Livy: AB VRBE CONDITA LIBRI

[1] Vt ex Campania in Bruttios reditum est, Hanno adiutoribus et ducibus Bruttiis Graecas urbes temptauit, eo facilius in societate manentes Romana quod Bruttios, quos et oderant et metuebant, Carthaginiensium partis factos cernebant. Regium primum temptatum est diesque aliquot ibi nequiquam absumpti. interim Locrenses frumentum lignaque et cetera necessaria usibus ex agris in urbem rapere, etiam ne quid relictum praedae hostibus esset, et in dies maior omnibus portis multitudo effundi; postremo sescenti modo relicti in urbe erant qui reficere muros portas telaque in propugnacula congerere cogebantur.

[1] When the return was made from Campania into the Bruttians’ land, Hanno, with the Bruttians as helpers and guides, assailed the Greek cities, the more easily remaining in the Roman alliance because they saw that the Bruttians, whom they both hated and feared, had been made partisans of the Carthaginians. Regium was first attempted, and several days were there spent to no purpose. Meanwhile the Locrians were snatching grain and firewood and the other things necessary for use from the fields into the city, also lest anything be left as booty for the enemy, and with each day a greater multitude poured forth from all the gates; at last only six hundred were left in the city, who were compelled to repair the walls and gates and to heap missiles upon the bulwarks.

in permixtam omnium aetatium ordinumque multitudinem et uagantem in agris magna ex parte inermem Hamilcar Poenos equites emisit, qui uiolare quemquam uetiti, tantum ut ab urbe excluderent fuga dissipatos, turmas obiecere. dux ipse loco superiore capto unde agros urbemque posset conspicere, Bruttiorum cohortem adire muros atque euocare principes Locrensium ad conloquium iussit et pollicentes amicitiam Hannibalis adhortari ad urbem tradendam. Bruttiis in conloquio nullius rei primo fides est; deinde ut Poenus apparuit in collibus et refugientes pauci aliam omnem multitudinem in potestate hostium esse adferebant, tum metu uicti consulturos se populum responderunt; aduocataque extemplo contione, cum et leuissimus quisque nouas res nouamque societatem mallent et, quorum propinqui extra urbem interclusi ab hostibus erant, uelut obsidibus datis pigneratos haberent animos, pauci magis taciti probarent constantem fidem quam propalam tueri auderent, haud dubio in speciem consensu fit ad Poenos deditio.

into the mixed multitude of all ages and orders, wandering through the fields and for the most part unarmed, Hamilcar sent out Carthaginian horse, who, forbidden to violate anyone, merely threw squadrons across their path so as to shut out from the city those who were scattered in flight. The leader himself, having seized a higher position from which he could look out upon the fields and the city, ordered a Bruttian cohort to approach the walls and to call out the chiefs of the Locrians to a colloquy, and, promising the friendship of Hannibal, to exhort them to hand over the city. At first, in the conference, no credence was given to the Bruttians in any matter; then, when the Carthaginian appeared on the hills and a few who were retreating reported that all the rest of the multitude was in the enemy’s power, overcome by fear they replied that they would consult the people; and, an assembly having been summoned at once, since every light-minded person preferred novelties and a new alliance, and those whose relatives outside the city were cut off by the enemy had their spirits, as it were, pledged, hostages having been given, while a few more silently approved steadfast faith than dared to defend it openly, with a not-to-be-doubted unanimity in appearance a surrender to the Carthaginians was made.

L. Atilio, praefecto praesidii, quique cum eo milites Romani erant clam in portum deductis atque impositis in naues ut Regium deueherentur Hamilcarem Poenosque ea condicione ut foedus extemplo aequis legibus fieret in urbem acceperunt; cuius rei prope non seruata fides deditis est, cum Poenus dolo dimissum Romanum incusaret, Locrenses profugisse ipsum causarentur. insecuti etiam equites sunt, si quo casu in freto aestus morari aut deferre naues in terram posset. et eos quidem quos sequebantur non sunt adepti: alias a Messana traicientes freto Regium naues conspexerunt.

With Lucius Atilius, the prefect of the garrison, and the Roman soldiers who were with him having been secretly led down into the port and put aboard ships to be carried to Regium, they admitted Hamilcar and the Carthaginians into the city on the condition that a foedus be made forthwith on equal terms; the good faith of this matter was almost not kept with the surrendered, since the Carthaginian accused that the Roman had been dismissed by trickery, while the Locrenses pleaded that he had fled of his own accord. The horsemen also pursued, in case by some chance the tide in the strait might delay the ships or carry them onto land. And those, indeed, whom they were following they did not overtake; but they caught sight of other ships crossing the strait from Messana toward Regium.

milites erant Romani a Claudio praetore missi ad obtinendam urbem praesidio. itaque Regio extemplo abscessum est. Locrensibus iussu Hannibalis data pax ut liberi suis legibus uiuerent, urbs pateret Poenis, portus in potestate Locrensium esset, societas eo iure staret ut Poenus Locrensem Locrensisque Poenum pace ac bello iuuaret.

The Roman soldiers had been sent by the praetor Claudius to hold the city as a garrison. Accordingly, they withdrew from Rhegium at once. Peace was granted to the Locrians by Hannibal’s order, that they should be free to live by their own laws, that the city be open to the Carthaginians, that the port be in the power of the Locrians, and that the alliance should stand on this law: that the Carthaginian aid the Locrian and the Locrian aid the Carthaginian, in peace and in war.

[2] Sic a freto Poeni reducti frementibus Bruttiis quod Regium ac Locros, quas urbes direpturos se destinauerant, intactas reliquissent. itaque per se ipsi conscriptis armatisque iuuentutis suae quindecim milibus ad Crotonem oppugnandum pergunt ire, Graecam et ipsam urbem et maritimam, plurimum accessurum opibus, si in ora maris urbem portu ac moenibus ualidam tenuissent, credentes. ea cura angebat quod neque non accersere ad auxilium Poenos satis audebant, ne quid non pro sociis egisse uiderentur et, si Poenus rursus magis arbiter pacis quam adiutor belli fuisset, ne in libertatem Crotonis, sicut ante Locrorum, frustra pugnaretur.

[2] Thus the Carthaginians were led back from the strait, while the Bruttians were chafing that Rhegium and Locri—cities which they had destined to plunder—they had left untouched. And so, on their own, after enrolling and arming fifteen thousand of their youth, they set out to go to besiege Croton, a Greek city and maritime; believing that very much would be added to their resources if they held on the sea-coast a city strong with harbor and walls. This concern vexed them: for they did not quite dare to refrain from summoning the Carthaginians to aid, lest they seem to have done anything not on behalf of their allies; and, if the Carthaginian should again be more an arbiter of peace than a helper in war, that the fight for the freedom of Croton, as before for that of the Locrians, might not be in vain.

itaque optimum uisum est ad Hannibalem mitti legatos cauerique ab eo ut receptus Croto Bruttiorum esset. Hannibal cum praesentium eam consultationem esse respondisset et ad Hannonem eos reiecisset, ab Hannone nihil certi ablatum; nec enim diripi uolebat nobilem atque opulentam urbem et sperabat, cum Bruttius oppugnaret, Poenos nec probare nec iuuare eam oppugnationem appareret, eo maturius ad se defecturos. Crotone nec consilium unum inter populares nec uoluntas erat.

accordingly it seemed best to send legates to Hannibal and to procure from him a guarantee that, in the event of a surrender at Croton, it should be to the Bruttians. Hannibal replied that that was a deliberation for those on the spot and referred them to Hanno; from Hanno nothing definite was brought back; for he did not wish a noble and opulent city to be sacked, and he hoped, since a Bruttian was attacking, that it would appear the Carthaginians neither approved nor aided that attack, and so they would defect to him the sooner. at Croton there was neither a single plan among the commons nor a single will.

unus uelut morbus inuaserat omnes Italiae ciuitates ut plebes ab optimatibus dissentirent, senatus Romanis faueret, plebs ad Poenos rem traheret. eam dissensionem in urbe perfuga nuntiat Bruttiis: Aristomachum esse principem plebis tradendaeque auctorem urbis, et in uasta urbe lateque moenibus disiectis raras stationes custodiasque senatorum esse; quacumque custodiant plebis homines, ea patere aditum. auctore ac duce perfuga Bruttii corona cinxerunt urbem acceptique ab plebe primo impetu omnem praeter arcem cepere.

as if one disease had invaded all the cities of Italy, such that the plebs dissented from the Optimates, the senate favored the Romans, and the plebs dragged the affair toward the Carthaginians. A deserter reports to the Bruttii that this dissension is in the city: that Aristomachus is the leader of the plebs and the promoter of handing over the city, and that in the vast city, with the walls thrown down in many places, the senators’ pickets and guards are sparse; wherever men of the plebs keep watch, those places stand open for access. With the deserter as author and leader, the Bruttii encircled the city with a corona, and, admitted by the plebs, at the first assault they took all save the citadel.

arcem optimates tenebant praeparato iam ante ad talem casum perfugio. eodem Aristomachus perfugit, tamquam Poenis, non Bruttiis auctor urbis tradendae fuisset.

The optimates held the citadel, a refuge already prepared beforehand for such a case. To the same place Aristomachus fled for refuge, as though he had been the author of the city’s being handed over to the Carthaginians, not to the Bruttians.

[3] Urbs Croto murum in circuitu patentem duodecim milia passuum habuit ante Pyrrhi in Italiam aduentum; post uastitatem eo bello factam uix pars dimidia habitabatur; flumen, quod medio oppido fluxerat, extra frequentia tectis loca praeterfluebat, <erat> et arx procul eis quae habitabantur. sex milia aberat in<de> [urbe nobili] templum, ipsa urbe [erat] nobilius, Laciniae Iunonis, sanctum omnibus circa populis; lucus ibi frequenti silua et proceris abietis arboribus saeptus laeta in medio pascua habuit, ubi omnis generis sacrum deae pecus pascebatur sine ullo pastore, separatimque greges sui cuiusque generis nocte remeabant ad stabula, nunquam insidiis ferarum, non fraude uiolati hominum. magni igitur fructus ex eo pecore capti columnaque inde aurea solida facta et sacrata est; inclitumque templum diuitiis etiam, non tantum sanctitate fuit.

[3] The city of Croton had a wall extending in circuit for twelve miles before the advent of Pyrrhus into Italy; after the devastation made in that war, scarcely a half was inhabited; the river, which had flowed through the middle of the town, flowed past outside the places crowded with buildings, and the citadel <was> also far from those quarters that were inhabited. Six miles away <from there> [from the noble city] was a temple—more noble than the city itself—of Lacinian Juno, sacred to all the peoples round about; there a grove, enclosed with a thick wood and with tall trees of fir, had joyous pasture in the middle, where the sacred herd of the goddess of every kind grazed without any shepherd, and the herds of each kind separately returned by night to their stalls, never violated by the ambushes of wild beasts, nor by the fraud of men. Great profits therefore were taken from that herd, and from that a solid golden column was made and consecrated; and the temple was renowned for riches as well, not only for sanctity.

ac miracula aliqua adfinguntur ut plerumque tam insignibus locis: fama est aram esse in uestibulo templi cuius cinerem nullo unquam moueri uento. sed arx Crotonis, una parte imminens mari, altera uergente in agrum, situ tantum naturali quondam munita, postea et muro cincta est qua per auersas rupes ab Dionysio Siciliae tyranno per dolum fuerat capta. ea tum arce satis ut uidebatur tuta Crotoniatum optimates tenebant se circumsedente cum Bruttiis eos etiam plebe sua.

and some marvels are fabricated, as for the most part in such distinguished places: the report is that there is an altar in the vestibule of the temple whose ash is never moved by any wind. but the citadel of Croton, overhanging the sea on one side, on the other inclining toward the countryside, once fortified only by its natural site, was later also girded with a wall on that side by which, along the rearward crags, it had been captured by Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, through guile. that citadel then, safe enough as it seemed, the nobles of the Crotoniates were holding, while their own plebs also, together with the Bruttii, were sitting in siege around them.

postremo Bruttii, cum suis uiribus inexpugnabilem uiderent arcem, coacti necessitate Hannonis auxilium implorant. is condicionibus ad deditionem compellere Crotoniates conatus ut coloniam Bruttiorum eo deduci antiquamque frequentiam recipere uastam ac desertam bellis urbem paterentur, omnium neminem praeter Aristomachum mouit. morituros se adfirmabant citius quam immixti Bruttiis in alienos ritus mores legesque ac mox linguam etiam uerterentur.

At last the Bruttians, when they saw the citadel to be impregnable by their own forces, compelled by necessity implore the aid of Hanno. He, attempting to compel the Crotoniates to surrender on conditions—that they should allow a colony of Bruttians to be led thither, and that the city, laid waste and deserted by wars, should recover its ancient populousness—moved no one of all save Aristomachus. They declared that they would sooner die than, mingled with the Bruttians, be turned to alien rites, customs, laws, and soon even language.

Aristomachus unus, quando nec suadendo ad deditionem satis ualebat nec, sicut urbem prodiderat, locum prodendae arcis inueniebat, transfugit ad Hannonem. Locrenses breui post legati, cum permissu Hannonis arcem intrassent, persuadent ut traduci se in Locros paterentur nec ultima experiri uellent; iam hoc ut sibi liceret impetrauerant et ab Hannibale missis ad is ipsum legatis. ita Crotone excessum est deductique Crotoniatae ad mare naues conscendunt; Locros omnis multitudo abeunt.

Aristomachus alone, since he had not strength enough by persuading to bring about a surrender, nor, as he had betrayed the city, did he find a place for betraying the citadel, defected to Hanno. Shortly after, envoys of the Locrians, when with Hanno’s permission they had entered the citadel, persuade them to allow themselves to be transferred to Locri and not to wish to try the ultimate extremities; already they had obtained this—that it be permitted to them—even from Hannibal, by sending envoys to the man himself. Thus there was a departure from Croton, and the Crotoniates, led down to the sea, embark upon the ships; to Locri the whole multitude goes away.

in Apulia ne hiemps quidem quieta inter Romanos atque Hannibalem erat. Luceriae Sempronius consul, Hannibal haud procul Arpis hibernabat. inter eos leuia proelia ex occasione aut opportunitate huius aut illius partis oriebantur meliorque eis Romanus et in dies cautior tutiorque ab insidiis fiebat.

In Apulia not even winter was quiet between the Romans and Hannibal. At Luceria was Sempronius, the consul; Hannibal was wintering not far from Arpi. Between them light skirmishes would arise out of the occasion or opportunity of this or that party, and the Roman was the better in these and day by day was becoming more cautious and more secure against ambushes.

[4] In Sicilia Romanis omnia mutauerat mors Hieronis regnumque ad Hieronymum nepotem eius translatum, puerum uixdum libertatem, nedum dominationem modice laturum. eam aetatem, id ingenium tutores atque amici ad praecipitandum in omnia uitia acceperunt. quae ita futura cernens Hiero ultima senecta uoluisse dicitur liberas Syracusas relinquere, ne sub dominatu puerili per ludibrium bonis artibus partum firmatumque interiret regnum.

[4] In Sicily for the Romans everything had been altered by the death of Hiero, and the kingdom was transferred to Hieronymus, his grandson, a boy who would scarcely bear even liberty with moderation, much less dominion. His guardians and friends seized upon that age, that disposition, to hurl him headlong into every vice. Seeing that things would be thus, Hiero, in his last old age, is said to have wished to leave the Syracusans free, lest under a childish domination, as a laughing‑stock, the kingdom won and strengthened by good arts should perish.

huic consilio eius summa ope obstitere filiae, nomen regium penes puerum futurum ratae, regimen rerum omnium penes se uirosque suos Adran<odorum et Zoippum, qui tut>orum primi relinquebantur. non facile erat nonagesimum iam agenti annum, circumsesso dies noctesque muliebribus blanditiis, liberare animum et conuertere ad publicam <a> priuata curam. itaque tutores modo quindecim puero relinquit, quos precatus est moriens ut fidem erga populum Romanum quinquaginta annos ab se cultam inuiolatam seruarent iuuenemque suis potissimum uestigiis insistere uellent et disciplinae, in qua eductus esset.

To this plan of his his daughters opposed with the utmost help, thinking that the royal title would be in the boy’s hands, but the governance of all affairs in their own hands and in those of their husbands Adranodorus and Zoippus, who were being left as the foremost of the guardians. It was not easy for him, now entering upon his ninetieth year, beset day and night by feminine blandishments, to free his mind and turn his care from private to public. And so he left to the boy only fifteen guardians, whom, as he was dying, he entreated to preserve inviolate the faith toward the Roman People, cultivated by himself for fifty years, and to wish the youth to set his steps chiefly in his own footprints and in the discipline in which he had been brought up.

haec mandata. cum exspirasset, tutores testamento prolato pueroque in contionem producto—erat autem quindecim tum ferme annorum—paucis, qui per contionem ad excitandos clamores dispositi erant, adprobantibus testamentum, ceteris uelut patre amisso in orba ciuitate omnia timentibus~~. funus fit regium magis amore ciuium et caritate quam cura suorum celebre. breui deinde ceteros tutores summouet Adranodorus, iuuenem iam esse dictitans Hieronymum ac regni potentem; deponendoque tutelam ipse, quae cum pluribus communis erat, in se unum omnium uires conuertit.

These were the mandates. When he had expired, the guardians—the testament having been produced and the boy brought into the assembly—he was then about fifteen years old—with a few, who had been stationed throughout the assembly to stir up shouts, approving the testament, the rest, as though with the father lost, in an orphaned city, fearing everything~~. The funeral is royal, celebrated more by the love and affection of the citizens than by the care of his own kin. Shortly thereafter Adranodorus removes the other guardians, repeatedly saying that Hieronymus was now a youth and potent for the kingdom; and by laying down the guardianship himself, which had been common with several, he turned the forces of all onto himself alone.

[5] Vix quidem uel bono moderatoque regi facilis erat fauor apud Syracusanos, succedenti tantae caritati Hieronis; uerum enimuero Hieronymus, uelut suis uitiis desiderabilem efficere uellet auum, primo statim conspectu omnia quam disparia essent ostendit. nam qui per tot annos Hieronem filiumque eius Gelonem nec uestis habitu nec alio ullo insigni differentes a ceteris ciuibus uidissent, ei conspexere purpuram ac diadema ac satellites armatos, quadrigisque etiam alborum equorum interdum ex regia procedentem more Dionysi tyranni. hunc tam superbum adparatum habitumque conuenientes sequebantur contemptus omnium hominum, superbae aures, contumeliosa dicta, rari aditus non alienis modo sed tutoribus etiam, libidines nouae, inhumana crudelitas.

[5] Hardly indeed would favor have been easy among the Syracusans even for a good and moderate king, succeeding to Hiero’s so great belovedness; but in very truth Hieronymus, as if he wished by his own vices to make his grandsire longed for, at the very first sight showed how different all things were. For those who for so many years had seen Hiero and his son Gelon differing from the other citizens neither in the style of their dress nor in any other insignia, now beheld in him the purple and the diadem and armed satellites (bodyguards), and even at times his coming forth from the royal palace in a four-horse chariot of white horses (a quadriga), after the manner of Dionysius the tyrant. To match this so arrogant display and bearing there followed contempt for all men, haughty ears, insulting words, rare access not only for outsiders but even for his guardians, new lusts, inhuman cruelty.

itaque tantus omnes terror inuaserat ut quidam ex tutoribus aut morte uoluntaria aut fuga praeuerterent metum suppliciorum. tres ex iis quibus solis aditus in domum familiarior erat, Adranodorus et Zoippus, generi Hieronis, et Thraso quidam, de aliis quidem rebus haud magno opere audiebantur; tendendo autem duo ad Carthaginienses, Thraso ad societatem Romanam, certamine ac studiis interdum in se conuertebant animum adulescentis, cum coniuratio in tyranni caput facta indicatur per Callonem quendam, aequalem Hieronymi et iam inde a puero in omnia familiaria iura adsuetum. index unum ex coniuratis Theodotum, a quo ipse appellatus erat, nominare potuit.

and so such great terror had seized all that some of the guardians forestalled the fear of punishments either by voluntary death or by flight. Three of those to whom alone there was more familiar access into the house, Adranodorus and Zoippus, sons-in-law of Hiero, and a certain Thraso, were not much talked of in other matters; but by inclining the two toward the Carthaginians, Thraso toward the Roman alliance, by rivalry and endeavors they sometimes turned the young man’s mind to themselves, when a conspiracy against the tyrant’s head was revealed through a certain Callon, a peer of Hieronymus and, from boyhood onward, accustomed to all the familiar privileges. The informer was able to name one of the conspirators, Theodotus, by whom he himself had been approached.

qui comprensus extemplo traditusque Adranodoro torquendus, de se ipse haud cunctanter fassus conscios celabat; postremo cum omnibus intolerandis patientiae humanae cruciatibus laceraretur, uictum malis se simulans auertit ab consciis in insontes indicium, Thrasonem esse auctorem consilii mentitus, nec nisi tam potenti duce confisos rem tantam ausuros <fuisse; addit socios> ab latere tyranni quorum capita uilissima fingenti inter dolores gemitusque occurrere. maxime animo tyranni credibile indicium Thraso nominatus fecit; itaque extemplo traditur ad supplicium adiectique poenae ceteri iuxta insontes. consciorum nemo, cum diu socius consilii torqueretur, aut latuit aut fugit; tantum illis in uirtute ac fide Theodoti fiduciae fuit tantumque ipsi Theodoto uirium ad arcana occultanda.

who, seized on the spot and handed over to Adranodorus to be tortured, confessed about himself without hesitation but concealed his accomplices; at last, when he was being torn by all the torments intolerable to human patience, pretending himself overcome by his sufferings he diverted the evidence away from the privy-partners onto innocents, falsely asserting that Thraso was the author of the counsel, and that they would not, unless relying on so powerful a leader, have dared so great an undertaking <to have done so; he adds the associates> from the tyrant’s side—men whose heads, most worthless, occurred to one inventing under pains and groans. the naming of Thraso made the indication especially credible to the tyrant’s mind; and so on the spot he is handed over to execution, and the rest, likewise innocents, are added to the punishment. of the accomplices, no one, though their partner in the plan was being tortured for a long time, either lay hidden or fled; so great was their trust in the virtue and good faith of Theodotus, and so great were Theodotus’s own powers for concealing secrets.

[6] Ita, quod unum uinculum cum Romanis societatis erat, Thrasone sublato e medio extemplo haud dubie ad defectionem res spectabat, legatique ad Hannibalem missi ac remissi ab eo cum Hannibale, nobili adulescente, Hippocrates et Epicydes, nati Carthagine sed oriundi ab Syracusis exsule auo, Poeni ipsi materno genere. per hos iuncta societas Hannibali ac Syracusano tyranno nec inuito Hannibale apud tyrannum manserunt. Ap. Claudius praetor, cuius Sicilia prouincia erat, ubi ea accepit, extemplo legatos ad Hieronymum misit.

[6] Thus, since the one bond of societas with the Romans was Thraso, with him removed from the midst, at once the situation was looking without doubt toward defection; and legates were sent to Hannibal and sent back by him along with Hannibal, a noble young man, Hippocrates and Epicydes—born at Carthage but originally from Syracuse through an exiled grandfather, themselves Punic on the maternal side. Through these a societas was joined between Hannibal and the Syracusan tyrant, and nor with Hannibal unwilling did they remain at the tyrant’s court. Ap. Claudius, praetor, whose provincia was Sicily, when he learned these things, immediately sent legates to Hieronymus.

qui cum sese ad renouandam societatem quae cum auo fuisset uenisse dicerent, per ludibrium auditi dimissique sunt ab quaerente per iocum Hieronymo quae fortuna eis pugnae ad Cannas fuisset; uix credibilia enim legatos Hannibalis narrare; uelle quid ueri sit scire, ut ex eo utram spem sequatur consilium capiat. Romani, cum serio legationes audire coepisset redituros se ad eum dicentes esse, monito magis eo quam rogato ne fidem temere mutaret proficiscuntur. Hieronymus legatos Carthaginem misit ad foedus ex societate cum Hannibale pacta faciendum.

when they said that they had come to renovate the alliance which had been with his grandfather, they were heard in mockery and dismissed by Hieronymus, who, joking, asked what fortune they had had in the fight at Cannae; for the envoys of Hannibal were recounting things scarcely credible; he wished to know what was true, so that from that he might take a counsel as to which hope he should follow. The Romans, when he had begun to hear embassies in earnest, saying that they would return to him, depart, he being warned rather than asked not to change his good faith rashly. Hieronymus sent envoys to Carthage to make a treaty on the basis of the alliance agreed with Hannibal.

conuenit ut, cum Romanos Sicilia expulissent—id autem breui fore, si naues atque exercitum misissent—, Himera amnis, qui ferme <mediam> diuidit, finis regni Syracusani ac Punici imperii esset. aliam deinde, inflatus adsentationibus eorum qui eum non Hieronis tantum sed Pyrrhi etiam regis, materni aui, iubebant meminisse, legationem misit, qua aequum censebat Sicilia sibi omni cedi, Italiae imperium proprium quaeri Carthaginiensi populo. hanc leuitatem ac iactationem animi neque mirabantur in iuuene furioso neque arguebant, dummodo auerterent eum ab Romanis.

It was agreed that, when they had expelled the Romans from Sicily—and that would be soon, if they sent ships and an army—the river Himera, which nearly divides the island <middle>, should be the boundary of the Syracusan kingdom and the Punic dominion. Then, inflated by the adulations of those who bade him remember not only Hiero but King Pyrrhus as well, his maternal grandfather, he sent another embassy, in which he deemed it equitable that all Sicily be ceded to himself, and that sovereignty over Italy be sought as the proper right of the Carthaginian people. This levity and vaunting of spirit they neither marveled at in a frenzied youth nor did they censure, provided only that they might turn him away from the Romans.

