Chapter 17

When Hannibal, all hope of getting possession of Nola being lost, had retired to Acerrae, Marcellus, having closed the gates and posted guards in different quarters to prevent any one from going out, immediately instituted a judicial inquiry in the forum, into the conduct of those who had been secretly in communication with the enemy. He beheaded more than seventy who were convicted of treason, and ordered their foods to be confiscated to the Roman state; and then committing the government to the senate, set out with all his forces, and, pitching a camp, took up a position above Suessula. The Carthaginian, having at first endeavoured to win over the people of Acerrae to a voluntary surrender, but finding them resolved, makes preparations for a siege and assault. But the people of Acerrae had more spirit than power. Despairing therefore, of the defence of the city, when they saw their walls being circumvallated, before the lines of the enemy were completed, they stole off in the dead of night through the opening in the works, and where the watches had been neglected; and pursuing their course through roads and pathless regions, accordingly as design or mistake directed each, made their escape to those towns of Campania which they knew had not renounced their fidelity. After Acerrae was plundered and burnt, Hannibal, having received intelligence that the Roman dictator with the new-raised legions was seen at some distance from Casilinum, and fearing lest, the camp of the enemy being so near, something might occur at Capua, marched his army to Casilinum. At that time Casilinum was occupied by five hundred Praenestines, with a few Romans and Latins, whom the news of the defeat at Cannae had brought to the same place. These men setting out from home too late, in consequence of the levy at Praeneste not being completed at the appointed day, and arriving at Casilinum before the defeat was known there, where they united themselves with other troops, Romans and allies, were proceeding thence in a tolerably large body, but the news of the battle at Cannae them back to Casilinum. Having spent several days there in evading and concerting plots, in fear themselves and suspected by the Campanians, and having now received certain information that the revolt of Capua and the reception of Hannibal were in agitation, they put the townsmen to the sword by night, and seized upon the part of the town on this side the Vulturnus, for it is divided by that river. Such was the garrison the Romans had at Casilinum; to these was added a cohort of Perusians, in number four hundred and sixty, who had been driven to Casilinum by the same intelligence which had brought the Praenestines a few days before. They formed a sufficient number of armed men for the defence of walls of so limited extent, and protected on one side by the river. The scarcity of corn made them even appear too numerous.

Hannibal having now advanced within a short distance of the place, sent forward a body of Getulians under a commander named Isalca, and orders them in the first place, if an opportunity of parley should be given, to win them over by fair words, to open the gates, and admit a garrison; but, if they persisted in obstinate opposition, to proceed to action, and try if in any part he could force an entrance into the city. When they had approached the walls, because silence prevailed there appeared a solitude; and the barbarian, supposing that they had retired through fear, made preparation for forcing the gates and breaking away the bars, when, the gates being suddenly thrown open, two cohorts, drawn up within for that very purpose, rushed forth with great tumult, and made a slaughter of the enemy. The first party being thus repulsed, Maharbal was sent with a more powerful body of troops; but neither could even he sustain the sally of the cohorts. Lastly, Hannibal, fixing his camp directly before the walls, prepared to assault this paltry city and garrison, with every effort and all his forces, and having completely surrounded the city with a line of troops, lost a considerable number of men, including all the most forward, who were shot from the walls and turrets, while he pressed on and provoked the enemy. Once he was very near cutting them off, by throwing in a line of elephants, when aggressively sallying forth, and drove them in the utmost confusion into the town; a good many, out of so small a number, having been slain. More would have fallen had not night interrupted the battle. On the following day, the minds of all were possessed with an ardent desire to commence the assault, especially after a golden mural crown had been promised, and the general himself had reproached the conquerors of Saguntum with the slowness of their siege of a little fort situated on level ground; reminding them, each and all, of Cannae, Trasimenus, and Trebia. They then began to apply the vineae and to spring mines: nor was any measure, whether of open force or stratagem, unemployed against the various attempts of the enemy. These allies of the Romans erected bulwarks against the vineae, cut off the mines of the enemy by cross-mines, and met their efforts both covertly and openly, till, at last, shame compelled Hannibal to desist from his undertaking; and, fortifying a camp in which he placed a small guard, that the affair might not appear to have been abandoned, he retired into winter quarters to Capua. There he kept, under cover, for the greater part of the winter, that army, which, though fortified by frequent and continued hardships against every human ill, had yet never experienced or been habituated to prosperity. Accordingly, excess of good fortune and unrestrained indulgence were the ruin of men whom no severity of distress had subdued; and so much the more completely, in proportion to the avidity with which they plunged into pleasures to which they were unaccustomed. For sleep, wine, feasting, women, baths, and ease, which custom rendered more seductive day by day, so completely unnerved both mind and body, that from henceforth their past victories rather than their present strength protected them; and in this the general is considered by those who are skilled in the art of war to have committed a greater error than in not having marched his troops to Rome forthwith from the field of Cannae: for his delay on that occasion might be considered as only to have postponed his victory, but this mistake to have bereaved him of the power of conquering. Accordingly, by Hercules, as though he marched out of Capua with another army, it retained in no respect any of its former discipline; for most of the troops returned in the embrace of harlots; and as soon as they began to live under tents, and the fatigue of marching and other military labours tried them, like raw troops, they failed both in bodily strength and spirit. From that time, during the whole period of the summer campaign, a great number of them slunk away from the standards without furloughs, while Capua was the only retreat of the deserters.

