FABIUS

Having related the memorable actions of Pericles, our history now

proceeds to the life of Fabius. A son of Hercules and a nymph, or some

woman of that country, who brought him forth on the banks of Tiber, was,

it is said, the first Fabius, the founder of the numerous and

distinguished family of the name. Others will have it that they were

first called Fodii, because the first of the race delighted in digging

pitfalls for wild beasts, fodere being still the Latin for to dig, and

fossa for a ditch, and that in process of time, by the change of the two

letters they grew to be called Fabii. But be these things true or

false, certain it is that this family for a long time yielded a great

number of eminent persons. Our Fabius, who was fourth in descent from

that Fabius Rullus who first brought the honorable surname of Maximus

into his family, was also, by way of personal nickname, called

Verrucosus, from a wart on his upper lip; and in his childhood they in

like manner named him Ovicula, or The Lamb, on account of his extreme

mildness of temper. His slowness in speaking, his long labor and pains

in learning, his deliberation in entering into the sports of other

children, his easy submission to everybody, as if he had no will of his

own, made those who judged superficially of him, the greater number,

esteem him insensible and stupid; and few only saw that this tardiness

proceeded from stability, and discerned the greatness of his mind, and

the lionlikeness of his temper. But as soon as he came into

employments, his virtues exerted and showed themselves; his reputed want

of energy then was recognized by people in general, as a freedom of

passion; his slowness in words and actions, the effect of a true

prudence; his want of rapidity, and his sluggishness, as constancy and

firmness.

Living in a great commonwealth, surrounded by many enemies, he saw the

wisdom of inuring his body (nature's own weapon) to warlike exercises,

and disciplining his tongue for public oratory in a style comformable

to his life and character. His eloquence, indeed, had not much of

popular ornament, nor empty artifice, but there was in it great weight

of sense; it was strong and sententious, much after the way of

Thucydides. We have yet extant his funeral oration upon the death of

his son, who died consul, which he recited before the people.

He was five times consul, and in his first consulship had the honor of a

triumph for the victory he gained over the Ligurians, whom he defeated

in a set battle, and drove them to take shelter in the Alps, from whence

they never after made any inroad nor depredation upon their neighbors.

After this, Hannibal came into Italy, who, at his first entrance, having

gained a great battle near the river Trebia, traversed all Tuscany with

his victorious army, and, desolating the country round about, filled

Rome itself with astonishment and terror. Besides the more common signs

of thunder and lightning then happening, the report of several unheard

of and utterly strange portents much increased the popular

consternation. For it was said that some targets sweated blood; that at

Antium, when they reaped their corn, many of the ears were filled with

blood; that it had rained redhot stones; that the Falerians had seen the

heavens open and several scrolls falling down, in one of which was

plainly written, "Mars himself stirs his arms." But these prodigies had

no effect upon the impetuous and fiery temper of the consul Flaminius,

whose natural promptness had been much heightened by his late unexpected

victory over the Gauls, when he fought them contrary to the order of the

senate and the advice of his colleague. Fabius, on the other side,

thought it not seasonable to engage with the enemy; not that he much

regarded the prodigies, which he thought too strange to be easily

understood, though many were alarmed by them; but in regard that the

Carthaginians were but few, and in want of money and supplies, he deemed

it best not to meet in the field a general whose army had been tried in

many encounters, and whose object was a battle, but to send aid to their

allies, control the movements of the various subject cities, and let the

force and vigor of Hannibal waste away and expire, like a flame, for want

of aliment.

These weighty reasons did not prevail with Flaminius, who protested he

would never suffer the advance of the enemy to the city, nor be reduced,

like Camillus in former time, to fight for Rome within the walls of

Rome. Accordingly he ordered the tribunes to draw out the army into the

field; and though he himself, leaping on horseback to go out, was no

sooner mounted but the beast, without any apparent cause, fell into so

violent a fit of trembling and bounding that he cast his rider headlong

on the ground, he was no ways deterred; but proceeded as he had begun,

and marched forward up to Hannibal, who was posted near the Lake

Thrasymene in Tuscany. At the moment of this engagement, there happened

so great an earthquake, that it destroyed several towns, altered the

course of rivers, and carried off parts of high cliffs, yet such was the

eagerness of the combatants, that they were entirely insensible of it.

In this battle Flaminius fell, after many proofs of his strength and

courage, and round about him all the bravest of the army, in the whole,

fifteen thousand were killed, and as many made prisoners. Hannibal,

desirous to bestow funeral honors upon the body of Flaminius, made

diligent search after it, but could not find it among the dead, nor was

it ever known what became of it. Upon the former engagement near

Trebia, neither the general who wrote, nor the express who told the

news, used straightforward and direct terms, nor related it otherwise

than as a drawn battle, with equal loss on either side; but on this

occasion, as soon as Pomponius the praetor had the intelligence, he

caused the people to assemble, and, without disguising or dissembling

the matter, told them plainly, "We are beaten, O Romans, in a great

battle; the consul Flaminius is killed; think, therefore, what is to be

done for your safety." Letting loose his news like a gale of wind upon

an open sea, he threw the city into utter confusion: in such

consternation, their thoughts found no support or stay. The danger at

hand at last awakened their judgments into a resolution to choose a

dictator, who, by the sovereign authority of his office and by his

personal wisdom and courage, might be able to manage the public affairs.

Their choice unanimously fell upon Fabius, whose character seemed equal

to the greatness of the office; whose age was so far advanced as to give

him experience, without taking from him the vigor of action; his body

could execute what his soul designed; and his temper was a happy

compound of confidence and cautiousness.

Fabius, being thus installed in the office of dictator, in the first

place gave the command of the horse to Lucius Minucius; and next asked

leave of the senate for himself, that in time of battle he might serve

on horseback, which by an ancient law amongst the Romans was forbid to

their generals; whether it were, that, placing their greatest strength

in their foot, they would have their commanders-in-chief posted amongst

them, or else to let them know, that, how great and absolute soever

their authority were, the people and senate were still their masters, of

whom they must ask leave. Fabius, however, to make the authority of his

charge more observable, and to render the people more submissive and

obedient to him, caused himself to be accompanied with the full body of

four and twenty lictors; and, when the surviving consul came to visit

him, sent him word to dismiss his lictors with their fasces, the ensigns

of authority, and appear before him as a private person.

