the containing solid to the
contained.
XVIII. Such was Archimedes, who at this time rendered himself, and as
far as lay in him, the city, invincible.
During the blockade Marcellus took Megara, one of the most ancient of
the Greek cities in Sicily, and also captured Hippokrates' camp at
Acrillæ, with a destruction of more than eight thousand of his men,
attacking them just as they were planting the palisades of the
rampart. He overran a great part of Sicily, induced cities to revolt
from Carthage, and beat all forces that opposed him. As time went on,
he took prisoner one Damippus, a Spartan, as he was sailing out of
the harbour of Syracuse. The Syracusans desired to ransom this man,
and Marcellus, in the course of many negotiations and conferences
about him, noticed that a certain tower was carelessly guarded, and
that men might be introduced into it secretly, as the wall near it was
easy to climb. Having, from his frequent journeys to confer with the
besieged near this tower, gained a good idea of its height, he
prepared scaling-ladders, and waited till the Syracusans were engaged
in celebrating the feast of Artemis, and given up to drinking and
amusement. Not only did he gain the tower unobserved, but was able to
occupy the whole circuit of wall with his troops, and to break into
the Hexapylon.[16] When the Syracusans began to discover their
position and muster for their defence, he ordered trumpets to sound on
all sides, which produced great terror and tumult, as they imagined
that no part of the walls remained untaken. Yet the strongest, and
that too the largest and finest part of the city, was still left,
called Achradina, because it is fortified on the side near the outer
town, part of which is called Neapolis, and part Tyche.
XIX. These parts of the city were captured, and at daybreak Marcellus
moved down through the Hexapylon, amidst the congratulations of his
officers. It is said that when, from the high ground he surveyed that
great and fair city, he burst into tears, thinking how sadly it would
soon be changed in appearance when sacked by his soldiers. For none of
his officers dared to oppose the soldiers when they demanded the
privilege of plunder, and many encouraged them to burn and destroy.
But Marcellus would not so much as entertain the idea of this, but,
much against his will, was forced to permit them to carry off the
movable property and slaves, though he forbade them to touch freemen,
and gave strict orders that none of the citizens of Syracuse should be
slain, dishonoured, or enslaved. Yet even after moderating their
license to this extent he thought that the city was sadly ill-treated,
and even in such a moment of triumph he showed great sorrow and
sympathy for it, as he saw such great wealth and comfort swept away in
a few hours; for the treasure was said to be not less than that which
was afterwards taken in Carthage itself. The rest of the city was
taken after a short time by treachery, and the soldiers insisted upon
plundering it, with the exception of the royal treasury, which was
confiscated to the state.
Marcellus was especially grieved at the fate of Archimedes. He was
studying something by himself upon a figure which he had drawn, to
which he had so utterly given up his thoughts and his sight that he
did not notice the assault of the Romans and the capture of the city,
and when a soldier suddenly appeared before him and ordered him to
follow him into the presence of Marcellus, he refused to do so before
he had finished his problem and its solution. The man hereupon in a
rage drew his sword and killed him. Others say that the Roman fell
upon him at once with a sword to kill him, but he, seeing him, begged
him to wait for a little while, that he might not leave his theorem
imperfect, and that while he was reflecting upon it, he was slain. A
third story is that as he was carrying into Marcellus's presence his
mathematical instruments, sundials, spheres, and quadrants, by which
the eye might measure the magnitude of the sun, some soldiers met with
him, and supposing that there was gold in the boxes, slew him. But all
agree that Marcellus was much grieved, that he turned away from his
murderer as though he were an object of abhorrence to gods and men,
and that he sought out his family and treated them well.
XX. The Romans up to this time had given foreign nations great proofs
of their skill in war and their courage in battle, but had not shown
any evidences of kindness of heart, clemency, or any social virtue.