[7] Sed omnia in eo praecipitia ad exitium fuerunt. nam cum praemissis Hippocrate atque Epicyde cum binis milibus armatorum ad temptandas urbes quae praesidiis tenebantur Romanis, et ipse in Leontinos cum cetero omni exercitu —erant autem ad quindecim milia peditum equitumque—profectus esset, liberas aedes coniurati—et omnes forte militabant—imminentes uiae angustae qua descendere ad forum rex solebat sumpserunt. ibi cum instructi armatique ceteri transitum exspectantes starent, uni ex eis—Dinomeni fuit nomen—, quia custos corporis erat, partes datae sunt ut, cum adpropinquaret ianuae rex, per causam aliquam in angustiis sustineret ab tergo agmen.

[7] But all things in him were precipices toward ruin. For, after sending ahead Hippocrates and Epicydes with two thousand armed men to try the cities which were held by Roman garrisons, and he himself had set out for Leontini with all the rest of the army — there were about fifteen thousand foot and horse — the conspirators — and all of them happened to be on military service — seized private houses overhanging the narrow way by which the king was accustomed to descend to the forum. There, while the others, drawn up and armed, stood awaiting the passage, to one of them — his name was Dinomenes — because he was a bodyguard, the task was assigned that, when the king approached the doorway, on some pretext he should hold back the column from the rear in the constricted place.

ita ut conuenerat factum est. tamquam laxaret elatum pedem ab stricto nodo, moratus turbam Dinomenes tantum interualli fecit ut, cum in praetereuntem sine armatis regem impetus fieret, confoderetur aliquot prius uolneribus quam succurri posset. clamore et tumultu audito in Dinomenem iam haud dubie obstantem tela coniciuntur, inter quae tamen duobus acceptis uolneribus euasit.

Thus, as it had been agreed, it was done. As if he were loosening the lifted foot from a tight knot, by lingering and holding up the throng Dinomenes made so much interval that, when an impetus was made against the king passing by without armed men, he was run through with several wounds before succor could be brought. The shout and tumult being heard, missiles were hurled at Dinomenes, now without doubt obstructing; amid them, however, having received two wounds, he escaped.

fuga satellitum, ut iacentem uidere regem, facta est; interfectores pars in forum ad multitudinem laetam libertate, pars Syracusas pergunt ad praeoccupanda Adranodori regiorumque aliorum consilia. incerto rerum statu Ap. Claudius bellum oriens ex propinquo cum cerneret, senatum litteris certiorem fecit Siciliam Carthaginiensi populo et Hannibali conciliari, ipse aduersus Syracusana consilia <ad> prouinciae regnique fines omnia conuertit praesidia. exitu anni eius Q. Fabius ex auctoritate senatus Puteolos, per bellum coeptum frequentari emporium, communiit praesidiumque imposuit.

Flight of the bodyguards, when they saw the king lying, took place; the slayers, some go into the forum to the multitude glad at liberty, others proceed to Syracuse to preoccupy the plans of Adranodorus and the other royal persons. With the state of affairs uncertain, when Appius Claudius saw from nearby that war was arising, he informed the senate by letter that Sicily was being won over to the Carthaginian people and to Hannibal, and he himself, in opposition to the Syracusan counsels, turned all the garrisons toward the borders of the province and the kingdom. At the end of that year, Quintus Fabius, by authority of the senate, fortified Puteoli, an emporium that had begun to be frequented during the war, and placed a garrison.

inde Romam comitiorum causa ueniens in eum quem primum diem comitialem habuit comitia edixit atque ex itinere praeter urbem in campum descendit. eo die cum sors praerogatiuae Aniensi iuniorum exisset eaque T. Otacilium M. Aemilium Regillum consules diceret, tum Q. Fabius silentio facto tali oratione est usus:

thence, coming to Rome for the sake of the comitia, on the first day that he had as a comitial day he proclaimed the comitia and, straight from the journey, went down past the city into the field. On that day, when the lot of the praerogative of the Aniensis juniors had come out, and it declared T. Otacilius and M. Aemilius Regillus consuls, then Q. Fabius, silence having been made, used such an oration:

[8] 'Si aut pacem in Italia aut <id> bellum eumque hostem haberemus in quo neglegentiae laxior locus esset, qui uestris studiis, quae in campum ad mandandos quibus uelitis honores adfertis, moram ullam offerret, is mihi parum meminisse uideretur uestrae libertatis; sed cum in hoc bello, in hoc hoste nunquam ab ullo duce sine ingenti nostra clade erratum sit, eadem uos cura qua in aciem armati descenditis inire suffragium ad creandos consules decet et sibi quemque dicere: "Hannibali imperatori parem consulem nomino." hoc anno ad Capuam Uibellio Taureae, Campano summo equiti, prouocanti summus Romanus eques Asellus Claudius est oppositus. aduersus Gallum quondam prouocantem in ponte Anienis T. Manlium fidentem et animo et uiribus misere maiores nostri. eandem causam haud multis annis post fuisse non negauerim cur M. Ualerio non diffideretur aduersus similiter prouocantem ad certamen arma capienti Gallum.

[8] 'If either we had peace in Italy, or such a war and such an enemy as would allow a freer place for negligence, then anyone who should offer any delay to your enthusiasms which you bring into the field to mandate honors upon whom you please would seem to me to remember your liberty too little; but since in this war, against this enemy, never has any commander erred without our enormous disaster, it befits you to enter upon the vote for creating consuls with the same care with which, armed, you descend into the battle-line, and for each to say to himself: "I nominate as consul a peer to Hannibal the imperator." This year at Capua, to Vibellius Taurea, the foremost Campanian horseman, when he issued a challenge, the foremost Roman horseman, Asellus Claudius, was set in opposition. Against a Gaul once challenging on the bridge of the Anio our ancestors sent T. Manlius, confident both in spirit and in strength. Nor would I deny that for the same reason, not many years later, there was no distrust of M. Valerius as he took up arms against a Gaul who similarly challenged to combat.'

quemadmodum pedites equitesque optamus ut ualidiores, si minus, ut pares hosti habeamus, ita duci hostium parem imperatorem quaeramus. cum qui est summus in ciuitate dux eum legerimus, tamen repente lectus, in annum creatus aduersus ueterem ac perpetuum imperatorem comparabitur, nullis neque temporis nec iuris inclusum angustiis quo minus ita omnia gerat administretque ut tempora postulabunt belli; nobis autem in adparatu ipso ac tantum incohantibus res annus circumagitur. quoniam quales uiros creare uos consules deceat satis est dictum, restat ut pauca de eis in quos praerogatiuae fauor inclinauit dicam.

Just as we wish to have our infantry and cavalry stronger than, or, if not, at least equal to, the enemy, so let us seek a commander equal to the enemy’s leader. When we have chosen as general the man who is foremost in the state, nevertheless, chosen suddenly and created for a single year, he will be matched against an old and perpetual commander, one confined by no narrowness either of time or of law to prevent his managing and administering everything as the seasons of war will require; whereas for us, while we are in the very preparation itself and only just beginning, the year is turned round. Since enough has been said about what sort of men it befits you to create as consuls, it remains that I say a few words about those toward whom the favor of the prerogative has inclined.

M. Aemilius Regillus flamen est Quirinalis, quem neque mittere a sacris neque retinere possumus ut non deum aut belli deseramus curam. Otacilius sororis meae filiam uxorem atque ex ea liberos habet; ceterum non ea uestra in me maioresque meos merita sunt ut non potiorem priuatis necessitudinibus rem publicam habeam. quilibet nautarum uectorumque tranquillo mari gubernare potest; ubi saeua orta tempestas est ac turbato mari rapitur uento nauis, tum uiro et gubernatore opus est.

M. Aemilius Regillus is the Quirinal flamen, whom we can neither send away from the sacred rites nor retain so as not to abandon the care either of the gods or of the war. Otacilius has my sister’s daughter as his wife and children from her; but your merits toward me and my ancestors are not such that I should not hold the commonwealth preferable to private relationships. Any one of the sailors and passengers can govern in a calm sea; when a savage tempest has arisen and, with the sea disturbed, the ship is snatched by the wind, then there is need of a man and a helmsman.

non tranquillo nauigamus sed iam aliquot procellis summersi paene sumus; itaque quis ad gubernacula sedeat summa cura prouidendum ac praecauendum uobis est. in minore te experti, T. Otacili, re sumus; haud sane cur ad maiora tibi fidamus documenti quicquam dedisti. classem hoc anno, cui tu praefuisti, trium rerum causa parauimus, ut Africae oram popularetur, ut tuta nobis Italiae litora essent, ante omnia ne supplementum cum stipendio commeatuque ab Carthagine Hannibali transportaretur.

we are not navigating on a tranquil sea, but already by several storms we have been almost submerged; and so with the utmost care it must be provided and precaution taken by you as to who should sit at the helm. in a lesser matter we have tried you, Titus Otacilius; you have given no proof at all why we should trust you for greater ones. the fleet this year, which you commanded, we prepared for three purposes: that it might ravage the coast of Africa, that the shores of Italy might be safe for us, and, above all, lest a reinforcement with stipend and commissariat should be transported from Carthage to Hannibal.

create consulem T. Otacilium, non dico si omnia haec, sed si aliquid eorum rei publicae praestitit. sin autem te classem obtinente, ea etiam uelut pacato mari quibus <non erat opus> Hannibali tuta atque integra ab domo uenerunt, si ora Italiae infestior hoc anno quam Africae fuit, quid dicere potes cur te potissimum ducem Hannibali hosti <hi> opponant? si consul esses, dictatorem dicendum exemplo maiorum nostrorum censeremus, nec tu id indignari posses aliquem in ciuitate Romana meliorem bello haberi quam te. magis nullius interest quam tua, T. Otacili, non imponi ceruicibus tuis onus sub quo concidas.

elect T. Otacilius consul, I do not say if he has furnished all these things, but if he has furnished any of them to the commonwealth. But if, with you holding the fleet, even those things, as though the sea were pacified, which Hannibal of, came safe and intact from home; if the shores of Italy were more infested this year than those of Africa, what can you say as to why should set you, in particular, as leader in opposition to Hannibal our enemy? If you were consul, we would think that, by the example of our ancestors, a dictator should be named; nor could you resent that someone in the Roman commonwealth be held better at war than yourself. It is of no one’s interest more than yours, T. Otacilius, that there not be imposed upon your neck a burden under which you collapse.

ego magno opere suadeo, Quirites, eodem animo quo si stantibus uobis in acie armatis repente deligendi duo imperatores essent quorum ductu atque auspicio dimicaretis, hodie quoque consules creetis quibus sacramento liberi uestri dicant, ad quorum edictum conueniant, sub quorum tutela atque cura militent. lacus Trasumennus et Cannae tristia ad recordationem exempla sed ad praecauenda similia [utiles] documento sunt. praeco, Aniensem iuniorum in suffragium reuoca.'

I strongly advise, Quirites, in the same spirit as if, you standing armed in the battle-line, there should suddenly be two commanders to be chosen under whose leadership and auspices you would fight, that today also you elect consuls, to whom your sons may take the oath, at whose edict they may assemble, under whose tutelage and care they may serve as soldiers. Lake Trasimene and Cannae are sad examples for remembrance, but, for preventing similar things, they are [useful] as a lesson. Herald, recall the Aniensis tribe of the juniors to the vote.'

[9] Cum T. Otacilius ferociter eum continuare consulatum uelle uociferaretur atque obstreperet, lictores ad eum accedere consul iussit et, quia urbem non inierat protinus in campum ex itinere profectus, admonuit cum securibus sibi fasces praeferri. interim praerogatiua suffragium init creatique in ea consules Q. Fabius Maximus quartum M. Marcellus tertium. eosdem consules ceterae centuriae sine uariatione ulla dixerunt; et praetor unus refectus Q. Fuluius Flaccus, noui alii creati, T. Otacilius Crassus iterum, Q. Fabius consulis filius qui tum aedilis curulis erat, P. Cornelius Lentulus.

[9] When T. Otacilius was vociferating fiercely that he wished a continuation of the consulship and was making a din, the consul ordered the lictors to go to him and, because he had not entered the city but had set out straight to the Field from his journey, he reminded them that the fasces should be borne before him with the axes. Meanwhile the praerogative began the vote, and in it consuls were created: Q. Fabius Maximus for the fourth time, M. Marcellus for the third. The remaining centuries named the same consuls without any variation; and one praetor was reappointed, Q. Fulvius Flaccus; others were newly elected: T. Otacilius Crassus again; Q. Fabius, the consul’s son, who at that time was curule aedile; P. Cornelius Lentulus.

comitiis praetorum perfectis senatus consultum factum, ut Q. Fuluio extra ordinem urbana prouincia esset isque potissimum consulibus ad bellum profectis urbi praeesset. aquae magnae bis eo anno fuerunt Tiberisque agros inundauit cum magna strage tectorum pecorumque et hominum pernicie. quinto anno secundi Punici belli Q. Fabius Maximus quartum M. Claudius Marcellus tertium consulatum ineuntes plus solito conuerterant in se ciuitatis animos; multis enim annis tale consulum par non fuerat.

with the elections of the praetors completed, a senatorial decree was passed that the urban province, out of turn, should be assigned to Q. Fulvius, and that he in particular, when the consuls had set out to the war, should preside over the city. there were great waters twice in that year, and the Tiber inundated the fields with great wreckage of buildings and with the destruction of livestock and the loss of human life. in the fifth year of the Second Punic War, Q. Fabius Maximus, entering upon a fourth consulship, and M. Claudius Marcellus, entering upon a third, had drawn to themselves the minds of the citizenry more than usual; for in many years there had not been such a pair of consuls.

referebant senes sic Maximum Rullum cum P. Decio ad bellum Gallicum, sic postea Papirium Caruiliumque aduersus Samnites Bruttiosque et Lucanum cum Tarentino populum consules declaratos. absens Marcellus consul creatus, cum ad exercitum esset; praesenti Fabio atque ipsi comitia habenti consulatus continuatus. tempus ac necessitas belli ac discrimen summae rerum faciebant ne quis aut exemplum exquireret aut suspectum cupiditatis imperii consulem haberet; quin laudabant potius magnitudinem animi quod, cum summo imperatore esse opus rei publicae sciret seque eum haud dubie esse, minoris inuidiam suam, si qua ea re oreretur, quam utilitatem rei publicae fecisset.

the elders used to recount that thus Maximus Rullus with P. Decius for the Gallic War, and thus afterwards Papirius and Carvilius against the Samnites, the Bruttii, and the Lucanian people together with the Tarentine, were declared consuls. Marcellus, absent, was created consul while he was with the army; for Fabius, being present and himself holding the comitia, the consulship was continued. The time and the necessity of the war and the crisis of the highest interests of the commonwealth brought it about that no one either hunted for a precedent or regarded the consul as suspect of cupidity for command; nay rather they praised his greatness of spirit, because, since he knew that the commonwealth had need of a highest commander and that he was without doubt that man, he rated his own unpopularity, if any should arise from that fact, as of less account than the utility of the commonwealth.

[10] Quo die magistratum inierunt consules, senatus in Capitolio est habitus decretumque omnium primum ut consules sortirentur compararentue inter se uter censoribus creandis comitia haberet priusquam ad exercitum proficisceretur. prorogatum deinde imperium omnibus qui ad exercitus erant iussique in prouinciis manere, Ti. Gracchus Luceriae, ubi cum uolonum exercitu erat, C. Terentius Uarro in agro Piceno, M. Pomponius in Gallico; et praetorum prioris anni pro praetoribus, Q. Mucius obtineret Sardiniam, M. Ualerius ad Brundisium orae maritimae, intentus aduersus omnes motus Philippi Macedonum regis, praeesset. P. Cornelio Lentulo praetori Sicilia decreta prouincia, T. Otacilio classis eadem quam aduersus Carthaginienses priore anno habuisset.

[10] On the day the consuls entered upon their magistracy, the senate was held on the Capitol, and first of all it was decreed that the consuls should draw lots or arrange between themselves which of them should hold the comitia for electing the censors before setting out to the army. Then the imperium was prorogued for all who were with the armies, and they were ordered to remain in their provinces—Tiberius Gracchus at Luceria, where he was with an army of volunteers; Gaius Terentius Varro in the Picentine territory; Marcus Pomponius in the Gallic country; and that the praetors of the previous year, as propraetors—Quintus Mucius should hold Sardinia; Marcus Valerius should be in command at Brundisium over the sea‑coast, intent against all movements of Philip, king of the Macedonians. To the praetor Publius Cornelius Lentulus the province of Sicily was decreed; to Titus Otacilius, the same fleet which he had had against the Carthaginians in the previous year.

prodigia eo anno multa nuntiata sunt, quae quo magis credebant simplices ac religiosi homines, eo plura nuntiabantur: Lanuui in aede intus Sospitae Iunonis coruos nidum fecisse; in Apulia palmam uiridem arsisse; Mantuae stagnum effusum Mincio amni cruentum uisum; et Calibus creta et Romae in foro bouario sanguine pluuisse; et in uico Insteio fontem sub terra tanta ui aquarum fluxisse ut serias doliaque quae in eo loco erant prouoluta uelut impetu torrentis tulerit; tacta de caelo atrium publicum in Capitolio, aedem in campo Uolcani, Uacunae in Sabinis publicamque uiam, murum ac portam Gabiis. iam alia uolgata miracula erant: hastam Martis Praeneste sua sponte promotam; bouem in Sicilia locutum; infantem in utero matris in Marrucinis 'io triumphe' clamasse; ex muliere Spoleti uirum factum; Hadriae aram in caelo speciesque hominum circum eam cum candida ueste uisas esse. quin Romae quoque in ipsa urbe, secundum apum examen in foro uisum—quod mirabile est, quia rarum—, adfirmantes quidam legiones se armatas in Ianiculo uidere concitauerunt ciuitatem ad arma, cum qui in Ianiculo essent negarent quemquam ibi praeter adsuetos collis eius cultores apparuisse.

portents in that year were reported many, which the more simple and religious men believed, the more were reported: at Lanuvium, inside the temple of Juno Sospita, ravens made a nest; in Apulia a green palm burned; at Mantua a pool, having overflowed into the river Mincio, appeared bloody; and at Cales chalk, and at Rome in the cattle-market, it rained blood; and in the Insteian quarter a spring beneath the earth flowed with such force of waters that jars and casks which were in that place, rolled forward, it carried off as by the rush of a torrent; smitten from the sky were the public atrium on the Capitol, the temple in the Field of Vulcan, that of Vacuna among the Sabines, and the public road, and the wall and gate at Gabii. by now other miracles were current: the spear of Mars at Praeneste advanced of its own accord; a bull in Sicily spoke; an infant in its mother’s womb among the Marrucini shouted “io triumphe”; from a woman at Spoletium a man was made; at Hadria an altar in the sky and shapes of men around it with white clothing were seen. indeed at Rome too, in the city itself, after a swarm of bees was seen in the forum—something marvelous, because rare—, certain men, asserting that they saw legions under arms on the Janiculum, stirred the state to arms, while those who were on the Janiculum denied that anyone had appeared there except the accustomed cultivators of that hill.

haec prodigia hostiis maioribus procurata sunt ex haruspicum responso et supplicatio omnibus deis quorum puluinaria Romae essent indicta est.

these prodigies were expiated with greater victims according to the response of the haruspices, and a supplication was proclaimed to all the gods whose pulvinar-couches there were at Rome.

[11] Perpetratis quae ad pacem deum pertinebant, de re publica belloque gerendo et quantum copiarum et ubi quaeque essent consules ad senatum rettulerunt. duodeuiginti legionibus bellum geri placuit; binas consules sibi sumere, binis Galliam Siciliamque ac Sardiniam obtineri; duabus Q. Fabium praetorem Apuliae, duabus uolonum Ti. Gracchum circa Luceriam praeesse; singulas C. Terentio proconsuli ad Picenum et M. Ualerio ad classem circa Brundisium relinqui, duas urbi praesidio esse. hic ut numerus legionum expleretur, sex nouae legiones erant scribendae.

[11] The things which pertained to the peace of the gods having been accomplished, the consuls reported to the senate about the commonwealth and the waging of the war, and how much manpower there was and where each force was. It was decided that the war should be conducted with 18 legions; the consuls should take two apiece for themselves; with two each, Gaul and Sicily and Sardinia were to be held; with two, Q. Fabius, praetor of Apulia; with two of volunteers, Ti. Gracchus was to command around Luceria; single legions were to be left to C. Terentius, proconsul, for Picenum, and to M. Valerius for the fleet around Brundisium; and two were to be for the city’s defense. Here, in order that this number of legions be made up, six new legions had to be enrolled.

eas primo quoque tempore consules scribere iussi et classem parare, ut cum eis nauibus quae pro Calabriae litoribus in statione essent, centum quinquaginta longarum classis nauium eo anno expleretur. dilectu habito et centum nauibus nouis deductis Q. Fabius comitia censoribus creandis habuit; creati M. Atilius Regulus et P. Furius Philus. cum increbresceret rumor bellum in Sicilia esse, T. Otacilius eo cum classe proficisci iussus est.

the consuls were ordered to enroll them at the earliest possible time and to prepare the fleet, so that, together with those ships which were on station off the shores of Calabria, a fleet of 150 long ships might be filled out for that year. the levy having been held and 100 new ships launched, Q. Fabius held the comitia for creating censors; M. Atilius Regulus and P. Furius Philus were elected. as the rumor was growing strong that there was war in Sicily, T. Otacilius was ordered to set out thither with the fleet.

cum deessent nautae, consules ex senatus consulto edixerunt ut, qui L. Aemilio C. Flaminio censoribus milibus aeris quinquaginta ipse aut pater eius census fuisset usque ad centum milia aut cui postea tanta res esset facta, nautam unum cum sex mensum stipendio daret; qui supra centum milia usque ad trecenta milia, tres nautas cum stipendio annuo; qui supra trecenta milia usque ad deciens aeris, quinque nautas; qui supra deciens, septem; senatores octo nautas cum annuo stipendio darent. ex hoc edicto dati nautae, armati instructique ab dominis, cum triginta dierum coctis cibariis naues conscenderunt. tum primum est factum ut classis Romana sociis naualibus priuata impensa paratis compleretur.

since sailors were lacking, the consuls, by decree of the senate, published an edict that whoever, when L. Aemilius and C. Flaminius were censors, had himself or whose father had been assessed at 50,000 asses up to 100,000, or to whom thereafter so great a property had accrued, should furnish one sailor with six months’ stipend; whoever was above 100,000 up to 300,000, three sailors with a year’s stipend; whoever was above 300,000 up to 1,000,000 asses (deciens aeris), five sailors; whoever was above 1,000,000, seven; senators should furnish eight sailors with an annual stipend. in accordance with this edict sailors were provided, armed and equipped by their masters, and with cooked rations for 30 days they boarded the ships. then for the first time it was brought about that the Roman fleet was completed with the naval allies, prepared at private expense.

[12] Hic maior solito apparatus praecipue conterruit Campanos ne ab obsidione Capuae bellum eius anni Romani inciperent. itaque legatos ad Hannibalem oratum miserunt ut Capuam exercitum admoueret: ad eam oppugnandam nouos exercitus scribi Romae nec ullius urbis defectioni magis infensos eorum animos esse. id quia tam trepide nuntiabant, maturandum Hannibal ratus ne praeuenirent Romani, profectus Arpis ad Tifata in ueteribus castris super Capuam consedit.

[12] This preparation, greater than usual, especially terrified the Campanians, lest the Romans should begin the war of that year with the siege of Capua. And so they sent envoys to Hannibal to beseech him to move his army to Capua: that for assaulting it new armies were being enrolled at Rome, and that to no city’s defection were their minds more inimical. Because they were announcing this so anxiously, Hannibal, thinking that haste must be made lest the Romans forestall him, set out from Arpi and took up position at Tifata, in the old camp above Capua.

inde Numidis Hispanisque ad praesidium simul castrorum simul Capuae relictis cum cetero exercitu ad lacum Auerni per speciem sacrificandi, re ipsa ut temptaret Puteolos quodque ibi praesidii erat, descendit. Maximus, postquam Hannibalem Arpis profectum et regredi in Campaniam allatum est, nec die nec nocte intermisso itinere ad exercitum redit, et Ti. Gracchum ab Luceria Beneuentum copias admouere, Q. Fabium praetorem—is filius consulis erat—<ad> Luceriam Graccho succedere iubet. in Siciliam eodem tempore duo praetores profecti, P. Cornelius ad exercitum, T. Otacilius qui maritimae orae reique nauali praeesset; et ceteri in suas quisque prouincias profecti, et quibus prorogatum imperium erat easdem quas priori anno regiones obtinuerunt.

From there, with Numidians and Spaniards left as a garrison both for the camp and for Capua, he descended with the rest of the army to Lake Avernus under the appearance of sacrificing, in reality to test Puteoli and whatever garrison there was there. Maximus, after it was reported that Hannibal had set out from Arpi and was returning into Campania, returned to the army, his march interrupted neither by day nor by night, and he orders Ti. Gracchus to move forces from Luceria to Beneventum, and Q. Fabius the praetor—he was the consul’s son—to succeed Gracchus at Luceria. At the same time two praetors set out to Sicily, P. Cornelius to the army, T. Otacilius to be in charge of the maritime shore and the naval business; and the rest departed each to their own provinces, and those whose imperium had been prolonged held the same regions as in the previous year.

[1313] Ad Hannibalem, cum ad lacum Auerni esset, quinque nobiles iuuenes ab Tarento uenerunt, partim ad Trasumennum lacum, partim ad Cannas capti dimissique domos cum eadem comitate qua usus aduersus omnes Romanorum socios Poenus fuerat. ei memores beneficiorum eius perpulisse magnam partem se iuuentutis Tarentinae referunt ut Hannibalis amicitiam ac societatem quam populi Romani mallent, legatosque ab suis missos rogare Hannibalem ut exercitum propius Tarentum admoueat: si signa eius, si castra conspecta a Tarento sint, haud ullam intercessuram moram quin <in deditionem ueniat> urbs; in potestate iuniorum plebem, in manu plebis rem Tarentinam esse. Hannibal conlaudatos eos oneratosque ingentibus promissis domum ad coepta maturanda redire iubet; se in tempore adfuturum esse.

