Chapter II: Book XXVII (2)

14. Hannibal, on receiving intelligence of this, said, "surely the enemy we have to do with can neither bear good nor bad fortune. If he is victorious, he fiercely pursues the vanquished. If conquered, he renews the contest with the victors." He then ordered the signal to be given, and led out his forces. The battle was fought on both sides with much more spirit than the day before. The Carthaginians exerting themselves to the utmost, to keep the glory they had acquired yesterday; the Romans, to remove their disgrace. On the side of the Romans, the left wing, and the cohorts which had lost their standards, fought in the first line, and the twentieth legion was drawn up on the right wing. Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Caius Claudius Nero, lieutenant-generals, commanded the wings, Marcellus gave vigour to the centre by his presence, as an encourager and a witness. On the part of Hannibal, the Spaniards, who were the flower of his whole army, occupied the front line. After the battle had continued doubtful for a long time, Hannibal ordered the elephants to be advanced into the front line, if by that means any confusion or panic could be created. At first, they threw the troops into confusion and broke their ranks, and treading some under foot, and dispersing others who were round them by the alarm they created, had made an opening in one part of the Roman line; and the flight would have spread more widely had not Caius Decimus Flavius, a military tribune seizing the standard of the first maniple of the spearmen ordered that maniple to follow him. He led them to the spot where the elephants, collected in a body, were creating the greatest confusion, and ordered them to discharge their javelins at them. As there was no difficulty in hitting such bulky bodies at a short distance, and where so many were crowded together, all their javelins stuck in them. But they were not all wounded, so those in whose hides the javelins stuck, as that race of animals is not to be depended on, by taking themselves to flight, drove away those also which were untouched. At that moment not only one maniple, but all the soldiers who could but overtake the body of retreating elephants, threw their javelins at them, each man exerting himself to his utmost. With so much greater impetuosity did the animals rush upon their own men, and so much greater carnage did they make amongst them than they had made amongst their enemies, in proportion as the violence with which they are impelled, and the consternation produced by them when under the influence of fear, is greater than when they are ruled by their masters seated on their backs. The Roman infantry bore their standards against the line of the enemy when thrown into disorder by the elephants which had crossed over to them, and, thus scattered and confused, led them to flight without any great opposition. Marcellus sent his cavalry after them as they fled; nor did they desist from the pursuit till they were driven in consternation to their camp. For in addition to the other causes which occasioned terror and dismay, two elephants had fallen just by the gate, and the soldiers were compelled to rush into the camp over the ditch and rampart. Here the greatest slaughter of the enemy occurred. There fell as many as eight thousand men and five elephants. Nor did the Romans gain a bloodless victory; about seventeen hundred of the two legions, and thirteen hundred of the allies were slain; a great number of the Romans and allies were wounded. The following night Hannibal decamped. The great number of the wounded prevented Marcellus from following him, as he desired.

15. The spies who were sent to watch his movements brought word back the next day that Hannibal was making for Bruttium. Much about the same time the Hirpinians, Lucanians, and Volcentes surrendered themselves to the consul, Quintus Fulvius, delivering up the garrisons of Hannibal which they had in their cities. They were mildly received by the consul, with only a verbal reproof for their past error. To the Bruttians also similar hopes of pardon were held out, when two brothers, Vibius and Pactius, by far the most illustrious persons of that nation, came from them to solicit the same terms of surrender which had been given to the Lucanians. Quintus Fabius, the consul, took by storm Manduria, a town in the territory of Sallentum, where as many as four thousand men were made prisoners, and much booty taken besides. Proceeding thence to Tarentum, he pitched his camp in the very mouth of the harbour: of the ships which Livius had employed for protecting convoys, some he loaded with engines and implements for attacking walls, others he furnished with machines for discharging missiles, and with stones and missiles of every kind; not only those which were impelled with oars, but the storeships also, in order that some might carry the engines and ladders to the walls, while others might wound the defenders of the walls by discharging missiles from the ships at a distance. These ships were fitted up and prepared to attack the town from the open sea; and the sea was free from the Carthaginian fleet, which had crossed over to Corcyra on account of Philip's preparing to attack the Aetolians. Meanwhile, those who were attacking Caulon, in the territory of Bruttium, fearful lest they should be overpowered, had retired on the approach of Hannibal to an eminence, secure from an immediate attack. While Fabius was besieging Tarentum, he received assistance in the accomplishment of that great object by a circumstance which in the mere mention, is unimportant. Tarentum was occupied by a garrison of Bruttians, given them by Hannibal and the commander of that garrison was desperately in love with a girl, whose brother was in the army of the consul Fabius. Being informed, by a letter from his sister, of the new acquaintance she had formed with a wealthy stranger and one so honoured among his countrymen, and conceiving a hope that the lover, by means of his sister, might be induced to any thing she pleased, he acquainted the consul with the hope he had formed. His reasoning appeared not altogether unfounded, and he was desired to go to Tarentum as a deserter and having gained the confidence of the praefect by means of his sister, he began by sounding his disposition in a covert manner, and then, having sufficiently