The first solemn action of his dictatorship was very fitly a religious

one: an admonition to the people, that their late overthrow had not

befallen them through want of courage in their soldiers, but through the

neglect of divine ceremonies in the general. He therefore exhorted them

not to fear the enemy, but by extraordinary honor to propitiate the

gods. This he did, not to fill their minds with superstition, but by

religious feeling to raise their courage, and lessen their fear of the

enemy by inspiring the belief that Heaven was on their side. With this

view, the secret prophecies called the Sibylline Books were consulted;

sundry predictions found in them were said to refer to the fortunes and

events of the time; but none except the consulter was informed.

Presenting himself to the people, the dictator made a vow before them to

offer in sacrifice the whole product of the next season, all Italy over,

of the cows, goats, swine, sheep, both in the mountains and the plains;

and to celebrate musical festivities with an expenditure of the precise

sum of 333 sestertia and 333 denarii, with one third of a denarius over.

The sum total of which is, in our money, 83,583 drachmas and 2 obols.

What the mystery might be in that exact number is not easy to determine,

unless it were in honor of the perfection of the number three, as being

the first of odd numbers, the first that contains in itself

multiplication, with all other properties whatsoever belonging to

numbers in general.

In this manner Fabius having given the people better heart for the

future, by making them believe that the gods took their side, for his

own part placed his whole confidence in himself, believing that the gods

bestowed victory and good fortune by the instrumentality of valor and of

prudence; and thus prepared he set forth to oppose Hannibal, not with

intention to fight him, but with the purpose of wearing out and wasting

the vigor of his arms by lapse of time, of meeting his want of resources

by superior means, by large numbers the smallness of his forces. With

this design, he always encamped on the highest grounds, where the

enemy's horse could have no access to him. Still he kept pace with

them; when they marched he followed them, when they encamped he did the

same, but at such a distance as not to be compelled to an engagement,

and always keeping upon the hills, free from the insults of their horse;

by which means he gave them no rest, but kept them in a continual alarm.

But this his dilatory way gave occasion in his own camp for suspicion of

want of courage; and this opinion prevailed yet more in Hannibal's army.

Hannibal was himself the only man who was not deceived, who discerned

his skill and detected his tactics, and saw, unless he could by art or

force bring him to battle, that the Carthaginians, unable to use the

arms in which they were superior, and suffering the continual drain of

lives and treasure in which they were inferior, would in the end come to

nothing. He resolved, therefore, with all the arts and subtilties of

war to break his measures, and to bring Fabius to an engagement; like a

cunning wrestler, watching every opportunity to get good hold and close

with his adversary. He at one time attacked, and sought to distract his

attention, tried to draw him off in various directions, endeavored in

all ways to tempt him from his safe policy. All this artifice, though

it had no effect upon the firm judgment and conviction of the dictator.

yet upon the common soldier and even upon the general of the horse

himself, it had too great an operation: Minucius, unseasonably eager

for action, bold and confident, humored the soldiery, and himself

contributed to fill them with wild eagerness and empty hopes, which they

vented in reproaches upon Fabius, calling him Hannibal's pedagogue,

since he did nothing else but follow him up and down and wait upon him.

At the same time, they cried up Minucius for the only captain worthy to

command the Romans; whose vanity and presumption rose so high in

consequence, that he insolently jested at Fabius's encampments upon the

mountains, saying that he seated them there as on a theater, to behold

the flames and desolation of their country. And he would sometimes ask

the friends of the general, whether it were not his meaning, by thus

leading them from mountain to mountain, to carry them at last (having no

hopes on earth) up into heaven, or to hide them in the clouds from

Hannibal's army? When his friends reported these things to the

dictator, persuading him that, to avoid the general obloquy, he should

engage the enemy, his answer was, "I should be more fainthearted than

they make me, if, through fear of idle reproaches, I should abandon my

own convictions. It is no inglorious thing to have fear for the safety

of our country, but to be turned from one's course by men's opinions, by

blame, and by misrepresentation, shows a man unfit to hold an office

such as this, which, by such conduct, he makes the slave of those whose

errors it is his business to control."

An oversight of Hannibal occurred soon after. Desirous to refresh his

horse in some good pasture-grounds, and to draw off his army, he ordered

his guides to conduct him to the district of Casinum. They, mistaking

his bad pronunciation, led him and his army to the town of Casilinum, on

the frontier of Campania which the river Lothronus, called by the Romans

Vulturnus, divides in two parts. The country around is enclosed by

mountains, with a valley opening towards the sea, in which the river

overflowing forms a quantity of marsh land with deep banks of sand, and

discharges itself into the sea on a very unsafe and rough shore. While

Hannibal was proceeding hither, Fabius, by his knowledge of the roads,

succeeded in making his way around before him, and dispatched four

thousand choice men to seize the exit from it and stop him up, and

lodged the rest of his army upon the neighboring hills in the most

advantageous places; at the same time detaching a party of his lightest

armed men to fall upon Hannibal's rear; which they did with such

success, that they cut off eight hundred of them, and put the whole army

in disorder. Hannibal, finding the error and the danger he was fallen

into, immediately crucified the guides; but considered the enemy to be

so advantageously posted, that there was no hopes of breaking through

them; while his soldiers began to be despondent and terrified, and to

think themselves surrounded with embarrassments too difficult to be

surmounted.

Thus reduced, Hannibal had recourse to stratagem; he caused two thousand

head of oxen which he had in his camp, to have torches or dry fagots

well fastened to their horns, and lighting them in the beginning of the

night, ordered the beasts to be driven on towards the heights commanding

the passages out of the valley and the enemy's posts; when this was

done, he made his army in the dark leisurely march after them. The oxen

at first kept a slow, orderly pace, and with their lighted heads

resembled an army marching by night, astonishing the shepherds and herds

men of the hills about. But when the fire had burnt down the horns of

the beasts to the quick, they no longer observed their sober pace, but,

unruly and wild with their pain, ran dispersed about, tossing their

heads and scattering the fire round about them upon each other and

setting light as they passed to the trees. This was a surprising

spectacle to the Romans on guard upon the heights. Seeing flames which

appeared to come from men advancing with torches, they were possessed

with the alarm that the enemy was approaching in various quarters, and

that they were being surrounded; and, quitting their post, abandoned the

pass, and precipitately retired to their camp on the hills. They were

no sooner gone, but the light-armed of Hannibal's men, according to his

order, immediately seized the heights, and soon after the whole army,

with all the baggage, came up and safely marched through the passes.