Marcellus seems to have been the first who exhibited the Romans in a
more amiable light to the Greeks. For he so dealt with his
adversaries, and treated so many individuals and cities with kindness
that even if any harsh treatment did befall Enna, or Megara, or
Syracuse, it was thought to be more by the fault of the vanquished
than of the victors. I will mention one instance out of many. There is
a city in Sicily called Engyion, of no great size, but very ancient,
and renowned for the appearance there of the goddesses called
'Mothers.' The foundation of the temple is ascribed to the Cretans,
and they used to show certain lances and helmets inscribed, some with
the name of Meriones, some of Ulixes, that is, Odysseus, which were
dedicated to these goddesses. This city was eager to espouse the
Carthaginian side, but was prevailed upon by one Nikias, the leading
man of the city, to join the Romans, by freely speaking his mind in
the public assembly and proving that his opponents did not consult the
true interests of the state. These men, fearing his power and high
reputation, determined to kidnap him, and deliver him up to the
Carthaginians. Nikias, discovering this plot, quietly took measures
for his own security, but publicly made unseemly speeches about the
"Mothers," and spoke of the received tradition of their appearance
with doubt and contempt, to the delight of his enemies, as he seemed
to be by these actions justifying the treatment which they meant to
inflict upon him. When all their preparations for seizing him were
complete there was a public assembly of the citizens, and Nikias, in
the midst of a speech upon state policy, suddenly fell to the ground,
and after a short time, as all men were, naturally, silent with
surprise, he raised his head, and turning it round he began to speak
in deep and trembling tones, which he gradually made shriller and more
intense, until, seeing the whole theatre, where the meeting was,
silent with horror, he threw off his cloak, tore his tunic, and, half
naked, rushed to the gate of the theatre, crying out that he was
pursued by the "Mothers." As no one dared to touch or stop him, from
fear of the gods, but all made way for him, he passed out of the city
gate, not omitting any of the cries and trembling of body of a person
under demoniacal possession. His wife, who was in the secret, and her
husband's confederate, first brought her children and prostrated
herself as a suppliant before the goddesses, and then under pretence
of seeking her wandering husband managed to leave the city without
opposition. Thus they safely reached Marcellus at Syracuse; and when,
after enduring many affronts and insolent proceeding from the people
of Engyion Marcellus took them all prisoners, and imprisoned them,
meaning to put them all to death, Nikias at first stood by weeping,
but at length, embracing Marcellus as a suppliant, he begged for the
lives of his countrymen, beginning with his own personal enemies,
until he relented, and set them all at liberty. Nor did he touch their
city, but gave Nikias ample lands and rich presents. This story is
told by Poseidonius the philosopher.
XXI. When the Romans recalled Marcellus, to conduct the war in their
own country, he removed most of the beautiful ornaments of the city of
Syracuse, to be admired at his triumphal procession, and to adorn
Rome. For at that time Rome neither possessed nor knew of any works of
art, nor had she any delicacy of taste in such matters. Filled with
the blood-stained arms and spoils of barbarians, and crowded with
trophies of war and memorials of triumphs, she was no pleasant or
delightful spectacle, fit to feed the eyes of unwarlike and luxurious
spectators, but, as Epameinondas called the plain of Bœotia "the Stage
of Ares," and Xenophon called Ephesus "the Workshop of War," so, in my
opinion, you might call Rome at that time, in the words of Pindar,
"the Domain of Ares, who revels in war." Wherefore Marcellus gained
the greater credit with the vulgar, because he enriched the city with
statues possessing the Hellenic grace and truth to nature, while
Fabius Maximus was more esteemed by the elders. He neither touched nor
removed anything of the kind from the city of Tarentum, which he took,
but carried off all the money and other property, and let the statues
remain, quoting the proverb: "Let us," said he, "leave the Tarentines
their angry gods." They blamed Marcellus's proceedings as being
invidious for Rome, because he had led not only men, but also gods as
captives in his triumph, and also because the people, who before this
were accustomed either to fight or to till the ground, and were
ignorant of luxury and indolent pleasures, like the Herakles of
Euripides,
"Unpolished, rough, but skilled in useful arts,"
were made by Marcellus into idle, babbling connoisseurs of the fine
arts, and wasted the greater part of the day in talk about them. He,
however, prided himself upon this even before Greeks, saying that he
had taught the ignorant Romans to prize and admire the glories of
Greek art.
