They say that Marcus Claudius, who was five times consul of the Romans,
was the son of Marcus; and that he was the first of his family called
Marcellus; that is, martial, as Posidonius affirms. He was, indeed, by
long experience skillful in the art of war, of a strong body, valiant of
hand, and by natural inclination addicted to war. This high temper and
heat he showed conspicuously in battle; in other respects he was modest
and obliging, and so far studious of Greek learning and discipline, as to
honor and admire those that excelled in it, though he did not himself
attain a proficiency in them equal to his desire, by reason of his
employments. For if ever there were any men, whom, as Homer says,
Heaven,
From their first youth unto their utmost age
Appointed the laborious wars to wage,
certainly they were the chief Romans of that time; who in their youth had
war with the Carthaginians in Sicily, in their middle age with the Gauls
in the defense of Italy itself; and, at last, when now grown old,
struggled again with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and wanted in their
latest years what is granted to most men, exemption from military toils;
their rank and their great qualities still making them be called upon to
undertake the command.
Marcellus, ignorant or unskillful of no kind of fighting, in single
combat surpassed himself; he never declined a challenge, and never
accepted without killing his challenger. In Sicily, he protected and
saved his brother Otacilius when surrounded in battle, and slew the
enemies that pressed upon him; for which act he was by the generals,
while he was yet but young, presented with crowns and other honorable
rewards; and, his good qualities more and more displaying themselves, he
was created Curule Aedile by the people, and by the high-priests Augur;
which is that priesthood to which chiefly the law assigns the observation
of auguries. In his aedileship, a certain mischance brought him to the
necessity of bringing an impeachment into the senate. He had a son named
Marcus, of great beauty, in the flower of his age, and no less admired
for the goodness of his character. This youth, Capitolinus, a bold and
ill-mannered man, Marcellus's colleague, sought to abuse. The boy at
first himself repelled him; but when the other again persecuted him, told
his father. Marcellus, highly indignant, accused the man in the senate,
where he, having appealed to the tribunes of the people, endeavored by
various shifts and exceptions to elude the impeachment; and, when the
tribunes refused their protection, by flat denial rejected the charge.
As there was no witness of the fact, the senate thought fit to call the
youth himself before them; on witnessing whose blushes and tears, and
shame mixed with the highest indignation, seeking no further evidence of
the crime, they condemned Capitolinus, and set a fine upon him; of the
money of which, Marcellus caused silver vessels for libation to be made,
which he dedicated to the gods.
After the end of the first Punic war, which lasted one and twenty years,
the seeds of Gallic tumults sprang up, and began again to trouble Rome.
The Insubrians, a people inhabiting the subalpine region of Italy, strong
in their own forces, raised from among the other Gauls aids of mercenary
soldiers, called Gaesatae. And it was a sort of miracle, and special
good fortune for Rome, that the Gallic war was not coincident with the
Punic, but that the Gauls had with fidelity stood quiet as spectators,
while the Punic war continued, as though they had been under engagements
to await and attack the victors, and now only were at liberty to come
forward. Still the position itself, and the ancient renown of the Gauls,
struck no little fear into the minds of the Romans, who were about to
undertake a war so near home and upon their own borders; and regarded the
Gauls, because they had once taken their city, with more apprehension
than any people, as is apparent from the enactment which from that time
forth provided, that the high-priests should enjoy an exemption from all
military duty, except only in Gallic insurrections.
The great preparations, also, made by the Romans for war, (for it is not
reported that the people of Rome ever had at one time so many legions in
arms, either before or since,) and their extraordinary sacrifices, were
plain arguments of their fear. For though they were most averse to
barbarous and cruel rites, and entertained more than any nation the same
pious and reverent sentiments of the gods with the Greeks; yet, when this
war was coming upon them, they then, from some prophecies in the Sibyls'
books, put alive under ground a pair of Greeks, one male, the other
female; and likewise two Gauls, one of each sex, in the market called the
beast-market: continuing even to this day to offer to these Greeks and
Gauls certain secret ceremonial observances in the month of November.
In the beginning of this war, in which the Romans sometimes obtained
remarkable victories, sometimes were shamefully beaten, nothing was done
toward the determination of the contest, until Flaminius and Furius,
being consuls, led large forces against the Insubrians. At the time of
their departure, the river that runs through the country of Picenum was
seen flowing with blood; there was a report, that three moons had been
seen at once at Ariminum; and, in the consular assembly, the augurs
declared, that the consuls had been unduly and inauspiciously created.
The senate, therefore, immediately sent letters to the camp, recalling
the consuls to Rome with all possible speed, and commanding them to
forbear from acting against the enemies, and to abdicate the consulship
on the first opportunity. These letters being brought to Flaminius, he
deferred to open them till, having defeated and put to flight the enemy's
forces, he wasted and ravaged their borders. The people, therefore, did
not go forth to meet him when he returned with huge spoils; nay, because
he had not instantly obeyed the command in the letters, by which he was
recalled, but slighted and contemned them, they were very near denying
him the honor of a triumph. Nor was the triumph sooner passed than they
deposed him, with his colleague, from the magistracy, and reduced them to
the state of private citizens. So much were all things at Rome made to
depend upon religion; they would not allow any contempt of the omens and
the ancient rites, even though attended with the highest success;
thinking it to be of more importance to the public safety, that the
magistrates should reverence the gods, than that they should overcome
their enemies. Thus Tiberius Sempronius, whom for his probity and virtue
the citizens highly esteemed, created Scipio Nasica and Caius Marcius,
consuls to succeed him: and when they were gone into their provinces,
lit upon books concerning the religious observances, where he found
something he had not known before; which was this. When the consul took
his auspices, he sat without the city in a house, or tent, hired for that
occasion; but, if it happened that he, for any urgent cause, returned
into the city, without having yet seen any certain signs, he was obliged
to leave that first building, or tent, and to seek another to repeat the
survey from. Tiberius, it appears, in ignorance of this, had twice used
the same building before announcing the new consuls. Now, understanding
his error, he referred the matter to the senate: nor did the senate
neglect this minute fault, but soon wrote expressly of it to Scipio
Nasica and Caius Marcius; who, leaving their provinces and without delay
returning to Rome, laid down their magistracy. This happened at a later
period. About the same time, too, the priesthood was taken away from two
men of very great honor, Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Sulpicius: from
the former, because he had not rightly held out the entrails of a beast
slain for sacrifice; from the latter, because, while he was immolating,
the tufted cap which the Flamens wear had fallen from his head.
Minucius, the dictator, who had already named Caius Flaminius master of
the horse, they deposed from his command, because the squeak of a mouse
was heard, and put others into their places. And yet, notwithstanding,
by observing so anxiously these little niceties they did not run into any
superstition, because they never varied from nor exceeded the observances
of their ancestors.