Fabius, before the night was over, quickly found out the trick; for some

of the beasts fell into his hands; but for fear of an ambush in the

dark, he kept his men all night to their arms in the camp. As soon as

it was day, he attacked the enemy in the rear, where, after a good deal

of skirmishing in the uneven ground, the disorder might have become

general, but that Hannibal detached from his van a body of Spaniards,

who, of themselves active and nimble, were accustomed to the climbing of

mountains. These briskly attacked the Roman troops who were in heavy

armor, killed a good many, and left Fabius no longer in condition to

follow the enemy. This action brought the extreme of obloquy and

contempt upon the dictator; they said it was now manifest that he was

not only inferior to his adversary, as they had always thought, in

courage, but even in that conduct, foresight, and generalship, by which

he had proposed to bring the war to an end.

And Hannibal, to enhance their anger against him, marched with his army

close to the lands and possessions of Fabius, and, giving orders to his

soldiers to burn and destroy all the country about, forbade them to do

the least damage in the estates of the Roman general, and placed guards

for their security. This, when reported at Rome, had the effect with

the people which Hannibal desired. Their tribunes raised a thousand

stories against him, chiefly at the instigation of Metilius, who, not so

much out of hatred to him as out of friendship to Minucius, whose

kinsman he was, thought by depressing Fabius to raise his friend. The

senate on their part were also offended with him, for the bargain he had

made with Hannibal about the exchange of prisoners, the conditions of

which were, that, after exchange made of man for man, if any on either

side remained, they should be redeemed at the price of two hundred and

fifty drachmas a head. Upon the whole account, there remained two

hundred and forty Romans unexchanged, and the senate now not only

refused to allow money for the ransoms, but also reproached Fabius for

making a contract, contrary to the honor and interest of the

commonwealth, for redeeming men whose cowardice had put them in the

hands of the enemy. Fabius heard and endured all this with invincible

patience; and, having no money by him, and on the other side being

resolved to keep his word with Hannibal and not to abandon the captives,

he dispatched his son to Rome to sell land, and to bring with him the

price, sufficient to discharge the ransoms; which was punctually

performed by his son, and delivery accordingly made to him of the

prisoners, amongst whom many, when they were released, made proposals to

repay the money; which Fabius in all cases declined.

About this time, he was called to Rome by the priests, to assist,

according to the duty of his office, at certain sacrifices, and was thus

forced to leave the command of the army with Minucius; but before he

parted, not only charged him as his commander-in-chief, but besought and

entreated him, not to come, in his absence, to a battle with Hannibal.

His commands, entreaties, and advice were lost upon Minucius; for his

back was no sooner turned but the new general immediately sought

occasions to attack the enemy. And notice being brought him that

Hannibal had sent out a great part of his army to forage, he fell upon a

detachment of the remainder, doing great execution, and driving them to

their very camp, with no little terror to the rest, who apprehended

their breaking in upon them; and when Hannibal had recalled his

scattered forces to the camp, he, nevertheless, without any loss, made

his retreat, a success which aggravated his boldness and presumption,

and filled the soldiers with rash confidence. The news spread to Rome,

where Fabius, on being told it, said that what he most feared was

Minucius's success: but the people, highly elated, hurried to the forum

to listen to an address from Metilius the tribune, in which he

infinitely extolled the valor of Minucius, and fell bitterly upon

Fabius, accusing him for want not merely of courage, but even of

loyalty; and not only him, but also many other eminent and considerable

persons; saying that it was they that had brought the Carthaginians into

Italy, with the design to destroy the liberty of the people; for which

end they had at once put the supreme authority into the hands of a

single person, who by his slowness and delays might give Hannibal

leisure to establish himself in Italy, and the people of Carthage time

and opportunity to supply him with fresh succors to complete his

conquests

Fabius came forward with no intention to answer the tribune, but only

said, that they should expedite the sacrifices, that so he might

speedily return to the army to punish Minucius, who had presumed to

fight contrary to his orders; words which immediately possessed the

people with the belief that Minucius stood in danger of his life. For

it was in the power of the dictator to imprison and to put to death, and

they feared that Fabius, of a mild temper in general, would be as hard

to be appeased when once irritated, as he was slow to be provoked.

Nobody dared to raise his voice in opposition. Metilius alone, whose

office of tribune gave him security to say what he pleased (for in the

time of a dictatorship that magistrate alone preserves his authority),

boldly applied himself to the people in the behalf of Minucius: that

they should not suffer him to be made a sacrifice to the enmity of

Fabius, nor permit him to be destroyed, like the son of Manlius

Torquatus, who was beheaded by his father for a victory fought and

triumphantly won against order; he exhorted them to take away from

Fabius that absolute power of a dictator, and to put it into more worthy

hands, better able and more inclined to use it for the public good.

These impressions very much prevailed upon the people, though not so far

as wholly to dispossess Fabius of the dictatorship. But they decreed

that Minucius should have an equal authority with the dictator in the

conduct of the war; which was a thing then without precedent, though a

little later it was again practiced after the disaster at Cannae; when

the dictator, Marcus Junius, being with the army, they chose at Rome

Fabius Buteo dictator, that he might create new senators, to supply the

numerous places of those who were killed. But as soon as, once acting

in public, he had filled those vacant places with a sufficient number,

he immediately dismissed his lictors, and withdrew from all his

attendance, and, mingling like a common person with the rest of the

people, quietly went about his own affairs in the forum.

The enemies of Fabius thought they had sufficiently humiliated and

subdued him by raising Minucius to be his equal in authority; but they

mistook the temper of the man, who looked upon their folly as not his

loss, but like Diogenes, who, being told that some persons derided him,

made answer, "But I am not derided," meaning that only those were really

insulted on whom such insults made an impression, so Fabius, with great

tranquillity and unconcern, submitted to what happened, and contributed

a proof to the argument of the philosophers that a just and good man is

not capable of being dishonored. His only vexation arose from his fear

lest this ill counsel, by supplying opportunities to the diseased

military ambition of his subordinate, should damage the public cause.