ascertained his weakness, induced him, by the aid of female fascinations, to the betrayal of that custody of the place to which he was appointed. After the method to be pursued and the time for putting the plan into effect had been agreed upon, a soldier, who was sent out of the city by night clandestinely, through the intervals between the guards, related to the consul what had been done, and what had been agreed upon to be done. At the first watch, Fabius, on a signal given to those who were in the citadel, and those who had the custody of the harbour went himself round the harbour, and took up a position of concealment, on the side of the city which faced the east. Then the trumpets began to sound at once from the citadel, the harbour, and the ships which had been brought to the shore from the open sea, and a shout was purposely raised, accompanied with the greatest confusion, in whatever quarter there was the least danger. Meanwhile, the consul kept the men in silence. Democrates, therefore, who had formerly commanded the fleet, and happened to be in command in the quarter, seeing that all was quiet around him, while other parts of the city resounded with such a din that sometimes shout like that of a captured city was raised, and fearing loss while he hesitated, the consul should make some attack and advance his standards, led his party over to the citadel, from which the most alarming noise proceeded. Fabius, concluding that the guard was withdrawn, both from the time which had elapsed and from the silence which prevailed, for not a voice met the ear from a quarter where a little while ago the noise and bustle of men resounded, rousing and calling each other to arms, ordered the ladders to be carried to that part of the wall where the person who had contrived the plot for betraying the city, had informed him that the Bruttian cohort kept guard. The wall was first captured in that quarter, the Bruttians aiding and receiving the Romans; and here they got over into the city: after which the nearest gate was broken open in order that the troops might enter in a large body. Then raising a shout, they proceeded to the forum, where they arrived much about daybreak, without meeting a single armed man; and drew upon themselves the attention of all the troops in every quarter, which were fighting at the citadel and at the harbour.

16. A battle was fought in the entrance of the forum, with greater impetuosity than perseverance. The Tarentines were not equal to the Romans in spirit, in their arms, in tactics, in activity or strength of body. Accordingly, having just discharged their javelins, they turned their backs almost before they had joined battle, and escaped in different directions through the streets of the city, with which they were acquainted, to their own houses and those of their friends. Two of their leaders, Nico and Democrates, fell while fighting bravely. Philomenus, who was the author of the plot for betraying the city to Hannibal, rode away from the battle at full speed. Shortly after, his horse, which was loose and straying through the city, was recognised, but his body could not be found any where. It was generally believed that he had pitched headlong from his horse into an open well. Carthalo, the praefect of the Carthaginian garrison, while coming to the consul unarmed, to put him in mind of a connexion of hospitality which subsisted between their fathers, was put to death by a soldier who met him. The rest were put to the sword on all hands, armed and unarmed indiscriminately, Carthaginians and Tarentines without distinction. Many of the Bruttians also were slain either by mistake or on account of an old grudge entertained against them, or else with a view to the report that the city was betrayed; in order that Tarentum might rather appear to have been captured by force of arms. The troops then ran off in all directions from the slaughter, to plunder the city. Thirty thousand slaves are said to have been captured; an immense quantity of silver, wrought and coined; eighty-three thousand pounds of gold; of statues and pictures so many that they almost equalled the decorations of Syracuse. But Fabius, with more magnanimity than Marcellus, abstained from booty of that kind. When his secretary asked him what he wished to be done with the statues of their gods, which are of immense size and represented as fighting, each having his peculiar habit, he gave orders that their angry gods should be left in the possession of the Tarentines. After this, the wall which separated the city from the citadel was razed and demolished. While things were going on thus at Tarentum, Hannibal, to whom the troops engaged in the siege of Caulonia had surrendered themselves, hearing of the siege of Tarentum, marched with the greatest expedition both night and day; but hearing that the city was taken, as he was hastening to bring assistance to it, he exclaimed, "the Romans too have their Hannibal. We have lost Tarentum by the same arts by which we took it." However, that he might not appear to have turned his army in the manner of a fugitive, he encamped where he had halted, about five miles from the city. After staying there a few days, he retired to Metapontum, from which place he sent two Metapontines with letters from the principal men in the state to Fabius at Tarentum, to the effect, that they would accept of his promise that their past conduct should be unpunished, on condition of their betraying Metapontum together with the Carthaginian garrison into his hands. Fabius, who supposed that the communication they brought was genuine, appointed a day on which he would go to Metapontum, and gave the letters to the nobles, which were put into the hands of Hannibal. He, forsooth, delighted at the success of his stratagem, which showed that not even Fabius was proof against his cunning, planted an ambuscade not far from Metapontum. But when Fabius was taking the auspices, before he took his departure from Tarentum, the birds more than once refused approval. Also, on consulting the gods after sacrificing a victim, the aruspex forewarned him to be on his guard against hostile treachery and ambuscade. After the day fixed for his arrival had passed without his coming, the Metapontines were sent again to encourage him, delaying, but they were instantly seized, and, from apprehension of a severer mode of examination, disclosed the plot.