However, when the rigour of winter began to abate, marching his troops out of their winter quarters he returned to Casilinum; where, although there had been an intermission of the assault, the continuance of the siege had reduced the inhabitants and the garrison to the extremity of want. Titus Sempronius commanded the Roman camp, the dictator having gone to Rome to renew the auspices. The swollen state of the Vulturnus and the entreaties of the people of Nola and Acerrae, who feared the Campanians if the Roman troops should leave them, kept Marcellus in his place; although desirous himself also to bring assistance to the besieged. Gracchus, only maintaining his post near Casilinum, because he had been enjoined by the dictator not to take any active steps during his absence, did not stir; although intelligence was brought from Casilinum which might easily overcome every degree of patience. For it appeared that some had precipitated themselves from the walls through famine and that they were standing unarmed upon the walls, exposing their undefended bodies to the blows of the missile weapons. Gracchus, grieved at the intelligence, but not daring to fight contrary to the injunctions of the dictator, and yet aware that he must fight if he openly attempted to convey in provisions, and having no hope of introducing them clandestinely, collected corn from all parts of the surrounding country, and filling several casks sent a message to the magistrate to Casilinum, directing that they might catch the casks which the river would bring down. The following night, while all were intent upon the river, and the hopes excited by the message from the Romans, the casks sent came floating down the centre of the stream, and the corn was equally distributed among them all. This was repeated the second and third day; they were sent off and arrived during the same night; and hence they escaped the notice of the enemy's guards. But afterwards, the river, rendered more than ordinarily rapid by continual rains, drove the casks by a cross current to the bank which the enemy were guarding; there they were discovered sticking among the osiers which grew along the banks; and, it being reported to Hannibal, from that time the watches were kept more strictly, that nothing sent to the city by the Vulturnus might escape notice. However, nuts poured out at the Roman camp floated down the centre of the river to Casilinum, and were caught with hurdles. At length they were reduced to such a degree of want, that they endeavoured to chew the thongs and skins which they tore from their shields, after softening them in warm water; nor did they abstain from mice or any other kind of animals. They even dug up every kind of herb and root from the lowest mounds of their wall; and when the enemy had ploughed over all the ground producing herbage which was without the wall, they threw in turnip seed, so that Hannibal exclaimed, Must I sit here at Casilinum even till these spring up? and he, who up to that time had not lent an ear to any terms, then at length allowed himself to be treated with respecting the ransom of the free persons. Seven ounces of gold for each person were agreed upon as the price; and then, under a promise of protection, they surrendered themselves. They were kept in chains till the whole of the gold was paid, after which they were sent back to Cumae, in fulfilment of the promise. This account is more credible than that they were slain by a body of cavalry, which was sent to attack them as they were going away. They were for the most part Praenestines. Out of the five hundred and seventy who formed the garrison, almost one half were destroyed by sword or famine; the rest returned safe to Praeneste with their praetor Manicius, who had formerly been a scribe. His statue placed in the forum at Praeneste, clad in a coat of mail, with a gown on, and with the head covered, formed an evidence of this account; as did also three images with this legend inscribed on a brazen plate, "Manicius vowed these in behalf of the soldiers who were in the garrison at Casilinum." The same legend was inscribed under three images placed in the temple of Fortune.

The town of Casilinum was restored to the Campanians, strengthened by a garrison of seven hundred soldiers from the army of Hannibal, lest on the departure of the Carthaginian from it, the Romans should assault it. To the Praenestine soldiers the Roman senate voted double pay and exemption from military service for five years. On being offered the freedom of the state, in consideration of their valor, they would not make the exchange. The account of the fate of the Perusians is less clear, as no light is thrown upon it by any monument of their own, or any decree of the Romans. At the same time the Petelini, the only Bruttian state which had continued in the Roman alliance, were attacked not only by the Carthaginians, who were in possession of the surrounding country, but also by the rest of the Bruttian states, on account of their having adopted a separate policy. The Petelini, unable to bear up against these distresses, sent ambassadors to Rome to solicit aid, whose prayers and entreaties (for on being told that they must themselves take measures for their own safety, they gave themselves up to piteous lamentations in the vestibule of the senate-house) excited the deepest commiseration in the fathers and the people. On the question being proposed a second time to the fathers by Manius Pomponius, the praetor, after examining all the resources of the empire, they were compelled to confess that they had no longer any protection for their distant allies, and bid them return home, and having done every thing which could be expected from faithful allies, as to what remained to take measures for their own security in the present state of fortune. On the result of this embassy being reported to the Petelini, their senate was suddenly seized with such violent grief and dismay, that some advised that they should run away wherever each man could find an asylum, and abandon the city. Some advised, that as they were deserted by their ancient allies, they should unite themselves with the rest of the Bruttian states, and through them surrender themselves to Hannibal. The opinion however which prevailed was that of those who thought that nothing should be done in haste and rashly, and that they should take the whole matter into their consideration again. The next day, when they had cooled upon it, and their trepidation had somewhat subsided, the principal men carried their point that they should collect all their property out of the fields, and fortify the city and the walls.