XXII. Marcellus, whose enemies opposed his claim to a triumph, on the
ground that the campaign in Sicily was not completely finished, and
that he did not deserve a third triumph, so far gave way as to lead
the greater triumphal procession as far as the Alban Mount, and only
to enter the city in the lesser form which the Greeks call _euan_, and
the Romans an _ovation_. The general conducts this, not, as in the
triumph, riding in a chariot and four with a crown of laurel, and with
trumpets sounding before him, but walking on foot in low shoes
surrounded by flute players, and crowned with myrtle, so as to look
unwarlike and joyous rather than terrible. And this is a great proof
to me that in old times it was the manner and not the importance of
the things achieved that settled the form of triumph. Those generals
who had gained their point by battle and slaughter probably made their
entry in that martial and terrible fashion, having, as is customary in
lustrations of armies, crowned the men and wreathed their arms with
abundance of laurel: whereas the generals who without an appeal to
arms had settled matters satisfactorily by negotiation and persuasive
eloquence, were given by custom this peaceful and festive entry into
the city. For the flute is a peaceful instrument, and the myrtle is
the favorite plant of Aphrodite, who above all the gods hates violence
and war. This form of triumph is called ovation, not from the cry of
"Evan," as most people think, for the other also is accompanied with
shouts and songs, but the word had been twisted by the Greeks into one
that has a meaning in their language, and also they are convinced that
some honour is paid to Dionysus in this ceremony, which God we name
Evius and Thriambos. It is curious to observe that the great Laconian
lawgiver arranged the sacrifices differently to those of Rome. In
Sparta those ex-generals who have accomplished their purpose by
persuasion or fraud sacrifice an ox, while those who have done it by
battle offer a cock. For, though warlike to excess, they thought that
a victory gained by clever negotiation was greater and more befitting
human beings than one gained by force and courage. Which is to be
preferred, I leave to my readers' consideration.
XXIII. When Marcellus entered upon his fourth consulship, his enemies
induced the Syracusans to send a deputation to Rome, to complain
loudly to the Senate of the cruel and unjust treatment which they had
received from him. Marcellus chanced to be performing some sacrifice
in the Capitol; so when the Syracusans came to the assembled Senate,
begging for a hearing that justice might be done them, the other
consul stopped them, feeling that Marcellus ought not to be attacked
in his absence. But Marcellus as soon as he heard of it, came to the
Senate-house, seated himself as consul, on the curule chair, and
despatched business; then, when this was finished, he came down and
placed himself as a private person in the place where men on their
trial usually stood, and called on the Syracusans to prove their
charges against him. They were abashed at his majestic confidence of
demeanour, and he who had been invincible in arms seemed to them yet
more terrible and unapproachable in his consular purple. Nevertheless,
encouraged by the enemies of Marcellus, they began their impeachment,
and pleaded their cause in a piteous fashion, their chief point being
that they, who were friends and allies of the Romans, had been treated
in a way in which many other generals had forborne to treat hostile
cities. Marcellus answered that they had done the Romans much harm,
for which they had received no punishment, except such as could not be
prevented in war, because victorious soldiers cannot be restrained
from sacking a town which they have won, and their city, he said, was
taken because they had refused his frequent offers of terms of
agreement. They could not urge that they had been forced into war by
their despots, for they had themselves chosen those very despots with
the intention of going to war. After both parties had been heard, the
Syracusans, according to custom, left the Senate-house. Marcellus came
out with them, leaving his colleague to preside over the assembly, and
stood outside the doors, without altering his usual demeanour, either
from fear of the result or anger against the Syracusans, but serenely
awaiting the verdict of the Senate.
When the question was voted upon, and he was announced successful, the
Syracusans prostrated themselves before him, beseeching him with
tears to put away his anger against themselves, and to show pity on
the city, which was sensible to kindness, and would be grateful to
him. Marcellus was touched by their appeal; he became reconciled to
them, and was a constant benefactor to their city. He restored them
their freedom, their laws, and what remained of their property, and
the Senate confirmed his acts. In return for this, besides many other
honours they passed a law that whenever Marcellus or any of his
descendants should land in Sicily, the Syracusans should wear garlands
of flowers and hold a festival with sacrifices to the gods.