So soon as Flaminius with his colleague had resigned the consulate,
Marcellus was declared consul by the presiding officers called
Interrexes; and, entering into the magistracy, chose Cnaeus Cornelius his
colleague. There was a report that, the Gauls proposing a pacification,
and the senate also inclining to peace, Marcellus inflamed the people to
war; but a peace appears to have been agreed upon, which the Gaesatae
broke; who, passing the Alps, stirred up the Insubrians, (they being
thirty thousand in number, and the Insubrians more numerous by far) and,
proud of their strength, marched directly to Acerrae, a city seated on
the north of the river Po. From thence Britomartus, king of the
Gaesatae, taking with him ten thousand soldiers, harassed the country
round about. News of which being brought to Marcellus, leaving his
colleague at Acerrae with the foot and all the heavy arms and a third
part of the horse, and carrying with him the rest of the horse and six
hundred light armed foot, marching night and day without remission, he
staid not till he came up to these ten thousand near a Gaulish village
called Clastidium, which not long before had been reduced under the Roman
jurisdiction. Nor had he time to refresh his soldiers, or to give them
rest. For the barbarians, that were then present, immediately observed
his approach, and contemned him, because he had very few foot with him.
The Gauls were singularly skillful in horsemanship, and thought to excel
in it; and as at present they also exceeded Marcellus in number, they
made no account of him. They, therefore, with their king at their head,
instantly charged upon him, as if they would trample him under their
horses' feet, threatening all kind of cruelties. Marcellus, because his
men were few, that they might not be encompassed and charged on all sides
by the enemy, extended his wings of horse, and, riding about, drew out
his wings of foot in length, till he came near to the enemy. Just as he
was in the act of turning round to face the enemy, it so happened that
his horse, startled with their fierce look and their cries, gave back,
and carried him forcibly aside. Fearing lest this accident, if converted
into an omen, might discourage his soldiers, he quickly brought his horse
round to confront the enemy, and made a gesture of adoration to the sun,
as if he had wheeled about not by chance, but for a purpose of devotion.
For it was customary to the Romans, when they offered worship to the
gods, to turn round; and in this moment of meeting the enemy, he is said
to have vowed the best of the arms to Jupiter Feretrius.
The king of the Gauls beholding Marcellus, and from the badges of his
authority conjecturing him to be the general, advanced some way before
his embattled army, and with a loud voice challenged him, and,
brandishing his lance, fiercely ran in full career at him; exceeding the
rest of the Gauls in stature, and with his armor, that was adorned with
gold and silver and various colors, shining like lightning. These arms
seeming to Marcellus, while he viewed the enemy's army drawn up in
battalia, to be the best and fairest, and thinking them to be those he
had vowed to Jupiter, he instantly ran upon the king, and pierced through
his breastplate with his lance; then pressing upon him with the weight of
his horse, threw him to the ground, and with two or three strokes more,
slew him. Immediately he leapt from his horse, laid his hand upon the
dead king's arms, and, looking up toward Heaven, thus spoke: "O Jupiter
Feretrius, arbiter of the exploits of captains, and of the acts of
commanders in war and battles, be thou witness that I, a general, have
slain a general; I, a consul, have slain a king with my own hand, third
of all the Romans; and that to thee I consecrate these first and most
excellent of the spoils. Grant to us to dispatch the relics of the war,
with the same course of fortune." Then the Roman horse joining battle
not only with the enemy's horse, but also with the foot who attacked
them, obtained a singular and unheard of victory. For never before or
since have so few horse defeated such numerous forces of horse and foot
together. The enemies being to a great number slain, and the spoils
collected, he returned to his colleague, who was conducting the war, with
ill success, against the enemies near the greatest and most populous of
the Gallic cities, Milan. This was their capital, and, therefore,
fighting valiantly in defense of it, they were not so much besieged by
Cornelius, as they besieged him. But Marcellus having returned, and the
Gaesatae retiring as soon as they were certified of the death of the king
and the defeat of his army, Milan was taken. The rest of their towns,
and all they had, the Gauls delivered up of their own accord to the
Romans, and had peace upon equitable conditions granted to them.
Marcellus alone, by a decree of the senate, triumphed. The triumph was in
magnificence, opulence, spoils, and the gigantic bodies of the captives,
most remarkable. But the most grateful and most rare spectacle of all
was the general himself, carrying the arms of the barbarian king to the
god to whom he had vowed them. He had taken a tall and straight stock of
an oak, and had lopped and formed it to a trophy. Upon this he fastened
and hung round about the arms of the king, arranging all the pieces in
their suitable places. The procession advancing solemnly, he, carrying
this trophy, ascended the chariot; and thus, himself the fairest and most
glorious triumphant image, was conveyed into the city. The army adorned
with shining armor followed in order, and with verses composed for the
occasion and with songs of victory celebrated the praises of Jupiter and
of their general. Then entering the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, he
dedicated his gift; the third, and to our memory the last, that ever did
so. The first was Romulus, after having slain Acron, king of the
Caeninenses: the second, Cornelius Cossus, who slew Tolumnius the
Etruscan: after them Marcellus, having killed Britomartus king of the
Gauls; after Marcellus, no man. The god to whom these spoils were
consecrated is called Jupiter Feretrius, from the trophy carried on the
feretrum, one of the Greek words which at that time still existed in
great numbers in Latin: or, as others say, it is the surname of the
Thundering Jupiter, derived from ferire, to strike. Others there are who
would have the name to be deduced from the strokes that are given in
fight; since even now in battles, when they press upon their enemies,
they constantly call out to each other, strike, in Latin, feri. Spoils
in general they call Spolia, and these in particular Opima; though,
indeed, they say that Numa Pompilius in his commentaries, makes mention
of first, second, and third Spolia Opima; and that he prescribes that the
first taken be consecrated to Jupiter Feretrius, the second to Mars, the
third to Quirinus; as also that the reward of the first be three hundred
asses; of the second, two hundred; of the third, one hundred. The
general account, however, prevails, that those spoils only are Opima,
which the general first takes in set battle, and takes from the enemy's
chief captain whom he has slain with his own hand. But of this enough.
The victory and the ending of the war was so welcome to the people of
Rome, that they sent to Apollo of Delphi, in testimony of their
gratitude, a present of a golden cup of a hundred pound weight, and gave
a great part of the spoil to their associate cities, and took care that
many presents should be sent also to Hiero, king of the Syracusans, their
friend and ally.
When Hannibal invaded Italy, Marcellus was dispatched with a fleet into
Sicily. And when the army had been defeated at Cannae, and many
thousands of them perished, and few had saved themselves by flying to
Canusium, and all feared lest Hannibal, who had destroyed the strength of
the Roman army, should advance at once with his victorious troops to
Rome, Marcellus first sent for the protection of the city fifteen hundred
solders, from the fleet. Then, by decree of the senate, going to
Canusium, having heard that many of the soldiers had come together in
that place, he led them out of the fortifications to prevent the enemy
from ravaging the country. The chief Roman commanders had most of them
fallen in battles; and the citizens complained, that the extreme caution
of Fabius Maximus, whose integrity and wisdom gave him the highest
authority, verged upon timidity and inaction. They confided in him to
keep them out of danger, but could not expect that he would enable them
to retaliate. Fixing, therefore, their thoughts upon Marcellus, and
hoping to combine his boldness, confidence, and promptitude with Fabius's
caution and prudence, and to temper the one by the other, they sent,
sometimes both with consular command, sometimes one as consul, the other
as proconsul, against the enemy. Posidonius writes, that Fabius was
called the buckler, Marcellus the sword of Rome. Certainly, Hannibal
himself confessed that he feared Fabius as a schoolmaster, Marcellus as
an adversary: the former, lest he should be hindered from doing
mischief; the latter, lest he should receive harm himself.