Much about the same time letters were brought from Sicily and Sardinia. That of Titus Otacilius the propraetor was first read in the senate. It stated that Lucius Furius the praetor had arrived at Lilybaeum from Africa with his fleet. That he himself, having been severely wounded, was in imminent danger of his life; that neither pay nor corn was punctually furnished to the soldiers or the marines; nor were there any resources from which they could be furnished. That he earnestly advised that such supplies should be sent with all possible expedition; and that, if it was thought proper, they should send one of the new praetors to succeed him.

Nearly the same intelligence respecting corn and pay was conveyed in a letter from Aulus Cornelius Mammula, the propraetor, from Sardinia. The answer to both was, that there were no resources from whence they could be supplied, and orders were given to them that they should themselves provide for their fleets and armies. Titus Otacilius having sent ambassadors to Hiero, the only source of assistance the Romans had, received as much money as was wanting to pay the troops and a supply of corn for six months. In Sardinia, the allied states contributed liberally to Cornelius. The scarcity of money at Rome also was so great, that on the proposal of Marcus Minucius, plebeian tribune, a financial triumvirate was appointed, consisting of Lucius Aemilius Papus, who had been consul and censor, Marcus Atilius Regulus, who had been twice consul, and Lucius Scribonius Libo, who was then plebeian tribune. Marcus and Caius Atilius were also created a duumvirate for dedicating the temple of Concord, which Lucius Manlius had vowed when praetor. Three pontiffs were also created, Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Quintus Fabius Maximus, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, in the room of Publius Scantinius deceased, and of Lucius Aemilius Paulus the consul, and of Quintus Aelius Paetus, who had fallen in the battle of Cannae.

The fathers having repaired, as far as human counsels could effect it, the other losses from a continued series of unfortunate events, at length turned their attention on themselves, on the emptiness of the senate-house, and the paucity of those who assembled for public deliberation. For the senate-roll had not been reviewed since the censorship of Lucius Aemilius and C. Flaminius, though unfortunate battles, during a period of five years, as well as the private casualties of each, had carried off so many senators. Manius Pomponius, the praetor, as the dictator was now gone to the army after the loss of Casilinum, at the earnest request of all, brought in a bill upon the subject. When Spurius Carvilius, after having lamented in a long speech not only the scantiness of the senate, but the fewness of citizens who were eligible into that body, with the design of making up the numbers of the senate and uniting more closely the Romans and the Latin confederacy, declared that he strongly advised that the freedom of the state should be conferred upon two senators from each of the Latin states, if the Roman fathers thought proper, who might be chosen into the senate to supply the places of the deceased senators. This proposition the fathers listened to with no more equanimity than formerly to the request when made by the Latins themselves. A loud and violent expression of disapprobation ran through the whole senate-house. In particular, Manlius reminded them that there was still existing a man of that stock, from which that consul was descended who formerly threatened in the Capitol that he would with his own hand put to death any Latin senator he saw in that house. Upon which Quintus Fabius Maximus said, "that never was any subject introduced into the senate at a juncture more unseasonable than the present, when a question had been touched upon which would still further irritate the minds of the allies, who were already hesitating and wavering in their allegiance. That that rash suggestion of one individual ought to be annihilated by the silence of the whole body; and that if there ever was a declaration in that house which ought to be buried in profound and inviolable silence, surely that above all others was one which deserved to be covered and consigned to darkness and oblivion, and looked upon as if it had never been made." This put a stop to the mention of the subject. They determined that a dictator should be created for the purpose of reviewing the senate, and that he should be one who had been a censor, and was the oldest living of those who had held that office. They likewise gave orders that Caius Terentius, the consul, should be called home to nominate a dictator; who, leaving his troops in Apulia, returned to Rome with great expedition; and, according to custom, on the following night nominated Marcus Fabius Buteo dictator, for six months, without a master of the horse, in pursuance of the decree of the senate.