17. In the beginning of the summer during which these events occurred, after Publius Scipio had employed the whole of the winter in Spain in regaining the affections of the barbarians, partly by presents, and partly by sending home their hostages and prisoners, Edesco, a man distinguished among the Spanish commanders, came to him. His wife and children were in the hands of the Romans; but besides this motive, he was influenced by that apparently fortuitous turn in the state of feeling which had converted the whole of Spain from the Carthaginian to the Roman cause. The same motive induced Indibilis and Mandonius, who were undoubtedly the principal men in all Spain, to desert Hasdrubal and withdraw with the whole body of their countrymen to the eminences which overhung his camp, from which they had a safe retreat along a chain of hills to the Romans. Hasdrubal, perceiving that the strength of the enemy was increasing by such large accessions, while his own was diminishing, and that events would continue to flow in the same course they had taken, unless by a bold effort he effected some alteration, resolved to come to an engagement as soon as possible. Scipio was still more eager for a battle, as well from hope which the success attending his operations had increased, as because he preferred, before the junction of the enemy's forces, to fight with one general and one army, rather than with their united troops. However, in case he should be obliged to fight with more armies than one at the same time, he had with some ingenuity augmented his forces; for seeing that there was no necessity for ships, as the whole coast of Spain was clear of Carthaginian fleets, he hauled his ships on shore at Tarraco and added his mariners to his land forces. He had plenty of arms for them, both those which had been captured at Carthage, and those which he had caused to be made after its capture, so large a number of workmen having been employed. With these forces, setting out from Tarraco at the commencement of the spring, for Laelius had now returned from Rome, without whom he wished nothing of very great importance to be attempted, Scipio marched against the enemy. Indibilis and Mandonius, with their forces, met him while on his march; passing through every place Without molestation, his allies receiving him courteously, and escorting him as he passed the boundaries of each district. Indibilis, who spoke for both, addressed him by no means stupidly and imprudently like a barbarian, but with a modest gravity, rather excusing the change as necessary, than glorying that the present opportunity had been eagerly seized as the first which had occurred. "For he well knew," he said, "that the name of a deserter was an object of execration to former allies, and of suspicion to new ones; nor did he blame the conduct of mankind in this respect, provided, however, that the cause, and not the name, occasioned the twofold hatred." He then recounted the services they had rendered the Carthaginian generals, and on the other hand their rapacity and insolence, together with the injuries of every kind committed against themselves and their countrymen. "On this account," he said, "his person only up to that time had been with them, his heart had long since been on that side where he believed that right and justice were respected. That people sought for refuge, as suppliants, even with the gods when they could not endure the oppression and injustice of men. What he had to entreat of Scipio was, that their passing over to him might neither be the occasion of a charge of fraud nor a ground for respect, but that he would estimate their services according to what sort of men he should find them to be from experience from that day." The Roman replied, that "he would do so in every particular; nor would he consider those men as deserters who did not look upon an alliance as binding where no law, divine or human, was unviolated." Their wives and children were then brought before them and restored to them; on which occasion they wept for joy. On that day they were conducted to a lodging; on the following they were received as allies, by a treaty, after which they were sent to bring up their forces. From that time they had their tents in the same camp with the Romans, until under their guidance they had reached the enemy.