Lest the rashness of Minucius should now at once run headlong into some

disaster, he returned back with all privacy and speed to the army; where

he found Minucius so elevated with his new dignity, that, a

joint-authority not contenting him, he required by turns to have the

command of the army every other day. This Fabius rejected, but was

contented that the army should be divided; thinking each general singly

would better command his part, than partially command the whole. The

first and fourth legion he took for his own division, the second and

third he delivered to Minucius; so also of the auxiliary forces each

had an equal share.

Minucius, thus exalted, could not contain himself from boasting of his

success in humiliating the high and powerful office of the dictatorship.

Fabius quietly reminded him that it was, in all wisdom, Hannibal, and

not Fabius, whom he had to combat; but if he must needs contend with his

colleague, it had best be in diligence and care for the preservation of

Rome; that it might not be said, a man so favored by the people served

them worse than he who had been ill-treated and disgraced by them.

The young general, despising these admonitions as the false humility of

age, immediately removed with the body of his army, and encamped by

himself. Hannibal, who was not ignorant of all these passages, lay

watching his advantage from them. It happened that between his army and

that of Minucius there was a certain eminence, which seemed a very

advantageous and not difficult post to encamp upon; the level field

around it appeared, from a distance, to be all smooth and even, though

it had many inconsiderable ditches and dips in it, not discernible to

the eye. Hannibal, had he pleased, could easily have possessed himself

of this ground; but he had reserved it for a bait, or train, in proper

season, to draw the Romans to an engagement. Now that Minucius and

Fabius were divided, he thought the opportunity fair for his purpose;

and, therefore, having in the night time lodged a convenient number of

his men in these ditches and hollow places, early in the morning he sent

forth a small detachment, who, in the sight of Minucius, proceeded to

possess themselves of the rising ground. According to his expectation,

Minucius swallowed the bait, and first sends out his light troops, and

after them some horse, to dislodge the enemy; and, at last, when he saw

Hannibal in person advancing to the assistance of his men, marched down

with his whole army drawn up. He engaged with the troops on the

eminence, and sustained their missiles; the combat for some time was

equal; but as soon as Hannibal perceived that the whole army was now

sufficiently advanced within the toils he had set for them, so that

their backs were open to his men whom he had posted in the hollows, he

gave the signal; upon which they rushed forth from various quarters, and

with loud cries furiously attacked Minucius in the rear. The surprise

and the slaughter was great, and struck universal alarm and disorder

through the whole army. Minucius himself lost all his confidence; he

looked from officer to officer, and found all alike unprepared to face

the danger, and yielding to a flight, which, however, could not end in

safety. The Numidian horsemen were already in full victory riding about

the plain, cutting down the fugitives.

Fabius was not ignorant of this danger of his countrymen; he foresaw

what would happen from the rashness of Minucius, and the cunning of

Hannibal; and, therefore, kept his men to their arms, in readiness to

wait the event; nor would he trust to the reports of others, but he

himself, in front of his camp, viewed all that passed. When, therefore,

he saw the army of Minucius encompassed by the enemy, and that by their

countenance and shifting their ground, they appeared more disposed to

flight than to resistance, with a great sigh, striking his hand upon his

thigh, he said to those about him, "O Hercules! how much sooner than I

expected, though later than he seemed to desire, hath Minucius destroyed

himself!" He then commanded the ensigns to be led forward and the army

to follow, telling them, "We must make haste to rescue Minucius, who is

a valiant man, and a lover of his country; and if he hath been too

forward to engage the enemy, at another time we will tell him of it."

Thus, at the head of his men, Fabius marched up to the enemy, and first

cleared the plain of the Numidians; and next fell upon those who were

charging the Romans in the rear, cutting down all that made opposition,

and obliging the rest to save themselves by a hasty retreat, lest they

should be environed as the Romans had been. Hannibal, seeing so sudden

a change of affairs, and Fabius, beyond the force of his age, opening

his way through the ranks up the hill-side, that he might join Minucius,

warily forbore, sounded a retreat, and drew off his men into their camp;

while the Romans on their part were no less contented to retire in

safety. It is reported that upon this occasion Hannibal said jestingly

to his friends: "Did not I tell you, that this cloud which always

hovered upon the mountains would, at some time or other, come down with

a storm upon us?"

Fabius, after his men had picked up the spoils of the field, retired to

his own camp, without saying any harsh or reproachful thing to his

colleague; who also on his part, gathering his army together, spoke and

said to them: "To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is

above the force of human nature; but to learn and improve by the faults

we have committed, is that which becomes a good and sensible man. Some

reasons I may have to accuse fortune, but I have many more to thank her;

for in a few hours she hath cured a long mistake, and taught me that I

am not the man who should command others, but have need of another to

command me; and that we are not to contend for victory over those to

whom it is our advantage to yield. Therefore in everything else

henceforth the dictator must be your commander; only in showing

gratitude towards him I will still be your leader, and always be the

first to obey his orders." Having said this, he commanded the Roman

eagles to move forward, and all his men to follow him to the camp of

Fabius. The soldiers, then, as he entered, stood amazed at the novelty

of the sight, and were anxious and doubtful what the meaning might be.

When he came near the dictator's tent, Fabius went forth to meet him, on

which he at once laid his standards at his feet, calling him with a loud

voice his father; while the soldiers with him saluted the soldiers here

as their patrons, the term employed by freedmen to those who gave them

their liberty. After silence was obtained, Minucius said, "You have

this day, O dictator, obtained two victories; one by your valor and

conduct over Hannibal, and another by your wisdom and goodness over your

colleague; by one victory you preserved, and by the other instructed us;

and when we were already suffering one shameful defeat from Hannibal, by

another welcome one from you we were restored to honor and safety. I

can address you by no nobler name than that of a kind father, though a

father's beneficence falls short of that I have received from you. From

a father I individually received the gift of life; to you I owe its

preservation not for myself only, but for all these who are under me."

After this, he threw himself into the arms of the dictator; and in the

same manner the soldiers of each army embraced one another with gladness

and tears of joy.