He having mounted the rostrum attended by the lictors, declared, that he neither approved of there being two dictators at one time, which had never been done before, nor of his being appointed dictator without a master of the horse; nor of the censorian authority being committed to one person, and to the same person a second time; nor that command should be given to a dictator for six months, unless he was created for active operations. That he would himself restrain within proper bounds those irregularities which chance, the exigencies of the times, and necessity had occasioned. For he would not remove any of those whom the censors Flaminius and Aemilius had elected into the senate; but would merely order that their names should be transcribed and read over, that one man might not exercise the power of deciding and determining on the character and morals of a senator; and would so elect in place of deceased members, that one rank should appear to be preferred to another, and not man to man. The old senate-roll having been read, he chose as successors to the deceased, first those who had filled a curule office since the censorship of Flaminius and Aemilius, but had not yet been elected into the senate, as each had been earliest created. He next chose those who had been aediles, plebeian tribunes, or quaestors; then of those who had never filled the office of magistrate, he selected such as had spoils taken from an enemy fixed up at their homes, or had received a civic crown. Having thus elected one hundred and seventy-seven senators, with the entire approbation of his countrymen, he instantly abdicated his office, and, bidding the lictors depart, he descended from the rostrum as a private citizen, and mingled with the crowd of persons who were engaged in their private affairs, designedly wearing away this time, lest he should draw off the people from the forum for the purpose of escorting him home. Their zeal, however, did not subside by the delay, for they escorted him to his house in great numbers. The consul returned to the army the ensuing night, without acquainting the senate, lest he should be detained in the city on account of the elections.

The next day, on the proposition of Manius Pomponius the praetor, the senate decreed that a letter should be written to the dictator, to the effect, that if he thought it for the interest of the state, he should come, together with the master of the horse and the praetor, Marcus Marcellus, to hold the election for the succeeding consuls, in order that the fathers might learn from them in person in what condition the state was, and take measures according to circumstances. All who were summoned came, leaving lieutenant-generals to hold command of the legions. The dictator, speaking briefly and modestly of himself, attributed much of the glory Of the campaign to the master of the horse, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. He then gave out the day for the comitia, at which the consuls created were Lucius Posthumius in his absence, being then employed in the government of the province of Gaul, for the third time, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who was then master of the horse and curule aedile. Marcus Valerius Laevinus, Appius Claudius Pulcher, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and Quintus Mucius Scaevola, were then created praetors. After the election of the magistrates, the dictator returned to his army, which was in winter quarters at Teanum, leaving his master of the horse at Rome, to take the sense of the fathers relative to the armies to be enlisted and embodied for the service of the year, as he was about to enter upon the magistracy after a few days. While busily occupied with these matters, intelligence arrived of a fresh disaster--fortune crowding into this year one calamity after another--that Lucius Posthumius, consul elect, himself with all his army was destroyed in Gaul. He was to march his troops through a vast wood, which the Gauls called Litana. On the right and left of his route, the natives had sawed the trees in such a manner that they continued standing upright, but would fall when impelled by a slight force. Posthumius had with him two Roman legions, and besides had levied so great a number of allies along the Adriatic Sea, that he led into the enemy's country twenty-five thousand men. As soon as this army entered the wood, the Gauls, who were posted around its extreme skirts, pushed down the outermost of the sawn trees, which falling on those next them, and these again on others which of themselves stood tottering and scarcely maintained their position, crushed arms, men, and horses in an indiscriminate manner, so that scarcely ten men escaped. For, most of them being killed by the trunks and broken boughs of trees, the Gauls, who beset the wood on all sides in arms killed the rest, panic-struck by so unexpected a disaster. A very small number, who attempted to escape by a bridge, were taken prisoners, being intercepted by the enemy who had taken possession of it before them. Here Posthumius fell, fighting with all his might to prevent his being taken. The Boii having cut off his head, carried it and the spoils they stole off his body, in triumph into the most sacred temple they had. Afterwards they cleansed the head according to their custom, and having covered the skull with chased gold, used it as a cup for libations in their solemn festivals, and a drinking cup for their high priests and other ministers of the temple. The spoils taken by the Gauls were not less than the victory. For though great numbers of the beasts were crushed by the falling trees, yet as nothing was scattered by flight, every thing else was found strewed along the whole line of the prostrate band.