[1313] To Hannibal, when he was at Lake Avernus, there came from Tarentum five noble youths, some who had been captured at Lake Trasimene, some at Cannae, and sent home with the same courtesy which the Carthaginian had shown toward all the allies of the Romans. They, mindful of his benefactions, report that they have prevailed upon a great part of the Tarentine youth to prefer Hannibal’s friendship and alliance to that of the Roman People, and that envoys have been sent by their own to ask Hannibal to move his army nearer to Tarentum: if his standards, if his camp are seen from Tarentum, no delay will intervene but that the city <comes into surrender>; the plebs is in the power of the younger men, and the Tarentine polity is in the hand of the plebs. Hannibal, after commending them and loading them with vast promises, orders them to return home to hasten the undertakings begun; that he would be present in due season.

hac cum spe dimissi Tarentini. ipsum ingens cupido incesserat Tarenti potiundi. urbem esse uidebat cum opulentam nobilemque, tum maritimam et in Macedoniam opportune uersam regemque Philippum hunc portum, si transiret in Italiam, Brundisium cum Romani haberent, petiturum.

With this hope the Tarentines were dismissed. An immense desire had come upon him of possessing Tarentum. He saw the city to be both opulent and noble, and also maritime and conveniently oriented toward Macedonia; and that King Philip would seek this port, if he should cross into Italy, since the Romans held Brundisium.

sacro inde perpetrato ad quod uenerat et, dum ibi moratur, peruastato agro Cumano usque ad Miseni promunturium Puteolos repente agmen conuertit ad opprimendum praesidium Romanum. sex milia hominum erant et locus munimento quoque, non natura modo tutus. triduum ibi moratus Poenus ab omni parte temptato praesidio, deinde, ut nihil procedebat, ad populandum agrum Neapolitanum magis ira quam potiundae urbis spe processit.

after the sacred rite for which he had come was performed, and, while he lingered there, the Cumaean countryside having been thoroughly ravaged as far as the promontory of Misenum, he suddenly turned his column to Puteoli to crush the Roman garrison. there were 6,000 men, and the place was safe by fortification as well, not by nature only. the Carthaginian, having tarried there for three days, after testing the garrison from every side; then, since nothing was advancing, he proceeded to lay waste the Neapolitan countryside more from wrath than from hope of taking the city.

aduentu eius in propinquum agrum mota Nolana est plebs, iam diu auersa ab Romanis et infesta senatui suo. itaque legati ad arcessendum Hannibalem cum haud dubio promisso tradendae urbis uenerunt. praeuenit inceptum eorum Marcellus consul a primoribus accitus.

At his arrival in the neighboring territory the plebs of Nola was stirred, long since averse from the Romans and hostile to their own senate. Therefore envoys came to summon Hannibal, with an unquestioned promise of delivering the city. Marcellus the consul, summoned by the leading men, forestalled their undertaking.

die uno Suessulam a Calibus, cum Uolturnus amnis traicientem moratus esset, contenderat; inde proxima nocte sex milia peditum, equites trecentos, qui praesidio senatui essent, Nolam intromisit. et uti a consule omnia impigre facta sunt ad praeoccupandam Nolam, ita Hannibal tempus terebat, bis iam ante nequiquam temptata re segnior ad credendum Nolanis factus.

in a single day he had hastened to Suessula from Cales, though the river Volturnus had delayed him while he was crossing; from there, on the next night, he introduced into Nola 6,000 infantry and 300 horsemen, to be a guard for the senate. And just as by the consul everything was done energetically to pre‑occupy Nola, so Hannibal was wasting time, the matter having already twice been attempted in vain, made the more sluggish to place credence in the Nolans.

[14] Iisdem diebus et Q. Fabius consul ad Casilinum temptandum, quod praesidio Punico tenebatur, uenit et ad Beneuentum uelut ex composito parte altera Hanno ex Bruttiis cum magna peditum equitumque manu, altera Ti. Gracchus ab Luceria accessit. qui primo oppidum intrauit, deinde, ut Hannonem tria milia ferme ab urbe ad Calorem fluuium castra posuisse et inde agrum populari audiuit, et ipse egressus moenibus mille ferme passus ab hoste castra locat. ibi contionem militum habuit.

[14] In those same days the consul Quintus Fabius also came to try Casilinum, which was held by a Punic garrison; and at Beneventum, as if by prearrangement, on one side Hanno from the Bruttii with a great force of infantry and cavalry, on the other Tiberius Gracchus from Luceria, came up. He first entered the town; then, when he heard that Hanno had pitched camp about three miles from the city at the river Calor and from there was ravaging the countryside, he too, having gone out from the walls, pitched camp about a thousand paces from the enemy. There he held an assembly of the soldiers.

legiones magna ex parte uolonum habebat, qui iam alterum annum libertatem tacite mereri quam postulare palam maluerant. senserat tamen hibernis egrediens murmur in agmine esse quaerentium, en unquam liberi militaturi essent, scripseratque senatui non tam quid desiderarent quam quid meruissent: bona fortique opera eorum se ad eam diem usum neque ad exemplum iusti militis quicquam eis praeter libertatem deesse. de eo permissum ipsi erat faceret quod e re publica duceret esse.

He had legions composed in great part of volunteers, who now for a second year had preferred to merit liberty silently rather than to demand it openly. Nevertheless, as he was departing the winter quarters, he had perceived that there was a murmur in the column, men inquiring whether, pray, they would ever be soldiering as free men; and he had written to the Senate not so much what they desired as what they had merited: that up to that day he had made use of their good and brave service, and that, for the standard of a regular soldier, nothing was lacking to them except liberty. In regard to this, permission had been granted to him to do what he should deem to be for the Republic’s interest.

itaque priusquam cum hoste manum consereret, pronuntiat tempus uenisse eis libertatis quam diu sperassent potiundae; postero die signis conlatis dimicaturum puro ac patenti campo, ubi sine ullo insidiarum metu uera uirtute geri res posset. qui caput hostis rettulisset, eum se extemplo liberum iussurum esse; qui loco cessisset, in eum seruili supplicio animaduersurum; suam cuique fortunam in manu esse. libertatis auctorem eis non se fore solum sed consulem M. Marcellum, sed uniuersos patres, quos consultos ab se de libertate eorum sibi permisisse.

and so, before he should join hands with the enemy, he proclaims that the time had come for them to obtain the liberty which they had long hoped for; on the following day, with the standards brought together, he would fight on a clean and open field, where, without any fear of ambush, the matter could be conducted with true virtue. Whoever should bring back the head of an enemy, him he would order free on the spot; whoever should have yielded from his place, upon him he would inflict a servile punishment; each man’s fortune was in his own hand. He said that he would not be the sole author of their liberty, but that the consul Marcus Marcellus would be also, and the entire Senate, whom, when consulted by him about their liberty, had granted him permission.

litteras inde consulis ac senatus consultum recitauit, ad quae clamor cum ingenti adsensu est sublatus. pugnam poscebant signumque ut daret extemplo ferociter instabant. Gracchus proelio in posterum diem pronuntiato contionem dimisit: milites laeti, praecipue quibus merces nauatae in unum diem operae libertas futura erat, armis expediendis diei reliquum consumunt.

Then he read out the letters of the consul and the senatorial decree, at which a clamor with immense assent was raised. They were demanding battle and were pressing him fiercely to give the signal immediately. Gracchus, the battle having been announced for the next day, dismissed the assembly: the soldiers were joyful, especially those for whom the wage of a single day’s service was to be freedom, and they consumed the rest of the day in getting their arms ready.

[15] Postero die ubi signa coeperunt canere, primi omnium parati instructique ad praetorium conueniunt. sole orto Gracchus in aciem copias educit nec hostes moram dimicandi fecerunt. septendecim milia peditum erant, maxima ex parte Bruttii ac Lucani, equites mille ducenti, inter quos pauci admodum Italici, ceteri Numidae fere omnes Maurique.

[15] On the next day, when the signals began to sound, they, first of all and ready and drawn up, assemble at the praetorium. With the sun risen, Gracchus leads the forces out into the battle line, nor did the enemy make any delay in fighting. There were 17,000 infantry, for the greatest part Bruttians and Lucanians, and 1,200 cavalry, among whom there were very few Italians; the rest were almost all Numidians and Mauri.

pugnatum est et acriter et diu; quattuor horis neutro inclinata est pugna nec alia magis Romanum impediebat res quam capita hostium pretia libertatis facta. nam ut quisque hostem impigre occiderat, primum capite aegre inter turbam tumultumque abscidendo terebat tempus; deinde occupata dextra tenendo caput fortissimus quisque pugnator esse desierat, segnibus ac timidis tradita pugna erat. quod ubi tribuni militum Graccho nuntiauerunt, neminem stantem iam uolnerari hostem, carnificari iacentes et in dextris militum pro gladiis humana capita esse, signum dari propere iussit proicerent capita inuaderentque hostem: claram satis et insignem uirtutem esse nec dubiam libertatem futuram strenuis uiris.

It was fought both fiercely and for a long time; for four hours the battle inclined to neither side, nor did any other thing hinder the Roman more than that the heads of the enemy had been made the prices of liberty. For as each man had briskly slain a foe, first he was wasting time with difficulty cutting off the head amid the crowd and tumult; then, with his right hand occupied in holding the head, each bravest fighter had ceased to be a fighter, and the battle had been handed over to the sluggish and the timid. When the tribunes of the soldiers reported to Gracchus that no enemy standing was now being wounded, that those lying were being butchered, and that in the right hands of the soldiers human heads were in place of swords, he ordered the signal to be given promptly, that they should throw down the heads and assault the enemy: that valor was sufficiently clear and notable, and that for strenuous men freedom would not be in doubt.

tum redintegrata pugna est et eques etiam in hostes emissus; quibus cum impigre Numidae concurrissent nec segnior equitum quam peditum pugna esset, iterum in dubium adducta res. cum utrimque duces, Romanus Bruttium Lucanumque totiens a maioribus suis uictos subactosque, Poenus mancipia Romana et ex ergastulo militem uerbis obtereret, postremo pronuntiat Gracchus esse nihil quod de libertate sperarent, nisi eo die fusi fugatique hostes essent.

then the battle was renewed and the cavalry too was sent against the enemy; and when the Numidians had briskly charged them, and the fighting of the horse was no slacker than that of the infantry, the issue was again brought into doubt. while on both sides the leaders were overwhelming them with words—the Roman, that the Bruttian and Lucanian had so often been conquered and subjugated by his ancestors; the Punic leader, deriding them as Roman chattels and soldiers out of the workhouse (ergastulum)—finally Gracchus proclaimed that there was nothing for them to hope touching liberty, unless on that day the enemy were routed and put to flight.

[16] Ea demum uox ita animos accendit ut renouato clamore uelut alii repente facti tanta ui se in hostem intulerint, ut sustineri ultra non possent. primo antesignani Poenorum, dein signa perturbata, postremo tota impulsa acies; inde haud dubie terga data ruuntque fugientes in castra adeo pauidi trepidique ut ne in portis quidem aut uallo quisquam restiterit ac prope continenti agmine Romani insecuti nouum de integro proelium inclusi hostium uallo ediderint. ibi sicut pugna impeditior in angustiis, ita caedes atrocior fuit; et adiuuere captiui, qui rapto inter tumultum ferro conglobati et ab tergo ceciderunt Poenos et fugam impedierunt.

[16] That utterance at last so enflamed their spirits that, with the shout renewed, as if suddenly become other men, they hurled themselves upon the enemy with such force that they could no longer be withstood. First the Punic vanguard, then the standards were thrown into confusion, and finally the whole battle line was driven; then, without doubt, they turned their backs and the fugitives rushed into the camp so panic‑stricken and agitated that not even at the gates or the rampart did anyone stand his ground, and the Romans, following almost in a continuous column, delivered, shut within the enemy’s rampart, a new battle afresh. There, just as the fighting was more impeded in the narrows, so the slaughter was more atrocious; and the captives helped, who, steel having been snatched amid the tumult, massed together and struck down the Carthaginians from the rear and impeded their flight.

itaque minus duo milia hominum ex tanto exercitu, et ea maior pars equitum, cum ipso duce effugerunt; alii omnes caesi aut capti; capta et signa duodequadraginta. ex uictoribus duo milia ferme cecidere. praeda omnis, praeterquam hominum captorum, militi concessa est; et pecus exceptum est quod intra dies triginta domini cognouissent.

Therefore less than 2,000 men out of so great an army—and these for the most part cavalry—fled with the commander himself; all the rest were cut down or captured; and 48 standards were taken. Of the victors nearly 2,000 fell. All the booty, except for captured persons, was conceded to the soldiery; and livestock was exempted which the owners identified within 30 days.

cum praeda onusti in castra redissent, quattuor milia ferme uolonum militum, quae pugnauerant segnius nec in castra inruperant simul, metu poenae collem haud procul castris ceperunt. postero die per tribunos militum inde deducti, contione militum aduocata a Graccho superueniunt. ubi cum proconsul ueteres milites primum, prout cuiusque uirtus atque opera in ea pugna fuerat, militaribus donis donasset, tunc quod ad uolones attineret omnes ait malle laudatos a se, dignos indignosque, quam quemquam eo die castigatum esse; quod bonum faustum felixque rei publicae ipsisque esset, omnes eos liberos esse iubere.

when, laden with booty, they had returned to camp, about 4,000 volones soldiers, who had fought more sluggishly and had not burst into the camp together, seized a hill not far from the camp for fear of punishment. on the following day, led down from there by the military tribunes, with an assembly of the soldiers convened, they come before Gracchus. when the proconsul had first bestowed upon the veteran soldiers military gifts, according to each man’s valor and service in that battle, then, as concerned the volones, he said that he preferred to have all of them praised by him, worthy and unworthy alike, rather than that anyone should have been chastised that day; and that this might be good, favorable, and fortunate for the commonwealth and for themselves, he ordered all of them to be free.

ad quam uocem cum clamor ingenti alacritate sublatus esset ac nunc complexi inter se gratulantesque, nunc manus ad caelum tollentes bona omnia populo Romano Gracchoque ipsi precarentur, tum Gracchus 'priusquam omnes iure libertatis aequassem' inquit, 'neminem nota strenui aut ignaui militis notasse uolui; nunc exsoluta iam fide publica, ne discrimen omne uirtutis ignauiaeque pereat, nomina eorum qui detractatae pugnae memores secessionem paulo ante fecerunt referri ad me iubebo citatosque singulos iure iurando adigam, nisi quis morbus causa erit, non aliter quam stantes cibum potionemque quoad stipendia facient capturos esse. hanc multam ita aequo animo feretis, si reputabitis nulla ignauiae nota leuiore uos designari potuisse.' signum deinde colligendi uasa dedit; militesque praedam portantes agentesque per lasciuiam ac iocum ita ludibundi Beneuentum rediere ut ab epulis per celebrem festumque diem actis non ex acie reuerti uiderentur. Beneuentani omnes turba effusa cum obuiam ad portas exissent, complecti milites, gratulari, uocare in hospitium.

At this utterance, when a shout had been raised with mighty alacrity and, now embracing one another and congratulating, now lifting their hands to heaven, they prayed all good things for the Roman People and for Gracchus himself, then Gracchus said: “Before I had made all equal by the right of liberty, I did not wish to mark anyone with the note of a strenuous or a cowardly soldier; now, with the public faith discharged, lest every distinction of virtue and cowardice perish, I will order the names of those who, mindful of having declined the fight, a little before made a secession, to be reported to me; and, having summoned them individually, I will bind them by oath—unless some illness be the cause—to take their food and drink standing for as long as they draw stipend. You will bear this fine with an even spirit, if you consider that you could not have been designated by any lighter note of cowardice.” Then he gave the signal to collect the gear; and the soldiers, carrying the booty and, in sport and jest, driving it along, returned to Beneventum so frolicsomely that they did not seem to be returning from a battle-line but from banquets held through a renowned and festive day. All the Beneventans, the whole crowd poured out, went forth to meet them at the gates, to embrace the soldiers, to congratulate them, to invite them into hospitality.

apparata conuiuia omnibus in propatulo aedium fuerant; ad ea inuitabant Gracchumque orabant ut epulari permitteret militibus; et Gracchus ita permisit in publico epularentur omnes ante suas quisque fores. prolata omnia. pilleati aut lana alba uelatis capitibus uolones epulati sunt, alii accubantes, alii stantes qui simul ministrabant uescebanturque.

prepared banquets had been made ready for everyone in the forecourt of the houses; to these they issued invitations and begged Gracchus to allow the soldiers to feast; and Gracchus thus permitted that all should banquet in public, each before his own doors. everything was brought out. the volones, wearing the pilleus or with their heads veiled with white wool, feasted, some reclining, others standing, who at the same time served and ate.

digna res uisa ut simulacrum celebrati eius diei Gracchus, postquam Romam rediit, pingi iuberet in aede Libertatis quam pater eius in Auentino ex multaticia pecunia faciendam curauit dedicauitque.

The matter seemed worthy that Gracchus, after he had returned to Rome, should order an image of that celebrated day to be painted in the Temple of Liberty, which his father on the Aventine had taken care to have made from mulct-money and had dedicated.

[17] Dum haec ad Beneuentum geruntur, Hannibal depopulatus agrum Neapolitanum ad Nolam castra mouet. quem ubi aduentare consul sensit, Pomponio propraetore cum eo exercitu qui super Suessulam in castris erat accito ire obuiam hosti parat nec moram dimicandi facere. C. Claudium Neronem cum robore equitum silentio noctis per auersam maxime ab hoste portam emittit circumuectumque occulte subsequi sensim agmen hostium iubet et, cum coortum proelium uideret, ab tergo se obicere.

[17] While these things are being transacted at Beneventum, Hannibal, after devastating the Neapolitan countryside, moves his camp toward Nola. When the consul sensed him approaching, having summoned Pomponius the propraetor with that army which was in camp above Suessula, he prepares to go to meet the enemy and to make no delay in engaging. He sends out Gaius Claudius Nero with the flower of the cavalry, in the silence of night, through the gate farthest from the enemy, and, having made a secret circuit, orders him to follow the enemy’s column little by little and, when he should see the battle break out, to throw himself upon their rear.

id errore uiarum an exiguitate temporis Nero exsequi non potuerit incertum est. absente eo cum proelium commissum esset, superior quidem haud dubie Romanus erat; sed quia equites non adfuere in tempore, ratio compositae rei turbata est. non ausus insequi cedentes Marcellus uincentibus suis signum receptui dedit.

Whether Nero was unable to execute it through a mistake in the routes or through the shortness of time is uncertain. With him absent, when the battle was joined, the Roman side was, to be sure, without doubt superior; but because the cavalry did not arrive in time, the plan for composing the affair was thrown into disorder. Not daring to pursue the retreating foe, Marcellus gave his victorious men the signal for recall.

plus tamen duo milia hostium eo die caesa traduntur, Romani minus quadringenti. solis fere occasu Nero diem noctemque nequiquam fatigatis equis hominibusque, ne uiso quidem hoste rediens, adeo grauiter est ab consule increpitus ut per eum stetisse diceretur quo minus accepta ad Cannas redderetur hosti clades. postero die Romanus in aciem descendit, Poenus tacita etiam confessione uictus castris se tenuit.

Yet more than two thousand of the enemy are reported to have been cut down that day, the Romans fewer than four hundred. At almost sunset Nero, returning after having to no purpose fatigued horses and men through day and night, without even the enemy having been seen, was so gravely rebuked by the consul that it was said it was because of him that the disaster received at Cannae was not rendered back to the foe. On the next day the Roman descended into the battle-line; the Carthaginian, by a tacit confession of defeat, kept to his camp.

tertio die silentio noctis omissa spe Nolae potiundae, rei nunquam prospere temptatae, Tarentum ad certiorem spem proditionis proficiscitur.

On the third day, in the silence of the night, the hope of taking Nola—an enterprise never attempted with success—having been abandoned, he sets out for Tarentum, to a more certain hope of treachery.

[18] Nec minore animo res Romana domi quam militiae gerebatur. censores, uacui ab operum locandorum cura propter inopiam aerarii, ad mores hominum regendos animum aduerterunt castigandaque uitia quae, uelut diutinis morbis aegra corpora ex sese gignunt, eo enata bello erant. primum eos citauerunt qui post Cannensem <cladem a re publica defecisse> dicebantur.

[18] Nor with a lesser spirit was the Roman commonwealth conducted at home than in the field. The censors, unoccupied with the care of letting public works on contract because of the poverty of the treasury, turned their mind to regulating the morals of men and to castigating the vices which, just as sick bodies, from long-continued maladies, generate from themselves—vices that had arisen from that war. First they summoned those who were said to have deserted from the commonwealth after the .

princeps eorum M. Caecilius Metellus quaestor tum forte erat. iusso deinde eo ceterisque eiusdem noxae reis causam dicere cum purgari nequissent, pronuntiarunt uerba orationemque eos aduersus rem publicam habuisse, quo coniuratio deserendae Italiae causa fieret. secundum eos citati nimis callidi exsoluendi iuris iurandi interpretes, qui captiuorum ex itinere regressi clam in castra Hannibalis solutum quod iurauerant redituros rebantur.

the leader of them was M. Caecilius Metellus, then by chance quaestor. Then, when he and the others arraigned for the same fault were ordered to state their case, since they could not be purged, they pronounced that they had uttered words and a set oration against the commonwealth, to the end that a conspiracy be made for the cause of deserting Italy. After them were summoned those overly clever interpreters for untying the oath, who, turning back off the journey of the captives, slipped secretly into Hannibal’s camp and supposed that, by having returned, what they had sworn was dissolved and that they could then return.

his superioribusque illis equi adempti qui publicum equum habebant, tribuque moti aerarii omnes facti. neque senatu modo aut equestri ordine regendo cura se censorum tenuit. nomina omnium ex iuniorum tabulis excerpserunt qui quadriennio non militassent, quibus neque uacatio iusta militiae neque morbus causa fuisset.

From these and from those earlier, the horses were taken away from such as possessed the public horse, and, being removed from their tribe, all were made aerarii. Nor did the censors’ concern confine itself to regulating the senate only or the equestrian order. They excerpted from the tablets of the iuniores the names of all who within a four-year period had not served in the army, for whom neither a just exemption from service nor sickness had been the cause.

et ea supra duo milia nominum in aerarios relata tribuque omnes moti; additumque tam truci censoriae notae triste senatus consultum, ut ei omnes quos censores notassent pedibus mererent mitterenturque in Siciliam ad Cannensis exercitus reliquias, cui militum generi non prius quam pulsus Italia hostis esset finitum stipendiorum tempus erat. cum censores ob inopiam aerarii se iam locationibus abstinerent aedium sacrarum tuendarum curuliumque equorum praebendorum ac similium his rerum, conuenere ad eos frequentes qui hastae huius generis adsueuerant hortarique censores ut omnia perinde agerent locarent ac si pecunia in aerario esset: neminem nisi bello confecto pecuniam ab aerario petiturum esse. conuenere deinde domini eorum quos Ti. Sempronius ad Beneuentum manu emiserat arcessitosque se ab triumuiris mensariis esse dixerunt ut pretia seruorum acciperent; ceterum non antequam bello confecto accepturos esse.

and over two thousand names were entered among the aerarii and all were removed from their tribe; and to so grim a censorial note there was added a doleful senatorial decree: that all those whom the censors had marked should earn their pay on foot and be sent into Sicily to the remnants of the army of Cannae, for which class of soldiers the term of service was not finished until the enemy had been driven from Italy. When the censors, on account of the shortage of the aerarium (treasury), were already abstaining from contracts for the upkeep of sacred buildings, for furnishing curule horses, and for similar things, many who were accustomed to the spear of this kind (i.e., the public auction) gathered to them and urged the censors to do and let out everything just as if money were in the aerarium: that no one would ask money from the aerarium unless after the war was finished. Then the masters of those whom Tiberius Sempronius had manumitted at Beneventum assembled and said that they had been summoned by the three money commissioners (triumviri mensarii) to receive the prices of the slaves; however, that they would not receive them before the war was finished.

cum haec inclinatio animorum plebis ad sustinendam inopiam aerarii fieret, pecuniae quoque pupillares primo, deinde uiduarum coeptae conferri, nusquam eas tutius sanctiusque deponere credentibus qui deferebant quam in publica fide; inde si quid emptum paratumque pupillis ac uiduis foret, a quaestore perscribebatur. manauit ea priuatorum benignitas ex urbe etiam in castra, ut non eques, non centurio stipendium acciperet, mercennariumque increpantes uocarent qui accepisset.

as this inclination of the minds of the plebs to sustain the shortage of the treasury arose, the moneys of orphans at first, then of widows, likewise began to be contributed, those who brought them believing that nowhere could they deposit them more safely and more sacredly than on the public faith; thereafter, if anything had been bought and prepared for the orphans and widows, it was duly entered by the quaestor. that benevolence of private persons flowed from the city even into the camps, so that neither horseman nor centurion would accept stipend; and, rebuking him, they would call “hireling” whoever had accepted it.

[19] Q. Fabius consul ad Casilinum castra habebat, quod duum milium Campanorum et septingentorum militum Hannibalis tenebatur praesidio. praeerat Statius Metius, missus ab Cn. Magio Atellano, qui eo anno medix tuticus erat seruitiaque et plebem promiscue armarat ut castra Romana inuaderet intento consule ad Casilinum oppugnandum. nihil eorum Fabium fefellit.