Not long after, Fabius laid down the dictatorship, and consuls were

again created. Those who immediately succeeded, observed the same

method in managing the war, and avoided all occasions of fighting

Hannibal in a pitched battle; they only succored their allies, and

preserved the towns from falling off to the enemy. but afterwards, when

Terentius Varro, a man of obscure birth, but very popular and bold, had

obtained the consulship, he soon made it appear that by his rashness and

ignorance he would stake the whole commonwealth on the hazard. For it

was his custom to declaim in all assemblies, that, as long as Rome

employed generals like Fabius there never would be an end of the war;

vaunting that whenever he should get sight of the enemy, he would that

same day free Italy from the strangers. With these promises he so

prevailed, that he raised a greater army than had ever yet been sent out

of Rome. There were enlisted eighty-eight thousand fighting men; but

what gave confidence to the populace, only terrified the wise and

experienced, and none more than Fabius; since if so great a body, and

the flower of the Roman youth, should be cut off, they could not see any

new resource for the safety of Rome. They addressed themselves,

therefore, to the other consul, Aemilius Paulus, a man of great

experience in war, but unpopular, and fearful also of the people, who

once before upon some impeachment had condemned him; so that he needed

encouragement to withstand his colleague's temerity. Fabius told him,

if he would profitably serve his country, he must no less oppose Varro's

ignorant eagerness than Hannibal's conscious readiness, since both alike

conspired to decide the fate of Rome by a battle. "It is more

reasonable," he said to him, "that you should believe me than Varro, in

matters relating to Hannibal, when I tell you, that if for this year you

abstain from fighting with him, either his army will perish of itself,

or else he will be glad to depart of his own will. This evidently

appears, inasmuch as, notwithstanding his victories, none of the

countries or towns of Italy come in to him, and his army is not now the

third part of what it was at first." To this Paulus is said to have

replied, "Did I only consider myself, I should rather choose to be

exposed to the weapons of Hannibal than once more to the suffrages of my

fellow-citizens, who are urgent for what you disapprove; yet since the

cause of Rome is at stake, I will rather seek in my conduct to please

and obey Fabius than all the world besides."

These good measures were defeated by the importunity of Varro; whom,

when they were both come to the army, nothing would content but a

separate command, that each consul should have his day; and when his

turn came, he posted his army close to Hannibal, at a village called

Cannae, by the river Aufidus. It was no sooner day, but he set up the

scarlet coat flying over his tent, which was the signal of battle. This

boldness of the consul, and the numerousness of his army, double theirs,

startled the Carthaginians; but Hannibal commanded them to their arms,

and with a small train rode out to take a full prospect of the enemy as

they were now forming in their ranks, from a rising ground not far

distant. One of his followers, called Gisco, a Carthaginian of equal

rank with himself, told him that the numbers of the enemy were

astonishing; to which Hannibal replied, with a serious countenance,

"There is one thing, Gisco, yet more astonishing, which you take no

notice of;" and when Gisco inquired what, answered, that "in all those

great numbers before us, there is not one man called Gisco." This

unexpected jest of their general made all the company laugh, and as they

came down from the hill, they told it to those whom they met, which

caused a general laughter amongst them all, from which they were hardly

able to recover themselves. The army, seeing Hannibal's attendants come

back from viewing the enemy in such a laughing condition, concluded that

it must be profound contempt of the enemy, that made their general at

this moment indulge in such hilarity.

According to his usual manner, Hannibal employed stratagems to advantage

himself. In the first place, he so drew up his men that the wind was at

their backs, which at that time blew with a perfect storm of violence,

and, sweeping over the great plains of sand, carried before it a cloud

of dust over the Carthaginian army into the faces of the Romans, which

much disturbed them in the fight. In the next place, all his best men

he put into his wings; and in the body, which was somewhat more advanced

than the wings, placed the worst and the weakest of his army. He

commanded those in the wings, that, when the enemy had made a thorough

charge upon that middle advanced body, which he knew would recoil, as

not being able to withstand their shock, and when the Romans, in their

pursuit, should be far enough engaged within the two wings, they should,

both on the right and the left, charge them in the flank, and endeavor

to encompass them. This appears to have been the chief cause of the

Roman loss. Pressing upon Hannibal's front, which gave ground, they

reduced the form of his army into a perfect half-moon, and gave ample

opportunity to the captains of the chosen troops to charge them right

and left on their flanks, and to cut off and destroy all who did not

fall back before the Carthaginian wings united in their rear. To this

general calamity, it is also said, that a strange mistake among the

cavalry much contributed. For the horse of Aemilius receiving a hurt

and throwing his master, those about him immediately alighted to aid the

consul; and the Roman troops, seeing their commanders thus quitting

their horses, took it for a sign that they should all dismount and

charge the enemy on foot. At the sight of this, Hannibal was heard to

say, "This pleases me better than if they had been delivered to me bound

hand and foot." For the particulars of this engagement, we refer our

reader to those authors who have written at large upon the subject.

The consul Varro, with a thin company, fled to Venusia; Aemilius Paulus,

unable any longer to oppose the flight of his men, or the pursuit of the

enemy, his body all covered with wounds, and his soul no less wounded

with grief, sat himself down upon a stone, expecting the kindness of a

dispatching blow. His face was so disfigured, and all his person so

stained with blood, that his very friends and domestics passing by knew

him not. At last Cornelius Lentulus, a young man of patrician race,

perceiving who he was, alighted from his horse, and, tendering it to

him, desired him to get up and save a life so necessary to the safety of

the commonwealth, which, at this time, would dearly want so great a

captain. But nothing could prevail upon him to accept of the offer; he

obliged young Lentulus, with tears in his eyes, to remount his horse;

then standing up, he gave him his hand, and commanded him to tell Fabius

Maximus that Aemilius Paulus had followed his directions to his very

last, and had not in the least deviated from those measures which were

agreed between them; but that it was his hard fate to be overpowered by

Varro in the first place, and secondly by Hannibal. Having dispatched

Lentulus with this commission, he marked where the slaughter was

greatest, and there threw himself upon the swords of the enemy. In this

battle it is reported that fifty thousand Romans were slain, four

thousand prisoners taken in the field, and ten thousand in the camp of

both consuls.

The friends of Hannibal earnestly persuaded him to follow up his

victory, and pursue the flying Romans into the very gates of Rome,

assuring him that in five days' time he might sup in the capitol; nor is

it easy to imagine what consideration hindered him from it. It would

seem rather that some supernatural or divine intervention caused the

hesitation and timidity which he now displayed, and which made Barcas, a

Carthaginian, tell him with indignation, "You know, Hannibal, how to

gain a victory, but not how to use it." Yet it produced a marvelous

revolution in his affairs; he, who hitherto had not one town, market, or

seaport in his possession, who had nothing for the subsistence of his

men but what he pillaged from day to day, who had no place of retreat or

basis of operation, but was roving, as it were, with a huge troop of

banditti, now became master of the best provinces and towns of Italy,

and of Capua itself, next to Rome the most flourishing and opulent city,

all which came over to him, and submitted to his authority.