XXIV. Next he proceeded against Hannibal; and whereas nearly all the
other consuls and generals, after the disaster at Cannæ had thought of
nothing but avoiding battles with him, and no one had dared to measure
himself with him in the field, he adopted the opposite course, arguing
that while they fancied that they were wearing out Hannibal's army
they did not perceive that Italy was being consumed by it. Fabius, he
urged, thought too much of safety, and by his policy of waiting, Rome,
already drooping under its burdens, would at the end of the war perish
as well as Hannibal. He was, he said, like those timid surgeons who
shrink from using decisive remedies, and who mistake the sinking
strength of the patient for the abatement of disease. His first act
was to take some important Samnite towns which had revolted. Here he
found great stores of corn and money, and took three thousand of
Hannibal's soldiers who were there as garrison. Next, when Hannibal
defeated and killed Cnæus Fulvius, the proconsul in Apulia, with a
loss of eleven military tribunes and the greater part of his army,
Marcellus sent despatches to Rome, bidding the citizens be of good
courage, for he was already on the march, and would abate Hannibal's
exultation. Livy tells us that these despatches when read did not
diminish the grief of the Romans, but added to their fear, as they
reflected that the risk they were about to run was so much more
serious than the defeat they had sustained, as Marcellus was superior
to Fulvius.
According to his despatch, he instantly marched against Hannibal into
Lucania, and finding him entrenched on some strong hills near the city
of Numistro, he himself encamped in the plain. On the following day he
was the first to draw out his army in battle array. Hannibal descended
from his position, and fought a great and well-contested battle, for
it began at the third hour, and was scarcely over by dark, but without
any decisive result. At daybreak he again led out his army and defied
Hannibal to fight. But Hannibal retired; and Marcellus, after
stripping the corpses of the enemy, and burying his own dead, pursued.
His skill and good fortune were greatly admired in this campaign, as
he did not fall into any of the numerous ambuscades which were
prepared for him by Hannibal, and in all his skirmishes came off
victorious. For this reason, as the comitia were impending, the Senate
thought that it would be better to call the other consul away from
Sicily than to recall Marcellus just as he was thoroughly engaged with
Hannibal. When the other consul arrived, they bade him name Quintus
Fulvius dictator. For a dictator is not chosen by the people or by the
Senate, but one of the consuls or prætors comes forward publicly and
names whom he pleases dictator. And this is the reason that the man so
named is called dictator; for _dicere_ in Latin means to _name_. But
some think that the dictator is so called because he does not require
any vote or show of hands, but on his own responsibility dictates his
orders; indeed, the orders of magistrates which are called by the
Greeks _diatagmata_, are called _edicts_ by the Romans.
XXV. When Marcellus's colleague came to Rome from Sicily, he wished to
name another person dictator, and, that he might not be forced to act
against his inclination, he sailed away by night back to Sicily. Under
these circumstances the people nominated Quintus Fulvius dictator, and
the Senate wrote to Marcellus bidding him vote for this person. He did
so, confirming the choice of the people, and was himself elected
proconsul for the following year. After a conference with Fabius
Maximus, at which it was arranged that the latter should make an
attempt on Tarentum, while Marcellus should constantly engage Hannibal
and so prevent his affording the town any assistance, he set out, and
came upon Hannibal near Canusium. Hannibal frequently shifted his
camp, and tried to avoid a battle, but Marcellus was not to be shaken
off, and at length attacked his position, and by skirmishing provoked
him to fight. Marcellus sustained his attack, and the battle was put
an end to by night. Next morning his troops were again beheld under
arms, so that Hannibal in great anxiety called together the
Carthaginians and besought them to fight as they had never done
before. "You see," said he, "that even after our great victories, we
cannot rest in peace, unless we drive away this fellow." The armies
met; and Marcellus seems to have lost the day by an unseasonable
manœuvre. His right wing was suffering, and he ordered up one of the
legions to support it; but this change produced confusion in the
ranks, and gave the victory to the enemy, with a loss of two thousand
seven hundred men to the Romans. Marcellus, after retiring to his
fortified camp, called together his soldiers, and reproached them,
saying that he saw before him the arms and bodies of many Romans, but
not one true Roman. They begged forgiveness, but he answered that he
could not forgive them when defeated, but would forgive them if
victorious. On the morrow he said that he would renew the battle, in
order that the Romans might hear of their victory before they heard of
their defeat. After these words he gave orders that the troops which
had given way should be supplied with rations of barley instead of
corn; which had such an effect upon them, that although many were
suffering from the hurts in the battle, yet, there was not one who did
not suffer more from the reproaches of Marcellus than from his wounds.
XXVI. At daybreak the scarlet robe, the well known signal of battle,
was displayed from the general's tent. The disgraced troops, at their
own request, were placed in the first rank; the rest of the army
followed under their officers. Hannibal hearing of this exclaimed:
"Hercules! What can one do with a man who knows not how to bear either
good or bad fortune. This is the only general who, when victorious
allows his foe no rest, and when defeated takes none himself. We shall
always, it seems, have to be fighting this man, who is equally excited
to attack by his confidence when victor, and his shame when
vanquished."