The news of this disaster arriving, when the state had been in so great a panic for many days, that the shops were shut up as if the solitude of night reigned through the city; the senate gave it in charge to the aediles to go round the city, cause the shops to be opened, and this appearance of public affliction to be removed. Then Titus Sempronius, having assembled the senate, consoled and encouraged the fathers, requesting, "that they who had sustained the defeat at Cannae with so much magnanimity would not now be cast down with less calamities. That if their arms should prosper, as he hoped they would, against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, the war with the Gauls might be suspended and deferred without hazard. The gods and the Roman people would have it in their power to revenge the treachery of the Gauls another time. That they should now deliberate about the Carthaginian foe, and the forces with which the war was to be prosecuted." He first laid before them the number of foot and horse, as well citizens as allies, that were in the dictator's army. Then Marcellus gave an account of the amount in his. Those who knew were asked what troops were in Apulia with Caius Terentius Varro the consul. But no practicable plan could be devised for raising consular armies sufficient to support so important a war. For this reason, notwithstanding a just resentment irritated them, they determined that Gaul should be passed over for that year. The dictator's army was assigned to the consul; and they ordered such of the troops of Marcellus's army as had fled from Cannae, to be transported into Sicily, to serve there as long as the war continued in Italy. Thither, likewise, were ordered to be sent as unfit to serve with him, the weakest of the dictator's troops, no time of service being appointed, but the legal number of campaigns. The two legions in the city were voted to the other consul who should be elected in the room of Posthumius; and they resolved that he should be elected as soon as the auspices would permit. Besides, two legions were immediately to be recalled from Sicily, out of which the consul, to whom the city legions fell, might take what number of men he should have occasion for. The consul Caius Terentius Varro was continued in his command for one year, without lessening the army he had for the defence of Apulia.

During these transactions and preparations in Italy, the war in Spain was prosecuted with no less vigour; but hitherto more favourably to the Romans. The two generals had divided their troops, so that Cneius acted by land, and Publius by sea. Hasdrubal, general of the Carthaginians, sufficiently trusting to neither branch of his forces, kept himself at a distance from the enemy, secured by the intervening space and the strength of his fortifications, until, after much solicitation, four thousand foot and five hundred horse were sent him out of Africa as a reinforcement. At length, inspired with fresh hopes, he moved nearer the enemy; and himself also ordered a fleet to be equipped and prepared for the protection of the islands and sea-coasts. In the very onset of renewing the war, he was greatly embarrassed by the desertion of the captains of his ships, who had ceased to entertain a sincere attachment towards the general and the Carthaginian cause, ever since they were severely reprimanded for abandoning the fleet in a cowardly manner at the Iberus. These deserters had raised an insurrection among the Tartessians, and at their instigation some cities had revolted; they had even taken one by force. The war was now turned from the Romans into that country, which he entered in a hostile manner, and resolved to attack Galbus, a distinguished general of the Tartessians, who with a powerful army kept close within his camp, before the walls of a city which had been captured but a few days before. Accordingly, he sent his light-armed troops in advance to provoke the enemy to battle, and part of his infantry to ravage the country throughout in every direction, and to cut off stragglers. There was a skirmish before the camp, at the same time that many were killed and put to flight in the fields. But having by different routes returned to their camp, they so quickly shook off all fear, that they had courage not only to defend their lines, but challenge the enemy to fight. They sallied out, therefore, in a body from the camp, dancing according to their custom. Their sudden boldness terrified the enemy, who a little before had been the assailants. Hasdrubal therefore drew off his troops to a tolerably steep eminence, and secured further by having a river between it and the enemy. Here the parties of light-armed troops which had been sent in advance, and the horse which had been dispersed about, he called in to join him. But not thinking himself sufficiently secured by the eminence or the river, he fortified his camp completely with a rampart. While thus fearing and feared alternately, several skirmishes occurred, in which the Numidian cavalry were not so good as the Spanish, nor the Moorish darters so good as the Spanish targetteers, who equalled them in swiftness, but were superior to them in strength and courage.

The enemy seeing they could not, by coming up to Hasdrubal's camp, draw him out to a battle, nor assault it without great difficulty, stormed Asena, whither Hasdrubal, on entering their territories, had laid up his corn and other stores. By this they became masters of all the surrounding country. But now they became quite ungovernable, both when on march and within their camp.

Hasdrubal, therefore, perceiving their negligence, which, as usual, was the consequence of success, after having exhorted his troops to attack them while they were straggling and without their standards, came down the hill, and advanced to their camp in order of battle. On his approach being announced in a tumultuous manner, by men who fled from the watchposts and advanced guards, they shouted to arms; and as each could get his arms, they rushed precipitately to battle, without waiting for the word, without standards, without order, and without ranks. The foremost of them were already engaged, while some were running up in parties, and others had not got out of their camp. However, at first, the very boldness of their attack terrified the enemy. But when they charged their close ranks with their own which were thin, and were not able to defend themselves for want of numbers, each began to look out for others to support him; and being repulsed in all quarters they collected themselves in form of a circle, where being so closely crowded together, body to body, armour to armour, that they had not room to wield their arms, they were surrounded by the enemy, who continued to slaughter them till late in the day. A small number, having forced a passage, made for the woods and hills. With like consternation, their camp was abandoned, and next day the whole nation submitted. But they did not continue long quiet, for immediately upon this, Hasdrubal received orders from Carthage to march into Italy with all expedition. The report of which, spreading over Spain, made almost all the states declare for the Romans. Accordingly he wrote immediately to Carthage, to inform them how much mischief the report of his march had produced. "That if he really did leave Spain, the Romans would be masters of it all before he could pass the Iberus. For, besides that he had neither an army nor a general whom he could leave to supply his place, so great were the abilities of the Roman generals who commanded there, that they could scarcely be opposed with equal forces. If, therefore, they had any concern for preserving Spain, they ought to send a general with a powerful army to succeed him. To whom, however prosperous all things might prove, yet the province would not be a position of ease."