And first, when among Hannibal's soldiers, proud of their victory,
carelessness and boldness had grown to a great height, Marcellus,
attacking all their stragglers and plundering parties, cut them off, and
by little and little diminished their forces. Then carrying aid to the
Neapolitans and Nolans, he confirmed the minds of the former, who,
indeed, were of their own accord faithful enough to the Romans; but in
Nola he found a state of discord, the senate not being able to rule and
keep in the common people, who were generally favorers of Hannibal.
There was in the town one Bantius, a man renowned for his high birth and
courage. This man, after he had fought most fiercely at Cannae, and had
killed many of the enemies, at last was found lying in a heap of dead
bodies, covered with darts, and was brought to Hannibal, who so honored
him, that he not only dismissed him without ransom, but also contracted
friendship with him, and made him his guest. In gratitude for this great
favor, he became one of the strongest of the partisans of Hannibal, and
urged the people to revolt. Marcellus could not be induced to put to
death a man of such eminence, and who had endured such dangers in
fighting on the Roman side; but, knowing himself able, by the general
kindliness of his disposition and in particular by the attractiveness of
his address, to gain over a character whose passion was for honor, one
day when Bantius saluted him, he asked him who he was; not that he knew
him not before, but seeking an occasion of further conference. When
Bantius had told who he was, Marcellus, seeming surprised with joy and
wonder, replied: "Are you that Bantius, whom the Romans commend above
the rest that fought at Cannae, and praise as the one man that not only
did not forsake the consul Paulus Aemilius, but received in his own body
many darts thrown at him?" Bantius owning himself to be that very man,
and showing his scars: "Why then," said Marcellus, "did not you, having
such proofs to show of your affection to us, come to me at my first
arrival here? Do you think that we are unwilling to requite with favor
those who have well deserved, and who are honored even by our enemies?"
He followed up his courtesies by a present of a war-horse, and five
hundred drachmas in money. From that time Bantius became the most
faithful assistant and ally of Marcellus, and a most keen discoverer of
those that attempted innovation and sedition.
These were many, and had entered into a conspiracy to plunder the baggage
of the Romans, when they should make an irruption against the enemy.
Marcellus, therefore, having marshaled his army within the city, placed
the baggage near to the gates, and, by an edict, forbade the Nolans to go
to the walls. Thus, outside the city, no arms could be seen; by which
prudent device he allured Hannibal to move with his army in some disorder
to the city, thinking that things were in a tumult there. Then
Marcellus, the nearest gate being, as he had commanded, thrown open,
issuing forth with the flower of his horse in front, charged the enemy.
By and by the foot, sallying out of another gate, with a loud shout
joined in the battle. And while Hannibal opposes part of his forces to
these, the third gate also is opened, out of which the rest break forth,
and on all quarters fall upon the enemies, who were dismayed at this
unexpected encounter, and did but feebly resist those with whom they had
been first engaged, because of their attack by these others that sallied
out later. Here Hannibal's soldiers, with much bloodshed and many
wounds, were beaten back to their camp, and for the first time turned
their backs to the Romans. There fell in this action, as it is related,
more than five thousand of them; of the Romans, not above five hundred.
Livy does not affirm, that either the victory, or the slaughter of the
enemy was so great; but certain it is, that the adventure brought great
glory to Marcellus, and to the Romans, after their calamities, a great
revival of confidence, as they began now to entertain a hope, that the
enemy with whom they contended was not invincible, but liable like
themselves to defeats.
Therefore, the other consul being deceased, the people recalled
Marcellus, that they might put him into his place; and, in spite of the
magistrates, succeeded in postponing the election till his arrival, when
he was by all the suffrages created consul. But because it happened to
thunder, the augurs accounting that he was not legitimately created, and
yet not daring, for fear of the people, to declare their sentence openly,
Marcellus voluntarily resigned the consulate, retaining however his
command. Being created proconsul, and returning to the camp at Nola, he
proceeded to harass those that followed the party of the Carthaginian; on
whose coming with speed to succor them, Marcellus declined a challenge to
a set battle, but when Hannibal had sent out a party to plunder, and now
expected no fight, he broke out upon him with his army. He had
distributed to the foot long lances, such as are commonly used in naval
fights; and instructed them to throw them with great force at convenient
distance against the enemies who were inexperienced in that way of
darting, and used to fight with short darts hand to hand. This seems to
have been the cause of the total rout and open flight of all the
Carthaginians who were then engaged: there fell of them five thousand;
four elephants were killed, and two taken; but, what was of greatest
moment, on the third day after, more than three hundred horse, Spaniards
and Numidians mixed, deserted to him, a disaster that had never to that
day happened to Hannibal, who had long kept together in harmony an army
of barbarians, collected out of many various and discordant nations.
Marcellus and his successors in all this war made good use of the
faithful service of these horsemen.
He now was a third time created consul, and sailed over into Sicily. For
the success of Hannibal had excited the Carthaginians to lay claim to
that whole island; chiefly because after the murder of the tyrant
Hieronymus, all things had been in tumult and confusion at Syracuse. For
which reason the Romans also had sent before to that city a force under
the conduct of Appius, as praetor. While Marcellus was receiving that
army, a number of Roman soldiers cast themselves at his feet, upon
occasion of the following calamity. Of those that survived the battle at
Cannae, some had escaped by flight, and some were taken alive by the
enemy; so great a multitude, that it was thought there were not remaining
Romans enough to defend the walls of the city. And yet the magnanimity
and constancy of the city was such, that it would not redeem the captives
from Hannibal, though it might have done so for a small ransom; a decree
of the senate forbade it, and chose rather to leave them to be killed by
the enemy, or sold out of Italy; and commanded that all who had saved
themselves by flight should be transported into Sicily, and not permitted
to return into Italy, until the war with Hannibal should be ended.
These, therefore, when Marcellus was arrived in Sicily, addressed
themselves to him in great numbers; and casting themselves at his feet,
with much lamentation and tears humbly besought him to admit them to
honorable service; and promised to make it appear by their future
fidelity and exertions, that that defeat had been received rather by
misfortune than by cowardice. Marcellus, pitying them, petitioned the
senate by letters, that he might have leave at all times to recruit his
legions out of them. After much debate about the thing, the senate
decreed they were of opinion that the commonwealth did not require the
service of cowardly soldiers; if Marcellus perhaps thought otherwise, he
might make use of them, provided no one of them be honored on any
occasion with a crown or military gift, as a reward of his virtue or
courage. This decree stung Marcellus; and on his return to Rome, after
the Sicilian war was ended, he upbraided the senate, that they had denied
to him, who had so highly deserved of the republic, liberty to relieve so
great a number of citizens in great calamity.
At this time Marcellus, first incensed by injures done him by
Hippocrates, commander of the Syracusans, (who, to give proof of his good
affection to the Carthaginians, and to acquire the tyranny to himself,
had killed a number of Romans at Leontini,) besieged and took by force
the city of Leontini; yet violated none of the townsmen; only deserters,
as many as he took, he subjected to the punishment of the rods and axe.