18. The army of Hasdrubal, which was the nearest of the Carthaginian armies, lay near the city Baecula. Before his camp he had outposts of cavalry. On these the light-armed, those who fought before the standards and those who composed the vanguard, as they came up from their march, and before they chose the ground for their camp, commenced an attack in so contemptuous a manner, that it was perfectly evident what degree of spirit each party possessed. The cavalry were driven into their camp in disorderly flight, and the Roman standards were advanced almost within their very gates. Their minds on that day having only been excited to a contest, the Romans pitched their camp. At night Hasdrubal withdrew his forces to an eminence, on the summit of which extended a level plain. There was a river on the rear, in front and on either side a kind of steep bank completely surrounded its extremity. Beneath this and lower down was another plain of gentle declivity, which was also surrounded by a similar ridge equally difficult of ascent. Into this lower plain Hasdrubal, the next day, when he saw the troops of the enemy drawn up before their camp, sent his Numidian cavalry and light-armed Baleares. Scipio riding out to the companies and battalions, pointed out to them, that "the enemy having abandoned, beforehand, all hope of being able to withstand them on level ground, had resorted to hills: where they stood in view, relying on the strength of their position, and not on their valour and arms." But the walls of Carthage, which the Roman soldiers had scaled, were still higher. That neither hills, nor a citadel, nor even the sea itself, had formed an impediment to their arms. That the heights which the enemy had occupied would only have the effect of making it necessary for them to leap down crags and precipices in their flight, but he would even cut off that kind of retreat. He accordingly gave orders to two cohorts, that one of them should occupy the entrance of the valley down which the river ran, and that the other should block up the road which led from the city into the country, over the side of the hill. He himself led the light troops, which the day before had driven in the advanced guard of the enemy, against the light-armed troops which were stationed on the lower ridge. At first they marched through rugged ground, impeded by nothing except the road; afterwards, when they came within reach of the darts, an immense quantity of weapons of every description was showered upon them; while on their part, not only the soldiers, but a multitude of servants mingled with the troops, threw stones furnished by the place, which were spread about in every part, and for the most part convenient as missiles. But though the ascent was difficult, and they were almost overwhelmed with stones and darts, yet from their practice in approaching walls and their inflexibility of mind, the foremost succeeded in getting up. These, as soon as they got upon some level ground and could stand with firm footing, compelled the enemy, who were light-armed troops adapted for skirmishing, and could defend themselves at a distance, where an elusive kind of fight is carried on by the discharge of missiles, but yet wanted steadiness for a close action, to fly from their position; and, killing a great many, drove them to the troops which stood above them on the higher eminence. Upon this Seipio, having ordered the victorious troops to mount up and attack the centre of the enemy, divided the rest of his forces with Laelius; whom he directed to go round the hill to the right till he could find a way of easier ascent, while he himself, making a small circuit to the left, charged the enemy in flank. In consequence of this their line was first thrown into confusion, while they endeavoured to wheel round and face about their ranks towards the shouts which resounded from every quarter around them. During this confusion Laelius also came up, and while the enemy were retreating, that they might not be exposed to wounds from behind, their front line became disjoined, and a space was left for the Roman centre to mount up; who, from the disadvantage of the ground, never could have done so had their ranks stood unbroken with the elephants stationed in front. While the troops of the enemy were being slain on all sides, Scipio, who with his left wing had charged the right of the enemy, was chiefly employed in attacking their naked flank. And now there was not even room to fly; for parties of the Roman troops had blocked up the roads on both sides, right and left, and the gate of the camp was closed by the flight of the general and principal officers; added to which was the fright of the elephants, who, when in consternation, were as much feared by them as the enemy were. There were, therefore, slain as many as eight thousand men.

19. Hasdrubal, having seized upon the treasure before he engaged, now sent the elephants in advance, and collecting as many of the flying troops as he could, directed his course along the river Tagus to the Pyrenees. Scipio, having got possession of the enemy's camp, and giving up all the booty to the soldiers, except the persons of free condition, found, on counting the prisoners, ten thousand foot and two thousand horse. Of these, all who were Spaniards he sent home without ransom; the Africans he ordered the quaestor to sell. After this, a multitude of Spaniards, consisting of those who had surrendered to him before and those whom he had captured the preceding day, crowding around, one and all saluted him as king; when Scipio, after the herald had obtained silence, declared that "in his estimation the most honourable title was that of general, which his soldiers had conferred upon him. That the name of king, which was in other countries revered, could not be endured at Rome. That they might tacitly consider his spirit as kingly, if they thought that the highest excellence which could be attributed to the human mind, but that they must abstain from the use of the term." Even barbarians were sensible of the greatness of mind which could from such an elevation despise a name, at the greatness of which the rest of mankind were overawed. Presents were then distributed to the petty princes and leading men of the Spaniards, and out of the great quantity of horses which were captured, he desired Indibilis to select those he liked best to the number of three hundred. While the quaestor was selling the Africans, according to the command of the general, he found among them a full-grown youth remarkably handsome; and hearing that he was of royal blood, he sent him to Scipio. On being asked by Scipio "who he was, of what country, and why at that age he was in the camp?" he replied, "that he was a Numidian, that his countrymen called him Massiva; that being left an orphan by his father, he was educated by his maternal grandfather, Gala, the king of the Numidians. That he had passed over into Spain with his uncle Masinissa, who had lately come with a body of cavalry to assist the Carthaginians. That having been prohibited by Masinissa on account of his youth, he had never before been in battle. That the day on which the battle took place with the Romans, he had clandestinely taken a horse and arms, and, without the knowledge of his uncle, gone out into the field, where his horse falling forward, he was thrown headlong, and taken prisoner by the Romans." Scipio, having ordered that the Numidian should be taken care of, completed the business which remained to be done on the tribunal, and returning to his pavilion, asked him, when he had been called to him, whether he wished to return to Masinissa? Upon his replying, with tears of joy, that he did indeed desire it, he presented the youth with a gold ring, a vest with a broad purple border, a Spanish cloak with a gold clasp, and a horse completely caparisoned, and then dismissed him, ordering a party of horse to escort him as far as he chose.