Though this letter made at first a great impression on the senate, yet, as their interest in Italy was first and most important, they did not at all alter their resolution in relation to Hasdrubal and his troops. However, they despatched Himilco with a complete army, and an augmented fleet, to preserve and defend Spain both by sea and land. When he had conveyed over his land and naval forces, he fortified a camp; and having drawn his ships upon dry land, and surrounded them with a rampart, he marched with a chosen body of cavalry, with all possible expedition; using the same caution when passing through people who were wavering, and those who were actually enemies; and came up with Hasdrubal. As soon as he had informed him of the resolutions and orders of the senate, and in his turn been thoroughly instructed in what manner to prosecute the war in Spain, he returned to his camp; his expedition more than any thing else saving him, for he quitted every place before the people could conspire. Before Hasdrubal quitted his position he laid all the states in subjection to him under contribution. He knew well that Hannibal purchased a passage through some nations; that he had no Gallic auxiliaries but such as were hired; and that if he had undertaken so arduous a march without money, he would scarcely have penetrated so far as the Alps. For this reason, having exacted the contributions with great haste, he marched down to the Iberus. As soon as the Roman generals got notice of the Carthaginian senate's resolution, and Hasdrubal's march, they gave up every other concern, and uniting their forces, determined to meet him and oppose his attempt. They reflected, that when it was already so difficult to make head against Hannibal alone in Italy, there would be an end of the Roman empire in Spain, should Hasdrubal join him with a Spanish army. Full of anxiety and care on these accounts, they assembled their forces at the Iberus, and crossed the river; and after deliberating for some time whether they should encamp opposite to the enemy, or be satisfied with impeding his intended march by attacking the allies of the Carthaginians, they made preparations for besieging a city called Ibera, from its contiguity to the river, which was at that time the wealthiest in that quarter. When Hasdrubal perceived this, instead of carrying assistance to his allies, he proceeded himself to besiege a city which had lately placed itself under the protection of the Romans; and thus the siege which was now commenced was given up by them, and the operations of the war turned against Hasdrubal himself.

For a few days they remained encamped at a distance of five miles from each other, not without skirmishes, but without going out to a regular engagement. At length the signal for battle was given out on both sides on one and the same day, as though by concert, and they marched down into the plain with all their forces. The Roman army stood in triple line; a part of the light troops were stationed among the first line, the other half were received behind the standards, the cavalry covering the wings. Hasdrubal formed his centre strong with Spaniards, and placed the Carthaginians in the right wing, the Africans and hired auxiliaries in the left. His cavalry he placed before the wings, attaching the Numidians to the Carthaginian infantry, and the rest to the Africans. Nor were all the Numidians placed in the right wing, but such as taking two horses each into the field are accustomed frequently to leap full armed, when the battle is at the hottest, from a tired horse upon a fresh one, after the manner of vaulters: such was their own agility, and so docile their breed of horses. While they stood thus drawn up, the hopes entertained by the generals on both sides were pretty much upon an equality; for neither possessed any great superiority, either in point of the number or quality of the troops. The feelings of the soldiers were widely different. Their generals had, without difficulty, induced the Romans to believe, that although they fought at a distance from their country, it was Italy and the city of Rome that they were defending. Accordingly, they had brought their minds to a settled resolution to conquer or die; as if their return to their country had hinged upon the issue of that battle. The other army consisted of less determined men; for they were principally Spaniards, who would rather be vanquished in Spain, than be victorious to be dragged into Italy. On the first onset, therefore, ere their javelins had scarcely been thrown, their centre gave ground, and the Romans pressing on with great impetuosity, turned their backs. In the wings the battle proceeded with no less activity; on one side the Carthaginians, on the other the Africans, charged vigorously, while the Romans, in a manner surrounded, were exposed to a twofold attack. But when the whole of the Roman troops had united in the centre, they possessed sufficient strength to compel the wings of the enemy to retire in different directions; and thus there were two separate battles, in both of which the Romans were decidedly superior, as after the defeat of the enemy's centre they had the advantage both in the number and strength of their troops. Vast numbers were slain on this occasion; and had not the Spaniards fled precipitately from the field ere the battle had scarce begun, very few out of the whole army would have survived. There was very little fighting of the cavalry, for as soon as the Moors and Numidians perceived that the centre gave way, they fled immediately with the utmost precipitation, leaving the wings uncovered, and also driving the elephants before them. Hasdrubal, after waiting the issue of the battle to the very last, fled from the midst of the carnage with a few attendants. The Romans took and plundered the camp. This victory united with the Romans whatever states of Spain were wavering, and left Hasdrubal no hope, not only of leading an army over into Italy, but even of remaining very safely in Spain. When these events were made generally known at Rome by letters from the Scipios, the greatest joy was felt, not so much for the victory, as for the stop which was put to the passage of Hasdrubal into Italy.