[19] Q. Fabius the consul had his camp at Casilinum, which was held by a garrison of 2,000 Campanians and 700 soldiers of Hannibal. In command was Statius Metius, sent by Cn. Magius of Atella, who that year was medix tuticus and had armed slaves and the common people indiscriminately, to attack the Roman camp while the consul was intent on besieging Casilinum. None of these things escaped Fabius.

itaque Nolam ad collegam mittit: altero exercitu dum Casilinum oppugnatur opus esse qui Campanis opponatur; uel ipse relicto Nolae praesidio modico ueniret uel, si eum Nola teneret necdum securae res ab Hannibale essent, se Ti. Gracchum proconsulem a Beneuento acciturum. hoc nuntio Marcellus duobus militum milibus Nolae in praesidio relictis cum cetero exercitu Casilinum uenit, aduentuque eius Campani iam mouentes sese quieuerunt. ita ab duobus consulibus Casilinum oppugnari coepit.

accordingly he sends to his colleague at Nola: that, while Casilinum is being besieged, there is need of the other army to be set against the Campanians; either he himself, leaving a modest garrison at Nola, should come, or, if Nola detained him and affairs were not yet secure from Hannibal, he would summon Tiberius Gracchus, proconsul, from Beneventum. At this message Marcellus, leaving two thousand soldiers at Nola in garrison, came to Casilinum with the rest of the army, and at his arrival the Campanians, already beginning to stir, became quiet. Thus Casilinum began to be besieged by the two consuls.

ubi cum multa succedentes temere moenibus Romani milites acciperent uolnera neque satis inceptum succederet, Fabius omittendam rem paruam ac iuxta magnis difficilem abscedendumque inde censebat, cum res maiores instarent; Marcellus multa magnis ducibus sicut non adgredienda, ita semel adgressis non dimittenda esse dicendo, quia magna famae momenta in utramque partem fierent, tenuit ne inrito incepto abiretur. uineae inde omniaque alia operum machinationumque genera cum admouerentur Campanique Fabium orarent ut abire Capuam tuto liceret, paucis egressis Marcellus portam qua egrediebantur occupauit caedesque promiscue omnium circa portam primo, deinde inruptione facta etiam in urbe fieri coepta est. quinquaginta fere primo egressi Campanorum, cum ad Fabium confugissent, praesidio eius Capuam peruenerunt: Casilinum inter conloquia cunctationemque petentium fidem per occasionem captum est, captiuique Campanorum quique Hannibalis militum erant Romam missi atque ibi in carcere inclusi sunt: oppidanorum turba per finitimos populos in custodiam diuisa.

when the Roman soldiers, advancing rashly to the walls, were receiving many wounds and the undertaking was not sufficiently succeeding, Fabius judged that a small affair, and yet as difficult as great ones, should be dropped and that they should withdraw from there, since greater matters were pressing; Marcellus, by saying that many things for great leaders, just as they ought not to be attempted, so once attempted ought not to be let go, because great moments of fame arise in either direction, held them so that they would not depart with the attempt in vain. then, when vineae and all the other kinds of works and machinations were brought up, and the Campanians were beseeching Fabius that it be permitted to depart safely to Capua, as a few had gone out Marcellus seized the gate by which they were going out, and a slaughter, indiscriminate of all, first around the gate, then, an inbreak having been made, even in the city, began to take place. about fifty of the Campanians who first went out, when they had fled for refuge to Fabius, by his protection reached Capua: Casilinum, amid colloquies and the hesitation of those seeking a pledge, was taken by opportunity; and the captives, both of the Campanians and those who were soldiers of Hannibal, were sent to Rome and there were shut up in prison: the crowd of townsfolk was divided for custody among the neighboring peoples.

[20] Quibus diebus a Casilino re bene gesta recessum est, eis Gracchus in Lucanis aliquot cohortes in ea regione conscriptas cum praefecto socium in agros hostium praedatum misit. eos effuse palatos Hanno adortus haud multo minorem quam ad Beneuentum acceperat reddidit hosti cladem atque in Bruttios raptim ne Gracchus adsequeretur concessit. consules Marcellus retro unde uenerat Nolam rediit, Fabius in Samnites ad populandos agros recipiendasque armis quae defecerant urbes processit.

[20] In the days when, after a well-conducted success, there was a withdrawal from Casilinum, in those same days Gracchus among the Lucanians sent several cohorts, levied in that region, with the prefect of the allies to plunder the enemy’s fields. Hanno, attacking them while they were widely scattered, returned to the enemy a disaster not much less than he had received at Beneventum, and swiftly withdrew into the Bruttii so that Gracchus might not overtake him. Of the consuls, Marcellus went back to Nola whence he had come; Fabius advanced into the country of the Samnites to devastate the fields and to recover by arms the cities which had defected.

Caudinus Samnis grauius deuastatus: perusti late agri, praedae pecudum hominumque actae; oppida ui capta Compulteria, Telesia, Compsa inde, Fugifulae et Orbitanium ex Lucanis, Blanda et Apulorum Aecae oppugnatae. milia hostium in his urbibus uiginti quinque capta aut occisa et recepti perfugae trecenti septuaginta; quos cum Romam misisset consul, uirgis in comitio caesi omnes ac de saxo deiecti. haec a Q. Fabio intra paucos dies gesta; Marcellum ab gerundis rebus ualetudo aduersa Nolae tenuit.

the Caudine Samnite was more grievously devastated: fields were widely scorched, booty of flocks and men was driven off; the towns were taken by force—Compulteria, Telesia, Compsa; then Fugifulae and Orbitanium from the Lucanians; Blanda and Aecae of the Apulians were assaulted. in these cities 25,000 of the enemy were captured or slain, and 370 deserters were recovered; when the consul had sent them to Rome, all were scourged with rods in the Comitium and hurled from the rock. these things were done by Q. Fabius within a few days; Marcellus was held at Nola by adverse health from conducting operations.

et a praetore Q. Fabio, cui circa Luceriam prouincia erat, Acuca oppidum per eos dies ui captum statiuaque ad Ardoneas communita. dum haec in aliis locis ab Romanis geruntur, iam Tarentum peruenerat Hannibal cum maxima omnium quacunque ierat clade; in Tarentino demum agro pacatum incedere agmen coepit. nihil ibi uiolatum neque usquam uia excessum est, apparebatque non id modestia militum aut ducis nisi ad conciliandos animos Tarentinorum fieri.

and by the praetor Q. Fabius, whose province was around Luceria, the town of Acuca was in those days taken by force, and a standing camp at Ardoneae was fortified. while these things are being carried on by the Romans in other places, Hannibal had already reached Tarentum with the greatest devastation of all, wherever he had gone; only in the Tarentine territory did the column begin to march peaceably. nothing there was violated, nor anywhere was the road departed from, and it was apparent that this was done not from the modesty of the soldiers or of the leader, but only to conciliate the minds of the Tarentines.

ceterum cum prope moenibus accessisset, nullo ad conspectum primum agminis, ut rebatur, motu facto castra ab urbe ferme passus mille locat. Tarenti triduo ante quam Hannibal ad moenia accederet a M. Ualerio propraetore, qui classi ad Brundisium praeerat, missus M. Liuius impigre conscripta iuuentute dispositisque ad omnes portas circaque muros qua res postulabat stationibus, die ac nocte iuxta intentus neque hostibus neque dubiis sociis loci quicquam praebuit ad temptandum[que]. diebus aliquot frustra ibi absumptis Hannibal, cum eorum nemo qui ad lacum Auerni adissent aut ipsi uenirent aut nuntium litterasue mitterent, uana promissa se temere secutum cernens castra inde mouit, tum quoque intacto agro Tarentino quamquam simulata lenitas nihildum profuerat, tamen spe labefactandae fidei haud absistens. Salapiam ut uenit, frumentum ex agris Metapontino atque Heracleensi—iam enim aestas exacta erat et hibernis placebat locus—comportat.

However, when he had approached near to the walls, with no movement made at the first sight of the column, as he supposed, he pitches camp about a thousand paces from the city. Three days before Hannibal should approach the walls, Marcus Livius, sent to Tarentum by Marcus Valerius, propraetor, who was in command of the fleet at Brundisium, after energetically conscripting the youth and posting pickets at all the gates and around the walls where the situation required, being equally vigilant by day and night, afforded neither the enemies nor the doubtful allies any opportunity to attempt [anything]. After several days wasted there to no purpose, Hannibal, since none of those who had gone to Lake Avernus either came themselves or sent a messenger or letters, seeing that he had rashly followed empty promises, moved his camp from there—then too with the Tarentine countryside left untouched—although the feigned lenity had thus far profited nothing, yet not relinquishing the hope of shaking their fidelity. When he came to Salapia, he brought in grain from the Metapontine and Heracleian fields—for now summer had passed, and the place was agreeable for winter quarters.

praedatum inde Numidae Maurique per Sallentinum agrum proximosque Apuliae saltus dimissi; unde ceterae praedae haud multum, equorum greges maxime abacti, e quibus ad quattuor milia domanda equitibus diuisa.

From there the Numidians and the Mauri were sent out to plunder through the Sallentine countryside and the nearest passes of Apulia; whence there was not much of other booty, but herds of horses were chiefly driven off, of which about four thousand, to be broken in for the horsemen, were distributed.

[21] Romani, cum bellum nequaquam contemnendum in Sicilia oreretur, morsque tyranni duces magis impigros dedisset Syracusanis quam causam aut animos mutasset, M. Marcello alteri consulum eam prouinciam decernunt. secundum Hieronymi caedem primo tumultuatum in Leontinis apud milites fuerat uociferatumque ferociter parentandum regi sanguine coniuratorum esse. deinde libertatis restitutae dulce auditu nomen crebro usurpatum, spe facta ex pecunia regia largitionis militiaeque fungendae potioribus ducibus; et relata tyranni foeda scelera foedioresque libidines adeo mutauere animos ut insepultum iacere corpus paulo ante desiderati regis paterentur.

[21] The Romans, since a war by no means to be contemned was arising in Sicily, and the death of the tyrant had given to the Syracusans leaders more energetic rather than had changed either the cause or their spirits, decree that province to M. Marcellus, the other of the consuls. After the slaughter of Hieronymus there had at first been tumult at Leontini among the soldiers, and it was fiercely vociferated that funeral rites must be paid to the king with the blood of the conspirators. Then the sweet-to-hear name of restored liberty was repeatedly employed, hope being held out of largess from the royal treasury and of discharging military service under better leaders; and the foul crimes of the tyrant and his fouler lusts, when recounted, so changed their minds that they allowed the body of the king, a little before longed for, to lie unburied.

cum ceteri ex coniuratis ad exercitum obtinendum remansissent, Theodotus et Sosis regiis equis quanto maximo cursu poterant, ut ignaros omnium regios opprimerent, Syracusas contendunt. ceterum praeuenerat non fama solum, qua nihil in talibus rebus est celerius, sed nuntius etiam ex regiis seruis. itaque Adranodorus et Insulam et arcem et alia quae poterat quaeque opportuna erant praesidiis firmarat.

while the rest of the conspirators had remained to secure the army, Theodotus and Sosis, on royal horses, pressed to Syracuse at the greatest speed they could, in order to overwhelm the royal party, unaware of everything. however, not rumor alone—than which in such matters nothing is swifter—had forestalled them, but even a messenger from the royal servants. therefore Adranodorus had fortified both the Island and the citadel and other places which he could and which were opportune with garrisons.

Hexapylo Theodotus ac Sosis post solis occasum iam obscura luce inuecti, cum cruentam regiam uestem atque insigne capitis ostentarent, trauecti per Tycham simul ad libertatem simul ad arma uocantes, in Achradinam conuenire iubent. multitudo pars procurrit in uias, pars in uestibulis stat, pars ex tectis fenestrisque prospectant et quid rei sit rogitant. omnia luminibus conlucent strepituque uario complentur.

At the Hexapylon Theodotus and Sosis, after the sun’s setting, with the light now dim, rode in; and when they displayed the bloody royal robe and the head-insignia (the diadem), being carried through Tyche, while at once calling to liberty and at once to arms, they order an assembly in Achradina. A multitude—part runs out into the streets, part stands in the vestibules, part look forth from roofs and windows and keep asking what the matter is. Everything shines with lights and is filled with varied clamor.

armati locis patentibus congregantur; inermes ex Olympii Iouis templo spolia Gallorum Illyriorumque, dono data Hieroni a populo Romano fixaque ab eo, detrahunt, precantes Iouem ut uolens propitius praebeat sacra arma pro patria, pro deum delubris, pro libertate sese armantibus. haec quoque multitudo stationibus per principes regionum urbis dispositis adiungitur. in Insula inter cetera Adranodorus praesidiis firmarat horrea publica.

the armed gather in open places; the unarmed, from the temple of Olympian Jove, take down the spoils of the Gauls and Illyrians, given as a gift to Hieron by the Roman people and fastened up by him, praying Jove to, willing and propitious, provide the sacred arms to those arming themselves for country, for the fanes of the gods, for liberty. this crowd too is joined to the posts set by the chiefs of the city’s districts. on the Island, among other things, Adranodorus had strengthened with garrisons the public granaries.

locus saxo quadrato saeptus atque arcis in modum emunitus capitur ab iuuentute quae praesidio eius loci attributa erat mittuntque nuntios in Achradinam horrea frumentumque in senatus potestate esse.

the place, enclosed with squared stone and fortified in the manner of a citadel, is taken by the youth who had been assigned as the garrison of that place, and they send messengers into Achradina that the granaries and the grain are in the senate’s power.

[22] Luce prima populus omnis, armatus inermisque, in Achradinam ad curiam conuenit. ibi pro Concordiae ara, quae in eo sita loco erat, ex principibus unus nomine Polyaenus contionem et liberam et moderatam habuit: seruitii onus indignitatesque homines expertos aduersus notum malum inritatos esse: discordia ciuilis quas importet clades, audisse magis a patribus Syracusanos quam ipsos uidisse. arma quod impigre ceperint, laudare: magis laudaturum, si non utantur nisi ultima necessitate coacti.

[22] At first light all the people, both armed and unarmed, assembled in Achradina at the curia. There, before the altar of Concord, which was situated in that place, one of the leading men, by name Polyaenus, held a public address both free and moderate: that the burden of servitude and the indignities, having been experienced by men, had provoked them against a known evil; that what disasters civil discord imports the Syracusans had heard of rather from their fathers than seen themselves. That they had briskly taken up arms, he praises; he would praise them more, if they do not use them unless compelled by utmost necessity.

in praesentia legatos ad Adranodorum mitti placere qui denuntient ut in potestate senatus ac populi sit, portas Insulae aperiat, reddat praesidium. si tutelam alieni regni suum regnum uelit facere, eundem se censere multo acrius ab Adranodoro quam ab Hieronymo repeti libertatem. ab hac contione legati missi sunt.

For the present, it pleased them that envoys be sent to Adranodorus to denounce that he be in the power of the senate and the people, open the gates of the Island, and hand back the garrison. If he should wish to make the guardianship of another’s kingdom his own kingdom, they judge that the same liberty ought to be demanded back far more sharply from Adranodorus than from Hieronymus. From this assembly the envoys were sent.

senatus inde haberi coeptus est, quod sicut regnante Hierone manserat publicum consilium, ita post mortem eius ante eam diem nulla de re neque conuocati neque consulti fuerant. ut uentum ad Adranodorum est, ipsum quidem mouebat et ciuium consensus et cum aliae occupatae urbis partes, tum pars Insulae uel munitissima prodita atque alienata; sed euocatum eum ab legatis Damarata uxor, filia Hieronis, inflata adhuc regiis animis ac muliebri spiritu, admonet saepe usurpatae Dionysi tyranni uocis, qua pedibus tractum, non insidentem equo relinquere tyrannidem dixerit debere: facile esse momento quo quis uelit cedere possessione magnae fortunae; facere et parare eam difficile atque arduum esse. spatium sumeret ad consultandum ab legatis; eo uteretur ad arcessendos ex Leontinis milites, quibus si pecuniam regiam pollicitus esset, omnia in potestate eius futura.

the senate then began to be held, because, just as while Hieron was reigning it had remained the public council, so after his death up to that day they had been neither convoked nor consulted about any matter. when it came to Adranodorus, he himself was moved both by the consensus of the citizens and, whereas other parts of the city were occupied, then especially that the part of the Insula—most strongly fortified—had been betrayed and alienated; but Damarata his wife, daughter of Hieron, having called him away from the envoys, inflated still with royal spirits and with a womanly spirit, admonishes him with the often-usurped phrase of Dionysius the tyrant, by which he had said that one ought to relinquish a tyranny when dragged by the feet, not when sitting on a horse: that it is easy, at the moment when one wishes, to yield possession of great fortune; to make and prepare it is difficult and arduous. let him take from the envoys a space for deliberation; let him use it to summon soldiers from Leontini, to whom, if he should promise royal money, all things would be in his power.

haec muliebria consilia Adranodorus neque tota aspernatus est neque extemplo accepit, tutiorem ad opes adfectandas ratus esse uiam, si in praesentia tempori cessisset. itaque legatos renuntiare iussit futurum se in senatus ac populi potestate. postero die luce prima patefactis Insulae portis in forum Achradinae uenit.

Adranodorus neither wholly spurned these womanly counsels nor accepted them on the instant, thinking it a safer road toward aspiring to power if for the present he yielded to the times. And so he ordered the envoys to report that he would be under the authority of the senate and the people. On the next day, at first light, the gates of the Island having been opened, he came into the forum of Achradina.

ibi in aram Concordiae, ex qua pridie Polyaenus contionatus erat, escendit orationemque eam orsus est qua primum cunctationis suae ueniam petiuit: se enim clausas habuisse portas, non separantem suas res a publicis sed strictis semel gladiis timentem qui finis caedibus esset futurus, utrum, quod satis libertati foret, contenti nece tyranni essent an quicumque aut propinquitate aut adfinitate aut aliquis ministeriis regiam contigissent alienae culpae rei trucidarentur. postquam animaduerterit eos qui liberassent patriam seruare etiam liberatam uelle atque undique consuli in medium, non dubitasse quin et corpus suum et cetera omnia, quae suae fidei tutelaeque essent, quoniam eum qui mandasset suus furor absumpsisset, patriae restitueret. conuersus deinde ad interfectores tyranni ac nomine appellans Theodotum ac Sosin, 'facinus' inquit 'memorabile fecistis; sed, mihi credite, incohata uestra gloria, nondum perfecta est periculumque ingens manet, nisi paci et concordiae consulitis, ne libera efferatur res <publica>.'

there he ascended the Altar of Concord, from which the day before Polyaenus had harangued, and he began that oration in which first he asked pardon for his delay: that he had indeed kept the gates shut, not separating his own affairs from the public, but, once swords had been drawn, fearing what end there would be to the slaughters—whether, what would suffice for liberty, they would be content with the death of the tyrant, or whether whoever had touched the royal house either by kinship or by affinity or by certain services would be butchered, guilty of another’s fault. after he had observed that those who had freed the fatherland wished also to preserve it when freed, and that from every side counsel was being taken for the common interest, he had not hesitated to restore both his own person and all the other things which were under his faith and protection to the fatherland, since the one who had given the commission had been consumed by his own frenzy. then turning to the slayers of the tyrant and calling by name Theodotus and Sosis, he said: ‘you have done a memorable facinous deed; but, believe me, your glory is begun, not yet completed, and a great danger remains, unless you take counsel for peace and concord, lest, being free, the <commonwealth> be carried away.’

[23] Post hanc orationem claues portarum pecuniaeque regiae ante pedes eorum posuit. atque illo quidem die dimissi ex contione laeti circa fana omnia deum supplicauerunt cum coniugibus ac liberis; postero die comitia praetoribus creandis habita. creatus in primis Adranodorus, ceteri magna ex parte interfectores tyranni.

[23] After this speech he set the keys of the gates and of the royal treasury at their feet. And on that day indeed, dismissed from the assembly, joyful, they supplicated around all the shrines of the gods with their wives and children; on the following day the comitia for creating praetors were held. Adranodorus was elected first; the others, for the most part, were the slayers of the tyrant.

duos etiam absentes, Sopatrum ac Dinomenen, fecerunt; qui, auditis iis quae Syracusis acta erant pecuniam regiam quae in Leontinis erat Syracusas deuectam quaestoribus ad id ipsum creatis tradiderunt. et ea quae in Insula erat Achradinam tralata est; murique ea pars quae ab cetera urbe nimis firmo munimento intersaepiebat Insulam consensu omnium deiecta est. secutae et ceterae res hanc inclinationem animorum ad libertatem[que]. Hippocrates atque Epicydes audita morte tyranni, quam Hippocrates etiam nuntio interfecto celare uoluerat, deserti a militibus, quia id tutissimum ex praesentibus uidebatur, Syracusas rediere; ubi ne suspecti obuersarentur tamquam nouandi res aliquam occasionem quaerentes, praetores primum, dein per eos senatum adeunt.

they even elected two who were absent, Sopater and Dinomenes; who, on hearing the things that had been done at Syracuse, handed over to quaestors created for that very purpose the royal money which had been at Leontini, conveyed to Syracuse. And that which was on the Island was transferred to the Achradina; and that part of the wall which, with too strong a fortification, was partitioning off the Island from the rest of the city was, by the consent of all, thrown down. The other measures too followed this inclination of minds toward liberty. Hippocrates and Epicydes, when they heard of the tyrant’s death—which Hippocrates had even wished to conceal by killing the messenger—abandoned by the soldiers, because that seemed the safest among the present courses, returned to Syracuse; where, lest they should be on view as suspect, as if seeking some occasion for innovating the state, they approach the praetors first, then through them the senate.

ab Hannibale se missos praedicant ad Hieronymum tamquam amicum ac socium paruisse imperio eius cuius imperator suus uoluerit. uelle ad Hannibalem redire; ceterum, cum iter tutum non sit uagantibus passim per totam Siciliam Romanis, petere ut praesidii dent aliquid quo Locros in Italiam perducantur; gratiam magnam eos parua opera apud Hannibalem inituros. facile res impetrata; abire enim duces regios cum peritos militiae, tum egentes eosdem atque audaces cupiebant; sed quod uolebant non quam maturato opus erat nauiter expediebant.

they proclaim that they were sent by Hannibal to Hieronymus as a friend and ally, that they had obeyed the command of him whom their own commander had willed. they wish to return to Hannibal; but, since the journey is not safe with Romans roaming everywhere throughout all Sicily, they request that some guard be given by which they may be conducted to Locri in Italy; by a small service they would enter into great favor with Hannibal. the matter was easily obtained; for the royal leaders wanted them to be gone, as men both experienced in soldiery and at the same time needy and bold; but what they wanted they did not briskly carry through with the haste that was needed.

interim iuuenes militares et adsueti militibus nunc apud eos ipsos, nunc apud transfugas, quorum maxima pars ex naualibus sociis Romanorum erat, nunc etiam apud infimae plebis homines crimina serebant in senatum optimatesque: illud moliri clam eos atque struere ut Syracusae per speciem reconciliatae societatis in dicione Romanorum sint, dein factio ac pauci auctores foederis renouati dominentur.

Meanwhile young military men and those accustomed to soldiery, now among the soldiers themselves, now among the deserters—of whom the greater part were from the naval allies of the Romans—now even among men of the lowest plebs, were sowing accusations against the senate and the optimates: that, behind their backs, they were laboring and contriving this, that Syracuse, under the appearance of a reconciled alliance, should be under the dominion of the Romans; then that a faction and a few authors of the renewed treaty should hold sway.

[24] His audiendis credendisque opportuna multitudo maior in dies Syracusas confluebat nec Epicydi solum spem nouandarum rerum sed Adranodoro etiam praebebat. qui fessus tandem uxoris uocibus monentis nunc illud esse tempus occupandi res, dum turbata omnia noua atque incondita libertate essent, dum regiis stipendiis pastus obuersaretur miles, dum ab Hannibale missi duces adsueti militibus iuuare possent incepta, cum Themisto, cui Gelonis filia nupta erat, rem consociatam paucos post dies Aristoni cuidam tragico actori, cui et alia arcana committere adsuerat, incaute aperit. huic et genus et fortuna honesta erant nec ars, quia nihil tale apud Graecos pudori est, ea deformabat; itaque fidem potiorem ratus quam patriae debebat, indicium ad praetores defert.

[24] With these things to be heard and believed, a suitable multitude, greater by the day, was flocking to Syracuse, and it was supplying hope of innovations not to Epicydes alone but to Adranodorus as well. He, at last wearied by his wife’s urgings, warning that now was the time for seizing affairs—while all things were in turmoil under a new and unregulated liberty, while a soldiery fed on royal stipends loomed before them, while the commanders sent by Hannibal, accustomed to the soldiery, could aid the undertakings—after he had associated the matter with Themistus, to whom the daughter of Gelon was married, a few days later incautiously discloses it to a certain Aristo, a tragic actor, to whom he had been accustomed to entrust other secrets also. To this man both birth and fortune were honorable, nor did his art disfigure him, since nothing of that sort is a shame among the Greeks; and so, deeming the fidelity which he owed to his fatherland weightier, he reports the information to the praetors.

qui ubi rem haud uanam esse certis indiciis compererunt, consultis senioribus et <ex> auctoritate eorum praesidio ad fores posito ingressos curiam Themistum atque Adranodorum interfecerunt; et cum tumultus ab re in speciem atrociore causam aliis ignorantibus ortus esset, silentio tandem facto indicem in curiam introduxerunt. qui cum ordine omnia edocuisset—principium coniurationis factum ab Harmoniae Gelonis filiae nuptiis quibus Themisto iuncta esset; Afrorum Hispanorumque auxiliares instructos ad caedem praetorum principumque aliorum bonaque eorum praedae futura interfectoribus pronuntiatum; iam mercennariorum manum, adsuetam imperiis Adranodori, paratam fuisse ad Insulam rursus occupandam,—singula deinde quae per quosque agerentur totamque uiris armisque instructam coniurationem ante oculos posuit. et senatui quidem tam iure caesi quam Hieronymus uidebantur: ante curiam uariae atque incertae rerum multitudinis clamor erat.

when they discovered by sure indications that the matter was not empty, having consulted the elders and, by their authority, with a guard posted at the doors, they slew Themistus and Adranodorus as they entered the curia; and since a tumult had arisen from the deed, in appearance more atrocious, with others ignorant of the cause, silence at last having been made they introduced the informer into the curia. when he had set forth everything in order—the beginning of the conspiracy had been made at the nuptials of Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, to whom Themistus had been joined; that the African and Spanish auxiliaries had been drawn up for the slaughter of the praetors and of other leading men, and it had been proclaimed to the killers that their goods would be for booty; that already a band of mercenaries, accustomed to the commands of Adranodorus, had been prepared to seize the Island again,—then he set before their eyes each particular that was being carried on by each, and the entire conspiracy equipped with men and arms. and to the senate indeed they seemed as justly slain as Hieronymus: before the curia there was the clamor of a crowd with varied and uncertain opinions about the situation.

quam ferociter minitantem in uestibulo curiae corpora coniuratorum eo metu compresserunt ut silentes integram plebem in contionem sequerentur. Sopatro mandatum ab senatu et a collegis ut uerba faceret.