20. A council was then held respecting the war; when some advised that he should endeavour to overtake Hasdrubal forthwith. But thinking that hazardous, lest Mago and the other Hasdrubal should unite their forces with his, he sent a body of troops to occupy the pass of the Pyrenees, and employed the remainder of the summer in receiving the states of Spain into his alliance. A few days after the battle of Baecula, when Scipio on his return to Tarraco had now cleared the pass of Castulo, the generals, Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, and Mago came from the farther Spain and joined Hasdrubal; a late assistance after the defeat he had sustained, though their arrival was somewhat seasonable, for counsel with respect to the further prosecution of the war. They then consulted together as to what was the feeling of the Spaniards in the quarters where their several provinces were situated, when Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, alone gave it as his opinion, that the remotest tract of Spain which borders on the ocean and Gades, was, as yet, unacquainted with the Romans, and might therefore be somewhat friendly to the Carthaginians. Between the other Hasdrubal and Mago it was agreed, that "Scipio by his good offices had gained the affections of all, both publicly and privately; and that there would be no end of desertions till all the Spanish soldiers were removed to the remotest parts of Spain, or were marched over into Gaul. That, therefore, though the Carthaginian senate had not decreed it, Hasdrubal must, nevertheless, march into Italy, the principal seat and object of the war; and thus at the same time lead away all the Spanish soldiers out of Spain far from the name of Scipio. That the army, which had been diminished by desertions and defeats, should be recruited by Spanish soldiers. That Mago, having delivered over his army to Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, should himself pass over to the Baleares with a large sum of money to hire auxiliaries; that Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, should retire with the army into the remotest part of Lusitania, and avoid an encounter with the Romans. That a body of three thousand horse should be made up for Masinissa, the flower of the whole cavalry; and that he, shifting about from place to place throughout hither Spain should succour their allies and commit depredations on the towns and lands of their enemies." Having adopted these resolutions, the generals departed to put in execution what they had resolved on. Such were the transactions in Spain of this year. At Rome the reputation of Scipio increased daily. The capture of Tarentum, though effected by artifice more than valour, was considered honourable to Fabius. The fame of Fulvius was on the wane. Marcellus was even under an ill report, not only because he had failed in his first battle, but further, because while Hannibal was going wherever he pleased throughout Italy, he had led his troops to Venusia in the midst of summer to lodge in houses. Caius Publicius Bibulus, a tribune of the people, was hostile to him. This man, ever since the time of his first battle which had failed, had in constant harangues made Claudius obnoxious and odious to the people; and now his object was to deprive him of his command. The connexions of Marcellus, however, then obtained leave that Marcellus, leaving a lieutenant-general at Venusia, should return to Rome to clear himself of the charges which his enemies were urging, and that the question of depriving him of his command should not be agitated during his absence. It happened that nearly at the same time, Marcellus, and Quintius Fulvius the consul, came to Rome, the former to exonerate himself from ignominy, the latter on account of the elections.

21. The question touching Marcellus's command was debated in the Flaminian circus, in the presence of an immense concourse of plebeians and persons of every rank. The plebeian tribune accused, not only Marcellus, but the nobility generally. "It was owing," he said, "to their dishonesty and dilatory conduct, that Hannibal occupied Italy, as though it were his province, for now ten years; that he had passed more of his life there than at Carthage. That the Roman people were enjoying the fruits of the prolonged command of Marcellus; that his army, after having been twice defeated, was now spending the summer at Venusia lodged in houses." Marcellus so completely destroyed the effect of this harangue of the tribune, by the recital of the services he had rendered, that not only the bill for depriving him of his command was thrown out, but the following day he was created consul by the votes of all the centuries with wonderful unanimity. Titus Quinctius Crispinus, who was then praetor, was joined with him as his colleague. The next day Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, then chief pontiff, Publius Licinius Varus, Sextus Julius Caesar, and Quintus Claudius Flamen were created praetors. At the very time of the election, the public were thrown into a state of anxiety relative to the defection of Etruria. Caius Calpurnius, who held that province as propraetor, had written word that the Arretians had originated such a scheme. Accordingly Marcellus, consul elect, was immediately sent thither to look into the affair, and if it should appear to him of sufficient consequence, to send for his army and transfer the war from Apulia to Etruria. The Tuscans, checked by the alarm thus occasioned, desisted. To the ambassadors of Tarentum, who solicited a treaty of peace securing to them their liberty and the enjoyment of their own laws, the senate answered, that they might return when the consul Fabius came to Rome. The Roman and plebeian games were this year repeated each for one day. The curule aediles were, Lucius Cornelius Caudinus and Servius Sulpicius Galba; the plebeian aediles, Caius Servilius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus. It was asserted that Servilius was not qualified to be plebeian tribune or aedile, because it was satisfactorily established that his father, who, for ten years, was supposed to have been killed by the Boii in the neighbourhood of Mutina, when acting as triumvir for the distribution of lands, was alive and in the hands of the enemy.