In the battle the men on each side were fighting on equal terms, when
Hannibal ordered his elephants to be brought into the front rank and
to attack the Roman lines. Great tumult and disturbance was produced
by this, but one of the tribunes, by name Flavius, seizing a standard,
stood his ground, and struck the first elephant with the spiked end of
the staff, till he forced him to turn back. He then attacked the next
one, and those that followed. Marcellus, seeing this, ordered his
cavalry to ride as fast as they could to the scene of the confusion
and complete the rout of the enemy. They charged briskly and pursued
the flying Carthaginians, cutting them down up to their very camp.
Great havoc was wrought by the wounded elephants among them; and in
all, over eight thousand are said to have perished. Of the Roman force
three thousand were killed, and almost all the survivors were wounded,
which circumstance enabled Hannibal to leave his camp by night
unmolested, and remove himself from the neighbourhood of Marcellus;
for Marcellus could not pursue, because of the number of wounded, but
marched in a leisurely manner towards Campania, and passed the summer
at Sinuessa, recruiting the health of his soldiers.
XXVII. Hannibal, after he had thus torn himself free from Marcellus,
sent his army to plunder Italy as recklessly as though it were
disbanded; and in Rome Marcellus was ill spoken of. His enemies
induced Publius Bibulus, a clever and violent partisan, to attack him.
This man frequently addressed assemblies of the people and urged them
to transfer the command to another general, since "Marcellus," he
said, "after a little sparring with the enemy had gone to the hot
baths to refresh himself as if after a gymnastic contest." Marcellus,
hearing of this, left the army in charge of his legates, and went to
Rome to clear his reputation from these slanders; but, in consequence
of them he found that he was to undergo a trial. A day was fixed; the
people assembled in the Circus Flaminius; Bibulus rose and impeached
him. Marcellus spoke shortly and simply in his own defence, but the
highest and noblest citizens spoke at great length in his praise,
calling on the people not to show themselves by their vote worse
judges of war than Hannibal, who was always as eager to avoid fighting
with Marcellus, as he was to fight with other generals. After these
speeches had been delivered the accuser was proved to be so far wrong
in his impeachment, that Marcellus was not only honourably acquitted,
but actually elected consul for the fifth time.
XXVIII. On assuming his office, he first put down an insurrectionary
movement in Etruria, by visiting the various towns and using
conciliatory language; after this, he wished to consecrate a temple,
which he had built out of the spoils of Sicily, to Glory and Valour,
but being prevented by the priests on the ground that two gods could
not be included in one temple, he began to build another one, being
very much vexed at the opposition he encountered, but influenced by
omens: for he was disturbed at this time by many portentous
occurrences, such as several temples being struck by lightning, and
the gold in the temple of Jupiter being gnawed by the mice. It was
also reported that an ox had spoken with a human voice, and that a
child had been born with the head of an elephant--so the priests kept
him in Rome to conduct the expiatory rites and atonements for these,
though he was fretting and eager to take the field; for no man ever
was so passionately desirous of anything as he was to measure himself
with Hannibal in battle. His one dream by night, his only talk to his
friends and colleagues, his sole prayer to the gods was that he might
meet Hannibal in a fair field. I believe that he would most willingly
have enclosed both armies within a wall or palisade, and there have
fought out the quarrel. Had it not been that he was now loaded with
honours, and had given proofs of his superiority in wisdom and conduct
to any other general, men would have said that he showed a more boyish
ambition than befitted a man of his age; for he was over sixty years
old when he entered upon his fifth consulship.
XXIX. However, when he had completed the necessary sacrifices and
purifications enjoined by the soothsayers, he took the field with his
colleague, and harassed Hannibal much in the country between the towns
of Bantia and Venusia. Hannibal declined battle, but, learning that a
force was detached from the Roman army to attack the Epizephyrian
Lokrians, he laid an ambuscade on the mountain near Petelia, and
defeated them with a loss of two thousand five hundred men. This
excited Marcellus, and he led his forces nearer to those of Hannibal.
There was between the two camps a hill of some strength as a military
post, overgrown with wood. Its sloping sides afforded a view of either
camp, and upon them appeared the sources of several mountain streams.