It is the saying of Euripides, that "a man is in ill-case when he must

try a friend," and so neither, it would seem, is a state in a good one,

when it needs an able general. And so it was with the Romans; the

counsels and actions of Fabius, which, before the battle, they had

branded as cowardice and fear, now, in the other extreme they accounted

to have been more than human wisdom; as though nothing but a divine

power of intellect could have seen so far, and foretold, contrary to the

judgment of all others, a result which, even now it had arrived, was

hardly credible. In him, therefore, they placed their whole remaining

hopes; his wisdom was the sacred altar and temple to which they fled for

refuge, and his counsels, more than anything, preserved them from

dispersing and deserting their city, as in the time when the Gauls took

possession of Rome. He, whom they esteemed fearful and pusillanimous

when they were, as they thought, in a prosperous condition, was now the

only man, in this general and unbounded dejection and confusion, who

showed no fear, but walked the streets with an assured and serene

countenance, addressed his fellow-citizens, checked the women's

lamentations, and the public gatherings of those who wanted thus to vent

their sorrows. He caused the senate to meet, he heartened up the

magistrates, and was himself as the soul and life of every office.

He placed guards at the gates of the city to stop the frighted multitude

from flying; he regulated and controlled their mournings for their slain

friends, both as to time and place; ordering that each family should

perform such observances within private walls, and that they should

continue only the space of one month, and then the whole city should be

purified. The feast of Ceres happening to fall within this time, it was

decreed that the solemnity should be intermitted, lest the fewness, and

the sorrowful countenance of those who should celebrate it, might too

much expose to the people the greatness of their loss; besides that, the

worship most acceptable to the gods is that which comes from cheerful

hearts. But those rites which were proper for appeasing their anger,

and procuring auspicious signs and presages, were by the direction of

the augurs carefully performed. Fabius Pictor, a near kinsman to

Maximus, was sent to consult the oracle of Delphi; and about the same

time, two vestals having been detected to have been violated, the one

killed herself, and the other, according to custom, was buried alive.

Above all, let us admire the high spirit and equanimity of this Roman

commonwealth; that when the consul Varro came beaten and flying home,

full of shame and humiliation, after he had so disgracefully and

calamitously managed their affairs, yet the whole senate and people went

forth to meet him at the gates of the city, and received him with honor

and respect. And, silence being commanded, the magistrates and chief of

the senate, Fabius amongst them, commended him before the people,

because he did not despair of the safety of the commonwealth, after so

great a loss, but was come to take the government into his hands, to

execute the laws, and aid his fellow-citizens in their prospect of

future deliverance.

When word was brought to Rome that Hannibal, after the fight, had

marched with his army into other parts of Italy, the hearts of the

Romans began to revive, and they proceeded to send out generals and

armies. The most distinguished commands were held by Fabius Maximus and

Claudius Marcellus, both generals of great fame, though upon opposite

grounds. For Marcellus, as we have set forth in his life, was a man of

action and high spirit, ready and bold with his own hand, and, as Homer

describes his warriors, fierce, and delighting in fights. Boldness,

enterprise, and daring, to match those of Hannibal, constituted his

tactics, and marked his engagements. But Fabius adhered to his former

principles, still persuaded that, by following close and not fighting

him, Hannibal and his army would at last be tired out and consumed, like

a wrestler in too high condition, whose very excess of strength makes

him the more likely suddenly to give way and lose it. Posidonius tells

us that the Romans called Marcellus their sword, and Fabius their

buckler; and that the vigor of the one, mixed with the steadiness of the

other, made a happy compound that proved the salvation of Rome. So that

Hannibal found by experience that, encountering the one, he met with a

rapid, impetuous river, which drove him back, and still made some breach

upon him; and by the other, though silently and quietly passing by him,

he was insensibly washed away and consumed; and, at last, was brought to

this, that he dreaded Marcellus when he was in motion, and Fabius when

he sat still. During the whole course of this war, he had still to do

with one or both of these generals; for each of them was five times

consul, and, as praetors or proconsuls or consuls, they had always a

part in the government of the army, till, at last, Marcellus fell into

the trap which Hannibal had laid for him, and was killed in his fifth

consulship. But all his craft and subtlety were unsuccessful upon

Fabius, who only once was in some danger of being caught, when

counterfeit letters came to him from the principal inhabitants of

Metapontum, with promises to deliver up their town if he would come

before it with his army, and intimations that they should expect him,

This train had almost drawn him in; he resolved to march to them with

part of his army, and was diverted only by consulting the omens of the

birds, which he found to be inauspicious; and not long after it was

discovered that the letters had been forged by Hannibal, who, for his

reception, had laid an ambush to entertain him. This, perhaps, we must

rather attribute to the favor of the gods than to the prudence of

Fabius.

In preserving the towns and allies from revolt by fair and gentle

treatment, and in not using rigor, or showing a suspicion upon every

light suggestion, his conduct was remarkable. It is told of him, that,

being informed of a certain Marsian, eminent for courage and good birth,

who had been speaking underhand with some of the soldiers about

deserting, Fabius was so far from using severity against him, that he

called for him, and told him he was sensible of the neglect that had

been shown to his merit and good service, which, he said, was a great

fault in the commanders who reward more by favor than by desert; "but

henceforward, whenever you are aggrieved," said Fabius, "I shall

consider it your fault, if you apply yourself to any but to me;" and

when he had so spoken, he bestowed an excellent horse and other presents

upon him; and, from that time forwards, there was not a faithfuller and

more trusty man in the whole army. With good reason he judged, that, if

those who have the government of horses and dogs endeavor by gentle

usage to cure their angry and untractable tempers, rather than by

cruelty and beating, much more should those who have the command of men

try to bring them to order and discipline by the mildest and fairest

means, and not treat them worse than gardeners do those wild plants,

which, with care and attention, lose gradually the savageness of their

nature, and bear excellent fruit.