But Hippocrates, sending a report to Syracuse, that Marcellus had put all
the adult population to the sword, and then coming upon the Syracusans,
who had risen in tumult upon that false report, made himself master of
the city. Upon this Marcellus moved with his whole army to Syracuse,
and, encamping near the wall, sent ambassadors into the city to relate to
the Syracusans the truth of what had been done in Leontini. When these
could not prevail by treaty, the whole power being now in the hands of
Hippocrates, he proceeded to attack the city both by land and by sea. The
land forces were conducted by Appius Marcellus, with sixty galleys, each
with five rows of oars, furnished with all sorts of arms and missiles,
and a huge bridge of planks laid upon eight ships chained together, upon
which was carried the engine to cast stones and darts, assaulted the
walls, relying on the abundance and magnificence of his preparations, and
on his own previous glory; all which, however, were, it would seem, but
trifles for Archimedes and his machines.
These machines he had designed and contrived, not as matters of any
importance, but as mere amusements in geometry; in compliance with king
Hiero's desire and request, some little time before, that he should
reduce to practice some part of his admirable speculations in science,
and by accommodating the theoretic truth to sensation and ordinary use,
bring it more within the appreciation of people in general. Eudoxus and
Archytas had been the first originators of this far-famed and highly
prized art of mechanics, which they employed as an elegant illustration
of geometrical truths, and as a means of sustaining experimentally, to
the satisfaction of the senses, conclusions too intricate for proof by
words and diagrams. As, for example, to solve the problem, so often
required in constructing geometrical figures, given the two extreme, to
find the two mean lines of a proportion, both these mathematicians had
recourse to the aid of instruments, adapting to their purpose certain
curves and sections of lines. But what with Plato's indignation at it,
and his invectives against it as the mere corruption and annihilation of
the one good of geometry, -- which was thus shamefully turning its back
upon the unembodied objects of pure intelligence to recur to sensation,
and to ask help (not to be obtained without base subservience and
depravation) from matter; so it was that mechanics came to be separated
from geometry, and, repudiated and neglected by philosophers, took its
place as a military art. Archimedes, however, in writing to king Hiero,
whose friend and near relation he was, had stated, that given the force,
any given weight might be moved, and even boasted, we are told, relying
on the strength of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by
going into it he could remove this. Hiero being struck with amazement at
this, and entreating him to make good this problem by actual experiment,
and show some great weight moved by a small engine, he fixed accordingly
upon a ship of burden out of the king's arsenal, which could not be drawn
out of the dock without great labor and many men; and, loading her with
many passengers and a full freight, sitting himself the while far off,
with no great endeavor, but only holding the head of the pulley in his
hand and drawing the cord by degrees, he drew the ship in a straight
line, as smoothly and evenly, as if she had been in the sea. The king,
astonished at this, and convinced of the power of the art, prevailed upon
Archimedes to make him engines accommodated to all the purposes,
offensive and defensive, of a siege. These the king himself never made
use of, because he spent almost all his life in a profound quiet, and the
highest affluence. But the apparatus was, in a most opportune time, ready
at hand for the Syracusans, and with it also the engineer himself.
When, therefore, the Romans assaulted the walls in two places at once,
fear and consternation stupefied the Syracusans, believing that nothing
was able to resist that violence and those forces. But when Archimedes
began to ply his engines, he at once shot against the land forces all
sorts of missile weapons, and immense masses of stone that came down with
incredible noise and violence, against which no man could stand; for they
knocked down those upon whom they fell, in heaps, breaking all their
ranks and files. In the meantime huge poles thrust out from the walls
over the ships, sunk some by the great weights which they let down from
on high upon them; others they lifted up into the air by an iron hand or
beak like a crane's beak, and, when they had drawn them up by the prow,
and set them on end upon the poop, they plunged them to the bottom of the
sea; or else the ships, drawn by engines within, and whirled about, were
dashed against steep rocks that stood jutting out under the walls, with
great destruction of the soldiers that were aboard them. A ship was
frequently lifted up to a great height in the air (a dreadful thing to
behold), and was rolled to and fro, and kept swinging, until the mariners
were all thrown out, when at length it was dashed against the rocks, or
let fall. At the engine that Marcellus brought upon the bridge of ships,
which was called Sambuca from some resemblance it had to an instrument of
music, while it was as yet approaching the wall, there was discharged a
piece of a rock of ten talents' weight, then a second and a third, which,
striking upon it with immense force and with a noise like thunder, broke
all its foundation to pieces, shook out all its fastenings, and
completely dislodged it from the bridge. So Marcellus, doubtful what
counsel to pursue, drew off his ships to a safer distance, and sounded a
retreat to his forces on land. They then took a resolution of coming up
under the walls, if it were possible, in the night; thinking that as
Archimedes used ropes stretched at length in playing his engines, the
soldiers would now be under the shot, and the darts would, for want of
sufficient distance to throw them, fly over their heads without effect.
But he, it appeared, had long before framed for such occasion engines
accommodated to any distance, and shorter weapons; and had made numerous
small openings in the walls, through which, with engines of a shorter
range, unexpected blows were inflicted on the assailants. Thus, when
they who thought to deceive the defenders came close up to the walls,
instantly a shower of darts and other missile weapons was again cast upon
them. And when stones came tumbling down perpendicularly upon their
heads, and, as it were, the whole wall shot out arrows at them, they
retired. And now, again, as they were going off, arrows and darts of a
longer range indicted a great slaughter among them, and their ships were
driven one against another; while they themselves were not able to
retaliate in any way. For Archimedes had provided and fixed most of his
engines immediately under the wall; whence the Romans, seeing that
infinite mischiefs overwhelmed them from no visible means, began to think
they were fighting with the gods.
Yet Marcellus escaped unhurt, and, deriding his own artificers and
engineers, "What," said he, "must we give up fighting with this
geometrical Briareus, who plays pitch and toss with our ships, and, with
the multitude of darts which he showers at a single moment upon us,
really outdoes the hundred-handed giants of mythology?" And, doubtless,
the rest of the Syracusans were but the body of Archimedes' designs, one
soul moving and governing all; for, laying aside all other arms, with his
alone they infested the Romans, and protected themselves. In fine, when
such terror had seized upon the Romans, that, if they did but see a
little rope or a piece of wood from the wall, instantly crying out, that
there it was again, Archimedes was about to let fly some engine at them,
they turned their backs and fled, Marcellus desisted from conflicts and
assaults, putting all his hope in a long siege. Yet Archimedes possessed
so high a spirit, so profound a soul, and such treasures of scientific
knowledge, that though these inventions had now obtained him the renown
of more than human sagacity, he yet would not deign to leave behind him
any commentary or writing on such subjects; but, repudiating as sordid
and ignoble the whole trade of engineering, and every sort of art that
lends itself to mere use and profit, he placed his whole affection and
ambition in those purer speculations where there can be no reference to
the vulgar needs of life; studies, the superiority of which to all others
is unquestioned, and in which the only doubt can be, whether the beauty
and grandeur of the subjects examined, or the precision and cogency of
the methods and means of proof, most deserve our admiration. It is not
possible to find in all geometry more difficult and intricate questions,
or more simple and lucid explanations. Some ascribe this to his natural
genius; while others think that incredible effort and toil produced
these, to all appearance, easy and unlabored results. No amount of
investigation of yours would succeed in attaining the proof, and yet,
once seen, you immediately believe you would have discovered it; by so
smooth and so rapid a path he leads you to the conclusion required. And
thus it ceases to be incredible that (as is commonly told of him), the
charm of his familiar and domestic Siren made him forget his food and
neglect his person, to that degree that when he was occasionally carried
by absolute violence to bathe, or have his body anointed, he used to
trace geometrical figures in the ashes of the fire, and diagrams in the
oil on his body, being in a state of entire preoccupation, and, in the
truest sense, divine possession with his love and delight in science.