22. In the eleventh year of the Punic war, Marcus Marcellus, for the fifth time, reckoning in the consulate in which he did not act in consequence of an informality in his creation, and Titus Quinctius Crispinus entered upon the office of consuls. To both the consuls the province of Italy was decreed, with both the consular armies of the former year; (the third was then at Venusia, being that which Marcus Marcellus had commanded.) That out of the three armies the consuls might, choose whichever two they liked, and that the third should be delivered to him to whose lot the province of Tarentum and the territory of Sallentum fell. The other provinces were thus distributed among the praetors: Publius Licinius Varus had the city jurisdiction, Publius Licinius Crassus, chief pontiff, the foreign, and wherever the senate though proper. Sextus Julius Caesar had Sicily, and Quintus Claudius Flamen, Tarentum. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was to continue in command for a year, and hold the province of Capua, which had been held by Titus Quinctius, with one legion. Caius Hostilius Tubulus was also continued in command, with orders to go into Etruria, in the capacity of propraetor, and succeed Caius Calpurnius in the command of the two legions there. Lucius Veturius Philo was also continued in command, to hold in the capacity of propraetor the same province of Gaul with the same two legions with which he had held it as praetor. The senate decreed the same with respect to Caius Aurunculeius, who, as praetor, had held the province of Sardinia with two legions, which it did in the case of Lucius Veturius, and the question of the continuation of his command was proposed to the people. He had in addition, for the protection of the province, fifty ships which Publius Scipio had sent from Spain. To Publius Scipio and Marcus Silanus, their present province of Spain and their present armies were assigned. Of the eighty ships which he had with him, some taken from Italy and others captured at Carthage, Scipio was ordered to send fifty to Sardinia, in consequence of a report that great naval preparations were making at Carthage that year; and that the intention of the Carthaginians was to blockade the whole coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia with two hundred ships. In Sicily also the following distribution was made: to Sextus Caesar the troops of Cannae were assigned; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who was also continued in command, was to have the fleet of seventy ships which was at Sicily, adding to it the thirty ships which the preceding year were stationed at Tarentum. With this fleet of a hundred ships he was ordered to pass over into Africa, if he thought proper, and collect booty. Publius Sulpicius was also continued in command for a year, to hold the province of Macedonia and Greece, with the same fleet. No alteration was made with regard to the two legions which were at Rome. Permission was given to the consuls to enlist as many troops as were necessary to complete the numbers. This year the Roman empire was defended by twenty-one legions. Publius Licinius Varus, the city praetor, was also commissioned to repair the thirty old men of war which lay at Ostia, and to man twenty new ones with full complements, in order that he might defend the sea-coast in the neighbourhood hood of Rome with a fleet of fifty ships. Caius Calpurnius was ordered not to move his army from Arretium till his successor had arrived. Both he and Tubulus were ordered to be particularly careful, lest any new plots should be formed in that quarter.

23. The praetors set out for their provinces. The consul were detained by religious affairs; for receiving intelligence of several prodigies, they could not easily obtain a favourable appearance from the victims. It was reported from Campania, that two temples, those of Fortune and Mars, and several sepulchres, had been struck by lightning. From Cumae, so does superstition connect the deities with the most trifling circumstances, that mice had gnawed some gold in the temple of Jupiter. That an immense swarm of bees had settled in the forum at Casinum. That at Ostia a wall and gate had been struck by lightning. At Caere, that a vulture had flown into the temple of Jupiter. That blood had flowed from a lake at Volsinii. On account of these prodigies, a supplication was performed for one day. For several days, victims of the larger kind were sacrificed without any favourable appearance, and for a long time the good will of the gods could not be obtained. The fatal event indicated by these portents pointed to the persons of the consuls, the state being unaffected. The Apollinarian games were first celebrated by Publius Cornelius Sulla, the city praetor, in the consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius; from that time all the city praetors in succession had performed them; but they vowed them for one year only, and fixed no day for their performance. This year a grievous pestilence attacked the city and the country; it showed itself, however, in protracted rather than fatal diseases. On account of this pestilence supplication was performed in every street throughout the city; and Publius Licinius Varus, the city praetor, was ordered to propose to the people a law to the effect, that a vow should be made to perform these games on a stated day for ever. He himself was the first who vowed them in this manner, and he celebrated them on the third day of the nones of July, a day which was henceforth kept sacred.