They checked that crowd, threatening ferociously in the vestibule of the curia, by fear at the bodies of the conspirators, to such a degree that, silent, they followed as an entire plebs into the assembly. To Sopater a mandate was given by the senate and by his colleagues to make a speech.

[25] Is tamquam reos ageret, ab ante acta uita orsus, quaecunque post Hieronis mortem sceleste atque impie facta essent, Adranodorum ac Themistum arguit fecisse: quid enim sua sponte [fecisse] Hieronymum, puerum ac uixdum pubescentem, facere potuisse? tutores ac magistros eius sub aliena inuidia regnasse. itaque aut ante Hieronymum aut certe cum Hieronymo perire eos debuisse.

[25] He, as though he were prosecuting them as defendants, beginning from their prior life, charged that whatever had been done wickedly and impiously after the death of Hiero had been done by Adranodorus and Themistus: for what could Hieronymus, a boy and scarcely yet pubescent, have been able to do of his own accord [to have done]? that his guardians and tutors had ruled under another’s ill-will. and so they ought to have perished either before Hieronymus or certainly with Hieronymus.

at illos debitos iam morti destinatosque, alia noua scelera post mortem tyranni molitos, palam primo cum clausis Adranodorus Insulae portis hereditatem regni creuerit et quae procurator tenuerat pro domino possederit; proditus deinde ab eis qui in Insula erant circumsessus ab uniuersa ciuitate quae Achradinam tenuerit nequiquam palam atque aperte petitum regnum clam et dolo adfectare conatus sit, et ne beneficio quidem atque honore potuerit uinci, cum inter liberatores patriae insidiator ipse libertatis creatus esset praetor. sed animos eis regios regias coniuges fecisse, alteri Hieronis, alteri Gelonis filias nuptas. sub hanc uocem ex omnibus partibus contionis clamor oritur nullam earum uiuere debere nec quemquam superesse tyrannorum stirpis.

but that those men, already owed to death and destined for it, having contrived other new crimes after the tyrant’s death—openly at first, when Adranodorus, with the gates of the Island shut, had laid claim to the inheritance of the kingship and had possessed as owner what he had held as procurator for his lord; then, betrayed by those who were on the Island and besieged by the whole city which held Achradina, having sought the kingdom openly and plainly to no purpose, he attempted to pursue it covertly and by deceit; and that he could not be overcome even by kindness and honor, although, among the liberators of the fatherland, he himself, a plotter against liberty, had been created praetor. but that royal wives had made their spirits regal—the daughter of Hiero married to the one, the daughter of Gelon to the other. at this utterance a shout arises from all parts of the assembly that none of those women ought to live, nor that anyone of the tyrants’ stock should survive.

ea natura multitudinis est: aut seruit humiliter aut superbe dominatur; libertatem, quae media est, nec struere modice nec habere sciunt; et non ferme desunt irarum indulgentes ministri, qui auidos atque intemperantes suppliciorum animos ad sanguinem et caedes inritent. sicut tum extemplo praetores rogationem promulgarunt—acceptaque paene prius quam promulgata est—ut omnes regiae stirpis interficerentur; missique a praetoribus Damaratam Hieronis et Harmoniam Gelonis filiam, coniuges Adranodori et Themisti, interfecerunt.

Such is the nature of the multitude: it either serves humbly or lordly dominates; liberty, which is the middle, they know neither how to establish with measure nor how to hold; and there are scarcely lacking indulgent ministers of wrath, who incite minds avid and intemperate for punishments to blood and slaughters. Just so then the praetors at once promulgated a rogation—and it was accepted almost before it was promulgated—that all of the royal stock be put to death; and those sent by the praetors killed Damarata, of Hieron, and Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, the spouses of Adranodorus and Themistus.

[26] Heraclia erat filia Hieronis, uxor Zoippi, qui legatus ab Hieronymo ad regem Ptolomaeum missus uoluntarium consciuerat exsilium. ea cum ad se quoque ueniri praescisset, in sacrarium ad penates confugit cum duabus filiabus uirginibus, resolutis crinibus miserabilique alio habitu, et ad ea addidit preces, nunc <per deos, nunc> per memoriam Hieronis patris Gelonisque fratris ne se innoxiam inuidia Hieronymi conflagrare sinerent: nihil se ex regno illius praeter exsilium uiri habere; neque fortunam suam eandem uiuo Hieronymo fuisse quam sororis neque interfecto eo causam eandem esse. quid quod si Adranodoro consilia processissent, illa cum uiro fuerit regnatura, sibi cum ceteris seruiendum?

[26] Heraclia was a daughter of Hieron, the wife of Zoippus, who, sent as a legate by Hieronymus to King Ptolemy, had brought upon himself voluntary exile. When she had foreknown that they were coming to her as well, she fled into the sacrarium to the Penates with her two maiden daughters, her hair loosened and in other pitiable attire, and to these she added prayers, now <by the gods, now> by the memory of her father Hieron and her brother Gelon, that they should not allow her, innocent, to be consumed by the odium of Hieronymus: that she had nothing from his kingship except her husband’s exile; nor had her fortune been the same, while Hieronymus lived, as her sister’s, nor, when he was slain, was her case the same. What of this—that if Adranodorus’s plans had succeeded, that woman would have been going to reign with her husband, while she herself would have had to serve with the rest?

si quis Zoippo nuntiet interfectum Hieronymum ac liberatas Syracusas, cui dubium esse quin extemplo conscensurus sit nauem atque in patriam rediturus? quantum spes hominum falli. in liberata patria coniugem eius ac liberos de uita dimicare, quid obstantes libertati aut legibus?

If someone were to announce to Zoippus that Hieronymus had been killed and Syracuse liberated, who would doubt that he would at once be about to board a ship and return to his fatherland? How greatly the hopes of men are deceived! In a liberated fatherland his wife and children are fighting for their lives—how are they standing in the way of liberty or the laws?

quod ab se cuiquam periculum, a sola ac prope uidua et puellis in orbitate degentibus esse? at enim periculi quidem nihil ab se timeri, inuisam tamen stirpem regiam esse. ablegarent ergo procul ab Syracusis Siciliaque et asportari Alexandriam iuberent, ad uirum uxorem, ad patrem filias.

what peril to anyone could there be from herself, from one solitary and almost a widow, and from girls living in orphanhood? but indeed, as for peril, nothing at all is feared from herself; nevertheless the royal stock is odious. let them therefore send her far away from Syracuse and from Sicily and order her to be carried off to Alexandria, to the husband the wife, to the father the daughters.

auersis auribus animisque ~cassae, ne tempus tererent, ferrum quosdam expedientes cernebat; tum omissis pro se precibus, puellis ut saltem parcerent orare institit, a qua aetate etiam hostes iratos abstinere; ne tyrannos ulciscendo quae odissent scelera ipsi imitarentur. inter haec abstractam a penetralibus iugulant. in uirgines deinde respersas matris cruore impetum faciunt, quae alienata mente simul luctu metuque uelut captae furore eo cursu se ex sacrario proripuerunt ut, si effugium patuisset in publicum, impleturae urbem tumultu fuerint.

with their ears and minds averted—her pleas futile—lest they waste time, she saw some making ready the steel; then, dropping prayers on her own behalf, she began to beg that at least they spare the girls, an age from which even enraged enemies abstain; that, by avenging the tyrants, they not themselves imitate the crimes which they hated. Amid these things they drag her from the inner chambers and slit her throat. Then they make an attack upon the maidens, spattered with their mother’s blood, who, their mind alienated at once by grief and fear, as if captured, rushed out of the sacrarium at such a pace that, if an escape into the public had stood open, they would have filled the city with tumult.

tum quoque haud magno aedium spatio inter medios tot armatos aliquotiens integro corpore euaserunt tenentibusque, cum tot ac tam ualidae eluctandae manus essent, sese eripuerunt. tandem uolneribus confectae, cum omnia replessent sanguine, exanimes conruerunt. caedem per se miserabilem miserabiliorem casus fecit, quod paulo post nuntius uenit mutatis repente ad misericordiam animis ne interficerentur.

then too, over no great space of the house, through the midst of so many armed men, several times they escaped with body intact; and, though men were holding them—since there were so many and so strong hands to be struggled out of—they snatched themselves free. At last, exhausted by wounds, when they had filled everything with blood, they collapsed lifeless. A mishap made a slaughter pitiable in itself even more pitiable, because a messenger came a little later, with minds suddenly changed to mercy, that they were not to be killed.

ira deinde ex misericordia orta, quod adeo festinatum ad supplicium neque locus paenitendi aut regressus ab ira relictus esset. itaque fremere multitudo et in locum Adranodori ac Themisti—nam ambo praetores fuerant—comitia poscere quae nequaquam ex sententia praetorum futura essent.

Anger then arose out of pity, because there had been such haste to punishment and no room for repentance or a retreat from anger had been left. And so the multitude began to murmur and to demand elections in place of Adranodorus and Themistus—for both had been praetors—which would by no means be to the praetors’ liking.

[27] Statutus est comitiis dies; quo necopinantibus omnibus unus ex ultima turba Epicyden nominauit, tum inde alius Hippocratem. crebriores deinde hae uoces et cum haud dubio adsensu multitudinis esse; et erat confusa contio non populari modo sed militari quoque turba, magna ex parte etiam perfugis qui omnia nouare cupiebant permixtis. praetores dissimulare primo extrahenda re; sed postremo, uicti consensu et seditionem metuentes, pronuntiant eos praetores.

[27] A day was fixed for the comitia; on which, with all unexpectant, one man from the lowest rabble named Epicydes, then from there another named Hippocrates. Then these cries became more frequent and with the unmistakable assent of the multitude; and the assembly was a confused one, with not only a popular but a military throng, and to a great extent even deserters—who were eager to innovate everything—mingled in. The praetors at first dissembled, drawing the matter out; but at last, overcome by the consensus and fearing sedition, they proclaim them praetors.

nec illi primo statim creati nudare quid uellent, quamquam aegre ferebant et de indutiis dierum decem legatos isse ad Ap. Claudium et impetratis eis alios qui de foedere antiquo renouando agerent missos. ad Murgantiam tum classem nauium centum Romanus habebat, quonam euaderent motus ex caedibus tyrannorum orti Syracusis quoue eos ageret noua atque insolita libertas operiens. per eosdem dies cum ad Marcellum uenientem in Siciliam legati Syracusani missi ab Appio essent, auditis condicionibus pacis Marcellus, posse rem conuenire ratus, et ipse legatos Syracusas qui coram cum praetoribus de renouando foedere agerent misit.

nor did they, immediately upon being elected, lay bare what they wanted, although they were chafing that envoys had gone to Ap. Claudius about a truce of 10 days, and that, this having been obtained, others had been sent to negotiate about renewing the ancient treaty. At Murgantia the Roman at that time had a fleet of 100 ships, awaiting to what outcome the disturbances arising at Syracuse from the slayings of the tyrants would turn out, and whither the new and unwonted liberty, now opening, would drive them. During these same days, when Syracusan envoys had been sent by Appius to Marcellus as he came into Sicily, after hearing the conditions of peace Marcellus, thinking the matter could be brought to agreement, sent envoys to Syracuse as well, to negotiate in person with the praetors about renewing the treaty.

et iam ibi nequaquam eadem quies ac tranquillitas erat. postquam Punicam classem accessisse Pachynum allatum est, dempto timore Hippocrates et Epicydes nunc apud mercennarios milites, nunc apud transfugas prodi Romano Syracusas criminabantur. ut uero Appius naues ad ostium portus, quid~ aliae partis hominibus animus accederet, in statione habere coepit, ingens in speciem criminibus uanis accesserat fides; ac primo etiam tumultuose decurrerat multitudo ad prohibendos si in terram egrederentur.

and already there was by no means the same quiet and tranquillity there. After it was reported that the Punic fleet had approached Pachynum, with fear removed Hippocrates and Epicydes, now among the mercenary soldiers, now among the deserters, were accusing that Syracuse had been betrayed to the Roman. And when Appius began to keep his ships at the mouth of the harbor, to see to which party men’s spirit would incline, enormous credibility, in outward appearance, had accrued to empty accusations; and at first the crowd even ran down tumultuously to prevent them, if they should disembark onto land.

[28] In hac turbatione rerum in contionem uocari placuit; ubi cum alii alio tenderent nec procul seditione res esset, Apollonides, principum unus, orationem salutarem ut in tali tempore habuit: nec spem salutis nec perniciem propiorem unquam ciuitati ulli fuisse. si enim uno animo omnes uel ad Romanos uel ad Carthaginienses inclinent, nullius ciuitatis statum fortunatiorem ac beatiorem fore; si alii alio trahant res, non inter Poenos Romanosque bellum atrocius fore quam inter ipsos Syracusanos, cum intra eosdem muros pars utraque suos exercitus, sua arma, suos habitura sit duces. itaque, ut idem omnes sentiant, summa ui agendum esse.

[28] In this turmoil of affairs it was decided that an assembly be called; where, as some were tending one way and others another, and the situation was not far from sedition, Apollonides, one of the leading men, delivered, as in such a time, a salutary speech: that never had either hope of safety or ruin stood nearer to any city. For if with one mind all incline either to the Romans or to the Carthaginians, there will be no city whose condition is more fortunate and more blessed; but if different men drag affairs in different directions, the war will be no more atrocious between the Carthaginians and the Romans than among the Syracusans themselves, since within the same walls each party will have its own armies, its own arms, its own leaders. Therefore, in order that all may hold the same view, it must be acted with the utmost force.

utra societas sit utilior, eam longe minorem ac leuioris momenti consultationem esse; sed tamen Hieronis potius quam Hieronymi auctoritatem sequendam in sociis legendis, uel quinquaginta annis feliciter expertam amicitiam nunc incognitae, quondam infideli praeferendam. esse etiam momenti aliquid ad consilium quod Carthaginiensibus ita pax negari possit, ut non utique in praesentia bellum cum eis geratur; cum Romanis extemplo aut pacem aut bellum habendum. quo minus cupiditatis ac studii uisa est oratio habere, eo plus auctoritatis habuit.

which alliance is more useful is by far a lesser deliberation and of lighter moment; but yet the authority of Hiero rather than of Hieronymus is to be followed in choosing allies, and the friendship happily experienced for even fifty years is to be preferred to one now unknown and once unfaithful. There is also something of moment for the plan that peace can be denied to the Carthaginians in such a way that war is not necessarily waged with them at present; with the Romans one must have at once either peace or war. The less the speech seemed to have of desire and partisan zeal, the more authority it had.

adiectum est praetoribus ac delectis senatorum militare etiam consilium; iussi et duces ordinum praefectique auxiliorum simul consulere. cum saepe acta res esset magnis certaminibus, postremo, quia belli cum Romanis gerendi ratio nulla apparebat, pacem fieri placuit mittique legatos ad rem cum eis confirmandam.

There was added to the praetors and to selected men of the senators a military council as well; the leaders of the ranks and the prefects of the auxiliaries were also ordered to consult together. When the matter had often been carried on with great contentions, at last, because no plan for waging war with the Romans appeared, it was decided that peace be made and that envoys be sent to confirm the matter with them.

[29] Dies haud ita multi intercesserunt, cum ex Leontinis legati praesidium finibus suis orantes uenerunt; quae legatio peropportuna uisa ad multitudinem inconditam ac tumultuosam exonerandam ducesque eius ablegandos. Hippocrates praetor ducere eo transfugas iussus; secuti multi ex mercennariis auxiliis quattuor milia armatorum effecerunt. et mittentibus et missis ea laeta expeditio fuit; nam et illis, quod iam diu cupiebant, nouandi res occasio data est, et hi sentinam quandam urbis rati exhaustam laetabantur.

[29] Not so many days intervened, when legates from Leontini came, begging a garrison for their borders; which embassy seemed very opportune for unloading the undisciplined and tumultuous multitude and sending away its leaders. Hippocrates the praetor was ordered to lead the defectors there; many from the mercenary auxiliaries followed, and they made up four thousand armed men. That expedition was cheering both to the senders and to the sent; for to those, what they had long desired—the opportunity of renewing affairs—was given, and these rejoiced, thinking that a kind of bilge, the dregs of the city, had been drained off.

ceterum leuauerunt modo in praesentia uelut corpus aegrum quo mox in grauiorem morbum recideret. Hippocrates enim finitima prouinciae Romanae primo furtiuis excursionibus uastare coepit; deinde, cum ad tuendos sociorum agros missum ab Appio praesidium esset, omnibus copiis impetum in oppositam stationem cum caede multorum fecit. quae cum essent nuntiata Marcello, legatos extemplo Syracusas misit, qui pacis fidem ruptam esse dicerent nec belli defuturam unquam causam, nisi Hippocrates atque Epicydes non ab Syracusis modo sed tota procul Sicilia ablegarentur.

However, they only lightened matters for the moment, like a sick body which would soon relapse into a more serious disease. For Hippocrates, in the region bordering the Roman province, at first began to lay waste by stealthy excursions; then, when a garrison had been sent by Appius to protect the allies’ fields, with all his forces he made an assault upon the opposing station with the slaughter of many. When these things were reported to Marcellus, he immediately sent envoys to Syracuse to declare that the good faith of the peace had been broken, and that a cause for war would never be lacking, unless Hippocrates and Epicydes were removed not only from Syracuse but far away from all Sicily.

Epicydes, ne aut reus criminis absentis fratris praesens esset aut deesset pro parte sua concitando bello, profectus et ipse in Leontinos, quia satis eos aduersus populum Romanum concitatos cernebat, auertere etiam ab Syracusanis coepit: nam ita eos pacem pepigisse cum Romanis ut quicumque populi sub regibus fuissent ei suae dicionis essent, nec iam libertate contentos esse nisi etiam regnent ac dominentur. renuntiandum igitur eis esse Leontinos quoque aequum censere liberos se esse, uel quod in solo urbis suae tyrannus ceciderit uel quod ibi primum conclamatum ad libertatem relictisque regiis ducibus ad Syracusanos concursum <sit>. itaque aut eximendum id de foedere esse aut legem eam foederis non accipiendam. facile multitudini persuasum; legatisque Syracusanorum et de caede stationis Romanae querentibus et Hippocratem atque Epicydem abire seu Locros seu quo alio mallent, dummodo Sicilia cederent, iubentibus ferociter responsum est: neque mandasse sese Syracusanis ut pacem pro se cum Romanis facerent neque teneri alienis foederibus.

Epicydes, lest he either be present as defendant for the crimes of his absent brother or fail, for his own part, in inciting war, set out himself to the Leontines; and because he perceived them sufficiently stirred up against the Roman people, he began to turn them away even from the Syracusans: for (he said) they had thus bargained peace with the Romans, that whatever peoples had been under kings should be under their own jurisdiction, and that now they were not content with liberty unless they also reign and exercise dominion. Therefore it must be reported to them that the Leontines likewise deem it equitable that they are free, either because on the soil of their city the tyrant fell, or because there first the cry for liberty was raised, and, the royal commanders being left, there was a rush to the Syracusans <sit>. And so either that is to be exempted from the treaty, or that clause of the treaty is not to be accepted. The multitude was easily persuaded; and to the envoys of the Syracusans—both complaining about the slaughter of the Roman outpost and ordering Hippocrates and Epicydes to depart either to Locri or wherever else they preferred, provided they withdrew from Sicily—a fierce answer was returned: that they had neither commissioned the Syracusans to make peace with the Romans on their behalf nor were they bound by others’ treaties.

haec ad Romanos Syracusani detulerunt, abnuentes Leontinos in sua potestate esse: itaque integro secum foedere bellum Romanos cum iis gesturos neque sese defuturos ei bello, ita ut in potestatem redacti suae rursus dicionis essent, sicut pax conuenisset.

the Syracusans reported these things to the Romans, denying that the Leontines were in their power: and so, with the treaty with themselves intact, the Romans would wage war with them, nor would they be lacking to that war, on this condition, that, once reduced into power, they should be again under their own jurisdiction, as the peace had stipulated.

[30] Marcellus cum omni exercitu profectus in Leontinos Appio quoque accito ut altera parte adgrederetur, tanto ardore militum est usus ab ira inter condiciones pacis interfectae stationis ut primo impetu urbem expugnarent. Hippocrates atque Epicydes postquam capi muros refringique portas uidere, in arcem sese cum paucis recepere; inde clam nocte Herbesum perfugiunt. Syracusanis octo milium armatorum agmine profectis domo ad Mylan flumen nuntius occurrit captam urbem esse, cetera falsa mixta ueris ferens: caedem promiscuam militum atque oppidanorum factam nec quicquam puberum arbitrari superesse; direptam urbem, bona locupletium donata.

[30] Marcellus, having set out with the whole army to the Leontines, and having summoned Appius also that he might attack from the other side, made use of so great an ardor of the soldiers, from anger at the picket slain amid the conditions of peace, that at the first onset they stormed the city. Hippocrates and Epicydes, after they saw the walls being seized and the gates broken open, withdrew into the citadel with a few; thence, secretly by night, they flee for refuge to Herbessus. The Syracusans, an array of eight thousand armed men having set out from home, were met at the river Mylan by a messenger that the city had been captured, bringing other falsehoods mixed with truths: that an indiscriminate slaughter of soldiers and townsfolk had been made, and that he supposed nothing of those of age to remain; that the city had been plundered, the goods of the opulent bestowed.

ad nuntium tam atrocem constitit agmen concitatisque omnibus duces—erant autem Sosis ac Dinomenes—quid agerent consultabant. terroris speciem haud uanam mendacio praebuerant uerberati ac securi percussi transfugae ad duo milia hominum; ceterum Leontinorum militumque aliorum nemo post captam urbem uiolatus fuerat suaque omnia eis, nisi quae primus tumultus captae urbis absumpserat, restituebantur. nec ut Leontinos irent, proditos ad caedem commilitones querentes perpelli potuere, nec ut eodem loco certiorem nuntium exspectarent.

At so atrocious a report the column halted, and with all stirred up the leaders—Sosis and Dinomenes, in fact—were consulting what they should do. The deserters, about 2,000 men, scourged and struck by the axe, had supplied to the lie a not empty semblance of terror; but of the Leontines and of the other soldiers, no one after the city was taken had been violated, and all their property was being restored to them, except what the first tumult of a captured city had consumed. Nor could they be driven either to go to the Leontines, complaining that their comrades-in-arms had been betrayed to slaughter, or to wait in the same place for more certain news.

cum ad defectionem inclinatos animos cernerent praetores sed eum motum haud diuturnum fore si duces amentiae sublati essent, exercitum ducunt Megara, ipsi cum paucis equitibus Herbesum proficiscuntur spe territis omnibus per proditionem urbis potiundae. quod ubi frustra eis fuit inceptum, ui agendum rati postero die Megaris castra mouent, ut Herbesum omnibus copiis oppugnarent. Hippocrates et Epicydes non tam tutum prima specie quam unum spe undique abscisa consilium esse rati, ut se militibus permitterent et adsuetis magna ex parte sibi et tum fama caedis commilitonum accensis, obuiam agmini procedunt.

When the praetors saw minds inclined to defection, but that that movement would not be long-lasting if the leaders of the madness were removed, they lead the army to Megara, while they themselves with a few horsemen set out for Herbesus, in the hope of gaining possession of the city, everyone being terror-stricken, through treachery. When this attempt proved vain for them, thinking they must act by force, on the following day at Megara they move the camp, so as to assault Herbesus with all their forces. Hippocrates and Epicydes, judging that the counsel—not so much safe in first appearance as the only one, with hope cut off on every side—was to commit themselves to the soldiers, men for the most part accustomed to them and now inflamed by the report of the slaughter of their fellow soldiers, advance to meet the column.

prima forte signa sescentorum Cretensium erant, qui apud Hieronymum meruerant sub eis et Hannibalis beneficium habebant, capti ad Trasumennum inter Romanorum auxilia dimissique. quos ubi ex signis armorumque habitu cognouere Hippocrates atque Epicydes, ramos oleae ac uelamenta alia supplicum porrigentes orare ut reciperent sese, receptos tutarentur neu proderent Syracusanis, a quibus ipsi mox trucidandi populo Romano dederentur.

by chance the foremost standards were those of six hundred Cretans, who had served with Hieronymus and had a beneficium from Hannibal as well, having been captured at Lake Trasimene among the Roman auxiliaries and then released. when Hippocrates and Epicydes recognized them from the standards and the habit of their arms, holding out olive branches and other veils of suppliants they began to beg that they receive them, protect them once received, and not betray them to the Syracusans, by whom they themselves would soon be handed over to the Roman people to be butchered.

[31] Enimuero conclamant bonum ut animum haberent; omnem se cum illis fortunam subituros. inter hoc conloquium signa constiterant tenebaturque agmen, necdum quae morae causa foret peruenerat ad duces. postquam Hippocraten atque Epicyden ~peruasit rumor fremitusque toto agmine erat haud dubie approbantium aduentum eorum, extemplo praetores citatis equis ad prima signa perrexerunt.