His discoveries were numerous and admirable; but he is said to have
requested his friends and relations that when he was dead, they would
place over his tomb a sphere containing a cylinder, inscribing it with
the ratio which the containing solid bears to the contained.
Such was Archimedes, who now showed himself, and, so far as lay in him,
the city also, invincible. While the siege continued, Marcellus took
Megara, one of the earliest founded of the Greek cities in Sicily, and
capturing also the camp of Hippocrates at Acilae, killed above eight
thousand men, having attacked them whilst they were engaged in forming
their fortifications. He overran a great part of Sicily; gained over
many towns from the Carthaginians, and overcame all that dared to
encounter him. As the siege went on, one Damippus, a Lacedaemonian,
putting to sea in a ship from Syracuse, was taken. When the Syracusans
much desired to redeem this man, and there were many meetings and
treaties about the matter betwixt them and Marcellus, he had opportunity
to notice a tower into which a body of men might be secretly introduced,
as the wall near to it was not difficult to surmount, and it was itself
carelessly guarded. Coming often thither, and entertaining conferences
about the release of Damippus, he had pretty well calculated the height
of the tower, and got ladders prepared. The Syracusans celebrated a
feast to Diana; this juncture of time, when they were given up entirely
to wine and sport, Marcellus laid hold of, and, before the citizens
perceived it, not only possessed himself of the tower, but, before the
break of day, filled the wall around with soldiers, and made his way into
the Hexapylum. The Syracusans now beginning to stir, and to be alarmed
at the tumult, he ordered the trumpets everywhere to sound, and thus
frightened them all into flight, as if all parts of the city were already
won, though the most fortified, and the fairest, and most ample quarter
was still ungained. It is called Acradina, and was divided by a wall
from the outer city, one part of which they call Neapolis, the other
Tycha. Possessing himself of these, Marcellus, about break of day,
entered through the Hexapylum, all his officers congratulating him. But
looking down from the higher places upon the beautiful and spacious city
below, he is said to have wept much, commiserating the calamity that hung
over it, when his thoughts represented to him, how dismal and foul the
face of the city would in a few hours be, when plundered and sacked by
the soldiers. For among the officers of his army there was not one man
that durst deny the plunder of the city to the soldiers' demands; nay,
many were instant that it should be set on fire and laid level to the
ground: but this Marcellus would not listen to. Yet he granted, but
with great unwillingness and reluctance, that the money and slaves should
be made prey; giving orders, at the same time, that none should violate
any free person, nor kill, misuse, or make a slave of any of the
Syracusans. Though he had used this moderation, he still esteemed the
condition of that city to be pitiable, and, even amidst the
congratulations and joy, showed his strong feelings of sympathy and
commiseration at seeing all the riches accumulated during a long
felicity, now dissipated in an hour. For it is related, that no less
prey and plunder was taken here, than afterward in Carthage. For not
long after, they obtained also the plunder of the other parts of the city,
which were taken by treachery; leaving nothing untouched but the king's
money, which was brought into the public treasury. But nothing afflicted
Marcellus so much as the death of Archimedes; who was then, as fate would
have it, intent upon working out some problem by a diagram, and having
fixed his mind alike and his eyes upon the subject of his speculation, he
never noticed the incursion of the Romans, nor that the city was taken.
In this transport of study and contemplation, a soldier, unexpectedly
coming up to him, commanded him to follow to Marcellus; which he
declining to do before he had worked out his problem to a demonstration,
the soldier, enraged, drew his sword and ran him through. Others write,
that a Roman soldier, running upon him with a drawn sword, offered to
kill him; and that Archimedes, looking back, earnestly besought him to
hold his hand a little while, that he might not leave what he was then at
work upon inconclusive and imperfect; but the soldier, nothing moved by
his entreaty, instantly killed him. Others again relate, that as
Archimedes was carrying to Marcellus mathematical instruments, dials,
spheres, and angles, by which the magnitude of the sun might be measured
to the sight, some soldiers seeing him, and thinking that he carried gold
in a vessel, slew him. Certain it is, that his death was very afflicting
to Marcellus; and that Marcellus ever after regarded him that killed him
as a murderer; and that he sought for his kindred and honored them with
signal favors.
Indeed, foreign nations had held the Romans to be excellent soldiers and
formidable in battle; but they had hitherto given no memorable example of
gentleness, or humanity, or civil virtue; and Marcellus seems first to
have shown to the Greeks, that his countrymen were most illustrious for
their justice. For such was his moderation to all with whom he had
anything to do, and such his benignity also to many cities and private
men, that, if anything hard or severe was decreed concerning the people of
Enna, Megara, or Syracuse, the blame was thought to belong rather to
those upon whom the storm fell, than to those who brought it upon them.
One example of many I will commemorate. In Sicily there is a town called
Engyium, not indeed great, but very ancient and ennobled by the presence
of the goddesses, called the Mothers. The temple, they say, was built by
the Cretans; and they show some spears and brazen helmets, inscribed with
the names of Meriones, and (with the same spelling as in Latin) of
Ulysses, who consecrated them to the goddesses. This city highly
favoring the party of the Carthaginians, Nicias, the most eminent of the
citizens, counseled them to go over to the Romans; to that end acting
freely and openly in harangues to their assemblies, arguing the
imprudence and madness of the opposite course. They, fearing his power
and authority, resolved to deliver him in bonds to the Carthaginians.
Nicias, detecting the design, and seeing that his person was secretly
kept in watch, proceeded to speak irreligiously to the vulgar of the
Mothers, and showed many signs of disrespect, as if he denied and
contemned the received opinion of the presence of those goddesses; his
enemies the while rejoicing, that he, of his own accord, sought the
destruction hanging over his head. When they were just now about to lay
hands upon him, an assembly was held, and here Nicias, making a speech to
the people concerning some affair then under deliberation, in the midst
of his address, cast himself upon the ground; and soon after, while
amazement (as usually happens on such surprising occasions) held the
assembly immovable, raising and turning his head round, he began in a
trembling and deep tone, but by degrees raised and sharpened his voice.