The Romans were surprised at Hannibal, that, having had the first
choice of so excellent a position as this, he had not occupied it, but
left it to the enemy. It seems that he indeed thought it a good place
to encamp in, but much better to lay an ambuscade in; and, wishing to
use it rather for this purpose, he filled the woods and glens with
javelin-men and spearmen, persuaded that the place itself would, from
its excellent qualities, attract the Romans into it. Nor was he
deceived in this expectation; for at once there was much talk in the
Roman army about the necessity of occupying the hill, and men pointed
out the advantages which would be gained over the enemy by encamping
on it, or if necessary, by fortifying it. Now Marcellus determined to
ride forward with a few horsemen and reconnoitre it, so he sent for a
soothsayer and offered sacrifice. When the first victim was slain, the
soothsayer showed him that the liver had no head. On sacrificing for
the second time the head appeared of unusual size, while all the other
organs were excellent, and this seemed to set at rest the fear which
had been caused by the former. Yet the soothsayers said that they were
even more disturbed and alarmed at this; for when after very bad and
menacing victims unusually excellent ones appear, the sudden change is
itself suspicious. But
"Not fire, not walls of iron can hinder fate,"
as Pindar says. Marcellus rode forth with his colleague Crispinus and
his son, who was military tribune, in all two hundred and twenty
horsemen. Of these none were Romans; they were Etruscans, with the
exception of twenty men from Fregellæ, who had given constant proofs
of their courage and devotion to Marcellus. On the overhanging crest
of the woody hill, a man, unseen by the Romans, was watching their
army. He signalled to the men in ambush what was going on, so that
they permitted Marcellus to ride close to them, and then suddenly
burst out upon him, and surrounding his little force on all sides,
struck and threw their darts, pursued such as ran away, and fought
with those who stood their ground. These were the twenty Fregellans.
The Etruscans at the outset ran away panic-stricken; but these men
forming together defended the consuls until Crispinus, struck by two
darts, galloped away, and Marcellus was pierced through the side with
a lance. Then even the few survivors of the Fregellans left him lying
there, and snatching up his son, who was wounded, made their way back
to the camp. The loss amounted to little over forty killed, and five
lictors and eighteen horsemen taken. Crispinus, after a few days, died
of his wounds. Such a misfortune as this, losing both consuls in one
battle, never before befel the Romans.
XXX. Hannibal heard of the fate of all the rest with indifference, but
when he was told that Marcellus had fallen he himself hastened to the
place, and stood for a long time beside the corpse, admiring its
strength and beauty. He made no boastful speech, and showed no joy in
his countenance, as a man who had slain a troublesome and dangerous
enemy, but, wondering at the strangeness of his ending, he drew the
ring from the dead man's finger, and had the corpse decently attired
and burned. The relics he gathered into a silver urn, upon which he
placed a golden crown, and sent it to Marcellus's son. But on the way
some Numidians fell in with the party who were escorting the urn, and
while they tried to take it away and the others struggled to retain
it, the bones were scattered on the ground. Hannibal, on hearing of
this, said, "Nothing can be done against the will of heaven." He
ordered the Numidians to be punished, but took no further thought
about collecting or sending away the relics of Marcellus, concluding
that some god had decreed the strange death and strange lack of burial
which had befallen him. This is the story related by Cornelius Nepos
and Valerius Maximus, but Livy and Augustus Cæsar declare that the urn
was brought to his son, and that it was splendidly buried. Besides
his monuments at Rome there was a gymnasium at Katana in Sicily which
bore his name, and statues and votive tablets from the plunder of
Syracuse were set tip in Samothrace in the temple of the gods called
Kabeiri, and in Lindus (in Rhodes) in the temple of Athena.
On his statue there, according to Poseidonius, these verses are
written:
"This monument, O stranger, doth enshrine
Marcellus, of the famous Claudian line,
Who seven times was consul, and in fight
His country's foes o'erthrew and put to flight."
For the writer of this epitaph counted his two proconsulates as well
as his five consulates. His family remained one of the chief in Rome
down to the time of Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus, who was the son
of Octavia, Augustus's sister, and Caius Marcellus. He died in the
office of ædile while yet a bridegroom, having just married Augustus's
daughter Julia. In honour of his memory his mother Octavia established
a library, and Augustus built a theatre, both of which bore his name.