[31] Indeed they cried out that they should have good courage; that they would undergo every fortune with them. During this colloquy the standards had halted and the column was being held, and as yet the cause of the delay had not reached the commanders. After the rumor reached Hippocrates and Epicydes, and there was a murmuring throughout the whole column of men undoubtedly approving their arrival, immediately the praetors, spurring on their horses, advanced to the foremost standards.

qui mos ille, quae licentia Cretensium esset rogitantes, conloquia serendi cum hoste iniussuque praetorum miscendi eos agmini suo, comprehendi inicique catenas iusserunt Hippocrati. ad quam uocem tantus extemplo primum a Cretensibus clamor est ortus, deinde exceptus ab aliis, ut facile, si ultra tenderent, appareret eis timendum esse. solliciti incertique rerum suarum Megara, unde profecti erant, referri signa iubent nuntiosque de statu praesenti Syracusas mittunt.

asking what that custom was, what license of the Cretans, to be holding colloquies with the enemy and, without the order of the praetors, to be mingling them with their own column, they ordered Hippocrates to be seized and for chains to be thrown upon him. at this utterance so great a shout arose at once, first from the Cretans, then taken up by the others, that it was clear that, if they pushed it further, there was cause for them to fear. anxious and uncertain about their own affairs, they order the standards to be borne back to Megara, whence they had set out, and they send messengers to Syracuse about the present condition.

fraudem quoque Hippocrates addit inclinatis ad omnem suspicionem animis et Cretensium quibusdam ad itinera insidenda missis uelut interceptas litteras quas ipse composuerat, recitat: 'praetores Syracusani consuli Marcello.' secundum salutem, ut adsolet, scriptum erat recte eum atque ordine fecisse quod in Leontinis nulli pepercisset; sed omnium mercennariorum militum eandem esse causam nec unquam Syracusas quieturas donec quicquam externorum auxiliorum aut in urbe aut in exercitu suo esset. itaque daret operam, ut eos qui cum suis praetoribus castra ad Megara haberent in suam potestatem redigeret ac supplicio eorum liberaret tandem Syracusas. haec cum recitata essent, cum tanto clamore ad arma discursum est ut praetores inter tumultum pauidi abequitauerint Syracusas.

Hippocrates also adds a fraud, with minds inclined to every suspicion and with certain Cretans sent to lay ambushes along the roads, and he reads out letters, as if intercepted, which he himself had composed: “The praetors of Syracuse to the consul Marcellus.” After the greeting, as is customary, it had been written that he had done rightly and in due order in that at Leontini he had spared no one; but that the cause of all mercenary soldiers was the same, and that Syracuse would never be quiet so long as there was any foreign auxiliary either in the city or in their army. Therefore he should give attention to reduce into his power those who with their praetors had a camp near Megara, and by their punishment at last to free Syracuse. When these things had been read, there was such a dash to arms with so great a shout that the praetors, fearful amid the tumult, rode off to Syracuse.

et ne fuga quidem eorum seditio compressa est impetusque in Syracusanos milites fiebant nec ab ullo temperatum foret, ni Epicydes atque Hippocrates irae multitudinis obuiam issent, non a misericordia aut humano consilio sed ne spem reditus praeciderent sibi, et cum ipsos simul milites fidos haberent simul obsides, tum cognatos quoque eorum atque amicos tanto merito primum, dein pignore sibi conciliarent. expertique quam uana aut leui aura mobile uolgus esset, militem nancti ex eo numero qui in Leontinis circumsessi erant, subornant, ut Syracusas perferret nuntium conuenientem eis quae ad Mylas falso nuntiata erant, auctoremque se exhibendo ac uelut uisa quae dubia erant narrando concitaret iras hominum.

and not even by their flight was the sedition suppressed, and assaults were being made upon the Syracusan soldiers, nor would there have been temperance by anyone, had not Epicydes and Hippocrates gone to meet the wrath of the multitude—not from mercy or human counsel, but lest they cut off for themselves the hope of return—and since at once they would have the soldiers themselves faithful and at once hostages, then too they would conciliate to themselves their kinsmen and friends, first by so great a service, then by a pledge. and having experienced how vain the common crowd was, and how, at the slightest breeze, mobile, having got hold of a soldier from the number who had been besieged at Leontini, they suborn him to carry to Syracuse a message agreeing with the things that had been falsely reported at Mylae, and, by presenting himself as an author and by narrating as if seen those things which were doubtful, to stir up the angers of men.

[32] Huic non apud uolgum modo fides fuit sed senatum quoque in curiam introductus mouit. haud uani quidam homines palam ferre perbene detectam in Leontinis esse auaritiam et crudelitatem Romanorum; eadem, si intrassent Syracusas, aut foediora etiam, quo maius ibi auaritiae praemium esset, facturos fuisse. itaque claudendas cuncti portas et custodiendam urbem censere; sed non ab iisdem omnes timere nec eosdem odisse.

[32] Not only among the common crowd was there credence for this, but, introduced into the senate in the curia, he moved them as well. Some men, by no means vain, openly proclaimed that at Leontini the avarice and cruelty of the Romans had been very well detected; that the same things—if they had entered Syracuse—or even fouler, since the prize of avarice would be greater there, they would have done. Therefore all judged that the gates should be closed and the city kept under guard; but not all fear the same men, nor do they hate the same.

ad militare genus omne partemque magnam plebis inuisum esse nomen Romanum; praetores optimatiumque pauci, quamquam inflati uano nuntio erant, tamen ad propius praesentiusque malum cautiores esse. et iam ad Hexapylum erant Hippocrates atque Epicydes serebanturque conloquia per propinquos popularium qui in exercitu erant, ut portas aperirent sinerentque communem patriam defendi ab impetu Romanorum. iam unis foribus Hexapyli apertis coepti erant recipi cum praetores interuenerunt.

to every military order and to a great part of the plebs the Roman name was hateful; the praetors and a few of the optimates, although puffed up by the empty report, were nevertheless more cautious in the face of a nearer and more present evil. and already Hippocrates and Epicydes were at the Hexapylum, and parleys were being carried on through the kinsmen of their countrymen who were in the army, to open the gates and to allow the common fatherland to be defended from the onslaught of the Romans. already, with one set of the Hexapylum’s doors opened, they had begun to be received when the praetors intervened.

et primo imperio minisque, deinde auctoritate deterrendo, postremo, ut omnia uana erant, obliti maiestatis precibus agebant ne proderent patriam tyranni ante satellitibus et tum corruptoribus exercitus. sed surdae ad omnia aures concitatae multitudinis erant nec minore intus ui quam foris portae effringebantur, effractisque omnibus toto Hexapylo agmen receptum est. praetores in Achradinam cum iuuentute popularium confugiunt.

and at first by command and threats, then by deterring with their authority, finally—since all was vain—forgetful of their majesty they pleaded that they not betray their fatherland, earlier to the tyrant’s bodyguards and now to the corrupters of the army. but the ears of the aroused multitude were deaf to everything, and the gates were being broken open with no less force inside than outside; and when all were broken, through the whole Hexapylum the column was admitted. the praetors fled for refuge into Achradina with the youth of the popular party.

mercennarii milites perfugaeque et quidquid regiorum militum Syracusis erat agmen hostium augent. ita Achradina quoque primo impetu capitur, praetorumque nisi qui inter tumultum effugerunt omnes interficiuntur. nox caedibus finem fecit.

Mercenary soldiers and deserters, and whatever of the royal troops was in Syracuse, augment the host of the enemy. Thus Achradina too is captured at the first assault, and of the praetors all are killed, except those who escaped amid the tumult. Night put an end to the slaughter.

postero die serui ad pilleum uocati et carcere uincti emissi; confusaque haec omnis multitudo Hippocraten atque Epicyden creant praetores; Syracusaeque, cum breue tempus libertas adfulsisset, in antiquam seruitutem recciderant.

On the following day the slaves were summoned to the liberty-cap, and those bound in prison were released; and this whole confused multitude elected Hippocrates and Epicydes as praetors; and Syracuse, after liberty had shone for a brief time, had fallen back into ancient servitude.

[33] Haec nuntiata cum essent Romanis, ex Leontinis mota sunt extemplo castra ad Syracusas. et ab Appio legati per portum missi forte in quinqueremi erant. praemissa quadriremis cum intrasset fauces portus, capitur; legati aegre effugerunt; et iam non modo pacis sed ne belli quidem iura relicta erant, cum Romanus exercitus ad Olympium—Iouis id templum est—mille et quingentos passus ab urbe castra posuit.

[33] When these things had been reported to the Romans, the camp was at once moved from Leontini to Syracuse. And legates sent by Appius through the port happened by chance to be in a quinquereme. The quadrireme sent ahead, when it had entered the narrows of the harbor, is captured; the legates scarcely escaped; and now not only the rights of peace, but not even the rights of war, were left, when the Roman army pitched camp at the Olympium—that is a temple of Jupiter—1,500 paces from the city.

inde quoque legatos praemitti placuit; quibus, ne intrarent urbem, extra portam Hippocrates atque Epicydes obuiam cum suis processerunt. Romanus orator non bellum se Syracusanis sed opem auxiliumque adferre ait, et eis qui ex media caede elapsi perfugerint ad se, et eis qui metu oppressi foediorem non exsilio solum sed etiam morte seruitutem patiantur; nec caedem nefandam sociorum inultam Romanos passuros. itaque si eis qui ad se perfugerint tutus in patriam reditus pateat et caedis auctores dedantur et libertas legesque <suae> Syracusanis restituantur, nihil armis opus esse; si ea non fiant, quicumque in mora sit bello persecuturos.

Thence also it was decided that legates be sent ahead; and, so that they might not enter the city, Hippocrates and Epicydes, with their men, came out to meet them outside the gate. The Roman orator said that he was bringing not war to the Syracusans but help and aid—both to those who, having slipped from the very midst of the slaughter, had taken refuge with them, and to those who, overborne by fear, were enduring a more shameful servitude not only than exile but even than death; nor would the Romans allow the unspeakable slaughter of allies to go unavenged. Therefore, if for those who had fled to them a safe return to their fatherland were opened, and the authors of the slaughter were surrendered, and liberty and their laws were restored to the Syracusans, there would be no need of arms; if these things were not done, they would prosecute with war whoever stood in the way.

ad ea Epicydes, si qua ad se mandata haberent, responsum eis ait se daturos fuisse; cum in eorum ad quos uenerint manu res Syracusana esset, tum reuerterentur. si bello lacesserent, ipsa re intellecturos nequaquam idem esse Syracusas ac Leontinos oppugnare. ita legatis relictis portas clausit.

To this Epicydes said that, if they had any mandates addressed to him, he would have given them a response; when the Syracusan affair was in the hand of those to whom they had come, then they should return. If they provoked war, they would learn by the very fact that to besiege Syracuse was by no means the same as to besiege Leontini. Thus, with the envoys left behind, he closed the gates.

inde terra marique simul coeptae oppugnari Syracusae, terra ab Hexapylo, mari ab Achradina, cuius murus fluctu adluitur; et quia, sicut Leontinos terrore ac primo impetu ceperant, non diffidebant uastam disiectamque spatio urbem parte aliqua se inuasuros, omnem apparatum oppugnandarum urbium muris admouerunt.

From there Syracuse began to be assailed at once by land and by sea: by land from the Hexapylon, by sea from the Achradina, whose wall is washed by the wave; and because, just as they had taken Leontini by terror and by the first onset, they did not distrust that they would force entry into the city—vast and scattered in its expanse—at some part, they brought up to the walls every apparatus for attacking cities.

[34] Et habuisset tanto impetu coepta res fortunam, nisi unus homo Syracusis ea tempestate fuisset. Archimedes is erat, unicus spectator caeli siderumque, mirabilior tamen inuentor ac machinator bellicorum tormentorum operumque quibus <si quid> hostes ingenti mole agerent ipse perleui momento ludificaretur. murum per inaequales ductum colles, pleraque alta et difficilia aditu, summissa quaedam et quae planis uallibus adiri possent, ut cuique aptum uisum est loco, ita genere omni tormentorum instruxit.

[34] And the enterprise, begun with such impetus, would have had fortune, had not one man been in Syracuse at that time. He was Archimedes, a unique spectator of the sky and the stars, yet more wondrous as an inventor and contriver of war engines and works, by which, <if anything> the enemies might set in motion with enormous mass, he, with a very slight effort, would make sport of it. The wall, laid out across uneven hills—mostly high and difficult of approach, some lower and such as could be reached by level valleys—he equipped, as to each place seemed apt, with every kind of artillery.

Achradinae murum, qui, ut ante dictum est, mari adluitur, sexaginta quinqueremibus Marcellus oppugnabat. ex ceteris nauibus sagittarii funditoresque et uelites etiam, quorum telum ad remittendum inhabile imperitis est, uix quemquam sine uolnere consistere in muro patiebantur; hi, quia spatio missilibus opus est, procul muro tenebant naues: iunctae aliae binae quinqueremes demptis interioribus remis ut latus lateri applicaretur, cum exteriore ordine remorum uelut una nauis agerentur, turres contabulatas machinamentaque alia quatiendis muris portabant. aduersus hunc naualem apparatum Archimedes uariae magnitudinis tormenta in muris disposuit.

Marcellus was attacking the wall of Achradina, which, as was said before, is washed by the sea, with sixty quinqueremes. From the rest of the ships the archers, slingers, and even the velites—whose missile is ill-suited to be sent back by the unskilled—hardly allowed anyone to stand upon the wall without a wound; these, because missiles need room, kept the ships at a distance from the wall: other quinqueremes, joined in pairs, with the inner oars removed so that side could be applied to side, were driven with the outer bank of oars as if a single ship, and they were carrying boarded towers and other machines for shaking the walls. Against this naval apparatus Archimedes disposed on the walls engines of various magnitudes.

in eas quae procul erant naues saxa ingenti pondere emittebat; propiores leuioribus eoque magis crebris petebat telis; postremo, ut sui uolnere intacti tela in hostem ingererent, murum ab imo ad summum crebris cubitalibus fere cauis aperuit, per quae caua pars sagittis, pars scorpionibus modicis ex occulto petebant hostem. [quae] propius quaedam subibant naues quo interiores ictibus tormentorum essent; in eas tollenone super murum eminente ferrea manus firmae catenae inligata cum iniecta prorae esset grauique libramento plumbum recelleret ad solum, suspensa prora nauem in puppim statuebat; dein remissa subito uelut ex muro cadentem nauem cum ingenti trepidatione nautarum ita undae adfligebant ut etiamsi recta recciderat, aliquantum aquae acciperet. ita maritima oppugnatio est elusa omnisque spes eo uersa ut totis uiribus terra adgrederentur.

against those ships which were far off he would launch stones of enormous weight; the nearer ones he would assail with lighter missiles and therefore more frequent; finally, so that his own men, untouched by wound, might pour weapons into the enemy, he opened the wall from the bottom to the top with frequent hollows almost a cubit wide, through which cavities some from concealment were targeting the foe with arrows, others with small scorpions. [quae] some ships were coming in closer, so that they might be on the inside of the shots of the engines; against these, with a derrick jutting out above the wall, an iron hand fastened to a stout chain, when it had been hooked onto the prow and, by a heavy counterweight, the lead had sunk back to the ground, with the prow suspended it would set the ship up onto her stern; then, suddenly released, the ship, as if falling from the wall, the waves dashed with immense panic of the sailors, in such a way that even if it had fallen back upright, it would take on some water. thus the sea-borne assault was foiled, and all hope was turned to this: that they should attack by land with all their forces.

sed ea quoque pars eodem omni apparatu tormentorum instructa erat Hieronis impensis curaque per multos annos, Archimedis unica arte. natura etiam adiuuabat loci, quod saxum, cui imposita muri fundamenta sunt, magna parte ita procliue est ut non solum missa tormento sed etiam quae pondere suo prouoluta essent, grauiter in hostem inciderent. eadem causa ad subeundum arduum aditum instabilemque ingressum praebebat.

but that part too was equipped with the same entire apparatus of engines, at Hiero’s expense and care for many years, by the unique art of Archimedes. The nature of the place also was helping, because the rock on which the foundations of the walls are set is for a great part so sloping that not only missiles discharged by an engine, but even those which, rolled forward by their own weight, would fall heavily upon the enemy. The same cause, for those going up, presented an arduous approach and an unstable ingress.

ita consilio habito, quando omnis conatus ludibrio esset, absistere oppugnatione atque obsidendo tantum arcere terra marique commeatibus hostem placuit.

thus, counsel having been held, since every attempt was a laughing-stock, it was resolved to desist from the assault and, by besieging only, to ward the enemy from supplies by land and sea.

[35] interim Marcellus cum tertia fere parte exercitus ad recipiendas urbes profectus quae in motu rerum ad Carthaginienses defecerant, Helorum atque Herbesum dedentibus ipsis recipit, Megara ui capta diruit ac diripuit ad reliquorum ac maxime Syracusanorum terrorem. per idem fere tempus et Himilco, qui ad Pachyni promunturium classem diu tenuerat, ad Heracleam, quam uocant Minoam, quinque et uiginti milia peditum, tria equitum, duodecim elephantos exposuit, nequaquam cum quantis copiis ante tenuerat ad Pachynum classem; sed, postquam ab Hippocrate occupatae Syracusae erant, profectus Carthaginem adiutusque ibi et ab legatis Hippocratis et litteris Hannibalis, qui uenisse tempus aiebat Siciliae per summum decus repetendae, et ipse haud uanus praesens monitor facile perpulerat ut quantae maxime possent peditum equitumque copiae in Siciliam traicerentur. adueniens Heracleam, intra paucos inde dies Agrigentum recepit; aliarumque ciuitatium quae partis Carthaginiensium erant adeo accensae sunt spes ad pellendos Sicilia Romanos ut postremo etiam qui obsidebantur Syracusis animos sustulerint; et, parte copiarum satis defendi urbem posse rati, ita inter se munera belli partiti sunt ut Epicydes praeesset custodiae urbis, Hippocrates Himilconi coniunctus bellum aduersus consulem Romanum gereret.

[35] meanwhile Marcellus, having set out with nearly a third of the army to recover the cities which in the upheaval of affairs had defected to the Carthaginians, recovered Helorus and Herbessus as they surrendered of themselves; Megara, taken by force, he demolished and plundered, to the terror of the rest and most of all of the Syracusans. At about the same time Himilco, who had long held his fleet at the promontory of Pachynus, put ashore at Heraclea, which they call Minoa, 25,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, 12 elephants—not at all with so many forces as those with which he had formerly held the fleet off Pachynus; but after Syracuse had been seized by Hippocrates, he set out for Carthage, and there, aided both by the envoys of Hippocrates and by letters from Hannibal, who said that the time had come for Sicily to be sought again with the highest glory, and he himself, no empty adviser being present, had easily prevailed that as great forces as possible of infantry and cavalry be transported into Sicily. Arriving at Heraclea, within a few days thereafter he recovered Agrigentum; and in the other communities which were on the Carthaginian side hopes were so inflamed for driving the Romans out of Sicily that at last even those who were being besieged at Syracuse took heart; and, thinking that with part of their forces the city could be sufficiently defended, they so divided the duties of war among themselves that Epicydes should preside over the guarding of the city, and Hippocrates, joined with Himilco, should wage war against the Roman consul.

cum decem milibus peditum, quingentis equitibus nocte per intermissa custodiis loca profectus castra circa Acrillas urbem ponebat. munientibus superuenit Marcellus ab Agrigento iam occupato, cum frustra eo praeuenire hostem festinans tetendisset, rediens, nihil minus ratus quam illo tempore ac loco Syracusanum sibi exercitum obuium fore; sed tamen metu Himilconis Poenorumque, ut quibus nequaquam eis copiis quas habebat par esset, quam poterat maxime intentus atque agmine ad omnes casus composito ibat.

with ten thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry, having set out by night through places where the watches were intermitted, he was pitching camp around the city of Acrillas. As they were fortifying, Marcellus came upon them from Agrigentum, now occupied—returning, after hastening thither in vain to forestall the enemy—least of all supposing that at that time and place a Syracusan army would meet him; but nevertheless, out of fear of Himilco and the Punics, to whom with the forces he had he was by no means a match, he marched as intent as he could and with his column arranged for all contingencies.

[36] forte ea cura [q.] aduersus Poenos praeparata aduersus Siculos usui fuit. castris ponendis incompositos ac dispersos nanctus eos et plerosque inermes quod peditum fuit circumuenit; eques leui certamine inito cum Hippocrate Acras perfugit. ea pugna deficientes ab Romanis cum cohibuisset Siculos, Marcellus Syracusas redit; et post paucos dies Himilco adiuncto Hippocrate ad flumen Anapum octo ferme inde milia castra posuit.

[36] by chance that vigilance [q.], prepared against the Punic foe, proved of use against the Sicels. Finding them, as they were pitching camp, disordered and scattered, and most unarmed, he surrounded whatever infantry there was; the cavalry, a light skirmish having been begun, fled with Hippocrates to Acras. Since by that battle he had restrained the Sicels who were defecting from the Romans, Marcellus returned to Syracuse; and after a few days Himilco, with Hippocrates joined to him, pitched camp by the river Anapus, about eight miles from there.

sub idem fere tempus et naues longae quinque et quinquaginta Carthaginiensium cum Bomilcare in magnum portum Syracusas ex alto decurrere, et Romana item classis, triginta quinqueremes, legionem primam Panormi exposuere; uersumque ab Italia bellum—adeo uterque populus in Siciliam intentus—fuisse uideri poterat. legionem Romanam quae exposita Panormi erat uenientem Syracusas praedae haud dubie sibi futuram Himilco ratus uia decipitur. mediterraneo namque Poenus itinere duxit; legio maritimis locis classe prosequente ad Ap. Claudium Pachynum cum parte copiarum obuiam progressum peruenit.

At about the same time, 55 long ships of the Carthaginians with Bomilcar ran down from the open sea into the great harbor at Syracuse, and likewise the Roman fleet—30 quinqueremes—disembarked the First Legion at Panormus; and it could seem that the war had been turned away from Italy—so intent were both peoples upon Sicily. Himilco, supposing that the Roman legion which had been disembarked at Panormus and was coming to Syracuse would without doubt be prey for himself, is deceived as to the route; for the Carthaginian led by an inland way, while the legion, along the maritime places with the fleet escorting, came to Ap. Claudius, who had advanced to meet them toward Pachynus with part of his forces.

nec diutius Poeni ad Syracusas morati sunt: et Bomilcar, simul parum fidens nauibus suis duplici facile numero classem habentibus Romanis simul inutili mora cernens nihil aliud ab suis quam inopiam adgrauari sociorum, uelis in altum datis in Africam transmisit, et Himilco, secutus nequiquam Marcellum Syracusas, si qua priusquam maioribus copiis iungeretur occasio pugnandi esset, postquam ea nulla contigerat tutumque ad Syracusas et munimento et uiribus hostem cernebat, ne frustra adsidendo spectandoque obsidionem sociorum tempus tereret, castra inde mouit, ut quocumque uocasset defectionis ab Romano spes admoueret exercitum ac praesens suas res fouentibus adderet animos. Murgantiam primum prodito ab ipsis praesidio Romano recipit, ubi frumenti magna uis commeatusque omnis generis conuecti erant Romanis.

nor did the Carthaginians linger longer at Syracuse: and Bomilcar, both distrusting his ships, since the Romans easily had a fleet of double the number, and at the same time seeing that by a useless delay nothing else from his side was being aggravated except the want of their allies, with sails set for the deep crossed over into Africa; and Himilco, having followed Marcellus to Syracuse in vain, in case there should be any occasion of fighting before he joined with larger forces, after none such had fallen out and he perceived the enemy at Syracuse to be secure both by fortification and by strength, lest he waste time to no purpose by sitting and looking on at the siege of his allies, moved his camp from there, in order that wherever the hope of defection from the Roman called, he might bring up the army, and by his presence add spirit to those fostering his interests. Murgantia he first retook, the Roman garrison having been betrayed by the very inhabitants, where a great quantity of grain and every kind of supply had been collected for the Romans.

[37] ad hanc defectionem erecti sunt et aliarum ciuitatium animi praesidiaque Romana aut pellebantur arcibus aut prodita per fraudem opprimebantur. Henna, excelso loco ac praerupto undique sita, cum loco inexpugnabilis erat, tum praesidium in arce ualidum praefectumque praesidii haud sane opportunum insidiantibus habebat. L. Pinarius erat, uir acer et qui plus in eo ne posset decipi quam in fide Siculorum reponeret; et tum intenderant eum ad cauendi omnia curam tot auditae proditiones defectionesque urbium et clades praesidiorum.

[37] to this defection the spirits of other communities too were raised, and the Roman garrisons were either driven from the citadels or, betrayed by fraud, were crushed. Henna, set in a lofty site and precipitous on every side, was by position unassailable, and moreover had a strong garrison in the citadel and a commander of the garrison by no means convenient to plotters. It was L. Pinarius, a keen man, who placed more reliance on this—that he could not be deceived—than on the good faith of the Sicilians; and at that time so many betrayals and defections of cities and the calamities of garrisons, heard on all sides, had strung him to a care for guarding against everything.

itaque nocte dieque iuxta parata instructaque omnia custodiis ac uigiliis erant nec ab armis aut loco suo miles abscedebat. quod ubi Hennensium principes, iam pacti cum Himilcone de proditione praesidii, animaduerterunt, nulli occasioni fraudis Romanum patere, palam erat agendum: urbem arcemque suae potestatis aiunt debere esse, si liberi in societatem, non serui in custodiam traditi essent Romanis. itaque claues portarum reddi sibi aequum censent: bonis sociis fidem suam maximum uinculum esse et ita sibi populum Romanum senatumque gratias habiturum, si uolentes ac non coacti mansissent in amicitia.

and so by night and by day alike everything was prepared and arrayed with guards and vigils, nor did the soldier withdraw from his arms or from his post. When the leading men of Henna, already having made a pact with Himilco about the betrayal of the garrison, observed that the Roman was exposed to no opportunity for fraud, it had to be done openly: they say that the city and the citadel ought to be under their own power, if, as free men into alliance, not as slaves into custody, they had been delivered to the Romans. therefore they judge it equitable that the keys of the gates be returned to them: for good allies their pledged faith is the greatest bond, and that the Roman people and the Senate will thus render thanks to them, if they have remained in friendship willingly and not under compulsion.

ad ea Romanus se in praesidio impositum esse dicere ab imperatore suo clauesque portarum et custodiam arcis ab eo accepisse, quae nec suo nec Hennensium arbitrio haberet sed eius qui commisisset. praesidio decedere apud Romanos capital esse et nece liberorum etiam suorum eam <noxiam> parentes sanxisse. consulem Marcellum haud procul esse; ad eum mitterent legatos cuius iuris atque arbitrii esset.