When he saw the whole theater struck with horror and silence, throwing
off his mantle and rending his tunic, he leaps up half naked, and runs
towards the door, crying out aloud that he was driven by the wrath of the
Mothers. When no man durst, out of religious fear, lay hands upon him or
stop him, but all gave way before him, he ran out of the gate, not
omitting any shriek or gesture of men possessed and mad. His wife,
conscious of his counterfeiting, and privy to his design, taking her
children with her, first cast herself as a suppliant before the temple of
the goddesses; then, pretending to seek her wandering husband, no man
hindering her, went out of the town in safety; and by this means they all
escaped to Marcellus at Syracuse. After many other such affronts offered
him by the men of Engyium, Marcellus, having taken them all prisoners and
cast them into bonds, was preparing to inflict upon them the last
punishment; when Nicias, with tears in his eyes, addressed himself to
him. In fine, casting himself at Marcellus's feet, and deprecating for
his citizens, he begged most earnestly their lives, chiefly those of his
enemies. Marcellus, relenting, set them all at liberty, and rewarded
Nicias with ample lands and rich presents. This history is recorded by
Posidonius the philosopher.
Marcellus, at length recalled by the people of Rome to the immediate war
at home, to illustrate his triumph, and adorn the city, carried away with
him a great number of the most beautiful ornaments of Syracuse. For,
before that, Rome neither had, nor had seen, any of those fine and
exquisite rarities; nor was any pleasure taken in graceful and elegant
pieces of workmanship. Stuffed with barbarous arms and spoils stained
with blood, and everywhere crowned with triumphal memorials and trophies,
she was no pleasant or delightful spectacle for the eyes of peaceful or
refined spectators: but, as Epaminondas named the fields of Boeotia the
stage of Mars; and Xenophon called Ephesus the workhouse of war; so, in
my judgment, may you call Rome, at that time, (to use the words of
Pindar,) "the precinct of the peaceless Mars." Whence Marcellus was more
popular with the people in general, because he had adorned the city with
beautiful objects that had all the charms of Grecian grace and symmetry;
but Fabius Maximus, who neither touched nor brought away anything of
this kind from Tarentum, when he had taken it, was more approved of by
the elder men. He carried off the money and valuables, but forbade the
statues to be moved; adding, as it is commonly related, "Let us leave to
the Tarentines these offended gods." They blamed Marcellus, first, for
placing the city in an invidious position, as it seemed now to celebrate
victories and lead processions of triumph, not only over men, but also
over the gods as captives; then, that he had diverted to idleness, and
vain talk about curious arts and artificers, the common people, which,
bred up in wars and agriculture, had never tasted of luxury and sloth,
and, as Euripides said of Hercules, had been
Rude, unrefined, only for great things good,
so that now they misspent much of their time in examining and criticizing
trifles. And yet, notwithstanding this reprimand, Marcellus made it his
glory to the Greeks themselves, that he had taught his ignorant
countrymen to esteem and admire the elegant and wonderful productions of
Greece.
But when the envious opposed his being brought triumphant into the city,
because there were some relics of the war in Sicily, and a third triumph
would be looked upon with jealousy, he gave way. He triumphed upon the
Alban mount, and thence entered the city in ovation, as it is called in
Latin, in Greek eua; but in this ovation he was neither carried in a
chariot, nor crowned with laurel, nor ushered by trumpets sounding; but
went afoot with shoes on, many flutes or pipes sounding in concert, while
he passed along, wearing a garland of myrtle, in a peaceable aspect,
exciting rather love and respect than fear. Whence I am, by conjecture,
led to think that, originally, the difference observed betwixt ovation
and triumph, did not depend upon the greatness of the achievements, but
the manner of performing them. For they who, having fought a set battle,
and slain the enemy, returned victors, led that martial, terrible
triumph, and, as the ordinary custom then was, in lustrating the army,
adorned the arms and the soldiers with a great deal of laurel. But they
who, without force, by colloquy, persuasion, and reasoning, had done the
business, to these captains custom gave the honor of the unmilitary and
festive ovation. For the pipe is the badge of peace, and myrtle the
plant of Venus, who more than the rest of the gods and goddesses abhors
force and war. It is called ovation, not, as most think, from the Greek
euasmus, because they act it with shouting and cries of Eau: for so do
they also the proper triumphs. The Greeks have wrested the word to their
own language, thinking that this honor, also, must have some connection
with Bacchus, who in Greek has the titles of Euius and Thriambus. But
the thing is otherwise. For it was the custom for commanders, in their
triumph, to immolate an ox, but in their ovation, a sheep: hence they
named it Ovation, from the Latin ovis. It is worth observing, how
exactly opposite the sacrifices appointed by the Spartan legislator are,
to those of the Romans. For at Lacedaemon, a captain, who had performed
the work he undertook by cunning, or courteous treaty, on laying down his
command immolated an ox; he that did the business by battle, offered a
cock; the Lacedaemonians, though most warlike, thinking an exploit
performed by reason and wisdom, to be more excellent and more congruous
to man, than one effected by mere force and courage. Which of the two is
to be preferred, I leave to the determination of others.
Marcellus being the fourth time consul, his enemies suborned the
Syracusans to come to Rome to accuse him, and to complain that they had
suffered indignities and wrongs, contrary to the conditions granted them.
It happened that Marcellus was in the capitol offering sacrifice when the
Syracusans petitioned the senate, yet sitting, that they might have leave
to accuse him and present their grievances. Marcellus's colleague, eager
to protect him in his absence, put them out of the court. But Marcellus
himself came as soon as he heard of it. And first, in his curule chair
as consul, he referred to the senate the cognizance of other matters; but
when these were transacted, rising from his seat, he passed as a private
man into the place where the accused were wont to make their defense, and
gave free liberty to the Syracusans to impeach him. But they, struck
with consternation by his majesty and confidence, stood astonished, and
the power of his presence now, in his robe of state, appeared far more
terrible and severe than it had done when he was arrayed in armor. Yet
reanimated at length by Marcellus's rivals, they began their impeachment,
and made an oration in which pleas of justice mingled with lamentation
and complaint; the sum of which was, that being allies and friends of the
people of Rome, they had, notwithstanding, suffered things which other
commanders had abstained from inflicting upon enemies. To this Marcellus
answered; that they had committed many acts of hostility against the
people of Rome, and had suffered nothing but what enemies conquered and
captured in war cannot possibly be protected from suffering: that it
was their own fault they had been made captives, because they refused to
give ear to his frequent attempts to persuade them by gentle means:
neither were they forced into war by the power of tyrants, but had rather
chosen the tyrants themselves for the express object that they might make
war. The orations ended, and the Syracusans, according to the custom,
having retired, Marcellus left his colleague to ask the sentences, and
withdrawing with the Syracusans, staid expecting at the doors of the
senate-house; not in the least discomposed in spirit, either with alarm
at the accusation, or by anger against the Syracusans; but with perfect
calmness and serenity attending the issue of the cause. The sentences at
length being all asked, and a decree of the senate made in vindication of
Marcellus, the Syracusans, with tears flowing from their eyes, cast
themselves at his knees, beseeching him to forgive themselves there
present, and to be moved by the misery of the rest of their city, which
would ever be mindful of, and grateful for, his benefits. Thus
Marcellus, softened by their tears and distress, was not only reconciled
to the deputies, but ever afterwards continued to find opportunity of
doing kindness to the Syracusans. The liberty which he had restored to
them, and their rights, laws, and goods that were left, the senate
confirmed. Upon which account the Syracusans, besides other signal
honors, made a law, that if Marcellus should at anytime come into Sicily,
or any of his posterity, the Syracusans should wear garlands and offer
public sacrifice to the gods.