24. The reports respecting the people of Arretium became daily more serious, and the anxiety of the fathers increased. A letter was therefore written to Caius Hostilius, directing him not to delay taking hostages from that people; and Caius Terentius Varro was sent, with a command, to receive from him the hostages and convey them to Rome. On his arrival, Hostilius immediately ordered one legion, which was encamped before the city, to march into it; and having posted guards in suitable places, he summoned the senate into the forum and demanded hostages of them. On the senate's requesting a delay of two days to consider the matter, he declared that they must themselves give them forthwith, or he would the next day take all the children of the senators. After this the military tribunes, the praefects of the allies, and the centurions, were ordered to keep watch at the gates, that no one might go out by night. This duty was not performed with sufficient care and attention, for seven of the principal senators, with their children, escaped before night, and before the guards were posted at the gates. The next day, as soon as it was light, the senate began to be summoned into the forum, when they were missed and their goods were sold. From the rest of the senators one hundred and twenty hostages, consisting of their own children, were taken and delivered over to Caius Terentius to be conveyed to Rome. Before the senate he made every thing more suspected than before. Considering, therefore, that there was imminent danger of a commotion in Tuscany, they ordered Caius Terentius himself to lead one of the city legions to Arretium, and to employ it for the protection of the city. It was also resolved, that Caius Hostilius, with the other army, should traverse the whole province, and use precautions, that no opportunity might be afforded to those who were desirous of altering the state of things. On his arrival at Arretium with the legion, Terentius asked the magistrates for the keys of the gates, when they declared they could not be found; but he, believing that they had been put out of the way with some bad intention rather than lost through negligence, took upon himself to have fresh locks put upon all the gates, and used diligent care to keep every thing in his own power. He earnestly cautioned Hostilius to rest his hope in this; that the Tuscans would remain quiet, if he should take care that not a step could be taken.

25. The case of the Tarentines was then warmly debated in the senate, Fabius being present, and himself defending those whom he had subdued by force of arms, while others entertained an angry feeling towards them; the greater part comparing them with the Campanians in guilt and punishment. A decree of the senate was passed conformably to the opinion of Manius Acilius, that the town should be guarded by a garrison, and that all the Tarentines should be kept within their walls; and further, that the question touching their conduct should be hereafter laid before the senate afresh when the state of Italy should be more tranquil. The case of Marcus Livius, praefect of the citadel of Tarentum, was also debated with no less warmth; some proposing a vote of censure against the praefect on the ground that Tarentum was betrayed to the enemy through his negligence, others proposing rewards for having defended the citadel for five years, and because Tarentum had been recovered chiefly by his single efforts; while some, adopting an intermediate course, declared that it appertained to the censors, and not to the senate, to take cognizance of his case; and of this latter opinion was Fabius, who added, however, "that he admitted that the recovery of Tarentum was owing to the efforts of Livius, as his friends openly boasted in the senate, but that there would have been no necessity for its recovery, had it not been lost." One of the consuls, Titus Quinctius Crispinus, set out for Lucania, with some troops to make up the numbers, to take the command of the army which had served under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. Marcellus was detained by a succession of religious scruples, which presented themselves to his mind. One of which was, that when in the Gallic war at Clastidium he had vowed a temple to Honour and Valour, its dedication was impeded by the pontiffs, who said, that one shrine could not with propriety be dedicated to two deities; because if it should be struck with lightning or any kind of portent should happen in it, the expiation would be attended with difficulty as it could not be ascertained to which deity sacrifice ought to be made; nor could one victim be lawfully offered to two deities, unless in particular cases. Accordingly another temple to Virtue was erected with all speed. Nevertheless, these temples were not dedicated by Marcellus himself. Then at length he set out, with the troops raised to fill up the numbers, to the army he had left the preceding year at Venusia. Crispinus, who endeavoured to reduce Locri in Bruttium by a siege, because he considered that the affair of Tarentum had added greatly to the fame of Fabius, had sent for every kind of engine and machine from Sicily; he also sent for ships from the same place to attack that part of the city which lay towards the sea. But this siege was raised by Hannibal's bringing his forces to Lacinium, and in consequence of a report, that his colleague, with whom he wished to effect a junction, had now led his army from Venusia. He therefore returned from Bruttium into Apulia, and the consuls took up a position in two separate camps, distant from each other less than three miles, between Venusia and Bantia. Hannibal, after diverting the war from Locri, returned also into the same quarter. Here the consuls, who were both of sanguine temperament, almost daily went out and drew up their troops for action, confidently hoping, that if the enemy would hazard an engagement with two consular armies united, they might put an end to the war.