At another time, some of his officers informed him that one of their men

was very often absent from his place, and out at nights; he asked them

what kind of man he was; they all answered, that the whole army had not

a better man, that he was a native of Lucania, and proceeded to speak of

several actions which they had seen him perform. Fabius made strict

inquiry, and discovered at last that these frequent excursions which he

ventured upon were to visit a young girl, with whom he was in love.

Upon which he gave private order to some of his men to find out the

woman and secretly convey her into his own tent; and then sent for the

Lucanian, and, calling him aside, told him, that he very well knew how

often he had been out away from the camp at night, which was a capital

transgression against military discipline and the Roman laws, but he

knew also how brave he was, and the good services he had done;

therefore, in consideration of them, he was willing to forgive him his

fault; but to keep him in good order, he was resolved to place one over

him to be his keeper, who should be accountable for his good behavior.

Having said this, he produced the woman, and told the soldier, terrified

and amazed at the adventure, "This is the person who must answer for

you; and by your future behavior we shall see whether your night rambles

were on account of love, or for any other worse design."

Another passage there was, something of the same kind, which gained him

possession of Tarentum. There was a young Tarentine in the army that

had a sister in Tarentum, then in possession of the enemy, who entirely

loved her brother, and wholly depended upon him. He, being informed

that a certain Bruttian, whom Hannibal had made a commander of the

garrison, was deeply in love with his sister, conceived hopes that he

might possibly turn it to the advantage of the Romans. And having first

communicated his design to Fabius, he left the army as a deserter in

show, and went over to Tarentum. The first days passed, and the

Bruttian abstained from visiting the sister; for neither of them knew

that the brother had notice of the amour between them. The young

Tarentine, however, took an occasion to tell his sister how he had heard

that a man of station and authority had made his addresses to her; and

desired her, therefore, to tell him who it was; "for," said he, "if he

be a man that has bravery and reputation, it matters not what countryman

he is, since at this time the sword mingles all nations, and makes them

equal; compulsion makes all things honorable; and in a time when right

is weak, we may be thankful if might assumes a form of gentleness."

Upon this the woman sends for her friend, and makes the brother and him

acquainted; and whereas she henceforth showed more countenance to her

lover than formerly, in the same degrees that her kindness increased,

his friendship, also, with the brother advanced. So that at last our

Tarentine thought this Bruttian officer well enough prepared to receive

the offers he had to make him; and that it would be easy for a mercenary

man, who was in love, to accept, upon the terms proposed, the large

rewards promised by Fabius. In conclusion, the bargain was struck, and

the promise made of delivering the town. This is the common tradition,

though some relate the story otherwise, and say, that this woman, by

whom the Bruttian was inveigled, to betray the town, was not a native of

Tarentum, but a Bruttian born, and was kept by Fabius as his concubine;

and being a countrywoman and an acquaintance of the Bruttian governor,

he privately sent her to him to corrupt him.

Whilst these matters were thus in process, to draw off Hannibal from

scenting the design, Fabius sends orders to the garrison in Rhegium,

that they should waste and spoil the Bruttian country, and should also

lay siege to Caulonia, and storm the place with all their might. These

were a body of eight thousand men, the worst of the Roman army, who had

most of them been runaways, and had been brought home by Marcellus from

Sicily, in dishonor, so that the loss of them would not be any great

grief to the Romans. Fabius, therefore, threw out these men as a bait

for Hannibal, to divert him from Tarentum; who instantly caught at it,

and led his forces to Caulonia; in the meantime, Fabius sat down before

Tarentum. On the sixth day of the siege, the young Tarentine slips by

night out of the town, and, having carefully observed the place where

the Bruttian commander, according to agreement, was to admit the Romans,

gave an account of the whole matter to Fabius; who thought it not safe

to rely wholly upon the plot, but, while proceeding with secrecy to the

post, gave order for a general assault to be made on the other side of

the town, both by land and sea. This being accordingly executed, while

the Tarentines hurried to defend the town on the side attacked, Fabius

received the signal from the Bruttian, scaled the walls, and entered the

town unopposed.

Here, we must confess, ambition seems to have overcome him. To make it

appear to the world that he had taken Tarentum by force and his own

prowess, and not by treachery, he commanded his men to kill the

Bruttians before all others; yet he did not succeed in establishing the

impression he desired, but merely gained the character of perfidy and

cruelty. Many of the Tarentines were also killed, and thirty thousand

of them were sold for slaves; the army had the plunder of the town, and

there was brought into the treasury three thousand talents. Whilst they

were carrying off everything else as plunder, the officer who took the

inventory asked what should be done with their gods, meaning the

pictures and statues; Fabius answered, "Let us leave their angry gods to

the Tarentines." Nevertheless, he removed the colossal statue of

Hercules, and had it set up in the capitol, with one of himself on

horseback, in brass, near it; proceedings very different from those of

Marcellus on a like occasion, and which, indeed, very much set off in

the eyes of the world his clemency and humanity, as appears in the

account of his life.

Hannibal, it is said, was within five miles of Tarentum, when he was

informed that the town was taken. He said openly, "Rome, then, has also

got a Hannibal; as we won Tarentum, so have we lost it." And, in

private with some of his confidants, he told them, for the first time,

that he always thought it difficult, but now he held it impossible, with

the forces he then had, to master Italy.

Upon this success, Fabius had a triumph decreed him at Rome, much more

splendid than his first; they looked upon him now as a champion who had

learned to cope with his antagonist, and could now easily foil his arts

and prove his best skill ineffectual. And, indeed, the army of Hannibal

was at this time partly worn away with continual action, and partly

weakened and become dissolute with overabundance and luxury. Marcus

Livius, who was governor of Tarentum when it was betrayed to Hannibal,

and then retired into the citadel, which he kept till the town was

retaken, was annoyed at these honors and distinctions, and, on one

occasion, openly declared in the senate, that by his resistance, more

than by any action of Fabius, Tarentum had been recovered; on which

Fabius laughingly replied: "You say very true, for if Marcus Livius had

not lost Tarentum, Fabius Maximus had never recovered it." The people,

amongst other marks of gratitude, gave his son the consulship of the

next year; shortly after whose entrance upon his office, there being

some business on foot about provision for the war, his father, either by

reason of age and infirmity, or perhaps out of design to try his son,

came up to him on horseback. While he was still at a distance, the

young consul observed it, and bade one of his lictors command his father

to alight, and tell him that, if be had any business with the consul, he

should come on foot. The standers by seemed offended at the

imperiousness of the son towards a father so venerable for his age and

his authority, and turned their eyes in silence towards Fabius. He,

however, instantly alighted from his horse, and with open arms came up,

almost running, and embraced his son, saying, "Yes, my son, you do well,

and understand well what authority you have received, and over whom you

are to use it. This was the way by which we and our forefathers

advanced the dignity of Rome, preferring ever her honor and service to

our own fathers and children."