After this he moved against Hannibal. And whereas the other consuls and
commanders, since the defeat received at Cannae, had all made use of the
same policy against Hannibal, namely, to decline coming to a battle with
him; and none had had the courage to encounter him in the field, and put
themselves to the decision by the sword; Marcellus entered upon the
opposite course, thinking that Italy would be destroyed by the very delay
by which they looked to wear out Hannibal; and that Fabius, who, adhering
to his cautious policy, waited to see the war extinguished, while Rome
itself meantime wasted away, (like timid physicians, who, dreading to
administer remedies, stay waiting, and believe that what is the decay of
the patient's strength is the decline of the disease,) was not taking a
right course to heal the sickness of his country. And first, the great
cities of the Samnites, which had revolted, came into his power; in which
he found a large quantity of corn and money, and three thousand of
Hannibal's soldiers, that were left for the defense. After this, the
proconsul Cnaeus Fulvius with eleven tribunes of the soldiers being slain
in Apulia, and the greatest part of the army also at the same time cut
off, he dispatched letters to Rome, and bade the people be of good
courage, for that he was now upon the march against Hannibal, to turn his
triumph into sadness. On these letters being read, Livy writes, that the
people were not only not encouraged, but more discouraged, than before.
For the danger, they thought, was but the greater in proportion as
Marcellus was of more value than Fulvius. He, as he had written,
advancing into the territories of the Lucanians, came up to him at
Numistro, and, the enemy keeping himself upon the hills, pitched his camp
in a level plain, and the next day drew forth his army in order for
fight. Nor did Hannibal refuse the challenge. They fought long and
obstinately on both sides, victory yet seeming undecided, when, after
three hours conflict, night hardly parted them. The next day, as soon as
the sun was risen, Marcellus again brought forth his troops, and ranged
them among the dead bodies of the slain, challenging Hannibal to solve
the question by another trial. When he dislodged and drew off,
Marcellus, gathering up the spoils of the enemies, and burying the bodies
of his slain soldiers, closely followed him. And though Hannibal often
used stratagems, and laid ambushes to entrap Marcellus, yet he could
never circumvent him. By skirmishes, meantime, in all of which he was
superior, Marcellus gained himself such high repute, that, when the time
of the Comitia at Rome was near at hand, the senate thought fit rather to
recall the other consul from Sicily, than to withdraw Marcellus from his
conflict with Hannibal; and on his arrival they bid him name Quintus
Fulvius dictator. For the dictator is created neither by the people, nor
by the senate; but the consul or the praetor, before the popular
assembly, pronounces him to be dictator, whom he himself chooses. Hence
he is called dictator, dicere meaning to name. Others say, that he is
named dictator, because his word is a law, and he orders what he pleases,
without submitting it to the vote. For the Romans call the orders of
magistrates, Edicts.
And now because Marcellus's colleague, who was recalled from Sicily, had
a mind to name another man dictator, and would not be forced to change
his opinion, he sailed away by night back to Sicily. So the common
people made an order, that Quintus Fulvius should be chosen dictator:
and the senate, by an express, commanded Marcellus to nominate him. He
obeying proclaimed him dictator according to the order of the people; but
the office of proconsul was continued to himself for a year. And having
arranged with Fabius Maximus, that while he besieged Tarentum, he himself
would, by following Hannibal and drawing him up and down, detain him from
coming to the relief of the Tarentines, he overtook him at Canusium: and
as Hannibal often shifted his camp, and still declined the combat, he
everywhere sought to engage him. At last pressing upon him while
encamping, by light skirmishes he provoked him to a battle; but night
again divided them in the very heat of the conflict. The next day
Marcellus again showed himself in arms, and brought up his forces in
array. Hannibal, in extreme grief, called his Carthaginians together to
an harangue; and vehemently prayed them, to fight today worthily of all
their former successes; "For you see," said he, "how, after such great
victories, we have not liberty to respire, nor to repose ourselves,
though victors; unless we drive this man back." Then the two armies
joining battle, fought fiercely; when the event of an untimely movement
showed Marcellus to have been guilty of an error. The right wing being
hard pressed upon, he commanded one of the legions to be brought up to
the front. This change disturbing the array and posture of the legions,
gave the victory to the enemies; and there fell two thousand seven
hundred Romans. Marcellus, after he had retreated into his camp, called
his soldiers together; "I see," said he, "many Roman arms and bodies, but
I see not so much as one Roman." To their entreaties for his pardon, he
returned a refusal while they remained beaten, but promised to give it so
soon as they should overcome; and he resolved to bring them into the
field again the next day, that the fame of their victory might arrive at
Rome before that of their flight. Dismissing the assembly, he commanded
barley instead of wheat to be given to those companies that had turned
their backs. These rebukes were so bitter to the soldiers, that though a
great number of them were grievously wounded, yet they relate there was
not one to whom the general's oration was not more painful and smarting
than his wounds.
The day breaking, a scarlet toga, the sign of instant battle, was
displayed. The companies marked with ignominy, begged they might be
posted in the foremost place, and obtained their request. Then the
tribunes bring forth the rest of the forces, and draw them up. On news
of which, "O strange!" said Hannibal, "what will you do with this man,
who can bear neither good nor bad fortune? He is the only man who
neither suffers us to rest when he is victor, nor rests himself when he
is overcome. We shall have, it seems, perpetually to fight with him; as
in good success his confidence, and in ill success his shame, still urges
him to some further enterprise?" Then the armies engaged. When the
fight was doubtful, Hannibal commanded the elephants to be brought into
the first battalion, and to be driven upon the van of the Romans. When
the beasts, trampling upon many, soon caused disorder, Flavius, a tribune
of soldiers, snatching an ensign, meets them, and wounding the first
elephant with the spike at the bottom of the ensign staff, puts him to
flight. The beast turned round upon the next, and drove back both him
and the rest that followed. Marcellus, seeing this, pours in his horse
with great force upon the elephants, and upon the enemy disordered by
their flight. The horse, making a fierce impression, pursued the
Carthaginians home to their camp, while the elephants, wounded, and
running upon their own party, caused a considerable slaughter. It is
said, more than eight thousand were slain; of the Roman army three
thousand, and almost all wounded. This gave Hannibal opportunity to
retire in the silence of the night, and to remove to greater distance
from Marcellus; who was kept from pursuing by the number of his wounded
men, and removed, by gentle marches, into Campania, and spent the summer
at Sinuessa, engaged in restoring them.
But as Hannibal, having disentangled himself from Marcellus, ranged with
his army round about the country, and wasted Italy free from all fear, at
Rome Marcellus was evil spoken of. His detractors induced Publicius
Bibulus, tribune of the people, an eloquent and violent man, to undertake
his accusation. He, by assiduous harangues, prevailed upon the people to
withdraw from Marcellus the command of the army; "Seeing that Marcellus,"
said he, "after brief exercise in the war, has withdrawn as it might be
from the wrestling ground to the warm baths to refresh himself."