While these transactions were going on in Spain, Petilia, in Bruttium, was taken by Himilco, an officer of Hannibal's, several months after the siege of it began. This victory cost the Carthaginians much blood and many wounds, nor did any power more subdue the besieged than that of famine; for after having consumed their means of subsistence, derived from fruits and the flesh of every kind of quadrupeds, they were at last compelled to live upon skins found in shoemakers' shops, on herbs and roots, the tender barks of trees, and berries gathered from brambles: nor were they subdued until they wanted strength to stand upon the walls and support their arms. After gaining Petilia, the Carthaginian marched his forces to Consentia, which being less obstinately defended, he compelled to surrender within a few days. Nearly about the same time, an army of Bruttians invested Croton, a Greek city, formerly powerful in men and arms, but at the present time reduced so low by many and great misfortunes, that less than twenty thousand inhabitants of all ages remained. The enemy, therefore, easily got possession of a city destitute of defenders: of the citadel alone possession was retained, into which some of the inhabitants fled from the midst of the carnage during the confusion created by the capture of the city. The Locrians too revolted to the Bruttians and Carthaginians, the populace having been betrayed by the nobles. The Rhegians were the only people in that quarter who continued to the last in faithful attachment to the Romans, and in the enjoyment of their independence. The same alteration of feeing extended itself into Sicily also; and not even the family of Hiero altogether abstained from defection; for Gelo, his oldest son, conceiving a contempt for his father's old age, and, after the defeat of Cannae, for the alliance with Rome, went over to the Carthaginians; and he would have created a disturbance in Sicily, had he not been carried off, when engaged as arming the people and soliciting the allies, by a death so seasonable that it threw some degree of suspicion even upon his father. Such, with various result, were the transactions in Italy, Africa, Sicily, and Spain during this year. At the close of the year, Quintus Fabius Maximus requested of the senate, that he might be allowed to dedicate the temple of Venus Erycina, which he had vowed when dictator. The senate decreed, that Tiberius Sempronius, the consul elect, as soon as ever he had entered upon his office, should propose to the people, that they should create Quintus Fabius duumvir, for the purpose of dedicating the temple. Also, in honour of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been consul twice and augur, his three sons, Lucius, Marcus, and Quintus exhibited funeral games and twenty-two pairs of gladiators for three days in the forum. The curule aediles, Caius Laetorius, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus consul elect, who during his aedileship had been master of the horse, celebrated the Roman games, which were repeated for three days. The plebeian games of the aediles, Marcus Aurelius Cotta and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, were thrice repeated. At the conclusion of the third year of the Punic war, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the consul entered upon his office on the ides of March. Of the praetors, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, who had before been consul and censor, had by lot the city jurisdiction; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the foreign. Sicily fell to the lot of Appius Claudius Pulcher; Sardinia to Quintus Mucius Scaevola. The people ordered that Marcus Marcellus should be in command as proconsul, because he was the only Roman general who had been successful in his operations in Italy since the defeat at Cannae.