And, in fact, it is told that the great-grandfather of our Fabius, who

was undoubtedly the greatest man of Rome in his time, both in reputation

and authority, who had been five times consul, and had been honored with

several triumphs for victories obtained by him, took pleasure in serving

as lieutenant under his own son, when he went as consul to his command.

And when afterwards his son had a triumph bestowed upon him for his good

service, the old man followed, on horseback, his triumphant chariot, as

one of his attendants; and made it his glory, that while he really was,

and was acknowledged to be, the greatest man in Rome, and held a

father's full power over his son, he yet submitted himself to the laws

and the magistrate.

But the praises of our Fabius are not bounded here. He afterwards lost

this son, and was remarkable for bearing the loss with the moderation

becoming a pious father and a wise man, and, as it was the custom

amongst the Romans, upon the death of any illustrious person, to have a

funeral oration recited by some of the nearest relations, he took upon

himself that office, and delivered a speech in the forum, which he

committed afterwards to writing.

After Cornelius Scipio, who was sent into Spain, had driven the

Carthaginians, defeated by him in many battles, out of the country, and

had gained over to Rome many towns and nations with large resources, he

was received at his coming home with unexampled joy and acclamation of

the people; who, to show their gratitude, elected him consul for the

year ensuing. Knowing what high expectation they had of him, he thought

the occupation of contesting Italy with Hannibal a mere old man's

employment, and proposed no less a task to himself than to make Carthage

the seat of the war, fill Africa with arms and devastation, and so

oblige Hannibal, instead of invading the countries of others, to draw

back and defend his own. And to this end he proceeded to exert all the

influence he had with the people. Fabius, on the other side, opposed

the undertaking with all his might, alarming the city, and telling them

that nothing but the temerity of a hot young man could inspire them with

such dangerous counsels, and sparing no means, by word or deed, to

prevent it. He prevailed with the senate to espouse his sentiments; but

the common people thought that he envied the fame of Scipio, and that he

was afraid lest this young conqueror should achieve some great and noble

exploit, and have the glory, perhaps, of driving Hannibal out of Italy,

or even of ending the war, which had for so many years continued and

been protracted under his management.

To say the truth, when Fabius first opposed this project of Scipio, he

probably did it out of caution and prudence, in consideration only of

the public safety, and of the danger which the commonwealth might incur;

but when he found Scipio every day increasing in the esteem of the

people, rivalry and ambition led him further, and made him violent and

personal in his opposition. For he even applied to Crassus, the

colleague of Scipio, and urged him not to yield the command to Scipio,

but that, if his inclinations were for it, he should himself in person

lead the army to Carthage. He also hindered the giving money to Scipio

for the war; so that he was forced to raise it upon his own credit and

interest from the cities of Etruria, which were extremely attached to

him. On the other side, Crassus would not stir against him, nor remove

out of Italy, being, in his own nature, averse to all contention, and

also having, by his office of high priest, religious duties to retain

him. Fabius, therefore, tried other ways to oppose the design; he

impeded the levies, and he declaimed, both in the senate and to the

people, that Scipio was not only himself flying from Hannibal, but was

also endeavoring to drain Italy of all its forces, and to spirit away

the youth of the country to a foreign war, leaving behind them their

parents, wives, and children, and the city itself, a defenseless prey to

the conquering and undefeated enemy at their doors. With this he so far

alarmed the people, that at last they would only allow Scipio for the

war the legions which were in Sicily, and three hundred, whom he

particularly trusted, of those men who had served with him in Spain. In

these transactions, Fabius seems to have followed the dictates of his

own wary temper.

But, after that Scipio was gone over into Africa, when news almost

immediately came to Rome of wonderful exploits and victories, of which

the fame was confirmed by the spoils he sent home; of a Numidian king

taken prisoner; of a vast slaughter of their men; of two camps of the

enemy burnt and destroyed, and in them a great quantity of arms and

horses; and when, hereupon, the Carthaginians were compelled to send

envoys to Hannibal to call him home, and leave his idle hopes in Italy,

to defend Carthage; when, for such eminent and transcending services,

the whole people of Rome cried up and extolled the actions of Scipio;

even then, Fabius contended that a successor should be sent in his

place, alleging for it only the old reason of the mutability of fortune,

as if she would be weary of long favoring the same person. With this

language many did begin to feel offended; it seemed to be morosity and

ill-will, the pusillanimity of old age, or a fear, that had now become

exaggerated, of the skill of Hannibal. Nay, when Hannibal had put his

army on shipboard, and taken his leave of Italy, Fabius still could not

forbear to oppose and disturb the universal joy of Rome, expressing his

fears and apprehensions, telling them that the commonwealth was never in

more danger than now, and that Hannibal was a more formidable enemy

under the walls of Carthage than ever he had been in Italy; that it

would be fatal to Rome, whenever Scipio should encounter his victorious

army, still warm with the blood of so many Roman generals, dictators,

and consuls slain. And the people were, in some degree, startled with

these declamations, and were brought to believe, that the further off

Hannibal was, the nearer was their danger. Scipio, however, shortly

afterwards fought Hannibal, and utterly defeated him, humbled the pride

of Carthage beneath his feet, gave his countrymen joy and exultation

beyond all their hopes, and

"Long shaken on the seas restored the state."

Fabius Maximus, however, did not live to see the prosperous end of this

war, and the final overthrow of Hannibal, nor to rejoice in the

reestablished happiness and security of the commonwealth; for about the

time that Hannibal left Italy, he fell sick and died. At Thebes,

Epaminondas died so poor that he was buried at the public charge; one

small iron coin was all, it is said, that was found in his house.

Fabius did not need this, but the people, as a mark of their affection,

defrayed the expenses of his funeral by a private contribution from each

citizen of the smallest piece of coin; thus owning him their common

father, and making his end no less honorable than his life.