Marcellus, on hearing this, appointed lieutenants over his camp, and
hasted to Rome to refute the charges against him: and there found ready
drawn up an impeachment consisting of these calumnies. At the day
prefixed, in the Flaminian circus, into which place the people had
assembled themselves, Bibulus rose and accused him. Marcellus himself
answered, briefly and simply: but the first and most approved men of the
city spoke largely and in high terms, very freely advising the people not
to show themselves worse judges than the enemy, condemning Marcellus of
timidity, from whom alone of all their captains the enemy fled, and as
perpetually endeavored to avoid fighting with him, as to fight with
others. When they made an end of speaking, the accuser's hope to obtain
judgment so far deceived him, that Marcellus was not only absolved, but
the fifth time created consul.
No sooner had he entered upon this consulate, but he suppressed a great
commotion in Etruria, that had proceeded near to revolt, and visited and
quieted the cities. Then, when the dedication of the temple, which he had
vowed out of his Sicilian spoils to Honor and Virtue, was objected to by
the priests, because they denied that one temple could be lawfully
dedicated to two gods, he began to adjoin another to it, resenting the
priests' opposition, and almost converting the thing into an omen. And,
truly, many other prodigies also affrighted him; some temples had been
struck with lightning, and in Jupiter's temple mice had gnawed the gold;
it was reported also, that an ox had spoke, and that a boy had been born
with a head like an elephant's. All which prodigies had indeed been
attended to, but due reconciliation had not been obtained from the gods.
The aruspices therefore detained him at Rome, glowing and burning with
desire to return to the war. For no man was ever inflamed with so great
desire of any thing, as was he to fight a battle with Hannibal. It was
the subject of his dreams in the night, the topic of all his
consultations with his friends and familiars, nor did he present to the
gods any other wish, but that he might meet Hannibal in the field. And I
think, that he would most gladly have set upon him, with both armies
environed within a single camp. Had he not been even loaded with honors,
and had he not given proofs in many ways of his maturity of judgment and
of prudence equal to that of any commander, you might have said, that he
was agitated by a youthful ambition, above what became a man of that age:
for he had passed the sixtieth year of his life when he began his fifth
consulship.
The sacrifices having been offered, and all that belonged to the
propitiation of the gods performed, according to the prescription of the
diviners, he at last with his colleague went forth to carry on the war.
He tried all possible means to provoke Hannibal, who at that time had a
standing camp betwixt Bantia and Venusia. Hannibal declined an engagement,
but having obtained intelligence that some troops were on their way to
the town of Locri Epizephyrii, placing an ambush under the little hill of
Petelia, he slew two thousand five hundred soldiers. This incensed
Marcellus to revenge; and he therefore moved nearer Hannibal. Betwixt
the two camps was a little hill, a tolerably secure post, covered with
wood; it had steep descents on either side, and there were springs of
water seen trickling down. This place was so fit and advantageous, that
the Romans wondered that Hannibal, who had come thither before them, had
not seized upon it, but had left it to the enemies. But to him the place
had seemed commodious indeed for a camp, but yet more commodious for an
ambuscade; and to that use he chose to put it. So in the wood and the
hollows he hid a number of archers and spearmen, confident that the
commodiousness of the place would allure the Romans. Nor was he deceived
in his expectation. For presently in the Roman camp they talked and
disputed, as if they had all been captains, how the place ought to be
seized, and what great advantage they should thereby gain upon the
enemies, chiefly if they transferred their camp thither, at any rate, if
they strengthened the place with a fort. Marcellus resolved to go, with
a few horse, to view it. Having called a diviner he proceeded to
sacrifice. In the first victim the aruspex showed him the liver without
a head; in the second the head appeared of unusual size, and all the
other indications highly promising. When these seemed sufficient to free
them from the dread of the former, the diviners declared, that they were
all the more terrified by the latter: because entrails too fair and
promising, when they appear after others that are maimed and monstrous,
render the change doubtful and suspicious But
Nor fire nor brazen wall can keep out fate;
as Pindar observes. Marcellus, therefore, taking with him his colleague
Crispinus, and his son, a tribune of soldiers, with two hundred and
twenty horse at most, (among whom there was not one Roman, but all were
Etruscans, except forty Fregellans, of whose courage and fidelity he had
on all occasions received full proof,) goes to view the place. The hill
was covered with woods all over; on the top of it sat a scout concealed
from the sight of the enemy, but having the Roman camp exposed to his
view. Upon signs received from him, the men that were placed in ambush,
stirred not till Marcellus came near; and then all starting up in an
instant, and encompassing him from all sides, attacked him with darts,
struck about and wounded the backs of those that fled, and pressed upon
those who resisted. These were the forty Fregellans. For though the
Etruscans fled in the very beginning of the fight, the Fregellans formed
themselves into a ring, bravely defending the consuls, till Crispinus,
struck with two darts, turned his horse to fly away; and Marcellus's side
was run through with a lance with a broad head. Then the Fregellans,
also, the few that remained alive, leaving the fallen consul, and
rescuing young Marcellus, who also was wounded, got into the camp by
flight. There were slain not much above forty; five lictors and eighteen
horsemen came alive into the enemy's hands. Crispinus also died of his
wounds a few days after. Such a disaster as the loss of both consuls in
a single engagement, was one that had never before befallen the Romans.
Hannibal, little valuing the other events, so soon as he was told of
Marcellus's death, immediately hasted to the hilt. Viewing the body, and
continuing for some time to observe its strength and shape, he allowed
not a word to fall from him expressive of the least pride or arrogancy,
nor did he show in his countenance any sign of gladness, as another
perhaps would have done, when his fierce and troublesome enemy had been
taken away; but amazed by so sudden and unexpected an end, taking off
nothing but his ring, gave order to have the body properly clad and
adorned, and honorably burned. The relics, put into a silver urn, with a
crown of gold to cover it, he sent back to his son. But some of the
Numidians setting upon those that were carrying the urn, took it from
them by force, and cast away the bones; which being told to Hannibal, "It
is impossible, it seems then," he said, "to do anything against the will
of God!" He punished the Numidians; but took no further care of sending
or recollecting the bones; conceiving that Marcellus so fell, and so lay
unburied, by a certain fate. So Cornelius Nepos and Valerius Maximus
have left upon record: but Livy and Augustus Caesar affirm, that the urn
was brought to his son, and honored with a magnificent funeral. Besides
the monuments raised for him at Rome, there was dedicated to his memory
at Catana in Sicily, an ample wrestling place called after him; statues
and pictures, out of those he took from Syracuse, were set up in
Samothrace, in the temple of the gods, named Cabiri, and in that of
Minerva at Lindus, where also there was a statue of him, says Posidonius,
with the following inscription:
This was, O stranger, once Rome's star divine,
Claudius Marcellus of an ancient line;
To fight her wars seven times her consul made,
Low in the dust her enemies he laid.
The writer of the inscription has added to Marcellus's five consulates,
his two proconsulates. His progeny continued in high honor even down to
Marcellus, son of Octavia, sister of Augustus, whom she bore to her
husband Caius Marcellus; and who died, a bridegroom, in the year of his
aedileship, having not long before married Caesar's daughter. His
mother, Octavia, dedicated the library to his honor and memory, and
Caesar, the theater which bears his name.