The senate decreed, the first day they deliberated in the Capitol, that double taxes should be imposed for that year, one moiety of which should be immediately levied, as a fund from which pay might be given forthwith to all the soldiers, except those who had been at Cannae. With regard to the armies they decreed, that Tiberius Sempronius the consul should appoint a day for the two city legions to meet at Cales, whence these legions should be conveyed into the Claudian camp above Suenula. That the legions which were there, and they consisted principally of the troops which had fought at Cannae, Appius Claudius Pulcher, the praetor, should transport into Sicily; and that those in Sicily should be removed to Rome. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was sent to the army, which had been ordered to meet at Cales on a certain day, with orders to march the city legions thence to the Claudian camp. Titus Metilius Croto, lieutenant-general, was sent by Appius Claudius Pulcher to receive the old army and remove it into Sicily. People at first had expected in silence that the consul would hold an assembly for the election of a colleague, but afterwards perceiving that Marcus Marcellus, whom they wished above all others to be consul this year, on account of his brilliant success during his praetorship, was removed to a distant quarter, as it were on purpose, a murmuring arose in the senate-house, which the consul perceiving, said "Conscript fathers, it was conducive to the interest of the state, both that Marcus Marcellus should go into Campania to make the exchange of the armies, and that the assembly should not be proclaimed before he had returned thence after completing the business with which he was charged, in order that you might have him as consul whom the situation of the republic required and yourselves prefer." Thus nothing was said about the assembly till Marcellus returned. Meanwhile Quintus Fabius Maximus and Titus Otacilius Crassus were created duumvirs for dedicating temples, Otacilius to Mens, Fabius to Venus Erycina. Both are situated in the Capitol, and separated by one channel. It was afterwards proposed to the people, to make Roman citizens of the three hundred Campanian horsemen who had returned to Rome after having faithfully served their period, and also that they should be considered to have been citizens of Cumae from the day before that on which the Campanians had revolted from the Roman people. It had been a principal inducement to this proposition, that they themselves said they knew not to what people they belonged, having left their former country, and being not yet admitted into that to which they had returned. After Marcellus returned from the army, an assembly was proclaimed for electing one consul in the room of Lucius Posthumius. Marcellus was elected with the greatest unanimity, and was immediately to enter upon his office, but as it thundered while he entered upon it, the augurs were summoned, who pronounced that they considered the creation formal, and the fathers spread a report that the gods were displeased, because on that occasion, for the first time, two plebeians had been elected consuls. Upon Marcellus's abdicating his office, Fabius Maximus, for the third time, was elected in his room. This year the sea appeared on fire; at Sinuessa a cow brought forth a horse foal; the statues in the temple of Juno Sospita Lanuvium flowed down with blood; and a shower of stones fell in the neighbourhood of that temple: on account of which shower the nine days' sacred rite was celebrated, as is usual on such occasions, and the other prodigies were carefully expiated.

The consuls divided the armies between them. The army which Marcus Junius the dictator had commanded fell to the lot of Fabius. To that of Sempronius fell the volunteer slaves, with twenty-five thousand of the allies. To Marcus Valerius the praetor were assigned the legions which had returned from Sicily. Marcus Claudius, proconsul, was sent to that army which lay above Suessula for the protection of Nola. The praetors set out for Sicily and Sardinia. The consuls issued a proclamation, that as often as they summoned a senate, the senators and those who had a right to give their opinion in the senate, should assemble at the Capuan gate. The praetors who were charged with the administration of justice, fixed their tribunals in the public fish market; there they ordered sureties to be entered into, and here justice was administered this year. Meanwhile news was brought to Carthage, from which place Mago, Hannibal's brother, was on the point of carrying over into Italy twelve thousand foot, fifteen hundred horse, twenty elephants, and a thousand talents of silver, under a convoy of sixty men of war, that the operations of the war had not succeeded in Spain, and that almost all the people in that province had gone over to the Romans. There were some who were for sending Mago with that fleet and those forces into Spain, neglecting Italy, when an unexpected prospect of regaining Sardinia broke upon them. They were informed, that "the Roman army there was small, that Aulus Cornelius, who had been praetor there, and was well acquainted with the province, was quitting it, and that a new one was expected. Moreover, that the minds of the Sardinians were now wearied with the long continuance of rule; and that during the last year it had been exercised with severity and rapacity. That the people were weighed down with heavy taxes, and an oppressive contribution of corn: that there was nothing wanting but a leader to whom they might revolt." This secret embassy had been sent by the nobles, Hampsicora being the chief contriver of the measure, who at that time was first by far in wealth and influence. Disconcerted and elated almost at the same time by these accounts, they sent Mago with his fleet and forces into Spain, and selecting Hasdrubal as general for Sardinia, assigned to him about as large a force as to Mago. At Rome, the consuls, after transacting what was necessary to be done in the city now prepared themselves for the war. Tiberius Sempronius appointed a day for his soldiers to assemble at Sinuessa; and Quintus Fabius also, having first consulted the senate, issued a proclamation, that all persons should convey corn from the fields into fortified towns, before the calends of June next ensuing: if any neglected to do so he would lay waste his lands, sell his slaves by auction, and burn his farm-houses. Not even the praetors, who were created for the purpose of administering justice, were allowed an exemption from military employments. It was resolved that Valerius the praetor should go into Apulia, to receive the army from Terentius, and that, when the legions from Sicily had arrived, he should employ them principally for the protection of that quarter. That the army of Terentius should be sent into Sicily, with some one of the lieutenant-generals. Twenty-five ships were given to Marcus Valerius, to protect the sea-coast between Brundusium and Tarentum. An equal number was given to Quintus Fulvius, the city praetor, to protect the coasts in the neighbourhood of the city. To Caius Terentius, the proconsul, it was given in charge to press soldiers in the Picenian territory, and to protect that part of the country; and Titus Otacilius Crassus, after he had dedicated the temple of Mens in the Capitol, was invested with command, and sent into Sicily to take the conduct of the fleet.

Back to Index Next