To this the Roman said that he had been placed in the garrison by his commander and had received from him the keys of the gates and the custody of the citadel, which he held neither at his own discretion nor at that of the Hennensians, but at that of the one who had entrusted them. To leave the garrison was, among the Romans, a capital offense, and parents had sanctioned that even by the slaying of their own children. The consul Marcellus was not far; let them send legates to him, in whose right and discretion the matter lay.

se uero negare illi missuros testarique, si uerbis nihil agerent, uindictam aliquam libertatis suae quaesituros. tum Pinarius: at illi si ad consulem grauarentur mittere, sibi saltem darent populi concilium, ut sciretur utrum paucorum ea denuntiatio an uniuersae ciuitatis esset. consensa in posterum diem contio.

they for their part said they would not send to him, and testified that, if they accomplished nothing by words, they would seek some vindication of their liberty. Then Pinarius: but if they were reluctant to send to the consul, let them at least grant to himself a council of the people, so that it might be known whether that denunciation was that of a few or of the whole city. A public assembly was agreed upon for the following day.

[38] postquam ab eo conloquio in arcem sese recepit, conuocatis militibus 'credo ego uos audisse, milites' inquit, 'quemadmodum praesidia Romana ab Siculis circumuenta et oppressa sint per hos dies. eam uos fraudem deum primo benignitate, dein uestra ipsi uirtute dies noctesque perstando ac peruigilando in armis uitastis. utinam reliquum tempus nec patiendo infanda nec faciendo traduci possit.

[38] after he had withdrawn himself from that colloquy into the citadel, the soldiers having been convoked, “I believe you have heard, soldiers,” he said, “how the Roman garrisons have been encircled and oppressed by the Sicilians during these days. You have avoided that treachery, first by the benignity of the gods, then by your own valor, by persevering and being pervigilant in arms day and night. Would that the remaining time could be passed on neither by suffering unspeakable things nor by doing them.

haec occulta in fraude cautio est qua usi adhuc sumus; cui quoniam parum succedit, aperte ac propalam claues portarum reposcunt; quas simul tradiderimus, Carthaginiensium extemplo Henna erit foediusque hic trucidabimur quam Murgantiae praesidium interfectum est. noctem unam aegre ad consultandum sumpsi, qua uos certiores periculi instantis facerem. orta luce contionem habituri sunt ad criminandum me concitandumque in uos populum.

This covert caution against the fraud is that which we have employed thus far; since it is meeting with too little success, openly and publicly they demand back the keys of the gates; which, the moment we hand them over, Henna will instantly be the Carthaginians’ and we shall be butchered here more foully than the garrison at Murgantia was slain. I have with difficulty taken one night for consultation, in which I might make you more certain of the impending peril. At daybreak they are going to hold an assembly to incriminate me and to stir up the populace against you.

itaque crastino die aut uestro aut Hennensium sanguine Henna inundabitur. nec praeoccupati spem ullam nec occupantes periculi quicquam habebitis; qui prior strinxerit ferrum, eius uictoria erit. intenti ergo omnes armatique signum exspectabitis.

Therefore, on the next day Henna will be inundated with blood, either yours or the Hennans’. Neither, if you are preempted, will you have any hope, nor, if you preempt, will you have any danger at all; whoever first draws steel, his will be the victory. Therefore, all of you, intent and armed, will await the signal.

ego in contione ero et tempus, quoad omnia instructa sint, loquendo altercandoque traham. cum toga signum dedero, tum mihi undique clamore sublato turbam inuadite ac sternite omnia ferro; et cauete quisquam supersit cuius aut uis aut fraus timeri possit. uos, Ceres mater ac Proserpina, precor, ceteri superi infernique di, qui hanc urbem, hos sacratos lacus lucosque colitis, ut ita nobis uolentes propitii adsitis, si uitandae, non inferendae fraudis causa hoc consilii capimus.

I shall be in the assembly, and I will draw out the time, until all is made ready, by speaking and by altercation. When I have given the signal with my toga, then, with a shout raised on every side for me, attack the crowd and lay everything low with the sword; and see that no one survives whose force or fraud could be feared. You, Mother Ceres and Proserpina, I pray, and the other gods above and below, who watch over this city, these consecrated lakes and groves, be thus willing and propitious to us, if we take up this counsel for the sake of avoiding, not of inflicting, fraud.

pluribus uos, milites, hortarer, si cum armatis dimicatio futura esset; inermes, incautos ad satietatem trucidabitis; et consulis castra in propinquo sunt, ne quid ab Himilcone et Carthaginiensibus timeri possit.'

I would exhort you at greater length, soldiers, if the combat were going to be with armed men; the unarmed, the incautious you will butcher to satiety; and the consul’s camp is close at hand, so that nothing need be feared from Himilco and the Carthaginians.'

[39] ab hac adhortatione dimissi corpora curant. postero die alii aliis locis ad obsidenda itinera claudendosque oppositi exitus; pars maxima super theatrum circaque, adsueti et ante spectaculo contionum, consistunt. productus ad populum a magistratibus praefectus Romanus cum consulis de ea re ius ac potestatem esse, non suam et pleraque eadem quae pridie dixisset, et primo sensim ~ac plus~ reddere claues, dein iam una uoce id omnes iuberent cunctantique et differenti ferociter minitarentur nec uiderentur ultra uim ultimam dilaturi, tum praefectus toga signum, ut conuenerat, dedit militesque intenti dudum ac parati alii superne in auersam contionem clamore sublato decurrunt, alii ad exitus theatri conferti obsistunt.

[39] dismissed from this exhortation, they tend to their bodies. On the next day some are posted in various places to blockade the roads and to shut the exits set opposite; the greatest part take their stand above the theater and around it, accustomed even before to the spectacle of popular assemblies. Brought out before the people by the magistrates, the Roman prefect said that the right and power in that matter belonged to the consul, not to himself, and mostly the same things which he had said the day before; and at first to hand back the keys little by little, ~and more~, then now with one voice they all ordered that, and as he hesitated and delayed they menaced fiercely, nor did they seem likely to defer it beyond the last resort of force; then the prefect gave the signal with his toga, as had been agreed, and the soldiers, long intent and ready, some from above, with a shout raised, run down upon the assembly facing the other way, others, massed, block the exits of the theater.

caeduntur Hennenses cauea inclusi coaceruanturque non caede solum sed etiam fuga, cum super aliorum <alii> capita ruerent <et> integris saucii, uiui mortuis incidentes cumularentur. inde passim discurritur, et urbis captae modo fugaque et caedes omnia tenet nihilo remissiore militum ira quod turbam inermem caedebant quam si periculum par et ardor certaminis eos inritaret. ita Henna aut malo aut necessario facinore retenta.

The Hennans are cut down, enclosed in the cavea, and are heaped up not by slaughter only but also by flight, as they rushed over the heads of others <others>, and the wounded upon the unhurt <and>, the living falling upon the dead, were piled up. Thence there is running about everywhere, and, after the manner of a captured city, both flight and slaughter hold everything, the soldiers’ rage no whit more relaxed because they were cutting down an unarmed crowd than if equal peril and the ardor of combat were goading them. Thus Henna was held by a deed either evil or necessary.

Marcellus nec factum improbauit et praedam Hennensium militibus concessit, ratus timore fore deterritos proditionibus praesidiorum Siculos. atque ea clades, ut urbis in media Sicilia sitae claraeque uel ob insignem munimento naturali locum uel ob sacrata omnia uestigiis raptae quondam Proserpinae, prope uno die omnem Siciliam peruasit et, quia caede infanda rebantur non hominum tantum sed etiam deorum sedem uiolatam esse, tum uero qui etiam ante dubii fuerant defecere ad Poenos. Hippocrates inde Murgantiam, Himilco Agrigentum sese recepit, cum acciti a proditoribus nequiquam ad Hennam exercitum admouissent.

Marcellus neither disapproved the deed and granted the booty of the Hennans to the soldiers, thinking that the Sicilians would be deterred by fear from betrayals of their garrisons. And that catastrophe, since the city was situated in the middle of Sicily and renowned either for its remarkable site with a natural fortification or for all the sacred things consecrated to the traces of Proserpina once ravished, in almost a single day pervaded all Sicily; and, because by that unspeakable slaughter they reckoned that the seat not only of men but even of the gods had been violated, then indeed those who even before had been doubtful defected to the Carthaginians. Hippocrates then withdrew to Murgentia, Himilco to Agrigentum, after, summoned by traitors, they had to no purpose moved their army against Henna.

Marcellus retro in Leontinos redit frumentoque et commeatibus aliis in castra conuectis, praesidio modico ibi relicto, ad Syracusas obsidendas uenit. inde Ap. Claudio Romam ad consulatum petendum misso T. Quinctium Crispinum in eius locum classi castrisque praeficit ueteribus; ipse hibernacula quinque milia passuum <ab> Hexapylo—Leonta uocant locum—communiit aedificauitque. haec in Sicilia usque ad principium hiemis gesta.

Marcellus returned back to Leontini and, grain and other supplies having been conveyed into the camp, with a small garrison left there, he came to besiege Syracuse. Then, with Appius Claudius sent to Rome to seek the consulship, he put Titus Quinctius Crispinus in his place in command of the fleet and the old camps; he himself fortified and built winter quarters five miles from the Hexapylon—they call the place Leonta. These things were done in Sicily up to the beginning of winter.

[40] eadem aestate et cum Philippo rege, quod iam ante suspectum fuerat, motum bellum est. legati ab Orico ad M. Ualerium praetorem uenerunt, praesidentem classi Brundisio Calabriaeque circa litoribus, nuntiantes Philippum primum Apolloniam temptasse, lembis biremibus centum uiginti flumine aduerso subuectum; deinde, ut ea res tardior spe fuerit, ad Oricum clam nocte exercitum admouisse eamque urbem, sitam in plano, neque moenibus neque uiris atque armis ualidam, primo impetu oppressam esse. haec nuntiantes orabant ut opem ferret hostemque haud dubium Romanis mari ac terra maritimis urbibus arceret, quae ob nullam aliam causam nisi quod imminerent Italiae, peterentur.

[40] In the same summer also with King Philip, as had already before been suspected, war was set in motion. Envoys from Oricum came to Marcus Valerius, praetor, presiding over the fleet at Brundisium and along the shores of Calabria, announcing that Philip had first attempted Apollonia, having been conveyed upstream against the current with 120 bireme skiffs; then, as that matter had been slower than hoped, by night secretly he had brought his army up to Oricum, and that city, situated on the plain, neither strong in walls nor in men and arms, had been overwhelmed at the first assault. Reporting these things, they begged that he bring aid and ward off by sea and land from the maritime cities a foe in no wise doubtful to the Romans—cities which were being sought for no other cause than that they overhung Italy.

M. Ualerius duorum milium praesidio relicto que eis P. Ualerio legato cum classe instructa parataque et, quod longae naues militum capere non poterant, in onerarias impositis altero die Oricum peruenit; urbemque eam leui tenente praesidio quod recedens inde reliquerat haud magno certamine recepit. legati eo ab Apollonia uenerunt, nuntiantes in obsidione sese, quod deficere ab Romanis nollent, esse neque sustinere ultra uim Macedonum posse, nisi praesidium mittatur Romanum. facturum se quae uellent pollicitus, duo milia delectorum militum nauibus longis mittit ad ostium fluminis cum praefecto socium Q. Naeuio Crista, uiro impigro et perito militiae.

M. Valerius, leaving a garrison of two thousand and having set over them P. Valerius, the legate, with the fleet equipped and prepared and, because the long ships could not take the soldiers, the men placed on transports, on the next day arrived at Oricum; and that city, held by a light garrison which the , withdrawing from there, had left, he retook with no great struggle. Envoys came thither from Apollonia, announcing that they were under siege because they were unwilling to defect from the Romans, and that they could not any longer sustain the force of the Macedonians unless a Roman garrison were sent. Promising that he would do what they wished, he sends two thousand chosen soldiers on the long ships to the mouth of the river with the prefect of the allies, Q. Naevius Crista, a vigorous man and experienced in soldiery.

is expositis in terram militibus nauibusque Oricum retro unde uenerat ad ceteram classem remissis milites procul a flumine per uiam minime ab regiis obsessam duxit et nocte, ita ut nemo hostium sentiret, urbem est ingressus. diem insequentem quieuere dum praefectus iuuentutem Apolloniatium armaque et urbis uires inspiceret. ubi ea uisa inspectaque satis animorum fecere simulque ab exploratoribus comperit quanta socordia ac neglegentia apud hostes esset, silentio noctis ab urbe sine ullo tumultu egressus castra hostium adeo neglecta atque aperta intrauit, ut satis constaret prius mille hominum uallum intrasse quam quisquam sentiret ac, si caede abstinuissent, peruenire ad tabernaculum regium potuisse.

He, after putting the soldiers ashore and sending the ships back to Oricum whence they had come to rejoin the rest of the fleet, led the soldiers far from the river by a road least beset by the king’s troops, and by night, in such a way that none of the enemy perceived it, he entered the city. The following day they kept quiet while the prefect inspected the youth of the Apolloniates, their arms, and the city’s forces. When these things, seen and inspected, gave sufficient courage, and at the same time he learned from the scouts how great sloth and negligence there were among the enemy, in the silence of night he went out from the city without any tumult and entered the enemy’s camp, so neglected and open that it was generally agreed a thousand men had gotten inside the rampart before anyone noticed, and that, had they refrained from slaughter, they could have reached the royal pavilion.

caedes proximorum portae excitauit hostes. inde tantus terror pauorque omnes occupauit ut non modo alius quisquam arma caperet aut castris pellere hostem conaretur, sed etiam ipse rex, sicut somno excitus erat, prope seminudus fugiens, militi quoque nedum regi uix decoro habitu ad flumen nauesque perfugerit. eodem et alia turba effusa est.

The slaughter of those nearest the gate roused the enemy. Then so great a terror and dread seized everyone that not only did no one else take up arms or try to drive the foe from the camp, but even the king himself, just as he had been roused from sleep, fleeing almost half-naked, in an attire scarcely decorous for a soldier, to say nothing of a king, took refuge at the river and the ships. To the same place another throng also poured out.

paulo minus tria milia militum in castris aut capta aut occisa; plus tamen hominum aliquanto captum quam caesum est. castris direptis Apolloniatae catapultas ballistas tormentaque alia quae oppugnandae urbi comparata erant ad tuenda moenia, si quando similis fortuna uenisset, Apolloniam deuexere: cetera omnis praeda castrorum Romanis concessa est. haec cum Oricum essent nuntiata, M. Ualerius classem extemplo ad ostium fluminis duxit, ne nauibus capessere fugam rex posset.

A little less than 3,000 soldiers in the camp were either captured or slain; yet by somewhat a good margin more men were captured than killed. The camp having been plundered, the Apolloniates conveyed down to Apollonia the catapults, ballistae, and other engines which had been prepared for besieging the city, for the guarding of the walls, if ever a similar fortune should come; all the rest of the booty of the camp was granted to the Romans. When these things were announced at Oricum, M. Valerius at once led the fleet to the mouth of the river, lest the king might be able to take to flight by ships.

itaque Philippus, neque terrestri neque nauali certamini satis fore parem se fidens, subductis nauibus atque incensis terra Macedoniam petit, magna ex parte inermi exercitu spoliatoque. Romana classis cum M. Ualerio Orici hibernauit.

Therefore Philip, not trusting that he would be sufficiently a match for either a land or a naval engagement, with the ships hauled ashore and burned, made for Macedonia by land, his army for the most part unarmed and despoiled. The Roman fleet wintered at Oricus with M. Valerius.

[41] eodem anno in Hispania uarie res gestae. nam priusquam Romani amnem Hiberum transirent, ingentes copias Hispanorum Mago et Hasdrubal fuderunt; defecissetque ab Romanis ulterior Hispania, ni P. Cornelius raptim traducto exercitu Hiberum dubiis sociorum animis in tempore aduenisset. primo ad Castrum Album—locus est insignis caede magni Hamilcaris—castra Romani habuere.

[41] in the same year in Spain events went variously; for before the Romans crossed the river Hiberus, Mago and Hasdrubal routed huge forces of Spaniards; and Farther Spain would have defected from the Romans, if Publius Cornelius, with the army hurriedly led across the Hiberus, had not arrived in time, when the allies’ minds were wavering. at first at Castrum Album—the place is notable for the slaughter of great Hamilcar—the Romans held their camp.

arx erat munita et conuexerant ante frumentum; tamen, quia omnia circa hostium plena erant agmenque Romanum impune incursatum ab equitibus hostium fuerat et ad duo milia aut moratorum aut palantium per agros interfecta, cessere inde Romani propius pacata loca et ad montem Uictoriae castra communiuere. eo Cn. Scipio cum omnibus copiis et Hasdrubal Gisgonis filius, tertius Carthaginiensium dux, cum exercitu iusto aduenit contraque castra Romana trans fluuium omnes consedere. P. Scipio cum expeditis clam profectus ad loca circa uisenda haud fefellit hostes oppressissentque eum in patentibus campis, ni tumulum in propinquo cepisset.

The citadel was fortified and they had previously conveyed in grain; nevertheless, because all the surrounding areas were full of enemies, and the Roman column had been raided with impunity by the enemy cavalry and about 2,000 either laggards or those wandering through the fields had been slain, the Romans withdrew from there nearer to pacified places and fortified a camp at Mount Victoria. There Gnaeus Scipio arrived with all his forces, and Hasdrubal, son of Gisco, the third of the Carthaginian commanders, with a regular army, and all encamped opposite the Roman camp across the river. Publius Scipio, having secretly set out with light troops to view the surrounding places, did not escape the enemies’ notice, and they would have overwhelmed him on the open plains, had he not seized a hill nearby.

ibi quoque circumsessus aduentu fratris obsidione eximitur. Castulo, urbs Hispaniae ualida ac nobilis et adeo coniuncta societate Poenis ut uxor inde Hannibali esset, ad Romanos defecit. Carthaginienses Iliturgim oppugnare adorti, quia praesidium ibi Romanum erat; uidebanturque inopia maxime eum locum expugnaturi.

There too, besieged, he is released from the siege by the arrival of his brother. Castulo, a strong and noble city of Spain, and so closely joined in alliance with the Carthaginians that Hannibal’s wife was from there, defected to the Romans. The Carthaginians undertook to assault Iliturgi, because a Roman garrison was there; and it seemed that they would carry that place chiefly by scarcity.

Cn. Scipio, ut sociis praesidioque ferret opem, cum legione expedita profectus inter bina castra cum magna caede hostium urbem est ingressus et postero die eruptione aeque felici pugnauit. supra duodecim milia hominum caesa duobus proeliis; plus mille hominum captum cum sex et triginta militaribus signis. ita ab Iliturgi recessum est.

Cn. Scipio, in order to bring help to the allies and the garrison, set out with an unencumbered legion, and, between the two camps, entered the city with great slaughter of the enemy, and on the next day fought with an equally successful sally. More than twelve thousand men were cut down in the two battles; more than a thousand men were taken, with 36 military standards. Thus there was a withdrawal from Iliturgi.

Bigerra inde urbs—socia et haec Romanorum erat—a Carthaginiensibus oppugnari coepta est. eam obsidionem sine certamine adueniens Cn. Scipio soluit.

Bigerra then, a city—this too was an ally of the Romans—began to be besieged by the Carthaginians. Cn. Scipio, arriving, raised that siege without combat.

[42] ad Mundam exinde castra Punica mota et Romani eo confestim secuti sunt. ibi signis conlatis pugnatum per quattuor ferme horas egregieque uincentibus Romanis signum receptui est datum, quod Cn. Scipionis femur tragula confixum erat pauorque circa eum ceperat milites ne mortiferum esset uolnus. ceterum haud dubium fuit quin, nisi ea mora interuenisset, castra eo die Punica capi potuerint; nam non milites solum sed elephanti etiam usque ad uallum acti erant, superque ipsas <fossas> nouem et triginta elephanti pilis confixi.

[42] From there the Punic camp was moved to Munda, and the Romans immediately followed to that place. There, with standards joined, they fought for almost four hours, and with the Romans winning splendidly the signal for retreat was given, because Gnaeus Scipio’s thigh had been transfixed by a dart, and fear seized the soldiers around him lest the wound be mortal. However, there was no doubt that, had not that delay intervened, the Punic camp could have been taken that day; for not only the soldiers but even the elephants had been driven up to the rampart, and above the very <ditches> thirty-nine elephants were pierced by pila.

hoc quoque proelio ad duodecim milia hominum dicuntur caesa, prope tria capta cum signis militaribus septem et quinquaginta. ad Auringem inde urbem Poeni recessere et, ut territis instaret, secutus Romanus. ibi iterum Scipio lecticula in aciem inlatus conflixit nec dubia uictoria fuit; minus tamen dimidio hostium quam antea, quia pauciores superfuerant qui pugnarent, occisum.

In this battle too about twelve thousand men are said to have been slain, nearly three thousand captured, with fifty-seven military standards. Thence the Carthaginians withdrew to the city of Auringem, and the Roman, to press them in their terror, followed. There again Scipio, brought into the battle line on a litter, engaged, and the victory was not in doubt; however, less than half as many of the enemy as before were killed, because fewer had survived to fight.

sed gens nata instaurandis reparandisque bellis Magone ad conquisitionem militum a fratre misso breui repleuit exercitum animosque ad temptandum de integro certamen fecit. Galli plerique milites, iique pro parte totiens intra paucos dies uicta, iisdem animis quibus priores eodemque euentu pugnauere. plus octo milia hominum caesa, haud multo minus quam mille captum et signa militaria quinquaginta octo.

But the nation born for the restoring and repairing of wars, with Mago—sent by his brother for the recruitment of soldiers—speedily refilled the army and made their spirits to attempt the contest afresh. The soldiers were for the most part Gauls—and they, a detachment so often within a few days defeated—fought with the same spirits as the former and with the same outcome. More than 8,000 men were cut down, not much less than 1,000 captured, and 58 military standards.

et spolia plurima Gallica fuere, aurei torques armillaeque, magnus numerus; duo etiam insignes reguli Gallorum—Moeniacapto et Uismaro nomina erant—eo proelio ceciderunt. octo elephanti capti, tres occisi. cum tam prosperae res in Hispania essent, uerecundia Romanos tandem cepit Saguntum oppidum, quae causa belli esset, octauum iam annum sub hostium potestate esse.

and there were very many Gallic spoils, golden torques and armlets, a great number; two distinguished chieftains of the Gauls also—their names were Moeniacapto and Uismarus—fell in that battle. 8 elephants were captured, 3 killed. when matters were so prosperous in Spain, shame at last seized the Romans that Saguntum, the town which was the cause of the war, was already for the 8th year under the enemy’s power.

itaque id oppidum ui pulso praesidio Punico receperunt cultoribusque antiquis quos ex iis uis reliquerat belli restituerunt; et Turdetanos, qui contraxerant eis cum Carthaginiensibus bellum, in potestatem redactos sub corona uendiderunt urbemque eorum deleuerunt.

and so that town, the Punic garrison having been driven out by force, they recovered, and they restored it to its ancient inhabitants, those whom, from among them, the violence of war had left; and the Turdetani, who had contracted war with the Carthaginians against them, when reduced into their power, they sold under the crown and destroyed their city.

[43] haec in Hispania Q. Fabio M. Claudio consulibus gesta. Romae cum tribuni plebis noui magistratum inissent, extemplo censoribus P. Furio et M. Atilio a <M.> Metello tribuno plebis dies dicta ad populum est—quaestorem eum proximo anno adempto equo tribu mouerant atque aerarium fecerant propter coniurationem deserendae Italiae ad Cannas factam—sed nouem tribunorum auxilio uetiti causam in magistratu dicere dimissique [fuerant]. ne lustrum perficerent, mors prohibuit P. Furii; M. Atilius magistratu se abdicauit. comitia consularia habita ab Q. Fabio Maximo consule.