26. As Hannibal, who gained one and lost the other of the two battles which he fought the preceding year with Marcellus, would have equal grounds for hope and fear, should he encounter the same general again; so was he far from thinking himself a match for the two consuls together. Directing his attention, therefore, wholly to his own peculiar arts, he looked out for an opportunity for planting an ambuscade. Slight battles, however, were fought between the two camps with varying success. But the consuls, thinking it probable that the summer would be spun out in engagements of this kind, and being of opinion that the siege of Locri might be going on notwithstanding, wrote to Lucius Cincius to pass over to Locri with his fleet from Sicily. And that the walls might be besieged by land also, they ordered one half of the army, which formed the garrison of Tarentum, to be marched thither. Hannibal having found from certain Thurians that these things would be done, sent a body of troops to lie in ambush on the road leading from Tarentum. There, under the hill of Petelia, three thousand cavalry and two thousand foot were placed in concealment. The Romans, who proceeded without exploring their way, having fallen into the ambuscade, as many as two thousand soldiers were slain, and about twelve hundred made prisoners. The others, who were scattered in flight through the fields and forests, returned to Tarentum. There was a rising ground covered with wood situated between the Punic and Roman camps, which was occupied at first by neither party, because the Romans were unacquainted with its nature on that side which faced the enemy's camp, while Hannibal had supposed it better adapted for an ambuscade than a camp. Accordingly, he had sent thither, by night, several troops of Numidians, concealing them in the midst of the wood. Not one of them stirred from his position by day, lest their arms or themselves should be observed from a distance. There was a general murmur in the Roman camp, that this eminence ought to be occupied and secured by a fort, lest if it should be seized by Hannibal they should have the enemy, as it were, immediately over their heads. Marcellus was moved by this consideration, and observed to his colleague, "Why not go ourselves with a few horsemen and reconnoitre? The matter being examined with our own eyes, will make our measures more certain." Crispinus consenting, they set out with two hundred and twenty horsemen, of which forty were Fregellans, the rest Tuscans. Marcus Marcellus, the consul's son, and Aulus Manlius, military tribunes, together with two prefects of the allies, Lucius Arennius and Manius Aulius, accompanied them. Some historians have recorded, that Marcellus had offered sacrifices on that day, and that in the first victim slain, the liver was found without its head; in the second, that all the usual parts were present, and that there was also an excrescence in the head. That the aruspex was not, indeed, pleased that the entrails should first have appeared mutilated and foul, and then too exuberant.

27. But the consul Marcellus was influenced by so ardent a desire of engaging with Hannibal, that he never thought their camps close enough. At that time also, as he quitted the rampart, he gave orders that the troops should be ready when occasion required, in order that if the hill, which they were going to examine, were thought convenient, they might collect their baggage and follow them. Before the camp there was a small plain; the road thence to the hill was open and exposed to view on all sides. A watchman who was stationed, not under the expectation of so important an event, but in order that they might be able to intercept any stragglers who had gone too far from the camp in search of wood or forage, gave a signal to the Numidians to rise simultaneously one and all from their concealment. Those who were to rise from the very summit of the hill, and meet the enemy, did not show themselves until those whose business it was to intercept their passage in the rear, had gone round. Then they all sprang up from every side, and, raising a shout, commenced an attack. Although the consuls were in such a position in the valley that they could neither make good their way up the hill, which was occupied by the enemy, nor retreat as they were intercepted in the rear, yet the contest might have been continued longer had not a retreat, commenced by the Tuscans, dismayed the rest of the troops. The Fregellans, however, did not give over fighting, though deserted by the Tuscans, while the consuls, uninjured, kept up the battle by encouraging their men and fighting themselves. But when they saw both the consuls wounded, and Marcellus transfixed with a lance and falling lifeless from his horse, then they too, and but a very few survived, betook themselves to flight, together with Crispinus the consul, who had received two javelin wounds, and young Marcellus, who was himself also wounded. Aulus Manlius, a military tribune, was slain, and of the two praefects of allies, Manius Aulius was slain, Lucius Arennius made prisoner. Five of the consul's lictors fell into the enemy's hands alive, the rest were either slain or fled with the consul. Forty-three horsemen fell in the battle or in the flight, and eighteen were taken alive. An alarm had been excited in the camp, and the troops were hastening to go and succour the consuls, when they saw one of the consuls and the son of the other wounded, and the scanty remains of this unfortunate expedition returning to the camp. The death of Marcellus was an event to be deplored, as well from other circumstances which attended it, as because that in a manner unbecoming his years, for he was then more than sixty, and inconsistently with the prudence of a veteran general, he had so improvidently plunged into ruin himself, his colleague, and almost the whole commonwealth. I should launch out into too many digressions for a single event, were I to relate all the various accounts which authors give respecting the death of Marcellus. To pass over others, Lucius Caelius gives three narratives ranged under different heads; one as it is handed down by tradition; a second, written in the panegyric of his son, who was engaged in the affair; a third, which he himself vouched for, being the result of his own investigation. The accounts, however, though varying in other points, agree for the most part in the fact, that he went out of the camp for the purpose of viewing the ground; and all state that he was cut off by an ambuscade.