[43] these things in Spain were done in the consulship of Q. Fabius and M. Claudius. At Rome, when the new tribunes of the plebs had entered upon their magistracy, immediately for the censors P. Furius and M. Atilius a day was appointed before the people by <M.> Metellus, tribune of the plebs—the next year, as quaestor, with his horse taken away they had removed him from his tribe and made him an aerarian because of the conspiracy, made at Cannae, for abandoning Italy—but by the aid of nine tribunes he was forbidden to plead the case against magistrates in office and had been dismissed [fuerant]. So that they might not complete the lustrum, the death of P. Furius prevented; M. Atilius abdicated his magistracy. The consular elections were held by Q. Fabius Maximus the consul.

creati consules ambo absentes, Q. Fabius Maximus, consulis filius, et Ti. Sempronius Gracchus iterum. praetores fiunt duo qui tum aediles curules erant, P. Sempronius Tuditanus et Cn. Fuluius Centumalus, et <cum illis M. Atilius et> M. Aemilius Lepidus. ludos scenicos per quatriduum eo anno primum factos ab curulibus aedilibus memoriae proditur.

the consuls were elected, both absent, Q. Fabius Maximus, the son of the consul, and Ti. Sempronius Gracchus for the second time. the praetors are appointed—two who at that time were curule aediles, P. Sempronius Tuditanus and Cn. Fulvius Centumalus, and <along with them M. Atilius and> M. Aemilius Lepidus. it is handed down to memory that in that year the scenic games were for the first time put on by the curule aediles for four days.

aedilis Tuditanus hic erit, qui ad Cannas pauore aliis in tanta clade torpentibus per medios hostes duxit. his comitiis perfectis auctore Q. Fabio consule designati consules Romam accersiti magistratum inierunt, senatumque de bello ac prouinciis suis praetorumque et de exercitibus quibus quique praeessent consuluerunt;

this will be the aedile Tuditanus, who at Cannae, while the others were benumbed with fear amid so great a disaster, led a way through the midst of the enemy. With these comitia completed, at the instance of Q. Fabius the consul, the consuls-designate, summoned to Rome, entered upon their magistracy, and they consulted the senate about the war and about their own provinces and those of the praetors, and about the armies which each should command;

[44] itaque prouinciae atque exercitus diuisi: bellum cum Hannibale consulibus mandatum et exercituum unus quem ipse Sempronius habuerat, alter quem Fabius consul; eae binae erant legiones. M. Aemilius praetor, cuius peregrina sors erat, iurisdictione M. Atilio collegae, praetori urbano, mandata Luceriam prouinciam haberet legionesque duas quibus Q. Fabius, qui tum consul erat, praetor praefuerat. P. Sempronio prouincia Ariminum, Cn. Fuluio Suessula cum binis item legionibus euenerunt ut Fuluius urbanas legiones duceret, Tuditanus a M. Pomponio acciperet.

[44] accordingly the provinces and the armies were divided: the war with Hannibal was entrusted to the consuls, and, of the armies, one was that which Sempronius himself had held, the other that which Fabius the consul had held; these were two legions each. M. Aemilius the praetor, whose lot was the peregrine (foreign) jurisdiction, with the jurisdiction committed to his colleague M. Atilius, the urban praetor, was to have Luceria as his province and the two legions over which Q. Fabius—who at that time was consul—had, as praetor, been in command. To P. Sempronius fell the province of Ariminum, to Cn. Fuluius Suessula, likewise with two legions, with the result that Fuluius should lead the urban legions, and Tuditanus should receive [his] from M. Pomponius.

prorogata imperia prouinciaeque, M. Claudio Sicilia finibus eis quibus regnum Hieronis fuisset, <P.> Lentulo propraetori prouincia uetus, T. Otacilio classis—exercitus nulli additi noui—; M. Ualerio Graecia Macedoniaque cum legione et classe quam haberet; Q. Mucio cum uetere exercitu—duae autem legiones erant— Sardinia; C. Terentio, <cum> legione una cui iam praeerat, Picenum. scribi praeterea duae urbanae legiones iussae et uiginti milia sociorum. his ducibus, his copiis aduersus multa simul aut mota aut suspecta bella muniuerunt Romanum imperium.

the commands and provinces were prorogued: to M. Claudius, Sicily within the boundaries within which the kingdom of Hiero had been; to <P.> Lentulus, as propraetor, the old province; to T. Otacilius, the fleet—no new armies were added—; to M. Valerius, Greece and Macedonia with the legion and fleet which he had; to Q. Mucius, with the old army—two legions, however— Sardinia; to C. Terentius, <cum> the one legion over which he already presided, Picenum. Besides, two urban legions and twenty thousand allies were ordered to be enrolled. With these leaders, with these forces they fortified the Roman imperium against many wars at once either stirred up or suspected.

consules duabus urbanis legionibus scriptis supplementoque in alias lecto priusquam ab urbe mouerent prodigia procurarunt quae nuntiata erant. murus ac porta Caietae et Ariciae etiam Iouis aedes de caelo tacta fuerat. et alia ludibria oculorum auriumque credita pro ueris: nauium longarum species in flumine Tarracinae quae nullae erant uisas et in Iouis Uicilini templo, quod in Compsano agro est, arma concrepuisse et flumen Amiterni cruentum fluxisse.

the consuls, once two urban legions had been enrolled and a supplement for the others selected, before they moved from the city, expiated the prodigies that had been reported. the wall and gate at Caieta, and at Aricia even the temple of Jupiter, had been struck from the sky. and other mockeries of the eyes and ears were credited as true: apparitions of long ships were seen in the river at Tarracina, though there were none; and in the temple of Jupiter Vicilinus, which is in the territory of Compsa, arms were heard to clash; and the river at Amiternum flowed blood-red.

his procuratis ex decreto pontificum profecti consules Sempronius in Lucanos, in Apuliam Fabius. pater filio legatus ad Suessulam in castra uenit. cum obuiam filius progrederetur lictoresque uerecundia maiestatis eius taciti anteirent, praeter undecim fasces equo praeuectus senex, ut consul animaduertere proximum lictorem iussit et is ut descenderet ex equo inclamauit, tum demum desiliens 'experiri' inquit 'uolui, fili,

with these things taken care of by decree of the pontiffs, the consuls set out—Sempronius into the Lucanian country, Fabius into Apulia. The father, as legate to his son, came into the camp at Suessula. When the son went out to meet him and the lictors, out of reverence for his majesty, silently went on before, the old man, having ridden past the eleven fasces on horseback; when the consul noticed and ordered the nearest lictor, and he shouted to him to dismount from his horse, then at last leaping down he said, “I wished to make trial, my son,”

[45] satin scires consulem te esse'. in ea castra Dasius Altinius Arpinus clam nocte cum tribus seruis uenit promittens, si sibi praemio foret, se Arpos proditurum esse. eam rem ad consilium <cum> rettulisset Fabius, aliis pro transfuga uerberandus necandusque uideri ancipitis animi communis hostis, qui post Cannensem cladem, tamquam cum fortuna fidem stare oporteret, ad Hannibalem descisset traxissetque ad defectionem Arpos; tum, quia res Romana contra spem uotaque eius uelut resurgere ab stirpibus uideatur, nouam referre proditionem proditis polliceatur, aliunde ipse stet semper, aliunde sentiat, infidus socius, uanus hostis; id ad Faleriorum Pyrrhique proditorem tertium transfugis documentum esset. contra ea consulis pater Fabius temporum oblitos homines in medio ardore belli tamquam in pace libera de quoque arbitria agere aiebat; qui, cum illud potius agendum atque cogitandum sit si quo modo fieri possit ne qui socii a populo Romano desciscant, id non cogitent, documentum autem dicant statui oportere si quis resipiscat et antiquam societatem respiciat.

[45] ‘would you know well enough that you are consul?’. Into that camp Dasius Altinius of Arpinum came secretly by night with three slaves, promising that, if there were a reward for him, he would betray Arpi. When Fabius had referred this matter to the council <cum>, some thought that, as a deserter, he must be scourged and put to death—a man of a wavering mind, a common enemy—who, after the disaster of Cannae, as though one ought to make one’s faith stand with fortune, had gone over to Hannibal and had drawn Arpi to defection; then, because the Roman state, against his hope and vows, seems as it were to be rising again from the roots, he now promises a new treachery against those to whom he had betrayed them, he himself always standing on one side, thinking from another, an unfaithful ally, an inconstant enemy; that this would be, for deserters, a third document/precedent in addition to the traitor of the Falerians and of Pyrrhus. In reply to these things the consul’s father Fabius said that men forgetful of the times, in the very heat of war, were acting as though in free peace according to each one’s own arbitrium; whereas this rather ought to be done and thought—by what means it can be brought about that no allies defect from the Roman people—they do not think of that, but say that a document/example ought to be set up in case someone should come to his senses and look back to the ancient alliance.

quod si abire ab Romanis liceat, redire ad eos non liceat, cui dubium esse quin breui deserta ab sociis Romana res foederibus Punicis omnia in Italia iuncta uisura sit? se tamen non eum esse qui Altinio fidei quicquam censeat habendum; sed mediam secuturum consilii uiam. neque eum pro hoste neque pro socio in praesentia habitum libera custodia haud procul a castris placere in aliqua fida ciuitate [eum] seruari per belli tempus; perpetrato bello tum consultandum utrum prior defectio plus merita sit poenae an hic reditus ueniae.

because if it be permitted to depart from the Romans but not permitted to return to them, who can doubt that shortly, the Roman cause deserted by its allies, will see all things in Italy joined by Punic treaties? He, however, was not one who judged that any trust should be placed in Altinius; but would follow a middle way of counsel. And that he be held for the present neither as an enemy nor as an ally, it was his pleasure that under free custody, not far from the camp, in some trustworthy city, [him] be kept for the time of the war; the war once completed, then it should be deliberated whether the earlier defection has deserved more of punishment, or this return of pardon.

Fabio adsensum est Calenisque legatis traditus et ipse et comites; et auri satis magnum pondus quod secum tum attulerat ei seruari iussum. Calibus eum interdiu solutum custodes sequebantur, nocte clausum adseruabant. Arpis domi primum desiderari quaerique est coeptus; dein fama per totam urbem uolgata tumultum, ut principe amisso, fecit, metuque rerum nouarum extemplo nuntii missi.

Assent was given to Fabius, and both he himself and his companions were handed over to the envoys of the Caleni; and a sufficiently great weight of gold, which he had then brought with him, was ordered to be kept for him. At Cales the guards followed him, released by day; at night they kept him shut in under guard. At Arpi he first began to be missed at home and to be sought for; then, when the report was spread through the whole city, it made a tumult, as though their leader had been lost, and, from fear of revolution, messengers were sent at once.

quibus nequaquam offensus Poenus, quia et ipsum ut ambiguae fidei uirum suspectum iam pridem habebat et causam nactus erat tam ditis hominis bona possidendi uendendique; ceterum, ut irae magis quam auaritiae datum crederent homines, crudelitatem quoque auiditati addidit coniugemque eius ac liberos in castra accitos, quaestione prius habita primum de fuga Altini, dein quantum auri argentique domi relictum esset, satis cognitis omnibus uiuos combussit.

By these things the Carthaginian was by no means offended, since he had long since held the man himself as one of ambiguous faith and had found a pretext for possessing and selling the goods of so wealthy a man; but, that men might believe it was granted to anger rather than to avarice, he added cruelty also to avidity, and, after summoning his wife and children into the camp, with an inquest first held about Altinius’s flight, then about how much gold and silver had been left at home, when all had been sufficiently ascertained, he burned them alive.

[46] Fabius ab Suessula profectus Arpos primum institit oppugnare. ubi cum a quingentis fere passibus castra posuisset, contemplatus ex propinquo situm urbis moeniaque, quae pars tutissima moenibus erat, quia maxime neglectam custodia uidit, ea potissimum adgredi statuit. comparatis omnibus quae ad urbes oppugnandas usui sunt centurionum robora ex toto exercitu delegit tribunosque uiros fortes eis praefecit et milites sescentos, quantum satis uisum est, attribuit eosque, ubi quartae uigiliae signum cecinisset, ad eum locum scalas iussit ferre.

[46] Fabius, setting out from Suessula, first set himself to besiege Arpi. When he had pitched camp at about five hundred paces, having contemplated from close at hand the site of the city and the walls—what part was safest in its fortifications—because he saw that it was most neglected in guard, he decided to attack that part especially. With everything prepared that is of use for assaulting cities, he selected the picked strength of the centurions from the whole army and set over them tribunes, brave men, and he assigned six hundred soldiers, as much as seemed sufficient; and he ordered them, when the signal of the fourth watch should have sounded, to carry ladders to that place.

porta ibi humilis et angusta erat infrequenti uia per desertam partem urbis. iam portam scalis prius transgressos [murum] aperire ex interiore parte aut claustra refringere iubet et tenentes partem urbis cornu signum dare ut ceterae copiae admouerentur: parata omnia atque instructa sese habiturum. ea impigre facta; et quod impedimentum agentibus fore uidebatur, id maxime ad fallendum adiuuit.

there the gate was low and narrow, on a little-frequented way through a deserted part of the city. at once he orders those who had first crossed over by ladders [the wall] to open the gate from the inner side or to break the bars, and, holding a part of the city, to give the signal with the horn so that the rest of the forces might be brought up: he would have everything prepared and arrayed. these things were done energetically; and that which seemed likely to be an impediment to the agents most especially helped for deceiving.

imber ab nocte media coortus custodes uigilesque dilapsos e stationibus subfugere in tecta coegit, sonituque primo largioris procellae strepitum molientium portam exaudiri prohibuit, lentior deinde aequaliorque accidens auribus magnam partem hominum sopiuit. postquam portam tenebant, cornicines in uia paribus interuallis dispositos canere iubent ut consulem excirent. id ubi factum ex composito est, signa efferri consul iubet ac paulo ante lucem per effractam portam urbem ingreditur.

A rainstorm arising from midnight forced the guards and watchmen, dispersed from their posts, to take refuge under roofs; and the first sound of the heavier squall prevented the noise of those working at the gate from being heard, while then, coming on more gently and evenly, it lulled a great part of the men to sleep as it reached their ears. After they held the gate, they order the horn-blowers, stationed along the road at equal intervals, to sound so as to rouse the consul. When this had been done as prearranged, the consul orders the standards to be carried out, and a little before daybreak he enters the city through the broken gate.

[47] tum demum hostes excitati sunt iam et imbre conquiescente et propinqua luce. praesidium in urbe erat Hannibalis, quinque milia ferme armatorum, et ipsi Arpini tria milia hominum armarant. eos primos Poeni, ne quid ab tergo fraudis esset, hosti opposuerunt.

[47] then at last the enemies were roused, now with the rain subsiding and the light near. There was in the city a garrison of Hannibal’s, about 5,000 armed men, and the Arpini themselves had armed 3,000 men. These first the Carthaginians, lest there be any treachery from the rear, set in front and opposed them to the enemy.

pugnatum primo in tenebris angustisque uiis est. cum Romani non uias tantum sed tecta etiam proxima portam occupassent ne peti superne ac uolnerari possent, cogniti inter se quidam Arpinique et Romani atque inde conloquia coepta fieri, percontantibus Romanis quid sibi uellent Arpini, quam ob noxam Romanorum aut quod meritum Poenorum pro alienigenis ac barbaris Italici aduersus ueteres socios Romanos bellum gererent et uectigalem ac stipendiariam Italiam Africae facerent, Arpinis purgantibus ignaros omnium se uenum a principibus datos Poeno, captos oppressosque a paucis esse. initio orto plures cum pluribus conloqui; postremo praetor Arpinus ab suis ad consulem deductus fideque data inter signa aciesque Arpini repente pro Romanis aduersus Carthaginiensem arma uerterunt.

At first it was fought in the dark and in narrow streets. When the Romans had occupied not only the streets but even the roofs nearest the gate, so that they might not be attacked from above and wounded, some Arpinians and Romans recognized one another, and from there colloquies began to take place, the Romans inquiring what the Arpinians wanted, for what offense of the Romans or what desert of the Poeni the Italians were waging war on behalf of aliens and barbarians against their ancient allies the Romans and making Italy tributary and stipendiary to Africa; the Arpinians making their purgation, saying that they were ignorant of everything, that they had been sold by their chiefs to the Carthaginian, and that they had been seized and oppressed by a few. Once a beginning had been made, more began to confer with more; finally the praetor of Arpi was led by his own men to the consul, and, a pledge having been given, among the standards and the battle-lines the Arpinians suddenly turned their arms for the Romans against the Carthaginian.

Hispani quoque, paulo minus mille homines, nihil praeterea cum consule pacti quam ut sine fraude Punicum emitteretur praesidium, ad consulem transtulerunt signa. Carthaginiensibus portae patefactae emissique cum fide incolumes ad Hannibalem Salapiam uenerunt: Arpi sine clade ullius praeterquam unius ueteris proditoris, noui perfugae, restituti ad Romanos. Hispanis duplicia cibaria dari iussa operaque eorum forti ac fideli persaepe res publica usa est.

The Spaniards too, a little fewer than one thousand men, having made no agreement with the consul besides that the Punic garrison be released without treachery, transferred their standards to the consul. The gates were thrown open for the Carthaginians, and, sent out under good faith, they came safe to Hannibal at Salapia: Arpi was restored to the Romans without the slaughter of anyone except a single man—an old betrayer, a new deserter. Double rations were ordered to be given to the Spaniards, and the commonwealth very often made use of their brave and faithful service.

cum consul alter in Apulia, alter in Lucanis esset, equites centum duodecim nobiles Campani, per speciem praedandi ex hostium agro permissu magistratuum ab Capua profecti, ad castra Romana, quae super Suessulam erant, uenerunt; stationi militum qui essent dixerunt: conloqui sese cum praetore uelle. Cn. Fuluius castris praeerat; cui ubi nuntiatum est, decem ex eo numero iussis inermibus deduci ad se, ubi quae postularent audiuit—nihil autem aliud petebant quam ut, Capua recepta bona sibi restituerentur—, in fidem omnes accepti. et ab altero praetore Sempronio Tuditano oppidum Atrinum expugnatum; amplius septem milia hominum capta et aeris argentique signati aliquantum.

while one consul was in Apulia, the other among the Lucanians, 112 noble Campanian cavalrymen, under the pretext of plundering in the enemy’s territory with the permission of the magistrates, set out from Capua and came to the Roman camp which was above Suessula; to the picket of the soldiers they said who they were: that they wished to confer with the praetor. Cn. Fulvius was in command of the camp; when it was reported to him, after ordering 10 of their number to be led to him unarmed, when he heard what they were asking—for they were asking nothing else than that, once Capua was recovered, their goods be restored to them—, all were received into protection. And by the other praetor, Sempronius Tuditanus, the town Atrinum was taken by storm; more than 7,000 men were captured, and some quantity of struck bronze and silver.

Romae foedum incendium per duas noctes ac diem unum tenuit. solo aequata omnia inter Salinas ac portam Carmentalem cum Aequimaelio Iugarioque uico et templis Fortunae ac matris Matutae; et extra portam late uagatus ignis sacra profanaque multa absumpsit.

At Rome a foul conflagration held for two nights and one day. Everything between the Salinae and the Carmental Gate was leveled to the ground, together with the Aequimaelium and the Vicus Iugarius and the temples of Fortuna and Mother Matuta; and outside the gate the fire, ranging widely, consumed many things both sacred and profane.

[48] eodem anno P. et Cn. Cornelii, cum in Hispania res prosperae essent multosque et ueteres reciperent socios et nouos adicerent, in Africam quoque spem extenderunt. Syphax erat rex Numidarum, subito Carthaginiensibus hostis factus; ad eum centuriones tres legatos miserunt qui cum eo amicitiam societatemque facerent et pollicerentur, si perseueraret urgere bello Carthaginienses, gratam eam rem fore senatui populoque Romano et adnisuros ut in tempore et bene cumulatam gratiam referant. grata ea legatio barbaro fuit; conlocutusque cum legatis de ratione belli gerundi, ut ueterum militum uerba audiuit, quam multarum rerum ipse ignarus esset ex comparatione tam ordinatae disciplinae animum aduertit.

[48] in the same year P. and Cn. Cornelii, since affairs in Spain were prosperous and they were recovering many old allies and adding new ones, extended their hope toward Africa as well. Syphax was king of the Numidians, suddenly made an enemy to the Carthaginians; to him they sent three centurions as legates to make friendship and alliance with him and to promise that, if he should persevere in pressing the Carthaginians by war, that matter would be welcome to the Senate and the Roman People, and that they would strive to render gratitude in due time and in well-accumulated measure. That embassy was pleasing to the barbarian; and having conferred with the legates about the method of waging war, as he heard the words of veteran soldiers, he noticed by comparison with so well-ordered discipline how many things he himself was ignorant of.

tum primum ut pro bonis ac fidelibus sociis facerent, orauit ut duo legationem referrent ad imperatores suos, unus apud sese magister rei militaris restaret: rudem ad pedestria bella Numidarum gentem esse, equis tantum habilem; ita iam inde a principiis gentis maiores suos bella gessisse, ita se a pueris insuetos; sed habere hostem pedestri fidentem Marte, cui si aequari robore uirium uelit, et sibi pedites comparandos esse. et ad id multitudine hominum regnum abundare sed armandi ornandique et instruendi eos artem ignorare. omnia uelut forte congregata turba uasta ac temeraria esse.

then, in the first place, that they might act on behalf of good and faithful allies, he begged that two should carry back the embassy to their commanders, one should remain with himself as master of military affairs: that the nation of the Numidians was rude for infantry wars, fit only for horses; thus from the beginnings of the race their ancestors had waged wars, thus they themselves were unaccustomed from boyhood; but they had an enemy confident in infantry warfare, with whom, if he should wish to be matched in the strength of forces, infantry too must be procured for himself. and to that end the kingdom abounded in a multitude of men, but it was ignorant of the art of arming and equipping and arraying them. everything, like a crowd gathered by chance, was vast and temerarious.

facturos se in praesentia quod uellet legati respondent, fide accepta ut remitteret extemplo eum, si imperatores sui non comprobassent factum. Q. Statorio nomen fuit, qui ad regem remansit. cum duobus Romanis rex tres a Numidis legatos in Hispaniam misit ad accipiendam fidem ab imperatoribus Romanis.

The legates replied that for the present they would do what he wished, a pledge having been taken that he would send him back at once if their imperators (commanders) did not approve the deed. His name was Quintus Statorius, who remained with the king. Together with the two Romans the king sent three envoys from the Numidians to Spain to receive a pledge of good faith from the Roman imperators (commanders).

iisdem mandauit ut protinus Numidas qui intra praesidia Carthaginiensium auxiliares essent ad transitionem perlicerent. et Statorius ex multa iuuentute regi pedites conscripsit ordinatosque proxime morem Romanum instruendo et decurrendo signa sequi et seruare ordines docuit, et operi aliisque iustis militaribus ita adsuefecit ut breui rex non equiti magis fideret quam pediti conlatisque aequo campo signis iusto proelio Carthaginiensem hostem superaret. Romanis quoque in Hispania legatorum regis aduentus magno emolumento fuit; namque ad famam eorum transitiones crebrae ab Numidis coeptae fieri.

he gave these same men instructions to entice at once the Numidians who, within the Carthaginians’ garrisons, were auxiliaries, to a transition. And Statorius, from the abundant youth, conscripted infantry for the king, and, organizing them nearest to the Roman manner, by drilling and running through the exercises he taught them to follow the standards and to preserve their ranks; and he so accustomed them to work and to other regular military duties that shortly the king trusted not cavalry more than infantry; and, the standards having been brought together on a level field, in a set battle he overcame the Carthaginian enemy. For the Romans also in Spain the arrival of the king’s envoys was of great emolument; for at their report frequent transitions began to be made by the Numidians.

ita cum Syphace Romanis coepta amicitia est. quod ubi Carthaginienses acceperunt, extemplo ad Galam in parte altera Numidiae—Maesuli ea gens uocatur—regnantem legatos mittunt.

thus with Syphax a friendship with the Romans was begun. When the Carthaginians received this, at once they send legates to Gala, reigning in the other part of Numidia—the nation is called the Maesuli—.

[49] filium Gala Masinissam habebat septem decem annos natum, ceterum iuuenem ea indole ut iam tum appareret maius regnum opulentiusque quam quod accepisset facturum. legati, quoniam Syphax se Romanis iunxisset ut potentior societate eorum aduersus reges populosque Africae esset, docent melius fore Galae quoque Carthaginiensibus iungi quam primum antequam Syphax in Hispaniam aut Romani in Africam transeant; opprimi Syphacem nihildum praeter nomen ex foedere Romano habentem posse. facile persuasum Galae filio deposcente id bellum ut mitteret exercitum; qui Carthaginiensibus legionibus coniunctus magno proelio Syphacem deuicit.

[49] Gala had a son, Masinissa, seventeen years old, moreover a youth of such a disposition that even then it appeared he would make a kingdom greater and more opulent than the one he had received. The legates, since Syphax had joined himself to the Romans so that he might be more potent by their alliance against the kings and peoples of Africa, demonstrate that it would be better for Gala also to be joined to the Carthaginians as soon as possible, before Syphax crosses into Spain or the Romans into Africa; that Syphax, as yet having nothing besides the name from the Roman treaty, can be overpowered. Gala was easily persuaded—his son demanding that war—to send an army; which, joined with the Carthaginian legions, defeated Syphax in a great battle.

triginta milia eo proelio hominum caesa dicuntur. Syphax cum paucis equitibus in Maurusios ex acie Numidas—extremi prope Oceanum aduersus Gades colunt—refugit, adfluentibusque ad famam eius undique barbaris ingentes breui copias armauit, cum quibus in Hispaniam angusto diremptam freto traiceret. <eo> Masinissa cum uictore exercitu aduenit; isque ibi cum Syphace ingenti gloria per se sine ullis Carthaginiensium opibus gessit bellum.

Thirty thousand men are said to have been cut down in that battle. Syphax with a few horsemen fled back to the Maurusians from the Numidian line—dwellers at the far edge near the Ocean opposite Gades—and, barbarians flocking from every side at the report of his renown, he armed immense forces in a short time, with which he was crossing into Spain, divided from it by a narrow strait. <Thither> Masinissa arrived with the victorious army; and there he waged war with Syphax with vast glory on his own, without any resources of the Carthaginians.

in Hispania nihil memorabile gestum praeterquam quod Celtiberum iuuentutem eadem mercede qua pacta cum Carthaginiensibus erat imperatores Romani ad se perduxerunt, et nobilissimos Hispanos supra trecentos in Italiam ad sollicitandos populares qui inter auxilia Hannibalis erant miserunt. id modo eius anni in Hispania ad memoriam insigne est quod mercennarium militem in castris neminem antequam tum Celtiberos Romani habuerunt.

in Spain nothing memorable was done, except that the Roman commanders brought over to their own side the youth of the Celtiberians for the same pay for which it had been contracted with the Carthaginians, and they sent to Italy more than 300 of the noblest Spaniards to stir up their compatriots who were among Hannibal’s auxiliaries. This only of that year in Spain is notable for remembrance: that the Romans had had no mercenary soldiery in their camps before then—until at that time, the Celtiberians.